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- Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas
GREENE COUNTY?PHYSICAL FEATURES?STREAMS?FORESTS?KIND OF SOIL?AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS?STOCK INTERESTS?REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY?POPULATION?RAILWAYS?ERA OF SETTLEMENT?A NOTED HUNTER?ACTS OF THE COUNTY BOARD?COUNTY SEAT AND BUILDINGS?OFFICERS?POLITICAL OUTLOOK?LEGAL MATTERS?MILITARY AFFAIRS?MUNICIPALITIES?SCHOOLS?CHURCHES?BIOGRAPHY.
page 138
G. L. Gentry, a successful planter residing near Paragould, Ark., was born in 1841 in Weakley County, Tenn., being the eighth of twelve children born to the marriage of J. R. Gentry and Sarah Nance, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Virginia. In 1858 they located near Gainesville, Ark., in which the father died in 1884, having been a prominent resident of the county. The mother is still living, and resides at Paragould. G. L. Gentry was reared to manhood [p.138] on a farm in Tennessee, and in 1858 came to Greene County, Ark., enlisting from this county, in 1861, in Company K, Fifth Arkansas Volunteers, under Col. Cross, and went into service at Columbus, Ky. He was a member of a scouting party along the Red River, and in 1862 was honorably discharged at Bowling Green, Ky. After his return home he joined Gen. Marmaduke, and was with him for some time. In 1869 he was married to Miss Angeline McWhirter, of Tennessee, a daughter of John and Matilda (Yarber) McWhirter, who were also born in that State, coming to Arkansas at a very early day, in which State they both died. After his marriage Mr. Gentry settled near Gainesville, and in 1873 bought a partly improved farm of 200 acres, but sold it some time later and went to Paragould, where he engaged in the saw-mill business (in 1881). Three years later he embarked in grist-milling, and also operated a cotton-gin, which he sold in 1887, and returned to the farm. Sixty acres of his 100-acre farm are under cultivation, and on it he raises cotton and cereals. By his wife, who died in 1883, he became the father of the following children: Joseph W., Laurettie, Oney, Gilbert W., Albert and Willis, all of whom are at home. In 1884 Mr. Gentry married his present wife, whose maiden name was Frances Drollender, of Tennessee, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Bond) Drollender, of Tennessee, both of whom are deceased, the latter dying in Paragould in 1887. Mr. Gentry has seen a vast change in the country since his boyhood days, as it was then in a very wild and unsettled condition. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and was Worshipful Master of Gainesville Lodge for a number of years, and in 1887 filled the same position in Paragould Lodge No. 368. He is a member of the Agricultural Wheel, and although a Democrat, is not very active in polities. A station on the Iron Mountain Railroad, midway between Paragould and Gainesville, is called Gentry in honor of our subject.
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1841 - 1923 (82 years)
