Pulaski County ArArchives Biographies.....Rhoton, Lewis 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 17, 2009, 12:02 pm

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

LEWIS RHOTON.
    The legal profession demands not only a high order of ability, but a rare
combination of talent, learning, tact, patience and industry. The successful
lawyer must be a man of well-balanced intellect, thoroughly familiar with the
law, with a comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence,
possessed of an analytical mind and a ready grasp of every point that bears in
any way upon the questions at issue. Splendidly qualified in these particulars,
Lewis Rhoton has gained an enviable position at the Little Rock bar, where he
now devotes his attention to the general practice of law, although his early
professional connection with Arkansas was that of a teacher. He comes to this
state from Indiana, his birth having occurred in Henry county, May 13, 1868, his
parents being Franklin and Susanna (Garrett) Rhoton, the former a native of
North Carolina, while the latter was born in Virginia. The father followed
farming throughout the greater part of his active life and for many years was
not only a progressive agriculturist of Henry county, but also one of its
leading and valued citizens. He gave his political support to the democratic
party and both he and his wife were consistent members of the Dunkard church,
enjoying the high respect and confidence of all who knew them. They continued
residents of Henry county until called to their final rest.

    Their son, Lewis Rhoton, pursued his early education in the public schools
of his native county and afterward matriculated in the Illinois State Normal
School at Normal, Illinois, being there graduated as a member of the class of
1883. He then turned to the profession of teaching and secured the position of
principal of the high school at El Paso, Illinois, where he remained until
September, 1890. In that year he came to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he
continued his educational work as principal of one of the ward schools until
1894. He then accepted the appointment to the principalship of the high school
of the city, serving in that capacity for two years. In the meantime he had
largely devoted his leisure to the study of law and in 1894 was graduated from
the law department of the University of Arkansas. In 1896 he took postgraduate
work in the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and
in December following opened an office in Little Rock, where he has remained in
the active practice of the profession. Mr. Rhoton, as few men have done, seems
to realize the importance of the profession to which he has devoted his energy,
and the fact that justice and the higher attitude of mercy he often holds in his
hands. His reputation as a lawyer has been won through earnest, honest labor and
his standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability. He has held various
important positions in the strict path of his profession. From 1901 until 1904
he filled the office of deputy prosecuting attorney of Pulaski county and was
afterward elected prosecuting attorney for the sixth judicial district and so
capably and efficiently served that he was reelected in 1906, while in 190S he
was nominated for the third term. He proved a most able prosecutor, standing at
all times for law and justice, and he was active in the prosecution and
conviction of the members of the legislature of 1905 who were indicted for
bribery in connection with the legislation pending before the general assembly
of 1905. In June, 1908, he resigned the office of prosecuting attorney and
surrendered the nomination for a third term, although such nomination was
equivalent to an election. Since then he has given his undivided- time and
attention to the private practice of law and has a clientage of notably large
and distinctive character. In November, 190S, he was appointed assistant general
attorney for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company, of which
he became general attorney in the succeeding year, remaining as the incumbent in
the office until January 1, 1910, when he resigned that he might give his
undivided attention to his private practice. From 1900 until 1906 he was
lecturer in the law department of the University of Arkansas, and the student
body and the faculty bore testimony to the value of his service in this connection.

    In 1896 Mr. Rhoton was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Riffel, a native of
Greenville, Ohio, and a daughter of the late James K. Riffel, who was a
representative citizen of Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. Rhoton have two children:
Riffel Garrett and Bayara Francis, the former born in 1899 and the latter in
1904. The elder son was graduated in 1915 from the Little Rock high school and
in 1918 from the Annapolis Naval Academy, at which time he was commissioned a
lieutenant and assigned to the destroyer Allen. He thus served until November,
1918. The naval base of operations of the Allen was at Queenstown, Ireland, and
when the war was over he was assigned to the battleship Mississippi, on which he
is now doing duty.

     Mr. Rhoton is well known as the author of a'valuable textbook on civil
government, entitled Arkansas and the Nation, which is today widely used in
public and private schools of this state. The cause of education has ever found
in him a stalwart champion and suporter and from 1904 until 1908 he was a member
of the board of education of Little Rock, serving during the last two years of
that period as president. In 1908 he was reelected a member of the board, but
within the same year resigned. His political allegiance has always been given to
the democratic party, and he takes a most loyal interest in everything that
tends to advance the public welfare or is a matter of civic virtue or civic pride.


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


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