Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#3373-z
JOSEPH BUCKNER KILLEBREW AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Inventory
Abstract: Autobiography of Joseph Buckner Killebrew
consisting of the personal, social, professional, and
political memoirs of his early life and schooling in
Montgomery County, Tenn.; education at the University
of North Carolina, 1854-1856; antebellum life as a
young lawyer and planter at Clarksville, Tenn.; the
Civil War, during which he remained at home managing
his farms, and Reconstruction; and his public career,
1870s through 1890s, as editor of an agricultural
newspaper, state superintendent of public instruction,
state commissioner of agriculture, author of a book on
the agricultural and industrial resources of
Tennessee, and investor in Mexican mines. The
autobiography describes in detail Killebrew's
activities, opinions, and social milieu. Also
included is a history of the Whitfield, Bryan, Ligon,
Sims, and Wimberly families.
Online Catalog Terms:
Agriculture--Tennessee--History--19th century.
Autobiographies--Tennessee.
Bryan family--Genealogy.
Clarksville (Tenn.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Education--Tennessee--History--19th century.
Killebrew, Joseph Buckner, 1831-1906.
Lawyers--Tennessee--History--19th century.
Ligon family--Genealogy.
Mines and mineral resources--Mexico--History--19th century.
Montgomery County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs--19th
century.
Plantation life--Tennessee.
Reconstruction--Tennessee.
Sims family--Genealogy.
Tennessee--Biography.
Tennessee--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives,
Confederate.
Tennessee--Politics and government--1865-1950.
University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History--
19th century.
Whitfield family--Genealogy.
Wimberly family--Genealogy.
Size: 2 volumes (2 folders).
Provenance: Received from Joseph B. Killebrew of Chattanooga,
Tenn., in August 1958
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: Bryan Family Papers (#96);
George William Whitfield Papers (#3354);
Battle Family Papers (#3223).
Processing Note: This collection was processed with support
from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Description
DESCRIPTION
Two typewritten and bound volumes, about 350 pages each,
entitle Recollections of my Life by Joseph B. Killebrew. These
volumes contain an account of the ancestry and life of Joseph B.
Killebrew (1831-1906), one of the outstanding Tennesseans of his
time. Killebrew served Tennessee as Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Commissioner of Agriculture, and special expert for
the Tenth Census. He also held other state government posts.
Killebrew attended the University of North Carolina, entering
as a sophomore in 1854 and graduating in 1856. He received an
honorary Ph.D., the first awarded by the University of North
Carolina, in 1878.
Volume 1, Chapter 1, contains a detailed genealogy and
description of the lives of members of the Whitfield and
Killebrew families of Tennessee (mostly in Montgomery County) and
the Ligon family of Halifax County, Va., who emigrated to
Tennessee in 1814. Joseph B. Killebrew was the son of Bryan
Whitfield and Elizabeth Smith Ligon Killebrew.
Killebrew began the narrative of his life with his earliest
memories, and described his youth, schooling, hard work on the
farm, family, and friends. Among the many aspects of Tennessee
life described were the spinning, weaving, and other domestic
activities of the women, treatment of diseases, the presidential
campaigns of 1840 and 1844, fashions in dress, camp meetings at
Antioch, a year at Franklin College, two years studying
languages, and teaching mathematics at Mr. Tyler's school in
Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tenn.
In 1853, Killebrew was unexpectedly offered the opportunity to
attend college. He selected the University of North Carolina and
left for Chapel Hill in January 1854. He described his 204-hour
journey from Clarksville to Chapel Hill, his entrance
examinations, and the various faculty members who examined him.
He was admitted as an advanced sophomore. Killebrew was an
ambitious student and achieved highest honors in his work. He
was a student leader and a prominent member of the Philanthropic
Literary Society. Between semesters, he visited his cousins in
Edgecombe County, the Whitfields and Wimberlys. The narrative of
his two and a half years at Chapel Hill includes descriptions of
the several faculty members, Killebrew's relations with them, and
his evaluations of their personalities and abilities.
After his graduation in June 1856, Killebrew returned to
Clarksville, Tenn., to read law. He led an active social life,
which he described in depth. He also gave an account of the
leading families in the area, mentioning social, religious, and
political happenings.
In 1858, Killebrew married Kate, the daughter of George
Sterling Wimberly, lived near Clarksville, and assumed the
management of the farm and finances of his late father-in-law.
He wrote of their life on the farm and, at great length and
detail, on political issues and politicians, including the
election of Lincoln and the outbreak of the Civil War, the war
fever in Tennessee, his reasons for not joining the Confederate
Army; the fall of Fort Donelson, forty miles from Clarksville;
roving bands of Federal soldiers; hiring freed blacks and selling
his crops; the end of the war; and the assassination of Lincoln.
Killebrew also gave an account of Reconstruction policies in
Tennessee under Governor Brownlow and of incidents in Montgomery
County following the war.
Killebrew entered public life in 1871 with is appointment as
Superintendent of Public Instruction. He wrote of his duties,
travels, and political involvements in this post and in other
public offices that he later held, including that of Commissioner
of Agriculture and special expert for the Tenth Census. His
investigation of the oil potential of Tennessee led him into
various speculative ventures, including mining in Mexico.
Volume 1 also contains an appendix on the Whitfield, Bryan,
Ligon, Sims, and Wimberly family history. Volume 2 is the
narrative of his personal financial ventures; the Mexican mining
venture is described in some detail. Also included are copies of
his letters to his wife, written while on his extensive travels.
Much space devoted to family events and history.