Encyclopedia

University of Tennessee All-American football player and coach John T. Majors was born May 21, 1935, in Lynchburg, the son of Shirley and Elizabeth Majors. Shirley Majors coached football, first as a high school coach and then at the University…

Located at 652 Adams Avenue in the Victorian Village historic district of Memphis, the Mallory-Neely House is a splendid example of the Italian villa architectural style. Constructed in 1852 for banker Isaac Kirtland and his family, the house later became…

Gleb Mamantov, internationally recognized chemist in molten salt chemistry, was born in 1931 in Kapsava, Latvia, the son of physicians Alexander V. and Elena Pribikov Mamantov. When, in 1944, the Soviets overran the Baltic States, the anti-Communist Mamantov family fled…

An award-winning director of many television and cinema productions, Delbert Mann was born in Kansas in 1920 but grew up in Nashville. In a career that has included 109 live television shows and more than 50 films, Mann has captivated…

Long hunter and early Middle Tennessee settler Kasper Mansker was born on an immigrant ship bound for the American colonies. Little is known about his German ancestry or his early life. Mankser married Elizabeth White of Berkeley County, Virginia, at…

The Emancipator, published in 1820 in Jonesborough, Tennessee, by Elihu Embree, was the first newspaper in the United States devoted entirely to the abolitionist cause. It was an outgrowth of Embree’s first newspaper, the Manumission Intelligencer, published the year before.…

The history of Marathon Motor Works provides a spectacular though short-lived example of new industry during one period of Nashville boosterism. Augustus H. Robinson, owner of the Maxwell House Hotel, masterminded the removal from Jackson of the automotive division of…

Marble Springs is a state historic site that documents the Knox County farmstead of General John Sevier, the first governor of the State of Tennessee. As a soldier in the Revolutionary War, Sevier received 640 acres from North Carolina in…

The game of marbles is an ancient and universal pastime, with Roman, French, and British roots. In Tennessee, Indian burials of the Mississippian culture have yielded clay and stone spheres speculatively interpreted as game pieces. Archaeologists also discovered marbles at…

Marion County, located in the southern part of the Cumberland Plateau and the Sequatchie Valley, encompasses five hundred square miles. Established in 1817 out of Cherokee lands, the county was named for General Francis Marion, a Revolutionary War leader in…

Richard Marius, historian and novelist, was born in Martel, the son of a Greek father and a Methodist mother from Bradley County. Looking back on his childhood, Marius later identified three elements that contributed to his writing career: a love…

Attorney and Civil War soldier, Tennessee Governor Albert S. Marks was born at Owensboro, Kentucky, on October 16, 1836, the son of Elisha S. Marks. He grew up on his father's farm in Daviess County. After the death of his…

This Nashville-based architectural firm, founded by Thomas Marr in 1897, grew rapidly in the 1910s and 1920s as it specialized in the design of theaters, schools, hotels, and other commercial buildings. Marr began his career as a draftsman for Nashville…

Established by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1836, Marshall County was formed from parts of Giles, Bedford, Lincoln, and Maury Counties. Its name honors former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall of Virginia. The members of the first county…

A pioneer in the development of self-rising flour, self-rising corn meal, and later the packaged-mix southern hotbread, Martha White Foods has long been associated with country music and radio. In 1963 the company introduced the first in the line of…

Martin Methodist College, located in Pulaski, Tennessee, evolved from the 1870 bequest of Thomas Martin, a prominent business leader known in and beyond Giles County. In his will, he fulfilled a promise made to his daughter, Victoria, to establish a…

Joseph Martin, Revolutionary War hero and Indian agent on the Virginia-Tennessee frontier, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1740. As early as 1763 he attempted to settle in Powell's Valley at a place known as Martin's Station. He was…

Formerly the Tennessee and Alabama Female Institute, Mary Sharp College was chartered in Winchester in 1850. Opening in 1851, the school was named for an early benefactor. Under the direction of Dr. Z. C. Graves and the Baptist Church, Mary…

Maryville College, a distinguished higher education institution in Blount County, was among the first colleges in the country to open its doors to African American and Native American, as well as white, males and admitted women students as early as…

Mason Temple, a flagship of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), was a monumental achievement, becoming upon its completion in 1945 the largest gathering place in Memphis as well as the largest church owned and operated by African Americans…