My Genealogy Hound

James Tunnah (deceased) was one of the pioneer business men of Little Rock, coming to that city in 1848. He was born in Dumfernline, Fifeshire, Scotland, on March 21, 1817, his parents, like most of the Scotch race, being people of great longevity. Emigrating to America in July, 1848, he landed at New Orleans, and, in the spring of 1849, with Joseph Clark, his companion from Scotland, located at Little Rock. Both of them were marble and stone cutters, and were the first to establish the marble business in Little Rock, which they carried on under the firm name of Joseph Clark & Co., until the death of Mr. Clark, in 1852, when the business was transferred to Mr. Tunnah. During the later years of his life, his son, Renton, was taken into partnership with him, and the elder continued actively in the business until his death, on October 9, 1882. He was married November 15, 1853, to Mrs. Helen McPherson Clark, widow of his former partner, but lost his wife, who died February 17, 1877, at the age of fifty-five years. They were the parents of six children, of whom three are yet living: William Chester (book-keeper for W. B. Whorten & Co., Little Rock), James Kirkwood (passenger conductor on the Cotton Belt Railway) and Renton. Those deceased were John Graham, John Walter and Robert Bruce. Mrs. Tuunah had one son by her former marriage, George D. Clark, who died in this city on January 13, 1881. Mr. Tunnah was a prominent Mason of Arkansas, and was Tyler of the Grand Lodge for about twenty years, and was also a representative of the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. He was also wharf master and city collector for about twelve years. Renton Tunnah was born in Little Rock on March 16, 1864, and received a good public-school education. When old enough, he was put in his father’s establishment to learn the marble cutter’s trade, and in the spring of 1882, the elder Tunnah gave him an interest in the business. When his father died he left no will, and the other half interest in the business fell to Renton, who has since conducted it with success. He owns a nice little residence at No. 208 Gaines Street Mr. Renton Tunnah is deeply interested in Knights of Pythias matters, and, seeing the necessity of a paper devoted to the interests of that fraternity in the State of Arkansas, he established the Pythian Advocate, which is issued monthly at the rate of $1 per annum, and is a neat, bright and newsy paper. He is a member of Damon Lodge No. 3, Knights of Pythias, and is a Past Chancellor of that lodge, and representative to the Arkansas Grand Lodge. He was married February 26, 1884, to Miss Fannie A. Stevenson, of Little Rock. Three children have been born to this union: Robert K. (born November 28, 1884), Helen (born October 27, 1886) and Renton, Jr. (born December 24, 1888.) Mrs. Tunnah is a devout Christian woman, and a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Tunnah is also a member of Capitol Lodge No. 25, A. O. U. W., and the Order of American Firemen. He is assistant chief of the Volunteer Fire Department of Little Rock.