USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 55
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Having acquired the immense Pickett estate, which consisted of some thirty-five hundred aeres of valuable land located on Piekett's Lake, Mr. Ferrill began to mature plans for the purchase of other tracts of equally valuable land, among which was the old Ferrill estate, across the river from Batesville, the same comprising several hundred acres. The immense plantation now owned and operated by Mr. Ferrill is in a high state of eultivation and produces abundantly of cotton, corn and hay, in addition to which large herds of cattle are marketed each year. Many families maintain their homes on Mr. Ferrill's vast property and the systematic management of the plantation makes it deeidedly a pay- ing proposition to its owner. The Piekett plantation was purchased by Dr. W. H. Piekett long before the ineeption of the Civil war and it is an estate of haronial proportions lying along and astride of Piekett's Lake, a picturesque body of water known extensively in eastern Arkansas. Although he assumed the management of it himself, Dr. Piekett con- tinued to reside in Memphis, Tennessee, and it was through the treachery of trusted friends that his financial downfall eame abont. With a full realization of the effort required to own and operate this gigantic es- tate Mr. Ferrill wisely confines his personal activities to its exploitation. Other minor affairs have interested him to the extent of investment, but they have ever been such as would prove of aid to him in taking care of his agricultural affairs. He is a stockholder in two gins in Jackson county and in the Shoffner Mereantile Company, of Shoffner, and he
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holds a small amount of stock in the First National Bank of Newport, in which he is a member of the board of directors.
On the 21st of December, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ferrill to Miss Ida Glanaire Pickett, who was born in Alabama and educated in Memphis, and who is a daughter of Dr. Pickett, men- tioned above. The Doctor was born in Limestone county, Alabama, on the 22nd of December, 1826, and he was a grandson of Colonel Martin Pickett, a Virginia gentleman, a Revolutionary patriot and a man of many parts. His service to his country in her struggle for independence was of such positive and enduring character that further reference to it will not be out of place in this compilation.
Colonel Martin Pickett, of Paradise, Fauquier county, Virginia. was born in King George county, "The Old Dominion," in the year 1740, and he was summoned to the life eternal in Fauquier county in 1804. He was an active participant in matters of church and state and during the latter part of his life was a vestryman of the Episcopal church. He donated land for the sites of the various churches at War- ranton, Virginia, and for the city hall and court house at that place. He represented his county in two of the most important conventions ever held in Virginia, one of which assembled at Williamsburg, then the capital of the colony of Virginia, in the spring of 1776, and which declared Virginia free from English rule and in itself a sovereign state. In this exercise of his sacred rights as a freeman, Colonel Pickett added fuel to the flames already kindled and was instrumental in bringing on the war for independence. Prior to the inception of the war of the Revolution he had had valuable experience as a soldier in the Frenchi and Indian war, in which he served as lieutenant in Captain Edmond's company of Virginia troops. In the struggle for independence he was lieutenant colonel of the Third Virginia regiment of Volunteer Infantry, in General Washington's army, the regiment itself having heen com- manded by Colonel Thomas Marshall, of Fauquier county. At the battle of Monmouth this regiment was so badly slaughtered that there- after it was distributed among other commands and Colonel Pickett was assigned to duty elsewhere. After independence had been won Colonel Pickett became a prominent and influential factor in publie af- fairs of his county. Ile was four times a member of the House of Bur- gresses, was tax commissioner of his county in 1772, coroner the next year and sheriff in 1785. In 1788 he was a delegate to the state conven- tion for the ratification of the United States constitution.
Colonel Pickett was married, on the 13th of May, 1764, to Miss Ann Blackwell, a native of Fauquier county, Virginia, and a daughter of Colonel Joseph and Lucy (Steptoe) Blackwell. She passed into the "Great Beyond" in 1800, at the age of fifty-three years. Colonel Pickett's parents were William and Elizabeth (Cooke) Pickett, of Ham- ilton Parish, Fauquier county, Virginia, both of whom were representa- tives of old Colonial families.
Dr. William H. Pickett was educated at Phillips-Exeter Academy and at Yale College and for a time he was a student in the University of New York. As a young man he immigrated southward, locating at New Orleans, where he resumed his medical studies in Tulane University, in which renowned institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1848. with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately after graduation he located at Whitesburg, Alabama, whence he came to Memphis, Tennessee, in which city he was engaged in the practice of his profession and also in the conduct of a drug store. He remained in Memphis until the occupancy of the city by Federal troops, when he
WH Pickett
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mnoved to Arkansas, where his death occurred on the 6th of February, 1890. He married Amy Raines Collier, the only child of William E. Collier, and a girl who was widely known as "Amy, the heiress" and as "Amy, the poet." Mrs. Pickett passed away on the 1st of July, 1885, and she is survived by two daughters-Mrs. John W. Ferrill, and Mrs. Elizabeth Bouldin Hardy, who, with her daughter, Stella Pickett, are members of the Ferrill household. Mr. and Mrs. John W. Ferrill be- came the parents of the following children-Jolin W., Jr., born Novem- ber 10, 1882, and died February 7, 1884; Alma, born February 23, 1885, and died May 12, 1889; Amy Collier Ferrill, who remains at the parental home; Ida Pickett, who is the wife of Dr. Benjamin C. Hamil- ton, of Jefferson, Iowa; and John Pickett Ferrill, likewise at home.
Mr. Ferrill is a man of tremendous vitality and unusual executive ability. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the cause of the Demo- cratic party, but he has no ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office. The Ferrill family are devout communicants of the Epis copal church, in which Mr. Ferrill is a vestryman and which he has represented in the council of the diocese. The Ferrill home is a palatial one of modern appointment, located on Main street, in Batesville, and it is recognized as a center of most gracious and generous hospitality.
HON. WILLIAM HENRY PICKETT, M. D. A worthy exemplar of the motto of his illustrious clan, "Noblesse Oblige," Dr. William Henry Pickett, of Batesville, Arkansas, was born December 22, 1826, in Lime- stone county, Alabama. This distinguished gentleman was a Virginian by descent, being the son of Steptoe Pickett, of Fauquier county, Vir- ginia, and his wife, Sarah Orrick Chilton, of "Currioman," Westmore- land county, Virginia. He was a man of vigorous intellect. He had a broad, comprehensive mind and was brilliantly educated, receiving the best educational advantages of his day. He was a graduate of Exeter Col- lege; a student at Yale; and he received his preparation for his vocation in the medical department of the University of New York, and the University of Louisiana, graduating from the latter, in medicine and surgery, with the class of 1848. He practiced his profession at Whites- burg, Alabama, until 1850, when he removed to Memphis, Tennessee, and there practiced and carried on an extensive drug business, while at the same time, by means of his overscers and slaves, he managed his planta- tions in Arkansas and Alabama. At the beginning of the Civil war, these fair and fertile tracts were laid waste and his property in Memphis was taken and destroyed by the Federal army. He was exempted from army service by General Kirby Smith in 1863. He left Memphis upon its occu- pancy by the Federals and removed to his plantation in Jackson county, Arkansas (the historic Pickett plantation), where General Curtis and his army encamped a week enroute to Helena, Arkansas. It was here that General Shelby of the Army of the Confederate States was cared for when wounded; and there many soldiers received the best treatment the limited resources of the country permitted. For instance, ice was not to be had, and fever mixture was scarce; hence the cold water treatment was exploited to the full.
Dr. Pickett's home was burned by the Federals, and at the close of the "war between the states" he became a resident of Jackson county, and in 1876 was elected to represent his county in the Constitutional Conven- tion, which met the following January. On February 6, 1868, he removed to Batesville, Independence county, Arkansas, where he resided until his death, which occurred on the twenty-second anniversary of his arrival, He was a stanch and liberal supporter of the Episcopal church and a ves- tryman in the same.
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Dr. Pickett married on March 13, 1850, in Madison county, Ala- bama, Amy Raines Collier, daughter and only child of William Edward and Ophelia Jane (Stewart) Collier, and the children born to their happy union were as follows: Ida Glenaire Pickett, Mrs. John William Ferrill, and Elizabeth Bouldin, Mrs. William H. Hardy.
A friend has written the following brief, but telling appreciation of the subject :
"Dr. Pickett was kind and genial in disposition; his hand was ever open to 'melting charity'; he was very popular; a brave, courteous, high- souled gentleman. JIe justly enjoyed the intimate friendship of many eminent men in this and other states."
MARVIN B. NORFLEET. Whatever else may be said of the legal fraternity, it cannot be denied that members of the bar figure more prominently in public affairs than do any other class of citizens. This is but the natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects for duties which lie outside the strict path of his profession and which touch the general interests of society. For seventeen years Hon. Marvin B. Norfleet held marked precedence among the members of the bar of Tennessee, where he was also a recog- nized leader in Democratie circles, having been the recipient of various important offices of public trust, including those of representative and senator in the state legislature. In 1909, however, on account of im- paired health, Mr. Norfleet was forced to leave Tennessee for a more salubrious elimate, with the result that in April of the year 1910 he came to Forrest City. Arkansas, where he has established himself in the active practice of his profession and where his already large client- age is rapidly growing in importance and influence.
On the 10th of June, 1871, in Marshall county, Mississippi, oe- curred the birth of Marvin B. Norfleet, and he is a son of John Ran- dolph and Laura Martha ( Benton) Norfleet, both of whom are now at Forrest City. The father was born in Mississippi, from which state he served as a gallant soldier in the Confederate army. He lived for a long number of years near Memphis, Tennessee, where he was identi- fied with the plantation business. The mother was a representative of the old Thomas H. Benton family in Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. John R. Norfleet became the parents of nine children, of which number Marvin B. was the fifth in order of birth. He received an excellent education in his youth, having been a student in the Livingston Military Academy, at Livingston, Alabama, where he was under the preceptorship of the late Captain W. A. Wright, a famous southern educator. Subsequently he studied law in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was admitted to the bar in 1892. He initiated the active practice of his profession in the city of Memphis and was there identified with much important litiga- tion for the ensuing seventeen years, gaining eminent prestige as one of the ablest attorneys in the state.
He enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public and political life in that state, and it may be said of him that he was most faithful to his duty, laboring earnestly to advanee the welfare of the state along lines of material progress and substantial improvement. His first public office was prosecuting attorney of Shelby county. Following this, after a six years' law partnership with General George P. Peters, he he- came judge of the criminal court of Shelby county, his appointment coming from Governor Benton MeMillan. For several years he repre- sented Shelby county in the state legislature, and he was also chosen
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as state senator. He was a colonel on Governor Taylor's staff and during the regime of Governor Benton MeMillan was judge advocate general of the state militia, with the rank of brigade general. In 1903 he served one term as president of the civil service commission of Mem- phis, and prior to his removal to Arkansas he was a prominent candi- date for the Democratie nomination for governor of Tennessee. III health, however, suddenly curtailed his meteoric career in Tennessee, and in 1910, as previously stated, he was forced to remove further west. Since coming to Arkansas Mr. Norfleet has established himself in the practice of law, and here a brilliant future is predicted for him.
Mrs. Norfleet, who was formerly Miss Susie Thomas, is a woman of magnetic personality and gracious sincerity. She was born and reared in Memphis, Tennessee, and is a daughter of the late Henry Thomas, who, for many years, was a member of the firm of Schoolfield, Hannauer & Company, one of the largest commercial establishments in Memphis. To Mr. and Mrs. Norfleet have been born two sons, Mar- vin Brooks, Jr., and Edmond Randolph, whose birth occurred in 1900 and 1905, respectively.
In polities, as already intimated, Mr. Norfleet is aligned as a stal- wart in the ranks of the Democratic party, and in a fraternal and pro- fessional way he is affiliated with various organizations of representative character. After his arrival in Forrest City he purchased for a home the noted Stuart Springs, a tract of thirty-six acres situated in the northeast section of the city, where he has arranged to ereet a fine resi- dence. In his religious faith Mr. Norfleet is a devout member of the Methodist church, and he is a most active factor in behalf of its work. Mr. Norfleet is a man of notable intelligence and stern integrity and honesty of principles. He despises all unworthy or questionable means to seenre success in any direction, whether political or otherwise. It is with pleasure that we mark our appreciation of such a man, a man true in every relation of life, faithful to every trust, a statesman diligent in the service of his country and seeking only the public good. Mr. Norfleet at present is president of the Forrest City Business Club.
LEWIS CASS SMITH. The name of Lewis Cass Smith, county judge, is one which has added greatly to the prestige of the legal fraternity in DeWitt and Arkansas counties. He is a lawyer of eminent qualifica- tions, and his services on the bench have been of the most efficient and enlightened character. He has served as county and probate judge and as judge of the common pleas court, and as such his renown will long endure. He is an ex-mayor of DeWitt, and his valiant services as sheriff and deputy sheriff of Arkansas county dated from the troublous times of the Reconstruction period and were adventurous in the ex- treme.
Lewis Cass Smith is a native of the state and the scion of promi- nent Southern families. His birthplace was Pendleton Landing on the Arkansas river, that point being included at that time (January 30th, 1853.) within the borders of Arkansas county. His grandfather on the paternal side was Colonel James Smith, who moved from Macon, Georgia. to Arkansas Post, in the territorial days of Arkansas, which place was the scene of one of the important engagements of the Civil war and at one time the capital of Arkansas. He brought with him his wife and Mr. Smith's father, John Floyd Smith. Both grandfather and father afterward settled on the south side of the Arkansas river about six miles above the Arkansas Post, and each opened up a large planta- tion and became large slave owners. That was some time previous to
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the Civil war, and they became men of great influence in the communi- ties in which their interests were eentered. The grandfather was a member of the first general assembly of the state of Arkansas after it was admitted as a state in 1836, and he played a praiseworthy part in securing good legislation for the new commonwealth. Judge Smith's father died when comparatively young, and when the Judge was but three years old and the mother was summoned to her eternal rest when he had just reached his majority. Her maiden name was Zarilda P. Hollinsworth. She was a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and a Baptist in religious eonvietion, while the father and grandfather were disciples of John Wesley. Judge Smith's information concerning the lineal descendants is somewhat limited owing to the early demise of his parents, and much information as to his foreparents was lost with his mother. He is of Irish descent on both sides of the house, however. and he possesses some of those native qualifications which make the Irish a particularly elever and engaging raee and one essentially pro- gressive. His father and mother were united in marriage in New Or- leans, Louisiana, and he was one of a family of five ehildren.
The early education of Judge Smith was in part secured in the free schools of the distriets in which he resided, in Arkansas county and fourteen months in Memphis, Tennessee, and the last four years of his educational discipline were spent under the guidance of Professor Will- iam H. Frost, an old college professor of Kentucky. During the Civil war, when Arkansas was in a dangerons and unsettled state as one of the seats of the confliet, Judge Smith's mother took him to Texas, and there fourteen months were spent in the comparative serenity of the Lone Star state. His education finished, he began looking about for a niehe in the world of affairs, and his first experience as a wage earner was as a shipping and receiving clerk for a wholesale grocery house in Memphis, Tennessee. After remaining in this eapaeity for more than one year he returned to Arkansas, and although a very young man he received the appointment of deputy sheriff, which office he held for five years. He was then elected sheriff of Arkansas county. and this office he held first and last for ten years. At that time there was needed a great amount of personal courage to fill this office properly, and this Mr. Smith displayed in a very marked degree.
The "Reconstruction" days in Arkansas, a period still remembered with a great deal of bitterness in some quarters, were distinguished but little by law and order. Conditions seareely eivilized prevailed ; there was no law prohibiting the carrying of pistols, bowie knives and con- Pealed weapons, and there were open saloons at all the cross-roads. The people conducted themselves in a manner almost unbelievably wild and uncivilized for that period of our national history. and murder and all kinds of raseality prevailed. With general disregard for the law, of the rough and tough element in vogue, the office of sheriff was a very perilous one during that period in the history of Arkansas. The county is located between the White and the Arkansas rivers, and its many bayons and ereeks at that time had but few bridges crossing them, and when it became necessary to cross these streams, possibly in pursuit of some fugitive from justice, it was necessary to swim them. There was not a one of these bayous or creeks in the county that Judge Smith did not frequently swim with a horse during these trying times. In fact. as he himself expresses it, "he has experienced as much exposure and laid out as many nights for criminals as any Union or Confederate soldier who passed through the Civil war and can look back over many narrow escapes while in the discharge of his official duties."
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Judge Smith is a man who enjoys the confidence of all those with whom he comes in contact, and he has enjoyed many signal marks of the approval of the community in which he has so long resided. Known to be the stalwart champion of good education as of all other causes calculated to be of general benefit, at a time when there was a vast room for improvement in the schools of the locality, he was elected school director and held the office for six years and did yeoman service in elevating educational standards. In April, 1905, he was elected mayor of the city of DeWitt and for one term did excellent service in behalf of the municipality.
Although Judge Smith is now looked upon as one of Arkansas' most gifted lawyers, his identification with the profession is of comparatively short duration. He was admitted to practice law April 8th, 1896, and in the past fifteen years has become known for his vigorous intellect. wide information and keen wit, and his command of language is sueli as to make his speech apt and fitting at all times. His ability was speedily recognized, and he was elected county and probate judge and judge of the common pleas court, and he is now serving his second term as county judge. Few men have done more than he to secure good government and progress in all good directions for the people of the "Bear State."' In polities it is needless to say that he is a stalwart Democrat, having been bred upon its principles, and from his earliest voting days he has subscribed to its articles of faith. His religious belief is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he gives zealous support to the good measures promulgated by the church body. He is a popular and enthusiastic lodge man, belonging to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World and the Knights and Ladies of Honor.
Judge Smith has twice been married. His first union occurred on the 18th day of November, 1875, Miss Elizabeth F. Hill, daughter of Captain A. L. Hill, becoming his wife. Judge Smith was a second time married on the 31st day of March, 1910, the lady to become his wife and the mistress of his household being Miss Ida M. Brunson, of Bethel, Missouri, daughter of Denison Brunson. Mrs. Smith, who is an ad- mirable and cultured lady, is a first consin of Governor Judson Har- mon, the present Governor of Ohio. They have a beautiful home in DeWitt, Arkansas county, Arkansas, and it is one of DeWitt's popular and hospitable abodes. There are two sons, both grown to manhood and married. Ree V. Smith, the eldest son, is deputy sheriff at Spiro, Okla- homa ; Arthur L. Smith, the younger, is in attendance at a law school at Lebanon, Tennessee.
HON. HAMP WILLIAMS is a representative of an honored old Ar- kansas family, his paternal grandfather having established his residence in this state in the early territorial days. He was born in Crawford county, Arkansas, on the 11th of December, 1860, and is a son of James A. and Malvina F. (Kelly) Williams, the former of whom was like- wise born in Crawford county. his birth having occurred in 1836, the year which marks the admission of Arkansas to statehood, and the lat- ter of whom is a native of Missouri, whence she came to Crawford county, where her marriage to James A. Williams was solemnized in 1858. She survives her honored husband and now maintains her home in Hot Springs, where she is loved and revered by all with whom she has come in contact. James A. Williams was reared and educated in his native county. After the war between the states he removed to the adjoining county of Sebastian, where he was successfully engaged
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in the newspaper business, being editor and publisher of the Hackett City Horseshoe. He was a man of prominence and influence in public life, and popular appreciation of his native ability was shown him at the time of his election to represent Sebastian county in the state legis- lature. llis death occurred while he was attending the session of that body in Little Rock, the date of the same being January 30, 1889. In polities he accorded an uncompromising allegiance to the Democratic party, and he was a stanch advocate of all measures and enterprises tending to further the welfare of the community and state at large. He was a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen, and his business rela- tions were characterized by a stalwart adherence to principle and un- mestioned honesty and integrity. His father, Hansford Williams, who was born in Overton county, Tennessee, in 1811, came to Arkansas in 1829 and located in Crawford county. Although his home remained practically in Crawford and Sebastian counties all his life, he was a great traveler and visited and engaged in business in other states, prin- cipally in Missouri, Texas and Indian Territory. He was both a farmer and a merchant, and in the later years of his life he engaged in mer- chandising near Hackett City and Hartford, in Sebastian county. ITis death occurred in 1900, and his wife, whose maiden name was Cynthia MeDonald, was summoned to the life eternal in 1894.
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