M. Cary

        M. Cary, manufacturer of carriages and spring wagons, 812 Cherry Street, and 813 Georgia Avenue, was born May 21. 1844 in Bucyrus, Ohio. He is the second of four children born to Aaron and Nancy (Myers) Cary. Aaron Cary was born in 1814, in Bucyrus, Ohio, and is of Scotch descent. His ancestors came to America at the time the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and his father, Lewis Cary, was the first settler at Bucyrus, Ohio, having built the first house at that place. The mother of our subject was born in 1821 in Carlisle, Penn. Her great-grandfather came from Holland about the time the Hollanders settled on the Hudson River. Mr. Cary was reared in the Quaker Church, but at present he is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church. His son, Dr. Cary, was appointed medical missionary to Siam, by the board of missions of the Presbyterian Church. M. Cary, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the graded schools of Defiance, Ohio. At the age of eighteen he went to Monroeville, Ind., and bought staves for his brother. The following year he accepted a position as general agent for Reiley & Robertson, of Allegheny City, Penn., and Cleveland, dealers in oil barrel cooperage. He had the supervision of thirteen points throughout Indiana and Ohio. The firm failing in 1869 threw Mr. Cary out of employment but he secured a position as drummer from Carnahan, Hannah & Co., wholesale dealers in boots and shoes, at Fort Wayne, Ind., where he remained two years. He then took charge of a general store at Maples, Ind., which he had previously owned. The style of the firm being M. Cary & Co. He was also engaged at the same time in the stave business and in manufacturing patent barrel hoops. At the end of six years he moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., and traveled one year for Burgert & Hart, of Toledo, Ohio, wholesale boot and shoe dealers. In 1880 he purchased and ran the Mayor House, at Fort Wayne, Ind, a short time, and then began settling up his business preparatory to coming South. In the fall of 1881 he moved to Chattanooga, and followed various occupations until the fall of 1886, when be purchased an interest of the M. F. Drake Carriage Manufactory, and afterward purchased the whole business. He married Miss Nancy Simpson in the winter of 1867 and the fruits of this union were five children: Alberta (deceased), Arthur M., Estella B., Winifred Alice and Hugh Aaron. Mr. and Mrs. Cary are members of the Mission Ridge Presbyterian Church in which Mr. Cary is an elder. He is a Republican in politics and an excellent citizen.
Goodspeed's "History of East Tennessee" 1887