Sebastian County ArArchives Biographies.....Read, Henry C. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 18, 2009, 11:59 am

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

HENRY C. READ.
    Henry C. Read, a representative resident of Fort Smith, where he is engaged
in the brokerage business, has not only gained a creditable position in
financial circles, but has also rendered valuable aid in public affairs as mayor
of the city and in other connections. His life record had its beginning in
Columbia, Kentucky, where he was born in 1863, his parents being Rev. Henry C.
and Ada (Frazer) Read, the former a minister of the Presbyterian church, who was
graduated from Danville College at Danville, Kentucky, and also pursued his
education in part in Princeton Seminary. He afterward located in Columbia,
Kentucky, and in addition to his work in the ministry he entered the educational
field as president of the Columbia male and female high school, imparting
readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he had acquired, and thus
contributing much to the educational development of the city.

    Henry C. Read was a pupil in the Columbia high school and afterward
matriculated in Center College at Danville, Kentucky, where he obtained his more
specifically literary education that served as an excellent foundation upon
which to rear the superstructure of professional knowledge. In 1883 he took up
the study of architecture and engineering and for some time was associated with
the firm of McDonald Brothers of Louisville, Kentucky, thus gaining much
valuable practical experience. He afterward removed to Las Vegas, New Mexico,
where he accepted the superintendency of the Aqua Pura Water Company, thus
representing the Kentucky capitalists who were the stockholders in that company.
It was during his residence in New Mexico that Mr. Read was married. In 1888 he
removed to Fort Smith, where he entered the brokerage business, becoming a
pioneer in the wholesale grocery brokerage trade. He has since handled and
developed a business of very substantial proportions, and his activities of this
character place him among the representative merchants and successful business
men of the city.

    While residing in New Mexico, in 1888, Mr. Read was united in marriage to
Miss Stuart Eads, and they have become the parents of four children: Anne, who
is the wife of Willis W. Hale, an electrical engineer of Cleveland, Ohio; Adele,
who is the wife of Lyman C. Martin of Louisville, Kentucky; Dorothy, who is the
wife of Wendel A. Robertson of Fort Smith, and Henry, who is at home.

    In his political views Mr. Read has always been a stalwart democrat and in
1913 he was elected to the office of mayor of Fort Smith. He has labored
untiringly for what he has believed to he the best interests of the city and was
instrumental in securing the passage of a bill for the commission form of
government. He acted as mayor of the city for four years, his administration
being thoroughly businesslike and progressive, while the results achieved were
most satisfactory. He served for twelve years as a member of the school board
and was active in obtaining a construction program for bigger and better
schools, his labors proving a most potent force in the development of the
educational system of the city and improvement of the architecture of the school
buildings, for his standards were high and he put forth every effort to secure
their adoption. During the World war Mr. Read was active in promoting every
interest that would further the welfare of the country and was active in
teaching the principles of American government. Those who know him—and he has a
wide acquaintance—esteem him highly as a man of genuine worth and one who by his
own merit and ability has steadily risen to a place in the foremost rank of the
business men and citizens of Fort Smith.

    He has been an active officer of the Presbyterian church, lending his aid to
all the church's activities, and rendering valuable help through his knowledge
of church architecture.


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


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