The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887
Biographical Sketches, Shelby County

F Surnames

J.T. Fargason, senior member of the firm of J. T. Fargason & Co., wholesale grocers and cotton factors, 369 Front Street, Memphis, came to this city in 1879, and established his present business in 1863, under the firm name of Fargason & Clay. The latter firm did business until 1875, when the present firm was established with our subject, C. C. Hein, R. A. Parker, E. L. Woodson and other members. They have an annual wholesale grocery trade of about $1,200,000, and in addition handle about 30,000 bales of cotton annually. Mr. Fargason was born in Alabama, in 1835, and was reared and educated in Chambers County, of that State.  In 1859 he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Marsh, a native of New Jersey, who has borne her husband four children, all of whom are living. His parents were Thomas H. and Mary (Stanley) Fargason, who were natives of Georgia, and were agriculturalists. The mother died in 1855 and the father in 1865. Our subject is a director of the Bank of Commerce and of the Citizens' Street Railway, and is a member of the F. & A. M., K. of H. and A. O. U. W. orders.

H.C. Fisher, superintendent of the Southwestern Division of the Southern Express Company, was born in Nashville, May 11, 1842, and entered the employ of the Southern Express Company of that city in 1865 as check clerk.  He was subsequently agent at Hopkinsville, Ky., route agent with headquarters at Guthrie, Ky., assistant superintendent, with headquarters at Nashville, and was made superintendent in 1878, with headquarters at Memphis. About fourteen years ago, Supt. Fisher suggested and aided very materially in developing the present extensive fruit-growing in the State, and the influence of his efforts has been felt throughout the entire State, proving a blessing to the farmers and a corresponding advantage to the company he represents.  He  is highly esteemed, both as a citizen and as an official.

John M. Fleming, was born in Laurens County, S. C.,  January 17, 1818, and was the son of James Fleming, who was born in 1772, in Ireland, and was but three years old when his parents brought him to America; he was reared in South Carolina, where he married Miss Nancy McClintock, a native of South Carolina. Our subject and a brother, Samuel C., who died November 23, 1838, were the only issue of this marriage.  The father was a farmer, and died December 4, 1837. T he mother died in South Carolina, November 24, 1838. John M. Fleming was married in his native State September 8, 1840, to Miss Eliza Moseley; they have had one son and a daughter, Nancy M., born July 18, 1841, and Samuel T., born February 20, 1844; the daughter married J. Boyce Farley, and died May 4, 1866. Mrs. Fleming was born in South Carolina, January 19, 1820, and died May 25, 1860, and our subject was married June 2, 1864, to Mrs. Fannie A. Goode, and she died July 5, 1865; and December 10, 1867, he married Mrs. A. B. Sullivan; no children were born to either of the last two marriages.  The son, Samuel T., left school at eighteen years of age and enlisted in the Confederate Army, in the Thirty-fourth Mississippi Infantry, under Col. Samuel Benton, and was in the battles at Perryville, Ky., Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain, and was captured at the latter place and held as a prisoner of war for sixteen months at Rock Island, Ill., and was released March 13, 1865. Mr. Fleming is a Democrat, a Mason, and a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church; he owns 400 acres of land three and a half miles southwest of Colliersville.   He is highly esteemed by all who know him.

Ford & Lemaster, real estate and rental agents, is composed of J.N. Ford and N.F. Lemaster, who established their present business in September, 1886. They already have a profitable and rapidly growing business. Nathaniel F. Lemaster, was born in Shelby County, Tenn., February 13, 1836, and is the son of James S. and Penelope P. (Field) Lemaster, both parents being natives of Kentucky. The father, a successful planter, came to this county in 1831, and here resided until his death in 1874. Our subject grew up in this county and finished his education at Hanover College, Ind., and at Center College, Danville, Ky. October 21, 1857, he married Miss Olivia Rawlings, and located on a plantation in this county, in the Twelfth District, which he still owns and on which he resided until 1883.  He then removed to Memphis and accepted a position as bookkeeper for a lumber company and served thus and otherwise until he engaged in his present business.  He was deputy county trustee two years under Mr. Rawlings, and for the same length of time under Mr. McGowan.  He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife died in June, 1883, leaving three children--two sons and one daughter.

Col. R. Dudley Frayser, president of The Security Bank of Memphis, of the Memphis City Railway Company, and of the Memphis Abstract Company, besides being a director in a number of other corporations, is a member of the law firm of Frayser & Scruggs; was born in this city and was educated here at the public schools and at the Kentucky Military Institute, from which last institution he graduated, delivering the valedictory address.  In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, Thirty-seventh Tennessee Confederate Regiment as a private, but was soon promoted adjutant and then lieutenant-colonel, which rank he held until the cessation of hostilities, and was senior field officer in command of the brigade at the surrender in North Carolina in 1865.  He returned home after the surrender and began reading law with Judge R. J. Morgan, and was admitted to the Memphis bar in 1866, and began the practice as a member of the firm of Morgan & Frayser, which was afterward changed to Morgan, Jarnagin & Frayser by the admission to the firm of Col. Milton P. Jarnagin, Esq., and in 1880 the present firm was formed. Our subject is one of six survivors of a family of eight children born to the marriage of Dr. John R. Frayser and Miss Pauline Brown. The father was a native of Virginia and the mother of Mississippi. They came to Memphis in 1835 and were here married. The father was a graduate of the Philadelphia Medical College in the class of 1835, and has since practiced his profession in this city, being one of the oldest resident physicians of the city.  In 1867 our subject was united in marriage to Miss Mary Lane, a native of this city and daughter of Fletcher Lane, formerly a prominent merchant here. By her he has the following children: Pauline, Florence and R. Dudley.  He is a member of the orders, F.&A.M.,K, of H.,A.O.U.F. and I.O.U.F., in the latter order, being president of the general relief committee and ex-Grand Master of Tennessee.  The firm of Frayser & Scruggs commands a fine practice. They are the retained attorneys for a number of banks and other corporations. Col. Frayser is regarded as a man of keen and shrewd judgment as a financier, and whatever he goes into generally prospers and comes out gilt-edged.  In politics he is a Democrat and in the wrangle about the State debt he was a zealous "sky blue."

J.A. Fry, a merchant at Memphis, engaged in the grocery business, including fancy and family groceries and liquors, at  136 Poplar Street, corner Fourth, established the business in February, 1884. Mr.Fry is a native of Mississippi, and is a son of Calvin and Emily (Hickey) Fry.  The father was a native of Alabama and the mother of Tennessee.  The father died in 1883 and the mother is now living in California. Our subject moved to Memphis in 1879 and was at first engaged as traveling salesman and was afterward employed by the express company.  He was married in 1876 to Miss Lucy Watkins, of Mississippi. They have had five children, but only two are now living. Mr. Fry has shown judgment and enterprise in the management of his business and has a liberal patronage.

Fulmer, Thornton & Co., wholesale grocers, cotton factors and commission merchants, No. 306 Front Street, Memphis, is composed of J. J. Thornton and J. W. Fulmer, who succeeded Sledge, McKay & Co., in 1878, and have conducted a large and growing business since, and have the highest commercial standing. They carry a choice and full line of goods pertaining to the wholesale grocery trade, and find market throughout Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. They do a large cotton business, being among the heaviest dealers in the city. No business firm of the city stands higher in the estimation of the trading public, and no firm of the city possesses greater claim to the confidence of all. Mr. Fulmer, of the firm, is a director in the State National Bank, Memphis National Bank, the Factors' Fire Insurance Company and the Factors' Mutual Insurance Company of Memphis, Tenn.  He is also a large land owner in the rich valley of the Mississippi River in the State of Mississippi.