Isaac B Reese

ISAAC REESE. .....Isaac Reese of Memphis was an outstanding figure in the business circles of the south. His interests were too broad and varied, too far-reaching in their results, to make him a man of a single community. His activities reached into many sections of the country and even across the water and while he lost fortune he retrieved his position with such rapidity as to establish him as one of the most forceful and resourceful business men of the country. He was born at Bowling Green, Kentucky, July 2, 1852, a son of Isaac and Anne (Robinson) Reese of Bowling Green. The father was a gentleman planter of the old school and in the later years of his life his chief occupation and pleasure were found in the intimacy of the choice volumes which comprised his library.

.....Isaac Reese, who was the fourth of the family to bear that name, was educated in Bowling Green and later went to Evansville, Indiana, where he continued his studies. He then made his way to Nashville and became secretary to K. J. Morris, who at the time was mayor of the city. He remained with Mr. Morris until the expiration of the latter's term and then became confidential man in the firm of Morris & Stratton, continuing his business connection with Mr. Morris until the latter's death. Mr. Reese then turned his attention to the brokerage business and became associated with Duncan Brothers & McRae. About this time he also formed a company which opened and operated coal mines at Sturgis, Kentucky, and in this connection he came to Memphis, where he established a market for his coal and built a tipple on the river. At length this mine was sold to an eastern syndicate which now operates under the caption of the West Kentucky Coal Mines. Following the sale of his coal lands Mr. Reese built a plant for the manufacture of pottery, in which he hoped to establish his sons. The enterprise proved a notable success and a business of mammoth proportions was built up but eventually the plant was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt.

.....It was then that Mr. Reese went to Arkansas and opened up a zinc mine, which he sold to a St. Louis concern and which became one of the large zinc producing mines of that part of the country. The company which made the purchase is now operating the plant at Yellville, Arkansas.

.....Mr. Reese was ever a man of broad vision and keen discernment and he never feared to venture or to put into execution the ideas which he felt would prove forceful factors in the business world. He conceived the plan of helping the southern planters, who had become almost penniless, to retrieve their fortune and in this connection he evolved a project to sell the land in the Delta directly to the spinners in Birmingham and Manchester, England. He therefore went to that country to make the sale of these cotton producing lands and form a company, the holdings of which comprised thirty thousand acres of plantations at Scott, Missouri, in the Delta district. It was an arrangement which did away with the middle man and the division of properties, the spinners planting and caring for their own cotton. This plan revolutionized the cotton industry and proved such a success for the company from the start that it alarmed the cotton growers and a law was enacted prohibiting foreign syndicates from buying up Delta lands.

It was while on his trip to England that Mr. Reese contracted the ills which finally proved fatal. He was stricken with typhoid fever in England and was in a hospital there for six months, while from a slow recovery he developed diabetes, which caused his death on August 28, 1922.

.....In manner Mr. Reese was modest and unassuming, but he had great vision and a spirit of courage and daring that carried him through many successful big deals in which he won large profits. He made money freely and spent it with a lavish hand. He delighted in the game of business and found joy not in the mere acquisition of wealth but in achievement.

.....Politically Mr. Reese was a democrat and although he had no personal political ambitions he was keenly interested in many things for the betterment of city or state. When the question of building the railroad bridge at Memphis arose the railroad company wanted to make it a toll bridge and in fact, threatened not to build unless allowed to construct a bridge at which toll could be collected. At a meeting called for the purpose of discussing the matter the people were ready to accede to the demands of the railroad but Mr. Reese pointed out how absurd was the proposition as the railroad had to have the bridge, it being an absolute necessity to the continuance of the business of the corporation. It is true that Memphis would benefit thereby but the railroad needed and must build this bridge in order to continue the operation of its line. Mr. Reese, however, was overruled and the recommendation went to congress, authorizing the granting of the franchise. Finding that he could not persuade the people in their own self-interest he wrote to Senator Bob Taylor and Senator Shield, with the result that the bill was killed in the senate and came back to Memphis, supporting a free bridge.

Mr. Reese always exerted a marked influence over the men in his employ. He was always kind and just and ever kept his word inviolable. Whenever he made his men a promise they knew that it could be relied upon thoroughly and in consequence when others were having labor trouble in their mines through strikes he escaped from experiences of that character. His workmen not only had a profound respect for him but a genuine fondness for their employer.

.....While reared in the Methodist faith Mr. Reese in his later life did not affiliate with any denomination. His religion was of that kindly attitude that believes in living and letting live, and he was constantly extending help and assistance to his fellowmen. His was a practical Christianity and his creed was to help others to help themselves.

.....On February 13, 1878, Mr. Reese was united in marriage to Miss Lulu Colyar, a daughter of Colonel A. S. Colyar, her ancestral line stretching back to the Mayflower, while Mrs. Reese is a descendant of General Arthur St. Clair of Revolutionary war fame. To Mr. and Mrs. Reese were born four sons: William, who died a week after his father, in Roswell, New Mexico; Erskine St. Claire, who died some ten years ago; Colyar, a prominent business man of Memphis; and Captain Isaac Reese, who at the time when loyal Americans were called to the colors, volunteered and went to the Officers Training School at Fort Oglethorpe near Chattanooga, Tennessee. From there he was graduated as first lieutenant and was sent to Camp Wheeler. He was among those recommended by his superior officers and was transferred to the regular army, becoming a member of Company G, Second Division, on an ammunition train. He went to France, where he saw active service for two years and was promoted to a captaincy ten days before the armistice was signed. He was killed in the battle of the Argonne forest and was buried at Romagne at his own request. Before he sailed for France he exacted a promise from his father to the effect that if he should die overseas he should be buried there. He was but twenty-seven years of age at the time of his death.

.....The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Reese, which was celebrated in Nashville was spoken of as the "chief social event of the mid-winter season in Nashville." Their home was ever a recognized social center and, according to one of the local papers, was for many years the mecca of the socially elect and intellectual classes of the city, while still another paper said: "While Mrs. Reese pursued her career as the recognized social leader of Nashville, Mr. Reese continued his meteoric business achievements. In 1899 he removed to Paducah, Kentucky, where the two were as eminently prominent in business and society as in Nashville. While in Nashville Mrs. Reese had figured prominently in obtaining legislative aid for the preservation of the Hermitage, home of General Andrew Jackson. They were no less prominent when they came to Memphis in 1900. While Mr. Reese devoted practically all of his time to his business ventures, he encouraged Mrs. Reese in her social and civic ambitions. She became immediately a leader in Memphis literary and civic life, active in the Federation of Women's Clubs and for four years was president of the Nineteenth Century Club, a pioneer in the suffrage movement, and served as a member of the city board of education." Thus the labors of both Mr. and Mrs. Reese continued as active and influential factors in the city's progress, its cultural development and its civic advancement, as well as in its business achievement. There was always something brilliant in the operations of Mr. Reese, whose vision was much broader than that of the majority of mankind and who saw opportunities that others could not discern. So quickly and so surely did he accomplish his purposes that his career has often been termed meteoric, but unlike the meteor that flashes upon the horizon and is gone in a moment his career impressed itself idelibly upon the record of business achievement in every section in which he operated. There was nothing spectacular about him as a man, however, for he was thoroughly modest and unassuming in his personal relations and at all times held friendship inviolable. He was long a personal friend and great admirer of the Nebraskan statesman, William Jennings Bryan, and when the latter became a presidential nominee it was Mr. Reese who originated the dollar campaign fund, whereby each member of the democratic party was asked to give a dollar for the campaign work and thus raised a mammoth campaign fund. He showed equal loyalty to many other friends as the occasion demanded. But it was his business career perhaps that kept him most constantly in the public eye. Where others hesitated he dared. Where others faltered he kept on. He took his losses with a smile and turned with hope to the future. He knew both failure and success and each played its part in shaping his character but neither ever became his master. He never lowered his standards and he never succumbed to defeat to any but the last enemy of all, Death. From Ancestry, contributor Larry Farley* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 1 2020, 23:28:32 UTC