Nobody knows for sure how old Union Grove Cemetery really is. The earliest known burial is dated to the 1840's. There is sufficient reason to believe that there are earlier unrecorded burials.

The first church on the site was built in the early 1900's. It has been destroyed, moved, and rebuilt at least twice since then.

Rather than compile a sterile chronological essay on the history of Union Grove, I thought it best to let the people who lived it's history tell it in their own words.

What follows now is a collection of letters and documents from individuals who were there. I have rendered them into HTML and transferred them to this page without any interpretation of my own, or alteration to the wording, grammer, or meaning.

All text is the property of The Union Grove Cemetery Assn. and may not be duplicated and/or distributed beyond the context and purpose of this page without written consent.

Constitution and By-Laws of the Union Grove Cemetery Association May 30, 1908

Whereas we the people of Union Grove Church and vicinity desire to organize for the purpose of fencing, cleaning off, and properly caring for the Union Grove Cemetery did on this 30th day of May 1908 organize as the Union Grove Cemetery Association and elected the following officers to wit:

H.T. Mitchell/President
B.V. Rogers/Vice President
Jno G. Swaby/Secretary-Treasure
Allen Ball/Executive Committee
G.W. Cooksey/Executive Committee
B.V. Rogers/Executive Committee
Mrs. Anna Gailey/Soliciting Committee
S.M. Smith/Soliciting Committee
Edgar Yarbo/Soliciting Committee

Article I

Section l. The officers of this association shall consist of a President, a Secretary-Treasure, and a Executive Committee of not less than three, and a Soliciting Committee of not less than three who shall be elected from the members in good standing by a majority of the members present at each annual meeting, and the terms of each officer shall be one year or until his successor shall be elected and qualified.

Section 2. The regular annual meeting for the election of officers and for any other business shall be held at Union Grove Chrurch at 2:00P.M. on the 30th day of May of each year except when the 30th comes on Sunday then said meeting shall be held on the 29th of May.

Section 3. Any white person over the age of fifteen (15) years of sound mind and who believes in the existance of a Supreme Being may become a member of this association at any time by payng the sum of fifty cents dues for the current year to the Secretary-Treasure, without regard to his political or religious views.

Section 4. Membership fees (50 cents per annual) shall be paid in advance on or before 2 o'clock P.M. of decoration day of each year and no member who hasn't paid in advance shall be allowed to vote for the election of officers or upon any other subject.

Section 5. The President's duty shall be to preside at all meetings, to vote by ballot or to vote only in case of tie, when the vote is not by ballot, and to decide all questions of constitutional laws and rules of order.

Section 6. The Vice-President's duty shall be to act in the President's absence, and his duties and authority shall be the same of those of the President

Section 7. The Secretary-Treasurer shall keep a record of each meeting, receive and receipt for all monies due the association and pay same as the duties of the executive committee, have a true and correct account of all receipts and disbursements, turn over all money and property in his possession to his successor who is elected and validated. He shall be required to give a sufficient bank balance report.

Section 8. The duty of the Executive Committee shall be to contract for any work and to see that said is done according to contract before ordering Treasurer to pay for it, to buy or sell anything for the association that a majority vote advises. The President shall be one member of the Executive Committee.

Section 9. The duty of the Soliciting Committee shall be to solicit donations when the regular membership fees are inadequate to meet the necessary expenses of the association, and to receive and receipt for same and turn it over to Secretary-Treasurer.

Amendment Number 1. The regular meeting for the election of officers and for any other business shall be held at Union Grove Church at eleven o'clock A.M. on the 30th day of May of each year.

Minutes of Meeting May 30, 1914

Meeting called to order by President. Minutes of last meeting read and approved.

Executive Committee reported having had cemetery cleaned off in October 1913 and May 1914 for which they paid ten dollars for each cleaning.

Secretary-Treasurer reported fifty dollars on hand. Thirty-one members paid their dues and enrolled for the ensuing year. Two paid dues for previous year. Enoch Jones and one Mr. Thompson donated twenty-five cents each.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year to wit:

H. S. Summerlot/President
J. G. Swaby/Vice-President
H. T. Mitchell/Secretary-Treasurer
D. R. Jones/Executive Committee
R. O. Smith/Executive Committee
Edgar Yarbro/Soliciting Committee
L. H. Wolfe/Soliciting Committee
A. Ball/Soliciting Committee

It was voted to amend Section 2 of October 1st so as to read as follows:

Amendment Number 1.

The regular annual meeting for the election of officers and for any other business shall be held at Union Grove Church at eleven o'clock A.M. on the 30th day of May of each year.

B. T. Primm was selected for Sexton to keep record of all burials.

Approved May 30, 1915

Cleo Troughbough Remembers Union Grove

Mrs. Rosa Owens told us the first chapter of the White Church for Union Grove as she remembered it. She remembered it as a school, too.

This is what Cleo Troubough remembers:

By this time they all moved away. My life became part of the church. My memory goes back to about 1920, seventy-seven years ago. I was six years old.

The school desks had been replaced with pews. They weren't fancy as some were made by men of the church. There was an old organ with some of the keys missing. The organ was placed in the left corner of the church. The stool was round-topped and moved up and down as it turned.

A large stove was placed in the middle of the church toward the front. In winter, wood was piled on each side and kindling ready for a quick fire on Sunday morning. The ladies of the church cleaned the church either before or after church service.

This big, beautiful church known to us as White Church was my first church. At this time, the church was still a very active church. Church service began at 10:00. Sunday School followed. We had not a certain time to dismiss. Time depended on when people got thru visiting. All enjoyed the fellowship. We would not hear any news until next Sunday. Attendance was very good.

All the wagons came bumping down the dusty road. Dust would fly everywhere. You had to dust your clothes by the time you arrived. In winter, the mud was bad. It was all worth the effort, as we enjoyed the fellowship and spiritual blessings.

There were horses tied to the trees. Some came horseback, some in buggies, as well as wagons for the large families. You could hear the sound of children playing. The older ones would bring their bats and string balls and play ball. Horses would be stomping, shaking their harnesses and snorting. Soon someone would come to the door and announce, or ring a bell that it was time for service to begin. We moved into church very quietly.

We had egg hunts, big Christmas trees and programs. The Union Grove Church served the community well and with much dignity. Funerals were held in the church here for people far and near. The church stood idle for many years. Her last years were sad, windows broken out, the door left to swing in the breeze, roof leaked and siding torn off.

Rosa Stutts Gailey Owens Remembers White Church and School

As a young girl, I attended White School that also served as a church. It was located across the road under the cedar trees from where we meet now under the pavillion. My family traveled to church in a wagon. We once got half way home when we discovered my sister, Arrah was missing. Daddy turned the wagon around and we started back. We met her riding behind a man on a mule bringing her home. They told my dad he needed to start calling the roll.

Things I remember about Union Grove Cemetery and Aunt Anna's house as I was growing up in Parkin, Arkansas.

By Florence S. Norris

When my paternal grandfather Robert Lafayette Smith died in 1908, my daddy and his mother, Dr Richard Sherrill Smith and Mary Louisa Robertson Smith, went to live with Aunt Anna Gailey. My grandmother Smith died in 1917. I was only 3 years old so I don't have any recollection of either of my grandparents.

My first trip to Union Grove was probably around July 30, 1916. My brother, Ura Lloyd Smith, age 5 had died from dysentary and my parents took me to Hamlin on a pillow when they went to bury my brother. They expected to bury me also, but I got better. This I don't remember. The following thoughts I do remember.

Since Becky Stutts Chapel did such a good job describing the meetings at Union Grove and she expressed my feelings as well, I will tell some of the things I remember other than the May 30th meetings each year.

Once we spent the night at Anna's before May 30th. Mother took her cakes and pies and helped Aunt Betty cook. Before dawn the next morning, I remember hearing them talking to the darkie couple that lived close by. They were loading up the food, barrels of water, and sending them on in the wagon to the cemetery.

I remember the long dining room at Aunt Anna's. There were windows on the east where Polly the parrot stayed in her cage. When we were there visiting and got in Aunt Betty's way, she would send us to the store to get crackers for Polly. I don't remember her saying anything except "Polly wants a cracker". On the west side of the dining room was a porch that led to a bedroom. There was also a parlor with two beautiful vases on each side of the fireplace. They must have been twenty inches high. We were not allowed in this room except just to peep in. I have wondered since the house burned if the vases burned also.

Once when we spent the night, some time in the night the dogs were really barking. I asked someone what was wrong. They said it was just the boys coming in. It must have been Bernice and John Cole. I will always remember that weird howling in the night.

Mother went over to take the women blackberry picking. We were to stay with Betty. I know she was happy over that. Blanche was a baby. While we were eating lunch, my sister Jesse asked Betty if their cow only gave buttermilk because she didn't like buttermik and wanted sweet milk. Blanche began to cry. Helen and I tried to quiet her but to no avail. Betty said give her to me, "I will fix her a sugar tit and that will stop the crying". I left my plate and went with Betty to see what on earth a sugar tit was. I had never heard of it, but it did the trick.

We were always glad to see our cousins at Union Grove but some of the best times were after we left there. We would go to Aunt Anna's and get to play with May and Garland. I think Billy must have been too young for us. Aunt Anna was like a grandmother to us. She was always kind and patient with us. We all loved her dearly.

History of Union Grove Cemetery and Church as remembered by Lillian Wood. Recorded May 9, 1995.

The first school and church was built with logs and set by cedar trees just inside the cemetery. It was a very crude small building. The space is now grave lots of Mathewsons and Richard and Ruth Smith family. This was some time between 1850 and 1900, as the second oldest grave recorded in Cross County Cemetary records for Union Grove is for Martha A. Gailey, August 13, 1871. The oldest actual grave at Union Grove is Gardner D. Slocum, 1849. The next oldest grave is Sarah Griften Slocum, Matriarch of the Arkansas Slocums buried 1879.

As people began to settle this area, it was decided to build White Church here on the old Augusta road. Probably the oldest road through the county. A trail which the bank robbers, the James Brothers, traveled. Told to me by my Aunt Anna Gailey. She said they spent the night with her sister, Uncle Fayette, and Aunt Liza Smith. They, of course, never heard they were bank robbers for weeks after they were there. Aunt Liza said they were very friendly boys. They never did harm to her or her husband and paid them well for food, lodging, feed for their horses, and shelter.

White Church or Union Grove Church was built some time soon after 1900. Built by Albert Immel and Mr. Everett Rogers and many volunteers whom I don't have the names.

The church was dedicated to the Methodist White River Conference on June 25, 1905 at eleven o'clock by Reverend R. W. C. Davidson, presiding elder. The 15th verse of Job, 21st Chapter was read. Reverend S. J. B. Milton, P.C. assisted with the service. J. R. Kelly, B. V. Rogers, and John G. Swaby were appointed first trustees of the Union Grove Church. Union Grove Episcopal Church South was in the Hickory Ridge charge, Helena Conference, District White River Conference.

The next conference we have knowledge of was held July 11, 1911. Reverend J. H. Ferris was the presiding elder and B. V. Rogers, Secretary. The church board in 1911 were B. V. Rogers, Homer Sumeslot, and John Swaby.

At the dedication service $8.50 was collected, paid 90 cents to the minister, and $7.60 to the conference.

A new project was begun by Lillian Henderson in 1937, a community play at Hamlin school. Another project was a supper at Tilton, organized by Lillian, Jesse Swindle, Wynona Wood, Ellen Boone, her mother, Lillian Foltz, and Fanny Swaby-Headly. A large crowd attended both events. Money from these events and donations began to be used to renovate the church. Local men donated their time and put a roof on and new blocks under the building. Then ready to continue repairs the church burned. It was supposed that hunters slept there and fire from cigarettes caused the fire. This was the fall of 1938. So sad.

The church gave all of us something to remember as we look back. A beautiful white church in a grove of oak trees. In her time she was loved and honored by many people. She still lingers in our minds.

To think of all the pioneer people with meager finances in 1905 built the church and served her well, now mostly all gone, many buried here.