John Whitsett Childress was a leading citizen of Murfreesboro, TN, as his father Joel Childress had been before him. A native of Sumner County, TN, his family moved to Murfreesboro, TN in 1819. later he attended and was graduated from the University of North Carolina and was admitted to the Tennessee Bar.

His sister Sarah married James K Polk, who became the eleventh president of the United States.

He was elected attorney general pro tem in 1829. Twenty years later he moved to a farm on the Shelbyville Pike and lived and farmed there until the out-break of the Civil War. Besides operating his farm and practicing law, he served as director of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, director of the Bank of Tennessee, president of the Planter's Bank of Tennessee in Murfreesboro and president of the First National Bank of Murfreesboro.

During the Civil War he and his family took refuge in Griffin, GA. At this time a bit of history was being made due to the romance of his daughter, Betty and General John Calvin Brown, Commander of a regiment. A military wedding was performed and upon General Brown's return at the end of the war, the family came back to Murfreesboro and found the Childress farm in shambles and moved to Nashville. Here General Brown would later become governor of TN.

The picture of the Childress House in Murfreesboro was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1979.

Source - Rutherford County Historical Society Publication Number 15, edited.

Married wife 1 Sarah Josey Fay Williams on December 29, 1831.

Children of John and Sarah Childress:

Mary Williams Childress Avent 1834 1894
James Knox Polk Childress 1838 xxxx
Elisha Childress xxxx xxxx
John Whitsett Childress, Jr 1845 xxxx
Elizabeth Childress Brown xxxx xxxx
Joseph Childress xxxx xxxx

Married wife 2 Mary E Phillips October 15, 1851.

William Childress xxxx xxxx
Horace Childress xxxx xxxx
Eloise Childress xxxx xxxx
Annie Childress Crockett 1857 1936
Eugene Childress 1867 1927
Saline Childress xxxx xxxx