USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 34
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
1325
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
ter of Tennessee people from near Covington. The issue of the union were: Ada, who is the wife of J. R. Williams, of Harrisburg; Ida, who married R. L. Holmes and who makes her home at Harrisburg; Louise, who is now Mrs. W. G. Highfield, of Harrisburg; A. Harvey, the immediate subject of this sketch; Linden N., who is deputy clerk of the county and who mar- ried Miss Ethel Mitchell; and Ed, who resides at Harrisburg and the maiden name of whose wife was Henrietta Bennett.
A. Harvey Landers passed his minority at school in Harrisburg and when old enough he helped his father in the latter's store. After reaching his majority he turned his attention to general merchandising on his own account and he continued to be identified with that line of enterprise until 1908, when he was connected with the stock business in the main until his assumption of the office he now holds. He won the nomination for the office of circuit elerk and county recorder in 1910 and was elected by a majority of some eighteen hundred votes, succeeding Judge J. C. Mitchell in the office. Although Mr. Landers has not been incumbent of the offices very long at the present time, he has taken hold of matters with a strong hand and his regime promises to be a good, conscientious one. In his po- litical convictions he accords a stalwart allegiance to the principles and policies promulgated by the Democratic party and he is a very active factor in all that tends to advance general progress and improvement.
On the 25th of December, 1903, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Landers to Miss May Power, a daughter of John W. Power. Mr. Power was originally a citizen of Knightstown, Indiana, whence he removed to Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. Landers have one son, Linden D.
Fraternally Mr. Landers is a valued and appreciative member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a man of fine discrimina- tion, shrewdness and splendid executive ability, is loyal and patriotic in his civic attitude and is decidedly popular among all classes of citizens.
DR. CHARLES J. LINCOLN. In reviewing the history of the City of Little Rock and the causes that have led to its marvelous growth in the past half century, there is one man who stands out pre-eminent and that is Dr. C. J. Lincoln. As his name has always stood for progress along all lines of municipal improvement, it is fitting at this juncture that some facts about him should be made known.
Charles James Lincoln was born in the state of Pennsylvania, April 5, 1832. His parents, Elisha and Eliza (Aplin) Lincoln, were of old Puri- tan stock, being natives of Massachusetts and Connecticut respectively. When about five years of age, his family left their Pennsylvania home and removed to Ohio, locating near the town of Nelsonville, Hocking county. It was here that Dr. Lincoln spent the next ten years of his life, working with his father on the farm, which is after all the school in which the successful men of our country have been educated.
In 1851 he left home, and doubtless attracted by the reports of a rich western country, went to Rock Island, Illinois, where he secured employ- ment in a drug store. Here he remained for five years. Dr. Lincoln be- gan the study of pharmacy, which pursuit he followed for so many years. In 1856 he left Illinois, coming south, and found temporary employment as a drug clerk in New Orleans. Then in January, 1857, he came to Little Rock, where he made his home throughout his subsequent life.
Little Rock at this time was little more than a good sized frontier village, and no one has been more closely identified with the growth and progress of the city, than was Dr. Lincoln. His first employment was in the drug store of Dr. J. J. McAlmont, where he once more took up his
1326
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
study of pharmacy and medicine. Although in later years his large busi- ness interests absorbed him almost to the exclusion of his profession, when the great conflict between the states was waged; he served for about two years as surgeon in the Sixth Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Hardee's Brigade, Govan's Division. Although a native of a state north of the Mason and Dixon line, his loyalty to the state of his adoption led him to give his influence and support to the Confederacy. The records show that Dr. Lincoln enlisted in the Capital Guards at Little Rock in the spring of 1861. That organization of the State Militia was assigned to duty in Lyon's Brigade and served principally in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. During the latter part of the war, he served in Cleburne's Division, where he remained until he surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865.
At the close of the war. Dr. Lincoln returned to Little Rock and secured employment in the drug store of R. L. Dodge. In the latter part of the year 1865 he purchased an interest in the concern, the firm name becoming R. L. Dodge & Company. This enterprise was the direct suc- cessor to the drug business of S. H. Tucker which was established in Little Rock in 1834, and is the oldest house of its kind in Arkansas, and perhaps the oldest mercantile establishment of any kind in the state that has been continuously in business for so long a time. In 1868 Dr. Dodge sold his interest in the establishment to T. R. Welch and the style of the firm became Lincoln & Welch, and it was thus known until it even- tually became C. J. Lincoln Company. In an early period in its history, this had become a wholesale house and the firm of C. J. Lincoln Company was the first in Arkansas to put traveling salesmen on the road, having had representatives out as early as 1868. Dr. Lincoln acquired the last of the Welch interests in the concern in 1879 and ten years later the busi- ness was incorporated under its present name.
Doctor Lincoln early associated with himself in the business, his son, C. K. Lincoln, who is the first Vice-President and Secretary of the Com- pany, its other active officers being J. H. Brown, second vice-president and manager, and L. J. Ashby, treasurer. The company is an important and substantial one, and gives employment to a large force. It is in truth one of those thriving concerns which have done so much toward the up- building and prosperity of the City of Little Rock. Dr. Lincoln con- tinued as the head of the company until his death on December 25, 1910, and the growth and wonderful success of the firm were due in a great measure to his constant application and farseeing business sagacity.
Dr. Lincoln was married on the fifteenth day of May, 1870, to Miss Eudora Percival Knox of Van Buren, Arkansas, daughter of George W. and Eudora Rose Knox. Their union was blessed by the birth of two children, a son Charles Knox Lincoln, early associated with his father in the wholesale drug business and since his death the head of the firm, and a daughter Georgia L., the wife of Maj. J. A. Shipton of the United States Army. They have one child, Eudora Rose Shipton.
It would be difficult to find any citizen whose loss would have been more keenly felt by the whole community than Dr. Lincoln. For more than fifty years of residence here he enjoyed a wide acquaintance through- out the state and possessed the respect and confidence of all sorts and con- ditions of men. All measures likely to result beneficially to the many had his sincerest championship and all classes his sympathy. Ile knew Little Rock before the war; saw it emerge from that trying time and the terrible influences of the reconstruction period, and lived to see it grow to a fine position among the cities of the South. He was indeed one of the most loyal of its adopted sons.
132:
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
HARRY HOLMES. In the development of the commercial and mercan- tile interests of Harrisburg, Harry Holmes has played an important part and thus has contributed in definite order to the prosperity of one of the live towns of Arkansas. Ile is one of the older merchants of this eity and is the organizer and active spirit in the Harrisburg Supply Company. He has been a resident of the state since 1880, when he entered upon the serious affairs of life as a clerk in Osceola, being at that place and at Nodena, a country town, for some three years. Upon his arrival in Har- risburg he became a clerk for Mitehell & Sparks, and when he severed his connection with them it was to engage in the newspaper business-his first serious independent venture. He was identified with the Fourth Estate of Arkansas for about a year, as editor and publisher of the weekly paper known as Freeman's Express. He sold out, however, and engaged for a time in the soft drink business, following that with a season's identifica- tion with the drug business. He was then attracted by an offer to go into the hotel business in Somerville, Tennessee, but he did not find the new field a congenial one, and he returned to Harrisburg to resume his role as proprietor of a drug store.
In the course of time Mr. Holmes disposed of the above-mentioned interests and established what proved to be the forerunner of his present extensive enterprise. In 1892 he engaged in the retail grocery business and two years later founded his present concern, or at least the dry goods department, for his first store was an exclusive dry goods concern. His house has sinee come to be a department store by a natural process of evo- lution and by the successive additions of different stocks and now includes hardware and implements in addition to the stock found in a general store. He also has a grocery near the railroad station, where some considerable business has congested, and he has a positive connection with agriculture in Poinsett county.
Mr. Holmes was born in Itiwamba county, Mississippi, on the 26th day of June, 1861, the son of James Holmes, one of the martyrs of the Civil war. A Confederate soldier and member of the Twenty-first Mis- sissippi Infantry, he was killed in the battle of Resaca. He was born in North Carolina in 1836 and was the son of Isaac and Rebecca (Lynn) Holmes, farmers. The family is of Scotch origin and was among the earliest of those which found a haven in the United States, having been founded in the Colonial days of North Carolina. The mother's name was Combs and she was born in 1822. in Pulaski, Tennessee, her demise occur- ring at Iuka, Mississippi, on Christmas day. 1910, she having thus lived to within twelve years of the century mark. Her father, James Combs, was a man of no small prominence in his day and generation, his birth having occurred in the vicinity of Syracuse, New York. About the year 1797. when a young man, he rode from there on horseback to Savanna, Tennes- see, where as a young lawyer he took up the practice of the law and eventually became prosecuting attorney for his section of the state. He was a strong Whig politically and acted with that party as against "Old Iliekory" Jackson, the idol of Tennessee and national Democracy. Among his posterity is Mica Sterling Combs, a prominent undertaker of Nash- ville, Tennessee. The issue of James Holmes and his wife were: James Sterling. of Harrisburg, Arkansas; Frederick, who died in 1879, unmar- ried : Mary Alice, wife of J. T. Goyer, of Iuka, Mississippi; and Harry, the subject of the review.
Mr. Holmes, our immediate subjeet, was educated in the public schools of Iuka, Mississippi : left the parental roof before reaching his majority. as above indicated ; and east his first vote at Osceola, Arkansas. He was married in Harrisburg. July 20. 1884, his wife being Miss Flora E.
1328
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
Mitchell, daughter of his former employer. Enoch Mitchell, who was the father of Judge J. C. Mitchell, mentioned on other pages of this work devoted to representative citizens of the state. The children of this happy union are Myrtle, wife of Harry E. Marshall, a young lawyer of Harris- burg; John M., associated with his father in business, his wife having been Miss Inez Bell ; Roy, who is a member of the Harrisburg Supply Company, his wife having been Miss Sue Dobson previous to her marriage: and the Misses Flora C. and Margaret E.
E. FRANK HUSSMAN, assistant cashier of the Exchange National Bank of Little Rock, is one of the active and representative citizens of the city, having ever proved essentially public-spirited and giving heart and hand to all measures calculated to result in civic benefit. He is an efficient, alert and well-trained banker and has taken an active part in building up the splendid institution with which he is identified.
Mr. Hussman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 20th day of August, 1868, and was there reared and received his education. His parents were Francis and Florence (Hummert) Hussman, natives of Ger- many, and the subject is one of a large family of children. Mr. Hussman came to Little Rock in the latter part of July, 1891, to take a position in the Exchange National Bank, with which he has been ever since connected. He was promoted to his present position as assistant cashier on Decem- ber 5, 1906, and previous to this he had been teller for nearly fourteen years. During his twenty years identification with this monetary insti- tution he has made many friends and has manifested faithfulness and efficiency.
Mr. Hussman is one of the most prominent of the members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and he is a past exalted ruler of the lodge, having been twice elected to that office.
In July, 1890, Mr. Hussman married Miss Rena Baker, and they have two children, Frank D. and Marguerite C.
The Exchange National Bank has been in existence almost thirty years, its organization having occurred in February, 1882. The first presi- dent of the bank was W. P. Homan and he was followed by the following gentlemen : J. H. MeCarthy, Charles F. Penzel, Allen Johnson and Cap- tain C. A. Pratt, the latter of whom holds that high office at the present time. It was originally organized with a capital stock of $80,000, which in 1885 was increased to $100,000 and later to twice that amount. In 1904 the Citizen's Bank was consolidated with the Exchange National and the capital stock increased to $300,000. It is one of the most important finan- cial institutions of the Southwest.
CHARLES WESLEY PHILLIPS. Distinguished as the pioneer lumberman of Springdale, Washington county, and as one of its earlier contractors and carpenters, Charles Wesley Phillips has been actively identified with the upbuilding and material growth of this section of the state and an important factor in advancing its industrial interests. A son of Rev. Wil- liam Phillips, he was born in Moore county, North Carolina, June 30, 1846. IIis grandfather. Lewis Phillips, a life-long resident, as far as known, of North Carolina, married a Miss Dickinson, and they reared nine children, Brinkley, Absalom, Dabney, William, Robert, Lewis, Charles, Mrs. Nancy Check and Mrs. Norton, of Alabama.
Rev. William Phillips was born in Moore county, North Carolina, in 1793, and died in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1873, having lived a long and useful life. While engaged in preaching the gospel he also carried on general farming on a modest scale and reared his children
1329
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
in a rural community. He married Esther Berryman, a daughter of Stephen Berryman, who belonged to an old and prominent family of the "Tar Heel" state. She passed to the life beyond in 1902, at the good old age of eighty-eight. To her and her husband eight children were born, as follows: Charles Wesley, with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned ; James S. and Joseph P., of Randolph county, North Carolina; Barbara J., who married Calhoun Vun Cannon, and died in her home county ; Wil- liam B., also of Randolph county, North Carolina ; Robert D., of Meredith, Florida ; Jesse L., residing in Randolph county, North Carolina ; and Lewis H., of Newton, North Carolina.
Educated in the common schools of his native county, Charles Wesley Phillips learned the carpenter's trade when young, and soon after attain- ing his majority established himself at Lowell, Kansas, where he carried on carpentering for three years. Going then to the Sac and Fox agency of the Indian Territory, he was in the employ of the government as agency carpenter during the years 1872 and 1873. His first wife dying then, he returned with her body to their old home in Lowell, Kansas, and there subsequently embarked in the grocery business. Leaving Lowell in 1825, Mr. Phillips opened a grocery at Joplin, Missouri, where he remained until 1878, when he came to Arkansas and began a career which for the past thirty-two years has been connected with the domestic commerce of this state.
Beginning life in Arkansas, Mr. Phillips resumed his trade in Spring- dale, which was just then assuming form as a thriving village, and for a number of years carried on an important work as a contractor. In 1885, responding to the demands of the town, he established a lumber yard, which he conducted most successfully until 1897, when he moved to Fay- etteville, Arkansas. Mr. Phillips established himself in the lumber busi- ness at Fayetteville and was there a resident until 1910, when he disposed of his lumber interests in that locality and returned to Springdale, finding content and happiness in resuming his position among the activities of the place.
Wherever he has resided, as a faithful citizen he has responded to the call of his community for public service, and the public schools, or the City Council, or both, have felt the influence of his official acts. Politically he is a Democrat, and is now a member of the Common Council of Far- etteville, where he still maintains his residence. Fraternally Mr. Phillips is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the "Hoo Hoos," an organ- ization of the lumbermen of the United States. Religiously he belongs to the Methodist church, South, and is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fayetteville church.
In Randolph county, North Carolina, October 31, 1867, Mr. Phillips married Louisa Lowdermilk, who was of German descent and a daughter of Emsley Lowdermilk. She died in 1873, leaving no children. Mr. Phil- lips married for his second wife, March 5, 1874, Cornelia Lowdermilk, a sister of his first wife, and they are the parents of three children, namely : Mabel G., a graduate of the University of Arkansas, is a teacher of paint- ing and china decorating at Fayetteville; Charles Oliver, also a graduate of the University of Arkansas, is cashier of the First National Bank of Prairie Grove, Arkansas ; and Roberta Grace, who received her diploma at the University of Arkansas, is a teacher in the city schools of Fort Smith.
GEORGE DEAN PARKS. A man of sterling character and pronounced business acumen, George D. Parks is widely known as president of the First National Bank of Rogers, and as one of the leading merchants of the city. He was born December 9, 1865, in Sullivan, Indiana, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, James Parks. He comes from old
1330
IHISTORY OF ARKANSAS
Virginia stock, the parent family from which he is descended having been divided into two branches, one of which located in the North and the other in the South.
The founder of the Northern branch of the Parks family was Mr. Parks' great-grandfather, who emigrated from Virginia and founded a family which has ramifications all through the North and West. His brother located in Mississippi, where his posterity, also, multiplied, spread- ing its branches all over the South. Both families were radical in their opinions of governmental policy, and both contributed soldiers for the contending armies which terminated involuntary servitude in this coun- try.
George Parks, the grandfather of George Dean, was a pioneer settler of Sullivan county, Indiana, going with his parents from Virginia to El- liottsville. Indiana, just after the close of the war of 1812, while the Hoosier state was still wearing territorial garb. When ready to settle permanently, he opened a general store in Sullivan, and was there engaged in active business until ninety-four years of age, when he retired from active cares. He subsequently enjoyed ten years of well-earned leisure, passing away at the remarkable age of one hundred and four years, in 1895.
James Parks began his active career as a merchant in Sullivan, In- diana, but afterwards settled in Clinton, Iowa, from there coming with his family to Arkansas and locating in Rogers, where he continued his resi- dence until his death, in 1909. He married Cynthia Lemon, who pre- ceded him to the life beyond, passing away in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1905. She belonged to an old and honored family of Indiana, one that was identi- fied with the Union cause during the time of the Civil war. To her and her husband five children were born, namely: Eugene, a traveling sales- .man ; George Dean, the subject of this sketch ; Jessie, wife of Louis Shafer, of Scott, Ohio ; Laura. wife of L. J. Bates, of Chicago; and Mattie, wife of J. Rhoades, of Rogers. Arkansas.
Educated in the public schools of Clinton, Iowa, George Dean Parks there obtained his early business experience, first as a clerk and later as a bookkeeper in a retail store. Locating in Rogers in 1892, he soon embarked in mercantile pursuits on his own account. his first venture alone being in the character of a department store, only upon a small scale. His venture proving satisfactory in every way. he soon enlarged his operations, syste- matized his methods, bringing into prominence each separate department of his store, which presents an appearance equal to any retail establishment in a large city. His establishment in Rogers has a double front, one on Main street and the other on Walnut street, and both of its floors are ideally arranged for the purpose for which they are used. Mr. Parks is likewise a partner in the Campbell & Bell Dry Goods Company, of Fayette- ville, Arkansas, and is the buyer for that enterprising firm. The First National Bank of Rogers, with which Mr. Parks is officially connected, was chartered in 1905, and has now a capital of fifty thousand dollars, with a surplus of ten thousand dollars. Mr. Parks has served as its presi- dent since its organization, Mr. F. Z. Meck being vice-president and Wil- liam II. Cowan, cashier.
Mr. Parks married, in Rogers, Arkansas, June 6. 1899, Bessie Wilmot. a daughter of Asa C. Wilmot, of whom a brief sketch may be found else- where in this work. Three children have been born to them, namely : Dean, Margaret, and John. Mr. Parks' pleasant home, on the corner of Poplar and Fifth streets, is one of the most cozy and attractive cottages in the city. and its doors are ever hospitably open to his large circle of friends. Mr. and Mrs. Parks are members of the Congregational church.
1331
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
REV. JOSEPH FLEMING LITTLE. Representing in his active career a combination of religious work and commercial enterprise, Rev. Joseph Fleming Little, of Rogers, Arkansas, has met with signal success in both fields of endeavor, his efforts showing the accomplishments of a progres- sive, capable and practical man. A son of Rev. N. W. Little, he was born in Graves county, Kentucky, May 29, 1861. He is of pioneer ancestry, his grandfather. John Little, and his great-grandfather, Isaac Little, hav- ing migrated from Virginia to Kentucky at an early period of its settle- ment. Isaac Little, who was one of the first school teachers of the Corn- cracker state, married a Miss Casey, who was of Irish lineage, belonging to a family prominent in the medical and mercantile circles of Tennessee and Kentucky. John Little married before attaining to his majority Nancy Jackson, who died at the age of twenty-one years, leaving him with one child, N. W. Little.
N. W. Little was born in Graves county, Kentucky, in 1837, and died in that county in 1890. He was a man of strong religious convictions and deep consecration, and during the twenty-five years that he was a preacher in the Primitive Baptist church gave his heart and his soul to his work, being an earnest laborer in the Master's vineyard. He married Sallie Frazier, who was of Irish descent, being a daughter of Ralph Frazier, a well-known farmer. She was born seventy-five years ago, and died at Rogers, Arkansas, March 4, 1911. The children of their marriage are as follows: Bettie, who married J. T. McNeely, died in Kentucky ; John R., of Rogers, Arkansas; Rev. Joseph F., the subject of this personal review ; Laura, a teacher in the Rogers Academy; and N. W. Little, engaged in mercantile pursuits at Avoca, Arkansas.
Obtaining his rudimentary education in the schools of his native county, Rev. Joseph F. Little subsequently spent four years as a student in Clinton College, in Clinton, Kentucky. Starting in life for himself as clerk in a store, he was for a while in the employ of T. J. Bailey, at Birney, Missouri. Going from there to Cleburne, Texas, Mr. Little was there associated with several mercantile establishments. He was there, also, officially engaged in missionary labors, and in 1895 was ordained to the ministry by Revs. W. J. Brown, George W. Bains, J. M. Booth and H. L. Helsley, and appointed associate evangelist of the State Missionary Board. In 1904 Mr. Little was sent by the Baptist State Board as missionary to Arkansas, and spent four years in that work. He is now financial agent of the Ouachita system of schools, and among his other duties fills the pul- pits of Baptist congregations, his services being in constant demand. When first ordained as a pastor he was assigned to the churches at Marystown, Rio Vista and Pleasant Point, in Johnson county, Texas, having so dem- onstrated his ability as an evangelist as to be assigned to that field of labor in the very early part of his religious career.
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.