PIONEER FAMILIES

Lawrence County Arkansas Genealogy Trails
THE NORTHERN FAMILIES, Vol. I







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THE PROLIFIC HARDIN FAMILY
Source- Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas 1908

Traveler

Joab Hardin was a fair representative of an old family in Kentucky, that was pioneer in the commonwealths of Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas. The expedition of George Rogers Clarke took many Kentuckians into Illinois, who afterward made that State their permanent place of residence. When General William Rector surveyed Illinois under the land laws, soldiers from all parts of the Union, especially from North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, entered Illinois, and located their claims. This made Illinois Democratic during all the earlier years of its history, especially the southern part, which on this account was called by the abolitionists who flocked to the northern part, Egypt. Some of the most thrilling history of the United States from 1820 to 1860 was fought out in southern Illinois by these Southern emigrants, who carried with them into their new homes their peculiar ideas as to slavery and other things. Along with these went soldiers from the Northern States, equally as pugnacious as their Southern friends, who created contests most bitter and lasting. Some of the greatest names of modern Republican history spring from men and women of southern Illinois, who up to the beginning of the war were Democratic in political faith. Generals Grant and Logan were Democrats until the exigencies of the war made them Republican.

The name Hardin is a contraction of the older name, Harding, and both forms root back into colonial Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland. Some of the members of families using both forms of spelling are to be found in all the Southern States. Joab Hardin was born in Virginia, moved to Kentucky and then to Arkansas. He served in the War of 1812, but was more of a politician than a soldier. Like his kinsman, Old Ben Hardin, of Kentucky fame, he believed it less sinful to fight with his tongue than with guns. He settled in Lawrence County, Arkansas, in 1818, and at the first .election in the territory began to run for office, a trait characteristic of the Hardin family, if not of the human family. He not only ran, but was elected, and served in the first and second Territorial legislatures.

He had not the Hardin gift of eloquence, but was a speaker very hard to down. He could talk well on his feet without notes, being master of human nature and well acquainted with the foibles of mankind. He fell in with the Cadronites in their effort to make Cadron the capital of the State, and it was to his influence that the measure finally carried. He owned lands not only in Lawrence County, but also in Pulaski County in the neighborhood of Cadron. In 1823 he moved from his Lawrence County home, down into Pulaski County, into what is now Conway County, and without any effort whatever became the most influential man in that part of the county. On account of this influence they called his settlement "The Hardin Settlement of Pulaski County," and when townships were named the one containing this settlement took old Joab's surname, which name it holds to this good day. When Conway County was formed Hardin township fell into that county, and in 1873 was set off into Faulkner County. The town of Conway forms the center of the old Cadron settlement, while the Cadron mills were located in another settlement, now called Matthews township. In October, 1824, Joab Hardin died in Hardin township, Pulaski County, and John Lindsey Lafferty, then living in Pulaski County and in the same township, administered upon his estate. John Hardin represented Hardin township from Conway County in 1844. In this way the Hardins go back to the beginning of things.

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Source -  Johnson County History 1921


In the year 1831, which was at least twelve months before the Cherokees left this country, Abraham Laster and his wife, Nancy Pucket Laster, moved from Tennessee to the Horsehead neighborhood of Johnson County. Mr. Laster was a North Carolinan by birth. In 1837 his brother, J. H. Laster, and father and mother, Fredrick and Nancy Smith Laster, came on to Johnson from Lawrence County where they had located in thirty-one. Each of these gentlemen took out land. Fredrick was a Veteran of the war of 1812. J. H. Laster married Miss Sarah A. Patrick, a daughter of John W. and Susan Lee Patrick, in September, 1841. They were the parents of eleven children. Among them were three sons, Abe, Seth and Seldon, who later became men of affairs.

The children of Mr and Mrs. Abraham Laster were James M., Marvin, Hester Ann, Mary, Thomas, Francis, Washington, Jane and Robert.


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Source - Arkansas Medical Society 1905

DR. WILLIAM H. HATCHER OF IMBODEN.

Dr. William H. Hatcher was born in Williamson County, Tennessee, February 14, 1851; studied medicine five years; moved to Old Jackson, Randolph County, Ark., practiced medicine a few years, and returned to medical college, Medical Department of University of Nashville, where he graduated in 1875.

He joined the Randolph Medical Society in 1887; Arkansas Medical Society in 1885; the American Medical Society in 1886; moved to Imboden, Lawrence County, in 1887, and joined the Lawrence County Medical Society same year, of which he remained a member to the time of his death, which occurred at Imboden, June 10, 1904. Dr. Hatcher was a thorough believer in organized medicine, and one of the pioneer members of this part of the State.

He was always a very active practitioner, and attended all calls made on him, night or day, even to the time of his death. During his later years he became very fleshy, weighing more than 250 pounds, yet he would ride on horseback, when a buggy was not practicable, all over that country, making trips of 25 to 30 miles before returning.
He was one of the foremost physicians of his county, and had legions of friends who mourn his loss. Dr. Hatcher married Miss Johnnie Ferguson of Randolph County, Arkansas, soon after his graduation, and his widow and seven children survive him, the oldest of whom is Dr. J. Hatcher.

He was fortunate enough during his professional life to secure a competency for his family, though he had no life insurance. During the last five years of his life he joined the Methodist Church and the Odd Fellows' Fraternity, and died a contented man.

No more prominent physician lived in northeast Arkansas than Dr. Hatcher.

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Source - The Ark Historical Sociation 1911

John L. Lafferty became a member of the constitutional convention of 1836. Henderson S. Lafferty was a preacher in the county, and solemnized marriages as early as 1827, and Austin Lafferty was a justice of the peace of the county in 1828, as appears from the county records. Lafferty's Creek, which empties into White River, took its name from these brothers.

The pioneer, James Trimble, above named, was married in the year 1815 to Miss Walker, daughter of John Walker, then residing in Lawrence County near the site of the present town of Smithville. The Walker family afterward removed to land in the present county of Izard. Of this marriage was born April 14, 1827, John Trimble, now residing on his White River farm in Baxter County, Arkansas, from whom, and from an autobiography by Lorenzo D. Lafferty, the foregoing historical facts, except those furnished by the records, were obtained.

Uncle John Trimble was a soldier in Captain Porter's company of Colonel Yell's regiment, Arkansas volunteers in the Mexican War, and was in the battle of Buena Vista; he was also a soldier in the Confederate army for three years, and in December, 1905, was in the enjoyment of perfect health and vigor, in a green old age.

At the date of the settlement of the above named pioneers at the mouth of Poke Bayou, and for many years afterward, the Cherokee Indians claimed and occupied the country on the southwest, to within a few miles of that point.

On the sectional map of Arkansas, copyrighted by Caleb Langtree, a draughtsman in the office of the surveyor general in 1849, the Cherokee line is delineated as beginning on the north bank of the Arkansas River about two sections above the then town of Lewisburg in Conway County, and running thence north fifty-three degrees east to the south bank of White River, about three or four sections above Batesville. This boundary line is distinctly referred to and made one of the boundary lines of Independence County in the territorial act creating the county in 1820, as will be observed by the act hereinafter quoted.

The Indian title to the lands west of this line was extinguished, according to the best information of the writer, from a reading of chapter 108, U. S. Statutes at Large, act of congress approved May 24, 1828, by treaty with the Indians, ratified May 23, 1828. However this may be, it is certain that numerous Indians resided in that territory as late as 1832, as the writer of this sketch, in his boyhood has heard his father, who came to Batesville in 1832, say he had often seen troops of Indians in the then village of Batesville, offering for sale skins* peltries, beaded moccasins, etc.

The county seems to have settled up with considerable rapidity; by 1826, date of the earliest marriage record in the county clerk's office, there were numerous marriages. The first marriage of record was Robert Ivey to Lucinda Shadden, February 12, 1826; the second was David Canady to Polly Shadden, April 5, 1826; both marriage ceremonies were performed by Richard Peel, justice of the peace. Iveys and Shaddens of the above families yet reside in the territory, then within the bounds of Independence County.

The names Creswell, Graham, Johnson, Hagerton, Wideman, Blair, Davis, Perry, Sherrill, Henson, Spence, Turpin, Cobb, Harris, Gilbreath, Boyd, Russell, Masters, Robbins, Reeves, Allen, Jones, Staton, Palmer, Guest, Martin, Fulbright, Barnett, Weldon and Bradley appear by 1830.

There were settlements made in other parts of the county sometime after the settlement at the mouth of Poke Bayou, afterward Batesville, was made. John Miller entered lands in sections 2 and 3, township 13 north, range 6 west, some two and one-half miles northeast of Batesville, and probably had resided there some years before he purchased the land from the United States on August 22, 1822. Colonel Miller resided on these lands until the year of his death, 1886, when he was about ninety-six years old. He was a man of strong and marked individuality, accumulated quite a fortune, which was mostly destroyed by the vicissitudes of the war between the states. A Virginian, he went to Tennessee and ran on keel boats on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers before coming to Arkansas. He reared rather a large family, and his oldest son, William R. Miller, was governor of Arkansas from 1877 to 1881. Another son, Maj. John Miller, a large and successful farmer, is yet living on Spring River in Randolph County, near the town of Imboden, in Lawrence County. Colonel Miller had lived in Lawrence County several years before he came to Independence County. He frequently indulged in reminiscences of the early territorial days. One of his tales is recalled as follows:

The scene was at a religious camp meeting in Lawrence County, at which there was a, great revival and much enthusiasm and emotion. One fellow had been under conviction for some hours in the congregation, when suddenly he sprang up with a yell, and ran from under the bush arbor, where the services were held, to a neighboring sapling, which he climbed up some fifteen or twenty feet and immediately descended, shouting as he came down, and as he reached the ground, cried out: '' I -have got religion; Oh, I 've got it. I got it when I was up in the tree, and it smelt just like burnt shucks!''

Colonel Miller's wife was Miss Clara Moore, who died some thirteen years before he did; her family settled upon the lands now known as the Gainer place and the Wyatt place on White River, embracing the present site of the Gainer or Duffey Ferry, and the mouth of Greenbrier Creek, three miles above Batesville, and in September, 1822, entered these lands at the government land office. The Moore family was large, and they were intelligent and well-to-do people; of the men there were James, Robert, Thomas and William, and of the women there were at least four, Mrs. Clara Miller and Mariah, wife of Judge

Townsend Dickinson, and , wife of Thomas Curran, the

second clerk of the court of "the county, and Polly Ann, wife of Richard Sanders, who was killed at the battle of Buena Vista, where he was color bearer in Captain Porter's company from Izard and Independence counties in Colonel Yell's regiment, Arkansas cavalry.

Maj. William Moore was clerk of the courts of Independence County in the thirties; he was well known to the writer in his boyhood. Major Moore, when nearly eighty years old, migrated over land with his grown sons and daughters and sons-in-law to California in 1853, where he resided until nearly one hundred years of age. Webb Hayden, John Simpson and Wiley Dunn in 1827 entered and settled what is now known as the Andrew Allen farm, some two miles below Ramsey's Ferry, on White River. Richard Peel and Thomas Peel, brothers, entered on July 17, 1828, the northeast quarter of section 26, township 13 north, range 7 west, situated on Greenbrier Creek. This land is now owned by our townsman, Winslow Evans. Settlements were also made in Oil Trough bottom on the south side of White River at least as early as 1817. We find land entries by Charles Kelley, Mary Kelley, William Reed, Townsend Dickinson, William Dudley, James Miller and John Safford in 1822 and 1825.

Hardin Hulsey and his wife, Nancy (nee Smalley), settled in Oil Trough bottom in 1817 and reared rather a large family of sons and daughters. Hulsey had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and located his bounty land warrant on the northeast quarter of section 25, township 12 north, range 5 west, upon which he builded an elegant home, where he resided until his death in 1867. He was a man of strong, sterling character, and accumulated a fair fortune for the times. Uneducated himself, he gave to all his children the very best educational advantages which the county afforded. A number of the descendants of this worthy couple yet reside in the county.

In Big bottom, on the north side of White River, land entries were made by Morgan Magness and Perry Magness in 1826, and by Beniah Bateman in 1829; these men were actual settlers, and some of their descendants now reside in the county. Of the original settlers in Big bottom, Colonel Morgan Magness was the most popular. He was a robust man physically and mentally, of gigantic frame, and a native of North Carolina. He served several terms in the Arkansas legislature and was the wealthiest man in the county at the beginning of the war, which freed upward of fifty negroes for him and wasted his live stock, but left him a comfortable fortune in rich bottom lands. The Magness family was very large in the thirties, forties and fifties, and there are yet many of the younger generation living in the eastern part of the county in and around the town of Newark.

David G. W. Magness, father of W. Tom Magness, now of Newark, was a nephew of Morgan Magness, and was also a leading man in his day, a member of the legislature of 1866-67.

Nancy Magness, a sister of D. G. W. Magness, married Newton Arnold and was the mother of ex-County Judge M. L. Arnold. Another sister became the wife of Capt. Thomas T. Tunstall, a steamboat captain, planter and patron of the race course, who reared a large family of sons and daughters, one of whom is Mrs. James Archer of Mammoth Spring, and another is ex-Sheriff D. P. Tunstall of Salem, Fulton County, Arkansas.

James Trimble, a brother of John Trimble, the keel boat pioneer from Kentucky, was an early settled in Greenbrier township, some six miles southwest from Batesville; he was a deputy United States land surveyor in 1821 in the county, and was the father of the late Jackson Trimble, who died some years ago in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas.

The Carter family from Virginia was also in the county from the early thirties; one of them, Thomas S. Carter, married Harriet Trimble, learned land surveying from his father-in-law, James Trimble, and was afterward county surveyor for many years. He left numerous descendants at his death in 1872, some of whom yet reside in the county.

Beniah Bateman of Big bottom was also a man of prominence, serving .several terms in the territorial and state legislature.

The Tomlinson family were also very early settlers in Big bottom; one of them, "Uncle John," aged seventy-nine years, resides in the town of Newark, of which he was the founder. His father, Hugh Tomlinson, came to the county in 1827. Judge John Morgan, the father of Col. Thomas J. Morgan, settled in Greenbrier township in 1827. Col. T. J. Morgan, a soldier of the Mexican War, and afterward a gallant Confederate colonel, died in August, 1906, full of years and of honors. There were doubtless other portions of the territory of the original county settled by white people between 1820 and 1830.

The county was formed by act of the territorial legislature October 20, 1820, and embraced an area equal to that of half dozen counties at the present time: the act is as follows:

"All that portion of the county of Lawrence bounded as follows, to-wit: Beinning at a point in Big Black river half-way between the mouth of Strawberry and Bayou Cure, and running from thence a direct
line to the point of the dividing ridge between Strawberry river and Bayou Cure, thence along the dividing ridge aforesaid to the headwaters of Bayou Cure aforesaid, then along the dividing ridge between Strawberry river and White river to the northern line of the territory, then with said boundary line west to the southwest bank of the main branch of White river, then down said river to the northwest corner of the Cherokee claim, then southwestwardly with said claim to Little Red river, then down the same to its mouth, then along the northern boundary of the county of Arkansas to a point southeast of the beginning, then a direct line to the beginning, to be laid off and erected into a separate and distinct county, to be called and known by the name of Independence county."
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Source - History and Times of the Farmers Union 1908

Doyle, J. D., Portia, Ark.—Was born and raised in Lawrence County, Arkansas; obtained a common school education; entered the profession of teaching; was an active member of the Agricultural Wheel in its day. Also joined the Union in June, 1905; was elected local Lecturer. In 1905 was elected County Lecturer of Lawrence County. At the State Union, in 1906, he was elected a member of the Legislative Committee. In August, 1907, was elected by the State Union as a member of the Executive Committee; attended all the State Unions and many important meetings, also the National Conference at Atlanta, Georgia; made a strong fight before the Legislature for the four agricultural schools; is now a member of the Executive Board of his county, also Lecturer of his county and a member of the Commercial Committee of the Union.

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Jeremiah Pitt Baird, one of the early settlers and leading farmers of Union Township, residing one and one-half miles east of Williford postoffice, 
was born in Smith County, Tenn., October 10, 1824, the son of Jeremiah and Mary (Pennington)Baird. His father, of Scotch descent, was born in 
Rowan County, N. C, about 1785, and died in Lawrence County, Ark., in 1857. He married in North Carolina, emigrated from that State to Kentucky in 
1817, resided there for one year, when he moved to Smith County, Tenn., and from tbere to Lawrence County, Ark., in 1841. Mrs. Baird was Iwrn in 
Montgomery County, N. C, near 1791. and died in Lawrence County, Ark.

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David Collins, a farmer of North Township,nine miles northeast of Afton postoffice, Fulton Comity, was born in Indiana, Jnue 2, 1835. His 
grandfather, Aaron Collins, who was bom in North Carolina and married there, moving to Morgan County, Ind. , and afterward coming to Missouri 
about 1884, where he died. David's father, Stephen Collins, was born in Kentucky about 1800, but came to Indiana with his parents when quite young; 
there he married Mary Lang, moving to Missouri in 1837, and in 1803 went to Lawrence County, and died there in 1864. 

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John T. Sparks, a farmer of Strawberry Township, Smithville postoffice, Lawrence County, was born in Alabama, February 8. 1843. His father, 
John Sparks, was born in Alabama. Sarah (Bowlon) Sparks, his mother, was born in Georgia in 1815, dying in 
Lawrence County in 1887.

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Daniel and Delia Hill, Mr. Hill being a native of "Virginia, and one of the early settlers of Lawrence County, 
where his wife was born.
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Ashley Taylor, a prominent farmer of Richwoods Township, is a son of J. Millidge and Hester A. (Cravens) Taylor, of Missouri and Arkansas, 
respectively. J. Millidge Taylor moved to the State of Arkansas, with his parents, and met the lady who became his wife in Lawrence 
County, where Ashley was born in 1845.

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Capt. John M. Wasson, a prominent citizen of Sharp County, Ark. , is the oldest of a family of six 
children, and was born in Lawrence County, Tenn., in 1835. He is a son of William Lee and Jane 
(Matthews) Wasson, born in 1810 and 1813, respectively, in the State of Tennessee, where they 
resided until 1841 and then moved to Searcy County, Ark. , but soon afterward came to Lawrence 
County, Ark. The elder Wasson was one of the pioneers of that section, and settled on a large 
farm, which he made one of the most successful in Lawrence County, and in connection with which 
he ran a blacksmith shop until his death, in 1857.

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Jacob S. Allison, a farmer and stock raiser whom Lawrence County can feel proud to claim as 
a citizen, was born in Burke County, N.C., November 12, 1837. He is a son of Bird and Elizabeth 
(Davis) Allison, of the same State. The elder Allison was a farmer in North Carolina, until the 
year 1859, when he moved to Cocke County, Tenn. ,and from there to Alabama, where he now resides 
with his wife, very near the age of one hundred years. Jacob remained with his parents in North 
Carolina, until he gi'ew to manhood, and then started in life on his own account. In 1861 he enlisted in 
the Twenty second North Carolina Infantry, and served in that company until the close of the war. 
He took i)art in the liattles around Richmond, at Manassas, Chancellorsville, the seven days' battle, 
in the Wilderness, the fights and siege at Petersburg, Cedar Creek, and others, besides twenty or 
more skirmishes. He was wounded twice, through the shoulder, at Shepherdstown,
His service for the cause was brilliant, and there are few that are superior. 
After receiving his discliarge he returned to the State of Tennessee, where he remained up to 1871, 
when he moved to Arkansas and located at Clover Bend. He first bought some land near Stranger' s 
Home, and has since then added to it on different occasions, until now he owns about 1,400 acres of 
rich bottom land, with about 200 acres under cultivation. He has ten houses altogether on his 
land, eight of them being on the home farm. When Mr. Allison first came to Lawrence County, 
all he possessed was $90 cash, and two beds, and was in debt to the extent of $100, which he has 
since paid. He now owns a fine farm, and is considered to be one of the most substantial men in 
Lawrence County. He was married, in 1809,' to Miss Sallie Storey, of Tennessee, a daughter of 
William Storey, and has had seven children by his marriage: William, Clara, Rose, Pearl, Lizzie, 
Robert Lee and Zola. Mr. Allison is a Master Mason, and he and Mrs. Allison are both members 
of the Eastern Star Chapter. 

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Joseph Bagley (deceased) was born in Bedford, Penn. , February 2'S, 1802, and is the son of 
Samuel Bagley, a native of Scotland (who came to the State of Pennsylvania at a very early day), and 
Martha (Bentle) Bagley. He was reared in the neighborhood of Bedford, or Bedford Springs, 
Penn., and in his younger days drove a hack, and did considerable freighting between Philadelphia 
and the above named places. When between the age of twenty one and twenty-two he enlisted in 
the United States regular army for five years, and, on one occasion, was sent with his company up the 
Missouri River, as far as the mouth of the Yellowstone. After his five years' service was up he 
was discharged from the army, at Jefferson Barracks, and came to Illinois, where he resided one 
year. From there he traveled down the Mississippi to Jacksonport, Ark. , about the year 1829 or 
1830, and was there married to Miss Annie Gibson, of Lawrence County, daughter of Jacob Gibson. 
Within a short time after his marriage he moved to this section, and commenced farming, until his 
death, April 0, 1872, at the age of seventy years. His grave is on Col. Ponder" s farm, at Old Walnut 
Ridge. He was among the early settlers of this section, and lived, until his death, about five miles 
northwest of Walnut Ridge. He and wife were the parents of nine children, only two of whom are 
yet living, Lavira, the wife of Thomas C. Hennessee, and Isam J., both residents of Campbell 
Township. Isam J. was reared on the homestead farm, and was born December 18, 1847. He led 
a placid life on the farm, with nothing eventful occuring to disturb the serenity of his existence un- 
til March, 1864, when he enlisted in Company F, Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry, and was a gallant 
soldier through the remainder of the war. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Sailing, of Crawford 
County, Ark., and out of nine children has five still living: Estella, Charles, John, Alfred and Edward. Mr. Bagley first rented his land for 
three or four years, near Walnut Ridge, and then bought 120 acres north of that town. Since then he has added to it, 
and now owns 460 acres. He also operates a cotton-gin upon the farm, and deals 
very largely in stock. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and in politics a Democrat, hold- 
ing the office of justice of the peace for one term. 

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