Photograph courtesy of Jameson Architects, P. A. The 1833 William Looney Tavern

Transcription

1 Photograph courtesy of Jameson Architects, P. A. The 1833 William Looney Tavern

2 Project REACH Researching Early Arkansas Cultural Heritage This narrative summary is extracted from a Historic Structure Report by Tommy Jameson A.I.A., Jameson Architects, P.A., Little Rock, Arkansas and Joan L. Gould, Preservation Matters, Fayetteville, Arkansas to be presented to Black River Technical College in three volumes The Rice-Upshaw House, The William Looney Tavern, and Rice and Looney History. The Historic Structure Report incorporates independent research by: Scott Akridge, Gerry Barker, Maria Barker, Christopher M. Branam, Kathleen H. Cande, Bill Carroll, Joan L. Gould, Dr. G. Dale Greenawald, Dr. Donald R. Holliday, Robert M. Myers, Ronnie A. Nichols, Rick Parker, Dr. Eric Proebsting, Steve Saunders, Dr. Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy, Ronnie Walker, and Dr. Jan Ziegler. PREPARED FOR Black River Technical College Pocahontas & Paragould, Arkansas PREPARED BY Preservation Matters Joan L Gould: Historic Research Randy L. Tipton: Layout In association with Jameson Architects, P.A. Copyrighted 2011 PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS Tommy Jameson Ronnie Walker Lou Wehmer Randy L. Tipton Joan L. Gould FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY NOT FOR PUBLICATION Funded in part by grants from Arkansas Natural & Cultural Resources Council

3 The 1833 William Looney Tavern What was it like out in Arkansas, on the frontier of the slave-holding South? S. Charles Bolton Territorial Ambition: Land and Society in Arkansas Early-nineteenth century travelers passing through the area that became northeast Arkansas expressed surprise in their diaries and letters at finding extensive farmsteads and intelligent people. Geologist Henry R. Schoolcraft noted the settlements and fine farms in January of 1819 as he crossed the rivers in the area.. Dr. Eric Proebsting comments in Economy and Ecology on the Edge of America: the Historical Archaeology of Three Farming communities in the Arkansas Landscape, : Eleven Point River When Henry Rowe Schoolcraft made his way through northeastern Arkansas in 1819, the main purpose of this young geologist was to observe the region s minerals in hopes of becoming the Federal superintendent for the area s mining resources. Despite the rather limited intent of his trip, he also kept a journal that recorded some of his observations and impressions of people, plants, and animals that he met during his travels through the Ozark Mountains. Near the end of his journey he arrived in what would become Randolph County. There, he heard of fields of corn, wheat, rye, oats, cotton, and tobacco flourishing together in the Spring River bottoms and several large and well improved farms that had been established along the river that the French had named the Fourche de Thomas. German scientist George Engelmann, traveling in 1837 from St. Louis, through Missouri, and then continuing on the Military Road through Arkansas, was waylaid at the Fourche du Mas River due to spring rains that caused severe flooding. In a letter recounting his trip Engelmann spoke of the people he met in recently formed Randolph County. He wrote that the readers must refrain from thinking he was in the midst of a settlement of ignorant backwoodsmen. He noted that the contrary was true, the settlers were well informed and intelligent, industrious people. He spent time with Daniel Plott located on the Fourche and declared he had one of the nicest I ve seen on the trip. The multi-disciplinary research and analysis related to the restoration of the Rice-Upshaw House and the William Looney Tavern provides the first in-depth look at farmsteads and the yeoman farmers who established them in the settlement period for the area referenced by these observant travelers. Twenty-first century researchers have validated those assessments of the past and opened up new perspectives and challenges for future researchers exploring this area. Its not only the extant log structures of Arkansas s territorial period but the lives of their builders, Reuben Rice and William Looney, along with their artisan-merchant-civicminded-yeoman farmer neighbors, that provide a partial answer to Charles Bolton s question about what was happening on the Arkansas frontier. William Looney is known to have been the owner of the extant dog-trot log structure standing near the west bank of the Eleven Point River in northwestern Randolph County, Arkansas. Whether he personally headed the crew of men constructing this building in the early 1830s will probably never be determined. What is unquestionable is that it survives today as one of the finest examples of early-nineteenth century built culture in the state of Arkansas. The builders probably included several of William Looney s slaves. William and his neighbor Reuben Rice both arrived in the Eleven Point River Valley two centuries ago. Rice lived approximately one mile distant on the opposite side of the river and is credited as the builder of the 1828 Rice-Upshaw House. As noted in The 1828 Rice-Upshaw House - Introduction, Rice may have appeared at first glance to have been one of the least likely of Arkansas s early-nineteenth century residents to make a significant contribution to the state s history. William Looney, on the other hand, was noted in official records from 1815 onward as a civic leader, small slave-holder, and highly successful yeoman farmer.

4 Contrasting Structures, Contrasting Lives Defining Community Log structures that each of these two neighbors constructed in Arkansas s territorial days survived to the present and were donated to Black River Technical College in Each structure was built with purposeful intent as secondary structures; the initial pre-1815 dwelling sites for the Looney and Rice families have yet to be identified. The diversity in original functions, construction styles, and construction techniques revealed by these dependencies, and detailed in each Restoration Journey section, enriches the state s and nation s knowledge of early log building traditions. The lives of William Looney and Reuben Rice provide as much enrichment as do the structures they built. That important fact is emphasized here but detailed throughout the associated history sections. Both men lived as neighbors in the Holston River Valley; both arrived in the Eleven Point River Valley, if not together, then close to the same time; both became successful yeoman farmers; and both provided civic leadership for their community. Both provided securities and administration for estates of their friends and neighbors. Their community was what became Davidson Township. Together they built the first public road winding through the township bringing travelers to trade with their numerous fellow artisan-farmers. The township was populated with their kin and connections scattered along the banks of the Eleven Point River. The personal lives of William and Reuben underscore both the similarities and diversity seen in the first wave of early-nineteenth century American migrants forging new homesteads on the Ozarks frontier. Reuben, although a highly successful merchant and skilled artisan, was illiterate throughout his life. Because of his illiteracy he did not serve in certain roles such as justice of the peace where reading and writing skills were imperative. William was well groomed for the role of magistrate (justice of the peace). His education seems to have included training, if only by the example of his father and uncles, in the execution of such local governmental roles. He was a small slave-holder who had grown up in a slave-holding household. As owners / builders of the historic log structures restored by BRTC, this historical summary focuses, by necessity, primarily on the lives of William Looney and Reuben Rice. However, their inter-connectedness tells a broader story of community community migration, community building, and planting a seedbed of agricultural heritage that thrives yet today with their descendants living as neighbors. Reuben s story and that of his family is told in The Rice-Upshaw House Introduction and the 1820s 1840s Rural Trading Center. William s story is told in this section, the William Looney Tavern Introduction, with the known history of his slaves under African American Heritage. The westward movement of his nationally-renowned Looney family who opened frontiers from Virginia to Oregon is presented in Following the Sun, a separate article written by a descendant of William s. Because William Looney served as a justice of the peace, left a will, and extensive probate records there is mo.25re documentation for his life than for the personal life of Reuben Rice. Images of some of the records pertaining to William s life-story are included here with his will and property inventories contained in a separate document.

5 Entangled Roots For the sake of this study, following the early lives of Reuben Rice and William Looney provides not just a compendium of kinship and connections but rather lays the foundation for interpreting migration patterns vital to the success of westward movement across America. In the years prior to their migration to the trans-mississippi West a bonding was established among the men and women with whom Rice and Looney were destined to live out the remainder of their years. Their children and grand-children would marry their neighbors children and grand-children. Their inter-dependence was the factor that allowed all to prosper. In part, Revolutionary War service brought about the convergence of many of the inter-connected families who ended up in the Eleven Point River Valley. The practice of awarding grants of land as an inducement for enlisting in the military forces had been a long-standing practice of the British Empire in North America. The offer of free land was an effective propaganda technique for enrolling support for the war and preventing citizens from returning to the British fold when the war was ended. At the conclusion of the war North Carolina, among other states, selected their western domains for land grants, a purposeful choice. By populating the frontier with veterans, eastern seaboard states would be able to rely on men with military experience to protect new settlements from Indian incursions. The governments calculated that if these former soldiers had land of their own to defend they would be more willingly to fight to keep it and the states would advance their western boundaries at little or no cost. Many of the North Carolina land grants were located in the Holston River Valley. Reuben s father, Modern day map of eastern Tenneessee. Historic marker highlighting Michael Looney s homestead Entangled roots of a tree on the banks of Looney Creek near the site of Robert Looney s Ferry, VA John Rice, Sr. served initially in the Continental Army of Virginia under the command of William Dangerfield. The sons of John, Sr. and his wife (maiden name unknown) were born around the time of their father s service. John, Jr., (birth date not known) may have been the first-born, followed by Dangerfield (born 1775) and Reuben (born 1776). The practice of naming children after respected military leaders, as John, Sr. did for Dangerfield, was then and continued to be a tradition families followed for generations. John moved to the Yadkin River Valley in Wilkes County, North Carolina before the end of the Revolutionary War and may have continued in military service. For his service he was awarded four North Carolina land grants in the Holston River Valley; the grants were in the area that would eventually become Hawkins County, Tennessee. It is there that Reuben and Dangerfield served as privates in Donaldson s Regiment of Militia from while still in their teen years.

6 William Stubblefield, a fellow resident of Wilkes County also served in the Revolutionary War for North Carolina. In addition to William Stubblefield, another Stanley Valley neighbor of John Rice, Sr. was Michael Looney, William Looney s father. He too had served in the Revolutionary War (as well as Point Pleasant and Lord Dunmore s War ) and had received grants of land in the Holston River Valley in the 1780s. The area where these families converged in the 1780s 1790s became first (1784) Spencer County, State of Franklin; Hawkins County, North Carolina (1786); Hawkins County, Territory South of the Ohio ( ); and finally Hawkins County, Tennessee (1796). Without question, the families migrating to the Eleven Point River Valley anticipated governmental changes! Surrounding Michael Looney in the Holston River Valley were kinsmen by the dozens. Residing in close proximity to Michael were the Benjamin and John Looney families. Looney women were married to Caldwells and Renfros among others. Even prior to the 1740s the Looney family from whom William descended had been multiplying as they pushed westward, present on every frontier in the Appalachians and the Cumberland Country of Middle Tennessee. One wonders if this ever-expanding Scottish clan that started their migration journey in the Isle of Man was able to keep track of their kin with any greater ease than the modern-day researcher experiences. [See Following the Sun for more detailed information on the migration of William Looney s family.] The convergence is documented through the land records of Hawkins County, Tennessee. On November 26, 1787 William Stubblefield received a land grant of 150 acres for Revolutionary War service (North Carolina land grant 1779). The grant was located on Honeycutt s Creek in the Holston River Valley; the land deed noted being the place he now lives. Two of his known sons, Coleman (born 1784) and Fielding (born 1785) were born in North Carolina, shortly before the move to Honeycutt s Creek. On June 5, 1792 John Rice, Sr., who also received land grants for Revolutionary War service (North Carolina Grants 2641, 2651, 2662, 2666), sells William Stubblefield 300 acres of land in Stanley Valley, adjoining Benjamin Looney s heirs and David Caldwell (Source: Hawkins County, Tennessee Deed Book 1, p. 118). July 20, 1795 William sells 100 acres of the land he purchased from John Rice, Sr. to John Rice, Jr., Reuben s brother, for $ (Source: Hawkins County, Tennessee Deed Book 3, p. 139). John Thompson conveyed land to Reuben Rice on October 19, 1803 which was recorded on February 21, Witnessing the transaction was Absalom Looney and John Looney. The entry preceding Reuben s transaction involved Andrew Jackson, future U. S. President, who had a law office at the time at the mouth of Big Creek the same waterway on which Michael Looney lived. All these men could have stated that they knew Jackson before his rise in the political world. Convergence in the Holston River Valley The largest of the inter-connected family groups coming into the Eleven Point River Valley during the first decade following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase was headed by patriarch William Stubblefield. Of English ancestry, he had married Elizabeth McDaniel uniting him and his descendants with extensive Scots-Irish kinship groups who were pushing America s frontier westward. William s family became intertwined with the Rice and Looney families in the Holston River Valley in the late-eighteenth century. Their convergence is an essential part of the migration story that ended in the Eleven Point River Valley in the early-nineteenth century, opening the window into their society a little further. In June of 1804 John Thompson sold 100 acres to Fielding Stubblefield in Caney River Valley (Caney Creek) while another deed that same month documents that Thompson sold land to Frances Goddard adjoining Reuben Rice and Fielding Stubblefield. The deed was proven by Reuben Rice (Source: Hawkins County, Tennessee Deed Book 6, pp. 91, 102).

7 William Stubblefield sells the remainder of the land he purchased from John Rice, Sr., 216 acres, to Elizabeth Williams on June 7, 1809 for $1, Witnesses were A. Looney and Coleman Stubblefield. According to the deed John Rice, Jr. still lived on adjoining land (Source: Hawkins County, Tennessee Deed Book 6, p. 203) is the last accounting of land or tax records for William Stubblefield in Hawkins County providing an indication of his intent to move westward. Another event related to the westward migration of this interconnected group is the death of John Rice, Senior in A migration frequently occurred following the death of an elderly family member since not every person had the stamina to endure the grueling task of walking hundreds of miles to the new homeland, which is exactly what these men, women, and children did. John s will, dated September 18, 1811 was witnessed by two of his neighbors, William s father Michael Looney and David Caldwell whom John referred to as his trusty friends. He was also designating these trusty friends to administer his last will and testament. Illusive Links The weakest links in establishing group connections are generally the female lines since the last names of many wives / mothers are unknown. However, when known, the ancestry of female lines can feed into community history. An example is provided by Lydia Shaner Rice, Reuben s wife. Martin Shaner, Lydia s father, purchased land in Hawkins County in His 1827 will identifies his wife Katherine, listed as Katty in the will, and his children Jacob, Henry, John, and two daughters. A portion of his estate was directed to his son-in-law, James Hannah, for the benefit of his daughter, Lydia. Reuben Rice and his wife Lydia, along with three known children - sons John (born ca. 1800), William (born ca. 1803), and Ezekiel (born 1806) arrived, according to family tradition, in the Eleven Point River Valley in 1812 as part of a large wagon train of inter-connected families from the Holston River Valley of eastern Tennessee. Many questions remain unanswered: Did James Hannah notify and / or deliver Lydia s inheritance to her? What did the inheritance include? Could a portion have been a slave that shows up in the Reuben Rice household in early census records? The1829 Sheriff s Census lists one slave in the age category in the Reuben Rice household, no gender specified (see The Territorial Period); the 1830 federal census lists one female slave aged in Reuben s household. According to family tradition Reuben Rice and his sons were opposed to the institution of slavery and the slave listed on this census is the only known slave to be owned by the Rice family. She does not appear on the 1840 census (see African American Heritage). The Looney Stubblefield Rice families connected as neighbors in the Holston River Valley represent the largest of the group migrants to the Eleven Point River Valley. Through marriage, the Stubblefields were connected to the Bakers (Elisha line); the Hatchers, too, appear to have a Looney connection through marriage as the name Looney appears as a first name in the family line of Lorenzo Dow Hatcher, resident of Davidson Township. The entangled roots of families settling in the fertile valleys of the Eleven Point River two centuries ago adds significantly to the story of American westward expansion. Research related to family groups migrating to Davidson Township is ever expanding. [Partial list of sources: Jerome Jansma and Harriet H. Jansma, Engelmann Revisits Arkansas, the New State, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Volume LI, No. 4 (Winter 1992); Hawkins County, Tennessee Deed and Probate Records, Hawkins County Courthouse, Rogersville, Tennessee; Stubblefield family research Bereniece J. Bonner, Randolph County Library, Pocahontas, Arkansas; Rice family research Joyce Ann Webster; Stubblefield Looney Rice family research Christina French.] The entangled roots of families settling in the fertile valleys of the Eleven Point River two centuries ago adds significantly to the story of American westward expansion.

8 A Young Frontiersman Artist: H. David Wright, David Wright Art, Gallatin, Tennessee Nationally-recognized artist H. David Wright of Gallatin, Tennessee has studied the American frontier for decades. He paints with the intent of portraying, as accurately as possible, a past day and time. His depiction of a Young Frontiersman, left, leaves the modern-day reader feeling as if they might be looking at young William Looney. As with all history associated with this study, William Looney s life is addressed in cultural terms including his impact on establishing a community history related to settlement on the Eleven Point River in what became Arkansas. For years oral tradition has held that William Looney made his first journey to the Eleven Point River Valley around 1803 when he was seventeen years old. A long hunt such as one William may have joined would indeed be an extension of the historical long hunts his kin had participated in and that led to the opening of the Appalachian, Kentucky, and Middle Tennessee frontiers. William s kin had been part of every wave of long hunters and frontiersmen pushing into the wilds of the North American continent. There are no records to clarify whether William added to the Looney legacy by being the first of his family to transverse the Mississippi River for the chase. But unquestionably he was among the first wave of Looneys entering the trans-mississippi West. Arriving in the Far West with Purposeful Intent As noted in The Ozarks Frontier under History, it was typical for young single men, especially in their late teens, to join a hunting and exploration expedition. It was part of the typical process by which inter-connected groups evaluated an unsettled landscape. Especially for those who were destined to become or already were yeoman farmers, they were assessing land fertility, availability of good water supplies including springs of fresh water, and resources such as naturally-occurring lead and salt. While exploring, the associated hunt provided hides, processed for sale at their camps, which in turn yielded the cash for the future family migration. In other words, such expeditions were purposeful. It was well known that good farming lands were available for settlement; the Spanish had made that fact abundantly clear in the 1790s (see The Ozarks Frontier). Hundreds of men from the Holston River Valley, including Elisha Baker and his sons, some of whom ended up living in the Eleven Point River Valley, had already arrived in the Far West in the 1790s. With the large number of interconnected settlers arriving in the Eleven Point River Valley during the first decade following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, it appears that typical migration patterns were followed. It is abundantly clear that the yeoman farmers establishing farmsteads along the banks of the Eleven Point River had made excellent choices when transplanting family roots. Looney, in 1803, was still under the majority age of 21, in fact still called an infant in legal terms. Thus, the likelihood that any official documentation will surface to remove the conjecture associated with his first visit to the Eleven Point River Valley is unlikely. It is also held by oral tradition that he was accompanied by three slaves and two cousins. It is very probable that he would have been part of a group, even a larger group than five people. Young men or small groups generally did not set off on such a venture into the western wilds of the Mississippi Valley surviving solely on their own. That fact had nothing to do with being afraid in the wilderness as they had been trained otherwise. It had everything to do with purposeful intent to explore for new lands to settle. The Station Camp - Artist: H. David Wright, David Wright Art, Gallatin, Tennessee

9 The years bridging the end of the eighteenth century and the opening of the nineteenth found thousands of men from more settled eastern lands jumping the American Father of Waters to hunt and look for land to return to with a family. Indeed, within only a few years from his supposed first visit to the Eleven Point River Valley, William, with a young family of his own, opened American settlement in this valley with the Bakers and other men documented to have followed a typical migration course. One of those men was Charles Hatcher who established a settlement in the valley prior to 1810; he, too, is considered to have come to the area to hunt and even trade with the Indians of the area (see The Ozarks Frontier). Coming with Charles from Buncombe County, North Carolina was his brother, James, and neighbor Jacob Waggoner. Their presence on the Eleven Point would later be documented in tax and court records. In fact, William would end up living out his years in close proximity with Elisha Baker s sons and Charles Hatcher as well as his large group of Stubblefield in-laws in what would become Davidson Township. In relation to the illusive slaves and cousins, that tradition as well is likely to go unproven. The cousins are often credited as being Coleman and Fielding Stubblefield. There is nothing to say that these young men might not have been part of a hunting venture. But there is no support for a kinship connection. They did come to be, at a later date, William Looney s brothers-in-law. These young men, approximately the same age, grew up living as near neighbors. Their lives had been drawn together by their fathers who received Revolutionary War land grants and not through kinship. William s cousin Joseph, a young man without a family at the time, could have been among the group as he did end up settling near William, the Bakers, and Charles Hatcher. Given the proliferation of the Looney clan descended from Scotsman Robert Looney, there were simply scores of cousins in Hawkins County alone that might have been part of such an expedition to the Far West in the earliest years of the nineteenth century. For any young man like William Looney who might have already owned slaves, it would not be untypical for them to accompany him on such a venture. William Looney s Tennessee Days William Looney was born circa 1785, the fourth child and first son of Michael and Temperance Cross Looney. By 1799 the number of children had grown to ten. By the time of his birth William s Looney family, including his father, were already well known throughout the Appalachians and the Cumberland Country that would become known as Middle Tennessee. They had helped to open first settlement on the western edge of every American frontier and then remained to establish family roots. By 1742 William s great-grandfather, Robert Looney, had established the noted Looney s Ferry, Looney s Fort, and Looney s Mill on the James River in Virginia where the Great Valley Road crossed. His grandfather Absalom was a long hunter of note as were others of his kinfolk. It was not just the men bearing the Looney surname who participated in opening frontiers. The Looney female line has received inadequate attention for their roles in frontier history. Exploration of the Looney heritage in America is beyond this study but information is plentiful. The family history is complex and filled with the adventures of frontiersmen and patriots as, to quote William Looney s great, great, great grandson Donald R. Holliday, that they were. Dr. Holliday s family account can be read in the associated article entitled Following the Sun. William s parents, Michael ( ) and Temperance Cross Looney, were married ca Temperance was approximately Michael s same age. Her family history is incomplete (some sources she was a daughter of Brittain Cross) but there were numerous Cross families in Botetourt County, Virginia where they are said to have married. Cross families were also numerous in the Holston River Valley and Hawkins County in particular. Michael settled on Big Creek in Stanley Valley the early 1780s. Michael is said to have been 5 10 tall and wore his hair braided his hair in a queue, a common style for men of the time. Historic photograph of the non-extant 1780s Michael Looney House, Hawkins County, Tennessee.

10 The circumstances surrounding the reason William left his home in the Stanley Valley are still enshrouded in conjecture. William is considered to have fathered a child out of wedlock in The child s mother was Sarah Felkner (b. ca 1787 d. ca 1870) who lived in Hawkins County. The son was named William and came to be known as Gravelly Bill Looney, a reference to the area where he resided. Sarah married a man named Henderson with whom she had several other children. Gravelly Bill lived out his life in Hawkins County where he married and had a family. Noreeda Parker is a descendant of Gravelly Bill and resides, with her husband Albert, near the site of Michael Looney s home and the family cemetery. The land where she lives is part of the original parcel Michael Looney purchased in the 1780s (Hawkins County Deed Book 1) and was passed down to her through William s youngest brother John (b. 1799). Therefore, Noreeda has a double connection to her great, great, great grandparents Michael and Temperance. She generously shared family history and the photograph of the 1780s Michael Looney House, seen this page and elsewhere in related sections of this history. The Looney family s close association with the Rice and Stubblefield families in Stanley Valley has already been referenced. William s personal life became inter-twined with the Stubblefields when he married Rhoda Stubblefield, daughter of William and Elizabeth McDaniel Stubblefield. The date and place of their marriage is undetermined. William Stubblefield has already been noted to have left Hawkins County by William Looney s second child, Elizabeth, survived past 1850s when her 1807 birth place was documented on the 1850 U. S. Census as Tennessee. The birth place of their child next in age, Cinderella (b. 1810), is also undetermined; she did not survive into the period of time when birth places were recorded on U. S. Census records. Thus, the exact timing of William and Rhoda s arrival in the Eleven Point River Valley remains unconfirmed and, indeed, may most likely have been in 1812 when a mass migrantion of Stubblefield families arrived in the valley along with the Reuben Rice family. His arrival and residence in the Eleven Point River Valley is unquestionably associated with his wife s family headed by William Stubblefield and Elizabeth McDaniel Stubblefield who both died and are buried in Davidson Township. By 1815 William Stubblefield, Fielding Stubblefield, Coleman Stubblefield, William Looney, William s cousin Joseph Looney, and Reuben Rice among others were residing in Missouri Territory (created 1812). All the above men except Coleman are listed on the1815 tax list for Lawrence County, Missouri Territory (created January 15, 1815), the appropriate governmental designation for the Eleven Point River Valley. Coleman had not yet relocated from Cape Girardeau County, Missouri Territory by that time. He is listed on the Lawrence County 1816 tax list (tax lists included with The Territorial Period). With the creation of Lawrence County, Missouri Territory on January 15, 1815 official documentation created a more concise path by which to establish personal histories for Reuben Rice and William Looney as well as the community history for Davidson Township where they resided. In 1819, when Arkansas Territory was created the size of Davidson Township was diminished (see The Territorial Period). Territorial records for both Missouri and Arkansas establish that by 1816 William Looney was serving as a justice of the peace, a magistrate for the smallest governmental designation (such as a township) who had authority to hear and pass judgment on minor offenses, forward cases to a higher court for trial, perform marriages, and administer oaths. A bond was required to be posted by the justice (or from some representative of his) to assure just execution of these duties. Extant court records for the territorial period reveal that William Looney along with other justices in the township preformed all of those duties. Other territorial justices in Davidson Township were Isham F. Alcorn, Beverly R. Baker, Charles Hatcher, Isaac Jobe, Benjamin Jones, Amos Justice, Sr., John S. Moore, William Rice, William Stubblefield II (Territorial Papers of the United States, Vol. XX, pp ). By virtue of such obligations people would have been coming and going from William s homestead and those of the other justices in Davidson Township with great frequency. From Lawrence County Marriage Book (bound with -----), Lawrence county Courthouse, Walnut Ridge, Arkansas

11 March 26, 1816 Civil Appointments for William Looney As Listed in the Territorial Papers of the United States Volume XV, Louisiana Missouri Territory and Territorial Papers of the United States Volume XX, Arkansas Territory William Looney a Justice of the Peace for Union township in the county of Lawrence, 1816 Missouri Territory Executive Journal 1 October 1815 to 30 September 1816, page 189. The transition period for governance under Missouri Territory to Arkansas Territory took time to put in place. At the first legislative session for the new territory held in February of 1820 at the then capitol Arkansas Post located on the Arkansas River, Governor James Miller nominated eighteen men duly qualified to serve as Councillors in the Legislative body of the Territory according to Law. there being doubts of their power to act as Legislators by the election of the people, in this stage of the Territorial Government... As noted in the full transcription from the Journal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Arkansas on the following page, William Looney was one of those Councillors for Lawrence County. The elective body was able to meet their responsibilities as legislators and the Councillors were not called on to carry out governmental duties. October 1, 1816 March 31, 1817 Wm Looney, a Justice of the Peace, Columbia township cy (county) of Lawrence, 1817 Missouri Territory Executive Journal 1 October 1816 to 31 March 1817, page 275. April 1, 1818 County of Lawrence Justices of the Peace William Looney, Executive Proceedings of Missouri Territory October 1, 1817 March 31, 1818, page 376. Additional sources and credits this section: Hawkins County, Tennessee Deed Records, Hawkins County Courthouse, Rogersville, Tennessee; Hawkins County Genealogical and Historical Society Archive, Rogersville, Tennessee; Lawrence County, Missouri Territory Tax Lists, NorthEast Arkansas Regional Library, Powhatan, Arkansas; Looney and Stubblefield family research Noreeda Parker, Carolyn B. Krodel, Bereniece J. Bonner (Randolph County Library, Pocahontas, Arkansas), Cindy Robinett, Christina French, Elizabeth Looney and Leroy W. Tilton research: Early Looney s in America in part available at

12 William Looney Territorial Councillor A Journal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Arkansas for the February Session of the General Assembly of said Territory commencing February 7th, A. D Friday, February 11th, 1820 His Excellency, the Governor made the following communication to this House. Arkansas February, the 11th, 1820 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I take the liberty to recommend to you the propriety of nominating to the Executive of the United States, eighteen persons, duly qualified to serve as Councillors in the Legislative body of the Territory according to Law. there being doubts of their power to act as Legislators by the election of the people, in this stage of the Territorial Government, I beg leave further to recommend that as we are destitute of the advantages of a mail, that your nomination be forwarded by Express to the proper authority with all possible dispatch. James Miller...the House proceeded to the nomination of eighteen councillors, and made the following nomination to wit, From the county of Arkansas {Sylvanus Phillips (elected) {Sam C. Roane {Frederick Notrebe {Benjamin Fooy From the county of Clark {Jacob Barkman (elected) {James Cummin {Stephen Clanton From the county of Hempstead {David Clark (elected) {Jacob Pennington {Nathen Moss {William Rabb From the county of Lawrence {Edward McDonald (elected) {William Looney {Robert Bean {Adam Ritchey From the county of Pulaski {John McElmurry (elected) {James Titsworth {William Drope Source: Journal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Arkansas for the February Session of the General Assembly. Arkansas History Commission: Little Rock; microfilm Reel 1 Arkansas. Journals, minutes, and proceedings. Territory, General Assembly Journals of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives, pp

13 It was not until 1815 when the original government surveys for 1803 Louisiana Purchase lands was undertaken by the General Land Office of United States government. Congress ordered that surveying of a north-south line to be called the Fifth Principle Meridian be the first priority. It is from that boundary line that all other surveys were made. The point from which the first survey began is now a National Historic Landmark located in the Louisiana Purchase State Park near Brinkley, Arkansas. It was not until 1822 when the first area land office was open for business in Batesville. That was the first opportunity for numerous residents like Reuben Rice and William Looney to file for government land patents in spite of the fact that they may have resided on their land and made many improvements a decade or more earlier. Once patents were filed in Batesville, area residents had to wait until the next year, 1823, for their patents to be registered and recorded. Once this was completed the United States government issued a patent deed printed on sheepskin and signed by the president. These are treasured family artifacts today. The original General Land Office surveys (referred to in general as GLOS) can be viewed and downloaded on-line at glorecords.blm.gov William Looney s original patents: 12/12/23 SW ¼ Section 7 - Township 20 North, Range 1 West 12/12/23 SE ¼ Section 7 - Township 20 North, Range 1 West 12/12/23 SW ¼ Section 18 - Township 20 North, Range 1 West William Looney was about thirty years old when he received his first appointment as a magistrate in Just three years from that time, 1819, he refused another appointment as justice because, as listed in the Territorial Records of the United States on preceding pages, he was Broke. Regardless of that indication of hard financial times, in 1822 William was able to file for his first three land patents listed above. Going beyond the scope of this summary is a full discussion of legal challenges William faced in the 1820s. In 1821 a certain suit before him the said William Looney a Justice of the township a dispute over $30.00 debt of Roger McCown to Thomas Crabtree resulted in a ruling by the Justices court ruling in favor of Crabtree with McCown owing more than the debt but court costs as well. Eventually Edward Hudson was held partially responsible for the payment for which the Illiterate had evidently misunderstood the liability. The case was referred to the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas. The Circuit Court followed by charging William Looney with forgery in After numerous delays Looney proved himself to be not guilty. Other examples of cases heard before Davidson Township justices like the one referenced above exist in Lawrence County Circuit Court files houses at the NorthEast Arkansas Regional Archives at Powhatan, Arkansas.

14 William Looney continued to add to his land holdings up until Over the years he bought and sold numerous pieces of property throughout the county. The top chart lists the lands he patented during his lifetime. Some of the property Looney patented or purchased was sold or deeded to his sons; Reuben Rice, among other farmers in Davidson Township, did the same. The page to the left is part of the inventory of his estate following his death in It documents that the more than 640 acres of land he owned at death he still held the original land he patented in Section 7 in He also continued to own land outside of Davidson Township (in Ranges 1 and 3 East). The town lots referred to in this document refer to property he owned in Pocahontas: 1 Town Lot in Bettis Section 90 feet 2 DO N 5 & 6 in Block 17 West of Broadway The original town plat surveyed by Joseph VanBibber does not exist in the county deed records. A later undated plat (sometimes referred to as the original plat) and the 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance plat (see Early Statehood) indicate that street names around the courthouse square have changed through the years. The Looney named on the undated plat indicates a different Looney town lot owner and not William.

15 Children of William Looney By Sarah Felkner: William (Gravely Bill) Looney (b. ca TN d TN) Born, married, and died in Hawkins County, Tennessee By Rhoda Stubblefield ( ): Mariah Looney (b. ca placed undetermined d ) Never married; lived with her parents in Davidson Township Elizabeth Looney (b TN d. undetermined) Married David Ferrill (b d. 1852) and lived in Davidson Township) Cinderella Looney (b placed undetermined d. 1846) Married John Wells (b d. undetermined) and lived in Davidson Township Serena Margaret Looney (b.1813 d. undetermined) Married Abraham B. Stubblefield (b d. 1866), son of Coleman Stubblefield ( ) and Martha Looney ( ), sister of Joseph Looney; Serena and Abraham lived in Davidson Township Thena Looney (b d. 1846) Married Pleasant Stubblefield ( ), son of Fielding Stubblefield ( ) and Elizabeth Rice ( ), sister of Reuben Rice; Thena and Pleasant lived in Davidson Township William S. Looney (b d. 1865) Married (1) Mary Polly Wells and (2) Catherine Louisa Garrett; lived in Davidson Township Absalom Looney (b d. after 1880) Married Mary Emily White (b d. after 1880) and lived in Davidson Township and California Epps Looney (b d. 1910) Married (1) Elizabeth Stubblefield ( ), daughter of Fielding Stubblefield ( ) and Elizabeth Rice ( ), sister of Reuben Rice and (2) Mary Ann Stubblefield (1837 undetermined), daughter of Michael Stubblefield ( ); Epps and both wives lived in Davidson Township Michael Looney (b d. 1887) Married (1) Nancy Kinkard ( ) and (2) Artemisia Bailey Jobe Simmons (unknown); Michael and both wives lived in Davidson Township Temperance Looney (b d. 1851) Married Erasmus D. Pitman (b d. 1868), son of Peyton Robinson Pitman; Temperance and Erasmus lived at Pitman s Ferry on the Current River

16 William Stubblefield ( ) Married Elizabeth McDaniel Stubblefield ( ) Children: Rhoda ( ) Married William Looney ( ) Coleman ( ) Married Martha Looney (1790 c 1860), sister of Joseph Looney Fielding ( ) Married 1) Baker; 2) Elizabeth Rice ( ), sister of Reuben Rice; 3) Sarah A. Huddleston ( ) Molly (1785 -?) Married Bray Claiborne County, TN Melissa (1791 -?) Married 1) McWilliams; 2) Robert McWilliams Michael ( ) Mary ULN ( d. 1846) Thena ( ) Married Joseph Looney ( ), cousin of William Looney Margaret (1800 -?) Married Jobe Wayne County, MO Moses ( ) Married Frances McWilliams ( ) William II ( ) Married Mary S. Neal Elizabeth (1803 -?) Married William Allen after 1830 in Oregon County, MO Fielding Stubblefield s Land Patents Stubblefields and Community History It is impossible to understand the community history of Davidson Township during the first half of the nineteenth century without focusing on the extensive family of William and Elizabeth McDaniel Stubblefield with their combined English and ScotchIrish ancestry. William was the patriarch of the family of eleven children, nine of whom settled with the parents in the Eleven Point River Valley prior to The family is referenced throughout the historical summary. William died in 1818 but not before serving on the first jury for Lawrence County in In 1815, when Morris Moore resigned as a county commissioner for Lawrence County he suggested that William Stubblefield be named in his place (see The Territorial Period). Marriage connected the Stubblefield children with other pioneering families in the valley. From family records it appears that only the three oldest of William and Elizabeth s children who resided in the valley had married at the time they settled on the Eleven Point Rhoda, married to William Looney; Coleman, married to the older sister of Joseph Looney; and Fielding, apparently a widower when he came to the valley. He had married a daughter of Elisha Baker (name uncertain), perhaps even before leaving Tennessee. Official documents show that Fielding resided with the Bakers in the Bellevue Valley. Land records of Cape Girardeau County indicate that prior to 1812 he relocated to Byrd s Settlement and lived near his brother Coleman and Joseph Looney. Joseph served in the War of 1812 (Stephen Byrd s regiment) before moving to the Eleven Point where he married Thena Stubblefield, eighth child of William and Elizabeth Stubblefield. Sometime around 1812 Fielding married Elizabeth Rice, sister of Reuben Rice, perhaps as both arrived in the Eleven Point River Valley. Fielding survived the longest of all the Stubblefield children and, according to land and tax records, was the most financially successful of the children (see Early Statehood and African American Heritage).

17 William Looney Probate Records On March 10, 1846 William Looney composed his will. On June 25th of that year his sons Absalom and Epps, named as executors of William s estate, made the first of several inventories of the personal and real property of their father. The exact date of his death has not been determined. Declining health evidently prompted the writing of a will. William s will and probate inventories are available as a separate attachment. Above is the listing of the outstanding notes for money owed to William in the last few years prior to his death. They have been excerpted from the June 25, 1846 inventory. They indicate that, before safe banking was established in Arkansas, William served as a source from which his kin and neighbors in the Eleven Point River Valley, both in Arkansas and Missouri, as well as political leaders in Pocahontas could borrow money. In addition to the outstanding notes his assets included county script and over $ of cash on hand. Final settlement of William s estate did not take place until almost a decade later, in part because it took years to collect on all the notes listed above. Following the final settlement a series of complex controversies regarding the land inherited by his sons resulted in court challenges. As a consequence, the land William originally patented in 1822 was sold to William S. Looney in the late 1850s. William Looney s original will, probate records for William and Rhoda (who died in 1847), related court transactions, and deed records are all available for detailed review at the Randolph County Courthouse, Pocahontas, Arkansas.

18 A young William Looney chose gently rolling hills on the west bank of the Eleven Point River two centuries ago as the place to plant his family s roots. He chose well. His land was elevated above the river and overlooked the valleys and ridges where his kin and connections from his youth had seated their own roots. The sites of William s dwelling house and farmstead have yet to be identified. William s will and the associated estate sales for William (d.1846) and Rhoda (d.1847) indicate their farmstead was expansive. William apparently raised stock for market as well as producing apple brandy (see Early Distilling). His land holdings have been noted as well as his role as a local financier. The surviving history of his small slave holdings have been presented in African American Heritage. When added with the civic responsibilities he fulfilled, William Looney s life history sheds light on the small-slaveholding yeoman farmer planting one of the earliest seedbeds of agricultural heritage in Arkansas. Images of his will and estate sales are included as a separate document. The restored William Looney Tavern, above, stands on its original site beside the Eleven Point River. The agricultural roots established 200 years ago Photograph courtesy of Jameson Architects, P. A. are continued today by Jack and Christina French who own William s original land shown below. Their generosity in donating the finely crafted log dogtrot tavern to Black River Technical College has not only allowed for the preservation of the structure but exposed as well the exceptional history of this first of the noted Looney family of frontiersmen to establish roots in the trans-mississippi West. As Kathleen H. Cande, Senior Project Manager, Arkansas Archeological Survey points out, the William Looney Tavern along with the Rice- Upshaw House on the opposite bank of the Eleven Point River are of unparalleled significance because of what they tell us about... everyday life on the Arkansas frontier. The William Looney Tavern - Representing Two Centuries of Agricultural Heritage

19 The Looney - French House 2006

20 The William Looney Tavern Photograph courtesy of Jameson Architects, P. A. 2011