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From: <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] .Moses Bolling Rhea Greene Co. Ar.
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1999 13:07:31 EST

.RHEA, Moses Bolling

Posted by Goodspeed's Biographies; 1889 on Sat, 05 Sep 1998

Surnames: RHEA, LITTLEPAGE, LAMB, SEEGO, SLAVIN, DAILY, KINYON

Moses Bolling Rhea is one of the oldest settlers of Lawrence County. and has
been here over fifty-four years. There is only one citizen in the above
county. C. S. Pinnell. who has been in this section longer than Mr. Rhea. He
was born in Warren County. Tenn., June 6, 1822. and is the son of Obadiah
Rhea. of East Tennessee. who settled in Arkansas about the year 1835, and
located within fifteen miles of the present town of Walnut Ridge, where he
lived until his death, in 1855. The wife of Obadiah Rhea was Miss Elizabeth
Littlepage. of Tennessee. They were the parents of ten children, six of whom
are still living. Their names are: Moses B., Thomas, a farmer of Greene
County: Elizabeth, widow of James G. Rutherford, residing near the old
homestead: Nancy, wife of James Edward, of Greensboro. Ark.; Mary, the wife of
C. C. Grayson. of Greene County; Emily, the wife of Allan Pierce, a resident
of Cache Township. This is indeed a remarkable showing for one family. Six of
the ten children are living, the oldest being sixty-eight years old and the
youngest fifty-four years. They have outlived every family who settled in
Lawrence County, at about the same time, and have more living members as a
proof of their longevity than any other of the early settlers. The mother of
these children died at the age of seventy-two years, in 1871 or 1872. Moses B.
was thirteen years of age when he first came to Lawrence County, but resided
in Greene County, until his twenty-third year, before he settled on his
present farm. seven miles east of Walnut Ridge. He has been a farmer all his
life, and a very successful one, owning some 1,200 acres of land, of which 550
acres are under cultivation, and besides his lands. he owns considerable
stock. His children have cause to remember him with gratitude, as he has
presented each of them with a good farm. He first started in life for himself
when twenty-two years of age, with nothing but a mare and colt. The meagerness
of his worldly possessions, however, did not disturb him in the least. and it
was not long before his industry secured for him almost all of the freighting
between Cape Girardeau, Memphis, Powhatan. Jacksonport. Forest City and other
points, and no doubt he has hauled more freight than any other man in Lawrence
County. He fought under Price during the war, and was in that general's raids
through Missouri and Kansas. Hard work never affects him apparently, and he
keeps it up steadily on the farm. His principles were toward the Union at
first, but he afterward changed to be a strong Southern man. In his early days
he was a Whig, and mingled in polities considerably, but under no
circumstances would he ever accept an office, although often urged to do so.
He was married February 8, 1844. to Miss Sarah C. Lamb. of Alabama, whose
parents. William and Mary (See) Lamb, were among the earlier [p.815] settlers
of this county. She died in 1867, and Mr. Rhea was again married in 1868 to
Clementine Seego. This wife died in 1869, and in 1870 he was married to Miss
Mary Slavin, whose death occurred in 1871. His fourth wife was Miss Sarah
Daily, who died in 1876, and his present wife is Miss Ruth Kinyon, who has
lived in this county about thirty-eight years. Mr. Rhea is the father of
sixteen children, only five of whom are living: Murcinda, wife of William
Hennessee; John A., of Walnut Ridge; Flavius, married; Laura Daily, who lives
near the homestead; James and William, who live at home.

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