Robert I-o-h-nstone Chester (July 31, 1793 – January 14, 1892) was a

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Democratic politician, merchant, surveyor, farmer,

United States Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcem ...

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

and soldier. He served two terms in the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

Chester County, Tennessee Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,341. Its county seat is Henderson. The county was created in 1879 and organized in 1882. Chester County is included in the Jackson, ...

is named after him.

Background

Chester was born in

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

on July 31, 1793. He was raised in Jonesboro in

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

, and was educated in local "field schools". He served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

as quartermaster of the Third Tennessee Regiment, having enlisted at Knoxville on October 14, 1814. In 1816 he became a merchant at

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

in partnership with his uncle Robert Allen, until in 1819 Allen became a

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

and Chester went into the

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

business, in which he is reported to have lost a fortune. In 1822 he was appointed by the Legislature as

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

for Smith County. From 1824 to 1830 he was a merchant in Jackson, from 1825 to 1833 also serving as postmaster of that town. In 1835 he left for

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, where he was appointed by Governor

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in the Texas Revolutionary Army, but in the wake of the Texans' victory in the Battle of San Jacinto there was little for him to do for Texas. He returned to Jackson in 1836, and was reappointed postmaster and appointed registrar of the western land district, and remained in the land business for many years thereafter.

Politics and patronage appointments

In 1837 he was appointed by President Martin Van Buren to the title of United States marshal for the western district, and served with one or more intermissions until 1861. He was a lifelong

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, having been a close friend of General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

, and married a niece of Jackson's. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1870 and re-elected in 1872, and in 1884 was one of the Tennessee Democratic electors.

Personal life

Chester and his family lost considerable wealth during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, losing both slaves and actual property; during the war all four of his sons had served in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. He became a member of the

Masons Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutt ...

in 1817, and a Knight Templar. His first wife was Elizabeth Hayes (niece of Andrew Jackson's wife, Rachel Donelson). the aforementioned niece of Jackson, by whom he had seven children: Mary Jane, John, Robert Hayes, Martha Butler, William Butler, Andrew Jackson and Samuel Hayes. After her death, in 1855 Chester married a widow, Jane P. Donelson. He died in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...

on January 14, 1892 at the age of 98.

References

1793 births 1892 deaths Chester County, Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Politicians from Carlisle, Pennsylvania United States Marshals 19th-century American legislators People from Jonesborough, Tennessee People from Jackson, Tennessee People from Carthage, Tennessee 19th-century Tennessee politicians {{Tennessee-politician-stub