USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 63
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Born in Murray county, Tennessee, January 8, 1808, Alexander K. Erwin responded to the lure of the newer countries, and in early life mi- grated with his family to Mississippi. Spending a short time at Holly Springs, he made his way to Texas, but was no more pleased with his pros- peets in that state. Retracing his steps, he came to Arkansas, locating in Cushman, where he remained a few years. From there he came to Bates- ville, bought land and was theneeforward engaged in agricultural pur- snits until his death, January 2, 1872. He married Elizabeth M. Wilson, who was born in Tennessee, June 1, 1811, and passed away, December 2. 1877, in Batesville, Arkansas. Seven children were born of their union, namely: John, who died while serving in the Confederate Army ; William J., the special subject of this brief sketch ; Laura, deceased, was the wife of the late Dr. Ewing, of Batesville, and died withont issue; Priscilla and Elizabeth both died unmarried ; Edwin wore the Confederate gray, and died in battle: and Mattie, wife of J. C. McGuire, of Batesville, Arkansas.
Educated in the subscription schools of his day, William J. Erwin accompanied the family in its travels from Tennessee to Arkansas, via Mississippi and Texas, and throughout his earlier years assisted his father in his agricultural labors. At the outbreak of the Civil war, he enlisted in the Southern army, and served as a cavalryman under General Marmaduke, in General Price's division of the Trans-Mississippi department, being neither wounded or captured in the many engagements in which he par- ticipated. His command in the spring of 1865 drifted down along the border of Texas, and was on the Red river when the end of the war came.
Returning to Independence county, Mr. Erwin resumed farming, which he carried on with far more than average sneeess until 1872, when he became a resident of Batesville, and an important factor in the advance- ment of its banking interests. He is now first vice-president of the Bates- ville National Bank, formerly known as the Bank of Batesville, and is president of the Citizens Bank and Trust Company, of Batesville, two financial institutions of note and stability. In addition to his financial interests, Mr. Erwin also supervises the management of his thirty-five hundred acres of land along the White and Black rivers. In the cultiva- tion of his land, which includes some of the prize farms of Independence county, he provides employment to many people. furnishing homes to numerous families, and helping to educate many children.
At the end of the Civil war, Mr. Erwin began his active career with the meagre sum of seventy-three dollars as his sole money capital. In deciding upon plans for a continuous upgrade career, he chose the ocenpa- tion with which he was most familiar, that of agriculture, for his first venture. Prosperity smiled upon his efforts, his successes far outnumber- ing his errors of judgment, his bank account increasing each year, while his acreage became larger and larger, until now he is one of the largest holders of real estate in the county, and one of its most prosperous finan- ciers.
Mr. Erwin married first, in August, 1866, Cornelia Glenn, who was born, February 25, 1846. She died Angust 6, 1880, leaving three chil- dren. namely : Willie, son, died in 1901 : M. E., who died the year follow- ing her marriage to James F. Barnett; and Nellie, who became the wife of Junius Bracey. of Little Rock, and died a few years later.
Mr. Erwin married second, June 26. 1883, in Columbia, Tennessee. I'da Lipscomb, a daughter of George Lipscomb, who was born in North Carolina. in 1814, and died in Tennessee, in 1888, aged seventy-four vears. Mr. Lipscomb married Clara Erwin, and their children were as follows: Archibald A., of Murray county, Tennessee, was a Confederate soldier, and a member of the Tennessee State Legislature in 1911: Mrs.
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Emma MeFall, of Columbia, Tennessee; William and Theodore, also sol- diers in the Conferedate Army, reside in Columbia, Tennessee; Benjamin, deceased; and Ida, now Mrs. Erwin. Mrs. Erwin is a woman of culture and refinement, literary in her tastes, and active in all the women's move- ments of her home city. The beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Erwin, over- looking Batesville from a bluff on the northwest, is of commodious pro- portions, and beautifully located in the midst of abundant forest shade. It is noted as the abode of a sincere and generous hospitality, the genial host and hostess giving a warm welcome to every guest that crosses its threshold. Made a Mason more than fifty years ago, Mr. Erwin is past master of the Batesville lodge, which he has represented at the Grand Lodge. Religiously he belongs to the Presbyterian church. A grand- daughter, child of his son, W. A. Erwin, makes her home with him and is the only descendant left.
JOHN W. BEAN, M. D. In no other profession is there given such an ample opportunity to serve humanity and lessen the burden of human life as in that of the physician, although in some, mayhap, greater worldly fame may be attained. Honored names are to be found on the roll of successful Arkansas physicians and surgeons, among them being that of John W. Bean, M. D., of Marvell, Phillips county.
Dr. Bean is an Alabama product, where he was born January 4. 1860. and reared on a farm in the hills of Alabama. He acquired his elementary education in the common cross-roads school of the country, which was sub- sequently advanced by a year's attendance at the high school in Brun- didge, Alabama, after which, under the tuition of his brother, Dr. James M. Bean, he took up the study at Buckhorn, Alabama, and here for two years studied medicine and taught some of the common schools of the conntv.
In September of 1887, he entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky. After the close of the school in March. 1888, he continued his studies in the three-months' spring school of the l'niversity, after which he returned to Alabama and spent the sum- mer with Dr. J. M. Bean, under whom he did some practicing. In Sep- tember. 1888, he returned to Louisville and resmed the study of medi- cine and on March 1, 1889, he graduated in medieine from the medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky.
Looking for a field of plenty and prosperity. he turned his face west- ward and landed in Forest City. Arkansas, on March 2. 1889, and after "pending some time there with relatives, still looking for that field of plenty, he took a southernly course and landed in Trenton. Phillips county, Arkansas, on April 15, 1889. Taking up the practice of his chosen profes- sion at Trenton, Dr. Bean remained there for nearly eighteen years, during which time he increased his professional proficiency by taking a post- graduate course in medicine at Tulane University, Louisiana. Locating at Marvell, Arkansas, in 1907. Dr. Bean has met with the same good sue- cess that characterized his previous efforts and now has a practice that affords nim plenty to live on and something to spare for the needy. The doctor is held in high repute in medical eireles, and is a member of the Arkansas State Medical Society and also a member and ex-president of the Phillips County Medical Society.
Dr. Bean married in 1896 Miss Mamie Nicholson. of North Creek, Arkansas. Their home in Marvell is a home of peace, plenty and hospi- tality.
WILLIAM J. APPLE. Slowly but surely the day of honest success without technical education is ending. As the fierce competitive spirit
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waxes more powerful, the greatest handicap in life will be professional ignorance. It will be increasingly difficult for persons thus cumbered to keep their heads above the mighty waves of the raging sea of commerce. In no sphere will this struggle be more relentless than in agriculture. Farmers who can increase cost to the highest standard and decrease cost to the lowest point will be able to cope with it. All others will be failures, or at best mediocre successes. Agricultural college graduates already are excelling in the various lines of work in which they are engaged, but all men who wish to become farmers have not the opportunity to attend agri- cultural colleges. It is to aid just such people that William J. Apple works. Many a farmer has reason to bless Mr. Apple for the incalculable good he has done, while the country is at the same time enriched. Mr. .Apple, as district agent of the United States Department of Agriculture in the farmers' co-operative demonstration work, is a public and a private benefactor.
HIe was born at Austin, Lonoke county, Arkansas, in 1869. 1fe was the son of Grandison and Nannie Apple. Grandison Apple was born in North Carolina and came to Arkansas soon after the war, settling on a farm at Austin in Lonoke county. He died in 1907 and his wife is still living.
William, their son, was brought up on his father's farm. When a very small boy it was his great delight to walk about the farm and learn the reasons of things. In many cases he found out that the only reason which existed was custom, which to him was no reason at all. His taste for agricultural pursuits stayed with him up to the present time and the intelligence he brought to bear upon the subject has been of great and lasting benefit. William J. Apple was educated in the district schools until he was twenty-two years old. Since that time he has been engaged in some way or other in agricultural pursuits. He lived in Lonoke county until 1902, when he came to Little Rock to take the position of deputy under Judge H. T. Bradford, state commissioner of agriculture. Judge Bradford's term expiring in 1906. Mr. Apple was selected as one of the district agents in Arkansas for the farmers' co-operative demonstration work, carried on by the Bureau of Plant Industry at Washington. For this government department Mr. Apple is district agent in charge of eighteen counties, viz .: Pulaski, Faulkner, Conway, Pope, Johnson, Franklin, Crawford, Washington, Benton, Sebastian, Scott, Logan, Yell, Perry, Garland, Hot Spring, Grant and Saline. In the prosecution of his duties he visits farms throughout this district, co-operates with them with- out cost to them and assists them in every possible way to increase the productiveness of their farms. He shows them improved methods of agriculture and horticulture, giving them the benefit of the government's knowledge and investigations into better and more scientific farming. This, as may at once be seen, is resulting in untold benefit to the farmers and adds to the general welfare and enrichment of the country. Many individual cases of particular benefit could be cited : one in particular that has attracted much attention from the press of the country is the case of Earl Hopping, a young boy at Rogers, Arkansas, who under the advice and direction of Mr. Apple and his county agent at Rogers, in 1910, put one acre of corn in cultivation and raised fifty bushels of corn thereon with the aid of only a plow and a goat. Mr. William J. Apple and his brother, S. A. Apple, a lawyer of Ardmore, Oklahoma, own and operate a fine farm of five hundred acres, two miles and a half from Austin, Lonoke county. This is the old farm on which their parents settled in the sixties. During the last half century the farm has been cultivated to its
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fullest extent, having had all the improved methods brought to bear upon it. One might call it a model farm.
In 1898 William Apple married Miss Hattie Bradford, who was also born in Loncke county, being the daughter of Judge H. T. Bradford, of Lonoke. Mr. and Mrs. Apple have two sons, Julian and Chester, both attending school. Mr. Apple is a member of three fraternal orders-the Masons, the Woodmen of the World and Knights and Ladies of Security. lle is also a member of the Second Baptist church at Little Rock, being one of the staunch supporters of that body ; nor is his religion confined to Sundays, but he carries it with him in all his daily life, breathing help and hope wherever he goes. His influence in the community is incalculable.
HON. JACOB TRIEBER. One of the most prominent lawyers, jurists and Republicans of Arkansas, Hon. Jacob Trieber has served with high credit as United States district judge for the castern district of Arkan- sas since 1900. JIe is still in the ranks of the sturdy middle-aged, having been born in Germany, October 6, 1853. His parents are Morris and Blume B. Trieber, who first gave him a thorough common school education in the Fatherland and in the city of St. Lonis. The son finally realized his ambition by studying law and was admitted to the bar in May, 1876.
Judge Trieber commenced the practice of his profession at Helena, Arkansas, and in 1883 was admitted to practice in the United States su- preme court. His prominence as a Republican spread beyond the boundaries of the state as early as 1880, when (although then but twenty- seven years of age) he was selected as a delegate to the Republican na- tional convention, which met in Chicago and nominated James A. Garfield. In the same capacity he assisted in the nomination of James G. Blaine at Chicago in 1884; of Benjamin Harrison in the same city in 1888, and of William MeKinley at St. Louis, in 1896. In the meantime (in 1891) his party gave him the complimentary nomination for United States senator ; thus stamping him as a strong and trusted leader and statesman.
Since 189? Judge Trieber has represented his government both at the bar and on the bench, serving from that year until 1900 as United States attorney for the eastern district of Arkansas, and since the latter year as United States judge for the same section of the state. He is, therefore, an especially strong and dignified type of the German-American citizen of the southwest. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and in 1906-1 was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Arkansas.
TOM J. PETTIT, proprietor of the Marquette Hotel, treasurer of the state fair and prominent in banking and hotel cireles in Hot Springs for many years, is a representative business man of this city and is a man who not only has achieved marked individual success but has also public-spirit- edly devoted himself to the general welfare of his fellow citizens and has been foremost in advancing enterprises and improvements which will prove of lasting benefit to the city, county and state. He is, furthermore, a self- made man, having been pushed out of the family nest at an early age and compelled to seek his living and advancement as best he could. From the first he was possessed of ambition and determination and his energy, cour- age and business judgment have brought him to a position of esteem and influence among the citizens of this state, where he is recognized as a man of mark in all the relations of life.
Born at Germantown, Shelby county, Tennessee, on the 19th of August, 1862, Tom J. Pettit is a son of Judge J. W. A. and Maria (James) Pettit, both of whom are now deceased. The father was judge
form Soit
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of Shelby county during the greater part of his active career, and when the subject of this review was a mere child his parents moved to the city of Little Rock, Arkansas. At the Peabody school in the capital city Mr. Tom J. Pettit received a somewhat limited educational training but this early discipline he has since effectively supplemented by extensive reading and close association with important financial and current affairs. Cireum- stanees compelled him to begin earning money at an early age. He came to Hot Springs in 1874, and was one of the first force of bell boys in the new Arlington hotel, which was completed about that time. Subsequently he became connected with the Arkansas National Bank, of which he was teller for a period of ten years. For the past few years, however, he has been successfully engaged in the hotel business in this city, one of his hotels having been the Waverly, which was destroyed by fire in 1910.
About the first of the year 1911 Mr. Pettit opened to the public the New Marquette hotel, of which he is proprietor. This is the building which comprised the former Navarre hotel, but which has been completely remodeled and refurnished by Mr. Pettit. The New Marquette hotel is five stories high, with seventy guest rooms, a large number of which have private baths and all of which are equipped with hot and cold running water and telephones. The furniture, plumbing and interior finishings and decorations were all newly installed by Mr. Pettit in the remodeling of this hotel, making it one of the most modern, sanitary and thoroughly clean and wholesome hotels in Hot Springs. There is every comfort and convenience for the satisfaction of guests and there is an atmosphere of rest and refine- ment about the Marquette that make it a most satisfactory home for the traveler or for the permanent resident. The hotel is admirably equipped with the advantages of both a tourist and commercial hotel, and it accom- modates not only the large influx of guests that come to Hot Springs dur- ing the tourist season but it is also open during the entire year for the convenience of regular and commercial guests, having fine sample rooms for the accommodation of the latter elass. The main entrance of the hotel is on Central avenue, with an auxiliary entranee on Valley street, its loca- tion being in the heart of the city, near to both of the railway stations. It is conducted on the European plan. Mr. Pettit has made a distinet success in connection with the management of the Marquette hotel and its estab- lishment marked an epoch in the hotel history of Hot Springs.
In his political advocacy Mr. Pettit is an uncompromising supporter of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands spon- sor, and while he is not, virtually speaking, a politieian, he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises advanced for the good of the general welfare. At the present time he is serving with all of efficiency as a member of the city council, in which he is representing the Third ward. He is affiliated with various fraternal and social organizations of representative character and religiously he is a zealous member of the Baptist church. Ile has served the Arkansas State Fair Commission as treasurer continuously since its inauguration five years ago, and during his tenure in office he has handled more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars of its funds.
Mr. Pettit, on June 17, 1895, married Miss Mary Fariss, of Jackson, Tennessee.
JAMES O. RUSH, M. D. The state of Arkansas, with its thriving in- dustrial activities and rapid development, has attracted within its con- fines men of marked ability and high character in the various professional lines, and in this way progress has been conserved and social stability fostered. He whose name initiates this review has gained recognition as
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one of the able and successful physicians of the state and by his labors, his high professional attainments and his sterling qualities, has justified the respect and confidence in which he is held by the medical fraternity and the local public. He has been incumbent of several offices of public trust and he has won eminent prestige among those who are best able to judge of his skill and who recognize his close and conscientious adherence to the ethics of the profession.
Dr. James O. Rush, of Forrest City, St. Francis county, Arkansas, was born at Lexington, Lafayette county, Missouri, and he was reared and educated in Johnson county, that state, whither his parents removed when he was a mere boy. He is a son of J. G. and Annie M. Rush, the former being a farmer during the greater part of his active career. He now lives in Johnson county and is still farming on the old homestead upon which they settled many years before the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Rush became the parents of seven children, all of whom are living, the doctor having been the eldest in order of birth, the date of his nativity being June 2, 1867. After completing the curriculum of the public schools of Johnson county, Missouri, Dr. Rush entered the University of Missouri, at Colum- bia, in which well-ordered institution he was a student for three years. Thereafter he took a two-years' course of medical lectures in Kansas City and in 1896, although still an undergraduate, he came to St. Francis county, this state, and began the active practice of his profession. He later returned to Kansas City for further medical preparation and in 1899 he was graduated in the University Medical College in that city, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1900 he located at Forrest City, the county seat of St. Francis county, and here he controls the largest medical patronage in the county. He is local surgeon for the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad Company and is ex-president of the St. Francis County Medical Society.
Dr. Rush is aligned as a stalwart in the rank of the Democratie party and he has long been prominent among the leaders of its affairs in Ar- kansas. For four years he was secretary of the county central committee and for a period of eight years was president of the local board of health. In addition to his medical and official interests he is an extensive land- holder in this county, owning a splendid plantation of four hundred acres, eligibly located one mile distant from Forrest City, besides which he also owns considerable real estate in the city, his fine residence and grounds being one of the most beautiful places in the county. He is a valued and appreciative member of the St. Francis County Medical Society, the Ar- kansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
In the year 1907, at Lexington, Missouri, was recorded the marriage of Dr. Rush to Miss Cora M. Peak, of Lexington, Missouri. To this union have been born three children, namely: Frances Marian, Anna Virginia and Stella May. Dr. and Mrs. Rush are devout members of the Presby- terian church, in which he has long been an elder and to whose charities and good works he has always been a liberal contributor.
CHARLES D. MCILROY is general manager of the Arkansas Cold Storage & Ice Company, at Fayetteville, where he also has other invest- ments and financial interests. He was born in this city on the 2nd of September, 1870, and while growing up was educated in the public schools, in addition to which he spent one year as a student in the University of Arkansas. The family of MeIlroy, which has played so prominent a part in the commercial world about Fayetteville, was founded by William Mc- Ilrov, who came to Arkansas about the year 1840 and who was a resident of Washington and Madison counties from that date until the time of his
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death. He was a young man of less than thirty years of age at the time of his arrival in this state and his first location was at old St. Paul, where he carried on a small mercantile establishment for a number of years. He was similarly engaged at Fayetteville some time prior to the inception of the Civil war and when he abandoned that line of enterprise he turned his attention to the banking business, founding the old monetary institution known as "W. M. Mellroy, Banker." He was born in the state of Ten- nessee, in 1811, and was scarcely in his teens when the oppressions of home life led him to seek consolations and friends among strangers. IIe was but meagerly educated and what knowledge he possessed was gleaned from experience. He was endowed with much native ability, however, and during his lifetime he accumulated much valuable property in and about Fayetteville and he contributed in generous measure toward the progress and development of the city. He onee possessed the ground on which the University buildings now stand, selling the same to the committee on the location of the institution at Fayetteville. He was a man of decided, public-spirited tendencies, was liberal minded and was a great influence for good in the early days of Fayetteville. He married Miss Martha Brooks, who survived him for some eleven years, her death having occurred in 1895. To this union were born five children, W. R., J. H., Charles D., Annie May and Mary K. W. R. and Mary K. are both deceased.
Charles D. Mellroy is a representative of a numerous family in the United States, whose family name shows a little difference in the spell- ing. When William M. left home, he bore the name "McElroy." At the suggestion of a doetor, in whose home he resided for a time, he changed his name to its present form-"Mellroy," it appearing to have a more pleasing sound than when spelled with a short "e."
After leaving school Charles D. Mellroy secured employment as travel- ing salesman for the Fayetteville Wholesale Grocery Company. After seven years' identification with this occupation he became manager of the electric light plant at Fayetteville, retaining that position for three years, at the expiration of which he turned his attention to the cattle business in west- ern and southern Kansas. In 1892 he became interested in the MeIlroy Banking Company, the successor of the institution known under the name of William M. MeIlroy, mentioned above. In 1907 he became general manager of the Arkansas Cold Storage & Ice Company at Fayetteville, in which institution he and his brother are among the chief stockholders. This plant has a daily capacity of twenty-five tons of ice and has a storage capacity of thirty-two thousand barrels of fruit. It was erected in 1903. Its official corps consists of: J. H. McIlroy, president; L. Putman, sec- retary ; and F. P. Hall, treasurer. In addition to his other interests in this city Mr. MeIlroy is a stockholder in the MeIlroy Banking Company.
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