Principled Beginnings
Teachings of Youth.
To give a brief sketch of my history I will just say that I was born December 3, 1823, in Lauderdale Co., Alabama.
When I was quite young my father Solomon Despain and my mother Nancy (Bell) Despain2 moved to the state of Tennessee with their family,
consisting of eight children: four boys and four girls, myself being the seventh child.3
My mother died when I was quite young, and I lived with my oldest sister,4 under whose tuition I was taught good principles.