USA > Arkansas > Historical review of Arkansas : its commerce, industry and modern affairs > Part 82
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James T. MeCarthey, whose name initiates this article, was reared to maturity in Little Rock and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the parochial and public schools. Upon attaining to his legal majority he became associated with his father in railroad con-
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tracting and he learned the business in all of its details, so that he was well equipped for independent operations in the same line when he initiated operations upon his own responsibility several years ago. He also does general eontraeting in addition to his work in eonneetion with railroad eonstruetion and like his honored father he has contributed through his business operations to the development and upbuilding of the southwest. He is one of the interested members of the Thomas- Fordyee Manufacturing Company, one of the prosperons industrial coneerns of Little Rock, and he was formerly secretary and treasurer of the same.
Though never an aspirant for the honors or emoluments of publie office Mr. MeCarthy gives a stauneh support to the cause of the Demo- eratie party and his religious faith is that of the Catholic church. under whose discipline he was reared. his parents being zealous communicants of the same. Mr. MeCarthey is a bachelor.
JOE BOB HUGHES. Among the alert and progressive young busi- ness men of Saline county, none are better known or entitled to more consideration in the mercantile world than Joe Bob Hughes. Not only has he achieved entire snecess in his hardware business at Benton, but he touches the many-sided life of the community at every point, and plays a prominent and praiseworthy part. He has given efficient serviee in publie life in the mayoralty and other capacities. He is of the third generation of the family in the state of Arkansas, being a grandson of that estimable and valuable gentleman, the late Colonel John L. Hughes.
Mr. Hughes was born at Benton, and has lived here throughout the course of his life. He had the advantage of a good education, at- tending the publie schools of his native place and supplementing this educational discipline with a course in the State University at Fay- etteville. He learned the mereantile business in the store of and under the splendid tutelage of Colonel Hughes, a brief review of whose in- teresting life appears below. He was eonneeted with the Hughes store for sixteen years, during the most of this time being manager of the hardware, furniture and groeery departments. In 1908 he withdrew from the John L. Hughes store and established himself independently in the hardware business, and the concern of which he is the father has grown and prospered with gratifying suecess. Mr. Hughes is one of the prominent and publie spirited young business men who are pushing Benton to the front rank in Arkansas cities. As previously mentioned he has had some experience in eivie serviee, having been elected and served one term as mayor and two terms as eity treasurer. He is one of the leading Masons of the state, holding high rank in this ancient and august order, being a Thirty-second Degree Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and entitled to wear the white plume of the Knight Templar.
Mr. Hughes insured a eongenial life companionship in 1902, when he was married in Portland, Oregon, to Miss Arkie Westbrook, born and reared in Saline county, Arkansas. They have one son, John L. Hughes, III.
The late Colonel John L. Hughes, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was Saline county's wealthiest citizen and in many respects its most prominent one. His stores at Benton and Malvern were the largest in this section of the state. He was the president and majority stoekholder of the Saline County Bank, also a stockholder of the German National Bank in Little Roek, and of other banks throughout the state. Ilis farm in the Saline river bottom near Benton
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was one of the best in Central Arkansas, and he had other valuable property interests in Benton and Saline counties. He was one of the original directors of the Cairo & Fulton railroad, which upon comple- tion became the present Iron Mountain system in Arkansas.
Colonel Jolin L. Hughes was born at Camden, Ouachita county, Arkansas, October 2, 1833, the son of Green B. and Louisa ( West Hughes. He was brought by his parents to Saline county in 1835 and from that time until his death was a resident of this eounty. He was educated in the local schools and at Washington in Hempstead county. In January, 1859, he was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Cone, of Calhoun county, Arkansas, and that same year he began life for him- self on a farm near Benton. His conscientious conviction of the supreme right of the states to sever their union with the national government led him to give his influence and support to the Confederacy and early in 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in Captain Adams' company, remaining as such for about three months, when, on account of impaired health, he was assigned to duties in the quarter- master's department, in which he served until the close of the war. After the cessation of hostilities he had to begin life anew, as everything he had was destroyed. He often recalled that on the day he returned from the war his wife had a calico dress which they traded for a piece of meat. The same night he walked to Little Rock in which city he got a job as elerk in a retail store, and from this small beginning was direeted the course of his subsequent successful career. He saved his money, and returning to Benton, established a small store. That was in 1866, and he remained continuously in business in Benton, until his death, a period of forty-eight years. Beginning on a small scale, he prospered and expanded with the years and his mercantile establish- ment became the largest in Saline county. Just before his death, which occurred August 31, 1908, the new building for the Hughes store was completed, one of the handsomest and best equipped in the state. The store has all the features embraced by the up-to-date department store. Since the death of Colonel Hughes it has been continued by his son George Hughes.
Colonel Hughes was in all respects an ideal citizen, husband and father. He was a man of almost unlimited benevolence and his kindly acts throughout the course of a long life will never be forgotten and their beneficent effect will not soon be lost. Not only his family, but a wide circle of friends, acquaintances and neighbors, pay tribute to his genuine worth and sterling qualities and his memory will long he fondly cherished. Of him it may sincerely be said, in the words of the poet.
"To live in hearts we leave behind, Is not to die."
Colonel Hughes was one whose ideas of good citizenship included keeping in touch with public affairs and at different periods of his life he took a prominent part in them. He was a delegate to the National Democratie Convention that nominated Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, and he was a delegate to the State Democratic Conventions of 1876 and 1878. Mrs. EInghes, his faithful and loving wife, was sum- moned to her eternal rest in 1899.
MAX FRAUENTHAL. Besides being a pioneer and one of the first settlers of Conway, Colonel Max Frauenthal is the "father" of the now flourishing and beautiful resort city of Heber Springs, in Cleburne county, Arkansas. Attracted by the highly valuable mineral springs,
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he came to this section in 1880, before a town was thought of, and purchased for ten thousand dollars nearly seven hundred acres of land, the same embracing the present townsite of Heber Springs, much of which is still owned by Colonel Frauenthal and which with the present improvements in business and residence buildings represents a snug fortune.
Colonel Frauenthal was born on the Rhine, in Bavaria, Germany. He received a fair educational training in the schools of his native land in his early boyhood and prior to coming to America he served an ap- prenticeship at the trade of furrier. In 1851, when merely a youth of fifteen years of age, he decided to seek his fortunes in the new world and accordingly set forth for the United States, landing in the harbor of New Orleans. He spent some time in the great gulf metropolis and was also a resident of the city of Louisville prior to the inception of the Civil war, at which time he went to Mississippi, where he enlisted as a private in Company A, Sixteenth Mississippi Infantry. He served throughout the war in General Lee's army of northern Virginia and participated in all the battles of the same except the first battle of Manassas. For gallant and meritorious service he was promoted through the various ranks to that of colonel and he was a faithful soldier and officer throughout the sanguinary struggle for secession. For two months before the close of the war he was a prisoner at Point Lookout.
When peace had again been established Colonel Frauenthal located at Corinth, Mississippi, whence he came to Conway, Faulkner county, Arkansas, in 1871. At Conway he established a general store, which has continued in successful business during the long intervening years to the present time, being now run under the firm name of Frauenthal & Schwartz, the owners being cousins of the Colonel. The concern has developed into a wealthy mercantile and cotton-buying firm. As noted in the opening paragraph, Colonel Frauenthal came to Heber Springs, in 1880, and here purchased a tract of seven hundred acres of most valuable land. The town of Heber Springs was laid out in 1881 and in 1883 the present county of Cleburne was organized out of portions of Van Buren, White and Independence counties. Colonel Frauenthal was one of the promoters of the latter organization and he built and donated to the county the court house and jail, together with the land on which they are located. The Colonel has been retired from active mercantile business since about 1890, at which time his property interests assumed such gigantic proportions as to demand his entire time and attention. In 1909 he erected a spacious and attractive residence at Heber Springs and the same is widely renowned for its gracious and generous hospitality. For about ten years the family home was main- tained at Memphis, Tennessee, where the children of Colonel and Mrs. Frauenthal were afforded the best of educational advantages.
In 1868, at Louisville, Kentucky, was solemnized the marriage of Colonel Frauenthal to Miss Sallie Jacobs, who was born and reared in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, whence she went to Louisville. To this union have been born five children, namely, -Mortimer, Clarence, Arthur, Teresa, and Ruth.
Mr. Frauenthal is a man of well developed mentality, great persistency of purpose and extraordinary business ability and his marvelous success in life is the more gratifying to contemplate inasmuch as it is the direct result of his own well applied energies.
WILLIAM P. FLETCHER. On the roster of the representative citizens and business men of Lonoke county is found the name of Hon. William P. Fletcher, who is one of the leading capitalists and bankers of this section
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of the state and who has been a prominent and influential factor in public affairs, in connection with which he has served as a member of state senate. He has won success through his own well directed efforts and has been sig- nally appreciative of the manifold natural resources and attractions of Arkansas, his loyalty to which has been shown in an emphatic way through his effective activities in promoting the civic and industrial development of this favored commonwealth.
Mr. Fletcher is a scion of stanch old southern families and is him- self a native of Yazoo county, Mississippi, where he was born on the 31st of July, 1848. He is a son of Dr. John P. and Mary Ann (Cooper) Fletcher, natives respectively of Tennessee, and Alabama. Dr. Fletcher was a representative physician and influential citizen of Mississippi in the ante-bellum days, and at the inception of the Civil war he removed to the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama, where he was engaged in the manufac- turing of iron for the use of the Confederate government during the progress of the great conflict between the north and south. This important enterprise was conducted by him from a high sense of duty and loyalty to the cause of the Confederacy. After his son, William P., of this sketch, had become a resident of Arkansas, Dr. Fletcher here joined the latter, and he passed the residue of his life in Lonoke county, where he died at the venerable age of seventy-nine years. His devoted wife was called to the "land of the leal" in 1873, and of their children three sons and two daughters are now living.
To the schools of his native state and of Alabama William P. Fletcher is indebted for his early educational discipline, and, as may be supposed, his studies were necessarily interrupted and somewhat desultory during the dark period of the Civil war, when all institutions and industries of the south were conducted under most unauspicious conditions. He made good use of his opportunities, however, as is evidenced by the fact that after coming to Arkansas he proved himself eligible for pedagogie honors. In 1868 Mr. Fletcher severed the home ties and came to Arkansas, the while he relied entirely upon his own energies and abilities in making for himself a place in the world. For the first few months he was employed on a plantation in the Arkansas river bottoms, and in the fall of 1868 he established his permanent home in the little village of Lonoke, county seat of the county of the same name. He has here so directed his powers along normal and legitimate lines of enterprise as to gain prestige as one of the substantial capitalists of this section of the state, and he has wielded great influence in the industrial and business advancement of his home town and county, as well as in civic progress and the material upbuilding of the now attractive little city that has so long represented his home. Be- fore he had attained to his legal majority the future senator had taught the first two sessions of school ever held in the village of Lonoke, and his career in this state began under very humble circumstances. After teach- ing school he found employment in various stores in Lonoke for varying intervals, and by the careful conservation of his far from ample resources he was finally enabled to engage in the drug business on his own re- sponsibility, his independent career in this line having been initiated about the year 1872. In the '70s was accorded distinctive evidence of the high regard in which he was held in the community, for he was elected mayor of the town, an office of which he continued incumbent for one term. In 1878 he was elected sheriff of Lonoke county, as candidate on the ticket of the Democratic party, of whose cause he has ever heen an uncompromising ad- vocate, and by successive re-elections he continued in tenure of this office until 1886, in which year there came to him the distinctive honor of being elected to represent the twelfth district in the state senate. During his
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four years of service as a member of the upper house of the state legislature he made a record for earnest and indefatigable effort in behalf of wise legislation and especially in furthering the interests of his distriet. In 1902 he was again elected to the senate, and, with now extended experience and mature judgment, he proved even more valuable an official than he had during his previous term, more than a decade previously. He retired from the senate in 1906, and in the meanwhile he had continued to be prominently identified with business interests in his home town. In 1906 Mr. Fleteher established the Bank of Lonoke, of which he has since served as president, and under his able and discriminating administration this has become one of the staunehest and most popular financial institutions in this part of the state. He has large landed interests in Lonoke county, as he carly began to make judicious investments in real estate, and he associated with his eldest son, William P., Jr., in the real-estate and ab- stract business, under the firm name of W. P. Fletcher & Son. He is seeretary and treasurer of the Lonoke Rice Milling Company, and none has been more enthusiastic and influential in connection with the development of the rice-growing industry in this state. In every possible way he has exerted his energies and lent his influence in the promotion of measures and enterprises that have tended to conserve progress and prosperity, and for several years he was especially conspicuous for his public-spirited services in exploiting the resources of the state. Particularly was this true during his ineumbeney of the position of manager of the land depart- ment of the Choetaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad, which is now part of the Chicago, Rock Island & Paeifie Railroad. In 1888 he was associated with Logan H. Roots, Henry L. Remmel and others comprising the Arkansas state bureau of immigration, in the publication of a noteworthy pamphlet in which were outlined the resources and advantages of the state. This brochure was widely distributed throughout the Union and proved one of the most effective pieces of advertising the state has ever had, even to the present day.
Elsewhere in this publieation is incorporated an adequate review of the legislation which was enaeted by the Arkansas general assembly of 1887, and under the operations of which the state was relieved of the burden and odium of a state debt aggregating more than five million dollars,-an in- cumbus that had long been a matter of serious eoneern to the citizens of the state as well as a handieap to industrial development and advanee- ment. Mr. Fletcher was the leader and most influential factor in effecting this important legislation, and his efforts in the connection were such as to entitle him to lasting honor and gratitude on the part of the people of the state. As a member of the senate during the session of 1887 he made a careful and appreciative study of the history and details of the state's long outstanding debt to the United States government, the beginning of which was eoineident with the admission of Arkansas to the Union, in 1836. He then carefully matured a plan by which this debt, together with other bonded obligations of the state, amounting in all to more than five million dollars, could be wiped out through the issuing of non-interest-bearing certificates to be used as legal tender throughout the state and to be re- eeivable in payment of various state taxes and lieenses. He drew up the measure emhodying this plan, was chairman of the senate committee that had it in charge, and through his able championship the bill was enacted by a joint session of the two houses of the legislature on the last day of the session of 1887. Again, in the following session of 1889, he introduced and brought to favorable issue Aet 61, which amplified and rendered more elastie the original enaetment. The legislation as a whole resulted in the virtual elimination of this onerous burden of indebtedness, to the great
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credit of the commonwealth, and thus was marked an epoch in the financial history of Arkansas. Mr. Fletcher devoted much time, study and hard application to formulating and carrying out this notable work, which was one that will bear enduring testimony to his civic loyalty and insistent public spirit. At the present time Mr. Fletcher is a valued member of the state board of charities, which has general supervision of the various eleemosynary institutions of the state, and in this office his labors have not been of perfunctory order, but rather have been signalized by that same earnestness and fidelity that have characterized his course in all the rela- tions of life. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and holds mem- bership in various civic organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher are members of the Missionary Baptist church of Lonoke.
At Lonoke, on the 4th of December, 1872, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fletcher to Miss Ella A. Beard, who was born in Moscow, Tennessee, and reared in Lonoke county, Arkansas, where her father, T. C. Beard, established his residence when she was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher have five children, namely: Mary F., William P., Jr., George B., Ella May, and Neill. Mary is now the wife of M. L. F. Cox and they reside at Lonoke, Arkansas, and William P., Jr., was married to Miss Blannie Smotherman of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, November 29, 1905, and their residence is at Lonoke, Arkansas.
CHARLES W. DONALDSON, M. D. A well-known physician and drug- gist, Dr. Donaldson is regarded as one of the most valuable representatives of his profession in the county, where he controls a large general practice and is held in unequivocal esteem as a leal and loyal citizen. He is one who believes that a great future awaits the Bear state to which he is bound by all the strong ties, his birth having occurred at Bellefonte, Boone county, Arkansas, November 8, 1872. His earliest years were passed among rural surroundings, those of his father's farm, and he received his educa- tion in the district schools and those of Green Forest. From his earliest years he was naturally inclined toward the medical profession and he began his preparation in 1891, in which he became a student in the Little Rock branch of the Arkansas Industrial University, from which he was graduated in 1895. When he completed his course he had already had some experience in actual practice, having begun his career on certificate at Cape Fair, Stone county Missouri, and it was at that point that he es- tablished himself upon the receipt of his degree. After two years residence at that point he removed to Oak Grove, Arkansas, where he practiced until 1909, in which year he located in Green Forest. While residing in Oak Grove he combined pharmacy with his medical practice and upon coming to his present home he again engaged in the same combination of affairs. In both lines he has experienced thorough success, and in the triple capacity of physician, business man and good citizen he stands as a distinct acquisi- tion to the community in which his interests are now centered.
Dr. Donaldson is a son of James Donaldson, a farmer of Green Forest, who was born in South Carolina in 1845. In childhood James Donaldson accompanied his parents to Mississippi, then to White county, Arkansas, and this state was destined to become his permanent home. He married Mary Ladd, and the issue of their union is as follows: Dr. Charles W., of this review, is the eldest in order of birth; Cora is the wife of Wesley Betten, of Litchfield, Montana; Henry resides in Lane county, Oregon ; Laure is a resident of Green Forest; Loretta, now Mrs. Charles Duncan, makes her home in Green Forest; and George, who married Miss Lara Ifoback, also resides at this place.
Vol. III-36
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Dr. Donaldson was married in Carroll county, Arkansas, near Blue Eye, Missouri, July 18, 1901, the young woman to become his wife and the mistress of his household being Miss Sarah Rhodes, daughter of Wiley Rhodes, deceased. Wiley Rhodes was born in Lawrence county, Alabama, in 1846, and came to Arkansas with his father, Absolom Rhodes, in 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Wiley Rhodes had the following children: Sarah, who died ai the age of twelve years; William Edwards, who died when he was but three years old; Mary, who married Steven Peters; Nancy, the wife of George Benton; Albert; Joe, a farmer; Wiley, also engaged at farm- ing ; Argile ; Ben ; Jim : Babe; and Sarah, the wife of Dr. Donaldson. Mrs. Donaldson's grandfather located near the Missouri and Arkansas line in Carroll county in 1855 and there conducted a farm for many years, being exceptionally well-known in his community. In Alabama he married Sarah Devalt and six of their children grew to maturity, all of this number being sons. Benjamin, of the Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry, is in the Soldiers' Home at Leavenworth, Kansas; Joseph died as a member of the same regiment; Wiley died in Carroll county, Arkansas; James L. served as postmaster of Green Forest for five years; John W. and Thomas C.
Dr. and Mrs. Donaldson have one child, Joy, born October 15, 1905. The subject is a member of the time honored Masonie Order and in his church faith is of the Church of Christ.
JOHN R. ENGLAND. Conspicuous among the younger generation of business men who are identified with the growth and development of this part of Arkansas, is John R. England, of St. Louis, who, although not resident here, has with his father, extensive real estate interests at England, Lonoke county, Arkansas, and vicinity. Mr. England, who is a nephew of that important banker and financier. Joseph E. England, of Little Rock, was born at Lonoke, Lonoke county, Arkansas, his parents being John C. and Nellie ( Chapline) England. The Englands are an old Southern family and upon the removal of the paternal grandfather to Arkansas, he established a home in Brownsville, Prairie county. He was one of the doughty pioneers who so effectually paved the way for latter- day prosperity.
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