Born 20 August 1891 in Ramsey, Fayette, Illinois.

George Washington Adkisson, was born 5 July 1864 in Mount Vernon, Faulkner County, Arkansas. His parents were Sampson “Sam” Adkisson and Martha W. Butler Adkisson of Mount Vernon, Arkansas.

He married Claudia Clara Lay on 11 February 1892. They had two children, Elsie Adkisson in 1892 and Samuel R. Adkisson in 1906. Sadly, Claudia Clara died 27 October 1909.

George married again on 12 January 1913 to Mary L. Robinette. They had four children, daughter Mary Margaret Adkisson in 1913, twin girls Ruth and Rubye in 1915 and son, George Washington Adkisson, Jr. in 1917.

The family lived in Conway but also loved spending time between on the “family farm,”aka Adkisson Plantation near Mayflower. The plantation was once the largest in the area and encompassed nearly 3000 acres in Faulkner and Pulaski Counties.

On 27 March 1934, George was working at the plantation when he suffered a stroke and was transported back to his home in Conway. His health continued to decline so he was sent to a Little Rock hospital. Unfortunately, he passed that night. Survivors included his wife and six children.

After her husband’s death, Mary took over managing the plantation and properties which she did until her death in 1969.

In 1965, George, Jr officially incorporated the Adkisson Plantation as Palarm Creek Plantation, Inc.

The family owned and continued to operate the farm until after the death of G. W. Adkisson, Jr. in 1996 and was sold in 1997 to investors.

Just a little side note, George Jr. worked for Winthrop Rockefeller and was a manager of Winrock Farms on Petit Jean Mountain.

“Carousel horses are not just made of wood, they are painted with memories.” Bette Largent

The Herschell-Spillman Carousel, aka The Over-the-Jumps Carousel has been at the Little Rock Zoo since 2007.

It was first exhibited at the 1924 Arkansas State Fair and it is believed to be the last operating “Over-The-Jumps” type of carousel in the world.

More information on this historic carousel can be found on the zoo’s website:

https://www.littlerockzoo.com/visit/over-the-jumps-carousel/

What is the connection between Elvis and this Esso station in Carlisle, Arkansas?

In 1955, Elvis and several band members were heading on Hwy. 70 toward Little Rock.

At this intersection of Hwy. 70 and Hwy. 13 in Carlisle, while driving at a high rate of speed, Elvis broadsided a dump truck and sent his Cadillac into a ditch across the highway from this station. Nobody was injured, the Caddy was still drivable but the gas tank on the dump truck was punctured. Elvis was fined $25 for the damage to the dump truck.

Fanny Susanne (1895-1981), John Newton (1892-1954), and William Vincent Roberts (1898-1994) with baby sister Clara Elizabeth Brown (1903-1988).

The youngest three children of David D Roberts and Laura Belle Gentry Roberts. Their father died about 1899 in Oklahoma (?) and the mother remarried in 1902 to William J Brown. A year later Clara was born.

Border disputes in this area of the world meant your ancestors country of origin could change every few years. It makes it hard to know which nationality your ancestors actually were. For example, my great great grandmother is listed as being from Germany (1900, 1910), Prussia (1880) and France (1870, 1920) on US Federal census records. It all depended on the which country was controlling the area she was from the year the census was taken.

Prussia, German, or France? Where was she from?

The tragic accidental death of David C Whitney at the age of 51. He was survived by wife, Elizabeth, and children, Ada, Charles, and Emmett.

The first article had most of his personal information wrong. C L Whitney was the name of his son who just happened to work for the railroad too.

In a strange coincidence Elizabeth’s brother, Alexander, would be killed in the same way 20 years later.

There’s not a picture of all of them together and, sadly, I only remember meeting one of the, Uncle David. Here’s a list of all my aunts and uncles. Siblings of Philip Lloyd Whitney, 1934-1996.

Emmett Leroy “Bob” Whitney Jr., 1913-1996

Anna Marie Whitney Uselton Altmeyer, 1915-1965

David Wayne Whitney, 1921-1994

Paul Jean Whitney, 1922-1945

Dale Keith Whitney, 1925-1937

Joseph Dean Whitney, 1931-1937

My grandmother abandoned her four little girls after the death of her first husband, Arthur Huff, and I don’t have much information on them. Three were adopted out in Nebraska around 1920. One, Winifred, supposedly died in the flu pandemic of 1918.

I did find two of the girls but unfortunately they had passed before I found them. The girls were named Berniece, Pauline, Gladys and Winifred before adoption. Only Berniece kept her given name. I’m not sure which girls are Pauline or Gladys.

Berniece Lorraine Rickard Grosvenor, 1912-2002

Winifred Huff, 1914-1918

Rosemary,

Elizabeth Ann “Bette” Brown Smith, 1918-2003

“Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.”

Louisa May Alcott

Emmett Leroy Whitney was a piano man from an early age. At age 15, he was already advertising as a music teacher in the East St Louis, Illinois City Directory (1906).

Emmett liked to play the piano in a ragtime music style that was popularized in the late 1890’s but he could also perform the classics with style and grace.

He wrote, performed and recorded music across the United States. He was comfortable playing in churches, theater productions and saloons. Also he tuned and repaired piano’s when not performing.

In the late 1940’s, and throughout the 50’s, he was the music director of Rose Hill Church Of the Nazarene in Little Rock.

Emmett Leroy Whitney was born in 1891 to David C. and Elisabeth Ann (Linder) Whitney in Ramsey, Illinois.

He married in 1911 to Carrie Isabel Montgomery and they had two children, Emmett Leroy “Bob” Whitney, Jr and Anna Marie Whitney

Emmett married around 1920 to Fanny Susann (Roberts) Huff and they had five boys, David Wayne Whitney, Paul Jean Whitney, Dale Keith Whitney, Joseph Dean Whitney and Philip Lloyd Whitney.

During his time at Rose Hill, he married for a third time to Viola Smith. They had no children. Emmett and Viola retired to Chetopa, Kansas in 1964. Unfortunately, both died there in 1965.

“Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.” – Louisa May Alcott

Write them down, take photos, do anything you can to remember. Memories do fade. Things are forgotten. Time and family slips away.