The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887
Biographical Sketches, Shelby County
transcribed by Helen Rowland

A Surnames

William A. ALBRIGHT, a farmer by occupation, was born in Haywood County, Tenn., September 30,1838, and was the second child in a family of two sons and two daughters born to Jonathan and Mary (Marr) Albright, and is of German-Scotch descent.  The father was born in North Carolina, December 30, 1812, and moved to Haywood County, Tenn., where he married and lived until 1845, when he moved to Shelby County, and settled near the present home of our subject.  He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church the greater part of his life and died at his home April 18, 1863.  The mother was born in Virginia, October 1, 1810, and died at the homestead in Shelby County, December 1, 1861.  Our subject was raised on the farm, and has always given his time to agricultural pursuits.  He enlisted in the Confederate Army and belonged to Col. Baker’s regiment.  He was captured at Island No. 10, and taken North where he was held first, at Camp Randall, at Madison, Wis., then at Camp Douglas, at Chicago, for four months and was then exchanged at Vicksburg, Miss.  He was married at Marshall County, Miss., September 25, 1866, to Miss Sallie E. Ford, a daughter of Rev. Miles H. Ford, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and a native of Tennessee.  Eight of the nine children that were the issue of this marriage, are living.  The mother of this family was born at Oxford, Miss., June 8, 1848.  Mr. Albright is a Mason and a Democrat.  He owns 514 acres of land four miles northwest of Collierville, and raises grain and cotton, making the latter the chief market product.  Mr. and Mrs. Albright are worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  He possesses fine business qualifications, and is justly entitled to the respect and confidence accorded him by all who know him.

C. H. ALBRIGHT, agent of the Southern Express Company for Memphis, was born in Alamance County, N. C., October 9, 1846.  His parents are still living at the old homestead.  His father, John G. Albright, who is postmaster at Graham, N. C., is over seventy years of age.  Our subject received a fair English education, and at the age of fifteen enlisted as a soldier in the Confederate Army, serving under Magruder at Yorktown and in front of Richmond till after the hard fighting around that city in 1862, when he was mustered out of service on account of his youthfulness.  In 1864 he re-enlisted in Gen. Wade Hampton’s cavalry corps and served till the end, at Appomattox.  After the war he remained at home engaged in business till January, 1866, when he went to Vicksburg, Miss., where he engaged in the hotel business for two or three years, leaving it to go to merchandising, which he followed till 1871, when he sold out and entered the service of the Southern Express Company.  He has continued with that company since, filling various positions with credit to himself and profit to his company in Memphis, Jackson (Miss.), St. Louis, Mo., and just prior to assuming the duties of his present position, was route agent west of the Mississippi River.  He has been agent at Memphis about two years.  He has a family consisting of wife and two bright little boys, and lives in his own home, a beautiful cottage in a large yard, within easy reach of his office.  He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.  She was the daughter of an old Presbyterian minister of Memphis—Rev. James O. Stedman, D.D., who died several years ago.

James P. ALEXANDER, grocery and drug merchant at 380 Beale Street, Memphis, established the business in 1886.  He is the son of John D. and Emma (Pirtle) Alexander.  The father was general passenger agent for a railroad corporation.  Our subject was born and reared in Rutherford County, Tenn., and was educated at Sweet Water, E. Tenn.; also at Woodbury and Tiptonville, of the same State.  Soon after completing his education he engaged as clerk in the drug business in Tiptonville, and here continued for three years.  He then purchased the stock of his employer and remained in business at this place for four years, after which he went to Little Rock, Ark., and established a drug business there.  After a short time he sold out and came to Memphis, where he established his present business, in which he has been quite successful.  In 1880 he married Emma Whitford, daughter of A. S. Whitford, a cotton factor of Memphis.  This union resulted in the birth of three children, all of whom are living.  Mr. Alexander is a Democrat in politics, and a pleasant, social gentleman.

Rev. J. D. ANDERSON was born in Tippah County, Miss., March 22, 1852, and is the son of James Anderson, who was born in Jackson County, Tenn., in 1809, where he was raised and educated, and in 1834 moved to Mississippi, where he married Miss M. J. McGill, who was born in the year 1823, and is still living at the old homestead in Tippah County, Mississippi.  Seven sons and two daughters were born to this marriage, our subject being the fifth child.  The father was a farmer all of his life, and an old line Whig in politics, and was strongly opposed to secession, using his vote and his influence to keep his State in the Union; but when the war commenced he went with his State, and while on a trip to Louisiana to procure supplies for himself and neighbors, he contracted the disease from which he died in May, 1862.  Our subject was raised on the farm, and received his preparatory education in the common schools of the county, and afterward spent two years at the Mississippi College, then two years at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Greenville, S. C., and two years at the University of Mississippi, from which he graduated in five departments, and two years later received the honorary degree of A. M. from the Southwestern Baptist University at Jackson, Tenn.  Mr. Anderson has been in charge of the Baptist Church at Germantown for four years.  December 29, 1874, he was married at Blue Mountain, Miss., to Miss Maggie E. Lowrey, daughter of Gen. M. P. Lowrey, who held the rank of brigadier-general, under Hood, during the war.  Four daughters have blessed this marriage:  Florence Modena, Mary Rolly, Janie Sanford and Agnes Brooks.  The mother was born in Corinth, Miss., January 29, 1852.  Mr. Anderson is a Democrat, and strongly in favor of prohibition.  He is a prominent Mason.  Mrs. Anderson is a devout member of the Baptist Church.  They have a pleasant home in the central part of Germantown.  Mr. Anderson is a minister of fine ability, possessing rare oratorical power and being an unusually well read man.  He has been very earnest and very successful in his work, and has the respect and affection of all who know him.

David O. ANDREWS is a native of Mississippi, and was born June 8, 1854, and was brought by his parents to Memphis when a child, and was here reared and educated.  He first engaged in the grocery business as clerk for C. R. Ryan and finally became a member of the firm, and is now the active manager of the establishment.  February 18, 1879, he was joined in matrimony to Miss Lula Betts, of Mississippi, and by her has two living children, both daughters.  Mr. Andrews is a Democrat, a member of the K. of H. and of the I. O. O. F. and of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  The firm of C. R. Ryan & Co., wholesale and retail grocers, is composed of Frank T. Ryan and D. O. Andrews.  The business was established by the late C. R. Ryan in 1876, Mr. Andrews becoming a member in 1884, and Frank T. Ryan taking an interest in November, 1885, upon the death of C. R. Ryan.  The firm has one of the largest retail trades in the city, and employs four commercial travelers and twenty-eight men to do the business in this city.  Their trade extends over Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri.

E. M. APPERSON, senior member of the firm of E. M. Apperson & Co., first came to Memphis in 1838, and located here in 1840, selecting this place from many he had visited throughout the South.  In 1841 he formed the partnership, Allen & Apperson, which existed until 1847when he bought Allen’s interest and formed the present firm, though his associates have been often changed.  His partners have been as follows:  C. D Loach, David Adams, W. A. Jones, G. B. Rambeau, and J. D. Crigley, the latter being the present partner.  Mr. Apperson is a native of Virginia, and was born near Richmond on July 13, 1814.  At the age of ten years he was left an orphan, and went to live with a relative in North Carolina.  While living here he helped to build the first bridge over the Roanoke River and to construct the Wilmington & Welston Railroad, the third road built in the United States.  His parents were John and Susan (Morecock) Apperson, natives of Virginia and agriculturists by occupation.  The father died in 1825 and the mother in 1827; the former was of Scotch descent and the latter of English.  In 1831, our subject married Miss Susan B. Morecock, who bore her husband nine children, only three of whom are now living.  Mr. Apperson is an ex-president of the German National Bank and of the Memphis City Fire Insurance Company.  Before the competition in trade became so strong, he sold annually as high as $1,500,000 worth of goods and handled annually as high as 43,000 bales of cotton.  His annual trade is now about $200,000.  Before the war he owned as high as 300 slaves.  He is a member of the Masonic order.

T. B. ARMISTEAD, of the firm of Armistead Bros., dealers in staple and fancy groceries, dry goods, etc., is a native of Mississippi, and came to Tennessee in 1879, locating in Lauderdale County.  Here he remained till 1884, when he came to Shelby County, located in the village of Arlington, and in partnership with his brother established his present business.  Mr. Armistead received a limited country school education in the State of Mississippi.  His parents, T. R. and Drucilla (Baird) Armistead, are natives of Georgia and Alabama, respectively.  The father follows agricultural pursuits and is now a resident of De Soto County, Miss.  The mother of our subject died in August, 1886, and was well esteemed and respected by her acquaintances.  Mr. Armistead is a member of the K. of H.

Spencer F. ARMOUR, farmer of Shelby County, is a son of Arthur and Susan (Shelton) Armour.  The father was a native of Ireland, born about 1800, and came to America, settling in Mecklenburg County, N. C., where he met and married Miss Shelton.  Both passed the remainder of their days in that county tilling the soil.  Their family consisted of seven children—four sons and three daughters.  Our subject was the fifth child of this family.  He was born in Mecklenburg, N. C., May 28, 1832, and received a very limited education.  At the age of twenty-one he went to Mississippi and farmed till 1871, when he came to this county.  In 1862 he entered the Confederate service on detached duty, having volunteered five times and each time rejected on account of ill health.  He served throughout the entire war, being detailed as deputy sheriff of Rankin County, Miss., which position he held the last nine months of the war.  In 1856 he married Sarah Frances Ashley, of Mississippi, and the result of this union was seven children.  As a farmer Mr. Armour has been very successful.  When he came to Shelby County in 1871 he had nothing; now he owns 162 acres of the best land as the fruits of his own exertions.  For fifteen years he has been a resident of this county, and has succeeded in gaining the reputation of a good farmer and an honest, upright citizen.  He is a Master Mason, and his wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.  He is a Democrat in politics.

Dr. W. T. ARRINGTON, of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Weakley County, Tenn., in 1836.  There were six children in his father’s family, three living.  The parents were James H. and Mary W. Arrington, both natives of North Carolina.  The father was born in 1801, and was educated at Chapel Hill College, North Carolina, and moved to Weakley County, Tenn., at an early date, where he was a farmer and where he died in 1862.  The mother was a Miss Spruill, a daughter of Dr. Benjamin Spruill, who was an eminent physician; her mother was a Miss Blount a relative of William Blount.  Mrs. Arrington was born in December 1804, and died in 1861.  Dr. W. T. Arrington was educated in this State, then commenced the study of medicine, but afterward abandoned, it for that of dentistry, and in 1856 graduated at the Philadelphia College of Dental Surgery; he then located at Trenton, Tenn., and practiced until 1860, when he moved to Memphis.  In 1859 he married Miss Emma C., daughter of Archibald and Christiana Levy.  Mrs. Arrington is a native of Gibson County; they have two sons:  William T. and Guy.  Dr. Arrington served some time in the Confederate Army, in the quartermaster’s department, but owing to ill health was compelled to resign, and after the war returned to Memphis.  Dr. Arrington is a man of energy and perseverance, and has done a great deal for the profession in Tennessee; was one of the organizers and the first secretary of the Tennessee Dental Association, also took a prominent part in organizing the Southern States Dental Association at Atlanta, Ga., in 1868, and was unanimously elected its first president; was elected to a professorship in the Cincinnati College of Dental Surgery in 1867, which position he resigned after serving one term.  He also during that year became a member of the National Dental Association.  He is a great lover of science and devotes much of his leisure time to study and scientific research and is a man of broad and advanced views.  He served for a number of years on the public school board of Memphis, where he did much to correct abuses and bring about reform.  Having secured and retained the confidence and esteem of his community, he has every enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, commanding as he does the highest fees for his professional services.  Dr. Arrington is justly regarded as one of the leading members of the dental profession.

Miss Cora H. ASHE.  Among the prominent names in the history of North Carolina appears that of Ashe.  Samuel was a distinguished lawyer of that State, its chief justice, and finally its governor.  His son, John B., served through the Revolutionary war, reaching the position of lieutenant-colonel.  He was a member of the First Continental Congress, and later yet, governor.  Samuel P., son of John B., was a member of the North Carolina Legislature.  He came to Tennessee about 1830 and settled in Haywood County.  One of his sons, Shepherd M., married Martha Rogers, also a native of North Carolina, and this union resulted in the birth of ten children, two sons and six daughters now living.  The two sons Haywood S. and Henry M., are physicians.  Maggie L. and Annie A. are students of art in Paris, France; Cora H. follows the profession of teaching.  Having received her education in the private schools of Memphis, she began in the lower grades.  Gradually she arose from this to teacher in the high school and such was the tact and ability displayed that she was promoted in 1884 to the principalship of one of the city schools.

J. A. AUSTIN, the leading wholesale clothier of this section, is a native of Brownsville, Tenn., and a son of Robert S. and Margaret B. Austin.  Both were Virginians, but, at the time of death, residents of Brownsville, where the father had been farming with great success for some time.  The subject of this sketch served four years in the Confederate Army.  He enlisted in the Thirty-first Tennessee Infantry, of which he was promoted to the rank of adjutant.  In 1865 he went to New York, and engaged in the wholesale dry goods and woolen trade, in which line he continued until he came to Memphis.  The firm of “Grubbs & Austin” was established in 1872, in the wholesale clothing business.  In 1879 the partnership ceased to exist.  It was succeeded by J. A. Austin & Co., with our subject as sole owner and proprietor.  He carried a fine and extensive stock of clothing and furnishing goods, transacting annually about $250,000 worth of trade.  He is known and liberally patronized all through Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama.  Eight traveling salesmen are kept on the road, and about thirty hands constantly employed in the manufacture of certain lines of goods.  Mr. Austin is a gentleman of ability and enterprise, and one of Memphis’ most substantial and respected residents.  In 1871 he wedded Miss Azalia Fowler, of Memphis, with whom he had three children, all of whom are living.  The mother died in 1879, and in 1881 Mr. Austin married Miss Lillie Martin, of Mississippi, to whom one child was born, but which they had the misfortune to lose.