My Genealogy Hound

M. B. Garison, a prominent planter of Bradley County, came to Arkansas in 1870 and settled in Bradley County. Here he purchased 240 acres of wild land, and at once commenced a system of clearing and improving; to this land he has since added until he now owns 1,100 acres, 200 under cultivation, most of which he devotes to the raising of cotton. He raises an excellent quality of this article, and has taken premiums at various fairs, amounting to $4,600. He took the premium on cotton at Monticello in 1879; at St. Louis in 1880-81, and at Little Rock in 1881; also in 1882 at St. Louis. The Little Rock and Murphy premiums amounted to $995; in 1883, at Little Rock, St. Louis and Louisville, the premiums were $1,350; in 1884 Monticello, St. Louis and New Orleans, $1,450. He has made twenty-six entries, and has never failed to take a premium on cotton raised in Bradley County. Mr. Garison was born in York County, S. C. in 1844, a son of P. Garison, a prominent resident of that county. He represented York County in the Legislature two terms. He was born in South Carolina, and still resides on his father’s old estate; his wife, nee Hall, the mother of the subject of this sketch, died during the Civil War. Her father was concealed in the garret during the Revolutionary War. The paternal great grandfather was killed in the battle of King’s Mountain, and his grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812. His father enlisted in the Confederate army in 1863, was in the battles of and about Petersburg, was captured March 25, 1865, and was retained as a prisoner at Port Lookout until the close of the war. The subject of this sketch was reared on his father’s farm, and attended the Ebenezer Academy in York County. In June, 1861, he left school to enter the army, enlisting in a Company of Jenkins’ regiment, of South Carolina. He was in Longstreet’s corps. On account of illness, he did not participate in the early engagements. In 1863 he joined Hampton’s cavalry, and was in North Carolina, and in the spring of 1864 he went to Virginia, and was in the battles of Cold Harbor, Louisa Court House, Binges Mill, and many other lighter engagements. He was with Johnson in North Carolina at the time of the surrender of his regiment. He then returned home and engaged in farming. In 1866 he was married to Miss Mary Simmill, a native of South Carolina, by whom he had three children, Howard, Edward and Eula. She died in 1874, and in 1875 Mr. Garison married Mrs. Burnett, and by this later marriage has six children, viz.: Liza, Lucy, Ralph, John, Pearl and Willie. In October, 1888, Mr. Garison moved to Warren and erected one of the best dwellings in the place. In connection with his farming interests, he is engaged by a Pine Bluff firm in selling fertilizing material throughout this section. Mr. Garison takes a great interest in educational matters, and has given his children the advantages of a good schooling. Two of his children are now attending school at Batesville.