Punkin Town Cemetery

Dewey, Arkansas

Photo by Leroy Blair

This Cemetery is also known as: None known

GPS Location: Pending 614030 - 3920927

Arkansas Archeological Survey site #: 3WH0606

Number of Marked Graves: About 3

Number of Unmarked Graves: Unknown

The last complete survey of this cemetery was: Unknown

Current status of cemetery: This cemetery is no longer in use.

Point of contact for cemetery. No known contact person.

This cemetery is located at the intersection of Highways 124 and 305 east of Pangburn and north of Dewey. The White County

Historical Society’s original record on Punkin Town Cemetery was created in 1962 when Society members Cloie and Leister

Presley visited the site. Here's how they described it:“A very poor road leads off east through the fields. Soon there is a branch

and just after crossing it there is an old road turning to the right. This leads up a hill and to an old house place. The house has

burned but there are some buildings still standing. Just after passing the house, almost across from it, the cemetery is on the left

side of the road. It is overgrown and no evidence of care for a long while. There were only three tombstones [William and

Elizabeth Jane Sutherlin and Taylor McCauley]. Four graves were covered with rocks, 15 graves showing plainly and two



possibilities. There are possibly more if the place was cleaned.” After the Presley’s report was published, she noted. The

Sutherlins were the grandparents of Oran Vaughan of Searcy [a charter member of the White County Historical Society]. He had

the cemetery cleaned after this listing.” The origin of the name “Punkin Town” is not known.Punkin Town Cemetery was visited

August 26, 2000, by Historical Society member Leroy Blair, who lived at nearby Clay. He filed the following report: “Go straight

across 305 onto a dirt road; go down this road about one-quarter mile. There is now a large home on the left.” Jane Hefley of Little

Rock, a member of the White County Historical Society, provided some information in June 2001. She said William and Elizabeth

Jane Sutherlin were the grandparents of her father, Leonard Sutherlin. She said her aunt, Irene Sutherlin Emde of Los Gatos,

California, who was born in 1909, told her there were “maybe 100” graves here. In April 2002, Irene Emde gave Eddie Best of the

White County Historical Society the following list of people that she said are buried at Punkin Town Cemetery. She cited for

verification a book

Arthur Edwards and His Descendents by

Anthony J. Christensen copyrighted 1991 and published by Mac

Anthony Corporation, P.O. Box 768, Spanish Fork, Utah 84660. She also provided pedigree charts of the families involved. Burials

on her list occurred as early as 1844, making Punkin Town one of the oldest recorded cemeteries in White County. Mrs. Emde told

Best that across the road from the Punkin Town Cemetery (“where a new barn has been built”) is a cemetery containing the graves

of at least four former slaves. She said she remembered seeing at least one grave in 1978 and thinks that the graves “are the

freed Negroes who worked for the family.” Mrs. Emde said she thought many of the 11 children of Margaret (Edwards) and Rainey

Parsons Brown could be buried here. Their daughter Nancy Brown married Elijah Bailey. He, his brother Abner and other Bailey

family members are buried here.2005: “I visited Punkin Town Cemetery on July 3 and thought you might like an update. I live in

California but I was visiting Pangburn for a family reunion of the descendants of P.C. and Icy Wood, my grandparents. I knew that

we had ancestors buried in Punkin Town Cemetery, but I had not been there for about 25 years, at which time the owner of the

property was not related to my family. William and Elizabeth Jane Sutherlin, whose headstones are still there, were my great-great-

grandparents. I went to the door of the house next to the cemetery to ask if I could go inside the gate to look around, only to

discover my cousin answering the door! My uncle now owns the property and the family farms there. When they purchased the

property there were, indeed, only three headstones remaining. They have fixed up the gravesites as best they could. They are

neatly marked, and the broken headstones have been somewhat repaired by being put together, laid flat, in a bed of cement. I have

attached pictures I took while there. My cousin thought there were a large number of slaves buried across the road, but there were

no markers. This is still private property and the driveway is often gated, but they might not mind visitors if someone is home and

you ask permission.”

Following is a list of known burials in this cemetery.

Bailey, Abner – Born 1805 – Only date listed – Husband of Minerva – Brother of Elijah Bailey - Punkin Town Cemetery

Bailey, Crawford – Born 1849 – Only date listed – Son of Minerva & Abner Bailey - Punkin Town Cemetery

Bailey, Elijah – Died February 1, 1846 – Husband of Nancy Brown - Punkin Town Cemetery



Bailey, John F. – 1833 – November 18, 1858 – Son of Nancy Brown & Elijah Bailey – Husband of Henrietta Bailey - Punkin Town

Cemetery

Bailey, Minerva (Peeler) – Born 1820 – Only date listed – Wife of Abner Bailey - Punkin Town Cemetery

Bailey – Daughter of Elizabeth “Betsy” (Edwards) & Hiram Peeler - Punkin Town Cemetery

Bailey, Nancy (Brown) – 1813? – Only date listed – Daughter of Margaret E. & Rainey P. Brown – Wife of Elijah Bailey - Punkin Town

Cemetery

Kelly, Henry – Born 1828 – Only date listed – Husband of Margaret E. Kelly – Son of L. & Turza Kelly - Punkin Town Cemetery

Kelly, Infant Son – Died June 1854 – Child of Henry & Margaret E. (Bailey) Kelly - Punkin Town Cemetery

Kelly, Margaret E. (Bailey) – 1835 – 1853 – Daughter of Nancy Brown & Elijah Bailey – Wife of Henry Kelly - Punkin Town Cemetery

Magness, William – 1780 to 1790 – December 7, 1844 – Pulaski County 2d Regiment, AR militia - Husband of Susannah E. – Punkin

Town Cemetery

McCauley, James Taylor – December 10, 1858 – January 16, 1887 – Husband of Ida K. – Son-in-law of William &Elizabeth J. - Punkin

Town Cemetery

McCauley, Laura – No dates listed – Child of James T. & Ida K. McCauley – Buried beside James Taylor McCauley - Punkin Town

Cemetery

Sutherlin, Alice – 1859? – Died young – Daughter of William & Elizabeth Jane Sutherlin - Punkin Town Cemetery

Sutherlin, Elizabeth Jane “Betty” – May 1, 1838 – November 2, 1887 – Wife of William – Daughter of Elijah B. & Nancy Brown - Punkin

Town Cemetery

Sutherlin, Laura – 1862? – Died young – Daughter of William & Elizabeth Jane Sutherlin - Punkin Town Cemetery

Sutherlin, Mary E. – November 22, 1855 – 1860 – Daughter of William & Elizabeth Jane Sutherlin - Punkin Town Cemetery

Sutherlin, Nancy – 1857? – Died young – Daughter of William & Elizabeth Jane Sutherlin - Punkin Town Cemetery

Sutherlin, William – May 23, 1827 – November 12, 1875 – 8

th

Regiment Arkansas C.S.A. – Son of Mary & Clayton Sutherlin - Punkin

Town Cemetery

Sutherlin, William H. – December 8, 1867 – 1870 – Twin of Fannie E. – Son of William & Elizabeth Jane Sutherlin - Punkin Town

Cemetery



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Legend: Copyright-Aug.23, 2016-Paul V. Isbell-Webmaster:

Most of the cemetery information listed was collected by Leroy “Lee” Blair Former member of the White

County Historical Society Board of Directors. Now working at the White County Historical Society office on

the square in Searcy. WCHS P. O. Box 537 Searcy, Ark. 72145.

If you have any additions or corrections to the burial listing please contact the Historical Society. Phone 501-

278-5010 or Email me at

lblblair74@gmail.com

or wchs1962@gmail.com

I will be posting more burials later. The Searcy Daily Citizen donated all their Micro Film and Ledgers dating

back to 1953. After reviewing them, if I find a death of a person that we do not have I will to add to the

cemetery listings.

There are some graves listed as unmarked that may have had a tombstone set since the listing was made.

I may have missed some graves when I prepared the listing. Some cemeteries are very hard to get an

accurate listing due to how some graves are scattered

The following Abbreviations are used in the listings

.

FM-Funeral home marker DS-Double tombstone TS-Triple tombstone

(Obit)-means that the Historical Society has, or has access to the Obituary for this person.