Over the recent month I have added significant enough material on Faulkner County genealogy to give it an index page. Included so far are a brief history of the county, biographies of 40 individuals and families, death records, funeral records, and a few college yearbooks. Enjoy!
Faulkner County Arkansas Genealogy Read More »
Faulkner County, named after Sandy Faulkner, the original “Arkansaw Traveler,” was officially established on April 12, 1873, following an act by the State Legislature. This act delineated the county’s boundaries, carved from portions of Conway and Pulaski counties, and appointed commissioners to establish the county seat at Conway Station. Initial administrative functions were carried out by appointed officers until the next general election. The county’s development included the establishment of road districts, the construction of public buildings, and the evolution of its judicial system. Faulkner County’s early years also saw significant agricultural, educational, and infrastructural growth, shaping it into a
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Col. A. R. Witt, a prominent citizen of Faulkner County and leading druggist in Conway, Arkansas, was born in Hamilton County, Tennessee, in 1830. He moved to Alabama in 1836 and later to Van Buren County, Arkansas, in 1842. Educated at Arkansas College in Fayetteville, Witt was elected State land commissioner in 1857. He organized Company A, Tenth Arkansas Infantry, during the Civil War, eventually becoming a colonel. Post-war, he farmed and served in various political roles, including State senator and chancery clerk. In 1877, he moved to Conway, establishing a successful drug business and serving as postmaster. A Democrat and active in several secret societies, Witt married H. C. Miller in 1865, with whom he had six children. He significantly contributed to the development of Faulkner County and was a member of the Baptist Church.
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H. Bailey Wilson, born on January 16, 1823, in Spartanburg District, South Carolina, was a prominent farmer and early contributor to the development of his county. He was the sixth child of James and Prudy (Harris) Wilson. After receiving his education in Georgia, he married Louisa E. Strickland of Chattooga County in 1842. They had seven children, with only William M. and Marian A. surviving. Wilson settled in the area in 1859, owning 520 acres of land with sixty acres under cultivation. A respected community member, he was involved in the Agricultural Wheel and was a Democrat. His contributions to the community were honored by naming the township after him.
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J. R. Williams, born in Faulkner County in 1853, was a partner in the general merchandise firm Witt & Williams in Conway, Arkansas. The business, established in 1879, underwent several name changes before Williams joined in 1888. The store, facing the public square, was one of the largest in the county. Williams, the youngest of six children, started farming in 1872 and moved to Conway in 1881 to establish a general collecting agency. A prominent business figure, he served in local politics and was active in temperance and community affairs. He married Louisa Hartje in 1872, and they had seven children.
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Dr. H. B. Wear, born in 1829 in Blount County, Tennessee, was a prominent physician in East Fork Township, Arkansas. The sixth of twelve children, he studied medicine in Nashville and Atlanta, beginning his practice in Cherokee County, Alabama, in 1857. He moved to East Fork Township in 1858 and served as a surgeon captain in the Seventeenth Arkansas Infantry during the Civil War. Wear married Nancy Ann Townsend in 1857 and, after her death in 1885, married Minerva Sinclair in 1886. He owned 320 acres of land and was a respected Democrat and Mason in Faulkner County.
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J. W. Underhill, editor and proprietor of the Log Cabin in Conway, Arkansas, was born in Trigg County, Kentucky, in 1856. He was the eldest of seven children of E. P. and Elizabeth (Miller) Underhill of Tennessee. His father was a distinguished physician in Kentucky. J. W. Underhill began his career teaching in Faulkner County, Arkansas, in 1882. After moving to Conway, he worked for Griffing & Witt and Martin & Harton. In 1885, he acquired part interest in the Log Cabin and became the sole owner in 1887. Underhill, a Democrat, attended the National Press Association in 1889. He married Daisy Embrey in 1886, having one child, Blanche, and previously married Bettie Holland, with two children, Mary and Samuel. He was a member of Green Grove Lodge No. 107, F. & A. M., and Woodland Lodge No. 11, Knights of Pythias, contributing significantly to Faulkner County’s development and education.
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Mr. M. R. H. Taylor, proprietor of the popular Taylor House near the Little Rock & Fort Smith depot, was born in West Tennessee in 1852. He was the youngest of nine children of Ryley and Mary Ann (Gooch) Taylor of North Carolina. Following his father’s death in 1853, Taylor and his mother moved to Mississippi before eventually settling in Arkansas. Initially a successful farmer, Taylor later established himself as a respected hotel and liverman in Central Arkansas. Married to A. Powers in Tate County, Mississippi, they had five children, four of whom survived: Ryley, Sallie, Anna, and M. R. H., Jr. Taylor was a Democrat, a member of Woodland Lodge No. 11, K. of P., and a Baptist Church member, actively supporting religious and educational causes.
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Esley P. Stone, born on October 26, 1824, in Pennsylvania, was a successful farmer and stockman in Arkansas. The son of Elias and Rebecca (Key) Stone, he moved with his family to West Virginia in 1831 and later to Arkansas. In 1850, he married Sarah McKown, with whom he had ten children. Stone enlisted briefly in the Confederate Army in 1863. He bought 160 acres of land from the government in 1853, building a log cabin with a puncheoned floor. Stone was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Green Grove Lodge No. 107 in Conway, Arkansas.
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Thomas Springer, born in Alabama in 1839, was a highly respected farmer in Arkansas. Raised and educated in Tennessee, his parents, John and Elizabeth (Gaines) Springer, were Virginians. John Springer died in Mississippi in 1864, and Elizabeth in Tennessee in 1851. Thomas, the fourth of nine children, moved to Arkansas in 1882, acquiring 240 acres of land with 100 under cultivation. He served 18 months in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. A Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he married four times and had eleven children.
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