Log-Rolling

Montgomery County News, Thursday, 29th October, 2009
Museum Corner
Heritage House Museum of Montgomery County
The museum was pleased to receive a photograph from Leota Faye [Tallent] Black [nee Pettitt] of her grandparents, Samuel and Susan Mullings, with Myrtle, Mack, Lawrence and Leona, the four oldest of their five children. Samuel and Susan were the builders and original residents of the log house on the museum property and all their children except Myrtle, the oldest, were born in that house. According to grandson N.I. Cannon, Sam had acquired the logs from a log hauling company that had moved on to another location leaving behind many trees that had already been cut but did not intend to trim and haul. After checking with the "company man" about the cut trees, Sam was told he could take them. Using teams of mules, the logs were hauled to his home place. Relatives and friends helped Sam build the house. Lumber that had been unloaded from a truck to lighten it after it got stuck, was given to Sam to cover the floor and ceiling. Sam died at a young age and Susan and the five children continued to live in the log home. Later Susan married Rabe Jones, both having lost their spouses, and the combined families resided there. Many years later the Jones family built a home closer to the grist mill and moved from the log home.

Mrs Samantha Fryar b. 1902. (can't find her marriage.) Her parents where Samuel Hosea Mullings and Mary Susan Kinsey, lived in the Alamo community. They had daughters Mantha and Myrtle and Leona. Mantha (Samantha) married Iley Pettitt on April 22, 1922 in Montgomery Co. and later a Fryar. Mantha is buried at the Mount Ida Cemetery under Mantha Pettitt (Feb. 18, 1902 - April 14, 1989).

Montgomery County ArkansasGenWeb Project

The owner of the land would invite neighbors to assist with a house raising, barn raising or log-rolling. The women would come prepared, food for everyone and material for a quilting bee so it turned out to be an important social gathering for the community where neighbors were usually miles away. After the day's work had been accomplished, out doors and in, by men and women, the floor was cleared and the dance begun with a fiddle being the principal instrument.

Cabin Construction
The type of timber used for a dwelling would have depended on what timber grew in the immediate vicinity e.g. hickory, white and post oak, dogwood, pine.  The axe was just as important as a rifle on the frontier.  Logs would be hand hewed to suitable lengths under the direction of the man in charge.  The blacksmith made nails and hardware by hand.  If there was no smithy nearby, the logs were laid horizontally and notched to fit together or could have been timber framed with mortise and tenon or wooden dowels or pegs were used.  The cracks between the stacked logs would be filled, 'chinked', with mud and moss or tar, whatever was available, to keep out the wind, bugs, snakes, and to keep the heat in and the cold out.

The log cabin was usually from 14-16 feet square, frequently built without nails, hinges or locks and lighted by greased paper windows or deer skins.  A log was left out along one side, if the builder did not have a saw, and sheets of strong paper well greased with raccoon grease or bear oil would be carefully tacked in. No glass was available.  Often windows would be cut after a cabin was built and have wooden shutters that closed out the weather, animals and light. The bedsteads were made by fitting a corner post into the puncheon floor, and inserting the others into augur holes bored into the log walls, then using the useful clap-boards for slats.  Puncheons are slabs of timber split as near the same thickness as possible with the upper surface smooth by an adz after the floor is laid.  A ladder would lead to a sleeping loft from the dogtrot.

Usually the cabin had only one door, constructed of puncheon with cross beams and wooden pegs for the hinges.  A door latch would be on the inside with a deer skin strap leading through a small hole to the outside and at night this was pulled inside. The door was then considered locked. The saying "the latch string is always out" means you are always welcome. The roof would be constructed with roughly hewn flat slabs of wood or clapboard.  Before sawmills arrived in the area lumber was cut with a whipsaw, a crosscut saw with a tapering blade, teeth sharpened to cut in only one direction and was used by two men. Clapboard siding and a veranda were often later additions.  Also the cabins were replaced by larger and better homes and the original log cabin was turned into a cook house.

Fire place was constructed out of brick, river rock, granite, whatever the natural stone material was as long as it would stand up to heat or mud (daub) and sticks with a hand-carved mantel in the dining room. The firebox tended to be shallow back then and would draw well and heat efficiently.  The mortar would have been cement--sand and limestone and water. The chimney was sometimes built out into the room, or built attached to the outside and the fire was built on the ground with the draft pulling the smoke out the chimney. Rifles would rest on hooks above the fireplace. From other hooks shot-pouches, leather coats and dried meat would hang. A leather fire bucket and ladder would be kept handy as stick and daub chimneys often caught fire

Outbuildings were probably a corn-crib, barn, well and outhouse and maybe a cooking shack separate from the cabin to reduce heat and the risk of fire. The area around the cabin was usually fenced with a picket or a split rail fence to keep animals out of the garden, corn patch and fruit trees. The settler often had hunting dogs who would bark at approaching strangers.  At a housewarming the host would provide a good fire, liquor and supper, often venison or bear meat and guests would bring common supplies for setting up housekeeping e.g. gourds.  A dance usually followed.

Log cabins can still be found in Montgomery County some disguised as cottages and homes. Over the years additional rooms have been added and siding and the actual log cabin now well protected from the elements. Sometimes you see doorway frames wider than usual often near the kitchen and with investigation you might find logs and walls covered with newspaper. Black walnut, fruit trees and daffodils sometime mark old homestead sites. The Heritage House Museum in Mt Ida has paintings and photographs of log cabins including the Robert and Lizzie Shaw cabin on their homestead land on Rocky Creek with the family posed in front. Audie was just a tot in his mother's arms. Photographs can be dated by the size of the children and the fashions of the day.

Dogtrot
If the settler/hunter planned to stay in the area and his family grew, a second cabin would be built and joined by a covered breezeway (called a dogtrot) eight to ten feet wide. Families would eat here in the dogtrot during the summer as it was cool there. This is where the expression "3 P" came from - two pens and a passage. Also known as a saddlebag house. Often a veranda was added to the front of the dwelling. Called a dogtrot because the family's dogs would use it as a short cut to get to the back yard.

Log-rolling defined
1) Clearing land with the help of neighbors by rolling logs to a spot and burning them usually done in winter. Notches were cut on the top of the large logs, by the owner of the land, about every ten feet by starting a fire on each notch, this would take a week but it saved the men sawing or chopping the logs into carrying lengths.  The logs were carried with handspikes to the log heaps.  These were stout dogwood sticks about five feet long, three inches through at the center, and made smaller and smoother at each end.   "Tote fair" and "I got the dirty end of the stick" came from this work.
2) House raising with the help of neighbors.
3) A lumberjack event also known as birling where a log is floated on water and two people stand on the log and each runs in place to roll the log.  The object is to throw the other off into the water with the spin of the log.
4) Politicians voting for each other bills. Log rolling is an American phrase used to express that system of voting in which A agrees to vote for that which B wants, on condition that B supports A in what he wishes to have done.

References:
Ouachita Mountain Digest Spring/Summer 1997 Editor/publisher Shirley Goodner Mena AR
The Dixie Frontier : A Social History of the Southern Frontier from the First Transmontane Beginnings to the Civil War by Everett Dick. New York: Alfred. A. Knoff 1948
"Searcy Centennial"  description of a cabin.
AGS-L-Request@rootsweb.com A very active list monitored by knowledgeable rooters. This list is open to all Arkansas researchers. In the first line of the message type: subscribe

Stephenville Historical House Museum
Historic Arkansas Resources  homes National Register
Janssen Park, Mena, Polk County, Arkansas. There is still an old log cabin built in 1851 at the site of a spring in Janssen Park, Mena.

The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program identifies, evaluates, registers, and preserves the state's historic and cultural resources and seeks to instill a preservation ethic in future generations of Arkansans. The AHPP is a division of The Department of Arkansas Heritage. They have listed eight sites in Montgomery County. photos
1) Montgomery County Courthouse, 1923 stone structure
2) Womble District Administration House No. 1, N. of Hwy. 270 e. of Mt. Ida c. 1940 frame structure built by Civilian Conservation Corps.
3) Huddleston's store, Pine Ridge
4) McKinzie store, Pine Ridge
5) Collier Springs Shelter, Forest Service Rd 177, NE of Norman. c. 1939 built by CCC.
6) Norman Town Square and Library. wayback 1935-40.
7) Crystal Springs Camp Shelter, Forest Service Rd 177, E. of Hwy. 27, c. 1935 CCC built log picnic shelter. Fieldstone structure.
8) Reeves-Melson House (Miles House) Located near Mazarn Creek, in S.E. Montgomery County, five miles north of Bonnerdale.  A hand hewn log cabin from 1840 converted to dog-trot in 1888. Includes a log pen entertainment room, a raised log pen ceiling and a exposed stone mantle. The chimney is composed of flat slate rocks stacked and loosely mortered. The addition was made from plank boards and mainly used for sleeping. Commonly known as the Abraham and Amanda Miles House. The old well and outhouse have been restored.
9) Heathcock-Jones House (Norman vic.) Old Dallas Road c. 1845 single-pen log cabin
Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 6/2/1995.

AHPP list of of the properties constructed of logs in Montgomery County.
     MN0006     Collier Homestead / Hull House, Buttermilk Springs, Caddo Gap
     MN0007     Jones Valley (a homestead/camp), Caddo Gap
     MN0008     Basinger Place #2, Caddo Gap (Dale Springs vic.)
     MN0009     Basinger Place #1, Caddo Gap (Dale Springs vic.)
     MN0010     McLean Storage Cabin, Caddo Gap
     MN0021     Wright House, Mt. Ida
     MN0023     Old Bates House, Pine Ridge vic.
     MN0027    1985 -  Miles Log Cabin / Reeves-Melson Homestead, Bonnerdale wayback

Additional Reading:

��Which Front Door Do I Use?� and Other Ozark Exotica� by Michael A. Pfeiffer  

Agriculture: Its Past by Horatio Seymour. NY Times Sep 11, 1852; p. 1;
The merchant gave his goods for the produce of the country - taking all that was brought to him; putting the different rolls of butter received by him from the thrifty housewife, into one cask, until the whole presented hues as various as the calicoes which he gave in exchange. Labour among farmers was exchanged on the same principle. When the axe had felled the forest, the single man could not move the huge trunks of the gigantic tress, and a "logging bee" called together the neighbours to aid him in the emergency, with the tacit understanding that the favor was to be returned upon a like occasion. The house and barn were raised upon the same principle; and so strong was this feeling of mutual dependence, that many who would not pay a note of hand, would shrink from refusing to go to a Bee or a Raising. This principle found its way into all the rela_ons and duties of life. The parson was, and is now, to come extent, paid by donation parties; the schoolmaster ; "boarded round," and even the social amusements which cheered and relieved, toil took the form of a "paring bee" or a quilting party. Marriage was not only a union of honest hearts and strong hands, but also of the spinning wheel and the axe, the plough and the loom; and when Death entered their doors, his victim was carried to his last resting place, not in a hired hearse, but on the shoulders of neighbours and friends. The era of the axe has now passed away. It was the heroic period of farming in this country. They laid the foundation of our present social condition.

Rayburn, Otto E. Ozark Panorama contains an illustration of an old stick-and-clay chimney in the Caddo Gap area, vol. 1, page 138. U of AR Libraries, Fayetteville.

Weslager, C. A. (Clinton Alfred), 1909-  The Log Cabin in America; from pioneer days to the present  New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press  382 pp

Garden Sass: A Catalog of Arkansas Folkways by Nancy McDonough was published in 1975, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan 200 Madison Ave, New York, N.Y. 10016

Nancy went out and interviewed about 100 old timers e.g. Chat Lawrence Standridge b. Montgomery Co. Oct. 22, 1888 and compiled a book about everything you associate your grandparents with from log cabin building, water witching, folklore, the general store, springs, shivarees, songs, fences, etc.

This is what she wrote about Warren Farmer Wilhite. Wife was Bessie. He is the answer to every folklore collector's dream - a marvelous storyteller, a person who has really lived on the frontier and done the things that are now just a page in a history book for most people, and close at hand.

On May 4, 1891, he was born in Cherokee County, Texas. His daddy had gone there from Arkansas, and shortly after the turn of the century Farmer's family left Texas, heading back toward Arkansas. There were three wagons full of family members, and as he said, "We was kind of a wrong way Carrigan outfit -we was comin' from the West toward the East."

Their first stop was with relatives in Franklin County, Texas and there, "It rained so much we got mudbound- and we knew we'd never get to Arkansas in time to raise a crop the next year. And so we stayed one year there in Franklin County," But Arkansas' promise of homestead land, fine timber, etc. attracted his daddy, and the next year they continued on to Arkansas. About the trip Farmer said:

We had such a heavy load and a light team till everybody that was big enough had to walk so's to lighten the load. So my dad- he was one that walked. My older sister walked and my mother, she rode I the wagon to take care of the younger kids. Well, when we'd get to a town all that was walking they'd get in the wagon so's to not be obvious. So except though towns, when my dad drove, why I drove just about every step of the way from there into Arkansas. (He was twelve years old!)

When they arrived, his daddy, had "thirty-five dollars, a wagon, a team, a wife, and seven kids." And it took sixteen of those thirty-five dollars to file on the homestead. They discovered that some of the land was so poor it was almost impossible to raise a crop. The next year they moved to Montgomery County in the Ouachita Mountains, and that is the source of Farmer's reminiscences. Today he lives in Pulaski County, where he came as a young man, married Bessie Wiggins, and raised a family of his own. In addition to his abilities as a storyteller, he is an inventor, designer, a naturalist, and a musician.

Who were the parents of Warren Farmer Wilhite??
Other names mentioned.
A grand-uncle Uncle Jackson Wilhite (a brother to Farmer's grandfather )
Aunt Phoebe
Nancy Vines.

Warren Farmer Wilhite - 4 May 1891 Floyd, Hunt County, Texas. Died 29 Dec 1981 (aged 90) of 8719 Wilhite Lane, North Little Rock, a retired carpenter, cabinet maker and builder, died Tuesday. He was born in Hunt County Texas, but his family moved by covered wagon to Mount Ida in 1903. He served in France in WWI and was a charter member of the M. L. Bodenheimer American Legion Post and a member of the Legion Drum and Bugle Corps.
Father: Lucian Larsh Wilhite 1863�1949
Mother: Lillie Virginia Day Wilhite 1868�1949

FGR  for George HACKWORTH & Minnerva KILGORE.
H: George HACKWORTH, DOB Abt 1936, of, Virginia "abt 1836"
W: Minnerva KILGORE, DOB Abt 1839, of,Virginia
f: John KILGORE (Sr.) m: Cyntha ADDINGTON
Sources of Info:
Addingtons Charles Kilgore of Kings Mountain, p 131.
Submitting Person: Warren Farmer Wilhite
8719 Wilhite Lane, Sylvan Hills, North Little Rock, Ark. 72116
Family Representative: Warren Farmer WILHITE
Relation of F. R. to husband: 2dc 2r il
Relation of F. R. to wife: 2c 2r
"Line of descent and relationship to Warren Farmer WILHITE:
(2) George HACKWORTH & Minnerva KILGORE (2c 2r)
(3) John KILGORE Sr. (1c 3r) m Cyntha ADDINGTON
(4) Ralph KILGORE St. (2gguncle) m Miss GRAY
(5) (Capt.) Charles KILGORE (3ggfather) m Winnie CLAYTON (3ggmother)

Everton's Genealogical Helper  September 1960, September 1963
Wilhite, Warren Farmer, R 3, Box 228, North Little Rock, Pulaski Co. Ark., Local research. On some lines I have a lot. On some very little. Wants data on
Thomas Jefferson Wilhite, White Co., Tenn., 1810-1895;
Simon Peter Day, Lee Co., Va., 1836-1899;
Mills Farmer, Ga., abt. 1875.
Susan Ann Woods, Ga., abt 1790;
William Bickley, Va., abt 1790;
Jane Kigore, Scott Co., Va. 1795-1873;
William Kilgore, Va., 1769; Virginia
Jane Osborne, Va., 1713-1792;
Mary Hurt, Va, abt 1716;
Joseph Bickley, Eng., abt 1675
Sarah Ellice, Eng., abt. 1680.
Wilhite, Bessie Beatrice (nee Wiggins) R 3, Box 228, North Little Rock, Pulaski Co. Ark., Local research. Wants data on Rhoda Lee Ball, Wooduff Co., Ark. Monroe Joshua (Jack) Wiggins, McNairy Co., TN b. 1848. Alexander Walker, Ky b. 1812; ...

Hopper Community
Caddo Gap
Norman, AR (archive.org)
Norman grads

Jul 17, 1949

Home spun rugs and hangings, native pottery, wooden articles and leather goods. Native delicacies as southern-fried chicken, trout, corn pone, hickory-cured hams, whole hominy and cowpeas called 'hopping John." Square dancing is a regional entertainment -the 'hill-billy' fiddler calling out 'allemande left ah' back t' your taw," to the tune of 'Devil's Dream," "The Gal I Left Behind me," and 'The Rattlesnake Shakes. "  Group singing is another popular diversion with folk music and old English ballads:
Houn' Dog
The Oxford Girl
Barbara Allen
Lord Lovell
The Three Rogers

Mena history  Polk County History   Old Dallas  Talimena  Mena's buildings Queen Wilhelmina

Montgomery County

In the early days travel was on foot, in dugouts along the stream on horse or muleback, in wagons or carts drawn by horses, or more frequently cattle, and early vehicles were lubricated, not with oil or grease, but with pinetar from pineknots, which were had for the picking. In the coldest weather, when the tar became very stiff from the cold, fires had to be started under the spindles of the wagons to soften the tar so that the wagons might become easily started. 1942 Montgomery County Mt Ida AR WPA History

"His corn and cattle were his only care,
And his supreme delight a country fair."

Tom Dillard June 10, 2007 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
For more than four years, he has written the weekly "Remembering Arkansas" column on the state's past. This column appears every Sunday on the Books page, 5H. Even though he turned in his master's degree thesis more than 30 years ago, its subject is still on his mind. He's still casually researching.

Little plank houses summarized
By Tom Dillard
In an attempt to cut down on heating costs, I have been relying more than usual this winter on my wood-burning stove.
This article was published February 28, 2010
Editorial, Pages 80 on 02/28/2010

Our ancestors knew a great deal about the properties of wood, and they knew to value oak trees for everything from building houses to making shingles to manufacturing barrels. Pioneer settlers of Arkansas found a great richness of timber. Among the tough hardwoods were a variety of oaks, with the white and red oaks being particularly abundant. The dense forests were both a blessing and a challenge to early settlers. Of course, they provided resources for building homes, barns and other outbuildings, but the forests had to be cleared in order to grow crops. New arrivals often lived out of a wagon while building a house. Log houses, which were typical throughout most of Arkansas until after the Civil War, involved felling a large number of trees, trimming the limbs and tops, and removing the bark. Since the logs had to be lifted by hand, houses were of necessity limited to between 12 and 18 feet and usually square. A Pope County settler in 1839 wrote to his family back in North Carolina that he had built "a right smart little cabin with a plank floor." Wayman Hogue, who grew up in the Ozarks in a log house, recalled his boyhood home as "one large room built of scalped logs, chinked and daubed, and floored with puncheons hewn smooth." Puncheons were logs that had been split length-wise with the flat side dressed smooth. A fireplace was usually constructed at one end of the cabin. Stones were used to construct the fireplace when they were available, but in eastern Arkansas the fireplace was usually made of clay and the chimney built of wood and surfaced with clay. Wayman Hogue recalled that his boyhood home had a stone fireplace, but the "extending chimney was built of split sticks heavily daubed and lined with clay, which when dry was very substantial." Hogue went on to say that the clay-daubed chimney would sometimes crack, "leaving the wood parts exposed, and when the weather was chilly and the fires large, my father would have to throw water up the chimney to extinguish the blaze." As a family grew more prosperous, lean-to rooms were added to the main house. In order to prevent fires and to make the house more comfortable in hot weather, kitchens were often situated in small structures located behind the home. ... In addition to homes and outbuildings, wood was also used for fencing throughout the 19th Century. Straight logs were split into rails, usually of about 10 feet in length. These rail fences, also called worm fences, kept the livestock out of the cultivated fields. For years after the Civil War, Southerners complained that Union soldiers destroyed their fence rails by using them for firewood.

Put a candle in the window summarized
By Tom Dillard
Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Date: Sunday, September 26 2010

Our ancestors, in the pre-Edison era, knew how to survive in a world of darkness after the sun set. Before electrical lights became available in the 20th Century, Arkansans and many Americans depended on candles and oil lamps for lighting. Farm animals were fed by the light of a lamp; students studied their lessons by candle or oil lamp; women gave birth in the dim light of candles; and ministers preached sermons in the gloom of ill-lit churches. Criminals were also active in the dark.  The most basic lighting in the frontier home came from fires in the fireplace. "the usual way of lighting our house by night was with pine." "a pine knot thrown into the fire lighted the whole room." The pine knots had the advantage of being free for the taking from local forests. When out of pine knots, or during warm weather, "we used candles which we molded ourselves." "I remember seeing my mother put sycamore balls in a saucer of grease and light the end of the stem. This made a dim flickering light." Well before the Civil War, many American cities and towns built plants to manufacture gas, usually from coal. The gas was used for lighting homes, public buildings, and especially the streets. Getting about after dark was a real challenge for those living on unlighted streets, and many accidents befell the unwary. Kerosene lamps were introduced just before the Civil War, and they were in widespread use in Arkansas and across the nation for another century.

Ice, ice, baby summarized
By Tom Dillard
Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Date: Sunday, August 15 2010

The current heat wave reminds me to be grateful for many things, not the least being the availability of ice. For our ancestors, ice made possible everything from ice cream to chilled silver cups for mint juleps. I can recall as a lad being admitted briefly one hot August day to a large ice plant in Hot Springs; the temperature was well below freezing, and cold air swirled around the 1,000-pound blocks of clear ice. Skilled employees could easily and quickly detach a 40-pound block to be taken home for making ice cream.... While many rural families had spring houses and water wells to keep food and milk cool, it appears that only the most wealthy would have an ice house.

Hot dogs!
By Tom Dillard
Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Date: Sunday, August 22 2010

 Dogs served the same purposes for white settlers as for ancient Indians: They were useful in tracking and pursuing wild game, and they acted as sentinels to alert settlers to the presence of bears or other wild animals. They also served as pets, a relationship which is believed to reach far back into human prehistory.... 

Moonshine heard from! summarized
By Tom Dillard
Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Date: Sunday, July 11 2010
Editorial, Pages 78

Distilling alcoholic beverages goes back to the earliest years of Arkansas history. Indeed, the iconic Arkansas Traveler painting depicts the squatter's rude log cabin having a sign over the door advertising whiskey for sale. Like Americans in general, 19th Century Arkansans drank a great deal of liquor. Politicians were expected to provide liquor to supporters. Opposition to alcohol has a history in Arkansas, too. The Little Rock Temperance Society was established in 1835, a full year before statehood. The federal government regulated alcohol production through the sale of permits. Federal Revenue Agents ("revenoors") kept a close eye on liquor production, and illegal distillers ("moonshiners") were harried relentlessly, sometimes resulting in violent shootouts. Sometimes moonshiners added coloring to their whiskey in order to make it appear aged. A few drops of iodine or a little brown sugar gave a mellowed appearance. Moonshining was not glamorous. Most moonshiners were poor men hoping to eke out a living. One of the most persistent wildcatters as they were sometimes known was E. L. "Jack" Robertson, who made whiskey on just about every creek and branch in Montgomery and Yell Counties over a 59-year period before going legit around 1900. Here's how Robertson described one of his stills: "I made a crop that year and whiskey, too. When I was not in my crop, I was poking wood under my little still, trying to make a living. I made about fifty gallons of whiskey at this place. It was corn and sorghum whiskey, and I sold it at three dollars a gallon . . . . Men from Yell County would come and buy it in hack loads."

How's about a drink? summarized
By Tom Dillard
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Editorial, Pages 76 on 07/18/2010

Prohibition became the law of the land in 1918. The distillation of liquor-not to mention its sale and consumption-has a long association with Arkansas. Arkansans have consumed great amounts of hard liquor from its earliest days. Residents of early French Arkansas drank a great deal of liquor;  While it was possible to obtain a federal permit to distill liquor, the steep tax added a competitive disincentive. Most Arkansas bootleggers before World War II were subsistence farmers who kept a small still tucked alongside a nearby creek. After a long era of the relative easy availability of liquor, a strong temperance movement gained supporters across Arkansas and the entire nation throughout the 1800s. By 1885 the tide was turning against liquor in Arkansas. In that year the legislature required saloons to close on Sunday. A few years later children were prohibited from buying liquor, unless they had written permission. This was followed in 1899 with a law to make it illegal to buy liquor for another person, and the same year the Anti-Saloon League was created. By the turn of the 20th Century, 30 of Arkansas' counties were already dry. By 1912 only 12 counties were still wet. On Feb. 6, 1915, the legislature adopted the Newberry Law, imposing prohibition statewide. The Arkansas legislature of 1917 became one of the early states to adopt what was popularly called the "bone-dry law." The movement toward complete prohibition of liquor manufacture, importation, or sale came in January 1919 when Arkansas became the 27th state to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The advent of prohibition failed to stop the manufacture and sale of alcohol; it merely drove the practice underground. Bootlegging thrived throughout the state. Just about every community had at least one bootlegger, but some areas were especially known as bootlegging havens. The dense forests of Yell and Montgomery Counties were a redoubt for bootleggers. Garland County and Hot Springs were centers of bootlegging activity even before prohibition, but the situation became decidedly worse afterward. Prohibition did nothing to prevent the open sale of alcohol in south Arkansas during the great oil boom of the early 1920s. Prohibition lost much of its support in Arkansas and nationally with the coming of the Great Depression. By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932, most Americans supported repeal of prohibition. On July 18, 1933, Arkansans voted 67,622 for repeal while only 46,091 opposed. [In 2010 Polk and Montgomery Counties are still dry counties]

When chicks ruled the roost summarized
By Tom Dillard
Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Date: Sunday, March 14 2010

Our ancestors certainly had to work hard to protect their flocks, but the effort was worthwhile. Chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and guineas not only produced meat for our ancestor's tables, their eggs were also highly valued for their protein and as a cooking ingredient. In the years before the Civil War most rural Arkansans lived on pork, corn bread and molasses, with the monotony occasionally broken by a pot of greens, beans or other vegetables. Chickens were valued, and it appears that most families kept a flock-including those living in towns. Until the modern era, hens laid relatively few eggs-and most of them in the spring and early summer. As soon as a clutch of 10 or 12 eggs were laid, hens would stop laying and start setting in an effort to hatch a brood. Setting could be delayed by taking the eggs from the hens, usually one at a time. Hens that were not restricted to a henhouse were especially prone to hiding their eggs in hedgerows or deep in hay lofts. Hens can lay eggs without the attention of a rooster, but a male was necessary if one wished to produce fertile eggs. Thus, while most young male chickens, called cockerels, were soon eaten, a particularly large or virile rooster was usually kept on the place in order to ensure a steady supply of chicks. ... In reality, ducks and geese were more difficult to raise because they roosted on the ground-making them easy pickings for raccoons and foxes... Geese were good at sounding an alarm when predators were around, and "they provided the best soft feathers so important in pillows and feather beds." Goose eggs were considered too strong of taste, but were used in cooking. I failed to turn up many references to geese being cooked. Turkeys, on the other hand, were often eaten by our ancestors. ... Turkeys, perhaps even more so than chickens, were susceptible to cold wet weather, and a whole flock could be wiped out in a single storm.

Sumpin' for that chicken lice? summarized
By Tom Dillard
Publication: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Date: Sunday, October 4 2009

When I imagine how most Arkansans lived a century ago, rurality immediately comes to my mind. Only in the modern era have most Arkansans lived in what is defined as urban areas. Travel was slow, and trips to town were infrequent. This relative isolation was occasionally relieved by the visit of a peddler. Peddling took many forms and was practiced in a variety of ways. I am not including "drummers" in this column-though certainly the names were often interchanged. I define peddlers as selling directly to the public-often in isolated areas, while drummers usually represented a single company or a line of products and mostly sold to businesses. ... Not all peddlers prospered, of course. Especially during lean economic times, sales were hard to make. Otto Ernest Rayburn wrote in his book Ozark Country about the thrifty nature of the rural poor: "One day a peddler came along selling matches, twelve in a little wooden box for a dime. We purchased some of them, but they were used only on special occasions or when we `lost fire.' " Hard work, long hours, and small profits were not the only drawbacks to peddling. Until the 1950s, roads in Arkansas were infamous for their poor condition. Peddlers drove their carts through deep mud, along rock strewn paths, and across innumerable streams. During the early 20th Century, peddling began to change, with the independent marketer being replaced by company agents. The best examples of these peddling corporations were the W. T. Rawleigh Company and the J. R. Watkins Medical Company. Both were headquartered in the upper Midwest. W. T. Rawleigh got his start selling his wife's patent medicines, while Watkins started out making a liniment.
Historian Lu Ann Jones in her study of Southern farm women noted that in 1921, the Rawleigh Company manufactured 125 products: "During a visit by `the Rawleigh man' customers could buy everything from blood-purifying tonics to vanilla flavoring and lemon extract, cinnamon and nutmeg. Improved economic conditions and the better road system after World War II brought a gradual end to corporate peddling. Independent peddling continues to this day.

Bugs, malaria, ague, oh my By Tom Dillard
The abundant spring rains have left us with more than our fair share of mosquitoes. Walking about the garden in the evening is spoiled now by the menacing humming of those darting little minions of the devil. The humming is more annoying than the actual sting of the mosquitoes' puncture, but I really hate the idea of an insect sitting on my bare skin and sucking my blood. At least I don't have to worry about contracting malaria, which our Arkansas ancestors knew all too well and usually called ague.
This article was published June 13, 2010 Editorial, Pages 84

More killing fields By Tom Dillard
Last week I told you about dueling in early Arkansas history. Indeed, dueling is an ancient practice of ritualized violence with the first duel in what is today the United States occurring in Massachusetts in 1621, barely a year after the Pilgrims landed. Eventually the practice came to be regulated by a code duello.
This article was published September 5, 2010 Editorial, Pages 80

Gather 'round the bodark By Tom Dillard
Every morning as I drive onto the University of Arkansas' campus I pass by a nice stand of bois d'arc trees. Situated on a hill between the student union and the stadium, the trees have lately been clad in the great green fruits that are so distinctive. The bois d'arc tree is closely entwined with the history of Arkansas and the greater region.
This article was published September 12, 2010 Editorial, Pages 86

That time of the year again By Tom Dillard
Deer season is upon us, and the forest will soon resound with gunfire. Deer hunting has been a part of life in Arkansas since long before the Europeans arrived, and it remains an important component of our culture to this day.
This article was published October 10, 2010
Editorial, Pages 88 Arkansas Democrat & Gazette

Think your lease has issues? By Tom Dillard
Duck hunters today can venture into the frigid waters of eastern Arkansas without giving a thought to competing against market hunters' meaning mostly local hunters who killed game for the commercial market.
This article was published December 13, 2009 Editorial, Pages 87

Don't forget the popcorn By Tom Dillard
Arkansans have celebrated Christmas for more than 300 years. It is believed Jesuit priests held a Christmas Eve Mass at Arkansas Post in 1698, probably the first celebration in what is today Arkansas. In the ensuing three centuries, Christmas has brought spiritual uplift, community celebration and joy into even the most remote cabin.
This article was published December 20, 2009 Editorial, Pages 83

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on By Tom Dillard
The string of recent earthquakes in the region should remind us that northeast Arkansas was near the epicenter of the largest quake to hit the nation in recorded history.
This article was published July 25, 2010 Editorial, Pages 80

The hardest of losses By Tom Dillard
Our ancestors had a constant association with death. Even simple ailments, such as an infection, could be deadly. Epidemics, especially cholera outbreaks, carried off whole families. Many women died during childbirth, and accidents took many fathers from their families. But nothing in the historical record is as sad as the common reports of parents having to bury their young children.
This article was published January 31, 2010 Editorial, Pages 72
Lifestyle changes needed Tom Dillard wrote an excellent column recently about early deaths in children. One visit to a historic cemetery will reveal that many people did not ...

You think you're cold now? By Tom Dillard
Snow, sleet, and bitterly cold winds have made this winter a hard one for me. I enjoyed cold weather as a child, and a snow was a welcomed opportunity to make snowmen, throw snowballs, and play on frozen creeks. This article was published February 14, 2010 Editorial, Pages 82

Worth their salt  The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
My physician recently sentenced me to life without salt. The resulting anguish from eating bland food reminds me that early Arkansas was noted for its production of salt.
This article was published April 12, 2009 Editorial, Pages 86

On a slow road through Arkansas By Tom Dillard
A movement is afoot in Arkansas to plan the commemoration of the approaching 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, which began in April 1861. The outbreak of the Civil War was a time of great importance for the 22-year-old state of Arkansas on the southwestern fringe of the Confederacy.
This article was published August 9, 2009 Editorial, Pages 80

Arkansas' great droughts By Tom Dillard
The hot dry weather reminds me how hard it must have been for Arkansas pioneers to watch while their crops withered. For the past few weeks I have spent my evenings dragging hoses around the yard and garden, trying to keep alive wilted shrubs and limp vegetables. I should not complain, however, because we are experiencing nothing like some of the great droughts of the past.
This article was published July 19, 2009. Editorial, Pages 76

Some soothing companion By Tom Dillard
For many years, I have been fascinated by Arkansas negative' image. From its very earliest history, Arkansas had a reputation for poverty and ignorance, corruption and outlawry.
This article was published February 21, 2010 Editorial, Pages 74

Banking the wild old way By Tom Dillard
The recent spate of bank failures reminds me that for much of its early existence Arkansas was plagued by debt due to the failure of its early banking system. Much of this debt involved out-of state investors, perhaps the strangest case involving the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
This article was published August 23, 2009 Editorial, Pages 76

The Dollarway By Tom Dillard
I am always amazed that I can get in my car and drive from Fayetteville to Little Rock in three hours. Mobility of that nature is possibly the most noticeable difference between life today and that of our ancestors.
This article was published April 5, 2009  Editorial, Pages 82  

Tom Dillard - 9-2-2012 - Last week marked the 10th Anniversary of Tom Dillard writing a weekly piece on Arkansas history for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Today's column was the 478th published. Tom Dillard is a retired archivist.

History teachers get more excited about teaching it each year. At first they are a bit lost despite living in the state.

January 27, 2012 by The City Wire staff
Dillard ends career 'collecting dust' of Arkansas history
Making Arkansans aware of their heritage is a means of empowering them, of giving them the tools to cast off old stereotypes. Tom W. Dillard (1948 -     )
    FAYETTEVILLE  Tom Dillard and his 35-year career as historian of all things Arkansas was perhaps best described by his boss, University of Arkansas Dean of Libraries Carolyn Allen: He spreads knowledge like seeds, sprinkles them around to watch them grow. Dillard retired this month as head of the Special Collections at the UA and was honored Jan. 26 with a warm reception at University House, just off campus. In addition to his work at the UA, Dillard is best known as a creator of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, which he still serves as founding editor-in-chief, and as creator of the Richard C. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, more commonly known as the Butler Center, in Little Rock. He's literally a 'know-it-all,' when it comes to facts, tidbits and lore about the Natural State. Dillard began his career in 1977 as the first historian on the staff of Arkansas State Parks and became head of UA Special Collections in 2004. The department is the leading academic archival repository in the state, containing huge research collections of manuscripts, historic photos, books, periodical materials and more. A growing number of materials have been made available online under Dillard's charge. They include projects on civil rights in Arkansas, Fayetteville history, the late Sen. J. William Fulbright. One of the more recent high-profile projects managed by Dillard was the recent opening of the papers of U.S. Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt. He's traveled all over Arkansas, collecting dust, Allen joked. Then on a serious note, she added, He wants people to value the archive we've created. Arkansas had almost neglected its heritage. There was no textbook of its history in print, Dillard noted. Dillard has said Arkansas own history is the best means for building collective self-esteem among its residents. Knowledge of history also enables them to vote more intelligently, he said. Dillard and his wife Mary, who also retired this month, live on what they call 'a farmette' in Farmington. Gardening is another of Dillard's loves, and he said he plans to do plenty of it as he settles into retirement. He also plans to continue researching Arkansas history, and he'll continue his longtime history column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Toward the end of the program, Allen presented Dillard with a rendering by watercolorist William McNamara. Dillard had been coveting the piece, titled 'Buffalo River Near Terrapin Branch.' At the end of his remarks, he jokingly quoted President Richard Nixon: 'You won't have old Tom Dillard to kick around here anymore. 

Montgomery County farms inducted into Arkansas Century Farm Program
By Montgomery County News - November 2, 2017
LITTLE ROCK  Two Montgomery County Farms were recognized by Governor Asa Hutchinson and Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward as they were among 40 Arkansas farms inducted into the Arkansas Century Farm Program at the State Capitol on Friday, October 27. The Watkins Farm, which was established in 1889, and the Polk Creek Farm, established in 1917, were the two Montgomery County farms inducted into the Arkansas Century Farm Program.
    The Watkins Farm is owned by Ann Watkins and is located on South Fork Road. Polk Creek Farm is owned by the Ed and Helen Smith and is located near Oden.
    The Arkansas Century Farm Program recognizes Arkansas farms of 10 acres or more owned by the same family for at least a century. The Arkansas Agriculture Department began the Century Farm program in 2012 as a way to highlight the contributions of these families to the agriculture industry well as their overall contributions to our state. Agriculture is Arkansas's largest industry, contributing more than $20 billion to the state's economy annually and providing one in every six jobs in the state. Arkansas consistently ranks in the top 25 nationally in the production of 23 agricultural commodities. "Through obstacles and challenges you have maintained your commitment to your farm and to your family. When families are strong, our communities are strong, and our state is strong" said Governor Hutchinson to the Century Farm Families.

Polk Creek Farms, April 2020, a century farm. You can tell it is an old house as the chimney is on the outside.

Montgomery County News Thursday July 19, 1973.
The front page headline. Oden postmaster retires July 13
Frank Smith retired as postmaster of Oden July 13 after serving nearly 33 years at the job. He was appointed postmaster September 2, 1940. "Oden was a smaller town then. I remember when they used to cut hay on Taylortown." Charles Frank Smith was born in Belcherville, TX, April 23, 1906, and first saw Arkansas when he came with his father, the late Elmer E. Smith and other cattle buyers into Montgomery County. His father moved here in 1918 when Frank was 12 years old, and bought a farm on what is now State Highway 88 East of Oden. Frank married a local girl, Audie Forbes, daughter of William and Melvina (Vina) Forbes, and they had four sons: Carl, math teacher at Oden HS, Elmer, with an oil company in TX, Ronald, assistant ranger with the Forest Service in Homer, Louisiana; and Mike, head of buying departments at the Sears stores in McCain Mall, NLR. Frank had a sawmill, a shingle mill and was farming and growing cattle when he became postmaster. Frank, Audie and the four boys built the house they live in, within sight of his father's old house just west of Polk Creek. "We bought an older house, tore it down, took the lumber down to the river, put on our bathing suits and washed it, then brought it back and started building." Although Frank still using walking aids as a result of a traffic accident he says his health is excellent.