A well-known figure in the insurance field, Phil C. Barclay, of Cairo, is
the manager for Southern Illinois of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
Company, and is the successor of the old firm of P. W. Barclay & Son, which
was originated by the senior Barclay in 1892 and conducted actively by him
until his death, in 1907. The Barclay family identified itself with Cairo in
1868, when P. W. and J. S. Barclay, his brother, engaged in the drug
business as wholesalers and retailers, and they continued therein until J.
S. moved to Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, and continued the same business
alone until his death, in 1901.
P. W. Barclay entered the insurance
business late in life. His whole business career had been given to
merchandising, but he entered his new field with the same zeal that had
characterized his mercantile efforts, and he made his agency a productive
factor for this pioneer among life insurance companies. In 1897 his son
entered into partnership with him, and ten years later became the successor
of his worthy father. By nativity, this branch of the Barclay family were
Kentuckians, with a Virginia ancestry. P. W. Barclay was born at
Russellville, Kentucky, in 1832, and was a son of Hugh Barclay, who moved to
that state as a young man, established himself in a tanyard, and continued
that industry while in vigorous life. He married Miss Lou Ann Hall, and both
died at Russellville, having been the parents of nine children. The minority
of P. W. Barclay was spent about his father's tanyard and in gaining a fair
education, and even as a young man he became interested in drug work, making
it an important part of his life work. He was married to Miss Mary P. Crews,
daughter of Rev. Hooper Crews, of Chicago, but originally of Kentucky, a
Methodist minister who spent more than half a century in the pulpit. Mrs.
Barclay passed away in 1896. To Mr. and Mrs. P. W. Barclay were born the
following children: Phil C.; Hugh, who died at Tucson, Arizona, after
spending some years in the government service in Porto Rico; and Mrs. J. A.
Naugle, of Cairo, whose husband was prominent in railroad circles of Old
Mexico for more than thirty years.
Phil C. Barclay was educated in
the schools of Cairo, and after completing his education entered business
with his father, in which he has continued to the present time. He is a
native of Chicago, and he was married at Versailles, Kentucky, in September,
1881, to Miss Fannie Hinkle, a Cairo lady, daughter of Jesse Hinkle, a
native of Kentucky who lived for many years in Cairo, and later went to
Porterville, California, where Mr. Hinkle died. Mrs. Barclay's only brother,
Robert, died in Cairo in 1910.
Mr. Barclay is a Master Mason and a
member of the Elks Lodge of Cairo, and his father was one of the prominent
Masons of Illinois, being past grand commander of the Knights Templar, past
grand high priest of the chapter, and a thirty-third degree Mason. Phil C.
Barclay is a member of the Cairo Commercial Club and is secretary of the
Cairo Board of Trade. He is serving his second term as one of the election
commissioners of Cairo, has been three years a member of the board of
education, and is serving his second term as a member of the Public Library
board of directors. He is a popular member of the Alexander Club, the
popular social men's club of the city.
Extracted from 1912 History of Southern Illinois, Volume 2, pages 626-627.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
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Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
