Biographical Sketch of Dr. Alonzo Refinis McCarty
April 27, 1866 – December 17, 1924
Alonzo Refinis McCarty was born April 27, 1866 in Georgia to Cornelius and Jane McCarty. At the time of his birth the farming family consisted of two daughters, Amanda and Barbar, and two sons, John J and William. Soon to join the family after Alonzo were siblings Candis and Ermo. In the 1880 U. S. Census Alonzo was at home, occupation listed as farming. In 1888 he graduated from Vanderbilt University, Medical Department and on November 1 of the same year he and Mattie Evans were married in Yell County, Arkansas. In 1899 a newspaper article states he and two other doctors composed the medical board of Yell county.
Alonzo, better known as Lonzo, served the medical community of Centerville for 36 years, from 1888 until his untimely death in 1924 at the age of 58. “He purchased the first automobile in Centerville. It ultimately was the cause of death (crushed between it and the barn when priming it). All of the children would run along side and behind the car as Dr. Mac drove through town. When he applied the brakes, he never forgot to say in a loud voice “Whoa, car!”1
Dr. McCarty’s friend, Andrew Pickens, wrote of Dr. McCarty “How sad I was to learn of the death for Dr. L. R. McCarty. I well remember when he came to Alpha and began the practice of his profession in the year 1887; and how fast he made friends who have remained true and loyal through all the intervening years. Dr. McCarty was of a genial, hospitable happy nature, generous, kindly and considerate, and readily won the friendship of all with whom he can in contact. It was never too cold or too dark for him to respond to the call of suffering or distressed. He always had a smiling face and a word of good cheer for the sorrowing. He was a leading physician of Yell County for 37 years. He stood for the betterment of his country. I know he will be greatly missed by the people around Centerville. He measured his every action to conform to the Golden Rule. I believe, if we live right, that some sweet day we will see his smiling face again. He is gone but he will not be forgotten. He was progressive and public-spirited to a degree, ever active in the upbuilding of the schools of the County, and in every movement for the advancement and upbuilding of his community, County and State he played a leading part.”2
He died on December 18, 1924 and was buried in Mount George Cemetery in Yell County. The Masonic fraternity, of which he had long been a member, was in charge of the burial rites.
1 Lonzo Refinis McCarty, Ancestry.com, griffin Family Tree, posted by
Debra Griffin, March 27, 2014
2Obituary, “Dr. L. R. McCarty Dead” Dardanelle Post Dispatch,
December 18, 1924, 218 N Front Street, Dardanelle, Ar 72834
John T. Mitchell, BBA
August 21, 2021