John Rankin Pyeatt

J. R. Pyeatt. The biographical department of this work would be incomplete without mentioning the Pyeatt's, who were among the pioneer settlers of Arkansas, and were first represented in this State by James and Kate (Finley).

Pyeatt, natives of North Carolina, who, in 1812, removed from Kentucky to about thirteen miles above Little Rock. Here they spent the remainder of their days.

J. R. Pyeatt was born in Kentucky in 1805, and came to Arkansas with his parents, and was here raised to manhood.

In August, 1827, he came to Washington County, and erected the first frame house ever built in the county, which is in good preservation, and in which he still resides. Having a natural taste for mechanics, he opened a wagon and blacksmith shop shortly after his arrival here, and followed that occupation for a number of years. He and his brother purchased some raw land, which they improved, but in 1861 Mr. Pyeatt engaged in the milling business, in partnership with his son-in-law, William Smith Moore, and has since given that business the most of his attention.

In 1831 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Buchanan, who was born and reared, in West Tennessee. Her death occurred in 1868.

William Smith Moore, miller and farmer, was born in Greene County, Tenn., February 20, 1835, the son of Capt. Anthony and grandson of David Moore, the latter being a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Anthony Moore was a farmer by occupation, and died in Greene County, Tenn., in the spring of 1880. His wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Holt, was also born in Tennessee. William Smith Moore spent his youthful days on a farm in Tennessee, and made his home with his father until twenty-one years of age. He then learned the wagon-maker's trade, and in the fall of 1858 came to Arkansas, locating in Cane Hill, where he worked at his trade until the summer of 1862, when he joined the forty-fourth Arkansas Infantry. Confederate States Army, and served until the close of the war. He participated in the battle of Prairie Grove, and was paroled in the summer of 1865.

He then returned home, and formed a partnership with Mr. Pyeatt in the milling business, and erected the Cane Hill Mills, which was in running order by the spring of 1866. The mill has been remodeled and improved since it was erected, end is now one of the finest mills in Washington County. It has a combined roller and buhr process, and has a capacity of about forty barrels per day. They also manufacture some lumber, and in 1869 added a carding machine, which has proved very profitable.

In 1861 Mr. Moore married Miss Kate Pyeatt, a daughter of his partner, J. R. Pyeatt, and their union was blessed in the birth of four children: Henry (who is a physician of the county), Charles R., Bettie and Lucy. Mrs. Moore died in 1877, and he afterward married his present wife, Miss Josephine Moore, a daughter of James Moore. She was born in East Tennessee, and was reared in Texas and Missouri.

They are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and are worthy citizens of the county. Mr. Moore has a good farm, which he manages in connection with his mill, and a fine orchard of forty-five acres.

=====

1850 Census of Northwest Arkansas:

Washington Counties - Bobbie Jones McLane and Desmond Walls Allen

Cane Hill Township

CARNAHAN, Saml. 53, Mary 51, Martha 26,

James 26, Mary A. 22, John 19, Samuel

15, Elizabeth 13, Peter 11, Henry 9 KY/KY

dwg 34, Cane Hill twp