Tri-County Genealogical Society
"because the trail is here"
Phillips - Lee - Monroe Counties in Eastern Arkansas
PHILLIPS COUNTY
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
VOLUME 5
NUMBER 1
DECEMBER, 1966
Published by
The Phillips County Historical Society
The Phillips County Historical Society supplies the Quarterly to its members. Membership is open to anyone interested in Phillips County history. Annual membership dues are individual active members, $3.00, $3.50 if Quarterlies are mailed, man and wife, $5.00, $6.00 if Quarterlies are mailed (to both man and wife). Institutional, contributing and sustaining memberships are $5 00. Single copies of the Quarterly are $1.00.
Neither the Editors nor the Phillips County Historical Society assume any responsibility for statements made by contributors Correspondence concerning such matters should be addressed to the authors, and concerning other matters should be addressed to Mrs. L. R. Parmelee, Secretary, 172 Helendale, Helena, Arkansas.
Dues are payable to Miss Bessie McRee, Membership Chairman, P. O. Box 629, Helena Arkansas 72342. Make checks payable to Phillips County Historical Society, or payment may be made at County Treasurer's Office, Courthouse, Helena.
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Meetings are held on the fourth Sunday in the month, at 3:30 P.M, at the Phillips County Museum, Helena. No meetings are held in December, June, July, and August. The Quarterly is published in September, December, March, and June.
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PHILLIPS COUNTY
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Volume 5
December, 1966
Number 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Hopewell Culture Burial Mounds
A Letter
Newspaper Extract
Ella King Newsom, Confederate Nurse
Memories of Helena
Newspaper Extract
A Fiftieth Anniversary
Newspaper Extract
Diary of Sue Cook
Programs
Membership Roster
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HOPEWELL CULTURE BURIAL MOUNDS
NEAR HELENA, ARKANSAS
by
JAMES A. FORD
(The following introduction and excavation of Mound C were printed in the Phillips County Historical Quarterly of February, 1964, as taken from Dr. Ford's report for the American Museum of Natural History. The introduction is here used again with excavation of Mound B)
INTRODUCTION
"The Helena Crossing Site was discovered by James B. Griffin, Phillip Phillips, and the writer in 1940 in the course of an archeological survey we were then making in the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River. Local residents were unaware that this was a prehistoric site, an understandable error, because the five mounds that then composed the group were situated on the southeastern edge of Crowley's Ridge, and the loose soil that caps this ridge had eroded into deep gullies, leaving narrow rounded ridges that in some cases resembled mounds. The archeological surveyors, however, were very much impressed, the field notes conclude. "A very spectacular site, mounds occuping a commanding positions at terminus of ridge with fine view of river and valley."
The sketch map made of the site at the time of discovery is reproduced in Fig. 1, with minor modification. The five almost conical mounds, varying little in size, were approximately 100 feet in diameter and 15 to 20 feet high. Mound A, located on flat land at the foot of the ridge, was 20 feet high; heights of the other mounds were difficult to judge, for they surmounted the tops of narrow, rounded fingers of Crowley's Ridge.
Sherds and flint chips were very scarce either on or about the Helena Crossing mounds. This fact, as well as their shapes and location, convinced the surveyors that these were burial structures of the Hopewell-Marksville cultural period. However, this was only an opinion, and as opinions cannot be seriated like potsherd collections, the Helena Crossing Site received very little mention in the report of the survey in which it was listed as 14-N-6.
Our special interest in the Helena Crossing Site derives from the fact that, although the burial complex of the Hopewell culture as it existed in Illinois is well known, and the closely related Marksville culture is known in Louisiana from the excavation of two sites, there existed a geographical gap in our information approximately 400 miles long through the central part of the alluvial valley. The Helena Crossing Site, located near the center of this gap, promised
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the needed information about Hopewell burial practices.
In the spring of 1958, while excavating the Menard Site on the Arkansas River, I had another opportunity to visit this locality. It was depressing to discover that it had suffered the same fate that had overtaken hundreds of other archeological sites since heavy, earthmoving machines had come into use. The highway approaches the grade crossing over the railroad tracks had been re-routed and traversed the spot where Mound D had stood (Fig 1). The preceding year Mound A had been leveled to provide a parking apron for a new filling station. The bulldozer operator had found pottery and bones. A few of these objects were saved but were promptly lost. A house had been built on Mound E which had been partially leveled. Only Mounds B and C remained. It appeared, however, that these two mounds would not be long undisturbed. A bridge across the Mississippi River was in process of construction, and the approach road ran into the foot of the bluff in front of the mound site. To the east and west of the remaining mounds large areas had been leveled by the borrowing of the earth for road construction, and these areas were soon to be occupied by tourist courts.
Excavation of Mounds B and C of the Helena Crossing Site was begun September 12, 1960, and field-work was concluded December 20 of that year. The crew consisted of from 7 to 10 laborers working under my direction and that of Asa Mays, Jr., a graduate student of anthropology from the Ohio State University. James Hulsey of Helena assisted in the clearing of tombs and other special work. Excavation was begun in an oppressive heat wave, and the trowel work on the last four log-roofed tombs was done in freezing rain inside a tent enlarged with poles and sheer plastic.
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MOUND B
The Second of The Two Mounds that remained of the original five in the Helena Group was Mound B (Fig 1). It was located on a projecting finger of the lower slopes of Crowley's Ridge, just a few feet above the level flood plain that stretches out toward the Mississippi River. When the highway that runs along the foot of the ridge was relocated, the southern edge of the mound was trimmed, but fortunately not far enough to touch its central feature. The house of the manager of the plantation is just across the road, and a former manager had constructed a storm shelter into the southeastern side of the mound. Again, fortunately no damage was done.
Mound B was oval in shape, approximately 100 feet long southeast to northwest, and 60 feet wide at right angles to this dimension. A 5-foot grid was staked over the mound, aligned with its long axis so that the base line was exactly 45 degrees east of true north. Excavation was begun along the northeastern edge. By the time we were making the third 5-foot slice, it was clearly apparent that this mound differed considerably from Mound C in one important respect. Mound C was composed of loess, but Mound B was constructed of bottom-land clay. It was hard. Mattocks made little impression on it. Cutting with a turning plow pulled by the wince of a "jeep" was tried. This worked only slightly better and obviously was not practical. No cultural material was found in the fill, so it was decided to try a bulldozer
An earth-moving contractor in Helena supplied a D-6 with a 12-foot blade. This was used to cut slices 15 feet wide across the mound along the northeast-southwest axis, leaving walls 5 feet wide standing between the slices to provide information on profiles. After some preliminary preparation of the surface, the operator was able to shave a layer 1 inch thick in each trench completely around the mound. This operation left a very clean floor which, as it did not have a chance to dry out, provided considerably more information than such floors usually do when dug by hand. Although the operator was constantly stopped so that suspicious areas might be examined, the entire mound was shaved down to its two principal features in only four hours of tractor time. If done by hand, this work would have required weeks of time and more money than was budgeted for this portion of the project. Under the conditions presented by this mound, the use of a tractor gave results superior to those produced by hand labor. On the other hand, had a machine been used in Mound C, some of the scattered burials might have been damaged. Unfortunately, the selection of a method for excavating must be a matter of guess; there is no way to X-ray a mound before beginning work.
Outside the central tomb, described below, there were only two human skulls and a fragment of a femur. These were found while guide trenches were being dug in preparation for the bulldozing. They
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were only 0.5 foot beneath the surface of the mound top and were in such poor condition that they could not be saved. It is uncertain whether these were the remains of Indians.
PILE OF LOGS
In the vicinity of stake North 95, West 40, a little to the northwest of the center of the mound, soft areas appeared as the machine scraped down near the base of the mound. Also, slight evidence of collapse showed in the arrangement of the basket loads of different colored soil visible in the profile that was left along line North 95. Bulldozing was stopped in this area, and excavation was continued by hand. We had hoped to find a tomb beneath this area, but were disappointed. In constructing the mound, the Indians had piled four large logs on the old ground surface at this point. The decay of these logs allowed niter to form in the cavities, and, as the old log molds collapsed, they produced the evidences of disturbances that were noted higher in the mound.
TOMB A
The second disturbed area that was visible as the base of the mound was approached was toward the southeastern end of the elongated mound. It showed more definite signs of collapse, niter had formed in the cracks between the separated clods of earth. We were aware of the outline of this large tomb while at least 4 feet above the roofing timbers. Shaving with the bulldozer proceeded so successfully that this method was continued until the blade touched the top of the molds of the roofing logs at the ends, where they lay on the original ground surface. Bulldozing was then discontinued, and the tomb was cleaned by hand. This work was made difficult by the continued rains and cold weather.
Tomb A was constructed by the digging of a rectangular pit beneath the old ground surface. The pit measured about 16 feet southeast to northwest and 10.5 feet in the opposite direction, and was about 5 feet deep. The floor sloped slightly toward the southeast, the direction of the slope of the hill. Small logs about 0.5 foot in diameter were placed on the floor along the walls at the southeastern and northwestern ends of the pit. Extending over these small logs, large logs at least 4 feet in diameter were placed along the northeastern and southwestern walls. These large logs probably provided direct support of the massive roofing logs that ran at right angles to them and were about the same size or slightly larger. The floor and walls of the had been lined with a simple-weave matting made of split cane. Impressions showed particularly well on the northwestern wall and at various spots on the floor, particularly under the two burials. A thin layer of dark, decayed material, which was probably the remains of bark, skins, or similar material, lay over the matting on the floor.
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The casts of four of the roofing logs showed very plainly on the original ground surfaces where they extended beyond the edges of the pit. However, they could not be traced over the floor of the pit. There is no evidence for the logs that covered the southeastern side of the pit. As is shown in Fig. 36, the end of one of the roofing timbers had been charred. A sample of charcoal collected from here (Find 78) has been submitted to the University of Michigan Radiocarbon Laboratory for assay and is discussed below.
Only two burials lay on the floor of this large tomb. Burial 79, a young adult male, was extended on the back, with legs slightly flexed. At the neck were small, barrel-shaped beads made of conch shell, enough to make a string 60cm. long (Find 83A). The fragments of two similar beads lay at the ankles (Find 83). Near the right shoulder there was a lump of bitumen, a crude sphere about 1 inch in diameter (Find 84). A few inches distant there were eight lamellar blades made from the blue-gray, Harrison County, Indiana, flint. These, all about 5 cm. long, lay side by side as though they had been in a container, and were unused and quite sharp (Find 81, Fig. 37)
Burial 80, a mature male, lay extended on the back, parallel to Burial 79 and 5 feet to the southeast. It had no accompanying grave goods. Between the two skeletons there was a large drinking cup made from the shell of Cassis madagascarensis. This was badly broken, apparently when the tomb roof collapsed.
SCATTERED MATERIAL
Undoubtly the use of a bulldozer is partially responsible for the small amount of cultural material recovered from the fill of Mound B. However, as was noted while digging the three initial trenches, there was very little in this mound, much less than in Mound C. There were nine fragments of broken pebbles and about a dozen flint flakes. Only two sherds were found. One is an Indian Bay Stamped body sherd, the other is red-slipped, a bowl rim fragment that is identical in profile to the red-slipped bowls from the large Pottery Deposit 6 in Mound C (Fig. 31g)
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A LETTER
"Tucker, Ark
Sept. 17, 1932
Dear Mrs. Ware,
What help I can give you will be quite inadequate, but it will be enough to start other sources flowing perhaps.
You ask for the family names of the people mentioned in my garden article and I'm afraid I can't recall the ones mentioned, except those who were our immediate neighbors - - so considered, tho none lived nearer than several miles, except one.
The name, Turbeville, I am sure I never heard of, even from the 'oldest inhabitant,' the old friend who used to relate stories of the people in Helena and our old community, stories that dated perhaps as far back as 1845, tho that date is only guesswork with me.
The names of plantation owners in our old community which was very early known as the 'Blackfoot neighborhood,' and later as the 'Central neighborhood,' were Judge John T. Jones, George R. Johnson, Richard Ford, Thomas and John Gist, brothers, Joseph Green, Arthur Robinson, Richard Anselm Blount, Dr. Albert G. Edmondson, my father, Amos Jarman, James Cook, and William F. Sale, my uncle. These were all living on plantations before the War Between the States. These plantations joined, or were separated by neighborhood roads. Most of them were on the north side of a road (what we now call a 'highway') known as the 'Spring Creek' road.
Mr. Alexander Graves (grandfather of the late Lex Graves) lived beyond Barton, and the Gist plantations were as far on the other side of the old community on a road leading to Marianna, these families were counted in the old group, tho located at great distances.
After the war -- Mr. Nathaniel Graves occupied the former Robinson plantation near Lexa. The family of Mr. N. A. Longley came to the place now often spoken of as the Longley place, on the road to Mariana: the Rev. James Warfield bought land and built a home near the Central church, and Judge Jones moved to his plantation called 'Lee Meadow,' from his earlier home on the old Little Rock Military road. This place was known as the 'Belle Parc' plantation. After the war too, the Johnson place was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Keesee. Mrs. Keesee was a daughter of Mr. Johnson.
Much nearer Helena, on the Little Rock Military road (I think it was the same one) before the war there were plantations owned by brothers named Smizer. They and their families being nearly related by marriage to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ford, were members also of the old community, as was Dr. T. R. Welch and his family, who lived near the Smizers. These homes and plantations were owned and occupies -- perhaps before the war -- by the Polk and Lowry families. (Except, I forgot to say, Mr. Warren Smizer and his brother Mr. Jack, who were still owners and citizens.)
I remember seeing Mrs. Cowley in my childhood. Her daughter,
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Miss Jennie, was a school friend of my older sister, who was one of Miss Jennie's bridesmaids. I do not know anything regarding ancestry of the families mentioned.
It was somewhat remarkable, I have heard my aunt Mrs. Sale, say that no two of the families composing the old community were acquainted before moving to Arkansas and they came from several different states. Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, and South Carolina were all represented.
I failed to add one name to the list -- perhaps I should add two -- of original members of the old community. These families lived near each other, but rather far from the immediate group. They were Major David Threlkeld from Kentucky, and Mr. F. H. Dade. I do not know from what state Mr. Dade came.
There are descendants of several of these families still living in Helena I think, but the beautiful old homes and fertile fields are gone. The Johnson, Jarman, Gist, Graves, Green, Dade and it may be other families are still represented in Helena.
My information is long drawn out and not definite at all. I would be so happy to help you more if I could.
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TOOTH OF HUGE ANIMAL OF PAST IS FOUND HERE
March 1933
Molar measures 10 inches long crown to root, and five inches across
Observing what he supposed to be a large white rock imbedded in a fresh car of dirt excavated by the Ward-Hayes steam shovels and dumped on the new levee north of town, Mr. C. S. McConnell, an employe of the company who resides on North Ohio Street, removed the object, and on examination found that it was a tooth from the jaw of a prehistoric animal. It came from Crowley's Ridge on the old Greenfield Quarles property north of the cemeteries at what is now known as the old Polk dairy. The tooth, now in the World office, is approximately ten inches from bottom of crown to tip of root, and the crown itself, from which a fragment was evidently torn by the steam shovel, measures four by five inches. Remains of the bone that formerly enclosed the tooth are still adhering to it, and exposed cavities are filled with silica. The walls of the crown, looking much like melted glass, are a quarter of an inch thick.
The identity of the ancient animal from which the fragment came is, of course, unknown, but it may have been a mammoth mastodon, or a megatherium, all of which are known to have been herbivorous. Two points of the crown appear to have been broken away in the past, as the edges are worn smooth and the cavities filled with a material resembling silica.
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In past years bones of huge extinct animals have been found in the vicinity of Helena, but this is the first tooth to be unearthed. It is believed locally that Crowley's Ridge may contain vast numbers of these prehistoric remains. The Smithsonian Institute at Washington will be notified of the most recent find. Whether action will be taken is not known.
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Quite a Holiday When First Ice Made In City
From Helena World of unknown Date, Probably 1935 or 1936.
The Helena housewife of today thinks nothing of taking a tray of uniformly frozen cubes from her electric refrigerator, or ordering a block of ice frozen that morning at one of the local plants, when she's preparing her iced tea, frozen desserts, or what not.
It was different in the days of grandmothers of the present generation.
They had ice, it is true. But all of it was imported.
That phase of life in Helena a half-century ago was interestingly portrayed by Senator John Quarles one evening recently when a discussion of the forthcoming Arkansas Centennial Celebration lapsed into discussion of bygone days in this city.
There was no electricity in those days and consequently no ice plants or electric refrigerators. Ice, in those days, was "harvested" by the thousands of tons from clear lakes in the far northern states, loaded on barges and brought down the river for distribution to towns along its course.
The first ice house in Helena was at the corner of Elm and Cherry Streets where the Illinois Central station and depot now stands.
The river was then much closer to the levee than now. The ice was hauled up the bank placed on a long skidway, and allowed to slide down into the ice house, where it was stored during the winter months, against the demand created by summer weather.
The old ice house was a frame building about 40 feet wide and 200 feet long, and of a height equivalent to about a story and a half. The walls were double, the intervening space packed with sawdust.
Some years later the first plant for the manufacture of ice locally was built outside the levee east of the Missouri Pacific station. This was quite an event in Helena, Senator Quarles says, and people thronged the plant to see the wonder of ice being made in the hot summer time.
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ELLA KING NEWSOM, CONFEDERATE NURSE
by
Dale P. Kirkman
Ella Seffold King was born May 3, 1835 at Brandon, Rankin County, Mississippi, the daughter of Reverend Thomas Stanhope Nisbet King, a Baptist minister and planter, and Mrs. King, the former Julia Fiances Smith. Mr. and Mrs. King were among Mississippi's early settlers, having moved to Rankin County from Georgia, in 1833. He acquired several large tracts of land in Mississippi, engaged in farming, and built a home called "Rose Hill," five miles east of Brandon. He was ordained a Baptist minister while living in Brandon, in 1837.
In 1846, the King family moved to Helena, where Reverend King continued his farming enterprises and his religious leadership. He was the third Baptist minister in Phillips County, and helped start the first three Baptist churches, New Hope, Beech Grove, and First Baptist Church, Helena.
In 1849, the Kings moved to a plantation three miles south of Helena, and it is here that the 1850 Census placed the family, in St. Francis Township, Post Office at Helena. Reverend King, aged 46, gave his occupation as farmer, with real estate valued at $12, 000, place of birth, North Carolina. The rest of the family listing was: Mrs. Julia King, aged 37, born in Georgia, Porter B. King, aged 17, farmer, born in Georgia. Ella S. King, aged 15, born in Mississippi. William B. King, aged 13, born in Mississippi. Stanhope King, aged 11, born in Mississippi. Elizabeth King, aged 9, born in Mississippi. Frances King, aged 7, born in Mississippi. Josephine King, aged 6, born in Mississippi.
Ella S. King had moved to Phillips County as a girl and was raised here. The Helena Southern Shield in its Saturday, February 11, 1854 issue, carried an announcement of her marriage, at age 19, to Dr. Frank Newsom. "Married. In the vicinity of Helena, on Monday last, by the Rev Reuben Jones, Dr. W. F. Newsom to Miss Ella S. King, daughter of Reverend T. S. N. King. Nashville papers please copy."
Dr. Frank Newsom had moved to Arkansas from Tennessee and was a man of some means. He died August 9, 1856, after a marriage of a little more than two years. There were no children, and Dr. Newsom left his wife what was considered a fortune, estimated at about $75,000. Mrs. Newsom was already a widow before she had reached the age of twenty-two.
By the time of the 1860 Census, the King family had moved to Richland Township, Post Office La Grange. There were a few changes in the family listing from the census of ten years ago.
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Reverend King gave his main occupation as Baptist clergyman instead of farmer, the oldest brother, Porter B. King, no longer lived at home, and Mrs. Ella K. Newsom, aged 25, lived in the King home but was given a different family number, having a different name and independent means. Her real estate valuation was $20,000 and her personal estate, $30,000.
In 1861, when the Civil War broke out, Mrs. Newsom was in Winchester, Tennessee, with her younger sisters, Fannie, Josie, and Lizzie. She had gone to Mary Sharp College there for several years herself, and was now living in Winchester and superintending her sisters' education at the same school. She immediately sent the sisters back to Arkansas.
Mrs. Newsom owned a country home with some 160 acres on Sand Mountain (also known as Raccoon Mountain) in Alabama, close to Shell Mound, Tennessee. This place was not far from Chattanooga, near the point where Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia meet. It was a choice spot, and half a dozen families owned the whole top of the mountain. It was here that she went, after her sisters had left Winchester.
One of the residents of the mountain was John B. Gordon (later General Gordon), who was in the process of raising a regiment called the "Raccoon Roughs." He was also busy trying to get provisions and supplies, and blankets were especially hard to come by. Mrs. Newsom and other women on the mountain took blanket-sized sheets of paper and pasted calico on each side, coming up with temporary blankets. She left Sand Mountain soon after this, and probably never lived there again.
In the fall of 1861, Mrs. Newsom entered in the war work that was to make her famous in the South. She went to Memphis to learn nursing and hospital work at the City Hospital, run by Dr. James Keller and the Roman Catholic Sisters, and at Southern Mothers' Home, run by Mrs. Sarah Gordon Law. She was also at Overton Hospital in Memphis, under Drs. Fenner and Marsten. She became matron of the last named hospital, which took in great numbers of wounded men from the battle at Belmont, Missouri.
In December, 1861, Mrs. Newsom bought provisions herself, and with these and her own servants, she set out for the hospitals at Bowling Green, Kentucky. The condition of the hospitals there was appalling, and after assuming charge of them, her working hours were normally from 4 A. M. until 12 P. M. After the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson in February, 1862, her trek was to Nashville, where she directed the transformation of Howard High School into a hospital to care for the wounded from the forts. With a background of very little training, she came to excel in hospital organization and administration.
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When Nashville fell to the Union forces, the Confederate wounded were put on railroad cars and taken to Winchester, where churches and schools were turned into hospitals. The men called this brief stop, "Soldiers' Paradise." But the army was moving on, with a concentration of troops building up at Corinth, preparing for what became, in April, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh. The "mobile hospitals" had to move on, too. Mrs. Newsom went to Atlanta briefly following her time at Winchester, but General Patrick Cleburne wrote for her to bring a carload of supplies and come to Corinth. This she did, bringing her servant, Carrie, with her.
The wounded from Shiloh were taken to the hospitals at Corinth, in rough wagons over muddy roads. It was here that Kate Cumming of Mobile joined Ella K. Newsom, and it was to her that Mrs. Newsom entrusted the Tishomingo Hotel Hospital, with a Mrs. Gilmore taking over the Corinth House Hospital. Kate Cumming was a very well known nurse and hospital matron, and her journal was published in 1959 by the Louisiana State University Press, edited by Richard B. Harwell. The nurses worked from daylight to midnight at Corinth, trying to take of the great number of wounded being brought in.
Mrs. Newsom left Corinth to inspect the hospitals at Okolona, Columbus, and Meridian, and also to visit her friend, Augusta Jane Evans, an author, of Mobile. She went on to Chattanooga and then to southwestern Virginia, to carry out a promise that she had made to General John B. Floyd at Bowling Green. In the summer of 1862, she was in Abingdon, Virginia, at the hospital at Emory and Henry College, administered by Dr. Forbes, one of General Floyd's surgeons.
While in Abingdon, Mrs. Newsom decided to go to Richmond to see the hospitals there, which were crowded with wounded from the battle of Seven Pines, June 1, 1862. She became ill at this time, and returned first to a mountain resort near Abingdon and Newbern to recover, and then to Buchanan, Virginia, which was a few miles from Natural Bridge. She was very disappointed to find that General Preston Smith and his troops had left Knoxville, because she had hoped that her brother, S. H. King, of Smith's command, could visit her.
Her servant, Carrie, was still with her, and perhaps other servants, too, when Mrs. Newsom went back to Chattanooga, where she was matron of a hospital in the Crutchfield House. Chattanooga received wounded from the battle at Perryville, Kentucky, October, 1862, and also from Chickamauga, September, 1863. The mobile hospitals moved on, still following the Army of Tennessee, and Mrs. Newsom went to Marietta, Georgia where she stayed more than a year -- into 1864. While in Marietta, she organized hospitals in nearly all the buildings on the Public Square. She had come a long way, literally and figuratively, from her first hospital in Memphis in 1861.
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In February, 1865, after a brief time in Atlanta, Mrs. Newsom left to return to Helena, as she had heard nothing from her parents in two years except of their harsh treatment by the dregs of both armies. Reverend King had been subjected to bad treatment and imprisoned because of his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. Unknown to the daughter, the parents had moved to the vicinity of Pine Bluff, and in 1864, Reverend King was shot by "outlaws" of General Steele's army, the ball going through his shoulder, side, and foot. The incident infuriated his daughter Josie to the point that she chased the men thirty miles on horseback, until she got to General Steele's headquarters, where she reported them and caused their punishment.
Mrs. Newsom's companion on her journey toward Helena was a Mrs. Buckley, whose husband was in the Confederate Army, but who had relatives in the North. Mrs. Buckley thought that they could get through the main lines at Memphis, as she knew some Union Officers who were stationed there.
The two women started out under the worst conditions possible. They had no means of transportation, and it was extremely cold weather. Most of the railroads and bridges were gone, and they walked, rode in wagons, with a few miles covered by train when possible. One of their obstacles was an icy walk across a high train trestle, with the river below. They paused briefly in Jackson Mississippi before heading for Memphis.
When they got to Memphis, they were told that they had to stay outside the city that night until they got a pass. Mrs. Buckley would not leave Memphis until her pass was in hand, and for this, she was arrested and imprisoned in Fortress Monroe until the end of the war. Mrs. Newsom stayed outside the city at Buntyn's Station for two days, finally receiving a pass, which enabled her to go down river to Helena.
When she got to Helena, officials tried to make her take the oath, which she refused to do, and she threatened to tell the commander at Memphis. This would seem to be an empty threat, but apparently it worked, and she was released to go into the country to her family home. Here she found everything in a sad, dilapidated condition, and her parents miles away.
Two of the King boys were in the Confederate Army, but one of her brothers had been exempt from service due to bad eyesight. He had remained in Phillips County and was taking care of what little property that she had left after her wartime donations. She and he and a sister started out through swamps and prairies for Pine Bluff, riding a broken down war horse, a pony, and a mule.
Their trip was worse than the distance justified, as to avoid bushwhackers, jayhawkers, and guerrillas, which the country was
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seething with, they swam through bayous and kept in the forests and woods. When they finally arrived at the King place, they were confronted with a deep stream to cross. They found a note pinned in a tree in their father's handwriting, explaining how to go across, with directions to swim the horses by the side of a log. Their parents and two sisters were at this place.
Reverend King had been a well-known leader in Phillips County, and besides his religious and farming careers, was also commissioner of schools. Life must have been made unbearable for him to have uprooted the rest of his family to move to Pine Bluff. He never completely recovered from the wounds received ai the outlaws' hands, and he died in 1869. Conditions in the family must have reached a very low point, for when Mrs. Newsom headed back to Atlanta after a brief stay at Pine Bluff, she took her invalid sister with her. This may have been to relieve some of her family's cares, or maybe she was seeking medical attention for her sister.
Another interesting question is where the servant, Carrie, was during the trip to Arkansas. Chances are that she was with Mrs. Newsom on the trip west. Carrie had lived in the Newsom household since the age of nine, and she went with Mrs. Newsom in all her travels during the war, even staying with her for a year afterward, in spite of being free to go. During the years of hospital work, Mrs. Newsom had taught her to read and write at night, when they had free time. She married a man named Baker and the last time that Mrs. Newsom had word from her was in a letter from Venice, Illinois, in 1882, signed Elizabeth Baker.
Along with her time, Mrs. Newsom gave most of her means to the Confederate war effort.* Shortly after the war was over, she married an ex-Confederate officer, Colonel William H. Trader, and they made their home in Washington, D.C. They had one daughter, May D. Trader. Mrs. Trader was never able to recoup her financial losses, and after the death of Colonel Trader, she was in a dependent condition. She had lost the sight of one eye, and was almost completely deaf.
Mrs. Trader had known personally many of the Confederate leaders, among them, General Polk, Cleburne, Breckenridge, Floyd, Hardee, Preston, Smith, Hindman, and she was known by hundreds of soldiers that she had tended and helped in the southern hospitals. In 1885, when her financial condition became known, some of her old friends of the war years, with the help of an Asheville, North Carolina newspaper, tried to raise money by popular subscription to build a house for her in Washington. General Joseph B. Palmer of Murfreesboro, Tennessee and ex-Governor Albert Marks of Nashville worked especially hard on the plan, but their appeals were ineffective.
Her picture and the story of her nursing career were published in the Memphis papers during a Confederate Veterans reunion there in
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1909, reviving memories of what she had done for the Confederacy. Through the years, she was the recipient of many gifts from chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy throughout the South, and expecially in this area.
The book which afforded most of the information in this paper, "The Florence Nightingale of the Southern Army. Experiences of Mrs. Ella K. Newsom, Confederate Nurse in the Great War of 1861-1865, by Professor J. Fraise Richard, published 1914, was written in part for the purpose of helping her financially. As early as 1910, while working on the sketch, Professor Richard wrote to Miss May Trader and suggested that she sell copies of the soon-to-be completed sketch, retaining the money.
Some accounts say that Mrs. Trader worked in the Pension Bureau in Washington, D. C., as did Mrs. LaSalle Pickett, General Pickett's widow. In this, she was probably confused with her daughter, as it is known that Miss Trader worked there for many years. Mrs. Ella K. Newsom Trader died at the home of her daughter in Washington, January 20, 1919.
Mrs. Trader was the aunt of the late John W. King of Helena. Her brother, S. H. King, was the great-grandfather of John C. King, Jr.
*******
*The Settlements Book in the Probate Records at Helena, shows that Reverend King was executor of Dr. Newsom's estate. The various recorded settlements that show the dwindling of the estate start in 1861, and note the sale of a slave in 1863, and by 1867, it appeared that Colonel W. H. Trader paid $12,350.00 to clear up debts of the Newsom estate.
15
MEMORIES of HELENA
Scenes and Indidents of More Than
Half a Century Ago
by
J D. Barnett
From Helena World, Date About 1927
My father, Ben, ran on the Mississippi and St. Francis rivers for many years, with Capt. Tom Bowman. He passed cut of this life the day after Christmas, 1868, making it necessary for my mother to earn the living. We then lived in Memphis. About the next thing I remember was that we moved to Helena. Some events I recall make me think this was in 1869, though some other memory impressions cause me to believe it was during the summer of 1870, and that is about as close as I can place the time. Nor am I quite sure about some names and locations, though later information may help some.
Eld. W. D. Mayfield was pastor of the Baptist Church at that time, and continued for some years. His wife conducted a dressmaking establishment on the east side of a street that opened out into the levee, or boat-landing place, her building being at the north end of the levee, and the wharf-boat being moored only a short distance from the rear of the store. My mother had engaged to work for Mrs. Mayfield, hence our going to Helena, I being eight or nine years old. This being long before a railroad was built into the place, travel was by steamboat and stage, or private conveyance.
Being used to city life, I naturally early learned to look out for myself, so I soon had a fairly good geographical knowledge of the city. One of my first visits, with mother, was to the famous General Hindman home back on the slope of the Crowley Ridge. I was much impressed with the account of his assassination only a few years before, and looking at the bullet hole in the mantel-board in the front south room, I saw this again in later years, and I suspect that the mantel-board is still as it was, a mute reminder of the uncertainty of this fleeting life, but of the certainty of its ending in time, and the more weighty question, as to where we shall spend eternity. I went up the steep hillside, back of the old Southern Hindman mansion, and viewed the grave of General Hindman.
North from the big hill on which this grave is located, and on another sort of spur, I went and inspected many graves that had then been there for many years. The elements, time, and vandal hands had been factors that had caused much damage and desecration of the place. Through many years I have heard of bones and skulls having been taken out of this old, old hilltop graveyard and scattered far and wide, in fact I have seen skulls that were said to have come out of that place of the dead.
On one occasion I was going up the street about a block north of the Mayfield store, a bare foot boy, when I cut my right little toe considerably, as I thought, about entirely off, except for a small part at
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the top. I at once hurried to the store to have mother fix the wound. She did so, as mothers always do things so well, and praised me for not crying as I came to have the wound tied up. Oh, so many things mothers dear do for their children, and so often they seem to be forgotten, or not fully appreciated. Alas!
We boarded at a little home some three or four blocks north from the store, and about half a block west from the levee. Between the mainland and the sand bar was a drain, or slough and in later years I understand this bar has extended far down south and has necessitated marked changes along the river front, and moved the boat landing place far below, possibly half a mile, also caving away much of the bank. I became ill with malaria and bilious fever and had to stay abed for about a week, my first experience with such, and mother quit work to nurse me.
On one occasion I was on the wharf-boat, where a Negro was employed, and he proposed to make me a strange toy, whittling it out, stating that it was of use as a "lay-over to catch meddlers." I took it to the store and hung it up in the back room and soon forgot about it, but I think it was removed. Many years afterward the memory of the toy flashed before me, also the full realization of the wickedness involved, for I understood the import of the little toy, the satan-suggested idea of its fashioning, and have deplored it ever since. How much better had it been for something good to have been made instead of evil. Humanity, naturally, is prone to evil, "as the sparks to fly upward," at our very best, and the only safe plan 1s to shun every appearance of evil.
A Capt. Everett had a good-sized, stern-wheel boat tied up some time at the landing. He had a stock of guns, and repaired and traded them. He and his wife lived on the boat. The Capt. wanted to explore the upper waters of the St. Francis as far as he could go. His wife invited us to make the trip with them, and we did so. There was a good stage of water, and the Capt. hoped to spend several days on his venture. With no load, a smaller crew could run the boat, the name of which I do not recall. Everything went well enough, and we made good progress. When we were far up the St. Francis, the Capt. noted the water gauge and decided that the crest had about come, and that the river would likely begin to fall soon. He did not want the river to fall and leave his boat stranded, and no idea when he could get out, so he decided to stop when we had reached the "Sunk Lands," and we tied up "out in the woods," not a sign of a habitation in sight. One of the men tied a hammock up between two trees, some six or eight feet about ground to be out of the reach of "varments," and slept (between mosquito bites, I think) in the open We turned down stream as early as possible next morning, and reached the little city of Helena in due time. I have never heard of the later life of Capt. Everett and wife, but I would be glad to know. That, also, was my last long steamboat trip.
I had a small double-barrel 22-gauge pistol that I traded to this Capt. Everett for a small single-barrel shot gun. One day I wanted to go hunting, and mother was afraid for me to go alone, so she went with me, following at some distance. We went below town, crossed
17
west through a field along a fence, returning from the west. I think I shot at a woodpecker, possibly, and missed, as I recall.
I do not remember where the Baptist church was, but it seems to me that a rented hall was used for their services. However, later I learned that the Baptists had a house of their own, located on the north side of the street running west from just north of the present court house, on which the hard-surface road goes out through the hills, and some few blocks from the river. As I recall it now, this street was merely a narrow, earth filled, or graded road, reaching back to the west side of town. The block on whose southeast corner the Baptist church now stands and the one just south of it were low, marshy lake beds with two or three feet of water in them, and more than once did I go there and paddle about in an old-time dug-out.
I do not recall any names now, except the Mayfields and Mrs. Wooten and her daughter, Lulu Smith, by a former husband.
My most unusual experience follows: On one occasion mother had to go to Memphis for a few days, her younger sister and mother living there then, leaving me in charge of our landlady. I strolled down the levee one day and went out on some empty coal barges tied, two or three deep, a little distance below the wharf-boat. These flat coal boats were some 6 to 8 feet deep, empty, as I said, and had a solid partition across about 6 or 8 feet from the boat's sloping end, across which was a narrow platform from side to side. I walked out to the outer edge of the outer boat, looking out over the river. I saw a good-sized, stern-wheel boat pass down the river without stopping at all, and I wondered why any boat should go by and not tie up awhile at Helena. The steamer went on, and I became so engrossed with my puzzle about it not stopping that I forgot just where I was. I decided to leave my place and return to shore, and mechanically stepped backward without looking, realizing immediately that I had missed the platform, by using the left foot I think, as I had been on a six-foot edge, the gunwhale. I evidently whirled over and struck on my face, rendering me unconscious, though I think only a short time. When I regained consciousness, I found myself kneeling and repeating the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer. Had I fallen forward, I have no idea that I would be here some 57 years later to write this account. Fortunately I found a short piece of timber and leaned it against the wall and climbed out. I went to our boarding house, and the landlady examined my bruises. My face was quite badly bruised and skinned, with some coal dust clinging to me. She tried to wash if off, but the pain was so great that she did not get it all off, and to this day, I wear, in a healed cut in my upper lip quite discernible, a black mark of souvenir coal from that accident. In a short while mother returned and I was at the landing to meet her. She was standing on the passenger deck as the boat tied up, looking for me. I was in plain view, but had so many patches on my face that she could not recognize me. When she walked off the boat, I went up and spoke to her before she could see who I was. I then told her of my accident. I have often thought of that adventure, and the great diference between stepping forward or backward. The Lord evidently directed my movement and spared me, and I have wondered why!
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Old Land Mark Passes Away and New
Enterprise Will Take Its Place Shortly
Helena World, Feb 23, 1927
With the leveling of the old homestead at the corner of Walnut and Perry Streets today one of the oldest homes in Helena passes out of existence
Built before the Civil War, it was purchased in 1868 by Dr. and Mrs. G. D. Jaquess and remained their home for 44 years. At the time that Dr. Jacquess purchased this place Mrs. L J Wilkes Sr , who was the oldest daughter of the family, was a young girl and a few years later this house became one of the most hospitable homes of Helena and many brilliant affairs were given here.
At that time the main business part of Helena was located in what is now East of the levee, and this part of town was what might be called the suburbs, much of the land between Perry street and what is now Walker street, being a cypress swamp filled with cypress trees.
This old home has seen much of joy and sorrow, and some tragedy.
Some of the pleasures enjoyed in those long ago days were Sunday afternoons when the young ladies of the house stayed at home and received their visitors. No young man in that day made a date for Sunday afternoon, as it was the privilege of all to call on any one they chose without a date, and many Sundays saw large groups at this home where the popular Miss Jaquess resided, and later she was wedded in this house.
It was the custom of this old home to keep open house on New Years Day when hundreds of friends called. No invitations were sent out in those days. One had friends and they were supposed to know if they were wanted, without a printed invitation.
At the time this house was built, it was high enough off the ground to drive a horse and wagon under it, but when Helena became more of a town and the street was graded, it was necessary to raise the house to bring it up to the level of the street. This was repeated two more times before it reached the level it has been standing on for the past few years. This makes us realize that our town has been building up, from an engineering standpoint at least.
As said before, this house knew both joy and sorrow, and tragedy as well. One bright summer day the two young sons, aged ten and twelve years, went out to the edge of the river to gather turtle eggs. In those days there were no bathing suits and swimming pools, and the rivers and ponds furnished the young boys their swimming places, and gathering turtle eggs was quite a sport.
These boys striped their clothes and went in after eggs; that they were successful was shown by the pile of eggs found on the bank, but the report was that, after depositing their eggs, they went back into the water for a little more fun, and the treacherous undertow of the Father of Waters claimed them, and when, hours later,
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their bodies were found, they were tightly locked in each other's arms, and sorrow and tragedy went into this home together on that day.
Dr. Jaquess died many years ago, and Mrs. Jaquess remained in this house until her death in 1913. After her family had all gone out in the world to homes of their own, she rented some of the rooms to have company, and kept her home intact until her death.
An example of the increase of real estate values in Helena is shown by the fact that in 1914 this house and lot sold for $2,500, and a year or so ago it was resold to the Gulf Refining Company for $15,000.
20
A FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
by
Alma Ewart Faust
"A Golden Orchid to the memory of Woodruff High School on the Fiftieth anniversary of the graduation of its first senior class'' was the theme of the Phillips County Historical Society program at its May 22, 1966, meeting. In the pages of history fifty years is not a long time - in the lifetime of man it is frequently a life-span, and at best it covers the most of an adult life, and it seemed fitting to pay tribute to the teachers, board members, and student body in recognition of the service rendered the community during the school's existence. It was on June 2, 1916, that Woodruff High School graduated its first senior class. The high school ceased to be after 1946, when consolidation of the Helena-West Helena school systems was completed. Miss Martha Douglas, a member of the first faculty of Woodruff High School, was an honored guest of the Historical Society on this occasion.
Woodruff High School ceased to be, but its influence has lived on and earned a place in our historical annals. The story of Woodruff High School begins in September, 1914. Almost from its beginning West Helena had an elementary school, first held in a three room house, then in two three room houses, and by the fall of 1914 a two story brick building on Cleburne Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets had been completed. It had been dedicated as Woodruff School, named for the illustrious Arkansas editor, and its frontispiece bears the date 1914. This had been planned for an elementary school only, and R. A. Ellis, just graduated from the University of Arkansas, had been employed as Superintendent. The elementary faculty included Misses Bobbie Jacob, Nettie Mulliken, Fannie Haraway, and Martha Douglas. High school pupils in the community were to continue to attend Helena High School as they had done the past two or more years. On the opening day of school in September 1914, some twelve or fifteen West Helena pupils rode the street car in to Helena High school. Immediately they were called together and told that all out of district pupils would have to pay tuition, and it was rather emphasized that they were not wanted at Helena High. The news was carried back to West Helena, and quickly resulted in a called meeting of the West Helena school board for that evening. They convened until late hours, and in that meeting Woodruff High School was born. Presiding as President of the board was J. W. Denison, pioneer citizen of West Helena, who operated a sawmill where Faust mill is now, served as first mayor of West Helena, and was a charter member of the West Helena Baptist Church. Also on the board was J. F. Buchanan, and a third member, who could have been A. M. Bequette, W.O. Glines, E. C. Davis, or W. T. Lyford, all of whom served at some time during the early years of Woodruff School. Much honor is due that first school board for its wisdom and
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foresight that September evening in 1914.
High school classes assembled at Woodruff the next day. Mr. Ellis assumed the responsibility of the high school along with the elementary school. Mrs. May Prince Ashley had just come to West Helena to make her home with her sister, Miss Sarah Prince, and was employed to teach English, and possibly other classes. Mrs. E. C. Nelson, living on Park and St. Andrews in the home now occupied by the F. O. Griffin family, agreed to teach German if the pupils would come to her home, and for two years this class went the three blocks to the Nelson home for German class each morning. Miss Martha Douglas assumed the high school math classes in addition to the lower grades she taught, and Woodruff High School was on its way.
The highest accredited students were juniors, three in that class, probably the same number of sophomores, and about twelve freshmen. A large room on the second floor of the building was used as a study hall. It is amazing to recall the many things this new born high school accomplished that first year, being able to graduate a class the second year with acceptable credits for college entrance.
The fall term 1915 opened with three members in the senior class, but not the same three of the previous year. Myrtle Burgess, niece of Mr. E. F. Byerley, had moved away from West Helena, and Fay Haynes had transferred to Woodruff from Marshall, Arkansas. L. E. Thompson had been added to the faculty, teaching science and Spanish. Because of illness in his family he resigned in March, and his place was filled by A. J. Smith. Two girls basketball teams were organized, the Reds and the Blues, with Miss Nettie Mulliken, a grade teacher, coaching, on an outdoor court. The great indoor sport was debating, and many of the students became quite proficient in the art. Among preserved mementos are programs of debates with Helena High School, the Woodruff affirmative team, Ellie Porter and Alma Ewart, meeting Helena's negative team, Victor Solomon and Lawrence Beilenson, and Helena's affirmative team, Al N. Tanner, Jr. and William Knight, meeting Woodruff's negative team, Lloyd Wade and Berniece Wade. A very timely subject was used - Europe was then embroiled in what became World War 1 - "Resolved that the United States should pursue a policy of military preparedness commensurate with the position of a first class world power". The Helena teams won the decisions, but the Woodruff debators received the highest individual grades, and this fact was headlines in the next issue of the "Woodruff News''. Serving as judges for these debates were two newcomers to Helena, Ozero C. Brewer and George K. Cracraft, who had just opened a law office, and J. B. Butts, Jr. An added attraction to these programs was a violin solo by Mrs. C. E. Conklin on one occasion and a flute solo on the other.
The first graduates of Woodruff High School also became the first graduates "at'' Beech Crest, for it was in the theatre building at
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Beech Crest Park that baccalaureate and commencement programs were held. Woodruff had no auditorium at that time. Baccalaureate service was held on Sunday morning, May 28, 1916, with Rev C. C. Cline, of First Christian Church, Pine Bluff, as guest minister. The following Friday evening, June 2, 1916, Woodruff High School presented its first senior class in graduation, presenting diplomas to Grace Buchanan, Fay Haynes, and Alma Ewart. The program was as follows:
| Invocation | Rev M. N. Johnston |
| Salutatory address | Grace Buchanan |
| Class history and prophecy | Fay Haynes |
| Valedictory address | Alma Ewart |
| Address | Dr. C. H. Brough, Democratic nominee-governor |
| Awarding diplomas | J. W. Denison, President school board |
| Benediction | Rev. T. T. Thompson |
The evening before, June 1, the grammar school commencement had been held, also at Beech Crest theatre. The program included a "May Pole Dance'' by Miss Fannie Haraway's room, and "The Muffin Man"' by Miss Martha Douglas' fourth grade. Mr. Claude Fitzpatrick of Helena was commencement speaker. Members of this class, which became the freshman class of 1916 and graduating class of 1920, as they appeared on the program, included Bessie McDonald, Dora Lyford, Elizabeth Nicholls, Thomas Curtis, Marie Stiedle, John Stiedle, Jr., Julia Smith, Loretta Polk, Helen Hunter, Walter Erwin, Sam Osgood, Arthur Furr, Edna Mae Mullikin, Ada Haynes, Herman Rimer, William Leonard, Eujimmie Porter, Mary Smith, George Burkhart. Somewhere between the freshman and senior years George Kalb, Ray Burch, and "A'' Miller caught up with and graduated with the class of 1920.
The class of 1917 also contained three members, but it boasted of one boy. The honor of being the first male graduate of Woodruff High School went to Edward Nicholls, son of Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Nicholls. "Ed'' fat and jolly, was a school favorite, and his sudden death the past summer brought sorrow to his former school mates. The two girls were Anita Haynes, a sister of Fay Haynes of the class of 1916, who married a Woodruff teacher, C. C. McCullough, and Thelma Tatum.
By 1918 Woodruff was "bursting at the seams'' and expansion had become the order of the day. A new wing was added to the building, providing four new classrooms on the first floor, and a large auditorium on the second floor. A basement under the new wing gave room for a basketball court - if a player did't jump too high and get a cracked head from an overhead beam. Mr. Ellis had resigned as Superintendent and Mrs. May Prince Ashley assumed that position.
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W. R. "Dub" Harrison was added as principal of the high school. He later entered the insurance business in Little Rock, where he died a few years ago. A home economics course was added to the curriculum, with Mrs. C. F. Cole, mother of Mrs. Florence Jeffries, as instructor.
America had become involved in World War I, and members of the graduating class of 1918 still shudder at the remembrance of the "Hoover" dresses, made in the home economics sewing class, that Mrs. Ashley prescribed for official graduation attire. This was offset a little by the honor of being the first class to graduate in the new auditorium. Members of this class, seven girls and one boy, were Florrene Dale, Hazel Raff, Elsie Ewart, Ingovar Leighton, Ethel Edwards, Alberta Farrar, Virginia Bequette, and Lennox Buchanan. The girls have always been proud of this male member of the class, who went on to become President of Chicago Mill and Lumber Company. Marguerite Nicholls and Leonora Hornor had been members of this class until transferring to Helena High School in the junior year.
The class of 1919 was not a part of the original high school student body that eventful day in September 1914, yet they were so much a part of those early history making days, that this class deserves to be included in such a roll. A partial list of this class as they became freshmen in the fall of 1915, including some who later transferred to Helena High School or elsewhere before graduation, would include, Minnie Raff, Merrit Bonner, Virgil Dunn, Martin Stackhouse, Joe Fairchild, Lucille Morris, Noble Chambers, Naomi Rogers, Odle Porter, Katherine Steidle, Alberta Gill, Minnie Gullett, Ellie Porter, Calvin Jarman, Ethel Benson, Annie West.
The roll of classes could go on, for a total of 31 classes. Each made its own interesting contribution to the history of Woodruff High School, but to list all is impossible. A roving reporter would pick up something like this.
The smallest class of record - 1922. Woodruff elementary school began with seven grades. Between 1914 and 1922 the eighth grade had been added, which would have resulted in no graduating class in 1922. Late in the spring it was determined that two members of the junior class had sufficient credits for graduation, and full ceremonies were awarded to the class of 1922, with two members, Ellamai Porter and Alberta Dale. The former has just retired after many years of teaching at Woodruff Elementary School, and the latter was also a teacher for several years.
The class of 1923, quoting Philip Shannon, claims to be the "history making" class. For the first time, boys in the class outnumbered the girls, and with this class football became a part of Woodruff High, with the beginning of the famous "Bearcats". To be expected, rugged
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names like C. G. Raff, Jimmy Joyner, Bill Kalb, Leon Russell, Rufus Lamb, Fred Kuntz, Delisle Lawrence, Otto Man, Harry Tucker, Walter Smith, Joe Bettis and Philip Shannon appear, with three girls, Flora Bell Wilson, Lucy Mae Owens, and Edith Jordan.
Elsie Mae Brown (Dorsett) boasted of the class of 1929 as being a class of future teachers, naming Elizabeth Harrison, Alberta Snider, Theresa Burnett, Hurt Porter, as well as herself, as examples, and recalling among other members Lester Little, Morris Frazier, Louise Smith, Camilla Denison, and a now deceased member, Melvin Trainer.
This brings to mind the many other students who went out from Woodruff into the field of education, many still serving in local schools or elsewhere, and not identified by class, would include Elsie Ewart, Ingovar Leighton, Eugenia Leighton, Alberta Dale, Elizabeth Bryson, Janie Payne, Sue Whitien, Jessie McDonald, Bessie McDonald, Dora Lyford, Thomas Carroll, Curtis Charles Harris, Charley Payne, Ellamai Porter, Howard Powers.
Quoting Mrs. Warfield, who while claiming she had no favorites, did admit that she gave an extra measure of love to the "bad" class of 1930 - because she felt they needed it. This was a class of perhaps twenty five members, and names recalled by Mrs. Warfield included Vernon Joyner, Ralph Bunch, Dwight Galloway, Bill Erwin, "Hank" Wilkerson, Bob Fey, "Red" Hicks, Griffin Jackson, and some girls maybe not so bad, Mildred Phillips, Lucille Jackson, Margaret Green, Nell Bonner, Thelma Ritchey, Myrtle Holdredge, Margaret Berry, Louise Douglas. In return for her love, the class dubbed Mrs. Warfield "Mamma" and insisted she be seated with them on the stage graduation night. And with a twinkle in her eye she told how they had all justified her faith in them. Mrs. Warfield included Vern Presley with this class, but he was out of school a year and returned to finish with the class of 1931, along with classmates including Camille Fox, Mildred Cline, Anna Bell Lederman, Sibyl Potts, Norman Bryant, Frances Thurmond, and Mary Elizabeth Haden.
Some of the members of the class of 1933, recalled by Carolyn Greshan (Shannon) included James Rose, Mimi Kalb, Edith Brown, David Ewart, Douglas Herrin, Dorothy Nell Car and J. W. Denison, Jr., who passed away this summer.
Speaking proudly for the class of 1934, the Mayor of West Helena, Jesse Porter, presented the "glamour class", whose members included Alice Fletcher, Frances Greer, Mary Jane Larkin, Jeanette Thurmond, Mary Frances Lanham, Laura Frances Eddins, G. W. Massey, Emmett Miller, Guy Russell, Louis Grant Fletcher, Margaret Thrower, Jesse modestly omitted mention of himself as having been President of this glamorous group, neither did he boast
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of the quality of football played by his team. Tommy Reidenbaugh was recalled as a deceased member of the class. From records in a trophy cabinet at Woodruff there is a history plaque won by Emmett Miller in a state contest in 1933, and a girls voice award won in 1934 by Frances Jane Greer.
And keeping up this reputation, there followed in 1935 a class of "intellectuals" - 'tis said Mrs. Warfield even gave some of them "A" grading. With none available for interview, a few names are recalled - Martha Bunch, Mary Louise Williams, Miriam Ewart, Frank Crager, Edward Blanchard, Mayer Mayer, Jr., Jack Richmond, Laverne Balentine, and Max Gresham. The high school paper rated excellent in state high school journalism grading, and the school was represented in the state high school debating meet.
Claiming a place in the Hall of Fame because of its two outstanding military members, the class of 1936 also lays claim to being the largest graduating class of Woodruff. Whether attending college or establishing a business career, boys in this class found all plans interrupted by call to military service, and two selected it as permanent careers. Commanding Major U. S. Air Force William A. Galloway and Lieut. Colonel Ben Maxwell might well be dubbed commanders-in-chief of a long list of classmates, including – Kent Rose, Bruce King, Carl Wallbaum, Roy Carnathan, Pete Brown, Bob Cantrell, Ernest Kerby, Richard Smith, Laurie Overton, Billy Carr, Haskall Adams, James Wood, Carl Allen, Ed Ring, Mary Evelyn Mabry, Earnestine Francis, Lettie Chambers, Marcella Dodd, JoAnn Bright, Fern Blanchard, Vida Mae Little, Leta Cash, Bessie Rae Jones, June Walden, Pauline Walden, Elizabeth Fletcher, Aline Robertson, Devona Smith, Frances Thrower, Mattie Lee McCord, and Ida Mae Franklin. Charles Greer, who fatal accident on the athletic field was one of Woodruff’s tragedies, was a member of this class.
Visiting West Helena after eighteen years residence in California, Everett Wilroy was interviewed for his memories of Woodruff. They centered on the class of 1937, and classmates rapidly recalled included Buddy Bailey, Pete Carnathan, Violet Larkin, Elizabeth Topp, Joe Cline and John Fletcher. However, a picture of the class of 1938 shows Joe Cline and John Fletcher in this class, so perhaps Everett was a little confused. Along with Joe and John in the 1938 group were Ann Greer, Mildred Buchanan, Ellen Seat, Martin Conder, Wiley Bailey, Jr. and others.
Ye Roving Reporter was directed to some Woodruff class pictures hanging in a remote rear hall in old Woodruff building. These are pictures for the classes 1938 through 1947, excellent pictures carrying names of all members of the classes - hung so high, at the ceiling in fact, that without a ladder only the bottom names. on each picture can be read. Ye reporter had no ladder!
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There must have been a bumper baby crop about 1921, for Woodruff's class of 1939 listed twenty seven members. Dorothy Conner (Robertson) recalled some of her classmates as being Robert Little, Earl Johnson, Dave Robertson, Ralph Warren, Roy Warren, Austin Goodman, Earl Watkins, Billy Holland, Buddy Kalb, James Allen, Hal Bright, Arlene Cash, Kathryn Broomas, Alma Dean Cantrell, Leona Smith, Bessie Melio, Nell Ring, Roberta Newkirk. James Allen and Buddy Kalb lost their lives in service during World War II, and Hal Bright was killed in a plane crash at the local airport.
A Gold Star also goes beside the name of J. A. Light of the class of 1940, who died in service. Some of his classmates were Margaret Russell, Mary Kesl, Louis Massey, James Robert Cook, and Frances Allen.
Again a member of the class of 1941, James Goodman, gave his life in service. He was in a class with Thomas Carroll, James Robert Topp, Mildred Moon, Marjorie Ring, J. B. Sisk, Jr., Ann Carr, Katie McIlwain, and others. It was during this year that the Arkansas Musical Festival rated Woodruff Excellent in Girls Voice.
In 1942 Woodruff High School became a grandparent, with Fred Faust, Jr , son of a member of the first graduating class, being the first grandchild. Twelve boys and sixteen girls made up the class roll, being Glen Bryant, Eugene Cowsert, Jimmy Broomas, Elard Haden, Howard Warren, Shirley Smith, Odell Workman, W. M. Grimes, Fred Faust, William Cantrell, William Dempsey, James Neely, Edna Mae Pugsley, Jane Beasley, Edith White, Imogene Thompson, Marjorie McClain, Virginia Massey, Kathryn Hughes, Mary Martha Blevens, Kathryn Smith, Peggy Hurt, Murl Holder, Carolyn Pierce, Helen Marie George, Elizabeth Bragg, Carleen Smith, and Sara Ewart, class president and valedictorian. This class graduated into a war-torn world and the boys soon were all in some branch of service.
No representative of the class of 1944 was encountered, but included in this class was one who would be on any list of nominees as Distinguished Alumnus. This was Dr. Don Corley, Chaplain at Arkansas Baptist Medical Center, and his recommendation for this honor would be that he accomplished the most against the greatest odds. Among his classmates were Jean Appling, Virginia Carver, Phillip Broomas.
The roster of classes ends with the class of 1946, with thirty-two members Consolidation of Helena-West Helena schools had been completed, and while two more classes attended Woodruff and graduated in its auditorium, they were a part of the consolidated system, and the class of 1946 was the last to receive diplomas from Woodruff High School. A twentieth reunion of this class the summer of 1966 accounted for all but one member, Hugh Bailey
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Among local young business men of the twin-cities today are members of this class, Watson Light, Vensil Kesl, Harold Smith, and Tom Faust. Gone to other areas are Billy Dial, Howard Powers, Curtis Charles Harris, Billy Cook, Jack Bragg, Wallace Pugsley, Jr., Don Carr, Sam Harris, Charles Payne, John Fred Rupple, Lawrence Nall, Charles Max Arwood, Ed Balentine, Billy Loyd. The girls were Virginia Chapman, class president, who became Mrs. Harold Smith before the ink was dry on her diploma, Pauline Franklin, Marguerite Slaughter, Nadine Strawn, Mary Hamrick, Mary Louise Woods, Earlene Cantrell, Mearl Jackson, Dorothy Perry, Imogene Eakin, Margaret Holland, Anna Mae Young, and Doris McAbee. An interesting coincidence is that the valedictorian of this last class of Woodruff, Tom Faust, is the son of the valedictorian of the first class of Woodruff in 1916.
There is much of interest that might be written of Woodruff High School of the years 1914-1946. The financial ups and downs alone would make a historical novel. There were many happy, and many unhappy events, and many changes in personnel. In 1921 B. M. Smith came to West Helena as Superintendent of school, and the same year George Cromwell came as Principal. Mr. Smith served for several years and moved on - Mr. Cromwell stayed on and became legend. On two occasions he was persuaded to leave Woodruff for what appeared to be greater opportunities, but on each occasion he came back to his first love, and remained with Woodruff until consolidation, and with the Helena-West Helena school system for several years until his retirement. George Cromwell, more than any one other person, built the image of Woodruff, and his name is honored and he is beloved by the scores who knew him as teacher and friend.
For approximately fifteen years, from the beginning of Woodruff High School in 1914 until the opening of the new Beech Crest School, Mrs. May Prince Ashley gave full measure of devotion and dedication to the students of Woodruff High. She in a real sense taught boys and girls, using as her tools English, Latin, and other subjects. Each boy and each girl was an individual with a mind to develop and a character to mold, and to this ideal Mrs. Ashley gave her all, seven days a week. When the new Beech Crest School was opened she transferred there as principal, and served that school until retirement.
Mrs. Beulah Warfield came to Woodruff High School in 1926 from the Lexa school, and for two years taught science and Latin, then when Mrs. Ashley was transferred to Beech Crest as principal, Mrs. Warfield took over high school English, and for eighteen years reigned as ‘‘Queen of English". There was no compromising with Mrs. Warfield, and many a youngster who entered college fortified with Mrs. Warfield's English and Mir. Cromwell's math, looked back and gave thanks that it had been his good fortune to have had these excellent teachers. Mrs. Warfield is now making her home at the
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Heritage Home, and delights in recalling her many happy days at Woodruff High.
Coming to Woodruff in 1928 young and inexperienced, Miss Willie Mae Faulkner soon became indispensable part of the faculty, and at the same time Woodruff became a very vital part of her life. Her close association with her pupils in outside activities as well as classroom work endeared her to all, and was an inspiration to the young people of the community She continued with consolidated Central High School for several years before retiring. Her teaching subjects were history and civics.
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Wright chose West Helena for their home in 1932, and Mr. Wright became commercial department instructor at Woodruff High, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1947 because of ill health. The business world even today is still benefiting from the excellence of the students from his classes, and especially during the war years the availability of well trained commercial students was of inestimable help. Mrs. Wight began teaching in 1934, having high school math work for several years, then transferred to junior high math.
R. H. Porter, member of graduating class of 1929, returned to his student high school after completing his college work, and taught for a short time before entering military service in World War II. Upon his return to Woodruff he doffed his rank of "Captain" and became a civilian again, but to his students he was always the "Sarg". He both taught history and lived history, and his pupils were the richer for it He followed. Woodruff High to Central and taught there several years before retirement.
What Mr. Cromwell was to the classrooms, Bruce Slaughter was to athletics. Beginning with a small group of boys, with little equipment and no gymnasium or practice field to call their own, he built the famous "Bearcats" to a most respectable position. Described by one of his co-workers as a Christian gentleman, Coach Slaughter worked to build into his players both athletic ability and character, and he earned in return the devotion of the students under his coaching that made for victory regardless of how the score came out. Woodruff athletics reached a climax during its last season the spring of 1946 in producing a district championship basketball team, with a quintet composed of "Chicken" Payne, Blaine Baker, "Cotton" King, Tom Faust, and John Fred Rupple. Coach Slaughter joined the coaching force of Central High School after the consolidation, and later he and Mrs. Slaughter, the former Grace Buchanan of Woodruff's first graduating class, moved to Forrest City, where they now live.
The early "Woodruff News" became "Bearcat News", and the original school colors of orange and black underwent changes, end-
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ing with Green and White during the last years of Woodruff.
There might well be a Roll of Honor plaque in the memorial halls of Woodruff inscribed with the names of those who served on the West Helena School Board during the years of Woodruff High. With apologies for names that may have inadvertently been left off, in addition to the early ones already named, the following are remembered: C. T. Hudson, E. S. Swartzbaugh, R. E. Blanchard, Mrs. Walter Fey, Ed Kalb, A. B. Lewis, Harry Wadsworth, B. F. McDonald, J. L. Russell, B. B. Maxwell, John Thrower. Originally a three member board, it was enlarged to six members and serving at the time of consolidation were Dick Webster, Oldrich Kesl, Dan Whelchel, A. S. Kelly, J. A. Joyner, and Fied Faust. Of this number three were selected to serve on the consolidated board, along with three from Helena, and J. A. Joyner, Dick Webster, and Fred Faust became a part of the first consolidated board. It is believed that Fred Faust served on the West Helena School Board longer than any other member. Including six years on the consolidated board, he completed a total of 24 years.
There was sadness when the portals of Woodruff High School closed in 1946. The decision for consolidation had been a long time coming, and it was not unanimous even then. The years since have proven the wisdom of the decision made at that time, and Woodruff High went on to join with Helena High to build a greater Central High. To those who walked under Woodruff's banner 1914-1946, the name and the proud spirit lives on, and in dedication to the pupils, teachers, and school board members of Woodruff High School this story is written.
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AWAY FOR MEMPHIS
From the Helena Weekly World May 29, 1901
"Without any kind of demonstration the Gunboat Scorpion this morning at 6.30 o'clock weighed anchor and steamed away up the river, en-route to Memphis, where she will remain for the reunion (Confederate), and will take a prominent part in the exercises as the representative of the United States Government.
During the stay of three days and three nights in this port the staunch little war craft was visited by hundreds of Helena people and by many from the surrounding country who came to town yesterday for the purpose of going aboard. To all who visited the Scorpion the officers and crew were uniformly courteous, while on the other hand the people of this city did everything possible to make the stay of all as pleasant as could be. That their efforts were successful is evidenced by the guests themselves, all of whom spoke in terms of highest praise of the splendid hospitality shown by our citizens. The round of social pleasures was concluded last night, when officers and men were tendered seats at the opera house for the amateur minstrel performance, many accepting and enjoying the entertainment immensely.
The Scorpion will arrive in Memphis about 5 o'clock this afternoon, the run being made leisurely, but without any stops until the reunion city is reached. The boat will remain in Memphis possibly until Sunday, June 2nd, and it is not known as yet whether or not a stop will be made in Helena upon the return down the river, much, of course, depending upon the stage of the water.
Helena has been glad of the opportunity of entertaining the Scorpion and her men. Commander Sargent and his officers proved themselves polished gentlemen, and the enlisted men conducted themselves admirably on shore. At the request of the city officials Commander Sargent gave his enlisted men all the liberty possible, and not one abused it. Yesterday afternoon a baseball nine from the Scorpion played a team of home boys, the score resulting 7 to 7 at the close of the fifth inning, when the game was called. Another feature of the stay of the Scorpion in Helena, and one that has probably not been attempted in any other town, was the carriage ride and banquet given by the colored boys of the city to the colored contingent of the gunboat. The parade of carriages through the streets attracted a great deal of attention.
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PART III
DIARY OF SUE COOK (1844-1912)
1864-1865
Sept. 21 - Been a little cloudy. Every thing quiet.
Sept. 22 - Wrote to Tom Starnes today. Price, Shelby and Dobbins have gone to Missouri.
Sept. 23 - Mr. W. Sale came by on his way West this morning. Went to Mrs. Freelands this afternoon.
Sept 24 - Quite cool and clear today.
Sept 25 - Been in my room reading all day. Read Cortez's invasion of Mexico. My blood often boiled with indignation at his uncalled for cruelties. Mr. Hutchinson was here this evening.
Sept. 26 - Received a letter from Ben Reynolds this morning. He is still at Camp Chase, Ohio. There is a report that Col. Anderson is dead. Fighting at Little Rock.
Sept. 27 - A federal scout went in yesterday on the Spring Creek road, been out for sometime. Report is that they captured Jim Landford riding out in a buggy with a young lady. Been raining today.
Sept. 28 - I'm staying all night at Mrs. Hutchynson's tonight and having a fine time. Capt. Stansell is at home. Raining.
Sept 29 - Went to see Mrs. Jones this afternoon. Got a new paper. It says Early has been defeated in the Shenandoah Valley.
Sept 30 - Rained in torrents all the morning. Pa has gone to Mrs. Robinson's sale. She is going to Alabama.
Oct 1 - Sis Sallie and Nannie have gone to Mrs. Robinson's to spend the night. I went to Mrs. B. Green's this afternoon. He gave me a present of a nice lady's pistol. I am safe now.
Oct 2 - Emma and I went to see Addie Nelson this afternoon. Had such a nice ride. Mr. Wilks preached at the school house.
Oct 3 - Been raining again. Had some new papers. Forrest has taken Athens, Alabama with five hundred Federals, killed all the negroes. All the citizens have been removed from Atlanta by Federal authorities. Some prisoners have been exchanged. Mrs. Hutchinson was here today.
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Oct. 4 - Raining steadily all day. Been all alone.
Oct. 5 - A clear cold day. Been reading "Missouri Republican". It has a good deal to say of Price's invasion of Missouril. He has taken several places, has surrounded Pilot Knob and threatened Cape Girardeau.
Oct. 6 - Tab Hicks spent the day with us. Mr. Oneal was here today. Mrs. Tom Scaife and Mrs. Kitchen are with us tonight from town. The lines are partially open. It is reported Gen Lee with twenty thousand of his men is captured. Price has taken Pilot Knob.
Oct. 7 - Mrs. Jones spent the evening with us. Had another paper. Price is still scattering things in Missouri. Aunt Jennie Lambert and Miss Laura Trotter were here today on their way to Helena.
Oct 8 - Carrie Edmonson and Miss Grissom were here this evening. Sis Sallie was gone to see Mrs. Hughes who is very sick. Ma and Jennie are at Uncle Buck's.
Oct. 9 - Mrs. (Dr.) Hughes is dead. She leaves a husband and three little children to mourn her loss. Mr. Renfro was here this afternoon. Emma and Ada were here.
Oct. 10 - Mrs. H. was buried this morning. Jennie Graves spent the day with us.
Oct. 11 - Ma is at Mrs. Weatherby's tonight sitting up with a sick child. Pink and Emma were here this evening.
Oct. 12 - Went to see Mrs. Jones this evening. Came back by Mrs. Green's. Heard that Price had taken St. Louis, but at a fearful cost. Lost a great many of his men. Dr. Rodgers and Mr. Jim Scaife got into a difficulty and Rodgers was killed. Received a letter from T. W. Sturns, written previous to his capture and one from a mess mate of his, David S. Kensly, Mag Graves is with us tonight.
Oct 13 - Aunt Mary and Tab Hicks spent the day. Emma came by and we are sitting up at Mrs. Weatherby's. We have had a nice time. A regiment of negroes with their officiers have been captured on the other side of White River. There has been a report that Capt. Crawford's camp has been bushwhacked near Pilot Knob, Missouri, and all his men except six have been killed.
Oct 14 - Sis Sallie and Mrs. Green have gone down to the pickets
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I am staying with Mag tonight.
Oct. 15 - Cloudy and cold. Sis Sallie came back this evening. Did not get into Helena. Lieut. Gipson is with us tonight.
Oct. 16 - Went to Mrs. Quinlins and Nicholsen's this evening. Tab Hicks spent the evening here. Lieut. G. is with us still.
Oct. 17 - Cloudy. Nothing new.
Oct. 18 - Lieut. Gipson is with us again tonight. There is a small scout out about LaGrange. Received a letter from Mrs. Tilden Forrest is near Memphis. Mr. Th. Moore is dead.
Oct. 19- Had a new paper tonight. Price is going toward Kansas. Mrs. A. Nelson is quite sick.
Oct. 21 - Mr. Walters came to this school house after me. Adeline was worse I went by after Emma. When we got to Mr. Nelson's poor Adeline had died a few hours before. I was so sorry for she was a dear sweet friend of mine. Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Anderson, Emma and I are sitting up.
Oct. 22 - Been at Mr. Nelson's all day. A. was buried this evening. Her poor little infant is now motherless.
Oct. 23 - Brother R. came home this morning again quite unexpectedly. Mr. H. Hicks and Mr. Hutchinson spent the day. Mr. W. Renfro is with us tonight.
Oct 24 - Brother went over the creek today. Dr. Edmonson was here today. Parson Grant is here tonight.
Oct. 25 - Mr. Jarman was here this morning. Mrs. Nicholson and Emma came to see me this evening. Bro. Vineyard is with us tonight.
Oct. 26 - Brother has gone to lunch B. Brooks. Emma and I are staying with Mrs. Nicholson tonight.
Oct 27 - The first thing I saw when I got to the road this morning was that a scout had passed in the direction of our house. My heart beat fast! I feared they had caught brother, but they did not. Searched our house, but did not trouble anything. Went down on Big Creek captured Capt. Swan and Scaife, and returned to Helena about twelve.
Oct. 28 - Received a not from Mrs. Jones. Wrote to Mrs. Tilden. Brother, Sis Sallie and I went to Mr. Hutchinson's this evening.
Oct 29 - Sis Sallie and I have been riding around all day. Went to
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Mr. Sutton's, dined at Dr. Rice's, went to Mr. Renfro's, and Judge Jones this evening.
Oct. 30 - Received a letter from B. T. Reynolds. James Kelley was here this evening.
Oct. 31 - Mrs. Joe Green was here this morning, Judge Jones and Mr. B. Green this evening.
Nov. 1 - Dr. Edmonson was here this morning. There is a report that Price has been defeated in Missouri.
Nov. 2 - Mr. Renfro is with us tonight, has a new "Bulletin," but nothing new.
Nov. 3 - Mr. Renfro dined with us, had a nice turkey. Mr. Thralekild was here this evening. Pa got a "Chicago Times" today, which says Price has gone into Kansas carrying the spoils of twenty counties with him.
Nov. 4 - A clear beauitful day. I am staying with Emma tonight.
Nov. 5 - Emma came home with me this morning, found Sue Johnson and Mrs. Fitzgerald here. All spent the day. Emma is with us tonight.
Nov. 6 - E. went with us to church this morning. Bro. Wilks' text was the fourth chapter, twelfth verse of the book of Amos "Prepare to meet thy God, Oh Israel". Found Ann and Willie here when I got home. E. is with us tonight.
Nov. 7 - Rained in torrents all night. Brother has been gone nearly all day. Mr. Jarman, Mrs. Jones, and Heber were here this afternoon.
Nov. 8 - Ann spent the day. Mr. W. Renfro and Cousin Hattie Brooks are with us tonight. Miss Eva Coldige and Dr. Burke, a Yank, married yesterday.
Nov. 9 - Raining all the morning. Cousin Hattie spent the day. Mr. Vineyard is with us tonight. Heber and Nannie Jones were here this evening. Gen. Buford sent Pa a pass to go to Helena.
Nov. 10 - A clear beautiful day. Aunt Mary and Cousin Mollie spent the day, had a fine turkey for dinner. Ann and Fanny Smith are here.
Nov. 11 - Went to Mrs. Jones' this afternoon, got acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Alfonse Smiser, saw Mrs. James Smiser. Some of Prices' men have returned. They say that "Old Pap" is retreating toward Arkansas through the Indian Nation. He was defeated at Kansas
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City they say.
Nov. 12 - Pa and Sis Sallie went to Helena this morning, came back tonight, had no news.
Nov. 13 - Went to Mrs. Jones' this morning. Brother R. left us at eleven this morning to return to Mississippi. I feel relieved that he is out of the way of scouts. Went to see Ann and Mrs. Burnett this evening. Lieut. Swans wife passed this evening. She is trying to get into Helena to see her husband.
Nov. 14 - Pa came back this afternoon. He saw Brother safely over the river. Cloudy again.
Nov. 15 - Sis Sallie and I took supper at Mr. Jarman's tonight. Went to church but no preacher came, and we made our way back to Mr. Jarman's, spent the night. Been raining all day.
Nov. 16 - Still cloudy and showery. I never saw so much rain. It is reported that Lincoln is reelected. In that case we must expect it to rain for sometime for Nature still has sympathy for her suffering children.
Nov. 17 - Raining in torrents. Mr. Hutchinson was here this afternoon.
Nov. 18 - Dobbins Regt. has returned from Missouri. All of the men have fifteen day's furlough. Some of them are at home, others on the way. Still raining.
Nov. 19 - Six Confed. soldiers took dinner here today. Charlie and Lieut. Hicks are here tonight.
Nov. 20 - Mr. Dade and Lieut. Hicks spent the day. Capt. Smith was killed in Missouri.
Nov. 21 - Mr. Jarman came over this evening. He, Mr. Coleman and Mr. W. Renfro stayed till bed time. There was a scout out last night at Mr. Hicks looking for Charlie. They did not get anyone. Wrote to A. Robbins.
Nov. 22 - A clear, bitter cold day.
Nov. 23 - Pa went to see Mrs. Jamison today. Mr. Burnett was here this morning. Mr. D. Blount and Dr. Edmonson dined with us.
Nov. 24 - Mr. Burnett, Capt. Crawford, and Mr. Renfro dined with us. It is reported that Price and Stenwittie have given Heren a beating in the northern portion of this state. Capt. C., Mr. Renfro, Joe Stayton, K. Cameron, and Charlie Hicks are here tonight.
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Nov. 25 - Joe and Kenee spent the day. Capt. C. was here today. Mrs. Trotter is with us tonight.
Nov. 26 - Been raining all day.
Nov. 27 - Mr. Jarman, Dr. Edmonson, and Lieut. Hicks were here this morning. Pa is over the creek, going to move Mrs. Jamison over.
Nov. 28 - Joe and Kenee Cameron spent the morning. Mrs. Hutchinson and Mr. Burnett were here. Mrs. Green came over this evening. I went home with her. Ann and I have been baking a cake for Mag's wedding.
Nov. 29 - Mag Graves and Lieut. T. Renfro were married this afternoon at 2 o'clock. They started over Big Creek as soon as the ceremony was over. There was a report that a scout was out which hurried them up.
Nov. 30 - Capt. Crawford was here this morning. Went and helped Sis Sallie and me over Lick Creek which came very near swimming us. Mrs. Nickolson was here this evening. Capt. C. and Mr. Coleman took supper with us.
Dec. 1 - Went to see Sue Johnson this evening.
Dec. 2 - Pa went to Stirling this morning. Mr. D. Blount was here this evening. Capt. Crawford, Lieut. Turner, Mr. Coleman, and Monroe Mathis took tea with us. Capt. C. will remain all night. Received a letter from Cousin A. Robbins and a note from R. Staton today.
Dec. 3 - Capt. C., Mr. Coleman, and Mr. Blount called today.
Dec. 4 - Sis Sallie and Nannie have gone to church today. Mr. Wilks preaches. Sue Johnson was baptized this morning. I received a letter from Isaac Tims, a Camp Chase prisoner, today informing me of the death of my friend T. W. Starne. Mrs. Jamison started to Vicksburg this evening, to live.
Dec. 5 - Lieut. Turner, Maxie Hicks, Capt. Crawford, Glen Baker, Keny Cameron and several other soldiers were here tonight. About forty passed; they are going on a scout near Helena.
Dec. 6 - Kenie and Glen Baker spent the morning. The scout did not accomplish anything. Capt. West, Mr. Jack Govan, and Mr. Wynn dined with us . Mr. G. and Mr. W. are passing the night. It is reported Sherman's whole army has been captured in Georgia. Many believe it. Wrote to Ruth Stayton today.
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with us last year, have bid us a final adieu, and before us have threaded their way to another and unknown world. And our loved, our beloved country, she too has passed through as many vicisitudes of fortune as her suffering people. One day glad tidings are borne to our listening ears on every breeze. Our dear boys have been victorious in some hard contested struggles, the next we have been defeated. So many loved ones have laid down their lives on fory fields, and then for no purpose. But such is war. Now, a pall as black as midnight envelopes us. Our country is bleeding at every pore convulsions such as she has never seen are passing over her. The darkest hour she has ever witnessed is the present. We must say "Thy will, Oh God! Not ours be done." We must wait and pray for a better day.
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PROGRAMS
Mr. Samuel Sizer of Little Rock, first state archivist of Arkansas, made a very interesting talk before the Phillips County Historical Society at the September meeting. Following the speech, the members present signed a letter that was sent to a committee of the legislative assembly, to show our interest in the forthcoming discussion of money to be appropriated for archives preservation. We hope that our letter helped.
Mr. Sizer pointed out that Arkansas is far behind in archives work, not because it has no archival material, but because there is no archival program, and, consequently, there is no long-range planning for the future. A concrete block building that is far too small and inadequate now, is the repository for manuscripts, valuable books, governmental data, and other papers that hold the history of Arkansas, and which are constantly being added to, making the storage situation impossible.
He stressed the very real need for an archival program to preserve the important records of the state of Arkansas, the already existing records, and the records to come. The program should start from the ground up, and should include a new building with enlarged quarters, and various electronic copying machines, among other things.
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The October program was very good and was a slide program showing the restoration of the Fontaine Home at 580 Adams in Memphis, a French Victorian mansion, built in 1871. Many before and after shots were shown, and obviously the photography was handled by a professional, producing beautiful pictures. The ladies from Memphis who presented the program were Mrs. Thomas P. Hughes, Jr. and Mrs. Mildred Muller of the Association For The Preservation Of Tennessee Antiquities. They had developed this slide showing to a fine degree, making it a pleasure to watch.
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The November program was given by Mrs. Ralph Kyte of Elaine, and it was an informative talk on the development and history of Elaine, made more interesting by her personal recollection of events.
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There was no meeting or program in December, but they will resume in January.
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