Where's "Sweet Lips"?

Now that we've got your attention, click over to the  History Investigator blog and find out just what the title means. I think it will interest you.

Video: Jane Mason Jeffery Burial Site Clean-Up

Original Lafferty Settlement

On Saturday, the 13th, the EIC Crew joined Freda Cruse, Mary Miller, Mary Wilson, Art Wilson, and Sam Younger on a tour of the White River Bottom near St. James in Stone County. This area was home to John and Sarah Lindsey Lafferty who were among the first white settlers to put down roots in the White River Valley. It was along this bottom land the family's log home stood when in 1811, John witnessed the ground erupt during the great earthquake of that time...one of very few recorded eyewitness accounts from the region. We believe we located the site of the cabin they built in 1810 on top of a knoll extending out into the bottom. The location would have afforded the Lafferty's visual command of the river-bottom for miles with the added benefit of being across the river from Penter's Bluff which offered views up and down the river even farther. With its spectacular views and rich river-bottom soil, it's easy to understand why John Lafferty decided to grow roots in this place. The site of the 1811 eruption, a sinkhole only recently filled in by mistake, is within sight of the knoll where we believe the home was located.

John Lafferty was only able to enjoy building his western dream for a few years, however. In late 1814, he was wounded at the Battle of New Orleans and died a few months later after returning home. History tells of his burial somewhere near his cabin. Unfortunately, the cemetery that likely bore his body in death was bull-dozed a few years ago...the stones carried off for use in some construction project.

This area of the river was later home to Cherokee and Shawnee after the western bank of the river was ceded to the Cherokee Nation in 1817. Its name during this time was "The Buck Horn". We visited the site of an Indian Burial Ground during our adventure from which artifacts were collected early in the 20th century by the University of Arkansas. Included in the collection was the skeleton of an individual who was buried in a seated position facing east. Also buried in this Native-american burial ground is Methotaske, Tecumseh's mother.

A number of civil war battles/skirmishes were also fought along this stretch of the White River and areas nearby, including the "Battle of Buck Horn" where several men from the Union and Confederacy were killed and wounded. This engagement was between General J.O. Shelby's confederate guerrilla forces and a Union Company under the command of Captain Bill Williams that had been terrorizing the area for some time. Some of the structures that stood during the battle still stand today. In fact, a lengthy stacked rock wall along the base of the ridge running parallel to the river-bottom was constructed primarily to defend against Union troops out of Batesville. Area landowners lent and leased their slaves in the effort and the whole community participated in the project.



Video Below!

Photos by Freda Cruse Phillips

The Old Perrin Place: Search for Jane Mason Jeffery

This past Saturday morning, The EIC Crew, along with Freda Cruse Phillips and Martin Darrell, met Ken Coon at a gravel-pit above the White River Valley near Sylamore before heading down to the Old Perrin Place...previously the Daniel Jeffery Homestead. We've been wanting to visit this area of the county for nearly two years and were thrilled to get the chance to travel along the old CR18 route to the river-bottom.
The first white-settler to homestead the land and develop it as a farm was the brother of Jehoiada Jeffery, Daniel Jeffery. Later, the land was obtained by the family of Franklin Perrin.
Freda, a local historian from Stone County who is passionate about her work wrote the following:

Born in 1840 in Ohio, Franklin Perrin moved to Batesville with his parents prior to the 1850 census. He made friends with the young Jehoiada Jeffery and at age 30, they were both living at Sylamore with Celia Harris, 50, a mulatto, in 1870. In Feb 1888 Miss Celia deeded him the land on which they lived on Green Mountain Road, a portion of which is presently owned by Stan Townsend overlooking Sylamore. Franklin also bought land next to Daniel Jeffery’s farm on the opposite banks of the river. Frank had one older brother David and two younger brothers, Samuel and James and a sister, Sarah all of whom lived their lives in Independence and Izard County. Sarah was a school teacher in 1860 at the age of 18. Franklin Perrin died in 1917 at the age of 77 in Batesville, Arkansas. He was living in the home of his sister in law Eliza Teague Perrin at the time of his death. It is unclear when the Perrin’s sold the farm and moved to Batesville. People who grew up on Polk Mountain and in the valley above Sylamore in the 1930’s refer to the farm as the “old Perrin place” – the last of the original families from the 1800’s who lived there. Ken Coon is the current owner of the “old Perrin place”, the homesteaded land of Daniel Jeffery, son of Dr. Jane Mason Jeffery and “ol” Jim.

Our primary focus for this adventure was to finally visit the final resting place of Jane Mason Jeffery. Jane Mason Jeffery was the matriarch of the Jeffery clan and was well-known throughout the White River Valley as a doctor and midwife. Her story is possibly the most colorful and inspirational one amidst White River history. She is buried on the old Daniel Jeffery/Franklin Perrin Place having lived with her son after her husband and Jeffery Family patriarch, James (Old Jim), kicked her out of his home for practicing medicine along the river against his wishes. Jane is a revered ancestor of the Jeffery Family and therre are some wonderful family historians doing ongoing research into her life and those of her descendants who are in chief ways responsible for the developement of Izard County government and commerce.

We also learned about an alleged account that during Desoto's exploration of the White River, two of his expedition died and were buried on the bottom near the site of the Jane Mason grave. It has been reported by eyewitnesses that until relatively recently, two iron cross markers indicated the graves of these two early Spanish explorers. The crosses cannot now be located and were either stolen or washed away in the '82 flood.

We've put a video together of our adventure to the site and it is posted below.




Video at Bottom - Enjoy!
















Freda would like to invite readers who may have information on the Perrin and Jeffery families and who are willing to share it to contact her via e-mail at:(fredacruse@yahoo.com)
Or by phone at (870) 213 5015

Unity Cemetery (Newburg/Knob Creek)

Unity Cemetery is located between Knob Creek and Bandmill on the Knob Creek Road. We went in search of this almost forgotten cemetery at the request of a reader who had tried to find it but has never been able to do so. The cemetery is in a terrible state of disrepair with only a few stones standing and many graves which have settled excessively. There are many field stone markers with no inscriptions and likely many more stones which have fallen and lie hidden from view, flat beneath a heavy blanket of decaying leaves.

There are few names on stones to research...and hardly any mention of the Unity Cemetery online so I was unable to find any data about those who rest here except for basic information about birth and death dates. Those names I was able to find online seem to all have resided in the Newburg area.

The site lies along a spring branch in a hardwood flat below a hilltop capped by a rocky outcrop.

Combs Cemetery

Combs Cemetery, located near Melbourne on Jumbo Road, was established in 1883 by way of a donation of land from Robert Combs. Mr. Combs' wife, Elizabeth, was buried here in 1887.

This cemetery is important to us here at EIC for a very important reason. In it rests close family members of the EIC Crew including both of Rick's parents, Jim's Dad, and several generations of my own family (G Grandparents-Vines, GG Grandparents-Neel, and 3 sets of GGG Grandparents-Neel, Kidwell, Mynatt)

Actually, my GGG Uncle, James C. Mynatt, who is the brother of William Mynatt who I found at the Shell Cemetery a couple weeks back, is buried here with a Civil War plaque marking his grave. The brothers, James and William, were both members of the 37th Kentucky Mounted Infantry during the War Between the States. Union Soldiers, in fact!

The 37th Kentucky was responsible for protecting the Glasgow area of Kentucky and did so brilliantly by repelling Morgan's Raid and participating in the Battle of Saltville.

The earliest birth date I found while visiting this site was that of James M. Rush (1808), a lawyer by profession.

William K. Estes is also resting here and served as Izard County Clerk for many years during the latter part of the 19th Century into the 20th.

This Cemetery is lovingly maintained and hosts a gazebo and it's own chapel.

Shell Cemetery (Sage)

One of the most rewarding things about doing what we do is learning about
the pioneers who settled the Izard County area. It's especially exciting when it becomes personal as it did while researching the names of those resting near Sage in the Shell Cemetery.

The very first name from this cemetery I began researching online, William Mynatt, seemed to be a dead-end except for basic genealogical information. But as I began to read the descending lines from Calvin Mynatt of Tennessee, I discovered that William was my own Great-Great Uncle - brother to my Great Great Grandmother, Delitha (Mynatt) Kidwell. Small world, Izard!

Amidst the excitement is always a bit of disappointment, however. Take the grave of George w. King for instance - someone went to a lot of trouble and displayed much creativity in fashioning the stone that marks his place of rest. It's engraved with great care with the symbol of what must be an anchor as a center-piece as well as an unreadable inscription around its edge. But an online biography? No chance! Was he a mariner? If so, where? Did he serve in the navy of the confederacy? Did he just like boats? Finding a stone like this and not being able to put a story with it is indeed deflating. Perhaps someone out there in cyberville knows more of what can only be a very interesting story about an early Izard County pioneer.

Oh, and...nothing about Joseph King (1801-1859) either!

In fact, this particular cemetery has led me to spend hours searching for information online just to find out that there is a single biography available on James H. Roten in Karr Shannon's A History of Izard County (which, of course, I have a copy of but absolutely cannot remember where I stored it after using!) and that John Shell, the Tennessee Volunteer of the War of 1812, owned 3 slaves at one time (a good way down the page but the whole article is well worth the read).

If I had any hair, I'd be pulling it out!

Anyway, the Shell Cemetery is located at the end of a long lane and is quite remote. It lies among an ancient grove of magnificent cedars and is one of the most peaceful places of internment I have encountered in Izard County.

Enjoy the photos!