My Genealogy Hound

James W. Brians, county sheriff. Among the men who cast their fortunes in Prairie County, Ark., in January, 1867, and whose memory is treasured by the people of this region, is William J. Brians, the father of our subject. He was born in North Carolina, and was married there to Elizabeth Smith, a native of the same State, and moved with her to Mississippi in October, 1858, settling on a farm, where he remained eight years, after which he moved to Prairie County, Ark. He made his home on a farm near Butlerville, and here his death occurred in 1876, he having served for a short time in the Confederate army during the late war. His wife survives him at this writing. James W. Brians was born in Cabarrus County, N. C, September 5, 1852, and remained with his parents until he was twenty-three years of age. He was married in Prairie County, October 17, 1877, to Miss Emma Moore, a daughter of Dr. W. L. Moore, she being a native of Arkansas, born and reared in Prairie County. After their marriage they settled on a farm in the western part of the county, their home place consisting of eighty acres, sixty-one acres being in an excellent state of cultivation, on which is a good residence and other necessary farm, buildings. Besides this land he also owns 160 acres in another tract, a considerable portion of which is also improved, and good residence property in the town of Des Arc. He has always supported the principles and men of the Democrat party, and in the fall of 1888 was nominated and elected by a handsome majority on that ticket to the office of county sheriff. He has held other local positions, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They have one child three years of age named Bertha Emma, and have lost three children, William Moore (a son, dying on September 12, 1889, at the age of eleven years), Mary Buelah (died at the age of ten months) and Augustus Edwin (at the age of two years). Mr. Brians displays great system and neatness in the management of his farm, and everything about his place shows the progressive and intelligent citizen that he is.