Yesterday afternoon at half past 2 o'clock, Capt. Wm Elmore, one of the oldest conductor's on the East Tennessee system, died after a lingering illness of eighteen months.

Capt. Elmore is known throughout Tennessee as one of the best employees the road has ever had. Honest, reliable, trustworthy in every respect and faithful through thirty-seven years of hard work to the best interests of his employers, Capt. Elmore held a high position in the estimation of all who knew him. No man was better liked and his death is regretted by a very large circle of friends.

The veteran conductor was born at New Market, Jefferson County, September 6, 1829. He lived there up to the time of his removal to this city about twenty-two years ago. On June 27, 1850, he married Mary Ellen Lyle, who was also born and raised in Jefferson County, within three miles of his own home. After his marriage he lived at New Market until 1874, when he moved to Knoxville where he has lived since.

As a result of his marriage, he has a family of six, two of whom, Thomas and Nancy, are married and living in Knoxville. Maria, one of the daughters, married Wm Whitlock, April 25, 1873 and died in 1887… In 1861 he was appointed agent for the East Tennessee & Virginia road at Strawberry Plains and assistant agent at New Market. In this position he worked faithfully until 1865, when he was compelled to give up for the time on account of ill health.

In 1867 he accepted a position as baggage master from Bristol to Knoxville previous to the consolidation of the East Tennessee Virginia and East Tennessee and Georgia roads. In 1868 he took charge of a local freight between Bristol and Knoxville running an extra passenger, also between those points. For six years he held this position and by his undivided attention to business and his honest, straightforward character, there commenced a rapid promotion.

Capt. Elmore next took a regular passenger run between Bristol and Knoxville, which he held until the consolidation of the two roads mentioned above, after which he was in charge of the through passenger from Bristol to Chattanooga. He was running on this line when he was compelled to give up the work about eighteen months since on account of an complication of diseases and generally broken down constitution.

The funeral service will be held at the Broad Street M E Church at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Rev. Frank Richardson, officiating. The body will be interred in the old Gray Cemetery with Masonic rites and will be accompanied by a body guard of railroad men.

Source: The Knoxville Daily Journal, Wednesday, June 14, 1893

Transcribed by Robert McGinnis