Babb

 The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887

Biographical Sketches, Shelby County TN

 

    B Surnames

Benjamin Babb & Co. are cotton brokers who established their business in 1881, the firm

being composed of B. Babb and Dennis Smith.  Mr. Babb, the senior member of the firm, is a

native of Virginia, and came to this city in 1844.   He is the son of John and Elizabeth

(Pope) Babb. After coming to Memphis our subject spent several years clerking for

different cotton establishments until 1859 when he was admitted as junior partner in the

firm of Harris, Hunt & Co., and has since that time directed his attention exclusively to

the brokerage business.  June 9, 1859, he married Mrs. Mary (Smith) Kennedy, of this city.

She is a member of the Catholic Church.Mr. Babb has always been a good citizen, and has

been for several years, and is still a director in the Union & Planters' Bank.

A.R. Barret & Son are merchants in the First District of Shelby County, dealing in

general merchandise, and carrying a stock of goods valued at $18,000.  The business was

first established in 1869 under the firm name of Barret & Witherington, and in 1873 A.R.

Barret purchased his partner's interest, and in 1882 took his son, J.H. Barret, as a

partner.  The firm has done an extensive business, the yearly sales having averaged

$100,000. A.R. Barret was born in Henderson County, Ky., and moved to Tipton County,

Tenn., when young, and to Shelby County in 1857.  He married Miss Rebecca Hill, a native of

Virginia. They have had five children; four of them are living. Mr. and Mrs. Barret are

active members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and he is a Mason, and in politics a

Democrat. J.H. Barret, the son, was born in Shelby County in 1860.  He was educated at

Lebanon, Tenn., and as soon as he left college went into business with his father, as

above stated.  He is a young man of fine moral character, and belongs to the Cumberland

Presbyterian Church.  He is an enthusiastic Democrat, anticipating a brilliant future for

the New South under Democratic rule.

Thomas Barrett is the vice-president and general manager, and largest stockholder of the

Citizens' Street Railroad Company, of Memphis. His parents, Edmund and M.Ford Barrett,

were natives of Ireland, but came to the United States at an early day and located at New

Orleans, where they died, his mother in 1849, and his father in 1855.  The subject of our

sketch, full of ambition and energy, went to California in 1857, where he remained until

1862, and was very successful during his five years in California. When the war broke out

he returned to the States and took the position of chief clerk in the quartermaster's

department at Baltimore, with Capt. P.T. Turnley, and afterward at St. Louis, Mo., which

position he resigned to take the office of secretary to a military commission under Gen.

P.H. Sheridan, which was appointed to examine war claims at St. Louis in 1862. When Gen.

Sheridan was assigned to other duties, Mr. Barrett resigned and removed to Memphis in

1862, where he took charge of the quartermaster's office, under Capt. H.S. Fitch, as

chief clerk, and during the time he was connected, with the quartermaster's office at

Memphis, he made a great many friends by the many acts of kindness he did in getting their

property restored to citizens from whom it was taken by the provost marshal and other

officers, and since the war he has assisted several parties to get paid for property used

by the Government during the war.  In 1863 he invested in real estate at Memphis, where he

permanently located, and has since then become closely identified with its commercial and

railroad enterprises. Politically, Mr. Barrett is a Democrat, and always has been.  He

served for a short time as councilman, and was the man who introduced in the council the

resolution to wind up the old city government so as to vacate all the offices, and make

room for the new government, known as the Taxing District.  He is considered a very

substantial, enterprising citizen, and a bold financier.  In 1876 he married Miss Maria J.

Frost, a very bright, intellectual young lady, formerly of Chicago, but who removed to

Memphis in 1871. They have three bright, promising sons, T. Frost, Hosmer J., and Dover J.

Barrett.

G.T. Bassett, secretary and treasurer of the Cole Manufacturing Company, came to Memphis

in 1857 and engaged in the lumber business until the commencement of the war.  He was

connected with Baxter & Rose.  In 186l he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth

Senior Tennessee Regiment, Confederate States Army, and served with credit until the

cessation of hostilities, when he returned to Memphis and accepted a clerkship with M.E.

and J.W. Cochran in the lumber trade, and continued until 1870 and then became agent for

the Memphis Wood-works Manufacturing Company, but quit in 1874 when that company was

burned out. January 1, 1875, he formed a partnership with C.B. Moore, under the style of

Moore, Bassett & Co., which partnership expired January 1, 1880, when a connection was

formed with the Cole Manufacturing Company, which still continues. Our subject was born

February 5, 1837, in Delaware County, N.Y., and is one of a family of fifteen children of

Cornelius and Elizabeth (Cushing) Bassett, the mother being a niece of Hon. Caleb Cushing.

They were married at Schenectady, N. Y.  The father was a participant in the battles on the

lakes during the war of 1812, and was a member of the State Legislature in 1836-37.  He

died in 1864 and lies buried in the same cemetery as Washington Irving.  The mother died

when our subject was a child.  The latter graduated at Columbia College, New York, in 1854,

and was for a short time engaged in the grain trade in the Upper Mississippi Valley. July

3, 1866, he was married to Miss Lucretia Lockwood, a native of Iowa, and to these parents

eight children have been born, one son and two daughters still living. Mr. Bassett is a

Democrat, and is a member of the F.&A.M.,K.of .P, K. of H. orders, and he and family

are members of the Episcopal Church.

George H. Battier, a citizen of Memphis, is engaged in the drug business at No. 120 Beale

Street.  The business was established by his father, R. Battier, in 1866, and the father

managed it very successfully until his death in 1883, when it passed into the hands of

George H. Battier. During the most trying times of the yellow fever epidemics the firm

were never known to leave their posts. To the marriage of R. and Alice (Donnell) Battier,

were born two children, George H. and R.C. George H. was married to Miss Mary Burton, who

was born in Memphis, and is a daughter of Andrew Burton. Three children have been born to

this marriage. Mr. Battier is a member of the A.O.U.W., Chickasaw, No. 40.  He is a

sound Democrat, and is well known throughout the city, and regarded as one of Memphis'

most correct business men.

W.D. Beard, a member of the legal firm of Beard & Clapp, is a graduate of the law school

at Lebanon, Tenn., class of 1850, and immediately after graduation began the practice of

this profession at Memphis, continuing until 1862, when he enlisted in the Confederate

service, and was placed on the staff of Gen. A.B. Stewart, where he remained for one

year, and was then transferred to the command of Gen. Jackman, of Shelby's division, and

served here until the close of the war.  He then resumed the practice of law in Memphis as

one of the firm of Wilson & Beard, but in 1879 became associated with J. W. and W. L.

Clapp, under the firm name of Clapp & Beard.  In 1885 .J. W. Clapp withdrew, and the

present firm was formed. Our subject was born at Princeton Ky., in 1835, arid remained at

home until he began the study of his profession.  In 1860 he married Miss Amelia Henderson,

of Lexington, Mo., and they have two children - R.H, and Lee. R.H. was born April 23,

1861, and upon reaching early manhood attended the Kentucky Military Institute, and the

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.  In 1885 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the

Woodruff Lumber Company of this city in which capacity he is yet serving.  He is one of the

most promising young business men of the city. (See elsewhere for a sketch of the Woodruff

Lumber Company.) Lee, the youngest son, was also educated at the Kentucky Military

Institute, and graduated in his eighteenth year. Immediately thereafter he took a position

with Fulmer, Thornton & Co., one of the leading wholesale houses of Memphis, and for

several years past has occupied the responsible place of cashier of this firm.  The father

of W.D. Beard was minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, at Princeton, Ky.,

where he resided until 1853, when he moved to Lebanon, Tenn., and became professor of

theology in the Cumberland University, continuing until his death in 1880. Rev. Dr. Beard

was a man of deep piety and profound learning, and was born in Sumner County in 1799, and

in 1834 married Miss Cynthia Castleman, a native of Davidson County, where she was born in

1806. W.D. Beard is one of the most successful and prominent members of the Memphis bar.

Julian Bedford (deceased), who was a farmer by occupation, was born in Nashville, Tenn.,

March 5, 1825, and was the third child of nine sons and three daughters, born to B.W. and

Martha A. (White) Bedford, and was of English descent.  His father was a native Virginian,

and immigrated to Tennessee.   When our subject was six years of age he moved to Fayette

County, and two years later to Panola County, Miss., where our subject was raised and

educated, afterward graduating at the Nashville University, and was a man of superior

information, well known and greatly respected in the county.   He settled in Shelby County

in 1851, and married at the present homestead August 5, 1851, Miss Virginia Kenney, a

daughter of Col. Edward Kenney, who was formerly a farmer of Virginia, but was born in

Dublin, Ireland, June 11, 1802.  He came to America when twenty-one years of age, and

settled in Virginia.  He was educated in Edinburg, Scotland, for the ministry, but not

liking the profession, in order to avoid it, he joined the English Navy.After arriving in

Virginia he taught school, and married Miss Lucy Ruffin. Mrs. Bedford, our subject's wife,

was the only issue of this marriage. Her father moved in 1830 to Hardeman County, and in

1837 to Memphis, where he went into the commission business under the firm styled Auder,

Carr, Walker & Co. He died at the present home September 25, 1857.His wife was born in

Mecklenburg County, Va., and died March 25, 1861.Our subject's family consists of two

daughters and two sons--Rosa (McDonald), Ellen, Willie H, and Julian.Mrs. Bedford was

born in Hardeman County, Tenn., January 27, 1832. Mr. Bedford was an old line Whig.  He was

opposed to secession, but went with his State. He died September 3,1879. He left his

family 1,800 acres of land, 640 acres being in the home tract, four and a half miles west

of Collierville, on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. Mr. Bedford was a man of fine

ability and sound judgment, sincere in his friendships and devoted to his family.

Hugh L. Bedford was born in Fayette County, Tenn., June 11,1836.His father was B.W.

Bedford, who was born in Mecklenburg County, Va., June 8, 1794, and when six years of age

was brought by his parents to Middle Tennessee, and settled on Stone River, where he was

raised and educated, but before he attained his majority he accepted a clerkship in

Nashville, where he married Miss M. A. Whyte, daughter of Judge Robert Whyte, who was on

the supreme bench of Tennessee for twenty-four years. After the close of the war of 1812,

he commenced merchandising in partnership with his brother, William H. Bedford--for whom

the county of Bedford, Tenn., was named--and they continued the business for several

years. On account of the cholera in Nashville in 1834, the family moved to Fayette County,

where they settled temporarily. After this they moved to Panola County, Miss., as he owned

large plantations in that State.  The last few years of his life were spent in Shelby

County, Tenn. He was a man of extensive information, sound judgment and fine business

qualifications.  A short time before his death he made arrangements to move to Florida, and

died at Tampa, Fla., while on his way to his new home, October 23, 1883. Our subject's

mother was born at Nashville, Tenn., March 4, 1804, and died in Shelby County, Tenn., May

17, 1872.Hugh L. Bedford was raised on a plantation in Mississippi, and had the finest

educational advantages. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, the Kentucky

Military institute, and from the law department of the Cumberland University at Lebanon.

 He practiced law three years in Memphis before the war, then enlisted in the Confederate

Army, and rendered valuable service in the engineer's department at Fort Donelson.During

the engagement at the above named place he was in command of the ten-inch columbiad, and

was made a prisoner of war, and was held at Johnson's Island for six months. After being

exchanged, he received a field appointment as commander of a battalion, which he held for

four months, and was then made lieutenant of artillery on ordnance duty, which was soon

followed by provisional rank of captain. He served until the close of the war, and was

surrendered at Jackson, Miss.,  in May, 1865. May 23, 1867, he was married at Grenada,

Miss., to Miss Louisa McLean, daughter of Judge Robert D. McLean.Two sons, Benjamin W.

and Hugh R., were born to this union.Mrs. Bedford was born in Granada, Miss., March 8,

1845. Mr. and Mrs. Bedford are influential members of the Presbyterian Church.Politically

he is an active and ardent Democrat, and has done a great deal for the party in his

section of the State.  He owns 1,100 acres of land, 755 acres being in the home place,

twenty miles east of Memphis.   Mr. Bedford is a man of great force of character, a lawyer

of marked ability, and a man of broad culture.

William D. Bethell--president of the State National Bank, director of the Security Bank of

Memphis, director of the Memphis Cotton Press & Storage Company, director of the Chickasaw

Cooperage Company, director of the City Oil Mills, director of the Bluff City Stove Works,

director of the Memphis Water Company, and also of several insurance companies of the

city--was born in St. Mary's Parish, La., in 1840, and is the only survivor of a family of

four children born to Pinkney C. and H.E. (Smith) Bethell, natives of North Carolina and

Mississippi, respectively.    The parents were both taken to Louisiana in childhood, and

there grew up and were married, but moved to this city when our subject was a child.  They

accumulated valuable property in this city, which at the father's death our subject

inherited.   The father was a man of more than ordinary character and capacity, and died in

February, 1884, but the mother is still living.  At the age of eight years our subject

entered the preparatory department of Baltimore College, with which institution he

remained several years.  He also attended other popular institutions of learning,

concluding with the Western Military Institute, at Nashville.  He was here when the war

broke out, and immediately enlisted and was made captain in the Twenty-Second Tennessee

Regiment, which position he retained until placed on Gen. Pillow's staff. Later he was

placed on Gen. Biffell's staff and served thus until the close of the war.  After the war

be located in Louisiana, but in 1873 moved to Maury County, Tenn., and engaged in stock

raising, agricultural pursuits, etc., continuing until 1883, when he came to Memphis, and

has since been interested with the state National Bank.  In June, 1861, he married Cynthia

S. Pillow, niece of Gen. Pillow, and daughter of Jerome B. Pillow. They have the following

children: Bessie P., wife of Dr. Foster, of New Orleans; J. Pillow, Pinkney C., Jennie W.

and William D. Mr. Bethell is a Mason and he and family are members of the Presbyterian

Church.

William A. Bickford, a pioneer citizen of Memphis, was born in Madison, Carroll Co., N.

H., June l5, 1808, and is the son of Moses and Lydia (Richards) Bickford, both natives of

New England and of English descent. Our subject was reared in his native State and was

educated at the New Hampton Institute, at New Hampton, N. H., where he studied civil

engineering and afterward taught a public school in Bridgewater, N. H., in 1829-30.  In

1833 he went to New Orleans, and was engaged in contracting and building until May, 1834,

when he came to Memphis, and continued the same occupation about seventeen years,

accumulating a handsome property, notwithstanding considerable loss during the late war.

 He is one of the most substantial citizens of the city, and his character is above

reproach.   He was one of the earliest public school visitors of the city, was trustee in

the first medical college, and vestryman of Calvary Church, and continued to serve in

these institutions for many years.   He never had any political aspirations; was formerly an

old line Whig, but since the dissolution of that party he has affiliated with the

Democratic party.  He is conservative in all things and liberal in his opinions.  In 1838 he

married Miss Louise Howland, a native of Boston, Mass. These parents have two living sons:

William A. and Henry H., the latter a practicing physician of this city.  They have been

constant attendants of Calvary Church (Episcopal) since 1844, and are now the oldest

members of that congregation living.

Henry H. Bickford, M. D., is a native of this city and a son of W. A. Bickford, a well

known pioneer citizen of Memphis.  Our subject was born September l6, 1848, and was reared

to manhood in this city.  He received his literary education in the University of Toronto,

Canada, and in 1872 entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, from

which institution he graduated in 1875.  He then entered the Jefferson Medical College of

Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1877, after which he accepted a position as resident

physician of the Protestant Episcopal Hospital of Philadelphia, and remained there until

1880.  He then received a diploma from the institution, and the same year located in St.

Louis, where he soon established a good practice, which, however, he was compelled to

abandon on account of ill health. After sojourning at different times in Colorado he came,

in the fall of 1885, to Memphis, where he has since remained, engaged in the practice of

his profession, meeting with satisfactory results.  In 1872 he married Elizabeth, daughter

of George Winchester, the well known cotton merchant of this city, and a lineal descendant

of Wm. Winchester, of Baltimore, Md., one of the original proprietors of Memphis. By this

union they have two children living. Dr. Bickford and family are members of the Episcopal

Church.

B.J. Bicknell, salesman for John E. Randle & Co., is a native of New York who emigrated

to the South in 1857, and in 1865 located in Memphis.  He was very prosperous in early

life, and at one time was engaged in a lucrative wholesale dry goods business in this

city. For the last twelve years he has directed his attention principally to machinery.

 He was twice married while in New York, his second wife dying in 1860.  In 1866 he married

Miss Thompson, of Mississippi, and this union resulted in the birth of two children. Mr.

Bicknell took an active part in the late war between the North and South, and was a

gallant soldier.  He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and also of the K, of H.

R.J. Black, cashier of the Security Bank, of Memphis, vice-president of the Memphis

Abstract Company, a member of the firm of R. J. Black & Co., real estate dealers, vice

president. of the Woodruff Lumber Company, and a director in the following boards, viz:

Mercantile Bank, Phoenix Insurance Company, the Workingmen's Building & Loan Association,

and the Memphis Bethel; is a native of Fayette County, Tenn., where he remained until his

parents removed to Haywood County prior to the late war.  He was principally educated in

Fayette County, but attended one term at New Salem Academy, in Shelby County, and one term

at a school at Olive Branch, Miss. At the commencement of the late war he enlisted in

Hill's cavalry, a company organized in Tipton County, Tenn., which became a company in

Logwood's battalion; afterward merged into and designated as Company B of the Seventh

Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, with which branch of the service be remained until the close

of the war in April, 1865, said regiment having been with Gens, W. H. Jackson, J. R.

Chalmers, E, W. Bucker and Lieut. Gen. N. B. Forrest. Soon after the war he moved from

Haywood County to Memphis, accepted a clerkship in a dry goods house, but about one year

later he received the appointment of deputy chancery court clerk and served in that

position until 1878, when he was appointed clerk and master of the chancery court,

continuing in that office until 1884, when he engaged in the real estate business in the

firm of R. J. Black & Co, and is thus connected at present.  In 1886 he was elected to his

present position in the Security Bank. Mr. Black was born November 27, 1841, and is one of

three survivors of a family of five children. His parents were William and Jane (Teas)

Black, natives of Virginia. They were married in Humphreys County, Tenn.  The mother died

in our subject's childhood, but the father is yet living in Haywood County; and is

following agricultural pursuits.  In 1869 our subject married Miss Fannie M. Somerdell, of

Tipton County, who has presented her husband with the following children: Robert J.,

Fannie M., Joseph S, and .Janie, the last one dying in infancy.

Dr. Nicholas Blackwell, is a prominent physician of Bartlett, Shelby County, Tennessee,

and is the son of Gen. Nicholas and Sarah (Baldwin) Blackwell.  The father moved to Alabama

when our subject was quite young, afterward moved to northern Mississippi, where Dr.

Blackwell attended the school in Pontotoc County (now known as Union County ), and

completed his education at Union University, at Murfreesboro, Tenn. March, 1860, he

graduated in medicine at the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, and located for

one year at New Albany, Miss., when he enlisted in the Forty-third Mississippi Regiment

under Col. Harrison, and a month afterward was made captain of the company, fighting

gallantly under this rank until the war closed.  He was in the battles of Corinth,

Franklin, Nashville, and at Atlanta was slightly wounded in the head and knee. When the

war closed, he returned to his home in Mississippi, and, though only twenty-seven years of

age, was identified with the leading citizens of his State, and was a delegate in the

State convention. December, 1865, he located in Shelby County and resumed the practice of

medicine, where he is regarded as a skillful physician, and well posted in his profession.

 He married Miss L. V. Ward, a daughter of Mr. J. P. Ward, and granddaughter of Col.

Alexander, who was one of the earliest settlers of this section of the State, and an

opponent of the renowned Davy Crockett in the race for Congress. One daughter, Miss Willie

was born to this union. Mrs. Blackwell died in January, 1870. She was a true Christian,

and a member of the Baptist Church. Dr. Blackwell is a Mason and Odd Fellow, and in

politics a Democrat.  He is a cultured gentleman and a fine physician.

George H. Blood was born in Worcester, Mass., June 11, 1822.  He is the son of Joshua and

Caroline Blood, natives of Massachusetts, and of English descent. Our subject was reared

and educated in the Empire State.  He worked for a few years in the mercantile business in

Hamilton, Ontario, but left there in 1859 and came direct to Memphis and engaged in the

wholesale and retail hardware and stove business, and conducted one of the largest

institutions of the kind in the city or the Southwest until 1873, when he engaged in the

cotton-seed oil trade here and at Pine Bluff, Ark., in which business he has since been

engaged, having met with more than ordinary success. Mr. Blood is a Republican and a

Mason, and is connected with the largest oil company in the United States.  In 1843 he

married Miss Margaret Thompson, a native of Scotland, and by her has four living children

: Henrietta, wife of E. Urquhart, vice-president of the American Oil Trust Company, of

New York; Emma A,, the wife of C. W. Schulte, of this city ; Margaret, the wife of

Frederick Heakes, manager of the oil mills at Pine Bluff, Ark., and Charlotte, wife of

William R. Moore, of Memphis.

J. P. Bone, M. D., was born in Hopkins County, Ky., in 1831.  He is the son of Andrew II

and Mary A. (Alexander) Bone.  The father was a farmer by occupation, and lived in Hopkins

County, Ky., at the time of his death, which occurred in 1857.  The mother died previous to

this in 1852. Our subject was reared on a farm, and realized but little benefit from

schools.  He was, however, very studious at home, and is a self made man. By his own

efforts he earned the means to pursue his medical studies, and entered the medical

department of the university at Louisville, Ky., in 1856, where he graduated in 1859.  He

located at Nebo, Hopkins Co., Ky., and practiced until 186l, when he enlisted in Company

B, Forrest's cavalry, as a private, serving both in the field and hospital. After the

close of the war he practiced in Fayette County for twelve years, and in 1878 came to the

village of Arlington, where he has had a large and lucrative practice up to the present

time, serving through the yellow fever epidemic in 1878.  In 1867 he married Mrs. Nettie

(Thompson) Clary, daughter of Squire George Thompson and widow; of Dr. J. W. Clary. Four

children were the fruits of this union, three daughters and one son. His son, George A.,

at the age of eighteen graduated in the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tenn.  The Doctor

is a Mason and a K. of H.

George C. Borner, dealer in staple and fancy groceries, established his business in 1868

at No. 97 1/2 Beale Street.  He was born in Memphis in 1840 and is the son of Herman G, and

Mary W. Borner.  The father is a native of Germany and came to the United States in 1837,

locating in Memphis in 1839.  He was the father of three children, of whom our subject is

the eldest.  The mother died in 1867 and the father in 1873. George C. was educated in the

city of Memphis and in 1872 was united in marriage to Mary E. Passmore, of Olney, Richland

County, Ill., who bore him eight children, six of whom are living. Mr. Borner is engaged

in business on the same lot that the house stood on in which he was born. His children

were also born on the same lot.  He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and from present

prospects expects to pass the remainder of his days in Memphis.

Thomas Van Brady was born in Huntsville, Ala., October 13, 1828. His father, Edward Brady,

was born in Halifax County, Va., and immigrated to Alabama when thirteen years of age.

After attaining his majority he married Elizabeth Van, daughter of Bryant Van, and by this

marriage had four sons and a daughter, our subject being the second child.  The father

moved to Marshall County, Miss., in 1835, where he engaged in farming, and died in 1875,

at the advanced age of eighty-eight.  The mother was born in Marshall County, Ala., and

died in Marshall County, Miss., at the age of forty-two. Thomas Van Brady was raised on a

farm and educated in the common schools. At the age of seventeen he went into the

mercantile business as a clerk at Tullahoma, with Eckles & Howze, remaining with them

three years, and was then employed by Strickland, Sanders & Co, for three years, when he

became a partner in the firm of Howze & Brady, at Wall Hill, where he continued five

years.  He was married in Marshall County, Miss., December 13, 1853, to Miss Catherine H,

Wilson, daughter of Rev. LeGrand W. Wilson, of Virginia. She was a native of Virginia, and

died April l5, 1878. Eight children were born to them; five are living. Mr. Brady was an

old line Whig, but is now an independent democrat.  He is a Royal Arch Mason of thirty-five

years standing, and a worthy member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Brady is a farmer and

mechanic, and was at one time a magistrate in Marshall County, Miss.  He has always been an

energetic man, upright in all business transactions and generous in disposition.

Eugene L. Brown, a member of the firm of Manfield & Co., wholesale druggists, was born in

Jefferson County, Ala. After attending the common schools, he finished his education at

the University of Alabama, and then engaged in the drug business in Mississippi for about

three years.  He then moved to St. Louis, and soon after to Louisville, Ky., and from 1869

to 1881 he acted as traveling salesman for R. A. Robinson & Co., one of the largest drug

firms of that city. At the close of his service there he went to Little Rock, Ark., and

engaged in the wholesale drug business under the title of Lincoln & Brown.  In 1883 he came

to Memphis, and the following year joined the firm of Manfield & Co., where he has since

continued.  In 1883 he married Annie Green, of Alabama, by whom he has one child, Eugene L.

Mr. Brown has followed mercantile pursuits all his life. His father was also a merchant,

which business he carried on in connection with farming. Our subject is a member of the

Knight Templars of Louisville Commandery, and he and wife are members of the Methodist

Episcopal Church.

M.S. Buckingham, cashier of the State National Bank, is a native of Memphis, and was born

in 1846 and has all his life resided in this city.  He was educated here and began business

life as collector for the Jackson Insurance and Banking Company, and since that time has

risen to his present position through all the intermediate steps of the banking business.

 He is well qualified for his important trust. December 29, 1876, he was united in marriage

with Miss Annie Gifford Nash, a native of New Orleans, to whom these children have been

born : Miles Gifford, Theophilus Nash and Cornelia Beckwith. Mr. Buckingham and family are

members of the Episcopal Church and he is a Democrat.  He is one of four survivors of a

family of seven children born to Henry G. and Eliza (McIntosh) Buckingham.  The father is

of the well known Buckingham family, of Connecticut; was for many years of the firm of

William C. Tompkins & Co., wholesale jobbers of dry goods in New Orleans, La.  He retired

from business some years ago on account of bad health and resides in Memphis.  The mother

was a native of Nashville, but married her husband in Memphis, and here her death occurred

in October, 1886.

Dr. R.E. Bullington, dentist, is a native of Mississippi, born September 2, 1847, and the

only child reared by D.E. and Caroline (Stubblefield) Bullington.  He received his

literary education at the Kentucky Military Institute.  In 1870 he began the study of

dentistry, and graduated from the New Orleans Dental College in 1872.  He then located at

Huntsville, Ala., where he successfully practiced his profession for one year, after which

he returned to his old home, Hernando, Miss.  He here continued the practice of dentistry

until 1885, when he came to Memphis. December 30, 1869, he married S.A. Peete, of Mason,

Tenn., and the daughter of Dr. John S. and Ann E. Peete. Seven children were result of our

subject's marriage--six daughters and one son. Since coming to this city the Doctor has

built up an extensive practice and is one of the leading dentists of the city and is

prominently connected with the Southern Dental Association.  He is a Democrat in politics,

a member of the I.O.O.F., the K.of H. and the K. f P.  He and wife are members of the

K. and L.of H., and are also members if the Baptist Church. His father was born in

Richmond, Va., about 1813 and was a dentist by profession.  He moved to Nashville, Tenn.,

about 1838, and from that city to Franklin, where he remained some time.  He then moved to

Hernando, Miss. , and here died, October 24, 1878.  The mother of our subject was born in

North Carolina, in 1829, and her earthly career ended in 1884.

Michael Burke, general superintendent of the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad, is the son

of Michael Burke, a native of Ireland, who came to Vermont when young and here married

Catherine Lane, who bore him a family of seven children, three of whom are now living.  The

father was a Democrat in politics and followed the occupation of a farmer. Both parents

lived to a good old age. Our subject was born in Crittenden County, Vt., March 24, 1834,

and received a good academic education. At the age of sixteen he served an apprenticeship

as a machinist and then was fireman on an engine a short time. From 1854 to 1861 he served

as machinist, being foreman in the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad machine shops.  In 1861

he enlisted in Company F, First Tennessee Infantry, as first lieutenant. After the battle

of Fort Donelson he was on detached railroad duty till the close of the war.  In 1865 he

came to Memphis as master mechanic of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad and in 1872 was

elected to his present position.  In 1867 he married Annie Baker, of Memphis. Mr. Burke is

a stanch Democrat and takes an active part in politics.  He and Mrs. Burke are members of

the Presbyterian Church.

C.L.Byrd & Co., the most extensive jewelry establishment in the South, dates its origin

back to 1841.  The business was established by Merriman & Clark, by whom it was conducted

for seven years. It then took the firm title of James E. Merriman & Co. About 1865 it

assumed the title of Merriman, Byrd & Co., and in 1870 Mr. W.C. Byrd, of the firm, took

charge of the business, which he successfully conducted up to the time of his death in

1874. Our subject became his successor, and the firm became C.L. Byrd & Co. C.L.Byrd is

a native of Ohio, as were also his parents, Charles and Mary Byrd. Of their family only

two sons, both residents of Memphis, are now living. Our subject came to Memphis in 1867,

and for many years was a bookkeeper.  In 1875 he married Alice Bruce, daughter of W. S.

Bruce. Mr. Byrd's establishment at Memphis is a perfect wonder in completeness of

arrangement, in magnitude and in richness of stock.