Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2023 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== History of Davidson County, Tennessee by W. Woodford Clayton pub. January 1, 1880 pgs 98-99 HON. JOHN OVERTON Judge OVERTON was born in Louisa Co., Va., the 9th day of April 1766. His family was not wealthy, and his education was only such as could be procured at that day in the best common schools of Virginia. While a youth he taught school for several years, chiefly for the purpose of educating his brothers and sisters; but his attention soon became directed towards the profession of the law, in which numbers of his family connections, the WYTHES, TAZWELLS, and CARRS, had become highly distinguished. He removed to Kentucky before his majority, studied law there, but, it is believed, began the practice in Nashville, Tenn. The litigation then was chiefly concerning the titles to real estate, and old lawyers, as well in Kentucky as Tennessee, will remember that there was a good deal of it, and very profitable it was too. A good land lawyer was the highest eminence of the profession. Judge OVERTON at once obtained a full practice, and by his industry and attention to business kept it till he was transferred to the bench. A system of law, based upon the acts of 1777 and 1783 of the North Carolina Legislature, dispos- ing of lands in the Territory of Tennessee, had to be built up by the bar and bench of Tennessee, and OVERTON, as lawyer and judge, exercised considerable influence in moulding the system to suit the wants and necessities of the new community. The English law- books failed to afford a precedent for settling the titles to boundaries of adjacent wild lands, involving the questions of special entries, younger grants, elder entries, the ages of marks on trees, the authority of plats to control the calls in grants, and various other points springing from the peculiar system adopted by North Carolina; and hence the difficulty of the task which had to be encountered by our earlier judges. The constructions of our land-laws, as ruled whilst OVERTON was on the bench, became estab- lished law, and the points are not now controverted in the courts. He was conscientious in the discharge of his duties, giving to every case, no matter how small the amount involved, a patient attention, and studying it before he delivered an opinion. His private journal, now in the possession of his son-in-law, shows that during vacation he was constantly engaged in studying the cases which had been laid over from the last term, and there is an abstract of the principal points of almost every case that was before the court whilst he was a member. He was appointed supervisor of the revenue of the United States, and held the office till it was abolished by Congress. The office was one of responsibility and trust, and, as a mark of his industry, it may be proper to state that he kept copies of every letter to his various agents, his correspondence with the department at Washington, and of even the minutest transaction, so that a correct statement of the business and accounts of his office could now, after the lapse of half a century, be accurately made. In 1804 he was elected a judge of the Superior Court of Law and Equity, in place of Gen. JACKSON, who resigned, and held the office till the abolition of the court on the 1st day of January, 1810. During this period Judge OVERTON was also appointed by the Legis- lature as agent to confer with the Legislature of North Carolina respecting the land titles of the separate States, and to make such agreement, stipulation, or compromise as might be necessary. The appointment evidences the estimation in which Judge OVERTON was held as a land-lawyer. In November, 1811, he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in place of Hon. GEORGE W. CAMPBELL, who was transferred to the Senate of the United States, and con- tinued to discharge the duties of the said office till his resig- nation in 1816. OVERTON'S Reports run through a series of years from 1791 to 1817, and are valuable as a repository of the land- law, now almost obsolete, however, as the healing power of the statute of limitations has cured all titles originally defective, and titles at this day are seldom controverted except on princi- ples arising from irregular sales, the construction of wills, etc. After Judge OVERTON'S retirement from the bench he practiced in important cases, and used the same industry and energy that had characterized his early professional life. His private busi- ness also required his attention, and that, with his limited but important practice, kept him constantly engaged. He never knew what is was to be idle, and always did well what he undertook. Judge OVERTON and Gen. JACKSON were throughout their lives firm and unwavering friends, and it was singular that individuals differing in many points of character should have such an ardent attachment for each other. Gen. JACKSON seldom advised with any- body but Judge OVERTON, and it is said, by those who know, that it was his custom to consult Judge OVERTON upon all important subjects; he certainly had a very high respect for his opinion, and a confidential correspondence was carried on between them till the day of Judge OVERTON'S death. During the Presidential campaigns of 1824 and 1828, Judge OVERTON labored assiduously for the success of Gen. Jackson. He had the happiness to see his early and fast friend elected to the Presidency, and im- mediately withdrew from political strife. The relations of Gen. JACKSON and Judge OVERTON were most intimate and confidential and unreserved on all subjects of men and measures. A few days before Judge OVERTON'S death he caused all the correspondence of Gen. JACKSON, embracing a life-time (for Judge OVERTON never lost or mislaid a paper or letter) to be brought to his bed- side. Political excitement was then at the highest pitch, and the war between JACKSON and the Bank was raging. He reflected that, after his death, many of those letters, intended for his own eye, might fall into the hands of his friend's enemies, and garbled extracts find their way to the public, - such a thing had happened and might happen again, - few would be living who could explain the circumstances under which they were written, time and the events of life might have induced a change of opinion concerning men and things, and with a singular prudence he committed the correspondence to the flames, remarking that, living or dead, he would not betray the confidence of a friend. It is a matter of regret that this correspondence was not pre- served and trusted to a judicious and impartial historian. It would have developed the true character of Gen. JACKSON, and have shown that, in addition to all the honorable, noble, and generous qualities of which the world is well aware in the character of that great man, he was also a reflecting, thinking, prudent man, - there was a degree of coolness in all his rashness. Judge OVERTON died the 12th day of April, 1833, at his resi- dence, near Nashville. He was an influential citizen. He had some peculiar idiosyncrasies of character, but was universally respected and loved by his family and a chosen body of friends who cherished for him the warmest affection. His success in the pursuits of life was very great, and, though economical in the smallest particulars, he was liberal towards all public improvements and institutions, and by his will gave handsome legacies to many of his wife's relatives. He predicted the success of GEORGE S. YERGER, of Mississippi, as a lawyer, and gave him his law library, the largest then in the West; he was of a discriminating mind, and read character well. Though his life was emphatically one of business, overflowing with private and public duties, and though his large private interests often brought him into conflict with others, no word of suspicion was ever whispered against his character, and his children are justly proud of the name he has left them. Judge OVERTON left three children, two of whom, a son and a daughter (Mrs. JOHN M. LEA), reside in Nashville; the other daughter married Mr. R. C. BRINKLEY, of Memphis, and has departed this life. ===============================================================================