PoliticalGraveyard.com
The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History
Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee

Note: This is just one of 1,325 family groupings listed on The Political Graveyard web site. These families each have three or more politician members, all linked together by blood, marriage or adoption.

These groupings — even the names of the groupings, and the areas of main activity — are the result of a computer algorithm working with the data I have, not the choices of any historian or genealogist.

  Neill Smith Brown (1810-1886) — also known as Neill S. Brown — of Tennessee. Born in Giles County, Tenn., April 18, 1810. Governor of Tennessee, 1847-49; U.S. Minister to Russia, 1850-53; Speaker of the Tennessee State House of Representatives, 1855-57; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Tennessee, 1872. Died in Nashville, Davidson County, Tenn., January 30, 1886 (age 75 years, 287 days). Interment at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tenn.
  Relatives: Son of Duncan Brown and Margaret (Smith) Brown; brother of John Calvin Brown.
  Political family: Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee.
  See also National Governors Association biography — U.S. State Dept career summary
  John Calvin Brown (1827-1889) — also known as John C. Brown — of Pulaski, Giles County, Tenn. Born in Giles County, Tenn., January 6, 1827. Democrat. Lawyer; Presidential Elector for Tennessee, 1860; general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; delegate to Tennessee state constitutional convention, 1870; Governor of Tennessee, 1871-75; president, Texas and Pacific Railroad; president, Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company; president, Bon Air Coal Company; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Tennessee, 1876 (member, Resolutions Committee), 1888. Died in Red Boiling Springs, Macon County, Tenn., August 17, 1889 (age 62 years, 223 days). Interment at Maplewood Cemetery, Pulaski, Tenn.
  Presumably named for: John Calvin
  Relatives: Son of Duncan Brown and Margaret (Smith) Brown; brother of Neill Smith Brown; married to Anne Pointer; married 1864 to Elizabeth Childress; father of Marie Childress Brown (who married Benton McMillin).
  Political family: Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee.
  See also National Governors Association biography — Wikipedia article
Benton McMillin Benton McMillin (1845-1933) — also known as "The Democratic War Horse" — of Carthage, Smith County, Tenn. Born in Monroe County, Ky., September 11, 1845. Democrat. Lawyer; member of Tennessee state house of representatives, 1875-77; U.S. Representative from Tennessee 4th District, 1879-99; Governor of Tennessee, 1899-1903; defeated, 1912; U.S. Minister to Peru, 1913-19; Guatemala, 1919-21; insurance business; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Tennessee, 1928. Died in Nashville, Davidson County, Tenn., January 8, 1933 (age 87 years, 119 days). Interment at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tenn.
  Relatives: Son of John McMillin and Elizabeth (Black) McMillin; married 1886 to Marie Childress Brown (daughter of John Calvin Brown); married 1888 to Lucille Foster; father of Ellinor Foster McMillin (daughter-in-law of Joseph Doty Oliver; sister-in-law of James Oliver II).
  Political family: Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee.
  See also congressional biography — Govtrack.us page — National Governors Association biography — Wikipedia article — U.S. State Dept career summary
  Image source: Autobiographies and Portraits of the President, Cabinet, etc. (1899)
  George Ford (1846-1917) — of St. Joseph County, Ind. Born in South Bend, St. Joseph County, Ind., January 11, 1846. Democrat. Lawyer; St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney, 1875-84; U.S. Representative from Indiana 13th District, 1885-87; superior court judge in Indiana, 1914. Member, Freemasons; Odd Fellows. Died in South Bend, St. Joseph County, Ind., August 30, 1917 (age 71 years, 231 days). Interment at Riverview Cemetery, South Bend, Ind.
  Relatives: Son of Isaac Ford and Emeline (Perkins) Ford; married, November 25, 1885, to Josephine Oliver (sister of Joseph Doty Oliver; aunt of James Oliver II).
  Political family: Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee.
  See also congressional biography — Govtrack.us page — Find-A-Grave memorial
  Joseph Doty Oliver (1850-1933) — also known as Joseph D. Oliver; J. D. Oliver — of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Ind. Born in Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, Ind., August 20, 1850. Republican. Chairman, Oliver Farm Equipment Company; delegate to Republican National Convention from Indiana, 1884, 1912. Presbyterian. Scottish and English ancestry. Died August 6, 1933 (age 82 years, 351 days). Entombed at Riverview Cemetery, South Bend, Ind.
  Relatives: Son of James Oliver and Susan Catherine (Doty) Oliver; brother of Josephine Oliver (who married George Ford); married to Anna Gertrude Wells; father of James Oliver II and Joseph Doty Oliver, Jr. (son-in-law of Benton McMillin).
  Political family: Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee.
  See also Find-A-Grave memorial
  Lucille Foster McMillin — also known as Lucille Foster; Mrs. Benton McMillin — of Nashville, Davidson County, Tenn. Democrat. Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Tennessee, 1924; member, U.S. Civil Service Commission, 1945. Female. Burial location unknown.
  Relatives: Married 1888 to Benton McMillin.
  Political family: Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee.
  James Oliver II (1885-1944) — of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Ind. Born in South Bend, St. Joseph County, Ind., November 3, 1885. Republican. Delegate to Republican National Convention from Indiana, 1936 (alternate), 1940. Suffered a heart attack and died, at the Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis, Marion County, Ind., May 19, 1944 (age 58 years, 198 days). Entombed at Riverview Cemetery, South Bend, Ind.
  Relatives: Son of Joseph Doty Oliver and Anna Gertude (Wells) Oliver; brother of Joseph Doty Oliver, Jr. (son-in-law of Benton McMillin); married 1920 to Louise Yarrington; nephew of Josephine Oliver (who married George Ford).
  Political family: Brown-Oliver-McMillin-Wells family of Nashville, Tennessee.
  See also Find-A-Grave memorial

"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."
Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872
The Political Graveyard

The Political Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. Founded in 1996, it is the Internet's most comprehensive free source for American political biography, listing 338,260 politicians, living and dead.
 
  The coverage of this site includes (1) the President, Vice President, members of Congress, elected state and territorial officeholders in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories; and the chief elected official, typically the mayor, of qualifying municipalities; (2) candidates at election, including primaries, for any of the above; (3) all federal judges and all state appellate judges; (4) certain federal officials, including the federal cabinet, diplomatic chiefs of mission, consuls, U.S. district attorneys, collectors of customs and internal revenue, members of major federal commissions; and political appointee (pre-1969) postmasters of qualifying communities; (5) state and national political party officials, including delegates, alternate delegates, and other participants in national party nominating conventions; (6) Americans who served as "honorary" consuls for other nations before 1950. Note: municipalities or communities "qualify", for Political Graveyard purposes, if they have at least half a million person-years of history, inclusive of predecessor, successor, and merged entities.  
  The listings are incomplete; development of the database is a continually ongoing project.  
  Information on this page — and on all other pages of this site — is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. Users are advised to check with other sources before relying on any information here.  
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Copyright notices: (1) Facts are not subject to copyright; see Feist v. Rural Telephone. (2) Politician portraits displayed on this site are 70-pixel-wide monochrome thumbnail images, which I believe to constitute fair use under applicable copyright law. Where possible, each image is linked to its online source. However, requests from owners of copyrighted images to delete them from this site are honored. (3) Original material, programming, selection and arrangement are © 1996-2025 Lawrence Kestenbaum. (4) This work is also licensed for free non-commercial re-use, with attribution, under a Creative Commons License.
What is a "political graveyard"? See Political Dictionary; Urban Dictionary.
Site information: The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — The mailing address is The Political Graveyard, P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106. — This site is hosted by HDLmi.com. — The Political Graveyard opened on July 1, 1996; the last full revision was done on February 17, 2025.