My Genealogy Hound

Dr. James M. Steele, physician and surgeon, Weiner, Ark. Dr. Steele is a son of the well-known pioneer, Rev. John M. Steele, and is the youngest in a family of seven children. He was born in Batesville, Independence County, Ark., on the 25th of February, 1861, and his brothers and sisters are named as follows: Mrs. Jane Harris, wife of W. C. Harris, a farmer near Harrisburg; John R., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Meridian, Tex.; Mrs. Mary Dudley, wife of N. P. Dudley, and who died in June, 1876; Mrs. Ann Keck, wife of T. W. Keck, a farmer, living in Poinsett County; Mrs. Kate Battis, wife of J. W. Battis, a farmer near Harrisburg, and Thomas B. Steele, an attorney and counselor at law, at Harrisburg. Dr. James M. Steele’s parents, Rev. J. M. and Narcissa (Brookfield) Steele, were among the earliest settlers of Crowley’s Ridge. The father was born near Raleigh, N. C., in 1810, and received his education in that State and in Tennessee, having removed with his father to that State in 1824. He began life as a millwright, and in 1829 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Seit, a native of Tennessee. Two children were the fruits of this union: A. C., a farmer, who died from injuries received in the war, in 1865, leaving a wife and two children, and William M., who died in 1881, leaving a family of five children. Rev. Steele lost his wife in Saline County, Ark., in 1832. He had moved there in 1830, and a short after his wife’s death was converted and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He immediately entered the ministry of the Arkansas Methodist Episcopal Conference, and began his notable lifework. His labors for the first four or five years were in Northwest and Southwest Arkansas, and after that time on Crowley’s Ridge, in St. Francis County. He was there married, in 1848, to Miss Narcissa Brookfield, daughter of Rev. Isaac and Nancy Brookfield, and the same year he was sent by the conference to the Indian Territory, where he remained four years. He then returned to Batesville, Ark., and after this time his field was Crowley’s Ridge, from Chalk Bluff to Helena and the Black River country. After starting over fifty churches, this devout and truly Christian man closed his eyes to the scenes of this world in 1881. Dr. James M. Steele attended the schools of Harrisburg, then Washington high school, in Independence County, and also attended one term at Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn. He began the study of medicine in 1876, under Dr. Beecher, and then spent several seasons as a drug clerk. In 1884 and 1885 he took a medical course in Memphis Hospital College, and in the last mentioned year began practicing at Weiner, Poinsett County, Ark., where he has built up a large and paying practice. He was married, on the 14th of March, 1886, to Miss Emma E. Mayer, daughter of Michael and Mary (Klaege) Mayer, natives of Germany. To the Doctor and wife was born one child, Austin G., now a bright boy of six months. They lost one child, Edgar M., at the age of three months. Dr. Steele owns eighty acres of land, twenty acres under cultivation, and in connection with his practice is engaged in farming and stock-raising. He votes with the Democratic party, but is conservative. He is a member of the school board, and one of the leading men of the county. Mrs. Steele is a member of the Catholic Church.