Arkansas Ties

Here is another article that peaked my interest:
June 1, 1869, Arkansas Gazette – James Cook and F.J. Ditter began the began the business afterwards known as “James Cook, Undertaker, ” on the corner of Rock and Markham streets.

After photographing over 20,000 grave markers at Oakland Cemetery and working extensively with their records I had become very familiar with the name “James Cook”. The records would read “John Doe, James Cook, $3.00 or $5.00″ I assumed he was just a local individual who was paid to handle the bodies but now I know that he actually formalized it as a business and he was Little Rock’s first full time undertaker. Mr. Cook died August 9, 1916 and the business was sold to R.F. Drummond, later known as Drummond Funeral Home and now known as Roller Drummond, one of Arkansas’ largest funeral homes. Mr. Ditter died unexpectedly in 1870. Both are buried at Mt. Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.  It is too bad that he did not leave a diary like Adolphus Boyd of Cabot.

More Information:

• James Cook, Find-A-Grave http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=24680187

Sometimes even the most common articles will peak my interest. Take the following:

July 27, 1866 – Arkansas Gazette.

Public announcement was made in Washington of the award to Vinnie Ream, a citizen of Arkansas, of a commission to execute a statue of the late President Abraham Lincoln.

So I am thinking, wow, we had someone here in Arkansas sculpting a statue of Lincoln. Ok, so who was he (I am thinking man, Vinnie for Vincent) and where is this statue.  Well, it turns out Vinnie  was actually Lavinia Ellen Ream, and at 18 years old, was the youngest person ever awarded a federal commission for sculpture.  She was awarded $10,000 to sculpt a slain Abraham Lincoln, an amount that attributed more to her charm than her abilities as a sculpture, even though she was very, very good.  She was born in Wisconsin but through a series of events, her family relocated in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  It was said that she relocated to Washington in 1861 but the above article from the Arkansas Gazette indicates she was still  a citizen of Arkansas in 1866.

Now for the really interesting part.  It was speculated that she was the mistress of Albert Pike…and who knows, maybe his connections to Washington played some part in her most interesting life.  While the extent of their relationship is not known…what is known is that he wrote her passionate letters that are located at the Library of Congress and he included her in Masonic activities that normally did not include women.  He also had the power in Washington circles to promote her skills benefiting her financially.  She also sculpted a bust of Albert Pike that is located in the  temple in Washington.  It is said that she met him in Washington but both clearly had ties to the north part of Arkansas and the military during the Civil War.

She eventually married Richard L. Hoxie 10 years later at the age of 28.  She died in 1914 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband.   She makes for very interesting reading and if you want to dig more into her life I have included some links below.

More information:

• Vinnie Ream: http://vinnieream.com/
• Civil War Women Blog: http://www.civilwarwomenblog.com/2007/01/vinnie-ream-hoxie.html
• Vinnie Ream Hoxie by John McDonald: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/mcdonald.htm
• Vinnie Ream, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnie_Ream
• Vinnie Ream, friend of Albert Pike: http://masonicservice.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=96&Itemid=22

Wednesday, February 8

The Life of a Woodruff County Girl - Brown Bag Lunch Lecture

Noon – 1 p.m.

Born on in 1926, Laverne Feaster will discuss her childhood spent on eastern Arkansas’s “Big Dixie” cotton plantation during the Depression. She will also share her experiences of the private schools of the day. Attending private school allowed Feaster to advance beyond the 8th grade education available in the segregated public school system where her mother taught.

Laverne Feaster graduated from Arkadelphia Cotton Plant Presbyterian Academy in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, and received higher education from Swift Presbyterian Junior College in Rogersville, Tennessee, before earning a B.S. degree from Tennessee State University in Nashville, and a M.Ed. degree from the University of Arkansas – Fayetteville. She taught in eastern Arkansas high schools from 1950 to 1963. In 1963, Feaster began her 29-year career with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, serving as a District Agent and becoming the first African-American woman in the United States to hold the position of State Leader of 4-H. She was also appointed by Governors Clinton and Tucker to the Commission for Arkansas’s Future, and the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission.

Admission is free. Participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch and beverages are provided at all Brown Bag Lunch Lectures.

Hot Springs from the Eastman Hotel Tower – 1919, Arkansas Gazette.

October 29, 1857 – Arkansas Gazette

The agricultural societies of White and Prairie counties opened “on the fair grounds at Des Arc the first annual fair of these societies” for an exhibition of the farm products of the two counties. “The Des Arc brass band, although it has been organized but a short time,” wrote a reporter of the event,” discoursed excellent music at intervals during the day.” Captain C.C. Danley of the Arkansas Gazette and Democrat made the principal address. The business meeting was presided over by R. McIver, president of the White county society. The fair lasted two ays and it was attended by several thousand people. The first and second prizes of $8 and $5 for the best and second best bales of cotton were awarded to B.F. Ford, who also won the first prize $1 for the best quarter acre of sweet potatoes. D.W. Hood had the best bushel of stock peas; G.W. Vaden, the best tobacco. Mrs. Simeon Horne took first prize for egg plant; Mrs. B. Hayley, for onions; Dr. W.L. Moore, best garden peas; Thomas Watkins, best beets; Mrs. W.W. Wair, best parsnips; Mrs. J.C. Rawlings, best turnips. In the live stock exhibit, W.W. Wair’s ram, “Fred Stanton,” took first prize as “the finest wool buck,” Wair’s ewe, “Jenney Hills,” and his lamb, “Carrie Pitman,” also took prizes. In the Ladies’ Department, Mrs. Hannah Ford took first prize for her cotton counter pant; Mrs. D. Harshaw, for best cotton patch quilt; Mrs. Hannah Ford, best wool hose; Mrs. E.A. Sanders, best candle mat; Mrs. M.C. Hancock and Mrs. A.M. Jackson, best infant’s dresses; Miss M.T. Nichelson, best embroidery; Mrs. M.M. Shelby, best table covers; Miss Fanny Fleming, best infant’s hat; Mrs. E. Lawrence, best embroidered linen dress. Other prizes were awarded for cooking and dairy products, painting and drawing, carriage and buggy making, domestic stock, harness stock, saddle stock, mule stock, throroughbreds, blacksmithing, tinsmithing, wood work, native cattle, fat cattle, work oxen, “ladies’ equestrianism” and “gentlemen’s equestrianism.”

Note from ArkansasTies: I found the contest categories interesting compared to todays contest categories.

Effective March 1, 2012, Google is doing away with the Friend Connect feature.  I really liked the Friend Connect feature as it motivated me every time someone signed up and I will be sad to see it go.

D.L. O’Connell & Co., located on Main street, near Markham – general merchants.

A.J. Hutt, Main street – dry goods, groceries and queensware.

L.M. Filkins & Co., Markham street – dry goods.

Geo. S. Morrison, near steamboat landing – dealer in boat stores and provisions.

William V. Hunt and William F. Pope – ready-made clothing, boots, shoes, hats.

William George & Brother, corner of Rock and Water streets – dry goods, groceries, cutlery.

T.D. Merrick & John Wassell, near steamboat landing – commission and forwarding merchants.

Newbern & Hughes, Main street – dry goods and groceries.

M. Tonti & Co., lower steamboat landing – cordials, wines, syrups, cigars.

Rapley & Hanger, lower steamboat landing – commission and forwarding merchants.

Tate & Moore, corner of Cumberland and Markham streets – dry goods and groceries.

D.R. Mandel, Main street – dry goods, boots, shoes and fancy articles.

David Bender, Markham street – staple and fancy dry goods.

John E. Reardon, Markham street next door to Anthony House – books and stationery.

Dr. J.J. McAlmont & Co., corner of Main and Second streets – drugs, medicines, paints and oils.

Dr. R.L. Dodge, Markham street – druggist, paints, oil and glass.

M. Osborn, Markham near lower landing – country produce, hardware. J. Brisbin & Co., Main street – manufacturers of sheet iron and tin ware.

S.H. Tucker, corner of Main and Markham streets – wholesale and retail dry goods.

Mrs. Jones, Main street – fashionable milliner.

Field & Dalley, Main street – foreign and domestic goods.

Jacob Hawkins, Markham street – liquors, wines, fancey groceries.

H.E. Hezekiah, at old stand of S. Marcus & Co. – tailoring.

J.D. Fitzgerald, Main street – auction room, particular attention to furniture and horses.

Henry Jacobi, corner of Main and Louisiana streets – book bindery.

Francis Ditter, Markham street – furniture, coffin-making and undertaking.

Hanger & Mayo, Main street near Markham – saddle shop.

A. Ziegel, Markham street – manufacturer of furniture, billiard and alley balls, coffins.

Richard Bragg, Markham stret opposite Anthony House – coach and wagon maker.

James Tunnah, Markham street – manufacturer of monuments, gravestones and tomb slabs.

*Arkansas Gazette

June 5, 1856 – Arkansas Gazette

An attack was made upon the lives of Patrick R. Cleburne and Thomas C. Hindman by William D. Rice and his brothers, F.H. and J.W. Rice. William D. Rice, as the principal head of the Know Nothings, had taken exceptions to things which Hindman said in his campaign for the office of congressman. Cleburne’s part in the affair apparently circumstantial. He and Hindman were political friends and associates in the practice of law. They were, at the moment of the attack, on their way to dine together at the Commercial hotel of Helena. Just before they reached the hotel and as they passed the door of the mercantile house of Myrtle & Moore, they heard a voice say: “Are you the author?” Both turned and saw William D. Rice and James T. Merriott standing in the door of Myrtle & Moore, each with a pistol. Rice fired on Hindman and wounded him in the right breast. Hindman, as soon as he recovered a little from the shock of his would, drew a Colt’s revolver and fired on Rice, who, with Merriott, was then retreating into the store. As Cleburne and Hindman entered Myrtle & Moore’s in pursuit, another shot was fired and Cleburne exclaimed: “I am shot, but not killed.” F.H. and J.W. were both inside the store. As friends of Hindman and Cleburne began to arrive on the scene, W.D. Rice fled out of a back door with a pistol in one hand and a Bowie knife in the other and pursued by Hindman until Hindman fell from exhaustion and the loss of blood. The other Rices fled by the front door and Cleburne and Hindman were taken by friends to the house of L.P. McVey for treatment.

(Patrick R. Cleburne was a native of County Cork, Ireland, born March 17, 1928; had migrated to America in 1849, and settled in Helena in 1850, where he was first employed as a drug clerk. While thus engaged, he began the study of law and was soon afterwards admitted to the bar. He was already distinguished by his gift of eloquence.)

You can read more on Cleburne here: http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=339  and Hindman here: http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1672

June 8, 1864

Word was received at Washington, Arkansas, that Captain Walter L. Pike, son of General Albert Pike, had been killed in Mississippi on April 17, 1864. He was the adjutant of Colonel H.E. Clark’s brigade and had been sent with a party of 16 men to purchase forage on Grand Prairie, where they encountered a Federal force of about 100 cavalry.

Note from ArkansasTies: I suspect the death of his son was one of the primary reasons he refused to take the “Oath” and was granted amnesty after the war.

Lonoke, Lonoke County, Arkansas Civil War Veterans
November 6, 1913

Left to Right, Top Row: W.H. Harrison, b. 10-11-1836; W.F. Crutcher, b. 1-30-1844; W.D. Monroe, b. 6-18-1839; S.V. Austin, age about 72; E.R. Howard, b. 8-11-1846; W.E. Dempsey, b. 6-21-1845; E.S. Austin, b. 5-22-1835; A. Martin, b. 3-4-1840; J.A. Porter, b. 2-14-1845; William Ray, age 75; Henry Brown, b. 9-15-1841.

Left to Right 2nd Row: C.B. Leigh, age 73; J.G. Standley, b. 1-17-1845; J.C. Goodrum, b. 12-18-1835; F.M. Swaim, b. 1-23-1844; J.H. Robinson, b. 1845; Dr. G.M. Thompson; George Sibley, about 70; J.N. Spencer, b. 6-30-1842; S.W. Blackwood, b. 1838; Dr. W. Bird; Tanner, b. 5-1-1840; Albert Hicks, b. 6-2-1837.

Photograph on display at the Lonoke County Museum.