PALESTINE CEMETERY
Pulaski Co AR

This cemetery listing is intended as an update to that done by Mr. Tim Anderson in 1968 
for the'Arkansas Historical Quarterly'. Since he visited, the cemetery has had considerable 
sprucing up, which of course makes it much easier to locate and read stones.  Some of the 
stones Mr. Anderson located can no longer be found.  A few of the markers were mis-read, and
the entry is corrected here.

The cemetery is located in Pulaski County on the east side of Clinton Rd. just south of 
where Blue Hill Rd. intersects with it.  A rough legal description would put it in the 
southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 19, township 3 north, range 12 west.

The cemetery was at one time attached to a church.  There is no building there now, nor are 
there any vestiges of one.  The 'Arkansas Methodist' of 19 Jun 1947 states that "The annual 
conference of 1872 assigned Rev. R.L. Kirkman, a local minister, as pastor of the Bartlett 
mission in the Little Rock District of the Little Rock Conference.  The Rev. A.R. Winfield 
was the Presiding Elder.  This mission was composed of these churches: Warners Chapel, 
Belchers Chapel, Pine Grove, Palestine, New Prospect, New Church, Mt. Zion, Pleasant Grove, 
and Frenchman's Mountain (Cato).
In 1874 Mt. Carmel and Argenta were added and in 1875 Bethel and Concord were added."

According to R.T. McDaniel (the son), Rev. R.L. Kirkman was his Father's uncle and is buried 
under 	a cairn in the Palestine Cemetery.

R.T. McDaniel (the son) remembers playing in the old, abandoned church building when he was 
a boy.  He remembers the church being on the west side of the 'Old Wagon Road'. about where 
the Mercer family plot now lies.  Jesse Mercer recalls that her mother-in-law, Josie Mercer, 
showed her the original church site as being just to the east of the McDaniel family plot, 
about where the Winningham babies are buried.  They both could be right; the building could 
have been moved.

The 'Old Wagon Road' is depicted on an 1860 area map, but by 1906 had been replaced by the 
Clinton Road.  Traveling from the north, the original road cut through the church property 
in a NNW -SSE direction, crossed the creek, then turned due east about 30 yards north of 
what is now James Rd.
According to the map, it ran along the north side of the James Cemetery, whereas James Rd. 
runs along the south side.  Clinton Road runs through the church property in a NNE -SSW 
direction.

Part of the land for the church and cemetery was donated in 1871 by Mursena Gillium.  This 
is the part that lies in section 24.  The land was deeded to the trustees of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South: John Q. Rice, John Edmonson, Thomas Hicks, D.D. Greenwood and 
Conrad R. Folson.
Witnessing were: J.D. Martin, J.W/ Allen, and Justice of the Peace Edwin Stokes.

The part of the cemetery that lies in section 19 was owned by a Russell W. Benedict, who 
received the patent for the land from the U.S. Government, Zachary Taylor, President.  The 
land was in Benedict's name from 1847 until 1878.

The earliest grave that can be identified is dated 1865.  There are at least 55 graves with 
commercial stone markers.  There are at least another 100 graves that are either not marked 
or are marked by field stones.  Some of what appear to be family plots are marked with 
dry-stacked low stone fences.

As of this date, 6 October, 2001. the following graves located by Tim Anderson could not be 
found:
M.A. LESLIE; REBA TURNER; PRUDY WILSON

The marked inscribed 'Confederate Soldier', seen by Jesse Mercer and others as late as the 
early 1960's, also can not be found.
--- Frederick N. Scott, Chm., Palestine Cemetery Assn.

PALESTINE CEMETERY LIST

Last Name	First Name	Born		Died	        Comments
BUMGARDNER	Rose Marie	Jul 11 1956	Nov 05 1997	nee Montgomery
BUSBY		Aldridge	       1860	       1947 TA
BUSBY		Margaret J.    (Aug 14)1873    (Dec 11)1957 TA	Margaret Rice Busby
EDMONSON	Sidney P.			Aug 06 1880	aged 76y
EDMONSON	Lucia/Lucin? W.			Apr    1873	aged 56y
EDMONSON	William F.	Dec 12 1864	Mar 11 1865 TA	s/o MB & SS (TA had JB)
FARRER		Thomas Jr. (Tommy)
FIELDS		Shirley Darlene	Oct 31 1935	Jan 16 1973   	1st marr: Paul Montgomery;
		(Correction: b Oct 30 1935) 			2nd: Scotty Saeger;
								3rd: Bill Crosswhite
								"In memory of her five 
								daughters & family"
FRANKS		Levi S.				Nov 17 1917	"Grandfather"
FRANKS		Rena M.				Jul 15 1925	"Grandmother"
FREEMAN		Monroe Jr.	Jun 06 1927	Feb 14 1935 TA	s/o Monroe M & Irene Jones  
								Freeman
FREEMAN		Irene Jones	Feb 25 1903	Apr 05 1984	w/o Monroe M Freeman
FREEMAN		Monroe M.	Nov 22 1901	Sep 02 1965 TA	h/o Irene Jones Freeman
FYE		Daniel W.	Jul 13 1919	Sep 07 1989	MSG US ARMY WWII KOREA
GAY		Jane B.		Nov 25 1897	May 12 1968 TA
GEYER		James	       [Sep 15 1931]	Dec 15 1993	62y
GEYER		Mae	       [Jan 16 1908]	Jan 18 2001	92y
HARRELL		David A.	Aug 02 1957	Apr 19 2000	PVT US ARMY VIETNAM
HARRELL		Janet		Aug 25 1929	Jan 29 1985	"Love lives on"
JOBE		Myra M.		Apr 24 1924	Sep 10 2000	nee Aldridge
JOBE		Robert L. (Red)	Dec 02 1916	Dec 04 1984
JONES		William		May 11 1864	Aug 07 1939 TA	"Father"
JONES		Nellie		Jan 02 1864	Jun 25 1927 TA	"Mother"
JOYCE	  Augusta McDaniel Mrs. Jan 20 1878	Sep 23 1958 TA	Field stone w/'Gus' carved
								onto it
KELLEY		L.D.		Jan 15 1850	Apr 05 1883 TA	
KELLEY		Vernon Travis	Feb 19 1927	Jan 05 2000
KELLEY		Ella Mae	Sep 27 1925	Aug 23 1995	"Forever in our hearts"
KIRKMAN		Robert L.					Cairn
KUSKE		Elmer Frank	Jan 19 1919	Feb 13 1982
KUSKE		Robert John	Nov 04 1917	Apr 26 1975
KUSKE		Violet May	Mar 25 1922	Mar 28 1993 	w/o Robert John marr:15 Jan 
								1948 
LANDRUM		Mary A.		Jun 30 1830	Nov 18 1871	w/o J.D. Landrum
LESLIE		M.A.		       1868	       1942 TA	(Can't find)
MCDANIEL	Tony Joe	May 29 1948	Jan 28 1967 TA	'Dying is but going home'
MCDANIEL	Abbie Jewel	       1888	       1954 TA	
MCDANIEL	R.T.		       1884	       1942 TA	
MCDANIEL	Thelma Mattie	       1921	       1940 TA	
MERCER		Sarah		Aug 22 1901	Jun 17 1973
MERCER		Josie M.	Dec 04 1900	May 05 1984
MERCER		Charlie		Aug 22 1895	Feb 29 1988	PVT US ARMY WWII
MERCER		Bettie Jo      [Nov 22 1928]	Dec 23 1997	69y 1m 1d
MERCER		Herschel J.	Nov 30 1927	Jan 14 1989	MM2 US NAVY WWII
MERCER		Johnny Ray	Jul 26 1950	Jul 29 1973		PVT USMC VIETNAM
MERCER		Elizabeth	Jan 21 1824	Sep 24 1910 TA 	2 stones "Kind friend stop
								and think as you pass by..."
MERCER		Rachael						Buried next to Elizabeth
								Sister-in-law
RAY		John E.		       1885	       1961 TA	12 Oct 1890?
RAY		Pearl F.	       1895	       1972
RAY		J. Edgar			Jul 16 1917
RAY		Henry Alvin	Jul 31 1919	Apr 18 1974	TEC4 US ARMY WWII
RAY		Norma Aleta	Mar 27 1926
SMITH		Sarah P(arline)	Jan 03 1888	Mar 03 1967 TA	nee Freeman; 1st marr: Jeff
								Green Fields
STOKES		Edwin		Apr 30 1824	May 07 1881  	Mason/JP "Not dead but gone 
								before"
TAYLOR		Rickey Wayne			Feb 04 1971	4y 10m 15d
TURNER		Reba		Mar 05 19__	Mar 31 19__ TA 	(Can't find)
WARGO		Michael Allen	Oct 01 1975	Jun 18 1998
WATSON		Audie	       [Aug 10]1892    [Mar]__ 1977
WILCOX		Ian P.		Aug 29 1970	Nov 29 1971
WILSON		Prudy		Nov 25 1853	Nov 06 1865 TA 	(can't find) d/o H.B. & L.E.
WINNINGHAM	Richard A.	Jul 22 1937	Feb 02 1939	s/o A.E. & Flora L.
WINNINGHAM	Wilma G.	Dec 15 1938	Jun 23 1939	d/o A.E. & Flora L.