Jones Cemetery, with over 1,550 graves, is the largest cemetery in Amity, Arkansas. For information on a burial or to make a donation, contact the current caretakers, Dora Lee Bean, at 870.342.5589, or Nellie Thrash, at 870.342.5726.
To find someone on this site, go to the Labels list at the right of this page and click on the Family Name.
Send your photos, information, stories and memories to JonesCem@yahoo.com. And feel free to use the photos on this site for your own use. (Click on photos to view larger.)
Louella Jones Bailey
Louella Jones married Jesse M. Bailey on November 11, 1894 in Clark County, Arkansas, both were 23 years of age.
Jesse Bailey was the son of Jesse and Susan Bailey of Amity, Arkansas. Oddly enough, Jesse and Susan Bailey named their first two children Jesse and Susan. Jesse Bailey, Sr. was from Georgia and Susan was from Missouri. In the 1880's, Jesse, Sr. owned a store in Amity, but by 1900, both Jesse, Sr. and Jesse, Jr. were working as farmers in Amity.
Louella and Jesse Bailey had at least one daughter, Murrell Bailey.
Louella's father, Andrew Jones, was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, the son of William Andrew Jones and Rebecca Box Jones. He was previously featured on this site.
According to some Jones family researchers, the Jones Family moved from Mississippi to Amity in 1848 or 1849 and lived in a log house near the present-day Jones Cemetery. Jones Cemetery might have started as a family cemetery for the Jones', as Andrew and Mary Ann's son, Dickey Jones, who died in 1866, is one of the oldest graves in the cemetery.
Ted Hardy and Clara Franks Hardy
Cornelius Edward "Ted" Hardy and Clara V. Franks were married in Amity, Arkansas on December 22, 1934.
Ted Hardy was the son of Cornelius Hardy and Mary Ellen "Mollie" Fitzgerald.
-Cornelius Hardy was the son of Gallant Hardy and Elizabeth Ann Coker Hardy.
-Mollie Fitzgerald was the daughter of W.A. Fitzgerald and Louisa Jane Dillard Fitzgerald, who were previously featured on this site.
Clara V. Franks was the daughter of James Ervin Franks and Mary Carolina Wisener Franks.
-James Ervin Franks was the son of Jacob and Margaret Franks.
-Mary Carolina Wisener was the daughter of Jeptha Jackson Wisener and Nancy Margaret Greeson Wisener.
Ted and Clara had no children.
Ted and Clara Hardy were cousins of Lynn and Sindy Williams, previously featured on this site; Ted was a cousin to Sindy Williams, they were both Coker's, and Clara was a cousin to Lynn Williams, they were both Wisener's.
C.E. "Ted" Hardy, ages 16 and 21
Ted Hardy and Clara Franks Hardy; Ted and his brother, Bryan
Ted and Bryan Hardy with their mother, Mollie Fitzgerald Hardy
Clyde Pierce Bardwell and Adeline Campbell Bardwell
Clyde Pierce Bardwell married Adeline Saphrona Campbell on January 13, 1937 in Amity, Arkansas.Clyde was the son of Pierce Bird Bardwell and Mattie Ann Willis. Pierce Bardwell was born in Carroll County, Mississippi, and Mattie Ann was born in Arkansas.
Adeline was the daughter of Josephus Winthrop Campbell and Mary Jane "Mollie" Ashbrook. The Campbell's were from Cherokee County, Alabama, and before that, North Carolina. Mary Jane Ashbrook was born in Arkansas.
Clyde and Adeline's children: James Clyde and Martha.
(Adeline was born on October 10, 1910 and died on February 12, 2001)
Starling Commodore Yarbrough and Mary Emma Adams Yarbrough
Starling Commodore Yarbrough married Mary Emma Adams in Pike County, Georgia on December 2, 1875.
Starling Yarbrough was born in Pike County, Georgia, the son of James Monroe Yarbrough and Sarah Ann Bailey Yarbrough.
Mary Emma Adams was born in Zebulon, Pike County, Georgia, the daughter of James Crow Adams and Albina Catherine Harp Adams.
Starling and Mary Emma Yarbrough's children: James Edgar, Elizabeth Virginia, Charles E., Artemus McFarland, Monita Aquilla, Ruth Lillian, Rueben Luther, Patrick Alfred, Ina Lee, Hoyt Frank and Cortez Commodore.
The photo at left shows the Starling and Mary Emma Yarbrough family in Amity, Arkansas on the day of daughter Lizzie's wedding in 1904. Lizzie is in the white dress, and her new husband, James W. Yarbrough, is at her left. Yes, oddly enough, Lizzie married someone with her same last name, but family research seems to show they were not related.
Starling Commodore Yarbrough and Mary Emma Adams Yarbrough
James Crow Adams and Albina Catherine Harp Adams
Omer Thomas Hays and Lenna Jessie Watson Hays
Omer was the son of William Curtis Hays and Texanna Thompson. Some family researchers list his name as Thomas Omer, but on his World War I Registration Card, he signed his own name as Omer Thomas Hays.
Lennie Jessie Watson was the daughter of William Walker Watson and Mary Louise Fincher. (W.W. Watson has been previously featured on this site.)
Omer and Lenna Hays' children: Mary Alice, William C. "Bill", Evelyn J., George T., Ralph M., Elizabeth W., Ann and Sue.
William Curtis Hays, (at left), organized The Bank of Amity, which was incorporated on November 30, 1905. Hays also served as the Bank's President. W.C. Hays was born in Arkansas in 1856 and moved to Amity in 1869. He was engaged in the mercantile business for sixty-three years. As a champion of education, Hays founded the old Amity Academy which was organized in 1892. He twice served as delegate to the General World Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a charter member of Amity Masonic Lodge. Hays was considered a philanthropist and a promoter of civic organizations in the community.
Andrew Jolly Jones
Andrew Jones was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, the son of William Andrew Jones and Rebecca Box Jones.
Andrew and Mary Ann Jones' children: William T., Mary Jane, Jesse, John Marion, Martha Adeline, Dickey, Alice and Louella E.
According to some Jones family researchers, the Jones Family moved from Mississippi to Amity in 1848 or 1849 and lived in a log house near the present-day Jones Cemetery. Jones Cemetery might have started as a family cemetery for the Jones', as Andrew and Mary Ann's son, Dickey Jones, who died in 1866, is one of the oldest graves in the cemetery.
During the Civil War, many men in Amity and Alpine, including Andrew Jolly Jones, first joined the Confederacy, sometimes against their will, but later escaped from the Confederate Army and made their way home, and then on to Benton where they joined the Union Army and served the remainder of the War in the 4th Arkansas Cavalry for the Union.
The family of Mary Jane Jones Tucker and William Martin Tucker.
Mary Jane was the daughter of Andrew Jolly and Mary Ann Jones.
Unfortunately, the person who posted this photo on the internet
did not identify all the people in the photo.
Otho Espy Callaway
Otho was born to Thomas Nathanial Callaway and Laura Isabelle Holder, who lived for many years in Greeneville, Clark County, Arkansas.
Otho was the great-grandson of John S.T. Callaway, a native of Maryland, who moved to Clark County, Arkansas in 1822, built a mill on Caney Creek and represented Clark County in the Arkansas Territorial Legislature of 1825. Also in 1825, John Callaway built the Callaway Hotel, the first hotel in Blakelytown, (Arkadelphia), which stood until 1878 when it burned in a fire.
Otho and Elessie's children: Jay Calvin, Asa Gre, Mary Ruth, Margaret Isabelle, Thomas Woodrow, Frieda G. Many in Amity remember Thomas Callaway as a long-time teacher and coach at Amity High School.
Elessie Still Callaway died in 1931, and on November 10, 1935, Otho Callaway married Sarah Ruth Hollingshead Thomas.
There is some evidence that Otho E. Callaway is a direct descendant of Daniel Boone through his daughter, Jemima Boone, who married Flanders Callaway, but other family researchers disagree. It might possibly be one of those mysteries that is never fully determined.
Thomas N. Callaway and Isabelle Holder Callaway
John and Annie King French
John Sylvester French was born in Beaumont, Texas on February 25, 1863, the son of John J. French, Jr. and Francis Cox French. The French family was originally from Louisiana.
Annie King French was born in Arkansas on July 23, 1883, the daughter of Dr. Jacob Henry Crosby King and Mary Alice Runyan King. Jacob H.C. King, and his father, Jacob Waldo King, were both doctors in Amity, Arkansas and in Pike City, Pike County, Arkansas.
The King's had moved to Arkansas from Alabama where they had been members of a prominent, successful plantation family.
Mary Alice Runyan King was the daughter of Isaac Newton Runyan and Rachel Robertson, and Isaac N. Runyan was the son of Isaac Barefoot Runyan, the progenitor of the very large and extended Runyan family of Amity, Arkansas. Isaac Newton "I.N." Runyan, who also had been born in Alabama, owned a general store in Amity for many years.
John S. French, who had been married previously, married Annie King around 1905. In the 1910 Census for Amity, Arkansas, John S. French was a 47 year-old house carpenter, and Annie was a 26 year-old saleslady in a general store, probably in her father's store.
John S. French was born in Texas, and spent most of his life there, both before he married Annie King and after her death. He died in Beaumont, Texas in 1933. There are no other French family members in Amity, so it is a guess that John S. French only lived in Amity while he was married to Annie. John French's death date was never added to his tombstone, but his Texas Death Certificate lists the date as December 17, 1933.
above photos:
Dr. Jacob H.C. King with sons, Stell, Cue and Paul
Mary Alice Runyan King
Isaac Newton Runyan and Rachel Robertson Runyan
The Amity, Arkansas Town Square, circa 1900,
with the I.N. Runyan & Son General Store in the background.
Paul Rowe and Beda Franks Rowe
Paul Holmes Rowe, born in Amity, was the son of Martin and Celia Eliza Miller Rowe.
Beda Ellen Franks, born in Pike City, Pike County, Arkansas, was the daughter of James Ervin Franks and Mary Caroline Wisener. Mary Caroline Wisener was the daughter of Jeptha Jackson Wisener and Nancy Margaret Greeson, the progenitors of a very large and extended Wisener family, many of whom still live in Amity and Glenwood today.
Paul and Beda Rowe were the parents of Ellen Rowe, Paul Holmes Rowe, Jr. and Sharon Marie Rowe. Marie married Ernest Echols, who was a long-time postmaster of Amity.
(at left: Paul Rowe and Beda Franks)The Rowe's are descended from ancestors who emigrated to Arkansas from Alabama and Georgia in the 1870's, but much earlier, the Rowe family was among the very first English settlers of the colony of Connecticut in the New World. A group of Puritans from England, financed by Owen Rowe, a prosperous merchant in London, emigrated from England to Massachusetts in the mid-1600's. But upon their arrival in Massachusetts, the Rowe Puritans found that their earlier-arrived Puritan brethren in Massachusetts had become too lax in their religious observances, so the Rowe Puritans got back on their ship and kept moving. They settled on the Connecticut coastline and founded the town of New Haven. Matthew Rowe was one of the leaders of the New Haven colony, and later signed one of the earliest versions of a Constitution which governed New Haven. Amity's Paul Rowe is a direct descendant of Matthew Rowe.
Paul Rowe's nephew, Truett Rowe, who was born in Amity in 1904, made national headlines in 1937 when he became only the 11th F.B.I. "G-Man" to be killed in the line of duty since the formation of the F.B.I. in 1908. In the 100+ year history of the F.B.I., less than 60 agents have been killed in the line of duty, and each of those men is enshrined in the F.B.I. Hall of Honor.
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