Along with the other information connected with the history of the various communities of the county has been mentioned the names of several of the leading educators of Randolph County. But due to the important part played by these people in the pioneer days, we feel that a more detailed article should be included concerning those Who first dispensed the "three R's" within the present confines of our county.

Just who the first teacher was is not definitely known. Caleb Lindsey, who lived in the old Fourche de Thomas community before 1820, is reputed to have taught the first school in the state, in a cave near the present site of Ravenden Springs. If this story is accepted, this would make him our county's first educator.

There was very little educational activity in this section before the Civil War. Scattered communities had a few weeks of "subscription" school each year. This school was usually taught by the neighboring preacher.

B. J. Wiley, the first clerk of the county and the third county judge, is said to have been a teacher during the early thirties. He visited the established communities and agreed to teach for a price, which was usually paid in products of the farm and furs. Part of the price was the charge made by the family who boarded Mr. Wiley while he was living in the community. This was true of most of the first teachers.

Another early teacher was C. C. Elder, who was clerk of the county during the wartime sixties. Rev. Larkin Johnston was also a teacher during this period. He was the first tax assessor of the county, serving from 1862 to 1868. There were several more teachers in the county by this time and the author regrets that we do not have a more complete list.

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During the period from the close of the War Between the States and 1880 conditions improved wonderfully in education. School districts were being laid out, houses built, and a general desire to have their children. secure at least an elementary education was abroad in the land.

Most of the first houses built were to be used both as a school and "meeting house." This kind of building served the communities many years, and even unto this day many of the rural schoolhouses are used in this manner. Usually some "well fixed" man in the community would build a house and give it to the community. One such building was the old Allen schoolhouse which was built near Supply in Little Black township by Eld. Zera Allen. Desiring that the folks have a place to attend church and a place for the children to go to school, Eld. Allen, who was a Church of Christ minister, built this house and then donated it to the old District Number Three.

The old New Hope church and school, located on Mud creek, was another early school and church. The late Thomas D. Mock once told the author of teaching here in 1874. The house was an old one at that time.

Dr. Byrd built the first schoolhouse at Warm Springs. C. C. Elder, referred to above, was one of the first teachers here, followed by Mrs. Surridge and others.

At this place also taught Prof. and Mrs. Tilford and Prof. and Mrs. Hogan, possibly the best known teachers which have ever lived in Randolph County. Many citizens, past middle age, owe their education to these two couples who were in their prime from 1880 to around 1906.

Eli Abbott, early resident of Maynard, although uneducated himself, saw the need for a school of higher learning. To secure this, he built the school which was known as "Abbott's Institute." For many years it was attended by young folks from a wide radius. Some of the first teachers here are still living.

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It would be an interesting list indeed if it were possible to produce one which listed all the teachers of the county for the first fifty years of its existence. This is impossible. The meager list named above covers about all the known ones for this period. The period from 1860 until 1910 produced many fine educators for Randolph County. The list is too long to name all, but below we have a partial list of these. If there are those whose names should have been listed are not found herein, we wish to assure the reader that they were not intentionally omitted.

Here are the names of about forty of those which we can think of who belong to this list: W. T. Bispham, Prof. and Mrs. Tilford, Prof. Hogan and Mrs. Hogan, W. T. Stubblefield, S. A. Eaton, S. L. Johnston, William Henry Johnston, C. James Dalton, Ben F. Spikes, L. D. Hum, Mrs. Surridge, J. L. Williford, W. E. Hibbard, J. T. Lomax, J. H. Skaggs, Martha Redwine Johnston, J. A. Ryburn, Nannie Wisner, C. E. Witt, Lula Witt, Tom W. Campbell, James Campbell, Kate Skinner, Henry Ator, H. M. Bishop, C. D. Bishop, J. Q. Pond, J. s. Anderson, Lucy Hill, Chas. H. Carter, John L. Fry, J. A. Galbraith, Sol M. White, Katie Jones White, Kate Hogan, James Wheat, Mrs. Lilly Roberts, Anna Jones, and Tell Thompson.

This does not take into consideration the long list of later teachers who have spent long years in the job of educating our boys and girls.

In this list we would find the names of Edgar Hulen, Birdie Hulen, John Hogan, Eugene Thompson, R. J. M. Wyatt, Hutch Phipps, Alma and Moina Spikes, Bertha Mock, Rufus A. Mock, Charles A. Dixon, Jess Redwine, Zadie L. Smith, Gertie Mock, Ed. Buxton, Mara and Myrtle Stubblefield, Minerva Simington, Myrt Bennett, Lucy Thomas, Vir- ginia Henderson, Jeff Lawhon, Lawrence Stubblefield, Rufe Baker, Lindsey Miller, Dora King Spikes, Elva Magruder, Mayme Thomas and countless others who have taught in the schools of Randolph County during recent years.

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Uncle Bert Grissom built a schoolhouse for the children in the community of western Siloam and eastern Warm Springs township about the close of the Civil War.

Other old schoolhouses of the period before the Civil War and the period just following, before the county was cut up into districts, were at Old Reyno, one near Yadkin, one just west of Birdell, one on Wells creek, and one in the vicinity of the Mcllroy crossing on Elevenpoint River. There were others of which we do not know the location.

Of the educators who have lived in Randolph County, one of the best known was Rufus A. Mock, who was active in the educational field of the county from around 1910 until his death in 1934. For several years he was a teacher in different schools of the county, but later became the first county school superintendent. It was in this capacity that he did his most valuable service.

During this service he advocated consolidation, improvement of school buildings, bus transportation, school fairs, etc. In some of these he was "ahead of the times." He saw farther down the years than many. For this he met opposition and criticism. The system was made a political issue and the schools possibly suffered from the effects for a number of years.

However, as time passed the things advocated by Rufus Mock have been adopted and the wisdom of his ideas has been proven.

In justice to Rufus A. Mock, it must be said that if he were living today he would see most of the changes he advocated in effect, and many who strongly opposed his recommendations well pleased with the change.

There are seventy-one school districts in the county at the present time. The number of pupils of school age in the districts run from less than ten to a few over seven hundred in the Pocahontas district. Educational conditions in the

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county are gradually improving. But the good done by the early teacher must not be discounted. They built the foundation upon which we stand today, and did so under a lot more unfavorable conditions than we can realize. All honor to their memory!

RANDOLPH COUNTY'S ONLY GOVERNOR

Thomas Stephenson Drew

Thomas Stephenson Drew, the fourth Governor of the state of Arkansas, was a resident of Randolph County. He is the only governor the county has had. He was born near Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee, August 25, 1802. He was the son of Newton Drew who came to Tennessee from Southampton County, Virginia, in 1797.

Governor Drew first settled in Arkansas in Clark County in 1821. Here he served one term as county clerk, but did not ask-for a secon d term. This was in 1823 to 1825.

After leaving the office of clerk of Clark County he embarked upon the business of an itinerant peddler. While doing this he made trips all over Arkansas Territory. While on one of these trips, which he made on horseback, he visited Pocahontas, which was then a small trading post and owned by Ransom Sutherland Bettis. Here he met Bettis' daughter, Cinderella, and they were married. The Bettis family was one of the first families of Randolph County, coming here from North Carolina.

After Thomas Drew married Cinderella Bettis her father gave her as her dowry eight hundred acres of land in Cherokee Bay. Here he and his bride moved and made their home for several years. He was elected to the office of county judge of Lawrence County, and served from 1832 to 1835, while residing at his plantation home, which was on the site of the present town of Biggers. The county seat of Lawrence County was at Old Jackson at that time.

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Pictured: Thomas Stephenson Drew (See Photographs)

The Territorial Legislature of 1835 cut off Randolph County from Lawrence County in October of that year. In 1836 a Constitutional Convention was called to meet in Little Rock, in January, to draw up a state constitution. Thomas S. Drew and Henry Slavens, both of Cherokee Bay in Randolph County, were chosen as two of the delegates from Lawrence and Randolph counties. Thus Thomas Drew helped write our first state constitution.

After this Drew lived the life of a planter on his farm and was not identified with public life until 1844 when the state

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Democratic Convention nominated him for Governor. He was elected by a large majority over the Whig candidate. He served this term, which was for four years at that time, and did not announce for a second term. Nevertheless, he was elected for a second term without opposition in the state. A few days after the election, On November 10, 1848, Drew surprised his friends and constituents by announcing that he would not serve a second term.

While still in office, he appeared within the Senate chamber and read a letter announcing that he was resigning the office. The letter, in part, is as follows: "The overwhelming desire of friends, who believed they could do much, and no doubt intended to move in the matter, pledged me that every exertion would be made to raise my salary before the second term began, to a point sufficient at least to pay my expenses with my family at the seat of government, which the constitution of the state makes it imperative that the Executive shall reside. The failure to do this, or any attempt by those who had previously manifested so much interest in regard to this subject, placed me at once where I found that the time had elapsed in which it was possible to effect anything of the kind for my relief, under the prohibitions of the Constitution. The ceremonies of the inauguration were but just over when the determination was taken to resign, which I now do so, from the office of Governor of the State of Arkansas." So thus, only a few days over a month of his second term gone, Thomas Drew quit the office of Governor of Arkansas because the salary at that time was insufficient to "at least pay the expenses of the family" of the Chief Executive of the state.

Richard C. Byrd became acting Governor.

Being governor was not all the noteworthy things which Thomas S. Drew did during his lifetime. Besides being also county clerk of Clark County, county judge of Lawrence County and a member of the 1856 constitutional Convention,

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Pictured: Monument at grave of Governor Drew in Masonic Cemetery in Pocahontas. (See Photographs)

he also has the distinction of being one of the founders of the city of Pocahontas. He and his father-in-law, Bettis, owned the land where the town is now located. As is recorded in another chapter of this book, Drew donated several parcels of land to the town. He also appeared in court at the 1837 term and acknowledged the execution of a bond to the county treasurer in the amount of $3,000.00, which was a donation toward the building of a courthouse for Randolph County, "provided the building was located in Pocahontas." Bettis did likewise in the amount of one thousand dollars. March

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17, 1841, Drew recorded in the deed record of Randolph County his "Drew's Addition" to the town of Pocahontas.

Just when the Drew family left the plantation home in Cherokee Bay is not known. It is supposed that they moved away when he was elected Governor. It appears that during the years that he was in Little Rock that he suffered severe financial losses. The records show that Drew and his wife "deeded" considerable real estate and several slaves to his mother-in-law, Mary Bettis, on June 1, 1850, "For money borrowed April 1, 1846, in the amount of $4,100.00." Mrs. Bettis lived in Desha County, Arkansas, at that time. Ransom S. Bettis died about 1841 or early 1842. Drew was appointed as his administrator April 13, 1842.

Mrs. Drew's mother died at Lake Providence, Louisiana, June 23, 1852. Mrs. Drew inherited considerable property from her mother at that time. But it seems that the family had become so deeply in debt that they never recovered from the effects.

On October 23, 1849, a large assembly of men from many states of the Union met at Memphis for the first meeting of the proposed Memphis Railroad. This was a proposed railroad from San Diego, California, on the Pacific coast to end at Memphis. Thomas S. Drew was the representative from Arkansas, being one of the vice-presidents elected at the convention. Others from Arkansas were in attendance.

April 7, 1853, Thomas S. Drew was appointed by the President of the United States to the office of superintendent of Indian affairs for the Southern Division, with an office at Van Buren. He was not an applicant for the place. No record can be found where he ever took over the office. It is doubtful that he did, since the local records show various activities of his in Randolph County all along during this period.

In the election of 1858, Drew was a candidate for Congress from the Second Congressional District on the Inde

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pendent ticket. Albert Rust was the Democratic candidate. Rust won the election by a large majority. Just why Drew ran as an Independent is not known. It is possible that he had lost his popularity and failed to be chosen as the regular democratic candidate and ran as an Independent, hoping to gain his former support.

One noteworthy act of Governor Drew while in that office was his proclamation which set aside Thursday, December 9, 1847, as a day of Thanksgiving. This was the first Thanksgiving ever observed in Arkansas. Although the day had been observed in New England for many years, it had not been generally observed in the South prior to this time.

After 1858 Drew seems to have ceased to take a very active part in public affairs. His name is mentioned locally during this period, mostly by deed records, where he and his wife disposed of some of their holdings. He was employed in the general store of Green R. Jones in Pocahontas as bookkeeper at a salary of $200 per month in 1866. Soon after this he resigned and opened an office as attorney. He is said to have had a very good legal mind. A portion of this salary as bookkeeper was credited to Drew's account at the Jones store. He seems to have been badly in debt at this time. When William H. Jarrett came to Pocahontas from Columbia in 1866, he also got a job in .Jones' store. After Drew resigned, Jones and Drew made an agreement that Jarrett was to board with the Drew family for a price of twenty-five dollars per month, this amount to be taken off Jarrett's salary and applied on Drew's account at the store. Jarrett remained with the family four years.

Thomas S. Drew and Cinderella Bettis Drew had five children living at that time. Their names were Joe, .James and Ransom, boys, and Emma and Sadie, the girls. The girls both married Federal officers, although the family was sympathetic toward the cause of the Confederacy. Evidently this did not meet the approval of the neighbors who were bitter

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toward the North. A letter written at the time of the marriage of Emma to the northern army officer from some young lady residing in Pocahontas to a friend elsewhere stated: "You asked about Emma Drew's marriage to the Yankee; well, that is about all you could expect of her," was the belittling reply. We understand that this letter is in the possession of Mrs. H. M. Jacoway of Little Rock at this time.

Both the Drew girls were musicians.

Nothing is known of the Drew family after 1870. Some writers have stated that they moved to Texas "soon after the close of the war." This is incorrect, as shown above. It is likely that they did remove to that state about 1871 or 1872. Thomas Drew died there at Lipan, Hood County, Texas, in 1879. Here his remains lay in an unmarked grave until 1923, when a number of interested Randolph County citizens asked W. A. Jackson, who was state senator from this district at that time, to ask the Legislature to appropriate one thousand dollars to be used to move the remains of Governor Drew from Texas for re-interment in the Masonic cemetery in Pocahontas.

This was done and a committee composed of Senator Jackson, R. N. Hamil and Judge J. W. Meeks was appointed to go to Texas for this purpose. The ashes of Arkansas' third governor was deposited with fitting ceremonies in the cemetery named above on Decoration day, May 30, 1923. One of the largest crowds ever assembled in Pocahontas up to that time attended the ceremony.

Thus comes to a close the story of Randolph County's only citizen who up to the present has occupied the office of Governor of Arkansas.

An appropriate marble shaft stands on the spot of the last resting place of this noted man, who was not only a governor of a great state, but one of the first citizens of Cherokee Bay, one of the first county officials of Lawrence

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and Clark counties, one of the founders of the city of Pocahontas, and the only man who ever resigned as governor of the state because the salary was too low to support his family.

Quoting the words of the late William Jarrett who, as stated above, lived in the Drew home four years, "Thomas Drew was small in stature, had a kindly, friendly smile, and was one of the gentlest, most patient men you ever saw."

POCAHONTAS' THREE COURTHOUSES

The first courthouse which was built in what is now Randolph County was, as is well known, at Davidsonville. Here the seat of justice remained until 1829, when it was moved to Jackson.

At Jackson was the site of the second courthouse in Randolph County. Both these were courthouses to serve old Lawrence County, of which Randolph was a part. In 1835, when Randolph County was cut off from Lawrence, the county seat of Lawrence County was moved to Smithville. This left Randolph without a county seat. Just why Jackson was not Considered as the county seat of the new county is not known.

It can be said of the pioneer who chose the sites for the early towns that his judgment was usually good when it came to picking out places for the county seat. While Lawrence County was not so fortunate, Randolph has the distinction of having had only one county seat, although it possesses the site of three.

As is known, the site of Pocahontas was known as Bettis Bluff at the time Randolph County was formed. Ransom S. Bettis, the father-in-law of Thomas S. Drew, lived on the site and there was a small trading center here.

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As is related in the Fourche de Thomas article, the decision as to what place would be the county seat was left to a vote of the people.

Old Columbia, or Fourche de Thomas, was a strong contender for the place, and some say that if it had not been for the fact that Pocahontas was located on a navigable stream, which was a very important advantage at that time, Columbia would have won.

But the fact is, the chief reason Pocahontas won in the election was due to the fact that Bettis and Drew owned the site of the town of Pocahontas and when the election was advertised they also advertised a big free barbecue and picnic to be held at Pocahontas on that date, and a majority of the voters of the county attended. Eats were plentiful and liquor flowed freely. After partaking of the eats and drinking the free liquor of the sponsors, the crowd, so we are told, felt much invigorated and also kindly toward Drew and Bettis and were easily persuaded to vote for Pocahontas.

Anyway, Pocahontas won, and the county seat has remained here ever since. The first major job for the new county and town was the building of a courthouse, the story of which follows. In fact the following account gives you tile story of the building of the three courthouses which the county has had since the county was formed in 1835.

The first courthouse was built between 1837 and 1839. It was a two-story building forty feet square. Thomas O. Marr was the contractor and he received twenty-four hundred dollars for the job. Daniel Lieb, Thomas Holderby, .John R. Vance, James Rowland and Ransom Bettis were securities to the contract which Mart gave to the building committee which was appointed to supervise the building. This contract was signed April 21, 1838. A. W. McKinney and E. D. Pitman were witnesses to the deal. Marr was to be paid eight hundred dollars within six months, "or sooner if collected,"

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Pictured: Randolph County's Second Courthouse and Randolph County's Present Courthouse (See Photographs)

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and sixteen hundred dollars within twelve months, "or sooner if collected."

Daniel Lieb, Joseph Spikes, Fielding Stubblefield and John R. Vance were appointed as commissioners "to superintend buildings, receive donations, etc."

July 27, 1837, Thomas S. Drew donated to the commissioners the following lands in the town of Pocahontas, to be used by said commissioners for the purpose of building a courthouse and other public buildings:

"All of blocks 18, 19, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 36, 37, 88, 39, 42, 43, and the east part of lot one in blocks 44, and 45, lot 6 in block 45. Lots 35 and 36 in block 34, and part of lots 3 and 4 in block 17. North part of lot 4 in block 15, and all of block 20 and lot 1 in block 21 and lot 1 in block 22. Lot no. 4 in block 34. Lot 2 in block 43, together with the triangular fractions in the northwest and northeast corners of the west half of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 27, township 19, north range, one east, and the north fractional part of the public square which is marked block number 32. Also lot no. 32 in block 44, all lying east of Broadway street in the town of Pocahontas."

The deed to the commissioners was signed by Thomas S. Drew and his wife, Cinderella Drew, and witnessed by Casper Schmick, who was a justice of the peace, and Ransom S. Bettis, Drew's father-in-law.

This property was transferred to James S. Conway, who was Governor of Arkansas at that time, by the commissioners, to become public owned property. The courthouse built on this land stood until about 1870, when it collapsed due to structural weakness. It had become unsafe for occupancy, and as early as 1868 a new courthouse had been talked about.

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THE SECOND COURTHOUSE

The second courthouse in Pocahontas is the building in the public square and which is now known ad the “old courthouse”. It was used during the recent war as an entertainment center for the boys in service located at the local airbase. It now houses the county library, the city officials’ office and the upstairs is still used for entertainment purposes.

This building was completed early in 1875. After the first old courthouse was declared unsafe for occupancy, quarters were rented for use as a courthouse. On April 15, 1872, the court ordered the clerk’s office to be moved to the lower floor of the county jail. Also, the lower part of the jail was to be used as a place to hold county and probate court “until further notice.” June 8, 1874, M. D. Baber, as commissioner of public buildings, rented the store building of J.P. Black & Co. for use as a courthouse. The building is described as “containing five rooms, a shed and cistern attached, also containing a stove and pipe.” The rent was fifty dollars per month, to be paid in county warrants, or “if paid in greenback, fifty cents on the dollar would be accepted as full payment.” This contract was to run until April, 1875. Just when the old house was abandoned as a courthouse is not known, but on October 18, 1865, the St. Charles Hotel was rented as a courthouse. From this it appears that the offices were moved around considerable between the time the old house was condemned and the new one was built. the Black store is supposed to have been located about where the present Pocahontas postoffice building stands.

The first steps taken toward building the second courthouse appears to have been on May 19, 1869, when Thomas L. Martin, who was then commissioner of public buildings, was ordered by the court to advertise for bids for the construction of the building. For some reason, no contract was awarded to anyone until April 15, 1872, when the commissioner at that time, one Josiah Fisher, awarded the contract

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for the construction of a courthouse to John A. McKay of Helena. The contract price was $39,865.00, to be paid in payments as the construction progressed, the work to be completed by April l, 1873. McKay was to accept the old building as a $1,000 payment.

The contractor was unsatisfactory. A lot of delay and disagreements came about. The commissioner paid McKay more money than he was supposed to have done and yet the building was far from being finished when the expiration date came, April 1, 1873. Three men were appointed as building supervisors, and they in turn appointed a new commissioner in the place of Josiah Fisher. The supervisors were .John P. Black, Green R. Jones and Jacob Hufstedler. They appointed Thomas Simington as commissioner and ordered him to advertise in the Randolph Republican newspaper for somebody to take the job of finishing the job which McKay had fallen down on. There seems to have been a compromise effected between the commissioners and McKay wherein he did go ahead and finish the building, although under an amended contract.

This did not work out very satisfactory, either, and after several disputes with McKay over the matter of settlement, in January, 1875, court proceedings were started to take the newly constructed building out of the hands of McKay, who had forbid the county to take possession until his claims had been paid in full. Evidently the county won out in the suit, as we find that on April 7, 1875, the county and circuit clerk (There was only one clerk's office at that time) had been ordered by the county judge to oversee the moving of all offices into the new building.

On April the nineteenth of the same year County Judge Isham Russell and the various justices of the peace of the county met: and appropriated funds to be used in purchasing furniture and fixtures for the new courthouse.

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In June after this the law firm of Baber and Henderson was employed by the county to go to Helena and represent the county in a suit in court in which McKay was still attempting to collect on his claims. The matter was settled by a compromise, but it appears that neither the county nor the contractor was satisfied with the deal. Such is the story of the building of the second courthouse of Randolph County, which stands today in the center of the "square," just north of the present courthouse.

THE THIRD COURTHOUSE

After sixty years of service to the county the building described above was thought by many to be out of date and no longer satisfactory as a courthouse. Those favoring the erection of a new building arranged for an election to be held in the county to determine whether the majority of taxpayers wanted a new building. The election was held and a majority was in favor of the move. Joe S. Decker, the county judge at that time--1940--appointed a group of men to make up an advisory board, which would assist him in the preliminaries of getting the project under way. The board was made up of the following: J. B. Weaver, Oscar Prince, Lantie Martin, A. J. Cooper, R. E. Sallee, George Promberger, St., F. W. Cox and Harry Hite.

The contract for the construction of the new building was awarded to E. V. Bird Construction Co.

Judge Decker appointed five former county judges as building commissioners. They were Ben A. Brown, G. W. Million, Joe Snodgrass, Dee Mock and C. H. Brooks. Eugene John Stern was the architect.

The contract price for the erection of the courthouse was $68,763.50. The contract price for the erection of the cobblestone jail was awarded to Henry Dust, of Pocahontas, for the sum of $2,547.00.

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Ninety-two thousand dollars worth of bonds were sold to finance the whole project. A three-story fireproof building was erected which is a credit to the county. This building is one of the finest and most substantial county courthouses in the state. Such is the condensed history of the building of Randolph County's three courthouses.

In the one hundred and a few years of this county's existence, since the first settler came, court has been held at five different places in the county.

LIFE IN RANDOLPH COUNTY PRIOR TO THE CIVIL WAR

Living conditions and customs among the people who first came here and those who lived here during the first three quarters of a century remained about the same. Modern conveniences and the mode of living was about the same for the family who saw the clouds of the War of Secession gather and the family which first stopped besides the old Southwest Trail. Up until this time no railroad had reached our section. No telephone or telegraph line has come to us, in fact the telephone was as yet unknown. Our only connection with the outside world was by contact with the small stream of immigrants who came trickling into our county from the east and by the few steamboats which braved the snags and sandbars of our uncharted rivers. As we know, the first mail came overland by horseback rider from St. Louis. The first mail route ran the old Military road from St. Louis via. St. Genevieve, Pitman, Davidsonville and Arkansas Post to Monroe, Louisiana, once a month. High water, bad roads, bad weather, etc., made the trips hazardous and uncertain. We of today who become impatient if the mail happens to be thirty minutes late cannot grasp the contrasts along this line of one hundred years ago.

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Life in the home was a very simple procedure, yet carried with it long hours of arduous toil and handicaps. The first homes were usually one-room log cabins; sometimes a "lean-to" side room made of clapboards, provided an extra room used as a kitchen. A huge stone or "stick and dirt" chimney furnished the heat for both the comfort of the family and for cooking. Many of the first log homes were eighteen to twenty feet square and contained everything the family owned in the way of household furnishings. Usually the back of the room was occupied by two or three bedsteads, generally home-made. In the middle of the room or near the one window was the "stand-table" on which was found the lamp of whatever method of lighting that was used-- grease lamp, candles, or in later years the first kerosene burners. High upon the back or side wall were usually found huge enlarged pictures of grandfather, grandmother or some other older member of the family, in the years after the coming of the first photographs. Above the fireplace was the "mantleboard, upon which was located the clock and other necessary articles that lasted best out of the reach of the smaller children. Above this, or over the door, were placed two forks, whittled from a small tree, upon which was placed the trusty family rifle. On one side of the fireplace usually hung the "shot pouch and powder horn." On the other side father or grandfather usually had hung a few "hands" of choice large leaves of tobacco to "cure" for immediate use. Back under the bed or in a remote corner was found the family trunk, which held as its precious contents the entire family wardrobe, plus a few heirlooms, odd keepsakes, etc. In one corner, or sometimes along one wall as a permanent shelf, stood the dining table, upon which rested all the family's chinaware, silverware and cooking utensils that could not be hung upon pegs along the wall. At mealtime a temporary removal was effected, the table cleared and the meal was spread. The family sat around the table, usually upon a long bench. In front of the fireplace was a wide hearth made of a flat rock. "Live" coals of fire were drawn out on this

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and the food that was fried was placed in a "spider" or frying pan and cooked upon this fire. Boiled food was placed in a huge black iron kettle and hung on a "crane" which swung out above the fire, which was made of large sticks of wood with a huge backlog behind it. Bread was baked by placing it in a large cast iron skillet which had a protruding iron lid. A bed of coals was drawn out upon the hearth and the skillet placed on them and a big shovelful of them heaped upon the lid. Here, between these two pieces of ancient cast-iron, was cooked some of the sweetest "staff of life" that was ever eaten by man!

Back in that dim and distant clay the problem of courtship was a lot more complicated than it is in the present day of parlor, sport coupe and roadhouses. The bashful boy of that day had to face the whole family a greater part of the time he spent with his girl friend. They usually sat on the trunk or back on the side of the bed and "whispered sweet nothings" into each other's ears while the rest of the family sat in a circle around the open fireplace, if the occasion was during the winter.

The list of foods which provided sustenance for the pioneer and his family was small. All of it was grown on the farm upon which he resided except the wild game, etc., which came from the nearby forest. Bread was principally made of corn meal before the days of the roller mill which brought into popular use the bread made of wheat and some other small grains. The corn meal was "grated" during the early autumn before it became too hard. After this it was pounded into meal with a mortar and pestle--Indian style. Lots of fruit and vegetables were "dried" during the late summer, before the use of jars came into common use. Some vegetables and potatoes were stored in the cellar or "holed up." Much corn was utilized for food by being made into "lye hominy." The old saying of "living on hog and hominy" had its origin from the fact that it was often the case, especially during a hard winter, that the early settler's family did live on the

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generally plentiful supply of pork and corn from his crib as their main source of food. We hear a lot during depression years of the family "live at home" program. The pioneer practiced this to the fullest extent.

Today we go to the local store for all such things as soap, sugar, pepper, spices, etc. One hundred years and less ago folks couldn't do this. They had to "manage for them," or do without. It is true that they often did the latter; but their ability to find the things needed would be a task that we of the present day would probably fail in. Wild honey furnished our first families their first and chief source of sweetening. Soap was made by the ash-hopper method of distilling lye from wood ashes and combining this with meat scraps to produce the semi-liquid brown soap which elderly people (and a few of the present time) can remember as being the contents of a large unsightly barrel in the woodshed or smokehouse. The field of spices and pepper was obtained mostly by growing red pepper and onions in the garden. Horseradish, garlic and other like plants were sometimes included.

The clothing of the pioneer was home-made. Home-made "jeans," which was woven on the huge loom, was the principal source of men's clothing and a part of the women's. Lucky indeed was the lady who owned a "store-bought dress" from the East. Shoes were made at home and some local man was a hatter. Hose for both men and women were knitted by the womenfolk of the family from wool sheared from the sheep and spun into yarn on the old spinning wheel.

The above description of pioneer living depicts the first methods. With the coming of better means of communication and transportation conditions gradually changed. Pioneer living is a far cry from our modern ways, but the rugged old backswoodsman, possibly through necessity, proved his skill at meeting and solving many problems that we, his grandsons, would most likely fail to accomplish. Pioneer life moved steadily along, and when an emergency or tough times came along they rolled up their sleeves and tackled the job

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and did not wait for all edict from Washington as we do today.

Social life on the frontier was limited, yet colorful. The house-raisings, play parties, old-time square dances, husking and spinning bees, candy-breakings and box suppers were the chief sources of diversification and entertainment for both young and old. Horse races, picnics and barbecues, not to mention fish fries, charivaris, etc., were also a part of the social activities, especially during the summer months. All this flourished until the turn of the present century and is not entirely extinct even today in the rural sections.

Business and finance was carried on in a limited way. The medium of exchange was principally by barter and trade. Very little actual cash found its way into the pockets of Randolph countians during the first years of its existence. On the old records of the county can often be found recordings of trades wherein one man bought livestock, slaves or household goods, paying for same with a certain number of coonskins, oxen, a negro boy or so many bushels of corn. Occasionally a father would hire his son out to a neighbor "to work all dry days from April 1 to July 4" for "seventy-five bushels of corn, in addition to his board, work clothing and washing." The early school teachers and preachers were paid in "pork, feathers and homespun cloth."

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THE CIVIL WAR

As is true of the entire nation, especially the Southland, Randolph County played her part in the regrettable War Between the States. We who live at this time, when we look back through almost a century of time, are prone to think of this war inside our own nation, between our own folks, as a very unnecessary occurrence. In fact the same could be said of all wars. Yet there was a very distinct issue at stake. Time has mellowed the scene. Old hatreds and sectional differences have subsided to the stage where we, of the second and third generation, can never feel the sting which our grandfathers felt when the "Yankees" told them what they "must" do. Of course, as is generally known, the slavery question was the root of all the trouble. The North wanted to free the slaves; the South wanted to keep them. The South sought to pull away from the North, and by so doing "could handle their own affairs without Northern interference." The North, in order to preserve the union of states, would not agree to this. So here was the direct and immediate cause which started actual conflict. When the North told the South that "you cannot secede" the pride and independence which burned deep in the rugged old southerners blood just "couldn't take it"--to use present-day slang in stating this. While no doubt at this time it would be hard to find a person, even in the "deep South," that is not glad that the North won, yet we of the South are proud of the independent spirit and pride which our people displayed during this dark period of our nation's history.

It cannot be denied that both sides had a selfish motive in their stand on the slavery question. The southern slaveowners needed the negroes to help them in much the same manner that we need teams, tractors, etc., at this time to assist us. It was grave financial and economic loss to the South to part with this practice. On the other hand, the North did not need slave labor, since it had no plantations. and the negro at that time did not make a satisfactory indus

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trial worker. In order to sway public sentiment, the North made a moral issue of slavery. While we do know that slavery is morally wrong, as a Southerner, we do not believe we are prejudiced when we say that we do not believe this would have been considered any more in the North than in the South if the slave had been of equal advantage in that section.

It is not the desire of the author at this time to bring forth a discussion of the moral and economic reasons behind the Civil War, but only to briefly explain the setting of the stage which produced the tragic drama of civil strife which resulted in the greatest blight which has ever spread over our fair land.

After the break had spread beyond repair and the states of the South had begun to withdraw from the Union, Arkansas followed suit. The Secession Convention, which resulted in Arkansas joining the Confederacy, met in Little Rock, March 4, 1861. James W. Crenshaw was the delegate from Randolph County. The state actually withdrew from the Union May 6, 1861. On May 13 a Military Board was appointed at Little Rock for the purpose of organizing the state for actual combat service. The first action was to organize five regiments of men. This was quickly done. Ten thousand men were assembled and, according to the records, "they rendezvoused at Pocahontas as soon as they were ready to march." This step was taken as a safeguard from invasion from the north. Missouri as yet was undecided as to what stand she was to take and there were northern sympathizers within "three days" marching time of the northern borders of Arkansas, of sufficient strength to threaten the safety of this section, should they decide to make a bold strike, which they never did.

On August 29, 1861, General William J. Hardee landed at Pocahontas to take charge of the troops assembled here. The troops were stationed chiefly to the south and west of

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town. Excavations along the south banks of Mill creek in the vicinity of "Cypress Springs," just outside of the southwestern corner of the present city limits, can still be seen. Many men died while encamped here and are buried in the woods in that vicinity and in the old burying ground north of town.

The camp is known in some of the military records as "Camp Shaver," presumably named for Col. Robert G. Shaver who was stationed here for some time.

On October 7 Gen. Hardee was promoted to the rank of major general, by which time he had about completed the work of transferring the Arkansas troops and organizing an army, which was composed of the following regiments: Second Arkansas Confederate, under Col. Thomas C. Hindman. The first Arkansas Confederate regiment of infantry, under Col. James F. Fagan, had already departed for Virginia. The Third under Col. Albert Rust, the Fourth under Col. Evander McNair, tile Fifth under Col. David C. Cross, the Sixth under Col. Richard Lyon, the Seventh under Col. Robert G. Shaver, the Eighth under Col. William K. Patterson. There were other regiments and batallions of artillery too numerous to mention. Solorid Borland, former United States senator, was appointed by the Confederate government to supervise the job of assembling clothing and food for the troops in camp at Pocahontas, September 12, 1861. Different regiments were assembled here for removal to the points which they were needed most. General Earl VanDorn was also stationed at Pocahontas for some time. We do not have the dates of the movements in and out of the county during the four years of activity here. Governor Rector issued a statement in January of 1862 to the public in which he stated: "To all men, who by state law are subject to military duty, are hereby directed to report, on or before March 5," to General Van Dorn at Pocahontas.

According to one record in existence there were eight companies of men organized in Randolph County, of Ran-

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dolph County men. They were under the command of the following men: .Joseph Martin, Eli Hufstedler, Mahlon McNabb, T. J. Mellon, Albert Kelsey, William A. Black, Isaac Schmick and John Mitchell.

There was also a camp of soldiers at Pitman Ferry for several months. General Hardee was there awhile after moving from Pocahontas. His camp was across the river from Pitman just south of old "Buckskull," on the bank of Current River. Gen. Jeff Thompson and his men were in camp exactly on the line between what is now Clay and Randolph County, just south of the old Pitman ferry. On July 20, 1862, a real battle was fought here between the soldiers who had been ordered to move from Pocahontas to Greenville, Missouri, up the old Military road by way of Pitman. After this battle they are reputed to have drove the Federals away and

went on to Greenville, where they were ordered back on account of a threat of invading forces of Federals from the northwest. Here they again met in an engagement, November 25, 1863. A large portion of the troops which spent some time at Pitman and at Pocahontas finally were ordered to Bowling Green, Kentucky, going up by way of Bird's Point on the Mississippi, just south of Cairo, Illinois. They finally reached Bowling Green after a small battle at Bird's Point. A number of families in the county today have relatives who fell in the major battle at Bowling Green.

August 22, 1863, a band of Federals attacked the forces at Pocahontas, and in September, 1863, a band of men under Col. Reeves attacked a group of Federals under Col. Leeper, and several men were killed in the engagement in Cherokee Bay, on the old Herron farm. General Steel of the northern army occupied Pocahontas several months in 1862, after the recruiting camp here was abandoned. This was all the activity in the county except by "bushwhackers" or roving bands who sought to waylay the opposition and attack them by surprise. A band of this kind from each side met at the "Tom Pulliam Spring" sometime in 1862 and a skirmish

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ensued. This was about five miles northeast of Warm Springs, just over the line in Missouri.

A lot of damage was done by roving bands of bushwhackers who killed and stole in many sections of the country. Such a band of Federals killed Henry Wythe, the blind brother of Judge James Martin's wife, at their home at what is now known as Martin Springs, in Columbia township.

Sometime during the war a band of Federals surprised the congregation at Siloam church and captured a number of men during church. Rev. Larkin F. Johnston was preaching. William Swindle was wounded in the attack.

The Seventh Infantry, mentioned above, moved east of the Mississippi and participated in the bloody battle of Shiloh, one of the major battles of the entire war. It was afterwards known as the Bloody Seventh." Henry M. Stanley, noted African explorer, joined this regiment at Pocahontas.

The fifteenth Arkansas regiment, which was in the engagements at Pitman, Greenville and Bird's Point, was finally placed under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at Bowling Green, Kentucky.

There are many stories of other encounters with the "Yankees," its the natives called the northern soldiers in derision. The war years and the years immediately following the close were hard, bitter years for the people of the South. While there was quite a bit of activity in Randolph County during the war, we escaped the destruction of property which fell the lot of many places in the Southern States. Many of the fine young men of the county lost their lives in combat and several came home to live the balance of their lives as cripples, but, generally the close of hostilities found our section ready to take up the duties of providing for their families at the same place and in the same way as before the war, except for the "hard times" which was upon them.

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The writer remembers hearing our grandfather make the remark many times that he made a crop the first year after the close of the war "on grass and buttermilk." The men who came home from battle faced a hard immediate future.

Their livestock had been killed or stolen. Their buildings and fences in sad state of repair. No money. No credit in the country. Nowhere to go for help. It was really a time for application of the old adage to "root hog or die." When we see the thousands of today who look to Washington, D.C., for help every time they hit a little tough spot we often think about how our grandfathers and grandmothers handled a like problem. Grandmother once told us that the year the war closed her mother, who was a widow, had nothing in the way of food left when spring came except "a few bushels of bread corn" which she had kept hidden all winter from the marauding bands of soldiers, straggling groups from both sides. She relates that often their evening meal consisted of a piece of "plain" cornbread and "what wild onions we could find growing along the spring branch." But with all this, the southern people handed down to us a great lesson in industry, thrift and hope in the way they met and solved the hardships of that distant dark period of time just following the close of the Civil War.

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STREAMS OF RANDOLPH COUNTY

The rivers and creeks of a country have a great influence upon the early settlement. The streams which are large enough for boats to navigate are actually the first "roads" travelled in the settlement of a frontier country. Also the fertile lands along such streams afford much farming lands; but in this respect the smaller streams' bottomland is usually cleared first on account of the ease in getting it ready for cultivation. Another feature along this line are the springs along the creeks. The first settlers' source of drinking water came largely from springs which were located along the hillsides of the valleys.

The largest stream in Randolph County is Black River --named this because the first settlers found the water dark and sluggish. Black River flows down out of the hills of upper southeast Missouri, through Clay County, Arkansas, into this county. Among the towns along Black River Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Corning and Pocahontas in Arkansas are the most important. Lead miners under the leadership of the Frenchman Renault and others settled on upper Black River, some as early as 1725. Other early families, mostly French, who, not liking the swampy lands around New Madrid, moved west to the hills which were the headwater source of Black River. The French also made a settlement at what is now known as Peach Orchard in Clay County, on Black River. Pierre LeMieux called the place "Petit Baril," which is supposed to be Peach Orchard in French. Pocahontas is known to have been a French trading post in 1790, and some writers place the date back as far as 1760. Then comes the old towns on Black River of Davidsonville and Powhatan. From here the river flows south to unite with White River at Newport. Old Jacksonport was another old river town which died when Newport was born.

Next river in importance in Randolph County is Current River, named so by the first hunters because of the swiftness

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of its water. Current River finds its source high in the hills of central southern Missouri. Dent County, Missouri, divides its rainfall between Black, Current and Merrimac rivers. Black and Current carry their water far southward to White River, which finally empties into tile Mississippi only about sixty miles north of the Louisiana state line. The Merrimac carries its liquid load north to empty into the Father of Waters just south of the city limits of St. Louis Current River is noted far and wide for its fishing, especially the upper portion. Eminence, Van Buren, and Doniphan in Missouri, are the leading towns on this river.

Ill Randolph County, on Current River, is located the ancient river crossing at Pitman, first known as Hix's Ferry, which was opened soon after 1803 and later as Pitman's Ferry. The early Gaines, Perkins, Duckworth and other ferries were on Current River, as were Shoemaker, Sims and Johnstontown steamboat "landings." Current River empties into Black near Skaggs' old ferry, about six miles above Pocahontas.

Another river of the county is Elevenpoint, so named because its source is made up of "eleven different creeks." It runs down out of Oregon County, Missouri. Along the banks of Elevenpoint River settled some of the first settlers in northeast Arkansas. The Stubblefields, Mcllroys, Looneys, Wells, Whites, Bakers and others were here soon after the Louisiana Purchase. Elm Store, Dalton and Birdell are early towns along this stream. The old Carter Mill (now known as the Hufstedler Mill) was one of the first water mills in this section of the state. While the bottom along Elevenpoint is not wide, it is very fertile. Some of the best farm land in Arkansas is on this river. Elevenpoint River empties into Spring River only a short distance above the mouth of Spring River itself. Right here could almost be called tile "Garden of Eden" of Lawrence and Randolph counties. Here in this immediate vicinity was located the "House of Solomon Hewitt," and a short distance away "the new house of Rich-

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ard Murphy," where the two first terms of court were held for old Lawrence County in 1815.

Spring River flows along the western boundary of Randolph County. While it really is not in the county, the east side of its valley is. Originating from Mammoth Spring, the largest fresh water spring in the nation, this stream is one of the most beautiful mountain rivers in the state.

Along this stream settled many of the first settlers in this section. Mammoth Spring, Hardy, Williford, Ravenden and Imboden are the chief towns along this stream. The Wells, Sloan, Wyatt, Fortenberry, Taylor, Wayland and other early families first stopped in this valley.

Other smaller streams of the county are Janes Creek, Fourche du Mas and several other "creeks," such as Glaze Creek, Dry Creek (two of them), Camp, Tennessee, Mud, Wells and several others of lesser importance.

Janes Creek has as its source a number of small creeks which come into Arkansas southwest of Myrtle, Missouri, and flows south by way of Ravenden Springs to empty into Spring River. The "dream town" of Ravenden Springs, noted as a local health resort, is located near this creek. It was on this creek that John Janes settled in 1809. It was also on this creek that Caleb Lindsey is supposed to have taught the first school in tile state, in a cave.

(Author's note: The name Fourche du Mas is the way it appears on the early maps of this section.)

Fourche du Mas flows down out of Ripley County, Missouri, into Randolph County a short distance north of Middlebrook. From here it runs in a southeasterly direction by way of the old "Fourche de Thomas" or Columbia settlement where the Military road crosses, on down by Brockett, which in early days was known as Bollinger's Mill, to empty into Black River a short distance above Pocahontas. This stream is supposed to have been first visited by Frenchmen who gave

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it the name of Fourche de Maux, or de Mas. Later it was called Fourche de Thomas, or Thomas fork. It is so listed on the early maps, and the community around the Military crossing, which is now known as Jarrett, was first called Fourche de Thomas, and at one time had a postoffice by that name. For some reason the name reverted back to the French, and it has long been known as Fourche du Mas. Some of the first settlers of north Arkansas settled along this stream.

Dry Creek which flows into Elevenpoint below Oconee and Dry Creek which flows into Fourche du Mas near the ancient Eldridge ford in Siloam township are the two smaller streams of the same name in the county. Mud Creek, which flows down by the village of Warm Springs, is another noted creek. On this creek settled the Shavers, Mocks, Morris, Fletcher, Holt and other early families. On the old homestead of the late Thomas D. Mock the grandfather of Mr. Mock settled in 1815 and a postoffice with Matthias Mock as postmaster was established here in 1836 and called Mud Creek. Mud Creek flows into Fourche at the old Dock Ingram farm, now known as the Price place.

Glaze Creek has its head in the low hills between Middlebrook and Supply, near the Missouri-Arkansas state line, to state it roughly. It is a short stream which empties into Current River not far from the old Pitman ferry. Near this creek is located Glaze Creek Church of Christ, which is one of the oldest churches of this faith in northeast Arkansas. On this creek, which was known in the early records as "Glaze Kenon" creek, were located "improvements" and pre-emption claims as early as 1812. The villages of Supply, Minorca and Pitman are all located near this creek.

Wells creek got its name from the early Wells family who settled along its banks in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Dial's Creek in northwest Randolph County also got its name from an early family. Wells Creek is in the western part of the county.

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Camp Greek, Tennessee Creek and Tattle Creek all flow into Fourche from the west side and are located near the center of the county. Camp Creek got its name from the Camp family. Tennessee Creek got its name because so many of the early settlers along its bank came from that state. Just how Tattle Creek obtained its name is not known to the writer. Mansker Creek, which flows along the north city limits of Pocahontas, got its name from George Mansker who settled here about 1817. Mansker had a large family which later located mostly in tile Maynard and Little Black communities. Many of tile early families of the central part of the county intermarried in this family. Among these were the Mock, Ingram, Richardson, Rice, Lindsey and Fisher families.

There are many lesser important streams in the county, but practically all the early families settled along these streams before they moved into the larger river bottoms which were universally called "swamps" by these first settlers.

OUR NOTED SPRINGS IN RANDOLPH COUNTY

At Warm Springs and Ravenden Springs are located noted springs. While they are undeveloped, especially at Warm Springs, they have mineral content which makes them valuable as a health resort.

From 1870 to about 1905 many people in bad health, especially from the lowlands, spent several weeks each year vacationing at Warm Springs. At one time there was a fortyroom hotel on tile site of the springs and the town saw a boom which lasted several years. At Ravenden Springs is the spring which contains mineral properties which are reputed to be a big help in some forms of stomach trouble. This was supposed to have been discovered by a man's dream. More will be said about both of these towns in the proper chapter. The county abounds in a lot more gushing cold springs which afford some of the best water in the nation.

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RAILROADS OF RANDOLPH COUNTY

The actual history of railroad building in so far as it concerns Randolph County "almost" started as early as October, 1849. In that month the first survey started from the U. S. Arsenal in St. Louis and was made from there to the "big bend" in Red River at Fulton in south Arkansas. 'File work was supervised by Capt. Josiah Barney of the U. S. Topographical Engineering Corps. The movement was sponsored by the United States government in an effort to promote interest in the settlement of the new state of Texas.

Captain Barney originally planned a railroad route from St. Louis to Iron Mountain and then down some tributary of Black River to Poplar Bluff and on down through Randolph County to the southern destination. He planned that if it was too difficult to follow Black River closely to cross the divide between Black arid Current River and run down Current to Black River and Pocahontas. Either route would have ran through Pocahontas. This was the birth of the movement that finally resulted in the building of the railroad now known as the Missouri Pacific.

The story comes to us that Capt. Barney made an error in his calculations for crossing the "Coppermine ridge" between St. Louis and Iron Mountain and ran his survey too far south. This route would have required a long tunnel. He tried another survey and ran down St. Francis valley to the lowlands at old Indian Ford. Here he crossed over to Poplar Bluff and ran straight from Poplar Bluff to Fulton. This survey ran down the present route of the Missouri Pacific. He crossed the corner of Randolph County in July, 1850 But no railroad was built from his survey.

In 1852 the St. Louis, Iron Mountain Railway Co. was chartered and a survey made by J. H. Morley. This was the survey adopted and it ran the same route as Barney's from Poplar Bluff south, touching Randolph County only at the extreme southeast corner, at O'Kean.

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The Iron Mountain line actually only ran to the Missouri line. The line from the state line south to Fulton was known as the Cairo and Fulton. It was chartered in 1853. Roswell Beebe was the first president. This road was sponsored principally by men in Little Rock.

The first through train over this track, which was the first train through Randolph County, was in December, 1872, twenty-three years after the first survey was made and two years after the first shovel of dirt was handled in the actual construction. In 1874 the Cairo and Fulton and the St. Louis-Iron Mountain was consolidated. In 1917 the name was changed to the Missouri Pacific. This was Randolph County's first railroad, although it only crossed the county a distance of two and one-half miles.

The next railroad to touch the county was the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis road which was built between 1872 and 1882 from Memphis to Kansas City.

After crossing the level land from Memphis to Jonesboro, it crossed over Crowley's Ridge there and ran in a northwesterly direction by way of Hoxie to start its long upward climb through the Ozarks, at Black Rock. Here it entered the Spring River valley which it followed to Mammoth Spring. After leaving Mammoth Spring, the line starts a steady climb up through the Ozark foothills to reach the table land near Springfield, which slopes away to the Kansas prairies.

The exact date of the first survey along this route is not known to the author. Some preliminary work was done in 1872. Several surveys were made. At one time a route up Elevenpoint River by way of Thomasville in Oregon County, Missouri, was considered. The high hills of the watershed between Elevenpoint and Current River were an obstacle to this route. The Myatt's creek valley and the long gently sloping basin in the vicinity of West Plains proved to be an easier way of reaching the tableland, referred to above. The

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road was completed in 1882. This road crosses a tiny neck of Randolph County, in the extreme southwest corner. Slightly over eleven hundred feet of track is assessed to the Wyatt School District No. 67 of Randolph County. The road missed Ravenden Springs six miles and the town of Ravenden, first known as "Ravenden Junction," just across the line in Lawrence County, sprang up as a result. Another survey for this road ran up Janes creek, but met the same fate as the Elevenpoint route.

The third and most important railroad in Randolph County, in so far as the county itself is concerned, is the present Frisco line, known at this time as the Cape Girardeau- Hoxie branch of the St. Louis-San Francisco.

The first part of this line was begun in 1896, after several surveys had been made. This was the line from Pocahontas to Hoxie and was known as the Hoxie-Pocahontas and Northern Railway Company. It was sponsored by local people, with the help of eastern capital. Six years later the line from Poplar Bluff to Pocahontas was completed. It was known as the South Missouri and Arkansas Railroad. The northeastern end of the line had been built in 1901 down to Poplar Bluff. For a period of about six years the trains ran up to Pocahontas from Hoxie, and back. But this was a wonderful day for the town when it was completed. Mer- chandise, etc., shipped from Memphis, St. Louis, Little Rock, Kansas City and other places came "to our very door," as one resident of the time stated. Merchants in the northern part of the county who had been going to Harviell, on the main line of the St. Louis-Iron Mountain line since 1872 for their merchandise, (until the branch line of the St. Louis-Iron Mountain was built from Neelyville to Doniphan about 1885) could now come to their own county seat for their merchandise which was "shipped in."

The story of the building of the Frisco through the county is pretty well known. That part from Hoxie to Poca-

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hontas was built with very little change in the first survey.

But that part from Success, in Clay County, by way of the towns of Reyno and Biggers to Pocahontas, was the source of much "wire pulling." Several surveys were made. The first survey considered going only to Corning on the Iron Mountain line. This did not materialize. The chief idea seemed to be to come south from Poplar Bluff to Pocahontas.

The first survey with this in mind, ran by way of the town of Reyno. The town that was known as Reyno at that time was on the site of what is now known as the "Old Reyno"

community, where the Biggers Auxiliary Airfield was built during World War II. After passing Old Reyno the survey ran down the middle of Cherokee Bay to cross Current River near the present Highway 67 bridge, then called Mcllroy's Ferry, and on across the swamplands to Pocahontas. If this survey had been used, it is very probable that a large town would have grown up on the site of Old Reyno instead of two smaller ones at Reyno and Biggers.

This survey ran south of Biggers some distance. There was no town here at that time, but the late B. F. Biggers and others' owned land along the river and improvements had been made here. The second survey pulled the line away from Old Reyno to the north, running as close to the river at what is now Biggers as possible. The citizens of Old Reyno protested vigorously, but to no avail. The road was built as we see it today, missing Old Reyno about two miles The result was that the town of Biggers soon started building. Not to be outdone, the folks living at Old Reyno moved to the new railroad, two miles due north, and started a town for themselves with the same name. Whole buildings were rolled to the new location. This resulted in the birth of the towns of Reyno and Biggers on the railroad and the death of Old Reyno and Johnstontown on the river.

This line runs a distance of a little over twenty-two miles in Randolph County. Such is the story of our county's railroads.

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The coming of the railroads saw the decline of the steamboats.

Pocahontas has the distinction of being the only town in the county which was both an important river town and also a leading spot on the new railroad. The first means of transportation into this section was the old Military road. The next the steamboat. Next came the railroad. We now have motor truck freight lines and passenger bus lines. How long will it be until we have freight and passengers transported by regular scheduled air lines?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN RANDOLPH COUNTY

The following article, which is a nice outline of the work of establishing and maintaining the Catholic Church in Randolph County, was written by Mrs. Mary Wyllie Monday. It gives the reader a list of the names, etc., of the first families of this church who came to the county.

"Although the assertion is supported more by tradition than by documentary evidence, Catholicy has existed in what is now Randolph County since that era when pioneer settlers were pressing ever westward and southward in the early days of the American nation. Drifting down from Ohio, Illinois and upper Missouri; from the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee and the far-away fields of Georgia. Also, up the river road from Louisiana to the now long-vanished town of Davidsonville came Spanish and French families, lured by the promise of new lands.

"True, it was not the definitely organized Catholicy that followed the advent of Fathers O'Kean, Weibel and Saettle, rather it was an adherence to the Church as a point of family history by individuals who, despite their inability to practice the main parts of their creed, retained the name and at least some of the more familiar practices--the sign of the cross and recitation of certain typifying prayers. A generation

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ago there were still natives of the county who could recall that their forebears came 'from across the waters,' and whom they guessed to be Catholics because they had a rosary, prayer book or a Catholic Bible.

"Further evidence arguing the presence of Catholics in the county is found in the history of the ghost-town of Davidsonville, once seat of justice for all northern Arkansas and southern Missouri and site of the first postoffice in Arkansas. The story of the once flourishing little town recounts the presence of French and Spanish Catholics among its several hundred citizens and records a visit in 1824 of two Jesuit priests, Fathers Odin and Timon, from Boise Brulle, near St. Louis.

"Irregularly, until the establishment of the Diocese of Little Rock, Randolph County was attended by priests from New Madrid, Missouri. That Pocahontas was the only Catholic mission in the region is indicated by the fact that Catholics from the 'Irish Wilderness' in southern Missouri brought their dead to be buried in the little cemetery on the western outskirt of the little village.

"In 1867 Father .James P. O'Kean of Memphis, Tenn., an Irishman and a Confederate veteran, while a passenger on a Mississippi River steamer, joined a group of business men from Pocahontas. During the course of their conversation these men invited Father O'Kean to hold a series of lectures in Pocahontas, promising to secure a building for the meeting place. Father O'Kean agreed to request permission of his Bishop to come to Pocahontas and conduct a series of lectures explaining Catholic doctrine. At the close of the services, held in a vacant store building near the court square, the citizens, eager to secure for their town the stabilizing influence of another church, offered to build a church for him. Colonel Marvin made a deed conveying a tract of land on the heights on the west side of town to the 'Diocese of Little Rock. Volunteer donations of money and free labor, prin-

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cipally by Protestants and Jews (there being less than a dozen Catholics in the county at the time), only a year later had the little frame building ready for the soldier-priest. Among the original members of the tiny parish, which Father O'Kean dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle, were Nicholas Bach, his sister, Mrs. Cizert, and her son, Nicholas; the family of John Bossiere and a Mr. Hogan.

"The family of Dr. James Campbell Esselman; his niece, Miss Nannie Lansdale; a nephew, George Esselman; Dan Monday; Dr. Putnam's family; Miss M. E. Smith and William Jarrett are among the first names registered in the baptismal record of the new parish.

"When Father O'Kean left, four years later, to become Rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Little Rock, he left a parish of about one hundred members.

"From 1872 to 1879 Father Thomas Reilly was pastor of St. Paul's.

"In 1879 Father Eugene Weibel, a Benedictine monk from the University of Einsedeln, Switzerland, was appointed to fill the pastorate.

"A vigorous impetuous to the growth of the parish and to the county came in the early '80's, when Father Weibel secured for Pocahontas a representative part of the great tide of immigrants flowing into the United States from Europe and the British Isles. From Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Saxony and Bavaria; from Ireland and Scotland they came to build their homes and sink their roots deep into the soil of Randolph County. The annals of Randolph's progress records such names as Walters, Peters, Worms, DeClerk, Spinnenweber, Geiser, Frenken, Derris, Hellmond, Winkels, Shippers, Gergardt, Jansen, Martin, Wyllie, Brodel, Rager, Monday, Schneider, Throesch, Walterscheid, Ungerank, Liebhaber, Reiner, Sparber, Pfeiffer, Gerlach, Brunner, Thilemeier, Lesmeister, Baltz, Meier, Hauseman, Blissenbach, Frangenberg, Frenkenberger, Schaechtel, Wurtz,

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Jaeger, Zitzelberger, Scheid, Barthel, Dachs, Thiele, Seibold, Gschwend, Hollenstein, Doman, Junkersfeld, Hoffman, Hoelcher, Muyres, Thennes, Weisenbach, Neff, Geisinger, Sellers, Kronsiedler, Sense, Rothsinger, Ohlenforst, Dangler, Eckstein, Eich, Weibel, Roellen, Graf, Linder, Keifer, Mattingly, Knoch, Steimel, Mons, Ausman, Bauer, Koechner, Zosso, Bergmann and Maasen.

"The foreign immigrants experienced almost insurmountable difficulties--ignorance of the language and customs, fast dwindling finances, climatic conditions, many of them falling victims to the dreaded 'swamp fever.' The mortality rate among the children was appalling. Many of the newcomers quickly disposed of their property and left the county. Those who remained, by their thrift and progressiveness, exercised a marked influence for good in the development of the county. The suspicion and often open hostility that had been directed at them in the beginning gave way to friendliness and fellowship. They brought about an almost revolutionary change in the agricultural system of the county. In fact, this change in farming methods had been one of the openly voiced objections to acceptance of the foreigners, as some of the native sons, accustomed to living off the land with a minimum of effort, complained: 'These Dutchmen,' (all foreign-speaking people were indiscriminately classified as 'Dutchmen') are going to ruin the country with their plowing and fencing. First thing we know there won't be a tract of land left for hunting or for our stock to forage in. Life for the indolent of that day was a simple matter of fishing, hunting, raising a few sweet potatoes and a 'little jag' of corn for bread. Deer, wild turkeys and game of all sorts were plentiful. When a man established a 'meat claim' by placing a pair or two of hogs in the vast acreage of cane brakes in the lush river bottoms, all he had to do was drive into the brakes in the fall and kill enough hogs for all the meat and lard his family would require. Quite naturally he resented the intrusion into his Utopia by the foreigners.

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"Today Randolph stands proudly in the front ranks of agriculture in the state and many of the homesteads of these immigrants are among the finest farms in the county.

"In 1884 Father Weibel opened a grammar school in Pocahontas and placed it in charge of a quartette of Benedictine nuns from Conception, Missouri, Sister Beatrice, Sister Agnes, Sister Frances and Sister Walburga.

"Prior to the coming of the Benedictine Sisters, four Sisters of the Dominican Order came to Pocahontas but did not remain long.

"Soon the Sisters built a commodious convent and quite a community of nuns and novices lived in Pocahontas, in the Convent Maria Stein, where they taught school, music, needlecraft and painting. Later they opened all academy and boarding school for girls. Young men and young ladies of the city were accepted as day students.

"In 1886 Father Weibel built the church of St. John the Baptist in Engleberg in Columbia township, for the convenience of the large number of Catholics who had settled in the fertile lands watered by Fourche du Mas and Current rivers. The rural parish flourished and soon outgrew the capacity of the little church. Father A. G. Haeringer, while pastor of St. John's built the handsome church and school on the parish property in Engelberg. A comfortable home for the sisters who teach the school occupies a part of the spacious lawn. A rectory of native fieldstone was added to the parish property by Rev. H. W. Nix about 1939.

"Frequently, for months at a time, St. Paul's and St. John's parishes were without a resident pastor, priests from other parts of the state filling the vacancies.

"In 1889 The Rev. Henry Fuerst was pastor of St. Paul's. A musician of no small range, he soon organized a St. Cecilia Society in the parish, and a short time had trained a credible

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