From the WPA Federal Writers Project - answers to Questionnaire - Arkansas HRS Form J

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Early Settlers Personal History

 
1.  M. A. Walker (Son of George Walker) (Great Grandson of John L. Williams)
2.  Russellville, Ark.
3.  Carpenter
4.  Bricklayer and carpenter
5.  August 8th 1871
6.  Russellville, Ark.
7.  Annie Morris, April 17th 1898, Russellville, Ark.
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10.I was born and reared in Russellville, Ark. and am the oldest person living here, born and reared here.
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13.The construction of early home was a log and common box built house, chimney was built of stick and clay. There were three or four rooms and had hall between. The kitchen was always built out from the house, so if it caught fire, the rest of the house wouldn’t catch.
14.Pine knots were used in early days for lighting. I helped pour many a taller candle, and we used oil fat lamps.
15.Electric lights were first used in 1901 in Russellville, Ark.
16.Wood was used as fuel.
17.The early foods were beef, hog meat, wheat, corn. Game was plentiful, and there was plenty of deer, also turkeys. My grandfather used to go out near the Arkansas Power and Light Dam and kill deer at any time. We also had some beaver, squirrels and prairie chickens, but game was not depended upon for the meat supply.
18.The early clothes were home spun of yarn, wool and cotton goods, mostly made at home.
19.Charivaris were pronounced “Shivarees” and were frequent.
20.In early days calico was about $1.00 per yard. I have a dress made when I was a child. It is 69 years old.
21.I remember my mother telling of our neighbors being out of food, and my father would always divide in time of need.
22.Some of the early cultivated crops were corn, cotton, wheat, sorghum cane, oates and potatoes. The domesticated animals were oxen, mules and horses.
23.The early farm implements were home made stock, twisting shovel, bull tongue. I helped make home made lines and home made shuck collars.
I have a pair of hames my mother and grandfather made in 1862.
24.The early industries in our community were farming and stock raising.
25.Some native wild plants used were dog findle, may apples, ginsange, black snake, tag alter and dogwood, Sumac berries, walnut, cherry and elm bark, poke salad and sassafras root.
26.Have been to many a brush arbor and camp meeting. We would have a big hog killing and then all would dance at night. We danced the square dance.
27.When fire would break out, a crowd would come. We would use horse and plough to make a ditch to keep fire from spreading.
For building fires, we used the bucket brigade. I belonged to the first fire dept. in Russellville fifty yrs. ago.
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29.Stage coach stand was where they would change horses and get fresh ones. There was a stand at Old Dwight Mission. There would be one every eight or ten miles apart.
30.My early school was at Shiloh, had school in church house. This was sixty-two years ago.
31.The location of early school was at Shiloh, near Russellville, Ark., also attended school at Quitman and Russellville.
32.Mr. Whorton and Miss Sordorse
33.Early days, the community would hire teachers and tuition was small.
34.The school books used were Blue back Speller and McGuffey’s Reader.
35.We always had Bible, and as long as I can remember, my father always took the Ark. Gazette. Father always read a chapter in the Bible every night.
36.First telegraph was in Russellville.
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38.The first automobile was in Hot Springs, Ark. in 1907.
39.The first train seen was the Little Rock and Ft. Smith Railroad at Perry’s Station (now Blackville, Ark.) in 1876.
40.First airplane seen in Russellville, Ark. in 1919.
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44.I was told that the James Boys once ran a saloon here in Russellville, Ark.
William Jennings Bryan made a speech here in Russellville from the steps of the old White House Hotel.
Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt made a speech from a flat car at the station. He was making a tour through the country, and I had the pleasure of shaking hands with him.
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49.My father went in the Civil War with a friend, and they came out together. This was the 11th Ark. Infantry. He was captured on Island No. 10 on Mississippi River, was taken to Detroit, where he stayed in prison a year, then exchanged back to Memphis to go on duty.
My grandfather on father’s side was in the Mexican War.
50.My father, George Walker, was in the battle at Corinth and Chicamauga.
51.My mother sold a Mr. Bryant five bales of cotton for $1.00 pound, and that night a bunch of bush whackers came to rob her. They searched the house but did not find the money, as my mother had it in the belt around her waist. She kept cotton hid down on the creek. This was during the Civil War.
In 1874, the bushwhackers killed Joe Tucker. A Mr. Dodson, who was sheriff, was killed by someone at Perry Station, (now Blackville),Ark. The bush whackers were so much worse than the Yankees and just took the country.
52.My father belonged to the original Ku Klux Klan. Their intentions were good, but they were not carried out as they should have been. They were always disguised. Their main idea was to take care of the country, and they always cared for the poor.
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54.On account of my teeth, I was rejected in the Spanish American War. I served three years and eight mos. in the National Guard here in Russellville. I volunteered in the World War in 1918 but couldn’t go, on account of my age, I was too old. When I was a small boy, Captain Russell would train us in marching and drilling.
55.Cefus Washburn was at the head of the Dwight Mission near Russellville. The Government bought the land and did away with the Dwight Post Office, moving it to Russellville, Ark. In 1854, Washburn carried the Indians to Dwight, Okla.
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57.14 descendants
58.Gladys Powell, Little Rock, Dale Walker, Russellville, Lucille Hoffman, Ft. Smith, Fanny Sue Adcock, Dardanelle
59.Grandchildren: Marland Powell, Dale Powell, Betty Walker and  Dale Walker, Jr., Anita Hoffman, Sonny Hoffman, Lucille Hoffman, Charles Mashburn Adcock, Danny Walker Adcock, Fanny Sue Adcock.
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Transcribed by Emily McCollom, Class of 2011