My Genealogy Hound

J. A. Rachel is another example of what energy, industry and perseverance, when intelligently applied, will accomplish in connection with agriculture. He was born in Virginia on May 10, 1834, to Alexander and Mary (Wren) Rachel, the latter a distant relative of Christopher Wren. The parents were also Virginians, and the father was born about 1787, and was there afterward married. To them eight children were born, of whom J. A. was the fifth child, and five of the family are now living: E. A., E. G., Martha J., Elizabeth and J. A. Those deceased are William A., Sarah and Lucy. The father of these children was a participant in the War of 1812, and about 1837 moved from Virginia to North Carolina, where he made his home until his death in 1882. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as was his wife, who died in 1854. J. A. Rachel emigrated to Arkansas in 1854, and settled in Pope county, where he was married November 7, 1867, to Miss Martha A. Shinn, whose birth occurred in this county December 2, 1843. She is a daughter of John and Malinda (Harkey) Shinn, and has borne her husband the following children: Dora M., Nora E., Walter, Edward, Cora M., William E. (deceased), and two that died unnamed. In 1862 Mr. Rachel joined the Confederate Army, enlisting in Company H, Hill’s regiment, Cabel’s brigade, and served until the war closed, when he returned home, and began working at the blacksmith and wagon-making business, having previously learned the trade at Jackson’s Hill, N. C, in 1852. By industry and good management Mr. Rachel has become the owner of 485 acres of land, his home place consisting of 245 acres, with seventy-five acres under cultivation, forty acres of the other tract being under the plow. He has an orchard of about 100 apple trees on his home place, and about 600 trees on his other farm, besides a good many peach trees and a fair sized vineyard. On the farm on which he is residing is a twenty-two-inch vein of coal, but it has never been developed. Mr. Rachel has served three years as deputy sheriff of the county, and socially he is a member of Dover Lodge No. 17, of the A. F. & A. M. His wife is a member of the Christian Church.