The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887
Biographical Sketches, Shelby County TN
Transcribed by Helen Rowland
R Surnames
Gilbert D. RAINE, general insurance agent of Memphis, was born in Lynchburg, Va., January 13, 1856, and is the son of the late Capt. Charles H. Raine by his marriage with Miss Mary Dixon, husband and wife being natives respectively of Virginia and Pennsylvania. The father entered the last war as a young lieutenant of artillery, was promoted to the captaincy, then to the command of the artillery of Johnson’s division of Stonewall Jackson’s aid corps, his commission as major being sent him just before his death. He was a gallant soldier, and at the time of his death was the only officer on horseback at the front. He was killed at Nine Run, succeeding the battle of Gettysburg. Our subject came to this city in 1870, finishing his education at the high schools. In 1872 he accepted a clerkship with the Hernando Insurance Company, and continued with this company six years, and then became manager of the Planters’ Fire & Marine Insurance Company. In the fall of 1885 he engaged in the insurance business on his own responsibility, and to the present has met with remarkable success, doing probably the largest insurance business of any man or firm in the South. He now represents the following well known companies: New York Life, North British & Mercantile, Westchester of New York; Union of California; Equitable, of Nashville, and Knoxville, of Knoxville. He has been a member of the Memphis Board of Fire Underwriters for eight years. In 1877 he was united in marriage with Miss Julia Woodward of this city, and to this union there are two living children—a son and a daughter. Mr. Raine is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the Episcopal Church.
C. H. RAINE, cashier of the Mercantile Bank, is a native of Lynchburg, Va., and was born December 11, 1857, and educated in prominent eastern institutions and in the schools of Memphis. He came to this city in the autumn of 1870, and after attending school three years clerked in a store for a short time and then did a collection business for a sewing machine company. In 1873 he became connected with the Phoenix Insurance Company, but in 1875 became collector of the Bank of Commerce, filling afterward the positions of individual bookkeeper, general-bookkeeper and teller. Upon the organization of the Mercantile Bank, April 18, 1883, he accepted the cashiership, and is thus serving at present. Mr. Raine is a Democrat, and is a member of the Episcopal Church. His father was a native of Virginia, and his mother of Pennsylvania. They were married at Lynchburg, Va., and resided there until the commencement of the war, when they moved to Appomattox, C.H. The father was major of artillery November, 1863, when killed at Nine Run. (See sketch of Gilbert D. Raine.)
Richard J. RAWLINGS was born at Jackson, Tenn., March 17, 1845, and was a son of John Rawlings, of Alabama, who moved to Mississippi when a young man, and settled at Jackson, where he engaged in merchandising until 1837, when he moved to Jackson, Tenn., and in 1848 to Memphis. He was married at Jackson, Tenn., to Miss Sarah J. Hays, daughter of Col. Stokely Hays, who was a soldier of the war of 1812, and participated in the battle of New Orleans. She was born in Jackson, Tenn. The father continued the mercantile business for some time in Memphis, then was extensively engaged in the manufacture of bricks, and supplied nearly the entire demand during the rapid growth of Memphis before the war. He died at his home in Memphis in 1860. Our subject was but three years old when his parents moved to Memphis, where he was raised and educated, and was at La Grange College when the war broke out. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in the Second Tennessee Infantry under Col. Walker, but was transferred to the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Senior Regiment, and participated in the battles of Belmont, Mo., and Richmond, Ky.; after the last battle he was captured and held as a prisoner at Frankfort, Ky., but was finally moved to Memphis and given the privilege of the city. When Forrest advanced he was ordered to take arms in defense of the city, but escaped and joined Forrest’s cavalry. After this he was at the battle of Brice’s Cross Roads, Harrisburg and various other battles, and after serving through the entire war was surrendered at Gainesville, Ala. His two brothers, Stokely and James S., were in the Confederate Army. The former died after the battle of Shiloh; the latter went through the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and the Georgia campaign, from Dalton to Atlanta. Mr. Rawlings was married at Memphis, June 16, 1873, to Miss Sarah F. Venable, daughter of Joseph Venable, a native of Kentucky and merchant and manufacturer of Memphis. He was born at St. Joseph, Mo., January 28, 1847. Their children were named Adelia, John H., Mary, Richard J. and George Venable. Mr. Rawlings has been in the mercantile and lumber business, and also connected with the oil-mill in Memphis, and has been very successful. He owns 900 acres of land, thirty-seven acres in the home place on Poplar Boulevard, four miles east of Memphis. He is a man of sound judgement, generous impulses and undeviating honesty.
S. P. READ, cashier of the Union & Planters’ Bank, was born in Nelson County, Ky., in 1831, and was educated at St. Joseph College, Bardstown, Ky. He came to Tennessee in 1849 and to Memphis in 1857, and engaged in the cotton and commission business, continuing until 1862, and then embarked in the dry goods trade. He remained thus engaged until he became connected with the organization of the People’s Insurance Company, and of this he was made secretary. He served thus until the organization of the Union & Planters’ Bank, September 1, 1869, since which date he has been its cashier. His honesty and powers of observation eminently fit him for the duties of this responsible position. He is one of three surviving children of a family of four born to the marriage of William Read and Ann Bealmear. The father was born in Kentucky and the mother in Maryland. They were married in Nelson County, Ky., and followed agricultural pursuits until the father’s death in 1841. The mother afterward married William Ritchie, and is still residing in that county. In 1852 our subject married Miss Susay Hay, a native of Brownsville, Tenn., who has presented her husband with four sons and three daughters, of whom the following are still living: Myra B., Samuel P., Theodore, Pearl and Sidney. Mr. Read is a Democrat, and is a member of the orders F. & A.M. and K. of H.
James REILLY is a native of Dublin, Ireland, and was born in June, 1838. He came to the United States in 1853, and to Memphis in 1856. He was residing in Mississippi when the war broke out, and enlisted in the Fourteenth Mississippi Regiment and served three years in the Confederate service. After the war he located in Memphis, engaged in mercantile pursuits, but in 1866 accepted a position as deputy county court clerk of Shelby County, and in 1870 was elected county court clerk and served two terms of four years each. He served one year as public administrator, but resigned and organized the Brinkley Oil Company, of Arkansas, and was its president five years. In December, 1885, he became a member of his present firm. In 1859 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Fenton, who has presented her husband with five sons and seven daughters. Mr. Reilly is a Democrat, a member of the Catholic Church, and is president of Branch 35, C.K. of A.
A. RENKERT, a prominent druggist of 215 Main Street, Memphis, Tenn.,
is a native of Germany. He came to America in 1846, and located at Buffalo, N.Y. Three years later he moved to Ohio, and in 1852 settled in Memphis, where he has since resided. The first six years after his arrival in Memphis he filled clerkships in H.F. Farnsworth & Co.’s drug stores, ad in 1860 embarked in that line of business on his own responsibility, which he has since followed at the corner of Cain and Market Streets, and without forming a partnership. He located at his present place of business in 1881. He has been quite successful, and by his close attention to affairs and courtesy to patrons has established a substantial and profitable trade. He is highly esteemed in the city, and is a director in the Arlington Insurance Company and the Manhattan Savings & Trust Company Bank. He is also an eminent member of the I.O.O.F. In 1860 he married Elizabeth Lambreth, to whom one child was born, who died in infancy. The mother passed away in 1861. In 1863 Mr. Renkert wedded Ottelia Handwerker, with whom he had a family of many children. Mrs. Renkert died December, 1883, and in 1884 he was united in marriage to Emma Heintz, of New Orleans, a daughter of Rev. Heintz. The parents of our subject, Christian and Anna M. (Bushmiller) Renkert, came to America the same year in which our subject came. The father died in Ohio. The mother is still living in Crawford County, Ohio. Our subject’s eldest son, Alfred F., has lately graduated from the Memphis Medical College.
Miss Annie C. REUDELHUBER. In the early part of the nineteenth century John D. and Evelyn M. (Wilhelm) Reudelhuber, who were born, reared and married in the Rhine Provinces, Germany, immigrated to the hospitable shores of America and settled in New Orleans, La. Five children were born unto them—three sons and two daughters. They then moved to Memphis, Tenn., where their children were educated in the Memphis city schools. The parents were baptized in infancy as Lutherans, but attended the First Presbyterian Church, in which their children were trained and became members. The family is noted as possessing many sterling qualities of head and heart. One of the sons, popularly known as Capt. J. S. Reudelhuber, was quite a military genius, and served in the light artillery at the age of seventeen in the late war. The daughters are the only survivors, the father having passed away in 1872 and the mother in 1881. The eldest daughter, a product of the public schools, engaged in teaching at the age of fifteen years, and step by step has been promoted, until to-day she is the principal of the largest school in Memphis, and ranks second to none in ability. Her sister, Miss Pauline, also graduated in the Memphis city schools with the first honors, and is now principal of the Merrill School. Both have distinguished themselves not only as efficient imparters of knowledge, but as able disciplinarians.
William H. ROBINSON, attorney at law, is a native of Memphis and was born in 1858. He was educated at Washington-Lee University, Virginia, where he graduated in 1876, after which he spent three years in Europe completing and polishing his education. He returned in 1879 and studied law at Ann Arbor, Mich., and was admitted to the bar in 1881 in this city, and has risen steadily in the ranks of his profession. He is now a director of, and the attorney for, the Bluff City Stove Works. He is yet unmarried. His parents were John B. and Bettie (daughter of Burchette Douglass) Robinson, the father being a native of Kentucky and the mother of Tennessee. The father came to Memphis in 1845, and was for several years secretary of the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad, and became identified with various other enterprises of the city. He was a useful and prominent man and died October 8, 1885. He was one of the pioneer merchants of this city.
John ROPER is a native of northern Ireland, and was born in August, 1843. He was reared to manhood in his native country and in 1864 came to the United States and the following year came to Memphis and engaged in the retail grocery business with his brother James, and a year or so later they merged their business into the wholesale trade and conducted it successfully until the death of James of yellow fever in 1878. Since that time Mr. Roper has been prominently connected with the success of the firm. For the last six years he has given much attention to the cotton business, and is among the heavy dealers of the city. He is a Democrat, a member of the K. of H. and the C.K. of A., and himself and family are Catholics. January 13, 1863, he married Miss Sarah McCarty, of Ireland, and by her has four sons and one daughter living.
Anthony ROSS, mechanical engineer, draughtsman and paymaster of the engineer’s department of the Memphis Taxing District, was born in Mayence, Germany, July 9, 1822, and was reared and educated in his native country, securing a thorough knowledge of the classics, and mastering the art of mechanical engineering. He followed this profession in his native country until 1848, when he came to the United States, and in 1851 came to the city of Memphis and accepted a situation as machinist. In 1856 he became draughtsman and store-keeper for the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, continuing until 1875, being master mechanic at Memphis for the last three years. The shops of the company were built here in 1856 under the superintendence of Mr. Ross. In 1875 he engaged in mercantile pursuits in this city, and in 1880 became time-keeper of the sewer department of this taxing district. Two years ago he was made superintendent of sewers, draughtsman and paymaster of the engineers’ department, which responsible positions he yet holds to the satisfaction of the public. In 1863 he built the Brierfield (Ala.) rolling-mill, sixty-two miles north of Selma, of which he was in charge until his return to Memphis in 1865. In 1850 Mr. Ross married Mrs. Anne R. Jacobs, a native of Maryland. Mr. Ross is independent in his political views, is a member of the K. of H., and himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Maj. Frank W. ROYSTER was born in Goochland County, near Richmond, Va., August 12, 1816, and is a son of David and Elizabeth (Sampson) Royster, both parents being natives of the same county. Frank W. grew to mature years in his native State and was there educated. In April, 1838, the father with his family, including our subject, reached Memphis and located on his plantation in this county, which was settled in 1825-26, and upon the same resided until his death, February 22, 1843. He was well advanced in years, and had served in the Revolutionary war as a soldier. Our subject early engaged in the mercantile business in this city, and continued the same until the war. During the first year of the war he served in the State ordnance department at Memphis, and later at Columbus, Miss., and Selma, Ala., continuing in the same department until the close of the war. From 1865 until the present he has been engaged in the real estate business in this city. April 23, 1849, he married Miss Helen Lake, of this vicinity, who presented her husband with eight children, four of whom are yet living, one son, William B., in partnership with his father, and three daughters, still residents of the State. He is one of the original members of the Old Folks Society of Shelby County, is a Democrat in politics, himself and family all members of the Episcopal Church.
Capt. C. B. RUSSELL. The Memphis & Cincinnati Packet Company was organized in 1884 as successors to the Memphis & Ohio River Packet Company. They own four steamers carrying yearly over 20,000 tons from this city—the “De Soto,” the “Buckeye State,” the “Ohio” and the “Granite State.” To represent them as passenger and freight agent at Memphis they have placed Capt. C. B. Russell, a native of West Virginia, born May 19, 1847. His parents, J. Thornton and Octavia (Wells) Russell, were both natives of Virginia. The father was owner and master of a vessel, being among the first who ran steamers. Their family consisted of four children—two sons and two daughters. Our subject was educated at a college in Wheeling, W. Va., and when twenty years of age began as second clerk on a steamer. From that he arose to first clerk and finally to master of a vessel and continued in the latter capacity about eight years. In 1884 he was appointed to his present position, which he has filled ably ever since.
George W. RUTLAND, merchant and farmer, was born near Raleigh, Shelby Co., Tenn., February 9, 1852, and is a son of William C. Rutland, who was born near Huntsville, Ala., and immigrated to Tennessee in 1840, settling near Germantown, Shelby County; two years later he went to Memphis and entered his father'’ store as clerk. He was married near Germantown to Miss Lydia A. Graham, a daughter of Joseph Graham, who was a brother of Gov. Graham of North Carolina, and one of the organizers of Shelby County, Tenn. The father followed farming from the date of his marriage until the close of the war. He was in the Confederate Army for a short time during the war. After the war he went into the mercantile business in Memphis, under the firm name of Taylor, Gay & Rutland, grocers and cotton dealers. Mr. Gay soon withdrew and the firm was Taylor & Rutland until 1873, and in 1879 Mr. Rutland went into business at Little Rock, Ark., under the firm name of W.A. Ober & Co. After the dissolution of this firm he engaged in cotton buying until his death at Little Rock in January, 1881. The mother was born near Memphis and is still living at Buntyn. Geo. W. Rutland was raised in Shelby County and received a collegiate education, having graduated at Macon Masonic College, June, 1869. He spent nine years clerking for Eckerly Bros., merchants at Memphis, but for three years has been in business for himself at Buntyn. He was married near White's Station, October 10, 1879, to Miss Euzelia M. Buntyn, daughter of Dr. G.O. Buntyn, a prominent and well known citizen. George W. and Euzelia were the children born to this marriage. The mother was born in Shelby County, August 6, 1854. Mr. Rutland is a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He owns thirty acres of land near Buntyn Station. He is developing fine business capacity and has a genial, social disposition.
George RUTSCHMAN, retail liquor dealer, whose establishment is situated at 172 Poplar Street, is a native of Kentucky, born in the city of Louisville. He came to Memphis in 1849, and in 1861 enlisted in the Confederate Army, Seventh Tennessee Regiment, under Gen. N.B. Forrest. He displayed so much bravery and skill during many of the hard-fought battles, that in 1863 he was promoted to the rank of adjutant-general, which office he filled with honor and credit till the termination of the war. He received a wound in the right hip at the battle of Shiloh, which rendered him unfit for service for about three months. The ball was never extracted. In 1866 he returned to Memphis and engaged as clerk in a dry goods store at that place, where he remained about eight years. He then began business for himself, and although he endured many hardships during the war, and has passed through many since, he is always found at his place of business, attentive and considerate of the wants of his customers. October 2, 1877, he married Frederika Welsh, of this city. She is a native of Germany, and by marriage became the mother of three children, two now living.