Steed Cemetery

South of Bradford AR.

There are no pictures of this cemetery available.

This Cemetery is also known as: None known

GPS Location: 596321 – 638234-3918667

Arkansas Archeological Survey site #:3WH0665

Number of Marked Graves: About 1 Unreadable to read name or dates

Number of Unmarked Graves: Unknown

The last complete survey of this cemetery was: January 13, 2003 By Leroy Blair

Current status of cemetery: No longer in use

Point of contact for cemetery. No known contact person.

This is the final resting place for members of the Steed family who settled in this area shortly after the Civil War. There are several

graves here but only one is identified with a headstone, two-year-old Festus Steed who died in 1896.

Leroy Blair of the White County Historical Society visited this cemetery January 13, 2003, after receiving information about it from

the property owners. Following is Blair’s report:

"The cemetery is located at the residence of Dr. and Mrs. Bernard C. Smith of Bradford. The burials are on a hill in a pasture field.

The Smith home is located on the right side of Highway 367 about two miles south of Bradford. There is no street number. About

two miles south of Bradford there is a grove of pine trees on the side of the highway with a paved driveway going up through them.

The home is about 200 yards from the highway and cannot be seen from the highway. Just before you get to the house, turn right

across a dam that holds a large lake or pond. Follow the farm road through two gates. The cemetery is on the left about 100 feet

after you go through the second gate. There is one grave with information and four marked only with rocks."

Blair reported that Dr. Smith told him, "All of the graves are of Steed children who died of smallpox around the turn of the century."

But Blair said some of the graves, which are marked with field rocks, appear to be too large for children.



Steed family historian Melanie Atkins of Dalton, Georgia, saw the above report on the Internet and in June 2003 reported to the

White County Historical Society that Festus Steed was the son of Green B. Steed and his second wife, Sarah Eliza Whitley Steed.

Contrary to the tombstone, Melanie Atkins stated that records in a Steed family Bible indicate Festus was born in 1894. The

handwritten records in the Bible do not show any other Steeds to be buried here. But the others could be from Sarah Eliza Steed’s

second marriage, to another man named Steed.

According to Melanie Atkins, Green Steed was born June 10, 1844 in Tennessee and married Eloise Woodward in White County on

Christmas Eve, 1867. Six children ensued, including two who died in childhood, Tennessee Eloise in 1879 and Zachary Woodward

in 1888. But neither is buried here. The Steed family Bible indicates that Green Steed moved his family to Fannin County, Texas, in

1878. It was while they were living there that Tennessee Eloise died, after falling into an open fire. She was buried in Fannin

County, and the Steed family back to White County shortly afterward. After the death of Eloise in 1885, Green Steed married Sarah

Eliza Whitley of Bradford August 26, 1888. Three children were born during the next five years, the last being Festus in 1893 or ‘94.

Green Steed died of blood poisoning July 12, 1896, just weeks before Festus died. Green was buried at Prince Cemetery beside his

first wife Eloise but Festus was buried here. Sarah Whitley Steed became the fourth wife of Callier Adkin Steed Jr. December 3,

1899. Green and Callier Adkin may have been from the same Steed family but their common ancestor is not known.

Following is a list of known burials in this cemetery.

Steed, Festus – Died in 1896 – Age 2 years

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Legend: Copyright-Aug.23, 2016-Paul V. Isbell-Webmaster:

Most of the cemetery information listed was collected by Leroy “Lee” Blair Former member of the White

County Historical Society Board of Directors. Now working at the White County Historical Society office on

the square in Searcy. WCHS P. O. Box 537 Searcy, Ark. 72145.

If you have any additions or corrections to the burial listing please contact the Historical Society. Phone 501-

278-5010 or Email me at

lblblair74@gmail.com

or wchs1962@gmail.com



I will be posting more burials later. The Searcy Daily Citizen donated all their Micro Film and Ledgers dating

back to 1953. After reviewing them, if I find a death of a person that we do not have I will to add to the

cemetery listings.

There are some graves listed as unmarked that may have had a tombstone set since the listing was made.

I may have missed some graves when I prepared the listing. Some cemeteries are very hard to get an

accurate listing due to how some graves are scattered

The following Abbreviations are used in the listings

.

FM-Funeral home marker DS-Double tombstone TS-Triple tombstone

(Obit)-means that the Historical Society has, or has access to the Obituary for this person.