Scott County Arkansas Biographies

Waldron News
15 January 1976
The Scott County Bicentennial Committee Salutes:
John Jackson Blalock

John Jackson Blalock was born Feb. 24, 1868 at Dalton, Georgia. He was married to Antonia Sayer August 15, 1886, and they came to Arkansas around or before 1889. They were the parents of eight children, six of whom lived and worked in Scott County. Of these, Fred is the only one now living. He is presently in Wichita, Kansas. Henry, Bob, and Fred were prominent lumbermen. "Uncle John" as most people knew him around here, spent most of his life in Scott County as a sawmill owner and lumberman. In the early days small mills were set up all over the county and lumber was hauled to local planers in town to be sold. The mill sets were small communities composed of the mill workers and their families and would sometimes stay in one place from two to four years before moving to another location. During 1917-1918, he had mills in the Cold Springs area, on Sugar Creek and Dry Creek. While in this area, he lost three sons within two weeks with the flu, leaving nine grandchildren orphaned. These he helped to raise and support for years. While on one of these sets on Pidgeon Creek, he had to deal with a strike of log and lumber haulers. His son and other workers tried to get the lumber to town to market. They were fired at from ambushes and one who still lives in Waldron carries a bullet in his leg because of this. He had over 1,000,000 feet of lumber stacked on mill yard at one time which he couldn't get to market. Most of his lumber was sold to C.E. Forrester, Burnett Lumber Co., and others here in Waldron. He owned and operated a mill, general store, and planer at Eagleton. He probably owned more sawmills and employed as many people in Scott County as any other one business during that period. "Uncle John" always had the interest of people at heart and was willing to come to the aid of anyone who needed help. He never had written agreements of his dealings - always said "his word was his bond" and that was true as all who had business with him would tell you. He died in October of 1945 and was buried in Duncan Cemetery. He was a member of the Methodist Church and was a Mason. Several grandchildren and their children still live in this area. He had a definite place in the past 100 years of Scott County and Waldron history. Happy Birthday Uncle John Blalock. Happy Birthday U.S.A.