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Submitted: 7/14/14 • Approved: 7/15/14 • Last Updated: 7/18/14 • R1021896-G1021896-S3
Elbert
Mar 16,1854-Aug 4,1946
A man whose life reflected the history of Mississippi County for nearly a century, E.M. Huffman, died yesterday afternoon at his home, 413 North Ninth. He was 92.
Long in ill health, he had spent most of the past several months in bed but his condition did not seem critical until shortly before his death at 2:30 o'clock.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock at Cobb Funeral Home with burial in Elmwood Cemetery.
The Rev. M. R. Griffin, pastor of the Huffman Baptist Church will officiate. Pallbearers are to be Sanford Shelton, Max Logan, Max Wray, R.L. Gaines, Elbert Alley and Eddie Hagan.
Believed to be the oldest among the North Mississippi County pioneers, Mr. Huffman was born April 16, 1854, in a log cabin on the Mississippi River bank at Huffman.
The many, many changes since that time he had watched with interest as he helped develop this section by being a leader in honor and justice.
"Ebb" Huffman served 30 successive years as Justice of Peace of Hickman Township which includes Huffman, settled by his family and which bears this name.
This was back in the days when a Justice of the Peace always was one of the most respected men in the section. During much of that time he and a constable served as the principal law enforcement agencies of the surrounding section and many times, he was called upon to help settle civil disputes among his fellows and to uphold law and order in the pioneering community.
He retired from this position when he moved to Blytheville in 1924.
Remembering many instances of the Civil War, as it affected this section, he delighted in telling stories of the Yankee gunboats firing upon his home, as they passed along the Mississippi River, and how his relatives hid forbidden firearms, for fear the enemy might come and confiscate them for their own use.
He often spoke of the 50 cents daily wage he received as a young man as he and a small amount of hired labor cleared 120 acres of rich delta land from the forest, and liked to tell about the steamboat traffic when river boats served as means of taking products to market and bringing provisions to his community.
Although he received little formal education, because of unsettled conditions which followed the war, he maintained a great interest in education and did everything possible to improve facilities of his community. He served as a member of the school board of District Number seven for a number of years.
Greatly interested in levees and drainage district projects, he helped to control floods and to convert swamp land into the rich farming land it is today.
His first home, however, long since has caved into the river. For the past two years, since the death of Mrs. Huffman, he has resided with his only son, Elbert Huffman and family.
Joining the family here are Mrs. Elbert Huffman's mother, Mrs. J. W. Dolen and daughter, Miss Marguerite Dolen, of Memphis; her brother, William Dolen, and Mrs. Dolen of Crawfordsville.
Kate
Mar 6,1879-Jan 10,1944
Mrs. Kate Temple Huffman died at 7:10 o'clock last night at Memphis Baptist Hospital where she had been a patient for five weeks. Mrs. Huffman, wife of E. M. Huffman, underwent a major operation three weeks ago. She was 65 and had been in failing health for a year.
A resident of Blytheville for 40 years. Mrs. Huffman, was born at Pinewood, Tenn., and was reared at Lyles, Tenn. She was active in work of the Church of Christ until her recent illness.
She leaves besides her husband, one son, Elbert Huffman of Blytheville; three brothers, Charles Temple of Lyles, Tenn., Fred Temple of Dixon, Tenn., and Alex Temple of Cotton Valley, La.; two sisters, Mrs. Ella Randolph and Mrs. O. W. Jones, both of Lyles.
Funeral services will be held at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at the family home, 522 Lumerate Street, with the Rev. Oscar Hays, pastor of the Church of Christ, officiating. Burial will be made at Elmwood Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be Billie Gaines, Rex Hughes, George Perry, Sanford Shelton, Elbert Alley, and Max Ray.
Cobb Funeral home is in charge of arrangements
Photo courtesy of Debbie Carey
Contributed on 7/14/14 by bill060
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Record #: 1021896