GOODSPEED BIOGRAPHIES
Contributed by Charlene Holland
JAMES C. STANFORD
James C. Stanford is a merchant in the village of Cauthron, and by birth is a Georgian, having first seen the light of day in that State June 20, 1842. He is the youngest of five sons and four daughters born to William and Sarah (King) Stanford, both of whom were born in Georgia. James C., when a lad, received very limited educational advantages, as his father died when he was thirteen years of age, and he was placed in charge of the home farm, as his older brothers had left home to make their own way in the world. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate Army, becoming a member of Company H, Eighteenth Georgia Regiment of Infantry, and was in the battles of Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Boonesboro, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Knoxville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, siege of Richmond, and Farmersville, Va., where he was taken prisoner, being released on June 28, 1865, from Fortress Monroe, and at the battle of Chancellorsville was severely wounded. Although there were five brothers in the Confederate Army, all came through safely and are now the heads of families. The eldest brother, Franklin, was in the Mexican War; one resides in Alabama, and the others are near the old home in Georgia. When James C. returned from the army he again went to work on his mothers farm, and there remained until 1869, when he left there and came direct to Waldron, Ark., and here has since made his home. He homesteaded some land, nicely improved it, and of 170 acres of which he is the owner, four miles northwest of Waldron, he has eighty acres under cultivation, on which are a good home, barn and other necessary buildings. There is also an excellent orchard on the place, and the land is also well fenced. In January 1887, Mr. Stanford moved from the farm to the village of Cauthron and opened a general mercantile store, and besides the store building and the lot on which it stands he has thirty-six acres on which his residence is situated. He keeps a stock of goods worth $2,000 and his annual sales amount to about $6,000. He is quite extensively engaged in buying cotton, which he ships to Fort Smith, and is otherwise interested in the progress and development of this region. He was married March 7,1867, to Miss Sarah E. Taff, a daughter of W. H. Taff, a farmer of Barto County, Ga., and by her has the following children: William T. (who is a teacher and is giving his leisure time to the study of law), Acril J. (who is also a teacher, and he and William were educated in the State University), John F., Nellie L., Franklin A. and James B. The family worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, Mr. Stanford being a steward in the same. He is a Democrat in politics, and is liberal in the support of schools, churches, etc. He came here with no means but has now a good property.