My Genealogy Hound

Moses Bolling Rhea is one of the oldest settlers of Lawrence County, and has been here over fifty-four years. There is only one citizen in the above county, C. S. Pinnell, who has been in this section longer than Mr. Rhea. He was born in Warren County, Tenn., June 6, 1822, and is the son of Obadiah Rhea, of East Tennessee, who settled in Arkansas about the year 1835, and located within fifteen miles of the present town of Walnut Ridge, where he lived until his death, in 1855. The wife of Obadiah Rhea was Miss Elizabeth Littlepage, of Tennessee. They were the parents of ten children, six of whom are still living. Their names are: Moses B., Thomas, a farmer of Greene County; Elizabeth, widow of James G. Rutherford, residing near the old homestead; Nancy, wife of James Edward, of Greensboro, Ark.; Mary, the wife of C. C. Grayson, of Greene County; Emily, the wife of Allan Pierce, a resident of Cache Township. This is indeed a remarkable showing for one family. Six of the ten children are living, the oldest being sixty-eight years old and the youngest fifty-four years. They have outlived every family who settled in Lawrence County, at about the same time, and have more living members as a proof of their longevity than any other of the early settlers. The mother of these children died at the age of seventy-two years, in 1871 or 1872. Moses B. was thirteen years of age when he first came to Lawrence County, but resided in Greene County, until his twenty-third year, before he settled on his present farm, seven miles east of Walnut Ridge. He has been a farmer all his life, and a very successful one, owning some 1,200 acres of land, of which 550 acres are under cultivation, and besides his lands, he owns considerable stock. His children have cause to remember him with gratitude, as he has presented each of them with a good farm. He first started in life for himself when twenty-two years of age, with nothing but a mare and colt. The meagerness of his worldly possessions, however, did not disturb him in the least, and it was not long before his industry secured for him almost all of the freighting between Cape Girardeau, Memphis, Powhatan, Jacksonport, Forest City and other points, and no doubt he has hauled more freight than any other man in Lawrence County. He fought under Price during the war, and was in that general’s raids through Missouri and Kansas. Hard work never affects him apparently, and he keeps it up steadily on the farm. His principles were toward the Union at first, but he afterward changed to be a strong Southern man. In his early days he was a Whig, and mingled in politics considerably, but under no circumstances would he ever accept an office, although often urged to do so. He was married February 8, 1844, to Miss Sarah C. Lamb, of Alabama, whose parents, William and Mary (See) Lamb, were among the earlier settlers of this county. She died in 1867, and Mr. Rhea was again married in 1868 to Clementine Seego. This wife died in 1869, and in 1870 he was married to Miss Mary Slavin, whose death occurred in 1871. His fourth wife was Miss Sarah Daily, who died in 1876, and his present wife is Miss Ruth Kinyon, who has lived in this county about thirty-eight years. Mr. Rhea is the father of sixteen children, only five of whom are living: Murcinda, wife of William Hennessee; John A., of Walnut Ridge; Flavius, married; Laura Daily, who lives near the homestead; James and William, who live at home.