Davidson County TN Archives Biographies.....Spurr, M. A. 1844 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 26, 2005, 11:33 pm

Author: Will T. Hale

  MAJOR M. A. SPURR. For upwards of forty years Maj. M. A, Spurr, a general

insurance agent of Nashville, has been a resident of this city, and during that

time has established for himself a reputation as a man of integrity, genuine

worth and good citizenship. He was born on March 6, 1844, near Lexington, in

Fayette county, Kentucky, a son of Major Richard and Martha Ann (Prewitt) Spurr,

both of whom were natives of Kentucky, and of Virginia stock.



   Reared on his father's plantation, Major Spurr was educated in private

schools, and as a boy became more or less familiar with the business of

agriculture in all its many details. In 1862, when he was yet but eighteen years

of age, he entered the Confederate army, becoming commissary sergeant and

afterwards commissary of the Eighth Kentucky Cavalry. He was with that daring

rider, Gen. John H. Morgan, in the famous Ohio raid, and, near Steubenville,

Ohio, was captured by the enemy. He was first placed in confinement at Camp

Chase, later being transferred to Camp Douglas. Making his escape from that

prison as a result of strategy, he made his way back through Missouri to

Kentucky, his purpose being to rejoin the Confederate forces. Illness prevented

him from carrying out his plan, and the conditions were such that it became

necessary for him to flee to Canada. Again he made his plans to return to the

Confederate army, and again his plans were frustrated. The Confederate

Commissioners to Canada in 1864 began formulating a rebellion in the

Northwestern states, and about sixty Confederate soldiers became members of the

Sons of Liberty, a secret political society organized for the purpose of

separating these states from the east. The first effort was the attempted

release of the Confederate prisoners of war at Chicago, numbering many

thousands, but the effort proved futile. The Major was one of the sixty. In

October, 1864, he was one of a band of twenty-one that made a incursion into St.

Albans, Vermont, in order to avenge the deeds of General Sheridan and others in

the valley of Virginia. After doing all possible damage the command made its way

to Canada, where he was captured with his command, but refused requisition and

declined to surrender the men. He, with his companions; was subsequently

arrested, and held for six months pending trial for violation of the neutrality

laws. The conflict, however, closed before the case was called, and he

afterwards, at the solicitation of his friends, received pardon. At the close of

hostilities he and his comrades were excepted in the Amnesty Proclamation of

President Johnson, and they remained in exile two and a half years. During a

part of that time he attended McGill University in Montreal and he returned to

his native state in the latter part of 1867, receiving his pardon from the

president about that time.



   It was while in Canada that he met Miss Susie Porterfield, a daughter of John

Porterfield, of Nashville, Tennessee, who was sojourning with his family in

Canada during the progress of the war between the states. In 1866, in Canada, at

Niagara, on Lake Ontario, their marriage was solemnized.



   In February, 1869, after his return to his native country, he located in

Nashville, and, as a member of the firm of Prewitt, Spurr & Company, became the

pioneer wooden ware and lumber manufacturer, foi twenty years carrying on a

substantial business in that line. For several years thereafter he was

prosperously engaged in the banking business; was active in the organization of

the Tennessee Bankers' Association and was elected its second president; and at

the present time is employed in the insurance business, having an extensive and

lucrative patronage.



   Since taking up his residence in Nashville he has been a valued member of the

Vine Street Christian church. He was always been at the forefront in matters

pertaining to the upbuilding of Nashville, and he has generously supported many

embryo manufacturing enterprises that gave promise of adding something to the

growth of the city. He was ever active in the cause of the Southland, and he is

now treasurer of the Confederate Monumental Association which erected the

monument to Confederate soldiers, in Mount Olivet cemetery. It was through his

activities that a sum of considerable proportions has been accumulated for the

preservation and maintenance of the monument and grounds forever. At present he

is assistant adjutant general on the staff of Gen. Bennett H. Young, commander

in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans, with the rank of brigadier general.



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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