Volume 5, Number 9 - Fall 1975


DESCENDANTS OF JEREMIAH AND TURNER HALE
COMPILED BY EDNA HAZEL McCULLOUGH LOWERY

1975

The fertile valleys along the White, Kings and Buffalo Rivers which member through northwestern Arkansas and southwesern Missouri by 1840 were being settled by farmers who came principally from Tennessee and Kentucky. Not all settlement took place in the river bottom, however, for a few families-including those of Hale and Butler-preferred the prairie lands which they called "barns" (barrens). Throughout the region, there was abundant game for food, while the hills and mountains provided timber for houses, fire wood rails for fencing, furniture and farm implements. With game, wood, water for power to turn the millstones, stone and soil suitable for grazing and agriculture, it was easy to be self-sufficient in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks.

A large migration which seems to have consisted of related families moved into Carroll County, Arkansas just prior to 1840. These settlers came from Carroll County, Tennessee, and adjacent Counties. About 1828-1830, many of these same families had migrated from Montgomery County, North Carolina, and surrounding areas where they had been established for many years. Among those coming to south Stone County and Barry counties in Missouri, and Carroll County in Arkansas were Neely and Anna (Ozier) Butler; William and Sarah(……..) Williams; William and Susan ( widow of Butler) Morris, the Horden, Hatlock, Hale, Knee-land, Boyd, Martin, Dawson and other families. Did they come because of the Cherokee removal from North Carolina and Tennessee? Or, were some of the members of Cherokee extraction? Or, was it simply that there was a chance for bettering their economic condition? Whatever the reasons, they are not presently known to descendants; but they have provided them with many years of speculation.

There is a dearth of information about the Hale family prior to 1850-other than that provided on Civil War enlistments and in census data. Jeremiah Hale, his wife Sinthy (Skates, Scates) Hale and their young family came from Tennessee, perhaps Carroll County, where some of their children were born, to Carroll County, Arkansas between 1845 and 1850. They were the first settlers of the prairie area, which they called Hale Barrens, located near present-day Oak Grove, Arkansas. By 1860 their farm was well established, and a cemetary (now known as Hale Cemetery) had been laid out, and in which his wife Sinthy was buried in 1861. Later, a school house was built. There is now a church at the cemetery.

About 1852-1853, Jeremiah’s younger brother, Turner Hale, and his wife, Sarah (Butler) Hale with their family came from Carroll County, Tennessee and settled in Barry County, Missouri, on the Kings River (White River Township). Their farm site has been covered by Table Rock Lake, but it was about 1 ½ miles South of Viola, Missouri, and about 1 1/2 mile west of the Stone County, Missouri line.

Turner Hale in 1880 stated that his parents were both born in Virginia. However, no 1840 census record has yet been found for either of them. Jeremiah’s son, Elijah Martin, born in 1843, gave his birthplace as Monroe County, Tennessee; and the 1850 census of Carroll County, Tennessee gives the birthplace of Eliaz Ogborne, eldest son of Turner and Sarah (Butler) Hale as Mississippi, although it is subsequently listed as Carroll County, Tennessee. He was born in 1839.

The 1830 Census, Carroll County, Tennessee lists a "Benjamin Hall" as well as Nathaniel Hale (10132001-00100101), Joel Hale (210001-2001). The 1840 census lists Nathanile Haile (010010001-20100101, Ruben Hale (00001-2000101); William HALES (00101001-00110001), Nathan HALE (023001-230001) (living in same area as Butlers).

By 1850, the Carroll County, Tennessee Census, lists in addition to Turner Hale residing in the 14th Civil District, Benjamin W. Hale, age 42, b. Va. While in nearby Madison County, Tennessee are the following Hale families:

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(cont. from page 4)

Hale, Johathan, age 76bVa.
Hale, William B. S.
Hale, John P. b. N. Car., age 52
Hale, Felix, age, 34 b. Tenn.
Hale, Allen, age 80 b. Va.
Hale, Mary, perhaps a widow, age 44, b. Va. (adjacent to Allen Hale).

In the 1850 Johnson County, Arkansas, census is: (Perry Township) Hale, Job, age 70 b. Va. with wife Kiziah and sons, Joel W., James C., and William, the latter two born in Tennessee, although Joel is subsequently listed as having been born in Tennessee - not Arkansas. In 1860, this family is listed as living in .Jefferson Township, Carroll County, Arkansas. This family could be related to Jeremiah and Turner Hale.

Staunch supporters of the Union Position during the Civil War, both Jeremiah and Turner Hale are said to have served in the Home Guards (p. 90 Reprint of Goodspeed’s 1888 history of Barry County, Missouri, Litho Printers, Cassville, Mo., 1971) Turner Hale died before Civil War pensions were granted, but Jeremiah was not granted a pension on the grounds that the unit in which he served was not a federal force.

Note by Editor.
The above is only the preface to a 24-pages of single type on legal size sheets that Mrs. Lowery has compiled.

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