USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 47
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
Returning to Mississippi in 1865, the young naval cadet resumed work on his father's plantation, in course of time acquiring a good knowledge of farming. He afterward taught school for a time, subse- quently becoming a clerk in the sheriff's office, but finally embarking in cotton planting on his own responsibility. During and before he taught school he read law under Governor Clark, of Mississippi, and was admitted to the bar in Bolivar county, Mississippi, in 1876. The disastrous floods of three conseentive years, 1882, 1883 and 1884, ruined his planting interests, and Mr. Bellamy turned his attention to other pursuits. Accepting a position as traveling salesman for a Memphis house, he worked Arkansas territory for a while and was actively en- gaged in the business for twenty-six years, traveling largely in this state.
During his experience as a commercial traveler Mr. Bellamy rep- resented the clothing trade, for eighteen years being associated with the wholesale clothing house of the Stern-Lauer-Shoal Company of Cincinnati. When that firm retired from business Mr. Bellamy became connected with the J. A. Ruhl Clothing Company, of Saint Louis, which he was representing at the time of his election as state railroad commissioner for Arkansas, in 1910. The experience of "Major" Bel- lamy, as he is always ealled, as a traveling man, and his thorough knowledge of the state and its requirements from a railway standpoint, made his election for this important offiee a most fitting one. He en- tered upon his duties with a determination to give to the state his best and highest efforts, and to bring about every possible improvement. within the power of the commission, in the railroad service of Arkansas.
Establishing his home at Monmouth Spring, Fulton county, in 1885, Mr. Bellamy has sinee maintained his residence in that beautiful little city, while near by, adjoining the town, he owns a farm. Mam- moth Spring is noted for the great dams that have there been erected to furnish water power for local industries, and his son, Edward C. Bel- lamy, who is one of the leading citizens of the place, is at the head of the municipal lighting, power and water systems. Mr. Bellamy has three other children, Mrs. Mary Nesbit, Harold C. Bellamy and Miss Winifred Bellamy.
Mr. Bellamy has heen twice married. The maiden name of his first wife, who was the mother of his children, was Hattie Nicholson. She was a native of North Carolina and was of Seotch ancestry. Mr. Bellamy married for his second wife Mrs. Florence (Jones) Stone, who has also passed to the life beyond.
ROBERT L. SAXON, M. D. Having familiarized himself with the rudiments of medieine and surgery, Robert L. Saxon, M. D., of Little
1414
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
Rock, has continually added to his knowledge by close study and earnest application, and by sterling merit has acquired an enviable reputation as an able and skilful physician and surgeon. A son of D. P. Saxon, he was born and reared in Union county, Arkansas, coming from pio- neer stock.
D. P. Saxon was born in South Carolina, while his wife, whose maiden name was Medora Reeves, was an Alabama girl and came with her parents to Arkansas when a child. They located as pioneers in Union county, where both are still living, their home being near the town of Griffin. They were very familiar with the hardships of pioneer days, and have a fund of interesting reminiscences of the early times that are valuable from an historical standpoint.
Brought up in Union county, Robert L. Saxon received a thorough literary and medical education, in 1900 being graduated from the Uni- versity of Arkansas with the degree of Bachelor of Science, while in 1904 he was graduated from the medical department of the University of Nashville with the degrees of M. D. and B. S. Dr. Saxon began the practice of his profession at Holly Grove, Monroe county, Arkansas, where he built up a good patronage during the five years he remained there.
Desirous of confining his attention to one branch of his profession and thus gain a higher degree of perfection than could be otherwise reached. Dr. Saxon prepared himself for special surgical work by taking post graduate courses in New York, London and Vienna, in the latter city working in the General Hospital. In 1909 he removed to Little Rock in order to take up wider and more specialized work, and his practice has since tended almost exclusively to pelvic surgery, includ- ing, of course, gynecology and genito-urinary diseases, and his practice along these lines has constantly increased. His ability has been recog- mized by the Little Rock College of Physicians and Surgeons, in which he has been appointed assistant to the chair of gynecology, an im- portant position which he is ably filling.
The Doctor is devoting his energies to his special work rather than dissipate them over an entire field of endeavor, and is a valued member of the County, State and American Medical Associations.
ISAAC C. LEGGITT. It is to such men as Isaac C. Leggitt that Ar- kansas owes that fine reputation for fine poultry and stock which is rapidly giving her fame. He is, in truth, one of the most important and successful of breeders in these lines and his achievements have been such as to redound to his glory and to that of the state. Sunny- side Poultry and Stock Farm, owned and operated by Mr. Leggitt and his sons at Paragould, is renowned over a wide area and its products are in general demand. Mr. Leggitt's connection with Greene county dates from the close of the nineteenth century and he has ever kept step with the prevailing spirit of progressive development, while he has already stamped his individuality upon the municipality in which he lives. Born where the spirit of activity in accomplishment is ever ripe and nurtured under an influence that ever contributes to the making of useful men and good citizens. he began life with a purpose and at the zenith of his career, the result of his well directed labors is evident in his substantial accumulations and the favor with which his citizen- ship is viewed.
Mr. Leggitt came to Arkansas in 1900, from Crawford county, Illinois, where he was born March 26, 1852. . ITis minority was passed on a farm between Robinson and Palestine, Illinois, and the district
1415
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
school sufficed for his early education. When looking about him for a life work he chose farming and at a very early age began his inde- pendent operations in the great basic industry. He was married at the age of twenty-two and during the seven years his wife lived he made some progress toward eventual independence. The loss of his young wife worked a change in his plans for he converted his property into cash and resumed the business of getting an education. He entered the Union Christian College, at Merom, Indiana, where he spent one year, after which he entered Normal Institute at Metropolis, Illinois, an institution for the preparation of teachers in the public schools, and he was graduated at the end of three years.
When ready for active work as a teacher Mr. Leggitt went to Texas and he was elected principal of the schools of Kerens, in Navarro county, where he spent four years and at the conclusion of which he returned to Illinois to engage in commercial life. For five years he conducted a mercantile establishment in Carmi, Illinois, but at the end of that period, sold his business and purchased a farm on the Little Wa- bash River. This he improved and developed, tiling the four hundred acres he cleared, erecting substantial buildings and ocenpying it for 6 years. In 1900 he came to Arkansas, seeking information as to its resources, possibilities and opportunities for immediate returns upon investments, and being satisfied with what he found here, he made several investments, both in landed and city property. These ventures proved so satisfactory that he afterward disposed of his holdings in Illinois and invested the greater portion of the proceeds in Arkansas Realty.
The results of the step which made him a resident of this Missis- sippi river country have been gratifying in every way. His speculation in land has added materially to his original holdings and gives him a vast domain of more than two thousand acres of which more than four hundred is under the plow and has responded to cultivation. His abili- ties are versatile and the possibility of placing money at 10 per cent on good farms led to the organization of the Security Bank & Trust Com- pany of Paragould, of which he was president for three years. His great faith in the efficacy of drainage canals through the swamp lands of the St. Francis valley led to the organization of the Southern Drain- age Co., of which he is president, and the work of this company has brought many thousand acres to the sunlight and has rendered them possible of improvement and cultivation. He holds the record of having had made the first public ditch in Greene county, known as Eight Mile Drainage District No. 1, the crude method of the old road seraper hav- ing heen used. This company now owns and is operating two steam dredges, with a gasoline launch for transporting fuel, provisions, etc. The company is now operating in Clay county with a double shift of men on each boat, running both day and night. The boats are supplied with electric lights, the steam from the main boiler running a small engine which produces the electricity.
In 1905 Mr. Leggitt began the development of his "Sunnyside Poultry and Stock Farm." When he disposed of his banking interests he huilt an elegant country home in the oaks overlooking his possessions and in plain view of the city a mile away and for the past two years he has again made his home among the folks at Sunnyside. His poultry farm embraces many acres of pens, equipped with houses and brooders and his system of fresh water mains supplies almost every chicken with a fresh drink. His Buff Orpingtons, his Rhode Island Reds and his White Wyandottes, all flourish and reach perfection under the advan- tagcous conditions at "Sunnyside," while upon another quarter of his
1416
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
dominions his Barred Plymouth Rocks under the supervision of his son Frank attest eloquently to the fine science of the methods employed at "Sunnyside." Entries from his several breeds have been made at the leading poultry shows of Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri, and in this wise "Sunnyside" is spreading throughout this and other communities an interest in blooded chickens. Mr. Leggitt has received honors in this field, being president of the Greene County Poultry Association and being recognized as an authority, and his membership extends also to the National White Wyandotte Association and the Jefferson County ' Arkansas) Poultry Association.
The Jersey eow is also being developed at "Sunnyside." Mr. Leg. gitt's specialty is of the Signal Bison strain, fawn in color and the head of the herd is Signal's Vindicator, one of the finest individuals of this famous strain. Mr. Leggitt has been a breeder of registered hogs for more than twenty years and while he has maintained a strong, practical herd of Poland Chinas it was while at the Tri-State Fair at Memphis, 1910, that he conceived the idea of producing hogs of the show type and entering the arena as an exhibitor; consequently, he bought Panola Girl, the sow that had won championship both at Louisville, Kentneky, and Memphis, Tennessee. He then went to Illinois and bought Heavy Hams, a boar that had won the "Blue" at some of the best fairs of that state. and with these at the head of his show herd, he feels that "Sunnyside" is well equipped to meet any opposition produced in the South. He is a member of the National Poland China Record Association and is president of the Tri-State Swine Breeders' Association, whose head- quarters is Memphis, Tennessee.
Isaac C. Leggitt is a son of James A. Leggitt, who came to Illi- nois from Virginia when a boy, and resided in Crawford county until 1882, when he removed to Texas and was engaged in cattle raising and farming in Collingsworth county until his death in 1908 at the age of seventy years. His father, also James, passed away in Crawford county, Illinois, his offspring being Henry, James A., Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Murphy and resides at Palestine, Illinois: Jane, who married William York and is a resident there: Zimri, who lives at Carthage, Missouri; and Stephen, who passed his life at Oblong, Illi- nois.
James A. Leggitt married Priseilla Lemmon for his first wife. She was a daughter of William B. Lemmon, a Crawford eounty farmer, form- erly from Indiana. Mrs. Leggitt died in Shelby county. Illinois, in 1868, the mother of Isaac C., of this review ; and of Edward E., of Min- neapolis, Minnesota. For his second wife the father married Jane Led- better, who bore him a son, Elmer, of Collingsworth eounty, Texas.
Isaae Leggitt's first marriage oeeurred in 1873, Miss Amanda Gad- dis, a daughter of Nathan Gaddis, of Shelby county, Illinois, becoming his wife. She died in 1889, leaving a daughter, Daily, now the wife of Harvey Newberry, of Robinson, Illinois. In March, 1886, Mr. Leggitt married at Carmi, Illinois, Miss Mary A. Tarrant, a daughter of William G. Tarrant, a merchant of that city and a representative of an old Illi- nois family. Mrs. Leggitt was born in that loeality in 1866, was liber- ally educated at Carmi, Illinois, and went to Texas with her husband on their wedding journey, becoming a teacher in the schools at Kerens under his supervision. The children of this union are Frank A., who is a member of the Sunnyside company and who married Miss Edith Caskey ; and William Fred, Lucy May, Nellie and "I. C., Jr."
In his political action Mr. Leggitt supports the Democratic party and in church affiliation he is of the Christian denomination.
John R. Gibbons
1417
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
COLONEL JOIN R. GIBBONS. It is speaking with all due conservatism to say that no citizen of Saline county, Arkansas, plays a more valuable and conspicuous part in its history or is more highly regarded than Colonel John R. Gibbons, mining engineer, superintendent of the mines of the American Bauxite Company, and founder of the town of Bauxite. In a state noted for its great mineral possibilities his labors have been of tremendous scope and fruitfulness, and to him belongs the distinction of being a pioneer in the discovery in this country of bauxite, the min- eral from which aluminum is made. Colonel Gibbons is of the type of citizenship which the nation is pleased to call representative, the scion of a family which has been long upon our shores, public spirited, a soldier and the son of patriots and soldiers, and one whose personal prosperity is sure to contribute to the prosperity of the whole com- munity.
Colonel Gibbons is a native of the Old Dominion, the cradle of so much of our most interesting colonial history, his eyes having first opened to the light of day in the city of Richmond, where his father was engaged in the mercantile business. His parents were George R. and Harriet (Rison) Gibbons, natives of Virginia, and soon after the birth of John R., which occurred on November 16, 1843, they removed to Rockingham county, where the father engaged in farming in the Valley of Virginia, and here the early years of the subject were passed. He was educated at Mossy Creek Academy in Augusta county, where, as a mere youth, he was preparing to enter the University of Virginia when the long lowering Civil war cloud burst in all its fury and the serenity of the life of the young men of that day was interrupted and destroyed. When the nation went down into the "dark valley of de- cision," young Gibbons enlisted, for although very young in years he was high spirited, brave, and due to environment and tradition con- scientiously convinced of the supreme right of the states to sever their union with the national government. He received his title of colonel as lieutenant colonel of the United Confederate Veterans, Department of Arkansas, on the staff of General James F. Smith. He won distinguished honors as a cavalryman in the famous First Virginia Regiment of Cav- alry, which was organized and commanded by General J. E. B. Stuart and served with great distinction throughout the war in the Army of Northern Virginia. He enlisted in this regiment in April, 1861, the very beginning of the war, and was constantly in service until its close in 1865. He was much beloved by his comrades and they who survive still speak of him as a brave, gallant and efficient soldier, always ready for duty, cheerful and optimistic in time of stress and privation, and devoted to the cause for which he was fighting. With the First Virginia he took part in all the great historic battles of the Army of Northern Virginia, which included the battles of Chancellorsville, Sharpsburg. Cold Harbor, Spottsylvania, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, the two battles of Fredericksburg, the seven days fighting around Richmond, and all of the battles in front of Petersburg. He was also with Lee's army at Appomattox and was a witness of all the closing scenes of the war.
After the cessation of hostilities between the states Colonel Gibbons went to North Georgia to join his father, who had found it expedient to go there as a refugee and had settled in Bartow county. There he became interested in mining and mineralogy and through his studies and explorations became an efficient mining and civil engineer. While in the northern part of Georgia he became a pioneer discoverer of banx- ite, from which aluminum is made, and he has been connected with the Vol. III-21
1418
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
discovery of this valuable mineral in various quarters and with its mining since the year 1889. The first bauxite was discovered in Floyd county, adjoining Bartow county, in 1888, and from that time forward it has been an important industry in north Georgia. In 1899 Dr. JJ. C. Branner, state geologist of Arkansas, reported important discoveries of banxite in Saline and Pulaski counties, Arkansas. In 1900 Colonel Gibbons came to the state in the interest of what is now the American Bauxite Company, and began the work of surveying and mapping out the bauxite deposits in the above mentioned counties and purchasing the same for his company. He centered his operation at the rich deposits in Saline county, five miles east of Benton, where he founded the town of Bauxite and designed and built the immense plant of his company at that point. This has become one of the leading industries of Arkan- sas and is the largest produeer of bauxite in the world. An average of three hundred and fifty men are employed the year around, and from this viewpoint alone it eontributes in high degree to the material well- being of the county, affording livelihood to many good citizens. The plant is equipped with the most modern and efficient machinery for mining banxite, mueh of which was built upon Colonel Gibbons' de- signs. No one is more justly entitled to ranking among the notable captains of industry of the state of Arkansas. He laid out the town of Bauxite and built its roads. He also made the surveys for and super- intended the construction of the Bauxite & Northern Railroad, three miles in length, this being owned by the American Bauxite Company and connecting the town with the Iron Mountain Railroad. Bauxite has ex- cellent transportation facilities, being situated also upon the Rock Island Railroad. Hle has taken a generous interest in providing comforts and conveniences at Bauxite for the employes of his company, these includ- ing a bathhouse and a modern hospital.
Colonel Gibbons established a household of his own by his marriage, which was celebrated at Cartersville, Georgia, on the 27th day of No- vember, 1874, his chosen lady being Miss Annie Felton, daughter of Dr. William Il. Felton, a prominent citizen of North Georgia and a representative of his distriet in Congress. The subject and his wife have three children, John F., George R. and Miss Annie Carlton. Colonel Gibbons built for his own home a beautiful residence of two stories on a hill overlooking the town and commanding a majestie view of the sur- rounding country for many miles in every direction. The house has every modern convenienee, a water system, electrie lights, a heating system and iee from the company's iee plant. To complete this enun- eration of delights, a garden and orehard afford the finest fruits and vegetables and the abode is the center of a gracious hospitality.
It can not but be of interest to glance at the aneestral history of the talented and enterprising gentleman whose name initiates this re- view. The Gibbons family is of English origin. Members of it were adherents of Charles I. and fled to Wales when that sovereign's cause suffered eclipse through his execution. It was from Wales. in fact, that Colonel Gibbons' progenitors later gave car to the tales of opportunity and freedom which had been wafted aeross the blue Atlantie from the new world, and they in turn bade adien to familiar scenes, led on by the mirage hope that somewhere in the far gleaming west they should find their place of dreams. They settled at Shamokin Valley, Penn- sylvania, and Colonel Gibbons' great grandfather, Isaac Gibbons, of Shamokin, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Following this the family removed to Hagerstown. Maryland, where the subjeet's grand- father was born, and he, removing to Virginia, established the family in
1419
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
that state. The Gibbonses are a long-lived race, both the father and grandfather of the Colonel having lived beyond the age of ninety years.
In addition to his great mining and engineering interests, Colonel Gibbons is president of the Bank of Bauxite, which was established in the year 1907.
GEORGE SPENCER. No one can be in the presence of George Spencer, the prominent real estate dealer and planter of Little Roek, without feeling sure that he is descended from a long line of aneestors who counted for something. A man who knows nothing of his aneestors has only his own ideals to live up to, but the man who has not only to satisfy himself, but to live according to the standards of his ancestors, has a harder matter to attend to. Mr. Spencer's own standards are plaeed too high for him ever to attain to them, but surely that long line of ancestors, could they be ranged before him, would find no reason to censure him. Mr. Spencer's whole life is without a blemish; it is an open book, a ledger perhaps, kept in the best book-keeping hand and always ready for inspection. His own and his wife's family history are very interesting.
Born at Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, January 7, 1866, he was the youngest son of George and Mary ( Slater) Spencer. Both parents were natives of the Stratford district, the birthplace of the immortal Shakespeare. The Spencer family have lived in the county of Warwickshire for a very long time and are to-day respected people in the county. George Spencer, senior, is still living at Strat- ford-on-Avon, but his wife died as long ago as 1866, shortly after the birth of George.
George Spencer, junior, lived for six years in his native place and then was taken to Warwick, eight miles distant, where he attained to manhood. His earliest recollections cluster about the historie seenes of Stratford and Warwick. He remembers running past the house where Shakespeare was born when he ( George) was a little child, and to him the house was as any other house. He remembers the awe with which he regarded the same building in a few years' time, after having read some of the works of the bard of Avon. George, after the age of six years, attended the well-known schools of Warwick, the home of the King-maker, where he attained a good, all around education, finish- ing at the King's College. After he left school he served for a term of two years in the British army, being in the Twenty-fourth, known as the Royal Warwickshire regiment. When a man leaves the army he generally has a most unsettled feeling, and thus it was with George Spencer. He hardly knew to what he wanted to settle, and with the love of adventure and the desire to see new things and new surround- ings that is characteristic of youth, he decided to cross the ocean and come to Ameriea. Ile arrived in New York in March, 1887, and went direct to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, but did not stay there long, going thence to Detroit and in July of that same year coming to Little Rock. which has been his home ever since that time, with the exception of two years, which he spent in southwestern Oklahoma, having for his neighbors Quanah Parker, the Comanche chief, and Geronimo, the Apache chief, and his hand. To Oklahoma Mr. Spencer made an over- land trip of five hundred and seventy-five miles with wagons by way of adventure. He became a eitizen in 1888. During the last few years that he has been in Little Roek Mr. Speneer has been engaged in the real estate business in a general way, but he has devoted more of his time to his eotton planting. Ilis inbred love of travel has taken him
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.