Davidson County TN Archives Biographies.....McCarn, Jefferson 1867 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 27, 2005, 1:40 am

Author: Will T. Hale

   JEFFERSON McCARN. Now one of the ablest and most successful members of the

Nashville bar, Mr. McCarn may be said to have begun his practical career in this

city as a hard-working student in the university. He was not sent to college as

the son of a prosperous father, but his education like everything else he has

attained was the result of his determined purpose and industrious labor. Mr.

McCarn has gained distinction both at the bar and in public affairs, and through

his career represents many of the fine qualities of the leading Tennesseeans of

the present.



   Jefferson McCarn was born at Marshall, Searey county, Arkansas, August 7,

1867, a son of Cornelius Alexander and Duleinia L. (Thomas) McCarn, the father a

native of Hardin county, Tennessee, and the mother of Searey county, Arkansas.

The McCarn family, of Scotch origin, early settled in North Carolina, whence

later members came to Tennessee. William Hugh McCarn, the grandfather, was born

in North. Carolina and settled in what is now Hardin county, Tennessee, as early

as 1800. On the mother's side, the Thomas family is of Welsh origin, coming to

America in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Mr. McCarn's maternal

grandfather was Calvin Preston Thomas, an early and well known citizen of Kentucky.



   In 1842 Cornelius A. McCarn, the father, moved from Tennessee to Searcy

county, Arkansas, where he was a teacher and merchant and served as clerk of the

county court from 1848 to 1852. During the war he served in the Confederate

army, and in 1876 moved from Arkansas to Texas, in which state he died in 1883.

His widow is still living, her home being in Nashville.



   Jefferson McCarn, the eldest of four living sons, was nine years old when the

family moved to Texas, where he was reared. He had few school advantages during

his boyhood, and at his father's death he was thrown upon his own resources and

in addition had to contribute something to the support of the younger members of

the family. Up to the age of twenty he lived and worked on a Texas ranch, and

came to know all about the old range cattle industry during its golden period of

the '80s. His ambition was for achievement in other lines, and on leaving the

ranch he did some preparatory school work for two years, and then came to

Vanderbilt University, where he spent six years. He had in the meantime

accumulated some property, but he turned over its income for the benefit of his

mother and her other children. When he entered Vanderbilt he had less than a

hundred dollars for his college career, but as a result partly of his native

enterprise and partly of his previous experience he did not long lack expedients

to support himself. He established what was known as the University Book Store,

and on the profits of the supplies sold to other students he met all his bills

for four years in the literary department of the university and also during his

law course. He was graduated LL. B. in 1894, and the same year entered upon

active practice, having been a member of the Nashville bar ever since.



   He soon gained prominence in his profession and in political life, being a

stanch Democrat. In 1908 he was elected district attorney for the tenth judicial

district, and made a first-class record during his two years in office. In 1910

his name was among the strongest before the people for the Democratic nomination

to the office of governor. But before the state nominees were chosen, a

citizens' mass meeting selected him as candidate for judge of the criminal

court, and he then withdrew his name from the gubernatorial race. As candidate

for the judgeship he received the largest vote ever given in Davidson county

prior to that election, but was defeated by an unusually large colored vote. He

was attorney general of Nashville, Tennessee, and conducted the prosecution of

Duncan R. Cooper and his son, Robin J. Cooper, for the murder of United States

Senator Edward W. Carmack.



   Mr. McCarn is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, also with college

fraternities, and is a member of the Methodist church. He was married on October

9, 1895, to Mary D. Allison, a daughter of Chancellor Andrew Allison. They are

the parents of three children, Corneille, Andrew Allison and Mary D.





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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