My Genealogy Hound

Judge James E. Prichard, one of the old pioneers and prominent citizens of Mill Township, Garland County, was born in Indiana in 1825. His father, Harman Prichard, was a native of Kentucky, a farmer by occupation, and served in the War of 1812. He was married in 1815, to Miss Nancy Purcell, of Kentucky, a daughter of a soldier in the Revolutionary War. She died in 1867 leaving eight children, six of whom are now living: Hannah, Margaret, Sarah, Charles, James, Montgomery, Ephraim and George. Mr. Prichard emigrated from Kentucky to Indiana in 1818 and took up land there, where he died in 1828. James E. Prichard, upon reaching manhood, was married to Martha Downing in 1847, who died in 1853, leaving three children: George, Job and Nancy. Two years after Mr. Prichard married a second time, Sarah Preaitt, of Indiana, becoming his wife, but she died in 1870. His third and present wife was Mrs. Samantha Thompson, the widow of William Thompson, to whom he was married in 1872. They are the parents of six children: James Charles, Montgomery, Edgar H., Thomas J., Pauline and John. In 1856 Mr. Prichard, moving from Indiana, settled in Pike County, Ark., where he remained until 1860, then coming to Garland County. He there purchased eighty acres of land, and entered a quarter section under the homestead act. In 1863 he enlisted in the Federal army, in the Third Missouri Cavalry, under Capt. George S. Avery, in which regiment he served until the close of the war, being in the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry and several skirmishes. Mr. Prichard is a prominent Republican of his county, and in 1868 was elected county judge, which office he held for five years and a half. He was also justice of the peace for three years. Mrs. Prichard is a native of Alabama, as was also her parents, who had a family of seven children: Margaret A., Elizabeth J., Martha T., Mary S., Enoch H., Wallace N., and Lewis M. Her father died in 1860, and her mother in 1875. Both were members of the Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Prichard belong to the Church of Christ. Mr. Prichard is also a member of the Order of Red Men, G. A. R. and the Farmers’ Alliance. He owns eighty acres of land, with fifty acres under cultivation, on which he raises principally corn and cotton. He has seen the complete development of his township, and has borne an important share in its improvement. In 1866 there were but eighteen votes cast at the polls of Antioch and Mills Township taken together. Today Antioch will poll about eighty votes, and Mills 120.