USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 71
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On March 5, 1899, Dr. Moore was united in marriage with Miss Flora L. Keeling, daughter of Rev. Elijah Keeling, a Baptist minister whose people came to Arkansas before the Civil war. The children of this union are Howard, who died in childhood; Naomi A., William Carl, Ollie Pearl and Clyde.
WILLBURN L. SNEED. A fine representative of one of Carroll county's pioneer families, is Willburn L. Sneed, of Green Forest. He is a native of Osage, this county, his eyes having first opened to the light of day, August 29, 1884. His father, the late Willburn R. Sneed, was a man of no small prominence in the business and agricultural affairs of Carroll county, which was the scene of his birth, as well as his entire active life. His father, Charles Sneed, founded the family here more than eighty years ago and like so many of the immigrants to this part of the state at that time, he was a Tennessean.
Willburn R. Sneed laid the foundation of his modest fortunes as a farmer and stockman, the property which was the scene of his activities in this line being situated in Carroll county. At the time of the Civil war he followed his natural inclinations and espoused the cause of the Confederacy, which was the cause of his section and his brethren and at the termination of the struggle returned to the activities of peace. He was a man of much industry, executive ability and foresight and he be- came a successful merchant and banker, as well as one of the most im- portant of local ranchmen. He was one of the principal organizers of the Bank of Green Forest, and at the time of his death, September, 1904, he held the office of president. His demise was a matter of general re+ gret to the community, for thereby was lost one of the commercial pillars
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and a citizen of the highest ideals. Mr. Sneed, Sr., was born in 1830 and was married to Miss Nellie McCracken. Mrs. Sneed resides in Green Forest with her only child, the subject of this review. The elder Mr. Sneed was a man into wbose life political ambitions did not enter as a more or less disturbing force. He gave his suffrage to the Democratic party, for he believed that its policies and principles tended toward good government.
Willburn L. Sneed received such education as was afforded by the public schools and although under thirty he has already taken his place as an important factor in the local world of affairs. He began life as an employe in the Bank of Green Forest, with which as previously mentioned, his father was connected in a leading capacity. He was given the office of assistant cashier, but in 1904 he resigned that office, believing that greater opportunity awaited him in another field-that of farming and stock raising, horses, mules, cattle and hogs gaining their sustenance upon his rich fields. ITis operations in this line have been of widest scope, and he owns several farms, aggregating several hundred acres, and situated near Osage and Green Forest. He maintains his residence upon the farm which is situated near the corporation limits of the town. He also holds the office of president of the Bank of Green Forest, to which office he was elected in 1909, and like his father he enjoys the confidence of all who know him best. In the office of president of this conservative and substantial banking institution he has succeeded J. F. Fanning, and Mr. Fanning succeeded his father, Willburn R. Sneed. In the matter of political affiliation the subject follows in the paternal footsteps and like him he aspires to no public office.
March 10, 1907. Mr. Sneed was married in Green Forest, to Miss Grace Kirkpatrick, daughter of William Kirkpatrick. As to lodge rela- tions, Mr. Sneed is a member of the time honored Masonic order.
GEORGE HOMER MCLAUGHLIN represents the young and vigorous mer- cantile spirit of Eureka Springs and has passed nearly his whole life in the city in which he is attaining his phenomenal success. As someone has expressed it, he is "all but a native." The advent thither of this enterprising and public-spirited citizen dates from the year 1880, when his father, John P. MeLaughlin, established the family home where pure water and pure air abound and none of the family has ever had reason to regret the momentous step.
The father of the subject came to Arkansas from Greene county, Indiana, but he is a native of Coshocton, Ohio, where his eyes first opened to the light of day, December 7, 1837. It was probably due to Robert McLaughlin, great-grandfather of George Homer, that the family settled in the Buckeye state, for in 1830 he and his family came there from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where Robert had been born about 1784. He was a farmer by occupation and he passed a long and useful career, his demise occurring in Coshocton county about 1870. He married in his native state Margaret Dickeson and the children of their union were as follows: Henry, who removed to Missouri, about 1855 and was subse- quently lost to view ; Nancy, who became the wife of Ananias Lynch and died in Coshocton county ; Jolm, grandfather of the subject ; Drusilla, wife of John Noldon, who has passed away; and Susan, who married James Gardner, she and her husband rearing their family near the old Ohio home where they were gathered to their fathers.
John Mclaughlin, grandfather of the immediate subject of the re- view, was born in 1814, and was a youth in his early teens when the family left his native Pennsylvania. He was married in Coshocton county to Anna Pollock, a daughter of John Pollock, who was born in
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Ireland and was a weaver by trade. In October, 1850, John Mclaughlin died leaving a family composed of John P .; Mary A., wife of Silas Combs, she passing away in Greene county, whither her parents removed in 1849; Robert who was a Union soldier and was killed at the battle of Antietam ; Margaret, who married James Smith, and resides in Bloomfield, Indiana ; Susan, wife of Joseph Crane, of Stanford, Indiana; Emily, wife of Sam- nel Tribby and now residing in Salisbury, Indiana. Some time subse- quent to John Mclaughlin's death his widow married Charles Combs, and Henry Combs, of Monroe county, Indiana, is their son. Mr. Combs is unmarried.
Jobn P. Laughlin, for we now reach the father of George Homer, was a young farmer when the first shots of the Rebellion were fired. He was a courageous and patriotic young citizen and in July, 1862, he enlisted in the Ninty-Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Robert Catterton. His regiment was in General Logan's corps and was encamped first at Camp Dick Thompson, Terre Haute, Indiana, and later at Camp Morton, In- dianapolis, while making preparations to take the field. Subsequently the command rendezvoused at Lonisville, Kentucky, and went by boat to Memphis, Tennessee, it being their aim to reach Holly Springs, Mis- sissippi, where General Grant had his hands full with the Confederates under General Van Dorn. Failing to reach Holly Springs, the command was withdrawn to some forty miles east of Memphis, where they went into camp. They were ordered thence in the spring of 1863 to intercept the Confederate forces of General Johnston and to keep them from attack- ing General Grant, while the latter was completing the envelopment of Pemberton at Vicksburg. When Vicksburg fell General Logan's com- mand was ordered to follow Johnston and to give him battle and it did so as a part of Sherman's army at Jackson, Mississippi. After a brief respite in camp the army moved eastward to Chattanooga, Tennes- see, and in that locality took part in the battles of Missionary Ridge and Lookont Mountain. The Ninety-seventh Indiana Regiment, as a part of the army under General Sherman, spent the winter at Scottsboro, Alabama, and in May, 1864, began the Atlanta campaign. About this date Mr. Laughlin was detailed as regimental blacksmith and while he was frequently on the firing line, it was without a gun and he continued so to serve while the march to the sea was accomplished and the city of Savan- nah captured. He was with his regiment on board ship from Savannah to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and thence to Columbia, South Carolina, when that city fell into Federal hands. From that point the last march of the army was made in pursuit of the enemy. General Johnston's com- mand, pathetically diminished in number, was lying between Raleigh and Goldsboro, and when General Sherman reached there he received a volley from the last remnant of Confederates east of the Mississippi river. From this point to the Federal Capitol at Washington no obstacle save distance opposed an easy march and the victorious army arrived at its destination in time to participate in the Grand Review, May 24, 1865. Here Mr. Mclaughlin was minstered out of service and was sent to Indianapolis to be discharged, June 25, 1865.
With the return of peace Mr. MeLaughlin resumed his vocation but found himself greatly disabled as a result of the rigors of his military service and it seemed expedient after some years to seek a climate where his disease might, at last, be stayed. He came to Eureka Springs with that object in view and he has spent his life here in practical retirement. Mr. MeLaughlin was united in marriage in Greene county, Indiana, to Miss Mary Vest, a niece of Senator George C. Vest, of Missouri. She died in 1889, the mother of three sons-R. Benjamin : Thaddeus S .. a
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druggist; and George Homer, the subject, all of them residing in Eureka Springs.
George Homer Mclaughlin was born in Greene county, Indiana, January 28, 1874. His education, at least that part of it received in the school room, was obtained in the public schools of Eureka Springs, but at the early age of eighteen years he became a factor in the world of affairs and entered upon a mercantile career. He employed a capital of $375 to open a small stock of groceries on Spring Street in a frame building owned by his father. He adopted as the principles of his store, cleanliness, cheerfulness and the wish to oblige, and an ever fresh and full stock of goods. Youthful grit, and a lexicon which did not contain the word "fail" also played their part in winning the success which has attended Mr. MeLaughlin's efforts for the past seventeen years. In truth he is now to be numbered among the model and most highly successful of the grocery- men of the city and state. The fine stone building which houses his store is adjacent to the new library, and contains forty thousand dollars worth of goods. The arrangements for disposing of the stock are ideal, and the oiled floors and wire matting laid in the alleys are only a be- ginning of the sanitary arrangements everywhere apparent. Two ware- rooms contain the reserve stock. Mr. MeLaughlin owns a bakery close by, the same being run in connection with the store. The entire block of business houses adjacent are his property and he has invested the profits of his business in other improved real estate in Eureka Springs, his faith in the city and its future being unbounded. The years inelnded between 1893 and 1911 are not a long period for the achievement of success such as his, particularly when it is remembered that the factors in 1893 were a youth quite inexperienced, a tiny capital, and a large stock of courage and determination.
December 9, 1896, Mr. MeLaughlin laid the foundation of a house- hold of his own by his marriage to Miss Florence M. Marsh, daughter of E. L. Marsh, Mrs. McLaughlin being one of a family of four. and the only daughter. She and her husband are the parents of a charming quartet of daughters,-Katherine, Florence, Helen and Margaret.
All that is best in Mr. Mclaughlin is given to his family and his business and he finds little time for lesser interests. He is not inclined to politics, nor to seeking popularity along the fraternal ronte, although he belongs to one of the prominent orders of the country. His success has been remarkable and his business stands among the most important of the city.
TOBE SMITH. Few of the younger generation of Carroll county are better and more favorably known than Tobe Smith, county circuit clerk. His loyalty to this section and the confidence in which he is held are both of them ready to understand, for he has been a resident of Berry- ville all his life and the community which he is now so well serving in public office is well acquainted with his ability and his life. He was born in Berryville, June 5, 1885, and is the son of Enoch H. Smith, a farmer, who has resided in the county some thirty years. At one time in her history this part of Arkansas became settled by a large number of Tennesseans and Enoch H. Smith, who was a resident of Marshall county, that state, was a part of that certain tide of immigration. He was born in 1839 and was married before his change of residence to Sally Hobby. During the Civil war he hearkened to his conviction of the supreme right of states to sever their connection with the national government and enlisted in the Confederate army under General Johnston, was made a prisoner of war, and was confined in Camp Douglas, Chicago, dur-
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ing the last several months of the war. The grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was the father of the following children: A. W .; Hilliard; John; Benjamin; Enoch H., the father of our subject; Nannie, who married a Mr. Shaw, and resides at Sambo, Texas; and Jennie, wife of Chick Caldwell, of Marshall county. The original home of the Smiths in the United States was North Carolina and they were for the most part farmers. They espoused no church or creed as a rule, but notwithstanding were industrious and upright citizens. The present circuit clerk of Carroll county was one of a family of five children, the other members being Dillie, wife of T. M. Bunch, of Carroll county; Edward B., of Cripple Creek, Colorado; Ula; and Frank.
To the common schools and to the business college is Tobe Smith indebted for his educational preparation for a life work. He completed his business course at Fort Smith, March 17, 1906, and very shortly after- ward became bookkeeper for the W. B. Baker Lumber Company at Berry- ville. Proving faithful in little things he was given more and more to do and was eventually made manager of the company's Berryville busi- ness. Later Mr. Smith severed this business association and became a candidate for nomination for circuit clerk before the Democratic voters of Carroll county. It was a fight worthy of his steel for he won the nomination against three competitors and was elected in September, 1910, by a majority of four hundred and twenty votes, and succeeded A. J. Russell to the office in the following November.
April 8, 1908, Mr. Smith became a recruit to the ranks of the Bene- dicts, the young woman to become his wife being Miss Edna Cunningham, daughter of Charles Cunningham, a prosperous agriculturist of this county. Mrs. Smith is a native of Carroll county, her birth having oc- curred here September 12, 1888. They are the parents of two children,- Daphne and Hoyt.
The subject is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes no small amount of pleasure in his fraternal relations. He stands as a fine example of a public-spirited and progressive young citizen and it is evident that the popular suffrage of the county has been bestowed upon a competent and worthy young official.
CHARLES F. CHURCH is the efficient incumbent of the office of mayor of Sulphur Springs, Benton county, Arkansas, and as such is identified with the city's industrial and internal welfare. He was born in Cedar county, Missouri, on the 18th of December, 1865, and he was but a mere child at the time of his parents' removal to Benton county. He is a son of Wesley Church, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, whence he removed to Missouri in the ante bellum days, in company with his father, Charles Church, who was summoned to the life eternal in Cedar county. Wesley Church was a blacksmith by trade and at the time of the inception of the Civil war he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army and served as a gallant soldier under General Price. He married Miss Margaret Lindsey, of Humansville, Missonri, and they became the parents of three children,-Charles F., of this review; Fannie, who mar- ried, and died in 1904; and Eva became the wife of Herman Hildenkoetter, of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Church died at Galena, Kansas, in 1882, and his cherished and devoted wife, who long survived him, passed away at Sulphur Springs, on the 4th of December, 1907.
Charles F. Church availed himself of the advantages afforded in the common schools of Benton county and when he had attained to years of maturity he engaged in the pedagogie profession, having heen a popular and successful teacher in Benton county for a number of years. When
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he abandoned the school-room he turned his attention to farming and stock-raising on a farm one mile distant from Sulphur Springs. He continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits for a time and then engaged in the livery business in Sulphur Springs. Thereafter he en- gaged in the general merchandise business and the year 1904 found him again in the stock business and about that time he also became interested in real-estate transactions, dealing principally in farm lands on his own account and in behalf of others on a commission basis. He is the owner of large tracts of land along the Arkansas and Missouri border-lines, be- sides which he has large holdings in Sulphur Springs. When a move was started to establish a bank in Sulphur Springs he was one of the first citizens to endorse it and subscribe for stock. He is now serving as vice-president of this institution, known as the Bank of Sulphur Springs. It is incorporated under the laws of the state with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and its official corps is as follows: C. J. Williams, president ; C. F. Church, vice-president ; and S. O. Whaley, cashier.
In his political convictions Mr. Church has ever been arrayed as a stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party and he manifests an active interest in local politics. For a number of years he served as deputy under Sheriff Galbraith and he has served as constable and as justice of the peace of his township. In 1907, he was honored with the office of mayor of Sulphur Springs and in 1909 he was elected as his own successor. His administration as chief executive of the city abounds with things accom- plished for the good and for the beautifying of the city, especially in the construction of broad concrete walks and in the strict maintenance of sanitary conditions. He is liberal minded in public affairs and contributes in generous measure to all movements projeeted for the good of the com- munity. As an indication of the popular estimate placed upon him a banquet was tendered in his honor by the citizens of Sulphur Springs, on his forty-fifth birthday. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonie order, being a Royal Arch Mason. His religious faith is in accordance with the teachings of the Baptist church, in the various, departments of whose work he has taken an active interest.
Mr. Church has been twice married, his first union having been to Miss Nannie Ashford, a daughter of Wesley Ashford. Mrs. Church was horn in Benton county and died at Sulphur Springs in March, 1896. She was survived by three children,-Felix W., Victor Ross and Evelyn. In August, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Church to Miss Emeline Lindsey, who was summoned to the life eternal in 1906. No children were born of the second marriage.
CHARLES O. MITCHELL. The success achieved by Charles O. Mitchell in the industrial world in Bentonville, Benton county, Arkansas, is of distinctive order and it is the more gratifying to contemplate inasmuch as it is the direct result of his own well applied energies. Mr. Mitchell, though not a native of Arkansas, has passed most of his life thus far in this state. He is proprietor of the Charles O. Mitehell & Company's marble business in Bentonville, a coneern that has contributed liberally toward the prosperity of the city.
Mr. Mitchell was born in Harrison county, Missouri, on the 1st of January, 1863, and is a son of Zachariah Mitchell, a retired resident of Bentonville, who located in this section of Arkansas in 1867. He was long engaged in the butcher business in Bentonville and only retired from active participation in business affairs when loss of sight and the added weight of years necessitated such a step. He was born in Missouri, in 1837, and gave valiant service in the Union army during the Civil war,
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as a member of the Home Guard. His father was James Mitchell, who was of Scotch-Irish descent. Zachariah Mitchell was united in mar- riage to Miss Martha McIntosh, a daughter of James McIntosh, who was reared in Weekly county, Tennessee, whence he moved to Missouri. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and continued to be so occupied until his removal to Arkansas. He is now living retired in Bentonville and his cherished and devoted wife passed away in this city, in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Zachariah Mitchell were the parents of the following children- Alice, who married Dr. T. M. Mitchell, of Fort Smith, Arkansas; Will- iam N. Mitchell, of Van Buren, Arkansas; James, who is deceased ; Charles O., the immediate subject of this sketch; Aaron is deceased; Annie is the wife of Alvin Nicodemus, of Van Buren, Arkansas; and Oscar is deceased.
Charles O. Mitchell received his rudimentary educational training in the public schools of Bentonville and when he had attained to the age of nineteen years of age he went to St. Louis, Missouri, to finish his trade as a marble cutter. He entered the employ of the Bradbury Marble Company in that city and remained with that firm until 1903, when he returned to Bentonville and initiated his independent efforts in the marble business. From small beginnings he has gradually extended his trade and scope of operation, buying out all competitors and business rivals in the city, and he now stands supreme in the marble and tiling business in this place. His plant is equipped with compressed air and all the pneumatic tools required to make it thoroughly modern. Three men are in the field as salesmen, in Oklahoma, southwestern Missouri, and northwestern Ar- kansas, and the business turned toward Bentonville makes the Mitchell Company's premises a busy place. Mr. Mitchell is recognized as a man of extraordinary executive ability and unquestioned integrity. He has built up his admirable success through fair and honorable methods and his record will bear the searchlight of fullest investigation. In his politi- cal persuasion Mr. Mitchell is a loyal Democrat, and he is at the present time (1910) serving the fourth ward of Bentonville on its board of alder- mnen. In the Masonic order he is a member of Bethany Commandery, Knights Templar, and he is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. His religious faith is in accordance with the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, in the various de- partments of whose work he and his wife have been most active factors.
On the 6th of October, 1905, Mr. Mitchell was united in marriage to Miss Mora Fields, who was born and reared in Arkansas, and whose parents were originally from Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have two children-M. Helen, who was born in 1906; and Nora, who was born in 1908.
JOHN H. CARMICHAEL. One of the distinctively representative members of the bar of Arkansas is John Hugh Carmichael, who is en- gaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Little Rock and who is also dean of the law department of the University of Arkansas, a fact that indicates his high standing in his profession, as well as his unqualified personal popularity. He is a citizen who has contributed in every possible way to all that has tended to advance the material and civic prosperity of his home city and who has been an influential factor in his profession, in business relations and in public affairs.
John Hugh Carmichael was born in the city of Cairo. Illinois, on the 2nd of February, 1868, and is a son of Isaac H. and Minerva (Beck) Carmichael, the former of whom was born in Illinois, a repre- sentative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the state, and the
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latter, a native of the state of Georgia. Isaac H. Carmichael has devoted the major portion of his life to farming, and he and his wife now reside in the city of Walla Walla, Washington. He served as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he was a member of Company K, Twenty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
John H. Carmichael gained his preliminary education in the state of Missouri and in 1883 he removed to Booneville, Arkansas, and en- tered the Ft. Smith District High School, which he attended from 1884 to 1887. In 1886 he was the winner of the prize medal for an original oration. Mr. Carmichael supplemented the discipline thus received by a course in Paris Academy, this state, in which institution he was a student from 1887 to 1890, in which latter year Governor Eagle ap- pointed him surveyor of Logan county to fill a vacancy. At the regular election in the same year he was elected to this office, of which he con- tinned inenmbent for one term. In 1891 Mr. Carmichael removed to Little Rock and here he soon afterward began the study of the law. In 1892, upon the organization of the law department of the University of Arkansas, he became a member of its first class, in which he was graduated in 1894 with first honors of the class. He thus had the dis- tinetion of receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws from the depart- ment of which he is now dean. The law department of the university practically sneceeded the Little Rock Law School and was organized as an integral department of the university in 1892, with Judge Franeis Marion Goar as dean. To this honored jurist and distinguished eitizen a brief memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work.
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