HON. NAPOLEON B. ALLEN. Like all self-made and distinguished men Hon. Napoleon B. Allen commenced life with limited means and worked his way to the front by careful and studious attention to business, honesty and integrity, and the following of the various traits that combine in making a man respected and honored. He was born at Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, May 27, 1851.
The son of William and Matilda (Evans) Allen. The father was a native of Illinois, but was reared in St. Louis. In 1830 he went to where Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, is now situated, and was one of the first to settle there, entering the Springs from the Government. In 1853 he sold this property for $600, now worth many thousands, and engaged in farming and stockraising, which he carried on very successfully. He was the most extensive stockraiser in the whole country, numbered his cattle and horses by the hundred, and his stock overran the country from Imboden, Arkansas, to West Plains, Missouri. Mr. Allen was about fifty-four or fifty-five at the time of his death. He was twice married, first to Miss Stublefield, who died at Mammoth Springs. After that he was married to Mrs. Matilda (Evans) Ragan, who was born in the year 1813. To the first union were born five children and to the last, three, our subject being the youngest of the latter.
He spent his school days near where Thayer is now located, and when nineteen years of age left the schoolroom to engage in farming and stockraising, on the Warm Fork of Spring River. There he remained until 1888, and aside from farming and stockraising was in business at Clifton and Mammoth Springs, before there was any town at Thayer. After the railroad came through he sold drugs there; was in business at Mammoth Springs and Clifton from 1876 to 1881, the firm at the latter place being Clifton &.Allen. There this firm put up the first gin. He was engaged in business for himself at Mammoth Springs and was unusually successful. He was engaged by the Gulf Railroad as contractor to furnish beef and this occupied his attention for some time. He has been in business of some kind or other since boy-hood, and displays excellent judgment and wonderful business acumen. He bought his large farm in 1887, and started to buy the place where he now lives from the Couch heirs. He has 110 acres in the home tract, owns wild land all over the county, a farm on Arkansas River below Fort Smith, and has prospered financially. Mr. Allen was public administrator of Oregon County eight years, and in 1884 he was elected to represent the county in the Legislature.
On July 30, 1871, he was married to Miss Emma Clift, a daughter of James Clift, who was born in Dent County, Missouri. Of this union one son, Haston, is the only representative, for six children are deceased. One son, James, died when eighteen years of age. Mr. Allen is a member of the Methodist Church, and is recording steward for Garfield Circuit. Mrs. Allen is a member of the Christian Church. For a number of years Mr. Allen was in the newspaper business at Thayer. He has always been an active business man and as a citi-zen and a neighbor is well liked. He is a Mason, and in politics is an ardent supporter of Democratic principles.