David
M. Key
Hon. David M. Key, judge of the United States District Court for the
eastern and middle divisions of Tennessee, is a native of Greene County, this
State, his birth occurring January 27, 1824. He is a son of Rev. John and
Margaret (Armitage) Key who were also natives of Greene County, their respective
deaths occurring in Monroe County, Tenn., in 1854 and 1882. The father was a
minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the year 1826 the family removed
to Monroe County where David M. was reared and educated, having graduated from
Hiwassee College in 1850. He selected the legal profession as his vocation
through life, and the same year of his graduation was admitted to the bar. For
two years he practiced law at Madisonville, then a short time at Kingston, and
in February, 1853, came to Chattanooga, which has ever since been his home.
Until the commencement of the war he practiced his profession in the firm of
Welcker & Key, then enlisting in the Forty-third Confederate Tennessee
Regiment of Infantry, served until the close of the war, and was mustered out as
lieutenant-colonel. He then resumed the practice of law in the firm of Welcker
& Key until 1868, then in the firm of Key, Eakin & Key. He was a member
of the constitutional convention of 1870, and in August of the same year was
elected chancellor of the Chattanooga division. This position he resigned in
1875, to accept the appointment of United States Senator tendered him by Gov.
Porter. In March, 1877, he was appointed Postmaster General by President
Hayes, and filled the office until August 25, 1880, when he accepted his present
position. In 1857 Mr. Key wedded Elizabeth Lenoir, a native Chattanoogan, and
to their union nine children have been born, eight of whom are yet living.
"Goodspeed's History of East Tennessee, Hamilton County." 1887