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His
great-grandfather fought throughout the Revolutionary war and was
for two years incarcerated on the New Jersey prison ship, coming out
of this terrible experience blind and with hair as white as snow.
When the war was over his wife went to meet him but on account of
his changed appearance did not recognize him, and because he was
blind he could not see her. It was not until they both arrived at
home that he could make himself known. Several generations of the
family remained in New York and eventually a branch of the family
was established in the wilds of Michigan, its members traveling
overland by wagon, bringing with them their household effects, which
included the first pair of andirons that were ever introduced into
the west. They took active part in the development of Michigan, just
as they had in the growth and progress of New York.
The early education of Peter P. Van Vleet was acquired in the common
schools of Michigan, while later he attended college at Kalamazoo,
that state, to which place his father, Ralph S. Van Vleet, had
removed from Geneva, New York, where he was born and where he had
conducted business so successfully that he had become a capitalist.
In early manhood
he had wedded Miss Henrietta Lockhart, a representative of the
eastern family of Lockharts of English origin. This worthy couple
were able to surround their son with many of the advantages and
opportunities of life and his home training was such as made for the
development of splendid manhood and admirable character. He
completed his education in the college at Kalamazoo, which he
attended to the age of eighteen years, and then started out in the
business world as a drug clerk in that city, serving a three years'
apprenticeship there.
In
1871, however, he left Michigan and came to Memphis, traveling
partly by stage and partly by boat, coming down the Mississippi on
the packet, Belle Lee, fully intending to make Charleston, South
Carolina, his home, but when he arrived in Memphis he found it a
thriving little city which made strong appeal to him. He came ashore
as the boat docked on a moonlight evening and was so charmed by his
first impression of the place that he concluded to remain.
Accordingly, he obtained a position as drug clerk and was thus
employed for fourteen years. His first position was with the firm of
G. W. Jones & Company and later he formed a partnership with the
widow of Mr. Jones, while following her death he sold his interest
in the business to her heirs.
It
was then that he established business independently, organizing the
wholesale firm that operated under the name of the Van Vleet Drug
Company. In February he merged with his own enterprise the drug
business of S. Mansfield & Company and in 1902 took over that of the
W. N. Wilkerson Company and also of the S. W. Jones Company, buying
the interests of the three concerns and merging them with the Van
Vleet-Mansfield Drug Company, of which Mr. Van Vleet remained the
president until his death.
Thus he was for many years the head and manager of one of the
largest and most progressive wholesale drug concerns in the United
States. He was truly a self-made man in the best sense of the term
and successful in everything that he undertook. Step by step he
advanced in his commercial career, through the wise use of his
opportunities, and eventually he became owner of a business that
under his guidance grew in volume and importance until it was second
to but one wholesale drug house of the country. In addition to his
wholesale drug business Mr. Van Vleet was a director of the Bank of
Commerce & Trust Company of Memphis and in other ways was closely
associated with financial and business interests in this city.
Mr. Van Vleet was a very liberal contributor to all
charitable and benevolent organizations, including especially the
Baptist Hospital. He was at one time a director also of the old
Memphis Medical Hospital and he cooperated heartily with many
organized efforts for the uplift of his fellowmen and for the
advancement of the best interests of society at large. During his
later years he and Mrs. Van Vleet traveled extensively throughout
the world and he numbered among his friends many prominent and
distinguished Europeans as well as leading Americans. He was an
active member of the Memphis Country Club, the Tennessee Club, the
Chickasaw Club, the Waponoca Club, the Hatchie Coon Club, the Bear
River Duck Club, the Mud Lake Duck Club and the Tarpon Club of
Tarpon, Texas, and his social qualities were such as made for
popularity among all who knew him. The sterling traits of his
character were many, and by reason of his upright life and his
admirable qualities his acquaintances were fast converted into warm
friends. He was rich in the possession of all those things which men
most admire in the individual and in the business man and through
the steps of an orderly progression he came to a point of leadership
in America.
From The Pharmaceutical Era, August 13,
1908- "P. P. Van Vleet, president of the Van
VleetMansfield Drug Co., Memphis, Tenn.. was born in 1849 at
Kalamazoo, Mich., and received his education in the Kalamazoo
College. Just after completing his course, he started out for
himself, with no particular place north of New Orleans in view, but
on reaching Memphis he was quick to see and realize the
possibilities of the place and secured a position as prescription
clerk with G. W. Jones & Co.. at that time the largest drug house in
that town. In 1879 he purchased a half interest in the business.
This interest he sold in 1884 and established the wholesale house of
Van Vleet & Co., which business was continued profitably until 1894,
when the business of the Mansfield Drug Co. was purchased, thus
establishing the Van Vleet Mansfield Drug Co.
Mr.
Van Vleet is a man of great executive ability. to which there could
be no better monument than the largest Southern drug house of which
he is the head. He is one of the most public spirited men in
Memphis, and. while he does not take an active part in politics, he
is always ready to contribute his money and services for the welfare
of the city. Mr. Van Vleet is an ardent fisherman and a prominent
member of the Tarpon Club at Arkansas Pass, Texas, where he goes
several times a year in quest of the gamiest of fish. He is also a
great traveler and has made several trips to Japan and Europe, and
has been round the world once".
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