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 85

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 85

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Robert Craig, planter and ginner, Brinkley, Ark. There are many citizens of foreign birth represented within the pages of this volume, but none are more deserving of mention than Robert Craig, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1852. His father, John Craig, was a native also of Glasgow, Scotland, was a farmer and stock raiser for many years, and was also engaged in merchandising in Belfast for several years. He was married to Miss Ann Cruitle, of Scotland, in 1822, and they became the parents of eleven chil- dren, six sons and three daughters now living: James, Sarah, Mary (wife of John Curry, and still living in the old country), John, Annie (wife of James Hamilton), Robert, George, Thomas and Alexander. The father is still living and resides in Scotland. Robert Craig crossed the ocean to America in 1867, located in Arkansas, and was united in marriage to Miss Lou Stall in 1875. She was born in Arkansas in 1853, and her par- ents, George and Catharine Stall, were natives of Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Craig were born three children: George R., Anna B. and Mary L.

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

Mr. Craig is the owner of 247 acres of land, with about 100 acres under cultivation, and his princi- pal crops are cotton and corn. He erected a good cotton-gin in 1883, and has since added a corn- mill, with a capacity for forty bushels per hour. He is one of the most progressive and energetic farmers of this section, and his farm buildings are neat, commodious and substantial. He has also two tenant houses. He is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, and his wife is a member of the Baptist Church.

S. W. Davis, planter, Cotton Plant, Ark. The subject of this sketch needs no introduction to the people of Monroe County, for a long residence here, and above all a career of usefulness and prominence, have given him an acquaintance which shall last for years. He was born in La Fayette County, Miss., in 1845, to the union of Chesley and Mary E. (Simpson) Davis, natives of South Carolina and Alabama, respectively. Eight children were the fruits of this union, two daugh- ters and six sons, three of whom only are living: S. W., Mary E. (wife of Ben Glover) and R. S. Chesley Davis was reared to agricultural pursuits and this was his chief occupation during life. He immigrated from Mississippi to Arkansas in 1851, locating in St. Francis County, and there entered and traded for land until he had 380 acres. He was a member of the A. F. & A. M .; was justice of the peace for several years, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and died in Wood- ruff County in 1859. His wife died in 1865 and was a member of the Baptist Church. S. W. Davis began life upon his own resources in 1867 and hired to work in a gin-house. In 1868 he began farming on rented land, continued at this until 1872, when he fell heir to some land from his father's estate. He was married, in 1867, to Miss Mollie C. Harbour, a native of Tennessee, born in 1851, and the daughter of and Eliza B. Harbour, of Woodruff County, Tenn. The result of this union were eight children, six of whom are now living: E. B., Samuel T., John C., William A., Mattie and an infant not yet named. The parents of Mrs. Davis are originally from Kentucky, immigrating from that State to Tennes-

see, thence to Mississippi and finally settling in Arkansas, where they both died; E. B. died in 1861 and his wife in 1879. During the late war, or in 1864, Mr. Davis was in the Confederate cavalry, Company B, under Captain Wilson, and served until the surrender at Wittsburg, Ark., in 1865. After this he resumed farming and has followed this pur- suit ever since. He is one of the prosperous and leading citizens of this township, has a fairly im- proved farm of 160 acres and has 109 acres under cultivation. He was justice of the peace for eight years and was appointed deputy sheriff in 1886. He erected a large gin in 1885 and this he has run ever since.

J. H. Dial, merchant and planter, Holly Grove, Ark. In the business of merchandising Mr. Dial is second to none in Duncan Township, and in con- nection is also extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits. A native of Greene County, Ala., he was born June 28, 1821. His father, David M. Dial, was born in South Carolina in 1785, was married to Miss Jennette Spence in 1801, and successfully tilled the soil all his life. His wife was born in Newberry District, S. C., in 1783. To them were given thirteen children, only two now living: J. H. (the subject of this sketch) and his sister, Rebecca (the wife of George Rix, of Keokuk, Iowa). David M. Dial was an elder in the Old School Presby- terian Church. His wife was a member of the same church. They immigrated from South Caro- lina to Greene County, Ala., in 1818, where the father died in 1834, the mother in 1855. At the age of sixteen J. H. Dial started out for himself, and began farming on a tract of land he owned in Sumter County, Ala. In the year 1853 he moved to this State and purchased land in Monroe County. When the late war broke out he enlisted in the Confederate army, Company E, Thirty-first Regi- ment Infantry, under Capt. O. H. Oates, and was wounded in the battle of Stone River, Tenn., De- cember 31, 1862. He was first taken to the field hospital and remained there ten days, then being removed to Nashville in a six-horse wagon, going as fast as it could over the rough roads. There he was put in the guard house and three days later in the penitentiary, where he was kept four or five

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days and then taken to the hospital. It was found necessary to amputate his right arm, which opera- tion was performed by Surgeon Massy, and he was then removed to Mr. Robinson's, a private house, where he was nursed and taken care of for three months by two noble ladies, Mrs. Cartright and Miss Mary Hadley. Being taken to Louisville (Ky.) as a prisoner, he and his companions were there robbed of all their clothes and money. Later, going to Baltimore, Md., and thence to Petersburg, he was finally released and from there went to Shelbyville, Tenn., where he received his discharge. Starting on a tramp for home he walked the entire distance from West Point, Miss. In 1864 he was again taken prisoner when at Clarendon on some business, had his wagon and mules taken from him and was put in prison at Devall's Bluff and kept for a week or ten days. Had it not been for the kindness of Mr. Steele and Mr. Phillip Trice he would have suffered, but they furnished him clothes and money and he fared sumptuously for a prisoner. Mr. Dial was married to Miss Letitia Caulfield, a daughter of Henry and Isabella (Wat- son) Caulfield, on November 2, 1853. She was born in Greene County, Ala., her parents being from Ireland. Her father came to this country in 1821. He was a successful and energetic farmer and died in Greene County October 16, 1867. The mother died March 15, 1870. They were the par- ents of six children, two daughters now being the only living members of the family: Bessie (the wife of Jere Horn, of San Marcos, Tex. ) and the present Mrs. Dial. J. H. Dial and wife had a family of eight children, of whom six survive at this time: Belle (the wife of T. G. Trice, of Holly Grove, Ark. ), Mary V. (widow of Dr. C. H. Boyd, of Holly Grove, Ark.), Margie (wife of W. M. Harrison of Pine Bluff, Ark.), their sons, David M., Thomas G. and Jere H., all live in Holly Grove, Ark. Mr. Dial owns a valuable farm and is a successful farmer. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.

Capt. Parker C. Ewan is a member of that substantial and successful law firm of Ewan & Thomas, of Clarendon. The senior member of the firm, Capt. Ewan, was born in New Jersey, in

1837, and is a son of John and Sylvia H. (Han- kins) Ewan, who were also born in that State, the former in 1800, and the latter in 1804. After their marriage they moved to Clermont County, Ohio, in which place Mr. Ewan died of cholera, in 1849. His wife died in Cincinnati, Ohio, twenty- eight years later. He was a farmer, and was a son of Evan Ewan, a native of New Jersey, who died there, at about the age of eighty years, having been an iron manufacturer by trade. He was a captain in the Revolutionary War, and traced his ancestors back to Sir Raleigh Ewan, a Scotchman. Many of the family now in this country have changed the name to Ewing. Richard Hankins, the maternal grandfather, was of Irish extraction, a farmer by occupation, a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War, and spent his entire life in the State of New Jersey. The immediate subject of this biography is one of a family of ten children, all of whom are living, with the exception of one, who was killed by a train in Texas, in January, 1888, and in youth he became familiar with farm life by assisting his father. Until twelve years of age he attended the common country schools, then en- tered the Bantam (Ohio) High School, and two years later the College Hill Academy, near Cin- cinnati, but in 1854 left school and went South, and for a short time was engaged in flat-boating on the Mississippi River. In 1855 he began teach- ing school, in Phillips County, Ark., at which time the country was in a very wild and unsettled con- dition, the timber being full of wild animals, and at one time he stood in his school-house door and shot a panther. In 1857 he came to Monroe Coun- ty, and taught school until the opening of the Civil War, then dropped the ferrule to take up the musket, and joined Company E, First Arkansas Infantry, afterward the Fifteenth Arkansas, com- manded by Col. (afterward Gen.) Cleburne. His `first experience in warfare was in the battle of Shiloh, and still later he was made captain of his company, and participated in the battles of Rich- mond and Perryville (Ky.) and Murfreesboro, (Tenn.), when he was again severely wounded, and was compelled to give up his command. After re- covering he was placed in command of the post at

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

West Point, Ga., was made provost marshal, and when the news of the final surrender reached him he was on post duty at Macon, Ga. After his re- turn to Monroe County he farmed one year, then began filling the duties of county clerk, to which position he had been elected in 1866, serving with ability for two years. His first experience in the practice of law was with Jeremiah Marston, and in 1872 the firm became Marston, Ewan & Bobo, which continued until the death of Mr. Marston, about ten years later. From that time until 1886 Mr. Ewan continued alone, and was then asso- ciated with Mr. Palmer for two years, after which Mr. Thomas became a member of the firm. Mr. Palmer withdrew in 1888, and the firm is now Ewan & Thomas, one of the strongest and most thorough law firms in Eastern Arkansas. Mr. Ewan was county attorney from 1868 to 1872, and is one of the leading members of the Democratic party in his county and State. He has been a delegate from Monroe County to nearly every Democratic State convention, and has never voted outside of Monroe County. He has been a member of the A. F. & A. M. since 1862, Cache Lodge No. 235, and he also belongs to the K. of P., Cowan Lodge No. 39. By his own indomitable energy and methodical business habits he has be- come one of the wealthiest men of the State, and is the owner of about 70,000 acres of land in Mon- roe, Phillips, Lee, Arkansas and Prairie Counties. He has thirty-five improved farms, ranging from eighty to 1,600 acres each, and also owns seven cotton-gins, two saw-mills, and one-half interest in a railroad, all of which he has earned since the war, and, unlike many wealthy men, he can truth- fully say that he never intentionally wronged a man out of a dollar. That he is one of the hon- ored and trusted men of the county can readily be seen. He owns the Monroe County Sun, a newspaper which he founded in 1876, and has since controlled. In 1865 he was united in mar- riage to Miss M. L. Rayston, who was born in Mississippi, and left her husband a widower in 1868, with a daughter to care for, named Carrie L., now the wife of W. N. Johnson. Mr. Ewan celebrated his second marriage in 1870, his wife

being Maggie H., a sister of his first wife, also born in Mississippi. After bearing him one child, who is now deceased, he was again left a widower, January 4, 1872. September 21, 1874, he mar- ried his third wife, Julia C., a daughter of Prof. Frank S. Connor, of Abbeville, S. C. His wife is a Methodist, and has borne him four children, Parker C., Jr., aged eleven years, being the only one living.

S. E. Fitzhugh, farmer, Brinkley, Ark. This comparatively young agriculturist is the son of a man who, during his residence here, was intimate- ly and permanently associated with the county's interest, and whose memory is cherished by a host of those acquainted with him while living. S. H. Fitzhugh was a native of Dyer County, Tenn., born in 1815, was reared on a farm and followed tilling of the soil all his life. He was married to Miss Martha S. Christy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Abisha Christy, of South Carolina, and be- came the father of ten children, two of whom are now living: S. E. and Susan M. (wife of G. W. Hullom, of Monroe County). Mr. Fitzhugh im- migrated from Tennessee to Arkansas in 1846 or 1847, locating in Monroe County, and there pur- chased 160 acres of land. He built a log-cabin and improved his farm. He died in this county on May 17, 1886, and his wife died on March 18, 1883. Both had been members of the Baptist Church for many years. S. E. Fitzhugh now lives on the farm where his father first settled on com- ing to Monroe County. He started out to earn a living for himself, and first engaged in agricultural pursuits when nineteen years of age on his father's land. Here he remained until after the death of his father, when the land was divided by will, and he received 120 acres, with about sixty acres under cultivation. He married, in 1869, Miss Sarah F. Capolenor, a native of Phillips County, Ark., born January 8, 1842, and the daughter of John and Martha Capolenor, of Monroe County. They are the parents of six children, four daughters and two sons: Rilda J., James H., Joseph N., Ten- nessee F., Laura E. and Lulu. Mr. and Mrs. Fitz- hugh are members of the Baptist Church. As she was quite young when her parents died, Mrs. Fitz-

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MONROE COUNTY.

hugh knows very little of the descent of her ances- tors or of her parentage. She has a brother and sister living: T. C. (of Cotton Plant) and Martha (wife of John H. Tomlinson, also of this State). Mr. Fitzhugh is one of the leading planters of his township, and is a genial and clever gentleman.

J. M. and A. Flora. The business interests of this portion of the country are well represented by these gentlemen, who have been located in the town (since 1883) long enough to become thor- oughly established. Their stock of goods is valued at some $6,500, the annual sales reach $20,000 and the establishment is conducted with ability and success. J. M. and A. Flora, the proprietors, were born in Shelby County, Tenn., in 1852 and 1861, respectively, and J. M. is a son of William and Eliz- abeth (Wood) Flora, the former a native of North Carolina, and the latter of Virginia. Their union was consummated in Shelby County, Tenn., and there Mrs. Flora died when her children were small. Mr. Flora afterward married Sallie E. White, by whom he became the father of A. Flora, one of the members of the above-named firm. Mr. Flora was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1864. J. M. Flora, the youngest of the four children born to his first union, was denied the privilege of more than a common-school education, but by contact with the world and close application to business he has added to his early schooling and has become thoroughly posted on the current topics of the day. In 1881 he began merchandising at Henning, Tenn., continuing until 1884, and he then became connected with his brother, A. Flora, who had es- tablished their present mercantile establishment in Brinkley in 1883. Their union has been very pros- perous and their stock of goods is of excellent quality and is sold at reasonable prices. In 1888- they built a two-story brick business block, contain- ing two store-rooms, which are well and conven- iently fitted up. Both these gentlemen were reared to farm life and have acquired the greater portion of their property since 1881. J. M. Flora is a Democrat, a member of the Christian Church, and of the children born to his parents, one brother only is now living, John. A. Flora has one sister living, who is Mrs. Bettie Rogers, of Shelby County,

Tenn. Micager Wood, the maternal grandfather of J. M. Flora, was a pioneer farmer of West Ten- nessee, and died there.

J. M. Folkes is a successful real-estate and col- lecting agent at Brinkley, and no name is more prominently identified with this business than his. His judgment is thoroughly relied upon as to the value and nature of real estate, and he is an ener- getic and thorough-going man of business, and is strictly honest in all his transactions. He is a Kentuckian by birth, born in Pendleton County in 1851, his parents, Henry Harrison and Mary E. (Woodyard) Folkes, being also natives of that State and county, where they were reared, married and spent their lives. They were members of the Methodist Church of many years' standing, and the father was very successful in his farming operations, as he started in life with little or no capital and at the time of his death left an estate valued at $30,000. The grandfather, Jerome Folkes, was born in Harrison County, Ky., and there died, having been a life-long farmer. His parents were Virginians. J. M. Folkes, our imme- diate subject, was the third of nine children, and is the only one now living so far as he knows. His early life was spent in attending the common schools and following the plow, and upon attain- ing the age of fifteen years he went to Ohio, and began clerking in a store in Xenia, which occupa- tion he continued to follow for four or five years. His education not being sufficient to satisfy him, he, during this time, attended night school and graduated therefrom. After clerking in Cincinnati, Ohio, for two years he began traveling for Frank Loeb & Block of that city, and continued thus for six years, after which he clerked for some time in different counties of Texas. He kept books for T. H. Jackson & Co., and managed a commission store for Black & Co. at Gray's Station. Mr. Folkes is quite an extensive traveler, and in 1871-72 made a trip around the world, his journey be- ing varied by many interesting incidents. He is now settled down to hard work, and is doing a prosperous business, his home in the town of Brink- ley being commodious and comfortable. He was married in Memphis November 30, 1886, to Miss

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

Libbie J., a daughter of John and Elizabeth Davis, of Brooklyn, N. Y., the father being a wholesale oyster dealer of that city, having succeeded his father, who was also in that business. He died in October, 1889, but his widow is still living. Mr. Folkes is a Democrat, and socially is a member of the K. of H., the K. & L. of H. and the K. of P., being Vice-Chancellor in the latter order. His wife is a finely educated and accomplished lady, and is a member of the Episcopalian Church of Brooklyn, N. Y.

Dr. J. W. Frazer is a physician of more than ordinary ability, located at Clarendon, Ark., and is engaged in farming and selling drugs at that place. From an early age he displayed an eagerness for study and desire for professional life, and after attending the common schools and laboring on a farm until eighteen years of age, he took a three years' course in the Jacksonville (Ill.) College, ob- taining in this institution a thorough education. He then spent some time in farming, and during leisure moments pursued the study of medicine, beginning his practice in Union County, Ark., after having taken a course of lectures in the Uni- versity of Louisville in 1848-49. In 1860 he grad- uated from the Medical Department of the Univer- sity of Louisiana, at New Orleans, and from that time until 1887 was in the active practice of his profession at Tupelo, Miss., coming then to Clar- endon, Ark., where he has since devoted his atten- tion to the practice of medicine, selling drugs and farming. During about three years of the war he served as surgeon in Confederate hospitals in Mis- sissippi and Alabama, and since the war has been conservative in his political views, although for- merly a Whig. He is a member of the Masonic order, and since 1850 has been a member of the Presbyterian Church; his wife, whom he married in that year, and whose maiden name was Margaret A. Wiley, was also a member of the Presbyterian Church. She was born in Perry County, Ala., in 1830, and died in Tupelo, Miss., in 1887, child- less. Dr. Frazer wedded his present wife in Feb- ruary, 1888, she being a Mrs. Lucy N. (Mullens) Youngblood, born near Clarendon in 1848, a mem- ber of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and

the mother of one child, about fourteen years of age, named Beulah M. Youngblood. The doctor was born in Autauga County, Ala., in 1826, and is a son of Walter and Nancy (Brann) Frazer, both of whom were born in Mecklenburg County, Va., and were there reared and married. About 1818 they removed to Alabama, where the father's death oc- curred in 1831, he having been a successful farmer. He was a lieutenant in the War of 1812, and was a son of Rev. James Frazer, who was born in Scot- land, and came to America when a young man, marrying and settling in Virginia, but returned to his native land about the commencement of the American Revolution. He was a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and died in His family remained in America.

Alfred J. Gannon is a son of John Porter Gan- non, who was born in North Carolina in 1813, and immigrated to Tennessee in 1823 with his father, George Gannon. He was married in 1837 to Miss Elizabeth Hayes, a native of Virginia, and of English descent. The family of Gannon is of Irish ancestry. Elizabeth died in 1858, leaving seven children, four sons and three daughters: Martha A. (wife of Nathan McBroon, now of Delta County, Tex.), Alfred J., William C., John Q., Joanna (wife of William A. Sullivan), Fannie T. (wife of N. J. Mason) and James B. He was mar- ried a second time in 1859 to Miss Travis. They were the parents of three children, two of whom are still living: Isaac and Samuel L. He was a captain in the Mexican War. Capt. John P. Gan- non followed farming and stock raising all his life. He was a strict member of the Christian Church, and a strong temperance advocate never allowing whisky to enter his house only in the form of med- 'icine. His life was an exemplary one, both as a Christian gentleman and as a member of society. He died in August, 1870. Alfred J. Gannon was born in Cannon County, Tenn., on April 19, 1842, and being raised on a farm was taught farming and stock raising until the war between the States in 1861. He was among the first to enlist in his State, and joined the company known as the "Woodbury Guards," afterward called Company A, Eighteenth Regiment Tennessee Volunteers

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MONROE COUNTY.

(Joseph B. Palmer, colonel). Mr. Gannon was in the Kentucky campaign of 1861, and was captured at the fall of Fort Donelson, February 16, 1862. He was sent to Camp Butler, Springfield, Ill., and was there confined in close prison for seven months, and was then sent down the Mississippi River to Vicksburg for exchange in the trans- port steamer A. McDowell, Commodore Farragut's fleet. Here he was exchanged and went to Mont- gomery, Ala., and re-enlisted in the war. Mr. Gannon was in the battle of Murfreesboro and was one of the participants in the celebrated Brecken- ridge charge on the evening of January 2, 1863. He was also in the battle of Chickamauga, and here received a wound in his right arm, by reason of which he was honorably discharged from service. He had many narrow escapes during the war. He immigrated to this State in 1872, and was married to Miss Maggie L. Palmer on January 19, 1876, who was born in Phillips County on May 29, 1854. They have a family of five children: Katie L., John Hayes (who died on October 7, 1886, in the seventh year of his age), Maggie C., Alfred J., Jr., and Ellett Hewitt. His wife is the second daugh- ter of John C. and Margret E. Palmer, of this State, and a granddaughter of Jesse J. Shell, one of the early settlers of the State. Mr. Gannon is a member of the Christian Church and his wife belongs to the Catholic Church. He owns a fine farm of 160 acres of land with good buildings, orchard, etc., and is also a breeder of fine cattle. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and a stanch Democrat, as his father and grandfather were be- fore him.

William H. Govan is the son of Andrew R. Govan, who was born in Orangeburg District, S. C., in 1796. His parents, Daniel and Elizabeth (Roach) Govan, were of Scotch descent. Andrew was a large planter of that State, which he represented in Congress in 1824. He was married to the mother of our subject, Miss Mary P. Jones, a daughter of J. Morgan and Sallie (Davis) Jones, in 1824. They reared a family of eight children, six of whom are still living: D. C. (a brigadier-general in the Civil War, who is now a resident of Helena), John J. (a farmer of Lee County), George M. (now sec-

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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