My Genealogy Hound

W. R. Looney, a popular druggist of St. Francis, Ark., and one of the most successful in the county, was born in Tennessee in 1853, and on account of poor health in youth received but a limited education, although he has in late years made this up to a great extent by observation and study. At the age of seventeen he came, with his father, mother, and brother, James W. (who died in 1873), to Clay County, Ark., and settled near Chalk Bluff on the 10th day of January, 1870. Here he remained until twenty-two years of age, and February 23, 1875, he married Miss Susan E. Leigh, daughter of J. H. and Susan E. (Long) Leigh. After marriage Mr. Looney remained on the farm in Clay County until March, 1881, when he moved to Dunklin County, Mo., and was there engaged in the dry-goods store of Sheldon & Wright Bros., at Maiden. Afterward, in June, 1883, he was employed by J. S. Kochtitzky & Co. to run a steam corn-sheller, and on the 20th of November met with a very serious accident. Having been caught in the main shaft of the machinery, his clothing was wound so tightly about him that it dislocated his left arm at the shoulder. He suffered excruciatingly from this, failed to get a night’s rest for forty days, and is now a cripple in that arm. Embarking in the grocery business, in partnership with Mr. John Allen, under the firm title of Allen & Looney, six months later he bought Mr. Allen out and continued the business until April, 1886, when he sold out, and came to St. Francis May 19 of that year, then starting a drug and grocery store. One year later he closed out the groceries and now has the finest drug store in the county. The firm name is W. R. Looney & Co., and they enjoy a profitable, legitimate trade. Mr. Looney has been generally identified with the enterprises of the town and county. He is the owner of about 120 acres of land adjoining his father’s place, some four miles from St. Francis, and is paying particular attention to the raising of clover, which he thinks is a successful crop and also renews the land. Mr. and Mrs. Looney became the parents of six children, all of whom died in infancy. He is a Democrat in politics.