Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 3

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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Mr. DuBard gives his political allegiance to the democratic party, having firm belief in the principles of that party as factors in good government. Fraternally he is iden- tified with the Masons, belonging to Marked Tree Lodge, No. 668, F. & A. M. He is planning to complete the Scottish Rite in the near future. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist church, to the support of which Mr. DuBard is a gen- erous conributor. During the World war he was tireless in promoting the govern- ment's interests and not only served as county chairman of the War Savings Stamps drive, but was on the various Liberty Loan committees and as one of the Four-Minute men he made speeches throughout the county. He is one of Marked Tree's most pub- lic-spirited and progressive citizens and is connected with every organization that has for its purpose the development and improvement of the general welfare.

HENRY GRADY MANNING.

Henry Grady Manning is displaying marked efficiency as the manager of the Goldman Hotel of Fort Smith, although one of the youngest hotel managers in the United States in charge of a hotel of this size and character. Back of his present work. however, there has been long practical experience in hotel service from the position of check boy to that of control of all the business interests of the hostelry. Throughout the intervening period Mr. Manning. has made a close study of the desires, wishes and demands of the public as to hotel service.

Mr. Manning is a native son of Arkansas, his birth having occurred in Scott county, his parents being Dr. Henry G. and Virginia (Fuller) Manning. After completing his early education in the public schools near his home Mr. Manning came to Fort Smith to pursue a commercial course in a business college and while thus employed he accepted the position of check hoy in the dining-room of a hotel in order to pay for his meals. He afterward entered the serivce of the Eastman Hotel at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and there learned to cater to a very fastidious and discriminating patronage. Subsequently he was employed in the Queen Royal Hotel at Niagara, Canada, which received the wealthiest and most exclusive patronage of any hotel in the Dominion. He served there as room clerk and his painstaking efforts and unfailing courtesy marked him as one "to the manner born." Since that time he has been widely recog- nized as a most desirable man in connection with hotel management. His tact and agreeable qualities in meeting the public have been most potent forces in his success in hotel life. In 1917 he became assistant manager of the Marion Hotel at Little Rock, Arkansas, taking that position during the momentous days which marked the early preparations for war with Germany. Camp Pike was situated near Little Rock and his duties were increased to a notable degree in caring for relatives who came to the city in order to visit the boys who were training at Camp Pike. In 1919 Mr. Man- ning accepted the management of the Basin Park Hotel at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a popular summer resort in the Ozark mountains. A little later he was offered and Vol. 11- 2

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

accepted the management of the Goldman Hotel, the leading hostelry of Fort Smith, and has brought this hotel up to the present high standard, which he has maintained in connection with all of his hotel ventures. The Goldman has one hundred and fifty rooms, well appointed, maintains a splendid cuisine and excellent service in the cafe and is the center of almost all of the important social affairs, halls and other inter- ests of similar nature in Fort Smith. Mr. Manning always demands that the high- est type of service be rendered to patrons and by reason of this the business of the hotel has constantly increased. He has introduced many improved methods into the Goldman and has made it a hotel which would be a credit to a city of much larger size than Fort Smith. He is at all times energetic and alert, watchful of the interests and comfort of patrons and quick to adopt any new method or improvement that he believes will be of advantage in hotel management.

WILLIAM W. WOOD.

William W. Wood, of El Dorado, now a partner in the Southern Ice Company, was born in Roanoke, Alabama, August 15, 1877. His parents, Wyatt H. and Mary J. (Moody) Wood, were natives of Georgia, where they were reared, educated and mar- ried. Soon afterward they removed to Alabama where the father took up the occu- pation of farming. In 1883 he went to Hill county, Texas. There the mother died in 1887, and Wyatt H. Wood removed in 1901 to El Dorado, Arkansas, where he lived retired up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1902.

William W. Wood was educated in the Waco, Texas, public schools and when eighteen years of age entered upon an apprenticeship to the blacksmith and wagon making trade in Waco. In 1901 he came to El Dorado, where he opened a hlacksmith and wagon making shop, which he conducted for nineteen years. In January, 1921, he secured the agency for the Buick cars and engaged in the automobile business until January 1, 1922, when he became one of the proprietors of the Southern Ice Company.

In 1901 Mr. Wood was united in marriage to Miss Thula Steadman, a daughter of Robert C. Steadman, who was the founder of what is now the El Dorado Times. For six years he published the paper as the Union County Populist and then two or three years ago changed the name to the El Dorado Times. Prior to her marriage this paper was edited by Mrs. Wood, who since her marriage has given her attention to household affairs and the rearing of her two children: Emory D. and Mary A.

Mr. and Mrs. Wood and their children are all members of the Methodist Episco- pal church, South, and he is serving on the board of stewards. They take an active interest in church work and contribute generously to its support and do everything in their power to advance the cause. Mr. Wood helongs also to El Dorado Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M .; El Dorado Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M .; Albert Pike Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R., of Little Rock; and Al-Amin Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Little Rock. He is likewise identified with the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce, and his interest centers at all times in those channels through which flow the greatest good to the greatest numher.

ALGERNON SIDNEY GARNETT, M. D.

For forty-five years Dr. Algernon Sidney Garnett was one of the most noted representatives of the medical profession in Hot Springs, where he continued in active practice almost to the time of his death, which occurred October 30, 1919, when he was in his eighty-fifth year. He was born on Wakefield plantation, in Westmoreland county, Virginia, April 11, 1834, and was the son of Colonel Henry Garnett, at one time a member of the Virginia state legislature and one of the most prominent and influential residents of the Old Dominion. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Bankhead, was a daughter of Mrs. Eveline (Fermicelli) Bankhead, who was a ward of Lord Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia.

Dr. Garnett was educated in the University of Virginia and subsequently attended the Medical College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which he received his M. D. degree. He then went to New Orleans to take the examination for admission to the United States navy and passed the examination by the highest average ever made by any applicant up to that time. He was assigned to duty on the U. S. Man of War Saranac and was on a three years' cruise. During that time he secured a leave of absence and it was while he was making a trip ashore on the coast of Mexico that President

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

Diaz was shot by an assassin. Dr. Garnett being the only surgeon near, he was called upon and operated on the president, cutting out the hullet. Being an American, he was placed in a delicate position, for had the patient died under the operation, it was doubtful what the outcome might have been, Likely it would have resulted in his own death at the hands of some of the Mexicans, because of the feeling existing against the Americans.

Following the expiration of this three years' cruise Dr. Garnett was stationed at the Washington city navy yards for six months and was then assigned to duty on the Man of War Wyandotte for service in the Gulf waters off the coast of Mexico. There he was stationed at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war. When Virginia seceded from the Union he resigned his postiion and returned home to offer his services to the Confederacy. He enlisted in the Confederate navy and was later assigned to duty in the army, where his services as a surgeon were more urgently needed. He acted as surgeon on board the Merrimac when that vessel had its memorable fight with the Monitor and he was stationed in the bay of Mobile when the war closed.

Following the cessation of hostilities Dr. Garnett engaged in cotton growing in Alabama and while there he was offered the chair of physiology and hygiene in the University of Alabama and continued to fill that professorship for three years. He then came to Hot Springs, Arkansas, about 1873 or 1874 and continued to practice in this city to the time of his death, becoming one of its most noted physicians and sur- geons. Here he remained in active and successful practice for forty-five years, enjoy- ing the honor and respect of colleagues and contemporaries in the profession and of the general public as well. On the day that he was stricken with illness, only two days prior to his death, he was at his office in seemingly good health and attended an unusual number of patients, notwithstanding he had passed the eighty-fourth mile- stone on life's journey.

On the 30th of October, 1861, Dr. Garnett was married to Miss Alice Evelyn Scott of Washington, D. C., the marriage being celebrated in Richmond, where the mother of Miss Scott was a refugee, having run the blockade to return to the south. Dr. and Mrs. Garnett became the parents of five children three of whom are living: Wil- liam Henry, a resident of Little Rock; Evelyn Sidney, attorney at law, for many years located in New York city but now in the south; and Rita, the widow of Thomas Scott Boykin of Hot Springs. She has a son, Aubrey Boykin. Dr. Garnett was a member of the Hot Springs Medical Society, the Garland County Medical Society, the Arkansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He was long regarded as a man of pronounced ability in his profession in this city and his services were in constant demand not only hy the permanent residents of Hot Springs but by many of the hundreds of visitors who annually come to the city in search of health. He was most careful in the diagnosis of his cases and most conscientious in the performance of his professional duties, and his sterling personal worth combined with his professional skill to bring him to his place of high standing in the regard of his fellowmen.

JULES BELKNAP, M. D.

Dr. Jules Belknap, who has been an active and successful representative of the medical profession at Sulphur Springs for more than three decades, has been engaged in practice as a physician and surgeon in different cities of Arkansas since 1875, or for a period covering forty-six years. His birth occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1855, his parents being Gideon and Elizabeth Belknap, both of whom were born near Versailles, France. After crossing the Atlantic to the United States in 1849 they settled in New Orleans, where the father conducted a millinery establishment to the time of his death, which occurred in 1864. The mother passed away in Greene county, Missouri. Their family numbered five children, two of whom survive: David, residing at Harold, Missouri; and Jules, of this review.

When a little lad of ten years the latter was taken to Shelbyville, Illinois, by his mother, who had been left penniless at her husband's demise and who there rented a hotel which she conducted for a number of years. In this way she made sufficient money to purchase a farm. Having determined upon a professional career, Jules Belknap entered the medical department of the University of Missouri, which conferred upon him the degree of M. D. at his graduation with the class of 1873. He first located for practice in Springfield, Missouri, but at the end of two years removed to Arka- delphia, Arkansas, where he followed his profession for three years. On the expira- tion of that period he went to Little Rock, where he continued in practice for six years, while subsequently he spent four years as a physician of Scottsville, Arkansas.

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

The year 1890 witnessed his arrival at Sulphur Springs, where he has remained continu- ously since and has built up a practice of most extensive and gratifying proportions as his professional skill and ability has become more and more widely recognized.

At Hot Springs, Arkansas, Dr. Belknap was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Blenker, a native of Springfield, Missouri, who passed away in 1889. For his second wife he chose Miss Lydia Johnson, of Scottsville, Arkansas, and they became parents of four children who are yet living as follows: Mrs. ,Beatrice Baghy of Gulfport, Mississippi, who is a college teacher of music, while her husband is leader of a band; J. Rousseau, who is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and is now principal of the machine department as well as a director of the Reo Motor Company; Ray L., who is also a graduate of the University of Arkansas and is now employed in the New York office of the Allis-Chalmers Company; and Mrs. Anna Lee, a widow, living in Oklahoma City.

Dr. Belknap has always given his political allegiance to the democratic party and has served as health officer, in which position he is still active. His wife is a devoted and consistent member of the Baptist church. They are widely and favorably known throughout the community in which they reside and in which Dr. Belknap has long enjoyed an enviable reputation as a leading representative of the medical fraternity.

REV. T. A. PARK.

Rev. T. A. Park, a minister of the Presbyterian church, now engaged in preaching the gospel at Mena, was born in Greeneville, Tennessee, in October, 1873, and comes of Irish ancestry. His grandfather, James Blair Park, was born in Ireland and was but four years of age when brought to the United States by his parents, who settled on what became known as the old Park homestead near Greeneville, Tennessee. There James B. Park was reared and hecame a farmer, devoting his entire life to agricultural pursuits and his was the proud boast that he had assisted in raising eighty-four crops of corn. He died on the old home place at the age of eighty-eight years. His son, Robert D. Park, was horn on the farm and in young manhood entered the Presbyterian ministry, devoting his efforts to the work of preaching the gospel for a number of years. He was a graduate of the Union and Jefferson College near Knoxville, Tennessee, and afterward spent four years as president of that institution of learning. He also became the owner of farm property near Greeneville, Tennessee, his son, T. A. Park, being a partner with him in the ownership of that property. The father gave his political endorsement to the democratic party and he served as a chaplain in the Federal army during the Civil war. He wedded Mary Ann Alexander, who was also born in the vicinity of Greeneville, Tennessee, and was a graduate of a young ladies' college at Mcminnville, that state. Her father was Thomas Alexander, who became one of the pioneers of Tennessee, where he owned a good farm property, spending the major part of his life thereon. He was of Scotch lineage. To Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Park there were born five children, four of whom are living: Mrs. S. B. White, whose husband is a merchant of Johnson City, Tennessee; J. B., a farmer living at Tusculum, Tennessee; T. A., of this review; and Roy D., who occupies the old home- stead farm near Greeneville, which his father had formerly owned.

T. A. Park obtained his early education in the schools of Tusculum, Tennessee, completing his high school work there, after which he pursued a theological course at the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, and was graduated with the class of 1902. Ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian church he entered upon pastoral duties at Mason, Tennessee, where he engaged in preaching for seven years. In 1909 he came to Mena, where he has remained, so that he has had hut two charges. He has done splendid work in the church, hoth congregations growing under his administration and guidance, while his labors are constituting a forceful element in the moral progress of this community.

In 1906 Rev. Mr. Park was married to Miss Annie Jean Whitten, who was horn in Covington, Tennessee, and supplemented her early education by a year's study in the Normal School at Knoxville, Tennessee, while for a year she also studied at Nash- ville. She is a daughter of J. C. Whitten, a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, who in his boyhood days removed to Covington, Tennessee, and later entered mercantile circles there. He was reared hy Major Morgan, his uncle. By his second marriage he had four children and by a previous marriage there were two children: Mrs. B. B. Good- man, whose husband is a traveling salesman at Memphis, Tennessee; and Mrs. J. K. Marshall of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, whose hushand is a professor in a college. The children born of Mr. Whitten's second marriage are: J. G. Whitten, who now edits a paper at Greenwood, Arkansas; Mrs. T. A. Park; Mrs. H. M. Euart of England, Arkansas,

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

where her husband is engaged in the lumber business; and K. H., an electrician of Jackson, Tennessee, who married Miss Hollan Greene, a native of Covington, Tennessee, and a daughter of J. U. Greene, who was a colonel under General Forrest in the Confederate army.

Rev. Mr. Park is a member of the Masonic fraternity and both he and his wife are connected with the Order of the Eastern Star. He also belonged to the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and in politics he has always given his allegiance to the democratic party. He has served on the board of health in Mena and is now a scoutmaster. His wife taught school in western Tennessee and was principal of the Mena high school during two years of the World war-1917 and 1918. Like her husband she is most actively interested in the work of the church and as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Mena Rev. Mr. Park is contributing in notahle measure to the moral development of the community, taking active part in fixing the standards of right and wrong as enunciated in Biblical teachings. A man of most earnest purpose, his labors are far-reaching and resultant and Mena is largely indebted to him for the advanced standards of living which many of her citizens follow.

JOHN W. MAXWELL.

John W. Maxwell, banker and merchant at Fouke, Arkansas, with residence at No. 1017 Pecan street in Texarkana, is a native of West Virginia, his birth having occurred near Ravenswood in that state on the 27th of August, 1866. He enjoyed good educational opportunities and came to Arkansas when eighteen years of age. Here he began teaching school in Miller county and was recognized as one of the popular, proficient and prominent educators of the state through a period of seventeen years. In 1902 he established a general store at Fouke, where he has built up a large mercantile business, and he also became a factor in its banking circles, organizing the State Bank of Fouke, of which he was elected president, and also serving as director of the Merchant & Planters Bank of Texarkana. In 1914 he purchased a beautiful home on Pecan street in Texarkana and removed his family to the city but has continued to conduct his mercantile and banking interests at Fouke.

On the 11th of October, 1892, Mr. Maxwell was united in marriage to Miss Aro K. Mitchell and they have become parents of four children: Nellie, Alice, Robert and John W., to whom they have given good educational advantages.

Mr. Maxwell and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. taking a deep interest in the growth of the church and doing everything to expand its influence. In politics Mr. Maxwell has always been a democrat and has served on the central committee. He has never sought or desired office but served for several years on the school board at Fouke, the cause of education finding in him a stalwart champion. He belongs to the Woodmen of the World and also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Maccabees. His interests center in those lines through which flow the greatest good to the greatest number and he has been a contributing factor to many of those forces which make for the benefit, upbuilding and progress of the community.

CHARLES F. KING.

The drug business of Huntington finds a worthy representative in Charles F. King, part owner of the Kirkland Drug Store, and he is known as one of the sub- stantial men of the community. Mr. King is a native of Arkansas, his birth having occurred at Lonoke in 1896, and he is a son of Charles and Betty (Bange) King.

In the acquirement of an education Charles F. King attended the schools of Little Rock. Upon the completion of his course he engaged in the drug business in Hunt- ington and he has been active in that connection here ever since. He is now part owner of the Kirkland Drug Company, of which Frank Kirkland is the president, operating three drug stores. In April, 1917, Mr. King enlisted for service in the World war, was assigned to the Medical Corps as first-class private and was sent to Camp Pike for his training. He was in active service until the signing of the armistice, when he received his discharge and returned to Huntington and his business interests. Efficient in the administration of his business affairs, Mr. King has a comprehensive grasp of details and is also thoroughly competent in handling large situations in- volving the solution of intricate problems. Among his business associates he is re-

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ARKANSAS

garded as conscientious and trustworthy, never stooping to do anything not in accord with the highest standards of business ethics.

On June 14, 1921, Mr. King was united in marriage to Miss Cathleen Hudson of England. Mrs. King is prominent in the club and social circles of Huntington and her husband is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

JUDGE WILLIAM THOMAS MARTIN.

Judge William Thomas Martin, attorney at law of Camden, was born in Carthage, Lake county, Mississippi, July 16, 1851, and is of Scotch-Irish descent. He is a son of James S. and Jane (Mann) Martin, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter of Alabama. They were married in Carthage, Mississippi, and in 1856 came to Arkansas, settling in Bradley county, where the father purchased a plantation, bringing his slaves with him to this state and carrying on the work of developing his place with their aid. His wife died when their son, Judge Martin, was but two years of age. The father afterward married a sister of his first wife, Penina Mann. He died in 1884 at the age of sixty-three years.

Judge Martin pursued his early education in the common schools of Bradley county and was fortunate in having among his instructors Professor Hogue, a noted educator of that day. In his youth he began reading law and finished his studies under the preceptorship of Colonel Ben Johnson of Camden, being admitted to the bar in 1888. Prior to this time he had been engaged in farming with the exception of the year 1876, when he was employed by an uncle, G. D. Bustaumante of Jackson, Mississippi, in the machinery business. After his admission to the bar he maintained a law office in Camden but lived on the farm and continued to have the place cultivated with the aid of others. In 1888 he went on the road as a representative of the Memphis Appeal Avalanche, a prominent newspaper of the south, continuing with that publica- tion for six years, following which he was with the Scimitar of Memphis for a year. Later he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and took charge of the circulation department of the Nashville Sun upon the organization of that paper, with which he remained for a year. He had made a splendid record as an advertising man and by reason of this he decided to engage in the advertising business on his own account, his operations covering the entire country east of the Rocky mountains through a period of sixteen years, during which time he became one of the best known advertising men of the United States. In 1904, however, he left the road and that year was elected county judge of Ouachita county. During his term of office, in the face of strong opposition from west of the river, he induced the court to allow a one-mill assessment as a sinking fund to build the Ouachita bridge at Camden, and before the expiration of his term of office he appointed the commissioners and the bridge was built during the follow- ing term at a cost of sixty thousand dollars and was named the Martin bridge, in honor of Judge Martin. It is a public improvement of the greatest value to the community, as even those who opposed the move now acknowledge. Judge Martin, in 1912, originated a plan to build a number of parallel levees a mile or less apart, back from the Mississippi river to the mainland from above Cairo to above New Orleans, as spillways to let the water through in an overflow, when it gets above the danger line, into the rivers and bayous and smaller streams in the Mississippi valley, not allowing enough to go through to overflow their banks, which would relieve the pressure on the main levees on the Mississippi river front during a big overflow, being a kind of safety valve for the water above the danger line. This method would throw most of the water from the western watershed through the Atchafalaya river into the Gulf, and a good deal of the water on the eastern side of the river through Lake Pontchartrain into the Gulf. This was published as a front page item by the St. Louis Republic and later published by all the leading newspapers of the south and by this means was called to the attention of the gov- ernment. The measure was discussed in congress and congratulatory letters were written him by the war department with the compliments of President William H. Taft. He has always been a close student of public needs and opportunities and has ever stood for progress and all that pertains to the general welfare.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 3

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