Boyd M. Cheatham (c. 1838–1876) was an American politician from

Springfield, Tennessee Springfield is a city in and the county seat of Robertson County, Tennessee, Robertson County, which is located in Middle Tennessee on the northern border of the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 18, ...

. He came from a very political family, following his father and uncle into electoral office. He served in the Tennessee State House.

Early life

Boyd M. Cheatham was born circa 1838. His father was one of seven early settlers from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

who moved to

Robertson County, Tennessee Robertson County is a County (United States), county located on the central northern border of Tennessee in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 72,803 people. Its county seat is Springfield, Tennessee, Spri ...

.James Harvey Mathes, ''The Old Guard in Gray: Researches in the Annals of the Confederate Historical Association. Sketches of Memphis Veterans who Upheld Her Standards in the War, and of Other Confederate Worthies'', Memphis, Tennessee: Press of S. C. Toof & Company, 1897, p. 6

/ref> His uncle, Anderson Cheatham, served in the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

from 1801 to 1809, then from 1819 to 1821 and again from 1823 to 1825.The Political Graveyard: Cheatham-Foster family of Tennessee
/ref> Two of his brothers entered politics.

Edward Saunders Cheatham Edward Saunders Cheatham (July 31, 1818 – December 21, 1878) was an American politician and businessman. Early life Edward Saunders Cheatham was born on July 31, 1818 in Robertson County, Tennessee. His father, Richard Cheatham (1799-1845 ...

(1818-1878) served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855, and then served as a member of the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...

from 1855 to 1857, and again from 1861 to 1863. Their brother,

Richard Boone Cheatham Richard Boone Cheatham (December 8, 1824 – May 7, 1877) was an American politician based in Nashville, Tennessee. He was serving as the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee during the opening years of the Civil War. After the war he served as alderman ...

(1824-1877), moved to Nashville after college. There he was elected and served as the mayor of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

from 1860 to 1862, and later in the Tennessee State House. Another brother, Dr. William Archer Cheatham (1820-1900), married the twice widowed

Adelicia Acklen Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham (March 15, 1817 – May 4, 1887), best known as Adelicia Acklen, became the wealthiest woman in Tennessee and a plantation owner in her own right after the 1846 death of her first husband, Isaac Frankli ...

(1817–1887), becoming her third husband. She owned the Belmont Mansion in Nashville.

Career

Cheatham served in the

in the nineteenth century.

Death

Cheatham died at his residence in

on July 19, 1876, in the waning days of the Reconstruction era. He was only thirty-eight years old.

References

1830s births 1876 deaths People from Robertson County, Tennessee Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives 19th-century American legislators Cheatham family {{Tennessee-stub