Page 84 - Jefferson County AR 1889 History (Goodspeed)

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JEFFERSON COUNTY.

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where he attended school, taking a thorough com- ' and his henlth being ponr. he wended his way

mercial course. I n 1867 he came to Arkansas and , southward, and landed a t Little Rock, A r t , in

i located at Montiwllo, where he was married in December, 1835, where he a t once found friends
October, 1868, to Mim Bettie White, a native of and congenial employment as a clerk in a store.
Tennessee, and the d a n g h h of Charles C. White. In 1847 he followed his whilom employer and

( Mr. Marsh was book-keeper at Montic~Uoone year, friend to Pine Bluff, Ark.. continuing in the same
after which he followed agricultural pnrsrtits for line of bnsiness. Pine Bluff then had b t t three

two years, and then moved to Bakada, where he stores and few houses. I n 1848 he opened a store

was engaged in merchandising, and waq also inter- of general merchandise, which he prosecuted snc-

I ested in the lumber business. He then resnmed wssfully nntil 1800, when he sold ont. He was
his former occupation of tilling the soil, and in , postmaster also dnring most of this time. He, like
1874 moved to Pine Bluff, where he was occupied i many others, suffered heavily from the ravages of

as book-keeper nntil 1877. Subsequently he was , war, and also by reason of tbe bankruptcy of others

I .on the road as traveling salesman for about three thereafter. Enough of his good earnings were left

years, and then in 1881 began the general mercan- hlm, however, to enable him to add to his landed

tile business with limited capital. He soon worked ; property by the purchase, at reduced prices, of

up a fine trade and now has the largest commission ' available lands and city lots that have since ma-

house in Pine Blnff, doing an annual trade of terially enhanced in value. His planting interests

/abont $400,000. To his marriage were born two i are constantly becoming more extensive, and he

interesting children: Elmo and Ada, and he and has now fully 900 acres of good bottom land in a

family are members of the Baptist Church. Mr. j nice state of aultivation. Mr. Merrill is the
Marsh has served as alderman of his ward for two / founder of the "Merrill Institnte," not yet com-

terms and to the satisfaction of all. He is amem- i pleted. At a cost to him of at least $20,000, and

ber of the Masonic Lodge. being P. M. of Pine on a choice and valnable lot by him deeded, be bas

Bluff Lodge No. 09; H. P. of Lafayette Royal Arch aansed, under the auspices of a board of tmsteea

Chapter No. 7; E. C. of Damascus Commandery ; previously selected by him, to be built a brick

No. 8. K.T. ; C. R. of Sahara Temple, A. A. 0.N. : building, %x114 feet, three stories in height, with

M. S., and D. D. G. M. of the Third district. a tower. containing a lactnre hall, a library, a well

Joseph Merrill. capitalist, Pine Blnff, Ark. equipped gymnasinm, and commodions parlors, for

No name is justly entitled to a more enviable place the nseof the young people of the city, to improve

in the history of Jefferson County than the one them physically, morally, and spiritually. When

that headn this sketch, for it is borne by a man , completed, the building will be a credit to the
who has been usefully nnd honorably identified ' architect, and the institution an honor to its donor.

I with the interests of this county, and with its ad. Mr. Menill is near eighty years old, and remark-

1vancement in e.very worthy particular. He wns ably active. He was never quite strong, yet by

/ born in Rockingham County, L K. and is the moderate care bids fair to add many more years 10
Ison of William and Mary (Sweat) M~rrill. There i his usefnlnem.
were three sons and one daughter in the fumily, G. Meyer, one of the leading boot and shoe

Joseph being the young& He was reared in ; merchants in Pine Blnff, whose bnsiness has been

New England, and at the age of eleven years waa I established since 1856, first in partnership with

!apprentbed nntil twenty-one to learn the trade Marks Levy until the war, and since then alone,

Iof shoemaking and tanning. At the close of his is a native of Bavaria, Germany, and was born

apprenticeship he workedat his trade for five years on July 4, 1886. His parents were Henry and

in Boston. He then went West, stopping at Sid- Marion (Came) Meyer, also natives of Germany,

ney, Ohio, where h e had a shoe-shop for nearly where both parents resided until their death. I n
three years. The business not being remunerative, : 1851 Mr. Meyer left his native eonntry and sailed

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