Biography of Joseph L Self, Scott Co, AR

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Submitted by: Charlene Holland <Char@presys.com>
        Date: 9 Sep 1998
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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	Joseph L. Self is classed among the respected farmers and ginners of
Scott County, Ark., and although he has not attained the highest round in
the ladder of success, he has been more than ordinarily successful in
pursuing his calling, and now has an excellent farm of 120 acres, of
which 60 acres are under cultivation, and besides this has a 200-acre
tract of timberland. He was born in Alabama, in 1824, the fifth of twelve
children born to Jesse and Mary (Naremon) Self, both of whom were born in
North Carolina, the former a planter. He moved to Georgia about 1826, and
there continued to make his home until his death in 1866, his wife
passing from life in 1850. In the State of Georgia Joseph L. Self was
principally reared, but his educational advantages were limited. When he
had attained his majority he began farming for himself, and in his
twenty-third year was married to Miss Nancy Gartman, a native of Georgia.
In 1863 he put aside his work to enlist in the Confederate Army, and
while a member of Company K Thirty-ninth Georgia Regiment Infantry, he
was in the battle of Vicksburg. After the fall of that city he was
paroled, and went home. He came to Arkansas in 1870, and settled on the
place on which he is now residing, six miles east of Waldron. In 1882 he
started a steam cotton gin, in connection with which he soon after began
operating a gristmill, and in 1889 a sawmill, all of which are now in
good working order. The gin has a capacity of seven bales per day. Since
1888 he has been conducting a general mercantile store, his stock of
goods being worth about $2,000, and he does a successful general
plantation supply business. On his property there are now two other
stores, a blacksmith shop and several residences, making quite a little
village. Mr. Self is associated in this business with his son, A.W., who
is married to Rebecca Hiful, a native of this State. Mr. Self is the
father of eight children: Mary (wife of L.D. Pendra), Susan Elizabeth
(wife of Foncy Neal), Martha (wife of T. J. Watson), Sarah, Henry P.
(married), Alvin, James R. and Margaret Ellen (wife of Frank M. Bottoms,
a merchant of Waldron). The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South, and Mr. Self has always been a stanch supporter of
education, and has given land for school and church purposes, a house of
each kind being erected in 1878. He is a self-made man, very public
spirited, and has helped to bring Scott County to its present admirable
state of cultivation. [CH note: Rebecca Hiful is Rebecca Highfield.]