WASHINGTON COUNTY, TN - BIOGRAPHIES - Rev. Dr. John Whitfield Cunningham
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Article first printed in the Knoxville News-Sentinal, Jan. 25, 1908, written 
by Selden Nelson.

"CUNNINGHAM WAS LEADING FAMILY"

"During the first half of the nineteenth century there was not a more
prominent family in East Tennessee than the Cunninghams of Washington county.
They were not famous politically or in military annals, but for their
business, professional and religious standing.

"The progenitor of the family was Ebenezer John Cunningham, who was born in
Augusta county, Virginia in 1768. He came to Washington County and located at
Limestone, where in 1786 he married Miss Martha Blair, a daughter of Lieut.
John Blair, of the Revolutionary war. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Cunningham.

"Samuel Blair Cunningham, born October 9, 1797, married Miss Lucinda Galbreath
of Greene county, on October 19, 1824. He, Dr. S. B. Cunningham, waS the first
and it might be said the only president of the East Tennessee & Virginia
railroad, as it waS consolidated with the East Tennessee & Georgia railroad
after his death.

"Jane Cunningham, the second child of Ebenezer, was born June 22, 1799, and
married Rev. James McLin.

"John Whitfield Cunningham was the third child.

"Alexander Newton Cunningham, born in December 1805, married Miss Margaretta
Eason at Jonesboro on August 7, 1834. Rev. James McLin officiated. Alexander
Cunningham was a Presbyterian minister, and occupied the pulpit at Greeneville
for a period.

"William Madison Cunningham, the fifth child, was born June 9, 1809. He
married Miss Ann Elizabeth Withrow of Green Briar, Virginia. He also became a
Presbyterian Minister.

"Martha Rome [Roe] Cunningham, the youngest child of Ebenezer and Martha Blair
Cunningham, was born in 1812. she married her cousin, Robert Laird Blair,
November 1, 1828. Rev. John Whitfield Cunningham officiated at the marriage.

"Of this family there were three Presbyterian ministers and one the wife of a
minister of the same denomination.

"Rev. John Whitfield Cunningham was at one time pastor of the Second
Presbyterian church of this city. He was born in Washington county, Tennessee
in the year 1802. His parents were devoted Christians and his earliest
recollections were of his mother taking him alone to pray. He pursued literary
studies at Washington college, and after graduating he went to Abingdon, Va
and studied medicine, intending to make it his profession; but just as he waS
ready to enter upon what he considered his life work, his mother died and the
memory of her prayers and earnest desire that he might become a minister of
the gospel was used by the Holy Spirit to turn his thoughts to that subject.
He decided it was his duty to preach the word. In pursuance of the new call,
he went to Princeton, NJ. J. and studied theology in that school of prophets,
graduating in 1829. Soon after leaving the seminary he was invited to the
chair of biblical literature and exegesis in the theological seminary at
Hanover, Indiana, then under care of Dr. Matthews. Hoping to better fit
himself for the new responsibilities, he went to Andover, Mass., and spent a
year in special studies.



"In the autumn of 1831 he married Miss Elizabeth Sevier, daughter of Valentine
Sevier, of Greeneville, and removed to Hanover, Indiana. In addition to his
duties as a teacher, he assumed charge of a small church. The three years of
incessant labor so affected his health that he was obliged to quit the field
and return south. In 1834 he accepted a call to the pastorate of the
Presbyterian church at Jonesboro, and for eleven years he remained with this
church. He was successful in his labors. Two hundred and sixty were added to
the church on profession, and its benevolent work more than kept pace with its
growth. Upon closing his labors at Jonesboro, he removed to Knoxville, where
he remained one year, and then removed to the north where he took charge of
the New School Presbyterian church at La Porte, Ind., where he remained
fifteen [?] years. These were years of arduous toil and his labors were
greatly blessed..."

"Upon resigning his pastoral charge at La Porte, Rev. Mr. Cunningham was
appointed home missionary agent for the state of Indiana by the American Home
Missionary society, and he continued in that work until 1861, when he resigned
and removed to Illinois. Soon thereafter he accepted an invitation to serve
the churches of Nora and Lena, within the bounds of the Presbytery of
Freeport, Ill.; remained with these churches until he was appointed
Presbyterian missionary to labor within the bounds of the Presbytery of
Belvedere and Galena, Illinois. While in this work he organized churches at
Warren and Apple ___[?]; visited vacant churches and rendered assistance in
evangelistic work..."

"Upon the death of his son in 1867, Rev. Mr. Cunningham gave up his missionary
work in order to be with his family, and in the summer of 1868, he accepted a
call to serve the First Congregational church at Naperville, Ill., remaining
with the church three years. This closed his public work as minister of the
gospel."

Notes of the Submitter: Rev. Cunningham died in Naperville, Illinois, February
8, 1874 and is buried in the Naperville Cemetery. My interest in this family
is two-fold. My great-grandmother, Nannie Leila Sevier, lived with the
Cunninghams in Naperville while attending Northwestern (now North Central)
College, where she was graduated 1875.

Elizabeth Sevier Cunningham was Nannie's aunt, the older sister of Dr. William
Robertson Sevier of Greeneville and Jonesborough, Tennessee. Rev. John W.
Cunningham was Nannie's great-uncle, the brother of her grandfather, Dr.
Samuel B. Cunningham.

The only descendants of John Whitfield Cunningham and Elizabeth are through
their daughter, Lucy Isabel Cunningham, b. 1845 in Jonesboro [?], Tennessee;
She married Rev. William C. Porter in Naperville, Illinois, 1867. He was the
son of Rev. Johnathon Porter, early minister of the First Congregational
Church of Naperville. W. C. Porter pastored a church in Ft. Scott, Kansas for
over thirty years. Their children were: Alice Porter, Caroline Porter, Lucy
Porter, and John William Porter.  


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