Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 1

Author: Herndon, Dallas T. (Dallas Tabor), b. 1878
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago, Little Rock, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1172

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Gc 976.7 H43c v.2 1131999

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01711 6077

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF

ARKANSAS

TOPU

VOLUME II

CHICAGO-LITTLE ROCK THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1922

1131999

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HON. HARMON L. REMMEL

BIOGRAPHICAL

HON. HARMON L. REMMEL.

Capability, resourcefulness and high ideals have made Harmon L. Remmel one of the foremost financiers and business men of Arkansas and a recognized leader in republican ranks in the state. His devotion to civic interests and the progress and upbuilding of the commonwealth has been manifest in many tangible ways. His suc- cess is that which brings intellectual liberty, making him a citizen of the wider world of thought and knowledge. His plans and purposes have ever found expres- sion in practical methods for their achievement and that he reaches his goal is per- haps best evidenced in the high positions which he occupies as a citizen, as a political leader and as a banker.

Those who know Mr. Remmel feel that prophetic vision must have influenced the choice of his middle name, for they feel that it is a synonym of his entire career. Harmon Liveright Remmel was born in Stratford, Fulton county, New York, January 15, 1852, his parents being Godlove and Henrietta (Bever) Remmel, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was a manufacturer of Bruchhausen, near Cologne, Prussia, but left that country at the time of the revolution of 1848 and sailed for the United States that he might enjoy the liberty and freedom of the new world. He came to America to he an American citizen and not to give a divided allegiance to the country, so that when the Civil war broke out he gave three of his sons to the cause of the Union. He followed farming as a life work and both he and his wife spent their remain- ing days in the Empire state.

Harmon L. Remmel, the only surviving son of the family, obtained his early educa- tion in his native town and afterward studied in the Fairfield Seminary at Fairfield, New York, subsequent to which time he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for a year in his native state. In 1871 he became a resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and there engaged in business until 1874, when he returned to New York and devoted his attention to the lumber trade in the eastern metropolis. It was by reason of that line of business that he became interested in the great lumber resources of Arkansas and eventually came to this state to make his home in 1876. For a time he resided at Newport, Jackson county, where he engaged extensively in the manufacture of lumber, being associated for several years with his brother, Augustus C. Remmel, under the firm style of Remmel Brothers, the partnership being maintained until 1883, when the brother died in Newport.

Harmon L. Remmel continued an active factor in the business life of Newport for two decades and then in 1896 removed to Little Rock, where he has since made his home. In the meantime he had contributed to the development of the former city, doing much to upbuild its material interests and to further its civic welfare and progress. He was twice elected a member of the village council and for eight years served on the board of education, being chosen president of the first school board formed at Newport. Since those early days Mr. Remmel has never hesitated to manifest the keenest interest in public affairs and has cooperated in many plans and projects which have been fruitful of splendid results in the npbuilding of the commonwealth. At the same time he has conducted important and extensive business interests, being particn- larly well known in financial circles. For a considerable period he occupied the presi- dency of the Mercantile Trust Company of Little Rock, retiring from that position in 1912, while in 1914 he assisted in organizing the Bankers Trust Company of Little Rock and has since been at the head of the corporation. In addition to his banking interests Mr. Remmel has been state manager for Arkansas of the Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of New York for twenty-six years.

Mr. Remmel has been married twice. On the 13th of March, 1878, he wedded Laura Lee Stafford of Staunton, Virginia, member of one of the old and prominent families of that state and a daughter of John Stafford, who was a soldier of the Confederate army in the Civil war, as were his three sons. Mrs. Remmel died in October, 1913, and

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

in 1915 Mr. Remmel was married in Fort Covington, New York, to Elizabeth 1. Cameron, of a prominent family in that community. Prior to her marriage she was a teacher of music in the Presbyterian College at Asheville, North Carolina. Afterward for sev- eral years she was traveling secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, covering a number of states. Since her marriage she has been deeply interested in the Young Women's Christian Association work and at the close of the war she was chair- man of the Assyrian and Armenian Drive of Little Rock and Pulaski county, having over four hundred women in her organization, and secured more than the quota of funds assigned to her to raise. She was also active in the Jewish Relief Drive of 1918-19. They have one son, Harmon L., born November 14, 1916. Mr. Remmel and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and manifest a helpful interest in its work. They are also prominent in the social circles of the city and the hospitality of their own home is greatly enjoyed hy their many friends. Mr. Remmel has long manifested most appreciative interest in the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion and has served as a director thereof for many years. He belongs to the American Bankers Association and has been a member of the executive council of the savings bank section. He was made a member of the state capitol commission, which had in charge the erection of the state capitol building.

A stanch republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise, Mr. Remmel has become a national figure in republican politics, not as an office holder. for he has had no ambition to fill political positions, but as one who has stood loyally back of the principles upon which the party is based. At times he has consented to become a candidate for office, but this has been really as a means of helping his party. In early manhood he was elected from Jackson county to the state legislature. In 1884 he was nominated for congress hut was unable to overcome the large normal democratic majority. It was two years after this time, however, that he was elected to the general assembly, being one of the first regularly elected republican members of the legislature following the reconstruction period after the Civil war. In 1894 the republicans named him as their candidate for governor, and while defeated hy the Hon. James P. Clarke, the latter, after becoming chief executive, manifested his appre- ciation of the sterling qualities and distinctive abilities of his former opponent by naming him as the only republican member of the state board of charities. When in 1896 Mr. Remmel again became candidate for governor he was defeated hy Hon. Daniel W. Jones and in 1900, when he was a third time a candidate, his successful opponent was the Hon. Jeff Davis, although on each occasion Mr. Remmel received a vote far in advance of that usually accorded the republican party. On the last occasion of his candidacy his vote was about forty-eight per cent above that of the republican candidate of two years before. It was hy Governor George W. Donaghey, also a democrat, that Mr. Remmel was made a member of the state capitol commission, which completed the present magnificent statehouse. Mr. Remmel served as collector of internal revenue during President Mckinley's first administration and President Roosevelt appointed him in 1906 to the office of United States marshal for the eastern district of Arkansas. Upon the expiration of his term in May, 1910, he was reappointed by President Taft. For fourteen years Mr. Remmel was chairman of the republican state central committee and wisely directed the activities of the party during state and national campaigns. In 1916 Mr. Remmel was the republican nominee for the United States senate against W. F. Kirby, who was elected. He made a most creditable race. In January, 1921, he was reelected chairman of the state central committee. He was a delegate-at-large to the national conventions which named Benjamin Harrison, William Mckinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft as presidential candidates, and he also acted as a mem- ber of the notification committee which officially carried the news of nomination to McKinley and Roosevelt. In the national convention which made Taft the standard hearer of the party he served as a member of the committee on resolutions. He was a delegate-at-large to the republican national convention in 1920 and member of the sub-committee on arrangements which prepared for the meeting of the national con vention in Chicago. He has done much effective and valuable service for Arkansas along many lines of improvement and progress. While serving in the general assembly in 1887 he was made a member of the joint committee which formulated and carried out the plan under which the long standing deht against the state, amounting to more than one million dollars, was adjusted and paid, much to the relief and benefit of the taxpayers of the commonwealth, and thereby upholding the integrity of the state. In January, 1910, Mr. Remmel was made member of a committee, by appointment of the governor, that visited the national capital and brought to the attention of the proper federal authorities the matter of securing a federal government appropriation for Arkansas wherehy there would be met the expense of a thorough survey of the wet and overflowed lands in the northeastern section of the state, that the district might be rendered cultivatable and transformed into a valuable agricultural region. In con-

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

nection with this committee's work at Washington a state drainage convention was held at Little Rock in February, 1910, Mr. Remmel acting as chairman of the conven- tion. He has long been one of the foremost factors in the promotion of good roads and for one year served as president of the Arkansas Good Roads and Drainage Asso- ciation. While filling the office of president of the Little Rock Board of Trade he did much to maintain high civic ideals and to advance the various departments of practical work undertaken by that body. On the 20th of May, 1921, he was nominated by Presi- dent Harding as collector of internal revenue for Arkansas to succeed Jack Walker. Mr. Remmel was selected for the office at the recent meeting of the republican state central committee, and according to arrangement with Mr. Walker he took office at the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1, 1921. Since 1913 he has been the member of the republican national committee from Arkansas.

Mr. Remmel was a close personal friend of Presidents Harrison, Mckinley, Roosevelt and Taft. During the summer of 1918 President Taft visited the various cantonments throughout the United States to inspire and instruct the young soldiers in lessons of patriotism in their duty to their country hefore their departure to the front. During his visits to Camp Pike he was entertained by Mr. Remmel. After the death of Chief Justice White, Mr. Remmel probably was one of the first men in the United States to wire President Harding, urging the appointment of ex-President Taft as the successor of the chief justice. He followed up his message by a personal visit to the president and was given the assurance by him that Taft would be appointed. Governor Jones appointed Mr. Remmel a colonel on his staff.

There has been no period in the history of Arkansas when she has needed the aid and support of her loyal sons that Mr. Remmel has not stood with the foremost in promoting her interests and welfare; and when the nation needed his aid he was found equally ready to the call of duty. He took a very helpful part in all of the activities relating to the World war and became chairman of the Four-Minute men of the state, perfecting an organization of one hundred and seventy-five speakers in the different counties. He campaigned the state three times in the interests of Liberty Loans and was the largest subscriber for Liberty bonds of any man in Arkansas. He served on the committee that went to Washington, D. C., to secure the location of Camp Pike and on another committee to protest against Camp Pike being removed from the state and he served on the State Council of Defense. In the summer of 1918 a plan was evolved to have each farmer give a bushel of wheat, corn, cottonseed or other product for the benefit of the United States and the allied countries. Colonel Remmel took up this matter and went to Washington, where he secured the approval of President Wilson and, returning to Little Rock, started operations. Products to the value of forty thousand dollars were given by farmers by the time the armistice was signed, at which time the work was dropped. Another official honor that has come to Mr. Remmel has been the election to the presidency of the Arkansas Bankers Association. In every- thing that he has attempted, quick discernment and the faculty of separation of the important features of any subject from its incidental or accidental circumstances have characterized his work. When he presents any cause before an audience it is a dull mind that does not respond to the touch of his thought, to the play of his fancy, to the force of his logic. His business has ever balanced up with the principles of truth and honor, while his public service has been of a most far-reaching and resultant character. Anyone meeting Mr. Remmel face to face would know at once that he is an individual embodying all the elements of what in this country we terin a "square" man-one in whom to have confidence, a dependable man in any relation and any emergency. His quietude of deportment, his easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address, with the total absence of anything sinister or anything to conceal, foretoken a man who is ready to meet any obligation of life with the confidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.

M. L. PRICE.

M. L. Price, of the Ozark Poultry & Egg Company and recognized as one of the alert, energetic and farsighted business men of the city, was born in Bates county, Missouri, June 8, 1880, and is a son of George and Mary Elizabeth (Warford) Price. The father was born in northern Missouri and was a representative of one of the old families of Virginia, his father, who was a native of the Old Dominion, removing to Missouri during the pioneer epoch in the history of the latter state. There George Price was reared to manhood and after attaining adult age he wedded Mary Elizabeth Warford, who was born in Kentucky and was a daughter of Mitchell Warford, also

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

a native of Kentucky, whence he removed to Missouri prior to the Civil war. George Price served with the Confederate army during the war between the two sections of the country and he always gave his political allegiance to the democratic party. He devoted many years to farming and stock raising, thus providing for the support of his family. Fraternally he was connected with the Masons and his religious belief was that of the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife held membership in the Baptist church. The death of Mr. Price occurred in 1920 and his widow now resides in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They became the parents of six children: M. Burge, con- ducting a grocery and meat market at Bartlesville, Oklahoma; M. L., of this review; J. L., who is manager of the Poultry Company of Fort Smith; Veaze, who is engaged in the poultry business at Fort Smith; L. V., who is connected with the American Express office at Fort Smith; and Cora May, the wife of Dr. Anthony of Fort Smith, who was formerly a practicing physician at Maryville, Missouri.

M. L. Price obtained his education in the schools of his native state and was trained to the work of the home farm which claimed his attention in youth and early manhood. Later he became identified with mercantile interests at Ballard, Missouri, and about twenty years ago engaged in the poultry business there. He also worked for other firms in the same line. In January, 1914, he came to Fayetteville and in the following year purchased the business of the Aaron Poultry Company, Incorporated, of Kansas City, Missouri, the business being here carried on under the style of the Ozark Poultry & Egg Company. It was capitalized for twenty thousand dollars and incorporated by Jay Fulbright, M. L. Price, F. M. Patrick and R. M. Clark. Mr. Price has continuously served as manager since the incorporation. The business has steadily grown and developed and the company now maintains branch houses at Fort Smith and at Rogers. Their success is assured by reason of the progressive business methods they have ever followed and the close application and unremitting energy of Mr. Price, who is the active head of the concern. Recently the Ozark Poultry & Egg Company has made several improvements in its plant and it is the intention to make the business the largest of the kind in the south. Already it has far outdistanced many competitors and is regarded as one of the leading commercial enterprises of Fayetteville and this section of the state. Mr. Price also owns a half interest in the Security Motor Company.

In 1900 was celebrated the marriage of M. L. Price and Miss Ruey Patrick, who was born in Kentucky, a daughter of F. M. Patrick, who is engaged in the poultry and egg business in Elkins, Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. Price have one daughter, Marvine, who is attending high school. The parents belong to the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Price is also identified with the Chamber of Commerce. In politics he has ever been a democrat and is now serving as a member of the city council of Fayette- ville, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many plans and measures hav- ing to do with civic betterment and improvement. Starting out in the business world on his own account when a youth of sixteen years be has since depended entirely upon his own resources, and his thoroughness, capability and energy have been the dominant factors in bringing him the success which is now his.

CAPTAIN DIGBY B. WEST.

Captain Digby B. West, who became well known as one of the successful farmers of Arkansas, established his home in the vicinity of Berryville in 1889 and there resided to the time of his demise in 1902. He was fifty-six years of age when death called him, for his birth occurred in Ireland in 1846. He was a son of Dean West, who was a dean of the Episcopal church of Ardagh, Ireland, and later in Presteign, Wales.

Digby B. West was the third in order of birth in a family of eight children. He acquired a good education in an agricultural college at Cirencester, England, and was a magistrate in County Roscommon, Ireland, and also became captain of the Royal Longford Rifles of Ireland. He came to America in 1882, settling on a farm in Texas, and remained in that state for seven years, but his experience there was anything but encouraging. His family were all sick and he lost considerable money while attempt- ing to found a home in the Lone Star state. He had enough left to bring his family to Arkansas, when in 1889 he decided to try his fortune in this state and settled on a farm which he purchased near Berryville. Immediately he began to prosper and he continued to live on his farm throughout his remaining days, devoting his attention to the work of further improvement and development. In 1900 he set out a nice apple orchard of fifty acres and in 1920 Mrs. West shipped sixteen carloads of fine apples.

It was in England, in 1868, that Mr. West was united in marriage to Miss Fanny Louisa Swindell, who was horn in England, near London. She is a daughter of John

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

S. and Mary Louisa (Bond) Swindell. Her father was a highly educated man, being a graduate of the Royal Engineers College of England, and he devoted his life to the profession of civil engineering. Mr. and Mrs. West became the parents of thirteen children, of whom eight are living: Francis married W. J. Jamison of Baltimore, and they are now living in Berryville. He has devoted his attention to the hotel and banking business and he also managed Deer Park Hotel, Maryland, in the summer sea- sons; Dighy West, the second of the family, is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Sidney is an engineer on an ocean steamship and makes his home at San Francisco, California; Charles is a druggist of Minnesota; Fred is a railroad man, living at Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Heyrick C. follows farming in the vicinity of Berryville; Lucy is the wife of E. V. Wier, conducting a dry goods store in the vicinity of San Diego, California; John lives on his mother's farm and manages the orchard. All are members of the Episcopal church, but as there is no church of that denomination in Berryville, Mrs. West attends the Methodist Episcopal church and is pianist for the congregation. In politics Mr. West was an ardent democrat. Mrs. West lives in a comfortable home in Berryville. The family is most highly esteemed and Mr. West left. to his wife and children not only a comfortable competence but also that priceless heritage of an untarnished name.

DIGBY JOHN WEST.

Digby John West, who for twenty-eight years has been connected with the First National Bank of Berryville, was born in Ireland, April 22, 1871, a son of Digby B. West, mentioned elsewhere in this work. He obtained a public school education in Texas and also attended Clarke's Academy at Berryville, a time-honored institution, while later he spent two years as a student in the military academy at Sweet Springs, Missouri. He entered upon his business career when a young man as an employe in the Carroll County Bank, which was converted into The First National Bank of Berry- ville and he has been connected with the institution throughout the intervening period, covering twenty-six years. Steadily he has worked his way upward until for the past five years he has been president of the bank and active in directing the policy of the institution, which is notably sound and reliable and most carefully safeguards the inter- ests of its depositors.

In 1897 Mr. West was married to Miss Fannie Clarke, who was born in Berryville and is a daughter of Professor Isaac A. Clarke, to whom extended reference is made on another page of this work, her father having for many years been one of the lead- ing educators of this state. To Mr. and Mrs. West have been born six children: Helen Maude; Digby Clarke, who is now in school at Columbia, Tennessee; Herbert Brooke, Rollo Granger and Virginia Frances, all in school; and Vinnie Ream. Mr. West is a member of the Episcopal church, while his wife holds membership in the Christian church. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason and is a loyal follower of the teachings and purposes of the craft. In politics he has always been a democrat and keeps well in- formed on the questions and issues of the day but has never been an aspirant for public office. He devotes his time to the hank and is leading a most active life in connection with the business interests of Berryville, where the sterling worth of his character is widely recognized and where the circle of his friends is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances.

BURTON O. GEORGE.

Burton O. George, vice president of the First National Bank of Berryville, was born November 24, 1872, in the house in which he now resides, his parents being William Patrick and Mary (Burton) George, both of whom were natives of Barry county, Missouri. The father was born near Cassville in 1846 and died on the 13th of October, 1915. The mother's birth occurred in the same neighborhood in 1850 and she now makes her home in Berryville. They were the parents of four children, of whom two are living, Burton O, and Charles A., the latter a physician of Berryville who is mentioned on another page of this work. William Patrick and Mary (Bnr- ton) George were reared and educated in Missouri, the father coming to Berryville, Arkansas, in 1868, a year or two before they were married. Here he engaged in the practice of medicine to the time of his death and he died in the faith of the Baptist church, of which he had long been a devoted member. Fraternally he was a Knights Templar Mason and politically a democrat. He enlisted in the Confederate army at

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

the age of fifteen years and served as a member of Parson's Brigade for a period of three years and while at the front was captured and imprisoned at Memphis. With his return home he studied medicine and graduated from the St. Louis Medical School. He was a most capable and successful physician, recognized as well as one of the fore- most surgeons of northern Arkansas. The first amputation which he made was with a Disston saw. As the years passed and great improvements were made in the methods of surgery he kept in touch with these and was ever abreast with the times in his pro- fessional work. He also was one of the foremost builders and promoters of Berry- ville. He assisted in organizing the First National Bank and remained president of the institution to the time of his demise.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 1

Author: Herndon, Dallas T. (Dallas Tabor), b. 1878 Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Chicago, Little Rock, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Herndon, Dallas T. (Dallas Tabor), b. 1878
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago, Little Rock, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1172