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Elizabeth Holmes was
born abt 1825 Perry
County Tennessee.
Elizabeth married
Christopher Denton
around
1840 in Perry Co Tenn.
Christopher died 1864.
It
has
been said that
after Christopher died
Elizabeth married
Anderson Crabtree.
1838 Wayne Co TN Tax
List.. Christopher
Denton
1840 DENTON CHRISTOPHER
Van Buren Co AR
1841 Van Buren Co AR Tax
List.. Christopher
Denton
1850 DENTON CHRISTOPHER
Van Buren Co AR
Independence 321
Christopher Denton 39 M
Farmer TN
Elizabeth 29
F TN
Mary Ann
9 F AR
William 7
M AR
Rebecca 6
F AR
Elizabeth 4
F AR
Nancy 1
F AR
1860 DENTON
CHRISTOPHER Van Buren Co
AR Holly 364
Christopher Denton 40 M
Farmer
TN Prop $0/Pers $1600
Elizabeth 38 F
TN
Wm. A 18 M
Laborer
AR
Rebecca J. 16 F
Seamstress AR
Sarah E. 13 F
AR
Nancy A. 11 F
AR
Luther
8 M
AR
Phebe A. 4 F
AR
Van Buren County History
Book Pg 41 Chris Denton.
killed during Civil War
by bushwhackers. (Among
Others)
p. 97 Old Choctaw
families.....
Denton.....
Christopher Denton
had a twin brother,
James. While youngsters,
Christopher and James
were convicted of
stealing a $3 horse and
both were sent to the
Tennessee State Prison.
The family denied any
wrongdoing. James died
in prison of cholera.
Christopher, after
release, married
Elizabeth Ann "Sis"
Holmes and moved to Van
Buren Co., Ark. in about
1839. Christopher &
"Sis" had 7 children,
all born in Van Buren
Co., and some of which
settled in Searcy, White
Co., Ark. These include:
Mary Denton who married
a Benjamin Watts,
Rebecca Denton who
married Lewis Morrison &
Sarah Denton who married
a John Harness.
Elizabeth (Denton)
Crabtree settled in
Searcy, Ark., living on
an $8 /mo pension
awarded as Anderson's
survivor for his service
in the War of 1812.
"Bushwhackers"
murdered Christopher in
1864. I can only
speculate that he was a
Union sympathizer. At
least one of his
brothers, John, was in
the Union Army. The
womenfolk
buried him by
candlelight, as they
were afraid. by William
R. Wynn
CHILDREN:
1 Mary Ann Denton
B 1841/August 17 1838
Van Buren Co Ark Mary
married May 17 1857
Searcy Co Ark to
Benjamin Watts Died 1929
Searcy Co Ark.
2 William Denton
B 1843 Van Buren Co Ark
3 Rebecca Denton B
June 21 1842 Van Buren
Co Ark Rebecca married
June 14 1863 to Lewis
Calvin Morrison
son of Thomas A
Morrison. Lewis married
2nd Laura Thomas Manes
and 3rd Frances Annie
Martin Sutterfield
1870 MORRISON LOUIS C
Searcy Co AR Campbell 31
Louis C Morrison 27 WM
Farmer AR $600/725
Rebecca J
27 WF
AR
Mary E
2 WF
AR
Henry N
10/12 WM
AR
Robert Harris
21 WM Labor AL
1880 MORRISON LEWIS C
Searcy Co AR Campbell
475
Lewis C Morrison Head WM
37 M AR AR
VA Blacksmith
Rebecka
Wife WF 37 M
AR TN TN
Henry N
Son WM 10 S
AR AR AR
Sarah A
Dau WF 8 S
AR AR AR
Martha J
Dau WF 6 S
AR AR AR
Abbey S
Dau WF 3 S
AR AR AR
Absolom S
Son WM 3 S
AR AR AR
James S
Son WM 3/12 S AR
AR AR
James B Morrison
WM 27 S AR
AR TN
Children:
1 Mary E Morrison born
Oct 18 1867
2 Henry N Morrison born
Aug 26 1869
3 Sarah A Morrison born
Oct 1871
4 Martha J Morrison born
1874
5 Absolom S Morrison
born Nov 12 1876
Searcy County Ancestor
Information Exchange
December 2004 … Vol XIV
No 4 Page 98 James J
Johnston
Publisher.
Please not that this is
subtitled “The Stories”.
Glenn Morrison says that
he has collected at
least six versions of
the Thomas Morrison
murder story. I will
deal with two versions:
one placing his death in
February 1864, and the
other in the summer of
1864.
My first attempts at
serious oral history
interviews were in the
summer of 1961 when I
interviewed two
grandchildren of Thomas
Morrison, 1800-1864. My
first interview was with
Nettie Horton Jennings,
age 69 born Sept. 1892
the daughter of Sarah
Jane Morrison Horton,
and I only took sparse
notes of this interview.
The second was one I
taped in August 1961
with Apsie Sheridan
Morrison, age 85, born
November 12th
1876, a twin son of
Lewis Calvin Morrison,
at his home in Campbell,
Searcy County. I was
looking for Civil War
stories and we focused
on the murder of their
grandfather Thomas
Calvin Morrison. With
some editing, my
interview notes with
Netting Jenning:
Peter Henson Thomas [PHT]
Horton-son of Henderson
Horton who came to
Searcy County in 1850,
settled upon the hill
above Davis Creek.
Twelve boys, one girl in
the family. PHT Horton
in Union Army in same
company as Ananias
Horton. [ Not so. PHT
Horton in Co K 3rd
Arkansas Cavalry;
Ananias Horton in Com M
2nd Ark Cav]
PHT Horton married Sarah
Jane Morrison (Maybe
daughter of Lewis
Morrison [not-was
daughter of Thomas,
Lewis was her brother]),
originally from
Tennessee(?). Settled on
Sylamore.[ They settled
on Timbo Creek whis is
Upper Sylamore Creek.].
Horton stayed in the
County until a band of
jayhawkers (from
Missouri?) Pretending to
be soldiers, stopped at
their house, ate all
they had, then burned
them out. Hortons then
went to Pocahontas
[Lewisburg] to Army Head
Quarters. Grandma Horton
died there. Stayed at
Pocahontas [Lewisburg]
‘til the end of the war.
Grandma and Grandpa and
some of the kids.
Grandpa died at
Pocahontas [Lewisburg] [
Nettie said Pocahontas,
but it was Lewisburg.]
“Grandpa Morrison
married _____. Who had
first married a Cornett.
[She was Mary Ann
Cornett who had first
married William
Bollinger.] One son by
first marriage, John
Cornett. [ It was son
William Bollinger.]
Settled on Sylamore
[note-same Sylamore,
i.e. Timbo Creek-Upper
Sylamore]. Morrison boys
in the army. Some in
CSA-Uncle Lewis was the
youngest boy, Apsie
Morrison’s father.
Grandma Morrison a
doctor. Grandpa
Morrison, a merchant.
Lived on Syamore ‘till
Grandpa killed. Had
money hid. They turned
him loose and made him
run, then shot him twice
in the back. Sarah Jane
and Uncle Lewis
Morrison’s wife dug the
grave. They put a rail
fence around it to keep
the hogs out. The money
was in a little tin box;
gold and silver. The
jayhawkers then piled
everything in the middle
of the floor (feather
beds, etc) and set it
afire. Grandmother
Morrison’s side saddle
on top. This happened
about 1863. Sarah Jane
Morrison was 13 [Sarah
Jane born February
1850]. No one ever found
the money. Grandma
Morrison kept a horse in
a cave to go visit sick
people. [Morrison
researchers say Thomas’
house survived the Civil
War].
“ After burned out they
went to Pocahontas
[Lewisburg]. Here PHT
Horton met Sarah Jane
Morrison. Mrs Hugh (Nettie)
Jennings has Grandpa
Morrison’s shirt. One
hole in back where two
shots when in; two holes
in front where they came
out. It is white
homespun cotton, open
all the way down the
front. [ Glenn Morrison
says his family story is
that the jayhawker
leader, as he was riding
away, saw Morrison
leaning against a tree,
then turned and shot him
in the front. Thus two
bullets holes in the
front, and only one went
all the way through,
indicating this was
where two shots went in
the front, but only one
shot cam out the back.]”
Story 2 will start next
session
With some editing, this
the story that 85-year
old Apsie Morrison told
me:
“You want to know the
names of them
jayhawkers? Put down
Bill Dark firs. Old Jim
Berry killed him on Red
River, the first day
after the battle between
Grandpap’s men and his
men. (Who was your
Grandfather?) Chris
Denton…
Old Captain Chris
Denton. (Was he in the
Union Army?) Yes, he was
a Union man, but he had
a Home Guard. His men
was all men over age for
the Army, old fellows
that lived up in this
country. Some of them
lived on this creel. He
had a Home Guard
Company. And they
appointed him to mix it
with these jayhawkers.
They was coming in here
and killing people,
robbing them, taking
their money, burning
their feet, and making
them tell where their
money was hid. That
happened right here in
this country. And I know
who lots of them were
too, yeah. And they
screwed my grandfather’s
hands in his vise and
just busted his hands
all to pieces trying to
make him tell ‘em where
his money was. Ad he had
between three and four
thousand dollars in
money he had buried
somewhere about the
place. This was
Grandfather Morrison.
His name was Thomas A
[sic C.] Morrison.. And
[Thomas] had five
brothers [sons]. The two
oldest was in the
Southern army and three
youngest ones was in the
Union army here.
“[The two boys that were
in the southern army
were] Well, Thomas A
[sic W.] and John B,
those were the two
oldest boys. And they
lived and died here,
they both died here in
this county. But they
was in the Rebel Army,
that’s what they all
called it. But the rest
of ‘em was in the Union
Army, they belonged to
the 3rd
Arkansas, and they
joined the army took
them out of here, you
know. They [Thomas W
Morrison] went from here
to Louisiana and served,
and Uncle John, Uncle
Tom was captured by the
Union Army in Tennessee
somewhere, and they sent
him to Indianapolis, and
he stayed there for 21
months, and they paroled
him home. When he came
back in, he just lay
around, they was
brothers all in here,
and he just lay around,
never was bothered.
Everybody that was in
the war, and they’d
round up the jayhawkers,
and they’d go and there
wasn’t no jail, they
just killed them off.
They’s some killed on
this creek that never
was buried, and I don’t
know how many. I heard
Dad say they lined some
of them down here, back
where Nobe Harness is,
and shot them, and they
just left them. And they
killed one right down
here at the lower end of
Hubert’s [? Not Clear]
field, and left him. And
Captain Brand when they
killed him right around
yonder under a point,
that was the captain of
the bunch, they killed
him and covered him up
in a clay root, where a
tree had burned right
there.
“[Tell me something
about Captain Brand]
Captain Brand, he was a
man come in here from
Missouri, just
a-stealing and
a-robbing, and he had a
bunch with him. There
was a lot of Missouri
fellows and some of them
lived right here. And
some of the bunch who
killed grandfather was
neighbor boys, and in
the bunch that killed
him. One of my uncles
killed on of them 14
years after the Civil
War, between here and
Eureka Springs. He met
him, and he just took a
pistol and shot him.
Left him laying by the
side of the road. It’d
been 14 years since he,
he was one of those that
screwed his hands in his
vice. See, they knew
about it and they ain’t
saying. Aunt Sarah
Hortons’, Nettie
Jennings mother, she
just begged him all the
time, tell these boys
the money. She thought
they was going to kill
him. They’d hang him
until he was nearly
dead. Then they’d let
him down, he’d revive
up, they’d think he’d
tell, he wouldn’t do it.
And they shot him and
killed him, and they
buried him right in the
corner of his yard, and
he’s there yet. He’s
buried there, and my
mother and grandmother
buried him. I heard
mother say they didn’t
cover him over two feet
deep, they didn’t have
no way of digging the
grave. Yes, I eyed his
grave not long ago. Now
that’s the way they done
him. And the same day
that they killed my
[Grand] father they
killed old man Mills,
went around on down and
killed my [Grand]pa. And
old man Mills had a
daughter, and they shot
her down, killed her.
Yeah, shot her right
through the heart.
“[They killed your]
grandfather, Thomas A
[sic C.] Morrison. Right
on down there, they
killed old man Mills and
killed him. Then they
went right on over to
Uncle Bill Bollinger’s,
the same bunch. And he
had a boy about 14 year
old, well it was half
brother of my father
hand. [ William
Bollinger was son of
Mary Ann Cornett by
first husband, William
Bollinger.] Andy
Bollinger, a boy about
13 or 14, and he
wouldn’t tell them where
his father was and they
shot him down, that same
bunch. And the next day,
they told my mother they
was going to go over to
get her old dad [ Chris
Denton], and she said he
may get some of you
‘ens, the time of it.
That when they killed my
grandfather. They went
over there the next day
and had a battle on
Meadow Creek….
“Grandfather Denton,
they tackled him like
they was going to wind
his men up, and they got
wound up. I’ll tell you
now what wound up Bill
Dark. The next day on of
Grandpap’s men went and
waylaid Bill Dark,
flipped up and shot him
right in the forehead
with a rifle gun, and
killed him. And the rest
of them, Grandpap got
after them, you know,
and run them down river,
down to the Middle
Settlement, that called
Shirley now. The 3rd
Arkansas Company there
had them caught, and had
them surrounded and
captured every one of
them. And I can tell you
another thing, I heard
my Dad say. Old John
Fendley was in it, John
Wilson Gray, and old Jim
Bratton and old John
[Bratton], that was the
advance guard. The first
captured seven of ‘em,
and taken them off up
the holler, and they
hung them from that log
and just went off and
left them kicking.
“ Yeah, that was where
they caught them and
that wound up Dark’s
men. There was one that
got away from them.
Right out here they
brought a lot of them
right at this creek.
Brand and them, I’ll
tell that, there was on
of them that got away
from them. Right out
here on the mountain, on
the side of the highway
[Ark 66], there’s a lot
of them buried there,
and they got 11 of them
down in the holler
there. And there was one
of them bunch, a young
fellow that run away
from them, and I heard
Dad say, not get this:
500 shots fired at him
running down that holler
and they never did get
him. Yeah, they was
shooting downhill at
him, you know, and
they’d get behind trees
and he’d run, and sure
enough they can’t get it
on there. That was the
jayhawkers they wound
up. And that wound up
Brand’s men up, all but
one.
“Captain Brand. And Pa
said they lined up him
to shoot him right up
here in [undecipherable
name] field is where
they killed him. Said if
they’d turn him loose
and give him his guns to
go back to Missouri,
he’d take them to 150
thousand dollars in gold
in an hour and a half
and give it to them.
They wouldn’t do it.
They told him they
wasn’t after his gold,
they was after him. They
shot him and he was
buried here.
“[Was Captain Brand
Confederate?] No he was
a jayhawker! He didn’t
belong to neither one.
No, they was jayhawkers,
they just scouted and
killing and robbing. And
I’ll tell you another
story. Before that, two
of his men, they just
camped here and yonder.
[stealing] whatever they
could find off of Cellar
Creek, and was roaming
down at the mouth of the
creek, right plumb where
that there church house,
school house stand down
there, they had a little
pasture and they loved
it there. And Old man
Reece-one of Dad’s
[brothers], Uncle Dave,
he married Old man
Reeces daughter.
[Isabella]. They slipped
down there and hid right
down in a cedar glade
right close to where
they was turning the
cattle out. One of them
was down there and they
laid the fence down, the
others was running them
out. My uncle shot him
right across the gap
there and he fell across
the gap. And just
guessed he killed him.
And all those cattle
come out, jumped out,
come back up the creek,
and all come home. I
heard Grandma Mabrey say
lots of times, she had a
good cow, had a right
young calf about a week
old, and they took the
cow and left the calf.
She wondered how she’d
ever raise it, nothing
to raise it on. And then
the next morning about
then o’clock the cow
come back home bawling
for her calf. Yep. There
was a lot of these
battles up in these
hills, that nothing new,
history tells that….
“Captain Brand, that’s
what Dad called him. Pa
said he was a fine a
looking man as he ever
looked at. And nervy
with it. He wouldn’t let
them shoot him in the
back, he turned his
face. Yeah. And one of
my Dad’s one of my
grandfather’s nephews is
one of the two that
donated to shoot him.
See, if two shoot him
they get one of them a
loaded cartridge and one
a blank [so each one]
didn’t want to think
[that he’d killed him.]
I heard him say this. We
always called him Uncle
Sam, but he’s just a
cousin to Dad. His Dad,
.. was a brother to my
great-grandfather… My
Grandfather settled
right down her at the
mouth of this creek,
right where Willie
Martin lives. He build a
huge log house of Cedar.
And he come here and he
put in the water mill
down on Bib Creek, and
it ground for Searcy
County.
6 Abbie S Morrison born
Nov 12 1876
7 James S Morrison born
March 6 1880
4 Sarah Elizabeth
Denton
B 1846 Van Buren Co Ark
Sarah married John
Harness
5 Nancy Denton
B 1849 Van Buren Co Ark
6 Luther Denton
B 1852 Van Buren Co Ark
7 Phoebe Denton
B 1856 Van Buren Co Ark
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