During the year of 1983, Mrs. Fletcher Louise Merritt
and Mrs. Ruby Bell collected from the archives in Little Rock as much
information as they could find about the Greene Fleming and Lucinda
McDaniel Fleming Family. You already have that information as a
part of your family needs.
Today you will receive more information on the Greene Fleming, Lucinda
McDaniel Family. It was however, collected by Ella Burgess from
the memories of the, living, older members of the family. The
names of the contributors are listed below:
Christine Hall Brown Bull, Rev. Lloyd G. Fleming, Alberta Fleming
Alexander, Goldie Fleming Peters, Serletha Fleming Mayfield, Louise
Smith Brame, Ella Mae Fleming Burgess, Rev. Elihue Gaylord.
The last three people named on this list are there for courtesy
purposes only, as they were all too young during the included events,
to really remember them.
Grandpa Greene and Grandma Lucinda lived in the Mt. Abell Community of
Center Ridge, Arkansas, located about 22 miles north of Morrilton.
Their home was situated on a little knoll or hill and was surrounded,
in triangular fashion, by the homes of two of their sons and one
daughter. Their house was referred to as the "Big House."
It had a porch which extended across the front and served as a
gathering place for the family. In the front yard was a very
large tree which furnished shade for the children to play.
The homes which surrounded the "Big House" belonged to Harrison, John
and Martha called Bea. Harrison's home was to the west about 1/2
mile. John's was to the north 1/4 mile and Bea's was southwest
about 3/4 of a mile. Greene and Lucinda had ten (10) children.
They were:
| Mary Hattie |
William |
| Alfred B |
John |
| Lula |
Lafayette |
| Harrison |
Carrie |
| Ulyssus |
Martha |
A little of each of their histories follows:
Mary Hattie (called Sis) married Lawrence Williams of
Cleveland, Arkansas. Upon marrying, Sis moved to Cleveland with
her husband. Their children are Richard call Bud (deceased),
Mammie (deceased), Alfie (deceased), S.D. (deceased), Lucille
(deceased), Cora Mae (deceased), and Doll.
Alfred B. (called Bud or Bubba) lived in Texas. The
contributors have no knowledge of him beyond this except that he also
died in Texas.
Lula
(called Mitt) married Ed Smith of Morrilton and moved to
Morrilton upon marrying. Their children are: Louise, James
Edward (deceased), Ruby Lee (deceased), Gilliam, Niles and Dorothy Mae
(deceased).
Harrison married Evelyn McFarlin. Their children are:
Porter (deceased), Serletha, Alberta and Goldie. Harrison also
has a son, Clyde, who carries his mother's name, Hammons.
Ulyssus married a sister of Lawrence Williams, Hattie's
husband. He died early and they had no children.
William (called Will) married Annie of Bigelow, Arkansas.
They had one child, Katie. He later married Babe Fowler.
They did not have any children. Will lived in Menifee, Bigelow,
and later Conway. Uncle Will's daughter, Katie had two Children;
a daughter whose name we do not know, and a son, Charles (deceased).
Charles was a administrative judge of the Cleveland, OH Municipal
Courts. Katie, her children and grandchildren live in Cleveland,
OH.
John married Clarentine Sullivan. Their children are:
Dewitt (deceased), Lloyd, Ella Mae, Ruby Jewel, Guy (Afton), Retha
Jean (deceased), Fletcher (Louise), and Audrey Levester. The
names which appear in parenthesis are names chosen by these persons.
If you are looking for information on them, you will not find them
listed this way in any records.
Lafayette (called Lay) married Dessie Fowler. They had
two sons: Emerson and Talmadge. Uncle Lay also has a
daughter, J.V. Willis who lives in Kansas City, MO. He lived in
the "Big House."
Carrie (called Sister) had one son, Elihue Gaylord (deceased).
She moved to Morrilton where she lived and worked. When she
visited Mt. Abell, she also lived in the "Big House."
Martha (called Bea) married Jim Hall. Their children are
Christine, Augustine and Willie James. Aunt Bea married Henry
Boserman after Uncle Jim died.
Other families of the Mt. Abell Community were
Matthew and Mary McDaniel, John Brown, Douglass Brown, Lee Brown who
was married to Lillie Sullivan, sister to Clarentine Fleming, Burl and
Kansas McFarlin parents of Evelyn Fleming Canady and Frank Britton
married to Alma McFarlin sister, to Evelyn. Matthew McDaniel
(called Math) was a nephew of Grandma's. Math was the community
doctor, dentist, etc. When anyone got sick, they sent for Math.
His wife Mary was a midwife who brought some of us into this world, I
imagine.
The school teachers that we remember were Miss Della Brown and Mrs.
Celia Wallace. The school was a tiny one room building, which
burned down early in our lives. After it burned, school was held
in Douglass Brown's house as it was empty. The next place where
classes were held was a brush arbor which was built by the men of the
community. When it rained we would leave the arbor and go to
Aunt Evelyn's house which was close by.
The Brush arbor was built by putting forked poles into the ground with
three lines and three or four poles in each line. One line went
straight down the center and two lines were on each side. Then
poles were placed across the top and fitted into the forked poles.
Branches with leaves were used to finish off the top. (If anyone
wants to know more about building a brush arbor, I refer you to Mr. W.
S. Alexander). Our seats in the brush arbor were round blocks
sawed from trees. They were set up on their ends and wide boards
were laid across them. It was a nice, clean and cool place for
classes. After John and his family moved away, his house became
the school, as well as the gathering place for Sunday School, choir
rehearsal, etc.
One by one the families moved away, usually to
Solgohacia, and then to the Morrilton area. But the families
always seemed to end up living not too many miles from one another
until later years. Now we are scattered over about ten states.
LET'S KEEP IN
TOUCH!!!
THREE GENERATIONS REVISIT THE FLEMING McDANIEL FAMILY HOME PLACE
On August 30, 1996, members of the
third, fourth and fifth generations of the Fleming McDaniel Family
traveled to the original home place of Greene Fleming and Lucinda
McDaniel Fleming on Mt. Abell near Center Ridge, Arkansas. A
caravan of cars trekked 20-25 miles from 300 North Lane Street in
Morrilton to the site.
Elders (3rd Generation) of the group described orally to the members
of the fourth and fifth generation what they remembered of life and
living on the Fleming McDaniel compound in the early and formative
years. On the pilgrimage, members of the fourth and fifth
generated wanted the elders to answer questions such as: "Did
Greene and Lucinda migrate directly from Laurens County, South
Carolina to Conway County, Arkansas?" "Who was in the original
(migrant) group?" "How did Green, Lucinda and other members of
the migrant group make a living on Mt. Abell?" "Did the children
of the group go to school?" "Did the group establish its own school or
did the children attend elsewhere?" "Did the group establish a church
or did they worship elsewhere?" Other questions of this nature
about recreation, traveling to town and so on were also asked of the
elders.
Today (2000) the original site of the home of Greene Fleming and
Lucinda McDaniel Fleming is owned by Bill Hill. In 1996 he and
his family acted as guides for the pilgrimage showing the family
members the locations of such things as the foundation of the original
home, "The Big House," the water well and sites of the other
homes where members of the family lived. The climax of the
pilgrimage was a journey through the woods--guided by a member of the
Hill family---to the cemetery where Greene and Lucinda and other
members of the original migration group were buried. The
interest of the entire group was high including that of members of the
fifth generation, some of who were four, five and six. After the
pilgrimage the family met for a banquet in Morrilton where the elders
continued to discuss the family history.
Written by Ella M. Burgess, July 3, 2000
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