My Genealogy Hound

James W. Howard, farmer and stock raiser, of Jackson County, lives six and a half miles east of Newport, on the Memphis road. His parents were Philip and Hester D. (Bidwell) Howard, of Ohio and Tennessee, respectively. The father lived and married in Arkansas, but returned to Ohio, where James W. was born, the eldest of six children, two now living: Sarah Jane and James W. At the age of nine years the subject of this sketch came to Arkansas with his parents; he had then received the greater part of his education, but attended common school only eleven days in Arkansas. At the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion he was living in Village Township, Jackson County, but enlisted in the Southern army in Company A, Eighth Regiment of Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, served about three and a half years, and at the close of the war returned home, since which time he has given his attention to farming and stock raising, purchasing, in 1873, 120 acres of land, to which he has added by purchase eighty acres, and upon which he has since made his home. At that time, realizing the necessity of an education, he applied himself diligently to study, acquiring sufficient knowledge to carry on his business. Mr. Howard married Miss Margaret Lamkins, a native of Arkansas, who lived ten years, and in 1877 he married Miss Margaret Ballew, of Arkansas, daughter of Robert J. and Mary (Pucket) Ballew, natives of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Howard are members of the Christian Church, and he has always been a friend to progress — educational, religious and social, liberally supporting the church.