Sidney M. Barnes
Submitted by Frederick Nolan
Sidney M. Barnes was born in Estill County, Kentucky on May 10,1821. On September 28, 1841 he was married to nineteen year-old Elizabeth Mize (b.August 14, 1822) at Estill Springs, near Irvine, Kentucky. A lawyer by profession, and owner of a large farm near Sturgeon, MO., he enrolled on August 26, 1861 as Colonel of the 8th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry at Lebanon, KY. and was credited in an obituary with having participated in many of the battles of the army of the Cumberland (troops from Estill County placed the flag on Lookout Mountain). His service record shows that in December 31, 1862 he was "placed in command of a convalescent regiment from Louisville to Nashville." He resigned his commission January 11, 1864 "because of personal affairs" and in 1868 he was the republican nominee for governor of Kentucky before moving to Little Rock, Arkansas, to practice law. In 1879 he was appointed US Attorney for the Territory of New Mexico and in 1881 successfully prosecuted William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, for the murder of Sheriff William Brady. At the end of his term he moved to Carthage, Missouri where he died of complications arising out of rheumatism contracted during the War. He left two daughters and two sons - Thomas H. and James K. Barnes--both of Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the National Cemetery of which place his body was brought to be buried in 1895 and where his widow Elizabeth lived until her death on February 25, 1904.



John C. Belt

The Indian Territory: Its Chiefs, Legislators and Leading Men
by H F and E S OBeirne

The subject of this sketch was born May 3, 1854, and is the eldest son of William F. Belt and Margaret I. John's parents moved from Tennessee to Arkansas in or about 1847, where they were in the mercantile business. In his younger days John was sent to a neighborhood school. Leaving his family about the year 1877, he commenced dealing in merchandise on his own account at Sans Bois, Choctaw Nation, in which business he continued for one year. In 1878 he moved to Hackett City, Arkansas, entering the same line (merchandise) and successfully following it for a period of six years. In 1884 he left there, removing to Brooken, Choctaw Nation, and here he continued for over six years, provin himself an excellent as well as a popular merchant. In December, 1890, he opened a stock in Eufaula, at the same time embarking in the livery business. In the August following he commenced the erection of an extensive building, 30x112 feet, and double-decked all the way round, handsome plate glass front, with large ware-rooms, and capable of holding at least %50,000 worth of stock. Although only just opened out, this fine house is furnished with over $30,000 worth of goods, of every possible variety, including all classes of general merchandise, and it's proprietor proposes to allow no competitor to sell goods at lower prices. Special attention is called to his clothing department, and here he carries a stock most varied in style and assortment. His livery stable has just been refitted and refurnished with buggies, hatness, etc., etc. He is also agent for the McCormack mowers and reapers. Mr. Belt was married June 24, 1876, to Miss Ida M. Kezette, stepdaughter to L. Quinn, of Fort Smith, Arkansas. By this marriage he had two children, Willie L. and George A., who died before he was eight months old, in Septembe, 1879, his mother having passed away in February of the same year. In 1884 Mr. Belt married Miss Artelle A. King, second daughter of Rev. E. W. King (of the M.E. Chuch, N.) of Sebastian County, Arkansas, a prominent and well-known clergyman. Mrs. Belt is a young woman of superior education. She was teaching in the public school at Hackett City, Arkansas, when she first met her husband. Mr. Belt is undoubtedlt one of the brighest amoung the young business men of the terriyoty, as is evidenced by the great success he has achieved within a very few yers. He is affable and courteous in manner, and is looked upon as highly honorable in all his business transactions. He is a member of the Masonic order, and has been for the past seven years, while for five years or ovr he has been a member of the Knights of Honor.




Mrs Artelle King Belt

The Indian Territory: Its Chiefs, Legislators and Leading Men
by H F and E S OBeirne

WIFE OF J. C. BELT. Artelle was born October, 1857, in Greenwood, Arkansas, and attended common school until the age of fifteen, after which she entered the Industrial University at Fayetteville, attending seven years, and graduating in the classical and normal courses in June, 1880. Being well adapted for teaching, Miss Artelle King taught school for two years in Hackett, Arkansas, and while there obtained the admiration and affection of her pupils, and, indeed, all with whom she came in contact.

During her stay in Hackett, Miss King became acquainted with J. C. Belt, and they were married at Fort Smith, Arkansas, December, 1883. After marriage Mrs. Belt gave up teaching, and has since helped her husband in the mercantile business. Mrs. Belt is a highly accomplished and most fascinating young woman, of great refinement and amiability of disposition. Ever zealous for the right, she is a stanch friend to the temperance cause, and all other measures and means tending to the moral elevation of mankind.



William Fadjo Cravens
1899-1974

Biographical Directory of United States Congress, 1774-2005
By United States Congress Andrew R. Dodge


Cravens, William Fadjo (son of William Ben Cravens), a Representative from Arkansas; born in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Ark., February 15, 1899; attended the public schools, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Oa., and was graduated from the law school of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va., in 1920; was admitted to the bar in 1920 and commenced practice at Fort Smith, Ark; during the First World War served as a seaman in the United States navy; city attorney of Fort Smith, Ark., for ten years; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-sixth Congress, by special election, September 12, 1939, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, William Ben Cravens; reelected to the four succeeding Congresses and served from September 12, 1939, to January 3, 1949; was not a candidate for re-nomination in 1948 to the Eight-first Congress; died in Fort Smith, Ark., April 16, 1974; interment in Forest Park.




Ben Cravens
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith



US Congressman. From 1898 to 1902, he was city attorney of Fort Smith and as prosecuting attorney for the twelfth judicial district of Arkansas, 1902-1908. In 1907, he was elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses. He was reelected in 1933, to the Seventy-third and to three succeeding Congresses serving until his death. His son William Fadjo Cravens of Arkansas, was elected to the Seventy-Sixth Congress, to fill the term of his vacancy.




The Life of Rufus Charles Cumbie
 from Dortha Idell Milam McDonald
Submitted by Gary Cumbie


Rufus Charles Cumbie was born July 20, 1854, in Jerome, Heard County, Georgia. His parents were Charles Cumbie and Nancy Jane Gamble. Nancy Jane was the daughter of David Gamble and Anna Finney. Rufus' paternal grandparents were Reuben and Margaret McCall Cumbie of South Carolina.

In 1860, Rufus Charles was 6 years old and lived in Rock Mills, Randolph County, Alabama. In 1870, he was 17 years old and lived in Jerome, Heard County, Georgia. For about ten years beginning in 1880, the Cumbies, Gambles, Rays and other families migrated from Georgia and Alabama to western Arkansas via riverboats. This included most of his siblings, their wives and children as well as his parents. Rufus taught school at Excelsior and Nickeltown.

On December 24, 1884, Rufus Charles married Rachel Eudora Blaylock, daughter of William Matthew Blaylock and Rachel (Kirk) Blaylock. Rachel was the daughter of John Kirk and Lucy (Long) Kirk of Anderson County, Tennessee. William Blaylock was the son of Charles Millington and Philadelphia (Kelly) Blaylock of North Carolina. William M. was born in Georgia.

Rufus and "Dora" had two girls born at Excelsior: Minnie Gertrude, born in 1885, and Clara Edna, born in 1887. They then moved to Sand Springs, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa. There he taught school and their third child was born, a boy, Plymouth Rufus "Clem", born January 1891. There were five more children born to the marriage: Ivan, Bessie, Walker, Bert and Ethel.



George Monroe Glasgow
Submitted by Glenna McCause




Pioneer Settlers of Sebastian Co., Arkansas

Enoch Marion Jones 1830-1927 &
Mariah Elizabeth Yeates 1838-1914


Enoch Marion & Mariah Elizabeth (Yeates) Jones Abt 1880
Married 16 May 1855 Decatur County, Tennessee

Compiler: Donald Earl McKinney,Jr
Visit His Web Site for more information about this family.


Enoch Marion Jones was born 31 May 1830 near Winchester in northern Franklin County, TN (near the Grundy & Coffee Co lines) where his parents Britton & Edy (Hardcastle) Jones owned land along the Elk River.

Enoch's father Britton was the son of Benjamin Jones, a Revolutionary War veteran from South Carolina who settled in Georgia with wife Susannah & several small sons (including Britton) during the 1790's, but eventually moved his family along the Elk River near Winchester in northern Franklin County, Tennessee by 1812.

According to family tradition, Enoch's mother Edy was part Cherokee and was born in the Cherokee country of western NC/SC. She was the daughter of Robert & Susannah(Wilkinson) Hardcastle, who also settled near Winchester in Franklin County, TN after leaving North Carolina about 1812.

Enoch's parents Britton & Edy were married in Franklin County, TN in 1817. Enoch's father died in 1845.

A few years after his father's death, Enoch along with his mother, brothers & sisters moved to Decatur County, Tennessee along the Tennessee River. They evidently resided in the extreme southeast corner of Decatur very near the Hardin County line and became close neighbors to the Yeates & Delaney families. Enoch's uncle, Allen Jones, also resided in this SE area of Decatur County. Allen had left Franklin County several years before.

In 1855, while still in Decatur County, TN, Enoch married Mariah Elizabeth Yeates, daughter of James & Margaret (Delaney) Yeates. Mariah was known as "Elizabeth" by her family & friends. Enoch's older brother Rev. John Henry Jones married Mariah Elizabeth's sister Martha Ann & a double wedding ceremony was performed. Also according to family tradition, Enoch & Mariah Elizabeth lived on a houseboat on the Tennessee River after their marriage.

This family tradition with the Arkansas & Tennessee descendants of James & Margaret Yeates also suggests that these two Jones families, around 1860, built a sturdy raft made of logs and traveled down the Tennessee & Mississippi Rivers and other tributories to northwest Arkansas. Both families eventually ended up in the Ozark Mountains near Jasper, Newton County, Arkansas where they resided along the Buffalo River for several years. Enoch's sisters Mary Warren (widow of Preston Warren) and Caroline Dial (wife of Isaac Dial) also settled in northwest Arkansas a few years later. Another sister, Harriet Dorthula Morgan, wife of Charles G. Morgan, settled in Mississippi as did brother Britton Washington Jones shortly before the beginning of the Civil War.

In 1863, during the Civil War, Enoch enlisted in the Union army, Co D, 2d Ark Cavalry at Jasper, Ark while his younger brother Britton, who, as previously mentioned, had moved on to Mississippi by 1860, joined the Confederate army, Co C, 42d Regiment Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, Heath's Division. Enoch's sister Dorthula's husband Charles Morgan also served in Co C of this 42d MS Regiment. It was truly brother against brother.

In 1870 Enoch with wife Mariah Elizabeth along with their daughter Margaret & their baby boy, William Enoch, moved to the Auburn/Center Valley area of Sebastian County, Ark. Mariah's sister Martha died in Newton County in 1879 and was buried in Old Cowell/Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Enoch's brother John H., now a widower, settled with his children near Webb City in Franklin County, Arkansas about 30 miles northeast of where Enoch lived. After a house fire, John moved his family to the Huntsville area of Madison County, Ark just north of the Boston Mountains. A few years after the war, Enoch's brother Britton left Mississippi & also moved his family to the Webb City area of Franklin County, Arkansas as did sisters Mary Warren and Dorthula Morgan. Enoch's mother Edy Jones & sister Susan Dial & family remained in Tennessee, but the widowed Susan moved on to the extreme southeast boot of Missouri in Dunklin County with her sons during the 1870's.

Enoch, through the years, had accumulated over 200 acres of prime farm land in Sebastian County within a mile of Franklin County in Section 33 of Township 7N (Bates) & sections 4 & 5 of Township 6N (Eagle) in Range 29 West. He lived less than a mile southwest of Rev Martin Alonzo East who also had acquired over 200 acres of farm land in section 32/33 & section 4 of these townships. Enoch's sister Caroline Dial resided east of him, south of Rev East's place, also in section 4 of Township 6N (Eagle). This area was on the north side of Backbone Ridge, northeast of the Big Creek Narrows and due east less than 2 miles from the old Center Valley Community, about 2 or 3 miles southeast of Auburn.

Mariah Elizabeth's mother Margaret Yeates & brothers John Wesley & James Henry Yates remained in Tennessee & resided just across the Decatur County line in Saltillo, Hardin County. They all kept in close contact with each other throughout the years.

Mariah Elizabeth died in 1914, but Enoch died many years later in 1927 at the ripe old age of 97. Both were buried in Pinnell Cemetery near Auburn, Ark, but this cemetery was relocated to the Center Valley Cemetery south of Bloomer during World War II, after the establishment of Fort Chaffee.
(Note: See notes on Mariah Elizabeth Yeates for more on her ancestors)

************

Mariah Elizabeth Yeates was born 23 February 1838 in Perry County, Tennessee, the daughter of James & Margaret (Delaney) Yeates. She was called "Elizabeth" by most of her family & friends.

Her father James was the son of Daniel & Arrilla (Williams) Yeates of the Onlow & Cumberland County area of North Carolina. James' mother died in 1808 while in NC and his father Daniel remarried, taking the family to Maury County, Tennesse where he himself died during the War of 1812, leaving young James & his siblings orphans. James left Maury County and settled near the Tennessee River in Perry County during the 1830's, the part that later became Decatur County. This is where he met Mariah Elizabeth's mother, Margaret Ann Delaney

. Mariah Elizabeth's mother, Margaret, came to Hardin County, Tennessee with her parents John & Ruth (Sherrill) Delaney from Greene County, Tenn around 1823. These families all lived along the Tennessee River near the small town of Saltillo in the same general area of Decatur & Hardin counties. As an infant, "Elizabeth" moved with family to Cape Girardeau Co, MO, but they all returned to Decatur/Hardin County area of Tenn about 1845.

.Mariah Elizabeth met her husband Enoch Marion Jones in Decatur County where they were married in 1855. Family tradition suggests that Mariah Elizabeth was also part Cherokee, probably from her mother Margaret Ann (Delaney) Yeates. Mariah Elizabeth's brother, John Wesley Yates and his descendants who remained in Tennessee share this same tradition. Old tintypes of the Yates/Delaney family strongly suggest this Cherokee ancestry. It was brother John Wesley Yates who changed the spelling of his branch of the family name to Yates during the Civil War. Mariah Elizabeth died in 1914. (See notes on husband Enoch Jones for continuation)

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Children of Enoch Marion & Mariah Elizabeth (Yeates) Jones:
Child 1: Margararet Ann Almerine Jones
Born: 1 Mar 1856 Decatur Co TN
Died: 2 Feb 1933 Auburn(Sebastian) AR
Married: George W. Langston in 1881 Sebastian Co AR

Child 2: Dr William Enoch Jones,M.D.
Born: 6 Jul 1869 Jasper (Newton) AR
Died: 25 Dec 1931 Little Rock(Pulaski) AR
Married: Annie Phoebe East 4 May 1887 Auburn (Sebastian) AR

Child 3: America Dorthulaa Jones
Born: 17 May 1875 Auburn (Sebastian) AR
Died: 29 May 1969 Auburn (Sebastian) AR
Married: William Kidwell Meeks 16 Dec 1891 Charleston(Franklin) AR





John & Narcissus Permelia Rutherford Jones Family

John 1813-1864 and Narcissa Permela Rutherford Jones 1817-1894

Robert Marion Jones 1851-1930, Family

Robert Marion Jones home 1951


By Lona Belle Thornton, b. 1906, dau of Robert Marion Jones and Mary King Jones, in 1980.

I hardly know where to begin to tell the history, as I know it, of my parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

I am the oldest of my dad’s living children, there being 20 in his two marriages. All the children from his first family and four of the second are gone. When Fort Chaffee was built in 1941, all the family that was left in that area of Sebastian County had to move and the government took over the home and property that had been in the family for over 100 years. We had no choice but to get out and take what they offered for the land. 240 acres of some of the best land in the county for which they gave us $3650.00, and my husband’s home place 80 acres, they gave $650.00 for it. No one can judge for themselves how we were so hurt to give it all up. My father was born and lived his lifetime there except for the year he rode with the U.S. Deputy Marshalls in 1872.

The memories and happiness as well as the sadness are all gone now, the only thing I find when I go into the area are some big trees, one where we kids all used to swing from a big limb, and the little cemetery which is known as the Jones cemetery.

A part of the woodland northwest of where the house and barn stood was fenced with rails split by my dad when he was a young man, they are all gone now also. An everlasting spring that kept a pond filled with water where the cattle and horses used to drink has all but disappeared. The 40-acre peach orchard I remember so well that my dad used to harvest and haul into Greenwood Ark where they were shipped to market. The horses and mules by father raised each year were sold to help take care of the farm and family.

Mother would raise a large group of turkeys that were ready for market at Thanksgivings and Christmas time. The Peoples Café that was on Harrison Avenue for so many years was one of her best customers.

There was a large basement under the house which my father built in the late 1800’s was filled with sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, pumpkins and canned fruit and barrels filled with apples that were packed in straw and we had fresh apples until Christmas.

A smoke house where he would cure the meat from 10 or 12 hogs that were butchered for our meat, and lard that was made from the fat, to cook with. Also plenty of sorghum for the family's needs. I remember during World War 1 when there wasn’t enough sugar to be had, mother would make ginger cakes and apple sauce cakes that would melt in your mouth. Plenty of milk and butter, eggs from the barnyard where there was always 40 or 50 hens for eggs to bake with or fry with the good ham we all enjoyed so much.

Dad was proud of his large family and lived to see the youngest to be 10 years old. He was a wonderful man and was loved by all who knew him, even though he has been gone 50 years I still miss him.

John Jones, his wife Narcissa (Rutherford) and three small children came to Ark in the early 1830’s and settled in a place called Auburn in Sebastian County. My grandfather homesteaded over 300 acres of land where he built a log cabin and seven more children were born. There he farmed and cleared the land which he cultivated to make a living for his large family. He left behind his parents, Samuel and Phoebe Jones in Greene County, Tennessee along with 5 brothers whom he never saw again. Times were hard and the winters were very cold. Their cabin had only two large rooms and a fire place at each end, a huge fire was always kept going to keep them warm and where the meals were cooked and served from iron kettles and bread baked in what we now call iron skillet or dutch oven.

My Grandfather taught school in a one room schoolhouse. Times were so hard a lot of the children could not attend school because they had no shoes or warm clothing for the winter months.

My Grandfather raised sheep for the wool which was spun into thread and cloth made from it which my grandmother made into clothing for her family of 10 children. Everything was hand made even the beds were nailed to the wall benches to sit on, made from split logs and hewn down and smoothed to sit on.

After the children began to grow up the Civil War broke out and it wasn’t long until Grandfather and the two older boys, (George and William Clinton) who were both married had to go. Grandmother and her family were left to get by the best they could. Uncle George got a chance to get back home to see his young wife he had left behind to which a baby girl had been born and he was killed by some Carpet Baggers, (Bush Wackers) that were near by. His wife ran to him and he died in her arms. A few days later those same Carpet Baggers came back and burned my Grandmother’s home and left them homeless, penniless and only the clothes on their backs. They had no choice but to walk 30 miles to the old fort in Fort Smith for food and shelter.

Sometime after that my Grandfather was severely wounded but couldn’t get home for some time, died from his wounds after returning back to his family. Friends and family rebuilt the log cabin, it was still standing in 1941 when Fort Chaffee was built and the government took over the property.

My Grandfather is buried here in the National Cemetery as an unknown soldier, (unmarked grave) and my uncle George is buried in the Jones Cemetery on the home place. An uncle is also buried there who was hung by the Bush Wackers. (This was Narcissa’s brother, Augustus Rutherford) My dad Robert M. was a small boy and a friend drove a wagon under the body of the uncle and sat my dad on his shoulders so he could cut the rope to let him down.

A colored lady was living with my Grandmother when our house was burned by the Carpet Baggers (Bush Whackers) and they also took the horses and cows from Grandmother. They took the colored lady and put her upon the bell horse (the bell was put on so the horse could be located) they also took my dad who was a small boy, as they drove them ahead of the livestock, the colored lady, who always called my dad little Bobby, said when we get the horses running around a grove of trees jump off and hide in the field. He made his way back home after the house was burned to the ground.

Robert Marion Jones grew up to raise a large family on the homestead where his father died after his injury in the war. Being married twice, he had ten children by his first marriage, and ten by his second marriage. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, a 32nd degree mason, a good friend and neighbor to all who knew him. Sixteen of his twenty children grew up and married. John Paul (Robert Paul) died in world war one, Samuel was killed by an army truck in 1942. Two grandsons were killed in World War Two and the Korean War. Joseph Lemuel Jones worked 29 years for the Light and Traction Company on the street cars here in Fort Smith. Ralph B. Jones started a grocery business in the early 1920’s in Fort Smith, which his son and daughter still operate, Jones Grocery located at 2100 N. 6th street. There were 83 grandchildren they represented many professions. There were: Businessmen, Lawyers, Engineers, Minister, Farmer, R.N.’s, Housewives, Salesmen, School Teachers, and Secretaries. Of the twenty children six are still living; Mrs. Lona Thorton of Fort Smith, Marshall Floyd Jones of Barling, Ark., Lillian Blanche Lamb of Van Buren, Benjamin and Lloyd Jones of Los Angeles California, and Louisa Opal Hayes of Madera, Calif.

The Parnell Cemetery, where our father, grandmother and several other members of the Jones family were buried, was moved by the government when Chaffee was formed. It was moved to a hillside just east and south of Bloomer. It broke our hearts to give up the home and place where we all grew up but it was worse to see all those graves disturbed. So most of our family that has passed on are scattered over Sebastian County and Oklahoma

In 1872 my dad, Robert M. Jones, was a U.S. Deputy Marshall of this area. While on the trail of some horse thieves he was shot through the arm just above the wrist. The bullet passed between the bones and didn’t leave much of a scar. When I was a little girl I used to sit on his lap and feel that scar, and he would tell me about some of the times he had. I wish I had listened better and remembered more about the life he talked so much about. He was a wonderful man and a good father, he loved us one and all and he worked so hard to make a home for us. I can remember the little cane bottomed chair that sat near the fireplace where he would kneel and pray each night. And we always had to be seated at the table before he would ask the blessing when we ate.




John Sebastian Little
1851-1916
Twenty-first Governor of Arkansas (1907)

originally published in Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives
& appears in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture

John Sebastian Little was active in Arkansas Democratic Party politics for thirty years, holding the positions of prosecuting attorney, judge, congressman, and finally being elected governor in 1906. Persistent health problems ended his gubernatorial term very early, prompting accelerated efforts to provide the state with an elected lieutenant governor.

Born in Jenny Lind (Sebastian County), on March 15, 1851, Little was reputedly the first male child born in the newly created Sebastian County. Known was "Bass" Little, he was the son of Jesse and Elizabeth Tatum Little, pioneer settlers in western Arkansas. He grew up on the family's farm and attended local schools.

In 1871-72, he spent a single term at Cane Hill College in Washington County. For the next three years, he taught school near his home while studying law under Judge C. B. Neal of Fort Smith (Sebastian County). Admitted to the bar in 1874, he briefly practiced law in nearby Greenwood (Sebastian County), before transferring his practice to Paris (Logan County) in about 1875. On January 4, 1877, he married Elizabeth Jane Irwin of Paris. The couple had five children.

Shortly after settling in Logan County, Little became active in Democratic Party politics. In 1876, he was elected prosecuting attorney of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit on the Democratic ticket and reelected for three additional two-year terms. In this position, he established himself as a highly effective courtroom performer and acquired a wide circle of friends and supporters. After returning to Greenwood, where he maintained his residence for the remainder of his life, he was elected in 1884 to represent Sebastian County in the lower house of Arkansas General Assembly and served in that capacity for one term during 1885. Elected judge of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court in 1886, he held that position until 1890. In 1890, he entered the fourth district congressional race against incumbent William L. Terry of Little Rock (Pulaski County) but withdrew from the race because of "nervous exhaustion." The press implied that Little's malady was as much emotional as physical. Apparently fully recovered by the summer of 1894, Little was elected to the United States House of Representatives, an office that he held until 1907.

Closely associated with William Jennings Bryan, a House colleague from Nebraska, Little was an ardent champion of "free silver," prohibition, and antitrust legislation. Despite his concern for government economy, Little regularly sought and often secured expensive federal projects for his congressional district, including bridges and post offices.

Little decided to seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Arkansas in 1906, the same year that the incumbent governor, Jeff Davis, attempted to unseat veteran United States Senator James H. Berry. Little's chief rival for the gubernatorial nomination was Robert L. Rogers, the state's independent-minded attorney general, who had alienated Governor Davis. Davis, therefore, threw his support to Little and verbally attacked Rogers. Little projected the image of a moderate who would restore harmony, decency, and unity to Arkansas's Democratic Party. He avoided the blatantly racist tactics and anti-urban, anti-business biases that characterized Davis's career. He attempted to withdraw from the governor's race in 1906 presumably because of another episode of his nervous disorder, likely a severe form of melancholia, but was persuaded to persevere by his supporters. Victorious in the Democratic primary, Little won the general election, defeating his Republican opponent, John I. Worthington, by a vote of 105,586 to 46,262.

At his inauguration as governor on January 18, 1907, Little outlined a legislative program encompassing the proposals that he had discussed during the campaign. He called for free public school textbooks, the establishment of a textile school, greater support for the state university, abolition of the convict-leasing system, additional legislation to regulate corporations, the suppression of gambling, a comprehensive system of drainage and levees, improvements in roads, and an employers' liability law.

Two days before his inauguration, reports of Little's "indisposition," followed by rumors of his death, circulated widely. The governor suffered a recurrence of melancholia within two days after his inauguration and, for a week or more, disappeared from view. Little returned home to Greenwood on the advice of his physicians, leaving his son, Paul Little, who served as his secretary, in charge of the governor's office. Official documents were delivered to Greenwood for Little to sign.

Despite optimistic reports that Little would soon return to Little Rock to resume the duties of his office, he failed to do so. Failing to respond to treatment, the governor departed on February 11, 1907, for an extended period of recuperation to the Texas coast. On the date of the governor's departure for the Gulf Coast, the president pro tempore of the state Senate, John Isaac Moore, became acting governor.

Since the existing state constitution did not make provision for a lieutenant governor, the established practice was for the president pro tempore of the state senate to become acting governor in the absence of the elected governor. When Little suffered a relapse and was unable to resume office by May 14, 1907, the date that the legislature adjourned, the newly elected president pro tempore of the state senate, Xenophon Overton Pindall, became acting governor and served for virtually all of the remainder of Little's term. In 1908, Allen H. Hamiter, speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives, had himself sworn in as acting governor when acting governor Pindall was out of state attending a conference. Hamiter served as acting governor for five days (May 9-14, 1908). Pindall resumed the office of acting governor upon his return to Little Rock and revoked Hamiter's call for a special legislative session. When Pindall's term as president pro tempore of the state Senate expired on January 11, 1909, his successor, Senator Jesse M. Martin, served as acting governor for three days until the inauguration of George W. Donaghey as governor. The musical chairs of acting governors following Little's prolonged illness revived discussion of the need for an elected lieutenant governor. Such an office was approved by the voters of Arkansas in 1914 and confirmed by a decision of the state Supreme Court in 1926. In November 1926, Harvey Parnell became the state's first elected lieutenant governor.

Little never regained his health or resumed the office of governor. He died on October 29, 1916, in Little Rock at the Arkansas State Hospital for Nervous Diseases and was buried in City Cemetery in Greenwood.

For additional information: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1971.
Donovan, Timothy P., Willard B. Gatewood Jr., and Jeannie M. Whayne, eds. The Governors of Arkansas: Essays in Political Biography. 2d ed. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1995.
Little, Freed S. John Sebastian Little, 1851-1916: The Great Commoner. N.p.: 1994.

Willard B. Gatewood
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
This entry, Arkansas Biography is available from the University of Arkansas Press.




Charles Munder

Charles Munder, of Fort Smith, Ark., was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg in 1821, and is a son of Charles and Dorodtha Munder, who were also natives of Wurtemburg, the former being a civil engineer, and a son of William Munder, who was a farmer and an only son.

Charles Munder, the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, learned the stone-cutter's trade in his native land, and at the age of twenty-eight years came to America, landing at New York City. He only remained a short time in this place, then went to Philadelphia, where he worked at his trade for about two months. After a residence of three months in Cincinnati, Ohio, he located in St. Louis, Mo., where he made his home for nearly two years. He next took up his abode in Louisville, Ky., thence to Bradford, Ind., and back again to Louisville, and then to Memphis, Tenn., where he worked in the navy yard.

He came to Fort Smith in 1852, and here has since made his home and worked at his trade. During the late war he served in the Confederate army, and is now a Democrat in politics.

He was married in Fort Smith to Miss Amelia Euper, by whom he became the father of five children, Paulina. Charley, Amelia, Anton and M. M. Amelia is deceased. The mother and children are members of the Catholic Church




Joel Kinsey Oldhum

 Brothers Joel & Joseph






Able Warren
1814 - 1884

Find A Grave & North American Families Histories


Abel Warren, who established a trading post in Fannin County, Texas, in 1836, was born in Northboro, Massachusetts, Sept. 18, 1814. At the age of twenty-one he set out for the southwestern part of the United States. He arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Here hunters and trappers told such fabulous stories of Texas wild life that he immediately gathered about him a company of young adventurers with the aid of an Indian guide set out for Texas. They settled on Coctau Bayou on the banks of Red River within the extreme northwestern angle of what is now Fannin County. There he and his associates built a log stockade and storehouse and began to barter for hides and furs. The prairie Indians, Warren's most profitable customers, were too far to the west, and the civilized Five Tribes, who were north of Red River, too, preferred to trade through their own agencies. These two facts caused Warrne's venture to fail. Settlers started coming into the prospective trading area, so that Warren finally deserted his post and returned to Fort Smith, leaving his memory impressed on the history of our county in the name of Warren, it's first seat of justice. He died at Lavaca, Sebastian County, Arkansas 3 APR 1882 and is buried at Oak Cemetery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Children: William S Warren 1854/1863, Ida Frances Warren 1856/1867. Sarah Greenwood Warren 1859/1867, Mary Elizabeth, Frank Herbert, Sabra C, and Emma Louise.