My Genealogy Hound

Dr. W. H. Pickett, retired physician, Weldon, Ark. Originally from Limestone, Ala., Dr. Pickett’s birth occurred on the 22d of December, 1826, and his early life was passed in attending the common schools and in assisting on the farm. Later he supplemented his primary education by attending Exeter College, in Exeter, N. H., and in 1846 and 1847 he attended the Medical College of the University of New York. From there he went to New Orleans and attended the University of Louisiana, where he graduated in medicine and surgery in the class of 1848. He began the practice of his profession the same year at Whitesburg, Ala., and, after remaining there two years, came to Jackson County, where he settled upon his present property. He entered and bought about 2,300 acres of land, 1,200 under cultivation and 1,100 acres of which he has cleared himself. Dr. Pickett was married, in 1850, to Miss A. R. Coltier, a native of Alabama, and two children were the result of this union: Ida G., wife of John W. Ferrill, a farmer residing at Batesville; and Elizabeth B., wife of William H. Hardy, also residing at Batesville. Mrs. Pickett died July 1, 1885, in full communion with the Episcopal Church. Dr. Pickett was exempt from any army service by Gen. Kirby Smith, in 1863, and practiced his profession at home. In the year 1868 he moved to Batesville, and since that time he has remained a resident of that city, and is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Jackson County. He gave up his practice in 1868, and, in addition to general farming, he has also a large cotton-gin, grist and saw-mill, with which he does all his own work and general settlement business. He has on his farm about forty tenant families, aggregating 200 people, all in fair circumstances and furnished with good houses. The Doctor has seen many important changes during his residence of thirty-eight years in this county. When he first came here Elizabeth was the county seat, but was afterward changed to Augusta, and subsequently to Jacksonport. Wild game was plentiful and easily obtained. His parents, Steptoe and Sarah O. (Chilton) Pickett, were natives of the Old Dominion, the father born in Fauquier and the mother in Westmoreland County. The parents settled in Alabama, in 1820, and were among the earliest pioneers of Northern Alabama. They both bought and entered land (1,000 acres in all), and Steptoe Pickett was an extensive slave-holder. He was a schoolmate of James Buchanan, and was a cousin to both Chief Justice John Marshall and “Light Horse” Harry Lee. He was also a cousin of Gen. Pickett. He was a graduate of William and Mary College, and was an old-line Whig in his political views. His death occurred in 1848, at the age of fifty-four years. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, and the mother a member of the Christian Church. The latter died in 1864, at the age of seventy-four years. They were the parents of nine children: Martin, married, and a commission merchant at Mobile, Ala.; Richard is an attorney and judge at Florence, Ala.; Steptoe, Jr., was a farmer and died in 1884, at Madison, Ala., leaving a wife and two children; A. C. is a lawyer at Augusta, Ark.; John S. was a physician, at Danville, Ala., and died in 1887, leaving a wife and two children, who reside in Des Arc, Ark; Felicia, the wife of Gov. Reuben Chapmore, of Huntsville, Ala. (she died in 1874, leaving four children); Virginia, wife of Samuel Blackwell, a farmer of Alabama; Anna S. Edwards, wife of a farmer, and resides in King William County, Va.