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Sidney O. BarnettSidney O. Barnett, farmer, Bison, Ark. Mr. Barnett owes his nativity to Cleveland County, where his birth occurred on November 7, 1862, and is now following a calling that has for ages received undivided efforts from many worthy individuals, and one that always furnishes sustenance to the ready worker. He is the son of Hon. Nicholas V. and Olive A. (Matthews) Barnett, natives of Montgomery, Ala., born in 1828, and Hernando, Miss., respectively. When but seven years of age, Nicholas V. Barnett came with his father, Nathaniel Barnett, a native of Alabama, to Arkansas (1835), when the country was a wilderness, inhabited by wild animals and Indians. The grandfather assisted in cutting a road from Pine Bluff to Warren, the former being the nearest trading point and post office, and the principal part of the trading was done at New Orleans by flatboat. Nathaniel Barnett died in Red Land Township, in 1852. He was a very successful farmer and hunter. He was of English descent. The father of our subject was reared in what is now Cleveland County, and became, one of the leading land owners and stockraisers in the same. He owned, at one time, 9,000 acres of land. Besides being a successful farmer he was also a lawyer of no ordinary ability, and in 1880 represented Cleveland County in the Legislature. He died in that county on May 7, 1887. During the late war he served four years in the Confederate army with Gen. Hindman. He was a prominent Mason, Royal Arch Chapter at Kingsland No. 69, and was past master. He had been a Mason since 1854, was a member of Grand Lodge, and was known in that capacity all over the State. He was married three times, his second wife being our subject's mother. The mother died in 1862, and was a daughter of Stephen Matthews, who was a native of Arkansas, where he had lived until 1856. Mr. Matthews then moved to Arkansas and settled in Smith Township, Cleveland County, where he improved a good farm and spent his life there. He was a well-to-do farmer, and died about 1869. He was, at one time, treasurer of Bradley County, and well known throughout the same. He was a hard-shell Baptist, was married twice, and reared a large family of children. Sidney O. Barnett, the fifth of seven children, received a common school education, and was married November 23, 1886, to Miss Sallie V. Rogers, a native of Red Land Township, Cleveland County, and the daughter of Dr. A. D. and Mary J. Rogers. The Doctor was born in Georgia, was a graduate of the Philadelphia Medical College, and was married in what is now Cleveland County. He was a man of superior education, and became one of the leading physicians, practicing for thirty years. He was sheriff of Cleveland County from 1878 to 18 79, was a member of the Methodist Church, and was a much esteemed citizen. During the late war he served in the Confederate army, and held the rank of lieutenant, part of the time. He was captured near home and held as a hostage at Little Rock, for some time, but was released before the close of the war. His wife was born in what is now Cleveland County, and is still living near her birthplace. Her father, William Davis, was one of the pioneers of this part of the State, where he died previous to the war. He was a farmer. Mr. Barnett lived in Pine Bluff from 1885 to 1888, where he filled the position of book-keeper, for Gould & Co., and Marsh & Atkinson, one year each. Since then he has resided at Bison, where he has a good home. His wife is the owner of about 640 acres, including the farm, where his grandfather Matthews settled, and is one of the leading farmers of the county. He is a Democrat in politics, and cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland, in 1884. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Culpepper Lodge No. 186, Rison, and is junior warden of the same, and a member of Kingsland Chapter No. 69. He is Grand Master of the first veil.
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas |
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