USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 31
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JAMES E. LAWSON. Prominent among the strong and active men who are ably filling public positions of importance is James E. Lawson, sheriff of Greene county, who has been a resident of Paragould for a score of years, during which time he has served town and county in varions official capacities, performing the duties of each with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. A native of Ken- tucky, he was born July 27, 1867, in Union county, which was also the birthplace of his father, John F. Lawson.
John F. Lawson, born in 1832, grew to manhood in Union county, Kentucky, and as a young man there followed the trade of a plasterer. Subsequently turning his attention to agriculture, he bought land in Web- ster county, Kentneky, and on the farm which he improved spent his remaining years, dying in 1909. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Calvert, still resides in Webster county. Six children were born of their union, as follows: Ellen, wife of Thomas Young, of Paragould ; Emma, wife of Thomas Herrin, of Paragould; James E .; Richard, a resident of Paragould; Mary Belle, living in Webster county, Kentucky. the wife of Elbert Sigler; and Nannie, wife of Gid Reynolds, of Black- port, Kentucky.
Brought up on the home farm, James E. Lawson acquired his early education in the rural schools of his district, and on attaining his ma- jority hegan life for himself as elerk in a Webster county dry goods store. continuing thus employed three years. Giving up the position in 1891. he migrated to Arkansas, and has since made his home in Para- gould. He here began his official career as an officer on the municipal police force, serving for four years. He was afterwards employed for some time in a huh and stave mill, with which he was conneeted until 1906, when he assumed the duties of constable, and held the position fonr years. At the end of that time, in 1910, Mr. Lawson became a candi-
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date against three competitors in the Democratic primary for sheriff of Greene county, and having won the nomination defeated his Re- publican opponent at the polls by a vote of two to one, his great majority proving his popularity with all classes of people. In Novem- ber, 1910, Mr. Lawson took the office of sheriff, succeeding Robert L. Camp, and is discharging the duties devolving upon him ably and faithfully.
Mr. Lawson married, June 15, 1894, in Paragould, Miss Divie Clark, who was born in Green county, Arkansas, October 3, 1879, a daughter of Francis and Susie (Lewis) Clark, natives of Tennessee. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lawsou, namely; John Francis, born in 1895; Edmonia, born in 1897; and Herschel D., born in August, 1907. Fraternally Mr. Lawson is affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows: the Degree of Honor; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and with the Ancient Order of United Work- men.
CHARLES W. STEDMAN, city clerk of Paragould, and at the head of that flourishing and up-to-date mercantile concern, the Steadman Hard- ware Company, is a native son of the county, and as an able public official, a progressive business man and a public spirited citizen is well entitled to representation among the loyal sons of Green county and the state to which this work is devoted. Mr. Stedman's birthdate is February 9, 1868, and he is a son of Leonidas Stedman, superintendent of the Paragould water works system and veteran of the Civil war, who came to this county shortly after the dispanding of the Confederate army, and who has been one of its valued citizens in the long interven- ing period.
Leonidas Stedman was born in Chatham county, North Carolina, May 15, 1838, and is the son of William C. Stedman, a farmer, who died near Gainesville, Arkansas, he having brought his family to the state just previous to the opening of the rebellion, and the family residence having been made for a few years at Jacksonport. William C. Stedman died in 1863, at the age of seventy-four years. His wife was previous to her marriage Miss Sarah T. Sturdevant, and of the children born to them Charles lost his life in battle as a Confederate soldier : Frank passed his life in North Carolina; Jennie, now Mrs. Richard Jackson, resides in Paragould; Maggie is the wife of Dr. R. H. Mark- ham, of Paragould : Leonidas is next in order of birth; and Emma, who married William H. Scott, has passed her life at Gainsville.
Leonidas Stedman had been a citizen of Arkansas for two years when, following his honest convictions, he responded to a call for troops made by the president of the Confederate states and enlisted at Jack- sonport as a private in Company G of the First Arkansas Regiment of Infantry. The year of his enlistment was 1862, and his services took him for the most part east of the Mississippi. He was under General Albert Sidney Johnson at the battle of Shiloh and he also took part in the battles of Perryville. Chickamangna and Missionary Ridge under General Bragg and fought in the Atlanta .campaign under General Joseph E. Johnston, when the army was under fire every day dur- ing the one hundred days' contest. He was in the engagement at Jonesboro when his division was captured, but he made his escape by setting a new pace as a runner. He subsequently went with Hood's army back into Tennessee and took part in the famous Franklin and Nashville fights, after which he was furloughed for ninety days and was never again in active service, reaching home in August. 1865. Vol. III-14
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When the carnage of war was ended Leonidas Stedman followed his parents on foot to their new home some ten miles north of Gaines- ville, in Greene county, and was engaged first in farming and then in ginning and saw-milling until 1892, when he removed to Paragould and here he has ever sinee resided. He married Aliee Granade, danghter of a Tennessee settler. Mrs. Stedman, herself, being a native of Tennessee. The issue of their union is as follows: Charles W., subject of this review; Leonidas U., one of the members of the Stedman Hardware Company ; William Telfair, assistant cashier of the National Bank of Paragould; Arthur G., of this city: Miss Allie, one of the eorps of teachers of the Peabody school in Little Rock; and Miss Annie, of Paragould.
Charles W. Stedman eoneluded his school days with a year in the boys' school at Searey, Arkansas, and when eighteen years of age he left the farm and entered the postal service as railway mail clerk over the Cotton Belt road between St. Louis and Texarkana. He was for five years engaged in this line of endeavor, and when he left the postal serviee he became night agent and joint tieket agent of the two rail- roads entering Paragould. He terminated this association after several years and became an employe of the Pacific Express Company. repre- senting them on the railroad for some six years. Following this he engaged in the timber business with his brother, Leonidas U., and only terminated the work in this field to assume the office of cireuit elerk and recorder in 1894. He was elected by the Democratic party and served two years, sneeeeding T. B. Kitehens in the office. At the expi- ration of his terms of office, he and his brother purchased the business of J. B. Avera in Paragould and formed the Stedman Hardware Com- pany.
Mr. Stedman has been actively connected with the Commercial Club sinee its formation and holds the offices of secretary and treasurer. His fraternal affiliations extend to the Odd Fellows. the Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.
Mr. Stedman was married in this county, May 6. 1906, Mrs. Annie Laurie Rodgers, daughter of Captain Farley, of Dallas, Texas, beeom- ing his wife, and they hold a high place in popular confidenee and esteem.
Mr. Stedman descends from Colonial ancestry, his great-grand- father, Nathan A. Stedman, having carried a musket in the Revolu- tionary war, as did also his brothers, Elisha and Winship. Nathan A. Stedman was of English stoek. He eame South in the '80s of the eigh- teenth century and died in Chatham county, North Carolina, about 1847. when ninety years of age.
RUSSELL G. FLOYD. M. D. An honored and distinguished repre- sentative of the medieal profession in Eureka Springs and Carroll eoun- ty is Dr. Russell G. Floyd. He is a man of the most original and enlightened methods, of untiring research, and splendid achievement, and the prestige which he enjoys both as a physician and a good citizen renders especially consonant a review of his eareer in this publieation, devoted to the city which has so long represented his home and been the field of his earnest and fruitful endeavors.
Dr. Floyd has passed more than a quarter of a century as a eitizen of Arkansas, his eoming hither dating from the year 1885, when he sought this spot for its health-giving and restorative qualities and speedily took his place among its most valued citizenship. Hle had previously spent four and a half years in Boulder, Colorado, his professional and
П.4. Плодов
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social eareer in the Rockies having been both interesting and successful. He had gone west from his native town, Berlin, in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, where his eyes had first opened to the light of day, July 20, 1851. There he received his eommon and high school education and came to the decision which made him a member of the medieal fraternity.
The founder of the western branch of the Floyd family was Henry Floyd, father of Dr. Floyd, who was born at East Lebanon, New Hamp- shire, in 1821. Henry Floyd was well educated and completed a course in the University of Norrish, Vermont, entering soon thereafter upon the career of a civil engineer. His subsequent residence in Wisconsin came as a result of his profession, for he became a part of the great organization which surveyed and divided into seetions the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin, beginning at Green Bay and running north to Lake Superior. He was one of the chief engineers and took a contraet from the government in 1846. When he had finished his work he located, about 1849, at Berlin, Wisconsin, and there estab- lished what proved to be his permanent home. In Marshall, Michigan, he married Sophia Houston, daughter of John Houston, who had form- erly been a resident of Parkston, Geneseo county, New York. There Mrs. Floyd was reared and her education was secured in Rochester. The elder Mr. Floyd was for many years interested in Wisconsin agriculture, although they maintained their residence in Berlin. The father was called to his eternal rest in 1905 and the devoted mother and wife sur- vived him until January 6, 1911. The issue of Henry and Sophia Floyd were as follows: Dr. Russell G., of this review; Charles E., of Eureka, Wiseonsin, and Mrs. Anna Jones of Omro, Wisconsin.
In glancing back over the history of the family we find the Floyds to have been of early Colonial stock. They lived in New Hampshire during the Revolutionary war, in which struggle Captain Daniel Floyd, great-grandfather of Dr. Floyd, commanded a company in Colonel Stickney's regiment of New Hampshire troops. His son Benjamin Floyd was the grandfather of the Doctor, and as a result of this serviee the subject holds a membership in the patriotie order of the "Sons of the American Revolution." Also, as the eldest son in lineal deseent, he is eligible to membership in the "Society of Cincinnati."
After his graduation from high school Dr. Floyd read medieine with Dr. N. M. Dodson, of Berlin, and in 1876 he graduated from the medical department of the Washington University at St. Louis, Mis- souri. He first hung up his shingle in Whitehall, Wisconsin, and made that community and the surrounding country his maiden field. By no means of the type which is content to "let well enough alone," Dr. Floyd took two years of post graduate work (in 1881 and 1882), these studies being pursued in Belleview Medical College, of New York city, and from which famous institution he received another degree to add to those he already possessed. More than a decade later, in 1894, he completed a course in the New York School of Physical Therapeutics. As has been already mentioned he spent several years in Colorado, and while a resident in Boulder he had charge of the Board of County Hos- pitals for three and a half years. Dr. Floyd is one to whom the com- mmmity looks instinetively as a proper ineumbent of publie office and it is indeed significant of the high approval he enjoys in the community that he has served the Eureka Springs Board of Health as its president for fourteen years. He is surgeon of the Missouri and North Arkansas Railway Company and is physician of the Creseent Female College, located at Eureka Springs. Except during the administrations of Presi-
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dent Cleveland he has been president of the Pension Examining Board, which is to say during almost the entire period of his residence in Arkansas. In those organizations looking toward the unity and ad- vancement of the profession to which he is an ornament he holds a prominent place, such organizations being the Carroll County Medical Society, the Arkansas State Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
In polities Dr. Floyd is a Republican and he is held in high esteem in party ranks and has served npon the State Advisory Committee. In addition to his professional duties he has several ulterior interests of large scope and importance, among them the presideney of the First National Bank of Enreka Springs, which he has held since its organiza- tion, and in connection with Mr. W. S. Wadsworth he built the Wads- worth-Floyd business block.
Dr. Floyd finds no small amount of pleasure in his fraternal rela- tions, which extend to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In fact he has manifested a very considerable interest in Oddfellowship and is known in this connection throughout the length and breadth of the great Bear state. He is past grand patriot and past grand master of the state of Arkansas and he has served nine years in the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the World. He is a member and treasurer of the official board of the Odd Fellows' Widows and Orphans Home at Batesville, and has been such for a long period of years. He is affiliated with several other orders, chiefly beneficiary, and he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1899 Dr. Floyd was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Setzer, danghter of John Setzer, their union being celebrated in Eureka Springs. although the bride was a resident of Litehfield, Illinois. Mrs. Floyd was summoned to her eternal rest February 2, 1902, leaving a daughter, Jennie Setzer Floyd. At Topeka, Kansas, in 1903 Dr. Floyd married a second time, Miss Clara Whiting, daughter of Dr. Whiting, of Polo, Illinois, beeoming his wife and the mistress of his household. They have no children. The Floyd residence is one of the cultured and attractive abodes of Eureka Springs.
HARRY MCPHERSON. Among the better known and more influential citizens of Greene connty, Harry MePherson, postmaster of Paragould. is eminently deserving of special mention in this volume. He is a contribution from the state of Missouri, his birth having oceurred in Bollinger county. that commonwealth, December 6, 1876, and is of pioneer stoek, his grandfather, Archibald MePherson, having located in the southeastern part of Missouri in 1830, from North Carolina. Ile was twice senator from his distriet and a member of the eonstitu- tional convention which framed the present constitution of Missouri, and was surveyor of Perry eonnty for many years. John A. MePherson, his father, was born in Perry county, Missouri, in 1847. There grow- ing to a sturdy manhood, he was mentally trained in the district schools and in Brazeau Academy. During the Civil war, as a member of the State Militia, he served with the Federal troops, taking an active part in some of the engagements that occurred during the latter part of the conflict. As a young man he located in Bollinger county, where he continued his career as a general farmer and merchant until his death, April 6, 1911. He was an uncompromising Republican in poli- ties. influential in party ranks, and in 1905 was chosen to represent his county in the State Legislature. He married first, in Bollinger
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county, Melvina Martin, who died a few months after the birth of their only son, Ilarry.
Acquiring his elementary education in the public schools, Harry MePherson finished his school days at the Mayfield-Smith Academy, in Marble Hill, Missouri, and subsequently taught school one term. Be- coming interested then in the life insurance business, he took an ageney for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, applying him- self as a salesman, and gaining not only experienee but some money by writing business in the field. He eame to Arkansas in 1897, as district manager for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, with headquarters at Paragould, Greene county. Here he prosecuted his business most vigorously until February, 1906, when he was appointed by President Roosevelt postmaster of Paragould, succeeding Postmaster Snodgrass. In 1910 was honored by a re-appointment to the same position by President Taft, his political preferenees being in perfeet harmony with the administration.
Mr. MePherson has been prominent in the Republiean organization since 1898, when he was made a member of the state committee for Greene county, Arkansas, and has since been a familiar figure in all state eon- ventions in 1908 being ehosen as alternate to the National Republiean Convention held in Chicago. He is a member of the Paragould Com- mnereial Club. of which he has been president during the past four years. Fraternally Mr. MePherson is a past master of Paragould Lodge, No. 368. A. F. & A. M., which he has represented at the Grand Lodge, is a member of the Chapter and is a Thirty-second Degree Mason. He was representative from Sahara Temple of the "Shrine" to the Imperial Council meeting at Rochester, New York, in July, 1911. He is also past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Proteetive Order of Elks, and in 1910 represented the loeal Lodge in the Grand Lodge meeting at De- troit. Mr. MePherson married. December 21, 1904, in Oseeola, Arkan- sas, Miss Lillian Hale, whose father, James K. P. Hale, represents one of the pioneer and ante-bellum families of Mississippi county, Arkan- sas. Mrs. MePherson lived but a brief time after her marriage, passing away July 1, 1905.
FELIX M. SCOTT, M. D. Worthy of especial mention in this volume is Felix M. Seott, M. D., a leading physician and druggist of Paragould, where his professional knowledge and skill have met with ample reeog- nition, while his knowledge of the properties and uses of drugs has won him an extensive patronage in the mereantile field. A son of David M. Scott, he was born July 15, 1854, in Henry county, Tennessee, although he grew to manhood in the vieinity of Deeaturville, that state. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Seott, a native of the Tarheel state, was an early pioneer of Tennessee. During the war of 1812 he served under General Jackson, and at the battle of New Orleans received three shots in sneh quiek suecession that he couldn't tell which made the first wound. After his discharge from the army he located at Nashville, Tennessee, and there spent his remaining days. He married a Miss Morrison, and they reared several children.
Spending the days of boyhood in Nashville, Tennessee, the eity of his birth, David M. Seott completed his early studies in the schools of Paris, that state, receiving an excellent education for his times and opportunities. He spent the larger part of his aetive life as a farmer, and died on his farm in Deeatur county, Tennessee, in October, 1892, aged seventy-nine years. He married Naney Hagler. She preceded him to the better world by many years, passing away in August, 1855. Of the twelve children born of their union, six grew to years of matur-
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ity, including: John T., who served in the Confederate service as one of General Forrest's body guard, is now a resident of Ward, Arkansas; Ann, who married Zadoe MeLester, died in White county, Arkansas ; Eve C., residing at Dickey's Landing, Tennessee, is the wife of Samuel Hancock, whose father was the original "Dr. Rattlehead," so familiar to readers of fietion ; Dr. William S., of Diekson, Tennessee; and Felix M., M. D., the special subjeet of this brief personal record.
Completing his early education in the publie schools, Felix M. Scott began the study of medieine when quite young, and as an umder- graduate medical student began the practice of medicine at Austin, Arkansas, in 1878, continuing there for a short time after his gradua- tion from Vanderbilt University. in Nashville, Tennessee, with the elass of 1881. In 1883 Dr. Seott located as a physician in Paragould, and was here in praetiee for six years at that time. In 1888 the Doctor went South, and for about seven years was busily employed as a physi- eian and a druggist in Umatilla, Florida. Going from there to Texas, he was similarly employed at MeGregor, Melennan county, for two years. Returning to Arkansas in 1897, the Doctor again located at Para- gould, where as a physician and a druggist he has since carried on an ex- tensive business in both lines of industry, following the drug business in connection with his large praetiee. Ile is an able business man, and is a stoekholder in the First National Bank of Paragould and in the Para- gould Trust Company, of which he is viee-president.
Dr. Scott married, in Lonoke eounty, Arkansas, September 13, 1881, Mattie L. Loretz, who was born in Arkansas, where her parents, John F. and Mary C. (Shuford) Loretz, settled on leaving North Caro- lina, their native state. The Doetor and Mrs. Seott are the parents of two children, namely : Herbert M. and Essie May. True to the poli- tieal faith of his ancestors, Dr. Seott is a Demoerat, and for a number of years has served on the Green County Board of Health. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal ehureh, being one of its stewards, and is also a trustee of the District parsonage.
ALFRED A. KNOX. For upwards of a quarter of a century a resi- dent of Paragould, Alfred A. Knox, one of the old fire insurance men, has here been identified with the professions of education and law and with numerous fields of business activity, in his career winning the suc- cess which the inevitable law of destiny aceords to tireless energy and a wise industry. A son of Andrew J. Knox, a venerable and esteemed eitizen of Paragould, he was born October 23. 1859, in Ohion eounty, Tennessee, where his youthful days were spent.
Andrew J. Knox was born in Carroll county, Tennessee, in 1825, and until well advaneed in years was engaged in agricultural pursuits in his native state. Coming to Paragould, Arkansas, in 1889, he was for a time engaged in the book and drug business as a member of the firm of Knox & Woodburn. Since disposing of his interest in that concern he has been associated with his son-in-law. E. D. Woodburn, in the ereamery business.
Having aequired a praetieal education in the district schools, Alfred A. Knox taught for a while in the rural schools of Obion eounty. Ten- nessee. While thus employed he continued his studies, and in 1884 was graduated from the Normal University of Lebanon, Ohio, with the degree of B. S. Coming to Arkansas in July of that year, Mr. Knox was for three years principal of the Paragould sehools. In 1887 he completed a course of law which he had taken up in his spare hours under the direction of the law firm of Crowley & Parish, and in 1888
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was admitted to the Greene county bar before Judge Riddick of the Circuit Court. He at once established himself in Paragould, becoming head of the firm of Knox & Simpson, and for some time carried on a substantial legal business. Becoming during that time much interested in abstracting, Mr. Knox wrote up the first abstracts of the county, and eventually gave his entire attention to this work to the exclusion of law. He subsequently incorporated the business, and some time after his disposal of the plant it became the property of the Paragould Trust Company.
Engaging in the fire insurance business in 1890, Mr. Knox was for several years associated with T. P. Cole, who subsequently purchased the entire business, which has since passed into the hands of the Shane- Ford Company, of which Mr. Knox is an active member.
As one of the substantial promoters of the best interests of Para- gould, Mr. Knox has contributed to the business section of the city some of its permanent buildings, including those at the corner of Pruet and Emerson streets, and at No. 112 West Court street, while he has a good residential property at 416 West Main street. He is one of the directorate of the Security Bank and Trust Company, and is its vice-president. He is a Democrat in politics, and has served as a mem- ber of the City Council, and for four years was county examiner. He belongs to but one secret society, that of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is affiliated by membership with the Cumberland Pres- byterian church, being clerk of the Burrow Presbytery, and has repre- sented his church as a delegate to the Presbyterian State Synod.
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