DOYEL CEMETERY
Information contributed by Barbara Reynolds, a descendant of this family, from a visit she made to this cemetery in 1966. The first grave here was that of Thomas Doyel, born March 24, 1822 or 1824. the grave marker says 1822 and so do family records. but the 1850 census says 1824. He was the son of James Doyel and Margaret Vison. He was probably born somewhere in Missouri and Joplin was named as the birth place by family members but Joplin would have been sparcely populated by white men and although family records also suggest that he was 1/4 indian, I feel he was probably born further east in Missouri. The family moved to Arkansas in his youth and he married Mary (Polly) Sorrells March 8, 1844 there. My grandfather, Nathan Fair (Buck) Doyel says that there were 18 children born to Tom and Polly but we have only been able to find record of 10. Of these only 4 lived to maturity. He was a farmer by trade but he had an adventurous spirit and in the 1850,s Tom organized a bunch to go to the gold rush. My grandfather tells an interesting story of that. He supposedly found gold but lost it on the way home in a storm off the Cape. He joined the Confederate Army July 14, 1863 at Fort Washita in the Martin Shecol Chickasaw Battalion. His brother Bill fought with the Union. He returened from the war with Tuberculosis and it gradually worsened. He knew he was dying and one day as he was lying in bed he pointed out a pine tree at the top of Wolf Ridge (his home place was just accross the road) and asked to be buried there. He passed away on August 28, 1871. This was the start of the cemetary. Others buried there were: Nancy Emaline Dearmon Doyel, the wife of his son Nathan Richard Doyel and my great grandmother