USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 10
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His operations have become more extensive from time to time and he con- trols a large area of Jackson county land, the same amounting almost to a princely estate, and, although he has shifted, largely, the burden of super- vision, he is still a farmer and is so regarded.
In 1867 Captain Henderson purchased a section of land near the pres- ent site of Newport and about 1872 he entered the service of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Company as agent for their lands. The company had been granted, by Congress, large bodies of public lands comprising alternate sections along the right-of-way. The various town- sites along the line of road were exploited by Alleu and Marquand, chief officers of the road, and when these lands were put upon the market Captain Henderson represented the dual interests. He continued to be thus en- gaged as long as there was a demand for his service and then resigned. In his relation to Newport, in which he has had so friendly an interest from the time of its incipieney, Captain Henderson has ever been loyal and pub- lic-spirited. When financial institutions were needed he joined others in inaugurating them, becoming a stockholder and director of two of the first banks established here. When he retired from active farm life he came here to enjoy the privileges of urban life among the men who joined hands with him in the first victories of the county seat. For some years dealing in real estate has constituted a part of Captain Henderson's active employ- ment. His familiarity with every feature of agriculture, with every char- acter of soil and with conditions of title makes him a cyclopaedia of infor- mation to those seeking investment here and his efforts have been rewarded by the location or exchange of many tracts and the infusion of much new blood into the domain of agriculture in Jackson county.
In 1862 Captain Henderson gave evidence of intrinsic loyalty to the eause of the Southland by enlisting in the Confederate service. He was commissioned captain of Company G, Eighth Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Colonel W. K. Patterson, but before the regiment saw active service he was detailed to the quartermaster's department and on one of his trips to St. Louis to secure hospital supplies he brought to Gen- eral Price a Santa Fe wagon, which the General used personally on his raid into Missouri, the same becoming famous in the history of the war. Before the collapse of the Confederacy Captain Henderson had returned home, foreseeing the drift of things, and he resigned himself to the social change and was ready for the experiment of free labor as soon as the last gun was fired.
In Giles county, Tennessee, on the 3d of May, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Captain Henderson to Miss Amanda M. Laird, a daughter of Martin and Margaret (Malone) Laird, both natives of Tennessee. Cap- tain and Mrs. Henderson are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has often officiated as trustee and steward, in addition to which he has also been superintendent of the Sunday school. Mrs. Hen- derson is a woman of rare charm and a wonderfully magnetic personality and she holds a high place in the love and esteem of her many friends.
Years ago Captain Henderson was a beneficiary of the favors of the Democratic party. At the first election after reconstruction he was chosen as a member of the State Senate, in which he served with the utmost effi- ciency for a term of four years, during the administration of Governor Gar- land. Although he has frequently been commissioned by his party as a delegate to conventions since that time, he has not sought office nor sub- mitted himself as a candidate. Governor Eagle appointed him a member of the board of trustees of the University of Arkansas and after a service of six years in that capacity he retired therefrom. As a fraternity man he owns allegiance to the ininor bodies of Masonry. He has taken the council
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degree and has represented his lodge-old Jacksonport-in the Grand lodge of Arkansas. The obligations of the order were conferred upon him at Elkton, Tennessee, by one of the oldest lodge members of that state. Cap- tain Henderson has led a most exemplary life and he has been honorable and straightforward in all his business dealings. He is a man of unusual mental capacity and his many kind deeds are actuated by that broad human sympathy which is characteristic of the large-hearted Southerner. His deep and sincere interest in public affairs has been prolific of much good for the county and state, and in all the relations of life he has so conducted himself as to command the high regard of his fellow citizens.
FRANCIS EUGENE LEGORI. Possessing unquestioned business ability and taet, and a man of upright principles and sterling character, Francis E. Legori has acquired a stable position among the enterprising and trust- worthy citizens of Newport, and as vice-president of the Fee & Crayton Hardwood Lumber Company of Arkansas, and the manager of its Newport mill, is identified with one of the leading industries of Jackson county.
The life story of Mr. Legori reads like a tale that is told. Cast a waif upon the streets of New York City in 1853, either by accident or by mis- fortune, it was circumstantially assumed, although without tangible evi- dence to verify the fact, that he was born in Normandy, and that he was lost by his parents after they landed in this country, or that he was the sole survivor of a family that perished while crossing the Atlantic. Home- less and nameless, he was taken in charge by the Catholic Sisters, who kindly cared for the poor child until another home was found for him. While in that institution, he was christened by his present name, which is a union of the names of the Mother Superior of the Catholic Home and of its matron. Mother Legori and Frances Eugenia. the masculine form of the latter name being given.
A few months later Franeis Eugene Legori was sent westward to Illi- nois with other orphans, after the custom of later days, and placed in the home of a physician. Dr. Evans. He was sent to school, according to the contract, but he was otherwise badly treated. His teacher, a Miss Spencer. formed a strong attachment for the little lad, and realizing that he was neglected and abused, begged for his release from the Doctor's care. Ob- taining it, she took him to the home of her father. Henry Spencer, an architeet and bridge builder in Peoria, Illinois, and there he found for the first time in his life a real home, one full of sunshine, love and good cheer.
During the days that followed. Francis received excellent educational advantages, and was trained to habits of industry, thrift and honesty. On leaving school, he learned telegraphy, studying with an operator at Pekin, Illinois, on the old Toledo, Wabash and Western system, and for five years was a telegrapher, being stationed first at Pekin and later at Decatur. Illi- nois. Giving up his position, he was a brakeman on the road for five years. when he grew tired of railroading, and sought more congenial employment. While doing office work for the railway company. Mr. Legori had acquired a good knowledge of bookkeeping, and subsequently hecame bookkeeper for Frank F. Fee, who was then building a lumber plant at Huntington, Indi- ana. The association of Messrs. Fee and Legori has since continued, a period of more than twenty years. their first meeting having been in 1889.
From accountant, Mr. Legori became superintendent of the Frank F. Fee Hardwood Lumber Company, and later, in addition to his other duties, was put on the road as buyer for the concern. The Fee-Crayton Hardwood Lumber Company was afterwards formed at Newark, Ohio, whither the plant was moved, and Mr. Legori was made its vice-president. In 1906 this company was incorporated under the laws of Arkansas, with
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a paid-up capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and began busi- ness in Newport, Mr. Legori having the supervision of its plant in this city, where he has already built up an extensive and lucrative business. This company, of which Mr. Fee is president, Mr. Legori vice-president, and Mr. W. R. Marks secretary and treasurer, has a plant at Dermont, Chicot county, while its main office is at Little Rock. It also has a packet line on the White and Black rivers, which was incorporated, with a capital of five thousand dollars, under the name of the Newport Packet Company, and of this Mr. Legori is the vice-president and one of the directorate.
The enviable reputation which Mr. Legori has attained for good citi- zenship, manly worth and true ability, bespeaks not only his superior mental and business training, but shows conclusively that his natural endowments and talents were of a high order and have been wisely developed.
Mr. Legori married, in Covington, Kentucky, January 18, 1896, Ida Smitson, a daughter of Dr. W. H. Smitson, of Oxford, Ohio. Mr. Legori is not a member of any religious organization, neither has he any fraternal connections.
LEMUEL E. WILLIS, M. D. A prominent member of the medical fra- ternity of Jackson county, Lemuel E. Willis, M. D., has practiced his profes- sion in Arkansas for a quarter of a century, and during his long residence in Newport has, by his uniform courtesy of manner and promptness in plac- ing his services, medical or otherwise, at the disposal of all, gained for himself the general respect and good will of the community and built up a remunerative patronage. A native of Missouri. he was born July 6, 1862, in Neosho, where his father, Dr. Virgil A. Willis, was then practising medicine.
The Doctor's grandfather, James Willis, was a native Virginian, but as a young man located in Giles county, Tennessee, where he was an exten- sive contractor and builder, carrying on a successful business. To him and his wife four children were born, as follows: Margaret, who became the wife of Sylvester Armentrout, died in Tennessee ; Tillman died unmarried ; Vir- gil A., M. D .; and Mary, wife of Robert Hays, of Scotland county, Mis- souri.
Virgil A. Willis was born in 1835 in Giles county, Tennessee, where he received his preliminary education. Preparing himself for a medical career, he entered Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennessee, and there studied under the eminent Dr. Paul F. Eaves. Completing his course in that in- stitution, he continued his studies at the MeDowell School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri. Dr. Virgil Willis had not long been established as a physician at Neosho, Missouri, when civil war was declared. Enlisting as a private in General Price's army, he was subsequently assigned to the sur- gical corps, in which he served until the close of the conflict. Very soon after his return to Missouri, he moved with his family to Montgomery county, Missouri, where he continued in active practice until his death, which was accidental, he having been drowned, in 1876, while attempting to cross a swollen stream near Saint Louis. An active and valued member of the Lynden Medical Society, he prepared many papers for its meetings, tak- ing advanced grounds upon points that have since been admitted by the profession. Just prior to his death, in a paper which he read before the association, he declared the causes of diphtheria and membraneous croup to be one and the same, but it was nearly forty years later before the profes- sion generally admitted the truth of his statements.
At Neosho, Missouri, Dr. Virgil A. Willis married Lucy Phillips, who was born February 21, 1842, and is now living with her son, Dr. Lemuel E. Willis, in Newport. IIer father, J. P. Phillips, is deceased, as is also his Vol. III-5
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wife, Mr. Phillips having passed away at the age of eighty-two years, and Mrs. Phillips at the age of fifty-two years. Of the union of Dr. and Mrs. Virgil .A. Willis, three children were born, namely: Lemuel E., M. D., the subject of this sketch; Luey Alma, wife of Rev. H. M. Sydenstricker, of West Point, Mississippi ; and Ford Alexander, M. D., who, as a partner of his brother Lemuel E., was engaged in the practice of his profession in Newport until his death, February 23, 1902. But a short time previous to his death he married Addie Stacey.
Having been graduated from a college in Montgomery City, Missouri, at the age of sixteen years, Lemuel E. Willis began his preliminary prep- aration for entering upon a medical career by attending the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated. Continuing his resi- dence in Saint Louis, he was prescription elerk for four years, first for Thomas Halpin and later for John R. Coleman. In the meantime he studied medicine, and in 1886 was graduated with the degree of M. D. from the Missouri Medical College. IIe subsequently spent almost a vear as interne in a Saint Louis hospital, and just before leaving that city was assistant to Drs. Tuhalsky and Prewett.
In 1888 Dr. Willis took a course in the Post Graduate School at Saint Louis, and subsequently did similar work in Chicago, both at the Post Graduate School and at Rush Medical College, besides which he studied in that city under two distinguished specialists. A few years later Dr. Willis took two courses in the New York City Polyclinic, and three courses under the emiment surgeons, the Drs. Mayo, of Rochester, Minnesota. Thus thoroughly equipped, the Doctor has steadily forged his way to the front, and is now one of the foremost physicians and surgeons of Jackson county.
Aside from his regular practice, Dr. Willis is surgeon, at Newport, for both the Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company, and for the Rock Island Railroad Company. He is an ex-president of the Jackson . County Medical Society, and a member of the Arkansas State Medieal So- ciety and of the American Medical Association. He is also a member of the associations of surgeons of both the Iron Mountain and Rock Island Railway Companies, and a member of the National Association of Rail- way Surgeons. He is an alumnus of Washington University.
Dr. Willis married, May 4, 1887, in Newport, Mattie Elizabeth Orff. Her father, ('hristian Orff, was born near Heidelberg, Germany, and was a business man prior to his settlement, late in life, in Arkansas. Mr. Orff married Esther A. Heller, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and they be- eame the parents of three children, namely: Frank N. Kennan, a pub- lisher in Saint Louis ; Addie A., wife of Frank MeKinney, proprietor of a hotel in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and Mrs. Willis. Dr. and Mrs. Willis have no children. The Doctor is not connected with any fraternity and is not a politician. Religiously he is a Presbyterian.
JAMES S. JONES. Among the well-known and highly esteemed eiti- zens of Jackson county, James S. Jones, of Newport, now serving as county clerk, holds a noteworthy position. He was born in Haywood county, Ten- nessee, June 30, 1845, a son of Pennington Lynch Jones. His grandfa- ther, James Jones, the founder of the branch of the Jones family to which he belongs, was an Irishman by birth, and on coming to this country located in Mecklenburg county, Virginia. He was well educated, and as a young man followed the teacher's profession for several years, afterwards be- ing engaged in agricultural pursuits. Ile married in the Old Dominion a Miss Holmes, and they reared six children, as follows: Pennington L .; William, who spent his last years in Dallas county, Arkansas ; Isaae died in
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Virginia ; and Sack H., John and Samuel, all of whom died in Dallas county, Arkansas.
Born in Mecklenburg county, Virginia, in 1800, Pennington Lynch Jones migrated in early life to 'Tennessee, and after living in Haywood county, that state, for a number of years came with his family to Arkansas. He established a home in Jackson county, and during the remainder of his brief life was engaged in tilling the soil, his death occurring on his farm, in 1855, when fifty-five years of age, just two years after his arrival in Jackson county, in 1853. He married first Frances Branch, a daughter of John Branch. She died in Haywood county, Tennessee, in 1849, leaving two sons, John Pennington and James S. John P., the oldest son, enlisted under Captain Robert Anthony and Colonel W. K. Patterson in the Eighth Arkansas Infantry, which was a part of Govan's Brigade, and lost his life at New Ilope church, Georgia, one of the hard-fought battles of the Atlanta campaign. Pennington L. Jones married for his second wife Mrs. Julia Burnett, and their only child, Charles Daniel, died in childhood.
Scarce eight years of age when he came with the family to Jackson county, James S. Jones received the usual educational advantages of a rural community, and during the Civil war left the farm to enter the Con- federate army. In 1862 he was a member of the Arkansas Home Guard, which was not sent to the front as a body. Therefore, after the fall of Little Rock, in 1863, Mr. Jones enlisted in Company G, Thirty-second Arkansas Infantry, under Colonel Lucien C. Gause, who frequently was given com- mand of the entire brigade, his regiment being assigned to General Churchill's division, in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Being confined in the hospital with typhoid fever while the battles at Mansfield and Saline River were in progress, Mr. Jones missed some of the more important en- gagements in which his regiment engaged, and without any incident of spe- cial note concluded his service with the fall of the Confederate government, his regiment being disbanded at Marshall, Texas, May 22, 1865.
Resuming then the duties of civil life, Mr. Jones continued farming until 1883, when he took up his residence in Newport and became book- keeper for a mercantile firm. While in that position, he formed a wide acquaintance and made strong friendships, and was subsequently warmly welcomed as a candidate for county office. A firm adherent of the Demo- cratic party, he was elected county assessor in 1884, and in 1886 was re- elected for another term of two years. The ensuing twelve years he was an accountant in a Newport business establishment, and in 1900 was again elected to an official position and served for four years as circuit clerk of the county, having been re-elected to the same office in 1902. Resuming his duties as accountant in 1904, Mr. Jones continued at his desk until Sep- tember, 1908, when he was returned to the court house as county clerk of Jackson county, the position which he has since filled, having been chosen the second time in 1910.
Mr. Jones married, October 14, 1828, near Elgin, Jackson county, Arkansas, Lucy Robertson Wilmans, a daughter of James E. Wilmans, who came from Meade county, Kentucky, to Jacksonport, Arkansas, in ante- bellum days. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have but one child, Susan Dorsey, now wife of H. O. Walker, M. D., of Newport.
Fraternally Mr. Jones is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
JAMES E. WILMANS. Conspicuous among the energetic and brainy men who came into Arkansas just prior to the Civil war, when settlers from the East were transferring their homes into the growing West and planting seed that was to infuse new citizenship and new blood in the vari-
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ous communities, was James E. Wilmans, who has contributed his full share in advancing the agricultural and mercantile prosperity of Jackson county, and is now living retired from active business in Newport. He was born, November 23, 1829, in Meade county, Kentucky, near Brandenberg, a son of Charles H. Wilmans. His paternal grandfather, Heinrich Wilmans, the son of a military commandant, was born in Germany, at Frankfort on the Main, and was there bred and educated. Immigrating when quite young to the United States, he lived for a while in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from there removing to Baltimore, Maryland. A few years later, when he had heeome fairly established in bis American home, he returned to the Fatherland for a visit, and on his return voyage to Baltimore lost his life in a shipwreck. He married, in Philadelphia, Elizabeth Bankson, and their two children were born in Baltimore. One child died in infancy, while the other, Charles H., lived to perpetuate the family name.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, September 2, 1797, Charles H. Wilmans was educated in his native eity. He became interested in navigation when young, and after locating in Kentucky was successfully engaged in river traffic until his death, which was caused, in 1833, in a steamboat accident. His wife, whose maiden name was Ann Fontaine, was born in Kentucky, a daughter of James T. Fontaine, who was of French lineage. She survived her husband, passing away in 1823. Of the four children born of their union, only one survives, James E., the subject of this brief personal rec- ord.
Familiar with boating of all kinds from his boyhood, James E. Wil- mans began plying the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi and White rivers in early manhood, in 1847 making a trip to New Orleans on a flat boat loaded with flour, and later carrying a load of corn over the same course, entering quite seriously into the business of water traffic. Subsequently becoming master of his own steamboat, he operated at different points on the rivers mentioned above, continuing as a navigating merehant until his vessel was lost on the Mississippi river.
In 1859 Mr. Wilmans came to Arkansas, sailing from Brandenburg, Kentucky, down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and up the White to Jacksonport, their trip being without untoward incident. Ereeting a flour mill in Jacksonport, he furnished it with burrs and other up-to-date ma- ehinery, which was brought by boat from Cincinnati, put it in operation, and a year later sold it at an advantage. Mr. Wilmans then embarked in mercantile pursuits, which he carried on successfully until interfered with by the breaking out of the Civil war, when, with his family, he took refuge in his native state.
During the war Mr. Wilmans remained neutral. Although opposed to secession as a principle, he yet justified the Southern resistance of an at- tempt to destroy the institution upon which the South was dependent unless a compensation should be made for the loss. He was a man of peace, with- out ambition for the honors of war, and having substituted a white man in the ranks of the Confederate army before leaving Arkansas, he demonstrated his impartiality by furnishing a black man for the Union army after he got baek to Kentucky, thus enlisting by proxy in both armies and bidding them good luck in settling the family quarrel.
Returning after the restoration of peace to Arkansas, Mr. Wilmans resumed his mercantile business at Elgin, Jackson county, remaming there until 1880, when he settled in Newport, where he is now spending his days in leisure, enjoying the fruits of his earlier years of toil. In his politieal . affiliations once a Whig, Mr. Wilmans became identified with the Demo- erats upon the dissolution of that party, and when, many years ago, the issue of the saloon became prominent, he beeame a Prohibitionist. He has been
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active in municipal affairs, serving six years as mayor of the city, and in about 1896 was honored by the Prohibition party of Arkansas with the nomination for governor of the state. A member of the Masonie order, he has taken the degrees of the Blue Lodge and of the Chapter. Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and has taught his children the importance of an upright life.
In Breckinridge county, Kentucky, April 4, 1850, Mr. Wilmans was united in marriage with Matilda T. Robertson, a daughter of Richard T. and Susan L. Robertson, natives of Kentucky. On April 4, 1900, Mr. and Mrs. Wilmans had the pleasure of celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day. On February 2, 1902, Mrs. Wihans passed to the life beyond. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilmans, namely : Lucy Robertson, wife of J. S. Jones. of Newport : Charles H. died in New- port. in 1906, leaving no children; Susan Robertson, wife of Ignatius Spriggs, of Diaz; Richard T. died while in college; Mrs. Mildred A. Dor- sey, of Newport; James Smith, head of the firm of Wilman Brothers, of Diaz; Edward B., also of that firm ; Elizabeth Beatty, wife of Walter Har- ris, of Diaz ; and Robert Dorsey, of the firm of Wilman Brothers, of Diaz.
RICHARD JACKSON. Numbered among the older and more prominent residents of Greene county is Richard Jackson, who has for many years been identified with the promotion of business affairs in and around Para- gould, his home town, and is widely known as agent of the Saint Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad lands. A native of Missouri, he was born October 12, 1843. in Stoddard county, where he was bred and educated.
John J. Jackson, his father, was born in Tennessee, in 1823, and spent a part of his early life in Davidson county, Tennessee. Migrating from there to Missouri, he became a pioneer of Stoddard county, living there until after the breaking out of the Civil war. Siding then with the South in its political differences with the North, he found it somewhat difficult to maintain his position in Stoddard county, in which the Union sentiment largely prevailed, and sought a more friendly community in Gainesville, then the county seat of Greene county, Arkansas. Although he did not him- self enter the Confederate army, he furnished four sons for the ranks. He continued his occupation as a citizen in Greene county until his death, in 1886. He was for many years an active member of the Democratic party, and while living in Missouri was high sheriff of Stoddard county.
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