Nathaniel Francis Cheairs (Nashville, TN)

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Photo of Nathaniel F. Cheairs (circa 1920)

Nathaniel Francis Cheairs (June 7, 1876 – December 16, 1951)

Biography

  • Name: Nathaniel Francis Cheairs
  • Birth: June 7, 1876 Spring Hill, TN
  • Death: December 16, 1951 Lexington, KY

Nathaniel Francis Cheairs was born June 7, 1876, at the Rippavilla Plantation house in Spring Hill, Tennessee.  He spent his formative years close to home, and later was accepted to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he graduated in May, 1898.  During his time at Vanderbilt, he developed his oration skills and was known as a preeminent orator.  On February 6, 1902, he married Annie Garner Warren in Pulaski, Tennessee.  Sadly, she died a year later, on February 1, 1903, a month after giving birth to a son, Warren.  To compound the grief, Warren died September 16, 1903, in Spring Hill.

Nat, as he was known, got his start with banking in Alabama.  He was cashier of The Bank of Henry located in Abbeville, Alabama in 1905, and organized a new bank that same year in Ozark, Alabama called the Dale County Bank, where he was Vice-President.  On May 11, 1909, he married Ethel R Garner in her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky.  On June 15, 1909, a group of Nashville businessmen, including Nat and his father William M. Cheairs, received permission to organize The Hermitage National Bank of Nashville, charter 9532.  The bank opened for business in downtown Nashville on September 8, 1909, with Nat Cheairs as the cashier.

On May 27, 1910, Nat resigned as cashier of Hermitage National.  The reason he gave the newspaper at the time is that his wife was ill and they needed to relocate to a better climate.  She did have an appendectomy about this time, and newspaper reports have them moving to Lexington to be close to his wife's parents.

His 1917 WWI draft card has Nat living in Winchester, Kentucky, running the Dakota Block Coal mining company, and the Regina Oil Company.  His 1921 passport application lists his avocation as "broker".  By the 1930 census he is living on a farm with his wife, and in the 1940 census he is managing a seed company.  He died on December 16, 1951, in Lexington, Kentucky.  Cause of death was listed as heart disease.  The only picture we've been able to find is the one on this page, taken from his 1921 passport application, when he was 44 years old.  Interestingly, his wife listed as his job on his death certificate as "banker".  He is buried in the Winchester Cemetery in Winchester, Kentucky.  His wife, Ethel, died March 9, 1974.

Bank Officer Summary

During his banking career, N. F. Cheairs was involved with the following bank:


Series 1902 Date Back $5 note with printed signatures of N.F. Cheairs, Cashier and Frank Dibrell, President. (NBNCensus.com)


References

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