People

A trader and diplomat among the Upper Creek Indians in Georgia and Alabama, Lachlan McGillivray played an important role in British-Indian relations on the southern colonial frontier. Born in Inverness, Scotland, McGillivray immigrated to Georgia in 1735 and established relations…

The most successful coach in Vanderbilt University football history, Daniel E. McGugin was born on July 29, 1879, in Tingley, Iowa, the son of Benjamin Franklin and Melissa A. Crutchfield McGugin. McGugin graduated from Drake University in Des Moines in…

On June 1, 1976, Fran McKee became the first woman line officer in American history to be named a rear admiral in the United States Navy. Although McKee was born in Florence, Alabama, her family home was Maury County, Tennessee,…

Kenneth D. McKellar, influential mid-twentieth-century U.S. senator, was born in Dallas County, Alabama, on January 29, 1869. Young McKellar was schooled by an older sister and his parents before his father died when the boy was eleven. Working at different…

The first American-born bishop of the Methodist Church, William McKendree was closely associated with the establishment of the Methodist Church in Tennessee. Born in Virginia in 1757, McKendree visited Nashville as early as 1797. Three years later, he became the…

West Tennessee land speculator John C. McLemore was born January 1, 1790, in Orange County, North Carolina. In 1809 he moved to Nashville, where he became a surveyor's clerk. Five years later, he succeeded his uncle William Christmas as surveyor…

Fred McMahan was a prominent and successful African American brick mason and builder from Sevierville. McMahan learned the trade from his grandfather, Isaac Dockery. He attended Knoxville College where he met his future wife, Mary Bond (1896-1983), in the late…

Benton McMillin, governor, congressman, and diplomat, was born on September 11, 1845, in Monroe County, Kentucky, the son of John and Elizabeth Black McMillin. After completing preparatory studies at Philomath Academy in Tennessee, he attended the Kentucky Agricultural and Mechanical…

Joseph McMinn, farmer, state legislator, Indian agent, and governor, was born at Westchester, Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1758. McMinn served in the Continental army during the American Revolution. After the war, he moved to the future Tennessee and bought a…

John McNairy, Andrew Jackson's early friend and mentor, was one of Tennessee's first federal judges. Variously reported to have been born in Pennsylvania or North Carolina, McNairy was the son of Francis and Mary Boyd McNairy. The young McNairy read…

The fourth Tennessean to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, James C. McReynolds was born in Elkton, Kentucky, on February 3, 1862. His father was a surgeon and plantation owner, and the family belonged to a fundamentalist sect of…

Methodist Bishop Holland N. McTyeire is best remembered for his indispensable role in the founding of Vanderbilt University. As a key player in wresting a charter for a central university from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, McTyeire acquired the money…

Ned Ray McWherter, governor and Speaker of the Tennessee House, was born in Palmersville, Weakley County, to Harmon Ray and Lucille Golden Smith McWherter in 1930. Educated in the public schools of Dresden, the seat of Weakley County, McWherter joined…

Influential mid-twentieth-century journalist and newspaper editor Edward J. Meeman was born in Evansville, Indiana, to German-born, Catholic, working-class parents. His father was a cigar maker and a local union official. Meeman received his education in Evansville public schools, graduating from…

A key Cherokee agent in southeast Tennessee, Return Jonathan Meigs arrived in Tennessee in May 1801 to fill the combined position of agent to the Cherokee Nation and military agent for the United States War Department. Colonel Meigs, who was…

Since the late 1700s observers have pondered the who, what, why, and where of the people in Tennessee they called Melungeons. In earlier American eras that focused on racial pedigrees, any group that did not fit into easy identification as…

Though the two groups of Mennonites in Tennessee share a religious background, only one functions as a distinct cultural and ethnic community. As Anabaptists, they trace their roots to the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation, and nearly all are…

Tennessee suffragist, temperance activist, publisher, and author Elizabeth Avery Meriwether was born in Bolivar on January 19, 1824. Her father Nathan Avery was a physician and farmer, while her mother Rebecca Rivers Avery was the daughter of a Virginia planter.…

A leader of the first generation of southern feminists and social activists, Lide Smith Meriwether was president of the Tennessee Woman's Christian Temperance Union, serving from 1884 until 1897, and then as honorary president for life. Having organized the first…

John A. Merritt, one of Tennessee's most successful football coaches, was born on January 26, 1926, in Falmouth, Kentucky, the son of a stonemason, Bradley Merritt and his wife, Grace. After completing grade school, he moved to Louisville to live…