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GLASS-BEASLEY-
CROW CEMETERY
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Published in the
TEXARKANA USA QUARTERLY.
Volume II, Number 3, 1975, pg. 108
Typed up by Betty Sharp for the web page.
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This cemetery is located on the old Arch
SMITH farm in Miller County Arkansas. Approximately one mile East of the
Rondo Road, turn off US Hwy 82 and go south approximately ¾ mile through
woods and pastures. Inscriptions were copied and submitted by J. J. SCHEFFELIN
of Texarkana, Texas. It has fallen into disuse.
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This information in
this block was submitted by e-mail by
Kenneth Smith. It has a lot of good
information so we are including it here on
the site with the cemetery.
E-mail address [email protected]
I would like to call your
attention to Lanesport, Arkansas, in Little
River, County, and its connection to a very
old, once remote, cemetery. The
cemetery is in the woods off highway 237
near the Rondo Community, close to
Texarkana, Arkansas. It is located on
one of the highest elevations in Miller
County. As a child, I grew up a few
hundred yards south of the cemetery, on
Tennessee Road. There were
two fences. The inside fence was a
wrought-iron structure about 20 feet
square. The gate had a brass medallion
with "Glass" inscribed on
it. There were three graves inside.
The tombstones reflected that Jemima,
Joseph, and Ophelia Glass were buried there. All
were born in Tennessee and all died at
Lanesport, "Texas."
One of the three was born in 1776 and
died in 1846. The Texas border was not
clearly defined until 1850 so it follows
that the Glass family was not sure
which state they lived or died in (UTSA's
Institiute of Texas Culture.
I once saw an old map at
a museum in Jefferson, TX, where the only
cities listed anywhere close to the area
where Texarkana is now, were the river
port towns of Fulton and Lanesport.
Texarkana evolved when rail
transportation replaced river
transportation. Significantly, there
is now no Lanesport, Texas, on current maps,
but there is a Lanesport, Arkansas, in
Little River, County. I am 61 years of
age. In about 1967 an old-timer
from Dekalb, TX, told me he had heard that Lanesport
was once in Texas, but that the Red river
changed course and left the town on the
Arkansas side of the river.
There are indications that the remote Miller
County Glass family was prosperous.
Their graves were surrounded by a decorative wrought
iron fence. The three large marble
head stones each stood about five feet
tall with weeping willows engraved into the
tops, and with cursive engraving.
I wonder, were the heavy iron fence sections and
large heavy head stones shipped to them via
river boat to Lanesport, or did they
arrive by stage coach at Rondo, about a mile away?
A neighbor who was about 30 years older than
me. told me of a huge rundown house at
the bottom of the cemetery hill where he and other
children played. They considered it to
be haunted by those who were buried on
the hill. As a small boy, I recall
playing at that same site and swinging
on a chain that hung out of the middle
of a huge oak tree limb about a foot in
diameter. The limb had long since
grown around the chain. Also Jonquils
were still growing in a
pattern around soil that was elevated in the
shape of a large house and porch.
There were large cedar trees near the
corners of the elevated soil.
Nearby there was an artesian spring with a
large crude tile pipe around it, and
the water was very cold even in the hottest
weather.
The reason I have related all this is that I
did not see anything on your web site
about Lanesport, Arkansas. It seems to
me that Lanesport would be a worthy
subject of investigation for someone who is
interested in local history.
Lanesport was obviously a center of commerce
before Texarkana or any of the larger cities
in the area existed. Since all of
the three members of the prosperous Miller County
Glass family chose to die 45 miles away from
home in Lanesport, as opposed to 20
miles away in Fulton, it is plausible that
Lanesport was where the first medical
practitioner in the area was located.
I can see the road clearly on the satellite
feature of Google maps. The road
(driveway) did not exist when I was a child.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. |
An old iron fence surrounds the following
graves:
GLASS, JEMINA DOUGLAS b. JANESBORO, E. TN, 1776 d. LANESPORT, TX, 1846
GLASS, JOSEPH B. b. LEESBURG, E. TN 1/4/1813 d. 9/12/1870
GLASS, SUSAN F. b.WILSON CO. TN 12/18/1820 d 11/09/1850
The above small plot is in a larger plot, which is surrounded
by a barbed wire fence, also containing the following graves.
BEASLEY, ANNIE 9/3/1887 8/17/1918 Wife of J. M.
CROW, OPHELLIA 5/4/1857 12/2/1931
CROW, PULASKI 8/12/1847 5/8/1927
There are three other graves with headstones missing. Two of these
graves have a foot marker with the intails: "W. C." and "A. H.
C."
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The Crow Place Cemetery, is located
on land which was the homestead of JOSEPH B. GLASS. Description of the land:
N/2 SW/4 – Section 26, Township 15 S, Range 28 W. According to Mrs.
Ceil Glover, Shreveport, LA, the land may have been purchased by a Presbyterian
Church from the Arch Smith Estate. Her GLASS/CHAPPELL/CROW Bible Record was
published in the TEXARKANA USA QUARTERLY, Volume V, Number 2, page 52.
The following information was added along with a plat diagram
and published in the TEXARKANA USA QUARTERLY, Volume V, Number 3, 1978, page
93-94.
CROW, Temple West 4 May 1821
13 January 1888
CROW, A. H. 27 April 1845
6 October 1873
CROW, William Amos 8 September 1850 3 March
1883
CROW, Charlie West 20 March 1884
30 June 1886
CROW, William West 25 June 1880
6 February 1885 |
© 2008 TUSAGS
03/29/2008
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