August 25, 1918

Ferd Havis, who was born in 1846 in Desha County to a white farmer and a slave mother, died. Havis, with little education, had learned the barber’s trade and had become prosperous and influential in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County). Becoming active in Republican politics, he served as Jefferson County assessor and county circuit clerk, was chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party for twenty years, was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1880, and was vice president of the Arkansas Republican Party in 1888. He was commissioned colonel in the Arkansas Militia by Governor Elisha Baxter. Even after Reconstruction, Havis continued to be influential and prosperous, partly because of his charismatic disposition. He is buried in Pine Bluff in Bellwood Cemetery.