White County ArArchives Biographies.....Cypert, Eugene 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 June 7, 2009, 9:12 am

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

EUGENE CYPERT.
    Eugene Cypert, attorney at law of Searcy, Arkansas, who for three terms
occupied the bench of the county court and served as a member of the
constitutional convention of 1917, has thus been very active in framing as well
as executing the laws of the commonwealth. He is a native son of Searcy, his
parents being Jesse N. and Sarah Harlan (Crow) Cypert. The former was a son of
Jesse Cypert, who was born in North Carolina and emigrated to Tennessee, where
he conducted an extensive plantation and also served as sheriff of Wayne county
but devoted the greater part of his life to his farming interests. His remains
lie buried on the old plantation, which is still in possession of the family. He
married Jemima Worthen, a native of Pennsylvania. In tracing the ancestral line
still farther back it is found that Jesse Cypert was a son of Francis Cypert and
that his father was born in Alsace Lorraine, whence he emigrated to the United
States. The grandfather of Eugene Cypert in the maternal line was Joshua B.
Crow, who was boru in South Carolina, whence he removed to Alabama and thence
came to Arkansas in 1849, settling in White county, where he entered six hundred
and forty acres of land, which he purchased for twelve and a half cents per
acre. The town of Kensett now stands on the northern part of the land which he
thus secured. He had to clear all of his land, for it was covered with timber
and the work was accomplished with the aid of several slaves whom he owned, his
entire time and attention being given to his plantation. He lost all of his
personal property before the Civil war and died in 1866. His wife, who bore the
maiden name of Lavenia West, also departed this life in the same year. The
great-grandfather was the Rev. Charles Crow, a Baptist minister, prominent in
his church. He preached in South Carolina and Alabama. He married Sarah Harlan,
who was born in South Carolina and was a descendant of George Harlan, a Quaker,
who settled in Pennsylvania at the time William Penn founded the colony and
afterward served as ruler of three counties in Pennsylvania.

    Jesse N. Cypert, father of Judge Cypert, was born in Wayne county,
Tennessee, in 1823, and his life record covered the notably long period of
ninety years, as his death occurred on the 1st of Septemher, 1913. His wife was
born in Perry county, Alabama, in 1836. and died in January, 1915. He was
educated in the country schools of his native county and afterward studied law
there. Removing to Arkansas in 1850, he settled in Marion, Crittenden county,
where he practiced his profession until 1S51 and then removed to Searcy, where
he became well known as an attorney. He had read law under Judge L. L. Mack in
Tennessee and his thorough training well qualified him for success at the bar.
In Searcy he opened a law office with John M. Bracy and Colonel William Hicks
and following the war was a partner of John G. Holland. He was a member of the
secession convention in IS6I and of the reconstruction convention of 1868 and
also served as a member of the constitutional convention of 1874 and was the
only man in the state who served in all these three conventions. In the latter
year he was elected circuit judge and remained upon the bench for eight years,
or until 1882, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial, so that he won
rank among the able jurists of the state. In 1861 he had joined the Confederate
army as captain of Company K, Eighth Arkansas Battalion, and after the battle of
Shiloh he was promoted to the rank of major. He served largely west of the
Mississippi and was in the quartermaster department. He was captured at Searcy,
Arkansas, and was held as a prisoner of war at Little Rock for sixty days, at
the end of which time he was paroled. It was during the early part of the war
that he suffered from typhoid fever and it was after this that he was placed in
the quartermaster department. When hostilities had ceased between the north and
the south he returned to Searcy, where he resumed the practice of law. He also
owned land on Little Red river, which he farmed and there also engaged in stock
raising. He had to clear most of the land, which was largely covered with timber
and after the war he had little left but his home, for his slaves were gone and
his property was badly in need of repair, owing to conditions brought about by
the war. To Mr. and Mrs. Cypert there were born three children: Florence, who
became the wife of W. M. Watkins, the president of the Bank of Searcy, and died
in 1896; Alice, who became the wife of H. A. Smith, a merchant and at one time
county clerk of White county, her death occurring in 1886; and Eugene, the only
son. The father was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and
served for a half century as church trustee. His wife held membership in the
Baptist church. Fraternally he was a Royal Arch Mason and member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his political allegiance was given to
the democratic party. As a lawyer, as a political leader and as a member of
three constitutional conventions of Arkansas he left the. impress of his
individuality and ability upon the history of the state in notable measure.

    Judge Eugene Cypert was educated in the common schools of Searcy and in the
Searcy Academy and began reading law in his father's office. He was admitted to
the bar in 1884 and then entered into partnership with his father, a relation
that was maintained until the latter's death in 1913. Fifteen years before this,
or in 1898, Eugene Cypert was elected county judge of White county and by
reelection was continued on the bench for three terms. He, too, was called upon
to aid in framing the organic law of the state, serving as a member of the
constitutional convention of 1917. He has devoted the greater part of his life
to law practice and has long enjoyed a large clientage of an important
character. He is also a director of the Bank of Searcy, which he aided in
organizing, obtaining the charter for the bank. He still owns a part of his
father's old home place which adjoins Searcy and thus his interests are somewhat
varied but the practice of law he has always regarded as his real life work and
his devotion to the interests of his clients has become proverbial.

    Judge Cypert was united in marriage to Miss Louise I. Seat, who was born in
Belton, Texas, a daughter of Benton B. Seat, a native of Tennessee, who was
graduated from the university at Lebanon, that state, and afterward practiced
law in Tennessee, in New Madrid, Missouri, and in Brownsville, Texas, serving as
prosecuting attorney at the last named place. He came to Searcy in 1901, having
retired from active law practice, and died at the advanced age of eighty-seven
years. He had filled the position of consul in Central America under President
Cleveland. There were many interesting and ofttimes exciting events that
occurred in connection with his life. When he was but eighteen years of age he
went from Tennessee to California as one of the Argonauts of 1S49. He served as
captain in the Confederate army, enlisting in Texas, and was on duty most of the
time west of the Mississippi river under General Dick Taylor. He participated in
the battles of the New Mexico campaign with a command of thirty-two hundred,
returning with only seven hundred and fifty. He took part in the battles of
Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, the Galveston campaign and Yellow Bayou and on one
occasion was shot through the arm, carrying the bullet with him to his grave. He
also sustained a flesh wound in his head.

    Judge and Mrs. Cypert have become the parents of five children: Sarah L.,
who was educated in the high school of Searcy and in Galloway College here, is
now engaged in the abstract business; Jesse Benton is at home; Eugene is
attending the Searcy high school; Florence Alice and Harriett Haymond are also
at home. The religious faith of Judge Cypert and his family is that of the
Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as ruling elder. He is a Royal Arch
Mason and member of the Knights of Pythias and in politics has been a stalwart
democrat since attaining his majority. His life has been fraught with the high
purposes and lofty ideals which have characterized the family through many
generations. He has rendered valuable public service and his life has been a
potent force in connection with the maintenance of high legal and moral
standards not only in Searcy and White county, but throughout the commonwealth.


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


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