Blog no. 18

Maj. Nathaniel Francis “Nat” Cheairs IV was born on December 5, 1818, in North Carolina, to Nathaniel Cheairs III and Sarah Rush. He had 10 siblings, two of whom were Col. Martin Terrell Cheairs and Col. John Wesley Cheairs. Even though it’s reported that Nathaniel, Martin, and John had feuded, they would always stand up for their siblings. One of Nathaniel’s sisters, Louisa Terrell (Cheairs) Campbell, married John Polk Campbell, the namesake of Fort Campbell, a military base on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky.

Nathaniel, in early 1811, moved to Spring Hill, Maury County, TN, where he later built a house, the Rippavilla, that looks almost exactly the same as his brother Martin’s house, Ferguson Hall. Nathaniel’s other brother, John, also had a home on Main Street in Spring Hill, TN near Martin’s home. A little-known fact about Nathaniel’s brother John is that his granddaughter, Rose White Cheairs, was a schoolteacher in Spring Hill, TN for many years and people still remember her.

On April 2, 1841, in Maury County, TN, Nathaniel married Susan Peters McKissack, a daughter of Col. William McKissack. Nathaniel and Susan had 4 children, their names were Jannette Cogle (Cheairs) Hickey, Thomas Gorham Cheairs, William McKissack Cheairs, and Sarah Rush “Sallie” (Cheairs) Moore.

Right after the Civil War started in 1861, Nathaniel left his home and enlisted in the 3rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, for the Confederate side, as a Major. In February of 1862, at the battle of Fort Donelson, in Tennessee, Nathaniel was captured and held at Fort Warren, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was exchanged for Maj. Delozier Davidson. After being exchanged, he was captured again and was held at Camp Chase, in Ohio until he was released right before the war’s end. Nathaniel’s brothers, Martin and John, also fought in the Civil War as Colonels. 

During the Civil War, at his home in Spring Hill, TN, soldiers were passing by his house and his neighbor from down the road, Haynes Haven Farm, owned by Spivey McKissack at that time. The home of Nathaniel, the RippaVilla, still stands along with the home his brother Martin built, Ferguson Hall. There is another story about Martin’s home that you can read about in future blog.

Sadly, on January 2, 1914, at the age of 95, while he was visiting with his granddaughter in Waco, McLennan County, Texas, Nathaniel died of a stroke that led to him being paralyzed on his left side. He was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Maury County, TN next to his wife.