Pulaski-White County ArArchives Biographies.....House, Joseph Warren 1861 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ar/arfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Robert Sanchez lmu567@gmail.com May 25, 2009, 8:44 pm Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922) COLONEL JOSEPH WARREN HOUSE. The name of Colonel Joseph Warren House, Sr., is known to nearly everyone throughout the whole of the state of Arkansas. No man is more truly or generally beloved by those who know him well. Indeed, the esteem in which he is universally held is closely akin to reverence. He has, during the many years of an eventful life, rounded out a career distinguished by public and private virtues. His outstanding characteristics are a simple and unpretentious manner, a keen sense of humor, a kindly, sympathetic interest in all children, marked chivalry toward women and the highest sense of personal honor. It would seem, therefore, that he comes as near to summing up in himself all the best virtues of the old-fashioned, ideal southern gentleman as ever did any individual. Colonel House was born June 12, 1847, in Hardeman county, Tennessee, the son of A. B. and Eliza (Wilkes) House, who in 1858 left Tennessee and became residents of White county, Arkansas, where their remaining days were passed, the father following the occupation of farming. The son, Joseph Warren House, attended such country schools as then existed in White county and was a youth of but sixteen years, when in May, 1863, he responded to the call of the Confederacy and enlisted in Colonel Moseley's Regiment, with which he served for two years, or until after the cessation of hostilities. He then returned to his home and soon afterward entered upon the study of law in the town of West Point, White county, receiving instruction from an able representative of the bar at that place until admitted to practice in May, 1869. He then entered upon the active work of his profession in Searcy, the county seat of White county, and in 1885 removed to Little Rock, where he has since resided. For fifty-two years Colonel House has been a member of the Arkansas bar. Advancement in the law is proverbially slow, but surely and steadily Colonel House worked his way upward, proving his ability by the capable manner in which he handled involved and intricate legal problems. His clientage steadily grew in volume and importance and for many years he has occupied a foremost place in the ranks of the leading lawyers of the commonwealth. Colonel House has long left the impress of his individuality and his ability upon the political history of the state, yet he has never been a seeker for public office. He has been active in shaping many events which have had to do with political progress in Arkansas from the Civil war period on through the days of reconstruction, through the Brooks-Baxter war and in later periods molding the political history of the present decade. In 1871 he was elected to represent his county in the lower house of the state legislature and gave most thoughtful and earnest consideration to all the vital questions which came up for settlement while he served in the general assembly. He was elected to the constitutional convention in 1874, being one of the youngest men elected to that now historic body. In spite of his youth he took an active and highly creditable part in framing the fundamental law of Arkansas, under which the state has been resurrected from the ashes of reconstruction. He is one of two or three members of that convention who still survive. In 1874-75 he represented the twenty-seventh senatorial district, composed of White and Faulkner counties, in the state senate and during his connection therewith was chairman of the committee on education and as such had a large share in shaping the public school system of the state. He served as United States district attorney for the eastern district of Arkansas during the first and second administrations of President Cleveland and in 1917 he was elected without opposition as delegate to the state constitutional convention, which convened the following year. He delves deep into any question which elicits his attention, studying the problems of the commonwealth from every angle and his support of any measure is based upon a firm belief in its value and efficacy as a factor in good government. The democratic party has long regarded him as one of its ablest exponents in Arkansas and there are few men who have figured so long in connection with the political history of the state, while the record of none has been more faultless in honor, fearless in conduct, or stainless in reputation. With the establishment of his home in Little Rock in 1885, Colonel House entered upon the active practice of his profession in the capital city, in which he has made a most notable record. His prominence is indicated in the fact that he was honored with the presidency of the Arkansas State Bar Association for the year 1906-07. For a time he was associated with his nephew, Menefee House (now deceased), in law practice, under the style of House & House, but for the greater part of his career he has practiced independently. In 1882 Colonel House was united in marriage to Miss Ina Dowdy, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and to them have been born two sons, Joseph W. and Archie F., and three daughters, Arline, Mary and Ina. The daughter Arline was married to Alfred M. Lund of the engineering firm of Lund & Hill of Little Rock; Mary became the wife of Horace G. Mitchell, president of the Democrat Printing & Lithographing Company of Little Rock; Joseph W., Jr., was married to Julia Clarke, daughter of the late United States Senator James P. Clarke of Little Rock. The family has long occupied a most prominent social position, their residence in Little Rock covering a period of more than a third of a century. Moreover, Colonel House is a representative of one of the old southern families, holding to the high traditions and ideals of the south and ever standing as a splendid example of American manhood and chivalry. Additional Comments: Citation: Centennial History of Arkansas Volume II Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1922 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ar/pulaski/photos/bios/house24nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ar/pulaski/bios/house24nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/arfiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb