John E. McCaskill, farmer is a native of Hardeman County, born October 24, 1837, the third of five children born to Taylor and Nancy McCaskill. The parents were natives of North Carolina, where they married in about the year 1832 and in 1835 they immigrated to Tennessee and settled in Hardeman County, where they spent the rest of their days. John E. McCaskill received a good practical education and began early in life as a farmer, and except the time spent in the Confederate Army has always made Hardeman County his home. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in Company B, Fourth Tennessee Infantry, and was received into Cheatham’s division, and participated in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, etc. He was wounded at Jonesboro, Ga., in August, 1864, and was compelled to return home, when he again resumed farming. In 1865 he purchased half of the farm where he now lives from his brother, and now owns 240 acres of good land in his county. May 1, 1866, Mr. McCaskill married Miss. Cynthia Sutton, a native of Hardeman County, born November 25, 1849. Unto this union have been born ten children — seven sons and three daughters — one son deceased. Mr. McCaskill is a Democrat, and he and wife are strict members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Source: “The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1886”