Biography of Charles D Pruet, Greene Co, AR

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Submitted by: Michael Brown
        Date: 5 Sep 1998
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas

page 168

Capt. Charles D. Pruet (deceased) was one of four brothers who came from
Tennessee to Arkansas in 1857, and engaged in farming and stock raising, and various
other enterprises. He was born in Roane County, Tenn., in 1827, and was married on
the 23d of January, 1847, to Miss Caroline M. Nelson. After coming to Greene County,
Ark., he entered a tract of land on which he located and began improving. In 1862 he
joined the Confederate forces, being lieutenant of his company, and was soon after
advanced to the rank of captain, and was in the army twenty-two [p.168] months,
participating in the most of the battles in which the Army of the Cumberland was
engaged. He was wounded in the engagement at Chickamanga, and also at Murfreesboro,
so severely in the latter battle that he was compelled to return home. In 1870 be
embarked in mercantile pursuits on his farm, in partnership with his brother Robert,
and did a thriving business there for ten years. In the fall of 1882 he started a
general store in the then new town of Paragould, being one of the first merchants of
the place, and was alone in business until 1886, when he formed a partnership with D.
D. Hodges, and the firm name was changed to C. D. Pruet & Co., remaining as such
until Mr. Pruet's death on the 20th of August, 1887. He was a prominent Mason, and
was buried by that order. He operated a cotton gin on his farm for many years, and
was engaged in stock raising and dealing. He left a fine farm of over 500 acres, the
most of which was in a high state of cultivation, and also left behind him a name
that will long be remembered, for he was honest, industrious and enterprising, and
known to be a stanch supporter of church and educational institutions. He was well-
known throughout the country as a man of unimpeachable honesty, and was possessed of
exceptionally fine business qualifications, and natural characteristics which won the
respect of all. He contributed the most of the means for the erection of a church
near his home, and did much to build up the town of Paragould, being one of the best
business men of the place. He was followed to his long home by numerous friends and
neighbors who had known and loved him in life, and is now sleeping in the cemetery
near the scene of his greatest usefulness. He was married in 1875 to Miss Irene
McElwee, a native of Tennessee, who came to Arkansas with her mother in 1873. Her
father, Samuel McElwee, was an extensive farmer and died in 1865. Mrs. Pruet's mother
resides with her on the homestead in Arkansas.