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 70

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 70

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La Fayette Pickett, by occupation a farmer and blacksmith, was born in Jefferson County, Ill.,

July 28, 1851, being the son of Benjamin Pickett, a native of Wayne County, Tenn., who was mur- dered in Ballard County, Ky., May 10, 1861. His father, James Pickett, was a Virginian by birth, and moved to Tennessee with his parents, being among the early settlers of that State. La Fayette Pickett came to Crittenden County with his mother and step-father in 1868. There were four chil- dren in the family, of whom only Mary E., be- sides the subject of our sketch, is living, and she is the wife of Dr. Martine. La Fayette Pickett lived in Kentucky till he was fifteen years of age, then coming to this county, where he received most of his limited education in the common schools. He was married in 1872, to Miss Sarah E. Goad, daughter of William and Amanda M. Goad, early settlers here, having located in the neighborhood in 1856. This was their home until called away by death. Mr. and Mrs. Pickett are the parents of five children: John H., Le Roy, Della, Cora and Alice. They have lived in their present place of residence, since 1881, and have 170 acres of land, with sixty acres in cultivation; upon it is an orchard of 120 trees and a blacksmith shop for his own work, in which he also does the custom work for his vicinity. Mr. Pickett is a member of the County Wheel, and is a Democrat in politics, having cast his first vote for Tilden. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a good Christian lady. Mr. Pick- ett is a hard-working, industrious and enterprising citizen.

John F. Rhodes, merchant of Earle and among the substantial citizens of Tyronza Township, was born in Tipton County, Tenn., in 1862, being the first child to bless the union of J. C. and Margaret E. (Fleming) Rhodes, natives of Tennessee. J. C. Rhodes is a trader and now lives in Mississippi. He has been twice married: first to Miss Townsend, of Tennessee, by whom he was the father of seven children, only two now living, Belle (wife of J. W. Clove, of Australia, Miss.), and W. H. (who re- sides at Frazier, Tenn.). In 1860 Mr. Rhodes married the mother of John F., and by her has had four children, all deceased except John F. He has again been left a widower, his wife having

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died in 1875. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and R. A. John F. Rhodes was reared and edu- cated in Tipton County, Tenn., and since 1875 has supported himself, having been cast upon the cold charity of the world at the age of twelve years. He has given himself a good business education, spending his thirteenth and fourteenth years in Texas as a farm hand, his fifteenth and sixteenth years in Tennessee at the same occupation, and his seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth years in Mississippi. In 1883 Mr. Rhodes came to Lee County, Ark., and entered a dry goods and grocery store at Bledsoe, where he remained for twenty months, when he commenced the grocery business at Memphis, Tenn. After one year there he re- turned to Bledsoe and associated himself with W. M. Taylor, buying one-third interest in the busi- ness of general merchandising. He continued with Mr. Taylor till January, 1889, when the firm dis- solved, and he established his present business in April of that year, transacting $20,000 or $25,000 worth of business the past year. He runs a gen- eral country store, and has a large trade, employ- ing two clerks besides himself. Mr. Rhodes is a pushing young man and his present business is due solely to his own efforts; he has the prospect for a bright and prosperous life.

James E. Richards, one of the oldest native citizens of Crittenden County, was born in 1856, and is the eldest child of a family of three chil- dren born to the union of W. A. and Sophroney (Gilmore) Richards, originally of South Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. When Mr. Richards came to this State there were but few roads in this part of the county, and only a few claims staked out, with from two to five acres in cultivation. People that lived here then spent most of their time hunting and rafting logs down the Tyronza River, and in raising stock. It cost nothing to raise cattle, and the timber which was rafted was close to the streams and could be had without ex- pense, save the labor of cutting and rafting, which was mostly to New Orleans. Mr. Richards bought land and opened one of the first farms of any size in this section of the country, and devoted his time to farming and stock raising, which he continued

until his death, January 10, 1875. To himself and wife three children were born, of whom two are still living: James E. and W. A. Mrs. Richards died in 1864, and in 1866 Mr. Richards was mar- ried to Mrs. Sarah (Rose) Vernon, becoming by her the father of four children; three of these survive: Addie, Meda and Katie. After the death of Mr. Richards, Mrs. Richards was married to Thomas Eskridge, who died in 1879; she subsequently mar- ried Mr. Davis, of Mississippi County, Ark., where she still resides. Mr. Richards held the office of justice of the peace in this county for a number of years, and during the Civil War, in which he took no part. James E. Richards was reared to farm life, and at the age of eighteen years commenced life for himself (or at the time of his father's death). He engaged in the timber business for some years and was later employed in the dry goods and grocery store of C. J. Powell, at Crawfordsville. At the age of twenty-two he was married to Miss Fannie Brown, of this county, the daughter of E. D. and Della (McGee) Brown, natives of Kentucky and Arkansas, respectively, who were the parents of two children: Richard and Fannie. Mr. Brown came to this State in an early day, and died in 1874; his wife died in 1864. To Mr. and Mrs. Richards have been born six children (of whom four are still living); the following are their names in order of birth: Della (deceased), Willie (deceased), Carrie, James C. and R. E. and Arthur (twins). Mr. Richards is principally occu- pied with his brother in rafting logs and the farm- ing of 100 acres on the old home place. He has the largest interest in a 196-acre tract of land, with 100 acres in cultivation, and his wife owns a farm near Crawfordsville, consisting of 109 acres, with fifty acres in cultivation. Mr. Richards is a member of Lone Star Lodge No. 375, A. F. & A. M. of Crawfordsville, and takes great interest in edu- cational and church matters; his desire to promote educational facilities has placed him on the board of school directors for his district for a number of years.

Capt. J. G. Sands, a farmer by occupation, and a man admired by all for his untiring efforts to promote the best interests of the county in which

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he lives, was born in Tennessee in 1829, and was the fourth and youngest child of John and Jane (Reid) Sands, natives of Illinois. John Sands had been previously married, and had reared two chil- dren, Susan and Martha, who are now dead. When our subject was only six days old his mother died. The father then married Mrs. Betsie Pounds, who died in 1841, and after her death he again married, Miss Sarah Summers becoming his wife. This union was blessed by three children, all now deceased. Mr. Sands moved to this county in 1843, and settled here while it was almost a wil- derness, He followed overseeing, and rented land for his children to cultivate; was a brave soldier in the bloody Black Hawk War, and died in 1849. When Capt. Sands was three years old his father moved to Illinois, where he lived till coming to this county. At the age of sixteen he commenced business for himself in rafting logs, together with running a store and steamboats on the Mississippi River till 1861. His store-boats were floating gen- eral stores, and three steamboats ran from Mound City to Memphis, Hatchie River to Memphis, Os- ceola to Memphis, and on the St. Francis River to Memphis. At one time he owned an interest in seven flat-boats and store-boats. In 1861 he en- listed in Company F, of the First Regiment, Ar- kansas Cavalry, which was stationed west of the Mississippi River throughout the war. Capt. Sands fought in the battle of Helena, besides a number of smaller battles and skirmishes, and was captured in 1863. His captors started with him to Alton, but at the head of Island No. 40 he jumped from the boat and escaped to his home, although he broke his thigh in the fall, after which he never did any regular service. He, with twen- ty-seven of his company, out of eighty-six original members, surrendered at Memphis, Tenn, At the close of the war Capt. Sands returned home, and commenced farming and land trading, and in 1867 he moved to Mound City, where he engaged in the mercantile business, which he continues to the present day. He also has about 500 acres of good land in cultivation, 300 acres of which he rents; besides this he owns 2,100 acres in all of wild and improved land, of which about 500 acres could be

cultivated without draining. At the close of the war Capt. Sands' possessions were valued at $100, and in 1868, when he was again getting a start, he was robbed of his mules and cattle, and his store was rummaged, leaving him in the same con- dition that he was at the close of the war. By his untiring efforts, however, he has made a fortune for himself, and has gained a prominence among his fellows in Crittenden County worthy of emula- tion, Mr. Sands was first married to Miss Casan- dra James, who was the mother of four children, all of whom died while young. Mrs. Sands was an ardent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She died in November of 1860. Mr. Sands was the third time married to Mrs. Mattie (Wallace) Osborn, and they were the parents of only one child, who is now dead; the mother died in 1864. In 1865 he was married to Miss Mary C. West, and by her was the father of three chil- dren, of whom one is now living, Gertrude Lyon (wife of John Stevens), residing with her father. Mrs. Sands died in 1879, and in the same year the Captain was married to Mrs. Sue (Kirbie) Dennis, to whom has been born one child, deceased. Capt. Sands is a member of Lone Star Masonic Lodge of Crawfordsville, Ark. He is a Democrat in politics, and favors all public improvement and white emi- gration. He has ever been a leading citizen, and is foremost in every movement for the upbuilding of the locality in which he lives.

George W. Scott justly deserves his present position as one of the well-to-do farmers and stock raisers of Tyronza Township. A native of Tennes- see, he was born in Madison County, January 17, 1831, and is the son of Cyrus and Cyntha (Davis) Scott, natives of New York and Connecticut, re- spectively. The former immigrated from New York to Tennessee and from there to Missouri, where he resided about two years, moving thence to Illinois which was his home till death. Mrs. Scott survived her husband for a few years. She was the mother of seven children, of whom George W. is the fifth. He grew to manhood in Illinois, being educated in the common schools of Madison County, and upon reaching his majority went to Goodhue County, Minn., where he engaged in farming for four years.

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Then moving across the Mississippi River, he bought an interest in a saw-mill and after a short time bought his partner out, and ran the mill alone till 1862, when he enlisted in Company G of the Fifth Minnesota Infantry Regiment, serving till the close of the war. He was wounded in the bat- tle of Corinth, May 22, 1862, by being shot in the forehead with buckshot, after which he was sent to a hospital and was occupied on detached duty most of the time afterward. He was in the battle of Pleasant Hill in 1864. He was discharged at Memphis, Tenn., and after spending about one month in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin he came to Crittenden County, Ark., where he has since resided. Mr. Scott has lived at his present home since 1875; here he has a farm of 240 acres with about 120 in an excellent state of cultivation. He has in another place 640 acres, of which 140 are in cultivation. His home farm is on the Ty- ronza River and has upon it a good orchard and it is a fine stock farm. Mr. Scott was married in 1874 to Mrs. M. C. Thorn, who was born in St. Francis County, September 21, 1833, and had two children, a girl and a boy, by her first husband. Mr. Scott was justice of the peace for sixteen years in this township; was notary public for four years and postmaster of Blackfish postoffice for seven years. He cast his first vote for Pierce and has since been an ardent Democrat. He is one of Crittenden County's best farmers and an industri- ous and wide-awake man. Mrs. Scott is a sister of Archibald C. May. [See sketch. ]

Capt. H. W. Sebree. Prominent among the farmers of Crittenden County, is Capt. Sebree, who was born in Kentucky, in 1817, being the son of Reuben and Jane (Watts) Sebree, natives of Virginia. Their parents were also Virginians by birth, the father of Reuben Sebree, Richard Se- bree, being a very prominent and wealthy planter, who lived to be over ninety years of age, and died while our subject was a small boy. Reuben reached his majority in the Old Dominion, where he was married, and one child had been born to himself and wife, when he moved to Kentucky, and settled in Boone County. There he engaged in farming till his death. He was a well-to-do man and took

an active part in the War of 1812. Some of his comrades were captains in the war, but owing to his age, he could not be admitted as a soldier. He was an old time Whig, and died in his seventy- third year, having been an upright, moral man, and well-liked, commanding the respect of all who knew him. His wife died several years afterward, being seventy-seven years of age. To this union were born six children, five sons and one daughter. All but one lived to be grown: Oner, one of the sons, fell in a well and was drowned at the age of four years. Only two of the children, Norman (an engineer living in Cincinnati) and Capt. H. W. (the fourth child) survive. At the age of twenty years, the latter went on the Hartford City, a tow- boat running between Pittsburg and New Orleans, of which he soon afterward became pilot, then cap- tain, and the principal owner. He owned the Star, Argus, Rockford and several other boats, and was on the river from 1859 to 1876, holding positions on various boats, and had three boats destroyed during the Civil War, the Queen of Memphis, Hart- ford and Star. Purchasing a fruit farm in Critten- den County, he lived at Mound City for a short time, when he moved to his farm on which he has since made his home. Here he has 350 acres of good land under cultivation, though only seventy-five were improved when he bought the place; he owns other lands that are unimproved. While living in Kentucky, he took an active part in political mat- ters, and represented Boone County in the legisla- ture, in 1856, also holding the office of sheriff, magistrate and several minor offices. He was a Whig till the war, and then a Democrat, but now gives his whole attention to his farms. Capt. Sebree was married to Elizabeth Wingate, a native of Kentucky, and a daughter of William Wingate, a wealthy planter of Boone County, who lived to be very old. Mrs. Sebree died November 4, 1888, in her sixty-ninth year. She was a good Christian lady, and one of the best women that the world has ever produced. She was the mother of eight chil- dren, the following two of whom are still living: Sarah J. (the wife of Moses Corey, living in Penn- sylvania) and Katy Cole (wife of J. W. Cole, who lives on the home place with her parents; they

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have one son, Howard W.). Mr. Sebree has been a very active, and is yet one of the most energetic men in the county. He is wide awake and push- ing, and has done much toward the advancement of the locality in which he lives.

Otto Seyppel, a planter and merchant of Lucas Township, was born in Germany June 18, 1854, being the son of Achilles and Mina (Jacobs) Seyp- pel, also natives of Germany. The father was a magistrate by profession and died in his native land in March, 1860. Mrs. Seyppel was born in Germany about 1838 and died in Memphis in 1878, of yellow fever. She and her husband were the parents of two children: Alexander (who died of yellow fever at Holly Springs, Miss., in 1878) and Otto. Our subject, the second child, was raised in his native land till he was eleven years of age, and there received most of his education. He came with his mother to this country, and after spending a few months in New York went to Mem- phis, Tenn., in 1865, living with the mother's brother till sixteen years old, when he commenced life for himself in the wood-yard business, which he continued for one year. He then entered a grocery store as a clerk, remained so occupied for two years, when he clerked for a coal firm for three years, and after leaving this firm was manager of the McCormick Ice Company of Memphis for four

years. He then invested in steamboat stock and run a tow-boat from Memphis to New Orleans for eight months. While he was with the McCormick Ice Company he was married, February 13, 1878, to Mrs. Minnie (McCue) Burgett, who was born in Memphis September 25, 1854, being the daughter of John and Mary (Mc Williams) McCue. Her first husband was waylaid and killed after they had been married but three weeks. Mr. Seyppel is a member of Germania Lodge No. 369, K. of H., of Memphis, and of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of the same city, as well as the German Bruder Bund Lodge of Memphis. He is an extensive farmer and owns 350 acres of land with 200 in a good state of cultivation, on which he raises annually from eighty to 100 bales of cotton. This farm is located twenty-nine miles south of Memphis and sixty miles north of Helena, and is known as the .

Burgett farm. He is postmaster of Seyppel post- office, which was established in 1888. Mrs. Seyp- pel's father, Mr. McCue, was born in Stark County, Ohio, and is now living in California. He was married to Miss Mary McWilliams, who was born near Tuscumbia, Ala., in 1833, and died in Hernando, De Soto County, Miss., in 1871. Min- nie was the only child born to this union. She was reared in Memphis till fifteen years of age and received most of her education in that city. At the age of fifteen she went with her mother to Hernando, Miss., where she remained until her marriage, in 1873, to Peter M. Burgett, who was born on the farm on which Mr. Seyppel now lives. He was a large planter and left a farm of 2,800 acres, situated on the Mississippi River, to his wife. His father, Isaac Burgett, settled the farm where our subject now resides, and was one of the early settlers in this section. He was born in Perry County, Mo., November 20, 1801, and died in this county December 18, 1865, at time of his death being the county's oldest citizen. He was a man of sterling good sense, great enterprise and un- bending integrity, and at his death left a very large estate. He had six children, viz .: John C., Peter M., William L., Isaac W., Henry E., Bettie B. and Nannie P.

Albert Sinclair, a planter and carpenter of Jas- per Township, and one of its oldest and most re- spected citizens, was born in Rutherford County, Tenn., in 1833. His parents having died while he was but an infant, he was reared by James and Rachel Cunningham, farmers, who came to Ar- kansas in 1844, and settled near Marion, where they lived till their death. Mr. Cunningham was a soldier in the War. of 1812. Mr. Sinclair re- mained with this family until 1851, when he com- menced life for himself as a laborer, and in 1859 was married, and leased a farm, on which he lived till after the war. At the commencement of the Civil War he joined the Confederate army, and hired a substitute, who served in his stead for one year, after which he took his place and served in Dobbins' regiment till the close of the war. He was taken prisoner below Marion, Ark., and kept at Hope Field for a time, when he made his escape

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and returned to his company. After the close of hostilities lie returned to his farm work, and in 1866 purchased land near Marion, on which he lived till 1882, when he moved to a farm that he had bought in 1874. This consists of 160 acres of splendid land, with a part under cultivation, upon which he has a good residence, gin and all modern improvements. He has occasionally worked at his trade, since the war, and has built several horse- power gins, and some of the fine residences that adorn this portion of the country. His possessions are wholly the result of his own labors, and he can say without boasting that he is a self-made man, for he commenced with nothing, and to-day is in very comfortable circumstances. His first wife was Mrs. Catherine M. (Lloyd) Garrett, who was born and reared in this county; they were the parents of three children, all girls, two of whom died, three hours apart, while small. The oldest daughter, Sarah C., is the widow of James R. Keel, and has two children, Floyd Atwilda and James A. L. Mrs. Sinclair was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in 1887, at the age of fifty years. After her death Mr. Sin- clair was married to Fannie E. Everton, who was born in Mississippi, and came to this State in 1887. Mr. Sinclair and his daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Dem. ocrat in politics, and takes great interest in schools, churches, and in fact anything that will increase the morality and the business interests and pros- perity of the county in which he lives.

J. F. Smith. The lives of noble men who have built up and fostered the interests of Arkansas are always read with pleasure, not only by their friends, but by a grateful people, who have watched its industrial, agricultural and moral de- velopment from year to year under the skillful management of those men who had the ingenuity and enterprise to cultivate its resources. Mr.

Smith was born in Tennessee in the year 1834, and was the only child of William and Catherine (Mc- Crimmon) Smith. His parents died when he was young, and at the age of seventeen he took his place in the world's great struggle and sought to carve for himself a name in the temple of fame.

His first venture was to find employment, which he succeeded in obtaining in a store near his native place, remaining here until the outbreak of the Civil War. He responded promptly to the call of his country and began to make preparations to en- list, and at the option of the company which was being formed in the town of his birth, was elected to the rank of first lieutenant, and at the organiza- tion of the regiment (Thirty-first Tennessee In- fantry) was appointed major. During his war ca- reer he took part in the battles of Columbus (Ky.), Fort Pillow, Corinth (Miss.), Harrisburg (Miss.), and several others. When the army was reorgan- ized he was detached, but immediately formed a company of cavalry and was elected colonel of the Second Mississippi Cavalry, to which the company had allied themselves. In this capacity Col. Smith remained until the end of the war, fighting for the cause he so gloriously undertook, with all his heart and soul, even up to the final bitter moment when defeat at last crushed his hopes and the stars and bars of the Confederacy lay trampled in the dust. In 1866 Col. Smith came to Arkansas and located at Marion. Here he purchased a small farm of thirty-four acres, from which he cleared the tim- ber and put it under cultivation, and now. what better evidence of his determined will and tireless energy can be found than to look over his broad acres, numbering over 2,000, and view with admir- ation the 800 that he has placed under cultivation. Col. Smith was married in 1857 to Miss Paralee Derryberry, but death entered his home in Feb- ruary, 1861, and took from it his estimable wife, leaving one son, Lee, who resides at Marion and is engaged in farming. His second marriage oc- curred in 1863 to Miss Martha J. Gidden, by whom he has had five children: Emma (now the wife of Thomas Koser), Willie S., Frank G., Mary G. and Charles Edgar. Col. Smith's plantation is with- out doubt one of the finest in Crittenden County, and the most of it he has placed under cultivation himself. In appearance he is a typical Southerner, of a tall and commanding figure, dark complexion, with prominent features and an eye that is piercing in its glance, and withal a courteous gentleman. As an army officer, Col. Smith stands without a

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peer in his rank, as his splendid record through the dark days of rebellion will show, when his courage and gallantry commanded the admiration of both friend and foe. Possessed in a strong de- gree with journalistic qualities, Col. Smith saw the need of a paper in Crittenden County, and was one of the leading promoters of the Marion Reform, which advocates those missions that will unques- tionably be beneficial to both white and colored citizens. He held the office of mayor of Marion and during his administration made many improve- ments in the town, especially in laying the side- walks, and was also one of the leading spirits in building schools for both white and colored chil- dren and the Methodist Church in Marion. He was also one of the principal advocates of prohibi- tion in Marion, which was secured in 1885. Dur- ing 1889 Col. Smith was levee commissioner, and an earnest advocate of levee protection. In his dealings with tenants on his plantation he is scrupulously exact that they shall have to the last penny their share, and as an evidence of the esteem in which he is held, some of his tenants have been with him since the war. In politics Col. Smith is one of the prominent men of his county, and in 1874 was sent to the State legislature. He is a director of the Memphis bridge now being built from a point in this county to Memphis, and in other affairs that tend to push forward the progress of Crittenden County he is always ready and gen- erous with his assistance in every way possible. His name is an authority on many matters of pub- lic interest and he holds a place in the hearts of his fellow-citizens that will never be banished.

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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