The Hartwell M. Peace Family
written by W. C. Peace on Apr 22, 1961

 

 

The following history of the Peace family, who left Alabama and came to Arkansas was given to me by my father, Mark Meatchem Peace and my uncles. Hartwell Meatchem Peace, my grandfather, was born south of Athena in Limestone County, Alabama on November 25, 1818. He married Catherine Smith of the same communtiy, who was born on August 3, 1818. The exact date of their marriage is not known, but it was sometime in the year of 1837. He was a man of unquestionable honesty, devoted to his family and true to his friends.

In 1853, a man of their community in Alabama, by the name of Wess Hudson, moved to Arkansas. He sent back a glowing account of the new country. Hartwell M. Peace and his wife decided they would move to Arkansas. He could not persuade any of his family to make the move with him. Later, some of the family moved to Tennessee and some to Mississippi. He never saw his parents or any of his brothers or sisters after he left Alabama. His wife's twin brother, Curlalon Smith, came to Arkansas soon after 1854. Some of the Smiths were very high tempered. Curlalon Smith had some trouble after coming to Arkansas and was shot in the back from ambush. He spent the remainder of his life an invalid. Two of Catherine's brothers, who stayed in Alabama, became involved in a quarrel at a picnic one day and one shot the other. He thought he was dead and turned to walk off. The boy on the ground raised up and shot the other. Both are believed to have died from their wounds.

Hartwell M. Peace and his family left Alabama some time in the Fall of 1854, in two wagons drawn by oxen. (I have the broad-axe and broad-fro he brought with him to use in the building of his new home). After a three month trip, they arrived at the home of Mr. Hudson just before Christmas. As there was not room in the Hudson home for all members of both families, they built a three sided shack out of poles and daubed the cracks with mud. In from of the open side, a log-heap fire was kept burning day and night. The boys who slept in this shack said it was very comfortable.

Immediately after their arrival, Peace began looking for a place for his new home. He selected a place about two miles or less from the Hudson place. It is a beautiful place, a low hill covered with large trees and a large clear spring at the foot of the hill. I remember visiting this old place when I was a boy in 1904. The old log house was still standing then but was not occupied. The spring was their water supply for many years. Most all of the early settlers selected a homesite with a spring.

The tract of land he selected was about eight miles north of the Arkansas and Louisiana line and right on the line between what is now Columbia County, Arkansas and Union County, Arkansas. The house was just over the line in Columbia County. The homesite, having been selected, he and his boys, with the help of the Hudsons, who were the only neighbors, began cutting and peeling logs and hewing the sides smooth with the broad-axe. In a short time a large log house with a wide hall down the center was erected among the large trees on the hill. A large open room log house with a fire place and dirt and sand floor was built about forty or fifty feet from the main house. This was the kitchen and all cooking was done on the fire place. The object of having the kitchen away from the main house was that in case of fire in the kitchen, it might be kept from spreading to the main house.

Most all the land then was Government land and a man could select 160 acres, build a house, clear some land and live on it five years and the Government would give him a deed to it. This was called home-steading. Additional land could be bought for fifty cents an acre.

H.M. Peace and his wife lived on this homestead until their deaths in 1883. This Peace family were members of the Christian church when they lived in Alabama. There were no churches of this denomination near where they settled in Arkansas, so they joined the Methodist church. This church was the nearest church to their place and it was an all day trip from their place to attend services at the church. Several years later a church was built nearer to their home at the Hudson spring and named Jenkin's Chappel, in honor of its first pastor.

This family owned no slaves after coming to Arkansas, but H. M. Peace and three of his sons volunteered their services to the Confederate Army to fight for "States Rights". Their army service will be taken up later.

There were many hardships to endure during the early days of the new settlement. The nearest doctor was miles away, so my grandmother was called upon to attend sick children and grown-ups alike. Sometimes riding horseback ten miles or more to attend a case of confinement. She kept a medicine satchel she carried with her containing calomal, caster oil, quinine and some home remedies. She never charged for her services, but sometimes received gifts or home-grown products. Money was very scarce and during the war confederate money became almost worthless, and of course after the war it had no value at all.

On their farm they raised some cotton which was carried several miles to a horse power gin, so called because horses furnished the power to run the gin. A small tree was cut and shaped into a large pole called a "gin-pole". It was set up in the gin house, the bottom part set in a kind of socket on the ground and the top part geared to turn the machinery. A long pole lever was attached to the gin-pole near the ground. Horses hitched to this lever went around and around, thus turning the machinery above. It took about five hours to gin one bale of cotton. In some way, hogs and sheep were brought into the community and my grandfather raised many of both. The hogs ranged in the woods and were fed only enough through the summer to keep them from going wild. In the fall they would get extremely fat on acorns, hickory nuts and beech nuts.

Practically all the clothes for all the family were home made. The women would spin the wool and cotton into thread on the home made spinning wheel and then weave the thread into cloth on the hand loom. They also knitted socks and stockings. Overcoats were not to be had, so many of the men wore home knit shawls over their shoulders to keep out the cold.

Lots of corn was raised for food and for stock feed. Corn was carried to a wather mill several miles away to be ground into meal.. These mills were turned over by letting water run through a sluice over a large wheel. It in turn turned the mill rocks which crushed the corn into meal. The grinding process was so slow that if there were many waiting to get corn ground, a man would sometimes have to wait all day and sometimes longer for his turn to get the corn ground.

There were lots of wild game in those days. Deer, turkey, raccoons and squirrels were plentiful. There were lots of wolves, wildcats, and a few panther, but most of the bear had been killed or had left for a more sparsely settled country. There was no want for fresh meat, as the men could go down to Cornie Creek Bottom on the west side or Garner Creek Bottom on the east side of the farm and kill a deer or turkey most any time. There was an abundance of fish in the nearby creeks.

In the years after 1855 others came to the settlement. The Peace children grew up and married and homesteaded land nearby. Years later the settlement became known as Peace Town. The family was contented and happy in their new home. Of course there were times of hardships but they were a hardy clan and did not complain. They prospered on an equal or better with other family in the new settlement.

The people of the community found recreation and pleasure in fishing and hunting. There were social parties, log rollings, raisings were days set for the neighbors to meet and pile logs on the new cleared fields to help a new settler build a house. In those days the men would do the work and the women would provide a bountiful dinner. Sometimes after a days work and a supper of dinner leftovers, the fiddler would get out his violin and the dance would last far into the night.

So life went on in the new settlement for a few years, then came the Civil War. When Arkansas seceded from the union her sons were not slow in joining the Confederate Army to defend their homeland. A company of soldiers would be organized in a town or community and they would usually stay together during the war. Hartwell M. Peace and three sons volunteered. They were William, Grandison, and Green. Their father, almost forty-four, also volunteered. He wanted to be near his sons in this time of danger. His sons who were too young for military service tended the crops at home.

One day word was sent through the settlement that the Yankees were marching down from the north. Immediately the people who had horses and other stock drove them down into Cornie Creek Bottom, where they were hidden in the dense woods. They also hid what food they had, as it was reported the Yankees were stripping the country of everything that could be carried off.

The northern soldiers, under General Steele, reached and occupied Camden, Arkansas. They were met by the confederates at Poison Springs, Arkansas, April 18, 1864, and at Marks Mill, April 25, 1864. In these battles fought near Camden, General Steele's losses were so heavy he decided that it would be impossible to advance further south. He began to retreat and the southern soldiers attacked him against Jenkins Ferry on the Saline river. Although not the largest, this was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. A body of confederate soldiers had captured a train of one hundred and fifty wagons, bringing food and ammunition supplies from Little Rock to General Steele. This forced General Steele to beat a hasty retreat back north. This was the nearest the Yankees ever came to the Peace settlement.

H. M. Peace and William Peace were in several battles in Tennessee. William was wounded in the Battle of Chicamauga. Grandison Peace was in the siege of Vicksburg, was captured when the city fell, but later released in an exchange of prisoners. He then took part in the Battle of Port Hudson below Vicksburg. When they saw that Port Hudson was going to fall, he and his company fought their way through the federal lines and escaped. That was the last battle of importance, in which he took part. Green Peace ran away from home when he was sixteen years old and volunteered his services to the Confederate Army. He wished to be with his father and brothers in the service, however the war ended before he saw any active service.

H. M. Peace and his sons served through the war and all returned home. None were wounded except William who was shot in the ankle at the battle of Chickamauga by what was called a "Minnie-Ball". He was discharged and started for home catching a ride when he could, but walking a great deal of the way. He reached home, but his foot had gotten infected and he also contracted T. B. He died soon after the war at age 27 years.

My uncle Grandison told an amusing incident that occured during their war service. My grandfather had not heard from his family at home in several months, so he asked for a furlough, that he might go home to see about them. His Captain told him they were expecting a battle soon and he had orders to grant no more furloughs. The Captain knew grandfather was old to be in the Army service so he told him, with a twinkle in his eye, the only way he knew for him to go home was to slip away some night. And that is what grandfather did. After spending a few weeks at home he rejoined his company. His Captain had him arrested and put him in the guard house and appointed Grandison, his own son, to guard him. I do not know how long he stayed in the guard house, but this was done as a formality to satisify the articles of war.

After the war ended, the southern soldiers returned home to find much work to be done. Many had been away for three or four years. Their money was worthless, their homes were in need of repair, their farms had been neglected, but they did not despair. They went to work with a determination and in a few years they were in better condition than they were before the war. The Peace settlement flourished until about the year 1900. Then the people, awakened to the need of better education for their children, began to move to localities where they could have better opportunities. After a few years, those that did not move, passed away and their children found employment or settled elsewhere.

Mark M. Peace, my father, owned two good farms in this community, but he purchased a third farm two miles east of Atlanta, Arkansas, and moved his family there near a good school. That was in 1901. Two years later, he purchased five acres of land about 1/4 mile southeast of Atlanta and built a home on it. Not being satisfied on this small place, he sold his farms in Peace Town and the one east of Atlanta and purchased 510 acres of land one mile south of Atlanta and built a home on it. He lived there until his death in 1933. Today there is no Peace settlement or Peace Town. Where this settlement was, there is an area of about fifteen miles square where there is not a single homestead or land company for the purpose of growing timber.

Ella Gardner Peace, my mother, was left an orphan when she was four years old. Her father's name was Henry Garner. One of their neighbors, Mr. Hicks, dreamed one night that my grandfather, Henry Garner, shot one of his cows. Next morning he concealed himself in some bushes by the field, where he knew grandfather would be plowing. When he reached the end of the row he shot and killed my grandfather. A posse was formed, but the killer escaped. Soon after that grandmother died, leaving four small children. There were no orphan homes then and they were placed in the homes of neighbors. Mother lived with the Martins for awhile and later with the Kempers. Her marriage to M. M. Peace has already been told.

Her brother, Tom Garner, ran away to Dallas County, Arkansas, where he later married and raised a large family. The Kempers were not very good to my brother Tom and he ran away at the age of 14. He said he would of taken my mother with him, had she not been so young. Another, "Bob" Garner, adopted by the Ferguson family, moved to Texas with them, married, but left no children. Her sister, Alice Garner, married a Mr. Hall and they had four children, Kate, Clifford, Harry and Dave. Kate married a McCall and Clifford married a Brumley. I remember Uncle "Bob" coming home from Texas on his first visit. He rode back on horseback, bringing his supplies on a pack horse. He later made a fortune and then lost it. He made three trips back home to see his people.

 

 

The Peace Family

My Elusive Ancestors

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