Esquire James Twigg, one of the oldest and
most highly respected citizens of this county, died at his
residence in Twigg Township Monday night, aged 91 years and 7
months. Mr. Twigg was the eldest of seven children of
Timothy and Catherine (Mason) Twigg. The father, born in
Ireland, came to the site of Nashville, Tenn. when but a boy, and
assisted in building the very first houses ever erected in that
city. For eleven years he made his home with Andrew
Jackson, of whom he was a great favorite. He was engaged in
flatboating on the Cumberland river several years, and was with
Gen. Jackson the war of 1812, and was wounded at the battle of
Talladega. He was married twice, first to the mother of our
subject in 1803, and secondly about 1822 to Catherine Roberts, by
whom he had two children. Immediately after his first
marriage he settled among the cane 18 miles southeast of
Nashville, where he was devoted to farming in the summer and
distilling the products in the winter. His first house was
built of slabs he split from a single linden tree, in which he
spent several summers. With indomitable will and energy, he
soon had a fine farm and was one of the leading farmers of the
State. In 1846, he died, a member of the Old Baptist
Church. The mother was probably born in Pennsylvania, and
died April 18, 1818, a member of the Methodist Church. The
deceased was born in Rutherford county, Tenn. In 1804, acquiring
a good education in common schools, and when 18 began work in
White county, this State, on a farm at 25c a day. In 1824
he came to this county and taught school about two miles south of
where he died. In 1823 he married Polly Barker and eleven
children were born to this happy union. He soon settled on
a farm adjoining, but in April, 1829, he settled in the woods on
his present farm. With excellent business ability and no
capital he added little by little to the original tract until he
owned 3,000 acres in one tract and could walk three miles on his
own possessions. For about 15 years he ran a grain mill,
and for 40 years he carried on a general store. He heard
the pistol shots of the Jackson-Benton duel at Nashville,
Tenn. He was a public spirited man, devoted to the welfare
of the State, and was a strong believer of the Jacksonian
principles of Democracy, and was an earnest laborer for the party
s success. The deceased was a kind hearted man, ever ready
to assist those in need and was held in the highest esteem by all
who knew him; and the Township in which he died was named in his
&& His name will ever be ...& he will be
greatly missed by al&& funeral serviced
occurred&& after which the remains were laid to rest in
the Hickory Hill cemetery.
This was copied from the microfilmed 3 April 1896 McLeansboro
Times by Rick Moore on 10 December 2002. There are about a
half dozen words missing at the end because the extreme lower
right corner of the column was missing when it was
micro-filmed.
The Twigg store was where he lived
which is where Wheeler Irvin lived just north-east of Hickory
Hill. In fact, part of the original 1829 house is still
there.
(Thanks Rick!)