Andrew Jackson REECE

Birth:15 Feb 1845
Death:17 Jul 1871 in Benton County,Arkansas

All notes found by Nancy Feroe:
The Arkansas Gazette
July 30, 1871
Page 1, Column 6

James Reece and Andrew Jackson Reece

The Bentonville Democrat, of the
22nd, says; An affray occurred in the
western part of this county, near the
head waters of Honey Creek, on Monday
last, between two parties named Reece
and Pierce, who lived in the same
neighborhood. It seems that some time
ago there had been some difficulty at
school between the children of the two
families, which has caused ill feelings
to spring up between the older members.
On Monday last some ten or eleven men
were engaged in threshing wheat in a
field near the residence of James Reece,
the father of some half dozen sons, who
were present. About nine o'clock in the
morning, six men, four of the Pierce
family, one named Manis and one named
Williams, came into the field and stood
around the thrasher near an hour. All
of a sudden without any intimation,
George Pearce struck Andrew J. Reece.
with a pitchfork. James Reece, the
father, struck Pierce with a grain
shovel, and then father and son closed
in with Pierce in a ground scuffle.
William then drew a six shooter and shot
James Reece in the back of the head,
inflicting a dangerous and it is feared
fatal wound, and also shot A.J. Reece,
wounding him slightly. Pierce then
regained his feet, and immediately shot
A.J. Reece again, killing him instantly.
A general fight then ensued in which two
others, one on each side were slightly
wounded. The assailants then retreated.
When some thirty yards distant George
Pierce turned around and shot back at
the crowd, and at the same instant he
received a shot from one at the thresher
from the effects of which he died the
next day. The assailants have not yet
been arrested. Those are the facts as
they were given to us by an
eye-witness.
***********
Notes From Nancy Feroe:

They were not moved from a regular
cemetery but from the location they
were buried at on Honey Creek. The
family buried the two men first where
they were killed on Honey Creek. When
the railroad came through in the
1890's, they were buried in the rail-
road's right-of-way so the RR wrote to
the widow, Polly (Southern) Reece, who
had moved back to Gilmer Co., GA and
asked permission to move them. She
directed them to be moved to the
Mt. Enterprise cemetery because George
Pierce, the man who killed her husband
and son, was buried in the Russell
Cemetery located behind Steve Meek's
house on Hwy. 72 at Russell Corner Rd.

When Andrew Jackson Reece's widow,
Sarah (Darnell) Reece died, she was
buried back beside A.J. Reece and his
father. Sarah's parents are buried
behind Gordon Kara's house at the
corner of Kane Rd. and Shady Grove Rd.

I found out from a lady in California,
Carole Littrel Brown, that most of the
people who are buried in the old
Backbone Cemetery down by the
Washington County line are also
related to the Darnell's. That one is
really hard to get to.
*************
Here is what I have on the Reeces buried
in Georgia Flat Cemetery. I am guessing
Polly rode about 600 miles from Gravette
to Ellijay? If you have any photos of the
graves posted on line or can send them via
email, we would be interested in seeing them!

Many thanks, Cynthia Conley

Letter from Judy Bishop to
Muriel Conley on October 6, 1981

Polly Reece was married to James Marion
Reece,and when their son Andrew killed
a man down in Ellijay, they (the whole
family) moved en mass to Gravette,
Arkansas. This was about 1869 or
1870. Then in Arkansas, they built a
school house and hired a teacher, but
wouldn't let their neighbors (the
Pierce family) send their kids to the
school unless they paid a fee.On
July 17, 1871, the Pierce family
ambushed the Reece's at their sawmill,
and killed Andrew Reece on the spot.
James M. Reece was shot so bad that he
died on September 22, of the bullet
wounds. After that, this little old
lady hitched up a steer wagon, and drove
her family back to Ellijay. She must have
been one gutsy old lady, don't you think?
I have been in touch with the genealogical
society out in Bentonville, the county
seat for Gravette (whose population was
about 600 in 1970)...
and they have sent me a few documents:
a minister credential for James Reece,
a deed, and a petition for property rights
(no will) on behalf of Polly, and Sarah,
wife of Andrew.

Please give Judy Bishop credit for
the story above.

The information below comes from
Rootsweb.com 07/08

James Marion Reece FIRST LIVED IN UNION
COUNTY AND LATER MOVED TO GILMER
COUNTY IN 1856,THE NEXT YEAR THIS
AREA WHERE THEY WERE LIVING BECAME
DAWSON COUNTY,12-3-1857.

IN 1867, A WAGON TRAIN HEADED BY JAMES
REECE AND HIS SONS AND FAMILIES, ALONG
WITH SEVERAL OTHER FAMILIES, 20 TO 30,
LEFT THE DAWSON COUNTY COMMUNITY
OF PLEASANT UNION PRIMITIVE CHURCH TO
MIGRATE TO BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS

Sources:
Abbrev: HERITAGE OF GILMER COUNTY 1832-1996
Title: HERITAGE OF GILMER COUNTY 1832-1996
Page: RESEARCHED BY EVYLENE ANDERSON CANUP

Abbrev: BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS CEMETERY INDEX
Title: BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS CEMETERY INDEX

Children of James Marion Reece and Mary
Elizabeth "Polly" Southern:
James Marion Reece, 1841;
William Miles Reece, 1842;
Andrew Jackson Reece, 1845-1871;
Jefferson Taylor Reece, 1847;
John Washington Reece, 1849-1926;
Johnson "Will" Wilburn Reece,
1851-1921; Dacon
Dock Franklin Reece

Contributed on 1/20/09 by flwillingham
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Record #: 139160

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