Ed
Hendicks
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Ed Hendricks, senior member of the
mercantile firm of Hendricks and Anderson, of Cooper, Texas, is a
representative of one of the ante bellum families of the Lone
Star state. John Pierson Hendricks, the father of Ed Hendricks, came from
Springfield, Missouri, to Texas some time in the 50's. He was a
native of Kentucky, born in 1834, and went from there to Missouri
when a child, -where, in Greene County, he was reared and educated,
his educational advantages, however, being limited. At that date St.
Louis was the farthest west railroad point, and the Hendricks family
made the journey to Texas in true pioneer fashion, namely, by wagon.
Their destination was Biardstown community in Lamar County, where
John P. Hendricks became a leading factor in the agricultural and
stock industry, and also in the gin and mill business of that place.
John P. Hendricks was a son of Isaac Hendricks, who also came to
Texas. Isaac. Hendricks' father was William Hendricks, who lived and
died at Baltimore, Maryland. He was the progenitor of various
branches of the family that are scattered throughout the South.
Isaac Hendricks married Hamsy Webster, and their children were John
P., Shadrick, Meshack. Marshall; Mary J., who has been twice
married, first to Kirk Johnson and after his death to John Evans;
Elzora, wife of James Dillard, of Oregon, and Artemissa, wife of
Benjamin Jackson, of Oklahoma. John P. Hendricks died in 1907. He
maintained a strong interest in democratic politics, and was a man
of Southern prejudices and practices, but he took no part in the
effort to establish the Confederate States. His widow, Serena
(Smith) Hendricks, is still a resident of Cooper, Texas. Of their
children, we record that Robert, born in 1862, married Miss Lillie
Duncan, and is with the Hendricks-Anderson firm of Cooper; Gay, of
Paris, Texas, married May Jackson; Ed, whose name introduces this
review, was the next in order of birth, and the youngest, Gertrude,
is the wife of Neal Duncan, of Paris, Texas. Ed Hendricks was born November 13, 1873,
at Biardstown, Lamar County, and spent the first sixteen years of
life on his father's farm. In addition to a common school education,
he had the advantage of a course in a business college, and when he
was seventeen he entered upon his business career. His chief
training has been in the broad school of experience, where he has
rounded out a character typical of the prosperous, genial
Southerner, on good terms with himself and everybody around him. He
earned his first money as an employee of the mill and gin at
Biardstown, and subsequently he ran a confectionery stand at that
place. On coming to Delta county, he found employment as clerk for
S. C. Ratliff in the old town of Charleston, at $16.00 a month, and
there familiarized himself with all the details of the business and
developed into a successful salesman and merchant. His ambition was
to havo a business of his own, and when he had accumulated a small
capital he put in a stock of groceries and dry goods at Charleston,
and thus opened up an independent career. His first capital amounted
to only $425, but he met with success from the very start, and
subsequently doubled and trebled his stock. After fourteen years
spent at Charleton, he was ready for a wider field of activity. At
that time his cash on hand and stock in trade were in marked
contrast with the few dollars he had put into the business. On coming to Cooper in 1910, Mr.
Hendricks embarked in the grocery business in his own brick house,
just off the main square of the town. The following year he joined
Carter Anderson in the purchase of the business of Cooper Bros., and
under the firm name of Hendricks & Anderson is now identified
with a mercantile business that is at the head in its line in Delta
County. Mr. Henderson is one of the directors of the First National
Bank of Cooper, vice president of the Home Relief Insurance Company,
and president of the Delta Retail Merchants' Association. Also, he
is a member of the Cooper Board of Trade. While a resident of Charleston, Mr. Hendricks was married to Miss
Nina Akard, daughter of Henry Akard and wife, ncc Terrell.
The Akards, as the name suggests, are .of Herman origin, and Henry
Akard is one of the merchants of Charleston. Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks
are the parents of six children, namely: Gertrude, Bessie, Noland,
Earl, Gordon and Lucile. |
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