Dr. James M. Steele, physician and surgeon, Weiner, Ark. Dr. Steele
is a son of the well-known pioneer, Rev. John M. Steele, and is the
youngest in a family of seven children. He was born in Batesville,
Independence County, Ark., on the 25th of February, 1861, and his
brothers and sisters are named as follows: Mrs. Jane Harris, wife of
W. C. Harris, a farmer near Harrisburg; John R., a minister of the
Methodist Episcopal Church at Meridian, Tex.; Mrs. Mary Dudley,
wife of N. P. Dudley, and who died in June, 1876; Mrs. Ann Keck,
wife of T. W. Keck, a farmer, living in Poinsett County; Mrs. Kate
Battis, wife of J. W. Battis, a farmer near Harrisburg, and Thomas B.
Steele, an attorney and counselor at law, at Harrisburg. Dr. James M.
Steele's parents, Rev. J. M. and Narcissa (Brookfield) Steele, were
among the earliest settlers of Crowley's Ridge. The father was born
near Raleigh, N. C., in 1810, and received his education in that State
and in Tennessee, having removed with his father to that State in
1824. He began life as a millwright, and in 1829 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Seit, a native of Tennessee. Two children
were the fruits of this union: A. C., a farmer, who died from injuries
received in the war, in 1865, leaving a wife and two children, and
William M., who died in 1881, leaving a family of five children. Rev.
Steele lost his wife in Saline County, Ark., in 1832. He had moved
there in 1830, and a short time after his wife's death was converted
and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He immediately
entered the ministry of the Arkansas Methodist Episcopal
Conference, and began his notable life-work. His labors for the first
four or five years were in Northwest and Southwest Arkansas, and
after that time on Crowley's Ridge, in St. Francis County. He was
there married, in 1848, to Miss Narcissa Brookfield, daughter of Rev.
Isaac and Nancy Brookfield, and the same year he was sent by the
conference to the Indian Territory, where he remained four years. He
then returned to Batesville, Ark., and after this time his field was
Crowley's Ridge, from Chalk Bluff to Helena and the Black River
country. After starting over fifty churches, this devout and truly
Christian man closed his eyes to the scenes of this world in 1881. Dr.
James M. Steele attended the schools of Harrisburg, then
Washington high school, in Independence County, and also attended
one term at Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn. He began the
study of medicine in 1876, under Dr. Beecher, and then spent several
seasons as a drug clerk. In 1884 and 1885 he took a medical course in
Memphis Hospital College, and in the last mentioned year began
practicing at Weiner, Poinsett County, Ark., where he has built up a
large and paying practice. He was married, on the 14th of March,
1886, to Miss Emma E. Mayer, daughter of Michael and Mary
(Klaege) Mayer, natives of Germany. To the Doctor and wife was
born one child, Austin G., now a bright boy of six months. They lost
one child, Edgar M., at the age of three months. Dr. Steele owns
eighty acres of land, twenty acres under cultivation, and in
connection with his practice is engaged in farming and stock raising.
He votes with the Democratic party, but is conservative. He is a
member of the school board, and one of the leading men of the
county. Mrs. Steele is a member of the Catholic Church.
Poinsett County
ArGenWeb
2007