COUNTY LEADERS - This photo was made by C.N. Collins, photographer, about 1905
in Searcy. All these men were citizens of Searcy and were over 80 years old.
Pictured from left, front row, are Robert J. Rogers, Stephen Brundidge Sr.,
Stephen Perry, William Fletcher Sales; back row, Jesse Newton Cypert, William
A.B. "Billy" Jones and John F. Rives.
Turn-of-Century Photo Shows
County Leaders
Searcy Daily Citizen, November 18, 1990
ersons entering the courtroom of the White County
Courthouse may note a turn-of-the-century photo of some of Searcy's leaders of
the day. At the time the photo was taken, each of the men was over 80 years old.
One of the men in the photo is the man who wrote the contract for the
original part of the Courthouse, Jesse Newton Cypert. Cypert was the White
County delegate to the Secession Convention, the Constitution Convention when
Arkansas was admitted back into the Union, and the convention when the state's
present constitution was written.
Cypert practiced law in Searcy and was elected judge of the circuit court in
1874.
Stephen Brundidge, also pictured, was in White County before 1860. He was a
prominent brickmason and built many brick structures in this county. His son,
Stephen Brundidge Jr., was a lawyer and was the congressman from District 2 from
1897 to 1909.
Another leader in the picture, Stephen Perry, was a merchant and his
business evolved into the Robbins Sanford business. One of his daughters married
Robbins and another married Sanford. He, too, was in White County before 1860.
William Fletcher Sales was known as Col. Sales. He served in the Confederate
Army. His wife had a family on a plantation near Helena.
William A.B. Jones was also in White County before 1860. He was a merchant.
His home was located on the lot where the Dr. Porter Rodgers home now stands and
was used as a hospital by Union troops during the Civil War.
Also show in the photo are Robert J. Rogers and John F. Rives.
The White County Courthouse is the oldest courthouse in Arkansas still used
for the original purpose.