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 9

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 9

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tinues to this day, and has thus given himself an education particularly adapted to his situation and circumstances in life. It will be seen from this account, that though without a thorough early ed- ucation, he has so improved the later years of his life that he is now known throughout the State as a gentleman of literary ability and learning. He was married on November 1, 1864, to Miss Susan Fletcher, a native of Mississippi County, Ark., and the daughter of Col. Elliot H. Fletcher. a distinguished citizen of Arkansas [see sketch]. Mr. McVeigh continued to devote himself exclu- sively to the practice of law until 1872, when he was nominated by acclamation as the Democratic candidate to represent Mississippi County in the State legislature. He had been nominated by the Democrats in 1870, but, on account of a severe at- tack of malarial fever, which confined him to his bed, he declined to be a candidate at that time. However, he accepted the nomination in 1872 and at once entered upon his canvass, meeting in debate Judge Charles Fitzpatrick, then the leader of the opposite party in Mississippi County. It was dur- ing the fall of this year that the race trouble broke out in this county, resulting in the death of the sheriff and the invasion of the town of Osceola by from 400 to 500 armed negroes, who threatened to burn and destroy the place. Mr. MeVeigh was in the town when the negroes entered, and, mount- ing a platform in front of a store (the same upon which the sheriff had been killed the day before), he called the insurgents around him and addressed them in the interest of peace and order. They listened attentively, although very menacing at first, and at the conclusion of a fifteen minutes' speech i he put it to a vote as to whether they should peaceably disperse and go to their homes. They voted in the affirmative, and at the end of a half hour, the town was cleared of their presence, and the threatened damage averted, for at least the time being. It will be seen in the historical por- tion of the volume the final result of this insur- rection. In the fall Mr. Mcveigh was elected to the legislature. During the session, which com- menced in January. 1873, he introduced the bill to found the Arkansas asylum for the insane, a

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measure which originated with him, and which he had declared his intention to bring about before he went to the capital. The bill was referred to the committee on ways and means. and, after many de- lays, that committee reported against the passage of the bill. Mr. Mcveigh, through a friend, asked for a consideration of the bill in committee of the whole House, and on February 4, 1873, he made a speech in favor of the same that caused his name to be known throughout the State of Arkansas. The committee rose, and unanimously reported in favor of the bill. The next day it passed the House, almost unanimously, passed the Senate by a similar vote, was signed by the governor and be- came a law. The appropriation, owing to the de- preciation of State scrip, in consequence of the Brooks-Baxter war, which immediately followed, was insufficient to carry on the work, and the build- ing was not erected until Mr. Mcveigh was re- turned to the legislature, in 1881. He brought the subject up again, and the legislature made a suffi- cient appropriation to complete the work. This magnificent structure was opened for the reception of patients in 1882, and the very first article to be placed in the parlor of the asylum was a life-size oil painting of Mr. Mcveigh, placed there by the board of trustees in acknowledgment of his earnest and successful efforts in behalf of the insane of the State. Mr. Mcveigh took a very active interest in the legislature of 1873, always aiming to advance the real interests of the State. He made an effective speech against Brooks' peti- tion to contest the right of Gov. Baxter to hold the office of governor. His speech against the metropolitan police bill, against the so-called civil rights bill and other extreme and revolu- tionary measures, introduced at this session, were highly commended by all parties at that time. Upon the adjournment of the legislature Mr. Mc- Veigh was appointed prosecuting attorney for the Eleventh judicial circuit, composed of Poinsett, Cross, St. Francis, Crittenden and Mississippi Counties. He held this position for nearly two years, or until the adoption of the present State constitution, and to the entire satisfaction of the good people of the circuit. He continued to prac-

tice law with increasing success until the year 1880, when he was again urged to become a candidate for representative. He was elected by a large plurality, and served through the session of ISS1.

He was an active member of the House, and during the session induced the legislature to adopt the law limiting the right to donate the public lands to actual settlers. The measure was advocated while making his canvass before the electors of Mississippi County. On the 4th of July, 1881, by invitation, he addressed an audience of over 6,000 people at Ozark, Ark., on the subject of Local Option. In 1883 he was appointed by the governor as one of the board of visitors to the State University and there, by invitation of the students of the institu- tion, he delivered the commencement oration. His subject was "The Responsibility of Freemen." The governor of the State, the president, Gen. D. H. Hill, the faculty of the university, senators and representatives in Congress, judges and distin- guished men from different parts of the State were present, besides the students and citizens living in the vicinity. The address was highly commended both by the press and by all present. On Septem- ber 24, 1883, Mr. Mcveigh was proposed and elected a member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, an honor unsought and unexpected by him. He is also a member of the Arkansas Historical Society. He has written the "Primitive History of Arkansas " during the French and Spanish oc- cupation; giving an account of the settlement in the State for the last century, beginning with Henry De Tonti's settlement at Arkansas Post, in 1685. The work is in manuscript and was under- taken merely to preserve the early history of the State, and not from a desire for literary distinction. He has given a full account of the invasion of the country by De Soto, his line of march, and has taken great pains to identify the localities men- tioned by the historians who accompanied that expedition. Except the time Mr. Me Veigh served in the legislature, he has been engaged exclusively in the practice of law, and no man in Eastern Ar- kansas has been more assiduous in his devotion to the duties of his profession. His business has al- ways been very good, and he has made it the aim

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of his life to deserve the implicit confidence of was complimented by being re-elected to the same position in 1886. At the expiration of this term his clients. Had Mr. Mcveigh's lot been cast in a more central or thickly settled county, his ora- he declined to be re-nominated, and has since torieal powers and literary attainments must have been engaged in the real estate business. The firm does a general business, buying and selling land, and investing capital in landed property. These gentlemen are using every inducement, and are doing all they can to advertise the advantages of investment in this section. Mr. Mcveigh takes an active interest in all things that will contribute to the advancement of the county, and is a liberal supporter of all worthy enterprises. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, Osceola Lodge No. 27, Osceola Chapter No. 57, and Memphis (Tenn). Commandery No. 4. placed him in the prominent ranks of noted men; as it is, he is earnestly working in the practice of his profession and only ambitious for the good-will of his fellow-men. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Mc Veigh were born nine children: Frances, the eldest daughter, married, June 25, 1889, the Rev. G. H. Smith, of Independence County, Ark., a talented young minister of the Methodist denom- ination; Elliot, Jesse, Anna Bland, Agnes, Rose, and Susan, are the ones now living; and those de- ceased are Sallie, at the age of four years, and Mary, who died at the age of fourteen. The fam- ily are members of the Episcopal Church.

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Hugh R. Mcveigh, of the firm of H. R. & E. F. Mcveigh, real estate agents of Osceola, Missis- sippi County, Ark., was born in Hannibal, Mo., in 1854, and is one of the responsible men of Os- ceola, who has enlisted his service in the incessant activity of the real estate market and the magni- tude of that enterprise in this city. He is the ninth in a family of ten children born to Hiram and Mary E. (White) MeVeigh, both of whom were natives of Virginia. The father followed commercial pursuits in Virginia until about 1850, when he moved to Hannibal, and was there en- gaged in business until his death, which occurred in 1865. Mrs. McVeigh is still living and resides in her native State. Hugh R. Mcveigh attended the private schools in Missouri until thirteen years of age, and then moved with his mother to Balti- more, Md., where he was employed as errand boy in a store for three years. In 1869 Mr. Mcveigh went to Philadelphia, where he was engaged as stock keeper for Morgan Bush & Co., and there remained until in May, 1874, when he came to Osceola, Ark. He there studied law with his brother, Hon. H. M. Mcveigh, and was admit- ted to the bar in 1879. On June 21, 1876, he was appointed deputy clerk, of the Mississippi County circuit court, which position he held un- til October 30, 1884. On September 6, of the same year, he was elected circuit court clerk, and

Elliot Fletcher MeVeigh, a member of the real estate firm of H. R. & E. F. Mcveigh, is a young man whose energy and sense mark him as an effi- cient factor in the consummation of the firm's many enterprises. He was born in Mississippi County, Ark., in 1867, and is the second in a family of nine children born to H. M. and Susan (Fletcher) Mcveigh [see sketch of Hon. H. M. Mcveigh]. Elliot Me Veigh secured a good practical education in the public schools of Osceola, and when sixteen years of age he engaged as clerk with N. L. Avery & Co., with whom he continued for three years. He then went to St. Louis, but only remained there a short time. On January 1, 1886, he was appointed by County Clerk Mcveigh as deputy, and upon the accession of Mr. Driver to the office of county clerk, Elliot McVeigh was retained, and he is now engaged in that office. Nowhere in the county is there to be found a young man of more energy or determined will or force of character than Mr. Mcveigh; and in no locality is there any one who is more worthy the esteem and con- fidence of the community than he. He possesses marked artistic ability, inherited from a long line of ancestors. many of whose descendants are noted artists, and in Mississippi County, which is noted for its self-made men, Mr. MeVeigh gives every promise of rising to distinction.

Daniel Mann is a native-born resident of Mis- sissippi County, Ark., and as such is looked upon with respect and esteem by those who know who

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and what he is. His birth occurred in 1853, he being one of a large family of children born to William W. and Nancy Mann, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Arkansas. William Mann spent his youth and early manhood on his old home farm in his native State, coming in 1848 to Arkansas, and settling on Clear Lake, in Mis- sissippi County, where he entered and purchased a tract of land embracing 600 acres. He improved this farm in a great measure, but, in addition to following the plow, was engaged in blacksmithing and tanning, giving these occupations his whole attention after Daniel was large enough to attend to the farm, which enterprises proved a decided success. He died in February, 1882. Daniel Mann was married, at the age of twenty-one years, to Miss Sarah Carter, a Tennesseean by birth, and afterward began residing on a portion of his father's farm, becoming the possessor of 160 acres in 1879, thirty of which he has cleared. Upon the death of his father the old homestead was di- vided, and sixty-four acres of wild land fell to Dan- iel. On this property he has built a good house, and has about ten acres under the plow. In the fall of 1887 he took a trip to Illinois, and bought a pair of full-blooded Poland-China hogs, the only ones in the township, and intends soon to purchase a thorough-bred Durham animal, being interested in improving the stock of the county. His leisure moments are devoted to hunting and fishing, and he has won quite a reputation as a bear-hunter, having killed large numbers of them. During the hunting season bis house is the resort of hunting parties from Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, ; who always have good sport, and bag plenty of game when Mr. Mann is the leader. He is a pa- tron of education, believes in elevating the stand- ard of the schools in Mississippi County, and is now serving as school director. He and, wife have become the parents of seven children, those living being Martha Agnes, William W .. Lula F. and J. Hugh. Those deceased are William I., and two who died unnamed.

S. M. Marks. Nowhere within the limits of Mississippi County, Ark., can there be found a man who takes greater interest in its agricultural and

stock affairs than Mr. Marks, or who strives more continually to promote and advance these interests. Like so many native-born Kentuckians, he has been energetic and enterprising, and since 1879 has been the owner of a good farm of 160 acres in Chickasawba Township, which was at the time of his purchase heavily covered with timber. He has opened up about thirty acres, has erected substan- tial buildings on his place, and for some time has been interested in the propagation of stock, having in his possession a fine young horse of Highland and Cleveland Bay stock. His land yields a bale of cotton to the acre, and sixty bushels of corn. He was born in 1846, being the third in a family of seven children born to Samuel and Sarah (Keesee) Marks, who were also Kentuckians. During his infancy his parents moved to Missouri, where the father died a few years later; and from the time he was able to work until 1861 he assisted in the support of his mother and a sister. In the fall of that year he enlisted in Company G, Sixth Illinois Cavalry, and was in the Second Brigade, Fifth Division of the Fourth Army Corps of the Depart- ment of the Cumberland. and took an active part in the engagements at Port Hnd-on. Nashville and Franklin, and in a number of campaigns and minor engagements. He was mustered out of service at Selma, Ala., November 5, 1865, and received his discharge at Springfield, Ill. The three following years he was engaged in farming in the vicinity of the latter city, and up to 1874 was employed in tilling rented land. At that date he came to Ar- kansas and made a crop on Carson's Lake, but then returned to Illinois, and for two years was engaged in following various occupations. Since that time he has resided in Mississippi County. Ark., where he was married, in 1879, to Mrs. Amelia Ellen Lawrence, nee Bowen. a daughter of John M. C. Bowen. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. and Mr. Marks is a member of Chickasawba Lodge No. 134, of the F. & A. M.

Capt. Daniel Matthews (deceased). From among the many estimable citizens of Mississippi County who have passed to their long home, but who, from an early day, were intimately and prom- inently associated with the county's development.

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the name of Capt. Matthews can not be omitted. Of Pennsylvania nativity. he was born in Hunting- don County in the year 1814, and about 1835 came fo Arkansas, and lived for some time at what is now known as Milliken's. Subsequently he ran a boat from Cincinnati to New Orleans, which call- ing he continued to pursue until 1850, engaging at that time in the mercantile trade in Osceola. Ark., at which place he conducted a store until his death, in 1884. . He was one of the best-known men that ever ran on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and throughout Mississippi County, Ark., his name was synonymous with integrity, industry, and perseverance. For two years he was engaged in business in New Madrid, Mo., investing money in that place to the amount of $25,000, but met with heavy losses, and became involved to the ex- tent of $7,000. He left that town with only $15 in his pocket, and went to New Orleans, where, through the kindness of friends, he was again started in business, and had paid all his debts and also had his goods paid for at the end of a few years. In 1849 he was married to Miss Mary Young, a daughter of Andy and Elizabeth Young, and located at Osceola, in Mississippi County, where they became the parents of three children: T. A., Mollie C. and Beulah, Mollie C. being the wife of H. D. Tomlinson, of Osceola. and the mother of two children. Beulah is married to O. B. Ferguson, of Ripley, Tenn., and is the mother of one child. Mr. Matthews was in business at Osceola for thirty-four years, and during this time accumulated a property valued at $75,000. No one unacquainted with him can realize what a ben- efit his life was to this county, or what an influence he exerted upon all those around him. His efforts in behalf of the poor and oppressed, without re- gard to race or color, will long be remembered, and his methodical business, coupled with strict integrity, may well be emulated by the rising gen- eration. After his death, which occurred on the 2d of May, 1884, his body was taken in charge by the Masons, of which he had long been a member, and was buried by that order in Elmwood Ceme- tery, at Memphis. Tenn. His son. T. A. Matthews, was educated in the Christian Brothers' Institute.

at St. Louis. Mo., from which institution he was graduated in 1868. Capt. Daniel Matthews, dur- ing his life, had but one serious accident, and that back in the 80's. in an eastern railroad collision.

near Harrisburg, his native State, where he lost a leg, afterward making his way through life with a cork leg. Mostly through his exertions the St. Matthew's Catholic Church at Osceola was built. This is a very fair frame structure for a town of such proportions as this. One of his relatives was living at Johnstown, which was lately destroyed by the great Pennsylvania flood.

M. B. Maxwell. Although this gentleman has been a resident of Mississippi County. Ark .. only for a short period, he has been an important factor in the growth and prosperity of the same since 1878, and has been identified with all worthy en- terprises. He was born in the State of Tennessee. in 1855, and was engaged in raising cotton in Tip- ton County of that State until the above mentioned date, at which time he came to Mississippi County. Ark., and first rented a plantation, putting in a crop of cotton, amounting to about forty acres in all. He now has 260 acres of land which he rents. 200 acres being in cotton and the rest in corn, and the most of the land he has opened up himself. He employs about twenty-five hands to attend to the crop, and by economy and close adherence to his occupation he has become possessed of consid- erable means. Miss Mollie Freezer became his wife in 1877, she being a daughter of Peter and Rebecca Freezer, who were born in Tipton County. She died in 1885, leaving two children, Lurenda and Lena. His present wife was Miss Emily Bringle, of Mississippi County, a native of Tennes- see, her parents, John and Sarah Bringle. being also natives of that State.

L. A. Morris, the subject of the portrait ap- pearing on another page of this volume, and the head of the mercantile firm of L. A. Morris & Co .. general merchants at Osceola, Ark., can justly be recorded among the self-made men of Mississippi County. No one is more justly entitled to an enviable place in the history of Mississippi County than he, for, though young in years, he has been usefully and honorably identified with the interests

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

of this county, and with its advancement in every worthy particular. Mr. Morris owes his nativity to Alabama, where he was born in 1855, and is the second in a family of six children born to the Rev. F. C. and Sallie A. (McFeat) Morris. The par- ents were respectively from Alabama and South Carolina, were married in South Carolina, but soon afterward moved to Alabama, where they remained a short time, thence came to Osceola, in 1857. The father preached throughout Mis- sissippi County and West Tennessee for many years, and was a man remarkable for his Christian purity and benevolence and high sense of honor. He died in 1876. The mother had died of cholera in 1866. L. A. Morris spent his youth in Osceola, attending private schools mostly, and in 1872 he began clerking in the store of Capt. D. Matthews, where he continued for seven years. He then went to Pecan Point and clerked for R. W. Friend for eighteen months, at which time he became a partner in the business under the firm title of Friend & Morris. In December, 1883, he bought a tract of 1,000 acres, well improved, with 200 acres under cultivation, and a store that had been established several years at Plum Point, Tenn. He soon withdrew from the firm of Friend & Mor- ris to conduct his large interests at the above men- tioned place, where he continued in business until January. 1889, when he leased his farm, and sold stock, etc., in the store to Johnson Bros., who are conducting it now. Mr. Morris was postmaster at Plum Point for a number of years, and filled that position creditably and well. On the subject's large farm there are 300 acres under cultivation, 100 of which were opened by himself. He erected a fine residence at a cost of $2,000, also put up a cotton-gin, out-buildings, and a number of cabins, etc. Since buying the estate the Government has built a levee, and is at present engaged in revet- ing the bank along the river front, which improves his place to a great extent. On October 1, 1887, Mr. Morris opened a branch store at Osceola, and since closing at Plum Point, he has centered his whole attention at the Osceola store, which is con- ducted in partnership with F. R. Lanier, Jr. He has an extensive stock of general merchandise,

and does a commission business, also, of buying cotton and all farm produce. To Mr. Morris' marriage have been born three children: Carrie E. : Maggie May, who died at the age of three years, and Plumie E. Mr. Morris is a member of the A. O. U. W. Lodge, Osceola. Though still a young man, Mr. Morris' business capacities, and extensive experience with the resources of this county, have enabled him to take a foremost place in its affairs; while his pleasing, social qualities and gentlemanly manners make him a pleasant companion and friend.

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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 9

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