A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans
                   Vol 5

      By Will T Hale and Dixon L Merritt  (1913)

page 1807                                                                            

Randolph F. Langford. Among the bankers and financiers of Trousdale
and surrounding counties, the name of Randolph F. Langford, cashier
of the Citizens' Bank of Hartsville, stands preeminent. He was born in
Clay county, Tennessee, August 8,1848, and is the fourth in a family
of eight children born to Irvin and Permelia (Gates) Langford, both
natives of Tennessee. Seven of these children are still living, towit:
Belle, who married Captain Smith, who served in the Confederate army
and is now deceased; Mattie, wife of W. P. Stone, also a Confederate
soldier and now living in Oklahoma; P. A., who is in the real estate
business at Gallatin, Tennessee; Randolph F., the subject of this
sketch; Jalappa, widow of Joseph McMillin, residing in the city of
Nashville ; Buenavista, widow of John Doak, residing at Lebanon,
Tennessee; and S. B., a resident of Hartsville. Irvin Langford died in
1860. He was a Democrat in his political convictions and a citizen of
influence. He was regarded as one of the best financiers in Jackson
county, Tennessee, and left a large landed estate as well as other
important business interests. Both grandfathers of Randolph F.
Langford—Stephen Langford and John Gates—were natives of North
Carolina who settled in Tennessee at an early date. Stephen Langford
located in Jackson county, where he became a large land and slave
owner, and John Gates, after living for several years in Tennessee,
went to California, where he passed the remainder of his life.

Randolph F. Langford received his elementary education in the common
schools, after which he attended the Philamoth Academy at College
Grove, Tennessee. Soon after completing his education, he embarked in
the mercantile business at Selma, Tennessee, where he remained for a
number of years. It seems that he has inherited in a marked degree the
financial traits of character of his father and grandfather, and while
in business at Selma he amassed considerable wealth. In 1890 he
removed to a farm in Trousdale county, where he resided for several
years. When the Citizens' Bank of Hartsville was proposed, he became
one of the active organizers of that institution and was elected
cashier, a position he has since held, and the duties of which he has
discharged at all times with signal ability. The bank was organized
with a capital stock of $25,000, upon which large dividends have
always been realized. The surplus and undivided profits amount to
about $3,000 and the deposits range from $75,000 to $100,000. Although
Mr. Langford inherited a comfortable start from his father's estate,
he has accumulated the greater portion of his property through his own
energy and the exercise of his fine executive ability. Throughout his
entire career his business methods have been of the most praiseworthy
character, and for every dollar he has received he has given back to
the community a fair equivalent.

Although Mr. Langford takes a commendable interest in all questions of
a public nature, and has in a quiet way been a contributor to the
success of the Democratic party in political campaigns, he has never
been a seeker for public office, preferring the certain returns of a
well conducted business enterprise to the precarious emoluments of a
political career. He is progressive and public spirited, and is always
a willing helper in any movement for the moral, social or material
advancement of the community in which he lives. His fraternal
relations are with the time-honored Masonic order and the Knights of
Pythias, and his religious views are expressed by membership in the
Christian church, to which his wife also belongs.

In May, 1887, Mr. Langford was united in marriage with Miss Susie
Bradley, whose father was for many years a successful farmer and
influential citizen of Trousdale county. Four children have come to
bless this union.: J. Madden lives upon his father's farm in Trousdale
county; Minnie V. is the wife of Elmore Hale and lives in Hartsville;
P. A. is in Nashville, and Mary T. is at home with her parents