Early History of Phillips County

The Land, the Legends and the Lore

by Patty Smith

Published 2020

Chamberlain/Smiley Cemetery

Located 9.2 miles from the intersection of Plaza and 4th Street, on the right hand side of the High Road, not far from Storm Creek Lake, is another of the oldest cemeteries in the area. Over the years, this cemetery has been called the Chamberlain Cemetery and the Smiley Cemetery, with a few calling it the Utica Cemetery and the Baldwin Cemetery. In fact, the small white and black sign marking the cemetery only says, “Cemetery”.

The first death on a grave marker in the cemetery reads “1847”, and that may well be the first burial. However, many of the early settlers were originally buried at their home sites closer to the Mississippi River, and later, due to flooding, were reinterred on the ridge. It is said that when a portion of the town of Sterling cascaded into the river, bodies were reinterred in this cemetery, so no one really knows when the cemetery originated. There is also a high probability that many of the early settlers were too impoverished to afford a stone marker, and used wood to create a cross, with perhaps the name chiseled on the cross.

It is also unknown as to whether this burial location is actually one cemetery or two separate cemeteries, divided by a deep ravine caused by erosion. A few years ago there were graves on either side of the ravine, as well as one marker and possibly the corner of one casket protruding slightly from the bottom of the ravine. Most interesting, however, is the wrought iron fence surrounding the one large stone of the Martin family. Names on the stone indicate that W. N. Martin, Josephine Martin, Josephine C. Martin and Albertis I. Martin are buried in this enclosure. (It is the Martin Family who is believed to have planned and platted the town of Sterling.)

In 1964, the Tri-County Genealogical Society recorded the markers that could be salvaged. Many of the stones were broken with pieces scattered here and yon, making it impossible to determine the names and dates on some of the stones.

Of the approximately 25 known persons buried in this cemetery, the William Smiley Green family also captures one’s attention. Both Mr. Green, his two wives (Amanda J. and Nancy Elizabeth Floyd) and four of the children are buried here, with one of the children having only lived ten days. The graves of Eligah Chamberline (as written on the marker) and his wife, Frances E. Chamberlain, are also found here, having died within ten days of each other in 1872, both age 37. Sadly, of the 25 markers, 8 are young children.

It is indeed a humbling experience to visit these cemeteries, to imagine the hardships of life back then, to envision the sadness of a mother and father burying their 3 year old child, and yet, at the same time, it is rewarding to applaud the fortitude of these early frontier men and women.

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Primary sources for these articles include the Phillips County Historical Quarterlies, Shinn's Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas; Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas; Down the Great River by Glazier; Arkansas Historical Documents and Land Grants; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; Courts and Lawyers on the Arkansas Frontier; Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi; USGenWeb; Ancestry.com; FamilySearch.org; Phillips DNA Project.