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Capt. John B. Cloud from his earliest youth has applied himself with
industry, perseverance and energy to the calling of a farmer, and is now
one of the leading stock men and agriculturists of the county. He is a
native of the "Blue Grass State," born in Logan County in November, 1836,
his parents, John B. and Elizabeth (Rutherford) Cloud, being also born
there, the former in 1807 and the latter in 1809. John B. Cloud was a tiller
of the soil and filled the positions of sheriff and deputy sheriff for some
years. He and his wife were members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and
their respective deaths occurred in August, 1840, and May 10, 1889. Daniel
Cloud, the grandfather, was a Scotchman, who came to the United States when
a young man, married and spent the rest of his life in Logan County, Ky.,
and here followed the occupation of farming. He served in one of the early
Indian wars. He was accompanied to this country by two brothers who settled
in Virginia and North Carolina, respectively. Stephen Rutherford, the
mother's father, was born, reared and married in Rutherford County, Tenn.,
and from there went to Logan County, Ky., where he spent the rest of his
life, becoming a prominent and wealthy stock man. Mrs. Elizabeth
(Rutherford) Cloud became the mother of five sons and three daughters by Mr.
Cloud, of whom the subject of this sketch is the sixth, but after the death
of her husband she married again, her second union resulting in the birth of
two children. The early life of Capt. John B. Cloud was marked by hard labor
upon a farm, but he was so fortunate as to acquire a good common-school
education. In 1854 he came with a brother to Pike County, Ark., and here, on
the 28th of August, two years later, his marriage to Amanda, a daughter of
Rev. Elijah and Elizabeth Kelley, took place. The father was born in
Alabama, and when a boy was taken by his parents to Illinois, and in 1815,
when fifteen years of age, came with them to what is now Pike County, and in
the southwest part of this state his marriage occurred. From that time until
his death in 1884 he made his home in Pike County, becoming a prominent and
well-known citizen. He was a member of the first constitutional convention
of Arkansas, in 1856-58, represented Pike County in the General Assembly of
Arkansas, and afterward filled the honorable and responsible position of
county judge. He was a minister of the Christian Church for over sixty
years, and throughout life endeavored to practice what he preached, and was
an earnest follower of the Golden Rule. His wife's demise occurred in 1837.
Their daughter, Mrs. Cloud, was born in Pike County, and her union with Mr.
Cloud resulted in the birth of seven children, two sons and four daughters
of whom are living. Mr. Cloud joined Company H, Sixteenth Arkansas Infantry,
C.S.A., in 1861, and in the month of April, 1862, was made captain of his
company, a position he held until the close of the war, and took part in the
engagements at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Farmington, Iuka and Port Hudson, besides
numerous skirmishes. He was captured at Port Hudson and was imprisoned at
Johnson's Island, Ohio for nine months, but was exchanged in March, 1864,
and returned home. He soon after joined the Texas Mississippi Department,
after which his operations were confined to the State of Arkansas. In the
fall of 1865 he came to Clark County, and has since been engaged in farming
in the vicinity of Okolona. He has given much attention to raising fine
stock, and is especially interested in the purchase and sale of mules. Mr.
Cloud started in life a poor boy, but through his own exertions has placed
himself in his present position. He is a Democrat in politics, his first
presidential vote being cast for Breckenridge in 1860, and socially he has
been a member of the A.F. & A.M. since 1859, but now belongs to Robert
Morris Lodge No. 106, of Okolona. In this order he has attained to the
Chapter and Council degrees at Gurdon. He and five of his children are
members of the Christian Church, his wife having also been a member for a
number of years prior to her death, which took place May 10, 1885.
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Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas, 1890, Clark
County, pages 132-133.
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