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Below is a family biography included in The History of Obion County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887. These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary. Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more. There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.
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Robert P. Whitesell, a member of the Union City bar, is a native of Fulton Co., Ky., born May 11, 1860, son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Wright) Whitesell, of German descent. His father was born in North Carolina in 1822, and his mother in Davidson Co., Tenn., in 1838. His grandfather, Peter (Weitzel) Whitesell, was a native German, and came to America in an early part of this century. He settled in Lincoln County, Tenn., and in 1828 removed to Weakley County (now Obion County), and died there about 1860. Our subject’s father is a farmer and capitalist, and now resides at Fulton County, Ky. Robert P. Whitesell is the eldest of four children and was educated in the schools of Fulton County, Ky., and Clinton College. He entered the latter in 1875 and graduated in 1879. He then took a special course in the University of Virginia, and subsequently attended the law department of Vanderbilt University, from which he graduated in 1883. In the fall of the same year he was admitted to the Union City bar and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, A. J. Harpole, and they together have a large clientage. He is a Democrat in politics and his first presidential vote was cast for Cleveland. He is a Knight of Pythias.
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This family biography is one of 179 biographies included in The History of Obion County, Tennessee published in 1887 by Goodspeed. The History of Obion County was included within The History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley & Lake Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley, and Lake Counties of Tennessee
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