Benton Co., AR - Biographies - M. R. Blevins
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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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M. R. Blevins, son of Allen and Clara (Owens) Blevins, was born in 
Bradley County, Tenn., May, 1837. The father was born in Sullivan 
County, Tenn., received a common-school education here, and was here 
married. He afterward moved to Bradley County while the Indians were 
still there, and assisted in banding them together to take them to the 
reservation set apart for them. Mr. Blevins continued to live in 
Tennessee until 1851, when he immigrated to Independence County, Ark., 
where he died the same year. His wife, Clara Blevins, was born in 
North Carolina, her parents leaving that State when she was but a 
small girl. She was married to Mr. Blevins in Meigs County, and became 
the mother of eleven children, seven now living: John, Michael R., 
Gideon T., Mrs. Lorinda Tunnel, Mrs. Malinda Millsap, Mrs. Myra Teal 
and Mrs. Mary Wood. Those deceased are William, Allen, Catherine and 
an infant. M. R. Blevins was but twelve years of age when his parents 
moved to Arkansas, and his father dying soon after, the support of the 
family was largely dependent upon his efforts. He only received a 
common-school education, and remained with his mother until twenty-one 
years of age, when he married Miss Elizabeth Wakefield, daughter of 
William and Jane Wakefield, who were originally from Mason County. 
Tenn. This union, which has been a long and happy one, was blessed by 
the birth of eleven children, nine now living: Allen, James, Charles, 
Mike, Robert, Mrs. Amanda Copeheart, Mattie, Clara and Ida. The two 
children deceased were named Florence and Annie May. Mr. and Mrs. 
Blevins live on the farm that they first settled, and raised their 
first crop with the aid of a yoke of cattle. During the war Mr. 
Blevins enlisted in Company A, First Cherokee Volunteer Cavalry, 
Confederate Army, and was in the battles of Honey Springs, Fort Wayne, 
Newtonia and others of less importance. During his absence Mrs. 
Blevins carried on the farm, doing the greater part of the work 
herself, and often went a distance of forty miles to mill. She was 
energetic and determined and kept her family from want. Returning home 
after his term of service had expired, he and twenty-three others, 
including his captain, took a trip through Old and New Mexico and into 
Colorado, where they remained until the close of the war. He then came 
home and resumed farming and stock raising, and handled cattle for 
about eighteen years. He has now an excellent farm of 340 acres, 140 
under cultivation. and has good buildings on the same. It was largely 
through Mr. Blevins' influence and efforts that the district school 
building was erected, and his children are all blessed with a good 
common-school education. Mr. Blevins is a strong Democrat, 
politically, and cast his first presidential vote for Breckenridge. He 
is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and his wife is a member of the 
Baptist Church.