My Genealogy Hound

Thomas H. Baldy has passed a useful and successful, although a rather uneventful life, and is now in the enjoyment of a fair income. He is ranked among the prosperous farmers of Ashley County, being the owner of 600 acres of fine bayou land, and although he does not farm it himself he attends to its management. His time is more fully occupied with merchandising, and with a stock of goods valued at $2,000 he does an annual business of about $8,000. This establishment was founded at Slemmons in 1888, and is admirably conducted, Mr. Baldy showing that he is the thorough master of this business. He is a native Alabamian, his birth occurring in 1838, and he is a son of Paul H. Baldy, who was a participant in the Indian War of 1836 under Jackson, and moved in the fall of 1842 to Arkansas, entering and purchasing land near Monticello first, afterward Fountain Hill. He was a justice of the peace here, a member of the Baptist Church, and died on January 29, 1868. Thomas H. Baldy obtained a limited early education, but at the age of eighteen years started out to make his own way in the world, and in 1860 entered land in Drew County, where he made his home until 1877, when he came to his present abode. In April, 1862, he became a member of Company C, Third Arkansas Infantry, afterward taking part in the battles of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and was taken prisoner at Front Royal, Va., being detailed to supply scouts. Ho was kept a prisoner at Washington City for about eight months, when he was paroled and came home, which place he reached in 1864. His land is very fertile, and will average forty bushels of corn to the acre, one year yielding sixty-five bushels to the acre on the whole crop. He was married in 1861 to a daughter of Robert Rodgers, who has borne him two children, twins: Mary Frances and Martha Elizabeth, born April 20, 1870, the latter dying November 20, 1888. Mr. Baldy is a Democrat, a member of the A. F. & A. M., the K. of H., and he has held the office of justice of the peace in both Drew and Ashley Counties, being elected to the position in the latter county in 1884, and holding the same four years. He and wife are members of the Christian Church, and are worthy and highly esteemed people. He is of French and Irish descent on his father’s side, and Welsh and Scotch on his mother’s.