Hi Bruce and Scott -

thanks for your postings re my ancestors in/near Brunot and Patterson.

One of Wm. C. Byrd's older sons (either William or Alfred) apparently served in the Missouri EMM during the last year of the war. I think Jim McGhee kindly helped me obtain these docs several years ago.

My great-aunt Lelia Cude Byrd told me a story back in the 1980s in Texas that was told to her by her father-in-law Andrew Jackson Byrd (my g-gf and son of Wm. C. Byrd; see URL below). Although he was then a boy (he was b. 1857 in Iron Co. MO), he described "night riders riding for justice" and "men on horses going in and out of shadows". Could he have been describing guerilla activity there in/around Brunot that he witnessed as a youngster?????

My grandpa Byrd wrote a short family history back in the 1950s or '60s describing how his grandpa Byrd (Wm. C.) lost all of his hogs to foraging Union soldiers and was then unable to make payment on the farm.

One part of the story states that the Union soldiers drove off his hogs across a bridge (assume it was Big Creek near to Brunot area) when one broke its leg. The Union soldiers "kindly returned the hog" (as my grandpa wrote) and then "consigned" everything in the smokehouse. Maybe the Feds figured that they couldn't get the hog all the way back to their camp, so they at least gave Wm. C. a little meat...???

Documents I found in the Iron Co. courthouse seem to confirm this story in that Wm. C. did not make any tax payments on his land 1861-1864.

Also, I found accounts of U.S. Grant sending an expedition to the Brunot area in 1861, which suggests that perhaps the foraging Union soldiers incident described by my grandpa may have occurred during that time, but who knows...???

I am at work and do not have my files in front of me, but I think the Iron County JP who sold Wm. C's land back to him for ONE DOLLAR in March, 1863 was D.W. (?) Shaver. Local Iron Co. historians told me that said Shaver was a known Southern sympathizer and this "holding/selling land" activity was relatively common in the area during the CW years. Could Wm. C. Byrd sr. have been actively involved in guerilla activities..????

After selling their land in/near Brunot & Iron Co. in March, 1863 to a certain Mr. Roberts (I think there is still a Roberts Schoolhouse in the area?), I find no documentation for Wm. C. Byrd and his wife Margaret E. Jackson Byrd until Dec. 1868 when Wm. C. married his 2nd wife Chloe Davis in Walnut Hill, (near Ravenden Springs), Randolph Co. AR.

Apparently Margaret Elizabeth Jackson Byrd died sometime between March 1863 and Dec. 1868, but I do not know where or when or her burial site. Have wondered if they might have moved somewhere near her brother Wm. A. Jackson's farm which was SW of Patterson after selling their Iron Co. land in March 1863. Perhaps she died/is buried somewhere near her brother's land?

Wm. C. Byrd (sr.) apparently died sometime in 1875 judging from the probate docs I found in the Randolph Co. courthouse there in Pocahontas, AR. But again, I still do not know exactly when or where is buried.

Maybe one of these days I will get some more clues re exactly what happened and where Wm. C. and Margaret are buried. I keep hoping someone will come across some old headstones or docs somewhere in the area...

:-)

thanks again,

Kenneth Byrd