J. A. WEATHERLY. In this day and age of bustle and hurry very few people stop to consider what we can and how to select it, but the skillful housewife is very careful in her purchase of groceries, for she knows that on their purity and wholesomeness depends in a large measure the health and happiness of her family. J.A. Weatherly, dealer in fine groceries at Harrison, Arkansas, enjoys a reputation for courteous dealing and promptness in his line of business which any grocer might be proud to have and his goods have become noted for their excellence and purity.
He was born in Maury County, Tennessee, January 27, 1844, the third of nine children born to Samuel M. and Eliza J. (Duncan ) Weatherly, the former of whom was a Virginian, but an early pioneer of Tennessee, from which State he moved to Illinois about 1853 and settled in Union County, afterward locating at Murphysborough, Jackson County, where he was called from life about 1880. He was a mechanic by trade, a man of unblemished reputation and was a strong Republican in his political views. During the great Civil War he served as lieutenant in the One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but was wounded at Vicksburg and was compelled to retire from the service. His wife was a native Tennessean and died shortly after her husband, both being consistent members of the Baptist Church. Their children were named as follows: William D., who died in Illinois; James II., who resides in Illinois and was a soldier in an Illinois regiment during the war; John A.; Samuel M., who lives in Illinois; Thomas J., also of that State; Martha J., wife of John Howell; Nancy P., wife of W. M. Rathrock, of Jackson County, Illinois; Lavinia, wife of Doc. Bandy, and Mary, who died when young:
On a farm in the State of Illinois the subject of this sketch was reared and he was educated in the common schools in the vicinity of his rural home. In January, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Sixtieth Illinois Infantry, was under Col. W. B. Anderson and was with the Army of the Cumberland in the battles of Nashville, Murfreesboro, Atlanta, Savannah and Fayetteville, being honorably discharged at the latter place February 17, 1865, having received a sunstroke while in the battle of Atlanta, the effects of which he still feels. He held the rank of corporal and was a good and faithful soldier. He was at one time captured, owing to the fact that he was sick and had fallen behind his command, but when the Confederates discovered his condition they left him and he eventually recovered sufficiently to rejoin his command. After the war was over he went to Washington, D. C., thence home via Cairo, Illinois, and was engaged in farming in Union County until 1870, when he came to Boone County, Arkansas, and located on a woodland farm in the vicinity of Burlington, on which he resided until 1883, when he moved to the town of Burlington and began selling goods. He came to Harrison in 1893 and until the fall of that year was with J L. Roy, engaged in the sale of groceries, but since that time has been the sole proprietor and has built up a large patronage. Besides his valuable stock of goods his farm comprises 177 acres and he is a stockholder to the amount of about $1,000 in the Boone County Bank. Socially he is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Omaha Lodge No. 504, and politically he is a Republican of many years’ standing. In 1865 he was married to Miss Vancy J. Robertson, a native of Union County, Illinois, and a daughter of Charles and Susan (Rathrock) Robertson, who were also born there. Mrs. Weatherly was born August l5, 1847, and has borne her husband the following children; Sarah A., wife of P. H. Boyd, of Burlington, has three children–Mamie, Bertie and a baby; Marinda P. is the wife of A. L. Stevens, of Burlington, and Gracie B. Mr. and Mrs. Weatherly are members of the Missionary Baptist Church.