--photos by Leroy Blair, 2001

Union Hill Cemetery

Union Hill, Arkansas

• List updated June 21, 2004
• Legal description: SW, NE, SW, Sect.6, T6N, R10W
• Earliest listed grave: 1859
• Last listed grave: Active
  
• GPS Listing: (link)
• Arkansas Archeological Survey site #: 3WH0671

This cemetery is located on the western edge of White County in Section 6, Township 6 North, Range 10 West. It was first listed August 23, 1964, by Don Brown, who also wrote the history of Union Hill which accompanies this cemetery report. He found many graves without inscribed tombstones, noting, "Most of such graves are marked at the head and foot with natural red fieldstones, as was once the custom for marking graves. There are no tombstones which are illegible, although a few of the old ones are broken in two. Also included in this list are graves with mortician’s markers. There are some such markers, which are impossible to read." He also included the names of eight Stones who were known to be buried here but have no markers. This cemetery has also been known as Stone Cemetery. Additions were made to the Brown survey when Mrs. Imogene Rowe and Cloie Presley of the White County Historical Society visited the cemetery on February 26, 1976.

Leroy Blair of the Historical Society visited the cemetery January 9, 2001, and prepared an update, then made additions in late 2002. According to his 2001 report, "To get to this cemetery from El Paso, go north on Highway 5 about three miles to John Fowlkes Road. Turn left and go about one and a half miles to Cemetery Road. Turn right and go about a half-mile. The cemetery is on the left, about one mile south of Oliver Cemetery. This cemetery is very well cared for. Graves that were unmarked are now marked with small cement blocks and the rocks that mark other graves are painted white." Blair found about 60 graves marked with painted rocks or cement blocks. He did not see any unmarked graves. He added 59 entries that were not on the 1976 list. Blair was unable to find the following graves that were on that 25-year-old list: David Alexander Hogan, John Hogan, Leeony Hogan, George W. Renfro, Anna Myrtle Stone, Rupert K. Stone son of D.E. and Ella, and Mary Vider Stone.

Additional information on the Stone family was provided in April 2002 by Jack Blair of League City, Texas, a great grandson of G.W.D. "Dal" Stone, who was buried here in 1911: "Dal Stone was a farmer all his life and a justice of the peace in White County for 25 years. He came with his parents from Hardin County, Tennessee, where he was born, in 1853. He married Lou Candy Strickland February 17, 1869, with a license from Conway County, Arkansas. The minister was D. Lewis. The license shows Lunanny Stricklin instead of Lou Candy Strickland. Dal’s youngest brother Richard Dabner Stone was born February 6, 1853, in Hardin County; therefore, their parents Meredith and Elizabeth Ann (Garrett) Stone could not have come to Arkansas in 1851 as many people report. The family stayed in Tennessee until after the death of Elizabeth Ann’s mother in 1853. Dal and Lou show first in the 1880 census for White County, and again in 1900 and 1910. Lou shows up in the 1920 census for Lawrence County, Arkansas, with her daughter Mary Ann (Stone) Day and her husband William Frederick Day. Mary Ann had married to W.A. Nelson  in Arkansas and divorced him in 1902 after my mother’s birth. I feel duplicate entries have been made in Union Hill Cemetery as various people tried to tidy up the records."

See Union Hill History for more information

If you have corrections or additional information on Union Hill Cemetery, contact the White County Historical Society, P.O. Box 537, Searcy, AR 72145.