Escambia County FlArchives Biographies.....Covington, Henry Lily 1854 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 4, 2008, 3:45 pm Author: B. F. Johnson Henry Lily Covington The manufacture of naval stores is an importantant industry not only in Florida, but in several other Southern States, and it is a most significant fact that so many of the successful men engaged in the industry find their way to Florida. They may learn their business and meet with their early successes elsewhere, but eventually, the superior advantages of the land of flowers, either as to production or handling, attract them, and here they make their permanent homes. Many natives of the State have been and are engaged in manufacturing or dealing in naval stores in their home State, and there are rare instances of their going elsewhere but there are continual accessions to Florida and here the industry is not only one of the most important in the State, but there are located here the greatest interests in the country that engage not only in production, but in handling in various ways, buying outright, selling on commission and exporting to the markets of the world. This industry it naturally follows, has not only produced great wealth from the State's forests of pine, but has attracted millions of capital from other States which is invested here and serves to increase the wealth of the State. A citizen of Pensacola who came here because of the great advantages offered in the pursuit of his business, a man who was successful elsewhere, and has been even more successful here and is generally ranked as one of the wealthiest men in West Florida is Henry Lily Covington, whose principal interests are in naval stores, but who is largely interested in other enterprises and industries as well. Mr. Covington is a descendant of French and English ancestors who were among the earliest settlers in Maryland and on the James river in Virginia. He is a native of Richmond county, N. C., where he was born July 30, 1854. His parents were Terrell and Eranda (Chappell) Covington and his early years were spent on his father's plantation, where he had only such educational advantages as were offered by the public schools of the county, in the troublous times succeeding the war between the States. There are now living six brothers of H. L. Covington, four in Florida, two in North Carolina. The whole family shows unusual ability. He was only six years old when this conflict began, and as the war wiped out the family fortunes and his father was a soldier, fighting for the protection of home and liberty, he had to go to work at an unusually early age. His first venture in the business world was made in 1879 when he engaged in the naval stores and general merchandise business in Marion county, S. C. Meeting with success here after a while he sought wider opportunity, and a more extensive field and removed to Georgia, and for several years was largely engaged in manufacturing naval stores in the vicinity of Savannah and Brunswick. In 1894 he with his brother, C. M. Covington, organized the Gulf Naval Stores Company with $300,000 capital stock. He became president of the corporation which for several years did an enormous business in the naval stores commission and wholesale grocery business aggregating millions annually. The company was in every way successful and was one of the greatest factors which entered into the organization of its successor, the Consolidated Naval Stores Company, which was formed in 1903 and of which Mr. Covington was elected vice-president. He is still in this important position and the company is one of the greatest and more successful commercial and industrial enterprises in the whole South. He has other extensive interests as well, and is President of the Escambia Land and Manufacturing Company, Vice-President of the Yellow Pine Land Company, and Vice-President of the Williamson and Brown Land and Lumber Company of Cerro Gordo, N. C. He is also a large stockholder and a Director in the American National Bank of Pensacola. He is one of the most progressive, enterprising and popular citizens of Pensacola, where he has made his home and headquarters for his vast interests since 1898. He is a most enthusiastic friend to the cause of education, and an advocate of public improvments. He favors draining the overflowed lands in order that they may be made wealth producing and is in favor of increasing the means of transportation not only by the building of a complete system of good public roads throughout the State, but by the building of a good system of canals connecting the navigable waterways and increasing the facilities for getting Florida's products to market. He is also in favor of thoroughly reforesting the cut-over timber lands of the State. In politics he is a Democrat and he is a consistent member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Covington was married in 1877 to Mary V. Allison of Marion county, S. C., but she survived only two months. His second wife, Mary Ella Bass, of the same county, lived until 1896 and they have four children now living as follows: Mary Edna, Henry Lily, Terrell and Thomas Bass Covington. On December 9, 1903, he was married to Augusta Rappard Denmark of Brooks county, Ga., who gracefully presides over one of the most attractive homes in Pensacola. Additional Comments: Extracted from: FLORIDA EDITION MAKERS OF AMERICA AN HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORK BY AN ABLE CORPS OF WRITERS VOL. III. Published under the patronage of The Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville, Florida ADVISORY BOARD: HON. W. D. BLOXHAM COL. FRANK HARRIS HON. R. W. DAVIS SEN. H. H. McCREARY HON. F. P. FLEMING W. F. STOVALL C. A. CHOATE, SECRETARY 1909 A. B. CALDWELL ATLANTA, GA. COPYRIGHT 1909 B. F. JOHNSON Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/escambia/photos/bios/covingto56gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/escambia/bios/covingto56gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/flfiles/ File size: 6.3 Kb