Biography of Patrick Henry Crenshaw, Randolph Co, AR *********************************************************** Submitted by: Bridgette Cohen Date: 1998 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************** SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas Copyrighted and Published 1889 by Goodspeed Publishing Company Hon. Patrick Henry Crenshaw, attorney, Pocahontas, Ark. Mr. Crenshaw by virtue of his ability as a lawyer, and his victories at the bar, is eminently worthy of a place in our record of successful men, and the history of his life is an important part of that of his State and country. He was born near Athens, in Limestone County, Ala., on the 8th of May, 1849, and is the son of James W. and Elvira (Winston) Crenshaw. The father was born in North Carolina, but when a child moved with his parents to Alabama, and settled near where the town of Athens is now situated. At the age of fourteen, he enlisted in the army and served as a private, under Gen. Andrew Jackson, in his campaign against the Creek Indians, taking part in the battles of Talladega, Emuckfau and Tohopeka, or the Horse-shoe Bend, on the Tallapoosa River. In the last named battle the company to which he belonged was the front of the assaulting column, and his captain the first man to mount the works. After the close of the War of 1812, he went as a naval cadet to Annapolis; and after the close of his term there served some time in the United States navy, after which he resigned, and after traveling over the greater portion of North and South America, settled in Missouri, but after his marriage with Elvira Winston he returned to Alabama, moving thence to Memphis, Tenn., about 1852. In about 1854, while in Boonville, Mo., with her daughters, who were going to school there, Elvira Crenshaw was taken sick, and went for a time up in Coldneck County, but died in a short time. James W. Crenshaw continued to live in Memphis until 1856, when he married Susan A. Harris, in North Carolina; and the pioneer spirit again taking possession of him, he in the last named year, with his family, consisting of three daughters, and the subject of this sketch, his eldest daughter, Virginia, having previously married James W. Harper, of Boonville, Mo., moved to Arkansas and settled in Lawrence County, about six miles east of Powhatan, bringing with him about forty slaves; but the health of both whites and blacks being had in the river bottoms, he moved into the hills, on Eleven Points River, in Randolph County, about nine miles southwest of Pocahontas. Then the troubles of 1861 came, and James W. Crenshaw was elected as the delegate to the State convention from Randolph County, and was a member of that body when the State seceded; he voting against secession, but being an earnest believer in State's rights, when his State seceded he then adhered to the Southern cause; though he was too old to bear arms in its behalf. In February, 1863, he was arrested by the Federal troops, on a charge of carrying mail for the Confederate forces, and was treated with great harshness, and cast into an old jail at Pocahontas, where he was compelled to remain for several days without either fire or blankets; after which some of the soldiers, who had been detailed to guard him, conceiving a friendship for the old man, prevailed on their officers to take him to their headquarters, where he was treated with great kindness; and shortly after, finding that the accusations were false, and had been made solely for the purpose of making capital for the accuser, he was discharged, and allowed to return to his home. The kind treatment, however, came too late, for the first exposure brought on a violent cold, which resulted in pneumonia, and on the 4th of March [p.388] (his birth day), he died at his home in Randolph County. Freeman Crenshaw, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Virginia, but emigrated early to North Carolina, thence to Alabama, where he was one of the pioneer settlers. He also served in the army, under Jackson, in the same company with his son, participating in the same battles; and after the troops were mustered out of service returned to his farm in Alabama, where he lived until his death, which occurred a few years before the Civil War. Freeman Crenshaw, though a farmer by preference, was also a skillful mechanic, and on one occasion, while in the army, at the request of Lieut. Jackson, fixed his favorite pistol so as to make it sure fire, the repairs he did being to case-harden the frizen and fix the hammer, so as to go back farther when cocked, thereby to give the mainspring additional strength. Gen. Jackson, after he had thoroughly tested it, speaking of the last named change remarked, "She goes to hell for fire, but she brings back a blank full." Mrs. Dorothea Winston, the maternal grandmother of Patrick Henry Crenshaw, was a daughter of Patrick Henry, making the subject of our sketch the great- grandson of the renowned patriot and orator. Mrs. Winston named our subject after her father. During the latter years of her life Mrs. Winston, being left a widow, lived with her son-in-law, James W. Crenshaw, and died at his house in Memphis, Tenn., and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery, of that city. Our subject, Patrick Henry Crenshaw, received the greater portion of his education at home, and in private schools, going one year to the Cooper Institute in Boonville, Mo. He had always attended the Methodist Church, though a member of none until he began to study earnestly the foundation and origin of the various churches. This investigation led him to join the Roman Catholic Church, into which he was baptized by Rev. Father James S. Okean, at Pocahontas, in February, 1869, and confirmed by Bishop Edward Fitzgerald, of Little Rock. Like all boys of the South, who were large enough to shoulder a gun, he served some time in the Confederate army. After leaving school, he began life as a clerk in a store, but through the influence of his friends, he was prevailed upon to read law, and studied with the law firm of Baber & Henderson, of Pocahontas, and in 1872 was admitted to the bar by Hon. Elisha Baxter, who was then a circuit judge, and afterward governor of Arkansas. In June, 1873, he moved to Clay County, and practiced his profession there with good success until 1886, when he returned to Pocahontas, the home of his boyhood. In 1879 he was married to Miss Sula Mack, eldest daughter of Hon. L. L. Mack, of Greene County. Of this union there has been born four daughters: Felicia Mary. Elvira Serena, Inez Alphonsus and Nona Paula. In 1881 Mr. Crenshaw represented Clay County in the house of representatives, but since that time has not been an aspirant for political office himself, though he takes a lively interest in the welfare of his country; and when occasion demands it, is ever ready to assist in canvassing his part of the State in behalf of the Democratic party, to which he has been a life-long adherent. He is a man well versed in English literature in general, of which he is quite fond, is a shrewd practitioner, a forcible and eloquent speaker, and an irreproachable man-"a man in whom there is no guile." Among his many friends he is known as an ardent lover of all kinds of field sports especially the Southern amusement of fox hunting. He says he came by these last named traits honestly, as all the Crenshaws, Henrys and Winstons were given to like weaknesses, as is shown by the number of pioneers among them. In his native State, three counties, Henry, Winston and Crenshaw, are named for his ancestors.