Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904,
pp 600-603 [McCracken]

    THOMAS HERNDON.  There are few families in the south of more
honored name, and whose members have been more prominently
identified with the civic life and progress of their respective
communities, than the Herndons.  Their history in America begins
with an Englishman who settled at Fredericksburg, Virginia, many
generations ago, and his descendants have ramified in the south and
west, and made an honorable place in business and professional
lines.  William Herndon, the great-grandfather of Thomas Herndon,
was a member of the famous "Lighthorse Harry" Lee's troopers in the
Revolutionary war; his son William was a native of North Carolina,
and in this state was also born Chesley Herndon, in 1800, who lived
the life of a farmer in his native commonwealth, and died there in
1876.  His wife was Tempest Rigsby, of the Rigsby and Picket
families, both old and highly respected in North Carolina, and of
English descent; she died at the age of forty-five, after having
become the mother of ten children.
     Thomas Herndon, the only survivor of this large family, was
born in Orange county, near Durham, North Carolina.  His early life
was passed on a farm, and, as the system of public schools was then
little known in that state, his advantages were few.  At the age of
sixteen he left home to begin life for himself, and, after working
for some time in Tennessee, found himself possessed of the means and
the desire to gain further education.  He entered Oak Grove Academy,
near Clarksville, Tennessee.  Among his instructors was Professor
Edward Hewitt, and when the Civil war came on, the teacher and pupil
organized Company L, Fourteenth Tennessee Infantry, of the
Confederate army, the former becoming captain, and the latter
orderly sergeant.  The term of enlistment was for twelve months, and
at the expiration of that time, while at Yorktown, Virginia, under
the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, the company re-enlisted
for three years, or the end of the war, and at the reorganization,
Captain Mallory succeeded Captain Hewitt, and Mr. Herndon became
second lieutenant.  The regiment went into northwest Virginia, to
General Lee's immediate command, and to Stonewall Jackson in
Virginia and Maryland, thence back to Yorktown to General Johnston. 
It participated in the battles of West Point, Seven Pines, seven
days under General Lee around Richmond, and under Jackson fought at
Cedar Mountain, and in the second engagement at Bull Run Mr. Herndon
was severely wounded.  He was away from his company while it was in
Maryland, in the battles at Harper's Ferry and Antietam, but
rejoined the command at Fredericksburg, and was present at
Chancellorsville.  He was detailed as special adjutant, and acted as
such at the battle of Gettysburg.  In this world famous struggle,
owing to the disability of the other officers of Company K,
Fourteenth Tennessee, he took command and opened fire July 1, 1863,
thus opening the battle.  He and Brigadier General Archer were
captured here, and were not exchanged (though transferred) until
after the surrender of General Lee, when he was paroled at Augusta,
Georgia, to which point he had been sent.
     After the surrender of General Johnston, and the close of the
war, Mr. Herndon returned to Jordan Springs, Tennessee, and resumed
civil life as a merchant; he later purchased a farm and was engaged
in conducting that, also.  He made a success in his venture, and in
1868 sold out and went to Clarksville, Tennessee, where he engaged
in the tobacco trade, for the next twenty-five years conducting the
most extensive warehouse business in that line south of the Ohio
river.  His prosperity was uninterrupted until the panic of 1893,
and three years later he sold out his interests, and removed to Paducah,
Kentucky, which is sill his home.  In company with others,
he established in Paducah the Enterprise Warehouse, but this was
discontinued after three years, and since then the firm of Thomas
Herndon & Company has been engaged in the handling of tobacco as
warehouse merchants.  Mr. Herndon is looked upon as one of the
stanch and reliable business men of the south, and has a most
excellent reputation as a man of integrity and fair dealing in this
section of Kentucky.
     Mr. Herndon has been twice married.  In 1866 he became the
husband of Miss Sallie Dinwiddie, who died in 1880, leaving four
children.  The oldest, Jefferson Davis Herndon, after giving promise
of becoming a most successful business man, being a young man of
noble traits of character and highly esteemed, died in 1899, at the
age of thirty-two years; he left a widow, whose maiden name was
Minnie Wilhelm, and she is now a successful teacher in the public
schools of Paducah.  Minnie Herndon, the second surviving child,
became the wife of C. B. Lyle, of Clarksville, Tennessee; Miss Kate
Herndon is a teacher in an academy near Clarksville; and William
died at the age of eight years.  Three other children died in
childhood.  In 1882 Mr. Herndon married Miss Laura Coleman, who
became the mother of three children; the eldest died at the age of
three, and the other two are Frances and Chesley.  Mr. Herndon is a
Master Mason and a Knight of Pythias, belongs to the Methodist
church, and in politics is of the rank and file of the Democracy.

Herndon Rigsby Picket Hewitt Johnston Mallory Lee Jackson Archer
Dinwiddie Wilhelm Lyle Coleman
=
England VA Orange-NC TN MD GA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/mccracken/herndon.t.txt