Charles Clark Lincoln

CHARLES CLARK LINCOLN, president of Look & Lincoln Table Company and president of the Lincoln Furniture Manufacturing Company, is one of the leading business men and manufactures of Marion, and one whose success in life is but the just reward of carefully trained ability intelligently directed. He was born at Marion, February 11, 1866, a son of Charles F. Lincoln, who was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1830, and died at Marion in 1893: Reared in his native city, Charles F. Lincoln left it in 1851 and came to Virginia, settling in Botetourt County where he built and operated the first cheese and broom factory ever erected in Virginia, putting it at Fincastle. After a few years he moved to Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia, and was engaged there in farming upon a very large scale. Moving in 1860 to Marion, he and Mr. Look established the firm of Look & Lincoln, manufactures of plows, later manufacturing wagons and the same concern is now manufacturing furniture. He was a republican, and for a number of years served as a member of the Board of Supervisors of Smyth County. The Royal Oak Presbyterian Church held his membership, and he was one of its elders for many years prior to his death. He married Harriet Clark who was born at Glade Springs, Washington County, Virginia, and died at Marion in 1917. Their children were as follows: Alice M. who resides at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is the widow of Charles W. White, a realtor who died there; Manson T., who is secretary and treasurer of Look & Lincoln, resides at Marion; Anna E., who resides at Bristol, Tennessee, is the wife of William H. Fillinger, a broker in coffee, sugar and spices; Charles Clark, whose name heads this review; Willard L., who resides at Marion, is vice president of Look & Lincoln and president of the Marion National Bank; Laura M., who lives at Glade Springs, Virginia, is the wife of Dr. A. F. Horne, a physician; Mattie V., who lives at La Rue, Ohio, is the wife of John H. Horne, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and Hattie O., who lives at Roanoke, Virginia, is the wife of James H. Gibboney, chief chemist for the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company.

Charles Clark Lincoln attended the Marion High School until he was seventeen years old, at which time he entered the employ of Look & -Lincoln and learned the business from the bottom up. Going on the road, he represented it as a traveling salesman for ten years, his territory including all of the southern states. Mr. Lincoln was then placed in charge of the extensive lumber interests of the company, and still looks after them. After the death of the founder the business was incorporated, under the same name of Look & Lincoln, and Mr. Lincoln was made president, and still holds that office. In 1912 he bought the old Virginia Table Works, and incorporated this concern under the style of the Virginia Table Company, and for ten years was engaged in manufacturing dining tables, but since then, has been engaged in manufacturing dining room suites. When he bought this factory for $18,000 there were a number of business men who thought the venture would, be a failure. Today the company is capitalized, at $1,000,000, and is producing annually $2,000,000 worth of dining room suites, this wonderful expansion, under his able management, justifying his good judgment. Employment is given to 500 persons, and the factory and offices are in the center of Marion, one block south of Main Street. A born organizer and executive, Mr. Lincoln organized the Furniture Manufacturing Company, and is now building a $500,000 factory at Bristol, Virginia. Look & Lincoln, as above stated, was originally established to manufacture plows, but the product is now bedroom suites, and this factory is on the north side of Main Street at Marion, and employment is given by it to 100 persons. Mr. Lincoln is also very prominent in the Sugar Grove Lumber Company, of which he is president. From the above it is easy to see that Mr. Lincoln is one of the largest employers of labor in Smyth County. He owns a very fine residence one and one-half miles east of Marion, surrounded. by fifteen acres of valuable land. It is built of stone and will be completed about 1924, and is beyond any question the most magnificent home in Southwestern Virginia. Mr. Lincoln is a large property owner, owning sixty dwellings at Marion and farms in Smyth County aggregating more than 14,000 acres, and has large timber and mineral land holdings in Smyth, Grayson, Bland and Tazewell counties. Mr. Lincoln is a republican, but, although he always takes a deep interest in the success of his party, he does not participate very actively in politics. The Royal Oak Presbyterian Church of Marion holds his membership, and he is a deacon of the church.

On November 23, 1893, Mr. Lincoln married, at Independence, Virginia, Miss Laura M. Dickey, a daughter of Hon. John M. Dickey, now deceased, who for many years was one of the most distinguished men of Grayson County which he represented in the House of Delegates. He was by vocation a farmer, and he made a success of that calling. Mrs. Lincoln was educated in the Virginia Intermont College at Glade Springs, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln have two sons Charles C., who was born in 1900; and John Dickey, who was born in 1903, and is a student of Cornell University. Charles C. Lincoln, Junior, was graduated from the Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, Academy and afterwards attended Lafayette College for two years. When only eighteen years old he enlisted for service during the World war, and was in the Soldiers Army Training Camp at Lafayette College, and was ready to go to the aviation field in Texas when the armistice was declared. He is residing with his parents and is vice president of the Virginia Table Company, vice president of the Lincoln Furniture Manufacturing Company, and vice president of the Sugar Grove Lumber Company. A man possessing great civic pride, Mr. Lincoln of this notice has always operated for the continued development of his home city, and of late years has worked to some extent through the medium of the Kiwanis Club, of which he is now president. He is a man of great energy and force of character, and whenever he undertakes anything he is not satisfied until he carries it through to a successful completion. Such men are bound to prosper no matter in which field they may see fit to labor, but Mr. Lincoln undoubtedly has selected one for which he is admirably adapted, and the industrial interests of Smyth County have benefited accordingly.

Source: Virginia and Virginians, pp. 286-287.