Skip to main content

Full text of "Pioneers and makers of Arkansas"

See other formats 


This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 
to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 
publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 

We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 



at |http : //books . google . com/ 







TT 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

By Josiah H. Shinn, A. M. 

Member Imperial Rtsasian Geographical Societyt St. Petersbtirsi Member 
Imperial Rtsssian Historical Society* St. Petersbtirg; Honorary Member 
of PennsyTvania and West Virginia Historical Societiesi 
State Superintendent of Ptsblic Instnsctiont Arkansas, two 
terms; Chief Clerk, Office Secretary of State, three 
terms; President Southern Educational Association, 
two terms; Vice President National Educa- 
tional Association; President Arkansas 
Educational Association; Judge Lib- 
eral Arts Department, World's 
Columbia Exposition, 
Chicago, III.; Account- 
ant in Indian Office, 
Washington, D.C., 
and Chicago, lU., 
three years; Founder of 
Southern School Journal; 
Author of "History of the Ameri- 
can People,'' "History of Arkansas," 
"History of Education in Arkansas," publish- 
ed by the U. S. Government; "History of the Shinn 
Family in Europe and America," "U. S. Land Surveys," 
"History of Russia," "Russia at the World's Fair," pub- 
lished in English and Russian; "The Public School and the College," 
"The South in Public Education," "Vassar College," "Life and Public 
Services of Brigadier General Lewis G. Am<^d;" Correspondent for many 
Societies and Publications, and founder of The Washington Literary Bureau 



Published by 

Genealogical and Historical Publishing Company 



-^'^S .^^7^ci>,^' 



¥ 



tMKVARD COLLEGE LIBRART 

CHAKIES ELLiOn PERKINS 



COPTRIOHTED 1908 

BT M. C. SHINN 
WASHINOTON, D. C 



PRINTED BT 

DEMOCRAT PRINTING & UTHOORAPHINO CO. 

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS. 



PREFACE 

This modest volume does not deal with downfalls either of 
Roman or any other vaunted civilization or empire; it has noth- 
ing whatever to do with submergences, whether the thing over- 
whelmed be kingdom, satrapy or monarchy, Persian, Assyrian 
or Egv'ptian; it makes no vain appeals to the lessons of history 
and depends in no sense on industrial conformity to an organi- 
zing authority. 

It will deal less with the permanency of our institutions 
than with the institutions themselves ; less with methods than 
matter; less with evolution and law than with humanity. The 
modern scientific spirit with its crucifixon of thought and in- 
terest will be entirely and exclusively ignored. 

This book will be devoted to the people, who fashioned and 
builded a State, and it makes not a raps difference to the author 
whether these people had Bagehot's conception, or Lubbock's 
conception of progress or not. It is enough for him to know 
that they were human beings, — that they lived and acted their 
parts, — and that all that they did contributed to everything that 
now prevails. They were here first and did their work as 
human beings unmanacled by science and formality and there- 
fore interestingly. As men and women, they performed a life's 
work, died and were buried. They cleared farm?, made roads 
and enacted laws — all for their own comfort and well-being — 
the highest end and aim of life. They seemed to know that by 
the sweat of their brovvc they should eat and that he who pro- 
vided not for his own had denied the faith and was worse than 
an infidel. They sought to better their condition and laid by 
for a rainy day. They were your fathers and mine. 

The aim of this book will be as Macaulay expressed it — "to 
make the past present, to bring the present near, to invest with 
the reality of human flesh and blood beings whom we are 
too much inclined to consider as personified qualities," rather 
than to rob history of its human element by a cataloguing of 
facts without effort to lead their meaning. With Lord Acton, 
the sanest historic authority, we believe that "History is the con- 
science of mankind," and have therefore set out thousands of 
facts as a potent influence in showing what the pioneers really 
did — their modus operandi — their hopes, joys and sorrows, as 



parts of an experience we are interested to know and from which 
we may one and all draw general lessons of moral and political 
wisdom. 

The" book was made while busily engaged upon other mat- 
ters — in fact, is the outgrowth of more pretentious historic 
study — but will not lose interest or value by reason thereof. It 
is the outgrowth of years of grubbing in old newspapers, old let- 
ters, old legal tomes, and documents, and of contact with grave- 
yards, tombstones and death registers. 

It is sent to the world with some misgivings but with a 
larger hopefulness. Scribbling in magazines run riot in mis- 
statement, over-statement and folderol about the difference 
between the way we do things and the way in which our grand- 
fathers did them. We are glibly told that a cabinet officer today 
does not only twice as much work as did his predecessor fifty 
years ago but that he does it twice as well. Our government 
officials are said to conduct the affairs of the people with a 
keener, greater business energy than they did in days of old, 
and we are expected to believe it. Our cabinet officers are globe 
trotters and runabouts — on exhibition everywhere under the 
ostensible plea of getting into closer touch with the bigger things 
of today. They splurge more but work and think less than did 
their predecessors — men who worked out the rules and regula- 
tions by which the real business of government is done at this 
good hour. The experience of one hundred years, crystallized 
into rules unequalled elsewhere in the world, is treated to the 
Don Quixotean lances of a Keep Comimssion or some other 
commission of fledgelings, whose only recommendation is noise. 
We are told that they are doing things and when the noise dies 
and cold reason returns, we find that they have simply brought 
a lot of changes without a single iota of improvement. Ex- 
perience is more and more derided, and change is more and 
more taken for real evolution. We have a new Indian policy — 
a new land policy — a new fiscal poficy, with every change in our 
cabinet officers and we are asked to believe that each of these 
new polices is an improvement on the old, simply because it 
comes heralded as a modern improvement, forgetting that every 
real improvement must come through the throes of a biting 
experience, and not through a mere political change of officers. 



IV 



We undoubtedly do many things differently and better than 
did our fathers. We travel differently and better; we have a 
different and better physical light; we have different and better 
facilities of many kinds, but with all these differences and better- 
ments, we are not doing more proportionately than did our 
grandfathers — and in many cases we are doing proportionately 
less. We have possibly more knowledge and it is intimated 
that we certainly have less wisdom; we have more preaching 
and less morality; more of the spectacular and less real produc- 
tivity; more brag and less accomplishment. We have more 
goober grabblers on the surface but not an equal number of 
profound thinkers; more tinkerers but no greater number of 
real workers ; more shouters but no greater number of real con- 
verts. We have more money and less conscience ; more wealth 
and less restraint; more ease and less happiness. Our Bible is 
the same old book our fathers read but we have learned to skip 
the difficult lines. Our Caesar is the same old story about Gaul 
but we have destroyed its hard places. Morality tod^ is just 
what it always was but we have decked it with strange clothes. 
We have changed the material world and have improved it by 
the change, and with impious hands have claimed a like right 
to change the moral and spiritual world — to alter the unchange- 
able and limit the infinite. 

We have done really great and wonderful things but in 
claiming credit for them we have slandered the dead and run 
rough shod over past greatness and goodness, without adding a 
particle lo our real greatness or a single iota to our real good- 
ness. We are really doing things — great and imperishable 
things — but we are the heirs of the ages — ^the recipients of cen- 
turies of experience, and should gratefully acknowledge our in- 
debtedness. 

All that is old is not good and all that is new is not bad. 
The fathers worked for better things and made macerial pro- 
gress; we started where they left off but have by no means 
reached the goal. We tre and ought to be proud of our age buc 
this should not lead us to flippantly decry the majestic work of 
our fathers. I would have no man look backward for the mere 
glory of ancestral worship, nor pause a single instant in the real 



work of developing the world. I would only look back to catch 
the rays of the world's great lamp of experience, for without a 
genuine, real and hard experience there can be no lasting, per- 
manent and general improvement. There is no sound method 
of judging the future but by the past, and with this thought as 
a basis, I launch my ''Pioneers and Makers of Aricansas*' with 
the hope that it may give courage to thinkers and workers every- 
where and nerve them for a greater and more successful work. 

JOSIAII H. SlIINN. 

Washington, D. C, 

October i, ic^^S. 




CONTENTS 

Chapter i. — Tie Formation of Arkansas Territory — The Foundation 
of the Arkansas Gazette — The Leading Men at Arkansas Post. ... 9 

Chapter 2.— Woodruff's Power at the Post— Early Post-Offices— The 
Original Spelling of the Word Arkansas 15 

Chapter 3. — Who's Who of Old Arkansas Post — French and Amer- 
ican Settlers 23 

Chapter 4,— First Officers of the Territory — All Non-Residents 29 

Chapter 5. — General Miller, Our First Territorial Governor — -His 
Opinion of Early Little Rock — General Jackson's Opinion of 
General Miller 34 

Chapter 6. — Early Settlers on the Rivers of Eastern Arkansas and on 
the Arkansas River 40 

Chapter 7.— The Settlement of Crystal Hill— Pyeatts, Carnahans— 
Grays 45 

Chapter 8. — Alexander S. Walker, Soldier, Lawyer and Legislator... 51 

Chapter 9.— Robert Crittenden— William O. Allen— The First Duel in 
Arkansas 58 

Chapter 10. — Samuel Mosely — Francis Notrebe — ^Terrance Farrelly. . 66 

Chapter 11. — Pringles — Harringtons — Morrisons and Dardennes — ^List 
of Revolutionary Patriots 72 

Chapter 12.— Samuel Calhoun Roane 80 

Chapter 13. — Shirt Sleeved Millionaires 93 

Chapter 14. — The Coming of the Covered Wagons 102 

Chapter 15. — Distribution of Settlements in 1820 109 

Chapter 16 — Benjamin Fooy and Fooy's Point — W. B. R. Horner— St. 
Francis and Helena , 1 17 

Chapter 17. — Great Cherokee Indian Agents — Matthew Lyon, Edward 
W. DuVal and David Brearly 131 

Chapter 18. — First Authentic Maps of the Territory showing Roads, 
Towns, County Lines and Streams • 144 

Chapter 19. — Longevity of the Pioneers — Some Old Marriages and 
Marriage Customs 157 

Chapter 20. — Early Election Practises 1G6 

Chapter 21. — Governor George Izard 172 

Chapter 22. — Robert Crittenden 179 

Chapter 23. — Chester Ashley— Thomas Willoughby Newton 185 



CONTENTS— Cont. 

Chapter 24. — The Superior Court of Arkansas — Andrew Scott — Ben- 
jamin Johnson 195 

Chapter 25. — Ambrose H. Sevier — William S. Fulton — Pre-emption.. 206 

Chapter 26. — Joab Hardin — The Bentleys — Major Welborn — Abner 
Harold — Colonel Thomas Mathers — 'fhe Arkansas Traveler 217 

Chapter 2^ — Rev. Cephas Washburn 222 

Chapter 28. — Major Isaac Watkins 228 

Chapter 29. — Slaveholders of 1830 • • 235 

Chapter 30.— The Fletchers 240 

Chapter 31. — Edmund Hogan 250 

Chapter 32.— The Two P Architecture— The Martins 255 

Chapter 33. — Henry L. Biscoe 264 

Chapter 34. — Caleb Lindsey — uther Lindsey Families 269 

Chapter 35. — The Brilhart and Davis Families — Marriages and Deaths 280 

Chapter 36.— The Lafferty Family 290 

Chapter 37. — ^The Kaufmans, Coffmans and Cuffmans 300 

Chapter 38.— Augustus Hill Garland 307 

Chapter 39— The Deshas 33i 

Chapter 40.— Abraham Ruddell 338 

Chapter 41.— The Wilson Family 348 

Chapter 42.— The Rector Family 370 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 



CHAPTER I. 

The Formation of Arkansas Territory — The Foundation 
OF THE Arkansas Gazette. — The Leading Men at Ar- 
K.VNSAS Post. 

March 2, 1819, is a notable date for Arkansas, as on that 
day the president approved the bill which created the territory 
of Arkansas. The debate, which led un to the_ 

ERRATA 



On Page 263, liiu- 12 read "Jarcd Carswell Martin." 
C)ii Pago 293. line 15 read '*on White River." 
On Page 303, next to last line road "October 22, 1782.'' 
On Page 345, thirtieth line read "thirty-sixth year/' 
On Page 367, sixth line read **iJ^73" 



|yui.it/iiiLV Witll 11 CC lllMiLULlUlld. 

On the other hand were arrayed arguments and fanci^ 
showing the constitutional rights of slaveholders to travel 
will carrying their chattels, the improved condition of the 
African in slavery as compared with his free condition in Africai 
and brilliant exaggerations of plantation life. 

CLOSE SHAVE FOR ADVOCATES OF SLAVERY. 

The House of Representatives was about equally divided in 
sentiment. The amendment was divided and its first clause failed 
by a vote of seventy ayes to seventy-one noes ; the second clause 
carried by a vote of seventy-five ayes to seveaty-three noes. Thus 
the further introduction of slavery was permitted, but a gradual 
emancipation provided. This did not suit the framers of the 




10 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

bill and when it was reported to the house it was moved to refer 
it to a special committee with instructions to strike out the sec- 
ond clause. On this vote the ayes numbered eighty-eight and 
the noes numbered the same. The tie was broken by the vote 
of the speaker in the affirmative. When the special committee 
reported back, the vote upon concurrence stood eighty-nine ayes 
to eighty-seven noes. It was a close shave, but the advocatCb of 
slavery won. Suppose the vote had been registered the other 
way on one or both these propositions, what would have been the 
result upon Arkansas affairs? Who can answer the question 
with any assurance of accuracy ? Missouri would have been ad-* 
mitted as a free State beyond all question and the line between 
the free and slave territories in the West would have been drawn 
much farther to the South. But what of its influence on after 
Arkansas history? Would the hands of the Arkansas develop-* 
ment clock have gone forward or backward? There are two 
sides to the question, but it is not outside the realm of sound 
prediction to say that the victory of the South in Congress in 
1 819 was a stumbling block to the rapid development of the ter- 
ritory. 

This congressional debate presaged the dawn of limitations 
upon the slave power, which found legal status whtn Missouri 
was admitted as a State, and sounded the eventual death knell of 
slavery throughout the country. 

The discussion showed that little or nothing was known 
about the population of the State, or its resources. The com- 
mittee which reported the bill ignored these questions and the 
disputants were without facts. Some one from Missouri sug- 
gested that there might be fourteen thousand people in the pro- 
posed territory and the speakers adopted this unit of measure- 
ment, and it has ever since remained unquestioned. The real 
population was nearer ten thousand than fourteen thousand, as we ' 
shall show in another chapter upon the census of 1820, the first 
enrollment of the pioneers as Arkansans. 

BIRTH OF ARKANSAS TERRITORY. 

July 4, 1819, was another notable date for Arkansas, as on 
that day, under the provisions of the act of March 2, 1819, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkatisas n 

Arkansas territory was legally born, with its capital at Arkan- 
sas, as the Post of Arkansas was called. 

October 30, 1819, was another notable date, indicating the 
arrival of William E. Woodruff at Arkansas with his printing; 
press. 

BIRTH OF THE GAZETTE. 

The greatest date for Arkansas history, how^ever, is Novem- 
ber 20, 1819, the date when the first issue of the Arkansas Ga- 
zette made its appearance at Arkansas. 

Other events have had a more or less marked influence on 
Arkansas men and affairs, and their dates have become monu- 
mental landmarks signaling the student to corner-stones of 
political growth, — bases from which new bearings are to be 
made. But towering over all these, in both absolute and rela- 
tive importance, must be rated the first issue of the Arkansas 
Gazette, the initial beacon of a greater intelligence, the first 
headlight of a greater progress, and the commanding index to 
the march of improvement and power. 

William E. Woodruff lacked the higher forms of education, 
was not blessed or burdened with wealth, but was the happy pos- 
sessor of a trade. He had something which he could do, and 
he had that something well in hand. Opportunity in 1819 seem- 
ed to have her habitat in the West and the sons of the East 
were seduced by her calf. It has been said that the energetic 
sons of the East went West at that time, while the drones re- 
mained at home. This is a superficial showing, however, as a 
very slight acquaintance with affairs will demonstrate that these 
stay-at-home drones had energy enough to take care of the East 
and place mortgages on the seemingly greater energies of the 
West. 

WHEN OPPORTUNITY WHISPERED. 

Woodruff had a trade, but no location. He might have 
worked at the cases in New York and made a competence. Op- 
portunity whispered that the West was a better field and Wood- 
ruff inclined his ear. He found nothing that promised at Wheel- 
ing, at Louisville, at Russellville, or at Nashville. It seemed 
that he had been beguiled by a siren voice and that the West 



12 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

was not what it had been painted. Panegyric has lauded his 
rowing a boat from Wheeling to Louisville, and his walking 
from Louisville to Nashville. This is superficial also, as the 
common heritage of men at that time was to row or walk. All 
pioneers could do either, and it was a poor specimen of man- 
hood that would hitch up a team to go ten miles. Walking was 
in vogue and its devotees numbered all the able-bodied populace. 
The caravans of covered wagons that moved from the Atlantic 
States in early days carried the household goods, the aged and 
the infirm. The men and women walked with the horses from 
the Fords of the Dan, to the Fords of the White, and were all 
the better for it. Woodruff could row a boat, aiid walk four hun- 
dred miles, two things which proclaimed his title to ordinary 
American manhood as measured by the standards of his day, 
standards which Americans might adopt today without any loss 
of prestige, strength or power. 

But although he had not found a mecca, he still had hopes. 
There was St. Louis on the borders of civilization and Arkansas 
Post far beyond its confines. Should he take St. Louis, or 
should he take Arkansas Post? St. Louis already had a news- 
paper and the competition there would be great indeed. Arkan- 
sas Post was the capital of a new territory, had no paper, and 
with a true Macedonian cry was shouting, "Come over and help 
us." It is said that he tossed up a dollar and that the decree of 
chance favored Arkansas. There is nothing in the after life of 
William E. Woodruff that points to the habit of settling momen- 
tous questions by an appeal to chance. His life seemed to be 
made up of balances in which reason was the umpire. Reason 
pointed to Arkansas Post with unerring finger and William E. 
Woodruff crossed the Rubicon and entered Arkansas. The issue 
of his after life demonstrated the wisdom of his choice. 

He landed at Arkansas with his printing press on October 
30, 1819, and on November 20 of that year, just twenty-one days 
after his arrival, issued the first cop'^ of the Arkansas Gazette, 
and continued to issue it at the same stand, without the loss of 
a single issue, and without a tardy issue, on every Saturday, to 
December 29, 1821, the date of the first issue at the City of Lit- 
tle Rock. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 13 

THE GAZETTE IN TWO LANGUAGES. 

Arkansas Post at this time was one hundred and thirty-three 
years o^l, and was largely populated by people of French de- 
scent. So large was the proportion of French speaking people 
in Arkansas Post and in the territory at large, that Woodruff 
printed his announcements for office in English and French. 
The whole population at the post could not have numbered more 
than two hundred, and most probably not more than one hun- 
dred and fifty. There were thirty dwelling houses built in the 
French style, besides several stores, a mill and a hotel. The two 
principal streets were Front street and Main street. The prin- 
cipal business was the buying of peltries and cotton. The French 
hunters and trappers lived on almost every stream in eastern 
Arkansas and bartered their wares at Arkansas Post or New 
Madrid. The cotton plantations were around Arkansas Post, 
but did not yield the quantum of goods or money that followed 
the trade in furs and skins. The mercantile business of the 
post was considered large for the times. 

BUSINESS MEN OF 1819. 

James Scull ran a mill which did a large business. The prin- 
cipal cotton factor was William Drope of New Orleans, and 
Frederick Notrebe acted as his agent at the post. Drope ran 
this business in conjunction with a store which carried every- 
thing from sugar to sawmills. Samuel Mosely kept another 
large general store on Main street, and for ten years had been 
the principal competitor of Notrebe. Mosely died before Wood- 
ruff reached the place, and his widow in January, 1820, married 
Terrence Farrelly of the firm of Farrelly & Curran. This firm 
opened up at the post in December, 1819, having come from 
Pittsburg with a large stock of all kinds and sorts of goods, 
plenty of energy and a determination to win. They occupied the 
house formerly occupied by Captain Allen, and reached out with 
claw hammer hands for cotton and peltries. Eli J. Lewis was 
postmaster, clerk of the Circuit Court, tanner and storekeeper, 
and the boomer of the town. 



-14 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

BIG ADVENTURES OF THE EARLY DAY. 

Lewis & Thomas kept the largest general store down on 
Front street, carried dry goods, groceries, hardware, queens- 
ware, boots and shoes, hats, caps, books and stationery. In the 
first issue of the Gazette they took a double column three quar- 
ter page advertisement and kept it going all the time. They of- 
fered eighty barrels of good whisky, one barrel of peach brandy 
and one barrel of fourth proof whisky, among an array of other 
. articles that would have done credit to Marshall Field, or any 
other kind of department store. Pryor & Richards had been 
doing a good business, but closed out about the time of Wood- 
ruff's arrival. Farrelly & Curran were passably good adver- 
tisers ; Notrebe touched it gingerly but Lewis & Thomas had the 
modern idea and took printer's ink in preference to anything else 
as a means to an end. It is possible that Woodruff would have 
starved before getting a sound start had it not been for the gen- 
erous help of this firm. Woodruff's rates were one dollar for 
each fifteen lines and fifty cents for the same space for each 
subsequent insertion. Lewis & Thomas carried a standing ad- 
vertisement of about two hundred lines, which warmed Wood- 
ruff's heart all through the winter of 1819-20, when he found 
it most difficult to make both ends meet. 

THERE WERE DELINQUENTS THEN ALSO. 

The subscription price of the paper was three dollars a year 
if paid in advance and four dollars a year if paid at the end of a 
year. The frequent calls in the paper for advance subscriptions 
during the first year justify the conclusion that a very large 
number of his subscribers preferred to pay thirty-three and one- 
third per cent, more and wait till the end of the year for a re- 
ceipted bill ; and the most urgent plea at the end of the year to 
call and settle, showed that there were quite a large number of 
subscribers who still owed the printer, and who were not anxious 
about the receipt. Human nature has not changed much since 
Adam and Eve started the race of mankind. If a higher and a 
lower price is set out in a paper every day, and the subscriber 
knows that he has violated every condition upon which the lower 
price rests, he will still demand the lower price when he comes to 



PioMcrs and Makers of Arkansas 15 

settle. Nearly all of Woodruff's subscribers who settled at the 
end of the year demanded the three-dollar rate, although every 
issue of the paper informed them that this was an advance rate. 
When all other sins are old avarice is yet young ; it is never satis- 
fied; it blinds our eyes, disposes men to fraud, increases with 
wealth, is both knave and fool, is insatiable. And Old Billy 
Woodruff met this sin in 1819-20, as every editor of the country 
meets it to-day. 



CHAPTER II. 

Woodruff's Power at the Post — Early Post Offices — The 
Original Spelling of the word, "Arkansas." 

He is half done who has made a good beginning. William 
E. Woodruff landed at Arkansas Post on Saturday, October 30, 
181 9, without friends, money or renown. He had youth, energy 
and a printing press to his credit and with these he began his 
work. The coming of a printing press to any town is an event 
of note : what must it have been to the inhabitants of that isolated 
town, the post of Arkansas. 

A man with a bell could run all through it in thirty minutes 
calling its people to arms or to events of pleasure. The whole 
town was soon down on Front street gazing at the young east- 
erner. Woodruff, with earnestness, and with rapt wonder at the 
strange machine, the printing press. 

ARKANSAS POST'S GREATEST HONOR. 

Arkansas had long been a post under both French and Span- 
ish rule. Its people were not unacquainted with the politer 
forms of life as expressed in the higher walks of life at Paris 
and Madrid. Arkansas was continued as a post under American 
rule and hither had come many of the officers of the American 
army. Arkansas had been honored signally by Congress in be- 
ing selected as the capital of the territory. True, there was no 
other town in the territory, but that did not detract from the 
honor rightly ascribable to a town already there, — and a town 
that had lived longer than several of the colonial governments. 



i6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

But the greatest honor the town ever had was the honor con- 
ferred on it by the unknown printer, William E. Woodruff. 

Robert Crittenden on October 30, 1819, was not as big a 
man as Woodruff in the eyes of the inhabitants of Arkansas, nor 
was the governor, James Miller, who arrived a short time after- 
ward. Crittenden and Miller could run the territory, but it took 
Woodruff to show it off. 

There was only one road, the one running from Davidson- 
ville in Lawrence county, to Ouachita in Louisiana, and over 
this road, once a month, the mail was carried on horseback. 
Sometimes during 18 19 and 1820 that mail rider did not show 
up, for two whole months, and frequently his pouches did not 
contain a single letter or package for Arkansas. The people of 
the town wanted more of the limelight. They desired to have 
some sort of recognition in the great outside world.' They 
wanted more mails, more roads, more opportunities. Wood- 
ruff's printing press was the means to the end, and Billy Wood- 
ruff was the man of the hour. The fullblood Quapaws from the 
Southwest looked on with grunts, long and deep; the halfbreeds 
disclosed their French or Spanish antecedents by long and sus- 
picious scrutiny; while the Americans whispered, "Now watch 
the town grow." 

Nor w^ere these people very far wrong in their estimates of 
men. Crittenden and Miller were greater in a special sense, but 
not equal to Woodruff in the permanency of influences set to 
work by him and them. Crittenden and Miller fixed certain 
forms and blazed the way for rising political institutions. Wood- 
ruff fixed forms of thought and prepared men for conduct under 
any and all institutional forms. Crittenden and Miller were 
evanescent. Woodruff was permanent and far more influentiaL 

THE GAZETTE BROUGHT RESULTS. 

But aside from generalities, Woodruff filled the bill as out- 
lined by the populace. He had not been there four months be- 
fore he got mails once every two weeks, and the promise from 
the postmaster general of a weekly mail. A road was cut to 
Cadron, anrl another to Montgomery's Landing. People began 
to migrate to the territory, and hardly an issue of the paper came 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 17 

out that did not tell of these waves of people pushing over the 
country. More letters came in the mail pouches, and, greatest 
of all, the Arkansas Gazette every week carried the happenings 
of the world to the firesides of the people. The printer was the 
greatest man in town, as he ought to be in every town. 

Woodruff had no subscribers when he landed, nor did he 
waste any time in getting them. The people took the job off 
his hands. He asked no man to take the Gazette, but old citizens 
of the town took his lists and drummed the town and country. 

Woodruff unloaded his press and moved it into an old house 
off Front, street which belonged to Richmond Peeler and set it 
up ready for operation. This house had no value before Wood- 
ruff occupied it, but by January 20, 1820, it had so increased 
its worth as to be sold in an action for debt by Joseph Stillwell 
and was bought in by Woodruff. 

Woodruff was the "whole push." He had no helper but 
himself, and not only had to prepare all the matter, but set it up 
and run the press. The editorial matter of the paper cost noth- 
ing for the reason that there was no editorial matter in the paper. 
One column was given to local reporting and all the rest of the 
paper to advertisements and general reading matter clipped from 
Eastern and foreign papers. The reading matter occupied about 
seventy-five per cent of the paper and the advertising about 
twenty-five per cent. 

The paper was printed on sheets eleven inches wide by eight- 
een inches long, and had four pages of four columns each. It 
was uniformly of this size while printed at the post. 

There was no special delivery of the paper in town and each 
subscriber w^as requested to call for his paper. The subscribers 
did this with alacrity, as they all wanted the news, besides never 
tiring of seeing Billy Woodruff work. I have never passed 
Hearst's newspaper office in Chicago without seeing from twenty 
to fifty men and women standing there gazing at the wonderful 
machines. One w^ould think that the interest would wear out in 
time, but it does not. No thorough going man can pass a great 
newspaper press without complimenting it by a look. So much 
the more was the feeling at Arkansas Post. 



i8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CELEBRATION IN HONOR OF THE GAZETTE. 

The machine talked faster than the men could talk, and ever 
so much better. In twenty-one days Woodruff ran off his first 
edition a bright, well printed, newsy document. It set the post 
on fire and cost Lewis & Thomas a barrel of whisky in celebra- 
tion. 

Woodruff wrote a sensible salutatory, one line of which is 
worth a quotation, and then worth remembrance. He said : "It 
is the duty of every man to be useful in whatever situation he 
may be placed in life," and then proved his right to say it by 
keeping the Gazette going as a headlight for the State's prog- 
ress to power. 

AN EARLY ORACLE. 

One anonymous writer in the first issue stated what the 
town needed and what it could well do without. He said, first, 
that the town and territory had a sufficient number of lawyers 
— more than were then making a living by their practice. 

The outlook then was about the same as it is today so far 
as the law is concerned. It is a great profession, but it is over- 
crowded from Bangor, Maine, to Pasadena, California. 

The writer said, second, that probably enough physicians 
were on hand to meet every demand, and that unless things got 
very much worse, no more doctors were needed. 

But the thing wanted and wanted bad was an influx of 
farmers, or a lot of men to work the farms. These pictures 
of the pen show the condition of things better than any words 
of ours and lead to the conclusion that things have not changed 
materially in eighty-seven years. 

The firsc issue of the paper had five marriage notices and 
one obituary, which was a good beginning and a fair omen. 
Fifty-one letters were advertised and the names on the list be- 
long to men who in other parts of the territory and State, ac- 
quired celebrity. 

There were two tailors in town and they both advertised the 
latest cuts and fashions. The day of "Hand-me-downs" had 
not come and all people dressed more decently and adorably. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 19 

Mr. Craig kept a tavern where men of fashion congregated, to 
discuss the news and show their clothes. Stokeley H. Coulter, 
a fine old-fashioned tailor from North Carolina, kept all the 
latest plates, beneath which ran the legend, **Clothes make the 
man and I make the clothes.'' Out on Main street J. B. Burt 
kept another shop with the motto, **Eat to please yourself, but 
dress to please others." In 1820 a third tailor shop was opened 
by John B. O. Ragan, who took for his trademark the words: 
*'The tailor makes the man, and that suit is best that fits 
best." 

Shoemakers were flush with money at the place, as $2.50 
pegged shoes were unknown. A tailor-made man had fine sewed 
boots, which cost from $10 to $15 a pair. And the father of 
the writer of this article made fine beaver hats which proclaimed 
their wearers as finished productions. 

These advertisements are indices to the town. They show 
a degree of wealth and thrift not found in ledger footings and 
balances. They also show a high degree of refinement and so- 
cial standing. In this atmosphere the Gazette began its career 
and in this community for two years it sustained itself with 
credit. 

EARLY ARKANSAS POSTOFFICES. 

When the paper started there were but two postoffices in 
the territory, Arkansas Post and Davidsonville. In less than 
six months there were six with the following postmasters: 

Arkansas Post, Eli J. Lewis. 

Davidsonville, Richard Searcy. 

Cadron, Thomas H. Tindell. 

Clark Court House, Jacob Barkman. 

Hempstead Court House, John English. 

White River Postoffice, Peyton Tucker. 

In the original records of postoffices at Washington, D. C, 
the postoffice at Aricansas Post is listed under the spelling, ''Ar- 
kansa," a form retained on the record for seven years, when it 
gave place to the form "Arkansas." 



2() Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

woodruff's influence on spelling. 

The act creating Arkansaw territory contained the word 
Arkansas eight times, and each time it was spelled with a final 
w, and not a final s. President Roosevelt has just given official 
notice to the world that he proposes to change the recognized 
spelling of about three hundred words. Spelling by law will 
never prove profitable for the reason that lawmakers and exec- 
utors are not specialists in orthography, and Roosevelt's mandate 
will likewise fail. 

John Scott, delegate to Congress from Missouri in 1819, 
is said to have drawn the bill which cut off Arkansas from Mis- 
souri, and he is responsible for the act which legalized "The 
Territory of Arkansaw," with its capital, "Post of Arkansaw" 
on the "Arkansaw" river. 

Two other laws were passed by Congress prior to 1819, 
which applied to Arkansas County in Missouri territory, both 
drawn by Missouri men and both times using the form "Arkan- 
saw." 

So far as Missouri could do it she attempted to fasten on 
the people of Arkansas forever the spelling, Arkansaw, and it 
will be interesting to note the failure of this spelling and the 
causes which led to its downfall. 

A general article is far too short for a complete explica- 
tion of a series of beautiful Indian words, but not too short for 
an enumeration or an induction, whose force may be grasped by 
all who read. 

The following is an array of strangely resonant Indian 
words in the singular number: 

Chippewa, Omaha, Altamaha, Chocta, Chickasa, Tensa, 
Moapa, Nebraska, Kansa, Arkansa, Quapa, Arickasa, Sagina, 
Oklahoma, Maricofa, Alabama, Apalachicola, Pensacola, Tam- 
pa, Ponca, Nemaha, Umatilla, Arizona, Taya, Kiowa, Oneida, 
Yakima, Ka, Jacarilla, Pima, Dakota, Yuta. 

Nearly all of these retain this singular form today and only 
take a final s when pluralized. The words Chocta, Chickasa, 
Quapa, Sagina, and Ka for many years were pluralized by add- 
ing an s, but after awhile were changed in the singular so as to 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 21 

end in w. These five words are universally spelled in the sin- 
gular with a final w. An attempt was at one time made to 
change Chippewa to Chippeway, but failed. The change from 
Yuta to Utah was successful. The four words, Tensa, Kansa, 
Arkansa, and Taya, at a very early date took on a final s to de- 
note a singular, and Taya changed to Texas. Prior to 1819 the 
universally proper way to spell these words, was Kansas, Arkan- 
sas, Tensas, and Texas, and it was also universally recognized 
that these forms were in the singular number. It is idle to 
speculate upon the causes for this change, as they are beyond the 
analysis of the human mind. 

But from 18 12 to 18 19 efforts were made to change Arkan- 
sas from its plural form to the real singular Arkansaw, and to 
place it in the Choctaw category. This might have succeeded 
but for the pertinacity of William E. Woodruff, Sr. 

He published the act creating the territory in the first issue 
of his paper and changed the eight spellings of the law, "Ar- 
kansaw,'* to the recognized form, "Arkansas." He headed his 
paper "The Arkansas Gazette," and on the publication line 
placed the words "Arkansas, Arkansas Territory." He kept 
this up until he moved to Little Rock, when he changed the 
publication line to "Little Rock, Arkansas Territory." In all 
the thousands of times that he used the word in the paper he 
spelled it "Arkansas." The people of Arkansas never saw any 
other form in the Gazette, their leading paper, and they very 
rarely saw any other form in any other paper. William E. 
Woodruff more than any other man, yea, more than ^11 men 
combined, taught the people to love the form "Arkansas," and 
it is safe to say that this form will never be changed. 

But there was a time when it might have been changed 
easily and that time was in 1819-20. William E. Woodruff 
could have followed the form used in the law and thus taught 
the people to love and revere that form. He could have printed 
the name of his paper "The Arkansaw Gazette" and other pa- 
pers would have gradually fallen into line. 

The newspapers hesitated for a long time and for about a 
year spelled the word "Aricansaw," but when they saw Wood- 



22 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

ruff's paper clinging so persistently to the older form they went 
back to "Arkansas." 

The Washington Intelligencer printed the law and used the 
Arkansaw spelling. The same paper followed the final w form 
for two years. The two St. Louis papers of 1819 refused to 
make the change and always spelled the word "Arkansas." 
Niles' Register took up "Arkansaw" for a while, but abandoned 
it. 

When the annals of Congress were printed in 1853 the orig- 
inal act was printed with the word "Arkansas" and not "Arkan- 
saw," which seemed to imply that the word had never been 
spelled with a "w." But the session laws of 1819, printed at 
the same time, show the eight recurrences of the word with the 
form, "saw." 

Peter's Digest of the United States statutes in 1854 repro- 
duced the original act and used the "w," but in all the notes 
used an "s." 

Nuttal, the only scientific man who has ever written a 
great deal about the State, and who visited it in 1818, persist- 
ently used the form, "Arkansa," a triumph for all who advocate 
the original spelling of this beautiful word. 

Another man of science, Featherstonaugh, visited the State 
in 1835, and left two forms of spelling. Whenever he referred 
to the State he wrote "Arkansas," but whenever he referred to 
the river he used "Arkansa." Frederick Gerstaecker, the Ger- 
man hunter, who tramped all over the State from 1839 to 1842, 
always spelled the word "Arkansas." 

William E. Woodruff may have never known that the legal 
spelling was "Arkansaw." If so, he triumphed through igno- 
rance. The probabilities are, however, that he did know, but 
refused to follow the law, so far as its barbarous spelling was 
concerned. It was about this time that the following verses ap- 
peared in many papers creating no end of merriment from 
Maine to Missouri: 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 23 

''I love the girl from Arkansaw 
Who can saw more wood than her maw can saw 
And can saw much more than her paw can saw 
In the grand new State of Arkansaw. 

"Then sing and saw 
For maw and paw, 
For that old saw 
Of Arkansaw. 

"Sec saw the girl from Arkansaw, 
Whose saw outsaws her maw*s best saw, 
And saws a saw her paw can't saw. 
The oldest saw of Arkansaw. 

"Her maw can saw. 
Her paw can saw. 
And she can saw. 
In Arkansaw." 



CHAPTER III. 

**\Vho's Who'' of Old Arkansas Post — French and Amer- 
ican Settlers. 

To the solemn tread of the tune "Old Hundred'* we ap- 
proach the **01d Timers" who are in the strictest sense the 
"First Families of Arkansas.'' 

The glory of ancestry sheds a halo around their posterity; 
birth is nothing without it. The deeds of the Old French set- 
tlers at Arkansas Post have for the most part been obliterated. 
The French were attracted in the earliest times to the post by 
reason of the superior prowess of the Quapaw Iridians who in- 
habited Arkansas. They were the dominant tribe of the South 
Mississippi Valley and the French were eager to cultivate ami- 
cable relations with them. This resulted in the maintenance of 
an army post on the Arkansas and in intermarriages between 
the French and the Quapaws. 

Much criticism has been w^asted upon "Alice of Old Vin- 
cennes." All of the descriptions of the book are historically 
true, and every character in it might have been found in the 
personages who lived at Arkansas Post from 1718 to 1800. 



24 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

SOCIETY AT ARKANSAS POST. 

The Catholic church, with its priests and their civilizing and 
refining influence, was there from the very beginning. The law 
of France and Spain had been well represented by soldiers, offi- 
cers and men, who had won distinction on European ground, 
and who carried with them the social atmosphere of a distant 
world. The French immigrants to Louisiana had come from 
all grades of French life except the highest nobility. Under the 
rule of the United States the post was still maintained and the 
presence of officers like Colonel J. B. !Many, Colonel ArmisteaJ 
and Major Bradford, with garrisons of from fifty to one hundred 
men, assured some degree of social advantage and brought in 
great floods of light from the outer world. 

True the community declined. On the whole it was a de- 
generate community. It retained godliness and gentleness, but 
it lost energy, virile power and industry. The common outdoor 
dress was the Canadian overall and blouse, unchanged and un- 
changeable, and the highest aspiration seemed to end in being 
either a noted trapper or a first rate hunter. Despite all this 
there were brilliant exceptions and to these we now turn in order 
to introduce you to the "Who's Who," the real old First Families 
of the State. 

THE VAUGINES. 

We have the authority of Nuttal for saying that Lewismore 
Vaugine was a superior man. This testimonial is still further 
reinforced by the voluntary testimony of Colonel Preston, a repre- 
sentative of the United States land office from Washington, who 
visited this community a few- years after Nuttal. One of Vau- 
gine's ancestors belonged to the nobility of France, as Nuital 
says, and was sent over by the king as commandant of the Post 
of Arkansas. He acquired large interests and remained. Susette 
Vaugine. his sister, a winsome, piquant and attractive blossom 
of the forest, attracted the affections of the soldier, Chalmette, 
the commandant in 1780. A daughter of Lewismore Vaugine 
captivated Don Joseph ValHere, the commandant from 1786 to 
1790. The birth and position of the Vaugines was of the best, 
and these two marriages simply increased their prestige and 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 25 

power. Francis Vaugine, born 1793, brought this family far into 
tbe last century and into closer contact with real American life. 
Francis Valliere was connected by blood with the Vaugine 
name. 

THE BOGIES. 

Lewis Bogy, or as Xuttal spells it, Bogie, was not a native 
of Arkansas, but was, nevertheless, one of its most prominent 
men. Nuttal brought a letter of introduction to him from 
learned men of the East, and his own testimony is enough to 
give Louis Bogy a place quite apart from the other residents of 
the place. That he could follow Nuttal in his scientific and bo- 
tanical disquisitions and be interested therein, attests his mental 
parts. He was born in Canada, but came to the post in 1790, 
where he remained until he died. Ignace Bogy was another 
prominent member of this line. 

THE VARSIERS. 

Francis Varsier was born at the post and christened by the 
Catholic fathers in 1793. His father and mother were both 
natives of this region, from forbears that came from the south 
of France. 

KRANCIS d'ARMAND. 

This Frenchman did not live at the Post, but was so well 
known there as to make it proper to consider him at this point. 
Distinguished in France, he decided to improve his fortune in 
"La Louisiane," He came in 1766 and selected a site near the 
mouth of the White, put up a huge chateau and engaged !n 
trade. His fortunes grew apace as did the reputation of his 
noted home. His houses were to be seen as late as 1833, ^"^ 
William Montgomery, who purchased the place, made it one of 
the most noted landings on the Mississippi river. It was the 
Monte Carlo of the Mississippi Valley. 

Other Frenchmen who were here more than one hundred 
years ago are Francois Imbeau, Baptiste Imbeau, Joseph De 
Chassein, Antoine de Chassein, Baptiste Socie, Joseph Bonne, 
Baptiste Bonne, Louis Bartelmi, Francois Coupot, Joseph Val- 



^6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Here, the Closseins, Antoine Barraque, Eteinne Vaugine, Pierre 
La Farve, John Larquer, and Pierre Michel. It would be in- 
teresting to know how many of these are represented in Arkan- 
sas by name and blood today. 

SYLVANUS PHILLIPS. 

Phillips county carries this man's name and is his monu- 
ment. Born in the United States, he was in early life attracted 
to the West and in 1797 built a log cabin near the mouth of the 
St. Francis river in Arkansas, and was, as he said, the only set- 
tler for miles around. His nearest neighbors were Antoine Tes- 
sier and Joseph De Plasse, who lived at the mouth of the Cache. 
Beyond their residences there were no other settlements in that 
direction. In 1798 he explored the Arkansas river for some 
distance above Arkansas Post, but found no settlement in that 
direction. In 1799 the commandant of the post, fearing an up- 
rising of the natives, warned Phillips to remove to the post. He 
did so and remained there for many years, and was joined by 
J. B. Mooney and the Pattersons, all related by marriage, and 
who with him made extensive explorations for mineral and tim- 
ber wealth. He gained in this way a great knowledge of the 
territory, a knowledge which Sam C. Roane, in later years, was 
enabled to use as an effective club in breaking up the gigantic 
land frauds which threatened to despoil the State of hundreds 
of thousands of acres of land. 

CHRISTIAN PRINGLK. 

This man was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1760. In 
his twentieth year he took his gim and, accompanied by his dog, 
started into the wilderness of the West. For two years he ram- 
bled over West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, equally at 
home in one place as in another. In 1782 he reached Arkansas 
Post, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was univer- 
sally respected and died in January, 1820. He seems to have 
been an unmarried man, but this is not clear. 

THE WINTERS AND STILWELLS. 

Sometime between 1790 and 1798 Elisha Winter and Ga- 
briel Winter went to New Orleans and began the manufacture 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas , 27 

of cotton rope. They were Kentuckians and their free handed, 
open hearted ways soon gained them the friendship of people 
in power. As recompense for introducing a manufacture into 
the province, it is said that the commandant granted them one 
million arpens of land on the Arkansas river. In 1798 these 
men, accompanied by Joseph Stilwell, who had acquired an in- 
terest in the grant, arrived at Arkansas Post and began a so- 
called survey of their lands. This Winter-Stilwell grant ex- 
tended from the Post along the Arkansas river on its northern 
side to Argenta, and proved a great impediment in after years 
to the newcomers seeking for homes. In 1819, a man seeking 
lands had no chance between Arkansas Post and Little Rock. 
The Quapaws owned all on the south side and the Winters and 
Stilwells claimed to own all on the north side. The Quapaws 
could not sell, and while the Winters and Stilwells were eager 
to sell, no one would buy for fear that the grantors had no legal 
title. The Winters erected houses on their land, sub-let in many 
cases, made a stubborn fight in Congress, but were finally ousted 
by the United States and their claims disallowed. 

Joseph Stilwell was a man of varied parts, could speak Span- 
ish, French, English and Quapaw and was most highly respected. 
He was a member of the first territorial legislature, being elected 
to fill a vacancy, and made his announcement when seeking the 
place in both English and French, which proves the existence 
of a French speaking voting population in other parts of the 
territory. Harold Stilwell was another prominent member of 
this family. 

Jt will be a matter of greater interest, however, to say, that 
Joseph Stilwell was a revolutionary soldier. He was born in 
1752 in Monmouth county. New Jersey, and enlisted as ensign 
in the first regiment of New Jersey troops, and was soon pro- 
moted to the captaincy, and was in command in the aflFair hi 
Sandy Hook in June, 1776. He was then made captain in Col. 
Forman's battalion on July 18. 1776. in detached militia service. 
He was in the battle of Monmouth and suffered all the hardships 
of the many campaigns in New Jersey. In Monmouth, Somer- 
set and Gloucester counties, New Jersey, there were twenty-two 



28 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

men of the name Stilwell, three of them being brothers of Joseph 
and all related by blood lines. 

After the war the Stilwells, in common with hundreds of 
other Jersey families, were without homes and the day of pen- 
sions had not arrived. .The West was open to them and there 
they went in companies of from ten to fifty. 

Joseph Stilwell drifted into Kentucky, where he met the 
Winter family, and from there he migrated to Arkansas Post, 
where he spent the last twenty-two years of his life. He died 
at the post on September lo, 1822, leaving an aged wife, a num- 
ber of children and troops of grandchildren. 

, HEWES SCULL. 

This gentleman came from Philadelphia to Arkansas Post 
in 1802. His ancestors were from Salem and Gloucester coun- 
ties, New Jersey, and were brave and public spirited men. Eight 
men of that name were in the Continental line from South Jersey. 
On one occasion a noted Philadelphian was excoriating New 
Jersey for leaning too much toward Toryism. One of the Sculls 
happened to hear him and remariced: "Shut up, you old fool. 
You don't know whereof you speak. Every Scull in New Jersey 
was in Washington's Army." This play upon the word "skull" 
made New Jersey appear very patriotic. 

Hewes Scull, like many an other Jerseyman, was attracted 
to the West by the stupendous effort made by the land specu- 
lators of Southwestern Ohio to people Symmes' Purchase, the 
region around Cincinnati. Stratch a grave in the Cincinnati 
cemeteries dug before 1810 and you will in all probability dis- 
cover a Jersey man's bones. But Hewes Scull did not leave his 
body at that place. He heard of Arkansas Post through some 
French traders and made his way to that point. He was a mer- 
chant and trader and amassed some wealth. He was honored 
by the people of Arkansas county with many positions of honor 
and trust and was in every sense a splendid type of the early 
pioneer. James Scull has his name perpetuated in the treaty 
made with the Quapaws in 1824, and by this document it is cer- 
tain that he was as that time worth $7,500, owed to him by the 
Quapaws, and which the government agreed either to pay in 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 29 

money or by the grant of two sections of land in the old reserva- 
tion. The government let him take the land. 

There may be a few more names in this locality, or in some 
other, that represent families who have been on Arkansas soil 
continuously for one hundred years; if so, their owners can 
easily attach themselves to this list of the noble clan of old 
families and be entitled to all the privileges of the order. It is 
surprising, however, how few there are who are thus to the 
manor born. 

If there is a divine right for the existence of the noble order 
of the ^'Colonial Dames," or the "Society of May-flower De- 
scendants" or "The Settlers of America," there is an equal right 
and chance for the "Who's Who of Arkansas," the descendants 
of ancestors who were in Arkansas one hundred years ago. And 
if it be an honor to descend from one whose feet first touched 
American soil at Plymouth Rock, it can be made an equal honor 
to descend from ancestors who lived on any particular soil, but 
best of all, on Arkansas soil, one hundred years ago. If all that 
is ancient is beautiful the sons and daughters of the ancient may 
be pardoned for their desire to perpetuate the memory of their 
ancestors. 

The second death of oblivion must never come to the few 
names that connect Aricansas in the eighteenth with Arkansas in 
the nineteenth century. Horace Greely said that the only cer- 
tainty which follows us is oblivion, but he might have softened 
it by saying. "He who saves a life from oblivion adds to the rem- 
iniscences of eternity." 



CHAPTER IV. 

First Officers of the Territory — All Non-Residents. 

The territory of Arkansaw was created on March 2; its 
governor and secretary were appointed by President Monroe on 
March 3, and the announcement thereof printed in the Wash- 
ington Intelligencer, the congressional record of that day, on 
March 4, 1819. That closed the Washington end of the affair 



30 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and the new territory was not again mentioned in any print at 
Washington until the following December. ::. 

Four lines were used by the Washington Intelligencer in 
announcing the appointment of James Miller of New Hampshire 
as governor, and Robert Crittenden of Kentucky as secretary. 
So far as Washington people were concerned they were not in- 
terested in the territory nor in the men who were to govern it. 
Some few knew that James Miller had gained a glorious reputa- 
tion at Lundy's Lane by saying "Fll try, sir," but that day 
was over. Why revive its memory at this time? A lesser num- 
ber had heard of Robert Crittenden and even these could not tell 
what he had done to deserve the honor. Why should the ap- 
pointing power at Washington in choosing men to govern a terri- 
tory always select them from men living outside its boundaries 
and to the least extent interested in its affairs? Is it because 
there are no qualified men in the territories ? Not at all. In the 
case of Arkansas it was certainly not the case. 

Major Vaugine would have made every whit as good a 
governor as James Miller did. Sylvanus Phillips would have 
filled the bill, as would Richard Searcy. Hewes Scull would 
have made equally as good a secretary of the commonwealth 
as did Robert Crittenden. In the first place there was very little 
for either officer to do and that little required nothing more than 
firmness, honesty and a small modicum of business ability. Tal- 
ent was of far less use than tact, and the home product was more 
likely to possess this than any foreign importation. 

It is a beautiful fiction of our politicians and lawyers that 
ours is a government resting on the consent of the governed. 
No consent whatever was given by the inhabitants of Arkansas 
to the Act Creating the Territory of Arkansaw. They were 
never consulted. What consent was given by the people of 
Arkansas to the appointment of the executive and judicial offi- 
cers from 1819 to 1836? The law was made without consulting 
the people, and the officers who were chosen were for the most 
part appointed by a power outside the boundaries of the territory. 

Politics is a game of favors. The aid extended in one field 
m.ust be repaid by favors in another. The president of the United 
States is supposed to select the wisest and best men, but it is 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 31 

somewhat strange that in territorial matters he never finds wis- 
dom or goodness within the territory. 

All that can be said in favor of the current method of ap- 
pointment is that it introduces, or may introduce, new blood 
into the body politic, and may possibly induce a desirable class 
of citizens to become permanent residents. 

CRITTENDEN WAS A YOUNG LAWYER. 

Robert Crittenden was a young lawyer from Kentucky, a 
scion of a family that afterwards became somewhat distinguished 
in that State and in the nation. There were too many Critten- 
dens for Kentucky's omnivorous office-seeking propensities, and 
her friends were always most gracious in their desire to lend a 
few of them to other States and territories. In this way Ken- 
tucky lent a great many of her men to Arkansas and Missouri. 

So far as Arkansas is concerned she has never had any 
reason to be ashamed of her Kentucky settlers, and least of all 
of Robert Crittenden. True, Arkansas had men within her 
borders thoroughly competent to do the work as well as Critten- 
den did it, but they were not competent, it may be, to become 
what Crittenden became. Crittenden made a good secretary of 
the territory,, but his fame does not rest upon this, nor did his 
management thereof reflect any transcendent ability. The office 
was a minor one, and the fact that a man of superior ability 
filled it did not make the office an iota greater. 

Crittenden had a shorter distance to travel than Miller and 
got to Arkansas Post nearly six months before Miller. Crit- 
tenden received $1,000 a year and the governor $2,000. A man 
who gets twice the salary is supposed to have twice the dignity, 
and may be permitted to travel more at will. Crittenden was on 
time, but Miller was about six months oflF the date, the salary 
running on nevertheless. The government was to begin on July 
4, 1819, with a governor, a secretary, a council, and a court. The 
council, to save money, was to consist of the three members of 
the court, all of whom were non-indigenous productions. One 
of the judges. Judge Andrew Scott, hailed from Potosi, Mis- 
souri, and got to Arkansas Post before any of the others. There 



32 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

he began to make those friends who ever afterward made his 
life enjoyable and who never relaxed their affectionate regard. 
Robert Crittenden and Robert P. Letcher came in next, and 
came in together, as Letcher was also a Kentucky production. 
Charles Jouett, the third member of the court, appointed from 
Michigan, soon followed and the machinery of government was 
ready for operation. True, the governor was not there, but by 
the double action of the law, Crittenden could act as governor 
while commissioned as secretary. 

MILLER MAKES LEISURELY TRIP. 

James Miller, the governor, was signaled at Pittsburg late 
in September and seventy-five days after that his high and 
mighty ship, the Arkansaw, landed at the wharf at Arkansas 
Post. What marvelous speed! What a wonderful junket! Just 
a trifle more or less than ten miles a day. Billy Woodruff could 
have walked the whole distance in half the time and would have 
done it for half the money. If a chip had been thrown on the 
Ohio when the gallant craft, the Arkansaw, left Pittsburg, it 
would have reached the mouth of the Arkansas or the mouth of 
the White more than thirty-five days earlier than did the gover- 
nor. The chip would have attended to the business of floating 
and would have reached there in good time. Miller had other 
fish to fry. He was the hero of Lundy's Lane and heroes in the 
United States can't travel like chips. They must slow up at all 
the landings and let the populace see what a real hero looks like. 
He must get off the boat at certain places and let the people 
touch his clothes for some virtue to soak through them to the 
devotee. 

I have seen a bewildering mass of people stand around Wil- 
liam Jennings Bryan waiting to grasp his hand. I have seen 
hundreds, who finding their time would never come, push through 
and touch his coat. I asked Bryan, at my table the same day, 
after he had helped himself the third time to the choice chicken 
my Kentucky wife had prepared for her kingliest of men, just 
how he felt when men ;>ushed through to touch the hem of his 
garments like they did in the days of Christ. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 33 

t Said Bryan: "Well, you have a Blue Grass wife who will 
appreciate my answer whether you do or not. How do I feel? 
Why, sir, I feel like a prize steer at a Kentucky fair." 

So it is with every hero. So it was with James Miller. At 
Cincinnati there were a great many heroes of the war of 18 12 
and they all wanted to see the author of the memorable words 
"I'll try, sir." All the old citizens were down on Rat Row, as 
the insignificant wharf of the time was called. This was before 
the advent of the Storers, the Tafts and the Longworths, the 
men who now confer honor by inheritance on Losantiville, the 
old name of Cincinnati, the Queen City of the West. 

The men who waited on Miller were original heroes of two 
wars, the War of Independence, and that other war"^ which 
rubbed our independence in. These men were not the sons or 
grandsons of great men, but were great themselves. Miller had 
to stop and he had to stay. He was taken up to that old mag- 
nificent hotel which in early days faced Front street and was 
there dined and wined until further trial was out of the question. 
He swept everything before him at Lundy's Lane, but was sig- 
nally conquered at Losantiville. Not satisfied with one great 
feast, they laid out another for the night in order that the women 
of Cincinnati might grasp his hand. 

Out on the streets if you met a man and said "Will you have 
one on me?" his answer came pat, "I'll try, sir." And when after 
awhile you said, "Turn about is fair play. Will you have an- 
other?" The answer was the same old saw, "I'll try, sir." 

It was a trying time for Cincinnati. Everybody seemed to 
be impressed with the idea that this was the exact time to try and 
keep on trying. The whole town was on the ragged edge of an 
incipient drinking festival and most thoroughly committed to the 
New Hampshire logic, "I'll try, sir." 

It was the same way at Louisville, at Paducah, at Cairo and 
at every one horse landing along the route. The only wonder is 
that the hero of Lundy's Lane got to Aricansas Post at all. 

He arrived, however, in the middle of December and Billy 
Woodruff noted the event in twelve short lines. He was sworn 
in and for four years made a good governor of the territory. 



34 • Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER V. 

Generai, Mii.i,ER, Our First Territorial Governor — His 
Opinion op Early Little Rock not Favorable — Gen- 
eral Jackson's Opinion of General Miller. 

There is so much in the life and character of James Miller 
that is worthy of study, that we are warranted in giving a fuller 
exposition than we have already given. 

He was bom in the fastnesses of the mountains in the Gran- 
ite State, a poor boy, and was singularly fortunate in not having 
a superabundance of opportunities. Bacon has said, "A wise 
man will create opportunities," and it is far better to be endowed 
with common sense, the basis of wisdom, than to be bom with 
a silver spoon. The silver spoon will come to every one who 
has sense and courage to master his own mind and use his own 
hands. 

Nor will a wise man waste time in a useless discussion of 
the equality of opportunity. Equality of opportunity is far more 
prevalent in the United States than equality of wisdom. 

miller's honorable carf:er. 

James Miller had an abundance of that old-fashioned com- 
mon sense which was the almost universal heritage of Americans 
one hundred years ago. He entered the army and was a good 
soldier. In 1808 he had risen to the rank of major in the Fourth 
United States Infantry, and in two years more had become the 
lieutenant colonel of the Fifth ; he was transferred to the Sixth 
in 1812 and was made colonel of the Twenty-first in 1814. He 
won the honor of a brevet colonelcy in 1 812 for distinguished ser- 
vice at Brownstown, Canada, and was promoted to the rank of 
brigadier general in July, 1814, for distinguished services at 
Niagara Falls. 

Congress on November 3, 18 14, by unanimous resolution 
presented him with a gold medal as a testimonial of the high 
sense entertained by Congress of his gallantry and good conduct 
in the several conflicts of Chippewa, Niagara and Ft. Erie. He 
resigned his position as general in the United States army on 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkaftsas 35 

June I, 1819 to accept the position of governor of Arkansas Ter- 
ritory, which had been tendered him by President Monroe. 

EARNED EVERY PROMOTION. 

Miller made his way from obscurity to renown not by rea- 
son of superior chances, but by bravely doing the best thing that 
came up for accomplishment. His life was the logic of "I'll 
try," backed by works proving his sincerity. The preceding rec- 
ord is a stair step of accomplishment, and the same record may 
be made by any determined man. Miller made many strides 
from common soldier to general of the army, but he always kept 
step. He earned his promotions, and his titles are his legitimate 
capital. He was General Miller when he came to Arkansas, and 
not Colonel Miller, as some Arkansas publications describe him. 
He was a real general and not a paper-made general, as were 
several of the men at Arkansas Post at the date of his arrival. 
The so-called General William O. Allen was a real captain in 
the United States army and nothing more. General John Har- 
rington had some militia experience but nothing to warrant the 
title, "general." The same was true of General William Mont- 
gomery, who afterward made Montgomery's Landing a famous 
resort. In the same negligent way the real Captain Spencer 
came to be a colonel, and Ensign Robert Crittenden received 
the same colloquial promotion. Robert C. Oden was called 
colonel, and Terrence Farrelly, general ; the first being a lieuten- 
ant colonel of the Second Arkansas regiment of militia, and the 
latter adjutant general. 

There is no valid objection to that form of colloquial 
pleasantry which compliments by exaggeration, but there is no 
justification whatever, for the practice of some writers, in styling 
General Miller, "Colonel Miller," a degradation from his ac- 
credited rank. 

James Monroe recognized the merit of the old soldier and 
made him governor. He was a hero and the people of Arkansas 
have always been proud of his selection. 

GOVERNOR MIItLER'S FIRST MESSAGE- 

He landed at Arkansas post in late December and at once 
convened the Arkansas legislature. In his first message to that 



36 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

body he set out at full length the reasons for his tardy arrival. 
He was appointed on March 3, 18 19, and tlie wise officials at 
Washington sent his appointment to the post of Arkansas, so 
that he did not receive it until June ist, too late for him to make 
the twenty-four hundred mile trip and reach his destination by 
July 4. 

The remainder of his message dealt with the local needs of 
the territory and was expressed in words that carried conviction. 
In April he set out for Dardanelle, accompanied by his aides de 
camp, Samuel Dinsmoor and Rufus P. Spaulding. 

These gentlemen came in with the governor from the East 
and announced their intention to become permanent citizens. 
The legislature of 1820, by a special act, arranged for the exami- 
nation of Spaulding as an attorney at law, and he and Dinsmoor 
formed a partnership for the practice of law at Arkansas Post. 
They were successful, but the climate prostrated them and they 
had to leave. 

DINSMOOR AND SPAULDING. 

Samuel Dinsmoor was born at Windham, Vermont, in 1766 
and was graduated from Harvard in 1789; he represented Keene, 
New Hampshire, in the Twelfth Congress as a Democrat; was 
in Arkansas from December, 1819, to January, 1821 ; was State 
councilor of New Hampshire and presidential elector for Mon- 
roe in New Hampshire in 1821-22; probate judge of Cheshire 
county from 1823 to 183 1, and governor of New Hampshire 
from 1833 to 1835. He died in 1836. 

Rufus P. Spaulding was born at Tisburg, Massachusetts in 
1799, and was graduated from Yale in 1818. Was the first law- 
yer admitted to the bar in Arkansas territory; removed to 
Trumbull county. Ohio; served several terms in the legislature 
and was speaker of the house; was for several years judge of 
the Supreme Court of Ohio; removed to Cleveland to practice 
law, and was sent to Congress as a Republican in the Thirty- 
eighth, Thirty-nmth and Fortieth Congresses. He died in i88d 

These two young men accompanied Governor Miller on his 
first of many trips to consult with the Indians. Governor Miller 
was in Arkansas nearly four years, and during that time traveled 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 37 

more into the interior than all the other territorial governors 
combined. He and Major Bradford were almost all the time 
from 1820 to 1824 busy with Indian disputes and Indian out- 
rages. They attempted pacifications that promised much, but 
were thwarted, not only by the Indians, but by ihe rapacious 
whites. The latter class wanted all the land lying inside the 
boundaries despite the fact that the Indians had a legal right to 
more than one-third of it. 

WHITE man's rule IN ARKANSAS- 

Miller was respected by the Indians, but soon decided that 
the two peoples coiiW not live in harmony and prosperity inside 
the same boundary, and advised the general government that it 
would be wise to begin the removal of the Indians. His advice 
was taken, and in a short time after he left the State there was 
but one government in the territory, and that was the white 
man's rule. His advice to the successive legislatures was sound 
and resulted in laws that brought a fair degree of prosperity. 
He had an able supporter in young Robert Crittenden, but it is 
very unfair to say that Miller was not himself the active spirit 
from 1819 to 1825. It would be easy to prove that he did more 
real work than any territorial governor who succeeded him. 

EARLY LITTLE ROCK A BAD TOWN. 

He did not like Little Rock as a location for either the 
county seat of Pulaski county or the capital of the territory, and 
for this he is not to be blamed. One who reads all that has 
been printed of Little Rock from 1821 to 1825, and even for 
many years thereafter, can not but conclude that this town dur- 
ing these years was not a heavenly resort, nor a summer resort, 
nor any very desirable resort for the best people. 

It had good people but it unfortunately had too great a 
number of very bad people, and these were always on parade. 
That Little Rock triumphed over her surroundings and evolved 
into a model city is a strong argument for the survival of the 
fittest and a proof that we grow better as we grow older. But 
in 1820 Little Rock hadn't enough people of any kind to make it 
an attraction for the capital. Nuttal in 1819 found a settlement 



38 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

at Cadron that surprised him. He said no settlement in the 
State except Arkansas Post could compare with it in numbers. 
By a little patience I think I could count up as great a number 
having Cadron for a center as could have been counted at the 
Post in 1819. Little Rock in 1819 could not muster a corporal's 
guard. A writer in the Gazette after it had been removed to 
Little Rock, after the Gazette had been there 'a year, in January, 
1823, summed up the Little Rock houses for the years 182 1 and 
1822. In the first year there was one hotel, one boarding house 
and seven private houses; in 1822 there was one hotel, one board- 
ing house and one private residence. The writer was evidently 
correct, for Mr. Woodruff made no comment. Two speculative 
factions were at work trying to strangle each other, and thus 
kept dwelling house people away. The speculators herded at 
the hotel and the boarding house. 

Governor Miller preferred the "up river" country. He and 
the one hundred and fifty others who lived up there, staunch 
Kentuckians and Tennesseeans, tried to have the county seat re- 
moved to Cadron in 1820. The bill was introduced in the coun- 
cil by Thos. H. Tyndall, of Cadron, and had a close shave. Four 
members voted for it and four voted against it. The chairman 
of the Committee of the Whole House, W. B. R. Homer, of St. 
Francis township, Arkansas county, dissolved the tie by voting 
no, which killed it for that session, or part of a session. The 
matter came up again in October of the same year and Cadron 
was successful. 

But as the capital had been moved to Little Rock, the county 
seat question had to be threshed out again, and this time Little 
Rock won. Had the matter been left to the vote of Pulaski 
county, in 1822, both as to capital and county seat, the Cadron- 
ites would doubtless have won. 

Dr. Menifee was somewhat of a power in those days, and 
Tyndall, Mcllmurrey and Kuykendall were able supporters. 
Events have proved that Little Rock was the proper place for 
both the county seat and the capital, and the State is to be con- 
gratulated that the change to Cadron was not made. But it was 
most difficult in 1820 for any one to see in the cocoon, Arkopolis, 
the brilliant butterfly, Little Rock of today. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 39 

MORE HONORS FOR MILLER. 

In 1824, President Monroe appointed Governor Miller col- 
lector of the Port of Salem, which terminated his career in Ark- 
ansas. Prior to this appointment, the people of the First 
congressional district of New Hampshire had elected him as 
their representative to Congress, so that he was at once governor 
of Arkansas territory, Congressman from New Hampshire and 
collector of the port at Salem. The old general resigned his 
position as governor, and then did what no one had ever done 
before, resigned his place in Congress, and settled down as col- 
lector. 

Jackson's compliment to miller. 

In the race between Adams and Jackson in 1828, Miller sup- 
ported John Quincy Adams, but Jackson won out, and after his 
inaugural began to enforce the sound doctrine "To the victors 
belong the spoils." Civil service has flung round this truth the 
mantle of hypocrisy, but the doctrine still works, and works 
forcefully, in every department at Washington. The most vio- 
lent partisans that have ever held cabinet positions are working 
full time on political manipulations in Washington today. 

Jackson chopped off official heads on all sides, and Miller, 
soldier as he was, asked no quarter and prepared to go. His 
friends, however, went to Jackson and made a special plea in 
Miller's behalf. Jackson listened to them in grim silence until 
they were through. He then said: "You tell General Miller 
that so long as Andrew Jackson is president of the United States, 
the hero of Lundy's Lane will remain collector at the Port of 
Salem." 

Andrew Jackson was a virile, strenuous president and not 
a mere imitation. He recognized the transcendent valor of Mil- 
ler, and at the same time recognized his right to support Adams, 
not only actively, but with what would now be termed a most 
pernicious activity. Miller held the post assured to him by 
Jackson through several successive administrations and died in 
1849. 



40 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER VI. 

Eari,y Settlers on the Rivers op Eastern Arkansas and on 
THE Arkansas River. 

When we consider that but four hundred years "have elapsed 
since the first white people came to the Western world, and that 
during the next year the United States will celebrate the ter- 
centennial of the oldest English settlement in America, we begin 
to appreciate how really modern all things are on the Western 
continent, and what may be really accomplished in one hundred 
years. 

Virginians have always invested the settlers of the Tide- 
water section of their State, the part settled during the first cen- 
tury of her existence, with something akin to veneration. They 
were not invested with the title, "First Families of Virginia" for 
the reason that these settlers were noblemen or men of exalted 
rank. The fact is that -they were not. The Washingtons, the 
Jeffersons, the Peytons, the Balls, the Slaughters and other noted 
families were from the great middle rank in England. The 
fewest number were from the major nobility, and a larger, but 
by no means the greater, number were from the minor nobility. 
The majority were representatives of the great families of Eng- 
lish yeomen, sturdy, energetic and brave. They were the first 
to people Virginia ; the first to battle against forest and swamp ; 
the first to have chances at the resources of the commonwealth, 
and thereby obtaining wealth and refinement for themselves and 
for their children. They were actually the first families to settle 
the country, and as the centuries rolled on they became a class by 
themselves, the F. F. V.'s. 

In time the families of Arkansas will divide into the newer 
and the older, and to rescue from oblivion those who were in 
Arkansas one hundred years ago was the purpose of a previous 
chapter, and is the purpose of the one we now write. 

early land grants. 
The United States began the investigation of land grants in 
Missouri, Louisiana and Arkansas soon after the purchase of 
that region in 1803. Exhaustive examinations were made as 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 41 

to the dates of settlements, the length of their existence and the 
nature of the claims. Thousands of claims were rejected, but 
several hundred were confirmed and deeds given to the claimants. 
The following list shows when the various settlements in what is 
now Arkansas were begun as sworn to by clouds of witnesses, 
and shows an additional number of people that were here one 
hundred years ago, together with their seating places in the wild- 
erness. 

BENJAMIN FOOY. 

The Fooy family in Arkansas sprang from Benjamin Fooy, 
a native of Holland, bom in 1759. He tried to better his condi- 
tion in many parts of the world and in 1794 found himself op- 
posite the present oity of Memphis in Spanish territory at the 
village of Hopefield, or as it was called then, Camp Esperanza. 
The Conmandant Augustine Le Grande granted him a conces- 
sion of land, upon which he settled and upon which he died thirty 
years afterward, on December 27, 1823. 

Thirty years in the forests of Arkansas, thirty years on the 
banks of the mighty Mississippi. Honored was he by the 
Spaniards while in control; honored again while the territory 
was knoWn as Louisiana; honored still more in the days of 
the territory of Missouri, and most of all under the territorial 
laws of Arkansas. He was a justice of the peace for years 
and under the last control a judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas. His character was above reproach, and his philanthropy 
and hospitality were only bounded by his means. He left an 
aged wife, a large number of children, and a still larger num- 
ber of grandchildren, whose descendants still ramify eastern 
Arkansas. Lands were confirmed to him at Hopefield and Wap- 
penocke as having been settled prior to 1799, and to Isaac Fooy 
at Hopefield under a settlement of 1801. 

Other Hopefield and Wappenocke settlers were Montford 
Perrjonan, Wappenocke, 1801, and William Grace of the same 
place, 1802. 



42 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

ALLIGATOR LAKE. 

This region is now Crittenden county and the confirmed 
concessions recorded in 1811 and 1813 upon which patents were 
issued were as follows: 

Antoine Pena, Augustine Gonzales, John Francis Almend- 
ras, John Dominiques, John Andre Escriveve, Francis Groson, 
Jasto Martin, John Rodrigues and Elizabeth Jones, whose settle- 
ments were made between 1798 and 1802. Elizabeth Jones was 
also confirmed in her right to a farm on Elk Lake opened in 1801. 

On Copperas creek of the St. Francis the earliest settler in 
that region was John Hogan, in 1800, who was joined in 1803 
by John Taylor. They and their families were not disturbed 
by other additions to their neighborhood until some time in 1810. 

ST. FRANCIS RIVER SETTLEMENT. 

In addition to those named in the previous chapter there 
were the following: John McLean and Jesse Stephens settled 
on the St. Francis near the mouth of the Eel river in 1803; a 
little higher up was William Gregory of 1802; along its banks 
somewhere was the farm of Mary Edwards, whose husband 
located there in 1803. In the same year Charles Stenson settled 
at the mouth of the river, and three miles above him was the 
home of Edward Proctor, who had lived there since 1800. On 
the waters of the St. Francis Moses Burnett and Joseph Sevier 
had homes, the former coming in 1797 and the latter in 1800. 
John Grace settled on the low ground above Big island in 1800 
and Caty Gallowhorn on an island in the Mississippi river in 
1801. Enos Chartruce also made a home on the St. Francis in 
1800. Joseph Stilwell also had a concession on the St. Francis 
from 1799. 

ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

Besides Fooy, Phillips, Mooney and D'Armand, there were 
the following settlers, widely separated from each other and 
almost cut oflF from the world : In 1803 Ebenezer Fulsome took 
up ground on the Mississippi about three miles above the mouth 
of the St. Francis. In the same year Moses Perry settled be- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 43 

tween the White and St. Francis, and William Bailey south of 
the St. Francis on Caney creek. Along the banks were Abra- 
ham Ramer, a settler of 1802; Joseph Gazzia, of 1798; Sylvanus 
Phillips of 1797; Pat Cassidy, adjoining Phillips and Patterson, 
1803; William Patterson, 1797, ^lU near where Helena now 
stands, and William McKinney, seven miles below Hopefield, 
1802, with George Roebuck, a near neighbor. John Le Fevre 
had a landing seven miles below the mouth of the St. Francis 
and settled there in 1802. 

William H. Glass and John Dill were between him and the 
mouth of the river and moved there in 1802. Daniel Mooney 
had a home between the St. Francis and the Mississippi, the date 
of which ran back to 1797. In the neighborhood of Benjamin 
Fooy were John Henry Fooy, William Porter and William Riggs, 
dating from 1799 to 1802. 

WHITE RIVER. 

At Belle Point on the White river Augustin John Friend 
had a home dating back to 1793, and his neighbor, Charles Fur- 
nish, from 1801. Below these lived Joseph Michel and Alex- 
ander Bridoute, John Fayac had for years prior to 1800 lived at 
the fort on White river, while Joseph Michel had another clear- 
ing at the Bay of White river dating from 1801. Away up the 
White river, above Poke bayou, lived B. H. McFarlane, who 
claimed a residence from 1804. In 1803 Archibald Fallen drove 
his stakes on Lock creek, and Moses Price made a home on the 
bay in 1803. As early as 1789, Francis Francure had a home 
on the White twelve miles below Red river. 

CACHE RIVER. 

Elijah McKinney settled on the Cache in 1803; Samuel 
Treat, in 1801 : Peter Le Fevre, in 1800 ; Francis Michel and 
Louis Gossiat had a home on Big lake before the opening of the 
nineteenth century and died where they lived. 

Abraham Kickland came to Pleasant lake in 1803 and James 
Patterson in 1802; Thos. Williams to Cypress bayou in 1803; 
Joseph Calais to Prairie Catocke in 1800, and John Diana to 
Turk's Prairie in 1799. Over on Black river near Clover Bend, 



V 



44 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Anthony, Nicholas and John B. Janis had a concession of 1801 
which was confirmed in 1813, while that of Joseph Gingnolet 
about seven miles from them had the same age. In 1791 Peter 
Burrell and John B. De Plaice had cabins on the Cache. 

THE ARKANSAS RIVER. 

Besides those heretofore named there were the following: 
Charles Refeld and Albert BerJu, of 1800, two miles from the 
Post; Athenas Racine, of 1801, on the prairie six miles above; 
John Bartran on the bayou near Vaugines; Samuel Treat, in 
1802, two miles from the Post; Michael Petersel, 1800, on the 
river; Michael Wolff, 1801, on Bayou Hunt; Joseph Greenwald, 
1793, five miles away ; William Bassett, 1799, at the Post ; An- 
drew Fagot, 1798, at same place; Jean Baptiste Dernissee, on 
the river from 1800; Jacob Bright, Martin Serrano and Peter 
Jordalles all had possessions near the Post dating back to I79S, 
while John Lavergne, one mile north, antedated them two years. 
In the same category were Jean Lavale, Pierre Pertuis, Alexia 
and Jean Jardales. About two miles from the Post on farms 
antedating 1800 Jived Christian Pringle, Francis Gimblet, John 
Hadsell and George Leard. John B. Cathoit moved to the neigh- 
borhood six miles northeast in 1803 and in the same year John 
B. Minard settled on the bay below the village. George Kepler 
on the lake, with Christopher Coffman above and Lavergne be- 
low him; in 1803 Pierre Perti lived three miles east and in the 
same year Charles Bogy on River Grues. In 1802 John B. 
Dardenne was found on the river above the Post ; Madame Fran- 
cis Valliere had a farm in 1802 and two miles below the Post 
lived Etienne Vasseau, in the same vicinity as lived Baptiste 
Placide. Near the Post Mary Dernisseau had possession in 
1802, and contemporary with her was Christopher Kaufman on 
Kaufman's bayou. (The spelling is Coffman at one place, and 
Kaufman at another.) Of about the same time was John Lan- 
guies, while in the year before James Davis, Samuel Brown and 
George Duval settled on Crow Creek. Raphael Brinsbeck had 
lived two miles east of the Post since 1793, while Francis Vas- 
seau for the same time had lived on the river. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arka4tsas 45 

Four miles below, Jacob Goris, 1793; five miles out, Elisha 
Winter, 1799; and Anthony Wolfe, 1796; six miles out, Michael 
LaCourse, 1796; four miles below, Joseph Bogy, 1792, and Eliza- 
beth Pertuis, 1792. Fifty miles up the river lived Michael Bonne, 
from 1801, and fifty leagues above was the home of Louis P. 
Levy, 1801; thirty miles above lived Peter Dervsier, 1800. 

EARLY SETTLERS IN LITTLE ROCK. 

In 1763 John B. Imbau settled at Little Rock and in the 
same year Joseph Bartholomew located about forty miles above 
the Post. In 1801 Leon Perry was on Kaufman's bayou and 
C. Kepler on the west side of the Big Prairie. Dating back into 
the eighteenth century were the settlements of Francis de 
Vaugine, Petro Pertuis, Joseph Trudeau and F. Imbau on the 
Arkansas river. 

Above Cadron at Casatete (Cassitot) lived Benjamin Stan- 
ley from 1777 to 1780, and John and William Stanley from 1779 
to 1782. The Stanleys failed to have their claims confirmed for 
lack of a ten years' settlement, but they antedated all other Anglo- 
Americans in western Arkansas. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Settlement of Crystal Hill — Pyeatts, Carnahans, 
Grays. 

Of the settlers who came into Arkansas when it was a part 
of Louisiana Territory (1803-1812) little has ever been written, 
because very little is known. Less than five hundred souls in- 
habited the District of Arkansas in 1803, and the census of 1810 
gave the district a population of ten hundred and twenty-six. 
Unfortunately the rolls of that census are lost, so far as they 
pertain to the Territory of Louisiana, which in 1810, included all 
that is now known as Missouri and Arkansas. The rolls for the 
Territory of Orleans, now the State of Louisiana, for 1810 are 
intact, and disclose a number of names that in 1820 were in the 
Territory of Arkansas. 



46 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

In 1810 the northern boundary of Arkansas was much far- 
ther to the north than the present State line, the line surveyed 
by the Missourian, Brown, in 1823-4. The hideous jog in the 
northeast corner of the State was enumerated in 1810 in the Dis- 
trict of Arkansas by the United States marshals who took the 
census, so that the number ten hundred and twenty-six included 
settlers in territory now forming a part of Missouri. 

It may be safely said that the population of Arkansas in- 
creased from 1803 to 1810 not more than four hundred souls, 
and very probably not more than three hundred. Where did 
these three hundred settle? Who were they? Were they your 
ancestors? Was your grandsire or granddame one of these? 
To help to an answer to these questions is the object of this work. 

THE PYEATTS OF CRYSTAI. HII.L AND CADRON. 

The very foremost of the Americans to enter Arkansas be- 
tween 1803 and 1810 was a band of North Carolinians, who, in 
1806, brought their families to the high lands above Crystal Hill, 
on the south side of the Arkansas river. The chief spirit of the 
party was John Gozel, but seven other heads of families united 
with bim to form the settlement. 

One year later Major John Pyeatt and his brother, Jacob, 
with their families, settled at Crystal Hill. It has been said that 
they were from Georgia, but I am inclined to believe they were 
from North Carolina. These two settlements were about a mile 
apart and existed, it seems, without any kind of communication 
with the outside world. In 181 5 Major Gibson of the United 
States army went up the Arkansas and stopped at Major Pyeatt's. 
To his amazement Major Pyeatt had not heard of the war of 
1812, nor of the many events that had transpired in the world 
since 1807. 

To live eight years in the heart of a wildnemess, cut off 
from all communication with old associations or the world's 
progress, seems very much like being buried alive. If, as Gib- 
bon says, solitude is the school of genius. Major Pyeatt must 
have been genius personified. Some other eminent man has 
said: "Solitude is the audience chamber of God;" but this is 
hardly applicable to Crystal Hill. It is certain that these set- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 47 

tiers were isolated and that they suffered many privations, but 
it is only along lines like these that civilization proceeds. 

Near Major Pyeatt there lived a Frenchman, Louis Bran- 
giere, who, mistaking the rock crystals and talc in the bluff, 
about one mile below White Oak bayou, for silver, became a 
prospector and developer of mines. He opened a mine and spent 
considerable money upon it, but without striking pay dirt. Nut- 
tal found the old implements and pans in 1819. John Trammel 
in 181 5 also found this mine and took specimens to Arkansas 
Post, where Francis Notrebe, a new comer from France, and a 
clerk in a commission house decided they contained gold. No- 
trebe afterward found gold in Arkansas, but not through mining 
channels. For years after this, and even down to this good hour 
the whole region from Crystal Hill on one side to the mouth of 
the Cadron on the other was, and is believed by many, to be 
rich in mineral, but no one has ever made it pay. 

The fake mine of Brangiere is the only reason for Bran- 
giere's importance in history, unless his remarkable talent for 
developing pre-emption claims be considered. He tried to 
blanket the whole region around Crystal Hill in a great blanket 
claim in 1820, and enlisted Colonel Alexander S. Walker as his 
attorney in working the claim. The colonel believed in "bluf- 
fing," and at once published a notice in the Gazette, warning all 
persons, as they valued their peace on earth or their happiness 
hereafter not to trespass by so much as a hair on Brangiere's 
vested and inalienable rights. General Hogan knew Brangiere 
and he knew Colonel Walker. Hogan lived on the interdicted 
ground, and when he read Walker's bluff he published a card 
telling Brangiere and Walker to go to Hades and be quick about 
it. Hogan held his ground and Walker went to the legislature. 
Brangiere got lost in the shufHe. 

CRYSTAL HILL MARRIAGES AND DEATHS. 

Major John Pyeatt died in 1826, and his wife, Betsy, and 
his son, Peter, were appointed by the Pulaski Court as admin- 
istrators. This son was not the recluse his father had been. He 
had a good horse and saddle and he took long rides to the north- 
ward on Saturday night, returning late Monday morning, Awav 



48 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

up on Poke Bayou, near where Batesville now stands there came 
in 1814 a band of Peels and Millers from Kentucky. Young 
Peter Pyeatt discovered that James Miller of Poke Bayou had a 
daughter most fair to look upon, and this explains his mysterious 
pilgrimages. Mary Miller said "Yes," and in December, 1822, 
Rev. John Camahan united them in holy wedlock and Crystal 
Hill gained another family. From this Poke Bayou family of 
Millers came in time a second governor for Arkansas named 
Miller and he was bom at Batesville in less than a year after the 
Pyeatt-Miller marriage. 

Jacob Pyeatt, after living several years at Crystal Hill, 
moved to Cadron and founded a new settlement in the year 181 5. 
His wife, Margaret, died at Cadron in 1822. Nuttal found "J. 
Piatt" at Cadron in 1819. His spelling of the word is not the 
result of ignorance, but simply shows the tendency of the human 
mind to travel along the easiest line. Not only this. In New 
Jersey, a State very near to Philadelphia, there lived a distin- 
guished family of Piatts, from whom the noted Don Piatt de- 
scended. Nuttal confused the spelling of a family name that he 
knew with another that sounded just like it. 

It has been said that John Pyeatt was a major in the revolu- 
tionary army, and this is doubtless true, as the claim was made at 
a time when its falsity could have been easily disproved. I have 
revolutionary services not recorded, and many recorded services 
have been lost. Pyeatt township will forever commemorate this 
family, a far greater monument than most of us get. 

REV. JOHN CARNAHAN. 

Between 1810 and 1815 this minister of the gospel setded 
at the upper end of Crystal Hill, adjoining the Pycatt's, William 
Lock wood and Jonathan Pharr. Mr. Carnahan preached ser- 
mons at Arkansas Post in 181 1, and was doubtless the first prot- 
estant preacher to make a permanent residence in Arkansas. 
William Patterson, the father-in-law of Daniel Mooney and 
Sylvanus Philipps, is traditionally assigned to the ministry of the 
Methodist church, and if he really was a preacher the credit of 
living first in Arkansas belongs to him, and goes back to 1803. 

John Carnahan had a daughter, who, on February 10, 1820, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 49 

was married to Henry P. Pyeatt at Big Rock. Near the resi- 
dence of James Pyeatt, another son of Major John Pyeatt was 
located and opened the first religious camp ground in Arkansas 
on May 24, 1822. At that time a five days* meeting was held 
under the auspices of Rev. John Carnahan, with reported good 
results for the cause of Christianity, as represented by the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church. This camp meeting was held two 
years before the formation of the Baptist church at Little Rock. 
In 1825 another great camp meeting was held by Mr. Carnahan 
at Cadron, and in 1826 a still greater one at Crawford court 
house. At this meeting denominational lines were broken down, 
and the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians united in a great 
season of love. The testimony of John CarnSihan to the zeal 
and good offices of these kindred Christian bodies on that oc- 
casion is one of the sweetest records of these early days. On 
May 15, 1825, John Carnahan and Rev. Robert Sloane held an- 
other camp meeting at Crystal Hill, which seems to have been 
blessed by the Lord. Just what family this old backwoods 
preacher had I do not know, but I do know that in 1826 Mrs. 
James Carnahan was buried, and that in the same year Samuel 
Carnahan was appointed as her administrator. Away up in 
Washington and Benton counties are Carnahans of Crystal Hill, 
and Peels of Greenbrier and Poke Bayou. The Cumberland 
Presbyterian church at Little Rock has honored itself by fram- 
ing into its structure a memorial window in memory of this first 
— this pioneer Protestant preacher. 

THE GRAYS. 

Joseph Gray, Jacob Gray and Shared Gray migrated to Ar- 
kansas in 1818 and settled in what is now Pulaski county. They 
migrated from East Tennessee. Joseph Gray died in 1821 and 
Wright Daniel administered upon his estate. Jacob and Shared 
lived for many years after this, gathering wealth and honors. 
On the United States pension rolls the fact appears that both 
Jacob and Shared Gray were placed on the rolls in 1834 with 
pensions beginning from 1831. 

Jacob was recorded as a revoluntionary soldier of the South 
Carolina militia and Shared as a soldier of the North Carolina 



50 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

militia. Jacob at that time (1834) was seventy-one years of age 
and Shared seventy-seven. Both were then living in Pulaski 
county. Thinking that Shared was a missprint for Sampson I 
looked up the original record, but found that Shared was right. 
Sampson Gray was in Pulaski county in 1818, and was a son of 
one of the immigrants ; he was a popular and noted man. These 
men also have a township in Pulaski county standing to their 
everlasting credit. 

JAMES VANN. 

In 1809 this pioneer entered the Territory of Louisiana and 
settled in that part of the District of Arkansas now known as 
Randolph county. He, too, was a revolutionary soldier of the 
continental line of North Carolina. In 181 1 the McKnights and 
Richardsons settled in Lawrence county, and it is a tradition of 
the family that they felt the earthquake shocks of that year. 

SHERIFF DANIEL MOONEY. 

Daniel Mooney was appointed sheriff in 1810 under the old 
Louisiana law and was continued from 1812 to 181 5 under the 
Missouri law, when he resigned and was succeeded by Hewes 
Scull, who held the office until 1819. Daniel Mooney had the 
whole of the present State of Arkansas as his bailiwick, and when 
he arrested a man for a capital offense he was forced under the 
law to take him clear to Washington, Missouri, for trial. How 
would the present sheriffs of Arkansas like his job? Joseph 
Stilwell was made auditor of accounts in 18 10 and held the place 
until 181 5. His duties called him to all parts of the State, and it 
is said that he and Mooney knew every Indian trail and every 
hog track in the State. 

A STRANGE COINCIDENCE. 

One night last week I sent one of the clerics of the congres- 
sional library for the session laws of the Territory of Missouri. 
Six volumes were brought me fresh from the bindery. Upon 
opening them I found the paper as old and musty as I found 
the paper to be in the old session laws I used to ponder over 
while in the office of secretary of State at Little Rock. The 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 51 

books were very old, but had been rebound. On the flyleaf of 
every volume I found the name "John Scott" in bold, clear let- 
ters. I had before me the books that once belonged to John 
Scott, the Missouri delegate, who drew the law that made Ar- 
kansas a territory. 

Venerable books! The signature was that of the brother 
of Judge Andrew Scott, the first judge of Arkansas Territory, 
and the first county judge of the county in which I was bom. 
My mind went back, there under the dome of the nation's great- 
est library, to John R. Homer Scott, my friend, and the nephew 
of the man who once owned the books I held in my hands. I 
cried inaudibly: "Truly, I am growing old." John Scott is 
gone. Andrew Scott is gone. John R. Homer Scott is no more. 
John Scott's books were before me and will be before archaeolo- 
gists and students for five hundred years to come. Under the 
six little volumes before me were four giant volumes of the 
Arkansas Gazette. William E. Woodruff, Sr., has gone, too, but 
he has left his mark in these books, which «ges will not be able 
to destroy. They bristle with the life of other days and carry 
that life forward into immortality. 



CHAPTER Vni. 

Alexander S. Walker, Soldier^ Lawyer and Legislator. 

Colonel Alexander S. Walker was a Virginian of the Tide- 
water region, bom about the year 1786, of parents whose an- 
cestors ran far back into Colonial days. Little is known of his 
early life. On July i, 1808, he enrolled his name on the lists 
of the new regiment, the First regiment of United States rifle- 
men, under Colonel Alexander Smythe, a Virginian, bom on 
Irish soil. 

The United States at that time was in a flurry. England 
was suspicious, Spain was objecting and France was in arms. 
No one knew where the blow would fall, but every indication 
pointed to New Orleans. Five regiments of infantry were hur- 
ried into the Territory of Mississippi and several vessels of the 



52 Pioneers and Makers of Arkamas 

Marine Corps to the mouth of the Mississippi. The riflemen 
were all picked men, men whose aim was sure and their nerves 
of iron. This regiment, the First Rifles, was ordered to Fort 
Adams, in Mississippi territory. Alexander S. Walker was 
rapidly advanced and in three short months held the grade of 
captain. The regiment was quartered in the swamps and in less - 
than a year lost one hundred and three men by sickness and 
death and fifty-three by desertion. Sickness was on all sides 
and was undermining the morale of the army. In July, 1809, 
the government was four months in arrears with the soldiers' 
pay and this added another element of discontent. 

Captain Walker objected to the location of the camp and cir- 
culated a petition for a change, which he presented in person to 
General Wilkinson. The general answered with an oath that he 
could make no change, that the localities had been selected by 
the secretary of war, and that in locating the camps he had 
simply obeyed orders. Captain Walker forgot himself and said, 
"Damn such orders." That night he took a little more whisky 
than the malaria demanded as an antidote for his anger. This 
loosened his tongue and he went so far as to say that he didn't 
blame the men for deserting; that no government had the right 
to order men to any death save death at the cannon's mouth, and 
that the camps had been pitched in the worst spots imaginable. 
A second lieutenant, Matthew Cannan, of the same regiment, 
was equally outspoken. 

When all this reached headquarters the devil was to pay and 
no pitch hot. Walker and Cannan were arrested. A court- 
martial was convened at Arkansas Post and a trial had. Walker 
expressed no contrition, nor did Cannan. In December, 1809, 
they were both adjudged "guilty," and on January i, 1810, they 
were dishonorably discharged from the United States army. 

THE COURAGE OF WALKER. 

Walker was down and out. But what of that ? Shall the 
soul refuse to aspire because for a reputed sin a stigma has been 
put upon it? Alexander S. Walker had sinned against every 
rule of war and by a war court was humiliated. Was that to 
end his career? Was there to be no further room for ultimate 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 53 

success? Why are we so eager to cast a stone at a humiliated 
soul? Is it because we have no sin, or is it because our sin has 
not gone to the proper court-martial? Has the muck-raker a 
patent on sinlessness? Is Collier and all that conceited, aimless, 
money-grabbing crowd, the index finger of a stainless life ? Nay, 
verily. 

On the other hand, of what stem stuff must a man be made 
who deliberately communes with himself and says: "I, myself, 
am down; terribly but not irremediably down; despite the blow 
I will arise." Alexander S. Walker felt keenly the humiliation 
to which he had been subjected, but neither fretted nor repined. 
He had been stricken by a power he could not resist — censured, 
as Jackson was censured a few years later, but he did not whine 
nor hide. 

Within the very theater where had been enacted his undoing 
he began the work of his restoration. A restoration, not to the 
military rank he had forfeited, but to a place in the broad and 
generous confidence of his fellow-men. Courts-martial may es- 
teem this or that point of law or evidence at a little less or a 
little more than its legitimate content, but the silent judgment 
of mankind is a far more accurate balance. 

WALKER AS A CIVILIAN. 

Within sight of the Post where he had been cashiered he 
began the battle of civil life. Upon that ground, or in its im- 
mediate neighborhood, he spent more than thirty years of his 
after life. He flaunted, silently, his growth in the esteem of his 
fellows, in the very faces of those who would have made him a 
pariah. He had a good education and a very stubborn will. He 
dug a living out of the ground through the years 181 1 and 1812. 
In his cabin he read law and studied the game of politics. He 
had friends in the district of Arkansas when the territory of 
Missouri was created, and these friends sent him in 181 5 to the 
House of Representatives at St. Louis, and Henry Cassidy to 
the council. In 1816 he was sent to the Assembly from Law- 
rence county along with Joseph Hardin, while Edmund Hogan 
was sent from Arkansas; in the council James Cummins repre- 
sented Arkansas and Richard Murphy Lawrence. In 1818 Law- 



54 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

rence was represented by Perry Magness, Joseph Hardin and 
John Davidson, while Arkansas sent Edmund Hogan. The long 
horseback rides from the Arkansas to the mouth of the Missouri 
only made him grimmer and sterner. The stigma of cashierdom 
was more than offset by these signal marks of honor. In the 
heat of passion ^nd debate men hurled his former degradation 
into his teeth, but he, although passionate, somewhat overbearing 
and brave to a fault, answered never a word. What could he 
answer? He had been disgraced in the days agone, but not so 
signally as to take offense when anger forced an antagonist to 
forget his nobler part. He was not disgracing his position now, 
and that position was slowly sponging out the old account. 

WALKER IN HEMPSTEAD COUNTY. 

In 1819, when Arkansas became a territory, he was ap- 
pointed sheriff of Hempstead county, which indicates a residence 
there at the time, although there is no other record of the fact. 
In November of the same year the first territorial election for 
delegate to Congress took place, and there were six candidates 
for the place, viz : Alexander S. Walker, Henry Cassidy, James 
Woodson Bates, Perley Wallis, R. F. Slaughter and Stephen 
Austin. Hempstead in his excellent history of Arkansas names 
but five and states that there were but one hundred and two 
votes cast. In this he was misled. He took his returns wrong. 
Arkansas township in Arkansas county cast one hundred and two 
votes and voted for only five men. There were twelve hundred 
and seventy-two votes cast in the territory for six candidates. 
James Woodson Bates had been a resident of the territory for 
a year, having come in in 1818, just before the creation of the 
territory. He had been there a little longer than Andrew Scott 
and still a little longer than Robert Crittenden. Bates always 
claimed that he came to Arkansas on his own motion, while 
Scott and Crittenden were there on salary and by appointment. 
Young Robert C. Oden had another way of expressing it. He 
said that he came because he wanted to, but that Scott and Crit- 
tenden had to be hired. He afterward used this logic against 
Henry W. Conway. Bates wanted a salary and announced for 
Congress, pointing to his long twelve months' residence as a 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 55 

partial reason. Perley WalUs was a lawyer and had been in 
Arkansas about four years. R. F. Slaughter could not boast of 
so long a residence as Bates, but he used the residence racket for 
all It was worth. Henry Cassidy and Alexander S. Walker 
could boast of a residence of about nine years each, and were the 
only real old residents in the race. Stephen F. Austin did not 
reside in the territory at all. The people knew his father and 
thought that a son of Moses Austin would make them a good 
representative. They ran him without consulting him and came 
very nearly electing him. Bates got four hundred and one votes ; 
Austin, three hundred and forty-three ; Walker, two hundred and 
twenty-six; Cassidy, one hundred and fifty-six; Slaughter, one 
hundred and thirty-eight, and Wallis, eight. Bates had a plural- 
ity of fifty-eight votes over Austin, his closest competitor, and one 
hundred and seventy-five over Walker. Austin, the future 
founder of Texas, almost became the delegate to Congress from 
Arkansas. His name was not announced anywhere until eleven 
days before the election, and did not get on any ticket in Ar- 
kansas county, nor on the tickets of two townships in Lawrence 
county. But for this slight circumstance the whole history of 
Arkansas and Texas would probably have been very diflferent. 
Had Austin's name gotten on these other tickets there would 
have been no Conway-Crittenden feud — the glories of the Alamo 
would not have transpired. The vote cast indicates a population 
for the territory at that time of but a little more than ten thou- 
sand, rather than the usual estimate of fourteen thousand. The 
census authorities inform me that eight to a voter, including 
slaves, is the highest ratio of voters to population. This would 
make the population in November, 1819, about ten thousand one 
hundre3 and eighty-four. 

Austin was so flattered by this vote from a constituency he 
never saw that he decided to run down that way. He entered 
Aricansas in May, 1820, and "lit a running." Governor Miller 
was so charmed with him that he, on July 15, 1820, appointed 
him judge of the First Circuit Court, which position he held but 
a few months, when he resigned to become "the founder of 
Texas." 



56 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Shortly before his appointment two army officers, Colonel 
Wm. McCray and Major S. B. Archer, visited the territory, 
arriving at the Post in January, 1820, with the announced pos- 
sibility of remaining. To clinch the decision favorably. Governor 
Miller appointed Major S. B. Archer to the same judgeship he 
afterward offered Austin. Major Archer held the matter under 
advisement until July i,* 1820, when he declined the appointment, 
preferring to retain a place whose duties he knew to accepting 
a place for which he had had no antecedent training. Hemp- 
stead notes the appointment of Archer, but intimates that this 
was probably a mistake of the copyist, and that the record should 
be S. F. Austin and not S. B. Archer. The record is right, as 
the Gazette of that date notes Archer's arrival, his appointment 
to the judgeship, his declination and the subsequent appointment 
of Austin. 

Alexander S. Walker's vote came from the following places : 
Arkansas county, forty-nine; Lawrence county, two; Clark 
county, seventy-three, and Hempstead county, one hundred and 
two. In other words, he got the greatest number of votes in 
the county of which he was then sheriff and the next greatest 
number in Clark. He surely had a residence of some kind at 
Arkansas Post in the early part of 1819, but the largest part of 
his Arkansas county vote came from Point Chicot township. He 
surely had a residence in Pulaski county in 1820 and for many 
years thereafter. In 1819 he had twenty-seven thousand five 
hundred acres of unconfirmed land on White river and about 
an equal amount of confirmed land scattered through the five 
counties of the State. He may have had five residences for all 
the record shows. I have found no record of his marriage, but 
he was a married man and reared a family. In June, 1820, he 
took hold of Brangiere's claims upon the Crystal Hill country, 
and although foiled as to General Hogan, was successful as to 
many other persons more easily convinced. But practicing law 
and running plantations had fewer charms for Walker than the 
game of politics. In 1825 the people of Pulaski county elected 
him to the legislative council. This was a most exciting race and 
showed the old man's game spirit. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 57 

EARLY BAlUrt BOX IRREGULARITIES. 

When the returns were all in Walker was ahead, defeating 
Hogan about twenty votes. The Revising Board, composed of 
Thomas W. Newton, Sr., Matthew Cunningham and another, 
found certain irregularities in the returns of two townships and 
threw them out. This made the vote a tie and a new election 
was ordered. Walker came out in a card appealing to the people 
to stand for their rights and "not to let a stripling hardly accli- 
mated cheat them out of their votes." 

Thomas W. Newton answered that he had no desire to de- 
fraud, but that a stripling was every whit as good as a cashiered 
officer. In the second race Walker was elected by thirteen votes. 
In 1827 Hogan beat Walker by about the same majority and in 
1829 Wharton Rector and Walker were elected to the House of 
Representatives from Pulaski county. In 1831 Walker was 
elected sheriff of the county to fill out the unexpired term of S. 
M. Rutherford. While he was sheriff of the county David Rorer 
was the county judge. Professor Reynolds in his admirable 
little story book tells the ox-yoke story as related by Judge Pope 
in his Early Days. Reynolds has a picture showing Walker 
dressed as an old-time planter carrying a gun, with Rorer dressed 
as a field hand carrying an ox-yoke. This picture is utterly 
incongruous and is not fair to Judge Rorer. Prof. Reynolds 
describes Rorer as one of that shiftless, harmless, easy-going 
class of people always to be found on the borderland of civiliza- 
tion. There is no evidence whatever to support the description. 
Rorer was elected by the people as their county judge. He was 
repeatedly appointed administrator for people dying intestate, 
some leaving good estates, but the most of them very little prop- 
erty. Rorer owned the ferry at Little Rock and kept a good 
house of entertainment on the north side. He entertained Gov- 
ernor Pope, and his whole life merits a better description than 
the one alluded to. He had to carry the ox-yoke because Walker 
had a gun. The duel between Walker and Colonel Francis No- 
trebe in 1816 has already been told by Judge Pope. In 1819, 
when Governor Miller appointed W. O. Allen, brigadier general 
of the Arkansas militia, Allen appointed Alexander S. Walker 
colonel of the First regiment. In this position Walker trained 



S8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

the men who afterward became the leaders of Arkansas. In his 
regiment were men who in after years were the ornament of 
both civil and military life. 

Such was the life work of a peculiarly eccentric man. He 
had grave faults, but with them he had transcendent virtues. He 
began life with a load, but he carried it so nobly as to win the 
esteem of all his fellows. The lesson of his life is refreshing 
to the soul. He was afterwards appointed by President Jackson 
Indian Agent for the Senecas and died near Fort Gibson in 1837 
or 1838. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Robert Crittenden — ^William O. Ai.len — ^the First Duei. in 

Arkansas. 

Gregory, in his description of Thornton, the home of the 
Brontes, has said of its people: "Dwelling in the seclusion of 
a village, at that time much cut off from the centers of popula- 
tion, they nursed their piety and their prejudices." The village 
of Arkansas Post was much cut off from the centers of popula- 
tion, and its inhabitants certainly nursed their prejudices, but it 
can not be said that they gave much attention to their piety. All 
through the Gazette's life of two years at the Post there is no 
record of a resident preacher, and few references to a traveling 
minister. The residents of this isolated village nursed their 
politics and their prejudices. Politics throughout all territorial 
days had nothing whatever to do with parties, but was a purely 
personal affair, the aggrandizement of self with a perennial preju- 
dice against all others having the same propensities. 

ROBERT CRITTENDEN A CARDINAL VVOLSEY. 

Young Robert Crittenden, as secretary of the territory, had 
little to do under the score of official duties. There were only 
five counties, with about fifteen county officials and about a dozen 
justices of the peace to commission. I have issued a thousand 
commissions a day in the after-life of Arkansas and could have 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 59 

performed all of Crittenden's legitimate duties in a day without 
breaking the sacred surroundings of the eight-hour law. 

For the first six months of the first year Crittenden was also 
loaded down with the dread weight of the governor's office, 
which possibly took a solid week of his time. Official duties be- 
mg few, there was plenty of time for nursing prejudice and cod- 
dling politics. Crittenden was a past master in both these arts, 
but he still had plenty of time to practice law and deal in real 
estate. In fact, these last comprised his business and the others 
were his pastime. 

He and Bates began the practice of law in 1819 as partners, 
with Bates as the head of the partnership. When Bates went to 
the bench the same year Crittenden tried it alone, but before the 
year expired Bates went to Congress, and the partnership was re- 
vived, to remain in full force for three years, until politics and 
prejudice arrayed these men against each other with a fervor 
that never abated. 

Bates said that Crittenden desired to run the politics of the 
State, manage the governor and direct the delegate; that when 
Miller showed spirit and independence he was called "an old 
fool," and when he (Bates) proposed to do his own thinking as 
a delegate, Crittenden wanted to turn him out. Crittenden was 
called "Cardinal Wolsey" on account of his supposed influence 
with the governors, an influence that never counted in fact, but 
which made a good supposititious asset. 

Crittenden had a partnership with Elijah Morton, another 
Kentuckian, in the real estate business, and they were together 
interested in many real estate deals. Bates said that Crittenden 
carried his pockets full of blank justice of the peace commissions, 
which, by judicious distribution, laid the foundation for the Crit- 
tenden machine which began to grind in 1823. Politics and 
prejudice controlled at Arkansas Post in 1819 and 1820, but not 
exclusively. There were some not wedded to these gods, who 
seem to have taken a loftier ideal and to have gauged their 
actions by a better standard. 



6o Pioneer's and Makers of Arka^tsas 

GENERAI, WILLIAM O. ALLEN. 

It IS now about eighty-seven years since William O. Allen 
went down to an untimely death at Arkansas Post. The more 
one studies the fragments of his speeches, and the more one in- 
vestigates his life and character, the more one is convinced that 
he was the ablest man in the territory of Arkansas in 1819 and 
1820. Intellectually, he was the superior of Crittenden or Bates, 
the two most luminous characters of those years. And while 
Bates far transcended Crittenden in mental vigor and logical 
power, Allen not only transcended Bates in these, but was his 
superior in self-discipline and independence. 

Like Bates, he was born and educated in Virginia. His 
family was of equal respectability and his training similar in 
kind. Each had the American reverence for the profession of 
law, and each spent the heyday of young manhood in dreams of 
future conquests at the bar. Each migrated to the territory of 
Louisiana, Allen being there while it yet had that name and 
Bates reaching it after it bore the name Territory of Missouri. 
Allen was in St. Louis when the tocsin of war was sounded in 
18 1 2, and the spirit of his ancestors became reanimate in him, 
impelling him to offer his services for the common good. Crit- 
tenden at that time was but a sixteen-year-old boy in central 
Kentucky, but when the Second Rifles was formed in 1814 he 
became its ensign and went to the front. Bates had no military 
spirit, although equipped with a full amount of soldierly courage. 

Allen's six years in the army. 

Allen enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Infantry on January i, 
1812, and on April 14 of that year was advanced to the captaincy 
of a company. On June 15, 1814, he was transferred to the 
Thirty-fifth Infantry, and on May 17, 1815, to the Artillery Corps, 
holding his rank. He resigned from the service at Arkansas 
Post on March 18, 1818. During these long years he served in 
many parts of the United States and made the acquaintance of 
the leading military spirits of the age. In 1812 his regiment was 
with the army in Ohio and Michigan, but was never under fire. 
On August 2, 1813, it had its baptism in blood at Fort Stephen- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 6i 

son, Ohio. On December 19, 1813, it was present at the action 
at Lewiston Heights and the surrender of Fort Niagara. On 
March 14, 1814, it took part in the action at Longwood, Upper 
Canada. During the remainder of the war the regiment re- 
mained on duty in Upper Canada. As a member of the Corps 
of Artillery his lot was cast in the Southern Military Division, 
in turn being stationed at Fort Barrancas, at New Orleans and 
at Arkansas Post and Fort Smith. This corps was made up of 
the chociest spirits of the war. Its colonel was the famous 
Moses Porter, and its lieutenant colonels, all in commission from 
1815 to 1821, were: Constant Freeman, James House, F. K. 
Huger, William Lindsey and William McRae, each at one time 
or another on duty at the Post. Its majors during this period 
were: Forney, Nye, Armistead, Many, Hindman, Bankhead 
and Walbach. 

COLON^I, GEO. B. ARMISTEAD AT THE POST. 

Allen was a close friend of Colonel George Armistead dur- 
ing all the years of his residence at the Post, and, like Armistead, 
had become the owner of property in that old Arkansas town. 
When the fortunes of war carried Armistead to other fields, 
Allen became the manager of his property, and after the death 
of Allen, this trust was confided to William E. Woodruff, Sr. 
until Armistead's death. 

There must have been attractions in a business way at Ar- 
kansas Post in 1816, 1817 and 1818 that we at this distance of 
time can not estimate or appreciate. Allen resigned his place 
in the army, gave up a career among distinguished associates to 
enter civil life, and chose Arkansas Post as the place for a be- 
ginning. All through 1818 and 1819 he was quietly engaged 
at building up his old business, the law. When bluff old Gen- 
eral Miller reached the Post he was gratified to find Allen there, 
and at once appointed him brigadier general of the Arkansas 
militia. The necessity for a defense of the settlements against 
Indian outrages necessitated immediate action. A brigade was 
formed by Allen, one regiment of which was placed under the 
command of Colonel Alexander S. Walker. 



6j Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Allan's rapid promotion. 

Life moves with resistless energy for those capacitated to 
stem its currents. Allen was elected to the first legislature, in 
the fall of 1819, by the people of Arkansas county. This body 
met in February, 1820 and was in session but for a few short 
weeks. Few speeches of that legislature have come down to us, 
but singularly enough the greater number of these are those of 
Allen. Upon these speeches and the narration I have just con- 
cluded, the judgment is predicated that Allen was the ablest man 
at the Post. His greatest speech was upon the removal of the 
county seat from Little Rock to Cadron. 

Tyndall, the Cadron member, was all fire and seemed likely 
to have everything his own way. Allen rose above place and 
circumstance. He stood for the dignity of a legislative body, 
and urged that the only function of legislation was to deal with 
general principles and not local affairs. That it was the duty 
of the body to pass a general law covering the modus operandi 
of locating county seats and for their removal. That it was no 
part of a legislator's duty to choose between rival county towns, 
or to locate a county seat for the people of Pulaski county. It 
was a long speech, well delivered and logical. 

Tyndall had but one answer, and that was, "We were sent 
here to.fcgislate, and if we can*t locate a little county seat at Cad- 
ron, we had better go home." Hardin, another bluflF old soldier, 
agreed with Tyndall, and said: "We are here to make laws 
and if we want to make a law carrying the county seat to Cadron 
we have the right to do so." Allen won the fight by a close 
shave, the vote being five for non-consideration and four for. 
During the next week, Allen discussed the militia situation so 
forcefully, so intelligently and so logically as to carry his prop- 
ositions overwhelmingly. He had made an indelible mark on the 
people and on his companions in legislation. No one doubted 
his future career of usefulness. 

Allen's untimely death. 

But who can read the future? Before that body adjourned 
William O. Allen was a corpse. In March, 1820, he challenged 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 63 

Robert C. Oden to mortal combat, which challenge was accepted, 
the seconds being George W. Scott and Elijah Morton. The 
duel occurred on an island in the Arkansas river on March 10, 
1820. Allen fired first and his bullet went true to its aim, struck 
a button over Oden's heart, glanced aside and inflicted a severe 
but not a mortal wound. The impact of the ball knocked Oden 
down, and as he fell he fired a random shot, which struck Allen 
in the head, killing him instantly. Oden was accidentally saved 
and Allen was accidentally killed. The accident of a button and 
the accident of a random shot changed the issues of the combat. 
Such is dueling. 

gazette's comment on duel. 

The cause of the duel may never be known. The Gazette 
of the following week noted the death of Allen, and said : "We 
sincerely regret to see a practice still continue which has been 
universally condemned by every philanthropic mind." 

But there was not one syllable about the reasons leading to 
the fight. Captain John R. Homer Scott, born in Missouri a few 
years before the duel, in his later years gave Judge Pope a version 
from miemory as told him by his father. Judge Andrew Scott, 
which, to my mind, is unsatisfactory. He said that Allen and Oden 
were at dinner and that Oden finished first. Seeing Allen's cane 
near, he picked it up and began twirling it. Allen finished, and, 
being lame, reached toward Oden for the cane. Oden, in playful- 
ness, retreated, Allen pursuing as best he could. This was kept up 
until Allen became angry, limped to his room and wrote the chal- 
lenge. ! i 

ANOTHER VERSION O^ THE AFFAIR. 

In 1885 the writer was on Grand Prairie, between DeWitt 
and Stuttgart. He traveled off the main road and approached 
a large frame house for information, and was invited to remain 
for dinner. At table was an old man, a relative of some sort 
of the owner of the house. The conversation reverted to the 
Post and the duels fought there. The old man gave this version 
of the Allcn-Oden duel : Allen and Oden were at table when a 
discussion began between them over Allen's speech in the legis- 



64 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

lature. Allen was about forty-five years of age and Oden about 
twenty. Oden was passionate and very sensitive. As the argu- 
ment grew warmer, Oden accused Allen of disputing his word, 
seized Allen's cane and struck Allen a smart blow. The blow 
resulted in the challenge. Up to this time both men had been 
friends, and Allen had formed a great liking for Oden. Years 
after this conversation I jotted down its substance, but could not 
recall the name of the narrator. The version of Mr. Scott, a 
man of remarkable memory as well as of absolute veracity, may 
be the correct one. The old man's story seems, however, to 
furnish a better motive. 

THE LAW REGARDING DUEUNG. 

In what follows we have the printed report of the Gazette 
and it is collated and reproduced here to show the iron-clad senti- 
ment which prevailed at that time with reference to dueling. In 
1820 the Grand Jury of Arkansas county indicted Robert E. 
Oden for receiving a challenge, and George W. Scott and Elijah 
Morton for officiating as seconds. It was not murder nor man- 
slaughter to kill in a duel, and the only offense was sending or 
receiving a challenge, or officiating as seconds. At the trial the 
prosecution offered to put Scott and Morton on the stand to 
prove the reception of the challenge. The court held that this 
could not be done until it was proven that the challenge itself 
was lost. This foiled the prosecution and the jury was forced 
to find a verdict "Not guilty." 

On the next day the trial of Scott and Morton began, and, 
although they made ho denial whatever, the case against them 
was not proved. The defense moved to quash, on the ground 
of variance — the indictment being laid at the Post and the evi- 
dence showing that the duel occurred on an island in the river. 
The court held that the words "Arkansas Post" were descriptive 
merely and that the indictment was good. The jury, however, 
brought in the verdict "Not guilty under the indictment." 

The Gazette made but few remarks regarding the result of 
the trials, but advised the people to repeal the laws they had and 
let those who wanted to kill each other do as they pleased. An 
anonymous writer noted the mistrial in both cases and advised 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 65 

the enactment of a new law, permitting the seconds to testify 
as to the challenge and making the offense murder. 

William Montgomery, the foreman of the juries, answered 
this writer, denying that the verdict was "not guilty," but "not 
guilty under the indictment," and in a very pompous manner 
said no writer, "whether he be vagrant or gentleman, should ma- 
lign a jury of which he was a part." 

PUTS AN END TO DUELING. 

At the next session of that legislature an iron-clad law 
against dueling was passed. Death resulting from a duel fought 
on Arkansas soil was declared to be murder. Seconds were au- 
thorized to testify, and the courts required to take their testi- 
mony, immunity for the testifying witness being provided for. 
This law was passed in October, 1820, and it has had a goo3 
effect. No duel has been fought in the State or territory since 
its enactment, although it has been easy at all times to evade it. 

William O. Allen was an unmarried man, and no wife nor 
child was brought to grief by his death. He left an estate, upon 
which Eli J. Lewis and Daniel Mooney administered. The ad- 
vertised list of property filled nearly a column of the Gazette. 
In the Kst was a library of books, legal, historical, mathematical 
and astronomical, which had no equal in Arkansas then, and 
which doubtless entered into the family collections of other men 
and became the basis of the educational development of many of 
the sons and daughters of Arkansas. Is it possible to trace tliat 
library? Will those who have very old books look in them to 
see whether the name of William O. Allen appears therein? 
Many of them ought to be in existence today. 

In April, 1820, the Comet arrived at Arkansas Post, being 
the first steamboat to travel up the Arkansas. Her captain was 
named Byrne, and he brought his wife, the sister of William O. 
Allen, to the Post to investigate his death and to settle his estate. 
Thus the law of sequence comes to the forefront of affairs. A 
duel results in a death. A steamboat owner, driven by love, 
forces his vessel along paths heretofore considered impassable 
and navigation of a great river ensues. 



66 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER X. 

Samueii M0SE1.EY — Francis Notrebe — ^TerrEnce Farrelly. 

In the lives of Samuel Mosely, Francis Notrebe and Ter- 
rence Farrelly, all bom on foreign soil, but who acquired wealth 
and honor at Arkansas Post, there is much to inspire eve«y 
human being — ^much to show that life is not the victim of luck, 
fate or chance. 

The Scotch are noted for thrift, the Irish for wit and the 
French for versatility. Neither of these men could claim to 
have been knighted by the king's own hand, but each of ihem 
sprang from a line of knights famous in Scotland, Ireland and 
France. When knighthood was in flower these ancestors en- 
joyed its fruits, but their remote descendants, the men of 
whom we write, had neither fruit nor flower. They were of 
poor parents and inherited nothing but the disposition to have 
something and an opportunity to attain their aims. It has been 
said that a Scotchman needs no open door of opportunity — ^that 
he can make his opportunity at will. From the Gazette we 
ascertain that Samuel Mosely was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, 
about 1784. The story of how he spent his younger life and of 
how he found his way to Arkansas Post may never be known. 
He was found at the Post in 1812, and drops out of sight com- 
pletely until the month of November, 1818, when the St. Louis 
Republican announced the marriage of Samuel Mosely to Mary 
King at Arkansas Post, on October 22, 1818. The family of 
the bride is not known, but as Wigton King had been a resident 
at the Post since 181 4, and was a justice of the peace from that 
time until the creation of the Territory of Arkansas, and for 
many years thereafter, it is supposed that she was his daughter. 

nuttal's rei^ErEnce to opportunity. 

The next historic reference to Mosely is found in the quaint 
old diary of Nuttal, containing his experiences in Arkansas in 
18 19- 1 820. He notes the residence of Mosely in the Arkansas 
river, and states that he had lately died, after many years of 
residence at the Post, and further that he died at the age of 
thirty-five. He then called attention to the fact that in the few 
years that Mosely had resided at the Post he had gathered quite 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 67 

a fortune, dying with an estate of $20,000. Forgetting his 
scientific mission for awhile, Nuttal turns aside to comment upon 
the opportunities of a region that in so short a time could give 
one man so great a fortune. Mosely died the richest man in 
Arkansas county, Nuttal says, and his fortune was certainly a 
great one in that day. His death is noted in the Gazette months 
after it occurred as having happened on September 19, 1819. 
He had been married not quite a year, but his death notice con- 
tains no reference to children, nor do the after references to his 
estate disclose any, but there may have been a child. In Decem- 
ber, 1819, Eli J. Lewis and Daniel Mooney gave notice in the 
Gazette that, as administrators, they had the settlement of the 
estate in hand and would proceed with their work as the statutes 
required. 

The widow did not remain a widow long, for on January 22, 
1820, she was wedded to Terrence Farrelly, of the firm of Far- 
relly & Curran, the Irishman of our present article. The life 
of Samuel Mosely is best interpreted by his achievements. He 
came to the Post poor and died the richest man there. The long 
years of hard work, the intensity of his struggle may only be 
estimated; he left no record disclosing the stages of his efforts 
or the sacrifices he must have made. He came unheralded and 
unknown, and died the richest, and very probably, the best- 
known man at the Post. It has been said that five things are 
necessary to success — ability, integrity, dispatch, patience and 
industry — and, judged by his success, Mosely must have had all 
these abi^tract substances in the highest degree. 

COUDNEL FRANCIS NOTREBE. 

Francis Notrebe was not only a native of France, but a 
soldier of France, under that master of war, the great Napoleon, 
but he did not win his title of colonel in the French army. His- 
tory is silent as to the place of his birth, his early education and 
the causes that led to his enlistment as a French soldier. He 
has told his Arkansas friends the reasons for his abandonment 
of France, and they are alike creditable to his patriotism and 
his will. As a common soldier he risked his life to give France a 
republic, and was an enthusiastic follower of Napoleon so long 
as that genius kept his eye single to the freedom of France. 



68 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

When ambition led the general to overthrow the republic and to 
set up an empire on its ruins Notrebe would not go with him. 
He was proud of Napoleon but placed France and its interests 
above his affections for the man. He could not fight for an 
empire, and after great difficulty succeeded in separating him- 
self from the army and in reaching the United States. After 
years of rambling life he found himself, in 1813, ^^ Arkansas 
Post. Here he found congenial French people, and after awhile 
a congenial business. He was essentially a merchant, and as a 
clerk in the great trading houses at the Post he soon found the 
natural trend of his mind. Barham & Drope, Prior & Lewis and 
Louis Bogy were great traders and maintained great warehouses 
far up the Arkansas, in what is now Indian Territory and Kan- 
sas. At these places and at the Post they carried on a large 
trade with the Indian tribes. 

In a small way Notrebe began business for himself at the 
Post in 1819. His advertisements in the Gazette show that he 
was just embarking and that fortune had not begun to smile. 

EARI.Y I.ITTI.B ROCK MERCHANTS. 

In 1820 the sheriff of Pulaski county published a list of 
men who had taken out licenses as merchants or grocery keepers 
for that year at Little Rock. At the head of the list was Chester 
Ashley, then a young unmarried man, and a briefless lawyer. 
While Sam C. Roane pieced out an income by acting as press- 
man for Woodruff, the future great senator of Arkansas at- 
tained the same end by keeping a small grocery. When Wood- 
ruff moved to Little Rock two years later his paper did not g^ve 
him a support and he began the sale as sole agent for an Eastern 
house of a line of patent medicines. The other names on the 
list were George W. Brand, William Drope, Thomas W. John- 
son and Francis Vaugine. In 1821, when the second list was 
published, the name of Francis Notrebe appeared and was re- 
tained there for several years. Notrebe was thus connected as 
a merchant with Arkansas Post and Little Rock, but his prin- 
cipal business as well as his affections were centered at Arkansas 
Post. Between 1822 and 1825 he extended his business rela- 
tions to the upper Arkansas, and at his death, several years 
later, was the richest man in the territory. When Governor 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas , 69 



Pope entered the territory, in 1829, he made the acquaintance of 
Notrebe, and in 1832 was his guest at Arkansas Post. The dis- 
play of silver and cut glass, as well as the retinue of servants 
maintained by Notrebe, excited the governor's surprise, as he 
did not expect such service in the wilds of the West. 

Judge Pope has left an interesting description of Colonel 
Notrebe as he was in the days subsequent to 1832. He was a 
man of commanding appearance, very black hair and a dark 
complexion. He possessed large but regular features and in 
his youth was doubtless a handsome man. He was said to have 
all the refinement and elegance of the French race. He was a 
married man and reared a family of children, but I have not 
been fortunate enough to find the family name of his wife nor 
the date of his marriage, which probably took place before he 
reached Arkansas. 

CUMMINS-NOTREBE WEDDING. 

Kentucky sent several young lawyers into Arkansas between 

1819 and 1830, but in all probability no one of them was better 
equipped than William Cummins of Louisville. Tradition gives 
him high rank among the lawyers of the territory and State from 
1830 to 1840, but of the years before 1830 little is said. He 
beg^n a suit at Arkansas Post before that august and pretty 
judge, the daughter of the rich Frenchman, Colonel Notrebe, 
and managed it so well as not only to win it, but to marry the 
judge. As Mrs. William Cummins, the daughter of Notrebe 
piesided over a hospitable and elegant home in Little Rock for 
many years, and died, leaving children. 

Colonel Francis Notrebe was connected with the Missouri 
militia prior to 1819, and was continued in that service under 
Arkansas law, and in this service won his military title. In 

1820 when the Court of Common Pleas was instituted at the 
Post, Colonel Francis Notrebe, James Hamilton and Joseph Stil- 
well were appointed judges of the court, which position they held 
until the court was abolished. In 1821, when the new town of 
Arkansas Post was laid off, James Hamikon, Francis Notrebe, 
Doctor Robert McKay, Colonel David Brearly and John Max- 
well were made its first trustees. 



70 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

It has been said that every man has in himself a continent 
of undiscovered character, and in this sense, Notrebe was most 
happy in becoming the Columbus of his own soul. 

GENERAI. TERRENCE FARRELLY. 

Terrence Farrelly was bom in County Tyrone, Ireland, 
about 1795, but was brought to Meadville, Pennsylvania, by his 
parents about the year 1800. What educational opportunities 
were afforded him is not known, but it is supposed that they 
were somewhat above the average. I have not been fortunate 
enough to find an authoritative reference to his father, but am 
inclined to believe that he was a son of Patrick Farrelly of 
Meadville, born in Ireland in 1760, a lawyer, and a member of 
the Seventeenth Congress (1821-23). He was re-elected to the 
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Congresses and died at Meadville, 
January 12, 1826, while serving his third term. He was elected 
as a Democrat and was a strict constructionist. The few 
speeches that remain proclaim him a man of extensive parts, and 
he voted for Henry W. Conway's improvement schemes in Ar- 
kansas in 1825, although violating his principles in so doing. 
Henry W. Conway was more of Whig than anything else and 
was warmly supported in all his territorial measures by Henry 
Clay, and opposed by the old line strict constructionists. From 
the fact that Patrick Farrelly voted for Arkansas improvements, 
I infer a close relationship between Patrick and Terrence, and an 
appeal from Terrence which effected this result. Patrick Far- 
relly had another son, John W. Farrelly, born at Meadville, 
July 7, 1809, who became a prominent man. He was a member 
of the Pennsylvania Senate in 1828, where he remained for 
many years. He served one term in the Thirtieth Congress as 
a Whig, and was appointed by Taylor sixth auditor of the treas- 
ury. He died at Washington. 

Terrence began his life as a merchant in Meadville, but in 
181 7 removed to Pittsburg. There he became acquainted with 
another young Irishman, Thomas Curran, and with him formed 
a partnership for a hardware establishment at Arkansas Post. 
They arrived at the Post in November, 1819, and rented a store 
of General William O. Allen, where they carried on business 
until the latter part of 1820, when Curran removed to David- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 71 

sonville, Lawrence county, where, on February 18, 1821, he 
married Mrs. Jane Dodge. This firm gave William E. Wood- 
ruff, Sr., a good advertisement for the first issue of his paper 
and kept it up until the firm dissolved. Terrence had not been 
at his new home long before he became acquainted with the rich 
young widow, Mrs. Mary Mosely, and with true Hibernian 
directness, made a short wooing and won the prize. He was 
married on January 22, 1820, and in a short time Lewis and 
Mooney, Samuel Mosely's administrators, notified all interested 
parties to settle with Terrence Farrelly, who now had charge of 
the Mosely estate. Thus, while others waited for fortune's 
favors, Farrelly captured them by love and wit. He was now 
an American landlord and at once set about to be an American 
leader of affairs. 

FARRELI^Y AS A LEGISLATOR. 

And why shouldn't he be a leader? He was blessed with 
every element that a leader should have. Do you ask for wit? 
He was born in Ireland and blessed with the fullest amount of 
Irish wit. Do you ask for wealth and power to please? He 
had just married the richest woman in Arkansas and has been 
given full control of her estate. Do you demand business abil- 
ity? He was in the Arkansas territorial legislature from 1821 
to 1836, a longer period than any other man ever served, 
before or since, and was at all times either on the Committee 
or Banking or on the Committee on Auditor's and Treasurer's 
Books. Do you ask for a sound judgment and a good knowl- 
edge of law? For fifteen years he was on the Judiciary Com- 
mittee of the Arkansas legislature, and did more toward fash- 
ioning Arkansas law in his day than any twenty men that 
can be named. Do you want honesty and faithfulness? Then 
reread what I have written and add that he was the first county 
judge of Arkansas County from 1830 to 1832, and could have 
had the place ever afterward but that he positively refused to 
serve. Is courage what you seek? He was adjutant-general 
of the Arkansas militia under Generals W. O. Allen, Edmund 
Hog^n and William Bradford. More than that, he was the 
chief adviser of Maj. Bradford, and to this advice the territory 
was indebted for the nine regiments of splendid troops the 



^2. Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

territory afforded in 1825. We have had adjutant generals 
since Farrelly's day, but none that could muster an army like 
he had under his charge. The regiments were real live flesh 
and blood soldiers, commanded by the following colonels: First 
Regiment, Jack Wells; Second Regiment, James Lemons; 
Third, Joseph Hardin; Fourth, James Scull; Fifth, Thomas 
Dooley; Sixth, Pearson Brierly; Seventh, Hartwell Boswell; 
Eighth, Daniel Mooney; Ninth, Jacob Pennington. General 
Terrence Farrelly was not afraid of any of these colonels, nor 
of all of them combined. He could make and unmake them at 
pleasure. And after all of this category of public services, when 
Statehood came, Arkansas county sent him to the Constitutional 
Convention, and no man in the body equalled him in influence 
and worth. Do you ask for an organizer — a boss? Terrence 
Farrelly bossed the politics of Arkansas county and had no 
rival. For sixteen years he carried the county in his pocket, 
and so gentle was his rule, so wise, so patriotic as never to 
create a schism or revolt. Outside of Arkansas county, he was 
looked upon as a sound and safe man, worthy of any and 
every trust, and honored throughout the State. He had talents 
and he used them to improve, exalt and gladden life. He was 
just, and thereby ennobled his own character. His wit made 
him the god of moments, and in later times, his genius would 
have made him god of the ages. No man of the period extracted 
as much sweet out of life as did he, and in that he proclaimed 
his wisdom. There was no pleasanter character in territorial 
days than Terrence Farrelly, the Irish-American. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Pringles — Harringtons — Morrisons and Dardennes — ^List 
OF REV01.UT10NARY Patriots. 

In speaking of that old Marylander, Christian Pringle, who 
died in 1820, after a residence in the neighborhood covering 
forty years, a doubt was left as to his marriage. He left a wife, 
who in 1823 re-entered the connubial State by marrying James 
Young at Arkansas Post. Christian Pringle left a son and a 
daughter, that are of record, and possibly other children. John 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 73 

Pringle was born at the Post about 1804 and on July 15, 1824, 
married Mary Jones at the same place. This is the first mention 
of the Jones family and her father's name is not known. The 
daughter of Christian Pringle was also bom in Arkansas about 
1806, and on January 26, 1825, married John, a son of the 
pioneer soldier, Joseph Stilwell. 

MAJOR JOHN HARRINGTON AND DESCENDANTS. 

John Harrington was a New Englander, whose father was 
bom in Ireland and a soldier of the American revolution. John, 
bom in Massachusetts in 1769, served in the Indian wars of 1793, 
and in the second war with Great Britain in 1812, in which he 
won several promotions in rank, terminating with major. When 
he was mustered out of the service he was induced to go to Ar- 
kansas, where in 1814 he purchased a plantation and settled 
down to a peaceful and contented life. 

He lived about twenty miles above Samuel Moseley's im- 
mense plantation on the Arkansas, and had for his neighbors, 
Mr. William Morrison, Mr. Mason, Madame Embree, whose 
daughter afterward married Judge Sam C. Roane, and Major 
Vaugine, in a region that was afterward named, Richland, and 
from which the township was called. 

Nuttal had the happy faculty of "sensing" strong characters 
and of honoring all such with a short note. He said of Major 
Harrington, "He was a farmer in comfortable circumstances." 
The major owned property at the Post and was a favorite with 
Governor Miller. The old man died on his farm on August 29, 
1829, in his sixtieth year. He had a son, Bartley, who was a 
man of parts, and who exercised a great local influence. The 
treaty between the United States and the Quapaw Indians was 
negotiated at the house of his father, although at that time 
under the control of the son. Both father and son were well 
known to the Indians^ and the Harrington house was selected, 
not alone on the ground of its contiguity, but for the sounder 
reason, that the Indians held Major Harrington in high esteem. 
This treaty was negotiated on the part of the United States by 
Robert Crittenden as special commissioner, and was witnessed 
by Thomas W. Newton, Robert C. Oden, Terrence Farrelly, 
Bartley Harrington, D. Barbin, special Indian agent, Gordon 



74 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Neil, Edmund Hogan, brigadier general of the Arkansas militia, 
Thomas W. Johnson, Antoine Barraque, Etienne Vaugine and 
Joseph De Chassin. Hogan was dressed in his valiant military 
suit, as was Farrelly, his adjutant-general, and Oden, the lieu- 
tant-colonel of the Second regiment. Thomas W. Newton was 
aide-de-camp to the governor, and, altogether, this display of 
epaulettes was supposed to be the right thing for the Indians. 

CRITTENDEN DEALS WITH INDIANS. 

Robert Crittenden made one of those strictly American farce 
talks, in which he assumed the role of "The Great Father," and 
bunkoed the Indians in the American fashion of that day. They 
sold as fair a piece of God's heritage as was ever seen for a mess 
of pottage. The government had sent down about seven thou- 
sand dollars as expense money, and it was the handling of this 
money that brought Henry W. Conway and Robert Crittenden 
face to face in mortal combat, in which Conway went to an un- 
timely death. There were two things that counted with the In- 
dians far more than the epaulettes and the jangling swords. 
One of these was their faith in Major John Harrington, and he 
hesitated to advise. The other was the jingle of the ducats that 
Crittenden offered. In this way "Harrington's" had beccmie 
one of the mile posts of Arkansas growth, the removal of the 
Quapaws. Harringtons is settled firmly in the archives of the 
government, to remain there forever, as a place where sometihing 
of importance happened, and out of which other important hap- 
penings were evolved. What happened at Harringtons may 
have been a crime against a race, but as old Major Harrington 
told them: "Better this than worse." The Indians did not get 
full value, nor anything like it; but they got more than they 
could use, and a home for all future time. Civilization gained 
by the purchase and Arkansas development was thereby assured. 

CANDIDATES IN FIRST LEGISLATURE. 

Bartley Harrington was a candidate for a position in the 
first legislature, but was defeated by General W. O. Allen. He 
represented the county in the council of the fourth legislature* 
He died in September, 1835, on the river returning from New 
Orleans. Alfred Harrington, another son, was married to Polly 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 75 

Mason of Pulaski County on March 2, 1820, at the house of the 
bride's father, Ephraim C. Davidson officiating. On August 19, 
1821, at the house of the major, Archibald Taylor was married 
to Mary Harrington, Esquire Wigton King performing the cere- 
mony. At the same place on November 28, 1819, Benjamin 
Kuykendall was married to Eliza Harrington. Four years later, 
on January 29, 1823, Dempsey Kuykendall, a brother of Ben- 
jamin, died in Vaugine township at the age of thirty, leaving a 
wife, and five children, who have doubtless carried the name 
down to the present. On February 14, 1830, Allen Harrington 
was married in Richland township to Clarissa McKenzie, but 
whether he was a son or grandson of Major Harrington, I can 
not say. 

The blood of Major Harrington is carried by many brave 
men and fair women of Arkansas today. They have always been 
sturdy Americans and have contributed their full share to the 
greatness, the wealth and refinement of Arkansas. 

WII.UAM MORRISON. 

Concerning this pioneer I have not been as successful as 
with Major Harrington. I am satisfied that he was a little older 
than Major Harrington, from the fact that his wife died on 
April 27, 1827, at the age of sixty years. The major died two 
years later at the same age. The death of William Morrison 
h not noted, nor the birth of his children, although I am satis- 
fied that he left children, who have filled honorable stations in 
Arkansas county. He lived about six miles above the cut-off 
and had for his nearest neighbor Joseph Kirkland, of whom I 
have found no further record. Near them lived the old French 
settler, John B. Dardenne, who gave the government consider- 
able trouble in later years. Under the Spanish regime he was 
granted about six hundred acres on the north side of the Arkan- 
sas river at Chactas Prairie, near where the town of Russellville 
now stands. This title was regularly confirmed by the govern- 
ment, but no patent issued. In 181 7, the government negotiated 
a treaty with the Cherokees, by whose terms the Cherokees were 
to surrender lands in Tennessee and Georgia for lands in Ar- 
kansas. The lands in Arkansas were north of the Arkansas 
river and west of a line drawn from Point Remu (Remove) 



76 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

to the White River above Batesville. The government was to 
remove all settlers from this vast tract, excepting John P. Lovely. 
Now John B. Dardenne did not live within limits and was not 
removed. He owned land within it, however, but because of 
the non-issuance of the patent, there was no record of title, and 
therefore no exception in the treaty. The Cherokees owned his 
lands and there was no relief save by an act of Congress. The 
Committee on Public Lands in their report said that Dardenne 
was entitled to relief, and that he was willing to take satisfaction 
in one of three ways : ( i ) To be given his identical lands in 
the Cherokee reservation: (2) To be given $10,000 in money: 
(3) To be permitted to take up an equal quantity of unoc- 
cupied land anywhere in Lawrence land district. The commit- 
tee reported in favor of the latter proposition. Dardenne's name 
is perpetuated in Dardanelle Rock, and his descendants are in 
many parts of Arkansas, in Indian Territory and in Kansas. 
One wing of the family of the writer, by marriage, carries this 
old French name and blood. The first marriage of a Dardenne 
to a Dardenne occurred on December 8, 1822, when Abraham 
married Harriet at Arkansas Post. 

MARRIAGES IN ARKANSAS IN 1819 AND 182O. 

The following marriages, not elsewhere noted, were cele- 
brated in Arkansas in 1819. At Arkansas Post: — in November 
Francois La Fargue to Agnes Pinneaux; in August, David 
Walter to Millet Michel; in September, Francois Duval to 
Catherine Dudley; in October, Michael Cotoner to Elizabeth 
Kepler, and Brenhard Raphael to Catherine Gossien. In 1820: 
— ^At Strawberry in Lawrence County, January 24, Napoleon B. 
Ferguson to Elizabeth Allen, and on February i George Brad- 
ley to Eleanor Bayliss. At Utica on the St. Francis by Daniel 
Mooney Judge William Reece to Sarah Didces in October; by 
Judge W. B. R. Hornor on May 29, at same place, J. Clark Dunn 
to Clarissa Murch, and Ichabod Dunn to Margaret, daughter of 
Gabriel Latimer, one of the most noted men of the St. Francis 
and Mississippi river settlements. On September 29, 1821, Mar- 
garet Dunn died and on the same day her infant sort passed 
away. At Blakeley town, Clark County, July 4, Thomas Fish to 
Emily Hemphill, late of South Carolina. At Arkansas Post on 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 77 

July 29, Antoine Bonneau to Adele Godin; at Little Rock on 
September 16, Mr. Martin to Miss Daniel, the daughter of 
Wright Daniel. Their given names are not preserved, but their 
descendants of Little Rock will doubtless be in position to com- 
plete the omission. At the University of Virginia, in October, 
Joseph Selden, Judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of 
Arkansas to Harriet Gray of Albemarle County, Virginia. At 
Arkansas Post on December 30, Eli J. Lewis to Polly, daughter 
of Joseph Stilwell. 

"get there EU." 

Lewis was a hustler in business and politics, as will be 
shown hereafter in a sketch of his remarkable career, the one 
man for whom the phrase "Get there Eli*' was coined, and what 
follows will show that he believed marriage to be a success. 
When he married Polly Stilwell he was a widower, his wife Sally 
having died on January i, 1820. Polly died within four years, 
on April 21, 1824, when he made a third venture, marrying the 
belle of the Mississippi river, the daughter of Sylvanus Phillips 
at Helena, in August, 1825. At Mound Prairie on November 
24, William Trimble, U. S. District Attorney, to Lounetta, 
daughter of Colonel Abraham Stuart; at Utica on January 11, 
Charles Ewell, of Kentucky, to Barradel Latimer, daughter of 
Griswold. These became the forbears of thousands of descend- 
ants through the eighty-five years that have elapsed since Wil- 
liam E. WoodruflF first heralded these marriages to the world. 

REVOLUTIONARY SOU)lERS AS SHOWN BY THE PENSION ROLLS. 

This roll of heroes is a government record and is the high- 
est form of evidence. It is the pension roll of the revolutionary 
soldiers alive in Arkansas in the counties named in 1833 and 
1834, and will serve as an index to all descendants, who may 
desire to take membership in any of the patriotic orders. The 
publication of this list must not be taken as an exhaustive presen- 
tation of all soldiers in the revolution in Arkansas. , There were 
others, as will be shown from time to time, but they were not on 
this roll. 

Revolutionary pension roll for the State of Arkansas with 
ages of the pensioners : 



78 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Crawford County: Isaiah Mobley, aged seventy-nine years; 
Clement Mobley, sixty-seven, both of the South Carolina militia. 

Hempstead County : Benjamin Clark, Sr., seventy-six, North 
Carolina militia; William Conway, seventy-six, South Carolina 
militia; Morgan Cryer, Sr., seventy-eight, South Carolina militia; 
Morgan Cryer died in Clark county in November, 1833; John 
Holman, ninety-seven, Virginia Continental Line. 

Independence County : Lawrence Angel, seventy-one. North 
Carolina Continental Line; John Carothers, eighty-eight, South 
Carolina militia; Benjamin Hardin, sixty-ijine, North Carolina 
militia; David Vance, seventy-five, Virginia Continental Line; 
John Weldon, seventy-five. South Carolina Continental Line, 
John Welden died in April, 1835. 

Lawrence County: James Ferguson, eighty-two. State not 
given ; James Van Zant, seventy-eight, Pennsylvania Continental 
Line. 

Jackson County: John Robinson, seventy-seven, Pennsyl- 
vania militia. 

Pulaski County: Jacob Gray, seventy-one, South Carolina 
Militia; Shared Gray, seventy-seven, North Carolina militia; 
Asher Bagley and Benjamin Bagley, ages not given, both of 
the First regiment of the New Jersey Continental Line. 

Washington County: James Leiper, seventy-seven, North 
Carolina militia; Arthur Murphy, seventy-two. North Carolina 
Continental Line, and Warren Philpot, seventy-seven, of the 
North Carolina militia. 

THE FRENCH HERO, MONSIEUR I.E NOIR DE SERVILLE. 

This gentleman, who died on Arkansas soil December 30, 
1828, was of the flower of France and one of the foreign con- 
tingent that lent its assistance to the cause of "American Inde- 
pendence. He came to the United States as a French marine 
with the fleet commanded by Count de Grasse, and was wounded 
at Yorktown in attacking and carrying one of the British re- 
doubts on the evening of October 14, 1781. Being honorably 
discharged he returned to France, but in after years i:ame back 
to the United States and in time found a home in Arkansas 
near the plantation of Monsieur A. Barraque in Richland town- 
ship. He was accidently killed by the falling of a tree and was 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 79 

buried with all the honors of war. It was a grand sight to see 
the blending of nationalities at this military interment of a for- 
eign hero. 

Adjutant General Terrence Farrelly, Colonels A. S. Wal- 
ker, Francis Notrebe, and several companies of the First and 
Second regiments, Acting-Governor Robert Crittenden and his 
dashing aide-de-camp, Colonel Yell, made up the military cor- 
tege, while the French families from far and near and the 
American contingent of wealth, prowess and achievement made 
the occasion a memorable one in early days. I do not know 
whether this grave is in Richland, or in Barraque township 
of Jefferson County, nor do I know whether it carries a mark 
by which it may be identified. It was all in Richland township, 
Arkansas county, in 1828, but I am inclined to believe that 
the grave is at what is now Redfield. It would be a graceful 
thing for the citizens of Jefferson County, if they have not al- 
ready done so, to erect a modest monument over the remains 
of the foreign soldier Le Noir de Serville, who died a stranger 
in a land for which he fought ; and if the spot of interment can 
not be found, to place a memorial at the intersection of two 
of the most prominent streets of the beautiful bluff city. There 
is enough distinguished French blood in Jefferson County car- 
rying American names to do this graceful thing without sac- 
rifice or pain, and it would honor them while commemorating 
the life and services *of the gallant man. 

DON CARLOS DE VILLEMONT. 

This Spaniard was commander of the Spanish garrison 
at the post for many years prior to 1803, and maintained his 
residence there and at Point Chicot after the cession of the 
country to the United States. He took a wife in this region 
about the year 1800, and died at the Post at the age of fifty-six, 
on August 9, 1823, leaving his wife and a large family of chil- 
dren. No one was better known at that place than this ofd 
Spanish grandee, and no one there was as much respected. 
He united an almost princely suavity of manners with a char- 
acter that was without blemish. He was absolutely upright, 
most charmingly sociable and as cheerful as sunlight. His death 
was regretted by every man, woman and child at the Post, and 



8o Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

elsewhere where he was known. With all this, he had a charm- 
ing family to whom he was devoted, being the kindest of hus- 
bands and the most affectionate of fathers. The Gazette leaded 
its columns as a memorial to the man. One of his daughters, 
Matilda, was on August 9, 1826, married to Doctor John Gibson 
of Point Chicot, by Judge Eskridge of the Superior court. An- 
other died at Point Chicot in 1835, a single woman of unblem- 
ished character and most charming manners. The blood of this 
gentle Spanish ancestor still flows in the veins of Arkansas men 
and women. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Samuel Calhoun Roane. 

Arkansas Post, as has been shown, was a magnet of remark- 
ably attractive power for men of parts from 181 2 to 181 9. It is 
our purpose now to deal with a man who, without any injustice 
to others, may be denominated the greatest jurist of territorial 
days. The life of Samuel Calhoun Roane was in many respects 
the most remarkable of the State's history. It was a record of 
privation, of struggle and of triumph. It was interesting, be- 
cause for the most part it was spent on Arkansas soil, with all 
its intensest energies given to the elucidation of those great ques- 
tions which in their ultimate effects fixed limiting forms upon 
the mechanisms of territory and State. It was important be- 
cause Sam C. Roane became one of our own people and in the 
totality of his living represented the highest, cleanest and best 
t>'pe of Arkansas manhood. 

THE ROANE family. 

Some families exist for a century; others maintain their 
vigor for a much longer time. Some men, like Napoleon, be- 
come the Hapsburgs of a new line ; others simply become greater 
Hapsburgs in an existing line. The Bachs triumphed over cen- 
turies and are still a great family. Heredity has stamped itself 
on the Adams, the Breckinridges, the Marshalls of our own coun- 
try and on the Rose family of Arkansas. It is true of some 
people who boast of their ancestry that, like the potato, their 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 8i 

best part is under the ground. But, like all other flippancies, 
this saying proves nothing, and is not exactly true. Pride in an 
unsullied ancestry is the logical outgrowth of the morality which 
enjoins a clean life. We are to honor our fathers and mothers, 
and this logically leads to pride in ancestry. Strength of mind 
is a rock for reverential regard and it is a poor tribute to mental 
strength to limit it to a life in being. The common history of 
every-day people proves the doctrine of inherited power far 
better than the exceptional records of the great men of the world. 
Sturdiness, manliness and vigor have passed down the centuries 
from father to son, making the world's mass of sturdy, manly 
and vigorous men today, its safety valve and governing power. 

The Roanes were a sturdy, manly, vigorous family in the 
old colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, and one does not 
read far before finding this stock doing yeoman service for home 
and country on fields of battle and in heroic private lives. When 
the great West was opened up we find the Roanes in the van 
making greater names in the new world, Kentucky, Illinois and 
Tennessee. 

THE TENNESSEE ROANES. 

Samuel Calhoun Roane sprang immediately from the Ten- 
nessee branch of the family. Three brothers of this surname 
were bom in Virginia in the eighteenth century. One of them 
remained on the ancestral estate and in time became governor of 
the Old Dominion. Another, Archibald Roane, migrated to 
Wilson county, Tennessee, and in due time became governor of 
the State, with a county named in his honor. The third brother, 
Hugh, also migrated to Wilson County and although not credited 
with the political ability of his brothers, became the father of 
three sons, two of whom became men of prominence one becom- 
ing a great lawyer in Arkansas and another its governor. The 
Roane family has given a governor to Virginia, another to Ten- 
nessee and another to Arkansas, but the three governors com- 
bined lacked the mental vigor and polish of the Arkansas jurist, 
Sam C. Roane, the subject of our sketch. The great William 
Wirt at one time thought Sam C. Roane overmatched by the 
combined talent of the Little Rock bar, while remaining the 
equal of any part of it standing alone. Later on in his associa- 
tion -with Roane he decided that Roane was more than equal to 



82 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

the entire bar of Arkansas, and the equal of any lawyer in the 
country. What shall we say of heredity in the face of a family 
record like tshis ? Was there no antecedent crucible for the prep- 
aration of a matrix of this kind ? If chance can account for the 
Roane family on scientific principles, then moral injunctions and 
godly lives are not worth the price we pay for them. Back of 
the stature of the Roanes was the frugal, temperate, sacrificing 
lives of their fathers and grand-fathers, as back of all worth is 
to be found these habits and qualities in the profoundest degree. 

THE ARKANSAS ROANES. 

In the year 1818 the discussion began concerning the making 
of the State, Missouri, and the creation of the territory, Arkan- 
sas. Before either of these acts was consummated, Samuel Cal- 
houn Roane, a poor but a well-equipped young lawyer, passed 
through the opening territorial gate and pitched his tent at Ar- 
kansas Post. Henr)' Clay in the halls of Congress in 1824, in 
that masterful answer to the sneers of John Randolph, said : "I 
was born to no proud patrimonial estate; from my father I in- 
herited only infancy, ignorance and indigence. I feel my de- 
fects, but so far as my situation in early life is concerned, I may 
without presumption say that they are more my misfortune than 
my fault." Clay in this splendid exaggeration omitted entirely 
his inheritance of intellect, as logically traceable to his father, 
as were the inheritances of infancy, ignorance and indigence. 

Samuel Calhoun Roane inherited indigence, infancy and in- 
tellect, but his education was not neglected. He outgrew the in- 
fancy by regular stages, and came to Arkansas to beat down the 
indigence by the use of intellect. Like Woodruff, he came into 
the territory without much money, but ready to do something; 
unlike Woodruff, he had a profession and not a trade. No law- 
yer can beckon clients at will, and all through the years 1818 and' 
1819 Roane had difficulty in making buckle and tongue meet. 
Other lawyers were at the Post, not his equal in power, who 
were doing better than Roane, not in practicing law, but in mak- 
ing money in other lines. Joshua Norvelle was the district at- 
torney under Missouri law and had a salary. James Woodson 
Bates had a real estate agency, but soon gave this up for a sal- 
ary. Robert Crittenden had a salary as secretary of the com- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 83 

monwealth, but made more money as a real estate agent. Roane 
had too much of a legal mind to make a successful real estate 
vendor. In early 18 19 he formed a law partnership with Joshua 
Norvelle. The town of Rome was laid out in April, 1819, and 
the troubles growing out of the titles to its lots brought the firm 
of Roane & Norvelle some little money, but not enough to give 
either of the partners a good suit of clothes. Then, as now, 
good young lawyers were classified by the seediness of their 
clothes. A tailor-made suit every six months indicated ten years 
of privation and the beginning of power. A tailor-made suit 
every year indicated eight years' privation mitigated by gains 
made in other lines. A tailormade suit every two years was a 
sign of brains and purpose, while a suit that lasted three years 
was indicative of great will power and superior legal attainments. 

THE TOWN OF ROME. 

Rome, the imperial city, has gone ; so has Rome of Arkansas 
county. It was once entitled to a place on the maps, but unfor- 
tunately while it existed no maps were made in Arkansas. Rome 
was about five miles out of Arkansas Post and was designed to 
be rat proof. The overflow of the Arkansas drove the rats to 
higher ground and Arkansas Post was a "ratty" town. Rome 
was to be on still higher ground and offered great inducements. 
Its principal street was called Don Carlos, and the grandees re- 
served this for themselves. Crittenden and Morton were largely 
interested in its development and in the sale of lots. William 
Craig, another quaint character of that day, was also a vigorous 
promoter. Unfortunately the title to the original grant was in 
dispute and this created trouble and finally destroyed the town. 
It began in 18 19 and lasted about ten years. In 1822 it had the 
following residents: Edward Brown, W. B. R. Horner, Robert 
Johnson, William B. Locke, Elijah Morton, George Sampson, 
John Taylor, Sr., and William Trimble. Everybody around 
the Post owned one or more lots, which they looked upon as a 
bonanza. 

JOSHUA NORVELLE. 

The partnership of Roane & Norvelle did not last long. 
Norvelle was a good young lawyer in a Missouri town, but af- 
flicted with salaryomania. In 1815, just about the time when 



84 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

fees were beginning to grow, he was offered the prosecuting at- 
torney's place at Arkansas Post. 

Joshua Norvelle accepted the place because of the salary 
and with his wife moved to the Post. He held the oflfice and 
the salary until July, 1819, when he was out of a job. He and 
Roane then joined forces, but the salary phantom was so im- 
bedded in Norvelle's constitution as to unfit him for the slow 
work of an office lawyer. His Missouri friends prevailed on 
President Monroe to give him a place somewhere, and he was 
sent to St. Bartholomew's Island as consul. He was credited 
with being a good officer while there. He left his wife at Ar- 
kansas Post and then forgot to maintain her. 

On July II, 1821, Maria Norvelle, wife of Joshua Norvelle, 
filed a suit at Arkansas Post for a divorce on the ground of 
desertion and non-support. Before the case came on for trial 
Joshua Norvelle died. He passed away at St. Bartholomew on 
August 12, 1 82 1, and I have not found any further history of 
his wife. 

OTHER MEN WHO BECAME PROMINENT. 

Sam C. Roane stuck to his office. He did odd jobs on the 
outside in order to make a living, but he never lost faith in the 
law. Judge Witter was at Arkansas Post in December, 1819, 
and met William E. Woodruff and was shown through the Ga- 
zette establishment. Woodruff had one helper, and that only on 
press days. Witter was there on press day and was introduced 
to the pressman, Sam C. Roane. Witter's description of Roane 
is laughable. He said in effect that Roane was as far from the 
dainty, well-dressed man he afterward became as Arkansas Post 
was from the New Jerusalem. Roane kept books for Piyor & 
Richards at night, earning a few extra dollars, and drinking in 
the weird and wonderful experiences of Pryor, one of the great- 
est travelers that Arkansas has ever known. When the first 
legislature convened in February, 1820, Roane was made en- 
grossing clerk and he honored the place. But Sam C. Roane's 
law office was always open. Dinsmoor & Spaulding kept their 
office open also, as did Crittenden & Bates. The difference was 
that Roane kept a law office, pure and simple, while these others 
kept a real estate office with a law attachment. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 85 

These men advertised, giving one line to the law and thir- 
teen lines to real estate. Ashley at Little Rock stuck to the law, 
but put up a grocery next door to his office as a mainstay. 

Neither Roane, Crittenden, Ashley, Morton nor Newton 
were married men. Young Newton carried the mail from Ar- 
kansas Post to Little Rock in 1820 and 182 1, and then became 
deputy clerk at Little Rock, while studying for the bar. While 
Spaulding was the first man admitted to the bar, Newton was 
the first one to prepare himself for the bar in an Arkansas office. 
When these men were ready to marry they all took different 
directions. Ashley went to Missouri, while Crittenden, Oden, 
Morton and Newton went to Kentucky for wives. Chester 
Ashley was the first, marrying Mary W. Elliott at Potosi, Mis- 
souri, on July 2, 182 1. Robert Crittenden went next, being 
married at Frankfort, Kentucky, on October i, 1822, to Ann 
Morris. Elijah Morton took the Kentucky fever also and on 
September 20, 182 1, married Nancy W. Stewart at Russellville, 
Kentucky. Oden and Newton waited longer, but in May, 1829, 
they both went back to Kentucky and married. Oden was mar- 
ried on May i at Bardstown to Frances Crozier, while Newton 
was married on the 15th to Mary K. daughter of Colonel John 
Allen, at Shelbyville, Kentucky. I can't blame these gentlemen 
for their predilection for Kentucky women, for the reason that 
1 have lived with a Kentucky wife for thirty-two years, and if I 
desired to throw rocks she stands in the way, dominating as is 
her right and duty. 

In the eyes of the larger world it would seem, however, that 
these gentlemen exercised a sound and most excellent judgment, 
but as the boys around the State house used to say, their course 
did not indicate good political sagacity. Ashley triumphed over 
his Missouri environment and reached the United States Senate. 
A Missouri wife, therefore, is not impedimenta in Arkansas 
politics. The men who went to Kentucky, however, for wives, 
leaving the Arkansas girls alone and forlorn, seem to have been 
marked men politically ever afterward. Morton never tried for 
political place, but Crittenden failed most egregiously to elect 
himself and destroyed the chances of every man he favored. 
Newton broke the rule once for a single term in Congress, but 



86 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

could never break the "Jioodoo" again. Oden ought to have 
succeeded, but fate was against him. 

THS EMBREES OF ARKANSAS COUNTY. 

This family came into the territory about 1815 from Vir- 
ginia, and was located on the Arkansas river between Mason's 
and Colonel Vaugine's in 1819, when Nuttal made his trip up 
the river. Mn Embree was then dead and Mrs. Embree was 
running the plantation. She had a large family of children, the 
most prominent sons being Jordan and Benjamin, well known in 
later days. Colonel Embry of Atkins was a cousin of the hus- 
band of Mrs. Embree, although he spelled his name in a differ- 
ent way, and a more barbarous way, to my mind, as the word 
Embree has much to commend itself to every one. But Mrs. 
Embree had a daughter, Maria, and this daughter captivated 
Sam C. Roane. She was of an excellent family and would own 
in her own right a splendid farm on the Arkansas. She had 
varied charms and Roane fell in love. In the language of that 
day he loved the ground she walked on and idolized the house 
she lived in. On February 20, 1825, he married her in Vaugine 
township, Arkansas County. He did not marry in haste, nor did 
he marry before he could support his wife creditably. His tide 
turned between 1820 and 1825. 

THE TURN OF THE TIDE. 

In August, 1820, he was appointed United States district 
attorney for Arkansas and was reappointed on May 19, 1821. 
The salary for the first four years was two hundred and fifty 
dollars per annum, with a per diem of five dollars a day, while 
the Superior Court was in session, an average of about three 
days a month. He was Reappointed in 1825, and again in 1829, 
serving thirteen years in all. The salary improved from 1825 
to 1829, but was never what it should have been. Holding a 
government office was no bar to holding a State office in those 
days, nor was residence of any very fixed character demanded. 
In 1821 the people of Clark County elected him to the Legis- 
lative Council by a majority of six votes over Eli Langford and 
the council elected him president. He served the citizens of 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 87 

Clark County four years in this capacity, when his work at Little 
Rock became too onerous for further political engagements. 

Governor Miller appointed him, Robert Bean and James 
Billingsly commissioners to locate the site for a court house in 
Pulaski. Roane and Bean agreed upon Little Rock and the Cir- 
cuit Court confirmed the selection. On March 12, 1822, Henry 
Armstrong, Archibald McHenry and Wright Daniel were ap- 
pointed commissioners to let out the contract and put up the 
building. That ended the Pulaski contest and gave Little Rock 
security and a chance to grow. In 1823 he digested the laws 
of the territory, which added to his fortunes and fame. In 1822 
Roane became the leading council for the plaintiff in Riley v. 
Bradford, with Sevier, Crittenden and Ashley as associates, 
while Major Bradford was represented by Trimble, Quarles and 
Oden. This was a noted cause, involving a forced enlistment 
of a man in the United States army at Fort Smith from 181 7 
to 1821. The jury g^ve a verdict for the plaintiff for fourteen 
hundred and fifty dollars. 

In 1822 General Edmund Hogan of Crystal Hill sued Wil- 
liam Russell of St. Louis. and Little Rock for libel, and retained 
Sam C. Roane, Chester Ashley and Neill McLane as his attor- 
neys. Russell was represented by Trimble and Sevier. The 
jury gave a verdict for Hogan for twenty-four hundred dollars. 
Nor did Roane neglect his federal business. In 1821 he gave 
notice to wood and timber thieves along the Mississippi that 
they might expect an enforcement of the law, and for four 
years he so followed them that they gave up the business and be- 
came law-abiding men. 

GREAT WORK IN THE LAND FRAUD CASES. 

In the sale of the Louisiana territory to the United States 
in 1803 provision was made for the protection of all settlers 
then on any part of this vast area. In 1806 the government of 
the United States began an investigation to ascertain who was 
entitled to preference in land claims and kept the investigation 
on foot for many years. It is safe to say that every honest 
Spanish claim growing out of antecedent settlement, that is, a 
settlement made prior to 1803, was presented to these investigat- 
ing boards before they passed out of existence, and that almost 



8S Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

every honest claim had been confirmed before 1820. From 1820 
to 1824 Congress was overrun with claimants, who averred that 
they had been overlooked anJ thereby wronged. On May 26, 
1824, Congress authorized the Superior Courts of the territories 
to try these new claims. In 1825 and in 1826 all was quiet in 
Arkansas. In the latter part of 1827, however, the Superior 
Court at Little Rock was confronted by one hundred and twenty- 
six cases demanding confirmation, and demanding it vigorously. 
Every claim was a Louisiana claim sold by John J. or James 
Bowie, or some other speculator, to men who lived in Arkansas. 
These purchasers were all honest and ignorant of the origin of 
the claims they were pressing to judgment. 

In looking^ over these claims one is surprised to find that 
men like Major Bradford, Robert Crittenden and A. H. Sevier 
wjfre so deceived by them as to invest in them. All the best 
element of the Arkansas population seemed to have been deluded 
into buying, and as a consequence every reputable lawyer in the 
territory, except Richard Searcy, was on one side of the case, 
and Sam C. Roane alone upon the other. He retained Searcy 
as a helper and these two started in to beat the entire bar of 
Arkansas. The odds were fearful, and when it was ascertained 
that the court had a leaning the wrong way the case seemed 
hopeless. The trials began in December, 1827, with a written 
motion by Roane to postpone until he could learn a little more 
about the Spanish language and law, but more particularly that 
he might have time to go down into Louisiana and hunt up evi- 
dence. The court, composed of Johnson and Eskridge, over- 
ruled the motion. The trial was forced to an issue and Roane 
did the best he could with the evidence at hand and interposed 
the case of Soulard v. The United States, a case decided by 
Judge Peck of the United States Supreme Court, which was a 
bar to the actions in hand, but all to no purpose. Between 
December 19 and December 24, 1827, the court confirmed one 
hundred and seventeen of these claims, and the lawyers of the 
Little Rock bar were in a frenzy of delight. Roane took his 
exceptions and his medicine. He was not only a good lawyer, 
but something of a wit. Shortly after the trial Judge Ben John- 
son said to Roane: "I suppose you wanted a good long ad- 
journment in order to learn a little Spanish law." Roane drawl- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 89 

ingly answered, "Yes, that was partly my object; but my greatest 
reason was that the court might have time to acquaint itself 
with American law." The judge said: "Well, the court seems 
to have been satisfied with the knowledge it had." "True," said 
Roane, "but the medicine has not had time to work yet. When 
the court really studies the law its satisfaction will turn to con- 
fusion." 

ROANE^S TUSSLE WITH WILUAM WIRT. 

But Roane's confusion did not end with the loss of the 
cases at Little Rock. When the news got to the office of Wil- 
liam Wirt, the attorney general of the United States, it created 
a sensation. Wirt at once jumped to the conclusion that Roane 
had been over-powered by the Little Rock bar and had misman- 
aged the cases. He wrote Roane an interminably long and 
terribly dry letter. He could not conceive how such a thing 
could happen. You, Mr. Roane, were on the ground and you 
were supposed to know Spanish law. More than that, you were 
supposed to know the case of Soulard v. The United States, the 
very mention of which would have apprised the court that a 
higher power had already passed upon these very questions, and 
saved the country this erroneous ruling. Roane could take a 
great deal, but he could not take this veiled lecture from Wil- 
liam Wirt. He answered Wirt most vigorously and most effect- 
ively. The attorney general was informed that every principle 
of the Spanish law known to him or to Richard Searcy was 
given to the court ; that efforts had been made to secure a post- 
ponement in order to learn more of these principles and to get 
relevant evidence. That the case of Soulard v. The United 
States was thrown at the court time and time again, but that 
the court had always dodged the blow. He informed Mr. Wirt 
that his salary was two hundred and fifty dollars a year and that 
he had spent one hundred dollars of that for evidence, and that 
this, like the case, had faded away. Then with a master hand 
he said that future action was worth far more than criticism of 
the past. You have let two years pass in correspondence and 
the time for a bill of review has nearly elapsed. I have found 
evidence in Louisiana that will reverse these cases, and if you 



90 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas . 

will send Isaac Preston of New Orleans to testify as an expert 
it is very probable that other conclusions will be reached. 

The motions for the bills of review were fought by the Ar- 
kansas bar to the last minute. The court found iself in a 
dilemma, but there was no way out of it than by a reversal. 
William E. Woodruff printed fifteen or sixteen pages of clean- 
cut extra matter in every issue for a month, notifyipg man after 
man to come in and show cause why a bill of review should not 
issue. The original papers were spirited away by interested 
parties in order that they might not be used in criminal actions. 
Roane won out and won so thoroughly and so completely as to 
place himself at the very head of the Arkansas bar. When John- 
son met Roane after his great victory he said: "Well, Roane, 
I see that you have learned a little more Spanish." "Yes, your 
honor," said Roane, "and the court has learned a little more 
law." Johnson and Roane were friends and each appreciated 
the good points of the other. 

Governor Pope was charged with saying that Roane had 
not used proper diligence in the original trial of the cases, but 
denied this in a full-page letter to the people. He said he 
thought that Roane had been over-powered by the tremendous 
number of lawyers arrayed against him, but that he never 
charged him with any delinquency. When an attempt was made 
to oust Roane Pope asked, "Who is there to take his place, since 
all the reputable lawyers are on the other side?" Pope also 
gave out the information that while in Washington he had heard 
from Graham and Wirt, and that these gentlemen said that all 
any lawyer could do was done by Roane in 1827; that he was 
not overpowered by the Little Rock bar, but slaughtered by the 
Little Rock court, in its effort to override a decision of the 
United States court. That ended the influx of fraudulent and 
forged claims, and gave Roane that prominence at the bar which 
led to wealth and affluence. The character of the Superior 
Court, however, suffered a severe blow, from the effects of 
which it never recovered, and when it passed out of existence 
in 1836 the people did not grieve. 

The original decisions of 1827 seemed to make all these 
Spanish claims good, and the traffic in them increased so alarm- 
ingly that Graham, the land commissioner, held up the registry 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 91 

and appealed to Congress. When the court reversed itself in 
183 1 the people were disgusted. Could there have been an elec- 
tion for Superior Court judges, there is little doubt but that 
Edcridge^ Trimble, Bates and Johnson would have gone down 
under an overwhelming vote of popular disfavor. General Ar- 
buckle and oihers went to Congress for relief, claiming that 
they bought under the decision of the Arkansas court, and that 
as the court had gone wrong they should not be made to lose 
thereby. When catechized more closely by congressmen, Ar- 
buckle was forced to admit that Roane's position and the cases 
cited by him had created a doubt in his mind, and in the minds 
of Arkansas generally, as to the soundness of the court's de- 
cisions, and that although he had bought twenty-four hundred 
dollars worth of these claims since the decisions, he never felt 
that he had an absolutely valid title. Congress refused the relief. 

roane's further honors. 

■From 1831 to 1836 he was judge of the First Territorial 
Circuit J3ourt, and in 1836 was chosen by Jefferson County as 
her representative in the constitutional convention. From 1836 
to 1837 ^^ served Jefferson County as State Senator, and was 
the first president of the Arkansas Senate under the State re- 
gime. 

While President of the Senate, Roane frequently acted as 
Governor of Arkansas, during the frequent absences of Gov- 
ernor Conway. The columns of the Gazette from 1837 to 1840 
contain numerous proclamations signed "Sam. C. Roane, A<it- 
ing Governor." 

SAM C. ROANE AS ACTING GOVERNOR. 

Speaking of Sam. C. Roane recalls the fact that he is 
the only acting governor of Arkansas not recorded by the 
Secretary of State in his list of governors and acting gov- 
ernors of Arkansas. All the rest are duly credited, but Sam 
C. Roane's name is remarkable for its absence. This is a great 
injustice to a worthy man, and to the facts ot history. Lists 
of this kind have a great historic value, and they should be 
absolutely authentic. Why Jacob Frolich, the compiler of the 
original list, omitted Roane, I am not able to say. Certainly 



9^ Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

not intentionally, for Jake FroHc'h was an absolutely' fair man. 
In compiling this old record, he laid the State under perpetual 
obligation to him, and certainly left a monument to his own 
painstaking care and personal zeal. He left out Roane, how- 
ever, and no secretary since his day has noted the omission. 
For five jears I had the preparation of this report in hand, 
and made many corrections, but failed to discover the error 
I am adverting to now, and possibly would not have discov- 
ered it but for the series of articles I am now writing. In the 
columns of the Gazette for 1837 ^"^ 1838 there are many 
proclamations signed by Sam C. Roane as acting governor 
of the State of Arkansas, being the first acting governor the 
State ever had. It is also true that he acted more frequently, 
and for a longer period, in that capacity than any other man 
since his day, except the present officer. Roane as acting gov- 
ernor in 1837 organized the militia of Arkansas, commissioned 
its officers and sent them to Fort Towson to operate against the 
Indians. 

MANY ERRORS IN OFl^lCIAL USTS. 

I have in my after researches found quite a large num- 
ber of errors in the early Arkansas official lists as published, 
and have also found many of the officers who are recorded in 
blank in the published lists. The State should provide for the 
revision of these old lists, so that they may import absolute ver- 
ity and certainty. An appropriation of two hundred and fifty 
dollars would pay for the whole research, and the truths of his- 
tory seem to demand the investment. 

THE WIT OF ROANE. 

Upon reading of the duel between Isaac Knott and Alex 
Shott, Judge Roane remarked: "Knott was shot and Shott 
was not," a conclusion reached by George D. Prentice on in- 
dependent lines. At a dinner table in one of the old Arkansas 
taverns, Judge Roane noticed that the butter contained many 
flies. Calling the landlord to one side, he said: "I see you 
mix your flies with the butter. Would it not be better to place 
all the flies on one plate and the butter on another, leaving it 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 93 

for the guests to mix them according to their own tastes? I 
merely suggest this for your own reflection." 

Roane was an Arkansan to the core, and with any sort 
of a reckoning must be classed as one of the really great men 
of the State. Sam C. Roane had a brother, James, prominent 
in Eastern Arkansas, but not connected with political affairs. 
His brother-in-law, Jordan Embree, represented Jefferson Coun- 
ty in the legislature of 1844. The brother John Selden Roane, 
was prominent in Jefferson County politics and in 1849 was 
elected governor of the State. 

Sam C. Roane left nine children: one son Andrew, died 
in infancy; two other sons, John Jordan and Samuel Calhoun, 
grew to manhood. The six daughters married as follows: 
Juliet to Colonel M. L. Bell, Fannie to Flowers McGregor, Hen- 
nie to L. H. Oliver, Mary to Mr. Dorris, Johanna to Captain 
Chalmers, and Ida to Captain John S. Bell. 



CHAPTER Xni. 

Shirt-sleeved Millionaires. 

It has been said of Pittsburg that it has more than one 
hundred shirt-sleeve millionaires and but very few of the silk 
hat variety. It is meant by this that the rich men of today 
were the poor boys of yesterday. The contrast may be greater 
in Pittsburg, going to the extreme of extremes, or as my 
wife pithily expressed it after returning from a visit to her 
millionaire kin in the Iron City, "Pittsburg is the Eden of 
dirt and diamonds," — ^yet it is nevertheless true that the en- 
tire West notes its rich of today as the poor of yesterday. 

Nowhere in the Mississippi valley is the generality of this 
truth better attested than in the history of Arkansas. Mosely, 
Farrelly, Notrebe, Ashley, Roane, Barkman, Horner and hun- 
dreds of others came in as poor men, without illustrious an- 
cestry or great friends. Crittenden in an open attack upon 
Judge Eskridge, who came poor and made money quickly, dis- 
closed the fact that Judge Trimble, who came in 1820 clad in 
homespun and dreams, had retired from the State within ten 



94 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

years with $20,000 in gold honestly made, something better 
than any lawyer in the Mississippi valley had been able to do 
up to that time. In the furious fight between William Strong 
of St. Francis and W. D. Ferguson of Crittenden, in the thir- 
ties, it developed that Ferguson came to the State in 1824 with- 
out bag or baggage and in fifteen years, as Strong said, had 
made his "Golcondry" besides "holding down an office every 
day of the time and sometimes two." 

HENRY W. CONWAY^S WEAI.TH. 

Ambrose H. Sevier in 1825 told the people of Pulaski in 
an appeal for votes that *Tie came among them an orphan, with- 
out wealth, without relatives and without friends." Henry W. 
Conway in 1823 in his first race for delegate to Congress told 
the people that "he had tried Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri 
before coming to Arkansas, but without success ; that he had not 
made anything in those States and had been in Arkansas since 
182 1 without the trappings of wealth or the aid of influential 
friends." Conway exaggerated at this time for he had influen- 
tial friends, who gained for him an office in 182 1, receiver of 
public moneys at Little Rock, and another in 1823, that of 
postmaster, the two not being incompatible as things were then. 
Nor is it exactly square to say that the public conscience is more 
acute today than then. A more exact expression would be, 
there are more guests at the table today, and the pie must be cut 
into smaller pieces. Conway on his own account started a 
town in 1819, in Southern Illinois, called "America," which has 
long since changed its name. In May of the same year he, and 
his uncles, William and Thomas Rector, laid off the town of 
Osage, Missouri. When he died in 1827, after six years of 
Arkansas atmosphere, he was "not so ailing as he was in 1823." 
It took nearly a column of the Gazette to display his holdings. 
In Little Rock he owned a six-room frame house, each room 
16x20, with a fire place in each room. The house had an upper 
and lower gallery, eight feet wide, with a passage way above 
and below stairs, with a brick kitchen and smoke house de- 
tached. This house was not on any submerged tenth, but stood 
out "commanding like" on the bluff in front of the ferry on a 
lot three hundred feet long and one hundred and forty-five feet 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 95 

deep with a splendid frontage on three streets. When erudition 
lends itself to an investigation of really historic homes it will 
not start with the "Crittenden mansion" of 1830, but will go 
back into real history and dig up this best house in Little Rock, 
in 1823. There were better and more noted houses in other 
parts of the State at that time, but historians have made their 
starting point so far down the line of years as to exclude these 
old historic landmarks. Conway also owned forty lots in Little 
Rock, one hundred and seventy acres of the best bottom land 
within three miles of Little Rock, and lands all over the terri- 
tory and in the States of Illinois and Missouri. He was a good 
type of the shirt sleeve Croesus at home, although wearing a 
silk hat at the capital of the country. 

CAPTAIN NATHANIEI. PRYOR. 

Captain Nathaniel Pryor led a life of wonderful adventure 
before settling at Arkansas Post in 1814. Prior to 1804 it was 
said that he had been in every Eastern State, never .satisfied, 
always eager to move on. When the Lewis and Clark expe- 
dition was formed by President Jefferson, Nathaniel Pryor was 
one of the thirty-two selected spirits who were to make the 
trip. This was a memorable trip to the Pacific, the first ever 
made by Anglo-Americans, and the names of the members of 
the party, Pryor's among the rest, still distinguish rivers and 
mountains along the path of the great march. For years after- 
ward he traded up the Missouri and in 1814 began his opera- 
tions on the Arkansas. Nuttal traveled with him up the river 
in 1819, and has left us an interesting account of his manner 
of trading. He was, in river parlance, half horse and half 
alligator, a shirt sleeve explorer and trader and a silk hat mer- 
chant prince in St. Louis and New Orleans before Pittsburg 
began to call the roll of its shirt sleeve millionaires. 

THE UNKNIGHTED PIONEERS. 

These men had no pedigree that they were familiar with 
and wanted none. A coat of arms would have been looked upon 
as an anamoly, but real arms were somewhat of a necessity, 
if hot a delight. They could shoot bears with deadly precision 
and with equal skWl could bring down an Indian or desperado. 



y6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

The moral tone of each neighborhood was higher than it is 
today, being protected and upheld by fathers and brothers, al- 
ways at hand and always loaded for bear, while now we must 
ride six miles for a constable or a policeman, who is often not 
on his beat when wanted, and not equal to the occasion when 
found. These old-time shirt sleeved gentry did each year as 
a simple matter of course and without claiming any kind of 
credit for its deeds what in a kingly country would have brought 
a coat of arms. Thus when, in 1260, William De Gylpin killed 
a wild boar in the wilds of Westmoreland, King John knighted 
him and gave him a crest, which was afterward elaborated 
into a coat of arms. The crest was nothing more than the 
picture of a wild boar, but the descendants of William Gylpin 
through six centuries have prized the crest more than gold 
and have fought for its honor on every English battlefield. 
The old Arkansas pioneers turned a wilderness into an Eden, 
drove the snakes out of its borders, left their descendants silk 
hats and a good name. They had buckskin breeches, wool 
hats of a most uncertain age, but of no particular shape, good 
pruning hooks and shooting irons, but, best of all, unsullied 
names. They were all on the democratic level, with the post- 
master and storekeeper as a sort of oracle. Well-to-do farm- 
ers were, of course, a little better than the ne'er-do-wells, 
and a man with a thousand acres cut a wider swath than one 
with a quarter section. They all came in on the level of equal 
opportunity and of almost equal poverty. Every fellow from 
anywhere had a chance, and what was in him had a chance to 
come out. Very soon after the flood of migration began to 
rise men began to be measured by the ice they had cut. A 
man with one hundred cattle and twenty negroes became a 
neighborhood nabob, and was called Colonel to distinguish him 
from the man who had no land, but hired himself to others. 
A man with a half dozen pretty girls and a good farm was 
called Judge, and insensibly the orderly laws of caste were 
evolved from the chaos of democratic opportunity. The sons 
came to wear silk hats, and the grandsons, if they had nothing 
else, could boast of the most pleasing memories. The shirt- 
sleeve brigade always makes the fortunes for its silk-hat de- 
scendants ; but the silk-hat brigade has never been able to make 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 97 

an invention that would 'preserve and make everlasting the 
good solid chunks of wealth rolled up by its shirt-sleeve an- 
cestry. 

SOME OF THE EARLIEST OFFICERS. 

Captain James B. Many, with a body of United States sol- 
diers, came to Arkansas Post in 1804 to take charge of the 
country under the new regime. The Spanish commandant, with 
all the pride of his nation, fired a salute to the Spanish flag 
as it ran down the galliards for the last time, and with equal 
courtesy fired a salute as the Stars and Stripes took its place. 
Captain Many remained at the Post for some time, and in 1816 
made an affidavit before the Spanish Claims Commission which 
fixed the settlement of Joseph Mason on Plum Bayou as older 
than the American occupancy. Colonel Francis Vaugine, Joseph 
Bogy, Andre Fagot, Jean Lavale, Pierre Pertuis, Alexis Jar- 
deles and Jean Jardeles made separate affidavits before Judge 
George Bullitt at the Post in October, 1816, that Joseph Mason 
came in 1798 during the time of Don Carlos de Villemont*s oc- 
cupancy. Henry Cassidy also made oath that he surveyed for 
Winters in 1802 and found Mason there. Nuttal notes his resi- 
dence on Plum Bayou in 1819, which proves a long and con- 
tinuous residence. He was a Kentuckian and introduced into 
the region many of the farming customs that still prevail. I 
have no proof that the family was perpetuated on Arkansas soil, 
but I believe that it was. Polly Mason, who married Alfred 
Harrington on May 2, 1820, was probably a daughter, as the 
marriage was in Joseph Mason's township, and the Harringtons 
near neighbors. The ceremony was performed by Ephraim C. 
Davidson, a justice of the peace, who came in in 1819. James 
W. Mason opened an office at the Post as a physician on April 
7, 1821, and may have been a son of the old pioneer. 

Chevalier Pierre Pertuis, named above, died at the Post 
December 2, 182 1, at the age of sixty-five having lived in this 
region all his life. His daughter, Nina Pertuis, married Victor 
Vasseur at the Post in June, 1822, the ceremony being per- 
formed by Judge Andrew Scott. I think the name Pertuis is 
nearly extinct in Arkansas, but the blood of the old chevalier is 
still perpetuated. At his funeral were two older men than he — 



98 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Joseph DarJene, born 1748, who died at the Post in 1837 in his 
eighty-ninth year, and Francis Varsier, bom 1756, and died at 
the Post in January, 1836, in his eightieth year. Longevity 
seems to have marked these old Frenchmen for her own. 

EARLY SETTLEMENT ON POKE BAYOU. 

The examination cited above disclosed the fact that B. H. 
McFarlane had made a settlement on the south side di White 
river above the mouth of Poke bayou in 1804 and that he had 
lived there continuously for ten years. His right to a square 
mile of land was confirmed in 18 13. Nicholas Trammel had a 
square mile in Independence, confirmed in 181 7, based on a ten 
years' continuous residence, which he sold in 1821 to Morgan 
Magness, a Tennesseean. The occupancy was proved by 
Charles Kelley, one of the oldest settlers of Independence 
County. 

In one of Captain Many's reports the interesting informa- 
tion was given that the winter's rations for the garrison had 
been laid in, consisting of twenty-five buffaloes and five thou- 
sand bushels of corn. Hewes Scull had a mill at which this 
com was ground and the toll yielded a good income. The sol- 
diers quartered there were generally artillerymen, and in the days 
of the first occupancy made long trips to the West in search of 
buffaloes, but in later times the meat was brought down on boats. 

FIRST CIVIL COURT. 

Soon after Captain Many took possession, Stephen War- 
rell, a lieutenant of the artillery and a native of Pennsylvania, 
was made deputy governor, and resigned his army position to 
take up his new duties. He organized the first civil government 
under the United States for the regulation of property trans- 
fers, marriages and the like. Another lieutenant under Many, 
Robert Weir Osborne, also a native of Pennsylvania, was made 
clerk of the court in October, 1806. Whether Warrell died or 
resigned is not clear, but in 1808 Osborne was made deputy 
governor and Richard W. Honey, clerk, a position he held until 
the territory of Missouri was formed, in 18 13. Honey was not 
an army man and his records still remain to gladden the heart 
of the antiquarian and to enlighten all interested parties upon 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 99 

the court proceedings of that time. When the territory of Mis- 
souri was created, George Bullitt of Missouri was appointed 
judge and moved his family to the Post, where he remained un- 
til 1819, the leading citizen of the town. He was a man of 
parts and' impressed upon the District of Arkansas and upon the 
counties of Arkansas, Lawrence, Pulaski, Clark and Hempstead 
their organic form under Missouri law, which form was perpet- 
uated by the act creating the territory of Arkansas. Judge 
Bullitt organized these five counties and enforced the laws of 
Missouri and was a factor in early territorial life for six long 
years. 

BULLITT ORGANIZED TERRITORY. 

Crittenden is given an absolutely unwarranted credit for 
organizing the new territory of Arkansas. It was organized by 
Bullitt, and Congress, in making Arkansas Territory, continued 
the organic divisions and the laws then existing, and so spe- 
cifically stated in the organic act. The so-called first legislature 
of the territory, wherein Crittenden, Scott, Jouett and Letcher 
spread Missouri law over the territory, was supererogation, pure 
and simple. Congress had already done this and Congress was 
the only power that could do it. An examination of the other 
work done by this so-called first legislature shows that there 
was much fuss over very few feathers. 

It is time that the hoary chestnut about Crittenden's arduous 
task in organizing a new territory be relegated to the junk de- 
partment, and that George Bullitt be given the credit he de- 
serves. Five counties, with fourteen thousand people, were un- 
der law and progressing finely when Crittenden went to Arkan- 
sas. Not a thing was changed, except to substitute the word 
^'Arkansas" for the word "Missouri," and put in five new officers, 
a governor, secretary of State, and three new judges, to do what 
George Bullitt had been doing for six years single-handed and 
alone. When Bullitt left Arkansas Post for his new home at 
Cape Girardeau his departure was universally regretted, and in 
his new home he gained an enviable reputation. John Dodge 
was his clerk at Arkansas Post, and in after years was a leading 
citizen of the new commonwealth. 



loo Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

In 1819 the Superior Court was established, with Andrew 
Scott, Charles Jouett and Robert Letcher as judges. David E. 
McKinney was clerk of this court for many years and became a 
landmark in early judicial affairs. Jouett and Letcher were 
quitters, and in 1820 Benjaipin Johnson succeeded one, and in 
1 82 1 Robert Selden succeeded the other. 

EARLY COUNTY ADMINISTRATIONS. 

The old county officers, three from each county, clerk, 
sheriff and coroner, appointed in 18 18, continued to administer 
county affairs under the new territory and all of these came into 
the territory during the years 1816 or 1817. Eli J. Lewis, 
Hewes Scull and Oliver H. Thomas were, respectively, clerk, 
sheriff and coroner of Arkansas County from 1817 to 1821. 
Thomas was a young merchant from Baltimore, Maryland, very 
enterprising and popular. He was connected with the early 
militia organizations at the Post and, like his partner, Lewis was 
a big man at every feast. He committed suicide in 1822. W. 
P. L. Blair was clerk of Clark County in 1818; resigned in Sep- 
tember, 1819, and was succeeded by H. L. Biscoe from Richmond, 
Virginia ; Moses Graham, a citizen of Clark for many years, was 
sheriff in 1818 and died in September, 1819, when S. M. Ruther- 
ford, a clerk for many years under Pryor & Richards, was ap- 
pointed in his stead. 

NON-RESIDENT OFFICEHOLDERS. 

It will be seen that a man could reside at Arkansas Post and 
still be sheriff of Clark County, as Rutherford did not actually 
move from the Post for several years. Mathew Logan was 
coroner of Clark County from 1818 to 1821. W. P. L. Blair 
was also one of the promoters of the town of Rome, in Arkan- 
sas County, and in some wa)fjViOt explainable at this distance of 
time, a large number of Clark County people lived at the Post. 
Jacob Barkman's wife died at her residence, five miles from the 
Post, in August, 1821, when at the same time her husband was 
postmaster at a crossroads in Clark County. When Blair re- 
signed as clerk, Sam C. Roane of Arkansas Post was made clerk 
pro tem. ; Roane was prosecuting attorney in Clark in 1820, still 
residing at the Post, and represented Clark County without ever 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas loi 

living in it ; Blair was a thorough going man and along with the 
old Frenchman, Peter Jardelow, made a lot of money. Other 
old residents of Clark County, Zachariah Davis, Samuel Parker, 
Adam Stroud and Abner Hignite, had residences in 1817 and 
1818 at the Post, and their connection with Clark County at 
that time was principally that of hunters and trappers. There 
were courts in Clark County before the Common Pleas Courts 
were established in 1819, and Blair, Graham and Logan were 
county officials one year before these courts sprang into exist- 
ence. 

EArJJv settlers in CLARK COUNTY. 

In 1822 the town of Crittenden was laid off by Adam 
Stroud, Wm. Kelley and John Bull and advertised in the Ga- 
zette as the county seat of Clark. Stephen Clanton of Pulaski 
County was one of the first Common Pleas judges of Clark 
County, and died in 1821. The Fish family, the Fentors, the 
Scarboroughs and the Deans entered Clark in 181 8 or 18 19. 
Thomas Fish was the most prominent of early Clark County 
men and died February 4, 1823. Patrick Cassidy was perhaps, 
with one exception, the first Anglo-American to settle in Clark 
County, his claim going back to 1800. The exception is the 
claim of Archibald Price and Louis Cavet on the Ouachita many 
years before this. At all events, Cassidy resided there in 1800 
on a twelve hundred-acre tract, purchased by him of Price and 
Cavet. Cassidy had large holdings on the Mississippi and was 
one of the candidates in 1819 for delegate to Congress. 

In Hempstead County Colonel J. M. Stewart was clerk 
from 1818 to 1823, and Benjamin Clark coroner for the same 
period. They entered Hempstead County in 181 5, ^nd Colonel 
Stewart was for years Hempstead's leading citizen. He was a 
major in a Tennessee regiment in the War of 1812, and died at 
Washington on February 24, 1^5. Benjamin Clark, the cor- 
oner, was a wealthy planter, as things were counted then, and, 
with the exception of Stewart and John Wilson, was the most 
prominent man in the county. 

COLONEL ALEXANDER S. WALKER. 

Colonel Alexander S. Walker was sheriff from 1818 to 
iiB23, though living all the time at Arkansas Post. Since writ- 



I02 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

ing the sketch of his life I have ascertained that after serving 
Pulaski County as sheriff from 1830 to 1831, he again ran for 
the legislature, but was beaten by Allen Martin. In 1835 the 
Democrats of the legislature nominated him for auditor of State, 
but the Whigs swept everything before them and he was beaten. 
Then Old Hickory, President Andrew Jackson, took up the old 
wheel horse and made him agent for the Seneca Indians. Presi- 
dent Madison dismissed him from the United States service in 
1 8 10, and President Jackson reinstated him to an arm of the 
civil service in 1835. He died in 1837 at Fort Gibson with his 
name on Uncle Sam*s pay rolls. This rounds out the career of 
one of the most remarkable men ever connected with Arkansas 
affairs. 

In Lawrence County, Richard Searcy was clerk from 1817 
to 1821; Joseph Hardin, sheriff from 1817 to 1825, and Robert 
Blane, coroner from 1817 to 1821. In Pulaski County, R. C. 
Oden was clerk from 1819 to 1821 ; Lemuel R. Curran, sheriff 
from 1 81 8 to 1821, and Jacob Pyeatt, coroner for the same 
period. Lemuel R. Curran was one of the leading spirits of 
Cadron, and died there on March 8, 1821. 

Thus the counties were organized when Crittenden and his 
associates entered the State, and the matter of organization was 
a matter of the supremest indifference and moment. Had the 
new officers never come it would have made no difference what- 
ever. The shirt-sleeve pioneers w^ere organized for work, were 
doing excellent work in a lawful way, and were piling up that 
wealth which supports their silk-hat descendants of today. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Coming of the Covered Wagons. 

The scarcest commodity in the territory from 18 19 to 1825 
was money. In fact it was not needed to any great extent and 
when circulated was in the main Spanish silver. The finding 
of Spanish coins in odd places of the State is no evidence of 
Spanish occupancy, for American settlers used this coin for 
more than two decades. Between 1819 and 1825 the territory 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 103 

Usued scrip which from the start never had a general value of 
more than fifty cents on the dollar of Spanish money. Sam 
C. Roane conceived the idea of utilizing this scrip for fees and 
in 1820 advertised that he would take it at par in payment of 
fees. As he was single and always lived within his means, there 
is little doubt but that he made considerable by holding the scrip 
for the golden moments when he could use it to advantage. 
There is no proof, however, that his cash charges were not ma- 
terially less than his scrip charges. William E. Woodruflf 
would never take it for more than seventy-five cents on the dol- 
lar, but preferred cash. The merchants took it at fifty and sixty 
cents on the dollar, and passed it out at par to the unsuspect- 
ing customers who sold them cotton and peltries, but, if re- 
quired, were ready to pay silver. These merchants did not wait 
for cotton and peltries to come to them, but ran pole boats up 
the river stopping at every settlement to points far up in Kansas. 
Every farmer had a heavy two-horse wagon and kept a number 
of horses, as the only method of travel in the interior was by 
wagon or on horseback. The horse trails were far more numer- 
ous than wagon roads, and horseback riding very popular. 

THE BARBECUE AND BERGU. 

The barbecue was a feature of early territorial life, and the 
pioneers could smell a feast of this kind for fifty miles. The 
bergu was another great feast and consisted of five hundred 
squirrels properly cleaned and boiled to the consistency of soup 
in a twenty gallon iron caldron. A barbecue or a bergu was 
the social occasion of the period, but politicians soon turned it 
into a machine for vote getting and for sampling bad whisky 
and worse oratory. When camp meetings began in 1823, an- 
other social outlet was created and it was no uncommon thing 
to see three hundred horses hitched to swinging limbs of trees 
in the forest, whose riders, male and female, had traveled from 
forty to fifty miles. When preaching was over and the basket 
dinner eaten, the men parceled themselves off in squads to at- 
tend to more important matters, swap horses, trade land and do 
the other fellow up before he had time to get in his work on 
him. One eye was always towards the horns of the altar, while 
the other sought for soft snaps and easy mutton. Thus they 



I04 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

prayed and preyed until four o'clock, when they struck the trail 
for a long ride home. 

THE IMMIGRATION OF 1815-183O. 

The greater part of the immigration of this period was by 
wagon. When Uncle Sam counted the people in 1820-21, he 
found fourteen thousand two hundred and seventy six, which 
had grown in 1830 to something more than thirty thousand. 
The great line of march after 1817 was the Great National Road 
from Missouri to Davidsonville. In 1820 this was extended to 
Cadron through Batesville, and in 1 821 down to Red river 
through Clark and Hempstead counties. Branches from this 
road went east and west, but they were tough propositions, and 
like Jordan, *Tiard roads to travel." The St. Louis Republican 
in 1819 stated that one hundred persons a day passed through 
St. Charles, one-third of whom passed Southward, distributing 
themselves as they were suited clear down to Red river. Some 
bands of immigrants carried one hundred head of cattle, each 
one of them making music with a bell. Every party had from 
three to twenty slaves. The ferries on the Mississippi took over 
from three hundred to five hundred persons a day, and from 
thirty to fifty wagons. Missouri got the most of this migration 
from 1 8 19 to 1830, but from 1830 to 1850 the larger part of it 
entered Arkansas. In 1819 we found the State inhabited by 
people who came by water and who lived on the rivers of East- 
em Arkansas. In 181 5 the method of transportation began to 
change and the covered wagon and the national road began to 
get in their superior work. In the census di January, 1821, 
Lawrence County had five thousand six hundred and five people, 
practically all of whom came in from Missouri after 1816. They 
settled first on Strawberry river, then spread to the Current and 
Black, always taking the best lands. Some of these • reached 
Poke Bayou as early as 1814, but the very largest part did not 
arrive until after 1818. Hempstead County, in 1821, had two 
thousand two hundred and forty-eight people, one-third of whom 
were there in 1817 and 1818. They settled on Mount Prairie 
and spread, like a great setting hen, clear to Red river. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 105 

WHEN PULASKI EXTENDED TO FT. SMITH. 

The third county in size was Pulaski, with nineteen hundred 
and twenty-three people, and settlements at Cadron, Crystal 
Hill, Pecannerie, Little Rock, Crawford Court House, and on 
the Saline near Benton. There were but nine counties in 1821, 
and Pulaski extended clear up to Ft. Smith. The fourth county 
was Arkansas, with twelve hundred and sixty-one people. Phil- 
lips came next with twelve hundred and one, the larger part 
coming directly across the river from distributing points on the 
National road from Nashville to Natchez, while a great number 
came by boat from Southern Indiana and Ohio, and from river 
points in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The next county was 
Clark, with eleven hundred and forty people, the larger part 
coming by way of the National road, while the smaller part 
came by way of the Post. Miller County came next with nine 
hundred and ninety-nine people, nearly all of whom came the 
Missouri route, with a very small number coming up from 
Louisiana. The smallest county was Crawford, with five hun- 
dred and forty-seven souls, included in the Pulaski County 
enumeration. Lawrence and Independence County were listed 
together in this census, although separate counties, and together 
had more than one-third the population of the whole territory. 
This shows how much more important the wagon was in deter- 
mining population and its location than the boat. Far-away 
Hempstead had more than one-seventh of the population, and 
although for the most part from Georgia, North Carolina, Vir- 
ginia and Kentucky they came in from Missouri in wagons 
guided by the National road. 

This distribution of population is always a fascinating study. 
The greatest factor in the immigration from 1812 to 1817 was 
cheap and good lands. Under the influence of this law a great 
number of clean, honest, yet poor people came into the territory 
from every Eastern State. Davidsonville in 1817 had mer- 
chants from rockbound Vermont, and Mount Prairie had mer- 
chants from Maine. The major part of the population, how- 
ever, was from the older Southern States. 



io6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

MILITARY OFFICERS WERE NABOBS. 

The factor most largely entering into the immigration from 
1817 to 1825 was the soldiers' land bounties. Congress gave its 
soldiers of the Revolution and the war of 1812 a preference in 
free lands. This brought another mass of clean, honest, brave, 
and somewhat richer men. A colonel received one thousand 
acres, and when a colonel moved to the territory he came in 
state, bringing cattle and slaves and cutting a very wide swath. 
Before leaving his Eastern home, he had probably bought all 
the land warrants he could find, with the hope of becoming rich. 
Thousands of American soldiers in the East were satisfied to 
remain there, and in many cases generously gave their warrants 
to their poorer neighbors, while others sold them to speculators, 
who thrive in every country, and who, like the poor, are always 
with us. 

THE PROLIFIC RECTOR FAMILY. 

In 1817, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois formed one land 
district, with General William Rector as surveyor general. This 
man had a host of kinsmen by the name of Rector, another host 
by the name of Conway, and still another host by the name of 
Sevier, three names written large upon the early annals of the 
territory and State. General William Rector had more power, 
so far as determining the location of certain families was con- 
cerned, than the president of the United States. He was one of 
nature's noblemen, but undoubtedly had more kin-people than 
any man since Adam, and by a strangely fortuitous chain of cir- 
cumstances, which will be treated hereafter, they nearly all fell 
into Arkansas, and for thirty years dominated it as clansmen of 
the older order. 

THE GREAT RECTOR SURVEY. 

In 1 81 8, General Rector received instructions to survey 
sixty townships, or about one million, three hundred and eighty- 
two thousand acres of land for soldiers' bounties. Complying, 
he surveyed the most of it on the St. Francis and White rivers, 
and on February 17, 1818, land offices were opened at Davidson- 
ville, called the Lawrence Landoffice, and at Arkansas Post. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 107 

Within two years these offices were removed to Batesville and 
Little Rock. Surveys were extended to the Cadron, to Poke 
Bayou, to the Strawberry, to Mount Prairie and to Red river. 
Notwithstanding the fact that these were soldiers' lands, many, 
who were not soldiers, obtained titles to them. Rector finished 
the survey in 1819, and then began a series of surveys for pre- 
emption lands and for sale. The records of the land offices for 
1819, 1820, and 1821 show that the very least quantity was sold; 
that a very little larger quantity went to pre-emptioners or 
Spanish land claimants, while the very largest part of the sur- 
veyed lands was given away as soldiers' bounties. 

The greatest money-making business at that time outside 
of speculation was surveying, and General William Rector could 
place the contracts where he pleased. His surveyors came to 
know the best lands, and had opportunities for buying claims 
that even speculators did not have, and many of them became 
rich men. William Russell of St. Louis was probably the great- 
est speculator in Arkansas lands from 181 6 to 1830, and there is 
hardly a county in Arkansas east of a line through Pt. Remove 
north and south that will not show his name in many places on 
the first deed records. Not only did these surveyors become 
rich, but they also became men of influence and character, and 
had much to do with the early development and growth of the 
territory. But no speculator, nor any surveyor, could keep a 
soldier, or his assignee, from placing his warrants where he 
pleased on unoccupied lands. 

This accounts for the rush to Arkansas and Missouri from 
1818 to 1830, and warrants the conclusion that the general char- 
acter of the immigration was as good as any that ever entered 
any country. The very largest part of it was the citizens sol- 
diery of the republic, not afraid to fight and not afraid to work. 
Along with it came a certain proportion of floaters, and a few 
genuine birds of prey. Where the carcass lies there will always 
be found the buzzards, and where the saints pitch their tents 
there the devil will open a saloon. These classes, however, were 
few in number, altJiough they made considerable noise and 
kicked up a moral stench which seemed to come from a larger 
crowd. The Mississippi river towns were the greatest "hell 
holes," as they were called at that time, with Arkansas river 



io8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

towns a close second. The rest of the State was practically im- 
mune. 

FIRST ANTI-GAMBUNG ASSOCIATION. 

In 1830, the town of Helena organized an Anti-Gambling 
Association, with Judge W. B. R. Horner at its head. This as- 
sociation gave notice to all gamblers, thieves and thugs to get 
out "within twenty-four hours," and signed the notices as our 
forbears signed the Declaration of Independence. When the 
disreputable class read the notices, they stopped not to argue or 
bluff, but* like the Arab pulled up their stakes and ingloriously 
ran away. The list of names forming this early Helena Asso- 
ciation contains the very names that have given Phillips County 
its character and reputation. I shall give them the honor that 
is justly due them in proper season, for, like the band of Boz- 
zaris, "Such men were not bom to die." 

At Washington, in Hempstead CJounty, a kindred society 
was formed at an earlier date, and the men behind it were Hemp- 
stead's most solid citizens. Little Rock began the work in 
1825, but being the capital, it failed to be as effective as the 
other towns. Many of the early legislators were bom gamblers, 
while a few of them were professional gamblers. When law- 
makers do privately what they condemn publicly, it is hard to 
regulate the town in which they meet. The mouth of the White 
river, afterward called Napofeon, was the worst place in the 
territory, and owing to its inaccessibility flaunted its gambling 
into the teeth of the law longer than any other place. 

GAMBLERS DRIVEN FROM LITTLE ROCK. 

The Little Rock Times in 1835, under the fearless manage- 
ment of Andrew Jackson Hunt, a young man from Zanesville, 
Ohio, drove gambling out of Little Rock, but unfortunately he 
died the next year, and the cat came back. The good people of 
Little Rock had to peg on in their crusade against this vice 
without newspaper aid, as the successor of Hunt, young Reed 
from Kentucky, Albert Pike of the Advocate, and DePew of the 
Gazette, were up to their eyes in political controversy, and the 
larger questions of "tearing each other down." William E. 
Woodruff, Sr., was a retired newspaper man for the time, busily 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 109 

working to be treasurer of State. When Featherstonaugh lived 
in Little Rock in 1838, he found gambling in full swing, appar- 
ently the only legitimate business of the place. Woodruff got 
back to the Gazette after awhile; Pike succeeded in destroying 
the Times, and these two gentlemen joined in with the citizens 
and cleaned out the town. Ever since that day, with a few 
sporadic exceptions of reconstruction days, the vice has been 
kept under reasonable control. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Distribution oi^ Settlements in 1820. 

In 1820 there were three men of the name of Stuart, or 
Stewart, in Arkansas, and by a strange coincidence each of these 
carried the title "colonel," and each had a war record of longer 
or shorter duration. The name Stuart or Stewart is Scotch, 
and for centuries has been recognized as the same family name, 
and there are hundreds of instances where different members 
of the same family bearing this surname spell it Stuart or Ste- 
wart, as the mood affected them. It is a name of high antiquity 
in Scotland, and adheres to a famous royal family. 

Colonel James M. Stewart of Mount Prairie, Hempstead 
County, has his name spelled in the Gazette of the day in both 
forms, the spelling Stewart predominating. Two titles were 
also given him, major and colonel; the former, I apprehend, be- 
ing won in the war of 1812, and the latter following as an act 
of courtesy. There are intimations, however, that he was a 
brevet lieutenant colonel in the same war. He entered Hemp- 
stead County in either 1816 or 1817, and was the first clerk of 
the county in 1818. He came to Arkansas from Tennessee, and 
died in Hempstead County on February 24, 1825, the most 
prominent citizen of the county, and frequently mentioned in the 
columns of the Gazette. 

^ In the same county was another Colonel Stuart, whose 
Christian name was Abraham. He entered the county in 18 18 
or 1 8 19. I have not been successful in tracing his military rec- 
ord, but he lived for many years an honored citizen of Hemp- 
stead, dying there on August 23, 1836, "at an advanced age and 
one of the pioneers." 



110 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

The Gazette noted the marriage on November 24, 1821, of 
Lounella, daughter of Colonel Stuart of Hempstead County, to 
William Trimble, United States district attorney. In a previous 
chapter I indentified Colonel Stuart as Colonel James M. Stuart, 
which was an error. It was a case of too many colonels on the 
one hand and too little knowledge of Colonel Abraham Stuart 
on the other. The Gazette spelling of 182 1 of the lady's name 
was also wrong. Lunetta Stuart married William Trimble, and 
lived for many years at Columbus, Arkansas, but made her final 
residence in Texas. William Trimble came to Arkansas from 
Kentucky in 18 19, having been appointed United States district 
attorney by President Monroe. His first act at Arkansas Post 
was to draw two indictments for petit larceny, for which he re- 
ceived eight dollars. In the same year he ran for the legislature 
in Arkansas County, being desirous of sitting in the first legis- 
lature of the territory. There were many others with the same 
desire, but only two, W. B. R. Horner and General W. O. 
Allen, were successful. The defeated candidates were Hartley 
Harrington, William Craig, Richmond Peeler, Doctor Robert 
McKay, Harold Stilwell and William Trimble. Upon his mar- 
riage to Miss Stuart he removed to Hempstead County, and in 
1823 was appointed judge of the Superior Court, succeeding 
Judge Selden. 

J. L. Stuart of Columbus, Arkansas, is a grandson of 
Colonel Abraham Stuart, and there are very probably a number 
of others in that neighborhood carrying the blood, if not the 
name, of this old soldier and pioneer. 

In 1 81 6 Colonel William Stuart located at Davidsonville, 
Lawrence County. He died on March 3, 1822, leaving a family, 
whose descendants I have not been able to trace. Besides these 
three colonels, there was another pioneer of the name of Stuart, 
who lived in Hempstead for many years. The only reference 
I have to him, however, is his appointment as commissioner for 
the sale of lots upon the laying out of the town of Washington. 
The advertisement bore date October 26, 1824, and the commis- 
sioners were Elijah Stuart, John Munn and James Moss. N. E. 
Stuart was surveyor of Hempstead County from 1836 to 1846, 
and was doubtless a descendant of either Elijah or Colonel 
Abraham. James Moss, who was connected with the earliest 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas iii 

lot sale at Washington, was county judge of Hempstead County 
from 1827 to 1832. 

THE FIRST TOWN LOT SALE. 

So far as the records show, Cadron was the first town to 
advertise a sale of lots. Nuttal says that a sale was advertised 
at this place for May, 1818, and thirteen hundred dollars' worth 
of lots were sold. He called attention to another sale for May, 

1819, but does not note the results. On March 27, 1819, he 
wrote as follows: "Town lot speculations have already been 
tried at the Cadron, which is yet but a proximate chain of farms, 
and I greatly doubt whether a town of any consequence on the 
Arkansas will ever be chosen on this site. There is scarcely a 
hundred yards together of level ground, and the cove in which 
Mr. Mcllmurry lives is almost impenetrably surrounded by lofty 
trees." He tells us further that this early town lot bonanza was 
engineered by four proprietors, not naming them. 

In the Missouri Gazette of February' 3, 1819, we find the 
names of these proprietors to have been John Mcllmurry, John 
Chamberlain, James N. Menifee and Thomas H. Tyndall, and 
that the town they proposed to lay off was on the east side of 
the Arkansas river at the mouth of the Cadron, "in the center 
of the best settlement on the Arkansas river." Each of these 
four men was far above mediocrity, and combined made a quar- 
tette of the largest influence in early political affairs. The town 
of Menifee perpetuates the name of one of them and local tradi- 
tions and State history immortalize the others. 

THE TOWN OF FULTON. 

In the Missouri Gazette of October, 1819, and the Arkansas 
Gazette of December, 1819, a sale of town lots was advertised 
for Fulton, the proprietors being William O'Hara, a speculator 
of St. Louis, James Bryan and Robert Fulton. In a succeed- 
ing notice of sale Robert Fulton's name was omitted and Wil- 
liam Andrews substituted. 

The town of Memphis was advertised for lot sale on July i, 

1820, and on July 20 of the same year the town of Currenton 
was laid off at Hix's Ferry on Current river by Jesse Cheek 
and Bernard Rogan. The town of Rome was laid off the same 



112 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

year. Beardstown, in Arkansas County, as early as 1819, manu- 
factured leather, William Luckie being proprietor of the tan- 
nery. 

TOWN OF MOUNt MARIA. 

In 1820 William Craig, who kept tavern at Arkansas Post 
in 18 19, and who practiced law for many years thereafter, laid 
off the town of Mount Maria, on the north side of the Arkansas 
river, one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. He reserved 
four blocks of an acre and a half each for meeting houses, 
market houses and schools. He offered as a gift twenty lots of 
three acres each to actual settlers who should at the same time 
be regular members of the Methodist Episcopal church. At 
that time there was no Methodist Episcopal church, South, so 
that this body of the faithful has as much right to claim William 
Craig as the older one. I can not locate Mount Maria, tmleis it 
be the nucleus from which Pine Bluff originates. 

The Methodists had a strong church at Henry's chapel on 
Mount Prairie in 1816, but the Spring River circuit was estab- 
lished in 1815. In 1820 the Methodists had six circuits — Pecan 
Point, Hot Springs, Mound Prairie, Spring River, White and 
Arkansas. 

All of the preceding towns were laid off before Arkopolis, 
or, as it is now called Little Rock. 

PIONEERS OF I^AWRENCE COUNTY. 

Lawrence County was established by the Missouri terri- 
torial legislature on January 15, 1815, being cut off from Ar- 
kansas County, and was then inhabited by several hundred pro- 
gressive Americans. The earliest settlement dates back to 
1804, at the mouth of Poke bayou, a settlement, however, which 
affected no one save the solitary man who made it. In 181 1, 
and from that on to 181 5, when the county of Lawrence was 
created, a stream of immigrants poured in from Missouri. The 
earliest settlers were Louis De Mun, William Robinson, William 
Hix, Sr., Solomon Hewitt, Andrew Criswell, James M. Kuyken- 
dall, Isaac Kelley, Charles Kelley and Morris Moore. In 1817 
James Campbell was sheriff and Richard Searcy clerk. At 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 113 

Eleven Points in the same county were William Looney, William 
Meredith, Massack H. Jones, John Miller and James Hadlock. 

At Davidsonville were Polly Taylor, James Taylor, William 
Cox, Jason Chamberlain, Staples Chamberlain, Stephen Cham- 
berlain, John Lewis, Sr., John Lewis, Jr., Jacob Garrett and 
Benjamin A. Porter. In March, 182 1, Rueben Lewis made an 
addition to the town of E>avidsonville and dedicated five per cent. 
of the prfK:eeds of the lot sale to the erection of a church, besides 
giving a lot for the same, and an acre of ground for a cemetery. 
He who imagines that the art of promoting was born in our 
day is mistaken. These advertisements also show that schools 
and churches were looked upon then as the chief additions to a 
town, and label these badcwoods promoters as being, in progres- 
siveness, energy and advanced spirit, every whit as good as any 
of their followers. 

In Spring River township, were Thomas Black, Joseph 
Hardin, Jacob Hardin and William McAdoe. In Union town- 
ship John Wells, William Fugett, Henry C. Wells, Jonas Austin 
and William Jones, a justice of the peace. On Strawberry L. 
Richie, George Bradley, Mr. Bayliss, James Allen, Napoleon B. 
Ferguson, James Ferguson, the Revolutionary soldier, Archi- 
bald Hodge and John P. Maxwell. 

GAI^XY OF GRAND OLD MEN. 

Old age is honorable. Gray hairs are an honor to any life 
and a crown of glory to a well-spent life. I have never seen a 
healthful man that wanted to die, and down deep in every heart 
is the hope that he may live a long and happy life. The desire 
to live long is universal and when one finds a number of gray 
heads in a community the inference is either that they have lived 
most careful lives or that the locality contains elements con- 
ducive to longevity. What shall we say of Lawrence County 
in early days? In 1830 a census was taken, which showed 
some remarkable instances of long life. The rules of the United 
States Census Bureau in 1830, although not so systematic as to- 
day, required nevertheless that the ages should be classified. 
Between sixty and seventy years of age at the date of the enum- 
eration were the following Lawrence County pioneers: Wil- 
liam Hix, Sr., Henry Murrey, Arthur Murphy, Colonel Stephen 



114 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Byrd, Thomas Lewis, John Pierce, Mary Welch, Mrs. Nathaniel 
McCarroU, Ananias Erwin, William McKnight, Isaac Flaery 
and James Davis. 

Between seventy and eighty years: Nathan Luttrell, Sr., 
James Boyd, Mrs. Wayland, Peter Taylor, James S. Worten- 
berry, Daniel Williams, Martin Van Zant and Mrs. Joseph Kil- 
lett. 

Eighty years and upward: John Shaver. - 

Twenty-one persons were in Lawrence County sixty years 
of age and upward in 1830. One of the Lewises, thought to be 
Henry, lived to be one hundred and eight years of age, and 
John Gould Fletcher, the ancestor of the great Fletcher family 
of the State, died in 1825 in Lawrence County, an octogenarian. 
His wife, who was a Lewis, lived also beyond her eightieth year. 
Nor were large families exceptional. The family of W. B. R. 
Horner consisted of thirteen white persons and seven slaves. 
Joseph Martin of Crawford County died March 24, 1841, at 
the age of sixty-nine having served in two wars, leaving his 
wife, seventeen children and no slaves, to mourn his irreparable 
loss. He was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, and lived a 
strenuous life. In December, 1828, a woman in Clark County 
gave birth to five living children, three of whom, with the 
mother, survived the catastrophe and lived to tell the story. 
James M. Kuykendall died in Lawrence County February 15, 
1836, at the age of fifty-four years, twenty-one years of which 
were passed on Arkansas soil. He came from Kentucky along 
with the Hardins and served in the Fourth territorial legisla- 
ture. He was a man of large stature and afraid of no living 
being. In 1825 he was elected sheriff, succeeding Joe Hardin, 
and was elected for six successive terms thereafter, dying in 
office. No other man in Lawrence County has ever held office 
as long as Colonel James M. Kuykendall. 

BATESVILLE ONCE STATE'S BEST TOWN. 

In the southern part of the county, cut off in 1820 and 
called Independence County, were John Read, Perry G. Mag- 
ness, James Miller, Peyton Tucker, Robert Bean, Stephen Jones 
and Matthew Adams. When Batesville was laid off, March 
10, 1821, Richard Searcy, James Searcy, Charles Kelley and 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 115 

Joseph Hardin, James Trimble and Samuel S. Hall became 
residents, and to them the town owes its early progressiveness. 
For more than twenty years Batesville* was the leading town in 
Arkansas, excelling every other in population, wealth, cultiva- 
tion, schools and regard for law. Each and every one of its 
first settlers had been in the territory since 181 5, and each and 
all centered their endeavors on the development of a great and 
thriving town. Thomas Curran, an erstwhile partner of Ter- 
ence Farrelly at Arkansas Post, moved to Batesville in 1822, 
after his marriage to Jane Dodge of Davidsonville. Townsend 
Dickinson, a lawyer from Yonkers, New York, and one of the 
first supreme judges of the State of Arkansas, moved to Bates- 
ville in 1821. He married there, February 27, 1825, Maria, 
daughter of Colonel Moore. This wife died at Batesville on 
February 2, 1836. 

In Christian township, Lawrence County, the first settlers 
were John Shannon, Abraham and George Ruddell. Binks and 
Henderson Lafferty were prominent young men, the former 
marrying Sally, daughter of James Miller, and the latter on the 
same day (August 17, 1821), Nancy Craig. 

POPULATION OF THE OLDEST SETTLEMENTS. 

The old settlements of Arkansas are best shown by the cen- 
sus of 1820. Lawrence County at that time had nine townships, 
with the following number of inhabitants: Christian township, 
one thousand two hundred and twenty-two, the largest and most 
populous township in the territory ; Spring River, seven hundred 
and fifty-two; Davidson, four hundred and sixty-one; Current 
River, four hundred and twenty-two; Columbia, five hundred 
and twenty ; Strawberry, six hundred and twenty-one ; Lebanon, 
three hundred and nine; Union, four hundred and seventy-five, 
and White River, eight hundred and twenty. Two of these, 
Davidson and Christian, were named after old settlers. Some 
of these townships are in other counties today. 

Phillips County had but four townships, none of them very 
densely populated: Cache had one hundred and seventy-eight; 
St. Francis, which included Utica, four hundred and eighty; 
Mississippi, forty-five and Hopefield four hundred and ninety- 
eight. Cache, Mississippi and Hopefield townships are in other 



ii6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

counties today. Arkansas County, the oldest county in the ter- 
ritory, had three townships: Point Chicot, now in Desha and 
Chicot counties, four hundred and fifty-two; Mississippi, now in 
Desha County, eighty-two, and Arkansas township, including 
Arkansas Post, seven hundred and twenty-six. 

Pulaski had six townships: Cadron, seven hundred and 
seventeen; Crawford, now four or five counties, five hundred 
and forty-seven; Big Rock, three hundred and thirty-eight; 
Vaugine, one hundred and twenty-two; Red River, one hundred 
and sixteen, and Saline, eighty-three. 

Clark County had four townships: Caddo, six hundred 
and seventeen; Warm Spring, one hundred and fifty-three; An- 
toine, eighty-eight, and Missouri, one hundred and eighty-two. 
The settlement on the Caddo began with the Barkmans in 1809 
and the Hemphills in 1810. 

Hempstead also had foUr townships: Missouri, three hun- 
dred and fifty-eight; Ozan, five hundred and sixty-three; Saline, 
seven hundred and sixty-three, and Monroe, five hundred and 
sixty-four. 

Miller County was not enumerated by townships, but had 
nine hundred and ninety-nine souls. 

These townships are the best and surest guides to the oldest 
settlements in each of these counties and of the many counties 
formed therefrom. They are a gauge also to the location of the 
richest and best lands of the territory as it existed then, exclud- 
ing the Indian reserves. 

Of these enumerated people there were sixteen hundred and 
seventeen slaves, or about one-ninth of the entire population. 
The slaves were for the most part in eastern and southern Ar- 
kansas, where they gave little trouble to agitators or humanitar- 
ians. They became the center of interest, however, in eighteen 
hundred and thirty-five, when in the constitutional convention, 
David Walker of Hempstead, by securing representation based 
on white population and three-fifths of the slaves, also secured a 
greater representation for Hempstead County with fewer white 
people than for Lawrence, with a greater number of white 
people. Had the question of white representation been sub- 
mitted to the people separate from all other questions it would 
have carried by a large majority. As it was the people either 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 117 

had to give up statehood or take the mixed representation. The 
effect was to give a smaller number of white people in south 
Arkansas a larger influence in State government than a much 
larger number elsewhere. The question created much conten- 
tion throughout the State, but was soon forgotten in the march 
of events. 

There were fifty-nine free negroes in 1820 and thirty-nine 
Bon-naturalized foreigners. 

Such was the distribution of settlements in December, 1820, 
and in January and February, 182 1, when the enumeration was 
taken by the government, and out of these nuclei of settlements 
rather than the nuclei of 1810, must come the studies which ac- 
count for the growth of the State. 

1. The pre-United States settlements ended in 1803. 

2. The first Anglo-American settlements began in 1806, 
and subsided in 181 1, W. B. R. Horner of Helena being about 
the last of this wave. 

3. The second Anglo-American settlements, beginning in 
1814 and running to 1818. 

4. The public land wave beginning in 1819, and exhaust- 
ing its force in 1840. 

In the third and fourth waves, the farmers came first, as 
the great backbone of the settlements ; then came the blacksmiths 
and other artisans; lastly the professional men. In the second 
wave adventurous merchants were side by side with adventurous 
hunters and trappers. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Benjamin Fooy and Fooy^s Point — ^W. B. R. Horner — St. 
Francis and Helena. 

The Mississippi river region from 1800 to 1819 was a land 
of adventure, daring and rough living. Calhoun called the river 
an inland sea and along its banks isolated cabin settlements were 
made, some prior to 1800, but a much larger number from 1800 
to 1812. The river itself was a terror to the early immigrants. 
Squatting as they did in the almost impenetrable forest jungle 
along its banks, they were repeatedly driven to higher ground 



1 18 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

by the recurring overflows, at that time uncontrolled by levees 
or other hindering obstacles. The river rolled on in majesty 
and when it pleased spread itself over an area of from fifty to 
one hundred miles in width, driving deer, bear and other wild 
animals of the forest to the higher elevations — ^the wooded is- 
lands, as it were, of the ocean of waters. 

Fooy's Point, opposite Memphis, afterward called by the 
Spaniards Camp Esperanza and by the Anglo-Americans, Hope- 
field, was on high ground, and prior to 1800 was the place of a 
considerable settlement. Benjamin Fooy was the original set- 
tler, followed by the location of a Spanish deputy governor, and 
then by adventurous Americans. Benjamin Fooy's name will 
forever stand as the first of the mighty army of settlers on the 
Mississippi — ^the first in the van of law and order — the connect- 
ing link between the vanishing barbarism of the wild woods and 
the rising civilization of modern times. His house was ever 
open to the friendless on the Mississippi, and to it were attracted 
the wiser and stronger characters of the time. It was in his 
house, at a period when the whole region was as yet lawless and 
uncontrolled, that the great Volney wrote his great "Ruin," and 
the table upon which this volume was written was one of Ben- 
jamin Fooy's priceless mementoes. After his death his sons 
prized it more highly than did their father, refusing an almost 
princely oflFer from Judge Overton of Memphis. When the 
State of Arkansas shall enter systematically upon the preserva- 
tion and housing of the really great landmarks of her march to 
power, if will be well for her to hunt up Volney's old writing 
desk, or rather Benjamin Fooy's old writing table, immortalized 
by Volney's use in the production of a masterpiece. He who 
for decades has had nothing but sneers for the men who came 
first in the hard life of settlement, will find himself worsted in 
a combat with Fooy. A character that could attract Volney and 
hold };>im in his cabin life for several months is no ordinary man. 
A house that can boast of being the place where such a book 
was written is a greater house than the "Big House" of Robert 
Crittenden. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 119 

OTHER CRITTENDEN COUNTY SETTLERS. 

Between 1800 and 1812 the region round Wappenocke had 
gained many additions, none of them, however, equaling in dig- 
nity and worth the old pioneer, Benjamin Fooy. Isaac and 
Samuel Fooy were men of parts and were well known to all river 
men. Mentford Ferryman was another rugged character, dat- 
ing back almost to the beginning of things, a hunter and trapper 
known far and wide. Another old resident of the place, John 
Grace, dated back to 1802. Proceeding down the river the set- 
tlements became fewer in number until the present site of 
Helena was reached, where the settlement of Phillips, Patter- 
son and Mooney presented another air space for civilization. 
At the Sixty-ninth island of the navigator, Nuttal found in 1819 
a tavern kept by a man named McLain. The presence of a tav- 
ern indicated a settlement in the neighborhood, for a tavern 
would not be necessitated by the river traffic of the time. Nut- 
tal says that between this island and the mouth of the St. Francis 
there was a considerable settlement on the White. He does not 
name this settlement, but in the first issue of the Gazette of 1819 
reference is made to the town of Utica, a town at that time of 
nearly One hundred people. In the election for delegate in 1819 
there were one hundred and two votes cast at Arkansas Post, 
eighty-two at St. Francis, the township containing the present 
Phillips County, and the ancient town of Utica; thirty-eight 
votes were cast in Point Chicot township, the present Chicot 
County ; twenty-six at Hopefield, the present Crittenden County ; 
twenty at Cache township, the present Monroe County, and thir- 
teen in Mississippi township, the present Desha County. This 
large settlement in St. Francis township extended from the 
mouth of the St. Francis to where Helena stands, and, in my 
opinion, the old town of Utica was at the mouth of the St. Fran- 
cis. It was a town of some possibilities in 1819, but gave place 
in a very short time to the greater glory of Helena. 

TOWNS THAT DWINDLED AWAY. 

I have tried to locate Utica exactly, as many marriages were 
celebrated at this point, and many Arkansas families date their 
origin from this early Arkansas village. There was a later 



120 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

town, Shirley, in the same neighborhood, but this, like Utica, 
has faded away. Between the mouth of the St. Francis and a 
point twenty miles below lived at dates from 1802 to 1812 a fine 
line of old river men. There were Ebenezer Fulsome, Moses 
Perry, William Bailey, J. McLean, Jesse Stephens, the last two 
living near the mouth of Eel river, at its junction with the St. 
Francis. Sylvanus Phillips lived exactly at the mouth of the 
St. Francis in 1797, but died near Helena. The Pattersons and 
Dunns also lived at the mouth of the St. Francis, but the Patter- 
sons soon became identified with Helena. In the same neigh- 
borhood lived Wm. Gregory, Patrick Cassidy, Henry Cassidy 
and Mary Edwards. Three miles below the mouth of the St. 
Francis lived Edward Proctor in 1803, and ten miles below the 
mouth lived John LeFevre. On the waters of the St. Francis 
lived Moses Burnett, Joseph Sevier, Enon Chartreuse and John 
Taylor. These were of the second wave of settlers, coming 
between 1800 and 181 1, and had increased to eighty-two voters 
in November, 1819, or about four hundred population for the St. 
Francis township settlements. 

W. B. R. HORNER. 

One of the leaders of this settlement was W. B. R. itomer. 
Sylvanus Phillips and Daniel Mooney came earlier, being there 
prior to 1800. In the death notice of Homer it is stated that 
Horner came in 181 1 and that he was among the last of the 
earlier wave of settlement. But while Mooney and Phillips 
were earlier, they were no more prominent. 

W. B. R. Horner was born at Falmouth, Virginia, in 1785, 
of an old and respectable colonial family. He was twenty-six 
years of age when he landed at the St. Francis settlements in 
181 1, and was fifty-eight years of age at his death in Helena on 
May II, 1838. He settled in this region before Phillips County 
was born and was the principal figure in its creation. He was 
before Helena was, and to him more than any other of the 
earlier men is Helena indebted for the vigor of her early exist- 
ence. Horner was a resident of the settlement when it was a 
part of Louisiana territory and saw that territory die; he lived 
in the settlement all through its life as a part of the territory 
of Missouri and all through the life of the territory of Arkansas. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 121 

He died just as Arkansas threw off the territorial yoke, and 
took place among the sisterhood of States. That Horner was 
one of the quickening forces in all these changes can not be 
denied. He came to Arkansas a well-educated man, bringing 
with him all the courtesy and dignity of old Virginia life. He 
came as a lawyer, thoroughly equipped for a professional career, 
but without fortune or the blandishments of fame. Whatever 
of legal business the St. Francis settlement had went to W. B. 
R. Homer, and in every thriving community there will always 
be enough real estate, probate and criminal business to insure a 
young practitioner an honest competency. This was true of 
Homer at least. He had the confidence of the St. Francis set- 
tlement, the Cache settlement, the Mississippi settlement and of 
the people at Arkansas Post. 

THE FIRST ELECTION IN 1819. 

When representatives were to be chosen for the first legis- 
lature in 18 19 there was no lack for candidates. Eight men 
wanted the place and made strong efforts to get it. Two of 
these, Bartley Harrington and Harold Stilwell, had been in the 
territory longer than Horner; in fact, they were almost natives, 
having lived in the territory from boyhood. Doctor McKay and 
Richmond Peeler could boast of as long a residence as Horner, 
and William Craig a year longer. William Craig believed in 
the old-timers having control and was always outspoken about 
the upstarts, Crittenden, Scott and Norvelle sent in from the 
outside to rule them. He demanded that Arkansas offices be 
filled by Arkansas men^ and gave Bates considerable trouble in 
his first race. General William O. Allen had been in the terri- 
tory but a short time, while William Trimble was a most recent 
importation from Kentucky. It was a lively race in the swamps 
and undergrowth, but brains and character combined won the 
race. W. B. R. Horner and General W. O. Allen were elected, 
and two better men could not have been sent to the legislature. 
The lower house was composed of W. B. R. Horner and W. O. 
Allen, from Arkansas County; Thomas Fish, from Clark 
County ; J. English and W. Stevenson, from Hempstead ; Joseph 
Hardin, Sr., a revolutionary soldier, and Joab Hardin, from 
Lawrence ; Radford Ellis and T. H. Tyndall, from Pulaski. 



122 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Nine choicer spirits never sat around any legislative board. 
They came from the best families of the United States, from 
the army of the United States, from backwood's homes. They 
united blood, brains and adventure in each of their lives and 
made a better showing than nine-tenths of the succeeding legis- 
latures have been able to make. Allen was killed before his 
time was out, and the old settler Stilwell, sent in his place. 
Prior to StilwelFs coming Horner had the distinguished honor 
of being the oldest resident of the State in the legislative body, 
but when Stilwell came, all the rest were mere new-comers. 
Stilwell went back into the dark ages of 1798 and could and did 
many marvelous tales unfold. William Stevenson seems to have 
had more legislative experience than the others, and was elected 
speaker. He did what no other speaker has ever done since, 
served onp day and resigned. His reason was that he had rather 
shoot than be shot at, and that he had been made a target for 
one day, which was enough. The question then arose, "Who 
should be shot at?" Joseph Hardin, Sr. said: "Boys, I was 
shot at by the British in 1778, and Fm not afraid of your small 
arms." They elected him, and he gave proof of the qualities 
which afterward made the Hardin family in Kentucky famous. 
Allen was the principal thinker and speaker; Horner, the man 
of the best judgment; English, the man of ideas, while Joab 
Hardin, Radford Ellis and T. H. Tyndall furnished the local 
coloring. The upper house, called the Council, was composed 
of five grand old-timers, Sylvanus Phillips, Jacob Barkman, 
David Clark, Edward McDonald and John Mcllmurry. Rich- 
ard Searcy of Davidsonville was clerk to the council and a fine 
young lawyer; J. Chamberlain was clerk to the house, and Sam 
C. Roane, engrossing and enrolling clerk. 

These seventeen men were far more in the public eye than 
the governor, Miller or the secretary, Crittenden. These four- 
teen men had been selected by the ballots of freemen to make 
law^s, and they were the only representatives of the elective prin- 
ciple then in being. Wm. Craig said: "The president sent us 
a governor from New Hampshire and a secretary from Ken- 
tucky. That's all right, but as Americans, we like to choose 
our own cooks." 

Largely through the influence of Homer Arkansas County 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 123 

was divided, and on May i, 1820, Phillips County was created 
and named after its patriarch, Sylvanus Phillips, of the council. 
W. B. R. Horner was the first representative from Phillips 
County in the second legislature, and held the place through the 
life of the third session of that body. He served six years as a 
territorial legislator, when he was selected as prosecuting attor- 
ney for the First circuit, which position he held for five years, 
when he resigned. He served as clerk of Phillips County from 
1820 to 1 82 1. When the office of Common Pleas judge was 
created in 1821, Phillips County was given three judges, and 
Daniel Mooney, Benjamin Fooy and W. B. R. Horner were 
selected for these places, which they held until the positions 
v-*ere abolished. At this time Horner lived at Utica, where he 
solemnized many of the early marriages. In 1828 he was made 
the alderman of Helena, which position he held for five or six 
years. This position corresponds to our office of mayor. He 
was a lot holder of the old town of Rome, and the owner of 
much valuable property throughout the State. 

OLD-TIME FOURTH OF JULY BARUECUHS. 

• 

Phillips County held its first Founh of July celebration in 
182 1. Several beeves were roasted whole and served in bar- 
becue style. A man who has never attended an old-time barbe- 
cue IS not a thoroughly educated man. His head may have had 
proper attention, but his stomach has been neglected. To my 
mind fully half the sickness of the present age is due to starva- 
tion. The idea of economy in living has made wholesome liv- 
ing dangerous. There are too many physiologists telling us 
what to eat, and what not to eat. Thus through stinginess and 
fear the stomach is starved. The idea that high thinking and 
low living are synonymous is one of the modern absurdities. 
High thinking and the power to do any kind of work well comes 
from good living, and barbecued meat of the olden days is one 
of its best types. This Phillips County barbecue was held near 
a spring in the neighborhood, where a fine quality of Kentucky 
mint had taken hold, though why the mint patch should be im- 
mortalized I can not say. There must have been some bever- 
ages pf very strong parts, though of this the record is silent. A 
Kentucky barbecue with the mint left out would be like Hamlet 



124 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

with Hamlet omitted. At this first barbecue in Phillips good 
order prevailed all day long and everybody was delighted. 
Toasts were drunk and at the conclusion of each a salute of 
from three to nine guns were fired. W. B. R. Homer presided 
at this celebration and made the address of the day. He was 
assisted by Doctor Smith, Doctor Swanson, N. Rightor, Colonel 
Spencer and Colonel Mooney. These patriotic meetings were 
continued in Phillips County for more than fifteen years, and 
W. B. R. Homer was regularly chosen as the presiding officer. 

On the same day down at Arkansas Post another barbecue 
was held, and Robert Johnson, one of the patriarchs of Chicot, 
was selected for the following toast: 

''Ourselves — ^Recently collected together from various quar- 
ters, may we harmonize in feeling, and with united efforts stead- 
fastly pursue our own and our country's best interests." 

Some are ready to criticise the gentleman for emphasizing 
his private interests. A man that can not steadfastly pursue 
his own best interests will be lacking in power to pursue his 
countr>''s interests, and the man who is always subordinating 
himself to his country's good needs watching, lest tl\e country 
suffer. Bob Johnson's toast reminds me of another: 

"Ourselves — God may have made others prettier and fairer, 
but I'm sure you'll all ag^ee, he never made a bunch, healthier 
or squarer." 

ST. FRANCIS AND HELENA. 

General W. O. Allen was the most active man, and Colonel 
AA'illiam B. R. Horner was next in all that transpired in the first 
real legislature — ^the one elected by the people. Three-fourths 
of the motions of this earliest legislative body were made by 
Colonel Horner. He it was that introduced the bill cutting 
Arkansas County into two parts, one to hold the old name and 
the other to be called Phillips County. This act passed in Feb- 
ruary. 1820, but in all the reports of the secretary of State is- 
sued since the days of Jacob Frohlick, the formative day is 
placed on May i, 1820. 

The county site was originally called St. Francis. Just 
when the name Helena supplanted it I can not say, but tha first 
reference to Helena in the Arkansas Gazette was on June 23, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 125 

X821. Prior to this date the Gazette agent, Colonel Daniel 
^looney, was given a residence at St. Francis ; on that day and 
^ver afterward, at Helena. Colonel Horner before this was re- 
ferred to as of St. Francis and after this as of Helena. Now 
It is more probable that the town changed its name about this 
^me than that these two gentlemen should have moved at the 
same time from St. Francis to Helena. More than that, the 
Gazette after June 23, 182 1, made no further reference to St. 
Francis, and before this had never mentioned Helena. St. 
Francis died, but the town known by that name remained under 
the new name, Helena. 

Thus in 1836 a county site was laid out for Monroe County 
on Maddux's bay, a lake about four miles from White river 
and about one hundred miles from its mouth. This county site 
was called Lawrenceville, and the commissioners advertised a 
sale of lots on December 11, 1836. Whether Lawrenceville 
died out or became Clarendon I can not tell, but most probably 
the present Clarendon is the old Lawrenceville. The commis- 
sioners for Lawrenceville were Andrew D. Nance, John R. Dye 
and Martin Guest. Helena, born in 1821, simply carried on the 
life of the old village of St. Francis, which lived sleepily and 
sluggishly through a long line* of years back to 1802. Wm. B. 
R. Homer had lived there from 181 1 and continued to live there 
through the rest of his life. Phillips County ran north to the 
Missouri line, west to the St. Francis river and south to the 
mouth of the White. Horner from 1821 to 1826 was an attor- 
ney and land agent, advertised in the Gazette nearly the whole 
time, and had much to do with the settlement of the early land 
titles. He was postmaster at Helena from 1823 to 1825. Hel- 
ena continued to be a lazy, sluggish town until 1835, when it 
began to show a faster development. 

THE ADVENT OF NEWSPAPERS. 

In 1833 John W. Steele started the Political Intelligencer 
at Helena, but was induced to transfer it during that year to 
Little Rock, where it lasted through one bitter political struggle. 
Steele sold out to Jefferson Smith and Andrew Jackson Hunt, 
who changed the name of the paper to the Little Rock Times. 
The people did not like the long name, "Political Intelligencer," 



126 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and Smith & Hunt did not want an elephant on their hands. 
Hunt died within a year and Smith took James H. Reed as 
partner and editor. Hunt started in with one and fifty sub- 
scribers, but at his death had a roll of three hundred and twenty- 
five ; in ten months after his death Reed claimed a circulation of 
seven hundred. This paper was making inroads on the Advo- 
cate, owned by Albert Pike, and Pike conceived the idea of add- 
ing the seven hundred subscribers of the Times to his own list. 
He bought out Jefferson Smith at a good round figure, and then 
proposed to Reed to consolidate the Times with the Advocate 
under the name Advocate and Times, with Pike and Reed as 
editors and owners. Reed agreed and between them they got 
out the best paper in Arkansas from 1835 ^o 1840. 

HOW HELENA WAS BOOMED. 

The people of Helena having tasted of newspaper sweets 
were eager that some one else should enlighten the town. In 
1836 William T. Yeomans gratified their desires and for two 
years got out the Constitutional Journal. Why it was called by 
so grandiloquent a title will never be known, and there is noth- 
ing in any of its issues bearing on constitutional questions. The 
one thing it did was to **boom Helena." It did this well. It 
told the world a lot of things that Helena undoubtedly had and 
a lot of things that Helena did not have. It told of the sleepy 
age through which the village had passed and then noted the 
great changes beginning in 1836. It told of new houses, new 
wharves, new migration and ever so many other new things. 
Yeomans looked around him at the rising town and then looked 
into the future. What he saw in this realm induced him to wax 
eloquent. He declared Helena was to be "the London and 
Paris" of the Western continent : It was to be "London in size" 
and "Paris in beauty." Great was the foresight of Yeomans, 
but too far ahead of Helena to be appreciated at that time. He 
found himself languishing for patronage. At times he threat- 
ened to sell out and at others refused to admit that he ever 
wanted to sell. He was like the boy with a counterfeit two- 
dollar bill. Some days he thought it was good and on other 
days bad. On one of the days he thought it good, it went. So 
with Yeomans. On one of his blue days Martin made him a 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 127 

good round offer and the paper went to Martin, who suspended 
It in less than a year. 

THE OLD AND NEW HELENA. 

Yeomans saw everything old through a minimizing lens and 

everything new through double magnifiers. Grant that the old 

Helena was slow, and sleepy, and the new Helena more up to 

date, the old Helena had many compensations. It was like the 

old-time clock which sat in the old farmhouse for a hundred 

years ticking off the minutes to the grand sound : "Peace, Rest ; 

Peace, Rest; Peace, Rest." What a compensation is peace and 

rest. The grandfather and grandmother sat under its sound at 

peace with all the world and in most beatific rest. The children 

grew into refined men and women under the guiding oscillations 

of an atmosphere measured by the sweet ticking, "Peace, Rest." 

Every grandchild loved the old clock and imbibed the sweetness 

of its spirit. The old cat and the faithful dog slept peacefully 

side by side undisturbed by the ticking of the old clock. But 

a new age came — an age of bustle, of hurry and of excitement. 

A little round clock now supplants the old timepiece. The new 

clock costs seventy-five cents with an alarm thrown in to wake 

up the household after a dissipation lasting half the night. The 

new clock is on the mantel and ticks off the minutes in a most 

up-to-date style, saying "Get-there, get-there, get-there," a 

variation of the old time "Pot-rack, pot-rack," of the guinea 

fowl. The Horners, the Biscoes, the PhilHpses, the Ferebees, 

the Mooneys, the Pattersons, the Deshas and other old-timers of 

Helena had peace and rest, which their descendants have never 

had under the "get-there" drive of modern law. 

THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE OF 1836. 

The Latimers were an old and highly respectable family of 
St. Francis and Helena. Whether Griswold Latimer entered 
Arkansas County before Colonel Horner is a question I have not 
as yet decided, but I am of the opinion that he did. He was of 
an old Alabama family and well known to all river men. He 
lived at Utica and reared sons and daughters, who intermarried 
with the best people of the time. His descendants are in many 
parts of the State. 



128 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

In 1836 one of his sons — ^William Latimer — a most respect- 
able citizen of Helena, was foully murdered by an unknown 
hand. Even as the gambling element had moved the citizens 
to most decisive action in earlier days, so this murder moved 
them to rapid decision. About a dozen men gathered that night 
at the home of Darby Pentecost, one of the quaintest men of the 
day. Colonel Wm. B. R. Horner was there and was called to 
the chair, with William R. Sebastian as secretary. 

Horner made a rapid-fire talk explaining the situation and 
demanding not only that quick action be taken to uncover the 
murderer, but also that decisive action be had to cleanse the 
town of all undesirable characters. Honorable Thomas J. Lacy 
then moved that a committee be named and sent out to bring 
in all the better class of citizens. That committee consisted of 
Silas Drury, W. W. Palmer, Robert Maloney and Wm. P. Craig. 
A recess was taken for the committee to act. The committee 
scoured the town rapidly, as the sergeant-at-arms scours Wash- 
ington for absentees from Congress. Every citizen notified 
dropped everything and went to Pentecost's. 

George W. Ferebee, a man who had lived there twenty-five 
years, moved that three committees be named: (i) A Vigil- 
ance Committee to hunt down the murderer; (2) a Finance 
Committee to raise a reward of one thousand dollars: (3) a 
Secret Committee for advice. 

MEMBERS OF VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. 

Colonel Wm. Horner appointed as the Vigilance Committee 
George W. Ferebee, Miller Irvin, N. Rightor, Thomas B. Handy, 
Davis Thompson, Thomas J. Lacy, James H. McKenzie. Wm. 
R. Sebastian, Wm. M. McPherson, S. C. Mooney and S. R. 
Sumpter. On motion Colonel Wm. B. R. Horner and Silas 
Drury were added. This was the strongest vigilance committee 
ever authorized to act by any body of citizens in Arkansas. 
Every man on the committee was a law-abiding citizen, and 
every one of them was a terror to evil-doers. This vigilance 
committee was not to hang nor burn the culprit. It was to dis- 
cover him, arrest him and put him in jail for trial. A reward 
of one thousand dollars was also raised and offered for the ap- 
prehension of the murderer. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 129 

This committee made a raid on the dark corners of Helena 
and of St. Francis township. All suspicious characters were 
arrested and put through a merciless examination, but all to no 
purpose. The murderer was not found. The effect, however, 
was magical. The bad and suspicious characters left the place 
and for twenty-five years Helena had no such diabolical outrage 
to contend against. The pioneers deserve our grateful remem- 
brance for removing from our pathway many of the ruvler dan- 
gers of an earlier civilization. The descendants of this vigilance 
committee are numerous and should take an added pride from 
the fact that their ancestors, when courage was needed, did not 
shirk from the task. 

INCORPORATION OF HELENA. 

The old town of Helena had been getting along swimmingly 
for many years, but in 1836 it wdce up to find that it had been 
'•'whangdoodled," as Mr. Oliver said of his canal matters. At 
Little Rock there was a legislature in session and William Rus- 
sell of St. Louis had a bill introduced to incorporate the town of 
Helena. The Helena members, thinking of no evil designs, 
made little investigation and no opposition. When the bill 
passed and was scrutinized by Colonel Wm. B. R. Horner, the 
alderman, or, as he was called, "the lord high mayor," of Hel- 
ena, it was discovered that Russell had incorporated into Helena 
a lot of his wild land, and was log rolling to have the county 
buildings moved from their old location to his holdings. An- 
other wave of excitement swept over Helena. The people said 
they would not be taxed to give an unearned increment of value 
to a non-resident speculator. But what were they to do? Col- 
onel Horner found a way. 

ALL HELENA OFFICIALS ABDICATED. 

He advised the town assessor, the town constable, the over- 
seer of the streets and the clerk of the corporation to resign, 
which they did. He then advised the common council, consist- 
ing of George W. Ferebee, James H. McKenzie, Benjamin T. 
Odle and William Dodson, to do likewise, which they did. Fol- 
lowing all this, Colonel William Horner likewise resigned and 
there was no Helena and no way to create new officials except 



130 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

under the old law, which the citizens resolutely refused to put 
into operation. A compromise was effected during the year by 
which the bad features of the new law were abandoned and a 
new set of officers created. Colonel Wm. B. R. Horner refused 
to re-enter public life and died shortly afterward. 

One of the last acts of Colonel Horner was in the educa- 
tional field. The school authorities of tiie town on August 10, 
1836, appointed him, with James H. McKenzie and Fleetwood 
Hanks, commissioners to erect a school house on lot number 
four hundred and eighty-one of the town of Helena. I do not 
know whether this building is still in existence, but the citizens 
of Helena may easily trace the structure. 

OTHER MEMBERS OF HORNER FAMILY. 

One J. S. Horner began teaching at Helena on April 28, 
1836, having been a teacher five years preceding. The ordinary 
primary branches were taught for six dollars; the grammar 
branches for eight dollars, and the high school branches for ten 
dollars a quarter. J. S. Homer gave up the school room in 
1837 and became deputy clerk under J. R. Sanford. From 1844 
to 1846 he was county judge of Phillips County, and from 1838 
to 1842 its county clerk. 

Ferdinand S. Horner, William F. Moore and John Swan 
were appointed by the legislature in 1836 as appraisers of land 
for the Real Estate bank. 

Horner & Tolleson opened a store on July 28, 1836, in a 
new house belonging to Tolleson, and W. D. Homer was treas- 
urer of the county from 1856 to 1858. In 1835 Amelia Harriet 
Horner was married at the residence of Colonel Wm. B. R. 
Horner to J. A. Wherry of St. Louis, the ceremony being per- 
formed by Judge Lacy'. In 1830 the census noted W. B. R. 
Horner as the head of a family of thirteen white persons and 
seven slaves but I have not traced tlieir careers. 

I am unable to state the genealogical ties uniting these Hel- 
ena people of the surname Horner to the pioneer, but if they 
are not all direct descendants they are of very close kin. The 
name of Colonel Wm. B. R. Horner can not be disassociated 
from Phillips County and will forever remain as one of its heroic 
names. He lived in a rude age, far in advance of his environ- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 131 

ment. He lived for law, for progression and for righteousness. 
His descendants are also a vital part of Phillips County. 

In the constitutional convention of 1874, the convention 
that revivified Arkansas and started her on a new career of 
glory, Phillips County was represented by J. J. Horner, a man 
whose life and career are household words in eastern Arkansas 
today. This family first appeared in Arkansas in 181 1 and in 
four more years will have passed the century mark. One hun- 
dred years from Wm. B. R. Horner of St. Francis to J. J. Hor- 
ner of Helena. A century of pulsing life and vigor for all men, 
hut far more important to the Horners of today. The pioneer 
set a vigorous step — a step which others of the name and blood 
have sought to maintain with honor and credit. In 191 1 the 
Horners of Helena should hold a reunion and set a step for the 
century to come. . All honor to the heroic pioneer, Colonel Wm. 
B. R. Homer. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Great Cherokee Indian Agents — Matthew Lyon — Edward 
W. DuVal, and David Brearly. 

In 1819 outside of Arkansas Post the most considerable set- 
tlement in the State was at Cadron, where about sixty families 
had gathered. Further up came Pecannerie, the town or settle- 
ment where pecans grew abundantly. Here lived the old Gen- 
eral William Lewis, who died there January 17, 1825. Origin- 
ally a Virginian, he was made a captain in the Virginia levies in 
1791 ; a captain in the United States Infantry, March 16, 1792, 
a member of the Third United States sublegion on September 
4, 1792, and was honorably discharged in 1796. A lieutenant 
colonel of Kentudcy Volunteers in 1812 and 1813; brigadier 
general 1814; resigned 181 5. Was among the foremost of the 
brave Kentuckians in many Canadian battles. Lived for several 
years in Jessamine County, Kentucky, removed to Arkansas 
territory settling at Pecannerie in 1819. Dr. Nimrod Menifee, 
the great dueling surgeon of early days, married his daughter, 
Harriet, on December 28, 1824. 



132 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

At Point Remove lived Mr. Ellis and fourteen other fami- 
lies. On Petit Jean were Messrs. Tucker and Major Welbom. 
At the Galley was a Cherokee village at which Jolly, the chief, 
had a residence. Between this and the Dardanelle hills lived 
many half-breeds, with Mr. Raphael, the storekeeper, and at 
Spadra Bluff lived Mr. Rollin, the United States Indian agent. 
In the neighborhood lived Mr. Webber, a half-^breed, and John 
Rogers, a respectable and civilized Cherokee. 

All this country on the north side of the Arkansas river 
from Point Remove to the mouth of Frog bayou belonged to 
the Cherokees, and the government maintained an Indian agency 
at various places along the river from Old Norristown to Spadra 
Bluff. All on the south side of the river was open to settlement 
until in 1820 the government made a treaty with the Choctaw 
Indians by which all the region west of a line from a point on 
Red river three miles below the mouth of Little river north- 
wardly to Point Remove was given to the Choctaw tribe and all 
white settlers ordered to remove. This raised a stir and the 
people at once wanted to know what their delegate to Congress, 
James Woodson Bates, had been doing that he permitted the 
tyrant, John C. Calhoun, the secretary of war, to thus deprive 
them of vested rights. As a matter of fact none of them had 
an original right to locate where they were, but they were lo- 
cated, and being located had rights which they would spill 
oceans of blood to maintain. General Jackson ordered them 
removed, however, and they went without spilling a drop. They 
kept up a great agitation, however, and the politicians saw a 
great chance for themselves, which they worked religiously, un- 
til Congress, without their help at all, moved the Choctaws fur- 
ther west. 

The United States in its very earliest history assumed the 
relation of guardian for its Indian wards, and through more 
than a century has maintained that relation with more or less 
of credit. This relation was the result of treaties negotiated 
with the savages from the very beginning of the republic, which 
treaties are to a large extent still in force. 

The whites, as individuals, w^anted the Indian lands, and the 
government by diplomacy obtained through treaties just what 
the whites wanted, without making the equities blush too se- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 133 

verely. It was a grab game garnished by a show of morality in 
which the Indians always lost and the whites always gained. 
To do this, however, the government had to promise to do cer- 
tain things, and then whether it really intended to do the things 
or not, to make a show which would have that appearance. 
There is no proof in all these Indian relations to show that the 
government really intended to do the vital things it promised, 
that is, to protect by force the Indians in their new possessions. 
As a compensation for this double dealing it promised to make 
certain money payments annually, and to do certain other things 
which, in the eyes of the multitude, seemed to be the real thing. 
In order to carr>' out these money payments and to perform the 
minor parts of the treaties men were needed on the ground to 
see that all the government had promised should be done and 
that no advantage should be taken by contiguous whites of the 
Indians in their new homes. At first these men thus called to 
represent the government were called Indian factors, but in time 
they came to be called by the equivalent name, Indian agents, 
and by that name they are known today. 

These factors or agents were scattered over all the country, 
wherever the Indians were in actual habitat, and made a mpst 
respectable body of United States officers. The older Indian 
agents were as a rule men of parts, but since the advent of the 
Civil Service regime they are, almost without exception, men of 
less than mediocre ability. Arkansas had but one tribe of In- 
dians — ^the Cherokees — actually within itjs borders, but these 
Cherokees were bound to the government by many treaties. The 
agents connected with this tribe in Arkansas during its oc- 
cupancy of the soil were Mr. Rollin, Matthew Lyon, David 
Brearly, Edward W. DuVal and Wharton Rector. Of Mr. 
Rollin little is known and the services of Mr. Rector will be 
treated in the chapter devoted to the Rector family. 

MATTIIKW LYON. 

The second of these, Matthew Lyon was in many respects 
the greatest of them all. Appointed by Monroe as Indian Fac- 
tor, he came to Arkansas in 1820 and located himself at Spadra 
Bluff. He performed his duties most satisfactorily, but as the 
system was young there was little to do ; being a man who could 



134 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

not quietly settle down to do nothing he looked about for a new 
opportunity to distinguish himself. He had to do something or 
die. His chance came with the agitation which followed the 
removal of the Choctaws during the first term of Bates in Con- 
gress, and just at the beginning of his canvass for re-election. 

POLITICS IN THK OLDKN DAYS. 

In November, 1820, James Woodson Bates, as the high and 
mighty delegate to Congress, deliberately sat down in the 
sanctity of his room in Washington and wrote an ultimatum to 
John C. Calhoun. One great card of the politicians of the entire 
West is and has been the writing of ultimatums. When .Bates 
wrote that letter to John C. Calhoun, his admiring constituents 
gave him the sonorous title, "J^^i^s of the West," a title fitting 
him as little as any could well have done. He could write, but 
not like "J^^^^^-'' 

Bates told the South Carolina secretary of war that all that 
vast region so given over to the Indians had been settled by 
whites in 181 1, and that it had a county government in 1814. 
This was a mighty stretch of the county government theory, but 
what was a congressional delegate for but to stretch the Arkan- 
sas district of New Madrid County, Missouri, over as vast an 
area as possible? Accuracy of statement is not political genius, 
and Bates found it easier to assert than prove. 

Bates wound up this paper with these words: "These 
people (less than two hundred settlers removed) have known 
government only by its perversions and abuses. I protest 
against the meditated act, that prostrates their rights, outrages 
their feelings and treats them as subjects and vassals." Bates 
fired this straight at Calhoun, who never answered it. He made" 
the treaty; the president signed it and the Senate ratified it. A 
cool business talk with Calhoun, or the president, or a few quiet 
words with senators would have changed the whole affair. 
Bombast failed, but it had a successful run where it was in- 
tended to circulate. The letter was not intended for Calhoun, 
but for the voters in Arkansas in the election of 182 1. It was 
one of the "Home Consumption Articles," which politicians 
know how to write. They have done nothing, but the people 
must be led to see how much they had tried to do something. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 135 

This Choctaw treaty, however, went into Arkansas politics. 
Bates had served one term and wanted another. Two hundred 
voters were a bonanza in an election that totaled less than 2,000. 
Robert Crittenden had been for Bates in the first election, and 
was .still for him in the second. In the third election Crittenden 
and Bates no longer played in the same back yard, and Henry 
W. Conway fell heir to the Choctaw agitation prize, although 
Bates in the meantime had secured the abrogation of the old 
treaty and on general principles ought to have been the 'Teoples' 
Pride/' He ought to have been beaten in 1821 and ought not 
to have been beaten in 1823. He had nothing to show in 1821 
but the buncombe letter to Calhoun, while in 1823 he had his 
arms full of accomplished things. Possibly he was beaten in 
1 82 1, and the trend of the after-election movements seem to in- 
dicate that Bates met his Waterloo in that election, but was 
saved from its effects by the election officers, who made the peo- 
ple vote the .way they "ought to," rather than as they were re- 
corded. It was close, and throwing out ballot boxes was not 
unknown in 1821, however righteously and rigidly the State 
may have abstained from the practice ever since. 

THE AJAX WHO OPPOSED BATES. 

In 1819 several candidates opposed Bates. In 1821 he had 
but one. and that one, one of the most remarkable men of the 
United States. Jarrfes Woodson Bates was pitted against Col- 
onel Matthew^ Lyon, and was really beaten by him, but Bates 
and Crittenden had the machinery and knew how to run the 
machine. Lyon was a good "machinist" himself, but unfortu- 
nately he could not enter the power house, where the secret 
manipulations went on. 

On March 21, 1821, the people of Arkansas territory, who 
read the Arkansas Gazette, were treated to a five-column article 
QD the Choctaw treaty. This document was not a hifaluting 
ultimatum like that issued by James Woodson Bates. It was a 
cold-blooded, straight- from-the-shoulder argument, taking issue 
with President Monroe for signing the treaty, and with Cal- 
houn for drawing it. The article was signed by Matthew Lyon, 
and all Arkansas wanted to know who he was. To begin with, 
he was the livelong friend of Monroe and of Calhoun, and his 



136 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

letter had more to do with the after repeal of the treaty than all 
that Bates or Conway did or tried to do. 

Arkansas recognized the fact that whoever Matthew Lyon 
might be, he was a great and masterly man of affairs. He ig- 
nored buncombe and appealed to reason. He had Monroe and 
Calhoun on the hip, and Gazette readers in the East were quick 
to see that Arkansas territory had one man at least who could 
enter the lists of logic, and, without buncombe, convict great 
men like Monroe and Calhoun of error. The people of Arkan- 
sas demanded to know more of Matthew Lyon, and they were 
informed that he was an appointee of President Monroe, a 
United States factor or agent for the Cherokee Nation, residing 
at Spadra Bluff, and who entered Arkansas on February 10. 
1821. 

MATTHEW LYON AS A CANDIDATE. 

The people at once demanded that Matthew Lyon run for 
Congress, which he did. He made the race and ran well. The 
official returns showed him a loser by about sixty votes. On 
October 22^ 1821, Lyon proclaimed himself elected, and gave 
notice to the powers in control that they might expect a contest. 
He went before the territorial legislature, but that body, largely 
dominated by Crittenden and Bates interests, took refuge behind 
the sanctity of the returns. Lyon said the returns were rotten 
and asked the privilege of making proof." He was denied, al- 
though the general impression was that the old man was right. 
He went to Congress and that body without waiting for Lyon 
to present proofs, and without giving a hearing, made a report 
unfavorable to Lyon. The report was based on the fact that 
Lyon had submitted no proof. Lyon had no notice of a hearing 
and therefore had not submitted his proofs. Lyon had been in 
Congress before, not as a delegate, but as a congressman from 
Vermont, and again as a Congressman from Kentucky. Lyon 
was genuinely hated by all that part of New England and of the 
whole country, which afterward made up the Whig party. 

Lyon was one of the original Democrats of the United 
States and was with Jefferson in every fight he had ever made. 
He was born in Ireland in 1746, and was one of the first settlers 
of the Green Mountain State, where in time he married a 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 137 

(laughter of one of its governors. He took an active part in the 
Revolutionary' war, and was a fighting hero. When Vermont 
decided to become a State Lyon was a member of its constitu- 
tional convention. He was repeatedly sent to the legislature 
on the anti-Federalist ticket. In 1796 he was sent to Congress 
from Vermont. The John Adams party soon came into power 
and Lyon attacked its principles bitterly. One New England 
member attacked him with a cane on the floor of the house. 
Lyon wrenched the cane from the assailant and beat him unmer- 
cifully. He was attacked the second time and again he beat 
his assailant with his own weapon. The Federalist party had 
him before the bar of the house and tried to expel him. Jeffer- 
son and his friends balked this movement. They then took him 
into the courts and mulcted him with a fine, which broke him up 
financially, but did not quell his energy. New England became 
too hot for him and he moved to Eddyville, Kentucky, where he 
was sent again to Congress. In 1819 he moved to St. Genevieve, 
Missouri and was a candidate against Scott for Delegate to 
Congress, but was defeated. The Federalists hated him like 
the devil hates holy water. He was an Irish humanitarian, op- 
posed to aristocracy in every form. He had mental gifts and 
a superb courage. He was now seventy-five years of age and 
no longer able to fight the battles of his younger days. In his 
seventy-fourth year Monroe made him agent for the Cherokees, 
and in that year he ran against Bates. He died claiming that 
he was elected, and at this remote period, it may be as well to 
say, that his claim was supported by the proof. On February 
14, 1822, in his seventy-fifth year, he left his home at Spadra 
Bluff, in a flatboat, made by himself, loaded with furs of the 
last year's collection, bound for New Orleans, where he arrived 
safely. He sold his cargo for good prices and bought machinery 
for a cotton gin, which he was then erecting at Spadra Bluff. 
The machinery weighed fourteen hundred pounds. 

He ascended the Mississippi on his flatboat to the mouth 
of the White, where he stored his freight, and proceeded on his 
flatboat to Kentucky to visit his children. Returned on the same 
boat, and in three months after leaving Spadra Bluff was back 
at home. He had made a journey of more than three thousand 
miles in three months, and still there are those who tell us that 



138 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

everything was too slow in the days agone. Matthew Lyon 
gives the lie to all this and proves that a man is never too old 
to do great things, until he, himself, comes to see his shadow. 
What seventy-five-year-old man in Arkansas would, undertake 
that trip today? 

Billy Woodruff saw him on his return up the river and said 
that he could not see that the trip had affected his health. In 
going down stream his boat frequently ran aground and Lyon 
was the first man to jump into the river to shove the boat into 
the stream. On ascending the river he did his full share of the 
rowing, steering and cordeling. 

On May 3, 1822, from Spadra Bluff he wrote a long letter 
to Josiah Meigs, commissioner of the General Land Office at 
Washington, an old friend, protesting against the suits brought 
against steam-boat men for cutting wood on wild lands along 
the Mississippi river for use in navigating the river. It was a 
five-column article and very strong in character. 

He died at Spadra Bluff on August i, 1822, in his seventy- 
sixth year, and is represented in Congress today by a grandson, 
that stalwart Republican of Iowa, William P. Hepburn. A 
great grandson of Lyon and a son of Congressman Hepburn 
was killed in a quarrel on the Frisco Railway in northwest Ar- 
kansas and his assailant sent to the penitentiary, to be pardoned 
afterward by the chief executive of Arkansas. 

Such was the life of a man distinguished in three States, 
and a Congressman elected from each of them, without serving 
in the last. Among all the grand men of early days, Matthew 
Lyon stood like a giant. He was an honor to the territory and 
some mark of honor should be pfaced over his grave. 

C0L0>'KL DAVID BREARLY. 

The second Indian agent differed from the first as day 
differs from night. David Brearly was living in x^rkansas as a 
merchant during the last year of Lyon's life. President Mon- 
roe selected him for two reasons : First, for his military career, 
and, second, for his great business capacity. Colonel Brearly 
was bom in New Jersey in 1786, the son of David brearly, a 
Revolutionary colonel. Educated in New Jersey in the best 
schools, he entered the army of the United States in 1808, being 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 139 

made at once captain in the crack regiment, the Light Dragoons. 
He served with this regiment three years, when he resigned. 
He remained at home in New Jersey until the beginning of the 
second war with Great Britain, when he again offered his ser- 
vices to the United States, and was made lieutenant colonel of 
the Fifteenth infantry on March 12, 1812; he was promoted on 
March 12. 1813, to the colonelcy, and was honorably discharged 
on the 15th of June, 1815. His regiment saw service in all the 
battles of the war. He re-enlisted January i, 1816 and was 
made lieutenant colonel of the crack regiment, the Seventh in- 
fantry, with the brevet of colonel from March 12, 1813; on April 
10, 1 81 7, he was transferred to the Third infantry, and on April 
30, 1817, was made a full colonel of the Seventh infantry. He 
held this place until March 16, 1820, when he resigned, in order 
to begin a civil career in Arkansas. Twelve years of active 
military service had improved his manhood, nurtured his cour- 
tesy and developed his executive ability. He knew all the lead- 
ing military men of the age and was the social equal of any 
man of the day. For five years priqr to 1820 his life had been 
to a greater or less extent connected with the territory of Ar- 
kansas, either at the Post of Arkansas or at Fort Smith. 

While colonel he had made many investments in Arkansas 
lands, and in 1820 cast his fortunes unreservedly with the new 
territory. 

For a year his mercantile enterprise at Arkansas Post pros- 
pered beyond precedent and upon the death of Lyon, President 
Monroe offered him the Indian Agency to the Cherokees. On the 
condition that he might continue his mercantile business he ac- 
cepted and in 1822 he removed to Dardanelle, where the new 
Indian agency had been located. Here he made money and at 
the same time performed his duties as Indian agent to the entire 
satisfaction of the government. The Indians had the highest 
regard for Colonel Brearly, which paved the way for his future 
greatness in a wider field. He held this place until the ist of 
January, 1824, when Monroe, seeking a man to deal with the 
Creeks and Choctaws of the South, then in readiness for re- 
moval to the West, turned his eyes to Arkansas for a man for 
this new and greater field. Colonel Brearly was most admirably 
fitted for his new relation. His military training gave him a 



140 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

thorough command of himself and his courtesy and kindness 
made him a favorite of not only the Indians, but of all with 
whom he came in contact. He was scholarly, courteous and 
kind; firm as a rock when principle was concerned, yet yielding 
and flexible at all other times. He traveled all over the South 
in his new field of work and was everywhere at home, whether 
with the great and learned or the poor and unlearned. No man 
was too great not to be proud of Brearly's friendship and no 
man was too poor or low to be outside of the pale of his regard. 
He died in Arkansas in 1837, having spent a greater part of 
twenty-two years within its borders. 

MAJOR EDWARD W. DUVAL. 

In January, 1824, Monroe appointed Edward W. DuVal of 
Virginia and Washington City to succeed Colonel Brearly as 
Indian agent in Arkansas. Major DuVal brought his family 
with him and on January 15, 1824, landed at Arkansas Post. 
After a week's rest there he took a boat for Little Rock, where 
he remained for another week, when he took passage for 
Dardanelle. The remainder of his life was spent in Arkansas. 
Major DuVal was descended from the French Huguenots of 
Manakin Town, \'irginia, and had all the energy, courtesy and 
force of that ancient people. He was a young man when he 
entered Arkansas, although the head of a family, and this must 
be his excuse for many of the weaknesses he showed during the 
first three years of his incumbency. He lacked the political 
reputation of Lyon and the military and business parts of 
Brearly, and to make up for these he at once began to magnify 
his office, which in turn he thought, would magnify him. Gov- 
ernor Izard was not only the chief executive of the territory, 
but also superintendent of Indian affairs. DuVal magnified 
himself by ignoring Izard as superintendent. Whether this was 
the result of DuVal's initiative, or whether it was the beginning 
of the government's policy of ignoring State officers, can not be 
asserted with confidence at this time. Certain it is, however, 
that DuVal ignored Izard. Now, Izard was not a man to be 
Ignored. He had been a major general of the United States 
army and was the chief organizing mind in the military prop- 
aganda of 1812, the great body of which organization main- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 141 

tains to this day. DuVai failed to report to Izard, as the regu- 
lations required, although he reported regularly to Washington, 
In less than a year, however, DuVal learned his lesson, and for 
the remainder of his term paid due regard and respect to Gov- 
ernor Izard. DuVal also attempted to control Colonel Arbudcle, 
but after one effort gave up the^ attempt in disgust. Colonel 
Arbuckle let him know that he was the mogul at Fort Smith 
and that under no circumstances would he take orders from an 
Indian agent. He would be proud to confer with him, and 
would be glad to have his advice, but the- ultimate decision must 
rest entirely with him. DuVal was an aggressive man, but at 
the same time a most sensible man. In less than three years he 
had worn off all his aggressive bumps so that nothing appeared 
but the grandly common sense which belonged to the man. 
From that time on he grew in favor, not only with the Indians, 
but with all the whites with whom he, came in contact. 

Colonel Arbuckle loved to drop down to Dardanelle and 
spend a day with the major, as did the other officers of the fort. 
On May 22, 1826, Reverend Cephus Washburn was called over 
from Dwight to perform the marriage ceremony , between Cap- 
tain Pierce M. Butler of the United States army and Miranda 
Julia DuVal of Washington City. This day was a gala day for 
Dardanelle, and the Indians were as much filled with wonder- 
ment over the great marriage feast prepared by Major DuVal 
as were the whites. 

Major DuVal never neglected his duties as Indian agent. 
He was absolutely incorruptible, and when his mind was set, 
absolutely unchangeable. He took a warm interest in the In- 
dian welfare and gave freely of his means and advice for their 
ultimate development. The Indians came to honor him and love 
him. He headed many expeditions of Indians from the Cher- 
okee country in Arkansas to Washington City, to enable the In- 
dians to present their claims more fairly to the authorities. 
Colonel Arbuckle jestingly said, "DuVal had rather take a party 
of Indians to Washington than to command an army," but at 
the same time every one knew that each trip that DuVal tocJc 
to Washington rendered white supremacy that much more se- 
cure. He died at his post in 1828 or 1829 and was succeeded 
by Major Wharton Rector. The descendants of Major DuVal 



142 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

have lived continuously in Arkansas from that day to this, add- 
ing honor, dignity and great worth to the State. The names of 
Lyon, Brearly and DuVal will forever remain an honor to Ar- 
kansas and a tribute to the integrity and justice of early Indian 
affairs. 

NEIGHBORHOOD SETTI.EMENTS. 

The Dardanelle Settlement was mentioned by Nuttal in 
1819, and dated back, possibly, to 1817. Its most ancient set- 
tler is unknown. On the other side of the river a little lower 
down was the Cherokee village, the Galley. Old Dwight Mis- 
sion was established in 1821 on the Illinois Bayou, where it re- 
mained until the Cherokees were removed to the West. On 
November 2, 1829, Pope County was carved out of this old In- 
dian region, the oldest county made from Cherokee soil. Its 
first. officers were — Judge Andrew Scott, County Judge; he had 
the distinguished honor to have been the first judge of the 
superior court of Arkansas to arrive on her soil, and with the 
exception of Judge Benjamin Johnson, to have served longer 
ill that capacity than any other man. He was also first county 
judge of Pope County and is buried in the cemetery at Russell- 
ville, his grave being marked by one of the finest monuments 
that the State knows. 

The other officers first selected to manage the affairs of this 
new born county were Twitty Pace, clerk; H. Stinnett, sheriff; 
W. Garrett, .coroner, and W. Mitchell, surveyor. These officials 
held office during the years 1829 and 1830. 

Isaac Hughes was the first State senator from Pope County 
and Judge Andrew Scott the first representative. With the be- 
ginning of county government and the removal of the Cherokees 
settlements went on rapidly. Norristown was founded in 1829, 
by Samuel Norris of New Jersey, and for a time was a pretty 
lively town. In 1837 B. K- Martin, John Macbeth, John Wil- 
son, J. H. Newman and Judge Andrew Scott advertised a sale 
of lots at the town of St. Martin on the north side of the river, 
seven miles above the mouth of Illinois Bayou and just below 
the mouth of Big Piney. These gentlemen stated in their pros- 
pectus that the site they had chosen was the only one on the 
river for a great town, and they confidently expected St. Martin 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 143 

to be the London of Arkansas. Norristown, however, was in 
its way; Scotia sprang into existence; and Dover was bom. All 
these, coupled with the running of the roads relegated St. 
Martin to the rear. 

Just why these incorporators chose the name St. Martin, 
may never be known. In England there was a great church par- 
ish, "St. Martin in the Fields/' but there is little evidence that 
these gentlemen were acquainted with that fact. Possibly the 
settlement, St. Martin, antedated 1837 ^V ^ great many years 
and received its name from some Catholic father in his ministra- 
tions to the Indians. True, B. H. Martin was one of the sub- 
scribers to the town lot advertisement, but it is hardly to be 
supposed that his name furnished the basis for the cognomen 
St. Martin. Norristown forged ahead and with a most remark- 
able energ)' tried to make herself the capital of the State. It is 
said that she nearly succeeded ; that a change of two votes would 
have dwarfed Little Rock and enlarged Norristown. The com- 
ing of the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railway, however, changed 
the whole state of affairs and brought Atkins and Russellville 
prominently to the fore. In 1834 Norristown was the county 
site, which position it held until 1842. when the county of Yell 
\vas in part formed from old Pope and the county site removed 
t(* Dover. 

Dover in 1853 w^is the most prominent town between Little 
Rock and Fort Smith, and in that little .town was held in that 
year the first railroad meeting ever held in the State bearing on 
the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad. Men from all parts of 
the State attended that meeting, and out of it came the Little 
Rock & Fort Smith Railway. The first church in this county 
was in the vicinity of the Boiling Spring camp ground, near 
Illinois Bayou and was established by the Methodists in 1832. 
The second church was organized at the house of Sanford King 
on Point Remove in September 1833, and was known as the 
Baptist Church of Christ. The Cumberland Presbyterians built 
a church at Shiloh in 1837 near the old Williams camp ground. 
Among the pioneers of this old county are Andrew Scott and his 
son, John. R. Homer Scott, John Bolinger, Samuel Norris^ 
Robert Davidson, Doctor J. H. Brearly, Thomas Murry, J. M. 
Crutchfield, John Williamson, Kirkbridge Potts, S. K. Blythe, 



144 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Daniel Gilmore, Ben Langford, J. S. Price, Thomas Gardner, 
R. S. Bewley, John Ridge, Owen Williams, George Roland, 
Willis Hodges, John Bruton, Mahlon Bewley, Absalom Sims, 
Merideth Webb, John McCarley, Henry Andrews, Doctor Wear 
and George Wallace. D. Porter West came with his father in 
1839, and in 1903 issued a little book entitled "D. Porter West's 
Early History of Pope County," which contains much of interest 
and value to the old citizens of that county. Doctor John Wil- 
son, one of the founders of St. Martin, was the father of R. J. 
Wilson the merchant of Russellville. Mr. Jacob Shinn, whose 
name will forever be associated with the development of Rus- 
sellville and Pope County, did not come in until 1837, when as 
a child he entered Arkansas with his father, Benjamin D. R. 
Shinn and others of that name, with Reeds, Harkeys, McNultys, 
Fowlers, Linkens, Shandys and Brooks, all from North Carolina. 



CHAPTER XVni. 

First Authentic Maps o^ the Territory Showing Roads, 
Towns, County Lines and Streams — French and Ger- 
man Maps. 

A little man comes before the world and blows a trumpet, 
and then steps aside that another may present himself and be 
canonized by the public. This is one of the unfortunate con- 
ditions that cluster around the making of real history. The men 
who make real history have not the time to write it, are rarely 
canonized, never blow a trumpet and are rarely given place in 
the tomes of historians. One objection to written history has 
been that its pages have dealt too little with the real workers, 
or as Junius Jordan says, "those who remain with the pots and 
pans of every-day life." This trouble roots back into the dis- 
position of the public to enshrine in their temporary affections 
those who blow trumpets and act comedies or tragedies, more 
generally farces, upon the stage of public affairs. The real 
instructors and helpers of the common people are not the 
trumpeters so much as the obscure workers, and yet the man 
with a trumpet will get four hundred pages of historic men- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 145 

tion to the worker's one. The men who make the dirt roads 
of a country are its real financiers, its wealth builders and wealth 
creators; the men who open farms and plant fields; the men 
who start towns and stay with them through their various 
stages of development; the men with blacksmith and wagon 
shops at the cross roads; the men behind the hoe, in short, are 
the makers of history, and what do we know of them? Only 
last year the cotton and corn producers added two billions of 
dollars to our wealth. This was new money — a great, grand, 
glorious find. Bankers and financiers add nothing to our wealth 
— they only manipulate it — and generally to our disadvantage. 
The g^eat orators and great lawyers make no additions to our 
wealth — ^they only consume, conserve and distribute. 

In the following article I shall go back into the government 
archives and try to show by authentic maps, surveyors' sketches 
and other cartographical matter exactly what the pioneers of 
Arkansas were doing from 1818 to 1830, the roads they were 
building and the towns they were forming. This will empha- 
size the magnitude of their labors, unfold the extent of their 
difficulties and call attention to the debt we owe them for their 
unrecorded struggles. It will also correct much that has been 
written and add to our vocabulary of early place names. 

MAPS REFERRING TO ARKANSAS. 

The first map showing Arkansas as a geographical division 
was the Lewis map. It had one town named Delaware which 
was located on the White River. I have never been able to 
identify it. The Melish map came out in 1 816 showing no towns 
in Arkansas at all. The Varle map came out in 181 7 showing 
two towns. Arkansas Post and Lawrence, as Davidsonville was 
first called. 

FIRST ORIGINAL MAP OF ARKANSAS. 

The first sketch map of Arkansas was Watson's map of 

the military and general land survey, dated Washington, D. C, 

December 6, 1820. It was made up from matter taken from 

the surveyor general's office and is absolutely authentic. On 

_this map Helena was called St. Helena, and was not located 



146 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

where it is today. Batesville is recorded under the names Bates- 
ville and Napoleon, both names being expressed with the con- 
junction between them. In 1818, when Schoolcraft was 
in this place, it was called Poke Bayou, and had a popu- 
lation of fifteen or twenty people. Thus within three 
years this ancient town of Independence County had three names. 
Poke Bayou, Napoleon and Batesville. Their high regard for 
their fellow-citizen, James Woodson Bates, led them to discard 
Poke Bayou and Napoleon and cling to the word which now iden- 
tifies the town. Three mills seats in operation were noted on the 
Watson sketch, located on the north fork of Cadron, and one on 
Big Creek in section thirty, township two, south, range four 
east. This shows the original seating place of the great lum- 
ber industry which has added so much to the wealth of the 
State. 

Cadron village was noted as a seat of justice of Pulaski 
County ; Davidsonville of Lawrence ; Batesville or N^apoleon of 
Independence; St. Helena of Phillips; Little Rock as the seat 
of government of the territory and Arkansas Village as a for- 
mer military post and the seat of justice for Arkansas County. 
St. Helena was in a bend of the Mississippi, about ten miles 
south of the present location of Helena in territory covered by 
the surveys and located in township four south, range five east. 
As this map was made by United States surveyors, it imports 
absolute verity. 

In the extreme southeast corner of the map covering more 
than the present Chicot County and lying east of the Quapaw 
line is noted Don Carlos de Villemont's claim, settled at that 
time by fifty families. None of the southwestern, western or 
northwestern part of the State is shown, as the object of the 
map was to enable soldiers holding warrants to locate their 
bounty lands. The only regions surveyed south of the base 
line was between Arkansas Village and St. Helena. Bayou Me- 
tou has one branch carrying two names, Creus or Little Deep 
river. No surveys were made north of the St. Francis along 
the Mississippi. Eel river is noted as a branch of the St. Fran- 
cis and the lands on both sides of it were surveyed clear to its 
headwaters. The entire region from the Cherokee boundary 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 147 

line east to the White river and north to Batesville or Napo- 
leon was surveyed, as was all the region on Spring river, Eleven 
Points and Thomas Fork, tributaries of the Black, and fifteen 
townships on Strawberry. This map was prepared for office 
use in 1820 and published in Watson's collection in 1825. It 
is the oldest map made from record evidence, and is therefore 
immensely valuable. 

THE ORIGINAL SURVEYS. 

The surveys were begun in 1819, Nicholas Rightor having . 
eight townships between the White and Mississippi rivers; 
Charles McPherson had eight more immediately north of those 
given to Rightor. Stephen Rector, David Nolan, David Deshler, 
Elias Rector and Wharton Rector had contracts between the 
Cherokee line and the White reaching up to Missouri. In 1822 
and 1823 Henry W. Conway and James S. Conway made sur- 
veys along Red river. These contracting surveyors employed 
a large number of assistants, who in the course of time became 
citizens of the territory. 

BROWN AND BARCROET's MAP. 

In 1825, E. Brown and E. Barcroft published a map of 
Missouri, Illinois and the territory of Arkansas from surveys 
in the surveyor general's office. This map shows Crittenden, 
Lawrence, Independence, Phillips, Arkansas, Pulaski, Izard, 
Crawford, Miller, Hempstead, Conway, Clark and Chicot coun- 
ties. Crawford County began in the southeast comer of town- 
ship three, south, range seventeen west, and ran due west to 
a line north and south six miles west of Cantonment Towson, 
thence north to the Missouri line, thence east to the White 
river, where the western Cherokee boundary line strikes that 
river; thence southwest along the western Cherokee line to a 
point six miles west of Fort Smith on the Arkansas river; 
thence down the Arkansas to the eastern Cherokee line; thence 
due south to the beginning. It covered fully one-fourth of 
the territory and a strip forty miles wide in Oklahoma as we 
know it. Izard County ran from Independence to the Missouri 
line and touched Crawford County on the northwest comer. 



148 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

where the White river enters Arkansas. Conway County ran 
from the Little Red river to the headwaters of the Saline on 
the south side of the Arkansas. Pulaski County ran east to 
Vaugine's settlement on the Arkansas, thence around Arkansas 
County to the White and Red rivers. 

TOWNS OF EARLY DAYS. 

The present Helena on this map is called St. Helena, and 
is located where we know it. The only other towns on the map 
are \^illemont, Washington, Crittenden, Biscoeville, Little Rock, 
Cadron, Post of Arkansas, Harrington Settlement, Vaugine 
Settlement, Fort Smith, Batesville and Davidsonville. Biscoe- 
ville was on the west side of Femchea Caddo in Hempstead 
County, and Crittenden, twelve miles southwest of Biscoeville 
on Fommier Creek, also in Hempstead. Henriad's Springs was 
on a branch of the Little Missouri, about twelve miles north- 
east of Washington. Eighteen miles west of Washington were> 
the salt works and the Saline landing was about fifteen miles 
southwest of Washington. No salt works are shown elsewhere, 
unless the letters S. W., after Wachita in Clark County, mean 
salt works, and this may have a bearing upon the study of De 
Soto's travel. It may place the land of the Cayas in the re- 
gion of Saline Creek, between Big Cofsclose Creek and Wash- 
ington. Delaware Village and Indian Town are about twenty- 
eight miles due south of Washington on Red River. Bodcaw 
is spelled Bodcou. Ten miles southeast of Biscoeville on the 
eastern side of Femchea Caddo, in Clark County, was the 
only town in the county, and then called Wachita, S. W., for 
salt works probably. This town was on the Safreit, and ten 
miles higher up on the Safreit was a stone quarry. Hot Springs 
was then in Crawford County. The Tulip was spelled Julip, 
which shows how tastes have changed. The Ouachita was 
spelled Wachita. The eastern line of Clark was but thirty miles 
from the Post of Arkansas, and this explains how Jacob Baric- 
man maintained a home five miles west of the Post, while clear- 
ing a final home in Clark. Jacob, John and Asa Barkman, in 
the census of 1810, were living in Ouachita parish, Louisiana, 
each having a small family. Jacob in 1814 moved to a farm 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 149 

five miles from Arkansas Post and began hunting and trapping 

m Clark. He had a second home in Clark in 1818, where he 

passed the rest of his life. From Ouachita parish, Louisiana, 

tradition says that he frequently ascended the Wachita to Hot 

Springs long before he moved to Arkansas Post. Bayou Des 

-Arc was Bayou Des Arques. Fourche du Mas was Fourches 

^ DuMas, which Schoolcraft in 1818 termed a corruption of 

the legitimate name Fourche a Thomas. On the map the old 

town St. Francis is identified. It was about four miles above 

the mouth of the St. Francis and about five miles west of Ship 

Island. 

FRENCH AND GERMAN MAPS. 

In the atlas "Deux Ameriques," by J. A. Buchon, 1805, 
printed in French, Batesville is called "Napoleon," and nothing 
else. Davidsonville is noted, as is Arkansas Post. The river 
is spelled Arkansa, as is the teritory. Little Rock is put down 
as Arkopolis. C. F. Weiland's German Atlas of America, 1824, 
spells Missouri "Missuri," and Arkansas with a final "s." It 
makes Crawford County take in all of the Cherokee Reserva- 
tion. The county site of Miller is put down as Pecan Point and 
Clark County has no county site. In all other respects it agrees 
with Finley's map. 

In Finley's map of 1826 printed at Philadelphia, Little Rock 
was on the north side of the river and Arkopolis on the south 
side. Batesville was called Napoleon. A road from Reynolds- 
ville, Tennessee, ran through Memphis and Little Rock to Hot 
Springs. Dardanelle was called Dandenai, proving a contention 
I have always made that the place was named after the Dar- 
dennes. Piats Town is put down above Little Rock and the 
Mount Prairie Settlement is identified as being on the Saline 
in what is now Benton County. William Rector, however, the 
surveyor general, in a letter to the land department placed the 
Mount Prairie Settlement in Hempstead County. In this map 
the boundaries of Clark County have been changed so as to take 
in Biscoeville and Crittenden. Batesville has not lost the name 
of Napoleon and Hot Springs is in Pulaski County. Beards- 
town is between "Pine Bluffs" and Arkansas Post. Belle 



ISO . Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Point, opposite Fort Smith, makes its first bow to a civilized 
world. . 

burr's collection. 

In Burr's collection for 1839, there is a map of Arkansas 
made up from surveyors' notes gathered between 1830 and 
1839. On his map going up the Arkansas the first town above 
Little Rock is Cadron, and the next Lewisburg. 'fhen comes 
Norrisville, Dwight, Spadra Bluff, Johnson, Logan, Ozark, and 
Van Buren on the north side; Dardanelle, Morrison's BluflF, 
Crawford and Short Mountain on the south side. No other 
towns are noted in that region. A road ran from Dardanelle 
to Petit Jean, thence to Booneville, thence to Zebulon in what 
is now Pike, thence through Washington to Fulton. Another 
ran from Logan and intersected this road at Petit Jean. From 
Little Rock a road ran through Collegeville, Benton, Rock- 
port, Raymond, Clark, Bayou de Rocho, Wolf Creek and Wash- 
ington to Fulton. From this road at Collegeville a branch ran 
out through Caldwell Town to Hot Springs. Another road ran 
from Little Rock through Saline Crossing to Rockport. An- 
other Caldwell Town, about six miles north of the first had a 
road through Magnet Cove to Hot Springs. From Ultima 
Thule a road ran east through Paraclifta, Pine Woods, Wash- 
ington, Ecore Fabre, Cabeans, Bartholomew to Columbia in 
Chicot County. Five miles north of Columbia on the Mis- 
sissippi was another Fulton, and ten miles south was Lakeport; 
twelve miles further south Grand Lake. From Little Rock a 
road ran on the south side of the Arkansas through Pine Bluff 
and on to New Gascony, where it crossed the Arkansas and 
ran down to Arkansas Post to the mouth of the White. An- 
other road left the Post, crossed the river and ran down to the 
mouth of the Arkansas, thence south crossing into Mississippi, 
through Bolivar, thence back into Arkansas and on to Columbia. 
A road ran from Pine Bluff to Hudgens, twelve miles south,"" 
where it forked, one branch going to Cabeans, thence into 
Louisiana, and the other through Bartholomew to Columbia. 
From Columbia a road ran southwest intersecting the Pine Bluff 
road to Louisiana, about eighteen miles south of the State line. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 151 

From Ecore Fabre a road ran southeast to Union on the 
Ouachita. A road from Fulton, Hempstead County, ran east 
to Spring Hill where it intersected the road from Washington 
south to Lafayette Court House, thence through Conway to 
Allen's Settlement in Louisiana. Lost Prairie was the only 
town with no road. 

The streams on the map bear the names they now hold 
except that Tulip creek maintains its old form of Julip creek, 
a much more savory name. From Little Rock north a road ran 
through Bayou Meteo, Des Arc, Little Red River, to Bates- 
ville, thence to the town of Strawberry River on Strawberry 
to Jackson, between Spring River and Eleven Points, thence to 
Fourche DuMas, a town about seven miles from Hix's Ferry 
and thence into Missouri. From Jackson a road ran east to 
Pocahontas thence southeast to Crowleys, thence south through 
Greenfield, County Line, Walnut Camp, St. Francis, St. Fran- 
cisville, L'Anguille, Martins to Helena. Old St. Francis on 
the Mississippi disappears and the new St. Francis near where 
the present Forest City stands takes its place. At L'Anguille 
the road forked and a branch went southwest to Clarendon. 
From Dwight a road ran northeast to Clinton where it forked, 
one branch going to Batesville and the other to Pine Bayou 
farther up the White. From Clinton a road ran south to Lew- 
isburg. On the Little Rock road at Des Arc a road ran north- 
east twelve miles to Frankfort, where it stopped. The Congress 
road, as the military road was called, ran from Little Rock 
through St. Francis to Memphis, missing Clarendon and Marion. 
A road from the mouth of the Cache ran east of Clarendon, south 
to Jacob's Staflf, six miles east to Monroe, which had no road, 
thence east to Helena. Helena on this map is in township two, 
south, range five east, while on the other maps St. Helena was in 
township four, south, range five east in the great bend. Oldtown is 
in township four, south, range four east, outside the great bend. 
From both St. Francis and St. Francisville roads ran to Marion, 
one going to Memphis and the other to Greenock, in Mississippi 
County. No road reached Cornwall still further north and none 
entered Canadian still higher up. From Batesville a road ran 
to Sulphur Rock, thence to Pleasant Island and Litchfield, 



152 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

thence southeast to St. Francis, where it tapped the Helena and 
Memphis road. Another road ran direct from Jackson to Crow- 
leys. From Batesville a road ran northwest through Tecum- 
seh to Pine Bayou then to Izzard, then to Johnson, Yellville, 
Crooked Creek, Sevierville and Richland to Fayetteville, thence 
through Cane Hill and Vineyard it reached Van Buren. Cane 
Hill then was in township fifteen north, range thirty-two west. 
Another road ran from Johnson through Carrollton and War 
Eagle to Fayetteville. 

From Fayetteville a road ran north through Hubbard and 
Osage to Sugar Creek, Missouri. Another road swept south 
from Fayetteville to Mountain, thence west to Cane Hill. A 
road ran from Little Rock on the north side through Cadron, 
Lewisburg, Point Remove, Dwight, Scotia, Spadra Bluff, John- 
son, Ozark, Pleasant Hill and Cotocton to Van Buren. From 
Morrison's Bluff on the south side a road ran west through 
Mountain to Crawford, thence on to Fort Smith. A road also 
extended from Van Buren to Fort Smith, while another ran 
from Vineyard out to Lee's Creek. This is a large map and 
the foregoing contains every town and road as laid down at that 
time. The only error that I note, and this may not be error, 
is the location of Old town. I take Oldtown of this map to be St. 
Helena of Watson's collection. The locations on the Watson map 
were made by government surveyors and St. Helena is there placed 
in the bend of the Mississippi river, with that river on both sides 
of it and a part of Mississippi, Coahoma County, between it and 
Arkansas. 

ST. GENEVIKVE-BATESVILLE ROAD. 

Above New Madrid was the older French town, St. Gene- 
vieve, which likewise attracted to itself rich and educated Virgin- 
ians, Marylanders and Pennsylvanians, and from which many 
men afterwards migrated to the newer territory of Arkansas. 
St. Genevieve is also bound to Arkansas by a closer tie; near 
it was one of the principal ferries over the Mississippi, by the 
aid of which the vast throng of emigration found its way from 
the older States into Louisiana. To accommodate this tide o£ 
travel a road had been cut from St. Louis to St. Genevieve, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 153 

and from St. Genevieve to Hix's Ferry on the line between Mis- 
souri and Arkansas. These roads formed one continuous line, 
started about 1765 and finished about 1800. Soon after 1800 
the road began its prolongation southward and ever southward, 
to make way for the ever increasing flood of dissatisfied men 
and women, seeking a land of promise and of rest in southern 
Missouri and Arkansas. On each side of this road in Missouri, 
towns sprang up far into the interior on branch roads which the 
wanderers established, the direct fruitage of the old St. Genevieve 
and Little Rock road, or as it was called then the National road. 

Just when Hix established a ferry is not known, but it was 
certainly prior to 1808. This ferry was necessitated by the ex- 
tension of the National road and brought the first English set- 
tlers of northern Arkansas into that region. It was a noted 
place of crossing in the olden times and the beginning point of 
that other great road on the south side of the river on to where 
the immigrants built Davidsonville, then on to where they built 
Batesville, and on to Little Rock, then on to Fulton. It was a 
grand thoroughfare, the builder and maker of north, central and 
south central Arkansas. I have traveled it from Hix's Ferry to 
Little Rock, and it is the best long road in Arkansas today, but 
not what it ought to be made. That road, could it speak, would 
tell of long caravans of covered wagons bringing men and 
women, who became the ancestors of the wisest and best of Ark- 
ansas' present population. When it was a new road, a mere 
thread zigzagging over the face of the earth, old Colonel Walker 
road over it on horseback to attend the legislature at St. Louis. 

Down that road in 1819 came James Woodson Bates on a 
blooded horse — a young lawyer, poor, as a lean turkey — but 
brimful of brains and purpose, riding to his destiny. Down that 
road on another splendid Kentucky charger rode Robert Critten- 
den, another youngster of power and purpose, the then secretary 
of the backwoods commonwealth and its acting governor. Down 
that road rode Andrew Scott with his head filled with Blackstone, 
ready made by the midnight lamp of study to oil the wheels of 
justice and start the courts of Arkansas. That old road carried 
civilization to a large degree into Arkansas. Ashley, Miller and 



154 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Letcher got to Arkansas Post by water, but Bates, Crittenden 
and Scott came by way of the so-called National road. 

CARAVANS OF PIONEERS. 

Over that road from 1808 to 1830 went caravan after car- 
avan of covered wagons filled with men, women and children, 
and accompanied by slaves, horses, cattle, sheep and troops of 
dogs to found for themselves a new empire — b. new government 
of larger, freer and ampler scope and power. In all the wide 
world there is no fairer region than that between the Strawberry 
and Current rivers. To the west and northwest rise in grand- 
uer the mighty Ozarks, whose tops lose themselves in the distant 
skies, while to the south and east stretch out into glorious 
perspective the undulations which lose themselves in the Arkan- 
sas and Mississippi. WTiere in all the world can a body of 
rivers be found as limpid, clear and beautiful as -the White, 
the Black, the Strawberry, the Eleven Points and the Current? 
The attractiveness of the region brought French pioneers there 
as early as 1750. Who will ever tell the story of the Janis 
family on the Black or of the other old Frenchmen who lived 
and died in this romantic region? It is no wonder that Alice 
French, or as she is better known, "Octave Thanet," loves that 
locality, and clings to it with the fervor of a Mohammedan 
clinging to his shrine. The land is full of poetry, romance 
and history and the old National road is the key to its treasures. 
When Arkansas shall put aside politics and rise to the majesty 
of a great 5tate creating highways of indomitable purpose and 
power, this oldest of Arkansas highways will be made one 
hundred feet wide of the best macadam clear across the State 
from the monumental landmark, Hix's Ferry, to that other monu- 
mental landmark the town of Fulton. 

In what a most romantic field was Hix's Ferry placed! 
In the land of the Osages then, and afterwards in the land 
•of the Cherokees. Bands of savages from either nation travel- 
ing on errands of peace or war converged from all directions 
to the ford where Hix's ferry came to be. Here these barbarous 
and half-civilized tribes camped, and here they danced their 
harvest, their peace or their war dances. Here tradition still 



Piofveers and Makers of Arkamas 155 

points out the spot where these savages clashed with themselves, 
or with the whites who first crossed the lines. All through 
the region -are mounds holding their heads aloft in dignified 
attestation of the earlier Indian habitat. All around Cherokee 
bay are Indian relics of profound historic character, which in 
the future will furnish the world, and I trust at the hands of 
Arkansas genius, romances and historic theses of marvelous in- 
terest and worth. 

SCHOOLCRAI^T ON NATIONAL. 

Schoolcraft and Drummond^ struck the National road in 
the winter of 1818-19 at Poke bayou, afterwards Napoleon, and 
the present Batesville. They put up with Robert Bean, the 
earliest merchant of the town, and a man whose name is asso- 
ciated with pioneer life in many States. The first white child 
bom in East Tennessee bore the name. Bean, but whether its 
parents were of kin to Robert Bean I can nut say. Certain it 
is that either Robert Bean or a son organized a body of Rangers 
in Independence and Izard Counties in 1832 or 1833 who at- 
tached themselves to the expedition of Captain Bonneville, which 
made fame for itself in what is now Oklahoma. It was on 
this expedition that Washington Irving gathered materials for 
two of his excellent books, and in this way through either 
Robert or Mark Bean, North Arkansas connected itself with 
a glorious enterprise. Schoolcraft and Drummond were two of 
the earliest "tramps," known to Arkansas history. They tramped 
from Batesville to St. Genevieve about the time that Congress 
was creating the territory of Arkansas. Schoolcraft's boots 
hurt his feet and he could not make time, and as Drummond 
had to be in the East at a certain time, by mutual consent, they 
separated, Drummond Walking to make time, and Schoolcraft 
taking it more leisurely to save his feet. At Strawberry, School- 
craft found a village of fifteen buildings scattered along the 
banks of the stream, including a grist mill turned by water, 
a whisky distillery, a blacksmith shop and a tavern. I am of 
opinion that this was not the first distillery in Arkansas, although 
it may have been. Down on Oil Trough Bottom, or as Ger- 
stacker called it, "Oil Trove Bottom," Magnus had a distillery, 



156 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

which I think was the first in the State. I have tried to find 
a reason for the name Oil Trough, but have not found a satis- 
factory one, and I am inclined to believe that the real name 
was the one handed down by Gerstadcer and not the one whidi 
marks that splendid bottom today. Ten miles beyond this village, 
Davidsonville, Schoolcraft stopped at Dog Wood Spring on the 
divide between Strawberry and Spring river, where he was 
entertained by that old pioneer, Major Haynes, who represented 
Lawrence County in the fourth territorial legislature, when 
Robert Bean was speaker and David Barber, clerk. School- 
craft was amazed at the improved farms and houses which 
skirteJ the road on either side. Ten miles from Spring river 
he entered a region where he found wheat, rye, oats, cotton and 
tobacco, all flourishing in the same field. He crossed the Spring 
river in a canoe, and at eleven o'clock the next day reached 
the Eleven Points, which he also crossed in a canoe. He spoke 
of the Fourche at Thomas, and remarked that even at that 
early date the American emigrants had corrupted it into its 
present form, Foosh-e-da-Maw. Those who would connect this 
little stream with the great French name, Dumas will be hit 
hard by this explanation. He did not speak of Fourche de 
Mun, a stream immortalizing the name of old Robert de Mun, 
the early French settler of Davidsonville. The testimonial of 
Schoolcraft to the hospitality of early Arkansas has already 
been noted, and this trip over the old National road is of addi- 
tional interest. At that time L. Ritchie was magistrate at 
Davidsonville, and one of his earliest official acts was the mar- 
riage of, Napoleon B. Ferguson to Elizabeth Allen. As early^ 
as 1820 another old pioneer preacher was on the Strawberry, 
Reverend James Larrimore, a Baptist preacher from Virginia 
and Kentucky. On February i, 1820, he married George Brad- 
ley to Eleanor Bayliss, at the home of the bride near Davidson- 
ville. In 1788, General Morgan of Virginia, began a settlement 
^n the Mississippi, which received the name New Madrid and 
grew rapidly. Morgan had received an extensive grant from 
Spain, rich in special privileges and abounding in promise. The 
prominence of Morgan in the revolutionary war, together with 
his social position in the lower Shenandoah Valley, made it 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 157 

easy for him to induce settlers to leave the old Virginia heaven 
for a new home on the banks of the mighty Father of Waters. 
The men who settled that town and neighborhood were the 
creme de la creme of Virginia, and one can but wonder why 
they made the change. Men of wealth abandoned the aristo- 
cratic counties of Frederick, Paige and Berkely, taking with 
them their families and all their property for the Wild West. 
With them went rich Marylanders and Pennsylvanians, thus 
imp>orting into New Madrid, a ready made colony of intelligence, 
wealth and power. The peregrinations of the Bowie family 
from Maryland to Louisiana, must be unravelled, if the gnarl 
is ever straightened, by a study of the New Madrid rolls. Rezin 
and David Bowie were at New Madrid before 1800, and both 
proved settlement between that place and St. Genevieve between 
:i8oo and 1808. Stephen and Amos Byrd, whose descendants 
in after times were found in Arkansas, had a home on Randall's 
Creek on the road leading from St. Genevieve to Little Rock, 
and on Byrd's Creek as early as 1800. Randall was a rich 
man from the Shenandoah Valley whose children migrated to 
Arkansas. The earthquake of 181 1 which destroyed New Mad- 
rid left hundreds of people without homes, and the government 
to provide for these, issued New Madrid certificates, which 
authorized their holders to locate on unoccupied lands in Mis- 
souri and Arkansas. Many of those were located in northern 
Arkansas and in the neighborhood of Little Rock. Thus the 
building and destruction of New Madrid were intimately asso- 
ciated with the development of Arkansas. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Longevity of the Pioneers — Some Old Marriages and 
Marriage Customs. 

There is a sentiment running through American history 
which seems to sustain the dictum that the West was peopled by 
young men and that the gray-heads stayed at home. Out of this 
has come the distinctions of the ''Wild and Woolly West/* and 
the "Cultivated East." I have lived in the East seven years 




IS8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and have traveled a great deal throughout the world and have 
corrected some of my own impressions, and am now writing 
to change a general impression. 

I.ITTLE ROCK AND WASHINGTON. 

Washington has more people. Little Rock more refinement ; 
Washington has more wealth. Little Rock more independent 
good livers. Washington has more negroes than Little Rock 
has white people and negroes combined, and the negro question 
will eventually be settled by their moving to Washington and 
the whites moving to the States. There are ninety thousand 
negroes here and '*more a-comin." Washington has more offi- 
cial, and Little Rock more real society. There is no better 
system of education in Washington than in Little Rock, and 
there are a far greater number of gawks, cranks and half- 
educated people here than in Little Rock or any other first 
class city of the country. Civil service finds a roosting place 
for thousands who can just pull through, but when they are 
through have a life job without corresponding mental improve- 
ment. They do one thing forever, which dwarfs without making 
them specialists. The president of Princeton University has 
pointed out that the tobacco chewers of the West are the greatest 
thinkers of the country, and that there is a close inter-relation 
between the sawdust spit-boxes of the cross roads and a high 
order of thought. Government clerks never think: it would be 
suicidal so to do. They do as they are told and in exactly the 
manner they are told, and have a dozen high mucky-mucks 
standing over them to see that they do it. They can't think 
and hold their jobs. Other people in the West are too busy 
reading the papers and making money to have time for rtunina- 
tion and chewing the cud. When young men were told to go 
West and grow up with the country it was not generally known 
that the old men of the country had been acting on that advice 
for fifty years. In fact, the West was peopled by men over 
forty-five years of age to a far greater extent than by people 
between twenty-six and fortv-five. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 159 

OLD MEN NOT AFRAID TO MOVE. 

It is generally believed that old men become more and more 
cautious as they advance in years and less and less adventurous. 
I understand how difficult it is to properly generalize the class 
of old men, but those over forty-five will come much more 
nearly forming a single class of old men than those under 
forty-five will the single class of young men. If there are to 
be but two classes, the forty-fifth year is a distinct line of 
cleavage. ^lore men and women over forty-five years of age 
entered Arkansas prior to 1830 than did the men, women and 
children under forty^ve. Men begin to live the really strenuous 
life at about forty-five, and do more really good work for the next 
twenty years than they did from twenty-five to forty-five. It 
is too great a task to enumerate all the men and women between 
forty-five and seventy years in Arkansas in 1830, but their 
aggregate was much larger than those between twenty and 
forty-five. 

WORK OF THE HALF-CENTURY EMIGRANTS. 

Men. and women of forty-five years or older piloted the 
long caravans of covered wagons that entered the State in 
territorial days; they entered the lands; they cleared the lands 
and built the cabins. In those days people younger than these 
were to be seen, not heard. There were exceptions of course, 
but the rule was as I have stated. Young lawyers and politicians 
came in droves of one and two, while the old people came in 
caravans. 

I have in a previous chapter picked out the men over 
sixty years of age in Lawrence County, but found the task too 
great for the entire territory. I have changed the age to seventy 
or more and present the following list, as official and authentic, 
for the entire territory in 1830. It proves that old men in that 
day were not afraid to make long journeys, not afraid to make 
a new home in the wilderness. These old men and women are 
the ancestors of thousands of our best citizens and are entitled 
to the special mention I give them. 

Lafayette County had three men between seventy and eighty 
— George Hubbard, Morgan Cr>'er and John Berry. 



i6o Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Izard County had nine — ^John Deerman, John Hargrove, 
Abraham Wood, Sr., Mrs. Abraham Wood, Samuel Davis, 
John W. Stewart, Mrs. Winnifred Chisolm, Webb E. Hayden 
and Joshua Martin. Towering above all these was old Jacob 
Wolf, between eighty and ninety. 

Phillips County had four from seventy to ninety — John 
Royall, Mrs. John Royall, John Ward and Mrs. John W. Hunt. 

Hempstead County took the premium for grand old men 
and women. There were three from seventy to eighty — Mrs. 
John Wilson, William Bailey and John Chairs. There were 
two between eighty and ninety — Mrs. Ambrose Hudgins and 
Mrs. Benjamin McDowell — while four men and women an- 
swered to their names with ages between ninety and one hun- 
dred. This grand old quartette of nonogenarians was John 
Haleman (possibly Holman), Mrs. John Haleman, Mrs. William 
Reed and Mrs. Abraham Stuart. 

Conway County had two from seventy to eighty — ^Henry 
Siscoe and Mrs. Margaret Kuykendall — ^while John Aplin regis- 
tered between eighty and ninety. 

Hot Spring County had two old people between seventy 
and eighty — L. Belding and Mrs. Jonathan Irons. 

Sevier County had a quartette of septuagenarians — ^John 
Dollarhide, Mrs. John Dollarhide. ^Irs. David Fareen and 
Benjamin Clark. She also had two octogenarians — David Fareen 
and Mrs. Benjamin Clark. 

PoDC County, my own native heath, had two between 
seventy and eighty — Mrs. Jessie Burton and Elijah Baker. 

Away up in W^ashington County, where the boast has been 
that the men live forever and the women never die, there were 
eight between seventy and eighty, but none older — ^James Fisher, 
[Mrs. Alexander Williams, Jacob Pyeatt, Mrs. John Casey, John 
Estes, Henry Click, Samuel Vaughan and Mrs. Samuel Vaughan. 

In Clark County they were limited to septuagenarians, but 
they beat Washington County in number. Th« roll contains ten 
names — !Mrs. George Overban, Mary Dickson, Benjamin Crow, 
John Little, Jonathan West, Charles Cox, Mrs. Charles Cox, 
John Elkins, Xancy Biddix and Mrs. Joseph Galbreath. * 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkofisas i6i 

Jefferson County was exceedingly short on longevity and had 
but one person seventy years of age — Mrs. Samuel Waters. 

Miller County had one from seventy to eighty — John Roberts 
— and one from eighty to ninety — George C. Wetmore. Major 
Wetmore was reported to have been killed by the Indians in 
1822, but this proves that to have been false. 

Independence County had four persons from seventy to 
eighty, Col. William Johnson, David Vance, John Minyard and 
Morgan Magness. Samuel Caruthers was between eighty and 
ninety. 

In Pulaski County none but septuagenarians, were enrolled. 
These were: Samson Gray, Thomas Massengill, Asher Bagley, 
Patrick Flanakin, John Bailey, Valentine Miller, William Duncan 
and Margry Harris. Six of these old men of Arkansas were 
Revolutionary soldiers, Benjamin Clark, Morgan Cryer, John 
Holman, David Vance, Asher Bagley and Charles Pelham. 

FOURTH OF JULY, 1 822, AT BATESVILLE. 

On this ocasion the whole county turned out and a grand 
jubilee was held. They read the Declaration of Independence, 
and Townsend Dickinson, a young lawyer from Yonkers, New 
York, afterward supreme judge of the State, made a speech which 
"set the boys wild." Among the men who responded to toasts 
were men that afterward added fame and honor to Arkansas. 
There was Richard Bean, one of the men from Tennessee whom 
Schoolcraft has named. ' Colonel Richard Peel was there and 
kicked harder than his descendant, Sam W. Peel, ever did against 
taxation without representation. John Colley, with his coon skin 
cap, tickled the State officers with compliments. James Trimble 
drank to the health of the territory and wished that it might 
soon become a State. There was no height of impudence to 
which these jovial sons of the forest would not go. James 
Trimble came from Kentucky in 181 5. His wife, a Culpepper, 
Virginia, woman died in 1836. ]\Iajor Joseph Taylor, fresh 
from Cynthiana, Kentucky, paid a glowing tribute to the pioneers. 
He unfortunately died the next year and was buried with 
Masonic honors, before there was a lodge in the State. Richard 
Holaby toasted Governor Miller, and Colonel James Boswell 



i62 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

pushed up Statehood. Townsend Dickinson looked askant at the 
daughter of Major William Moore (whom he afterwards mar- 
ried), and made the speech of the day. William Ramsey pitched 
into the Choctaw removal and Charles H. Pelham paid a tribute 
to young Robert Crittenden. Charles Kelley and Major William 
Moore boomed Batesville, while Aaron Gillet toasted John C. 
Calhoun and nominated him for president. The red-hot speech, 
however, was made by Major David Magness. His toast was: 
"May the hand wither and rot that plucks one feather from 
the tail of the Bird of Freedom to adorn the crown of royalty." 
A man that couldn't make a speech on that question at that 
time was not much of a speaker. Major Magness filled the 
bill and roused Independence County to the heights of patriotism. 

After the speaking was over the fiddles ivere brought out 
and the dance began. It was a grand gathering of fair women 
and brave men and all went merry as a marriage bell. The 
whole affair was impromptu and enthusiastic. Independence 
County couldn't give that celebration today. There are too 
many critics in these modern times to do things grandly large in 
a truly off-hand way. There must be committees and a bevy 
of grand marshals, and a regiment of good lookers to grace the 
platform — a phalanx of fuss with little feathers. 

WEDDING FEASTS OF LONG AGO. 

While camp meetings, barbecues and Fourth of July cele- 
brations gave vent to the social proclivities of early Arkansas, 
illustrating their good nature, good humor and camaraderie, 
nothing so well illustrated these points of vantage as the wed- 
dings and infares of the early days. These were the great events 
of the neighborhood and were celebrated with all the pomp and 
ceremony of backwoods civilization, a civilization in some re- 
spects, in the matter of wedding festivities particularly, far in 
advance of the civilization of today. The wedding supper then, 
given at the house of the bride, meant something to eat; some- 
thing substantial, wonderfully tasteful and altogether abounding. 
In the center of a long table, running diagonally across the 
large old-fashioned generous room, cake stands were placed one 
above the other to the height of three feet, containing cakes of 



Piofieers and Makers of Arkansas 163 

the most toothsome kind, made at home by cake makers and not 
bought at a bakery, each tier of cake flanked by rows of small 
glasses, each filled with a different colored jelly, all topped with a 
bouquet of hundred-leafed roses, sweet pinks and lilacs. At 
one end of the table was a young pig cooked whole lying in a 
dish as you have seen live pigs in a trough, flanked by dressing 
made savory with sage, thyme and parsley, with a small nubbin 
of roasting ear held between its feet and nose, and its tail curled 
saucily over its naked back; this pig being a thoroughbred of 
early Arkansas days before modern degeneracy had developed 
the razorback and straighttailed variety. At the other end a 
turkey hen sat in state upon a gorgeous platter surrounded by 
stuffing with hard-boiled peeled eggs protruding, as though the 
fowl were preparing to hatch a glorious brood. This was not the 
modern "nature study" of imitation eggs and learned palaver, 
but the real turkey on a nest of real stuffing and eggs equally 
as real and altogether true to nature. Then there was the 
great platter of cold ham, and that other of sliced lamb, and 
numerous dishes of chicken salads — all of which made a first 
course better than any three courses of the modern menu, 
whose essence is physiological culture and parsimonious economy. 
Time fails to enumerate the pyramids of cream potatoes, 
the bountiful dishes of butter beans and cucumbers, and the 
huge tureens of gigantic roasting ears. All down the aisles 
of these substantials were tumblers of stick candy of all colors 
and sizes, very much like the barber poles that grace the avenues 
of our cities. The only new things advertised for the occasion 
were egg puffs, known today as sugar kisses. These w^ere an 
innovation lately brcnight up from Xew Orleans, and were carried 
home as souvenirs to furnish social diversion for the following 
month. 

"i^loat" was the: dessert. 

For dessert another huge tureen, holding about ten gallons, 
contained that savory production called in those days "float," 
which modern learning classifies as "egg-nog." without contrib- 
uting a particle to the excellency of the old-fashioned float. 
This was before ice cream could be bought done up in tin squares 



164 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

ready to be served with a wafer or nabisco, and the float fully 
made up for this possible lack. There was enough on these 
tables, taken separately, to serve five or six hundred guests, 
as guests are served today at swell receptions at our capital, 
where one teaspoonful of chicken salad upon one small lettuce 
leaf, one cheese straw, two salted almonds and a stuffed olive 
is considered a superfluity of most gorgeous abundance. We 
have today physiology and starvation coupled with choice in- 
tellectual pabulum, socalled, making a somewhat dubious feast 
of reason coupled with a flow of soul. Our Arkansas ancestors 
had plenty to eat, cooked in generosity and served with fervor. 
They got their physiological service from the force which came 
from good food well cooked, and the pleasure which came from 
the knowledge that no one need fear that a second helping 
would exhaust the supply. 

THE SECOND DAY FEAST. 

An exact copy of the wedding feast came the next day at the 
infare, which was held at the home of the groom. Thither went 
the friends and neighbors for twenty miles around in the old- 
fashioned lumbering coaches, in heavy buggies and wagons, and 
on horseback. They all at^ like they loved to eat and nO one 
was the worse for it. Nervous prostration was a thing* un- 
known in Arkansas in the days of groaning tables and bountiful 
living. Emaciation had not come and health was so distressingly 
prevalent as to make the practice of medicine unprofitable. Old 
Doctor !McKay at Arkansas Post in the year 1819 earned less 
than ten dollars and changed his business for another which 
carried a i)ercentage. Nerve prostration came in with physiology 
and regulated eating and has kept splendid pace with their 
ruinous teachings. A man's stomach in the good old time 
worked full thne, giving beauty and strength to the body and £>r 
more intellectual impetus to the mind than modern eaters display 
who starve the body to enrich the mind. The old Latins had 
an idea that soundness of mind was in some way connected with 
sound bodies, and the soundest bodies are those that not only 
digest good food well, but glory in doing it. A little weasley, 
shrunken, half-starved body was never designed to carry any- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 165 

thing but a weasly, shrunken and half-starved mind. Poor 
living may suit those who want to save money, but it was 
never designed to develop an immortal mind. 

NOTABLE EARLY MARRIAGES. 

Such weddings and infares were common in early days 
throughout Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. Mar- 
riage to a young man meant a most momentous occasion in life 
and was celebrated with all the dignity of a feast. Following 
are some of the marriages of 1822 and 1823: 

On December 20, 1822, George W. Scott, afterward United 
States marshal at Little Rock, was married to Ann Dodge, 
daughter of General Henry Dodge, at St. Genevieve, Missouri. 

In the same year the following marriages were celebrated 
at Arkansas Post: TRobert Brooks to Clemence Polet, in June; 
Achille Godin to Manette Felicity Valliere in July; both these 
marriages were celebrated by Judge Scott. In April of that 
year at the same place John Taylor was married to Eliza Webb. 
On June 19, 1821, Squire Petty in Mississippi township united 
Isaac Copeland to Nancy Bridgman in holy wedlock; on July 
4, 1821, Joseph Bonne was married to Miss Billeate in Pulaski 
County by John Dodge: on May 28, 1 821, Joseph Bennett was 
married to Margaret Montgomery in Mississippi township at 
the mouth of White river by 'Squire Petty; in June, 1821, 
William Kepler was married to Mary Folson, both of Clark 
County; on February 11, 1820, Charles Ewel was married to 
Borradell ^atimer at St. Francis by Judge W. B. R. Homer. 
On December 25, 1822, William Franklin was married to Elinor 
Lockert, daughter of James Lockert, in Pulaski County ; on 
February 19, 1823, John Taylor to Judic Imbeau, daughter of 
Monsieur Joseph Imbeau at Arkansas Post; in February, 1823, 
Zechariah Lorance to Betsy Harold, daughter of Abner Harold 
at Little Rock: on February 28, iii23, Andrew Hemphill to 
Margaret Welch, daughter of Robert Welch in Clark County. 
On October 22, 1821, in Vaugine township, Pulaski County, 
Creed Taylor was married to Utalie Vaugine, daughter of Major 
Francis Vaugine; on March 21, 1822, at Jackson, Missouri, 
Henrv Sanford clerk of the Lawrence Countv Court, to Maria 



i66 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Daugherty; on June 24, 1822, Andrew Fentor to Sidney Dean 
in Clark County; on the same day James Scarborough was an- 
nounced as having been married to Betsy Fentor, but the next 
week's paper said that this wedding did not come off. On July 
17, 1822, in Pyeatt township, Pulaski County, Smith Kellum 
was married to Jane Pyeatt, daughter of Jacob Pyeatt; on 
January 8, 1833, ^^ Long Prairie, Joshua Morrison was married 
to Margaret Bradley, stepdaughter of William Woodward; on 
March 25, 1823, Reverend Isaac Brookfield was married to Nancy 
Campbell in Lawrence County. 

These were all noted weddings of the day and time, adding 
much to the pleasure and well-being of the neighborhoods at the 
time and to the glory and growth of the State since that time. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Early Election Practices. 

The Gazette began its existence in 1819 at Arkansas Post 
in a small house owned by Richmond Peeler. In less than a 
year it moved out to the main street opposite the store of David 
Brearly, a Revolutionary soldier from New Jersey and a prom- 
inent soldier, at that. There the Gazette stayed until its re- 
moval to Little Rock. Its first resting place in the capital 
of the territory is not clearly disclosed, but on January 7, 1824, 
the paper's habitat was more clearly defined. On that day the 
management let the people know that the day of log and frame 
houses was over for the Gazette, and that thereaftcP the head- 
quarters of the great newspaper emporium would be in the new 
brick house — the new two-story brick house — a few rods west 
of the tannery, or tanyard. Much speculation has been in- 
dulged in as to the oldest brick house in Little Rock, and writers 
seem to have fixed the brick house era as beginning in 1825 
or later. Henry W. Conway had a brick kitchen and outhouse 
in 1823, and the Gazette occupied a two-story brick house 
in 1824. The issue of the paper making the announcement 
does not state that the Gazette would occupy the first brick 
house built, or the only brick house then standing in Little 
Rock, which seems to authorize the inference that "there were 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 167 

others." Doubtless there were, and the date of the notice of 
January 7, 1824, would certainly place their construction in 
1823, if not earlier. This brick building of the Gazette was on 
the northeast corner of Markham and Scott. 

THE BRICK TANTSRN. 

Isaac Watkins kept the earliest tavern, possibly, in the 
village of Little Rock, whichv after his demise, was not again 
used for a tavern for several years. Matthew Cunningham 
moved to Little Rock in 1821, having come from Missouri to 
Arkansas Post in a wagon, which he advertised for sale at 
that place. How he transferred himself to Little Rock is not 
known, but he got there, all the same. On January 7, 1822, 
he advertised for private boarders, and kept a fashionable private 
boarding house for several years. On October 10, 1825, Nicl^ 
Peay, from Shelbyville, Kentucky, opened a house of enter- 
tainment in the Isaac Watkins tavern stand on the river front, 
which was a noted place under his management for many years. 
These, however, were all frame houses, as were several other 
minor taverns and boarding houses that existed for a longer 
or shorter period between 1819 and 1825. 

The habit of locating physicians in hotels is an ancient 
one, and on December 21, 1821, Doctor C. Baker advertised his 
place of business at "Watkins' hotel." Alan Mars & Company 
advertised themselves on February 28, 1822, as ready for brick 
and stone masonry contracts. In 1823 a two-story brick build- 
ing w^as put up on Main Street about half way between Markham 
and Second streets, which was at once occupied as a hotel, 
and continued as such for more than fifteen years. This was 
the first brick hotel in Little Rock, but it is not standing today. 
Just opposite was another two-story brick house, also put up 
in 1823, which was used as a store. All of these brick structures 
were in existence when the Gazette took the new brick two- 
story building on January 7, 1824. How many brick residences 
there may have been I have not been able to determine, but in 
all probability there were several. 

Some time in 1821 Christian Brumbach and Benjamin Clem- 
ents formed a partnership as bricklayers and plasterers, which 
partnership lasted until October 31, 1822. This firm advertised 



1 68 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

frequently for bricklayers, and there is little reason to doubt 
but that in 1822 and 1823 they put up many brick houses, which 
are still standing or have given place to other structures under 
the rapid march of improvements. It is certain that the era 
of brick houses in Little Rock began long before 1825. 

FIRST JUDICIAL HANGING. 

Judge Pope in his Early Days places the first judicial hang- 
ing as of date May 21, 1828. This was the execution of William 
Strickland at Little Rock for murder. The judge was mistaken 
upon the point of priority in the honor of hangings, as there 
are several recorded instances of judicial hanging prior to 1828, 
and a great number of others that by all the rules of the game 
ought to have transpired, but by vicious practices were kept 
from the realm of fact. In the year 1820 Thomas Dickinson, 
a farmer owning three hundred acres of land on Old river, 
made an unprovoked assault upon a neighbor and killed him. 
He was arrested, tried, convicted and hanged at Arkansas Post 
in the year 1820. This is the first duly authenticated "necktie 
party'*of the territory of Arkansas, and a terrible warning to 
evil doers. 

EARLY ELECTION SCHEMES. 

From the very first day that the territory boasted an exist- 
ence there was an all-prevalent desire on the part of early 
arrivals and on the part of the "old residenters" to do their 
country service by holding one or more of its offices. In the 
first days of the territory one office was not enough, and really 
ambitious citizens not only wanted, but were permitted to have, 
two or more good, fat jobs. Robert Crittenden could act as 
a governor, run the secretary's office, practice law and conduct 
a real estate office. This led some one, who signed his name 
"Farmer," to publish a two-colimin article in the Gazette on 
November 17, 1821, protesting against it. This writer said: 
"There is no people more degraded and unfortunate than those 
having a practicing lawyer for governor." He also objected 
to Sam C. Roane acting at the same time as United States 
district attorney and as president of one of the legislative bodies, 
and to Brigadier General Hogan, a commissioned officer of 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 169 

the United States, holding a seat in the legislature. His ob- 
jections had a great influence on all after elections, and effected 
^'a reform, except that Crittenden never relinquished his power 
until he was forced out by General Jackson in 1829. In 1819 
William Craig, an old resident at the Post, began to size up 
the new coming officeholding class, and in July, 1820, flagellated 
them severely in the Gazette. He did not object particularly 
to their holding office, and that without the consent of the 
people, but he did object to their dabbling in other business. 
He said they gave one hour to the public business and nine 
hours to their own pockets. That they were "claim sharks," 
of the meanest order, and that the people of Arkansas territory 
were entitled to a cleaner deal. The newcomers looked upon 
the older citizens as a sort of uncivilized barbarians upon whom 
they might prey with impunity, and their greatest field of opera- 
tion was in the buying of claims. 

ELECTIONEERING DEVICES. 

When the first legislative election came there were many 
candidates. They harangued the voters, as they do today 
and used many practices which have since been legally declared 
to be corrupt. Whisky was a powerful stimulant upon the 
minds of the electorate. The man who set up the most free 
whisky was the man of the greater intellectual caliber, and the 
quality of the whisky cut no figure, except that all grades 
of decent, first-class whisky were barred out. Only whisky that 
would befuddle quickly and accurately was up to the standard, 
and in close races there were always a sufficient number of sots 
to turn the scales in favor of the intellectual giant, who knew 
where to locate his jugs and how to manipulate them success- 
fully. The whisky scheme was detected first and the clean 
voters blacklisted the man who used it. Then came the cheap 
cigar age of electioneering expedients. Here, also, none but 
the worst grades were in use. The office-wanting class seemed 
to think tl\e electorate a lot of unthinking blocks, not only 
ready to be bought, but to be bought by cigars that cost fifty 
cents a hundred. They lacked not only the decency of clean 
practices, but the generosity of a real grafter. 



170 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

In the old three days' elections all the sots of the neighbor- 
hood were secreted by the office-seeker, who was not ashamed 
to work that way, kept full of mean whisky for two days and 
hauled to the polls on the third to plump in their unpurchasable 
votes for their friend. Others had their pockets stuffed with 
cheap cigars and at the right moment voted a free vote for 
the cigar candidate. 

MORE CRITICISM FROM CRAIG. 

In the very first election old William Craig denounced 
these practices, and like Ossian prophesied the downfall of the 
class using such schemes. On July i, 182 1, he said: "The 
new-fangled mushroom politicians will be left to their own shame, 
and to smoke their own segars." He seemed to think smoking 
an abomination, but the smoking of candidates' "segars*' a mental, 
moral and physical poison. The giving of cigars and drinks 
to the voters has survived through all the years since 1820 and 
is proof positive that Darwin was wrong in his doctrine of 
the survival of the fittest. The question of drinking and smcA:ing 
is not involved in the discussion, as every man has the moral 
and legal right to determine that for himself, without subjecting 
himself to criticism. The bald question is "Can a clean candi- 
date, one who has never before been found extending the cour- 
tesies of smoking and drinking to anybody, when he announces 
himself for office, all at once begin treating the electorate pro- 
miscously?" The mind and conscience of the people have an- 
swered this with a strong negative, and the corrupt practices' 
acts of many States have made the promiscuous treating of 
voters illegal. Candidates still treat their constituents, but so 
guardedly as to avoid the operation of law. 

CHARGES IN ODEN-CONWAY RACE. 

In the race between Robert Oden and Henry W. Conway It 
was charged by the Odenites that Conway used whisky and 
cigars, while the Conwayites retorted that Oden did far worse. 
It* was charged that Oden kissed all the babies he came in 
contact with in that race except the "pickaninnies." Conway's 
detectives found out that every time Oden left Little Rock 
on his canvass he carried out a carpetbag full of trinkets of 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 171 

little or no value, but which he distributed judiciously among the 
children, the wives, daughters and mothers of the votjng popu- 
lation. It was charged that he cleaned up all the unsalable 
gewgaws of Little Rock and scattered them throughout the 
rural regions. He was overwhelmingly defeated, which would 
seem to argue that the voters thought mort of their whisky 
and cigars than they did of the pleasure that might be given 
their feminine adjuncts. Or it might be said that they were 
getting the graft of both sides — ^the men got whisky and cigars 
from one candidate and the women of their families got the 
gewgaws. In all such expedients 01^ the "floaters" are in- 
volved and to the honor of Arkansas be it said that this class, 
although dominant in localities, has never had a very great in- 
fluence on a general election. In the legislature of 1825 a certain 
question was carried by the judicious distribution of a boat- 
load of sugar-cured hams among the legislators. The recipients 
of the hams were spotted and in the next election the question 
of "Ham or no Ham** played a most important part. 

The Gazette published several cards from pork-padcing 
establishments, wanting to know how many boatloads of hams 
would be required for the legislation of the territory during the 
next session of the legislature. One cargo laid up at the mouth 
of the White on its way to New Orleans, dickering with Little 
Rock persons as to whether to bring the cargo up to the capital 
or take it on down the river. It went to New Orleans and the 
question soon died away. 

No age has ever been exempt from corrupt practices, nor 
has any country. They had a wide latitude in early days, but 
were as emphatically denounced then as now. Fewer legisla- 
tures have been bought in Arkansas than in Massachusetts and 
New York, and the debauching of the electorate has never been 
so general in Arkansas as in Massachusetts or New York. 
The campaign funds of party politics are the bases of corrupt 
practices and until they are absolutely abolished and the elections 
left entirely to the will and determination of the electors these 
practices will go on. The management of campaigns by and 
through committees having a treasury is the essence and core 
of corruption and should be abolished by law. 



172 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Governor George Izard. 

In the fall of 1825 Governor James Miller went back to New 
Hampshire and was elected to Congress from that State and was 
appointed collector at the port of Salem. He was loaded down 
with offices and honors. He took the collector's place and re- 
signed his governorship of Arkansas and his right to a seat in 
Congress. 

He and Robert Crittenden, the acting governor, are credited 
with setting up the terri1<5rial government, oiling it at periodica) 
moments and seeing that it did not jump a cog now and then. 

When Miller went out there were those who thought Crit- 
tenden should go in, and Crittenden might have been of that 
opinion, though there is little to show for it. One thing is 
certain, however, he did want to be secretary for the territory. 
He was called Cardinal Wolsey, and he tried to follow in the 
footsteps of that illustrious character, without copying him in 
any particular save in his fall. There were those in the territory 
who opposed him for secretary, prominent among them being 
Judge James Woodson Bates. These two used to play in the 
same back yard, but now they refused to walk on the same side 
of the street. Bates had more sense, but less political sagacity. 
He had the better education, legal and otherwise, but had far 
less prudence. Crittenden used the gloved hand while Bates 
used the mailed fist; besides, Bates loved a toddy. Crittenden 
as acting governor appointed several justices of the peace and 
many militia officers. In other words, Crittenden had a machine, 
while Bates had nothing but his own intelluctual and moral 
parts. He gave Crittenden considerable trouble and kept him 
awake all night frequently dodging twenty-four pounders, but 
he couldn't keep him from being appointed secretary of the 
territory. 

IZARD APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 

The president, James Monroe, who had the appointing 
power, selected Major General George Izard of South Carolina 
to fill the place of governor, and he made a most admirable 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 173 

selection. His greatest difficulty was in securing his acceptance. 
Monroe desired ^me one who had character and strength suffi- 
cient to bring order out of the chaos. Things in Arkansas were 
not lovely by any maner of means and an iron hand was needed. 
Izard needed no office, being a man of independent means; his 
associates were the leaders of the country and his sentiments 
were decidedly adverse to going to Arkansas. Monroe prevailed, 
however, and Izard accepted. 

George Izard really organized the territory of Arkansas. 
His predecessors, the governor and the acting governor, simply 
set the machine up and put it into bungling operation. They 
touched the high places, as it were, and substituted words for 
things. They had a militia so-called which consisted of a brig- 
adier general, who lived at Fort Towson, and an adjutant 
general, who was sherifif of Arkansas County. They had colo- 
nels galore, and that was the sum and substance of the "milish," 
except the neighborhod organizations. They had no men, no 
guns, no ammunition, no arsenal, no rules and really no militia. 

IZARD THE GREAT ORGANIZER. 

In point of education, George Izard was unquestionably 
the superior of any man that ever sat in the governor's chair 
at Little Rock in either form of government, State or territorial. 
Bom in Richmond, England, he graduated at the University of 
Pennsylvania, an honor man in 1792. He then attended the 
military schools at Kensington, England ; the University of Edin- 
burgh, and the French military schools, at Marbury and Metz. 
More than that, he was a man of sense. He had the caliber 
that took on education with out becoming a fool. He had a 
sound organizing mind to begin with, and he enriched this 
with all that the best schools of organization could offer. The 
results of the war of 1812 are traceable to George Izard's master- 
ful power of organization, more than the work of any other man, 
or that of any other twenty men combine<l. It was he that 
supplied the military organization act of 1812, which was taken 
by the supreme authorities and put into practice. Under this 
act Captain George Izard was made Colonel of the S^econd 
Artillery, with Lieutenant Winfield Scott as lieutenant colonel 
and William Lindsay as major. 



174 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

IZARD H.\D NO SUPERIOR. 

Concerning Colonel Izard, Birkhimer in his history of the 
Artillery of the United States says : 

**There was not in the United States his superior in mil- 
itary knowledge. Educated in the military schools of France, 
he had, by several years' experience in the army, supplemented 
by study and reflection, methodically digested in his mind the 
whole subject of organization and supply. This fact made 
his counsel particularly valuable at the beginning of the war, 
upon which, with little preparation, the government had now em- 
barked. Both the colonel and the lieutenant colonel of tliis 
regiment rose to the grade of general officer." 

Colonel Izard was in a short time promoted to the rank 
of brigadier general and Scott succeeded him as colonel of the 
Second Artiller}^ George Izard was the son of the patriot and 
statesman, Ralph Izard, of South Carolina. Ralph Izard was a 
grandson of one of the founders of the Palmetto State and the 
name has always been an honored one. It was given also to 
Ralph Izard to have a splendid education. He was a graduate 
of Cambridge, England, and lived for many years in England 
and France. While at Paris he took sides with Arthur Lee 
against Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin in their famous 
controversy. Returning to America, he secured for General 
Greene the command of the Southern Continental Army, and 
then pledged his entire estate to enable the Continental Congress 
to purchase the ships of war in Europe. He was a delegate to 
Congress from South Carolina in 1782 and 1783, and a senator 
from the same State from 1789 to 1795, when he was paralyzed. 
Few grander men have ever lived than Ralph Izard, and in 
the same category stands the name of his illustrious son, 
George. His father married a De Lancey of New York, which 
gave George two currents of blood, each representing the best 
of two widely differing sections. 

In 1 814 Major General George Izard was in command on 
Lake Champlain and on the Niagara frontier, where in Septem- 
ber at Sackett's Harbor he received an urgent call from Gen- 
eral Jacob Brown to come to his relief at Fort Erie. Izard 
moved up to Black Rock and crossed the Niagara, camping 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 175 

within two miles of Fort Erie. Ranking General Brown, he 
took supreme command and prepared to march against General 
Drummond, who had retreated to Queenstown. At Chippewa, 
Izard vainly tried to draw Drummond out, but that astute gen- 
eral retreated further inland. Izard then blew up Fort Erie 
and recrossed the Niagara. For this he was ^verely criticized 
by the New England stay-at-homes, but supported by the War 
Department. When the war was over, he, in 1816, issued a 
volume entitled "Official Correspondence With the War Depart- 
ment," which added a great deal to his stature as a military 
and scholarly man. 

When this man of affairs reached Little Rock he found 
everything in confusion. The governor was in New Hampshire 
and the acting governor in Washington. Izard asked how 
they managed in this way and was told that everybody did 
pretty much as he pleased anyway and that they got along fully 
as well without governors as with them. 

IZARD DRAWS THE REINS. 

Izard soon ascertained that things were running pretty 
loose. Money to pay the Indians was in the shape of a draft 
locked up in Crittenden's desk awaiting his return ; other moneys 
were at the mouth of the Arkansas in Crittenden's name await- 
ing his signature. Vacancies in various offices were hanging 
fire and the people doing without officers awaiting Crittenden's 
return. Indian agents were withholding their reports and a 
spirit of unrest was abroad in the land. The Quapaws had 
not been paid and the Indian agents were arrogating unlawful 
and arrogant powers. Izard as an organizer soon had every- 
thing in good working order. Indian agents fell back to their 
lawful places and soon made quarterly returns, accounting for 
every dollar. The Quapaw chief, Heckaton, said that Izard was 
a white man of the right kind and worthy of everybody's con- 
fidence. The Choctaws were moved to the West without a 
particle of friction, and south Arkansas was entirely clear of In- 
dians. Izard then took up the Cherokee question and during four 
years laid down plans which eventually removed every Indian 
from the State. 



176 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Izard was a clean man and a well-dressed man. He knew 
the world and was equally at home in a king's palace or an 
Indian hut. His speech was clean and his heart spotless. The 
only present he would ever allow a man to make him was a 
razor. When he left Europe he had more than twenty of these 
tools, and when he moved to Arkansas he selected seven and 
had them marked with his name and the day of the week. 
He never entered his office in the morning without a clean shaved 
face and his example had a wonderful influence on the birds' 
nests which many men of the time sported on their faces. 

LITTLE ROCK COULDN'T MAKE CHANGE. 

Tlie United States treasurer sent Izard drafts for $10,000 
to pay Indian and other claims. These he took to the business 
men of Little Rock, there being no banks, who told hun that all 
the money in town put together wouldn't total $10,000. Izard 
had to send a messenger to New Orleans to have these drafts 
cashed, a most expensive as well as dangerous proceeding. 

THE CRITTENDEN-CONWAY DUEL. 

The old-time honesty could not be impugned, but it wouldn't 
pass muster today. If a messenger entrusted with money in 
those days ran short he appropriated from the trust funds, and 
sometimes made it up promptly, but sometimes did not. Izard 
had to sue one messenger for using the trust funds and wait 
nearly a year for the money. The duel between Conway and 
Crittenden grew out of this habit. The treasurer at Washing- 
ton handed Conway in 1824 about $7,000 to hand to the gov- 
ernor of Arkansas to pay the Quapaws. Conway ran out of 
money before reaching Little Rock and used some of the money. 
He called on Crittenden, the acting governor, and asked him 
how much he would need. Crittenden said about $6,000. Con- 
way said that he was glad of that, as he had used a part of 
the money given him at Washington, but had $6,000, which he 
paid, and Crittenden gave a receipt. The other $1,000 was 
strictly accounted for several months later. When Conway ran 
for Congress in 1824, his second term, nothing was said about 
this matter, but when Robert Oden ran against him in 1826 
he made this bis bill of particulars. Conway answered him and 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 177 

admitted all that Oden charged. He said that the treasurer of 
the United States was the man to object if any wrong had been 
done, and not Oden. In his explanation, however, he said that 
Crittenden had consented for him to keep the $1,000 for a 
short time. Crittenden denied this and said that he had no right 
to consent or to object. That the money was not his and that 
the treasurer had not authorized him to demand anything of 
Conway. That he simply took the $6,000 and receipted for it 
without expressing an opinion one way or the other. Conway 
still claimed that Crittenden consented and the people soon for- 
got Oden*s charge and began to discuss whether Crittenden 
consented or not, a question not connected with the race. Con- 
way won the election and followed it by a bitter card denouncing 
Crittenden, which brought a challenge and Conway's death. 

This affair coupled with Izard's fixed rules requiring prompt 
reports and settlements, broke up the habit of using public funds 
for private purposes, even though the use was apparently 
righteous and necessary. To keep from sending $10,000 drafts 
to New Orleans Izard succeeded in having the drafts sent in 
$500 denominations, which were easily handled by the mer- 
chants of Little Rock. 

IZARD ORGANIZES MILlTlA. 

Izard began a real organization of the militia. He got 
guns and then men. He laid the foundation for the arsenal. 
He furnished the rules and regulations, having done this be- 
fore for the entire United States. Drilling went on regularly 
and many men who became famous in the Mexican war re- 
ceived their earliest tutelage in Izard's militia companies. 

Civil officers were held to a strict accountability and his 
administration was in every sense a great and wise one. Dur- 
ing his administration of affairs in Arkansas his family remained 
in Philadelphia, where, in 1827, his wife died. After Izard's 
return to Little Rock he gradually succumbed to a disease that 
had followed him through life. He died November 22, 1828, 
and was buried on the lot where the Peabody school now stands. 
His death was a blow to Arkansas. He had elevated the ter- 
ritorial government to the highest rank and had made troops of 
friends. Could he have lived for a few years longer (he was 



178 Pioneers and Makers of Arkatisas 

but fifty-one at his death), he would in all probability have 
represented the State in the highest councils of the nation. 
As it was, Arkansas stood well with all other people and was 
looked upon as a great and growing commonwealth. The good 
work begun by Izard was most fortunately continued by John 
Pope, which made the organization absolutely complete. 

Thus sleeps on Arkansas soil one of the greatest construc- 
tive minds of the United States. His work still lives in the 
organization of the United States army and his influence is still 
felt in the State where he died. There are few brighter spots 
in Arkansas history than the short four years George Izard was 
its governor. May his memory ever be revered and his example 
emulated. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Robert Crittenden. 

Robert Crittenden was a Kentuckian and was immensely 
proud of the fact. Virginians first made "State pride" a sine 
qua non, and the changes have been most vigorously rung on the 
F. F. V.'s of the Mother of Commonwealths. Kentucky was the 
eldest daughter of Virginia and some of her children, when they 
could make no other boast, fell back upon the claim that they 
were born in Virginia. To be a Mayflower descendant was a 
great thing in New England, but it never meant half so much as 
being born in Virginia meant in Kentucky. That fact alone cov- 
ered a multitude of sihs and was thought to be sufficient to un- 
lock all gates, even the golden gates of heaven. 

Kentucky was settled by people from all the Eastern States, 
with Virginians preponderating. The Crittenden family may be 
said to be a Kentucky family, with Virginia antecedents, all the 
glory of the family having been made in Kentucky, however, and 
very little in Virginia. 

The family lived in Woodford County prior to 1800 and 
were its pioneers, increasing in wealth as the hemp of Woodford 
projected itself into the markets of the world. My grandfather 
preferred the uplands of the adjoining county, Anderson, to the 
levels of Woodford, and therein he committed a crime against 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 179 

his descendants, although Anderson County got even on distil- 
leries. 

Robert Crittenden was born in Woodford County, Ken- 
tucky, in 1797. John J. Crittenden, the one to whom the family 
owes its greater fame, was also born in Woodford County in 
1787, ten years prior to the birth of Robert. Both studied law 
and both were eminent in their profession. Robert became an 
ensign in the Second United States Rifles in 1814 and was honor- 
ably discharged in June, 1815. He served about thirteen months 
with credit to himself and honor to his country. Henry Critten- 
den of the same county enlisted in 1812 and served three years, 
rising to the rank of captain in the Seventeenth infantry. These 
were all of the Crittendens who held official position in the War 
of 1812, but quite a number of the name became prominent in 
military affairs during the next centur>'. George Bibb Critten- 
den graduated at the military academy in 1833 and rose to the 
rank of major in the United States army, being cashiered in 1848. 
He joined the Southern army in 1861 and rose to the rank of 
major general. Thomas Leonidas Crittenden never went to the 
academy, but as a private joitied the regular army in 1836, from 
which he rose to the position of major general in the United 
States army. It will thus be seen that the family has been well 
represented in all the wars of the United States since 1812 and 
that it is a family of high martial instincts. 

ROBERT CRITTENDEX IN ARKANSAS. 

In his twenty-first year, a young, ambitious and briefless 
lawyer, Robert Crittenden was appointed by President Monroe, 
secretary of Arkansas territory at a salary of $1,000 a year and 
the privilege of doing all and every other sort of business, not 
conflicting with his secretarial duties. The duties of the office 
were not onerous, even though he had to act as governor, as 
there were but five counties, and these with a regular quota of 
officers. Crittenden accepted the place as the best possible open- 
' ing for a young lawyer, and to his credit it may be said that he 
made a good secretary, and when called on made a good act- 
ing governor. No fault can ever be found with Crittenden's 
performance of duty. He was a good officer, one of the very 
best. His sins were of another nature and had nothing whatever 



i8o Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

to do with the words misfeasance or malfeasance in office. He 
arrived at Arkansas Post in 1819 and on July 4 Governor Miller 
not having arrived, organized the territorial government of Ar- 
kansas, as acting governor, in conjunction with Charles Jouett, 
Charles Letcher and Andrew Scott, judges of the Superior Court. 
The whole work was finished in less than three weeks and Jouett 
and Letcher vamosed, never to return, and a doubt exists as to 
Jouett's presence. 

Crittenden at once formed a partnership with James Wood- 
son Bates in the practice of law and the dealing in real estate. 
Bates was soon put on the bench, and this partnership was dis- 
solved. Bates left the bench and ran for Congress, being elected 
by a close shave. The partnership was re-formed and continued 
for three years most profitably to each. Bates wanted a third 
term, but did not say so. He was in Washington most of the 
time and did not keep his weather eye open on the Arkansas 
clouds. Crittenden resolved to beat Bates and found three candi- 
dates ready to make the race; in fact, already announced and 
working for the place. Crittenden believed that if Trimble, Esk- 
ridge and Conway all ran, Bates would have clear sailing and set 
about to get two of them out of the way. 

THE GREAT INTRIGUE OF 1823. 

Crittenden asked Trimble, Eskridge and Conway to meet 
him in Judge Roane's office, and requested Judge Roane to be 
present. Crittenden made quite a talk and after arguing with 
Trimble and Eskridge for quite a while induced them to with- 
draw, which they did, agreeing to support Conway. Crittenden 
afterward alleged that Conway promised to have but one term 
and not to run again. This Conway denied and Roane, when 
called on to prove Crittenden's assertion, made a good Conway 
witness. One need not study far to ascertain Conway's change 
of front. He outwitted Crittenden, Eskridge and Trimble. 
After the cabinet council referred to above Conway went up into 
Missouri and met Bates. He asked him: "Are you going to^ 
run for the third term?" Bates said: "No, Conway; you are 
the man for the place." Conway said: "No, Til not run; you 
are the man." Thus Arkansas without knowing it furnished 
the originals for the two great characters, "Gaston and Al- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas i8i 

phonse," and unconsciously verified the adage that there is no 
new thing under the sun. Bates and Conway parted, so Bates 
said, with the understanding that neither was to run until a 
further consultation, and that if Bates decided to run Conway 
was not to run. Conway said that Bates gave him a clear field 
over his (Conway's) protest and that he proceeded to make good. 
He went to Batesville and saw Colonel Hardin, who told him that 
Independence County was for Bates, but that if Bates was not 
going to run, as Conway said, the county would support Conway. 
Conway having the whole field to himself repudiated his one-term 
stand and ran the second and third times, winning in every case. 

BETTER LAWYER THAN POLITICIAN. 

Crittenden stuck far more closely to the law than to politics, 
and succeeded most admirably at the bar, while failing most 
egregiously in politics. He made money and spent that money 
in beautifying Little Rock. He built a fine house and with a 
most generous hand dispensed the most lavish hospitality. He 
was clean of speech, clean of dress, open handed and open hearted. 
He was the best loved of all men among his votaries, and the 
most hated man in Arkansas among his adversaries. What was 
bis trouble? 

He had all the arts of the politician without the wisdom of 
the statesman. His ambition extended to a mere parceling of 
minor appointments rather than a leadership based on reason or 
the exercise of superior talent. He preferred to marshal men 
through personal obligation rather than lead them by an appeal 
to conviction. He did not lack eloquence — a great and com- 
manding eloquence — an eloquence, however, more fanciful than 
logical — more imaginative than practical. He lacked an orderly 
control of his mind and this to a large degree destroyed his in- 
fluence upon political subjects. His greatest defect was that he 
mingled too little with the masses of men, and was therefore 
without knowledge of the great mainsprings to human action. 
He was an inborn aristocrat and a whig to the core. To the 
multitude he was therefore an iceberg, and to him, the multitude 
was an unthinkable quantity. He was above them and this feel- 
ing of eminence barred his entry into the great domain of human 
nature. 



i82 Pioneers and Makers of Arkamas 

Evidence is not lacking of his desire to dominate the gov- 
ernors of the territory, and of a bitter resentment on his part for 
the governors who resented his dictation. 

DID NOT HOLD FRIENDSHIPS LONG. 

Judge Bates is authority for the saying that Crittenden 
dubbed James Miller '*The Old Fool," and gave as a reason the 
tendency of Miller to think for himself. That the relations be- 
tween Izard and Crittenden were strained is well known, but the 
reasons for their polite estrangement have not been enumerated 
with exactness. That Crittenden expected the appointment of 
governor in 1825 and did not get it seems to have been accepted 
as a sufficient reason for the lack of camaraderie between these 
men. If so, both men were of a smaller caliber than history has 
accorded them and unworthy of a lasting public esteem. 

The real reason must be sought in the abnormal propensity 
of Crittenden to control, and the abnormal propensity of Izard 
to think for himself and follow his own bent. 

Evidence is not lacking also to show that Crittenden was 
without constructive ability in his management of those relations 
which lead up to permanent and powerful friendships. He was 
check by jowl with Elijah Morton in 1819, but sundered from 
him as far as the poles in 1820. It was to his influence in 1819 
that Bates owed his small majority. So intimate were these men 
then as to be partners in law and in real estate. 

HIS DUEL WITH CONWAY. 

In 1823 Crittenden paved the way for Conway to beat Bates. 
Conway and Crittenden were close friends in 1823. Conway se- 
cured Crittenden the commissionership to negotiate the Quapaw 
treaty, and suggested his name to the president as governor in 
1825. In 1827 Crittenden was for Oden, against Conway, and 
took the stump for Oden, not on the high plane of civil service, 
but on the supreme issue of personal altercation. When Oden 
was defeated Crittenden pursued the personal phase of the con- 
troversy on the field of honor, with fatal results to Conway. 

Had there been but one estrangement between Crittenden 
and his close friends no general conclusion would have followed. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkmisas 183 

But the estrangement of Morton, of Bates, of Conway, and, in a 
lesser sense, of Miller and of Izard — all seem to point to a mental 
objectiveness on Crittenden's part to subordinate himself of- 
ficially. Nor were his lesser friends permitted to shine by their 
own light — they were to be mere pawns in his hands — nothing 
more. 

THE CONWAY-SEVIER DYNASTY. 

There was no real reason for the rise of the Conway-Sevier 
dynasty. Crittenden was on the ground before the Conways — 
before the Seviers. He had the advantages of place and a wider 
acquaintance. He was more eloquent than either, yea, than all 
of them, and with a rational program ought to have succeeded. 
The Conway-Sevier dynasty could never have had an initial place 
had Crittenden adhered to Bates in 1823. His act then drove the 
Bates faction to Conway in 1827. Ambrose H. Sevier would 
not have been a debatable quantity in 1827 and 1833 had Critten- 
den's policy from 1819 to 1825 been one of higher political 
thought. The Conway family, from 1820 to 1827, had no abnor- 
mal influence in Arkansas affairs. Ambrose H. Sevier was not 
a gigantic power until 1836. He held his position up to that 
time, not through family influence and ramifications, but solely 
and alone through his better knowledge of human nature. Henry 
W. Conway, in 1823, first sprang the idea of rotation in office, 
and quietly rang the changes on being a poor boy making his 
own way. The people elected him. Sevier ran in 1827 as a 
Whig, and is recorded in Washington as a Whig until 1836. He 
told the people about coming to the territory in 1820 as a mere 
boy — an orphan, friendless and alone. He told them that he had 
grown up among them and was not afraid to submit his claims to 
their judgment. All the speeches of Henry W. Conway from 
1823 to 1827 were exactly the kind of speeches Henry Clay was 
making at that time. All the measures Conway got through 
were public improvement measures, for which Clay spoke and 
voted. The men who were afterward called "rock-ribbed Demo- 
crats" all voted and spoke against Conway's measures. The 
same was true of Sevier up to 1836. 



184 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

FELL AS DID WOLSEY. 

Crittenden solidified the Conway-Sevier influence by a su- 
preme lack of high organizing sense, and laid the foundation for 
the great family influence which sprang up after 1836, and which 
it took the State twenty years to destroy. 

Not only did he lay the foundation for this family control 
of political affairs, but he also undermined the foundations of the 
Whig party in Arkansas. James Woodson Bates was driven to be 
a mugwump. Henry W. Conway died before he bad to make a 
choice, but up to the day of his death was as good a Whig as 
Crittenden. Sevier was originally a Whig, but Crittenden made 
him a straightout Democrat. EHctation was Crittenden's great- 
est weakness and led to the nickname "Cardinal Wolsey." Even 
as the great cardinal went down carrying his friends with him, 
so Crittenden went down, burying the Whig party under the 
ruins of the temple. 

In every relation of life save politics Robert Crittenden 
was a great and illustrious man, and in that field would have 
shone as a bright and particular star but for his abnormal 
self-esteem. As a lawyer, he attained particular eminence and 
died after a triumphant nine hours' exposition of a great and 
notable case. 

He married on October i, 1822, Miss Ann Morris of Frank- 
fort, Kentucky, a woman of most excellent understanding and 
the highest social position. For his wife, Crittenden always 
had the highest affection and in his family relations was sans 
peur et sans reproche. 

His death occurred at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on December 
18, 1834, in his thirty-seventh year. That death cast a gloom 
over the entire State, and both friends and enemies united in 
testimonials to his personal and professional worth. He had in 
him the elements of greatness and worked out for himself a 
position second only to that achieved by John J. Crittenden, 
the greatest of that name. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 185 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

CuE^sTKR Ashley — Thomas Willoughby Newtox. 

On October 11, 1620, the Mayflower from England landed 
at what is now called "Plymouth Rock," with a passenger list 
that has become the foundation for membership in- one of the 
most exclusive societies in the United States. The basis of this 
society is blood descent from some one of the passengers of 
this ship, and as a matter of historical interest this list as printed 
in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register of 
fifty years ago is reproduced here. It is the oldest passenger 
list for New England and registers the entrance date, not of 
Puritanism, but of Pilgrim Puritanism into New England. 
Pure English Puritanism came later and the difference was 
more of degree than of kind. The Pilgrims had lived in 
Holland awhile and had worn off the keen edge of con- 
troversy; the English Puritans came direct from England 
fresh from the arena of controversy and battle, and were pious, 
plucky and pugnacious. The essence of Puritanism in every 
age has been, not so much the purity of the inner individual 
life as the formal regulation of the outer social life. The Cath- 
olic and Episcopal churches presented dogma standardized by 
councils and a hierarchy. The Puritans presented dogma stand- 
ardized by local communes. The standards differed materially, 
and each destroyed to a degree the right of private judgment. 
No pope and council ever ruled with a more rigid iron hand 
than did the Puritan elders, ministers and councils of New En- 
gland. God Almighty gave ten short commandments from 
Sinai; the Puritans enunciated ten thousand or more and en- 
forced them with remorseless rigidity. They regulated every- 
thing from the dress of the body to the food for the soul, and 
pronounced upon the desirability of their citizens with the same 
ease and glib facility that the president of the United States 
now discourses upon the same theme. 

Everything had to be regulated and the regulators were 
the chosen high priests of a political and religious hierarchy, 
which ruthlessly trampled upon all opinions and judgments not 
in accord with their narrow judgments. Puritanism died a slow 



i86 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

death under the hammer of enlightenment, but the spirit of reg- 
ulation it brought to life has survived its demise. 

Senator Spooner in a short verse lampooned the present 
Massachusetts, and most vividly recalled the older days of se- 
verity and repression. He said in the Senate hall: 

**Hail Massachusetts I 
The land of the herring and cod, 
Who swaps her Adams for Douglas 
And worships her Lodge as God." 

THE ORIGINAL PILGRIMS. 

The Pilgrims of the Mayflower were: 

John Carver, Mary Carver, his wife, and Jasper Carver. 

William Bradford and Dorothy, his wife. 

Edward Winslow, wife Elizabeth, son Edward, grandson 
John and George Soule. 

William Brewster, wife, two children, a daughter-in-law 
and a grandson. 

Isaac Allerton, wife and four children. 

Miles Standish and wife. 

John Alden. 

Samuel Fuller and William Butten, his servant. 

Christopher Martin, wife and son. 

William Mullins, wife and three children. 

William White, wife and two sons. Resolved and William. 

Edward Thompson and Richard Warren. 

Stephen Hopkins, wife and four children. 

Edward Doty and Edward Leister. 

Edward Tilley, wife and two children. 

John Tilley, wife and child. 

Francis Cooke and John, his son. 

Thomas Rogers and John, his son. 

Thomas Tinker, wife and family. 

John Rigdale and wife. 

Edward Fuller, wife and son. 

John Turner and family. 

Francis Eaton, wife and son. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 187 

James Chilton, wife and daughter. 

John Crackston and son. 

John BilHngston, wife and two sons. 

Moses Fletcher, John Goodman, Degory Priest, Thomas 
Williams, Gilbert Winslow, Edward Margeson, Peter Brown, 
Richard Britterige, Richard Clarke, Richard Gardiner, and two 
seamen, John Allerton and Thomas English. 

THB ASHLEY FAMILY. 

The Ashley family of England had representatives in both 
the major and minor gentry of England and among the yeo- 
men. According to Hinman, the only one of the name to locate 
in New England, prior to 1800, was Robert Ashley, a Puritan 
from England, but not of the ultra type. He settled at Spring- 
field, Massachusetts, and was the lineal ancestor of Honorable 
Chester Ashley, possibly the greatest of the name in America, 
and one of the greatest senators Arkansas or any other State 
has ever produced. The name of Robert Ashley's wife was 
Mary, but her family naqie is lost in oblivion. Robert had five 
children, David, Mary, Jonathan, Sarah and Joseph. David 
married Hannah Glover and had eleven children, of whom one, 
Samuel Ashley, became the father of Reverend Joseph Ashley, 
graduate of Yale and minister at Sunderland. The son of 
Reverend Joseph Ashley, Stephen, had a son, William, born 
at Leverett, who became the father of Chester Ashley, who was 
bom at Amherst, Massachusetts, in the latter part of the 
eighteenth century. In about 1805 William Ashley removed to 
Hudson. New York, from whence, in 1809, Chester was sent 
to Williams' College, from whence he graduated in 1813. At 
Litchfield, Connecticut, under the guiding hand of the famous 
judges, Reeve and Gould, he prepared himself for the profession 
of law. 

SETTLES IN ARKANSAS. 

Recognizing the great advantages oflFered by the West, he 
in June, 1819, opened a law office at Edwardsville, Illinois, 
and advertised for practice in that district and in Missouri. The 
overtowering importance of the new territory of Arkansas was 



i88 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

soon brought to his attention and determined him to make that 
region his permanent home. In the latter part of 1819 or early 
in 1820 he was at Arkansas Post, and in 1820 had a merchant's 
license for the village of Little Rock, and had also swung his 
shingle to the breeze as an attorney at law. Robert Oden was 
at that time the greatest lawyer in Little Rock, being the only 
one there, and without much business or hopes for business. 
With the coming of Ashley, two great lawyers had the entire 
community to themselves. The town was noted for its suburbs ; 
in fact, liad more suburbs than anything else. But Ashley and 
Oden, not being overburdened by the demands of high social 
life, managed to keep their heads above water, and their hopes 
burning for an overwhelming future. Other people were com- 
ing — at least other speculators were coming. Two great bodies 
of speculators, and a caravan of smaller fry, covered the loca- 
tion of Little Rock with overlapping and conflicting claims, 
and spread the same over the nonpartisan ground which after- 
ward became famous under the name of Argenta. Ashley and 
Oden in their rude log law offices smacked their lips with de- 
light as these conflicting claims, backed by pugnacious pro- 
moters, began to claim the attention of the courts. 

RIVAL TOWNSIT^RS. 

Each of the great speculating companies had its cohort of 
surveyors and each laid off a town, one town being laid off on 
top of the other. One town was called Little Rock and the town 
on top of it was called Arkopolis. Everybody was busy. The 
Little Rock crowd swore they would fight it out on that line if it 
took all summer. The Arkopolis crowd said, '*Me, too." The 
word ''crowd" must not be taken in its modern sense. All the 
people put together would not have numbered one hundred souls, 
Ashley and Oden told the speculators to keep cool and not 
bite off their noses to spite their faces, that the whole matter 
would have to be thrashed out in the courts, but that in the mean- 
time they had better get together and agree upon one name 
for the town and some method of neutrality, the observance 
of which would tend to invite prospective purchasers to make 
the place a permanent home. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 189 

WHEN LITTLE ROCK WAS NAMED. 

They patched up a truce, agreed upon the name, Little 
Rock, and parcelled out the territory accordingly. All was 
fair on the surface now and Little Rock began to fill up. Dur- 
ing the year 1820 another lawyer, William Quarles, located at 
Little Rock; up at Batesville James Woodson Bates and Rich- 
ard Searcy were practicing; while down at Arkansas Post 
Robert Crittenden, Colonel Walker, Kelly & Maddox, Sam C. 
Roane and William Craig were trying to practice. From 1820 
to 1825 the bar at Little Rock increased very rapidly with 
Chester Ashley at its head. Speculation went on, yielding large 
profits to those who were shrewd enough to be on the right side. 
The settlements of the conflicts growing out of the wave of 
this speculation gave all good lawyers an abundance of fees. 
Chester Ashley had that sort of judgment, and that character 
of investigation, which always kept him on the safe side of 
his speculations; he also had that character of education, legal 
and otherwise, which made his judgment most valuable to the 
courts and his clients. With these he brought the courtesy of 
the Ashleys of the major gentry and in a comparatively short 
period of time became not only a wealthy man, but a man of 
affairs and honors. On July 2, 182 j, he went up to Potosi, 
Missouri, where he was joined in holy wedlock to Mary W, 
Elliot, one of the loveliest characters of early Arkansas history. 

WOX FAME AS A LAWYER. 

His fame as a lawyer soon covered Arkansas, not without 
the usual stabs of envy and the strokes of calumny and enmity. 
No successful man can escape these and no great man can avoid 
them. They are the tribute which men of lesser power always 
pay to greater genius. He kept out of politics and attended 
Strictly to his own affairs. From 1820 to 1848 his name was 
written in the largest character of letters upon everything con- 
nected with the betterment of Little Rock, and with much that 
made for the development of the State. Kind and thoughtful, 
he made and kept friends: profound and learned, he baffled and 
destroyed his enemies. Having made his estate secure he at 
last listened to the importunities of his friends and was sent 



190 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

to the Senate of the United States. His rank there is known 
to all men and needs not my puny pen to enrich it. Here he 
died and at Washington was given a most dignified state funeral. 
Whatever may have been the antecedent greatness of the 
name Ashley, certain it is that he was the greatest of its great. 
Born of a Puritan family, he practiced its principles without 
advocating its regulatory rigidity. He had profound convic- 
tions, and at proper times never hesitated to express them, but 
he scorned that system of regulation which would regulate all 
the affairs of men by the puny arm of a single narrow creed 
or a single narrow party. He was a Democrat by conviction, 
and as a Democrat lived a pronounced life among his fellows. 
He recognized, however, the value of Whiggery, and had many 
pronounced friends among the most thoughtful of that great 
party. He was a great man in every sense of the word and an 
honor to the State of his choice, if not of his birth. 

THOMAS WILUDUGHBY NEWTON. 

Thomas Willoughby Newton, Sr., lived a strenuous life 
in Arkansas, beginning in 1820. He came from Alexandria, 
Virginia, being about seventeen years of age at the time. When 
a youngster of seventeen leaves an old town like Alexandria 
for a new life in the woods it is but fair to say that he had 
strenuous blood in his veins. Some Newtons lived at Norfolk, 
Virginia, among whom was Thomas Newton, born in 1769, 
who, being liberally educated, represented Norfolk in Congress 
from 1801 till 1830, and then served one term afterward. He 
died at Norfolk in 1847. 

There was also a Willoughby Newton of Westmoreland 
County, Virginia, who, with a limited education, represented 
his district as a Whig in the Twenty-eighth Congress. 

The relation of these two men to Thomas Willoughby 
Newton of Alexandria cannot be told by me, but the identity of 
names suggests something of kin. 

Neither of these two eminent Virginia Newtons lived as 
eventful a life as our Arkansas Newton. He was born at Alex- 
andria in 1803, and had but a limited education. He had the 
''three R's" well and was a good penman. He entered Arkansas 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 191 

in 1820 and began his career riding the one-horse mail from 
Arkansas Post on the north side of the river to Cadron. He 
did not deign to stop at Little Rock, that being too small a 
place. He not only carried the mail on this star route, but he 
used his wits for better things. He made an impression on 
Crittenden, on Bates, on Samson Gray and on all the prom- 
inent men of that time. 

Politics cut no ice in 1820 and all men lived together in the 
love of the Lord and goodfellowship. Newton attended to his 
business and was soon sought by McKinney as deputy superior 
court clerk, which position he held for years. He was also post- 
master for awhile in 1824, and from 1825 to 1829 was clerk of 
Pulaski County. During this time he had studied law with 
Crittenden and had become a full-fledged lawyer. He had a 
most amiable and sunny disposition, which brought him friends. 
Even in his worst Whiggery he had troops of Democrat friends. 
He counted Colonel Walker out as the law directed, which 
led Walker to dub him a "stripling from Virginia;" Newton 
answered that stripling as he was, he was the equal of any cash- 
iered officer. He was fearless, brilliant and most energetic. 

NEWTON AS A LETTER WRITER. 

In the period of 1824-30 a mania existed in Arkansas for 
card writing in the Gazette over assumed names. Even Bates 
used this plan, as did all the earlier prominent men of the State 
except Tom Newton. He signed his own name and seemed 
to be proud of it. He never wrote cards about himself, nor 
very frequently in defense of himself. He loved Bob Critten- 
den, however, as a brother; lived at his house for a long time 
and was his constant associate. Whenever an anonymous writer 
attacked Crittenden, as they did every week of the world, some- 
times deservedly, but more frequently the opyposite, Newton de- 
fended Crittenden — and to his credit, be it said, he did it well. 
His pen was not polished, but it was strong. His English was 
good and he knew human nature as expressed by the heart 
feelings of the age. He knew the people also and could worst 
far better thinkers and writers than himself. His tilt with Bates 
was strong, but Bates got the laugh on him. Newton said in 



192 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

the beginning of his card that, unlike his opponent, he was not 
college bred — ^that he lacked the graces of a finished education. 
He claimed for himself a more humble origin and said that he 
walked fearlessly on every part of his native heath, defying 
all oppressors and backbiters. Bates retorted that he used th^ 
wrong words; that he should have said: "Like his predecessor 
of old he walked the Hounslow Heath, seeking whom he might 
devour." Newton was dubbed the Knight of Hounslow Heath 
ever after that, and frequently complimented Bates on his 
skill at turning trumps. On the field of honor his troubles 
were never his own, but a part of the heritage growing out of 
his close relationship to Crittenden. He was adjutant to Crit- 
tenden at the treaty with the Quapaws, and aide-de-camp to 
General Bradford in 1826. 

In 1829 he went to Shelbyville, Kentucky, and married 
Mary K. Allen, daughter of Colonel John Allen of that place, 
and a hero of the war of 1812. He rose to the rank of general 
and no man stood higher in the estimation of Kentucky people 
than General Allen. Newton followed the fortunes of his wife 
and remained at Shelbyville practicing law. In 1837, however, 
after the admission of Arkansas to the Union, Newton brought 
his wife back to Arkansas, making it his home. He became 
cashier of the State and Real Estate bank and lived through 
the fortunes and misfortunes of that institution. 

GIVEN MANY POLITICAL HONORS. 

He always had a strong penchant for political affairs and 
was frequently honored by the political parties. He was clerk 
of the council in the Third territorial legislature in 1823 and 
also in 1825, 1827 and 1828. He was elected as a Whig to the 
fifth State legislature and served in the Senate from November 
4, 1844, to November 4, 1848. When Archibald Yell resigned 
his seat in Congress to become colonel of the Arkansas volun- 
teer regiment in the Mexican war, Thomas W. Newton was 
elected to fill the unexpired term and served as a Whig in the 
Twenty-ninth Congress. He died in New York City in 1853. 

Thus we have a most strenuous life, beginning as mail boy 
in the backwoods in 1820 at seventeen and ending in the halls 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 193 

of Congress. Thomas W. Newton, Sr., was an honest man 
and a most cheerful one. He loved his fellows and was an 
optimist of the highest rank. Ever>'body loved him. His sons 
were Robert Crittenden Newton and Thomas Willoughby New- 
ton, Jr., the former being dead and the latter a citizen of Little 
Rock, whose name is known to all sons of Arkansas. 

THE NEWTON GENEALOGY. 

Thomas W. Newton, Sr., of Arkansas, was the seventh in 
lineal descent from Thomas Newton of Kingston-upon-HuU, 
England. Thomas Newton of Kingston-upon-Hull, had a son, 
John Newton of the same place, master and mariner, who set- 
tled in Westmoreland County, Virginia, about 1660, where he 
died leaving a will dated August 19, 1695, and recorded July 
28, 1697. He appears to have been married twice, the name of 
the first wife being unknown to me, while that of the second was 
Rose Gerrard of Virginia. Three sons were the fruits of the 
first marriage, all bom in England, from the eldest of whom 
the Arkansas Newtons, so far as they descend from Thomas 
Willoughby Newton, claim descent, while the Willoughby New- 
ton line of Virginia, including the late Bishop Newton descend 
from the last marriage. 

The eldest son of John Newton of Kingston-upon-Hull 
was John Newton of Westmoreland County, Virginia, who was 
brought by his father to that region about . 1660, passing the 
rest of his life in that county. He married a woman whose 
surname is lost but whose Christian name was Elizabeth and died 
leaving a will dated March i, 1721, and recorded May 30, 1722. 

The second son of John Newton of Westmoreland County 
was William Newton of Stafford County who married Margaret 
Monroe of Virginia of the same family as that of President 
James Monroe. His will was dated June 16, 1784, and recorded 
sometime in 1789. William Newton left a son, John Newton of 
Stafford County, who married Mary Thomas and died after the 
year 1798. John Newton left two sons, William Newton being 
the eldest and John Newton the second. William Newton mar- 
ried Jane B. Stewart of Maryland and left a large family among 
whom were Commodore John Newton, Commander of the 



194 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Hornet, whose second wife was a Miss Izard of South Caro- 
lina, Thomas Willoughby Newton, the subject of our sketch 
and Fenwick Newton. 

From John Newton, the second son of John and Mary 
(Thomas) Newton, who married Sarah Pollard of Virginia, 
there descended a daughter Jane P. Newton who married John 
H. Crease and moved to Arkansas. John H. Crease was State 
treasurer of Arkansas from January lo, 1849, ^^ January 26, 
1855, and from February 2, 1857, to February 2, 1859, and 
reared a family in Arkansas. His third daughter, Mary A. 
Crease, married George Claiborne Watkins, Chief Justice of 
the Supreme Court of Arkansas. 

OTHER NEWTONS OF ARKANSAS. . 

The first cadet credited to Arkansas at the Military Acad- . 
emy at West Point was James Hamilton, son of a merchant at 
Arkansas Post and Little Rock. He withdrew the same year, 
and G. W. Hardin of Batesville, was appointed in his Stead, but 
failed to report. In 1827, James Scull, son of the pioneer at 
Arkansas Post, was appointed, but he found the military life 
too strenuous and withdrew in 1828. In 1828 Fenwick Newton 
of Pulaski was appointed, but there is no record of his further 
progress. Arkansas from 1820 to 1830 held a very low rank at 
West Point, although all the boys who reported stood their en- 
trance examinations upon arriving. 

Before Thomas W. Newton, Sr., was registered in Arkansas 
there was a man named John Newton living in Pulaski County 
on the north side of the river. He was a man of family, and 
seems to have had an estate. When Crawford County was laid 
out in 1820 the first court was held in a storehouse belonging to 
Basil and Larkin Newton. I suppose these were brothers, and 
were possibly sons of John Newton of Pulaski. The latter died 
in December, 1822, at his house in Pulaski County, and on 
November 1 1 of the same year Jane, wife of John Newton, died 
in the same county. In July, 1825, Basil Newton of Crawford 
County took administration upon the estates of John and Mary 
Newton. In September, 1829. Larkin Newton drifted into 
Hempstead County and on that day married Mary Ann, daughter 
of John Wilson of that place. He was at that time serving as 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 195 

clerk of the court, piecing out the unexpired term of Colonel J. 
M. Stewart. The after-history of Fenwick, Basil and Larkin 
Newton is unknown to me, but they doubtless have many de- 
scendants in various parts of the State. 

Jesse Newton of Drew County was an honored citizen of 
that bailiwick, but came into the State at a much later period. 
James Newton of Calhoun County in 1850 may have been a de- 
scendant of Larkin Newton, but this is merely assumed. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Superior Court of Arkansas — Andrew Scott — Ben- 
jamin Johnson. 

When the territory of ^\rkansas was created provision was 
made for a court to be styled "The Superior Court of the Terri- 
tory of Arkansas." This court was to consist of three judges, 
and on March 3, 1819, President Monroe appointed as these 
judges Andrew Scott of Missouri, Charles Jouett of Michigan 
and Robert Letcher of Kentucky. The records of the office of 
the secretary of State at Little Rock show that in July, 1819, 
under the act of Congress creating the territory, this court met 
at Arkansas Post and in conjunction with Robert Crittenden, the 
acting governor of the territory, proceeded to put the new gov- 
ernment into operation. There was little to do and, so far as 
the records show, these men did that little in a very short time 
and adjourned. The book containing the legislation passed by 
that so-called "first legislature" could be written by a good type- 
writer in three hours. Records which can not be denied show 
that Charles Jouett was elected president of the body, and yet 
there are equally undeniable records proving that Charles Jouett 
never set foot on the soil of the territory of Arkansas. Hemp- 
stead in his history of the State says that after the adjournment 
of this body two of the judges, Jouett and Letcher, left the State, 
never to return. This may be the actual state of aflFairs, but 
from what follows it will be made clear that either Jouett never 
entered the State at all or that the Grand Jury which indicted 
him was absolutely ignorant of the English language. 



196 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

INDICTMENT BY THE ARKANSAS POST GRAND JURY. 

The Grand Jury of the Superior Court of Arkansas at its 
June term at Arkansas Post in 1820, Judge Andrew Scott being 
the only judge present, after bringing in an indictment against 
Robert Oden for fighting a duel with General Allen, and another 
against the seconds of that duel, brought in a third indictment 
against Charles Jouett, one of the judges of the Superior Court 
of the territory. The latter indictment was more in the nature 
of a complaint and was designed to represent certain facts in the 
strongest light possible, rather than to bring him to the bar of 
justice for any crime. This Grand Jury represented to the court 
that Charles Jouett, who for more than twelve months had held 
the appointment as judge of the Superior Court, without having 
taken his seat on the bench, was thereby obstructing the course 
of justice and should be reprimanded or removed. 

It is true that Judge Jouett could have sat in the first legis- 
lature as its president without taking his seat as judge of the 
Superior Court. This is hardly probable, however, as he was 
appointed judge of the Superior Court, and as judge became 
ex-officio a member of the legislative body. In the nature of 
things he had to take his seat as a member of the court first, and 
this indictment negatives that. But this is not all. William E. 
Woodruff in the columns of the Gazette, a month or two later, 
set out that Judge Letcher had gotten sick of the Arkansas coun- 
try and retraced his steps to Kentucky without setting his foot' 
in the territory. This is very strong language and but for the 
emphatic record of the acts of the first legislative body, which 
contains his signature, together with that of Judge Jouett,' would 
be taken in any court of law as proof positive that neither of 
these judges ever set foot on Arkansas soil. In the same article 
Mr. Woodruff has this to say of Judge Jouett: "It is still re- 
membered here that last spring (1819) Judge Jouett was driven 
from the territory' by a swarm of mosquitoes, at the mouth of 
the White river, while on his way to this place, and within 
eighteen miles of his destination." Language can hardly be 
made stronger than this, and would seem to prove that Charles 
Jouett, despite his signature to the acts of the first legislative 
body, never qualified as judge of the Superior Court, and was 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 197 

never inside the territory of Arkansas, except his landing at the 
mouth of White river and his judicial combat with "gallinippers" 
of that region, in which the insects got the advantage. 

The first Superior Court of Arkansas, from July, 1819, to 
January, 1821, was constituted and made up solely and alone of 
that man who never flinched from duty, Judge Andrew Scott. 
As long as the court remained at Arkansas Post, Judge Scott 
performed all the duties of this court, and remained one of its 
honored members after the removal gf this court to Little Rock. 
Benjamin Johnson of Kentucky was appointed judge of this 
court •in the place of Jouett in December, 1820, and arrived at 
the Post shortly afterward. Joseph Selden was appointed in 
the place of Letcher in October, 1820, proceeded to the Univer- 
sity of Virginia in the same month, where he was married to 
Miss Harriet Gray of Albemarle County, Virginia, and with her 
set out for his new post in the territory. He arrived there on 
December 24, 1820. Judge Johnson arrived shortly after this 
and in early 1821 the first full court sat at Arkansas Post. 

The most comprehensive definition of a court is that it is a 
tribunal for the settlement of disputes. It is an institution set 
up by wise government to furnish a remedy for the grievances 
of orderly life. This is its older and most comprehensive func- 
tion. Without sacrificing this under modem refinements it has 
come to be a tribunal for the settlement of disputes between rival 
authorities. The Superior Court of the Territory of Arkansas 
from 1819 to 1836 had little to do with questions other than the 
settlement of disputes, and from the nature of the population 
of the territory, its sparsity and its poverty, it never gained a 
position of eminence. There was little to do, and that little had 
nothing whatever to do with those questions which give great- 
ness to a tribunal. 

There was an apparent exception to this in the settlement 
of the Spanish land grant claims, but as will be seen hereafter, 
the court failed to take the right side of the question, failed to 
measure up to any standard which would have attracted to it 
the title "great," and therefore the entire body for the entire 
period must be classed with those necessary institutions which 
fall under and never pass beyond the claims of the word medi- 
ocritv. 



198 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

In the constitution of this court in 1819 tnree judges, Scott, 
Letcher and Jouett, were appointed to administer the United 
States law in the territory, and to act as an appellate court from 
the judgments of such inferior judges as should be created by 
the territorial legislature. The original defects of this Superior 
Court was its numbers. One man would have done far better 
than three, and for the first year one man really did all the work. 
Jouett and Letcher showed up at the organization of the terri- 
tory, and then quit, leaving Andrew Scott as the sole judge for 
the remainder of the year, 1819. Scott's identify with the terri- 
tory of Arkansas began in June, 1819, and terminated only with 
his death. 

As a citizen no one in the territory or State has ever en- 
titled himself to higher rank or merit, cleanliness and public 
enterprise. Descended from a Virginia and Missouri family, 
he brought into Arkansas an escutcheon entirely clean. 

JUDGES WERE ALL TOO YOUNG. 

Another objection to the Superior Court of Arkansas was 
the fact that all of its members were young men. Scott had just 
passed his majority, and when reappointments were made to 
fill the places of Jouett and Letcher, two young men, Robert 
Selden and Benjamin Johnson, were selected. No matter what 
the antecedent training of these men may have been, and no 
matter what their family connections were, they were entirely 
too young for the responsible position of judges of a superior 
court, unless that court was of the most secondary importance. 
Robert Selden was a Virginian, a descendant of a Revolution- 
ary colonel, possessed of all the elements of a great and good 
man. Benjamin Johnson represented the same characteristics, 
but descended from an illustrious family in Kentucky. Selden 
brought to Arkansas the old Virginia idea of social superiority, 
which as a young man he had not the prudence to conceal. 
The same remark to a lesser degree applies to Andrew Scott. 
Both were fond of social eminence, both prided themselves on 
their gentlemanly instincts and both possessed tempers which 
their youth forbade them to control. Johnson, while the equal 
in birth and social standing of either of his associates, cared less 
for the honor attached to ancestry, and still less for the honors 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 199 

society usually confers. Johnson owned a fine plantation sev- 
eral miles from Little Rock, where, surrounded by his slaves, 
his friends and his family he created a society of his own, and 
kept aloof from the entangling jealousies of Little Rock life. 
Selden and Scott lived in town and were thrown for their lighter 
amusements upon the facilities which the society of the town at 
that time afforded. Bridge whist was not then in vogue, but 
card playing was as popular then as now, and both Selden and 
Scott prided themselves upon their skill in a social game, the 
social games of society, and not those of the gambling hells. 

JUDGKS QUARRElr AT CARD TABLE. 

Judge Pope, upon the authority of John R. Homer Scott, 
the illustrious son of Andrew Scott, has given us as a reason 
for the unfortunate animosity which sprang up between Judges 
Selden and Scott, the statement that in a game of cards Selden 
used what at the most can only be called rude language to 
the partner of Judge Scott. Scott and his partner seemed to 
have been winning, and Scott's partner, an unnamed lady of 
Little Rock, triumphantly claimed superiority in words addressed 
to Judge Selden. It is said that Judge Selden replied, "That 
is not so," or "That is not true," or words to that effect. The 
lady took offense and showed it by a resort to tears. This ap- 
pealed to her partner, Judge Scott, who at once demanded of 
Judge Selden that he apologize to the lady he had offended. 
Judge Selden was rude, and, as a Virginia gentleman, should 
have apologized at once without the request of Judge Scott, 
and should have done it gracefully and freely. 

But this little act of rudeness was no excuse for what fol- 
lowed. Judges Selden and Scott were representatives of the 
highest court in the land, and were expected to set the highest 
example of good citizenship. The laws forbade dueling and 
this little incident was no excuse for two eminent judges to so 
far forget themselves as to resort to a duel to settle an insig- 
nificant dispute. The Little Rock Gazette of that time seems 
to indicate that there were other causes than the one already 
narrated, but does not state them. Selden did not apologize, 
and Scott did not challenge him at once. A stiffness grew up 



200 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

between them, and for many months they sat upon the bench 
together, side by side with Judge Johnson, without speaking to 
each other. It was thought that the men were antagonistic 
ih temper and that they would never agree, and although a duel 
was hinted at in the earlier stages of the coolness, no such calam- 
ity was expected later on, as time had removed both men so far 
from the incident. 

JUDGE KILLS ASSOCIATE IN DUEL. 

Early in the year 1824 Judge Scott challenged Judge Sel- 
den to fight a duel, the meeting place being opposite the mouth 
of White river in Mississippi. Dr. Nimrod Menifee was the 
second of Judge Scott and surgeon for both parties, and 
James Woodson Bates, second for Judge Selden. Pistols were 
used and the distance was ten steps. Judge Selden fell at the 
first fire, and Scott escaped uninjured. No one regretted the 
affair more than Judge Scott, a man whose life both before and 
after was in every respect above all reproach. The act is charge- 
able first to the youth of the parties and the prevailing senti- 
ment at that time that the duel was the only honorable way 
for gentlemen to settle their disputes. 

DUEL PREVENTED SCOTT's CONFIRMATION. 

Scott's second term expired in 1827, and he was nominated 
by the president of the United States for a third term. The 
friends of Judge Selden, however, succeeded in the Senate of 
the United States in having his appointment hot confirmed. 
The bar of Little Rock, at a public meeting shortly after this 
act of the Senate, passed a series of resolutions condemning the 
Senate of the United States for its action and commending 
Judge Andrew Scott for his ability, cleanness and character. He 
was designated as the leading judge of the Superior Court of 
Arkansas. This terminated his connection with the Superior 
Court bench, but he was at once appointed by Governor Izard 
as judge of the First Circuit Court of the territory. He held 
this position until 1831, when he retired to his plantation at 
Scotia, in Pope County. He represented Johnson and Pope 
counties in the Constitutional Convention of 1836, and was a 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 201 

member of the Territorial House of Representatives from Pope 
G)unty in 1 83 1. He acquired a fortune in private life and was 
at all times the most distinguished citizen of Pope County. His 
monument in the cemetery at Russellville is one of the finest 
creations of art, an honor to him and to his distinguished son, 
John R. Homer Scott, who erected it. The greatest judge on 
the superior court bench from 1819 to 1827 was Judge Andrew 
Scott. 

SUCCESSION OF SCOTT AND SELDEN. 

To succeed Judge Seldon, the president appointed William 
Trimble of Kentucky, who remained on the bench for several 
years. We have the authority of Robert Crittenden for say- 
ing that no man upon the Superior Court bench made as much 
money as did Trimble. He was a fine business man, in fact a 
better business man than a judge, and all his ventures in business 
were successful. Crittenden said that he left the State in 1832 
with about $20,000 in gold. His character was above all re- 
proach, although his legal acumen was not equal to that of either 
Scott or Johnson. He was succeeded on the bench by Edward 
Cross. In 1827 S. P. Eskridge was appointed to succeed Judge 
Scott and remained upon the bench for many years. He was a 
Presbyterian of the strictest type and also a most successful busi- 
ness man. He had lived in the territory since 1821, in which 
year, as a commissioner, he ran the famous Choctaw line. He 
was the first judge appointed by Governor Miller in the First cir- 
cuit in 1823, which position he held until 1827, when he was 
advanced to the superior court bench. He was prominently 
identified with almost every interest of eastern and northeastern 
Arkansas. He lived in Crittenden County and died at his resi- 
dence on December i, 1835. ^^ ^^^ a native of Virginia and 
one of the staunchest of Arkansas' early citizens. In 1828 the 
superior bench was enlarged to four, and James Woodson Bates 
appointed to the place. Upon his removal in 1831 the bench 
resumed its old numbers with Johnson, Cross and Eskridge as its 
members. 



202 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

JUDGE JOHXSOX'S ONE MISTAKE. 

Judge Benjamin Johnson held the position of territorial 
judge from December, 1819, until 1836, when the State was ad- 
mitted into the Union, a longer period than that of any other 
man. Each year of his life he added to an originally good 
judgment and increased his hold upon the law. His only break 
was in 1827, in the decision of the Spanish Land Grant cases, 
which was cured by a graceful overruling of his own decision 
a few years later and a greater caution throughout the rest of 
his long life in the investigation and application of precedents 
and legal authorities. When the State was admitted into the 
Union it become entitled to a United States Supreme Court jud^e, 
and in all the United States no man could be found fitter for the 
place than Judge Benjamin Johnson. He had had sixteen years' 
experience upon the Superior Court bench of the territory of 
Arkansas; he was connected by birth with the ablest families 
of Kentucky and of the nation, and had the natural qualifica- 
tions of attention and study so essential to the progressive ca- 
reer of a great judge. He served as United States Supreme 
Court judge in the State of Arkansas for thirteen years after 
the creation of the State, and died rich in this world's goods, 
rich in honor, and rich in the esteem of the entire people of the 
State. His son, Robert W. Johnson, served the State with 
honor in the Senate of the United States, and his son-in-law, 
Ambrose Hundley Sevier, held the same position. Such was 
the old Superior Court of the territory of Arkansas, and such 
were the men it brought into Arkansas. 

GENEALOGY OF BENJAMIN JOHNSON. 

Judge Benjamin Johnson was descended from an old Vir- 
ginia family. His father, Robert Johnson, was born in Orange 
County, Virginia, on July 17, 1745; in the same county in 1770 
he was married to Jemina Suggett ; he afterwards moved to Ken- 
tucky, dying at Warsaw in Gallatin County on October 15, 1815. 
Eleven children were the fruits of this marriage : Betsy, James^ 
William, Sally, Richard M., Benjamin, Robert, John T., Joel, 
George W., and Henry, two girls and nine boys. Betsy married 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 203 

General John Payne in Orange County, Virginia, on June 28, 
1787, and died in November, 1845, leaving thirteen children. 

Sally married General William Ward at Great Crossings, 
Kentucky, on December 28, 1795, and died August 25, 1846, leav- 
ing eight children. 

Of his elder brother, Richard Mentor Johnson, little need 
be said. In 1812 he was made Colonel of the Kentucky Mounted 
Volunteers and gained distinguished honor in Upper Canada. 
Congress by an act of April 4, 1818, resolved: "That the Presi-? 
dent of the United States be requested to present to Colonel Rich- 
ard M. Johnson a sword as a testimony of the high sense 
entertained by Congress of the daring and distinguished valor 
displayed by himself and the regiment of volunteers under his 
command in charging and essentially contributing to vanquish 
the combined British and Indian forces under Major General 
Proctor, on the Thames, in Upper Canada, on the 5th day of 
October, 1813.*' He was a representative in Congress and a 
Jackson Democrat in the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, 
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses; a United States Senator 
fiom Kentucky succeeding John J. Crittenden; he served as Sen- 
ator from March 3, 1819, to March 3, 1829; served again in the 
Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth 
Congresses ; was Vice President of the United States from 1837 
to 1841, being chosen by the Senate; he was defeated for the 
same office on the Democratic ticket in 1840; he died at Frank- 
fort, Kentucky, on November 19, 1850. 

Another older brother, James, served with distinction in the 
war of 181 2; was a large contractor for supplying troops on the 
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in 1819, 1820; represented a 
Kentucky district in the Nineteenth Congress and died at Great 
Crossings, Kentucky, August 14, 1826. 

John T. Johnson, a younger brother was born in Scott 
County, Kentucky, where he was admitted to the bar; repre- 
sented that district in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Congresses ; 
was Judge of the new Court of Appeals of Kentucky for many 
years; joined the Christian Church and became one of its most 
noted preachers, preaching throughout the Mississippi Valley, in 
Arkansas and at Little Rock. He died at Lexington, Missouri, 
December 18, 1857. 



204 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Of the further career of his elder brother, William, and his 
other younger brothers, Robert, Joel, George W. and Henry, I 
am not advised. 

We have been told by Arkansas historians that Benjamin 
Johnson was the youngest member of a family of distinguished 
men. The above genealogy proves this to be untrue. We have 
also been told that Richard Mentor Johnson served fifteen years 
in the lower house of Congress, while the records show a service 
of twenty years. The order of a man's birth and the number of 
years he may serve in a given position may not be important; 
but where they are stated as historic truths they should at least 
be accurate. Another narrative makes a brother of Judge Ben- 
jamin Johnson kill the great Indian Chief, Tecumseh, and an- 
other brother serve as Vice President of the United States, when 
the truth is that these brothers were identical. 

Judge Benjamin Johnson was bom in Scott County, Ken- 
tucky, on the 22d day of July, 1784, and was married to Matilda 
Williams in the same county on September 8, 181 1. The Judge 
died at Lexington, Kentucky, on October 2, 1849, and was buried 
in Mt. Holly Cemetery at Little Rock. Eight children were 
born to Judge Johnson and his good wife, Matilda. They were 
as follows: 

1. Juliette E. Johnson, born October 12, 1812, married to 
Ambrose Hundley Sevier at Little Rock on September 26, 1827^ 
and died on March 16, 1845, being buried at Little Rock. Four 
children were the fruits of this marriage, Annie M. Sevier, Mat- 
tie J. Sevier, Elizabeth Sevier and Ambrose H. Sevier. Of these, 
Annie M. Sevier married General and Governor Thomas J. 
Churchill on July 31, 1849, ^"d became the mother of six child- 
ren : Abbie, Samuel J., Ambrose S., Juliet J., Emily and Matilda. 

2. Robert Ward Johnson was born July 22, 1814, married 
Sarah S. Smith, daughter of Doctor George W. and Sabina Dubb 
Smith of Louisville, Kentucky, March 10, 1836, died July 26^ 
1879, and was buried in Little Rock. Robert W. Johnson was 
born in Kentucky, attended the common schools and the college 
at Bardstown, Kentucky ; graduated in law at Yale College ; ad- 
mitted to the bar and began practice at Little Rock ; was elected 
to the Thirtieth, Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses as a 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 205 

Democrat; elected United States Senator to succeed Solon Bor- 
land, serving from December 5, 1853, until he withdrew from 
the Senate to align himself with the Confederate States in 1861 ; 
Confederate States Senator from Arkansas from 1861 to 1865; 
after the war removed to Washington, D. C, where he engaged 
in the practice of law until *iis death.. His children were: 
Charles who died in infancy; Benjamin S., born October 29, 
1841, married December 19, 1878, to Lina Vandegrift of Dela- 
ware, and became the father of Adeline C, who died in infancy, 
and James V. Johnson, who with his father, Benjamin S. John- 
son, are prominent practitioners in the department of law at 
Little Rock; George J., who died in infancy; Robert W. Jr., who 
died at eighteen years of age; Francis born September 5, 1847, 
married to May F. Curran, October 14, 1873, and died Septem- 
ber 22, 1902, leaving children, Alice, Sophia, Elsie, Ada May 
and Robert W. ; Sally F., bom February 12, 1849, married Joseph 
Cabell Breckinridge of Kentucky, December i, 1869. Her child- 
ren were — ^John C, Laura, Robert W. J., and Benjamin J. 

3. George Junius Johnson died early in life unmarried. 

4. Benjamin S. Johnson married Amelia Smith and died 
April 20, 1857, leaving no children. 

5. Richard H. Johnson was born February 22, 1826, mar- 
ried Annie Newton, daughter of Thomas W. Newton, Sr., on 
February 22, 1855, and died in 1891. His children were Matilda, 
Sevier, Allen N., Mary, Junius J., Sidney, John A., and Anna. 
All of these children are dead, except John A. Johnson who lives 
in Little Rock. 

6. James B. Johnson, born February 16, 1828, married 
Mary W. Cocke, niece of Governor John Pope, and was killed 
in the Confederate Army in 1862. His children were : Matilda, 
James Watt, and Irene, all of whom are dead. 

7. Charles E. Johnson, died o. s. p. 

8. Irene M. Johnson was born April 27, 1835, married 
Doctor John A. Jordan and died in August, 1878. Her children 
were: Matilda, Robert W., Mary, Irene and Maude J. 

It will thus be seen that Judge Benjamin Johnson while tied 
to a distinguished family in Kentucky was also the head of a 
distinguished line of descendants whose names are connected 
with every line of development in Arkansas. 



2o6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Ambrose H. Sevier — William S. Fulton- -Pre-emption. 

Ambrose Hundley Sevier owed much to heredity. His 
family on the paternal side had for more than a thousand years 
occupied places of honor and trust in both church and State in 
the great kingdom of France. His gjeat uncle, John Sevier, 
had carved for himself an immortal name in the creation of the 
State of Franklin and the making of the great commonwealth 
of Tennessee. The father of John Sevier, who spelled his name 
Xavier, its French form, was born in France, but on account 
of religious differences emigrated to Rockingham County, Vir- 
ginia, where in 1745 John Sevier was born. In this same rug- 
ged county of Virginia, the bee hive of restless and ambitious 
spirits, was born Valentine Sevier, another immortal Tennessee 
name, and also several other brothers' among whom was the 
grandfather of A. H. Sevier. 

John Sevier's fame rests upon the confidence of his friends 
and neighbors, engendered by his unselfish and patriotic devo- 
tion to duty. Wherever John Sevier went twere went all his 
neighbors and friends, and out of his pocket, which was never 
reimbursed, went the money which these friends and neighbors 
needed in the execution of their enterprises. John Sevier was 
the idol of his neighbors and friends and knew men as few 
other men of his age knew them. Valentine Sevier sacrificed 
boy after boy in the East Tennessee conflicts with the Indians; 
with but two left, he sent these into the Cumberland district to 
help his friends there, where they were both butchered by the 
savages. In the agony of his heart the old man wrote back to 
a brother in Rockingham County: "Send me one or two of 
your boys. My boys are all gone, except some little ones they 
left, and the old man is so lonely." The wail of Ossian is no 
whit grander than this wail of old Valentine Sevier in the 
mountains of East Tennessee. In answer to this request, one 
nephew, with his wife, moved to Greene County, Tennessee, to 
comfort the declining years of this majestic old uncle, who was, 
with the exception of his brother, John, the proudest figure of 
that day. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 207 

CLASSICAL EDUCATION IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

This boy, the father of Ambrose Hundley Sevier, married 
in Greene County, Susan Conway, whose nephews afterwards, 
became famous in Arkansas. In Greene County, in the year 
1801, at the very time when his great uncle, John, was governor 
of the commonwealth, A. H. Sevier was bom. For nineteen 
years he lived in Greene County and was there educated. He 
was classically educated in the mountains of East Tennessee. 
And he who conceives that a classical education may only be 
had inside great collegiate walls needs to undeceive himself. 
He who believes, like Alfred Bushnel Hart, professor of history 
in Harvard College, that the puritans of New England furnished 
the leaven which leavened the whole lump of American civili- 
zation, needs to undeceive himself. The civilization of the great 
West and South owes less to puritanism, to New England, than 
to any other cause. In fact, the very purest puritanism existed 
in other colonies, and while the narrow puritanism of New Eng- 
land made more noise, the broader puritanism of the other colo- 
nies produced a greater effect. 

When Doak, the great Presbyterian puritan of North Caro- 
lina, established a college in East Tennessee before 1800, he was 
planting the leaven which should contribute most to Tennessee 
civilization. This college had the same Virgil, the same Cae- 
sar, the same Xenophon, the same Cicero, the same Legendre 
and the same Bible that any college in the w^rld had, and its 
teachers were masters of the books, a thing that may not be 
said of all the professors who hold place in the greater institu- 
tions of today. A. H. Sevier in East Tennessee received a clas- 
sical education, and upon the death of his father and mother 
received a very small estate. Not satisfied to live surrounded 
by an aristocratic kin, unable to move in the same circle with 
them, and looked upon by them as poor relations, Ambrose H. 
Sevier, in his nineteenth year, moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. 
We are not left to conjecture as to his condition upon arriving 
there. On April 25, 1825, in a speech to his friends in Little 
Rock, he used these words: "In my orphanage and boyhood 
I emigrated to this country, where I had neither friends or for- 
tune or family connections." He was not making a speech for 



2o8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

political buncombe, for the election was over and he had won. 
It was a speech characteristic of old John Sevier and of yoting 
Ambrose Sevier, or, as he was called in Little Rock, "Don Am- 
brosia." It was a speech to the people in which he rehearsed his 
life for five years in their midst, and in which he acknowledged 
his obligations to them for taking him into their confidence and 
honoring him with their support. It was not the speech of a 
demagogue, tickling the people for future gain, but a speech 
from the heart, a Sevier speech of the type of old John, in which 
truth and honesty predominated. There are those who think 
that Sevier's rapid promotion was due to his gifted father-in- 
law, Benjamin Johnson, and to his great kin, the Conways and 
Rectors. As a matter of fact, instead of these making Sevier, 
he, in all truth, may be said to have made them, ft was Repre- 
sentative Sevier who saved Benjamin Johnson in the Congress 
of the United States, and it was the same Sevier who had a 
name and power before the Conway- Johnson family became the 
political rulers of the State. 

sevier's rapid rise- 

He studied law in Little Rock, which is not to his discredit. 
He had the same Blackstone, the same Chitty, the same Ste-» 
phens, that he would have had in a great law school, and as good 
teachers as any taw school of that day afforded. He was a 
student and that explains the whole question. While others 
were enjoying themselves Sevier was studying his tasks, or visit- 
ing among the common people, whose heartthrobs found an an- 
swering echo in his own. He was a full-fledged lawyer in 1823 
and had for his first case the defense of Russell in the great slan- 
der suit of Hogan v. Russell. He lost, but made for himself a 
character and a name. His friends were Chester Ashley and 
Robert Crittenden. He was clerk of the House of Representa- 
tives in the second legislature in October, 1821, and earned in 
that way the means necessary for his support. His manly com- 
mon sense won for him the esteem of the people and in 1823 he 
was sent to the House of Representatives from Pulaski County, 
and returned again in 1825 and in 1827, in which session he was 
speaker of the house. Such a career for a poor orphan boy is 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 209 

absolutely remarkable, and bespeaks for him talents and virtues 
of the ver\' highest order. During this time he held partner- 
ships with Crittenden, with Ashley and with Trimble. 

Political issues were of little moment, but in all the essen- 
tials of a party he was a Whig, as were the great body of the 
aristocratic slave holders of that period. 

In fact, he is credited as being a Whig in his first term as 
delegate to Congress by the registers of that body. The enmity 
between him and Crittenden was not yet born, for in 1824 Crit- 
tenden, as acting governor, appointed him as prosecuting at- 
torney for the Second Judicial District, and in the same year 
aide-de-camp to the governor, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, 
from which he obtained the title Colonel Sevier. In the race 
between Conway and Crittenden Sevier supported Conway, and 
upon his lamentable death entered the field as a candidate to fill 
the vacancy. In this race Crittenden supported him, but from 
that time -on Crittenden's way diverged from that of Sevier. 
Sevier became a Democrat and Crittenden a pronounced Whig. 
It was not likely otherwise than that Sevier should become a 
Democrat. His whole life had been spent with the people. He 
knew their trials, their sentiments, and was one with them in 
their hopes. For years he had been an intimate associate of 
Sampson Gray and in his company had mingled with the common 
people everywhere. 

He had the aristocratic tendencies of his Whig friends and 
relatives, but had the sense to know that these tendencies were 
antagonistic to a republican form of government. 

SEVIER'S defeat of CRITTENDEN. 

His greatest race for office was against Crittenden. Crit- 
tenden was more eloquent Sevier the more forceful; Crittenden 
made preparation for literary effect; Sevier for a natural* effect; 
Crittenden sacrificed matter for a period; Sevier sacrificed his 
periods for his matter. Both were learned men, both honest, 
and both good looking. Sevier's knowledge of men gave him 
the advantage and he won by an overwhelming majority. From 
1827 to 1836 he was constantly in Congress as a delegate from 
the territory, and while there made friends in both parties. In 



210 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

fact no man had a greater influence than did he. In 1836 he 
was sent to the Senate of the United States and remained there 
for twelve years. In the Senate he took the very highest rank, 
and maintained it. As chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations he was recognized as a power with few equals. His 
speeches in Congress are models. When the pre-emption law 
was before the Senate of the United States in 1841 he made a 
speech, which should be in all the school readers of the State. 
In that he described the common people as he knew them and to 
their credit. He argued for the emancipation of men from the 
grade of operatives to that of managers. He argued for a freer 
life upon the farm. He argued for Arkansas and for the great 
influx of population which this bill would surely bring. He de- 
scribed as no other man on the floor did, or could, the kind of 
people that were going West in covered wagons. He drew a 
parallel between the covered wagons of the Yankees seeking a 
new home and that of the North Carolinians on the same quest 
It was humorous and far more creditable to the Yankee than to 
the North Carolinian. 

His apostrophe, however, to the North Carolinians was elo- 
quent to the extreme. He pictured his early boyhood home, 
where for nineteen years he could look from his door over Bun- 
combe County, North Carolina, and told his North Carolina 
friends who opposed the bill that while they might be ashamed 
of their own sons and daughters, that he was not. He said they 
were a good sort of people and that he wanted more of them, 
both Yankees and North Carolinians, in Arkansas. He then 
told of his association with North Carolinians as a man, from 
Wilmington to the mountains, and while honoring them and 
loving them, he assured the senator from North Carolina that 
he would not blush, nor dread to make a comparison of his con- 
stitutents upon the public lands with the best his State afforded, 
gauged by any standard of virtue, intelligence or worth, which 
he or others might choose to suggest. His speech upon the civil 
service had exactly the right ring and was head and shoulders 
above the twaddle which modern civil service reform has given 
the world. He believed in the spoils system, the very system 
that obtains, despite all civil service law. He said: "But as 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 211 

for Democrats, they expect to be turned out from one end of 
the country to the other. And for one, I should disown them 
as party associates if they whimpered over their removal." He 
was answering Henry Clay, and that great man, after the an- 
swer, hurried to his side to express his congratulations. There 
was a manliness about Sevier which no one could doubt. He 
was a man of the people without being a buffoon or a demagogue, 
and in the matter of the division of the offices, conscientiously 
believed that the party in power should have their exclusive con- 
trol. In 1848 he was sent as minister to Mexico, and in the 
same year died at his plantation in Arkansas. On September 
27, 1827, he married Juliette Johnson, daughter of Honorable 
Ben Johnson of the superior court, and his children may be 
found in the chapter on Judge Benjamin Johnson. 

In whatever capacity Sevier was placed to serve he rounded 
it out with dignity and honor. His private life was above re- 
proach and in all the attributes of greatness was sound to the 
core. He inherited much and in a new environment hammered 
himself up to the fullest stature of a great man. 

PRE-EMPTION SPEECH. 

Senator A. H. Sevier in his great speech on pre-emption in 
1841 before the Senate of the United States said : 

"Public sentiment in the new States demands a change in 
the disposition of the public lands, and, sooner or later, public 
sentiment will control. On this subject there is a collected 
moral force, which can not and will not be resisted. And is it 
not our duty to respect this public opinion? Is it not our duty 
to promote the peace and happiness of every member of our 
Union? And in accomplishing so high and so noble a purpose, 
does it become us to stand out upon mere trifles? What are a 
few dollars, more or less, to the national treasury, in comparison 
with such absorbing questions? 

"And, lastly, is it not our duty, as far as in us lies, to make 
every citizen in every State a freeholder — an independent and 
happy man? What spectacle is there so pleasing to a virtuous 
and feeling heart?" 

This was a great speech of a great man on a great question, 
and is of lasting importance to one who tries to grade the intel- 



212 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

ligence of Arkansas in early times. The extract is but a part 
of the speech, but it is enough to lead us to intelligent conclu- 
sions as to the speaker, and through him, as to the men behind 
him, and who stood for him. Webster may have had a quality 
of eloquence more refined and 'more exhaustive, but no whit 
greater than that of Sevier in cogent and forceful utterance, in 
comprehensive knowledge of the finer play of human nature, in 
an understanding of the loftiest soul forces and the power of 
human spirituality. He was on the borders of a great, and 
hitherto, untried problem — the disposition of the lands of a 
continent. • Is it not proof of his disinterestedness that he stood 
out boldly and fearlessly for the individuals — ^the men in home- 
spun — ^the pioneers? Today he might be criticised as a Social- 
ist, but in that good day such a classification was unknown. 
What loftier utterance has ever been made by any statesman 
than Sevier's words, "Is it not our duty, so far as in us lies, to 
make every citizen in every State a freeholder, an independent 
and happy man ?" And with this grand old pioneer may we not 
all say, "What spectacle is there so pleasing to a virtuous and 
feeling heart?" 

Grand old Sevier! Yea, verily. Grand old Arkansas! He 
was not a diamond dropped in a sea of dirt, nor was he alone, 
among his fellows in the territory, a master of correct thought 
and rightful action. The pioneers of Arkansas were all dia- 
monds in the rough, great hearts and souls living in the woods. 
There were gamblers and thieves among them, as a matter of 
course, for wherever mankind has rested there these degenerates 
have been found. Gamblers and thieves, however, never chose 
a Sevier for their leader, for he was not of their kind. The great 
population of the territory and State was honest, and Sevier 
represented that element, and in his day a man from Arkansas 
was in any part of the world the peer of any man from any sec- 
tion of the Union. 

The question he discussed so ably was a most comprehen- 
sive one, and the happiness, thrift and wealth of the United 
States have come more from the way in which America handled 
this question than from any other single source, except that of 
American freedom. 



Pioneers atid Makers of Arkansas 213 

PRE-EMPTION LAWS. 

Between 1801 and 1841 — a period of forty years — sixteen 
separate pre-emption laws of greater or lesser comprehensiveness 
were passed by Congress. In 1838 the selfish effort was made to 
confine the benefits of pre-emption to citizens of the United 
States, but it failed. In 1843 ^^e right was extended to all citi- 
zens, but limited to land which had been surveyed. The acts 
of 1853 and 1854 permitted the pre-emption to extend to unsur- 
veyed lands in California, Oregon, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska 
and New Mexico. All the lands of Arkansas had been surveyed 
prior to the passage of these laws. The necessity of protecting 
settlers on the public domain and of giving preference right to 
persons desiring to make homes thereon became strongly ap- 
parent in the period 1830-40. During that decade the population 
of Arkansas increased more than two hundred and twenty per 
cent. 

The receipts of the government from cash land sales during 
that period were eighty-one million, nine hundred thirteen thou- 
sand and seventeen dollars ; and in the year 1836, the record year 
of our whole history, twenty-five millions, one hundred and sixty- 
seven thousand eight hundred thirty-three dollars, and repre- 
sented a sale of thirty-two million eight hundred thousand acres 
of land, an area greater than the State of Ohio. 

FREE SOIL. 

After 1850 we hear less of pre-emption and more of free 
soil, but we must never forget that Sevier in Arkansas is entitled 
to a meed of praise for cheap lands equal to that which Missouri 
ascribes to Benton for free lands. When my history of the 
United States was up for adoption for State use in Missouri the 
Adopting Board made three ultimata, viz : a full page picture of 
Lincoln, another of Grant and still another of Thomas H. Ben- 
ton. The three pictures went into the book and during ten 
years more than one hundred thousand copies of the book were 
sold. In my native State, the State whose honor I have upheld 
on two continents, no more than thirty counties ever adopted the 
book, proving two things, (i) that a prophet is never without 
honor save at home, and (2) that Arkansans are not as proud of 
Sevier as Missourians are of Benton. 



214 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

The Free Soil Democrats in 1852 at Pittsburg put into their 
platform a plank demanding the granting of the public lands in 
limited quantities free of cost to landless settlers. From this on 
to 1862 the question became national and a part of the platforms 
of all parties. In i860 Andrew Johnson of Tennessee intro- 
duced a homestead bill into the Senate of the United States, by 
which all actual settlers, being heads of families, should have the 
right to a patent for one hundred and sixty acres of land by set- 
tling upon it and remaining upon it for a period of five years. 
The house had already passed another bill, but upon conference 
the Senate bill was accepted, and passed both houses. 

HOMESTEAD LAW OF 1862. 

James Buchanan, an Eastern Democrat, vetoed the bill to 
his everlasting dishonor and discredit. The present law was 
passed in 1862, and Abraham Lincoln, a man who, like Sevier, 
knew the settlers on the public lands, made haste to sign it. The 
entries under this law from 1862 to 1880 numbered four hundred 
sixty-nine thousand, seven hundred eighty-two, and the area 
settled amounted to fifty-five millions six hundred sixty-seven 
thousand and forty-four acres. Nearly five hundred thousand 
heads of families were thus made freeholders and given the 
peaceful and happy condition so aptly outlined by Mr. Sevier. 
Today the president, the secretary of the interior and the com- 
missioner of public lands, under the cry of "fraud" and the 
further cry of ''hold the lands for actual settlers," have promul- 
gated rules and regulations which virtually destroy the law of 
1862. Reform may go too far, and it does go too far, when it 
makes it harder for an honest man to obtain the benefits of the 
law than it ever did for a dishonest man to bring it into contempt. 
There are cases today in Arkansas of cash entries made under 
the timber and stone act as far back as June and October, 1906, 
which have been held up by the department during all these 
months, with not even an inspector ordered to this good hour to 
make an investigation, and I can give names and letters from 
the commissioner as late as January 25, 1908. The land system 
of the United States has had the ability and experience of Hamil- 
ton, Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin, and is the best known to 
the world. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 215 

SENATOR WILLIAM S. FULTON. 

Senator Fulton, a colleague of Sevier, was a Marylander, 
who had lived in Tennessee and Alabama before his appointment 
to the gubernatorial chair of the territory of Arkansas, being the 
last to hold that position. He was born in Cecil County, Mary- 
land, June 2, 1795; graduated from Baltimore College in 1813; 
started the study of law under Williams Pinckney, but gave it 
up to serve in a company of volunteers at Fort McHenry; after 
the war moved with his father's family to Tennessee and finished 
his law study with Felix Grundy, military secretary to General 
Jackson in his Florida campaign in 1818; moved to Alabama; ap- 
pointed by Jackson, Secretary of the Territory of Arkansas in 
1829, succeeding Robert Crritenden, and Governor in 1835-6. 
He was elected to the United States Senate in 1836, and died 
August 15, 1844, during his second term. He, like Sevier, took 
quite an interest in the public land laws, and when Tom Benton's 
great pre-emption bill was before the Senate, made a speech of 
considerable importance, and which contains a fair view of how 
the public lands were manipulated under the old law. He said : 

"Mr. President — Under the present system all lands subject 
to sale are put up at auction. And what is the result? The 
moment the proclamation issues, speculators put their agents to 
woric. They obtain the numbers of every valuable tract to be 
sold. They meet together at the sale. They form a company 
and agree to bid off all the good land offered. They accordingly 
purchase it at a fraction over the minimum price, as they have 
no competitors. Immediately after the public sale they have an 
auction among themselves, and each one purchases the tract he 
wishes to buy and pays for it in proportion to its value, or as 
there may be bidders who come into competition. The proceeds 
of the sale are divided amongst the company and the speculators 
realize all the profits of your auction system." 

This was the much-lauded system which Eastern men clung 
to with an almost fanatic regard, opposing all pre-emption laws 
for its maintenance, and with equal force opposing the homestead 
law. The speeches of these Eastern men were selfish to the ex- 
treme and placed the treasury of the United States, which was 
not really benefited by the old law, as Fulton has shown, above 



21 6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

the future advantages which a liberal pre-emption law or a free 
soil law would bring the entire country. These same Eastern 
men denounced the settlers on public lands as criminals, although 
Sevier, Benton and Fulton lifted their voices in vain to tell them 
that these public land settlers were equal in point of worth, in- 
tegrity and enterprise to any of those who took pleasure in de- 
nouncing them. Senator Fulton said: 

CHARACTER OF THE OLD PIONEERS. 

"They are not known to senators or they would not thus be 
maligned. Arkansas was organized as a territory when nearly 
all her citizens were settlers on the public lands. Go to your 
land offices and you will find that men who have been members 
of Congress, and have filled the highest stations in the old States, 
have settled upon the public lands and have obtained titles to 
their lands as pre-emptioners. For generosity, capacity to en- 
dure hardship and noble daring no people are equal to the pre- 
cmptioners of the South and West. They go there with their 
wives and children poor and penniless, and in a year are found in 
a snug cabin surrounded by a cultivated field, with an abundance 
of everything necessary to support life. From« this humble be- 
ginning by the exercise of industry and perseverance, they soon 
become independent, and in time become the best and worthiest 
of the inhabitants. To secure homes for men like these is the 
end of my political ambition, and as '^n act of justice, I ask the 
Senate to protect the settler, the maker and builder of common- 
wealths, from the greed and rapacity of the most selfish of men, 
the speculator in public lands." 

Thus from the mouths of both Senator Sevier and Senator 
Fulton is the character of the old pioneer blazoned to the world. 
It is a character which brings no blush of shame, and although 
made without a c6at of arms, forms the basis for the most illus- 
trious quarterings which heraldry can give. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 217 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

JOAB Hardin — the Bentleys — Major Wei^borx — Abner 

Harold — Colonel Thomas Mathers — The Arkansas 

Traveler. 

Joab Hardin was a fair representative of an old family in 
Kentucky, that was pioneer in the commonwealths of Pennsyl- 
vania, Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas. The expedition of 
George Rogers Clarke took many Kentuckians into Illinois, who 
afterward made that State their permanent place of residence. 
When General William Rector surveyed Illinois under the land 
laws, soldiers from all parts of the Union, especially from North 
Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, entered Illinois, and located 
their claims. This made Illinois Democratic during all the ear- 
lier years of its history, especially the southern part, which on 
this account was called by the abolitionists who flocked to the 
northern part, Egypt. Some of the most thrilling history of the 
United States from 1820 to i860 was fought out in southern 
Illinois by these Southern emigrants, w^ho carried with them into 
their new homes their peculiar ideas as to slavery and other 
things. Along with these went soldiers from the Northern 
States, equally as pugnacious as their Southern friends, who 
created contests most bitter and lasting. Some of the greatest 
names of modern Republican history spring from men and. 
women of southern Illinois, who up to the beginning of the war 
were Democratic in political faith. Generals Grant and Logan 
were Democrats until the exigencies of the war made them 
Republican. 

THE PROLIFIC HARDIN FAMILY- 

The name Hardin is a contraction of the older name, Hard- 
ing, and both forms root back into colonial Pennsylvania, Vir- 
ginia and Maryland. Some of the members of families using 
both forms of spelling are to be found in all the Southern States. 
Joab Hardin was born in Virginia, moved to Kentucky and then 
to Arkansas. He served in the War of 1812, but was more 
of a politician than a soldier. Like his kinsman. Old Ben Hardin, 
of Kentucky fame, he believed it less sinful to fight with his 



.2i8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

tongue than with guns. He settled in Lawrence County, Ar- 
kansas, in 1818, and at the first election in the territory began 
to run for office, a trait characteristic of the Hardin family, if 
not of the human family. He not only ran, but was elected, 
and served in the first and second Territorial legislatures. 

He had not the Hardin gift of eloquence, but was a speaker 
very hard to down. He could talk well on his feet without 
notes, being master of human nature and well acquainted with 
the foibles of mankind. He fell in with the Cadronites in their 
effort to make Cadron the capital of the State, and it was to his 
influence that the measure finally carried. He owned lands not 
only in Lawrence County, but also in Pulaski County in the neigh- 
borhood of Cadron. In 1823 he moved from his Lawrence 
County home down into Pulaski County, into what is now Con- 
way County, and without any effort whatever became the most 
influential man in that part of the county. On account of this 
influence they called his settlement "The Hardin Settlement of 
Pulaski County," and when townships were named the one con- 
taining this settlement took old Joab's surname, which name it 
holds to tliis good day. When Conway County was formed 
Hardin township fell into that county, and in 1873 was set off 
into Faulkner County. The town of Conway forms the center 
of the old Cadron settlement, while the Cadron mills were lo- 
cated in another settlement, now called Matthews township. In 
October. 1824, Joab Hardin died in Hardin township, Pulaski 
County,, and John Lindsey Lafferty, then living in Pulaski 
County and in the same township, administered upon his estate. 
John Hardin represented Hardin township from Conway County 
in 1844. In this way the Hardins go back to the beginning of 
thin.c:?. 

THE BENTLEY Family. 

George Bentlcy came to Arkansas territory in 1819, and 
settled on the Arkansas river in the Pecannerie settlement. A 
fine grade of pecans then grew in that neighborhood, from 
whicli the name was derived. The father of George Bentley 
was a member of the Fifth Virginia Continental Line and rose 
to the ,2:racle of captain. He served from 1776 to 1779 and was 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 219 

also a lieutenant colonel in the Indian war of 1799. He was 
mustered out in 1800 and died shortly afterward. His son, 
George, was a sturdy pioneer in Arkansas history, but kept out 
of politics. He made money in the early history of the State, 
and was considered one of the best of the old citizens of Con- 
way County. A township carries his name. He had a daugh- 
ter, Nancy, who was quite an accomplished woman, who died 
at Pecannerie in 182 1. He also had a son, Joseph, who died at 
the same place February 14, 1825. The mails at that time went 
from Davidsonville through Batesville to Cadron, and thence 
down to Arkansas Post, once every two weeks. In March, 1821, 
through the efforts of George Bentley, a new route was estab- 
lished, beginning at Cadron, running through Arkopolis, thence 
south to the Ouachita. Colonel Bentley had another daughter, 
a most promising woman, who was married on September 23, 
1823, by Reverend Mr. Amett, to Colonel Thomas Mathers of 
Pulaski, now Conway, County. There must have been other 
sons who married, as both the name and the blood still exist in 
Conway County, where for nearly ninety years it has contributed 
to the development of that region. 

MAJOR WELBORN AND OTHER PIOXEERS. 

This old soldier came from Virginia to the Arkansas region 
in 181 7, and was well located on the Arkansas river when Nut- 
tal passed up in 1819. He acquired his title as major in the 
War of 1812, and was one of the most vigorous citizens of the 
old Pecannerie region. In a trip to the southwestern part of 
the State lassoing wild horses in 1822 he was killed by the In- 
dians. This is one report; in another report it was noted that 
he escaped, and in still another that he was killed and scalped 
by the Indians. I am not able to say which report is correct, 
but his prominence was sufficient to give his name to a township 
in the county, the thriving town of Morrilton, I believe, being 
its center. Major Welborn and General Lewis were firm friends 
and contributed much to the respectability and power of this old 
settlement. It was then a part of Pulaski County, and the most 
prominent citizens of the settlement, in 1822, other than Wel- 
born and Lewis, were Thomas White, John Hibbin, Timothy 



220 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Harris, William Frazier, William Lackey, Jacob Slinkard, James 
Titsworth, Thomas Hibbin, George Bentley, Adustin Rogers, 
George Garden, John Belcher, Larkin Womack and Samuel Mc- 
Call. 

ABNER HAROLD. 

Another old pioneer in that part of Pulaski which is now 
Faulkner was Abner Harold. He appears to have been Ken- 
tucky born and to have entered the territory in 1820, locating in 
the neighborhood in which he lived and died. He was a man 
of most forceful convictions, of splendid influence among hia 
neighbors and friends, but without political aspirations. Modest, 
unassuming, honest and industrious, Abner Harold made a fine 
impression on the neighborhood in which he lived and was in 
every respect one of the most respectable citizens of Pulaski 
County. In February, 1823, a daughter, Betsy, was married to 
Zechariah Lorance, very probably Lawrence. Going out the 
Arch street turnpike toward Cockmon's sawmill, a citizen of to- 
day will pass a little creek called Lorance creek. This would 
seem to indicate that the name, Lorance, whether originally Law- 
rence or not, still clings to Arkansas as a place name, and would 
indicate that the surname Lorance was a part of the jearlier ter- 
ritorial history. Very probably the pioneer Zechariah Lorance 
lived upon this creek, or, if not, some of his descendants. Ab- 
ner Harold must have had sons and grandsons to perpetuate his 
name, since in more modern times one of the most distinguished 
lawyers of the State carries that name and roots back as to his 
forbears into this old Faulkner-Pulaski County settlement. The 
vigor of the grandfather or great grandfather, if these be tfie 
exact relations, is most aptly shown in the strong native parts 
of this illustrious descendant. 

COLONEL THOMAS MATHERS. 

This old soldier was born in Cumberland County, Pennsyl- 
vania, that thriving county of which Carlisle is now the county 
seat. He won a colonel's commission in the War of 1812, and 
located his land warrant in Pulaski County in 1820, where he 
built a mill which was known far and wide as Cadron mill. He 
at once became one of the leaders of the settlement, and was 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 221 

considered a good catch, by all the respectable girls of the neigh- 
borhood. 

In 1823 he was married at Pecannerie to Mary, daughter 
of George Bentley. Colonel Mathers served in the third ter- 
ritorial legislature from 1823 to 1825, and was clerk of Conway 
County from 1832 to 1836. He died at his home at Cadron 
Mills in 1839. Other old settlers of Pulaski County in the Con- 
way County region were Judge W. G. Saffold, David Barber, 
James Ward, Judge B. B. Ball, J. I. Simmons, James Kellam, 
James Barber, Reuben Blunt, John Houston, William Ellis and 
E. W. Owen. 

"the arkansaw traveler-" 

Conway County was named after Henry W. Conway, the 
second delegate to Congress from Arkansas territory, and was 
formed out of Pulaski in October, 1825. It was originally much 
larger than its present boundaries indicate. A large part of the 
Cherokee Indian purchase was added in 1828, while large sub- 
tractiorrs were made and given to Pop^ and White in 1853. Be- 
sides the ones named, Gregory township, Griffin, Higgin, How- 
ard, McLaren and Nichols carry the names of other old settlers 
of that region. Faulkner County was not created until 1873, 
and was named for Colonel Sandford C. Faulkner, a wealthy 
planter of Chicot County, the author of the famous colloquy 
and piece of music entitled "The Arkansaw Traveler." Edward 
P. Washburn of Pope County has painted in oil this famous 
scene as told him by Colonel Faulkner. The painting was said 
to be a fine piece of art, and found place for many years in the 
parlor of Colonel Faulkner at Little Rock. I do not know where 
this historic painting is lodged at present, but in deference to 
Colonel Faulkner, and as an honor to Arkansas' earliest artist 
it should find place in the archives of the State. 

NO INJURY TO STATE. 

It has been said that this literary production of Colonel 
Faulkner has been an injury to the State. This is a very short- 
sighted view of the question. In my opinion no community can 
ever be permanently or temporarily injured by any mere work 
of humor, and as a piece of humor, broad, it is true, "The Ar- 



222 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

kansaw Traveler'' has never been excelled. Instead of injuring 
Arkansas it has carried that name to the remotest parts of the 
earth, and has exploited a t}pe of easy-going citizens common to 
all localites the world over. The type needed excoriation, which 
Colonel Faulkner gave with a gloved but not a mailed hand. No 
living man in any part of the world has extended the range of 
the type to include all the citizens of the State, and the idea that 
it does so has originated in the mind of those who claim it has 
injured the State, and not elsewhere. Colonel Faulkner de- 
serves honor for the fidelity with which he has delineated the 
type, and Mr. Washburn an equal honor for perpetuating it in 
oil. *'The Arkansaw Traveler'* has a niche in the temple of 
fame from which it can never be dislodged, and is in no sense a 
reflection upon the energ\- and masterly parts of the great mass 
of the population which has contributed to its growth and power. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Rfa'erend Cephas Washburn. 

In 1819 X'uttal found settlements on both sides of the Ar- 
kansas river in the neighborhood of what is now Dardanelle. 
The whites lived on the south side of the river and the Indians 
on the north. There was quite a large village located on the 
north side made up of Indians exclusively which was called 
The Galley. The chief of the Cherokees was named Jolly, a 
half breed of respectable talents, who had made quite a reputa- 
tion in Tennessee and Mississippi. The Indian agent at that 
time was Mr. Rollin, who lived at times at The Galley, and at 
other times at Dardanelle and at other points on the river. In 
1820 he was succeeded by Matthew Lyon, who made his home 
at Spadra Bluff. During his administration the government 
built an Indian house at Dardanelle and upon the death of Lyon, 
Edward Duval, who succeeded him, moved into this agency 
house where he remained for many years, combining the duties 
of Indian agent with those of postmaster. 

Quite a friction was engendered between Duval and Gover- 
nor Izard as to the management of Indian affairs, the rendering 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 223 

of accounts and other minor items, but the friendship of these 
gentlemen was never impaired. There was a half breed Indian 
storekeeper at The Galley in 1819, and another half breed, 
Walter Weber, lived at the foot of the Dardanelle Hills. At 
The Galley lived John Rogers, one of the most respectable of 
the civilized Cherokees, and one to whom that nation is much 
indebted for its development and growth. Colonel David Brear- 
ly, a Revolutionary soldier and also a soldier of the regular 
army, moved in 1821 to Arkansas Post, where he opened quite a 
large store. Four years later he opened a store at Dardanelle 
and still later at Norristown, a vigorous town on the north side, 
which made a hard fight in later years for the position of capital 
city of Arkansas. 

THE FOUNDING OF DWIGHT- 

Reverend Cephas Washburn, a Congregational minister of 
New England, was sent by the Board of Missions of the United 
States to Arkansas in 1821 to open a mission school among the 
Cherokee Indians. A place for the mission was selected at a 
point on the Illinois bayou, which, in honor of Timothy Dwight, 
president of Yale College, was named Dwight, and is now known 
to all the people of the State as Old Dwight, and is in the pres- 
ent Pope County. The erection of buildings was begun in 
1821, and continued for several years. Doctor Washburn 
brought with him six teachers, all from New England, and be- 
gan a work at Dwight, whose influence is still apparent among 
the Cherokees in Oklahoma. On his road to his mission he 
stopped at the village. Little Rock, and preached a sermon. His 
description of the capital at that time is so well known as to 
demand no repetition here. He went on up the river and opened 
a school which was of distinct advantage to the Cherokees, who 
were already the most advanced Indian nation of the country. 
That school was continued at Dwight until after the removal of 
the Cherokees to the Indian Territory. Un.der the same manage- 
ment it was continued for several years afterwards for the white 
people, and many of the most distinguished men of the Arkansas 
valley in early days were educated at that place. 

Reverend Cephas Washburn, president of the mission and 
school, descended from a New England family whose history 



224 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

goes back to the very earliest colonial days. The Washburn 
family was not only an old one on American soil, but one noted 
for its distinguished sons and daughters, whose names and his- 
tories have added luster to American art, politics, religion and 
law. The spelling of the name varies from Washbourn through 
Washburne down to its modern and settled form, Washburn. 

Reverend Cephas Washburn was an alumnus of Yale Col- 
lege, and in naming his Indian mission honored its illustrious 
president, the chief executive of the institution while he was a 
student.. The transition from the New England climate to that 
of Arkansas was noted by many climatic diseases, the one which 
gave the most trouble being the ague. The assistants at Dwight 
from 1 82 1 to 1826 were Alfred Finney, Mr. Orr, Jacob Hitch- 
cock, Asa Hitchcock, Ella Stetson and Nancy Brown. Cephas 
Washburn's name in the Cherokee language was "Ookuquah- 
tuh," but none but the Cherokees ever used iL 

Reverend Cephas Washburn was an Indian Educator in Ar- 
kansas and the Indian Territory from 1821 to 1847. Coupled 
with this he preached the gospel, but did not assume a regular 
charge until late in life, when his age precluded further active 
educational endeavor. 

THE FAR WEST ACADEMY. 

In 1844 he was the chief spirit in the organization of the 
Far West Academy in Washington County and president of its 
first Board of Trustees. These trustees came from all parts of 
the State and were as follows: Hugh A. Anderson, Robert A. 
Mecklin, Joseph M. Hoge, James Boone, William D. Cunning- 
ham, David Walker, John Harrel, Edward Freyschag, Samuel 
Newton, Benjamin Pearson, Alfred W. Arrington, Joseph P. 
Moore, Thomas J. Pollard, William T. Larrimore, Isaac Murphy, 
Andrew Buchanan, Matthew Leeper, James Orr, Muloin A. 
Lynde, George W. Paschal, Edward Cunningham, David Mc- 
Maners, James Lockridge, Aaron W. Lyon, John McMillan, 
James M. Moore, William W. Stevenson, Benjamin F. Thomp- 
son, A. R. Banks and J. S. Phelps, the latter bqing from Spring- 
field, Missouri. One of these was afterward a member of the 
United States Senate from Arkansas, and another one of its best 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 225 

governors. Aaron W. Lyon was the president of Batesville 
Academy and a most prominent educator in early times. The 
whole list is a distinct roll of honor and shows the remarkable 
influence of Cephas Washburn among the really strong men of 
the day. The land for this academy was in Prairie township, 
Washington County, and was donated by Solomon Tuttle, J. 
M. Tuttle, W. D. Cunningham, John Pollard, J. P. Moore and 
Allen Moore. The fundamental rule of the school was that the 
Bible should be the standard of morals and religion. 

Washburn's work still lives. 

Any conservative estimate of the character and life work of 
Cephas Washburn will fall short of accuracy. He was a man 
of purpose, distinct religious purpose, animated by the loftiest 
desire to aid the Indians. He was educated to the highest and 
best degree and thus enabled to realize his purpose. He was 
undoubtedly disinterested and his long and distinguished career 
in Arkansas left him a poor man, a fact somewhat discreditable 
to the State he helped. However, this was as he would have 
had it to be, as under no circumstances would he put his own 
interests above those of the public. He strengthened the Chero- 
kee character as no other man did and gave direction to Arkan- 
sas character as few others did. His work remains in the 
civilization of Arkansas and Oklahoma, although his name to 
most Arkansans is completely unknown. He was one of the 
State's best characters and deserves a niche in its Valhalla when 
it comes. He died at Little Rock on March 7, i860, having 
spent thirty-nine years in Arkansas. 

EDWARD p. WASIIBURX, ARTIST. 

He was one of the earliest pastors of the Presbyterian 
church at Fort Smith, and while stationed there, his son, Ed- 
ward P. Washburn, began to exhibit that mentality which 
stamped him as an artist in embryo. In a previous chapter I 
have referred to the talent of this young man, but unfortunately 
called him Charles P. Washburn. Having forgotten his name, I 
referred to Judge Pope's Early Days and adopted his error. The 
salary of Cephas Washburn at Fort Smith was not sufficient to 
justify him in sending Edward to the studio of some eminent 



226 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

artist in Europe, and the boy was left to develop his own talents 
under his own intuitions. The father of J. F. Weaver of Fort 
Smith was at that time a merchant at that place and a great ad- 
mirer of young Washburn. Beifig in Philadelphia, replenishing 
his mercantile stock, he bought an artist's outfit of painting ma- 
terial, which upon his return he presented to the young man. 
This was as great a delight to young Washburn as the consent 
of Benjamin West's Quaker parents was to Benjamin, when they 
agreed that he might have time and place to develop his God- 
given gift. As a return for the kindness, young Washburn 
presented Mr. Weaver with a picture he had executed, represent- 
ing the Bay of Naples. This picture was prized by Mr. Weaver, 
but in a removal in 1871 it was unfortunately misplaced and lost. 
Washburn gave Mr. Weaver another picture, which is now at 
the house of J. F. Weaver of Fort Smith, the editor of the Fort 
Smith Elevator. This picture represented Fort Smith in the 
early fifties and was the joint production of young Washburn 
and William Quisenbury, an old-time Arkansas editor and artist, 
whose pseudonym was "Bill Cush." It is said that Quisenbury 
made the drawing while Washburn added the color. 

THE ARKANSAW TRAVELER. 

About this time Col. Sandy Faulkner's inimitable story, "The 
Arkansaw Traveler," made its appearance and was as popular 
in a day as "After the Ball" or "Annie Rooney" ever dared to 
be. Edward Payson Washburn listened to the story of Sandy 
Faulkner and decided to sketch it. The house or cabin in the 
picture which he made originally stood on the bank of Illinois 
bayou near Dwight, but not a trace of it exists today. I was 
born in a log cabin on Illinois bayou in 1849, and have heard the 
story repeated from my earliest recollection. In my flights 'of 
oratory and rhetoric my mother took pleasure in bringing me 
down to earth by pointing to the old cabin of Washburn's picture, 
saying, "My son, don't fly too high. There was where you 
were born." She meant, of course, that I was born in a house 
exactly like the one which Washburn painted into his picture, 
and any house on Illinois bayou at that day would have met the 
conditions. I have never claimed that I was born in the identi- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 227 

cal house painted by Edward Washburn, but I was born in a 
leg house very like it and very close to it. Neither am I ashamed 
of the old log cabin in which I was born, but on the contrary I 
have reason to be proud of it. From papers on its walls I 
learned to read, and when I was six years of age I presented 
myself at the doors of the Louisville, Kentucky, graded schools, 
then in charge of that accomplished educator from New Eng- 
land, Doctor George Chase, the founder of the graded school 
system in the West, and I was put in the fourth grade. As a 
six-year-old boy I started in the Louisville graded schools in 
the fourth reader, and am indebted to that old Arkansas log 
cabin for the fact that I never saw the first, second or third reader 
in my school life. 

So much for the early Arkansas cabins, the cabins made 
famous by the painting of Edward P. Washburn. The boy on 
the hopper in the picture is said by the family to be Joe Brearly, 
son of David Brearly of Norristown. Others ^ay that the boy 
was George F. Dodge, but the version of the family is more 
likely the correct one. The man on the horse was said to be 
Colonel Faulkner himself. In this way with real models which 
he carried in his mind, young Washburn worked Faulkner's 
fiddle story into the picture as we know it. At least this is the 
traditionary account as told by the Washburn family today. The 
boy on the hopper was not demanded by Faulkner's philosophy, 
and was Washburn's conception pure and simple, a decided ad- 
dition to the picture. 

BOTH WASHBURNS BURIED IN MT. HOLLY. 

Edward Payson Washburn was born at Dwight Mission in 
the Cherokee nation, November 17, 1831, and died at Little 
Rock March 26, i860. He and his father both died at the house 
of Doctor R. L. Dodge, in the same year, and both are buried 
in Mt. Holly cemetery. The grand-daughters of Reverend Ce- 
phas Washburn are now living at Russellville, Arkansas, viz.: 
Mrs. George Black and Mrs. Dodd, wife of C. W. Dodd, editor 
of the Pope County Record. The original sketch of the Arican- 
sas Traveler is held by Mrs. Black. It has been laid away for 
years and is now somewhat defaced. It was exhibited at Eureka 



228 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Springs last summer at the annual meeting of the Arkansaw 
Travelers' Association. Mrs. Black is also the owner of an oil 
portrait of Edward Washburn, and also of his father, Cephas 
Washburn, both life size. She has also a scrap book containing 
many newspaper references to both father and son at their death. 
It is said that Rev. Cephas Washburn was called upon one 
night while located at Old Dwight to visit the bedside of a dy- 
ing Indian. After prayer and other religious ceremonies, the 
dying man revealed his identity and claimed to be none other 
than the famous renegade, Simon Girty. I doubt the validity 
of the claim, but if it shall turn out to be a truthful one, Ar- 
kansas contains the grave of one of the most notorious white 
renegades known in Indian history. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Major Isaac Watkins. 

Buckle was a finn believer in the doctrine of a great natural 
law so dominating all special laws, that given all the special laws 
acting on a man's environment it became possible to foretell 
each man's action at every period of his life. This theory was 
needlessly attacked by many divines, as in general terms its truth 
is unassailable. Its uselessness as a doctrine, however, lies in 
the fact that only Omniscience can see the multiplicity of natural 
special laws acting on a man's personality and that therefore 
only Omniscience can foretell. Buckle simply said, "If you will 
make me Omniscient, I will tell you how you will act in every 
conceivable situation." 

It is a general law that a certain number of men will become 
bondsmen for other men. Special laws determine who these 
men are to be. It is a general law that a definite number of 
these bonded men will fail to perform their bond as stipulated 
and that the bondsmen will suffer. Special laws determine the 
failures, and only Omniscience can foresee them. It is a gen- 
eral law that the sufferers under the mortification of loss will 
migrate to other localities, wherein their pride shall not suffer 
and recuperation go on under changed and more peaceful con- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 229 

ditions. Thus the movements of population are influenced by 
the bankruptcies of the world and by the added loads bondsmen 
are forced to carry. 

It was this that gave Arkansas the citizen, Major Isaac 
Watkins, father of Chief Justice George C. Watkins, and his 
most interesting family, wherein Arkansas was a distinct gainer 
and Kentucky the loser. The Watkins family was an ancient 
family of England belonging to both the major and minor 
gentry, and the old fashioned box shaped tomb of Major Isaac 
Watkins in Mt. Holly Cemetery, Little Rock, blazon the words: 

"Hand Immemor. 

"Isaac Watkins, Gent. 

"Born in Virginia, April 10, 1777. 

"Died in Arkansas, Dec. 13, 1827." 

The migration of the earliest propositus to Virginia was in 
the latter part of the seventeenth century, and the habitat, Cum- 
berland County, afterwards Powhatan. Thomas Watkins set- 
tled on Swift Creek and his will was probated in June, 1760. 
His eldest son, Thomas of Chickahominy, Virginia, married a 
sister of Claiborne Anderson, who was also a descendant of Wil- 
liam Claiborne, the first Secretary of the Colony. 

Thomas of Chickahominy had a brother, Benjamin, who 
represented Chesterfield County in colonial assemblies, and was 
a member of the convention of 1776. He was a friend and cor- 
respondent of Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and the grand- 
father of the famous Benjamin Watkins Leigh. 

The youngest son of Thomas Watkins of Chickahominy was 
also named Thomas. He married jn 1763, Sallie Walton, sister 
of George Walton, signer of the Declaration of Independence 
and Governor of Georgia. A descendant of George Walton be- 
came Governor of Florida and father of Madame Octavia Wal- 
ton Le Vert of Mobile, Alabama. 

FOUGHT IX WAR OF l8l2. 

Major Isaac Watkins, the subject of this sketch, was the 
youngest son of Thomas and Sallie Walton Watkins and the 
first of the family to migrate to Kentucky. His father died 
while he was quite young leaving but a small estate and a large 



230 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

family. His mother remarried and moved to the neighborhood 
of Shelbyville, Kentucky, taking her younger children with her. 
Here Isaac Watkins grew to manhood and became a man of 
influence and wealth. In 1812 he served as a soldier and rose 
to the rank of Major. No man had a fairer reputation in Shel- 
byville than he did. He had been assisted to a most accom- 
plished education by his uncle, Francis Watkins of Virginia, who 
married the heiress Agnes Woodson, daughter of Baron Wood- 
son, a great landholder of that region. With a sound education 
and all the polish of an old time Southern gentleman he could 
not refuse to aid his friends and in a weak moment in 1820 signed 
a bond for a large amount for a friend, which bond he had to 
pay. 

CAME TO LITTLE ROCK IN 182O. 

This Stripped him of the larger part of his fortune and he 
with a remnant thereof in 1820 came to Little Rock to recu- 
perate. In December, 1820, he lived in a log house while putting 
up the first frame residence in the town. This residence was 
finished early in the summer of 1821, and was used by Major 
Watkins as a hotel for several years, and was said by W. E. 
Woodruff, Sr., to be the only eligible location for a public house 
in the town. It was called The Little Rock Tavern, and may 
be identified from the fact that in 1825 it passed into the hands 
of Mr. Nick Peay, who continued it as a public house for many 
years. On June 20, 1822, Major- Watkins announced to the 
people in the columns of The Gazette the completion of a horse 
mill at Little Rock, being the first structure of the kind in the 
town. It would grind six bushels an hour by a little pushing of 
the horses, and fifty bushels of good meal a day. The mill was 
constructed by Joseph Thornhill, an intelligent carpenter of the 
town, but who had never built a mill. Under the direction of 
Major Watkins, Thornhill is said to have built one of the best 
mills of those times. Thornhill amassed wealth and died in 
1826, appointing Bernard Smith, Major Watkins and William 
E. Woodruff, Sr., as his executors. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 231 

HEIRLOOM FURNITURE STILL IN EXISTENCE. 

The furniture for the most part which Major Watkins used 
in his log cabin as well as in his larger frame mansion was 
brought from Kentucky, and was of the most elegant kind, a 
sad reminder of his more prosperous days. It is worthy of note 
to say that an old Chippendale clock, some sofas, tables, minia- 
tures and portraits, brought by Major Watkins from Kentucky 
to Arkansas, are still in the possession of his descendants at 
Little Rock. In addition to his town property, he bought a 
large tract of land on the north side of the river, about three 
miles below the town, which he cleared and put in a high state 
of cultivation. It is also worthy of note to say that the north 
side of the river in the very earliest days had more attraction! 
for emigrants than the south side. United States Marshal 
George W. Scott bought a plantation on this side of the river 
about a mile above town, and built a brick house on it which 
was finished in October, 1824. This was certainly the first brick 
house on the north side, and in all probability the first brick house 
in Pulaski County, outside of Little Rock. Some local an- 
tiquarian may be able to point out its present location. It was 
built by Christian Brumback. 

Major Watkins in 1821, 1823 and 1825, set banquets for 
the men who celebrated the birthday of our independence dur- 
ing these years. One of these banquets was set in the gallery 
of the old court house, and accommodated one hundred persons, 
being presided over by Governor Izard. At the celebration of 
1823 Watkins was the presiding officer, and at each of these 
celebrations he responded to a toast. On the fourth Saturday 
in July, 1824. the first Baptist church of Little Rock was organ- 
ized at his house. Reverend Silas T. Toncray, presiding, with 
Major Watkins, clerk. 

FIRST BAI>TIST ASSOCIATION- 

In November, 1824, the first Baptist Association of Arkan- 
sas was formed at the State house, the same officers presiding. 
The churches present were Little Rock, Salem, Clark County 
and Pecannerie. This association was called the Little Rock 
Association of Regular Baptists. Major Watkins remained 



232 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

clerk of the church and of the association for many years. In 
1825 he made his only race for the legislature, being a candidate 
for the council, against General Edmund Hogan and Colonel A. 
S. Walker. He was too good a Baptist to be a good politician 
and lost out. In those days it was not much of a recommenda- 
tion for a politician to be a church member, and the Baptist 
church did not look with favor upon its members running for 
office. The same may be said of the other churches. The 
change between that time and today is -no' better marked in any 
particular than in this. In 1827, Governor Adair of Kentucky, 
visited the Hot Springs and was entertained by Major Watkins 
at his residence in Little Rock most sumptuously. Governor 
Adair commanded the regiment in which Major Watkins held a 
commission. 

MAJOR WATKINS WAS ASSASSINATED IN m'LANE'S STORE. 

In Etecember, 1827, while Major Watkins was seated in 
McLane's general store in Little Rock, a man named John 
Smith, with a rifle on his shoulder, walked in and began talking 
with the proprietor. Having thus engaged his attention, Smith 
deliberately turned, brought his rifle to a charge, and fired its 
contents into the body of Major Watkins, who sat not ten feet 
away. Major Watkins died within an hour. In the excitement 
following the shooting, Smith passed out the front door, leaped 
on his horse and rode toward Crystal Hill. He passed the 
night with General Hogan, who knew nothing of the shooting, 
and in the morning rode to the south. The posse following 
Smith did not discover until morning that he had itdden toward 
Crystal Hill, and when it reached there Smith was well out of 
the way. A reward of five hundred seventy-five dollars was 
offered for the apprehension of Smith, but he was never arrested. 
W. E. Woodruff of the Gazette, after stating that Watkins was 
one of the first permanent settlers of Little Rock, went on to say 
that beyond all questioij, he had done as much for the improve- 
ment of Little Rock as any other man. It appeared that on the 
preceding day Watkins had been to his plantation and had found 
that some of his stock was missing. He traced it to the cabin 
of John Smith, found the dead carcass of one of his hogs, and 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 233 

immediately charged Smith with the theft. Smith did not re- 
sent it then, but took his revenge as we have stated. 

HIS DESCENDANTS PROMINENT. 

Major Watkins was married twice, both times in the State 
of Kentucky, His first wife was Paulina Thurston, who died 
shortly after giving birth to a son, who afterwards became Doc- 
tor Robert Anderson Watkins of Little Rock, and who on June 
28, 1827, married Mary W. Nash, daughter of Doctor John T. 
Nash of Florissant, Missouri. Robert A. Watkins, was the first 
secretary of State under the new constitution, serving from Sep- 
tember 16, 1836, to November 12, 1840. 

Major Watkins took for his second wife Marie Toncre of 
Kentucky, a lady of Huguenot extraction, and who came with 
him to Arkansas. The children of this marriage were: Hon- 
orable George Claiborne Watkins, who became chief justice of 
the supreme court of Arkansas, and Mary Eliza Watkins. 
George Claiborne Watkins married Mary A. Crease, the third 
daughter of John H. Crease, State treasurer of Arkansas, and 
Jane P. Newton, his wife. Mary Eliza Watkins married John 
J. Clendennin, afterward one of the supreme judges of the State 
of Arkansas. 

When Major Watkins moved to Arkansas he brought with 
him Miss Mills, a neice of his wife, who on November 14, 1827, 
"became the wife of William E. Woodruff, Sr., the editor and 
founder of the Arkansas Gazette. 

After the death of Major Watkins, his wife remarried, 
lier husband being Reverend W. W. Stevenson, a pioneer Metho- 
<iist preacher at Little Rock, but who afterwards joined the 
Christian church, becoming a noted ministier therein. Mrs^ 
Stevenson died at the residence of her son-in-law, Judge Clen- 
dennin, on the 2 1 St of March, 1874, in the eighty-first year 
of her age, having lived in Little Rock continuously for fifty- 
four years, a longer continuous residence than any other citi- 
zen before her time, and, in all probability, since her time. 
Her husband died in California in his eighty-ninth year. Mrs. 
Stevenson was one of the best women who ever lived in Little 
Rock. She was first last and all the time a Christian, and her 



234 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

home was at all times a home of missions and for all the min- 
isters of all denominations. When the Scientist, Feathersto- 
naugh, was in Little Rock in 1838, he found no place of public 
lodgment at all suitable for a gentleman. Mrs. Stevenson, 
hearing of his dilemma, threw open her house to him, where 
for several months he prosecuted his studies, leaving a high 
testimonial to the admirable good character and magnificent 
womanhood of Mrs. Stevenson. Such is a brief record of the 
antecedents of Chief Justice George Watkins, possibly the ablest 
man that Arkansas has produced. 

The following is taken from the files of an old newspaper : 

'*Died. In this city on the morning of the 21st of March, 
1874, at the residence of her son-in-law, Judge Clendennin, Mrs. 
Maria Stevenson in the eighty-first year of her age. 

"This brief notice records the death of the oldest female 
resident of our city. For fifty-four years she has been a con- 
tinuous resident of Little Rock, and during all that long period 
she graced the community by her hospitalities, blessed the poor 
with her charities, and the stricken in sorrow and affliction with 
her love and advice. Enjoying through most of her long life 
uninterrupted health and favored with more than an ordinary in- 
tellect, she met the troubles and trials of her early frontier life 
with firmness and fortitude and was able to assist, counsel and 
advise those who sought her in their troubles ; always a Christian, 
her house was the home of the mission and the ministers of all 
denominations. She lived to see her children and children's 
children grow up around her, anxious to minister to her wants, 
and surrounded by them she calmly passed away to the rest pre- 
pared for those who here have so well done the Master's will. 

"Mrs. Stevenson was born in Williamsport, Maryland, in 
1793, and when quite young moved with her parents to Kentucky 
where she married Major Isaac Watkins, of Shelby County, with 
whom she and her infant son, the late Judge George C. Watkins, 
and her niece, Mrs. Woodruff, the wife of the venerable William 
E. Woodruff, resided. In 1820, she removed to Little Rock 
where she had always since lived." 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 235 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Slave Holders of 1830. 

It is a most interesting study to connote the rise of the 
slave interest in the United States. From a few squalid slaves 
planted on the shores of New England in the earliest days of 
the colonies, the institution spread Southward, hunting a more 
congenial clime, until, after a century, its habitat was found 
in the Southern States, and its quasi enemies in the original New 
England States. The inhospitable climate of New England 
did not favor slave labor, nor did its more inhospitable shores. 
The more generous climate, of the South, coupled with its lands 
of superabundant fertility, made that region a heaven for not 
only slave owners, but for the slaves. 

It is a waste of time at this day to discuss or even seem 
to discuss the advantage of slavery to such negroes as were 
caught up in Africa and subjected to its malign influences 
in the American colonies. The negro of America today is the 
product of slave institutions, and by as much as he surpasses 
any set of negroes in his original African home, by that much 
is he indebted to American slavery. I have met negroes in all 
parts of the world, negroes who had slave antecedents and 
negroes who had not; the American negro of slave antecedents 
is immeasurably superior, to all these and infinitely superior to 
his brethren that he left in Africa two hundred years ago. 

Slavery may be illogical; it may be inhumanitarian ; it may 
be against all conscience, propositions I do not care to discuss, 
but, it certainly prepared the American negroes for higher 
estates than have been held by the negroes of any other country, 
taking the negro of a country as a whole. They have improved 
in language; they have improved in dress; they have improved 
in manner of living, although there is yet a tremendous room 
for improvement; they have improved in mentality; they have 
improved in business relations, and high and above all other 
things, they have improved morally and spiritually. Give the 
devil his dues. Let slavery be crowned king of African de- 
velopment, so far as the same gives evidence in American af- 
fairs, and let the old slave-driver, the schoolmaster of African 



236 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

civilization, hard-hearted though he may have been, be given a 
crown of laurels for the absolute success of his work. 

No set of schoolmasters that the world has known has 
done as much for a race as the African slave-drivers of the 
South did for the African race. The African was made in 
every respect more decent, more respectable, more lovable, more 
able to do a man's work in the race of life, although the Repub- 
lican party emancipated him a trifle too soon, a few minutes 
before the hatching bird would have pipped the shell for itself, 
and emerged a thoroughly self-respecting bird. As it is, the 
African is puzzled to know whether he owes most to his old 
owner or to the Republican party. Xhe Republican party freed 
him, the slave owners of America gave him whatever parts 
he possessed which entitled him to freedom. The mere ipse 
dixit of a party cannot confer manhood; the antecedent ele- 
ments of manhood, wherever they may be found in the Ameri- 
can African race, must be sought for in the Anglo-Saxon homes 
of the South, among its educated men and its eminently lovable 
women. 

NORTHERN OVERSEERS HARD TASKMASTERS. 

It is a well-known fact that the hardest slave-drivers were 
the overseers and that the kindliest friends the slaves had were 
the masters and mistresses. As a rule the overseers were either 
Northern men or men of Northern antecedents. They are 
and always have been the best bosses of human labor, getting 
more out of it on harsher terms than any bosses of the world,, 
and they are" now bossing the white labor of America with the 
same inexorable fatality that they bossed the slave labor in the 
good old days before the war. They were conscienceless. They 
made the negroes work, and the best paying plantations were 
those in the hands of Northern overseers. All such plantations 
were detested by the Southern slaves. They hated to be bought 
by a Southern slave owner who maintained a Northern overseer. 
They traveled from master to master when their own masters 
were in bankruptcy asking them to buy them and promising 
the most faithful service. The reason for their importunity 
was that if they were not so bought that other slave owners 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 237 

with a Northern overseer would certainly get them, and these 
poor darkies hesitated to fall into his hands. 

But the great majority of the Southern slave-owners were 
either their own overseers, or had Southern overseers, or had 
even negro overseers. That old pioneer, Titsworth, of Logan 
County, Arkansas, owned between one hundred and two hun- 
dred negroes, and was a very prince of good fellows. His 
own negroes loved him, and all the negroes of the surrounding 
plantations when they had to be sold, surreptitiously sought out 
Titsworth and begged him to save them from the fiendish hands 
of the Northern overseers. To the credit of Titsworth be it said, 
that he always gave the negroes a squarer deal than Roose- 
velt or any other Republican has ever given them since. Tits- 
worth's plantation was a very Eden for the negroes, and the 
slaves he owned had much more nearer a heaven on earth than 
any other negroes have had at any other time or place before or 
since. When you are hunting for old-time men who have done 
something for humanity in the largest and best sense write down 
Titsworth's name of Logan County. He was a man among men, 
the equal of any other man, whether his name was Roosevelt, 
Taft or Bryan. 

The whole South was full of Southern great hearts like 
Titsworth, who put to blush John Temple Graves, the great 
orator of Georgia, who reasons with his tongue and not with 
his brain, and who seems to think that Roosevelt is in love with 
the South, when, in fact, Roosevelt knows no god but himself. 
Roosevelt hates the old slave-holders and holds himself im- 
mensely their superior. As a matter of fact, as men ran then, 
the old slave-holders of the South had no superiors. They were 
honest; they were truthful; they were full of the milk of hu- 
man kindness; they gave every man a square deal in reality - 
and not ostensibly as a mere party pretext; they were clean; 
they led a clean government and gave the world its finest ex- 
amples of integrity, leadership and honor. All hail the old- 
time Southern slave owner, not only for what he was himself, 
and for what he made his fpimily, and for what he made the old 
South, but for what he made of the negro himself. When the 
honors are divided by a just judge the old Southern slave- 



238 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

holder will get so much that the frazzle that is left will not 
hurt the other fellows. 

SLAVES OF PULASKI COUNTY. 

The Fletcher family, consisting of Richard M., Henry L., 
Frederick and John, in 1830 owned thirty-three slaves, a greater 
number than that owned by any other family in the county. 
Do family traits inhere? Is it worth while to study family 
history? Is there any reason why a family should be great in 
one age and weak in another? There are reasons and they can 
only be ascertained by a comprehensive system of family his- 
tory. Why should the Fletchers be great in 1800? Why 
should they be the most solid people of the country m 1830? 
Why should they hold their own in 1870 and give Arkansas 
two as solid men as it has today? Why are the Fletchers still 
solid today? Only a most comprehensive study of sociology 
and family history can in any sense answer these questions. 

The greatest individual slave holder of Pulaski County 
in 1830 was Benjamin Trotter, who held twenty-three slaves 
in his own right, and was everywhere known as the most hu- 
mane slave owner. If any of Trotters negroes are alive today 
they are entitled to be heard, and if all the good things that hap- 
pened on Trotter's estate had been told with reference to the 
negroes alone several books as large as the Bible would have 
been required. Old Ben Trotter was one of the makers of Pu- 
laski County, a tremendous factor in the development of Ar- 
kansas. 

The next greatest slave-holder of Arkansas territory was 
Judge Benjamin Johnson, who owned twenty-one slaves, one- 
half of them being under fifteen years of age. A negro from 
one to fifteen years of age was worth all the way from one 
hundred dollars to one thousand dollars, while a negro from 
fifteen to forty was worth from one thousand dollars to three 
thousand dollars. Is it any wonder that the negroes them- 
selves who brought three thousand dollars on the block should 
hold themselves superior to the poor white trash who could not 
earn fifty cents a day? 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas .239 

The next greatest slave owner in Pulaski County was Law- 
yer John H. Cocke, who owned fourteen, and Samuel Taylor 
WHO owned the same number. 

The Lindsey family came next, having thirteen negroes, 
and these Lindseys, sons of old Caleb Lindsey, of Virginia, 
spelled their name in the good old-fashioned way, with an "e" 
and not an "a." More great Lindseys in England today spell 
their name this way than the other, but this is all a matter of 
taste. The Lindsey negroes, however, were a matter of dollars 
and cents. 

AMBROSE SEVIER'S R.\PID RISE. 

Standing next below the Lindseys stood old Archibald Mc- 
Henry and James Walker, with twelve negroes each, and mighty 
fine negroes they were. All near the two thousand dollar 
mark. Then came the Honorable Ambrose H. Sevier, with 
eleven slaves in 1830. In 1820 he came to Arkansas a poor, 
friendless orphan boy ; in 1830 he was a good lawyer, a delegate 
to Congress, the son-in-law of Ben Johnson, and the owner of 
eleven slaves. A pretty good march for a poor boy in ten years. 
True, his slaves were for the most part under fifteen years of 
age, being household maids for the most part, and it may be true 
that old Ben Johnson gave him the most of these, but they were 
Sevier's negroes all the same, and he took all the glory and honor 
for them. Ben Johnson's negroes were Kentucky negroes, and 
were in a sense F. F. Vs., but none of the Arkansas negroes 
ever yielded precedence to them. It was said that one of Mc- 
Henry's negroes could whip any five of Johnson's negroes, but 
that they were afraid to do it lest the judge should get the law 
on them. 

The following persons in Pulaski County in 1830 each had 
nine negroes : Elinor Lockhart, Wharton Rector and John Pope. 
The following had eight: Robert Crittenden, James Lemon, 
George W. Scott and John Evans. The following had seven : 
Nicholas Peay, Allen Martin, John D. Mosby and David Rorer. 
The historian who made Judge David Rorer an example of the 
happy-go-lucky kind seems to have reckoned without his host. 
In this way a large lot of veritable history, so-called, is made. 



240 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Old David Rorer ranked with the elite in 1830, and would rank 
there yet were he alive to row his own boat I have skipped an- 
other old Pulaski County slave-holder, Samson Gray, the son of 
a Revolutionary soldier and who had eleven negroes. Quite a 
irumber of Pulaski County citizens owned five negroes or less. 
Chester Ashley owned three under fifteen years of age, and had 
one free negro in his family, thirty-five years of age. Billy 
Woodruff, Sr., owned three, all under fifteen years of age, which 
shows that Arkansas citizens from Long Island and Massachu- 
setts were not ashamed of the peculiar Southern institution, and 
owned slaves and treated them equally as humanely as the manu- 
facturers of Long Island and Massachusetts treat their employes 
in factories and manufacturing establishments. If any of the 
old negroes belonging to any of these old men of Pulaski County 
are alive I should be pleased to hear from them, in order to 
gather from their lips a few more ideas of the grandly good old 
times in Arkansas from 1830 to 1890. 



CHAPTER XXX. 
The Fletchers. 

In the Review of Reviews for November, 1907, is a picture 
of Horace Fletcher, in turn whaler, explorer, miner, sharp- 
shooter, gymnast, merchant, traveler, philosopher, philanthropist, 
author and originator of "Fletcherism," or how to eat so as to 
live royally, which book every dyspeptic should read, and which 
picture every one interested in the inhering likenesses descending 
to members of the same family even after all trace of the re- 
lationship is lost, should see. My object in adverting to this 
picture is primarily to call attention to the heredity of family 
likeness, although the common ancestor may have lived three 
hundred years ago, and his descendants, widely scattered, may 
be unable to trace any tie of kin or bond of family union; and, 
secondarily, to animadvert upon the superior claims of common 
sense over legislative control, or pure food laws, in securing and 
maintaining a proper degree of health. 

When I opened the Review of Reviews last November and 
let my eye fall upon the picture of Horace Fletcher, my mind at 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 241 

once recalled "Uncle Tom Fletcher" of Little Rock. The like- 
ness was not only faithful, but singularly striking. My mind 
soon corrected this impression by a glance of the eye at the signa- 
ture beneath the picture, and from a reading of the accompany- 
ing matter. Had there been, nothing but the picture, however, 
I am of opinion that I should have called it the picture of Thomas 
Fletcher, despite the plug hat on the table and one or two other 
minor details. 

PIONEERS AND MAKERS OF ARKANSAS. 

To show how strong this likeness really was, I covered up 
the signature and submitted the picture to my wife, who at once 
said : "What a fine picture of Uncle Tom Fletcher !" Stranger 
than this, it so happened, that John Fletcher, the distinguished 
son of Thomas Fletcher, dropped into my office in Washington, 
and I made the same test upon him. Now John Fletcher is one 
of the most modest men in the world, more is the pity, and he 
hesitated ; that hesitancy proved to me that he, too, was just ready 
to say : "How did the picture of my father get into this book ?" 
His controlling modesty produced by the fear of being vain, led 
him to say: "The face is familiar to me," and I said, "Oh 
pshaw!" John laughed. He then pointed out to me minute 
points of pose, facial resemblance and other particulars common 
to his father and to the picture, which led me to see that he saw 
the striking resemblance of the picture to his father, but like a 
good lawyer, would not commit himself. 

STRIKING FAMILY LIKENESS. 

I have also been informed that Honorable Thomas Fletcher 
of Pine Bluff, erstwhile acting governor of Arkansas, bore a 
most marked resemblance to Uncle Tom Fletcher of Little Rock. 
Here are two strong sets of facts of family likenesses, or inhering 
resemblances in families of the same name, yet claiming no kin, 
and these facts prove a kinship of nearer or remoter degree. In 
the matter of Thomas Fletcher of Pine Bluff there is an explana- 
tion, based on a much nearer kinship to Thomas of Little Rock 
tlian any that can be suggested as to Horace Fletcher. Thomas 
Fletcher of Pine Bluff, erstwhile acting governor, de- 



242 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

scended from the Fletchers of middle Tennessee, remotely con- 
nected to all branches of the various Arkansas Fletcher lines, 
Joshua and Peter Fletcher, brothers, entered Arkansas in 1811, 
and settled on the Mississippi river, in what is now Mississippi 
County. Peter Fletcher remained where he settled and became 
the head of a prominent family in that county, one of whom be- 
came prominent in the legislative history of the State. Joshua 
Fletcher for some cause left Arkansas and moved across the river 
in 1819 into what is now Shelby County, arid held many positions 
of county honor in his new home. He was a member of the first 
Grand Jury that ever convened in that county, and was a respect- 
able citizen in every particular. The land archives of the gov- 
ernment show that Joshua Fletcher actually made his settlement 
in Mississippi County, Arkansas, in 1802; that he abandoned it 
in 1806, and returned to it in 181 1, leaving it finally for Tennes- 
see in 1819. 

In 1815 John Gould Fletcher settled on Fourche de Thomas, 
Lawrence County, now Randolph, and died there in 1825. These 
old people doubtless knew their relationship to each other, but 
thjs younger descendants of the present day have lost the trace. 
The resemblance of Thomas Fletcher, grandson of John Gould 
Fletcher, to Thomas Fletcher, acting governor, and who hailed 
from middle Tennessee, proves a consanguineal relationship, and 
back in antiquity somewhere the ancestors of Horace Fletcher 
and of the Arkansas and Tennessee Fletchers unite to form one 
line. I have not traced Horace Fletcher's lineage sufficiently to 
even name an approximate time for this union. The Fletcher 
physiognomy, however, is so marked as to prove a family tie. 

FLETCHERS DATE BACK TO 162O. 

I am certain that no Lindseys were in Virginia on February 
16, 1623, the date of the first census ever taken in America. It 
is interesting to note that this most venerable roll shows John and 
Richard Fletcher as among the living at that date, and what is 
more valuable as separating the Baldwins in Connecticut from 
those of Virginia, is the fact that Thomas Baldwin was then 
living at Jordan's Point, Hugh Baldwin on the Main, John Bald- 
win at Jamestown. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkatisas 243 

Thomas and two William Baldwins at Elizabeth City. On 
the roll of Virginia adventurers made up in London in 1620 
stands the name of John Fletcher, contributing fifty pounds ster- 
ling and John Fletcher & Company, seventy-five pounds sterling. 
Thus the Fletchers and Baldwins connect themselves with the 
oldest American colony and the first settlement of America. Old 
Isaac Baldwin of Pulaski County, 1820, is very probably a de- 
scendant of these Jamestown Baldwins. 

Lawrence County presented many attractions to settlers 
seeking new homes in the early part of the last century. That 
two days work in the Arkansas district would contribute as much 
to the support of a family as a week would do in the North and 
East was prevalently believed at that time, and had much to do 
with the migration of the period. Another element which had a 
large effect on the Tennessee migration was the excitement in 
that State over the removal of the Cherokees to the West. In- 
dian agents told great stories of the St. Francis, the Black and 
the White river regions to the Indians in Tennessee and North 
Carolina, and young Tennesseeans hearing these stories took 
dogs and guns and started on exploring expeditions. Return- 
ing, they had still larger stories to tell which resulted in whole 
families pulling up stakes and starting for Arkansas. They were 
either Indian fighters or sons of Indian fighters and were inured 
to the hardships of hunting, trapping and fighting. For twenty 
years Middle and East Tennessee had gone through the horrors 
of Indian butcheries, and the cessation of hostilities brought such 
a stagnation as to cause many of the more hardy ones to want 
to move. In other cases, the emigrant wanted to find a region 
where there were not so many people, where they could have 
more elbow room. 

HENRY LEWIS FLETCHER. 

This man, born on the Watauga in 1788, entered Arkansas 
before 18 15 and settled on Bayou De Mun in Lawrence County. 
Along with him came his father, John Gould Fletcher, who died 
in what is now Randolph County in 1825 or 1826, in his sixty- 
sixth year. The father of John Gould Fletcher was Richard 
Fletcher, of the Washington district on Watauga, who was a 
pioneer in that region. The pioneers of Arkansas never under- 



244 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

went the privations and horrors that the pioneers of East Ten- 
nessee had to undergo. In 1779 men from Virginia, Maryland, 
Pennsylvania and North Carolina began to settle on Watauga, 
where for thirty years they had to fight for their Uves. They 
were cut off from the protection of the colonial governments and 
in self-defense formed governments of their own. In 1775 the 
Washington District of Tennessee had all the forms of an in- 
dependent government and addressed a petition to the Assembly 
of North Carolina reciting that they had organized a govern- 
ment; that they had sent troops eastward to help the colonies' 
in their affairs and had directed other troops to quell the Indians. 
The petition respectfully asked to be made a part of North Caro- 
lina, and to be given a chance to aid that colony repel British 
aggressions. This petition is marked "Filed July 20, 1776," and 
it must have been prepared early in that year. About one hun- 
dred names are affixed to it, among them being those of John 
Sevier, Valentine Sevier, and the ancestor of our Arkansas fam- 
ily, Richard Fletcher. 

In the next session of the North Carolina Assembly, later in 
1776, Washington District was represented by delegates, so that 
this petition had its effect. This government must not be con- 
founded with the State of Franklin, formed on the same grounds 
b}' the same men later on. It was a government, however, which 
stood for American Independence, and the action of these signers 
contributed to the success of the American arms. 

The Watauga settlement is the only settlement in the United 
States where a Tory was not permitted to live. Richard Fletcher 
was one of the original patentees to lands on the Watauga in 
^775' It is said that every able-bodied man on Watauga rode 
with Sevier to King's Mountain, but I have not been able to find 
the muster roll of the heroes. 

In all probability Richard Fletcher was one of them, and it 
is certain that Surgeon David Gould, father of Richard Fletcher's 
wife, was a member of the Virginia Continental Line. Others 
of the name from the mountain regions of North Carolina who 
participated in that war were Thomas Fletcher, John Fletcher, 
Reuben Fletcher, Nathan Fletcher, William Fletcher and Abner 
Fletcher. What relationships these bore to Richard Fletcher, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 245 . 

I can not say, but in all probability the relationship was close, 
as they all hailed from the same region. Richard Fletcher died 
and was buried on the Watauga ; John Gould Fletcher, probably 
the revolutionary soldier named above, died in Arkansas and 
was buried on the De Mun; Henry Lewis Fletcher, born 1788, 
died in Arkansas, and was buried on the Saline in 1840, leaving 
children, Thomas, Henry L., John G., Jeff L., Richard, and sev- 
eral others most prominently identified for fifty years with every 
interest of the State. Henry Lewis Fletcher, Sr. married in 
1815, Mary, daughter of Caleb Lindsey, a Kentucky pioneer, on 
De Mun, and very probably the first old field school teacher of 
the State, as his brother, Eli, was the first local preacher of the 
Methodist church in Arkansas, beginning on Strawberry in Octo- 
ber, 1815. 

FLETCHERS IN PULASKI BEFORE 183O. 

The census of 1830 shows Henry Lewis Fletcher a resident 
of Pulaski County, with one person in the family from* forty to 
fifty years of age, one from thirty to forty, six children and eight 
slaves. This put upon his shoulders the responsibility for the 
support of a family of sixteen persons. Men of Arkansas for 
the last fifty years have mingled with the sons of tliis old pioneer 
and are in condition to estimate his mental and physical vigor. 
Figs do not grow on thorns, nor do such men as the later Fletch- 
ers come from insignificant ancestors. The vigor of the old 
Watauga struggles was perpetuated in the lives of the grandsons 
and great-grandsons. Strong men do not come from castles 
alone. The cabins of the West have been splendid hives for 
thousands of our best moral, mental and physical leaders. 

In the same census there was Thomas M. Fletcher, born 
between 1800 and 1810, with a family of three children, all living 
in Pulaski County. Eli Fletcher, born in the same period, with 
a wife and one child, lived in the same tbwnship. Richard 
Fletcher, bom between 1790 and 1800, with a wife and six chil- 
dren, lived near. I suppose these were all brothers of old Lewis 
H, Fletcher and sons of John Gould Fletcher, the pioneer in the 
cabin on the De Mun. 

Away up in Randolph County at the same time lived John 
Fletcher, bom between 1780 and 1790, with a wife and seven 



246 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

children. This John was either the eldest of old John Gould 
Fletcher's children or the secfond child. Near him lived Levi 
Fletcher, born between 1800 and 1810, with a wife, no children 
and two slaves. Thus of all the progeny of John Gould Fletcher, 
a great and mighty race, there were but two who owned slaves 
in 1830, Henry L. Fletcher of Pulaski County and Levi Fletcher 
of Randolph County. 

Just who Captain Fred Fletcher of Old Crawford County 
was, I cannot say, but he was surely a descendant of John Gould 
Fletcher. He lived around Cadron and organized a company of 
cavalry in the spring of 1824 for Indian activity. 

When John Gould Fletcher left the Watauga Settlement he 
went to Stewart County, Tennessee. There his son John mar- 
ried a Skinner, a daughter of the proprietor of a very extensive 
iron works which flourished there in that day. In that neigh- 
borhood the Fletchers and Lindseys began to intermarry, and in 
the after migration to Christian County, Kentucky, and to Ran- 
dolph County, Arkansas, went together. Caleb Lindsey, the 
father of Mary Lindsey, who married Henry L. Fletcher, had in 
addition to Mary, six other children ; Betsy, who married Martin 
Fletcher, a brother of Henry L. Fletcher, and who died in Pulaski 
County in December, 1826, Abijah Davis and Richard Fletcher 
administering upon his estate; John Young Lindsey, who mar- 
ried Jennie Davis ; Agnes Lindsey, who married Richard Fletcher, 
another brother of Henry L. Fletcher; Sally Lindsey, who mar- 
ried Will Williams; Caleb Lindsey, who married Rebecca Bril- 
hardt, and another daughter who married Doctor Hoover at 
Davidsonville, in 1824. Henry Lewis Fletcher died in Saline 
County in 1855. Caleb Lindsey, Sr., died in Pulaski County in 
November, 1826, Sarah Lindsey and John Y. Lindsey administer- 
ing. 

The sons of Henry Lewis Fletcher were Thomas, John 
Gould, Henry Lewis, Richard, Jefferson L. and Martin Franklin. 

Martin Franklin Fletcher died several years ago in Cam- 
den leaving a son, Wiley Lewis Fletcher who married Pauline 
O'Connell, and had one daughter, Olivia Fletcher, who is now 
the wife of C. W. Cherry of Little Rock. Upon the death of 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 247 

Wiley Lewis Fletcher, his widow, Mrs. Pauline Fletcher, became 
the wife of Dr. Lindsey of Little Rock. 

THE LATE THOMAS FLETCHER. 

Of the sons of old Henry Lewis Fletcher, Thomas was 
next to the eldest, having been born in Arkansas on the De Mun, 
April 8, 181 7, dying in Little Rock in February, 1900, being 
eighty-three years of age, all of which were spent on Arkansas 
soil. Who will write the biography of Uncle Tom Fletcher? 
There is no one better fitted for the task than his gifted son, 
John, the attorney in Little Rock. To write that history will 
be to write almost all the history of Arkansas, but there has 
been no character on Arkansas soil more worthy of an extended 
biography. Born in Randolph County in 181 7, he came with 
his parents into Pulaski County in 1825. The old homestead 
was cut off by the legislature into Saline County in 1835, but 
in 1844, after his marriage to Lucinda Beaver of Henderson 
County, Kentucky, Uncle Tom moved into Pulaski County, 
where he remained until his death. He served as sheriff of 
Pulaski County from 1858 to 1862, and in 1862 was sent to 
the State legislature; was a member of the Confederate legis- 
lature in 1864, and in 1866 was re-elected sheriff of Pulaski 
County; licensed to practice law in 1868, and candidate for the 
Democratic nomination for governor in 1878. It was in this 
race that Uncle Tom disposed of one of his opponents by a 
fatherly shake of the head and the words: '"As to my friend, 
Smithee, he's young ; he can afford to wait." To which Smithee 
innocently retorted: "True, I can afford it, but that is not the 
question. Can Arkansas afford it?" As an appointee of Presi- 
dent Cleveland, he served as United States marshal for the 
Eastern District of Arkansas with credit to himself and to the 
administration. No more vigorous man ever lived in the State, 
and he will forever remain a fine type of the old regime of hon- 
est, earnest, able men. 

Lucinda Beaver, wife of Thomas Fletcher, was a daughter 
of Stephen Beaver, born February 10, 1823, in Lincoln County, 
Tennessee. Stephen Beaver entered Tennessee in the first dec- 
ade of the nineteenth century from Beaver County, Pennsyl- 
vania. Two other daughters of this old couple married Ar- 



248 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

kansas gentlemen, Sarah and Nancy; Sally marrying John 
Moose, becoming the head of the noted famUy at Morrillton, 
and Nancy who married John Milner and became the head 
of a family in South Arkansas. The wife of Stephen Beaver 
was Nancy White, whose father, as well as Stephen Beaver, are 
said to have been soldiers in the Revolutionary War. The chil- 
dren of Thomas Fletcher and Lucinda Beaver who lived to rear 
families were five in number: 

1. Henry Lewis Fletcher, who married Cumi Smith, and 
had two children, Thomas Milton Fletcher, a physician at Paris, 
Arkansas, and Mary C. (Fletcher) Daniel, who lives at Palarm, 
Arkansas. 

2. Richard Fletcher, deceased, who married Lillie Dea But- 
ler, and had three children; Elizabeth married Allen Johnson, 
who died leaving a daughter, Elizabeth ; James Richard Fletcher, 
who married Mary Collins in October, 1907, and Lillie Dea 
Fletcher, who married Mr. W. C. Cherry of Nashville, Tennes- 
see, in June, 1907. 

3. John Fletcher, attorney at Little Rock, who married 
Mary Emily Moose, a granddaughter of John and Sally (Beaver) 
Moose, and had one son, Thomas. They reared another boy, 
Ellis Ford. 

4. Nancy A. Fletcher, who married J. B. Miles, and died 
leaving a daughter, Nancy, who married W. M. Tatum, and be- 
came the mother of several children. 

5. Caleb Lindsey Fletcher married Elizabeth Medlock, and 
died leaving one daughter, Alma Elizabeth Fletcher, who is still 
unmarried, and living in the old homestead at Ninth and Cum- 
berland, in Little Rock. 

Richard Fletcher served in the Sixth legislature from Pu- 
laski County, with Charles P. Bertrand and Peter L. Crutch- 
field as associates. He was then sent to the Senate and served 
through the Eighth and Ninth legislatures. Jefferson and Henry 
never sought office, but were fine types of manly citizens. Henry 
Lewis, Jr., born in 1833, married Susan Bricelin in Pulaski 
County and died in 1896, his wife being still alive. Her father 
was Milo Bricelin and her mother, Pamelia Baldwin, a daughter 
of Isaac Baldwin of Pulaski County. I was well acquainted 
with Henry L. Fletcher, Jr., and have known no man for whom 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 249 

I had a higher regard. His daughter, Mary Pamelia Fletcher, 
is one of the best women of Little Rock. 

John G. Fletcher was possibly the most prominent banker the 
State has ever had, and was most prominently connected with 
every great enterprise that had for its object the permanent 
uplift of the State. This is a short resume of the Fletcher 
family from 1770 to the present time. It is a clean, refreshing 
record of the Wataugan principle, "Independent thinking cou- 
pled with a clean life, leads to competence here and happiness 
hereafter." 

THE LEWIS FAMILY OF LAWRENCE COUNTY. 

The career of John Gould Fletcher, who died in Randolph 
County in 1825 or 1826, is not fully developed. Its greater part 
was spent in the mountain fastnesses of western North Caro- 
lina, southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee. He was prob- 
ably in the Revolutionary war and was certainly connected 
with all the Indian struggles on Watauga. He saw his brother, 
Thomas, scalped by Indian savages, together with his nephew, 
Thomas, and had ground into him the principles of an actual 
struggle for existence which developed all the latent powers 
of manhood. He married a Lewis, one of the family that for 
heroism and privation stands unequaled in historic fact. When 
the sentimental and fictitious strenuosity of Theodore Roose- 
velt shall have been forgotten the strenuous lives of the Lewises 
will remain. Five statues of the Lewis men adorn the Wash- 
ington monument in Richmond, Virginia, and all Virginia. Ken- 
tucky, North Carolina and Tennessee history abounds with 
their names. The battle of Point Pleasant, in Virginia, is a mon- 
ument to the courage and leadership of five Lewis boys. 

John Gould Fletcher married into this family on the Wa- 
tauga, and in that neighborhood spent the greater part of his mar- 
ried life. In that neighborhood in 1772 the family of William 
Lewis, consisting of himself, his wife and five children, were 
brutally murdered by the Indians. Two small children, a boy 
and a girl, were carried into captivity and afterwards ransomed 
by the pioneers of the Watauga. Thirteen of the Lewis family 
were in the Revolutionary war from North Carolina and more 
than twice that number from Virginia. The old town of David- 



250 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

sonville in Lawrence County was laid off by the descendants of 
the Tennessee Lewis family, and the blood of the family is car- 
ried by more than a thousand of Arkansas' sons and daughters. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Edmund Hogan. 

The Hogan family dates back in Georgia history to the 
ante-revolutionary days, and the father of Edmund Hogan, 
the subject of our sketch, was a wealthy and prominent Georgian 
during the Revolution and the days that followed. Both he 
and his son were members of the Georgia legislature, and Ed- 
mund was a brave soldier in the war of 1812. In 1817, before 
the creation of Pulaski County, Edmund Hogan removed from 
Georgia to the Territory of Missouri, and settled in what is now 
Pulaski County, at Crystal Hill. He brought with him several 
slaves and a large amount of money. In fact he was reputed in 
the earlier days of the county to be one of its richest men, but 
owing to his generous disposition and the numerous land suits 
engaged in by him he had lost at the time of his death a large 
amount of his wealth. He bought the pre-emption claims of 
Thomas Pharr, near the lands located by John Carnahan, and 
erected thereon a fine residence and numerous other buildings. 
It was the handsome residence of Edmund Hogan, as well as 
the fine elevation of Crystal Hill that led Governor Miller to 
make his residence at that place, and to urge it as the most 
suitable location for the capital of the State. 

Edmund Hogan was the first justice of the peace appointed 
by the authorities of the Territory of Missouri in Pulaski County 
upon the formation of that county in 1818, which position he 
held for many years thereafter under the laws of the Territory 
of Arkansas. In this capacity he celebrated many of the early 
marriages of the territory, the most prominent of which was 
that of Henry P. Pyatt, son of the pioneer, to Miss Carnahan, 
daughter of Rev. John Carnahan, the first Presbyterian preacher 
of the territory, on February 10, 1820. Crystal Hill was then 
the center of fashion and intelligence of Pulaski County, and also 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 251 

the center of the religious influences which even at that early 
date were beginning to permeate the territory. 

BRIGADIER GENERAL OF ARKANSAS MILITIA. 

Edmund Hogan in the war of 1812 made a good sollier, 
and when his record was presented to President Monroe, upon 
the death of Brigadier General Allen, he was appointed on March 
24, 1821, as brigadier general of the Arkansas militia, whicli po- 
sition he held until 1825, when he was succeeded by an appointee 
of President Adams, namely Brigadier General Bradford of 
the regular army, then stationed at Fort Smith. 

General Hogan took great interest in his military position, 
and in conjunction with Governor Miller tried to bring the 
militia of the State to a high degree of perfection. He was not 
successful, however, save in towns like Arkansas Post and Lit- 
tle Rock. He made a fine appearance in his regimentals, as did 
the subordinate officers. At that time there were quite a number 
of soldiers who had served in the war of 181 2 in the territory, 
and it may be said with a large degree of truth that the militia 
of the Territory of Arkansas from 1821 to 1825 was largely 
made up of this soldiery. The territory contained several men 
who had risen to the rank of colonel in that war. and hundreds 
who had been majors, captains or lieutenants. They were all 
of the Western type, free and easy in their manners, very out- 
spoken in their conversation and therefore very hartl to con- 
trol. They were not bad men, but men of independence of 
character and very tenacious of their opinions. General Taylor 
of the regular army, or as he was familiarly called, "Old Rough 
and Ready'* was of this type of men. When General Scott 
issued his tactics in 1835, or thereabouts, a copy was sent to all 
the inferior officers of the army, among whom was General 
Taylor. Taylor looked at it, turned over all its leaves 
and then remarked: "This is another of Scott's novels." He 
then pitched it into his trunk and commanded his army according 
to his own rules of warfare upon tactics which suited him and 
the soldiers of the West. 

Hogan had considerable force of character, and being a 
superior soldier managed to control the combustible elements 
of which the militia was formed at that time, and to make of 



252 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

them most serviceable soldiers. They were never called into ac- 
tion, but had there been occasion, Hogan's soldiers would have 
made a record. Hogan also had to contend with numerous 
land claimants, whose attorney was Colonel A. S. Walker, a 
foe not unworthy the general's steel. Both men were given to 
bluffing to a large extent, but both were brave and true as steel. 
Hogan spent a large part of his money to defend his holdings 
and a still greater sum to maintain his position in the community 
according to his ideas of the demand of a gentleman and gen- 
eral. He entertained lavishly, and was one of the most popular 
men of early Arkansas history. 

BITTER POLITICAL CAMPAIGN. 

One of the most bitter contests known to Arkansas his- 
tory occurred in 1825, when Colonel A. S. Walker was pitted 
against General Edmund Hogan for a seat in the council of 
the Fourth Territorial Legislature. Invective was largely in- 
dulged in and feelings aroused, which were not quieted by time. 
By throwing out one township Hogan was declared elected 
by the narrow majority of thirteen; Walker would not stand 
for this and a new election was ordered in which Walker was 
elected. Many prominent citizens of the county were drawn 
into the controversy on one side or the other, and out of it 
grew the lamentable circumstances which led to the general's 
death. In the canvass for the legislature of 1827, three can- 
didates were before the people, Colonel Walker, General Hogan 
and Judge Scott. Pretty much the same canvass was made this 
year as had been made two years before, except that the in- 
vective was greater and the atmosphere considerably hotter. 
Hogan was elected and everybody settled down to quiet life 
not thinking that a great tragedy was on the eve of enactment. 
So far as Walker was concerned he appears to have dropped out 
of the limelight, and Judge Scott to have taken his place. After 
the election was over the people resumed the usual tenor of 
their ways, and on the surface everything appeared quiet. 

In 1828, on May 31st, a great public hanging occurred in 
Little Rock, at which men gathered from far and near. When 
the hanging was over the crowd dispersed, those living at a 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 253 

distance taking their horses and riding away. Judge Scott 
after witnessing the execution wended his way to the store of 
McLane & Radgett on the west side of Main street. Here 
surrounded by a number of Little Rock citizens he was dis- 
cussing the circumstances of the hanging, when General Ho- 
gan entered the store. 

The general was a man weighing nearly three hundred 
pounds, tall and straight as an arrow, and with a physique as 
powerful as that of a lion. He always made a fine appearance 
either on foot or on horseback, and was a man of almost super- 
human strength. Judge Scott was a small man, not weighing 
more than one hundred and thirty pounds, and as weak as 
General Hogan was strong. Scott was a giant in mental furni- 
ture, but a weakling in the matter of physique. Nobody ex- 
pected the difficulty, not even Hogan or Scott. The conversa- 
tion went on, both Scott and Hogan taking part in it, at times, 
and neither showing any animosity one to the other. As conver- 
sations ordinarily do, this one soon diverged from the hanging 
to politics, and before the men knew it they were discussing 
the old Walker and Hogan race. This seemed to revive in the 
mind of General Hogan something that occurred in the trian- 
gular race between himself. .Walker and Scott. He turned 
to Scott and accused him of writing a letter into one 
township derogatory to the character of Hogan. Scott 
at once informed the general that he had been misinformed. 
Hogan reiterated the statement and said that he believed that 
it was true. Scott denied it again, and remarked that if he 
made it as a statement of his own that it was false. 

now HOCAX MKT HIS DEATH. 

Both men were standing up. Xo sooner had Scott made the 
last remark than Hogan, with a powerful sweep of his arm. 
felled Scott to the floor, where for an instant he remained in 
an apparently senseless condition. As he revived he struggled 
to his feet, and Hogan squared himself for another blow. As 
Scott aro.se he very dextrously unsheathed a dirk from a sword 
cane which he carried, and before Hogan could strike the second 
blow, had plunged the dirk several times into the body of Gen- 



254 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

eral Hogan. Hogan fell and expired within an hour. Every- 
body was amazed and likewise horrified. Judge Scott was ar- 
rested by his brother, United States Marshal George Scott, 
and taken before an officer for trial. The facts as stated 
above were there proven, and the court held Hogan to have been 
the aggressor and released Judge Scott. It was everywhere 
remarked that the blow of Hpgan would have killed an ordinary 
man. Thus perished one of the oldest and best citizens of Pu- 
laski County. Judge Scott, while regretting the circumstance, 
always held that he could not have done otherwise than he did. 
Both men were thoughtful, humane and most progressive citi- 
zens, and the entire community was shadowed with gloom over 
the lamentable affair. The residence of Hogan at Crystal Hill 
was noted by Xuttal in 1819, and from that time on until thd 
date of his death was one of the best kno>yn residences in the 
county. William Hogan was married in Pulaski County on 
March 25. 1825, to Mary Rankin, but whether he was a son of 
General Hogan or not I am not informed. 

General Bradford held the position of brigadier-general 
from 1825 until the date of his death in 1826, w^hen he was suc- 
ceeded by Colonel John Xicks of Crawford County. General 
Xicks was one of the strong characters of early Arkansas his- 
tory. He represented Crawford County in the House of Repre- 
sentatives in the Third and Fourth legislatures, and was noted 
for his strong common sense and sterling courage. 

CATERKD TO ALL TASTES. 

The first county seat of St. Francis County was called 
Franklin, and was located at a point which before that had been 
known as the "old Cherokee village." It was near the United 
States road from Memphis to Little Rock, and two miles from 
the St. Francis river. Its first public buildings were begun in 
1832. The inducements offered by the people for settlers were 
two : 

First — A respectable Bible Society for the improvement 
of those who felt desirous of promoting the cause of religion. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 255 

Second — A race course for the recreation of those who de- 
vote a portion of their time to the scenes of high life in con- 
nection with the respectable jockey club. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

The **Two P" Architecturk — The Martins. 

One of the quaintest conceits of family history is the fa- 
mous **Three Brothers Theory." One came over and settled 
in New England; another in Virginia, and the third further 
south. The conclusion drawn is that all of the name descend 
from these brothers. This is unmitigated bosh. Another is 
the Northern and Southern "branch'' theories. This is greater 
bosh than the other. Every man of the name came over at any 
time formed the prepositus of the branch, and the branches do 
not descend from any one man in the North and another man in 
the South. I read a short time ago that all the Williams in 
the United States descended from some old emigrant up in 
Massachusetts. What humbug! There were at least five Wil- 
liams in Virginia before the Mayflower ever came to the rock 
where — 

The Puritans landed and fell on -their knees 
And then — on the Aborigines. 

All of these Williams had families, and there is no proof 
that the original immigrants were related. So it is evident that 
there are several thousand Williams in the United States not 
descended from the New England stock, who can claim an older 
residence in America. I have spent eleven years on the Wil- 
liams pedigree in order to gratify a certain fair lady who was 
born a Williams, but who in deference to me, changed her 
name to Shinn. After all sorts of investigation, running through 
years. I landed her line in unbroken continuity in an old log 
cabin of David Williams. Jamestown, Virginia, of 1609. There 
were other Williams* there then, viz. : Thomas of Jordan's Point 
Henry of the same place, Robert of the plantation above and 



256 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Rowland of Brick Row, and for one hundred years afterwards 
liardly a ' ship landed without one of the name, each be- 
coming the prepositus of a line. Then after other years I as- 
certained that the David Williams of Jamestown, Virginia, was 
not the ancestor of my wife, but that another David of the 
eastern shore of Maryland of 1660 was the ancestor, which 
brought in another distinct line of ancient Williams. So of coats 
of arms. These are property and descend to the issue of the 
original grantees or creators. The collateral kin have no title 
whatever. If a coat of arms is two thousand years old, there 
is a greater possibility that all of the name may claim it, but it 
is not sure. One must prove his lineal descent from an armored 
ancestor before he can claim the arms. Then the coat of arms 
of a father may be changed by the son, and again by the grand- 
son. All descendants of the father may claim his armorial bear- 
ings, but they may not claim those of the son or grandson. 

ARKANSAS ARCHITECTURE. 

Every age has produced an architecture, " which in a sense 
characterizes the age and comes to the dignity of an order. 
The seven orders of ancient architecture have been made the 
theme of many articles and are well known, as is the Colonial style 
of early America. Not so well known, however, to the literary 
world, is the architectural order established by early Arkansas 
pioneers. It is hardly true that this order was the evolution of 
pure Arkansas thought since it found place everywhere in the 
^Mississippi Valley. It has never been named, and for continuity 
of thinking I propose to label it the ''Two P'* order of architec- 
ture, the latest, if not the most prevalent style of house build- 
ing. It derived its name from the significant fact that it con- 
sisted of two pens and a passage. Logs round or squared were 
notched and laid on each other until a pen of the required size 
was laid about eight feet high; then another pen was made 
about twelve feet from the first and built to the same heighth. 
Then longer logs were laid over both pens so as to make a pas- 
sage between the pens. Then the whole edifice was covered 
with clapboards and the structure was complete. These houses 
were immensely popular and covered Arkansas in 1830. In one 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 257 

pen cooking and eating went on, and the other contained the 
piano and harpischord. The sitting room where melons 
were cut and horses swapped, was in the passage. The sleep- 
ing apartments were in the loft, reached by a cleat ladder on 
the sides of the pen. More great men and women of early 
times were reared in these double log pens with a passage than 
in castles or marble fronts. In fact a boy or a girl coming from 
these last establishments was looked upon as a doubtful quan- 
tity. 

Then the furnishing of the pen and the passage was a tri- 
umph in every particular. Modern writers lampoon it for in- 
congruity, but what of that? Are there no incongruities to- 
day? What relation does a Louis XIV set of exquisite chairs 
in a modern parlor bear to an antique oak dining room set? 
Or how connect a Brussels carpet with cheap plush parlor sets? 
What relation has a silver sugar bowl to a fifty cent set of 
plates? True there was incongruitiy in the old time houses, 
but let not the guilty descendants of their owners throw the 
first stones. 

MUSIC OF THE THREE P'S. 

In old times as you sat in the passage you heard the music 
of pigs, poultry and the piano. Horrid, you say ! Well, I don't 
know. Many old pigs made better music than scores of 
modern pianos. Any old time piano player in the log cabins 
had the art of playing instead of thumping, and pigs and poul- 
try ceased grunting and cackling to listen to the grander music. 
Our ancestors had cornmeal products side by side with cus- 
tards. Our filet mignon de Meyerbeer combines the tenderloin 
with toad stools and chicken gizzards. In the old houses you 
could see sand, sawdust and silver, tubs, teapots and tapestry, 
metals, mosquitos and mahogany, gourds, gimlets and gera- 
niums. Happy combinations! Wonderful ideas! In our mod- 
ern style we combine saloons, saliva and sacristans; pewter, 
pomatum and priceless prints; feather beds and finger bowls; 
bats, balls and Bibles, and so on to the end. 



258 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

OLD TIME MOTHER WIT. 

In Conway County there happened to be a neighborhood 
of old timers who came in 1819; near by was another band of 
immigrants from Illinois who came in 1830. The first set hav- 
ing lived on the soil eleven years were natives and held their 
heads high above the other set. They had to worship God in 
the same house, but they sat on different sides. Sometimes the 
women met but they did not mix. They always clashed. One 
day an old maid from the Illinois set got out of humor and 
said: "You sisters on that side of the house are the most can- 
tankerous people I ever saw. I have seen sassy people, but of all 
sassy people in the world Arkansassy people are the worst." 
Amidst loud applause from her side she sat down. Then an- 
other old maid from the other side got up and said: "I hate 
noisy people, and of all the noisy people in the world the Illinoisy 
ones are the worst." Great was the applause on the other side. 
Here we have the genesis of the modern womans* clubs of the 
State and their motive. The idea is always to do the other 
fellow before he does you, and if he does get his oar in first, 
come back with remark called for brevity, "The Retort Courte- 
ous." 

The humor of the old Conway Club was that the young peo- 
ple of these two factions had to intermarry, and the children 
were not onl^^ "sassy" but "noisy," which accounts for a great 
deal of our modern history. 

But mother wit was not confined to the female portion of 
the communities. Some of the boys had all of it, and their 
mothers very little. There was William R. Miller of Miller's 
Creek. He was born on the soil and was a holy terror as a 
boy. Some wise heads said "That he would come to no good 
end," while others said, "Pshaw, Bill Miller will be governor; 
mark my words." Now putting aside the reflection that the two 
remarks coincide, let us look for the future governor's style. 
In 1836 the Van Buren campaign was on and Bill Miller, a 
sixteen-year-old boy, seeing young Fent Noland, an ardent young 
Whig, approaching him on the boulevard of Batesville, yelled 
out: 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 259 

"Hurrah for Van Buren/' 

Kent Noland inimediately replied: 
"Hurrah for a jackass." 

To which the future governor roared : 
"That's right Fent, you holler for your candidate* and Til 
holler for mine." 

This made Bill Miller the hero of the Democrats, and Fent 
Noland his life-long friend. Miller had to wait a long time for his 
reward as governor, but he finally made his mark. 

OLD TIME CRITICAL ACUMEN. 

In a newspaper of New York City, bearing date, 1822, I 
found an article which said that the editor of the Little Rock 
Gazette, William E. Woodruff, had criticized Noah Webster 
for putting the word "lengthy" in the dictionary. "What are we 
coming to?" asked Woodruff. "If the word is permitted to 
stand, the next edition will authorize the word 'strengthy.' " 
The New York journalist said that "Our contemporary in the 
Great West is right about the matter, but old Noah will have 
his way." One does not read far in Billy Woodruff's thesaurus 
of Arkansas happenings before he concludes that the editor was 
a most thoughtful man, and that his range of subjects were very 
great and his method of treatment original and profound. He 
educated a lot of Arkansas printers, who under the laws of na- 
ture came to have papers of their own and then turned upon 
the old man to rend him. He was as brave as Julius Caesar, 
and was never the first to cry, enough. 

OLD GAZETTE MARRIAGE POETRY. 

The Gazette of May 29, 1839, contained the following: 
"On May 28, 1839, Allen Martin of Pulaski County was 

married to Mahala Rowland, daughter of Thomas Rowland of 

Saline County, by Rev. J. W. ^loore." 

Then the Gazette followed with this gem of poetry, which 

the Martins may put in their scrap books, if they choose, and 

other benedicts may follow suit. 



26o Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Huzza for the married men true, 

Huzza for the men who have wives. 

It's better to stick to your dearie like glue 

Than single to live the days of your lives. 

So down with the bachelors, gloomy and sad, 

Up with the married men, merry and glad. 

OLD PULASKI PIONEERS. 



The Martins date back to 1817, coming in with that grand 
old guard *'Rector*s Surveyors.'' The family on Little Rock 
soil is older than Little Rock, and is a strong and reputable 
family today. It has been largely a family of surveyors and 
their work has established lines and monuments which in their 
totality make the security of Arkansas. A Martin married a 
Daniels, daughter of Wright Daniels, September 16, 1820, at 
Little Rock. Who this was I do not know. Certain it is that 
one Allen Martin was on the north side of Arkansas river in 
1819, but whether he was the lucky man to marry this fair 
woman, I cannot say. Wright Daniels was one of the oldest 
settlers of Pulaski, a most industrious man, the owner of a 
grist mill, and the father of beautiful daughters. Jared C. 
Martin on January 25, 1827, married Mary, daughter of John 
Douglas. Here are two old Martin marriages, brothers, which 
form stems for two great families, James Martin died in 1826, 
and Martha Martin, his widow, and Allen Martin were ap- 
pointed executors. This James may have been a brother of 
Allen and Jared C. Martin. 

Ezekiel Douglas and his son, John, settled in Pyatt town- 
ship, in 1819. but John Douglass in 1820 entered land five miles 
below Little Rock, at a time when only one log house stood where 
Little Rock now stands. At the same time, three Martins, 
known to be brothers, were in the neighborhood, Hutcheson, 
Allen and Jared C. Hutcheson ran a ferry boat and was prob- 
ably the one that married a Daniels. This was James Hutche- 
son Martin, who in addition to running a ferry kept an inn on 
the north side of the river. He died in February, 1826, at the 
house of Reuben J. Blount, and his widow married Judge Da- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 261 

vid Rorer in ^larch, 1827. Allen and Jared C. erected a tomb- 
stone to Hutcheson in 1857. Allen Martin was county surveyor 
of Pulaski County from 1825 to 1830, and Jared C. Martin 
county treasurer from 1840 to 1842. Allen Martin was sheriflf 
from 1836 to 1838. and member of Arkansas Legislative Coun- 
cil, 1831-33, while Jared C. Martin was member of the Arkansas 
legislature from 1842 to 1844. On September 13, 1829, a 
double funeral was preached at the house of David Rorer by 
Rev. S. T. Toncray, commemorative of the death of Wright 
Daniel and James Hutcheson Martin. There was a known 
fourth brother of Hutcheson, Allen and Jared C, named An- 
drew, who was judge at Jackson, Missouri, and who died there 
September 6, 1834, aged forty-two years. These old pioneers, 
Martin, Daniel and Douglas, have left a most honorable line of 
descendants, who still do honor to the State. 

ALLKN MARTIN. 

Since writing the above, I have received from Miss Ma- 
hala Isabella Martin of Midland, Texas, and a daughter of old 
Allen Martin, the following matter which I publish entire: 

"Our father, Allen Martin, son of John Martin and Eliza- 
beth (Allen) Martin, both from near Belfast, Ireland, was bom 
in Washington County, Georgia, November 10, 1801. 

"His father moved with the family to Louisiana territory 
and settled near Jackson, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. 
In this new home Allen's father died in July, 1808, leaving him 
to work and study under the care of his mother until he was 
seventeen years old. That year, 1818, he, with his own chain, 
compass, etc.. helped survey the route from Memphis, Tennes- 
see, to Fulton, Arkansas, said route known as the military 
road. He then returned to his mother's home full of desire to 
come to Arkansas territory. About 182 1, he and his brother, 
Jared Carswell Martin, came to Little Rock country, at that 
time only one little log cabin on the site of the now beautiful city 
of Little Rock, seciired land round about what is now known 
as Mabelvale, made some improvements and returned to Mis- 
souri. 



262 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

**Their mother moved with them to their new home one and 
one-half miles apart, and died in Allen's home in 1840 on the 28th 
of June — seventy five years old. Allen's first marriage was 
to Mahala Collins Rowland in 1839, ^^^y 28th. On July 17th, 
1840, she died, leaving a son nine days old. He married (the 
second time) Maria Shackleford Rowland, who had cared for 
the little boy, John Rowland Martin, since her sister's death, 
this marriage occurring on May 24th, 1842. 

"Allen Martin was a very accurate and successful civil engin- 
eer and sectionized a large part of the State of Arkansas, and 
was a trusted reference for facts and conditions all over the 
State of Arkansas as long as he lived. His memory was re- 
markably faithful, so much so that he could even recall different 
things he was doing the day his first wife was born. 

**He and his brother, Jared, with whipsaws, sawed the 
necessary planks for flooring, doors, etc., needed in the con- 
struction of their log homes. They burned brick and built chim- 
neys, some of which are still standing. In 1857, Allen with 
his family left the home of thirty-six happy years to move to 
Red River County, Texas, where he settled ten miles east of 
Clarksville. 

"Allen was always full of public enterprise, ever doing 
something to help his neighbors and further the welfare of his 
community. He loved the Methodist church of which he was 
a faithful member from 1842 till his death in 1872." 

This is a splendid letter and will be prized by not only the 
descendants of Allen Martin, but by all the descendants of old 
John and Elizabeth Allen Martin. It is incorrect in minor par- 
ticulars. The military road was not established until 1824, and 
the road indicated by Miss Martin was the continuation of what 
was then called the military road from St. Genevieve, Missouri, 
to Little Rock, Arkansas, upon which work from Little Rock 
to Fulton, Allen Martin was engaged in 1818. He was after- 
wards employed in surveying Conway's military road. 1824-5, 
from Memphis to Little Rock. 

There was another brother, John Martin, who entered Ar- 
kansas at a very early date and settled on Poke Bayou, fifteen 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 263 

miles from Batesville, where he lived until driven from home by 
the events of the Civil War, to the home of his daughter, Eliza- 
beth Mahala Watkins, wife of Dr. Owen Watkins of La Crosse, 
Izard County, Arkansas. He died there in September, 1864, 
•almost seventy-six years of age. When John Martin, the an- 
cestor of this family left Georgia, the governor of that com- 
monwealth in a testimonial under the State seal certified to the 
fair name of John Martin and stated that he was a faithful sol- 
dier in the war for American Independence. His sons, John 
Martin and James Hutcheson Martin, were volunteers in the 
war of 1 81 2 and did honorable service for their country. 

Jared Carswell Allen stuck to Pulaski County and left the 
following well-known descendants: 

1. James Allen Martin, who married Huldah T. Toncray, 
daughter of Silas T. Toncray, the pioneer Baptist preacher. 
James Allen Martin was a material addition to the State's prog- 
ress, and no history of value will ever omit his name. He was 
honest, just and courageous, and all religions were bettered by 
hiL existence. He belonged to the Christian Church, however, 
and that body of people throughout the State owe much to his 
ccnsistency and general good character. He left three children 
to honor his name. 

2. William Andrew Martin, who married Sue R. Hamlet 
and left three children. 

3 Mollie Douglas Martin, who married James Jared Mar- 
tin, her cousin, son of John Martin of Poke Bayou. I know no 
better law than the one that the husband is a full half of his wife, 
and following that law and speaking for my wife, I note Mollie 
D. Martin as one of the best of Little Rock's splendid women. 
There were five children of this marriage. 

4. Jared Carswell Martin, who married Fanny Foy, daugh- 
ter of William Foy. He has now three living children, one of 
which. Blanche, is a graduate of Vassar. 

5. Henry Gibson Martin, who married Clara Davis, and 
though without children, are a couple standing among the very 
best of the citizenship of Little Rock. 



264 Pioneers and Makers of Arkatisas 

I knew the descendants of Jared Carswell Martin, and with- 
out disparaging the merits of descendants of John and Allen, 
desire to say that, in my opinion, no better people ever lived. 

Thomas Rowland was one of the pioneers, as was R. N. 
Rowland. The latter was county surveyor of Pulaski County* 
from 1830 to 1832, and from 1836 to 1838. Thomas Rowland 
was a public spirited man and one of the incorporators of Ben- 
ton Academy, Saline County. G. Douglass was county surveyor 
from 1838 to 1840, but of his relationship to Ezefeiel Douglas, 
I am not advised. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Hknry L. BiscoE. 

Are we wiser today than the pioneers? It is no answer to 
this to say that everybody finds it natural and easy to de- 
plore and to denounce the errors and crimes of past times. But 
are we at the same time finding it easy and natural to abandon 
the prejudices and predispositions of today? What we do is 
right, because we are at the helm, but when wx shall have passed 
away will not our very righteousness be condemned by those 
who follow us? In other words, have our heads grown larger 
or smaller during the century of our existence as a State? 

Professor Carl Pearson and Dr. Bernard Hollander, to- 
gether with various hat manufacturing establishments, say that 
our heads are larger today than they were one hundred years 
ago. This may be good news, and it may be bad news. There 
have been large heads in Arkansas which were admittedly good 
heads, a good example being that of Senator Garland. On the 
other hand, there have been large heads that were disappointing 
to say the least. It must be admitted that there have been a 
great number of small heads in Arkansas, who have really done 
wonders. It would be so manifestly unjust to particularize 
that we let it go at that. Roughly speaking, alertness of intel- 
lect belongs to the small head; profundity to the large head. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 265 

Admitting that exceptions abound, we would suggest that large 
heads are slow and sure, but there is no proof that we today 
have a greater number of these in proportion than had the 
pioneers. If the deliberations of large heads usually result in 
conclusions that are sound morally as well as logically, then 
large heads are just what Arkansas wants. No doubt the heads 
of a considerable section are today as they were in the past, 
far too small, as the historical expression "cymlin head," ban- 
died in legislative halls and the newspapers, fairly proves. It 
is this section that has probably yielded measurements to the 
learned doctors and professors, to say nothing of the hatters, 
and if this is true the finding that heads are growing larger is 
absolutely good news, providing always that the skulls are not 
. growing thicker. 

AN OLD ARKANSAS PIONEER AT HELENA. 

One of the earliest large heads to come to Arkansas was 
that carried on the shoulders of a young man from Richmond, 
Virginia, whose name was Henry L. Biscoe. He came early in 
1819, before Governor Miller had reached the territory, and took 
residence at Arkansas Post, where he announced it as his inten- 
tion to stay. He had no office under the government, nor did 
he seem to want one, although his life was checkered with office- 
holding years. His people, back in Virginia, were of the most 
respectable kind and his education had therefore been the most 
liberal. His career, however, had to be made, and Richmond 
at that time was crowded with well-educated, ambitious young 
men, who might and would win, but who would have to wait a 
very long time for their laurels. Elbow room is a great thing, 
and it is a sign of a great mind for a young man to decide 
that his home field is too crowded for his rapid development, 
and who casts aside his easier and more settled life for the 
greater and harder ordeals of a life in the woods. 

Such a man was Henry L. Biscoe, who left Richmond soon 
after Congress had created the Territory of Arkansas for a home 
at Arkansas Post. He lived at Arkansas Post during the greater 
part of 1819, and in 1820 he divided his home between the Post 



266 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and Clark County. There was some close connection between 
Clark County and Arkansas Post, not fully disclosed by the rec- 
ords. Why Jacob Barkman should maintain a home five miles 
from the Post, and another in Clark County is not now known, but 
the fact remains that he did. Colonel Walker was an Arkansas 
Post man as to residence, and at the same time sheriff of Hemp- 
stead County. S. M. Rutherford was a clerk for years at the 
Post, and maintained a home there even after opening an office 
in Clark. Sam C. Roane had a home at the Post, another in 
Clark, and still another in Pulaski. Henry L. Biscoe was ap- 
pointed clerk of the Circuit Court of Clark County in 1820, 
which position he held until 1823 when he was appointed as- 
sistant United States Marshal. The town of Biscoeville was 
named for him in 182 1. 

HIS caree:r as marshal. 

Mr. Biscoe -was a man of indomitable courage and inured 
to every variety of hardships. One of the most picturesque and 
dangerous expeditions ever undertaken by an Arkansas official 
was one cast upon him while assistant marshal and which in- 
volved the arrest of a half-breed Indian, Tom Graves, who had 
violated the national law in Clark County and fled to the In- 
dian reservation in the West. Believing that the Cherokees had 
grown contemptuous of the white courage, and that, if the law 
of the whites was to be vindicated, and the rule of the whites 
perpetuated, Biscoe held that a supreme example was necessary 
to impress the natives and prevent the recurrence of similar 
crimes, and that this half-breed should be brought back to Clark 
County and made to suffer the consequences of his acts. Bis- 
coe prevailed and the old rule of "good riddance" as applied 
to a refugee was set aside and pursuit ordered. There were no Ber- 
tillon measurements then, no rogues' gallery of pictures, no tele- 
graph lines, and no railway trains, and Biscoe had to seek his 
man as a dog hunts a rabbit. Biscoe set out for the West on a 
fine horse, being well armed. At Fort Smith he heard that his 
man was over in the Cherokee country to the east, as the Cher- 
okees then inhabited nearly all of north Arkansas. He turned 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 26^ 

his steps toward the Cherokee country-, where he arrived in 
good time to locate his man. He found him somewhat protected 
by the favor of the Cherokee chiefs and braves, and was told 
that it was dangerous to attempt an open arrest, as the unthink- 
ing Indians would certainly espouse the half-breed's cause. 
Biscoe sat down among the Cherokees to win their favor by 
a course which soon ingratiated him into the esteem of all the 
savages. Dressed in the moccasins and accoutrements of a 
trapper. Biscoe made a fine appearance, and his ready use of 
the rifle made the Cherokee braves his warm friends. Gaunt 
and thin of figure he would have arrested attention anywhere 
by the impressions he conveyed of endurance, skill and inde- 
pendence. He kept his eye on his man all the time, but did not 
disclose his mission. Warily he waited and at a favorable mo- 
ment, when he was separated from his comrades by a distance 
• they could not easily overcome he arrested him and hurried him, 
despite his bullying protestations to the Arkansas river, where 
he quickly crossed, and directed his movements toward Littk 
Rock. 

The Cherokees missed Biscoe and one of their men went 
to Fort Smith, where, learning the truth, they threatened war 
against the whites, but were appeased by good council. When 
the Indians calmly investigated what their compatriot had done 
they agreed that he ought to be punished, and that he had no 
right to flee into their reservation to avoid his just deserts. 
They also applauded Biscoe for outwitting them, although had 
he disclosed his intentions openly they undoubtedly would have 
opposed him. Biscoe lodged his man in jail in Little Rock and 
then took him down to Clark County, where he was tried and 
convicted. Terror was king throughout that long ride, but its 
effects were only visible on the face of the half-breed — to Biscoe 
it was simply an excursion in the woods. 

While Biscoe was assistant United States marshal his old 
friend, S. M. Rutherford, was sheriff of Clark County and then 
sheriff of Pulaski County. 



268 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

BISCOE AT HELENA. 

In 1825, Henry L. Biscoe flung aside the official restraint 
of the assistant marshal's place and moved to Helena, where his 
old friends, Horner and Rutherford, had preceded him. The 
lives and fortunes of these three men were mqst strangely in- 
termingled. He had scarcely got a foothold at Helena, when he 
was elected to the House of Representatives of the Fourth Ter- 
ritorial legislature for the years 1825-27. During the same years 
he held the office of county clerk for Phillips County, and from 
1827 to 1831 was sheriff of the county, to which office he was re- 
elected in 1832 and held it until 1836. When the territory be- 
came a State in 1836, he was elected by Phillips County, along 
with his old friend, George W. Ferebe, to represent that county 
in the convention which formed the first constitution for the 
State. His education and talents, coupled with his observa- 
tions and experiences in the backwoods of the West, gave him 
power and influence among his fellows, a power and 
influence which he used for their betterment and the 
permanent development of the State. He had gathered to him- 
self considerable money and his influence extended throughout 
the State. He had been made colonel of one of the militia reg- 
iments in the 20's, and in 1834 purchased a new printing out- 
fit and started a paper, the Helena Democrat, with William T. 
Yeomans as its manager and editor. Biscoe was opposed to 
Governor Pope and the columns of his paper did valiant serv- 
ice in creating popular opinion against the governor. Biscoe 
wanted to be governor and had he succeeded in demolishing 
Pope would, in all probability, have attained his end. Congress, 
however, stood by Pope, and Biscoe. then turned his attention 
to the question of Statehood. No paper in the State did better 
service for the advancement of the Statehood sentiment than 
did the Helena Democrat, and as a reward Phillips County sent 
him to Little Rock to join in the making of the first constitution 
for the State. 

THE BISCOE FAMILY. 

Colonel Biscoe was a married man and left quite an in- 
teresting family. His wife, Phebe, died at Helena November 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 26g 

30, 1828. One of his sons, Captain Cameron N. Biscoe, is still 
living at Helena, the father of several children residing at the 
same place. A daughter of Colonel Biscoe married Major Gen- 
eral T. C. Hindman of Helena, a distinguished Confederate 
soldier and a distinguished congressman of the United States. 
General Hindman was assassinated in Phillips County shortly 
after the war, leaving a family of children. Miss Blanche Hind- 
man of Suwanee, Tennessee; T. C. Hindman of Nashville, 
Tennessee, and Colonel Biscoe Hindman of Louisville, Ken- 
tucky. What relation Henry L. Biscoe of Little Rock, of the 
firm of Biscoe, King & Company, was to Colonel Biscoe, I am 
not advised, but from the similarity of names I would take 
him to be either a son or a grandson. This, in brief, is the 
record of one of the most prominent of the early pioneers. He 
lived a clean life and died with an honored name, which his 
descendants have kept unsmirched to this good hour. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CAI.KB LiNDSEY — Other Lindsey Families. 

The Lmdseys in America are a widely distributed people, 
but are of pure Scotch descent, although many of them found 
a resting place in Ireland before coming to America. The old 
earldom of the Lindseys became extinct in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, but the clan shows no sign of present extinction. An 
American has written a history of the Lindseys in America, 
confining herself in the main, however, to proving that David 
Lindsey of Northumberland County, Virginia, represented the 
oldest migration to America and that her line descended from 
that David. Neither proposition has been established absolutely, 
since David's will shows but one child and that a daughter. 

She has made one interesting point, however, and that is 
a tabulation of ninety-nine different ways of spelling the word, 



270 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

It may be that David Lindsey of Northumberland was the 
first immigrant to America, but the fact is not yet proved. There 
is a grant of land to David Lindsey of Northampton County, 
Virginia, in 1657. There is no proof, however, that the Da- 
vid of Northumberland and the David of Northampton are iden- 
tical. The whole Chesapeake Bay divides these counties. 

There is an undisputed grant, however, in Gloucester 
County, Virginia, to James Lindsey in 1674, and another in 
the same year in Middlesex County to John Lindsey. I 
have not investigated the relationship of this John and James, 
but have investigated the descendants of James of Gloucester in 
order to help the great army or Arkansas Lindseys to a glimpse 
of their blood. The life of James Lindsey of Gloucester, like 
all other lives, rests on tradition and fact. The tradition is 
that James Lindsey entered the James river with the second or 
third fleet that came to America, and the tradition is probably 
true. That the fact is that in 1674 he owned three hundred and 
ninety acres of land in Gloucester County, while John owned 
seven hundred acres in Middlesex. The inference is that these 
men were brothers, but it is not proved. Who James Lindsey 
married is not known, but he had four male children, Caleb, 
Joshua, Adam and William. 

ANCESTOR OF ARKANSAS FAMILY. 

We are not interested in the last three in this article, but 
they have an army of descendants not noted in the Lindsey 
book. The eldest son Caleb married in Gloucester County and 
had two sons born, James and Joshua. Joshua remained on the 
ancestral estate in Gloucester, while James removed to Caroline 
County on the Rappahannock. He married either in Albemarle 
or Caroline County Sarah Daniel, the daughter of William Dan- 
iel. He was born in 1700 and died in Caroline County in 1782. 
The children by Sarah Daniel were Caleb, born 1733; John, 
James, William, Jacob and Daniel. James married the second 
time to Miss Ware, and had another son, Reuben Lindsey. 
Of these eight boys, Caleb removed to Essex and Albemarle, 
and thence to Rockbridge: John removed to* Halifax County, 
North Carolina, as did Jacob. The others remained in Virginia. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 271 

The Port Royal Lindseys of Caroline County, Virginia, are de- 
scended hom James of Gloucester through his fourth son, 
William, and have given the world two great military men. 
Colonel William Lindsey, who rode with Light Horse Harry, 
and Colonel William Lindsey of the Second United States Ar- 
tillery. The O'Neals of Arkansas descend from James of Glou- 
cester, through Adam, his third son. 

Caleb, born 1733, married in Albemarle County Sarah Carl- 
ton, and had Caleb, James, Joshua. Carlton, Archibald and prob- 
ably Eli. Caleb, born 1767, married in Rockbridge County, 
Virginia, Sarah, daughter of John Young, and with his broth- 
ers, James, Joshua, Carlton, Archibald, Eli, and a large com- 
pany of others, set out for the West between 1790 and 1800. 
Their first resting place was in Christian County, Kentucky, 
where in 1810 the census of the United States locates them with 
large families of children and slaves. Here Carlton, Archibald 
and Joshua died. Carlton was the eldest child, born 1760, and 
left eleven children. In 1814 or 1815, Caleb, James and Eli 
moved their families to the territory of Missouri, settling on 
Fourche de Mun in Lawrence County. Caleb afterwards moved 
into Pulaski County, where he died November 23, 1826. Ca- 
leb's widow, Sarah, and his brother, James, were in Pulaski 
County in the census of 1830, being between sixty and seventy 
years of age. 

CALEB LINDSEY'S CAVE SCHOOL. 

Caleb Lindsey, born 1767, married Sarah Young, about 
1790; he was commissioned a justice of the peace in Christian 
County, Kentucky, on March 9, 1812. He was a surveyor, 
as was his father in Essex County, Virginia, and the records 
of Christian County show that in 1813 he was authorized to 
resurvey a tract of land four hundred acres, and in November, 
1814, he had his tract recorded. This ends his official record 
in Kentucky, and the census of 1820 shows no Lindseys in 
Christian County. He is noted of record in Arkansas Territory 
in 1819, and the traditions of the family place his entrance into 
Lawrence County in 181 5. He was a man of varied parts and 
a fine type of the educated pioneer. 



2^2 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

In a cave in what is now Randolph County he gathered the 
children of the neighborhood and taught them the elementary 
branches. Uncle Tom Fletcher, who was born in Randolph in 
1817, always gave Caleb Lindsay the credit for what education 
he had. When we look at our splendid Architectural triumphs 
in school buildings and compare them with Caleb Lindsey's 
cave — God's own handiwork — we are moved to exult over our 
progress. It is a progress — a great and triumphal progress in 
architecture, and also in opportunities. Whether education has 
advanced is another story, as Kipling says. Garfield, in choos- 
ing a building, said: "Give me an old three-legged bench in 
a log house with Mark Hopkins as teacher and Til get an edu- 
cation.*' So with the hardy pioneers. Give them a cave and 
Caleb Lindsey as teacher and they got education enough to 
grease the wheels of the highest civilization and push the back- 
woods State into prominence. In noting what a later age has 
done, it will be well to remember that greater things were done 
in an earlier age by the graduates of the cave and log house 
schools. The lives of Jackson and Lincoln show that great men 
come from educational institutions of very low architectural de- 
gree. 

Caleb Lindsey had six children, four girls and two boys. 
One of these boys, John Young Lindsey, was a pioneer Bap- 
tist preacher in Randolph, Pulaski and Saline counties. His 
monument is the men and women he put on the road to right- 
eousness and the godly life he lived himself. Today after 
services the pewholders invite the preacher home to dinner — 
that is, they are supposed to do this in some parts of the coun- 
try. They don't do it in Washington. All the traditions of 
the country about the best chickens for the preacher fail to 
materialize in Washington. If the preacher gets chicken there, 
he buys it out of his salary, and eats it close communion style, 
with his own family. Not so with old John Young Lindsey. He 
preached until he was through, an hour, or two hours, or more, 
and then invited the whole congregation over to his house for 
a dinner that was worthy of the gods. His congregation never 
found fault with his long sermons, and he never insulted it by 
using a manuscript. He had something to say, and knew how 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 273 

to say it, and then talked it over with the brethren over a feast 
of good things. He was a grand type of the pioneer Baptist 
preacher, and would have been an honor to Virginia, but in his 
day Virginia was persecuting all saints who did not happen to 
be of the Episcopal brand, and his father and people found 
freedom in the rising empire of the West. 

THE DANCE FIRST, THEN THE SERMON. 

Eli Lindsey began preaching on Strawberry in 1814 and his 
circuit ran from Little Red river north to what is now Missouri. 
He was a Methodist, and had his own methods. Col6nel Mag- 
ness states that the visits of Eli to Oil Trough Bottom were 
irregular; that he attended all the house raisings, log rollings, 
quiltings, marriages and frolics. He would encourage the 
young people to dance and after they were through would preach 
to them. At the end of the year 1815 he reported ninety-five 
members in his circuit. In 1816 he visited the spot where Bates- 
ville now stands and found a man named Reed in possession 
of a new house he had just finished for a store. Lindsey asked 
the privilege to christen it, which was granted. He sent out 
to Miller's creek, to Lafferty's creek, to Greenbrier, and all 
around, and notified the folks to come out. They came with 
their guns, and a fine old crowd it was. Colonel Miller and 
his boys. Colonel Peel and Sons, the widow Lafferty and sons, 
Major Robert Magness and his army of boys, the Craigs, Rud- 
dells, Trammels, Beans, Gillets, Holabys, Trimbles and Kelleys 
were all there with their guns stacked around the walls. Old 
Eli began his sermon and in a short time the dogs -started a 
bear. Old Eli said: "The service is adjourned in order that 
the men may kill that bear." They rolled out with alacrity, 
mounted their horses, pursued Bruin and killed him. They then 
went back to the new house, where Eli "thanked God for men 
who knew how to shoot and for women who knew how to pray," 
and finished his sermon. 

Whether Eli and Caleb were brothers I cannot say with 
confidence. Long after both were dead there was a young Eli 
Lindsey, about the same age as John Young Lindsey in Sa- 
line Countv. 



274 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

INTERMARRIED WITH FI.ETCHERS. 

Of Caleb Lindsey's daughters, three married Fletchers; 
these were Mary, Betsy and Agnes. The fourth daughter, Sa- 
rah, married Dr. Huber at Fourche de Thomas in 1825. The 
eldest daughter, Mary, married Henry Lewis Fletcher in 1815, 
and left a family of ten children, Honorable Thomas Fletcher 
of Little Rock being the second child born in 181 7. Of old 
James Lindsey, who came in with old Caleb, I am not so well in- 
formed. He was alive in 1830, living in Pulaski County, as was 
his wife, and both were then nearly seventy years of age. In 
his neighborhood lived a number of younger Lindseys from thir- 
ty to forty years of age. These were Eli, John Young, Carl- 
ton, Samuel and Walter, all married and blessed with children. 
This is a clean, authentic line connecting these Lindseys in 
unbroken chain to James Lindsey of Gloucester County, Vir- 
ginia, of 1623-1674, and with the Earl of Lindsey of the fifteenth 
century. 

DESCENDED FROM NOBILITY. 

There is quite an army of Lindseys, descending from the 
Earl of Lindsey now living in Arkansas, who descend in an- 
other way. They carry the blood and are of remote kin. but of 
the clan. These are Colonel Lindsey, the Tripletts, the Em- 
brees, the O'Neals, the Whites and a host of others whose line 
I will take up at some other time. All these, however, are later 
additions to the Arkansas trunk, coming in fully thirty years 
after the advent of the Gloucester-CaroHne-Albemarle-Rock- 
bridge line. They trace through the Northumberland-Fairfax 
line, and the trip of their ancestress, a widow with children, 
from Fairfax to Jefferson County, is a splendid story of priva- 
tion and heroism. 

Senator Lindsey of Kentucky, the most eminent of the name 
in the United States, traces through Rockbridge straight to 
Scotland, going backward, and straight to Frankfort, Ken- 
tucky, coming the other way. The old pioneer, Isaac Lindsey 
of Davidson district, afterward Sumner County, Tennessee, 
traces through the Halifax (North Carolina) line back to James 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 275 

of Gloucester County. All the Lindseys of Virginia were of 
gentle blood. 

The second family of Lindseys to enter Arkansas was that 
of Isaac of Hempsteady County, who, in 1823, was declared 
by the sheriff of the county delinquent for State and county 
taxes, to the extent of $5. Tax dodging is a very common thing 
today, but there is little evidence to show that it existed in 
Arkansas as early as 1823. The long list of delinquents pub- 
lished by the sheriffs and collectors is neither evidence of resi- 
dence in Arkansas nor of tax dodging. These lists at the best 
simply show that certain men, residence unknown, had made 
claims for lands in Arkansas, which claims had been allowed. 
There is no evidence to show that for the major part these 
claimants ever made an actual residence in Arkansas, or that 
they, as foreign land holders, preferred to abandon their lands 
to paying taxes thereon. This is all there is of record to show 
that Isaac Lindsey of Hempstead County was ever in that coun- 
ty. He may have been, but the inference is that he was not, 
and that he preferred to forfeit his land claim to paying a $5 
tax claim. I have not been able to find other Lindseys in Hemp- 
stead County as early as 1823, nor immediately thereafter, 
and I am inclined to believe Isaac Lindsey was never a resident 
of the State. If I am wrong in this, and there are descendants 
of Isaac Lindsey in south Arkansas who can prove my error, I 
shall be under many obligations to them, or to anyone else, 
if they will kindly do so. 

The third man of this name actually entered Arkansas, 
lived in it for eleven years, and died leaving a family whose 
descendants still honor the State. A young man, Peter Lind- 
sey, left Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1825, and traveled over- 
land to what is now Jefferson County, Arkansas. He spelled 
his name "Lindsey," although descendants of the same family 
in Virginia today are sticklers for the spelling. "Lindsay." Wliy 
anyone should prefer the suffix "say" to "sey," I am absolutely 
unable to determine. 

The aristocratic Lindseys of England, Canada and Amer- 
ica, up to the year 1850, all spelled their names "Lindsey," 



276 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and the real value of the suffix "sey" is of transcendently greater 
historic importance than that of "say." In an article of this 
kind I cannot go into the reasoning which supports it. 

Peter Lindsey's journey from Fairfax, Virginia, to Jef- 
ferson County, Arkansas Territory, was most romantic, and 
would make a fine basis for a real historic novel. His life in 
Arkansas was not eventful, as he died in Jeff^rsbn County on 
February 7, 1839, at the age of thirty-six, leaving a wife and 
children. He lived long enough to acquire an estate and his 
children intermarried with the best people of the State. From 
1838 to 1840, William H. Lindsey was judge of Jefferson Coun- 
ty. He could not have been a son of Peter Lindsey, although 
he may have been a brother. The O'Neals of Jefferson County^ 
also from Virginia, were also descended from the Fairfax Lind- 
seys, and were most prominent in Jefferson County affairs from 
1833 to 1840. 

The Virginia Lindsey pedigree is most aptly illuminated 
in Vols. X, XI, XII and XIII of the Virginia Magazine, and 
much pertaining to the general line of Lindseys is therein in- 
cluded. 

MORE AS TO RKV. CEPHAS WASHBURN. 

It is SO easy to forget. It is so easy to let slip one or more 
of the essential features of a record. In Cephas Washburn's 
record there is no reason for naming one set of grand- 
daughters without naming all of tiiem, and Miss Clara B. 
Eno of Van Buren, very kindly called my attention to the lapse. 
She informed me that Cephas Washburn has a granddaughter^ 
Mrs. Mary Washburn Henderson, at Prior's Creek, Oklahoma. 
Biographers and historians are credited with a full cup, and 
they must walk very carefully or the liquor will run over. I 
ought to have known possibly, that Mrs. Henderson was alive 
and a granddaughter of Cephas Washburn, but I am frank 
to say, I did not. The credit for the perfected line is therefore 
due Miss Eno, a lady I have known and respected for more 
than twenty years, and whose intelligence and patriotism is an 
honor to the State she so vigilantly represents. 



Pioneers and Makers af Arkansas 277 

ALMOST FORGOTTEN KING's MOUNTAIN HERO. 

On June 28, 1840, in Johnson County, Arkansas, the death 
of Major Henry Francis was noted, be being then eighty-three 
years of age, and, what is more to the purpose, the last of the 
King's Mountain heroes. Major Francis was a citizen of pa- 
triotic tendencies and a warm friend of the old pioneers, Sam- 
uel Adams, Sr., and John Williamson. What his family connec- 
tions were I do not know, but he doubtless left a family whose 
descendants may still be found in Johnson County. The 
Daughters of the American Revolution would do well to hunt 
out the grave of this old hero and mark it in some suitable man- 
ner. It is a false idea to think that memories are perpetuated 
solely and alone by marble shafts coming from the hands of great 
sculptors and costing an immense sum of money. There are 
memorial shafts over all the world which have been made by 
loving hands from the rough rock of the neighboring hills, 
and these memorials are of equal value with the more artistic. 
The Daughters of the American Revolution at Van Buren can- 
not find the grave of James Phillips, a revolutionary soldier, 
and the founder of Phillips Landing, the original name of Van 
Buren. The cemetery in which Phillips was buried in 1829 
is now in all human probability in the very center of the bust- 
ling city of Van Buren. It is enough to know, however, that 
the revolutionary soldier Phillips died there, and was buried 
there in the very center of his last forceful endeavor, and a 
monument made of Crawford County stone, of which there is a 
superabundance, will not only honor the soldier, James Phil- 
lips, in the highest degree, but honor the Daughters of the 
American Revolution at that city and every citizen who shall 
contribute his part to the erection of a monument at any point 
within the corporate limits of Van Buren. 

JACKSON COUNTY PIONEERS. 

William H. Glass first settled on the Mississippi river, five 
miles below the mouth of the St. Francis river, in the days of 
the French domination in 1802. He proved his concessionary right 
before the United States commissioners in 1806-7, but was de- 



278 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

nied a grant. He persisted and under the ten years' settlement act 
obtained his land. Where he came from and his after-history 
IS unknown to me. Hiram Glass was an early settler on 
White river, and may have been his son. Jackson County was 
formed in 1830 from Independence and Lawrence counties and 
Hiram Glass lived in the northern part of the new county Jack- 
son near where Swifton now stands. One of the earliest townships 
of Jackson County was named for him, and he was the first county 
judge of the county, while from 1832 to 1836 he was its coroner. 

One of the most active men of Jackson County from 1823 
to 1850 was John Robinson. He came into the State as a sur- 
veyor under General William Rector, and did a great amount 
of contract work throughout the territory, entering land for 
himself in both Independence and Lawrence counties. He was 
county surveyor for Jackson County from 1830 to 1834, and 
its county judge from 1834 to 1836. He was elected by his 
fellows to represent Jackson County in the convention which 
formed the first constitution of the State and was generally 
considered a man of excellent judgment. John Robin- 
son was also county judge of the county from 1844 to 1850, 
but could not have been the pioneer. James Robinson was 
also of Jackson County and may have been a brother of John. 
He was sheriff from 1835 to 1838 and from 1838 to ^1842. He 
also served three times in the legislature of the State. Much of 
the early history of this region is wrapped up in the lives of 
these two men, and the early progress of the county was largely 
due to them. Other prominent pioneers of Jackson County 
were Judge E. Hartley. J. C. Saylors, who was clerk for eight 
years; Isaac Gray, sheriff for ten years; M. Copeland and A. 
M. Carpenter. 

John Robinson, the pioneer aforementioned, came to Mis- 
souri territory, from whence he finally drifted into Arkansas 
territory where he died. He was in 1834 placed on the pension 
rolls of the L^nited States as a survivor of the Pennsylvania 
militia in the Revolutionary war, and was at that date seventy- 
seven years of age. When he died I am not advised, but his 
grave is in all probability near Swifton in Jackson County. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 279 

Near him rest in Lawrence County the Revolutionary pa- 
triots James Ferguson, eighty-two years of age in 1833, and 
James Vanzant of the Pennsylvania Continental Line, seventy- 
eight years of age in the same year. Near him also to the 
northwest are the graves of five Revolutionary patriots in In- 
dependence County; Lawrence Angel, of the North Carolina 
Continental line, seventy-one years of age in 1833; John Ca- 
rothers, of the South Carolina militia, eighty-eight years of age 
in 1834; Benjamin Hardin, of the North Carolina militia, sixty- 
nine years of age in 1833; David Vance, of the Virginia Conti- 
nental line, seventy-five years of age in 1834, and John Weldon 
of the South Carolina Continental line, seventy-five years of age 
in 1834. Thus eight duly accredited revolutionary soldiers sleep in 
what was once old Lawrence County, being not only soldiers 
of the American Revolution, but pioneers of the new territory 
Arkansas. They are entitled to a double monument at the 
hands of the people of Independence, Lawrence and Jackson 
counties, and the Daughters of the American Revolution of 
these counties or the daughters of the pioneers of these counties 
should see to it that their graves are fittingly marked. 

Besides the grave of James Phillips, in Crawford County, 
there also rest within its bosom the two brothers, Isaiah Mob- 
ley and Clement Mobley, who were on the pension rolls in 
1835 from Crawford County, as surviving soldiers of the South 
Carolina militia in the Revolutionary war. In addition to John 
and James Robinson, Pioneers of Jackson and- old Lawrence, 
there was a William Robinson in Lawrence County as early as 
1815, who was appointed one of the commissioners to select 
a location for a court house, his associates being the oldest 
pioneers of the region, Lewis De Mun, William Hix, Sr., owner 
of Hix's Ferry; Solomon Hewett, Andrew Criswell, who mar- 
ried a daughter of John Lafferty; Isaac Kelley and Morris 
Moore. The sheriff at that time was James Campbell. 



28o Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Brilhart and Davis Families — Marriages and Deaths. 

Brilhart is an old German name ante-dating the campaigns 
of Caesar on the north of the Rhine. For twenty centuries or 
more people of the name lived in the Rhine region, cultivating 
the graces of King Gambrinus and wearing wooden shoes. 
In about the year 1720 Jacob Brilhart, with his frau and little 
kinderlings, migrated from the oppressed German States to 
the Quaker land of Pennsylvania. They came to be called 
''Pennsylvania Deutch," and with true German frugality pros- 
pered and waxed fat. Jacob, Jr., a son of Jacob, Sr., was at- 
tracted to North Carolina in 1760 and settled in Lincoln County. 
He was blessed with a family of nine children, one of whom, 
Jacob, had a family of seven in 1790. One of the seven, 
also named Jacob, a great-grandson of the emigrant, went back 
to the old Pennsylvania home, and while there enlisted as an 
American soldier in the war of 1812 and served his time. In 1816 
the government gave him a land warrant, and he started west 
to locate it in the wilderness of Illinois. The influx of land- 
grabbers was too great for the quiet Jacob Brilhart, and lands in 
Missouri Territory being more inviting, he crossed the river 
and drifted southward until he found a place that suited him 
in what is now Lawrence County. Here he drove down his 
stakes and made a home. 

DAVIS FAMILY IN LAWRENCE COUNTY. 

At that time, 181 7, there was a man, Benjamin Davis, forty- 
seven years of age, living at Strawberry. Near him lived Eli- 
phas Davis, about the same age with a family of ten children, 
and also the widow Elizabeth Davis with a family of eight 
Samuel Davis, about fifty-seven years old, also lived in the 
county, as did Charles and David, each about thirty years old. 
It will thus be seen that there were quite a number of the Davis 
family in Lawrence County in 181 7, and at this late day it is 
impossible to untangle the degrees of relationship. Where the 
Davis family came from I cannot say, but it is reputed to have 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 281 

come from Kentucky to Arkansas, and from North Carolina 
to Kentucky. It is certain that North Carolina could have 
furnished two regiments of the name Davis in 1790 without 
calling on the other States. The first census of North Carolina 
gives four hundred and four families of the name, with an aver- 
age of five persons in a family, or two thousand and twenty 
Davises. Some of these may have formed the Lawrence County 
settlement. 

UNION OF THE BRIJUHARTS AND DAVISES. 

Young Brilhart was smitten with the charms of one of 
the young Davis girls and married her. The father and mother 
lived on their little farm near Strawberry, where in 1822 a 
daughter was born. Jacob Brilhart and wife both sickened and 
died in 1826, and the infant daughter was taken by her grand- 
mother Davis to her home and reared. 

The attractions of Pulaski County on the Saline were at 
that time beginning to depopulate Lawrence County, and in 
183 1 Grandmother Davis moved to that neighborhood. Rebecca 
Brilhart grew to womanhood on the Saline, a gem of the forest 
and a picture of life. She knew every dale and glen of the 
neighborhood and made toys out of the soapstones before mod- 
ern industry gave them a value. Under the guidance of a 
noble dame Rebecca Brilhart was trained to think, to act and 
to grow symmetrically. 

THE SALINE OCTOGENARIAN. 

Eighty years is a noble span for a single life, and she who 
makes it is one of the immortals. Rebecca Brilhart died in 
Little Rock in 1903 at the ripe old age of eighty-one. All of 
that life was spent in Arkansas. In 1838, about seven miles 
from the quiet town of Benton, Rebecca Brilhart married Caleb 
Lindsey, a son of Caleb Lindsey of Lawrence County, and 
a brother of John Young Lindsey of the Saline. It was 
a great and notable wedding. The Lindsey negroes were 
sleek and fat. and the Lindsey and Davis homes noted 
for their hospitality. Marsa Caleb was to bring home the 
young mistress, Becky, and every negro added something 



282 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

to the festivities. The wedding dinner was superb and 
the in fa re an immense affair. Rebecca Brilhart did well, 
but Caleb Lindsey did better. A noble woman is God's best 
gift to man, and Caleb Lindsey got a noble woman for a wife. 

DOWN IN ASHLEY COUNTY. 

How Americans drift from place to place! Ashley County 
was opening up and Caleb Lindsey, as the youngest child, 
went where chances for growth were greatest. Here he pros- 
pered, but in 1856 sickened and died. The widow Lindsey 
never wavered. She had seven children born, three of whom 
lived to be honored citizens of Arkansas. All through the hor- 
rors of the Civil war Rebecca Lindsey kept her family intact. 
In 1866 she doffed her widow's weeds and married Cornelius 
Carlock, also a man of German extraction, but with an ances- 
try of more than one hundred and fifty years of American life 
on North Carolina soil. The Carlocks of Cabarrus County 
were once the leaders of the county, and the grandmother of the 
writer was Rebecca Carlock, of Rowan-Mecklenberg-Cabarrus 
County, a sister of the father of Cornelius Carlock, and my 
father wore her name, Josiah Carlock Shinn. 

Rebecca Brilhart Lindsey Carlock was a fine specimen of 
the old Arkansas womanhood, and could have given novelists 
and historians much valuable matter had they deemed it worth 
while to consult her. She lives in the memor\' of a troop of 
loving children and grandchildren, and in the high esteem of 
hundreds of friends. Her three sons, Harrison B., Rezin W. 
and Allen H., all married and reared families. Harrison B. 
Lindsey is living in Ashley County, the honored father of five 
children. Dr. Rezin W. Lindsey is a familiar figure on the 
streets of Little Rock today, and is represented in the law by 
^ son, Edwin W, Lindsey. Allen H. Lindsey died at Portland 
in Ashley County in 1887, leaving a son, Guy A. Lindsey, at 
the same place. 

Thus Rebecca Brilhart and Caleb Lindsey both cover the 
same habitat. Both lived in Lawrence, Pulaski and Ashley, 
while the mother lived to a grand old age. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 283 

ORIGIN OF THE PROVINCIAL. 

Are the fathers greater than the sons? Are the mothers 
superior to their daughters? In flesh and blood, no; in oppor- 
tunity, yes. All the fathers and mothers of 1810-1830 had seen 
something of the world; their children and grandchildren had 
not. The cosmopolitan sense is far more ennobling than the 
provincial. The pioneers were cosmopolitan and their imme- 
diate descendants provincial. The old people, the pioneers of 
Arkansas, had seen much more of the world than their children 
and were to that extent broader and better educated. No edu- 
cation can quite equal that of travel and changed residence, 
and in this sense the people of Arkansas from 1830 to i86q 
suffered. They had great, broad, generous parents who knew 
the world, but they themselves lived in a province and acquired 
the idea, in part at least, that the province was the world. 
They needed only the mellowing influences of contact with other 
people to make them broad, generous and tolerant, as great in 
every sense as their fathers, the pioneers. 

Jacob Brilhart may have been poor in worldly goods, but 
he was rich in observations and experiences. He had been in 
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Arkansas, and had 
served in the army. He was rich in all the elements of great- 
ness and transmitted these to his daughter, who carried them 
forward to her children. 

HEMPSTEAD COUNTY SETTLERS. 

One of the earliest settlers of Hempstead County was Mat- 
thew Fountaine of Virginia. He came in 1816 or 1817 and set- 
tled on Mount Prairie, west of Washington. This prairie is 
historic, being the oldest settled part of south Arkan«;as. The 
national road was out thereaways in 18 19, but the settlement 
ante-dated the road and a godly settlement it was. The oldest 
church edifices of the State belong to the Catholics, but the 
oldest Protestant church house was Henry Chapel on Mount 
Prairie, built in 1816 or 1817. It was Methodist in belief, but 
Christian in practice. All bodies of people worshipped freely 
within its walls. Exclusiveness had not yet set in, and it w^as 



284 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

generally believed that a Methodist and a Baptist had an equal 
chance if they behaved themselves. 

While Eli Lindsey was the first Methodist preacher in Ar- 
kansas, Mr. Henry was the second, and to him is Henry Chapel 
indebted for its existence. He preached for many years all 
over south Arkansas and contributed in no small degree to the 
civilization and moral growth of that region. His wife died in 
Hempstead County in 1826, and to her influence and excellent 
character is much of the early Methodist growth attributable. 
Mr. John Harris was the third Methodist preacher, coming in 
1820 with a circuit extending from Little Rock to Missouri. 

MARRIAGES AND DEATHS. 

The woman of the future is far less interesting than the 
girl of the present. Thus thought our Arkansas ancestors, 
and so think we. Lads and lassies have glorified every age of 
the world, and marriage has everywhere been honorable. There 
have been three historic forms of marriage: First, marriage by 
capture. This was a most ancient form, but still prevails in 
some regions; second, marriage by purchase, a very common 
form today; but always vehemently denied; third, marriage 
by espousel, or by fascination or love. This is the holiest form 
of wedlock, and the form that prevailed most largely in the mar- 
riages we enumerate below. Whether each and all of those I 
collate were celebrated by the espousal and the engagement ring, 
I cannot say, but in all probability each one of them was. The 
people of the elder Arkansas day were far more particular about 
the "Trulofa," or the ring ceremony, "I plight my troth." than 
we are. In Southwestern Ireland, a marriage today is not con- 
sidered valid unless solemnized with a ring, and the laborers 
of Eastern England express their faith in the mystic efficacy 
of the "Golden Arrabo" in terms almost worshipful. It was 
said by an old Arkansas pioneer that every matron, no matter 
how poor, always wore a wedding ring. Hundreds of back- 
woods mothers were able to repeat and did repeat with pride 
Herrick's old lines: 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 285 

"And as this round is nowhere found, 
To flaw, or else to sever, 
So may our love as endless prove. 
As pure as gold forever." 

And hundreds of Arkansas fathers today remember the 
old couplets or posies their mothers used: 

"Our contract was heaven's act. 
In thee my choice 
I do rejoice. 
I will be yours 
While life endures. 
If you deny, then sure I die." 

In one old Arkansas paper was this couplet: 

"I did commit no act of folly 
When. I married my sweet Molly." 

It is said of Bishop Thomas that he married his fourth wife 
with a wedding ring that had for its posy the following words: 

"If I survive, Til make them five." 

SOME EARLY SUPERSTITIONS. 

\'ery few of the old Arkansas rings carried posies, although 
their wearers were great hands at quoting them. The plain 
golden ring was the almost universal form and grew out of 
the saying of Queen Mary, who, rather than have a wedding 
ring with jewels on its surface and engravened with a foolish 
couplet, "chose to be married with a plain hoop of gold like any 
other maiden." Our grandmothers wore this ring on the third 
finger of the left hand, because at that time there was believed 
to be a channel of connection between the ring finger and the 
heart. Lemnius said **the small artery is stretched from the 
heart to this finger." Many an old Arkansas mother has aroused 
her daughter from a swoon by pinching her ring finger and 
rubbing saffron on her wedding ring. It was the saffron and 
the pain together that wrought the cure, and not the mystic 
arter}'. It was said of an Arkansas physician that he dosed 



286 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

his patients with gin and sulphur, because it made them cheer- 
ful, and always attributed the cheerfulness to the sulphur. After 
marriage suppers in early Arkansas days the younger lassies ob- 
served the following superstition: She would sleep on a pil- 
low over a piece of wedding cake cut by the bride from her 
bridal cake and passed three times through her bridal ring. 
She was sure to dream of her future husband. 

One old Arkansas bachelor got off the following, which was 
by no means original: 

'*A spaniel, a woman and a walnut tree, 
The more they are beaten the better they be." 

Another compositor in Phillips County, desiring to make 
fun of a certain girl who had possibly jilted him, got off the fol- 
lowing non-original, two-century-old couplet: 

*'Fair and foolish, black and proud. 
Long and lazy, little and loud." 

ARKANSAS MARRIAGES 182O-3O. 

The following marriages were celebrated in different parts 
of the territory prior to 183 1 : At Arkansas Post, on August 
9, 1826, Francis Vaugine, Jr., to Odelle Paulette, the ceremony 
being performed by Judge Eskridge. In January, 1827, at the 
same place. Major Francis Vaugine to Madam Mary Deru- 
seaux, widow of Monsieur John B. Deruseaux, an old French 
pioneer. In Crawford County, on December 12, 1827, Honor- 
able James Woodson Bates to ^Irs. Elibabeth W. Palmore, 
daughter of Ben Moore, Sr. On June 17, 1826, at the residence 
of Chester Ashley in Little Rock, by Rev. S. T. Toncray, Jo- 
seph Henderson, a merchant of Little Rock, to Ann Eliza, 
daughter of Ben Elliott of Washington County, Missouri. At 
Long Prairie, Hempstead County, on December 21, 1826, James 
Sevier Conway to Mary Jane, daughter of John Bradley of 
Wilson County, Tennessee. At Arkansas Post. January 23, 
1824, Ignace Bogy to Desire, daughter of Francis Michel. At 
Walnut Hills, Moses Starr to Eliza, widow of P. J. Cady, late 
of New York. At Arkansas Post, on April 28, 1828, Albert 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 287 

Berdu to Mary Goceaux. In Welborn township, Pulaski 
County, Adustin Rogers to Mary Cardin, on May 18, 1824. At 
Little Rock, June 17, 1824, James Gibson to Priscilla Clanton, 
and on August 15, 1824, Jacob Thorn to Lavina Porterfield. 
At Arkansas Post, on July 22, 1824, John Whittaker to Mary 
Greenwait, and on the same day at the same place, Asa H. Kem- 
ble to Margaret Scipes. On August 28, at the same place, 
Pierre Pono to Amelia Brinsbach; on December 5, EH Evans 
to Polly, daughter of Thomas Burris; and on January 17, 1825, 
Francis Limoneaux to Madam Barbe Benette. At Pecannerie, 
February 14, 1825, William Lackey to Sarah Harris. In Jan- 
uary, 1825. Paul V'augine was married to Jane Wolff by Judge 
Scott. On August 29, 1829, Archibald Hubbard to Charlotte 
Fooy, daughter of Judge Fooy of Crittenden County. At Cane 
Kill, Washington County, March 16, 1831, John Piatt, late of 
Pulaski, to Miss Eliza, daughter of Widow Buchanan of Lin- 
coln County, Tennessee. On the same day at the same place, 
by Rev. A. Buchanan, John Stephenson to Nancy, daughter 
of Samuel Pitman. On August 4, 183 1, Edward Cross, judge 
of the Supreme Court, to Laura Frances, daughter of Ben 
Eliott of Washington County, Missouri. 

The earth holds more dead bodies than it numbers living 
souls. It is a mighty charnel house — a universal cemetery. The 
pioneers died and no mark remains to tell where they were 
buried. In this work we shall number some of the ancient 
deaths and mark their general resting place. It may comfort 
some soul, besides aiding others to perfect a record of their 
family lines. To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die, 
and my work is to help the dead to that sort of immortality. In 
the lar;T:cr realm of thought each departed friend is a magnet 
attracting us to another world. These friends lie in graves 
which are the general meeting places for all mankind; places 
where all distinctions are leveled — vast ante-chambers to im- 
mortality. 

At Arkansas Post in the Spring of 1820, Solomon B. Judd 
from Colchester, Connecticut, sickened and died and was there 
buried. He was a young man prospecting for a home. At 
the same place on July 21. 1821, Wm. O'Hara, a rich specula- 



288 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

tor from St Louis. There also on July ii, 1821, Judge Sel- 
don lost an infant daughter. The judge consoled himself with 
the remark, **Whom the gods love die young." In September, 
1 82 1, Jonathan R. Brown from New York died at Little Rock, 
and in the same months Mrs. Ann Greenwalt, an old settler, 
died on her farm five, miles from Arkansas Post. In the same 
month at the residence of Wright Daniels on the Arkansas 
river, Lewis Rouse passed away. In September, 1819, Moses 
Graham, sheriff of Pulaski County, died at his residence, hav- 
ing lived in Arkansas about three years. John McLain died 
in Hempstead County in 1819, and William McDonald adminis- 
tered on his estate. At Davidsonville, Stephen Chamberlain 
died on August 6, 1821. He was from Vermont and quite a 
prominent man. In Richland in Arkansas County in 1831, 
James Currin died at a very advanced age, having been for 
many years a resident of that section; like a fire he flickered 
out, but sparkled long after they thought him gone. In 182 1, 
two brothers from Kentucky, Joseph and Andrew Colville, died ; 
the former in Miller and the later in Pulaski County. 

In the same year at Arkansas Post Martha D. Long, wife 
of Zachariah Long, late of Versailles, Kentucky. Michael D. 
Robinson from Nashville, Tennessee, died in Hempstead County 
in 1823, and Madam Imbeau, wife of Monsieur Imbeau, died at 
the Post. In December, 1820. Jacob Jones died at Little Rock, 
being fifty years of age. On February 8, 1823, Asenath Stu- 
art, daughter of Col. Wm. Stuart, died in Lawrence County. 
At Pecannerie on May 28, 1824, Eliza, wife of Thomas White, 
and on September 25, William, son of Colonel William Lew^is. 
In Independence County there were several deaths in 1824: 
Betsy Millsaps, wife of Reuben, in November; Mrs. Stephen- 
son, wife of William, and Mrs. Dodd, wife of Thomas D., both 
died in November, as did a Mrs. Griffith. Crystal Hill in Jan- 
uary, 1825, Mark Westland, a native of Austria, and Hiram 
Green, both passed away. Joseph Bentley, son of George, died 
at Pecannerie in February, 1825, while William Woodward 
passed away in Hempstead County on November 2, 1824, leav- 
ing a wife and children. He migrated from Tennessee to Long 
Prairie, then in Missouri, in 1816, and filled offices under the 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 289 

general government. He was one of the first common pleas 
judges of Hempstead County. Samuel Faulkner, late of the 
steamer Spartan, died in August, 1825. at the house of James 
H. Martin, aged thirty years. Dr. R. H. Fenner died in Little 
Rock in February, 1824. At Arkansas Post in her twentieth 
year, on January 14, 1820, Paulina Colville. The family seems 
to have been located there several years, and she was doubtless 
of kin to the brothers mentioned above. In June. 1820. Major 
Noah Lester, a United States army officer, died at Little Rock. 
Jairus Berry from Courtland County, New York^ with his fam- 
ily, entered Arkansas in 1820, and at the mouth of the Arkansas 
river his wife was taken sick and died. She was buried at thac 
place. William Wilson arrived at Little Rock in 1820 from Or- 
ange County, New York. In October of that year he died.leaving 
a wife and three children, who remained in Arkansas. In De- 
cember, 1820, Dr. William Orr from Missouri, a friend and 
relative of Judge Andrew Scott, died at the Scott residence 
and was buried in Little Rock. Abraham Beck, formerly of 
New York, died at Arkansas Post on September 5, 1821. He 
had just opened a branch of the Western Land Agency. Betsy 
Barkman, wife of Jacob Barkman, died at the farm five miles 
from the Post on August 2, 182 1. Jacob Barkman seems to 
have had a home in Arkansas County, while blazing a way for 
his later and lasting home in Clark County. In Hempstead 
County in February, 1829, Joseph Paxton from Virginia, be- 
ing fifty years of age, passed away. Thomas Knox, who moved 
to Chicot County in 1826, died there in 1829. At Arkansas 
Post on August 22, 1839, Elizabeth, wife of Wigton King, died 
in her fifty-eighth year. In Miller County, on November 21, 
1829, Claiborne Wright died in his forty-fifth year, leaving a 
wife and children. Sylvanus Phillips died at Helena October 
31, 1830, aged sixty-five. He was one of the oldest Arkansas 
pioneers, dating far back into the previous century. On July 
25, 183 1, at Van Buren, James Phillips, a soldier of the Revo- 
lution. These all lie very probably in unmarked graves, over 
which the plow-share of progress has run so deep and often 
as to make their identity impossible. 



290 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE LAFFERTY FAMILY. 

When you come to consider an Irish pedigree you have 
your hands full. The Hebrews have their genealogical lore 
in as fine shape as any other knowledge and the Bible redounds 
with genealogical lines. The only people that can compare 
with the Jews in clear-cut accuracy of genealogical acumen 
is the Irish — the genuine Irish — of the oldest Ireland. They run 
their family lines in bold assurance straight back to the Gar- 
den of Eden, and then defy Huxley to show a better parentage. 
The monkey theory never bothered an Irishman. He says : "Well, 
Huxley doubtless sprang from a baboon. He looks like one and 
acts like one. But as for me, Fm from Killamey, and my peo- 
ple came there straight from the Garden of Edeil." It was an 
Irishman in Arkansas who, after listening to an Englishman 
boasting of his descent, said: "Well, it may be true that you 
blarsted Englishmen came over with Noah in the ark, but we, 
sons of Erin, came over on our own account. Our ancestors 
ran an independent line which put Noah out of business." 

Burke's Peerage is a good old book, but it looks like thirty 
cents when put side by side with Rooney's Irish Families. The 
Englishman, like Byron's ocean, stops with the shore, but the 
Irishman proves his descent from the most hoary antiquity. 
Take the old pioneer, John Lafferty of Lafferty's credc, in what 
is now Independence County, but was then the territory of 
Louisiana. His father was from Donegal, but his ancestors 
could show an unbroken line from King Milesius of Spain, 
two thousand years before Christ. The Lafferty family in Ire- 
land were Labbertachs before St. Patrick drove the snakes out 
of the island. Their coat of arms was an unquartered shield 
of gold, in whose center was a fuU-grown tree of everlasting 
green, the tree of life, in whose boughs was a crown of gold, 
the emblem of their kingly descent. Descending from King 
Milesius, through the line of his son, Heremon, a scion was 
at length found, Brian Labbertach, who was one of the kings 
of Ireland in A. D. 350. The Irish spelling has gone through 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 291 

many successive changes, from Labbertach, through Lafertach, 
Lavertach, Laferty, Laverty to Lafferty of modern times. All 
Laffertys or Lavertys who are not clean Irish are descended 
from another son of Milesius and trace through Gaul to Britain 
before Julius Caesar led his conquering legions to battle. These 
became the English Lavertys. Those who remained in Gaul 
became the De la Fertes, who entered England with the conqueror. 
So all the Laffertys of the world are of one blood, and spring 
from old Milesius, a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, and 
one of the earliest pioneers to go west and start a country from 
which Columbus went still farther west to find America. The 
John Lafferty of 18 10 in Louisiana, now Arkansas, sprang 
from the Irish line, from King Brian Labbertach, the heroic 
snake fighter of Ireland before the Saxons had discovered Eng- 
land. My friend Thomas Lafferty, of Little Rock, is of the 
same family, but he is not descended from old Arkansas John 
^of 1810. 

The Lafferty coat of arms is ancient and singularly char- 
acteristic. It lays the English peerage in the ohade and chuckles 
and chortles. The Lafferty crest is still more remarkable. It is 
an arm akimbo holding a fine tempered Toledo blade on whose 
point fixed through its tail is a venomous snake coiling itself 
around the blade and killing itself on its sharp double edges 
in its mad and vain effort to strike the Lafferty hand. Saint 
Patrick may have driven the snakes out a hundred and fifty 
years later, but the Laffertys had lots of fun killing them be- 
fore St. Patrick was born. 

IMMIGRATED FROM IRELAND. 

John Lafferty of Independence County cime over with his 
father from Ireland a mere boy, at the time of the great ex- 
odus to North Carolina from 1740 to 1770, and settled with the 
Irish clans in western North Carolina, in what was then Rowan 
County, now Rutherford. In his seventeenth year he joined 
Captain Smith's company in Colonel Thomas Polk's regiment, 
the Fourth North Carolina Continental Line, and served three 
years in the Revolutionary war. He enlisted June 10, 1776, 
and was mustered out June 15, 1779, in his twentieth year. 



292 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

History leaves him for a few years at this point, but family tra- 
ditions link him with the Cherokee troubles of 1785 in western 
North Carolina, carrying him over into Tennessee. History 
finds him in Tennessee in the Cumberland district in 1790, when 
he married an Arkansas pioneer, a Lindsey, of pure Scotch 
blood. She may have been a daughter of Isaac Lindsey, the 
first regularly appointed justice of the peace in the Davidson 
district in 1783, being one of the guard of honor, who were 
given lands in 1782 without price. There were six hundred 
and forty of this grand guard, and John Lafferty himself may 
have been one, but unfortunately the complete roll is not re- 
corded. This Isaac Lindsey was made ranger in 1786 and w^as 
a noted pioneer character. Whether John Lafferty married 
his daughter, or the daughter of Benjamin Lindsey, who was 
scalped in 1784, may never be known, but it is certain that he 
married a sister or cousin of Caleb and of old Eli Lindsey, 
the pioneer Methodist preacher of Arkansas on the Strawberry, 
the Current, the Black and the White in late 1785. 

John Lafferty lived for many years in Tennessee near the 
Kentucky line and all his children were born there. He was 
a rover of the grandest type. His hunting and trapping carried 
him all over Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas and Kansas. He 
was on friendly terms with the Cherokees of later days and 
with them hunted and trapped incessantly. In 1810 he brought 
his family to what is now called Lafferty*s creek, in Independ- 
ence County, and settled on the barrens in a little log hut, which 
in after <lays was one of the most famous of Arkansas. That 
cabin was then in Louisiana, but it lived on through the days 
of Missouri territory, Arkansas territory into the life of Arkan- 
sas State. Political divisions may change, but the log cabins 
do not change with them. In 18 14 the tocsin of war called 
John Lafferty back to Tennessee, and with Jackson he marched 
to Xew Orleans, where he was wounded, and from the effects 
of which he died in his cabin home on Lafferty 's creek in 1815. 
A hero of two wars sleeps somewhere in the barrens of Union 
townsliip. Inde[>en(lence County. This ends the mortal career 
of the Irishman, John Lafferty, but opens the career of his 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 293 

Scotch wife, the Widow Lafferty, and the mainstay of Method- 
ism in the Lawrence County of early days. 

LEADERS IN ALL GOOD WORKS. 

Eli Lindsey preached everywhere in his most original way. 
Caleb Lindsey, another brother, taught school in a cave up on 
Fourche de Mun, while the Widow Lafferty, a sister or cousin 
of these boys, kept open house on Lafferty 's creek, encouraging 
the pioneers to live godly and righteous lives and rearing a fam- 
ily of splendid boys. 

In 1808 when the Commissioners were taking proof to set- 
tle titles growing out of settlements made prior to 1803, John 
Lafferty proved a settlement on White river for six hundred 
and forty acres of land made in 1802. This claim was not al- 
lowed because it had not been continuously lived upon for 
ten years. He also made proof in 1813 for another six hundred 
and forty acres in the Paoli Fields or White river, proving a 
continuous settlement from 1807 to date, which was allowed. 

A caravan of Laffertys and Criswells left Tennessee in 
1807 with teams and wagons for Memphis, Tennessee, at which 
place they built a boat and went down the river to the mouth 
of the White ; from this point they went up to the Post of 
Arkansas where they laid in a supply of furniture, salt, flour 
and everything necessary for a long life in the woods. They 
then went back to the mouth of the White and made their way 
up that stream to the Paoli Fields. 

John Lindsey Lafferty and Margaret Lafferty, a son and 
daughter of John and Sarah Lafferty, were with this party, 
Elizabeth Lafferty, another daughter, married a man by the name 
of Kelley in Tennessee and formed another part of the caravan. 
Elizabeth Kelley died at the mouth of the White river, where 
she was buried, while the husband kept on up the river with 
the Laffertys, dying a few years after he reached the destina- 
tion. The trip from East Tennessee to Independence County, 
Arkansas, took six months. There was a young man named 
Criswell with the party who on March 13, 1813, married Mar- 
garet Lafferty. He was born in South Carolina in 1791 and 



294 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

died in Izard County, October 31, 1844; his wife, Margaret, 
died February 23, 1868, and wars buried near Philadelphia Church 
in the same county. They were both members of the Methodist 
church. ^ 

One son of this marriage, Cyrus J. Criswell, is still living 
far out on Rock Creek in Montana. There he owns five thou- 
sand acres of land, sixty head of horses, three hundred and 
fifty head of cattle and one hundred calves. He is about six 
feet high, of a light complexion, splendid blue eyes and weighs 
one hundred and seventy pounds. He remembers his grand- 
mother, the widow Lafferty, as a very small woman, but one of 
remarkable courage and splendid force of character. Besides 
these three children of John and Sarah Lafferty, there were 
four other boys, Henderson, Austin, Binks and Lorenzo Dow 
Lafferty. 

When Schoolcraft and Drummond passed down the White 
river in 1818, they stopped and stayed all night at the Widow 
Lafferty's house, which they stated was thirty miles below 
Williams' and five miles above a Mr. Jones on the same river. 
Her farm was said to be on the right banks of the river, where 
she had been living for many years. Schoolcraft found Mrs. 
Lafferty ver>' much excited, as were all her neighbors on that 
side of the river. She with others had improved farms, farms 
upon which they had lived for a long time, but which under 
the treaty made with the Cherokees they were to be forced to 
relinquish. Mrs. Lafferty was making arrangements then to 
move across the river to another farm which belonged to her 
deceased husband, now in Izard County, and upon which she 
died in 1832. 

Thus the good work of this little woman found place in 
Schoolcraft's narrative, and her other life work was most splen- 
didly exemplified in the lives of her sons and daughters. Laf- 
ferty's creek in that region perpetuates the name of old John 
Lafferty and his family to this good hour. 

The Lafferty boys from 1815 to 1830 were the leaders in 
all good works. The eldest boy, John Lindsey Lafferty, was 
a noted pioneer of Van Buren County. He was bom February 
20, 1794. In 1836 he contested the seat of W. W. Trimble 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 295 

in the constitutional convention and was successful. He was in 
the legislature of 1838-40, and was the first county judge of 
Van Buren County. 

In 1862, in that most trying legislature when John Har- 
rell was speaker and Alden M. Woodruff clerk, he represented 
Van Buren again. He then joined Colonel T. D. Merrick's 
Tenth Arkansas Regiment and marched with General Bragg. 
He died before the war was ended in his seventy-fifth year, 
leaving a splendid family of children, whose descendants are 
among the prominent men and women of the State. 

Judge John Lindsey LafTerty was certainly married once 
and he may have been married three or four times. The evi- 
dence points to several marriages. His first wife was Lucinda 
Bagley. to whom he was married in 181 7, who died after giv- 
ing birth to a son, Vaughn Burr Lafferty, who lived for many, 
y^ars with his grandfather, Asher Bagley, in Saline County. 
His other sons were Wesley Rufus, George Lorenzo, John Red- 
man, Henderson Green, Austin Dallas and Alfred Wright 
John Redman died in California in 1872; the others are all dead, 
excepting Alfred Wright, now living in Brownsville, Cleburne 
County, Arkansas. Their mothers' names are unknown to me. 

Vaughn Burr Lafferty, married Eritha McCaleb of Hick- 
man County, Tennessee, a granddaughter of that other old pio- 
neer, Joseph Hutcheson, of Saline County, Arkansas. Vaughn 
Burr LaflFerty settled in Dallas County, where for years he was 
the neighborhood peacemaker and advisor. Born in Arkansas, 
he lived on its soil eighty years, dying on Christmas Day in 
1898. Vaughn Burr Lafferty learned surveying under Henry 
AV. Conway, possessed most excellent judgment, was a good 
debater and a strong States' rights Democrat. He was prom- 
inent with Simon P. Hughes in the early Grange movement. 
He was born August 16, 18 18, in Independence County and was 
married on April 3, 1842. His wife was the daughter of John 
McCaleb of Saline County, Arkansas, and was born in Hick- 
man County, Tennessee, January 30, 1819, and died August 
18, 1872, being buried at Holly Springs, Arkansas, where a 
suitable stone marks her last resting place. She was known to 
be an excellent Christian woman. V. B. Lafferty died Decem- 



296 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

ber 25, 1898. at Lester, Arkansas, where for fifteen years he had 
been merchant, postmaster and justice of the peace. He is 
buried in Greenwood cemetery, Camden, Arkansas, and his grave 
is marked with an appropriate stone. The sons of V. B. and 
Eritha Lafferty were: 

I. Lafayette Samuel Hempstead Lafferty, born January 
29, 1843, and who died at New Madrid, Missouri. February 
II, 1862, a member of the 12th Regiment Arkansas Vohmteers, 
C. S. A. 

• 2. John McCaleb Lafferty. born in Dallas County, Arkan- 
sas, February 10, 1845. He was a Confederate soldier, a com- 
rade of Ex-senator Jones, a physician for fifteen years at Chi- 
dester, Arkansas, and for the last twenty-four years connected 
with the United States railway mail service. He married Jan- 
uary 12, 1871, Nancy Minerva Hairston, who was born at Holly 
Springs, Arkansas, August 15, 1848, a daughter of James and 
Mary (Vaughn) Hairston, both natives of Fayetteville, Tennes- 
see. Their children were: (i) Mary Eritha Lenora Lafferty, 
born October 4, 1875, married December 22, 1903, Dr. Jeter 
Lafferty Rushing, and had one child, Mary Elizabeth, born 
October 19, 1906; live at Chidester, Arkansas; (2) John Yan- 
dell Lafferty, born October 14, 1879, married Bessie Phillips 
in March, 1904, and had one child, John Lewell, bom Jan- 
uary 17, 1905: John Yandell Lafferty holds a responsible posi- 
tion in the baggage and express department of the Iron Moun- 
tain Railroad and is located at Little Rock ; (3) Vaughn El- 
bert English Lafferty, born April 23, 1881, A. B. of Hendrix 
College, physician, now holding responsible position in Charity 
Hospital at New Orleans, Louisiana, 

3. Druzilla Jane Lafferty, born March 9, 1847; married 
James Rufus Brazeale March 19, 1871, and died September i, 
1900. James Rufus Brazeale, son of Benjamin Franklin Bra- 
zeale, was born in Ripley County, Mississippi, April 10, 1838, 
and died June 3, 1895: Druzilla Jane and her husband were both 
members of the Methodist Church, South, and are both buried 
at Sardis Cliurch in Dallas County, Arkansas; he was a farmer 
and a Mason. Their children were: (i) Isabdle Eritha, bom 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 297 

February 11, 1872; married January 5, 1896, London L. Knight, 
and have three children, Vaughn Alberta, Eritha Elizabeth and 
John Felix; live at Fordyce; (2) Mary Eliza Ann, born July 25, 
1874; married February 14, 1901, William David Hall, and 
became the mother of two children, Martha Druzella and Cora 
Mildred: live at El Dorado. 

4. Eritha Elizabeth Lafferty, born March i, 1849, and died 
September 19, 1859. 

5. Sarah Elender Lafferty, born May 10, 1851 ; married 
Alexander Tolbert Xailor in October, 1876, he died in Decem- 
ber. 1879, leaving no children; his wife married Maston De- 
catur Fletcher of Lonoke County, Arkansas, in December, 1881, 
who died February 5, 1905; she died October 4, 1901 ; they were 
members of the Christian Church and are buried at Hamilton 
postoffice in Lonoke County ; the children by the last marriage 
were: (i) Lloyd Lafferty Fletcher, born May 18, 1883; a far- 
mer married and lives near Stuttgart, Arkansas; (2) Anna Ger- 
trude Fletcher, born June 25, 1884, married November 10, 1901, 
to Benjamin Franklin Leonard, a farmer of Lonoke County; 
now living near Hillsboro, Texas, with two children, Lloyd De- 
catur and Cleo Gertrude; (3) Kathleen Fletcher, born May 9, 
1886; married November 21, 1907, to William Orr Whitlock, 
a farmer near Hillsboro, Texas; (4) Arky Vaughn Fletcher, 
born in August, 1891, and is still unmarried. 

6. Vaughn De Kalb Lafferty born December 31, 1853; 
physician, zealous Sunday school worker and lecturer; mem- 
ber Masonic fraternity and of the Methodist Church, South; 
represented Saline County in the Legislature of 1888 and died 
March i, 1891. He was buried at Bryant, Arkansas. Unmar- 
ried. 

7. Mary Mariah Lafferty, born March 29, 1856, and died 
December 30, 1872. 

8. Arky Burr Lafferty, born April 3, 1859; married No- 
vember 9, 1879, James Oliver Reinhardt, who died in September 
1887, without issue; the widow married on October 28, 1890, 
James Wilkinson Hopper, a locomotive engineer, bom in New 
York City, September 6, 1839, and for many years connected 



298 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

with the Iron Mountain and Texas Pacific Railways; he died 
March 12, 1906, and was buried in Greenwood cemetery, Cam- 
den, Arkansas. 

John Lindsey Lafferty was nearly seventy years of age at 
the time of his enlistment in the Confederate army — a mag- 
nificent age and a magnificent cause combining to round out his 
eventful life. It is said that at the battle of Shiloh, Judge John 
Lindsey Lafferty was chosen to carry the flag at the head of 
the regiment, — and that running some twenty or thirty paces 
ahead, he would turn about ever and anon to cheer his com- 
rades forward. The Stars and Bars were a glorious incentive 
but the long flowing white locks of this grand old man made a 
most picturesque figure and inspired his comrades to the loft- 
iest deeds of daring. His descendants are entitled to look upon 
their ancestor with the most fulsome pride and Arkansans of 
all shades of opinion will certainly justify them. 

Another son of John Lafferty, the pioneer, was Jacob Binks 
Lafferty, who in 1825 married a daughter of old Colonel James, 
Miller of Miller's creek. Independence County, and a sister of 
ex-Governor W. R. Miller. Binks had a daughter who mar- 
ried twice, her last husband being Rev. William Atchley Ma- 
ples of Carroll County. 

Another son, Henderson Lafferty, married in 1825 a 
daughter of that other pioneer, Colonel Craig of Greenbrier. 
He was one of the greatest of the early Arkansas Methodist 
preachers, and possessed many of the characteristics of his 
uncle, Eli Lindsey. 

Another son, Austin F. Lafferty, married in Independence 
County and reared a family. 

The youngest son of the pioneer was Lorenzo Dow Lafferty, 
commonly called "the Rover." He went to Texas and there 
published a book entitled "The Life and Adventures of Lo- 
renzo Dow Lafferty," which was published by a New York 
house, and dealt largely with the romance of early Aricansas 
life. He married Elvira Chriswell and had children; Martha, 
Matilda Jane, Sarah, Eliza, Eva, Margaret, Francis, Burwell, 
Dow and Albert GlenviUe. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas jgg 

The boys of old John Lafferty were an honor to his name, 
and stand as monuments to the sturdy virtues of the widow 
Lafferty. The Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts never turned 
out a more honorable, a more vigorous, a more patriotic set 
of boys than came from the old Lafferty cabin on the barrens 
of Independence County. 

When honors are fairly divided John Laflferty of Lafferty's 
creek, the hero and pioneer, will be entitled to a full share; and 
the Widow Lafferty, the great Methodist mother of the bar- 
rens, will be crowned with laurels. 

THE I<AFfERTY ANCESTRAI< MOTTO. 

John Lindsey Lafferty, in marrying Lucinda Bagley, mar- 
ried a daughter of a soldier, then drawing a pension, who had 
served in the First regiment of the New Jersey Continental 
Line. The descendants of John Lindsey Lafferty are thus 
doubly tied to patriotic ancestry. Asher Bagley died in what 
is now Saline County, and his daughter, Lucinda Lafferty, died 
in Van Buren County on April 23, 1840, in her thirty-ninth 
year. John Lindsey Lafferty also served in the Eighth Arkan- 
sas legislature in 1851. 

For the edification of all the Laffertys of Arkansas, I print 
their ancient motto in Irish and Latin. If they cannot under- 
stand it, that is their misfortune. There is no law against an 
American or Irish descent studying his ancestral tongue. 

The Lafferty motto as engraved on their arms was: 

O Dhia Gach an Cabliar — 
Nee Timeo nee Spemo — 
Min Sicker Reag. 

THE HALI* FAMILY. 

William Hall, Sr., was bom in South Carolina, sometime 
in the year 1769. Of his parents we have no record, save that 
his father came from Ireland. When quite a young man he 
went from South Carolina to Georgia and settled a farm near 
the county site of Forsyth County. In the year 1794 he married 
Mary Hamilton and became the father of ten children, John, 



300 ^ Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Alexander, George, Sarah, Samuel, David C, Mary, Jack. James 
and William, Jr. With his family he entered Arkansas in the 
spring of 1834, settling in Dallas County, seven miles west of 
Holly Springs; at a later period he moved up near Tulip, at 
which place he died on July 20, 1854; his wife died in 1865, and 
both were buried at Old Tulip. Of this old pioneer family but 
two are living; Mary and Sarah have their homes near Cedar- 
ville, Crawford County, Arkansas. George, Jack and Wil- 
liam, Jr., died during the Civil war; Samuel died in 1854, and 
John and Alexander died sometime in 1890. David Clark Hall 
was born in Forsyth County, Georgia, August 20, 1822, and 
came with his father to Arkansas in 1834 ; he was married on De- 
cember 26, 1844, to Martha Ann Dickinson, to whom was born 
nine children; (i) Mary Kate, born June 22, 1846, and died- 
August 9, 1871 ; (2) James T., born March 8, 1848, died May 
25, 1897; (3) Sylvester D., born October 8, 1849, now living 
in Dallas County, Arkansas; (4) Robert D., born August 14, 
1851, now living at Arkadelphia, Arkansas; (5) Martha D., 
bom July 22, 1855, died September 17, 1859; (6) Edward M., 
born December 12, 1857, now living at Arkadelphia, Arkansas; 
(7) Charles G., born August 18, i860, died July 31, 1879; (8) 
William D., born January 4, 1863, now living at El Dorado, 
Arkansas; (9) Sally, born January 14, 1867, died June 4, 1867. 
David Clark Hall and his wife lived near Tulip, Arkansas, 
where his wife died on August 29, 1871. On December 21, 
1871, he was married the second time to Mrs. Lucy H. Kit- 
trell. Three children were born to this marriage, Ida V., Luta 
.G., and Geneva K. David C. Hall continued his residence in 
Dallas County until the latter part of 1886, when he moved to 
Arkadelphia, where he died May 24, 1887. His last wife still 
lives at that place. 

CHAPTER XXXVH. 

Thk Kaufmans, Coffmans and Cuffmans. 

All names as they run through the centuries change form, 
and no name is as difficult to identify through all its ramifica- 
tions as is the name Kaufman, Coffman or Cuffman. There can 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 301 

be little doubt but that these three forms represent the name of 
the same old German family, the Kaufmans. In Rupp's Thirty 
Thousand Germans who landed at Philadelphia during the i8th 
century the name Kaufman appears many times, but the name 
Coffman or Cuffman is not to be found. They were Palatines 
and in the main shipped from Rotterdam to Philadelphia. The 
first on Rupp's list was Henry Kaufman in 1727; then John 
Kauffman in 1737; then Hans Jacob Kaufman in 1738, and in 
the same year John George Kauffman. From this on until 
1764 eighteen other males bearing the name, Kauffman or Kauf- 
man, entered Philadelphia, and in 1750 Solomon Caufman is 
presented. In 1764 Conrad Korfman came over. This is enough 
to show that the German spelling of the word is either Kauff- 
man or Kaufman. 

Now note the transition. I have followed up the imme- 
diate after history of many of these emigrants of Rupp and find 
that when these Germans bought lands, or did other business 
which brought them into contact with the English Colonial of- 
fice holders of Pennsylvania, Maryland or Virginia,- that the 
word Kaufman immediately changed to Coffman on the Amer- 
ican records. The Germans simply spelled it one way and the 
English record makers another. 

In the history of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the county to 
which nearly all of these Kaufmans as enumerated by Rupp 
made their way. I find that one, Michael Kaufman, migrated 
from the vicinity of Greensted, Hesse, on the Upper Rhine for 
America and entered Lancaster County at sometime between 
the years 1710 and 17 19. The history states that Michael died 
soon after leaving a son, John, and a daughter, Elizabeth, and that 
their guardian bought of Penn's Commissioners, a large tract 
of land in the vicinity of Landisonville, upon which John Kauf- 
man settled. All that is known of Elizabeth is that she married 
Christian Stoneman in 1734. John Kaufman died leaving three 
sons. Christian, Michael and John. 

Old Michael Kaufman did not die soon after, but on the 
contrary migrated to the Shenandoah Valley. Virginia, in 1727 
or 1728. In Wayland's German Element in the Valley it is 
set out that Michael Kaufman of Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 



302 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

vania, bought lands of Daniel Stover at Massanutting in the 
Shenandoah Valley in 1729. It appears that Stover had made 
false representations to Kaufman in Lancaster County, Penn- 
sylvania, by and through which Kaufman with a part of his 
family was induced to enter the Shenandoah. At that time no 
one lived in the valley of the Shenandoah, and Michael Kauf- 
man in making this settlement of Massanutting earned for it 
the title which history accords it of "The First Permanent White 
Settlement West of the Blue Ridge." After the settlement was 
made and the Germans were beginning to make a show it was 
found that Stover's grant was defective, and the Virginia 
Colonial Council upon petition of these German settlers quieted 
their title and gave them lawful latitude to develop and pros- 
per. This is now in Page County. In 1736 a deed is recorded 
showing that Michael Coffman lived on the south side of the 
Shenandoah river adjoining Martin Coffman's land at Elk 
creek. In the same year Michael Coffman bought other lands 
on the Shenandoah, and in February, 1737, Martin Coffman 
of Pennsylvania bought six hundred acres of land on the Shen- 
andoah. In the same neighborhood were several Coffmans 
and in that neighborhood the name has prevailed for more 
than one hundred years. One of the trustees of Woodstock 
Academy at its incorporation was Samuel Coofman in 181 7. 
In Hening's Statutes the charges fixed by the legislature of 
Virginia for a ferry from the land of John Coffman in the 
county of Shenandoah across the south fork were fixed by law 
on December 7, 1796. 

Martin Coffman died in 1748 leaving a large estate and 
between that and 1800 many entries of land were made for 
Coffmans by the name of Martin, David, Augustine, Andrew, 
Jacob and John. Some of these are spelled Coffman and others 
Coofman, yet all descending from the old German, Michael 
Kaufman. It is my opinion that the spelling Cuffman is a 
corruption of the Coofman, which in turn was a corruption of 
the spelling Coffman, all being corruptions of the original spel- 
ling Kauffman or Kaufman. 

In Arkansas Christopher Kaufman, known to have come 
from the Shenandoah vallev inhabited and cultivated six hun- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 303 

dred and forty acres on Kaufman's Bayou, Arkansas County, 
from 1803 to 1806, and from 1809 to 1812 in person, and by 
tenants from 1806 to 1809 and was granted six hundred and 
iorty acres under the act of Congress of 1814. Under the same 
act George Kepler proved that he had possessed and cultivated 
two hundred and forty arpens from 1801 to 1813 on the Lake 
of the Prairie, bounded above by Coflfman and below by Lavergne. 
From this it is evident that the old spelling in Arkansas County 
for Christopher was both Kaufman and Coffman. Nuttal ad- 
verts fo Kaufman's Bayou but nearly all of the later spelling 
confirms Coffman. Christopher Kaufman died in Arkansas 
County being one of the earliest pioneers of that region, but as 
to his family I am not further advised. The name Kaufman 
and Coffman as place names are landmarks in Arkansas his- 
tory. 

OTHER COf^MANS. 

C. T. Coffman, the present county judge of Pulaski County, 
says that his great grandfather was named Andrew Coflfman 
and that he emigrated from Virginia to Granger County, Ten- 
nessee, prior to 1800. That he ended his days in Granger 
County living to be eighty-four years of age. He had a son, 
Andrew Coflfman, bom in Granger County who in 1852 mi- 
grated to Hot Springs County, Arkansas, where he died about 
the year 1884. This Andrew Coflfman had a son, Hugh W. 
Coflfman, the father of C. T. Coflfman, who was bom in Granger 
County, Tennessee, in 1821, moved to Carroll County, Arkansas, 
in April, 1854, where he now lives (1907) at the age of eighty- 
six. Hugh W. Coflfman states that his grandfather, Andrew 
Coflfman, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and that he 
has often heard him narrate his experiences growing out of that 
stmggle. 

All this is right and all wrong. The Nashville, Tenn., Mili- 
tary Grants from North Carolina show that Andrew Coflfman 
was granted on October 22, 1872, 200 acres on Lick creek in 
Green County and not Granger. 



304 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

THE CUFFMANS. 

The traditions of this family as gleaned from old settlers 
of Sumner County, Tennessee, are that Pavatt Cuffman was born 
November 30, 1782, probably in the Shenandoah valley, Vir- 
ginia. The traditions are that the father of Pavatt Cuffman 
was named Thomas Cuffman, and that he was born in Virginia, 
# that he either married there or in North Carolina a woman 
by the name of Pavatt, and that he died either in Virginia or 
North Carolina. It is certain that he left a wife and two chil- 
dren, Thomas and Pavatt. I have not been able to identify this 
particular Thomas Cuffman, but I feel assured that he descends 
from Michael Kaufman of the Shenandoah valley. 

Personal investigation since the above was written shows 
Thomas Cuffman a surveyor qf roads in Sumner County, Tennes- 
see, in 1796, and as serving on a petit jury in 1797. This leaves 
little room for doubt that the father of Pavatt Cuffman was 
Thomas Cuffman, the traditionary ancestor. The records also 
show that this Thomas Cuffman was from Shenandoah County, 
Virginia, which virtually makes him a descendant of Michael 
Kaufman, the pioneer. He died and was buried in Sumner 
County, Tennessee. 

It is unfortunate that the census rolls of Virginia for 1790 
and 1800 are lost, as they would throw much light on the set- 
tlement of this region. The census of Virginia for 1810 for 
Shenandoah County, which at that time included Page and a 
part of Rockingham, contains the names of twenty-six Coff- 
mans, each of which represented a head of a family. Besides 
these there were three Pavatts. The court records of Shenan- 
doah County as to the marriage licenses of the dates 1780- 
1800 are not available, and it is not therefore possible from 
these sources to determine which of the Coffmans married a 
Pavatt, or Pavett as it is sometimes spelled. We shall assume 
therefore that the traditional Thomas who married a Pavatt 
was the real Thomas and the facts show that he was. a grandson 
of Michael Kaufman, the original settler of 1729 through Mar- 
tin Kaufman, his son. Thomas Coffman married a Pavatt be- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 305 

tween 1770 and 1800, dying in the same period. The traditions 
of the family now remaining in the valley show that as early as 
1780 men of the name began to einigrate to tlie west, but I have 
not been able to find from those sources the migration of 
Thomas Coffman and his two sons. In the census of 1820 for 
Tennessee, the earliest extant, the names of Pavatt and Thomas 
Cuffman appear as follows: 

"Purvat Cuffman, one male six to ten, one sixteen to 
twenty-six, one twenty-six to forty-five, three females six to 
ten, and one female twenty-six to forty-five, with four slaves." 

Thomas Cuffman also appears immediately after Purvat 
as a married man but without children or slaves, both man and 
wife being between twenty-six and forty-five. No other Cuff- 
mans appear in Sumner County and as there was no one enu- 
merated in either the family of Pavatt or Thomas bver forty- 
live, the inference is that the Widow Cuffman was dead at that 
time. 

Of Thomas Cuffman. the younger brother, little further 
is known. The official war records show that Thomas Cuff- 
man, so spelled in one place, and Thomas Coffman, in another, 
served in the War of 18 12 in Colonel John Coffee's Regiment 
of Tennessee Mounted Volunteers in Captain John W. Bym*s 
Company. He left Sumner County shortly after his marriage 
and the traditions say that he went to Arkansas. Beyond this 
nothing is known. 

Pavatt Cuffman was born November 30, 1782, and migra- 
ted with his father and brother to Tennessee between 1790 
and 1795. In 1807 he married Jane Kinsall, daughter of Moses 
Kinsall, who came with his family to Sumner County, Tennes- 
see, in 1796. A sister of Jane Kinsall married Colonel Mont- 
gomery of Sumner County, Tennessee, who was from Virginia. 
Pavatt Cuffman was a physician of the old style and did an ex- 
tensive practice in Sumner and adjoining counties; he stood 
high in the community where he lived and had many substan- 
tial friends. He was noted for his honesty, fair dealings and 
for his charity. He was also a farmer, and was counted very 



3o6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

well to do for a man of his day and time, owning a consid- 
erably quantity of land and a large number of slaves. He died 
September 14, 1840, and was buried in the family burying 
ground on the old Cuffman homestead near Hendersonville, 
Tennessee. He was the father of six children, lantha, Eliza Ann, 
Josephus, Julia Jane, Benjamin and Mary Martha. 

Josephus Cuffman, the oldest son and third child was bqm 
March 19, 1814, in Sumner County, Tennessee; he was reared 
on a farm and at twenty-two years of age enlisted in Captain 
William Trusdale*s Company, Second Tennessee Mounted 
Militia, and served as a private in the Florida War of 1836. 
He was twice married: First, to Mary A. Smith of Slimner 
County; second, to Mary E. Carroll. Five children were bom 
to the first marriage, Benjamin Franklin, Mary Jane, David 
Pavatt, Robert M., and Daniel W. The children of the sec- 
ond marriage were Rowena, John H., James M., Joida, Al- 
meda and Almira. 

Mary E. Carroll, the second wife was a daughter of Wiley 
Carroll and Polly Hunnicutt, who was a daughter of Bart- 
lett Hunnicutt and Sally Holt, both North Carolinians. Bart- 
lett Hunnicutt served as a private in the War of 18 12, and 
Gabriel Holt, father of Sally Hunnicutt was reputed to have 
been a Revolutionary soldier. 

The following testimonial of the family physician of Jose- 
phus Cuffman is worthy of perpetuation and will be appreciated 
by his Arkansas descendants: "Josephus Cuffman was bom in 
Sumner County, Tennessee, March 19, 1814. He died October 
27, 1869. He was a man remarkable for his love and devo- 
tion to his family. He had raised to majority four sons and one 
daughter, and leaves six little ones, the youngest two being 
but three weeks old. He was a man of the strictest honesty 
in all his dealings, and of stem and unbending integrity. As 
a husband he was one of the kindest and most devoted; as a 
parent, ever ready to advise, assist and protect his children; 
as a neighbor, kind and obliging; as a man and friend, true, 
faithful and ever ready to assist. He has gone to his grave 
leaving many to mourn his loss, and all may profit by the con- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkatisas 307 

templation of his honesty, and his affection for his wife, children 
and friends. James Franklin, M. D. October 28, 1869." 

John H. Cuff man, son of Josephus Cuff man by the second 
marriage was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, educated in 
that county and Hickory Flat Institute, Kentucky ; he graduated 
from the Medical Department of Vanderbilt University in 1889, 
and removed to Arkansas the same year. He is now located 
at Gurdon engaged in the general practice of medicine, at the 
same time being a surgeon for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain 
& Southern Railroad, and the Gurdon and Ft. Smith Railroad. 
He married Mary E. Littlejohn of Dallas County, a descendant 
of one of the pioneers of that region. Her father, Alex W. Lit- 
tlejohn was the boy companion and life long friend of Ex-Sen- . 
ator James K. Jones. 

Another son of Josephus Cuffman, James M. Cuffman, is 
a resident of Nashville, Tennessee. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Augustus Hill Garland. 

Augustus Hill Garland was well born and had furnished to 
his hands many of the elements out of which greatness is 
evolved, but his success is not to be attributed to these alone, 
nor to any considerable degree. His father, Rufus King Gar- 
land, was a Virginian of Scotch-Irish descent, of a family 
whose respectability extended through more than a century of 
Virginia's colonial career, and who in his young life removed 
to North Carolina, and afterwards to Tennessee. 

At that time there was living at Lexington, Henderson 
County, Tennessee, a young woman named Barbara Hill, who, 
bom April 10, 181 1, near Louisburg, Franklin County, North 
Carolina, was destined to exercise a tremendous influence upon 
the life and fortunes of Rufus King Garland. She had re- 
moved with her parents in her tenth year to Tennessee and had 
finished her education at the female academy in Lebanon. In 
1827 at Lexington, Rufus King Garland married Barbara Hill, 



3o8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and not long after their marriage they removed to Tipton 
County, Tennessee, near Covington where they resided for a 
few years. In this place they prospered and here three children 
were born. 

1. Elizabeth John Garland, born December i, 1828, who 
married Captain Robert P. Cook, of Virginia antecedents, bom 
Bedford City, Virginia. March 31, 181 5, a pioneer of Arkansas 
who settled near Brownstown, Sevier County in 1836, and who 
died at Arkadelphia on the 15th day of June, 1880. The 
mother died at the same place December 31, 1896. The chil- 
dren of this marriage were Robert T. Cook, now a prominent 
citizen of Hot Springs; Garland Cook of the St. Louis, Iron 
Mountain and Southern Railroad, now living in Little Rock; 
Fanny Cook who married Dr. Ware, a presiding elder of the 
Methodist Church, South; Laura Cook, who married Eli Mc- 
Daniel of Arkadelphia, and Barbara Cook who never married. 

2. Rufus King Garland, Jr., was born May 22, 1830, and 
in his after life, became a prominent character in Arkansas a 
noted lawyer and a great politician, and who married Isabelle 
Walker, the accomplished daughter of David Walker, the 
wealthiest man in his day in Hempstead County; he owned a 
thousand acres of good land, was a first class lawyer, a planter 
and a recognized preacher of the Methodist Church. Rufus 
King Garland, Jr., lived a long life in Arkansas, but died with- 
out descendants. He died at Prescott, December 12, 1886. 

3. Augustus Hill Garland, the youngest child, born June 
II, 1832, whose further life is the object of this sketch. 

He inherited from his father and mother a strong mind and 
a strong will. The conservation of that will marked him for a 
life of greatness, and the exercise of that will brought the real- 
ization. Before he was a year old his parents moved to Arkan- 
sas and settled upon a farm near the present town of Garland, 
in Miller County, then in Lafayette County. Upon this farm 
his father died within a very short time, and upon that farm, 
overlooking the Red river, was buried. Thus it happened that 
young Garland never knew much of his father, but notwith- 
standing this always held his memory in the very highest esteem. 
So strong was this sentiment that he was frequently charged 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 309 

with ancestry worship, a charge that he never took the pains 
to deny. It is true that he never visited near Garland, in any 
part of his after eventful life, even after his mother had remar- 
ried and become the head of a great house in Hempstead 
County, without going to the grave of his father, and with un- 
covered head standing before his last resting place. On one 
occasion he put up at the Russell residence on the opposite side 
of the river for the night, announcing to his host that he de- 
sired to be called early in order that he might cross the river 
and pay his accustomed visit to his father's grave. His host 
told him that such an arrangement would be useless^ for at the 
last rise of the Red river the banks upholding the cemetery had 
been undermined and all the graves washed away. This af- 
fected Mr. Garland very much, and kept him from retiring 
until long after midnight. He walked backwards and forwards 
over the veranda of the old house and was frequently overheard 
to say, "Would to God I knew where to find his bones." 

What I propose to do first is merely to consider a little of 
Garland's life prior to the events which gave him a prominent 
State character, the sure forerunner of his national character, 
and then to refer to any other facts and circumstances which 
may help us to account for his greatness as a man and as a 
statesman. I do not wish to be impudent, nor shall I be servile, 
believing, however, with Lord Beaconsfield that it is better to 
transgress through impudence than servility. 

The first great fact to remember is that Augustus H. Gar- 
land was in every essential a monument to Southern character 
and therefore a true representative of all that is good in Ameri- 
can worth. He was an American to the core, and this Ameri- 
canism found root in that other circumstance that he was born 
in the South. 

He was born in Tennessee — a fact that may and may not 
be of importance. It is also a fact that before he was out of 
his swaddling clothes he was taken by his parents to Arkan- 
sas — a fact of greater importance possibly than his birth date 
and place. What he would have been under a life tutelage in 
Tennessee, no one can say — no one can guess. He might have 



3IO Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

worked out a greater stature and then again he might not His 
greatness came to him by and through his Arkansas mantle and 
not through the clothing of his Tennessee birth. He was proud 
of his Tennessee lineage, but prouder of his Arkansas home. 
The one was accidental, while the other was to the gpreatest 
extent the result of his own volition. Whenever you are in 
>our next fit of depression about Arkansas and most piously 
wish yourself a denizen of a greater State, it may be well to 
do a little stock-taking and calculate your profits as well as your 
losses. Garland, as an Arkansan, lifted the State to a higher 
pedestal of honor and power, and this is all to your good* 
You can, If you choose, do likewise. 

GARLAND A TYPICAL ARKANSAN. 

Garland was not only an Arkansan, but a typical one; one 
of the very kind that many Northern men make a point of dis- 
liking. He lived in Arkansas while it was a territory and knew 
the pioneers and was thoroughly well acquainted with pioneer 
life. He lived in Arkansas under every one of its constitutions 
and was therefore a good constitutional Arkansan. He was a 
"before the war" Arkansan, a "through the war" Arkansan, 
and a first-class "after the war" Arkansan. He lived in South 
Arkansas and was educated there in good old pioneer schools. 
His mother was Arkansan to the core and his father was buried 
on Arkansas soil. His mother remarried one of the old type 
of Arkansas gentlemen. Judge Thomas Hubbard, a prominent 
attorney of Hempstead County, prosecuting attorney from 1828 
to 1832, and judge of the Sixth Circuit from 1854 to 1856, and 
it is no discredit to the stepfather to say that he loved and hon- 
ored the stepson to as great a degree as a father could honor 
a son. 

Shortly after the death of his father, his mother, Mrs. 
Barbara Hill Garland, rented out the Red River farm, and with 
her children and servants, settled a new home in the hills, 
some thirty miles from the farm, which she called "Spring Hill,*' 
at which place in 1837 she was remarried to Judge Hubbard. 
The residence at Spring Hill was maintained until 1844 when it 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 311 

was transferred to Washington, Arkansas, where it was con- 
tinued until the death of Judge Hubbard in 1865. 

Augustus H. Garland received his early education from his 
mother and step-father, two characters most admirably adapted 
to this end. He also attended schools at Spring Hill and Wash- 
ington, and was afterwards sent to Bardstown College, at Bards- 
town, Kentucky, where he spent six years. His intellectual 
habit of mind exhibited itself early, and formed the basis for 
that strong tie which always existed between his step-father, 
Judge Hubbard, and himself. He was an omnivorous reader 
and went to college with a larger miscellaneous stock of read- 
ing than was usual for one in those parts, and in this sense he 
was like Edmund Burke. I can not say that he read no novels, 
for that would be a charge against his emotions; nor that he 
eschewed poetry, which would be to attack his intelligence; 
I suppose he was like all other sturdy boys, an omnivorous 
reader of novels and poetry, in which sense he is again com- 
parable with Edmund Burke. Certain it is that he read much 
history, which at that time meant RolHn, Plutarch, Irving, 
Burke and Macauley — a far better course than most young 
men take today. A master of Plutarch is already a master of 
historic thought. He also read Blackstonc — long before he had 
taken the notion to read law. His scholarly stepfather was 
doubtless the cause of this excursion into the greatest law book 
that has ever been penned. A master of Blackstone is fixed in 
the* saddle of the science of law and no pernicious bucking of 
the steed can unhorse him. Among the students at Bardstown 
he stood high. Father Hill of St Louis, who was a teacher 
at that institution, in his after life, said of General Garland: 
"That Gus Garland had one of the greatest minds of any stu- 
dent that ever appeared at Bardstown." 

After graduating he returned to the residence of his step- 
father in Hempstead County, learned as to the schools, but un- 
determined as to a vocation in life. His mother had her way 
and he was given freedom to choose for himself. Judge Hub- 
bard, however, bided his time and in time had his way. For 
a year Garland taught school in Sevier County, but being pos- 
sessed of a strong penchant for clerical work, returned to Hemp- 



312 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

stead County and took a place in the office of the county clerk. 
Specimens of his work are not handed down to us, but traditions 
are full of glow as to their worth. He was not fixed in his 
political principles, but his leaning was to the Whigs. When 
one looks at the record of Whiggery in Hempstead County, 
from 1835 to 1855, he has no dificulty in explaining this leaning. 
That county was for years about evenly divided between the 
Democrats and Whigs — one party succeeding at one election, 
and the other at the next, the only exception being in favor of 
S. T. Sanders, the county clerk, who held office from 1838 to 
1868. through the vicissitudes of all parties and the favorite of 
all men. About this time, the date of Garland's entrance upon 
a career, the Democrats had been in power for two years and 
the Whigs felt that it was their turn next. He was a favorite 
of Judge Hubbard an<l also of Mr. Sanders, and the Whigs 
thought that with their help they could make Garland the treas- 
urer of the county, a thing which appealed to his young mind 
and won his consent. This, however, brought the iron hand of 
the stepfather down and carried the mother with it. Judge Hub- 
bard forbade Gus Garland to run for county treasurer, and the 
mother unite<l her prayers to her husband's remonstrance. Gus 
backed down, entered Judge Hubbard's office and began the 
serious study of law. In after years Garland asked his step- 
father why he had so vigorously opposed his taking a county 
office. The judge answered: **For this reason. You had a 
legal mind and you owed it to yourself and the people to develop 
it. Had you been elected treasurer, you would have remained 
treasurer all your life, and the triumphant leadings of your mind 
would have been stifled." 

HIS MARRIAGE. 

The society of old Washington was possibly the most culti- 
vated of the State, and in this young Garland spent his young 
boyhood and manhood. He had for his friends the ablest and 
best Whigs and Democrats of that day and was surrounded by 
as high a class of womanhood as the world has produced. Cap- 
tain Simon T. Sanders, a North Carolinian by birth, and the 
most popular man in Hempstead County at that time, had a 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 313 

most accomplished daughter, Sarah Virginia Sanders, whose 
love was won by A. H. Garland, and who became his wife. The 
union was blessed with eight chiKlren, four of whom died in 
infancy, while four reached maturity. Sarah Virginia Garland 
died at Little Rock in her Stott street residence in 1879 and was 
buried in Mount Holly cemetery. 

Garland was an American also in his love for debate and 
was most fond of this class of educational societies. He was 
unquestionably the possessor of great powers of illustration, ex- 
planation and cxpatiation. He was not great in the reservoirs 
of critical learning, but was in every sense a virile, vigorous 
thinker. Being admitted to the bar under the advice of his 
stepfather he removed to Little Rock, where he formed a part- 
nership with Ebenezer Cummins, under the firm nanle of 
Cummins & Garland. Judge Cummins at that time was the 
leading lawyer of Little Rock and the fortunate master of a 
large and lucrative practice. Within a year Garland had ac- 
quainted himself with the demands of this practice, and, at 
Cummins' death, shortly afterward, succeeded to chis practice 
in its entirety. Thus before he was twenty-eight years of age 
he was in possession of one of the most lucrative law practices 
in the State of Arkansas, and but for the breaking out of the 
war in i860 would possibly have become the richest practitioner 
of the State. 

HIS riRST VISIT TO WASHINGTON, D. C. 

In his little book, "Experience in the United States Su- 
preme Court," Garland has himself told of this first visit to the 
capital of the country. He says: **In December, i860, when 
I was half way between twent\ -eight and twenty-nine years of 
age, I left Little Rock, Arkansas, to come to the Supreme Court 
for the purpose of attending to the case of McGee v. Mathis, and 
several others. At that time it required nearly an entire week 
to make the trip from Little Rock to Washington.'* At Wash- 
ington he put up at the Kirkwood house, which afterward came 
to be known as the Palais Royal, and is now refitted and known 
as The Raleigh. Accompanied by Reverdy Johnson on the 
26th of December, i860, he was enrolled as an attorney at law, 



314 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

solicitor in chancery, and proctor in admiralty. He did not 
visit Washington again for five years, his next appearance being 
in the Test Oath cases, wherein he blazoned his right to stand 
as a national character and laid the foundations strong and 
secure for his after greatness. But between his first and second 
trips to Washington much of historic moment intervenes, which 
we shall now turn aside to examine. The four cases filed by 
Garland at this time involved the impairing of the obligations 
of contracts by State law, and the Circuit and Supreme Courts 
of Arkansas had decided adversely to Garland. These cases 
slumbered at Washington for six years, but through Garland's 
untiring efforts were finally decided in his favor. The amount 
involved financially was large to the extreme, and, if no war 
had come, the decisions in his favor, according to Garland's own 
statement, would have enabled him to retire from practice, but 
owing to the war they profited him nothing. 

GARLAND IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

He left Washington on January 15, 1861, and arrived at 
Little Rock a week later. Here all was turmoil and excitement 
Men were preparing for war, and Garland was borne with the 
people into its seething center. A constitutional convention was 
called and he was elected a member thereof from Pulaski County. 
This convention held sessions from March 4 to March 21, 1861, 
and from May 6 to June 3 of the same year. In the meantime 
the Southern Confederacy was formed and on May 10, 1861, 
the Arkansas convention sent R. W. Johnson, A. H. Garland, 
H. F. Thomasson, Albert Rust and W. W. Watkins as dele- 
gates to the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, 
Alabama, Garland receiving the highest vote. Here, Garland 
lived in the same house with Alexander H. Stephens and formed 
a friendship which was only terminated by the death of the 
distinguished vice president. At the general election in 1862 
Garland was elected to the lower house of the Confederate Con- 
gress from the Third district of Arkansas, and at the general 
election in 1864 was reelected from the same district. The 
delegates to the lower house from Arkansas, who sat with Gar- 
land, were Thomas B. Hanley, G. D. Royston, F. I. Batson and 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 315 

R. K. Garland, his brother. During his seccMid term in the 
lower house the Confederate legislature of Arkansas, after a 
spirited contest between him and Albert Pike, elected him to the 
Confederate Senate, which caused him to resign his place in 
the lower house, where he was succeeded by D. W. Carroll. 
Thus, A. H. Garland served in the Provisional Congress of the 
Confederacy at Montgomery, A.labama, and also in both the 
upper and lower houses of the Confederate Congress at Rich- 
mond, Virginia, during the entire life of the Confederacy. The 
history of this most remarkable body has not as yet been writ- 
ten, but when the future historian shall outline its work in its 
entirety it will challenge the admiration of the world. To legis- 
late for an armed struggle of the magnitude of the Civil war in 
a territory surrounded and blockaded by the enemy at every 
point and to carry that struggle successfully through a period 
of four years will not only merit but command impartial atten- 
tion. With the downfall of the Confederacy, Garland went 
back to Little Rock to find himself absolutely impoverished. 
His negroes were gone ; his property worthless, and his splendid 
practice absolutely destroyed, while military law dominated the 
entire land. He had to live, and in July, 1865, made a trip to 
Washington, called upon President Johnson and with much 
amiability besought him to grant a pardon, wiping out all of 
Garland's sins of omission and commission growing out of the 
Civil war. Reverdy Johnson, the man who had introduced him 
to the Supreme Court five years before, seconded the efforts of 
Garland, and Johnson issued the pardon. It was a huge docu- 
ment, of which Garland was proud, as in his language it vir- 
tually made him a new man. Going over to the Supreme Court, 
he dug up the papers he had filed there years before and re- 
solved to prosecute them to the end. 

THE TEST OATH IMPEDIMENTA. 

One thing, however, stood in his way as it stood in the way 
of all lawyers of the South. On January 24, 1865, Congress 
had passed an act disbarring every attorney from practice be- 
fore the Supreme Court of the United States or any Circuit or 
District Court of the United States unless said attorney should 
take the iron-clad oath of July 2, 1862, which recited that he 



3i6 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

had never borne arms against the United States, nor volun- 
tarily given counsel, aid or encouragement to persons in armed 
hostility to the government. This act of Congress was made a 
rule of court in March. 1865, and Garland found hintself 
although able and willing to practice, without the right to enter 
a single district, circuit or the United States Supreme Court. 
He said to Reverdy Johnson. **I am going to fight the constitu- 
tionality of that law, and I desire your counsel and help." John- 
son, with his usual generosity, replied, '*I will help you gladly, 
but will take no fee." Garland was afterward advised to secure 
the help of Matt Carpenter, who answered in almost the same 
words that Johnson had used. 

Garland went home, prepared his petition to the Supreme 
Court attacking the constitutionality of the law and filed a brief, 
which formed the basis of the after arguments made by Gar- / 
land, Reverdy Johnson and Carpenter. ^lo greater State paper J'i 
has ever been filed in the Supreme Court than Garland's brieNrrtJ 
He argued that exckision from the practice of law or from any / 
other vocation in life for past conduct was a punishment for 
said conduct; that a bill of this character was of the nature of 
n bill of pains and penalties and therefore within the constitu- 
tional inhibition against the passage of bills of attainder and 
therefore unconstitutional. He also set up many other points 
which made the law unconstitutional on the ex post facto side. 
He argued strongly also that attorneys were not officers of the 
United States, but officers of the particular courts which en- 
rolled them and were responsible solely to them, and could only 
be deprived of their special office by the judgment of those 
courts, after opportunity to be heard had been afforded. That 
their admission and exclusion to and from the practice of law 
were judicial powers, absolutely outside the range of congres- 
sional action. He further argued fully and forcibly the nature, 
extent and effect of executive pardons and in every item car- 
ried the court with him. 

On the evidential side he showed his admission in an Ar- 
kansas court and his continuance on the Arkansas roll of at- 
torneys ; he showed the intervention of the Civil war, secession 
and his alliance with the Southern cause ; his membership of the 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 317 

lower house of the Confederate Congress and afterward his 
membership of the Confederate Senate. It was impossible 
therefore for him to take the oath of July 2, 1862, or to obey 
the rule of the court of March, 1865 ; he filed the pardon granted 
by the president in July, 1865, which gave him a clearance 
against all offenses against the United States and their effects. 
He showed that he had taken the oath required by the pardon 
and annexed to it, and argued that all other oaths were uncon- 
stitutional. 

When he got ready to go on to Washington to argue the 
case he found himself without money. He dropped in to the 
office of S. H. Tucker, the moneyed man of the town, and told 
him that he wanted $100, for which he could give no security 
except his note. Tucker looked at him a minute and said, 
^'Gus. what would you do in Washington with $100? You 
would look shabby.'* Then turning to his clerk, he said, "Give 
Garland $500 and take his note for it. There is no security, 
but I believe the money will be repaid." The money was repaid. 

The case was known as **Ex parte Garland," and was 
argued for Garland by Garland himself, by Reverdy Johnson, 
Matt Carpenter and Mr. Marr, an attorney from Louisiana. 
For the government it was argued by Attorney General Sneed 
and by Henry Stansberry, special counsel. The case attracted 
wide attention, as it involved the return of the old Southern 
lawyers to practice before the Supreme Court. Johnson and 
Carpenter were giants, but Garland proved his right that day 
to stand side by side with these men. Matt Carpenter said: 
''Garland, you have this day. stepped from a provincial to a 
national field.'' 

Tlie Supreme Court was constituted then as follows: 
Chief Justice S. P. Chase. Justices James M. Wayne, R. C. 
Grier, Xoah H. Swayne, David Davis, Samuel Nelson, Nathan 
Clifford, Samuel F. Miller and Stephen J. Field. Justice Field 
delivered the opinion of the court, from which Justices Swayne 
and Davis dissented. The case will be found in Fourth Wal- 
lace, a book abounding with questions of great constitutional 
moment. From this it will appear that seven justices decided 
with Garland, maintaining every contention that he made, while 



3i8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkattsas 

two dissented. For some reason Garland in his little book, 
"Experience in the Supreme Court," printed in 1898, held that 
but five judges were on his side and four against him. 

James G. Blaine, in his "Twenty Years in Congress," stated 
that there was a strong disposition on the part of Southern 
Democrats in the convention which nominated Mr. Seymour to 
nominate Judge Chase, as he had favored the application in ex 
parte Garland to admit their lawyers to practice in United States 
courts. Garland said that Blaine was mistaken, that Judge 
Chase, the chief justice, was a dissenter. The records, how- 
ever, show that only Swayne and Davis dissented and that 
Blaine was therefore right. 

Garland was now not only a pardoned man, but admitted 
to the right to practice law in all the United States courts, and 
the right which he gained for himself inured to every lawyer 
of the South who had been disbarred. This brought Garland 
prominently before not only the Southern bar, but the entire 
bar of the United States. This episode was in all probability 
the greatest act of his life, and if he had done nothing more, 
would entitle him to rank among the very greatest men of the 
United States. Credit should also be given to those grand 
men, Reverdy Johnson and Matt Carpenter, and Arkansas has 
special reason to forever remember their names. 

THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD IN ARKANSAS- 

Retuming to Little Rock, he set about to resume the prac- 
tice of law and to this end formed a partnership with James 
White and L. C. Nash under the firm name of Garland, White 
& Nash. A few months later, Mr. White died, and the firm 
became Garland & Nash. Som*e years later the firm was dis- 
solved, Nash going West, and a new partnership was formed 
with Sterling R. Cockrill, under the firm name of Garland & 
Cockrill. When what was called the Rebel legislature met in 
1866, John T. Jones and Andrew Hunter were elected senators 
of the United States. Hunter resigned in a short time and 
Garland was selected in his place. While Garland had been 
fortunate in conquering his way into the Supreme Court he was 
not able to overcome the political antagonism of the United 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 319 

States Senate. Both he and Jones were denied admission to 
that honorable body at that time. From 1866 to 1874, Gar- 
land's life was devoted to his law practice. In 1868 he was 
sent by the Democracy of Arkansas at the head of its delegation 
to the Democratic convention at New York city, the convention 
which nominated Horatio Seymotir. While there he had a pic- 
ture taken, which in after years was used by a Tennessee artist, 
Miss Crawley, for painting the portrait which now hangfs in 
the State house at Little Rock. Garland always liked this pic- 
ture and used it in his little book, "Experience in the Supreme 
Court." There is another picture of Garland which adorns the 
walls of the Department of Justice at Washington, but which 
his friends say is not a true portrait. 

HIS GREAT LETTER TO VICE PRESIDENT STEPHENS- 

In the same year, after the election was over. Senator Gar- 
land wrote a letter to Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, a 
copy of which he kept and which is now in the possession of 
Mr. R. T. Cook of Hot Springs, Arkansas. On account of its 
importance it is reproduced entire: 
A. H. Garland. 
L. B. Nash. 

Garland & Nash. 
Attorneys at Law. 

Little Rock, Ark., Nov. 9, 1868. 
My Dear Mr. Stephens : 

The election on last Tuesday, the 3d inst., has resulted in 
the choosing of General Grant to the presidency of the United 
States, which I have been expecting for the past two months, 
and I do not, for one moment, suppose that you are astonished 
in the least, at this result. Grant will go into office with in- 
fluence and weight of character sufficient to destroy the liberties 
of the country as well as the country itself in a very short time; 
and so too, he will have it in his power, if disposed, to arrest 
the tide that is now upon us, and to restore the country to peace 
and order, which in a few years would bring us prosperity 
again as a nation. It is with him, in my calm and deliberate 
judgment, to accomplish one of these alternatives. If he fol- 



320 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

lows the programme and the wishes of the party whose candi- 
date he was, ruin/ red ruin, will be the consequence, and that at 
no distant day ; if on the other hand, he follows his own judg- 
ment and tries to administer the government according to the 
constitution, and in justice to all, he will rescue us from destruc- 
tion, and lay broad, deep and permanent the foundation for our 
future well being. 

Which will he do? I know so little of General Grant as a 
public man, I am utterly unable to form a satisfactory opinion 
to myself as to this. I know him personally, but not well, and 
he says nothing on public matters; but I have always heard he 
was a man of sense, and particularly a man of his own will and 
judgment. From his acts towards our soldiers and others in 
trouble after the surrender, I can not think him a bad man at 
all, but rather a fair minded man. Of course much has been 
said of and about him, during the late political contest, by his 
opponents, that they themselves in their cool moments do not 
believe — the results of, I suppose, what is called political license. 
Now then, whatever tinge or coloring may have been given to 
his feelings in passing through the recent ordeal of an election, 
which under the most favorable auspices is always trying, he 
must, now that the storm of battle has cleared away, reflect 
calmly upon what lies before him. Certainly he is not a fool, 
and certainly he would like to live in history as the savior of his 
country rather than its destroyer. We all believe him as am- 
bitious as Cassius, and he might aspire to that praise Cicero 
claimed he would be entitled to in saving Rome from Cataline's 
machinations — that is, saving Rome would give him more 
honor than the founder of Rome had. If his ambition is at all 
purified and well directed, the idea of saving the institutions of 
his country and living hereafter by the side of Washington, 
might well move him in a direction altogether different from 
that desired or expected by his party friends. We must bear in 
mind, that we now had it that Grant was a republican or a 
radical until he and the President, summer before last, got at 
outs, and it was by no means certain until then, that he would 
be with the republicans, but on the contrary, seme of our friends 
were fondly calculating on him as the standard bearer of the 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 321 

Democracy in the national contest just over. Do you think it 
at all improbable that he might surround himself with decent, 
moderate and able men of the republican party, and be governed 
by them and rule as President in conservatism? 

To the South this is all important — it is vital. If the 
latter course is not pursued by him, then history will not afford 
an example so prostrated, so wicked and so deplorable, as our 
poor South. This, of course yon know, and know it much bet- 
ter than I do. It is all important too that General Grant should 
determine some time before his inauguration upon his course, 
so that when he is installed, if his course is conservative, we 
will be inspired with hope, and our energies for good will be- 
gin to display themselves at once. In order then to enable him, 
or to aid him to determine, it has occurred to me after much 
long and anxious reflection, that some kind and considerate 
influences ought to be brought to bear upon him before the 
4th of March next, and as soon now as he is rested from his 
late heat, and his sores are healed somewhat. In other words, 
we should not leave him in the hands of Bingham, Boutwell, 
Washburne, ed id omne genus, for then he will become wedded 
to his idols. We should look the situation in the face, and ac- 
cept it gracefully, and study to render it not only bearable, but 
to deprive it of all its disagreeable and unpleasant consequences 
as threatened. 

As a plan to accomplish this, I have fallen on the follow- 
ing, and I wish you to consider it in all its bearings, and decide 
on it, viz.: One or two representative men of the true conser- 
vatism in each of ten Southern States should by private agree- 
ment meet with General Grant about ist Januar>' next and lay 
before him the facts as they are in these States, and promise 
and vouch for the peace and order and obeying of the laws on 
the part of the people here, if the government is properly con- 
ducted. By representative men I mean neither active demo- 
crats or republicans in the late contest — but men who have been 
quiet and have been looking to the peace and quiet of their 
people, and who have not stirred up strife and bitter feelings 
among their people. For as you well know, we have been for 
the last three months ground in between^ the upper and nether 



322 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

mill-rocks — conservatism proper has been strangled, and bad 
men on both sides, desiring trouble and commotion have kept 
the country on fire, just as the late hell-born war was originated 
in 1 860- 1. And I do not believe I mistake the facts, when I 
say, that our people South — I mean those of social, pecuniary 
and itioral responsibility desire pe^ce earnestly and are ready 
and willing to conform to rules under anyone if they can be 
protected in their rights as given them even in the general terms 
of the Constitution; and I believe this assurance full and ample 
can be made to General G. and strictly within the bounds of 
truth. These things properly laid before him by men who are 
able to do it — who are respected at home, and who are known 
to be conservative indeed, must make him pause and reflect, and 
then act as a man of sense and of patriotism, and they will do 
so, unless he is a fool or a fiend, or both, which I do not believe 
at all. 

And after looking over the whole country, I have concluded 
of all men, you are the proper person to initiate this and carry 
it out, if you approve it. Although you were in high position 
in the Confederacy,- yet all men have (and do still regard) re- 
garded you as conservative; and the republicans north know 
and acknowledge this; and I know the people north respect 
your character and judgment, while the South more than re- 
spects them. And your quiet and retired course since the war 
has added largely to your name, and enlarged your powers for 
usefulness. Now, if you. General Lee, Governor Graham of 
North Carolina, Orr of South Carolina and others, by concert 
of action will go to Washington City, as by accident, and meet 
General Grant and have this kind of a conversation, then all is 
lost, if good does not come of it. The other names you know 
better than I. General Joe Johnston would be a good one. I 
write today myself to Governor Graham and Orr and send them 
copies of this letter to you. These names would weigh with 
Grant, and I must think would cause him to pursue a course of 
administration that would disappoint some of his partizan friends 
but would bless the land at large. All of you have been quiet 
and have not wrangled, and what you would preach you have 
practiced. I might do something myself, but my connection 



, Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 323 

with the Test-Oath Case and the Miss. Injunction Case, and be- 
ing elected by the Legislature of 1866-7 here (which is odious 
to that party) to the United States Senate, although unasked 
and unsolicited, would break down^any influence I might exert 
there — although with an assurance of this kind to you gentle- 
men or others, from General Grant I could quiet Arkansas in 
ten days, I believe, and it would give me the greatest pleasure 
and joy to do this; 

Now I have thought this subject over and over, and have 
concluded on the foregoing. I make 4:he suggestion, to you. 
Act in it as you think best. I feel well satisfied the gentlemen 
referred to will aid you, and co-operate in all you do. The ob- 
ject to be attained is worth all the effort. No one, but a friend 
who copies this letter for me to forward to Governors Graham 
and Orr, knows I have written it. Something must be done 
quickly, and we should not hesitate about it. I would do any- 
thing on earth to bring about a better state of affairs and can't 
it be done? Try once more, and then when we have done all 
we can and fail, let the end come and we are clear of responsi- 
bility. Write me in full and see if you can tell me something 
encouraging or hopeful. See if you can't call back Tige by tell- 
ing him "that d — d varmint is gone." I wish I could see you. 
Let me know how your health is, and believe me always. 
Your friend truly, 1 

A. H. Garland. 

^P. S. When will your second volume on the war be out? 
I read the first with great interest, and look forward, with 
pleasure, to the reading of the 2d. 

Yours, 

Garland.'' 

The following endorsement appeared on the back of this 
letter: 
A. H. Garland to A. H. Stephens. 

"Copy of a letter sent this day to Mr. S. Nov. 9-68. /^." 

HOMINY HILL. 

He bought the home of Major John D. Adams in Little 
Rock and afterward built the residence on Fourteenth and Scott 



324 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

streets. In 1870 he bought Gibson Springs, a farm of twelve 
hundred acres in Ellis Township, and changed its name to 
Hominy Hill. His wife, died in the Scott street house, but 
Garland's summers were spent mostly at Hominy Hill. He was 
a great deer hunter, being one of the best shots in the country 
and a great fisherman. Here he developed the farm, read law 
and history, hunted and fished at pleasure. He had three boys 
who were accomplished musicians on the violin, flute and piano. 
Here he w^ visited by his old-time friends, B. D. Williams, 
General Fagan, James N. Smithee, John D. Adams, James M. 
Henry, Captain Rees Pritchard, Zeb Ward, Sr., Judge Compton, 
Colonel Bob Howard and W. S. Davis, besides many others. 
Garland, when in the Senate of the United States, made head- 
quarters while in Little Rock at the livery stable of W. S. Davis, 
whom Garland termed familiarly, William Saltpetre Davis. 
Davis was an excellent conversationalist and Garland a good 
listener, especially with a pocketful of peanuts to munch from. 
Thus passed his life to the beginning of the Brooks-Baxter war. 



f GARLAND AS GOVERNOR. 

The Reconstruction government of Arkansas began with the ' 
constitution of 1868 and ended with the Constitutional Con- 
vention of 1874. During the last years of this epoch the Re- 
publican party split wide open, resulting in two candidates for 
governor, Baxter and Brooks. The Democrats, after mature 
deliberation, decided to make no contest and to let the Republi- 
cans fight it out among themselves. Thousands of Democrats 
voted for Baxter and other thousands voted for Brooks. At 
this day it is easy to say who was elected. There can be no 
doubt that Joe Brooks, the preacher-politician, was fairly and 
squarely elected, and there are thousands of democrats today 
who are willing to die for that proposition. Brooks, however, 
was not counted in, but Baxter was. The Republicans wanted 
him and they got him, but after they got him he would not stand 
hitched. Then the Republicans did •not want him and turned 
to Joe Brooks. Joe Brooks demanded the office after being 
denied it by all the courts and Baxter let him have it. Then 



\ 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 325 

Arkansas had two governors, Brooks operating from the State 
house and Baxter from St. John's College. 

Here Garland comes in again. He had been practicing 
law for years and did not consider that there was much differ- 
ence to the people of Arkansas between an administration by 
Brooks and administration by Baxter. As a lawyer, however, 
he decided that the legal forms were on the side of Baxter, al- 
though his sympathies ran very largely to the side of Brooks. 
None of these things, however, disturbed his equilibrium and 
he went on practicing law, eating three square meals a day and 
sleeping the sleep of the righteous. Going home one day he 
heard that Brooks had ousted Baxter, and he said "Good." He 
kept on, however, to Fourteenth and Scott, when he saluted his 
wife, ate his supper, read his evening's literature and calmly 
went to bed. At about midnight a deputation arrived at his 
door and a knock was heard. Garland was sound asleep, but; 
Mrs. Garland was still at her desk writing, and answered the 
knock. With a lamp in her hand, she opened the door and 
her son says was confronted by Judge U. M. Rose, backed up 
by a deputation of citizens, all armed. Mrs. Garland invited 
the judge to enter and he asked to see Mr. Garland. Mr. Gar- 
land was called out of bed and in due time came downstairs. 
He was told that a revolution was on hand; that Brooks had 
ousted Baxter, and that Civil war confronted the citizens of 
Arkansas. Garland was always a most humorous man, in fact, 
a genuine wit, and when told that Baxter had gone to St. John's 
College, said "The Devil. Is he a professor? Is he going to 
teach school?" He was made to understand finally that a con- 
sultation of the leading men of the State was to be had at St. 
John's College and that his presence was desired. Garland 
subordinated his comfort to his duty and went. 

At St. John's College he found Judge U. M. Rose, Judge 
Henry Caldwell, Judge Sam W. Williams and Judge Compton, 
besides several men representing the military arm of govern- 
ment. Garland soon ascertained that Baxter desired to go on 
to Washington, thinking that by a personal conference with 
Grant he could control mattei^s. Garland knew better, and be- 
sides, knew that if Baxter ever got to Washington he would 



326 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

never come back. Some means would be devised by which 
Baxter would be held at Washington and the Brooks govern- 
ment perpetuated. Garland decided that it would be better for 
Arkansas, in the long run for the Baxter government to be 
perpetuated, and, although his sympathies were with Brocks, 
he decided to act according to his judgment. He made up his 
mind at once that under no circumstances should Baxter go out 
of the State. Baxter in Arkansas was an asset of superlative 
value to the old Confederates, and to the lasting advantage of 
good goveriiment in the future. He therefore combated Bax- 
ter's plan of going to Washington and volunteered to stay with 
him, and see the thing out, no matter what the outcome might 
be. The other confreres agreed with Garland, and Baxter de- 
cided to stay. He went down to the Anthony House, where 
he made his headquarters, and Gus Garland went with him, 
remaining there for six long weeks without returning to his 
home. With that six weeks of civil war we have little to do — 
it was brother against brother. Democrat against Democrat, 
Republican against Republican, a hotch potch impossible to ex- 
plain. 

A Confederate general headed Baxter's troops, and a Con- 
federate general headed Brooks' troops — it was the devil to pay 
and no pitch hot. Down at the Anthony House, however, Gar- 
land's judgment was supreme, and that judgment won out. It 
gave Arkansas the constitution of 1874, the constitution under 
which the State has made its grandest strides forward, and 
under whose operations Arkansas has become a real power in 
the federal Union. At the first election under that constitu- 
tion Augustus H. Garland was selected as governor by a vote 
of seventy-six thousand four hundred and fifty-three out of a 
total of eighty thousand votes. He served from November 12, 
1874, to January 11, 1877. He came in with chaos in the sad- 
dle; he went out with law and order on every side. He came 
in with not a dollar in the Arkansas treasury; he went out with 
the credit of the State good, and rising every day. He came 
in without State or county organization; he went out with the 
most perfect organization that the State has ever known. The 
name of Garland was a name to conjure with in those days, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 327 

and that name conjured nothing but law, order and civic right- 
eousness. His Arkansas countrymen decided to send him 
higher; they had done this once before ineffectually, but this 
time their efforts were to be crowned with success. 

GARLAND AS UNITED STATES SENATOR. 

At the close of his term as governor the legislature elected 
him in January. 1877, to the United States Senate iot six years, 
and in 1883 for a second term of six years. He served one term 
and a part of the second, being called by his countrymen of the 
United States to step up higher. 

In the Senate he w^as at once assigned to the Judiciary 
Committee, where he remained until he left the Senate. His 
confreres on the committee were Allen G. Thurman, chairman; 
McDonald, Bayard, Lamar, Davis, Edmunds, Conkling and Car- 
penter. This was a great aggregation of talewt, and the period 
one which brought the committee in daily contact with ques- 
tions of the most far-reaching importance. Garland was also 
made chairman of the Committee on Territories and a member 
of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. He was specially 
selected for work on the committee to investigate the law touch- 
ing the counting of the votes cast for president and vice presi- 
dent and contributed largely to the making of the present law 
as to the presidental succession. He was also on the Special 
Committee on the Freedman's Saving and Trust Company, and 
drew a bill amending its charter which became a law. He also 
headed a special committee to investigate the frauds of the late 
election and was a member of the special committee to provide 
against the spread of epidemics. He was a hard worker and 
made more than one hundred reports from the Judiciary Com- 
mittee. He was not an ornate speaker, but very clear, concise, 
logical and convincing. He never spoke to the galleries, and 
never spoke unnecessarily. He made hundreds of short speeches, 
each of which was full of meat, and nothing but meat. On the 
resolution concerning the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
amendments he reached the consciences of men like Edmunds 
and Conkling and led them to see these amendments in a new 
light. Garland showed how they were passed in Arkansas and 



328 . Pioneers and Makers of Arkafisas 

his showing was taken by great Republicans as a truthful show- 
ing. He claimed that measures passed as these measures had 
been passed, by and through the disfranchibcment of the en- 
lightened and intelligent voters of a great section, could not be 
set up as monuments of either moral or legal power. 

When the bill to remove the disability from James Monroe 
Heiskell of Baltimore, a grandson of President Monroe, was 
up. Garland made a most excellent short speech. Section 1218 
of the Revised Statutes of the United States made it unlawful 
for the president to appoint to a position in the United States 
army any one who had served in the Confederate army. Gar- 
land said that he would vote for the special act relieving Mr. 
Heiskell from the operation of the law, but that he did not 
believe in granting amnesty by piecemeal. Either pardon all or 
keep the disability on all. Believing that universal amnesty was 
right and that the occasion was ripe, he would test the matter 
by offering an amendment to the bill repealing section one 
thousand two hundred and eighteen of the statutes. Senator 
Edmunds followed, saying: "I am glad that the senator from 
Arkansas, who is always logical and always brave, has offered 
the amendment, and I hope that it will pass." It passed almost 
unanimously in the Senate, but was cut out in the house. Gar- 
land kept on, however, until all this class of legislation was re* 
moved from the statutes and the way opened for Fitzhugh Lee 
and Joe Wheeler to become United States brigadiers. 

To follow Garland through the wide range of subjects 
upon which he spoke from 1878 to 1885 would be to fill up sev- 
eral pages of this work, and I must desist. He spoke on many 
special relief bills for Arkansas citizens and upon every public 
question that came before the Senate. He was special presid- 
ing officer of that body scores of times, and was noted for his 
courtesy, fairness and judicial bearing. A most instructive 
book might be written entitled "Garland in the United States 
Senate." 

GARLAND AS ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

In 1884 Grover Cleveland was elected president of the 
United States, and in March, 1885, was inaugurated. In form- 
ing his cabinet he chose Augustus Hill Garland of Arkansas as 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 329 

one of its members, assigning him to the office of attorney gen- 
eral. Garland at once resigned his seat in the Senate and was 
succeeded by James H. Berry. He had barely qualified as at- 
torney general when the vials of scandal were poured upon him. 
While a senator he had bought three hundred dollars worth of 
Pan-Electric Telephone stock and was made attorney for the 
company. The directors of the company were such prominent 
men as Senator Isham G. Harris of Tennessee, Senator Joseph 
E. Johnson of Georgia, J. D. C. Atkins and Casey Young. The 
company was all right, Garland's connection with it was all 
right, and time has done nothing except to emphasize this right- 
eousness. However,' the Bell Telephone Company, with its 
millions of wealth, decided to throttle the Pan-Electric, and it 
fought in every way possible every man connected with the new 
concern. It happened that Garland was a bright and shining 
light, and the Bell telephone agents selected him as the mark 
for their most scandalous shafts. Garland had forgotten that 
he owned stock in the Pan-Electric, but when being apprised 
of it, said: "What of it?" He then went to President Cleve- 
land and laid the whole matter before him, saying, "I own the | 
stock, and I propose to keep it. It is a mere bagatelle, but it is 
mine. It is righteously mine and I will hold it. I do not want 
to hamper the new administration, and if my holding of that 
stock is to stand in the way, I beg most sincerely to be relieved 
of my portfolio as attorney general." President Cleveland took 
the matter under advisement, investigated it and notified Mr. 
Garland that his holding of that stock was in no way, legally 
or morally, incompatible with his holding the position of attor- 
ney general. The House of Representatives, goaded by Bell 
Telephone newspapers, ordered an investigation, the result of 
which was the entire vindication of Senator Garland. What 
hurt Garland most, however, was not the attacks derivable from 
the Bell Telephone corporation, but the attacks of men that he 
had considered his friends at home. These attacks pierced the 
armor of his soul, wringing anguish therefrom all the more 
frightful, since the charges were absolutely untrue. 

Through all this scandal General Garland became — 
A tower of strength. 
Which stood foursquare to all the winds that blew. 



330 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

As attorney general he pursued the even tenor of his way 
and in every case added to the strength of character which had 
marked his previous career. On the death of Justice Wood in 
May, 1887, Senator Garland was named as a fit successor. This 
coming to his ears led him to go at once to President Cleveland 
and state to him that under no circumstances would he accept 
the offer and that he desired the president to proceed to the 
consideration of the question as though he had never heard of 
Garland. On the 23d of February, 1887, President Cleveland 
asked Senator Garland to take a place on the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission, which he positively declined. 

Senator Garland states that he himself had decided to retire 
from public life at the close of his term as attorney general, 
devoting the remainder of his life to the practice of law. He 
went out of office honored and respected by every great man of 
the country, irrespective of party and for ten years continued a 
most honorable practice in that. court in which, in i860, he had 
been enrolled. 

Such is the career of Augustus Hill Garland. By his mar- 
riage with Sarah Virginia Sanders he had eight children, four 
of whom died in infancy. The fifth child, Sanders Garland* 
was born in 1862, at Arkadelphia, while his father was a mem- 
ber of the Confederate Congress; this son married (i) Annie 
N. Hening, at Washington, D. C, and had one child, Charles 
Augustus Garland, now in business in the capital; married (2) 
Sarah J. Mack of Newark, New Jersey, and had one child, 
Walter Raleigh Garland, of Washington, D. C. 

The sixth child, Rufus Cummings Garland, married Miss 
Hobson of Virginia, and left two living children, Rufus Cum- 
mins Garland and Sarah Virginia Garland. 

The seventh child, Daisy Garland, died unmarried in Wash- 
ington, D. C, October 27, 1893. 

The eighth child, William Allen Garland, married Cora 
McPherson of Benton, Arkansas, and left one surviving child, 
Rufus M. Garland. 

Augustus Hill Garland died in Washington, D. C, on Jan- 
uary 26, 1899, in his sixty-seventh year, and was buried at Mount 
Holly cemetery. Little Rock, by the side of his wife. His remains 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 331 

were taken to Little Rock by his son, Rufus Cummings Garland 
and James K. Jones, Jr. His mother, Mrs. Hubbard, died in 
Washington November 17, 1893. and was buried in Rock Creek 
cemetery, D. C. Thus this magnificent woman, the mother of 
a most magnificent man, had a pilgrimage worthy of her nobil- 
ity; born in North Carolina, a transient resident of Tennessee, 
a longer denizen of Arkansas, and for years a resident of Wash- 
ington, D. C, she now sleeps in one of the leading cemeteries of 
the world, awaiting that trumpet which shall recall her to eter- 
nal life and unite her to the son she loved. 

The glory of any age is its coterie of great men ; and every 
coterie of great men that could have been formed in the United 
States from 1875 to 1900 would have had as one of its members 
the commanding presence of Augustus H. Garland. He formed 
a part, and most commanding part, of the glory of that age. 

Mrs. Mary E. Donelson Wilcox has printed a fine little 
brochure of twelve pages in memory of Mrs. Barbara Hill Hub- 
bard, which abounds in history pertaining to the period 1832- 
1899. 

The Gazette is the oldest and most influential paper of 
Arkansas. All Arkansans are proud of its career, but it is 
doubtful whether any act of its long and useful career deserves 
a greater conmiendation than the splendid work of the present 
management in starting and receiving subscriptions for a monu- 
ment to Senator Garland. Every admirer of Senator Garland 
as well as every lover of Arkansas can but be thankful for the 
splendid work of the Arkansas Gazette in this regard. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The Deshas. 

One of the fads of modern civilization is an increase of 
population. This is looked upon as a panacea for almost every 
ill. The great cry is for more people, and with more people 
will come a greater development, a greater wealth and a greater 
happiness. To a large extent the conclusion rests on a sound 



332 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

induction, which accounts for the universal prevalence of the 
idea. 

The demand for a greater influx of population is rational 
and wise only so far as the population attained is capable of as- 
similating itself intellectually and economically with the institu- 
tions of a people. It is not a question of riches or wealth; a 
thousand poor, honorable men, no matter how poor they may 
be, if intelligent and industrious, are as great a boon to a com- 
munity as a great influx of rich men. Neither is it a question 
of party ; men honestly differ, and honest differences of opinion, 
political, ecclesiastical and otherwise, are the very life blood of 
a community. The nearer parties are divided in strength in 
any community the better will be the administration of the law. 
The territory of Arkansas wanted a greater population, but it 
made no such efforts as modern methods seem to demand. 
Nevertheless, it made all reasonable efforts to secure a wise, 
temperate and industrious addition to its population, and it suc- 
ceeded. 

INFLUENCE OF A NAME. 

It is interesting to note not only the trend of population, but 
the influence which a single name often bears upon the com- 
munity to which it attaches. The Huguenots were a wise, 
temperate, frugal and most accomplished set of people in south 
France, who contributed most largely to the glory of France, 
and who attached themselves to the Protestant cause. Catholic 
France made a great mistake in so prosecuting these Huguenots 
as to force them to leave their native home for a refu]§:e in the 
wilds of America. Persecution always reacts upon itself and 
the Catholics have not been the only persecutors. Protestant 
New England drove the Baptists from their midst; Protestant 
Virginia persecuted Quakers, Methodists and Baptists, and so 
on to the end. One body of these thrifty and cultured Hugue- 
nots from France found a home at Manakintown, Virginia, and 
developed a community from which some of the ablest men and 
families of the United States have sprung. It gave the Deshas, 
Duvalls, Jordans and others to Arkansas, families which have 
at all times been a decided acquisition to territorial and State 
growth. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 333 

Old Ben Desha of Manakintown, was a refined industrious 
and learned man, descended from an illustrious line of French- 
men. His sons and daughters became Americans in every sense 
of the word, and a grandson, Joseph Desha, a general in the 
United States army and governor of Kentucky. This grand 
old man sent four sons and daughters into the territory of Ar- 
kansas, every one of whom was a tower of strength in the 
community to which he or she went. His oldest son was named 
Benjamin, Kentucky bom, who in 1812 was made a first lieu- 
tenant in the Seventeenth Infantry, which appointment was 
not confirmed by the United States Stenate. In the next year 
he was confirmed as a third lieutenant in the First Regiment 
of Light Dragoons; in the next year he was advanced to the 
grade of captain in the Second Regiment of the United States 
Rifles. The traditions of Captain Ben Desha are still cherished 
by Kentuckians, who are descended from soldiers of these reg- 
iments. He resigned in 1815 to accept a seat in the legislature 
of Kentucky, where he won a position almost as distinguished 
as that of his illustrious father. In 1822 President Monroe 
offered him the receivership of public moneys of the territory 
of Arkansas, which position he accepted, and whose duties he 
performed honorably and well for many years. The thrift of 
the Huguenots never deserted him, nor did their refinement of 
manners. 

DKSHAS OF ARKANSAS. 

OKI Captain Desha of early Arkansas history was a man 
of whom all Arkansans were justly proud. He was a Whig 
of the most pronounced type, but was universally admired by 
the Democrats. In the unfortunate duel between Crittenden 
and Conway, Desha acted as second for Mr. Crittenden, and no 
man exhibited a more genuine grief for the death of his friend 
than did Captain Desha. He acquired wealth in the territory 
of his adoption, and died November 21, 1835, universally re- 
spected and admired. A county in the State, in whose con- 
fines he lived an honored man when it was a territorial part of 
another division, bears his name today. 



334 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Of a second son, Robert Desha, also a captain in the United 
States army, we have already given a partial account. While 
stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, with his regiment he became 
acquainted with Frances Ann Ferebe, a daughter of one of the 
most aristocratic families of that city. Captain Robert Desha 
was soon transferred to the Marine Corps, with headquarters 
alternating between Helena, Arkansas, and New Orleans, Lou- 
isiana. His accomplished wife came with him to the territory 
in 1819, and the thrift of the family was never better exem- 
plified than in the case of Captain Robert Desha. He died No- 
vember 6, 1822, one of the richest men in the territory. George 
Ferebe, brother of Mrs. Robert Desha, moved to Helena in 
1820, and for many years was one of the leading citizens of 
that pioneer town. A sister of Captain Desha, coming to 
Arkansas from Kentucky to visit her brother, was wooed and 
won by George Ferebe, and one child, Richard Montgomer>' 
Ferebe, blessed this union. This boy died in early manhood, 
and the name Ferebe became extinct in Arkansas, and is almost 
extinct at its old seating place, Norfolk, Virginia. Such is 
the fate of individuals and such is the fate of names. They rise, 
are glorified and then sink into oblivion and decay. 

The widow of Captain Robert Desha, within two years after 
the death of her husband, was married the second time to Cap- 
tain Hartwell Boswell, one of the most distinguished men of 
Batesville, Arkansas. Another daughter of Captain Robert De- 
sha of Kentucky, while on a visit to Mrs. Boswell at Bates- 
ville, captivated the affections of Joseph Egner, a pioneer of 
Batesville from 1818. Four children blessed this union, Elvira 
Fowler Egner, Henry Egner, Virginia Egner and Cornelius 
Egtier. These and their descendants contributed largely to the 
wealth and refinement of early Independence County, and are 
now scattered through seven or eight counties of the State. 

Captain Robert Desha, who married Frances Ann Ferebe, 
left two children, Franklin W. Desha and Margaret Frances 
Desha, whose descendants ramify all eastern Arkansas, and 
whose life work has contributed largely to the better interests 
of the State. Franklin W. Desha at Batesville, married Eliza- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 335 

beth Searcy, the sister of Richard Searcy, one of the best lawyers 
of early days. The children of this marriage were Robert, 
Benjamin, Stonewall, Mary and Lizzie, all of whom lived to 
be men and women, doing a great life work, but only one of 
them, Lizzie, became entangled in matrimony. Robert was 
sheriff of the county in later days, as was his uncle, Joe Egner, 
in earlier days. I believe that all these children are dead, ex- 
cept Ben, and the name Desha, so far as Arkansas is concerned, 
has also become extinct. The blood of Fi^anklin W. Desha, 
however, is carried down to posterity through Lizzie, who mar- 
ried a prominent citizen of Independence County. 

state's most beautiful woman. 

The second child of Robert and Frances Ann Desha was 
a daughter, Margaret Frances, who married twice, each time 
to a distinguished citizen of Batesville. Margaret as well as 
her brother, Franklin W. Desha, was born at the Washington 
Navy Yard. She was educated at Ellicott City, Maryland, the 
seat then of the greatest female educational institution of the 
State. She was a most accomplished woman, as was her class- 
mate, Lucretia Ringgold, the most beautiful woman of early 
Arkansas history, daughter of the accomplished jurist, Judge 
Ringgold, and wife of that greatest of early Arkansas writers, 
Fent Noland, the wandering comet of the literary sky. When 
Margaret Frances Desha returned to Batesville, the most ac- 
complished woman of the town, she was wooed and won by 
William French Denton, a distinguished lawyer of Batesville, 
and a gift of Tennessee to Arkansas growth. Several chil- 
dren followed this marriage, namely, Frances Jane, Franklin 
Desha, Elvira Fowler and William French. Of one of these 
children, Franklin Desha, Arkansas may well be proud. For 
years he was the central figure in the newspaper life of 
the State, and no one has contributed more to its development 
than F. D. Denton. He established the Batesville Bee, which 
had a long and successful existence, and then the Batesville 
Guard, now controlled by that accomplished gentleman, Edward 
Givens. Not to have known F. D. Denton from 1870 to 1890 
was to acknowledge yourself comparatively unknown. William 



336 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

French Denton, his brother, dedicated his young life to the 
Southern cause and was killed at his post. 

Margaret Frances (Desha) Denton took for a second hus- 
band that distinguished gentleman, Judge Buford H. Neely of 
Batesville, and had several children. The first child, Mary 
Euphenia Neely, married Mark Wycough, well known through- 
out Independence County and the adjacent counties. The sec- 
ond child was Elizabeth Egner Neely, who married J. D. Vance, 
an accomplished scholar from Tennessee, now engaged in lit- 
erary work in Washington, D. C. There is no better woman 
living than Elizabeth Egner Vance, and in her advanced age 
she remains a distinguished example of the refinement, the 
courtesy and the intelligence of the old Huguenot Deshas, with 
the strength which has come through the new lines of blood, 
the Ferebes and the Neeleys. The third child of Margaret 
Frances Neely by her last marriage was Esther Ann, who at 
Batesville made two ventures in matrimony, her first husband 
being James Ellis, and her second, George Emmert. 

Absalom Fowler, a Virginia lawyer, moved to Little Rock 
in the twenties, and acquired a position second to that of no 
lawyer of early Arkansas days. He ranked with Chester Ash- 
ley, and was a tower of strength to any cause to which he lent 
his influence. He held legislative positions and was one of the 
most prominent members of the Arkansas Constitutional Con- < 
vention. Colonel Boswell, by his first wife, had a daughter 
named Elvira, who became the wife of Absalom Fowler, but 
was never the mother of children. In this way the name 
Fowler, so far as it pertains to this distinguished line, became 
extinct in Arkansas. Thus three names, the Deshas, the Ferebes 
and the Fowlers have come into x\rkansas life, have entangled 
themselves with all its stupendous problems, have contributed 
manfully to their solution, adding dignity and grace to its so- 
cial institutions, and have passed out without leaving the name 
as a present inheritance to the State. These names, so far as 
their relations to these lines are concerned, are extinct, but the 
blood of the Deshas still runs in the veins of hundreds of Ar- 
kansas men and women, and to the last drop, wherever it may 
be found, carries an assurance of honesty, refinement, energy 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 337 

and intelligence. In these devious ways and* by these tortuous 
methods is the great problems of civilization carried forward 
to mastery. 

A BAD Y1^\R FOR THE DESHAS. 

November 6 will ever be remembered sorrowfully, by the 
Desha family. On that day in 1822 Captain Robert M. Desha 
of the United States army, and a native of Kentucky, living at 
Helena, died of yellow fever at New Orleans. 

On November 6, 1823, Mrs. Rachel Harriett Boswell, wife 
of Colonel Hartwell Boswell of Batesville, and daughter of 
General Joseph Desha of Kentucky, died at her home in Bates- 
ville. Robert M. Desha was a most excellent army officer and 
also a splendid business man. Administration was granted his 
wife, Frances Ann Desha, and George N. Ferebe, at Helena, in 
February, 1825. He owned ninety lots in Helena, besides about 
an equal number in Davidsonville, Batesville and Little Rock. 
His inventory took a column in the Gazette. He was also the 
owner of large bodies of land in several counties of the State. 
Colonel Boswell was the appointee of President Monroe to the 
Lawrence Land Office, which position he held for many years. 
He was also a member of the Arkansas legislature and a most 
capable man. He was for years colonel of the Seventh Arkan- 
sas regiment of militia and an honor to the position. On July 
I, 1829, Colonel Boswell took a trip to Kentucky and for the 
second time carried away from the residence of General and 
ex-Governor Joseph Desha a wife. The first time he took the 
general's daughter; the second time, his daughter-in-law. 
He married Mrs. Frances Ann Desha, widow of Captain Rob- 
ert M. Desha, of the United States Marine Corps, and returned 
to Batesville, where his wife formed one of the leaders of early 
Batesville society, at that time the most exclusive society of 
the State. Colonel Noland had lived there for many years and 
with his Virginia wife, imported a refinement and courtesy 
which attracted to Batesville some of the best people of the 
early days. Colonel Boswell died January 13, 1833. 



338 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER XL. 

Abraham Ruddei^l. 

Before entering upon the meat of this article, a few ad- 
ditions to preceding articles should be made. As early as 1824 
there was a Joseph H. Lindsey living in Saline County, who had 
a daughter named Margaret, born there at that date, who mar- 
ried Philo Howell of Saline County, and died at her father's 
house in October, 1859. She was a prominent Methodist and 
her father was the first Lindsey of the name to settle in that 
part of Pulaski County which is now Saline. On October 9, 
1859, B. A. Brown married Sarah Ann Lindsey to William Hill 
of Pyeatt township. Peter Lindsey entered Arkansas in 1825 
and died in Jefferson County in 1839, in his thirty-sixth year, 
leaving a wife and children. 

Isaac Lindsey was a resident of Hempstead County in 1823 
and was delinquent $5 for State and county taxes. In 1817 
James Lockhart emigrated from Union District, South Carolina, 
and settled in Pulaski County on the Saline. His wife, Elenor, 
died in Saline County July 21, 1840, in her sixty-sixth year. 
On December 25. 1822, his daughter, Elenor^ married William 
Franklin of the same settlement. James Lockhart died a few 
years before his wife. John Douglas died in January, 1836, at 
his home, thirteen miles from Little Rock, in his sixtieth year. 
W. S. Lockhart represented Saline County in the legislature 
from 1838 to 1840. Louisa S. Hughes, wife of Green B. 
Hughes of Tennessee, moved with him to Lawrence County 
in 1819 and to Saline County in 1826. He represented Saline 
County in 1846. She died in 1859. Elizabeth Martin died in 
Fourche township, June 28, 1840, in her seventy-sixth year. 

AN ARKANSAS WOMAN OF 180O. 

Christian Hacker was born at Arkansas Post November 
28, 1800, when the entire country was under the nominal rule 
of Spain. She was baptized at the Post in 1819. She married 
Thomas H. Tennant at that place and moved to Barren Pork, 
Washington County, where she died September 28, 1840, leav- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 339 

ing seven children, who now, through their descendants, are 
entitled to admission into the Arkansas Century Society. 

REMARKABLE LIFE OF ABRAHAM RUDDELL. 

Abraham Ruddell, of Independence County, had a career 
which the pen of J. Fennimore Cooper might have depicted as 
it deserved, but which my pen in the space allotted cannot ad-^ 
equately express. He was born as far west as white people at 
that time had found permanent homes. Far down on the Hol- 
stein in Virginia in a log house on August 3, 1774, he first saw 
the light of day. He never knew much about this home nor 
his parents, for on June 22, 1780, the Indians fell upon the 
little settlement and with savage ferocity tomahawked its resi- 
dents, carrying oflf as a prisoner the little curley-headed Abra- 
ham Ruddell. They carried him over into Kentucky and the 
same something that prompted his savage captors to spare his 
life, whatever that may have been, prompted the great Tecum- 
seh to not only further spare him, but to take him into his 
family as an adopted son. Strange fortune was this! Strange 
mutation of the Httle child's life. He grew up under Tecum- 
seh's eye and was trained by that renowned warrior in all the 
arts of Indian life and Indian warfare. He learned the lan- 
guage of the tribe, played the Indian boyhood games, and took 
part in all the Indian wars. He was an adept in the use of a 
tomahawk, though his white blood restrained him from its more 
barbarous uses. He was skilled with the bow and could contest 
favorably with all his dusky comrades. In the use of the rifle 
he had no superior and Tecumseh awarded him many happy 
encomiums. When the tribe fought other Indian tribes Ruddell 
fought at Tecumseh's side and fought well. He had no particle 
of cowardice in his system and was far more venturesome than 
even his savage friends. He was trained, however, to know 
that he was white, and Tecumseh always held out to him the 
fact that at some time he would go back to the whites to live 
the white man's life. So gentle was Tecumseh to him that he 
grew to love him and throughout his life had a warm vein of 
affection for the great warrior. When Tecumseh died there was 
one white man. at least, that sincerely mourned his death. 



340 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Logan, the Mingo, stood alone in his absolute lack of mournful 
friends; Tecumseh was mourned by his tribe and by Abraham 
Ruddell. For Tecumseh's brother, the prophet, Ruddell had 
a supreme contempt, and it was only his love for Tecumseh 
that kept him from openly showing his dislike. 

UVED SIXTEEN YEARS WITH INDIANS. 

After sixteen years of captivity under the provisions of 
Mad Anthony Wayne's treaty, he returned to the whites. His 
parting with Tecumseh was grievous, and each shook the hand 
of the other in proud good faith as they separated. Ruddell 
went back to his own people, a stranger in their midst. In Ken- 
tucky he started a new life, the white man's life with an added 
Indian education. His counsels were sought by the border 
woodsmen, and his Indian craft was used to circumvent the 
craft of the Indians. In 1811 he became a soldier of the 
United States and with the backwoodsmen of Virginia and 
Kentucky, with unerring rifles and forest tactics, marched with 
the brave and gallant Winchester into Canada. He was in the 
ever memorable fight of the Raisin and with others felt all 
the mortification of defeat. All day long his eye swept the 
field of savage faces hunting for the familiar face of Tecum- 
seh. At the risk of his life he would have tried to shake Te- 
cumseh's hand again. He had bullets for the Indians, but 
none for Tecumseh. But he saw not his friend, nor did he 
see that other, the Prophet, for whom he had saved a special 
bullet, and whom he would gladly have shot. Ruddell always 
attributed the prevalence of the Indian atrocities to the evil eye 
of the Prophet. 

MOVED TO ARKANSAS. 

In battle after battle the defeat was retrieved and the war 
cry "Remember the Raisin," became the rallying cry of all fu- 
ture combats. Ruddell served through the war and went back 
to his forest home to ever afterwards live a peaceful life. 
In 1 816 the Western fever attacked his neighborhood and with 
one accord they pulled up stakes and began a journey into the 
greater and newer West. Crossing the Mississippi below St. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 341 

Genevieve they took the old St. Louis and Washita road and 
turned South. One by one they found their Canaan and blazed 
their claims. RuddcU found his in the fairest part of what is now 
Independence County, in that township which will forever carry 
his name. Grand old Abraham Ruddell! Was there ever a 
man more respected in the county? 

UNIVERSALLY RESPECTED. 

Fent Noland, who knew him well, who gleaned the fore- 
going story from his lips, said, "No. He was a man of his 
word, honest and clean. He was never asked for a bond, and 
hated a liar. He was not only respected, but loved, and at 
his death, February 25, 1841, the whole county grieved. He 
loved the forest and spent the greater part of his time in its 
depths. He knew all the trees and communed with them; he 
knew the habits of all the birds and loved to imitate their music. 
Every flower of the county was known to him, not by its Latin, 
but by its loving backwoods name. Such a man had in him 
all the fire of a poet linked to the soul of a scientist. He never 
injured any man and all men were his friends. He could lie 
down in the forest, draw the drapery of a couch around him, 
and in the presence of the stars sleep that sleep which abounds 
only in pleasant dreams." 

Fent Noland was a clean man — a man of lofty, poetic ideals, 
and his testimonial to the character of Abraham Ruddell is one 
of the brightest parts of old Independence County history. He 
had several children, but at his death had but one sdn and one 
daughter living, who with his wife shed genuine tears of regret. 

He never sought office, and but one of the name, John 
Ruddell, is enrolled on the county's official roll. George Rud- 
dell was a citizen of Batesville in 1821. Abraham Ruddell's 
name marks the township in which Batesville stands, and that 
is a most signal honor. There on the hallowed ground where 
James Boswell, Richard Peel, Richard Searcy, Thomas Cur- 
ran, J. Redmon, Charles H. Pelham, Charles Kelly, J. Egner, 
John Read, Colonel Miller, J. L. Daniels, Robert Bruce, John 
and James Trimble, Colonel and Fent Noland, James Denton, 
Townsend Dickinson, William Moore, and other choice spirits 



342 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

of the earliest times met with him and lived with him — ^there 
was he buried amidst the most profound grief of his fellows. 
No more romantic character ever lived on Arkansas soil, and 
some rising Arkansas Octave Thanet will do credit to her name 
by writing a characteristic romance with Abraham Ruddell as 
its central figure. He was "The Last of the Mohicans," as 
it were, but his life story ought not to die. 

OTHER PIONEERS. 

In the same year that Ruddell passed away, in the last 
days of August another settler who came in with Ruddell in 
1816, but who settled in what is now Lawrence County, died and 
was buried, not with his fathers, but in a new graveyard in 
the west. His name was Nevill Way land and he left children to 
perpetuate his name. In October of 1840, at Spring Hill, Hemp- 
stead County, died Aquilla Davis in his sixtieth year, having 
lived in Arkansas twenty-four years. He left a large family 
and a most excellent name. His house was headquarters for 
all the young people and his hospitality knew no bounds. He 
was said to entertain a poor man equally as lavishly and with 
the same spirit that he entertained richer people. His cheerful- 
ness was his main characteristic and with this he made troops 
of friends. 

PHILANTHROPIST AND EMANCIPATOR. 

John Latta of Vineyard township, Washington County, 
moved to that neighborhood before it was organized as Wash- 
ington County. He came from Lexington, Kentucky, and was 
a man of wealth, as riches were counted in that day. The 
wiles of lovely women seem never to have ensnared him, either 
at Lexington or in Arkansas, for he died a bachelor, Septem- 
ber 23, 1834, in his forty-fourth year. He had imbibed many 
of the Henry Clay notions about slavery and was a great be- 
liever in the colonization of negroes in Africa. Not to be in- 
consistent he emancipated his slaves at his death, and not to 
be inhumane provided for them by a bequest of $2,500 in gold 
in his will. The hills of northwest Arkansas had no charms 
for these dusky freedmen and when they got their money they 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 343 

went back to Kentucky to live as freemen in the old haunts 
where they were bom. When men tell me of the horrors of 
the old time free negro surrounded by slaves, I cannot har- 
monize it with my own experiences. Although born in Ar- 
kansas I was taken back to Kentucky, her nativity, by my wid- 
owed mother in my fifth year. My earliest recollections are 
blended with the slave meetings on Sunday in Anderson County, 
where many of my white relatives were slaveowners. I re- 
member the white patrols clearly and distinctly, but never saw 
a disturbance at one of the gatherings and never heard of 
one, near enough to test it by actual visitation. The stories 
came from the distance as a rule and in most cases were pre- 
pared for a purpose. 

FREE NEGROES IN SI. AVE TIMES. 

Speaking of my own observations I remembered that there 
were many free negroes in Anderson County, some old and some 
young. They mingled with the slaves and paid workmen and 
had their own cabins in some prominent but neglected half- acre 
on the turjipike. The old free negro women made ginger 
cakes which they sold to travelers and the sweetest things I 
ever ate as a boy were these cakes made by the free negro 
women and sold to my people on county court days as we 
trooped to the county site to buy and sell the stock of the plan- 
tation. All ginger bread is good for a boy, but the best I ever 
had came from the source I have named, or from other free 
negroes at their booths on circus days. The free negroes of 
that day were fixtures and were never maltreated by the people, 
but on the contrary, when they were decent had the universal 
respect of all the citizens. When old Horace Witherspoon, 
the richest man in the county, got on one of his lordly sprees, 
and from the back of his thoroughbred rode through Lawrence- 
burg shooting out the lights in the houses, he never deigned 
to shoot the modest candles of old free negroes. At the first 
sound of a gun at night every light went out at once except 
those of the free negro cabins. The whites feared Wither- 
spoon's drunken hilarity, but the free negroes knew that he 
would never shoot at them. They, too, could approach him 



344 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

when drunk, and do more with "Mars Horace" at such mo- 
ments, than any of his brothers or friends. The old free 
''Aunt Sallies" and the "Free Bills" and the "Free Dicks" 
were numerous and they were as secure as the whites themselves. 
John Latta as a Kentuckian freed his negroes, provided for 
them in his will, and left $12,000 besides for his kin. All 
honor to this old Washington County humanitarian and phi- 
lanthropist. 

RANDOI.PH COUNTY. 

Randolph County was formed in 1835, but was settled at 
a date corresponding with the close of the second war with 
Great Britain, about the time of the creation of Lawrence 
County in 1815. Much of the interest of the early history of 
Arkansas clusters around the sombre stillness of Fourche de 
Mun and Fourche de Thomas. Many of the names which have 
added glory, interest and power to Arkansas are of those who 
settled originally in that part of Lawrence which is now Ran- 
dolph County, and by marriage and removal have become well 
known in other localities. 

One of the earliest Randolph settlers was Ransom Suther- 
land Bettis, who in February, 181 5, settled near where Poca- 
hontas now stands. He was bom in North Carolina in 1787 
and was twenty-eight years of age when he made his choice of 
a permanent home in the wilderness watered by the Black. 
Of a rugged and tempestuous ancestry in the Old North State 
he was trained to the life which was before him and never 
flinched from his purposes. He conquered the forest and cov- 
ered the lands he called his own, and made his holdings pro- 
ductive areas. He was a great marksman and hunted bear, 
deer and turkeys in the elemental days, when these animals 
roamed at will throughout all that region. He died at Poca- 
hontas respected and honored by all the community on March 
30, 1842, having lived twenty-seven years in that locality. 

EARI.Y LAWRENCE COUNTY BARBECUE. 

On July 4, 1821, at Fourche de Thomas, a great patriotic 
celebration was held. In their enthusiasm they imitated the 
builders of the Tower of Babel and raised a liberty pole higher 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 345 

than the surrounding trees. This pole stood for several years 
and was used for kindred purposes. It became one of the land- 
marks of the times. Jacob Shaler was made grand marshal 
and upon a Kentucky thorough-bred headed a procession of 
pioneers and put them through the evolution of infan- 
try tactics. Daniel Ploth read the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence in true ringing style and then invited all the 
people to his house for a genuine old-time barbecue dinner. 
Matheas Mock presided, assisted by Dr. -P. R. Pitman and Wil- 
liam Garrett. Toasts were drunk and the interludes enlivened 
by martial music and volleys of musketry. A stranger witness- 
ing the scene would have said that patriotism can never die 
when nurtured by celebrations such as these. Many in the 
crowd were wild and reckless, ready at all times for a fight or 
a frolic, but honest, patient and true after their fashion under 
difficulties that would have dazed the hero of today. 

FOUNDER OF BATESVII<I.E. 

It was in Batesville that Hon. J. Woodson Bates settled 
in 1 819, and where he lived for about fifteen years. At a bar- 
becue in 1830 at this town Col. A. S. Walker spoke eloquently 
to the following toast: "To Judge Bates, the Man of Science 
— the Man of Hospitality; on the Bench the Guardian of the 
People's Rights." 

John C. Calhoun said of Bates in 1820: 

"He was a man of eminent acquirements and naturally of 
a legislative turn of mind.'' Judge Ringgold also lived at 
Batesville. His family was a most estimable one and added 
much to the charm and graces of Batesville society. Richard 
Searcy, one of the most eminent of the territorial lawyers, 
also lived at this ancient town, .but was cut off in the midst of 
his usefulness. He died July 25, 1833, ^^ ^^s sixty-sixth year, 
having spent twenty of these in Arkansas, beginning as a boy 
at Davidsonville at its beginning. He came from Tennessee 
and was a son of a Revolutionary patriot. By personal merit 
and moral worth he gained the esteem of all who knew him. 
His name was a household word at the time of his death. 
William E. Woodruff said of him: "While clerk of Lawrence 



346 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

County he studied law; was made a judge, and as such had 
sound judgment, unwavering fidelity and correct decision. He 
resigned office to practice law and was eminently successful. 
His life was marked by industry, capability and excellence of 
character/' 

James Searcy, his brother, died in Batesville in 1837, leav- 
ing his wife and a large family of children. 

James Trimble was another Lawrence County pioneer, 
locating near where Batesville stands, in 181 5. His wife, Eliz- 
abeth, was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, and died at 
Batesville in 1836, being forty-seven years of age. Trimble 
was of an old and distinguished family of Kentuckians. 

FIRST ACADEMY AT BATH:SVILI^. 

Through the influence of Col. Wilfiam Noland, Professor 
^A. W. Lyon of Nassau Hall, New Jersey, was induced to 
come to Batesville in 1828. He conducted a high-grade acad- 
emy there for many years, which in 1836, was incorporated as 
the Batesville Academy. This was the first incorporated in- 
stitution of learning in the State and had a long and useful 
career. Its first trustees were: Aaron W. Lyon, Isaac Fol- 
som, Joseph H. Egner, Charles- MqArthwr, Lawson Ander- 
son, Charles H. Pelham and William Moore. The earliest 
social and educational forces found their best environment in 
Lawrence and Independence counties from 1815 to 1840. 

INDIAN-KIGHTING OI.D PIONEER. 

The name Magness is inseparably connected with Law- 
rence and Independence counties. Magness was a Tennes- 
seean and an Indian fighter of the old Davidson district. From 
1782 to 1804 Tennessee was bloody ground and the Lindsey, 
Fletcher, Lafferty and Magness families were always in the 
thickest of the fight. Three Thomas Fletchers and two Laf- 
fertys were scalped in cold blood. 

Robert Magness was the Arkansas pioneer of that name, 
having moved to Lawrence County in 1815, settling in Oil 
Trou.f^h Bottom, now in Independence County. He was not 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 2tA7 

only an Indian fighter, but a feudist, and was mixed up in 
Tennessee with several of the feuds between Andrew Jackson 
^And Jesse and Thomas Benton. He was lord of all he sur- 
veyed in Lawrence County for many years and died June 22, 
1837, ^" his seventy-second year, at the house of his daughter, 
Mrs. Hardin. The German hunter, Gerstaecker, has left some 
good stories of the old man and his children, whych will for- 
ever be of interest to Arkansas readers. Morgan Magness 
was a member of the territorial legislature of 1831 and 1833 
and also of the State legislature in 1838, serving with Fent 
Noland; member of the Senate 1840-44. Perry G. Magness 
was one of the commissioners in 1820 to point out a suitable 
place for the court house for Independence County. 

DEATHS IN 1820 AND 182I. 

During the years the following persons died in Arkansas 
after a residence of from three to five years : Hempstead County, 
1820, John McClain, John Rowen, George Berry and Benja- 
min Pool. In 1 82 1, William D. Craig, John Humphries and 
Andrew Shaddy. In Arkansas County: 1820, John Dortolan 
and Joseph Cook. At Davidsonville, 1821, Col. Stuart. In 
Conway County, Miss Xancy Bentley, daughter of George Bent- 
ley of Virginia, and Skelton T. De Moss. This gentleman had 
lived in the State for many years and had large interests at 
the mouth of the Arkansas and at Cadron. Neal McLane 
died at Little Rock November 21, 182 1* at the age of twenty- 
nine. He had only been in the State a «hort time, having come 
in on the invitation of Robert Crittenden. He was a lawyer 
of blameless life, and was said to have been appointed circuit 
judge before he moved to the territory. He undoubtedly acted 
as judge, but the nature of his appointment is problematical. 
He was born in New Hampshire, but had lived in Kentucky 
for three or four years. 

On August I, 1821, a quaint old German citizen died at 
Little Rock. His name was Christian E. Zoeller, born at Em- 
mendengen in 1758. He was a noted man in his way, having 
served in the German army and possessing a small estate. He 
had $1,241 in gold at his death, which was sent to his relatives. 



348 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

All of the aforementioned people left property and nearly all 
of them left descendants. Born in various parts of the world, 
their bodies lie in forgotten graves in diflFerent sections o£^ 
Arkansas. The strenuosity of life is fully equally by the streiS** 
uosity of death. 



CHAPTER XLI. 
The Wilson Family. 

Arkansas history connotes many names of the family, Wil- 
son, and this article musi be specially tabbed so as to avoid 
confusion. It applies directly to the family of Judge Robert B. 
Wilson of Russellville, Arkansas, but in its entirety may over- 
lap and include much of the history of other Arkansas Wilsons. 

To begin with, the word, Wilson, finds its oldest explica- 
tion in the oldest Norse Sagas, and in the remotest antiquity of 
the Norsemen connects itself with the gods. Antiquity is a 
very relative term ; in America it cannot mean more than a trifle 
beyond three hundred years, so far as European-American 
descendants are concerned; in England, it may mean the Nor- 
man Conquest of the eleventh century, or by an easy stretch of 
the imagination, may mean the conquest of Great Britian by 
the Angles and Saxons from the sixth to the ninth century. 
What was the antiquity of Great Britain prior to the sixth cen- 
tury? The Jews show an antiquity four thousand six hundred 
years greater than this, and the Aryan race certainly had an ex- 
istence in other parts of the world than Asia-Minor. 

The Wilsons have been seated in Scotland from a time 
whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, and 
they have been seated in England for almost the same time. • 
Their residence in Ireland cannot go behind the reign of Wil- 
liam the 3d, and is of Scottish origin. The kinship of the Scotch 
and English Wilsons cannot be told with any degree of accu- 
racy. Geographically they are as follows: In Scotland they 
inhabited the Great Shire of Inverness, the Royal Burgh of 
Lanark, the Royal Burgh of St. Andrews, the Burgh of Fort- 
rose and the County of Fife of which Dunfermline was their 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 349 

habitat; in England the Wilsons have a most remote residence 
in the Shires Kent, Suffolk, Westmoreland, Sussex, Northum- 
berland, Herts, Berks, Yorkshire and London. The residence 
in Scotland antedates the year 1000 A. D., and in England, the 
year 1200 A. D. They are a prolific and virile race, and the 
evidence points to a common Norse origin. The English and 
Scottish coats of arms are numerous and they all agree upon 
a wolf, or a demi-wolf salient. The crests and mottoes differ 
slightly, and taken with the arms seem to prove a common 
origin. The common arms may be represented by a demi-wolf 
salient or, holding between ihe claws a crescent sa. The Scot- 
tish arms are simply a wolf salient or, with a motto, Expecta 
cuncta superne. The Irish arms, derived from the Scottish are 
a wolf rampant az. on a chief indented of the last three estoilles 
of the field. The Irish crest is a demi-wolf rampant, per pale 
indenteJ arg. and az. with a motto, Pollet virtus. 

As we are interested in the Scottish line more than the Eng- 
lish or Irish, we shall not pursue this investigation further, but 
bring ourselves more clearly within the lines of sure historic 
sequence. 

Alexander Wilson was the first professor of Astronomy 
at the University of Glasgow in 1714; Alexander Wilson was a 
distinguished ornithologist of Paisley of 1766; Andrew Wilson, 
son of Gabriel and Rachel (Corsar) Wilson was a distinguished 
physician and author, graduating from the University of Edin- 
burgh in 1749; Arthur Wilson, 1595-1652 was a distinguished 
historian and dramatist. But to enumerate all the great men of 
the name Wilson from Scottish soil would take more space 
than we can allow. It is enough to say that the name is and has 
been one of luster, fame and renown. In the humble walks of 
life the Wilsons of Scotland have been above reproach. 

In 1692, James Wilson, was a shipmaster in Glasgow; 
two years prior to that we find John Wilson a bailiff of Dun- 
fermline; in 1684, P. A. Wilson was clerk of the Royal Burgh 
of St. Andrews; in the same year David Wilson was treasurer 
of the Royal Burgh of Haddington, and Geqrge Wilson, a mer- 
chant therein; in 1636, Archibald Wilson was baillee of Queens 



350 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Ferry, Burgh of Inverness; in 1692, Alexander Wilson was clerk 
of the Burgh of Lanark, of which Glasgow was the center; in 
171 1, John Wilson, Sr., John Wilson, Jr., and Robert Wilson 
were Councillors of the Burgh of Fortrose; in 1724 John and 
James Wilson were Councillors of Dunfermline Fifeshire. This 
John Wilson was a descendant of an ancient John Wilson who 
migrated to Rashee, Country Antrim, Ireland. This John Wil- 
son of Ireland married Barbara, daughter of Andrew Porter, 
and died in 1692, leaving children, Frances, Hugh, Robert, 
Thomas, James, Janet and Susan. With none of these are we 
concerned save the third child, Robert, who returned to Dun- 
fennline and married Jane Ramsey in 1722, and had children 
William, John, Hugh and Richard, which last child married 
Janet Ross in 1752 and moved to Virginia. Richard Wilson 
cast his fortunes with Scotland in its rebellion against England, 
and when his cause went down in defeat, suffered severely as 
to his landed estates. He found refuge in the American col- 
onies, seating himself in the county of King and Queen in the 
royal province or colony of Virginia. In the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries the Wilson family, although not of the 
major or minor gentry of Scotland, distinguished itself in war, 
medicine, law, divinity, science, mechanics, landscape painting, 
poetry, commerce, manufactures and tlhe drama. The great 
Christopher North of Blackwood Magazine, was really none 
other than John Wilson of Scotland, ihe son of a commoner. 
The son of a Scottish fisherman Wilson gave the world another 
Wilson who stood pre-eminent in divinity. They were greai 
soldiers, great lawyers, great preachers, great astronomers, 
great ornithologists, great poets, great shipmasters and great 
thinkers. It is remarkable also that tihese Scottish Wilsons 
produced a great many women who have come dow^n to the 
world as equally eminent with the men carrying that name. 
The Wilsons were men of the "craft" in opposition to the men 
of the "clan'' and added most to the glory of England. 

In the new world Richard Wilson and his good wife set 
about to improve their fortunes as best they could, and through 
their relations with the Ross family in Scotland, obtained grants 



Pioneers and Makers o f Arkansas 351 

to land in the wilds of Virginia. How many children Richard 
Wilson had is not known but he was certainly the father of 
James, Elizabeth and Nellie Wilson, whose after fortunes were 
connected with Fluvanna County, Virginia, and of Hugh Wil- 
son, who was killed and scalped by the Indians, an unmarried 
man, March 5, 1776, near Harrodsburg, Kentucky. He may 
have been the father of Robert and Archibald Wilson of Orange 
County. Richard Wilson afterwards moved to Amherst County 
where he died. James Wilson was in all probability born in 
King and Queen County, Virginia, about 1756, and married 
there Anna Kidd, a daughter of Jesse Kidd, another Jacobite 
sufferer from the Scottish wars. Jesse Kidd afterwards moved 
into Fluvanna, where he died leaving a large family. James 
Wilson grew to manhood in King and Queen and after his mar- 
riage removed to Fluvanna. In Deed Book No. 2, page 120 of 
the Fluvanna land records is a deed from Richard Bennett of 
Henrico, to James Wilson of Fluvanna, for two hundred and fif- 
teen acres on Ballingers Creek, called Bold Branch, dated April 
7, 1786. James Wilson had a residence in Fluvanna prior to 
this date. The consideration for this property was eighty 
pounds sterling, and by and through it are we enabled to con- 
nect this line of the Wilson family with its ancient forbears. 

In the county clerk's office I was introduced by the very 
police clerk, Mr. Slaughter, (a man who has held this position 
since 1875) to Mr. David Wilson, an old man of eighty years. 
I asked Mr. Wilson if he had ever heard of Mr. Barnett Wil- 
son, and he answered that Barnett Wilson was his uncle, and 
a brother of his father, John Wilson. I asked him further if 
he could give me the name of the father of John and Barnett 
Wilson. He answered that he .could not. I then read him 
the description of the land granted by Bennett to James Wilson 
in 1786 and he at once brightened up saying: "Jo^^r* ^"^1 Bar- 
nett Wilson were born on that fanii, and it remained in our 
family for nearly a century.'* This settled the question of James 
Wilson's relation to John and Barnett Wilson with whom we 
shall have more to say. It appeared strange to me that a man 
could live eighty years in a neighborhood, own the ancestral 



352 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

farm on which his grandfather was buried, within five miles 
always of the county court records, and yet not know the name 
of his grandfather. David Wilson had all these advantages to 
his credit and yet could not give me the name of any ancestor 
behind his father. This is a common experience of mine and 
shows that family pride, in Virginia and elsewhere is not what 
it ought to be. 

From the minute book of the Fluvanna county court re- 
cord it appears that James Wilson was a surveyor and a man 
of considerable parts. His immediate neighbors were John A. 
Strange, Micajah Bragg, John Ross, John Glass, Archibald 
Glass, James Glass, Sr., Joshua Bethell, John Fones, Allen Q. 
Lindsey, Zaccheus Watson, Jesse B. Barnerd and Joseph Pace, 
nearly all from S^tland. As a surveyor he was frequently 
selected to collect the tithes of these men, and also to employ 
their tithables as a surveyor of roads from Lindsey s to Broken 
Back Church. There is a station called Lindsey on the Chesa- 
peake & Ohio railroad in Albermarle County, and it is supposed 
that this county road ran from that neighborhood to the neigh- 
borhood of Kents in Fluvanna. At all events James Wilson sur- 
veyed the road from Lindseys to Broken Back Church in April, 
1799, more than one hundred and eight years ago. Over the 
same track or nearly so, the Viriginia Air Line railroad is now 
building its line from Lindsey in Albermarle to Bremo on the 
James, thus treating the descendants of these old people to the 
first screech of the locomotive that region has ever known. 
James Wilson was frequently chosen to other places of honor 
and frust by his friends and neighbors between 1782 and 1820, 
his greatest service to the people being the survey of the old 
roads, which in all probability are the very county roads now in 
use today. 

In 1782, Joseph Wilson was given a grant of fifteen hun- 
dred acres of land on Birds Creek, Fluvanna County, as appears 
from Book No. 8, page 324 of the Fluvanna land records. Who 
Joseph Wilson was, I am unable to say, and this appears to have 
been the opinion of the old residents of Fluvanna County. Cer- 
tain it is that in 1806, he appeared before the county court and 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 353 

asked for a resurvey of his land, which request was granted. 
Joseph Wilson then disappeared from Fluvanna County, going 
back to Scotland or to parts unknown. What became of him 
history knoweth not. Certain it is that between 1818 and 1823 
his lands were regularly forfeited to the State of Virginia over 
the signature of twelve of its best citizens. These citizens re- 
cite that Joseph Wilson was the owner of these lands by grant, 
that for seven years his whereabouts had been unknown, and 
that he was without kindred in Fluvanna County. This seems 
to settle the question that Joseph Wilson was of no kin to James 
Wilson of Fluvanna, or to Jonathan Wilson of Cumberland. 

We are interested to know what became of Elizabeth and 
Nellie Wilson, daughters of Richard Wilson of King and Queen, 
and sisters of James Wilson of Fluvanna, and but for the will 
of James Ross, of Seven Islands, Fluvanna County, dated June 
4, 1800, and recorded in Book No. i, page 192 of Fluvanna wills, 
we might flounder in the great sea of uncertainty forever. That 
will, however, enlightens us, not only as to a part of the after 
history of these girls, but opens up an avenue by which the Wil- 
sons run back to the Earldom of Ross and align themselves 
with the greater clansmen of Scotland. In this will James Ross 
recites that he is a brother of Daniel Ross, late of the West 
Indies, and also a brother of David Ross, one of the greatest 
landholders of Virginia. James Ross states that during his 
younger life he managed the interests of his brother, Daniel, 
in the West Indies, and that later on during the Revolutionary 
War, he came to Virginia to perform the same office for his 
brother, David. He seemed to think that his management had 
a value, and Daniel and David seemed to have agreed with him, 
for according to his statement they settled an annuity of one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds sterling a year on him for life. James must 
have worked hard for he tells us that he needed a rest and that 
this annuity was given him in order that he might take this rest 
in Glasgow, Scotland. He recites that the annuity was paid for 
a great number of years, until the death of Daniel, who, he says, 
left money in the hands of David to effectuate it. David, how- 
ever, seems to have let it lapse, and James, unable to live in 



354 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Glasgow without money, came back to Virginia, where David 
located him upon the Seven Islands in the James, not many 
miles from the farm which President Roosevelt, or his wife, has 
purchased in Albemarle County, Virginia. On this farm David 
seems to have paid part of the annuity and to have used James 
in many other ways, the principal one being to send him to Great 
Britain for artificers and helpers for his land schemes in Vir- 
ginia. In due time James Ross came to his death bed and in 
view of this^ made the will from which the preceding historical 
items are gathered. When he came to dispose of his estate, 
being a bachelor, he selected those who were his nearest kin, 
and at the same time nearest in geographical location. He 
gave Nellie and Elizabeth Wilson all his household goods and 
each a cow and calf; he gave James Wilson, their brother, a 
white horse and his wearing apparel, reserving his gold shoe 
buckles for his nephew, James Oolquhoun (pronounced Co- 
whoon) of Glasgow, Scotland. He then gave all the residue of 
his estate including the amount due from his brother David on 
his annuity and the amount due from services connected with 
the Great Britain promoting expedition to James, Elizabeth and 
Nellie Wilson. Now James Wilson lived diagonally across the 
County Fluvanna in its northeastern extremity, and Elizabeth 
and Nellie lived in the same neighborhood, while the Seven Is- 
lands were in the James river at the southwestern end of the 
line, fully forty miles away. The question arises why should 
James Ross select James, Elizabeth and Nellie Wilson as his 
legatees, renouncing all his other relatives, except James Colqu- 
houn, unless they were his nearest of kin in Virginia, with the 
exception of brother and his children who did not need his 
help? This deed of gift taken in connection with the fact 
that the father of James Wilson married Agnes Ross seems to 
establish the fact, that Agnes Ross was a sister of James, Daniel, 
David and Peter Ross, and that James, Elizabth and Nellie Wil- 
son were nephew and nieces of the testator, James Ross. In 
order that there might be no confusion as to Elizabeth and Nel- 
lie Wilson, James Ross made a codicil to his will in which he , 
more particularly identified them. He said that Elizabeth Wil- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 355 

son had married Joseph Scott of Fluvanna County, and that 
Xellie Wilson had married James Farrow of the same county. 
This great particularity of James Ross further fortifies the con- 
clusion that these women were of the clan Anrias or Ross, 
his near kinswomen, the ones to whom he was determined his 
estate should go. 

This seems to align the family, Wilson, with the old clan An- 
rias or Ross of Scotland. Authorities differ as to the origin of 
this great Scottish clan. A county in Scotland still bears its 
name and its history as to origin is lost in the very remotest 
antiquity. The old Norse Sagas contain references to the fam- 
ily Ross, and the better opinion is that the Ross family is of 
Norse origin ; that it conquered a foothold in Northern Scotland 
in days when the old Celtish clansmen were forming their habi- 
lats in that place. Other authorities claim for it a pure Gaelic 
origin, but they are not well fortified with facts. Whatever its 
origin may have been the clan Anrias or Ross goes back to the 
very beginning of the Clans in Scotland, and has equal glory 
with that of Mackenzie, Macgregor, MacKinnon and the two 
score or more great clans uix)n which the glory of ancient Scot- 
land seems to rest. After centuries of clan life the Earls of 
Ross w^ere accused of treason to the English King and forfeited 
their political rights. These Earls of Ross were numerous 
governing with almost unlimited power in what is now Rosshire, 
Inverness and Nairn, Scotland. A favorite baptismal name of 
the Rosses was Hugh, a name which as we shall see has clung 
to the Wilson family to this good day. The Rosses forfeited 
their estate in the fifteenth century at a time when their retainers 
numbered about eight hundred fighting men, all kinsmen and 
part of the clan. With the forfeiture, the Earls of Ross and 
their nearest of kin became simply great lanvlholders, and parts 
of the major and minor gentry of Scotland. The commonalty 
of the Ross family unable to prove its descent by pedigree were 
enrolled under the banner of the clan MacKenzie, but while 
carrying a new name, after the advent of surnames, really car- 
ried Ross blood. The major and minor gentry, however, had 
pedigrees, and although without legal right to the title earl or 



356 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

lord, still used it, and were still given it by their immediate friends. 
In 1692, James Ross was Burgess of Nairn; in 1708 in the Burgh 
of Fane, fourteen Rosses were connected with the government of 
the burgh. Their principal citizen was William, otherwise Lord 
Ross, who at that time was not ashamed to be styled a merchai^t. 
Others of the name in the same burgh were Charles, Alexander, 
Thomas, Robert, Alalcomb, David and Andrew. Two Davids 
appear in this roll of honor, David Ross, late treasurer of In- 
verchasley, and David Ross of Balingowan, the father of David, 
James, Daniel, Peter and Agnes heretofore named. The anns 
of the Earls Ross were: Gules, three lions rampant arg. The 
Roses as well as the Wilsons seem to have been a sept of the 
Rosses. Daniel Ross, died and was buried in the West Indies ; 
James Ross was buried on the Seven Islands in the James ; 
Agnes Wilson, nee Ross, was buried in Amherst, while David 
Ross was buried in Henrico. From the Land Books of Flu- 
vanna for 1796 I have calculated more than thirty-two thousand 
acres of land as the property of David Ross, which property he 
sold prior to 1830, when but two hundred and fifiy acres w^ere 
assessed to his name. The greatest chancery suit ever known in 
Fluvanna County was that of Ross vs. McLachlen and Quarles. 
As early as 1782, David Ross formed a partnership with Allen 
McLachlen to conduct a trading post in Fluvanna County at the 
Place of the Fork, now Columbia on the James. Columbia to- 
day is a town of possibly a hundred and fifty souls, but in times 
past was strong enough to secure within one vote of as many 
74gQtes in the Legislature of Virginia for the location of the capital 



^Jggtes 



jthe Commonwealth as did Richmond. At Columbia Ross 
and McLachlen carried on their mercantile busines for more 
than twenty years, -^d seemed to have settled it satisfactorily, 
before the death of McLachlen. When McLachlen died Quarles 
was made his executor, and he refused to carry out the settle- 
ment. A suit ensued which was settled forty years after, when 
both Ross and Quarles had passed away. David Ross was a 
member of the House of Delegates from Fluvanna in 1781 and 
1783. He was a married man and certainly had one daughter 
to whom he gave the estate called "Solitude," twenty-five hun- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 357 

dred acres just west of Palmyra. He may have had a son 
David, who married Frances, a daughter of James Wilson, but 
this is not sure. James Wilson himself carried the Ross 
blood, but the evidence seems to point to the fact that the David 
Ross who married his daughter, Frances, was a son of Peter 
Ross. David Ross, Jr., died in 1857 leaving a son, James Wil- 
son Ross. In the census of 1810 David Ross is enumerated im- 
mediately after Peter Ross ; Peter being forty-five years of age 
and over, with twelve slaves, while David was twenty-six and 
under forty-five, owning one slave. 

The descendants of Elizabeth Wilson who married Joseph 
Scott, and of Nellie Wilson who married James Farrow still 
ramify Fluvanna County, but I have not husied myself to trace 
their lines. 

James Wilson seems to have died about the year 1820 and 
his wife, Anna (Kidd) Wilson, about 1821. Their children 
were Hugh, Barnett, John, Walker, Elizabeth, Frances, Rachel, 
Joannah and Rebecca. Hugh Wilson died before he reached 
his maturity but the others were all married and became the 
heads of families. In Book No. 8, page 372 of the Fluvanna 
land records, a power of attorney is set out, dated October 27, 
1823, from the heirs and children of Anna Wilson, deceased, to 
Barnett Wilson, one of ihe children and heirs, authorizing him 
to proceed to King and Queen County and collect their interests 
in the estate of a bachelor uncle, Bartholomew Kidd. This in- 
strument recites that the children named are all children of-^ 
James and Anna (Kidd) Wilson. It shows that Elizabeth \aM 
a minor, and on another page in the same book the fact appliN^ 
that she had ch(3sen Barnett Wilson, her brother, as her guard- 
ian. Walker Wilson was not present, but the instrument recites 
that he was in the West and had empowered Barnett Wilson to 
act as his attorney in fact. 

Not all of the marriage dates of this family are to be found 
in the Fluvanna records, but the most of them are. These re- 
cords show that John Wilson married Nancy W. Johnson on 
December 18. 1822; that Elizabeth Wilson married Peter R. 
Johnson on December 16, 1823; thi^ Prances married David 



3S8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Ross on January 20, 1803; that Joannah married John White 
on December 22, 1807; that Rebecca married David White on 
November 20, 1821. The power of attorney shows that Fran- 
ces, Rachel, Joannah and Rebecca married the men named, 
and their names, the husbands, are signed to the instrument. 
When Rachel married William Sadler is not shown in the 
marriage license record, but 'the power of attorney shows that 
William Sadler was the husband of Rachel. The children of 
Frances, Rachel, Joannah, Rebecca and Elizabeth are widely 
scattered over Fluvanna County, and many of them have mi- 
grated to other States. Walker Wilson married in the West 
and his descendants are now in Texas. John Wilson who mar- 
ried Nancy Johnson had several children, William, John Morti- 
mer, David, Daniel Sarah Ann, Tranquilla and Betty. David 
is still alive, residing near Palmyra, Virginia. William left two 
descendants; John Mortimer married and left two daughters; 
Daniel married and left three daughters; Sarah i\nn Tranquilla 
married John F. Ohmohundro and Betty married Harvey King, 
leaving a descendant now in the Senate of Virginia and a promi- 
enent lawyer at Clifton Forge. 

Why James Wilson selected a habitat in Fluvanna County, 
Virginia, may never be known. His kinship to David Ross may 
have a bearing upon the question, and the old coal and gold 
mines of Fluvanna and Goochland may also have been an in- 
fluencing cause. It is a well known fact that the earliest min- 
ing of coal and gold in the United States was in this region, al- 
though the industry, so far as these counties are concerned lan- 
guishes today. Wilson Town, Carnwath Parish, Lanark- 
shire, Scotland is a town nearly three centuries^ old. famous for 
its iron works and established by the Wilsons. John Wilson 
was a minister in Lanarkshire in the parish of Crawfordjohn 
as early as 1647 ^"^ had for his patron, Lord Selkirk. Lanark- 
shire and Renfrewshire have been the seating place of Wilsons 
for four hundred years, some preachers, and some soldiers, but 
for the most part merchants, shipmasters and manufacturers of 
either iron or cloth. John Wilson of Dunfermline invented the 
fly shuttle and made a new epoch in the art of weaving. The 
crown invested him with many honors and the burgh looked 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 359 

upon him as one who had contributed most largely to the glory 
of the town. Wilson's School on New Row, Dunfermline, was 
created by a Wilson, for the free education of Dunfermline 
children, specially those bearing the name Wilson. On Novem- 
ber 17, 1613, the weavers of Dunfermline met and prescribed the 
width of table cloths and bed spreads, and among the signatures 
of those present we find the names of John and Andrew Wil- 
son. Fourteen years before this, this same body met and pro- 
hibited the exportation of wool. It will thus be seen that the 
Wilsons of Scotland have done much for the commerce of Eng- 
land, and this same craft spirit may have led James Wilson into 
Fluvanna. But the old Wilson spirit was not entirely com- 
mercial, for Scotch Wilsons have made great captains, great 
colonels, and even great generals in the English army. This 
martial spirit animated James Wilson during the Revolutionary 
War, leading him to enroll himself in the Virginia line to fight 
against Great Britain, even as his father had done in Scotland. 
He was a private in the infantry line and by the Act of Congress 
of March 18, 1818, was placed upon the pension rolls of the 
United States, but died within two years after his enrollment. 
In Document 44 of the Proceedings of rhe House of Delegates 
of Virginia for 1834-1835, it is set out that James Wilson was 
entitled to State land for military services in the War of the 
Revolution but that he never received it. 

Other Wilsons from Scotland settled on the lower James 
many years before Richard Wilson entered King and Queen, 
some of whom became distinguished in early colonial his- 
tory. The great Miles Carey, Rector of William and Marys 
College, married one of these and became the proprietor of 
Carey's Ford, Fluvanna County, one of the most noted seating 
places of the old Virginia landed gentlemen. Descendants of 
his in 1810 had one hundred and seventy-four slaves, by far 
the largest number of slaves owned by any family in Fluvanna; 
next to the Careys stood Joseph Haden with forty-two; then 
Patrick Woodson with thirty-six; then George Holman with 
thirty; then James Quarles with twenty-seven. These in their 
day held themselves as of a higher social stratum than others 



360 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

owning a lesser number of slaves. A very large number 
owned from fifteen to twenty-five slaves, among whom was 
James Wilson with seventeen. It is interesting to note that the 
fewest number of families in the old slave States owned fifteen 
or more slaves. In Westmoreland County in 1782, there were 
two hundred eighty-nine slaveholders owning less than ten slaves 
and but fifty-six who owned ten or more. The average size of 
slaveholding in most counties was but nine. In fact on most of 
the slaveholding estates there were more whites than blacks, and 
an estate having more blacks than whites came to be called a plan- 
tation, while an estate having more whites than blacks was but 
a farm. Every slaveholder who owned fifteen or more negroes 
v^ras called "Esquire," and "Planter." In addition to this he 
was in nearly every case a social dignitary. This mingling of the 
economic and social currents was characteristic of Southern ante- 
bellum communities, and James Wilson enjoyed the privileges 
and immunities of his day. He was an economic success and a 
man of high social standing. 

James Wilson died in 1820 in his sixty-fifth year, honored 
by all his fellow citizens and lamented by a respectable family of 
children and relatives. He certainly did his part for country 
and home and his descendants have every reason to be proud 
of his memory. The division of his estate among eight or nine 
children gave each of them a fair beginning in life but not 
enough to entitle them to the social position of their father. 

Barnett Wilson. 

This brings us to Bamett Wilson whose life connects itself 
more closely with Robert B. Wilson of Arkansas. The mar- 
riage license records of Fluvanna do not show the date of his 
marriage but the traditions are that he married in Goochland 
County in either 181 3 or 18 14. His farm was on the line be- 
tween Goochland and Fluvanna, and in various deeds he is some- 
times described as Barnett Wilson of Goochland and at other 
times as Barnett Wilson of Fluvanna. He married Elizabeth or 
Polly Parrish, daughter of Anderson Parrish of Fluvanna and 
Goochland. The Parrishes were an old and respectable family 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 361 

of Virginia, landholders and slaveholders, but I have not been 
able to trace them back to their landing. The first act of Bar- 
nett Wilson after his marriage was to purchase ten acres of 
land on Bird's Creek in a different part of the county from that 
in which his father and other relatives were then seated. The 
land adjoined his father-in-law, Anderson Parrish, and was 
partly in Goochland and partly in Fluvanna. In 1835, Ander- 
son Parrish deeded to Barnett Wilson of Goochland County one 
hundred and sixty acres of land in Fluvanna County. In the 
census of 1830, Barnett Wilson was described as of Fluvanna 
County with seven children, five males and two females, having 
a wife, each head of the family being between thirty and forty 
years of age. In that enumeration he was the owner of four 
slaves, which seems to prove that he had determined upon an 
agricultural life. That he had the confidence of his brothers 
and sisters, their husbands and wives is fully proven by the 
power of attorney heretofore referred to. This would also 
seem to indicate that he was a man of good business judgment, 
with mental parts far above mediocrity. He was reputed to have 
been a Baptist in good standing with his church and was cer- 
tainly a Democrat. Both he and his wife died in Virginia on 
their old home farm where they were buried, leaving the follow- 
ing children : Hugh, Benjamin Franklin, John T., Martha, 
Judson and Lucy. Hugh emigrated to Shelby County, Tennes- 
see, where he married and lived until the war; he enrolled hini- 
self in the Confederate Army and died in that service. John 
T. Wilson also emigrated to Shelby County, Tennessee, where 
he married Sally W. Williams. After residing in Shelby Coun- 
ty for several years he moved to Arkansas, where he died in 
1857 or 1858 ; his widow is still living at Atkins in Pope County. 
Judson Wilson married and became the father of one child ; he 
joined the Confederate Army in 1861 and remained with it for 
nearly four years, being killed in one of the last battles. Be- 
fore the battle he had a premonition that he would be killed and 
gave his watch and ring to a fellow officer to give to his wife, 
which was done. His wife remarried after the war and went 
to South America. 



362 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Martha Wilson married a Richardson, a descendant of one 
of the gentlemen justices of Fluvanna County, Virginia, and 
died a few years after the war. Lucy Wilson about che begin- 
ning of the war married William Knuckles, and with him made 
her residence at Richmond, Virginia, where she died in 1887. 
This leaves Benjamin Franklin Wilson of whose career it is 
now our purpose to write. This leads us to remark. 

Richard Wilson of King and Queen County, and James 
Wilson of Fluvanna, ancestors in a direct line of Barnett Wilson, 
were each in their day, far more eminent men in tneir councies 
than was Barnett or any of his brothers. James Wilson was 
easily the equal of any man in Fluvanna in his day, not except- 
ing any of the Careys, who excelled him alone in wealth and 
education. James Wilson was a man of honor, chivalry, 
spirit, energy, courage, and of eminent hospitality. His sons 
had all these characteristics, but fifty years make a remarkable 
difference in conditions. James Wilson had a county for his 
field of operation, and in that field he never failed to prove his 
worth. His children had a narrow field — a neighborhood — and 
were satisfied with their lot. Self satisfaction not only accounts 
for differences in condition but also creiaies new differences. 
They, these Wilson children, like their father were honorable, 
slightly less chivalric, immensely less spirited, somewhat less 
energetic, equally hospitable, but in a different kind. James, 
the father, entertained his friends throughout Fluvanna, and 
even entertained his friend William Boiling, whose fine estate on 
the James was everywhere known as ''Boiling Hall," and w^hich 
through the centuries has cast a glamour of glory around its 
owner. Barnett Wilson and his brothers entertained their church 
friends on Sundays with splendid hospitality, but it was only 
their church friends. You can not separate a true Virginian 
from hospitality in some one of its forms, and Barnett Wilson, 
unable to meet the larger demands of the term, limited himself 
to the church form, that generosity of spirit which invited to his 
home troops of Baptists after the regular church services of 
the Lord's Day. Virginia hospitality whether of the older form 
of the day of James Wilson, or of the younger form of the day 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 363 

of his son, Barnett, cost the man who exercised it far more than 
it yielded of absolute value. Every great Sunday dinner cost 
Barnett Wilson more than it yielded him. He could ill afford 
to give the dinner but as a Virginian he could not escape the 
law which bound him, nor did he wish to escape it. He must 
entertain, and be it said to his credit he loved to entertain, and 
throughout his life he held himself in the ranks of old time 
Virginians bound by the laws of old time Virginia hospitality. 
Like a valiant hero, although without ability to do so, he main- 
tained every forni of Virginia life, and died a true Virginian, a 
splendid representative of the old time F. F. Vs. His children, 
however, went West to escape the calls of hospitality as de- 
manded by the code, and to make for themselves an estate and a 
name. Some of them, as has been outlined, died on the field of 
martial glory, fighting for the glorious unfortunate Confederate 
Cause, leaving names that are immortal. Benjamin Franklin 
Wilson stuck to his estate, loving it, nursing it and leaving it 
as a lever by and through which his children might win back 
the old time credit of their forbears, Richard and James Wilson, 
splendid representatives of old time first families of Virginia. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WILSON. 

Benjamin Franklin Wilson was born in Goochland County, 
April 17, 1823; he was brought up on his father's farm to a 
life of industry and given the educational opportunities afforded 
by the Old Field Schools. In his eighteenth year he joined 
the Baptist church and lived a consistent member thereof through- 
out his life. 

At the age of twenty-one the larger West beckoned him 
and he answered the call by moving to Shelby County, Ten- 
nessee, finding a suitable home near where the old town of 
Fisherville once stood. There he met Mary Wright Williams, 

daughter of Robert and (Beasley) Williams, to whom 

on March 16, 1848. he was married, Elder Askew officiating. 
Robert Williams was a North Carolinian by birth, emigrating 
to Tennessee as a boy and settling in Rutherford County. For- 
tune favored him and he became a moderately wealthy man. 



364 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

The going security for friends, however, swept away all he 
had and led him to a second removal into Shelby County, where 
he died in 1885. Mary Wright Williams was bom March 6, 
1828, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and died at the home 
of her daughter, Martha Luella McReynolds, in Barry County, 
Missouri, on June 28, 1897, while on a visit to her daughter. 
She joined the Baptist church in Shelby County, Tennessee, the 
year she was married and lived a consistent religious life from 
that time until her death. 

In 1853 Benjamin Franklin Wilson moved to Conway County, 
Arkansas, settling a few miles above Old Lewisburg. Two years 
later he purchased a farm in the southeast comer of Pope County, 
on the Arkansas river, where he lived for about twenty years, 
when failing health, largely induced by exposure as a Confederate 
soldier, led him to move to Washington County near Cane Hill. 
He afterwards bought a farm near Springdale in that county, 
where he lived until the death of his wife in 1897. The re- 
mainder of his life was passed among his children in Arkansas 
and Missouri, dying at the house of his son, Robert B. Wilson, 
in Russellville, Arkansas, on April 21, 1904, having lived in Ar- 
kansas something more than half a century. 

From 1853 to i860 he worked industriously upon his farm, 
clearing it and preparing it for the raising of stock, a vocation 
he seemed to love. Arkansas at that time was most sparsely 
settled; his house was of hewed logs and the floors of the old 
pioneer puncheon form. In 1861 he voted against secession 
but when Arkansas seceded, Wilson adhered to the State's 
decision and joined the Confederate Army. He enilsted twice; 
first, in a cavalry regiment raised in western Arkansas, in 
which he served more than a year. During this service he 
reached his fortieth year and was no longer subject to military 
duty. He left the regiment and went back home. Later on the 
necessities of the Confederacy became greater and Wilson de- 
cided that his duty was to help his country despite his ex- 
emption from service. With him duty was always a law, and 
he at once enlisted in the First Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry, 
commanded by Colonel Erastus Stirman, in the company led 
by that soldierly gentlemen. Captain James W. Russell of Rus- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 365 

sellville, where he remained until the end of the war. His 
hardships as a soldier were very great, but at no time equalled 
those of his wife, a non-combatant, residing in a territory raided 
and plundered by the irregular troops of the Union army. To 
the credit of both armies it may be said that the regular soldiers 
respected the rights of women and children. Armies, how- 
ever, have troops of camp followers whose only law is revenge, 
ruin and rapine, and at the hands of these, Mrs. Wilson and her 
children received the most unsoldierly, and at the same time, 
the most unmanly treatment. The history of Southern mothers 
whose husbands were at the front has never been written, but 
when it shall be, their heroism and self-denial will fairly rival 
that of their husbands, and their suffering so far transcends 
that of their husbands, as to make it fairly insignificant. All 
honor to the mothers who gallantly held their homes in the 
deadly area' between the lines. 

Benjamin Franklin Wilson at the beginning of the war had 
five slaves and a fine lot of cattle and horses. One negro woman 
came to him from his Virginia father, and was brought by him 
to Arkansas, where she died shortly after the close of the war. 
She was always loyal to her master and mistress, and was a 
great help to Mrs. Wilson during the war. The war destroyed 
all of the property of Benjamin Franklin Wilson except his 
farm, to which he returned to recuperate his fortunes by honesty 
and untiring industry. He was a member of the Galla Creek 
Baptist Church until he moved to Washington County, where 
he became a member of the Baptist Church of Springdale. Like 
his father he was most hospitable, especially to his church 
friends, and if called on, would not hesitate to entertain a whole 
Baptist Association. He never held office. When solicited to 
stand for office in both civil and military life he invariably re- 
fused. He was a Democrat and believed the doctrines of that 
party, loyally supporting it to the end. To Benjamin Franklin 
and Mary Wright Wilson were born the following children: 

I. Mary Elizabeth Wilson who died in infancy; 2. Robert 
Barnett Wilson of whom we shall have more to say; 3. Wil- 
liam Judson Wilson, who died when three years of age; 4. 



366 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Martha Luella Wilson, bom August i6. 1853; married C. Lee 
McReynolds and is now living near Purdy, Missouri, the mother 
of several children; 5. Matilda Mildred Wilson, who died in 
infancy; 6. Katherine Wright Wilson, born August 14, 1859; 
married Dr. R. B. Gladden and lives in Purdy, Missouri; 

7. Theodosia Wilson, born in 1863, who died in 1883; 

8. Benjamin Franklin Wilson, born April 25, 1866; moved to 
Texas, where he married, and is now living in Oklahoina; 9. 
Tames Edward Wilson, born September 18, 1869; married and 
lives at Lufkin, Texas. The first three were of Tennessee birth, 
but all the rest were born on Arkansas soil. Such is the event- 
ful history of two splendid Arkansas characters, a history worthy 
of study and emulation. 

Robert Barnett Wilson. 

We now come to an Aricansan well and favorably known to 
Arkansans generally, and to the legal profession particularly. 
Robert B. Wilson was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, on 
May 26, 1850. He came with his father to Arkansas in 1853, 
and is now living in the county in which the greater part of 
his life has been spent. 

There were no schools in his neighborhood and his op- 
portunities to acquire an education were therefore limited. In 
i860 his father and neighbors employed a man to teach in the 
neighborhood, and for ten months he had his first tutelage outside 
of home. During the war which followed education was a lost 
occupation and all schools were abandoned. While his father 
was absent as a soldier and for a long time after his return, the 
son was compelled to work upon the farm, snatching what learn- 
ing he could by self help, which after all is the greatest help a 
man can have. He gathered knowledge as did Lincoln, in the 
quietude of his mother's log cabin, from such books as he could 
borrow or buy. At twenty-one years of age he passed an ex- 
amination for teaching, winning a second grade certificate, upon 
which he taught a three months school. In March, 1872, he 
went to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and attended Union Uni- 
versity for about four months. Returning he again taught 
a three months school in Pope County, Arkansas, but to his dis- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 367 

may found that there was no money in the treasury to pay him 
after his work was done. The war had been over a long time 
but reconstruction still held the country in its ruinous grip. 
This kept him from returning to Union University and led him 
to take to clerkship in a store at Galla Rock for the fall and 
winter. In the spring of 1783 he went to Texas and taught a 
summer school in Tarrant County, preparatory to entrance upon 
St. John's College at Little Rock. He entered late on account 
of his teaching work ; was interrupted by the sickness of his father 
and the Brooksr-Baxter war of the spring of 1874. For a time 
he added to his scanty exchequer by acting as janitor for the 
college. He lived for a while with many of the other students 
in a frame dormitory attached to the property, but afterwards 
took a room with one of the professors in the college building, 
and at the breaking out of the Brooks-Baxter war was the only 
student occupying a room in that location, and as his profes- 
sional room-mate had resigned and left, he had these quarters 
all to himself. This gave him an opportunity to know and see 
things that otherwise he could not have had. When Brooks 
ousted Baxter, the latter repaired to St. John's College and 
placed himself under the protection of the commandant, Major 
Gray. The students were formed into a body guard for Gov- 
ernor Baxter, and with gims in hand moved with greater 
alacrity than they had shown when armed with books. The 
governor was placed in Wilson's room, where he was guarded 
during one night and until he removed his headquarters to the 
Anthony House. In this room the portly governor occupied 
Wilson's bed, but being so much heavier broke it down and 
slept on the floor. It is claimed that the State of Arkansas owes 
Wilson for that bedstead to this good hour. The military 
knowledge gained by Wilson at this broken term was not lost, 
as he was deputed by Major Gray to aid in disciplining the 
raw recruits who came in under Baxter's call. For the next 
year he worked on his father's farm and in a country school 
house, until in March, 1875, he entered the law office of L. W. 
Davis of Russellville, where under the scholarly guidance of 
Judge Frank Thatch he studied law. He was admitted to the 



368 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

bar in May, 1876, and at once opened an office in Russell ville to 
begin the practice of law. For thirty-two years he has been an 
active practitioner in Arkansas and is still wedded to his pro- 
fession. He has been a close student during all these years and 
is thoroughly well grounded in the law. At St. John's College 
he was a classmate with J. W. Blackwood, George and John Rose, 
J. E. Williams and others, whose names have since become noted 
in the law at Little Rock, and where comradeship has been of 
value through all these years. 

Robert Barnett Wilson has never been an office seeker, but 
at times has held honorable positions under both State and 
national law. In 1878 he was appointed to fill the unexpired 
term of the county judgeship and then elected for another term, 
refusing further preferment. In 1888 he, without his solici- 
tation, was appointed by President Cleveland, Register of the 
United States land office at Dardanelle, which place he held 
until by a change of administration he was succeeded by a 
Republican. For fifteen years he was a member of the Rus- 
sellville school board, acting as its president for the most part, 
succeeding Jacob L. Shinn. For many years he has been the 
local land agent of the Little Rock branch of the St. Louis, 
Iron Mountain and Southern Railway; is the retained attorney 
of the Southern Anthracite Coal Company, the Onita Coal and 
Mining Company and the Peoples Exchange Bank, a leading 
financial institution in western Arkansas. 

He is and always has been a Democrat, responding cheerfully 
tv^ every call of his party, whether the demand was for work or 
for contributions; he has served as Chairman of the County 
Central Committee and has been a member of the State Central 
Committee. 

For years he was a member of the Baptist church at Rus- 
sellville, but at present affiliates with Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, the church to which his wife has always belonged. 

On November 21, 1877, he was married at Russellville, to 
Ann Mary Howell, Rev. W. J. Dodson, of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, performing the ceremony. His wife was 
the daughter of Jesse C. and Adalissa C. (Hardaway) Howell, 
formerly of Hardin County, Kentucky. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 369 

It has been said that a good wife is the best fortune a man 
can have, and in this particular Mrs. Wilson has been a most 
exemplary woman. She is and always has been her husband's 
greatest helper. Beginning life poor, she practiced economy 
and industry as few women do, thus enabling her husband to 
gain a handsome competency. The children bom of this mar- 
riage were: i. Hurley Howell Wilson, born January 6, 1879; 
graduate of Russellville High School; graduated electrical en- 
gineer, University of Arkansas, class of 1901 ; now and for five 
years past in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 
with headquarters at Altoona, Pennsylvania; superintended the 
electric lighting and power of the new union depot at Wash- 
ington, D. C. ; 2. Mary Wilson, born March 4, 1881 ; attended 
Maddox Seminary at Little Rock and Virginia Female Institute 
at Roanoke, Virginia; married Elbert H. Rankin in May, 1904, 
and has one child, Robert Wilson Rankin; 3. Frank Connyng- 
ham Wilson, born May 31, 1886; graduate of the Russellville 
High School, and of the Dental department of Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity class of 1908; 4. Adalissa Wilson, born October 25, 
1893, and 5. Robert Barnett Wilson, Jr., born April 23, 1897. 

Judge Robert B. Wilson is a man of firm convictions 
coupled with a courtesy that wins him friends from all classes 
of men. No man in the country has achieved a more distinctive 
success in life than he, another proof of the power of the human 
will over external circumstances. Without the aid of influential 
friends, — without that education which comes from the highest 
college forms and without any antecedent and inherited wealth, 
he has hammered out of adverse circumstances a position in 
life second to no one in the county. His word is as good as his 
bond and his social position that of the best of his fellows. 
From "Wilsonia,*' one of the finest houses, if not the finest 
house in Pope County, he dispenses an elegant hospitality and 
revives the prestige of the old Virginia name. In years to come 
men will point with as much pride to the Wilson House in Rus- 
sellville as in centuries agone they pointed to the famous Boiling 
Hall on the historic James. 



370 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

CHAPTER XLII. 

The Rector Family. 

The Richters are an old family of the German Empire, 
widely dispersed in locality, of eminent respectability, and far- 
famed as thinkers and musical composers. 

Franz Zavier Richter of Strasburg, first gave musical promi- 
nence to the name, 1709- 1789, as an author of many productions 
for instruments of all kinds. He was followed by Karl Gotlieb 
Richter of Berlin, 1728- 1809, who acquired great celebrity as a 
musician in the service of Princess Amalia of Prussia, as organist 
of the Cathedral at Konigsburg, and as author of many con- 
certinas for the piano and trios for two flutes and a bass.. This 
fame of the Richters was further enhanced by Ernest Frederick 
Edward Richter of Leipsic, 1808-1879. Director of Music at the 
University of Leipsic. His musical works have an immense cir- 
culation. Another menuber of the family of great fame was 
Ernest Heinrich Leopold Richter, 1805-1876, of the Royal In- 
stitute of Berlin. The Catholic Church of the United States 
boasts a bishop, Henry Joseph Richter, who was born at Olden- 
burg in 1838. In German history they have also been noted as 
great soldiers and great merchants. In old German the word, 
Richter, means a judge, and its Anglicized form. Rector, carries 
the same idea in part, but is limited to ecclesiastical affairs. 

Richter is an old surname in Germany, and has been trans- 
planted to England and the United States. In the latter country 
the word has been variously spelled, Richtor, Richter, Ricktar, 
Rechter, but is now almost exclusively spelled Rector. The coat 
of arms of the family was an eagle displayed sa, in dexter an 
olive branch, vert, and in sinister a thunderbolt, ppr. 

THE MIGRATION TO AMERICA. 

The first migration of any of the Richter family to America 
occurred as follows: About one hundred and ninety-five years 
ago the inhabitants of the thrifty little German village of Musen, 
about fifteen miles northeast of the city of Siegen, in the then 
principality of Nassau-Siegen, the present Prussian province of 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 371 

Westphalia, were thrown into great excitement by the arrival 
of agents of Baron D. Graffenreid, seeking skilled workmen to 
open the iron mines of Virginia for Governor Spottswood. 

Siegen is now and was then the center of one of the most 
noted iron producing and manufacturing districts of Germany, 
and at Musen is situated one of the most famous iron mines in 
that country, dating back to 1303. There were, of course, many 
men, thrifty and honest, who desired to better their condition, and 
who under the promise of free passage and free lands soon con- 
sented to change their habitation. Forty persons agreed with 
Graffenreid's agent at Musen and Seigen to go to Virginina. 
This colony did not go as servants as did many of the other 
German colonies, but as freemen planted a free colony on the 
Rappahannock in April, 1714. They were received by Governor 
Spottswood with open arms, placed in a fort on the frontier at 
a place where Spottswood lived and given twelve hundred acres 
of land. There were not more than twelve heads of families, 
who soon provided themselves with log huts forming a nucleus 
for a new settlement which was called, Germana. Germana is 
no longer on the map, but in the language of another, is located 
as follows : "Germana was the famous town of Governor Spotts- 
wood ; the first county town of Spottsvylvania County ; the place 
where St. George's Parish was organized; where the first iron 
furnace in America was built; and the first pig iron made as 
Spottswood claims; the place from which the famous expedition 
of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe started ; where the first 
German congregation in America was organized, its first pastor 
settled, and its first services held.'' 

It is no longer a town but a mere ford in the river, called 
Germana Ford, in the extreme northeastern corner of Orange 
County, on a remarkable peninsula of about four hundred acres 
with the Rappahannock to the north, west, and east of it, about 
fourteen miles above where the Rapidan debouches into the 
Rappahannock. The first pastor of this congregation at Old 
Germana was Henry Hager, and the elders of the congregation 
in 1714 were Henry Hager, Pastor; John Jost. Merdten (Martin) 
and John Jacob Rechtor, (Rector), which is attested by the 



372 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

extant credentials signed by them and given to Jacob Christo- 
pher Zollicoffer when he was sent by this congregation to Europe 
to solicit aid to build a church and schoolhouse at Germana. 
Henry S. Dotterer has given the world a paper containing these 
facts as taken from the Stadt Bibliothek of Frankfort on the 
Main, a copy of which in German is in possession of Hon. E. W. 
Rector of Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is a most valuable addition 
to the Rector family history. The English Church created St. 
George's Parish to proselyte these Germans into the Episcopal 
Church, but Henry Hager was acute enough to hold them to the 
tenets of the German Reform Church. 

The thirteen householders making this German Colony of 
1 7 14 were John Kemper, Jacob Holtzclaw, John and Harmon 
Fishback, John Huffman, Harmon Utterbach, Tillman Weaver, 

John Joseph Martin, John Jacob Rechtor, Jacob Coon, 

Wayman, Handback and Peter Hitt. From this hand- 
ful of Germans, of meager estate but of thrifty and moral habits, 
have come through two centuries many most prominent men; 
it gave a great general to the Confederate Army, who was also 
governor of Virginia; a surveyor general for Illinois, Missouri 
and Arkansas, William Rector; four governors of the State of 
Arkansas, James S. Conway, Elias N. Conway, William M. 
Fishback and Henry M. Rector, besides hundreds of others in 
somewhat less eminent positions. 

In fact, it is doubtful whether any other single group of 
men of the same size, or of ten times the size, in any part of the 
world has ever produced through two centuries an equal num- 
ber of great men. And from John Jacob Rechtor proceeded a 
greater degree of vigor and power than from any other name 
of the colony. 

In about ten years this colony became dissatisfied at Germana 
and removed to a point on Licking Run, then in Stafford County, 
but now in the southern part of Fauquier County, and established 
a town called Germantown, about eight miles south of the present 
town of Warrenton. Spottsylvania County is and always has 
been a very poor county, and these thrifty Germans soon ascer- 
tained this truth and moved to a richer part. Fauquier County 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 373 

IS a rich county and while Germantown is not located in its 
cream, the second location was far better than the first. Here 
these thrifty Germans prospered and laid the foundations for a 
greater wealth. Old Germantown gave place in time to Fauquier 
White Sulphur Springs, but in time lost its prestige and is now 
a mere hamlet in . South Fauquier. Thus at Germana and at 
Germantown began the Virginia family of Rector, the family 
whose name heads this chapter. 

The proof of the date of John Rechtor's migration to Vir- 
ginia is to be found in Will Book A, pages 3 and 4, of the old 
Spottsvylvania records, and is recited in Volume 13 of the Vir- 
ginia Magazine of History and Biography. The recital is as 
follows : 

"At a court held the 2d day of June, 1724, for Spottsylvania 
County, Jacob Ricktar, (Rector), in order to prove his right 
to take up lands according to the Royal Charter, made oath that 
he came into the colony to dwell in the year 1714, and that he 
brought with him his wife, Elizabeth, and his son, John; and 
that this is the first time of proving their said importation; 
whereupon certificate is ordered to be granted them of right to 
take up one hundred acres of land. The certificates for the land 
were issued May 30, 1729. Signed, T. A. Harris, Clerk.*' 

John Jacob Rechtor, or as the Spottsylvania clerk anglicized 
it, Ricktar, must have died between 1724 and 1729, for the cer- 
tificate for this land was issued to Elizabeth, his wife, reciting 
the facts. We know from his oath that he was married when 
he came to Virginia and that he brought with him one child, 
John Rechtor. So much for this old pioneer. Bom in West- 
phalia and educated as an iron and steel manufacturer; poor yet 
thrifty ; a member and elder in the first German Reform Church 
ever established in America ; one of the guild that manufactured 
the first pig iron ever made in America, and who died after 
proving his right to one hundred acres of land, thus becoming 
a freeholder in America. 

We also know from the will of John Rechtor, the 2d, that 
John Jacob Rechtor, the father, had another son, Harmon, who 
was given one hundred and sixty acres of land on Licking Run 



374 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

by John, the 2d, who named him as his brother. Harmon Rech- 
tor left descendants around Germantown, where they may be 
found until this good day, and it may be that some of the de- 
scendants of John Rechtor, the 2d, may be found in the same 
place. 

Henry Hager, the pastor at Germana and Germantown, had 
eleven children, the sixth one born in 1687, being Elizabeth 
Hager, who in Germany, prior to the migration, was married to 
John Jacob Rechter between 1707 and 171 3. John Jacob Rechter 
was bom about 1680 and died between 1724 and 1729. Henry 
Hager, the pastor, was the son of Henry Hager of Antshausen, 
a village of Nassau. The son was well educated, being a teacher 
of Latin in Siegen before becoming a pastor in the German 
Reform Church. On December 3, 1678, Henry Hager, the 
Latin professor, married Anna Catherine Friesenhaugen, daugh- 
ter of Jacob Friesenhaugen, the Mayor of Freudenburg. This 
establishes the fact that the Rectors of Virginia descend from 
German families of the very highest respectability and worth, 
and evidence is not lacking tp show that in more ancient times 
they had a higher heraldic renown. 

JOHN RECTOR, THE SECOND. 

That John Jacob Rechtor had a son, John, is proved by his 
oath in 1724 when he applied for his land. This oath also proves 
that the son, John, was foreign born, but without fixing the date 
of his birth. The mother, Elizabeth, w^as bom in 1687, and the 
son, according to a memorandum of his grandson, Nelson, was 
born in 1707. We cannot fix the exact date of the son's mar- 
riage. In John Fishback's will of date 1733, he mentions a 
daughter, Catherine Rechter, and John Rechter witnessed his 
will. John Jacob Rechtor was dead at this time, hence the sig- 
natory, John Rechter, was the son and the husband of the daugh- 
ter named Catherine. This daughter was also born in 1707. In 
John Rector's will of 1773 he names his wife as Catherine Rec- 
tor. John Rector married Catherine Fishback before the date 
of John Fishback's will, probably in 1731 or 1732. 

John Rector, the 2d, like all of his neighbors, was a farmer 
and as events prove a very thrifty one. He was an adventurous 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 375 

man, fearless and progressive. His stature was very large, as 
was that of his children. Fauquier County at that time had no 
existence as a political division, being a part of Stafford County, 
and with a few exceptions was a "^rand primeval forest of the 
deepest solitude. John Rector plunged through the almost in- 
terminable undergrowth of the land and discovered where the 
better lands lay. He found out that Germantown was in the 
poorer part of the county, but that in the northern part of the 
county there were much richer^ lands, whereon a more abundant 
living might be made with much less work. As he grew older 
and wealthier he purchased lands in this locality and upon them 
made a greater wealth. The Rectors today are located in two 
distinct parts of Fauquier County, around Germantown and 
around Rectortown, possibly fifty miles apart. The wealthier 
Rectors reside around Rectortown, and some of them claim to 
be of no kin to those around Germantown. The great Rector 
stature still adheres to each set, which proclaims them of com- 
mon origin, and there are no other differences which may not 
be accounted for easily by the differences in the country in which 
they have lived for more than a century. Those who remained 
at Germantown are simply Rectors of a poorer neighborhood; 
while those at Rectortown are pitched in a better natural loca- 
tion. Both sets descend beyond all question from old John 
Jacob Rechtor of Germana and Germantown. 

John Rector, the 2d, lived to be sixty-five years of age and 
became the head of a large family. We cannot follow his ilfe 
in detail, but one event deserves special mention as it indicates 
his progressive spirit and great foresight. 

In February, 1772, 12th George III, Henning's Statutes of 
Virginia, Vol. 8, it appears that the House of Burgesses of Vir- 
ginia authorized John Rictor (Rector) of the County of Fau- 
quier, the owner and proprietor of lands in that region, to lay 
off fifty acres of his land into lots and streets for a town, to be 
called and known by the name of 'Maidstone. This little item of 
law goes far towards an explication of the passion we shall 
hereafter discover in the Rectors to lay off and establish towns, 
a passion which marked their career most strongly in Illinois 



376 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and Missouri. It may also indicate a point in family history 
which we may never be able to prove. It is historically certain 
that the German colony from Musen and Siegen remained in 
England for some time before making its final trip to Virginia. 
Who can tell but that John Rector, the son of John Jacob Rech- 
tor and Elizabeth, his wife, was not born during that brief sojourn 
in England, and possibly at the old English town, Maidstone ! It 
is no wild stretch of the imagination to assume that John Rector, 
the 2d, in founding the town, Maidstone, and in giving it that 
name, did so in honor of his own birthplace. iMaidstone was in 
Fauquier County, in its northern part, — in the very cream of the 
county. After John Rector's death in 1773, the town prospered 
and held the name, Maidstone, until about 1796, when in honor 
of its founder, John Rector, it came to be called Rectortown, and 
by that name is known today. 

Maidstone was founded about the beginning of the Revo- 
lutionary War, during which struggle John Rector, its founder, 
died, having sent a grandson, John, and possibly others, into 
that war. The traditions of the family are clear that his son, 
Frederick, was a Revolutionary soldier from Virginia, but the 
condition of the military records of that State makes it impossible 
to prove this authoritatively. His children asserted it in 1820, 
and it was doubtless true. 

THE WII^LOIf JOHN RECTOR, THE SECOND. 

i 

John Rector's will was dated November 5, 1772, and pro- 
bated March 22, 1773, and is recorded in Book I, pages 205-7, 
of the Fauquier County wills. It names his wife, Catherine, 
seven sons and two daughters. The will distributed about sixty 
thousand dollars' worth of property and indicates superior thrift 
on the part of John Jacob, the immigrant, and of John, the tes- 
tator. At that time this sum of money marked its possessor as 
a rich man. He gave his wife, Catherine, his plantation, with 
all his negroes during her life. He gave his sons, Henry, Daniel, 
Charles, Jacob, Benjamin and Frederick, and his daughters 
Catherine and Elizabeth from two hundred to four hundred 
acres of land each and a number of negroes at the death of his 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas S77 

wife. His son, John 3d, was dead, leaving a son, John 4th, who 
in turn was given land and negroes. The children of John, the 
4th, were Elias, Benjamin, Burrell, Blaxton, Eli, Edward, Su- 
sannah and Sally. Their descendants, as well as the descendants 
of Henry, Daniel, Charles, Jacob, and Benjamin, and Catherine 
and Elizabeth, still ramify Fauquier, Culpepper and Rappahan- 
nock counties, — some of them rich, while the greater number are 
neither rich nor poor, but own their own homes and form a part 
of that great army of men called, "good livers." 

John Rector, the 2d, owned about three thousand acres of 
land on Cromwell's Run, Licking Run, Goose Creek and in other 
parts of the county. John Rector, the 2d, was a thoroughgoing 
man. In June, 1764, he, Isaac Cundiff and John Kincheloe, laid 
off a road from Ashby's Gap to John Lea's. In May, 1760, he 
secured the running of a road from Rector's mill on Goose 
Creek to the main road. On July 23, 1761, Thomas McClanahan 
and Augusta Jennings, captains, and Jacob Rector, his son, en- 
sign, took the oath to support his majesty's person. 

John Rector built mills, bought farms, laid off a town, 
proved his manhood and worth. He is buried near Maidstone, 
now Rectortown, and his wife sleeps by his side. Passing the 
other sons and grandsons, we now come to the third generation 
of Rectors in America, and shall confine ourselves to Frederick 
Rector the immediate ancestor of the Missouri and Arkansas 
Rectors. Catherine Rector died in 1775, t\vo years after the 
death of her husband. 

FI^DERICK RECTOR. 

Frederick Rector was the seventh and youngest son of John 
and Catherine Rector and was born July 16, 1750. As 
a youngest son he was doubtless favored by his parents during 
their lives, and thus made helpless as to individuality. His 
father died when he was about twenty-three and his mother 
died w^ithin the next two years. 

He had executive ability and was a most honorable man 
for that, in Will Book Xo. i, page 427 of Fauquier County wills, 
it is set out that he and his brother, Benjamin, were made exec- 



378 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

utors of Henry Rector's will. Henry was a brother, and left 
sons, William, John and Enoch, and several daughters. His 
lands lay on Goose Creek. He also witnessed his uncle Har- 
mon's will in September, 1782. From this will it appears that 
Harmon married a woman named Mary, and left sons, Harmon, 
Nathaniel, Uriah and Henry. From other documents it is clear 
that Uriah was a Revolutionary soldier and died in Tennessee. 
That Henry had sons and daughters, Polly, Elijah, Caty and 
Spencer, and that Spencer's children were Edward. John, Henr>% 
Mary and Pency. Nathaniel had children, Anne, Aylette and 
Joel. Elias Rector, son of John, the 4th, was the father of 
Franklin, Mary, Annie, Lizzie, Mildred, Charles, Marion, Alvin 
and William Henry. Frederick Rector gjew up among a great 
mass of Rector kin, both at Germantown and Maidstone. He 
was evidently a conveyancer and may have been a lawyer. Cer- 
tain it is that he gave his children, and he had a very large 
family, superior opportunities for an education, and their careers 
seem to justify the conclusion that they each and all had recep- 
tive minds. 

Frederick Rector was given lands by his father on Goose 
Creek in the richest part of John's possessions, but the education 
of nine boys and four girls, Virginia fashion, soon ate up the 
estate. Two negroes, Jeffey and Jackey, came to him at his 
father's death, before the final division of the residuary estate. 
The exact date of his marriage was February 7, 1770, and on 
February 20, 1776, he and his wife, Elizabeth, joined in a deed 
selling land, which deed recited that the land was given him by 
his father, John (Fauquier Deeds, Book 6, page 233). Frederick 
Rector married Elizabeth Conner, daughter of Lewis and Ann 
(Wharton) Conner, an old Virginia family. Elizabeth Conner* 
was born at Norfolk in 1755. Again, oh October 22, 1782, Fred- 
erick and Elizabeth sold to John Moffett two hundred acres on 
Cromwell's Run, reciting that this land came from his father, 
John^ the consideration being $1,500 (Deed Book 7. page 470). 
Frederick was then living in Maidstone, educating his children 
and dispensing a hospitality that added to his fame while rapidly 
diminishing the patrimony given him by his father. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 379 

In May, 1782, as shown by the Minute Book of the Fauquier 
County Court, Frederick Rector memorialized the court that he 
owned land on one side of Goose Creek and asked the privilege 
of the court to erect a water mill, which was granted. He was 
rtill alive in Fauquier County in 1792, as the minutes of the 
court show, but after that he drops entirely out of sight on Vir- 
ginia records. By his marriage he had nine sons and four daugh- 
ters, each of whom he reared to man's and woman's estate. The 
names of the sons in order were : Wharton. William, Elias, John, 
Nelson, Stephen, Thomas C, Samuel and Henry. One daughter 
was named Ann, or Nancy, and the other three, Sally,. iMollie 
and Lucy. Elizabeth married a Barton, whose descendants are 
among the wealthiest people of Kansas City. Sallie married a 
Beale and became the mother of General Wm. K. Beale of the 
Confederate army. Elizabeth Rector, the mother, died at Oak 
Hill, seven miles above Kaskaskia, in Illinois Territory, on Sep- 
tember 18, 181 1, and Frederick died at the same place on Oc- 
tober 24, 181 1. 

4TH GENERATION — THE RECTORS OF ILLINOIS. 

In 1806, these nine Rector boys left Fauquier County to 
seek their fortunes in the West, and their parents soon followed 
them. All these years we have been hearing about the solid, 
phlegmatic, philosophical German who reads abstruse specula- 
tions on the ultimate theory of matter, and thinks rather than 
acts. But there is another side to the picture and in following 
the fortunes of these particular German boys from 1806 to the 
present we shall be led to see it. Some one has said that no 
people on earth excel the Berliners in certain aspects of gaiety 
and pleasure seeking and that they excel all other people in 
genuine courtesy. The Parisian and American do have much 
fun and pleasure but they generally get through about mid- 
night — the very time when the German is just getting under 
good headway. They are not loud in their fun — on the con- 
trar>', they are very sedate — ^but in having it, they fill the cafes 
of Berlin, Dresden and Munich with their wives and children 
at four o'clock in the morning, at the very hour that Paris and 
New York are asleep. They can sit four hours at a table in 



380 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

quiet discussion, all the time eating and drinking, which goes 
far towards making a really sound mind in a really sound body. 
They know what they want, and also how to get it. When a 
German draws near a table partly occupied by others but which 
the necessities of the case require him to occupy, he draws his 
heels together and makes a military salute. When his food 
comes before eating he lifts his glass or stein to all who are at the 
table. He is trained to respect the rights of others and to Jo 
it gracefully. Every one of these Rector boys was stolid, phleg- 
matic and philosophical but each of them sought and had his 
pleasures, and each of them retained to the last a most masterful 
politeness and courtesy. 

If there was any difference it was in degree and not in 
kind. William and Elias were models of courtesy even in the 
backwoods, but the nine Rector boys as a body made and won 
friends among all classes of people, the rich and learned and 
the poor and unlearned. Jared Mansfield was surveyor general 
of the Northwest Territory from 1803 to 1812 with headquar- 
ters at Cincinnati. To him in 1806 William and Elias Rector 
applied for work and were by him assigned to the Kaskaskia 
District of Illinois as deputy surveyors. The other brothers 
were taken as surveyors and helpers. John Rector had been 
to Kaskaskia in 1804 and had remained there a year, and his 
brothers in asking for work requested an assignment to that 
teritory. Montague, in his History of Randolph County, speaks 
of the vvoilc of John Rector as a lawyer in 1804 and then says : 
"The Rector family consisting of nine brothers, came to Kas- 
kaskia in the year 1806. They were in the United States sur- 
veying service and only remained temporarily at Kaskaskia." 
They remained in the Illinois country until 18 16 and in that 
time surveyed and sectionized almost the whole State. In the 
letters of the United States Treasurer to the surveyors gen- 
eral these boys are always referred to as the Rectors, and in 
the main what was said in praise or criticism of one was said 
of all. They formed a clan of courteous, yet most clannish broth- 
ers, and were looked upon by the department at Washington and 
the surveyors general at Cincinnati as solid and steadfast men. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 381 

Each of them was six feet high, straight as an arrow, fearless 
yet quiet and courteous. They were law-abiding and honest. 
Their ancestors gave the Virginias no trouble at Germana and 
they were true to the teachings of their fathers. They had 
ideas but they used them for their own edification and not as 
a means to control others. They also knew their rights and 
also how to defend them successfully. Under the law they were 
required not only to survey the government lands but to sur- 
vey those of private individuals. The private lands were in 
the main old French grants and very difficult to outline and 
the Rectors thought the government should pay an extra com- 
pensation therefor. They sent their claims to Congress and iu 
December, 1809, Senator Richard M. Johnson reported that 
William and Elias Rector had not only surveyed the public 
lands of the Kaskaskia District, but under compulsion of law 
had surveyed the claims of private individuals, and that owing 
to the intricate nature of the work their claim for increased 
compensation should be allowed, and it was. 

Another German characteristic is the love of being gov- 
erned, not the slavish obedience to all sorts of law, but a philo- 
sophic belief that almost any sort of government is better than 
none, and that the governors are better fitted to devise than 
the governed, to say nothing of the principle that it is the inter- 
est of the governors to devise the best. The letters of the 
Surveyor General Mansfield to the United States Treasurer 
abound with the rehearsals of complaints from the deputy sur- 
veyors and surveyors against regulations, and in one letter from 
the Treasurer to the Surveyor General, Mansfield is told that 
all these complaints have been made direct to the department, 
but as the Rectors have not complained, the department has 
concluded that the difficulties grow out of the inherent nature 
of the work rather than the regulations. The Rectors were not 
kickers against the regulations and in that they were wise. The 
correspondence between the Rectors and Mansfield and the de- 
partment from 1806 to 1812 is voluminous, disclosing not only 
the difficulties of the survey, but the fact that the Rectors were 
frequently called to Cincinnati by Jared Mansfield for consul- 



382 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

tation. William Rector seems to have been the leader and Elias 
Rector his principal adviser, and in fact the balance wheel of 
the family, but the interest of one brother was the interest of 
all. Sometimes William went alone, and sometimes Elias, but 
not infrequently they all went together. Cincinnati at that time 
was a mere village but the nine Rectors always made an impres 
sion upon that town when they went there together. There 
they met the distinguished Ohio surveyors, Israel Ludlow, 
Thomas Worthing^on and Levi Whipple, forming attachments 
that were never broken. While at Cincinnati they regularly 
visited Louisville, and sometimes Frankfort, renewing their friend- 
ships with old Virginia friends in their Kentucky homes. How 
many of the boys were married at this time I am not able to 
state with exactness. Wharton certainly was, for his sons, 
Wharton, Elias of Fort Smith, and William V., were all born 
in Virginia prior to 1806. 

These boys were also honest, patriotic and brave. In 1809 Illi- 
nois Territory was cut off from Indiana Territory and Ninian 
Edwards was appointed governor, and Nathaniel Pope, secre- 
tary, with power to act as governor during that officer's ab- 
sence. Nathaniel Pope was a brother of Senator John Pope 
and was then practicing law at St. Genevieve just over the river 
from Kaskaskia. He knew the Rectors in Virginia and had 
renewed his acquaintance in their Illinois habitation. Nathaniel 
Pope got his Illinois appointment before Edwards and as act- 
ing governor set the territorial government to work. His first 
official act on May 3, 1809, was to appoint Elias Rector, attorney 
general, John Hay, sheriff, and seventeen justices of the peace. 
On June 11, 1809, Ninian Edwards arrived and when told what 
had been done said that he was sorry, as that en route he had 
written John J. Crittenden offering him the portfolio of the 
attorney general and would have to stand to his word. Elias 
Rector said that he had only taken the place temporarily and 
would be glad to shift it to another. The salary was but one 
hundred dollars per annum, and he, Rector, was engaged in 
more lucrative employment. John J. Crittenden declined but 
recommended his brother, Thomas L. Crittenden who served 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 383 

for a short time. Governor Edwards then appointed Elias 
Rector, adjutant general of the State militia, but on July nth 
of the same year removed him and appointed a man named) 
Morrison. On November 9, 1909, Senator John Pope wrote 
Edwards a letter in which among other things he said, "I am 
sorry you removed Rector and appointed Morrison, although 
you acted correctly. The Rectors are honest men and would 
have been your firm friends. Morrison I know to be a scoun- 
drel and will not be your friend unless you do the one hun- 
dredth good turn." Notwithstanding Pope's harsh judgment, 
Morrison was a good man and became the ancestor of Hon. 
William Morrison. On May 10, 1810, Governor Edwards re- 
appointed Elias Rector adjutant general, which position he held 
to October 25, 1813. Pope thus testifies to the honesty and 
steadfastness of the Rectors and these virtues do not exist with- 
out others. Elias Rector organized the militia of Illinois and 
had it in readiness for the second war with Great Britain, a 
struggle in which Illinois Territory suffered severely. 

The historian, Moses, recites that in 1812 the Indians on 
the Illinois above Peoria committed many outrages and Gov- 
ernor Edwards put two regiments of militia in readiness to pun- 
ish them — Elias Rector being made colonel of the ist regiment, 
and B. Stevenson colonel of the 2d regiment. Davidson and 
Struve say, **The volunteers were divided into two small regi- 
ments commanded by Colonels Elias Rector and Benjamin Ste- 
phenson respectively." Moses says further: "In these frontier 
wars of 1812-1814 the names of Samuel Whiteside, James B. 
Moore, Jacob Short, Nathaniel Journey, Willis Hargrave, Ja- 
cob and Samuel Judy, Benjamin Stephenson and William Mc- 
Henry William, Elias, Nelson and Stephen Rector were con- 
spicuous as commanders of either companies or regiments." 

In the roster of the State troops the following attestation 
occurs : 

"Muster roll of general and staff officers of a detachment 
of Militia of Illinois Territory ordered into the actual service of 
the United States and commanded by his Excellency Ninian Ed- 



V Volunteer Aids." 



384 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

wards, Governor and Commander in Chief of the Territory afore- 
said: 

Ninian Edwards, Commander in Chief. 

Elias Rector, Adjutant General. 

Benjamin Stephenson, Brigadier Major. 

Nathaniel Pope, ist Aid. 

William Rector, 2d Aid. 

Nelson Rector, 

Robert Todd, 

Endorsed: "Examined, approved, certified and returned 
by me according to law to the Commander in Chief. 

EuAS Rector, • 

Adjutant General, Illinois Territory, November 23, 1812.** 

Elliott in the Appendix to Illinois Soldiers in the Black 
Hawk and Mexican wars, quotes the preceding paper and says : 
"This paper in an historical point of view is of more interest 
than that of any small paper connected with the history of the 
State." I am sure that I agree with him and the Rectors ought 
to. It is most complimentary to them. 

Edwards in his Life and Times of Ninian Edwards places 
Captain N. Rector in charge of one company in the expedition 
against Peoria in July, 181 1. 

Edwards also states that Colonel Elias Rector on August 
15, 1812, on his return from a trip to St. Louis brought the 
first news to Governor Edwards of the fall of Fort Maiden. 
Prior to this Edwards had addressed a letter to W. Eustis, secre- 
tary of war, recommending the appointment of William Rector 
as brigadier general of the Illinois troops but through a mistake 
at Washington the commission came to Edward's headquarters 
made out in the name of Elias Rector. By the next mail a letter 
came from Washington referring to the mistake and asking that 
the commission be returned for correction. In the meantime 
the news brought by Colonel Elias Rector made action of some 
kind necessary and William Rector was recognized as a briga- 
dier general and acted. On August 26, 1812, Ninian Edwards 
issued the following order: 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 385 

**Briga(lier general Rector is hereby required to take the most 
prompt and effectual means for calling into active service ac- 
cording to law four classes of the militia from each company 
in the ist, 2d and 4th regiments of the militia of the State. The 
Commander in Chief requests to be notified at the earliest period 
at which those respective detachments can be prepared to march." 

In a short time Rector reported as required and the force 
took position at Fort Russell, from which Edwards began his 
correspondence with the war department objecting to General 
Harrison exercising authority over his troops, ordering them 
to the Wabash when the Illinois was in greater danger. 

In the campaign of 18 13 General Howard sent sixty-six of 
the Illinois Rangers under Captain Stephen Rector up the Mis- 
sissippi to reinforce the fort at Prairie du Chien, and forty- 
four rggulars in another boat under Lieutenant Campbell. Above 
Rock Island at the Rapids, Rector's boat got ahead and at a 
favorable point the Indians attacked Campbell's boat, destroyed 
nearly all the troops and set the boat afire. Rector seeing 
Campbell's predicament let his boat drift down the river guid- 
ing it alongside the other. Amid the deadly fires from the In- 
dians he lashed his boat to the other, rescued the survivors, 
carried off every dead soldier and left the burning boat to the In- 
dians. But for the heroism of Rector every one of Campbell's 
men would have been destroyed. The place afterwards received 
the name Campbell's Island but Illinios historians aver that it 
should have been called Rector's Island. 

In 1 8 14 another expedition was sent up the river in charge 
of Major Zachary Taylor. Nelson Rector, Samuel Whitesides 
and Captain Hempstead were each in command of a boat. They 
were to penetrate well into the Indian country and returning 
destroy all the corn on both banks of the river down to Rock 
Island where they were to establish a fort. They ascended 
to Rock Island unmolested although the country swarmed with 
British and Indians. On August 22, 18 14, the boats were at- 
tacked by a combined force of English and Indians. Taylor 
anchored his fleet in the river out of reach of the rifles near 
some willow islands. During the night the British planted a 



386 Pioneers aiid Makers of Arkansas 

battery of six pieces at the water's edge and landed Indians on 
the islands. Captain Rector landed on the lower island and 
drove the Indians off; he then tried to clear the upper island 
but it was too well protected by the battery on the shore. Taylor 
withdrew down the river and at a point opposite the present 
town of Warsaw landed and built a fort, calling it Fort Ed- 
wards. 

In Reynold's "My Own Times" these further facts are 
found. In September, 1812, the forces marched to Peoria, the 
1st regiment commanded by Colonel Elias Rector and the 2d 
by Colonel Benjamin Stephenson. John Moredock acted as 
major; Colonel Desha as a field officer of some kind. Judge 
Pope, Nelson Rector and Lieutenant McLaughlin as aids to the 
governor. The governor and brigadier general Rector accompan- 
ied the detachment. In another place Reynolds says: "No act 
of noble daring and bravery surpassed the rescue of Campbell 
during the war in the West. Rector and his men were gov- 
erned by high and ennobling principles of chivalry and patriot- 
ism.'' He describes Nelson Rector's dress in the Willow Island 
fight as follows : "Captain Nelson Rector was elegantly dressed 
in military costume with a towering feather in his cap, and with 
his sword drawn led his men to the charge. In this exposed 
situation with hundreds of guns fired at him he moved on un- 
daunted as if he were in his mess-room with his comrades. The 
Rector family never knew what fear was." 

Parrish in his Historic Illinois gives this spirited account 
of Stephen Rector's rescue of Campbell and his regulars: "It 
was at this desperate juncture that Stephen Rector and his gal- 
lant crew of Illinoisans, comprehended the horrible situation of 
their helpless comrades, performed as cool and heroic a deed 
as ever imperiled the life of man. Deliberately, in the teeth 
of a howling gale, in full view of hundreds of infuriated sav- 
ages lining the nearby shores, and within easy reach of their 
deadly rifles, Rector ordered his frontier heroes to raise their 
anchor, to lighten their barge by casting overboard nearly all 
their stock of provisions, and then guided it with the utmost 
labor and amid tremendous danger down that madly racing cur- 
rent, actually forcing it to the windward of the burning barge 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 387 

and into the very blaze of the Indian guns. Holding it there, 
in spite of the galling fire fairly scorching their faces, these 
men coolly rescued the survivors, removing wounded, dying and 
all to the security of their own vessel, and then swept with them 
in safety down the river. It was as heroic a deed of daring 
as was ever performed in war. The island was later named 
for Campbell, but with Captain Rector and his Illinois rangers 
remains the true glory of the action." 

Reynolds in his Pioneer History of Illinois says: "In 1806, 
when the United States lands were to be surveyed, the Rector 
family reached Kaskaskia and remained there for several years. 
This family in Illinois were numerous and conspicuous in pio- 
neer times. There were nine brothers and four daughters of 
the family, all born in Fauquier County, Virginia, and many of 
them raised there. Some of tfiem had emigrated to Ohio and 
others direct to Illinois. The family were singular in their traits 
of character. They were ardent, excitable and enthusiastic in 
their dispositions. They possessed integrity and honesty of 
purpose in the highest degree. Nature endowed them with 
strong and active minds, but their passions at times swept over 
their judgments like a tempest. They were the most fearless 
and undaunted people I ever knew. Dangers, perils and even 
death were amusements for them when they were excited. They 
were impulsive and ungovernable when their passions were en- 
listed. They were the most devoted and true-hearted friends 
and the most energetic and impulsive enemies to anyone they 
thought deserved their hatred. The family in their persons 
were generally large and formed with perfect manly symmetry. 
They were noble, commanding and elegant in their bearing and 
their personal appearance was, for manly beauty, not surpassed 
in the territory. They possessed an exquisite and high sense of 
honor and chivalry. An insult was never offered to any one 
of them that went unpunished." 

"William Rector was the oldest brother and a monitor for 
the balance. He was a deputy surveyor and all were respectable 
gentlemen. Elias Rector commanded a regiment as colonel in the 
campaign of 1812. The whole Rector family were patriotic and 



388 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

were always willing and ready to shed their blood in the defense 
of their country. Nelson Rector while surveying in Gallatin 
County in March, 1814, was fired on by the Indians and severely 
wounded; his left arm was broken, a ball entered his left side 
and another struck his face but he mounted his horse, escaped 
and recovered." 

This account is in the main true. It is wrong in one particu- 
lar. Nelson Rector was not surveying when attacked but was 
bearing dispatches as aide to Governor Edwards. 

The father of Reynolds settled in Randolph County, Illi- 
nois, before the Rectors entered the territory; he was a very 
rich and influential man ; his son, the historian, graduated in 1810 
form Knoxville College, East Tennessee, and was for thirty 
years intimately acquainted with the Rectors. 

the: testimony of government records. 

In Volume 2, American State Papers, Public Lands, is a 
plat of the Common Field of Town Tracts of old Kaskaskia 
made in 1807, to which the following attestation is made : "We 
do hereby certify that the above surveys as laid down, were 
made by us, by the consent, under the superintendence and by 
the aid of the citizens of Kaskaskia, and that many of the an- 
cient boundaries were found, which governed the surveys, and 
also that the surveys were correctly executed by us as laid down 
on this plat. William Rector, D. S., Elias Rector, D. S." 

On May 23, 1808, Elias Rector as deputy surveyor, made 
the same attestation to a survey and map of Prairie du Pont; 
on January 29, 1810, William Rector, D. S., attested the sur- 
vey of the village of Prairie du Rocher; on June 2, 1809, that 
of Fort Chartres and St. Philipps; on May 23, 1808, for Ca- 
hokia. 

These records show that Elias and William Rector were the 
first government surveyors to enter Illinois, and the plats of 
townships surveys in the office of the United States Commis- 
sioner of Lands at Washington, w^hich have been examined by 
the writer, show that these two men did the very largest part 
of the government work as to township surveys for Southern 
Illinois from 1806 to 1810. Nelson Rector was recognized as 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 389 

a deputy surveyor in 18 10 and his signature appears to hundreds 
of township surveys from that on until 1820. Wharton Rector 
was recognized as a deputy surveyor in 181 5 and his name ap- 
pears to many plats in Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas from that 
on to 1822. The first surveyor general over Illinois work was 
Jared Mansfield; the second, Josiah Meigs, from 1812 to 1814; 
the third, Edward Tiffin, from 1814 to 1816. William and Elias 
Rector were deputy surveyors under all of them for all the time ; 
Nelson Rector under all of them but for a portion of the time 
under Mansfield, while Wharton came in under Meigs and lasted 
throughout Tiffin's connection with Illinois surveys. The names 
of Thomas C. Rector and Stephen Rector first appear upon the 
government records in 1818 as deputy surveyors under the sur- 
veyor generalship of William Rector, their brother. Their 
names appear on hundreds of township plats in Illinois, Mis- 
souri and Arkansas, and as they always appear together, it is 
fair to presume that they worked together throughout their 
lives. Six of the nine boys are thus vouched for by the govern- 
ment as deputy surveyors, qualified to take independent work, 
and given independent work, four of them by Mansfield, Meigs 
or Tiffin, and two of them by Rector, their brother. Nowhere 
upon the records, that I have been able to find, do the names 
of the three other boys, John, Samuel and Henry appear. John 
was certainly a lawyer, and although tradition makes him a 
surveyor, as well as Samuel and Henry, it is certain that they 
were never recognized as deputy surveyors. I have not been 
able to find anything concerning the after history of John, 
Samuel or Henry. 

WILLIAM RECTOR AS SURVEYOR GENERAL. 

In July, 181 5, William Rector submitted a plan to the sec- 
retary of the treasury for the survey of Missouri Territory, and 
with Elias Rector made a trip to Chillicothe, Ohio, to confer 
with Edward Tiffin. This plan was no doubt worked out by 
William and Elias, was approved by Tiffin and adopted by the 
secretary of the treasury. On April 29, 1816, Congress provided 
for a surveyor general for the Illinois and Missouri Territory; 
on May 10, 1816, Josiah Meigs, for President Madison, com- 



390 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

missioned William Rector as surveyor general for Illinois and 
Missouri, with headquarters at St. Louis. When William Rec- 
tor was commissioned he was residing at Kaskaskia, Illinois, 
but on July lo, 1816, took up his residence at St. Louis, where 
the rest of the family soon began to assemble. In 1817 Wil- 
liam Rector surveyed St. Louis County, and during the same 
year Elias Rector, Wharton Rector, Nelson Rector, Thomas 
C, and Stephen Rector, as deputy surveyors, did an immense 
amount of work in Missouri Territory. William Rector lived 
upon a farm about three miles west of St. Louis as it was 
then, and Elias was upon a farm adjoining him. Elias Rector 
had for years been a lot owner in St. Louis, and the records 
show that on November i, 18 16, he sold several of these to 
Colonel Clemson of the United States army. On May 25, 1818, 
Stephen Rector and twelve others, subscribed an agreement 
to built a theatre on the south side of Chestnut street. The 
building was erected according to the plans and became the 
first theatre of St. Louis. On March 17, 1819, Stephen Rec- 
tor. Thomas Rector, and William V. Rector, the latter being 
a son of Wharton Rector, Thompson Baird, Richard Gentry 
and D. M. Bates laid oflF the town of Hannibal at the Bear 
Creek and advertised a sale of lots as proprietors. On the same 
day Elias Rector, John Miller and Henry Jones laid off the town 
of Wyaconda at the mouth of the Wyaconda. In May, 1819, 
William Rector, Thomas Rector, Henry W. Conway and others 
laid off the town of Osage, Missouri. 

On December 8, 1819, William Rector was elected a ves- 
tryman of the Episcopal church, soon to be founded in St. Louis. 
On May 15, 1819, the Independence, Captain John Nelson from 
Louisville, Kentucky, left St. Louis to go up the Missouri as 
far as Chariton, being the first steamboat to ascend the Mis- 
souri. The passengers were Colonel Elias Rector, Stephen Rec- 
tor, Captain Desha, and others. They arrived at Franklin, Mis- 
souri, on May 28, where a great dinner was spread at which 
Colonel Elias Rector and Captain Stephen Rector made speeches. 
They arrived at St. Louis on their return on June 5, 1819. 

On June 10, 1819, a great dinner was given at Bennett's 
hotel in St. Louis presided over by General William Rector, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 391 

assisted by Colonel Choteau, Major Christy and Colonel Ben- 
ton. The occasion was in honor of the military expedition then 
on its way up the Yellowstone, the scientific expedition con- 
nected with it and to Captain Nelson of the steamboat Indepen- 
dence as the first navigator to ascend the Missouri river. It 
was a great occasion and General Rector, as well as Elias Rec- 
tor made appropriate speeches. 

In November, 1819, Captain A. T. Crane died and Colonel 
Elias Rector was appointed to succeed him as postmaster of St. 
Louis. He was the fourth postmaster of the city and had for 
his assistants Lucius T. Thruston and James Sevier Conway. 
His first act was to move the postoffice to the old mansion of 
Mrs. Choteau on the corner of Main and Chestnut streets. Col- 
onel Rector held this office until his death in August, 1822. 

THE RECTORS IN POLITICS. 

Missouri was now ready for Statehood and on April 19, 
1820, William Rector announced himself as a condidate for the 
constitutional convention as a representative from St. Louis on 
a platform which made •the voters sit up and take notice. His 
platform was short and sweet. It called for the eternal im- 
portation of slaves, restricted suffrage and viva voce voting. 
It took a brave man to announce himself upon a platform like 
that, but he won, receiving the highest vote of any man on 
the poll. In the convention he was a valuable member and his 
influence was felt in the making of the first constitution of Mis- 
souri. In 1820, Colonel Elias Rector announced himself as a 
candidate for the legislature but withdrew before the election. 
In February, 1821, he announced himself for the State Senate 
and was elected, dying before his first term had expired. In 
January, 182 1, William V. Rector, son of Wharton, was elected 
auditor of Missouri, by the State legislature. In July, 1822, 
Captain Stephen Rector announced himself for the legislature 
but was defeated. In 1820 the editors, Charles, of the Gazette 
and Henry, of the Inquirer, got into a difficulty on the street, 
when Wharton Rector intervened in the interests of peace. He 
was severely castigated therefor by editor Charles in the next 



39^ Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

issue of the Gazette and most highly praised in the next issue 
of the Inquirer. The trouble was Benton and anti-Benton, 
and as Wharton Rector was a Benton man, Charles accused him 
of intervening to help Henry and to injure him. 

THEIR SURVEYING WORK IN ARKANSAS. 

The first goverment surveys of Arkansas were accomplished 
by William Rector assisted by sixty-two deputy surveyors and 
an army of surveyors and helpers. General Rector in a docu- 
ment set out in American State Papers, Public Lands, Vol. 
4, showed that from 1816 to August 18, 1823, he had employed 
sixty-two deputy surveyors and gave names of each. Amorfg these 
we find the names of his brothers, Elias Rector,Wharton Rector, 
Stephen Rector and Thomas C. Rector ; his nephews, William V. 
Rector, son of Wharton, Henry W. Conway, James Sfevier Conway 
and Frederick Rector Conway, sons of Ann Conway, his sister. 
This was the beginning of the Rector influence in Arkansas. 
In May, 1819, prior to the organization of the territorial govern- 
ment in Arkansas, General Rector sent a letter to General Meigs 
at Washington, accompanied by a sketch of the surveys which 
had been made and were then making in different parts of the 
territory. These surveys were made in the neighborhood of 
the principal settlements and the largest bodies of rich lands, 
partly on the Arkansas and partly on the Red river. Two mil- 
lion acres were covered by the sketch, which General Rector 
said were "well adapted to tempt the enterprise of every de- 
scription of emigrants who may wish to* seek their fortunes 
in new countries.'' The following extract shows the vigorous 
character of the man: "In every part of the United States 
young men are sitting down in idleness, talking of the good times 
which are passed, when their fathers purchased lands for a trifle 
which are now worth thousands; they lament that the times 
are changed, the days of good bargains gone and the field of 
enterprise exhausted forever. Everywhere these lamentations are 
heard ; yet the fact is that times are as good as ever and better, too; 
the days of good bargains are more plentiful than they were 
in the past age ; and the theatre of enterprise more wide, rich 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 393 

and magnificent than our fathers had ever seen. The truth is 
that the fault is not in the times, but in the temper and disposi- 
tion of those who make the complaint; in their own want of 
energy; in their womanish desire to hang about their kin and 
to live and die where they were born, instead of going off to the 
Mississippi, the Missouri, the Illinois, the Arkansas, or the Red 
rivers, to set up for themselves and to become the founders of 
fortunes and families as their fathers did before them." 

This letter shows not only the philosophical reasoning of 
the Rectors but also their courage and independence in breaking 
away from the East where they were born and founding for them- 
selves names and fortunes, which their ancestors had never 
known. Thus, before Crittenden, Scott or Bates, were in the 
territory, five Rector brothers and four Rector relatives were 
already there laying fast and sure the monuments and bound- 
aries by which the security and happiness of millions who were 
to follow them were forever to be established, maintained and 
conserved. 

It was the Rector influence that almost elected Stephen 
Austin, a candidate of the eleventh hour, as the first delegate 
from Arkansas to the American Congress. It was the same in- 
fluence that really elected Matthew Lyon as the second delegate, 
but who was not permitted to enjoy the fruits of his election. 
The Rector influence was the first to pit itself against 
the Crittenden influence, and although it was entirely non- 
resident, it was a superb power. The Rector influence 
from St. Louis made Henry W. Conway receiver of pub- 
lic moneys at Little Rock in 1820, and postmaster at 
Little Rock the same year. In the third race for delegate to 
Congress, the Rector influence elected Henry W. Conway, and 
again in the fourth and fifth races. It was first the Rector 
influence alone, exercised from St. Louis through the influence 
of the surveys; it then took the shape of the Rector-Conway 
influence with Wharton and Elias, sons of Wharton, Sr., and 
three of the Conways, Henry W., James S., and Frederick R.. 
residing in Arkansas. The Rector-Conway influence in the sixth 
race for delegate was transferred to Ambrose H. Sevier, who, 



394 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

while having no Rector blood, was half Conway. With the rise 
and growth of Sevier the influence of the Rectors diminished, 
while that of the Conways increased. It was a Sevier influ- 
ence that brought in the Johnsons and gave rise to that power, 
the Conway-Sevier-Johnson dynasty, which ruled Arkansas for 
nearly thirty years, but which was broken up by the indomitable 
purpose of another Rector, Henry Massey Rector, a son of old 
Elias of St. Louis. General William and Colonel Elias Rector 
laid the foundation of the greatest political combination ever 
known in Arkansas affairs, and Governor Henry Massey Rector 
smote the idol at the knees and reduced it to nothingness. 

MARRIAGES OF THE RECTORS. 

Of the marriages of these nine Rector boys I am not fully 
advised. Certain it is that Wharton was married before leaving 
the East and that he left three sons and one daughter, and prob- 
ably, a fourth son. These sons were, Wharton, Jr., Elias of 
Fort Smith, William V., and possibly Enoch. Wharton, Jr., 
known as Colonel Wharton Rector, was a 2d lieutenant in the 
2d Rifles in 1820, and of the 6th Infantry in June, 1821. He 
was afterwards made army paymaster, which position he held 
for a great number of years, dying February 8th, 1842, in his 
forty-second year. His rank in the army was that of major. 
His father, Wharton Rector, Sr., was also known as Colonel 
Wharton Rector but I am unable to state authoritatively where 
he obtained the title. Wharton Rector, Jr., was a citizen of 
Little Rock as early as 1825; in September. 1827, he was a sec- 
ond of Ambrose H. Sevier in his duel with Thomas W. New- 
ton, at Point Remove, now in 'Conway County. In October, 
1827, he was also the second of Henry W. Conway in his duel 
wnth Robert W. Crittenden. Wharton Rector, Jr.. was appointed 
adjutant general by Governor Fulton in 1835, and he in turn 
appointed Elias Rector of Fort Smith, his aide. In 1832 Gov- 
ernor Pope appointed Elias Rector of Fort Smith, A. D. C, 
and upon the death of Colonel Yell appointed William Field, 
adjutant general with the rank of colonel. 

Colonel Wharton Rector, Jr., w^as married at St. Louis. 
He was buried at Van Buren, Arkansas, with military honors. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 395 

the services being conducted by Major Lear of the Army Post at 
Ft. Smith. He was a director of the Van Buren branch of the 
Real Estate Bank at the time. The Van Buren Intelligencer 
said: "Colonel Rector was a Democrat of the most independ- 
ent character, but his personal friends were by no means con- 
fined to members of his party. His uniformly honorable and 
manly deportment won for him the esteem of all who knew his 
w'orth. His rise in the world is another high evidence of what 
honesty of purpose, industry and application may accomplish." 

Another son of Wharton Rector, Sr., was William V. Rec- 
tor, surveyor under Colonel William and Colonel Elias Rector 
of St. Louis ; auditor of Missouri for many years and a resident 
of Little Rock in 1829, where he died at the residence of his 
brother, Wharton, on September 21, 1829, at the age of thirty- 
three. 

The third brother, Colonel Elias Rector of Fort Smith, was 
born in Fauquier County. Virginia, September 28, 1802; was 
reared in St. Louis County. Missouri, and educated at Lexing- 
ton and Bardstown ; he came to Arkansas in 1823 as a surveyor 
under his uncle William; by and through the influence of Sen- 
ator Benton he was made United States marshal for Arkansas 
in 1830. which position he held until 1842, when by the death 
of Harrison and the accession of Tyler, he was superseded by 
Henry Massey Rector, his cousin, but was re-appointel upon the 
accession of Polk. The title of Elias Rector of Fort Smith, is 
indiscriminately that of colonel and major, but that of rn^jor 
clung to him most persistently. Major Elias Rector lived at 
Little Rock from 1825 to 1837, a period of twelve years, and 
at Fort Smith forty-one years thereafter. He was the young- 
est son of the family, served twenty years as United States 
marshal without the influence of the Arkansas contingent, ten 
years as United States Indian agent and has been immortalized 
by Albert Pike as "The Fine Old Arkansas Gentleman close to 
theChoctaw line." On November 25. 1835. he married Cather- 
ine J. DuVal, daughter of William Duval of Fort Smith. He had 
a daughter. Harriet Amanda who married General William A. 
Cabell, the idol of Southern soldiers. He had two sons. James 
B. and Elias. 



396 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Colonel Wharton Rector, Sr., had a daughter, Mary A. 
Rector who married William Walker. He may have had a 
son, Enoch, as I find an Enoch Rector certified to the Wash- 
ington department as a surveyor by General William Rector. 
He was not one of the nine, and I cannot place him unless he 
was a son of Wharton, Sr. 

General William Rector had a sister, Ann or Nancy Rector, 
born in Fauquier County, Virginia, who married Captain Thomas 
Conway of Pitts County, Virginia, and moved to Greene County, 
Tennessee. Captain Thomas Conway was a son of Edward Con- 
way, a revolutionary soldier, and is entitled to that credit. In 
after time James Sevier Conway, Governor of Arkana^s, tried 
to connect his family line with one of the extinct earldoms of 
England but failed. Moncure D. Conway after considering the 
evidence decided it insufficient, but Hayden, the editor of the 
Conway paper, decided to admit it, not as establishing the 
claim of Governor Conway, but for its own inherent worth. 
The Conways have enough to be proud of as the sons of an 
admitted revolutionary hero, and of their Rector blood, without 
the flim-flam of English heraldy. The one is absolute and true, 
the other rests upon the flimsiest of deductions. Thomas Con- 
way in Greene County, Tennessee, would have lived and died 
a Greene County squire, but for the vigor of Ann Conway, 
nee Ann Rector, who desired that her husband and her sons 
should be something more. She knew that her brothers, Wil- 
liam and Elias Rector, thought that blood was thicker than 
water, and when General William Rector was appointed sur- 
veyor general, she wrote to Colonel Elias Rector, the mentor 
of the family, asking if there was any opening in Illinois for 
her husband and her sons. Colonel Elias Rector at once ad- 
vised her to induce her husband to pack his grip and move to 
St. Louis. Missouri. By what methods she succeeded we are 
not told, but succeed she did. In 1819, Thomas Conway and 
family were residents of St. Louis and James Sevier Conway, 
the future first governor of Arkansas was given place by Colonel 
Elias Rector, postmaster of St. Louis in his office, with a salary 
fixed by the government at $60 a year and board. In the same 
year, Henry W. Conway, working with Colonel Elias, his 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 397 

uncle, founded a town named ^'America/' in southern Illinois, 
and in 1820 opened a store in St. Louis. Through the influence 
of his uncle, General William Rector, he was sent to Little 
Rock as receiver of puiblic moneys and through the influence 
of his uncle. Colonel EHas Rector, was made postmaster of the 
same city. Both uncles took hold of Frederick Rector Con- 
way and pushed him forward in the work of surveying. Both 
he and his brother, James Sevier Conway, were afterwards 
surveyors general of Arkansas. James Sevier Conway was the 
first governor of Arkansas and Elias Nelson Conway, his brother, 
the fifth governor of Arkansas. Dr. John Rector Conway also 
surveyed under his uncles, William and Elias, but devoted the 
major part of his life to the practice of medicine. William 
Conway, another son of Ann Conway, was a judge of the 
Supreme Court of Arkansas, signing himself, William Conway, 
B. Ann (Rector) Conway counted far better than she knew 
when she left Greene County, Tennessee ; two sons of hers were 
governors of Arkansas, and two sons surveyors general, while 
one was a judge of the Supreme Court. Of her other son, 
Thomas Asbury Conway, and her daughters, Eliza Conway and 
Sarah Hundley Conway, I am not so well advised. As an indica- 
tion, however, that the power was Rector rather than Conway, it 
may be observed that Ann Rector Conway after the death of her 
husband in Missouri, married a man by the name of Runkle, 
by whom she had a son, Thomas Sheppard Runkle, a lieutenant 
in the Confederate army, ami Mary A. Runkle, who married 
William Pelham, United States surveyor general and had a son 
Thomas Pelham. 

Another of the nine brothers, Colonel Elias Rector, bom 
in Fauquier County, about the year 1785; married at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, about 1810, Fannie Bardella Thruston, daughter 
of John Thruston of Louisville, Kentucky. She was born March 
7» I79S» 2i"d after the death of her husband, Colonel Elias 
Rector, in 1882, married General Stephen Trigg of the United 
States army and a native of Virginia. Her father Cornet John 
Thruston, was allotted two thousand one hundred and fifty- 
six acres of land in Clark's grant for his services as cornet 
in the Illinois regiment in the Revolutionary war, a cavalry 



398 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

office now but rarely used. In passing, it is but right to say that 
• John Rector, a kinsman of these nine boys, was also a member 
of the Illinois regiment, and the records show that he was 
entitled to the same quantity of land in the same grant, but 
,j for some reason never applied for it. John Thruston was of a 
distinguished family, being the eldest son of Rev. Charles Mynn 
V Thruston and Mary Buckner, daughter of Colonel Samuel 
Buckner of Gloucester, Virginia. His brother Buckner Thrus- 
ton was at one time United States Senator from Kentucky 
and a distinguished judge of the United States Court. A third 
brother, Charles Mynn Thruston, Jr., was the second husband 
of Frances, General George Rogers Clark's youngest sister. 
Rev. Charles Mynn Thruston, the father of these three boys, 
was born in Gloucester County, Virginia, in 1738, and died 
near New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1812; he was educated at 
William and Marys College, Virginia. At the beginning of 
the Revolutionary war he raised a company in Clarke County, 
of which he was made captain; he was wounded at Trenton, 
New Jersey, and then made colonel of the regiment and was 
always known as the "War Parson." He was the son of Ed- 
ward of Gloucester County, Virginia, who in turn was the 
son of Edward Thruston the immigrant of 1666, who in turn 
was the son of John Thruston, Chamberlain of the city of Bris- 
tol England. Cornet John Thruston was bom August 18, 1761, 
and after his service with Clark in the Illinois regiment, settled 
on a beautiful tract of land on Bear Grass Creek, a few miles 
from Louisville, Kentucky, containing one thousand acres, where 
he continued to reside until his death, February 19, 1802. He 
was at that time judge of the court of common pleas and his 
wife was Elizabeth Whitney. His seventh child, Bardella, mar- 
ried Colonel Elias Rector and General Trigg. By the marriage 
with Rector, several children were born, one of whom, Henry 
Massey Rector, born at Louisville, Kentucky, May i, 1816. will 
be considered as we proceed. 

General William Rector was a married man but without 
children. His history has been tolerably well set out in what 
has gone before. It now remains but to give what the records 
further disclose. Enough has been said to show that his brothers, 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 399 

Elias, Wharton, Nelson and Stephen were not only surveyors 
recognized by Jared Mansfield, Josiah Meigs and Edward Tiffin 
between 1806 and 1816, but that these same men were also sol- 
diers eminent in the defense of Illinois Terriiorv. They were 
surveyors under Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and their 
services were at no time impugned by a living soul. From 
1816 to 1823, General William Rector was surveyor general, 
and when appointed by President Madison, it was well known, 
that the Rector boys had always clung together, and it is to be 
supposed that Madison did not object to this. From 1816 to 
1824, /during two terms General William Rector had charge 
of the largest surveying force ever given to one man, and 
surveyed the three large States, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. 
Monroe re-appointed him in 1819 and again in 1823. No com- 
plaint as to the surveying was ever made, and no com- 
plaint of any character was ever made until 1823, when Sen- 
ator Barton of Missouri charged General Rector with favorit- 
ism in the appointment of his deputy surveyors. He made no 
charge as to the character of the woric but simply asserted that 
General Rector as a public servant had no right to appoint 
so many of his relatives and personal friends. General Rector 
went on to Washington and succeeded in overcoming the 
charges of Senator Barton. While there, his brother. Thomas 
C. Rector, by an ill-advised movement undid all that the General 
had accomplished. In the columns of the St. Louis Gazette in 
1822 an article appeared rehearsing all the charges that Sen- 
ator Barton had made in Washington, over the signature 
"Philo." When Thomas C. Rector read this, although the 
charges were what in this day would be considered trivial, he 
became angry, and at once repaired to the Gazette office and 
demanded the name of the writer. He was told that Joshua 
Barton, district attorney of the city of St. Louis, and brother 
of the Senator, was the author. Without waiting to consult 
his brothers or friends he at once sent a challenge to Barton 
which was accepted. They met on Bloody Island where two 
shots were fired. Reynolds says that Rector was as cool as 
though he had been hunting rabbits and that his ball went 
straight to the mark. Barton died on the ground and Rector 



400 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

Was uninjured. When General William Rector returned to St. 
Louis he was very much mortified over the act of his brother 
but did not condemn him. His life characteristic was to stand 
by and uphold the Rector blood. Edward Bates took up the 
quarrel and published a long article upholding the card of 
"Philo," which in the light of the after reports of General Rec- 
tor may be considered as first class buncombe. Out of sixty- 
two deputies but nine were of the Rector blood. Senator Bar- 
ton also wrote a card. The result was that while Rector had 
succeeded at Washington, his brother had aroused an opposition 
at St. Louis which could not be overcome. In Februar)% 1824, 
President Monroe revoked his appointment of General William 
Rector for the third term. In this revocation he set out the 
fact that every act of William Rector had been founded on 
precedents and that his lifelong character had been fair but that 
the good of the service demanded a change. The killing of 
Barton by Thomas C. Rector overcame the good services of Gen- 
eral William Rector. He continued his work at St. Louis with 
his successor, Colonel McRee until the beginning of 1825, when 
he repaired to his farm to overlook his great landed interests 
and to commune with his friends. Among his friends were the 
greatest men of the United States at that time. He died the 
next year at Edwardsville, Illinois, while on a visit to friends. 
General William Rector was one of the wealthiest men of his 
day at St. Louis, and had the estate of Colonel Elias Rector 
been properly conserved his descendants would today be very 
rich men. General Rector built a very large house in St. Louis 
on the northeast corner of Third and Vine in 1816 for a resi- 
dence and office. It was enlarged in 1819 by him and was known 
as Bennett's Mansion House Hotel. The first theatrical com- 
pany to visit St. Louis gave its performance in the dining room 
and the first constitutional convention met in that house. Sen- 
ator Bogy of St. Louis said of the Rectors of St. Louis : "They 
were men of great stature, perfect in symmetrical form; aU 
tall straight and noted for their beautiful hair, which they wore 
long ; they were courtly and cultivated to a marked degree ; one 
of their characteristics was a prompt resentment of any reflec- 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 401 

tion cast upon a woman in their presence, whether of high or 
low estate; another was their quick resentment of any imputa- 
tion upon their own character, or an insult offered to one of 
them, which they never permitted to go unavenged. They were 
all men of the highest character and always appeared most ele- 
gantly attired/* No two men had a greater influence on early 
Arkansas aflFairs than General William and Colonel Elias Rector, 
and no two brothers had an equal prominence in the west. 

FIFTH GENERATION — GOVERNOR HENRY MASSEY RECTOR. 

Henry Massey Rector was born at Louisville, Kentucky, on 
May I, 1816, the son of Elias and Fannie Bardella (Thruston) 
Rector. His father died during his sixth year, and his early 
boyhood was spent at home with his mother, and in work at the 
salt works owned by General Trigg in Saline County, Missouri. 
He attended school in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1834 and 1835; ^" 
the last year removed to Arkansas to look after the great landed 
interests inherited from his father. He was teller of the State 
Bank of Arkansas in the years 1839 and 1840. During the, year 
1841 he superintended his farm in Saline County and st\idied 
law; in 1842 was appointed L'^nited States Marshal for the 
District of Arkansas by President Tyler, superseding his cousin, 
Elias Rector of Fort Smith, and served for three years. He 
then engaged in the practice of law at Little Rock, his specialty 
being criminal law ; served in the State senate in 1848-49, 1850- 
51, representing Saline and Perry counties; from 1853 to 1857 
he served as surveyor general of Arkansas, and in 1855 was 
elected to the legislature from Pulaski County. In 1858 he was 
elected as an associate justice of the supreme court which posi- 
tion he resigned in 1859 to make the race for governor of Ar- 
kansas. At this time the Con way- Johnson dynasty had full 
swing and was thought to be in absolute control of the politics 
of the State. Little attention was given by it to Henry Massey 
Rector, who for ten years had been building a character among 
his fellows, which was to make him more than equal to the com- 
bined power of the dynasty. At the regular Democratic Con- 
vention in i860, Colonel Richard H. Johnson, a former editor 
of the Little Rock True Democrat was nominated for governor. 



402 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

and everybody thought that he would surely be elected. The 
Union party nominated Judge Thomas Hubbard of Hempstead 
County. Against this array of great men Henry Massey Rector 
announced himself as an independent Democratic candidate. In 
the canvass which followed Johnson and Hubbard made great 
speeches while Rector simply appealed to the sterling common 
sense of the voters. This statement must be taken cum grano 
salis. Henry Massey Rector was a natural born orator; his 
vocabulary was rich in words and richer in suggestive imagery ; 
his natural logic was superb; his appearance commanding; he 
was conceded by the ablest judges of the times to have been the 
greatest debater that Arkansas had known, and it is very doubt- 
ful to day whether the State has ever furnished a superior. 
When the votes were counted Rector had a plurality of two 
thousand four hundred and sixty-one votes. Thus the stone 
which the builders rejected became the head of the corner. 
About this time caricature by pictures first entered Arkansas. 
There was a paper published at Fayetteville called the Inde- 
pendent, edited by William Quesenbury, popularly called "Bill 
Cush. ' He made a cartoon after the election which he labeled 
"Tom, Dick and Harry." Judge Thomas Hubbard was repre- 
sented as "Old (Mother Hubbard" searching the cupboard "to 
give her poor dog a bone," but the cupboard was bare. Colonel 
Dick Johnson was mounted on a whisky barrel surrounded by 
a crowd of his supporters, diligently telling them how it all 
happened. Colonel Henry M. Rector was represented with a 
rooster's head, strutting about and crowing lustily. It was cer- 
tainly a great victory for a man who had been in the State but 
twenty-five years, and who had opposed to him all the political 
sagacity of the State. He was elected for a four years' term 
but did not serve his full time. After being sworn in the Civil 
War was inaugurated and the secretary of war made a requisi- 
tion upon Governor Rector for troops to put down what was 
called "The Rebellion." Governor Rector showed the stuflf of 
which he was made in the answer which he sent to Washington, 
an answer worthy of the family from which he sprang. That 
answer was as follows: 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 403 

"Executive Office, Little Rock, April 22, 1861. 

'*Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, Washington, 
D. C. 

"In answer to your requisition for troops from Arkansas to 
subjugate the Southern States, I have to say, that none will be 
furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury. The 
people of this commonwealth are free men, not slaves, and will 
defend to the last extremity, their honor, lives and property 
against Northern mendacity and usurpation. Signed Henry M. 
Rector, Governor of Arkansas." 

Xo stronger State paper has ever issued from the execu- 
tive department at Little Rock, nor, for that matter, from any 
other State department in all the world. That paper alone 
entitled Henry M. Rector to the honor of being not only 
a brave man, but a great man. It entitled him to far 
better treatment than was given him. The regular Dem- 
ocrats smarting under their defeat took an undue advan- 
tage of him in the convention of 1861. That body while 
providing for a new constitution which continued certain offices 
in force, intentionally or unintentionally omitted to make any 
provision whatever for the governor's position. Rector's ad- 
herents have always claimed that this was done intentionally 
and from the meager records which have come down to pos- 
terity, it is entirely safe to say, that this contention of Rector's 
friends was true. At all events it was claimed that as the con- 
stitution did not provide for the continuance of the Governor, 
that a vacancy existed, which contention was upheld by the 
supreme court. Henry M. Rector served as governor from 
November 16, i860, to November 4, 1862, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Acting Governor Thomas Fletcher, who served until 
November 15th when Harris Flannigan was inaugurated under 
the new constitution. During this time Governor Rector seized 
the arsenal at Little Rock and the fort at Fort Smith, together 
with all the arms, ammunition and stores contained therein. 
He was a member of the military board which raised and equipped 
forty regiments for the Confederate army. He is justly entitled 
to be called "The War Governor of Arkansas." After leaving 



404 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

the office of governor he joined the reserve corps of the Con- 
federate army, refusing a quartermaster's place, and served as a 
private until the close of the war. For several years after the 
close of hostilities he was engaged in farming and in 1874 was 
sent to the Constitutional Convention from Garland County. 
In this position he was held to be a man of force, brains and 
power. His whole life had been clean, honorable and conser- 
vative, and these influences gave him power in the convention. 
He had all the fire and courage of the elder Rectors and wa^ 
known to be a man no man could insult with impunity. He 
died in Little Rock at the old Rector residence, a landmark of 
the town, in August, 1899. With him died the last link of ante- 
bellum family influence and power. 

In October, 1838, he married Jane Elizabeth, daughter of 
William Field of Little Rock, who died in 1857. William Field 
was clerk of the old superior court from 1829 to 1836 and of 
the United States court for many years thereafter. His father. 
Abner Field, died in Kentucky on April 11, 1831, in his seventy- 
first year, four years of which were passed in the service of 
the United States in the war of the Revolution, where he gained 
the rank of major. In 1859 Governor Rector married a second 
time, his choice falling on Ernestine Flora, daughter of Albert 
Linde. o£ Memphis, Tennessee. The children of the first mar- 
riage were: 

1. Frank Nelson Rector, who grew to manhood and died 
unmarried. 

2. Ann Baylor Rector, born in Saline County, Arkansas, 
April 25, 1841 ; married in 1857 at Little Rock to William M. 
Matheny, an attorney of Harrodsburg, Kentucky. To them were 
born four children, three of whom are now living: (i) Mary C. 
Matheny, who married Walter J. Land in 1879, and had Walter, 
Rector, Vivian and Leighton. Mary C. was married a second 
time in 1899 to Eugene H. Starcke of St. Louis; (2) William 
Ivan Matheny who married Edna Virginia Terry of Washington, 
Iowa in 1897; (3) Julia Fannie Maud Matheny who in 1905 was 
married to William Wayne Sutherland of St. Louis and had one 
child, Junebug Sutherland. 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 405 

3. William Field Rector, who joined the Confederate army 
in his 17th year, and at the battle of Helena, was adjutant of 
Colonel Hart's regiment in General McRae's brigade. In that 
engagement all the regimental officers were either killed or 
wounded, and in the charge on Grave Yard Hill, he as adjutant 
look command; he was but nineteen years of age, immensely 
handsome and as brave as a lion ; he pushed rapidly forward and 
found himself alone, some fifty yards in advance of the regi- 
ment; fearing that his men were about to falter under the ex- 
cessive heat and the difficulties of the approach, he scaled the 
breastworks of the enemy, reached the top, within twenty feet 
of the opposing line, when he stopped, placed his cap upon his 
sword and held it out with his right hand, cheering his regiment 
and bidding them to come on ; in this position his right arm was 
broken by a ball from the enemy's guns, and his cap and sword 
fell to the ground; whereupon with his left hand he picked up 
his sword, thrust it through his cap, again held it aloft and again 
cheered his men to action; a second ball from the enemy struck 
him, passed entirely through his body piercing both lungs and 
inflicted a mortal wound. The regiment pressed forward and 
took the fort, but were soon compelled to abandon it by the 
river flotilla, leaving Rector where he fell. The enemy on dis- 
covering who he was had him removed to the home of one of Gov- 
ernor Rector's friends, where he died the following day, leav- 
ing a message for his father, that death came to him in the line 
of duty and that he had no regrets. He was afterward buried 
in the Rector burial place in Mf. Holly cemetery, where a fit- 
ting monument was erected by his father. 

4. Julia Sevier Rector, who married Colonel Charles S, 
Mitchell of the Confederate army; removed to Dallas, Texas, 
where she died leaving three children, Charles, William and 
Lilian, the first and last being married. 

5. Henry Massey Rector, Jr., who graduated from Mis- 
.^ouri Medical College, and practiced medicine at Hot Springs; 
was in the Confederate army at sixteen years of age, being in 
the reserve corps ; he was a very learned man, but most modest, 
retiring and reticent; his reading was almost unlimited and he 
was a master with the pen ; member of the Arkansas legislature ; 



406 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

editor Hot Springs Telegraph; member Hot Springs school 
board; president Hot Springs Valley Bank; universally recog- 
nized as a man of great civility and erudition but a man of the 
supremest courage ; married Hebe Gower of Iowa City, and lived 
in Hot Springs until his death in 1905, leaving one son and 
three daughters; the son Henry Massie Rector, Jr., married 
a iMiss Mooney of Hot Springs, and had one son, also named 
Henry M. Rector; the eldest daughter, Grace Greenwood Rec- 
tor, married William Fry, son of Captain C. B. Fry, of the noted 
Virginia family of that name, lives in Hot Springs and has one 
daughter; the second daughter, Ernestine, married Watson Mor- 
rison, and lives at Hot Springs; the third daughter, Levison, 
married Walter Land and lives at St. Louis, Missouri. 

6. Elias William Rector was born at Little Rock, June 
II, 1849, 2it the home of his grandfather Field, where his 
mother was visiting, the father's residence being at Collegeville 
in Saline County; he was educated at Little Rock and the Uni- 
versity of Virginia; admitted to the bar at Hot Springs in 1874; 
member of the legislature for many terms; during his first ser- 
vice he was chairman of the judiciary committee; in his second 
term, chairman of the ways and means committee, and in his 
third term was speaker of the House; he introduced the first 
bill to become a law, making it unlawful for a State or county 
officer to ride on a free pass on the railroads of the State; he 
was also the father of the geological survey bill which has fKDs- 
b\h\\ (lone more for Arkansas than any measure passed since 
1875 ; he was largely instrumental in passing the railroad com- 
mission bill; he was also chairman of the house committee ap- 
1 ointed to inquire into the expediency of building a new State 
house, which led to the present law authorizing its erection; 
he was twice a candidate before the people for the Democratic 
nomination of governor but was defeated, largely through the 
opposition of the railroads and other corporations engendered 
by his activity in passing the commission bill ; he is the retained 
attorney of the Hot Springs Street Railway Company and has 
been for twenty-five years. E. W. Rector has the hight, sym- 
metry and manly proportions of his ancestry, coupled with their 
courtliness and courage. I have known him for twenty-four 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 407 

years as a public man and have always found him in the fore- 
front of the progressive element of the State; his honor is un- 
questioned and unquestionable, and no person commands the 
the respect and confidence of his fellows to a greater degree 
than he; he was fortunate in his marriage, selecting as his life 
companion Rosebud Alcorn, daughter of United States Sena- 
tor James Lusk Alcorn and Amelia Walton (Glover) Alcorn, 
whom he married at Friar's Point, Mississippi, on November 
II, 1875, R^v. Mr. White officiating. The wife of the senator 
was a Glover descended from the wealthy family of that name 
in South Carolina, and from the Waltons of Virginia, through 
whom she was lineally descended from Baron Whiteford of 
Ayrshire, Scotland. 

The father of Mrs. Rector, Senator Alcorn, was a most 
distinguished, as well as a most remarkable man; of Southern 
birth, he served the South in her struggle for independence, by 
equipping at his own expense, a brigade for the Southern Con- 
federacy, the command of which his enemies did not permit 
him to enjoy; despite this he stood by the Confederate cause to 
the end, and then stood by Mississippi in her after efforts to 
recuperate her wasted resources. Like Longstreet, he decided 
that the best way to help the South, was to camp on the enemy's 
ground, and he became a Republican. Upon his death the Mem- 
phis Commercial Appeal said: **Alone, unique, majestic in his 
dignified aloofness, stands James Lusk Alcorn against whose 
shield hate has hurled her last arrow in vain. Measured by 
what he has accomplished for his State he stands without a peer. 
Misjudged, misunderstood, maligned for a time by those he 
sought to serve, and bitterly assailed by many in the open, who 
came to him clandestinely to applaud and commend, he ex- 
hibited the courage of a Coriolanus, the splendid contempt of 
his enemies of an Alcibiades, the wisdom of a sage and the 
loyalty of a patriot." The editorial from which this was taken 
was very long, but its cream, its essence, its real strength is 
(juoted above, and is a splendid tribute to the man. The Com- 
mercial Appeal exhausted the vocabulary of vituperation against 
the living Alcorn, but made this glorious reparation to Alcorn 
dead. The occasion was the selection of a Mississippian for 



4o8 Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas - 

the Hall of Fame, and the Memphis paper, while naming many 
as worthy of the American Valhalla, gave James Lusk Alcorn 
double the space of all others combined. A man may be called 
great from evidence adduced by his admiring friends, but James 
Lusk Alcorn was pronounced great by his bitterest foes. His 
title to greatness is therefore without a flaw, and his children 
and their descendant's may well be proud of their birth. 

Rosebud Alcorn, the wife of E.> W. Rector, was educated 
at Mrs. Prince's School in New York City and at the Baldwin 
Female College of Staunton, Virginia; inheriting the mental 
strength of her father, as well as his courage, she brought to her 
married relations a finished and cultivated mind, which has 
made her an acquisitoin of inestimable value to her husband, to 
her children, and to her friends. 

The children of E. W. and Rosebud Rector were: 

1. Alcorn Rector, born December 2j, 1876; educated at 
Hot Springs and Bingham's School, North Carolina; inventor; 
his inventions being (i) the Rector gas lamp, now owned and 
operated by the Rector Gas Light Company of New York City ; 
(2) the Rector Help-a-Phone, a device for telephones to aid 
the hearing, which improvement is manufactured and sold in 
New York City by two New York corporations, known as the 
Rector Help-a-Phone Company, and the Inter-National Help- 
a-Phone Company. Mr. Alcorn Rector is a large stockholder 
and an officer in each of these corporations and resides in New 
York City, unmarried. 

2. Amelia Walton Rector born April 5, 1878; educated at 
Searcy Female College, Arkansas, and at Belmont Seminary, 
Nashville, Tennessee. She is an accomplished vocalist and 
lives with her father at Hot Springs, unmarried. 

3. Henry Field Rector, bom April 9, 1880; educated at 
Hot Springs; large planter in Coahoma County, Mississippi; 
married Mary Dye, daughter of Rev. Thomas Dye of Missis- 
sippi, and has two children, E. W. Rector and Henry Field 
Rector. 

4. James Alcorn Rector, born June 22, 1884; educated at 
Lawrenceville School, New Jersey, from whence he graduated 



Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 409 

in 1906 the valedictorian of his class; entered th*e University of 
Virginia in the fall of the same year, and is now in the senior 
class of the law department; honorary member for life of the 
New York Athletic Association, and has never been beaten in 
the United States in a hundred yards running dash ; represented 
the University of Virginia at the Olympic Games in London in 
1908, but was beaten by a man from South Africa. He is un- 
married. 

5. Jane Elizabeth Rector, born March 21, 1886; educated 
at Hot Springs. Arkansas, and at Springside, Chestnut Hill, 
Philadelphia, a school presided over by Mrs. Chapman, the 
(laughter of Bishop Polk, the noted Confederate general. She 
married Middleton Lane Wootten of Hot Springs. Arkansas, a 
prominent lumberman and became the mother of one child, E. 
W. Rector Wootten. 

6. Sally Phillips Rector, born May 10, 1892; educated 
under a private governess, and is now at Springside School, 
Chestnut Hill. Philadelphia. 

The seventh child of Governor H. M. Rector was Fannie 
Thruston Rector, who was born in Saline County. Arkansas, in 
1853 and who was ntarried twice: (i) to Roswell W. Foreman 
of Washington. D. C. and had tJiree children, one of whom is 
now living, viz.: Helen Foreman, who married Charles E. 
Ellis of New York, and resides at Yonkers, New York: (2) to 
Colonel Charles S. Mitchell, whose first wife was her sister; 
two children were born to this union. Grace and Margaret, who 
are both married. By this second marriage* Governor Rector 
had one child. Ernestine Flora Rector, w-ho married d) McGhee 
Williams of Memphis, Tennessee, and had three sons, Rector, 
McGhec and Thruston; (2) Mr. Brunson of Pine Bluff; (3) 
\rr. Vaughn of Hot Springs, Arkansas. No children by the 
last marriages. 

This ends the history of one branch of the Rector family, 
lineally descended from the immigrant John Jacob Rechter of 
1 714. The entire histor>' of this patriarch's descendants could 
easily be written, but it would far transcend the limits of this 
work. Other lines abound with great names whose history is 
worthy of preservation and w^hich in its fulness would illuminate 



4IO. Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 

the life of the early German elder with transcendent glory. 
What is written here is authentic, and although confined to one 
great and illustrious line, is a lever of power magnifying with- 
out injustice or favor, the real dignity of the old German father, 
and his splendid line of descendants. It is doubtful whether 
God ever permitted the perpetration of physical stature and at- 
tributes for so long a period as has been covered by the Rector 
regime. E. W. Rector of Hot Springs, carries today ever>' 
physical property of the Rectors of two hundred years ago. 
It may be also well doubted whether any family of America 
through so long a time has maintained its elegant discrimina- 
tion as to dress or its marked power in the wide realm of 
courtly civility and almost princely refinements of manners. With 
all this the courage of the old Germans who combated with 
Caesar on the banks of the Rhine stands out with pre-eminent 
force today. Courage in every age of the world has had the 
highest place in the aflfections of mankind, and it is worshipped 
today no less zealously than of old. Homer has deified it and 
mankind still worship at the altar of the inimitable Greek. The 
mental powers of the Rectors have in every age kept full pace 
with their splendid physical parts, making them most powerful 
factors in the making and keeping of all that goes for the pro- 
gression, the elevation and the betterment of the world. The 
Rector influence in Arkansas began before the territory was born ; 
was in full force at the birth of the territory; lasted through 
every hour of its life : was triumphantly prominent in the forma- 
tion of the State, giving that formation birth many years ahead 
of time ; and has followed the State through its every vicissitude 
of fortune, with loving hands. Without disparaging other great 
Arkansas names, it is but just to say that the name, Rector, 
shines with a luster equal to that of any other and is un- 
dimmed to this good hour. 




INDEX. 



Adair.Gov 232 

Adam. Matthew 114 

Adum *nfl Eve 1** 

Afhorni* niitl Times 126 

Ai^lam* .Snmuet . 277 

AtinriL^t John D 324 

AJlen. Gttieral \VilU*m O., 13. 35, 67. 58 

60. 110. 121. 251. 61. 71. 74. 

Allen. JaineM 113 

Allen, MaryK.,, , 85. 102 

AUeoA>it. John 85, 192 

Allen, Kli^Jilwth... 156. 76 

Alii e of ( M^^l Vinc«|i|»e 23 

AllJiEAtnr Ukt 42 

Alnit^iKf rs*, J. ihn F ^. . 42 

Aneplp LJftwrfni ff, 78, 279 

Anderson . I h Wfum . * n ^ 346 

Aiiti-fJamblinjE A^u'laiicina lOS 

An-lrewn, WiJliam Ill 

AniJrftwi, H*rirv 144 

AJpin. Johri 160 

Af t-htr. MaiVT ft. II 56 

Arbiirkle. GpDPnil 91, 141 

Ari'hit*«tiir*^ The Tfso P'j" 255 

ArKcnta 188. 27 

Almrn, Ckiv Jameis Luak 407. 408 

Alrorn. Kc.**bud , 407, 408 

Alr< *rn. Amtlb Wdfcon 407 

Arbifu<iutP.0 19 

Arkaasafl Territory 9, 10, 11 

20. 21. 22. 29. 30. 

Arkaniva-s. Slavery in 9, 10 

ArkanxaA. See Arkansas Post, 

Arkan.«*a« P<iM. 12; 13. l.-i, 17, 19, 23, 35. 

58. 61. 76. SO. H3. 20. H8. 

Arkansas. HppHinE of. 20. 21 

Arkansas Gmuty 35h 54. 105. 116, 147 

Arkan.Has lliv^pr SrttlcitiientM 44, 45 

Arkan.Haji [kkundarieit 45 

Arkaa^as i^tpuliilinn. 45 

Arkansas < V^Lpnt v < i+Ti^i-r^ 100 

Arkansas County. Election 110 

Arkaasas Cabins 226. 227 

Arkansas Baptist Assn 231 

Arkop*)li» 38, 112. 149. 188 

Amu»t*md. C<il. Geo. F 61 

ArrontroijE, Henry 87 

Aj-httt. Uev. 219 

Ai*lilev,rh(^4UT 68, 85 

IH.^ to I (Ml- 240. 286, 336. 

AAhley Faiiiily . 187 

Aji^MbMii nation fi^f Major Isaac Wat- 

k\n- 232 

Austin. Stephen 54, 55 

Austin, Moses 55 

Austin. Jonas 113 

Barkman. Jacob. .19, 122, 148. 265, 

2sy. 

Barkman, Betsy 289 

Barkman, Asa 148 

Barkmnn. John ? . . . 148 

B^lot BuK Irregularities 56 

BfliEliP'y. .^rrher 78, 161 

r! I -■' ' '^- ii [rrmiii 78 

\'. Liii 43. 120. 160 

Baker. Elijah 160 

Bailey. John 161 

Baker. Dr. C 167 

Bald wn. Isaac 248 

Baldwin. Pamelia 248 

Ball, Judge B. B 221 

Banquets 231 



Baptist Society 25 

Baptist Church. Little Rock 49 

Baptist Church of Christ 143 

liHpti:-! Chun] J. First 231 

li:i(j [ i-^i A ^i^jtiiit ion. First 231 

Hr^rtrlrcij . . . _ • • 25 

J-lfirnniUe* Aotoiqe 26, 74 

Bun ran , John . . 44 

fiart3ie.^U>mew, Jo*eph 45 

Marbin.D 73 

Barmguc Townnhip 79 

fiartholflm^ir . , _ 151 

Barber, Dav^id,,. 156. 221 

Barber , James 221 

Bart ley. Judge E 278 

Barton. Elizabeth 379 

Barnerd, Jesse B 352 

Barton 379 

Barbe<'ues and Bergus 123, 344 

H-^--Mt.\\Tllinni 44 

Jitiif-^vill,. 47, 75, 104. 114. 115. 148. 346 

Bates Jt Crittcndeti 58 

Hat#j Jam«iv Woodson. .54, 58. 82. 134 
346, 286. 72 im 189, 199, 201. 

Batftiville Bee 335 

BfttPJi I'illr Guafd 335 

Hay ^r U hifi- River 43 

Bayou, Hunt 44 

BaylisH.Mr 113 

Bayou Metou 146 

BaylL^. Elinor 76, 156 

Bayf)U Dea Arc 148 

Baxter 324 

Baxter. Gov 367 

Belle Point 43, 149 

Benlue. Albert 44. 287 

Bean. Robert 114. 87, 156 

Bell.M. L 93 

Bell. Cwt. John S 93 

Bean. Ekb*nl 161 

BeddujE, Nancy 160 

Bewley. Mahlon 144 

Bewfey. R.S 144 

Bekli[i*t. 1 160 

Beiitiif^tt , JfH^et'li 165 

Hen Ucy?^, The 217 

Defl V or. Lurirula 247 

Betiver, i^tephen 247 

B^avtr. Sarah 248 

Beavpr, Nancv . , 248 

Bertrand, V P 248 

Benton .Arademy 264 

14«nnpa?. iMndanif Barbe 287 

BrnVleVn Cm ir((p 218, 347 

Berry, Jrt in IS 288 

Berry. James H 329 

Berry. John 159 

Berr> . i ieorRe 347 

HmiIp. tleii. \\ m . K 379 

Bentiey . J*j**ph 288 

Heck. AbnUmm 288 

B*ttiH. R.8 344 

BeiiMstown 112. 149 

J^thell, Joihim 352 

BiK I^lflnd 42 

BiK Lake 43 

Biff Prairie 45 

BillinKsly. James 87 

Biscoe. H. L 100, 264 to 270 

Bi-Hcoeville 148, 266 

BigCofMlose 148 

BitfPiney 142 

Bible Society 254 



412 



Index 



Biscoe Family 268. 260 

Biscoe, Capt. Cameron 269 

Biscoe. KinR&Ck> 269 

Billeat^, Miss 165 

Berkheimer 174 

Bill. Cuah , 266, 402 

Block Ru-er .,..,., 43, 104 

Bbrw?, Ef tbef t . . , 102 

Blark, Thomafl . . . , 113 

Blalideyi/iwn 76 

Blair. W.P,L..,_ 103 

BJythe,S. K . .. 143 

Blount^ HupbtnJ .., 260. 221 

Blark, Mi^.Oe^rKe 227 

Blai'fcHW< J. W. 368 

B<>By. Lewifi, . . , . ^ 26 

BfjKte 26 

Bonue. jD<i€r>K 25, 166 

Bonn*r BaritiKto . , , 26 

Boffy. Charlft 44 

Boftv. Jtiapph 45. 97 

Bonnes Mirhttel 46 

Boyd, JaFDi^ , 114 

Bn*w«ll, CoL HartweU ... .72, 334, 336 

BoDhenu, Antume 76 

Bowi^F, -|i>hn J . . , , , 88 

Bowie. James . . _ 88 

Boilinic SpHike^t Camp„ 143 

BoLiiriKPr, John 143 

Bon well. CoL Jamw 341. 336. 161 

Bodraw .,....._, 148 

Bosy * iKtiare 286, 25 

Boswell R.^H 337 

Bryan, Witliam J 32, 33 

Bmdforl. Major. . :J5, 71. 87, 88, 254 

BriHeoute, Altiaoder 43 

Bright, Johri 44 

Brown* Sanjuel 44 

Brinflberk, Rarihaet , 44 

Braagiere. Loiila : . . 47 

Bryan. Jame« Ill 

Bmdley, Gpftra* 113 

Brand. CetPTtf* W fig 

Brearlfy. Co(, D^vid. .. .69, 166, 223. 131 
138, 139. 140 

BrierJy. CnL Fmnon 72 

Brinharii. liaphapt 76 

Bmdlty. C^wirffff 76. 156 

Brown. CI ward 83 

Bn?arl#y, Dr. J. H 143 

Brown ^ Ranrnjfts >tap 147 

BruUm, Jiihn 144 

Brooks, Robert 165 

Brirk Tav ern 167 

Brumbaoh, Christian 167, 231 

Brii k Hous»c 167, 168. 231 

BriH keimdi^, Jo!>*pb C 205 

Brtf'kentidifi*, Job ri f 205 

Bncrkindd^H IjLUru 205 

Brerkinritl}re. EinWrt W.J 205 

BreckinriHli^ie, {if^nifirQin 205 

Brown, Nanry 224 

Brearly. Jo . 227 

Urifpfin. 8n-iari 2-18 

Bricelin. Milo 248 

Brilhart Family 280. 284 

Brilhart. Jacob 2S() 

ililriiJjinn , iif^bp^ra 2S1 

BradTey, Jnhn 286 

BrafiVv. xMary 2S6 

Brin.-*berh, Amelia. 2S7 

Bhdimmn. N'anry 165 

Bpf^ikfiHcLRev. Iwiar 166 

Brown, Jrpnaihiiu R 2SS 

Rraiffdlp. J It 196 

Brxxik*- Baxter War 324, 367 

Brur*^, Robert 341 

Brooks. Oov 367. 324 

Bninson, Mr 409 



RraKK, ML<^ah 352 

BunJ.B 19 

Burnett. Mot** 42, 120 

Burrell, Peter 4* 

Bull. John 101 

Bullett. Judge Ge«arKe '97. 99 

BnrtnUd Mrfl. Je^i^e 160 

Burton, Butier M. 141 

Burr^i* Collection , . 150 

Buckle 228 

BurJf«r. I.ilUe De^a 248 

BurriA. Thomas 287 

Bunii. Polly 287 

Buchannan. Widow 287 

Buchannan. Rev. A 287 

Byrd. Col. Stephen 114. 157 

Byrd. Amos 157 

Byrne. Capt 65 

Cadron .... 16. 19, 38, 45, 47, 48, 49 

61, 102. 104, 105, 111, 146, 148, 218. 

Casatete 45 

CathoUc Church 24*331, 284 

CathfjUr t athera 25 

C^be Rher 26. 43. 44 

Cflttey Crfck . 43 

Caii^idy. Pint 43, 101. 120 

CanipbelL Jamw 212. 279 

Cabiri Jfjseph 43 

Catwke l^raine 43 

Cathm, John B 44 

C^mahan. Hei.\ John 48, 49, 251 

Camp Gmund. First 49 

CavH, Uuifl . 101 

Cafie Hill 152 

CnriJthepi. John 78. 279 

raiinan, Matthew 61 

rnt^^idv. Henry 54. 55, 97, 120 

OiidiiLate First 1>gislature 74 

Cfltieanit, . . . 150 

Cam van* nf PioneetKi ^ 154 

CalrlwHItown .... 150 

Canry. Mt*. Joijn 100 

Caruthem. Mm. 3amu»t 160 

Carlork* 282 

TartJen, Mary 287 

CarffjlL Mjut EL , 306 

CamnbelJ, Nancy 166 

Cardan, George . , 220 

Carfientrr, A. M.* * . * - * 278 

CMy\ P, J , 286 

t:arroII. Wiley. . . . , 306 

f^al IwelU Henry - 325 

Carey. Mile^ , , 359 

C»Ml, Ger>1 Wm 396 

t'lTiienpfi. Hon. Simojt 403 

I'hnlnif'ne 24 

Ch^i-^-^piit. JcMtepb de . , 25 

t'hQ.-^pin. Antmne 25 

Oiartfure, Enoii. ,. ,. 42. 120 

rhM-k, Jefise 14 

Chamberlain. John. ..,.,,,...... Ill 

rbft''ta.x Prairie. 75 

Cherokee Treaty. . , . . , * 75 

Chabtiee*. Capt, . , 93 

Cliarnheirlain, Jaiwn 113, 289 

<^hcn>kee [ndian A^nt* 131 

ChfMlnw .Trtxaty 133, 134. 135 

Cbi(**t C^MUity. .. „ ,. f . . •• 147 

Chisholm. Mrs. W.. 160 

Churthill. Gov 2(M 

Churchill. Abbie 204 

Churchill. 8. J 204 

Churchill. A. S 204 

Churchill. Juliet J 204 

Churchill Emily 204 

Churchill. Matilda 204 

Cherry. W. C 248 

Colley. John 160 



Index 



41J 



Click. Henry 160 

Clarendon 125 

Clafk. P. O.. 19 

Oark, Dftvid 122 

nantcm, Stephen. - . ,. lOl 

Clf>*4eiu3i, TTie. .**.-- 26 

aover Bend 43 

Clajk County. 56, 76. lOl, 106, 116, I47 

ClATk, BetyiitTiin Sr.. . 78. 101, 160 

rUiy. HpnTy, B[>tfiih 82 

Clark Crmnt y Oifipen^ 103 

rlnrk Mr*. Beniatniti 160 

OemebtJt. Bf^nJAmin. 167 

Clen-lji^niiin, Ju.iife J. J 233 

Clnnt^jT], ]'ri}4^illti. . , 287 

Cotoner, Michael 76 

Coulter, Stokely H 19 

Copfot. Francois 25 

Coppenw Creek 42 

Coffman. Chrutopher 44 

Cox. William 1 13 

Conway. James 8. . 147, 286, 372 

Comet, First Steamboat 65 

Colonels of Militia 72 

Conway, Wm 78 

Covered Wa«on» 102, 103, 104 

Conway Fnniily 106 

Coltimbif 110 

Confitltutionai Journal 126 

0>llp«eviU« . „ . . , 151 

Cornwall . 151 

Columbia 151 

Colffclop , . . . _ 152 

OODvray Cbuntv, . . . 147, 148, 218, 221 

i)ax, Mra. Charlfti 160 

Cox, Charles 160 

Copeland, InaAr 165 

OofiwaVH Sc^^e^ Dynasty. . . . 183, 184 

Conway Town 218 

Oocke, John H., Slaves 239 

Collins. Maty 248 

Copelttiwl. M 278 

Cii}l ville, Jowph 288 

Pol^dlle Amtrrw 288 

CoIvIKp, Pouline 288 

CofTmAi]. ArHirew 308 

Ctjffnidn. r T ". 303 

CofTman. Hu^h 303 

Cook. Capt. R. P 308 

Cook. Robert T 308 

Cook, Garland 308 

Cook, Farjciy 30S 

Cook. lAum 308 

Oompton* Jitdve^ 314 

Cobk, Joaeph 347 

Colquboun, J«Jti«s 354 

Coon, Jai'Cib 372 

0"ttirier. Klienliteth 378 

f' -■ T.-..i. 378 

Conway. Elias N 372, 397 

Conway, Ann 396 

Conway, Capt. Thomas 396 

Conway, Rdwani 396 

Conway Moncure D 396 

Conway, Fretlerick R 397 

Conway, John R 397 

Conway, William B 397 

Conway, Thomas A 397 

Conway, iSarah A 397 

Conway, Henry W. .54, 74, 94, 147, 166 

176. 183. 221. 

Crirkr. Mary W 205 

Crittenden, Robert. 16, 30, 32, 35, 37 

54. 5H. 73, 7^. Rl?. 87. 88. 99. 102, 118 

lan. i7-\ 176. 1 :s to 185. 189, 201, 239 

CraiK, William. 19. 83. 1 10. 112, 121. 122 
128. 169. 170. 189, 347. 

Crittenden County 42, 118, 147 

Crow Creek 44 



Crystal Hill. 4a. 56. 105, 232, 250. 
Crftwfi>rd C^urt House 49, 

Criswdl. Andrew 112. 

Crain. Nadvy . . , 

Crawford County Heroes 

Cryer. Morimn 78, 159, 

Crojsier, Francis 

Crittenden Tuwn 101, 

Crawford County 105, 147, 

CrtJU>hhetd. J. M. 

Qrt\iM River 

Crow, nenjamin 

Crittefnieti, Conwav Dud 

Cr^n-- J.Kti H 193, 

Crease. Mary A 194, 

Cross, Edwards 201, 

Criswell, Cyrus J 

Criswclls 

Curran James 13, 

Curran Thomas 70, 115, 

rnrrjjFi Lemuel R. ...... 

('urran. May F .,....** 

Currctif River 

Curuberlan^l Pn^bvterian Oiurch. . 
Cunnitisrhiiin, Matthew. .... .5, 7, 

Cummins- N'olpebe Weddinit 

Cummins William. ..... ^ 

Cummins, Mrsi. WilUams 

Currenton 

CufFmans 

Cuffman, Thomas 

Cuffman, Pavatt 

Cuffman. JotiephiM 

Cuffman, Dr. John H 

Cuffman. James M 

riimmiim nnd Garland 

Cummin**. Eljeneier 

ryprfiN.'^ Rftvoti 

DandnonviUe. 16. 19. 104. 105. 110, 
146. 148 

D' Arrijotiii, Franeii. 

Dflnlanelle 36, 134. 149. 

|>af<lenne. John B. . * 43, 

Davi«. Jnmert 

Daniel, WH»ht, 49. 77, 87. 260. 

Dandf*on. John 

Dni-iilwm. Kphralm C 75, 

narLlHTiellc! Rof k: 

Daniel. Mi« 

Dardenne, J<wph. . 

Ds*!!*, ZtvimAali 

nardfjtielle Settlement 

Ddv'jiliMjn. Rnlitf rt 

Dn^i-'. J^ciniuel. 

Daui(hert v^ Maria 

Dbvi?i, CUm . 

Dftiix, Benjamin ... 

Dii%i^H Eliinlrfth 

Du\'bi ^Amuel 

Dnti". \y. K 

DaW*. L. W. . . ., 

rifi^H*, Jafn^. t ► H ► , t 

nanieli, J, L 

Dttvjfl, AqiiiUa 

DePlnii^. Jtihn B 

D^rni^-ie. lean B 44. 

DePla-rte. Joseph 

DemU-teau. Marj' 44, 

Derx-sier, Peter 

Delegate to Confrre«s 

DeCliasfrin, Jo.teph 

DeMun, Lewi.-^ 112. 

DePew 

Delaware Villa8:e 

De<*cendants, Thoma>< Fletcher. . . . 

DescentlantH. Caleb Lindsey 

Descendantj», Frederick Rector. . . . 
Deru.'teaux, Mary 



254 
105 
279 
115 

78 
160 

85- 
148 
194 
143 
146 
160 
176 
236 
233- 
287 
294 
293 
288 
341 

76 
205 
104 

49 
167 



111 
304 
304 
304 
306 
307 
307 
313 
313 
43 

113 

25 

222 

75 

44 

288 

54 

97 

76 

77 

98 

101 

142 

143 

160 

166 

263 

280 

280 

280 

324 

367 

114 

341 

342 

44 

286 

26 

286 

45 

54 

74 

279 

108 

148 

247 

246 

379 

286 



414 



Index 



Desha, Joseph 333 

Desha, Captain 333 

Desha, Robert 333 

Desha. Franklin 334 

Desha. Margaret 334 

Deshas 331 to 338 

Deshft^ Ben 333 

D*nt!«iux. Johq B 286 

Ben-n, Sidn*^' 166 

Dwnriati. John 160 

Bwhipr. David 147 

Dentcjn, W. F 335 

BssJmi County 119 

Deans 101 

Denton, F. D 336 

Denton, James 341 

Deaths in 1820 347 

Dill. John 43 

Diana, John 43 

DititiiiKmr?. Samufk. 36 

Dmsiiiwr ami Spaulding. 84 

Dickini^tJi. Townswmi 116, 161, 341 

Dirki**..n. Mary 160 

Dirkin-wn, Tfiomaii 168 

Ditkirison. Martha A 300 

DnminlciU6». John 42 

Dodffp. Mra. JamM 71, 116 

Dool^-y, CoL Thomas. 72 

Dorrl*. Mr 93 

Dodge. John.. 99, 165 

Dwlson, WilliiMSj 129 

Dovpr 143 

Dwisp. Gen'l Htory, 166 

Doiltfe, Dr, H. L 227 

Dodd, C. W 227 

Doilgt, Geo. F. ..,..., 227 

Dwid, Mt* 227 

Douglas, John 260, 339 

DoU(f|iM, Efckicl 260, 264 

Douelaa. G , 264 

Dottd, ThoTjia* 288 

Dollarhide. Mn. John 160 

Do<lgp, Ann 166 

D*tf Man. John . _ , _ 347 

Dott*iTr. Henry 372 

Dmpe, WJIIiun ..,„ 13, 68 

Drufy, Silfl* 128 

DuVa[, Gforsj;? 44 

Duel First in Arkansas 66 

Dueling Law 66 

Duel—Barton and Rector 399 

Duel— Scott and Selden 199 

Duval, Francois 76 

DuVal. Mieranda J 141 

DuVal, Edward 131, 140, 222 

DuVals 331 

DuVal Catherine 396 

DuVal. William 396 

Dudley. Catherine 76 

Dukes, Sarah 76 

Dunn. J. Clark 76 

Dunn. Ichahml 76 

Dunn, Margaret 76 

Duncan. William 160 

Dwight's Mbwion 223 

Dye, Mary 408 

Dye, Thomas 408 

Early Land Grants 40 

Early County Administrations.... 100 

Ecore Fabre 161 

Edwards, Mary 42, LW 

Educational Opportunities 207 

Edward.*!, Gov. William 382 

Egner, Joseph 334. 346 

Egner. Elvira 334 

Egner. Henry 334 

Egner, Virginia 334 



Eftner, Cornelius 334 

Hk Lake 42 

Eleven Points 113. 147 

Eel River 42. 120. 14ft 

Elliott. Mary W 85. IWr 

Ellis, Radford 121. 132 

Elkins. John 160 

Election Pnutises 167. 168, 169. 170 

Ellis, William 221 

Ellis, Charles 410 

Ellis, James 336 

Elliott, Ann Elisa 286 

Elliott, Ben 286. 287 

Elliott, Laura F 287 

Embree. Madame 73, 86 

Embrees of Arkansas County. ... 86. 278 

Embry. Col. of Atkins 86 

Embree. Maria 86 

Embree. Jurdan . . 93 

EmRiert, Georne 336 

Emanripation of Staves 342. 343 

Kno. Miita Clara B 276 

EndL-^h, John . . 19. 121 

Errr*n«ja-t Ni>tlon» . - , 254 

Erwin. Annan las 114 

E»cri^ii?ve, John A 42 

EtHi:(eranta Cnmp . . 41, 118 

EstridHe. Judne S, P. 80. ISO. 201. 286 

EweL Ch&rJps . 166 



Farrelly, Tcrrence, 13, 36, 66. 67. 73, 79 
116. 

Farrelly and Curran 13. 14 

Fayac. John 43 

TulUft. Arrliibald 43 

Fa«nt, Anthony 44 

Fajfot . Andre 97 

Fayttteville , 162 

Fnrwn, Mr*. David 160 

Fftnern, Daiid 160 

Faulkner Countv 218 

Fnulknrr, Qil. San ford 221, 226 

Far West Academy 224 

FamiH' Likene«u^e»i 241 

Faulhuer, 8[imiiv1 289 

Fajmn, f Jeri'l. . 324 

Fmh. 331 

Farrow, Jamca. . , 354 

FeatheretoniMiih. 22. 109, 234 

Fer|fu*m, Napot«n B. ...76. 113, 156 

FprgUHon, W. D, 94 

Ferit\iiion. Jamei 113. 279 

Ferebe. Geo. W. 128. 268. 334, 337 

Fentor* 101 

Fermchca r*ddo 14S 

Fentfln. Belrv ' 166 

Fmner. Or, ft. H 289 

Ferebe. Ann F 334 

First Families 23, 24. 25 

First Families of Virginia 39 

First arcuit Court 65, 66 

First IVnii^ mill L^KL^btur* .61, 99 

First Sr»-uiiil^oat 66 

First LitTt*? [lo<k M«M-ehanH 68 

Firet Tnwn Ltd Sal** . Ill 

First Jtjdinial Hatiidntt 168 

First WeHt Point Cadet* 194 

First Stifwrifir C^yiitt 197 

First Rapti*'t Oiunh 231 

First Baptist Association 231 

First Academy at Batesxille 346 

Field Marshal 14 

Fish. Thomas 76. 121 

Fish Family 101 

Fish. Thomas 101 

Finley 's Map 149 

Fisher, James 160 

Finnev. Alfred 224 

Fishback, John 372. 374 



Index 



415 



FLihback, Harmon 872 

Fwhback, Gov. Wm M 372 

Fishbftok. Catherine 374 

Bfeld. William 404 

Field. Jane Elisabeth 404 

FitM. Abnpr 404 

Fla**rVH I*aAc ,...»►».,.. 114 

Flnnalrin, Patrick 161 

FifitkTi lean. (iov. ftarri*. 403 

n*tcher, John Goald 114. 242 

Flfltrher. Actino'Gov. TbomaJ*. ... 403 

FUti'htr Familv Slaves 238 I . 

Retchef Frunily 240 to 250 

Fltt<^htr, Thomju of Little Jlot-k. 241 

2i5. 347. 248, 272. 

Fl^ti'hw. Thciinas nf Pine Bluff 241 

Flet^-hw. Henn* I>wifl. 243. 244, 245 

246. 

Flttrhrr, RL^ha/tl 243 

F!ft*^hw. John a 245. 249 

Fktrher^ J?ff 245 

Flet^JiPi^. Thomas M 245 

I-letrher. Eli 245 

Fl*-t«her. Cnpt- Fret! 246 

Fl^tihpf, Martin 246 

FM'-her. W L.. 247 

Fl*ti?her, Olivia 346 

Fl«?tch<pr. John 247 

Flfftrher, T \f 248 

FlH^'bf^r- J R 248 

Flet^^h^r Lillie Dra 248 

FletrheTp Ann E 248 

Fl*trhfr. Mary P 249 

Fl^ti'h^f; ^[ji.*tofi 297 

Fooy, B^njamm, 41, 43. 117, 123, 287 

*F<»y. Tw*ac 118 

FcioyV Point 117 

FooVi Jf>bn H*nry , 43 

Fooy, Raniuel ' 118 

FVjoy, CharJrttte 287 

Foy* Fnnnl** 263 

Fort nn Whi(*" Hivpr 43 

Fcjun'ii*r of Tesj^?^ !>5 

Fnrt fSiHwn. 58, 102 

Fotinhff fi iliiMs' 148 

pommi^r Crf*k 148 

Ftiftivh* Jt Thrmias 149. 150 

Fourrhp rl# \f uft 156 

Fourth of July nt Rate8ville 161 

Folw>m* Mjirv 165 

Fontiine. %fnttb«tr, ., 283 

Folw^m. f*iMfl 346 

Fone*. John 352 

Frjwl^r. .4h^loiTi 336 

FnnemBn, TIo^wpU W 409 

Fof*mnr>. HpIpr. 409 

Frp-rn h Population 13. 23. 24 

FTntiiiiff . FmnfLB 43 

Fn>hlkk, Ja/^b. 91. 92 

French Mapii. . . . . , 149 

Ftw SrjJT 213 

FraiiT, Willbm. 220 

Franklin 254 

Franch, M»i<ir Henry 277 

F*»nklin, William 165. 338 

Ftae Iff«m** in Rlmve Timen 343 

FVfeienhatiti^ri. Anmi 374 

Fi4«»i*nhnnj£<*n. Jiircib 374 

Frv, Willium 406 

Friend. AujFiiitaJH J 43 

Frv, Capt. C. B- 406 

Ft: nm\th . , , 105. 148 

Fnrfii-^h , Churlei . 43 

Fulton Ill 

Fulton. RoUpK Ill 

Fuirett. Wm 118 

Fulton. Gov. William 8. 215. 216. 217 



Oasette. Arkansas. 11. 13. 14, 15, 16. 17 

18,21.^2,38*51,56,96.97,108, 166 

350. 260. 

fiallowhorn, Caty 42 

Gaiiia, Jofttph. ,. .. 43 

Hiurrttt, Jarob 113 

Galaxy of Grand Old Men 113 

Galley .. 142, 222. 134 

Garrett. W 142 

Garden, Thoraas. . 143 

Galbreath. Mrn, Joseph, 160 

Garland. Gov. A. H , 307 to 331 

Giu-tami Eliia^wth J 308 

Garland. R. K. f 308 

Garinna, R; K. Sr. 307 

Garlanft^B Letter 319 

GariamL Sandtfft 330 

GarlamiH R^ C , 330 

c;arlflnil, n>a»y, *. . . . 330 

Garland. W, A/ 330 

Garrett. Wm . 345 

O^r^tawkf-r. Fmderirk, 32. 155. 156. 347 

German Maps 149 

f Ivrmana ♦ ■ ^ . . 37 1 

Geitnantown ..,, h 372 

G<?rT»rd , Uone .,...,,.. 193 

Gillet, Aan>n 162 

Gmfrni>l«t. JoiK!f>h. 44 

Climblet. Frant^isi. . . . . 44 

GilwsofiH Dr. John. . . , . 80 

G ilmore. Daniel 143 

nifty. Simon 228 

Givenfl. Edward .. 335 

GibBi>n, Jam^ 287 

Ghidden. Dr. R. B 366 

Gliw*, Wm. H 43. 277 

Glasi, Himm ,.. 278 

Glaw. JaraeH .S52 

Glover. Amelia W 407 

Glass, Archibald 352 

GoriKrilfs, AuiKuitiiK* 42 

^ !of->^i.iT . LouL^ 43 

< Ji fri- . Jaroh . . 45 

G^»K^irti, OilheHnt' 76 

*;Mlin, Adde 77 

Gi-lifk Arhille 165 

GiM-pjiu^. Marv 279 

GowcT, Hebe . 406 

Greely. Borarc 29 

Grace. Willmm 41 

Grar^. John 42. 118 

Graham. Mut«B 100. 288 

Gmv- 49 

flfp '■■ ' 49. 78 

Gray. Shared 49. 78 

Gray. Jaseph 49 

Gray. Sampwn 50. 160. 240 

Gray, Harriet 77. 197 

Gray, Inaac 278 

Gray, Major 367 

Graves*. Tom 266 

Greirory. William 42. 120 

Green woo<l. Joseph 44 

(ireenbrier 49 

Grcenooh 151 

Grpjifory T^jtsnahiii 221 

Grepnwnlt. Mar>' 287 

Gr#en\%-iilt. \nn 288 

Grefn, lTirt!ii 288 

Griffith. Mr« 288 

Griffin Townj-hip 221 

(iro!*on. France 42 

Grue« River 44 

Hanlin. Joab 121. 217 

Haicerstown 26 

Harrington. John 35. 73 

Hadsell. John 44 



4i6 



Index 



Hardin. Joaeph. 54. 72, 102, 113, 116, 121 

180. 

Hamilton. James 60. 194 

HarriuKton. Bartley 73, 110. 121 

Harrini^ns 74, 148 

Harrington. Alfml 74. 97 

HaninKton, Mary 76 

HjwT3i,irT,,T, Klifu, 76 

HamnfElfm, Allen 76 

HartUn, Denjmmii 78, 279 

Harrliii, Jck'ob , 113 

Haaiock 113 

Hftiikfl. FtwtwiKJd 130 

Hayne!«, Miijor 150 

Harsrnve, Jobn, , • 160 

Harris, Maricry 161 

Hayiim. VWbb E 160 

Harulil, Il^'t'^v 165 

Harold, Abner 165, 217 

Harrlin. G. W 194 

Harris. Timothy 220 

Hamlet, Sam R 263 

Hafrw, John 284 

Harris, Sarah 287 

Harrell. John 296 

lltLirsion, Vanry SI 296 

H(ur?<t4jn, Jnrri<*^ 296 

Haniiv, Thnniaj* B 128 

Hall/Sttimi*-! S 115 

Hall FaniLly 299. 300 

Hall. Wm S 299 

HalU Dasid C . 300 

Hacker, GhriHtAiii 338. 

Haniaway, ArUllfisaC 368 

Hpiiir!lia*-k. . 372 

Hjitif^r, Henry 374 

Hay. John 374 

Helena. 43. 108, 118, 125, 129, 148. 265 

268. 

Hewett, Solcimnn 112. 279 

Hetiip^temi 'ft Hi«tcrry 54. 56 

Hemp-T<»ftd r-mnty. 56. 101. 104. 116, 147 

Hei[t|j!]il1, F^rTiily. , 76 

Heniplilli. AthUrew. 165 

Hetnp^teaii Co. Rev* SoMiers. ... 78 

HcTftii^y 80, 82 

Henry sCbaneJ 112, 284 

Heriburn. Col. \V. P 138 

Head* Gmwing Larger 264 

Hrlf^ii^ Demr-rr^t 268 

Hendersnn, Mary W 276 

Henry, Mr 284 

Henders<m^ Jn^jh 268 

Heno\ Jmnrsi SI . . 324 

Heninit, AfiiMie N 330 

Hetnp!<.t4^&d CVmrt HaUfie 19 

His. VVillinm S^r 113, 153 

HickUndK AhrfLham . n , n ^ 43 

Hiicnitc^K .^bner 101 

His, VVillinm 112. 153. 279 

Uii^'n Ferry , ., 111. 153 

Hibbin. Jolm. . ..*... 219 

Hibbin. Tbomiw 220 

HifEidn Ti+wn-ihip 221 

Hill hi'ork, Jai oh t 224 

Hitchcock, Afa 224 

Hindman. Gen 'I T. C 269 

Hindman, Blanche. . t 269 

Himiman. T. C. Jr 269 

Hindman. Bi.scoe 269 

Hill, Barbara 307 

Hill, William 338 

Hill, Peter 372 

Hornor, J. J 130 

Hornor. F. S 130 

Hornor. J. S 130 

Horner. W. B. U. 38. 83. 108. 110. 114 

120. 121. 122, 123. 124. 125. 126. 127 

128. 



Hot)efield 41.42, 118 

Hof5an,John 42 

Hf^HsiJ, Lien '!., 47, r^, 57, 71, 74, 168, 232 
250 to 255 > 

Hnjmn. Eiimirrl . 54 

fr-:iM f ^> .- fV.-.nte- 58 

Holman, John 78, 160 

Hodge, Archibald 113 

Hoftan, W. Ruaeell 87 

Honev, Richani W 97 

H..t "SprinK> 112, 148, 232 

H^^dnr.-., WilJK 144 

H^kby. Uirhurd 161 

Hfjiiie^teiui Ij*w 213, 214 

HtiuAt4:m, John 221 

HoftOh. Wtlliflm 254 

HiiF. Sully 306 

Hominiv Hill 323 

Hn^-arrJ, Cob Bob 324 

H^b*on, Mi«^ 33P 

Howeli Philo 338 

Hr.well. Ann M. 368 

Huwelb Jft^-w E 368 

HotvelL .4ilAli-^ 368 

H<»]tirlaw. -Tarob 372 

Hulffnian. John 372 

Hubbard. Juilitc Thomau. ... 310, 402 

Hunt Bayiju 44 

Hunt. Andrew J. 108, 126 

Hu^ben, Inaac^ - . . ^ 142 

HucIatiiu. .. .. ISl 

Hubbard. . 1 152 

Hubbarii, George 159 

Hunt. John W. 160 

Hiid#£inA, Ambrose. 160 

HubWi^ 1 . Afchiliald 287, 

Hutclief«m. Jfiwetih 295 

Huf^he.*, Gov. Simon P '. 295 

Huimiiutt, BaiUy 306 

H uifijennL^* . . 331 

Hiitfhe!^, LouiJW S 338 

HuRhe^, Orreu B, 338 

Humfilirie*. John 347 

Illinoift Settlement 382 

Illinois Bayou 142 

Imbeau, Francois '25 

Imbeau, Baptiste 25 

Imbeau, Judic 165 

Imbeau, John B 45 

Imbeau. Madame 288 

Imbeau. Monsieur 288 

Imbeau. Jooeph 165 

Indian Names 20 

Indian Aieents 131 

Indian Life 339 

IntelliRencer. Wa.«hinR:toQ 22 

Independence Co. Heroes 78 

Independence Co. 105. 114, 115, 147, 180 

Infares and Wetldings 165 

Intrigue of 1823 180, 181 

Indictment of Oden 196 

Indictment of Jouett 196 

ImmiKration 104, 106. 107 

Ixard, Gov., Ill, 172 to 178, 182, 222 
231. 

Izard County 147 

lezanl 152 

Irons', Mni. Jonathan 160 

Izartl. Miss 194 

Iru*h Pedigrees 290 

JiM-kiHrn, Andrew 39, 58, 102 

Jmiis!. Ant-hnny. , 44 

JanJM, Xicholkj* 44 

JanK Jt+hn B 44 

.binidles, Alexi?! 44, 97 

Jardellep, Jean 44, 97 

Jack.>4on County Heroes 7J:^ 



Index 



417 



Jaixlelow. Peter 101 

Jacob's Staff 151 

Jark^nn (>)unty Pioneeni 276 

Jeffernon Omnty 79 

Jones. Elizabeth 42 

Jouett. CharleH' 32. 100. 180. 195. 196 

Jonlale«. Peter 44 

Johniton. Thomas W 68, 74 

Jones, Mary 73 

JoncH, William 113 

JoneH. James K. Jr 330 

Jones, Mamack H 113 

Jones. Stephen 114 

Johnson, Robert 83, 124 

Johnson, Denjamin. K8, 89. 90, 100, 142 
201 to 206. 

JohnM>n 152 

Johnson, Col. Wm 161 

Johnson Family 202 to 206 

Johnson County 200 

Johnson. Robert W 202 

Johnstm, Juliette E 204, 211 

Johnson, George J 205 

Johnson, Benjamin S 205 

Johnson, Richarrl H 205, 401 

Johnson , James B 205 

Johnson, (liarle« E 205 

Johnwin. Irene M 205 

Johnson. James V 205 

Johnson, Francis 205 

Johnson, Matilda 205 

Johnson. Sevier 205 

Johnson, Allen N 205, 248 

Johnson, Mary 205 

Johnson, James J 205 

Johnson, Sidney 205 

Johnson, John A 205 

Johnson , Anna 205 

Johnson, Benjamin, Slaves 238 

Johnson, Nancy W 357 

Johnson , Peter R 357 

Jordans 331 

Jordan , Dr . John A 205 

Jolly 222 

JAnes, Ja<-ob 288 

Judd. Solomon B 287 

Justices Pulaski County 250 

Kaufman's Bayou 44, 45. 303 

Kaufman, Christopher 44, 303 

Kaufmans 30n 

Kaufman Michael 300 

Keplar . (leorge 44 

Kepler, C 45 

Kepler. P:iisabeth 76 

Kepler. William 165 

Krlley. William 101 

Kelly. Isaac 112. 279 

Kelly. Hmrles 08, 114. 162 

Kelly ami Mwidox 189 

Kelley. Elizabeth 293 

Kellett. Jc»seph 114 

Kellum, Smith 166 

Kellum, James 221 

Kemble. Asa H 287 

Kemper, John 372 

KinK, Mary 66 

KinK, Wilton 66, 75, 289 

King. Sanford 174 

King's Mountain Hero 277 

Kinjf. Elizabeth 289 

Kinsall, Jane 305 

Kinsall, Moses 305 

Kettrell. Lucy H 300 

Killing of Gen'l Honan 253 

Kirkland, Joseph 75 

Knuckles, Wm 362 

Kuykendall 38 

Kuykendall, Benjamin 75 



Kuykes flail. Denipsey. . 
Kuykendall. James M. 
Kuykendall, Margaret. . 



76 

112. 114 

160 



Lawrence County. 16. 54. 115. 147. 243 
66. 102. 104. 112, 113. 

Lawrence County Heroes 78 

Lawrenceville 126 

Lawrence County Barbecue 342 

La liouisiane 25 

La Farve, Pierre 26 

Larquer, John 26 

I^acy, Thomas J 128 

Laverinie. John 44 

Lavale. Jean 44, 97 

Lanffuis. John 44 

La Course. Michail 45 

La Farnue. Francois 76 

Latimer. William 128 

Latimer, Gabriel 76, 77 

Latimer, Greenwood 127 

Latimer, Barradel 77. 167 

I^inicford, Eli 86 

lAml Fraud Cases 87. 88 

lAfferty. Binks 115,294, 298 

Lafferty, Henderson 115, 294. 298 

Lafferty, John L 218, 293. 294 

Lafferty, John 279, 290. 291 

lafferty Family 290 to 299 

Lafferty, Marsarct 293 

lafferty. Sarah 293 

Lafferty. Austin 294. 298 

liAfferty, I>orenso B 294. 298 

Lafferty, Widow 294 

Lafferty, Vauichn B 295 

Lafferty, Wesley R 2WJ 

Lafferty, GeorRe L 295 

Lafferty, John R 295 

Lafferty, Henderson G 952 

Lafferty, Austin D 295 

Lafferty, Alfred W 295 

Lafferty, L. 8. H 296 

Lafferty. Dr. J. M 296 

Lafferty, Druxella 296 

Lafferty, E. E 297 

Lafferty, Sarah E 297 

Lafferty V. D 297 

Lafferty. M.M 297 

Lafferty, A. B 297 

Lami, Walter 404 

Langford, Ben 143 

Lafayette Court House 151 

LAniwiUe 151 

Lakeport 151 

Larrimore. Rev. James 1.56 

Lackey, William 220, 287 

Latta, John 342 

Lewis, Elijah . 13. 19. 65. 67, 76. 77. 100 

Lewis, Thomas 114 

Lewis and Thomas 13. 14. 18 

Lewis, Polly 77 

Lewis Family 249 

Lewis and Clarke's Expedition 05 

Lewis, John Sr., and Jr 1 13 

Lewis, Rueben 113 

Lewis, Gen'l Wm L 131, 220. 288 

Lewis Map 145 

Lewis, William Jr 288 

Lewisburg 1.50, 151 

Letcher. Robert P 31 , 100. 180 

LeGrande AuRUstino 41 

LeFever. John 43 

LeFever. John 43, 120 

Leard. George 44 

Levy. Louis P 45 

Lemslatures Territorial 61 

Lemmons. Col. James 72. 239 

Leiper, James 78 

Lee's Creek 152 



4i8 



Index 



Lester, Major Noah 288 

Little Rock, 12. 37, 38, 87. 108, 112, 148 
150, 188. 180. 

Little Rock Times 125, 108 

Little Rock Settlers 45 

Little Rock Merchants 08 

Little Rock Advocate 108 

LitMe Rock & Ft. Smith Ry 143 

Little Rock & Washington 158 

Little Rock Speculators 188 

Little Rock Tavern 230 

little Rock B&ptists 231 

Little Deep River 146 

Litchfield 151 

LittiP Joh[i._ 160 

Liift of nriednaJ Pilgrims 186 

LinHuey FiLmiJv Slaves 239 

LindMV. Caleb, 245. 246. 269 to 276 

Lindiwy. EU ., , 245, 273, 284, 294 

LiiiflM?yi of Vinrinia 269, 270, 271 

Lindseys Cave School 271 

Lindsey, John Y 272 

Lindsey, CJol 274 

Lindsey, James 273 

Lindsey, Issaac 275. 338 

Lindsey. Peter 275. 338 

Lindsey, William H 276 

Lindsey, Caleb Jr 281 

Lindsey, Harrison B 282 

Lindsey, Reain W 284 

Lindsey. Allen H 282 

Lindsey, E. W 282 

Lindsey, Joseph H 338 

Lindsey, Sarah A 338 

Lindsey, Allen Q 352 

littlejohn, Mary E 307 

Littlejohn. Alex W 307 

Linde, Flora 404 

Linde. Albert 404 

Lemoneaux, Francis 287 

Looney, William 113 

Lock Cfreck 43 

Louisiana Settlers 45 

Lockwood, William 48 

Lovely, John P 75 

Locke, William B 83 

Lost Prairie 152 

Longevity 151, 158, 159 

Lorance, Zechariah 160, 220 

Lorance, Betsy 220 

Lockhart, EUnor 239, 338 

Long Prairie 286 

Long. Martha D 288 

Long, Zachariah 288 

Lockhart, W. S 338 

Logan, the Mingo 340 

Luckie, William 112 

Luttrell, Nathan 114 

Lyon, Matthew 131, 122 

Lyon, Aaron W 224, 225. 346 

Mack, Sarah J 333 

Magness, Major David 163. 273 

Martin, AUen, 102, 230, 259, 260, 261 

Mails Early 16 

Magness, Robert 273. 346 

MaxweU, John P 113 

Martin. Joseph 114 

Martin, Jasto 42 

Maloney, Robert 128 

Magness, Perry G 54, 114, 347 

Maxwell 69 

Mason, Mr 73 

Mason. Polly 75. 97 

Marriages in 1819 76 

Martin, Mr 76 

Many, Capt. James B 97 

Mason, Joseph 97 

Macbeth, John 142 



Mason, James W 97 

Magness, Morgan 98, 160, 347 

Martin, B. H. 142 

Maddox's Bay 125 

Maps of Territory 144, et 9eq, 

Magnet Cove 151 

Marion 151 

Marriage Customs, 162, 163, 164. 284, 285 

Martin. Joshua 160 

Mars. Alan A Co 167 

Mail Routes 219 

.Mathers, Col. Thomas 217, 219 

Martin Family 260, 261, 282 

Martin, John Jr 262 

Martin, Jared C 260 

Martin, James 260 

Martin, Matilda 26o 

Martin, Andrew 261 

Martin. Mahala 261 

Martin. James A 263 

Martin, W^illiam A 263 

Martin, J. C. Jr 263 

Martin, Mollie D 263 

Martin. Henry G 263 

Martin, J. J 263 

Martin, Elisabeth 338 

Marriages and Deaths 284, 285 

286. 287. 

Marriage Posies 285, 286 

Martin, John Joseph 372 

Martin, John 261 

Maidstone 376 

Matheny. William M 404 

Matheny, Mary C 404 

Matheny, William 1 404 

Matheny, Julia F. M 404 

Menifee. Dr. James N, 38, 111, 131. 191 

Meredith, Wm 113 

Methodist Preachers 48, 285 

Menifee ill 

Memphis ill 

Methodist Episcopal Cliurch 112 

Mellick Manl 145 

Messenpill. Thomas 161 

Medlock, Elisabeth 248 

Merrick, Col. T. D 295 

Miller County 105, 116. 147 

Miller, Gov. James, 16, 30, 31, 32. 33, 34 

35.36.37,38,39,55,57,61,87. 172. 182 

250. 

Migration 16, 17 

Missouri Territory 20 

Miller, John 113 

Michel. Pierre 26 

Mississippi River Settlements 42 

Michel. Joseph 43 

Michel, Francis 43, 286 

Michel. Desire 286 

Michel, Millet 76 

Minard. John B 44 

Miller, James of Poke Bayou, 48, 114. 115 

341. 

Miller, Mary 48 

Militia 57, 251 

Mitchell, W 142 

Minyard. John 161 

Miller, Valentine 161 

Mills, Miss 233 

Milner, John 248 

Miles, J. B 248 

Miller, William 258 

Millers Creek 273 

Mitchell. Col. Chas. S 409 

Mosely. Samuel 13. 66. 73 

Mount Prairie, 104, 105, 109, 112, 149 

284, 77. 

Montgomery Landing 16, 35 

Montgomery, William 25, 35. 64 

Monte Carlo 26 



Index 



4ld 



Mc«s, Jamea , 110 

Uara^. Frw, James 39. 193 

Uoonf^y, Datiid, 43. 48, 50. 65. 67. 72 

76, 123. 12-1, 

Morton, tllijfth. . 50. 63. 64. 83. 85, 182 

Moaely , M*rv 71 

Uorrison, WiUUun 73, 75 

Moblpy, Isaifth . t . 78, 279 

Mobley, aeriienl. 78. 239 

Moore. Mores 279. 112 

Morii-*, Ann 85, 184 

Moore, William 341. 346 

Mount Maria 112 

Moore, Col Ben 115, 161, 286 

Monroe County 119, 125 

Morrison's Bluff 151 

Monroe . , * 151 

Mont^umery* Margaret 165 

Morrison, Jottbufi . , 1 16 

Money in Littlt! Itocpk 176 

Monroe^ Marvaret 193 

Mount Holly 227, 229 

Mosby. John D 239 

Moose. Mary K 248 

Moose, John 248 

Moore, Rev. J. W 259 

MorriHon, Wni. P 383 

MtxseM 383 

Morrison, William 406 

Mooney, J. B 26 

Muiiiih JuSiii ,. 110 

Murrey, Henry , 113 

Mnrphy, Arthur, 113, 78 

Murrh^ ClMisaa 76 

Murry, Thotiias r . 1 43 

Mpl^ne, Cfin£rea2$riMn 9 

Mc^I^nH, Neill. ... . 87, 347 

McLanisH" Buiiv. . 232 

MrLdin and Badgett 253 

SU Letin, John 42, 120 

Mt'LHJu. Jiihii 288 

Itjfrl^n, Jfjhn. . , , 347 

^frlJlf'hJen. Allen 356 

Mc Kinm-y, WilUauii 43 

.McFariane. B. H 43, 98 

MfKinney, Elijah 43 

Ak'Kiniie. JarcieH. 128. 130 

JJi-Pbemun, CharleH 147 

McKiniiey 191 

MrLi&rpn Fown^thLp 221 

MH^aleb, Krithn 295 

Mt'C!alei>, John 295 

McArtiiur, rharlc^ 346 

McCmy, iM. Win .'56 

Mrllay, Dr, Robert 69, 110, 121 

51^"f^eniie, UlaHn^a 75 

.McHenry. Anhibal«l 87, 239 

M<-Cireifor, Flowers 93 

MfKinney, David E. 100 

Mc'llnnurry, John 38, 111. 122 

MrAdtrf". WiltJam 113 

MH'ivmdl, Mph NalhanieJ 114 

McKniKht, Wni 114 

McDonahl. Kdwanl 122 

McCariey. John 144 

M»T^^w4»ll Mr« Benjamin 160 

^ktttll. ,-^Bmu*^l 220 

MrUoniLld. Win 2H8 

MrDimi*^!. FM 308 

Mcpherson. Oira 330 

McReynolds, C. Lee 376 

National Roatl 104 

Napoleon 108. 146 

Na^h, Mary W 233 

Nash. Dr. John V 233 

Nailor. A. T 297 

Newton. Thomas W. Sr., 57, 73, 85, 185 
190 tci 196. 205. 



Newton Family 193. 194 

Newton, Other 194 

Newton, R. C 193 

Newton, T. W. Jr 193 

Newton. Fenwick 194 

Newton. Jane P 194, 233 

Newton, John 194 

Newton. Basil 194 

Newton. Larkin 194 

Newton, Jesse 196 

Xewt^m. Jttme^ 195 

N>uti>n, Annie 205 

N"«ly. Jua«e Biilord F 336 

Npelfly, Mary E 836 

^e*-\^y, E, E 386 

Xe<>ly. M. T, 886 

iVeiL Gor^loa. 74 

Nemrmn. J. H 142 

Sew Ga.><ooDy 161 

N Jcfioljii Townehip 221 

XirkM, Caj], John 254 

Nine Rwtor &riy?^ 379. 381 

Kutrebe. FraiKU 13, 14,47. 57. 66, 68 

79. 

Nortli Carolina 19 

Nnr\ iUe, J-jHlma 81. 82 83 

Norvitl*'. Maria 84 

Nofi RpHi<!enL^ 100 

Nom^tiiwTJ 184, 142, 223 

Xorriri. 8n.niijpi 142, 143 

Nv>rth (V^rr^liTiijin*' 210 

Nuttal, 22, 24. 25, 37, 47. 48, 66. 73. 86 

97, 111, 118, 222, 264. 

OitoihiUi 16 

(>den, Robert G„ 35. 54, 63, 64, 73. 85 
Un. 170. 176, 177. 188. 196. 

Oille, BenJEunin F 129 

Odpfi-Omway Raci" 170 

<VHftra. William. . Ill, 287 

Oil TnjURh Bottom 166 

OUver. L. H 98 

Old i>.itinty Officers 100 

nE«l nwi£ht MIsKioi} 142. 223 

Oldtijwn. , .....__. 152 

Old mei> of I^fayc'tt?, Uard, Pbit- 
lipH, Hempstead. Orjnwiiy, Hot 
S|jirm«. Spvier* Pof^e. WanTdnicUm* 
CWk, Jeffer?)Oii, Miller. Indepen- 

<U [>ce. and Piilaski 159, 160 

t ^lil Hiver 168 

( >ld Cherokee V illfl|» . . , , . . 254 

t >ld Time Molhef Wit , , . . . 268 

UU\ Titnc Acumen. , . 269 

Olrl MarrifiKe Poelry 269, 260 

nid Puljwki Pionecm... 260 

( Mde>i( CInirE'li EfJiticeii. , 284 

OriKiij of the Pruvtn{:'Uil . 283 

O'NcaJa , 274 

Orr. Dr. William 289 

Overban, Mrs. George 160 

Orr, Mr 224 

Owen, E. W 221 

Overton, Judge 118 

Osborne, Robert W 98 

Osage 152 

Ookuquahtuh 224 

Parker, Samuel 101 

IVlrtiflT, W. M 128 

rjitti-r»ona 26 

Pnuti^jn, William 43, 48 

P^ttejiion, JameH 43 

Pare. Twitty 142 

Paruclifta 151 

i*[nilfU#^, ndelh' 286 

Pal It, K]ij(?ibrih W 286 

Paxton, Joseph 289 

Fmce, Joaeph 352 



4^ 



Index 



V^mxh, Eliiabeth. 360 

PbTTVib, Andemn 360 

P*pJer, Richmond ._ 17, 110, 121. 166 

Pferryman, Mnntford ; . .41, 118 

PeiUi Anboid« 42 

P«*sJ, Cor, Rieliard 161 

:Pet*r*. IMgml 22 

P*el Sftm W 161 

perry. Wr*60fl 42, 120 

pK*r«tl. Mirbsd 44 

P«rtuia, Michael 44 

Pertuifl, Peter 44, 45, 96 

Pei-te, Piwre 44, 96 

Pertuia, EJiJtabtth ,, 45 

Perry, Ltion .,..., 45 

pBtiterostH Darby 128 

P«L9 and MJlbre 47 

PrQntii{[t*>r). Col. Jack 72 

PmI, Uic horvl 341 

PertuiH, (^evilief 97 

Ptrlui*, Nin», . , 97 

pM^juinche 106, 220 

Pto-aii Point 112. 149 

Petit , Jean 132, 151 

Pelhanj, Chnrlfei H -.162, 341, 346 

Peay. Nick. ., 167. 230. 239 

P^jTwt'Ution 331 

Pelham, WiJliam 397 

Pelhfuii. TJirpiiuu 397 

PhiUips.Sylvanua, 26. 30. 43,48, 77. 120 
289. 

PUillijjfl Umjity, 26. 105. 115, 123. 147 

PharTn JfumtJmii 48 

Philputn Wirren ^ 78 

FlijaT. ThomM 250 

Phillfpfl, Jiimei 277, 289 

PLillipa. Lauiiiiuf 277 

Pikt. Allwrt 108. ViQ 

Pi^in J . 48 

PLhI , John 287 

Pine Bayou 151 

pierce, John 114 

I'inneaux. AKnen 76 

l*ioneer Coat** of Arms 95 

Pioneer Habit) 95, 96 

Pioneer Officers 97 

Pine BluflF 112 

Pioneers of Lawrence 113 

Piat« Town 149 

PilKrirns 186 

Pitman, Nancy 287 

Pitinan, Samuel 287 

Pitman, Dr. P. R 345 

PJaritle, IluptL^tc 44 

Plurij Bayuu 97 

Pleo-^dt l>!ikn<l 151 

Plolh, Daniel 345 

Pt«t (.JHuci*. Morliefit 19 

Poptry on Arkaniitm 23 

l\jrt*r. Willinin 43 

P<jlte li^ynu, 43. 47, 98. 104, 112. 146 

Puiter, BeniiLrtiin A 113 

Point CluHJt 56. 79, 119 

Poj>c, CJov. John. 57. 69, 90. 205. 239, 268 

Point Uemu 75, 107. 132 

Population 104. 1 15, 116 

Political lnt<»lliKenccr 125 

Politics in Olden Days 134 

Pope (Vmnty 142, 2(K). 223 

Pott.M, Kirkbride 143 

Polet, ('lenience 165 

Pono, I'ierre. . . •. 2S7 

Pope. JudKe 168, -*J5 

Poetry of Senator Spooner 186 

Pollard. Sandi 194 

PojK*. Nathaniel ,382 

Porterhehl, Ivivinia 287 

Pool. Benjamin 347 

Pope. Senator John 382 



Polk. Bishop 409 

Put^ahtifltibNi 151 

Pryor & Richanii* 14, 84. 100 

Pryor, C^t. Nathaniel 95 

Preston. Culone!. 24 

PreHbytfirianH 49 

Pixntor. Eflwuxl , 42, 120 

Price, Arehibuld 101 

Prifiple, Chri-^tmn 44, 73, 74 

PrinKle. John . 73 

Prepton, I»a« 90 

Price, J. S 144 

Pre^?niptirm 206, 207 

Pre^mptJon Sp«e<<he« 211, 216 

Pre-prnT4JOfi L^wa . 213 

Pruirie TdwnHhip 225 

PHlibard, Cai^tain lUes 320 

Puhi^ki Cotiuty, 3T, 34i. 49. 60, 102, 106 
no. 117. 

Piila^ki C.^mnty Heroes 78 

PuliL-ki Oiyrt Hoii?« . 87 

Piiia.Hki CumtniitfiioneF^. 87 

Puritans 185 

Pulanki County mav^ 238 

Py «i 1 1 , M a jor John . 45. 47 . 48, 49 

Py**a ft. Jiii'oh 46. 48, 102. 160 

Pyeatt, Bet«y 47 

Pyeatt, Henry P 49 

Pyeatt, Peter 47. 48 

Pyeatt. Jamen 49 

Pyeatt. Jane 166 

Pyeatt. Marxaret 48 

Quapaw Indiana 23, 27. 73 

Quaiiaw Treaty 73 

Quarleri, WilUam 189 

QuiMnbery, William 226. 402 

Raican, J. B. 16 

Kamer, Abraham 43 

Racine, Altheuaa 43, 44 

ItiLtsi-u.w Wilhinj 162 

Kankin. Mfiry 254 

Ka4f C-oiin*ft, . , . . 254 

liiinddjph Ctmnty 344 

HttF)kiTi. Klbert H 369 

Unnkin. R^jl-M-rt W. 369 

H*^l, Jamert 108. 125 

Ueti-L Jnhii 114 

UeMd.CharleH 43, 44 

Hrvulutitmory HeroflH, 4t, 50, 77, 78, 113 

ll<H't4»r. Wharton, 57. 13:^, 141, 147. 239 

394 

Ile<tor Family, 106, 133. 370 to 410 

Re<tor, Klias 147 

HiHtor, Stephen 147, 383. 390 

llf. tuf, ( ;pii I Will. 94, 106. lt»7. 149. 217 

iCy. 372, 371), 380. 381. 382, 383 tcj 389 

Il«clor, Thonisa 04 

Hrct-»r. Survey . ,....,. 106, 107, 392 

liiH;hLt.er, Jnhii Jwob .372, 373 

Uert^>r. Jnhn 374, 375 

ItfH^ UiT.V.u vern*ir Henry M . , 37 2, 401 409 

RfsJiLi.r Jacob 373 

H#^(ht4ir, Jtihn Jacob- . , - 373 

He* t,.r, !•:. W, »f Hot SpriocB, 372, 406 

44»7, 4U8. 409, 410. 

RwlsiT, Hnruian ...,...,.., 374 

1 E^( .>riJ*wn 376 

n.-^d.r. Jiihn- Will ,.,.... 376 

Rector Dencendantf* 376 

Itector, Fre<lerick 378, 379, 380 

Rectors of Illinois 379 

Rector Fa ily Names 378 

Rector Klia.s of St. Louis, 379, 380. 381 

3S2. .383. 384, to 399. 

Re< tor. Nelson 38^). 384. 388. 390 

Re<'tor Influence 393 



Index 



421 



Rector. KUaa of Ft. Smith 1 395 

Rector, Ann 396 

Rector. ThonuM C f 399 

Rector. Frank Wilson 404 

Rector. Ann Baylor 404 

Rector. W Field 405 

Rector, John Sevier 405 

Rector. Henry Maasey Jr 405 

Rector. Grace Greenwood 406 

Rector, Ernestine 406 

Rector, Levison 406 

Rwtor. Alcorn . 408 

Rector, Amelia W 408 

Rector, Henry F 408 

Retlor, Jiunea A,,.. 408. 409 

H«c Ujr, Jane Elizabeth 409 

Relator, KnlUe F 409 

Hect^^r, Fannie F 409 

R*rt4ir, Etnefttine F 409 

Eeynolrli, Prufetwir 57 

Hi^rnenlal, CV)loriH» 72 

ll«»ftff, WLIIiam 76 

Ilediielil .., 79 

Hemovft] of Jndian^, 132, 133 

\iefs\. Mrn. Wm. 160 

Uf'iiihiirtEt, Jixm^ 297 

Recon»truction 324, 325 

Redman, J 341 

Read. John 341 

RigKS. Wm 43 

Richland 73, 79 

Richie. L 113, 156 

Riehtor, N 124, 128, 147 

Riley vs Bradfonl 87 

Ridge. John 114 

Rival Townsitera 188 

Ringgold. Lucretia 335 

Ringgold. Judge 335. 345 

Richardson 362 

Roads, Early 16, 144 to 147 

Roosevelt, President 20 

Roane, Sam C, 26, 68, 73, 80 to 93. •103 
168. 180, 189. 265. 

Rodrigues, John 42 

Rorer. David 57, 239, 260 

RolHn, Mr 134. 222 

Rogers. John 134, 223 

Robinson. William 112 

Robinson, John 78 

Roane Family 80 

Roane, John 8 80. 93 

Roane. Fannie 93 

Roane A Norvelle 83 

Roane. Hennie 93 

Roane. Mary 93 

Rfiane, James 93 

Ritane, Johanna 93 

Roane, John Jordan 94 

Roane. Ida 93 

Roane, Samuel C. Jr 94 

Roane, Juliet 94 

Rose Family 80 

Rome 83, 111 

. Roland George 144 

Rockfort 151 

R^jyall. John 160 

Royall. Mrrt. John 160 

Rogers. Adantin 220, 287 

Rowland. Mahala 250. 262 

Rowlaml. Thomas 259. 264 

Rii^land. Maria S 262 

liobiiiMOii. John 278 

Robinftoii, James 278 

Ri>biiiM>n. .Michael D 288 

Rowlaii.l. R. N 264 

Robin-M»n. William 279 

Row. i:. M 325 

RoHs, John 352 

Ross. James 853 



Ross. Daniel 353 

Ross. David 363 

Ross, Agnes 354 

Rosses 355. 366 

Ross Earls of 355 

Rose, George 36^ 

Rose, John 368 

Rowen. John 347 

Ruddell. George 114 

RuddeU. Abraham 114. 338 to 342 

Rutherford. Col. S. M., 57, 100, 265, 268 

RusseUWlle ." 75, 201 

Runkle, Thomas 8 397 

Runkle, Mary A 397 

St. Louis 12 

St. Louis Papers 22. 104 

St. Francis River 26. 42 

St. Francis 126 

St. Francis Settlements 44 

St. Francis Township 38 

St. Francis 42 

St. Martin 142 

St. Helena 146 

St. FrancisviUe 151 

St. Genevieve Road 152 

St. Francis County 254 

St. John's College 367 

St. Louis Republican 104 

Sampson, George 83 

Saline Landing 148 

Saline Creek 148 

Safriet 148 

Sanford, Henry 166 

Safford, Judge W. G 220 

Baylors, J. C ^ 278 

Sanders. Simon T 312 

Sanders, Sarah V 312 

Scarborough 101 

Scott, Judge Andrew, 31, 51 . 63, 97, 100 

142, 289. 287, 196, 197. 198, 252 

263, 165, 180, 195 to 202. 

Scott. John R. H. . ., 51. 63. 143. 199. 201 

Scott. Geo. W.. 63. 64. 165. 231. 239 

Scotia •143. 152. 200 

Schoolcraft 149. 155 

Schoolcraft and Drummond 1.55 

Scarborough. James 166 

Scull. JamcH 13. 194 

Scott. Selden Dael 199 

Scipes. Margaret 287 

Scott, Joseph 354 

Scull, Hewes. 28, 30, 50, 72. 98. 100 

Scott. John 20. 51 

Searcy. Richard, 19, 30, 88. 102, 112. 114 

189. 341. 345. 

Searcy. James 114. 346 

Sevier. Joseph 42. 120 

Serrano. Martin 44 

Seneca Indian .\gent 58 

Selden. Joseph 77. 110. 197. 288 

Serville, I>e Monsieur Le Moir 78 

Sevier, A. H., 88, 94, 183, 202, 204. 206 

to 215. 239. 

Settlements in 1820 109 

Sebastian. Wm. R 128 

Seviern 183 

Sevier, Annie M 204 

Sexier, flattie J 204 

Sevier. Kli»al)eth 204 

Sevier. A. H 204 

8evier-(Vittenden Race 209 

Searcy, Elisabeth 335 

Shirley 120 

Shaver. John 114 

Shannon. John 115 

Shirt Sleeved Millionaires 93 

Shiloh 143 

Sfainn, Jacob..: 144. 368 



422 



Index 



Shinn B. D. R 144 

Shatluy, Andrew 347 

Shaler. Jacob 345 

SiuLS. Absalom 144 

aiiMToe, H*»nTy.,... .,, 100 

iteunofW* J . , 221 

SoADC, Rev. Robt 49 

Sbutthter, R. F 54. 55 

SrinEiPd. Jiieob 2-20 

Blaverv ....235 to 237. 342. 343 

SlflVthaldera 239 

SlavfhnUlm^ in Virjciniii 359 

SlavplmMiaK SoHali Currtuts 360 

Smith. J^fTerauD 126 

yinUh, Dr. Geo. W_. , 205 

Smith. Sarah S 205 

Smith, Amcha 205 

Smith, Hernanl 230 

Smith, John 232 

Smith, Mary A 306 

Smith. Dr 124 

Smithee, J, N 324 



25 
146 
124 

36 
152 



Socie, Baptists 

SjiriniC! li\ ' \ 

Spe*n*r. Till 35. 

SpaulthtiK. Hiifus P 

SpritiK Mill 

Spring Itiver Circuit 1 12 

»|Hidm Bluff. 137, 222 

£lpaD]Nh Latid GnLrit<< 197 

^t(<]ibf»ruw]n, W 121 

Htjfwpll. Jtr^plj, 17. 27, 28. 42. 50. 69. 77 
122. 

Stilwoll. Harold 27, 110. 121 

Strawberry 76, 155. 104 

Stephens. Jcrtse 42, 120 

Sten.sori, (^mrle^ 42 

Stroud, Adam 101 

Stewart. Cid. J. M 101.110. 195 

Stanley. Benjamin 45 

Stanley, John 45 

Stanley, William 45 

Stilwell, John 73 

Stuart, Abraham 77, 109. 110 

Stuart. LunottA 110 

Stuart, N. K 110 

Stuart. .1. L 110 

Stuart, Klijah 110 

Stuart, ViA. Wm 110. 2SS. 347 

Stuart. Anenath 2K8 

Stuart, Mrs. Abraham 160 

Stewart, Nancy W S5 

Stewart, John \V 160 

Stewart. Jane B 193 

StfiMifs. William 94 

3twk. John W 125 

atiniiett. H 142 

Strii'klftttd, Willimm 168 

HtfftJiun. Ella . . , 224 

Steven.^m. lie v. W. W 233 

Steven-son, Maria 233. 234 

Stephenson, John 287 

Stephen-Hon, William 2S8 

Stephenson, xMrs 288 

.^Ejirr. .Vlit-Pi 286 

Srrariiif^. Ji^lin A,.. 352 

Slailt Hibliuthtk 372 

Htunkc^ l^'-iiseiie H . 404 

Sui)priiir Court Stilmi^^ 86 

Sui)crior Court. 87, 88. 89. 90, 99, 1(H). 195 

Sumpter. S. K 128 

Sulphur R<Mk 151 

Su|)erstitious 285 

Surveyors, General 389 

Sutherland. William W^ 404 

Tatum, W^ M 248 

Taylor, CoiiKressman 9 

Taylor, Polly 113 



Taylor, James 113 

Taylor, Peter 114 

Taylor, Mrs. Joseph 161 

Taylor, John 42, 83. 120 

Taylor. Archibald 75 

Taylor. Creed 165 

Taylor, .1 .],il 165 

1 tftsier, Antc'ine 26 

TejEfifi^ Founder of 55 

Trrry, Fklna V 404 

Tccuna»eh 152. 339 

Test Oath Cases . 314. 315. 316. 317. 318 

Tennesse, Roanef^ 81 

Tennant, Tliomas H 338 

ThaU-h. Frank W. 367 

Thru-iton Family 398. 399 

lliniaton. Fautile B. 397 

Three Brother Theory 255 

I7if ^rn Jac^b 278 

TliNrnliillt Jo«eph , . , 230 

Tliur-tun, Paulina 333 

Thornton 58 

Thompson. Davies 128 

Tindall, Thomas H 19 

TiLsworth, James 220 

Titsworth 237 

Town Lot Sales Ill, 112 

Townships ll.'i. 116 

Tow,w, _ 148, 150 

Trtnrrc, ^larit 233 

Tonrray^ H^jv, Sila^ T.. 231. 261. 263, 286 

1 ojitmy, HaJda T 263 

Trftat, aamuel 43. 44 

Trimble. Jantcti, 115. 116, 341, 346 

Trimhlcr Jc^hn 341 

Trudeaiii, Jufupiib . . 45 

Trainmell, JfiUii 47 

Trimble, William, 77, 83, 110. 121. 180 

TrainmH, Nii holtf 98 

llj«*ma^, OH vsr 1! 100 

'lltifmfpi FtJft . 147 

Traveler, l\o Arkannav 221 , 226 

TrUA^t^^fri Far Wejil Academy 224 

Triplet tH , 274 

Trijfjt, f ipnf^nvl 401 

Turk M Pmirii 43 

Tucker. Peyton 114 

UlUma. Thule 151 

Union 152 

IJ. S. Pension Rolls 78 

Utica 118 

Utterba<'k. Harmon 372 

VauKine, Lewismore 24 

Vaugine, Major Francis, 25, 30,45, 68. 
73. 86. 97, 165. 286 

Vaujrinea 24. 44 

Vaugine. Saset te 24 

Vauique Settlement 148 

Vaugine, Etienne 26, 74 

Vau«ine, Walter 165 

VauKine, Francis Jr 286 

Vau^ne, Paul 287 

VauKine Township 86 

Valliere, Don Joseph 24 

Valliere, Fran<is 25, 44 

Valliere, Joseph 25 

Valliere, Felicity 165 

Varsier, Francis 25, 98 

Vasseau, Ktienne 44 

Vasseau. Francis 44 

Vasseur, Victor 97 

Varle Map 145 

Vaim, James 50 

Vance, David 78, 161, 229 

Van Zandt, James 78. 279 

Van Zandt, Martin 114 



Index 



423 



Van Burrn 152 

VauKhn, Samuel 160 

Vaufthn, Mrn. Samuel 160 

VamlcKrift, Lina 205 

\jirirp. ,1 |> 336 

VitmitJtn, Mr 409 

Villpmntit. l»nn rWltw 79, 97 

VillpnuHit. MutiUU 80 

VitTriTnuit 14K 

Vigilance Oimmittee 127 

Vineyard 152 

Votc8 for Delegate 55 



Walter, Congremman . 

Wappenocke, 

Walter. dIvu! 


V.V.V 41', 


9 

118 

7A 


W&«»hinjct«>n 

Watkint*. Major iHsac. .. 
Watkiiui. rirorjri* C. 104, 

Watkin-^ Family. .. 

Wavlarul^ Mm ,. ,* . 


.108.110. 148 
.167, 228 to 235 
, 229, 233, 234 

229, 233 

114 


Walker. HiL Alex. 8., 47, 

232, 252. MR, 
WAllii*. Perlpy . ... 


61,61.79, 
. . 54. 


101 
55 


WiyihitiiEt^m (xitinty Heroes 

^'artrll Stephen 


78 
08 


Washburn. Ile^, Cephas, 
27fl. 


141 , 222 to 229 

1AA 


WHlMifiV MJ\r^ 




145 


Waf<hita 




H8 


Walnut Camp 

Wnr KimtIp 




151 
152 


Wat4*rp<, Mrs. SamueJ . .. 

Watkins Hotel 

VS'artL Jamtn ... 




161 
167 
221 


\^ iwbburD, K*lwAn1 P. . . 
WftTii, John 


221, 


225 
160 


Watkinfi, I^t, R, A 

Watkm>^. Mfiiy E . ... 

Walker. Jamen 

^\'atAU|Ea ..,,,,,,.. 




233 
234 
239 
243 


Walk", vn. Ho^an , ,. .. 
Wat kin?*, KHwibetli M. . 




252 
263 


Wntkiiw, Df. Owen . .. 




263 


Warr-. Dr 

Walkrr, Jsabelle 

Walker. Davirl 

WftrH, 5W> 




308 
308 
308 
324 


\^'avne. Mad Anthony . . . 




340 


Wnyland, NeveU . ... 




342 


Watw>n. 2ac(^heui 

Wayman 

Wnlkefn William ... 




352 
372 
396 






403 


Wellfl. Col. Jack 

Well«, John 




72 
113 


Welk Henry C 

Welden, John 

Welch. Mary 

Welborn. Maior 

Wear. Doctor 

Webb. Meredith 

t\>st, D. Pnrter 

WeBt. Jonathan 


,■.■.■.'.'.■.78,' 
'.■.'.■.'.■l"34. 


279 
114 
217 
144 
144 
144 
160 


Welmcjrt!, Cieo, C. ,, . .. 




161 


Wplib, rJliia 




165 


Weddinjt Feants 

Welrh. Maraaret ..... 
Welrh. Robert 




162 
165 
165 


West point Cadeta ..... 




194 


Weber. Walter ....... 




223 


Weaver, J. F„ 

WwtlaDd, Mark . 

Wwtem Land Anenry . . 
WenveTt Tillmnn . . . . 




226 
288 
289 
372 


Whif* River I-'. 0... 

White River 

White River Settlements 
Who'fl Who of Arkanaas . 


19, 

25, 


108 
26 
44 
29 


\\Tierry, J. A 




130 



White Oak Bayou 47 

White. Thoniaa 219 

White, Nancy 248 

Whit4w . 274 

Wf.it taker. John W7 

Wliil4», John - KB 

W liileforrl. Baron 407 

Wliart^n. Ann 378 

Wlfitrn and SliUwall 26 

Wmt^?rT^. EMm 26, 45, 97 

WinterH. Cabrirl 26, 27 

Winter, St jimell tlnint 27 

WiWin, John 101, 194 

Wilnon, Marv A 194 

Wilson, Dr. John 142, 144 

Wilaon, Mr«, John 160 

Wilwn, William 289 

Wilson, Family 348 to 370 

Wilson, Richard 350 

Wilson James. 351, 352, 353. 354 

Wilson. Joseph 352 

Wilson, John 357 

Wilson. Klinabeth 357 

Wilson's School 359 

Wilson, Bamett 361, 362, 363 

Wilson, JohnT 361 

Wilson, Benjamin F, 361. 362, 363. 364 

365 

Wilson. Martha 361 

Wilson, Lucy 362 

Wilson, Robert B., 365, 366, 367. 368 

369, 370. 

Wilson, Judson 365 

Wilson, Martha A 366 

Wilson. Matilda 366 

Wilson. Katherine 366 

Wilson, James E 366 

Wilson, H.H 360 

Wilson, Mary 369 

Wilson, Frank C 369 

Wiliv>nm 369 

W .t Ml.. K. J. 144 

Wilfknn-. Thonins 43 

SMHiLiriis, David 114 

\\\n. Wilimmj* 80. 89. 90 

\\ itter. Judge 84 

WiJIicuni: Olfhp 1 1 round 143 

U . .,•,,, ^ '■.'.. ., 144 

Williams. Mrs. Alexander 160 

Williams, Matilda 204 

Williamson, John 277 

Williams. B. D 324 

Swn W 325 

V. iMnun-.r^jdlV W 361 

U ilb;,rii-, .}. E 368 

WitluiTri-,, MK^hiw 409 

Wotnlrufl, William E. 8r. 11. 12. 13, 14 

15. 16. 17, 22. m. ol, 61. 68. 71, 77, 84 

W. H»3. lUS. 138. 196, 230. 233, 240 
L*5H S-ld 

Wolff,' Mit-hael 44 

Woir An thony 45 

WoUey, (.^riiiTtal 59. 184 

WofKiward, W iUiam 166 

Woma*-k. Lurkin 219 

Wol!r< Jane 287 

W.*f Ni wjinl , W illiara 288 

Wrnrpslnifl, Atden M 295 

\V^^.(Ten. \1idiJlH*-n L 409 

WritJil, (liiil^irjie 289 

Wvioutfh. Mark 336 

Wolf, Jacob 160 

Yell, Col 79, 193 

Yell County 143 

Yellvillc 162 

Yeomans. William F 126. 268 

Zebulon 151 

Zoeller, Christian E 347 

Zolticofrer. Jacob C 372 



THE KlltflOWlll mu »E CHMOEO 
AN OVERDUC FIE IF THIS EOOK It 
NOT RETURNED TO THE LIRRARY ON 
OR REFORE THE LAtT DATE STAMPED 
BELOW. NON-RECEIPT OF OVERDUE 
NOTICES DOES NOT EXEMPT THE 
BORROWER FROM OVERDUE FEES. 




\M-^ ^ttA -u^-a^ /i>?-^^«**^ 



^ 







1 .*. I .1111 lllla 



' '>''" •';^':!'"> v^^if^ illllliiillllllillililllllf lllllll 



3 2044 019 631 092 



JlCvi, 4Wl? -tih-C^ J»->-<'^*^ 

^^^iLv^uw JUL 



^ AV^ 










II 



3 2044 019 631 092 



C%^ ^rri'? iu-<^ J^-^'^-^**^ 

A 4), /'^^ ^U.^^ JUL 




r ji III III- 



p^ lllllllllllil 

3 2044 019 631 092