Miscellaneous

Part Two

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Officials of Randolph County, Arkansas, since its Formation.

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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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