Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 111

Author: Herndon, Dallas T. (Dallas Tabor), b. 1878
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago, Little Rock, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1172

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On the 29th of October, 1890, Mr. Langley was married to Miss Mattie Munn of Prescott, Arkansas, a daughter of Samuel D. and Terza (Norman) Munn. Her grand- father in the maternal line, Captain Norman, was a leader among the Confederate forces.

While Mr. Langley was engaged in teaching school he devoted the hours that are usually termed leisure to the study of law in the office of J. O. A. Bush of Prescott, Arkansas, and was subsequently admitted to the bar. He was licensed to practice on the 5th of June, 1905, at Prescott, Arkansas, and opened an office at Murfreesboro, Arkansas, remaining in practice at that place until he was appointed United States dis- trict attorney, for the western district of Arkansas. He was called to this position on the 21st of May, 1921, and entered office in Fort Smith, where he has remained. He is making an excellent record in this position and his appointment thereto was the result of the splendid qualities which he had displayed in the private practice of law.

To Mr. and Mrs. Langley have been born four children: Ethel, the deceased wife of W. E. Henderson, who at her death left one child, Fern; two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Langley died in infancy; the surviving son, Claude, is now in the employ of the Home Life & Accident Company of Fordyce, Arkansas, as assistant auditor. He mar- ried Anna Dickinson of Oklahoma.

Mr. Langley served as food administrator of his county (Pike) during the World war and was also chairman of the County Council of Defense and legal adviser to the exemption board. He is a member of the Christian church and throughout his life has displayed those sterling traits of character which mark him as a man among meu, worthy of all confidence. He is ever loyal to any duty that devolves upon him or any trust reposed in him and he has made for himself a most creditable position in legal circles of the state.

S. D. WEIL, M. D.

Dr. S. D. Well, physician and surgeon, practicing successfully in Hot Springs, was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, December 17, 1870. His parents were J. and Clara (Oberdorfer) Weil, the former a native of Bavaria, Germany, while the latter was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Both are deceased. For many years they made their home in Calhoun, Kentucky, where the father was prominent in mercantile circles and was also extensively engaged in farming.

Dr. Weil pursued his education in the Cecilia College in Hardin county, Kentucky, and in the Greenville College in Muhlenberg county, that state. Subsequently he became a student in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Phila- delphia, and later attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, Mary- land, where he was graduated in 1895 with the M. D. degree. Returning to Kentucky, he opened an office in Calhoun and there remained in practice until 1902, when he came to Hot Springs, where he has since followed his chosen calling, and he is today one of the widely known and prominent physicians of his adopted city. He belongs to the Garland County and Hot Springs Medical Societies, the Southern Medical Association and the American Medical Association.

In the year 1908 Dr. Weil was married to Miss Stella Fellheimer, a daughter of H. Fellheimer, a leading merchant of this city. They became parents of two children, James Henry and Samuel Donald, Jr. Mrs. Weil died January 7, 1918. Dr. Weil is a member of Beth Israel Lodge and belongs to the Jewish Temple, of which he has been president. He is a Mason, having membership in Vienna Lodge, No. 648, A. F. & A. M., of Calhoun, Kentucky; Alney McLean Chapter, No. 156, R. A. M .; Albert Pike Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R., of Little Rock; and Sahara Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He also belongs to Hot Springs Lodge, No. 380, B. P. O. E.,

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and his interest in the welfare and progress of the city is manifest in his membership connection with the Business Men's Leagne of Hot Springs. His aid and cooperation can always be counted upon to further plans and measures for the general good and in all that he does, professional or otherwise, he is actuated by a progressive spirit.

MILTON WINHAM.

Broad and varied have been the business interests which have claimed the atten- tion and profited by the cooperation of Milton Winham, a man of sound judgment, of keen discrimination and unfaltering enterprise, who in the careful conduct of his busi- ness affairs won substantial success, advancing step by step until his orderly progression brought him to a place in the front ranks among the prosperous residents of Texarkana and this section of the state.

Miller county, which numbers him among her native sons, has every reason to be proud of his record. He was born January 7, 1863, and was reared upon a farm not far from Texarkana. He acquired a common school education and when eighteen years of age started out to provide for his own support. Since that time he has heen depend- ent entirely upon his own resources and his commendable prosperity is the measure of his life of activity and usefulness. He began teaching school when nineteen years of age and followed the profession for three years during the summer months, while in the winter seasons he worked in the sawmills or attended school. He was hut nineteen years of age when he began operating a sawmill and while thus engaged Le also attended the College Hill School, being at that time a young man of twenty-two years. He after- ward entered the employ of the firm of E. W. Frost & Company, a large lumber concern, in the position of bookkeeper and general utility man. He was employed by that com- pany for five years, during which time he carefully saved his earnings until he had ac- cumulated one thousand dollars. With that sum he went to Jackson, Tennessee, where he entered the Southwestern Baptist University, now known as the Union University, and was graduated therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1893. While a student in the university he also taught school during the summer months and he fin- ished his university studies with a course in bookkeeping in July, 1893. He next was employed by the Red River Lumber Company in its office at Lewisville, Arkansas, filling the position of cashier and hookkeeper for this large concern. At the end of the year 1893 he purchased an interest in the business, although he had no capital to invest, but made arrangements for the payments on his stock. He afterward became secretary and treasurer of the Red River Lumber Company and he increased his holdings in the business from time to time as opportunity offered. In 1899 he was advanced to the position of manager of the company and so continued until 1910, when active opera- tions ceased, but he is still the active director of the company's business. In the intervening years, however, he had become one of the large stockholders in the Frost- Johnson Lumber Company of St. Louis, Missouri, which owns numerous sawmills and thousands of acres of land. He still retains his financial connection with this company but is not an active factor in its control. As the years have passed his business con- nections have constantly broadened in scope and importance and he is a well known figure in banking and commercial circles. He is now a director of the Merchants & Planters Bank of Texarkana, is also a stockholder in the State National Bank of the same city and a stockholder in the First National Bank of Ashdown, Arkansas, likewise in the State National Bank of Fouke, Arkansas, is president of the Doddridge State Bank at Doddridge, Arkansas. He is a stockholder and director in the Farmers Oil & Fertilizer Company of Texarkana, is a stockholder in the Liberty Cotton Oil Company and was a director and the president of the Camden Cotton Oil Company but sold his interest in that business in 1915. He is a stockholder and one of the four second presi- dents of the Doyle & Kidd Dry Goods Company of Little Rock; is a director and one of the large stockholders in the Kidd-Bossinger Hardware Company of Little Rock and has other business connections which indicate the wisdom of his investments and the soundness of his judgment in all business matters.

In 1894 Mr. Winham was united in marriage to Miss Hortense O'Connor of Jackson, Tennessee, and they have become parents of three children: Hortense, who is now the wife of Clifford Patterson; Annie L., who is attending Ouachita College; and Helen, a high school pupil. The family occupies a beautiful residence at 1023 Pecan street and in addition to this property Mr. Winham also has extensive farming interests in the Red River valley, giving his personal supervision thereto and to a store at Dodd- ridge, Arkansas.

Fraternally Mr. Winham is a Mason, having been initiated into the order in 1895. He was made a Royal Arch Mason in 1898 and also a Knight Templar in the same year.

MILTON WINHAM

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He served as master of his lodge for a number of years and has been high priest of Texarkana Chapter, R. A. M., and eminent commander of Coeur de Leon Commandery No. 6, K. T., of Texarkana. He was elected a trustee of the Masonic Orphans' Home by the Grand Lodge of Masons in 1915 and is serving as secretary of the board, having been elected to that position by his brethren of the board. He was also elected without opposition to the office of grand senior deacon in the Grand Lodge of Arkansas in 1914. He has filled all the positions along the line of advancement in the Grand Lodge, elected on each occasion without opposition. In the session of 1917 he was elected grand master of the Grand Lodge and held the office during the World war period, when the organization rendered most effective service to the government in many ways. Mr. Winham was called to Washington, D. C., for private conference with Secretary of Treasury McAdoo, who accorded him a private interview, following which Secretary McAdoo took him to see President Wilson, who received him most cordially. He was one of the Arkansas commissioners to the Panama Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in 1914. Mr. Winham has long been a prominent factor in church work. He is a deacon of the Beech Street Baptist church of Texarkana and one of the trustees of the church property. He is also chairman of the board of finance and for the past twelve years has been teacher of the Business Men's Bible Class. While his commercial, industrial and financial activities have made heavy demand upon his time and attention, he has always found opportunity for the higher, holier duties of life, and his labors have been a very potent force in bringing about the material, intellectual, social and moral prog- ress of the community and the state.

W. J. D. MCCARTER.

W. J. D. McCarter has been connected with financial interests from the age of fif- teen and is now serving as cashier and manager of the First National Bank of Siloam Springs. With keen insight into business affairs and situations and a thorough under- standing of every phase of banking, he is well qualified for the duties which devolve upon him in this connection and he is regarded as one of the able financiers of Benton county. He is also vice president and treasurer of the Benton County Hardware Com- pany and is preeminently a business man whose record is written in terms of success.

Mr. McCarter was born in Chipley, Harris county, Georgia, August 24, 1878, a son of Richard M. and Lula (Dunman) McCarter, who were also natives of Harris county. In 1885 they came to Arkansas, settling in Faulkner county, where the father purchased a section of land, erecting thereon a gin and mill. He continued a resident of that locality until 1893, when he went to Little Rock and there lived retired until his demise, which occurred shortly afterward. Subsequently the mother married B. F. Mason and she is now making her home at Jacksonville, Arkansas. Richard M. McCarter was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and his political allegiance was given to the democratic party. During the Civil war he served for four years as a Confederate soldier and was captured and held as a prisoner for some time. Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. McCarter became the parents of three children: W. J. D., of this review; Elaine, who married Archie V. Brigham, now city clerk and treasurer of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin; and Marvin, the wife of A. C. Jennings, a prominent druggist of Hot Springs, Arkansas. The paternal grandfather, William McCarter, was born in South Carolina and in an early day removed to Georgia. He became a successful planter of that state and was more than ninety-eight years of age at the time of his demise. The maternal grand- father, Joseph Dunman, was also a pioneer of Georgia and previous to the Civil war was rated as a wealthy man, owning one thousand negroes.

In the country schools near Conway, Arkansas, Mr. McCarter acquired his educa- tion and when fifteen years of age made his entry into financial circles as an employe of the First National Bank of Little Rock. He next became connected with the Arkansas National Bank at Hot Springs, with which he remained for ten years, acting as book- keeper, teller and assistant cashier at the time of his resignation. Going to St. Louis, Missouri, he accepted the position of assistant secretary with the St. Louis Union Trust Company, also serving as assistant cashier of the bank, and for fifteen years was with that corporation. In 1919 he went to Kansas City, Missouri, where he became one of the organizers of the Continental National Bank, but disposed of his stock in that in- stitution in February, 1921, and came to Arkansas, purchasing an interest in the First National Bank of Siloam Springs, of which he has since been cashier and manager. The complex problems of banking are thoroughly familiar to him and he manifests sound judgment in extending the credit of the bank and in all things tempers aggres- siveness with a safe conservatism. He is also vice president and treasurer of the

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Benton County Hardware Company and a dominant figure in business circles of Siloam Springs.

In 1902 Mr. MeCarter was united in marriage to Miss Ethel Bird, a native of Springfield, Illinois. They are earnest and faithful members of the Episcopal church and Mr. McCarter is a democrat in his political views. He has devoted practically his entire life to the banking business and the fact that he has continued in the field which he first entered on starting out in life for himself is one reason for his gratifying suc- cess, for as the years have passed he has gained wide experience which makes him an authority in his line of work. His prominently marked characteristics are those which make for personal popularity, while in business circles he manifests the forcefulness, keen discrimination and ready understanding of involved interests which make him one of the chief factors in the promotion of banking institutions in this part of the state.

JOHN EDGAR HAWKINS.

Arkansas numbers among her native sons John Edgar Hawkins, who has been practicing law in Magnolia, Columbia county, since 1898. He was born at Mount Holly, on the 19th of September, 1869, a son of H. T. and Angusta (Patterson) Hawkins. The father's family were for many generations natives of the state of Georgia and Mr. Hawkins came to Arkansas in 1850. He located at Mount Holly and was one of the early settlers at that point. For the greater part of his life he followed agricultural pursuits and was prominent in political affairs, having been a member of the state legis- lature for some twenty-five years. He likewise served two sessions in the state senate. His demise occurred in Mount Holly in 1903. Mrs. Hawkins was also a native of Geor- gia, her ancestors having emigrated from North Carolina to that state in an early day. Her marriage to Mr. Hawkins was celebrated at Mount Holly on the 26th of November, 1868, and they were the parents of six children, two boys and four girls, all of whom are living.

John Edgar Hawkins, the oldest member of the family, received his education in the public schools of Mount Holly and later attended Ouachita College at Arkadelphia, from which he was graduated with the class of 1896, receiving the B. S. degree. Decid- ing upon a legal career, he attended the law department of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Later he located in Magnolia, where he established offices for the prac- tice of his chosen profession and has resided here since. He has an extensive and important clientage and handles much important litigation before the courts. Mr. Hawkins also does some abstract work. In 1902 he was called to public office, being elected mayor of Magnolia, and he was active in that position of public trust in 1903, 1904, 1906 and 1907. In 1915 he was a member of the state legislature from Columbia county.

On the 2d of February, 1904, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hawkins to Miss Edna Meek, the ceremony being performed in El Dorado. Mrs. Hawkins was a resident of the place. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins, two children have been born: Minnie, sixteen years of age and a senior in the Magnolia high school, who intends to study music; and Henry, eleven years of age, who is a student in the grammar schools here.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Baptist church and Mr. Hawkins not only serves as deacon but has been superintendent of the Sunday school for some time. He is likewise moderator of the Hope Association, a religious organization. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. During the years of his residence here Mr. Hawkins has been a dominant factor in the upbuilding of the community and he has won the sincere regard of his fellowmen. He has met with substantial success as a lawyer and occupies an enviable position among his professional brethren in the state.

PATRICK HENRY WHEAT.

Patrick Henry Wheat is a representative business man of Lonoke, whose activities as a merchant, as a landowner, as a promoter of the rice industry and as a banker has constituted a most valuable contributing factor in the npbuilding, development and progress of that section of the state. In connection with all business transactions with which he has been identified he has displayed notable sagacity and keen insight and has readily discriminated between the essential and the non-essential in all business affairs. A native son of Arkansas, he was born at De Valls Bluff, July 4, 1861, his

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parents being Patrick H. and Lavinia ( Walton) Wheat, the former a native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, while the latter was born in Richmond, Virginia, and was a daugh- ter of Thomas Walton, who, on leaving the Old Dominion, removed with his family to Mississippi. Patrick H. Wheat, Sr., served as a colonel of the Confederate army dur- ing the Civil war and at the end of that conflict became a steamboat captain, operating between New Orleans and Bitesville, Arkansas. At length he settled at De Valls Bluff, where the family home was maintained for many years.

Patrick Henry Wheat is the only survivor in a family of seven children. He pur- sued a high school education in Lonoke, having come to this city in 1872, when a lad of eleven years. Here, when his textbooks were put aside, he made his initial step in the business world and since that time has figured more and more prominently in con- nection with the activities which have constituted the foundation upon which rests the development and progress of the city. He purchased the furniture business of the firm of Bransford & Company and erected a building at the corner of Center and Rail- road street, which he occupied for years as a furniture store. He also erected another structure directly in the rear and in other ways he has contributed to the advancement and improvement of the city through the erection of buildings here. He organized and became the first president of the Lonoke rice mills, which gave a decided impetus to rice growing in this section. He remained an active factor in the furniture trade until 1919, when he sold his store to Berry & Read. He cultivates six hundred acres of farm land at Richwood, devoted to cotton raising and he is also the vice president of the Bank of Central, Arkansas. Thus his activities have been expanding from time to time, bringing him in touch with various lines of business which have constituted most potent elements in the growth and improvement of this section of the state.

Mr. Wheat was married to Miss Anna Eagle, a daughter of W. H. Eagle, and their children are seven in number: Lavinia, who attended Ouachita College and who is now the wife of Leo Hamberg: William E., who married Nina Crutcher; Thomas I, whe wedded Shirley Peak; Anna G .; Thomas Walton, who is a veteran of the World war, having served as an infantry sergeant; James Woodson, who was also in the army dur- ing the World war; and Marcus Edward, who is attending Hendrix College. Mr. Wheat and his family attend the Baptist church, in which the parents hold member- ship and he is also an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, having at- tained the thirty-third degree. He also belongs to the chapter, commandery and to the Mystic Shrine. Actuated by a most progressive spirit, he has never stopped short of the attainment of his objective in any liue of business and at no time has he been neglectful of his duties of citizenship, his cooperation being a forceful factor in ad- vancing the public welfare. He has likewise served as secretary of the school board for a number of years, the cause of education finding in him a stalwart champion.

JESSE P. RANDOLPH, M. D.

Dr. Jesse P. Randolph, engaged in the general practice of medicine in Hot Springs, was born in Dallas, Polk county, Arkansas, October 25, 1877, a son of Hilliard J. and Tramilza C. (Hudgins) Randolph, who are natives of Georgia, in which state they were reared and married. In 1870 they removed to Dallas, Arkansas, and they now make their home with their son, Jesse. The father was for many years active in the business life of the state as a merchant, continuing in Dallas until 1879, when he removed to Hot Springs, and for an extended period he was one of the four general merchants of this city. At that time the country was but sparsely settled and his trade came to him from a very wide territory, his patronage reaching out even into the Indian Territory. For the past twenty years, however, Hilliard J. Randolph has lived retired, enjoying a well earned rest.

Dr. Randolph was educated in the Hot Springs high school and subsequently spent three years as a student in the University of Arkansas, where he pursued a scientific course. In 1902 he entered the medical department of the St. Louis University, from which institution he received his M. D. degree as a member of the class of 1906. Opening an office in Hot Springs, he at once entered upon practice and still maintains his office at his original location. In the intervening fifteen years he has built up an extensive and lucrative practice and has won for himself a creditable position among the able physicians of the city. He helongs to the Garland County and Hot Springs Medical Societies, also to the Arkansas State Medical Association and is a member of the Southern Medical Association and the American Medical Association.

On the 14th of October, 1920, Dr. Randolph was married to Mrs. Bessie ( McElroy ) Holland of this city and they are well known socially here, the hospitality of many of the hest homes being cordially extended them. Dr. Randolph belongs to Hot Springs

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Lodge, No. 380, B. P. O. E., and he is also a member of the Business Men's League. His wife has membership in the Christian church. Dr. Randolph belongs also to the Lake Chico Hunting and Fishing Club of Hot Springs, of which he is the president, and this association indicates much concerning the nature of his recreation. In politics he is a democrat and he was county coroner of Garland county from 1908 to 1916. His life has been passed in this state and actuated by a laudable ambition he has steadily progressed, reaching a creditable place among the capable physicians of Hot Springs, where so many able representatives of the calling are found.

MRS. HELEN S. HENRY.

Mrs. Helen S. Henry, who on the 1st of January, 1921, became county superintendent of schools in Union county, following broad experience as a teacher, was born February 21, 1878, in El Dorado, in the house which is now her home. She is a daughter of Jacob F. and Dorsey (Lee) Schuler. The father, a native of Switzerland, came to El Dorado on crossing the Atlantic and here worked at the cabinetmaker's trade, which he learned in early life. He also conducted a farm and became a contractor and in subsequent years he filled the position of postmaster, making a creditable record by the prompt and faithful manner in which he discharged his duties. At the time of the Civil war he became a captain of Company A, First Arkansas Infantry, which regiment was assigned to the Army of Virginia. It was in May, 1861, that he enlisted and while engaged in the performance of his military duties he was taken prisoner and sent to Johnson's Island, where he was held until 1865. He participated in the battles of Manassas and Franklin, Tennessee, and in other hotly contested engagements. His death occurred in 1903, when he had reached the age of sixty-nine years.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 111

Author: Herndon, Dallas T. (Dallas Tabor), b. 1878 Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Chicago, Little Rock, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Herndon, Dallas T. (Dallas Tabor), b. 1878
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Chicago, Little Rock, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1172