Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 151

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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OLIVER H. HURST.

A well known member of the legal profession in Monette is Oliver H. Hurst, who was born in Union county, Illinois, on the 26th of May, 1886, a son of H. and Bina J. (Roe) Hurst. The father was born in Tennessee and moved to Illinois and from there to Arkansas. He came to this state in 1907, locating in Craighead county. For many years he has been active as an agriculturist and is one of the progressive farmers of the county. He is now living near Monette at the age of fitty-nine years. Mr. Hurst mar- ried Miss Bina J. Roe, a native of Tennessee. To their union ten children have been born, five boys and five girls, of whom three boys and two girls are living. Oliver H., whose name initiates this review, was the fourth in order of birth.

In the acquirement of his early education Oliver H. Hurst attended the public schools of his birthplace and in due time enrolled in Cumberland University at Leb- anon, Tennessee, where he took a literary course. His law education was likewise acquired in that institution and after leaving school he was admitted to the practice of law in the courts of Arkansas in 1914. Subsequently he came to Monette and opened offices for the practice of his profession under his own name. He has since practiced here and has won for himself an enviable reputation among the foremost attorneys of Craighead county. Along strictly professional lines he is identified with the Arkansas State and Craighead County Bar Associations. A man of ability, with a genius for making friends, Mr. Hurst soon became prominently identified with civic affairs and in 1921 was elected mayor of Monette. He was active in that office for one term and gave to this community a most prosperous and businesslike administration.

In the year 1915 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hurst to Miss Myrtle Smith, the ceremony having been performed at Kenneth, Missouri. Her father, Jeff Smith, was for many years one of the leading citizens of that community. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hurst two children have been born: Cleo, five and one-half years of age; and

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Dan, three and one-half years of age. Mrs. Hurst is well known in Mouette and is socially prominent.

Since attaining his majority Mr. Hurst has given his political allegiance to the democratic party. His incumbency in the office of mayor, however, has been the ex- tent of his public service, his time and attention at present being devoted entirely to his professional duties. Fraternally he is identified with Monette Lodge, No. 558, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is likewise affiliated with Monette Lodge, No. 515, F. & A. M. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Hurst is a generous contributor to its support.

R. C. FRAMBERS.

R. C. Frambers, an accountant, with offices in the Arkansas Valley Trust Com- pany building at Fort Smith, practicing as senior partner in the firm of Frambers & Swofford, was born in Alma, Missouri, in 1886, and is a son of George W. and Elizabeth (Proctor) Frambers. His education was acquired in the public schools of his native state and he also attended a business college at Fort Smith, to which place he removed with his parents in his youthful days. He afterward took up the study of accounting through the extension department of the LaSalle University and eventually was gradu- ated. He won the degree of Certified Public Accountant and has also had training along legal lines. He entered upon the practice of his profession in 1917 and has made steady progress through the intervening years. In December, 1920, he formed a part- nership with J. L. Swofford, formerly an accountant in the government service. The firm has a large clientage, being called upon for professional duty at various places in Arkansas and in Oklahoma. The work of the firm is highly satisfactory and Mr. Fram- bers today occupies an enviable position among the expert accountants of the state. He has ever been actuated by a laudable ambition and persistency of purpose that have brought him steadily to the front and what he has already accomplished indicates that his future career will be well worth watching.

JOHN E. CHAMBERS.

John E. Chambers, a well known attorney of Yell county, practicing in Danville, represents one of the old families of this section of the state connected with the history of Arkansas for nearly three-quarters of a century. The grandfather, W. H. Chambers, was born in Alabama and came to Arkansas in 1850, his death occurring near Little Rock prior to the Civil war. His son, S. B. Chambers, was born in Alabama, was brought by his parents to Arkansas in 1850 and came to Yell county in 1861. Here he was married to Laura Hamilton, a native of Texas and a daughter of John Hamilton, who entered the Confederate army from Texas and was killed in battle. Her husband, S. B. Chambers, was also a soldier of the Civil war for four years and was captured and imprisoned in southern Arkansas. In business affairs he displayed marked enterprise and progressiveness and won a substantial measure of success. He always voted with the democratic party and in religious faith both he and his wife were connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Of their family of ten children, seven are liv- ing: John E .; Roy, a farmer of Yell county; Amanda, the wife of A. R. Austin, occu- pying the old home farm; W. A., also on the old homestead; Winnie, the wife of H. A. Havner, likewise living on the old Chambers' farm; Rebecca, the wife of C. C. Mont- gomery, a farmer; and Lillian, the wife of J. W. Kelley, a railroad man living at Mickles, Arkansas.

John E. Chambers, having pursued his early studies in the rural schools of Yell county, afterward attended the Rover high school and for two years was a student at Hendrix College. He then entered upon preparation for the bar and was graduated on the completion of a law course in Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1901. The same year he was admitted to the bar and opened a law office in Danville, where he began practice with Judge A. B. Priddy, this association being maintained until the senior partner was elected circuit judge. Mr. Chambers entered into partnership with J. W. Wilson in 1915 and this association has since been maintained. Their practice is extensive and of an important character and Mr. Chambers' devotion to the interests of his clients is proverbial, yet he never forgets that he owes a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. He is very painstaking and thorough in the preparation of his cases and clear and concise in his reasoning before the court.

In 1903 Mr. Chambers was married to Miss Lydia Littlejohn, who was born near

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Danville, a daughter of J. M. Littlejohn, a native of Yell county and a pioneer farmer of this section of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have two children: Selma, who 1s in school; and John E., four years of age.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Chambers are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally he is a Mason, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. He has always voted with the democratic party since age conferred upon him the right of fran- chise and has long been recognized as one of the leaders of his party in this section of the state. He served in the legislature from 1903 until 1905 and introduced a bill that provided the appropriation for the department of archives and history, believing it very essential that data of this character should be preserved. He also served on the judiciary committee, on the committee on incorporation and on the enrolling com- mittee and was chairman of the last named. He likewise represented his district in the constitutional convention in 1917 and aided in framing the organic law of the state. He acted as supervisor during the last census and is now chairman of the board of edu- cation of Yell county. His public service has been of an important character and over his official record there falls no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil. He has never failed to do his full duty when called upon to aid in public affairs, yet he considers the pursuits of private life as in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. He is now devoting his attention to his law practice, to the abstract and to the real estate business and is the owner of considerable realty. He is indeed a self-made man and his prominence and success are the direct outcome of his own labors.

THOMAS J. BUSH, M. D.

Dr. Thomas J. Bush, who in the practice of his profession largely specializes in surgery, having developed his powers in that field to a high degree of proficiency, is now one of the owners of the Niehuss and Bush Sanitarium. He was born in Terry, Mississippi, February 8, 1891, and obtained a public school education, passing through consecutive grades to the completion of a high school course. He later be- came a student in Millsaps College at Jackson, Mississippi, and was afterward grad- uated from the University of Tennessee on the completion of a course in the medical department with the class of 1913. During the year following he served as interne in both the Mount Sinai and Beth Israel Hospitals in New York city, devoting a year to that work. In 1917 he was commissioned a captain of the United States Medical Reserve Corps and was assigned to duty at the base hospital at Camp Merritt, New Jersey. He acted as surgeon on the operating staff for twenty-two months and was honorably discharged in February, 1919.

When the country no longer needed his aid Dr. Bush returned to the south, settling at Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he opened an office and remained until the 5th of May, 1921. At that date he came to El Dorado, where he has since specialized in the practice of surgery. Here he entered into partnership with Dr. Niehuss and together they built and equipped the Niehuss and Bush Sanitarium. This is a modern institution supplied with all the latest facilities known to medical and surgical science and already their patronage has become extensive and gratifying and is steadily increasing. Dr. Bush, although a young man, has gained a most creditable name and place among the prominent surgeons of the state and his ex- perience and study are continually broadening his knowledge and promoting his efficiency. El Dorado is indeed fortunate that he has cast in his lot with her citi- zenry. He is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and of the Amer- ican Medical Association.

WILLIAM JOSEPH THARP.

William Joseph Tharp, secretary and auditor of the Little Rock Railway & Electric Company and an esteemed resident of the capital city was born in Somerville, Tennessee, August 31, 1876, and is a son of William Hardy and Lizzie Joe (Cocke) Tharp, hoth of whom were natives of Tennessee, the former born in Macon, in 1853, while the latter was born in Somerville, in the same year. Their marriage was celebrated in Somerville in 1874 and for many years they resided in Arkansas. The father was graduated from Lebanon College at Lebanon, Tennessee, and became one of the foremost educators of Arkansas, contributing much to the intellectual de- velopment and progress of the state. In politics he has always been a democrat. He lives in Porterville, California, but his wife died in 1895. They were the parents of

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two children, the daughter being Kathleen, now the wife of Paul Kratz, a resident of Louisville, Kentucky.

In 1884 William Hardy Tharp removed with his family to Searcy, Arkansas, and built Searcy College, of which he was president for some time. In 1892 he removed with his family to Little Rock and established Tharp's Academy, from which his son, William, J., was graduated as a member of the class of 1895, having pursued his preliminary education in the Fathers College at Searcy. Through the intervening period of twenty-six years William J. Tharp has figured in the business circles of the capital city. Steadily he has worked his way upward through individual ability and merit, making excellent use of his time and opportunity, until today he is the auditor and secretary of the Little Rock Railway & Electric Company and is also one of the directors of that corporation. He is likewise the vice president and a director of the Inner City Terminal Railway Company of North Little Rock and is the secretary and one of the directors of the Central Heating & Manufacturing Company of this city. His keen sagacity and sound judgment make his cooperation of great value to any business concern with which he becomes identified, for he readily discriminates between the essential and the non-essential and so directs his affairs as to produce the greatest success possible under given conditions.

From the time when he attained his twenty-first year Mr. Tharp has been en- rolled with the ranks of the democratic party, loyally supporting its principles and its purposes. He has membership in Christ Episcopal church, is assistant superin- tendent of its Sunday school and active in its work. He belongs to the Country Club, of which he is secretary and is serving also on its board of governors and his social qualities make for popularity wherever he is known.

On the 29th of September, 1904, Mr. Tharp was married to Catherine C. Collins, who was born in Little Rock, August 9, 1885, a daughter of Charles Cummins and Catherine (Conefort) Collins, the former a native of Memphis, Tennessee, while the latter was born in Mississippi. Mr. Collins has departed this life. His widow sur- vives and makes her home in Little Rock. Mr. and Mrs. Tharp have become the parents of two children: Winston Collins, born on July 29, 1906; and Catherine C., born July 9, 1908. Mrs. Tharp is a graduate of the Little Rock high school.

HARRY KING COCHRAN.

When old age comes upon one, when the tasks of life have been fitly performed and its burdens have been laid down, it seems but fitting that one should pass from life to eternity. But when the individual is cut off in his prime, while his labors are still constituting an important factor in the world's work, when he is still contribut- ing to all that is beneficial in connection with the upbuilding and progress of his com- munity, then death comes as a calamity. The news of the demise of Harry King Cochran carried with it a sense of bereavement into the hundreds and hundreds of homes in which he was known. Little Rock lost one of her most representative men-a man who not only figured prominently in business life but also in political circles and in connection with the intellectual and moral progress of the community in which he lived.

The old family homestead, Loch Willow, situated near Staunton, in Augusta county, Virginia, was his birthplace, his natal day being November 20, 1853. While spending his youth in the home of his parents, James Addison and Jane Annis ( Blair) Cochran, he acquired his primary education in the schools of Culpeper Courthouse, Virginia, and later became a student in the Louisville high school at Louisville, Kentucky, from which in due course of time he was graduated. The family had in the mean- time removed to the Blue Grass state and Harry K. Cochran started out in the busi- ness world in Louisville, where he remained until 1881. That year witnessed his arrival in Little Rock, whither he came as the representative of the Waters-Pierce Oil Com- pany, his territory covering Arkansas and northern Louisiana. He was ambitious, however, to engage in business on his own account and directed his activities and opportunities toward that end. After a residence of about four years in Little Rock he was able to carry out his plans in that direction and established business as a commission merchant and merchandise broker, handling flour, grain and feed. For a number of years he conducted business at 219 to 223 Sherman street and as the years passed he built up a husiness of large and substantial proportions, becom- ing recognized as one of the prominent grain trade men of the city.

In the year 1884 Mr. Cochran was united in marriage to Miss Irene Haney, a daughter of Mrs. Sarah Haney and a sister of Captain J. H. Haney. They became the parents of four sons: Samuel Adams, Harry King, John Claiborne and Joseph

HARRY K. COCHRAN

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Haney. The religious faith of the family is that of the Episcopal church and for a number of years Mr. Cochran was a member of the vestry of Christ church and Trinity cathedral and for an extended period was the treasurer of the board of the Ada Thompson Home. Throughout his entire life he was constantly extending a help- ing hand where aid was needed. His benevolent acts were most quietly and unosten- tatiously performed, but he never forgot his duties nor his obligations to his fellow- men. At the time of his demise one of the Little Rock papers said editorially: "Lit- tle Rock lost one of its leading citizens in the passing away of Harry King Cochran, whose death was all the greater shock from the suddenness with which it came. His was a full and well rounded life and a life of good citizenship. He was the father of a family; he did his part in business, in the church, and in public affairs, and he had the respect and esteem of the community, which is poorer for his having been taken away."

In politics, too, Mr. Cochran was a prominent figure. He gave earnest and un- faltering allegiance to the republican party for many years and then joined the progressive party, being a stanch admirer and also a warm personal friend of Theo- dore Roosevelt. "The foremost American" was entertained in the home of Mr. Cochran and the latter had the utmost faith in the man, who never hesitated in express- ing in virile manner his opinions concerning aught that affected for good or bad the fair name of America.

To every standard of American manhood and citizenship Harry King Cochran faithfully measured up. When he was called to his final rest the Right Rev. James R. Winchester, bishop of the diocese, said: "Trinity cathedral at Little Rock sus- tained an irreparable loss in the death of Mr. Cochran, a true friend, a loyal church- man and a courteous gentleman. He came to the rescue of the cathedral at a critical moment last autumn and illuminated the situation by his generosity and good judg- ment. * * * We shall miss his wise counsel, generous help and loving sympathy."

George B. Myers, rector of Trinity cathedral, wrote: "My Dear Mrs. Cochran: No words of mine can avail in the great sorrow that has come to you. Nothing can ever be quite the same again and only time and patience will bring relief. Although it was given me to know your dear husband for only too short a time, I knew him from the first as a true man, a loyal friend and a devoted Christian gentleman. His kindness and sympathy to me, personally, his never failing welcome and good cheer will remain among the bright spots in my life, and I shall miss him more and more as the days pass. His counsel and interest in the cathedral, and at a time when it was needed most, will be sadly missed."

A most beautiful and merited tribute was made to Mr. Cochran by William Porter Stone of Denver, Colorado, who said in part: "And it is well worth our while, as we kneel to place the flower of our sorrow on the grave of this dear friend, to consider the guiding principles of his life; for such consideration will inevitably teach us that we must fight fairly, as well as bravely; that readiness to fight must be ever tem- pered by sturdy avoidance of a quarrel; that rough vigor may go hand in hand with gentleness, and that, in the pursuit of wealth and material success, while we must diligently exercise our best intelligence, energy and determination, we must also, as he, hold ever firmly to integrity.

"Cochran sold many loads of grain to unwilling purchasers. He never sold a bushel that was not up to sample, or freely and gladly and promptly made so. If all business men had his high standard of business ethics, and his successful determina- tion to adhere to it, there would be no bonding companies. In active business for more than forty years, he left a spotless record, filled with the fruits of his unbounded energy, his great business capacity, his success, his generosity, his good deeds.

"The last time I visited in that hospitable home, we were sitting on the veranda; one of the elder sons was teasing his brothers. The father made some 'blood-curdling' threat, and the teasing stopped, with a good laugh all around. No formal scolding, no high-sounding admonitions could have so fully accomplished his purpose.

"'Except ye become as one of these little children ye cannot euter the kingdom of heaven.'

"When that active, brave, determined, virile spirit was called home by the Father, he did not have to again become a child; he had remained one always. The knowledge of good and evil, gained through the hard knocks of life, served only to strengthen and increase those beautiful qualities with which most children are blessed. At the age of fifty-nine he understood and sympathized with joys and sorrows of childhood as thoroughly as when only nine. And yet there was no loss to the dignity of manhood. The world thoroughly respected Mr. Cochran. He clearly exemplified in his daily life that there is nothing incongruous in one breast holding in close union the heart of a clean, pure child, and the spirit of the thoroughly competent, determined, successful man.

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"His sons lose not only his wise counsel and fatherly love; they lose a comrade, a hrother-the best brother, because the wisest and most charitable.

"But whatever may be our individual beliefs, we know that such spirits do not die. Nothing is dead so long as its effects remain; and when the children, friends of his last years, shall have become aged and feeble, the bright, cheerful, loving, helpful spirit of Harry King Cochran will be with them, helping to all good deeds.

"'Faith, Hope, and Charity; and the greatest of these is Charity.' This was the essence of the creed of his practical daily life. Faith in the goodness of God and of his fellowman; undaunted hope in the darkest hours; and a charity that knew no bounds: these were the guiding principles of that active, well spent life.

"His was not the so-called charity of the Pharisee, content with giving only material aid to the down and out; that now common solace of consciences, atrophied and seared by seizing from others the fruits of their toil. He, like most of his southern contem- poraries, especially in the battle swept zone, was deprived of the advantages of college culture that he would have received, had he been born ten years earlier, or ten years later. Yet, no erudite professor of Greek could more clearly define the real meaning of that beautiful word, charity, than did H. K. Cochran by his daily life's outward and in- ward grace, loveliness; a favor felt by the doer of kindness, good will; the sense ot favor received, gratitude; a gratification, a delight; which may, in Anglo-Saxon, in one word, be most nearly summed up in 'love.'

"With his material assistance there went a twinkle of the eye, a kindly jollying, a goodwill, that enhanced the gift or other assistance a thousand fold, and sent his brother on his way with hope and determination in his heart, as well as money in his pocket. I have referred to Mr. Cochran's lack of college culture . It was not evident to the world. He deplored it, not with idle regret, but with determination to remedy it. He went to the task with the energy, vigor, determination and intelligence char- acteristic of all his work. Had he been, and remained, unable to read, he would have been a gentleman. His ancestors, for many generations, had most carefully attended to that. But he was, even in his young manhood, far more. He was polished and cultured, and largely by his own efforts; by wide, judicious, and careful reading and intelligent observation. He always had something to say that was well worth hearing and heeding; and he would have become a most attractive, entertaining, and instructive public speaker had he not been prevented by his ever present heart trouble.

"Cicero said: 'Whoever restrains his passion within the bounds of reason, and uniformly acts, in all the various relations of life, upon one steady, consistent prin- ciple of approved honor, justice and beneficence, that man is in reality, as well as in common estimation, strictly and truly good.' So we say that H. K. Cochran was strictly and truly good.

"Cicero referred to a great Pagan general. The applicability of his words, writ- ten two thousand years ago, to a merchant of our present world, shows that it is not the kind of weapons we use in the battles of life, nor the character nor size of the theatre of our operations, nor the school of our religious beliefs that count in estimating the quality of our struggle or the fruits of our victories. Throughout the ages the question will always be as it has ever been: 'Has he fought a good fight; has he kept the faith?' Cochran's whole life was one of simplicity and genuine friendship, 'in- compatible with every kind and degree of artifice or simulation.' We really knew the man. We know he fought a good fight, a successful, brave, clean, honorable fight; and that he continually and loyally kept the faith with God and his fellowman.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 151

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