USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume II > Part 10
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St. John's Episcopal church, the oldest church with one excep- tion in Virginia, both having been members of that faith, as had been their ancestors. In politics, the father was an "Old Line Whig." Richard D., one of their four children, was born Oct. 7, 1844. He was educated at Hampton Military institute, which institution he entered when but a boy. At the time the war broke out he was but seventeen years of age, but, young as he was, he opposed the thought of secession until the last mo-
ment. When Virginia seceded, however, he cast his fortunes with his state, and in April, 1861, enlisted in Company G, First Virginia infantry, as a private, and served until the close of the war. This regiment was assigned to General Longstreet's brigade, which was the nucleus of Pickett's division, and with this division he continued to the end of hostilities. He was severely wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, in May, 1862, being disabled for six months; was also wounded at Gettysburg. and again at Five Forks, March 31, 1865, where he was cap- tured and sent to Pt. Lookout, being held until the following June. During his term of service, young Jordan partici- pated in the engagements at Bull Run and Manassas, in July, 1861; Seven Pines, where he was wounded in the left thigh. sent to Richmond, and later to relatives in Henrico and Ruth- erford counties, with whom he remained until the following November, when he rejoined his command; Fredericksburg. Va .; Suffolk, Va .; Gettysburg, on the last day, July 3, where Pickett's division was so depleted that it went into winter quarters between Taylorsville and Hanover Junction, and here remained until the spring of 1864; Plymouth, S. C., after which the division was recalled to the defense of Richmond and Petersburg; Drewry's Bluff, Va .; Bermuda Hundreds, Dinwiddie Court House and Five Forks. On being discharged. in June, 1865, he returned to Hampton, to find his home destroyed and most of his old friends gone. With nothing but his old uniform and a one-dollar greenback, he went to Balti- more, where he secured a position in a wholesale chinaware house, as clerk, remaining until March, 1866, reading law at night. From there he went to Shelby county, Tenn., where he spent two years as principal teacher in the Raleigh academy.
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still reading law in his spare moments. He then became a student in the law office of Pike & Adams, at Memphis, and later with Beecher & Belcher-all able men. In June, 1869, he was admitted to practice. Soon after his admittance, he be- came a member of the firm of Randolph, Hammond & Jordan. the firm continuing for eight years. Since that time Mr. Jordan has practiced alone, with a marked degree of success. In January, 1883, he was elected county attorney of Shelby county, and was re-elected six times, retiring voluntarily to resume his law practice. On Jan. 1, 1894, he was again elected county attorney for two years; was elected a member of the school board of Memphis in 1881, and in January, 1885, was made president of the board, serving as such until 1892; was appointed referee in bankruptcy by Judge Eli S. Hammond, Dec. 1, 1898, and has frequently been sent as a delegate to Democratic judicial and congressional conventions. Mr. Jor- dan is looked upon as a man of sound judgment, and this has led to his selection for the various responsible positions which he has held. As county attorney, he distinguished himself by the able manner in which he conducted the case of Exstein Norton, in the supreme court of the United States, where. opposed by some of the ablest lawyers of New York, he won his case and saved to Shelby county nearly $190,000. An ardent friend and champion of the public schools, he brought to his duties on the board excellent training and devoted much of his time to the development of the school system of Mem- phis. Mr. Jordan is a member of the Episcopal church. and was for years a vestryman of Grace Episcopal church, in Meni- phis. On Sept. 3, 1872, he was married to Bettie Crawford. daughter of Erasmus S. and Elvira A. Crawford, formerly of Vicksburg. Miss., but for many years residents of Memphis. They have three daughters and a son-Louisa, Laura, Elwin and Richard D.
JOHN M. STEEN, attorney, of Memphis, Tenn., was born on a plantation in Rankin county, Miss., in 1860. He received his primary education there in the local schools, and in 1885 graduated from the University of Mississippi, at Ox-
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ford. He taught as adjunct professor in the university for the following year, and at the end of that time he was elected superintendent of the city schools at West Point, Miss., where he remained for two years. He then entered the law school at Lebanon. Tenn., and graduated with the class of 1887. Shortly afterward he settled in Memphis, and engaged in the practice of the law. Mr. Steen is at the present time the legal representative for several corporations. He was for two years assistant attorney for Shelby county, and has served on the Memphis board of education. He takes some interest in politics, and has been a delegate to several state conventions. He has large planting interests in Arkansas.
FRANK P. POSTON, one of the attorneys of Memphis. Tenn., was born in that city on April 2, 1859. He received his primary education in the public schools of the county, and at the early age of sixteen years be- came a law clerk in the office of Humes & Poston, studying law. and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-two years. Afterward he be- came a member of the firm of Poston & Poston, General Humes retiring. This partnership continued until 1891, when the senior partner, David H. Poston, died. Since that date Mr. Poston has prac- ticed alone. In politics, he is a Democrat, and he takes an active part in affairs of moment in which that party engages. He was a delegate to the gubernatorial convention which nomi- nated Gov. Peter Turney for his second term, and was a dele- gate to the state judicial convention of 1886. While doing a general practice, Mr. Poston has devoted himself to corpo- ration law, making a specialty of railroad and insurance law, and is a director in and counsel for the Memphis & Chatta- nooga railway and counsel for the Memphis & Charleston Railway Company, the Southern Railway Company, the Northern Alabama Railway Company, the Provident Savings
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Life Assurance society, of New York, the Memphis Asphalt and Paving Company, the W. E. McGhee Grocery Company. and other corporations. He belongs to the Central Methodist church, of which he is chairman of the board of trustees.
BENJAMIN F. BERRY, senior member of the law firm of Berry & Roberts, Memphis, Tenn., was born at Delmar, Ala., in 1865, and re- mained there until fourteen years of age, when, impatient of the quietness of life in that place, he ran away from home. He came to Memphis with a determination to make his own way, found employment as collector for a furniture firm the next day after reaching the city, and remained with this firm the greater part of the time for the next eight years. During a part of that time he attended night school. and then read law at night for two years, working in the daytime. He afterward attended high school at Godfrey, Ala .. for nine months of each year for three years, putting in the remaining three months teaching in Winston county, of that state. In 1888 he graduated from the high school, returned to Memphis and to his old position with the Empire Furniture Company, the firm with which he had been employed before he went to Godfrey. He remained with this firm for five years more. studying law at night during the last two years of the time. In September, 1897. he went to Lebanon, Tenn., where he entered the law department of Cumberland university, and graduated in June, 1898. He was admitted to the bar the same year, and opened a law office in Memphis, where he remains. The first month he did not take in a cent, and the next month his fees aggregated $18. From that time he has steadily ad- vanced, until now he has a fine practice. Mr. Berry does not mix in politics. He is a Master Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Improved Order of Red Men.
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DANIEL EMMET MYERS, a member of the Memphis bar, is a native of Kentucky, having been born 4 near Brookville, Bracken county, Feb. 7, 1842. After attending the schools of that section until sixteen years of age, he went to Transylvania univer- sity, at Lexington, Ky., but left in 1859, without graduating, and went to Bourbon county, where he taught for eight months in the Perrin semi- nary, at Paris. He then studied lan- guages and rhetoric for one term-ten months-at Millers- burg seminary, Millersburg, Ky., and read law during the time. Returning to Paris, he resumed teaching, and at the same time read law with Garrett Davitt. At the termination of the school term, in 1861, he was admitted to the practice of law by the supreme court. In the early summer of 1862 he enlisted at Lexington, Ky., in Company F, Col. Howard Smith's regiment, and was made first lieutenant of the com- pany. After the battle of Murfreesboro, in December, 1862, he was appointed by Gen. Abe Buford as the commanding officer of a company of scouts attached to the brigade, with the rank of captain, and was engaged in that capacity until General Buford was transferred to the department of the Mis- sissippi, in 1863. Near Bradyville, Tenn., in 1863, he re- ceived a wound in the foot and was sent to Rome, Ga., where he remained over a month in the hospital. On leaving Rome. he rejoined his command at Vicksburg as aide-de-camp on General Buford's staff. This was just before the fall of that place, and he accompanied Buford on the retreat before Sher- man into Demopolis, Ala. The brigade commanded by Buford was mounted at this point, and Buford was given command of the second division of Forrest's cavalry, Captain Myers be- ing made inspector-general of the division with the rank of major, and continued as such officer until the surrender, when he held a captain's commission, though acting as major. Dur- ing his term of service Captain Myers was engaged at Rich-
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mond; all the fights that occurred in Bragg's retreat; at Mur- freesboro, in December, 1862, and January, 1863; the various fights up to Baker's Creek and on the retreat to Demopolis, Ala .; the first and second fights at Paducah, Ky .; commanded the expedition which demanded the surrender of Columbus. Ky .; was at Brice's Crossroads (or Guntown) and at Harris- burg. At the time of the surrender he was at Columbus, Miss., on sick leave. Leaving Columbus, soon after the surrender. Captain Myers went to Bloomington, Ill., and remained there from the fall of 1865 until the following spring, in the law office of Adlai Stevenson, who afterward became vice-president of the United States. In the spring of 1866 he went to Mem- phis and commenced the practice of law, which he has fol- lowed there ever since. He has kept out of politics as much as possible; is a member of the Episcopal church; belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and to the Knights of Pythias.
GUSTON T. FITZHUGH, attorney, of Memphis, Tenn .. was born in Smith county, Miss., Aug. 31, 1866. Soon after his birth his parents removed to Rankin county, in that state, where they lived until Guston was nine years of age. At that time the father, L. T. Fitzhugh, became a professor in the University of Mississippi, at Oxford, and there the son was educated, graduating in 1886, with the degree of B. A. and the first honor of his class, and in 1889 from the law depart- ment. In the meantime, his father had become president of a female college at Brookhaven, Miss., and the son had taught two years there previous to passing through the law school. Going to Memphis, the young lawyer became associated with the late Judge Calvin F. Vance, attorney of the Illinois Cen- tral railroad. This association continued until 1891, when he formed a partnership with James H. Watson, which was dis- solved in 1901, and since that time Mr. Fitzhugh has practiced alone. He takes great interest in Democratic politics, has been delegate to various state and judicial conventions, and as one of the managers of the campaign of Thomas B. Turley for United States senator, in 1899, he won distinction as a political
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strategist and organizer. In 1898 he was one of the com- mittee that waited on Governor Taylor to urge Turley's appoint- ment to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Isham G. Harris. On two occasions he was an active supporter of E. W. Carmack-once when that gentleman was a candidate for Congress, in 1896, and again when he made the race for the United States senate, in 1901. Mr. Fitzhugh is counsel for the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad Com- pany, the Mutual Life Insurance Company, of New York; the Gulf Compress Company, of Memphis, and the Tennessee Trust Company. He is director and attorney for the Memphis News Publishing Company, and a director in the Tennessee Trust Company. In 1898 he raised Company L, Fourth Tennessee infantry, and was made its captain. For four months the com- pany was in camp at Knoxville, but got no farther, the war being ended before it became necessary to call out the regi- ment. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
ARTHUR S. BUCHANAN, of Memphis, Tenn., a prom- inent member of the bar of that city, was born on a planta- tion in DeSoto county, Miss., in 1856. He lived there and attended school until he was twenty years of age. In 1878-79 he took the law course at the University of Mississippi, at Oxford, graduating in the latter year. In January, 1880, he began the practice of law at Hernando, Miss., where he re- mained until 1887, when he removed to Memphis. Here he soon forged his way, by patient industry and native talent, to a place among the foremost attorneys, winning fame as a counselor and advocate, and a handsome income from his large clientage. While in Hernando, he was elected to the legislature of Mississippi, serving one term. He represented the Illinois Central Railroad Company there for years. He is interested in the mining interests of the South, and is a stock- holder and secretary of the Buffalo Creek Coal Mining Com- pany, of Hopkins county, Ky. Mr. Buchanan is a member of the Baptist church.
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MILES SHERMAN BUCKING- HAM, president of the State National bank, of Memphis, Tenn., is a native of that city, and a son of the late Henry G. Buckingham. He secured his education in the public and private schools of Memphis, and in 1864 en- tered the employ of the Jackson In- surance and Banking Company, as collector. When the State National bank was organized. in 1873, he was made teller of that institution. He remained with the bank from that time, being advanced suc- cessively to the offices of assistant cashier, cashier and presi- dent, having been chosen for the last-named place, the highest within the gift of the directors, in January, 1897. Mr. Buck- ingham has grown with the bank and is part and parcel of it. Constant and unwavering devotion to its interests and steady application to business long ago won for him not only the substantial rewards following such a course in life, but the confidence and esteem of the citizens generally. In 1900 he was made treasurer of the Memphis school board. Col. James A. Malone, a prominent attorney of Memphis, says: "Al- though Mr. Buckingham is qualified for the responsible and difficuit duties of a banker by an education in all the details of banking from actual service. commencing at the very bot- tom and climbing to the very top, it is not solely by his train- ing that he has achieved his great success. He is a wonderful judge of men, and this has enabled him to grasp any business proposition almost intuitively, so that his instant decision has proven almost unerring. The fact that the State National bank, under his administration, has grown to be one of the foremost. if not the foremost bank in Memphis. shows his great capacity as a financier. Mr. Buckingham has not only mental and business capacity of the highest order, but by natural tempera- ment is of the most congenial disposition. When to these qualifications is added the unbounded confidence of all his fel- low-citizers in his integrity, it is easily understood why he
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has so often been selected as the custodian of large sums of money for distribution in large deals, and the reason is also plain why he has so often been selected as executor or trus- tee where large estates and trusts are to be administered. He is a tireless worker; no task, however great or complicated, can in any way daunt his energy, and it takes him but a short time to bring order out of chaos, however hopeless the busi- ness transactions may appear at first sight. Though of a most companionable and congenial disposition, loving his family and friends and enjoying their society, at the same time he takes such an interest in his business affairs that he really enjoys his every-day work as though it was mere recreation."
LUCIUS T. M. CANADA, attorney, of Memphis, Tenn., was born on a farm in Fayette county, of that state, in 1861. He remained there until sixteen years of age, attending the common schools, and then went to Jackson, Tenn., where he attended the Southwest Baptist university, from which insti- tution he was graduated in the class of 1883, with the degree of M. A. He taught for a year in his alma mater, and for two years in Tennessee and Arkansas, studying law during the latter period as opportunities offered. He then went to Lebanon, Tenn., in 1887, where he completed his law course in the short space of five months. He was admitted to the bar the same year, and located in Memphis. In 1895 he was elected to the state senate, from Shelby county, and in 1897 was re-elected. He has been a delegate to state conventions on several occasions, and was at one time chairman of the executive board of the Shelby county executive committee. He is a mem- ber of the Baptist church. a Blue Lodge Mason and a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Greek-letter college fraternity.
KENNEDY JONES. M. D., one of the most eminent physi- cians of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Nashville, that state, and in early youth went to Arkansas. Later he lived in Column- bia, Tenn., where he attended school, and graduated from the University of the South, at Sewanee, in 1879. Going to Mem- phis. he studied medicine under Dr. Heber Jones, and attended
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the Memphis Hospital Medical college. After the completion of his studies there, he followed the example of his preceptor, and went abroad to learn what he could of his profession in the hospitals and from the eminent specialists of foreign lands. He took a course under Dr. M. Mackenzie, studied at Paris, Berlin, Vienna and other places on the continent, and on his return commenced practice in Memphis, where he remains. At the present time, he is laryngologist of the City hospital, and formerly held that position in St. Joseph's hospital. He is a member of the American and Tri-State Medical associations, the Shelby County Medical society, and belongs to the Epis- copal church.
CYRUS M. STEWART, M. D., a successful and popular physician of Memphis, Tenn., and superintendent of the Poor and Insane asylum, of Shelby county, was born in Gibson county, Tenn., Nov. 1, 1832. He lived there until 1845, when his parents moved to a farm in Shelby county, where he grew to manhood. He attended New Salem academy, in that county, adding to the education gained in the common schools, and graduated from the Eclectic Medical institute, of Cincinnati, in 1860. Locating at Stewartsville, in Shelby county, he prac- ticed until May, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Com- pany E. Twelfth Tennessee cavalry. He was soon afterward elected second lieutenant of the company, and served as such for about two years. In September, 1864. he was commis- sioned as captain of Company H, of the same regiment, which was at that time consolidated with Forrest's old regiment, and continued as such officer until the close of the war. He sur- rendered with his regiment at Gainesville, Ala., in the spring of 1865. Captain Stewart was in the following fights : Athens, Ala., Sulphur Trestle and Middle Tennessee raid fights. as well as many minor affairs, in which he bore himself in
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such a manner as to win the approval of his superior officers. At the conclusion of the war, he returned to Shelby county, Tenn., and commenced picking up the broken threads of what had been a successful practice. In 1882 he took a course in the Memphis Hospital Medical college, and further prepared himself for work in his profession. In 1889 he removed to Memphis, opened an office in that city, and with the acquaint- ance gained during the preceding years, he soon gained a practice. The following year he was appointed to his present position, and has continued to hold it with an excellent record. Doctor Stewart is a Royal Arch Mason, belongs to the Tri- State Medical society, and is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He also belongs to the Confederate Historical society and to the United Confederate Veterans.
JAMES A. OMBERG, JR., city engineer of Memphis. Tenn., is one of the successful young men who claim that city as a birthplace. He was born there May 16, 1876; was edu- cated in the public schools of the city and at Vanderbilt uni- versity, at Nashville, where he received the degree of C. E. He commenced the practice of his profession in his native city. and in October. 1902. was appointed to his present position by the board of fire and police commissioners. He belongs to the Memphis Engineering society, and is an associate mem- ber of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Mr. Omberg is a member of the Episcopal church, and belongs to the Kappa Alpha college fraternity. His father, James A. Omberg, was born at Lawrenceville. Ga., in 1839. His paternal ancestors came from Norway, early last century, and settled in Georgia, while his maternal ancestors came from the North of Ireland. during the eighteenth century, and settled in South Carolina. His father was prepared for a university course, but instead of entering a university he took a position as clerk in the Bank of Chattanooga, of which his uncle, William Fulton, was the cashier. He was then but fifteen years of age. The bank soon after formed a connection with the Bank of Memphis, and Mr. Omberg was made receiving teller of the consolidated bank. While still a young man he became teller of the Commercial
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bank, of Memphis. When the war broke out, he enlisted in the Confederate army, and served until the close of hostilities. On the return of peace, he resumed his position as teller, but the bank soon after failed, and he was appointed receiver to wind up its affairs. This he did in a way that was highly satis- factory to the stockholders and depositors of the bank, as well as to the court which appointed him. On the organization of the Union and Planters' bank, in 1869, he was made teller, and continued as such for ten years, when he resigned to be- come cashier of the Bank of Commerce, which position he still holds. His native ability, sharpened by the experience acquired in the positions which he has held during these years, enables him to discriminate successfully and satisfactorily administer the affairs of the bank with which he is engaged. In 1867 he was married to Miss Eliza Graham, of Memphis. They have one daughter and three sons.
LEM BANKS, member of the legal firm of Myers, Banks & Apper- son, of Memphis, Tenn., comes from Mississippi, like many of the success- ful young professional men of Mem- phis. He was born at Love Station, DeSoto county, Miss., March 16, 1870. His earlier education was gained there, and was supplemented by a course at Webb's school, Bell- buckle, Tenn., and in the literary and law departments of Vanderbilt uni- versity, from which he graduated in 1892. Selecting Mem- phis as a promising field, he opened an office there, and has since practiced in that city. In 1894 he formed a partnership with Col. D. E. Myers, and the following year John W. Ap- person came into the firm. It is successful, giving attention to all lines of legal business, and has a large clientage. Mir. Banks, although interested in the success of the Democratic party, does not take an active part in politics, nor does he be- long to any order. He is vice-president of the American
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Savings Bank and Trust Company and president of the Banks Grocery Company and the Planters Cotton Company, of Mem- phis.
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