I don't know anything about those families but someone recently sent me this old post from some article/book about a wagon train that brought some people of these surnames to Ark. about 1858. http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/ARDREW/1998-10/0909777122 does anyone know if there are is a list somewhere of all that made this journey together. the Willises and Chambers also came over from Wilkinson county GA to Drew in 1858 or 1859. A couple of the next generation of Willises married Hoovers. Rhonda BTW- interesting story! In a message dated 5/3/2005 10:24:47 AM Eastern Daylight Time, jann_woodard@yahoo.com writes: > > I just sent this to a cousin and thought I'd post to the Drew list. I'm > interested in finding the location of Chink-a-pen, The old Mason Place, and > Buffalo Stomp in Drew Co. Amos Pinkney Hayes was my gg-grandfather. These are > the memories of two granddaughters. > > > "Amos Pinkney Hayes came to Arkansas in a wagon train with some people by > the name of Naugher and Peacock - there were a good many of them. Grandpa > Pinkney first settled on what they call Chink-a-pen, and camped there for a while > and then they moved on to what was called the old Mason place. I remember > hearing them say how bad the bear, wolves, etc. were there. There was a lot > of wild animals, deer and wild turkey and other kinds of game. When they > first came to Drew County, they homesteaded. Grandpa Pinkney Hayes moved around > quite a bit and made a trip or two to Texas and back - family and all. He > had two brothers that stayed in Texas - Lawrence and Parks, and the Naughers > went with them. They all formed a wagon train and went on to Texas, but they > got dissatisfied and came back. There was quite a hill at their place and > grandma Julia had to carry water quite a distance. She couldn't carry the water > and the baby both, so she would lift the bed post and put the bab! > y's dress > under it to hold the baby from crawling away while she went and got the > water. There was a place they used to call "Buffalo Stomp" and the buffalo was > in the bottom lands, but they would come up here to get away from the gnats > and mosquitos and would come up in this red clay dirt and have a regular > stomping ground. I remember Grandpa Pinkney saying when they first settled here > that there was a bad storm - a tornado - and it laid down all the timber and > the big clay roots turned up where it had hit. > > The closest battle in the Civil War to home was at Arkansas City, but they > brought some of the soldiers back and buried them at Florence cemetery. There > was a man by the name of Mathis, we knew him when we were just children, and > at the battle at Arkansas City, the enemy shot a cannon ball and it came > rolling by him and he thought it was about stopped and he put his foot out to > stop it, and it blew his foot off. I remember him being peglegged. > > Grandpa Pinkney was left at home during the Civil war as he owned a > blacksmith shop and they needed him to make things for the war. My father, John Vol > Hayes, was about four years old when the war ended and he and Tom Naugher got > on the big fence post by the side of the road and watched the soldiers as > they drew water from the well to give their horses a drink. As they did, they > cut all the cloth out of grandma's loom. The old folks were afraid of them > and didn't say anything against the soldiers, the the two little boys didn't > know any better and cussed them for what they done." > >