Davidson-Maury County TN Archives Biographies.....Baxter, Edmund Dillahunty 1838 - 1910
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Author: Will T. Hale

   EDMUND DILLAHUNTY BAXTER. One of the distinguished yet peculiarly unassuming

members of the Tennessee bar, Edmund Dillahunty Baxter, late of Nashville, won

his splendid success by a wise and systematic application of his abilities to

the profession of his choice, in his strenuous labors making good use of his

native talent and acquired mental forces. A life-long resident of Tennessee, he

was born August 22, 1838, in Columbia, Maury county, and died at his home near

Nashville, June 12, 1910. His father, Judge Nathaniel Baxter, a noted jurist,

and a man of sterling worth and integrity, married Martha Hamilton, a woman of

strong intellect and great sweetness of disposition.



   From his parents Edmund D. Baxter inherited qualities of heart and mind that

made possible, if not certain, his future eminence in legal circles. He was a

true son of the old south, loving her traditions, and being in sympathy with her

aspirations. Therefore it is not surprising to learn that when the tocsin of war

rung throughout the land that Edmund, the first born child of Judge and Mrs.

Baxter, left his law books, and a promising career at the bar, for the field of

strife, where he might battle valiantly in defense of home and country. For four

long years young Edmund D. loyally followed the flag of his beloved Southland,

coming out of the struggle as captain of his company, which, to his added

distinction, was known as "Baxter's Artillery."



   When the war was over, Mr. Baxter returned to the law, in which he was

destined to become pre-eminent. Earnestly and energetically applying himself to

his profession, he was enabled in a comparatively brief time to establish

himself as an able lawyer, his progress along the rugged heights leading to

success being steady and sure. Always modest and unpretentious, he possessed the

very unusual characteristics of placing a much lower estimate upon his own

capacity and worth than his associates and friends were wont to do. Indeed, it

was a common belief among his intimates that he never realized his own rare

ability, but others both recognized and appreciated it.



   While yet a young man and practitioner, Mr. Baxter was engaged by that then,

and now, great corporation of the South—the Louisville and Nashville Railroad

Company,—as its attorney for the state of Tennessee, a position that he filled

so ably as to soon gain recognition as one of the leading railroad lawyers of

the South, winning the greatest distinction in the matter of interstate commerce

and litigation. One of the most perplexing problems with which the nation has

had to cope was that regarding railroad transportation. The rapid increase in

railroad building, and the still greater increase in the products of field and

factory, of forest and mine, and the discriminations made in rates by

transportation lines, rendered necessary the passage of what is known as the

"Interstate Commerce Act," passed by congress in 1887. That act created the

"Interstate Commerce Commission" for the regulation of interstate commerce.



   The proposed regulation was both new and untried, and fraught with many

complications and numerous difficulties. It was a new field for the legal lights

of the country, and a tangled skein to unweave, calling for the aid of the most

astute and far-seeing lawyers of the nation. As a representative of the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, Mr. Baxter appeared before the

Interstate Commerce Commission, and in that capacity rendered invaluable

assistance in adjusting the new and intricate subject, which he mastered in all

its numerous details, as he did every question to which he applied his great

mind. He became an expert in interstate commerce law, and that he was so

recognized was clearly indicated by the fact that his services were sought as

counsel by other railroads than the Louisville and Nashville.



   Interstate commerce litigation in the South and Southwest became so heavy

that, in 1897, a legal department was created by the principal railway and

steamship lines engaged in interstate commerce in those sections of the country,

and Mr. Baxter was selected as special counsel to represent the combined railway

and steamship companies in that department, with headquarters at Nashville, a

responsible position that he held until his death. It is well nigh impossible to

realize the immense labor required and performed by him in that capacity, and

the great learning and skill that he brought to the discharge of his

multifarious duties in that most trying and exacting position. He was dealing

with immense properties, and complicated questions of constitutional law, as

well as with legislative enactment, and the decisions made upon issues raised

were of necessity far reaching in their effect, and of the highest importance,

not only to the corporations involved, but to the people of the entire country.

So honest and able was Mr. Baxter that he became authority on interstate

commerce law.



   Prior to his employment as attorney and special counsel for railroad and

steamship companies, and when he had more time at his disposal, Mr. Baxter, who

was more especially a railroad attorney, did a large practice in the state

courts, and was counsel in some of the heaviest litigations in Tennessee. He had

the distinction of being one of the few men able to rise to the exigencies of

every occasion, and always to meet every requirement. Endowed by nature with a

robust constitution, keen intellectual powers, and a genius for hard work and

close application, he accomplished his work well, and won pre-eminent success in

his profession.



   Mr. Baxter was twice married. He married first, in 1858, Miss Eliza T.

Perkins, who died December 17, 1876, leaving three children, as follows:

Catherine, now wife of William G. Hutchenson, of Ridge Top, Tennessee; P.

Perkins Baxter, an attorney in Nashville; and Nancy, wife of Dr. Albert S.

Dabney, of Nashville. In 1879 Mr. Baxter married for his second wife, Mrs. Sarah

Elizabeth (Perkins) Baxter, widow of his half-brother, Jones F. Baxter, and of

their union three children were born, namely: Sloss D. Baxter, of whom a brief

sketch is given in this volume; Hamilton Baxter, of Washington. D. C., and

Bettie B., wife of J. Malcomb Poage, of Tampa, Florida.



   In his home life Mr. Baxter was an ideal husband and father, ever thoughtful,

considerate and generous, and, naturally, was idealized by his family. In his

hours of leisure and recreation, he was genial and companionable to his friends

and intimates, easy of approach, sympathetic with all human kind, and was most

popular and greatly beloved by all who knew him. Mr. Baxter was in truth a great

and good man, the tribute paid him by his home bar at the time of his death

having not been at all exaggerated when it spoke of him as follows:—"When he

died one of the greatest American lawyers of this or any other period in our

history, and one of the best and most lovable men our state ever produced,

passed into the great beyond."



Additional Comments:
From:



A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in

commerce, industry and modern activities

by Will T. Hale

Chicago:  Lewis Pub. Co.,  1913



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