Biography of Elias Malone - Conway Co, AR *********************************************************** Submitted by: Cathy Barnes Date: 21 Jun 1998 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************** SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Western Arkansas. Goodspeed Publishers, 1891. page 88 Elias Malone, prominent among the farmers of Conway County, and a resident of Union Township, was born in Franklin County, Alabama, in 1844, and is a son of A. D. and Mary A. (Tapp) Malone, who were natives of Alabama and Mississippi, respectively. Married in the latter State, and after a short residence there removed to Alabama, but afterward returned to Mississippi, where they made their home till 1856, when they immigrated to Conway County, and spent the first year in the, river bottom; they resided in Washington Township till after the war, when they removed to Union Township, where Mr. Malone spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1869, at the age of 48 years. Mrs. Malone is now a resident of Plummerville, and is a Missionary Baptist, and about 60 years old. Her father, Vincent Tapp, was a well-to-do farmer of Tippah County, Mississippi, where he died. Mr. Malone was an industrious and successful farmer, and a well-known and respected citizen, and was a son of Pumphrey Malone, who was a Virginian by birth, but spent his last years in Franklin County, Alabama. He was a farmer by occupation, and was of Irish ancestry. The subject of these memoirs (Elias Malone) is the eldest in a family of six sons and four daughters, six of whom survive, and all residents of Conway County. Elias was reared when there were no free schools in Arkansas; hence, his education was obtained by his-own effort. In 1864 he enlisted in the Federal army, in Company B, of the Third Arkansas Cavalry, and operated in Central and Western Arkansas, till the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged at Little Rock. He participated in several sharp skirmishes, and was once captured in Gregory Township, but was soon after released and rejoined his command. The same year of his enlistment (1864) he married Miss Sarah J., a daughter of Isaac and Ann Whitson, who were both born in 1822, the father in Arkansas, and the mother in North Carolina. Mrs. Whitson was a daughter of Harrison Bruce, who was among the earliest pioneers of what is now Conway County, having become a resident of this portion of Arkansas as early as about 1823. Here he spent the remainder of his life. His wife died at Atkins. Mr. and Mrs. Whitson were married in Conway County, where they spent the rest of their lives, the latter dying in 1860, and Mr. Whitson about three years later. He was a successful farmer. He served as Constable and Justice of the Peace, and for a short time was a soldier in the Confederate army, being discharged on account of ill health. Mrs. Malone was born in Conway County, and is the mother of eleven children, of whom two sons and four daughters are living. Mr. Malone has spent the larger portion of his life in the neighborhood of his present home, and in 1876 purchased his present farm, then with about twenty acres cleared, and he now has about 140 acres under a fine state of cultivation, 200 acres in all. He is a self-made man, a good citizen, and his property and success in life is due to hard toil and economy; and everything that tends toward the upbuilding of the county meets with his most hearty co-operation and support. For about twenty-three years Mr. Malone has been a member of the Springfield Lodge, No. 127, A. F. and A. M., in which he has served as Junior Warden, etc. He is a Democrat in politics, and both he and Mrs. Malone are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.