USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 61
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Francis Graves was born in 1800, and died on his farm in Taylor county, Kentucky, in 1876. He served in the Union army as a member of Company G. Thirteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, for a period of
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four years, three months and ten days, or during the entire time of actual hostilities in the field from the firing on Fort Sumter until the surrender at Appomattox. Being wounded in one of the engagements in which he took part, he was subsequently detailed to take charge of a wagon train during the remainder of the war. He was a quiet unassuming man, re- spected by his neighbors and friends, and was unambitious beyond the snecess of a modest agriculturist. He married Cinderella Ramsey, whose death occurred in Taylor county, Kentucky, in 1824. Of the eight chil- dren born into their household. six are living. namely: William L .. the special subject of this brief biographical review; E. H .. of Lake City, Colorado ; E. R., of Fordsville, Kentucky ; W. D., of Bowling Green. Ken- tucky; Mrs. Rosa Roby, of Dietzville, Kentucky ; and Nannie, wife of a Mr. Stimson, of Samuels, Kentucky.
Growing to man's estate in Kentucky. near Louisville, William L. Graves received his educational equipment for a business career in the public schools, and while yet a youth in his teens entered the employ of the old Turner & Day Handle Company, at Campbellsville. Kentucky, thus hecoming associated with an industry which was then in its infancy, and with which he has since been prominently identified. He began turning handles, and by working in every department of the factory mastered the details of the business continuing with the firm after its consolidation with the Woolworth interests of Sandusky, Ohio, and eventually becoming super- intendent of the company's finishing plant at Bowling Green, Kentucky. Later Mr. Graves became associated with the Hartzell Handle Company and for two years was its special agent on the road, looking after the branch concerns, keeping up its timber reserves, searching proper mar- kets for output of the factories, and seeking locations for new mills. In 1906 Mr. Graves built the company's mill in Paragould, and since its open- ing has occupied the responsible position as manager of its affairs. He has also erected other mills in different localities, all of which are in good working order.
On January 14, 1886, at New Hope, Kentucky. Mr. Graves was united in marriage with Georgie Etta Brumfield, formerly of Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Graves are the parents of six children, namely : William B., foreman of the Hartzell Handle Company plant at Para- gould, married Ethel Herrington ; Nora now the wife of Louis Wrape, of Paragould, was graduated from the Bowling Green. Kentucky, Business College, and for five years was her father's stenographer and office assistant ; Bessie ; May : Raymond and Agnes.
Fraternally Mr. Graves is a member of Lodge No. 600, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Fordsville, Kentucky, in which he has passed all the chairs ; of St. John's Chapter, No. 118, Royal Arch Masons of Hunt- ingsburg, Ind. : of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Commandery No. 73, Knights Templar, of which he was eminent commander in 1905: of Mohican Tribe No. 11. Independent Order of Red Men of Bowling Green and of Lodge No. 320 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Bowling Green, in which he has filled all the stations except secretary. Both Mr. and Mrs. Graves are Methodists in religion and have reared their children in the samo faith.
P. AUSTIN RODGERS. A man who has rendered most efficient service in the lower house of the Arkansas legislature in securing much needed legislation of important order and one who has but recently been elected to the office of state senator is P. Austin Rodgers, whose contribution to the civic and material progress of Arkansas has been of the most insistent type. Senator Rodgers was born in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, on the 31st
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of Angust, 1857, and he was but ten years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Arkansas, where they settled on a farm four miles south of Gravette, in Benton county. A. M. Rodgers was a native of North Caro- lina, the date of his birth being 18?4. His ancestors were colonial settlers in Virginia. From his native state Mr. Rodgers followed the tide of im- migration westward to Mississippi, thence to Louisiana and finally to Ar- kansas. He followed agricultural pursuits during the major portion of his active business carcer and he passed the closing years of his life in Benton county, where he was summoned to the life eternal May 28, 1886. He had a brother Samuel, who died in Mississippi ; a brother Israel, who passed away in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, and two brothers, Joe and P. Austin, who died in the Confederate service in the war between the states. Mr. A. M. Rodgers married Miss Mary J. Alden, a daughter of Philo Alden, of Claibourne Parish, Louisiana, but a native of the state of New York. Mary J. Alden was a direct descendent of John Alden, immortalized in Longfellow's poem. "The Courtship of Miles Standish." Mrs. Rodgers survives her honored husband and is now residing, at the age of seventy- two years, on the old homestead in Benton county. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers hecame the parents of nine children, four of whom are deceased. Those living are: P. Austin, the immediate subject of this sketch; Beatrice. who married Thomas T. Netherton, of this county : Sterling M., of Amaril- lo. Texas : Philo Alden, engaged in farming in this county, and Roland L., who remains at the maternal home.
Senator Rodgers was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm and he received his early educational training in the publie schools of his home county, later supplementing this foundation by a course of study in the University of Arkansas, at Fayetteville, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1882, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. By reason of his distinguished public service his "alma mater" honored him with the degree of Master of Arts. He initiated his independent business career as a teacher, fonnding the Bloom- field Academy, in Bloomfield county, in 1883, and remained in the peda- gogie profession at Benton until 1886. He then turned his attention to the great basic art of agriculture and resumed active farming on an estate adjacent to his boyhood home, where he most successfully engaged in the growing of fruit, grain and stock. His farm covers more than a section of most arable land, a large portion of which is covered with fine orchards, his devotion and success in the fruit growing industry bringing him in elose touch with the Ozark Fruit Growers' Association, of which he is business manager.
Senator Rodgers' aptitude for righteous public service was discov- cred when the doors of the state legislature were opened to him as a mem- her of the lower House in 1889. A Democrat in his political convictions. he has taken an active part in the local conneils of his party for several years and he accepted a legislative nomination in the belief that he could render some worthy service to his state. He was chosen as his own sue- cessor in the lower House in 1893 and he served a third term in this ca- pacity in the session of 1897. In 1889 he served as a member of the judiciary committee and made an effort to pass a railroad commission bill, which failed. but which was renewed and passed in the session of 1897. He favored and supported a bill for the purchase of a state farm for con- victs, which passed, and at the same session he was active in passing a bill ratifying the settlement of the debt of Arkansas to the United States. which settlement provided for the payment of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars to the Federal government in full settlement of a claim of about one million, six hundred thousand dollars principal for money
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borrowed as early as 1837 from the Smithsonian Institute fund and from the fund of the Choctaw Indians which the state had never repaid. This solution of the question of state indebtedness was regarded by the leading statesmen of Arkansas as a splendid feat of financial legislation and the leaders of the movement were highly complimented upon their achieve- ment. Senator Rodgers introduced and secured the passage of a bill which enabled the state to use the funds belonging to the swamp land and internal improvement accounts for the settlement of Arkansas' debt to the United States. He also supported a bill providing for the con- tinnance of the geological survey of the state under Dr. Branner and he favored liberal appropriations for the educational institutions of the state and for its eleemosvnary institutions as well. The foregoing statements are ample illustration of the good effected by Senator Rodgers as a member of the lower House of the legislature and time will set forth his ability as a senator. In the spring of 1910 he was nominated for his present office and was elected in the ensuing September. He is a man of broad intel- lectual ken, fine executive ability and sterling integrity of character. His daily life and his life work have been dominated as their most conspicuous characteristic by sincerity and he is genial and inspiring in all the relations of life. His religious faith is in harmony with the tenets of the Mission- ary Baptist church, in whose belief he has reared his family.
On the 29th of December, 1880. Senator Rodgers was united in mar- riage to Miss Sallie E. Hall, a daughter of John Hall, a prominent farmer of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, where Mrs. Rodgers was born and reared. She was summoned to eternal rest on the 24th of January, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers became the parents of the following children: Alexander M., who is engaged in the ministry at Arkadelphia; Kate, who became the wife of Kit Phillips, resides in Burton county; Iddie is deceased : Bessie is a senior in Drury College, at Springfield, Missouri; Ruth C. is de- ceased : Mallory, Robbie E., John Henry, Carlin, Maggie and Mabel reside at the paternal home. On the 31st of December, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Senator Rodgers to Miss Frances Barnwell, a daughter of M. L. Barnwell, a native of North Carolina, whence he came to Ar- kansas. Two children have been horn of this union: P. Austin. Jr., and Rathband Alden.
FRED C. FURTH. postmaster of Pine Bluff, is one of the busiest men in that city of busy men. Not only does he bear the responsibilities of the postmastership. but he is custodian of the New Federal building. There is not in that big building with its large forces of workers a more devoted or a more tireless worker than he. He does not confine his activities to the supervision of the work in the offices, but as a eustodian of the struc- ture he spends much time looking after it and the grounds in which it stands, and since the building was completed Mr. Furth has converted the rough space surrounding it into beautiful grassy lawns and has won for it the reputation of being the best kept business edifice in the city.
Major Furth was born in Hamburg, Germany, September 6. 1863, and while yet only a young boy eame to the United States, seeking a home and fortune in a strange land. He entered upon his active career here with a determination to succeed and it would seem that success has crowned his every effort. He saw seventeen years' service in the United States (regular) Army. He was in the cavalry branch of the service until after the battle of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where he was shot in the hand, and then he was transferred to the infantry. He was the recipient of five honorable discharges, each one hearing the recommendation. "char- actor and services excellent." and these are but an index to his record in
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whatever he has undertaken. Excellence has ever been his watchword and that word characterizes his achievement better than any other could do. He helped to organize two Arkansas regiments for service in the Spanish-American war, and as a lieutenant in the First Arkansas he served, commanding his accustomed excellent record.
At the close of this service in 1898 he retired to civil life and in the following year he was appointed assistant postmaster at Pine Bluff, under Postmaster Louis Altheimer. After nearly four years' service as assistant postmaster, he was appointed postmaster by President Roosevelt and in 1906 was recommissioned. His term as postmaster expired March 23. 1910, and because of his excellent reputation won in the office and the many improvements he has made in the service he had the endorsement of ninety-five per cent of all the patrons of the postoffice for reappoint- ment. Such an endorsement means that practically the entire business community demanded the continuance of the office in his hands. The year 1911 found his new commission awaiting him.
At the beginning of his first term in 1902 the office had six carriers and four clerks. He has extended the rural free delivery system in nearly every direction and at present there are eleven carriers, four rural free de- livery routes and three city stations. Through the efforts of Postmaster Furth most of the houses in the city have been correctly numbered, an innovation which has brought good results to the service. Other improve- ments of a practical kind have been urged by him and some of them will doubtless take form in the near future. One of the newspapers of Pine Bluff had this to say of Postmaster Furth and his management of the mail facilities of that city. "He has demonstrated that he is especially fitted for this position and his resourcefulness seems unlimited. He is ever on the alert for making some improvement in the postal service in this city and there is probably not a postmaster in the state who gives more atten- tion to his office and works as hard to improve the service. For eight years he conducted the office in cramped quarters and he was one of the hardest workers in securing the fine new Federal building which was com- pleted during the present year. After moving into the new office where every department is conveniently located he has had a better opportunity to make greater improvements in facilitating the work of the office and the office force is now well organized and the system which he has established is prolific of the best results."
On January 25. 1899, Mr. Furth married Miss Jennie Altheimer, of Pine Bluff, daughter of Louis and Julia Altheimer.
JAMES S. BAKER. Izard county takes general and justifiable pride in its leading lawyer, James W. Baker, who in addition to his important ac- tivities in the field of his profession, also holds the position of cashier of the Bank of Melbourne. He was reared in this county about ten miles east of Melbourne from a lad of nine years, his father, Wilson Baker, having settled among the friends of the late Confederacy there at the close of the Civil war. Wilson Baker came to Arkansas from Missouri when a young man, marrying in the Traveler state and spending his life upon the farm. He was equipped with little education, having been reared in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, by a widowed mother and without the means of better advantages than those of a humble rural home. His father, Silas Baker, had been killed by accident in early life and was survived by three chil- dren-Wilson, Silas, and Margaret. Silas died unmarried and Margaret married a Mr. Rogers and passed her life in Texas. The leading events in the life of Wilson Baker are as follows: He was born in 1822 ; he married Susan Burns, who had come with her parents from Bedford county, Ten- Vol. III-27
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nessee; his death occurred in 1879, his wife surviving him until 1892, when her demise occurred at the age of sixty-eight years ; he reared the fol- lowing children: Nancy M., who married Charles Odell and resides in Holdenville, Oklahoma; Margaret, who became the wife of Pinkney Simp- son and is deceased; Malinda, deceased, the wife of J. W. Campbell; Ar- sulta, who married Alonzo Hall and has passed away; James B., of this review ; John F., who resides in Franklin, Arkansas; and Christopher (., who is deceased.
James B. Baker was born June 30, 1856, in Missouri. After receiving his preliminary education in the public schools for three years, he attended LaCrosse Collegiate Institute, which was conducted by Professors Ken- nard and Tipton. He then engaged in teaching, his pedagogical career in- cluding five years in the country and two years in the village of Franklin, and he spent his vacations at farming and bookkeeping as the opportunity presented. In 1884 he began the study of law; was coached by Mel- bourne lawyers; carried on a correspondence course with a Nashville law school and received his diploma. He was admitted to the bar at Mel- bourne in 1889 before Judge Powell and has fought his legal battles alone. He was admitted to the United States court and eventually to the Supreme court of Arkansas. While the situation in this rural community makes it necessary for a lawyer to do a general practice he has demonstrated ex- ceptional ability as a defender in criminal cases and the bar docket for many years shows him as one of counsel in every leading case in the circuit or chancery courts. In a new and growing community many unjust charges are preferred and many citizens of Izard county owe their liberty to him as a result of his efforts to free them from the charge of murder or other heinous crimes against society.
Mr. Baker' connection with active politics began with his appoint- ment as elerk to the finance committee of the lower house of the Arkansas legislature in 1886. In 1887 he was elected to the legislature himself and was re-elected in 1889, during which service he introduced and secured the passage of a general tax law, which had the misfortune to meet the dis- favor of the governor and be vetoed. In 1892 Mr. Baker was elected prose- cuting attorney of his judicial district and succeeded himself in 1894, serving two terms. When his official career ended he resumed law prae- tice and maintained himself actively in all political and other matters. He was a presidential elector in 1896, made the race for attorney general of Arkansas in 1898 and was defeated by Jefferson Davis in the conven- tion by only one vote. He was a delegate to the National Democratic convention in 1904 when Alton B. Parker was made the standard bearer of the party for president. He has been a familiar figure in all state con- ventions for twenty years.
In local affairs the people have insisted that Mr. Baker serve them in public capacity, having elected him mayor of Melbourne three times and having kept him on their school board for a period of fifteen years. He was identified with the organization of the Bank of Melbourne and was one of the founders of the Union Bank and Trust Company at Batesville, in which monetary institution he is a stockholder and director. He was one of the promoters of the Mississippi Valley Life Insurance Company, of Little Roek, and he also stood in sneh capacity to the Home Life and Guaranty Company, of Fordyce, Arkansas. He is a stockholder in the Red- bnd Realty Company of Cotter and he has organized and assisted in bring- ing into existence other institutions of finance in which he is not now in- terested. He has always been keenly interested in the development of the natural resources, and particularly of the agricultural resonrees of the state, and he owns valuable farming properties in the county.
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In fraternal affairs Mr. Baker has enjoyed a distinction held by no other citizen of the state, having held the chief state office in the bestowal of two important lodges. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, began at- tending the Masonic Grand Lodge in 1880, was advanced from year to year, until in 1897 he was elected Grand Master of Arkansas. It is some- what remarkable that in the same year he was elected Grand Master of Odd Fellows from the floor of the Grand Lodge.
In the month of September, 1880. Mr. Baker laid the foundation of an ideally happy life companionship by his marriage to Miss Mary (. Couts, a daughter of Henry Couts, who lost his life in an episode of the trying reconstruction period of the state's history. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Baker are Virgie, wife of James B. Dickinson, of Little Rock; Mabel Andie, wife of M. C. Jones, of Westplains, Missouri; and Fay. The family are members of the Christian church and their home is one of the attractive and hospitable ones of the section.
Mr. Baker stands as one of the prime factors in the amazing growth and development which has visited this section of Arkansas in late years. An ornament to his profession, a legislator of high attainments, he has given heart and hand to all he has believed destined to advance the best prosperity of his section and he has been wonderfully successful in the high calling of good citizenship. He is known far and wide, his fraternal and political honors giving him a fame by no means limited to the boundaries of the state to which he is so loyal, and his warm and magnetic personality makes him hosts of friends and admirers.
RUFUS E. NORRIS. To be numbered among the most prominent yonng citizens of Berryville, Arkansas, is Rufus E. Norris, cashier of the Peo- ple's Bank, and one who in his brief career has been a factor in several fields of endeavor, the scenes of his activities having been in the Ozark regions of Arkansas. He was born November 26, 1882, in Green Forest, Carroll county, Arkansas. He received his education in the common and high school of his native town and then took up the study of telegraphy. his training in this line being secured at the Berryville station. His first appointment was as agent at Batavia, on the Missouri & North Arkansas road, and he was subsequently employed in the same capacity at the sta- tions of Gilbert and Berryville. Leaving the Missouri & North Arkansas road he entered the service of the Frisco Railway Company and was em- ployed by them as operator at various points for a year, finally locating at Fayetteville, where he severed his connection with railroad work and re- moved to Berryville, where he concluded to enter the mercantile field.
At Berryville, Mr. Norris began his commercial career in a store, but he had scarcely become acquainted with the "cost marks" when he was induced to take up banking in the capacity of assistant cashier of the People's Bank of Berryville and he served as such until January 1, 1911, when he was chosen cashier of the institution. Efficient and trustworthy, he is regarded as a distinctly valuable acquisition to the executive force of this substantial institution.
Mr. Norris is the son of George W. Norris, a farmer who died at Green Forest, Arkansas, in 1883, at the age of thirty-seven years. He was born in Tennessee, but was reared in Carroll county, Arkansas, and his father, Jonathan Norris, founded the family in the state, his children set- tling in and around Green Forest. The subject's mother, whose maiden name was Nancy MeDowell, was originally of Stone county, Missouri, but now resides in Green Forest, having survived her husband for a great many years. Their children are as follows: Julia, wife of James B. Reeves ; Andrew, formerly engaged in telegraphing, but who died at Green
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Forest, February 18, 1911; Martelia, wife of Ad MeNamar; Walter, who is a farmer; and Rufus E., of this review, he being the only one who does not reside in or near Green Forest.
On September 23, 1903, Mr. Norris laid the foundation of a happy life companionship, the young woman to became his wife being Miss Alta Champlin. Mrs. Norris is a daughter of the late John Champlin, of Eureka Springs, a well-known banker and merchant, and the mother before her marriage was Martha Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Norris have three young daughters: Thelma, Kathryn and Berenice. The subject's interests in Berryville are substantial, though not extensive, his time being devoted to the conduet of the People's Bank, while his financial connections also em- brace stock in a prominent Berryville mercantile establishment.
WILLIAM H. EAGLE. No citizen who has honored Little Rock through productive activities and civic loyalty is more worthy of recognition in this publication than the late William H. Eagle, whose death here oc- curred on the 12th of March. 1906. His was a strong and noble char- aeter and he exerted an emphatic and beneficent influence in connection with business and civie affairs in the capital city of his adopted state during the period of his residence here. The major portion of his life was passed in Lonoke county, where he was an agriculturist of note and where he achieved success through his individual ability and application. He served with efficiency for three terms as a representative in the State Legislature, and in all the walks of life he acquitted himself with honor and distinction.
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