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"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe Supplement." Vol. II. The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author listed.) pgs. 54-56.
Mining and the lumber industry constituted for many years the chief
sources of revenue for the northwest and the rich mineral resources of this
section of the country still offer splendid inducements to the men whose
judgment is keen enough and whose industry is persistent enough to seek
success in that field. Bob Mabry is well known in this connection as the head
of the firm of Bob Mabry & Company, operating in various mining districts. He
was born in Jefferson, Texas, August 7, 1867, and is a son of H.P. and S.A.
(Haywood) Mabry, of that place. The father was a distinguished lawyer of
Texas, one whose record was a credit and honor to the bar of the Lone Star
state. He was born in Georgia in 1824. The progenitors of the Mabry family
in the United States came for England about 1700, first settling in Georgia
and Virginia. During the war of the Revolution many of the family took active
part on the side of freedom. H.P. Mabry removed from Georgia to Texas when
young. During the Civil war he enlisted as captain and was afterward
commissioned brevet brigadier general of the Third Cavalry of Texas, where he
served with distinction in the Confederate army throughout the war. He
afterward served as district judge of Texas and was a member of the
legislature and also of the state senate. He died in March, 1884. General
Mabry was married in Jefferson, Texas, to Miss S.A. Haywood, who was a direct
descendant of the Haywoods of Tennessee. Mrs. Mabry was born in that state in
1838 and went to Jefferson, Texas, when young. She is now living in Spokane
with her son, Bob Mabry. Seven children were born of this union but only two
are now living. H. Mabry is associated with his brother Bob in the mining
business. Another brother, W.H. Mabry, now deceased, was at one time adjutant
general of Texas. He was also colonel of the First Texas Regiment during the
Spanish-American war and died in Havana, Cuba, during the war with Spain.
Bob Mabry supplemented his early education by a course in the
Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, Texas, from which he was
graduated in 1889. Soon after the completion of his studies he accepted a
position as traveling representative for a large chemical house, with which he
remained for a number of years, traveling all over the United States in the
interest of that business. His extensive travels brought him knowledge of
various parts of the country and, believing that the northwest had the most
promising future, he determined to locate permanently on the Pacific coast.
Accordingly, leaving the road, he spent a short time in California and then
came to Spokane in 1902. Here he engaged in the mining and promoting business
and among some of the best know and most successful properties which he has
handled are those located in the Republic Camp of Republic, Washington, the
Slogan country of British Columbia and Eureka Camp, Nevada. Judicious and
prudent investment has been the source of his advancement in business, winning
for him a prominent position in industrial and financial circles. During Mr.
Mabry's experience in mining propositions and business, he has found that the
majority of mine failures have not been due to lack of paying ore but to
insufficient capital and poor management, and he has demonstrated that mining
can be conducted on a legitimate business basis and be made to return
excellent results. By his system of first securing capital and never
over-estimating the value of a property he has been successful from the start.
However, the first year was a hard struggle, but he gained confidence of the
men with whom he became associated in the many mining projects which he
promoted without a failure, and all such mines have paid satisfactory
dividends to the investors.
On the 21st of May, 1898, Mr. Mabry was married to Miss Katherine
Hope, a daughter of Colonel W.B. and Katherine Hope, of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Her father held a commission as colonel in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Mabry
have one daughter, Hope Mabry. The mother is a prominent member of the Cultus
Club and Mr. Mabry is equally well known and popular in the Spokane Club, the
Spokane Amateur Athletic, the Spokane Country, the Inland and the Rotary
Clubs. He also belongs to the Oriental Lodge, No. 74, F. & A.M., having
attained the thirty-second degree, and El Katif Temple of the Mystic Shrine
and to Spokane Lodge, No. 228, B.P.O.E.
He is a man of marked personality
and has the genial qualities which make his favorite with all. He is ever
approachable yet possesses that measure of dignity which prevents familiarity.
Business has never held out to him elusive promises, for his sound judgment
leads him to place correct valuation upon opportunities for investment and his
powers of organization have enabled him to so coordinate and direct interests
as to bring forth a harmonious whole, productive of desired results.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton
* * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals featured in the biographies.