Biography of John S M McKamey, Sebastian Co, AR

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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page 1342

John S. M. McKamey, who has a stock of general merchandise, cotton, hay, etc.,
at Huntington, valued at about  $9,000, was born in Roane County, E. Tenn., in
1849, and is the third of a family of three children born to Capt.  John C. and
Zerelda (Tunnell) McKamey, natives of East Tennessee, born in 1809 and 1811,
respectively. The  father served as captain in 1838 in one of the Indian wars,
but was a farmer by occupation. He removed to  Anderson County, Tenn., when our
subject was an infant, and in 1852 went with his brother, Harvey McKamey,  on a
prospecting tour to Arkansas. He died near Little Rock, and his wife died in
1875 in Sebastian County,  Ark. The paternal grandfather, John McKamey, was
born in Virginia, and was of Scotch descent. The [p.1342]  maternal
grandfather, Col. William Tunnell, was also a Virginian by birth, and was of
English descent. He  served as colonel in the War of 1812, the epaulets and
plumes of his uniform now being in the possession of our  subject. He
represented Anderson County in the Lower House and in the Senate several terms,
and died in that county in 1861. John S. M. McKamey came with his mother to
Sebastian County in 1867, and November 20,  1873, married Sarah R., daughter of
A. T. Bonham, who removed here with her parents from Anderson County,  Tenn.,
in 1870. Mr. Bonham was married twice, his first wife dying in 1881. He
commenced business February  19, 1883, under the firm name of McKamey &
Davenport. In August of that year Mr. Davenport retired, and the  business was
continued by J. S. M. McKamcy until November 15 of the same year, when Mr. S.
E. Smith took  an interest, and the firm was McKamcy & Smith. Since January,
1885, Mr. McKamey has carried on business  alone. He landed here November 22,
1867, with only $4.75, first taught school in the Choctaw Nation, beginning
January 5, 1868, and continuing until June of the same year, making in that
time over $300. The  following fall he went to Cane Hill College, remained till
May, 1869, and then taught school, and finally bought  and settled a farm
January, 1 1870. February 19, 1883, he went into the mercantile business.
December 1, 1888,  he bought an interest in the Kansas & Texas Coal Co., of
Huntington, Ark., the sales of which will average  $20,000 per month. He was
also elected president of the bank of Huntington. He is a successful man, and
has  nearly 500 acres of land in different tracts near Huntington, some of
which contains coal deposits. Although he  began life in humble circumstances,
he is now one of the active and enterprising business men of the county. He  is
an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which his wife is a member.
They have a family of six  children. Mr. McKamey is a Democrat in politics, and
for twelve years has been a member of Pulliam Masonic  Lodge No. 133, in which
he has served as Master. His oldest brother, William T., served four years in
the  Confederate army, first in the Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry, and
afterward in Thomason's legion of sharpshooters, in the Virginia army. He was
wounded at Shenandoah, and died in Sebastian County in 1871.