My Genealogy Hound

John Burney Tatum is an old and respected farmer, residing in Johnson Township, near Hillsboro, in Union County, Ark. He was the fifth of a family of nine children, and was born in Autauga County, Ala., September 18, 1824, his parents being Organ and Ailcy (Gardeman) Tatum, who were born in Greene County, Ga., and moved to Alabama about 1818, where they continued to reside until 1855, when they followed their children, who had all grown to honorable manhood and womanhood, and came West, settling in Union County, where the father died in the spring of 1856, at the age of sixty-eight years. He served in the War of 1812. The mother died in 1865 at the age of sixty-eight years. The youth of the subject of this sketch was spent in Alabama, and in that State and in Georgia he received the most of his education. After a thorough preparation in medicine he entered the Physicians and Surgeons Medical College, of New York, in 1844, attending during that and the following year. Although he acquired a thorough knowledge of the profession, he never practiced. At the age of twenty years he left his parents and moved with his brother, Henry W., to Arkansas, and settled in Union County, near where he now resides, engaged in farming, an occupation which has received his attention up to the present time. His operations have been attended with exceptionally good results, and he is now the owner of 4,200 acres of fine farming land, making his purchases from time to time, as he felt able, and he now has 500 acres in a fine state of cultivation. He is now enjoying the fruits of a well-spent life, being relieved from all care as to the future. He was married in 1847, to Miss Emily Newton, a daughter of Green and Jane (Frazer) Newton, who were an old and respected couple of this community, the father being very prominent in the early settlement of the country, and one of the largest planters in this section. To Mr. and Mrs. Tatum one child was born, which died in infancy, the mother dying in 1848, in giving it birth. Mr. Tatum’s second marriage took place in 1850, his wife being Miss Fannie L. Akin, whose parents, James and Leonora (Baker) Akin, were Alabamians, who moved from Alabama in 1846, settling in Union County. Mr. Tatum’s last marriage resulted in the birth of four children: Leonora A. and Caroline E. (who died when infants), John B. (at the age of twelve years), and Franklin M. (the only one now living, is married and makes his home near his father, being the father of six children). Mr. Tatum is a member of the Masonic fraternity, which he joined in 1849, and in his political views he is a Democrat. He is a good citizen and neighbor, and is held in high respect by all who know him.