John Meredith Bass (January 19, 1804– March 14, 1878) was an American banker, planter and Whig politician based in Nashville, Tennessee. He was active in politics in the city and region. Among his roles was serving as the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1833 to 1834, and again in 1869.
Early life John Meredith Bass was born on January 19, 1804, in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, Peter Bass,John Roderick Heller, Democracy's Lawyer: Felix Grundy of the Old Southwest, Louisiana State University Press, 2010, p. 173 was a real estate investor in Nashville. His mother was from Kentucky.
Bass was educated in the lower grades at schools in Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Nashville, and earned a law degree from Transylvania University. He was "admitted to the bar in 1830" and returned to Nashville to build a practice.
Career Bass became politically active with the Whig Party, being elected to the board of aldermen of Nashville (1831–1832). He was elected and served as mayor of Nashville (1833–1834).Nashville Public Library: Mayors of Nashville, Tennessee Additionally, he was "one of the commissioners who built the Nashville water-works."
Bass became the president of the Union Bank of Tennessee in 1837.Publications, Issues 51-55, East Tennessee Historical Society, 1983Report from the President and Cashier of the Union Bank of Tennessee, to the Tennessee Legislature, November 15, 1843 He was also the founding president of the Southern Life Insurance Company. Additionally, he owned plantations in Louisiana and Arkansas.
Bass served on the board of trustees of the Nashville Female Academy (also known as the Old Academy), and the University of Nashville. In 1869, Bass served as the "receiver" of Nashville, for which he gave a $1 million bond.
Personal life and death On January 7, 1829, Bass married Malvina Grundy, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Senator Felix Grundy and his wife Nancy.Alfred Leland Crabb, Peabody and Alfred Leland Crabb: The story of Peabody as reflected in selected writings of Alfred Leland Crabb, Williams Press, 1977, p. 186
Bass became a personal friend of wealthy slave trader John Armfield, who established a plantation in Nashville after moving from his business based in Alexandria, Virginia.Robert S. Brandt, Touring Middle Tennessee Backroads, John F. Blair Publisher, 1995, p. 383 In 1860 Bass became a stockholder in the Beersheba Springs Company and owned a cottage at Beersheba Springs, Tennessee, as did Armfield.
Bass died on March 14, 1878, in New Orleans, where he was visiting his daughter. He wife had died before him; they were both buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.
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