My Genealogy Hound

Frank B. Toms is a planter residing near Clarendon, Ark., and was born in Perquimans County, N. C, in 1847, being the eldest of six children born to Henry C. and Susan M. (Lynch) Toms, also of that State, born February 6, 1825, and in December, 1829, respectively. They were married in their native State, in 1846, and there resided until 1851, then came to Monroe County, Ark., and settled on a woodland farm, about five miles southeast of Clarendon. Mr. Toms was a man of very limited means at that time, and came west in order to make a home for his family, and in this succeeded, for at the time of his death he was the owner of a good farm. He was a man possessing high moral principles, temperate, industrious and of exemplary habits, and his death, which occurred in 1859, while he was representing his lodge in the Masonic Grand Lodge at Little Rock, was deeply lamented, not only by his immediate family, but by all who knew him as well. His wife was a consistent member of the Methodist Church, and died in 1868. The paternal grandparents, Francis B. and Sarah Toms, were probably born and married in England, and were early emigrants to and farmers of the “Old North State.” Richard and Nancy Lynch, the maternal grandparents, were also early settlers of North Carolina, from Ireland, in which country they were born, reared and married. They came to this country on account of persecution, the father having participated in a rebellion in his native land. Both died in North Carolina. Frank B. Toms and his sister Sarah, widow of A. W. Harris, are the only ones of their father’s family now living. The former spent his early days on a farm, and after his father’s untimely death, the principal care of the family devolved on him. This left him with but little chance of acquiring an education, but he remained faithful to his trust until his marriage, in 1877, to Fannie, a daughter of Reuben and Rebecca Harrod, natives respectively of Louisiana and Mississippi, and very early settlers of Monroe County, Ark. The father was a soldier in the Confederate States army, a farmer by occupation, and died in 1872, followed by his wife two years later. Mrs. Toms was born in Monroe County, and she and Mr. Toms are the parents of one daughter. Mr. Toms lived on the old farm, on which his father settled, until 1888, when he removed to Clarendon, where he now owns a comfortable and commodious home. His farm of 160 acres comprises some of the best land in the county, and he has eighty acres under cultivation, all being acquired by his own good management and industry. He is a Democrat, his first presidential vote being cast for Greeley, in 1872, and he is a Royal Arch Mason. He also belongs to the K. of H., and in his religious views is a Methodist, his wife being a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.