Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 2, Part 11

Author:
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis : The Goodspeed Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1044

USA > Arkansas > Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 2 > Part 11

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

spent several months seeking a location in which to settle. He finally decided on Pecan Point, and moved to this point in 1882, entering at once into his trade of carpentering and building with so much success that now almost every building in that place can truthfully be said to have been erected by him. In February, 1888, he purchased a saw-mill, which he erected on the river bank, that has a capacity of 10,000 feet of lumber per day, and the demand largely exceeds the supply. Mr. Pratt has also built a tramway two miles in length, extending to the timber region, and as soon as the woods become exhausted he will build it farther out. He has several tramcars running, and a force of fourteen men at work constantly. Mr. Pratt is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Pecan Point Lodge, under dispensation at the present time. He is also a member of the K. of O., Pecan Point, and Eastern Star, and attends the Methodist Episcopal Church at this point, taking an active interest in all affairs of the Sunday-school. He has been one of the leading spirits in all things that promise to be to the advantage of this section, and is one of Mississippi County's most enterpris- ing and valued citizens. Mr. Pratt is a good busi- ness man, and an admirable mechanic and archi- tect. He is a great friend of the children for miles around, and it is a pleasure to see the little tots leave everyone else and flock around him whenever he puts in an appearance. His own pluck and determination have placed him in an independent position, and his courteous manner has won him many friends.

where he followed farming. He participated in the War of 1812, was taken prisoner at the battle of Raisin River, and was held by the Indians all winter. He afterward returned to Kentucky, but subsequently emigrated to Missouri, where he died in 1850. The maternal grandfather, William N. Nash, was a native of Virginia, but emigrated to Kentucky, where he died and is buried. Dr. Robert C. Prewitt improved the educational ad- vantages offered him in the common schools, and in 1861 began the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Robert C. Prewitt, in Pike County, Mo. Dur. ing 1862-63 he attended lectures at St. Louis Medical College, but the year previous to this he enlisted in the Confederate army, was sent to Southwest Missouri, where he participated in the battles of Fulton, Mount Zion Wilson Creek and Lexington. He was taken prisoner at the last- named place, but became ill, and soon returned home. In January, 1864, the Doctor went to Kentucky, and located at Athens, Fayette County, where he began the practice of his profession. In October, of the same year, he married Miss Lottie C. Stephens, a native of Kentucky, and the daugh- ter of Edwin Stephens, also a native of the " Blue Grass State," and a merchant of Lexington, who died of cholera in 1849. Dr. Prewitt remained in Athens until 1873, when he went to Helena, Ark., and bought a farm on Old Town Ridge. He re- mained there for four years, and then came to Osceola, Ark., where he has been practicing ever since, and has acquired no inferior reputation for his ability as a physician and surgeon. In 1877 he opened a fine drug store in the place, which was practically the first in Osceola, and ran this for eight years. In 1879 he took a course of lec- tures at Louisville, Ky., and graduated from the Kentucky School of Medicine the same year. The Doctor is a member of the county examining board, is ex-president of the Mississippi County Medical Society, is a member of the State Medical Society, and is ex-president of the Tri-State Medical Asso- ciation, of Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. To Dr. and Mrs. Prewitt were born six children: Joseph E., Laura (attending school at Richmond.

Dr. Robert C. Prewitt, a prominent physician, of Osceola, Ark., was born in Missouri in 1844, and from an early age displayed an eagerness for study and a desire for a professional life. He was the eldest of six children born to Joseph E. and Naoma (Nash) Prewitt, natives of the " Blue Grass State." The father was a successful tiller of the soil, and followed this occupation in his native State until his removal to Missouri, which took place in 1838. He located in Pike County, and was one of its earliest settlers. The paternal grandfather, Robert C. Prewitt, was a , native of Virginia, and came to Kentucky at an early day, , Ky. ), Robert C. and Sarah. Two were born dead.

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W. H. Pullen. It was in the capacity of a mer- chant that Mr. Pullen first became acquainted with the people of Mississippi County, and they with him, and such has been his record as a business man, that his success is assured. He late war, when he enlisted in Company D, Twen- came to Frenchman's Bayou from Memphis in July, 1888, and bought out Dr. Joyner's store, since which time he has enlarged the build- ing and added to the stock, so that now he has the largest and best selected stock of goods in the county outside of Osceola. Mr. Pullen has been recently appointed postmaster at Bardstown. He was born in Sardis, Panola County, Miss., but moved with his parents to Memphis, where he was reared and educated. When but sixteen years of age young Pullen embarked in business for him- self by working for the Hernando Insurance Com- pany for a number of years. He was also engaged with Lemon & Gale, of Memphis, in the dry goods business. At the age of twenty seven he came to Mississippi County, and, as above stated, bought out the store of Dr. Joyner. He carries a stock of gen- eral merchandise valued at about $6,000, and is one of the promising young business men of the county. He chose his life companion in the person of Miss Lou Haynes, daughter of Samuel H. Haynes, a Kentuckian by birth, who was colonel in the Union army during the war, and who had two brothers in the Confederate army. To Mr. and Mrs. Pullen has been born one child, King Haynes Pullen, a bright baby boy, the delight of the family. Ben- jamin K. Pullen, father of W. H. Pullen, was a native of North Carolina, who came to Memphis, 1 Tenn., before the war, and during the war was in the Confederate service. He occupied a position as captain of the commissary department in a Mis- sissippi regiment. When Memphis fell into the hands of the Union army, he brought his family to Panola County, Miss. After the war the family moved back to Memphis. A brother of our sub- ject, Charles Lesslie Pullen, now one of the editors of the Sunday Times of Memphis, has been elected an honorary member of the Folk- Lore Society, of London, England, a very exclusive club, he being among the few members receiving that honor in the United States.

J. L. Quarles, who is numbered among the prominent agriculturists of Mississippi County, Ark., is a native of Tallahatchee County, Miss., where he remained until the breaking out of the

ty-seventh Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, and served in Alabama and Tennessee, also taking part in the Perryville, Ky., battle. He was in the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and in the latter battle was wounded, by having a minie ball enter his neck and come out near the spinal col- umn. He next took part in the battle of Lookout Mountain, where the company went in thirty-seven strong, and only six returned unscathed. He was at Missionary Ridge, Resaca (Ga.), New Hope Church, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and Franklin (Tenn. ), and was mustered out and paroled at Grenada. Miss., after which he returned to Tallahatchee County, and there followed agricultural pursuits for two years. From there he went to Carroll County, of the same State, and after tilling the soil until December, 1887, he and family took pos- session of Shawnee Village, for Mrs. W. S. Brans- ford, of Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Quarles superin- tends the whole place, which consists of 1,400 acres, with 700 under cultivation. He thinks Ar- kansas one of the best countries in the world in which to raise live stock, especially mules, and says he has twenty head on the place for which he would not take $140 per head. These mules have lived entirely on the range, winter and summer, with no expense except a little attention in the way salting, etc. Mr. Quarles says you may take a mule out of the plow in July, when it is almost worked to a shadow, and in a few weeks it will be fat and in good condition. The above mentioned gentleman is a member of the firm of Quarles Bros., who are now renting 300 acres of the War- ner farm, in this county, near McGavock. Mr. Quarles chose for his life companion Miss L. F. Merrill, of Carroll County, Miss., where their chil- dren were all born. These are named as follows: B. W., now at home; Anna Merrill, J. L., Jr .. Merrill, Oliver P. and Lucy F. They lost one : child, the eldest, at the age of three years. Mrs. Quarles is the daughter of J. W. S. Merrill, of Car-

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

roll County, Miss., where he is a civil engineer of considerable note. He has been elected assessor and collector of Le Flore County, and has been surveyor of the United States land office for many years. Mr. Quarles has been a member of the Masonic Lodge of Greenwood, Miss., for the past eighteen years, and he and wife and three eldest children are members of the Christian Church.

J. W. Quinn. Since locating in Mississippi County, Ark., Mr. Quinn has enjoyed the reputa- tion of being, not only a substantial and progres- sive planter, but an intelligent and thoroughly- posted man in all public affairs; and a short sketch of his life will be of more than passing interest to the people of this locality. He was born in the "Palmetto State," in the year 1854, and was the eldest of four children born to the marriage of Lawson Quinn and Sarah Hampton. The father was an energetic tiller of the soil until the break- ing out of the Rebellion, but at that date he laid down the implements of peace, to don the weapons of warfare, and was a faithful soldier in the Con- federate army until he was killed at the battle of Petersburg, in 1864. His widow afterward became the worthy companion of W. P. Miller, and re- moved to East Tennessee, coming in 1874 to Mis- sissippi County, Ark. J. W. Quinn, the subject of this sketch, remained with his mother until 1877, when he was taken sick, and went to East Tennessee for medical treatment, and after recov- ering his health, to some little extent, he attended school for a short time. In 1878 he made a trip to the home of his birth, where he remained for a while, then after a brief visit in Tennessee, he returned to Mississippi County, Ark. The follow- ing spring (1879) he rented thirty acres of land here, and made his first crop, and so well did he succeed that he has since continued to follow that occupation. As rent he gave every fifth bale of cotton, and realized on the crop exactly $1,000. He was very successful the next year also, so that in 1883 he was able to purchase a tract of eighty acres, three miles north of Osceola, for which he paid the sum of $1, 750. Thirty acres were under cultivation, and since then he has put the entire tract under the plow, erecting good buildings, and

making other valuable improvements. Finding this farm insufficient to keep him employed throughout the year, he rented land of his neigh- bors, and, notwithstanding the floods and other discouraging features, he succeeded in raising good crops and did well. In January, 1886, he made a trip to Texas, thinking to improve his health by a change of scene and climate, but not liking it in the "Lone Star State," he returned to Arkansas in September of the same year, and be- gan working for William P. Hale, with whom he entered into partnership about Christmas, being engaged in managing the latter's large planta- tion, five miles above Osceola. They have (1889) 700 acres in cotton and corn, and realized on their last year's crop 86,000, their farm giving employment to twenty-seven families, numbering over 100 people. They are also quite extensively engaged in raising a good grade of stock, and have some of the finest Durham cattle in this vicinity, as well as blooded Berkshire hogs. In November, 1883, Miss Mattie Spred, of this coun- ty, became his wife, she being a daughter of one of the pioneer settlers of this section. Their union resulted in the birth of three children: Eddie Lawson, and Earl and Eleanor (twins), the latter dying in infancy. Mr. Quinn is a member of Lodge No. 27 of the A. F. & A. M., of Osceola.

John H. Rainey. There are few men, if any, who have occupied a more prominent position or contributed more toward the development of the resources of Mississippi County, than Mr. Rainey. a man whose history has been so intimately con- nected with the affairs of Chickasawba Township. that to mention one necessitates a sketch of the other. He was born in Jackson County. Ala., in 1833, the son of Samuel H. Rainey. a prominent farmer of that State. The latter removed to the State of Arkansas, in 1844, with his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Kelso, and his family of six children, and settled in Mississippi County, near where our subject now resides. He remained one year on this place, then moved to Osceola, and en- tered a farm of 160 acres two miles north of the town, on which he made many necessary improve- ments, and soon had a pleasant and comfortable

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home in the woods. On this farm he resided un- til his death in 1854, his wife having departed this life two years earlier. John H. Rainey was reared on his father's, woodland farm. and his character was so molded in youth that it was perhaps natural for him to look upon farming as the only calling with which he should identify himself in after life. At the age of twenty-one years he left home to carve out his own fortune, and for a number of years worked as a farm hand. but in 1860 he was appointed by Sheriff Charles Bowen, to the office of deputy sheriff of the county, and was given entire charge of affairs when the war broke out. as Mr. Bowen was anxious to join the army. He continued to discharge his duties very satisfactorily until 1862, when the Federal troops took possession of the county, and he was then compelled to turn his attention to other matters. He took no part in the war, but during hostilities met with several stirring adven- tures. He continued to farm on rented land until 1866, then purchased a tract of land embracing 160 acres near Osceola, nearly all of which place he succeeded in clearing, and soon after bought 320 acres adjoining, on which he cleared another 160 acres, thus making 320 acres under plow. In 1881 he sold the latter farm and moved to Chicka- . sawba Township, purchasing wild land to the ex- tent of 660 acres, on which he moved, and began immediately to improve with good buildings and by clearing his place from brush and timber. He has continued from time to time to purchase land until he is now the owner of about 4,200 acres, with some 300 acres under cultivation, and has the timber of 700 acres deadened for removal. In 1885 he removed to a farm he had purchased in Cooktown, and two years later bought one and one- half acres in North Chickasawba, on which are a cotton gin, a store house and a small residence. Mr. Rainey has cleared over 600 acres alone, which is a fine record for one man. His life has been one of unremitting toil, and though he com- menced for himself without much means he is now in possession of tine property, the result of honest industry and perseverance, and thoroughly deserves the respect which is accorded him. He has now

attained the age of fifty-six years, and for the re- mainder of his days can take the world easier, and enjoy the fruits of his early toil. On his lands are extensive tracts heavily covered with valable timber, which will prove a source of wealth as soon as it can be put on the market. Mr. Rainey contemplates the immediate erection of a saw- mill, as he will require large quanties of lumber in erecting numerous houses on his own farm. He was married in 1879 to Miss Sarah H. Brown, a native of the State and a daughter of one of the old pioneers of this section, and to their union have been born the following interesting little family: Sarah J., Samuel H. and John H. He always voted the Democratic ticket, and is an act- ive advocate of public schools, having served in the capacity of director for a number of years. He commands the respect and esteem of all for his sterling integrity. sober and sound judgment, broad intelligence and liberal and progressive ideas. His wife is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Rainey has also held the following offices; In 1873-74 he was county assessor, in 1875-76 county surveyor, and is now a member of the Board of Equaliza- tion, to equalize the assessment of county property. To this office he was appointed by Gov. Eagle.

Parnic Reed is one of the leading agriculturists of Mississippi County, Ark., and since locating here, many years ago (in 1845), has seen many changes in the growth and development of this community. He was born in the "Hoosier State" in 1826, and was reared to the occupation of black- smithing, but after leaving home, on the 8th of June, 1843, he spent two years in flat-boating on the river, and after a short time spent in Illinois. came to Mississippi County, Ark., locating at Hickman's Bend, where he was engaged in boating and rafting, and kept a wood yard. At that time all the white settlers lived contiguous to the river. the interior being still occupied by the Indians. and wild animals of all kinds roamed the woods at will. After residing in this locality until the 20th of May, 1854, he moved to Kansas, where he fol- lowed teaming for some time, and during the Kan- sas War was in the battle of Lawrence, and a

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number of other engagements in the spring of 1856. The following year he loaded all his effects on a flat-boat and floated down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to Hickman's Bend. in Mississippi County, Ark., at which place he landed on the 22d of December, 1857, then buying land on Buford Lake, where he soon had a good home. The most of his attention was given to stock farming, in which enterprise he was very extensively en- gaged during the Rebellion. He continued to make this his residence for about twenty years, opening up some sixty acres in the meantime, but sold out in 1875 and came to Clear Lake, where he purchased the farm on which he is now residing, which comprises a tract of about 100 acres under cultivation of some of the best land in this sec- tion, the most of which he devotes to the raising of corn and cotton. He has been so unfortunate as to lose four wives, but is at present living hap- pily with his fifth wife. His first union was to Miss Nancy J. Cotton, whom he married Novem- ber 9, 1847. She was a native of Missouri and died in Illinois, February 12, 1849, and was buried. with her child. His second marriage was to Miss Ellen Pints, of Mississippi County, whose death occurred on the 11th of April, 1851, she leaving a daughter named Elner, who died in the State of Kansas at the age of six years, on the 30th of June, 1857. Susan Sawyer, a native of Tennessee, and a member of a well-known family of that State, became his third wife February 12, 1852, but she left him again a widower on the 12th of April, 1874. Mr. Reed next espoused Miss Caro- 1 line A. Mannen, a native of Mississippi County, who died a short time after her marriage, in 1875, also being buried with her child. His fifth and present wife, was Mrs. M. J. Rackley, a Kentuckian by birth, who was the mother of four children by a previous marriage. She and Mr. Reed have one child, a daughter, named Rebecca Susan. Mr. Reed's various occupations through life have been somewhat diversified, but unlike the old saying, "jack of all trades and master of none," he has been reasonably prosperous in every enterprise to which he has given his attention, and now, during his declining years, can look back over a useful 1

and well-spent life. He has always been quite an active politician, and has affiliated with the Demo- cratic party.

E. D. Rhea, MI. D., a physician and surgeon of more than ordinary ability, was born in the State of Tennessee in 1835, and like the majority of the farmers' boys of his day acquired only a common school education. At an early age, how- ever, he evinced an eagerness for study and a desire for professional life, and acquired the taste for scientific learning, medicine having a particular fascination for him. When twenty-five years of age he went to Missouri, having previously studied medicine, and was engaged in practicing his profes- sion there until 1862, when he enlisted as a surgeon in the Fourth Missouri Regiment, Confederate cav- alry, and served in the Trans-Mississippi Depart- ment, in Marmaduke's division, until the close of the war, after which he came to Arkansas and located in Fulton County, near Salem, remaining there in the active practice of his profession until 1876. During 1874-75 he represented Fulton County in the first Democratic legislature convened after the Reconstruction Act, and was an active member of that body during the stormy times of the Brooks- Baxter war. Since 1876 he has practiced his pro- fession in Mississippi County, and has acquired no inferior reputation as a physician and surgeon. When the village of Blythesville was laid out he purchased property and built one of the first houses in that place, and has since been quite extensively engaged in fruit raising (in con- nection with his practice), in which he has had remarkable success. Since 1881 he has owned an eighty-acre farm near Blythesville, thirty of which he has opened, and on which he has built a house and made other improvements. In 1879 he was married to Miss Sarah Walker, a daughter of John Walker, one of the early pioneers of the county, but in March, 1885, was called upon to mourn her untimely death. She left two chil- dren, Maggie, and Lizzie, the latter dying at the age of nine months, six months after the mother. Miss Fannie Blackwell, of Lauderdale County, Tenn., became his wife September 17, 1886. The Doctor was the youngest of a family of twelve chil-

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Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 2, Part 11

Author: Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis : The Goodspeed Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1044

Author:
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis : The Goodspeed Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1044