Tag Archives: Buquo

04/10/14

SHELTON, W. C. (1857- )

W. C. Shelton, one of the prominent attorneys of Houston County, was born August 28, 1857, and is one of M. F. and W. F. (Pope) Shelton’s family, who was born in Dickson County. The father is now retired from active business life, but was formerly a merchant and trader, being very prosperous in his business enterprises before the war. Both parents are now residing in Erin. Up to fifteen years of age our subject’s days were spent on a farm. He worked in a blacksmith shop six months, and then became salesman in general merchandising stores in New Providence, and also clerked in other stores in Montgomery County for three years. His early educational advantages were limited, but by application at night he secured a very good education. After his eighteenth birthday he was for three years with D. G. Beers as surveyor for county maps and atlases. He read law at different times, and read “Blackstone” in the office of H. H. Buquo, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1881. October 10, 1883, he wedded Alice Amos, of Warren County, Ky. One daughter, Lillie A., has blessed their union. Mr. Shelton is a Democrat in politics, and is one of the most highly respected and popular young men in this section of Tennessee. He is thoroughly self-made, and has been eminently successful in the practice of his profession. He is candidate for the office of attorney-general of his district, and, owing to his ability, his many excellent qualities and hosts of friends, bids fair to be elected.

Transcribed by Susan Knight Gore

Source: Goodspeed, Weston A, and John Wooldridge. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Stewart, Dickson, Cheatham and Houston Counties. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1886.

04/10/14

HARRIS, Volney R. (1850-1911)

Volney R. Harris, one of the most prominent and leading business men of Houston County, was born in Logan County, Ky., January 17, 1850, being the third of a family of twelve children of Y. F. E. and Mary Anne (Rowe) Harris. The father was reared in Simpson County, Ky., and was a farmer by occupation, but also carried on a very extensive saddlery. He lived and died in Kentucky, his death occurring in 1870. The mother was reared in Tennessee, and is now living at the age of sixty-five years, making her abode with her different children. The paternal grandfather of V.R. was a very zealous and prominent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was instrumental in the founding of that church. He educated many young men for the ministry. The immediate subject of this sketch was reared on a farm at his Kentucky home to the age of fourteen years. At this age he began life for himself. Leaving the parental roof with only $2.65 in money he engaged as clerk in a store in Robertson County, Tenn., for three and a half years. At the end of this time he engaged with a Nashville wholesale dry goods jobbing house at a salary of $720 per year for the first year. He worked for this firm for six years at increased salary, and the last two years commanded $3,000 per year. On January 1, 1875, he opened a general merchandising trade at Erin, where he has ever since remained. Being very successful, he has gradually increased his business affairs, and now the firm of Harris & Buquo is engaged extensively in manufacturing lime and cooperage material. The firm has recently started an enterprise at Clifton, Tenn., as the Clifton Cement & Mining Company in the manufacture of cement, sewer-pipe, etc. Mr. Harris was the prime mover in the opening of that enterprise. In 1878, when yellow fever was imported by means of hospital cars being sidetracked here, Mr. Harris, with a few other faithful citizens, fearlessly stood between life and death and with untiring energy cared for the sick and dying. The firm of Harris & Buquo transacts a yearly business of $125,000, and owns about 15,000 acres of land in Houston County. On January 18, 1871, the marriage of Mr. Harris to Lizzie Garner was solemnized. She is the second daughter of Judge John E. Garner, of Springfield, Tenn. This union has been blessed in the birth of six children as follows: Johnnie, who died at ten years of age; Lizzie R., who died at four years of age; Edgar R.; Ewing G.; Henry D. and Mabel. The last four are living. Both Mr. Harris and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Harris is a firm Democrat but conservative. He enjoys the high esteem of the people of Houston County, and is too extensively known and highly respected to have us speak otherwise then in his praise. Those who know him will remember that he was a poor boy, and is now a successful business man.

Transcribed by Susan Knight Gore

Source: Goodspeed, Weston A, and John Wooldridge. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Stewart, Dickson, Cheatham and Houston Counties. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1886.

08/25/13

BUQUO, Henry H. – (1844-1903)

Hon. Henry H. Buquo, attorney at law, and one of the prominent business men of Houston County, was the third of a family of five children of Jacob and Margaret (Hohenadel) Buquo, natives of Bavaria and France, respectively. They (the parents) each came to Pennsylvania in about 1830, being yet single. In Pennsylvania they married, and Jacob followed farming there until 1868, when he moved with his family to Erin, Tenn., where his son, H. H., had come the year previous. Here the mother of our subject died in 1873. The father yet lives in Erin, a hale old man, whose birth was in 1813. The immediate subject of this sketch was born May 29, 1844, and was reared on a farm in his native State, and secured a good common school education and attended commercial college at Pittsburgh, Penn. At the age of nineteen years he left home and worked by manual labor at mining coal. With money thus earned he attended school. His early business life was in mechanical pursuits and the improvement of his education. In 1867 he came to Erin, where he continued work as a mechanic, and began the study of law, which he continued while pursuing his avocation. For ten years Mr. Buquo practiced law in Erin very successfully. He was actively instrumental in the organization of Houston County, and by his efforts the county seat was secured at Erin. He is the architect for the court house, and helped survey the county lines. He has held several of the county offices, and in 1880 was elected to the State Assembly, in which he served one term. He then engaged with Harris & Buquo Bros. in the manufacture of lime, cooperage material, etc., for some time. In 1884 he purchased a half-interest in the firm of Harris & Buquo, in the manufacture of lime and cooperage, etc., and in the mercantile trade. The firm also conducts the Clifton Cement & Mining Works at Clifton, Tenn., and does an extensive real estate business, now owning about 15,000 acres of land in this county. The firm does an annual business of about $125,000. Mr. Buquo also continues the practice of law. He is one of the few who withstood the yellow fever plague of 1878, and so untiringly cared for the distressed. November 23, 1868, he was married to Mary Jane Brigham, of this county, and daughter of A. W. Brigham. To this union have been born six children, all of whom are now living, as follows: Maggie A., Sallie A., Samuel J., George C., Helen H. and Jennie L. Mr. Buquo, his wife and two oldest children are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Buquo is an elder in the church and is regarded as one of the leading lights in the church at this place. He was honored with the appointment as delegate to the General National Assembly of the church, and takes great pride in his religious relations and benevolent and elevating works. He justly sustains the high regard of all good citizens, and is widely known in business circles as an honorable and energetic business man.

Source: Goodspeed, Weston A, and John Wooldridge. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Stewart, Dickson, Cheatham and Houston Counties. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1886.