Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 118

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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PROFESSOR JOHN LEE BUCHANAN, A. M., LL. D.

Professor John Lee Buchanan, who was one of the eminent educators of the south, terminating a long teaching experience by eight years spent in the presidency of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, was born in Smyth county, Virginia, June 19, 1831. His father, Patrick Campbell Buchanan, was a native of the same county, born in 1799. There he lived for many years, devoting his attention to the occupation of farming. His political endorsement was given to the democratic party but he never sought to figure prominently in public life. He wedded Margaret Ann Graham, who was born in Wythe county, Virginia, March 28, 1808, their marriage being there celebrated on the 15th of January, 1829. Mr. Buchanan died on the 10th of April, 1873. His widow survived until April 22, 1891. Their children were: Harold Graham, John Lee, Samuel, Rachel Montgomery, Nancy Jane, Martha Ann, Margaret Henrietta, Felix Grundy, Hickman Spiller and Cosby Elizabeth.

John Lee Buchanan acquired his early education in his native county and after- ward attended Emory and Henry College, where he received thorough training that constituted his initial step toward the marked professional prominence which he attained. His life was devoted to pedagogic work. He was a professor in Emory and Henry College from 1857 until 1878, or for a period of twenty-one years. He then accepted the professorship of Latin in Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, there remaining until 1879. In the latter year he was called to the presidency of Emory and Henry College and so continued uutil 1880, while the succeeding two years were passed as, president of the Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical College. He was joint principal of the Martha Washington College from 1882 until 1886 and in the latter year was elected state superintendent of public instruction, a position which he most ac- ceptably filled for four years, or until 1890. At that date he was made professor of Latin in the Randolph-Macon College, where he continued until 1894, when Arkansas welcomed him as a valued addition to her corps of eminent instructors in the State University at Fayetteville, where he continued to serve until 1901.

On the 4th of August, 1859, Professor Buchanan was married to Miss Frances Eliza- beth Wiley, who was born in Emory, Washington county, Virginia, September 6, 1841, a daughter of Ephraim Emmerson and Elizabeth H. (Hammond) Wiley, who resided for some time at Emory, Virginia. Mrs. Buchanan was educated at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and at Huntsville, Alabama, and by her marriage became the mother of nine children: Lillian, who died in infancy; William, who died in 1907; Margaret, the wife of C. M. Yeates of Washington, D. C .; Elizabeth, the wife of James A. Reagan of Sweetwater, Tennessee; Horace G., living in Richmond, Virginia; Raymond W., of

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Washington, D. C .; John Lee, who died in 1894; Grace, the wife of W. J. Reynolds of Fayetteville, Arkansas; and Frank E., who died in 1907.

Professor Buchanan's military record covered four years' service with the munition department of the Confederate army in the Civil war. He always voted with the demo- cratic party but held no public offices, aside from that of superintendent of the schools of Virginia. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity and he was a consistent member of the Methodist church, serving at various times on church hoards. His life was an uplifting influence in the communities in which he resided. He sought earnestly to promote the intellectual and cultural progress of the districts in which he lived and to advance the moral standards, cooperating in every movement that promised prac- tical reform and improvement and the adoption of higher ideals. He died in his native county January 19, 1922, when in the ninety-first year of his age.

"When rests the frost of threescore years and ten Like pine-blessed halo on the pilgrim's head;

When death comes gently and he drops to sleep As gently as a child upon its bed- This is not sad."

The life work of Professor Buchanan was a valuable contribution to the world's progress. His labors were ended and who can doubt that he passed on to a better and broader existence when the gates of eternity closed behind him?

HUB BLAIR.

Since 1914 Huh Blair has been engaged in the practice of law in Earl and he has won for himself an enviable position among the foremost attorneys in the state. A native of Missouri, he was born at Canton on the 15th of January, 1880, a son of Joseph H. and Lucinda (Ronner) Blair, both of whom are deceased. He is of Scotch- Irish descent on the paternal side and of Scotch-Irish-German extraction on the mater- nal side. Joseph H. Blair was for many years engaged in farming and stock raising in Lewis, Knox and Adair counties, Missouri, and he became well known in that con- nection throughout the state. His demise occurred in 1918, in his eighty-ninth year, and came as a severe blow to his many friends in the community where he was residing. In 1867, in Knox county, Missouri, occurred the marriage of Joseph H. Blair to Miss Lucinda Ronner, who died at the age of sixty-nine years, in Brashear, Missouri. She had a brother, D. A. Ronner, who served in the Confederate army throughout the Civil war. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Blair four boys were horn, three living. Hub, whose name initiates this review, was the second in order of birth.

In the acquirement of his early education Huh Blair attended the common schools of Knox City, Missouri, and subsequently enrolled in the Teachers Normal College at Kirksville, that state. He was graduated from that institution in 1896, with the B. S. degree and two years later was graduated from the University of Missouri at Colum- bia, with the A. B. degree. Since that time he has taken special courses in Greek and French of that institution. Mr. Blair secured the funds for his higher education through his own efforts. In 1898 he started upon his career as an educator, becoming principal of the ward school in Kirksville, Missouri. He remained there until 1900, when he located in Shelbina, that state, as superintendent of schools for one year. The following four years he was superintendent of schools at Rolla, Missouri, and he then held a similar position at Forsyth, Montana, for a like period. In 1907 he went to Oklahoma, settling in Chickasha and entered the practice of law. His law education was acquired in the law office of Hon. N. E. Williams of Kirksville, with whom he was associated four years. He remained in Chickasha six years and then for two years prac- ticed at Cushing. In 1914 he came to Earl and he has since resided here, having huilt up an extensive and lucrative clientage and handling much important litigation before the courts. He has had considerable corporation practice and is now attorney for the Earl Road Improvement District, No. 6, and has likewise gained an enviable reputation as a criminal lawyer.

In 1898 at Kirksville, Missouri, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Blair to Miss Blanche Brother, a daughter of J. H. Brother, a prominent citizen of that place. To their union two daughters have heen born: Onalee, who is twenty years of age and is a teacher in the practice school at West Tennessee Normal; and Claudia, eighteen years of age, who is teaching in the county consolidated school in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee.

Since attaining his majority Mr. Blair has given his stanch support to the demo- cratic party and the principles for which it stands. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, helonging to Rolla Lodge, No. 213, A. F. & A. M. at Rolla, Missouri; and also

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to the chapter and commandery of Rolla. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to the support of which he is a generous contributor. Mr. Blair is a constant student of his profession. During the World war he was a member of the Crittenden County Legal Defense Board and was one of the Four-Minute men, making speeches in behalf of war activities in this county and at nearby points. Mr. Blair is one of Earl's most public-spirited citizens, for he is ever cognizant of the duties and responsibilities, as well as the privileges of citizenship and is never too busy to give his aid in the furtherance of any movement he deems essential to the develop- ment and improvement of the general welfare.

IKE FELSENTHAL.

Ike Felsenthal, a well known business man of El Dorado, who has been closely associated with the upbuilding and progress of his section of the state and is now actively operating in the oil fields, was born at Camden, Arkansas, March 2, 1870. There he was reared, the public schools affording him his educational opportunity, whereby he was fitted for the practical and responsible duties of life. In 1892, when a young man of twenty-two years, he came to El Dorado and established a general store, which he carried on successfully for an extended period. He has resided in El Dorado for almost three decades, save for a period of five years. He spent a year and a half of that time in Louisiana, was in Galena, Kansas, for two years, and a year and a half in Lawton, Oklahoma. Later he returned to El Dorado, where he now makes his home. The town of Felsenthal was named in honor of himself and his brother, who became closely associated with the development and uphuilding of that place, there remaining from 1903 until 1908. They still have important husiness interests in that town. At the present time Ike Felsenthal is extensively engaged in operations in the oil fields. He ' was one of the original owners of the Dr. Bussey well, which was the first well to come in the El Dorado field. He organized the Home Oil & Gas Company of El Dorado and has made large investments in oil property, which are most promising. As the years have gone by he has also made large investments in farm properties and his holdings are now valuable. He was instrumental in introducing the velvet beans, planting the first beans of that kind in Union county. He has acted as chairman of the farm bureau and had the work of home demonstration in Union county started. He now gives much of his time to the supervision of his land and oil interests. It seems that whatever he has undertaken has brought to him success. This is due not to any fortunate circum- stance nor to any streak of luck but to close application and indefatigable energy. He has worked diligently and persistently in everything that he has undertaken and his course should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may he accom- plished through individual efforts.

Mr. Felsenthal is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. He was one of the prime movers in establishing the Chamber of Commerce, in which he has served as a director. He helongs to the Rotary Club and is in hearty sympathy with the organization, which is looking to the material benefit of the city through the promotion of its trade relations and the development of its business enterprises and also looking to its civic development, in the support given to all plans and projects that make for public improvement and welfare.

R. L. SEARCY.

R. L. Searcy, an attorney of Lewisville, capable and resourceful in law practice and possessing comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, was born at Morris Hill, October 9, 1869. The public schools accorded him his early educational privileges and he afterward continued his studies in Ouachita College, thus laying in a liberal literary course a broad foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of pro- fessional learning. A review of the broad field of business, with its countless oppor- tunities along industrial, commercial and professional lines, brought him to the de- termination to make the practice of law his life work and accordingly he matriculated in the Washington and Lee University, from which he was graduated on the com- pletion of a law course with the class of 1891. Throughout the intervening period to the present time, covering more than three decades, he has heen located in Lewisville in the practice of his profession and has made steady progress at the bar. Notwith- standing the fact that advancement in the law is proverbially slow, no dreary novitiate awaited him. He was associated with Colonel King in practice until 1900 and since

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that time has been a member of the firm of Searcy & Parks, the junior partner being the Hon. Tilman B. Parks, member of congress from this district. Mr. Searcy has always enjoyed an excellent reputation by reason of the fact that he prepares his cases with great thoroughness and precision and leaves nothing undone that will advance the interests of his client's cause. He has never aspired to office nor sought political preferment but has extended his efforts into financial circles by hecoming vice president of the First National Bank of Lewisville. He also owns considerable farm land. having made judicious investments in property.

On the 1st of August, 1894, Mr. Searcy was married to Miss Willie Candler, and they have become the parents of three sons. J. Candler, who is engaged in the abstract and insurance business; R. L., who is now a student in the University of Virginia, where he is pursuing a law course; and Dan Berille. The two eldest sons were in the World war, the first named having served as a lieutenant in the infantry, while R. L. Searcy was a lieutenant with the artillery, but neither one had opportunity to go overseas. being held for service in this country.

Mr. and Mrs. Searcy are active and consistent members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as an elder. They contribute generously to the support of the church and take belpful part in all of its work. Mr. Searcy also belongs to the Masonic fraternity, but the greater part of his time and attention is naturally concentrated upon his professional duties. He is a very prominent attorney, justly accounted one of the foremost in his section of the state, the court records bearing testimony to the many favorable verdicts which he has won, while the consensus of public opinion accords him distinction among the leading lawyers of Lafayette county.

CLAUDE EDWARD LAWS, M. D.

Dr. Claude Edward Laws, a practicing physician of Fort Smith, whose ability is attested in the liberal patronage accorded him, was born in Warrenton, Virginia, in 1873, and is a son of Benjamin and Antoinette (Howison) Laws, who were also natives of the Old Dominion, they, too, having first opened their eyes to the light of day in Warrenton. The father was a courier in General Lee's service during the Civil war. The grandfather in the paternal line was Newton Laws, who was a planter and was a son of Shadrach Laws, who came from England, becoming the founder of the family in the new world. The Howisons were also pioneers of that part of Virginia in which the Laws family lived and one of the name was Rear Admiral Henry Howison, who was a cousin of Dr. Law's mother. Her father was Stephen Howison, a son of Stephen Howison, Sr., who came from Scotland and planted this branch of the family on American soil. The Howisons were largely seafaring men and conspicuous in connection with government naval affairs. Through a collateral line Dr. Laws is also related to the Cornwalls of Lowden county, Virginia, and to the Jacksons of Warrenton, Virginia, his maternal grandmother having been a Jackson. To Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Laws were born ten children, seven of whom are living. One son, W. H. Laws of Riverton, Wyoming, is a beekeeper and distributor of honey, his name being well known in this connection. Another son, John T., is the secretary of the Atkinson-Williams Hardware Company of Fort Smith, Arkansas, while a third son, A. L. Laws, is a lawyer of Sayre, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Laws of this review pursued his education, after leaving the public schools, in the Valparaiso University of Indiana and in the Chicago College of Medicine, from which he was graduated on the completion of a course in medicine and in pharmacy. He was also connected with the Cook County Hospital at Chicago and gained broad knowl- edge and valuable experience in that way, acting as hospital interne. He first entered upon the private practice of medicine in Chicago, there remaining for a year and a half and then removed to the southwest, settling in Fort Smith, where he has since resided and through the intervening period has successfully followed his profession. He closely studies everything that tends to promote his efficiency and bring him greater knowledge concerning the laws of health and is recognized as a physician of wide learning and one who is most conscientious in the performance of his professional duties. He is very prominent in eclectic medical societies and at all times keeps informed concerning the advanced work of the profession.

Dr. Laws was married in 1906 to Miss Luella Beck and they have one daughter, Isabel. Fraternally Dr. Laws is widely known. He is grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the state of Arkansas and is identified with the Knights of Pythias, being presiding officer of the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan. He was secretary of the examining board of physicians of Arkansas, but otherwise has not filled public office. He is very fond of outdoor life and is well known as a big game

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hunter. He is likewise intensely interested in bird life and has lectured before various local organizations on ornithology, speaking most interestingly of birds and their habits. He has many trophies of the chase in his home, indicative of his skill with the rifle and this is due in no small degree to the fact that he has been a student of the habitat and of the life of the different wild animals. However, he never allows anything to interfere with the faithful performance of his professional duties and he enjoys a well merited reputation as an able physician.

E. R. SMITH, M. D.

Dr. E. R. Smith, a successful practitioner of internal medicine in Hot Springs, was born at Richmond, Indiana, on the 5th of April, 1891, a son of Dr. S. E. and Martha J. ( Rogers) Smith, who are natives of Indiana and Minnesota, respectively. The father. who was graduated from the Louisville Medical College with the class of 1885, has been superintendent of the Eastern Indiana State Hospital for the past thirty-one years, having the longest record of state service in Indiana. For one year he served as president of the American Medical Psychological Society.

E. R. Smith received his more advanced educational training in the University of Indiana, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor or Arts as a member of the class of 1914. In further preparation for a professional career he then entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, which conferred upon him the degree of M. D. at his graduation with the class of 1918. He then served an interneship in neurology in the University of Michigan, later in the Psychopathic Hospital of Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently in the Johns Hopkins Hospital of Baltimore. It was in May, 1919, that he came to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to begin the practice of his chosen profession, entering the office of Dr. J. L. Green as assistant. His professional skill is of a high order and has already won him recognition as one of the representative and ahle practitioners of internal medicine in the city. He belongs to the Garland County Medical Society, the Arkansas State Medical Association and the American Medical Association.

On the 26th of July, 1919. Dr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Lawrence Jourdan, of Evansville, Indiana, and they are parents of a son, Rogers Jourdin. The Doctor is identified with Hot Springs Lodge. No. 380, B. P. O. E., and likewise has membership relations with the Phi Kappa Psi and the Nu Sigma Nu, two Greek letter fraternities. He also belongs to the Hot Springs Country and Golf Club and to the Business Men's League. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church, with which his wife is likewise affiliated. They are well known and popular in the social circles of Hot Springs, where their many sterling traits of character have gained them the warm friendship and high regard of those with whom they have come in contact.

K. B. HUFFMAN, M. D.

Dr. K. B. Huffman, a representative and successful young physician of Bentonville. has there practiced his profession continuously since 1912 with the exception of the period of his service in the World war. He is a native of the town in which he still makes his home, his birth having there occurred in July, 1883. His parents were Christopher C. and Georgetta E. (Jefferson) Huffman, the former a native of Barren county, Kentucky, while the latter was born near Bentonville, Arkansas. The paternal grandparents, Josephus and Selina J. (Bowles) Huffman, were hoth natives of Barren county, Kentucky, and the grandfather served in the Confederate army for four years as a member of a Texas regiment. Samuel Allen and Joan (Neale) Jefferson, the maternal grandparents of Dr. Huffman, were both born in Arkansas. The former, together with his three brothers, served as a Confederate soldier during the Civil war. Representatives of the Jefferson family came to this state at a very early period in its development and acquired considerable land in Benton county. The parents of Dr. Huffman were married in Benton county, Arkansas. The father filled the position of circuit clerk and recorder for four years and was engaged in the abstract business for a few years. He later became cashier of the Benton County Bank, while subsequently he turned his attention to the wholesale grocery business, which claimed his time for a considerable period and in which connection he huilt up a trade of extensive and gratifying proportions. In politics he was a democrat and fraternally was identified with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, assisting in organizing the local lodge

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of the latter order. His religious belief was indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church, in the faith of which he departed this life in 1912, at the age of fifty-seven years, the community thus losing one of its most respected and substantial citizens. His widow still survives and yet makes her home in Bentonville. They became the parents of five children, three of whom are living: K. B., of this review; Mrs. Anna H. Paul, who is the wife of Abe Paul, a dry goods merchant of South West City, Missouri; and Louis C., who is a partner in the O. T. Garage,

K. B. Huffman supplemented his high school training by a course of study in Bentonville College and then entered the medical department of St. Louis University, which conferred upon him the degree of M. D. in 1910. After following his profession for a brief period in St. Louis he returned to Bentonville and here opened an office in 1912, continuing in practice until America's entrance into the World war in 1917, when he joined the Ninetieth Division. He remained for three weeks at Fort Riley, was then transferred to Camp Travis, Texas, and sailed overseas in 1918 as surgeon of the Three Hundred and Fifteenth Field Signal Battalion. On the 8th of July, 1919, he was discharged and following his return to Bentonville resumed his practice, which has steadily grown in extent and importance by reason of his pronounced professional skill and recognized ability. For two years he acted as assistant in clinical diagnosis and physiological chemistry in the St. Louis Medical School, and he keeps well informed concerning the most advanced thought of the profession through his membership in the Benton County Medical Society, the Arkansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

On the 16th of July, 1901, Dr. Huffman was united in marriage to Miss Della Dunham, who was born in Sarcoxie, Missouri, a daughter of John J. Dunham, a native of that state and a preacher of the Presbyterian church. The Doctor and his wife now have three children: Charles, who is a high school graduate and has recently entered the University of Arkansas; Christine, a high school student; and Madeline, who is in the fourth grade.

Politically Dr. Huffman is a democrat, stanchly supporting the party because of

· his firm belief in its principles. He served as a member of the county board of health in 1912 and is now filling the position of city health officer, in which connection he is making a most creditable record. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church, to which his wife also belongs. He is likewise connected with the Masons, being sojourner in the chapter and a past eminent commander in the Knights Templar commandery. His record is adding new luster to an untarnished family name, for his career in its varied relations has been such as to win for him the confidence and respect of all with whom he has been associated.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 118

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