Marion Co TOC

'Thomps' Pace, ferry operator

    "Shown resting as he waited for a ferry customer many years ago is William Thompson "Thomps" Pace, then owner/operator of Pace's Ferry across White River near what is now Bull Shoals.
    If you go into Bull Shoals you will see a street sign, Pace's Ferry Road. In those days, if you took it down the hill and across the saddle from the boat dock between Jimmie's Creek and Little Sister to its mouth, you would have found this old fellow or someone he hired to take you across the river on up the road to Promise Land or to the left to Oakland.
    "Thomps" purchased the ferry, which had been run by his older brother, Joe, before Joe headed for another "land of opportunity," Oklahoma, in 1918.
    Thomps farmed approximately 200 acres above the ferry and facing Gunnel Fork. Gunnel was given its name from the gunnels he cut for his boat in the creek below his place.
    Thomps raised 11 children there by his farm and ferry and didn't move until the lake forced him out of business. His last days were enjoyed in Yellville, where he retired."

(From Genealogies of Marion Co - pg 181): William Thompson "Thomps" Pace (son of William Carroll & Emily (McCracken) Pace b. 26 Dec 1869 Marion Co AR d. 25 Feb 1953 m. Josephine Hogan (daughter of Calvin & Sarah/Sallie (Yochum) Hogan) b. ca 1872 Marion Co AR d. bef 1898