Nancy Bounds Howerton is our Gran

Revisiting the Howertons. Prompted in large part by a note from a gentleman on Ancestry. who is a DNA match.  a man who is also on the journey of family finding. This inquiry caused me to check in with our DNA match Howerton cousin, Jo Huggins. She confirmed that she was also his match... and in fact, she had been talking with him for months and was helping him along.

Stella and I are certain at this point, the Howertons are ours.  While we are little fuzzy on the specifics, we can claim Ira Howerton as our 3rd Great Grandfather.  William Howerton and Nancy Bounds Howerton, his parents are our lineage.

Back reading this blog about our search, I had forgotten how much history we had pieced together.

In the review,  I discovered Nancy Bounds Howerton residing with her son Jesse Bounds Howerton on the 1880 census. Nancy was 87 years old at the time and living with her son's family in Liberty, Missouri. I was struck by how far this elder had traveled in her life.  She was born in Virginia in 1796, just twenty years after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Records show she lived in Tennessee then migrated west to Arkansas then later Missouri on what could have only been horses and wagons. Along the way she married William Howerton and produced a passel of kids.

Then it dawned on me that this Nancy Bounds Howerton was my grandmother.. my 4th great grandmother. How could I have forgotten this?

I recalled that for a couple of years the Howerton's were on probation as kin.  Stella and I built a separate tree, called Tenneesee Howertons, because we just were not sure the Howertons were our relatives.  Susan Laird, our great great grandmother has no record of ever been married, though she gave her children the Howerton surname in the census. 

Pro genealogical researchers rely on what is called the "Genealogical Proof Standard."
It has five elements:

• a reasonably exhaustive search;
• complete and accurate source citations;
• analysis and correlation of the collected information;
• resolution of any conflicting evidence; and
• a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion.^[1]

source wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogical_Proof_Standard

The Board of Certified Genealogists, the professional organization spells out 81 standards that build on the above ideas. ** They are stringent.  Even then, many folks say that there can never be absolute genealogical certainty... rather than a good case for relativity. In genealogy, like the criminal court you can convict on a preponderance of evidence.  And when push comes to shove, the jury adds up all the facts, and uses it's intuition.

Name matches, geographical proximity, and DNA matches all support our claim to the Howertons.  The Search Sister's rely on Stella's genealogical intuition. She is flat out convinced that these Howertons are ours.

Virginia born Nancy Bounds is our gran.

** http://www.bcgcertification.org/resources/standard.html

Second Guessing: Howertons

Every once in a while somebody asks a question that forces a review of the work you have done in creating the family tree.  Recently another subscriber at Ancestry.com inquired about the Howertons. He made me question our work so far on this civil war soldier that we have assigned  grandfather status to.  I went back and checked.  Geography, dates, surname records, and DNA.  Yep, I concluded our research is solid.  The helpers Stella and I call geneological angels.  I suppose we could call this Howerton researcher a genealogical devil's advocate.  

Along the way I read "Rookie mistakes" at family search.org. I consider this group the bible of genalogical information. These Latter Day Saints do family research as a spiritual practice, not for profit. Their wiki tells me that I am not doing  this Howerton search right. 

1. I need a clear goal.
2. Search every member of the family for a complete build of the tree.
3. Use multiple spellings.
4. Ask: what kind of record can answer your question?
5. Ask: why?

Why are you even doing this search? What do you really want to know? Are you problem solving or scratching an itch you created by scratching?    Do you want the distraction of lineage fishing at this moment in your life... and why.

Reading the FamilySearch.org wiki  led me to DAR search. I learned that Daughters of the American Revolution applications were not vetted well in past times.   Some lines have been closed. According to them two william Howertons served in the Revolutionary War. One from Essex Virginia and another from Morgan Kentucky.  

Are either of them related?
Time and more looking will tell.

reference:
http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot/worldpractice01.html . 

The Hogs of Madison County

Thomas Bewick: Engraving

What was life like Madison County Arkansas in 1870 and 1880, the Laird and Howerton home county?  Occasionally if you look hard you run across a scrap of information that can do a lot of talking.  This is Madison County as the assessor saw it.

Madison County counted its wealth in horses, mules, and cattle.   The big winner in sheer numbers is hogs. In 1887 the hogs of Madison County number 27,000 plus, outnumbering people by a factor of about three to one.  

Tax Assessor list Madison County from Goodspeeds History (see source below.)

Goodspeed's History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, 

Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and 

Sebastian Counties, Arkansas *

Add up all the money and outstanding credit in this rural county, and you see that livestock outweigh it by a factor of five.   Fine italian linens,  silver table service and fine art are ignored on the assessor's survey.  Perhaps this column would get more use in a more sophisticated city like Little Rock.

Still, some fancy goods are indeed represented: 43 silver and gold watches exist in Madison County... or at least are counted by the tax assessor in 1877. Ten years later the number of watches explodes to 219.   Four pianos are resident in 1882.  Economic times seem to be good in the 70’s and 80’s as the population of watches and pianos explode thru the decade. Perhaps these statistics describe the recovery after the Civil War. 

Driving seems to be as desirable then as now, carriages being on the increase.  It is likely that carriage sales increased as the county installed more drivable roads.  

If you consider hogs the 1887 currency , hogs are worth about $1.25 each. That would be around $30 in today's dollars. Using this measure a gold watch would cost about $12 (1887 dollars) or 10 hogs. But the real luxury item is not a carriage or a pianola. A mule would set you back around $50. How much is that in hogs? That would  be about 40 hogs to equal the price of a single long eared luxury item, a mule.   

Source: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford..Counties

Howerton and Laird Migrations: Arkansas Travelers

It is still a mystery why Susan Laird named her three offspring Howerton... then later reverted to the surname Laird. We do know Howertons and Lairds lived near each other in Madison County and that these families had a number of things in common. 

Both families were new comers to Arkansas, arriving after the Arkansas Territory was declared a state in 1836.  Both families migrated west by way of Tennessee.   Both families came with kids.  Both acquired Arkansas land in Madison County and made their living by farming, as did most folks in the area. 

Howerton Migration Path: Virginia, Grainger Tennessee, Pike County Arkansas, Madison County Arkansas.

The elder William Howerton was born in Virginia in 1789. His son Ira Howerton 1813 also claimed Virginia as his birth state.  Ira and his wife Betsy Baker were residing Grainger County, Tennessee in 1840.   The 1850 census finds Ira's extended family had moved west to the town of Missouri, in Pike County, Arkansas.  Father, William Howerton 61 and six other Howerton adults live in the household, as well as eleven Howerton and Baker kids under the age of 14.

1850 Census of Pike County records no one in the Howerton clan as deaf, dumb, blind insane,
idiotic, pauper or convict. 

The next decade's census shows the Howerton gang has moved again and the family is established in Bowen Township Madison County in the north west part of the state. Documents show William Howerton bought land in this area around 1860. Ira fathered eleven kids, four kids with Betsy Baker… seven more with second wife Elizabeth Sarah Davis.  He lived to 66 and made Arkansas his last stop.

Laird Migration Path: Hardin County Tennessee, Marion County Arkansas, Madison County Arkansas.

The Lairds migrated to Arkansas about fifteen years before the Howertons. Temperance Dubose, later Laird,  married in Hardin County Tennessee in 1826, though not to Jacob Laird.  Census records say that Jacob Laird was the father of her children and that the first child was born in 1833 in Tennessee.    

Laird 1850 Census, Marion County Arkansas. Temperance recorded as person over 20 who cannot
read or write. 

We can piece together their path west by tracking the births of their kids. In the 1850 census the oldest boy William Laird 17 is listed and Nelson Laird 15 are both born in Tennessee. The next child,  Susan Laird 10 is born in Arkansas.  The census evidence tells that the Laird family migration west  happened between 1835 and 1840.  They first lived In Marion County, Arkansas.  A later record of 1860 finds them settled a few counties west in Madison county.  Jacob had Temperance had six kids together and lived the rest of their lives in Arkansas.  

Not From Around Here: War Eagle Arkansas 1850

Census 1850 War Eagle Township Arkansas

A close look at the War Eagle Township Census pages of 1860 shows the neighbors surrounding the Howertons  and the Lairds are people from from everywhere else.  Migrants all, excepting the youngest children. It appears that kids are generally the only folks born in the State of Arkansas.  The fact that Arkansas first called itself a state in 1836 could help account for this.

The Census records say the patriarch of the Laird family, Jacob Laird,  was born in Tennessee and Howerton patriarch, Ira Howerton was born in Virginia. These men were part of the wave of settlers coming west that swelled the population of Arkansas territory from about 1,000 to 200,000 in the span of fifty years.*  During the decade of the Laird / Howerton migration 1840-1850, the population of Arkansas approximately doubled from 97,000 to 200,000 plus people.  

Reading the birth place column of the 1850 census tells the origins of this flood of migrants into the Arkansas territory.  The Howertons and Lairds were surrounded by neighbors from everywhere else (but nobody born on foreign soil) including:

Tennessee

Alabama 

Arkansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississipi

Virginia

Georgia

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Missouri

North Carolina 
South Carolina

(*Note: Native americans don't seem to be accounted for in these numbers, however. The government policy appears to be to move them off their native lands, out of the way of the white settlers, and to push them west into the "indian territories.") 

Source: Wikipedia Arkansas Historical Population:   source

DNA Matching: It's all Relative

The "cousin" that Stella writes to first appeared as a solid green bar on Ancestry.com DNA match system when we did a Howerton search. There are more than thirty matches, but this is a very strong one. We click into this match's family tree then  check to see if and how this tree's Howertons match up with our Howertons.

 Here is where the finger crossing starts and the Search Sisters hope to get lucky.
1.We hope that there are common ancestors easily seen. 2.We hope the tree has some solid research behind it. Lots of trees on ancestry.com are slap dash affairs, or locked and private, or poorly documented with no hints to be found. 3. We hope the creator of the tree is an active, enthusiastic, saavy family history buff who is willing to share.

On the J.S. tree we find this beautiful portrait of Frank Milton Howerton, a good sign. Further inspection tells us that this Frank Milton was born in Oklahoma. Close, but not Arkansas. We look at his parents.... and find James A Howerton.

Frank Milton Howerton 1877-1941

You convince yourself that sending a message might be worth your time, then you put your questions together in a message and send it off. Then double cross your fingers. And wait. Sometimes you wait for months or even years for a response. Stella writes to AM Cooper, owner of this J.S. match:

"Jan 28, 2016: We have a high likelihood 4th? cousin DNA match. Looking at your tree it seems pretty likely that your James A Howerton, father of Frank Milton Howerton, is also our great great grandfather. The information we have about his family was hard won given that he and our great great grandmother never married or lived together."

After a few weeks AM Cooper, tree owner, writes back:

"Feb 13, 2016: My tree should be completely open and visible to you. Frank Milton Howerton is my great grandfather. His daughter is my grandmother who at 92 is still alive. She didn't really know her own mother. She was primarily raised by her aunt Florence."

While our new cousin doesn't have details that give us a definite link, the DNA connection tells us that Search Sisters and AM Cooper, their cousin, have a strong protein match with this Howerton line.  While we can't be sure James Nathan Howerton was Paralee's papa, we can be reasonably certain based on the DNA evidence we all descend from this line of people who call themselves Howertons. 

Finding Paralee's Papa: Now What?

Great grandma Armenta Paralee Howerton Laird was born in 1862 in War Eagle Township Arkansas, a year after the Civil War began. Susan Laird, her mama, would have been about 19 or 20 years old. Stella describes to a cousin where we are in the search for Paralee’s daddy as follows...  

“We were intrigued that both the 1870 and 1880 census listed these kids as being Howertons. After beating the bushes for the father of our great grandmother we discovered a Howerton family living "next door". This family included two young brothers, William born 1843 and James Nathan Howerton born 1845.

William died at the battle of Chickamauga in 1863. And if younger brother, James Nathan fought in the Civil War (at age 16) he appears to have lived through it. Our great grandmother's little brother, James Riley Howerton Laird was born in 1867.  Also the custom of naming first sons after their fathers points to James Nathan as the papa.

Now this might seem like a pretty sketchy info to conclude James Nathan Howerton is our great great grandfather. But once we DNA tested a whole lot of Howerton matches began to come our way.  From DNA testing we feel we have pretty much nailed the Howerton family from which great grandma Armenta Paralee Laird Howerton descended.  Circumstances point to James Nathan Howerton as her father." 

William Howerton: 2nd Mounted Arkansas Rifles Company K

Muster Roll for William Howerton Private.

William Howerton was a seventeen year old farm hand on his Uncle William's homestead when the Civil War began in 1861. Records show that he enlisted on the 22nd of December 1861 at Cantonment Bee, Arkansas. According to civil war researchers this place was not a town, but a military camp. It was located near Fort Smith on the Arkansas River about 80 miles southwest of the Howerton homestead. 

Colonel James McQueen Mackintosh 

commanding officer killed at the 

Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas.

William joined the 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles as a seventeen year old soldier to fight for the Confederates. His Company K consisted of about 100 men from Madison County. 10 companies made up the 2nd Mounted Arkansas Rifles with Colonel James McQueen Mackintosh as the commanding officer. The records show that Martin Howerton, age 22, enlisted in Company K on the same day. Perhaps Martin was a William's cousin.   

Mounted Rifles are essentially soldiers trained to fight as infantry and move on horseback vs. Cavalry units which are trained to ride and fight from horseback. William must have come to the army with strong shooting and riding skills. His skills saw a lot of action. Here is a list of engagements which the 2nd Mounted Rifles fought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Arkansas_Mounted_Rifles
The unit is entitled to the following Campaign Participation Credits:

• Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, August 10, 1861
• Battle of Chustenahlah, Oklahoma, December 26, 1861[21]
• Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 6–8, 1862
• Siege of Corinth, Mississippi, April to June 1862
• Kentucky Campaign, Kentucky, August–October 1862
◦ Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, August 29–30, 1862
◦ Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862
• Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 to January 3, 1863
• Vicksburg Campaign
◦ Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, May 14, 1863
◦ Siege of Jackson, Mississippi, July 5–25, 1863
• Chickamauga Campaign,
◦ Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19–20, 1863
 
After the Battle of Chickamauga the 2nd Arkansas Rifles fought on for two more years in Mississipi, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. The American Civil War claimed in excess of 620,000 men in battle or disease-related deaths, nearly more deaths than all other American wars combined. Nineteen year old William Howerton was one of the casualties. The records of Company K show that William had ridden with his unit for two when he was wounded in Georgia at the battle of Chickamauga. He died of those wounds five days later.

HOWERTON, WILLIAM Pvt - Age 17. Enl 22 Dec 1861 at Cantonment Bee, AR. Wounded 19-20 Sep 1863 at Chickamauga, GA and died 25 Sep 1863.

Photos of the Chickamauga Battlefield :Mathew Brady. 

Because William Howerton was engaged in the war in 1861, it doesn't seem likely he was engaged in the paternity of Armenta Paralee Howerton who was born about 1862. Certainly he was not the father of Paralee's younger Sister Martha Laird born in 1865 or her brother James Riley Laird born in 1871. Perhaps that action was left to his younger brother James Nathan. 

Note:  Martin Howerton, his namesake comrade, on January 5th at Murfreesboro, TN and sent to prison at Camp Morton, Indiana. It is unclear if he ever returned home. 

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Arkansas_Mounted_Rifles

Going the Distance: Homerton to Lairds

When the Search Sisters launch themselves onto a promising thread of research and the messages fly fast and furious.  Stella writes: 

"Dang! I thought I had sent this to you but looks like I didn't.

Jacob and Temperance didn't live in the town of War Eagle, Arkansas, but the township of War Eagle, where deeds show Jacob owned around 400 acres. I plotted the homestead of Jacob Laird indicated on the attached map as #1177.....and the homestead of William Howerton #363 in 1860.

William Howerton is the uncle of the young brothers Nathan and William Howerton. He is a Madison County land owner of record.

Even more exciting is the fact, I have found William Howerton, age 17, living here in the 1860 census and working with his uncle William as a "farm laborer". From there I imagine he went off to war and his death in 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga."

So if the caculations are correct,  it was about a 45 minute walk from the Howerton homestead to the the Lairds.  Less if you met somewhere in between.

Howerton: Proximity Papa

Sometimes answers to questions drop in your lap when you least expect it.

Saturdays sometimes find the Search Sisters spending the afternoon at the California Genealogical Society. The CGS library occupies a beautiful green tiled Art Deco building on Broadway in downtown Oakland.  Sometimes we search a specific item, sometimes we sit in on a seminar to learn a new search skill, and some times we fool around on their computers exploring the online data banks.

This Saturday we were trying out a new tool, one that brought up maps of the first land owners in a particular region.   "Hey, why don't you try War Eagle Arkansas?," I ask.  "Ok", Stella says.  Suddenly we are looking at a plat map that shows the land boundaries with names of the original owners.  Look, there is Jacob Laird.  We both peer at the screen that shows the outline of our 3rd great grandfather's land.

WHOAH!!!  LOOK AT THAT!

A few sections southeast from Jacob S Laird's land is a section marked with the name Howerton. We both instantly jump to the same conclusion.  Howerton is Paralee's papa! Her daddy is "the boy next door." The Search Sisters both have the feeling...the intuition of yes, that comes when the pieces click into to place after a long hard search.  Parenthood proved by proximity.  Perhaps another mystery solved. 

Actually, this piece of geographical evidence clinched for us what we had already suspected.  We had already shaken the Arkansas records pretty hard hoping that a Homerton, or Hameston would fall out as the father of Susan Laird's kids.  Howerton was as close a name match that we had previously found in the record search.  

Since then DNA matching has further confirmed our theory.  Both Search Sisters have a number of DNA Howerton matches, along with our Allison cousin.  Howerton seems like a sure bet for the baby daddy.

Uh oh. New mystery.... which one of the Howerton boys next door?  

Howerton or Laird?

O'Laird. Irish. Potato famine?  Dad fondly remembered his grandma Paralee, but other than recalling she came from Arkansas... he was a blank about her origins. " Oh, I think she might have been from around Mina, Arkansas", Dad said.  (Later I learned the town was spelled Mena, though the Search Sisters have yet to find any evidence of her presence there.)

Searching Paralee's origins was hampered not only by her myriad ways of spelling Armenta Paralee... her surname shifted.  Cannaday was her married name. Paralee grew up in the Laird household, with her mother and grandparents we discovered. Digging deeper we found something puzzling in the census records. Paralee's childhood surname was Homerton or Hameston.

1870 census War Eagle Township, Madison County, Arkansas

Paralee’s mother Susan Laird (spelled Leard here) in the 1870 census of War Eagle Township, Madison County, Arkansas lists her children as Arminta Homerton 8 and her sister Martha Homerton 5.  Susan 30, is living in her father and mother’s Laird household along with her sister Arfita Angalina 23 and two more boys Hugh cc Lard 3, and John F Lard 3.

1880 census War Eagle Township, Madison County, Arkansas

In the next War Eagle Census of 1880 the Laird household (spelled Lard here) includes the parents Jacob and Temperance, Susan E Hameston 40, Parilee Hameston 18, Martha J. Hameston 14 and a brother James Hameston 9.  Arlita has married and moved on taking the boys Hugh and John F into Issac Causeys household. (In this census the Hameston name looks like a mistranscription of Howerton.)

Paralee marries and becomes Armenta P Cannaday of the 1910 census, Hagansport Texas. Martha disappears from the record.  The son James Riley reverts back to the Laird surname for the rest of his life. In the 1900 War Eagle census he is married with a wife and four kids… all Lairds. 

Who was the father of Susan Laird's kids?  Where did the name Homerton, Hameston come from? We searched the records. Was Susan Laird married? No records show this. Was she widowed after the civil war?  No Homertons or Hamestons appear in the records in Madison County.  

Who was Paralees papa? Another mystery for the Search Sisters to solve.

Spell on You: Armenta Paralee Howerton Laird Cannaday

Standardized spelling was not yet invented when Paralee grew up in Arkansas in the 1860's. The Simplified Spelling Board, an effort to standardize American English, was not founded until 1906. Not everyone welcomed standard spelling.  Mark Twain had this to say:

 “...simplified spelling is all right, but, like chastity, you can carry it too far.”

Paralee did not carry this burden of simple spelling far at all. Her various ways of spelling her name have made her almost invisible to her genealogical mad great grand daughters. We have found her in the records as:

Arminta Homerton, 1870 census, War Eagle, Arkansas b. 1862
Parilee Hameston of the 1880 census (mistranscribed Howerton) 
Armenta P Cannaday of the 1910 census, Hagansport Texas
Armentie Canady of the 1920 census, Rusk Texas, b. 1861
Paralee Cannaday of the 1930 census, Arp Texas, b. 1862
Armintia Cannady of the 1940 census, Arp Texas, b. 1862

According to the census of 1880 Paralee could read and write, but her mother Susan Laird could not. Arkansas of her youth did have a Civil War, but did not yet have a school system.  Even if she had learned to spell in school, standard spelling was not the rule.

Consistent spelling would have made our search for Arminta Paralee Cannaday a lot easier. However, Mark Twain, never without an opinion, rues the loss of invented spelling:  

“I never had any large respect for good spelling... Before the spelling-book came with its arbitrary forms, men unconsciously revealed shades of their characters and also added enlightening shades of expression to what they wrote by their spelling, and so it is possible that the spelling-book has been a doubtful benevolence to us."  Mark Twain's Autobiography

On this assessment Grandma Paralee had plenty of character. Her grandson Lewis would have agreed.

Left to right: Lewis Allison, Paralee Laird Cannaday, Harry Allison Circa 1926

Linda Allison / August, 2014

            

Find a Grave : Parelle Canaday

Early, in their genealogic travels the Search Sisters were surprised to learn that they could take a virtual walk through most every cemetery in North America on Find-a-Grave.com. There are photos of headstones, lists of residents, and sometimes short bios compiled by volunteers who love spending their free time with tombs.          

Miz Emma’s grave was listed on the roster of Arp’s Mason Cemetery on the Find-a-Grave website.  Looking deeper I was surprised to find our Aunt and Uncle, Ernest Homer Allison and Daisy Bell. (Daisy had won my eight-year-old heart on that Texas trip by offering us cake for breakfast.) Could there be others relatives on this cemetery’s roster?

  Parelle Canaday 1859 is carved in stone on great grandma's grave.  Who decided on this peculiar spelling?  Likely some kinfolk  preserving her tradition of never spelling Paralee the same way twice.  

What the heck I thought, maybe the Cannadays were there.   SURE ENOUGH. I found PARELLE CANADY!!!!! Great grandma's grave!! Hiding in plain sight in Arp. Stella and I had been looking for great grandma Paralee ever since we started this ancestor hunt in 2012.

Paralee was our dad’s earliest known kin. She was the important link between the known and unknown relatives in our family history. Our dad, Lewis Allison, recalled Grandma Paralee vividly and liked to impersonate her way of talking with her piney woods-country twang.

Of course she would be buried in the piney woods neighborhood of her kinfolk, a place like Arp. What is remarkable is how long it took to locate her. It never occurred to us to look for someone named “Parelle Canaday".  Spelling was the barrier.  Apparently Paralee never spelled her name the same way twice.

Miz Emma : Emma Jane Simmons Arnold Allison

In June 2014 I decided to look into Emma Jane Simmons Arnold Allison, stepmother to our dad Lewis Allison and his brother Harry. Their papa, Harry Craig Allison, had remarried after his first wife Stella Cannaday died in 1924.  

Miz Emma was on her second husband when she took on the Allison boys around 1930.  According to Lewis “Miz Emma” was stern and “favored” her own boys over her stepsons. I have a dim memory of meeting Miz Emma Arnold when I was eight years old on our one-and-only family trip to east Texas in 1957.

She lived in a wood farmhouse on a country road surrounded by deep woods. Miz. Emma welcomed Lewis and his “youngins”. She invited us to have something to “drank”, which turned out to be well water. We all walked around the house to the backyard. She pulled up the bucket of well water and we all sipped out of the same ladle. I remember our California Mom, stranger to east Texas ways, remarking later how “unsanitary” this was.

The next time I encountered Miss Emma Arnold, was finding her on a list of people buried in the cemetery in Arp, Texas. Arp is a tiny town in Smith County. The town’s population is less than a thousand living folks, but the cemetery’s population is twice that.  The cemetery also held some secrets for the Search Sisters. 

Emma J Allison Arnold @ findagrave.com

Note: The banner image at the top of the page is the Search Sisters

 with their dad Lewis visiting in Arp's Mason Cemetary.