My Genealogy Hound

John R. Starnes. The growth and prosperity of Greene County, Ark., has been upon a scale commensurate with the immigration to this region in past years, and this prosperity is largely due to the members of the agricultural profession, prominent among which stands the name of Mr. Starnes. He was born in Lauderdale County, Tenn., in 1829, and there remained until 1871, having been engaged in farming for himself since 1861. Since the year 1871 he has resided in Greene County, Ark., and since 1876 has been a resident of his present farm, where he is doing a prosperous business, and besides being engaged in tilling the soil, gives considerable attention to stock-raising. He was married in 1861 to Miss Elizabeth Lacey, who was born in Henderson County, Tenn., in 1838, and is the mother of three children: Josephus, Marshall and Parlee. Mr. and Mrs. Starnes are members of the Baptist Church, of which he is an active supporter, and in his political views, he is a stanch Republican. His parents, Marshall and Sarah (Golden) Starnes, were born in Tennessee and North Carolina, respectively, in 1818, and were married on the 6th of December, 1838. The father was reared in Tipton County, Tenn., but when a young man located in West Tennessee, on a farm, and there continued to make his home until 1871, when he came to Arkansas, and is now residing in Greene County on the farm on which he first settled. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was his wife, who died March 21, 1849. They were the parents of four children, John R. being the only one living. The father took for his second wife Parlee Johnson, on the 28th of May, 1851, and by her had twelve children, six now living: Mary J., Militia E., Martha F., Moses, Nancy P. and James. The paternal grandfather, Moses Starnes, was a Virginian, who became a resident of Tennessee at an early day and died at middle age, having reared a large family of children.