USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 37
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The grandfather, John Newman, was an industrions and unassnm- ing English mechanie, more ambitions for his children than for himself. He lived for many years in English Dorchester, where his son Thomas was born in 1823. During the childhood of the boy the family came to Philadelphia, where both parents resided the remainder of their lives. It was in the City of Brotherly Love that Thomas Newman was reared and received his edneation in a Catholie school, with the ultimate inten- tion of joining the priesthood; but his practieal mind and unusual energies beeame diverted into other channels, so that for several years he rendered faithful service to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as a locomotive engineer.
As the issues which led to the Rebellion reached their culmination, Thomas Newman found all his warmest sympathies and his strongest mental conclusions solidly enlisted in the anti-slavery movement, and about 1858 located on the "free soil" of Council Bluffs to found a newspaper which should voice his views. After several issues had ap- peared it became quite in evidence that his editorial voice had spoken out with vim and effeet, for a pro-slavery mob dumped his press and printing plant generally into the bosom of the Big Muddy river ; the same fate which had overtaken Lovejoy and his outfit a short time before.
Following this sudden winding up of his newspaper venture at Council Bluffs, the father went to St. Louis and engaged in the job- printing business until the actual outbreak of the Civil war in Missouri. Ile then joined the State Militia (Union troops) and, as a lieutenant in his company, participated in several engagements with General Price's army. At the end of the war he returned to St. Louis, where he here remained until 1869, from which time his eareer is identified with the history of Boone county and Arkansas.
In the year named, at Harrison, Thomas Newman established the first newspaper in northern Arkansas ealled the Boone County Advo- eate; to be more aceurate, it was the pioneer paper between Fayette- ville and Batesville and between Russellville, Arkansas, and Springfield. Missouri. In 1876 the name of the publication was changed to the Harrison Times, with Democratie principles; and it has been conducted on that politieal platform ever since. Its founder was one of the or- ganizers of the Arkansas Press Association, of which he was ever an active member and at one time its vice-president. It would appear that his political lineup was a little complicated in view of his Abolition record and his military service-but he was able to justify his choice
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of political friends, with the death of the Civil war issues, and remained an ardent and progressive Democrat to the end. He was the first mayor of Harrison and a leading citizen in every respect ; his work as an edi- tor gave tone and moral courage both to the newspaper profession and the community, and when he passed away in 1884 the universal verdict was that an able, npright editor, and a strong, fine citizen had gone the way of mortality after having rendered to the world most useful and honorable service.
Captain John R. Newman was educated in the public schools of St. Louis, where he was born October 19, 1859. and early manifested a strong penchant for music. He pursued his studies in that line until he graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music as a specialist in band and orchestra mnsie, and for several years thereafter taught those subjects in Missouri and central Arkansas, having large classes at Conway, Morrillton and Little Rock, Arkansas. and at Springfield, Missouri. In the meantime he had learned the printer's trade at St. Louis, in the old Chambers establishment, and, through his father's influence and work, became enthusiastic newspaper man. The result was that in 1879, then only twenty years of age, he was placed in active charge of the Harrison Times, and during the thirty-two years which have since passed he has kept a steady and muscular hand upon its helm.
Like his father, Captain Newman is a Democrat and has served as mayor of Harrison. He has also been president of the Arkansas Press Association, and during the Spanish-American war raised Company K, of the Second Arkansas Infantry, of which he was elected captain. His command was mustered in at Little Rock, in May, 1898, spent the summer at Chickamanga Park and the winter at Anderson, Alabama, where it was discharged, with other companies of the regiment, in Feb- ruary, 1899. Being the senior regimental captain, for mueh of the time he acted as major of the regiment.
Captain Newman has demonstrated his interest in publie educa- tion by serving for fifteen years as chairmen of the Harrison School Board, and during that period was erected the new school honse which is so worthy a source of public pride. IIe is well known figure in the meetings both of the national and the state editorial associations, hav- ing been a member of the executive committee of the former body : has also served as a delegate to various Democratie state conventions; is a past master of the Harrison Blue Lodge of Masons, past noble grand in Odd Fellowship and a representative to the Grand Lodge of that order; and president of the local board of trustees of the Methodist church South.
In June, 1882, Captain Newman married, at Harrison, Arkansas, Miss Mary M. Murphy, a daughter of John Murphy, an early register of the United States land office in that state and an ex-soldier of the Union army. Mrs. Newman's mother is a Tennessee woman, before her marriage Miss Elizabeth Penn, and has become the mother of the follow- ing: Mabel, who died at the age of nineteen: Thomas, who is connected with the Times office; Earl, who passed away at the age of sixteen; Harry, Mary, Agnes, John R., Jr., and Fred.
WILEY PAUL MCNAIR stands pre-eminent as a pioneer servant of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company and has grown old in his position as its agent at Fayetteville. Since his majority was reached. in 1870, he has been upon the pay roll of this concern, at that early day known as the Atlantic & Pacific Railway Company, and has witnessed
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its development from a single line to a great system of trunks and branches, extending through Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Mr. MeNair is descended from staunch Scotch aneestry. His father, Daniel Hugh MeNair, was born in Edinburg, Scotland, the date of his nativity being 1801. In 1807, when a child of but six years of age, he was brought to the United States by his father, Malcolm A. MeNair, who settled at Whitehall, near Wilmington, North Carolina, where his death occurred some three years later, in 1810. Malcohn McNair had one other son and two daughters, who seem to have passed their lives in North Carolina and Tennessee. The son's name was Duncan. Daniel McNair, as a young man, immigrated to Mississippi and there married Elizabeth Sealion. Several years later with his small family he removed to Gibson, Tennessee. They were identified with agricultural pursuits during the major portion of their active lives and Daniel passed away in 1882, his wife having preceded him to the life eternal in 1864. The chil- dren born to them were: Eliza, who married J. A. Williams and died in the state of Missouri: Wiley Paul, of this review; Daniel H., Jr., who passed away in youth ; Patience E., who became the wife of a Mr. Phipps and lived and died in Tennessee : and Jesse, whose death occurred in Missouri, at the age of thirty-eight years.
Wiley P. MeNair gained a common-school education while on his father's farm and he learned the art of telegraphy during the rebellion. He was born on the 21st of June, 1849, at Charleston, Mississippi, and in 1863, when a lad of fifteen years of age, he ran away from home and enlisted as a soldier in the Federal army. Although his birth occurred in Mississippi the family home had in the meantime been transferred to Gibson county, Tennessee. the atmosphere of which locality must have fed patriotie impulses to the young. He joined the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, but his service was suddenly interrupted by his re- lease upon demand of his father, out of strong parental consideration for his son. In the hope that Wiley's adventurous spirit was satisfied the father placed the boy in school at Viola, Kentucky, but even before his books had been assigned to him he surrendered to the youthful eall to arms and joined the First Kentucky State Troops, at Padueah. His regiment saw some good hard service, was in several engagements, among them Guntown, Mississippi, and Fort Pillow, the latter confliet resulting in heavy losses to the Union troops. At the elose of the war Mr. MeNair was mustered out of service at Paducah, Kentucky. At the age of sixteen he had had more than a year of actual military service, an experience which, in a measure, was an equipment for the eivil hat- tles destined to follow. To better prepare himself for efficient labor among his fellows he attended Bryant & Stratton's Business College at Nashville, Tennessee, and when he left that institution he returned to the farm and the fireside of his parents. In 1869 he began his wander- ings by going to Kansas City, Missouri, and he spent the ensuing year in sight-seeing about the west, gratifying a personal desire. He brushed up on telegraphy and entered upon the railroad work at the Ozark Iron Works, now Newburg, Missouri, with the predecessor of the Frisco Rail- way Company. Thereafter he worked at Jerome, Nichols, Pieree City and St. James, Missouri, and later at Verona, Missouri, whenee he was sent, in 1881, to Vinita, Oklahoma. One year later he was transferred to the ageney at Fayetteville, becoming the third agent of the road here. In point of consecutive service he is exceeded by but two agents on the entire system, namely-the agent at Cuba and the one at Neosha, Mis- souri, these two ante-dating him but a short time. The month of July. 1911, completed a period of thirty-six years in service as agent and forty
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years have gone by since he drew his first paycheck from the company.
On the 21st of January, 1868, Mr. McNair was united in marriage to Miss Naney Ann Flippin, a daughter of J. A. Flippin, of English origin. The marriage was solemnized in Gibson county, Tennessee. Mrs. MeNair was born in 1850, and her father, who has been a farmer all his life, is now residing in Oklahoma, at the venerable age of eighty-six years. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. MeNair, the following brief data are here incorporated: William Daniel, assistant agent of the Frisco Company at Fayetteville; Maud, who is the wife of M. W. Me- Koy, of Fayetteville; May, who died at Fayetteville, in 1898, as the wife of John B. Brown ; and Wiley P., Jr., who married Miss Stella Hight, is manager of the Fayetteville Opera House and is an employe of the Frisco Company, at Fayetteville.
Although not an active politician, Mr. MeNair heartily endorses the cause of the Republican party, and his contribution to progress and development in Washington county, Arkansas, has ever been of the most insistent order. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and he has passed through the circle of York Rite Masonry, being affil- iated with Washington Lodge, No. 1, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, Far West Chapter, No. 1. Royal Arch Masons; and Baldwin Com- mandery, No. 4, Knights Templars. He is also a valued member of the adjunet Masonie organization, the Ancient Arabie Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in which he is connected with Alamin Temple, No. 574. He is prominent in the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoos. Mr. MeNair is prominent in railroad affairs in Arkansas and in connection with his various successes in life it is most gratifying to note that they are all due to his own well directed efforts. He is held in high esteem by his fellow men and is eminently reliable and trustworthy both as a friend and as a business associate.
SAMUEL B. WYCOUGH. In the development and advancement of the lumber interests of Independence county, Samuel B. Wycough, a member of the Livingston Lumber Company, of Batesville, is an im- portant factor. A son of Samuel B. Wycough, Sr., he was born in Batesville, Arkansas, March 16, 1849, and since attaining manhood has taken an active part in the business and political affairs of this enter- prising eity.
Born in Salisbury county, North Carolina, in 1809, Samuel B. Wycongh there learned the trade of a cabinet maker, and likewise be- came familiar with the various branches of agrienlture. Coming from his native state to Arkansas in a very early day he located in Batesville, where ere long he became a citizen of prominence and influence. When war was declared between the states, he was physically unfit for active service, but he furnished the Confederate Army three brave and stal- wart sons. One of the leading members of the Democratic party, he took a prominent part in public affairs, serving as county treasurer and representing his district in the State Legislature. He married Harriet M. Bandy, a daughter of Captain Bandy, of Lawrence county, North Carolina, and they became the parents of six children, as follows: Marion A .; Marcus A. R .: Henry C .; Samuel B., the subject of this brief biographical review ; W. H., a Presbyterian minister at Fort Worth, Texas; and Mary E., deceased, who married William Shepherd. The three older children served in the Confederate army, rendering brave service. The mother passed to the higher life in 1866, when but fifty-five years of age, and the father lived until 1885.
Educated in the public schools, Samuel B. Wycough began his busi-
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ness career in Batesville, becoming when quite young clerk in a mer- cantile establishment. He subsequently emharked in agricultural pur- suits, continuing as a farmer until entering the political arena. In 1900. as the Democratic nominee, he was elected circuit clerk of Independence county, and served in that position four years, succeeding George Moore. On retiring from that office, in 1904, he crossed the hall to assume charge of the county judge's office, having been elected to the county judgeship to succeed Judge Lindsey. Filling the responsible position with ability. he was re-elected to the same office in 1906, and served another two years, retiring in October, 1908. Taking then ad- vantage of a good business opening. Judge Wycough hecame associated with A. Livingston, and the two have since carried on a prosperous business under the firm name of the Livingston Lumber Company, their dealings being quite extensive and highly remunerative.
Mr. Wycough married, January 6, 1874, in Green Briar township, Independence county, Arkansas, a daughter of the late Nelson Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell, a native of Virginia, married Mary A. Clark, who was born in Virginia, July 6, 1817, and to them thirteen children were born, three of whom, with the widowed mother, are now, in 1911, living. Mr. and Mrs. Wycough have no children. Both are active members of the Methodist church, Mr. Wyeough being superintendent of its Sunday- school.
JAMES EDWIN ROSEBROUGH. If definite accomplishment in the util- ization of subjective power and ability be the criterion of success, then James Edwin Rosebrough certainly has achieved success. Looking into the elcar perspective of his career there may be seen the strong lines of courage, persistence, determination and self-confidence-qualities which alone work forward to the goal of worthy and distinct achieve- ment. A loyal and progressive citizen, he has ever taken an active part in municipal affairs in Batesville and was its first mayor after it be- came a city of the first class; while it is his somewhat remarkable record to have filled all the elective offices of the city save that of city mar- shal. He stands at the head of one of those substantial concerns which contribute so materially to the prosperity of the place-the Wholesale Produce Company, which he brought into existence some twenty years ago.
By the circumstances of birth and ancestry Mr. Rosebrough is a Southerner, his birth having ocenrred in Salisbury, North Carolina, No- vember 29, 1854. In 1861, when he was a small boy, his father, Samuel Rosebrough, brought his family to Arkansas, and they resided in Wood- ruff county until 1867. when the father became cognizant of the natural advantages of Batesville, and there resumed his two-fold occupation of gin and mill man and farmer. He was also a millwright and for many years after the Civil war he equipped mills all over this section of Ar- kansas. Samuel Rosebrough was a native of the Tarheel state himself. his birth having occurred in the year 1820. At first glance, the family seems to have been almost indigenous to the old north state of the Caro- linas, but looking back across the generations it is found to be of Scotch- Irish origin. The subject's mother was Martha J. Ramsey, a sister of Dr. J. G. Ramsey, of Salisbury, and she died in Independence county, Arkansas, in 1874, after a worthy and useful life. The issue of this union were Samuel, of Sarcoxie, Jasper county, Missouri; Maggie, who became Mrs. J. IT. Scribner, and is now deceased : James E., of this re- view ; Emma, wife of William Ryan, of High, Texas; Robert D., of Ox- ford, Arkansas: and May, who married Bealor Gaither, and resides in
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Byron, Arkansas. Dr. W. G. Rosebrongh, late of Batesville, was the offspring of a former marriage of the subject's father and he was a Confederate soldier from Arkansas, as was a half-brother, Lewis Dis- muke, who was killed in the fighting around Richmond a few days before the elose of the war. As a eitizen Samuel Rosebrough was not eon- spicuons in the affairs of publie life. He was a Democrat, with a real interest in the cause of his party, but quite without ambition to hold office and by no means a belligerent partisan. He was a Baptist in early years, but modified his views with the passing of the years and died as an Adventist in 1892.
Upon becoming a citizen of Independence county James E. Rose- brough was a youth of thirteen years and the public schools sufficed to furnish him the education with which he began life. In 1876 he came to Batesville and seeured a clerkship with M. A. R. Wycough and he subsequently worked in like capacity for E. W. Clapp & Company, wholesale groeers. On September 16, 1891. he engaged in business for himself, opening a produce house, and by the exercise of peculiarly ex- eellent business methods developed it into one of the substantial con- eerns of the town. In the score of years since it was inaugurated it has experienced steady growth. Mr. Rosebrough in 1911 joined a company of Batesville citizens in the organization of the Union Bank & Trust Company and was made its president. This new financial concern was incorporated fer fifty thousand dollars, its vice-president being D. D. Adams and its secretary, C. D. Metealf. It opened its doors for busi- ness in April and constitutes in itself the fourth banking house in the city. Mr. Resebrough's important part in the management of eity affairs has been previously commented upon. He was mayor for two terms and in that office gave a most admirable administration of city affairs, doing much for the progress and development of the growing community.
On December 30, 1881, Mr. Rosebrough was married in Batesville to Miss Jessie Fraley, a daughter of David S. Fraley. This happy union has been further cemented by the birth of one son. Clyde Bates, a young man of ability, who is associated with his father and also has other business interests in Batesville. Mr. Rosebrough is one of the most popular of lodge men. In addition to his affiliation with the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, he is a Master Mason and has represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.
JAMES F. BARNETT. Numbered among the essentially representa- tive men of the judicial center of Independence county, both as a busi- ness man and a citizen of the most enlightened type, the business career of James F. Barnett has been marked by consecutive progress, and this advancement is the direet result of his splendid energies and powers. This alert, enterprising and capable executive is vice-president of that large mereantile corporation known as the Barnett Mercantile Company, his business connection with the town covering nearly a quarter of a century. He and his brother. Charles A. Barnett, are among the largest landowners of the county and in the development of the agricultural interests of the district and the provision of homes and occupations for many families they have proven themselves publie benefactors of the highest type.
The early history of Mr. Barnett was extreme in its simplicity. He was born amid rural surroundings, he and a twin brother. Charles A., having made their entranee upon this mundane sphere on January 25, 1867. in the vicinity of Evening Shade, Arkansas, then sitnated in Law-
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rence county, but now the county seat of Sharp county. His parents were Ira Nelson and Maria Simpson Barnett, whose family consisted. besides the two mentioned, of an older son. The subject and his brother were posthumous, the father dying shortly before their birth, and the rearing of the trio of youthful merchants devolved upon the mother.
Until youths of perhaps fifteen years, James F. and Charles A. Barnett knew only the hills and dales about their birthplace, but at that age they became a part of the school population of Evening Shade. where the fundamentals of a common school education were acquired. It was plain that a life of industry must be the share of the brothers if their careers were to be at all marked, for they had by no means been born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouths. At the age of twenty years they came to Batesville, with its larger opportunities, and took minor positions with R. D. Williams, who at that time was a lead- ing merchant of the eity. The older brother had already solved the problem of livelihood and begun upon his career as an employe of Mr. Williams, and such was that gentleman's liking for and confidence in the young men that he arranged a partnership with them in 1893, the new firm being known under the caption of R. D. Williams & Company and remaining under such designation nutil 1898, when Mr. Williams yielded up his interest by purchase and the brothers launched their ven- ture under the name of Barnett Brothers.
By this date the character of the principles of the new firm of mer- chants had become so widely and favorably known that their business grew by leaps and bounds, small stocks growing into departments, and all demanding the enlargement of unusually rugged growth. Finally a new corporation seemed necessary to carry the burdens of a vast and progressive coneern. In 1904 the corporation. The Barnett Mereantile Company, was chartered and the same year the vice-president of it supervised the construction of its new home in the Barnett block. Under its roof are found the evidenees of a great commercial enterprise and among its promoters and employes a spirit that explains, without effort. how and why these achievements have come about. In addition to their general stock, great carloads of wire and other commodities utilized upon the farm and numerous implements and vehicles enter as a great factor in the annual sales of the firm.
In addition to their business in Batesville, Barnett Brothers own many aeres of land in Independence county, upon which they are loeat- ing families and helping them with substantial assistance to establish a home and to lead a prosperous rather than a shiftless life. The opening of these lands adds materially to the wealth of the county, adds to its population and is a vital element toward the general development of the municipality and the commonwealth.
To the splendid foresight, originality, refusal to recognize diffi- eulty, ability to inspire and keep confidence and boundless executive eapaeity are responsible the wonderful success of the company. The duties of the concern have been somewhat divided, James F. Barnett giving his attention to the stimulation of the trade in implements, ve- hieles and general farm equipment and paraphernalia, while Charles A. devotes himself to the accounting department and is secretary of the eompany.
On March 19, 1901, Mr. James F. Barnett was united in marriage to Miss M. E. Erwin, daughter of William J. Erwin, of Batesville, one of the conspicuous citizens of the county. The death of Mrs. Barnett on December 18 of that year terminated an ideally happy life eom- panionship. Mr. Charles A. Barnett has never married.
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In his fraternal relations James F. Barnett is a member of Al Amin Temple at Little Rock and holds membership in the Commandery, Chapter and Blue Lodge of Batesville. He is also a Woodman of the World and a member of the Royal Areanun ..
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