p. 1606-1608

ANDREW J. POORMAN, JR.

With industry, thrift and efficiency his keynotes in whatever work he has undertaken, Andrew J. Poorman has steadily progressed toward the top rung of the ladder of attainments, and now occupies a position of prominence among the leading men of Wayne county, beihg president of 'the First National Bank of Fairfield; president of the Mill Shoals Cooperage Company; and an extensive owner of Illinois lands. A ~on' of Andrew J. Poorman, Sr., he was born April 28, 1871, in Pleasant Point, Paulding county, Ohio.

Andrew J. Poorman, Sr., was born in Ohio, and has spent his entire life of eighty-three years in his native state, his home now being in Paulding county, where he is living retired from agricultural pursuits. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Daly, ten children were born, as follows: Mary E.; Thomas W.; Loretta; Emerson L.; Francis, deceased; Henry J.; Lucy D.; Maggie; Perry; and Andrew J., Jr. The mother passed to the life beyond at a comparatively early age, her death occurring in 1887.

After .the death of his mother, when he was but sixteen years of age, Andrew J. Poorman, Jr., left school and began to hustle for himself, being first engaged in farming and afterwards in lumbering. Changing his occupation in 1892, he was bookkeeper and manager of a cooperage company for five years, during which time he gained a practical knowledge of the business. ln 1897 Mr. Poorman migrated to Illinois, locating at Mill Shoals, where, in company with W. C. Johantgen, he organized the Mill Shoals Cooperage Company, with which lie has since been actively connected. Enlarging its business in 1906, this enterprising company commenced operations in the south, and in addition to its original plant is now operating mills in Boynton and Hermann, Arkansas, and in Bucoda, Missouri, the annual output of the combined plants approximating fifty million staves, in the manufacture of which over seven hundred men are employed. This company, of which Mr. Poorman is president, has a capital of $100,000 invested, and has headquarters in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Since 1902 Mr. Poorman has been officially connected with the First National Bank of Fairfield, serving as vice-president until 1909, when, at the death of General T. W. Scott, he succeeded to the presidency, and took up his residence in Fairfield, The Bank of Fairfield was established in 1892 by local citizens, including F. M. Brock and J. A. Cox. In 1895 it was organized into the First National Bank of Fairfield, with a capital of $50,000. In 1912 its deposits amounted to $250,000, while its total resources were $370,000. It is housed in the fine brick building which it owns on Main street, and pays interest on its deposits. This institution has a fine corps of officers, as follow: President, Andrew J. Poorman, Jr.; first vice-president, J. A. Cox; second vice-president, T. J. Hilliard; cashier, Walter Sons; and assistant cashier, William Atterbury. The directors are J. A. Cox, T. J. Hilliard, Walter Sons, S. T. Pendleton, F. M. Brock, C. E. Keith, C. H. Keith, H. H. Moore, A. J. Poorman, Jr., and B. F. Thomas.

Mr. Poorman also has other interests of vital importance, being a director of the Farmers' State Bank of Enfield; vice-president of the Richland Construction Company; a stockholder in the Fairfield Ice and Storage Company; and the owner of about fifteen hundred acres of valuable land, five hundred lying near Mill Shoals, four hundred and seventy acres in Wabash county, Illinois, and a tract equally as large situated in Wayne county. Politically Mr. Poorman is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, being a member not only of the local lodge, but of Fairfield Chapter, No. 179, Royal Arch Masons, of Fairfield; and is a member, also, of Olney Lodge, No. 926, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Olney, Illinois.

Mr. Poorman has been twice married. He married first, in 1897, Minnie MeKinney, who died in 1899; the two children born of that union died in infancy. Mr. Poorman married again, in 1901, Nellie Behymer, of Mill Shoals, a daughter of Nathaniel Behymer. Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Poorman, namely: Lucille, born in 1902; Irene, born in 1905; and Paul, deceased. Born in a log cabin and brought up in the swamp lands of Ohio, Mr. Poorman has made his own way through life since a youth of sixteen years, and having met with noteworthy success in his undertakings is entitled to a place of eminence among the self-made men of our generation.

Andrew J. Poorman, Mr. Poorman's father, settled in Paulding county, Ohio, in 1854, taking up his residence in what is known as the Black Land District. He enlisted in August 1862, in Company I, One Hundredth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the engagements of Knoxville, Tennessee; Buzzards Roost, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, Georgia. He received a wound in the left hand at Kenesaw Mountain.