Due to the important role of Dr. W. H. Wharton played in the Restoration Movement in the South, a brief sketch of his life will in order. Dr. Wharton was born July 6, 1796, to George and Elizabeth Harris Wharton in Albermarle County, Virginia. His parents moved to Tennessee while he was a child, and received most of his early education there. He returned to his native state at the age of 15 years where he studied classical education. He studied medicine under, Dabney Wharton, and graduated in Philadelphia in 1818. In 1819 he moved to Tuscumbia, Alabama where he began his practice. On July 3 1823, he married Priscilla Dickson, the 13 year old daughter of Michael and Sene Dickson. The Whartons were the parents of four sons and five daughters. He was very active in community life. He served as editor of The Tuscumbian, a local newspaper, from October 15, 1824 to the end of 1825. He had served as the manager of the Franklin County Bible Society during 1837. He ceased his medical practice, at one time, and became a merchant, but in 1838 he resumed his practice. Upon the death of President William Henry Harrison, Dr. Wharton was requested by the citizens of Tuscumbia to present the address in the Presbyterian meeting house. The address was printed in full in the North Alabamian of May 22, 1841. As a religious leader he was a notable character. His first religious affiliation was with the Presbyterian Church of which he became an elder. He was rejected by the Presbyterians upon his immersion and was aligned with the Baptist before 1834. By June 1834, he and eleven other people were excluded from the Baptist as "Campbellites." They immediately formed themselves into "The Church of Christ at Tuscumbia." He preached from the church at Tuscumbia until 1842, at which time he moved to Nashville. He preached for the church in Nashville for several years. In January of 1844, he became one of the editors of Fanning's Christian Review. In April of the same year, he was appointed to a committee, whose job was to find a qualified candidate for college president and professorships at Franklin College. Wharton had become an elder in the church at Nashville March 19, 1843. He remained at this post until November 20, 1853. Due to his disagreement with J. B. Ferguson's "New Theology" Dr. Wharton relinquished the post he loved so dearly. He felt his influence was no longer of any benefit to the majority of members who followed Ferguson's theology. He has served as an elder in Nashville for eleven years. During the Civil War, he had been imprisoned with other religious teachers in Nashville. Prison was no stranger to him: he has been faithfully preaching to the imprisoned with him said that through the whole ordeal he remained cheerful and "was a standing reproof to his fellow prisoners." After the war, Wharton was elected to the post of Tennessee State Librarian, which office he held at the time of his death. Upon his death, all of the physicians in Nashville came together for memorial service in memory of Dr. William Henry Wharton whom they considered one of their greatest colleagues. So the city of Nashville lost one of its most prominent men, and the Restoration Movement saw one of its great men promoted to his eternal reward on May 8, 1871. -- Excerpt: Life and Legend in Muscle Shoals History Vol XI - 1986 Appendix C.

For more info and photos, go to Scott Harp's Web site at Photo courtesy of Scott Harp - http://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/tennessee/wharton.htm