Individual Details
(March, 1866 - )
"Mr. H.S. Simmons, as he was usually called, was born in Levy County, Florida in 1886, and moved to Arkansas in 1870. There he was in business with his brother Robert, who owned a saloon In Newport. Mr. Simmons was a friend and brother-in-law of Zechariah Booth Reid, a circuit rider preacher who would walk and talk with H. S. Simmons about the Lord. During a revival meeting conducted by the Rev. H. F. Vermillion, in a small Baptist church, H. S. Simmons became a converted man and a devout Christian. Snell, as called by the family, held many public posts of importance while living in Newport, Arkansas that included being sheriff, and later, County and Probate Judge of Jackson County, Arkansas. While County and Probate Judge, he could not bring himself to put his name on a liquor license. In 1909, he dried the county up in one blow by refusing to issue and sign a liquor license. At the time, there were nine saloons operating, and two big wholesale beer houses. Such a decision was dangerous. First the opposition tried to bribe him into signing, then a trap was laid to have him killed. If it hadn't been for the alertness of his wife, he might have met death at that time. Snell and Annie moved back to Florida in the early 1920's and lived in Brooksville. Snell became a Hernando County commissioner, served a mayor of Brooksville, and did much of the local surveying for years." (Barbara Daugherty, barjene3@juno.com, 2005.)
Events
| Birth | March, 1866 | Florida | | | |
| Marriage | | Annie Belle Simmons | | | |
Families