My Genealogy Hound

Judge Addison H. Nunn, one of the pioneers of Sullivan Township, was born in Williamson County, Tenn., in 1814. He is a son of William R. and Rebecca W. (Stone) Nunn, the former born in Pendleton District, S. C., about 1783, and the latter in Mecklenburg, Va. The parents were married in Williamson County, Tenn., and resided there until the year 1855, when they moved to Texas, where the father died in 1862. The elder Nunn was an extensive merchant and real estate dealer, and a very successful business man, financially. He first started in life without a dollar, but by his natural abilities, shrewdness in business transactions and enterprise, he left a fortune at his death. He held the office of justice of the peace for three years, and was a member of the I. O. O. F. His father, Francis Nunn, was a North Carolinian, and when William R. was about three years old removed first to Georgia and then to the State of Tennessee in 1806, where he died at the age of sixty years, his wife, Marcy (Rice) Nunn, dying in Tennessee, at the age of eighty-five years. The Nunn family are of French origin, but on the mother’s side the family are English. Judge Nunn’s grandfather, William Stone, came from England with his parents, and settled in Virginia, and were afterward among the first settlers of Maury County, Tenn. Judge Nunn was the eldest of thirteen children, who received their education in the early days at a log cabin school. In 1837 he was married to Amanda, daughter of Jeremiah and Catherine Baxter, born in North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. Eleven children were given to this marriage, of whom four sons and three daughters are yet living. His second marriage was in 1863, to Mrs. Mary Bowman, a widow lady, and a daughter of Merriman Arnn, of Virginia, where his daughter was also born, in Pittsylvania County. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Nunn, of whom three sons and five daughters are still living. In 1843 Judge Nunn moved to Arkansas, and pitched his tent upon the same spot where he now resides. This section of Arkansas was then a wilderness, whose only inhabitants were wild animals, the nearest post office and trading point being the town of Batesville, which was then a very small place. He has made this his home ever since, and at one time owned over 2,000 acres of land. He now owns about 1,000 acres, and has 100 acres under cultivation, owning one of the finest farms in Sharp County. In 1861 he organized Company I, and joined McCarver’s regiment of Arkansas infantry, and for the first four months was stationed at Pocahontas, then at Fort Pillow, and lastly at Corinth, where he was discharged after six months’ service. After the war he returned home, and for several years was justice of the peace, an office he also held in Tennessee. In 1845 he was elected county and probate judge of Lawrence County, and at the expiration of his term, on two different occasions, was re-elected. In 1874 he was elected supervisor of Sharp County, and in 1878 county and probate judge for two years. Before the war, Judge Nunn established the Sidney post office, and was postmaster for three years; and after peace had been declared he had the office restored, and was appointed postmaster again. In politics, he has been a Democrat ever since the war, and was a Whig before that event. He became a member of the I. O. O. F. in 1845, and a Mason several years later, and is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter. Judge Nunn is well known and universally respected throughout Northeast Arkansas. He is one of its oldest inhabitants, and has lived to see that portion of the State grow up from its infancy, to be dotted with productive farms, thriving towns and enterprising citizens. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since his fourteenth year, as also were both wives, and was an elder for over forty years.