Genealogy Society
Of
Craighead County
Arkansas

THE MYSTERY OF MILLER COUNTY, ARKANSAS:
If you have needed to search Miller County, Arkansas, you probably can’t find any early records. Arkansas Territory was created in 1819. Miller County, Arkansas was established in 1820 by an Arkansas Territorial Legislature. This Legislature did not clearly understand the 1819 treaty boundary between the United States and Spanish Mexico. Settlers in Miller County, living south of the Red River were actually in what is now Texas. (See Texas 1820-1830). When the Indian line was moved east in 1828 to become the present Oklahoma-Arkansas border, Miller County vanished north of the Red River. Miller was thus enumerated entirely inside Texas for the 1830 census. After Red River County, Texas was created in 1836, Miller County ceased to exist. Modern Miller County, Arkansas was extablished in 1874.

In the Chronicles of Oklahoma there is a section titled Miller County, Arkansas Territory, “The Frontier That Men Forgot” Vol. 18, pages 12 thru 34. Also in Vol 18, pages 154 thru 170 is an article entitled “Establishment of Old Miller County, Arkansas” by Strickland. There are many names mentioned in these articles and I would like to run a series about this “old” history to be found in these chronicles. On page 22 of this volume 18, which was published in 1940, beginning with 1815, are names of some of the pioneers and references to them.

1815:
1. William D. Steward (Stuart), arrived May 15, 1815, from Kentucky. Registro. He was a “free man of color” and continued to reside in the area until 1840. Bason, Adm’x vs. Hughart, Texas Reports, II, 476-481.
2. George C. Wetmore, arrived June 7, 1815, from Arkansas, Registro. He was an Indian trader. Wright Papers.
3. Alex O. Wetmore, presumably came with his brother, George, in 1815; his presence on the river in 1816 is confirmed by the Wright Papers.
4. Jacob Barkman, Andrew Robinson and Abraham Anthony were hunting west of the Kiamichi in October, 1815. “Petition .... to Secretary of State,” AGO, ARD, WDF, August 4, 1817. Confirmed by letter in Arkansas Gazette February 26, 1820. These mem were presumably hunters from farther east. Anthony was killed; Barkman afterward resided near Little Rock; Andrew Robinson, in the fall of 1819, was hunting in the Cross Timbers of Texas with Gabriel Martin and John Hampton, W.B. Dewees, Letters from an Early Settler in Texas, 16. Robinson was one of the first settlers in Austin’s colony on the Brazos. Austin Papers, passim.

1816:
5. William Slingland, arrived January 18, 1816, a native of New Jersey. Registro. Crossed river in 1820 to Jonesborough. Record of the Board of Land Commissioners (transcribed), Red River County, Texas. (Hereafter designated as RBLC.) Operated a ferry there after October 1822. Arkansas Gazette, March 2, 1824.
6. Charles Burkham, his wife Nancy (nee Abbott), son, James and daugher, Cynthia, arrived July 4, 1816, from Indiana. Registro. Cross river to reside at the mouth of Mill Creek, Bowie County, Texas, March 1820. RBLC.
7. George Kerman (Kernall), arrived 15 August 1816, a native of Pennsylvania. Registro.
8. Walter Poole, wife and four children (one of the sons was named Johathan) were living at Pecan Point when the Wrights arrived in 1816. Wright Papers. “Had just arrived in the country,” So George Wright said. Probably came with Burkham in July.
9. Claiborne Wright, wife, two daughters and three sons (George, William and Adams) arrived September 5, 1916, from Tennessee. Wright Papers.
10. Jonathan “Coachman” (Anderson), wife and one son were living at Pecan Point when the Wrights arrived. “The Wright Family, Early Settlers of Red River County, Texas. in Mrs. J.J. Arthur’s, Annals of the Fowler Family. 326.
11. William Mabbitt had set up a trading house at Pecan Point as early as September 1816. Wright Papers. It is to be doubted that he was actively in charge of the establishment. His residence was at Walnut Hills in what is now Lafayette County, Arkansas. He froze to death near Arkansas Post early in 1820. Arkansas Gazette.
12. Martin Varner, Geroge Creason and Henry Jones were hunting on the upper river, December, 1816. “Petition .... to Secretary of State,” AGO, ARD, WDF. Varner and Jones left the Red River area late in 1821. Lamar Papers, IV (Part II), 14. George Wright remembered that Varner, Jones, Creason, John Grafton, Charles Campbell and William Inglish were Hunters on the river as early as 1818. Arthur, Annals of the Fowler Family, 323. None were married in 1818, although Varner and Jones married before they emigrated to Austin’s colony.
13. Cornelius Martin was traditionally an early settler with Burkham. Lamar Papers, VI, 14.

CONTINUED to next Newsletter.