Fowler Cemetery

Fowler Cemetery
Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
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AHPP
Location
Damascus, Van Buren, 183 Scratch Gravel Road
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1903-1971

Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 08/05/20

Statement of Significance

 

Established around 1903, the Fowler Cemetery is one of three known historic cemeteries in the Damascus, Arkansas, area. Buried within its grounds are some the early settlers of the area as well as their descendants. As

such, the Fowler Cemetery is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places, under Criterion A with local significance and Criteria Consideration D, as a cemetery, with a period of significance that spans 1903 to 1970.

 

Elaboration

 

The town of Damascus, Arkansas, is located along the boundary of Van Buren and Faulkner counties. Just before the outbreak of the American Civil War, the area saw its first legal land purchases, which was done by Elijah Cagle, Hosea King, Thomas King, and Jacob Hartwick. However, the first actual settlement of the area would not occur until 1874, when Rev. William A. Hutto homesteaded two tracts of land in the area, with the county line running in between them. Soon after, Hutto’s daughter, Emma Barfield Hutto Brown, and her husband settled on tracts of land nearby. The population of the area continued to grow with the addition of the families of brothers Henry and William Lee and James Spires.[1] Due to Rev. Hutto’s original settlement, the community initially went by the name Hutto. However, when the community applied for a post office in 1887, they chose to rename the community Damascus, in honor of the prominently featured Biblical city.[2]

 

As the community of Damascus continued to grow, the first school was established in the area, which opened in 1881.[3] It was initially taught only during the summer by William Harmon under a brush arbor about a mile from the “Uncle Henry Sledge House.” In 1900, a two-story schoolhouse was constructed and it drew students from as far away as four miles around the Damascus area. The following year, a high school was constructed near the same site. In 1926, many of the local rural schools were consolidated into the Damascus school and it was renamed Southside School. These facilities were improved in the 1930s with assistance from the Works Progress Administration, who constructed a new four classroom building and a gym (NR listed 9/4/1992) on the campus.[4]

 

Commercial agriculture in the area originally revolved primarily around cotton. It was supposedly introduced to the area by A.A. Brown, who wrote to his brother in Mississippi that there was no cotton in the area. In response, his brother spent him a packet of cotton seeds, which Mr. Brown planted and saved the seeds from the resulting crop. He would later sell these seeds to other farmers in the area, which allowed the industry to expand.[5] The fertile land of the area attracted more people to relocate to Damascus. With the increase in population in the area, businesses began to open. A cotton gin, owned by F. Hawkins, and a brick kiln, owned by E.M. Brown, were in operation in the area by 1890. Soon after Alonzo Brown opened the first store in the town, and by 1892, there were at least three others in operation as well. Additionally, by that time, the town also had a blacksmith, sorghum mill, and grist mill.[6] Also in 1890, the area became home to a group of African-Americans, spearheaded by the Memphis, Tennessee, developer George Chambers, who purchased a great deal of property nearby. However, by 1917, the African-American community had abandoned the venture. Their property was subsequently purchased by the neighboring white property owners.[7]

 

In the late 1930s, the boll weevil arrived in the area and took a significant toll on the local cotton crops. As a result, the local cotton gin was closed in 1948. However, during that same time, farmers in the area had begun to shift their production from row crops to livestock. Cattle farms and broiler chicken houses soon arrived in the area and quickly became the dominant economic engine, followed closely by commercial timber operations.[8]

 

One of the many families that was attracted to the Damascus area in the late 19th century, during the cotton farming boom, were the Fowlers. David Anderson brought his family by wagon from Madison County, Alabama, to Arkansas in 1844. His oldest son, David Baxter Fowler, was only six weeks old at the time. The family initially settled in the Muddy Bayou area, along the White and Faulkner County line. However, David, his wife Lauriet Scrimpsher Fowler, and their younger children moved to present-day Oklahoma in 1856, but his eldest son, David Baxter Fowler, stayed behind in Arkansas.[9] In 1861, David B. Fowler joined the Union Army G Company, 3rd Regiment Arkansas Calvary, where he served for the duration of the Civil War.[10] By 1870, Fowler had returned to the Muddy Bayou area, and married Sarah Malinda Hogue. The couple would go on to have thirteen children together between 1871 and 1893, John Anderson (1871), James Henry (1872), Mary Elizabeth (1874), Larit Rosetta (1876), David Yell (1877), Jesse Martin (1879), Joe (1881), George (1882), Thomas Jefferson (1886), Daniel Green (1888), Quinten (1890), Laura (1892), and Robert Gipson (1893).[11] By 1890, the Fowlers had moved from eastern Faulkner County to the Damascus area. Though Fowler and his wife moved around quite a bit in the following years, they always stayed in proximity of Damascus.[12]

 

Around 1903, the Fowler Cemetery was established by David B. Fowler on property he owned in Barnett Township along the southern border of Van Buren County. Almost all of David Baxter Fowler and Malinda Hogue Fowler’s children would eventually be buried in the cemetery. The only exceptions where the three Fowler children that died in their infancy prior to the cemetery’s establishment, Joe, George, and Laura, and two of the Fowlers’ daughters, Mary Elizabeth Fowler McDaniel and Larit Rosetta Fowler Atkinson, which moved away from the Damascus area after they were married. Both women were eventually buried beside their husbands in the communities where they had lived. Additionally, the Fowler Cemetery would become the final resting places for many of the David and Malinda’s grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, as well as their in-laws and spouses. Interestingly, two of David B. Fowler’s siblings were also laid to rest in the cemetery, John Martin Fowler and Rebecca M. Fowler Miller. It is not known when these two, along with Rebecca’s husband Archibald, came to the Damascus area, only that they were laid to rest in the Fowler Cemetery.

 

The earliest two burials in the Fowler Cemetery occurred in 1903 and were for Luther M. Fowler (1883-1903) and Jane Sledge (1855-1903). Luther M. Fowler was the nephew of David B. Fowler, who moved to the area with his father at some point. His father, John Martin Fowler, is also buried in the cemetery, but there are no dates on his crude, cast-concrete headstone. Jane Sledge was the wife of John Watson Sledge, who is also buried in the cemetery. The couple were the in-laws of David B. Fowler’s son, Jesse Martin Fowler.

 

During the 1910s, there were four new burials in the Fowler Cemetery. The earliest of which was David B. Fowler’s ninth son, Quinten Fowler (1890-1910). There was also the burial in 1914 of the infant child of Mary

Elizabeth Fowler McDaniel, David B. Fowler’s eldest daughter, and her husband, James W. McDaniel. The child was less than a year old and the marker simply reads “Infant McDaniel.”  David B. Fowler’s seventh son, Thomas Jefferson Fowler, and his wife, Mary Belle Morrison Fowler, buried their infant daughter the following year. Her name was Euela E. Fowler (1914-1915) and she was around the age of one when she passed. The final burial in the 1910s was for Nancy Emiline Elisabeth Davis Thomason (1856-1919). She was the wife of Young Sanford Thomason and the mother-in-law of David B. Fowler’s granddaughter, Ruth E. Fowler Thomason. Emiline’s family, the Davises, had been one of the early settlers in southern Van Buren County.[13]

 

The 1920s saw the addition of six more burials in the Fowler Cemetery. The earliest of these was Archibald Miller (1850-1925), husband of David B. Fowler’s sister, Rebecca. Like with John Martin Fowler, it is unclear when she and her husband came to the area, only that they were interred in the Fowler Cemetery. This was followed by the death of David Baxter Fowler (1844-1926), and Mildred Fowler (1916-1926), daughter of Robert Gipson Fowler and Rose Palmer Fowler and granddaughter of David B. Fowler. Mildred Fowler’s death was followed by the passing of Sarah Malinda Hogue Fowler (1852-1928), wife of David B. Fowler. The final two burials in the 1920s where Rebecca M. Fowler Miller (1858-1928), David B. Fowler’s sister, and Young Sanford Thomason (1854-1929). Interestingly, Rebecca M. Fowler Miller has the most elaborate historic headstone in the cemetery. However, her husband, Archibald Miller, does not have one of his own and is simply mentioned on the headstone of Rebecca.  Young Sanford Thomason was the husband of Emiline Thomason and father-in-law to David B. Fowler’s granddaughter Ruth E. Fowler. Thomasons were some of the early settlers in the Graveville area, just east-northeast of Damascus in Van Buren County.[14]

 

In the 1930s, there were four new burials in the Fowler Cemetery. The earliest of which was in 1932 and the marker simply reads “Infant Son Fowler: 1932-1932.” Because of this, it is unclear who the child’s parents were; however, family history says that it was Daniel Green Fowler and Martha Palmer Fowler’s child. The second burial to occur in the 1930s was John Watson Sledge (1858-1932). He was the husband of Jane Sledge and father-in-law to David B. Fowler’s son, Jesse Martin Fowler. Additionally, the Sledges were also early settlers in the Damascus area. [15] His death was followed by the passing of another of Daniel Green Fowler and Martha Palmer’s children, this time is was a girl. Like the previous Fowler child, the marker simply reads “Infant Daughter Fowler: 1936-1936.” The final burial in the 1930s was that of James Henry Fowler (1872-1939). James Henry Fowler was the second oldest child of David Baxter and S. Malinda Fowler.

 

The 1940s were a surprisingly quiet time for the Fowler Cemetery. Though several members of the Fowler family served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II, it appears that all of them made it home safely. There were only two burials during this time. The first was for Theresa M. Sledge Fowler (1885-1940), daughter of John W. and Jane Sledge and wife of Jesse Martin Fowler. This was followed by the death of Odis G. Thomason (1947-1947), the infant son of Ruth E. Fowler Thomason and Odis A. Thomason and the great-grandson of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler. Though there were only two known deaths in the 1940s, Fowler

family history says that some of the young men working at the nearby Civil Conservation Corps camp[16] were also buried in the cemetery during this time. They were only given fieldstone markers, which led the family to refer to them as the “stone kids.” Supposedly, there are at least two of these burials in the northwest corner of the cemetery, though there are no official records to verify this.

 

The 1950s saw the addition of four new burials in the Fowler Cemetery. The earliest of which was for John Anderson Fowler (1871-1951). John A. Fowler was the eldest child of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler and the husband of M. Rebecca Hartwick Fowler. The second burial was for David Yell Fowler (1877-1953). He was the fifth child of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler and the third oldest son. His passing was followed five years later by the passing of Cora Chick Fowler (1881-1959), wife of James Henry Fowler, and the passing of Jesse Martin Fowler (1879-1959), the sixth child of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler and their fourth son.

 

The 1960s saw the greatest number of known historic burials in the Fowler Cemetery, with seven having recorded dates. The first was Martha Lurene Palmer Fowler (1896-1961). She was the wife of Daniel Green Fowler and the daughter of Harpey P. Palmer (1863-1935) and Susan Elizabeth Hartwick Palmer (1872-1933). The Palmer family were early settlers of Van Buren County and had relocated to the Damascus area by 1900.[17] The second burial was for Daniel Green Fowler (1888-1962), husband of Martha L. Palmer Fowler and the tenth child of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler and their eighth son. The following year saw the passing and burial of David E. Fowler (1910-1963). He was the child of James Henry and Cora Chick Fowler and the grandson of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler. In 1966, Johnnie Daniel Fowler (1938-1966) was interred in the Fowler Cemetery. He was the great-grandson of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler, though it is unclear who his parents were. In 1967, Mary Belle Morrison Fowler (1889-1967) passed away and was buried in the Fowler Cemetery. She was the wife of Thomas Jefferson Fowler and the daughter of Williams A. and Beersheba Jenkins Morrison. Her family were also early settlers in Van Buren County, having arrived there by 1853.[18] Two years later there was the addition of two more burials in the cemetery. The first of which was for Martha Rebecca Hartwick Fowler (1873-1968). Martha was the wife of John Anderson Fowler, David B. and S. Malinda Fowler’s oldest child, and the cousin of Martha L. Palmer Fowler. The final burial in the 1960s was for James Foster Cantrell (1881-1968). There is no known relation between Cantrell and the Fowler family, so it is not clear as to why he is buried there. According to historical records, Cantrell spent the majority of his life in the Wooster-Greenbrier area of Faulkner County, but there is no record of when he moved to the Damascus area.

 

The final two historic burials in the Fowler Cemetery occurred in 1970 and 1971. The first of which was Thomas Jefferson Fowler (1886-1970). Thomas was the ninth child of the David B. and S. Malinda Fowler and their seventh son. He was also the husband to Mary Belle Morrison Fowler, who had passed three years earlier. The final known historic burial was Robert Gipson Fowler (1893-1971). He was the youngest child of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler and the husband of Rose Palmer Fowler (1898-1977). Rose remarried after Robert’s passing and, as such, was not buried in the Fowler Cemetery.

 

From 1972 to 2013, there were thirty-nine additional burials in the Fowler Cemetery. The vast majority of these were either descendants of David B. and S. Malinda Fowler or the spouse of a descendant. It is within the non-historic period of burials that we find all seven of the United States Government issued military grave markers, all of which were for the United States Army. The earliest of which was for Thurman Dallas Fowler (1920-1984), son of Robert G. and Rose Palmer Fowler, followed by Odis A. Thomason (1916-1985), son of Harmon I. and Ruth E. Fowler Thomason, Woodrow W. Beavers (1913-1992), husband of Dorothy B. Fowler Beavers, Clarence O. Stevenson (1922-1993), husband of Ollie B. Fowler Stevenson, Daniel Clyde Burris (1947-2004), Roy Virgil Thomason (1918-2010), son of Odis A. Thomason, and Carl D. Tate (1933-2018). However, as the Fowler Cemetery is still active, there will likely be additional non-historic burials added to the cemetery in the coming years. In fact, there are already dedicated plots to individuals in the cemetery that are still living.

 

Not covered previously in this nomination are the seven burials in the Fowler Cemetery that do not have death dates associated with them. Included among these is Ester Fowler, who was the daughter of Jesse M. and Teresa Sledge Fowler. Also included is John Martin Fowler, brother of David B. Fowler, Orvil Fowler, who was the wife of Luther M. Fowler, and Minnie Stevenson, who was the daughter of Ollie B. Fowler Stevenson. Additionally, there are the burials of Dr. T.J. Harris and his son. However, little to nothing is known about Dr. Harris or his son. The Fowler family theorizes that Dr. Harris worked at the local Civilian Conservation Corps camp and passed away during his time there, as did his son, like the supposed “stone kids,” mentioned earlier. However, there is no documentation to verify this speculation.

 

Statement of Significance

 

The Fowler Cemetery, which was established around 1903 and is the final resting place for many members of the Fowler family and their spouses, is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with local significance as an important surviving record of rural families that settled in the Damascus, Arkansas, area during the late nineteenth century. It is also being nominated under Criteria Consideration D as a cemetery.

 


 

Bibliography

(Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.)

 

 

  • Baker, Russell Pierce. From Memdag to Norsk: A Historical Directory of Arkansas Post Offices, 1832-1971. Hot Springs, Arkansas: Arkansas Genealogical Society, 1988.

 

 

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