My Genealogy Hound

Thomas James Layton, of Cache Township, Jackson County, is a native of Fountain County, Ind., and was born September 28, 1830. He is a son of Samuel and Ella (Ogle) Layton, natives of Ohio, where they were married. The father died in Indiana, about the year 1859, and the mother in Illinois, in 1877. Thomas J. was reared to farming, receiving the advantages of the common schools of his native State. At the age of fourteen he learned the cooper’s trade, which he followed in connection with farming until he was twenty years of age. In October, 1854, he married Miss Anna Bradshaw, who was born in Indiana, and to their union were born four children, viz.: Samuel James Layton, born in 1855, a merchant of Weldon, Ark., who married Miss Georgia Symmonds, of Stafford County, Kas., in August, 1879; John McElroy Layton, a farmer by occupation, who married, in 1883, Miss Emma Bowen, of Indiana; David L. Layton, married Miss Neila Burton, in February, 1884, and is in partnership with his brother, Samuel, at Weldon; Jesse B. married Miss Lydia Burton, and is a farmer, also operating a cotton-gin. The mother of this family died in September, 1864, in Champaign County, Ill., and her remains were taken to Indiana for interment. In October, 1865, Mr. Layton, married Mrs. M. J. McCorkhill, nee Fuller, widow of W. J. R. McCorkhill, of Indiana. She had one child by her former marriage, Mahala Josephine, born in Vermilion County, Ill., who, in 1864, married William C. Glover, of Virginia, a farmer and carpenter by trade; he was the principal contractor in rebuilding Newport, Ark., after its loss by fire. Mr. and Mrs. Layton have seven children, viz.: Anna C, born in Missouri, in 1866, married, in December, 1885, Howard Fletcher; William Thomas, born March 28, 1869; Fairellener, born May 9, 1870, married, December 9, 1888, Lee Stanley, of Cross County, Ark.; Margaret, born April 11, 1872; Katie, born December 3, 1873, and Jacob H., born January 13, 1876, died February 15, 1889. Mr. Layton removed with his family to Arkansas, in 1867, locating in the neighborhood in which he now lives, where he rented land for three years. In 1871 he bought eighty acres of his present farm, which was entirely unimproved, and which he began at once to clear and improve. He has been successful, and has added to his farm from time to time, until now it contains 346 acres, seventy-eight acres of which are under cultivation. He has one of the finest farms in the county, as a result of enterprise and perseverance. Though not an active politician, Mr. Layton votes with the Union Labor party.