Strangs Were At Top Of Cameron Hill, Their Kinsmen The Nicklins At Bottom

In the early days of Cameron Hill, the Strangs were at the top of Cameron Hill, while their kinsmen the Nicklins were at the bottom.

The Strangs, who were "of splendid Huguenot stock," went back to Joseph Strang who married Anne Haight. A direct ancestor came across to America from France hidden in an empty keg on a ship. A son of Joseph Strang, Samuel, married Catherine Bartow, daughter of Dr. Ebenezer Bartow. Their son was the first Samuel Bartow Strang. He was born in 1845 at Elmira, N.Y., where the family lived for several generations.

Samuel Bartow Strang came to Chattanooga in 1868 to help operate the Roane Iron Works. He married Frances Thornton at Fredericksburg, Va., in 1879. They met while she was visiting her sister in Chattanooga. Samuel B. Strang was a successful manufacturer and he also served as city treasurer. The Strangs attended St. Paul's Episcopal at the foot of Cameron Hill, and he was a Knight Templar. Samuel B. Strang had to retire from the business world due to a disability and he died at a relatively young age. At the time of his death he was in Colorado on a business/pleasure trip. He died of heart failure in a railroad car at Cripple Creek Station.

The Strangs were living on Cameron Hill in 1882 when a son, Samuel Bartow Strang, was born on Aug. 7. They were in a fine $20,000 home at 921 Gillespie St. by West Terrace. Started in 1879, it was across from the H. Clay Evans mansion. At the time, it was said that Strang "intends to build one of the most beautiful abodes in the city."

The Strangs sold their fine home in 1890 when D.P. Montague offered $25,000. Montague liked the fact that it had 400 feet on Gillespie (11th) Street and 200 feet on West Terrace. Montague tore down the Strang home around 1906 and replaced it with a "Moorish castle."

The Strangs then moved to the home of Dr. J.R. Fraer, who had died. It was at 50 (later 150) East Terrace. Dr. Fraer had been born in 1946 in Canada, the son of Peter and Celia Bennett Fraer. The father was from New York and the mother from Liverpool, England. The father was a manufacturer and inventor. The family lived at Lewiston, N.Y., Niagara Falls, and then Erie County, Pa. J.F. Fraer gained his medical degree and he took his practice to the South in 1870. At Chattanooga, he stood at his post during the cholera epidemic of 1873 and the yellow fever of 1878. He married Julia Williams in 1883.

The younger Samuel Bartow Strang went to Chattanooga High School, where he graduated with honors in 1899. After working briefly with the T.H. Payne Co., he entered the University of Tennessee in 1900. While in his sophomore year, he accepted an offer from his Cameron Hill neighbor, H. Clay Evans, to serve as acting pension agent at Knoxville. He graduated from the UT law school in 1904.

S. Bartow Strang first joined the Pritchard & Sizer law firm. Later, he, along with Thornton Strang, joined John S. Fletcher to form Strang & Fletcher. S. Bartow Strang was a talented civil trial lawyer who prepared thoroughly for each case. He was president of the Chattanooga Bar Association in 1922 and later was president of the Tennessee Bar Association. The John S. Fletchers lived on Howard Avenue in Ridgedale.

S. Bartow Strang was a principal agent in the receivership of First National Bank. In 1920, he was appointed to the commission in charge of dividing James County, the only county in Tennessee ever to go out of business. He was on the Erlanger Hospital Board of Trustees and served for over three terms on the Tennessee Board of Education. He taught the men's Bible class at St. Paul's Episcopal for over 30 years.

S. Bartow Strang married Alice Sharp, the third daughter of L.J. Sharp, on June 3, 1913. They had four sons - Samuel Bartow Strang IV, John Sharp Strang, F. Thornton Strang and James Maynard Strang. Attorney Strang moved his family to 220 Lindsay St. F. Thornton Strang joined his father's law firm. John Sharp Strang, who taught at McCallie School, later lived in the Lindsay Street homeplace. James Maynard Strang operated a vending machine business.

In 1908 the Strangs were still living at 150 E. Terrace, including the attorney S. Bartow Strang; his wife Alice, mother Frances and Miss Frances and Miss Minnie, who was a nurse. Several years later they had moved to 207 Vine St. Some later owners of the Fraer/Strang house on the East Terrace were Rev. Isaac Maisel, Max Pressman and Harry Polsky. The second floor was rented out in the latter years.

John Bailey Nicklin Jr. arrived in Chattanooga on Feb. 26, 1866, on the urging of his brother, Capt. Benjamin Strother Nicklin. The Nicklins were sons of John Bailey Nicklin and Catherine Thornton Pendleton Nicklin and were raised in Pennsylvania. John B. Nicklin Jr. served throughout the Civil War. The Strangs and Nicklins were allied through marriages to the Thornton family.

The Nicklin family lived for many years in a tall frame house at 516 Poplar St. It was on land that Dr. Milo Smith had bought in 1840 from the original three commissioners who sold lots after Chattanooga was laid out. The Nicklins still retained a copy of Dr. Smith's original land purchase of Lot 38. Dr. Smith lived at that location for 28 years until his death in 1868. William R. Carlile, who worked for the H. Clay Evans Co., owned the property, then J.B. Nicklin bought it in 1886. Previously, he boarded with Mrs. S.W. Nicklin on Cedar Street near Seventh, then he lived on the west side of Chestnut Street near Seventh.

J.B. Nicklin operated a drug store in Chattanooga for over 50 years. He was elected alderman and was a member of the school board for many years. He served as mayor of Chattanooga for 1887 and 1888. He was a trustee of the University of Tennessee and a leader in Masonic groups. Several times, he was president of the Southern Baseball League. He was also a coin collector and a foremost archaeologist. As soon as he arrived in town, he became involved in opening the Indian mounds on Williams Island and other sites. He had one of the finest collections of Native American relics in the South. A large part of that collection was donated to the University of Chattanooga.

John B. Nicklin Jr. married Elizabeth Kaylor on Sept. 6, 1871. Like the Strangs, they had four sons. They were Benjamin Patten Nicklin, Dwight Pendleton Nicklin, Samuel Strang Nicklin and John Bailey Calvert Nicklin. Three of the Nicklin sons marched off to fight with the Army in World War I.

John B. Nicklin Jr. died May 6, 1919, and his wife died on Aug. 2, 1925. Some of the Nicklins remained on Poplar Street in the old house until the 1930s. At one time the attorney S. Bartow Strang boarded with them there. The house was apparently taken down after the Nicklins left.

Strang Nicklin followed his father's love for baseball. He was coach for the West Point team and second baseman for Baltimore of the Eastern League. Nicklin's "splendid coaching of the Army team was a brilliant factor in the playing of the Army-Navy game when West Point won by 7-3," it was noted. From 1919-1927, he was president/owner of the Chattanooga Baseball Club. Strang Nicklin was also a talented musician, studying for a year in Paris under de Reszke. Afterward, he gave a recital for the Chattanooga Music Club at the Courthouse Auditorium.

Attorney William H. Bogle acquired the former Strang residence at 921 Gillespie St. (West 11th Street). Charles L. Loop, the Southern Express official, lived there for several years, but the house was gone by 1907.