F. M. GARVIN. The American bank is the synonym of dignity, respectability and safety; the medium of exchange between cities and foreign countries and the great sustainer of the various business enterprises of the country, The bank is the teacher of method and system and is a check upon reckless and indiscriminate speculation, the spirit of which is too prevalent in the country.
The Harrison Bank, of Harison, Arkansas, of which F. M. Garvin is the efficient and trustworthy cashier, was established in November , 1887, with a capital stock of $30,000, the stockholders of which were largely residents of Arkansas. The first president was F. M. Garvin, the vice-president, G. J. Crump, and the cashier, William M. Dennison. A change was made in 1890, when the Citizens’ Bank of Eureka Springs was bought out and F. M. Garvin was made cashier and has remained so up to the present time. A general banking business is done, and it is one of the leading establishments of the kind in the northwestern part of the State and is established on a sound basis. The directors are M. F. Gordon, G. J. Crump, Thomas F. Garvin (of Evansville, Indiana, and father of the cashier), J. .A. Swape (of Washington City), W. H. Watkins, J. E. Audin and A. J. Vance.
F. M. Garvin was born in Evansville, Indiana, January 5, 1860, his father being one of the oldest pioneers of that section of the country. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1826, and was married to Cornelia M. Morris, who was born in the State of New York in 1828. Mr. Garvin was educated in Mt. St. Mary’s College, of Emmettsburg, Md., and his wife at Pen Yan and other places in her native State. They both emigrated to Indiana when young, were married in Evansville, and there they have resided since 1844. Mr. Garvin has long been noted as a successful real estate attorney and a distinguished member of the Indiana bar. He has always been a pronounced Democrat, was elected on that ticket to the Indiana legislature, and while a member of that body distinguished himself as an able legislator. He is one of the most prominent men in southern Indiana, and is well known in social, political, business and professional circles, and as judge of the district court he discharged his duties with dignity, intelligence and impartiality. Although he has now retired, to some extent, from the active practice of his profession, he is still a member of the firm of Garvin & Cunningham, of Evansville.
Garvin family tree first took root in this country on Virginia soil, and some of the early members of the family participated in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 and Thomas E. (Garvin aided his country in the Civil War as a member of the Home Guards, ill health preventing him from entering the regular service as he much desired to do. The paternal grandfather came of Scotch-Irish ancestry and was a bridge and railroad contractor by occupation. One of the sisters of Thomas E. Garvin was the first wife of ex-Gov. Baker, of Indiana. To Mr. and Mrs. Garvin three sons were given: Thomas E., Jr., is a lawyer of Evansville, is a member of the firm of Garvin & Cunningham,is a prominent attorney, and active in politics; F. M. is the second son, and I. C. is a resident of Boone County, and a successful and practical farmer. He was educated in Mt. St. Mary’s College, Md., came West in 1885, and in 1887 was married to Miss Pearl M. Nichols, a native of Lawrence County, Missouri.
F. M. Garvin spent his early life in Evansville, Indiana, and after fitting himself in the public schools of that city he entered Yale College from which he graduated in 1880. Three years later he was admitted to the bar, but has never practiced that profession, as he came almost immediately to Harrison, Arkansas, and started a set of abstract books; but at the end of two years he assisted in the establishment of the Harrison Investment Banking Company, of which he was chosen president, and at a later period was made cashier of the Harrison Bank. Mr. Garvin is one of the leading men in Boone County, owns considerable mineral land in the county, also in Searcy, Marion and Newton Counties, and he is the owner of a paying mine at St. Joe. He has ever been a Democrat in politics, has held the office of mayor of Harrison four times, and having always been a patron and supporter of educational institutions he has been a member of the Harrison School Board two terms.
He was married in Harrison in 1886 to Miss M. C. Crump, daughter of George J. Crump, the United States Marshal of the western district of Arkansas and the Indian Territory. Their union has resulted in the birth of three children: Thomas E., Lulu and Catherine. Mrs. Garvin is one of the leading society ladies of Harrison, and her home is a pretty and hospitable one.
