Historical Figures

Paris and Henry County, Tennessee

Isham Green Harris, born in Franklin County in 1818, moved to Paris as a young boy and was a member of both state houses before he was elected governor in 1859.

Harris became Tennessee's only Confederate governor and served as brigadier general aide-de-camp to Albert Sidney Johnston, Braxton Bragg and Joseph E. Johnston. He served 20 years in the U.S. Senate and was president pro tempore of the Senate until his death in 1897.

James Davis Porter, born in Paris in 1828, was elected to the state legislature in 1859. Porter helped organize the Army of Tennessee and was Gen. B.F. Cheatham's chief of staff. He was elected governor for two terms beginning in 1874.

Porter later served as Assistant Secretary of State, Minister to Chile, president of the N.C. & St. L. Railway, president of the University of Nashville and chancellor of Peabody College. In 1912, Porter died at his Dunlap Street home in Paris.

Thomas Clarke Rye, born in Camden in 1863, moved to Paris in 1902. He was governor during World War I, serving from 1915-19. Rye became a Chancery Court judge in 1919 and served 20 years. He died at his North Poplar Street home in Paris in 1953.

Other political figures from Henry County include former governor and state legislator, Ned R. McWherter, who built a home near the bridge over Kentucky Lake which bears his name.

Gen. John Dewitt Clinton Atkins, the only man to return to the U.S. Congress after serving in the Confederate Congress, chaired the House Committee on Appropriations and later became Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

John Wesley Crockett, the eldest son of the legendary David Crockett, took his father's old Congressional seat in 1837.

Henry Countians who have had an impact on education include Dudley M. Clements who began the nation's first vocational agriculture program following the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act.

Edwin Wiley Grove, who headed the Paris Medicine Company and Grove Laboratories which produced "Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic," was the namesake of E.W. Grove Henry County High School, Tennessee's first privately endowed public high school.

University presidents from the county include Dr. C.C. "Sonny" Humphreys' Memphis State University; Dr. Thomas D. Jarrett, Atlanta University; Dr. Mordecai Johnson, Howard University; and Dr. Joe Morgan, Austin Peay State University.

Well known musicians from Henry County include Bobby Jones, award-winning gospel performer; Keith Lancaster, founder of the Acapella Music Group; Harry Neal, member of the duo-piano team of Nelson & Neal; and Jackie de Shannon, pop music singer.

Those in the country music field include performers Rattlesnake Annie, Ricky Revel and Hank Williams, Jr., as well as writer and manager Merle Kilgore.

Other entertainers include Buster Jones, host of the television program, Soul Unlimited; Cherry Jones, Tony Award-winning actress; and Ula Love, Hollywood starlet and member of the Ziegfield Follies.

Other prominent Henry Countians include Vernon Jarrett, newspaper columnist and social commentator; Virginia Weldon Kelly, syndicated columnist; Ethel McFadden, crowned the first Miss Tennessee; and Christine Reynolds, the state's first female cabinet member.

Local artist "Miss Pearl" Routon was one of those responsible for the Iris chosen as Tennessee's official cultivated flower. Dr. Henrietta Veltman deliver over 4,000 babies during her 50 year of practice.

Vernon McGarity received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.

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