Scott County Arkansas Biographies

From a special section of the Waldron News newspaper of 23 April 1981, consisting of interviews of Scott County citizens 80 Years of age and over. The interviews were done as part of a celebration of the Bank of Waldron's 80th anniversary.

ARVIL A. SELF

Arvil A. Self was born October 8, 1891 in Greenridge, AR to Alvin and Rebekah Self. He has made his home in Scott County for the past 77 years, after his parents moved to Waldron when he was ten years old. He now lives in the Mt. Pleasant community with his wife Ethel. He has been a livestock dealer. He attended schools in the Greenridge community and Waldron - in an old four room red school building on Danville Road. Professor Allen was teacher, and also Homer Smith and a lady teacher. The older boys played Rubley with a ball about the size of a basketball. Seven or eight boys were on each side and had to kick the ball across the line. The smaller boys played town ball, using a ball about the size of a golfball. If you knocked a home run, it was called an Eye, and you had to put him out twice. Mr. Self remembers the town when he first came here in 1902. There were about 15 different stores and businesses - Dozier Brothers Grocery Store, Tom Smith and Son, Mont, had a Harness and Saddle Shop, and Bill Thompson worked with them. North of the old bank was Frank Rawlings General Merchandise. Old Man Cole had a Dry Good Store, Bates had a Dry Good Store, Jim Hamilton (Creedy Bird's father) had a grocery store. Malone's Hotel was the only hotel in town. George Turner had a livery stable where the old City Hall was South of the Courthouse. Deck Harper Saloon was last, across the street from the Courthouse and connected Jim Hamilton's Grocery Store. Tom Stone's Drygoods was between Forrester's Drygood Store and Grocery Store. There were two drug stores, Waldron Drug bought by Jim Harvey about 1900 and John O. Mitchell Drug Store. Waldron also had two newspapers, Waldron News ran by Hubert J. Hall and Wasp ran by Henry Smith. There were three churches, Christian Church, Methodist and Baptist Church. The Baptist Church was here Cherry's Auto Parts is now. The Methodist Church was in the same place it is now and the Christian Church where the Church of Christ Church is now. The Doctors were Dr. Pat Duncan, Dr. Edney and Dr. Bevils, who came here a little before 1900. The jail was a log jail, with only one partition in it. It was full of drunks every Saturday night. There was also a lot of fights every Saturday on the streets, but no killings. About 1903 or 1904 a lot of people got to see their first train, as the railroad came to Waldron. It had a caboose and on Saturday and Sunday the kids could ride the caboose. Mr. Self wrote checks on his dad when he was about 17 years old. He bought a big cow from Alice Solomon, giving $37.50 for it, and he bought another cow and gave the same amount for it. Mrs. Solomon cashed both checks at the same time. Everyone thought he had bought only one cow from her. His dad then told him, "We'd better go to the Bank, so you can write checks on yourself." He has been on his own ever since. Mr. Self's children are B.A. Self, now deceased, Bill Self and Freddye Martin both of Waldron, and Eugene Self. His Church affiliation is Methodist.

From a special edition of the Scott County Advertiser newspaper of 3 April 1991, entitled "A Salute to Scott County Citizens 90 Years and Over." The interviews were done as part of a celebration of the Bank of Waldron's 90th anniversary.

ARVIL A. SELF

Arvil Self was born October 8, 1891 in Greenridge, Arkansas to Alvin and Rebekah Self. He has made his home in Scott County for the past 88 years, after his parents moved to Waldron when he was 10 years old. He attended schools in the Greenridge community and at Waldron, in an old four room red school building on Danville Road. Professor Allen was a teacher, along with Homer Smith and a lady teacher. The boys played Rugby, with a ball about the size of a basketball. Mr. Self was featured in the Rural Arkansas Magazine about three years ago. Mr. Self's children are B.A. Self, now deceased, Bill Self and Freddye Martin both of Waldron, and Eugene Self. His church affiliation is Methodist.

Scott County Advertiser
4 November 1992
Senior Citizens News - October Birthdays
ARVIL A. SELF

Arvil A. Self was born October 8, 1891 at Greenridge in Scott County, Arkansas to Rebecca Highfill Self and Alvin Self. He went to school at Greenridge and Waldron. Arvil worked with his father who had a sawmill at several locations around Scott County. Arvil was married in 1913 to Fern Houston, daughter of Nazarene minister, Harvey Houston. They had four children: Beryl, Bill, Freddye Self Martin and Eugene. Arvil began buying and selling cattle horses and mules. In the early 1920's he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he drove a street car for awhile and then went to work at Ford Motor plant. He stayed with them eight years. He became one of the first factory workers in the USA to draw $1.00 an hour for his work. A day Arvil can never forget was the day he lost an eye in a wood cutting accident. After that he couldn't get a job. He tried farming two years in Kansas, but the drought drove them back to Scott County where Arvil began buying and selling livestock again. Mrs. Self died in 1975. Later Arvil married Ethel Eppler and she passed away in 1987. Arvil's daughter, Freddye, and his son Bill live near their father and Bill takes Arvil to the Senior Citizens Center on a regular basis. Arvil especially enjoys playing checkers at the center.