My Genealogy Hound

James Sanders West (deceased) who was one of the early settlers of Washington County, Ark., was born in Lincoln County, Tenn., April 30, 1814, and died in the first named county February 5, 1881, the son of James and Ann West. At the age of fifteen Mr. West left his home in Tennessee, and went with a company of surveyors to Florida. He afterward returned to Tennessee, and when eighteen years of age came, without means, to Washington County, Ark., where he passed the remainder of his days engaged in farming and stock-raising. He was quite an extensive dealer, driving cattle North and horses and mules South, and although a heavy loser by the war, soon regained all he had lost by his extraordinary business ability. Before the war he had been a Democrat in his political views, but after that eventful struggle he became a Republican, and remained true to that party’s interests until his death. He was married three times, first to Miss Mary Crawford (a distant relative of the present widow of the deceased), who bore him seven children, four of whom are now living: William P., a farmer and stock raiser, and a soldier of the Confederacy, of the State of Texas; Mrs. Ann Beaty, wife of Capt. Alvin Beaty, a famous Confederate soldier and farmer of Texas; Alvah G., a farmer of Washington County, and Mrs. Harriet Mason, wife of C. H. Mason, a resident of Indian Territory. Mr. West’s second marriage was to Mrs. Pitman, and was blessed by the birth of three children: Mrs. E. E. Sharp, wife of Ed. Sharp, of Cane Hill, Ark.; Nathan T. and Cecil Eugene, who are now residents of California. October 18, 1859, Mr. West married his third wife. Miss R. Jane Crawford, a native of Lincoln County, Tenn., born June 13, 1827, and the daughter of Col. Hay and Susan Crawford, who moved from Lincoln County, Tenn., to Arkansas in 1829, and were early settlers of this State, coming here with a colony which settled at Cane Hill. Her father was colonel of the militia in Tennessee and was afterward a very prominent man in Arkansas. Her mother was Susan Harris, kin of the Harrises of Tennessee. To Mr. West’s last marriage were born four children, two now living: Mary L., wife of J. C. Mitchell, a prominent farmer of Illinois Township, Washington Co., Ark., and Samuel H., named after Sam Harris, a pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian preacher of Arkansas, who is a successful lawyer of Fayetteville. Mrs. West is still living, and is residing with her daughter, Mrs. Mitchell, near Cincinnati, Washington Co., Ark. Mr. West was a liberal member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, was a Royal Arch Mason and an excellent citizen.