I’m going to wrap up my series on Maple Hill Cemetery with some bits and pieces that you might find interesting. One of them is the Confederate Cemetery located within the cemetery.

Note: I’m aware that many people have strong feelings about the Confederacy and its role in the Civil War. There are many valid reasons for that. At the same time, I think it would be remiss of me to ignore the fact that a few of its prominent leaders are buried at Maple Hill Cemetery. I’m not doing so in order to celebrate or support that history. But it does exists and I plan to share some of it in the latter half.

The Man from Maine

One of the tallest monuments in Maple Hill Cemetery belongs to Henry Pomeroy Coolidge, a native of Bangor, Maine. I found a detailed biography of him from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Phillips County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.

Coolidge’s family moved to Ohio when H.P. was young. At 17, he moved to Louisiana where met his wife, Elizabeth Jacqueline Legier. Of French parentage, Elizabeth married Henry in 1832 In New Orleans. Their first three children were born there.

Sadly, of the many children the Coolidges had, only two lived to adulthood and only one to old age. Royal, born in 1833, only lived a year. Charles Royal, born in 1836, would outlive everyone in the family. Caroline, born in 1838, died in New Harmony, Ind. in 1841.

The Coolidges moved to Helena in 1842. H.P. became an active member of the community, serving as a probate and county judge. But his main business was owning and operating a prosperous dry goods store called H.P. Coolidge & Son. Charles helped him when he came of age.

Suffer the Little Children

Over the years, Elizabeth and Henry watched as most of their children died. I cannot imagine the agony they experienced. Seven of them are inscribed on the Coolidge monument. Timothy lived only a few days in 1848. Emma lived almost a year, dying in 1850. Ellen lived from 1851 to 1855. H.P. Jr. lived three and a half years, passing away in late 1860.

Evalina Coolidge, born in 1843, married Dr. Francis Noel Burke in November 1864. Irish-born Burke was a doctor in the Union Army and passed through Helena during the Civil War. Evalina gave birth to a daughter, Lizzie, on Dec. 27, 1865. Evalina died at age 23 on Jan. 27, 1867. I did not get a photo of her grave but she is buried at Maple Hill. Dr. Burke remained in Helena, raising his daughter. Sadly, Lizzie died of typhoid fever on Nov. 17, 1892. She was 26. Father and daughter share a marker at Maple Hill.

H.P. Coolidge did well in Helena, gaining friends and influence despite the fact his bio states he was a “staunch Union man” during the Civil War. He was active in the Masons and Odd Fellows. He died at age 60 on April 23, 1872.

Son Charles continued on in the family business. He purchased the monument for his father and siblings. One account says it was 29 feet, six inches tall. Another says 21 feet. Carved in Italy, the cost was an estimated $6,000 at the time. A life-size statue of H.P. tops it.

Elizabeth Coolidge died in 1886 at age 75. Oddly, her name is not on the Coolidge monument. I suspect that son Charles simply neglected to have it engraved.

I couldn’t find a photo of H.P. but I did locate one of Charles R. Coolidge and his wife, Lizzie Ellis Coolidge, on Ancestry. They had several children and most of them lived long lives.

Charles did as well as his father in carrying on the business. He died on Aug. 20, 1904 at age 67. Lizzie died on July 11, 1908. She and Charles are buried together beside their daughter, Eva, and their son, Henry.

The Confederate Cemetery

Located up at the top of the hill from the Coolidge monument, the Confederate Cemetery was created in 1869 by the Phillips County Memorial Association when the bodies of 73 known and 29 unnamed Confederate soldiers were moved into a one-acre portion of Maple Hill. Most of these men died at the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863, or from wounds shortly afterward. More bodies have been moved there over the years, so there are well over 100 soldiers buried in this cemetery.

A monument to all of the Confederate soldiers buried at the cemetery was dedicated on Decoration Day in 1892. The inscriptions list battles in which Arkansas troops saw action. I was not surprised to learn that the monument was created by Muldoon & Co. of Louisville, Ky., a firm I have written about before and that still exists today.

“Stonewall of the West”

I’m featuring Confederate Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne because he played a prominent role in the Civil War and was a pre-war resident of Helena. Another reason is that oddly enough, he’d been buried in three different places over the years. Here’s a short account of his career.

A native of Ireland, Patrick Cleburne served in the 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot of the British Army after failing to gain entrance into Trinity College of Medicine in Dublin in 1846. Three years after joining the Army, he emigrated to America. Cleburne settled in Helena and was readily accepted by his adopted town. At the start of the Civil War, Cleburne sided with the Confederacy. He progressed from being a private soldier in the local militia to a division commander.

Cleburne participated in many military campaigns, including the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the Battle of Ringgold Gap. He was also present at the Battle of Shiloh. Known as the “Stonewall of the West”, he was killed while leading his men at the Battle of Franklin (Tenn.) on Nov. 30, 1864.

Cleburne’s remains were first laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, Tenn. At the urging of Army Chaplain Bishop Quintard and Judge Leonard Mangum (staff officer to Cleburne and his law partner in Helena), Cleburne’s remains were moved to St. John’s Episcopal Church near Mount Pleasant, Tenn., where they stayed for six years.

Final Burial

On April 27, 1870, Judge Mangum and Dr. Hector Grant (whom I wrote about last week) traveled to Tennessee to bring Cleburne to Helena for his final burial. A processional through Memphis was heavily attended by many former Confederates, including Jefferson Davis. After the procession ended, pallbearers removed Cleburne’s coffin from the hearse and placed it aboard the steamer George W. Cheek, docked in the Mississippi River. It then departed for the trip to Helena.

After laying in state at Helena’s St. John’s Church, Cleburne’s remains were brought to the Confederate Cemetery for final interment.

On one side of the monument is a homage to his roots, an Irish harp.

Major General Thomas C. Hindman

Two other major Confederate figures are buried at Maple Hill but they are not in the Confederate Cemetery. Major General Thomas C. Hindman, an attorney who lived in Helena before the Civil War and a close friend of Cleburne, had a somewhat controversial military career. You can read more about that here.

During the Atlanta campaign, he received a wound at Kennesaw Mountain, on June 27, 1864, that left him partially blinded. He left his command and joined his family in Texas, to where they had moved following the Union occupation of eastern Arkansas.

In June 1866, unable to secure a pardon from President Andrew Johnson and indicted by a federal district court in Arkansas for his activities during the war, Hindman and his family moved to Mexico. They returned to Helena in 1868. He was unique among conservatives in encouraging acceptance of African-American suffrage and organization of black voters into support of the conservative cause.

On Sept. 28, 1868, an assassin fatally shot Hindman through a window at his home. Nobody was ever arrested for the act. He left behind his wife, Mary “Mollie” Watkins Briscoe Hindman, and four young children. He was 40 at the time of his death. Mollie died in 1876 of tuberculosis at age 38 and is buried with him at Maple Hill.

This is Hindman’s original marker, which is only three feet tall.

I don’t know who funded it or when it was placed, but the 27-foot Hindman obelisk of unadorned granite came sometime later.

Also buried at Maple Hill is Confederate Brigadier General James C. Tappan (1825-1906). I did not get a photo of his grave, but it is much smaller than the Hindman obelisk or the Cleburne monument. Like Cleburne and Hindman, Tappan lived in Helena before the Civil War.

At the start of the Civil War, Tappan was commissioned Colonel of the 13th Arkansas Infantry in May 1861. He commanded the 13th Arkansas at the battles of Shiloh, Richmond, and Perryville. In November 1862, he was promoted Brigadier General and was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department. He commanded his brigade at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, La. and in the Red River Campaign of 1864.

After the war, Tappan returned to Helena and opened a law practice, where he established himself as the dean of the Arkansas bar. He died at age 80 in 1906.

Onward to Little Rock

As usual, there are many more stories I could share about those buried at Maple Hill Cemetery. But it’s time to move on to Arkansas’ capital city of Little Rock and Mount Holly Cemetery. I hope you’ll join me there next time.

Welcome back to Maple Hill Cemetery! I’ve got more stories to share with you and an update on a child’s grave that I mentioned in last week’s post at the end.

While doing research for this week’s post, as is often the case, a common theme began to emerge. Among the many markers and monuments I photographed while I was there, I noticed that several belonged to physicians and their families. One of the most detailed was for Dr. Hector McNeill Grant.

You’ll notice that the Grant monument says “Children of Dr. H.M. and L.J. Grant” but two of them are with his first wife, Sarah Grant.

Physician and Senator

A native of Hopkinsville, Ky. born in 1823, Hector Grant came from a large family. He followed in his brother Joshua’s footsteps and became a doctor, studying at Louisville Medical College. In 1847, he married a young widow named Sarah Epps Griffin. She had one daughter, Eugenia, from her previous marriage. Eugenia would later marry Moses Berry Scaife in 1859.

Sarah gave birth to a daughter, Mary, on Dec. 2, 1847, who died a few years later on Oct. 22, 1851. She has her own marker, which I did not photograph. But her name is on the Grant monument. Daughter Sarah was born in 1853, living into adulthood and marrying a cousin, H.P. Grant. Son Joshua was born in 1854. He became a druggist and eventually operated a drugstore in Helena.

Cleburne was born on Oct. 10, 1859 and died exactly eight months later on June 10, 1860. His name is on the monument with Mary. Sarah Grant died on June 15, 1863 at age 38, for unknown reasons.

Dr. Grant injured his arm shortly before the Civil War when his horse fell on him. However, according to his obituary, he “rendered good service” by acting as a surgeon during the conflict. He married Araminta J. Blaine in 1865, who was 20 years his junior. He continued practicing medicine in Helena until he was elected to the Arkansas Senate in 1866, where he served two terms. He would serve again in 1880, serving two more terms. He also served as mayor of Helena for a few terms.

Dr. Grant and Araminta had two children. Alexander was born on Oct. 18, 1866 and died a few months later. Addy, born on Sept. 19, 1867, died the same day. Their third child, Lillian, was born on Oct. 27, 1875. She married Leonce Landry in 1896 and had two daughters, Lillian and Ruth. She died in 1942 and is buried in Oakridge Cemetery in Clarksdale, Miss.

Dr. Grant died on April 6, 1905 at age 82. He left most of his estate to Araminta and Lillian. Unfortunately, I’m couldn’t find out when Araminta died. I did not photograph two sides of the monument, which had more information. She has her own single marker with her name but it is halfway submerged into the ground so no date is visible.

Dr. Frierson H. Rice

I couldn’t find a great deal of information about Dr. Frierson Hopkins Rice until I made the connection that his daughter, Emma, was the wife of Edward Pillow. I wrote about them last week and that their names were on the pillars of Maple Hill’s gates that were donated in 1914 when Emma died. You will see the name Frierson again.

Born in 1823 in Alabama, Dr. Rice married Margaret “Fannie” Cabber sometime around 1850. Emma was born in 1853, followed by Sue, Thomas (nicknamed “Hinchy”), and Ralph. Thomas is buried at Maple Hill but I’m not sure what happened to Ralph. There is an undated marker at Maple Hill for a Sue P. Rice.

Fannie died on September 28, 1870, I think she was about 42. I don’t know her cause of death.

Dr. Rice remarried to widow Mary Lambert on April 18, 1871. The wedding took place about a month after daughter Emma married Thomas Pillow on March 16, 1871. Dr. Rice died sometime in 1875 at about the age of 50. I could find no obituary for him and I don’t know when Mary died.

A Tale of Two Doctors

The last doctors I’m going to tell you about have been written about by many others over the years. If you want the fully documented story with references, I’m going to point you (again) to the wonderful blog of Cliff Dean. But I’ll give you the shorter version.

If you go up the hill toward the Confederate Cemetery, you’ll catch a glimpse of the Moore family monument and the smaller one beside it. The obelisk you see below is for John Petty Moore and his wife, Martha Ann Harris Moore. The marker topped with a dog to the right is for their murdered son, Dr. Emile Overton Moore.

John and Martha, who married in Mississippi in 1853, moved to Helena with son Overton. Son Frierson (sound familiar?) was born in 1856. Sallie arrived in 1860 and Lela was born in 1863. John operated a successful stable, along with other business interests in Helena. By the 1880 U.S. Census, Overton and Frierson (who both attended Kentucky University, which is now Transylvania University) were living with their parents but both practicing medicine in Helena. I believe they are connected in some way with the Rice family but I’m not sure how.

A Tragic Argument

Overton married Jenny Wright and started a family. But his marriage soured and his reputation began to tarnish in Helena. On Feb. 16, 1893 Captain Dan Peck, a well known builder, either had his arm or leg broken in an accident. Dr. Moore was sent for, but they couldn’t find him so a message was sent for Dr. Charles R. Shinault, who arrived soon after.

Dr. Shinault was treating Peck’s injury when Overton arrived. The two men argued. Moore summoned Shinault outside where he called him a “vile name.” Reaching into his coat and warning Dr. Shinault that he would “fix him”, Overton advanced. Shinault pulled out his .38 revolver and fired, killing him instantly. Dr. Shinault gave himself up to the sheriff and Overton’s body was removed to his father’s home.

The incident made headlines across the country. Some thought Dr. Shinault was jealous of Overton and had plotted his demise. But another newspaper stated that “Moore was a wild and reckless man and was the terror of Helena and had been in several scrapes.” Needless to say, John P. Moore defended his son’s reputation and blamed Overton’s death squarely on Dr. Shinault.

To add to the chaos was this story that made the rounds, that Overton had a premonition of his death two days before and shared it with his sister, Sallie. It was reported in the Daily Arkanas Gazette:

Courtroom Woes

Dr. Shinault was acquitted of Overton’s murder under the belief that he fired in self defense, a verdict that greatly upset the Moores. It didn’t help that Dr. Shinault’s success in Helena was little diminished by the incident. He married Josephine Pillow in 1894 and they later moved to Little Rock in 1904 where he was elected president of the Arkansas Medical Association. He was also president of the state board of examiners.

Matters got worse for the Moores when a battle errupted over Overton’s life insurance. While still married to his wife, Overton had become engaged to Helena school teacher Minnie Robertson. He made her the beneficiary of his insurance policy instead of his children.

The first trial awarded the policy to Robertson. Overton’s children appealed and the Arkansas Supreme Court of Arkansas ruled that no person should receive the insurance because Dr. Moore started the fight that led to his death.

I think there was also a break between John P. Moore and his son, Dr. Frierson Moore. I found a court case involving father again son in regard to Overton’s estate. I also noticed a number of social events reported in the Helena newspaper hosted by Frierson and his socialite wife, Annie, and Mrs. Shinault was often among the attendees. John P. Moore must have been furious.

A Doctor and His Dog

It is thought that not many attended Overton’s funeral but his dog, an Irish Setter named Pedro, would not leave his master’s grave. The story goes that people nearby would hear him howling in the cemetery at night over the next two years. They brought the dog food and snacks when they could.

Eventually, the howling stopped and neighbors went to check on Pedro. The dog, waiting for his master, had finally died. He was buried nearby. Along with John P. Moore, friends provided what they felt was a fitting monument to Overton and his dog.

It would be an understatement to say that John P. Moore’s feelings were given free rein in the words chosen for his son’s monument. They are written on different sides but here it the total of them.

He is now beyond the reach of blame or praise.

And love with hope and faith

will trust that he has felt the joy

that is felt when there are no fears

and no grave.

His errors were the errors of a man

And they stand out in bold contrast

with the time serving, two faced hippocrites

who conspired to have him murdered.

He possessed marked individuality

He was incapable of dissimulation.

Let us remember

that after midnight cometh morn.

I don’t think John P. Moore ever got over the death of his son. He died on Sept. 11, 1913 at the age of 83. His wife, Martha, died on April 12, 1914.

Their monument is covered in words, which isn’t surprising knowing John Moore’s penchant for sharing his thoughts. But the words below his and Martha’s names were not his. They come from “Oration at a Child’s Grave” by Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899): “Every cradle asks us whence, and every coffin whither.”

Also on the monument is an inscription for the husband of daughter Sallie, who married Joseph H. Jackson in 1879. He died of apoplexy at the age of 30 on Dec. 15, 1890. He also has his own marker.

Sallie remarried to newspaperman Fred Kraft. Sadly, she died of lockjaw at age 38 on Aug. 31, 1898 at her home in East St. Louis, Mo. Her mother, Martha, was at her side. She was brought home for burial beside Jackson at Maple Hill.

Dr. Frierson Moore died on May 26, 1917 of alcoholic paresis at the age of 60. He left behind his wife, Annie Laurie Graves Moore, his daughter, Virginia, and son Dr. Fontaine Moore.

Fontaine would die only three years later of pneumonia at age 34 on Nov. 27, 1920. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn. Wife Annie died at age 93 in 1960 and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Long Beach, Calif.

Postscript

Here’s the promised postscript to this story. In reading the obituary for Sallie Bee Moore Jackson Kraft, I discovered that her sister Lela Moore had married F.G. Millette. That means she was the mother of little Evelyn Ray Millette, who I featured last week.

Lela died on Dec. 9, 1949 at age 86. In looking at my pictures, I realized that Evelyn was buried right beside her parents, close to the Moore monument. Dr. Overton Moore and Dr. Frierson Moore were little Evelyn’s uncles. It’s yet another example of the family connections you can make in a cemetery.

I’ll be back for Part III from Maple Hill Cemetery.

Going from Magnolia Cemetery to Maple Hill Cemetery was a bit of a jolt. Located very close to Magnolia, Maple Hill is bigger, grander, and has a lot more markers. Maple Hill covers about 37 acres. Immediately adjacent to it is St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, which I did not have time to visit. The Confederate Cemetery is on a hillside in the northwest corner of Maple Hill. I’ll talk about that in a later post.

In a previous post, I explained how Magnolia Cemetery was once part of Evergreen Cemetery. Maple Hill is the name Evergreen eventually took in 1898. Here’s what I found on Find a Grave.come about it:

Helena’s existing cemetery (called Graveyard Hill) was destroyed by the shells and gunfire of the Battle of Helena, on July 4, 1863. In the first years of the cemetery’s existence and when its newly drawn lots were being purchased, the remains of many were removed from the shattered cemetery and from places of burial in private yards and re-interred in the new cemetery. The earliest death date on a headstone is 1827 (Section 2-A), and this stone was probably moved from Graveyard Hill.

About 78 stones in the cemetery proper (excluding the Confederate Cemetery) have death dates prior to 1865; some are “moved” stones and some are stones set later with early dates. On part of the site of the new cemetery of approximately 35 acres, had been the home of the Davis Thompson family and even now articles turn up occasionally which are attributed to the materials of the house or outbuildings. Originally the cemetery was called Evergreen Cemetery and was enclosed by a fence of evergreens. In 1898, it was reorganized as Maple Hill Cemetery.

The Pillow Family

The posts to which the front entrance arch is attached got my attention. The names of the Pillow family (Thomas, Emma, Thomas Jr., William, and Camille) are engraved into it, so I suspect they donated the arches after Emma Pillow died in 1914.

Born in 1846 in Tennessee, Thomas Pillow joined the Confederate Army as a teenager and reached the rank of captain. He married Emma Rice in 1871 and became a successful planter. When I looked up his memorial on Find a Grave, I was stunned to find that I had photographed the beautiful monument of his sister, Cynthia Saunders Pillow Bethell, at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colo. back in 2017.

Emma and Thomas had three children, William (1873), Edward Rice (1877) and Camille (1886). Edward died at the age of seven in 1884. William, who married Malinda Bridget in 1895 and served in the Spanish-American War, died in 1905 at age 32 after a fall from a porch. Camille married in 1910 to Robert Gordon and died in 1965. Hers was the last name engraved on the post. Like her parents, she has a marker in the cemetery. Edward Rice and William do not as far as I know but I surmise they are buried there.

Edward (the father) died on Feb. 10, 1913 at age 66 and Emma died less than a year later on Dec. 10, 1914 at age 61.

The Barlow Angel

One of my favorite monuments at Maple Hill is the Barlow angel. It has its own steps leading to it. As I researched the family’s past, some tragic stories emerged.

Born in 1836 in Kentucky, Joseph Cantrill Barlow moved to Helena around 1859. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s command. I mention Gen. Cleburne because he’s buried in the nearby Confederate Cemetery. He then joined the 2nd Arkansas Battery and served under Maj. F. A. Shoupe until that officer was transferred to the Army of Tennessee. The battery was part of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command. Captain Barlow served with Gen. Forrest until within a few months of surrender.

Barlow married Mary J. Porter in 1870 but she died in 1872. I don’t know where she is buried. He started as a clerk in a dry goods store but eventually acquired a hardware store of his own to operate. He married Mary E. Harrell Grant in 1876. They had three children together, Fannie (1877), Harrell (1879) and Joseph Jr. (1880).

Mary died on May 26, 1897 from congestion. She was only 50 at the time.

Harrell died in March 1904 at age 24. I found a rather cryptic newspaper article about how he died. Apparently, he attempted to ride his horse into a dry goods store in Trenton, Ark. where he lived and was shot by the owner, Ira Krow. He is referred to as “Harold” in the article.

I don’t know if Ira Krow was ever held accountable for his actions but I did find his name mentioned in a society article as visiting Helena with his sister, Bertha in January 1905. So I’m guessing he wasn’t. He died in 1951 and is buried at Helena’s Beth El Cemetery.

Joseph Barlow served as Helena’s mayor several times and eventually lived with daughter Frances and her family. He died on Sept. 17, 1920 at age 84. He is buried beside Mary and Harrell. Perhaps it was better that he was already dead when tragedy struck the Barlows again.

Joseph Jr. became sheriff of Phillips County. His death certificate tells a sad story. While searching for a still on Sept. 18, 1931, he passed out due to heat stroke. It affect his brain and he died on Sept. 30, 1931, leaving behind a wife and five children.

Frances, the oldest Barlow child, wed architect Andrew Pomeroy Coolidge in 1899. They had three children together. Andrew died in 1934 at age 58 and Frances died four years later on April 7, 1938 at age 60 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. She, Andrew, and one of their children, Mary, are buried with her parents and uncle.

Two Little Boys

Children’s graves always draw me in. I came across the grave of a little boy named Homer Chambers. Oddly, it was erected by his uncle and not his parents. He had no memorial on Find a Grave, so I created one for him.

According to the marker, Homer was born in Augusta, Ark. on April 16, 1900 and died on Feb., 22, 1910 in Helena. Homer was only nine when he died. Augusta is about 90 miles northwest of Helena.

Homer was the son of Lutie E. Chambers, a carpenter and mill hand, and Louise Chambers. They had a younger son, William, who was two years younger than Homer. Louise died in 1939 of heart disease. Lutie remarried and died in 1962.

I have no idea what happened to Homer. I couldn’t find anything about him beyond a 1900 U.S. Census record of him living with his parents as an infant. No death record. No newspaper article. Nothing. Was he visiting family in Helena and died in an accident? Did he get sick? I wish I knew.

Homer must have been special to his Uncle J. Ross. I found J. Ross Chambers buried in Augusta Memorial Park Cemetery in Augusta, where Homer was from. J. Ross Chambers died on July 12, 1931 at age 51.

Next to Homer’s grave is the one for Turner Clark Shelton, who died at the age of 3 in Helena on Feb. 11, 1911. That’s almost a year after Homer died. I did find a small obituary in the Memphis newspaper noting that Turner was the youngest son of grocer Gentry and Ida Shelton of Memphis. Again, I was curious as to how the boy died but could find nothing. There is a W.H. Shelton buried at Maple Hill but I don’t know if they are related.

Turner had no Find a Grave memorial either. I made one for him as well. He is indeed “gone but not forgotten”.

“Little Evelyn Ray”

The last marker I’m going to mention is for Evelyn Ray Millette. Her exact date of birth is unknown. But she died on Aug. 30, 1892. I suspect she was the daughter of F.G. and Lela Millette, who are also buried at Maple Hill. Evelyn was only 21 months old when she died.

The sweetness of Evelyn’s marker is undisputed. But I am featuring it for another reason. She was born in 1890 and died in 1892. Because most of the U.S. Census records for 1890 were destroyed in a fire, there is no record of Evelyn that I could find. She may have a birth certificate but it is not online. This is the only evidence left of her precious, short life. It makes her marker even more important.

Like Homer and Turner, little Evelyn Ray is also “gone but not forgotten”. Rest in peace, little one.

Next week, I’ll have more stories from Maple Hill Cemetery.

I’ve got a bit more left to share with you about Magnolia Cemetery. I was able to learn a little bit more about why it looks the way it does.

As you make the left turn into the cemetery, there’s an area to the left with grave markers in a half circle around a flagpole.

A plaque nearby (see photo below) helped explain why the arrangement of grave markers at Magnolia in several places seemed off kilter. It’s because several are displaced or missing.

One of the interpretive panels at the front gate also stated that “stream bank erosion and water moving under the soft soil exposed graves and caused headstones to topple. Stones were taken or damaged by thieves and vandals.” As a result, concerned Helena residents Para Conner and Cleo Dunnings formed the Magnolia Cemetery Association in 1989. Since then, work has been done to “remedy erosion, improve drainage, and repair damage.

I didn’t go past the bend in the road in the cemetery where it disappears into the woods. I was a little uneasy about going into an area that I couldn’t see. That’s happened during a few of my other cemetery visits in rural areas. Some might consider that silly, but I always prioritize my personal safety above my curiosity when cemetery hopping.

There are five government-issued markers for World War I veterans near the flagpole. All of these men served in World War I in varying capacities. None had memorials on Find a Grave so I created them. One fellow emerged among them with a story I want to share with you.

The Pioneer Infantries of World War I

When America entered World War I in April 1917, many African-Americans rushed to enlist. On July 5, 1917, over 700,000 African-Americans had registered. They were placed mostly into service units, which meant being assigned different labor-intensive tasks. These units were not trained to fight. Sadly, some feared that if these men were trained and armed, they might challenge white supremacy. Several of these regiments were called Pioneer units and consisted of engineers and construction managers. They primarily built bridges and roads, while maintaining railroads right behind the front lines.

The son of Helena resident Patsie Gibbs, Anderson Rasberry (living in Rolling Fork, Miss.) reported to his local draft board and was sent to Camp Funston in Kansas in July 1918. A railroad worker, Anderson was about 30, and had a wife and son. He would join the 805th Pioneer Infantry, Supply Company.

If you want an in-depth history of the 805th and their service in France, you can read it all here in this publication, “Victory: History of the 805th Pioneer Infantry, American Expeditionary Forces” by Paul Southworth Bliss. Known as the Bearcats, the 805th landed in France in July 1918 and served in Europe until July 1919. The division saw 39 days of action.

After spending a few months at Camp Funston (some of the 805th left for France earlier), Anderson and his fellow Supply Company soldiers left in September 2018 from Quebec, Canada on the Saxonia, a former passenger ship of the British Cunard Line. I wonder what Anderson was thinking as the ship pulled into the ports of Liverpool and Southampton, England, before arriving in Le Havre, France. The soldiers were then sent to Clermont-en Argonne.

The Supply Company spent most of its time in and around the hill known as Butte Ste. Anne. It was their job to keep the soldiers supplied with everything from proper garments to food to equipment. I don’t know specifically what Anderson did or if he was treated well by the white officers in charge of the companies within the 805th. I did read that in general, American black soldiers were treated better by the French soldiers and locals than their white American military counterparts.

This is the best picture I could find of the 805th Supply Company. I don’t know where Anderson is located among the group.

Return to America

The 805th began its journey home on June 17, 1919 on the USS Zeppelin, originally a German passenger liner that came into American military possession during World War I. I found an article from the July 9, 1919 edition of the Dispatch-Republican (Clay, Kansas) describing the warm welcome the 805th and 806th received from Kansas-based military officials when they arrived in New York City. White Naval aviators were also returning that day on the Zeppelin, the article points out, so the festivities were likely primarily for them.

The 805th and 806th soldiers were taken to Camp Upton in Long Island for a celebration. I am posting just a portion of the article here. The Bearcats jazz band, which had received glowing reviews while in France, performed to show their appreciation.

Anderson returned to Mississippi and his family, getting a job in a cotton mill, according to the 1920 U.S. Census. I wonder if he often shared his war stories with family and friends over the next years.

The only other record I could find for Anderson was his death certificate. Anderson died on Dec. 26, 1940 in the hospital at Helena due to a ruptured peptic ulcer. He was 51 years old.

Supreme Royal Circle of Friends of the World

Several markers at Magnolia Cemetery bear the insignia of the Supreme Royal Circle of Friends of the World (RCF). Here’s one of them. Until I visited Magnolia, I had never seen one before.

According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the Supreme Royal Circle of Friends of the World was an African-American fraternal organization founded in 1909 in Helena. Its purpose was to supply insurance to African-Americans, but the RCF was also dedicated to the moral, physical, social, and economic welfare of its members. Men and women were equal members. The RCF grew rapidly across the Southern states and spread across the nation.

The first recruitment meeting of the RCF was held in Helena September 1–3, 1909 with a joining fee of $2.50. Dues were $1 every quarter, and $300 was paid at the death of a member. Other benefits included sick pay from $1 to $5 a week. The RCF also supplied a distinctive headstone for members, featuring a lion sitting atop a triangle with the letters RCF in the points of the triangle.

In 1910, RCF founding president Dr. Richard A. Williams started a newspaper, the Royal Messenger, published twice a month. By 1911, there were 300 lodges, called circles, scattered throughout Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.

By 1918, the organization had outgrown its Helena facilities, and Dr. Williams moved operations to Chicago. There, the group built its Supreme Temple and expanded facilities. In 1921, the RCF opened two hospitals for African-Americans, one in Memphis, Tenn. and the other in Little Rock, Ark. Members received free care at the hospitals.

Dr. Williams died on Sept. 27, 1944. The Chicago Defender reported that the RCF had more than 100,000 members and over $500,000 in assets. This may not have been accurate because on Oct. 12, 1947, the RCF was in bankruptcy. The Supreme Temple was auctioned off as part of the liquidation of assets.

One Stone, One Life

As I did research on some of the RCF markers at Magnolia, I found very little information about the people whose names were on the stones. For some like Maria Moore and Arthur Whittaker (see photos below), there was no information at all.

It’s sobering to think that a single stone could be the only evidence remaining of a life lived. Yet here they are, some of them over 100 years later. By joining the RCF, they were guaranteed a marker. A little piece of history that for some, is all that is left to show they were here. But it means so much.

That’s just one reason why cemeteries are still so important and must be preserved.

Next week, I’ll be exploring nearby Maple Hill Cemetery.