Henry Clay Alexander, one of the country's most influential bankers and former head of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, died yesterday [December 14, 1969] in the Harkness Pavilion of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center after a long illness. He was 67 years old and lived at 3 East 71st Street and in Katonah, N.Y. Born on a farm, Mr. Alexander grew up in the nearby Tennessee town of Murfreesboro where his father, Ellis Dewitt Alexander, who disliked farming, ran a feed store.
Young Alexander hung around the courthouse listening to lawyers argue cases. When he was 11 years old, he had already made up his mind to be a lawyer. By working summers, he was able to pay his way through Vanderbilt University, where he made excellent grades with moderate study, managed his fraternity house (Kappa Alpha) and took vacation jobs in a bank and insurance company. He entered Yale Law School, from which he was graduated with honors in 1925. He joined the New York law firm of Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed, as a trainee. A partner there recalled the Young Alexander as 'fortright but always gracious, with pleasing manners and a tough, quick legal mind.' At the age of 32, he was made a partner. Mr. Alexander was assigned by his firm to work as counsel for J. P. Morgan 2d during the Nye Congressional investigations on munitions.
Mr. Alexander tried to return to Tennessee twice a year and chat with the home town folk. After one of those excursions a farmer who did not know his occupation told a friend, 'He is the nicest mule trader I ever met.'
Surviving are Mr. Alexander's widow, the former Janet Huchinson; three sons: Dr. Henry Clay 3d, Thomas Hunt and David Grant; a daughter, Janet, and two grandchildren. A funeral service will be held at Christ Church, Methodist, Park Avenue and 60th Street, at noon Wednesday. Burial will be in Murfreesboro."
Source: New York Times, December 15, 1969. submitted by, Carol R. White
Please note that the actual obituary is much longer, explaining Mr. Alexander's career and accomplishments; this is only an abstract.
Capt. Carter B. Harrison, brother of the late Benjamin Harrison, died yesterday at his home near Murfreesboro, Tenn., at the age of 65 years. Capt. Harrison was appointed by his brother United States Marshall for the Middle District of Tennessee. Capt. Harrison served through the civil war on the Federal side. A widow, a daughter, and a son survive him.
Obituary, DNJ: Dec. 9, 1905 submitted by, Carol R. White
Samuel M. Hodge, Chicago capitalist, died today at Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he had gone to spend Thanksgiving with his mother, Mrs. Emma Smith Hodge. He was in good health until Thursday, when he became ill with pneumonia. He was 55 years old and had been a resident of Chicago since 1901. During the World War Mr. Hodge served as a "dollar-a-year man" on the general staff of the army in Washington. He was chief of the Storage Procurement Division and in this capacity leased buildings in which to keep army supplies. For this he received the Distinguished Service Medal. Mr. Hodge was never married. Funeral services will be held at Murfreesboro on Tuesday. Besides his mother, Mr. Hodge left three sisters.
NY Times, Nov. 28, 1927 submitted by, Carol R. White
Dr. Richard R. Lytle
DR. RICHARD R. LYTLE DIES AT AGE OF 78; Practiced Medicine Here for 35 Years--Was Expert on Contagious Diseases.
Dr. Richard Ridgeley Lytle of this city and Winter Park, Fla., who until his retirement several years ago had practiced medicine here for thirty-five years, died yesterday morning in St. Luke's Hospital after an illness of three months. He was 78 years old. His home formerly was at 160 Claremont Avenue. He was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., the son of the late William Lytle. His mother, after his father's death, married Carter Harrison, a brother of the late President Benjamin Harrison. Dr. Lytle was a great-grandson of Captain William Lytle, an officer in the Continental Army. A graduate of Princeton University, class of 1876, and of the University of Virginia Medical School. Dr. Lytle came to New York to take up general practice. He was also for about twenty-five years attached to the Health Department as diagnostician of contagious diseases. Dr. Lytle married twice. His first wife, Mrs. Mary Arnold Lytle, formerly of Perth Amboy, NJ., died in 1911. His second wife, who survives, was the former Ethel Cox. Four children of his first wife also survive. They are Mrs. Charles Chambers of Paris, Mrs. Roscoe Conklin Hatch of Johnstown, NY; Mrs. Ernest Van Zandt of this city and the Rev. Richard R. Lytle Jr., of Wilmington, Del. A sister, Mrs. John Scott Harrison of Kansas City, also survives. A son by Dr. Lytle's first marriage, Scott Harrison Lytle, was killed in France while serving with the 107th Regiment (old Sevneth of the National Guard). The Rev. Mr. Lytle and his brother- in-law, the Rev. Roscoe Conkling Hatch, will conduct funeral services for Dr. Lytle at All Angels Episcopal Church tomorrow at 3 p.m. Burial will take place in Murfreesboro.
Source: NY Times, February 1, 1931, Sunday Section: Second News Section, Page 40 submitted by, Carol R. White
Frederick A. Nast, literary adviser of the sales department of Harper Brothers, died on Monday at Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he had gone on account of ill-health. He had been associated with Harper Brothers for forty years.
New York Times, 12 March 1914 submitted by, Carol R. White
Mrs. Thomas Verner Ordway (nee Frances Murfree) - Funeral services for Mrs. Fannie Murfree Ordway, a lifelong resident of Anniston, will be held Saturday morning at 11 o'clock at Gray Brown Service Mortuary. She died at her home at 1113 Christine Ave. Survivors include three daughters, Mrs. William Westcott Cobbs, Miss Mary Roberts Ordway, and Miss Virginia Moore Ordway of Anniston, and one grandson, William Westcott Cobbs, Jr. of Atlanta, Georiga. Mrs. Ordway was the daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. James Brickell Murfree, pioneer settlers of Murfreesboro, N. C., and Murfreesboro, Tenn. She was actively associated wit the Anniston First Presbyterian Church and the Bienville Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Active pallbearers will include Charles Booth, Joe B. Broadnax, John I. Lanford, Andrew T. Schneider, John W. Vardaman, Dr. Thomas J. Brothers, Roy Knight, E White, and John P. Wheeler. Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. W. M. Salter, E. D. King, Avera Ingram, O. C. Miller, Cecil H. Young, W. H. Steele, Jr., Oscar M. Kilby, James C. Weatherly, E. L. Turner, Jr., S. C. Doss, Jr., Judge J. B. Holman, Howward W. Cater, Grambrell N. McCarty, amd Edward E. McCall. The family requests no flowers.
Source: The Anniston Star, Oct. 19, 1962. submitted by, Carol R. White
James D. Richardson
Murfreesboro, Tenn--July 24. James Daniel Richardson, 71 years old, who was twenty years the representative of the Fifth Tennessee District in Congress and who defeated William Sulzer and Representative Bankhead of Alabama, now Senator, for the leadership of the Democrats in the House in 1809, died this afternoon at his home in this city. Toward the end of his long service as a Congressman, which ended in 1905, when Mr. Richardson retired to become Supreme Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, he was seriously considered by Southern Democrats as a Presidential candidate.
Mr. Richardson was born in Rutherford County, Tenn. on March 10, 1843, and was a student at Franklin College, near Nashville, when the civil war began. Although he was only eighteen years old at the time he entered the Confederate Army as a private. At the end of the first year of the war he was made Adjutant of the Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry, in which capacity, he served for three years. At the close of the war he read law and, in 1867, began practice in Murfreesboro. He was elected to the lower house of the Tennessee Legislature, taking his seat in October, 1871, and was elected Speaker of the House on the first day of the session, although he was only twenty-eight years old at the time.
The following year he was elected to the State Senate and was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1876, 1896, and 1900. He became a member of Congress in 1885, and was the Democratic nominee for Speaker of the House of the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-sevenths Congresses. Among the committees on which he served was the Committee on War Claims, in which he had much influence.
Mr. Richardson was prominent in Masonic circles, in which he attained the thirty-third degree, and was Grand Master of the order in his State in 1873 and 1874. He was the editor and compiler of "Messages and Papers of the Presidents" and of "Messages and Papers of the Confederacy."
New York Times 25 July 1915 submitted by, Carol R. White
William M. Richardson, senior member of the Richardson, Alley & Richards Company, advertising agents, 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, died today at his home on Old Mill Road after an illness of several months. He was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., fifty years ago. His father is Judge John E. Richardson of the Circuit Court of Tennessee. Other near relatives who survive are his jmother, his widow, who was Miss Evelyn Rouse of Baltimore at their marriage in 1912; two sons, William M. Jr., and John E.; a brother, Alfred S., and three sisteres, Mrs. Louise Freeman, Mrs. Anne Rucker, and Miss Ida Lee Richardson. Mr. Richardson received his A. B. degree in 1905 from Princeton, where he was vice president of his class and presiden tof the board of trustees of the Cannon Club. He was a member of the Princeton Club of New York, the Round Hill and Beach Clubs of Greenwich and a trustee of the Greenwich Country Day School.
New York Times; 14 Oct 1933. submitted by, Carol R. White
Bernard Schiff, President of the Japanese Fan Company Here 15 Years. Bernard Schiff, for fifty years an importer in New York, and, for the last fifteen, president of the Japanese Fan Company, died yesterday in his seventy-fourth year at his home, 2345 Broadway. Born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., he came to New York at an early age, becoming a merchant and importer. His business took him to China and Japan and he became a recognized expert on the arts of those countries. Surviving are his window, the former Rosebel Stiebel; two daughters, Mrs. James E. Liedloff of New YOrk and Mrs. Whitney Bolton of Great Neck, L. I., wife of Whitney Bolton, dramatic critic for The Morning Telegraph. A funeral service will be held Sunday at 10:20 A.M. at Riverside Memorial Chapel.
NY Times, December 15, 1934. submitted by, Carol R. White
William Taylor "Bill" Stephenson , 59, one of the most substantial farmers of Rutherford County, died suddenly at his home near Rucker Saturday morning at 9 o'clock. A heart attack is believed responsible for his sudden passing. Although he had been feeling badly for some time, Mr. Stephenson was able to be up at the time he was stricken. He passed away within a few minutes after he was taken ill, just as a physician arrived at his bedside. In addition to his wife Mr. Stephenson is survived by one child, Billie; two brothers, Genie of Wartrace and Ewing of Winchester; and three sisters, Mrs. Henry Gibson of Decatur, Ala., Mrs. E. L. Eaton of Shelbyville and Miss Bernice Stephenson of Denver, Colo. Mr. Stephenson was one of the best known men in his community. He was a member of the Baptist church and until a few years ago was interested in the cotton business. Mr. Stephenson was born and raised near Beech Grove but had lived in the Rucker community for many years. Funeral services were held at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon at the home, Rev. R. A. Taylor officiating.
Shelbyville Gazette - Feb 5, 1931, submitted by, Christine Walters
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