Faulkner County ArArchives Biographies.....Downs, J. H. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 June 2, 2009, 11:38 pm

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

J. H. DOWNS, M. D.
    Dr. J. H. Downs, who since 1907 has engaged in the practice of medicine in
Vilonia, came to the starting point of his professional career well equipped for
the duties which have since devolved upon him. He is a native son of Vilonia,
his birth having occurred on the 31st of May, 1881, a son of William J. and
Martha Jane (Munn) Downs, the former a native of Mississippi and the latter of
Tennessee. The paternal grandfather came to this state in 1861 with his family
and upon the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the army. He was killed
while in active service. The maternal grandparents came to Arkansas in 1862. Mr.
Munn was a tailor and shoemaker and he followed those trades in Faulkner county
until his death in 1870, at the age of fifty-five years. William J. Downs came
to Faulkner county with his parents in 1861 and was reared to manhood on a farm.
In later life he engaged in farming on his own account, clearing two farms in
this county. He was one of the successful general farmers and stock raisers in
the community and resided on one of his farms until his death in 1905, at the
age of fifty-three years. In 1875, in Faulkner county, Mr. Downs was united in
marriage to Miss Martha Jane Munn and to their union eight children were born:
John W., who is a traveling salesman for a well known concern in Little Rock;
Dr. L. E., a prominent eye, ear, nose and throat doctor of Los Angeles,
California; Robert F., a successful merchant in Ardmore, Oklahoma; James A.,
whose death occurred in 1908. at the age of twenty-one years while a student in
Hendrix College; Thomas C., who for many years previous to his demise in 1920
was a traveling salesman out of El Paso, Texas; Prudie E., who is teaching
school in Clarendon, this state; Dr. J. D., whose name initiates this review;
and Mary L., who died in 1917. She was the wife of Professor C. F. Forrest of
Englewood, Colorado. The family was reared in the faith of the Methodist
Episcopal church, South, of which church Mr. and Mrs. Downs were consistent
members. Fraternally the father was identified with the Woodmen of the World and
his political allegiance was given to the democratic party.

    It was on the old home farm that Dr. Downs spent his boyhood, attending the
country schools near by. In due time he became a student in the high school at
Vilonia and after graduating from that institution enrolled in the medical
department of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He received his M. D.
degree in 1907 and immediately located in Vilonia, where he has since practiced.
In a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit he has
made continuous progress and is today accounted one of the leading physicians of
Faulkner county.

    In Naylor, this county, in 1906, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Downs
and Miss Ida J. Reynolds. Four children have been born to their union: Seth,
Dennis, Paul and Mildred, all attending the public schools of Vilonia. Mrs.
Downs is prominent in the club and social circles of the community and is
readily conceded by her many friends an excellent housewife and mother.

    Since attaining his majority Dr. Downs has given his support to the
democratic party and he believes that every citizen should exercise the right of
franchise and, moreover, that each should thoroughly inform himself concerning
the political conditions and the significant problems of the age. His religious
faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church. South, and fraternally he is
affiliated with the Masons. In the line of his profession he holds membership in
the American, Arkansas State and Faulkner County Medical Societies, which
enables him to keep in close touch with what is being done by eminent members of
the medical fraternity. Dr. Downs holds to high professional standards and puts
forth conscientious efforts to make his labors of the utmost value to his
patients. That his work is attended by gratifying results is manifest in his
constantly increasing patronage and that he holds to high professional ethics is
evidenced in the fact that his fellow practitioners always speak of him in terms
of high regard.


Additional Comments:

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


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