Conway County Heritage

Description

The history of the community and people of Conway County, Arkansas.

Sujets

• Histoire
• State
• South
• Then and Now
• United States
• History
• Local
• Arkansas

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681621616
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

T URNER P UBLISHING C OMPANY
P ublisher of A merica's H istory
200 4th Avenue North Suite 950
Nashville, Tennessee 37219
615-255-2665


www.turnerpublishing.com

Copyright 2006 Conway Country Genealogical Association
Publishing Rights: Turner Publishing Company.
All rights reserved.

This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the publisher. This publication was produced using available and submitted materials. The author and publisher regret they cannot assume liability for errors or omissions.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006920386
ISBN 978-1-59652-127-8
Limited Edition
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Foreword
Conway County Genealogical Association
Conway County History
Memorials, Church, Schools, Businesses, Clubs & Organization
Family Histories
Index
F OREWORD

The Train Depot

The people of Conway County can be proud of the important and significant roles they have played in the history of Arkansas. This is the second attempt to preserve the records of families of Conway County, the first being produced in the 1980s. The records of over 600 families are preserved in this new volume of local history, and will serve as an historical source of genealogical and historical information for generations to come.
We believe the names, dates and places included in this book to be correct, according to our sources of information. In some cases the family names were modified over the years, and every attempt was made to leave these as spelled in the original documentation.
We would like to thank the hundreds of Conway County families, both near and far, for sharing the rich legacy of your ancestors. May you all enjoy this permanent record of our community history.
Conway County Genealogical Association
C ONWAY C OUNTY G ENEALOGICAL A SSOCIATION

The Conway County Genealogical Association was formed in February 1997. A group of people consisting of Burnie Beavers, Euna Beavers and Amanda Sefton, who were interested in genealogy, called a meeting January 13, 1997 at the Farm Bureau meeting room in Morrilton in hopes of forming a genealogy group. The possibility of forming a genealogy group was discussed. A second meeting was held February 6th to complete the process. A name was selected for the group and a regular meeting day was set.
The first officers of the group were Euna Beavers, President; Mary Brents, Vice President; Rosemary Norwood, Secretary; Bonnie Chism, Treasurer; Mickey Zachary, Historian; Barbara Marler, Reporter; and Gerri Willcutt, Telephone Chairman. It was decided that the group would meet on the third Monday night of each month. At the third and regular monthly meeting of the group, Rhonda Norris, a licensed genealogist from Russellville, was the speaker. The group was made up of all levels of genealogists from beginners to professionals. The membership consisted and still does consist of people who come to each and every meeting, those who come occasionally as time permits and many who for one reason or another are not able to attend meetings at all. We have many long distance members. Members are scattered from California to Delaware to Florida. A monthly newsletter is published by the group. This newsletter tells of local events, reunions, homecomings, cemetery decorations, ancestor fairs and other things that would be of interest to genealogists. One of the goals of the group has always been for the more experienced to help those who are new to genealogy. The first Conway County Ancestor and Heritage Fair was held August 23, 1997 at the AP&L Ready Room in Morrilton. The fair featured gatherers of information, providers of information and vendors offering books and materials that were genealogy related. The heritage portion of the fair featured people of the area who were demonstrating quilting, cotton carding and many other old arts. There was also a display of quilts, handmade chairs, churns, etc.
Charter members were Burnie and Euna Beavers, Mary Ellen Brents, Bill and Bonnie Chism, Ted Hutchcroft, Leona Carter, Gerry Willcutt, Tarci Davidson, Cathy Barnes, Jeannie Price, Helen Dickens, Dorothy Youngblood, Kip and Rosemary Norwood, Mickey Zachary, Ken Charton, Tambra Lewis, Dale James, Dorothy Beal and Barbara Marler. Many members were added in the coming months.
Soon after being formed the group began the project of taking a census of all the cemeteries of Conway County. This was a long and sometimes difficult project and took a couple of years to complete. A four volume set of books was published from this information. CDs were made available later. The year 2005 finds us doing updates for the cemetery books. The new books will be available in late 2005 or early 2006. The group is now working on other books about Conway County as well.
Meetings are now held the first Monday night of each month at the Morrilton Depot Museum. The CCGA has also set up a Conway County Research Library in one of the museums. Many books, CDs, microfilm, etc. are available for researchers to use when visiting. A computer is set up to utilize the CDs. It also stores a family history database. Individuals can contribute their family histories to it. These records are privatized so as to protect those still living. Anyone can contribute to this project. The library houses many family history books also. CCGA has compiled a new history book of Conway County. It is entitled Conway County Heritage: Then and Now. This book should be available in the fall of 2005. The group is compiling other books also.
The goal of the CCGA has always been to promote interest in genealogy and to aid in research. Many of the group volunteer to help researchers from other areas by doing lookups. This is a group of dedicated genealogists and volunteers. Another goal is to add to the Conway County Research Library so that researchers can have many sources to work with when they visit the library. Submitted by Euna Beavers.

Lienhart Creamery in Morrilton.
C ONWAY C OUNTY H ISTORY

Old Store Porch, 1971. The post office and grocery store was a community gathering place in Cleveland, AR. In good weather men gathered on the porch of the Halbrook Grocery and Post Office. Lyonell Halbrook is sitting in a rocker with his step granddaughter, Becky Skipper, in his lap. John Skipper is standing in front of them. Thomas Williams is sitting at Lyonell’s right and Hi Bowling is on his left. Byron Shewmake is sitting on the edge of the porch.
A B RIEF H ISTORY OF C ONWAY C OUNTY , A RKANSAS
Conway County formed in 1825 out of Pulaski County and is named for Henry Wharton Conway, who was territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress. At one time, Conway County covered an area of about 2,500 square miles and included most of Faulkner, Van Buren, Pope, Perry and part of Yell County. This large territory—as large nearly as some of the smaller United States--has been divided and carved from time to time, until the present area of Conway County is but 567 square miles. The county seat was moved numerous times as the county kept reforming and it was the intention to keep the county seat housed in a central location in the county.
The first county seat was at Cadron. The house of Stephen Harris was the second location of the county seat in Harrisburg (now Portland). In 1831 the seat was moved to Lewisburg. The courthouse was moved to Springfield in 1850. The Springfield courthouse was demolished by a tornado in 1858 and a new courthouse built in its place. There was a fire in 1863, which destroyed the courthouse in Springfield a second time. Another courthouse was built in 1869 in Springfield. The courthouse was returned to Lewisburg in 1873. The county seat was permanently moved to Morrilton in 1883-1884.
The Cherokee Indians owned land temporarily in north central Arkansas between 1817 and 1828, which included most of Conway County. The Southeast corner of the Western Cherokee Nation was located on Point Remove Creek, not far from Morrilton. Sequoyah, father of the Cherokee Alphabet, came to Arkansas in 1818 to bring his alphabet. The Cherokee were eventually pressured into signing a treaty to give up their Arkansas lands.
There is a marker on the corner of Jackson and S. Cherokee in Morrilton that reads as follows: Conway County Cherokee Indian Boundary. On the north bank of the Arkansas River at the mouth of Point Remove Creek a line was run in a Northwesterly direction to Batesville. On White river this line crosses the highway here and was designated as the Eastern Boundary of the lands ceded by treaty in 1817 to the Western Cherokee Indians in exchange for lands given up by them in the states of Georgia and Tennessee. The Cherokee Nation followed the Trail of Tears through Conway County. It is estimated that the forced emigration claimed over 4,000 lives by the time the last Cherokee reached Oklahoma in 1839. At times, the line formed by the Indians on their trek was about 85 miles long.
During the Civil War, companies for both the Confederate and Union Armies were recruited from Conway County. Five regularly-organized Confederate companies, which were largely recruited by volunteers strictly from the county, and the fragment of a company raised by Dr. Davis, represented at least 700 men from Conway County. Two hundred more recruits from Conway County to companies recruited in other Arkansas counties, made a total of 900 in all that entered the Confederate Army from Conway County. No more than 200 ever returned, the others dying on the battlefield, of camp sickness or in Northern prisons.
Two companies, raised by Capt. Anthony Hinkle and Capt. L. S. Dunscomb, and recruited mainly in Conway County, joined the Third Arkansas United States Cavalry (Federal Army). They were mostly stationed in Central Arkansas, at Lewisburg and other points and saw but little fighting during the war.
The following official list includes the names of all those who occ