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Submitted: 11/14/13 • Approved: 12/26/19 • Last Updated: 12/29/19 • R953501-G0-S3
October 23, 1823 - April 2, 1893
Dr. D. L. Killgore is one of the foremost medical practioners of this section of the country, and is at present representing Columbia County in the General Assembly of the State. His birth occurred in Robertson County, Tenn., in 1828, he being the second of five children born to the union of Gabriel and Matilda (Moore) Killgore, their native State being North Carolina. Gabriel Killgore came to Tennessee prior to his marriage, and here he was married in 1819. He was a planter, owning quite a number of slaves, and from 1850 until his death was a resident of Arkansas. While a resident of Union County he represented his party in the State Legislature, in 1856, but from 1860 until his death in 1872, at the age of seventy-eight years, he was a resident of Columbia County. The paternal grandfather was Thomas Killgore, who served in the Revolutionary War, being a participant in the battle of King’s Mountain, where he lost a brother who was killed while fighting by his side. The mother’s father, Rev. William Moore, was an eminent divine of the Old School Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Killgore died in 1876, at the age of eighty-two years, and of the five children born to herself and husband, only two are now living, two dying during the late war. Harriet, now Mrs. Turrentine, resides in Atlanta, Ark. Dr. D. L. Killgore attended the common schools of Tennessee during his youth, and at the age of twenty-one years commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Lee, of Holly Springs, Miss., to which place his father had moved about 1823, and after a thorough preparation he entered a medical college of Memphis, Tenn., from which he was graduated in the winter of 1848-49. He soon after came to Arkansas and settled at Three Creeks in Union County, where he soon built up an excellent practice, remaining there until 1861. He then made his home in Magnolia until after the war, when he moved to his farm six miles from town and practiced there until 1883, since which time his home has been in Magnolia. He joined the Confederate army in 1861, being chosen captain of the Columbia Guards, which formed a portion of the Sixth Arkansas Regiment of Infantry, but was afterward chosen major. He served with this regiment until the latter part of 1862, then resigned, came home and assisted in raising the Second Arkansas Volunteers of which he was elected lieutenant-colonel, and William Crawford colonel, and until the close of the war was with the same. He took part in the battles of Farmington and Poison Springs, being also at Mark’s Mill and in numerous skirmishes, and surrendered at Magnolia, at which time he was commanding the post. At the close of the war the Doctor had nothing left but a small farm in the country, but to secure money with which to purchase medicine he sold a very fine gold watch in Shreveport, La., and invested a portion of the proceeds in drugs. Prior to the war, in 1858, he represented Union County in the State Legislature, and was again chosen in 1860, and was in favor of secession. In 1874 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, that framed the present constitution of the State, George P. Smoot being his colleague from this county. In 1877 the people of this county showed their appreciation of his previous efforts by once more electing him to the Legislative halls, and he was chosen speaker of the House, and in 1888 was re-elected for the session of 1889, being now discharging the duties of this position. He has always taken an active interest in local and national politics, and is a stanch Democrat through and through. He was married in 1847 to Miss Mary Pearce, of Ripley, Miss., a daughter of Joseph Pearce, of Weakley County, Tenn. The Doctor and Mrs. Killgore are the parents of three children: Pearce (who is associated with his father in the practice of medicine, and is an intelligent and successful physician), Dawson L. (who died in 1886, was a well-known physician, and had only been a short time married, his wife being a Miss Twitty), and Albert S. (who is a rising attorney of Magnolia), Pearce, the eldest son, was married in 1885 to Miss Bettie Farr, of Magnolia, and they have one child: Dawson L. Dr. Killgore and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Beech Creek Lodge and Magnolia Chapter and Council, and also of Magnolia Lodge No. 24, I. O. O. F. The Doctor is a leading physician of the county, and is one of the most prominent men of the State in political affairs, and has efficiently filled some of the most important offices within the gift of the people. (Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas - Goodspeed Publishing Company - Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis - 1890)
Contributed on 11/14/13 by debbraszymanski
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Record #: 953501