William Marshall McCarthy (Nashville, TN)

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ca.1896 photo of Wm. M. McCarthy

William Marshall McCarthy (August 25, 1840 – September 13, 1899)

Biography

William Marshall McCarthy was born in Warren County, Georgia on August 25, 1840. His parents moved to Nashville, Tennessee when he was a child and any education he received would have been in Nashville. His first employment was as a clerk in the Chattanooga, Tennessee Post Office. After three years of employment in the Post Office, where he learned to operate a telegraph machine, he moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to work as a telegrapher. It is around this time that he married Miss Hester Ann (Hettie) Bruckner, who went on to bear him 8 children, according to the 1880 census. Shortly before the Civil War began, he moved to Nashville to again work at the Post Office.

After the fall of Ft. Donelson to Union forces in February 1862, William followed the Post Office as it moved south and fell in with the Army of Tennessee. He was promoted to Assistant Postmaster and held that position until the end of the war. After the war he returned to Nashville and engaged himself in the wholesale dry goods business under the firm Evans, Fite, Porter & Company. Then, for 12 years he was the bookkeeper for the oven manufacturer Phillips & Buttorff in Nashville. In the 1875 City Directory, William was in the insurance business with a firm called Nelson & McCarthy, but this was short lived. Soon after, he helped organize the Nashville Warehouse & Elevator Company, a grain storage facility, where he served as Superintendent and Treasurer.

In early 1881, William was asked, and he agreed to become the Cashier of the Fourth National Bank of Nashville, Tennessee, charter 1669. This was his first banking job. He was elected January 25, 1881, and served until late October 1885, when he resigned to again become Superintendent and Treasurer of the Nashville Warehouse & Elevator Company. In 1894, William was appointed Deputy County Court Clerk for Davidson County, Tennessee, and he soon developed a taste for politics. There was an anti-Catholic political organization called the American Protective Association that became popular for a very brief time in the mid 1890's, and this organization was active in Nashville politics during this time. In 1895, they persuaded William to run for Mayor of Nashville on their ticket, and on October 10, 1895, he was elected the 7th post-reconstruction Mayor of Nashville. His term as Mayor only lasted 2 years, as the American Protective Association, known as the "Goo Goo Party" by its' opponents, soon fell from favor and William lost the October 14, 1897 election and left public service. William was Mayor during the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897, in Nashville. Those familiar with Nashville will remember that the Exposition was held where Centennial Park is now located, and included the Parthenon building, which is still standing in the park. Soon after leaving the mayors' office William was elected National Secretary of the Holloware Association of the West.

William was very involved with the Methodist Church and served as Superintendent of the Elm Street Methodist Church, in Nashville, where he was noted for his love of children. He was also a Mason. Late in 1898, William began to get sick, and his illness baffled his physicians. The illness progressed until by the summer of 1899, he could no longer work. Contemporary newspaper accounts followed his plight and reported that he underwent a risky operation in mid 1899. William died at his home on September 13, 1899, at the age of 59. His death notice states he died of pancreatic cancer. He was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, in Nashville.

Bank Officer Summary

During his banking career, William M. McCarthy was involved with the following bank(s):

(Need image of bank note (Series 1875) signed by McCarthy)


Sources

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