My Genealogy Hound

B. S. Carleton. As an example of the usefulness and prominence to which men of character and determination will attain, we have but to chronicle the life of Mr. Carleton, one of the most extensive cotton growers within the limits of Mississippi County. He was born in Lafayette County, Miss., in 1851, and moved with his father, Dr. A. Carleton, of Virginia, to Memphis, Tenn., when but eight years of age. He received his education in the Memphis schools, with the exception of three years which he spent in the schools in Mississippi, and afterward studied medicine for two years in Memphis. He then went to his mother, who was living on a plantation in Coahoma County, Miss., and was engaged in agricultural pursuits for several years. Going from there to Commerce, Miss., he followed merchandising for three years, and then came to Nodena about twelve years ago. Since that time he has been speculating in cotton, and runs a plantation. His average yield of cotton is from 300 to 650 bales per year, and he has now about 300 people on his place. He is proprietor of the landing known as the Idaho & Tonages, and is also proprietor of the places known as Idaho, Clark, Carleton Lake, Pitman and Lower Tonages, which contain about 1,200 acres of land. Mr. Carleton is the owner of a cotton-gin and saw mill. In 1880 his marriage to Miss Ida V. Bell was consummated, she being of Memphis birth, the daughter of W. J. Bell, of North Carolina, and Josephine (Moore) Bell, of Shelby County, Tenn. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Carleton: Cleave, Byron and Carrie, all at home. Mr. Carleton is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Lodge No. 27, Osceola, Ark. Mr. and Mrs. Carleton are people of refinement and taste, and are connected with some of the best families of the county; they are also well known and much esteemed in Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Carleton takes great pride in the fact that he is a descendant of the State that was ‘‘the mother of Presidents,’’ and of the Scotch-Irish Carleton family.