Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 73

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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EDWARD ADAMS, M. D.

While engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at De Valls Bluff only since 1915, Dr. Edward Adams has continuously and successfully followed his profession since 1901, the year of his graduation from the Chattanooga Medical College. He is a native son of Tennessee, his birth having occurred in Nashville on the 9th of January, 1878, his parents being Reuben and Mollie (Griffin) Adams, both of whom were born in the vicinity of Nashville. Reuben Dalton Adams, the paternal grandfather, was a native of eastern Tennessee, in which state the parents of Dr. Adams continued their residence and reared their three sons and two daughters: Raymond, Lena, Harvey, Edward and Cora The last named is now deceased.

Dr. Edward Adams, spending his youthful days under the parental roof, completed his public school education by graduation from the high school at Tiptonville, Tennessee, while later he continued his studies in the University of Tennessee and prepared for his professional career as a student in the Chattanooga Medical College. He located for practice in Reelfoot, Tennessee, in 1901 and there remained until 1912, when he removed to Arkansas, settling at Little Rock. After three years' practice in the capital city he came to De Valls Bluff in 1915 and here he has since remained. His practice has steadily grown in volume and importance as the public have come to recognize his skill and ability in his chosen calling. He has kept in touch with the trend of modern professional thought and progress by wide reading and study and is thoroughly familiar with the latest scientific discoveries in the field of medicine and surgery. During the war he was assistant county medical examiner and also a member of the Medical Reserve Corps.

In 1902 Dr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss Bettie Howard, a daughter of Andrew Howard of Roe, Arkansas, and to them have been born two children, Quincy and Geraldine. The son is now assistant superintendent of the Hazen high school. He was graduated at the University of Arkansas when but eighteen years of age, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree at that time, a fact which indicates the special aptitude which he displayed in his studies and his keen mentality. Dr. Adams has always been a stalwart champion of the canse of education and is serving as a member of the school board at De Valls Bluff. Fraternally he is a Mason, exemplifying in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft, and he is an equally consistent and faithful member of the Christian church.

CARROLL D. WOOD.

Carroll D. Wood, judge of the supreme court of Arkansas, is recognized as a peer of the ablest members who have sat in the court of last resort in this state. His steady advancement has come as a result of laudable ambition, persistency of purpose and untiring industry-qualities which are just essential in the attainment of professional prominence as in the acquirement of success along industrial or commercial lines. Judge

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Wood was born on a farm in Ashley county, Arkansas, his father being the Rev. John S. Wood of Hamburg, this state. The mother died in early womanhood, leaving five young sons and a daughter to be trained and educated. Some time later the father wedded a school mistress from New England, a lady of rare intellectual accomplishment and of most kindly spirit. She proved, indeed, a mother to the children, who thus came under her fostering care. Of this family three became members of the bar and from 1875 to the time of his death Judge J. B. Wood, a brother of Judge C. D. Wood, was a dis- tinguished representative of the profession in Hot Springs.

Judge Carroll D. Wood, like his elder brother, acquired his preliminary education under the guidance of his stepmother and through attendance at the common schools of Hamburg, Arkansas. His stepmother impressed upon his mind that years of integrity and usefulness are open to all and that laudable ambition intelligently directed may hope to gain the desired end. The training of the stepmother, as well as of the father, had its full effect upon the lives of the boys. When seventeen years of age Judge Wood of this review went from Hamburg to Fayetteville to attend the university. He carried with him thirty-five dollars in money; and his entire wardrobe aside from the clothes which he wore, was contained in a gripsack. He made the entire distance of three hundred and eighty-five miles at slow stages. Occasionally some fellow traveler on the road would give him a lift in his wagon or on horseback. When he had reached his jour- ney's end he had expended six dollars and seventy-five cents of the precious sum with which he had started. He knew that he must find work in order to meet the expenses incident to his college course and after reaching Fayetteville he was employed at work on the campns grounds at ten cents per hour. This task, however, lasted only for a month and on the expiration of that period he engaged to wait on tables and wash dishes in a hotel at Fayetteville, in return for his board and lodging. During his second collegiate year he obtained a similar position in a private family, and in the vacation period between his sophomore and junior years he was employed in a dry goods store. During his senior year he acted as secretary to the president of the university and received a small salary therefor. He "messed" with the boys in the steward's hall during the last two years of his university study and at the commencement of his junior course he was awarded the medal for the best original oration in a contest between the junior and senior classes. Completing a thorough classical course, Judge Wood was graduated in 1879, after which he went at once to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he read law with his brother. His thorough preliminary readings had qualified him for admission to the bar in August, 1880, and in the fall of that year he removed to Monticello, where he entered upon a partnership relation with his brother, Z. T. Wood, and thus he initiated a professional career which has brought him to notable prominence. No dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost immediately he secured a liberal clientage and with the passing years his practice constantly increased. In 1882 he became a candidate against Col. Robert H. Deadman for the office of prosecuting attorney in the tenth district and in the contest won the election by a majority of nearly six thousand votes. His strength and popularity was so great that in 1884 he was reelected to the office without opposition. In 1886 he became a candidate for the office of judge of the tenth circuit, at which time the position was songht by such veteran members of the bar as Norman of Ashley, Simms of Chicot, and Duffie of Dallas. While Judge Wood thus received the democratic nomination the incumbent in the office, Judge John M. Bradley, made an independent race for the office, but again Judge Wood triumphed, winning the election by a majority of five hundred. The law requires that one must practice at the bar for six years before being elected to the bench. Judge Wood had practiced but six years and one month. His course on the bench was marked by a masterful grasp of every problem presented for solution and his decisions were at all times strictly fair and impartial. In 1893 he became a judge of the supreme court of the state and is now sitting on the bench, his decisions indicating strong mentality, careful analysis, a thorough knowledge of the law and an unbiased judgment. He is a man of well rounded character, finely balanced mind and of splendid intellectual attainment and that he is regarded as one of the eminent jurists of Arkansas is a uniformly accepted fact. His service as prosecuting attorney of the tenth district for two terms beginning in 1882, well qualified him for his preliminary judicial service when in 1886 he was elected circuit judge. Again his fidelity and capability during his first term won him reelection and then in 1893 he was elected a justice of the supreme court and has since sat upon that bench, covering a period of twenty-eight years. He is one of the oldest jurists in point of years of continuons service that Arkansas has known and his name is carved high on the keystone of the legal arch. His mind is analytical, logical and inductive. With a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the fundamental principles of law he combines a familiarity with statutory law and a sober clear judgment, which gave him the distinction while on the district court bench of having few of his decisions revised or reversed, while his record on the

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supreme court bench has received the endorsement of contemporaries and colleagues in the profession.

On the 4th of November, 1886, in Monticello, Arkansas, Judge Wood was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Reola Thompson, who was born in Monticello, in 1863, a daughter of Professor Woodville Thompson, now deceased. Judge and Mrs. Wood became the parents of three children: Major John Shirley Wood, who was graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1912 and is now in the United States army, being professor of military science and tactics at the Wisconsin Military University; Claudia M., the wife of James L. Murphy; and Roy Winton. The first seven years of the their married life Judge and Mrs. Wood spent in Monticello and in 1893 came to Little Rock, where they have since resided. He has always given his political allegiance to the democratic party, while his religious .faith is that of the Baptist church. He is a loyal member of the Scottish Rite and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his fidelity to every cause he espouses or to every organization with which he becomes identified has ever been one of his marked characteristics. He does not hold himself aloof from his fellows but is a man of democratic spirit and the simplicity and beauty of his daily life as seen in his home and family relations constitute an even balance to his splendid professional acquirements.

THOMAS L. SAVIN, M. D.

Those familiar with the history of the south and the families who have figured conspicuously in connection with its annals, need no introduction to Dr. Thomas L. Savin, a leading physician of Pine Bluff. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1875, a son of R. T. and Jane (Aitken) Savin. The father was born at Port Deposit, Mary- land, and his parents were W. F. and Mary E. (Savin) Savin. The grandfather, W. F. Savin, resided in Nashville, Tennessee, before going to Baltimore, but his wife belonged to the Savin family of the latter city, prominent and well known there. The father of W. F. Savin was a physician, Dr. T. L. Savin by name, and the latter had a brother, Dr. William Savin, who was a surgeon of the Federal army and died in New Orleans. Mrs. Mary E. Savin, the grandmother of Dr. Thomas L. Savin of Pine Bluff, was a daughter of T. L. Savin of Baltimore, to which city he had removed from Philadelphia. She was also a relative of Edgar Allen Poe, poet, and a cousin of Governor Viezy of Delaware. The Savin family comes of French Huguenot ancestry and the first repre- sentatives of the name in America settled at Sparrows Point in Maryland. Seven genera- tions of the family have been represented by a physician of the name of Thomas L. Savin, the immediate subject of this review being of the seventh generation.

His father, R. T. Savin, was graduated in theology from the Dickerson College, a Methodist Episcopal institution of learning, after which he engaged in preaching in Baltimore for a number of years. In his later life, however, he withdrew from the ministry and became cashier of the Citizens Bank of Baltimore, being associated with that institution for fifty years. His brother, F. A. Savin, was one of the early editors of the Baltimore Herald, while another brother, M. D. Savin, became cashier of the Farmers & Merchants National Bank of Baltimore.

R. T. Savin was united in marriage to Miss Jane Aitken, a daughter of Dr. James and Mary (Mitchell) Aitken. Her father was from Edinburgh, Scotland, and was a graduate in medicine of the University of Maryland, of the class of 1809, after which he practiced successfully in Baltimore for many years. He had a brother who was the first professor of chemistry in the University of Maryland. Dr. James Aitken wedded Mary Mitchell, whose parents came from England at an early day and settled in Baltimore, so that through various branches of his lineage Dr. Thomas L. Savin of Pine Bluff is connected with old and distinguished families of that city. To his parents were born the following named: Helen Augusta, the wife of J. M. Morley; William Francis, a resident of Baltimore; Marcus R., also living in that city; Virginia A., the wife of Dr. C. D. Steenken of the Johns Hopkins University; Thomas L .; and A. Aitken, who is an attorney practicing in Baltimore.

Spending his youthful days in his native city, Dr. Thomas L. Savin pursued his advanced education in the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897, and in the Baltimore City College, while later he took postgraduate work in the Johns Hopkins University. For a time he was resident physician of the University Hospital at Baltimore and gained that broad and valuable experience which is never as quickly acquired in any other way as in hospital practice. He was also a member of the surgical board in connection with the treatment of diseases of eye, ear, nose and throat at the Presbyterian Hospital of Baltimore and for a time he served as lecturer at the Woman's Medical College in that city.

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In the year 1904 Dr. Savin came to Pine Bluff, where he has remained, and through the intervening period of eighteen years he has enjoyed a steadily increasing practice, which has grown not only in volume but also in importance. He has at all times kept abreast with the latest scientific researches and discoveries of the profession and, while never hastily discarding old and time-tried methods the value of which has been proven, he has at the same time quickly adopted any new method which his sound judgment sanctions as of real worth to the profession.

Dr. Savin was married in 1904 to Miss Jessie E. Sweet, a daughter of Frank and Ada (Hall) Sweet. Mrs. Savin is also a graduate physician, having completed a course in the Woman's Medical College of Baltimore, and is also a graduate of the St. Louis high school. She was a resident physician in the Good Samaritan Hospital of Baltimore in 1901 and 1902. By her marriage she has become the mother of three children: Thomas L., Frank R. and Ada Helen.

Dr. Savin is well known in Masonic circles, having taken the degrees of lodge, chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine, while his religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Presbyterian church. He has never sought to figure prominently in any public office and has never held a position of political preferment outside of the strict path of his profession. While in Baltimore, however, he occupied the position of health commissioner. He has always concentrated his time and energies npon his professional duties and his life is an expression of the well known fact that power grows through the exercise of effort. His capability has developed in the years of his continued practice and he is now one of the leading physicians of his part of the state.

JOHN W. MONCRIEF.

John W. Moncrief, lawyer, actively engaged in practice at De Witt, is a native son of Arkansas county, his birth having occurred in 1887. He is descended from Scotch ancestry, his grandfather being David Moncrief, who served with Forrest's cavalry in the Civil war and afterward removed to this state, settling in Arkansas county, where he followed farming and merchandising. He was the father of R. L. Moncrief, who was born in Tennessee and who after attaining his majority married Mattie Roach, the daughter of Peyton Roach, an old inhabitant of the county and a veteran of the Con- federate army, in which he served to the close of the war. Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Moncrief became parents of four children: John W., W. J., Peyton and Virgil.

Having mastered the branches of learning taught in the public schools near his home, John W. Moncrief then took up the study of law, prepared for the bar and began practice at De Witt in 1906. Through the intervening years he has followed the pro- fession and in a calling where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability he has made steady progress. He recognized at the outset of his career that diligence is just as essential in professional life as in commercial or industrial pursuits and accordingly he has prepared his cases with great thoroughness and care and put forth every effort to promote justice throngh his work in the court. He has served as city attorney and somewhat outside of his profession he has been active in public office. In other words he has been a lawmaker as well as a lawyer, having been elected to the state senate for the sessions of 1917 and 1919. While filling the position of president pro tempore of the senate he served as lieutenant governor of the state. Matters of vital public concern have ever been of deep interest to him and at all times he has kept well informed on the important questions and issnes of the day. During the World war he acted as chairman of the legal advisory board.

Mr. Moncrief was married to Miss Eula MeGahey, a daughter of J. W. McGahey of Arkansas county, and their children are: John W., Jr., Virgil Roach and Joyce. The family is well known socially in De Witt. In his fraternal connections Mr. Moncrief is a Woodmen and also an Odd Fellow. He has always lived in Arkansas, where three generations of the family have been represented.

W. J. MCCOY.

W. J. McCoy, manager and secretary of the Northwest Arkansas Lumber Company of Fayetteville, was born in Washington county. this state, January 3, 1861, his parents being Philip and Bridgett (Pierce) McCoy, both of whom were natives of Ireland. They were married, however, in Providence, Rhode Island, the father having come to the United States when a yonth of eleven years, while the mother crossed the Atlantic when a maiden of twelve summers. Both were educated in the east and lived in Provi-

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dence, Rhode Island, for a period of fifteen years, the father there engaging in shoe- making. "On his removal to the southwest he made his way direct to Washington county, Arkansas, in 1857, and settled upon a farm. His attention was then given to agricultural pursnits in this county to the time of his demise. To him and his wife were horn six children, of whom four are living: Fannie, the wife of J. A. Wilcox, residing upon a farm in Washington county; Mary, the wife of A. M. Byrnes, a promi- nent contractor of Fayetteville; W. J., of this review; and Ella, the wife of W. A. Gregg, who works in a lumberyard in Fayetteville. The parents were members of the Catholic church and in his political views the father was always a democrat.

W. J. McCoy was educated in the schools of Fayetteville and in the University of Arkansas. He was reared upon a farm and continued to assist his father in the cultiva- tion and improvement of the fields until 1892, when he took up his abode in the city of Fayetteville and turned his attention to the lumber business. For a time he was con- nected with the Byrnes Lumber Company, with which he remained until 1908, when it was consolidated with the Northwest Arkansas Lumber Company and assumed the name of the Northwest Arkansas Lumber Company in 1908. Mr. McCoy has been manager of the business since 1915. He started with the company as a common laborer and has worked his way steadily upward through various positions until he has reached a place of prominence in connection with the commercial activity of Fayette- ville. He has thoroughly acquainted himself with every phase of the lumber trade and is most carefully directing and managing the interests in his charge.

In 1889 Mr. McCoy was united in marriage to Miss Bertie Montgomery, who was born in Indiana, a danghter of P. L. Montgomery, who came to Arkansas in 1885. He was a broom maker, long following that vocation. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have become parents of three children: Jessie, who is now the wife of S. H. Lee, a civil engineer of Jonesboro, Arkansas; Bessie, who is the twin sister of Jessie and is the wife of Jack Reed, who owns several automobile filling stations at Rogers, Arkansas; and Aileen. who is teaching in the State Agricultural School at Russellville, Arkansas. All of the three children are graduates of the University of Arkansas.

Mr. and Mrs. McCoy belong to the Catholic church and Mr. McCoy is a democrat in politics. He has never songht nor desired office, however, for he prefers to devote his entire time to his business affairs and is now one of the directors and the secretary and manager of the Northwest Arkansas Lumber Company. This company was organ- ized in 1886 and has always enjoyed a good business standing. Mr. McCoy deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, as he started out in life empty-handed and has worked his way upward through sheer ability and unfaltering determination, rec- ognizing the fact that industry and integrity are invincible even when arrayed against such drawbacks as poverty and seeming lack of opportunity. He has made splendid use of his time and talents as the years have passed and today is a prominent figure in the lumber circles of his section of the state.

W. J. BROWN.

W. J. Brown, a planter residing in Clarendon, was there born in 1881, his parents being W. A. and Sarah (Barnes) Brown. The father, also a native of Clarendon, was a son of Jesse Brown, who came from Tennessee to Arkansas prior to the Civil war and engaged in merchandising in Clarendon, becoming one of the pioneers in that line of business, if not the first merchant of the city. Since that time the family through three generations has contributed in large measure to the progress and upbuilding of this section of the state. Sarah Barnes, the mother of W. J. Brown, represented an old Mississippi family, her father having come from that state at an early day, at which time he took up his abode east of Clarendon. To W. A. and Sarah (Barnes) Brown there were born three children: Katie, now Mrs. Mart Gill; Willie, the wife of Jewett Cox: and W. J.

W. J. Brown, pursuing his education in a military institute at Searcy and thus thor- oughly qualifying for life's practical and responsible dnties, became engaged in business as a pearl bnyer after leaving school. The freshwater pearl was found in considerable quantities in the waters of this vicinity as the mussel shell beds abound in this region. Mr. Brown also traveled throughout the United States, buying pearls from eastern and European dealers and disposed of many thousands of dollars' worth of pearls abroad. He also engaged extensively in cotton raising, and acquiring more land from time to time he is now the owner of a thousand acres in the vicinity of Clarendon. He has been an advocate of diversified farming and has done much to advertise the advan- tages of Monroe connty and the opportunities here offered, whereby many people have come into this region, thus contributing to the steady growth and development of the

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district. He conducts a substantial business as a cotton buyer, nor does this cover the scope of his activities, for he is also prominently known as an automobile dealer, handling the Studebaker and Overland cars, trucks and tractors. He has displayed marked ability in bringing diversified and seemingly unrelated interests into a unified and harmonious whole and his ready discrimination between the essential and the non-essential in all business affairs has been one of the strong and vital elements in his growing success.

During the World war Mr. Brown served as food administrator in Monroe county. In 1919 he was elected to the legislature and while a member of the general assembly he sponsored the auto license bill, was chairman of the roads and highways committee and was connected with much other important legislation, which was promoted during his membership in the house of representatives.

Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Maude Richardson, a daughter of Arthur Richardson of Newport, Arkansas, and they have become parents of two sons: Max and Alf. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is well known in fraternal circles. He belongs to the Masonic lodge, to the Knights Templar Commandery and to the Mystic Shrine, is identified with the Knights of The Maccabees and became district supreme commander thereof and also has membership with the Modern Woodmen and with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His life has ever been guided by high and honorable principles, as is manifest in his church and fraternal relations and thus he has contributed in substantial measure to the material, political and moral progress of the community. He is a worthy rep- resentative of an honored pioneer family and the work instituted by his grandfather and carried on by his father has been continued and enlarged by him with adaptation to the modern-day conditions, and today he is one of the most forceful factors in the business development and upbuilding of this section of the state.

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Centennial history of Arkansas, Part 73

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