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_Henry Bradley Plant._
THE LIFE OF
HENRY BRADLEY PLANT
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE PLANT SYSTEM
OF RAILROADS AND STEAMSHIPS AND ALSO
OF THE SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY
BY
G. HUTCHINSON SMYTH, D.D.
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G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1898
_Compliments of
The Author._
COPYRIGHT, 1898
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
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PREFACE.
If it be asked why another biography is added to the almost endless
number now in our bookstores and libraries, an answer is found in the
countless distinctions of individual character, and in the varied
experiences which come to men in different walks of life. The botanist
says that of all leaves in the forests of the world, no two can be found
alike in every particular. The phrenologist says the same of the various
forms of the human head, and the psychologist affirms it of the
intellects and dispositions of men and women. Hence each life has its
own peculiar experience to record for the pleasure or profit of others.
Biography is the most universally interesting and instructive branch of
literature; hence the power of the novel and drama, which are merely
biographies pictured and acted before us. A study of history shows that
the nations’ great movements are the work of individual men and women.
In illustration of this fact it is needful to mention such names only
as Abraham, Joseph, Esther, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, and Washington.
The commercial and industrial occupations from which a nation now
derives its strength should be honored as truly as the military exploit,
or the scientific achievement. The record of a noble life which, in its
sphere of quiet duty, has accomplished much for the good of others, is a
lesson in patriotism and a legacy to posterity. The best period of the
history of the Cotton States could only be written by taking into
account the share which the subject of this biography has had in their
development.
It is rare to find a man who has had dealings with so many of his
fellows, and who, at the same time, has won the esteem and affection of
his associates and employés, as has Henry Bradley Plant in every
department of his great railroad system.
The writing of this biography is undertaken in the belief that there are
many general readers to whom the record of such a life will be as
welcome as it must be to those to whom, in his manifold activities, he
has proved a benefactor and a friend.
G. H. S.
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CHAPTER I.
PAGE
The Plant Family--Birth of Henry Bradley Plant--Mr. Plant’s
Parents--Ancestors Came from England in 1639--David Plant Occupied
Many Positions of Honor and Trust--A. P. Plant’s Successful Business
Career--H. B. Plant on his Mother’s Side is Descended from Joseph
Frisbee, a Major in Washington’s Army--Reverend Levi Frisbee, Father
of Professor Levi Frisbee of Harvard College--Connection with Sir
William Pepperell, Bart.--The Historian of the Frisbee Family--Richard
of the Second Generation Went from Virginia to Connecticut, and
Settled at Branford, 1644--Sketch of Oliver Libby Frisbee, Historian
of his Family--Senator Hoar’s Relations to the Frisbee Family--Frisbee
Patriotism and Services to their Country--They Were Good, Church-going
People, mostly of the Puritan Belief--Probability that the Frisbees
Came from Wales.....1-14