Frederick Heiskell

Frederick Heiskell
Member of the Tennessee Senate from Knox County
In office October 4, 1847 – October 1, 1849
Preceded by	Thomas C. McCampbell
Succeeded by	John F. Henry
Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee
In office 1835
Preceded by	Solomon D. Jacobs
Succeeded by	William C. Mynatt
Personal details
Born	1786 Hagerstown, Maryland, United States
Died	November 29, 1882 (aged 95–96) Rogersville, Tennessee
Political party	Whig Know Nothing Democratic
Spouse(s)	Eliza Brown (1816–1851, her death) Alice Armstrong Fulkerson (1853–1874, her death)
Relations	William Heiskell (brother) Joseph Brown Heiskell (son) John Netherland Heiskell (grandson)
Residence	Statesview (Knoxville, Tennessee)
Occupation	Farmer, publisher

Frederick Steidinger Heiskell (1786 – November 29, 1882) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and civic leader, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, throughout much of the 19th century. He cofounded the Knoxville Register, which during its early years was the city's only newspaper, and operated a printing firm that published a number of early important books on Tennessee history and law. He also served one term in the Tennessee Senate (1847–1849), and briefly served as Mayor of Knoxville in 1835. He was a trustee, organizer, or financial supporter of numerous schools and civic organizations.

A Southern Unionist, Heiskell was a delegate to the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention on the eve of the Civil War. After the war, he opposed the radical policies of Governor William G. Brownlow.

Heiskell was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, the son of Frederic Heiskell, a farmer, and Catherine (Steidinger) Heiskell. While still young, his family moved to Shenandoah County, Virginia, where he attended subscription schools. He began working in the printing shop of his brother, John, in Winchester, Virginia, in 1810. In 1814, he moved to Knoxville, where he worked as a printer for the Knoxville Gazette, a newspaper that had been founded in the early 1790s by George Roulstone, but was then being published by Roulstone's old business partner, George Wilson.

Heiskell married Eliza Brown, a sister of Knoxville Latin teacher Hugh Brown, on July 17, 1816, in Jonesborough, Tennessee. On August 3 of that year, he and Hugh Brown launched the Knoxville Register. Heiskell was responsible for the paper's political commentary, while Brown focused on its literary content. After Brown retired in 1829, Heiskell continued alone until 1837, when he sold the paper to W.B.A. Ramsey and Robert Craighead. The Register supported Senator John Williams in his feud with Andrew Jackson in 1823. While it endorsed Jackson in the 1824 and 1828 presidential races, it supported fellow Knoxvillian Hugh Lawson White of the burgeoning anti-Jackson Whig Party in the 1836 race.

...
Wikipedia