USA > Arkansas > A pictorial history of Arkansas, from earliest times to the year 1890. A full and complete account, embracing the Indian tribes occupying the country; the early French and Spanish explorers and governors; the colonial period; the Louisiana purchase; the periods of the territory, the state, the civil war, and the subsequent period. Also, an extended history of each county in the order of formation, and of the principal cities and towns; together with biographical notices of distinguished and prominent citizens > Part 56
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Hon. W. L. Terry came to Pulaski county in 1861. He was born near Wadesboro, Anson county, North Carolina, September 27th, 1850. His parents moved to Mississippi in 1859, and to Pulaski county, Arkansas, in 1861. He was educated at Bingham's Military Institute in North Carolina, and at Trinity College, in the same State, where he graduated in 1872. He read law in the office of Dodge & Johnson, and was admitted to the Bar in 1873, forming a partnership with his uncle, Colonel Francis A. Terry, as Terry & Terry. He was elected to the State Senate in 1878, and was City Attor- ney of Little Rock from 1879 to 1885, and again in 1888.
He married in Columbia county Miss Dixon ; daughter of David W. Dixon, who for twenty-four years was Clerk of that county.
Dr. John B. Bond came to Little Rock with Price's army in 1861. He was first a practicing physician, but afterwards became a druggist, in which business he is now engaged. He has been Coroner of Pulaski county since 1884. In July, 1863, he married Miss Julia Sterling, of Little Rock. By this marriage there have been born a number of children, of whom two sons, Dr. Sterling and John Bond are grown men, the former a druggist.
Judge Liberty Bartlett came to Arkansas in 1859, and set- tled at Camden, but moved to Little Rock in September, 1862, and has since resided there. He was born at Prescott,
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Massachusetts, April 8th, 1807, and was Judge of the Circuit Court from 1864 to 1868. The members of his family are two daughters, Mrs. C. M. Barnes and Miss Eliza Bartlett, both residents of Fort Smith. His son was killed in the Con- federate Army, at the Battle of Shiloh.
Judge Henry C. Caldwell came to Little Rock, September Ioth, 1863, a Colonel in the Federal Cavalry Command of General J. W. Davidson, which took part in the capture of the city on that day. In June, 1864, he was appointed, by President Lincoln, District Judge of the United States Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, which position he filled with signal ability for nearly twenty-six years, until the latter part of February, 1890, when he was appointed Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit, comprising the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. He qualified and entered on the discharge of his duties March 13th, 1890. He was born in Marshall county, West Virginia, September 4th, 1832. In 1836 his parents moved to Van Buren county, Iowa, where he grew up, and was educated in the common and private schools of that county. In 1849 he began read- ing law in the office of Wright & Knapp, eminent lawyers of Keosauqua. In 1852 he was admitted to the Bar, and soon afterwards became a junior member in the firm of his pre- ceptors. In 1856 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of his district, and in 1858 was elected to the Legislature, serving two terms. On the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the Third Iowa Cavalry, and became, successively, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel, of that command. In 1854 he married Miss Harriet Benton, a niece of Judge Wright. By this marriage there are three children : two daughters, Mrs. George W. Martin and Miss Cornie; and a son, Van Caldwell, named for his grandfather.
Judge Charles P. Redmond came to Little Rock in 1863 with the Federal Army, in the Quartermaster's Department.
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On the opening of the Federal Court, in 1864, he was ap- pointed United States District Attorney, and afterwards Clerk of the Court, which position he held until 1872, when he re- signed, and was succeeded by Frank E. Wright. He next became Judge of the Criminal Court of Pulaski county, from January IIth, 1873, until October, 1874, when the office was abolished on the adoption of the Constitution at that date. He then began the practice of law, having been educated in that profession, being a graduate of the class of 1859 or 1860 of the Law School, of the University of Virginia, and con- tinued engaged therein until the time of his death. During this time, also, he was Master in Chancery in a number of large and important cases in foreclosure suits against railroads, etc. About 1869 he married Miss Mary P. Frost, a daughter of Valentine Frost, of Locust Valley, Long Island, New York. At this place he died September 19th, 1888, in the 55th year of his age. He was born September 24th, 1832.
George H. Stratman first came to Little Rock in December, 1855, from Cassel, Germany, where he was born April 26th, 1826. He moved to Benton, Saline county, and lived there eight years ; returned to Little Rock in 1863, and has lived there since, and is now a prosperous shoe merchant. His family consists of a son, George, and a daughter, Mrs. Jacob Niemeyer.
Colonel Solomon F. Clark became a citizen of Little Rock, in May, 1864, and has resided there ever since, engaged in the practice of the law, in which he is prominent. He was born at Groton, Connecticut, February 13th, 1819, but when only three years of age went to Varney, his father having moved there. The family moved several times, and finally returned to Groton in 1838, where he went to Groton Academy and taught school in the winters. In 1843 he became Professor of Mathematics in Cortland Academy, New York, and served for one year, then moved west and studied law ; was admitted to the Bar in Indianapolis in 1847, came to Arkansas in
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1847, and settled at Fort Smith, and lived there until 1861, when he went to Ottumwa, Iowa, and remained until May, 1864, when he took up his residence in Little Rock. In May 1865, he formed a law partnership with Colonel Sam. W. Williams, as Clark & Williams, which continued until 1886. On the 5th of August, 1851, he married Miss Virginia A. Dillard, daughter of Major John Dillard, of Fort Smith. By this marriage there are five children-three sons, William, E. Otey and Walter Lee Clark; and two daughters, Mrs. Will Ward and Miss Bettie Clark.
In 1865, Judge Samuel L. Griffith became a resident of the place. He was born at Harford county, Maryland, February 5th, 1817, and came to Arkansas in 1838, and settled at Van- Buren ; lived there, merchandising, until 1845 ; moved in that year to Fort Smith, and lived there until 1865, when he came to Little Rock to live. He was Judge of the City Court from 188I to 1887, and is now engaged in real estate business.
Rollin Edgerton came to Little Rock in January, 1865. He was appointed Receiver of Public Monies by President Grant, April 5th, 1870, and Postmaster by President Arthur, January Ist, 1882, which he held until 1885, and was again appointed in 1889. He was born in Rutland county, Ver- mont, October 27th, 1840. On the Ist of January, 1866, at Tremont, Ohio, he married Miss Emma A. Downs. Their children are two sons, Charles R. Edgerton and Mor- gan B. Edgerton. For a number of years R. A. Edgerton has been a School Director and Member of the Little Rock School Board.
Charles E. Cunningham came to Little Rock from Mis- souri, April 12th, 1865, and engaged in the lumber and mill- ing business. He is a native of Maryland. His family con- sists of three sons and three daughters. In 1888 he was nominated for Vice-President of the United States by the Union Labor party at their National Convention.
W. W. Wilshire became a citizen of Little Rock shortly
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after the close of the war. He was born in Shawneetown, Illinois, September 8th, 1830. In 1852 he went to California in the gold fever excitement which pervaded the country at that time, but returned a few years later, and began merchan- dising at Port Byron, Illinois. While thus engaged he studied law, and was admitted to practice at the age of 29 years. In 1862 he organized a company of volunteers and entered the United States volunteer service as Major of the One hundred and twenty-sixth Illinois Regiment. In that ca- pacity he served through the war, doing duty in the Army of the Tennesee. He was present at the fall of Vicksburg, whence he was moved with his troops into Arkansas, and was in command of his regiment at the capture of Little Rock. He settled there after the surrender, and resumed the practice of law with Judge English as his associate. He was made So- licitor-General of the State in 1865 and 1868; at the expiration of his term was appointed Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, which office he resigned after serving three years. He was a Member of Congress from the Third Congressional Dis- trict, in 1873 and 1874, and 1875 to 1877. He died at Washington city, August 19th, 1888, aged 58 years. In 1848 he married Miss Catherine Reynolds. By this marriage there are a son and three daughters.
Mason W. Benjamin settled in Little Rock about 1865, or shortly after the conclusion of the war. He was born at Coldbrook, New York, May 3d, 1837. In 1857, when twenty years old, he went to Illinois, and taught school until he could enter the legal profession. He read law under Brown- ing & Bushnell, at Quincy, Illinois, and was admitted to the Bar in 1860. At the commencement of the war he went to Kansas, and joined the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, in which he served during the war. He was a member of the Legisla- ture of 1868, and was Solicitor-General in 1868 to 1869. On the 29th of September, 1869, he married Miss Sue E.
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Riddell, of Kentucky. He died in Little Rock, November 28th, 1888; aged 51 years.
Judge Freeman W. Compton was born in Orange county, North Carolina, January 15th, 1824. He read law at the Law School of Judge Richmond M. Pearson, at Maxville, North Carolina, and in 1844 settled at Greenville, Tennessee, where he was admitted to the Bar, and practiced law till 1849, when he moved to Arkansas, and settled at Princeton, Dallas county. He remained there practicing law till 1852, when he moved to Camden. In 1858 he was elected Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and in 1866 was elected thereto for the full term, but was ousted in 1868 by the Re- construction measures, since which time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Little Rock. He is a widower. His family consists of three daughters, Mrs. Par- sons, Mrs. Fuller and an unmarried daughter, and one son, Hon. William A. Compton, Member of the Legislature from Pulaski county, in the session of 1887, and who is associated with his father in the practice of law.
Colonel William G. Whipple became a resident of Little Rock in 1868. He was born in Hartford county, Connecti- cut, August 4th, 1834, and was educated at the Wesleyan Academy, at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, graduating in 1852, and also at the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Connecti- cut, graduating in 1857. In 1858 he graduated at the Albany Law School, and began the practice of law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1859. He continued the practice there until September, 1868, when he came to Arkansas, and settled at Little Rock. In 1869 he was appointed United States Dis- trict Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and served therein four years. In 1887 he was elected Mayor of Little Rock, which position he now holds. He married Miss Mary Dodge, daughter of Dr. Roderick L. Dodge, of Little Rock. By this marriage there is one son, Durand Whipple.
Henry Lewis Fletcher, usually called by his middle name,
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Lewis Fletcher, moved to Little Rock, in 1868, from his plantation below the city, lived there until 1882, when he went again to live at the plantation, and returned to the city to reside in 1887. He was born September 15th, 1833, in Saline county, and is named after his father, who bore the same name in full. He left that county in the fall of 1855, after the death of his father there, and settled in Pulaski county, six miles southeast of Little Rock, where he lived until his removal to the city. On the 30th of August, 1855, he married Miss Sue Brealin, of Pulaski county. Eight children were born of this marriage, of whom three are liv- ing, to-wit : two sons, Frank Martin, a merchant, member of the firm of George & Fletcher, and John Thomas, a college student, and a daughter, Miss Mary Fletcher.
Thomas Fletcher moved to Little Rock in the latter part of the year 1869. He was born in what is now Randolph county, April 8th, 1819. In 1825 his father moved to Saline county, and lived there until his death in 1855. Thomas Fletcher married Miss Lucinda Beavers, September 4th, 1841, and in 1842 moved to the Little Maumelle, fifteen miles west of Little Rock, where he engaged in farming. Here he resided until his removal to Little Rock, in 1869. He was Sheriff of the county from 1858 to 1862, and from 1866 to 1868. Was a Member of the Legislature from the county in 1862, with William Q. Pennington. In the latter part of 1885 he was appointed United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Of this marriage ten children were born, of whom three are living, to-wit: Henry Lewis, a planter; Richard, a cotton merchant, and John Fletcher, a lawyer.
In March, 1870, Right Rev. Henry Niles Pierce, Bishop of the Episcopal Church, became a resident of the place. He was born at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, October 19th, 1820. He was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese, January 25th, 1870, and came to Little Rock, from Mobile, Alabama. On the 18th of April, 1855, he married, at Matagorda, Texas, Miss
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Nannie H. Sheppard. His family now consists of a son, Rev. A. Wallace Pierce, and two daughters, Mrs. G. A. Lyman and Mrs. William C. Stevens.
Hon. Sterling R. Cockrill, came to Little Rock in October, 1870, and has since resided there. He was born in Nash- ville, Tennessee, September 26th, 1847. He was receiving an education in Nashville when the war began, after which he at- tended the Military School at Marietta, Georgia. At the age of sixteen he volunteered in the Confederate Army, and was made a Sergeant of Artillery in Johnston's Army in the latter days of the war. After the war he attended Washington College, at Lexington, Virginia, and after graduation there attended the Law Department of the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee. He graduated from this institution in 1870, and in October of that year took up his residence in Little Rock and began the practice of law. He shortly afterwards became associated in the practice with Hon. A. H. Garland, as Gar- land & Cockrill, which continued till Colonel Garland became Governor, in 1874. In 1884, on the death of Chief Justice E. H. English, he was nominated for the position by the State Democratic Convention, called together for the pur- pose of making a nomination to fill the vacancy, and was elected at the election following. He was re-elected in Sep- tember, 1888, for a second term. In May, 1872, at Little Rock, he married Miss Mary Ashley Freeman, grand- daughter of Colonel Chester Ashley, and of Rt. Rev. Geo. W. Freeman, first Missionary Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Arkansas. By this marriage there are five children, four sons and a daughter.
James M. Loughborough became a citizen of Little Rock in 1871, coming from St. Louis, Missouri, as General Land Agent of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Rail- way Company. He was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, in the year 1834, son of General John and Jean Loughborough who was Miss Jean Moore, of Louisville, Kentucky. His
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father was for many years Surveyor-General of Illinois and Missouri, and had a brother, Preston Loughborough, who was a distinguished lawyer.
Colonel Loughborough was State Senator for the Tenth District in the Legislature of 1874 to 1876. He was a financier of ability, and was the author of the measure for retiring the outstanding indebtedness of the State by the issue of thirty year bonds, which took their name from him, and are known as Loughborough bonds. He died in Little Rock, July 31st, 1876. In 1859, in St. Louis, he married Miss Mary Webster, of that city. By this marriage there are four children now liv- ing, two daughters and two sons. The daughters are Misses ยท Jean M. W. and Pansy, and the sons James Fairfax and St. James Loughborough.
Mrs. Loughborough was a lady of extraordinary literary culture, and was an authoress of merit. After the death of Colonel Loughborough she edited and published a monthly periodical, called the " Southern Ladies Journal," which was conducted with ability. She wrote and published a story of the war entitled "My Cave Life in Vicksburg," which met with success, and also issued other works. She was a daugh- ter of Dr. A. W. and Julia Webster, who was Miss Julia Strong, daughter of William Strong, United States District Judge of Florida. Dr. Webster married Miss Strong in New York City, and it was there that Mrs. Loughborough was born, August 25th, 1837. Her father afterwards moved to and resided at St. Louis. She died in Little Rock, August 26th, 1887.
George Leftridge Basham became a resident of Little Rock, in 1871. He was born near Clarksville, Johnson county, Arkansas, March 24th, 1848, son of Oliver and Martha B. Basham, who was Martha B. Patrick. He received his education in the schools of Johnson county, and after the war attended the St. Johns College, at Little Rock, one term. He lived in Johnson county until 1871, when he came to Little
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Rock. In 1863, in the sixteenth year of his age, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, and was in Cabel's Brigade of Cavalry, but after the conclusion of Prices raid into Missouri, in which he took part, his command was dismounted, and placed in General John Selden Roane's Brigade, in which he served until the surrender, at which he was mustered out of service at Marshall, Texas, in May, 1865. He at one time taught school. He read law in the office of Gallagher & Newton, and was admitted to the Bar, November 13th, 1873, and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession mainly in Little Rock. On the Ist of October, 1879, he married Miss Julia Parma Beall. Of this marriage there have been three children-two daughters ; Pearl Reed, born July 22d, 1880, died November 7th, 1886, and Martha Parma, born December 3d, 1882, died August 10th, 1887 ; and a son, New- berry Leftridge, born July 27th, 1887.
Edward W. Gibb settled in Little Rock in 1871, coming from Chicago, having passed through the disaster of the great fire, and on locating engaged in dealing in lumber, in which he is still largely interested. He was born in Vermont. His family consists of a son, Frank W. Gibb, a civil and mining engineer.
Colonel Logan H. Roots became a citizen of Little Rock in 1872, and the same year became President of the Mer- chants National Bank, now the First National. He was born in Perry county, Illinois, March, 26th, 1841, son of Prof. B. G. Roots. In 1858, at seventeen years of age, he entered the State Normal Institute, and graduated in 1862. He en- listed as an officer in the Eighty-first Illinois Regiment, and in 1864 was appointed Chief Depot Commissary under General Sherman. He came to Arkansas in the last year of the war, and went to cotton planting. In 1867 he was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District. In 1868 he was elected to Congress, and again for the term from 1869 to 1871. He was then appointed
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United States Marshal for the Western District of Arkan- sas, at Fort Smith. He then came to Little Rock, as stated, and has since been engaged in matters of banking, and in public and other financial enterprises. On the 9th of August, 1871, he married Miss Emily M. Blakeslee, daughter of Lyman C. Blakeslee, of western New York. By this marriage there are three daughters : Fannie, Miriam and Lois Roots.
Judge Wilbur F. Hill settled in Little Rock in 1873, and began the practice of law, forming a partnership with John S. Duffie. He was born near Clarksville, Red River county, Texas, March 15th, 1844, son of Bernard Hill, of Virginia. At eighteen years of age, he entered the Confederate Army, and served through the entire war, being wounded at the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana. At the restoration of peace he was a student of Mckenzie College, Texas, and afterwards attended the Cumberland University, at Leb- anon, Tennessee, where he graduated in 1872. He came to Arkansas the next year and located at Little Rock. In 1884, and again in 1886 and 1888, he was elected Pro- bate and County Judge. Under his administration a fine jail-house has been built, and the finest court-house in Arkansas, costing $80,000. Numerous heavy judgments against the county have been paid, and more roads and bridges built in the county than were ever known before. He married Miss Willett, of Little Rock, there being by this marriage several children.
Eben W. Kimball came to Little Rock to live, January 3Ist, 1874, and entered upon the practice of law, in which he has been eminently successful, and he now stands among the foremost lawyers at the Bar. He was born in New Hamp- shire, but grew up in Salem, Massachusetts. He was edu- cated at Harvard College, and afterwards studied law in Salem, and practiced there for several years. He moved to Indiana, and lived there for a time, and then moved to Arkan-
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sas. He has been twice married. Of the first marriage are a son, Horace Kimball, and a daughter, Mrs. George B. Rose. Of the second marriage there are several children of tender years.
Colonel Thomas Essex became a citizen of Little Rock in 1875, and on the Ist of January, 1876, assumed charge of the Land Department of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, which he still holds. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, December 15th, 1837. At the age of fif- teen he was sent to school at Arcadia, and in 1854, at the age of sixteen, he entered McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, and there graduated in 1858. He then read law in St. Louis, under Thomas C. Johnson, and then took a course of law in the Cincinnati Law School, from which he graduated in 1861. He practiced law first in St. Louis, and afterwards at Ironton, Mo., until 1872, when he was appointed Land Commissioner of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, in Missouri. In that same year James M. Lough- borough was placed in charge of a similar office, at Little Rock, and on his resigning in 1875, Thomas Allen, Presi- dent of the road, appointed Colonel Essex to succeed him. From 1868 to 1874 Colonel Essex was a Member of the State Senate of Missouri, for the counties of Iron, Madison, Wayne, Butler, Reynolds, Shannon, Carter, Ripley and Oregon. On the 28th of June, 1866, he married, at Lebanon, Illinois, Miss Adeline V. Hypes, daughter of Benjamin Hypes, a native of Virginia. By this marriage there is one daughter, Miss Carrie Lee Essex.
In the fall of 1876 Colonel James Mitchell became a resi- dent of Little Rock as Editor of the "Gazette," which posi- tion he filled until 1868, and at that date, in connection with W. D. Blocher, purchased the "Arkansas Democrat," which he now edits. He was born at Cane Hill, Arkansas, May 8th, 1832, and received a good common school education at Cane Hill and Fort Smith, one of his preceptors being Wil-
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liam Quesenbury, a noted man in Arkansas. In 1850 he began teaching school and taught till 1856, when he went to Kansas, engaged in surveying, as Deputy United States Sur- veyor for Kansas and Nebraska. In 1858 he returned to Arkansas and again taught school, near Evansville, Washing- ton county. He was a Member of the Legislature of 1860 to 1861. Served through the war in the Confederate Army, and after the close of the war again engaged in teaching, near Bonham, Texas. In 1866 he returned to Arkansas, and taught a school near Farmington, Washington county. He was then in 1868 elected to a professorship in Cane Hill Col- lege, and taught there six years, at which time (1874) he was elected Professor in the Arkansas Industrial University, which position he filled until 1876, when he accepted the position of Editor of the "Gazette." In the editorship and management of the Democrat he was associated first with George Russ Brown and lately with James C. Bettis as business manager. On the 31st of January, 1860, he married, near Evansville, Arkansas, Miss Lizzie Latta. By this marriage there are six children, three daughters and three sons.
Hon. George William Caruth became a citizen of Little Rock in 1877. He was born in Scottsville, Kentucky, March 7th, 1842, son of H. C. and Mary M. Caruth. He was admitted to the Bar in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1863, and practiced law there until 1877, in the fall of which year he came to Arkansas, locating at Little Rock, where he is now engaged in the practice of law. As an orator he is of uncommon eloquence and power. He has taken a prominent part in politics, and in 1876 was Democratic elector on the Hancock and English ticket. On the 11th of October, 1866, he was married, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Miss Harriet Key Pirtle, daughter of Hon. Henry Pirtle, for many years Chancellor at Louisville. By this marriage there is one child, a daughter, Miss Hattie Pirtle Caruth.
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