My Genealogy Hound

Rev. J. Wade Sikes is the third of five children born to the marriage of Robert Sikes and Elizabeth Bledsoe, and was born in Perry County, Ala., in 1828. His father was a Tennessean, born in 1797, and a farmer by occupation. When a young man he went to Alabama, and was there married to Miss Bledsoe, whose people were of Virginia stock. She died in Alabama when her son, J. Wade, was about eight years of age, and after her death the family moved to Tennessee, and thence to Arkansas in 1854, locating on the land on which Rogers now stands. Here the father died in 1856. J. Wade Sikes received a good common school education, but the most of his education has been acquired through self-application. He taught school in Tennessee, and also after locating in Arkansas, and after quitting the school-room engaged in agricultural pursuits, which occupation he followed until 1866, when he was elected to the office of county clerk, and also recorder. The reconstruction period, however, prevented him from filling out his term of office. He then engaged in the practice of law, and also followed the occupation of farming. During the war he was a member of the Second Arkansas Mounted Rifles, and during this time began preaching the gospel, which he continued to do until failing health compelled him to give up this work. He preaches the doctrine of the Baptist Church, and his labors in the cause of Christianity have met with gratifying success. December 25, 1854, he was united in marriage to Miss Almira I. Lee, a native of Missouri. He served about four years in the late war, and in the battle of Atlanta, Ga., lost his left arm.