Scott County Arkansas Biographies

SCOTT COUNTY ARKANSAS
GOODSPEED BIOGRAPHIES
Contributed by Charlene Holland

Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Western Arkansas
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago and Nashville, 1891.
Scott County, Pages 398 - 433

Carr Allen
Carr Allen, a native of Montgomery County, Ark., and now a resident of Park Township, Scott County, this State, is one of the most successful and enterprising farmers of the same. His opportunities for an education were poor, and when seventeen years of age he entered the army, serving nine months. At the cessation of hostilities he returned home and rented land for one year. He then homesteaded a tract, and made many improvements on the same, but later sold out and bought where he now resides. This was in 1873. He is now the owner of 390 acres of excellent bottomland, and has 100 acres under cultivation. His house, barns, outbuildings, etc. indicate that an experienced hand is at the head of everything, and that he has been successful is self-evident. He raises annually good crops of corn and cotton, and is prosperous and happy. He was born on October 5, l849, and was married in March, 1863, to Miss Mary Berry, a native of this county. The fruits of this union were seven children-two daughters and five sons. The eldest son and also the eldest daughter are married, and reside near the parents. Mr. Allen is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and he and wife are worthy members of the Free-Will Baptist Church, of which he is deacon.

William Arrington
William Arrington, farmer, Cedar Creek, Ark. William Arrington is the son of Charles and Narcissa Ann Arrington, and was born in Cherokee County, Ala., on March 12,1835. The father was a farmer, and owned considerable land in Cherokee County. The mother died in 1840, and the father received his final summons when our subject was fifteen years of age. The latter's opportunities for an education were limited, and after his father's death he hired out to work on a farm, which occupation he continued until the opening of the war. In 1857 he went to Montgomery County, Ark., and, there in September, 1861, he was married to Miss Jane Salliers, who died but little over a year afterward, childless. Mr. Arrington enlisted in Company A, Tappan's regiment of Arkansas Infantry and was in service four years. During the most of this time he was wagon- master, and had charge of the transportation train. In 1866 he was married to Mrs. Jane Lawrence, widow of Joseph P. Lawrence, who was killed in the battle of Franklin, Tenn. Mrs. Arrington's maiden name was Miss Jane Morgan, daughter of Thomas P. and Fanny Morgan, of South Carolina. Soon after marriage Mr. Arrington moved from Montgomery County, where he had lived since the war, to this county, and in 1871 he homesteaded the place where he now lives, buying out the claims of others until he had 240 acres. When he first came here he had, in money and stock, about $500. He began improving the place by erecting a good hewn-log house, cleared and fenced the land, and from that time to this he and family have never been off the place but one year, and then for the purpose of giving the children better opportunities for an education. Mr. Arrington now has 100 acres under cultivation, a good, comfortable house, 34 x 46 feet, substantial stables, and all his land fenced. His principal crops are oats, corn, cotton and potatoes. His crops are good, oats yielding about fifty bushels to the acre, and cotton is yielding three-fourths of a bale to the acre this year (1890), although he has cotton that yields more than a bale to the acre. He is the owner of some fine timber, consisting of oak, pine, elm, ash and walnut. His land lies along Cedar Creek, and is very fertile. Mr. Arrington is quite extensively engaged in the raising of stock, having some fine cattle and hogs, as well as horses and mules. He has five living children - four sons and one daughter: Narcissa Ann, James A., William R., Charles and Thomas P. James is married and lives in the western part of the county. His wife, Margaret, is the daughter of John and Nancy Jane Robertson of Cauthron, this county, and his union was blessed by two children, a girl, named Zella Ann, and a son, John William. Mr. Arrington and family are devout church members, and take an active part in the promotion of church and school interests. Mr. Arrington is a self-made man in every sense of the word, and has never had any help from outside sources. He is a Democrat in politics.

Philip J. Bird
Philip J. Bird is a farmer, blacksmith and wood work man, of Hickman Township, and was born in Blount County, of East Tennessee, in 1842, being a son of John and Elizabeth (Shields) Bird, who were born in East Tennessee in 1818 and 1826, respectively, their marriage ceremony having been celebrated in that State also. About 1846 they moved to Northern Georgia, but Mrs. Bird died soon after, and Mr. Bird was married again, and spent the rest of his life in that State, his death occurring in 1882, at which time he was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and a well-to-do farmer by occupation. His father, Jacob Bird, was of Irish descent, and a farmer of Northern Georgia. Robert Shields, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, devoted his attention to blacksmithing throughout life, was a soldier in the War of 1812, being with Jackson at Now Orleans, was also of Irish lineage, and spent his declining years in the State of Georgia. Philip J. Bird is one of four children born to his parents and as he was compelled to labor hard in his youth he received only about three months schooling in all. In June 1861, he joined Company C, Fourth Georgia Battalion, afterward the Sixtieth Georgia Infantry, Army of Virginia, and was with Stonewall Jackson in nearly all the leading engagements in which that army participated, besides many others. At the expiration of his first enlistment he joined the navy, with which he served until the close of the war, or nearly one-year. A few days before Lee surrendered, he was captured at Drupe's Bluff, was paroled at Washington City and returned home. He was married in l865 to Martha Ann, the daughter of John and Jane (Wellington) Smith, they being born in Virginia, and moving first to North Carolina, and later to Georgia, where Mr. Smith died, his widow crossing the river of Death in Scott County Ark. Mrs. Bird was born in the Old North State, and has borne her husband four children. In 1870 Mr. Bird came to Scott County, and for nineteen years has been a prosperous farmer of this region. He first settled in the woods, but now has 70 of his 120-acre farm cleared. Although the greater part of his life has been given to farming, he has also been engaged in black-smithing for the past six years. He belongs to Waldron Lodge No. 132, of the A. F. & A.M., and he and his entire family are Methodists.

Samuel C. Brown
Samuel C. Brown is a merchant and postmaster at Blansett, Scott County, Ark., but was born in Blount County, Tenn., October 4, 1837, a son of Benjamin and Martha (Cusick) Brown, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Tennessee. The father was taken to Tennessee by his parents when a boy, and in that State he attained manhood and was married, making his home there until he moved to Walker County, Ga., in 1860. After a residence of nine years in that State he came to Scott County, Ark., and here he passed to his long home in August, 1889, when in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He was an honest tiller of the soil and was a man who had the confidence of all who knew him. His first wife, the mother of Samuel C., died in Tennessee in 1854, after which he married Elizabeth Holcomb, who died in this State and county. He was a member and officer of the Missionary Baptist Church for many years and at all times was an earnest Christian. In his political view, he was a stanch Democrat. Samuel C. Brown was the third of ten children, five now living and his youth was spent and his schooling received in Sevier County, Tenn. He worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-one years of age, then began teaching school and farmed until the war broke out. In October, 1862, he joined Company R, Fifth Tennessee Cavalry, with which he served eighteen months, being then transferred to the First Tennessee Cavalry, his company acting as escort to Gen. ________. He was taken prisoner at Knoxville, Tenn., after entering the Federal lines under a flag of truce, and was retained at that place until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Chickamauga, Resacca and in the Georgia campaign around Atlanta. At the close of the war he turned his attention to farming in Blount County, Tenn., but in I866 went to Walker County, Ga., where he made his home until 1869, then came to Scott County, Ark., and here in connection with farming followed the occupation of teaching until 1877. He then began selling dry goods in Waldron, Henry Coker being his business partner. In 1881 Mr. Brown came to Blansett and opened a general store, which he has since successfully conducted. In 1883 he was appointed postmaster of the town and is still holding the office. He commenced operating a sawmill and cotton gin in 1888; and in both has done well. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and socially belongs to Blansett Lodge No. 460, of the A. F. & A. M., and politically is a Democrat.

Judge Roland Chiles
Owing to the fertility of the soil of Scott County, Ark., and by energy, industry and economy Mr. Chiles his become one of the well-to-do farmers of this section. He was born in Tennessee in 1827, the youngest in a family of nine children born to his parents, Paul and Lucinda Kersey) Chiles, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of South Carolina. The paternal grandfather, Roland Chiles, was born in England and came to America during colonial times, making his home in Virginia and afterward participating in the Revolutionary War. He afterward became a pioneer of East Tennessee and in that State passed from life. The maternal grandfather, Thomas Kersey, was born in Ireland and also came to America prior to the Revolution, in which he was a soldier, but made his home in South Carolina, afterward moving to Tennessee, where he died. Paul Chiles was an agriculturist and spent his life in Tennessee, dying in the western part of the State in 1883 at the advanced age of ninety- seven years, his wife having been called to her long home in 1867. On the old homestead in Tennessee Roland Chiles grew to manhood, learning the details of farm work of his father. He was married in West Tennessee in 1852 to Miss Margaret M. Blair, a native of South Carolina, but reared in Tennessee, and in time a family of five children gathered about their hearthstone: James P., John H., Frances E. (wife of Frank H. Holland), Maud Della and Hayward L. In 1863 Mr. Chiles joined the Confederate Army, and after taking part in the battle of Oxford Miss., he left the army on account of physical disability and once more turned his attention to farming in Tennessee, in which State he remained until 1871, when he came to Arkansas purchasing 240 acres of good farming land near Waldron and entering 120 acres more. He set energetically to work to improve his land, and now has 125 acres under cultivation, the most of which had to be cleared from timber. He ran a sawmill for some years and besides his home farm has enough land to make him 500 acres. In 1886 he purchased nine acres in the town of Waldron, on which he has erected a residence and in which he has since resided. In 1884 he was elected county judge, and during his term in office reduced the county debt about $14,000. Although a Whig before the War he is now a Democrat in politics, and socially belongs to the A.F. & A.M. and I.0.0.F. In 1874 he moved to Fayetteville to give his eldest three children the advantages of the schools of that place, and there resided for two years.

James P. Chiles
No name is more properly placed in the history of Scott County than that of Mr. Chiles, who is not only one of the most enterprising farmers of this section, but is of such a social, genial nature that he has made many friends. He was born in Tennessee to Roland and Margaret N. (Blair) Chiles, for a history of whom see sketch of Roland Chiles. Until he attained his fifteenth year James P. was a resident of his Native State, but since 1870 he has been a resident of Arkansas, and was given a good education in the University of the State, at Fayetteville. On July 3, 1887, he was married to Miss Emma Roland, a native of Scott County, and a daughter of Elijah Roland, who was one of the early settlers of this State. In 1884 he purchased his present farm of 315 acres, and by hard work has put fifty acres under cultivation, the rest being covered with timber of an excellent and valuable quality. In October 1888, he bought his present cotton gin, grist and sawmill, all, of which he is operating with success, his sawmill averaging about 5,000 feet of lumber per day. Besides this property he is the owner of a good dwelling-house and three tenement houses, and in addition to his other duties he is somewhat interested in stock--raising and speculating, in fact, is wide-awake and enterprising in all matters pertaining to his calling. He and his family are members of the Christian Church; he purchased all the materials for erecting a church and schoolhouse, deeding the property for the site. He has at all times tried to further the cause of education, and for years has faithfully discharged the duties of school director of his district. He is a warm Republican in politics and is an active worker in that party.

Thomas C. Climer
Thomas C. Climer, farmer, Cedar Creek, Ark. Mr. Climer is a successful young farmer of Scott County, Ark., and it is not to be wondered at, perhaps, that he should devote himself to agricultural pursuits, for, in looking back over the career of his ancestors, we find that the majority of them were honest tillers of the soil. He is a native of Maury County, Tenn., born February 14, 1851, and his youth was spent in that State, where his early scholastic advantages was also enjoyed. He began for himself as a farmer at the age of eighteen years, rented land for several years in Tennessee, and in 1880 moved to Arkansas, settling near Waldron in this county. There he remained for two years on a farm of 120 acres, which he had bought and he then sold this, moving to his present residence in Cedar Creek Township. He now has 160 acres of good land, sixty-five acres under cultivation, has a good frame house, farm under fence and has a good orchard (apple and peach). His crops are oats, corn and cotton, of which he annually has a good yield, and he also takes consider able interest in stock-raising, being the owner of some fine cattle. He has gained what he has through his own exertions, and is counted a " hustler" by his acquaintances. He has raised cotton that would yield a bale to the acre. Mr. Climer was married in 1869 to Miss Josie Black, of Tennessee, and they have four children, all boys, who are named as follows: William M., Hannibal B., Joseph W. and Samuel. All are at home with their parents. Mr. Climer is a member of the Farmers Alliance and is treasurer of the same. He is strictly Democratic in his political views.

John Crutchfield
John Crutchfield is a farmer of Scott County, Ark., and as a man and citizen is highly respected by all who know him. He was born in Orange County, N.C., about I835, to Henry and Polly (O'Daniel) Crutchfield, they being also born in North Carolina, in which State the mother died, Mr. Crutchfield afterward marrying a Mrs. Walker, and with her removing to Tennessee, his death occurring in Franklin County since the Rebellion. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and was an earnest member of the Missionary Baptist Church. His father, William Crutchfield, died in North Carolina, the mother's father, John O'Daniel, also dying there, a farmer. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch, was the sixth of eight children, and was reared on a farm, receiving but little schooling. At the age of nineteen years he was married to Mary, daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth T. Tripp, of North Carolina, where Mrs. Crutchfield was born in l860. She and her husband removed to Lincoln County, Tenn., two years after to Franklin County, and in 1871 came to Scott County, Ark., settling on their present farm, which was then heavily covered with timber. His estate comprises 300 acres of land, of which 150 acres are cleared, which desirable state of affairs has been brought about by his own efforts. His land is the best in his neighborhood, which fact is in a great measure owing to the time and work he has expended on it. In 1867 he was called upon to mourn the death of his wife, and the following year he was united in marriage to Mrs. Jane Amick, whose native birthplace is the State of Tennessee, she being a daughter of Caleb and Sophronia Call, the former of whom was born in North Carolina, and the latter in Tennessee. Mr. Call went to Tennessee when a boy, where he lived many years, then came to Scott County, where he spent his declining years. His father, Daniel Call, was born in North Carolina, and died in Tennessee. Mrs. Crutchfield was born in Coffee County, Tenn., in 1842, and was married in that county to A. J. Amick, who died while serving in the Confederate Army during the Rebellion. Mr. Crutchfield had five children by his first wife, one son and two daughters living, his last wife also bearing him five children of whom two sons and one daughter survive.

R. P. Dickens
R. P. Dickens is a gentleman of substantial worth, residing in Scott County, Ark., and all his farming operations have been carried on according to the most advanced and progressive ideas, and have resulted to his own good, and to the benefit of those with whom he has come in contact. He was born in Tennessee May 7, 1839, and, at the age of eight years came to Arkansas with his parents, Richard and Mary Jane Dickens, and having been brought up to a farm life, he determined to make that his calling through life, and accordingly at the age of twenty-one years, purchased some land in Faulkner County, of this State, and began immediately to put it in good farming condition. After remaining on this farm for twenty years, he sold it and came to Scott County, Ark., purchasing his present farm of 140 acres, 8.5 acres of which are in a good state of cultivation, and nicely improved with good farm buildings of all kinds. Although his orchard is small, his trees are well selected, and bear well. His land yields an average amount of cotton, corn and oats, and in 1889 he established the first and only tannery in the western part of the State, which he has worked very successfully, finding a ready sale for all the leather he can produce. His intention is to enlarge the business at no distant day, and then will give the greater part of his attention to that work. He was married at the age of twenty-three years, but after a wedded life of seven years his wife died, leaving him with four children, the eldest three of whom are married. He was again married, but his second wife lived only about fifteen months, and he next espoused Miss Mary Douglas, their union resulting in the birth of three children. The family attends the Christian Church, of which Mr. and Mrs. Dickens are members, and he is a Democrat, and belongs to the I.O.O.F. and the A.F. & A.M. fraternities. Mr. Dickens keeps fully apace with the progress of agriculture, and his place is one of the neat, comfortable homesteads for which this county is famous.

H. W. Dixon
Prominent among the many esteemed and respected farmers and cotton- ginners of Scott County, Ark., stands the name of Mr. Dixon, who was born in Polk County of this State, in 1841, being a son of William H. and Middie (Short) Dixon, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Mississippi. They were married in the latter State about 1835, but removed from there to Polk County, Ark., in 1837, and here reared their children: Nancy E. (wife of Joseph B. Dixon), James G. (deceased), H. W., Priscilla (wife of G.W. Fry), Edward N. (deceased), Susan A. (wife of John McLauglin), Mary J. (wife of J. W. Harper, deceased), Sophie E. (wife of A. P. Walker), and George R. The mother of these children died in Polk County, in 1859, after which Mr. Dixon was united in marriage to Miss Julia A. Lackey. He then removed to Scott County, Ark., where he passed from life in December 1887, a worthy Christian gentleman and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was deputy sheriff of Polk County for four years, and otherwise took an interest in the welfare of this section. H. W. Dixon enlisted in the United States Army, September 1, 1862, becoming a member of Company I, First Arkansas Cavalry, and was in the fight at Springfield, MO., and at Fayetteville, Ark. He served throughout the remainder of the war and was discharged at Fayetteville, Ark., in 1865, after which he returned home and engaged in farming. He was married in 1870, to Miss Amanda Landon, a daughter of Allen and Nancy (Roberts) Landon. Seven children have blessed their union: Charles H., Cora B., Alberta, Atella, Nancy Lula, James B. and an infant that died unnamed. Mr. Dixon has been industrious and enterprising and as a result, has a fine farm of 540 acres, of which 250 are under cultivation, principally to the culture of corn and cotton. His cotton gin has a capacity of nine bales per day, and has been in running order for the past twenty years. Mr. Dixon is a member of the G.A.R., and at one time was captain of a company of Home Guards. He has resided in Scott County for the past twenty-three years and is one of the most highly esteemed residents of this section. He has been successful in his business ventures and gives liberally, at all times, to enterprises which he considers worthy.

Thomas F. Dollens
Few farmers and stock raisers of Hickman Township have been more universally successful than the subject of this sketch, who was born in Audrian County, Mo., in 1837, being a son of William T. and Mary Ann Dollens, the former born in Albemarle County, Va., in 1808, and the latter near Crab Orchard, Ky., in 1813, their marriage being celebrated in the named State, from which they removed to Missouri about 1832, in l846 to Texas, and in 1848 to Scott County, Ark., locating on a farm about four and one-half miles southwest of Waldron, where both passed from life, the father, dying in December, 1856, and the mother in 1880. They were among the pioneers of this section and became well to do in worldly goods. At the time of Mr. Dollens' death he was filling the office of county surveyor, a position he had held four years. His father, Richard Dollens, was a Virginian who moved to Kentucky, then to Missouri, and passed to his long home in Audrian County, having been a faithful soldier in the Revolutionary War, entering the colonial service at the age of eighteen. He was a farmer and of English descent. The subject of this sketch is the second of three sons and three daughters, he and two sisters being the only surviving members of the family. Thomas F. received little schooling, but was thoroughly drilled in the details of farm work. Since about eleven years of age he has resided in Scott County, Ark., and from there, on May 6, 1861, he enlisted in Company I, First Arkansas Cavalry, Confederate States Army. He was soon after taken sick, but upon recovering he joined another command and operated in Arkansas and Missouri, taking part in a number of skirmishes. He was married in 1869 to Miss Tabitha Ellen, daughter of Bayliss B. and Nancy Brashear, who came to Scott County, Ark., from Alabama, at an early day, Mr. Brashear dying here some years ago, his widow surviving him, a resident of Sebastian County. Mrs. Dollens was born in Alabama, and has become the mother of nine children. Mr. Dollens has resided on his present farm since before the war, and is now the owner of 640 acres of land, about 200 of which are cleared. He was justice of the peace for some years, is a member of Waldron Lodge No. 132 of the A. F. & A. M., and also belongs to the Farmers' Alliance.

Thomas M. Duncan
Thomas M. Duncan, the circuit clerk of Scott County, Ark., is a gentleman of wide experience, who has been actively interested in politics from his youth up. He was born at Fort Smith, Ark., in 1864, being the eldest of five children born to Samuel K. and Isabella (Gilbreath) Duncan, the former born in Kentucky and the latter in Arkansas. During the Rebellion Samuel K. Duncan came to Arkansas and located at Fort Smith, but after a very short residence there, came to Scott County, and has since been a resident of Waldron, near which place he has been engaged in wagon-making. Thomas M. Duncan was reared in this county and until he was fifteen years of age he was a regular attendant at school. At that age he entered the office of the circuit court clerk, and until 1887, server as deputy, being then appointed by the Governor to fill the office left vacant by the death of Clerk J.C. Gilbreath. At the special election he was elected to the position, reelected in the fall of 1888, and again in 1890, which fact speaks louder than words can do as to his ability as an official. He is a consistent Democrat, has always been an active worker for that party, and has always been deeply interested in the current issues of the day. Socially he belongs to Waldron Lodge No. 132 of the A. F. & A. M. He is bound to rise in the world, for he is industrious, intellectual and honest, and of strictly moral habits.

Charles A. Finley
Charles A. Finley is a merchant of the town of Waldron, Ark., being a member of Finley, & Hendricks, and by birth is a Tennesseean, born in Carroll County, in 1865, to Smith P. and Minerva (Bennett) Finley, they being also Tennesseeans, the father being a farmer by occupation. They were married in their native State, and to their union eight children were born, seven of whom are now living: Mattie (wife of J.B. Thomas), C.A. (the subject of this sketch), John W., Sindey W., Ada (wife of T. B. Dinwiddie), Robert A., Norma G., Dollie, and one that died unnamed. The father and mother of these children are still living, in Tennessee, and both are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the former being a member of the Masonic order of Macedonia. Charles A. Finley came to Arkansas in 1886, and settled in Crawford County where he was engaged in the dry goods business until January 1887, but moved the same year to Fort Smith. After traveling for Dyke Bros. until June 1889, he became a salesman for the Holmes Dry Goods Company, acting as their traveling salesman part of the time, about nine months out of the year being spent as salesman in their store. He has been a resident of Waldron, and soon after coming here formed a partnership with a Mr. Hendricks, and here has since been in the grocery business, and is, deservedly, doing well. He is an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, and, socially, belongs to the K. of P. He is a young man of exemplary habits, and as he is industrious and pushing, he is bound to make his mark in the world.