William Irons
A True Pioneer To The Area

William Irons was born in the 1790's time period.
Born in the North Carolina area, he and two of his brothers,
Jonathan and Peter made their way out of the Carolina's
through Tennessee, and finally settled in the Marble and
Sulpher Springs area of what is now Garland County
Arkansas sometime before 1830. This area was just starting
to be settled at that time. No bridges or roads were in the
area, only roughed out wagon trails at that time and I assume
there were still a lot of Injun's and bear's in this part of the
country. Grandpa told me that when he was a boy that
there were still many Indians around here then and he
was born in 1898 and it would probably be 1904 or so
before he would remember something like that.

The United States acquired the land that would become
Arkansas, in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Arkansas became a territory in 1819.
In 1830 a census was taken of the territory and only about 50 family's
were settled here in this area of Marble at that time.
In 1836 the territory had a population of 60,000 and was
then eligible to become a state.
 Arkansas then became a state on June 15th 1836.
William lived through a lot of that part of the States history.
Below is part of the 1830 census that I mentioned above,
this is found in the Hot Spring County, Caddo Township.
I have cleaned the debris from around there names so
that its a little easier to read.
 

There are several things I considered before
posting this story that makes me know this is
William Irons of Old.

First I want to draw your attention back to the
1830 census I posted in William's story.
Here you find William Irons sr. and
William Irons jr. living in the same home.
In the 1830 census William sr. was listed
in the 30 to 40 age group.
William Irons jr. witch would be represented with a
backslash was listed in the 10 to 15 age group.

Now I want to draw your attention to the
1840 census of Marble.
Here you find William Irons and
William Irons jr. living side by side.
Now in 1840 William sr. is in the 40 to 50 age group,
and William jr. is in the 20 to 30 age group.
So there ages graduate accordingly.

click here for that page

I can't find them together in the 1850 census.
As a mater of fact I can't find either one of them.
I can't even find the Marble Township in 1850.
If anyone knows where it went please let me know.
The only William Irons that I can find in the logical
places that one would look, is the son of
Jonathan and Halda Irons in Montgomery County.
That's the only one, and I checked Caddo, Gap,
Mountain, Polk, and Sulpher Springs and
lots of census in Saline and Hot Springs Counties.
This William Irons is only three years old
and in the Sulpher Springs Township.
I think maybe they all got on their Harley's
and went to one of them
William conventions somewhere.

(but hold on now)

I do find William jr. only, still in the Marble
township in the 1860 census. His age is 45 and
is graduating accordingly.

So all of this tells me that William jr is probably still
living on the same old home place that he always had,
and his age is a sure clue that I'm still on the same bunch of William's.
Even though he is listed in different townships and
counties through the years, they probably never moved
from the same spot. Also one can assume from all of this, that
William Irons sr. probably died
sometime after 1840 and before 1860.

You can't tell in the pictures I posted in the story, but
looking at the grave on site you can see that it is the
grave of a full grown adult and not one of a young
child. And the only other adult William Irons listed
in any census is still alive and kicking in 1860
being William jr., so its not him in that grave.

Now I have to say that I have always
considered the possibility of there being
two different Williams of Old, but then
there would have had to been two
different Jonathans of Old and they all
would have to have been obsessed with
naming their children William and Jonathon.
Chances of that would be slim I guess.

Nope, that's my old soul-jer I think.

William would have been about 60 ish when he died.
I think his wife's name was Mary.
William was the magistrate of this area at the time.
Kind of a sheriff, judge, justice of the peace job.
He probably did the marring of my John and Elizabeth.
I bet he could have told some real tales, as outlaws
were constantly on the move back and forth to Oklahoma,
I would guess that some of them came through these parts.

I think it is safe to call William Irons a true pioneer.
After all, the Oregon Trail - Conestoga Wagon pioneers
didn't start their trek till 1841. William Irons was here in
Arkansas with a home and family and a grandma sometime
before 1830. It is true that there were many great pioneers to
this area but not many of their grave locations are known.
Most were buried in unmarked graves.
We are fortunate to have this one located.

The best way to get to Green Cemetery is to
turn in behind Jessieville School on to Beaudry
Circle. Stay on that road for about six miles.
Watch for the Green Cemetery sign on the left
side of the road, there is a gate there and a
long lane that takes you to the top of the hill
were the cemetery is.

After you pass Marble Church you are getting close.
Keep on going and you will go over two
good sized bridges, the cemetery will be on the left
side of the road about 100 yards after the second bridge.

If you get to the little Fire Department building you
have gone to far by about a half mile or so.