Biography of William P Huddleston, Independence Co, AR

***********************************************
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by: Michael Brown
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgenwebarchives.org
***********************************************

----------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas. 
Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

page 679 

Hon. William P. Huddleston is the name of a prominent farmer and a
fitting representative of Independence County, who moved to that locality when
the surrounding country was a wilderness, and has remained to see its present
fortieth year of civilization under the leadership of sturdy spirits like
himself. He was born in McNairy County, West Tenn., on March 24, 1836, and is a
son of William P. and Sarah (Hodges) Huddleston, of Claiborne County, East
Tenn. The father was a man of more than ordinary ability, and for a number of
years was a teacher in the public schools of his native State, and a noted
scholar. In 1849 he emigrated with his family to Independence County, Ark., and
located in what is now Gainsboro Township, where he purchased a tract of land
and began a home. He filled many civil offices with distinguished ability. None
but the pioneers of Arkansas can fully understand the dangers and hardships
that surrounded the early settlers of this State, when, for days and weeks,
they had to contend with the terrors of a new country without the support and
companionship of any civilized beings besides themselves. On May 1, 1877, the
elder Huddleston died, and was followed by his wife on April 3, 1886. William
P. Huddleston grew to manhood with his parents, assisting them with the duties
of the farm, and in the early struggles of his life displayed the same strong
character and firmness of will that characterized his father. He commenced in
life on a farm of eighty acres, but his industry and fine judgment have
increased it to 500 acres, of which 200 acres are under cultivation. During the
struggle between the Union and the rebellious States he was an ultra-Union man.
In the spring of 1861 he became a member of the Arkansas State militia, and
from the 28th of May, 1862, until the close of the war, served in the Federal
army as dispatch-bearer and scout. It was in the stirring times of battle that
the finer metal of the man was discovered; when the modesty and unassuming
appearance of the individual gave way to the brave and gallant soldier in many
a charge through shot and shell. On July 28, 1861, [p.679] Mr. Huddleston was
married to Miss Martha J. Ward, of Lincoln County, N. C., who emigrated to
Arkansas with her parents in 1859. This union was a happy one, and six children
were given to the parents, of whom four are yet living. After the death of this
wife Mr. Huddleston was married on September 9, 1877, to Miss Orpha E. Blair,
and by this marriage has had four sons and one daughter. Mrs. Huddleston is a
native of East Tennessee, and came to Arkansas with her mother in 1869. Her
father, Napoleon Blair, was a soldier in the Confederate army, and met his
death from a wound received at the battle of Atlanta, Ga. Politically Mr.
Huddleston was formerly a supporter of the Democratic party, and still adheres
to the true principles of Democracy as laid down by Jefferson. In 1885 he
identified himself with the labor organization, known as the Agricultural
Wheel, and was elected to the lower house of the XXVIIth General Assembly of
Arkansas as the candidate of that body, which position he filled with
distinguished ability and to the satisfaction of his constituents. He is a
member of the Knights of Honor and a Royal Arch Mason. He has filled all the
stations in the Blue Lodge with distinction to himself and satisfaction to the
craft. He is a past High Priest of Dannerly Chapter No. 57, of Sulphur Rock,
Ark. He is an active member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and a liberal
contributor to the cause of Christianity and suffering humanity wherever
dispersed about the inhabitable globe.