Dr. Jefferson Davis Southard 1861-1937 Source: Arkansas, Northwestern Counties History, 1889 Dr. J. D. Southard, one of the prominent practitioners of Upper Township, is a native of Franklin County, Ark., where he was born in 1861, being the son of M. and Sarah (Murrell) Southard. The father was born and reared in North Carolina, and moved to Tennessee in an early day. He is a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and spent about ten years in Tennessee engaged in his ministerial duties. He came to Arkansas in 1858, settling in Franklin county, and here he now resided. Of the eight children born to his union with Miss Murrell, Dr. J. D. Southard is the seventh in order of birth. He entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, Ky., in 1884, and took the degree of M.D. in 1886. He also took a post-graduate course at the New York Polyclinic in 1888. After taking his degree in 1886 he came to Fort Smith, located, and has been practicing his profession since that time. He became a partner with Dr. J. W. Breedlove in April, 1887. He is a member of the county and State medical societies, of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. (Note: Dr. Southard died in 1937 at Fort Smith. He was the husband of Helen Blanch Foristell and father of Dr. Jefferson Sherlock Southard a physician at Fort Smith.) Another Biography - Dr. Jefferson D. Southard, a practicing physician in Fort Smith for forty-eight years, was a native of Arkansas, born in Franklin County in 1861, the son of the Rev. Micajah Southard, Jr., and Sarah Murrel Southard, and a direct descendent of Samuel Lewis Southward, former governor of New Jersey, United States Senator and Secretary of War in the National Cabinet. The father, a minister of the Methodist Church and one of the early circuit riders of Arkansas was born in Buncombe county, North Carolina, and moved to Arkansas in 1858, after stopping in Tennessee for ten years, where he married. Dr. Southard graduated from the Louisville Kentucky School of Medicine in 1886, did post-graduate work at the New York Polyclinic, then began his medical practice in Fort Smith. He was a pioneer in the use of the Roentgen-ray in the treatment of Tuberculosis of the lungs and bones. Very active in the Sebastian County Medical Society, he served that organization as secretary for five terms, and was twice president of the Arkansas State Medical Society in 1895. Dr. Southard delivered a speech at the Arkansas Medical Society on May 21, 1919, “The Prevention, Control and Cure of tuberculosis”. Senator Robert L. Owens of Oklahoma, who had a bill pending in Congress for an appropriation for the control of tuberculosis, was so impressed with Dr. Southard’s plan, he had it published by the Government printing office and had it distributed on broadcast. Dr. Southard proposed Federal jurisdiction of the tuberculosis question, and his recommendations and suggestions were highly complimented by medical authorities. On November 12, 1890, Dr. Southard was married to Miss Florence Corrine Sherlock, daughter of Samuel H. and Margaret (Power) Sherlock.