S. B. Prichard, a respected agriculturist of the Nineteenth District, was born in Wilson County in 1820. He is the third of eight children of Benjamin and Mary A. (Campbell) Prichard. The father was born April 16, 1792, in Virginia and came to the portion of Tennessee now known as Dekalb County in 1808. He was in Col. James Tubb’s regiment, under command of Gen. Jackson, at New Orleans. His death was caused by rheumatism, which he contracted during the war. The exposure was very great. He made his way home from New Orleans on foot, his only provisions until he reached the first settlement being one quart of parched meal; after that was consumed he happened to come across a squirrel, which he brought down with his gun. He and his companion endured all sorts of hardships and privations. He died August 3, 1872. His grandfather Prichard came from England to Virginia at an early day. Mrs. Mary (Campbell) Prichard was born March 10, 1796, in Wilson County, and died December 5, 1867. Her grandfather was a native of Ireland; he settled in Wilson County not far from Statesville when the country was an unbroken canebrake. He ran away from Ireland, agreeing to let the captain hire him out, when he reached America, to pay his passage, and accordingly he was engaged by a Mr. Campbell. The young Irishman had never seen a Negro. One evening he was sent to a room by himself; soon afterward a colored female servant was sent in with a small bellows to start the fire and scare the boy. With many grimaces and gestures she began her work. The lad, thinking she was his satanic majesty in female form, seized the bellows and dealt her a severe blow on the head. He died about 1826, and Mr. Prichard’s father died in 1830, both of whom our subject remembers.
S. B. Prichard received a somewhat limited education in Wilson and Dekalb Counties. July 10, 1845, he married Miss Matilda Robinson, who died December 31, 1876. They had six children: Columbus, James, Thomas J., Jorden Lee, Nancy J. (now Mrs Fite). March 5, 1878, he married Miss Malissa Ann Dunnaway, who was born August 4, 1845. Three children have blessed this union: Lucretia Eller, Lucinda Della, and Martha Jane. Mr Prichard commenced life with no capital, but by energy and good management, has accumulated considerable means and property. He first worked at the carpenter trade, and was soon able to buy his present place of residence. His farm consists of 225 acres, all productive and cultivated, located on Dismal Branch, eleven miles from Smithville and seven miles southeast of Alexandria. He was a Whig, but since the war has been a Democrat. For many years he has been an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, having professed religion when only fourteen years of age.
