Biographical and historical memoirs of eastern Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties named herein, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties., Part 109

Author: Goodspeed Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; St. Louis [etc.] : The Goodspeed Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 836

USA > Arkansas > Biographical and historical memoirs of eastern Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the state, a number of biographies of distinguished citizens of the same, a brief descriptive history of each of the counties named herein, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. > Part 109

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Benjamin N. Word, a leading and prominent merchant of De Witt, came to Arkansas with his parents at the age of thirteen, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. Enlisting in the Confeder-

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ate service at the opening of the war, he served until the close, and was in a number of hard-fought battles. On his return from the army he was ap- pointed deputy sheriff, which position he filled until 1872. In 1878 he was elected to the same office for a term of four years, and in 1884 was elected clerk of the circuit court. While not filling public positions, Mr. Word has been engaged in the mercantile business, or in farming and stock raising. He is now occupied in the grocery trade, and is having a large and grow- ing patronage. He was married on February 12, 1870, to Miss Ida Hutchinson, a native of Madison County, Tenn. They are the parents of five chil- dren: William N., James, Benjamin N., Mabel and Herbert. Mr. and Mrs. Word are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which they take an active part. He was born in Limestone County, Ala., on September 18, 1840, his father being William Word, and his mother Elizabeth Bransford. Mr. Word has a brother, James Word, who lives in this county, and whose biography pre- cedes this.

William Joseph Wright, originally from Ire- land, emigrated to this country in 1846, locating in Vermont. His father, Frank Wright, was reared and educated in England, and joined the English army, in which he was soon promoted to the rank of colonel for his bravery. He was in the English army during the Revolutionary War, and led the "Twentieth Foot Regiment" at the battle of Waterloo. His wife, Mary (Hopkins) Wright, also of Ireland, was the mother of five children. William J. moved from Vermont to Kentucky in 1847, and was engaged in steamboating on the Mississippi, between Louisville, St. Louis and New Orleans, until 1852, when he was employed on railroads in different parts of the country for sev- eral years. In 1879 he bought land in Texas and engaged in farming for two years, after which, coming to Arkansas, he located at Pine Bluff, where he took a position as foreman in the shops of the Cotton Belt Railroad. He has been in the employ of that road for about seven years in vari- ous capacities, part of the time as contractor and for a time as conductor, his long experience quali-

fying him for almost any position. Mr. Wright married Miss Bridget Martin, also a native of Ire- land, and they are the parents of twelve children, five living: Mary (wife of Joe Woodland, foreman of the car department of the Cotton Belt Railroad, residing at Pine Bluff), Charlotte (wife of Alex- ander Frenitell, also of Pine Bluff, and who holds the position of master car builder for the above railroad), Frank (an engineer on the Trans-Conti- nental), William and Henry (both engineers on the same road). Mrs. Wright died in 1876, in the State of Mississippi, where they had resided for a short time. In 1888 Mr. Wright gave up the railroad life, in which he had been engaged nearly all his life, and bought a tract of land con- sisting of 760 acres, partially prairie land and the balance finely timbered. The average purchase price of this was $7.50 per acre. Since then he has sold all of the land, but forty acres of timber, at an average of $20 per acre. Subsequently pur- chasing the New Hampshire House, at Stuttgart, he has since improved it, making it the leading house in the county. Mr. Wright's second wife was Miss Annie M. Rowley, a native of Connecti- cut and of Irish descent. They have five children living: Aradeneck, Albert, Jessie, Charles and Vennefred. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and of the I. O. O. F. Mr. Wright, wife and chil- dren are members of the Catholic Church.

John Young, a well-known farmer of LaGrue Township, is a native of this county and a son of James and Sarena (Barkman) Young, natives of Kentucky and Arkansas, respectively. Mr. Young came to Arkansas when he was a young man, enter- ing a tract of wild land in the Arkansas forests of this county. He was a man of slight education, his opportunities having been very limited, but he was enterprising, and an earnest worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he and his wife belonged, being a leading member in organ- izing the early churches of this community, not only those of his denomination, but of other relig- ious bodies. He died in 1850, and his wife fol- lowed him in a short time. They were the parents of four children: Jacob (deceased), Sciney (de- ceased), Angelina B. (now Mrs. Brown) and John.

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The subject of this sketch was born on January 3, 1838, and was married on November 27, 1859, to Miss Sarah E. Brown, also of this State, and a daugh- ter of Pleasant and Elizabeth Brown. Mrs. Young died in January 22, 1889, leaving the following children: John P., Elizabeth (now Mrs. Duemore), Minnie (who married John Mitchell), Robert L., Bashia A., Effie M. and Henry L. Mr. Young enlisted in the Confederate army in 1862, and

served until November, 1864, participating in a number of hard-fought battles, though he was never wounded nor captured. He owns a farm of 900 acres of fine land, and has about forty acres in cultivation. He is a member of the County Grange, and also of the County Wheel, in which he takes an active part. His wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and well known in religious circles.

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PRAIRIE COUNTY.

CHAPTER

PRAIRIE COUNTY-HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT-ACT OF ORGANIZATION-PUBLIC STRUCTURES-CENTERS OF JUDICIARY AFFAIRS-JUDICIAL DISTRICTS-COURTS-NAMES OF OFFICIAL INCUMBENTS- POLITICAL HISTORY-LOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC .- PHYSICAL FEATURES- SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS-RAILROADS-AGRICULTURAL WHEEL- CIVIL WAR ITEMS-VALUATION AND TAXATIONS TOWNS AND VILLAGES-PUBLIC SCHOOL SYS- TEM - CHURCHI ORGANIZATIONS- PERSONAL SKETCHES.

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield; Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; How jocund did they drive their team afield! How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke !- Gray.

RAIRIE COUNTY'S earliest settlement, or the first in the territory now embraced within its limits, was probably made at and in the vicinity of the pres- ent Des Arc. About the year 1810 two men named Watts and East (Creoles) settled there, and five years later the Runkles, Coburns and Goforths, from Vincennes, Ind., also located. The latter parties came up the White River in dugouts. These were followed by the McAnultys and others. Formerly nearly all of the present county of Lonoke belonged to Prairie County, consequently it is proper to mention a few of the first settlers of that portion of the original county. In 1822 James Erwin, father of M. M. and Ambrose Erwin (now of Des Arc) came from North Carolina with the Furgesons and Dunaways and settled at Old Aus-

tin. Subsequently Daniel Farr, Jacob Gray, Sr., Robert Anderson and E. E. Dismukes settled in the vicinity of Brownsville, the first county seat of Prairie County. John Percifiell, Sr., or Percifull, settled a few miles east thereof. John Percifull, Jr., is the oldest man born in Prairie County, and M. M. Erwin is the next. Percifull remains in that portion of the country set off to form Lonoke, and Erwin lives at Des Arc.

Charles G. Harris was the first settler at Hick- ory Plains, and the next early pioneers there and in that vicinity were Dudley Glass, from Alabama, David Royster, from Virginia, and A. B. Taylor and his son-in-law, Ben. T. Embree, from Ken- tucky. This settlement began about the year 1846. C. S. De Vall, from Georgia and Capt. Patrick H. Wheat, the latter now of Lonoke County, were early settlers at De Vall's Bluff. Among the first settlers in the southern part of the county were Albert Evans, Sheffield Mayberry, Dr. Gibbon and Richard Pyburn. Mayberry is living at this writing. William C. Hazen was the

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pioneer settler in what is now the town of Hazen, and William Dedman settled on the military road, three miles south of Hazen. William McCuin was a pioneer settler in the central part of the county. The first settlers in the southwest part, near Fairmont, were Joseph Stillwell, Thomas Belcher, the Harrises and Maj. Tisdell. In the northwest part of the county, as now formed, Pat- ton Harris, the Farrs, William Johnson, Robert Travis and some of the Bogards were among the original settlers. The pioneers of the county came mostly from the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

Prairie County was organized in accordance with an act of the legislature, approved by Gov. Thomas S. Drew, November 25, 1846. The first section of the act reads as follows: "That all that part of the county of Pulaski lying east of the fol- lowing described lines, viz .: Beginning at the cor- ner of Townships 2 and 3 south, Ranges 9 and 10 west; thence east to the middle of Range 9; thence north to the line between Townships 1 and 2 south; thence west to the line between Ranges 9 and 10; thence north to the line between Townships 4 and 5 north; thence west to the line between Ranges 10 and 11 west; thence north to the Cypress Bayou, to the line dividing White and Pulaski, be and the same hereby is erected into and declared to be a separate and distinct county, to be called and known by the name of Prairie County."

Section 4 provided that on the first Monday of February, 1847, an election should be held in each township in the new county for the election of county officers; the elections to be held where the last general elections had been held, and by the same judges and clerks. A subsequent act pro- vided that at these elections one commissioner in each township, and two at large in the county, should be elected to locate the seat of justice.

It will be seen by the first section of the act creating the county that nearly all of the territory now embraced in Lonoke County was included in Prairie County. Subsequent acts, one creating Lonoke County, in 1873, and others changing boundary lines, have reduced Prairie County to its present dimensions.

The commissioners elected for the purpose, at the first election held in the county, located the seat of justice at Brownsville, a point in what is now Lonoke County, two and a half miles north- east of the present city of Lonoke. This place was on the old military road, leading from Mem- phis to Little Rock. Ordinary county buildings were erected at Brownsville, and the clerk's office there was burned in September, 1852, together with a portion of the early county records. The seat of justice remained at its original site until 1868, when it was moved to De Vall's Bluff, where it continued until 1875, then being moved to Des Arc, where it now remains. The last term of the county court held at Brownsville was in April, 1868, and the first term held at DeVall's Bluff was in July, of that year. The last term of this court held at DeVall's Bluff was in July, 1875, and the first term held at Des Arc was in October, of the same year. While the county seat was at DeVall's Bluff the old wooden building standing on the bank of White River, which was erected by the Government in the winter of 1864-65 for officers' quarters, was utilized for a court house. The pub- lic buildings at Des Are consist of a court house and jail. The former is a large two-story brick building, with a hall and offices on the first floor, and the court-room on the second. It was erected in 1883, by Messrs. Horne and White, and cost the county about $8,000. The jail is a small wooden structure, standing also on the public square with the court house.

In 1885 Prairie County was divided into two judicial districts, the Northern and Southern; the first being composed of the townships of Upper Surrounded Hill, Calhoun, Des Arc, Hickory Plains, Union, Bullard and White River; the sec- ond, or Southern, of the townships of Wattensas, Belcher, Tyler, Lower Surrounded Hill, Rockrow, Center and Hazen. De Vall's Bluff is the seat of justice for the Southern district, and there the county occupies a rented building for a court room, and a branch of the county clerk's office.

At Des Arc the courts convene as follows: County, on the first Mondays of January, April, July and October of each year; the probate, on

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PRAIRIE COUNTY.

the third, and the common pleas on the fourth Mondays of the same months; the circuit, on the first Mondays of March and September. At De Vall's Bluff the probate court convenes on the first Mondays of February, May, August and Novem- ber; the common pleas on the second Mondays of the same months; and the circuit on the sixth Monday after the third Monday of February and August.

The Prairie County legal bar is composed of the following named attorneys: J. J. Ball, R. A. Moore, De Arcy Vaughan, J. G. Thweatt and J. M. McClintock.

The following is a list of the names of the officers of Prairie County, from its organization to the present writing, with dates of terms of service annexed:

Judges: W. S. Scroggs, 1846-48; H. Rey- nolds, 1848-52; J. Evans, 1852-54; J. S. Hunt, 1854-56; W. J. Rogers, 1856-58; J. S. Hunt, 1858-64; W. Sanders, 1864-66; E. L. Beard, 1866-68; C. K. Morton, 1868-72; board of super- visors, 1872-74; A. O. Edwards, 1874-76; W. M. Warren, 1876-78; W. L. Kirk, 1878-80; H. P. Vaughan, 1880-82; J. S. Thomas, 1882-88; J. M. Dorris, present judge, elected in 1888.

Clerks: E. M. Williams, 1846-54; W. H. Eng- land, 1854, to his death; then William Goodrum, balance of England's term, and till 1864; Robert Dodson, 1864-66; William Goodrum, 1866-68; L. Bilheimer, 1868-72; J. E. England, 1872-74; C. B. Mills, 1874-82; W. L. Willeford, present in- cumbent, elected in 1882, serving continuously since.

Sheriffs: A. Barksdale, 1846-48; J. A. Barks- dale, 1848-52; E. E. Dismukes, 1852-58; J. M. King, 1858-60; W. A. Plunket, 1860-62; J. M. King, 1862-64; J. R. Gray, 1864-68; J. M. Mc- Clintock, 1868-72; J. J. Booth, 1872-74; H. O. Williams, 1874-78; A. S. Reinhardt, 1878-88; J. W. Brians, present officer, elected in 1888.

Treasurers: J. Percifull, 1846-48; W. San- ders, 1848-52; W. H. England, 1852-54; A. Tip- kin, 1854-56; J. Robinson, 1856-58; L. Byram, 1858, to his death; W. Langford, balance of By- ram's term and till 1862; George Hallum, 1862-64;

William Griffin, 1864-66; F. M. Griffin, 1866-68; R. Dingsdale, 1868-72; H. Brown, 1872-76; J. R. Reid, 1876-78; H. Brown, 1878-80; W. J. Frith, 1880-82; E. A. Winslow, 1882-84; H. R. Ward, 1884-88; S. R. Mason, present incumbent, elected in 1888.

Coroners: H. Avery, 1846-48; T. Furlow, 1848-50; C. Harvey, 1850-52; N. Kennedy, 1852- 56: Benjamin Faucett, 1856-58; J. N. Henderson, 1858-60; L. Harrison, 1860-62; J. H. Quisenberry, 1862-64; Whit Kinidy, 1866-68; C. P. Landon, 1868-72; J. A. Woolen, 1872-74; J. G. Becton, 1874-78; J. B. Jamison, 1878-84; J. R. Mallory, 1884-88; William Dixon, present incumbent, elected in 1888.

Surveyors: P. Horton, 1846-48; S. J. Ragan, 1848-50; J. W. Utley, 1850-54; K. H. Williford, 1854-58; E. R. McPherson, 1858-60; E. A. Howell, 1860-62; J. R. Alexander, 1862-64; W. D. An- thony, 1866-68; C. W. Richardson, 1868-72; W. Fishburn, 1872-74; E. K. McPherson, 1874-76, R. A. Richmond, 1876-88; N. C. Dodson, present incumbent, elected in 1888.

Assessors: W. S. Mccullough, 1868-74; G. J. Rubell, 1874-78; J. G. Worsham, 1878-80; T. A. Canon, 1880-82; William Homer, 1882-84; W. R. Brown, 1884-88; R. Dindsdall, present incumbent, elected in 1888.

Delegates in State conventions: 1861, B. C. Totton; 1868, Robert S. Gantt and William F. Hicks; 1874, David F. Reinhardt.

Representatives in General Assembly-James Erwin, 1848-50; B. T. Embry, 1850-52; B. C. Totton, 1852-54; E. M. Williams, 1854-56; Will -. iam I. Moore, 1856-58; Hamilton Reynolds, 1858- 60; John C. Davis, 1860-62; B. M. Barnes, 1862 * *

* W. T. Jones, 1866-68. Prairie and .. Arkansas Counties-G. M. French, Isaac Ayers, W. S. Mccullough and T. M. Gibson, 1868-70; same counties, F. R. Wiley, George H. Joslin, B. C. Morgan and A. O. Espy, 1870-72; P. C. Doo- ley, 1872-74. Prairie, Arkansas and Lonoke-J. P. Eagle, L. B. Mitchell and M. M. Erwin, 1872- 74; J. D. Booe, 1874-76; J. S. Thomas, 1876-80; J. G. Thweatt, 1880-82; R. B. Carl Lee, 1882-86; J. D. Booe, 1886-88.

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

B. M. Barnes represented Prairie County in the Confederate legislature, held at Washington, in Hempstead County, from September 22 to Octo- ber 2, 1864.

The votes cast in Prairie County for the candi- dates for Governor at the September election, in 1888, and for the candidates for President, at the November election, in the same year, were as fol- lows: For Governor-James P. Eagle (Dem), 761; C. M. Norwood (Com. Opp.), 1,125. For Presi- dent-Cleveland (Dem.), 761; Harrison (Rep.), 603; Streeter (United Labor), 165; Fiske (Prohibition), 15.

The population of Prairie County, in 1880, was 5,691 white and 2,734 colored, making a total of 8,425. It is now probably over 10,000.

Prairie County, Ark., lies in the east central portion of the State, and is bounded north by White and Woodruff Counties, east by Woodruff and Monroe Counties, south by Arkansas and west by Lonoke. The thirty-fifth parallel of north lati- tude passes through the northern part, and the county lies in the 92d° of longitude west from Greenwich.

It has an area of 650 square miles or 416,000 acres, one-fourth of the entire area being under fence and in cultivation. The whole county is level, un- dulating and rolling enough to admit of free and easy drainage, and not to wash, no hills and hol- lows, no gullies and ravines, no rock-cursed farms, not even a stone to become the instrument between the bad boy and the family cat. (Hon. J. G. Thweatt's description.) A large percentage of the lands of the county belongs to the State, and is subject to donation to actual settlers; a similar amount belongs to railroad companies, a very small amount to the United States, and the balance to individuals. Lands can be purchased at reason- able prices, but large tracts of the best lands are owned by non-resident speculators who hold the prices high enough to measureably retard immi- gration. However, there are plenty of tracts that may be secured from resident owners at prices that cannot fail to suit purchasers.

White River flows southerly and southeasterly through the northeast part of the county to a point

about two-thirds of the distance from its northern boundary, and for the other third it forms the eastern boundary thereof. Cypress Bayou forms the west half of the northern boundary, and flow- ing thence easterly, it empties into White River near the southeast corner of Township 5 north, Range 5 west. Wattensas River enters the county from the west, and running easterly, bearing a little south, it empties into White River about twelve miles below the mouth of the Cypress Bayou, Cache River swings into the county and out again a little north of the center of its eastern boundary, and Bayou DeView, a tributary of the Cache, flows southeasterly across the northeast corner of the county. LaGrue River enters the county on the west, near the center north and south, and flows thence in a southeasterly direction to its conflu- ence with White River. Bayou Two Prairie forms the southwestern boundary line of the county; and this and the other streams mentioned, together with their tributaries, furnish abundant drainage.

Between White and Cache Rivers there is a long tract of land slightly elevated above the river bottoms, and divided by a depression into two parts, the northern being called "Upper Sur- rounded Hill," and the southern "Lower Sur- rounded Hill," The extracts immediately follow- ing are from a description of the county prepared by Hon. J. G. Thweatt, attorney and abstractor of titles at De Vall's Bluff.

The prairie lands lie mostly south of a divid- ing line east and west through the county, and constitute a good portion of the Grand Prairie of Arkansas, which reaches out into other adjacent counties. There are three or four small, but rich, productive prairies lying in the northern portion of the county, with an area of 800 to 5,000 acres each. These lands are very rich and productive, and seem specially adapted to small grains of all kinds and tame grasses. They grow fine corn and splendid cotton. As fine fruit as the country pro- duces can be found in the orchards on prairie farms. They grow fine vegetables of all kinds. The most of the untilled portion of the prairie is covered with a fine growth of wild grass, which is mowed, baled and shipped to market. The haying

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PRAIRIE COUNTY.

business here on the prairie is carried on very ex- tensively. Thousands of tons are shipped yearly, and a great deal of money made at it. No lands are better adapted to stock raising. They furnish a natural range from the first or middle of March till fall. A few years ago these lands knew no oc- cupant save the wild deer and semi-wild herds of cattle, and were regarded by the Southerner as worthless for agricultural purposes, but when the tidal wave of immigration began to flow from north to south, and the progressive husbandman of the Northwestern Prairies commenced to settle and develop the prairie lands of Prairie County, then that once considered trackless, treeless waste of grass lands, wherever touched by the agricul- tural magician, began to astonish the natives with her golden harvest fields, fruit-laden orchards and mammoth vegetable products, and to-day they are more in demand than any lands of the State, and are worth from twice to three times as much as the forest lands of Prairie County.

The county has a diversity of soil, the pro- ductiveness of which is exceedingly good. White River bottoms and the Surrounded Hills have both a dark brown and alluvial soil, very rich and fer- tile. The creek and branch bottoms are a dark loam, next in productiveness to the river bottoms. The ridges or uplands not covered by creek or branch bottoms are of a light brown, often dark in color and very productive. The soil of the prairie is of a dark brownish color, possessed of chemical combinations peculiar to itself. It does not produce as fine cotton as the timbered lands, but grows much finer wheat and oats, rye, tame grasses, peas, etc. The uplands, prairie and even branch and creek bottoms can, by rotation of crops and proper use of home fertilizers, be made better and more prolific every year. They are susceptible of a high state of fertilization, and will, when once fertilized, show effects of same for years.

The woodland part of the county is well and heavily timbered. In the river and creek bottoms is found an superabundance of red gum or satin wood, which will yield in some localities 30,000 feet of timber per acre; though millions of feet of white oak in the shape of staves and square timber

have been shipped from the bottoms of Prairie County, yet the supply is still unexhausted. There is some walnut, a great deal of hickory, ash, maple, pecan, sycamore, cottonwood, red elm, hack- berry, etc., with an undergrowth of cane, pawpaw, tar blanket, grape and muscatine vines, rattan, etc. In the branch bottoms and on the uplands may be had white oak, hickory, red and black oak, sweet gum, black gum and in some upland locali- ties immense brakes of post oak, some maple, red bud, persimmon, with an undergrowth of sumac, whortleberry, hazelnut, dogwood, etc.

According to the United States census of 1880, there were in Prairie County 1,127 farms, with 37,032 acres of improved lands, and the value of the farm products of the county for 1879 was $462,902, the following being the amount of the several products raised: Indian corn, 135, 462 bush- els; oats, 31,944 bushels; wheat, 2,214 bushels; orchard products, $9,465; hay, 263 tons; cotton, 6,977 bales; Irish potatoes, 2,100 bushels; sweet potatoes, 9,359 bushels; tobacco, 4,860 pounds. Great improvements have been made since 1880, which will appear when the census of 1890 shall be taken. Cotton is the staple product and next to it is Indian corn. The yield per acre depends very much upon the skill of the farmer. With scientific cultivation of the soil it can be made to produce from 50 to 100 per cent more than it does under the present modes of farming. Clover and the tame grasses succeed well, but these have been cultivated only to a limited extent.

The number of live stock in the county as shown by the census of 1880 was as follows: Horses, 1,525; mules and asses, 997; neat cattle, 11,008; sheep, 1,208; hogs, 15,673. The number of these animals in the county as shown by the tax books, for 1888, was: Horses, 2,640; mules and asses, 1,164; cattle, 14,111; sheep, 1,437; hogs, 7,546. These figures show a large increase in all except hogs. The comparison for the latter, however, is not fair, for the reason that in 1888 none were enu- merated except those on hand when the property was listed for taxation, while those given in the census report included all raised during the year. The climate being very mild and water easily obtain-

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Author: Goodspeed Publishing Company Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; St. Louis [etc.] : The Goodspeed Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 836

Author: Goodspeed Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; St. Louis [etc.] : The Goodspeed Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 836