Biography of Martha A Bomford, Sebastian Co, AR

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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Mrs. Martha A. (Dillard) Bomford was born in Arkansas in 1832, and is a
daughter of John Penn and Sallie  Price (Moore) Dillard, both of whom were born
in Virginia. They came from Virginia to Arkansas by water,  landing at the
mouth of the Arkansas River, and from there went to Moore's Rock, on ponies and
pack-horses,  which place they reached in 1822. While in Virginia they followed
merchandising, but after coming to Arkansas  engaged in farming. In 1833 they
commenced to keep a large boarding house at Fort Gibson, Chickasaw  Nation, for
officers, and continued it until 1840. The father represented his county in the
State Legislature, and  his union with Miss Moore was blessed in the birth of
twelve children, four of whom are still living: Mrs.  Elizabeth G. (Rosser),
Mrs. Solomon F. Clark, Mrs. M. A. Bomford and Mrs. Sarah P. Bossert. Maj.
Dillard,  formerly of Fort Smith, was a brother of Mrs. Bomford, and served
through the Mexican War as captain under  Col. Yell, and as major in the late
war, Confederate States Army, in Gen. Fagan's brigade. John and Lucy  (Penn)
Dillard were the grandparents of Mrs. Bomford, the grandmother being a branch
of the family of the famous William Penn. The maternal grandparents, Benjamin
and Polly (Price) Moore, were Virginians, and  moved to Arkansas in 1818. Maj.
B. Moore sent out the first bale of cotton from this part of the State, and
raised  the first tobacco. Mrs. Bomford spent her early life in Sebastian
County, and attended school in Van Buren and  Fort Smith, where she acquired a
good English education. In 1851 she was married to Dr. George Erving  Bomford,
who was born March 31, 1820, in Washington, D. C., the son of Col. George and
Clara (Baldwin)  Bomford. The former was chief of ordnance at Washington, and
the latter was a sister-in-law of Joel Barlow,  the author. Dr. Bomford was
reared and educated in his native city, read medicine under Dr. Wilson, and
attended lectures at Boston and Philadelphia, and received his diploma. He
practiced several years in  Washington, then moved to Fort Smith, Ark., in
1848, and immediately began practicing in that town. He was  post surgeon of
Fort Smith before and during the war, and was a Royal Arch Mason, a Democrat,
and a member  of the Episcopal Church. He has three sons: George D. (of St.
Louis, Mo.), Erving (a druggist of Fort Smith),  and Henry (a plumber of Fort
Smith).