USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
In his political convictions Mr. Lyman endorses the cause of the Republican party and while he has never been incumbent of any political offices, strictly speaking, he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all movements projected for the good of the general wel- fare. He has long been a prominent figure in Masonic circles in Arkansas, being a Knight. Templar and having on several occasions served in the Grand lodge of the state. For eighteen years, ending January 1, 1911, when he resigned on account of the tax on his health, he was secretary of all the local bodies of Masonry. A recent honor that came to Mr. Lyman, unsolicited, was his selection as president of the board of commissioners that has charge of building the free bridge across the Arkansas river, between Fort Smith and Van Buren, an enterprise of great importance to these two cities. In their religions faith Mr. and Mrs. Lyman are mem- bers of the Congregational church. As a citizen Mr. Lyman has ever given evidence of that loyal and public spirited interest which characterizes the truly great man and which is prolific of so much good in connection with all matters touching the general welfare. He is broad-minded in thought and action and is ever considerate of the opinions and feelings of others.
1263
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
JAMES GOULD, who, retired from the bench of the county court of Jef- ferson county in November, 1910, is a native son of Arkansas and has gained precedence as one of the representative business men and public officials of his county. He has maintained his home at Pine Bluff, the county seat, for fully thirty-five years, and during twenty years of this period he was here actively engaged in business. IIe is a scion of one of the honored families of this section of the state and in his personal activities and sterling character has proved himself a worthy repre- sentative of the name which he bears.
Judge Gould was born on a farm in Bradley county, Arkansas, on the 11th of April, 1856, and is a son of Judge Joshiah and Frances Gould, the former of whom was born in the state of Massachusetts, and the latter in Alabama. Judge Joshiah Gould was numbered among the prominent and influential citizens and representative legists and jurists of Arkansas, where he and his wife continued to reside until their death. Prior to the Civil war he had become one of the leading mem- bers of the bar of the state and he served with distinction on the circuit bench, at a time when his jurisdiction comprised about ten of the present counties of the state. He also served several terms as a mem- ber of the state senate, and he ever held the implicit confidence and high regard of all who knew him. He became an extensive landholder and slave owner prior to the war between the states, and did much to further the industrial development and progress of Arkansas. He was a man of fine intellectual and professional attainments and was the author of Gould's Digest, a standard law book and one that is still in use as an authority. Both he and his wife were residents of Bradley county, Arkan- sas, at the time of their death and both held membership in the Presby- terian church. He was one of the leaders in the councils of the Demo- cratic party in Arkansas, and as a citizen he was essentially loyal and progressive.
Judge James Gould was reared to the discipline of the farm and his early educational privileges were those afforded in the public schools of the locality and period. In 1875 he engaged in the general merchan- dise business at Pine Bluff, which was then a mere village, and here he continued to be actively identified with this line of enterprise for a period of twenty years, during which he maintained an unassailable reputation for fair and honorable dealings, through which he built up a prosperous business and gained a strong hold upon the confidence and esteem of the people of the community. He was reared in the faith of the Democratic party and has never deviated therefrom, the while he has been an efficient and valued worker in its local ranks. In 1902 he was elected sheriff of Jefferson county, an office of which he continued in tenure for four years, at the expiration of which, in 1906, he was given still more noteworthy evidence of popular regard, in that he was then elected to the bench of the county court, also becoming judge of the probate court, as the two offices are combined under the provisions the state constitution. At the expiration of his original term of two years he was re-elected, and in the spring of 1910 he was again tendered the nomination, for a third term, but declined to become a candidate, though his nomination was tantamount to re-election. His administration of the affairs of both courts was marked by scrupulous care and fidelity and gained to him unequivocal commendation on the part of the people of the county that has so long been his home and the center of his inter- ests. In 1882 he was elected city treasurer, and he held this position for one tern, of two years. Judge Gould is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
1264
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. In his religious affiliation he is a Methodist, and his wife is a Christian Scientist.
In the year 1878 Judge Gould was united in marriage to Miss Belle Holland, of Pine Bluff, and she was summoned to the life eternal in 1896. She is survived by one son, Roy, who is now engaged in business at Fort Smith, Arkansas. On the Ist of November, 1897. Judge Gould con- tracted a second marriage, having then wedded Miss Beulah Benton, daughter of Josiah Benton, the representative citizen of Carthage, Texas, and now deceased. Four children of the second union are Benton, Gal- braith, Francis and Jamie, all of whom remain at the parental home.
GEORGE W. HUDSON, M. D. The state of Arkansas, with its recent, rapid progress and development, has attracted within its bound- aries men of marked ability and high character in the various profes- sional and industrial lines, and in this way prosperity has been con- served and social stability fostered. He whose name introduces this article has gained recognition as one of the able and successful physi- cians and surgeons in the state, and by his labors, his high professional attainments and his sterling qualities has justified the respect and confidence in which he is held by his eo-laborers in the medical fra- ternity and the local public. He has been eminently successful in many important cases and has won prestige among those who are best able to judge of his ability and who recognize his close and conscientious adherence to the ethics of the profession.
Dr. George W. Hudson was born at Gillsville, Hall county, Georgia, on the 13th of May, 1844, and he is a son of John F. Hudson, whose birth occurred in Georgia on the 17th of July, 1823. John F. Hudson married Diadema Simmons, likewise a native of Georgia, and to them were born three children,-Dr. George W., the immediate subject of this review : William S., who was summoned to the life enternal on the 2nd of May, 1862, at the age of fourteen years: and Mary J .. who is the widow of Dr. Schrock, deceased, and who resides at Abilene, Texas. in 1852 the Hudson family immigrated to Arkansas, location being made on a farm near Benton, Saline county, where the death of the father occurred on the 6th of January, 1859. He was a man of prom- inenee during his life time, taking an active part in community affairs, and he was a valued and appreciative member of the old Little Rock Masonie fraternity. The mother passed away in 1891. at Camden, Arkansas.
Dr. Hudson was a child of eight years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Arkansas, and after a good common-school educa- tion he entered the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, in the medi- cal department of which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1875, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately after graduation he opened an office at Camden, Ouachita county, Arkansas, where he has been engaged in the active practice of his profession during the long intervening years to the present time. In 1861, when civil war was precipitated upon a divided nation, Dr. Hudson enlisted as a soldier in Company H, Ninth Arkansas Regiment, the same being commanded by Captain Armstrong. He participated in the battle at Shiloh and in the two battles at Corinth, and on the retreat from Corinth he was seriously wounded and received his hon- orable discharge from further service. He then returned to Arkansas and subsequently took up the study of medicine, as already noted, es- tablishing himself in active practice at Camden in 1875. He rapidly built up a large and lucrative patronage and in this eity. to-day, he
1265
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
holds prestige as one of the best physicians and surgeons and as one of the most prominent and loyal business men who ever resided here. In connection with his life work Dr. Hudson is a valued and apprecia- tive member of the Ouachita County Medieal Society, the Arkansas Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the eause of the Democratic party, and in their religious faith he and his family are devout members of the Presbyterian church.
In the year 1875 was recorded the marriage of Dr. Hudson to Miss Berenice Woodland, a daughter of Major E. N. Woodland, a pioneer in the state of Arkansas and a prominent official in the Con- federate army during the Civil war. To this union were born four children, all of whom grew to maturity but two of whom are now de- ceased, namely : Diademma and Anette. Those living are,-Berenice, who is the wife of W. H. Giers, of Little Rock: and Woodland, who is a student in the St. Louis Dental College, at St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Hudson was summoned to eternal rest on the 27th of February, 1900, and Dr. Hudson wedded Miss Katherine R. Bardwell, in 1902, a daughter of Rev. Joseph Bardwell, D. D., a professor in the Presby- terian Theologieal School at Clarksville, Tennessee. Dr. and Mrs. Hud- son have one son, Graeme Wesley, who was born on the 31st of May, 1908. The great social prominence which always comes in recognition of individual worth, eulture and refinement has come to the Hudson household, which is noted for its hospitality, and it is the seene of many a delightful social function.
Dr. Hudson has made for himself an enviable reputation as a representative of the medieal profession. Well prepared for his life work, he at onee entered upon the practice of medicine and from the beginning has been unusually prosperous in every respect. The suc- eess which he has attained is due to his own efforts and merits. The possession of advantages is no guarantee whatever for professional advancement, which comes only through hard labor. in- tegrity and ability. These qualities Dr. Hudson possesses to an eminent degree and it may be said of him that throughout his life whatever his hand finds to do, whether in professional or in private life, he does with all his might and with a deep sense of conscientious obliga- tion.
CAPTAIN BERT R. OASTLER, now serving as captain quartermaster of the Second Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard, is one of the strong and honored residents of Arkadelphia. It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of a state lies not in its machinery of govern- inent, nor even in its institutions, but in the sterling qualities of its individual citizens,-in their capacity for high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good. The record of Captain Oastler is one which eonfers honor and dignity upon society, because it has been characterized by excellent use of his native talents and powers and by straightforward relations between himself and his fellow men. He has maintained his home in Arkansas sinee 1894, and during the long intervening years to the present time has devoted the major por- tion to attention to the eotton business.
A native of the state of Illinois, Captain Oastler was born in the western metropolis, Chieago, the date of his nativity being the 10th of April, 1878. He is a son of Thomas and Kate (Sheridan) Oastler, the former of whom was born at England, and the latter of whom claimed Ireland as the place of her nativity. In the excellent publie
1266
IHISTORY OF ARKANSAS
schools of his native city Captain Oastler received his elementary edu- vation, In 1894 he came to Arkansas, locating at Hope, in Hempstead county, where he resided for the ensuing eight years. In 1908 he es- tablished his home at Arkadelphia, where he has since resided and where he is identified with the great cotton interests of this section of the state. In connection with his business he represents the Lesser- Goldman Cotton Company, of St. Louis, one of the largest cotton firms in the world and the pioneer cotton company to do business in Arkan- sas, in which state it originated. Captain Oastler is a business man of marked executive ability and he is decidedly a hustler, his energy and determination to forge ahead having won for him a distinguished posi- tion in the business world of this section of the state. He is best known, however, as an officer in the Arkansas National Guard, with which he has been connected since its re-organization in 1900. He is captain quartermaster of the Second Regiment and is recognized as one of the most efficient officers in the entire National Guard.
At Prescott, Arkansas, in the year 1900, was solemnized the mar- riage of Captain Oastler to Miss Pearl L. Bryan, who was born and reared at Prescott, and who is a daughter of Thomas L. Bryan, a rep- resentative and influential citizen of that place. Captain and Mrs. Oastler are the fond parents of one son, Thomas W. Oastler, whose birth occurred on the 19th of August, 1902.
Politieally, while he is not an office seeker, Captain Oastler ae- cords an neompromising allegiance to the principles and policies of the Republican party and in all matters affecting the well being of the community in which he resides he is essentially loyal and public- spirited, doing his utmost to further progress and development. He is a member of the Republican State Committee and chairman of his County Committee for the past four years. He is prominent in the eireles of the lodge of the Knights of Pythias in Arkansas. being a member of the Grand Lodge of the state. He is also great keeper of wampum of Arkansas and past for the great sachem for the Improved Order of Red Men. Captain Oastler is popular among all classes and conditions of men, and no one commands a higher degree of publie confidence and regard than does he.
ALLAN KENNEDY, inspector-general of the Arkansas National Guard, with the rank of brigadier general, is one of the most prominent and widely known fire insurance men in the South and Southwest. He enjoys additional distinetion as the founder of the Illustrious and Benevolent Order of the Gray Goose, which was organized for the benefit of local fire insurance agents and has subordinate organizations in other states.
A son of Milton F. and Julia ( Williams) Kennedy, he was born at Memphis, Tennessee. His father was born in Missouri, his mother in Tennessee. The latter was descended from Revolutionary ancestry. having been a great-granddaughter of Colonel Nicholas Long, who commanded North Carolina troops in the war for independence. She passed away some years ago. For many years Milton F. Kennedy has been in the cotton business. He removed his family and his head- quarters to Fort Smith in 1881.
Allan Kennedy gained his education in the schools of Fort Smith. At twenty-one he embarked in the fire insurance business. His enter- prise is eondneted under the firm name of Kennedy & Albers, and is a local agency for a number of the largest and strongest fire insurance companies in the world. His years of experience in this line has made
126:
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
him widely known as an expert in fire insurance. He was one of the organizers and was the first president, in 1900, of the Arkansas Asso- ciation of Local Fire Insurance Agents, and has since been three times elected to the same office in the organization. He is also well known as a member of the National Association of Local Fire Insurance Agents and has long taken a leading part in representing fire insurance in- terests before the Arkansas legislature and in proposing and promot- ing legislation for the benefit and protection of such interests. In 1907 he promoted and built the Kennedy Building on South Sixth street, in the business center of the city, the first exclusive office struc- ture in Fort Smith and one that compares very favorably with some more pretentious ones in other cities.
In the best sense of the term Mr. Kennedy is a man of public spirit, ever alive to the interests of Fort Smith, ever ready to assist to the extent of his ability any movement which in his judgment promises to enhance the weal of any considerable number of its citizens.
PROFESSOR ADAMS ALEXANDER HENDERSON. The name placed at the head of this sketch represents one of the oldest families of Independ- ence county, the forefathers on both sides of the house coming to this region when it was in its virgin wildness, the settlement of the Hender- son family on the White river having been one of the historical events of territorial days. The pioneer ancestor, who came of Colonial stock, was William Henderson, the great-grandfather of Professor Hender- son. This brave frontiersman came here in 1817, locating just south of Newark, in the valley, where he subsequently devoted his time to ag- riculture, living there until his death, which occurred just about the time Arkansas assumed the garb of statehood. His children were as follows: Adams, the Professor's grandfather; Joseph; Jacob; Micajah ; Noah ; Maek; Jemima, who married a Mr. Tomlinson; and Telitha, who became the wife of Urban E. Fort, an early sheriff of Independence county.
Adams Henderson was born in 1804 in Tennessee, and was brought up in the White river valley, south of Newark. Continuing in the ancestral oceupation, he was life-long farmer and a resident of Inde- pendenee county until his death, in 1860. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Rebecea Leggett, thirteen children were born, name- ly: James: Jerry; Beane: Joseph: Urban; Mack; John: Thomas: Elizabeth, who married first George D. Duff and married seeond a Mr. Locke: Jane died unmarried : Mary married Samuel Clark ; Telitha was the wife of Robert Pectol; and Nancy married Bud Clark.
James B. Henderson, the father of Professor Henderson, was born in the big bottom adjacent to Newark, in Deeember, 1832, being the oldest child of the parental household. He received educational ad- vantages far exceeding those of the average farmer boys of pioneer days, having acquired when young a liberal knowledge of the text books then in use fitting him for a professional career. He began his active career as a teacher, and followed it for many years, even after serving in the Civil war. Although his brothers and his father were staneh adherents of the Union, James B. Henderson's sympathies were en- tirely with the South, and during the first year of the Civil war he joined the Confederate army. His regiment. under the command of General MeCrea, participated in all the important engagements of the Trans-Mississippi department and was at the front in the battle of Shiloh. He served in the army four years, during which time he was neither wounded nor taken prisoner ..
1268
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
Returning home at the end of the war, James B. Henderson re- sumed his former vocation of teaching, which had not then reached the dignity of a profession, and during much of his after life was engaged in pastoral work, being an ordained minister of the Christian church and supplying, mainly, local pulpits. He also beeame a land owner, and was engaged to some extent in tilling the soil, living on his farm until death, in April, 1906. He was a Democrat in politics, but, with the exception of serving one term as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Fort, held no publie offiee.
James B. Henderson married Franees Clark, who was born in Tennessee and eame to Arkansas with her father, Alexander Clark. She belonged to a family noted in the early history of the United States, her great-grandfather Clark having been a brother of General George Rogers Clark, the Revolutionary hero, and the lineal descend- ant of one of two brothers named Rogers who eame to the United States with William Penn, in 1683, and helped found the city of Philadelphia. She died in 1860, leaving one ehild, Adams Alexander, the special subjeet of this biographical record. Rev. Mr. Henderson subsequently married for his second wife Aleey Barber, who bore him seven children, namely: Martha, deceased, was the wife of Robert Clark ; Joseph, of Wrenton, Arkansas: Thomas, of Newark; and Will- iam, Talitha, James and Edwin, dying when young.
Gaining a good knowledge of farming while young. Adams Alex- ander Henderson likewise gleaned a practical education in the common sehools, and sometime before attaining his majority began teaching in the rural sehools of his neighborhood. He was born on the home farm near Newark, March 10, 1858, and first took his place at the teacher's desk in 1875. He taught several terms, in the meantime at- tending Arkansas College, in Batesville, as time and means allowed, in 1886 being graduated from that institution. Continuing his profes- sional lahors until 1903, he taught in Newark and vicinity, resigning the work when principal of the Newark Publie Sehool. While a teacher, Professor Henderson served for two years as connty examiner, an office which has the supervision of the educational work of the county, and requires a thorough understanding of the edneational methods in vogue.
Resigning from the school-room, the Professor became a dealer in real estate, and has sinee varied his interests according to the de- mands of his business, taking advantage of all offered opportunities for extending and enlarging his finaneial operations. For a while he was eashier of the Merehants and Planters' Bank of Newark, and was a member of the mereantile firm of Henderson & Hawthorn, dealers in hardware and furniture. Sinee the dissolution of that firm, on Jannary 1, 1911, the Professor has devoted himself to his real estate business, and to his duties as notary publie. He has made investments of value in Newark property, some of which he has improved, his deal- ings in Newark land being quite extensive. A Democrat in his politieal affiliations, he has never sought office, but twice was elected county surveyor, simply on his ability to fill the position, not because of any eontest on his part.
Professor Henderson married, April 14, 1881, Maggie E. Brown, a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Brown, who came from Illinois to Arkansas in 1877. Gracie, the only child of Professor and Mrs. Henderson, is the wife of Jesse B. Brown, of Saint Petersburg, Florida. Mr. Brown, who is a most competent and skillful eivil engineer, was for
1269
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
several years engaged upon the engineering work of the Panama Canal, leaving the position in 1910.
WILLIAM H. MILLER, of Mountain View, is an adequate representa- tive of the legal fraternity in the affairs of Stone county and has passed a quarter of a century of his life within the limits of the state. He left his native state, Illinois, in 1878, and established himself in Marion county. Kansas, where he passed eight years as a farmer. He was not native to the agricultural industry, for his father had been a briek manufacturer at Meehaniesburg, Illinois, and he had learned that trade himself. It may have been through the influenees of heredity that he was inelined to the great basie industry for his grandfather, Michael Miller, lived and died a farmer.
After eight years of strenuous activity on a Kansas farm Mr. Miller decided to migrate southward and he located, in 1886, at Heber, Arkansas. For some time he has fostered a growing ambition to enter the legal profession and while at Heber he began the studies destined to prepare him for that distinguished calling. His studies were prose- cuted under the enlightened tutelage of J. P. Wood and his admission to the bar occurred in the year 1888. He had the honor to begin his professional career with his former preceptor as partner. This career began with a suit in replevin, a subjeet rather complex for a novice in the law, and following that he engaged in the prosecution of a man charged with murder, in the capacity of assistant to the state. His success as a practitioner and his reetitude as a citizen, combined with high regard for the ethies of his profession, conspired to advance him steadily and he soon attained to enviable standing in Cleburne county as a barrister.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.