Cemetery Menu
THE
DESTRUCTION OF THE HARRELL NEWTON
FAMILY
CEMETERY:
*Est. ca
1857
A little bit of its history from the files of J. Holzer
jcsh432@gmail.com
Originally
posted (11/24/2012)
This posting, updated and posted Sept 2016.
also included
The 1938 Zenia Culp Interview of her
life with the Newtons
{Zenia was born a slave on the Newton
plantation & lived her whole life there}
A little background on the
Newtons
The Harrell Newton Family Cemetery was
located on what once was the farm &
home of Harrell Newton, then passed on to his
son, William Baker Newton.
Later
part of it would become known as the Dunbar
place.
There
were some slaves buried in the family plot or near by.
The main
proof of this was part of the family lore passed along over the years.
The
following brothers migrated to Arkansas:
Green Newton, Harrell Newton,
Isaac Newton, John Newton.
Isaac
ended up residing in Louisiana.
The John Newton house is a museum in El
Dorado.
This
site, covered in the photos here, was located less than 2 miles from the
intersection
of Hwys. 82 east & 16 south.
The
former cemetery & land were located about 300' off the South side of Hwy.
82
(aka
Strong Hwy.) & bordered on the east side by a dirt lane, named Dunbar
Lane.
[As of
2012, a Jehovah Witness Church had been built on the south east corner
off Hwy.
82, at Dunbar Lane]
These
three tombstones were in pristine condition, prior to their removal &
the
clearing of the land around them.
There
was a cable & post fence that ran around this small plot & a rose bush
amidst
the undergrowth, plus bulbs that came up every spring, outlining the graves.
At the
end of this series of photos, are pictures of the tombstones in their new
location
at
Woodlawn Cemetery, on Champagnolle Road, in El Dorado.
You can
see the damage to the tombstones & note the fact that the bases were left
behind.
These
monuments were stuck into the dirt or atop it, with no base foundation.
J. Newton, a
direct descendant of Harrell Newton's has the original receipts for the
tombstones
which were shipped from New Orleans. Mr.
Newton, who resides in New York
was most
distressed to find out what had become of his ancestor's family cemetery,
since he
had at one time, in the1980’s, offered to buy the land to protect it,
but was
told it was protected by law. The first
time a realtor sign was placed
on the
property offering it for sale, back in the early 1990’s, Mr. Newton was alerted
by a
cousin living in El Dorado that the property was for sale. He attempted to
purchase
the
land, but they would not respond to his offers and or phone calls, etc.
Once
this came to his attention, he did engage an attorney & attempted to have
the
headstones relocated to a cemetery of his choice & the monuments repaired.
It
became a very expensive losing battle, unless he wanted to
pour
more money into the fight. The owner of
the land wanted to sell the land
&
the cemetery was in his way; he made no attempt to contact any of the Newton relatives
&
even though most thought it was protected by law, eliminating a cemetery was an
easy
enough task accomplished, because the agency that protects them,
cannot
possibly oversee all small cemeteries scattered throughout the state.
They
usually must rely on local authorities to see that the preservation
of these
cemeteries are seen to. No attempt was made to locate remains or
remove
them, which a particular procedure is required by Arkansas law.
The
photos with the bulbs erupting in green (which perfectly outlined
each
grave, went undisturbed. A public notice is suppose to be given
for 3
weeks, by law, before destroying a cemetery. The owner posted it for
one day,
in the local newspaper and that was the day he went before the local judge
to get the final permission he needed.
Again,
it is easily accomplished, with no one
being
the wiser. Many of these old family cemeteries are now standing
where
the land has been sold several times over the years. They are forgotten
until an
old land plat/survey catches some one's eye or a relative's memory is jogged
&
they pass along the location of these little
cemeteries.
I will
not get into all the details, but a brief mention, I felt, was necessary
to go along with this posting, which I am
only posting so that it will be
there
for generations to come, who are descendants of the Newton family.
There
are two other Newton family cemeteries
in Union County.
The Green Newton Cemetery & the Newton-Dunaway
Cemetery.
Both are
located on private property.
The Green Newton Cemetery had the large
obelisk tombstone, marking Green's
grave
stolen many years ago. Sections of the wrought iron fence have also
disappeared
with time. As time marches on many of
the old tombstones are
not faring too well.
However,
there are a couple of local descendants of this family
who try
to get by there now & then to check on things.
PICTURES before the land was cleared
& the cemetery removed.(2004)
I believe the land was cleared around
the cemetery about 2003, making the cemetery
visible from the highway. I have no
pictures from that time. It was a
jungle & most
folks did not know the little cemetery
was there.
The 1st
photos, I have of the Newton Cemetery were taken in Mar 2004,
but not posted online until 2005. Further along in this narration,
there are pictures of the cemetery, once
the destruction began. I live
over a hundred miles away, so the first
I knew was a passerby, alerted me
with an email, because they had seen my
postings of various cemeteries online.
▲In the
photo above, you can see the two strands of cable that ran around the
perimeter of
the plot.
(2) Mar
2004: The front of the tombstones are
facing west.
Note the green at the left
side of Harrell Newton's headstone.
On the
opposite right end of the row is baby Penelope's grave obscured by a green
bush.
Note the close
proximity of the saplings growing around these headstones.
Toward the
bottom of the photo, you can see the cables that ran around the
perimeter of the
cemetery /plot.
At this time,
the woods & all the undergrowth, surrounding the cemetery had been cleared
away.
It would remain like this until a year or so
later, when the land was put on the market.....
approximately
10 acres, with the cemetery on a small knoll almost in the center of the land.
Before the
land was cleared, the cemetery was invisible because of all the undergrowth
& trees.
(3) Mar
2004:▼▲Close-up of Harrell Newton's headstone with pink chalk on
it.
Dunbar Lane in
background of picture which runs along the eastern edge of the
property off
of Hwy. 82 east.
(4)
Mar 2004 ▲ Above in the
middle, is William Baker Newton
▼ 2 yr old Penelope Newton 1855-1857 on
south end of row.
Wm. Baker Newton to left & in the center
between Penelope & Harrell Newton.
(5) Mar 2004 ▼L-R:
Harrell, William Baker and Penelope Newton
* The original
headstones actually faced west, instead of the more traditional east.
These pictures along
with the relocated damaged monuments, demonstrate what a
sloppy job was done.
The following are the last pictures taken before these
monuments were removed &
relocated in Woodlawn Cemetery, El Dorado, Arkansas.
Pictures of Newton Family Cemetery in 2004 and the remains in 2006.
February 2006: It is with great sadness, that I bring
news of the destruction of this cemetery.
The 3 monuments have been moved to Woodlawn Cemetery in
El Dorado.
They are now located in the southwest corner of Woodlawn
facing, Mosby Street
(almost directly across from the church).
I am posting pictures of the monuments in their new
location and the current view
of what was the cemetery. The larger obelisk had a fair
amount of damage done to it in the
relocation process. The smaller headstone for the child
was broken off even with the ground
and re-implanted in the dirt. All the original bases for
these three monuments were left behind
at the old cemetery, so the tombstones were reinstalled
in/on the bare dirt.
Mr. Jay Newton,a direct descendant, told me that he has
the original receipts for the
purchase of these monuments. They were bought and shipped
up the river from New Orleans.
Had it not been for the vigilance of a passer-by, who
alerted me to what was happening
to the old cemetery, I would not have known.
It did take some effort on my part and that of
others to find out where the monuments
had been re-located to.
*This was from my earlier posting on this cemetery on the
Rootsweb site.
*L-R: Harrel Newton – Wm. Baker
Newton – Penelope Newton
{Penelope
D/of Harrell Newton}
18 month old
Penelope Newton Oct 17, 1855 to Apr 17,
1857
Harrell Newton
9/1/1818 to 7/20/1866
Brother to
Green Newton.
William Baker Newton aka
"Billy"
*Front to back: Harrell, Wm.,
Penelope▼
▼ Harrel – middle, Wm. B. (aka Billy) –
Penelope Newton ▼
(01) Feb 19 2006 Remains
of what was the Newton Family cemetery
and the bases that were left behind for each of the three
headstones.
I believe this is looking east toward Dunbar lane.
*In my opinion these views of the remains of the original cemetery lead
me to believe,
that the location of the bases in these photos are not where they were
originally,
but had no doubt been moved about.
Funny how they moved them about, but
would not make the effort to take them along and re-install them
beneath
the monuments. They just broke
Penelope’s stone off, rather than
trying to excavate the base, which was a small simple headstone to deal
with.
(1) Remains of a base visible (2)Looking southwest from graves.
(03) Feb 2006: ▼ Base for Harrell Newton's monument.
Note the sprigs of green…. these are jonquils or Narcissus bulbs that
have sprouted ..
*In some of the pictures the erupting green sprigs appear to be in a
perfect rectangular
outline. In the old photo,
taken a few weeks later in the year, the only possible green
sprigs appearing, are at the
base of Harrell's stone, but they appear no where else.
It was later in the year, so these should have appeared as they did
below….
to me this indicates that the bases are not in the original location.
(04) Feb 2006: ▼ Covered
with dirt (to the right of the marble square,
are the remains of the base broken off of Penelope's headstone.
The slab of marble lying behind it is is the base pieces for one of the
obelisk belonging to Harrell or Wm. B. Newton.
(05) Feb 2006: ▼ Below
you can see the broken base part of Penelope's headstone:
the ??? piece of marble: and in the background the larger base for
Harrell's tombstone.
(06) Feb 2006: ▼ In this
picture you can see the base for Harrell's headstone
and I believe, the partially exposed base for Wm. Baker
Newton
(07) Feb 2006: ▼ (08) Feb 2006: ▼
(09) Feb 2006: ▼
*Purple is one of the highest spiritual
colors, with white being above, the purest of colors,
usually signifying the Great Spirit
(God).
Purple is found in the third eye when
someone has had a specifically
spiritual awakening or experience.
The orb could be from sunlight
filtering through the trees and reflecting back on your lens,
or it could very well be a spirit.
* These photos taken
on Feb 19, 2006, were all taken between 3:30 p.m. & 5 p.m. CST
The above comment about the purple orb was sent to me by the
person who had taken this photo.
***************************
Continued to Woodlawn Cemetery.
Mr. Newton resides in New York &
spent a lot of money to try rectify what was done
to his family's graves, etc., but
the damage was done & the owner of the land
refused to give Mr. Newton the deed
to these grave sites, nor would he remove the bases &
place them beneath the monuments.
The land is still for sale & I keep thinking that it would be
justice if it never sells, since his
excuse was the cemetery cost him the sale of the property.
Pictures of the Newton monuments installed in Woodlawn Cemetery, El
Dorado. (2006)
The street in the background is North Molsby which runs off of
Champagnolle Rd.
Out of sight but to the left of this photo is the main entrance into
Arlington Memorial Park Cemetery....at the entrance the middle section has a
flag pole which sort of divides Arlington & Woodlawn Cemetery.
The white spots are chunks/chips in
the marble of the monuments. Penelope's headstone
was broken off at ground level,
leaving behind the base & buried in the dirt here.
Church is out of sight in this
photo, but it is to the right across North Molsby Street.
This picture was taken farther
back...the three headstones are on the right side of the curve.
Note: no bases, just sitting in or
on top of the bare dirt.
▼ Looking northeast with Molsby
street behind me.
Close-ups of the damage done to the
headstones.
The following information is
miscellaneous information on the Newton family,
that some of you may find useful,
if you are researching this family.
By Janice Holzer jcsh432@gmail.com
HARRELL
NEWTON 9-1-1818
to 7-20-1866 "Father"
WILLIAM
BAKER NEWTON 1855 to 11-18-1924 (WOW marker)
* W.B. Newton md: *2nd wife, Pearl Parnell 1906, Book
P-18, Union Co., AR
*W.B. Newton,45, El Dorado, Union Co., AR to Mrs. Pearl Parnell, 32, El Dorado,
Union Co., AR
Md: by J.F. McKenzie 20 Dec 1906
; Recorded 24 Dec 1906 Book P-Page 181
*T.E. Adams security
PENELOPE
NEWTON 10-17-1855 to 4-17-1857
This
Newton Family Cemetery was located
just southeast of El Dorado;
about
400 ft. off of Hwy. 82 East
(about
2 miles from the junction of Hwy. 82
and Hwy. 167 south)..
DAR
inventoried this cemetery many years ago.
Until
the fall of 2003, it was almost impossible to get to this little cemetery
without crawling on
all
fours, through a heavy undergrowth of vines, bushes, briars, etc. The cemetery
was completely
hidden
in the jungle of plant growth. Someone clear-cut the surrounding (approx. 5 to
7 acres) area,
in
order to sell the timber, where the cemetery is located.
You
can still see in the photos the growth of vines, trees, etc. at the cemetery.
There
once were strands of large cable,
looped between wooden post,
surrounding
the little cemetery.
There
were roses growing in with all the tangle of vines and bushes.
There were three graves with two
large obelisk tombstones for the two males
& a smaller standard type
tombstone for the female. These tombstones were in excellent
condition, but there were plenty
of saplings & vines all around them.
They were surrounded by four old
wooden post, connected by a steel cable.
Most of the
post had rotted, but at least 3 of
the corner post were still standing & the "cabled - off"
area (about 14' x 14')was sagging.
There were only 3 graves visible. William Baker Newton
who
had the smaller WOW headstone, in the middle; Harrell Newton who had the
largest obelisk
(*you
can see pink chalk on his obelisk which I used in order to try to get a better
photo of it);
the
third small stone belonged to Penelope Newton, a 2 yr. old child.
Interviewer: Mrs. Carol Graham, El Dorado Division
Person interviewed: Zenia Culp
Age: Over 80 [Jan 29 1938]
["Billy
Newton" is aka William B. Newton(1855-1924)
son of Harrel
Newton(1818-1966) Owners of the plantation that
ZENIA CULP was born on & grew up on. The family she referred to,
below in her
interview, were William Baker Newton aka "Billy" her
child she was
nursemaid to and Pearl Newton, Billy's wife. Briefly
mentioned was,
John Gipson Dunbar(1870-1924), my maternal
grandfather's
half-brother, & the purchaser of part of the land
that once
belonged to the Newton Plantation / Family.
*This note added
by J. Holzer]
"Yas'm,
my name is Zenia,
Zenia Culp 'tis now since I married. My old
master's
name was Billy Newton. Him and three
more brothers come
here
and settled in this county years ago and Master
Billy settled this farm.
I
was born and raised here and ain't never lived nowheres else. I used to be
nurse
girl and lived up at the big house. You know up there where Mr. John
Dunbar's widow lives now. And the family burying groun' is
jus'
a
little south of the house where you sees them trees and tomb
stones
out in the middle of the field.
"Master
Billy's folks was so good to me and I sure thought a heap of
young
Master Billy. Believe I told you I was the nurse girl.
Well,
young Master Billy was my special
care. And he was a live one too.
I
sure had a time keepin' up wid that young rascal. I would get him ready
for
bed every night. In summer time he went barefoot like all little chaps
does
and course I would wash his foots before I put him to bed. That little
fellow
would be so sleepy sometime that he would say: 'Don't wash em,
Zenia,
jes' wet em.' Oh, he was a sight, young Master Billy was.
"Does
you know Miss Pearl? She live there
in El Dorado.
She
is young master's widow. Miss Pearl
comes out to see me
sometime
and we talks lots bout young Master Billy.
"Yas'm,
I'se always lived here where I was born. Never moved way
from
de old plantation. Course things is changed lots since the days
when
old Master Billy was livin'. When he went off to the war he took
most
of the men black folks and the womens stayed home to take care
of
mistress and the chillun.
"My
husban' been dead a long, long time and I live here wid my son.
His
wife is gone from home dis evenin'. So I thought I'd come out
and
pick off some peanuts jes' to git out in the sunshine awhile. That's my
son
out there makin' sorghum. My daughter-in-law is so good to me.
She
treats me like I was a baby.
"You
asks me to tell you something bout slave days, and how we done
our
work then. Well, as I tell you, my job was nurse girl and all I had
to
do was to keep up wid young Master Billy and that wasn't no work
tall,
that was just fun. But while I'd be followin' roun' after him I'd see
how
the others would be doin' things.
"When
they gathered sweet potatoes they would dig a pit and line it with
straw
and put the tatoes in it then cover them with straw and build a
coop
over it. This would keep the potatoes from rotting. The Irish
potatoes
they would spread out in the sand under the house and
the
onions they would hand up in the fence to keep them from rotting.
"In
old Master Newton's day they didn'
have ice boxes and they
would
put the milk and butter and eggs in buckets and let
em
down in the well to keep em cool.
"Master's
niggers lived in log houses down at de quarters but they was
fed
out of the big house. I members they had a long table to eat off and
kept
hit scoured so nice and clean with sand and ashes and they scoured
the
floors like that too and it made em so purty and white. They made
their
mops cut of shucks. I always eat in the nursery with young
Master
Billy.
"They
had big old fireplaces in Master's house and I never seen a
stove
till after the war.
"I
member bein' down at the quarters one time and one of the
women
had the sideache and they put poultices on her made out of
shucks
and hot ashes and that sho'ly did ease the pain.
"The
pick-a-ninnies had a time playin'. Seein' these peanuts
minds
me that they used to bust the ends and put them on
their
ears for ear rings. Course Master Billy
had to try it too,
then
let out a howl cause they pinched.
"Lan',
but them was good old days when Master Billy was alive."
*Due to recent info sent
to me by descendant's of the Newton family, it has come to my attention,
that there is another
cemetery located a few miles southeast of this one, in the Hillsboro area,
the Green Newton Family Cemetery. Some of the folks listed here and
mentioned above
(without markers) are
most likely buried at the Green Newton
Family Cemetery,
which is located on
private property in the Hillsboro area.
The cemetery is located
on private property.
I have been told that
once there was a huge obelisk on Green
Newton's
grave, which
one day just disappeared????
There is a small fence
around this cemetery. Some relatives
tell me that
they visit now &
then to try & tidy up things & to keep an eye on it.
I am told that the fence
is rapidly disappearing.
MISCELLANEOUS NEWTON INFO
GEORGE BUCHANAN
1883 to 1923
ELIZABETH JANE NEWTON 6-8-1813 to
11-2-1860
Md:
2-28-1830 *wife of Green Newton
ROBERT D. NEWTON 1846 to 1916 "Our brother & sister with
him"
SUSAN ELIZABETH MARRABLE NEWTON 7-27-1848 to
10-11-1895
*wf/of Robert D. Newton
EMILY G. TATUM 8-1-1831 to 11-2-1860 Age 17 yrs-1 mo-7 dys
daug/of
GREEN & JANE NEWTON. Wife of JOHN B. TATUM
*
The above is evidently wrong. Her correct age should have been 29 yrs old.
Emily married John
B. Tatum in 1846, Book A-003B, Union County,AR
John Tatum, Union Co.,AR to Emily Newton, Union
Co.,AR , by C.B. Landers,
Minister
of Primitive Baptist Church, 19 Nov 1846. Consent of Parties and Parents.
Book
A Page 003
*
Mrs. Penelope C. Newton md: Obadiah Lamar 1863, Book B-282, Union
County, Ar.
Obadiah Lamar(54) of Union Co., AR to Mrs.
Penelope C. Newton (50) Union Co., AR
by
Wm. C. Langford, JP also Judge of the County Court 4 Nov 1858. Recorded 17
Sep 1863
(Book
B-Page 204)
JOHN NEWTON (1805 - 1851) married Penelope G. (nee ?) (1813-1875)
John built a grand house in
El Dorado for Penelope, his bride. He
died soon after it
was finished. It is now a
museum. Penelope married as her 2nd husband, Obadiah Lamar .
Penelope and several other
Newton's are buried in the Newton-Dunaway cemetery,
now on private property,
located in heavy woods off Champagnolle Road.