My Genealogy Hound

Judge Alfred H. Carrigan has been connected with the farming interests of the county ever since his residence here, having come originally from Alamance County, N. C, where he was born in 1828. His father, William A. Carrigan, was born in Georgia in 1792, and his mother, Nancy M. (Holt) Carrigan, was born in the Old North State in 1809. The latter died in her native State in 1841, and in 1852 her husband came to Hempstead County, Ark., where he died in 1880, having been a cotton manufacturer, a merchant and farmer. He and his brother-in law built one of the first cotton manufactories in North Carolina, and operated it from about 1837 until Mr. Carrigan’s removal to this State, becoming a man of wealth. His father, William Carrigan, was a farmer by occupation, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and died in North Carolina. Hon. Michael Holt, the maternal grandfather, was born in North Carolina, and there spent his life as a planter, and was a prominent actor in the legislative halls of his State for several terms. Our subject is the eldest of a family consisting of five sons and one daughter, and his early rearing was on a farm. He in time became a student in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, and graduated in 1850, but in 1852 came west with his father, remaining here three years, then returned to North Carolina and married Mary E. Moore, of that State, by whom he became the father of nine children, five sons and two daughters now living: Dr. Samuel M. (a practicing physician), William, Alfred H. (who graduated from the Arkansas University of Fayetteville and Lebanon, Tenn., law school, and is now a successful attorney of Wichita Falls, Tex.), Mary, Adolphus, Pinckney and Annie E. Mrs. Carrigan is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a daughter of Samuel and Mary A. Moore, of Caswell County, N. C. Since his marriage Mr. Carrigan has resided in the vicinity of Washington, Ark., and is now the owner of an exceptionally fine lot of land consisting of 2,000 acres. In 1862 he served for a short time in the Twentieth Arkansas Infantry, of which he was lieutenant-colonel, but was honorably discharged on account of sickness. From 1858 to 1862 he was a member of the State Senate, during which time he was a strong supporter of the union of the States, was a member of the secession convention of 1861, and from 1866 to 1867 he filled the office of county and probate judge, and again in 1876-77. During 1884 he was once more chosen to represent Hempstead County in the Legislature, and filled the position during that year and 1885, being a member of the Lower House. He is now chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee, and is an active worker for his party, and during his official life has left behind him a very creditable record. Naught but words of commendation have been bestowed upon him, and his record in private as well as in public life is untarnished. He is the only one of his father’s family now living, the other members being William M. (who was a graduate of the North Carolina University, and died at his home during the war from the effects of hard service), John M. (who was killed in the battle at Oak Hills), Robert A. (also a graduate of the North Carolina University, served in the quartermaster and commissary’s department as captain, and was a prosperous lawyer of Washington, Ark , but died in 1877), and James E. (who was killed in the engagement at Lovejoy Station, near Jonesboro, Ga.)