The professors at Arkansas Industrial Univeristy: Richard Thruston

Richard Thruston (b. March 3, 1814; d. September 8, 1885)

South Carolina.  White.
Education: Unknown (M.D.)

Occupation: farmer, physician.

Richard Thruston (often misspelled Thurston) was born in 1814 in South Carolina to unknown parents. He received an M.D. from an unknown college. 

Richard was an early immigrant to Arkansas. By 1840, he had moved to Van Buren County. He would remain in the county for most of his adult life. He first worked as a physician and a manufacturer of medicines such as pills for fever and ague.

Starting in the late 1840s, Richard tried to diversify his professional activities. In 1847, he began operating a steam mill that milled wheat for local farmers. However, within a few years he had sold the mill equipment.

Richard was active in state politics. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1847. In 1849, he received a presidential appointment as a Receiver of Public Moneys at Fayetteville, AR. He received the appointment, in part, because of his support for the Whig Party. The Whigs had gained control of the presidency from the Democrats with the election of Zachary Taylor. Taylor's administration removed many Democrats from appointed positions and replaced them with Whigs like Richard. Richard remained Receiver of Public Moneys until 1852.

Richard was an avid and respected huntsman and horticulturalist. During the 1850s, several hunting trips he took were written up in newspapers. However, it was horticulture that would occupy most of his time. In the 1850s, Richard largely abandoned medicine to run a plant nursery in Van Buren County. The nursery, named Van Buren Nursery, specialized in "Southern Fruit Trees for Southern Planters." By the 1860s, the nursery was home to over 20,000 fruit trees, and Richard also grew small fruits like strawberries and fermented his own wine.

During the antebellum, Richard maintained his household using enslaved labor. In 1840, he owned 3 slaves. This number had increased to 4 by 1860.

Richard did not serve in the military during the Civil War. His thoughts regarding the war and secession are unrecorded, although an article in Confederate Veteran magazine describes him as "one whose views were truly Southern." 

Richard was employed by Arkansas Industrial University during the university's first year (the 1872-72 academic year). He served as Professor of Practical and Theoretical Agriculture and Horticulture for the 1872-73 year and gave lectures on agriculture that attracted not only students but also farmer from the area.  Examples of lecture titles are "The Farm and its work" and "The Garden and Orchard." 

In the summer of 1873 (at the close of the first academic year at the university), Richard gave a public lecture to university students and other community members. In his lecture, he argued for the importance of agricultural and horticultural science. The core concern for a farmer, Richard said, is making his land more productive, for example by reducing the amount of labor needed to grow crops. To do this successfully, a farmer needs to have studied the sciences: entomology to protect crops against pests, mechanics to operate farming machinery, etc. Richard said that many Arkansas farmers engage in "fogyism." That is, they have ignored scientific developments, and they farm using the same methods they used 30 or 40 years ago. Richard felt it was hopeless to get the current generation of farmers to change, but he was hopeful about the future because of the education offered by Arkansas Industrial University. He concluded his talk by calling on the university students to effect "the death and final burial of that ancient and venerable though still stubborn and persistent old ghost of delusion we call Fogyism beneath the subsoil blow of the present and future

Richard's speech was one of his last acts as university faculty. His employment was only intended as temporary, and he left the university after a year. He returned to working on his nursery.

Richard was a well-regarded within Arkansas. His horticultural accomplishments were lauded throughout the state, and one newspaper account called him "a genial, courteous gentleman of the old school."

Richard died in 1885 while living in Van Buren County. 

Sources

9. 1840; Census Place: Van Buren, Crawford, Arkansas; Roll: 17; Page: 85.

1. 1850; Census Place: Van Buren, Crawford, Arkansas; Roll: 25; Page: 349a.

2. 1860; Census Place: Van Buren, Crawford, Arkansas; Page: 624; Family History Library Film: 803040

2. 1870; Census Place: Richland, Crawford, Arkansas; Roll: M593_51; Page: 234A

3. 1880; Census Place: Maxey, Franklin, Arkansas; Roll: 44; Page: 777A; Enumeration District: 061

4. "Death of Dr. Thruston." September 10, 1885. p.2.

5. "Notice is hereby given." Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren, AR). September 9, 1848. p. 3.

6. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules

7. "Dr. Thruston." Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren, Arkansas). July 22, 1843. p. 3.

8. "Farmers, Attend to your interests." Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren, Arkansas). July 27, 1843. p. 1.

9. "Corporation Election." Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren, Arkansas). October 23, 1847. p. 2.

10. "Turnpike Road Meeting." Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren, Arkansas). February 12, 1848. p. 2.

11. "Removal in Arkansas." Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren, Arkansas). May 26, 1849. p. 2.

12. Washington Telegraph (Washington, Arkansas). May 19, 1852. p. 2.

13. "The Great Match Hunt." Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren, AR). April 24, 1857. p. 2.

14. "Van Buren Nursery." Weekly Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR). September 27, 1862. p. 2.

15. "Van Buren Nursery." Weekly Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR). November 1, 1862. p. 3.

16. "To Agriculturalists." Weekly Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR). January 6, 1867. p. 2.

17. Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR). September 12, 1872. p. 4.

18. "The Univeristy." Fayetteville Weekly Democrat (Fayetteville, AR). April 18, 1874. p. 4.

19. Brown, C. Allan. "Horticulture in Early Arkansas." The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 43, no. 2 (1984): 99-124. 

20. "Senator Bowen's Death Recalls War Times." Confederate Veteran. Vol. XV, Mp. 8, August 1907. p. 378.