Ouachita County ArArchives Biographies.....Gaughan, Thomas J. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 June 15, 2009, 2:28 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

THOMAS J. GAUGHAN.
    Thomas J. Gaughan, of the firm of Gaughan & Sifford, prominent attorneys at
law in Arkansas, makes his home in Camden. He was born in Ouachita county, this
state, on the 4th of December, 1S64, his hirthplace being the farm upon which he
was reared. He is a son of Patrick and Caroline (Patterson) Gaughan, the former
a native of County Mayo, Ireland, while the latter was born in Meriwether
county, Georgia. Patrick Gaughan was a youth of nineteen years when in 1847 he
came to the new world. He spent some time in New York city and then made his way
to Georgia, where he met and married Caroline Patterson. In 1858 they came to
Arkansas, settling on a farm in Ouachita county, and Mr. Gaughan was identified
with the work of tilling the soil and raising stock during the years of his
active life. It is said of him that he was not only a good farmer but also
displayed notably sound judgment as a breeder of live stock. Through the careful
management of his business affairs he became one of the successful men of
Ouachita county and was also classed with the most influential and
representative farmers and citizens. He lived to the age of seventy years, while
his wife survived him and reached the age of seventy-nine years.

    Thomas J. Gaughan was educated at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama,
where he won the Bachelor of Arts degree as a member of the class of 1885.
Returning home, he was offered and accepted the position of deputy circuit and
county clerk, in which capacity he continued to serve for a year. During this
time and later he studied law in the office and under the direction of Colonel
H. B. Bunn and was admitted to the bar in February, 1888. He immediately began
practice in partnership with Colonel Bunn, his former preceptor, and when the
latter was appointed chief justice of the state supreme court, Mr. Gaughan
entered into partnership with John T. Sifford under the firm style of Gaughan &
Sifford, a connection that still exists. Advancement at the bar is proverbially
slow and yet no dreary novitiate awaited Thomas J. Gaughan, who rapidly advanced
to a most creditable position in the ranks of the attorneys of his section of
the state. In 1891 he was elected a member of the state senate of Arkansas for a
two years' term, being one of the youngest men ever chosen to the office in this
state. In 1896 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the thirteenth judicial
district and served in that important position with notable ability for four
years. His course in office has always been characterized by the utmost fidelity
to duty and by earnest effort to promote the general welfare.

    While he maintains a most creditable standing as a lawyer, he has also
become well known in other business connections. He is the vice president of the
Ouachita Valley Bank of Camden, is a director of the Frost-Johnson Lumber
Company, a director of the Valley Lumber Company, president of the Gloster
Lumber Company, president of the Rockwell Manufacturing Company, president of
the Valley Oil Company and a director of the Union Sawmill Company. He is
likewise attorney for all of these corporations and also for several railroads.
He is the state president of the Association for the Recognition of the Irish
Republic. Mr. Gaughan is the president of the Catholic Lay Council of Arkansas
and has been a lifelong member of the Catholic church.

    On the 10th of October, 1888, Mr. Gaughan was married to Miss Lulu B.
Higgins of Montgomery, Alabama, and they became the parents of three children:
John Emmet, an attorney who is associated in practice with his father; Ruth, at
home; and Thomas J., deceased. The wife and mother departed this life in 1896
and on the 12th of September, 1899, Mr. Gaughan was married to Miss Helen Bragg
of Camden, Arkansas. To their marriage have been born seven children: Josephine,
deceased; Caroline, who was educated at St. Mary of the Woods Academy in
Indiana; Virginia, who is attending St. Mary of the Woods Academy; Ethel M. and
Helen B., who are high school pupils in Camden; and Wary Alice and Thomas J.,
who are yet in the grades.

    Mr. Gaughan belongs to Camden Lodge No. 40, B. P. O. E., also to Pine Bluff
Council No. 1153 of the Knights of Columbus. He is active in civic affairs and
church work and also is a stalwart champion of the cause of education, having
served for seven years as a member of the school board.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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