Montgomery-Robertson County TN Archives Biographies.....Fort, Sterling 1864 - 
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Author: Will T. Hale

   STERLING FORT. To control the policy of a large financial institution, to

satisfactorily direct the investment of its revenues and to so manage its

affairs that it retains the confidence of both its stockholders and the public,

requires a man of more than the usual business equipment. Innumerable men there

are who can prosper in many lines of activity and yet not be successful even in

the investing of their own capital and would be entirely at sea were the

resources of a bank placed in their hands to augment and to so carefully balance

that no public stress or strain could shake the foundations of the institutions.

Others there are who apparently have been endowed by nature with the special

capacities which banking requires. In this connection mention may be made of one

of the leading citizens of Clarksville, Tennessee, who is president of the

Northern Bank of Tennessee, which is the oldest bank in the state.



   The Northern Bank of Tennessee was organized at Clarksville, in 1854, as a

private bank by G. N. Kennedy, who was its president, and James L. Glenn, as

cashier, these two capitalists being the sole owners of the bank. Subsequently

other stockholders were admitted and at the time of incorporation the capital

was increased from $50,000 to $100,000, a recent statement giving surplus and

profits at $70,000 and deposits at $400,000. James L. Glenn served for some time

as cashier and was then succeeded by E. S. Mumford. Later Mr. Kennedy and Mr.

Glenn sold their interests to W. B. Anderson, who became president of the

institution, and on October 1, 1909, he was succeeded by Sterling Fort, who is

the third president of this bank and the able and judicious manager of its affairs.



   Sterling Fort was born in Robertson county, Tennessee, on the 18th day of

April, 1864, and is a son of Josiah W. and Eliza (Dancey) Fort. Concerning the

parentage and ancestry of the subject, specific data is here presented.



   Josiah W. Fort was born in Robertson county, Tennessee, on the 5th day of

December, 1833. He was educated in the district schools of Robertson county and

he lived on the farm on which his birth occurred during the entire period of his

life. He was a farmer by occupation, successful in his way, and also acquired a

certain prominence in public affairs. He was chairman of the county court for

many years, and during the latter part of his life served at intervals as a

preacher in the Missionary Baptist church. He was a large land owner and in the

ante-bellum days was the owner of numerous slaves. He was originally a Whig, but

later transferred his allegiance to the Democratic party. Fraternally, he was a

member of the Masonic order. He was the son of Joel B. and Nancy (Metcalf) Fort,

the former of whom was born in Robertson county, where he was a wealthy farmer,

and the son of Josiah Fort, a native North Carolinian. The latter came to

Tennessee with Andrew Jackson and with him participated in many bloody battles

with the Indians. He entered a tract of government land in Robertson county and

it is interesting to note that this land is still in the possession of his

family. He was a member of the Tennessee Constitutional Convention and was

considered one of the wealthiest and most prominent men of his day.



   Josiah W. Fort, the father of Sterling Fort of this review, died in August,

1887, and his beloved wife was called to her long home seven years prior to that

time. She was born in Alabama, on June 17, 1834, and was the daughter of William

L. Dancey, who was born and reared in North Carolina and who came to Tennessee

from Alabama in 1853, settling on a farm in Robertson county, where he resided

during the remainder of his life.



   Sterling Fort received his early education in the high school of his native

town and later entered the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, his education

being upon broad and liberal lines. His entrance into business life was in the

line of contracting for the government on the work along the Mississippi river,

with which he continued his interest until 1902, at which time he embarked in

the banking business at Adams, Tennessee, as one of the organizers of the Bank

of Adams. The bank was incorporated with a capital stock of $10,000 and Mr. Fort

became vice-president of the same. In 1906 he came to Clarksville and became

cashier of the First Trust & Savings Bank, which position he satisfactorily

filled until October 1, 1909, when he was made president of the Northern Bank of

Tennessee. This bank has the enviable record of having paid its deposits in cash

under all circumstances, wars and panics not excepted, and carrying an account

with one bank in New York City since the date of its organization.



   As a banker, Mr. Fort is held in the highest regard in Tennessee and his

views on all financial questions are considered worthy of careful consideration.

He is a man of unimpeachable personal character, of great breadth of mind and of

no slight importance in the civic affairs of Clarksville.



   On November 3, 1885, Mr. Fort was united in marriage with Miss Sallie Jones,

who died on November 3, 1889. She was the daughter of E. C. Jones, who was

formerly superintendent of the Deal and Dumb Institute, at Knoxville, Tennessee,

and was a man of considerable importance in the state. Two children survived the

wife and mother: George, who is assistant cashier of the First Trust & Savings

Bank, of Clarksville, Tennessee; and Sallie Jones Fort, who is the wife of Mark

Anthony, living in the vicinity, of Franklin, Kentucky. On December 31, 1895,

Mr. Fort was married a second time to Miss Maggie Flemming, who is a daughter of

Robert J. Flemming. He was a native of Tennessee and during the Civil war was a

soldier in the Confederate army, losing a leg at the battle of Resaca, Georgia.

Later Mr. Flemming made Corinth, Mississippi, his home, and there became

prominent, for a number of years being clerk of the county and at the time of

his death he was mayor of Corinth. He was serving in this office during the

yellow fever epidemic in southern cities and it was through his firmness in

preserving a strict quarantine that Corinth developed not one ease of the fever.

Mr. and Mrs. Fort have two children: Margaret Dancey and William K. The family

are members of the Baptist church. Fraternally, Mr. Fort is a Mason, and he

still keeps in close touch with his college fraternity, the Kappa Sigma.





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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