My Genealogy Hound

Francis M. Wayland, of the firm of James & Wayland, dealers in general merchandise, is another name that will be remembered for years to come as belonging to a public-spirited and progressive man of this community. He was born in Lawrence County, October 7, 1846, and is a son of Rev. Jonathan Wayland, of Virginia, a noted preacher of that period, who came to Arkansas in 1815, and settled in what is now Lawrence County, with his father, Nevil Wayland. Grandfather Wayland died soon after his arrival in Arkansas, and Jonathan was thrown on his own resources; but though the prospects ahead of him at the time were very dark, he was never daunted in the least, and through the troubles and privations of his early life he grew to manhood with the proud consciousness of having overcome all obstacles that had been thrown in his path. He was married in Lawrence County, to Miss Amy A. Eddy, of Indiana, whose parents were among the pioneers of Arkansas, and located with his wife on a farm near Powhatan, where he resided until his death. He was a noted minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in that section, and his sermons were often the occasion for drawing hundreds of people from the surrounding country. His loving and faithful wife died about the year 1870, some fifteen years before his own death, leaving besides her husband, two sons and a daughter to mourn her. The eldest of these children was Francis M. Wayland, who remained with his father until he reached his majority. He received a good education at the common schools of Lawrence County, supplemented by a course of study at the Academy High School, of Iron County, Mo. When through with his schooling he commenced teaching in Lawrence County, and continued at it until induced by the offer of a lucrative position at Powhatan, to go to that city. In 1879 he entered into mercantile life on his own responsibility, and his enterprise, honesty in all transactions and untiring energy have built up for him a large and well-established business. This firm carry one of the largest and best selected stocks of general merchandise in Lawrence County, besides dealing in lumber, and operating a cypress shingle-mill, having a capacity of 80,000 per day. They do a business of $60,000 annually, with the different branches combined, and are well and favorably known throughout the entire county. In the month of October, 1868, Mr. Wayland was united in marriage to Miss Sarah E. Matthews, of Georgia, and this happy union has given them three children: Charles M., assisting in his father’s business, Katie and Nettie. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and Mr. Wayland is superintendent of the Sabbath-school, a position he has held for the past five years. He is also a Royal Arch Mason, and is Warden of his lodge. Mr. Wayland is one of those men who can look back from his assured and substantial position in the world to that time when, as a young man struggling through life with nothing but a stout heart and an honest character to sustain him, he fought his way upward, like the hero of Longfellow’s Excelsior, never stopping until he had reached the summit of his ambition. His career has been one that can be pointed out as an example for the younger generation to follow, in order to be placed upon as solid a foundation, and it is of such men the nation should be composed, in order to draw the admiration of the world upon us.