My Genealogy Hound

J. M. Shaver ranks among the successful farmers of Guthrie Township, Izard County, Ark., and is now residing on the farm on which he was born in 1853, his parents being John S. and Mary (Cox) Shaver, Tennesseans by birth. John Shaver came to the State of Arkansas in 1851, and purchased the farm in Guthrie Township, in connection with which work he was engaged in merchandising. Here he made his home until 1862, when he was killed by Federal soldiers, he having previously served in the Home Guard Confederate service. He was also a soldier in the Mexican War, holding the rank of captain, and when returning home came via New Orleans. He was married in 1848, and he and wife became the parents of seven children: D. C., Marietta (wife of J. R. Metcalf), J. M., Mattie (wife of E. A. Taylor), Addie (widow of T. H. Montgomery), Hattie (wife of Will Collins), and Belle (wife of C. E. Taylor). Mrs. Shaver still survives her husband, and makes her home with her children. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Capt. Shaver was a member of the A. F. & A. M., and in 1858 was elected to represent Fulton County in the State legislature. J. M. Shaver, the immediate subject of this memoir, received his early schooling in Izard County, and made his home with his mother and sisters until 1884, when he was married to Miss Georgia Smith, and made a home for himself. He has now seventy-five acres of his land cleared, and besides making a good living, is slowly but surely laying by capital for a rainy day. He was at one time engaged in merchandising in Oxford, but has given his attention to farming only for some time. He is a Democrat politically, and on that ticket was elected to the office of deputy sheriff of the county for four years. He is also a member of the A. F. & A. M. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and they are the parents of two children: John S. and Mamie L. Mrs. Shaver is a daughter of S. J. and Levica (Chastine) Smith, natives of Georgia.