Oak Hill Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in the Oden area of Montgomery County in western Arkansas and is located on private property on Randy Godbehere's farm off Highway 88 about a mile south-east of Pencil Bluff. The property was originally owned by Will (William?) Scott. The cemetery has about seventy graves with twenty-one readable headstones. It is now maintained and is protected by a fence that keeps the cattle out. Pencil Bluff obtained its name from the nearby slate bluff over looking the Ouachita River and is located nine miles west of Mount Ida. There was a Methodist Church there for forty or so years. Any old photographs made of the Oak Hill Methodist Church and Cemetery?
Directions to Oak Hill: Turn onto Ridge Road from Highway 88, then continue
less than a mile, pass the first telephone pole on the right, and when you come
to the first gate on the right just before a sharp curve to the left, stop and
open the gate. The gate is in sore need of disrepair and appears to be locked.
However, if you look closely at the chain there is a broken link behind the
fence post on the left and it is quite easy to open. The road is now is
excellent condition, and you can drive straight to the cemetery gate.
Nov. 2010
photos of headstones Bob G. wrote "There is not another monument that
can be read that I failed to take a picture of. The cemetery in 2010 was very
overgrown, like a jungle. There are a number of marble monuments that
are completely unreadable so no photo was taken of them if I did not have a
clue for whom the monument belonged. Bob found when cleaning down the north
fence in the area where Isaac Fryar and Nancy Fryar, Whistling Bill Fryar,
and Bartley Singleton are buried a previously unlisted NAME and date of
death etched on a piece of slate at the head of a somewhat sunken full size
grave with a rock at the foot of the grave. The name as it is shown on the
slate marker: Martha Fryar Died Aug. 16, 1900. "
David C. Evens Dec 31 1845 - Mar 7 1927 Gone Eliza J. Evans Mar 3 1848 - Sep 14 1917 The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Maude May d. Oct 10 1880 age 25 days daughter of D. C. and Eliza Jane Evans Infant son Sep 4 1884 - Sep 12 1894 of D. B.& M.C. Evens *Isaac Fryar 1799 -1868 *Nancy G. Fryar 1793 - 1870-80 Whistling Bill Fryar 1876 - 1947 Mary Garrett 1861 - 1926 At Rest John Hill 1850 - 1881 Dr. B. D. Johnson d. Aug 18 1883,
aged 61 years ?16 dayshusband of S. M. Johnson
(Mason emblem)Susan M. d. Dec 9 1877
age ?56 years, 8 monthswife of Dr. B.D. Johnson Joseph T. d. Apr 15 1878
20 years 9 months ?11 daysson of B.D. & Susan M. Johnson Farewell William A. Aug 21 1880 - Oct 30 1880 son of J.J. & R.S. Leonard *Bartley Singleton 1815 - 1860-70 *Martha Singleton 1827 - 1897 Mrs B.D. Taylor d. Oct 8 1892, age 67 years B.D. Taylor d. Apr. 28 1892, age 67 years Lizzie Taylor 1867-1892 Mother Mary E. Tabor Feb 24 1899 - Oct 13 1899 Rev. T.L. Tabor Feb 18 1850 - June 20 1919 At Rest Mary A. Wilson June 9 1856 - Apr 22 1913 wife of Rev. T. L. Tabor Daniel S. Wicker Farewell Footstones
S.G.L.
E.J.E. - Eliza J. Evans
D.C.E.- David C. Evans
E.M.C. - Elizabeth M. Chapman (1866-1868)
M.C. - Margaret Chapman (1869-1870)
L.E.B.
SEMS
* new headstones.The grave marker for Bartley Singleton's death date shows 1860-1870. His actual death date was Sept. 16, 1869 - typhoid fever. His son, Marion Franklin, born Feb 8, 1866, died July 1869, also typhoid fever.
There are Chapman's buried here and the Kelly's were!
Solomon P. Chapman d. May 14 1866 and his wife Mary Whitt Chapman d. 1885. In 1859 Solomon and family homesteaded land about three miles north east of Oden.John Kelly and his wife: John Kelly b. 1809 in S.C. and Nancy Kelly b. 1809 - 1894 came to Montgomery County in 1886 via Mississippi and South Carolina were buried at Oak Hill. The Chapman wives were formerly in Alabama, not any of the Kellys. They lived with James Henry and Margaret Kelly, their oldest son and daughter-in-law. Jim (J.H.) Kelly was a confederate veteran who was wounded at Antietam (they never got out) and held in a Union POW camp at Rock Island Illinois for the remainder of the war. John B. Kelly, the oldest son of Margaret and James Henry Kelly, was the County Judge of Montgomery County and responsible for Public Works and the JP court. After his term as County Judge J.B. Kelly served one term in the Arkansas legislature as state representative from Montgomery County from 1917-1919. His brother, Henry Wade Kelly, was a JP in the 1910s-20s and the Mayor of Oden in the 1950s.
Update2013: This past year the Kelly and Chapman headstones were returned to the cemetery, replacing/repairing them as best we could.
Montgomery
County News Nov. 19, 1998 article by Ellen Galloway.
In the mid-fifties, my grandfather
and other relatives paid a visit to the cemetery on the Scott farm and I went
with them and we found the cemetery totally overgrown and most of the
headstones knocked over by cattle. Wade Kelly, Zeff Singleton, Kirby Singleton
and others got together and cleaned the cemetery up and put up the fence that
still stands. Stones that could be replaced were and others were laid at
the head of the grave if they could not be made to stand. Posted 30 May, 2001. Information courtesy of
Dennis
Warren
Who are the people buried in the cemetery?
They were the pioneers who came to the area by covered wagon crossing the Mississippi and
Arkansas Rivers. According to the second volume of Tippah County, Mississippi
History, Isaac and Garrett Fryar and families left to go to the gold rush in California.
They came to a cross road in Montgomery County, Arkansas and no one could read the sign so
decided to build a cabin and put in a crop and dig the first well in the area. Two years
later "a preacher" who could read came by but they had decided to
"just" stay in Montgomery County. Isaac Fryar Jr. homesteaded the land
east of Oden. Isaac and Nancy Goodner Fryar were the parents of eight children
including Henry F., Thomas and William. William married Elizabeth Darcus
Singleton who was the daughter of Bartley Singleton and Martha K. (Stevens)
Singleton. Henry's son was William Henry "Whistling Bill" Fryar. The
1880 census shows John Hill son in law, 26 years, married to Mary, 22, living with
Thomas, 56, and Pollie (Shirley) Fryar. Around the Oden area if you are related to a
Fryar, Singleton, Willhite (Wilhite) or Goodner you are related to one and all.
Mary Garrett 1861-1926 (not Mary Ann), buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, is Marian N. (Mary N.) Chapman the daughter of Thomas Newton Chapman and Manilla Poteet; she was the 2nd wife of James Knox Polk Garrett; which makes her a daughter-in-law of Mary Ann "Molly" Fryar Garrett, 1825-1861.
William Henry Fryar soon became known as "Whistling Bill" Fryar and for a good reason. He was arrested for going into Indian Territory under a fictitious name and was bought before Fort Smith's "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker. The Judge wanted to hear him whistle and selected the bluegrass tune Fishers Hornpipe. The Judge was overwhelmed and said case dismissed and "Old Bill he just whistled his way out of court that day". He was also a story teller, had a photographic memory and a great fiddle player. Lorenzo Benton Willhite who was born at Waters (Pine Ridge) and later moved to Keota , Haskell County, Oklahoma taught him to play the fiddle and he played at dances around Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma. When "Whistling Bill" did do manual labor which was not very often he work he was good at hoeing cotton and was much sought after. "Whistling Bill" Fryar, always wore a hat, didn't have any permanent residence but visited relatives in the area especially across the river from Oden at Hog Jaw which got its name from a tramp who wandered through the area and as he went from house to house, everyone fed him hog jawls, (the fatty part under the pig's jaw) so he called that area Hog Jaw when he left. "Whistling Bill" Fryar died 11 July 1947 and he was the last one to be buried at Oak Hill. The oldest marked grave is 1860.
The 1870 Federal Census for Polk Township, which is the Oden area shows families:
#145 Henry Fryar, a farmer, and Lucinda E. (Hickey) Fryar the parents of William Henry aged three and John J. Fryar born in May.
#133 B.D. Johnson, 48, a physician born in Tennessee and his wife S.M., 47, born in N.C. and son Joseph T. aged 13 born Illinois.
#134 D.C. Evans, 25, a farmer, born in Tennessee and his wife Elias J. 22, born in Illinois.
#142. Martha Singleton.
#147 Thomas Chapman, 29, a farmer, born in Alabama and his wife Manila, 30, born in Mississippi. 1910 census shows John P. Chapman, 65, born in Alabama, father born in N.C and mother S.C. In 1859 Solomon and Mary Chapman homesteaded about three miles north east of Oden with their sons including John Pinckney b. 1844 who married Nancy Emailine Hickey and Thomas Newton and others. Mary died in 1885, aged 77, and is buried at Oak Hill beside her husband Solomon who died May 14th 1866. There was log cabin built at Oak Hill in 1874 on Dale Evans land and John Chapman later bought this and moved it to his farm for a barn. Contact Charles Chapman if you have any additional information on the Chapman, Kelly and Hickey families.
References:
Montgomery County News Dec 28 1972. Article by Willis Holt.
Federal Census for Montgomery County, Arkansas.
Montgomery County: Our Heritage published by the Montgomery County Historical Society 1986.
Paul Whitehouse & Diane Singleton local residents of Oden, Montgomery County, Arkansas.
Headstone information transcribed by myself March 1998 from the cemetery.
waybackIf anyone has any information on Oak Hill Cemetery please contact me so we can share the data with the genealogical community. Comments and corrections welcome. Montgomery County ArkansasGenWeb project.
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