My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Sebastian County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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.

* * * *

Capt. Claiborn W. Cauthron, furniture dealer and undertaker of Greenwood, Ark., is a native of Logan County, Ark. He was born near the town of Boonville in 1832, and is a son of Col. Walter and Bashaway (Wilson) Cauthron, and grandson of Claiborn Cauthron. Walter Cauthron was born in Franklin County, Ga., in 1797, and was of Scotch-English descent. At the age of twelve years he moved with his parents to Kentucky, where they remained three years; they then moved to Southwest Illinois, where his father died about 1818. He subsequently went south by way of Natchez, Miss., and as far as New Orleans, La.; he then went up the Mississippi and Red Rivers as far as Shreveport, La., then going (by land) up the Red River to what was known as Lovelace’s Purchase. He settled down there, and engaged in farming; here he met and married Miss Bashaway Wilson in 1822. She was born in Lawrence County, Ark., in 1803. Mr. Cauthron moved to Scott County in 1824, and settled on the Petitjean River, two miles west of French’s Prairie. Walter Cauthron was one of the first white men to settle in Western Arkansas. He came here when there were but very few settlers in the western part of the Sate. Wild animals were in abundance, such as buffalo, elk, bear, wolf and deer. He was fond of hunting, and had many thrilling adventures with the wild beasts of this wild country; there were plenty of Indians here also. He left this first settlement in 1826 or 1827, and moved to a place near the town of Booneville. Settling in the woods, he soon opened a farm and engaged in farming and stock raising; he also sold goods one year, and build the first cotton-gin in Scott County. About this time the county seat was located on a plat of land adjoining his farm. The county militia was then organized; Mr. Cathron was elected colonel, but owing to the dissipation of the town the Colonel became dissatisfied with his surroundings, having a fanily of boys growing up; he moved in 1837 eight miles southwest of Booneville, to what is known as Cauthron’s Prairie, named in his honor, and here he opened a farm and engaged again in farming and stock raising. School and church facilities were rather poor; he succeeded, however, in giving his five boys and four girls a fair English education, all of whom lived to have families of their own. In 1849 his wife, Bashaway, died, leaving him a family of nine children, and in 1850 Col. Cauthron married Mrs. Elenor S. Burton, nee Garner, who was born in Kentucky. He still resided on his farm, and in 1852 he was elected county judge of Scott County, and served one term. In 1854 his eyes became sorely afflicted, which terminated in the loss of his right eye and almost total blindness. He was a man of much influence and public spirit. His unbounded hospitality was known throughout the country, and many of the pioneer itinerant preachers of the country have found food and shelter under his hospitable roof; indeed, his house was a place of public worship for many years, and it was a common thing for a large part of the congregation, who assembled at his house for worship, to take dinner with him after services, and spend a portion of the afternoon in social chat. Few of the people of the present age can appreciate the state of society in the early days of Arkansas; there was a degree of liberality and equality among all of the people which is today unknown among our citizens. In 1865 when the country was overrun with the Federal army, Col. Cauthron and his family refugeed to Bowie County, Tex. At the close of the war he returned to his home on Cauthron Prairie, where he lived until the death of his second wife, which occurred in 1875; Col. Cauthron then broke up housekeeping, and lived with children the remainder of his life. He was a stanch Democrat, always taking a lively interest in the politics of the country; had been a member of the Christian Church for many years before his death, which occurred in 1877. Capt. Claiborn W. Cauthron was born and grew to manhood on a farm. In 1852 he went to California with the long train of gold seekers, going overland, and taking six months to make the journey. He here engaged in mining for about six years, and then returned by way of Panama, Aspinwall, Key West and New Orleans, and arrived at his old home in June, 1859, where he engaged with his father in farming and stock raising; they were making arrangements for an extensive stock farm. When the war broke out he was found defending his home and native State against the invaders. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Second Arkansas Mounted Rifles, and was in the engagements at Pea Ridge, Murfreesboro, Jackson, Miss., Dug Gap, Resaca, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville and others; was with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in his last battle in North Carolina. He entered the service as a private, but before the battle of Murfreesboro he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. In 1864 he was given the command of his company, but was not commissioned as captain until the spring of 1865. He was wounded several times, the first time at Murfreesboro, where he was wounded in the right hip by a shell; again, at Jackson, Miss., he was wounded in the left leg by a shell, which fractured the bone, and he was wounded in the left hand with a shell at Franklin; had his haversack and canteen shot off of him in front of Nashville by an eighteen-pound shell, but was hit by a lead ball. He was paroled at Greensboro, N. C., in May, 1865, and afterward went to Bowie County, Tex., where he found his parents, where they had gone during the war. In December, 1865, he returned with his father and step-mother to the old home in Scott County, and engaged in farming again. During the reconstruction period a new county was formed of territory from Scott, Yell, Johnson and Franklin Counties; Cauthron Prairie was in the act taken from Scott. This new county was first called Sarber County, but afterward changed to that of Logan. In 1869 Capt. Cauthron married Miss Louesa C. Moody, who was born in Walker County, Ga., in 1848, who bore him one son, Justin. In 1881 Capt. Cauthron moved to Sebastian County, Ark., and located one mile west of Greenwood, and in 1883 he moved to Greenwood, and in June, 1884, he lost his wife, and in December the same year he returned to Logan County; in 1887 he came back to Greenwood, where he engaged in the furniture and undertaker’s business. He is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, south.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 217 biographies included in The History of Sebastian County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Sebastian County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Sebastian County, Arkansas family biographies here: Sebastian County, Arkansas

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.