Dr Elias Rector DuVal was a very prominent member of the Fort Smith community. Fortmer Presient of the School Board, a practicing surgeon who published many medical articles, and the former Surgeon of the Confederate Army, Dr. DuVal is surely deserving of the large obelisk that adorns his grave.
The obelisk reads as follows:
"[south side]
Erected by the
Masonic Fraternity
of Arkansas
to the memory of
ELIAS R. DuVAL
Born
Aug 13, 1836
Died
Oct 7, 1885
[west side]
[Masonic symbol]
From the Rootsweb genealogy website, a biography of Elias R. DuVal is found in the Goodspeed's Biography of his widow, Angela Medora DuVal: (
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"SOURCE: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889
Contributed by Michael Brown
18 Oct 1998
SEBASTIAN CO AR
page 1309-1310
Mrs. Angela Medora Duval, widow of Dr. Elias Rector DuVal, was born in Van Buren, Ark., December 9, 1841, and is a daughter of Dr. J. A. Dibrell. She was reared in Arkansas, and educated in Richmond, Va., and on the 8th of May, 1860, was married to Dr. DuVal, and soon after took up her residence in Fort Smith, where she has since made her home, and in her commodious and handsome residence on Hickory Street is devoting her time and energies to the education and culture of her children, whose names are as follows: Annie [p.1309] Medora, who was educated in the University of Arkansas, at Fayetteville; Ben. T., who is attending school in Tennessee; Dibrell LeGrande and Angela M. Elias R., another child, died in 1864, at the age of eleven months.
Dr. J. A. Dibrell, the father of Mrs. DuVal, was born in Nashville, Tenn., August 15, 1817, and was educated in the university of that city. He studied medicine for three years under the instruction of Dr. Thomas R. Jennings, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, and has been a practicing physician of Van Buren, Ark., for forty-one years, except during the late Civil War.
His wife, Ann Eliza (Pryor) Dibrell, was also born in Nashville, October 8, 1825, and became the mother of five children: Angela Medora (Mrs. DuVal), James Anthony, J. A., Thomas H. and Ann Eliza. Mrs.
[Angela] DuVal's paternal grandfather, Edwin Dibrell, was clerk in the Federal Treasury under President Polk, and was a descendant of the French Huguenots. His wife, whose maiden name was Martha Shrewsbury, was of English lineage, and was born in Kentucky.
The great-grandfather, Anthony Dibrell, was a wealthy planter and a member of the Virginia Legislature. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and fought through the entire conflict for our national independence, being wounded in the fight at Guilford Court-House, and was carried off the field by the noted giant, Peter Francisco.
The Pryor family are of Virginia stock, and are related to the Jefferson family by marriage.
Dr. Elias Rector DuVal was born in Fort Smith, Ark., August 13, 1836, and received his literary education in the Arkansas College, Fayetteville, graduating with the degree of A.B. in 1854, at the age of eighteen. The next two years were spent in the Louisville and Philadelphia Medical Colleges, graduating from the latter institution as an M. D. March 6, 1858, also having the degree of A.M. conferred upon him.
He served in Lieut. Steen's command in New Mexico as acting surgeon of the United States Army, but in 1859 retired to private life in Fort Smith, where he not only rose to be one of the leading physicians and surgeons, but became one of the leading men of the State.
His talents were not limited to his profession, but extended over a large area, and much of his time was devoted to the improvement and development of the county and community in which he resided, the public schools testifying to his ability and discreet management.
In medical circles no man in the State stood higher, and he was a member of the Fort Smith Medical Society; was president of the Sebastian County Medical Society in 1872; president of the State Medical Society during 1874- 75, and was a permanent member of the American Medical Association.
He was president of the Fort Smith Board of Health, and a member of the State Board of Health of Little Rock. In 1861 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the Confederate army, and the same year was promoted to the post of surgeon. In August, 1862, he was promoted to chief surgeon of the Second Division of the First Army Corps, of the trans-Mississippi Department, and in March, 1863, was appointed medical director for the entire department. Among his published writings, worthy of especial mention, are “Bucnemia Tropica,” “Malarial Hæmorrhagic Fever,” “Influenza,” “Cerebro Spinal Fever,” “History of the Cholera in Fort Smith in 1866,” and “Eclampsia Puerperalis.”
Dr. DuVal had taken all the York Rite degrees of Masonry, and had been Worshipful Master, High Priest of the Chapter, Most Worshipful Grand Master of the State, and for two years successively was Grand High Priest of the State; one year, Right Eminent Grand Commander of the Knights Templar, and was for a number of years chairman of committees on Masonic history, and is the author of the “History of Masonry in Arkansas.”
He voted against secession prior to the war, but afterward espoused the cause of the Confedcracy, and throughout the remainder of his life was a consistent Democrat. He died on the 7th of October, 1885, lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
He was a son of William DuVal, who was a direct descendant of the French Huguenots. His grandfather was of the Maryland line of DuVals. William resided for a number of years in Virginia, and came to Fort Smith, Ark., in 1825. He was much beloved by the Indians, with whom he traded, and was sent as their representative to Washington, D.C.
Dr. E. R. DuVal, in his private life, was a refined Christian gentleman, in his family the center of every attraction, being idolized by all hearts. His distinguishing characteristics were charity for the feelings and opinions of others, and his firm convictions of right, ever in his lectures denouncing infidelity and showing the evil tendencies of skepticism. His sweet memory will live with us until we are [p.1310] carried to our last abode. While his noble deeds will diminish in the lengthening distance when viewed by future generations, yet in heaven they are written with imperishbable characters, and the angel of light has brightened the page with a record of his noble deeds."
A briefer biography is found on the Find-A-Grave website: (
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"Son of William and Harriet (Doddridge) DuVal, Dr. Elias R. DuVal was born on the 13th day of August 1836. He was one of the first white children born in Fort Smith. Dr. DuVal was the son of the late William and Harriet (Doddridge )DuVal.
From Saint John's Episcopal Church Clippings, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Dr. DuVal was a fluent writer and was the author of a number of medical writings and other works. He was the President of the Fort Smith School Board for many years. He was the Grand Master of Arkansas' Masonic Lodge in 1872. Dr. DuVal served with the Confederate Army for 4 years and served under General Steele's command. He was a charter member of the Sebastian County Medical Society, where he served as President in 1878; he was a Charter member of the Arkansas Medical Society, where he was President from 1874 to 1875; a member of the American Medical Association; was a city alderman for the City of Fort Smith.
Dr. DuVal attended Arkansas College at Fayetteville and then spent two years in Louisville Kentucky and graduated from Pennsylvania Medical College in March of 1858.
Dr. DuVal married Medora Dibrell, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. James Dibrell of Van Buren, Arkansas. The couple had four children: Annie DuVal, Benjamin Taylor DuVal, Dribrell LeGrand DuVal and Angela Medora DuVal."
An article abstracting Fort Smith Newspapers from 1885 in the September 1985 issue (Vol 9, No. 2) : of the Fort Smith Historical Society magazine relates a short vignette from his medical practice: (
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[page 42]
"Martine Thurer's little girl, about 19 months old, on
last Tuesday evening fell from the third story of C.F.
Bocquin's residence and broke her thigh. Dr. DuVal
and Dr. Eberle set the bone and at last account the
child was resting well."