My Genealogy Hound

James M. Cassell is a farmer and merchant of Silver Hill, Sevier County, Ark., and is a native of the State, his birth occurring in Greenbrier, Faulkner County, April 15, 1853, the second of eight children born to Evans and Mary A. (Nugen) Cassell, native Alabamians, in which State they were married. The year 1852 witnessed their advent in Arkansas, and they first settled in Clark County, where they resided until the death of the mother, which occurred in 1868 at the age of thirty-four years. The father is living in Sevier County with his second wife, to whom he was married in 1878, her name being Mrs. E. B. (Nugen) Nution, a native of Alabama, and a sister of his first wife. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and takes quite an interest in public affairs, especially in churches, and he is a member of the Silver Hill Masonic fraternity. James M. Cassell spent his youth in Clark County, and at the age of nineteen years he began an independent career and took up the occupation of farming as a means of livelihood, which has since been his principal occupation. He was married, March 4, 1880, to Miss Sallie Waford, who was born in Sevier County, December 1, 1861, a daughter of John and Harriet (Honeycut) Waford, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Alabama. They were married in Saline County, Ark., in 1842, and there the mother died in 1863 at the age of twenty-eight years, after which, in 1866, Mr. Waford married Mrs. Cornelia A. (McElroy) Canada. To Mr. and Mrs. Cassell a family of four children have been born: Cora Lee (born July 9, 1882), Ada C. (born October 8, 1883), Carroll D. (born October 12, 1885), and Riley E. (born August 28, 1888). Besides owning a fine farm of 223 acres, of which 100 are under cultivation, Mr. Cassell is engaged in the mercantile business, being a member of the firm of Bullard & Cassell, of Silver Hill. Their stock of goods is valued at $1,000 and they do an annual business of $10,000. Mr. Cassell became a member of the Masonic fraternity in 1878, and is now a master Mason. He is a Democrat, but is not an active politician, has been a member of the Baptist Church since 1881, and is a liberal supporter of all worthy enterprises. During the early part of the war he enlisted in the Confederate service, and served until honorably discharged in 1864 for disability. Of the eight children born to Mr. Cassell’s parents five are now living, the following four being residents of Sevier County: Delilah A. (wife of Thomas Taylor, a farmer), Parlee (wife of S. Maddox), Mary A. (wife of John Kellum), and the subject of this sketch. William, the other member of the family, resides in Lamar County, Tex.