Finding aid to the manufactured tobacco Partnership Contract and Transfer

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VA 24501
(434) 846-0501
PARTNERSHIP CONTRACT AND TRANSFER (1882)
On Feb. 10, 1882, John B. Winfree, the firm of J.P. Gentry & Co. and the firm of
Ivey and Owen entered into a contract to form a partnership for buying and selling
manufactured tobacco in Lynchburg, Va. Winfree and Ivey & Owen each contributed
$5000 to the partnership. J.P. Gentry & Co. would operate the business. Net profits
would be divided with Gentry receiving one-half and the other parties each receiving
one-fourth. On Sept. 21, 1882, Ivey & Owen sold their interest in the firm to John B.
Winfree for 32 shares of stock and sixty dollars cash.
JOHN BELL TILDEN WINFREE (1829-1918)
John Bell Tilden Winfree, son of Christopher Winfree and Cornelia Myer Tilden, was
born May 8, 1829 near Lynchburg, Virginia. He married 16 December 1856 Ann E. Pennington,
daughter of Thomas Pennington and Mary Adkins of Sussex County. He was engaged in the
tobacco business in Lynchburg until his retirement in 1886 and was active in the Memorial
Methodist Church and trustee for the Lynchburg (Va.) school system. Winfree died 4 November
1918 in Lynchburg and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER IVEY (1843-1924)
William Christopher Ivey, son of Thaddeus H. Ivey and Mary Cornelia Winfree, born 22
April 1843 in Powhatan Co., Virginia. He partnered with Robert Isaac Owen in the firm of Ivey
and Owen, snuff manufacturers, in Lynchburg. He died 23 November 1924 in Lynchburg and
was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
ROBERT ISAAC OWEN (1854-1899)
Robert Isaac Owen, son of Robert H. Owen and Martha Blackwell, born 7 November
1854 In Madison Co., Alabama. He married Louisa Bibb Doniphan in Kirkwood, Missouri in
1878 and was a tobacconist in Lynchburg, Virginia. He died 6 July 1899 in Lynchburg and is
buried in Spring Hill Cemetery.
JAMES PUGH GENTRY (1856-1934)
James Pugh Gentry, son of Theophilus Lacy Gentry and Mary Susan Pugh, was born 12
July 1856, in Marshall Co., Tennessee. In 1882, he operated a tobacco business in Lynchburg,
Virginia, as J.P. Gentry and Co., with John Bell Winfree. He was partnered with his brother,
William Frank Gentry by 1885 as Gentry Brothers, tobacco manufacturers. He worked as
traveling salesman for tobacco manufacturers until around 1890. He married Susan Capitola
Williams 21 December 1882, in Marshall, Tennessee. James P. Gentry died at his home in
Memphis, Tennessee on 24 March 1934.

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