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Submitted: 12/20/21 • Approved: 12/20/21 • Last Updated: 12/23/21 • R1407640-G1407640-S3
*Smith Cemetery
Russell, Arkansas
List updated February 8, 2021
Legal description: NE, NE, SE, Sect.31, T8N, R4W
Earliest listed grave: 1887
Last listed grave: 1965
Arkansas Archeological Survey site #: 3WH0648
This cemetery was so overgrown when volunteer Gerald Torrence visited it for the White County Historical Society in October 2000, he had to clear undergrowth to read many of the stones. It is in extremely poor condition after years of disregard. He said he found it by following these directions: take Highway 367 to Russell, turn right and cross the railroad then cross Highway 67 and go to a stop sign; turn left and go to a T in the road; go straight into a field road about 1/4 mile to the cemetery. He said a man named Roetzel owns the cemetery property and that he lives to the left at the T in the road. The cemetery may have been known as Roetzel or Russell Cemetery at one time.
Torrence reported seeing two graves of children with no markers, and other graves with no markers – including some surrounded by a concrete fence and one covered with a concrete slab. He said also found a grave marked with rocks all around it that a Mr. McAnally said contained several bodies that were unidentifiable when a sawmill exploded. An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article November 14, 1999, stated that the explosion occurred in 1923, killing three men. Marvin Harvey, who said he had lived in the area for many years, said local residents call the graveyard "Smith Cemetery." He gave the following directions for reaching it: Going east through Worden, take the first road to left (Rio Vista Road) and go approximately six miles to the end of the blacktop, then turn right on the gravel road and go about a mile to the cemetery.
When Leroy Blair of the White County Historical Society visited the cemetery December 7, 2000, some of the leaves were gone from trees and thickets and he was able to find 44 additional burial sites, 12 of them approximately 100 feet from the rest of the cemetery – "like it was a second cemetery."
See RUSSELL- A History for more information about Russell.
If you have corrections or additions to this list or other information on this cemetery, please contact Leroy "Lee" Blair at lblblair74@gmail.con or the White County Historical Society, P.O. Box 537, Searcy, AR 72145.
Davis, Will March 16, 1895 November 11, 1913
Klotz, ? March 4, 1885 April 14, 1924
Klotz, Albert W. March 27, 1914 March 21, 1918
Klotz, Alvina L. November 15, 1862 February 14, 1925
Klotz, Auvis Leo April 30, 1908 October 4, 1908
Klotz, Elma Minnie January 16, 1896 February 28, 1896 daughter of Leo and Aline Klotz
Klotz, Leo J. July 5, 1853 July 11, 1910
Klotz, Myrtle Fay June 21, 1901 March 7, 1927
Klotz, Sophia Alvine June 10, 19803 June 20, 1903 daughter of Leo and Alvine Klotz
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Contributed on 12/20/21 by hawkinsdonna48
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Record #: 1407640