My first entry in this blog was rather short on Washington County names, so I hope to make up for it today...
Let me know if you have find any "kin" in this list, okay..???
Arkansas Gazette
July 13, 1883
Old Settlers
Names of Washington County Pioneers, and the years in which they came to the county.
The Gazette has heretofore published an account of the reunion of the pioneers of Washington County held at Prairie Grove on the Fourth of July. Below will be found the names, ages and the years in which many of the old settlers located in the county:
W.D. Polson, aged 52; came to the county in 1836.
Bent. Wheeler, aged 56; 1833.
Whiting Washington, aged 59; came 1836.
Baylers Rutherford, aged 48; came in 1830.
James Morton, aged 52; came 1831.
John Johnson, aged 72; came 1838.
James Woodruff, aged 48; came 1835.
Dr. T.J. Pollard, aged 78; came 1839.
L. Dyer, aged 56; came in 1834.
Jesse Blakemore, aged 56; came 1831.
J.G. Reed, aged 50; came 1833.
J.L. Harrison, aged 71; came 1834.
J.W. Scott, aged 51; came 1834.
Step. Crawford, aged 48; came 1835.
L.E. Hardesty, aged 75; came 1838.
J.M. Sawyer, aged 76; came 1833.
J.M. Chandler, aged 50; came 1833.
G.W. McClure, aged 54; came 1835.
W.W. Leach, aged 44; came 1838.
Zeb Edmonson, aged 53; came 1830.
Frank Edmonson, aged 85; came 1839.
J.M. Bell, aged 54; came 1829.
R. Putman, aged 52; came 1836.
D.B. Dason, aged 63; cane 1840.
S.K. Stone, aged 63; came 1840.
Richard Bean, aged 46; was born in the county.
John Moore, aged 58; came 1835.
A.S. Gregg, aged 56; came 1835.
Bob Parks, aged 58; born here.
Wm. Mitchell, aged 49; came 1832.
John Pyeatt, aged 45; came 1837.
T.W. Thomason, aged 49; came 18-.
Jack Thomason, aged 55; came 1829.
J.P. Carnahan, aged 54; came 1834.
C.W. Walker, aged 48; a native of the county.
Col. J.P. Neal, aged 63; came 1829.
Moses Dutton, aged 68; came 1836.
Wm. Rutherford, aged 59; came 1832.
Mrs. A. Taylor, aged 61; came 1829.
Mrs. E.I. Moore, aged 63; came 1829.
Elizabeth Cox, aged 75; came 1839.
Mrs. L.S. Stoddard, aged 62; came 1828.
Nancy Sharp, aged 72; came 1828.
Lizzie Tollett, aged 88; came 1829.
Mrs. H.E. West, aged 56; came 1830.
Elizabeth Parks, aged 86; came 1830.
Sarah Arlington, aged 67; came 1827.
Mrs. P. Combs, aged 58; came 1828.
Mariah Morrow, aged 68; came 1828.
Mrs. J. White, aged 62; came 1828.
Mrs. T.A. Watson, aged 49; came 1842.
Mary J. Thomason, aged 79; came 1829.
Viney Marrs, aged 87; came 1832.
Mary Marrs, aged 56; came 1832.
Nancy Crawford, agged [sp] 55; 1829.
Mrs. L. Wheeler, aged 80; came 1830.
Mrs. Morrison, aged 50; came 1829.
Mrs. Polston, aged 75; came 1836.
Mrs. Earle, aged 49; came 1834.
Mrs. Morton, aged 50; came 1833.
Mrs. R.M. Harrison, aged 69; came 1834.
Betsey Pyeatt, aged 62; came 1821.
Sarah McClellan, aged 60; came 1833.
Harriett Brown, aged 42; came 1811.
Mary C. Rutherford, aged 48; came 1835.
Mrs. N.E. Kidd, aged 50; came 1834.
Elizabeth Sharp, aged 60; came 1830.
Mary Crawford, aged 55; came 1828.
W. Drake, aged 65; came 1829.
Jack Simpson, aged 65; came 1829.
T.W. Marrs, aged 72; came 1817.
James Young, aged 62; 1828.
Arthur Crawford, aged 77; came 1824.
Benj. Strickler, aged 73; came 1830.
T.C. Crawford, aged 66; came 1828.
Wm. Willibanks; aged 70; came 1831.
M. Jones, aged 78; came 1835.
A.B. Reed, aged 55; came 1830.
James McCulloch, aged 64; came 1839.
J.D. Thompson, aged 61; came 1829.
George Morrow, aged 82; came 1826.
W.P. Barclay, aged 63; came 1830.
T.J. Kelley, aged 67; came 1828.
J.R. Pyeatt, aged 78; came 1827.
Elisha Dyer, aged 83; came 1830.
A. Taylor, aged 60; came 1829.
David Carter, aged 76; came 1835.
Wesley Marrs, aged 53; came 1830.
A. Marrs, aged 52; came 1832.
John Spencer, aged 80; came 1836.
W.K. Scott, aged 46; came 1837.
The earlier account this article referred to came from a telegram:
Arkansas Gazette
July 6, 1883
[Special Telegram to the Gazette]
Fayetteville, July 5 - The pioneers' reunion, held yesterday at Prairie Grove, twelve miles from here, was one of the biggest successes of the year. Over 4000 people assembled from all quarters, and over a hundred original pioneers of Washington County met once more and lived again the days of yore. Eloquent addresses were delivered by Col. James H. Neal, James H. Vanhoose, Benjamin T. Duval, Gen. G.D. Royston, Hon. M. F. Thompson and Uncle Joe Lewis. Not a break marred the occasion and a most happy day was spent by the vast throng.
Some interesting observations can be made from the above list... I wondered at first about the men's and women's names being separated... The names are not listed in any alphabetical or chronological order... I thought that maybe a person was going around make inquiries and recording them, and that the men were separated from the women for some reason... But then I thought that maybe the guests "registered" at the even with one book for men and one for the ladies... But if this was the case why was there a break in listing the men..???
It is also interesting to notice how OLD some of these pioneers are... Washington County must have a hidden fountain of youth... Life expectancy in the 1880's in the U.S. was in the lower 40's and this is the age where they began tabulating this list...
Some questions pop up (per ALWAYS in genealogy, right..???) about some of the entries... There are some pioneers who state right off that they were born in Washington County and then others who if you look at their age and when they say they "arrived" were clearly born here too... Family relationships may be surmised or questioned by comparing the dates when persons sharing surnames arrived... The Pyeatts arrived in different years, though Betsey may have married into one of the other twos' families after arriving earlier with her own... Viney Marrs and Mary Marrs may well be mother and daughter, and Mary Thomason could be the mother of Jack, but why doesn't T.W. know when he arrived..??? Why didn't he ask his older brother who was so close to him when asked or while recording when he arrived..???... Hmmmmmmm... More than one Thomason family pioneers of Washington County, Ark...????
Finally, just look at the earliest dates of arrival... 1811, but then Harriet Brown is only 42... She obviously was born in Washington County and then just assumed her family's arrival date..??? And 1811 would mean she (her family) arrived in the Missouri Territory... The same goes for T.W. Marrs who came in 1817... Arkansas Territory was not formed until 1819... The county of Washington was formed in October, 1828... Just look at the pioneers who arrived in that year or the next... I counted 22... Isn't that amazing..!!!
