Here I digress in order to give an account of your great-uncle Sturdy Garner4, because many of his descendants went to the same area of Arkansas as did your ancestors.
Sturdy Garner (Parish3, Thomas2, John1)
Sturdy Garner4 is apparently the progenitor of hundreds of Garners in the Western United States. Sturdy himself must have been a restless type. He was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1762. In 1779, at the age of 17, Sturdy entered the service of the Revolution, in his own words, when his "brother Lewis Garner4 was called out to go after the Tories, (my) brother being a man of family, (I) entered as a substitute in his place, in a company commanded by Captain William Gwinn." According to further testimony in his application for a pension,5 Sturdy was living in Orange County, N. C. when this company of Revolutionary soldiers was raised. In three short-term enlistments during the Revolution, Sturdy Garner saw ten months active duty and was granted a pension of $38.33 per year, beginning March 4, 1831. Sturdy's third enlistment was under General Robert Lawson. After Sturdy's company was raised, they rendezvoused at Prince Edward Courthouse in Virginia, 135 miles north of Sturdy's family home in Orange County, N. C.
Sturdy Garner married Sarah Smith about 1787 and moved to Pendleton County, S. C. along with his brother James. Sturdy's family did not stay long. Some time between 1800 and 1808, Sturdy took his family to the Tenessee- Alabama border area (then Mississippi Territory). Sturdy died in Madison County, Alabama in 1844. Sturdy and Sarah (Smith) Garner had children:
1. Samuel Garner5, b. Ca. 1788, 5. Ce; died 1846 Jackson Co., Arkansas; m. Rachel Pugh. Moved from Tenn.-Ala. border area some time around 1820-25. Rachel (Pugh) Garner died in N. E. Arkansas 1838. Samuel then married Myrel Williams December 24, 1840 in Independence Co., Arkansas.' Samuel and Rachel (Pugh) Garner had children:
1. A. William Wakefield Garner6 b. April 17, 1826, Boone Co., Missouri; m. Henrietta Humphry in Arkansas; died December 7, 1874.
1.B. Robert Craig Garner , m. Alice Josephs 1868; died
British Columbia 1912
1.C. Elvira Garner 6, b. Madison County, Ala. ; m. Isaac
Chauncey Garner6 first and second William Ellington.
1.D. Sarah Garner , m. Thomas White.
1.E. Willoughby Sturdy Garner6,i m. Mary Peppers
1. F. Narcissi Garner6, m. (1) Noah Billings and (2) Dr. Lqkins
1. G. Samuel S. Garner 6
1. H. Timmandria Garner , b. 1809 Ala.; m. (1) Nathan
Barns and (2) William H. Mo rris
1. I. Griselda (Zarelda?) Garner, b. 1823, m. Marlie
Towns Wilkerson
1. J. Elizabeth Garner 6, m. (1) Archibald Oliver and
(2) Calvin Jackson
Samuel5 and Myrel (Williams) Garner had one child:
1. K. Mary M.6; died young
2. Robert Garner5
3. William Garner5
4. Elizabeth Garner5
5. Archibald Garner5
6. Sarah Garner5 m. Dr. Chenault, lived Jackson Ark. ca. 1862
7. Milton Garner5
8. John Garner5
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To Return to Our Direct Line of Descent:
John Garner5 (James4, Parish3, Thomas2, John1)
John Garner5 was born in 1788, probably in Pendleton District, S. C. He married Sally Cochran ca. 1807 in or near Williamson County, Tennessee. By 1818, John and Sally (Cochran) Garner had left Tennessee, gone to Illinois and then finally settled in Arkansas Territory in a portion that became in 1836 Lawrence County, State of Arkansas. John Garner and his older brother James were enumberated on the 1820 Census of taxables in Lawrence County, Arkansas.
John Garner 5 died by drowning in Spring River in Lawrence County, Arkansas about 1820. Sally (Cochran) Garner lived until 1860.
John and Sally (Cochran) Garner had six children:
1. John C. Garner 6 (John5, James4, Parish3, Thomas2, John1)
born December 4, 1808, Williamson County, Tennessee; this family history follows this line.
2. a daughter who married ________ Baker , living in or near Sharp County, Arkansas 1889.
3.a daughter who married _______ Wilkins, living in or near Sharp County, Arkansas 1889.
4. name unknown; died before 1889
5. name unknown; died before 1889
6. name unknown; died before 1889
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John C. Garner 6 (John5, James4, Parish,3 Thomas2, John1)
John C. Garner6 was born December 4, 1808 in Williamson County, Tennessee. He grew up in Lawrence County, Arkansas. He never saw a school-house until he was 20 years old, never went to school at all, by his own witness. John C. Garner farmed the land that he helped to clear as a young man, later operated a corn mill, and finally, in 1876, was postmaster of the post office at Martin's Creek in Sharp County, Arkansas, after it was established in his residence. In 1828, John C. Garner married Airena Gray in or near New Madrid, Missouri or Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. In 1830, they had their first child. In 1840, according to the Census Records, they were living in Lawrence County, Union Township with 1 son 10-15 years old, 1 son 5-10 years old, 1 son under 5, 1 daughter 5-10, and 1 daughter under 5. On the 1850 Census of Lawrence County, Union Township, these children are identified and three more children have been added. (See list of names below.) From the same record, we learn that Airena Gray was born in Kentucky, but later her husband told a biographer that she was born in Boone County, Missouri. Airena was born in 1811, probably the daughter of John Gray who is listed as a taxable of Lawrence County in 1820. Airena died in 1854, after bearing 10 children. John C. remarried in 1857, Mrs. Mary (Farris) Rice, who died in Sharp County, 1887.
John C. was a soldier in the Black Hawk War and a member of the Christian Church. On the 1880 Census, John C. is listed in Sharp County, Union Township, as being "worker at the mill" and his wife is listed as Mary, b. 1805, Tennessee. John C. is 72 years old at the time. From a contemporary newspaper biographic sketch, we learn that John operated his own corn mill. John's death date has not been established yet, but it was after 1889, when he was interviewed for Goodspeed's Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas. John C. and Airena (Gray) Garner had children:
1.John Milton Garner 7 b. 1830, Lawrence County, Arkansas; m. January 29, 1850 Lawrence County, Arkansas Zariah June McKenzie (McKinzey) b. 1830, Georgia; Milton died October 7, 1867 (probably should be 1877, because Milton was still alive in 1870, according to the Federal Census of Fulton County that year). This family history follows this line.
10.A. David H. Groves
10.B. William A. Groves
10.C. Myrtle Groves
Note: Vital statistics for John Milton Garner6 were supplied in part by Modie (Garner) Woods, daughter of Thomas David Garner and a very elderly double cousin of Thomas Watson Garner, in part by Mrs. Gladys Garner of Violet Hill, Arkansas, and the rest from sources as listed at the end of this chapter.
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John Milton Garner 7 (John C6., John5, James4, Parish3, Thomas2, John1)
John Milton Garner7 was born in 1830 in Lawrence County, Union Township, Arkansas. He grew up there and on January 29, 1850 married Zariah June McKenzie (McKinzey), born 1831 in Georgia. John Milton Garner7 lived next door to his father, John C. Garner for several years, then moved to the area of Neosho, Missouri for a short time. His oldest son, Azariah Lewis Garner was born in Neosho, Missouri in 1859. When the Milton Garner family moved back to Arkansas some time before 1870, they located in Myatt Township, Fulton County, Arkansas, with the post office at Pilot Hill. Milton was a farmer who owned real estate woth $35O and personal property worth $465 at census time in 1870. Milton died in Fulton County, October 7, 1877?. Milton and Zariah June (McKenzie) Garner had children:
1. Martha Dixie (Dicie) Sarah Garner8, b. March 5, 1856, m. ______ Rogers.
2. Azariah Lewis Garner8, b. April 28, 1859 in Neosho, Missouri; m. 1886 b. Martha Goff. This family history follows this line.
3. Milton Price? Patrick? Garner8, b. March 25, 1863, Lawrence County? Arkansas.
4. Thomas David Garner8, b. February 2, 1866; m. Mary Adline Wheatley, b. January 27, 1864, d. January 30, 1891, a half-sister to Martha (Goff) Garner, wife of Azariah Lewis Garner. Mary Adline was the daughter of Mary (Sarah) Jane (Hendon) Wheatley. Mary Jane's 3 children by first marriage were (1) Mary Adline (2) Dick (3) Riley Wheatley. Thomas David and Mary Adline (Wheatley) Garner had one daughter; Modie Garner9, b. ca. 1888, m. ______ Woods; died 1979, Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. 5. Francis Garner8, b. 1869, Arkansas. Francis did not survive to 1880.
See Garner Family History, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 4
Return to Surname Index
SOURCES FOR GARNER FAMILY HISTORY
1.For an account of the descendants of all these Garner families, see Ruth Ritchie, The Garner-Keene Families of Northern Neck, Virginia, who is the source of this information on the Garners unless other sources are mentioned.
2.Bean, R. Bennett. The Peopling of Virginia. Boston, 1938, p. 74.
3 Withers, George Edward III, personal communication from Richmond, Va.
4._______________ History of Pittsylvania County, p. 285. 5.Application for pension by Sturdy Garner. National Archives. 6.Morgan, James Logan. Personal communication based on his compilation of marriage records of Lawrence County, Arkansas.
7.Goodspeed Publishing Company. Biograpnical History of Northeast Arkansas. 1889, pp. 742-43.
8.Morgan, James Logan. Personal communication based on his compilation of abstracts from newspapers of Northeast Arkansas in the 1820's.
9.Copy of marriage certificate on file in Garner family archives in my personal possession.