John Childress was a pioneer resident of Nashville, Tennessee with ties to future U.S. President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

. Childress, who served as a

United States Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the United States federal judi ...

for 16 years, was remembered as a man of "great wealth" known for his magnificent mansion, Rokeby, later acquired by the father of Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham.

Biography

Childress served as "entry taker" for

Davidson County, Tennessee Davidson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the heart of Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 715,884, making it the 2nd most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Nashville, ...

. In 1803 he and four others, Joel Lewis, George Ridley, Alexander Ewing, and William Luntz, were appointed to raise money and hire contractors for a Davidson County/Mero District Jail. Childress was appointed the

for the U.S. District Court of Western Tennessee in 1803 and was reappointed, at four-year intervals, serving continuously until his death. In January 1805 he was a signatory to a petition protesting the

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

of Thomas Butler, probably produced at the behest of

and sent to

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

's government, recorded in official state papers under the title "Disobedience of Orders Justified on the Grounds of Illegality". In 1805, on the occasion of a duel between Thomas Jefferson Overton (nephew of John Overton) and John Dickinson, Andrew Jackson served as second to Overton and Childress served as second to Dickinson. Childress' wife was a daughter of militia leader Elijah Robertson and a niece of Nashville pioneer James Robertson. Childress' offspring included five daughters who were important belles of early Nashville. One of the belles, Matilda Childress, married future U.S. Supreme Court Justice

John Catron John Catron (January 7, 1786 – May 30, 1865) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1837 to 1865, during the Taney Court. Early and family life Little is known of Catron's ...

. Another daughter, Ann Maria Childress, married Morgan Welles Brown, appointed by President Andrew Jackson in 1839 to be judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Tennessee The following are former United States district courts, which ceased to exist because they were subdivided into smaller units. With the exception of California, each of these courts initially covered an entire U.S. state, and was subdivided as the ...

. One of Childress' sons was George C. Childress, an important pioneer of the Republic of Texas. Childress died in 1819. He was succeeded as U.S. marshal by Robert Purdy, "lately a Colonel in the Army."

References

Sources

* * 1819 deaths 19th-century United States Marshals {{US-bio-stub