Person:William Delaney (7)

William T. Delaney. The grandfather of our subject, William, came from Virginia, and settled near Bristol, one of the first white men of the region. The fort built on his farm was used for a long time for safety, and afterward became the first schoolhouse in the valley. Nancy Rhodes became his wife in Virginia, and they were engaged in farming with their negroes all their lives. They were Baptists, and he died, very wealthy. John R., the father, was born in 1799, in Holston Valley, and was a man of strong intellect and well informed. He was sheriff for several years, and in the Indian war as brigadier-general, and also in the same office in the militia. He was a magistrate and chairman of the county court for years. In 1829, Margaret, the daughter of Thomas McDowell, a native of Ireland, became his wife. She was born in Virginia in 1808. Her father came from Virginia, and settled in Washington County, near the Tennessee line, but finally moved to near St. Louis, where he died in 1881, and the mother in 1863. Both were Presbyterians. Our subject, the fourth of twelve children, was born January 12, 1835, and educated at Greeneville College. In 1859 he began medicine under Dr. J. A. Murphy. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, in 1861, and soon joined Company B, Fourth Confederate Tennessee Cavalry, and afterward became assistant surgeon, and finally surgeon. He served throughout the war, and surrendered in 1865 in North Carolina. He practiced in the Holston Valley for two years, and then began his present successful career at Bristol. In 1866 he married Mary E., a daughter of Capt. William Cowan, deceased. She was born near Bristol in 1844, and died in 1882, leaving five children. In 1885 he married Nancy B., the daughter of Mahlon Susong. They have but one child. He and his wife are Presbyterians.