USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 79
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
Judge Gibson has made an enviable record in public life and as a county official and his services have been of great benefit to the tax- payers and citizens generally. From 1876 to 1880, he was county tax assessor, and in this capacity, by diligent effort, he made the first complete assessments on property that had been made in many years, his thoroughness throughout its whole extent, resulting in largely in- creased revenue for Hempstead county. In token of the confidence in which he is held by his fellow citizens is the testimony of his election to the office of mayor of Hope, which he held for one year. His most notable services, however, have been as county judge, his businesslike and efficient administration of this important office having been of great benefit to the county. He was first elected county judge in 1890, and served for four years, and in 1900 he was again elevated to this honor- able office, and served for another four years. In 1910 he was a third time elected county judge, the memory of his remarkably able and faith- ful service in the past giving him a majority of two thousand three hundred and fifty votes over his opponent, the largest majority ever given a candidate for county office in Hempstead county.
In addition to his wide acquaintanceship secured in public life, is that resulting from his high Masonic rank, it being his privilege to wear the white-plumed helmet of the Knight Templar, and his membership in this ancient and august order also extending to the Mystic Shrine.
Judge Gibson chose as his wife and the mistress of his household. Miss Mattie R. Powell, a native of Mississippi, and they have five children, a quartet of sons and a daughter, namely: John S., Albert Sidney. Arthur A. Jr., Finley F., and Stella, who married a Mr. Cameron.
ROBERT M. ENDERS. Among Little Rock's fine young citizenship. Robert M. Enders, assistant cashier of the State National Bank, stands as representative of the straightforward, upright and downright Amer- ican citizen, of the sort that will eventually work out the salvation of the nation and place it upon a plane, material, moral and educational, never before reached in all history. Mr. Enders is a native southerner, his birth having occurred at Orlando, Florida, in 1880, and his parents being Dr. Robert M. and Edith (Kimbrough) Enders.
Mr. Ender's father, the late Dr. R. M. Enders, a distinguished physician and surgeon, was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1846, and at the age of sixteen years, enlisted in the Confederate army and served until the close of the war. After the war he became a physician
1632
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
and located in Jefferson county, Arkansas, where he was united in mar- riage to Miss Edith Kimbrough, a member of one of the state's promi- Hent pioneer families. Removing to Florida, he resided in that state for some years and then returned to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he contin- ned in the practice of his profession. He was appointed a surgeon in the United States army during the Spanish-American war and was sent to the Philippine Islands in that service, during the occupation of the is- lands following the close of the war and died there while on duty. The mother of the immediate subject of this record still survives.
Mr. Enders was reared in Little Rock and received his education in the public schools. In 1898, he entered the old Citizens' Bank as a clerk and was identified with that institution until after the merger of the hank into the present Exchange National Bank. Leaving that position he went east and became connected with the Washington & Norfolk steamship line, and subsequently was in the transport service of the United States Navy. Previous to this, however, he had enlisted at Little Rock in the Second Arkansas Regiment for service in the Spanish-American war, in which duty he was engaged during the sum- iner of 1898.
Mr. Enders returned to Little Rock and in 1904 he entered the State National Bank, in which he was made teller and somewhat later he was promoted to assistant cashier, his present position. That was the year of the organization of the present State National Bank and Mr. Enders has been in continuous service with the bank longer than any other present official. He is an alert, efficient and well-trained banker and has taken an active part in building up this splendid in- stitution, a historical sketch of which appears in connection with the biographies of other officials published within these pages. Mr. Enders is a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner and enjoys high stand- ing and popularity in the ancient and angust order.
EDWIN C. HINES, of Harrison, is a lumberman by inheritance and by training: the inheritance, from a line of Maine ancestors, and the training from his father, the late Nathaniel C. Hines. The latter was a native of Bangor, in the Pine Tree state, born in 1838 and thoroughly edneated by the time he heeame of age and started for the Minnesota forests of Meeker county. He arrived in this section of the new north- west during the Civil war period, and here married Miss Mary A. Smith. In 1874 the father took his wife and family to the Black Hills of Dakota and there engaged in the Inmber business for several years. Subsequently he developed a large cattle business, both raising and handling a large amount of stock; but the record winter for frost de- stroyed about ninety per cent of his herd and put an effectual stop to his enterprise in this field. Nathaniel C. Hines then left Deadwood, his home town, came to Arkansas, and spent some time in prospecting and developing zinc and lead lands. He finally located in Harrison, resumed the Inmher business and was thus occupied at the time of his death in May, 1910. His widow still resides with her only son, Edwin C., of this sketch; she is also the mother of one daughter. now Mrs. J. W. Ryan, of Denver, Colorado.
Edwin C. Hines, who is the younger of the two surviving children, was born at Litchfield, Minnesota, June 1, 1868; was educated in the public schools of Deadwood, then Dakota territory, and was trained to a thorough knowledge of hoth the lumber and the cattle business under the able tutelage of his father. Since loeating in Harrison, nine years ago, he has given his entire attention to the Imber business, and he is
1633
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
a master in that field. In their relations to the community of their residence. both Nathaniel C. and Edwin C. Hlines have been, with one exception, private citizens. While a resident of Litehfield, the father was sent to the lower house of the Minnesota legislature as a Republican, and the son has always espoused the same political principles.
On June 1, 1894, Edwin C. Ilines married Miss Bertha MeDonald, at Deadwood, South Dakota: his wife is a native of Nebraska and the mother of Howard, Helen and Mildred. In his relations to the fraterni- ties, Mr. Hines is an Elk, a member of Eureka Springs Lodge, No. 1042.
LEMUEL W. GOSNELL is one of the pioneers of Blytheville. Many years ago he came to the old town and established the second store in the place with Thomas A. Robinson as his neighbor and from a mere "little place in the woods." he has watched the town grow into one of the busy and substantial little cities of Arkansas. To this development Mr. Gosnell has contributed in most definite manner and has been an important part of the commercial life up to the time of his retirement from business in 1908.
Mr. Gosnell was born in Washington county. Tennessee, May 1, 1863; was reared in Jonesboro, that state; and was educated as liberally as the conditions of the times and the circumstances of his widowed mother would permit. He first became a useful member of society as a teacher in the country schools and continued in the role of a pedagogue for a time after coming to Arkansas. His savings from the remunera- tion for these services and those as a clerk for Cedar Williams, made it possible for him to stoek the small store in Blytheville, as above men- tioned. His partner in this pioneer enterprise was .I. B. Tiserand and his mercantile career covered a period of thirty years, during seven- teen of which he made his home upon his farm which was somewhat re- moved from the center of the new town.
It is difficult, in view of present thriving conditions, to realize the original town of Blytheville, with its two stores, and its grist and cotton mills, operated by H. T. Blythe, after whom the hamlet was named. To one, such as Mr. Gosnell, who has assisted in bringing it to its present prosperous condition, it is particularly gratifying.
The acquirement of real estate came to be one of Mr. Gosnell's early desires and he found remarkable pleasure in metamorphosing dense forests into productive fields. Of the two thousand or more aeres which he possessed in various parts of the Delta country, he has cleared over seven hundred, and his property is yielding an abundant harvest for his maintenance in the evening of life. Ile also entered the banking field and aided in the organization of the Bank of Blytheville, of which he acted in the high capacity of president for nine years, only retiring from that position in January, 1911. Ile is still one of the large stockholders of the bank, as well as of the Tri-State Telephone Com- pany. He is a stockholder in the Mississippi Valley Life Insurance Company of Little Rock and has other financial interests and invest- ments of large scope and importance.
The subject's father was Thomas Gosnell who was born in Balti- more, Maryland, and removed to Georgia, where he enlisted in the Con- federate army. and was captured and imprisoned in Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he died before the termination of the Civil war. This martyr of the great conflict between the states was a son of Matthew T. Gosnell, by birth a Scotehman, and by occupation a merchant of Balti- more, Maryland, in which city he lived until ealled to his reward. An- other son, Matthew T., passed his entire life in his native city on the Chesapeake.
1634
IHISTORY OF ARKANSAS
Thomas Gosnell married Laura E. Hale Sevier, daughter of Gov- ernor Sevier, one of the early governors of Tennessee, the birth of the subject's mother having occurred near Greenville, that state, on March 11, 1824, this venerable lady surviving and making her home in Jack- sonville, Florida. Their children to reach mature years were Lemnel W., the immediate subject of this review; Frank, of Blytheville; and Clara, wife of William Silverthorn, of Jacksonville, Florida.
Lemuel W. Gosnell was twice married and both times in Blytheville. On January 2, 1879, Miss Bettie Hill became his wife and after nearly thirty years of happy married life, her demise occurred here Jannary 7, 1907. She was the mother of the following: Marvyn, a merchant of Memphis, Tennessee; Kate, wife of Dr. Martin, of Blytheville; and Nannie and Clara, twin sisters who reside beneath the paternal roof- tree. Mrs. Martin's two children,-Sterling and Mary Catherine-gave Mr. Gosnell the pleasant role of grandfather. On January 2, 1907, Mr. Gosnell married a second time, Mrs. Cullie Oglesby, wife of Dr. W. H. Oglesby becoming his wife and the mistress of his household. Mrs. Gosnell is a daughter of James Waggoner, one of the pioneers of Bar- field, Arkansas, and a native of Jackson, Tennessee. She is the mother of three children by her first marriage, namely: Gipsie, wife of W. W. Hawkins, of Los Angeles, California; Lorena, who married E. II. Threlkeld, of Blytheville, and is the mother of a son named Hanson Waggoner; and Kathleen Oglesby.
Mr. Gosnell, belongs to but one fraternal organization, -the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. He is in harmony with the policies advanced by the Democratie party, and although he is a publie-spirited man and one whose right hand is given to the support of good causes, yet he eschews publie life and has never held office, nor aspired to one. The Gosnell home is one of the attractive and hospitable abodes of the city and is graced by the presence of a quartet of charming daughters.
GEORGE W. FOSTER, of Mountain Home, was a farmer and ex-county officer of Baxter county and for more than half a century a resident of the community about the county seat. He is essentially a self-made man, having "taken arms against a sea of troubles," to use the famous mixed metaphor of Hamlet, and his valiant opposition has brought him to present day prominence and respect. Mr. Foster, who has been for more than half a century a resident of the community about the county seat, came to Arkansas in 1857 from Hamilton county, Illinois, where his birth had occurred August 6, 1848. His parents, Andreas and Polly Foster, spent the residue of their lives in Hamilton county, the mother dying when the subject was very young. The father was a native of Ohio, a blacksmith by trade, and he passed away in 1853, when George W. was but ten years of age. The children born to this worthy but short-lived couple were Jef- ferson, who was a Union soldier and died from wounds received in the great conflict ; William, who died in Clay county, Illinois, in 1909; Merri- man, who passed away in Hamilton county, Illinois: Marcus D., whose life was passed near Mountain Home and who also served as a Union soldier ; and George W., of this review.
Mr. Foster was a boy of tender years when he came to Arkansas and as said before he was only about ten years of age when he became orphaned. Left wellnigh destitute the little band of children found themselves home- less as well as parentless, and they were separated. George fell into the hands of kind strangers by whom he was reared. His foster father was Dr. Dodd, a popular citizen of Baxter county, before and subsequent to
1635
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
the Civil war, and in his household he grew to years of maturity and obtained an ordinary education. When the doctor returned to his old home in North Carolina in the latter '50s, young Foster went along and there he acquired some of his education, working at times as a hand in a turpentine orchard. Subsequently Dr. Dodd returned to the Traveler state with George still a member of the family and near Mountain Home he attended the first public school established in the vicinity.
In February, 1862, when more than "sixty days' more suns" had passed since the secession of South Carolina and Mr. Steward's predicted "brighter and more cheerful" atmosphere had not appeared, the gallant young fellow enlisted at Yellville and thus got in line for eleven dollars a month and promised glory. He was at first a member of Captain Wood's company, Major Fippin's battalion, but later he became a member of George Rutherford's battalion at Batesville and saw his first fighting at Mooney's Ferry on White River, and subsequently at Colony in Woodruff county and in Jacksonport. During 1864 Mr. Foster was stationed at Mountain Home on detail work, he was taken prisoner by Captain Kasart's men of the Eighth Missouri Regiment and taken to Springfield, Missouri. Later he was sent to Alton, Illinois, where he remained until May 23, 1865, when he was released and permitted to return home.
Coming back to Arkansas when peace had been restored Mr. Foster found his old friend, Dr. Dodd, in Woodruff county and during the first year he did little save to reenperate his bodily health, which had been sadly undermined by the hardships of war. He was without resource of any kind, save a semblance of ambition, and he embraced agriculture as the field easiest to enter. Accordingly he settled in Izard county in 1866 and made a crop at Wild Haw and soon afterward returned to the scenes of his boyhood around Mountain Home. He soon married, located upon a farm which he purchased in that region and remained there for the long period previous to January, 1911, when he sold out and came to the county seat to make his permanent home. When he undertook the cares and responsibilities of married life he was sixty dollars in debt, possessed a weak and unreliable physique and several other discouraging elements entered in to make his horoscope one of uncertain omen. Happily his health returned, and his methods in agriculture became each year fruitful of greater success, while his service in public office has added to his com- petence, until the twilight of life finds him amply prepared for a com- fortable old age. He owns a small farm at the present time and has city property in Mountain Home.
Owing to his environment and his service in the army of the South. Mr. Foster entered politics as a Democrat. He served several years as a deputy in the office of the sheriff, holding this position under sheriffs Eatman, Byler and Hancock, and defeating the latter for office in 1898. He was again elected in 1900 and his most noted criminals were the Lackey brothers who were convicted and imprisoned for the murder of one Hamilton.
On August 10, 1867, Mr. Foster married Miss Laura Goodall, a daughter of George A. Goodall, who came to Arkansas from Tennessee. The issue of their union is as follows: Robert, who married Ida Harvey and is now deceased; Horace, of Frath county, Texas: Bertha L., who married M. M. Dew, editor of the Torrington (Wyoming) Telegram. In their spiritual relations, Mr. Foster and his worthy wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
J. HENRY EDWARDS is a man well known in his locality where he enjoys the respect of those with whom he comes into contact. He has
1636
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
the distinction of being a man of three-fold calling for he is an extensive farmer, a successful merchant and a member of the bar of Mississippi county. Mr. Edwards has resided in Blytheville for the last eleven years having come thither in 1900, and in the decade ensuing he has acquired a modest fame and laid the foundations of a respectable fortune in the sphere of general affairs.
The subject of this brief record was born in Williamson county, Illi- nois, November 12, 1865, but grew up in the vicinity of Galatia, Salina county. Up to the attainment of his majority, he had been enrolled as a student in the public schools for perhaps twelve months, not more. It was after he came of age that he was spurred on to secure a better educa- tional equipment for himself and thus fit himself for more effective eitizen- ship. His father was a general farmer of prosperous fortunes, who finally removed to Caruthersville and there resides in semi-retirement. The elder gentleman, whose name is William J. Edwards, was born in middle Ten- nessee in 1841, was reared in Williamson county, Illinois, and was a volunteer soldier from that state at the time of the Civil war, his service being given to the cause of the Union, despite his southern birth. He was a member of the Eighteenth Regiment of Infantry and served four years and eight months, enlisting at the outbreak of the war; reinlisting and veteranizing and being discharged some months after the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox. He married Elizabeth Milligan, daughter of James T. and Tabitha Milligan, and she is still his devoted companion and helpineet. The following is an enumeration of their issue: J. Henry, the subject of the review; Harvey, who died at Caruthersville, Missouri, the father of a family; Samuel, a resident of Caruthersville: Ellen, wife of J. B. Gibson, of Memphis, Tennessee; Jane, who became Mrs. Belt Lashot, of Caruthersville, Missouri; William A., a merchant of Blythe- ville, Arkansas; John S., of the same city; Emma, now Mrs. Otis Mat- thews, of Caruthersville, Missouri; and Nora, who died at Caruthersville.
In pursuance of a better education, J. H. Edwards, immediate sub- ject of this brief record, attended first the Haywood College at Fairfield, Illinois, and later became a student of the Southern Illinois Normal Uni- versity at Carbondale. When properly equipped he engaged in teaching in the common schools of Illinois, and later came to Clay county where for four years he engaged in pedagogical work. From that point he removed to Thayer, Missouri, and abandoned school work. At the end of the year he went to Caruthersville, where he engaged in the grocery business, but he lost his stoek and had to begin anew.
Upon his arrival in this new and promising metropolis Mr. Edwards became a elerk for Shephear & Bader and during the two years he served the firm he read law and was admitted to the Mississippi county bar in 1902 hefore Judge F. G. Taylor. After entering the domain of law, he practiced it and at the same time dealt in real estate, until in 1909, he retired from both and entered upon the development of his farm lands. Having purchased some nine hundred and sixty aeres of "cut over" forest, he subsequently established a saw-mill upon the tract and the manufacture of native lumber and the clearing of six hundred acres of the traet has formed the chief feature of his employment. The mercantile firm known as The Edwards' Mercantile Company was founded but a comparatively short time ago, the company including himself and his brother. W. A. Edwards.
Mr. Edwards has demonstrated an active interest in Arkansas polities. He is well known as a Republican; has frequently attended the state eon- ventions of his party; he is well acquainted with Republican sentiment in the state and has served with the leaders of the party, having been a
J.D. Perwold,
1631
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
member of the state committee and chairman of the Mississippi County Republican Committee. Upon one occasion his party made Mr. Edwards its candidate for county judge and upon another placed him upon the tieket for representative to the state legislature, but both times there was a Democratic majority, the normal condition of affairs. He was post- master of Blytheville for one year, being succeeded by Mr. Oscar D. Sanborn.
In June, 1890, Mr. Edwards took as his wife Miss Minnie Jones, their marriage occurring in Harrisburg, Illinois. Their union was of less than a dozen years duration, for in February, 1902. the first Mrs. Edwards died, the mother of two daughters, Ollie and Nellie, who are students in Galloway College at Searcy. Arkansas. They are clever young ladies, and are pursuing the literary course and in addition art and music, being members of the classes of 1913 and 1914, respectively. In July. 1904, Mr. Edward, was united in marriage to Miss Dorothy Toler who came to Arkansas from Illinois. Two little sons have been born to this union, the elder bearing his father's name and the younger being named Charles W. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and both the subject and his wife hold high place in popular confidence and esteem.
JOSEPH D. ARNOLD. One of the leading general insurance agencies of the city of Little Rock is that conducted by the firm of Arnold. Raines & Company, of which Mr. Arnold has been a member since 1902. Joseph D. Arnold was born at Noblesville, Noble county, Ohio, on the 26th day of August, 1869, and is a son of William and Sarah (Davidson) Arnold, who still maintain their home at Frederickdale, Ohio, where the father is engaged in farming. William A. Arnold is a descendant of an old Virginia family and he was born at Winchester, that state, whence he removed to Ohio when a young man. On the inception of the Civil war he gave evidence of his loyalty and public spirit by enlisting in an Ohio regiment and he served throughout the entire period of the war, having participated in many of the important battles marking the prog- ress of that sanguinary struggle. Two of his brothers, whose sympathies were with the south, served in the Confederate army from Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold became the parents of four children, and of the num- ber the subject of this review was the first in order of birth.
Joseph D. Arnold, Jr., received his early educational discipline in the public schools of his home county and he later supplemented this by a course in the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio. In 1890 he initiated his independent career as a teacher and taught at Paulding, in northwestern Ohio, for five years, at the expiration of which time he then engaged in the insurance business. In 1901 he removed to Little Rock and one year later became a partner with Mr. S. M. Marshall, one of the oldest fire insurance men in the state, his business having been established in 1871. In 1905 the name of the firm was changed to Arnold, Raines & Company, and it is now one of the most flourishing and sub- stantial concerns of its kind in the state. The company are general agents for the state of Arkansas for the following companies: Atlas Assurance Company, of London, The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania. The Union Fire Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, Monongahela Fire Insurance Company, of Pittsburg, St. Louis Fire Insur- ance Company of St. Louis, The London Guaranty & Aceident Company, of London, Lloyd's Plate Glass Insurance Company, of New York, Peo- ples National Fire Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, for which latter concern the firm are likewise general agents in the state of Oklahoma,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.