GOODSPEED BIOGRAPHIES
Contributed by Charlene Holland
MILES KEENER
Miles Keener is the efficient postmaster of Waldron, Ark., and is recognized as one of the best citizens of Scott County, Ark. He first saw light of day in Lincoln County, N.C., in 1832, being the, second of seven children born to Moses and Elizabeth (Drum) Keener, both of whom were also born in the Old North State. The great-grandparents were citizens of that State and county, and both great-grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. The paternal grandfather, John Keener, lived near Rancour's Mills, where Gen. Cornwallis destroyed his supplies during Morgan's retreat from the battle of Cowpens. Moses Keener was a tiller of the soil, and first moved from his native State to Texas, in 1851, where he bought 320 acres of land, and there made his home until 1871, when he came to Scott County, Ark., and here passed from life in 1887 at the age of eighty years. He was a strong adherent to the Union cause during the Rebellion. His wife was called to her long home in 1886, a member of the Baptist Church. Miles Keener acquired a good education in a high school of his Native State, which institution he attended two years, at the end of which time he removed to Texas with his parents. He entered the Federal Army in 1863 at Fort Smith, Ark., becoming a member of Company I, Second Arkansas Cavalry, and was clerk in the provost's office at Berryville, Mo., for some six months. He was then promoted to sergeant major his regiment, and did service in Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi, but was disabled so that he could not do duty in the field. He was discharged at Memphis, Tenn., on April 20, 1865, after which he returned to his home in Texas and there continued to reside, where he was engaged in merchandising and stock-dealing until 1868, when he moved to Kansas, where he made his home for one year. In February 1870, he came to Scott County, Ark., purchased a farm of eighty acres and entered 160 acres more, ten miles southeast of Waldron. Besides his residence and town property in Waldron, he is the owner of 200 acres of land. For a number of years he was engaged in running a cotton-gin, saw and grist-mill in partnership with his father, but in 1882 bought property in Waldron, and soon after made this place his permanent residence. In August 1889, he took charge of the Waldron post-office, and has had the management of this office up to the present time. His union with his first wife resulted in the birth of six children: Thomas J., Ulysses Grant, Lizzie L., Fannie (wife of A. Hawkins), Sarah and Donia. Mr. Keener's second marriage took place in 1885, and was to Miss Sallie Frazier, a native of Arkansas. They have a family of three children: Moses Marmaduke, Chester Arthur and Susie. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and are quite active in church work, Mr. Keener being deeply interested in the progress of the public schools. He had the first sawmill in Park Township, and sawed much of the lumber that is in the buildings of that section.