My Genealogy Hound

James M. Rooker, farmer and stock raiser, Hickory Plains, Ark. Mr. Rooker is now following a calling that has for ages received undivided efforts from many worthy individuals, and one that always furnishes sustenance to the ready worker. He was originally from York County, S. C., where his birth occurred on December 11, 1833, and is the son of John B. Rooker, a native of South Carolina, and Nancy A. (McCallum) Rooker, who was born in Scotland. John B. Rooker was a mechanic, a bridge carpenter, and moved from his native State to Georgia, where he was engaged in building bridges on the first railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga. He subsequently located on a farm in Gordon County, and there received his final summons about 1857. He served as magistrate for a number of years, and was a much respected citizen. His wife survives him, and is seventy-five years of age. James M. Rooker passed his boyhood days in Georgia, and remained with his father until of age, after which he went to Noxubee County, Miss., and was overseer on a plantation for three years. He was married on January 28, 1858, in Smith County, to Miss Mary A. Hill, a native of Noxubee County, and the daughter of Sherod Hill. To this union have been born fourteen children: Emma E. (wife of B. S. Guess), Joseph A. (lives on a farm near his father’s), J. Thomas (now taking medical lectures at Little Rock), Ella E. (wife of William Webb), John W., Augustus, Cora E. (wife of J. E. Wilson), Bunyon, Leroy C., Mary O. and Martha (twins), Samuel, Ava and Elmer. They lost one child, Minnie, on November 2, 1871, at the age of four years. After his marriage Mr. Rooker bought a farm in Smith County, and tilled the soil up to the breaking out of the late war. He enlisted in the Confederate army, Seventh Battalion Infantry, in May, 1861, and served twelve months, after which he was in the Forty-sixth Regiment Infantry, and served until the close of the war, being promoted from private to sergeant. He participated in the following engagements: Chickasaw Bayou, Port Gibson, siege of Vicksburg, where he was captured, held a prisoner until the fall and then exchanged. After this he was in the fights at Atlanta, Kenesaw Mountain, and in the fights from Dalton to Nashville. He was again captured in front of Nashville, and held at Camp Douglas until the close of the war. He received one slight wound at Vicksburg, but numerous bullets passed through his clothing. Returning to Mississippi after the war, he followed farming there for two years, and in 1868 moved to Arkansas, where he rented land in Prairie County for one year. He then purchased 160 acres, cleared it, and added to the same until he now owns 500 acres of land, with 150 acres under cultivation. He has good buildings, a fine orchard of five acres, and is one of the progressive men of the county. He has been a member of the school board for a number of years, and is deeply interested in educational matters. He and wife are members of the Baptist Church, and he is deacon in the same.