BEVERLY WALTER LANDSTREET. A man of good business capacity, great intelligence and enterprise, Beverly Walter LANDSTREET is actively identified with the mercantile and social affairs of Nashville, as manager of a large department store being well known throughout the city. A son of the late Rev. John LANDSTREET, he was born May 23, 1865. in Loudon county, Virginia, where his childhood days were spent.
His paternal grandfather, John LANDSTREET. the founder of the Landstreet family in America, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, of French Huguenot lineage. Bidding farewell to family and friends when young, he immigrated to America, locating in Baltimore, Maryland, where he subsequently worked his way upward to a place of prominence among men of affairs, in course of time establishing himself as a wholesale grocer at the corner of Howard and German streets. There he conducted a substantial business for many years, and after his retirement from active pursuits continued a resident of that city until his death. He married Ann Yelinda ORME, who was born in Trappe, Maryland, the descendant of an old colonial family, and died in Baltimore. Children were born to them as follows: William, Samuel, Aristides, Bevery, John, Ann, and Henrietta McEwen.
Rev. John LANDSTREET was born, reared, and educated in Baltimore. Converted in his youth, he studied for the ministry, and as a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal denomination belonged to the Baltimore Conference, which then embraced a large part of northern Virginia, his home being in Loudoun county, Virginia, for many years. At the breaking out of the Civil war he offered his services to the Confederacy, and was made chaplain on the staff of Gen. J. E. B. STUART, commander of the First Virginia Regiment, whom he accompanied in numerous campaigns and battles of note, being especially useful to him as he was so thoroughly familiar with the country, General STUART acknowledging Rev. Mr. LANDSTREET‘s assistance in one of his reports to the War Department. After the death of General STUART, Rev. Mr. LANDSTREET continued as chaplain for the General’s successor, Colonel MORGAN, with whom he remained till the close of the conflict. It is not at all probable that any other man throughout the entire conflict saw or endured more of the hardships and privations of war than did he, for he was in the zone of activity from the start to the finish. On returning from the army, he resumed preaching, continuing in the ministry several years thereafter, and on retiring from his pastoral work settled in Matinsburg, West Virginia, where he resided until his death, at the age of seventy-two years.
The maiden name of the wife of Rev. John LANDSTREET was Mary Francis SWINK. She was born at Spring Hill, Fairfax county, Virginia, a daughter of William and Margaret (Lindsey) SWINK, and died at the age of seventy-six years. She reared seven children, as follows: John, Margaret L., William D., Ann, Fairfax, Beverly Walter, and Mary G.
Receiving his elementary education in the public schools of Virginia and Maryland, Beverly Walter LANDSTREET began his active career while yet in his teens, beginning as an errand boy in the rubber goods house of Towner, Landstreet & Company, in Baltimore, and being from time to time promoted to higher positions, eventually becoming traveling salesman for that firm. Coming from Baltimore to Nashville in 1884, he was first clerk in his brother John’s store, later being in the employ of Timothy Brothers. Resigning that position, Mr. LANDSTREET removed to Memphis, Tennessee, where for nine years he was buyer for, and manager of, the Lowenstein store. The ensuing eight years he was traveling salesman for a well-known firm of New York City, that of Arnold & Constable. Returning to Nashville in 1907, Mr. LANDSTREET became associated with the prosperous firm of Cain, Sloan Company, with which he is still actively identified as vice-president of its large department store, a position for which he is amply qualified by reason of his energy, enterprise, and unquestioned ability.
Mr. LANDSTREET married, October 20, 1898, Margaret COLLINS, who was born in Nashville, a daughter of James H. and Manella (Burns) COLLINS. Four children have blessed their union, namely: Francis, Collins, Addie Lee, and Beverly W., Jr. Fraternally Mr. LANDSTREET is a member of De Soto Lodge, No. 299, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and of the Royal Arcanum. He is also a member of the Nashville Commercial Club; of the Nashville Board of Trade; and a member of the Nashville Industrial Bureau, and one of its executive committee.
Source: Hale, Will T, and Dixon L. Merritt. A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Company, 1913. Volume 4, pg. 863-865.
