White County ArArchives Biographies.....Pierce, John S. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 17, 2009, 10:42 am

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

JOHN S. PIERCE.
    John S. Pierce, actively identified with farming in White county for many
years and now making his home at Russell, was born near Denmark in this county,
November 16, 1859. His parents, Moses and Sallie Ann (Womack) Pierce, were
natives of East Tennessee and in that state were married. There the father
followed farming until 185S, when he started across the country with horse team
and wagon, making the river crossing on ferry and ultimately reaching White
county. It was his purpose to continue the journey to Texas but one of the
horses became sick and they tarried in White county. Being pleased with the
country Mr. Pierce purchased land, which was then a heavily wooded tract. He cut
away the native timber, cleared off the brush and as soon as possible began to
plow and cultivate the land, which he thus continued to improve until enlisting
for service in the Confederate army at the beginning of the war, being on duty
most of the time west of the Mississippi. He died during the war period, his
death, however, resulting from a wound which he had sustained previous to his
enlistment. In that early day he had engaged in hunting and he also followed
blacksmithing, making the tools with which he worked and also tools for his
neighbors. He experienced all of the hardships and privations of frontier life,
living in White county when it was a pioneer region, in which bears, deer and
turkeys could be secured in large numbers. He was but twenty-nine years of age
at the time of his death, while his wife reached the age of sixty years. She
married again, becoming the wife of H. P. Herd and by her first marriage she had
three children, the eldest of whom died in infancy, the others being: John S.
and Stephen S., but the latter died at the age of twenty-one years. By her
second marriage she had one child, Belle, who is the widow of W. F. Mayfield, of
White county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pierce belonged to the Baptist church and
endeavored at all times closely to follow its teachings, while politically he
gave his support to the democratic party. His father was a factor in the pioneer
development of different localities. He was Stephen Pierce, a native of
Tennessee, who emigrated to Illinois, where he owned land and carried on
farming, removing to that state soon after the Civil war and spending his
remaining days there. The maternal grandfather of John S. Pierce was Jacob
Womack connected with one of the old and honored pioneer families of this state.

    John S. Pierce attended the subscription schools in his boyhood days. He
walked five and a half miles to receive instruction in a little log schoolhouse,
seated with split log benches, while the curriculum consisted of little more
than the "three R's." Moreover, he could pursue his studies for only about two
months in the year, as he remained on the home farm with his mother and assisted
her in its development and improvement. Following her death he went to
Tennessee, where he was employed at farm labor for four years, on the expiration
of which period he returned to White county and here did contract work in making
wagon spokes. He also manufactured staves and sold log timber and piling.
Eventually he entered the livestock business, buying and selling horses and
cattle at Russell. He likewise became a factor in mercantile circles at Russell,
where he owned and conducted a store for three different periods. He also owned
farm land and at one time he operated the Pierce and Moore ranch, devoted to the
raising of hogs and cattle.    He now specializes in strawberries and cotton and
 the land which he owns is particularly adaptable to the cultivation of
strawberries.

    Mr. Pierce has been married twice and by his first marriage had one child,
Earnest F., now living in New Mexico. He afterward wedded Hannah Cunningham, a
native of Indiana and a daughter of William Cunningham, a railroad man and a
merchant of Bradford. There have been six children born of the second marriage,
two of whom died in infancy, the others being: W. S., a livestock man of
Russell; J. W., who follows farming in White county; Mary A. and Lela, both at
home. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, South, in
which he is serving as steward. They take an active interest in all of the
church work and do everything in their power to promote its growth and extend
its influence. Mr. Pierce is a Blue Lodge Mason and in politics he is a
democrat. He has served as school director and is interested in all that
pertains to the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of his
community. His life has been actuated by high and honorable principles and those
who know aught of his career speak of him in terms of the. warmest regard,
because he has ever been faithful to his profession, loyal in citizenship,
reliable and progressive in business.


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


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