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

    L Surnames

Spence H. LAMB, secretary and treasurer of the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad, is a son of Isaac N. and Sidney G. (Hall) Lamb.  The father was born in Camden County, N.C., in 1796 and received a good classical education.  The mother was a native of the same State, born in 1810.  To their union were born five children, of whom only two are now living.  By profession the father was a lawyer, and both he and wife were members of the Episcopal Church.  He died in 1831 and she in 1843.  Our subject was born November 8, 1823, in Elizabeth City, N.C., and is of English and Scotch descent.  He attended Washington College, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1845.  The following year he embarked in the book business in Memphis, where he continued till the war.  During that time he was secretary to Col. Minor Meriweather, and in 1866 he was chosen secretary and treasurer of the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad, which position he has filled ably every since.  In 1849 he married Estelle Avery, a native of Hardeman County, by whom he had eight children, five now living.  Both he and wife are Episcopalians.  Mr. Lamb has been elected successively each year for twenty years, and though the road has changed hands three times such has been the satisfaction he has given as an official that they were unwilling to dispense with his services.  He is a member of the K. of H., the R.A. and the A.L. of H.

Judge T. J. LATHAM is the son of Edmund P. Latham, a prominent and wealthy citizen of Weakley County, Tenn.  He received a thorough education, closing his collegiate course at the Western Military Institute.  His political proclivities developed when quite young.  Before attaining his majority he was on the county electoral ticket, and on each subsequent one till the late war.  He began the study of law in Dresden, Tenn., in 1857 and practiced there eight years, when he moved to Memphis, where in 1861 he had married Miss Wooldridge.  He was appointed register in bankruptcy for his congressional district, and in 1867 entered upon the discharge of his laborious duties.  In 1870 he was the choice of the conservative party of Shelby County as its candidate for Congress, but immovably declined the use of his name before the nominating convention.  He gave up his practice in 1872, desiring a more active life, and was elected president of the Memphis Wood Works, which was a prosperous and well known institution at the time of its destruction by fire.  He was appointed by Judge Baxter as receiver, when Memphis became so deeply involved, in which position he served with highest credit.  He has been president of the Memphis Water Company since 1880, and director in the State National Bank since its organization; vice-president of the Clara Conway Institute, in which he is much interested, and of which Memphis is so justly proud.  The Judge was a Union Whig previous to the war.  He was violently opposed to disfranchisement, and severed his connection from the body of the Union men, and presided over the first conservative convention in West Tennessee after the war.  Since 1868 he has taken no active part in politics.  The Judge is an even-tempered, genial, courteous gentleman who is highly esteemed by all.

A. G. LAXTON, a merchant at Kerrville, Shelby Co., Tenn., dealer in general merchandise, was born in Scott County, Mo., May 13, 1819.  His father, John Laxton, died when he was between two and three years old.  The mother then married George Sullivan, and they moved to Madison County, Tenn.  Our subject was raised in Lexington, Tenn., where he was educated and learned the tailor’s trade.  In 1840 he went to Texas and engaged in merchant tailoring.  In May, 1841, he returned to Tipton County, Tenn., and continued the same business for eight years, when he sold out and purchased a farm on Hatchie River, in the same county, and remained on it for twelve years.  In 1857 he sold this farm and bought one near Indian Creek, where he lived eight years.  He then bought part of the Nelson farm in Tipton County, which is about a mile and a half from Kerrville.  Mr. Laxton lived three years here, and made sorghum on a large scale.  In 1870 he engaged in brick-making, and furnished nearly the entire section with bricks to build chimneys, and in 1873 built the first brick dwelling-house in Tipton County.  It is three stories high, and he made all of the shingles with which it was covered.  Mr. Laxton lived at this place twenty-one years.  December, 1886, he sold it and bought a stock of goods and commenced business at Kerrville.  He was married in December, 1843, to Miss Amanda Turnage, daughter of Isaac Turnage, a farmer of Tipton County.  Six of the nine children born to the marriage are living.  Mr. Laxton is a Democrat.  He has been a very energetic man, and is respected for his many excellent qualities.

James LEE, Jr., vice-president of the First National Bank, and of the Taxing District of Memphis, came to this city in 1858, and located here permanently in 1860.  He practiced law with Valentine & Lee; Chambers, Lee & Warinner, and Lee & Warinner, but gave up the law in 1877, to manage the Lee line of steamers, of which line he is president and principal owner.  Mr. Lee was born in Stewart County, Tenn., March 8, 1832, and graduated at Princeton, N.J., in 1853, and then practiced law at Dover, Stewart County, until his interests drew him to Memphis.  His father, James Lee, was a native of Sumner County, but moved to Stewart County, and there married Miss Peninah Lucinda Gibson, who died in 1853.  The father, an old retired boatman, is yet living in this city.  In 1858 our subject married Miss Rowena Rayliss, a native of Montgomery County, Tenn., and by her has a family of ten children.  The family are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

T. L. LEE.  In 1882 the Louisville & Nashville Railroad conceived the idea of placing the St. Bernard coal of Kentucky on the market at Memphis.  Previous to this but little coal had been brought here by railroads, therefore the price was very fluctuating and detrimental to manufacturing.  Their movement has done much to assist this branch of industry and to reduce the price of coal for domestic purposes.  They now handle over one and a half million bushels yearly.  At the head of this gigantic business stands Mr. T. L. Lee, who has been formerly engaged in the same business at Paducah, Ky.  He is a native of the Hoosier State, born in 1836 and the son of James C. and Elizabeth (Christman) Lee, natives of Kentucky.  They reared a family of ten children—five sons and five daughters.  Three of their boys were boat builders, though the father was a hatter by trade.  The father and mother are both dead.  Our subject’s educational advantages were rather limited, but by his own efforts he succeeded in taking a complete course in Jones’ Commercial College at St. Louis.  At the age of sixteen he began to work at boat building, which occupation he followed for seven years.  From 1859 to 1881 he was interested in wharf boats and packet lines, and in 1882 he took his present position.  In 1859 he married Adelia N., daughter of Capt. J. W. Mills, and this marriage resulted in the birth of nine children, seven of whom are now living.

LEMMON & Gale are prominent wholesale dry goods merchants of Memphis, the firm being composed of Henry T. Lemmon and Tom Gale.  They established their business in 1856 and by close and enterprising attention to their interests have steadily grown to their present large profitable proportions.  In 1878 they built their present large and commodious structure at 326 and 328 Main Street, and here they carry on a large and valuable trade over a large section of country, employing traveling men to sustain their wide business interests.  They are one of the most substantial, reliable and enterprising business houses of the city.

Capt. Joseph LENOW, a well known pioneer citizen of Memphis, was born in Southampton County, Va., December 24, 1813, and is the son of Henry and Frances (Hough) Lenow, natives respectively of Berlin, Prussia, and Southampton County, Va.  Joseph passed his youth in his native county and was there educated.  In 1837 he came to Tennessee and located at Hickory Withe, Fayette County, where he followed mercantile pursuits until 1848, when he came to Memphis and began dealing in real estate rather extensively.  In 1852 he was instrumental in establishing Elmwood Cemetery, with which he has been connected ever since; he has been its president for almost the last thirty years.  When the war broke out between the United States and Mexico, he enlisted and commanded Company A, Tennessee Regiment of Cavalry.  He is an unswerving Democrat, but takes no active part in politics.  He was president of the Bank of Tennessee during its existence, and was a director of the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad for ten or twelve years.  He is one of the most enterprising and public-spirited citizens of the State.  January 9, 1845, he was united in marriage with Miss Frances C. Broome, a native of Halifax County, N.C., and to the parents six children were born, three now living as follows: Lizzie A., the wife of Judge W. W. McDowell; Henry J., of the State National Bank of Memphis; Jessie L., wife of Hiram A. Partee, of Fort Smith, Ark.

LILLY Carriage Company was incorporated in 1882 as a stock company, the officers being W. S. Bruse, president; B. B. Rodgers, secretary; James Bruse, treasurer, and Owen Lilly, superintendent and manager.  This manufactory is located at 325, 327 and 329 Second Street, and consists of a two-story brick building, 75x150 feet in dimensions.  This company employs about forty skilled workmen and makes a specialty of fine carriages, landeaus, phaetons, buggies, etc., their annual sales amounting to $75,000.  Mr. Lilly, the superintendent and manager of this business, is a native of Ireland, who was born in 1837 and who came to the United States in 1855, locating in Memphis.  He served his apprenticeship at the carriage business until twenty-one years of age.  In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate service, and was put on detail duty in the manufacturing department where he remained till the close of the war.  He then returned to this city and, in partnership with his brother, engaged in the family grocery business, which he continued for three years.  He then engaged in the carriage business which he has continued up to the present time, having consolidated with W. S. Bruse & Co. in 1882.  In November, 1866, he married Kate O’Conor, of this city, who bore him six children, one of whom died in 1884.

Very Rev. Father M. D. LILLY, pastor of St. Peter’s Church of Memphis, was born in County Fermagh, Ireland, where he received his rudimentary education.  After coming to America he located in Memphis in 1851, and for a time kept books in a mercantile house.  From this city he went to Perry County, Ohio and attended St. Joseph’s Dominican Convent, where he prepared himself for the ministry.  In 1865 he returned to Memphis and had charge of St. Peter’s Church until 1868, when he was called to New York City to take charge of Ferrer Church, remaining there until 1886, when he returned to his present pastorate.  He has seen the country almost ruined by political upheavals, but has ever pressed forward with the banner of his church unfurled.

A. S. LIVERMORE, president of the Livermore Foundry & Machine Company, is a native of Kentucky and came to Memphis in 1862, since which date he has been recognized as one of the city’s most enterprising and progressive business men.  He was superintendent of the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad for nine years prior to 1871, and from that date until 1874 was superintendent of the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad.  Since the latter date he has been connected with the foundry and manufacturing interests of Memphis.  Isaac Phelan conducted the old Memphis foundry from about 1856 to 1860, when it was purchased by Wat. Bradford, who in 1864 was succeeded by Cubbins & Gunn, the latter firm in 1877 being succeeded by Gunn & Fagan.  In 1881 the entire concern was purchased by the present company, which began with a capital stock of $60,000, and has now a surplus of $12,000.  In March, 1886, the company purchased the iron and railway supply depot on Second Street.  About one hundred hands are employed, and an annual business of about $225,000 is done.  The other officers of the company are H. A. Tatum, secretary and treasurer; Phil. Pidgeon, manager iron and railway supply depot, and R. M. Leech, general agent.  Mr. Livermore has a family of five children, his wife being a native of Louisiana.

Col. Robert F. LOONEY is a native of Maury County, Tenn., where he passed the first quarter of a century of his life, and where he studied law under Hon. Edmund Dillahunty, and later practiced that profession in that city for six years.  In 1852 he removed to Memphis and continued the practice until the breaking out of the war.  He at first favored unity and peace, but finally went with his State, and was among the most active in this city in raising troops for the Confederate service.  He soon afterward raised the Thirty-eighth Tennessee Regiment in this city and county and became its colonel.  He moved with his command to Chattanooga, thence to Knoxville and thence joined the army of Gen. A. S. Johnston at Corinth, and was soon after engaged in the great Confederate victory at Shiloh.  In a brilliant charge in this great battle, his regiment, led by himself, swept through the hottest of the fight and captured 1,000 prisoners.  He is one of the most useful and prominent citizens of the “Volunteer State.”

C. L. LOOP, recently appointed general auditor of the Southern Express Company, was born in Indiana in 1844, and is a son of a physician.  Left an orphan in early childhood, he apprenticed himself to a druggist.  In 1855 he was appointed agent of the Adams Express Company at Carlisle, Ind., at a salary of $5 per month.  In 1860 Mr. Loop was given a run as messenger on the Illinois Central Railroad, and soon after acted as agent at Cairo, Ill.  He was subsequently employed in the Cincinnati office learning all the work of the various departments under W. H. Waters, office cashier; D. F. Raymond, freight clerk, etc., and was for a time in the office of Mr. Joseph H. Rhodes, then the able cashier and auditor of the Western Division of the Adams Express Company, now the well known capitalist of Cincinnati.  Mr. Loop was afterward sent to St. Louis, and in 1862 was detailed by manager Gaither to go to Memphis, where he filled the position of cashier until December, 1865, during which time he had charge of all the accounting to the general office at Cincinnati, of all the business in the military subdivisions in charge of the late Charles Woodward.  A the conclusion of the war the Adams Express Company retired from Memphis and the Southern Express Company resumed the business.  In March, 1866, that company appointed Mr. Loop cashier and auditor of its Western Department, embracing the lines west of Chattanooga and Montgomery, Ala.  These positions Mr. Loop has filled continuously until October 1, 1886, when he was appointed general auditor.  Since 1869 Mr. Loop has also been secretary and treasurer of the Texas Express Company.  He is a man of remarkable abilities as an expressman and is universally liked.  He is held in particularly high esteem by the general management of the Southern Express Company.

E. LOWENSTEIN & Bros., importers and dealers in dry goods and notions.  In 1858 this firm established a retail store under the I.O.O.F. Hall, and three years later they moved to the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets, where they have an immense, choice stock and an extensive trade, both wholesale and retail.  They are patronized by at least a dozen States in the Union.  From twelve to fifteen traveling salesmen are employed, and about 250 assistants in the store.  E. Lowenstein is a director of the Bank of Commerce and the Memphis National Bank; also of the Pioneer Cotton Mills and Factor Insurance Company.  He is one of the most able business men in the section, and highly esteemed where ever he is known.  By application to his financial affairs and courtesy to patrons he has risen to affluence.  He is a native of Germany and came to America in 1854, locating in Memphis.  The brothers came in 1857.  January 20, 1864, Mr. Lowenstein married Miss Bobeth Wolf, by whom he has a family of six children.  His parents, Leopold Lowenstein and Sarah (Barn) Lowenstein, were natives of Germany, where they died in 1846 and 1869 respectively.

A. B. LURRY, a merchant at Bartlett, Tenn., carrying a large stock of general merchandise, was born in Shelby County, Tenn., in 1850, and is a son of Thomas and Sallie (Allen) Lurry.  The parents were natives of North Carolina and Tennessee.  The father was a farmer and died in 1854, in Arkansas, and left a large estate.  A. B. Lurry was raised and educated in Shelby County, acquiring most of his education from actual business experience.  When quite young he commenced farming.  In 1871 he accepted a position as clerk at Allenton, Tenn., and remained there until 1878, when he formed a partnership with W. D. Galloway and purchased the stock from his employers, and under the firm name of Lurry & Galloway, continued the business two years.  In 1880 the firm built a new house, and one year later Mr. Lurry sold his interest and bought a farm, giving his attention to farming until 1883, when he purchased a stock of goods and began merchandising at Abernathy, Tenn., four miles south of Bartlett, and managed a farm in connection with the store for two years.  January, 1887, he bought the store-house and farm he had been renting, the latter being a very noted and valuable place.  He married Miss Mary L. Robins, of Shelby County, and has had three children, two now living.  Mr. Lurry is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and his wife of the Methodist.  In politics he is a Democrat.  He stands well as a correct and enterprising business man, and has the confidence and friendship of all who know him.

John LYNCH, farmer and mill owner of Shelby County, was born in Walker County, Ala., and is now about fifty-three years of age.  He is the only one living of three sons and a daughter born to G. B. and Polly (McGlathery) Lynch, and is of Irish-Scotch descent.  The father was formerly from East Tennessee, but settled in Morgan County, Ala., in 1825, soon after moving to Walker County.  In the early military service of the State, in transferring the Cherokee Indians from northern Alabama to the Indian Territory, he held the rank of captain and rendered efficient service.  He was a farmer and died away from home when our subject was quite small.  The mother was a native of East Tennessee and died when he was but four years old, and was buried on the summit of one of the highest hills in that section, overlooking the Jasper road.  John Lynch was raised in Memphis.  Being an orphan he had few advantages for obtaining an education.  When seventeen years of age he was employed by the Memphis & Charleston Railroad as fireman of a locomotive.  When nineteen or twenty he became an engineer and served the road over fifteen years, winning the confidence and esteem of the company, and being regarded as a practical and faithful employee.  January 20, 1856, he married in Colliersville, Tenn., Miss A. J. Ramsey, daughter of R. W. Ramsey, a carpenter and farmer.  The children born to this marriage were: Joseph F. (deceased), Lillie E. and Mary Irene.  The mother was born in Williamson County, Tenn., in 1838.  In politics Mr. Lynch is neutral, though he usually votes with the Democratic party.  He is a Mason, belonging to the Chapter, Blue Lodge and Council; also a member of the K. of H. and the A.O.U.W., and with his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South.  By good management and integrity he has succeeded so well in business as to place his family in comfortable circumstances.  His business is in Colliersville, where he owns a steam grist and saw-mill, and a cotton-gin, and owns near the place 180 acres of land.  He has served his town as alderman and as mayor, and has been identified with the progress and interests of the place.