Greathouse, Benjamin Harvey, 1849-1940

Soldier, minister, farmer, merchant, and Arkansas state legislator.

Benjamin Harvey Greathouse was born near present day Conway, Ark., on 26 Apr. 1849, the son of Robert and Mary Blount Greathouse. At the age of fifteen he enlisted in the Confederate cavalry where he served until the end of the war. On 18 Mar. 1869 he married Martha Emmaline Kate Stout. In 1871 he was licensed as a Methodist minister and preached in Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. In the early 1900s, having retired from the ministry, he was elected to the Arkansas Senate from Washington County and served in that capacity for two terms. He later served one term in the state House of Representatives. He died in Lincoln, Ark., on 2 May 1940.