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HISTORY
of
RANDOLPH COUNTY
ARKANSAS
 
 
by Lawrence Dalton
Published 1946 - 1947


Miscellaneous

Part Two

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Officials of Randolph County, Arkansas, since its Formation.


DATE
REPRESENTATIVE
JUDGE
CIRCUIT CLERK
1835 to 1836 W. Pilbourn P. R. Pittman B. J. Wiley
1836 to 1838 W. Pilbourn P. R. Pittman B. J. Wiley
1838 to 1840   P. R. Pittman B. J. Wiley
1840 to 1842 W. A. Houston P. R. Pittman B. J. Wiley
1842 to 1844 Wm. Mitchell James Martin J. H. Imboden
1844 to 1846 J. B. Anthony James Martin T. O. Marr
1846 to 1848 B. R. Baker B. J. Wiley T. O. Marr
1848 to 1850 H. McIlroy B. J. Wiley T. O. Marr
1850 to 1852 H. McIlroy James Martin L. F. Johnson
1852 to 1854 W. R. Hunter B. J. Wiley J. C. Walker
1854 to 1856 W. R. Cain J. P. Ingram E. L. Urmston
1856 to 1858 Michael Beshoar J. P. Ingram E. L. Urmston
1858 to 1860 J. H. Purkins J. P. Ingram J. B. Kelsey
1860 to 1862 J. H. Purkins Wm. Thompson J. B. Kelsey
1862 to 1864   H. Cockran J. B. Kelsey
1864 to 1866 J. F. Harrison H. Cockran C. C. Elder
1866 to 1868 J. Hufstedler H. Cockran C. C. Elder
1868 to 1872 W. B. Janes G. V. Corey E. Rockwell
1872 to 1874 W. G. Matheny   J. T. Robinson
1874 to 1876 J. Dodson Isam Russell J. T. Robinson
1876 to 1878 P. Pierce J. H. Purkins J. Schoonover
1878 to 1880 R. H. Black S. J. Johnson J. Schoonover
1880 to 1882 Tom Foster S. J. Johnson J Schoonover
1882 to 1884 R. C. Mack J. H. Richardson J. T. Robinson
1884 to 1886 Perry Nettle J. H. Richardson J. T. Robinson
1886 to 1888 C. G. Johnston Dan Wyatt W. T. Bispham
1888 to 1890 Perry Nettle A. J. Witt W. T. Bispham
1890 to 1892 John C. Wisener A. J. Witt W. S. Tanner
1892 to 1894 A. J. Witt D. C. Black J. T. Robinson
1894 to 1896 A. J. Witt H. M. Bishop Jos. T. Robinson
1896 to 1898 M. D. Bowers Wibb Conner Ben A. Brown
1898 to 1900 C. H. Henderson J. B. Duvall Ben A. Brown
1900 to 1902 T. W. Campbell J. B. Duvall M. R. Armstrong
1902 to 1904 T. W. Campbell R. H. Black M. R. Armstrong
1904 to 1906 H. E. Ruff Ben A. Brown J. W. Going
1906 to 1908 H. E. Ruff S. M. White J. J. Lewis
1908 to 1910 A. M. Doss S. M. White J. J. Lewis


DATE
COUNTY CLERK

SHERIFF

TREASURER

1835 to 1836   William Black  
1836 to 1836   William Black B. M. Simpson
1838 to 1840   William Black J. Newland
1840 to 1842   J. H. Imboden J. Newland
1842 to 1844   J. Spikes J. Newland
1844 to 1846   J Spikes J. Newland
1846 to 1848   J. Spikes W. L. Rice
1848 to 1850   J. Spikes W. L. Rice
1850 to 1852   John Chandler W. L. Rice
1852 to 1854   W. G. Murphy J. D. Cross
1854 to 1856   W. G. Murphy J. D. Cross
1856 to 1858   W. G. Murphy J. D. Cross
1858 to 1860   D. C. Black W. W. Douthit
1860 to 1862   D. C. Black W. W. Douthit
1862 to 1864   M. McNabb W. W. Douthit
1864 to 1866   S. M. Truly Thomas Foster
1866 to 1868   D. C. Black Thomas Foster
1868 to 1872   G. A. Eaton A. J. Pace
1872 to 1874   J. T. Fisher J. Hufstedler
1874 to 1876   J. F. Spikes T. S. Bennett
1876 to 1878   D. C. Black J. W. Slayton
1878 to 1880   W. Conner A. H. Kibler
1880 to 1882   W. Conner A. H. Kibler
1882 to 1884   A. J. Witt A. H. Kibler
1884 to 1886   A. J. Witt A. H. Kibler
1886 to 1888   B. F. Spikes J. R. Chambers
1888 to 1890   B. F. Spikes J. R. Chambers
1890 to 1892   W. M. Hogan J. R. Chambers
1892 to 1894   W. M. Hogan S. M. White
1894 to 1896   M. R. Armstrong S. M. White
1896 to 1898   M. R. Armstrong J. W. Presley
1898 to 1900   L. H. Jones J. W. Presley
1900 to 1902 J. T. Robinson W. R. Russell J. D. Gossett
1902 to 1904 Ben F. Spikes W. R. Russell I. N. Sorrell
1904 to 1906 Ben F. Spikes W. A. Jackson I. N. Sorrell
1906 to 1908 M. R. Armstrong W. A. Jackson I. N. Sorrell
1908 to 1910 M. R. Armstrong Sam Brown J. A. Parker


DATE

SURVEYOR

ASSESSOR

1835 to 1836 J. M. Cooper  
1836 to 1838 J. M. Cooper  
1838 to 1840 John Johnson  
1840 to 1842 J Vanbibber  
1842 to 1844 I. L. Garrett  
1844 to 1846 William McLain  
1846 to 1848 William McLain  
1848 to 1850 William McLain  
1850 to 1852 William McLain  
1852 to 1854 William McLain  
1854 to 1856 T. S. Simington  
1856 to 1858 I. L. Garrett  
1858 to 1860 I. L. Garrett  
1860 to 1862 I. L. Garrett  
1862 to 1864 I. L. Garrett L. F. Johnston
1864 to 1866 I. L. Garrett L. F. Johnston
1866 to 1868 N. L. Dodson L. F. Johnston
1868 to 1872 I. L. Garrett D. C. Downey
1872 to 1874 N. C. Dodson J. D. Wyatt
1874 to 1876 N. C. Dodson S. W. Thompson
1876 to 1878 N. C. Dodson J. H. Richardson
1878 to 1880 N. C. Dodson J. H. Richardson
1880 to 1882 N. C. Dodson J. H. Richardson
1882 to 1884 J. H. Skaggs W. H. Johnston
1884 to 1886 N. C. Dodson M. D. Bowers
1886 to 1888 N. C. Dodson M. D. Bowers
1888 to 1890 G. B. Smith Gideon Thompson
1890 to 1892 Geo. B. Smith Gideon Thompson
1892 to 1894 Luther L. Jones L. H. Jones
1894 to 1896 L. H. Jones J. D. Gossett
1896 to 1898 J. L. Fry J. D. Gossett
1898 to 1900 Tobias Chastain J. L. Fry
1900 to 1902 Tobias Chastain J. L. Fry
1902 to 1904 J. H. Bennett Tobias Chastain
1904 to 1906 Tobias Chastain J. H. Bennett
1906 to 1908 John M. Cox R. L. Higginbotham
1908 to 1910 Tobias Chastain R. L. Higginbotham


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THE POCAHONTAS "COURTHOUSE GANG" IN 1946
The folks who work in the courthouse in Pocahontas are no different and no better than a lot of other folks in Randolph County, and the fact is they do not deserve any more notice except for the fact that they happen to be the ones with whom the author worked during the past two years. This is during the time we have been engaged in the job of being the county treasurer and writing a history of the county on the side.
For the above reason we thought it would not be out of line to record for the future just who composed the "Courthouse Gang" in 1945 and 1946. So here goes:
John L. Bledsoe is judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Dis-trict of Arkansas. He and his family came to Pocahontas from Izard County about twenty years ago. His wife was a member of a well known family of that section.
Harrell Simpson is the prosecuting attorney for the same district. He came here about six years ago from Sharp
County. His wife is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Belford. Belfords have been long time residents of Cherokee Bay and her maternal relatives are the Hatley and Johnston families who have been residents of the county almost a century.
County Judge Oscar Prince is a native of Janes Creek township and is a member of the related Prince-Higginbot-ham-Bloodworth families of that section. Mrs. Prince is a daughter of the late John D. Campbell, a member of one of the first families who came to Lawrence County.
Walter W. Jackson, Randolph County representative in the state Legislature, hails from the Hamil community and is a member of an early family of the county. His wife was a Tyler, another family which has been in the county since about 1840.
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Sheriff and Collector Guy Amos came to Pocahontas from the Shiloh community. He is a member of the Amos, Haynes, Mcllroy, Pratt and other families of the county. Mrs. Amos was a Going and her mother a Looney. Both are early fami-lies of the county, the Looney family being one of the first to settle on Elevenpoint River.
Earle Tilley, tax assessor, is a native of Richardson township and is a member of the related Tilley, Kerley, Redwine and Ingram families of eastern Randolph County. His wife was an Evans, another family of the same community.
Circuit Clerk Carl Brown is a member of one of the early Brown families of western Randolph County. His wife was a Fry. The Fry family was one of the first settlers in the Ravenden Springs community.
Wesley Nibert, county clerk, is a native of Columbia township, a few miles north of Pocahontas. His mother was a Hall. His wife was a Rice. The Rices, Stubblefields, Mcllroys and Looneys were related families who settled on Eleven-point River very early.
Lawrence Dalton, county treasurer and author of this book, is a native of Siloam township. The Daltons settled near the Arkansas-Missouri state line about 1812. His mother was a Marlette, native of Indiana. His wife was a Lamb, a descendant of the early Hatley, Ingram and Lamb families of Little Black township.
County School Supervisor Earl Smith is a member of one of the early Smith families of central Randolph County. His mother was a Brown, one of the early families of the Jackson township section. Mrs. Smith was a Doyle, one of the early Lawrence County families. Her mother was a Lindsey, of one of the early Lindsey families of Randolph County.
Mrs. Lula Cole, of the County Welfare office, is a member of the Thomas family which came to Warm Springs township from Illinois about forty years ago. She is the widow of the
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late Jack Cole who was related to the Holt and Phillips families of Warm Springs.
Mrs. Cole's assistant, Mrs. Frank Wallace, was a Barden and related to the Hufstedler and Barden families of Roanoke township. The Wallaces came here from eastern Clay County.
In the Federal offices in the courthouse are Mrs. Mildred Dalton, Mrs. Bill Bates and several "newcomers." Mrs. Dalton is the wife of Mack Dalton of Dalton. She was a Hughes. Mrs. Bates is a member of the Keith-Lindsey family.
Uncle Dan Bates, who keeps the lawn mowed so nicely and the inside of the courthouse so spick and span, came to Pocahontas many years ago from the southwestern part of the county. His wife was a Hancock. They reared a large family of boys and girls who are all grown and doing all right for themselves.
The deputies in the offices of the county officials are Oscar Burrow, in the sheriff's office. He is a member of the Burrow family, early residents of Warm Springs. His mother was a Hubbs. Oscar's wife was Mrs. Virginia McGlothlin from Little Rock.
In the tax assessor's office, Green G. Davis is a deputy. He is of the Shaver-Davis family of Ingram township, early resi-dents of the county. Mr. Davis' wife died a few years ago. She was a Starling.
The deputy circuit clerk is Laura Hogan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Will Hogan of Pocahontas. Both her parents are from the Ingram-Vernon community. Mrs. Hogan was an Early.
The deputy county clerk is Mrs. Gene Pierce, wife of Douglas Pierce. She was a Holt and related to the early Holt, Moore and Howard families. Her husband is of the Pierce and Farrow families of near Water Valley. Betty, daughter of County Clerk Nibert, also assists in that office.
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The state revenue collector for Randolph County is John Shivley, Jr. His family came to the Pitman community many years ago. His mother was a Hawkins. His wife was a Parish, all early families of eastern Randolph County.
Charlcie Burr, who works part time in the sheriff's office, is the wife of Charles Burr. She is a member of the Crismon Sago families who have resided in Columbia township a long time.
Ila Fowler, who is Earl Smith's assistant in the county supervisor's office, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Fowler and a member of two of the oldest families of Little Black township, the Fowlers and the Parishs.
In the recent primary election Carl Brown was nominated for the office of sheriff and collector, Clifford Massey for tax assessor, Earl Chester for circuit clerk, and Bob Harvester for county clerk.
They will go into office January 1, 1947, and together with the two second-termers, Oscar Prince, county judge, and Lawrence Dalton, county treasurer, they will make up the "Courthouse Gang" for the years of 1947-48, it nothing unforseen happens.
Chester comes from Elm Store township; Carl Brown comes from the circuit clerk's office, where he has served two terms; Clifford Massey comes from Jackson township, and Bob Harvester lives in Pocahontas.
Walter Jackson, representative; John L. Bledsoe, circuit judge, and Harrell Simpson are also holdovers from their present offices. Dr. J. E. Smith is state senator from this district, composed of Randolph, Lawrence and Sharp counties.
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ODDS AND ENDS OF RANDOLPH COUNTY HISTORY
In writing the history of any community or nation there are a number of incidents which do not seem to fit in with any certain subject or chapter. The same is true of this history. Below we are relating various stories and interesting incidents which are of a miscellaneous nature.
WEATHER
First we will talk of the weather. Weather plays a major role in the life and welfare of the human race. Floods, storms and drouth are the three great destroyers, but extreme hot and cold come in for a part in the show. This section has been visited by a number of destructive tornadoes, or cyclones, as they are most generally called in this country. About ten years before the Civil War a very destructive tornado passed through Randolph County. Coming into the county near Imboden, it traveled by way of the present-day villages of Attica and Maynard and crossed Current River near Success. This path has been followed very closely several times within the memory of living persons. About 1916 a storm traveled across the county a few miles north of this path, and among other damage done, blew away the Methodist church at Siloam and the Church of Christ building at Glaze Creek. A number of people were injured and a few killed by this storm. On May 9, 1927, the worst tornado of recent years crossed the county and killed a number of people and did a lot of damage. This was the storm which tore up the town of Hoxie in Lawrence County and killed around three hundred persons at Poplar Bluff. This storm passed just south of Maynard and tore a path across the country from near Attica, across Richardson and Little Black townships and destroyed a lot of property and killed several people along the way.
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About forty-five years ago-between 1895 and 1900-there came the worst hail storm which this section possibly ever experienced. It was of a local nature, occurring mostly in a strip through Siloam township and the lower part of Mis-souri, near by. Older citizens tell us that slugs of ice fell which were as large as large cabbage heads, only irregular in size and shape. A picnic was being held at Phipps Mill just west of Middlebrook that day and many almost incred-ible stories were told by different citizens about just what happened. Holes as large as a wash basin were torn through good board roofs. Some livestock was killed, and one man related that one stone struck his wagon tongue and broke it like it was a straw. On Fourche Creek, near the Joseph Dalton farm, some eight miles above the state line in Missouri, so much hail fell on the ground and was washed into the stream by the accompanying rainfall that it filled the stream with the ice and the fish were washed out onto the shoals and gravel bars while numb from the cold. They were picked up in large numbers after the storm subsided. Drifts of ice were still to be seen at noon the next day, although it was in June when this occurred.
Tradition tells us that about 1840 all the streams in the country rose higher than ever before. There have been a number of times when we had high water along the larger streams. In May, 1882, after several days of rain, which greatly damaged the uplands, the rivers became very high. The same thing occurred again in 1890. In 1915 came the "August overflow" which many still remember. After a week of almost incessant rain, all creeks and rivers rose to the highest stage ever known, and thousands of acres of fine crops were destroyed and a lot of livestock was lost. Many people along Current and Black River were forced to leave home, and general destruction was in evidence. In February, March and April, 1927, there was a series of overflows which did much damage, although not as much as the one in 1915, on account of the time of year. This year is remembered as a
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very wet one. Many farmers in the lowlands had no crop in sight June I.
The coldest weather which we have record was about the winter 1899. A big sleet, which stayed on the ground about forty-five days, fell during the months of January and Feb-ruary, 1901. The deepest snow that has fallen in this section since its settlement was in the winter of 1886. It is said to have been three feet deep on the level. The winter of 1917-18 is remembered as being the coldest and having the deepest snowfall of recent years. The snow began falling December 7, 1917, and was still on the ground to some extent the latter part of February.
TIMBER WORK AND SAWMILLING
An industry which flourished during the early days of settlement, after the first roads were built and steam power came into general use, was the cutting and sawmilling of the millions of feet of lumber. Our virgin forests were not to be excelled in the South. Some of the finest white oak trees in the United States grew in Randolph County. Sad to relate, much of this tine timber was wasted because of the cheapness and through necessity in the clearing of the fields. The first mills cut only the lumber which was needed locally as there was no market within reach of this section. After the coming of the railroads the story changed. Outside interests came here and bought large tracts of timber and cut the timber into stave and heading stocks, railroad ties, and later into furniture material.
Before the railroads, much timber was "ratted" down the streams. This became quite an industry on the larger streams from about 1890 to 1910. Success (in Clay County), Biggers, Pocahontas (in Randolph County), and Black Rock (in Lawrence County) became known as important mill towns during this period. Other smaller towns sprung up like mush-rooms during this period, only to die when the virgin timber
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supply ran out. Keller, Poluca and Running Lake, in the low-lands between Pocahontas and Biggers, were towns of this kind.
Timber cutting, hauling and sawmilling was hard, dan-gerous work. The hauling was often done with oxen. Sometimes when the timber was close to the mill, instead of using wagons, "lizards" were used to drag the logs in. These lizards were forked pieces of timber upon which the end of the log was tied and the timber was "skidded" in. This was true principally of the bottom country where the ground was usually damp and "slick." The early steam boilers had their weakness and imperfections. Sometimes they "blew up" and scalded the workers. Among the pulleys, carriages and lines of the unprotected machinery danger lurked. But the timber industry had its lighter side. Lumber camps were established, usually in the bottom country, and a number of men would live here several months and work out the surrounding tim-ber. Old-time dances, shooting matches and other pioneer sports were indulged in. This sort of life was carried on for many years along the lowlands adjacent to our larger rivers. Many families grew up in this work. The Switzer family is especially remembered as being "timbermen" along the west side of Black and Current River, from Pocahontas to Downey's Ferry, during the first years of the present century. But this era has passed. What timber work that is in operation at this time is made up mostly of small sawmills which cut small timber and saw it into railroad ties or small dimension lumber. This is hauled to market by the many trucks which are owned locally, and the bolt-cutter who hauls his short length timber to the local handle mill to be manufactured into various kinds of handles.
ORIGIN OF NAMES OF PLACES
While possibly not historically important, the origin of names is an interesting study, especially when it applies to towns, communities, etc. We have a number of interesting
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names in Randolph County. The name Pocahontas, for instance, already explained in the chapter devoted to the his-tory of the town and also in the Fourche de Thomas article. Supply is named thus because the early storekeeper who secured a postoffice wanted the public to know that he always had a "supply" of merchandise. There are several communities in the nation of this name. Ingram, located in the central part of the county, was named first for the late G. H. (Dock) Ingram when the name applied at what is now the Price farm on Mud creek. The Ingram of today is located around five miles from the original place so named. The places called Ingram have had various other names, such as "Henpeck" and "Gooberhull." Just where these names originated is not known. School District No. 52 (now known as Oak Hill), west of Elevenpoint River, was formerly known as "Hot Corner," and the rural community in the southwest corner of Warm Springs township used to be known as "Warm Corner." The original school house in District No. 2 was located on a level section of land, yet it was named "High Point." It was in this old building that the author learned from McGuffey's that "The Cat sat on the Mat." Many places in the county are named for the family which established the settlement or were local residents. The village of Birdell was named by Joseph Hufstedler for two of his daughters. Birdie and Ella. The postoffice at Noland was named for a young lady. Nova Pyland, who lived in the community at the time the office was named. The original postoffice at what is now Elevenpoint was called "Lima." This is interesting from the fact that Daniel W. Mcllroy was the postmaster at that office before he became postmaster at "Peru" in Cherokee Bay in 1883. Mr. Mcllroy evidently liked South American names. Just why these offices were thus named is not known. Cedars have been remembered in the naming of many places in the county. School Districts Nos. 26 and 81 are both named "Cedar Grove." One is on the road between Pocahontas and Maynard and the other is on Janes creek above Ravenden Springs. Cedar Ridge School District is located on the west-
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ern side of Old Davidsonville, and Cedar Bluff school is on Janes creek in Union township. Several names are of biblical origin. Some of them are Palestine School, Siloam Church;there is also a Palestine Church, Antioch Church, Mount Pisgah Church, Shiloh Church. There are two New Home churches and two New Hope schools in the county; also two Ring Schools. There used to be a Macedonia School just west of Warm Springs. Water comes in for its part in the naming of places in the county. We have Warm Springs, Ravenden Springs, Bluff Springs, Spring Hill, Running Lake, Water Valley, to say nothing of all the "creeks." Hills come in for a few names also, such as Allen Hill, Spring Hill, Oak Hill, Union Hill, High Point, Clearview, Fairview, Pleasant Hill, Cedar Ridge, Bald Knob, and Mount Pisgah.
Several communities and towns in Randolph County are named for early families. Among these are Maynard, Dalton, Biggers, Reyno (Ids), Pitman, Hamil, Mock, Ingram, Ring, Foster, Debow, Shannon, Holmes, Sharum, Fender and Lesterville. Poynor and Burr (ow), Missouri, just over the state line, are both named for Randolph County families.
ONE HUNDRED YEAR CLUB
The following named families, and possibly others, have resided in the county over a century: Johnston, Bigger, Mock, Shaver, Dalton, Dunn, Hufstedler, Perrin, Sparkman, Mcllroy, Stubblefield, Davis, Sloan, White, King, Murphy, Moore, Jarrett, Foster, Lindsey, Ingram, Pitman, Duff, Cockrum, Mansker, Rapert, Carter, Lewis, Reeves, Morris, Wiley, Dean, Crabtree, Miller, Cox, Eldridge, Looney, Black, Janes, James, Martin, McNabb, Nettles, O'Neal, Hudson, Holt, Bailey, Phillips, Spikes, McCarroll, Campbell, Haas, Carroll, Vandergriff.
LAWBREAKERS
Every community suffers some from the activities of the law-breakers. Randolph County is no exception to this rule.
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While we believe that this county has been as free from "gangs" or organized criminals as any county in the state, yet we have had our share of individual bad men. There have been a number of murders in the county. Some have been caught and punished for the killings, but from one cause or another some have never paid for their crimes. The first murder of which we have a record is that of Mrs. Polly Hill-house who was slain by a slave. The slave was hanged at Old Jackson in 1831, the year after the murder. Four or five men have been executed in the county, and one or two have been subjected to the supreme penalty elsewhere for crimes com-mitted in this county. One case of lynching was performed in the county, in Pocahontas. The victim was hanged on the old steel bridge, still standing on the west side of the concrete highway culvert on Highway 67 between the old court square and the Black River bridge. No sheriff or deputy has ever lost his life in the performance of his duty.
So far as we can learn the county has had only one bank robbery in daylight (at Maynard in 1917). The robber was never apprehended. The bank at Reyno was burglarized about 1926, but was unsuccessful. The burglar was dis-covered, and as he came out of the building was ordered to halt, but instead dropped his loot and ran away. He was never captured. There have been a number of postoffice burglarizing cases. So far as we can learn there has never been a mail or train robbery.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRES
The county has experienced a number of disastrous fires. Pocahontas has had a number which destroyed a large section of the city. The last big fire was about 1914, when the entire block from what is now the bank corner to Johnston's drug store corner was burned out. However, the city has a number of buildings standing in it today which date around seventy to eighty years old. Warm Springs suffered a blow when the forty-room hotel was destroyed at the springs there about
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fifty-five years ago. Reyno has had a number of destructive fires for a town of its size. During the period from 1924 to 1930 the greater portion of the business section and about fifteen residences were destroyed by fire.
EPIDEMICS
Randolph County has been spared the blight of any epidemic since the days when Old Davidsonville is supposed to have been practically wiped out by yellow fever, except for the influenza epidemic during the winter of 1918-19 when a large number of citizens of the county died of this disease, soon after the close of the first World War.
DROUGHTS AND DEPRESSIONS
Randolph County has experienced several severe droughts during the past century. The one we hear most about from the oldest citizens is the year 1881. In that year practically nothing was grown on the farms. Older citizens tell of the hardships endured by the people as a result of this crop fail-ure. In 1901 the county went through another extreme dry year. There was scarcely any rain from April until Septem-ber, and the hill land was a total failure. The only crops grown were in the low bottoms along the larger streams, and this was short. The years of 1930 and 1934 were very dry. Hot winds blew which seared the growing crops, even where they were on soil that contained moisture. 1930 is especially remembered since the country was already in the grip of a nation-wide economic depression. This made conditions very bad for all. The farmer failed to produce crops to sustain and support him and the laborer was out of work. Much hardships was endured. The condition was so severe that it appeared that outside help must come in the way of govern-mental assistance. This did come. It cannot be denied that this was necessary in many cases, but it started a practice which has been held to be entirely too much since that time. Many folks who were self-supporting before this period seem
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to have "lost their grip," as the pioneer used to say, and have formed the habit of looking to the government many times when they could help themselves. At any rate, the droughts were the "straw which broke the camel's back" and the nation sank into a depression which lasted until the second World War came along to lift it out. There appears, to the writer, to be something radically wrong with our economic set-up when it becomes a fact that the only thing that will (or has) brought our country out of economic stagnation is a bloody war which takes the lives of many of our noble sons.
We hope, for the sake of future generations, that it will be a long, long time before we have another destructive drouth, a serious depression or a bloody war.
They are within themselves a terrible blight upon the wellbeing of the human family, to say nothing of the after-math which does nothing towards the upbuilding of the people. This is especially true of war.
INTERESTING ITEMS FROM HERE AND THERE
In doing any historical research work we find many interesting items which do not belong in any certain chapter, but are a vital part of the story of any country. This is true of Randolph County history. In this article the writer will include such, beginning with the following: Governor Archibald Yell married Maria Ficklin at Pocahontas, July 7, 1836. Stephen F. Austin, known as the "Father of Texas" and Alamo fame, was appointed by Territorial Governor Miller to the office of judge of the first territorial court which was held July 15, 1820. On the land records, dated September 24, 1818, Richard Woods sold to Joseph Janes a preemption claim on Janes creek "located west of Lot Davis." Stephen F. Austin was a witness to the transaction. Austin possibly resided in Randolph County at this time.
January 9, 1820, Daniel Ashabranner sold a claim on Glaze Kenon creek to Bernard Rogan. Rogan and Daniel
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Cheek were the men who laid out the town of Currenton in 1820. Ashabranner is listed as being the operator of a lead mine in Madison County, Missouri, during the period around 1925-30.
George Mansker made a will December 21, 1822, at Greenville, Mo., and James S. Conway, later Governor of Arkansas, was a witness to his signature.
There was not much formality in the first records of the county. The story is well known of the rivalry between old Columbia and Pocahontas over the location of the Randolph county seat in 1835. But the same was true of Davidsonville and this community, although it was known as Fourche de Thomas at that time, when the first county seat of old Law-rence County was established in 1815.
The records show that Basil Boran of the Fourche de Thomas community was accused by Lewis De Munn and others of stating that De Munn and the other members of the courthouse commissioners had double-crossed the citizens of the north part of the county when they decided in favor of Davidsonville. On the date of May 31, 1816, Boran appeared in court and signed a "lie bill," or retraction, to the effect that he knew nothing dishonorable of De Munn and the others and that the charge that he had said these things was untrue-In another entry a certain man and woman were married and the next record entry is a statement by the man that he was the legitimate father of the woman's five children, and that in the future they were to bear his name.
In one of the first land record entries is that of a grant made by the United States to a soldier of the War of 1812, but the record left off the range in the description and it is impossible to locate it today.
Other interesting stories of happenings in the county during the early days are found in the marriage records. In
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one instance John Brown applied for a license to marry Mary Jones. (This is not their real names. They have descendants in the county at the present time.) Two days later she married Bill Smith. On the records, two days later, is written:
"Miss Jones sacked John Brown and married Bill Smith."
In another instance there is recorded this statement in the space for parental consent if needed: "Mr. County Clerk, please let Bill White have license to marry my daughter by my say so," signed John Doe.
In the marriage records during the time the late Jos. T. Robinson was county clerk, in recording one marriage Mr. Robinson wrote in "Silver and gold I have none, but this couple have my best wishes."
In organizing the first Territorial Legislature in Arkansas at Arkansas Post, February 7, 1820, Edward McDonald, who resided in what is now Little Black township, Randolph County, was elected president of the body. Richard Searvy was elected secretary and Joseph Hardin, speaker. Hardin and Searcy both lived at Davidsonville. This is quite an honor for Randolph County, although this was known as the "delegation from Lawrence County." These men-all three- lived in what is now Randolph County. William Stephenson of Hempstead County was first elected speaker but after serving one day resigned. The story goes that after looking the "rough and ready" assembly of frontiersmen over, he stated that "I had rather shoot then be shot at," presuming that if trouble arose in the session shooting would probably be done first and questions asked afterwards. When Harden took his place he remarked that he had been shot at by the British in 1778 and was not afraid of any of the members and "their small arms."
Mrs. Sallie Pickett, a former resident of Pocahontas who was a granddaughter of Col. John Miller (the father of Gov. William R. Miller), tells of an incident which happened while Colonel Miller ran a store at Davidsonville. A fellow
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who lived in that vicinity came to Miller's store one day to buy a barrel of liquor. In a few days he was back after another barrel. Colonel Miller questioned the man about using so much liquor in such a short time, thereupon the fellow drawled, "Wall, I don't know as that is so bad bein's there is ten of us in family and we ain't got no cow."
Court was often held out in the open in the summer time. The story goes that often the witness was "stolen" from court to keep him from appearing and that sometimes court was adjourned so that the members could go off on a bear chase that had developed suddenly.
WHERE OUR PEOPLE CAME FROM
It is interesting to observe the ancestry of the folks who make up the present population of Randolph County.
We are prone to think of them as being of English descent, except the families who are descended from the European immigrants who settled in Pocahontas and at Engleberg in 1880 and the years following. This is not altogether true. Our first settlers came principally from the older states of the east or from the sons and daughters of the early settlers who pushed across the Appalachians with Sevier, Harrod and Daniel Boone.
This does not mean that they were English. The Plott family which settled on Fourche was of Pennsylvania German stock. Lewis De Munn, who was the first clerk of old Lawrence County, was of a French family who fled from the mother country during the French Revolution. The same is true of the Garrett family which was related to the Stubble-fields and other settlers on Elevenpoint. David Black, who settled at Black's Ferry in 1815, was a grandson of a native of Amsterdam, Holland, of the same name. Dr. J. C. Esselman, who was the grandfather of Mrs. Kate Skinner and Mrs. M. M. Carter of Pocahontas, was a native of Scotland and served
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through the Revolution as a captain in the British army. Isaac Hurst, the father of Mrs. Lena Black, also of Pocahontas, was a native of Greece. The Simington and Hollowell fami-lies are of Scotch ancestry. The Hufstedler family is descended from a German family which came to America about 1775. The Knotts family is Welsh.
The paternal family of this writer is Irish, and the maternal ancestors were Pennsylvania "Dutchmen."
The large group of citizens of the county which are gen-erally thought of as being Germans are not all of that nation-ality. During the period from 1870 to 1900, or later, we received many good citizens who left the older countries of continental Europe due to political and social dissatisfaction. In this group are Bavarians, Prussians, Austrians, Dutch, French and a few Irish, all generally referred to as either German or Dutchmen. There are very few true English peo-ple in this section.
The colored population of Randolph County is not over one hundred and fifty at present, and practically all of these are native descendants of native slaves. This can be proven by most of the family names. Some of these names are as follows: Taylor, Mansker, Duckworth, McCarroll, Oakes, James, Pitman, White, Johnson, etc.
There are no Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Spanish or Greeks in the county. We have some local natives who have Indian blood in their veins, but we do not have anyone who would actually rate as a Redman in the county.
WHO LIVES IN RANDOLPH COUNTY?
The question of "Who lives in Randolph County?" brings to mind a lot of things. We hear of some communities which are peopled with "foreigners." Just what implication this word means varies in different communities. It is a tact that
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all of us are descended from foreigners. When our forefathers landed in America we were not natives of this land. But, generally, the word means "fresh from some place else," as the little boy once said.
The early settlers of Randolph County came mostly from the older states of the North and East. Some of the best blood that has ever lived in this county, however, came almost directly from some of the countries of Europe.
But, as is true of most early settled sections, we had a number of families which came early and down through the years have occupied a position somewhat like the "First Families of Virginia." They had a feeling that since they were here first that they had a "priority" (to use a word which has come into general use of late) on things. We all remember the time when one of the qualifications for being a choice candidate for public office was that of being born in a log cabin. We all appreciate these conditions and sentiment to some extent. The fact was, as one early settler once stated it, the early comers resented to some extent the intrusion of the ones who came in later. This early settler said, "We ain't aimin' to let these upstarts come in and take over our churches and politics after our daddies and granddaddies started them and done the dirty, hard part."
This condition was true of all pioneer communities. It has faded away during the years, going the way of other sectional differences.
We can remember when the man from the lowlands was a "foreigner" to the inhabitant of the hills and vice versa. The author grew up in the hills of western Siloam township, in the north central part of Randolph County. We remember when the greater insult that could be hurled our way was being called a "hillbilly" by a resident of Cherokee Bay or Black River bottoms. We retaliated by calling them "swamp angels" and "sandlappers." Stories were circulated in the years past and gone by one faction at the expense of
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the other. Some of these stories were told by the man in the lowlands to the effect that in the backwoods hills there existed a long, lean, hungry class of hillbillies who never "heard a train whistle," didn't know one letter from another, and who went barefooted nine months out of the year, but who could knock a squirrel out of the top of the highest tree "at one throw." When the hillmen heard these stories they would picture the resident of the bottoms as being "a poor mosquito-bitten, yellow-faced, pot-bellied, malaria-infected sap who didn't know how a well man felt." Adding such explanations of the conditions in the lowlands as "drinking frog soup all summer and wading mud knee deep all winter."
While the lowlanders bragged of the tall corn, big pumpkins and bale-to-the-acre cotton which they grew, the hillmen said it was left to them to gather the crop for them. This statement was made from the fact that each fall many fami-lies from the hills would move over into the bottoms and spend the autumn season picking cotton. This was, at that time, the chief source of cash for many hill families.
The hillfolk brought back stories of how the bottoms people "Lived out of a paper poke" while making the big cotton crops, and how when fall came the credit merchant "got all they made." There was a much more "live at home" program in effect in the hills than in the bottoms.
The radical resident of the lowlands who said that the hills "looked like starvation" to him was met with the state-ment that "Hot or cold, wet or dry, you always found plenty to eat on the table any time you stopped for a meal in the hills." With the story of how many dollars a good cotton crop would bring the grower came the rebuttal, "We may not have as much money as you do sometimes, but we stay out of debt."
So on and on the story goes. With the coming of better roads and auto transportation both sections "came closer together." Each Saturday now the folks from 0'Kean and
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Manson mix and mingle with the folks from Union town-ship, Little Black and Reyno in the large crowd which is always in town (Pocahontas) on that day. This has brought about a better understanding between the different com-munities, especially the hills and bottoms. Another thing which has had a strong influence on this difference has been the migration from the hills to the bottoms.
The first settlements were in the hills, and for many years before the lowlands were cleared and drained and while the hill land was fresh, people had little desire to move into the bottom sections. With the time arriving that a lot of the hill land had become worn out (before the days of rotation, diversification and other soil conservation practices), the overflow of population naturally looked to the fertile bottom land for homes. The result was the first settlers of this section soon found themselves surrounded by people from the hills. And in the future, it the hillsmen talked about the "sandlapper," he was likely talking about his brother or sister, and after a few years of fusion of the two "kinds" of people in the bottoms there ceased to be much talking about the "hillbilly" because he was somebody's uncle or grand-father "back home."
This is the story of the disappearance of the "hillbilly and sandlapper."
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"CARRY ME BACK. TO OLD VIRGINIA"
We who live today will never know the loneliness and homesickness which our foreparents felt at times. Moving to a new land, far away from the land of their fathers, carried with it a certain amount of sorrow and regret. After landing in the new community, if things went well, attrac-tions for and memories of the mother country or childhood home faded gradually; but if hardships and privations appeared, which was often the case, a longing for the old home left behind was a natural attraction.
The author of "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," "West Virginia Hills," "On the Banks of the Wabash," "Old Ken-tucky Home" and many other songs written during the period of early settlement expresses the feelings of those whose old home was "far, far away."
We who have lived far back enough to have known some of the original settlers who came here from the older states of the East know about this attraction for the old home which remained with these immigrants, some of whom were our grandparents, throughout their lives.
While they lived their lives in their new homes, many of these early-comers remained loyal to the land of their birth; and although they loved their adopted state, nothing here was ever quite as good as it was "back in Old Kaintuck." In their estimation a native of Old Virginia or Kentucky, or some other state from which they came, was just a little superior to other folks. There was just a little more "blue blood" in their veins than possessed by other people. As one writer has said, "The corn grew a little taller, the grass was a little greener and the maidens a lot prettier back home."
The story goes that a few years ago a citizen of a certain community in Randolph County, a natural comic and not too bright mentally, tiring of hearing a certain old fellow of the
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neighborhood bragging about his old home state of Ken-tucky, asked the old fellow if there were actually a lot of good folks in that state. "Oh, yes, sir," replied the old fellow, "best people in the world." "I thought so," replied the comic, "because none of them ever moved anywhere else."
Of course this was not really true, as many of the finest families of our county and state came from Kentucky and the other eastern states. But this fellow's statement explains the feelings of many of the "natives" of this section toward those who "brought too much of their old home with them."
Mother Nature has planted in the souls of we humans that feeling and conviction that a lot of things were "a little bigger and a whole lot better" back during our childhood days.
This explains the matter discussed above. There is no water in the world today that "tastes as good" or quenches our thirst like that old spring we can remember at grandfather's or Uncle Elijah's or some other place near our old childhood home. We can see it today-the water boiling up from under a limestone rock and flowing down through the spring lot over a clean, gravelly bottom with peppermint growing along both sides of the water. No one in the world can bake bis-cuits "like mother used to bake," and Uncle Dan Bates, only yesterday, was telling us that the "best bread in the world" was the "salt-rising" variety which mothers used to make "back in the good old days."
Rivers looked larger, trees were bigger, the "bottom field" looked a lot larger and the corn rows a lot longer, especially when we looked down them over the back of old Jack while we walked along between the handles of a one-horse double shovel. (Evidently they would have looked a lot shorter from the seat of a tractor.)
All this rambling along the subject of homesickness, the memories of youth, etc., may not belong in a county history, but the word "history" itself is truly just "his history," and
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at last only a story of life. Life is generally thought of as the activities and the peculiar plan of things which Nature created to work in conjunction with that elusive product called "time." And actually history is the recordings of events performed by individuals at certain places, at certain times. All this sounds vague and very abstract, but is a part of the grain or chaff of this book.
But, at last, this subject is bound up in the thought which some writer expressed in printed words when he said:
"Memory, like the ivy, clings
To olden times, and ways, and things."
"OLD TIME RELIGION"
Thousands of pages have been written to record the deeds of those who have been politically prominent in the past. Tons of paper has been used to tell about the activities of military men and record the story of bloody battles. Scores of books have been written to acquaint the reader with the struggles and hardships of the hardy pioneer who pushed into the virgin forests to hew out a home for himself and family.
All this is a part of the huge task of recording history. In fact it has been the major part of practically all histories which have been written.
But there is a class of men who played a leading part in the great drama of pioneer history of Randolph County and the nation who have not been given the space and credit which they deserve. These men are the pioneer preachers. Quite a lot has been said about the early "circuit riders." They were the preachers who traveled around over the land, going from one isolated community to another at regular intervals to preach to the congregations which assembled on these dates. The crowd was made up of the families of the
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adjacent "neighborhood" which was often ten miles across. Eli Lindsey, pioneer Methodist preacher who lived in this section around 1815, was possibly the best known of the cir-cuit rider class. There were others who belonged in this class, among which was John Young Lindsey, a nephew of Eli, who was an early Baptist preacher who is reputed to have been one of the organizers of old Salem church at Jar-rett school house, Randolph County, which was the first Bap-tist church in the state. One of the first preachers of the Church of Christ was Samuel McCullah who, according to the records, applied to the elders of his church "at the home of Brother B. States on Fourche de Mas," December 4, 1942, for "written credentials to preach the gospel of the Lord as an evangelist wherever God and his Providence did cast my lot." The credentials were signed by Eld. William Kellett.
Henry Slavens, who was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Little Rock from Randolph County, January 4, 1836, was ordained to preach at "Cherokee Bay Baptist Church of Christ" December 4, 1836. Sherrod Winningham and Henry McElmurry were listed as elders. Prior to this, June 7, 1834, Winningham was ordained to preach by William Macon and Henry McElmurry as elders.
During the period from 1815 to 1835 two Catholic mis-sionaries, John Odin and John Timon, did missionary work among the Indians and early settlers around Davidsonville and Jackson.
These were the first preachers, so far as we know, who came to this section to spread the Gospel in the pioneer settlements. There is in existence a long list of preachers who appeared during the period from 1835 to the period of the Civil War. Some of these are referred to even unto this day. Space forbids the naming of many of these old and early men of God. Many who lived and labored and went to their graves "unhonored and unsung" were really greater man in the sight of their Maker than those we hear a lot about.
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Below we will list a few of the names of preachers whose names appear on the early records prior to 1860. Among these were John Hovenaugh, Green Moore, Daniel Rose, William Taylor, Joshua Bumpass, Samuel Hutchinson, Mordecai Haliburton, Gideon Shockley, Elisha Landers, James Ferrill, James Garrett, Reuben Black, Jess Burrow, Theopolius Garrett, Abner Garrison and Peter Watson.
The above is only a partial list of the early preachers before 1860.
The following list is made up of some who really belonged in the list above, together with some who labored in the vineyard of the Lord until recently. The second list is as follows: David Sharp, Parson James, M. D. Bowers, Martin Hogan, Peter Shaver, John Yarbrough, John Rush, David Presley, W. S. Southworth, Demps King, William Shaver, Larkin Johnston, Jessie Roach, W. A. Downing, W. A. Goodwin, Arthur Conner, Zera Allen, Isaac Witt, Jesse Robinson, D. M. Robinson, J. F. Armstrong, R. F. Carroll, J. R. Pratt, J. A. Lemmons, Eld. Hollowell, W. T. Shoffit, Father O'Kean, Alec Fowler, E. T. Lincoln, and a lot of others which should be listed here who are not remembered at this time.
A third list which brings us down to the present, although only the ones of long service in Randolph County are listed, is as follows: S. L. Johnston, A. B. Shaver, Know Belew, J. Will Henley, J. A. Spence, J. A. Allison, W. W. Bailey, 0. H. L. Cunningham, Craven Wilson, Bynum Black, F. C. Neely, Amos Lemmons, John H. Harper.
Only a few of the first ones named at the beginning of this chapter were really "circuit riders." Most of them were men who lived at a certain town or community and preached at various places as they were called, or went on their own accord, to build up the various congregations of their affiliations.
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There is no Other profession that has done more good for less pay than the pioneer preacher. He has repeated the story of John of old a thousand times by going out and "preparing a way for others to follow."
In most pioneer frontier communities he was the next man to come into the settlement after the settler arrived with his family. He often served as both preacher and school teacher. Many times he went out and with his own hands built the first church building, a rough log cabin, but here he proclaimed to all the world that there was a Divine Being "from whom all blessings flow," and who in return for these blessings expected mortal man to love and respect him and to live lives according to the rules laid down in his book.
The old-time protracted meeting, which has been mentioned before, was a valuable institution of the early settle-ments. It not only provided a place for the folks to enjoy themselves socially, it builded up the morals of the settler and instilled in him the precepts of the Golden Rule.
This protracted meeting could never have happened if there had not been a self-sacrificing preacher "at the head of things." He often labored for weeks at a lime with the con-gregation, and in return received only whatever pay the folks felt disposed to pay him. The pay was usually not enough to provide a living for his family and he had to work in the field or shop throughout the week to "splice out" his minis-terial salary to the point where it provided the necessary food and shelter for his family.
Many have been the instances where the early preacher has walked or ridden horseback many miles to preach "over Saturday night and Sunday" and was not paid one cent, or possibly given a few old clothing for his family 01 a piece of home-cured bacon or a "poke of meal." To many of we who live today who are used to seeing a lot of our preachers set their own price which, if they are not paid this, will not work for us, cannot fully appreciate the conditions under
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which the early preacher labored. But, in fairness to all, we know that there are possibly very great extremes in both cases.
Isaac Witt, one of the pioneer Baptist preachers of central Randolph County, whose family was related to the writer's father, used to work all week in the fields with his children and on Sunday put on his starched, studded front shirt and homespun suit and start out over a road, sometimes several miles long, to preach twice that day and return home that night. The trip was usually made in an old-time one-horse buggy which was pulled by one of his ponies which had been hitched to a plow all week. Stuffed snugly in behind the seat was a few ears of corn or a sheaf of oats, because Parson Isaac never knew for sure that he would be invited home by some brother who had "hoss feed." Monday morning would find him again at the handles of the plow. This story was true of many other such early preachers. But Parson Witt, like a lot more of these grand old men of God, made his mark. The Baptist church at Maynard is today known as Witt's Chapel, in his honor.
The story goes that Rev. L. F. Johnston, one of the early Methodist preachers of the county, would walk for miles to preach to the settlers around Siloam, Old Mount Pisgah and other early communities. He reared a large family and accumulated some property while doing so. Ben Johnston, now living in Pocahontas, who is the grandson of the above-named pioneer minister, once stated to this writer that his grandfather on his mother's side of the family built a church-house for his grandfather on his father's side to preach in. This is true since the old Mount Pisgah church which was located just west of the present Ingram postoffice was built largely through the efforts of William Spikes several years before the Civil War. William Spikes was the father of the late Martha Spikes Johnston, mother of Ben Johnston.
Eld. Joe H. Blue, veteran minister of the Church of Christ, once told the writer that he preached a whole year
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once for less than fifty dollars. During this year he slates that he made long trips through snow and rain and conducted many funeral services, wedding ceremonies, etc., besides preaching at several different churches.
Many other old preachers devoted long years of service in the task of spreading Christian influence in a new land. Such men as Uncle Peter Shaver, David Sharp, S. L. Johnston, J. Will Henley, David Presley, Arthur Conner, William Shaver, Demps King, J. F. Armstrong, J. Amos Lemmons and countless others whom we would like to name here left their footprints on the sands of time. The amount of good they did can never be measured. While their work here pos-sibly was never appreciated enough, evidently "a crown is laid up in Heaven" for them.
The families of these men are not to be forgotten, especially the wife and mother. It was she who stayed behind and "kept the home fires burning" while her husband went forth to work for their Master. Her task was not easy.
The churches of the county were divided principally between the Methodist, Baptist and Church of Christ during the early days although there were several Presbyterians, Catholics and scattered groups of Church of God or Holiness. Many communities had a "meeting house" where all sects and beliefs were welcome to come and preach. While this was true in some communities, the line was usually drawn as to who the church building belonged to. Of the early rural communities usually one belief predominated pretty strongly until modern days. With better roads, improved means of travel and outside influence, some of the communities which were once practically "one hundred per cent" strong in one church are now greatly mixed. One belief during the early days "ran through the family" in many cases. This is an exception today.
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THE OLD-TIME COUNTRY STORE
Possibly this article docs not belong in a book which is supposed to be devoted to the task of recording the happen-ings of historical importance of our people, but since time and space has been given to other institutions we feel that the old-time country store, with the proverbial "pot-bellied stove and open cracker barrel," should be given some notice.
The first store which was "opened for business" in this section during the days of early settlement was the "trading post," located on a larger stream, where the boats brought him coffee, calico, spices and several other items which were not obtainable locally. The operator of the trading post exchanged his merchandise for furs which the hunters brought to him. In some places beeswax, which had been obtained from robbing bee trees in the forests and "bear grease" which was rendered from the flesh of bears killed locally, was also used in place of cash in buying their needs. Very little money was used as a medium of exchange.
This first merchant knew nothing of the art of display and merchandising. The procedure was very simple. He received his wares from the boatmen and traded them to the neighbors for their produce, and the boatmen picked up the produce and brought him some more wares.
After the establishment of "settlements" some enterpris-ing settler built a log house and announced to the public that he was opening up a store which would carry in stock "the latest pieces of wearing material and silks from New Orleans," or maybe it was Pittsburgh. Occasionally some merchandise found its way into the frontier from New York. But even with this type of merchandise available at times, for many, many years the pioneer mother manufactured the clothing for the family at home.
The inside of one of these early-day stores presented a varied picture. All kinds of food products which we now
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buy in packages was sold in bulk from bins. Soda. salt, sulphur and many items in the drug line was sold by the ounce or pound. There were no paper bags, so the article was wrapped up in paper. The first scales were a far cry from our automatic electric calculating ones. At first "balances" were used. They were made like the picture you sometimes see today in drug advertisements. Everything was placed on one side and the proper size weight was placed on the opposite side and the commodity was "weighed in the balance." After this came the old scoop and beam weight scales. Thousands of items which are very commonplace today were unheard of even until the turn of the last century. Of the dozens of breakfast foods on the market today, fifty years ago and before there usually was nothing but unpolished rice, and it was not always available. Then came rolled oats. The early store did not have canned foods. There are many folks living today who, when they were children, never saw anything canned come from the store unless it happened to be a can of peaches which father bought for a sick member of the family the year following a "peach failure." One of the first dry goods items to come into popular use, which was purchased at the local store, was a coarse, unbleached cotton cloth, generally called "factory," because it had been made at a "factory" instead of at home. This material was the fore-runner of our present-day "domestic" and sheetings. This material was woven in the mills of New England and came to this section over the long route by water down the Atlantic coast to New Orleans and up the Mississippi and our smaller streams by steamboat. It was in the latter half of the past century before meat was sold in the stores, except an occasional extra "side of bacon" which a local prosperous farmer had "to spare" along during the late summer from his smoke-house, which he wished to dispose of before "hog-killing time," about November The first packing house lard which came to the stores of Randolph County came in "hogsheads" or large wooden barrels. It was sold in bulk. The customer brought along his container and bought any amount be
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wished. You could generally tell whether the storekeeper was right- or left-handed by which side of his coat was the "greasiest," where he had leaned over the edge of the barrel when he was dipping out the lard. The first shoes to come to our local stores were the old split-leather type "brogans." After becoming wet a few times the leather grew as stiff and hard as sheet metal, and many of our prominent men past middle age today know how it feels to have his ankles chaffed by the top of the old brogans. To make children's shoes last longer, a toekick made of a strip of copper or brass was placed around the toe of the shoe. This addition to the split-leather product did not add materially to the comfort of the article. Hosiery was made at home, for both men and women. Many a righteous mother, during the days of forty and fifty years ago, charged that her "modern" daughter-in-law was "too onery to do her duty" when she went to the store to buy the black-ribbed cotton hose for her children instead of knit-ting them herself. The nice, smoothly-milled cotton hose available today, which the present-day lady "wouldn't be caught out in the dark with a pair on," would have been a luxury when grandmother was a girl. One of the most profit-able departments in the early general store was the drug section. The early "elixirs" which were recommended to cure almost every ill which the human is heir to, found ready sale to the early settler, especially during the days before the country doctors were close enough to call or consult. The many "quack" remedies which produced unfavorable results, and the passing of tighter drug laws to curb them, slowed this line down some.
A popular type of early-day store was the "furnishing store." We think of such a store today as being a large busi-ness which deals with heavy merchandise, especially furniture. This was not true of the early store of this description. It was a store which extended "gin whistling" terms, or spring to fall credit to farmers mostly, who in turn gave the merchant a mortgage on "about everything except the old
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lady and the kids," as one fellow stated it. About March the first the papers were fixed up for a certain amount, due about October the first. This kind of credit was expensive on the customer. Prices, through necessity, were high. A part of this increase in price was due to the fact that the merchant had his capital tied up in mortgages for two-thirds of the year. And, of course, there were some credit losses due to short crops, etc.; but since the man obtaining the credit was bound to the merchant, he was more or less at the mercy of said merchant, and if the latter desired to place too high a profit on the merchandise, there was little the cus-tomer could do about it. This was often true, but, strange to say, many people would patronize this kind of store year after year, and as a result oftentimes drift into the class who just really worked all the year for what his credit was worth at the store. Of course this was not always true. Some merchants of this kind of store were really and truly benefactors to the population, especially during the lean years. They "carried" the people over until better times enabled them to become self-supporting and pay out also. This type of store flourished during the years before the coming of modern credit agencies which finance the farmer on reasonable rates and moderate terms. This enables him to pay cash and take advantage of competitive prices.
The country store, all through the years, has become an American institution. Here the citizens gathered before the days of daily mail and radio to discuss the weather, the issues of the day, and to trade horses and other activities. Some of these were to pitch horseshoes out under the neighboring trees or play ball or marbles. This was often done while wait-ing for their "grinding," as often the neighborhood grist mill was located near the store. Here was usually held the candidate speakings, the elections, and many other forms of community get-togethers.
The modern store is more attractive. It is more sanitary. It is more convenient and complete, but it has lost some-
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thing which is hard to define, which the old-time crossroads store possessed.
OLD-TIME SINGING
There possibly are those who may think that singing is of such unimportance that it has no place in the recordings of the past. We differ with those who believe this. One leading jurist has said that when you find a community with a good singing class you found a good community, morally.
The pioneer who, after laboring in the fields and forests for six days, received spiritual and physical contentment and relaxation through the singing of songs of praise to his Master on the Sabbath day.
Possibly the best known vocal music teacher the county has produced was J.E. Wilson, who taught classes in many communities of the county, especially in the vicinity of Pitman, Supply and Maynard, during the period from 1880 until about 1905.
When the Old Folks Singing holds it annual convention at Maynard each year, in September, old Professor Wilson is always remembered. Others who were identified with this institution who have passed on are John D. Campbell and L. F. Blankenship.
Other early singing teachers of that period were a Mr. Tracy and a Mr. Lillard. Lillard was from the vicinity of old Walnut Hill. They both taught schools in different places.
The first method of singing was what we would call the "Read, Repeat and Sing" method. The leader would stand before the class and read from the book, which was usually the old "Christian Harmony" or "Class, Choir and Congregation" book, and the class would repeat the words after him. This was done a verse at a time, and then they would sing the words and music
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We do not have a complete list of those who were song and class leaders during the days before the coming of mod-ern music and "round notes." However, we do know of some of them. There are others of later dates who really belong in this class, but the following are among the leaders who were active during the days when the "old-time singing" was the current style used, and some of these are still active today:
Calloway Pringle, Steadman Johnston, T. R. Roberson, Granville Wright, Lee Farrow, Mr. Gannoway, Albert Taylor, Ozzic Templeton, Jack Cole, Noah Phillips, John R. Holt and others we do not know about. Wright, Farrow, Pringle, Phillips, Gannoway, Cole and Templeton are deceased.
The good done by these pioneers on vocal music is not to be belittled. Working in connection with the early ministers and teachers of the county, they did much to build up the moral and educational side of life for those who lived during the days when our country was in its formative period.
THE KU KLUX KLAN IN RANDOLPH COUNTY
The story of the Ku Klux Klan or "Ku Klux," as we have heard them called, is a familiar story in this section, even though at this date there are very few persons who were members or even remember the activities of the original Ku Klux.
This was an organization of local citizens, organized and operated in secret, during the days of Reconstruction follow-ing the Civil War. It was born of a desire of the local citizens to secure control of their communities from the more or less unscrupulous individuals who had come into the country from the North at the close of the war Another plan of the Ku Klux was to act as a check on the colored people who lately having obtained their freedom might become unruly and abusive. Very little evidence of the latter was in evi-
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dence. Actually, the chief activity of the organization turned out to be the warning and often punishing of wrongdoers in the country, many of which were the low moral and "ne'er do well" type of native citizens.
If a local citizen was suspicioned of stealing corn from his neighbor's crib, or had been cruel to his family, or a man or woman had been known to have lived in adultry, etc., they were called upon during the dark hours around midnight or later and given dire warnings. If he stopped the doing of what he was accused, no other visits were made. If he per-sisted in the of tense, he usually found himself being bound over a convenient log and "horse-whipped." One whipping, which was administered by some pretty strong-armed citizen, usually was enough.
The members of the Klan had certain meeting places and at these meetings, which were held in the dead of the night in some remote section before a huge log fire, the general moral and political condition of the neighborhood was discussed. If it was found that some citizen in the community needed "attending to," the group proceeded to his home and per-formed the task, as described above.
They were usually clad in long white robes which covered them from head to foot, and often carried lighted torches and other paraphernalia which was used to bring terror to the heart of the wrongdoer. The chief source of the strength of the Ku Klux was the secrecy of who made up the members of the organization. Those who were not members did not know who was "looking at them," as one darky explained.
There was a lot of good done during this unsettled period by the Ku Kluxs, but, as is true of many organizations, churches, etc., some of the wrong kind of people became members, and there were cases where unfortunate incidents occurred which were committed by undesirable characters and the Ku Klux were given credit for the deed which finally caused it to lose its popularity and prestige,
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SLAVERY
The question of slavery was discussed in brief in the chapter about the Civil War, but we desire to go into the matter further due to the fact that it was a very vital issue and a serious proposition with the first people who came to Randolph County.
There has possibly been more prejudiced statements been made on the question of slavery than any other subject in our history. The stories of extreme cruelty imposed on the blacks were badly exaggerated. There is no doubt that some owners were cruel to their slaves, but the majority were given fair treatment, and many were the tears shed both by master and slave when either passed away. Some men are mean to their families. Some men are cruel to their livestock, and some army officers were lowdown enough to mistreat the private in the army under the disguise of "army discipline." The same was true of the slaveowner. It all depended on what sort of man he was. We all have heard how many former slaves came to the "big house" of their master when they heard about Lincoln's Emanicipation Proclamation and assured them of their loyalty. The writer's own paternal grandfather's life was saved during the battle of Prairie Grove by a faithful black man who carried him out of the thick of the battle after he had been wounded.
The wife whose husband was away at war during the sixties many times tucked her little ones to bed at night satisfied with the thought that no one could harm her brood so long as old Mose or Rastus remained in his cabin close by. One writer said that a few thousand torches in the hands of the blacks left at home would have ended the war in thirty days, to the sorrow of the South, but not one was lighted.
Such was the picture, except in obscure instances, of the loyalty and bond of affection between master and slave.
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Many interesting stories are handed down to us concern-ing the colored folks dining and after this period. J. B. Weaver tells a story which came to him from his grandfather. He states that in the years before the war a family lived on the farm now owned and occupied by Robert Vann and family out east of Maynard which owned some slaves, among which was a negro woman who was extremely fleshy, weighing around seven hundred pounds. The owner decided to sell his slaves and offered the fat woman for sale and had no bidders. She was considered too fat to work. She was again offered for sale and a fellow bought her. He was told that she was useless. He remarked that she had been allowed to sit around and eat and that lie had a different remedy, remarking that "she will be able to chop cotton next spring." The story goes that he took her home and put her on a diet of bread and water, and Dinah lost the extra avordupois, her health improved and she did chop cotton the next spring.
The colored man has been the victim of much abuse and discrimination in the past. A noted educator has said that if the white man of today, regardless of nationality and creed, had been subject to the things which the negro had during the past three hundred years, lie doubted if they would now present within their ranks one man who was as good a citizen as hundreds of colored people are today.
During the political campaign of 1944, when the subject of negroes voting in state primaries was a heated issue, a highly respected colored man and landowner of Cherokee Bay was discussing the matter with the writer. Among his remarks he stated: "All the meanness which we colored folks know was taught us by you white folks, as we were totally ignorant when we were brought over here from Africa." This statement impressed me. There is a thought behind this statement.
Anyway, the negro was at one time a very valuable piece of property. He was looked upon in the same light as a horse
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or cow. The plantation owner felt that dire calamity Stalked his door any time his slaves were taken from him. Financial and social standing was measured according to the number of slaves the planter owned during the first half of the nine-teenth century. Slave ownership was general. Practically every man of means, and especially those who did farming extensively, owned one to twenty slaves of different ages. When the issue was attacked from a moral standpoint, some few liberated their negroes. Some who had slaves considered it a "necessary evil," but with most owners little thought was given to this angle. A few folks today, in speaking of their ancestors, are inclined to leave the impression that "my grandfather was not a-slaveowner," but we find that most of them were. By checking the early records we find that most of the early preachers were slaveholders. In fact, we find recorded where Eli Lindsey, who was one of the first "circuit riders" of Arkansas, owned slaves while residing in Randolph County. On page 383 of the old record book "B" of old Lawrence County is recorded a transaction wherein Benjamin Williams sold to Eli Lindsey "One negro woman named Penny, one negro boy named Tom, one negro boy named Frank, and a negro girl named Mary." This was September 10, 1822. Lindsey afterwards sold these slaves to John Hinds.
Practically all of the civilized world today is free of slavery. We are all glad that this problem is settled and that the practice has been abolished for all time. Yet during that colorful era, when slavery flourished, we find that it was practiced and generally accepted by the peoples of the entire civilized world.
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