My Genealogy Hound

Col. Mark T. Tatum, general merchant of Greenwood, is a native of Dallas County, Mo., where he was born in 1836, and is the son of Eaton and Charlotte B. (Reynolds) Tatum. Eaton Tatum was born in South Carolina in 1792, and was of Scotch descent. At the age of eighteen years he went to West Tennessee with his brother, Wilkins Tatum, and here married Miss Charlotte B. Reynolds, who was born in West Tennessee in 1810. About 1828 they moved to Dallas County, Mo., and in 1843 became a citizen of Sebastian County, Ark., locating at Jenny Lind, five miles northwest of the county seat. He here entered 160 acres of land, and here resided until 1862, when he sold out, and moved two miles east. He was a trader and speculator in lands, and owned about 500 acres the greater portion of the time. He died in 1872. His wife died in 1852, and after her death Mr. Tatum married Mrs. Josie Little, who is now living on the old homestead. Eaton Tatum was the father of eight children by the first wife and two by the second, all now living but one. Col. M. T. Tatum was the fourth child by the first marriage, and was only seven years of age when his parents moved to Sebastian County, and virtually he has passed his entire life in that county. He remained on the farm until eighteen years of age, dealt in stock for four years, and in 1858 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Sebastian County, serving four years. In 1861 he made the assessment of Confederate taxes of Sebastian County, and May, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, Thirty-sixth Regiment Arkansas Infantry. He went out as third lieutenant, and in 1863 was promoted to the rank of major in his regiment. Later, for his bravery and meritorious conduct, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. He was in the fights at Helena, Jenkins’ Ferry and several severe skirmishes. He was in service over three years, being paroled at Marshall, Tex. After the war he taught a term of school in Jefferson County, Tex., and in 1866 returned to Sebastian County. In 1867 he taught the public schools in Greenwood, and became employed as salesman in a general store of Neal & Kersey, for whom he worked five years. In 1874 he established a general store of his own in Greenwood, at which business he has since been engaged. In 1860 he married Miss Lucinda Cauthron, of Scott County, Ark., and daughter of Col. Walter and Bashiwa Cauthron. Mrs. Tatum was born in Scott County, Ark., in 1843, and by her marriage became the mother of twelve children, eight now living: Walter E., Marshall, Mary E. (wife of E. W. Yates), Pearl R., Tennessee, Louisa May, Thaddie and Eddie. Col. Tatum began business in Greenwood as a poor man, but by economy and industry has met with good success. He deals largely in buying cotton and produce of all kinds. In 1879 he purchased 1,628 bales of cotton, and on an average he buys 1,000 bales per year. He is doing the largest business of the kind of any man in Greenwood. He is a Democrat in his politics, was postmaster for seven years at Greenwood, is a member of the Masonic order, having taken the Blue Lodge, royal Arch and Commandery degrees, and is a K. of H. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he is a steward and Sunday-school superintendent of the same.