Page 108 - Jefferson County AR 1889 History (Goodspeed)

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JEFFERSON COUNTY. 215

Iing, and althongh not in active battle, his money souled woman, loved by everybody, and possesses

and prayen were always n t h the Confederate army. the domestic virtu- to an extraordinary degree.
Afterthe war he representedBradley County inthe , She is a member of the Methodist Epiecopal

1legislature, but was disfranchised by the military Church, South, and her kindness and charitable
,allthoritie~under the re-~onet~uctioauct, nntil disposition toward the needy and distressed have

1871. He was then re-enfranchised by virtue of I almont placed her on the pinnacle of worship. She

the constitution of 1871. I n August, 1874, hewas has added greatly to her husband's snceess in life,

elected judge of the Tenth judicial circuit, and re- and aided him in building up his fortune before
the war. After that event, when so many Southern
Ie l e d in 1878, each time for four years at a salary
Iof 12,600 per annum. Like his father, Judge homes had heen made desolate and fortunes swept
away, she again encouraged him to put his shoul-
/Sorrells is an ardentDemocrat, andin a letter from

father to son oocnrs this characteristic expression: : der to the whnheel and buoyed up his dmopiugspirit

I"I pray for the success of the Demmintic party I by her loving help. They have five children liv-

and the Christian religion." From such teachings ing, all of whom were born in Bradley County:

!Judge Sorrells hxe never deviated, and in politics ! Mary (who graduated from Hockcr Female College,

he is as unohanging as the sun. He opposed the at Lexington, Ky., in 1872 with first honors, and

Fishback an~endment,but favors the insertion of j married in 1873 to William L. De Woody, a popu-

(the temperance reform or prohibition plank in the ' lar druggist of Pine Bluff), Theodore (a farmer),

Democratic platform of the State of Arkansas. I n William (a druggist of Hot springs, A r t ) , Emma

regard to the payment of disputed State deb&, he I (Mrs. T. E. Gillespie), and Walter (still a boyj.

is in favor of a settlement on the basis of judicial I Judge SorreHs inherited no property, but made it

decisions. During the war he was an ardent. ue. a11 himself. At the breaking out of the war he

Icessionint, and is now a warm friend to the foster- I was worth $100,OT.O in lands and slaves, and at the

iog of Sonthern industries, in order to make the close of that event had lost all but $10,000 in land.

South self-sustaining. To effect this he advocates I He is now worth upward of $50,000, which is all

a board of commissioners on emigration, to be es- . the result of his own energy and business tact. as-

:tahlished at New Orleans, for the purpose of re- sisted hy the good advice of his wife. As an in-

ceiving foreign emigrants, and taking care of them stance of his pluck he came from Memphis, on the

nntil they can disperse and settle throughout the I deck of a steamboat, for want of money to pay his

South, so that her resournee may he more fully de- : passage in the cabin, and upon reaching Qaines'

veloped. Judge Sorrells was initiated into the Ma- ! Landing, had not a dollar in the world Fmm

sonic fraternity at Camden. Ark., in 1851, and that point he went to Camden, Ark., on foot, and

has taken all the Council degree8 and held the at that point commenced to lay the foundation of
office of high priest. I n 1874 he became a mem- : his fortune. He made 9620,000 by various enter-

ber of the Odd Fellows at Pine Bluff. He was j prises, and the balance he has accumulated from
married in Bradley County, Ark., on May 27, ( his practice. Judge Sorrells has thereputation of
1851, to Miss Rebema M. Marks, a daughter of i being one of the most energetic men in the State,

John H. Marks, a member of the Arkansas legis- I and his success justifies that conviction. On the

lature in 1842, and at whose place the battle of bench he has given universal satisfaction as an

Marks' Mill was fought in April, 1864. Her honest,, upright judge. As an evidence of this,

mother was before her marriage Miss Mary Bar- his majority a t his last election was 4,663, in a

nett, of Alabama, adanghter of Nathaniel Barnett, total vote of 10,000. Asalawyer he bas beenvery

one of the most prominent planters in that State : successful in criminal practice, never having a
during his life. Mrs. Sorrells is a niece of the I client hanged, and only one that was sent to the

late Judge Kenyou, a distiugulshed lawyer and penitentiary. As a speaker he is valued for his

judge of Georgia. She is a noble-hearted, whole- forcible and convincing arguments, rather than for