J. P. PIGG. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch possesses those qualities of industry and energy so necessary to success in any calling, and as a tiller of the soil he is ranked among the most successful in the county. He owes his nativity to Warren County, Tennessee, where he was born November 25, 1844, a son of John and Melvina (Newby) Pigg, the former of whom came to this county about 1851 or 1852, but was a resident of Marshall, Webster County, Missouri, at the time of his death, his wife having passed from life in Tennessee. To their union the following children have been born: Richard, of Christian County, Missouri; Thomas M., of Polk County, Missouri; J. P.; Susan (Mrs. Clark), lives in California, and Melvina (Stonesephen), who lives in this county. Six children are deceased.
John Pigg was residing in Taney County, Missouri, when the war opened; he was taken as a prisoner to Springfield, but after being released made his home in Illinois until after the war closed. He then located in Webster County, Missouri, and there died in 1882. J. P. Pigg and his brother Richard were Confederate soldiers under Gen. Price, and afterward under Pemberton. After the surrender of Vicksburg they came to Boone County, Arkansas, and joined Jackman’s army and was with Price on his Missouri raid. He was at Devall’s Bluff, Baker’s Creek and Newtonia, besides numerous sharp skirmishes and minor engagements. While in the infantry he was a private, but became a sergeant after he joined the cavalry.
After the war ended he settled in Marion County, and has now a fine farm of 2So acres, of which 200 acres are under cultivation and well improved, with good buildings, fences, etc. Mr. Pigg has always been a strong Democrats has held the office of commissioner of Marion County, has ever been interested in school work, and is giving his children good educational opportunities, his own chance for obtaining an education being limited on account of the war. He is a member of Jeffries Lodge No. 284, of the A. F. & A. M., and for the past twenty years he has been a member of the Methodist Church, to which his wife also belongs.
Mrs. Pigg was born in Searcy County, Arkansas, November 2, 1842; she was the daughter of Vinton Robinson and the widow of William Angle, who was killed in the battle of Pea Ridge. Her father was an old pioneer of this section from Tennessee; he owned and conducted a mill on Clear Creek many years before the war. Mrs. Martha Pigg had one daughter by Mr. Angle, Charlotte, who is the wife of James B. Glynn, and her union with Mr. Pigg has resulted in the birth of the following children: John H.; Lucind, James T., Sally C., Samuel C., Arminda C., living, and the following who are dead: Martha E, Cynthia C., William R.; Frances M., Mary F., and Ira G. John H. is married and has one child, Lesley. The Robinsons are of English descent, and Mr. Robinson was born in 1799, and died December 29, 1865, in Marion County, his widow’s death occurring August 27, 1877, at the age of about seventy-three years. Some of the early members of the Pigg family were soldiers of the Revolution.