My Genealogy Hound

Wilsie W. Swepston, a leading planter and ginner of Crawfordsville, was born February 9, 1848, in Vinton, Ohio, and is the son of John and Asenath (Darby) Swepston, originally of Virginia and North Carolina, respectfully. They came to Arkansas April 1, 1859, when our subject was eleven years old, and located at the Fifteen-mile Bayou in this county. Here the father ran a saw and grist-mill, and was engaged in that business at intervals till 1868, when he was elected county clerk, and held this office for four years, and officiated in the same capacity several times afterward, and was holding the office of county sheriff at the time of his death. He took an active part in political matters in Ohio, as well as in Arkansas. He was not in favor of the secession of the States, so did not participate in the war. He filled some position of responsibility and trust most of the time after the reconstruction till his death; he was a conservative Republican in politics. His wife worshiped with the Christian Church, to which she belonged, and died in 1868, being the mother of ten children, of whom seven lived to be grown and six are still living. Wilsie W. Swepston is the second son, and attained his majority in this county, where he commenced life for himself by raising a crop on shares, on the Donegan Island, and in 1877, opened a general store at Marion and remained in this business for two years, when he came to Crawfordsville and followed merchandising till 1882. He has since been occupied in cultivating his farms, of which he has several, all in a good state of cultivation. In 1888 he built a gin on the Bald Knob Railroad, with the capacity of twenty-five bales per day, which is the largest and best equiped custom gin in the county; he uses the Thomas press and the Sailor system of elevating. He also has plenty of storage-room for cotton and cotton seed in connection with his gin. He was elected justice of the peace in 1888, getting every vote in his township, and has held this office for two years, and has never paid any attention to politics, but has given his time exclusively to his farms and gin. Mr. Swepston was first married in 1880 to Miss Ida H. Haley, of Memphis, Tenn., who died the same year. In October, 1882, he was again married to Mary W. Denton, a native of this county. The fruits of this marriage were four children: Edith, Pierre, Lee St. Clair and Io. Mr. Swepston is a very energetic worker in educational matters, and has been a live and active member of the school board for the past nine years, being elected on this board when the town had neither funds nor buildings, and by close and strict adherence to business they now have two nice school buildings, and a good corps of teachers. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and the K. of H. He always votes the straight Democratic ticket and is opposed to the sale of intoxicating liquors.