Joseph Bryant Shannon
SOURCE: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889
Contributed by Michael Brown
18 Oct 1998
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WASHINGTON COUNTY
Joseph Bryant Shannon, county clerk of Washington County, Ark., was born in
Crawford County, of the same State, November 20, 1851, and is the son of
Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Bryant) Shannon. The father was a native of Virginia,
of the Old Dominion, and a farmer by occupation. He came with his father, John
Shannon, to Arkansas when a young man (1827), and settled in Sebastian County,
of that State. He was married in Crawford County to Miss Elizabeth Bryant, a
native of Crawford County, Ark., and the daughter of Joseph Bryant, who was
also a native of Sebastian County, and who settled in Crawford County, Ark., in
1832. Jeremiah Shannon died when his son. Joseph B., was a small boy, and the
mother afterward married Rev. Thomas Dodson, who made a home in Madison
County, Ark., where Joseph B. grew to manhood. The subject of this sketch was
reared on a farm, and when a young man engaged in merchandising as clerk in a
store at Wesley, Ark. He afterward embarked in the grocery business at Wesley
for himself, but sold out and bought land in Washington County, Ark., in 1879.
He then engaged in trading and dealing in live stock for about five years, and
in 1884 he was elected clerk of the county, and was re-elected in 1886 with an
increased majority. After moving to this county he married Miss Minerva
Adaline Garrett, daughter of James and Charity (Kimmins) Garrett, and a native
of Tennessee. To them were born six children: Dora Gertrude, Maggie H.
(deceased), James Gunter, Martha Hasselteen, Tommie Juanita and an infant named
Mary. Mr. Shannon is a member of the K. of H. and K. of P. societies, and a
member of the Baptist Church. During the Grange movement in Wesley he took an
active part, and was a charter member of Wesley Grange.