USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume II > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
E. B. CAUSEY, president of the DeSoto Lumber Company, Memphis, Tenn., is a fair representative of that younger class of business men who have done so much in recent years for the development of the resources of the New South. He was born at Corinth, Miss., Jan. 16, 1867. and was there reared and educated. Shortly after he attained his majority, he en- tered the service of the Lee Lumber Company, of Memphis, and remained with that concern until 1899, during which period he learned the lumber business from start to finish. In 1899 he became ยท associated with Charles D. Wales in the establishment and in- corporation of the DeSoto Lumber Company, though it was not incorporated until March, 1902, with Mr. Causey as presi- dent and Mr. Wales as vice-president. Since then the com- pany has been an important factor in the lumber trade of the South, particularly of Memphis and the immediate vicinity. In building up the trade, Mr. Causey has employed modern methods to advertise his business, and the DeSoto company is one of the most progressive corporations of Western Ten- nessee. Mr. Causey is a member of the Business Men's club,
260
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
to which so many of the substantial citizens of Memphis be- long. and always stands ready to aid in any worthy movement having for its object the promotion of the commercial, moral and industrial interests of the city. In church matters, he is a member of the Central Methodist Episcopal church, to the work of which he is a liberal contributor.
P. R. FRIEDEL, head of the firm of P. R. Friedel & Company, lumber dealers, of Memphis, Tenn., was born near Copenhagen, Denmark, March 3, 1845. When he was eleven years of age, he came with his father and two of his brothers to the United States, landing in Philadelphia, April 13, 1856, going from there to New York; a year later the father went to Parkersburg, W. Va., and became proprietor of the Parkersburg Mineral Wells. In 1860 they all came to Memphis and embarked in the stave business, just across the river, in the State of Ar- kansas. They had only fairly started when the war broke out, and the business was broken up. The father then en- gaged in running a distillery for a time, but with indifferent success, owing to the unsettled condition of the country, while P. R. Friedel found employment in a steamboat carpenter shop, where he remained for four years. He then went to Helena, Ark., and clerked in a store about one year, when he returned to his old place in the carpenter shop. In 1873 he went to work for Williams & Co., lumber dealers, composed of W. A. Williams and B. K. Plain, and was with them until 1885, being in full charge of their mill, yard and box shop. In 1885 he started in business with C. F. Reder, the firm being Friedel, Reder & Co. In 1893 the firm of P. R. Friedel & Co. was established, his son, George O., being taken into partnership and later W. R. Friedel was admitted. Mr. Friedel has been actively identified with the building trades of Memphis for many years. For a long time he was treasurer and vice-presi-
261
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
dent of the old Memphis Lumber exchange, and when it was merged into the Builders' exchange. he became treasurer of the latter organization. From 1901 to 1904 he was a member of the Memphis board of education, and was considered one of the ablest and most practical men on the board. He is a thirty- second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine; also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoos, the Knights of Honor and Knights and Ladies of Honor, in which he is treasurer of Rose lodge; the Business Men's club and St. Mary's Episcopal cathedral, of which he is an officer. Mr. Friedel and his sons are fine examples of the citizenry and the social and commercial life of Memphis.
CHARLES S. COOK, president of the J. F. Frank Whole- sale Grocery Company, Memphis, Tenn., is a native of the Keystone state and was born in the year 1832. While still an infant, his parents removed to Parkman, O., and there he grew to manhood, obtaining his education in the public schools of that town. In 1854 he came to Memphis, where he found employment in a grocery store. His industry and willingness to learn soon placed him in possession of a knowledge of the details of the business, and in 1860 he formed a partnership and started a wholesale grocery house, in which he was suc- cessfully engaged until the war broke out. After the war, he returned to Memphis and worked in a wholesale grocery for about eighteen months, at the end of which time he became associated with the J. F. Frank Company, and has been with that company ever since. When the firm was incorporated. in January, 1903. Mr. Cook was elected president, and continues as the executive head of the concern. "Mr. Cook." said one of his many friends, "is a tip-top good-fellow-straight as a string, with a character above reproach, a model citizen and a fine business man." This tells the story of his business career in Memphis. For almost half a century he has been identified with the mercantile life of the city, and during that long period he has ever kept the standard and reputation of his house well to the front among the substantial firms of the
262
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
South. The happiness of Mr. Cook's domestic life was broken in 1878 by the death of his companion, and since that time he has been a widower.
JAMES L. MINOR, M. D., an eminent specialist in diseases of the eye and ear, Memphis, Tenn., was born in Stafford county, Va., Oct. 14, 1854. He attended schools at Green- wood and at Lynchburg, Va., and in 1876 received his degree of M. D. from the medical department of the University of Virginia. For the year immediately following his graduation he was house surgeon at St. Peter's hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y., and for the next two years was house surgeon at the Eye and Ear hospital, in the same city. Then for six years he was assistant surgeon to the New York Eye and Ear hospital. the last three of which he was also its pathologist. During the same period of six years he was associated with Prof. H. D. Noyes, pro- fessor of diseases of the eye and ear in the Bellevue Hospital Medical college. He was attending surgeon to the New York City hospitals on Randall's Island from 1881 to 1884. In 1885 he came to Memphis, where he has established a reputation as a specialist in diseases of the eye and ear that extends all over the South. Doctor Minor is a member of the American Medical association, the State Medical association of Tennes- see, the West Tennessee Medical society, the medical societies of Memphis and Shelby county, the American Ophthalmolog- ical society, and is an honorary member of the Mississippi State Medical association. For the past five years he has been pro- fessor of physiology in the Memphis Hospital Medical col- lege. Few physicians are better equipped, either in scientific appliances or technical knowledge and skill, than is Doctor Minor. He keeps fully abreast of the march of medical science, and if there is a better way he is one of the first to learn of it. Outside of his profession, as well as in it, he is one
263
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
of the most companionable of men, as may be seen when it is stated that he is a member of the Chickasaw club, the Wa- poneca Outing and Hunting club, the Big Lake Hunting club and the Hatchie Coon, Gun and Fishing club, of which he is vice-president.
W. R. STEWART, cashier of the Memphis Trust Com- pany, was born at Maysville, Madison county, Ala., in the year 1835. There he obtained his primary education in the public schools, and then entered the Cumberland university, at Lebanon, Tenn., but at the end of the sophomore year left the university to accept a position with a wholesale dry-goods house in the city of Nashville. After two years in the dry- goods business, he came to Memphis. That was in the spring of 1858, and since that time he has been a part of the warp and woof of the business life of the city. For about three years he was employed as bookkeeper, and at the breaking out of the war he was the assistant postmaster of Memphis. In 1864 he enlisted in Forrest's cavalry, as a private, and served until the end of the war, surrendering at Greensboro, Ala. Dur- ing the time of his military service he was at the battle of Harrisburg, Tenn., and at Athens, Ala., was wounded in both legs. After the war, he came back to Memphis and resumed his old occupation of bookkeeper, with the firm of Pickett, Wormeley & Co., cotton factors. Later he became connected with the banking houses of the city, and since the spring of 1873 he has been general bookkeeper or assistant cashier in the Union and Planters' bank and the National Bank of Com- merce. In January, 1900, he was elected cashier of the Mem- phis Trust Company, and has held the position ever since. S. P. Read, president of the Union and Planters' bank, says of Mr. Stewart: "I have known him for forty-five years. He was general bookkeeper of the Union and Planters' bank for fourteen years while I was cashier. There, as elsewhere, he proved himself an expert accountant and a highly honorable man." Mr. Stewart is a member of the Idlewild Presbyterian church, and was for twenty-five years one of the stewards in the Court Street Cumberland Presbyterian church.
264
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
ANTHONY WALSH, president of the North Memphis Savings bank and junior member of the firm of John T. Walsh & Bro., was born in Cook county, Ill., almost within the Chicago city limits, April 29, 1856. When he was about four years of age he came with his parents to Memphis, where he was reared and educated in the public schools. In 1869 he com- menced clerking in a Memphis gro- cery, and continued in this occupation until 1877, when he formed the partnership with his brother that has since developed into the widely known firm men- tioned at the head of this sketch. Of the firm it has been said: "This immense business is a monument to the persever- ance, push and integrity of two honored Memphis citizens who started at the foot of the ladder and made their way to the top by purely legitimate means." Anthony Walsh has been prominently identified with the politics of Memphis and Shelby county, as well as the state. In 1893 he was elected to the office of councilman, and while in that office he was a con- spicuous figure in the discussion of all large public matters touching the city's welfare, always showing an intelligent com- prehension of the subject and a sincere regard for the interests. of his constituents. R. A. Speed, a prominent county official, says of Mr. Walsh: "I consider him an astute politician and a fine political manager. He is a good judge of men, has a character above reproach; is temperate in his habits, and thoroughly reliable." This encomium is a fitting tribute to the character and ability of one whose whole life, with the excep- tion of a few years of early childhood, has been passed in Mem- phis, where he and his brother built up a business that prac- tically controlled the grocery and provision trade of a large section of the city and extended their dealings in cotton as far as wagon travel would permit the hauling of goods, and who is now at the head of one of the substantial financial institutions of the city. Notwithstanding his activity in poli-
265
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
tics, Mr. Walsh has never sought public office; his election to the council coming to him without solicitation. He is a mem- ber of the Catholic church, and he and his brother live in one of the handsomest residences in North Memphis, where they enjoy the friendship of a large circle of neighbors and ac- quaintances.
W. W. TAYLOR, M. D., a popular and successful physician of Memphis. Tenn., was born in Haywood county, of that state, June 13, 1854. and lived in that county until he was thirty years of age. He was educated in the schools of Brownsville, Tenn., and Huntsville, Ala., and in 1873 gradu- ated from the Emory and Henry col- lege of Virginia. He then entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical college, of New York, and graduated from that institution in 1876. Returning to his native county, he began the practice of his profession at Brownsville, where he soon acquired a high standing in the profession and built up a successful business. In 1884 he came to Memphis, and for the last twenty years has been a practitioner in this city. Doctor Taylor is a firm believer in the efficacy of organization for the purposes of friendly intercourse and mutual advancement. He is therefore a member of the American Medical association. the Tennessee State Medical association, the Tri-State Medical association. the Southern Surgical and Gynecological society and the medical societies of Memphis and Shelby county. In all these bodies he is an influence for progress and improve- ment along right lines, always keeping in view the nobility of his chosen calling, and remembering that the chief province of the physician is to relieve suffering humanity. Doctor Tay- lor is gynecologist at St. Joseph's hospital and the Memphis City hospital. In this branch of medicine he is recognized as one of the best in Western Tennessee, and his appointment to these positions was but a fitting tribute to his established
266
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
ability. His results in abdominal and gynecological surgery will compare favorably with those of the best operators in the South. Outside of his profession, Doctor Taylor is a genial, companionable gentleman. While he takes a commendable in- terest in public matters. he is not a politician, preferring to give his time and talents to his profession. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is one of the honored and respected citizens of Memphis.
ROBERT G. HENDERSON, M. D., an eminent physician and surgeon, of Memphis, Tenn., was born in that city in 1875, and is one of the younger school of physicians. After the regular course in the city schools, he attended the Hampden- Sidney college, at Farmville, Va., for three years, and grad- uated from the Memphis Hospital Medical college in 1899. Since his graduation he has taken post-graduate courses at the Bellevue hospital, the Roosevelt hospital and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of New York. . Doctor Henderson has served as an interne in the Memphis City hospital; as house surgeon in the New York Skin and Cancer hospital; and is now an instructor in skin diseases in the Memphis Hos- pital Medical college. He is a member of the Memphis Medical society, the Shelby County Medical society, the Tri-State Medical association, the Mississippi Valley Medical association, the American Medical association and the Roentgen-Ray asso- ciation of America. He is a member of the staff in both the City and St. Joseph's hospitals, of Memphis, and is looked upon as one of the coming physicians of Western Tennessee. Doctor Henderson is a close student of matters pertaining to his profession, has a laudable ambition to be near the top, and what he lacks in age and experience he makes up by persever- ance, earnestness and a high degree of technical skill. He is a member of the Chickasaw club and of the Presbyterian church. In the club, he is hailed as a good-fellow, one whose society is always to be sought; and in the church, he is a con- sistent practitioner of the precepts of his religion and a man of high moral ideals.
261
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
W. T. MICHIE, M. D., one of the eminent physicians of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Albemarle county, Va., in the year 1872. While still in his boyhood, his parents removed to Lawrence county, Ala., near Town Creck, and lived there a short time, after which they returned to Virginia, locating near Charlottesville. In these migrations Doctor Michie at- tended the common schools in the several localities where his family lived, and in 1897 was graduated in medicine from the University of Virginia. He then spent some time in the hospitals of Washington and New York, making a special study of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In 1899 he went to Europe for the same purpose, and after a year in the hospitals of Vienna, Prague and London, returned to the United States, locating at Memphis in the month of November, 1900. Doctor Michie's thorough preparation soon manifested its results in his practice, and he has won a high place in the profession by his skilful treatment of some very difficult cases. He is a member of the American, the Tri-State and the Ten- nessee State Medical associations, and the medical societies of Memphis and Shelby county. In all these societies he is in- terested in promoting the interests of the medical profession, and of establishing the most friendly relations among the physicians of the country. Although a resident of Memphis less than five years, he is one of the best known and most popular physicians in the city, and, as he is still a young man, it is highly probable that the future holds in store for him still greater honors and a higher position in his noble and humane calling. In the social and religious life of Memphis, Doctor Michie is a member of the Chickasaw club and the Episcopal church.
REV. F. P. DAVENPORT, rector of Calvary church, Mem- phis, Tenn., was born in Troy, N. Y., in 1853. After attend- ing the public schools of Troy and New York City, he entered St. Stephen's college, Annandale, N. Y., and graduated from that institution in 1873. He then took a three years' course in the General Theological seminary, New York, and grad- uated in 1876. Upon leaving school, he did missionary work
,
268
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
for some time in Middle Tennessee, and was then called to the rectorship of St. Barnabas' church, at Tullahoma, Tenn. In 1881 he accepted the rectorship of the Church of the Redeemer, at Cairo. Ill., a position he filled with marked ability and suc- cess for ten years. In December, 1891, he came to Memphis, as the rector of Calvary church, and under his ministrations the congregation has grown, the church has prospered, and the cause of the Master has been upheld at all times. Few Episcopal ministers in the South are more widely or favorably known than Doctor Davenport. His fine scholarship, his kindly nature and his ripe experience qualify him for the duties of his divine calling. In the pulpit, he is a happy and effective speaker; at the marriage altar, he is ready with words of ad- vice apropos to the situation: and at the tomb, he is equally appropriate with his words of consolation. Doctor Davenport is a prominent member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity. He has served as high priest of Cairo chapter No. 71, Royal Arch Masons; eminent commander of Cairo commandery No. 13, Knights Templars, and in 1891 he was grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois.
NEWTON C. PERKINS, of the firm of N. C. Perkins & Co., cotton factors, Memphis, Tenn., is a native of Shelby county, his birthplace now being within the city limits of Mem- phis, though at the time of his birth, Jan. 31, 1865, it was on a farm near the city. The first eighteen years of his life were uneventful, much of the time being passed in attending the schools of his native county or at Franklin, Tenn. At the age of eighteen he took a position as assistant bookkeeper in an in- surance office. After two years in this place he returned to the firm, and remained there until 1890, when he became secre- tary of the Farmers' exchange (now extinct), and continued to act in that capacity for about three years. During the winter
269
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
of 1894 he was employed in settling up the business of the Federal Building and Loan association, which at that time went into liquidation. In January, 1895, Mr. Perkins formed a partnership, the firm being Brown & Perkins, with a view of engaging in the business of cotton factors. From the first the venture was successful, and the firm of Brown & Perkins soon became well and favorably known throughout the "Cot- ton Belt." In March, 1903, Mr. Brown withdrew from the firm, which then took the name of N. C. Perkins & Co. The success of the firm is due in a large measure to the early train- ing and inherent business ability and tact of Mr. Perkins. Careful and conservative, yet quick to see the advantages of a situation, a close student of markets and conditions, both at home and abroad, Mr. Perkins is entitled to a high place among the progressive business men of Memphis. He is a member of the Cotton exchange, the Tennessee club, the Driv- ing club and the Country club.
GEORGE A. COORS, M. D., one of the eminent homeo- pathic physicians of Western Tennessee, with residence and office in the city of Memphis, was born at Indianapolis, Ind., in August, 1866. His literary education was obtained in the schools of that city, after which he entered the medical depart- ment of the Arkansas Industrial university and graduated in 1886. He then went to Chicago and took a course in the Homeopathic Medical college of that city, receiving the degree of M. D. in 1894. Two years later he located in Memphis, where he has practiced ever since. Although a young man, Doctor Coors has a large practice, and has proven himself eminently successful in the treatment of diseases. Primarily a homeopathist, he understands the theory of all medical schools, and is liberal enough to accept that which is good in each. Possessed of a high degree of technical skill. his pro- fessional education being of the very best, kindly and sympa- thetic by nature, gentle with his patients and affable in his man- ner, his popularity as a man and a physician is not at all sur- prising. The success of past years is but the forerunner of still greater prominence in his profession in the future. Out-
270
NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
side of his profession, Doctor Coors is generally hailed as a good-fellow-one who loves to indulge in healthful recrea- tion and pastime; hence he is one of the most popular mem- bers of the Jockey club.
WILLIAM B. SANFORD, M. D., of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Tus- cumbia, Ala., June 2, 1851, but while still in his infancy his parents removed to Ripley, Miss., where he was reared and received his primary education. When General Villipigue retreated from Fort Pillow young Sanford, then but eleven years of age, took his mother's team and wagon to haul knapsacks and other supplies for the retreating troops, and with his brother, John W., who was but two years his senior, furnished in- formation to General Van Dorn's scouts that led to the destruc- tion of the Federal stores at Holly Springs, Miss., and the retreat of General Grant to Memphis. After the war, Doctor Sanford attended the Mississippi college, at Clinton, and grad- uated from the medical department of Vanderbilt university in 1873. Since then he has taken post-graduate courses in the cities of New York, Chicago, New Orleans and Toronto, Canada. Beginning practice in the State of Mississippi, he soon attained an enviable reputation as a physician. For ten years he was chief health officer of Alcorn county, Miss., and was also during that period physician to the county poor and insane; surgeon for the Memphis & Charleston railroad; mem- ber of the state board of health for thirteen years; vice-presi- dent of the Mississippi Medical association; twice a delegate to the American Medical association, and surgeon-in-chief to the North Mississippi Medical and Surgical infirmary. In 1894 he came to Memphis, as surgeon of the Memphis Car and Foundry Works, and upon the close of that company's affairs opened a sanitarium for surgical and gynecological cases. For some time Doctor Sanford was professor of materia medica
273
. NOTABLE MEN OF TENNESSEE
in the Memphis Hospital Medical college; is a member of the Mississippi State Medical association, in which he has held all the offices; member of the medical societies of Memphis and Shelby county, the Mississippi Valley Medical association, the American Medical association, the Tennessee Medical asso- ciation and the Tri-State Medical society. Doctor Sanford was married, in 1876, to Miss Maggie Mitchell, of Oxford, Miss., and one son, Dr. H. B. Sanford, a graduate of the Memphis Hospital Medical college, an interne of the St. Louis City hospital and assistant surgeon in the Memphis Marine hospital, is now an assistant to his father in the sanitarium.
WILLIAM T. BLACK, M. D., a promising young physician and sur- geon of Memphis, Tenn., was born at Stanton Depot, Haywood county, Tenn., Jan. 13. 1875. After an aca- demic education, he entered the Mem- phis Hospital Medical college, and graduated in 1898. Since then he has attended clinics in New York and Chicago, and now holds the positions of quiz master, assistant demonstrator of anatomy and clinical instructor in medicine in the Memphis Hospital Medical college. Doctor Black is a member of the American Medical association. the State Medical Association of Tennessee, the Mississippi Valley Medical association, the Tri-State Medical association and the medical societies of Memphis and Shelby county. He has served as temporary acting assistant surgeon of the United States public health and marine hospital service, and is now visiting physician to the Memphis City hospital. In the six years of his professional life, he has attained a high degree of skill and has a reputation as a physician that many older doc- tors might envy. Doctor Black has learned that there is no royal road to learning, and he is therefore a diligent student of the things necessary for the progressive physician to know, with a courage to apply his knowledge to the exigencies that
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.