|
-------**------- ELIAS E. BOUDINOT
INDIAN
GENTLEMAN,
NATIONAL FIGURE
-------**-------
Belshazzar of his people, Elias C.
Boudinot, Indian gentleman, soldier
lawyer, and one of Fayetteville's
most picturesque visitors a half centu-
ry ago, saw the handwriting on the wall for his people.
He saw it, and planned and fought
for some of the most constructive
legislation for the Indian nations
that ever has been carried through
by the Congress of the United States.
Boudinot was the most perfect
gentleman, the most striking figure that
ever came out a picuresque race of Cherokee war chiefs. Tall, rangy, a
giant of a man with a terrible driving energy that turned him into an
impass- ioned being in court, this descendant of chieftans learned to
plead even more eloquently before the court of the white man than his
ancestors ever had plead- ed before the council fires of their tribes
back in Georgia.
Kill-kee-nah, the father of Colonel
Boudinot, was born in Georgia about
1785, and was with his brother, the
celebrated John Ridge and Stand
Waitie, his nephew, sent to Cornwall, Connecticut. While he was at
school he met a New Jersey gentleman, Elias Boudinot, whose friendship
led to his taking his name. On their return to their tribe, Boudinot,
Stand Waitie, and Major and John Ridge, manipulated the treaty for the
removal of the Cherokees to the Indian territory. This led to the bitter
enmity of John Ross, then principal chief of the tribe, and a
division of the people into two factions
The adherents of Ross settled the
North and those of Boudinot and
Waitie to the south in the Indian
territory, eyeing each other across
an imaginary dividing line at the open- ing of what was one of the
bitterest feuds in Indian annals.
This culminated in 1839 in the
famous massacre of June, 1839, when
the Ross faction brutally assassinated Elias Boudinot, his brother,
Major
Ridge, and nephew John Ridge.
Young Elias C. Boudinot was but
4 years old at the time of the murder
he having been born August 1, 1835
near Rome, Georgia the year of the
removal treaty.
The boy was sent by Stand Waitie
immediately following the assassina-
tion, to Manchester, Vermont. He at first chose civil engineering, but
because of injuries to his ankle, turned to law, entering the office of
Hon. A. M. Wilson of Fayetteville, where he was admitted to the bar in
1856.
In one of his first cases he appeared as junior to Alfred. W.
Arrington and Wilbur D. Reagan in the defense of Stand Waitie, charged
with murder, in the Federal court for the Western District of Arkansas.
Boudinot led in the defense, follow- ling his old preceptor, the
Hon. A.M. Wilson, of Fayetteville, in one of the most effective and
polished orations ever delivered by a man of his age.
"Reagan," says a life of Bouidinot, was then a great criminal
lawyer, in the prime of his life and Alfred W. Arring- ton was one of
the most gifted orators America has produced."
Boudinot was for a time associate
editor of the Arkansian at Fayette-
ville. In 1860 the Democratic state
convention made him chairman of
the state central committee when he
was but 25 years old, and a short
time later he became editor of the True
Democrat at Little Rock. In 1861 he was secretary of the Secession
convention by acclamation. Following this he aided Stand Waitie in
raising one of the Indian regiments for Confederate service. Elected
major, he became lieutenant colonel by succes- sion.
Later Boudinot met the traitorism
of John Ross with documentary proof at Washington. In 1868 Colonel
Boudinot was the chief actor in nego- tiating a treaty with the United
States.
Boudinot preferred the process of
absorption for the Indian nation to
inevitable extinction, and was the
father of some of the wisest Indian
legislation ever secured in the United States.
-------**-------
|
|
-------**-------
OLD WOMEN SIT FOR TEA
SEVEN old women sit for tea,
Each past eighty- one, eighty- three;
Cozy they are, as cozy can be,
At the Museum.
The cloth is yellow, the china blue,
The tea is a dark and fragrant brew;
There is a bowl of larkspur, too,
At the Museum.
One old woman sighs wearily
As she spins the thread of her trag-
edy.
(Her lover was lost in a gale at sea),
her picture is
At the Museum.
Another tells of her aches and pains,
And one talks much of wagon trains
And a lone sod house upon the plains,
Whose crane is
At the Museum.
"I'll read our fortunes," another said,
in the leaves our emptied cups may
spread.....
A dark man coming...and soon,"
she read,
At the Museum.
" 'A dark man'...Death...and he
comes for me!"
And each old woman who sits for
tea
Smiles at her mute soliloquy,
His picture is ---
At the Museum.
--Whitelaw Saunders, in the
Harp. (adapted).
-------**-------
--------------------------------------
| 100 YEARS OF POSTMASTERS |
--------------------------------------
Postoffices established in Washington
County from 1828 to 1888 numbered
95.
Fayetteville postoffice was established
in 1829.
Fayetteville postmasters listed are:
Larkin Newton, August 1829
Bryan H. Smithson, October 1833.
John I. Stirman, December 1841
Isaac Strain, February 1844
John B. Costa, October 1847
Henry Reiff, September 1848
John W. Chew, February, 1850
William F. Blakemore, September 1853
John W. Chew, February 1854
William Adams, January 1856
William W. Fillington, August 1856
James B. Simpson, April 1857
Elias B. Moore, January 1860
William A. Watson, March 1861
Hugh C. C. Boytefuhr, February 1866
John Richardson, January 1868
Martin G. Bonham, February 1868
James T. Barn, March 1869
E. R. Henderson, March 1871 (R).
Daniel Webster, April 1871
Roderick A. Caldwell, December 1874
Jesse L. Cravens, December 1877
Elizur B. Barrison, June 1884 (R).
Jesse L. Cravens, June 1886
Jesse L. Cravens, August 1888
F. J. Hunt 1888-1896
Jeff Hight, 1892-1896
B. F. Campbell, 1902-1914
Hugh F. Reagan, 1914-1923
W. H. Morton, 1919-1923
B. F. Campbell, 1923-1928-9
-------**-------GRANDSONS REPRESENT
UNIVERSITY PIONEERS
By WENDELL POLK -- -- --
--
When J. D. Walker, lawyer and
senator, extended the offer in 1871 to
the committee on location to place
the Arkansas Industrial University
at Fayetteville, he did not realize
that 57 years later he would be rep-
resented in the institution by a grand-
son. Neither did Albert M. Byrnes,
builder of the Main Hall, Buchanan
Hall, Old Engineering Hall and the
experiment station, realize that he
too would be represented by the
same grandson. But Wythe, one of
Senator Walker's sons, married one
of the daughters of A. M. Byrnes
and now their youngest son, Courtney Walker, is a sophomore in the
college of Arts and Sciences.
-------**-------
|
|
-------**------- "THE OLD COW BELL"
It's strange what tricks yer mem'-
ry plays,
The things ye can't forget,
I've lived a might heap o' years,
An' hope to live some yet.
But tho' I've heerd a million things,
One thing I allus hear,
The tinklin' of our ole cow bell,
When milkin' time is near.
"I used to hity as mad as fire
When in the winer time,
I'd set before the cracklin' logs,
A readin' prose er rhyme,
The howlin' of the wind outside
I didn't ever hear
Till that dern bell rang out to warn
That milkin' time was near.
"It wa'nt like music to me then,
But now I'm far away.
An' passin' time has bent myt back,
An' daubed my hair with gray.
"Twould seem like sweetest melody,
I'd give a lot to hear,
The tinklin' of that ole cow bell
When milkin' time is near."
--Eli Whitney
Collins, (Wonder
State poet.)
-------**-------
Picturesque Tin Cup
Is Model
Colored Town
"Is Fayetteville's Tin Cup any differ-
ent from any other negro section of the South?" Asked Mary Schilling,
journalistic student. She answers: "The average University student hears
the name and immediately conjures in his mind some awful darky abode.
Perhaps this Tin Cup deserves its reputation.
"It is set in a deep vale between
the business section of Fayetteville
and the foot of the neighboring Mt.
Sequoyah. Here and there one finds
a shallow mountain stream or a
scrubby tree. Small shacks, at the
rear of which are seen women at
work at the conventional wash-
boards, are set back a few feet from
main streets.
"Business houses are scattered at
intervals among dwellings. A faded
striped pole signifies the barber shop
and the music issuing forth from a
narrow building indicates that such
a bu8lding is the eating "joint." Men,
women and children during their leis-
ure loll around, gossiping in the
spring sunshine.
"The city jail, like a menacing
shadow, is outlined on the crest of
the slope on the western sky. This,
perhaps, serves as a warning to some
but according to citizens of Fayette-
ville Tin Cup has had no more than
its share of crimes. Its colored town,
by far and large, is the home of darkies peaceful, industrious, well-
meaning darkies, many of whom asumed the family name of their ancestors'
erstwhile owners.
"Year in and year out, the spring
sunshine continues to shine, negro
boys still play baseball on a vacant
lot, and Tin Cup remains a legend
in the minds of university students."
Sometimes there is a killing. Some-
times there is a shooting scrape, but
for the most part Tin Cup is a model
town, with colored folk eager to re-
ceive help and encouragement from
their white folk.
-------**-------
JACKSONS HERE IN 1818
The Jackson family is one of the
oldest in Northwest Arkansas and
it is said that Daniel and Thomas
Jackson with their families settled
on Jackson's creek in 1818.
-------**-------
LOCALITES HELPED
BUILD
HUNTSVILLE
Joel E. Blair of Fayetteville, an
ancestor of R. E. Blair, built the
first house in Huntsville, Madison
county. George Sanders started a
grocery on the opposite corner,
building the second house. Sanders
had years before built the first build-
ing in the Huntsville vicinity. The
town is Huntsville was laid off by
Thomas McCuistion in 1837 ...............-------**------- |
|
-------**------- MECKLINS FOUNDERS
OF THE CITY'S FIRST
COLLEGE FOR GIRLS
The earliest college for girls es-
tablished in Fayetteville was tyhe
Fayetteville Female Acodemy, char-
tered by the state during January,
1836, with Robert W. Mecklin and
his wife, Katherine Anderson Meck-
lin, instructors.
Mecklin was one of the earliest
educators of which Fayetteville has
much record, and he was ably assist-
ed by his wife, Louise Ann Anderson,
aunt of Col. Hugh A. Dinsmore of
this place to whom he was married
October 6, 1829.
Mrs. Mecklin was daughter of Col.
Hugh A. Anderson and of Kathryn
Anderson whose father was A. W.
Dinsmore.
Mr. and Mrs. Mecklin, according to
old records were engaged as teachers
in the first institution of higher learning
in the county and one of the two first in the state, The Fayetteville
Female Academy, (chartered according to Old State House records looked
up by Judge Hadden A. Humphreys in January 1836), and which as
early as February 1, 1836, old documents show, advertised "having
engaged Mr. and Mrs. Maclkin, teachers of experience," to take charge of
the school chartered by the Arkansas first State Legislature,before
Fayetteville, its site, had been given a corporate existence.
Mr. Mecklin, having secured a
charter for his school selected Fay-
etteville as location because of "the
beauty of the Ozarks, the richness of
the soil, the abundance of good
water, beautiful shade trees and
healthfulness of the climate." Land
for this college was donated by Solo-
mon Tuttle, J. M. Tuttle and W. D.
Cunningham, John Pollard, J. P.
Moore and Allen Moore. Fundamen-
tal rule of the school, early records state, was that "The Bible shall
be the standard of morals and religion."
Mr. Mecklin was born July 31, 1795
at Abbeyville, S. C. and was married
to Louisa Ann Anderson, born March
14, 1811, in Madison County, Ky.
The couple had two daughters; Mary
Elizabeth born September 16, 1830
and who married Henry D. Full-
bright April 1857, at Ozark Institute:
Louise Katherine who married James
M. Hoge June 20, 1866 at Ozark
Institute.
Mr. Mecklin died April 25, 1871,
at Mountside, near Fayetteville follow-
ing the death of his wife at Roseta,
Colorado February 26, 1870.
Says an Arkansas history:
Elected as state senator by the almost unanimous voice of his people was
Robert W. Mecklin, founder of the Ozark institute, and one of the first
teachers of Fayetteville. Mecklin's popularity grew out of his school
career, in which he was eminently
successful as a friend and teacher of
young men. He was chosen senator
in 1860 by an almost unanimous vote,
and held his seat during the session of
legislature after the secession of the state.
Mecklin had but a short time before
retired from the teaching profession
after making the Ozark institute one
of the greatest schools in the state.
Born in Abbeyville district, South
Carolina, July 31, 1798, he graduated
at Athens, Georgia, in 1825. He entered teaching in Alabama, came to the
territory of Arkansas in 1833, and
taught for a time at Little Rock. Soon
afterwards he came to Fayetteville.
Robert Mecklin married Louise A.
Andersdon, an aunt of Colonel Hugh
Dinsmore of Fayetteville. The great
Bible purchased by the founder of
the Ozark institute in September,
1848, is now owned by Colonel Dins-
more, and is on display at the Centen-
nial museum.
This institute was operated at Mount
Comfort, near Fayetteville and was a
successor the the "Far West Seminary." In the front and back of the book
are pasted accounts of the early examinations, which included tests in
Greek, algebra, geometry, and survey- ing, as well as the old fashioned
decla- mation. Rich and poor, Indian and white, attended the school.
Greek and Latin examinations
would have done credit to the modern
college. Four classes were examined
in Latin and two in Greek.
Mecklin died April 25, 1871. His body was carried to its grave at Ozark
Institute by his old students.
-------**-------
|