My Genealogy Hound

M. D. Simmons & Co., druggists of Harrisburg, Ark. Among the more recent acquisitions to the business interests of the town is the establishment of which Mr. Simmons is a member, which has secured a reputation such as one might think belonged to an older established house. Their store was opened in February, 1882, and, after renting a building for some years, they, in 1888, put up their present substantial frame business house, into which they moved in the spring of that year. The senior member of the firm, Mr. Simmons, was born in Marshall County, Miss., in 1859, and is the eldest in a family of three children born to John and Victoria E. (Douglas) Simmons, the former a native of Tennessee, and the latter of Mississippi. John Simmons removed to Cross County, Ark., in 1860, and located near Vanndale, and in 1871 located in Wittsburg, Ark., where the mother died, in 1872. The father was a Mason and a member of the K. of H. He now makes his home in Vanndale. M. D. Simmons received his early education in the public and high schools of Wittsburg, and after attaining a suitable age he began the study of pharmacy under a physician of that place, and was prescription clerk in his store for some years. Mr. Simmons is not a very active politician, but has served as a member of the town council. He has belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for a number of years, is an active worker for the cause of Christianity, and has been superintendent of the Sunday-school for a number of years. He was married in Clarksville, Tenn., on the 18th of June, 1884, to Miss Hardin Duncan, a native of that State, and by her is the father of two children: Bessie May and Louise Kendrick. Mrs. Simmons is a daughter of John and Mary Elizabeth (Johnson) Duncan, the former a native of Scotland, and the latter of Tennessee. John Duncan removed to Tennessee at an early day, and settled in Nashville in 1844, where he followed the occupation of painting. He is still living, and resides with Mrs. Simmons, but the mother died in Little Rock, Ark., in 1884, where they were residing at the time.