The move West marked great courage and sacrifice by America’s early settlers. Among them was the Welch family, which was headed across White County, Arkansas, when disaster struck. No one in Rose Bud knows where the little family came from or where it was headed, but the trip for three of its members ended here.
The story of this cemetery was recorded for the first time May 14, 2001, by Leroy Blair of the White County Historical Society, who visited the site with his wife Ellen. Following is his report:
"I received a telephone call about this cemetery from a Mrs. Mindie Hodge after an article I had written was published in the Searcy Daily Citizen. In it, I requested information about old cemeteries. The property where the graves are located is currently owned by a Mrs. Anita Herrington. I talked to Mr. Darrell Hare, father of Mindie Hodge, who told me the story of what happened.
"This land has been in Mr. Hare’s family for about 150 years. He said his great-great-grandfather had always told everyone that a wagon train traveling through the area had stopped when some of the people on the wagon train came down with typhoid fever and stayed there four or five months. A family named Welch was from the wagon train. Three members of their family died and were buried here – the mother, a son and a daughter. I was able to find only one stone with names on it. But I found two square-cut rocks that at one time probably marked the other graves.
"To get to the cemetery from Rose Bud, take Highway 36 east about .4 mile o White Road. Turn left and go about 1¾ miles to Deer Road. Turn right and go about 200 yards. The cemetery is close to an old house trailer on the left side of the road under some cedar trees. It is fenced with a small fence but is overgrown."
Welch, Roena H. – February 24, 1869 – November 26, 1872 – daughter of J.R. and W.E. Welch
If you have information on this family or this cemetery, contact the White County Historical Society, P.O. Box 537, Searcy, AR 72145.