Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 158

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 3d of December, 1882, in Magnolia, Arkansas, Mr. Ferguson was united in marriage to Miss Fannie E. Smith, who was born in Ripley, Mississippi, in 1862, and is a daughter of T. T. and K. H. Smith, natives of Mississippi. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have been born four sons and a daughter, all of whom died in childhood save one son, John W., who was the third in order of birth in the family. He was born October 25, 1885, and was married in December, 1908, in Columbia county, Arkansas, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Cochran. Their children are: Joseph A., born in January, 1910; Wilbur B., in June, 1913; and John B., in March, 1915.

Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson occupy an enviable social position in the state capital and the circle of their friends is almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance. Mr. Ferguson has devoted much of his life to public service and all who know aught of his career acknowledge the worth of his labors in connection with important public interests. He has been a close student of economic, sociological and political questions and on all such keeps abreast with the best thinking men of the age.

H. BEN SHREVE.

H. Ben Shreve, a well known civil engineer of Fayetteville, was born near Farmington, Arkansas, on the 11th of September, 1869, his parents being W. F. and Millie (Brown) Shreve, who were natives of Kentucky and of Tennessee respectively. The grandfather in the paternal line was Wilson Shreve, who was born in Kentucky and at an early day took up his abode in Washington county, Arkansas, where . he spent the residue of his life. He was a member of the Home Guards during the Civil war and he always devoted his attention to the occupation of farming. The grand- father of H. Ben Shreve in the maternal line was Benson Brown, a native of Tennessee, in which state he was reared and married and then removed to Arkansas. He, too, established his home in Washington county, where his demise occurred prior to the Civil war. The marriage of W. F. Shreve and Millie Brown was celebrated in Wash- ington county, where they located in early life. Mr. Shreve always devoted his time to the tilling of the soil and developed a good farm. He died in 1911, at the age of seventy years. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil war for about nine months and he always gave his political allegiance to the republican party, while fraternally he was connected with the Masons. His wife was a member of the Christian church. They had three children: Walter, who is now devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits near Farmington, Arkansas; H. Ben; and Hugh W., who is also farming near Farmington.

H. Ben Shreve enjoyed liberal educational advantages. After attending the public schools he continued his education in the University of Arkansas and was graduated with the class of 1892. Following the completion of his course he took up civil engineer- ing and has since followed this pursuit. He engaged in railroad work along the line of his profession from Pennsylvania to California between the years 1902 and 1910. He then returned home and here entered the railroad employ, being engaged on con- struction work. For some time he has now been connected with work that is being done on the roads in his county. He is familiar with various phases of civil engineering and the problems that confront the representatives of the profession and his capability and power are demonstrated in the readiness with which he solves these problems. In addition to his professional interests he has one hundred and forty acres of land near Farmington and thereon engages in the raising of grain and stock.

In 1906 Mr. Shreve was united in marriage to Miss Frances Moore, who was born in Woodruff county, Arkansas, and they have become parents of three children, Hiler, Henry and Thurza, all of whom are attending school.

Mrs. Shreve belongs to the Christian church and Mr. Shreve usually attends the services with her. He is a republican in politics but not an office seeker. The

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duties and responsibilities of citizenship, however, are never neglected by him and he is at all times ready and willing to promote any project or enterprise that will benefit the community.

CARTER LEWIS.

Carter Lewis, cashier of the National Bank of Mansfield, has made for himself a most creditable position in business and financial circles-a position which many an older man might well envy. He has been a lifelong resident of this section of the state, his birth having occurred at Abbott, about three miles east of Mansfield, in 1899, his parents being C. C. and Gertrude (Carter) Lewis, the former a native of Arkansas and the son of P. P. Lewis, who was an officer of the Confederate army. C. C. Lewis became a lumberman and for some time was associated with the Fort Smith Lumber Company, conducting a profitable business in that connection. At the present writing he is filling the position of postmaster of Abbott and he is also conducting a brokerage business in fruit. The Carter family, to which Mrs. C. C. Lewis belongs, came from Louisville, Kentucky, and for many generations has been represented in the sonth. Representatives of the family were prominent in the Confederate army during the Civil war and some of the name were killed in battle.

Carter Lewis was educated in the Mansfield high school and in the Henderson- Brown College. When his textbooks were put aside he started out in the business world and became bookkeeper for the National Bank of Mansfield, with which he has since been identified. His capability and fidelity won him promotion and since January, 1921, he has been cashier of the institution. This bank was organized in 1901, its first officers being: W. L. Seaman, president; C. C. Graves, cashier; and A. T. Boothe, vice president. From the beginning the bank has enjoyed a steady and substantial growth and is regarded as one of the reliable moneyed concerns of this part of the state. The officers at the present writing are: C. C. Graves, president; R. O. Landrum, vice president; and Carter Lewis, cashier. .

In 1920 Mr. Lewis was united in marriage to Miss Sadie Newell and they have many warm friends in Mansfield, enjoying the hospitality of the hest homes here. During the World war Mr. Lewis entered the service and was with the artillery forces at Camp Taylor. He is ever loyal in support of those progressive measures which have to do with the welfare of community, commonwealth or country.

WILLIAM I. HAIZLIP.

William I. Haizlip, one of the foremost citizens and leading cotton brokers of Pine Bluff, continued actively in business to the time of his death, which occurred August 31, 1892. His life was passed in the south, although his birth occurred near the Atlantic seaboard, for he was a native of the state of North Carolina and his natal day was October 17, 1859. His parents were Hardin and Christine ( Dalton) Haizlip, who had a family of twelve children. The father was extensively engaged in farming in North Carolina and devoted his life to agricultural pursuits.

In the public and high schools of his native state William I. Haizlip pursued his education while spending his youthful days on his father's farm, gaining business experience and thorough training through the assistance which he rendered his father and acquainting himself in considerable measure with the tobacco market and industry. In young manhood he turned his attention to the cotton brokerage business and then, seeking a wider field for his operations, prompted by a laudable ambition, he re- moved to Sherman, Texas, and was there associated with his uncle in the cotton business and there he resided until he came to Pine Bluff. Here he conducted business as a cotton broker and had been a resident of Pine Bluff for but a brief period when he was recognized as one of its foremost citizens, by reason of the extent and im- portance of his business interests, his capability therein displayed and the progressive spirit which he manifested in matters of citizenship. He remained an honored and valned resident here to the time of his demise and exerted considerable influence over public thought and action.

On the 20th of February, 1889, Mr. Haizlip was united in marriage to Miss Millie M. Scull, a daughter of Henry W. Scull, of a prominent Pine Bluff family. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Haizlip was blessed with a son and a daughter: Henry H., who was born in Pine Bluff, January 28, 1890, and is now one of the prominent young business men of the city, having succeeded his father in the cotton brokerage business;

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and Josie, who is the wife of Major F. E. McCammon. Mrs. Haizlip still makes her home in Pine Bluff, residing at No. 1223 West Sixth street. Mr. Haizlip always gave his political allegiance to the democratic party, being one of the stanch advocates of its principles, and he served as a member of the city council in Pine Bluff, exercising his official prerogatives in support of various plans and measures for the general good; but whether in office or out of it he always gave his aid to any project looking to the welfare and benefit of community and state.

MRS. JEANNE FOX WEINMANN.

Mrs. Jeanne Fox Weinmann, one of the native daughters of Little Rock, whose natural charm and ability and enthusiastic interest in civic affairs has contributed much toward public progress, is a daughter of John Wesley and Anna Jeannette (Compton) Fox. She traces her lineage back to a period that antedates the colonial epoch in American history, at which period her ancestors were residents of the new world, participating in all those great events which made history. They were espe- cially active in connection with the military affairs of the country that led to the establishment of American independence and the maintenance of American rights through the later wars. That the ancestral line is an unbroken one is shown by the fact that she is identified with a number of the societies whose membership depends upon an unbroken lineage from forbears who were active participants in the wars of the country or in colonial events. The progenitor of the Fox family in America was Thomas Fox, who came from England to the new world in 1640 and he was one of the founders of Concord, Masachusetts. Mrs. Weinmann's father, John Wesley Fox, was a native of Indiana, and a lawyer of distinction. After his removal to Arkansas he was elected to the state legislature and was subsequently appointed a judge of the United States district court for Arkansas, a position which he had been filling at the time of his demise. His wife was the daughter of an eminent jurist, F. W. Compton, who held the position of associate justice of the supreme court of Arkansas, filling the position with honor to himself and satisfaction to the commonwealth for many years. Judge Compton was a native of North Carolina and came to Arkansas in 1849. He lived in Dallas until 1871. He removed to the capital on being elected to the supreme bench.

Accorded liberal educational advantages and reared in an atmosphere of culture and refinement Mrs. Jeanne Fox Weinmann thus spent the days of her girlhood and maidenhood. Her first husband was Richard Lambert Raleigh, a native of Little Rock. In 1902 she became the wife of John Francis Weinmann, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and one of Little Rock's most successful business men. He is the owner of a large mill in this city devoted to the manufacture of Purity cream meal and is rec- ognized as one of the state's most prominent grain dealers. His plant is the largest in this section, covering four acres. Mrs. Weinmann has a son, Cecil Baring Raleigh, who is a graduate of the Culver Military Academy. He volunteered in the World war while still in his minority and went to the Marine Camp at Quantico, Virginia. Without further training he was commissioned a first lieutenant of the Eightieth Company, Sixth United States Marines. With his command he went to France and in June, 1918, he was gassed in Belleau wood, when he was sent to the hospital, there remaining until September, when he was promoted to the captaincy and placed in command of the Sixth Marine Guards at Brest, France. Captain Raleigh resigned his commission in September, 1920. He has not yet fully recovered his health. The family home is at No. 2214 Battery street in one of the handsome residence districts of Little Rock. Mrs. Weinmann presides with most gracious hospitality over her beautiful home but is not a society woman in the usually accepted sense of the term. She is keenly interested in those affairs which make for better citizenship and the promotion of civic interests. She is a life member of the Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America and is the state historian of this society. She belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution through her descent from Stephen Fox, William and George Lea and John Cochrane, and is state treasurer of that organiza- tion. Through John Fox and Colonel John Miller she is a Daughter of 1812, and is state president of that organization. She is also president of the T. J. Churchill Chap- ter, U. D. C. She is chevalier commander of the Order of Lafayette in Arkansas, and a member of the Mary Washington Memorial Association. Doubtless the most dis- tinguished honor which has been bestowed upon her was her election to life mem- bership in the Societe Academique de Histoire Internationale. This society selects its members and such election is particularly an honor to Mrs. Weinmann as she is the only American woman to have been accorded election to that body. In the Memorial

MRS. JEANNE F. WEINMANN

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of the Societe published in Paris in 1921 a portrait and a short account of her work appeared in connection with that of other members from various parts of the world. She is a life member of the Red Cross, member of the Woman's National Foundation, League of Women Voters and the International League of Women. She is also a charter member of the Military Society of the Frontiers. She is proudest to belong to the Arkansas Pioneers' Association, through her grandparents, Freeman Walker Comp- ton and Susan Lea. Her political endorsement is given to the democratic party. She is keenly interested in the vital questions and problems of the day and especially those things which have to do with the advancement of civic standards and ideals in Little Rock.

ROBERT L. MEEK, M. D.

Dr. Robert L. Meek is a well known and successful medical practitioner of Ashdown, where he has maintained an office during the past three years. His birth occurred in Nolanville, Texas, on the 18th of March, 1863, his parents being Joseph J. and Minerva (Boyd) Meek, the latter a native of Carroll county, Arkansas. He was reared on the home farm to the age of fourteen years, when he was left an orphan by the death of his mother, the father having departed this life when the son was but eight years of age. Thus early thrown upon his own resources, he went to the ranch of a brother-in-law in western Texas. His preliminary educa- tion, obtained in the common schools, was supplemented by a course of study in Salado College of Texas. In that state he devoted his efforts and attention to ranching until twenty-four years of age, when he determined to prepare for a pro- fessional career and accordingly entered the medical department of the University of Georgia, being graduated therefrom in 1888. Sixteen years later, or in 1904, he was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Dallas, Texas. He first located for practice in Freestone county, Texas, and there continuously fol- lowed his profession until 1905, when he came to Arkansas, settling first at Ozan, where he remained for about fourteen years. Since January, 1919, however, he has maintained his office in Ashdown, where he has built up an extensive general practice that has come to him in recognition of his pronounced skill and success in the field of his chosen profession.

Dr. Meek joined the Masonic fraternity at Ozan, becoming a member of Friend- ship Lodge, No. 518, of which he served as master. Dependent upon his own resources from the age of fourteen years, his record may well serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to others, showing what may be accomplished by determination and diligence. He has gained a well merited reputation as an able practitioner of medicine and surgery and has won an extensive circle of friends by reason of his genuine personal worth and many commendable traits of character.

J. N. AND FRANK W. WARD.

One of the most extensive and important corporate interests of Arkansas is that conducted under the name of the Border City Ice & Cold Storage Company, of which J. N. and Frank W. Ward are respectively the manager and assistant manager. This company operates thirteen different plants in the state and the Border City Ice Company and the Fort Smith Ice & Cold Storage Company have the largest ice plants in Arkansas. The founder and senior partner of the business is J. N. Ward, accounted one of the most alert, progressive and enterprising men of the southwest. The Border City Ice & Cold Storage Company, with its main plant and its various branches, constitutes a million-dollar concern and is con- ducted as a family partnership, eight members of the family being interested therein. Its branches are located in various cities of Oklahoma and of Arkansas and the business has enjoyed a steady and substantial growth through the thirty- five years of its existence. The plant at Fort Smith, supplying practically all of the ice used in the city, has a one-hundred-ton daily capacity, and the Fort Smith Ice & Cold Storage Company has a plant with a capacity for forty thousand barrels of apples during the winter season. With the settlement and development of the territory adjacent to Fort Smith, and in fact covering western Arkansas and Okla- homa, the need arose for many other ice plants to meet the public demand, until today the company is operating thirteen in all in various cities of the two states. J. N. Ward, the active manager of the business, has been associated with the under- taking for thirty-five years, while Frank W. Ward. the assistant manager, has

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been active in the enterprise for a quarter of a century. Prior to the time when they concentrated their efforts and attention upon ice manufacture they were exten- sively engaged in cattle raising, handling from five to ten thousand head of steers annually. After the organization and promotion of their ice business they attempted to give attention to both lines, but the development of their cattle trade and of their ice manufacturing interests made it impossible to manage both and forced the necessity of a choice of one or the other line. After due consideration they de- cided to abandon the cattle industry and devote themselves exclusively to the manu- facture of Ice. Their progress has been due to careful organization and to a recog- nition of opportunities for the enlargement of their business by the establishment of additional plants. Moreover, their interests have been of the greatest possible benefit to the communities in which they operate and each individual business is a monument to the well defined purpose and thoroughly organized efforts of its promoters.

Frank W. Ward, assistant manager of the company, was born in Lavaca, Se- bastian county, Arkansas, in 1875, his parents heing Frank and Christine (Camp- bell) Ward, the latter now living at the advanced age of eighty years. The father came to Arkansas from Tennessee and followed farming in this state. He was a captain in the Confederate army and now lies buried in the national cemetery at Fort Smith. There were twelve children in the family, of whom five daughters and two sons are yet living.

Frank W. Ward was married in 1902 to Miss Lulu Bell Moody, a daughter of Squire Moody of Monsana township, Sebastian county, and they have become par- ents of two children: Francis, seven years of age; and Lillian, who is a maiden of fourteen summers.

Mr. Ward is well known in fraternal organizations, belonging to the Knights of the Maccabees, the Elks, the Eagles, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the T. P. A. He has been a lifelong resident of Arkansas and has achieved notable success, while his methods at all times have been such as would bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. Recognizing and utilizing the opportunities for legiti- mate advancement in the business world, he stands today among those who control large interests in the southwest and his efforts have ever been of a character which have contributed to public progress and prosperity as well as to individual success.

JOSEPH I. NORRIS, D. D.

The consensus of public opinion was that there has never passed from the scene of earthly activities to the home beyond a man more deeply beloved in Pine Bluff than was Dr. Joseph I. Norris, pastor of the First Presbyterian church. His broad sympathy and his great love for mankind had endeared him to all-young and old, rich and poor, both within and without the church; and not until the shadows of night have fallen for the last time over those who were his associates, friends and fellow workers will he cease to be remembered and his memory cherished and honored.

Dr. Norris was horn at Edina, Knox county, Missouri, on the 8th of January, 1869, being one of the two children whose parents were Captain and Mrs. A. W. Norris, who for some years resided at Mabelvale, Arkansas. The family removed to Little Rock in 1875, when Joseph I. Norris was but six years of age, and there he was reared to manhood and acquired his elementary education. He afterward attended Arkansas College at Batesville, where he was graduated in the year 1891, and having determined upon the preaching of the gospel as his life work, he became a student in the Columbia Theological Seminary at Columbia, South Carolina, where he remained as a student for four years. From that time forward his life was given to the ministry. In the year of his graduation he entered upon the pastorate of the Central Presbyterian church at Little Rock, where he labored for three years and then went to Newport, where he spent a similar period in pastoral service. He next accepted a call from the First Presbyterian church at Orlando, Florida, where he continued for six years and it was during that period that Rollins College of Winter Park, Florida, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Such was his popularity at Orlando that when he resigned his pastorate there to come to Pine Bluff virtually every citizen of the town went to the station to bid him and his family farewell.

It was on the 28th of April, 1898, that Dr. Norris was united in marriage to Miss Ernestine Brodie, a daughter of John Brodie of Little Rock. For a number of years she has been a leader in the literary and musical circles of the state and

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at all times was the active helpmate of her husband in the splendid work he was doing for humanity. They became the parents of four children: Ernestine, who was born April 14, 1899, and is the wife of Virginius W. Alexander, a well known citizen of Pine Bluff; Eunice I., who was horn August 31, 1904, and is now the wife of Vernon D. Niven, also residing in Pine Bluff; Ailee, at home; and Joseph 1., who was born June 15, 1908, and is now a high school pupil at Pine Bluff.

Dr. Norris was a Mason of high rank, having attained the Knights Templar degree in the York Rite and become a member of the Mystic Shrine. He was also identified with the Imperial-Juliet Lodge No. 6, K. P., and he had membership in the Rotary Club. He took a keen and helpful interest in many civic, social and commercial organizations that had to do with the establishment of the standards and the promotion of the public welfare of his city. At no time was his cooperation sought in vain when the interests and welfare of the city were in any way involved. He helonged to the local lodge of Elks and upon him was conferred a life member- ship in recognition of the services which he had rendered the order. His patriotism was one of his pronounced characteristics. He voted with the democratic party but ever subjugated partisanship to the general welfare and at all times he held before the public the highest ideals of American manhood, chivalry and citizenship. He went to France during the World war as a representative of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, returning to his native country in 1919, at which time he resumed his pastoral duties in Pine Bluff and his active work for the interests of the city along all lines of civic improvement. The strenuous life he led by reason of these self-imposed tasks at length led to a physical collapse, forcing him to spend some time in a local hospital, after which he went to Memphis, Tennessee, for treatment and later to Colorado, in the hope of regaining his health. When he again took up his abode in Pine Bluff his physicians urged a discontinuance of many of the labors which had formerly occupied his attention, hut it seemed impossible for him to say "no" to any call that was made upon him where he might in any way serve his fellowmen. Just prior to his sudden death and against the advice of his physicians he went each day to the meetings which were held in the Young Men's Christian Association in connection with the Jewish relief campaign. Though he must have recognized the declination of his physical powers, this was never manifest in the loss of his cheerful spirit and his only worry seemed to be that he could not do more. The end came very suddenly with a cerebral hemorrhage and within a few hours he had breathed his last.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 158

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