Shelby County Tn - Biographies - The Goodspeed Biographical Sketches "F" Surnames

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J.T. Fargason, senior member of the firm of J. T. Fargason & Co., wholesale

grocers and cotton factors, 369 Front Street, Memphis, came to this city in

1879, and established his present business in 1863, under the firm name of

Fargason & Clay. The latter firm did business until 1875, when the present firm

was established with our subject, C. C. Hein, R. A. Parker, E. L. Woodson and

other members. They have an annual wholesale grocery trade of about $1,200,000,

and in addition handle about 30,000 bales of cotton annually. Mr. Fargason was

born in Alabama, in 1835, and was reared and educated in Chambers County, of

that State.  In 1859 he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Marsh, a

native of New Jersey, who has borne her husband four children, all of whom are

living. His parents were Thomas H. and Mary (Stanley) Fargason, who were natives

of Georgia, and were agriculturalists. The mother died in 1855 and the father in

1865. Our subject is a director of the Bank of Commerce and of the Citizens'

Street Railway, and is a member of the F. & A. M., K. of H. and A. O. U. W.

orders. 



H.C. Fisher, superintendent of the Southwestern Division of the Southern Express

Company, was born in Nashville, May 11, 1842, and entered the employ of the

Southern Express Company of that city in 1865 as check clerk.  He was

subsequently agent at Hopkinsville, Ky., route agent with headquarters at

Guthrie, Ky., assistant superintendent, with headquarters at Nashville, and was

made superintendent in 1878, with headquarters at Memphis. About fourteen years

ago, Supt. Fisher suggested and aided very materially in developing the present

extensive fruit-growing in the State, and the influence of his efforts has been

felt throughout the entire State, proving a blessing to the farmers and a

corresponding advantage to the company he represents.  He  is highly esteemed,

both as a citizen and as an official. 



John M. Fleming, was born in Laurens County, S. C.,  January 17, 1818, and was

the son of James Fleming, who was born in 1772, in Ireland, and was but three

years old when his parents brought him to America; he was reared in South

Carolina, where he married Miss Nancy McClintock, a native of South Carolina.

Our subject and a brother, Samuel C., who died November 23, 1838, were the only

issue of this marriage.  The father was a farmer, and died December 4, 1837. T

he mother died in South Carolina, November 24, 1838. John M. Fleming was married

in his native State September 8, 1840, to Miss Eliza Moseley; they have had one

son and a daughter, Nancy M., born July 18, 1841, and Samuel T., born February

20, 1844; the daughter married J. Boyce Farley, and died May 4, 1866. Mrs.

Fleming was born in South Carolina, January 19, 1820, and died May 25, 1860, and

our subject was married June 2, 1864, to Mrs. Fannie A. Goode, and she died July

5, 1865; and December 10, 1867, he married Mrs. A. B. Sullivan; no children were

born to either of the last two marriages.  The son, Samuel T., left school at

eighteen years of age and enlisted in the Confederate Army, in the Thirty-fourth

Mississippi Infantry, under Col. Samuel Benton, and was in the battles at

Perryville, Ky., Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain, and was

captured at the latter place and held as a prisoner of war for sixteen months at

Rock Island, Ill., and was released March 13, 1865. Mr. Fleming is a Democrat, a

Mason, and a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church; he owns 400 acres of

land three and a half miles southwest of Colliersville.   He is highly esteemed

by all who know him. 



Ford & Lemaster, real estate and rental agents, is composed of J.N. Ford and

N.F. Lemaster, who established their present business in September, 1886. They

already have a profitable and rapidly growing business. Nathaniel F. Lemaster,

was born in Shelby County, Tenn., February 13, 1836, and is the son of James S.

and Penelope P. (Field) Lemaster, both parents being natives of Kentucky. The

father, a successful planter, came to this county in 1831, and here resided

until his death in 1874. Our subject grew up in this county and finished his

education at Hanover College, Ind., and at Center College, Danville, Ky. October

21, 1857, he married Miss Olivia Rawlings, and located on a plantation in this

county, in the Twelfth District, which he still owns and on which he resided

until 1883.  He then removed to Memphis and accepted a position as bookkeeper

for a lumber company and served thus and otherwise until he engaged in his

present business.  He was deputy county trustee two years under Mr. Rawlings,

and for the same length of time under Mr. McGowan.  He is a member of the

Presbyterian Church. His wife died in June, 1883, leaving three children--two

sons and one daughter. 



Col. R. Dudley Frayser, president of The Security Bank of Memphis, of the

Memphis City Railway Company, and of the Memphis Abstract Company, besides being

a director in a number of other corporations, is a member of the law firm of

Frayser & Scruggs; was born in this city and was educated here at the public

schools and at the Kentucky Military Institute, from which last institution he

graduated, delivering the valedictory address.  In 1861 he enlisted in Company

F, Thirty-seventh Tennessee Confederate Regiment as a private, but was soon

promoted adjutant and then lieutenant-colonel, which rank he held until the

cessation of hostilities, and was senior field officer in command of the brigade

at the surrender in North Carolina in 1865.  He returned home after the

surrender and began reading law with Judge R. J. Morgan, and was admitted to the

Memphis bar in 1866, and began the practice as a member of the firm of Morgan &

Frayser, which was afterward changed to Morgan, Jarnagin & Frayser by the

admission to the firm of Col. Milton P. Jarnagin, Esq., and in 1880 the present

firm was formed. Our subject is one of six survivors of a family of eight

children born to the marriage of Dr. John R. Frayser and Miss Pauline Brown. The

father was a native of Virginia and the mother of Mississippi. They came to

Memphis in 1835 and were here married. The father was a graduate of the

Philadelphia Medical College in the class of 1835, and has since practiced his

profession in this city, being one of the oldest resident physicians of the

city.  In 1867 our subject was united in marriage to Miss Mary Lane, a native of

this city and daughter of Fletcher Lane, formerly a prominent merchant here. By

her he has the following children: Pauline, Florence and R. Dudley.  He is a

member of the orders, F.&A.M.,K, of H.,A.O.U.F. and I.O.U.F., in the latter

order, being president of the general relief committee and ex-Grand Master of

Tennessee.  The firm of Frayser & Scruggs commands a fine practice. They are the

retained attorneys for a number of banks and other corporations. Col. Frayser is

regarded as a man of keen and shrewd judgment as a financier, and whatever he

goes into generally prospers and comes out gilt-edged.  In politics he is a

Democrat and in the wrangle about the State debt he was a zealous "sky blue." 



J.A. Fry, a merchant at Memphis, engaged in the grocery business, including

fancy and family groceries and liquors, at  136 Poplar Street, corner Fourth,

established the business in February, 1884. Mr.Fry is a native of Mississippi,

and is a son of Calvin and Emily (Hickey) Fry.  The father was a native of

Alabama and the mother of Tennessee.  The father died in 1883 and the mother is

now living in California. Our subject moved to Memphis in 1879 and was at first

engaged as traveling salesman and was afterward employed by the express company.

He was married in 1876 to Miss Lucy Watkins, of Mississippi. They have had five

children, but only two are now living. Mr. Fry has shown judgment and enterprise

in the management of his business and has a liberal patronage. 



Fulmer, Thornton & Co., wholesale grocers, cotton factors and commission

merchants, No. 306 Front Street, Memphis, is composed of J. J. Thornton and J.

W. Fulmer, who succeeded Sledge, McKay & Co., in 1878, and have conducted a

large and growing business since, and have the highest commercial standing. They

carry a choice and full line of goods pertaining to the wholesale grocery trade,

and find market throughout Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. They do a large

cotton business, being among the heaviest dealers in the city. No business firm

of the city stands higher in the estimation of the trading public, and no firm

of the city possesses greater claim to the confidence of all. Mr. Fulmer, of the

firm, is a director in the State National Bank, Memphis National Bank, the

Factors' Fire Insurance Company and the Factors' Mutual Insurance Company of

Memphis, Tenn.  He is also a large land owner in the rich valley of the

Mississippi River in the State of Mississippi.