My Genealogy Hound

Isaac J. Hicks, deputy county clerk, Little Rock, Ark. The public services of Mr. Hicks have been characterized by a noticeable devotion to the welfare of this county, and his ability and fidelity in all his positions of public trust have been fully recognized by the people. He was born in Prairie County (a portion of which was cut off and is now Lonoke County), Ark., and was the third in a family of four children born to Isaac C. and Eliza M. (Smith) Hicks, the latter being the first wife of Mr. Hicks. The father was born in Anderson County, Tenn., January 1, 1828, and his parents were natives of Alabama. From that State they moved to Tennessee, thence to Indiana, and there resided until Isaac C. Hicks was eight years of age, when they came to Arkansas and settled in Saline County. Here he passed his time in working on a farm and carrying the mail from Little Rock to Hot Springs, and in attending school a short time, paying tuition out of his own meager earnings. He was a poor boy and was obliged to fight his way in life. At the age of nineteen, Mr. Hicks selected Miss Eliza Martin Smith as his wife, in Pulaski County, with whom he lived happily until her death, in 1856. He was afterward married to Miss Nancy J. Gray, and his third marriage was to Mrs. Lizzie Gray (wee Burns), a direct descendant of the Scotch poet, Robert Burns. She still resides in Lonoke County, Ark. After his first marriage, which occurred in 1847, Mr. Hicks moved to Prairie County, Ark , followed farming and hunting, residing the while on Prairie Long, at a point where his son, Isaac J. Hicks, was born, May 9, 1853, still known as Hicks Point. From there he moved to Brownsville, then the county seat of Prairie County, and followed blacksmithing, but soon traded the shop for a fine horse, which he exchanged for a stock of goods, and from that time he began his career as a merchant. He was an active member of the A. F. & A. M., and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. At the breaking out of the war, in 1861, Mr. Hicks practically gave away his stock of goods and enlisted in the Confederate army, commanded by Capt. J. M. King, of the Arkansas Cavalry, and was in the first battle fought west of the Mississippi River (Oak Hill or Wilson’s Creek). In this engagement, he was wounded in the left hand so badly that he returned home and did not rejoin the army. At this time he settled at a point two and a half miles south of Brownsville, on the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad (which he had named Hicks Station, a name which clung to it until 1869, when the town was moved to what is now known as Lonoke), and resumed the mercantile business. Here he was the leading spirit in the organization and improvement of the new town, and was its first mayor. He was an extensive land owner, doing a good deal of farming in connection with his commercial business. During his service in the army, he was second lieutenant of his company, and his brother, J. C. M. Hicks, was first lieutenant. At the battle of Wilson’s Creek, both the captain and first lieutenant were wounded, and before receiving his wound the command of the company devolved upon the second lieutenant, Mr. Hicks. J. C. M. Hicks died in imprisonment at Springfield, Mo. He was a lawyer, and was practicing at Fayetteville, Ark., before the war. Isaac C. Hicks died October 10, 1872, from illness contracted while on a visit to Memphis with his son, the subject of this sketch. Isaac J. Hicks has the following brothers and sisters: Margaret E., W. H. and James H. (the last named being at present sheriff of Lonoke County.) His half-brothers and sister are: Thomas J. (editor and proprietor of the Dardanelle Post), Joseph J. (a railroad engineer), Lulu, John W. and Minnie D. (who died at the age of seven years.) His uncle, W. F. Hicks, is at present editor and proprietor of the Lonoke Democrat, and representative in the legislature from Lonoke County, and is ex-senator of that district. The subject of this sketch attended the subscription schools until about fourteen years of age, and was then taken in his father’s store, where he kept books; he was also in the post-office, and attended to the correspondence until his father’s death, when he was eighteen years of age. He, with his brother, W. H., and the uncle, W. F., then continued the business carried on by the father, under the firm title of Hicks Bros. & Co. This business was conducted for about two years, when Isaac was married to Miss Hattie L. Fewell, a native of Arkansas, on November 2, 1875. She is the daughter of William M. Fewell, an old settler from Tennessee and a native of North Carolina, where the family is quite numerous and well known. After marriage Mr. Hicks engaged as book-keeper and clerk, and followed this occupation at Lonoke until October, 1878, when he came to Little Rock. He was here engaged as clerk with Fletcher & Barron three months, and in January, 1879, was employed as clerk in the office of the secretary of State, under Col. Jacob Frolich, continuing here for three years, when he was compelled to resign on account of ill-health. After this he purchased a farm and moved to the country, where he resided for three years, after which, having regained his health, he moved to Lonoke to take charge of the sheriff’s office for his brother, as chief deputy, continuing thus about fifteen months. He then came to Little Rock to act as deputy county clerk for Mr. Williams (the county clerk), and this position he is still filling. In 1884 Mr. Hicks was a candidate in the convention for circuit clerk, but was defeated by a small majority. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and a man universally respected. To his marriage were born five children: Marvin R. (born December 15, 1877), Jefferson F. (born December 9, 1879), Trusten C. (born June 18, 1883), Floyd H. (born February 25, 1886) and Sterling B. (born December 12, 1887), all of whom are living. In his political views Mr. Hicks is a Democrat. His great-grandfather was a native of Ireland.