My Genealogy Hound

Hon. Walter W. Brashear, postmaster at Russellville, and a prominent citizen and planter of Pope County, Ark., was born in Marion County, Ark., in 1839, and was the eldest of eleven children born to M. M. and Sallie L. (Vaughan) Brashear, the father a native of the Blue-Grass State, and the mother of Tennessee. The father was a farmer by occupation, and came to Arkansas in 1838, locating in Marion County, where he remained until 1847. He then came to Pope County, settled in the northern part on 120 acres, and being something of a speculator became the owner of several tracts of land. In 1862 he entered the Federal Army as a recruiting officer of the Second Arkansas Cavalry, continuing in that duty and ranking as major until August, 1864, when he was killed in an engagement in Searcy County. The mother is still living in this county with her daughter. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which the father was also a member. The father was a very progressive and active citizen, and was something of a lawyer as well as a tiller of the soil. Walter W. Brashear was early initiated into the duties of farm life, and his educational advantages were limited to the common schools of Pope County. At the age of twenty-one years he started out for himself as a farmer, but just previous to his twenty-first birthday he was married to Miss Mary Rackley, a native of Tennessee, who lived but three years, leaving two children, both of whom are grown and married. The eldest one, Sallie, became the wife of Wiley Duvall and resides in this county, and the second, Melvina, is the wife of Henderson H. Pigg, a farmer of this county. During the Civil War Mr. Brashear entered the First Arkansas Cavalry, Company L, Federal Army, under Col. M. La Rue Harrison. He was captured near Prairie Grove, Ark., December 9, 1862, and was kept a prisoner three months, and upon his return to his command he was commissioned quartermaster-sergeant, filling that position until peace was declared, and operating principally in Arkansas. He was wounded near Prairie Grove. He was mustered out at Fayetteville, Ark., on August 23, 1865, after which he returned home and resumed farming. He was married, the second time, in July, 1865, to Miss Nancy W. Brewer of Arkansas. On his return to Arkansas Mr. Brashear purchased 200 acres of land in the geographical center of the county and made many improvements adding about sixty acres. He has 125 acres under cultivation and has erected two tenant houses. Mr. Brashear has always been active in the county’s improvements, and has always been a vigorous and conscientious Republican. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1868, and was a member of the Lower House of the General Assembly in that year. He has been justice of the peace of Moreland Township for eighteen years, and was appointed postmaster at Russellville under President Arthur. Upon the election of Grover Cleveland he resigned, but was again appointed on March 27, 1889, by President Harrison. This is a distributing office for fifteen offices, is an office of the third grade and is being elevated in business. To Mr. Brashear’s second marriage were born thirteen children, nine of whom are living: Mary E. (married A. C. Bowden and died in 1888, leaving one daughter), Mortimore (died at the age of three years), Maggie (became the wife of C. H. Dunn), Victoria (became the wife of Cinclair Perry, and resides with our subject), Lincoln (died at the age of two years), Martha Lue, Adam C., Ford, Ursly, Warren, Lillian, Thomas and Mama are the others. Mr. Brashear was baptized in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in February, 1840, and has been an active member since. He was a delegate to the general conference in Cincinnati in 1880, and to many local conferences. Mrs. Brashear and the children are members of the same church. Mr. Brashear is a Mason, a member of Blue Lodge No. 274, Chapter No. 76, and Palestine Commandery No. 7, all of Russellville. He has been master of the Blue Lodge and secretary of the chapter. He assisted in the organization of Cross Plains Lodge and was its first master.