03/02/2026
The History of Knoxville Rests Here: J. Howard Karnes
James Howard Karnes was a member of one of Knoxville’s oldest and most significant families. Of German descent, the patriarch of the family, Charles Karnes, came from Virginia and settled in Knox County around 1795. He spelled his last name “Karns” but some of the later generations would go back to the proper spelling of “Karnes.” When he arrived with his family, Knoxville was just a young, small village, and East Tennessee was little more than a wilderness. He and his son, John, settled and harvested wheat where Market Square is now located and grew corn where the Cowan, McClung & Co. would later sit. Charles died in 1805 at the young age of 31 and was buried in the old McCampbell Cemetery. John settled on Tazewell Pike. It was from him the local members of this historic family sprang. John married a local girl, Sarah Gammon, and together they had 19 children, including James Claiborne Karns (who is one of the individuals covered in Volume One) and John Monroe Karnes, Howard’s father.
J. Howard Karnes was born on September 4, 1859, the first of seven children born to John Monroe and Laura Adaline McMillan Karnes. His father had served as a wagoner under Col. Joseph Cooper in Co. G of the 6th Tennessee Infantry (USA) and had become possibly the best-known farmer in North Knox County. Howard attended the local school in his community before beginning his long and successful career. He married Ida Powell on December 4, 1884, and they became parents to three children: Edith (Mrs. Hugh B.) Miller, William Howard, and Robert Houston Karnes. He is pictured here with his granddaughter, Elizabeth Miller.
Howard and Ida built their stately home, now known as Magnolia Manor, on Cedar Lane on land once owned by his grandfather, the famous Maj. James McMillan (1793-1866). The McMillans were also early settlers. Howard’s maternal great grandfather, Alexander McMillan (1749-1837), had fought in the Revolutionary War and is buried in the historic Presbyterian Cemetery in downtown Knoxville. Maj. McMillan had a large family (at least 12 children) and was one of the first family members buried in the McMillan-Karnes Cemetery, now a part of the Methodist Cemetery in Fountain Cemetery.
Major McMillan and his wife, Alice, first settled on the land where Howard built Magnolia Springs In 1842. They built a log cabin and tenant house on their 600 acres near the large spring on their property. James kept a journal from March 23, 1825, to November 11, 1866, which has been an invaluable source of historic information on events that took place in Knox County before, during, and just after the Civil War. In March of 1844, he records planting a number of cedars along the lane next to their cabin and, 177 years later, many of those trees continue to make Cedar Lane one of Fountain City’s most delightful residential streets.
Howard Karnes began his business career as a traveling salesman for Oates, White, and Company, a local harness and saddle manufacturer. Proving himself successful, he formed a partnership with W. C. Webb in 1881, and they soon employed 12 skilled workmen in the manufacture and wholesaling of saddles, bridles, harnesses, and horse collars. By 1885, Karnes had acquired sole ownership and expanded his business to occupy numbers 31-33 Market Square, and he employed 25 workers. His business covered East Tennessee and surrounding states, and he had become fairly wealthy. Besides his thriving company, he was also gaining a reputation in livestock and farming. Besides his large farm at Magnolia Manor where he lived, he also owned a splendid 850-acre bottom farm on the Clinch River, formerly known as the Gallaher farm. In 1905, he partnered with C. B. Atkin, and they purchased the Fountain Head Railway, often called the dummy line. At that time, it was one of only two dummy lines left in the country. They replaced the old steam-powered dummy line with more economical trolly cars, and the dummy line's historic run came to an end.
After 33 years in business, Howard sold out in 1918 and retired to private life. He passed away on June 8, 1932, at the age of 72 and was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery, where several other members of his generation of Karnes were laid to rest. His funeral was conducted by Rev. J. E. Wolfe in the Fountain City Methodist Church where the Karnes family had been involved for over a half-century. His wife would live in their homeplace for another 24 years before joining him in Greenwood.
