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Ragsdale Burial Site
Copyright 1999 by Debra C. Blackard
From the Clara B. Eno Collection, Small Manuscript Collection,
Arkansas History Commission, Number One Capitol Mall, Little
Rock, AR 72201.
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Excerpt of a letter from Aaron Matthews, Lamar,
AR,
7 Aug 1918,
to Miss Clara B. Eno, Van Buren, AR.
"You ask as to whether I knew Elzy Ragsdale
and whether he was a Revolutionary soldier or not. Yes I remember him.
but don't remember of ever hearing of his being a Revolutionary soldier.
I think he died during the Civil War or just before. He and a Union soldier
were buried on his farm. They are the only men buried their. Neither grave
is marked. They are buried within a mile of where I live. Though Mr. Ragsdale
as I remember seemed to be very old, but I hardly think old enough to have
been in the War of 1776. His son-in-law, Milum told
me that he, Milum was in the war of 1812 and took part in the battle of
New orleans. He seemed in 1868-69, when he told me this to be a very old
man. T. J. Wood owned the Ragsdale farm as the writer
of your letter said but he has_been dead five or six years."
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Note: T. J. Wood and Aaron Matthews are both buried in the Minnow
Creek Cemetery, S19-T10N-R22W.
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Attention Ragsdale Descendants: The site of
these burials is near the location of the old Minnow Creek School and in
the vicinity of a plot of land identified as Ragsdale's Field on the original
1842 plat of Perry Twp., Johnson Co. A pine thicket has grown around
the neglected grave site. The current landowner is agreeable to having
family or other volunteers clear and repair the site. E-mail:Debra
Blackard
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