The Tazwell W. Trice Family History
by Gary TelfordTazwell W. Trice was born December 5, 1813 in Virginia. He migrated to the state of Mississippi and this is where he met his future wife, Martha Ann Dunlap-Parr, widow of John T. S. Parr who had died March 27. 1850 in Monroe Co., MS. Tazwell and Martha were married May 24, 1854 in Pontotoc County, Mississippi.
Martha Ann Dunlap was the daughter of Peter Dunlap of Ireland, and Mary Permelia Driver Dunlap of North Carolina. In 1858 Tazwell and Martha left Mississippi with their three children and came to Arkansas and settled at Cotton Plant in 1858. He was a farmer and land owner there for the next several years.
The Tazwell Trice family originated the old Trice Cemetery on part of the land they owned. Members of the Trice family are buried there, their descendants are buried nearby, and in an adjacent area some members of the Crafford family are buried. The land on which the cemeteries are located later became the L. O. Vincent farm, located about three miles west and about two miles south of Cotton Plant in Woodruff County, Arkansas.
A brother, Benjamin A. Trice also born in Virginia, settled in Cotton Plant and died October 18, 1859 and is buried in the Trice Cemetery.
Tazwell and Martha had six known children with the first three being born in Mississippi and the last three being born at Cotton Plant, Arkansas. Tazwell died December 27, 1873 in Cotton Plant and was buried in the Trice Cemetery. Martha Ann Dunlap-Parr Trice was born November 4, 1829 and died December 14, 1916 in Cotton Plant and is buried in the Trice Cemetery. Martha's brother, John William Dunlap, was born October 15, 1827 and married Mary F. Reid. He died July 6, 1863 and is also buried in the Trice Cemetery. Children of Tazwell and Martha were as follows; (1) John Robert "Bob" Trice Sr. born March 1855; (2) Pauline Trice was born April 30, 1856; (3) James Peter "Jim" Trice was born December 6, 1857; (4) William Tell (Judge) Trice was born April 1859; (5) Benjamin A. Trice was born March 9, 1861 and died April 19, 1928 in Cotton Plant and is buried in the Trice Cemetery; (6) Martha L. Trice was born about 1868 and we have no other information on her.
John Robert "Bob" Trice Sr. (1 above) married Mary Elizabeth "Molly" unknown. She was born November 12, 1862 and died November 23, 1884 at Cotton Plant and is buried in the Trice Cemetery. After the death of his first wife he married Mary E. Shelton who was born 1865 and died 1945. John Robert Trice Sr. died 1943. Both are buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery. They were the parents of two known children; (1) Nina Trice born October 1893 and she married Sidney J. Jeffett who was born 1889 and died 1932. Nina died 1947. Both are buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery; (2) John Robert Trice Jr. was born 1898 and he married Grace Burkett who was born August 23, 1898 and died June 17, 1973. John died 1959. Both are buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery.
Pauline Trice, daughter of Tazwell and Martha, was born April 30, 1856 and died July 8, 1918 and is buried in the Trice Cemetery. She married a Mr. Hammond and they were the parents of one known daughter, Alma Hammond who was born January 1874 and married a Mr Oren. Alma Hammond Oren died November 2, 1932 in Cotton Plant and is buried in the Trice Cemetery.
James Peter "Jim" Trice, son of Tazwell and Martha Trice, born December 6, 1857, married Cynthia Lyde "Mitt" Tarpley on October 12, 1884. She was the daughter of Abel and Mary Linthicum Tarpley. Cynthia was born October 23, 1864 and died May 6, 1948. James Peter "Jim" Trice died March 21, 1927. Both are buried in the Trice Cemetery. James and Cynthia were the parents of ten known children; (1) Annie Mae Trice born about 1885 and married a Mr. Stover; (2) Cecil Trice born December 26, 1886 and died December 1976; (3) Lena Trice born about 1888; (4) James Trice born December 10, 1890 and he married Kate Baggett. James Trice was a graduate of Hendrix College, and was a ordained Methodist Minister, a math teacher in Brinkley High School and a Sunday School teacher in the First United Methodist Church in Brinkley for over 50 years. He farmed in the Dark Corner Community from 1939 until he retired in 1980. James died June 14, 1990 in Forrest City, St. Francis Co., AR. His funeral services were June 16, 1990 in the First United Methodist Church in Brinkley with burial in the Oaklawn Cemetery in Brinkley. He was preceded in death by his wife Katie. (5) Floyd Benjamin Trice was born December 16, 1893. He married first, Della May Lewis who was born August 13, 1897 and died February 2, 1937 and is buried in Trice Cemetery. He married second, Myrtle Simmons, daughter of W. T. and Arrie Roebuck Simmons, who was born October 16, 1910 and died April 1967 in Des Arc, AR. Floyd B. died June 1974 in Des Arc, AR. Both Floyd and Myrtle are buried in the Lakeside Cemetery, Des Arc, AR; (6) Grace Trice was born about 1894 and we have no other information on her; (7) Tarpley Trice was born April 6, 1898 and married Maude Rogers. Tarpley died October 4, 1974 in Cotton Plant and is buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery; (8) Nellie Trice was born after 1898 and no other information on her; (9) Howard Trice born August 21, 1900 and died July 1973 in Searcy Co., AR. He married Dorothy Lindauer; (10) John Melvin Trice was born August 7, 1903 and died December 6, 1967 in Cotton Plant and is buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery.
William Tell (Judge) Trice, son of Tazwell and Martha Trice, was born April 1859 in Cotton Plant and he married Minnie C. Shelton about 1884. In a book regarding the History of the Ebenezer Church, which was located three miles west of Cotton Plant, off Highway 38, Judge W. T. Trice stated that his father, Tazwell W. Trice prepared the deed, in 1866, which conveyed two acres of land from J. S. McDonald, to Thomas Wilson, A. L. Tarpley, and Henry Lynthicum, as trustees for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for a Church and Cemetery. Judge Trice also stated that this was the first church of any denomination in the southern part of Woodruff County and the north end of Monroe County.
The first regular pastor that Judge Trice remembered served in 1865 and 1866. William Tell (Judge) Trice died in 1942 in Cotton Plant. His wife Minnie Shelton Trice was born 1863 and died 1924 in Cotton Plant. Both are buried in the Trice Cemetery. They were the parents of six known children all born in Cotton Plant; (1) Oma Shelton Trice born January 14, 1884 and died October 20, 1887 in Cotton Plant and is buried in the Trice Cemetery; (2) Tazwell E. Trice born July 17, 1886; (3) William Ed Trice was born November 14, 1892 and died September 29, 1967 in Lake Village, AR and was buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery; (4) Erma Trice was born and we have no other information on her; (5) Zirlene Trice was born October 29, 1901. Zirlene attended Henderson-Brown College in Arkadelphia, AR and later did graduate work at the University of Texas. She taught elementary school and American History in several schools, including Dumas, Lake Village, Cotton Plant, Marked Tree, Crossett and Lordsburg, New Mexico. She was a member of the Busy Bee Club, Hypsion Club and the Methodist Guild. Miss Zirlene and her sister could always be counted on for whatever type help was needed to promote Cotton Plant. She died December 27, 1990 in Brinkley, Monroe County, AR and was buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery; (6) Leora Trice is buried in the Trice Cemetery with no dates on marker.
Tazwell E. Trice, son of William Tell (Judge) and Minnie Shelton Trice, married Margaret Gregory who was born August 23, 1890, and they were the parents of one known child; (1) William J. Trice who was born September 24, 1911 and died March 23, 1938 and is buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery. Tazwell died April 5, 1957 and Margaret died February 18, 1975. Both are buried in the Cotton Plant Cemetery.