T. M. Barham as secretary of the W. R. Pickering Lumber Company holds one of the most important positions of trust in connection with the affairs of this great lumber institution. His judgment and ability are appreciated highly by all his associates in the Pickering interests, both principals and employees. The town of Barham, in Louisiana, is named in his honor.

Mr. Barham was born on a farm in Green county, Missouri, February 10, 1867, and when 12 years of age he moved with his parents to the town of Ash Grove, in the same county. He received a high school education. Mr. Barham was for three years a clerk in the retail hardware and implement business in Ash Grove, Mo.; two years bookkeeper and teller in the bank of Ash Grove; four years in the Bank of Springfield, Springfield, Mo., as bookkeeper, paying teller and receiving teller; and for four years was connected with the wholesale dry goods business in Springfield as a member of the firm and in charge of the office and credits.

During his career he was for one and a half years in the Bank of Marionville, at Marionville, Mo., as cashier, which extra work was occasioned by the sickness and death of an elder brother who had been running that institution. He remained in the Bank of Marionville until the banks business was sold.

Mr. Barham entered the lumber business February 1, 1897, with the W. R. Pickering Lumber Company, and has continued with the company during the last nine years gaining with that concern all his knowledge of the lumber business, both wholesale and retail.

Work at the desk and the extension of thousands of columns of figures would never put Mr. Barham in a rut. He has a breadth of character and ability which make him a valued associate in the consideration of all the policies of the institution.