My Genealogy Hound

J. T. Lewellen is a prominent mill man and also operates a cotton-gin at Vanndale. He is a native of the county, born in 1858, and was the fifth of six children born to James A. and Nancy E. (Gardner) Lewellen, who were natives of the “Old North State,” and came to Arkansas at an early day, settling in what is now Cross County, where they entered a tract of land comprising 320 acres. By industry and good management they soon had 150 acres under cultivation, and in time he became one of the most successful and best-known farmers in the county, and his death, which occurred at his daughter’s, three miles from Vanndale, in 1888, was lamented by his many warm personal friends. J. T. Lewellen attended the common schools until 1879, when he rented his father’s farm and began energetically to till the soil on his own account. He lived on the old homestead until the winter of 1882 and was then married to Miss Mollie Block, a daughter of David Block, of Wittsburg. [See sketch.] After his marriage he removed to Vanndale and erected a grist-mill and cotton-gin, his brother being associated with him in business for two years, then he became sole proprietor, added a saw-mill, and is now managing a grist and saw mill and cotton-gin. In 1888 he ginned 852 bales of cotton, and his saw-mill supplies all the local trade besides what he ships to other points. His land now amounts to 420 acres in various tracts, and he has about eighty acres under cultivation. In 1883 he erected a fine residence in Vanndale, and has now one of the pleasantest homes in that village. His marriage has been blessed in the birth of two children: James Adelbert and an infant daughter (unnamed). He is a member of the K. & L. of H.