CoL B.F. Grace/Amanda Boyd - Desha County,
Arkansas
COL. B.F. GRACE, attorney,
Arkansas City, Arkansas. Col Grace, one of
the oldest legal practitioners
of the county, and a lawyer of thorough
preparatory training, both
literary and professional, was born in the
Blue-Grass State in 1828.
His parents, Preston and Jane(Kilgore) Grace,
were natives, respectively,
of North Carolina and South Carolina, the
father a brick-mason and contractor
by occupation. Col B.F. Grace moved
to Arkansas in 1851. He had
previously graduated at Princeton, Ky., and
after coming to Arkansas studied
law with Grace & Murry, being admitted
to the bar at Pine Bluff in
1855. He then located at Napoleon,practiced
there for some time, then
moved to Watson, and then came to this place
when the county seat was moved
here. He has served as county judge of
Desha County, but has never
meddled very much with politics. He joined
the Confederate army in 1862
as a private, was promoted to the rank of
quartermaster sergeant, and
filled that position until the close of the
war. He participated in the
battle of Prairie Grove, the fight at Van
Buren, was with Gen. Taylor
through Louisiana, was at the battle of
Alexandria, and took a prominent
part in many minor engagements. In 1864
he was ordered to Louisiana
to purchase supplies for the army,and was
thus engaged when the war
closed. When Judge Grace first came to
Napoleon to practice his profession
a prosperous community surrounded
the town, and there were many
large land suits. The principal part of
the large cases were of a
criminal character, and the docket generally
contained from three to 400
cases. Napoleon was at that time filled with
a fine class of settlers,
though there were constantly passing through a
number of traveling gamblers,
who gave the law-abiding citizens
considerable trouble. The
Government had a very fine marine hospital
located there, but owing to
the caving in of the town in 1863 not a
vestige of the place is left.
From there Col Grace moved to his farm,
three miles from where Napoleon
once stood, and practiced at Watson, the
second county seat of Desha
County. In 1879 he was instrumental in
getting up a petition to move
the county seat from there to Arkansas
City, and was successful in
this venture. In 1880 he
moved to this town, and still
retains a large practice. He was married,
in 1853,to MISS AMANDA BOYD,
a native of Harrodsburg. Ky., the daughter
of G.W. BOYD, who was born
in Rockingham County, Va., and who came to
this State in 1850, settling
at Pine Bluff. He was one of the pioneer
merchants of that place, and
died there six years later. His wife, who
was a native of Lexington,
Ky., also died in Pine Bluff. Mrs Grace is a
member of the Episcopal Church.
Source: Biographical and Historical
Memoirs of Southern Arkansas,
Goodspeed Publishing Company
1890
*****************************************************************
Thanks to Karen Schrode from Ohio, USA
Looking for a Lost Internet Pal? TRY: VERIPOST