Charles Judson Rushing (1872 - 1937)

Born 15 May 1872 in Woodbury, Cannon Co., TN

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Winifred Short — married 5 Apr 1897 in Walterhill, Rutherford, Tennessee, United States

Descendants

Died 25 Mar 1937 at age 64 in Nashville, Davidson Co., TN

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Peter Rushen [send private message]

Biography

Charles was born in 1872, in Woodbury, Cannon, TN, the fifth child of ten, to William Azariah (W.A.) and Nancy Jane (Nanny) Landis/Landers Rushing. There is a marriage license for Charles and an Eliza Andrews, but she married someone else instead. He married Margaret Short, daughter of Patrick and Sarah (Williams) Short, April 5, 1897, in Walter Hill, Rutherford, TN. He was given farm land in Rutherford and Wilson counties by his father, but wasn't happy farming. By 1915 he had left the farm in Wilson and is living in Nashville with his family. He worked there as a prison guard for the state penitentiary and also as a streetcar driver. Around 1926 he took his wife, Maggie, daughter Inez, and son, Walter, to Chicago, where he he found employment as a carpenter/contractor. He worked on the Drake Hotel and helped build the Buckingham Fountain. Not long after they moved to Chicago the depression hit. Charles was unable to find any work outside of "exterminating" (per interview with daughter Inez) and so moved his family back to the property he had in Lebanon, Wilson, TN, where his sister Nanny lived, along with other family, sometime after 1930. His wife, Maggie, passed away there in 1935 - she had been sick for a while, suffering from the effects of injuries from a car accident in Chicago and a subsequent stroke. Soon after her death, Charles got in an altercation with his neighbor and shot him. He was found guilty of manslaughter and initially sentenced to five years in prison, but his conviction was reversed and he was remanded for a new trial. He died in Nashville before that occurred (or the case was dropped?) in 1937. He is buried in Lebanon, next to Maggie.

Buried: Wilson County Memorial Park, Lebanon, Wilson, TN https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101520068/charles-judson-rushing

Sources

• Father's Will - Tennessee, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1779-2008 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data:Tennessee County, District and Probate Courts; Wills and Inventories, 1802-1965; Author: Tennessee County Court (Wilson County); Wills and Inventories, Vol G-H, 1918-1928

• 1880 United States Federal Census Place: District 5, Rutherford, Tennessee; Roll: 1276; Page: 62A; Enumeration District: 193
• 1900 United States Federal Census. Year: 1900; Census Place: Civil District 5, Rutherford, Tennessee; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 0104; FHL microfilm: 1241594
• "Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHS-6NKX : 10 March 2021), J C Rushing and Maggie Short, 04 Apr 1897; citing Rutherford, Tennessee, United States, Marriage, p. , Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties; FHL microfilm 379,650.
• Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Roll Number: 3