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 96

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 96

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wood, a native of Tennessee, who died in March, 1874, leaving three children, two still living: Mol- lie and William Y. Mr. Gill married his second and present wife, Rebecca Holland, February 4, 1875. She was born in the State of South Carolina, in 1857, and is the mother of one daughter, Beulah. In addition to his store at La Grange, Mr. Gill owns 800 acres of fine land, of which 450 acres are under cultivation. All this he has made since the war. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, of the Knights of Honor and is a prominent Democrat of Richland Township.

Robert O. Gill is one of the prominent resi- dents of Haynes, Ark., is a money lender and a large real estate owner, having become by his own industry the owner of 960 acres of land, with about 260 acres under cultivation. His property is im- proved with good buildings and fences, and besides his own comfortable and pleasant home in Haynes, he owns another house and lot. He was born in Tennessee, in 1847, and is the second of seven children born to Nathaniel Y. and Susan A. (Bowles) Gill, also native-born citizens of Tennes- see. They removed to Phillips County, Ark., in 1851, and settled twelve miles west of Helena, near what is known as Lexa, and there the father was manager of a plantation belonging to his uncle, Isaac Smith, and afterward worked in the same capacity for William Pillow. In 1856 he bought a farm west of Helena, known as Hude Park plan- tation, but sold out at the end of one year and be- came general manager of the plantation belonging to Mr. Pillow, remaining with him until the open- ing of the war, during which time he farmed on what is known as the Grant place. After the war was over he bought what is now known as the H. P. Rogers' place, and here made his home until 1867, when he became the owner of a farm three miles west of Haynes for one year, selling it then to Dr. Wood, moving in the spring of 1869 to La Grange, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until his death, December 16, 1873; his death was caused by pneumonia. His wife died December 3, 1873, and both had been members of the Baptist Church for a number of years. Six of their seven children are now living: W. F. (who is a merchant

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at La Grange), Robert O., Maria M., John Y. (of Texas), I. S. (of Texas), and Mary P. (wife of W. L. Howard, of La Grange). Robert O. Gill was reared and educated in Phillips and Lee Counties. He received only the advantages of a common- school education in his early youth, the turmoils of war placing it beyond the power of his parents to send him to higher institutions of learning, but by self-application and much reading he is one of the best posted and most intelligent men of the county. At the age of twenty-one years, or in 1868, he be- gan life for himself as a farmer, but after farming on rented land for one year he began merchandis- ing in La Grange, his capital stock amounting to $600, which he had earned the previous year. Since 1883 he has been a resident of Haynes, and until the spring of 1889 followed merchandising, but then sold out and has been following his pres- ent occupation. He is a man who favors all laud- able public enterprises and in his political views is a Democrat. Socially he is a member of the K. of H., La Grange Lodge No. 2166, and has held nearly all the chairs in the local lodge. In the spring of 1875 he was married to Miss Cornelia L. Smith, a daughter of G. B. and Susan S. Smith, natives of Northern Alabama, who removed to Arkansas a few years prior to the late Civil War. Mrs. Smith died in 1888. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Gill, two are now living: Alma L. and Robbie.

Joseph O. Gray. Payton R. Gray, a prominent and wealthy planter of Bear Creek Township, was born in Livingston County, Ky., in 1818, being a son of Presley Gray, also a Kentuckian by birth and a tiller of the soil, as was his father, originally from Virginia. Presley Gray was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and lived until his seventy-second year. His wife, Maria (Hodge) Gray, was connected with the Baptist Church. She was the mother of seven children, all of whom are yet living, five residents of Kentucky, one of Iowa and our immediate subject, who has been a citizen of this State since 1847. He took charge of the old homestead at the age of twenty years, and two years later was married to Mrs. Eliza (Dunn) Thrailkill, who died a year after, leaving one child,

which only lived nine months. He then married Miss Maria Woods. She died shortly after his removal to Mississippi, in 1844, leaving three chil- dren, all deceased. He was next married to Mrs. Margaret S. Bohanan (nee Dickson), a native of Paris, Ky., who died in 1883. They were the parents of two children: Blanche (widow of John E. Burke, living with her father) and Joseph O. (who was born in Coahoma County, Miss., in 1848.) His father having been drafted for the Confederate service in 1863, our subject went as a substitute, and served in Dobbin's regi- ment of Confederate cavalry until the close of the war, operating in Eastern Arkansas and Missouri, and receiving his discharge in January, 1865. He was then employed in farming and clerking until 1872, when he entered into the mercantile business at Philips Bayou, in which he has since been en- gaged, with the exception of the years 1877-78. At that time farming occupied his attention. Mr. Gray married in March, 1875, Miss Mary C. Wilk- ins, a native of Lee County, Ark., and a daughter of Maj. Wilkins, an officer in the Confederate army, now deceased. They have had one son who is now deceased. Mr. Gray carries a stock of about $5,000, and his annual sales amount to over $40,000. He is also extensively occupied in farming, owning a half interest in 320 acres of fine land, besides some city property, and has the control of over 1,500 acres of land. Mr. Gray is also the postmaster of Philips Bayou, which position he has filled for the past eight years. In connection with his other interests he is engaged in cotton ginning, operat- ing two steam gins and one horse-power cotton- gin. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. His wife is a member of the Baptist Church.

J. W. Greer's farm, comprising 160 acres, is one of the best for successful agricultural purposes to be found in this part of the county, and the manner in which it is conducted is in full keeping with the personal characteristics of its owner, a man of great energy and determination and of much perseverance. He was born in Union County, S. C., in 1836, and is a son of J. M. and Sarah A. (Sanders) Greer, the former a native of South Car- olina and of English-Irish descent. The paternal

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grandfather, Robert Greer, and his brother, Orpha, served in the American Revolution, and the former was exiled from Ireland on account of his religious views, and after coming to the United States he settled in South Carolina, and there left a large number of descendants, several of whom served in the War of 1812. J. W. Greer spent his youth in his native State, but in 1858 came west and set- tled near Helena, Ark., on a farm where he re- mained industriously at work until the Rebellion came up. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate army, Company B, Twenty-third Arkansas, of which he was captain, and participated in the fol- lowing battles: Corinth and the siege of Port Hud- son, in which engagement he lost his left arm, it being shot off by a cannon ball. He was captured on July 9, 1863, and was retained a prisoner until the close of the war at New Orleans, Fort La Fay- ette, Bedloe's Island, Fort McHenry, Fort Dela- ware, then to Morris Island. After remaining at his old home for a number of years he came to Lee County, Ark., in 1878, and here has become well known and highly esteemed by all. He has been justice of the peace for eight years; is a mem- · ber of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and has always tried to follow the teachings of the Golden Rule. He was married in 1885 to Mrs. Fannie R. Allen Harris, and by her has one child, Sarah F. He was first married to Elizabeth H. Patterson, who died leaving one child, Jason H.

Gen. D. C. Govan was born in Northampton County, N. C., July 4, 1829, and is a son of A. R. and M. P. (Jones) Govan, the former of whom was born in Orangeburg, N. C., and was educated in South Carolina College at Columbia, some of his schoolmates being William C. Preston, George McDuff, Langdon C. Chevies, Hugh S. Lagree and other men of the South, who afterward became noted. After graduating from the above-named college he began his career as a planter in Orange- burg District, and was elected to Congress from there about the year 1825. About 1830 he emi- grated with his family westward to Tennessee, and there made his home until the removal of the Chickasaw Indians from the State of Mississippi, when he made that State his permanent abode, his

death occurring there in 1841, at the age of forty- seven years. His wife was born in North Carolina in 1801, and by Mr. Govan became the mother of a large family of children, her death occurring at the age of eighty-seven years. Gen. D. C. Govan grew to manhood in Northern Mississippi, and was prepared for college by Rev. Francis L. Hawks, and graduated from the Columbia (S. C.) College, in 1848. There was a military company kept in drill at this institution, then the best in the State, and of this company Mr. Govan was a member. Immediately upon graduating he joined his fellow- kinsman, Gen. Ben Mccullough, on an expedition to California, their company consisting of twenty- one men, all of whom, with the exception of two or three, were experienced Texan and old Indian fighters. They left Mississippi on October 1 and traveled through Texas and Mexico north to Mont- erey, thence to the seacoast, where they took pas- sage on board a vessel bound for the Golden Gate, and reached San Francisco late in December. They engaged in hunting and trapping until the next spring, and then found that they had accumulated sufficient money to engage in mining, which they did (with the understanding between our subject and Mr. Mccullough that they were to share equally in the results of their western expedition) and fitted out a party to go to the mountains and commence operations. Just at this juncture the Territorial legislature of California passed a law imposing a tax on all foreigners mining in the Ter- ritory. California was then divided into two dis- tricts and Mr. McCullough received the appoint- ment of collector for the Southern District, a position which he and Mr. Govan supposed would prove fabulously remunerative, and Mr. Govan took charge of the mining expedition and went up the San Joaquin River. He met with fair success in mining, and said that had they not been trying to make a competence in a few days, might have amassed a fortune. He mined on various rivers until he reached the North Fork of the American River, when he received a letter from Gen. McCul- lough saying that the foreign tax could not be collected, and the law was a failure, and requested him to meet him in Sacramento, where they would

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prepare for another mining expedition. When they reached that place the sheriff of the county had been killed and a special election was being held, whereupon Mr. Mccullough became a candi- date and was elected. Mr. Govan then sold out his mining outfit and became deputy sheriff, the former gentleman officiating in that capacity from October, 1850, to July, 1855, and did the first legal execution in the State of California after it had been admitted into the Union, hanging three men for highway robbery. He returned to his home in Mississippi immediately after retiring from the sheriff's office, Mr. Govan returning at the same time. The latter was married in Mississippi, in December, 1853, to Miss Mary F. Otey, a daughter of the Rt. Rev. James Otey, of Mississippi, and the following December he came to Arkansas, lo- cating in that part of Phillips County, which sub- sequently became Lee County. He was a success- ful planter until the opening of the war, then began raising a company for the Confederate army, which afterward became a part of the Second Arkansas Regiment, under Gen. Hindman. They operated first in Southeastern Missouri, but were soon transferred to the Army of Tennessee, of which they formed the advance under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. Mr. Govan was appointed lieutenant- colonel in October, 1861, and at their request acted as colonel in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville and Murfreesboro, after which he was given command of a brigade, and acted as brigadier-general at Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold and other places, receiving his commission after these bat- tles. He was all through the Georgia campaign, and was in some of the bloodiest fights around At- lanta, but showed through all great intrepidity and courage. In the memorable fight on July 22d, he captured the Sixteenth Iowa Regiment with its colors, and fractions of other companies. Gen. Mc- Pherson was killed in front of his command. After almost twenty years had passed away he still had the colors of the Sixteenth Iowa Regiment, and about this time entered into a correspondence with Gen. Belknap, and upon being invited to attend a Federal soldiers' reunion held at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he did so and returned the colors to the Six-

teenth Iowa which he had captured, and received in return a gold-headed cane. In the battle of Chickamauga, the great-grandson of Thomas Jeff- erson was killed in front of Gen. Govan's com- mand, he being Maj. Sidney Collidge, and his sword fell into the hands of Gen. Govan. It was afterward recaptured, and this led to an inquiry from Collidge's friends as to his whereabouts, and the facts of his death was related to them by Gen. Govan. The name of this intrepid general will live in the hearts of the Southern people as long as they revere the heroes who fought in their service, for he was among the bravest of the brave, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Gen. P. R. Cle- burne, Cheatham and others, as far as bravery and ability as a commander is concerned. At the close of the war lie returned to his plantation and here has lived a quiet and retired life ever since. Al- though he is very popular and much beloved by all, and could easily obtain any office he might de- sire and which the people of Arkansas could con- fer upon him, yet he has never been an aspirant for any civil office, and is of a rather retiring dis- position, although he possesses tlie true courtesy and polished manners for which the people of the South are famous.

Francis H. Govan, intimately associated with the affairs of Lee County, as deputy clerk of the circuit court, was a member of Morgan's terrible band in his raid through Ohio. He was in the Confederate army from the beginning of the war until its close, first in the Northern Virginia divis- ion, in which he served until the seven-days' fight around Richmond, when he was transferred to the Western division, remaining in Morgan's cavalry until after his Ohio raid. He was subsequently appointed aid-de-camp on the staff of his uncle, Gen. D. C. Govan, holding that position until the cessation of hostilities, but spending the latter days of the war in the hospital on account of a wound received at the battle of Franklin. After his return from the army Mr. Govan attended the University of Mississippi, and in 1867 came to Arkansas, and located in this county, where he en- gaged in merchandising when not holding office. He was elected county clerk in 1874, and again in

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1876, and in 1885 was appointed deputy clerk of the circuit court, which office he still occupies. He was married in this county in 1875 to Miss Minnie Ford, who was born in Kentucky in 1855. They are the parents of four children: Bettie H., Laura P., Francis H. and Eaton P. Mr. Govan's birth occurred in Mississippi in 1846, and he was reared at Holly Springs, that State, there receiv- ing a common-school education. He is a son of E. P. Govan, a native of North Carolina, and of Scotch descent, his great-grandfather having been born in that country, though he emigrated to the United States. His grandfather, of South Caro- lina origin, was a member of Congress from that State. The father of our subject died in 1882, at the age of fifty-five years. His wife was a native of Connecticut, and a daughter of Rev. Francis L. Hawks, a distinguished Episcopal minister. Mr. Govan is a member of the A. F. & A. M., in which order he has risen to the rank of Knight Templar. He also belongs to the Knights of Honor and the Royal Arcanum. He is a man who enjoys the continued esteem of his acquaintances, and as a county official has discharged the duties connected with his office with entire satisfaction to all concerned, and the credit of himself. The records in his charge are a model of neatness and accuracy.

Ferdinand Louis Gustavus is one of the men who escorted Jefferson Davis and his cabinet south on their flight from Richmond. He enlisted in 1862, in a company of cavalry, which was made up and mustered in service at Memphis, Tenn., although composed mostly of men from Phillips and St. Francis County. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, Atlanta, and most of the battles of his division, and was in the command of Gen. J. E. Johnston, at the time of his surrender in May, 1865. Mr. Gusta- vus was born in Winnebago County, Wis., April 29, 1832, and was the oldest son of John G. and Charlotte A. (Koepner) Gustavus, natives of Prussia. Mr. Gustavus was born in 1806, and was reared within fifteen miles of Berlin, being married in 1830. In 1831 they emigrated to this country, and settled in Wisconsin, where they

lived until their respective deaths, in 1862 and 1864. Both were members of the Lutheran Church, and were the parents of seven children, six of whom are living: Ferdinand L., Robert, Bertie, Theodore, Maria and Henry. The pater- nal grandfather of our subject was a soldier under Napoleon, and held the position of lieutenant in the Prussian army. Mr. Gustavus commenced farming at the age of twenty-two in the State of Wisconsin, but moved to Arkansas in 1856, where he was engaged as an overseer in Phillips County, until his enlistment in the army. After his return from the battlefield, he purchased the farm on which he still resides. The land is well adapted to the growing of cotton, corn, clover, and small grain. He was married April 14, 1867, to Lucy A. Rives, of Phillips County, where she was born January 28, 1848, being a daughter of John H. and Jane C. (Bonner) Rives, both deceased. They had a family of eight children, seven of whom survive: Mary F. (wife of C. J. McQuien, a farmer of Lee County), Jane A. (wife of Guss Roesher, also of Lee County), John H., Augusta E., Carrie L., Hattie C. and Frederick L. Mr. Gustavus is a leading Democrat, and has served his party and the people of his township as justice of the peace for the past eight years. He has been a member of the school board of this dis- trict since 1868. He and wife and four children are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and of the Knights of Honor. Mr. Gustavus, having farmed in the Northern States as well as the Southern States, is capable of forming a correct opinion of both localities in regard to climate, soil, and general advantages and disadvantages for those who follow farming for an occupation, and in his judgment Arkansas can not be excelled.

Robert E. Hale is a direct descendant of the celebrated Chief Justice Matthew Hale of England. His parents, Richard C. and Driscilla (Mathews) Hale, were natives of Bedford County, Va. The former was born in 1798 and when a young man moved to Alabama, and afterward to Hardin Coun- ty, Tenn., where he remained about ten years, then going to Pulaski County, Ill. This was the home

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of himself and wife until their death, Mr. Hale dy- ing in 1848 and Mrs. Hale in 1884, at the age of ninety years. He started in life as a brick mason, but during the latter years of his career became a prominent contractor and builder, and was an in- fluential man in Pulaski County, Ill., taking an active part in local politics. During the last four years of his life he held the office of probate judge. He was a son of Richard Hale, whose birth oc- curred in Virginia shortly before the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Hale was a daughter of Joseph Crom- well Mathews, formerly from South Carolina, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War when a young man. He was married in South Carolina to Miss Penina Crisp, afterward removing to Ala- bama, then to the States of Tennessee, Kentucky and finally back to Texas in 1835, where they re- mained until their deaths, which occurred in the year 1858 at the ages of ninety-two and ninety- four years, respectively. Both were members of the Christian Church, in which they took an active part. The Mathews family trace their lineage back to Oliver Cromwell, who was one of the early an- cestors of the family. The principal of this sketch was born in Lauderdale County, Ala., in 1824, be- ing the third of three sons and three daughters. He was married in Pulaski County, Ill., in 1848, to Miss Susan J. Hawpe, a daughter of Judge George Hawpe. She was born in Hall County, Ga., in 1830. Mr. and Mrs. Hale became the par- ents of twelve children, four of whom are still liv- ing: James G., Lillian C., Joseph O. and William M. Mr. Hale made Illinois his home until 1855, when he came to Arkansas and located in that por- tion of Phillips County, which is now included in Lee County. For some years after his advent he carried on the mercantile and lumber business at Jeffersonville. The Mexican War breaking out a few years before his marriage, he enlisted in Com- pany B of the Second Illinois Infantry, in which he served as sergeant, having command of his com- pany at the battle of Buena Vista. Upon the com- mencement of the Civil War he was commissioned captain, but did not enter the service. At the time of his removal from Pulaski County, Mr. Hale held the position of county treasurer, collector and as-

sessor, and had been postmaster of Haleside for a number of years. Since locating here he has served as justice of the peace for a number of years. He is now the owner of over 1,000 acres of land, and has about 250 acres under cultivation, all made since his arrival in this county, when he had but $2.50. Mr. Hale is a member of the A. F. & A. M., but has not affiliated with the order for a num- ber of years. He also belongs to the I. O. O. F., and he and wife, are connected with the Christian Church, taking an active part in religious move- ments.

D. Hammond, proprietor of the Phoenix Hotel of Marianna, Ark., was born in Rochester, N. Y., November 3, 1840, and, like the majority of the natives of the "Empire State," he is enterpris- ing in his views, is industrious and the soul of honor. After remaining in his native State and attending the common schools until he attained his twentieth year, he went to Missouri and worked as an engineer on the North Missouri Railroad for four.years. When the war broke out he was run- ning a Government train, and was captured by Price just west of Mexico, Mo., and was taken to Northeastern Arkansas, where he was paroled upon taking the oath not to aid the North during the remainder of the war. From Arkansas Mr. Ham- mond went to Nashville, Tenn., thence to Jackson, Mich., where he began working on the Michigan Central Railroad as an engineer between Detroit and Jackson, continuing two years. He was mar- ried to Miss Lucretia Blodgett, in Eaton Rapids, Mich., she being a native of that place, and after- ward went on the road selling steam fire-engines for Clapp & Jones, of Hudson, N. Y. He fol- lowed this business some five years, and in Octo- ber, 1871, during the great Chicago fire, he was on his way to St. Paul, Minn., to exhibit an engine, and was at Michigan City when the news of the fire reached him. He immediately went with his engine to the scene of the fire, and for four nights and three days never left his post, but did all in his power to assist in subduing the flames. He afterward took his engine to St. Paul, where he sold it, also two others, notwithstanding the fact that he had to encounter much competition. He

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finally left the road and began working with an engine in the fire department of Greenville, Mich., the city paying him $150 per month and furnishing him with a house, fuel and gas. At the end of one year he went to Fort Scott, Kan., and made his home for five years at that point. Here he put up a 100-battery steam-boiler, and ran it until it was moved to Marianna, Ark., on February 17, 1889. He put up the present engine in Marianna and managed it until a short time since, when he turned it over to his son, and became the proprietor of the Phoenix Hotel, in which he has made many needed changes and improvements. He and wife have two children: Luther and Maud. He is a Democrat, and belongs to the Brotherhood of Lo- comotive Engineers. His parents, S. and Clarin- da (Howe) Hammond, were born in Clarendon, Vt., in 1799 and New York, in 1811, respectively. The father was a farmer, and immigrated to Missouri, locating at St. Charles, where he died in 1881, his wife dying one year later. Of their family of two sons and three daughters, all are living.

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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