GOODSPEED BIOGRAPHIES
Contributed by Charlene Holland
Judge Daniel Hon
In these days of moneymaking, when life is a constant struggle between right and wrong, it is a pleasure to lay before an intelligent reader the unsullied record of an honorable man. To the youthful it will be an incentive to honest industry, and will teach them a useful lesson, Mr. Hon was born in this county, in 1860, being the eldest of three children born to Jackson and Lucy (Huie) Hon. Prior to marrying Miss Huie, Mr. Hon had been married twice, and became the father of thirteen children, four of whom are now living. He was born in Illinois, as was his third wife, Miss Huie, but was one of the first settlers of Scott County, Ark., coming here about 1836, and being one of the founders of Waldron. He was a farmer and stock-raiser, and was the owner of 1,500 acres of fine farming land on the Poteau, but the war left him sadly impoverished, and before he could fully retrieve his losses, he died, his death occurring in 1872. His wife died in 1868. Peter Hon, a half-brother of the subject of this sketch, died while serving in the Confederate Army. Daniel Hon was reared in Scott County, and until he was sixteen years of age he worked on the farm and attended the schools in the neighborhood. He then entered the State University at Fayetteville, and being a faithful and earnest student, he graduated from this institution in 1882. In 1883 he began the study of law, and after teaching school until January 1885, in order to obtain means with which to defray his expenses, he entered the well-known law school at Lebanon, Tenn., from which he graduated the same year. After being admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Arkansas, he came to Waldron, and opened a law office, where it was not long before his ability and knowledge of his profession began to be seen and recognized. In 1886 he was elected to the position of county and probate judge being reelected in 1888. In September of the following year he formed a partnership with A.G. Leming and together they have practiced in all the courts of this judicial district. Judge Hon owns a fine tract of farming land, comprising 500 acres, it being situated on Poteau Creek, 100 acres of which are under cultivation. On this finely improved place 1,000 pounds of seed cotton are raised to the acre, corn and the small grains being also raised in abundance. The land is about five miles from Waldron, and is very valuable. Mr. Hon was married in October, 1888, to Miss Maggie Gaines a native of this county, daughter of F.C. Gaines, who was born in Scott County also, he being a son of James F. Gaines, a pioneer of this region from Virginia. Mrs. Hon, who is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, has borne bar husband one child, Lucy. F. C. Gaines, Mrs. Hon's father, was sheriff of Scott County for a number of years, and also represented the county in the State Legislature. His father, James F., was a pioneer merchant and farmer, represented this county in the State Legislature also, became the owner of a large body of land on the Fourche River, and during his day and time, was the most prominent man of the county. Mrs. Hon's maternal grandfather, Judge J. H. Torbett, was county and probates judge of Scott County in an early day and died while a member of the State Legislature, a widely known and highly honored citizen.