Showing posts with label Illinois. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illinois. Show all posts

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Hello Amos...Arkansas

My dad, J.R., and I decided to take a small Saturday afternoon trip to Amos, Arkansas, and to see what other excursions there would be on the way. On our way up Highway 126, we decided to go to the Old Cooper Cemetery about 2 miles south of Midway. Copper is a small cemetery. My great, great grandfather & grandmother, Burton & Sarah Girkin, are buried here at the center of the cemetery. Originally, they were natives of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Once they were married, they moved to Illinois and started a family. Burton's father & mother, Joseph & Luraka Gherkin, and grandmother Sarah Gherkin (born 1776) stayed in Kentucky. (...Notice the spelling of the name changed from Gherkin to Girkin...) In 1877, Burton & Sarah came in a covered wagon from East Nelson, Moultrie County, Illinois. The family moved to a farm in Baxter County owned by W. B. Jordan farm 6 miles northwest of Mountain Home, Arkansas. The family then moved to Trimble Flat, Baxter County in 1894 after Burton's death. They bought a homestead from the Suggs Family on Bruce Creek. Burton Girkin was born in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky died in here in Baxter County March, 1879, only two y ears after being in Baxter County. Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and died February 15, 1901. Here is her obituary from the Baxter Bulletin.



Here is a list of their children:
  • Narcissus “Nare” Girkin: Born March, 1867, in Illinois. She married Mr. W.S. Perryman.
  • Joe H Girkin: Born March, 1869, in Illinois. He was a Baxter County Assessor and married Edna Pierce.
  • Martha “Mattie” Girkin Born September, 1870, in Illinois. She married William.W. King.
  • Charlie Girkin Born April, 1874, in Illinois. He married Jennie Kazar..

Today, their graves are only large pieces of unmarked limestone.
Family knowledge is the only thing that marks their resting place today.
Their graves are below.
According to Of Grave Importance, cemetery book of Baxter County, the oldest grave in the cemetery is of an A. W. Cooper, who was buried in 1864 and was reported to have been killed by "Bushwackers."

Next, we went on Highway 178 and went to Lakeview which was once called Amos. We pulled down the road pass the Lakeview City Hall and drove by the entrance of the Amos Cemetery. Dad want to see if the old Amos church/school house was still standing.
This what we found. It is located down the hill from the cemetery about 100 yards. Trees and brush are closing in on the old building. If you look closely, you can see the bell tower. Also, there is an addition to the front part of the building.















Here's the front view. Notice the broken tree limbs from the recent ice storm.

This is the Methodist Church that held the funeral of my great grandfather William Franklin McNeil and great grandmother Mary "Mollie" Girkin McNeil. This is also the school house that all the McNeil children, such as Eunice McNeil Anderson, went to. As you look through the door, you will notice a sheetrock hallway. This part is the addition made on to the building for extra classrooms in the early 1960's. Looking on in the background is the stage area with a hole in the back wall for the stove pipe. The building is completely stripped of every artifact and ornament. The floor is 70% gone and the area is sadly filled with trash.



Here is the view from the stage.

















We then walked back to the Amos Cemetery to take a view of some of the family tombstones.


Great, Great Grandmother & Grandfather. Their foot markers are below.










My Great Grandmother & Grandfather's resting place.


This is the almost forgotten stone marker of W. Frank & Mollie McNeil's small children who passed away: Susan Geneva McNeil & Ralph Herman McNeil.



These three tombstones are some of the prettiest I've seen in a long time. They belong to two great, great aunts and my great, great uncle, Steve Wayland.




Great, Great Aunt Emma Elizebeth Wayland





Great, Great, Great Aunt Aseneth M. Wayland

Great, Great, Great Uncle Stephen J. Wayland. He is the brother to Thompson Henderson Wayland buried in the Norfork Cemetery.




















These are the tombstones of Uncle William W. King & Aunt Mattie E. Girkin King. Aunt Mat was grandma Mollie McNeil's sister. The Kings lived on Trimble Flat in the late 1800's -1900's.
Later on we decided to travel on to Bull Shoals and visit Newton Flat Cemetery and then headed on to the Flippin Cemetery. While at Flippin Cemetery, I happened to find a long, lost aunt, Judy Francis "Fannie" Anderson Gibson. She was born in Gainesboro, Tennessee, and came to the Ozarks on a steamboat and landed on McBee's Landing.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Mining in Baxter County 1900-1910


Mining in Baxter County was a spin off from the progress of mining and prospecting in the neighboring county of Marion. In contrast, to the chagrin of the professional mining companies, local citizens were purchasing cases of dynamite and starting their own mining ventures. Not all of the miners in Baxter County were mining via shafts and tunnels; but, they were also strip-mining on cedar glades, rock outcroppings, creek bottoms, middle of fields, or blasting off portions of sheared bluffs. There were reports of small creeks and fords being blocked due to avalanches due to the process of blasting.

Advertisements can be found in the local paper, The Baxter Bulletin, in 1901 -1908, in which they were urging people to purchase 30-40 acres of land to insure their good fortune of either doing their own mining or sell to an established mining company. Steam drilling came to the Pigeon Creek area in Baxter County by the Kimberly Mining & Milling Company of Chicago, Illinois, on January, 1902, when the company purchased 600 acres in the area.

Advertisements were also in local papers lauding the ease of traveling from St. Louis, Missouri, to Mountain Home, Arkansas, in a record time of 22 hours via train and then stagecoach. By 1901, Baxter County had 158 mines registered within its’ borders in 10 districts.

The following are districts and mines registered in Baxter County as of December 1, 1901.



UPPER NORTH FORK DISTRICT: 9 Mines
Honest Ben, Dan Jones, Cranfill, Bratton, Little Bear, Hargrave, Little Gem, Last Chance Knickerbocker

PIGEON CREEK DISTRICT: 31 Mines
Gambetta, Blazing Star, Foster, Wellington, Hopeful, Rob Roy, Bald Dave, Randall, Tilden, Vester, Dover, Taylor, Tennessee, Major Smith, Brown-Mayfield, Priestly, Lone Star, Flatrock, Billym Gold Coin, Jack Pot, O. K., Twentieth Century, Watson, Brixey, Luck, Bonanza, Skaggs, Big Jack, Kansas, Fox Creek

FALL CREEK DISTRICT: 10 Mines
Klondike, Biggers, Smoky Knob, Wabash, State Bank, Grand Glaze, Eureka, Lady Pearl, Iron Peak, Jeff Davis

THREE BROTHERS DISTRICT: 10 Mines
Bangor, Long Mountain, Union, Jim Johnson, Spring Hollow, Eureka, Old Glory, Amethyst, Frank Jenkins, Zinc King, Howard Ridge, White Hawk Placer, Sand Hill, Mary Swinny

BRUCE CREEK DISTRICT: 19 Mines
McCracken, Hawkeye No. 2, Cedar Gap, Rocky Hill, Richmond, Stratton, Old Spanish, Bruce, Wild Cat, Mooney King, Evening Star, Stafford, Sorrell, Big Ike, Bullion Beck, Bruce Creek, Killinger, Big John

JENKINS CREEK DISTRICT: 9 Mines
Cincinnati, Allen, Flote, Matthews, Major Hilton, Rex, Cowan, Racket, Coventon

BUFFALO DISTRICT: 25 Mines
Silver Cloud, Bluff Placer, Widow Wood, Brewer, Perry, Alexander, Kentucky, Riley, Martha Washington, Malecek, Golden Eagle, Black Bear, Zinc Hill, Buena Vista, Anna May, Weldon, Cantrell, Red Bird, Silver Mountain, Cedar Hill, Santa Claus, McGinty, Fair View, Hulsey Gulch, Mail Path

SISTER CREEK DISTRICT: 14 Mines
Olive, Holy Moses, Arkansas, Lady Majors, Sewel, Lola, Bucher, Big Buck, Ware, Hazel, Silver Bell, Faris, Lady Baxter, Dixie

SPRING CREEK DISTRICT: 17 Mines
McChristian, W. J. Brian, Corsicana, Alamo, Divide, Avis, Black Cloud, Cyclone, Big Pour Off, Forrest, Kruger, Merriman, Bee Branch, Crippled Turkey, Barndollar, Lena, Top Cap

MARBLE DISTRICT: 10 Mines
Irene, Marble Bluff, Pioneer, Chicago, St. Louis, Bluff Hollow, Helena, Big Red, Mink Maid, North Star
Total: 158


Major Companies Operating in Baxter County (Total: 20)
The following named mining companies own property in Baxter County:
American Mines Development Co.
Baxter Mineral Co.
Blue Rapids Mining Co.
Big Buck Mining Co.
Bucher Churchill Mining Co.
Gehr-Morgan Mining Co.
Hawkeye Mining Co.
Holy Moses Mining Co.
Illinois Marble Mining Co.
Kan-Ark Mining Co.
Kansas Arkansas Mining Co.
Kimberly Mining Co.
Kirkwood Mining Co.
Lone Star Mining Co.
Rex Mining Co.
Rowden Mining Co.
St. Louis Mining Co.
Skull Crest Mining Co.
White River Mining & Development
White River Mining & Milling Co.

Ore on the Dump.
The following is a careful conservative estimate of ore on the dump in various mining districts in Baxter County at this time (Dec. 1, 1901).

BUFFALO DISTRICT 900 Tons
JENKINS CREEK DISTRICT 360 Tons
BRUCE CREEK DISTRICT 1,500 Tons
UPPER NORTH FORK DISTRICT 2,000 Tons
PIGEON CREEK DISTRICT 630 Tons
FALL CREEK DISTRICT 365 Tons
TOTAL 5,755 Tons.


How To Reach The Mines. The Baxter Bulletin, Dec 20, 1901
The best way to reach this country is by Frisco Railroad to West Plains, Mo.; thence by stage to Mountain Home, Ark., where good rigs can be obtained to go to any point desired. Daily fast stages ply between West Plains and Mountain Home, making it possible to reach Mountain Home from St. Louis or Kansas City in twenty hours. All prominent mines of North Arkansas are within twenty-five miles of Mountain Home, thus saving from ten to twenty miles over other points.





References:
Messick, Mary A. Baxter County History: Centennial Edition 1873-1973. Mountain Home, AR: Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce, 1973. Lithographed by International Graphics, Inc. Little Rock, AR.

Shiras-McClelland, Francis H. History of Baxter: From the Beginnings to 1939. Mountain Home, AR: J. W.
Daniel and Shiras Bros. Print Shop, 1940.


Shiras, Tom. “Mining in Baxter County.” The Baxter Bulletin
01 Dec. 1901 I ed.: A1-2.