STORIES OF PERRY COUNTY

From: Marlene McCormick <dedolly@mail.snider.net>

Date: Wed., 24 Dec 97 04:45:09 +0000

It was winter, some where around the late 40’s. I was living with my grandparents Author and Zella Kelly in Oakgrove going to school at Biglow..I would have been around 9 years old. It was one of those rare winters when we got a big snow, some 12 in. or so. . When I was a kid I prayed for snow; I dearly loved the beauty and the fun. Snow Ice-cream and sledding down the hill..Mrs. Easter Blackwell came by, the closest neighbor at that time, wanting Grandma and I to go rabbit hunting with her. She was all decked out with rubber boots, gloves, knit cap, and a shot gun. Grandma and I, bundled up all snug and warm, walked down behind the Oakgrove cemetery, on down the hill towards the orchard and Open Lake looking for rabbit tracks.The sun was twinkling in the new fallen snow. Redbirds were calling in the Holly trees. The red oftheir feathers matched the red of the holly berrys. The dripping of the slow melt and run off in the creek was musicle.

We started tracking a rabbit which led to a hollow log. Ms Blackwell broke off a low hanging limb from a willow tree, ruffled up the big end, stuck it in the end of the hollow log, and began to twist. Every little bit, she would pull the limb out, and out would come a hand full of fur. She was going to twist that rabbit out of that log.. Soon there was enough fur to make a coat, piled up there on the ground After a while it was evident the rabbit wasn’t coming out.of that log.There was less and less hair coming when Ms Blackwell pulled out the limb. You couldn’t leave a necked rabbit in the log, so Ms Blackwell walked home to get an ax to chop him out. I don’t remember who had rabbit stew, but I suspect Ms Blackwell did as she did all the work.

It was not unusual to see those women who were not far from being pioneers themselves, living a semi-pioneer life. They made lye soap in the big iron pot out in the yard. They did their wash on a rub-bord, heated the washwater in a big iron kettle out in the yard near the well. Grandmother had electricity as long as I can remember, but Ms Blackwell didn’t, and she cooked their evening meal by kerosene lamp. They raised animals for their own meat, milk, eggs, and butter. They baked their own bread, made their own clothing, raised their own fruit & vegetables, preserving and canning them. You know that may have been the reason they were always singing and humming a tune. They were happy, comfortable, self-assured women who really knew how to live.

On this Christmas Eve I am so grateful for all the wonderful memories of Perry County.and its loving ,kind people.

From: "BOB.JOYCE.JOPLIN" <BOB.JOYCE.JOPLIN@prodigy.net>

Subject: Sharp family of Perry County

Date: Sat, 18 Oct 97 16:54:03 +0000

Carrie A. Sharp lived most of her 91 years in Perry Co., Ark. She was born in Copperas Gap in 1889 and died in Houston in 1980. She married Robert E. Bland in Houston in 1907 and is buried beside him in the May Cemetery.

She knew much about the area and the people who settled Perry County. Her father once told her that Houston, Arkansas was named in honor of a famous visitor who frequently came to the area. His name was General Sam Houston.

Her father was Alford C. Sharp, a dedicated, caring, man who refused to let the railroad disturb the cemetery where his beloved first child Freddie, age 3, was buried. He stood guard over the grave long enough that the railroad company relocated their tracks around the little cemetery that bears the name of SHARP. Mr. Sharp was buried there in 1898 beside his infant twin daughters, Lula and Lily, and another daughter, Goldie, age 2.

SUBMITTED BY: Joyce Bland McCool

Alford Sharp is my great grandfather and Carrie Bland is my great aunt.

From: DeDolly <dedolly@mail.snider.net>

Subject: Oakgrove and Pleasant Valley

Date: Sat, 16 Aug 97 05:41:04 +0000

Perry County is the most beautiful place in the world to me. This is wonderful to find this opportunity to write about my most precious childhood memories, & the people who gave so much to enrich my life. My Great grand parents all lived in Perry Co. The earliest record I have is 1910 census records showing ElijahYIELDING and Nancy Ann YIELDING having their oldest son Thomas and his wife Murtle in the household. Elijah preceded Nancy to Perry Co. . She later joined him with their 3 sons: Thomas, Francis, James Wesley (my grandfather) and a daughter Mary who married a HANDY. Nancy came by covered wagon with the children from Alabama. She was said to be full blood Indian. In looking in the Ala. records, I found many of the surnames being the same as those in and around Oakgrove and Pleasant Valley communities.

Zella EDMONDSON, My grandmother, lived on PettiJane Mountain as a girl. Her father, Columbus EDMONDSON, was a grade inspector for Fourth Lumber Co. Grandmother Zella called, Adavally her childhood home, and EDMONDSONS are buried there.In their early marriage, Jim and Zella lived on Thornburg Mountain in a logging camp . I have pictures of the camp and the big tents in which they lived. Jim bought land from Elijah, his father. Jim and Zella lived in a small log house almost on the line between what is now the Oak Grove Cemetery; the land of the cemetery and old School place was donated by Mr. MUNCIE and Elijah YIELDING according to land records. Jim and Zella built a large house with 16 ft ceilings, a dog trot down the middle, and a sprawling front porch on front, and an L shaped one on the back.It sits on a roling hill and is now owned by the BLACKMONDS who have bought up much of the land in the area. The old house was remodeled inside but looks much the same as it did after the dog trot was closed in in the late 40's.

Many of my childhood memories are on that big front porch.. You could see from that front porch looking west to Perry mountain. I remember the hot summers laying across one of the iron beds and a cool breeze blowing the lace curtains, without a care in the world. Life was peaceful in the 40’s and 50’s. I spent many hours out in the orchard up an apple tree with a green apple, a paring knife, and a saltshaker listening to the bees buzz, the cattle low, and the mawking birds sing. Hwy 300 was a dirt wagon road in the 40’s and up to the late 50’s when it was paved. Most everyone traveling it stopped by to say hello.

Grandmother was a social person, a midwife, and a community leader. She was a hard worker, milking, canning, woodchopping, earth plowing sort of woman, and one who always had something cooking. She fed the hungry traveler cared for the sick and ailing. Can you tell I loved that good old country woman? She was so loving and kind to me. Many times people would stop by and sit on the porch swing and sing hyms. She helped DR STANLEY deliver many of the babies in the community as most were born at home as was I in the same room and the same bed as my father M.L (Buck) YIELDING.

When My grandfather died an untimely death in 1922, Zella married Arthur KELLY who was the school teacher at the one room schoolhouse at Oakgrove. He became the county surveyor after World War I, where he learned the trade,for many years. He went to court with Paul VANDALASON many times due to land problems when the Arkansas River changed course. Arthur KELLY was a quiet bookish person of fiew words; being a school teacher I learned a lot from him.

Gee, there are so many wonderful families in Oakgrove and Pleasant Valley. The G T.EDMONDS family lived west and on the opposite side of the road who had a pear orchard down by Open Lake which My grandmother owned. The Fred DRINKWATER family lived to the west just before you got to the corner. The STEDMAN and Fanny MILLER family lived for a long time back up a lane just before you got to Fred DRINKWATER'S place. Fred became a published poet in his old age. I remember when we visited them at Vinygrove before they moved down the road. There was a school house and cemetery there at Vinygrove back in those days. Mrs Viva FLUELLEN taught school in the Oakgrove school house just prior to the school consolidation. Across the Hwy and up a dirt road, the DEAN family and ROARY families lived in huge hewn log houses.There are a couple of graves back there with large flat stones marking them .

The Clyde BIRD (or is it Byrd) family lived in a little house at the foot of the mountain where mom and dad lived when I was born, before they built across from the cemetery at Oakgrove. Clyde had a car and Grandmother and I rode to church in the Valley as we called it. Clyde and Lucy BIRD had 4 kids, but they always made room for us. They were wonderful neighbors. Lucy wrote the news articles for Oakgrove that was published by the Perry Co News then the Head Light.

Ester BLACKWELL lived in the next house. She had a truck and hauled , hauled what ever was needed. Although Papaw surveyed, he never learned to drive anything but a team of mules or horses. He bought a team of mules, big suckers, and drove them back from OK City before I was born. I don't know how old the mules were when they died, but I was grown and had children of my own. I remember when people were paid a dollar to vote and Ms BLACKWELL would haul them to the Poles and was paid to do so.

Grand Mother always voted and took part in the elections campaigning for her men. She was democrat and Papaw was Republican so they canceled each other's vote. Going east on 300 Hwy. is My uncle, Sylas PARK married and built a house. I remember their marriage and seeing Uncle Sie shake so hard I thought he would fall off the porch during the ceremony. They are still there.

The MUNCIE Place was next. Columbus EDMONDS, My Greatgrandfather, built the MUNCIE place which it was called after he sold it and has since been been torn down, but it was a big 2 story house with the dog trot closed in when I was a kid. My uncle Lonnie YIELDING married Coramay MUNCIE. My father's family lived on the North side of 300 and mother's family, Henry and Hanna PARKS and children live on the south side all up and down Hwy 300 from Oakgrove to Pleasant Valley. So far as I know, only one PARKS has built a home on the north side of the hwy. The Rankin Place beside Rankin Creek, also called Rankin Station as the railroad train stopped south of there, was just west of My Grandfather Parks homplace.

I can remember visiting Grandma PARKS and Joy, Johnny, E.B. ,my uncles and aunt near my age, in the summer and swimming in Rankin Creek. People came from every where to swim. Also baptizing was done at Rankin Creek. The MELTONS bought the old Rankin place when I was a kid. I would like to mention all the old families that formed those communities and have been there for over 50 years. HAMMETT , HUDSPETH, JEFRIES, GIPSON, BAKER, BARTLET, CASHNER, JOHNSON, GAZO, & KELLY. Nelly WOOLY had a store at hWy. junction 113 and 300 as did the ACKREDGES. They stood side by side. I may have failed to mention a few as my memory fails me at times. Those years spent as a girl in Perry CO during the summer and a couple of winters after I was 8 are precious to me, and I am ever grateful for the peaceful life that was there where I learned many lessons and values of life. I have some funny tales I was told but will save them for another time.

From: Kathleen Lipsmeyer Nichols <kathleen@ionet.net>

Date: Fri, 25 Apr 97 19:34:19 +0000

I am Kathleen Lipsmeyer Nichols. I visited the Perry County web page and I love it. Not only informative but interesting.....I love the stories.!! :)

BIGELOW WAS ONCE THRIVING BOOM TOWN

The Lipsmeyers owned the mercantile store in Bigelow Ark. for a long time in the early 1900's. Bigelow was a lumber mill town (three lumber mills) and a railroad made Bigelow a "boom town" in the early years of this century. But a few years later it was almost a ghost town. Bigelow didn't exist by its current name until 1911. It used to be called "Esau" .......a community a few miles southwest of the present Toadsuck Ferry Bridge that grew to touch the edge of the small town of Fourche. In 1911, Fourche River Mill owner, N.P. Bigelow, built an elaborate white house of the best lumber on a hill above the town. He was elected mayor, and then gained permission from the state's General Assembly to change the name of Esau to Bigelow. It was at one time the biggest town in the county; a vote was taken to move the county seat from Perryville to Bigelow, Bigelow won the vote....but the move was never made. Next to lumber mills, the railroad made Bigelow what is was.

Before the turn of the century (1900) another community called Dixie (Old Dixie) was settled about 1 1/2 miles south east of the present "New Dixie". Hampel's General Mercantile Store was stocked by merchandise brought upriver by boat and then overland by wagon and sold. Some of the family names that farmed the land in this area were: Nagles, the Lipsmeyers, the Shuttens, the Wumppers, Millers, Rumpes, Stefkers, Nutts, Olless and Volperts, among others. There was once a postoffice.

Before the Lipsmeyer's owned the mercantile store it was owned by the Hample's. People would receive mail at a Post Office in the store at Dixie. Some did their trading on Sunday when they came to Mass. The Hample's sold to Heinrich and Anna Lange Lipsmeyer & the mercantile store was located right beside the railroad tracks. Roads were rough and few, and the river only flowed one way, but the railroad was a free flowing stream in two directions. It brought the workers, salesmen, and produce in and then took the lumber out. The Fourche Company lost a bid on timber to the south, war came, and lumbermen left to make more money in the shipyards. The lumber mills began to close in 1921, when N.P. Bigelow's Fourche River Lumber Co. closed. A Danville factory bought the railroad, and from the largest town between Fort Smith and Little Rock, Bigelow became one of the smallest. (Excerpted from article written by Helene Stallcup for a special to the Democrat.)

ST BONIFACE CATHOLIC CHURCH 1879-1981

Cover the Church and the tombstones next to the Church with snow, and you would have a picturesque Christmas card right out of the 19th century. This beautiful country Church on state Highway 60, eight miles south of the Toad Suck Ferry Bridge, simply commands attention.

The church was organized in 1879-1880 by a few German families, led by Father Segidius Hennemann, vicar general to the Bishop Edward Fitzgerald. For the first year, mass was offered in private homes. The first mass was celebrated in the kitchen of the Stephen Lipsmeyer family.

Henry Lipsmeyer had been a member of St. Boniface for all of his 84 years (1979), he was baptized and confirmed in this Church, he said the Latin responses taught him by his father at the low masses in which he was the server. The Lipsmeyer family donated the leaded glass windows imported from their German homeland that once contributed to the reverent atmosphere, and of which only two remain. A Benedictine monk from Subiaco named Father Matthew is said to have come downriver by boat and walked to Dixie to administer to the community's religious needs, saying masses in various homes. The first church is believed to have been built around the turn of the century, on 40 acres of land donated or sold cheaply, by the Choctaw Railroad now known as the Rock Island Lines. The railroad provided the lumber needed to build the first church. Father Felix Rumpf was named pastor and opened a school in a log house. The first permanent pastor, Rev. Othmar Wehrlis, O.S.B. lived in a two-room house to which three additional rooms later were added. The two-story convent was destroyed in the 1906 fire. At one time a one-room school, later expanded to two, provided Catholic training for the young and a meeting place for the community. It was replaced by another larger building in 1947 that contained classrooms and a large hall with a stage for plays and other events. The school continued until 1969, when a shortage of nun-teachers forced its students to transfer to Sacred Heart School at Morrilton Ark. or St. Joseph's at Conway or other schools. The St. Boniface School and Hall Building was destroyed by the 1976 lightning and resulting fire. The building was replaced the same year and continues in use as a community meeting hall for meetings.-

Date: Fri, 21 Mar 97 12:14:35 +0000

From: Cathy Stanfield MRSSTAN@aol.com

I was going to tell you the story (the way I heard it) of how Toadsuck, AR (in Perry County) got its name. My ggrandpa Nin LEE ran a saloon that apparently was located in the bend of the river and riverboats would dock there alot for the men on them to have a little r & r. It was told that people said that these men came in and Sucked up so much liquor that they swelled up like Toads, and therefore it became known as "Toadsuck". :-)

____________________________________________________________________

From the "Living the times..." A bicentennial tribute to Perry County : p. 63

"Another version states that John M. Whitten, a longtime resident, said the name was bestowed by one J.W. Bowen*, an oldtimer in the area. Bowen was a farmer and had many men working for him. These men had a past time of racing horses along the river bank near the ferry. They were repeatedly begging Bowen to bring his fine stallion and race him. One day he finally agreed, and when he saw a group of men sitting outside the old saloon on a log, he said, 'Boy, that place must be a regular toad suck.' A "toadsuck" involves an old belief that there are certain things that a toad enjoys sucking on."

*One source believes this was actually R.A. Bowen.

Toadsuck is located on the east end of the county and is generally thought of in terms of a ferry that was once operated there. Toadsuck Ferry has been in operation off and on since 1840. The Chamber of Commerce in Conway operated the ferry during the 1920s. After that the state Highway Department operated it until 1944, when service was discontinued. In 1970 a gigantic bridge of concrete and steel was completed that spans the muddy waters of the Arkansas. Travelers, who used to cool their heels waiting for the ferry, now zip across the river without a moments notice.

From the "Living the times..." A bicentennial tribute to Perry County : p. 64

"Just off Highway 9 and 10 and east of Highway 216, is the community of Antioch. The Antioch church is the county's oldest church building. It is constructed of great, hand-hewn, cypruss logs fitted together with wood pegs. The cypress logs were hauled in by oxen in 1874 and the church was erected on land donated by John and Sarah Whitehead. This was the first Baptist Church in the county. Samll farms and country homes make up the Antioch community."

From the PETIT JEAN COUNTRY HEADLIGHT, June 11, 1986; "Aplin - History" article by F.B. Dooley.

Another intersting chapter in my early teen-age life. My dad, P. V. Dooley, and his brother, Walter, operated the cotton gin and saw mill at one time. Uncle Walter moved to Oklahoma and Texas. A letter came to the postoffice addressed to Mr. Dooley, the mill man. Mr. Falls kept the letter for several days trying to decide what to do with it. Finally he mentioned it to my dad and they agreed to open it. The letter was supposed to be from a man held prisoner in Spain. He stated that he had maps of buried treasures in this area and he would send the maps in exchange for $300 to transport his daughter with the maps. Several letters were exchanged and finally the man offered his daughter in marriage if there was a person of her age. Just think how I felt with a possible romance with royalty. All the while, my dad was turning every stone looking for this treasure. My dad finally told this man that if he could not be trusted with the maps, the money would not be sent. That ended the romance.

About 1917 a man who was nicknamed"Dog Henry" because of his dogs, came here and set up camp near a spring on Pa Little's three acres, at the mouth of Rock Creek. The spring went dry, and he moved to Rock Creek above the blue Hole. He did not like close neightbors so he moved east about two miles up the old railroad tram. East of Coal Shute, he built a log cabin, a bridge and a dam to change the course of the creek. Once a week he would come to the postoffice and his dogs would come with him. Time came when he did not make his weekly trip but his dogs came, and Ben Harris made note of it. Finally a search party was ordered, they found Dog Henry dead, and his dogs on guard. They had to kill the dogs before his decomposed body could be moved and buried.

Mrs. Smyers set a "BoDock" fence on both sides of the road from about Miss May's house all the way to the foot of Lackey Hill. Years later, the hedge fence was neglected and the trees grew until the limbs overlapped and formed a perfect shady walkway. This was known as "Lover's Lane."

From the PETIT JEAN COUNTRY HEADLIGHT, June 11, 1986; "Aplin - From then to Now" article by L.C. Dooley.

Disaster struck three times during the 1920's. In 1926, a tornado crossed south and east of the stores. Bryant Dodd's house was lpartially destroyed, and his daughter's leg was broken. This is where John Moore heard the rooster crowing the next morning and found the rooster inside a jug with his head out through the neck of the jug. Storms cause peculiar things to happen. The storm sucked the end out of Luke Van Dalsem's house, no damage inside.

In 1927, the flood came. All of Arkansas was troubled with this flood.

Then the financial bust of 1929. All banks closed. Everything closed. That's when people helped each other. Everybody was broke and in need. The merchants managed to get enough money to buy supplies, and they, in turn, would furnish the farmers with enough goods to make a crop. One man with a houseful of kids borrowed $35 to last from spring to harvest time.

Many unusual ways of making a living came into being. One man, Mr. Alley, made a round trip about every two weeks from Little Rock with wagon and team, pedalling groceries and dry goods. These goods were paid for mostly with chickens, eggs, and other farm products. Then came the WPA days, Everyone who could qualify could work. Not much pay, but it was an improvement for all of them. Some walked 10 miles to and from work each day. They were dedicated to their families.

But we had fun too. We gathered at George Padgett's shop every rainy day to play pitch and checkers. We had baseball games in the summer and basketball in the winter after the gym was built with WPA labor.

We had our share of characters in our community. Mr. Wilson came from Missouri. He enjoyed telling stories to the school children. He also had several gold coins that he would show them. Another was J.P. Carter. He came from a rough background and could hold the young people spellbound with the stories he could tell. Then there was Charley Tanner, who was left with several children and married Mrs. Whitfield who also was left with several children. Two severals made a bunch. Then they combined these two families and a few of their own which caused Charley to remark that when they crossed a field, they "cut a swath." He was the man that could move a dug well, or cut a drilled well up into post holes or cut a hog up into many hams. John Moore - a man who would give advice on any subject. He said if you were going to fall, be sure to fall on your head so you wouldn't break your leg. Ben Harris who kept stories going about different people just to keep them agitated. Ed Doyle who always wanted to recall 40 years.

Return to Perry County Homepage

If you have any stories you would like to contribute, email me at artsy@hartcom.net