W. A. Tomlinson, Calhoun County, AR

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SOURCE: Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
Contributed by Carol Smith.
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Calhoun County, Arkansas - from Goodspeed's History of Arkansas

W. A. Tomlinson, the efficient sheriff of Calhoun County, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1856, the eldest of a family of thirteen children born
to H. A. and Martha V. (Harrison) Tomlinson, natives of Georgia and North Carolina, respectively. The father was for a long time in the employ
of the railroad, beginning as a hand and working up to engineer. In 1859 he moved to Arkansas, settling in Union County, where he bought land
and followed farming until the outbreak of the war. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army and served three years. He was taken prisoner
and confined at Fort Delaware for several months. At the close of the war he returned to his home and farmed for one year in Ashley County,
then in Union County until 1880, when he moved to Calhoun County, where he still resides. Our subject was reared on a farm, attended the
common schools and one course at Soule's Commercial College at New Orleans. His first occupation after leaving school was to cut a raft of
timber on the Ouachita River and float it down to New Orleans. He then spent a few months in Texas, but in 1880 returned to Calhoun County
and made a crop on his father's farm. He now owns a farm in partnership with his father, of 320 acres, 100 of which are under cultivation. In 1881
he was employed as deputy sheriff for three years. In 1884 he was elected county treasurer and served on term. In 1886 he was elected sheriff,
and was re-elected in 1888. He has always been active in politics, and votes with the Democratic party. In January, 1885, he was united in
marriage to Miss Ida Shofner, a native of Calhoun County, and daughter of H. P. Shofner, a pioneer of this section. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Tomlinson are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1888 Mr. Tomlinson joined Mr. Pickett in a drug and grocery store, under
the firm name of Pickett & Tomlinson, and in 1889 added to this a line of general furnishing goods. Mr. Tomlinson is one of the active spirits of
this county, a good citizen and a progressive business man.