Thomas Jefferson Stump, the son of C. Hyde and Vina (Hale) Stump, was born in Cheatham County on February 18, 1870, and was educated in Cheatham and Dickson Counties. On October 27, 1895, he married Henrietta Dozier, and they had two sons. He engaged in the mercantile business for 25 years and invented and manufactured the Lively Lad weed cutter, for which he received a patent in 1925, and later the Lively Lad Bushwhacker, selling more than one-half-million in the United States and other countries. From 1898 to 1902 he served as Cheatham County sheriff. He also served as chair of the Cheatham County Board of Education and as city alderman of Ashland City. In 1937 he was appointed Mayor of Ashland City, Tennessee. He died September 10, 1946, and was interred in Ashland City's Forest Hill Cemetery.