It’s time to finish up at Mount Holly Cemetery before the gates are locked. As I often do in my final installments on a cemetery, I’m going to do a bit of show and tell rather than doing really deep dives into history.

A Lasting Legacy

The Folsom mausoleum is a bit different. You might call it a hybrid of sorts. It’s made primarily out of bricks, with the top made out of stone. The doors are metal. It makes me wonder if the plans changed once construction began.

There isn’t much information on the Folsoms. Born on Jan. 10, 1827 in North Carolina, Dr. Isaac Folsom he married Sallie Puckett in January 1861 in St. Francis County, Ark. They had no children. I don’t know where he received his medical degree. During the 1870s and some of the 1880s, the Folsoms lived in Lonoke, Ark., which is about 30 miles east of Little Rock.

In January 1892, Dr. Folsom was making plans for the future. He wanted to leave $20,000 to a cause that would make an impact long after his death. He did that by establishing a free medical clinic for indigent patients. The Isaac Folsom Clinic was established at what is now the he University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). At that time, it was called Arkansas Industrial University. That would be about $650,000 today.

To this day, UAMS diplomas note that the graduate has received instruction at the Isaac Folsom Clinic. I was curious about this specific request and found a newspaper article that mentions it:

You can read more about Dr. Folsom’s clinic and the fate of the plaque that was once on the building that housed it here. That’s a sad story in itself. Dr. Folsom died on Sept. 5, 1895 at age 65. His wife, Sallie, lived another 32 years. She died on March 21, 1925.

Death of a Young Wife

Seeing a white bronze (zinc) marker is always a sure way to get my attention. I only saw two at Mount Holly and they were for the same family. They were for a mother who died young and two of her children.

Born in Virginia in 1846, William Pinkney Dortch, Sr. married Alice Orr in 1867 in Ohio. It appears that they met while William was attending Miami (Ohio) University. The couple settled in William’s adopted hometown of Little Rock, Ark. Daughter Daisy was born in mid-May 1869 and died three weeks later. Frederick Dortch was born on Jan. 23, 1871, and his brother, Harry Sherwood Dortch, was born on August 1873. Their mother, Alice, died on Sept. 4, 1874 for unknown reasons. She was only 26.

Harry, who was 15 months old, died on Oct. 16, 1874. He and his sister, Daisy, share a marker.

William remarried in 1878 to Frances “Fannie” Peterson. She died sometime before 1880 because she does not appear with him and Frederick in the U.S. Census for that year. An infant daughter named Judith, however, is listed. She was born in 1879. William married again in 1885 to Nettie Steele. Together, they had five children.

Frederick Dortch grew up and attended Vanderbilt University Medical School, becoming a physician. He moved to Derider, La. to practice medicine. He died in Shreveport, La. on Jan. 1, 1909 at age 30 due to complications from surgery. His body was brought back to Little Rock for burial beside his mother and siblings.

William Dortch died on Feb. 13, 1913 at age 65. He is interred with his third wife, Nellie, and four of their adult children at Oakland and Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park in Little Rock.

“My Wife”

I’ve featured round or “cradle” style grave markers before, but this one has a little surprise on the back that I thought you’d like to see.

A native of Kentucky, Louis Lawrence Mivelaz married Lula Hyacinth Meyer in Memphis, Tenn. in 1875. Both were of French descent. The couple had four children over the course of their marriage: Louis Jr. (1879-1920), Leo (1881-1932), Milton (1883), and Nannette (1884-1965). The family settled in Little Rock after Louis Jr. was born. Louis Sr. owned and operated a restaurant in the Capitol Hotel during the 1880s and advertised frequently in the local newspapers.

Lula died on May 25, 1889 at the age of 29. Her obituary states that she had suffered from a long and painful illness.

On the back, you can see this lovely carving. Ivy symbolizes fidelity, marriage, and friendship while ferns were a symbol of humility and sincerity during the Middle Ages in Europe.

Louis remarried on June 16, 1890 in Louisville to Mary Anna Weiss and the couple moved to Memphis. They had several children together. Louis passed away on Oct. 14, 1901 at age 47 in Memphis. He is buried with Mary in Saint John Cemetery in Louisville, Ky.

“Our Mother In Heaven”

There are more questions than answers that go with this final grave marker for Sarah Cecelia Hughes Kinnear. But her stone haunts me and I feel I must share it.

Born in Ireland in 1827, Sarah married James F. Kinnear of Philadelphia, Pa. Ancestry.com says they were wed in Pulaski County, Ark. in 1847. Over the next 10 years, they had four children together: Annie (1847-1870), Cecelia Rose (1850-1937), James (1851-1938), and Josephine (1855-1922). I believe that James was in business with Sarah’s family because ads for a Kinnear & Hughes (a dry goods store and later a drug store) are frequent in the local newspapers.

Sarah died on April 6, 1857 at age 30. I could not find an obituary or death notice for her. But the carving on her stone leads me to believe she must have died giving birth or shortly afterward, and that the child also died. The motif of an angel bearing an infant aloft while holding a woman’s hand is usually what this meant. It was a common but sad fate for many women during this era.

James remarried to Mary Elizabeth Brogan Cellars sometime before 1860. He died on May 2, 1867. From various legal postings I’ve seen, I believe it took a while to untangle his affairs and probate his will. He was 41 when he passed away. He is buried at Mount Holly.

You will be happy to learn that I did not get locked in at Mount Holly. As 5 p.m. approached, I made sure I was close to the gates. Sure enough, not long after that time, I saw a car driven by a woman and her children entering the cemetery gates. A sweet little girl called out to me, “You know it’s closing time, right?” I waved, smiled, and got into Sarah’s car and made a quick exit.

Thankfully, I beat the clock. It was time to move on to Oklahoma.