Early History of Phillips County

The Land, the Legends and the Lore

by Patty Smith

Published 2020

Dunn/Hornor Cemetery at Storm Creek

One of the most difficult tasks is the recording of headstones in cemeteries that have not been properly maintained. Not only does one have to trample through weeds, brambles and vines, remove fallen leaves, limbs and logs, but also try to avoid those crawly critters called ticks and snakes. But thankfully, for historical purposes, the reward is more than worth the effort.

Such can be said of the Dunn/Hornor Cemetery, sometimes known as the Dunn/Hornor/Baker Cemetery. If one wanders half way down the road that connects the High Road to the Low Road at Storm Creek Lake, looks to the left, one will see the signage for the cemetery that is located on top of the ridge.

Storm Creek looks nothing like it did in the mid 1800’s when John Sidney Hornor owned the vast plantation of the area. There was no lake, only a creek that ran from the west to east from the back of what we know as the lake, to the spillway and on down to the bridge by Hornor Neck. As young and old alike passed on to greater glory, John Sidney Horner allowed these folks to be buried on the ridge. It is also said that as flooding created havoc with graves located in lower land, many graves were moved to the ridge to prevent total decay and/or loss of coffins. Many of those buried in this cemetery are the descendants of Phoebe Clark Dunn, the earliest female settler of this national forest area, and wife of William Patterson and Sylvanus Phillips.

The earliest known recording of Dunn/Hornor was done in 1998 by John and Suzanne Jones along with Wanda Ridge, and again in 2006 by Nancy Apple and Pat Audirsch. At that time only eight grave markers were found, with twelve burials (one headstone listed five members of the Samuel Royall family). In 2018, knowing the location of this cemetery, and knowing that it was about to be lost to history forever, arrangements were made to place a sign signifying the location. Shortly after, I was told that a lady who lived in the area in the 1900’s stated that there were many graves in that cemetery. That got the ball rolling, and when Pat Donnelly and her niece, Sheryl Roberts came to town and wanted to visit the grave site of relatives, Wanda Ridge and I set out on a jaunt with them, and a jaunt it was for three of us old ladies. But we did it, and managed to find more graves than had originally been recorded. It was at that point that we knew we had to get someone to clean the cemetery, and called the prison at Brickey’s for assistance. During that cleanup, thanks to Tap Jennings, we were able to find and photograph even more headstones. At present we now have 29 burials recorded. To this day, we are fairly certain that there are more headstones to uncover on the south end of the cemetery. Hopefully, some of the younger generation will find them before long. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE NAMES OF THE PERSONS BURIED IN THIS CEMETERY, VISIT tcgs.genealogyvillage.com or www.findagrave.com

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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.