USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 23
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Scholarly in his tastes and ambitions, Benjamin F. Miles was granted excellent educational advantages as a youth. After leaving the public schools he continued his studies at Gordon Institute, in Union eounty; was graduated from Arizona Seminary, in Arizona, Lonisiana, in 1876, and subsequently completed the course of study at Mound City Commercial College, in Saint Louis, Missouri. Mr. Miles began his business career as bookkeeper in a commercial house in El Dorado, and while thus employed was made deputy eireuit elerk. In 1888 he was elected county examiner, subsequently becoming deputy county treasurer, a position which he held four years. He was in 1910 elected to his present position as eireuit clerk of Union county, giving positive evidenee of his ability and eminent trustworthiness.
Mr. Miles married, December 24, 1879, Anna Dearing, of Hills- boro, Arkansas, who died April 8, 1898. Of the six children born of their union, four are now living, namely: F. W., bookkeeper in the El Dorado Citizens' National Bank, who married Bettie Henry, of Lancaster, Kentucky; W. W., deputy circuit clerk of Union county ; Sadie, wife of J. D. Craig, of El Dorado; and Elizabeth, a student in the Ouchita Baptist College at Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Mr. Miles married the second time, November 5, 1902, Ida Perdue, of El Dorado, and they have one son, Perdue Miles, born February 21, 1906.
HON. VERAZZANI C. BRATTON, county judge of Searcy county, is the popular, prosperous and honored representative of a family whose members have been making valuable contributions to the progress of this seetion of Arkansas for three-quarters of a century. The Judge, who has been a resident of Marshall for more than thirty years, has (lone everything possible to prove his loyalty to the place and the county, has advanced their interests as an enterprising merchant and citizen and a faithful publie servant, and has been rewarded with many honors, both of community respeet and offices of trust.
Judge Verazzani C. Bratton is a native of Searey county, born at Wiley's Cove July 19, 1860, and is a son of James and Dicey (Hatehett ) Bratton, his father being a pioneer who eame hither from Tennessee as a boy and has passed a long and active life in the community. The founder of the family in Arkansas was Benjamin, the grand- father of the Judge, who married Laura Williams in Tennessee and brought his family to the Cove about 1850. Besides James, their children were John and F. M., still of Wiley's Cove; Benjamin, of Van Buren county, Arkansas; Ambrose; Mary L., now a Mrs. Ship-
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man and a resident of Texas; and Dicey, who married Mr. Baldwin, also of Wiley's Cove.
James Bratton, the father, is a native of Tennessee, born in 1837, and Wiley's Cove has been his home for more than sixty years. There he obtained a limited education, and in this garden spot of Searcy has generally occupied himself with the various phases of farm life, con- tent with a quiet life which, nevertheless, enabled him to perform his full duties as a father, husband and the head of a respected household. Differing from many of his relatives in that community, he espoused the Union canse upon the issues of the Civil war and allied himself with the Democratic party upon the question of suffrage. Without aspiration for any but domestie and rural comforts, he has brought up his family in the paths of industry and honor, and enjoys, with the wedded companion of his youth, the contentment of a well-ordered life. Mr. and Mrs. James Bratton have beeome the parents of the following : L. E. Bratton, now a physician of Atkins, Arkansas; Mrs. Cordelia Shipman; Vietoria L., deceased; Nancy L., who married Matthew Sooter and lives in South Dakota : Melissa, wife of Dr. Samuel G. Daniels, of Marshall; Napoleon M., of South Dakota; and Anie, who married S. G. Thomas, of Leslie : and Verazzani C., of this review.
Judge Bratton remained on the Cove farm until he was twenty years of age, and began life in the mercantile field with sneh educa- tion as could be gleaned from the country schools. His first venture was as bookkeeper and clerk in a Marshall store, but he became so active and popular politieally that his many Democratie friends elected him county and circuit elerk of Searey county in 1886 and kept him in office until 1890. Returning to merchandise, he sold goods for four years and then served half of that period as sheriff. He then established the hardware business at Marshall, which he still operates under greatly enlarged proportions. In 1906 he yielded to a third persuasion, and perhaps inclination to official life, and was elected county judge, being chosen to his third term in September, 1910. His connection with Democratie affiairs has extended outside of his own county, as he is a member of the Democratic State Central Com- mittee from his judicial distriet and has widely extended the circle of his friendship and influence through the various conventions to which he has been a delegate.
In the finances of the county Judge Bratton is well known as one of the organizers of the Marshall Bank and as a member of its of- ficial board since the founding of the institution. He also built the Bratton Hotel in his home town, and has made it the favorite resort for professional and commercial men who gravitate to the county seat. In the cireles of Masonry his record is that of past master of Marshall Lodge, past high priest of the Chapter and delegate to both Grand Lodge and Chapter, and is also a member of St. Aldeman's Com- mandery at Harrison. As an Oddfellow, his work has been equally conspicuous and important : he was the first noble grand of the Mar- shall lodge, and has served as a member of the Grand Lodge and as district deputy grand master.
In November, 1890, Judge Bratton wedded Miss Nettie J. Green- law, the ceremony occurring at Marshall. His wife is a daughter of Captain G. B. Greenhaw, a Tennesseean, an early settler of Searcy county and a Confederate soldier. The children of Judge and Mrs. Bratton are Una R., Mary Dicey and Helen Kathleen.
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SILAS OBED KIMBRO, M. D. In no profession have the marks of prog- ress and the discoveries of science effected greater changes of method and practical application than in that of medicine, and he who would be fully in accord with the spirit of the age must be a close student, possessed with a keen and discriminating mind, capable of determining what is best in the new theories and truths constantly advanced, and then applying them to the needs of a profession whose noble object is the alleviation of human suffer- ing. Silas Obed Kimbro is one of the younger members of the medieal fraternity of Drew county, yet he has already manifested such ideals and abilities as give promise of a future career of remarkable lustre.
Doctor Kimbro is a native son of the county in which he has eleeted to inaugurate his professional career. His birth date was January 15, 1881. and his parents were Dr. William C. and Louisa (Pritchard) Kimbro. His early years were passed upon his father's farm, many of whose duties fell upon his young shoulders. He received his preliminary education in the public school and then began to gratify that ambition for a thorough edu- cation which at an early date had taken root in his bosom. After leaving the country school he entered Hineman's University, at Monticello, then went to Sulphur Rock College. and eventually matriculated in the Arkan- sas Normal School, from whose medical department he graduated June 15, 1900. That was but the beginning of the remarkably fine equipment which he desired to obtain before entering upon his chosen career, and he pro- ceeded to secure the finest medieal education afforded by the southwest. He received a well-earned degree from the Gate City Medical College and School of Pharmacy at Texarkana. Texas, May 15, 1903, and was gradu- ated from the medical department of the University of Nashville, Tennes- see, June 29, 1906. He had, however, begun upon his praetice some time previously, in 1901, at Berea, Ashley county, Arkansas, where he remained for two years, and was successful even at the start. His identification with Monticello dated from 1906, and his stay here has been of sufficient dura- tion to manifest and prove his ability. In 1908 he opened a drug store in the eity, which he still eonduets under the name of Dr. S. O. Kimbro & Company. He is associated with practically all of the organizations calculated to unite and advance the profession to which he is an undoubted ornament, his membership extending to the county and state medical societies and the Tri-State and American Medical Associations. Hs is also a member of the Woodmen of the World.
On May 20, 1908, Dr. Kimbro became a reeruit to the ranks of the Benediets, the lady to become his wife being Miss Eugenia Haskew, of Ham- burg, Arkansas, a daughter of Charles E. and Elizabeth (Derton) Haskew. Their household is blessed by the presence of a little son, Garland Ray.
EDWARD P. MCGEHEE, M. D. During the years which mark the period of Dr. Edward P. MeGehee's professional career he has met with gratifying success, and though his residenee in Lake Village, Chicot county, Arkansas, dates back only to the year 1899, he has won the good will and patronage of many of the leading citizens and families of this place. He is a great student and endeavors to keep abreast with the times on everything relating to discoveries in medical science, being a patron of the leading journals devoted to the discussion of the "ills that flesh is heir to" and the treatment thereof. Progressive in his ideas and believing in modern methods as a whole, he does not, however, dispense with the true and tried systems which have stood the test of years.
Dr. Edward Pelham McGehee was born at Leighton, Alabama, the date of his birth being January 21, 1869. He is a son of Thomas M. and Mary S. (Spangler) MeGehee, both of whom are deceased. The father
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was a prominent merchant in northern Alabama in the days prior to the Civil war, and in the Confederate army he was captain of a company in the Sixteenth Alabama Regiment, in which he gave most faithful service until the close of that sanguinary struggle. When peace had again been established he took up the work of civil engineering, which he followed with eminent success up to the time of his death, in 1881. The Doctor was the third in order of birth in the family of seven children of Thomas M. MeGehce, and he was named after John Pelham, the boy artillerist of Stuart's brigade, who was the youngest major general in the Confederate service. After completing the curriculum of the public schools of his native place Dr. McGehee was matriculated in Leighton Academy, in which in- stitution he was a student for two years, at the expiration of which he entered the Southern University, at Greensboro, Alabama. Two years later he attended the Vanderbilt College, at Nashville, Tennessee, and he was eventually graduated in the medical department of the University of Alabama, at Mobile, in March, 1894. He praetieed medicine in the north- ern part of the state of Alabama for four years, and in the spring of 1899 he came to Arkansas, locating at Lake Village, where he has since been actively identified with the work of his profession. He is extensively known as a skilled physician and surgeon and holds precedence as one of the best doctors in Chieot county.
In connection with his life work Dr. MeGehee is a member of the Chieot County Medical Society, the Arkansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias. He is presi- dent of the Lake Village board of health and he has been a member of the city council since 1902. In 1911 he established and fully equipped the Lake Village Infirmary, a private hospital devoted solely to important surgical cases. In addition to his medical work the Doctor has other interests of broad scope and importance. He owns considerable valuable real estate in Lake Village and is a member of the Board of Directors in the Chicot Bank & Trust Company. In politics he aceords an unswerving allegiance to the principles and policies of the Democratic party and as a citizen he is widely renowned for his loyalty and public spirit.
In March, 1904, was recorded the marriage of Dr. McGehee to Miss Sne MeMurray, a daughter of Captain James McMurray, who came to Lake Village in the ante-bellum days and who for years was a prominent ind influential newspaper man in this place. He was born at Kingston, in Jamaica. West Indies, of Scotch-Irish parents, and was educated in the Dublin University. In the Confederate army, in the Civil war, he was a captain and he served with the utmost loyalty and gallantry in that con- fliet. After the war he purchased a plantation at Luna Landing, Arkansas, on which he still resides. He reared to maturity a family of four children, of whom Mrs. McGchee was the youngest daughter. Dr. and Mrs. McGehee have three children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth-Edward Pelham, Jr .; Minnie, and Elizabeth.
In no profession to which man gives his attention does success depend more largely upon individual effort than the one which now claims Dr. McGehee as a follower and the distinction and prestige achieved by him in his chosen calling attest his superior ability and close application. Fairness characterizes all his efforts and he conducts all his business with the strictest regard to a high standard of professional ethics.
HERBERT TYSINGER, of Little Rock, proprietor of the largest exclusive automobile supply house in the Southwest, has the additional enviable distinction of being "Father of the good roads movement in Arkansas,"
H. Tyringer
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such lengthy title being his by every right. It cannot be denied that his ambition to make this section of the Bear state ideal for the automobile owner and other travelers is a laudable and altruistic one and it is one into which he has put a characteristic amount of energy and enthusiasm. It is to such citizenship as his that Arkansas' beautiful capital city owes its remarkable progress and advancement and in many other ways he has demonstrated the public spirit that makes him so good and patriotic a citizen, in his career here having never failed to yield hearty support and co-operation to any measure that has appealed to him as likely to be con- ducive to the public good. The automobile has been declared the best and most economical means of locomotion in the world and automobile owners, not merely in Little Rock, but in the state at large, are indebted to Mr. Tysinger for his good offices in improving the roads and in in- angurating a campaign, whose results are as yet only in the initial stages.
Herbert Tysinger is an Arkansan only by adoption, his birth having occurred at Deavertown, Morgan county, Ohio, on the 30th day of August, 1878. As is the case with the grand majority of our successful citizens he was reared upon a farm, the wholesome and independent life of the farmer's son being his early experience. "His parents were Charles F. and Marie E. (Wise) Tysinger, natives of Ohio. He received his preliminary education in the schools of Morgan county and his innate electrical genius early asserted itself, as it does in most of its devotees. He received his training as an electrical engineer in practice and for fourteen years was actively engaged as an electrician in various cities of the country, in- cluding Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis. His fortunate identifica- tion with Little Rock dates from the year 1897, his work in electrical construction bringing him here. He was greatly attracted by the city, its beauty appealing to him and its advantages being clearly perceptible to one familiar with various scenes and sections. In 1909, he became estab- lished in the automobile supply business, in which he has achieved splendid success, the enterprise growing in scope and importance until he can claim the distinction of having built up the largest business of its kind not only in the state, but in the entire southwest, and this, wonderful to state, in a period of two years. He is recognized as one of the represen- tative business men of the city, with substantial financial resources and first-class credit. In the legitimate channels of trade he has won the suc- cess which is sure to crown well directed labor, sound judgment and untir- ing preseverance. He is one of the largest and most successful sellers of the Republic Automobile tires, of which he is exelusive representative in Arkansas. This excellent tire embodies safety and durability and elim- inates all tire troubles. Another special feature of Mr. Tysinger's estab- lishment is the vulcanizing and the tire repair department, which is as completely equipped as any in the country. In addition to the tire and repair department a large line of automobile accessories and supplies are carried and Mr. Tysinger is exelusive agent for Non-Fluid Oil and Mo- torol. Mr. Tysinger was originally situated at 315 Centre street, but with the beginning of 1911 he established new and larger quarters for his business at 414-416 Centre street.
The subject is president of the Little Rock Good Roads Booster Club. an organization whose name amply explains itself, and he was the orig- inator of the weekly automobile tours of the club, a departure which awakened the business men and the farmers throughout Central Arkansas to the great good to be derived from fine roads. A man who can place one order for fourteen thousand dollars worth of tire, the largest ship- ment ever sent west of the Mississippi river, is assuredly a valuable force to have in the captaincy of the movement described.
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Politically Mr. Tysinger subscribes to the articles of faith of the Republican party, but he takes in politics only the interest of the intel- ligent voter, having no disturbing ambition for the honors and emolu- ments of office. On February 15, 1900, he married Miss Florence Rhan, a native of New York, but who was reared in Arkansas. They have two children, Anna May and Marie E.
RUFUS BLAIR. The hope of Searcy county and of the state is founded upon the young men, and one of the most promising of the standard-bear- ers of progress and good citizenship is Rufus Blair, clerk of the Circuit Court of Searcy county. He is the representative of a family which even in ante-bellum days was one of the most prominent in the state. He was born at Bear Creek Postoffice, April 17, 1883, a son of Joseph T. Blair, who, as a youth, came to the state and county from the vicinity of Nash- ville, Tennessee. He married in the Bear state and reared his family to be partially grown before he died at Leslie in 189", at the age of fifty-two years. The mother of the subject was Emma Wasson, who died compara- tively early in life, the mother of William J., of LeGrande, California ; George T., of Leslie, Arkansas; Joseph E., also of that place; James R., of Salsaleto, California; Mrs. Houston Ellis. of Leslie, Arkansas : and Ru- fus Blair, the subject of this review. For his second wife the elder Mr. Blair married Martha Sooter, and the children of that union were Lawrence and Ray.
Rufus Blair received from the hands of destiny what has been faceti- ously referred to as one of the prime requisites of greatness-he was born amid rural surroundings and developed his youthful strength in those numerous duties which fall to the lot of the farmer's son. When still a lad he accompanied the family to Leslie, where he continued his studies in the publie schools, and when seventeen he eame to Marshall and finished his education in the excellent graded schools of this place. His first adventure in the work-aday world was in the capacity of a school teacher, engaging in the pedagogical profession at an early age and following it successfully and with entire satisfaction to all coneerned for the next seven years. He made his exit from this useful field of endeavor in 1908, when he received marked evidence of the confidenee and regard in which he had established himself by his eleetion to the eircuit clerkship of the county.
Mr. Blair is one of the most loyal and enthusiastic of Democrats, ever ready to go anywhere, to do anything honorable to advanee the interests of the party in which he believes. He comes by his loyalty and enthusiasm by inheritance as well as by personal inclination, for he is of Democratic ancestry. He had the nomination "presented to him on a platter," as some one has said, not one man of his political faith opposing him. He was eleeted over his Republican opponent, the first time by a majority of three hundred and eighty, and in 1910, was nominated without opposition and eleeted at the state eleetion by a majority of one hundred and forty-seven. He took office as the successor of Hosea Keeling, and is the youngest official elected in the county for many years. Although he thus "wears the rose of youth upon him" he has evineed that sound judgment which has made his selection highly warrantable.
Mr. Blair was happily married November 24, 1910, Miss Bessie B. Motley, daughter of John W. Motley, becoming his bride. Mrs. Blair's father came to this state from Missouri but a few years since, and Missouri is her native state.
Mr. Blair is a member of the Woodmen of the World and he has been clerk of the Marshall camp for four years. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
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OSCAR REDMAN. One of the most important factors in the business and civic life of Marshall is Oscar Redman, proprietor of the large concern here dealing in dry goods, groceries, flour and feed and also a stockholder in the Marshall Roller Mill Company, both concerns which contribute in material fashion to the prosperity and well-being of the place. Mr. Red- inan is one of the large real estate owners and preceded the mercantile career in which he has encountered such definite success as a farmer and deputy sheriff. In addition to his other claims to distinction he is popular and prominent in local lodge circles.
Mr. Redman belongs to that typically American product, the self-made man, and although thrown upon his own resources at an early age by the machinations of an unkind fate he has conquered difficulties and estab- lished himself in a manner which reflects honor upon himself and credit upon the family name. He was born in Searcy county, Arkansas, Decem- ber 23, 1868, his parents being Jolm L. and Dorcus (McLerran) Redman, and in the following year was taken by his parents to Cooke county, Texas, where he grew to young manhood, returning in 1887 to the district of his nativity. He was but three years of age when deprived by death of his father and only fifteen when his mother passed away during their residence near Gainesville, Texas, and from that time he found it necessary to de- pend wholly upon himself. He knew no schooling save that afforded by the country school and even such discipline ceased with the death of his mother. He was an only child and was thus doubly alone in the world. He found his means of livelihood as a worker by the month and even when so young his financial ability had become apparent, for he had so managed his finances as to possess a thousand dollars when he left the Lone Star state, being then a youth of only about nineteen years.
When Oscar Redman came back to Arkansas he joined U. A. Bratton in buying a little saw mill eight miles east of Leslie, their partnership being designated as Bratton & Redman. This enterprise continued only a few months, Mr. Redman then disposing of his interest and engaging in farm- ing, with which he had already had some experience. After several years in which he wore the role from which Cincinnatus was called to the die- tatorship, he accepted a deputyship under Sheriff J. A. Melton, and when they both left the office they engaged in merchandise together as the firm of Melton & Redman. In less than a year he sold out and reengaged in business alone, and has continued thus ever since that time. As previously mentioned, he deals in dry goods and groceries, with a flour and feed ad- junct, and occupies one of the brick buildings on the square. In November, 1909, he bought an interest in the plant of the Marshall Roller Mill Com- pany, an institution that was built here about the year 1895 by a company made up of the citizens of Marshall and with a daily capacity of fifty bar- rels of flour a day. The mill manufactures meal and feed, and is one of the busy centers of Marshall enterprise, filling its local trade orders and taking care of the few customers it can supply in addition to the local demand.
Mr. Redman has extended his substantial and permanent connection with Marshall from time to time by investment in real estate and in making improvements upon the same. His own residence and other buildings of less pretention mark the extent of his efforts as a builder of the town.
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