| Notes |
- Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas
INDEPENDENCE COUNTY– FORMATION AND ORGANIZATION– PUBLIC STRUCTURES– CATALOGUE OF OFFICIALS– THE FRANCHISE– ADMINISTRATION OF LAW– THE COMING OF THE PIONEERS– LOCATION OF THE COUNTY– ITS WATER COURSES– NUMEROUS PERSONALAND BUSINESS SKETOHES– TIMBER AND MINES– LANDS AND CROPS– CENSUS RETURNS– RAILROADS– RELI****IOUS GROWTH– TOWNS– POPULAR INSTRUCTION– WAR RECORD– FACTS AND STATISTICS.
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Joseph J. Waldrip of Big Bottom Township, Independence County, was born in Lauderdale County, Ala., November 4, 1839. He is a son of Thomas W. and Serena Waldrip. natives, respectively, of Maury and Giles Counties, Tenn. The father of Thomas W. Waldrip was James Waldrip, a native of South Carolina, of Irish descent, his ancestors having emigrated to this country about 1690. Several of them served in the War for Independence, and James Waldrip took part in the War of 1812, participating in the battle of New Orleans. He died in Lafayette County, Miss., at an advanced age, having been a life-long farmer. Thomas W. was born August 14, 1805, and died in the fall of 1875, in Panola County, Miss. When young, he moved, with his parents, to Lauderdale County, Ala., where he was reared on a farm; he educated himself after he was grown, and engaged in teaching, but abandoned that profession for farming, in which he was most successful. February 8, 1831, he married Serena German, who was born May 13, 1814, and was a daughter of Joseph German, an early settler of Tennessee, who was born January 18, 1784, and died in Monroe County, Miss., at the age of eighty-four years. He was an entensive farmer, who moved from Tennessee to Lauderdale County, Ala., and thence to Monroe County, Miss. Ten children were born to Thomas W. and Serena Waldrip, but four of whom are now living, viz.: Joseph J., Thomas W., a farmer of Independence County; Amanda Louisa Aldridge, wife of John W. Aldridge, also a farmer of Independence County, and Romelia Catherine, wife of W. M. Keating of Independence County. Those deceased are Eliza J. Rieder, William P. Waldrip, Fannie E. Aldridge, Rachel E. Carpenter, James M. Waldrip, and Mary A. Bivens. The parents were members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and took an active part in church work. They settled in Panola County, Miss., in 1856, where they made their home the remainder of their lives. Thomas W. was a stanch Democrat in polities and [p.721] served several years as justice of the peace; his wife died in Panola County, Miss., in 1885. Joseph J. Waldrip received a common school education, and at the age of eighteen left his home for Northern Alabama, where for a short time he worked and went to school; he then returned to his home and assumed control of his father's farm until 1861. March 28, of the latter year, he was mustered in Pettis' artillery, which was afterward known as the Hudson Battery, and was the first battery organized to leave the State. Although repeatedly tendered an office, Mr. Waldrip refused to accept a more responsible one than that of sergeant. He served faithfully until the surrender of his company, June 13, 1865, and took part in many of the principal battles of the war, among them Shiloh, Corinth, Port Gibson, Siege of Vicksburg and others. At Shiloh he was severely wounded in the left side by a bursting shell, at Port Gibson received a flesh wound, and at Vicksburg was wounded in the right side. At the close of the war he returned to Mississippi and worked on a farm until 1868, when he went to Arkansas and engaged in the mercantile business until 1870. He then turned his attention exclusively to farming and stock-raising, and now is one of the most enterprising and successful agriculturists of Independence County. December 28, 1869, he married Elizabeth Magness, daughter of Col. Morgan Magness. She was born in Independence County, September 22, 1852. They are the parents of four children, viz.: Thomas M., William J., Joseph R. and Mirtle (deceased). Mr. Waldrip has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1866; he is a member of the Council, and has frequently represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge, both in Mississippi and Arkansas. He is a Democrat politically, and in 1874 was elected justice of the peace, in which capacity he served two years.
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1839 - 1894 (54 years)
