Cross County ArArchives Biographies.....Fitzpatrick, Thomas Oliver
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Paul V. Isbell-(isbell.paul@gmail.com) April 24, 2019
Source:1-Goodspeed's Biographies 1890
2-Izard Family of St. Francis Co., Arkansas by Mrs. Julia St.Francis Izard Hemenway
3-Speech by Mrs. T. D. Hare in 1938 Dedication-Wynne Newspaper per Michelle Slabaugh

Thomas Oliver Fitzpatrick

Born Apr 6, 1849 Died Feb 5, 1940 Buried Loughridge Cemetery

In my studies of the local history of Cross County, and St. Francis County, I keep running into the
name of Mr. "T. O." Thomas Oliver Fitzpatrick, whom, it appears, was the main unofficial historian
for Eastern Arkansas, until his passing in 1940. Later on in this narrative, his writings will show
that he was a man of strong convictions, and vehement in his beliefs and ideals. He arrived in 1855
with his family from Montgomery County, Tennessee, (he was born in Lauderdale Co., Tenn. where the
family was on the 1850 Census) His father purchased 2,000 acres of land from Col. David C. Cross
upon arrival, and raised his family just west of modern day Vanndale. First, is his following
speech, which was to have been delivered by him at the unveiling ceremony of the Cross County
Centennial Marker in Wynne on Feb.22,1938, and when he was unable to be there, it was read by Mrs.
"Thomas Deadrick" Jewel Sigman Hare mentioned in the History of Cross County by Robert W. Chowning,
in 1955 Note 1. It is difficult to separate the speech from the other data provided on history of
persons in the early days, so bear with the material as presented here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, of the great common wealth known as Cross County: When I stand upon this spot
and look around, it would require a great effort to imagine that I had been translated to another
Planet, so vast and so numerous have been the changes that have been wrought since I first stood
here. On the morning of Feb.7,1870, I stood near this exact spot with my surveyors compass and
chain, ready to run the dividing line between the lands of Jenkins Newsom and Sam Hambrick. The
chain carriers were Alfred Taylor and Elisha Price. Alfred Taylor was an old pioneer and knew much
of the early history of the locality. As we started to work he pointed over there toward the stave
mill yard, and said, "there is where Yankee Smith took up his donation and built his cabin." It was
then covered with second growth timber saplings briars. Mr. Newsom’s field covered what is now
Merriman Avenue. So we conclude Yankee Smith was the first inhabitant of the territory, later to
become the town of Wynne. Smith was a native of New York State and got to the territory of Arkansas
prior to 1830, as his name appears on the census rolls of that year. Smith was quite a character,
among other belongings that he brought with him, was the pattern of an ox yoke, which came into
general use. When a boy I drove several teams of oxen, wearing Smith’s yoke. He made several races
for the legislature, but was never elected. He did, however, succeed in having the name of this
township changed from Franklin to Smith. He was the father of the wives of Washington Hurd, and
Columbus Hurd, the very earliest pioneers and founders of Wittsburg. All of the old former residents
of this locality remember these two men. That renounced statesman, Champ Clark of Missouri, once
remarked that a foreigner coming to Armerica Page 2 of 16 would conclude that the New Englanders had
made all the history of the country, from the plentitude of markers and tablets in that locality,
and their scarcity elsewhere. That is strikingly true of our own locality. We have perpetuated but
little of our history and possess nothing but oral tradition. In the hurry of developing our
boundless resources we have forgotten the heroes who led the van. Then it may be said that the
dedication of this marker ushers in a new Epoch. I think it can be said with complete truth that
Col. David C. Cross was the most distinguished citizen that has lived in what we now know as Cross
County, and that those individuals through whose efforts this tablet was obtained, are to be
commended for their patriotism and Civic pride. Through them the irony of Fate was averted and a
historical blunder corrected. Hempstead’s was the first general history of the state that was
written. At that time both the sources of history and the means of gathering it were meager.
Hempstead knew that Judge Edward Cross had at one time been a judge of the Supreme Court of the
State and was for a long time, a distinguished citizen. He interred that the county was named for
him and so stated in his history. Then when our neighbor, Harry Williams of Jonesboro, wrote his
history of Craighead County, he copied the same error in his book. The exact date when Col. Cross
reached Crowley’s Ridge is not known, but I have documents in my possession bearing his signature
that show his presence here before 1844. He was born in North Carolina and in early life came to
Shelby County, Tenn., and from there to what was then Poinsett County, Ark. Although he was, from
the beginning, a very prominent man, he never sought or held public office. But his influence was
predominant and weighty and he was personally known to more people than any other man in this
locality. He was known among the early proponents of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad. He was
one of the delegates to the Charleston Convention in 1860, from this Congressional District, and
favored the nomination of Douglas for President. His argument was that Douglas could be elected and
through him war could be averted. He was one of the Douglas electors for the Campaign that followed.
In Arkansas the vote for president that year was Brickenridge 28,732; Bell 20,094, and Douglas
5,227. This shows that Col. Cross was in a hopeless minority, but he had the courage of his
convictions and the manhood to espouse them. When all hope of averting war was gone, he cast his lot
with this state and was one of the first to act in organizing a company for the Confederate Service.
This company was formed at old Pineville, and became Company A of the 5th Arkansas Regiment of which
Col. Cross was chosen Commander. This company contained the flower of the young manhood of this
locality. It drew its membership from both the richest and the poorest families, and when its
survivors returned at the close of the war and took up the burdens of civil life, there were to the
end of their lives, the most substantial and respectable citizens that have ever lived here. Col.
Cross was not a man of robust constitution, and the rigor of camp life told on him heavlly, and he
resigned from the Army and came home in Feb.1862, and was a constant sufferer from asthma, until his
death twelve years later. As I remarked a few minutes ago, our local history is mostly oral, and
consequently full of errors. The Arkansas Gazette in its Centennial edition states that no election
was held in the 4th Congressional District of the state in 1864. This part of the state was then in
the 4th district, This statement is not correct. An election was held in Craighead, Cross, and St.
Francis counties, and it is from an incident Page 3 of 16 that occurred in the campaign that
preceeded the election that I am enabled to state with absolute certainty that the county was named
in honor of Col. David C. Cross. Although the war was going on and all able-bodied men' were needed
at the front, there was a full corps of candidates for all the offices from Congressman to
Constable. Buck Fountain, whom all old timers remember, was elected Constable of Searcy Township.
Professor Alexander M. Winn, who represented Poinsett County two years before when Cross was formed,
and, who was then a resident of Cross, was a candidate for reelection. He was opposed by Grandisom
M. Sharp. Sharp accused him of not only having been luke-warm toward forming the new county, but of
secret hostility and at one of their speaking dates called upon Col. Cross, who was present, to
prove his charge and in the cologuy which followed it was brought out that the county was named for
Col. Cross. It may not be amiss for me to give a minute description of that particular debate as it
will give a glimpse of life as it was lived at that time. The meeting took place at old Pineville in
a grove that then stood just west of the William Snowden. It was Sharp's turn to open the debate. He
mounted the platform and as he approached the table, unbuckled a belt with a brand new holster and
six shooter and laid it on the table. He then let loose a veritable salvo of accusation against his
opponent. When Winn rose to reply, he approached the table cautiously and eyed the artillery on it
for nearly a minute. Then he turned to Sharp and said, "Quite an armament! You ought to be out
front, you might scare a Yankee, but you can't scare me." He then defended his action by saying that
he had been elected to represent Poinsett County and had done his duty and that no reasonable person
would demand an apology or expect one. That the population of St. Francis was equally distributed
over the county and she would not be materially affected by the loss of part of her territory. But
the new county would take from Poinsett the bulk of her territory and wealth and leave her one of
the least populous and poorest counties in the state. And this was true. Poinsett did not have 2000
people until 1880. Sharp's pomposity and bombast proved his undoing. He was badly defeated. A
platform was erected and a table set upon. But the Legislature never met. The Confederacy collapsed
shortly after. In the election in 1864, Benjamin C. Brown of Madison was a candidate for Prosecuting
Attorney, but there were no courts that anybody knew about. Brown, after the war, became prominent
and for years was Chief Council for the Little Rock and Memphis Railroad. Dr. Philip Van Patten was
a candidate for Congress against the sitting member, T. B. Handley of Helena. Van Patten got
practically all of the votes cast, but the returns never got to Richmond. The doctor charged that
they were "marmaduked" on the way. "Marmaduked," at that day and time, was slang parlance for
stealing. At the next election in 1866, the war had closed and candidates for all the offices were
as thick as hops, and they budded out in the Spring nearly as soon as the leaves did. There were
four candidates for Congress and each according to custom, heralded his candidacy with a circular.
Dr. Thomas M. Jacks, a large land holder and long-time resident of Helena, based his claim on the
fact that he had been an out-spoken and consistent Union man, and that the logic of events proved he
was right. Col. Asa Hodges of Crittenden County, a large slave holder and planter, based his claim
on the ground that he had early in the contest, seen the Error of Secession, and had tried to
convert others to his faith. Judge Page 4 of 16 William Byers of Batesville based his claim on the
fact that he had been absolutely neutral during the war, and that he neither raised his finger or
his voice either way. Hence while he might not be entirely acceptable to anybody, he would not be
objectionable. Hence he was equipped to represent both Unionist and Rebels with facility and
fidelity. Byers logic won him the nomination of a Rump Convention held at Jackson Port. Doctor Van
Patten based his claim on the fact that the war was over and that he was again a full fledged
American citizen, with all the privileges and prerogatives pertaining to citizenship. He refused to
abide the action of the Rump Convention and ran as an independent. In the election that followed,
Byers was elected, but the Doctor lost nothing by his defeat as Byers was never admitted to his
seat. Doctor Van Patten was one of the most skillful physicians and best educated men who have lived
in Cross County until his passing in 1890. It was my good fortune to know him well in my early
youth. I often think of him with gratitude and reverence. It has been stated that Col. Cross died in
abject poverty and was given refuge in his last days by an old friend and neighbor. This is not
literally true. At the time of his death he still owned real estate and choses in action in the
county and until a few days before his death lived under his own roof. He was attacked by his old
malady, the asthma, which quickly developed into pneumonia. Then Perry Wilkins, his neighbor moved
him to his home where he died. At the time of his death he had a son, William Reddick Cross, who was
a prosperous merchant of Bartlet, Tenn. At this point the question may be asked, "Who was David C.
Cross and why did he spring so suddenly from obscurity?' Really, he was obscure only to the
historians who did the guessing. David C. Cross was born in North Carolina and in early life he
moved to Memphis, Tennessee, I have documents and deeds in my possession which show that he was
dealing in lands in Poinsett and St. Francis Counties, Arkansas, as early as 1845. These documents
show that at that time he was a man of considerable means. He finally located on one of several
farms which he owned in Poinsett County just north of the St. Francis county line two miles and a
half south east of the present town of Vanndale. When I moved to Arkansas in 1855, Col. Cross was
the most prominent man in that locality and by far the most extensive land holder. My father bought
a two thousand acre tract from him in the south end of Poinsett County. The aggregate of Col. Cross'
business transactions exceeded those of anyone else in that locality. Wittsburg was then the head of
navigation on the St. Francis River and the shipping point of all of Crowley's Ridge clear up to
Scatterville in Greene County (later to be Boydsville in Clay County). Surrounding Wittsburg was a
thickly settled community of well to do farmers, mostly slave owners. Madison, the county seat of
St. Francis and Harrisburg, the county seat of Poinsett county, were fifty miles apart, and people
in that locality, no matter whether they lived in St. Francis or Poinsett had to go twenty-five
miles to court. So they began to clamor for a new county. I heard the matter discussed by P. Van
Patten and Zack Stoddard, rival candidates for the legislature from Poinsett county in 1860. They
also discussed the "Wilmot Proviso," but I was not old enough then to understand what that measure
provided for. Stoddard's friends charged that Van Patten was a Yankee from Page 5 of 16 New York.
Van Patten countered by saying that honors were even. That he was born in rural New York but that
Stoddard was born in the rough part of the city. Van Patten was elected. When the war came on Van
Patten volunteered as the surgeon for the 13th Arkansas Infantry and Stoddard represented Craighead
county in the Confederate legislature. The Legislature of 1860 did not create the new county, it was
too busy discussing the impending war. Col. Cross attended the Charleston Convention in 1860 and
espoused the candidacy of Stephen A. Douglas for president. In the convention a personal alteration
occurred between J. C. Hindman and a man named Hooper who edited a newspaper at Madison called the
Madison Journal. After the convention it was rumored that Hooper had challenged Hindman to fight a
duel and that Hindman had refused on the ground that Hooper was not his equal. It was stated that
Col. Cross was Hooper's second and would take the matter up and that Hindman could not deny that
Cross was his equal. Shortly after the convention Col. Cross published a card about it in the "Old
Line Democrat" of Little Rock. I read it the week it was published and again a year or two ago in
the files of that paper in the State history commission at Little Rock. Col. Cross was one of the
Douglas presidential electors for Arkansas in 1860, and held for the Union as long as there 'was
hope of saving it. When the state seceded he contributed largely to the expense of equiping a
company of volunteers for the Confederacy, which was raised in his neighborhood. This company
because Company A of the fifth Arkansas infantry and Cross was elected Colonel when the army was
organized at Pocahontas and Chalk Bluff in August, 1861. Col. Cross was not a robust man and in
early life became a sufferer from asthma. The rigor of camp life soon got him down and he had to
resign as Colonel of his regiment. He returned home in February 1862. When the campaign for members
of the Confederate Legislature renewed, Col. Cross was one of the leading proponents, and headed the
delegation that went to Little Rock to push the matter through the legislature. It is probable that
most of the members of his delegation knew as little of Edward Cross as the guessing historians knew
of David Cross. When the delegation left home It was understood that if they succeeded, the county
was to bear the name of their leader. The bill to create the new county became act No.2 of that
legislature so they must have worked pretty fast. S. L. Austell, named in the bill as County Judge
and J. N. Dobson as the sheriff; both lived near Wittsburg. Dr. B. D. McClaren, the clerk, lived
near a Little hamlet called Pineville, six miles north west of Wittsburg, The doctor could roll the
biggest pills of any man in the world. This I know from horrible experience. A term or two of the
county court was held at Pineville near Dr. McClaren's residence and the records were kept at his
house where he rolled the big pills when he could get the materials. No term of the circuit court
was ever held while the county was under Confederate jurisdlction. Sometime in 1864 the county court
ordered an election for commissioners to select a permanent countv seat. Things were in a chaotic
state and when McClellan failed an election most people realized that the confederacy was on its
last legs. John Applewhite, W. H. Barnes and John McElroy who had been elected commissioners
deferred action until the result could be known as it was feared that the county might die "a
borning" as the county had been created by a rebel legislature and the Federal authorities had
refused to recognize its existence. When the crash came in April 1865 and Gov. Murphy recognized the
county and Page 6 of 16 recommissioned its officers the commissioners to locate the county seat
asked for donations for citus. Several were offered, all near the geographic center. Col. Cross
offered to donate his residence for a court house an each alternate lot on a 53 acre tract of land
around it. His offer was accepted. Col. Cross had the town site surveyed an platted and a nice
lithographic map made and the sale of lot: advertised to take place on November 25, 1865. The sale
was well attended and a number of lots were struck off to purchasers but I did not see a single
dollar change hands. The town to be had previously been named Cleburne, in honor of Gen. Patrick R.
Cleburne, and not for a pioneer, as is stated . "Folk Lore of Romantic Arkansas". At the end of the
civil war Wittsburg was emphatically a deserted village. Not a single business house had been open
for more than three years, nor more. than a dozen families lived there, and only two of the promment
business men of former years were anywhere near. So it was not even a contended for the county seat
at that time. But it was quickly revivified and being the logical location for the county seat began
to clamor for it and a new set of commissioners moved it there in 1868. The contest over the removal
was a hectic one but Wittsburg won by a narrow margin Cleburne, the county seat from 1865 to 1868
soon gathered within its founds a very formidable array of legal and medical talent, enough in fact
to have met the requirements of a very large town. But for the exception of a month or so its
business enterprises were confined to one small store. So the professional men had to scatter.
Charles S. Cameron, an ex-Federal Colonel, the nominee of the democrats for Congress in the first
Arkansas district in 1868, lived there at that time. I last met him in Chicago in 1880. He was then
the prosecuting attorney for the- County and the City of Chicago. Herndon's history states: Samuel
Filingin who got to what later became Cross County in 1797, was the first man to settle in that
locality. This is an error. Although Filingin was doubtless the first permanent white settler, he
was not the first one, nor did he get there in 1797. Professor Josiah H. Shinn, in preparing data
for his work "Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas History," (Note 1 of his book) made an extensive
search of the records of the general land office at Washington, on, D. C., to ascertain the date of
settlement by the Claimants of the Spanish grants taken up while the country was under Spanish rule.
He found that John Taylor in 1797 took up and settled on grant No. 498 on the waters of Copperas
Creek. State highway 64 runs through this grant about a mile west of Levesque. At least a dozen
others of these grants were up about the same time within ten miles of this one. William Russell, a
land speculator, who figures largely in land matters in other parts of the territory, bought nearly
all of these grants, including Taylors and the one taken up by Enos Chastinee, on which the town of
Wittsburg was laid out. In 1820, twenty years after Taylor took up his grant Filingin bought it from
Wm. Russell, Taylor's vendee. The question asked why did Filingin buy land from Russell when
boundless area of the public domain lay all around him. The answer to that, he had to buy from
Russell if he bought at all, as no one else had land for sale. The survey of the public land had
just been. started and a land office for the sale of public lands was not opened at Batesville until
two years later. From Samuel Tyer, the grandson of Samuel Filingin, I got the following information:
In 1815 Samuel Filingin with his own family and his son-in-law, Wright Tyer, and his sons, Samuel
and Ajax, and his daughters Sallie and Macey, moved from east Tennessee to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
In 1816 Filligin and Tyer left Page 7 of 16 their families at Cape Girardeau and came down to what
was then Arkansas County in Missouri territory and made a crop on what is now a part of Section 26,
Township 8 N. and Range 3 East. One mile east of where the village of Pineville later sprang up. The
next year they brought their families down and became permanent settlers. Ajax Tyer died near
Hydrick in Cross County in 1866. Samuel Tyer died three miles north of Wynne in 1891 in six miles of
where he settled 74 years before. Macey Tyer and Sallie Tyer each married a brother of Mark W.
Izard, the president of the second Arkansas State Senate and later governor of Nebraska territory.
Wright Tyer died in 1831. Samuel Filigin Jr. represented St. Francis and Monroe counties in the 18th
session of the territorial legislature. When Tyer got to Arkansas in 1855 Ajax Tyer was the internal
improvement commissioner for Poinsett County. Some people contended that a boy cannot acquire an
education in a wilderness. Ajax did and so did Sam. Samuel Tyer and Ajax will always remain
outstanding characters in the history of Cross County. In their youth they helped their father.
Wright Tyer, clear his farm on Copperas Creek and when they reached manhood, they entered from the
Government the northwest quarter of section 3, township 7 north, range 3 East and settled upon it.
This tract later became the home of Squire Rensaleor Vann. In 1840 Ajax Tyer secured the
establishment of a post office there called "Mill Ridge." He served as postmaster for 12 years. He
was succeeded by Isadore Schisler and he by Squire Vann until it was discontinued. Mill Ridge, now
long forgotten, was a post office years. before they had one at Wittsburg."

From Goodspeed’s "Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas" 1890 Note 2

Thomas O. Fitzpatrick, a successful resident of St. Francis County, is of Scotch-Irish descent, his
great-grandfather having been obliged to come to this country from Ireland for political causes. He
struck for the liberty of his countrymen. Upon arriving in the United States in the forepart of the
eighteenth century, he served in the Revolutionary War. His son, Edmund Fitzpatrick, (grandfather of
our subject) took part in the War of 1812, in which he held the position of captain. He had a family
of nine children. David Fitzpatrick, the father of Thomas O., was born in Charlotte County, Va., on
February 19, 1813. He was twice married; first to Miss Clementine Walker, a native of Virginia, and
next to Permelia Hargrove who was the mother of three children: Marietta (the wife of Rev. C. H.
Ford), Isabella (wife of E. H. Sanders, of Little Rock) and Thomas O. David Fitzpatrick was engaged
in speculating in real estate until the panic of 1837, when he was financially ruined, after which
he followed farming in Arkansas. Thomas O. was born in Lauderdale County, Tenn., in April, 1849. He
spent his younger days on the farm, and attended the common and high schools of his county, and also
had the advantages of a private tutor. On his return from school he was appointed county surveyor of
Cross County, which position he held, also giving his attention to teaching, until 1871. He then
started the Wittsburg Gazette, the first paper published in that county, which he continued to
operate until he was elected clerk of the circuit court, and in this capacity remained until the
adoption of the new constitution in 1874, when he was again a candidate on the Republican ticket,
but was beaten by seventy votes. Coming to St. Francis County he embarked in farming, and also
erected a steam-gin, which has proven a very profitable enterprise. In April, 1872, Mr. Fitzpatrick
was united in marriage to Miss Sallie E. Eldridge, and they have five children: Eola, Garnett,
Ernest D., Kate and Garfield. In 1883 Mr. Fitzpatrick was appointed postmaster of Forrest City,
holding that office until Cleveland's administration. In September, 1886, he was elected county
clerk, and still discharges the duties of that position with satisfaction to the community, and with
credit to himself. He has also been a candidate on the Republican ticket for State senator. He is a
member of the I. O. O. F., K. of L., K. of H. and of the County Wheel.

Tyer History by T. O. Fitzpatrick. Contained in Book on Izard Family of Arkansas 1935 by Mrs. Julia
St. Francis Izard Hemenway Note 3.

In letter to Mrs. Julia Hemenway:
As I write to you in my first letter, I infer that several members of the Tyer family came here
about the time that Wright Tyer did. Years ago, when I was a boy, there was a Wright Tyer Jr., and
perhaps a Silas Tyer. There is a cemetery just north of Cherry Valley, known as the Tyer Cemetery.
There is now living in Wynne, Ark., a Miss Maggie Newsom and her cousin Grover Tyer. However, they
are descendants of Cutis Tyer. (Note by Mrs. Hemenway. I suppose Curtis Tyer was J. C. Tyer.)
  Curtis Tyer was the last of the older Tyer’s to come to Arkansas. He did not get here until 1840. If
you write to Miss Maggie Newsom she may be able to give you some information. I do not know the name
or address of the lady in Oklahoma. We always speak of her as Miss Ida Lee. She married first,
William Vital Snowden and lived here in Forrest City until her husband died about the outbreak of
the World War (Feb.28,1910). She then went to Memphis and took to training as a nurse in the Baptist
Hospital. After graduation she went to Oklahoma and married again. She told me her husband's name
the last time she was back here by, but I have forgotten it. Her mother was the infant I spoke of
lives with her. Her half brother Robert T. Simmons, a very bright man, who lives in Wynne will give
you her address if you will write him. When I write the answers to the questions I will send you a
copy.
Very Truly, T. O. Fitzpatrick

Another Letter dated April 20,1936 to Mrs. Hemenway:
It was really a surprise to receive your letter containing the data on the Tyer Family. It is
material DeLux for the Centennial and the information concerning Samuel Fillegin for the Centennial
was intensely interesting, as I will disclose. How did you get in touch with the information? I
should certainly enjoy reading the whole narrative. It may contain reference to other people whom I
knew 80 years ago. I am enclosing the Biography of D. A. Tyer, a son of Curtis G. Tyer, taken from
the same book as Samuel Tyer’s. He and J. C. Tyer were not one and the same man. J.C. died in 1857.
Curtis died in 1866. As I stated in one of my other letters several members of the Tyer family must
have come to Arkansas at different times. My first school teacher in 1857 was named Thomas Tyer. As
I remember him he was 30 or 35 years of age. It was the same school attended by the Crook children.
He did not live in our neighborhood and it was some years before I became acquainted with any other
member of the family, except Ajax Tyer who held the office of "Internal Improvement Commissioner" of
Poinsett County. Your father held the same office in St. Francis Co. about the same time. Ajax Tyer,
in the discharge of his duties of office stayed all night with us, in the early part of the spring
of 1857 and from him, at the age of eight years, I got my first installment of pioneer history. He
told me that when he came to Arkansas wild cattle Biscay or Buffalo were as plentiful as tame
cattle, were at the time we were talking. He also told me about the encounter with the Indians at
the double headed bluff. He stated that his uncle knocked an Indian down with his fist and took away
his "fugee" and broke it around a tree. That was when I learned that the Indian name for gun was
fugee. Now who was this uncle? Was he a Tyer or a Filligin? He had at least ten uncles named
Filengin, but I will discuss that a little later on. My teacher, Sam Tyer may have been the youngest
son of Wright Tyer and the brothers of Sully and Macy, or he may have been related to J.C. It will
take an interview with the Simmons, Newsoms, or T. H. Scott to determine the relationship of J. C.
Tyer to Wright Tyer. Bap Sanders oldest son recently married Dorothy Newsom, daughter of Curtis
Tyer, they live here in town. I will see her in a few days and find out if she has any family
history. T. H. Hott or Holt, who married Curtis Tyer's granddaughter and Grover Tyer both live in
Wynne. And perhaps Monroe Tyer, son, of Sam Tyer, has descendants in the same neighborhood. There
also may be descendants of AjaxTyer living in Poinsett County. I have several friends in Harrisburg
who might get information for me, among them is Senator J. J. Harlis about my age, who has lived
there all of his life and who as a boy may have known Ajax Tyer. The Rev. Mr. Kitchens got his
information second hand and drew slightly on his imagination and added Color. He says of Wright
Tyer, "For fourteen years he labored and waited. If he ever heard a sermon we have no record of it."
In the clipping which I enclose you will observe that Rev. Cooper settled in Arkansas in 1824, that
is, his dated entry bears that date and he perhaps set here two years earlier, or about five years
after Wright Tyer did. It was only about two hours ride from Tyer’s home to Coopers and I think
Cooper was a Baptist. And seven miles south of Tyer’s home was Franklin, with a store and a post
office, established in 1826, six years before Tyer died. John Johnson lived only 9 miles away and he
got there 1823 or 1824, seven or eight years before Tyer died. The census of 1830 shows that
Mitchell Township, where Cooper lived, and Franklin and Johnson Township, altogether had 777 people.
Certainly that many people had a church and we know they had one preacher.
  The old Gazette contains the advertisement of lots for sale when Franklin was laid out in 1828.
Among the things claimed for Franklin were a Bible Society and a race track adjacent. So I infer
they had some sort of church. I am pretty certain that Wright Tyer heard several sermons between his
coming to Arkansas and his death.
  Mr. Kitchens narrative also says that (William Abrason d.Dec.1860 and buried on the farm) Jones also
settled the Jones farm below Wittsburg. In biography of Uncle Samuel Tyer, which I sent you he
states that there were only six families between the "Cherokee Village" now called the Jones farm
and Ben Crowley’s. The Jones family, William Abrason Jones, did not get there until 1850. They still
own the land. From the narrative, I conclude that old Mt. Zion church was near Ben Crowley’s, a few
miles west of Paragould. My connection with Samuel Filigin approaches closely to the romantic. He
was one of the pioneers whom the generation succeeded him seems to have completely forgotten, and
what I write may interest his descendants in Texas.
  (Filigins were Grandmother Macy Tyer Izard's Mothers people.)
  At the time of my marriage in 1872 to (Sarah E. "Sallie" Eldridge), there were only two settlements
on the west side of the St. Francis, between Madison and the bottom, one just above Madison, the
other at the crossing of Military road. All the rest was dense cane break in which people on the
ridge pastured their stock. I went one day with my father-in-law, Col. James M. Eldridge born 1818
in Tennessee, married to Sarah E. born North Carolina in 1828, in Johnson Township, St. Francis Co.,
on 1850 census), to look after his stock. It was my first excursion by land into that wilderness. In
our ride we approached an area more densely covered with cane than the rest of the bottom. My
father-in-law informed me this particular part of the bottom was known as the Filigin deadening, and
that a considerable part of it had once been in cultivation. That when he came to Arkansas in 1830,
he saw cotton and corn growing on it. We passed what had once been a substantial dwelling, fallen
into crumbling ruin, with a good sized sapling growing in the middle of one of the rooms, with
nothing else to show that human feet had ever trodden there. He told me nothing of Filigins
activities or what had become of him. Fifteen years later, I bought what had been the holdings of
Elijah Allen, who owned the Ferry over the St. Francis River at the outbreak of the Civil War. This
Filigin "deadening" was a part of the purchase and lies in the bank of the Cross County line. I
proceeded to re-clear the land, but there was then no sign of the house. The overflow had washed the
logs away and the saplings grown to a tree. However, we found among the cane roots old pieces of
crockery and a set of weights that had belonged to an old time counter angle. I re-cleared a hundred
acres of the land and for 17 years raised bumper crops of corn and cotton. I butchered many hogs but
none as large as Uncle Sam's. See accompanying paper. I then sold the land unconscious of the fact
that it was one of the historic places of pioneer days. One day in the summer of 1930, I was in
Little Rock and was searching the files of the Old Gazette for another matter when I came upon the
documents, copies of which I enclose. During this search, I came across an account of a celebration
held at Franklin on July 4,1821, on that occasion a man named John Barnes offered this toast:" Uncle
Sims big hog, he who can add to our census ten sons between 5 and 15 years, and raise hogs weighing
610 pounds to feed them, is worthy of our confidence." In the letter written by N. H. Tyer,
Jacksonport, he says Dudley Filigin moved to Ozark in Franklin County. What do you suppose became of
his nine brothers? None of them remained in this locality. Perhaps they moved to Texas with the
Izards. You note some of my questions relate to the manner which Crowley's Ridge acquired its name.
In the letter of N. H. Tyer he says a Curtis Tyer and Samuel Tyer are still at their old stomping
ground "Will Ridge". This would indicate Crowley’s Ridge in this locality once had another name. Do
you suppose the history which Rev. McKinney has discloses anything? Will you kindly write to the
Texas people who have the old letters and ask them to scan them closely and see if "Mill" is the
word used? As soon as I am strong enough, I will go up to Wynne and interview some of the Tyer
descendants and make a report.
Sincerely, T. O. Fitzpatrick.