JAMES AUGUSTUS CARTER. This gentleman is the able and efficient editor of the Baxter County Citizen, a paper published in the interests of the section and of the Democrat party. It is a breezy, spicy sheet and from its columns something useful and interesting may always be gleaned, especially in the editorial department, for Mr. Carter is a forceful and elegant writer and does not hesitate to give his unbiased opinion of all matters of public interest. He is a native of Pontotoc County, Miss., where he was born October 30, 1858, a son of Benjamin F. and Mary C. (Dixon) Carter, who were born in Mississippi and South Carolina, respectively. The father died in 1861 while serving in the Confederate Army at the untimely age of twenty-seven years, and his widow afterward married J. M. Wylie, with whom she moved to Arkansas in 1868, locating seven miles south of Mountain Home, where she died a few days after her arrival.
The subject of this sketch received his education in the Mountain Home High School, and after finishing his scholastic course he was engaged in teaching for a few years. In 1882 he was elected county assessor, was reelected in 1884, and after the expiration of his term of office he engaged in mercantile pursuits with A. A. Wolf, with whom he was associated eighteen months. He then purchased the Baxter County Citizen in July, 1886, at which time the circulation of the paper was but 350, but under his management this has increased to 1,000 or more, and the patronage is continually growing. Mr. Carter has always worked for and advocated the principles of Democracy and through the columns of his paper has wielded a wide influence in favor of this party. All reforms find an able advocate in him; in fact, his patronage and support is extended to all enterprises of a worthy nature and he has proven himself a useful citizen and the proper man to have the management of a paper. He is a member of the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the A. F. & A. M., and has represented both in the Grand Lodge of the State and is also a member of the K. of H. He is vice-dictator of the K. of H. and is Sunday-school superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and has always taken an active interest in church affairs, having held the office of steward for several years and has four times been elected delegate from his district to the annual conference.
In 1885 he was united in marriage with Miss Sallie Hogan, daughter of Griffin Hogan, and by her is the father of one child, Carrie. Mr. Hogan is a prominent citizen of the county, residing near Mountain Home, but owes his nativity to Stewart County, Tennessee, where he was born in 1822. His father, David Hogan, was also a Tennessean, and, when Griffin was but a lad, moved to the western part of the State with him, where he attained the age of fifteen years. The family then moved to Independence County, Arkansas, and located on Black River, east of Sulphur Rock, on a tract of woodland. He was a Whig in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church from early boyhood and while in Tennessee was a church official. He died in 1840 after a well-spent life. Griffin Hogan was one of a large family and received a practical education in the schools of Stewart County, Tennessee, and Independence County, Arkansas Upon reaching manhood he began farming and stockraising on his own account and before the war was very successful in this business. Upon commencing life for himself his sole possessions consisted of one horse, but by good management he became wealthy. He owned a number of slaves, sold them for Confederate money, and consequently lost all. He spent one year as a member of Capt. Washburn’s company and assisted in the capture of the Federal soldiers on the Arkansas River, below Little Rock, and was also on the Missouri raid under Gen. Price. After the war he again resumed farming in Independence County, where he remained until 1875, when he came to Baxter County, and has lived in one neighbor-hood for nineteen years. He has made many improvements on his place and has a sufficient share of this world’s goods to keep him in comfort the rest of his life. He held the offices of constable and justice of the peace in Independence County, but has never accepted official position since, though often urged to do so. In 1843 he married Miss Caroline Lander, who was born in Missouri, and who died in 1862, having become the mother of ten children, six of whom are living: Andrew, the eldest, was a soldier of the Confederate Army for three years. In 1864 Mr. Hogan married Amanda Browning of Independence County, though born in Tennessee, and by her became the father of five children, four now living. Mr. Hogan and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he has been a trustee of the church property at Mountain Home for years. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., in which he has attained to the Chapter and Council and has represented the Blue Lodge in the Grand Lodge of the State. Politically he is a Democrat and as a citizen is one of the most substantial of the county.