My Genealogy Hound

John C. Bone, dealer in furniture, sash and doors, coffins and undertakers’ supplies, Batesville. The business men of Batesville are a pushing, active, persevering and enterprising set, and ‘‘the weakest must go to the wall.” Certainly Mr. Bone is not one of the latter class, for, to all intents and purposes, he is an ideal business man. He is a native of Izard County, Ark., born October 20, 1849, and after remaining on the farm until twenty years of age engaged in the mercantile business as clerk, following it for a number of years. He then studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1877, at Batesville, but never practiced. He again returned to mercantile pursuits, which he followed two years, and then took charge of his present business, which was run by his father-in law, Charles L. Gorsuch, who was killed by having a house fall on him during a fire. Mr. Bone has since continued the business, has erected a planing-mill, and now carries it on in connection with his other interests, employing several hands. He is self-educated and self-made in every respect. He was married on the 12th of December, 1877, to Miss Nettie M. Gorsuch, and they have two children living: Charles E. and Harry C. Mr. Bone is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Chapter and Council. He and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and are esteemed and respected citizens. His parents, Elihu C. and Charlotte J. (Jeffrey) Bone, are natives of Wilson County, Tenn., and Izard County, Ark., respectively. The father immigrated to Izard County, in 1841, locating near Barren Fork one year, entered land at Mount Olive, Izard County, and there followed agricultural pursuits. He was also a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. By his marriage, which occurred in 1844, he became the father of seven children, four living: Miles N., John C., Levisa J. and Henry F. The remainder of the children died when young. The parents died when the children were quite young, and they were obliged to look out for themselves. The maternal grandfather, Jehoiada Jeffery, and his wife Mary, settled at what is now Mount Olive, in Izard County, in 1816. They were originally from North Carolina and Tennessee, and after living in Jonesboro, Ill., for some time, they moved to Arkansas, coming through by land on pack-horses. They were the first settlers of Izard County, their nearest neighbors being about thirty-five miles distant. He was a member of the Territorial legislature of Arkansas, about 1824, from Independence County, and afterward from Izard County, when he introduced the bill creating Fulton County.