USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 60
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COLONEL JOHN W. DICKINSON. For nearly half a century a resident of Arkansas City, Desha county, the name of Col. John W. Dickinson is closely interwoven with its more recent history, his activity in legal, busi- ness and agricultural circles being worthy of special note. He has gained fame and honor as a lawyer; is an extensive landholder; a very successful planter; and, with one exception, is the oldest inhabitant of the place. He was born on a farm in Madison county, Tennessee, September 5, 1832, of English and Scotch-Irish stock.
The Colonel's father, Willis B. Dickinson, was of English ancestry, while his mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Reid, was of Scotch- Irish blood. About 1824 they moved from Moore county, North Carolina, to Madison county, Tennessee, locating on a farm. The father subsequently became prominent in public affairs, and filled various offices of trust, includ- ing those of tax collector, county judge and sheriff. A life-long Methodist in religion, he reared his six children in the same faith. One of his older sons, Dr. Benjamin F. Dickinson, served throughout the Civil war as brigade surgeon on the staff of General Vaughan.
The youngest member of the parental household, John W. Dickinson remained at home until thirteen years old, in the district schools laying a firm foundation for his future education. Going then to Clinton, Ken- tucky, he entered Clinton College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1851. For a year or two after receiving his diploma, he taught in the old-time "field subscription" schools. At the age of twenty-one years he was employed hy Neal Dow as a temperance lecturer for western Tennes- see, and he has ever since been a strong advocate of the temperance ques- tion, and in the advancement of the cause has delivered many lectures, and made many converts.
Elected superintendent of an academy at Medon, Tennessee, in 1855, Colonel Dickinson served in that capacity a year. The ensuing ten years he was president of Bluff Springs College, in Gibson county, Tennessee. While there his patriotic ardor was aroused by the outbreak of the Civil war. Enlisting he was made major of the Sixth Tennessee Regiment, but was rejected on account of bronchitis. Being then commissioned lieutenant- colonel, he had charge of affairs at Memphis, Tennessee, until June, 1863, when the city fell into the hands of the Federals. Returning then to the Bluff Springs College, he continued his duties as its president.
While yet a student of Clinton College, Col. Dickinson studied law, and in 1864, after leaving Bluff Springs College, he opened a law office in Arkansas City, and at the same time embarked in agricultural pursuits. He has met with eminent success both in his professional and his indus- trial labors, being a lawyer of much prominence, and one of the more exten- sive and prosperous planters of this part of the county. His practice, which
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at the present time is confined almost entirely to the handling of large and important cases, has been exceedingly remunerative, while as one of the largest landholders of this section of the state he owns about ten thousand acres in Desha and Chicot counties. In 1873, when, with Col. M. W. Lewis, he projected and incorporated the town, he owned at least one-half of the present town site, and still has claim to a large part of it.
Possessing the essential qualities of a leader in public matters, Col. Diekinson has filled offices of importance, having been county treasurer, and for three terms a member of the state legislature. In 1819, while serving in the legislature, the Colonel was anthor of the State Insane Asy- lum bill which passed both houses, but was vetoed by Governor Miller after the adjournment of the legislature. The same bill was taken up and passed the next year by changing the location of the institution to Little Rock. In advocating Hot Springs as the fitting place for its location, Col. Dick- inson set forth the fact that the waters at Hot Springs contained properties calculated to effect cures in many cases of nervous diseases, and was, there- fore, the proper place in which to locate it.
Colonel Dickinson married Mary Louise Wright, of Gibson county, Tennessee, and they have three children living, namely: W. Wallace, who married Fannie, daughter of Judge U. M. Rose, of Little Rock, and has three children ; John W., Jr., married Ennice A., daughter of Allen W. Goodwin, of Desha county, and has three children; and C. Fenner, who manages his father's estate, and also assists him in his law practice. W. Wallace Dickinson and John W. Diekinson, Jr., are partners in the owner- ship of the Arkansas Brick and Manufacturing Company, and the Big Rock Stone and Manufacturing Company, both important industries of Little Rock.
Col. Dickinson has been a member of Riverton Lodge, No. 296, Free and Accepted Masons, of Arkansas City, since its incorporation in 1874.
EDWIN J. KERWIN, or Judge Kerwin, as he is familiarly called by his friends, was born at Witherspoon, Clark county, Arkansas, December 14, 1875, and is now an attorney-at-law at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. His father was a native of Ireland, born in County Wexford, and his mother, whose maiden name was Ellen Hollister. was born at Napoleon, Arkansas. His parents located in Jefferson county about 1880, moving from Clark county.
Mr. Kerwin not having the financial aid necessary to obtain an educa- tion in a law school, prepared himself by becoming a stenographer, attend- ing a business college at Quiney, Illinois, where he graduated in stenography and bookkeeping. His first employment was in the office of J. M. & J. G. Taylor, attorneys at that time for the St. Louis Southwestern Railway company, and opportunity was here presented to read law, of which he availed himself. Owing to confinement incident to office work he gave up shorthand and became a traveling salesman for a period of two years, traveling through portions of Arkansas and Louisiana. In the latter part of 1902 he aspired to represent his county in the legislature and was elected, making an enviable record. He is known as a strong debater and as one of the best orators in his seetion of the state. He is the author of the anti- child labor law of his native state, having introduced and passed the same in 1903. For one term in the legislature he aspired to represent and serve the people of Jefferson county in the office of county and probate judge, and was again successful. At the time he was elected and during his in- cumbency he was the youngest county and probate judge in the state. After his tenure of office he became actively engaged in the practice of the law, his chosen profession. In 1909 he was appointed by the governor to serve in the legislature, filling the unexpired term of one of the members from
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Jefferson county, and led the fight on the floor of the house for the com- pletion of the new State Capitol. In 1911 he again represented the people of Jefferson county in the Thirty-eighth General Assembly. He is the au- thor of the measure setting aside October 12th of each year as a holiday in honor of the discoverer Columbus, and in commemoration of the event it- self, the date to be known as Columbus Day. He was the first temporary speaker in the new State Capitol, and was the chairman of the last legis- lative meeting ever held in the old State House, which was Jannary ?, 1911, the occasion being the assembling of all the senators and representa- tives to determine the question whether the Thirty-eighth General Assembly would serve in the new Capitol or in the old. ile takes an active part in everything pertaining to the welfare and upbuilding of his city, county and state. He made the tour of his native state with Honorable W. J. Bryan and Governor Donaghey in 1910 in the interest of the adoption of amend- ment No. 10 to the constitution which gave to the people the initiative and referendum.
Judge Kerwin was married in 1904 to Miss Margaret Ruth Kirby, of Quincy, Ilinois. Three children add to the happiness of their home, Mar- garet, Mary Virginia and Anna Isabell. Judge Kerwin is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and the Knights of Columbus. In the last two orders he holds positions of honor and trust. He was first state deputy of the Knights of Colum- bus. In 1910 he traveled extensively in the interest of the last named order seeking a location for the establishment of a tuberculosis sanitarium. In matters of religion he is a ('atholic, being a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church, of which Rt. Rev. J. M. Lucey. V. G., is pastor.
Judge Kerwin is well and favorably known throughout his native state.
WILLIAM H. LANGFORD. It is speaking with all due conservatism to say that few men in this section of Arkansas are as widely and as honorably known as William H. Langford, and it would be difficult to find anyone identified in an important capacity with as many enterprises in Pine Bluff and neighboring cities. A man of stanch financial and business ability, and of broad and practical views, he is easily in the van of the progressive and influential citizens who have given this particular portion of Arkansas a bright name for a superior brand of aggressiveness and evolution.
Mr. Langford is a native of Arkansas, his birth having occurred in Champagnolle, this state, June 6, 1858, he being the son of Judge William C. Langford, a prominent attorney of the Union county bar, and his wife, whose maiden name was Martha Witherington. He spent his boyhood and early youth in Eldorado, attended the public schools, and received his higher education in the University of Arkansas, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In looking about for a career Mr. Langford decided upon the legal profession and accordingly read law in the office of Judge U. M. Rose, of Little Rock, being admitted to the har in 1882. He hung out his shingle in Little Rock, practicing in that city for four years and manifesting no small amount of promise. He had his first experience in public life as secretary to Governor Berry about the year 1884, and acted for a time as deputy secretary of state under .Jacob Frolich and E. B. Moore. In 1885 he resigned that position and came to Pine Bluff, soon after becoming one of the organizers of the J. B. Speers Company, wholesale grocers and cotton factors. of which he was president for eight years. He was president of the Citizens' Bank of Pine Bluff for thirteen years, and this high office is but one of many of like char- acter which he has held. He reorganized the Pine Bluff and Arkansas
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River Railroad, of which he is ex-president ; he is ex-president of the Pine Bluff Mill and Elevator Company ; ex-secretary and treasurer of the Citi- zeus' Light and Transit Company; was a director in the Exchange Na- tional Bank of Little Rock, and is interested in a bank of Fordyce, Ar- kansas, as well as in the Ouachita Valley Bank.
Mr. Langford is the champion of good education and kindred causes and for nineteen years was a trustee of the University of Arkansas, of which institution he is an alumnus. He is identified with the cotton industry and commerce and organized one of the first cotton compress companies in Pine Bluff, and was the first secretary of the Pine Bluff Cotton Oil Company. By no means the least of his interests is his great plantation of four thou- sand acres, situated on the Arkansas river and devoted to the cultivation of cotton.
On the 23d day of November, 1886, Mr. Langford contracted a con- genial life companionship, the lady to become his wife and the mistress of his household heing Miss Ida Speers, daughter of Major John B. Speers, founder of the J. B. Speers Grocery Company. Two sons have been the issue of this union-William H., born February 13, 1889, died May 14, 1895; and John Speers, born July 14, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Langford are members of the First Presbyterian church, of which the former is a deacon.
JOHN D. CHAMBERLAIN. That new life and new vigor are as essen- tial to a growing community as is pure water to its normal health is a truth that has been especially demonstrated in all countries, and Benton county, Arkansas, is no exception. One of the more recent of its acces- sions is found in the person of John D. Chamberlain, president of the Perry Realty Company, of Siloam Springs, a man of active energy and progressive spirit. A native of Iowa, he was born, September 21, 1860, in Linn county, of honored ancestry.
His father, Lafayette Chamberlain, was born, in 1829, in Lafayette county, Indiana, near the old Tippecanoe battle-ground, where his father, John Chamberlain, settled as a pioneer, going there from New York state. LaFayette Chamberlain married Felicity Dawley, who was born in LaFay- ette county, Indiana, where her father, John Dawley, located on migrating to that state from Pennsylvania. In 1854 he moved with his family to Iowa, locating in Linn county, where their two children, Emma and John D., were born. Emma Chamberlain, who became the wife of S. C. Weather- wax, died in 1879, leaving one daughter, Lena, who now lives in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
Growing to manhood on the parental farm, John D. Chamberlain was educated in the public schools of Linn county. Attaining his majority, he trekked northward, and entered a tract of government land in Beadle coun- ty. South Dakota, on the fringe of settlement, three miles from the nearest neighbor. Proving up his claim, he engaged in grain raising, and ere long became a citizen of prominence, being chosen justice of the peace for his township. Giving up farming in 1896, Mr. Chamberlain embarked in the coal business in Alpena, Jerauld county, South Dakota, and subsequently, in addition to dealing in lumber and coal, engaged in the furniture busi- ness in that city. He was also junior partner of the grocery firm of Milli- ken & Chamberlain, which operated a branch store in Virgil, South Dakota. Disposing of his Dakota interests in 1907, Mr. Chamberlain prospected the country well before selecting a new home, making repeated visits in the incantime to Siloam Springs. Pleased with the advantageous opportuni- ties here offered, he made extensive investments in city realty and fruit farms, and other property of value, at the present time being as intimately associated with the business relations of the place as an old settler. He is
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vice-president of the State Bank of Siloam Springs, and president of the Perry Realty Company, one of the best known firms of the kind in all Ben- ton county. This company has a history as a developing institution in Siloam Springs, it having erected here, in 1909, the substantial building in which the State Bank is housed.
Mr. Chamberlain married, July 3, 1883, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Ida A. Kelsey, who was born in Iowa, November 11. 1858, a daughter of James C. and Harriet J. (Rogers) Kelsey, natives of New York. Seven children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain, namely : Madge, a graduate of the normal department of the Arkansas Conference College at Siloam Springs, is a teacher in the public schools of Rogers, Arkansas ; Gertrude, who completed a commercial course at the Dakota Wesleyan Uni- versity, at Mitchell. South Dakota, and is now a student in the Arkansas Conference College, at Siloam Springs; May, a graduate of the normal de- partment of the Dakota Wesleyan University, at Mitchell, South Dakota. took a two-year course in the college at Siloam Springs, and is now teaching in Riverside, South Dakota; Fay, a student in the Arkansas Conference Col- lege ; Otis, attending the Siloam Springs High School ; and Esther and Hil- dred, pupils in the graded schools of this city.
Fraternally Mr. Chamberlain belongs to the junior Masonic lodges of Siloam Springs, and is a member of the Yankton, South Dakota, Con- sistory, and of Yeldoz Shrine, at Aberdeen, South Dakota. He is likewise a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Cham- berlain and their family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and contribute liberally towards its support.
ISRAEL MERRICK MOORE. The subject of this sketch was born at Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, December 3, 1814, and died at Searcy, Arkansas, on January 17, 1891. He, with a younger brother, Charles E. Moore, went west at an early day and engaged in the publie surveys of Illinois and Wisconsin. After spending two years in the west they came to Little Rock and took large contracts with the United States Government for surveying the public lands in the southern part of the state. They were engaged nearly ten years in that work. In 1848 he acquired the town- site and sulphur springs at Searcy and donated to the town the original ten acres known as the "Ten-Acre Donation," upon which the court house and surrounding business houses now stand. He engaged in mercantile pursuits for a number of years, establishing general stores at Searcy, Jacksonport and Yellville, in the northern part of the state. He was one of the promoters of the Cairo & Fulton railroad, which was organized under acts of the legislatures of Missouri and Arkansas for the purpose of building a railroad from Cairo, Illinois, to the southern part of this state; was a member of the board of directors and took an active part in the organization and in securing land grants from Congress to that com- pany until it passed into the hands of Thomas Allen, of St. Louis, and was reorganized under the name of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company. In 1857 he was appointed by Governor Conway a commissioner to select additional lands under the grant by Congress to the state in aid of the Cairo & Fulton railroad in lieu of swamp lands within the limits of the grant for railroad purposes. He, in connection with commissioners from Louisiana and Texas, selected the southern terminus of the road and gave it its present name, Texarkana, the name being a combination of the names of the three states. In 1860 he was nominated by the Democratic party to the state senate from the district composed of White, Jackson and Independence counties, but de- clined to make the race.
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He was purchasing agent for the army in northeast Arkansas during the occupancy of the Confederate troops the first year of the war. He enjoyed a wide acquaintance and was intimately associated with the leading men of the state from the time he came here until the war. In his political views he was an earnest and consistent Democrat, but never took an active part in political affairs or sought political office. For a number of years prior to his death he led a quiet, retired life, devoting his time to his private business.
In 1840 he married a daughter of John Martin, of Jackson, Mis- souri, who died in 1855, leaving four children, John M. ; Mary Allen, who married the Rev. M. B. Pearson; Margaret R., who married the Rev. J. J. Johnson ; and Nancy Jane. He married a second time in 1858 a daughter of Bailey E. Heard, who survived him and died in 1899, leaving three daughters, Elizabeth, who married John K. Gibson, of Law- rence county ; Nettie, who married T. A. Yarnell, of Scarcy; and Jessie Lee, who married Andrew M. Ponder, of Lawrence county.
He was a man of unusual qualities, possessed of great energy, a clear, strong intellect, and was fond of reading and study. Gentle, kind and charitable in his nature, a man of unbounded hospitality, who de- lighted to entertain his friends and was scarcely ever without guests in his home, he was vet a man of strong convictions and a stern sense of duty, and never countenaneed nor failed upon proper occasion to rebuke loose or immoral conduct or wrongdoing. He was of deep religious feel- ing and practiced his religion in his daily life. There was never a season of severe weather that he did not interest himself regardless of any per- sonal trouble to see that the necessities of the needy around him were supplied to such an extent as to prevent suffering. His character in that respect is illustrated by a remark during his funeral service, which oc- eurred on a cold, bleak day in January when the ground was covered with ice and snow. The service was conducted by the Rev. G. A. Dan- nelly, a friend of long standing, who in the course of his remarks said : "If Brother Moore were living to-day there is not a needy family in our town that he would not visit and see that their wants were supplied." He had a keen sense of humor, was a pleasant companion and much beloved by a large circle of friends. He took an active interest in all questions affecting the publie good, contributing as liberally as he could afford to all objeets of public interest. He was always desirous of helping others, and took a special interest in worthy and struggling young men, not only in the way of advice and encouragement, but in material help where it was needed. A friend, writing him soon after his death, said:
"The writer remembers with gratitude when he arrived in this town more than forty years ago, a stranger and withont means, the many acts of kindness shown him and the wholesome advice and encouragement given, through the many eares and adversities common to a young man in a strange land. I was a member of his family for nearly three years, and had many opportunities for observing the charity and many other virtues displayed by him. The hand of want or affliction was never stretched out to him for aid that was withdrawn empty."
JOHN M. MOORE was born in Pulaski county, Arkansas, and was the son of Israel M. Moore, who came to this state at an early day from from Pennsylvania. He was raised in Searcy, in White county. When the war began he was a school boy, but enlisted as a private in the Third Arkansas Cavalry, serving under Forrest and Wheeler; he was promoted to a lieutenancy and was the commanding officer of his company at the end of the war. He was admitted to the bar at Searcy, and in 1871
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opened an office in Little Rock, where he has maintained his home and pursued his profession ever since. He served six years as reporter of the Supreme Court of the state, was for eight years chairman of the State ('entral Committee of the Democratic party ; he was president of the State Bar Association in 1908-9.
In 1843 he was united in marriage to Miss Annie C. Turner, a daughter of Blakely D. Turner, who was a prominent member of the bar in pioneer days. She died on January 31, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Moore had four children: Merrick, who is associated with his father in the practice of law : Janie, who was the wife of A. C. Miller, deceased, of Little Rock: Charlotte; and Blake Turner Moore, who died in 1909, in his twenty-sixth year.
B. D. TURNER was born in North Carolina in 1824, a son of Simon Turner, who moved from North Carolina to west Tennessee and located at Brownsville, Tennesseee, while he was yet a child. He lost both of his parents in his youth. He received his early scholastic training in the public schools, and later was educated at Oberlin College, Ohio. He began the practice of law at Brownsville, and in 1855 moved to Searcy, White county, Arkansas. He established and maintained a leading prac- tice in that and surrounding counties until 1878, when, on account of the impairment of his voice, he was forced to relinquish active practice, and accepted the office of reporter of the Supreme court, residing there- after continuously, until his death in 1887, at Little Rock.
He married Charlotte Dver Coleman, a daughter of General Block- man Coleman, and their children were William J., Blakeley D., Annie C., who married John M. Moore, Sue C., Betty G., who married R. D. Will- iams, and Coleman. Mrs. Turner is the only surviving member of the family, having outlived her husband and all their children.
He was an able lawyer, did a leading practice, took an active interest in all public matters, was a man of strong feeling and convictions, out- spoken in his views and sentiments on all proper occasions, and was intol- erant of anything savoring of hypocrisy, untruthfulness or dishonesty. In politics he was a Democrat, and was frequently a member of the state and national conventions of his party, but never sought nor held an elective office. He served in the Confederate army during the war, with the rank of major.
WILLIAM L. GRAVES. A man of marked enterprise and ability, Wil- liam L. Graves, manager of the Hartzell Handle Company, is actively iden- tified with one of the leading industries of Paragould, and is widely known as one of the pioneers in this line of business. A son of Francis Graves, he was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, in November, 1859, coming from honored Virginian ancestry.
His paternal grandfather, Isaac Graves, was born, bred and educated in Virginia. Ambitious to acquire larger real estate holdings, he migrated in early life to Kentucky, becoming a pioneer settler of Green county. He bought land near Greensburg, and with the assistance of slaves cleared and improved a large plantation. He became the father of seven children, as follows: Francis, deceased ; John, of Roachville, Kentucky ; James, of Elk City. Kansas: C. J., of Raywick, Kentucky ; Mrs. Sallie Gaines, of Chi- cago, Illinois: Nannie, wife of Thomas Gaines, of Greensburg, Kentucky ; and Lucy, wife of William Edwards, of Summersville, Ky.
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