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Submitted: 7/25/09 • Approved: 8/20/16 • Last Updated: 8/23/16 • R215942-G0-S3
Bigelow, Perry County, Arkansas
First canvassed by the Dixie EH Club in 1976
Re-canvassed by Ione Johnson and Molly Boyd on 19-20 March, 2001
Located on the Northeast corner of the town of Bigelow, Volman Cemetery is the principle cemetery for the community and is still in active use. The cemetery is located at the original site of the Missionary Baptist Church, the first church built in the community of Bigelow (then called Esau). The church was also used as the local school until the larger, two-storied wooden school was built in 1912. In a photograph dated 1902, thirty-eight students are shown with their teacher outside the Baptist Church/school that stood on the present site of Volman Cemetery. After the Fourche River Lumber Company closed in 1921, the boom town of Bigelow depopulated quickly, from around 10,000 citizens in 1910 to the late twentieth century tally of 273 citizens. During the hard, depression years many persons were buried in the cemetery with no markers. A large section marked with field stones and mementoes was lost in the 1970s when an industrious caretaker removed the stones and objects for ease of mowing. Many graves are marked with plantings of flowering quince, roses, and iris.
Contributed on 7/25/09 by ashaw444
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Record #: 215942