My Genealogy Hound

Oliver H. P. Norwood, prominent among the leading citizens of Hot Spring County, Ark., was born in Franklin County, Ga., on August 1, 1826, being the son of John and Mary E. Norwood. The father was a successful tiller of the soil, and died when Oliver was but a young child. After his death Mrs. Norwood married William Wood, who soon passed away. In 1856 the widow moved to Hot Spring County, Ark., where she died, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, having become, by her last marriage, the mother of four children. Oliver remained at home until his fifteenth year, when he went to live with James Knox, of Cherokee County, Ga. Here he worked on a farm until twenty-one years old, when he was married to Miss Caroline Hammonds, who was born in Cherokee County, in 1834. Nine children blessed this union: Mary E. (deceased), E. P. (farmer of Grayson County, Tex.), Amanda (wife of Frank Parker, farmer of this county), Margaret (deceased), Oliver P. (on a farm in this county), William and Marion (twins, farmers of this county), Evalina (at home), Julia A., John E. and D. R. (at home.) At his marriage, Mr. Norwood began to farm for himself, which he has continued with varied success ever since. In 1851 he moved with his family to Hopkins County, Tex., and remained nearly three years, but at the expiration of that time he returned to this county, locating on the farm he now calls home. He owns a finely improved place of 320 acres. In 1863 he cast his lot with the Confederacy, enlisting in Hawthorne’s regiment, with which he took part in the battle at Jenkins’ Ferry and other minor engagements. Every member of his family, with the exception of one son, is connected with the Missionary Baptist Church, the father being a deacon. He is a Wheeler, and in politics is rather an independent, voting for the man who, in his judgment, is the better qualified. Though at the close of the war he possessed nothing but eighty acres of land, with no stock to work it, he is now, through industry and frugality, one of the most prosperous farmers in the county. He is a typical Arkansan, believing in the elevation of county and State.