Steven Thomas Lester

Family/Spouse: Mary Sandlin. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Mary Lee Lester
2. Rebecca Ann Lester
3. Linda Ruth Lester

James married Annie Maude Gaines in 1898/1910. Annie (daughter of Thomas Wetmore Gaines and Elizabeth D. Thompson) was born on 22 Feb 1886; died on 5 Mar 1911. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Elizabeth D. Thompson on 16 Nov 1879 in Farmington, Washington County, AR. Elizabeth was born on 23 Aug 1863; died in 1905/1958. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Benjamin J. H. Gaines, ex-judge of the county court of Sebastian County, [p.1317] Ark., is a native of Rhea County, East Tenn., and was born in 1817. His father, James S. Gaines, was of Welsh descent, and was born in Culpeper County, Va., in 1767.

He was married in his native State to Miss Judith Easley, and after a short residence in North Carolina returned to Virginia, and in 1800 moved to Rhea County, Tenn., and in 1820 took up his abode in Southern Alabama, where he died two years later. His wife was born in Virginia, and also died in 1822.

Benjamin J. H. is the youngest of their thirteen children, and was only five years old when his parents died. From that time until he was sixteen years of age he resided with his brother, John S. Gaines, and then became salesman in a store in Knoxville, Tenn., but at the end of one year returned to Southern Alabama, and engaged in pedagoguing, and also did some clerking in the courts.

From 1839 to 1840 he taught school in the "Lone Star" State, and at the latter date returned to Alabama, and was married in 1848 to Miss Sallie Inge, who was born in Fayetteville, Lincoln Co., Tenn., in 1827, by whom he became the father of four children: Helen, wife of J. L. Duke, a jeweler of Fayetteville, Ark.; Thomas W., a merchant; Marshall S., a merchant, of Greenwood, Ark.; and John H., who clerks for his brother, Marshall.

In 1849 Mr. Gaines was elected clerk of Sumter County, Ala., but the following year the law was changed and he was deprived of his office. At the same time, however, he was elected probate judge of the same county, serving in this capacity six years.

In 1856 he moved to Monroe County, Tenn., and in 1859 took up his residence in Fayetteville, Ark., for the purpose of educating his children. He had commenced the study of law in 1848, and the following year was admitted to the bar, practicing his profession in Fayetteville until 1880, when he became a citizen of Greenwood, Ark. Two years later he was elected judge of Sebastian County, being re-elected in 1884 and 1886. He has always rendered his decisions with judicial fairness, and has made a capable and popular public officer.

Previous to the late lamentable war he was a Whig in politics, but since that conflict has been a supporter of Democratic principles. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His wife belongs to the Christian Church.

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Benjamin James Harris Gaines taught school and worked at times as clerk of the court in Livingston, Sumter Co., Ala., for about fourteen years before he was elected Clerk of the Court, Sumter County, Ala. in 1849. Also that year his studies in law had progressed and he was admitted to the bar. A year later the law was changed and his position of Clerk the Court was abolished; but at the same time he was elected Probate Judge of the same county. He served in this capacity for six years. In 1856 he moved to Monroe County, Tenn. and three years later moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the purpose of educating his children. He practiced his profession in Fayetteville until 1880 when he became a resident of Greenwood., Ark. In 1882 he was elected Judge of Sebastian County and was reelected in 1884 and 1886. Prior to the War Between the States he was a Whig but after the war he was a Democrat. He was a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Methodist Church. (The source of the foregoing is SHistory of Northwest ArkansasT, author & name of publisher unknown.)

Sarah Johnson Inge prior to her marriage was a teacher and the following is an excerpt from an announcement of the beginning on the 1st day of March 1847, of the first session of THE LIVINGSTON FEMALE ACADEMY of Livingston, Sumter Co., Ala., which announcement was reprinted in the Mobile Press Register of Mobile, Ala., Sunday, December 14, 1969 in of interest.

The supervision of the institution in confided to Mrs. MARGARET McSHAN, a lady of known abilities and tested experience in governing and teaching. She will be assisted by Miss SARAH J. INGE, most favorably known to the patrons in Livingston, who can testify that none ever taught more correctly or advanced students more rapidly. March 2, 1847.

Lineage of the Gaines Family may be found in SA Compilation on the Gaines Family DataT by Calvin E. Southerd, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 1969.

Benjamin married Sarah Johnson Inge in 1848 in Sumter County, AL. Sarah was born on 24 Sep 1827 in Fayetteville, Lincoln County, TN; died in Feb 1917 in Warner, Muskogee County, AL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]