My Genealogy Hound

John E. Douglas has attained to a position of credit as a farmer and surveyor of St. Francis County. A native of Tennessee, he is the son of John E. and Elizabeth (Sparks) Douglas, who came originally from Alabama and Tennessee, respectively. The principal of this sketch was born on January 18, 1837. His father died when he was less than two years old and his mother then came to Arkansas and settled in St. Francis County where she was shortly after married to Curtis G. Tyer. Young John lived with his mother after her second marriage, and had the advantages of a good education in the subscription schools of the county, at the age of seventeen engaging in teaching in order to raise money enough to enable him to continue his studies, as he was very desirous of taking a thorough course in civil engineering. Three years later he was offered the position of assistant teacher in St. Francis Academy, where he completed his education, acquiring a superior knowledge of surveying, in both its theoretical and practical phases. Following this he resumed teaching until the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted in the Twenty-third Arkansas Infantry and served in Price’s famous raid through Missouri. After the war Mr. Douglas again turned his attention to the instruction of the young, continuing it until 1868, when he bought 120 acres of land and commenced farming. He was married on March 7, 1866, to Miss Mary A. Casbeer. They are the parents of six children: Charles M., Thomas E., Nathaniel E., Effie D., Lucy A. and Leta J. Mr. Douglas owns a fine farm with good buildings, his large orchard containing all kinds of choice fruit, and also owns forty acres of desirable land in Cross County. In 1880 he was elected census enumerator, and the same year was made county surveyor, which position he has held since that time with a faithfulness and ability which have redounded largely to his personal esteem and worth. Mr. Douglas is a member of the Knights of Honor and is an enterprising citizen, contributing liberally toward those enterprises which tend to the development or improvement of the community, physically, morally or intellectually.