Dr. James Pleasant Atkinson

Dr. James Pleasant Atkinson, aged 80, early physician of the Bodcaw community, father of J.D. Atkinson and Mrs. C.C. Mitchell of this city, died at the family home in Bodcaw Saturday, Oct. 11, Dr. Atkinson, well-known over Nevada County, leaves many friends in Prescott who learned with regret of his passing.

He was born July 21, 1861, at Macedonia, Columbia County, the son of Capt. J.H. Atkinson and Nancy Jane Harris Atkinson, and the grandson of Robert E. Atkinson who came from Georgia and settled near College Hill in 1845. His father left home to enlist in the Confederate army three days after the son's birth.

Dr. Atkinson received his education at the Presbyterian Academy at Mt. Holly and at the academy at Falcon. He took his medical course at the University of Louisville, Ky., and began practicing in Southern Columbia County in 1882. He continued his practice there until 190? and became one of the best-known physicians in the county. In that year he moved to the newly opened Indian Territory and located at Boswell. He remained there until 1904 when he returned to Arkansas and located at Bodcaw, Nevada County. He continued to practice until a few months before his death.

He married Miss Elizabeth Strickland in 1889. To them were born six children: William Henry, the eldest of Hope, died last year. The others are: J.D. (Dawson) Atkinson of Prescott, Mrs. Carl C, Mitchell of Prescott, Mrs. R.D. May of Bodcaw and the Missess Mattie and Mary Atkinson of Bodcaw. He is survived also by a brother, S.W. Atkinson of Nashville, J.H. Atkinson, instructor at Little Rock Junior College, is a nephew. Dr. Atkinson was a leader in the Baptist church. Funeral services were held at Shover Springs at 2 p.m. Sunday the 12th. Burial in the family plot in the Shover Springs cemetery.

Copied from The Prescott Daily News, Prescott, Arkansas, October 13, 1941.

James Dawson Atkinson, son of the above Dr. Atkinson, was married June 22, 1919, to June Volway (b. 1898 in Saginaw Michigan}, daughter of Charles Henry Volway and his wife, Mary (Meyer) Volway, natives of Saginaw who moved to Prescott, Arkansas in 1910.

Children of James Dawson Atkinson and his wife, June Volway, are: James Dawson Atkinson Jr. born February 28, 1926; Mary Edith Atkinson, born December 28, 1927; Catherine Elizabeth Atkinson, born December 22, 1928