Angela Medora Duval
SOURCE: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889
Contributed by Michael Brown
18 Oct 1998
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SEBASTIAN CO
page 1309-1310
Mrs. Angela Medora Duval, widow of Dr. Elias Rector DuVal, was born in Van
Buren, Ark., December 9, 1841, and is a daughter of Dr. J. A. Dibrell. She was
reared in Arkansas, and educated in Richmond, Va., and on the 8th of May,
1860, was married to Dr. DuVal, and soon after took up her residence in Fort
Smith, where she has since made her home, and in her commodious and handsome
residence on Hickory Street is devoting her time and energies to the education
and culture of her children, whose names are as follows: Annie [p.1309] Medora,
who was educated in the University of Arkansas, at Fayetteville; Ben. T., who
is attending school in Tennessee; Dibrell LeGrande and Angela M. Elias R.,
another child, died in 1864, at the age of eleven months. Dr. J. A. Dibrell,
the father of Mrs. DuVal, was born in Nashville, Tenn., August 15, 1817, and
was educated in the university of that city. He studied medicine for three
years under the instruction of Dr. Thomas R. Jennings, and graduated from the
medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, and has been a
practicing physician of Van Buren, Ark., for forty-one years, except during the
late Civil War. His wife, Ann Eliza (Pryor) Dibrell, was also born in
Nashville, October 8, 1825, and became the mother of five children: Angela
Medora (Mrs. DuVal), James Anthony, J. A., Thomas H. and Ann Eliza. Mrs.
DuVal's paternal grandfather, Edwin Dibrell, was clerk in the Federal Treasury
under President Polk, and was a descendant of the French Huguenots. His wife,
whose maiden name was Martha Shrewsbury, was of English lineage, and was born
in Kentucky. The great-grandfather, Anthony Dibrell, was a wealthy planter and
a member of the Virginia Legislature. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary
War, and fought through the entire conflict for our national independence,
being wounded in the fight at Guilford Court-House, and was carried off the
field by the noted giant, Peter Francisco. The Pryor family are of Virginia
stock, and are related to the Jefferson family by marriage. Dr. Elias Rector
DuVal was born in Fort Smith, Ark., August 13, 1836, and received his literary
education in the Arkansas College, Fayetteville, graduating with the degree of
A.B. in 1854, at the age of eighteen. The next two years were spent in the
Louisville and Philadelphia Medical Colleges, graduating from the latter
institution as an M. D. March 6, 1858, also having the degree of A.M.
conferred upon him. He served in Lieut. Steen's command in New Mexico as
acting surgeon of the United States Army, but in 1859 retired to private life
in Fort Smith, where he not only rose to be one of the leading physicians and
surgeons, but became one of the leading men of the State. His talents were not
limited to his profession, but extended over a large area, and much of his time
was devoted to the improvement and development of the county and community in
which he resided, the public schools testifying to his ability and discreet
management. In medical circles no man in the State stood higher, and he was a
member of the Fort Smith Medical Society; was president of the Sebastian County
Medical Society in 1872; president of the State Medical Society during 1874-
75, and was a permanent member of the American Medical Association. He was
president of the Fort Smith Board of Health, and a member of the State Board
of Health of Little Rock. In 1861 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the
Confederate army, and the same year was promoted to the post of surgeon. In
August, 1862, he was promoted to chief surgeon of the Second Division of the
First Army Corps, of the trans-Mississippi Department, and in March, 1863, was
appointed medical director for the entire department. Among his published
writings, worthy of especial mention, are “Bucnemia Tropica,” “Malarial
Hæmorrhagic Fever,” “Influenza,” “Cerebro Spinal Fever,” “History of the
Cholera in Fort Smith in 1866,” and “Eclampsia Puerperalis.” Dr. DuVal had
taken all the York Rite degrees of Masonry, and had been Worshipful Master,
High Priest of the Chapter, Most Worshipful Grand Master of the State, and for
two years successively was Grand High Priest of the State; one year, Right
Eminent Grand Commander of the Knights Templar, and was for a number of years
chairman of committees on Masonic history, and is the author of the “History
of Masonry in Arkansas.” He voted against secession prior to the war, but
afterward espoused the cause of the Confedcracy, and throughout the
remainder of his life was a consistent Democrat. He died on the 7th of
October, 1885, lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He was
a son of William DuVal, who was a direct descendant of the French Huguenots.
His grandfather was of the Maryland line of DuVals. William resided for a
number of years in Virginia, and came to Fort Smith, Ark., in 1825. He was
much beloved by the Indians, with whom he traded, and was sent as their
representative to Washington, D.C. Dr. E. R. DuVal, in his private life, was a
refined Christian gentleman, in his family the center of every attraction,
being idolized by all hearts. His distinguishing characteristics were charity
for the feelings and opinions of others, and his firm convictions of right,
ever in his lectures denouncing infidelity and showing the evil tendencies of
skepticism. His sweet memory will live with us until we are [p.1310] carried to
our last abode. While his noble deeds will diminish in the lengthening distance
when viewed by future generations, yet in heaven they are written with
imperisbable characters, and the angel of light has brightened the page with a
record of his noble deeds.