Biography of Philip C Hicky, St Francis County, AR

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Submitted by: Paul V Isbell
        Date: 19 Nov 2008
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With predecessors whose history dates back as far as 1899, the Forrest City
Cotton Oil Mill, a division of Armour & Co., is an inseparable part of the
agricultural and industrial history of Forrest City. The first ancestor of the
present day mill was the Consumers' Cotton Oil Mill, founded in 1896. It was a
branch of a Chicago firm which had numerous other mills in the South and
Southwest. The late Edward Roleson was local manager. At that time there were
only four mill buildings. It was located on West Davis Street in the
southwestern part of the city, continued under the same ownership until 1914
when Morris & Co., meat packers, bought it. Nine years later, the Armour & Co.
bought Morris & Co., and have operated since that date as the Forrest City
Cotton Oil Mill. In July of 1919, a man who was to play an important role in the
steady growth of the mill and in his adopted community came on the scene. He was
Philip Hicky who retired in 1949 as General Manager of the mill after thirty
years service. His death on July 9, 1951, was deeply mourned by all who knew
him. He was born in Vicksburg, Miss., the son of Philip Hicky Sr. and Francis
Virginia (Grey) Hicky of Louisiana. The name Philip Hicky has been in the family
since as far back as 1865, and maybe further. The great grandfather of Philip
Hicky of Forrest City, at one time owned considerable property where the city of
Baton Rouge, Louisiana now stands. He operated mills in Georgia, and Louisiana
before coming to Forrest City when he succeeded R. L. Stevenson. He married Miss
Gladys Guilbeau of Breaux Bridge, La. on May 16, 1906, and to that union was
born three sons two grandchildren. Mr. Philip Hicky was a charter member and
past President of the Rotary Club, Chairman of the St. Francis County USO Fund
Drive during World War II, and the chairman of many Red Cross drives. In 1937 he
started the Fleurland Orchards on the sloping west side of Crowley's Ridge,
north of Forrest City.


SOURCE:
HISTORY of ST. FRANCIS COUNTY, ARKANSAS, 1954 - Robert W. Chowning

Copyright, with Permission: Weston McCollum Lewey, Publisher
-Times Herald Publishing-Forrest City, Arkansas