Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 12/05/12

SUMMARY

TheDraper Cemetery Site, located southeast of Wynne in Cross County on Crowley’s Ridge, is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places underCriterion A, Criteria Consideration D,for its significance as a remnant of the mid-19^th century development period of Cross County. The location of the cemetery was historically within close proximity to important trading and transportation routes. Inhabitants of the immediate area attempted to form governmental and commercial centers but the impacts of railroad construction and movement of county seats stymied such development. The families buried in the Draper Cemetery Site are links to the groups that took up residence before the formation of Cross County and pinned their hopes on future railroad access.

ELABORATION

Town and County History

Cross County is geographically separated into lowlands to the east and west of a ridge of loess called Crowley’s Ridge. The St. Francis River, east of the ridge provided impetus for the establishment of villages of Native Americans. These groups had been present in the state in large numbers by late prehistoric and early historic times as the area was an ideal environment for hunting and gathering. During the Woodland Period (600 BC to 1000 AD), Native American farms with stable towns and homes had emerged on the ridge and in the valleys to the east and west. After the New Madrid earthquakes the Cherokee farms along the St. Francis were thoroughly evacuated for areas around the White and Arkansas rivers. [1]

The St. Francis River provided access for trade and increased settlement and by the 1820s construction on the Memphis to Little Rock Road (or Military Road) through Crowley’s Ridge was begun. Small 19^th century settlements in the vicinity of Draper Cemetery Site were aided greatly by the construction of the Military Road. The river and this new road facilitated the removal of Native Americans and opened the western regions to emigrants making their way from the Mississippi River. The nebulous boundaries of the modern Cross County were originally part of Poinsett, St. Francis and Crittenden counties. An act of the Confederate legislature created Cross in 1862. The county seat was relocated four times until 1903 when it was established at its current location in Wynne.[2]

In 1868 the county seat was Wittsburg, northeast of Draper Cemetery Site by the St. Francis River. Because of its advantageous position on the river and proximity to the Military Road, the town became a thriving trade center offering large warehouses for cotton and other goods. Discussion of railroad construction through the county in the late 1880s meant potential for further growth of Wittsburg as a commercial hub. However, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad ended up on the west side of Crowley’s Ridge.

As was often the case when railroads were introduced those towns that were not lucky enough to be on a line dwindled in importance. This was the fate of Wittsburg as businesses and residents relocated to Wynne Station (Wynne), Vanndale, Harrisburg, Jonesboro and Forrest City. [3]

The residents of the larger incorporated city centers and surrounding communities at the time of the formation of Cross County primarily engaged in agriculture and industrial businesses that catered to agriculture. The area of the Draper Cemetery Site would not have been considered a distant rural stop on the map as there were developed roads and river routes nearby. Most of the gravestones of the people interred in the cemetery display moderately high-style funerary architecture of marble and bear makers marks of concerns located in Forrest City and Memphis. Such characteristics suggest that these were families of adequate means who could afford to have gravestones shipped in and that there was relatively easy access to the area.

Mary Dixon

The cross-vault marker of Mary Dixon (b. July 6, 1872; d. March 12, 1894), is located at the current access point to the cemetery from CR 747. Her stone is marked with a broken rose bud clasped in a hand signifying a young life cut short. Mary is listed in Goodspeed as one of the original members of the Wynne Presbyterian Church. (Goodspeedclaims the church was formed in 1887 but the sessions book of the Mt. Hope/ Wynne Presbyterian Church give the year as 1885). Her father, George Dixon, and her mother, Eliza Ramseur Dixon were also listed as founding members and George served as superintendent of the Sunday school. Like others at this cemetery, Mary’s father was from North Carolina; he was a ruling elder at the founding of the Wynne Presbyterian Church and wrote entries in the record book.[4]

Koonce Family

Three stones marking the graves of the Koonce family are found roughly in the middle of the cemetery. Mary Johnnie Koonce, (b. Feb. 21, 1882; d. Feb. 8, 1887) was the daughter of John and Lucy Mebane Koonce. Her small marble Gothic arch stone features a recessed image of a lamb, often used to represent burials of children.

Kate Reynolds Koonce, (b. November 10; 1879, d. August 21, 1893), was a sister to Mary Johnnie. Both children were baptized at the Wynne Presbyterian Church in 1885. Kate’s stone is a round shouldered tablet of marble with minimal iconography.

The children’s mother, Lucy Mebane Koonce, was also a founding member of the Wynne Presbyterian Church. She and John had three children; however, only two are buried at the Draper Cemetery Site. Lucy was the daughter of Dr. William T. Mebane and Lucille Magett Mebane. Dr. Mebane moved to Arkansas from North Carolina and founded the town of Eureka, later Mebaneville, on Crowley’s Ridge in the 1850s. Lucy was buried at Cogbill Cemetery in Wynne in 1917. There is a Jarman Mebane Koonce (b. Jan. 14, 1877; d. September 23, 1926), buried at Cogbill as well. A Mebane Koonce is listed in the “Koonce Master Family Sheet” as the child of John Koonce and “Lutie” Mebane Koonce. The session books of the Mt. Hope and Wynne Presbyterian Church also list one of her three children as J. Mebane Koonce.

The burial of John W. Koonce (b. Feb. 22, 1854; d. Sept. 25, 1882), is marked by a Gothic arch stone with minimal elaboration. A makers mark notes that J.F. Thompson of Forrest City created his stone. The family Sheet lists the birth date for John Koonce as 1842 in Tennessee. Further research is needed to determine the family thread of the Koonce members and their connection to the area on the ridge.[5]

Roberts/Boone Family

Pvt. John Daniel Boone, Sr., (b. February, 1844; d. October 20, 1904), is listed in the roster of Company A of the 29^th Cavalry (known as the McGee Regiment), which formed in 1863 at the Methodist Campground in Vanndale, Arkansas, and was led by I.N. Deadrick. John Graham, whose father owned the land on which the Draper Cemetery Site is located, was also a member of that regiment. Born in North Carolina, John Daniel Boone was the son of Nicholas and Rebecca Liles Boon (no “e”). Nicholas and Rebecca moved to 80 acres in Smith Community, Arkansas, from North Carolina by 1852. After Cross County was created Nicholas was listed as a magistrate for the newly created county of Cross.

John Daniel Boon(e), Sr., was one of six children born to Nicholas and Rebecca. He married Sarah Jane Roberts (b. July, 9, 1808; d. January 7, 1892), in 1866 and they lived in Smith Community and Brushy Lake District. After his death Sarah Jane moved to Wynne. Sarah Jane added the “e” to her last name on her Confederate widow’s pension papers. John Daniel’s tombstone was originally a concrete round shouldered hand-lettered tablet. A marble slant-shouldered veteran’s stone was erected next to the concrete stone in 2008.

Sarah Jane’s mother, Sarah Fly Roberts (b. 1808; d. 1892), is buried at the Draper Cemetery Site toward the rear of the burial ground adjacent to two of her daughters. Her marker is a simple marble round shouldered tablet type featuring no symbolism.

Saphrona Hartwell (b. January 10, 1837; d. August 22, 1885), the daughter of Zachariah and Sarah Fly Roberts, was listed on the 1870 census as a housewife married to Jeremiah Hartwell, a shingle maker. Her name is spelled Saphronia in family histories but her marker differs.

Fidelia Thomson (b. December 30, 1838; d. September 10, 1885), was the wife of a man named Wyatt, by whom she had a son, John Wyatt. Later she married David Thomson, who is listed on her tombstone. Cross County census records of 1880 list David Thompson (“p” added on census) as a stock man and Fidelia as keeping house. Fidelia and Saphrona’s round shouldered tablet stones feature clasping male and female hands. Fidelia’s features the makers mark of P. Doyle of Forrest City.[6]

Elisha Waugh Chappelle

Elisha Waugh Chapelle (b. April 7, 1817; d. May 30, 1868), was born in North Carolina. He married Martha Jane Thompson in Missouri in 1837 and their children were born there. Elisha owned land in Missouri and Arkansas; he was also a physician and a surgeon in the Confederate Army. The fact that he owned farmland is evidenced by Chappelle’s will, probated in October, 1868, authorizing his son, Louin Chappelle, to sell his “growing crop of cotton belonging to said Estate as the same may mature and be gathered.” Some sources make connections to a Chappell family in the area, no “e.” Goodspeed also lists his son Louin, with both spellings. Chappelle’s stone is a round-shouldered tablet with a Masonic symbol. The stone is attributed to Anderson Venn and Company of Memphis. This company is also responsible for markers found in Oakland Fraternal Cemetery in Little Rock.[7]

Pippin Family

Wade H. Pippin (b. 1822; d. March 10, 1896), and his wife, Berthiah Mattie Pippin (b. 1835, d. May 1, 1903), are buried at the access to the Draper Cemetery Site. Their graves are marked by a double-arch tablet- style marker of marble. Iconography on Wade’s stone consists of a Masonic symbol and Berthiah’s features clasped male and female hands like those found on Saphrona Hartwell and Fidelia Thomson’s. The census records of 1860 list Wade as a grocer. [8]

Wilfong

Jay Milton Wilfong, (d. August 6, 1866), was three months old at his death. He was the infant son of John Macon Wilfong and Susan Abernathy Wilfong of North Carolina. John Macon and Susan had four other children, three of whom were born in Wittsburg; the first in 1861, which places the family in Arkansas by at least that date. Their fourth child was born in Missouri in 1873 so it is likely they moved from Arkansas at that point. John is reported to have died in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1875 but he and Susan are both buried in North Carolina. As per John’s tombstone he served the Confederacy in Company G, 31^st Regiment, Virginia.[9]

[3] Cross County Historical Society, 48.

[4] Goodspeed, “The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas,” (The Goodspeed Publishing Co.: Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis, 1890), 329; Cross County Historical Society, “A Transcription of Mt. Hope and Wynne Presbyterian Church Sessions Book,” Transcribed by Bridget Hart, 2007, online article found athttp://www.cchs1862.org/., accessed 10/31/12.

[5] Goodspeed, 329; Dan A. Rudd, Scott Bond, “From Slavery to Wealth: The Life of Scott Bond”, (The Journal Printing Company, 1917), introduction to the new edition, xiii; Brenda Hunley, “Cogbill Cemetery, Wynne, Arkansas,” online article athttp://www.freewebs.com/southernroots/cemeteries/CogbillCem.htm, 2003; Alice Koonce and Kenneth Jenkins, “Koonce Master Family Sheet,” online article athttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnwcogs/famhist/koonce01.html, 1999; Hart.

[6] Leta Miles Boone Franklin, “Boon/Boones of Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas, 1700s-1900s,” online article found at http://www.cchs1862.org/BoonFamilyHistory.pdf, 2007, accessed 09/25/2012, 15-16, 18; Cross County Census Records, 1870, 1880, information provided by George Anne Draper, Colt, AR, 2012.

[7] Information provided by George Anne Draper, 2012; Lakresha Diaz, “Oakland Fraternal Cemetery,” 2009, National Register nomination on file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, AR, Section 7, pg. 19.

[8] George Anne Draper.

[9] “Our Family History and Ancestry: Bernethy-Eby-Scribner,” online article found athttp://www.bernethy-eby-scribner.com/getperson.php?personID=I543665040&tree=Abernathy, accessed 09/26/2012.

SIGNIFICANCE

The people buried within this small cemetery participated in the development of the religious and economic life of the area and were typical of the families who contributed to the growth of the small communities around Wynne and Forrest City. No surnames found at Draper Cemetery Site match those in the adjacent Graham Cemetery or Gatlin Cemetery. Two links can be found among the interred. One is the relationship of several people to the establishment of the Wynne Presbyterian Church and the other is that everyone interred there, save for the Pippins are documented as having a connection to North Carolina. It may be found later that the Pippins are linked as well. Many unanswered questions remain regarding the history of this cemetery. Even the official name, if there ever was one, is a mystery. Because of the need for further research the cemetery is currently being referred to as Draper Cemetery Site, which is the designation it received from Arkansas Archeological Survey contact Jerry Ellis when he surveyed the site in 2003.[1] Other sources have called it Mt. Hope or St. Francisville Cemetery; however, at this time no solid link has been established to warrant these names.

Crowley’s Ridge has a long history of settlement, beginning with prehistoric Native Americans since the end of the ice age. The land around the ridge was desirable for Native Americans and later Europeans and yielded profitable crops, which translated into commercial prosperity. The economy was driven by easy accessibility via the St. Francis and later the Military Road and St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad. Such conditions would be a draw to immigrants and their family members, which was the case for the area around the cemetery. The lure of inexpensive land and settled family drew many to eastern Arkansas. Although there were tangled swamplands along the Mississippi River, which discouraged early settlement, Crowley’s Ridge broke up the miasmal geography and allowed for prairie-like environments.

These families represented in Draper Cemetery Site provide keys to the story of Cross County after its establishment in 1862. Much remains to be discovered about their contributions but the presence of the cemetery is nonetheless an important symbol of the local story of mid-19^th century Arkansas. As Wynne developed and became an important city center by 1903, these family members would have remained in the area utilizing the many access roads to the county seat or south to Forrest City for municipal business, entertainment, education, purchasing goods or selling their produce. The families within likely contributed in various ways to the growth of these towns. For these reasons the Draper Cemetery Site is being nominated to the Arkansas Register under Criterion A, Criteria Consideration D as a link to the early settlers of Cross County.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Christ, Mark. “Memphis to Little Rock Road – Village Creek State Park, Newcastle vic., Cross County.” 2003. National Register nomination. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, AR.

Cross County census data, 1870-1880. Provided by George Anne Draper, Colt, AR. 2012.

Cross County Historical Society. Cross County Arkansas; History and Families. (Acclaim Press: Morley, MO, 2012).

Diaz, Lakresha. “Oakland Fraternal Cemetery.” 2009. National Register nomination on file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock AR.

Ellis, Jerry. “Arkansas Archeological Survey 3CS289.” 2003. On file at Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, AR.

Goodspeed. The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas. (The Goodspeed Publishing Company: Chicago, Nashville and St.Louis, 1890).

Hart, Bridget. “A Transcription of Mt. Hope and Wynne Presbyterian Church Sessions Book.” 2007. Online article found athttp://www.cchs1862.org/.

Hunley, Brenda. “Cogbill Cemetery, Wynne, Arkansas.” Online article found athttp://www.freewebs.com/southernroots/cemeteries/CogbillCem.htm. 2003.

Franklin, Leta Miles Boone. “Boon/Boones of Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas, 1700s-1900s.” Online article found athttp://www.cchs1862.org/BooneFamilyHistory.pdf. 2007.

Koonce, Alice and Jenkins, Kenneth. “Koonce Master Family Sheet.” Online article found athttp://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnwcogs/famhist/koonce01.html. 1999.

Myers, Robert. “Cherokee Pioneers in Arkansas: The St. Francis Years, 1785 1813.” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. LVI. (Summer 1997).

“Our Family History and Ancestry: Bernethy-Eby-Scribner.” Online article found at http://www.bernethy-eby scribner.com/getperson.php?personID=1543665040&tree=Abernathy.

Rudd, Dan. From Slavery to Wealth: The Life of Scott Bond. (The Journal Printing Company: Madison, AR,1917).