My Genealogy Hound

Dr. J. T. Fairchild is owner of the famous Fairchild Potash Sulphur Springs, located seven miles southeast of Hot Springs, and one mile from Lawrence, a station on the Little Rock Railroad. This celebrated health and pleasure resort, which has gained a national reputation, has been for the past five years under the able management and proprietorship of Mr. E. E. Woodcock, a son-in-law of Dr. Fairchild. The grounds are fitted up with everything imaginable to make them pleasant and attractive for the hundreds of guests who gather there at all seasons. An elegant hotel is found, with bath-house, billiard-room and bowling-alley, dancing-halls and spring-houses, from which Cupid has played many pranks with the susceptible. The hotel also contains a post-office, and has telephone connections with Hot Springs and Little Rock. The scenery is beautiful, the mountains forming a picturesque background, and the climate is healthful and salubrious. It is a paradise for hunters, as game is found in plenty, and the piscatorial artist has his hands full when fishing in the Ouachita River. The wide reputation of these springs is constantly increasing, as stories of the wonderful cures performed are brought to notice. It is estimated that 10,000 people visit these annually for physical relief, irrespective of the number who come for pleasure. When Dr. Fairchild first became their possessor, in 1849, the accommodations consisted of only a few rude log-houses, but through his persistent energy, and a desire to benefit the public, he has succeeded in making it one of the most noted and attractive resorts in the Southwest, and by his continued efforts, in conjunction with Mr. Woodcock, its present proprietor, it will in a few years be a suburb of Hot Springs. Dr. Fairchild is a pleasant and interesting gentleman, an untiring worker, and a man of resources for every emergency. He is well known throughout Central Arkansas, where he has resided for forty years, and is one of its most influential and respected citizens. The Doctor’s birth-place is in the Hudson River country, New York State, and he was born in 1815. The youngest of four children born to his parents, he was reared on a farm until attaining his sixteenth year, being educated in the common schools and the village academy, after which he studied medicine for several years, with the intention of being a druggist. In the year 1845 he came to Arkansas, intending to enter the drug business, and brought his mother with him, his father having died the year before. He located at Batesville, where his mother died the following year; but instead of following the drug business, he commenced practicing medicine. He remained at Batesville for two years, and then moved to Camden, where he continued his practice until the year 1849. The following year he came to Hot Springs, and since that time has been residing at what is now known as the Fairchild Potash Sulphur Springs, where he owns about 320 acres of land in connection with the springs. For twenty years he practiced his profession with great success, and at the end of that time abandoned it. Since then he has lived a somewhat retired life. Dr. Fairchild was married, in 1847, to Elizabeth, a daughter of Joseph Hardin, of Kentucky, who was one of the earliest settlers of Lawrence County, Ark., and afterward one of its wealthy and respected citizens. Mr. Hardin was sheriff of Lawrence County at a period when the nearest place of imprisonment to which he could take his prisoners was at Little Rock. His father, Benjamin Hardin, was a notable man in the early history of Kentucky, and an associate of Davy Crockett. Mrs. Fairchild, a woman of accomplishment, died October 1, 1860, a devout Christian. Three daughters were born to Dr. and Mrs. Fairchild, of whom only one is yet living, Fannie, wife of Mr. E. E. Woodcock. In politics Dr. Fairchild is a Democrat, as were his father and grandfather before him. His parents were Benjamin and Fransina (Mills) Fairchild, of Bedford and Chatham, N. Y., respectively, the father residing in his native State all his life, and dying in 1844. He was a well-to-do farmer and dairyman, and of English-Irish origin. Many of his family are yet living, and scattered throughout the country, some of them attaining great prominence in public and professional life.