A. P. Wherry was enumerated as having a sawmill and grist mill in Precinct 4, Rusk County, in 1870. The mills were worth, respectively, $1,200 and $1,300. In 1870, 240,000 feet of lumber worth $3,000 and 3,800 bushels of cornmeal worth $3,800 were produced. The mill s employed six men who received a total combined wage of $600.
Wherry was listed in a railroad directory as having a sawmill at Pinehill, Rusk County, in 1884.
According to Webb, A. P. Wherry also had a sawmill and grist mill gristmill in what later became Long Branch in southwestern Panola County before 1880.
Pinehill, settled before the Civil War, was first known as Rake Pocket. It is located in eastern Rusk County.