My Genealogy Hound

Thomas B. Steele, attorney, Harrisburg, Ark. Of the many prominent names that make up the strength of the Arkansas bar is that of Thomas B. Steele, who is a true type of the progressive, yet conservative, and cultured Arkansas man. He was born at Batesville, Independence County, Ark., on the 18th of April, 1855, and is one of seven children born to Rev. John M. and Narcissa (Brookfield) Steele, and grandson of Rev. Isaac Brookfield, who was originally from New Jersey, and was one of the pioneer preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He, with Rev. John M. Steele, was the founder of a great many churches of that denomination on Crowley’s Ridge, their territory extending from Chalk Bluff to Helena. Rev. John M. Steele was born in Hardeman County, N. C., on the 2d of March, 1810, and remained in his native State until 1836, when he moved to Arkansas, where, for a number of years, he spent his time as an itinerant preacher. He was without a permanent home until about 1843, when he took for his second wife Miss Narcissa Brookfield, a history of whose parents appears in the church history of the counties traversed by Crowley’s Ridge. The seven children born to Rev. John M. Steele and wife are as follows: Mrs. Nancy J. Harris, residing in Bolivar Township; Rev. J. R., an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Texas; Mrs. Mary E. Dudley, who died in 1874, leaving three children; Mrs. S. Ann Keck, in Bolivar Township; Mrs. Martha C. Bettis; Thomas B. and James M., Jr., physician and surgeon at Weiner, Ark. Thomas B. Steele began in early life to assist on the farm and to attend the schools of Poinsett County. He attended the high school at Harrisburg, and finished in Arkansas College, at Batesville, in 1875. After this he began the study of Blackstone, under the tutelage of J. C. Brookfield, was admitted to the bar in 1878, and licensed to practice in the circuit and all inferior courts of the State. He at once located at Harrisburg, and has since been successfully devoting himself to the practice of his profession. On the 18th of September, 1887, he abandoned his single state, and was united in marriage to Miss Dora E. Guyer, a daughter of B. Y. and Mary A. (Bomar) Guyer, natives of New York and Tennessee, and of English and French descent respectively. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Steele occurred in the Lone Star State, where her parents were living at that time. One child has been born to this union — Archie W., whose birth occurred on the 31st of August, 1888. Mr. Steele is the owner of about four acres in the oldest part of Harrisburg, and one business block on Main Street. In addition to this, he is the owner of 400 acres of timber land in Poinsett and Craighead Counties, with about fifteen acres under cultivation. He votes with the Democratic party, and is quite active in politics, having made the canvass for representative in 1888, but was defeated by L. J. Collins. He takes a prominent part in all matters relating to education or for the public good.