Davidson County TN Archives Biographies.....Wilkerson, John Morgan 1862 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 26, 2005, 2:52 pm

Author: Will T. Hale

   JOHN MORGAN WILKERSON. One of the representative citizens and public

officials of Tennessee's capital city is John Morgan Wilkerson, now a member of

the Nashville Board of Public Works and former member of the state legislature,

whose name has been identified with progress along various lines in this city

and who has honored both his city and state by the order of his activities as a

business man and as an official.



   He was born in Davidson county, Tennessee, August 20, 1862, a son of Benjamin

Franklin Wilkerson and Mary Elizabeth (Sanders) Wilkerson. Both parents, native

Tennesseans, are now deceased. The father's birth occurred in Wilson county,

this state, and that of the mother in Rutherford county, and both represented

old connections of this commonwealth. The Sanders family was founded here by

very early pioneer settlers, and the Wilkerson family originated in Tennessee

with early immigrants from West Virginia.



   John Morgan Wilkerson was reared on his father's farm and after receiving a

preparatory training in the country schools of that vicinity he attended Burritt

College, Spencer, Tennessee, two years. He entered upon an independent business

career as a retail grocer, in which line he continued to be engaged successfully

for eight years, operating two stores, one at Antioch and the other at

Wilkerson, Tennessee. At the end of that period he disposed of those interests

and removed to Nashville, where during the ensuing eight years he was identified

with the live stock business. During the four years following that he engaged in

the wholesale and retail grain business at Nashville. Since early manhood Mr.

Wilkerson has been a stanch and active Democrat in politics. In 1907 he was

elected to the lower house of the Tennessee state legislature and two years

later was re-elected. In that body he acquired much influence owing to vigorous,

careful application to the interests of his state and constituency, and

commanded attention by his fearless and constant discharge of duties, gaining

thereby an enviable reputation as a legislator. In the fall of 1909 he was also

elected a member of the Board of Public Works for the city of Nashville and in

1911 was chosen to succeed himself in that position. In all his official work he

has been able and efficient, displaying that alertness and force of character

which have made him a public servant in the truest sense. His spirit of public

enterprise is further indicated by his membership in the Nashville Board of

Trade, Commercial Club and other industrial and commercial clubs of the city,

and in a fraternal way he is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order

of Elks and with several other beneficiary orders. His religious creed is that

of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, in which denomination he sustains

membership.



   In 1886 Mr. Wilkerson was united in marriage to Miss Bettie Lossie Hill, a

daughter of Dr. H. B. Hill, of Davidson county, Tennessee, and to the union have

been born five children.



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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