My Genealogy Hound

Mrs. Martha A. (Dillard) Bomford was born in Arkansas in 1832, and is a daughter of John Penn and Sallie Price (Moore) Dillard, both of whom were born in Virginia. They came from Virginia to Arkansas by water, landing at the mouth of the Arkansas River, and from there went to Moore’s Rock, on ponies and pack-horses, which place they reached in 1822. While in Virginia they followed merchandising, but after coming to Arkansas engaged in farming. In 1833 they commenced to keep a large boarding house at Fort Gibson, Chickasaw Nation, for officers, and continued it until 1840. The father represented his county in the State Legislature, and his union with Miss Moore was blessed in the birth of twelve children, four of whom are still living: Mrs. Elizabeth G. (Rosser), Mrs. Solomon F. Clark, Mrs. M. A. Bomford and Mrs. Sarah P. Bossert. Maj. Dillard, formerly of Ft. Smith, was a brother of Mrs. Bomford, and served through the Mexican War as captain under col. Yell, and as major in the late war, Confederate States Army, in Gen. Fagan’s brigade. John and Lucy (Penn) Dillard were the grandparents of Mrs. Bomford, the grandmother being a branch of the family of the famous William Penn. The maternal grandparents, Benjamin and Polly (Price) Moore, were Virginians, and moved to Arkansas in 1818. Maj. B. Moore sent out the first bale of cotton from this part of the State, and raised the tobacco. Mrs. Bomford spent her early life in Sebastian County, and attended school in Van Buren and Fort Smith, where she acquired a good English education. In 1841 she was married to Dr. George Erving Bomford, who was born March 31, 1820, in Washington, D. C., the son of Col. George and Clara (Baldwin) Bomford. The former was chief of ordance at Washington, and the latter was a sister-in-law of Joel Barlow, the author. Dr. Bomford was reared and educated in his native city, read medicine under Dr. Wilson, and attended lectures at Boston and Philadelphia, and received his diploma. He practiced several years in Washington, then moved to Fort Smith, Ark., in 1848, and immediately began practicing in that town. He was post surgeon of Fort Smith before and during the war, and was a Royal Arch Mason, a Democrat, and a member of the Episcopal Church. He has three sons: George D. (of St. Louis, Mo.), Erving (a druggist of Fort Smith), and Henry (a plumber of Fort Smith).