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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Hon. John Marshall Hewitt (deceased), of Marianna, Ark., was born in Frankfort, Ky., July 22, 1841, and was a son of John Marshall Hewitt, of that city, an eminent lawyer and for many years judge of the circuit court at Frankfort. Our subject received a classical education in the schools of his native city in his youth, but before he had attained his majority the Civil War broke out, and the following lines in regard to it are given in his own words: “The war was a bitter experience for me, for my father had two sons in the Union army and two sons in the Confederate, also one son-in-law on each side. All my old schoolmates and associates, as well as relatives in Kentucky, were about equally divided in sympathy, and one of my brothers was killed at Fort Donelson, on the Confederate side.” Mr. Hewitt was a member of the Kentucky State militia when the war broke out, and in 1861 he joined the Federal army as adjutant of the Second Kentucky Cavalry, and was attached to the staff of Gen. Rousseau as assistant acting adjutant-general. He participated in the battle of Shiloh, and was captured by Gen. John Morgan, while the latter was on his first raid in Kentucky, but in the night he succeeded in effecting his escape, and returned to his command. After the war he returned to his home in Kentucky, and was admitted to the bar by the court of appeals, in 1865, and the following year he immigrated to St. Francis County, Ark., and engaged in cotton-planting. In 1873, when Lee County was formed, he moved to Marianna and resumed the practice of his profession, continuing this in connection with planting until his death. Although a Federal soldier, he was all his life an active Democrat, and although he came to Arkansas at a time when he could have had any office, or could have grown rich by affiliating with the Republican party, he would not do so, but stuck to his principles and party, unscathed by the political cyclone that swept Arkansas. He labored zealously for the advancement of the material interests of the State, and his fellow-citizens honored him for his efforts. He has been an active leader of his party, and was elected by the Democratic State Convention to the National Democratic Convention, which met at St. Louis, Mo., in 1876. In 1880 he was chosen to represent Lee County in the State legislature, and was elected speaker pro tem. In 1882 he was reelected, and was chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1884 he was again sent to the legislature, and during the session of 1885 he was chairman of the committee of circuit and justice courts. In 1886 he was elected to his fourth term in the legislature, and was elected speaker of the house, and the Democratic State Convention, which met at the State capital in 1886, elected him president of the same. In January, 1886, he became president of the State Bar Association, but just as he had surmounted all primary obstacles, and could have grasped the highest honors of the State, his career was cut short by the hand of death February 29, 1887, his demise resulting from cancer of the tongue. Being a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, his brother Masons kept his body in their hall for three days, that all might have an opportunity of paying due honor to his remains. His remains were taken to Memphis, Tenn., by the Commandery of Marianna, and at that city were met by the Commandery of Little Rock, and he was buried with the highest honors of his order, in Elmwood Cemetery. Determination was a marked trait of his character, and so was Christian fortitude and charity. Cut down in the meridian of manhood, at a time when it seemed possible for him to accomplish so much, his death was deeply lamented by all. Kentucky has given to Lee County many estimable citizens, but she has contributed none more highly respected or more worthy of respect, love and veneration than was Mr. Hewitt. He was married to Miss Sallie Howard, of Memphis, Tenn., and leaves her with one son to care for: John M., Jr. Mrs. Hewitt is a daughter of Wardlaw and Mary (Polk) Howard, the father a Virginian, who immigrated to Tennessee, and was an opulent commission merchant prior to the war, and was the owner of vast property in Memphis. He was an arch secessionist, and had such unbounded faith in the Confederacy that he sold the whole of Howard row in Memphis for Confederate money, which, of course, resulted in total loss. After the war he languished with broken spirits around the cotton exchange, but did not again enter active business life, and death claimed him in 1871. Mr. Hewitt’s mother was born in Bolivar, Tenn., and was a daughter of William Polk, an uncle of President Polk. The Howards were an old English family, five brothers having come to America and participated in the Revolutionary War. All but one died or were killed, and he is the origin of the family in this country. One of these brothers donated the square on which Washington Monument now stands in Baltimore, Md. The grandmother of Mr. Hewitt was a sister of Uncle Ned Blackburn, of Kentucky, the father of Dr. Luke Blackburn, and Hon. J. C. Blackburn.

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This family biography is one of 104 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Lee County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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