RESEARCHED BY : TINA EASLEY
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ar/county/greene/
FROM THE DAILY SOLIPHONE
Thursday , APRIL 3, 1902
BORN IN 1804
OLDEST MAN IN THE STATE LIVES IN INDEPENDENCE COUNTY
THE BATESVILLE GUARD PRINTS THE FOLLOWING :
SALADO , ARK. MARCH 24, 1902
IN THE ARKANSAS GAZETTE OF FRIDAY , MARCH 21 , A CLIPPING STATING THAT MENA , POLK COUNTY , HAS THE OLDEST MAN IN ARKANSAS , IN THE PERSON OF CAPT. W.C. STONE , WHO WILL BE 93 YEARS OLD JUNE 16, 1902.
SALADO TOWNSHIP , INDEPENDENCE COUNTY , HAS THE OLDEST MAN BY THREE YEARS . UNCLE BILLY HOOPER , WHO WAS BORN JANUARY 16, 1804 , IS NOW IN HIS 99TH YEAR. HE HAS BEEN IN INDEPENDENCE COUNTY LONGER THAN THE OLDEST SETTLER CAN REMEMBER. HE WAS A CHAIN CARRIER WHEN THIS COUNTRY WAS BEING SANCTIONIZED . HE WAS A RESIDENT OF BATESVILLE IN 1844 , WHEN , IN THAT YEAR , HE MADE A TRIP TO LITTLE ROCK ON HORSEBACK , TAKING A LARGE SUM OF MONEY WITH HIM FROM THE LAND OFFICE AT BATESVILLE TO LITTLE ROCK , WEARING HIS COON SKIN CAP AND COAT AND TAKING ALONG HIS LONG RANGE , FLINT-LOCK RIFLE . AT THAT TIME THERE ONLY THREE HOUSES BETWEEN BATESVILLE AND LITTLE ROCK.
UNCLE BILLY IS HALE AND HEARTY , POSSESSING HIS FACULTIES AND DOING ALL OF HIS WORK ABOUT THE PLACE , SUCH AS GARDENING , CUTTING WOOD AND ATTENDING TO HIS STOCK. HE HAS EVER BEEN A STANCH DEMOCRAT AND SAYS HE IS FOR RECTOR FOR GOVENOR . HE CAN TELL OF MANY INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THIS COUNTRY . HE IS A NATIVE OF TENNESSEE.