My Genealogy Hound

Silas Ruffner, of Walnut Ridge, is one of the oldest citizens of Lawrence County. He was born in New Madrid County, Mo., in 1836, and is the same age as that of his adopted State — Arkansas. His father was Elias Ruffner, of what is now Kanawha County, W. Va., who was a farmer by occupation. The elder Ruffner moved from Virginia to Indiana, and afterward to Illinois, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Texas. He came to Arkansas in 1844, and located at Crowley’s Ridge, in Poinsett County, and in 1857 removed to Texas, where he contracted pneumonia, and died the same year, aged sixty years. He was married to Miss Nancy Phillips, of Virginia, and had five children, four of them living in Lawrence County and one in Prairie County. The mother is still living in the former county, at the age of seventy-eight years, and has full possession of all her faculties. Silas Ruffner was reared as a farmer, and had been in that business until within the past three years. He has had but a limited education, but is a man of strong will and a determination that overcomes all obstacles. He has resided the greater portion of his life in Lawrence County, having come here in the year 1850, and can recount a score of reminiscences of the early days of this State. He first lived in Poinsett and Jackson Counties, and remembers when Jacksonport, in the latter county, was merely a canebrake. He can also remember when the Jacksonport and Pocahontas country road was opened, which covered a distance of sixty-two miles, and had but one house upon it, which was called the “Stranger’s Home,” as that was the only place of accommodation on the entire road. In 1886 Mr. Ruffner established himself in the merchandising business at Walnut Ridge, and has had very fair success. He is a member of Walnut Ridge Lodge No. 19731, Knights of Honor, and also a member of the town council. In 1862 he enlisted in Capt. Henry’s company, and served three and one-half years through the war. He was discharged June 5, 1865, and held the rank of second lieutenant at the time of his release. He has been married four times, two of his wives having been sisters, and all four of them cousins. He has had eleven children altogether, and seven of them are still living: Savannah (the wife of John E. Johnson, of Walnut Ridge), Joseph and Nancy Owen (who reside in this county), Williger (the wife of Edgar O’Neal, of the “Stranger’s Home”), Julia (the wife of Davis Ruffner, of this county), Henry, George and John. He has married for the fifth time, his present wife having been Rachel Upchurch. Mr. Ruffner is in splendid health, and has never taken a cupful of medicine in the whole course of his existence, nor touched a drink of whisky. In politics, he is a Democrat.