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Col. M. M. DUFFIE, attorney, Princeton, Ark. Col. M.M.DUFFIE,
a distinguished member of the legal profession, was born
in South Carolina, and is the son of Reuben L. and Annie
(McCLINTOCK) DUFFIE, natives, respectively, of North & South
Carolina. The father was born in 1799 and died in 1874. His wife died in 1848.
Both parents were church members, he of the Methodist Episcopal, and she of the
Presbyterian denomination. He followed agricultural pursuits as a livelihood,
and also taught school for many years. In politics he was Democratic. His father,
Samuel DUFFIE, was a native of the Emerald Isle, and after emigrating to the
United States settled in Mecklenburg County, N, C, He was a soldier in the Revolutionary
War on the American Side, and was a member of what was termed by the British,
[The Hornet’s Net] in North Carolina. Of the eleven children born to his
parents, seven of whom are living, Col. M. M. DUFFIE is second in order of birth.
He attended the Concord High School, Fairfield District, S.C., then spent three
years at Davidson College, North Carolina, and in 1856 graduated at Esrskine
College, South Carolina, as salutatory orator. In October, 1856, he came to Arkansas
and taught school for two years. In August, 1858, he was admitted to the bar,
and in 1860 was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court, and has practiced
his profession every since. May 20, 1861, he cast his lot with the Confederacy,
and made lieutenant of the Dallas Rifles, or Company C, of the Sixth Arkansas
Infantry. His company was composed of ninty-nine men, of whom only one was married.
Our subject served as lieutentant until January, 1862, when he was elected captain
of his company. He was offered by his commander, Gen. T. C. Hindman, the position
of major and quartermaster, but wrote on the commission when sent to him from
Richmond, Va., [Respectfully declined; I prefer to remain with the boys]. He
was in many of the most important battles, among which were Shiloh, Murfreesboro,
Perrysville and Chickamauga, was wounded four times, and at the last named battle
was permanently disabled, and although promoted to the position of major was
not in active service from that time. After the battle of Chickamauga he was
assigned to post duty at Unionville, S.C., which he held until the last post
in the State has surrendered, May 10,1865, he surrendered on company of infantry
and one battery of artillery, and gave up millions of dollars’ worth of
Confederate stores which had been sent to Upper South Carolina for safety. In
September of that year he again returned to Arkansas and resumed the practice
of his profession. Previous to the war, in 1858, he represented Dallas County
in the State Legislature, and in 1874 in the extraordinary session. In 1877 he
was elected to the State Senate, and in 1879 he was elected president of the
Arkansas Senate without being a candidate, and to his credit it can be said that
not one of his decisions was appealed. February 7, 1866, he was married to Miss
Hannah COOKSEY, a native of Arkansas, born in 1848, and the daughter of Benjah
H. COOKSEY. The following children were born to this union: Benjah C. (attorney
at Little Rock, Ark.), Annie Sidney (graduate of Millerburg, Ky.), Samuel M.
(merchant of Princeton, Ark.), John J. (attending Arkadelphia Baptist College),
Hannah and William Reuben (at home). One child, Robert Cameron, died when one
year old. Col. DUFFIE, Mrs. DUFFIE and three children are members of the Presbyterian
Church, and he is ruling elder in the same. He is a Blue Lodge and Chapter Mason,
and in politics is Democratic. In 1884 Col. DUFFIE was nominated as presidential
elector on the Democratic ticket, was elected by large majority, voted for Gover
Cleveland, and carried the vote of his State to Washington City. By the casualties
of war he lost all his property of every kind, but is now in easy circumstances.