Greene County, Arkansas - Centennial Edition 5 Dead Timber

My mother and father, William Preston Goins and Lydia Elizabeth Lafferty Goins, came to Greene County in three covered wagons from Orange County, Ill. The trip took three weeks. They must have come in the fall of 1884. Pa was donated -- homesteaded -- 160 acres of land in Cache Bottoms in 1896. His heirs still own this land.

My parents moved to the donation on year and one month before I was born in January, 1897. Our nearest neighbors lived three-fourths of a mile from us on what are now the Commissary and Beech Grove roads. It was actually quite a distance and quite a bit of trouble to visit any of these neighbors, as we had to travel across and around so much water.

The area of land called "Dead Timber," which was one of the 40 acres Pa was donated, was between our house and the hills. This was a mushy land which would sink in spots. The beavers had dammed up Sugar Creek which caused water to stand for so long that the large timber all died, thereby giving "Dead Timber" its name. Stock occasionally got caught in it and died. If they were found in time, Pa would lariat them and then take a team or horse and pull them out.

My folks lived there three years before they saw anyone come across "Dead Timber" on horseback.

Written by: Pearl Morrow Submitted by: Inez Clark