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William S. HORTON, merchant, Fairview, Ark. Prominent among
the successful business enterprises of Dallas County stands
that conducted by Mr. W. S. HORTON. Both as a merchant and
farmer he has been eminently successful. Reduced to almost
poverty by the late war, yet by his undaunted energy he soon gathered around
him the comforts of life. His parents, Thomas and Elizabeth (TEASLEY) HORTON,
were born and married in Elbert County, Ga. He followed farming all his life
and became quite wealthy. While on their way to Texas in 1849, the father died
in Shreveport, La., at sixty years of age. The mother’s death occurred
in Harrison County, Tex., in 1853, at the age of fifty-five. His father was a
native of North Carolina, and of English descent. In politics he affiliated with
the Democratic party. Eleven children were born to this union, five of whom are
now living: Mrs. Sarah TRIMBLE, Mrs. Nancy HINES, Mrs. Mary M. JOHNSTON and Thomas
(a farmer and merchant at Sunny Point, Tex.). Of these children W. S. HORTON
is the eldest. He was born in Elbert County, Ga., November 28, 1823. He graduated
at Brownwood Institute, Lagrange, Ga., at the age of twenty-one. He then accepted
the position of salesman in the employ of Jones, Philips & Co., at Griffin,
Ga. In 1849 Mr. HORTON went to Mexico, then to San Francisco, Cal. He remained
in the gold region thirteen months, and then embarked in business in Elysian
Fields, Tex. After this he was one year in Jefferson, Tex., in the general merchandise
business, but gave this up and turned his attention to farming in Panola County,
Tex. From here he moved to Fairview, Dallas County, Ark., and began to clear
up his present plantation. He is now the owner of 700 acres of as good land as
is to be found in the county. He has 200 acres in cultivation. In 1868 he again
turned his attention to merchandising, and has continued to sell goods ever since
at Fairview, and also at Pine Grove. In 1854 Mr. HORTON married Miss Elizabeth
SCOTT, a native of Decatur, Ala., and a daughter of Maj. J. D. SCOTT and niece
of Gen. Winfield SCOTT. Nine interesting children have been born to this union—four
sons and five daughters: Bettie (who died at the age of twenty-one), Ida B. (who
became the wife of Dr. WOZENCRAFT, of Dallas County), Mary H. (the wife of Ed
POOL, of Fordyce, Ark.), Maud (attending Ouachita College), Angie (at home),
Louis S. (a farmer of this county), Stephen A. and William S., Jr. (in the Arkansas
University, Fayetteville) and Paul E. (in the training school, Fordyce). In 1863
Mr. HORTON joined the State troops under Gov. Flanagan. He was in the battles
of Poison Springs, Mark’s Mill, and many skirmishes. He spent the year
1868 farming in Jefferson County, Ark., and then returned to his old home in
Dallas County, where he has since remained. He is Democratic in his political
views, and a postmaster at Fairview. He is a member of both the Masonic and Odd
Fellows lodges, and a member of the Methodist Church. He has always been a liberal
and progressive citizen.