Shelby County TN

Biography of Walter S. Ezell

Walter S. Ezell. Contributing to the prestige of the City of Wichita as an educational center are a number of well ordered business and technical institutions, and prominent among the number is the Wichita Telegraph College, which was founded in the spring of 1912 by its present owner and manager, Walter S. Ezell, who as a mere boy had manifested a distinct predilection for the art of telegraphy and who contrived to pass much of his time in the telegraph office of the railway station of which his father was agent in the City of Memphis, Tennessee. As an expert … Read more

Biography of Jacob Kissel

JACOB KISSEL, junior member of the firm of Church & Kissel, began at a very early age to assume the practical duties of a business life, and by diligence, good habits, and a judicious use of natural tact has developed a character which will tell for usefulness in his day and generation. He has acquired a commercial standing which portends for him that prosperity and rank among his fellow-men vouchsafed alone to those who have worthily earned them. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1854, and is a son of Jacob Kissel who was born in Germany, but … Read more

Slave Narrative of John Cameron

Person Interviewed: John Cameron Location: Jackson, Mississippi Date of Birth: 1842 John Cameron, ex-slave, lives in Jackson. He was born in 1842 and was owned by Howell Magee. He is five feet six inches tall, and weighs about 150 pounds. His general coloring is blackish-brown with white kinky hair. He is in fairly good health. “I’se always lived right here in Hinds County. I’s seen Jackson grow from de groun’ up. “My old Marster was de bes’ man in de worl’. I jus’ wish I could tell, an’ make it plain, jus’ how good him an’ old Mistis was. Marster … Read more

Biography of Dr. J. E. Andrews

DR. J. E. ANDREWS. Of late years it has been discovered that the profession of dentistry has been practiced from the earliest ages, but the knowledge of this science has become so perfected that it is now an art. One of the ablest exponents of this branch of human endeavor is Dr. J. E. Andrews, who is the only prominent practicing dentist of Harrison, in which city he has a well-appointed office and a large and lucrative clientele. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, November 16, 1862. His father, W.H. Andrews, having been a North Carolinian, born in 1827 or … Read more

Slave Narrative of Lucretia Alexander

Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor Person Interviewed: Lucretia Alexander Location: 1708 High Street, Little Rock, Arkansas Age: 89 Occupation: Washed. Ironed. Plowed. Hoed “I been married three times and my last name was Lucretia Alexander. I was twelve years old when the War began. My mother died at seventy-three or seventy-five. That was in August 1865—August the ninth. She was buried August twelfth. The reason they kept her was they had refugeed her children off to different places to keep them from the Yankees. They couldn’t get them back. My mother and her children were heir property. Her first master was … Read more

Conley, A. B. – Obituary

La Grande, Union County, Oregon A. B. Conley, Pioneer of County, Called Beyond Another pioneer of the Grande Ronde valley answered the last call Sunday when death claimed Archie Bird Conley, of La Grande and former resident of Cove. Mr. Conley, one of the outstanding pioneers of this county, spent a long and useful life, having an important hand in the development of the county to its present stage. The deceased was 88 years, one month and eleven days of age and on January 4th, he and his wife celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. A few days before their daughter … Read more

Biography of Thomas Lowell Mauldin

Thomas Lowell Mauldin, one of the founders and the secretary and treasurer of the Lund-Mauldin Company, Incorporated, was born near Magnolia, Arkansas, March 20, 1873, his parents being Thomas L. and Nancy Catherine (Skinner) Mauldin. The father was born in Hardeman county, Tennessee, and in 1872 went to Arkansas, where his death occurred the following year. He was a farmer by occupation and he served as a soldier of the Confederate army between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one years. His wife was also a native of Hardeman county, Tennessee, and by her marriage became the mother of two children, … Read more

Biography of Charles G. Royer

Charles G. Royer, whose father was one of the men chiefly identified with the early history and upbuilding of Winchester in Jefferson County, is cashier of the Citizens State Bank of that town. Mr. Royer entered the bank in 1907 as cashier, and had been continuously in that post since the day the bank was first opened for business on August 22, 1907. Throughout the ten years this bank had stood representative of strength and a wholesome influence and helpfulness in that farming community. It had a capital of $25,000 and surplus of $6,000, and its service is such as … Read more

Biography of John Maloy

JOHN MALOY, deceased. Although the gentleman whose name heads this sketch has “passed to that bourne whence no traveler returns,” his walk through life was characterized by so much honor and such an earnest desire to benefit his fellows and the section in which he resided, that his memory will remain green in the hearts of the many citizens of Stone County, Arkansas He was born in Bengal, County Tyrone, Ireland, and when but a lad crossed the stormy ocean to America and landed at Quebec, thence to New York, from which place he went to Memphis, Tennessee, and in … Read more

Biography of Robert Wray Brooks

For twenty-seven years Robert Wray Brooks has been identified with the wholesale paper trade of St. Louis and has developed an extensive business under the name of the Brooks Paper Company, of which he is the president. Studying closely every phase of the trade, actuated in all that he undertakes by a progressive spirit and by firm determination that enables him to overcome all obstacles and difficulties in his path, he has made steady progress toward the goal of success and is now controlling extensive and important commercial interests. Tennessee numbers him among her native sons. He was born in … Read more

Biography of Guy Perry McNaughton, M. D.

Dr. Guy Peery McNaughton, a native son of Oklahoma and a representative of one of the most prominent pioneer families of the state, has been identified with the medical fraternity of Miami since 1912 and has established an enviable reputation as a diagnostician and bacteriologist, being widely known throughout north-eastern Oklahoma as a specialist in those lines of medical science. He was born in Ottawa County, December 18, 1887, his parents being J. P. and Clara E. (Peery) McNaughton. A complete family sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. On the home farm near Miami, Guy Peery McNaughton spent the period … Read more

Biography of Capt. George M. Jones

Capt. Jones is the son of Henry F. and Mary (Waller) Jones, and was born in Shelby county, Tennessee, Oct. 19th, 1836.His father is still living there, aged eighty-one. His mother died in l856. George M. grew up on the farm, receiving his education at the common schools of the county where he lived. At the age of seventeen he went to Memphis, Tenn., and sold dry goods for the firm of Cossitt, Hill & Talmadge. He remained with them something over three years, receiving for his first year’s service, $75.00 and board; for the second, $100.00, and the third, … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Vowell, M. D.

Dr. Charles W. Vowell, a leading representative of the medical fraternity of Washington County, has followed his profession in Porum since 1906 and his pronounced ability has won for him an extensive practice. He was born in Collinsville, Grayson County, Texas, in January, 1870, and is a son of James J. and Josephine (Choate) Vowell, both of whom were natives of Missouri. The father was a veteran of the Civil war, serving for three years with a Missouri regiment as a member of the Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee. He devoted his life to the occupation of farming … Read more

Biography of Earl C. Bronaugh

Bronaugh, Earl C., one of the most prominent attorneys of the State, was born in Abingdon, Virginia, March 4, 1831. He secured his educational advantages in his native town prior to reaching the age of twelve years, when with his parents he moved to Shelby County, Tennessee. They founded a new home in the woods and endured all the privations of pioneer life at that early day. Here Mr. Bronaugh spent six years of his life, assisting his father in the support of the family, after which becoming imbued with the desire to read law he entered the office of … Read more

Memoirs of John Pitchlynn

Peter Perkins Pitchlynn was the Choctaw Principal Chief from 1864-1866

John Pitchlynn, the name of another white man who at an early day cast his lot among the Choctaws, not to be a curse but a true benefactor. He was contemporaneous with the three Folsom’s, Nathaniel, Ebenezer and Edmond; the three Nails, Henry, Adam and Edwin; the two Le Flores Lewis and Mitchel, and Lewis Durant. John Pitchlynn, as the others, married a Choctaw girl and thus become a bona-fide citizen of the Choctaw Nation. He was commissioned by Washington, as United States Interpreter for the Choctaws in 1786, in which capacity he served them long and faithfully. Whether he … Read more

Biography of Nathan Adams Gibson

Nathan Adams Gibson has been an active representative of the legal fraternity in Muskogee for the past twenty-eight years and has been accorded an extensive and gratifying clientage. He is a native of Stanton, Tennessee, and a son of James K. and Rosa S. Gibson, the former a banker. His preliminary education was supplemented by study in Vanderbilt University of Nashville, Tennessee, which institution conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1888 and that of LL. B. on the completion of a law course in 1890. In the latter year he was admitted to the bar at … Read more

Oliver, Henry William – Obituary

Henry Oliver Dies At Milton Home Henry William Oliver, 85, a former school teacher and Seventh Day Adventist minister in Wallowa County, passed away Monday, Feb., 23: at his home in Milton following a long illness. He had resided in Milton for about ten years and had lived in Oregon since 1884. Mr. Oliver was born near Memphis, Tenn., on Aug. 10, 1863. Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon from the Adventist church in Milton and burial was in the College Place cemetery. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Jessie Oliver at the home; two sons, J. Paul Oliver … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Henry J. Hill

(See Adair)-Emma, the daughter of William E. and Fannie L. (Wright) Dupree, was born in Tex., Dec. 13, 1888; educated at Willie Halsell College at Vinita, and the Northeastern State Normal at Tahlequah, Okla. She married at Vinita on Dec. 22, 1915, Henry J., son of Frederick W. and Catherine Hill. He was born May 5, 1885, in Asherville, Mitchell County, Kansas. They are the parents of Frederick William, born October 2, 1916, in Birmingham, Alabama; Anna Catherine, born December 25, 1917, in Memphis, Tennessee, and Henry Marion Hill, born January 28, 1920, in Vinita, Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Hill … Read more

Slave Narrative of Lizzie Barnett

Interviewer: Mrs. Rosa B. Ingram Person Interviewed: Lizzie Barnett Location: Conway, Arkansas Age: 100? “Yes; I was born a slave. My old mammy was a slave before me. She was owned by my old Miss, Fanny Pennington, of Nashville, Tennessee. I was born on a plantation near there. She is dead now. I shore did love Miss Fanny. “Did you have any brothers and sisters, Aunt Liz.?” “Why, law yes, honey, my mammy and Miss Fanny raised dey chillun together. Three each, and we was jes’ like brothers and sisters, all played in de same yard. No, we did not eat together. Dey … Read more

Slave Narrative of Emmett Beal

Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Emmett Beal Age: 78 Location: Biscoe, Arkansas “I was born in Holloman County, Bolivar, Tennessee. Master Dr. Jim May owned my set er folks. He had two girls and two boys. I reckon he had a wife but I don’t recollect seeing her. Ma suckled me; William May with me. Ely and Seley and Susie was his children. “I churned for mama in slavery. She tied a cloth around the top so no flies get in. I better hadn’t let no fly get in the churn. She take me out to a peach tree … Read more