Obion-Lake County TN Archives Biographies.....Burdick, John C. 1850 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com November 13, 2005, 9:44 pm

Author: Will T. Hale

   JOHN C. BURDICK. Commercialism is one of the principal foundation stones of a

nation's success and prosperity. To the men who have built up the great trading

marts of the nation, state, or of even the smaller districts, great commendation

is due, not only for the personal success they have achieved but also for the

part they have taken in advancing the commercial prestige of their community.

Among the representatives of this class of men in Tennessee is John C. Burdick,

of Union City, who is not only recognized as one of the substantial and

progressive business men of that place but holds other prominent relations to

society.



   He was born in Illinois, October 10, 1850, and spent his boyhood there to the

age of fourteen, receiving in the meantime such advantages for education as the

common schools of the community and period afforded. At fourteen years of age he

went to Iowa, and from thence a year later to Colorado. That was in 1865, but

after a short time there he returned to his old home in Illinois, remaining

there until 1870. In that year, a young man of twenty, he came to Tennessee and

first located at Tiptonville, Lake county, where he embarked in the fish and

game business on a small scale, but shortly removed to Union City, where he has

now been engaged in his line of business about forty years. He was then a young

man, alert, resourceful and enterprising, with a naturally shrewd business

acumen to guide him in his undertaking, and from that day to this he has climbed

steadily upward toward a firm financial standing and to a position of prominence

among the business men of Obion county. Beginning in a modest way, he gradually

developed the business and finally became both a retail and wholesale dealer.

His trade has now reached large proportions and he is realizing gratifying

returns from a business that represents years of persistent and energetic

endeavor upon his part. He deals in fish, oysters and game, with shipments

extending to sixteen different states and reaching as far east as New York. In

1912 alone there was shipped from his establishment one million pounds of fish,

while in game, principally ducks, his sales are confined to Tennessee, as the

game laws of this state forbid their shipment outside of its borders. His plant

covers a space 50 by 150 feet and is a veritable hive of industry. His principal

supply of fish comes from Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. What part of his native

business ability may be due to inheritance from Yankee ancestors may not be

definitely stated, but certain it is that he has displayed the shrewdness

attributed to that people and has developed opportunity into one of the thriving

business concerns of Union City.



   The parents of Mr. Burdick are Timothy and Ellen (Akin) Burdick, both natives

of Vermont, and oħ their twelve children J. C. is second in order of birth. On

March 9, 1890, Mr. Burdick was happily married to Miss Mary S. Robinson, born in

Indiana in 1864. They have two children: John C. and Ellen C. Mr. and Mrs.

Burdick are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Union City, of

which Mr. Burdick formerly officiated as a steward. He is a prominent figure in

the fraternal circles of Union City, being a member of the Knights of Pythias,

the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of

Elks and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. He has "passed all the chairs" in the

local lodge of each of these orders and by his pleasing, social ways is a

popular member of their gatherings. In political views he is aligned with the

Progressive party. He was formerly a Republican and was chairman of the county

committee, also of the ninth congressional committee, and a member of the state

committee, and was a member of the board of aldermen of Union City for several

years.



Additional Comments:
From:



A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in

commerce, industry and modern activities

by Will T. Hale

Chicago:  Lewis Pub. Co.,  1913



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