. *OVERVIEW

*This Cemetery is also known as: None known.
Legal description: SE, NW, NE, Sect. 9, T9N, R8W
GPS Location: 603830 - 3920978
Arkansas Archeological Survey site #:
Number of Marked Graves: None.
Number of Unmarked Graves: Unknown
The last complete survey of this cemetery was: 2004 By Leroy Blair & Scott Akridge.
Current status of cemetery: This cemetery is no longer in use.
Point of contact for cemetery. No known contact person.

This forgotten pioneer cemetery is in danger of being lost as development continues in this area. It is located between Pangburn’s
downtown area and Little Red River but is actually in Cleburne County. The Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad once passed
through this hollow, which was settled by Pattons in the mid-1800s. Members of the pioneer Thomas J. Patton family are believed
to be buried here.
Leon Van Patten of Searcy, long-time treasurer of the White County Historical Society, remembered the graves in the area from his
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childhood days at Pangburn during the Great Depression. But when he tried to take Society member Leroy Blair there in the spring
of 2001, the area was so different he was unable to find it.
Blair returned to the area on a hot, humid July 4 day a few months later. While his wife Ellen worked on the Independence Day
celebration with other volunteers, Blair went back to the hollow. This time he found more than a dozen graves. To get to this
cemetery from Pangburn, he said, take Dripping Springs Access Road to the Little Red River. Follow it until it makes a sharp right
turn toward the river about a half-mile, where the road turns right. To go to the Cemetery turn left on a farm road. About 200 feet
up the farm road, a cable crosses it. You will have to walk from there. Go up the road about 360 paces until you come to an old
barn. The cemetery is located in the woods on the left of the road across from the barn. It is about 200 feet back in the woods.
“All that is left are a few rocks marking graves,” Blair reported. “ I found 12 plus two sunken areas that are probably graves. I
found one rock with what appeared to be the letters ‘B.E.’ on it. I did not find any other markings. There may be more stones under
the leaves. The cemetery is not overgrown very much.”
Another Historical Society member, Scott Akridge of Bradford, visited the cemetery in September 2004 and was impressed with its
natural beauty, filing the following report: “I found 25 rocks and 5 sunken places. The cemetery is in the woods but is covered with
a ground cover that I think is called vinca. The same covering can be found in the old part of Crow Cemetery. Thus it must be
planted. It effectively knocks out all weeds and only trees grow through it. Thus the cemetery is actually an open wooded area.
The cemetery is about 40 yards east-west and 50 yards north-south. I would estimate the number of graves here to be in the 30 to
50 range. There is a large, well-built deer stand located on the northeast corner of the cemetery. The cemetery is in Cleburne
County and is approximately one-third mile west of the White-Cleburne County line. The site is in a beautiful hollow that is
surrounded on three sides by high mountains. To the north is the Little Red River.”
Van Patten said he was told as a child that Pattons were buried here, including a great grandfather. In 2004 he presented to the
White County Historical Society a detailed genealogical report produced by Verda Haile of Searcy in 1977, which provided
information on Pattons who are buried here.
Haile’s study showed that Thomas Jefferson Patton was the third husband of Susan Elizabeth Davis. (Her first husband, William
Henry Joyce, died in a “flu epidemic” in 1860 at age 19, one year after they had married. She then married Joe Chandler, who died
in the Civil War.) Susan, the daughter of Peter Cardwell Davis and Tomishia Peterson Davis, married Thomas Jefferson Patton in
1866 or 1867, according to the Haile report. Their daughter Lisa died at a young age and according to family records was buried in
“Patton Cemetery.” A son, Thomas Jefferson Patton Jr., died at age 19 and was also buried in the family graveyard. When T.J.
Patton Sr. died in 1882 or ’83, he was also buried here. When Susan died January 9, 1923, she was buried in Henderson Cemetery.
Two of Susan and Thomas Jefferson Patton’s children reached adulthood. They were Martha “Mattie” Patton, who married M.J.
Trentham, then a Hammock and died in 1930, and Tomishia Patton, who married Frank Lawrence, then a Porter and died in 1958.
Both Mattie and “Mishie” are buried at Henderson Cemetery. The graveyard is mentioned in a history of the Henderson Cumberland
Presbyterian Church prepared by Theophal Eugene Henderson and published in the Little Red River Journal December 31, 1985:
“A small plot with a few graves of the Thomas J. Patton family lies near Pangburn in what is known as Patton Hollow but the
graves are not discernible, having been abandoned several years ago… In 1888 some of the Hendersons had moved away [from
Pangburn], leaving too few to carry on the church work in its fullest. At the same time, Spring Hill Church (Patton Hollow), another
congregation, experienced the same falling away as Henderson Church, so Spring Hill Church came in with the Henderson
Church.”
The 1860 census of Liberty Township in Independence County, now a part of White County, shows one Patton family. James M.
Patton, 41, a farmer from Mississippi, and his wife Mary E. Patton, 34, from Georgia, had eight children – Joshua T., 17; Green O.,
15; Washington L., 13; Jefferson T., 11; Susan A., 9; Haden M., 7; Nancy J., 4; and Henry C., 2. Nancy and Henry were both born in
Arkansas, all the others in Mississippi. This probably indicates the family moved into the area some time between 1853 and 1856.
The following people are possibly buried in Patton Hollow Cemetery in unmarked graves. They have not been found in any White
County cemetery.
If you have corrections or additions to this list or other information on this Cemetery Contact the White County Historical Society,
P.O. Box 537, Searcy, AR 72145. Or phone 501- 278- 5010

Photo; Leroy Blair

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Contributed on 12/9/21 by hawkinsdonna48
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Record #: 1405435

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