Although born in settled Virginia to an established family, Henry Lawson Biscoe was attracted to the frontier and soon made his way to Arkansas. He was born about 1802 in Richmond, Virginia and moved to the territory around 1819, where he first settled at Arkansas Post. Young Henry also established a home in Clark County. In 1820, he was appointed circuit court clerk of Clark County and held that position until 1823. The town of Biscoeville, which served briefly as county seat, was named after him in 1821.
H.L. Biscoe became a U.S. Marshall after leaving the clerk's office and decided to start a family. On November 20, 1825, he married Phebe Carpenter. Soon after, he moved his new family to Helena in Phillips County which was located along the Mississippi River. Several of his friends had already moved there and were doing well. Biscoe was elected to the House of Representatives of the 4th Territorial Legislature representing Phillips County for the years 1825 thru 1827. This motivated public servant was also county clerk during these years. Being a natural leader, Henry became a colonel in the local militia and was soon elected Sheriff of Phillips County. He would hold that office from 1827 to 1836. To further extend his reach in the county, Biscoe also established a newspaper named the "Helena Democrat," that criticized the sitting governor and called for statehood.
Even though his professional life was doing well, Henry's family was not. Although financially strong because of it's location along the Mississippi River, Helena was an unhealthy place to live. Floods, insects and diseases attacked residents and many people died as a result of sickness. Phebe Biscoe died at Helena on November 30, 1828. Henry then married Susan Cameron Nash on January 7, 1832. They would have at least two children survive into adulthood. Mary Watkins Biscoe was born in 1838 and wed future Confederate General Thomas C. Hindman. A son named Cameron Nash Biscoe was born in 1839. He would serve as an officer in the Confederate army and later a constable in Phillips County.
After Susan died in 1840, H.L. Biscoe married her sister, Laura Elizabeth Nash on September 29, 1847. They would have four children, but only one lived into adulthood. Their names were Henrietta, Emma Virginia, Thomas and Charles. The family was hit hard in 1860 and three of the children passed away. Emma Virginia and Charles Biscoe died of scarlet fever. Henry Lawson Biscoe was stricken with paralysis in November 1860 and died in September 1861. No marker has ever been located for him. In 1858, he had sold his house to Bishop Byrne of the Catholic Church in order to establish St. Catherine's Academy. An historical marker identifies it's location along the street that bears his name in Helena. Laura would remarry to a Union officer that moved in after her husband's death. Years later, she would leave most of her property to St. John's Episcopal Church.
Although much of his life remains lost to history, an editor described Henry L. Biscoe like this in 1858:
"Few men are more striking in their appearance than Henry L. Biscoe. With an eye as piercing as an eagle, and hair almost snowy white, and which had turned grey before he was twenty-five, he arrests at once the attention of a stranger. When first introduced to the late Governor Izard, the latter was so struck with his appearance, that he remarked to a gentleman sitting by him, that "if he needed a leader for a forlorn hope, there would be his man." He has filled a great many places of importance-was a member of the convention which formed our Constitution, and one of the Trustees of the Real Estate Bank. He is a man of kind and generous disposition-very firm, and much beloved by troops of friends."
Photograph is the memorial to young Emma Virginia who passed away of scarlet fever in 1860 at Helena.
Sources:
Weekly Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas) 20 Feb 1858, Saturday. Page 2
Shinn, Josiah H. "Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas" Genealogical and Historical Publishing Company. Washington D.C., Little Rock, AR. Democrat Printing and Lithographic Company. 1908.
Ancestry.com
Fold3.com