|
BIOGRAPHIES
Izard
County Arkansas Genealogy Trails
E. S. Patterson is a member of
the mercantile firm of Sanders and Pearson, of Oxford, Ark., and also
of F. W. Pearson & Co., of Thayer, Mo., both of who carry a
varied assortment of Goods, which can not fail to satisfy every want of
their patrons. He was born in McMinn County, Tenn. In 1829, and is a
son of Edmond and Cynthia E. (Hardwick), natives of South Carolina and
Alabama, respectively. The father removed to Tennessee in 1824, where
he farmed, in connection with preaching the Gospel and for ten years he
was an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1832 he
settled in Jackson county, Ala., but he died in the fall of 1847 of
fifth-two years. He and wife became the parents of the following
children: Charles D. (who died, leaving a family in Texas); F. A.
(deceased, left a family in Mississippi); B.T.; F.C. (A minister of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South residing in Texas, besides engaged in
farming); Martha C. (Wife of Marion Simmons, of this county); Cynthia
E. (The deceased wife of Carroll White, her family residing in
Mississippi,; Mary C., wife of D. B. White of Texas; Watson (a
Methodist minister, residing in Izard county), and W. W. (decease was
also a minister
of the Methodist Church, and died in Mississippi, in 1871). E. S.
Pearson was reared on a farm, and educated in the schools of Alabama.
Upon Reaching the age of Twenty-one years he began farming on land
which he owned, but this work he gave up, on breaking out of the war,
to enlist in the Confederate service. He joined Company F, under Gen.
Forrest, and served as his commissary for three years, and, in 1865,
surrendered at Corinth, Miss. He then returned to Mississippi where he
had located in 1850, and began farming and merchandising at Houston,
but, four years later, he moved to Lee county, and engaged in farming.
He took up his abode in the state of Arkansas in 1860, and, after
residing for some time on a farm of 400 acres, he sold out and went to
Newburg, where he was engaged in the mercantile business for three
years. From that time until 1880 he again farmed, and then followed
merchandising once more. He sold this establishment to Garner &
Richardson, and up to March, 1889, his attention was given to
agriculture alone. He has since followed merchandising, and has also
managed his farm of sixty-
five acres. His home place is also under cultivation, and in the two
enterprises to which he has given most of his attention he has met with
flattering success, and besides the income which he derives from his
farm, the sales in his mercantile establishment will amount to about
$12,000. He was married, in 1850 to Miss Ellen Morris, of Pontotoc
County, Miss., and by her he became the father of eleven children,
seven of whom are living: C. Elizabeth (wife of John M. Smith, of Polk
county, MO); F. W. (a merchant at Thayer, MO.); Alice M. (Wife of
Joseph Harklerood, a farmer of Fulton County, Ark.); Mary E. (wife of
Jasper Rader, of Fulton county), Emma (wife of W. Martin, a farmer of
Izard County; Thomas W. and Josie L. (the latter two at home with their
father. Adolphus L., the eldest child died in 1883 (he wedded the
daughter of Judge Hunter, of Fulton county): W. W. died in his
twenty-third year, in 1876, and two died in infancy. Mr Pearson was
called upon to mourn the death of his wife in 1879, she having been an
earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, south, and in 1880 he
wedded Mrs. Sarah J. (Hancock) McCollough, a daughter of Joel and Sarah
(Hall) Hancock, natives, respectively of
Kentucky and Southern Carolina. Mrs Pearson was reared in Ohio, to
which state her father was taken when he was a small boy, and from this
state her father enlisted in the war of 1812. He was a farmer, and he
and his wife were the parents of the children whose names are given:
Robert T. (Of Ohio); L.B.; J. K.; J. H.; J.B.; J.R., Harriet (wife of
Ezra Clark of Indiana); and Sarah J. (Mrs. Pearson). Mr. Hancock died
in 1863, and his wife in 1875, both being earnest members of the United
Presbyterian Church at the time of their deaths. Mrs. Pearson was first
married, in 1848, to Aaron Michael, in Ohio soon afterward emigrating
to Arkansas and settling in Jackson County, where Mr. Michael died in
1857. In 1874 Mrs Michael was united in married with William
McCollough, who died in 1878. He was a confederate soldier, and was
with Pierce on his last raid through Missouri. He was a member of the
Baptist Church, and belonged to A. F. & A. M. Since 1884 Mr.
Pearson has been a licensed minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, with which church he united in 1880. While residing in
Mississippi, in 1868, he became a licensed minister of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Politically, he is a Democrat. Mrs. Pearson has in
her possession a bed-spread, with a double-woven top, in blue and
white, and on the underside is the year 1837, in which it was woven,
and also the name of the weaver, she having herself spun the thread of
which the bedspread was made, when a girl.
Source: Biographical and Historican Menoirs of
Izard County, Arkansas by Goodspeed page 964 original published 1889 .
Transcribed by Mary Lafferty Wilson
James
Perrin, is one of the wealthy agriculturists of this region, and at the
present time is the owner of fine tract of land consisting of 900
acres, of which there are about 100 acres under cultivation, all being
the result of his energy determination and attention to details. He was
born in Lexington, KY., December 1, 1844, but was educated in
Independence county, Ark., to which place his parent moved at an early
date. He there also married his wife being a Miss Ellen Street, and a
daughter of William and Anna Street, their nuptials being celebrated on
2d of March 1869, at Batesville. To them were born four sons and three
daughters, the following of whom are living Jessamine; Claud B.;
Horace, and William F., all residing at home. During the rebellion Mr.
Perrin served in the Third Arkansas Cavalry from 1862 to 1865, the
first hard battle in which he participated being at Helena. After his
return home he engaged in grist-milling, and now in addition to his
farm work he is furnishing railroad timber supplies, such as telegraph
poles and ties. He and wife belong to the Presbyterian Church and are
worthy and honored citizens of the county. He is one of the three
surviving members of a family of two sons and three daughters born to
the marriage of David Perrin and Nancy M. Baldwin, the former a native
of Michigan, born 1786. He was also educated in that State, but moved
to Ohio, and was there married, his wife being a sister of Rev. S. D.
Baldwin, who was the author of the "Baldwin's Prophecy," and was the
pastor of the McKendry Church at Nashville, Tenn,. Mr. Perrin was a
millwright by trade, and was a member of the Masonic lodge, and at the
time of his death, on 2d of April 1869, he was buried with Masonic
honors in the cemetery at Batesville. He removed from the State of
Indiana, where he had resided for some time, to Arkansas, in 1850,
settling near Batesville, where he erected the first bridge ever built
over Polk Bayou. His wife died May 18, 1877, both being members of the
old School Presbyterian Church.
Source: Biographical
and Historican Menoirs of Izard County, Arkansas by Goodspeed page 965
original published 1889 . Transcribed by Mary Lafferty Wilson
Judge
R. H. Powell, Melbourne, Ark., is the one of whom it can be said: "with
an equal scale he weighs the affairs betwixt man and man." He is a
prominent man of Northern Arkansas, and judge of the district in which
he resides. His birth occurred in Sussex county, Va., on the 8th of
April, 1827 and he is the son of Thomas P. and Jane P. (Roland) Powell,
both natives of the Old Dominion, the former born in 1803 and the
latter in 1806. The father was of Welsh descent, and was reared and
married in his native State. He moved to Tennessee in 1832, settling in
Bedford County, and was a very successful tiller of the soil, being the
owner of about thirty negroes, and some fifteen or twenty field hands.
He was a Whig, and a very decided partisan, although he never held
office. He split off the Democratic party in 1834 and joined with the
Clay faction. His first Whig vote was cast for high L. White and Baily
Peyton. He bade a final adieu to this world in 1853, and died as he had
lived, an honored, upright citizen, one universally respected. He was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south of which his wife was
also a member. She died in 1840 or 1841. To their marriage, which
occurred in 1824, were born nine children, all of whom lived to
maturity, and eight still survive: Dr. R. J. (resides in Izard County);
R. H. (subject); Mary A.(wife of Dan Morten and makes her home in
Tennessee; Martha H. (wife of J. W. Nailer, resided in Tennessee);
Margaret V. (wife of S. H. Winston, resides in Stone County, Ark.);
Miranda (wife of James McCuistion, resides in Izard County); W. S.
(deceased); Sarah J. (widow of Dr. David Deason, resides in Tennessee);
and Harriet T. (wife of Town Scruggs, resides at Bell Buckle, Tenn.).
The paternal grandfather of these children, Robert Powell, was a native
of Virginia, and was a boy at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, but was
present on that auspicious occasion. The youth of Judge R. H. Powell
passed in laboring on his
father's farm and in attending the common subscription schools. When
twenty-one years of age he entered the Salem Academy, remained there
but three or four months and then engaged in teaching school, which
profession he followed until twenty-eight years of age. He then
attended law school at Lebanon, Tenn., under Judge Abram Caruthers and
Judge Greene, and after passing a very ridged examination received his
license. He subsequently commenced practicing at Louisburg, Marshall
county, Tenn. (1855), and there remained until 1860, being first a
partner of Gideon B. Black, of Tennessee, and later a partner of James
H. Thomas, of Columbia. In 1860 he came to Batesville, Ark., remained
there but a short time, and then moved to Izard County, in 1861. He was
first married to miss Jane Temple, in June, 1849, and the fruits of
this union were six children, who lived to be grown: Dr. Dempsey T.
(resides at Thayer, Mo., and is an assistant surgeon of the Kansas
& Missouri Railroad); Robert T. (attorney at Greenwood, Ark.);
Nancy J.; Mary W. (wife of John W. Woods, who is an attorney in
Melbourne); Henry Lee (wife of Ewing Kennard, who is a druggist at
LaCrosse); and William W. (an attorney. In 1862 Judge Powell joined
Company B, Freeman's battalion, Shaler's company, and although entering
the ranks as a private, he afterward elected by his company to the
position of first lieutenant, in which capacity he served until
December, 1863. He was taken prisoner near Batesville, and was sent to
Little Rock, Ark. At the time he was taken prisoner he had been
assigned to duty as commissary and quartermaster, by Gen. Price, and
had in his possession some valuable papers and about $1,500. The United
States forces secured the papers but failed to get the money, Mrs
Montgomery (sister of Capt., James Rutherford, of Batesville) managed
to slip the money from the outside pocket of his overshirt, and sent it
to Col. Freemen. After being sent to Little rock, he was shortly
afterward removed to St. Louis and quartered in the McDowell College,
in Feb 1864. The following April he was removed to Johnson's Island,
and was there retained until 9th of January, 1865. On the 29th of the
following month he was exchanged and then came home on a sixty days'
leave of absence, and had started back to rejoin his command, when he
heard of Gen. Lee's surrender. He surrendered at Jacksonport of the 5
th of June 1865, and after returning home engaged in agricultural
pursuits, which he continued until 1866. He then began practicing his
profession in this and surrounding counties. In 1862 Judge Powell was
elected to represent this county in the legislature, and this was the
first legislature that met after the secession of the State. In 1868,
when he was disfranchised. From 1868 to 1874 he was interested in
mercantile pursuits, and followed this business in LaCrosse, Lunenburg
and Newburg, Izard County, and at Paraquet Bluff, Independence county.
He lost his wife in 1870. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South. In 1873 the judge wedded Mrs. Harriet Herbert (nee
Harris) and two children were the result of this union both of whom
died while small. Mrs Powell died in 1876. She was also a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, south; Judge Powell was again married in
1878 to Mrs. Elizabeth Davidson, widow of Dr. Davidson. Her maiden name
was Gardner, and she was a native of Tennessee. Two children were born
to the last union: Guy and Ruth H. In 1874 Judge Powell attended
strictly to the practice of his profession, and for four
years remained thus engaged. In 1878 he was elected judge of the Third
Circuit, and filled that position until 1887, when there was a division
in the circuit, and he was placed in charge of the fourteenth judicial
circuit. He has ben judge ever since 1878 (now twelve years) without
any intermission, and his term expires in 1890. He is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, Blue Lodge, R.A.C., and Council, and is also a
Knight Templar. He is straight Democrat in his political views , and he
and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Source: Biographical and Historican Menoirs of Izard County, Arkansas
by Goodspeed page 965 original published 1889 . Transcribed by Mary
Lafferty Wilson
William M. Ray removed from his
native State of Tennessee (he being a native of Bedford
county born in 1828), to Independence County, Ark., in 1858, and
purchased and entered the land on which he is now residing, which
comprises of 360 acres, 100 acres being under cultivation. The tillable
portion of his land he devotes principally to cotton, corn and small
grain, and the manner in which he conducts his farm shows him to be
well posted on all matters pertaining to the work. He was reared,
educated and married in his native State, the later even taking place
in 1850, and being to Miss Nancy J. Holland, a daughter of William
Holland. Seven of their nine children survive: Alexander; Joseph R.;
George F.; Sarah J.: James; William M.; and Dorinda. Mr and Mrs Ray are
members of the Christian Church, and he is an active member of the I.
O. O. F. During the Civil War he espoused the cause of the Confederacy,
and served in the infantry and cavalry for about six months during
1862. His parents, Alexander and Isabella (Scott) Ray, were born in
North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, and were married in the
latter state in
1816 to which State he came with his parents when near twenty- six
years of age. He was badly crippled when about twenty years of age by
white swelling, but not withstanding this drawback he became quite
well-to-do and was the owner of 240 acres of land in Tennessee. Of the
seven children born to himself and wife, only one is now living,
William M., our subject. He died in Tennessee July 30, 1856, and his
wife who was the daughter of John Scott, of Tennessee, dying at the age
of thirty-five years.
Source: Biographical and Historican Menoirs of
Izard County, Arkansas by Goodspeed page 967 original published 1889 .
Transcribed by Mary Lafferty Wilson
T. H. Ray is a Tennesseean, born in
Wayne County on the 16 March, 1849, His father E. W. Ray, being born in
Warren County of that State, in 1812. He was reared, educated and
married there, the latter event being to Miss Elizabeth Ford of the
same state. Of four sons born to them, two are still living and both
reside in the State E. W. Ray was a fairly successful agriculturist,
and
died in the "Lone Star State" in 1881, his wife having died in
Tennessee in 1855. Mr. Ray moved from Tennessee to Arkansas in 1866,
and at the time of his death of his wife they were members of the
Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, respectively. T. H. Ray was
educated in Flat woods, Tenn, but after reaching manhood was married in
the State of Arkansas to Miss Sarah A. Moser, she being a native of the
State, and their union was consummated on April 11, 1869. Of a family
of seven sons and three daughters born to them, they are but six
children living, all of whom reside at home: Mary F.; Ida T.; Henry J.;
Oscar H.; Lemon B.; and Delbert A. Mr. Ray has been engaged in the
occupation of farming from earliest boyhood, learning the details of
the work from his father, who was an enterprising agriculturist. He
owns an excellent farm in Dry Town Township, comprising of 124 acres,
of which about ninety are under cultivation. He has Allys been found
ready and willing to support enterprises of worthy character, and as a
citizen and neighbor, is highly esteemed and respected. His wife is a
communicant in the Presbyterians Church.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of
Izard County, c1899, Goodspeed Publishing Co, Page 967 transcribed by
Mary Lafferty Wilson
K. W. Rector, farmer, Arkansas.
No worthy reference to agricultural affairs of this county would be
complete without mention of Mr. Rector, among others engaged in tilling
the soil, for, although young in years, he has already attained an
enviable position in the ranks of the farmers. He owns his nativity to
Izard County, his birth occurring on the farm where he now resides in
1858, and he is the son of J. W. and Ann E. (Cooper) Rector, natives of
Kentucky. J. W. Rector came to Arkansas in 1852, settled in Izard
County, on the place where his son K. W., now resides and tilled the
soil for any years. He was at one time surveyor of the county. During
the late war he was a lieutenant in Capt. Cook's company and served
four years, participating in a number of battled on the east side of
the Mississippi River, where he was on duty a part of the time. He
surrendered at Jacksonport, Ark., on the 5 th of June 1865, after which
he immediately came home and engaged in farming to replenish his
fortune, nearly all of which had been lost during the war. He owned, at
the breaking out of strife, quite a number of negroes, and a large
number of stock of all kinds, which he lost. He was also the owner of
800 acres of land. This was a very thinly settled country when he first
located here, and he suffered many inconveniences, his nearest neighbor
being about five or six miles distant, and the nearest mill ten miles
away. After the war he filled the office of supervisor, or county
judge, which position
he occupied only one term. He was married in 1850, and to him and wife
were born nine
children, eight now living. J. M. (Resides in Van Buren County); K. W.;
Mrs. Sarah E. Sheid (resides in Texas; J. L. (resides in this county);
Nancy E. (makes her home with her father in Texas); and Joseph I. (with
his father). J. W. Rector moved to Texas in Jan, 1885, and bought land
in Palo Pinto county. He was a member of the masonic fraternity, and he
and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. He was born on the 3 d
of December, 1826, and Mrs Rector was born on the 30 th of August,
1830. Both are enjoying good health, and bid fair to live many years.
At the age of twenty-one years K. W. Rector began life for himself by
farming, and this occupation he has since followed. He was married, on
the 25th of September, 1870, to Miss Martha C. Bigham, of this county,
and they are both the parents of five children: Margaret E.; born
September 12, 1880; Samuel B., born September 15, 1882; Effie J., born
March 8, 1884; Joseph L. born March 3, 1886; and Rufus S., born
September 5, l888. Mr. Rector started with little capital, but with the
assistance of his companion is now the owner of about 400 Acres of land
in one tract, and with fifty or sixty in another, considerable stock,
and is one of the leading
farmers of the county. He has about 145 acres under cultivation, with
good buildings, outhouses, etc. Mrs. Rector in the daughter of Samuel
and Susannah (Woods) Bigham, natives of Tennessee, who came to this
county at an early day, and here reared a family of four children three
now living. James W.; Mary B.; Mrs. Martha Rector (wife of the subject
of this sketch); Ursulla C. (wife of Rufus Landers). Mr. Bigham was
killed during Gen. Price's raid though Missouri, in 1864. He was a
member of the Christian church. Mrs. Bigham married the second time to
Joseph H. Russell [see sketch]. Mr and Mrs. Rector are both church
members, he a member of the Baptist Church, and she of the Christian.
In politics, he is Democratic. Mr. Rector is a man who is in favor of
all public improvements, and is deeply interested in educational
matters.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of
Izard County, c1899, Goodspeed Publishing Co, Page 968 transcribed by
Mary Lafferty Wilson
William
S. Richardson is one of the oldest pioneers of Izard County, and was
born in Crawford County, Mo., in 1828, being a son of Joshua and Mary
(Stafford) Richardson, who were from the State of Maine. The father
removed to Missouri about 1816, and entered land in Crawford County,
the country at that time being in a very wild and unsettled condition
and thinly inhabited. Here he was married in 1827, and made his home
until 1844, when he moved to the farm in New Hope Township, Izard
County, Ark., on which his son William S. is now residing, and here he
passed away in 1873 , at the age of seventy-three years, his wife
having died in Missouri in 1836. Of six children born to this union
only William S. is now living, and after the mother's death, Mr.
Richardson married a second time, his wife being a Mrs. Sarah Romine
(nee Barley), who bore him eleven children, the following of whom are
living: Alex; James C; Francis R.; Martha
(wife of James Stubblefield), Nancy (wife of James Smith); Sarah (wife
of Richard White); and Wilmoth (wife of John Smith). The mother of
these children died in 1872, and both she and the first Mrs. Richardson
were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, although Mr. Richardson
was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. William S.
Richardson was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools of
Izard County, and after attaining his majority he began farming for
himself on his own land in Izard County. When the war broke out he
dropped his farming implement to engage in the struggle between the
North and the South, and joined the Union Forces at Rolla, Mo.,
enlisting in the Company G, Phelps' regiment of Missouri Volunteers,
and at the end of six months entered the Missouri State service for six
months. In 1865 he returned to the State of Arkansas, and after serving
for some time as first lieutenant of his company, he was promoted to
the rank of captain, and held this office until his company was
disbanded. He was at the battle of Pea Ridge, and at this engagement
had a brother
killed. After the war he served as courier for the Freedmen's Bureau,
in Izard County, for some time. After his return home he found nothing
left to show for his early toil, except his land, all his personal
property having been destroyed, but he immediately resumed his farming
operations and has since increased his acreage from 160 to 270, a large
portion of which he has under cultivation. He is a Republican in his
political views, and is a liberal contributor to all charitable
enterprises, education and otherwise, and he belongs to the A. F.
& A. M. He and his wife whom he married in 1851, and who maiden
name was Elizabeth Wells, are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, and of a family of twelve children born to them and having
reared five:
Alex. S.; Fannie J. (Wife of John Largeant); Ellen; Emma; Nettie V.;
Catherine (the deceased wife of James B. Byrd); and Martha (the
deceased wife of John Fuller).
Source: Biographical
and Historican Menoirs of Izard County, Arkansas by Goodspeed Page 968
original published 1889 . Transcribed by Mary Lafferty Wilson
Reuben
Rogers was born in the state of Tennessee, in 1829, his parents,
William and Elizabeth (hicks) Rogers, being natives of Alabama and
Tennessee, respectively, the former's birth occurring in 1795. He was
familiar with the duties of farm life from earliest boyhood, and in
1831 was married to Miss Hicks, by whom he became the father of six
children: Ruben; John; Peter; Allie; Saran and Ada. From Tennessee Mr.
Rogers removed to Independence County, Ark, in 1843, where his death
occurred the following year, he being a member of the Baptist Chruch at
that time. His widow married Henry Newman, of Independence County, in
1845, and to them three children were born: Henry N.; Matilda and Annie
E., all of whom reside in Izard County. They own eighty acres of land,
and both are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Reuben
Rogers was married to Miss Nancy Newman in 1869 a daughter of Henry
Newman by his former wife, and their union resulted in the birth of two
children: William R. and Reuben F. In 1854, becoming possessed with the
"gold fever," Mr. Rogers took the overland route to California, to seek
his fortune, and a great many others of those days, failed to find it
and returned to Arkansas in 1868. After living on eighty acres of land
in Independence County, until 1876, he moved to Izard County, and
purchased the place where he is now living, consisting of 160 acres, a
portion of which is mountainous, and is finely adapted to grazing. The
rest is in the valley and about fifty acres are under cultivation, well
watered and improved with good buildings, orchards, etc. He and his
wife have been members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church for a
number of years, and he is one of the men who as assisted largely in
making Izard County the fine agricultural region which it now is. Mr
Rogers is a severe sufferer from cancer of the stomach.
Source:
Biographical and Historican Menoirs of Izard County, Arkansas by
Goodspeed page 969 original published 1889 . Transcribed by Mary
Lafferty Wilson
Joseph Ruminer was born on Blue
Grass Soil, in Hickman County, June 22, 1835, his father John Ruminer,
having been born in Bedford County, Tenn., in 1809. The latter was
educated in his native State and county, and married there to Miss
Elizabeth Harris, who was a Kentuckian, their union resulting in the
birth of six sons and five daughters, only one, Joseph, being now
alive. Mr. Ruminer was a farmer by occupation, and at the time of his
death, in 1862, was the owner of seventy-seven acres of land. He held
the office of justice of the peace for two terms, and was a man whom
all respected and esteemed. His wife who was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, died the same year as himself, but a few months
afterward. Joseph Ruminer received very limited education in his youth,
but this defect he has remedied in a great measure by reading and
conducting the business affairs of life. After reaching manhood, he was
married on the 24th of February, 1859, to Miss Sarah Coalson, whose
birth occurred in the State of Mississippi. Although the family born to
them consisted of ten children, only five are now living: Mary E.;
Samuel R.; Sheffield; Robert and Harris H. Mr. Ruminer is a successful
agriculturist, and his farm consisting of 368 acres is one of the best
in the county, with about seventy-five acres under the plow and twenty
acres cleared of wood and brush, with which it abounded. His first
purchase of land was some forth acres, but as can be seen he has been
remarkably successful, and now ranks among the first farmers of the
county. He enlisted in the army in 1863, and his first hard fight was
at Helena. He was a member of Dobbins' regiment, but when the rest went
to Jacksonport to surrender he returned home. He is a member of the I.
O.. O. F and he and wife worship in the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
Source: Biographical and Historican Menoirs of
Izard County, Arkansas by Goodspeed Page 969 original published 1889 .
Transcribed by Mary Lafferty Wilson
J. H.
Russell, farmer, Melbourne, Ark. Mr Russell is one more of the many
residents of Izard County, Ark., who were originally from Bedford
County, Tenn. And who since their residence in this State, have become
leading men in whatever calling in life their tendencies have led them.
Mr. Russell was born in 1821 and is the son of Joseph d. and Mary
(Hightower) Russell, natives, respectively of North Carolina and
Tennessee. The father was born in 1777 and the mother in 1800. They
were married in Hickman County, Tenn., about 1820, and afterward
removed to Bedford County of the same State where they remained until
1829. Then they located in Scott county. Mo., and after stopping there
for several years went to Webster County, of the Same State, and here
the father passed his last days, his death occurring in 1847. He was
twice married, first to a lady whose name is not remembered, and by
her, and by her became the father of two children: William B. and
Daniel D. By his second marriage to, Miss Mary Hightower, he bacame the
father of five children, four of whom lived to be grown: J. H., subject
of this sketch; Louis, was killed during the war with Mexico and after
being discharged, it is supposed by Indians; Louisa (deceased), was the
wife of John Cox, the family living in Missouri; John W,
(deceased), whose family reside in Fulton County, and one who died in
Infancy. Mrs. Russell died in Kentucky, in 1827, while Mr. Russell was
on his way to Missouri. She was a member of the Baptist church, of
which Mr. Russell was also a member until about six or eight years
before his death, when he joined the Christian Church and died a member
of the same. He was a school teacher, farmer, and also a carpenter, but
followed the teachers profession principally after reaching mature
years. He was an old line Whig, but not active in politics. He was
well-to-do while living in Tennessee, but lost nearly all he had by
going security for his friends. J. H. Russell had very poor chances for
an early education, but he made up to a great extent by observation and
reading. In 1862 he moved to Arkansas, settled in Izard County, and
still continued to till the soil, the occupation he had followed while
living in Missouri. While residing in Howell county, of that State, he
was appointed one of the three to organize the county, and served as
county judge, being elected to that position afterward (or one of the
associate justices), and was once elected Justice of the peace of his
township. He was first married to Miss Elizabeth Sweet, of North
Carolina, his second marriage was in 1857, to Mrs. Susanah (Bigham)
Woods, a native of Tennessee, who born him one child, Margaret L., who
died in Infancy. Mrs. Russell was the mother of four children by her
first marriage (three now living): James (deceased); Mary E. (At home);
Martha C. (Wife of K. W. Rector); and Ursula C. (Wife of G. R.
Landers). Mr. Russell has one son; his name is Robert F. He is now in
his twenty-third year. At the time of the Mexican War Mr. Russell
joined the army at Springfield, Mo., but the company was not received,
although he was very anxious to go, and had hired a man to run his
farm. He was suffering with poor health during the late war. He bought
400 acres of land in Izard County, in 1868, and resides on that farm at
present. There were about forty acres improved at that time, and he now
has 135 acres under a fine state cultivation, with good buildings,
barns, etc. He and wife are both members of the Christian Church, and
he is a member of the Masonic fraternity. In his political views he
affiliates with the Democratic party, and was
originally a Whig.
Source: Biographical
and Historican Menoirs of Izard County, Arkansas by Goodspeed Page 969
original published 1889 . Transcribed by Mary Lafferty Wilson
©2006-2008
Izard County Arkansas Genealogy Trails
Return to Biography index
Return to Main Index
Return to Arkansas Genealogy Trails
|
