There has been no citizen of Memphis who has done more to stabilize the cotton trade and to develop the industry along substantial lines than did Frank Millington Crump. He possessed sound judgment, keen discernment and a ready recognition of opportunity, combined with the qualities of leadership, and step by step he advanced from the beginning of his commercial career as a clerk in a cotton shed. He came to be recognized as one of the foremost representatives of the industry in America, and he operated successfully as a cotton buyer in Memphis from 1896 to the time of his death.

It was on the 15th of July 1868, that Frank Millington Crump was born near Holly Springs, Mississippi, his parents being James Moore and Caroline Hatch ( Smith ) Crump. He was a pupil in the public schools of his native town in early boyhood and afterward attended the Chalmers Institute there.

When a youth of sixteen, however, he left Holly Springs and came to Memphis, where he entered upon his business career in 1884, securing an humble clerkship in connection with the cotton trade. A little later he obtained a position as bill clerk and shipping clerk with the whole sale grocery and cotton firms of Stewart, Gwynne & Company and Hill, Fontaine & Company. His experience in those connections was of the utmost value and worth to him, bringing him excellent knowledge of business methods and opportunities.

From 1890 until 1892 he was given intensive training in the cotton business as a reweigher and in the latter year the recognition of his capability and fidelity came in a promotion to the position of cotton classer and buyer for Robert Woolfenden & Company, in which dual capacity he continued to serve until 1896. Steadily he was advancing in his knowledge of the trade and in his efficiency in handling the business until he became recognized as one of the most efficient authorities on cotton grading and purchasing in Memphis.

He, with J. M. Richardson, of Robert Woolfenden & Company, for whom he was working, entered into a partnership under the firm name of F. M. Crump & Company, to handle cotton for American mills. This partnership continued until 1896, when he left the old firm of Robert Woolfenden & Company and took in his brother, Dabney H. Crump, the firm continuing as F. M. Crump & Company, and for twenty - six years this remained one of the leading cotton concerns of the south, F. M. Crump remaining as the directing head of the enterprise until ill health forced his retirement only a short time prior to his demise. Under the guidance of the brothers the trade grew to extensive proportions and the name of Crump became a synonym for progressiveness in connection with the cotton industry in the south. F. M. Crump belonged not only to the Memphis Cotton Exchange but also to the New York Cotton Exchange, and in 1906 the former organization elected him to its presidency.