Washington Co., AR - Biographies - W. B. Haxton *********************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: The Goodspeed Publishing Co Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org *********************************************** W. B. Haxton. Among the prominent industries that have materially benefited , Ark., and are worthy of mention, are the woolen [p.953] mills owned by W. B. Haxton. He was born in the "Buckeye State" in 1824, and is a son of James and Catherine (Cary) Haxton, who were born in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. in 1799 and 1806, respectively. The father was a tanner and currier by trade, and died in Indiana in 1848. His wife died in 1886. W. B. Haxton is the eldest of their ten children, and was reared in Indiana. He entered the woolen mills when about fifteen years of age, and served a three years apprenticeship with Lowrey & McCaen, of Rockvilie, Indiana. He located in Illinois in 1836, and operated the first woolen mills ever run at Danville, and ten years later moved to Iroquois, where he was engaged in farming for some time. He then went to Williamsport, and in 1863 or 1864 engaged in the woolen business again. This enterprise was a complete failure owing to war troubles. The following three years he was engaged in peddling, and in this way secured enough money to come West. He located in Arkansas in 1871, and in 1877 erected the Springdale Woolen Mills, and is doing a thriving business. He furnishes all the woolen fabric for the public institutions of the Cherokee Nation, and besides this does a large wholesale local business. Four years ago there were four woolen mills in Arkansas, but at this date Mr. Haxton's is the only one that has survived and prospered. At the North-western Agricultural Fair, held at Fort Smith, Mr. Haxton took the premium on the following fabrics: Jeans, blankets, stocking yarn, and a diploma on flannels. He was married April 30. 1846, to Margaret Foote, who was born in Indiana in 1826. Ten of their twelve children are living: Elizabeth C., S. N., Thomas J., Sarah F., Lillie D., Rose, Melissa, Nettie, William L. and James E. Three of this large family, S. N., Lillie and Rose. were married on the same day. The family are Universalists, and Mr. Haxton is a Republican in politics.