Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 173

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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In 1907 Mr. Jernigan was joined in wedlock to Miss Nellie Churchill and they are the parents of one child, Gwendolyn. Mrs. Jernigan had a brother, Zepha Churchill, who served with the United States army in the World war. Mr. Jernigan belongs to the Order of Telegraphers and he also has membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is an energetic and forceful young business man, steadily working his way upward step by step, actuated by a laudable ambition and characterized by determined purpose.

BYRON C. SORRELS, M. D.

In almost every town in Arkansas is found some capable representative of the medical profession-men who hold to high standards in practice and have served their fellowmen with marked ability. Such a one is Dr. Byron C. Sorrels of Mans- field. He is a native son of Arkansas, born in Hempstead county on the 2d of Feh- ruary, 1866, his parents being Dr. J. W. and Anna ( Barnett ) Sorrels. The father, also a successful physician, practiced at Mansfield for many years. He was grad- uated from the medical department of the University of Louisville at Louisville. Kentucky, and then came to this state for active professional work. He was long established as one of the most efficient physicians of his part of the state and enjoyed the high regard and confidence of his colleagues and contemporaries in the profession as well as of the general public. At the time of the Civil war he served with the Confederate army and he was always loyal to the best interests and welfare of the city in which he made his home. His death occurred in 1913.

Dr. Byron C. Sorrels spent his youthful days under the parental roof, enjoy- ing the privileges and opportunities that came to most boys of the period, and after completing a public school course he attended the University of Arkansas at Little

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Rock in preparation for the practice of medicine and surgery. He became interested in this vocation through association with his father and when quite young determined to follow in his father's professional footsteps. With the completion of his University course he returned to Mansfield, where he has remained, and he is today recognized as the leading physician of the city. His ability is the result of close and compre- hensive study, thoroughness in everything that he undertakes and the utmost care exercised in the diagnosis of his cases.

In 1898 Dr. Sorrels was united in marriage to Miss Allie Davis of Sebastian county, and they have become parents of two children: Fay Hempstead and Duane. The former joined the army during the World war and was on active duty till his services were no longer needed. The family is well known in Mansfield, where Dr. Sorrels has so long resided. He enjoys the confidence, goodwill and high respect of all, his circle of friends being almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.

CALVIN BERNARD WALLER, D. D.

Dr. Calvin Bernard Waller, pastor of the Second Baptist church of Little Rock, was born at Jearoldstown, Greene county, Tennessee, July 30, 1874, and is a son of William A. and Sarah C. (Wilcox) Waller. The father, a native of Tennessee, came from a line of Scotch-Irish ancestors, of whom it is recorded that one rendered most distinguished service to Cromwell, then attempting to free Europe from monarchial misrule. The American line is descended from three brothers who came to the new world in early colonial days, one settling in Virginia. Many of the family were soldiers of the Revo- lutionary war and others were prominently known as soldiers of the cross, becoming ministers of the Baptist denomination. One of the name was imprisoned in the Cul- peper jail and preached the gospel through the bars. Rev. John L. Waller of Ken- tucky became a famous missionary preacher, carrying the gospel to the pioneers of that state. In 1820 the grandfather of Dr. Waller traveled by wagon to eastern Tennessee and settled in Jearoldstown when that section of the country was known as the "ter- ritory south of the Ohio river." William A. Waller, father of Dr. Waller, was a farmer in Washington county and a man much respected in his community. In politics he was a republican and during the Civil war joined the Union army, fighting in defense of the stars and stripes from 1861 to 1865. He died in 1919. His wife, who was born near Fall Branch, Tennessee, was also of Scotch-Irish lineage, her first American an- cestors settling in North Carolina at an early day. From the latter state a removal was made to eastern Tennessee. The marriage of William A. Waller and Sarah C. Wilcox was blessed with four children, of whom Dr. Waller is the eldest. The others of the family are: Joseph A, who is farming on the old homestead in Tennessee; Ann Lon Ellen, now the wife of J. N. Bailey, a farmer of Jonesboro, Tennessee; and Frank, who is engaged in merchandising at Asheville, North Carolina.

Dr. Waller was educated in the country schools and in the Jonesboro high school before receiving his collegiate training in the Carson-Newman College, from which he was graduated in 1901 with the Bachelor of Science degree. He also received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Union University of Jackson, Tennessee, in June, 1912. With a desire to serve, he spent four years as a teacher, becoming a member of the faculty of the Jonesboro high school, while later he was principal of the Fall Branch high school. He felt, however, that his real life work was in the pulpit and accepted a call from the church at Elizabethton, Tennessee, where he served for two years, be- ginning with a salary of but three hundred and twenty dollars per year, which later was increased to four hundred dollars. His next call was to the Baptist Tabernacle at Chattanooga, where he remained for six and a half years. He afterward served the

Dederick Avenue church of Knoxville. Tennessee, for two and a half years and then went to the First Baptist church at Asheville, North Carolina, where he continued for five and a half years. In February, 1917, Dr. Waller was called to the White Temple at Portland, Oregon, the largest church in that city. During his stay in Asheville, Dr. Waller had served his people so faithfully that it was with the deepest regret that they bade him good-bye and Godspeed. The Asheville Times of February 12, 1917, wrote a five-column article concerning Dr. Waller's departure, under the caption "Hundreds Wept as They Told Their Pastor 'Good-bye.'" "Hundreds of men, women and chil- dren of every walk of life passed by the altar at the three services Sunday and as at a funeral with trembling hand and tear-stained eye bid their pastor and friend, Rev. Dr. Calvin B. Waller, good bye. The demonstration was truly remarkable, probably exceeding anything that Asheville has ever accorded a private citizen."

Dr. Waller remained in Portland but a year, as the climate of that city seemed to be detrimental to the health of his wife. So with regret he severed his connections

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there and accepted a call to the Second Baptist church of Little Rock, Arkansas, where for nearly four years he has ministered to this congregation. Dr. Waller is an up- standing and courageous preacher, fearlessly announcing his opinions and convictions, holding tenaciously to the right and laboring untiringly for the adoption of Christian principles. In all of his work he has won the confidence and esteem not only of his congregation but of all with whom he comes into contact. Every church which he has served has almost doubled its membership during his pastorate.

Dr. Waller manifests an interest in public affairs that is largely uncommon to a minister. He is awake to the fact, however, that one of the real duties of the min- istry is to assist the people to solve the vital questions of this life as well as to pre- pare for the life to come. In the days of the war with John Barleycorn, Dr. Waller was president of the Anti-Saloon League in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and his life was repeatedly threatened by word and by letter by those who were opponents of prohibition, but he fearlessly carried on his work, utterly disregarding the threats that were made. and his labors were a resultant force in bringing support to the cause. As a pulpit orator he ranks high and as an evangelist he is regarded as one of the most effective in the Baptist ministry. The Second Baptist church of Little Rock is the largest in the state and its membership under Dr. Waller's teaching has greatly increased, es- pecially in the number of young men in attendance, who find in him a true and under- standing friend.

Dr. Waller is also a member of the board of Quachita College, a member of the Little Rock Board of Commerce, of the Lions Club, and of the Civitan Club. He is president of the Ministerial Alliance of Little Rock and a member of the state mission board and the educational board of the Southern Baptist Convention. His evangelistic work carries him as far as Tacoma, Washington, and his services are in great demand.

On the 21st of June, 1898, Dr. Waller was married to Miss Lela May Reed, a daugh- ter of Summerfield Reed of Telford, Tennessee. The Reeds were representatives of one of the honored pioneer families of that state and one of her ancestors, Dr. Summerfield Reed, was ranked with the most distinguished medical practitioners of Tennessee. The children of Dr. and Mrs. Waller are: Anna May, a graduate of the Asheville high school; Grace Reed, a pupil in the Little Rock Junior high school; and Dorothy Mynett.

Mrs. Waller, like her husband, is very active in church work. She is the presi- dent of one of the Woman's Missionary Circles of her church and her lahors wisely supplement those of her husband. Nature endowed Dr. Waller with keen intellectual force and he has used his talents wisely and well for the benefit of mankind, for he has been a close student of human nature, its frailties and its possibilities, and as he has passed from pastorate to pastorate and from duty to duty he has "awakened the little seeds of good, asleep throughout the world."

JOSEPH TURNER BEAL.

Through a period of forty-two years Joseph Turner Beal has heen a resident of Arkansas and since 1891 has made his home in Little Rock, where he has gained a creditable and prominent position in commercial circles as the president of the Beal- Burrow Wholesale Dry Goods Company, which is the largest establishment of the kind in the state. Along the lines of an orderly progression he has reached his present enviable position and there are few men whose lives are crowned with the honor and respect which are universally accorded Mr. Beal. With him success has been reached hy sterling qualities of mind, directing intense activity and energy, and throughout his entire career he has never deviated from what his judgment would indicate to be right and honorable between himself and his fellowmen. He was born on a plantation in De Soto county, Mississippi, January 5, 1857, and is a son of Turner Beal, who was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1816, but who spent many years of his life in Mississippi, becoming a planter in De Soto county. During the last two years of the Civil war he served as a Confederate soldier. He married Elizabeth Knott, who was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1820, and they became the parents of a family of three sons and two daughters, of whom two of the sons died in childhood, while the two daughters have also died, leaving Joseph Turner Beal the only surviving member of the family. The father departed this life in De Soto county, Mississippi, in 1871, while his widow, surviving for about twenty- two years, died in 1893.

The early educational opportunities which Joseph Turner Beal enjoyed were furnished in a private school, where he won his scholarship for the university at Oxford, Mississippi, before he attained his majority. He was a student there for one year but had to abandon his studies owing to the death of his father. Later he

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became a student in Emory and Henry College in Virginia. He was a young man of twenty-two years when in 1879 he removed from Mississippi to Morrillton, Arkansas, where he opened a general store, there conducting business for twelve years, or until 1891, during which time his trade gradually developed aud increased until it had assumed extensive and gratifying proportions. In the latter year he removed from Morrillton to Little Rock, where he entered the wholesale grocery trade, continuing the business until 1901, or for a decade. For three years the business was carried on under the name of the Beal & Fletcher Grocery Company and after 1904 became the Beal-Doyle Grocery Company, at which time the firm was doing the largest wholesale grocery business in Arkansas. In 1901 Mr. Beal organized the Beal-Doyle Dry Goods Company as a wholesale concern and so continued until 1913, when he sold out. Immediately afterward, however, he formed the Beal-Burrow Dry Goods Company for the conduct of a wholesale business, which has steadily developed and increased until it is now the largest in the state and the most progressive. Through a period of forty-two years Mr. Beal has been identified with commercial interests in Arkansas. Mere success has never throughout the history of the world, save in a few rare instances, been the cause of any man beiug remembered by his fellows and never has the mere accumulation of wealth won honor for the individual. The methods employed in the attainment of wealth, however, may awaken approval and admiration, for the world pays its tribute to him who through enterprise, unrelaxing effort and clear-sighted judgment makes advancement in business circles without infringing on the rights of others. Such has been the course which Mr. Beal has pursued and his life is an indication of the truth of the statement that the source of our power lies within ourselves. The high business ideals which he has cherished have found embodiment in practical effort for their adoption and he has long been regarded as a man of well balanced capacities and powers, who has occupied a central place on the stage of action almost from the time when his initial effort was made in the field of commercial enterprise in Little Rock.

In Morrillton, Arkansas, on the 30th of March, 1881, Mr. Beal was married to Elizabeth Jane Harrison, who was born on a farm in Faulkner county, Arkansas, in 1861, a daughter of Craven and Nancy (Baird) Harrison, who lived for some time in Faulkner county, Arkansas. The father was born in Virginia and both he and his wife have departed this life. Mrs. Beal was liberally educated and is a graduate of the Martha Washington College of Virginia. By her marriage she has become the mother of six children: Mrs. Lulu Turner Dibrell, of Little Rock; Ora Elizabeth and Joseph C., who died in childhood; Robert K., shipping clerk in his father's establishment; Carson, who also died in childhood; and Ruth Alline, who died at the age of sixteen years.

Mr. Beal votes with the democratic party. He has never allowed personal in- terest or ambition to dwarf his public spirit or activities and his breadth of view has not only seen possibilities for his own advancement but for the city's development as well, and his lofty patriotism has prompted him to utilize the latter as quickly and as effectively as the former. His religious faith is manifest in his membership in the First Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been steward since 1891, while for the past eight years he has been chairman of the board. His is the record of a strenuous life-the record of a strong individuality, sure of itself, stable in purpose, quick in perception, swift in decision, energetic and persistent in action.

ORAN D. WARD, M. D.

Dr. Oran D. Ward, devoting his time to the practice of medicine and surgery at England, was born in Searcy, Arkansas, December 18, 1874, his parents being R. A. and Amanda (Baker) Ward, the former horn near Union City, Tennessee, while the latter was a native of Georgia. The grandfather in the paternal line was the Rev. J. B. Ward, a Presbyterian minister, who came to Arkansas at an early day and settled in Independence county. One of his sons, Lafayette Ward, served in the Civil war. holding the rank of lieutenant in the army of General MacRae. R. A. Ward was likewise a soldier of the Confederate army, serving with General MacRae, and was captured and confined at Delaware Island, receiving his discharge at the close of hos- tilities. Obtaining a canoe, he and his companion crossed the Mississippi river, row- ing forty miles to a landing place. He later took up the occupation of carpentering and at the age of twenty-one years came to Searcy, where he learned the tinsmith's trade. Subsequently he entered the hardware business in Searcy and remained a merchant of the city for forty years, selling his store in 1903 to J. E. Lightle, He next purchased the Searcy Telephone Exchange and upon disposing of it retired from

DR. ORAN D. WARD

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active business. He had for many years been a forceful factor in the business circles of Searcy and his labors had been a valuable contributing factor to the growth and material development of the city. He married Amanda Baker, a daughter of John and Margerette (Carter) Baker, both of whom were natives of Georgia. On coming to this state the mother settled in Independence county and afterward removed to Cleburne county. John Baker, who was a shoemaker by trade, was too far advanced In years at the time of the civil war to enter the army and was designated as a pro- tector of the women and children whose husbands and fathers were at the front, and in this connection faithfully performed his duties. To Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Ward were born three children: Oran D. Ward, of this review; Robert Alexander, who is engaged in the wholesale grocery husiness in Searcy; and John Earl, deceased.

Dr. Ward pursued his education in the schools of his native city until he had completed the public school course and later he studied in Louisville, Kentucky, and in the University of Nashville, at Nashville, Tennessee, where he prepared for medi- cal practice, heing graduated with the class of 1902. He entered upon the active work of his profession in Tucker, Arkansas, and there remained through the succeeding two years, and in February, 1904, came to England, where he has continued in the active practice of medicine and surgery. He has long enjoyed an extensive practice, accorded him by reason of his recognized skill and ability in solving the intricate problems of health and disease. In 1916 he was appointed a member of the state medical board by Governor Hayes and rendered efficient service to the commonwealth in that connection. During the World war he volunteered for service and was assigned to the Medical Reserve Corps. In addition to his professional interests he is con- nected with cotton raising, having two hundred and sixty acres of land in Lonoke county devoted to cotton production.

Dr. Ward was united in marriage to Miss Myrtle F. Higman of Bastrop, Louisiana, a daughter of J. B. Higman. They have become the parents of one child, Marjorie Emma. Dr. Ward and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist church, taking a helpful interest in the church work, and they occupy as well an enviable position in the social circles of the city, having many warm friends here. Fraternally Dr. Ward is a Mason and loyally follows the teachings and purposes of the craft. In his professional connections he has made steady progress and is keenly interested in everything that tends to bring to man the key to the complex mystery which we call life.

J. H. BREWSTER, M. D.

Dr. J. H. Brewster, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Prairie Grove, was born on a farm on Cove Creek, twelve miles south of Prairie Grove, June 20, 1861, his parents being La Fayette and Elizabeth (Simpson) Brewster. The grandfather. Jeremiah Brewster, was a native of eastern Tennessee and was a prominent figure in connection with public affairs many years ago, representing his district in the state legislature. The Brewster family comes of English ancestry. The grandfather in the maternal line was J. M. Simpson, a native of Kentucky, who came to Arkansas in the pioneer epoch in the history of the commonwealth. The birth of La Fayette Brewster occurred in eastern Tennessee and his wife was born in Washington county, Arkansas, where they were married, the father having been but a small boy when brought to this state. He devoted his entire life to the occu- pation of farming but retired from active business several years prior to his demise, which occurred in Washington county. He served for four years in the Confederate army during the Civil war and he died in 1910, heing still survived hy his wife. They had a family of ten children, eight of whom are living: J. H .; Annie, the wife of H. L. Patterson, a retired farmer living at Hulhert, Oklahoma; Arthur, a farmer in the state of Washington; Mrs. Dollie Fain, a widow also residing in the state of Washington; J. B., a farmer of Canehill, Arkansas; Hugh, a government employe in Washington, D. C .; Frank, a minister of the Presbyterian church, now located in Missouri; and Fannie, the wife of Ross Moore, who occupies a state gov- ernment position at Claremore, Oklahoma. The religious faith of the family is that of the Presbyterian church, to which La Fayette Brewster belonged, while his political allegiance was given to the democratic party.

J. H. Brewster acquired his early education in the public schools of Canehill, Arkansas, and determining upon a professional career, he took up the study of medicine under private tutorship, spending a year in an office. He pursued his first course of lectures in the medical department of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and afterward was graduated from the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis with the class of 1887. He later entered upon active practice at Canehill, where he

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remained until 1891 and then came to Prairie Grove, where he has since continued. Through the intervening period of thirty years he has devoted his attention success- fully to the practice of medicine and surgery, his ability and efficiency constantly increasing through his broad study and as the result of wide experience, from which he has learned many valuable lessons.

In the year of his removal to Prairie Grove, Dr. Brewster was married to Miss Ella Shoffner, who was born in Washington county, a daughter of W. M. and Maude Shoffner, who were pioneer farming people of this section of the state. Dr. and Mrs. Brewster have become parents of a son and two daughters. Wallace Gordon, now a druggist of Prairie Grove, was in France for seventeen months during the World war with the Hospital Corps, going at once overseas, landing at Bordeaux, France, on the 20th of March, 1917. Vivian is the wife of W. H. Baggett, a merchant of Prairie Grove. Rebecca Howard is at home.

Mrs. Brewster belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, South, while Dr. Brewster in his fraternal relations is connected with the Masons, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. His political support has always been given to the democratic party and he has served as a member of the town council. Practically all of his time, however, has been devoted to his pro- fessional duties, which have ever been of an important and onerous character. He belongs to the Washington County Medical Society, of which he has served as presi- dent, and he also has membership in the Arkansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

BRATCHER E. PARK.

Every community has its representative business men-those who recognize and improve opportunities and whose labors are an element not only in the upbuilding of their own fortunes but in the development and progress of the community in which they live. To this class belongs Bratcher E. Park, the capable and popular cashier of the Farmers & Miners National Bank at Hartford. He is a young man whose future career, judged by what he has already accomplished, will be well worth watching. He was born in Waldron, Arkansas, in 1894, and is a son of S. J. and Allean (Poe) Park. The father, a native of Virginia, was a son of a Confederate veteran of the Civil war, who, on leaving the Old Dominion, removed across the country to Arkansas, settling in Scott county. S. J. Park followed the occupation of farming as a life work, owning and cultivating land in the vicinity of Waldron.

Bratcher E. Park pursued his education in the schools of Waldron and after putting aside his textbooks turned to the banking business as a field of labor which he believed would prove congenial. He obtained a position in the First National Bank at Waldron and there gained his initial experience in the business which has since claimed his time and energies. Later he was employed in the First National Bank of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as paying teller and continued to serve in that capacity until 1920, when he removed to Hartford and became the cashier of the Farmers & Miners National Bank of this place. He has since served capably and efficiently, his former experience well qualifying him for the duties and responsibilities that devolve upon him in his present connection.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 173

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