USA > Arkansas > Biographical and historical memoirs of western 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 mentioned, and numerous biographical sketches of the citizens of such counties > Part 65
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392
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
W. Perkins, John Rawlings, James R. Baxter; in the Waldron vicinity-Joy Estep, David Jones, Silas Pinion, Milton Larimore, William Price and brother, Jasper Foster, Newton Foster and others on Black Fork; along the Fourche La Fave- John Kilburn, James Kilburn, John Stewart, Robert Richmond, Luke Harrison, Benton Jones, William Jones, L. D. Gilbreath, Bailey Allen, Bev- erly Allen, Michael Wilson, James Gibson, Richard Burriss, James F. Gaines, G. G. Gaines, Thomas Gaines, James Caviness, John Caviness, James Henson, Marion Henson, Lewis Henson, the Daileys, Thomas Gist, Neil Gist, Peter Whisenhunt, James Whisenhunt, James P. Blancett, John Caughran, Lewis Caughran; long the Petit Jean-James Sor- rells, S. B. Sorrells, Dr. Warren Sorrells, Dr. Roys- ton Sorrells, Stephen Graves, Thomas Graves, Mi- chael Awalt, Thomas Baxter, Shadrach Chitwood, J. J. Tomlinson, Wiley A. Tomlinson (formerly spelled Tumlinson), James Graves, Dr. E. T. Walker, Andrew J. Tomlinson, Samnel S. French, Elisha Williams, John, Thomas and Barry Hunt, William Henley, George W. Rupe, the Cantrells, Gen. Taylor, Allen Sorrells, W. W. Sorrells, Mckinney Curry, Al- fred Bethel, Samuel Duncan, William Duncan, R. P. Claiborn, the Witt family, George Abbott, C. C. Lewis, John E. Carnett, George Barnard. All of these were early residents of the county. Some were the heads of families who came here, others the sons of pioneers. Their names have been given by Dr. Smith (the oldest physician in the county) and other old citizens. It is not attempted to supply all initials. The aim has been, rather, to mention these pioneer citizens in such a familiar way as to recall those who have passed away to the memory of all of the living who once knew them. In view of the fact that the earlier county records are no longer in existence, the compiler feels like congratulating his readers that his earnest efforts have been so well recorded and rewarded.
Those of the present rising generation who are accustomed to excellent school advantages of to- day can hardly realize the meagerness of such op- portunities in their fathers' boyhood. Even read- ing, writing and the merest rudiments of arithmetic were considered a luxury that the poor could not
possess. So it was that many otherwise intelligent men and women grew up unable to read and write. The simply well-to-do people secured an itinerant teacher to stop in the neighborhood and hold a subscription school at some one's house for a short time. There were probably few of these before about 1840. It was in this manner that the earliest teachers began who taught in various parts of this region. This kind of schooling continued down until about the time when the public-school system was introduced. One has but to glance at these figures, giving the number of teachers employed in the State of Arkansas in successive years, to gain a fair idea of the growth of popular education in any part of the State: In 1869 there were 1,335; in 1870, 2,302; in 1871, 2,128; in 1872, 2,035; in 1873, 1,481; in 1874-75, no reports; in 1876, 461; in 1877-78, no reports; in 1879, 1,458; in 1880, 1,872; in 1881, 2,169; in 1882, 2,501; in 1883, 2,462; in 1884, 2,899; in 1885, 3,582; in 1836, 3,691; in 1887, 4,167; in 18SS, 4,664. It will readily be seen that the greatest care and activity have been shown in the years of the present dec- ade, and the most firm and permanent improve- ment in the last few years. Academies did not take permanent root here as they did in older and wealthier counties, and the need of education felt by fathers and mothers, who had grown up with- out much of any themselves, made them better prepared to receive the new system favorably than many counties that had been well supplied with advanced private schools. The progress of the public schools in the county has been constant, especially during the present decade, and has been proportionately equal to other parts of the State. The following statistics from the report of the State superintendent of public instruction for the year ending June 30, 1888, will tend to show in part how the public schools of the county are prosper- ing: Statement of the public school fund of Scott County-Amount received: Balance on hand June 30, 1887, $2,345.26; from common school fund (State), $3,950.45; poll tax, $1,857.07; total, $8,- 152.78. Amount expended: For teachers' salaries, $6,093; buildings and repairing, $500; purchasing apparatus, etc., $100; treasurer's commissions,
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SCOTT COUNTY.
$116.15; other purposes, $25; total, $6,834.15. Balance in county treasury unexpended: Of com- mon school fund, $1,173.71; district fund, $144.92; total, $1,318.63. Summary of county examiner's report: Enumeration, white, 4,890; colored, 16; total, 4,906. Enrollment, white, 2,523; colored, none; total, 2,523. Number of districts, 75; num- ber of districts reporting enrollment, 52; number of districts voting tax, 19; number of teachers em- ployed, 47; number of school-houses, 36; value of school-houses, $4,875; number of institutes held, 1; number of teachers attending, 48. One of the best literary schools in the State is located at Waldron. The main building of the house is 34x70 feet, two stories, with vestibules. There is a wing forty feet in length on the east side of the building, which is also two stories, making four large rooms. The building is new and well fur- nished throughout, is well seated and has modern fixtures and apparatus. Messrs. Henderson and Goddard, the principals of the school, are trained and thorough educators. Many students come from remote parts of this county and from adjoin- ing counties, and there is no reason to doubt that the school will grow and prosper as it has never done before, for every facility is offered here that can be obtained elsewhere for giving children either a primary or an advanced course. Board can be obtained at low rates, and the morals of the town are of an exceptional character. At Cauthron is an efficient school known as the Cauthron High School. This institution has about 200 pupils, and stands high in public esteem. Gipsonville, Boles and Park also have good schools. The following reference to early schools in Scott County is ex- tracted from a modern newspaper: "No colleges, adorned the country then, and educational facilities were meager. The young fellow who had a desire to obtain an education attended school two or three months in the winter, not unfrequently walking, morning and evening, two or three miles for that privilege. The accommodations then were not so good as now. Instead of the elaborate furniture of the present day, the boy of twenty and thirty years ago was compelled to sit on the slick side of an unusually hard bench made of a slab or fence-
rail and placed at an uncomfortable distance from the dirt-and-stick fireplace, which, with its pro- digious jambs, yawned like the cavern of the in- fernal region; while in the corner near the teach- er's desk stood the birch as straight and long as the moral law, and woe betide the youth who would dare to intrude upon the rules of the school. This mode of teaching was good enough in its time. Better and more efficient means have been adopted." .H. N. Smith is county examiner of public schools.
The church and the school have gone hand in hand here as elsewhere. Early religious meetings were held by traveling preachers in the log cabins of the pioneers, and from an early day, in many localities, the same building has accommodated the school during the week, and the church peo- ple of the district on Sunday. At this time houses of worship are to be found in all parts of the county, and nearly all religious denominations com- mon to this part of the country are represented. In some parts of the county, notably in Waldron, are expensive and sightly churches, which are be- ing improved and beautified with each passing year. Church membership is increasing, and pop- ular interest in Sunday-school work is extending. As the church membership gains in education, numerical strength and material wealth, its de- mands on the pastors are more exacting. This is evidenced in the wider learning and greater ability of the preachers of to-day than were attainable in the clergy of an early period. The church has done its share in the grand work of development and enlightenment, and it is coming to be sup- ported with a popular liberality.
There are in this county post offices named as follows: Barber, Belva, Black Fork, Blansett, Blue Ball, Boles, Boothe, Brawley, Buck, Knob, Cauthron. Cedar Creek, Crow, Echo, Farmer, Fuller, Gate, Gip- son, Green Ridge, Nebraska, Olio, Parks, Poteau, Tomlinson, Waldron, Winfield and Zelkirk. Being an exclusively agricultural region, the sales mar- ket of which was at Fort Smith, distant forty-eight miles, the county is notably without its proportion of cross-road towns and villages, characteristic of .our American country in general. Instead, the ex
394
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
ception is in its favor that wherever the aggrega- tion of population admitted such a step, rather than country grocery store, and evidence of a former groggery, it is apparent that the interest has con- centrated upon well-built school-houses. And, therefore, it is to be discovered, notwithstanding the remoteness of the county, that in general the morals and understanding of its young people have been trained to excellent standards. This is true of Cauthron, Gipsonville, Boles and Park, which, without their fine schools, would only have a postal name .- Cauthron is situated in the Poteau Valley, west and a little north of Waldron. In addition to several stores, a saw-mill. a blacksmith shop and a woodworking shop, it is the seat of the Cauth- ron High School, elsewhere referred to. Tomlin- son is situated in the Petit Jean Valley, near the celebrated mountain pass of that name. Boles is situated in the Fourche Valley on the line of the proposed Missouri Pacific extension from Fort Smith to Gurdon. Park is situated in the Fourche Valley, on the line of both the Texarkana and Northern, and the proposed 'Frisco extension through the Fourche Valley to Little Rock. Gip- sonville is in the Poteau Valley, near the line of the Indian Territory. The other post-offices men- tioned are located conveniently for residents of va- rious parts of the county, but none of them are trade centers of importance, except Waldron, the seat of justice. To its excellent school facilities Waldron adds the prestige of a good country trade, maintained against the great disadvantage of long distance from markets. It is situated on the south bank of the Poteau, at a point commanding the resources of the whole valley, and at the same time commanding every feasible entrance through the mountain boundaries of the county, and is una- voidably in the line of the Missouri Pacific and Texarkana & Fort Smith extensions through this county, the preliminary survey of both having been made to this place, and considerable prepa- ratory construction work having been done on one of them. In the midst of a fine agricultural dis- trict, commanding trade from a long distance in all directions, the town is substantially built, the busi- ness portion being of handsome brick blocks. Of
the numerous stores not a stock of merchandise is carried in a frame building, and really there are no frame business houses in the central portion of the town. The residence portion is fairly well built. Quite a number of pleasant and cozy homes adorn the town, while a good two-story school build- ing and new church buildings add largely to its appearance of thrift and enterprise. Located 20 miles east of the line of the Indian Territory, 50 miles southeast of Fort Smith, 140 miles west of Little Rock, 95 miles northwest of Hot Springs and 150 miles north of Texarkana, in the midst of the Fourche La Fave, Petit Jean and Poteau Val- ley, the town is admirably well situated for rail- . road facilities, and will doubtless become a rail- road center of no small magnitude, with two great systems-the 'Frisco and the Missouri Pacific- pointing this way, one or both of them likely to build lines into the county at no distant day. Wal- dron was incorporated November 5, 1875. Its mayor is W. P. Forrester.
Away back, years prior to the " late unpleasant- ness," William G. Featherston, who had, even at that early date, acquired some ability as a real-es- tate speculator, proposed to the proper authorities that if they would remove the seat of justice from Winfield, and locate the court-house on his land and build a town, he would donate for that pur- pose ten acres. The proposition was accepted. Owning the balance of the land around the town, it soon became necessary for him to lay out some additions, and it was not long until the new county seat began to forge ahead; but Waldron never ad- vanced much in point of substantial improvements until the political troubles dating from about 1874 to 1879, arose. The town then consisted of wooden buildings, and most of the business houses were rough-box concerns, very unprepossessing in appearance, and almost worthless, save as tempo- rary shelters. Some nefarious individuals, and there were many of them here at that time, con- ceived the idea that they could get even with their adversaries by burning out the town, which they proceeded to do. What seemed to be a calamity. at the time, proved, in the end, to be a blessing. Enterprising merchants began to erect substantial
395
SCOTT COUNTY.
brick buildings, and the good work has been going on until now there are twenty of them, each from 20 to 30 feet wide and from 50 to 100 feet long, and most of them two stories high. There are numerous smaller buildings, such as are found in surrounding country towns. In point of good buildings and substantial growth, there is no town between Fort Smith and Texarkana that compares with Waldron. It is universally conceded that it has more solid business men than any other town in the State with the same number of merchants doing the same volume of business. The trade coming here during the past year is estimated at $350,000, and that amount may be taken as a low figure.
The population is about 800. The religious interests of the town are watched over by several religious denominations, most of which have good church buildings. The secret societies are repre- sented by the Masonic and I. O. O. F. orders and the G. A. R. The town and county can boast of two good newspapers. The general business interests comprise 8 general merchandise stores, 5 grocery stores, 3 drug stores, 2 millinery stores, 1 hard- ware store, 1 saddlery and harness shop, 1 shoe shop, 3 blacksmiths, 2 hotels, 2 livery stables, 2 grist-mills and cotton-gins, 1 planing-mill, 6 doc- tors and several real estate agencies. Real estate in Waldron is held at fair prices, business lots ranging at from $300 to $500, residence lots from $50 to $100.
The cotton shipment each year amounts to 8,000 or 10,000 bales, and with a railroad the amount would be more than doubled, while the shipment of stock, grain and lumber would in- crease the tonnage immeasurably. In the matter of merchandise, there is quite a quarter of a mill- ion of dollars worth of goods, at the present rate of cartage, brought to the town by its numerous merchants. The development of the coal and mineral deposits, and the opening up of the vast pineries and hardwood districts, and the location of saw-mills, offer more than usual inducements to railroad companies to build into Waldron's rich tributary country. Here all the social and finan- cial elements of successful and enlivening citi-
zenship find a common center and hearty sup- port. Surrounded by a fine farming and fruit- growing region, with a belt of timber on the south of great commercial value, and located in one of the best coal regions known to the South, Waldron possesses in a large degree those elements of pros- perity which attract capital and manufacturing and commercial industry. Aside from the prom- ises that have risen in the probability of the town's becoming an important railroad junction, and with its timber resources the site of mills and wagon factories, it is to be seen that the place is not to remain stationary once the railroad passes the bar- rier of Poteau Mountain. The men who are here have the will, energy and money to give their town and county an upward impetus, and if in a year's time after the introduction of railroad com- munication, Waldron is not one of the best known and wide-awake towns in the State, it will have followed from nothing left undone, wherein good business sense and well directed energy can pre- vail.
As has been intimated, there are as yet no rail- roads in the county, but the Jenson and Mansfield branch of the 'Frisco department of the Santa Fe system, reaches to Mansfield, in Sebastian County, near the Scott County line, and there is daily stage connection between Mansfield and Waldron. An extension of this line is projected from Mans- field to Little Rock, via Waldron. The line of the proposed Choctaw Railroad (now called the "Kali Ali") is surveyed along the entire length of the county from east to west, partially through the Fourche La Fave Valley. This railroad, now under construction from McAllister, Ind. T.,to Little Rock via Waldron, has been completed and is in operation to a point forty miles west of the latter place. The Missouri Pacific Company has a line in operation from Fort Smith to Greenwood, in Sebastian County, a few miles north of the Scott County boundary. The aim is to extend this road via Tomlinson, Waldron and Buck Knob to Gur- don, in Clark County, there to form a connection with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad and lines south from that point which are built or to be built, and considerable work has
396
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
been done on the road-bed. Other railway projects not so well defined as these are talked of, and it would seem that the time is not far in the future when Scott County will be traversed by a sufficient number of railways to fully develop its resources, and Waldron will be a railroad center of no mean importance, while other thriving towns will grow up within the county limits.
The oldest paper in Scott County is the Wal- dron Reporter, edited and published by M. M. Beavers, who in his issue of October 3, 1890, gave the following account of the enterprise: "The Reporter closes its eleventh volume with this issue. It has been here eleven years and hopes to remain. The paper was established in 1879 by Mr. S. H. Farley, who continued with it as proprietor until November, 1883, when he disposed of his inter- est to the present proprietor and J. M. Harvey. Judge Harvey retired a few months afterward. The present management has had control for seven years past, and has been in precarious situations more than once. To offset these adverse condi- tions, however, the paper has at other times been prosperous. We have endeavored to assist in build- ing up the material prosperity of Scott County, and to advocate Democratic doctrine. Believ-
ing as we do that the bope of the country is the Democratic party, we shall continue to advocate its teachings, and to urge the people to vote for the men named by the party organizations for the dif- ferent offices. It is only through organized effort that good results can be accomplished in a political campaign. People who go outside of primaries and conventions to vote for officers are either knaves or imbeciles. The Reporter has made a good many friends during its career, and some enemies. Its friends, and particularly those who home over which the night did not cast shadows of pay up, will, we hope, have a pleasant journey through life, and a rich reward in heaven. Its enemies should. repent while they are still on pray- ing ground." The Reporter is a seven-column, four page sheet.
The Scott County Citizen was first issued Octo- ber 24, 1887, with P. C. Stone as editor and pro- prietor. It announced itself as Republican in pol- itics, and set forth some of its aims thus: "To co- ;
operate with the various interests of the people throughout the country by trying to develop the country's valuable resources by means of advocat- ing internal improvements and encouraging all branches of agricultural, commercial, manufactur- ing and other industrial pursuits, whereby our for- ests of most excellent timber, extensive coal beds, and the untold wealth of other resources which have so long lain dormant and unproductive among us, will be utilized and yield a large profit to the owners." September 28, 1888, A. G. Le- ming became editor, and Mr. Stone business man- ager of the Citizen. February 28, 1890, the paper was sold to M. Keener & Co., Mr. Leming retain- ing an interest and editorial charge. The Citizen is a four-column, eight-page paper. These jour- nals have done their part toward the work of gen- eral development. They are both well edited and exceptionally bright and able local newspapers. Previous attempts to establish papers in Scott County were not permanently successful.
The period of the Civil War is ofter referred to as "a time that tried men's souls." If it was trying to the people of the North and still more so to portions of the South remote from the scenes of conflict, it was still more intensely and peculiarly so to the people of the border States; and Arkan- sas, especially this part of Arkansas, was in such a state of anarchy and constant danger as was no other part of the country in which great battles were not fought; and even in such localities the cloudy trouble came, poured out its wrath and passed away, while here, during the four years of the war, and for years afterward, the sun did not rise on a household untroubled with apprehension as to what the day would bring forth, nor set upon a : vague and awful terror. To many, the period of "reconstruction" was more terrible than that of the actual war. It was not the wish of a majority of the voters of Scott County to disrupt the union of the States. The people at first voted against secession and sent Union delegates to represent them in the State convention held to consider Fed- eral relations. The history of the issue of those deliberations and of what followed is well known.
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SCOTT COUNTY.
Even later it was not so much a question of one portion of the nation against another, as of the de- fense of home and family, and the sacred claims of nativity and friendship. When the war was begun the people of Scott County, with few exceptions, naturally sympathized with the Southern cause, and a large percentage of the male population joined the Confederate Army, though it was as State troops that they, many of them, enlisted and saw their first service. There were, first and last, several companies raised in this county. The earliest in the field was that of captain, afterward known familiarly as Maj. George W. Featherston, which disbanded after the battle of Oak Hill, though Maj. Featherston was later in the service, as will be seen. Another of the Scott County commanders was Capt. William Gibson, later Maj. Gibson. No regular engagement between the contending forces took place within the county, but it was overrun to some extent by scouting parties, guerrillas and
marauders, and a considerable amount of property
was destroyed or carried away, and a few individ- uals were killed. In October, 1863, Maj. Feath- erston and Capt. Isaac Bagwell were in command of a small guard at Waldron, which was surprised and captured by a larger Federal force. Maj. Featherston was shot down, so seriously wounded as to keep him long thereafter under medical treat- ment. From that time until February, 1864, the Federals kept a garrison at Waldron, consisting in part at least, of portions of Col. James Johnson's First Arkansas Infantry, and of Col. Cloud's regi- ment, under command of Lieut .- Col. Owen A. Bas- sett. At times the post was commanded by Lieut .-
Col. Searl, of Johnson's regiment. The Fed- eral headquarters during most, if not all, of this period of occupation, was at the residence of Will-
iam G. Featherston. The Unionists abandoned the post at the date last mentioned, putting the torch to every house in town but the Featherston residence just referred to, and the residence of Dr.
Elijah Leming; and these two buildings thus spared were burned later by bushwhackers, on ac- count of the alleged Union sympathies of their own- ers. Near the close of the war, and after the ter-
ritory fell into the Union lines, some troops were
raised in it for the Federal Army. It is said that
some of these were deserters from the Confederate
Army, and some returned Union refugees. They,
for the most part, united with the Second Kansas
Arkansas Regiment, which was afterward merged Cavalry, the Sixth Iowa Infantry and the Fourth
county replied: "It was harder than the war." tion period, one old and honored citizen of the into the Second. When asked about the reconstruc-
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