My Genealogy Hound

James McCuistion is one of the men of this section who has won life’s battles, and by energy and pluck, which are so necessary to success in any pursuit, he has become one of the leading agriculturists of Izard County. He was born in Jefferson County, East Tenn., in 1815, and is a son of Joseph and Rachel (McGuire) McCuistion, the former’s birth occurring in North Carolina, in 1775. In 1789 he removed to Tennessee, with his parents, and in this State received a fair education in the common schools. In 1809 he entered 160 acres of land, and lived on it until 1838, when he sold out and moved to Bays Mountain, where he died, in 1862, being followed to his long home by his wife in 1868, both having been members of the Old Presbyterian Church. The children born to them were Catherine, James and Elizabeth. James’ youth was spent in attending the schools of Tennessee, and in 1842 he was married, in Jefferson County, of that State, to Miss Mary Ann, a daughter of John Kimbrough; and Lafayette, Eveline, Rachel A. (who died August 7, 1889), Virginia, Francis (who has been dead some twenty years), Mary E. and Josephine are their children. Mr. McCuistion emigrated from Tennessee to Izard County, Ark., in 1850, and took up 299 acres of land, of which he has now about fifty-five acres under the plow. His first house was a log cabin, which he has since converted into a comfortable frame residence. His land is devoted to raising cotton, corn and the small grains, and he has plenty of good fruit. He and his wife and children are all members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and he has given freely to public institutions for the good of his fellow-men. He has twenty-four grandchildren, ten boys and fourteen girls, and two great-grandchildren, both boys.