Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 04/04/18

Narrative History

Summary

The Harrell Cemetery was in use as a small rural cemetery from 1863-1941 and includes 81 marked burials and an unidentified number of burials marked with fieldstones or unmarked burials.The cemetery was named after the first known burial, Joel Harrell (1801-1863).The Harrell Cemetery is indicated on a 1908 Washington County plat of the surrounding area, but the cemetery is un-named on the map.This cemetery is one of several in the surrounding area, some of which are larger in terms of burial counts and acreage.As an important surviving record of the rural families that settled in the area of Cincinnati, Arkansas, during the mid to late 1800s, the Harrell Cemetery is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance.It is also being nominated under Criteria Consideration D as a cemetery. 

Cincinnati, Arkansas

The small, unincorporated community of Cincinnati is located in what is now northwest Washington County, which was previously known as Lovely County. In 1817, Major William Lovely purchased property that included the Cincinnati area from the Osage Indian tribe.[1] This land was referred to as Lovely's Purchase until 1827, when the territory's legislative body renamed it Lovely County. In 1828, a boundary line was established next to Indian Territory, about two miles from Cincinnati, on the west side of Lovely County, which was then renamed Washington County.

The first white settlers began arriving in the Cincinnati area around 1835.[2]Three years later, a post office opened south of the Cincinnati area named Sylva and John Cole was its first postmaster.[3] In 1857, the post office moved north and took the name of the Cincinnati community, which was possibly taken from a nearby creek. It operated from that location until mail delivery was moved in 1911 to the nearby community of Summers.[4]

In the early 1880s, a log structure was built just south of Cincinnati, and "Union School" served as the first school and church. Members of the Methodist and Presbyterian faiths constructed their own churches several years later.[5] In 1876, a local stock company built the Cincinnati Academy for both boys and girls. A year later, the school burned and a two-story building was constructed in its place. Cincinnati's Masonic Lodge members took over the management of the Academy and also occupied its second floor. According to local historians, one of the more well-known Academy students was Will Rogers, who attended the school briefly as a child.[6]

The late 1800s were Cincinnati's most prosperous years. As the small main street grew, customers could shop at five different general stores, a millinery shop, two tanneries, a hardware store, two saddle shops, a feed store, and several other businesses.[7] For those needing medical attention, they could choose between two physicians, and there was also a dentist and druggist. One of the largest employers and most profitable businesses was a wagon factory owned by James Oates that opened in 1868, and at its peak production, manufactured around four hundred wagons a year.[8] Cincinnati's downtown businesses earned around $225,000 in 1890.[9] Visitors could stay at Daniel Mason's hotel, appropriately named the Mason Hotel, and catch up on news from the Cincinnati Argus, a weekly newspaper started in 1897 and published by A.J. Edmiston & Son.[10]The 1889 Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwestern Arkansas described the bustling community of Cincinnati as follows:“This is one of the best inland towns in the county.It is situated in Section 29, Township 16 north, Range 33 west, and is the center of a rich grain and livestock region.It is within one and a half miles of ‘the Nation,’ and has a good trade from that country.” [11]

Just outside of Cincinnati's main street were several flour mills and a blacksmith shop. People from all over the area, including Native Americans from Indian Territory, traveled to Cincinnati to trade and purchase items.[12] However, this bustling little town began a slow decline in 1902 when the Ozark and Cherokee Central Railroad bypassed the town of Cincinnati to the south.[13]After being bypassed by the railroad, the town began a gradual decline and the population shifted to towns along the railroad.

The population of the town of Cincinnati does not appear in the 1870 United States Census; however, its population ten years later numbered 200. The entire Illinois Township almost doubled in size from 1,200 in 1870 to 2,195 in 1880. But by 1890, both the town and township population declined with a count of 1,138 and 1,169, respectively. This number was relatively stable until 1910, when the Illinois Township's population dwindled to 885, and by 1960 had fallen to 448. However, the Township had grown to 853 in the 2010 census.[14]

In the early morning hours of December 31, 2010, a powerful EF3 tornado swept through the Cincinnati community, killing four residents.[15] Several buildings in the area were demolished, along with the community's fire station. The metal volunteer fire department sign attached to the building was later found near the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Benton County, about twenty miles northeast of Cincinnati.

Harrell Cemetery

The oldest known grave in Harrell Cemetery is that of Joel Harrell (1801-2/11/1863). During the 1830s, Harrell and his wife, Elizabeth (3/6/1805-12/12/1879), who is buried next to him, lived at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, and supplied the United States Government with horses and supplies.[16] They moved to the Cincinnati, Arkansas, area in 1839.During the Civil War, one of the Harrell's sons, Isham, enlisted in the Confederate Army and served in the 2nd Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers.[17] On February 11, 1863, as Harrell and another son were out working, a group of Cherokee Indians, known as Pin Indians, approached them.[18] The Pin name had recently been given to those tribal members who sided with the Union Army and wore pins on their shirts to identify themselves as allies.[19] Possibly in retribution for his son fighting for the Confederacy, the Pin tribesmen killed Joel Harrell but his son was able to escape.

Arthur Parker (1871-1907) is buried in Harrell Cemetery next to his son, whose name and death dates are unknown. Parker was found shot to death near his home in the Cincinnati area.[20] Charles Buck was arrested for the murder and described as "a friend of the family." His arrest was made, strangely enough, at the Harrell Cemetery while attending Parker's funeral. Three other arrests were made that included Parker's mother, sister, and brother-in-law, but Buck was the only one convicted of the murder and sentenced to five years in prison.[21] Arkansas state and regional newspapers covered details of his murder and subsequent trial.

The R.A. Brady (8/8/1844-1/31/1901) family have many gravestones in the cemetery. From August 12, 1879, when R. A. Brady’s wife, Susan, died, through October 21 of that year, five more Brady family members, all children, died. The cause of their deaths is unknown. With the exception of R.A. Brady, the family’s last names are spelled “Bready” on their gravestones.

Two Civil War veterans, one Confederate and the other Union, are also buried in the cemetery. G. W. Hartman’s gravestone has no birth or death dates provided.He served with the Union Army’s Company D, 3^rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Provisional Cavalry.[22]John W. Cooper (11/14/1824-6/29/1895) was a Confederate veteran from Company E, Wilson Regiment, Tennessee Calvary according to his gravestone.

The majority of those buried in the Harrell Cemetery were individuals and families who farmed the land and contributed to the social and economic development of the Cincinnati area from the mid-1800s to the early 1940s. Some of their descendants still live in the area.The cemetery has not had a burial since the 1940s and over the last 50 years the cemetery was neglected and became overgrown with vegetation.During the last few decades the Smith family and Gene Gibson worked to clear the cemetery and today it is maintained by Doyle Barnes.

Statement of Significance

The Harrell Cemetery is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance, as an important surviving record of the rural families that settled in the area of Cincinnati, Arkansas, during the mid to late 1800s.It is also being nominated under Criteria Consideration D as a cemetery. 

Bibliography

Arkansas Union List of Newspapers. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Libraries, 1993.

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

Barnes, Doyle. “A Place Called Harrell.” Unpublished essay, 2017.Copy in the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Franzman, Tom. “Pin Indians.” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society.http://www.okhistory.org.Accessed December 20, 2017.

Furry, William ed.The Preacher’s Tale:The Civil War Journal of Rev. Francis Springer, Chaplain, U.S. Army of the Frontier.Fayetteville, Arkansas:University of Arkansas Press, 2001.

Gatewood, Willard B. "The Prairie Grove Valley and its Communities: Part l." Flashback 53, no. 1 (Winter 2003): p. 9-12.

The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwestern Arkansas:Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties.Chicago:The Southern Publishing Company, 1889.

Gute, Melissa, and Jeff Della Rose. "UPDATE: Storms leave 3 dead in NW Ark, 3 in Mo." Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.http://bit.ly/2ll0mn6. Accessed October 27, 2017.

Kirkpatrick, Matthew Bryan. "Washington County." The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Central Arkansas Library System. June 28, 2013. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.Accessed September 13, 2017.

"News Stories from State Exchanges." Arkansas Democrat. May 5, 1907. p. 12.

Payne, Ruth Holt. "The Cincinnati Story." Flashback 11, no. 1 (February 1961): pp. 35-36.

“Shot to Death by Hidden Assassin.”Arkansas Gazette.Little Rock, Arkansas.February 1, 1907.p.1.

“Soldier Details:Hartman, George W.” National Park Service.accessed February 1, 2018.https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierID+388E1DA6-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A.

Steward, Mary Frances Dodson. "Cincinnati History Written in 1978: Aunt Fannie." In the History of Cincinnati, Ark., edited by Jaunita Wilson, 64. Siloam Springs Printing: Doyle and Glenita Guthrie, 1986.

Wilson, Jaunita.Cincinatti, Arkansas, Illinois Township, 1836-1986.Siloam Springs, Arkansas:Siloam Springs Printing, 1986.

The United States Census Bureau. "Census of Population and Housing, 1880, 1910, 1960, 2010." AccessedOctober 16, 2017. https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html.

[2] Ruth Holt Payne, "The Cincinnati Story," Flashback 11, no. 1 (February 1961): p. 35-36.

[3] Ibid., Russel Pierce Baker, From Memdag to Norsk:A Historical Directory of Arkansas Post Office 1832-1971, Hot Springs, AR:Arkansas Genealogical Society, 1988. pp.44, 215.

[4] Baker, From Memdag to Norsk, pp.44, 215.

[5] William B. Gatewood, "The Prairie Grove Valley and its Communities: Part l," Flashback 53, no. 1 (Winter 2003): p. 9-10.

[6] Payne, "The Cincinnati Story," Flashback, p. 36.

[7] Payne, "The Cincinnati Story," Flashback, p. 35.Gatewood, "The Prairie Grove Valley and its Communities: Part l," Flashback, p. 9.

[8] Gatewood, "The Prairie Grove Valley and its Communities: Part l," Flashback, p. 9.

[9] Gatewood, "The Prairie Grove Valley and its Communities: Part l," Flashback, p. 9.Payne, "The Cincinnati Story," Flashback, p. 35.

[10] Gatewood, "The Prairie Grove Valley and its Communities: Part l," Flashback, p. 9-10.

[11] The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwestern Arkansas:Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Chicago:The Southern Publishing Company, 1889, p. 269.

[12] William Furry, ed., The Preacher’s Tale:The Civil War Journal of Rev. Francis Springer, Chaplain, U.S. Army of the Frontier, Fayetteville, Arkansas:University of Arkansas Press, 2001.p. 160.

[13] Payne, "The Cincinnati Story," Flashback, p. 35.

[14] “Census of Population and Housing, 1960, Part A, Number of Inhabitants,”The United States Census Bureau, accessed October 16, 2017, https://www.census.gov.

[15] Melissa Gute and Jeff Della Rose, “UPDATE: Storms leave 3 dead in NW Ark, 3 in Mo." Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, http://bit.ly/2ll0mn6, Accessed October 27, 2017.

[16] Doyle Barnes, “A Place Called Harrell,” unpublished essay, 2017, p. 1. Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Tom Franzman, “Pin Indians,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society, http://www.okhistory.org, Accessed December 20, 2017.

[20] “Shot to Death by Hidden Assassin,”Arkansas Gazette, February 1, 1907, p.1.

[21] "News Stories from State Exchanges," Arkansas Democrat, May 5, 1907, p. 12.

[22] “Soldier Details:Hartman, George W,”National Park Service, accessed February 1, 2018, https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierID+388E1DA6-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A.