USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 66
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Captain Stallings has been twice married, his first union being to Miss Virginia Ann Carson, a consin of the noted frontiersman, Kit Carson. This marriage was solemnized in Boone county, Arkansas, in 1872, and Mrs. Stallings passed away at Los Angeles, California, in 1885, without issue. In 1887 the Captain married Miss Zulla Walker, a daughter of Dr. Thomas Walker, who was an immigrant to Arkansas from Kentucky and who was for many years engaged in the active practice of the medieal profession at Newport. To this union have been born three children: Lillian, whose birth occurred on the 21st of December, 1890; and Walter and Walker, twins, born on the 1st of February, 1896.
Owing to the character of his vocation Captain Stallings has had little opportunity for participation in public affairs. In his political con- victions he accords a stalwart allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and while a resident of Boone county he gave efficient service as justice of the peace and as deputy sheriff of the connty. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with various organiza- tions of a representative character and he and his wife are devout men-
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bers of the Christian church. The captain is a man of the most genial disposition, his kindly interest in everything making him decidedly popular with all classes of people. His moral code is of the highest standard and in all the relations of life he so conducts himself as to command the con- fidence and esteem of all with whom he comes in contact.
WILLIAM LEWIS SUGGS. Holding high rank among the younger gen- eration of attorneys-at-law in Lee county is William Lewis Suggs, of Mari- anna, who during the few brief years of his active career has made rapid strides in his profession, through a sturdy application of his natural and acquired forces winning an enviable legal record for so young a man. Death claiming his father while he was yet an infant, Mr. Suggs began life under adverse circumstances, it having been his duty, as well as his pleasure, during his earlier days to contribute his mite towards supporting his widowed mother and her little family. But, rich in courage and ambi- tion, he labored industriously and intelligently, toiling onward and up- ward, and rising by slow degrees from a humble position to one of com- parative influence. his material success being entirely due to his own unaided efforts.
Mr. Suggs was born. October 14, 1874, in Pickens county, Alabama, but spent his boyhood days in Winston county, Mississippi, where his mother settled after the death of her husband. He was fortunate in re- ceiving good educational advantages, which he provided for himself, and having completed the course of study in the high school at Philadelphia, Mississippi, he taught school in that state a number of years. Acquiring a fine reputation as an educator. Mr. Suggs was made a member of the committee on text books in Sunflower county, and while engaged in his pedagogical work was for several terms a member of the examining board of that county.
When, by means of wise economy. he had accumulated sufficient money to warrant him in so doing, Mr. Suggs went to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he took the literary course at Valparaiso College, and went through the junior year in its law department. Entering then the Indianapolis Col- lege of Law, he was there graduated with the class of 1904. Immediately opening a law office at Marianna, he has met with well deserved success, and in addition to practicing his profession conducts an insurance and real estate business, in company with Thomas P. Foster, the firm name being the "Suggs-Foster Company." In 1905 Mr. Suggs was elected at- torney and secretary of the Marianna Building and Loan Association, and has held the position ever since. He is much interested in public affairs, and has represented his district one term in the state legislature.
Mr. Suggs married. in August, 1906. Mande Irene MeBee, of Rule- ville, Mississippi, and they have two children, Mary Quinn and Charles Lewis.
HON. JAMES T. ROBERTSON. Among the prominent and well known men of Lee county is Hon. James T. Robertson, of Marianna, who has been very active in the business as well as the political affairs of the county and state. He is a son of the late James Robertson, and was born in Phillips county October 12. 1857.
Born and reared in Scotland. James Robertson, the father of Hon. James T. Robertson, immigrated to the United States in 1840, and settled in middle Tennessee. He was married to Miss Ann Lewis Dale, of Comum- bin. Hle engaged in moreantile business in middle Tennessee until 1856. when he came to Arkansas, locating first in Phillips county, where he engaged extensively in agricultural pursuits. Ile afterward moved to Lec
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county and spent the last year of his life in Marianna. The elder Robert- son never aspired to political position; while always a leading citizen in the community, he never cared for public office and the extent of his public service was to represent his county in the Arkansas Legislature.
James T. Robertson was educated in the public schools and by private tutors. Starting life when a youth, he taught school for a short time, later engaging in the real estate and insurance business in his home town of Marianna, and he has continued in that avocation and has built up a very prosperous business.
Mr. Robertson has been honored by the Democratic party of the state in many ways, and is one of the recognized leaders of the party in Arkan- sas. Locally there has never been any honor to which he aspired that was not his for the asking. He has served the city of Marianna three times as mayor, and made an enviable record as chief executive of the city govern- ment. He was chairman of the County Democratic Central Committee for four years, and was a delegate from Arkansas to the National Convention which met in Denver in 1908. During that year he was elected to the State Senate from his county and the other counties composing the Fourteenth Senatorial District. At the close of the session he was elected president pro tem. of the Senate, which is the highest office in the state of Arkansas next to that of governor. During his term as president pro tem. of the Senate he served some time as governor. While acting governor of the state he pursued a conservative and businesslike course, which brought to him the admiration of the people of the state to the extent that he has been urged to become a candidate for governor by many friends in all parts of Arkan- sas since that time.
The liquor question is always one in Arkansas about which there are bitter contentions and wrangles. Senator Robertson is a local optionist, but not an offensive partisan. He believes the people of each county should control the traffic in that county; at the same time he is conservative and broad minded in this as in all other matters concerning the welfare of the state, and many of his most loyal friends are men who favor state-wide prohibition, many of them having voted for him for the Senate, and several senators who favored state-wide prohibition voted for him in preference to an avowed advocate of state-wide prohibition for lieutenant governor.
As president pro tem. of the Senate, when the Senate of 1911 was called in session, Senator Robertson had the honor of calling it to order, and it was he who appointed all the temporary officers for the organization. This was a double honor, inasmuch as it was the first Senate that ever convened in the magnificent new capitol building of the state. Aside from the cham- pionship of other very important measures during the 1911 session of the Senate, Senator Robertson introduced the resolution in the Senate pro- viding for the enactment of a constitutional amendment fixing the educa- tional qualification and providing the grandfather clause as a requisite to suffrage. Another similar resolution was introduced in the House of Rep- resentatives by Representative Hardage, and with this the Robertson Bill was joined, being known now as the Robertson Hardage amendment to the Constitution. Senator Robertson had already passed his resolution in the Senate, but in order to expedite matters and insure the passage of the reso- lution he asked the Senate to pass the joint resolution prepared by himself and Mr. Hardage. It was due to the persistent effort and influence of Sen- ator Robertson that the resolution was passed in the Senate, and that the amendment is to be submitted to the people for ratification.
On May 15, 1895, Senator Robertson was united in marriage to Miss Annie Bibb Wright, of Columbus, Georgia, and to them five children were born, two of whom survive, the other three having died in infancy. The Vol. II1-29
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surviving children are Mary Dale and James Wright. James Wright is one of the efficient pages in the present Senate.
JOHN W. WHITE, actively identified with mining and banking inter- ests in Pope county, Arkansas, makes his home at Russellville. Ile is deeply interested in community affairs and his efforts have also been a potent element in the business progress of this seetion of the state. He has with ready recognition of opportunity directed his labors into various fields wherein he has achieved success, and at the same time has promoted a business enterprise that has proved of more than local value, largely pro- moting the commercial activity of the state. He is the president of and practically the owner of the Southern Anthracite Coal Company.
.A native of Arkansas, John W. White was born in Logan county, this state, on the 4th of July, 1860. He is a son of James M. and Florida L. ( Miller) White, the former of whom was born and reared in Georgia and the latter of whom was a native of South Carolina. The father came to Arkansas from Rome, Georgia, in 1859, locating in Logan county. In 1812 he removed with his family to Pope county, settling at Russellville. lle was engaged in farming and the general merchandise business during the major portion of his active career and in those lines of enterprise achieved prominent success. He conducted a store at Ellsworth, Logan county. prior to coming to Russellville, and later he continued that busi- ness at Russellville, under the firm name of J. M. White & Son. He was called to eternal rest in 1892 and his cherished and devoted wife passed away in 1908. They were the parents of thirteen children, of whom the subject of this review was the ninth in order of birth.
John W. White was a lad of twelve years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Pope county, Arkansas, and he received his higher education in Bethany College, near Wheeling. West Virginia. At an early age he became associated with his father in the latter's mercantile business and after his father's demise he was in business for himself for a number of years, conducting a well equipped store under the name of John W. White. After disposing of his store, in 1890, he became connected with the People's Exchange Bank of Russellville, of which important monetary institution he was one of the organizers and of which he was cashier for a period of sixteen years. He is now a member of the board of directors of the bank and is its auditor. In 1906 he resigned his position in the bank in order to devote more of his time to his extensive mining interests in Pope county. At the present time, in 1911, he is owner of the Southern Anthracite Coal Company. The mine is located some two miles south of Russellville, on the Russellville & Dardenelle Railroad, and it produces the famous Berniee anthracite eoal, which is practically the equal in grade to Pennsylvania anthracite and which in the western market brings its own- ers a better priee than the latter. The mine is five hundred feet deep and is equipped with the most modern machinery obtainable and a Pennsyl- vania tipple. It gives employment to a large force of men and is one of the important industries in the state. It produces the highest grade of coal in Arkansas.
In the year 1893 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. White to Miss Laura Anette Popkess, who was born at Urbana, Illinois. This union has been prolific of six children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth: John W., Jr., Lucile A., William J., Jr., Alfred P., James and Bernyce, all of whom remain at the parental home. The White family have a beautiful summer home in the mountains of Rio Blanco county. Colorado, some forty-five miles north of Glenwood Springs, in the midst of the big game country. On this beautiful estate Mr. White and the
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different members of his family spend most of their summers. The home is located on the south fork of the White river.
In politics Mr. White endorses the cause of the Republican party. While undoubtedly he has not been without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. In community affairs he is active and influ- ential of his support is readily and generously given to many measures for the general progress and improvement. His life history is certainly worthy of commendation and of emulation, for along honorable and straightfor- ward lines he has won the success which erowns his efforts and which makes him one of the substantial residents of Russellville.
IRA NELSON BARNETT is the president of the Barnett Mercantile Company, of Batesville, one of the strong factors in the domestic affairs of Independence county. Save in detail, the history of the company is the history of its leading spirit, its official head, and in the making of the one the other has developed into a master mind in executing the policies of a triumvirate of commercial genuises. He is a native son of the state and has watched with the gratification born of true loyalty the great progress and development of the state within the last few years.
Mr. Barnett was born January 22. 1866, in the region of Evening Shade, in Sharpe county, and he spent the first sixteen years of his life within the environment of his birthplace. The next two years he resided with his aunt and nnele in the county seat, Evening Shade, being there edu- cated and there gaining the primary lessons of his business education. At the age of eighteen years Mr. Barnett severed his early associations and went farther afield, entering seriously upon the career of his life. He be- came then an employe of R. D. Williams, who was a leading merchant of Batesville and in two years was a member of the firm which was then changed to R. D. Williams & Company. Five years later the firm of R. D. Williams & Company was absorbed by Barnett Brothers, comprising, beside himself, his two brothers, James F. and Charles A. Barnett. In another five years another great change occurred, Barnett Brothers being suc- ceeded by the incorporation of the Barnett Mercantile Company. The Bar- nett Mercantile Company is capitalized at one hundred thousand dollars, and its officers are: I. N. Barnett, president : James F. Barnett, vice-presi- dent ; Charles A. Barnett, secretary ; and Washington M. Ball, treasurer. It is an establishment embracing some six departments and it does some jobbing as well as an extensive real estate business. It employs the greatest labor force of any mercantile house of Independence county, occupies its own two-story permanent structure in the center of the business district of the city and is constantly reaching out after new business, as its man- agement finds the time ripe to seize new opportunities.
Mr. Barnett is a son of Ira Nelson Barnett, Sr., who was born in Sharp county, Arkansas, November 21, 1837, and spent a great many of his active years upon a farm in Sharp county, Arkansas, where he passed away in 1866. He shared the convictions of his neighbors and relatives and upon the breaking out of the Civil war he joined the army of the Con- federacy. Ile died in early life, his years numbering about twenty-eight when he was summoned to the life eternal. The subject's grandfather was William Barnett, who came to the state from his native Tennessee in the '40s and passed away as a farmer in Sharp connty, Arkansas, where he established his family. His children were five in number, namely: James, Frank, Ira Nelson, Elizabeth, who became Mrs. Fuls Dawson, and Martha. who married a Mr. McKnight.
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The mother of Mr. Barnett of this review was Maria L. Simpson, daughter of A. A. and Polly (Jackson) Simpson, Tennesseans. "The Simpsons settled in Arkansas about the year 1836 and Mrs. Barnett was born in that part of Lawrence county that was subsequently incorporated into Sharp. After some years of widowhood, Mrs. Barnett married W. M. Edwards. Mr. Barnett was the eldest of the three children of her first union, the others being James F. and Charles A., both engaged with Ira N. in the Barnett Mercantile Company, as before stated. Her two sons by her second union were John W. and William Edwards, the latter of whom is deceased. Mrs. Edwards passed away in 1829.
In addition to his great mercantile interests, Mr. Barnett has other concerns of large scope and importance, his fine executive talents being looked upon as a valuable adjunct to any enterprise. He is president of the National Bank of Batesville, being also a director in the Citizens' Bank & Trust Company, of this city. He is an officer of the Black River Land Company, a corporation chartered for the purpose of developing large tracts of land along the Black river in Arkansas. Mr. Barnett has the gift of making fine ideas realities ; is an ideal citizen, public-spirited and favoring and supporting all good government movements; and his own prosperity is ever of that wholesome sort which is coincident with that of the whole community.
On December 17, 1890. Mr. Barnett established a household by his marriage, in Batesville, to Miss Lockie Ball, daughter of George W. Ball, a native of Independence county, and a member of a pioneer family of the state. Their union has been blessed by the following children: Charles W., born in 1891; James, born in 1898 and died in 1900; Ira Nelson III. born in 1903; and Mary Louise, born in 1908.
Mr. Barnett takes great pleasure in his lodge relations, which extend to the time-honored Masonie order, and he belongs to all the Masonic hodies, including the Commandery. He gives his allegiance to the Demo- cratic party, as do his brothers, but none of the Barnetts have found the honors and emoluments of public office difficult to resist, and give to the questions of the hour only the consideration of every good citizen.
CLAUDIUS JONES. An able exponent of the progressive and strong initiative power that has caused Little Rock to forge so rapidly forward as an industrial and commercial center is Claudius Jones, who is a native son of Arkansas and who has here attained to a position of prominence and influence as a business man and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. That he is a member of one of the best known and most honored families of the state needs no further voucher than the statement that he is a son of Hon. Dan W. Jones, who served as governor of the state and of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work, so that further ref- erence to the family history is not demanded in this connection.
Claudius Jones, president of the Jones House Furnishing Company, of Little Rock, was born at Hamburg, Ashley county, Arkansas, on the 21st of February, 1865. He was but a child at the time of the family re- moval to Washington, Hempstead county, where he was reared to adult age and where he gained his early educational discipline, which was sup- plemented by a partial course in the Arkansas Industrial University, at Fayetteville. His initial business training was in connection with mer- cantile pursuits and in this field of enterprise he has achieved marked suc- cess and precedence in his independent operations. Since 1889 he has been identified consecutively with the furniture business and it was about that time that he assisted in the organization of the Arkansas Carpet and Furniture Company, of Little Rock, with which he was connected for four-
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teen years. In January, 1903, Mr. Jones effected the organization of the Jones House Furnishing Company, of which he is president and treasurer, and the other offieers of the company are: Edgar W. Holman, vice-presi- dent ; and Levings Sandford, secretary. The company is incorporated un- der the laws of the state and bases its operations upon a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, besides which is has a surplus fund of thirty thousand dollars. In March. 1904, the company moved into its present fine quarters in the modern building at 609-15 Main street. This is one of the finest buildings in Little Rock, is five stories in height and has a frontage of one hundred feet, with a depth of one hundred and forty feet. The attractive front is of stone and pressed gray brick and the appoint- ments throughout are of the best modern type The entire building is utilized by the Jones House Furnishing Company and the establishment is one that not only adds materially to the commercial prestige of Little Rock, but is also one that is a just source of pride to the eity. Aggressive policies, careful management and clear and positive executive control have caused the business to expand rapidly and in a normal and legitimate way. Its history has been one of continuous success and the splendid enterprise now holds precedence as one of the largest of its kind in the entire south- west. Besides furniture of the various reliable grades are also maintained select stocks of earpets, draperies, rugs and other lines of house furnishing goods and not only does the company control a large trade of a local order but its ramifications have extended outside the limits of the state, showing that the facilities of the same are not only of the best order, but also that its executive principals have been significantly enterprising and progressive as they have come in contact with the most insistent competition on the part of the leading metropolitan establishments in the securing of a num- ber of important contracts which they have successfully carried out. Thus it may be noted that the company seeured a contraet for and effectively sup- plied the entire inside furnishings of the magnificent Marquette Hotel, in the city of St. Louis, and also the Bentley Hotel, at Alexandria, Louisi- ana. Similar contracts were carried out in connection with the Marion Hotel and the New Capitol Hotel, in Little Rock. The interested princi- pals in the company are men of fine business acumen and sterling charac- ter and they have the earnest and effective co-operation of salesmen and other employes. Mr. Jones is also president of the Pike County Water Power Company, which is developing a hydro-electric plant on the Little Missouri river, in Pike county, and this corporation will provide, upon the completion of this fine plant, a service that will prove of great value to the state. as the electricity, economically generated by water power, will be conveyed to various eities of the state, ineluding Little Rock. Mr. Jones is one of the governors of the Little Roek Chamber of Commerce and one of the vital and loyal business men of the capital city of his native state and he ever gives his influence and encouragement to all measures projected for the general welfare of the capital eity and the state at large. Though never an aspirant for publie office, he is a stalwart in the camp of the Democratie party and he is affiliated with the Travelers' Protective Asso- eiation, the Arkansas Travelers' Association, the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the An- cient Order of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World.
In the year 1887 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jones to Miss Gabriella Lee Beauchamp, who was born and reared in Little Rock, and who is a daughter of Mrs. Jennie Beauchamp, a representative eitizen of the capital city. Mr. and Mrs. Jones became the parents of five children, all of whom are living exeept Claudia. the second in order of birth, who died in 1894. The other children are: Virginia Hadley, Daniel Webster. Ga-
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briella Beauchamp and Gloria May. Virginia Hadley is now the wife of Luther H. D. Leach, of Little Rock. Mr. and Mrs. Jones and the two older children are members of the First Christian church of Little Rock and the family is one of prominence in connection with the best social activities of the capital city.
ALEXANDER A. WOLF is one of the leading citizens of Mountain Home and stands in three-fold relation to the life of the city and community, for he is county treasurer of Baxter county and a leading merchant and farmer. He is a native son of Baxter county, to which he is extremely loyal, his birth having occurred January 18, 1861, in the vicinity of Wolf post-office, one of the oldest settlements of the White River country. There were passed his childhood and youth and his education was obtained in the country schools and finished in the high school of Mountain Home. In glancing over his mercantile carcer, it is found that he first engaged in the grocery business, in due time added hardware and now carries a general stock. In addition to this he has spent a whole half century as a farmer. He has devoted a great deal of his energy to the growing of tame grasses, and has demonstrated the reliability and adaptability of the climate and soil of Baxter county for timothy, clover and alfalfa. He has also dealt extensively in young mules and horses and his enlightened activities in these lines have been crowned with success.
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