Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 114

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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W. R. Phillips attended the schools of Carroll county until the Civil war broke out, when his education was interrupted but he afterward studied under a private tutor, taking a course in higher mathematics. He started out in the business world as a farmer, concentrating his efforts and attention upon general agricultural pursuits until 1920, when he sold his farm and removed to Green Forest. He had homesteaded

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a tract of one hundred and sixty acres in 1875. It was a wooded tract and he cleared away the timber and built a log house, in which he lived for three years, when the primitive structure was replaced by a nice frame residence. He added various other modern improvements to the farm and converted it into a valuable and productive property. Year after year he carefully tilled the soil and gathered good crops and it was his unfaltering industry and perseverance that brought to him the capital that now enables him to live retired. For the last forty years he has also followed sur- veying. He has surveyed in Carroll, Newton, Benton, Madison, Boone, Searcy and Marion counties of Arkansas and also in Stone and Taney counties of Missouri. He did a large amount of work for J. G. Branner in the geological survey. He is now practically living retired, save that he surveys town lots and his rest has been richly earned and is well merited.

In 1873 Mr. Phillips was united in marriage to Miss Martha E. Norris, who was born in Tennessee and came to Arkansas with her parents during her infancy. She died in 1898. There were five children of this marriage: Jonathan B., who is a carpenter living at Tulsa, Oklahoma; Lura J., the wife of G. E. Thorp, residing on a farm in Carroll county, Arkansas; Celia D., the wife of J. W. Kipton, a farmer of Ramah, Colorado; Verdie M., who is the wife of A. J. Rice, foreman of a garage at Green Forest; and Granville P., a farmer of Green Forest. The mother was a member of the Freewill Baptist church. Mr. Phillips belongs to the Woodmen of the World and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he has always been a demo- crat and has been frequently called upon to fill public positions of honor and trust. He was elected county surveyor in 1882 and served for four years. He was also a member of the legislature in 1887 and again in 1889 and was county examiner for four years. In 1901 he was once more elected to the general assembly and in 1911 and in 1913 was elected state senator. While in the state senate he was known as the parliamenta- rian because of the fairness and impartiality of his opinion, based upon a comprehen- sive knowledge of parliamentary law. He gave close and earnest study to all the vital questions which came up for settlement and no one doubted the integrity of his opinions or his devotion to the general good.

HON. A. D. DULANEY.

Southwestern Arkansas classes the Hon. A. D. DuLaney among its most prominent attorneys and honored and representative citizens. In a profession where advance- ment depends entirely upon individual merit and ability he has steadily worked his way upward and in many other connections, too, he has aided in shaping the de- velopment and progress of this state as well as in upholding its legal status. He was born upon a farm in Sevier county, August 26, 1877. The common schools afforded him his early educational privileges, his course being pursued through the high school, while later he became a student in the literary department of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and subsequently was a law student there, completing his studies in 1905. He located at Ashdown and in 1910 and 1911 was a member of the law firm of Steel, Lake & DuLaney, since which time he has practiced alone. He has made rapid progress in his profession and his ability is attested by his many clients, whose cases he has successfully handled in a masterly fashion that indicates his thorough knowledge of the law, his familiarity with precedent and his ready recogni- tion of the relation of fact with the principles of jurisprudence.

Mr. DuLaney is not only prominently known as a lawyer but also as a lawmaker for in 1903, 1905, 1907 and again in 1909 he was a member of the state legislature, serving for four consecutive terms-an honor that has been conferred upon but few men in the state. He served on the committee on education and on several other im- portant committees, his deep interest in the public school system dating from the early day when he began teaching school in Little River county in 1896, continuing as a teacher at intervals when not attending college until 1904. He taught in both the rural and high schools and was regarded as one of the prominent educators of this part of the state. In 1903 he introduced a bill into the house providing that elementary courses in agriculture be taught in the schools throughout the state and this con- stituted the beginning of much valuable work along that line. He was likewise prose- cuting attorney of the ninth judicial district of Arkansas from 1916 until 1920 and during his term in that office handled a large number of juvenile cases, in which he was instrumental in having the judge send the delinquents to reform schools instead of to jail and the penitentiary or putting them on probation and out on bond. He does not believe that young boys should be sent to jail where they will be associated with hardened criminals but on the other hand should be given a chance to make good on

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the honor system. Such boys are to appear before the officers every month and report. Mr. DuLaney is the only prosecuting attorney in the state who has followed this procedure. He works upon the theory that the law is to protect and reform the in- dividual as well as to prosecute wrongdoers and that it should serve to assist offenders back into the paths of right. Aside from his profession, in which he has accomplished much good in upholding the legal status of the community, he is a director of the Arkansas State Bank of Ashdown, president of the McIver Abstract & Insurance Company of Ashdown and a stockholder and title examiner of the Security Mortgage Company of Texarkana. He is likewise a stockholder of the Ashdown Compress & Warehouse Company at Ashdown, secretary of the Southern Realty & Trust Company, local title examiner of the Federal Land Bank of St. Louis and a well known business man whose sound judgment has been manifest in many connections.

Mr. DuLaney was chairman of the county council of defense of Little River county during the World war and has ever been keenly interested in all that pertains to public progress and improvement.

On the 6th of October, 1909, Mr. DuLaney was married to Miss Nix Corbett and they have a very wide and favorable acquaintance in Ashdown and this part of the state, while the hospitality of their own home is greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Throughout his entire life Mr. DuLaney has resided in Arkansas and has ever mani- fested a spirit of progress that has been a valuable asset in connection with the de- velopment and upbuilding of the communities in which he has resided. His work in the state legislature marks his fidelity to the interests of the commonwealth and over the record of his public career there falls no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons and the Odd Fellows, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Baptist church.

MRS. SAMUEL PRESTON DAVIS.

There is perhaps no more widely known club woman of Arkansas than Mrs. Samuel Preston Davis, who has been most prominently and closely associated with the women's clubs and societies which have to do with cultural, civic and patriotic interests. She has served as state and national official as well as in various local organizations and her influence and labors have been effective factors in the attainment of high purposes. A native of Little Rock, she is a daughter of Robert Allen and Rebecca Aylett (Taylor) Dowdłe, natives of South Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. In both the paternal and maternal lines she is descended from ancestors long established on American soil. Moreover, she can justly claim royal lineage, for she can trace her line back to the royal houses of England, France, Germany and Ireland. On the maternal side she is descended in direct line from Robert the Strong, (le Fort) Count of Anjou and Blois. (2) His son became King Robert (1) of France and reigned from 865 to 923. (3) The line followed down through the following as indicated by the numerals, Hugh the Great, Duke of Franks and Count of Paris, who married Hadwig, daughter of Henry (1) King of the Germans. (4) Hugh Capet, King of France and founder of the Capetian dynasty. (5) King Robert of France, who was educated by Gerbert, who afterward became Pope Sylvester (II). (6) Henry (I), who reigned as King of France from 1008 to 1060 and whose wife was Princess Anne of Russia. (7) Prince Hugh the Great, direct ancestor in the seventh generation, was one of the leaders in the first crusade. He married Adela, the daugh- ter of Herbert (IV), who was a son of Henry (III), whose wife was the daughter of Edward the Elder and the widow of Charles (III), King of France. (8) Lady Isabel de Vermandois, who was the third daughter of Prince Hugh the Great. (9) Robert Bossu de Bellamont, second Earl of Leicester and Lord Chief Justice of England, who married Lady Amicia Waer, daughter of the Earl of Norfolk. (10) Gervase Paganel. (11) Lady Hawyse Paganel. (12) Ralph de Someri was the son of John de Someri and Lady Hawyse Paganel. (13) William Percivald de Somen, Baron of Dudley. (14) Roger de Someri, who married the sister of the Earl of Arundel and Sussex. (15) Roger de Someri, Baron of Dudley. (16) Lady Margaret de Someri, a sister of John de Someri who was knighted in 1306 by Edward (1). (17) Lady Felicia de Sutton. (18) Henry Corbin of Swinford. (19) William Corbin of Staffordshire. (20) Thomas Corbin of Staffordshire. (21) Nicholas Corbin of Halls End. (22) Richard Corhin of Swinford, England. (23) Thomas Corbin and (24) George Corbin, both of Halls End, Warwick- shire, England. (25) Thomas Corbin of Halls End and (26) Henry Corbin, who became the founder of the Corbin family in America. Henry Corbin's daughter, Winnifred (27), married Colonel Leroy Griffin, who was a son of Thomas Griffin of Rappahannock county. Leroy and Winnifred (Corbin) Griffin were the parents of Winnifred (28), who married Colonel Peter Presley of Northumberland House, Virginia, who was murdered by his

MRS. SAMUEL P. DAVIS

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servants in 1750. Their only child, Winnifred (29), married Anthony Thornton of Stafford county, and their son, Anthony (30), for his first wife married Sarah Taliafero, while their daughter, Judith Presley (31), became the wife of Major Aylett Buckner, a distinguished soldier of the Revolutionary war, who served as commander of the Second Battalion of Colonel Churchill's regiment. Katharine Taliafero Buckner (32), the daugh- ter of Major Aylett and Judith (Presley) Buckner, married John Young Taylor of Green county, Kentucky, who was a man of prominence and a lawyer of distinction and served for many years as circuit judge. Their son, Aylett Buckner Taylor (33), married Rebecca White Williamson and they were parents of the daughter, Rebecca Aylett Taylor (34) who hecame the wife of Robert Allen Dowdle of York county, South Caro- lina, bringing the line down to Kate Embry Dowdle, wife of Samuel Preston Davis.

The founder of the American branch of the family, Henry Corbin of Virginia, died in the parish of Stratton, in King and Queen county, in 1775. This parish was named by him after his old home town in Cornwall, England. He was a man of much prom- inence in the early days of Virginia, and his portrait in his robes of office as councillor of state, taken hy an eminent artist, is still preserved at Mount Airy, Richmond county, Virginia. He was married in 1656 to Alice Eltonhead, described in the old records of Virginia as "the sister of the dashing cavalier, William Eltonhead." It can be justly said that Henry Corbin was the progenitor of more eminent American families than any of the early colonial settlers. His descendants have filled many positions of honor and trust and have married into the best families of the land. In the Dowdle line Mrs. Davis also traces her ancestry back to an even more remote period, although there are perhaps fewer royal names appearing in the family record. She is a direct descendant of Malachy, King of Meath, who was the grandson of Nial, one of the nine hostages of the King of Ireland in 379 A.D.

In the pioneer epoch in the history of Arkansas, Allen and Martha Minter (Cava- naugh) Dowdle, grandparents of Mrs. Davis, removed to Prairie county, Arkansas, about the year 1848 and there reared their children. Her grandparents in the maternal line, Aylett Buckner and Rebecca White ( Williamson) Taylor, also became early residents of the state.

The ancestors of Mrs. Davis have served in every war in which the country has been involved except the Mexican and Spanish-American wars. Her grandfather, Allen Dowdle, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and following his removal to Arkansas in 1848, he spent the rest of his days in this state, his remains being interred in the Syl- vania burying ground near old Austin. His name is inscribed on the 1812 drinking fountain in the state capitol grounds at Little Rock. Mrs. Davis' father, at the time of the war between the north and the south, enlisted in the Second Arkansas Regiment, becoming a member of Company B, of Carroll's Arkansas Confederate Cavalry, later known as Anderson Gordon's Regiment. Soon afterward Mr. Dowdle was transferred to Company A, of Monroe's Arkansas Cavalry and later Colonel Monroe was succeeded in command by General W. L. Cabell. Made a prisoner of war Mr. Dowdle was incar- cerated for more than five months in the Federal prison at Rock Island, Illinois. Mrs. Davis' uncles, Major Marion Dowdle, Captain William Dowdle and Richard Aylett Taylor, all gave their lives for the Confederate cause.

In the year 1871 R. A. Dowdle removed with his family to Little Rock, where he engaged in the wholesale grocery business for a number of years. Later he removed to Morrillton, in order to manage his farming interests and also engaged in general merchandising there, occupying a prominent position in business, social and religious circles.

His daughter, Kate Embry Dowdle, was reared in Little Rock and in Morrillton and pursued her education in Arkansas and Kentucky, being a gradnate of Galloway College at Searcy, Arkansas. At Morrillton, in 1893, she became the wife of Samuel Pres- ton Davis, a native of this state and a son of Dr. Marion Erskine Davis. Samuel Preston Davis is one of the best known brokers of the south and also maintains a branch office in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Davis became the parents of four children, of whom two are living. The elder, Samuel Preston Davis, Jr., was graduated from the Second Officers' Training Camp at Leon Springs, Camp Stanley, Texas, and was commissioned second lieutenant in the artillery field section in November, 1917. He was promoted to a first lieutenancy and when the armistice was signed was a captain in the artillery field at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan. In October, 1915, he married Miss Kath- arine Scott Lindsey of Little Rock, who was very active in Red Cross work during the entire war. They have one child, Pauline Lindsey Davis, born in Little Rock, October 8, 1920. Captain Davis is manager of the branch brokerage house in Chicago for his father. The daughter, Rebecca Dowdle Davis, is now a senior at Wellesley College of Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Mrs. Davis has ever been intensely interested in patriotic work, by reason of her close ancestral connection with all of the various wars of the country and with the

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colonial settlement of the new world. She has membership in the Order of the Crown of America, the National Society of Colonial Dames of America, the Order of LaFayette, the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Society of United States Daughters of 1812 and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She has been called to high office in a number of these. She served as state regent of the Arkan- sas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1916 until 1918 and is honorary state regent for life of this organization; was state president of the National Society of United States Daughters of 1812, from 1916 until 1918, and was elected hon- orary state president of that society for life in 1918, and she has served as the first vice president of the national organization for several years. She was also active in the old Cooperative Association, which was instrumental in securing for Little Rock the Carnegie Public Library, and for two terms she served as recording secretary of the association. She also became a charter member and officer of the Pathfinder Club of Morrillton, which secured for that city the Carnegie Library. Since removing from Morrillton to Little Rock she has been elected an honorary member of that club. In addition to the organizations previously mentioned Mrs. Davis is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church, South, the Memorial Chapter of the United Daugh- ters of the Confederacy and the auxiliary of the American Legion, the Arkansas Pio- neers, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation, the Aesthetic Club and the National Officers Club of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her only pride is in the fact that she is "a southerner, a dem- ocrat and one hundred per cent American."

W. A. BATES.

W. A. Bates, senior partner in the law firm of Bates & Duncan of Waldron, a connection that has been maintained since 1912, was born in Scott county, Arkansas, February 17, 1870, his parents being Thompson G. and Rachael (Allison) Bates. The father, who was born in South Carolina in 1808, departed this life in 1877, while the mother, whose birth occurred in Georgia in 1832, is still living in Scott county, Arkansas, at the notable old age of ninety years. Thompson G. Bates spent practically his entire life in Scott county, where he took up his abode in 1843, continuing to reside here until called to his final rest. He was a farmer and stock raiser and he also con- ducted a store near his home. By his first marriage he had nine children, of whom but one is living, Mrs. Jane Young, a resident of Scott county. W. A. Bates is the only living child born of his father's second marriage. The parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and Mr. Bates was a democrat in his political views and filled the office of justice of the peace. He was a well educated and well read man for his day and was quite successful in his business affairs, while as a citizen he stood as a stanch advocate of all interests and measures that were of public worth. He had three sons who served in the Civil war: Frank, Thomas G. and Seahorn.

To the public school system of his native county W. A. Bates is indebted for the educational opportunities which he enjoyed. He early began assisting his widowed mother in the cultivation of the farm and continued to devote his attention to agri- cultural life until he was thirty-five years of age. He then determined to enter upon a professional career and with that end in view he studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1902. He was a justice of the peace for fourteen years, studying law at home during that period, also gaining much practical and valuable knowledge from his ex- perience in the courts. He entered upon the active work of the profession in Waldron in 1906 and for six years engaged in law practice independently. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Duncan in 1912, under the firm style of Bates & Duncan and throughout the intervening decade they have maintained a most creditable and honor- able position in the front rank of the legal profession in this part of the state. Mr. Bates is serving as one of the district examiners of the twelfth judicial district and he gives practically his entire time and efforts to his professional interests, his de- votion to his clients' interests being proverbial.

In 1889 Mr. Bates was married to Miss Dora Oliver, who was born in Izard county, Arkansas, and they became parents of eight children, of whom six are living. Those who survive are: C. C., a barber, located at Kansas City, Missouri; Winnie, the wife of L. B. Smith, a mechanical engineer now at Breckenridge, Texas; Jerome, who is engaged in the brokerage business in Breckenridge and who served in the World war twenty-three months and was with the Army of Occupation in Germany nine months; Malta, a teacher in the schools of Hartford, Arkansas; Robinnette, at home; and Wil- liam Bryan, now in school. The parents are members of the Missionary Baptist church and Mr. Bates is also connected with the Masonic fraternity and the Junior Order of

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American Mechanics, the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has always voted with the democratic party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and for four years, from 1906 until 1910, he occupied the bench of the county court. He was also deputy prosecuting attorney for three years, from 1911 until 1913, in Waldron, and in 1917 he was elected to represent his district in the constitutional convention. For the past ten years he has served on the school board of the Waldron high school, and before this served nine years on the common school board and no trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed. He is most loyal to the duties that devolve upon him and his public record, like his private life, is one over which there falls no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil.

R. C. THOMPSON, M. D.

While Dr. R. C. Thompson has engaged in medical practice at Paris for but little more than three years, he has for more than a third of a century followed the profes- sion in this state and has long been widely known as a capable physician and sur- geon. He was born in Logan county, Arkansas, August 21, 1861, and is a son of Robert and Lurana (Sellers) Thompson. The mother, who was born in Middle Tennessee, died when her son, R. C. Thompson, was hut thirteen years of age. The father, a na- tive of Georgia, died in 1862, when the son was but six months old. They were the parents of two children, but the other one has departed this life. The father and mother were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and Rob- ert Thompson gave his political allegiance to the democratic party. He removed to Arkansas when a young man and devoted his life to farming until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he joined the army. Soon after he was taken ill and died of pneu- monia. He was a son of Nehemiah Thompson, who was also a native of Georgia and who removed to Logan county, Arkansas, prior to the war, becoming a farmer and slave owner in this state. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Thompson was Edward Sellers, who was born in Middle Tennessee and hecame a resident of Logan county in 1849, his attention being also given to agricultural pursuits, which he carried on with the aid of the slaves that he owned.

Dr. Thompson pursued a country school education and then attended high school in Paris, while later he completed a medical course in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with the class of 1891. He first entered upon the practice of his profession at Blaine, Arkansas, where he remained for a year and then removed to Spielerville, Arkansas, where he continued in active practice from the 15th of December, 1887, until December 10, 1918, for he had taken up the active work of the profession before pursuing his collegiate work in the State University. At the last mentioned date he came to Paris, where he has since continued, and in the intervening period of little more than three years he has gained a large practice here, the public readily recog- mizing his ability and faithfulness in the performance of all professional duties. Dr. Thompson deserves great credit for what he has accomplished. He was quite young when left an orphan, after which he and his sister were reared by their grandfather until the latter died, at which time Dr. Thompson was a youth of eighteen years. He and his sister then kept house together, the Doctor acting as her support, and from that age he has been entirely dependent upon his own resources, not only providing a living but also providing the means for his education. He keeps in- formed concerning everything of interest to the medical profession by his broad reading and study and thus is constantly promoting his efficiency.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 114

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