USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume II > Part 19
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engineer, becoming a partner in the Memphis Machine Works in 1889. A year later he was chosen president of the com- pany, and has stood at the head of the concern ever since. Under his administration of affairs the business of the com- pany has been extended every year, until at the present time it is one of the best-known manufacturing establishments in the South. Mr. Smith's maxim has always been to never turn out a poor piece of work when a little more labor and a little more pains will turn out a piece of first-class work. This policy of the company and the high standard of their goods are responsible for the high position the works occupy in the com- mercial world. Mr. Smith is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, being a Master Mason in good standing, and is also a member of the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoos. In the industrial life of Memphis he is a member of the Business Men's club, and is always willing to participate in any move- ment to bring greater prosperity to the city. In religious mat- ters, he is a consistent member of the First Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is one of the stewards.
WALTER GOODMAN, president of the Woods-Chickasaw Company, of Memphis, Tenn., is a native of Huntsville, Ala., where he was born, June 7, 1860. At the close of the war his parents removed to Memphis, and there he grew to manhood, receiving his primary education in the public schools and later taking one year at the University of Virginia, at Charlottes- ville. From the university he came back to Memphis and entered the employ of Oliver, Finnie & Co., wholesale grocers. with whom he remained for several years. He then took service with the old-established house of Stewart, Gwynne & Co., cotton factors, and later established the firm of Walter Goodman & Co., in the same line. Becoming interested in the Dixie Elec- tro-Magnet Company, he disposed of his interest in the firm of Walter Goodman & Co., to accept the presidency of the Dixie Electro-Magnet Company, a position which he still holds. In 1903 he was made president of the Woods-Chickasaw Com- pany, in which he was a stockholder. Besides his interests in the city of Memphis, he owns plantations in both Tennessee
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and Mississippi, and ranks among the leading cotton producers of the country. Mr. Goodman is a born business man. He is quick to grasp a situation and equally quick to offer a solution. A prominent banker of Memphis, in speaking of Mr. Goodman. said: "He is everything as a citizen and a business man that can be desired-thoroughly honest and reliable-and never seeks to advance his own interests to the injury or at the expense of others." Mr. Goodman is a member of the Menasha Outing club, and is the junior warden of Calvary Episcopal church.
THOMAS L. DAVIS, of the firm of Davis & Andrews, grain dealers, etc., of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Shelby county, Tenn., July 10, 1863. After the usual primary education obtainable in the public schools, he went to a business college in Mem- phis, where he took a complete course, thus equipping himself for all the ordinary emergencies of a commercial life. In 1883 he came to Memphis and engaged with Hill, Fontaine & Co., cotton factors. and remained with them until 1890, when he went with the Moulton-Davis Company, grain dealers, as secretary and treasurer, and one of the organizers of the com- pany. He continued with the firm in the capacity of secretary and treasurer until 1900. when the style of the concern was changed to Davis & Andrews, Mr. Davis coming to be the senior member. The firm has an extensive trade and covers a wide territory in its operations. Mr. Davis has seen the city of Memphis grow from a small town to be the metropolis of Tennessee, and he has a laudable ambition to make his business enterprise keep pace with the growth of the city. It is such ambition as this on the part of individuals that contributes to the commercial prosperity and material growth of any city, and within recent years Mr. Davis and his partner have done their share in spreading the fair name of Memphis abroad
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over the land. Mr. Davis is a member of the Merchants' exchange and the Business Men's club, two of the leading com- mercial organizations of the city, and belongs to the Linden Street Christian church.
H. O. TRUE, president of the True-Tagg Paint Company, Mem- phis, Tenn., is a native of Michigan, having been born at Port Huron. June 17, 1857. With a common school education, he came South in 1869, and from 1873 to 1876 was in the regular army. Upon being dis- charged from the military service, he took a position as traveling salesman for a New York paint house, and from that time until 1896 he trav- eled over Southern territory for different paint firms of New York and Detroit. While traveling through the South he
learned the possibilities of that section of the country, and with a faith in its future he came to Memphis in 1896 and organ- ized the company of which he is now the president, having held the position ever since the company was incorporated. True is also president and one of the directors of the Southern Wall-Paper Company, of Memphis. The business of the two companies with which he is connected has been on the increase ever since they began operations. The acquaintances formed by Mr. True while he was "on the road" cover a large terri- tory, and these acquaintances have not forgotten the genial "drummer" who formerly called on them to solicit their patron- age. Mr. True is prominently identified with the social as well as the commercial life of Memphis. He is a member of the Chickasaw club and the Knights of Pythias, and is a Knight Templar Mason. In his different clubs and lodges he is .pop- ular because of that happy disposition and good nature that have been so potent a factor in building up his business.
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JOHN JOHNSON, president and general manager of the Elmwood cemetery, Memphis, Tenn., was born near Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland. Sept. 5. 1826. His mother died when he was nine years of age, and three years later he came to America, arriving at Pittsburg, Pa., July 1, 1838. Shortly aft- erward he was adopted by Mrs. Henry G. Smith, of Colum- biana county, Ohio, and to this relationship Mr. Johnson believes himself indebted for much of the good that developed in his after life, her Christian character and good advice going a long way in forming his early character and habits. In 1844, Mrs. Smith being in delicate health, came down the river with her husband on a trading boat, Mr. Johnson, then eighteen years of age, coming with them. They reached Memphis on Dec. 24, 1844, and when they returned the subject of this sketch remained behind. In the spring of 1845 he began trad- ing with a keel-boat up the St. Francis river, as far as Mamelle Prairie, buying furs and peltries from the Indians then on Buffalo Island. He continued in this work for three years, and in the spring of 1848 settled in Memphis. For a time he was employed by J. J. Murphy, at the landing, but in 1851, in com- pany with John W. Todd, whose acquaintance he had formed while living in Columbiana county, and the late C. W. Goyer, engaged in the wholesale grocery and produce business under the firm name of Todd, Gover & Co. Two years later the firm was dissolved, owing to the ill-health of Messrs. Todd and Johnson, both of whom went to Ohio to recuperate. The fol- lowing autumn they returned to Memphis and engaged in the clothing trade, in which they continued until the occupation of Memphis by the Federal troops, in 1862. After the war the firm wound up its business, and Mr. Johnson became a member of the firm of Johnson. Risk & Co., iron founders, doing a large business and continuing in existence until 1875. In 1870 Mr. Johnson was elected mayor of Memphis, and was re-elected at the end of his two-year term, holding the office for four years in all. When the yellow fever epidemic struck the city, in 1878, he was made superintendent of quarantine, under the direction of the National board of health and the Tennessee state board of health, the latter of which he was
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for a number of years a member. He was also at the same time superintendent of nurses for the Howard Aid association, both positions requiring the exercise of fine discrimination and firm moral courage, with which Mr. Johnson was fortunately well endowed. In November, IS78, he was elected secretary of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company and about the same time was chosen secretary of the Elmwood Cemetery associa- tion, and later was chosen president and general manager of the latter. Mr. Johnson belongs to the Calvary Episcopal church, and is one of its influential members. He was married, Dec. 27, 1855, to Miss Amanda Aiken, a native of Memphis, and they have three sons and three daughters living, all useful members of society. Mr. Johnson has an abiding faith in the future greatness of Memphis-a faith that flood, fire and pes- tilence have been unable to shake-and in the darkest hours of the city's adversity he has never lost confidence in her people to overcome all obstacles and rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes of their disaster.
GEORGE L. CHIGHIZOLA, city assessor of Memphis, Tenn .. was born in that city, Jan. 1, 1869. In 1886 he grad- uated from the Christian Brothers' college, in Memphis, and for some time was engaged in keeping books for different firms in the city. In 1892 he was appointed to a position in the office of the assessor of Shelby county, and remained in the office for five years. During this period he was attentive to his duties, and at the close of his deputyship he knew about as much of the values and location of property about Memphis as any other man in the county. When the Spanish-American war was declared he enlisted in Company C, Second Tennessee infantry, and was made captain of the company. The regiment was in camp at several places, but was one of the unfortunate regiments, so far as actual warfare was concerned, because, as the late President Mckinley said, there was not "war enough to go around." In February, 1899, he came back to Memphis, his military services being no longer required, and entered the employ of Podesta Bros., as bookkeeper. In November, 1902, he was elected to the legislature from Shelby
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county, but resigned before the expiration of his term to accept the position of city assessor, to which he was elected in January, 1904. Mr. Chighizola has the entire confidence of the people of Memphis, as is evidenced by his election to these important positions, and he is not the man to betray that confidence. Honesty and capability have characterized his entire career, both in public life and private business. He is a member of the Business Men's club, and is fully in accord with every honor- able effort to add to the commercial importance of Memphis. In fraternal circles, he is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
JOHN T. WILLINGHAM, presi- dent of the Memphis Coffin Company, Memphis, Tenn., was born in Barn- well district, S. C., Aug. 30, 1861. When he was about four years of age his parents removed to Columbus, Ga., and there he was reared and edu- ... cated. He began his business career in his eighteenth year, when he be- came associated with his father in operating a sash and door factory at Columbus. Later the business was removed to Chattanooga, Tenn., where it developed into one of the largest concerns of the kind in the South. In 1895 Mr. Willingham came to Memphis and started the Memphis Coffin Company, of which he was elected president. The company manufactures everything used by undertakers and is one of the largest and most successful factories of its kind in the United States. Its representatives travel to almost every state and territory, and it is no uncommon thing to hear that the com- pany is behind with its orders. The beginning was at No. 160 Front street, but the quarters were soon outgrown and larger ones made necessary by the rapidly growing business. Then the large building at the corner of DuBose and Middle streets was secured, and in time this was abandoned for the buildings of the Woodbridge Stove Company, in South Memphis, in
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order to secure more room. Much of the prosperity of the company is due to the native ability and energy of Mr. Willing- ham, who has given the most minute attention to every detail of the business and its demands from the very start. Mr. Wil- lingham is a member of the Chickasaw and Tennessee clubs, as well as several other organizations of that character; is a Knight of Pythias; a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and belongs to the Central Baptist church.
W. H. PASSMORE, the genial and courteous proprietor of the Clar- endon hotel, Memphis, Tenn., is a native of Devonshire, England, where he was born in 1842. When ten years of age his parents came to America, settling at Flint, Mich., and in the schools of that city and Detroit young Passmore received his education, and in 1864 went to Chicago, where he embarked in the restaurant business. This was the beginning of a career as a hotel man that has extended over a period of more than forty years. In 1868 he went to St. Louis, as the steward of the old Southern hotel, remaining there until the spring of 1872. He then went to New York, as steward of the New York hotel, and after severing his connection with this house he went to Salt Lake City, where he served as steward of the Walker house, and later with the Continental, when G. S. Erb opened that famous hostelry. In the fall of 1880 Mr. Pass- more returned to New York, where for a few months he was the manager of the Florence Flats, and was then for two sea- sons manager of the summer hotel at Coney Island. Return- ing to Flint, Mich., he soon afterward bought the Park hotel, at Monroe, in that state, and conducted it for two years. Sell- ing this house, he managed a hotel at Tecumseh, Mich., for about eighteen months, when he went to Beloit, Wis., and took charge of the Goodwin house. Here he remained for two and a half years, then going to Topeka, Kan., as manager
II-16
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of the Windsor (now the new National), and later was for three years in the real estate and building business at Hutchin- son, Kan. But the life of a Boniface had gained too strong a hold upon him, and in 1890 he went to Clinton, la., and assumed the management of the Windsor hotel there. Eight months later he went to Chicago, and remained there until 1896, when he went to Tallahassee, Fla., as "mine host" of the Hotel Leon. In 1899 he came to Memphis, assumed control of the well-known Clarendon, which has lost nothing of its old- time popularity under his efficient management. In the course of his long experience as a hotel man he has fed and housed thousands of traveling men, each one of whom has gone away from his house with the satisfaction of having received "his money's worth." . In addition to his hotel interests Mr. Pass- more is the owner of a fine fruit farm in Michigan, and owns property in other places. He is a prominent Elk, and affiliates with the Episcopal church.
W. A. UNDERWOOD, manufacturer of and dealer in mon- uments and ornamental stone work, Memphis, Tenn., was born at Marietta, Cobb county, Ga., Feb. 4, 1872. In the public schools of his native town he received the major part of his education, and in Marietta he served his apprenticeship as a marble cutter. In 1895 he opened a shop at Palestine, Tex., and carried on business there for three years, at the end of which time he came to Memphis. In this city his work soon came to be appreciated, and in the six years that he has been in business here he has put up more handsome monuments than any other one concern in the city. Mr. Underwood has a large degree of the artistic instinct in his make-up, and, instead of following the old stereotyped designs, he has struck out boldly for himself with designs of his own. In addition to this, he knows how to get up a monument of moderate price that does not have that cheap look which so many of that class bear on the surface. The man of moderate means, therefore, has found in Mr. Underwood a man who can prepare a suitable memorial for the resting-place of his loved and lost without the incon- venience of extortionate prices or the appearance of being
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penurious. Mr. Underwood is identified with some of the social and religious institutions of Memphis, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World and the Central Christian church.
MAJ. JAMES H. SMITH, secre- tary and treasurer of the People's Savings Bank and Trust Company, of Memphis, Tenn., is a native of the State of Kentucky. He was born at Shelbyville in 1835. Until he was twenty-three years of age he con- tinued to live in his native town,. where he secured a good practical education. In 1858 he removed to Memphis, where he embarked in the grocery business. During the years. 1861-62 be served as provost marshal under General Bragg, in the district composed of Western Tennessee, Eastern Arkansas. and Northern Mississippi. After the war, he engaged again' in the grocery business, and later added a wholesale and retail cotton department to his establishment. He continued in this line of business until 1887, when the Memphis National bank was organized and he was made cashier. Eight years later
he severed his connection with this institution to become sec- retary of the People's Savings Bank and Trust Company, then being organized, and has ever since held that position. When the terrible yellow fever scourge beset the city, in 1878, Major Smith was one of those brave souls who did not flee before it, but remained at his post as secretary of the Howard associa- tion, lending aid to the suffering and doing what he could as a man and a citizen to stamp out the dread disease. During the epidemic the association saw to the burial of over 6,000 vic- tims. From 1879 to 1882 he was a member of the state leg- islature, from Shelby county, and in that body his natural abil- ity and ripe business experience placed him in the list of the more noted legislators during those sessions. In 1882 he was appointed postmaster of Memphis, by President Arthur, and
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held the office until deposed by President Cleveland. He has also served as alderman, and has always stood ready to co- operate in every movement for the upbuilding of Memphis. During his long career of nearly a half century in Memphis he has been among the honorable, upright, progressive men of that city, and he commands the respect of all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.
JAMES C. McDAVITT, manager of the Memphis Abstract Company and attorney for the Memphis Trust Company, Mem- phis, Tenn., was born in Shelby county, Ky., Nov. 25, 1834. The McDavitts are of Scotch extraction, James McDavitt, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, coming from Scotland in 1760, and settling in Charleston, S. C. There James McDavitt, the grandfather, was born in 1769, and served as captain of a company in the famous Kentucky Rifles in the war of 1812. The father of the subject was Dr. George McDavitt, a native and prominent physician of Shelby county, Ky. James C. McDavitt received his education in the schools of Richmond, Ind., and at Asbury (now DePauw) university, at Greencastle, in that state. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar, and practiced at Memphis until May 4, 1861, when he enlisted as a member of Bankhead's battery of light artillery. A few weeks later he was made second lieutenant, and was promoted to the position of first lieutenant in November, 1861. At Shiloh he was in command of the battery, and rendered ef- fective service, and at New Madrid, Mo., the battery was in the thickest of the fight. In the fall of 1862 Lieutenant Mc- Davitt was ordered to Mobile as instructor of artillery, on the staff of General Maury, and the following summer he was in command of the floating iron-clad battery in Mobile bay. Later he commanded Battery McIntosh, and in June, 1864, was recalled to the army under General Polk, reporting the day that officer was killed at Pine Mountain, Ga. Subsequently he served as adjutant and inspector of artillery under Generals Loring and Stewart, in the Atlanta campaign, and under Lieu- . tenant-Colonel Quattlebaum during the siege of Mobile. He surrendered with Quattlebaum's command at Meridian, Miss.
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After the war, he returned to Memphis and became a men- ber of the law firm of Estes, Jackson & McDavitt, Mr. Jack- son being subsequently appointed to the supreme bench of the United States. After the dissolution of the partnership he con- tinued in practice until 1882. since which time he has devoted practically all of his attention to the abstract company, as manager, until about a year ago, when he was called by the trust company as a legal examiner of land titles. Mr. Mc- Davitt is a member of the Presbyterian church. In 1866 he was married to Miss Flora R. Dobyns, and their daughter, Martha C., is the wife of William E. Hoshall, of Memphis.
EDGAR B. McHENRY, cashier of the Memphis National bank, of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Jeffer- son City, Mo., in the year 1840, and lived there until June, 1861, when he went to Boonville, Mo., and enlisted in J. P. Major's regiment, Gen. Ster- ling Price's army, and served with dis- tinguished gallantry at the battles of Carthage, Wilson's Creek and Lex- ington. He was then made adjutant of Cearnal's regiment. Steen's brigade, and was slightly wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge while in the discharge of his duty. He then assisted in organizing Wood's regiment, of which he was made adjutant, and he served with that organization until his final surrender and parole, June 8, 1865, at Shreveport, La. Shortly after the war, Mr. McHenry removed to Memphis, where he has contributed to the material prosperity of the city during the succeeding years. For some time he was engaged in the practice of law. and occupied a high place at the Memphis bar. He was then deputy clerk in the chancellor's office for fifteen years, when he was appointed clerk and master of the chancery court, an office of much responsibility, but which he filled with credit to himself and honor to Chancellor Estes, who appointed him to the position. After six years in this office, he became
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cashier of the Memphis National bank, one of the leading financial institutions of the city. He is eminently fitted for this position, and has been repeatedly re-elected, holding the office continuously ever since his first connection with the bank in that capacity. Although somewhat active in politics, at one time, he has never been a regular politician, always standing in favor of good government, especially in local matters, without regard to party lines. As a business man, he is care- ful and conservative, and these characteristics, coupled with his genial disposition, have placed him in the front rank of the business men of the South. Mr. McHenry is not a member of the church, but is a helper in all its good and charitable undertakings. He was married, in 1871, to Miss Mary Taylor, of Clinton, La., and they have one son, Edgar T., who is now an officer in the same bank of which his father is cashier. The young man has inherited his father's commercial instinct, and is one of the best-known young financiers of Memphis.
M. H. GUNTHER, of the firm of M. H. Gunther & Co., cotton buyers for American and foreign cotton mills, Memphis, . Tenn., was born in King William county, Va., in the year 1852, and there spent his early boyhood. He was educated at Hamburg and Altona, Germany, and after his return to his native land he attended for one session the Virginia Mili- tary institute, at Lexington, later attending for a while the James P. Holcombe school, at Belleview, near Lynchburg. After completing his education, he went South, spending a year at Griffin, Ga., and a year at Macon, in the same state, after which he went to New York for about two years. From New York he went to New Orleans, and in 1878 located at Louisville, Ky., where he engaged in the tobacco business, to which he later added cotton brokerage. In 1896, deeming Memphis a better place for his cotton operations, he went there, and since then has given most of his attention to cotton, though the firm of which he is a member has been in existence ever since 1885. In the cotton market Mr. Gunther occupies a prominent position, and some of the smaller dealers watch his motions and are guided by his conduct. He rarely errs in
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judgment, and the reliability of his firm is responsible for their close relationship with several of the largest cotton manufac- turing companies of the world. Mr. Gunther is a member of the Tennessee club, where he is always welcomed as a good- fellow, and, though he is a member of no religious denomina- tion, he attends the Episcopal church and contributes liberally to religious and charitable work.
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