My Genealogy Hound

Robert E. L. Wilson is numbered among the younger of the successful and rising agriculturists of this county, and none will have a brighter future, or will make better use of their advantages than he. The citizens of Mississippi County are proud to claim his as one of its sons, for he was born here in the year 1863. His father, Joseph L. Wilson, came from Tipton County, Tenn., in 1847, and purchased a tract of land in Mississippi County comprising several thousand acres, the most of which has descended to his son, Robert E. L., who owns 2,700 acres. The latter has cleared and put under the plow over 200 acres, but has 260 under cultivation, on which he has erected thirty houses, which are used by his tenants. His residence is a handsome structure, covering an area of over 3,000 square feet, is beautifully and comfortably furnished inside, and is in the center of a large and well-kept lawn. Among the other buildings which Mr. Wilson has erected is a saw-mill, which is situated about four miles from the river, at Idaho Landing, and has a capacity of 14,000 feet per day. From this mill he has a tramway of about six miles in length, extending from the river back into his timber lands, and here he has some thirty men engaged in lumbering. He ships large quantities of lumber from his mill to Chicago annually, the principal demand being for ash lumber, of which he has a large supply still in the tree. The greater part of his cultivated lands he devotes to the raising of cotton, which enterprise gives employment to about 100 people; and one year he gathered eighty bales of cotton from eighty acres of land, and at another time nineteen bales from eighteen acres of land, each bale weighing over 500 pounds. The expense of cultivating an acre of cotton and laying it by is about $7. In the year 1885 Miss Lizzie Beall became his wife, she being a daughter of S. A. Beall, of Mississippi, formerly of Pennsylvania, who came to Mississippi County, Ark., in 1865, and settled on Frenchman’s Bayou. He is now engaged in managing his son-in law’s mill and mercantile establishment, the latter comprising a large and well-selected stock of general merchandise. Two children were born to the marriage of Mr. Wilson, only one of whom is living, Mabel Victoria. Tiny died at the age of eighteen months. Mr. Wilson is one whose integrity and honor have never been questioned, and, although a young man, his views relating to matters of business, as well as on general and popular topics of the day, are considered unusually sound. He is a member of McGavock Lodge, K. of H., at Frenchman’s Bayou, and his wife is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. She is a refined and well-educated lady, and shows unusually good taste in the arrangement of her home. This young couple bid fair to become not only one of the wealthiest, but, what is of far more importance, one of the most highly honored, families in the county.