Woodruff-Arkansas County ArArchives Biographies.....Chaney, Ernest W. 
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Source: Citation Appears Below
Author: S. J. Clarke

ERNEST W. CHANEY.
    Hon. Ernest W. Chaney, representative to the state legislature and actively
identified with agricultural pursuits in Woodruff county, makes his home at
McCrory and is one of the valued and highly esteemed citizens of his section of
the state. He was born March 30. 1874, in Haywood county. Tennessee, and is a
representative of one of the honored pioneer families there. His grandfather,
Fleming W. Chaney, was also born in Tennessee and became a merchant and planter
at Chaney's Landing on the Hatchie river, a place which was named in his honor.
He owned an extensive plantation and many slaves prior to the Civil war. He had
interesting military experiences in connection with both the Seminole and
Mexican wars, being a captain in the former on active duty in Florida. During
the period of the Civil war he suffered severe losses and for sixty years the
family has had a claim before congress to be recompensed for some of the losses
sustained at that time. He died in 1877 at the age of seventy-one years and was
survived by his wife until 1912, her death occurring when she had reached the
age of eighty-eight.

    Their son, John N. Chaney, was born in Haywood county, Tennessee, and after
attaining his majority owned and conducted a store at Stanton, that state. He
followed commercial pursuits to the time of his marriage to Miss Frances
Hawkins, also a native of Haywood county and a daughter of J. H. Hawkins, who
was likewise born in Tennessee and was a practicing physician, whose
professional calls took him up and down the Mississippi river for some distance
from his home. On one of these trips he was drowned while making his way from
one boat to another. His widow became the wife of Fleming W. Chaney, who in the
meantime had lost his first wife.

    After his marriage John N. Chaney turned his attention to farming in Haywood
county, Tennessee, and in 1880 came to Woodruff county, Arkansas, where he
rented land for a time. Later he purchased land near McCrory and continues to
engage in general agricultural pursuits and stock raising on the old homestead,
which has been in his possession for many years. He has reached the age of
seventy-three, while his wife is now seventy-one years of age. For more than
fifty-two years they have traveled life's journey happily together. They are
members of the Baptist church, and the Chaney family has been identified with
that religious denomination for more than two hundred years. In his political
views John N. Chaney is a democrat. To him and his wife have been born nine
children: Minnie, who is the widow of Ed Woodruff, of Chicago, Illinois; Anna
Bird, the wife of H. H. Holder, a farmer of Grays, Arkansas; E. W.; John H., a
farmer of Emhouse, Texas; Fannie K., the wife of W. A. Burkett. a retired
merchant of Houston. Texas; N. H., a farmer of Jelks, Arkansas; Thomas. who
cultivates a farm near McCrory; Robert, who is engaged in farming near Cotton
Plant;  and Paul, who owns and cultivates land near Jelks.

    Ernest W. Chaney pursued his education in the common schools of Woodruff
county and on attaining his majority took up the profession of teaching. He
taught school altogether for twenty-six terms, three months in the summer and
three months in the winter and at the same time carried on his farming
interests. On the expiration of that period he concentrated his entire attention
upon his land and is today the owner of two hundred and forty acres devoted to
the cultivation of diversified crops and also to stock raising. As an
agriculturist he has won a position among the substantial citizens of this part
of the state and he still owns and supervises his farm, although making his home
in McCrory.

    In 1898 Mr. Chaney was married to Miss Verna Winfree, a native of Hardeman
county, Tennessee, and a daughter of Frank B. Winfree. They became parents of
two children: Vera, who died at the age of four years; and Winfree, now
twenty-two years of age. He was educated in the common schools of Woodruff
county and in the Agricultural College of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and enlisted for
service with the Marines during the World war, being trained at Port Royal,
South Carolina. He served for forty-two months in Haiti and was discharged in
November, 1921.

    Mr. Chaney is a Baptist in religious faith and a democrat in his political
views. In 1920 he was elected to the state legislature and is now a member of
the general assembly. He served as chairman on the committee of enrolled bills
and also as chairman of the committee on rules. He was made a member of the
committee on levy and drainage, on roads and highways and on the penitentiary
committee. He was the only man in the house who served as chairman of two
committees and at all times he proved himself a loyal advocate and supporter of
all progressive measures looking to the benefit and welfare of the state, his
support of any measure being the result of careful investigation into its merits.


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


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