Montgomery County TN Archives Biographies.....Childers, Geacey 1860 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com November 13, 2005, 9:51 pm

Author: Will T. Hale

   GENERAL GEACEY CHILDERS. There are many points which render consistent a

special recognition of General Childers in this publication. He is a scion of

old and distinguished Southern families and both paternal and maternal ancestors

established homes in America in the early colonial days, representatives of each

having been found enrolled as valiant soldiers in the War of the Revolution, as

well as in the earlier colonial wars. The war between the states found other

representatives as loyal soldiers of the Confederacy, and General Childers

himself has well upheld the military prestige of the family name through his

effective service as an officer in the Spanish-American war, and the subsequent

Philippine insurrection in the Philippine Islands, in connection with which he

was colonel of the First Tennessee Infantry, U. S. V., in the Philippine

Islands. He had previously been an officer in the Tennessee National Guards, and

is now on its retired list, with the rank of brigadier-general. He was a member

of the city council for five years and is one of the representative business men

and honored and progressive citizens of the fine little city in which he

maintains his home and in which his interests are centered.



   General Childers was born in Lyon county, Kentucky, on the 4th of July, 1860,

and is the son of Rev. James Francis William Childers and Lucy (Gracey)

Childers, the former of whom was born in Logan county, that state, in 1828, and

the latter of whom was born at Eddyville, Lyon county, Kentucky, in 1840, their

marriage having been solemnized in the year 1857. They became the parents of two

sons and four daughters, all of whom are living except the elder son. The

paternal grandparents of General Childers were William C. and Elizabeth Orndorff

(Miller) Childers, and the maternal grandparents were Mathew and Maria (Tilford)

Gracey, both families having been founded in Kentucky in an early day and both

having been prominently identified with the industrial and civic development of

the fine old Bluegrass state, where William C. Childers became an extensive

planter, in Logan county, and where he was a man of considerable wealth and

influence.



   In private schools in his native state Gen. Gracey Childers was afforded

excellent educational advantages in his boyhood, and thereafter he continued his

studies for several years in Stewart College now known as the Southwestern

Presbyterian University, at Clarksville, Tennessee, his present place of

residence. At the age of seventeen years he assumed a clerical position with the

firm of F. P. Gracey & Bro. of Clarksville, the members of this firm being his

uncles on the maternal side. This firm was at that time general agents for the

Louisville & Nashville Railroad, as well as wharf-boat proprietors, owners and

agents for Cumberland River Steamboat Lines, grain dealers, and commission

merchants. In these varied lines of enterprise the business is still

successfully continued. General Childers has been a member of the firm since

1896, under the title of F. P. Gracey & Bro. The other interested principals are

Julien F. Gracey and H. M. Perry, and this old and reputable concern has long

controlled a large and prosperous business.



   In 1880 General Childers became a member of the Clarksville City Guards, and

in 1888 when the National Guards State of Tennessee was organized General

Childers was elected and commissioned lieutenant colonel of the First Tennessee

Infantry, N. G. S. T., a position of which he was the incumbent at the time of

the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. With his command he promptly enlisted

in, and with the regiment was mustered into, the United States service as the

First Tennessee Infantry, U. S. V. At the time of his mustering General Childers

was lieutenant colonel of his regiment, and as such he went with his command to

the Philippine Islands, where, upon the death of Col. W. C. Smith, he was

promoted to succeed the latter as colonel in command of his regiment. The First

Tennessee saw much arduous service in the Islands of Luzon, Panay, and Cebu, and

in the campaign General Childers made a gallant record as an able and gallant

officer. He returned with his regiment to the United States in November, 1899,

and with the command was mustered out, at San Francisco, California, in

November, 1899, the last Southern regiment to be mustered out after the close of

active hostilities in the Philippines. The valiant service of the regiment was

recognized by congress in the issue of medals of honor to its members.



Official Service Record:                                             Year

Lieutenant colonel, First Tennessee Infantry, N. G. S. T             1888

Colonel and inspector, Rifle Practice, First Brigade, N. G. S. T.    1895

Lieutenant colonel, First Tennessee Infantry, N. G. S. T             1897

Lieutenant colonel, First Tennessee Infantry, U. S. V                1898

Colonel, First Tennessee Infantry, U. S. V                           1899

Brigadier-general, N. G. S. T., retired                              1910



   General Childers commanded a regiment during active campaigns in the Islands

of Luzon, Panay, and Cebu, Philippine Islands; battle of Manila, Luzon, February

5, 1899; battle and capture of Iloilo, Panay, February 11, 1899, and numerous

minor engagements and expeditions on the Island of Panay; volunteered with his

regiment and commanded on a five day expedition into the mountains of Cebu, in

which the command captured seven mountain forts and a number of entrenched

places, September 21-25, 1899. Commanded a special force in Tennessee during

years of 1908 and 1909; retired from the service with rank of brigadier-general,

N. G. S. T., 1910. His continued interest in his old comrades in arms is

signified by his membership in the Spanish-American War Veterans Association,

and he is also identified with the Sons of the American Revolution, the Military

Order of Foreign Wars, and the Army of the Philippines. Liberal and

public-spirited in a marked degree, General Childers is ever ready to lend his

co-operation in the furtherance of measures and enterprises tending to advance

the material and civic prosperity of his home city and state; his political

allegiance is given unreservedly to the Democratic party. He represented the

second ward of Clarksville in the city council for five years, and was chairman

of its important finance committee.



   On the 14th of November, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of General

Childers to Miss Jane Gray Glenn, the accomplished daughter of James L. and Ella

(Poindexter) Glenn, of Clarksville, and the one child of this union is a fine

little son, James Glenn Childers, who was born on the 2d of November, 1904.

General Childers holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and

his wife is a member of the Presbyterian church, both being prominent and

popular figures in the representative social activities of their home community.



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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