Is anyone out there familiar with the names and locations of early sawmills in Searcy County? My gg grandfather, Ben Potter, along with (I think) Nelson Hatchett had a sawmill on the little Red River...probably around 1870 or so. Maybe earlier. In the 1870 census it states that Ben Potter is a miller. Living with him, I believe,besides his own wife Mary and her son William, is his son William 33 and new wife Eliza, along with William's 4 children with Drewsy Watts Potter( who died in Feb. 1870.) It states William Potter's occupation as working at the Eglauntine Mill? Can't really read it. I read somewhere about a mill called the Eglantine Mill. Could it be he worked there and that this was the name of Ben Potter's sawmill? It is said (by his grandson, Vincent Drewrey) that Ben's mill sawed the boards that built the buildings in the town of Leslie Arkansas. If anyone has information or thoughts about this, please write me... Thanks, Ginny O'Neal

Don't know whether this will be at all helpful, Ginny, but the DeLorme "Arkansas Atlas and Gazetteer" shows a town of Eglantine down in Van Buren Co. It's due east of Clinton on Rt 330 going south out of Shirley. Seems to me I've heard of a sawmill or logging operation down in the Devil's Fork area. Of course, the terrain was totally different before Greers Ferry Lake was built, and I'm not real sure when that was so I'm not sure where to suggest you find a map of the area that might show the sawmills. Probably USGS has them. I do know some folks from the Leslie area of Searcy Co were down there logging - names were Bolden - so it must have been a pretty good spot. Eglantine might have been the sawmill for the logging camps. Mysty shakerag@mtnhome.com ************************************** ----- Original Message ----- From: Ginny O'Neal <goneal@pcis.net> To: <ARSEARCY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2001 2:53 PM Subject: [ARSEARCY] Eglantine Mill > Is anyone out there familiar with the names and locations of > early sawmills in Searcy County? > My gg grandfather, Ben Potter, along with (I think) Nelson Hatchett > had a sawmill on the little Red River...probably around 1870 or so. > Maybe earlier. > In the 1870 census it states that Ben Potter is a miller. Living with > him, I believe,besides his own wife Mary and her son William, > is his son William 33 and new wife Eliza, along > with William's 4 children with Drewsy Watts Potter( who died in Feb. 1870.) > It states William Potter's occupation as working at the Eglauntine Mill? Can't > really read it. I read somewhere about a mill called the Eglantine Mill. > Could it be he worked there and that this was the name of Ben Potter's > sawmill? > It is said (by his grandson, Vincent Drewrey) that Ben's mill sawed the > boards that built the buildings in the town of Leslie Arkansas. > If anyone has information or thoughts about this, please write me... > Thanks, > Ginny O'Neal > > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB >