Clark-Pike County ArArchives Biographies.....Alford, John E. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 June 15, 2009, 2:10 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

JOHN E. ALFORD, M. D.
    Dr. John E. Alford, physician and surgeon, successfully practicing in
Okolona, Arkansas, was born near Kirby, in Pike county, this state, May 22,
1871. His father, Dr. W. D. Alford, was born in Alabama and came to Arkansas
with his parents when a small boy. The grandfather, the Rev. Ewing Alford, after
serving in the Mexican war, being on active duty in Texas, came to Arkansas. In
the early '40s he had removed from Texas to Pike county, this state, and cast in
his lot with the pioneer settlers of that locality. The family comes of English
ancestry and was established on American soil before the War of 1812, the first
representative of the name settling in Virginia and afterward participating in
the second war with England under General Jackson, taking part in the battle of
New Orleans. Thus for considerably more than a century the Alford family has
been found on this side of the Atlantic and for more than two-thirds of a
century has been represented in Arkansas. Dr. W. D. Alford, father of Dr. John
E. Alford, is still living at the notable age of eighty-seven years, his home
being in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, where he formerly engaged in the practice of
medicine for a long period but is now retired. He was at one time county
treasurer of Pike county for two terms and during the Civil war he served as
head steward in a hospital at Little Rock, where he was stationed when the city
was captured by the Federal troops under General Steele. He was with the army
throughout the four years' period of the war. His wife, who bore the maiden name
of Rebecca Sharp, died in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, in 1898, at the age of
fifty-eight years. She was born near Greeneville, Tennessee, and the Sharp
family removed from that state to Pike county, Arkansas, in 1840. being also
numbered among the early pioneer settlers of that locality. The Sharp family is
of Irish lineage, the grandfather of the Doctor having come from Ireland to
America in the '30s. He fought under General Jackson in the Seminole Indian war
in Florida. It was near Murfreesboro, Arkansas, in 1870, that Rebecca Sharp
became the wife of Dr. W. D. Alford and to them were born three sons, all of
whom are living.

    Dr. John E. Alford, the eldest of the family, was educated in the common
schools of Pike county and in the high school at Murfreesboro, after which he
took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in Hempstead and Pike
counties for four or five years, or until 1894. In that year he began studying
medicine in the Barnes University of St. Louis, Missouri, and later was
graduated from the Gate City Medical College at Texarkana, Texas, winning his M.
D. degree in 1906. From the time when he began the study of medicine in 1894 he
was engaged in practice in Pike, Montgomery and Clark counties, although he did
not obtain his professional degree until 1906. His medical education was
acquired through his own efforts, his earnings supplying him with "the money
necessary to meet his tuition and the other expenses of his college course. In
1900 he opened an office in Black Springs, Montgomery county. Arkansas, where he
remained until 1908 and then went to Polk county, this state. A little later he
located at Caddo Gap, where he continued from 1909 until 1918, successfully
practicing medicine there. In the latter year he came to Okolona, where he has
remained, and here he is successfully and extensively engaged in the general
practice of medicine and surgery. He is also serving as health officer of
Okolona and during the World war he was a member of the Volunteer Medical Corps.

    Dr. Alford was united in marriage to Miss Occo Mauuey, a daughter of M. M.
Mauney of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, the wedding being celebrated July 21, 1897.
They are parents of a son and a daughter: Millard Williams, nineteen years of
age, who is attending the Henderson-Brown College at Arkadelphia, Arkansas,
where he is studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree and is also editor in chief
of the Star, a college manual; and Alice Dell, who graduated from the Okolona
high school in 1922.

    Dr. Alford is a Mason, belonging to Rob Mori Lodge No. 106, A. F. & A. M.,
of Okolona, of which he is past worshipful master, while at the present time he
is serving as secretary. He was raised a Mason in Pike Lodge, No. 91, at
Murfreesboro in 1899. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal
church, South, and along professional lines he is connected with the Clark
County Medical Society and the Arkansas State Medical Society. He has reached
high standards in his profession and his ability is constantly increasing as the
result of his experience, his wide study and thorough investigation. He holds to
the highest ethical standards of the profession and he commands the respect of
his professional brethren and of the laity as well.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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