Capt. Claiborn W. Cauthron
SOURCE: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889
Contributed by Michael Brown
18 Oct 1998
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SEBASTIAN CO
page 1301
Capt. Claiborn W. Cauthron, furniture dealer and undertaker of Greenwood. Ark.,
is a native of Logan County, Ark. He was born near the town of Boonville in
1832, and is a son of Col. Walter and Bashaway (Wilson) Cauthron, and grandson
of Claiborn Cauthron. Walter Cauthron was born in Franklin County, Ga., in
1797, and was of Scotch-English descent. At the age of twelve years he moved
with his parents to Kentucky, where they remained three years; they then moved
to Southwest Illinois, where his father died about 1818. He subsequently went
south by way of Natchez, Miss., and as far as New Orleans, La.; he then went up
the Mississippi and Red Rivers as far as Shreveport, La., then going (by land)
up the Red River to what was known as Lovelace's Purchase. He settled down
there, and engaged in farming; here he met and married Miss Bashaway Wilson in
1822. She was born in Lawrence County, Ark., in 1803. Mr. Cauthron moved to
Scott County in 1824, and settled on the Petitjean River, two miles west of
French's Prairie. Walter Cauthron was one of the first white men to settle in
Western Arkansas. He came here when there were but very few settlers in the
western part of the State. Wild animals were in abundance, such as buffalo,
elk, bear, wolf and deer. He was fond of hunting, and had many thrilling
adventures with the wild beasts of this wild country; there were plenty of
Indians here also. He left this first settlement in 1826 or 1827, and moved to
a place near the town of Booneville. Settling in the woods, he soon opened a
farm and engaged in farming and stock raising; he also sold goods one year, and
built the first cotton-gin in Scott County. About this time the county seat was
located on a plat of land adjoining his farm. The county militia was then
organized; Mr. Cauthron was elected colonel, but owing to the dissipation of
the town the Colonel became dissatisfied with his surroundings, having a family
of boys growing up; he moved in 1837 eight miles southwest of Booneville, to
what is known as Cauthron's Prairie, named in his honor, and here he opened a
farm and engaged again in farming and stock raising. School and church
facilities were rather poor; he succeeded, however, in giving his five boys
and four girls a fair English education, all of whom lived to have families of
their own. In 1849 his wife, Bashaway, died, leaving him a family of nine
children, and in 1850 Col. Cauthron married Mrs. Elenor S. Burton, nee Garner,
who was born in Kentucky. He still resided on his farm, and in 1852 he was
elected county judge of Scott County, and served one term. In 1854 his eyes
became sorely afflicted, which terminated in the loss of his right eye and
almost total blindness. He was a man of much influence and public spirit. His
unbounded hospitality was known throughout the country, and many of the
pioneer itinerant preachers of the country have found food and shelter under
his hospitable roof; indeed, his house was a place of public worship for many
years, and it was a common thing for a large part of the congregation, who
assembled at his house for worship, to take dinner with him after services, and
spend a portion of the afternoon in social chat. Few of the people of the
present age can appreciate the state of society in the early days of Arkansas;
there was a degree of liberality and equality among all of the people which is
to-day unknown among our citizens. In 1864, when the country was overrun with
the Federal army, Col. Cauthron and family refugeed to Bowie County, Tex. At
the close of the war he returned to his home on Cauthron Prairie, where he
lived until the death of his second wife, which occurred in 1875; Col. Cauthron
then broke up housekeeping, and lived with his children the remainder of his
life. He was a stanch Democrat, always taking a lively interest in the
politics of the country; had been a member of the Christian Church for many
years before his death, which occurred in 1877. Capt. Claiborn W. Cauthron was
born and grew to manhood on a farm. [p.1301] In 1852 he went to California
with the long train of gold seekers, going overland, and taking six months to
make the journey. He here engaged in mining for about six years, and then
returned by way of Panama, Aspinwall, Key West and New Orleans, and arrived at
his old home in June, 1859, where he engaged with his father in farming and
stock raising; they were making arrangements for an extensive stock farm. When
the war broke out he was found defending his home and native State against the
invaders. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Second Arkansas Mounted
Rifles, and was in the engagements at Pea Ridge, Murfreesboro, Jackson, Miss.,
Dug Gap, Resaca, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville and others; was with
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in his last battle in North Carolina. He entered the
service as a private, but before the battle of Murfreesboro he was promoted to
the rank of second lieutenant. In 1864 he was given the command of his
company, but was not commissioned as captain until the spring of 1865. He was
wounded several times, the first time at Murfeesboro, where he was wounded in
the right hip by a shell; again, at Jackson, Miss., he was wounded in the left
leg by a shell, which fractured the bone, and he was wounded in the left hand
with a shell at Franklin; had his haversack and canteen shot off of him in
front of Nashville by an eighteen-pound shell, but was never hit by a lead
ball. He was paroled at Greensboro, N. C., in May, 1865, and afterward went to
Bowie County, Tex., where he found his parents, where they had gone during the
war. In December, 1865, he returned with his father and step-mother to the old
home in Scott County, and engaged in farming again. During the reconstruction
period a new county was formed of territory from Scott, Yell, Johnson and
Franklin Counties; Cauthron Prairie was in the act taken from Scott. This new
county was first called Sarber County, but afterward changed to that of Logan.
In 1869 Capt. Cauthron married Miss Louesa C. Moody, who was born in Walker
County, Ga., in 1848, who bore him one son, Justin. In 1881 Capt. Cauthron
moved to Sebastian County, Ark., and located one mile west of Greenwood, and
in 1883 he moved to Greenwood, and in June, 1884, he lost his wife, and in
December the same year he returned to Logan County; in 1887 he came back to
Greenwood, where he engaged in the furniture and undertaker's business. He is
a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.