Boone County Ancestors
of Dr. Michael Cole


Michael Steven Cole, M.D., was born in Harrison, Boone County, Arkansas, on 28 April 1955. He is descended from 25 people who have called Boone County their home.

Dr. Cole's earliest ancestor to move into Boone (then part of Carroll) County, Arkansas, was Felix Grady (or Grundy?) HAWKINS, who homesteaded 116.75 acres in 1860 in the area which is now the Harrison Industrial Park. It was a long held family tradition that he was a full-blooded Cherokee, but DNA testing on a great-great-grandson in 2006 proved conclusively that his paternal ancestry was not American Indian. Born in Tennessee about 1820, he married Parellee J. HARP about 1846. Her parents were William Watson HARP, who died in January 1850 in White County, Tennessee, and Rhoda -----. Felix and Parellee's children were Rhoda C. (1847-1870's), wife of Laban PATTON; and James Kinner HAWKINS. Felix had a son Joseph Layfayette (Joe) HAWKINS, who was possibly the son of second wife Susan Jane RUTLEDGE(?). Felix died in January 1891 and is buried at Grubb Springs Cemetery.

James Kinner HAWKINS was born about 1849 in White County, Tennessee. He married Emily Jane COWAN on 19 March 1871 in Boone County, Arkansas. They lived about a mile southwest of the present Boone County Airport. Kinner died in 1885, leaving his widow with four children: Paralee Ann Elimira Jane (1872-1945), wife of Isaiah David (I. D.) LAMB; William Lewis HAWKINS (1873-1939); Samantha Catherine Caroline Caldona Belle (Dona) HAWKINS; and James Felix Eli HAWKINS (1879-1957).

Emily (COWAN) HAWKINS was born 3 December 1842 in Alabama and died 21 October 1912 in Boone County, Arkansas. Her parents were Eli COWAN and Anna E. HAYS, both born about 1819 in Alabama and married in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, on 4 June 1838. Eli, the son of Samuel and Sarah Margaret (KEITH) COWAN, moved to Johnson County, Arkansas, in the late 1840's. Eli and Anna were the parents of Emily Jane, above; Nancy Paralee (1844/45-1940), wife of Enoch Boone BROWN; Samuel Jackson COWAN (1850-1930); Sallie Ann (1853-1936), wife of Jess PIRTLE; Louis Franklin COWAN (1855-1928); and William Marion COWAN (1857-1937). Eli COWAN was conscripted into the Union Army in Missouri during the Civil War. He settled in Boone County in Crooked Creek Township around 1870. He died about 1900 in Boone County and was buried at Grubb Springs Cemetery.

Dona HAWKINS, daughter of Kinner and Emily, was born 3 June 1876 in the Rock Springs Community, west of Harrison. She married in Boone County to Eli Hamilton HUNT on 4 October 1891. Their children, all born in Rock Springs, were Modena Grace HUNT (stillborn in August 1892); Mellie Lee Ann HUNT; Kinner Asbury (Berry) HUNT (1898-1976); Mabel Etta (1901-1979), wife of Arnold A. RUSSELL; Charles Grady HUNT (1904-1989); and Emily Kathryn (born 1910), wife of George Howard GRIFFIN. Dona (HAWKINS) HUNT died in Harrison on 14 April 1959 and was buried at Grubb Springs Cemetery.

Eli Hamilton HUNT was born 23 September 1867 at Shelbyville, near Cave City in Sharp County, Arkansas. He died 22 March 1944 at Harrison and was buried at Grubb Springs Cemetery. He came to Boone County in 1882 with his parents, Clement Montgomery HUNT and Milbra Catherine MARTIN. They resided in Crooked Creek Township, the parents of seventeen children: Eli Hamilton, above; Sarah E. HUNT (1868-1899), unmarried; William C. (Bill) HUNT (1870-1936); Mary C. (Mollie) HUNT (1871-1961), unmarried; Rebecca Eveline (1872-1929), wife of James Isaac (Ike) CANTRELL; Martha J. (1874-1960), wife of James H. YORK; James Clemie (Jim) HUNT (1875-1959); Harvey Tilden HUNT (1876-1948); Charley Rufus HUNT (1877-1954); Laura C. (1878-1954), wife of W. Jepp CANTWELL; Flora Arvela (1880-1963), wife of John R. WILLIAMS; infant son (Henry?) (1882); George Robert HUNT (1883-1974); Arminta Lee (Mintie) (1885-1921), wife of Tom W. WILLOUGHBY; Wain Monier HUNT (1887-1939); Nora (1890-1980), wife of Tom WAGNER and Virgil WILSON; Dora (1890-1983), wife of Troy Monroe WAGNER.

The son of Eli Milton HUNT and Martha Ann HOAGE, Clement Montgomery HUNT was born 9 December 1839 in Heard County, Georgia. He served in Company I, 7th Arkansas Infantry, Confederate Army, during the Civil War. He married 19 September 1866 at Evening Shade, Sharp County, Arkansas, to Milbra Catherine MARTIN. Clem HUNT died 29 August 1913 at Harrison and was buried at Grubb Springs Cemetery. His wife Milbra had died at Harrison on 1 November 1890, the day after giving birth to twins. She was born on 21 December 1848 at Evening Shade, Arkansas, the daughter of Hamilton Bradford MARTIN and Sarah E. (Sallie) SMITH.

The son of Sion Taylor MARTIN and Elizabeth SMYTHE, Hamilton Bradford (Hamp) MARTIN was born 6 February 1829 in Tennessee. (Sion Taylor MARTIN's second wife was Martha Ann HOAGE, widow of Eli Milton HUNT.) About 1847, Hamp married Sallie SMITH, who was born in February 1827 in Tennessee. While living in Searcy County, Arkansas, during the Civil War, he joined the Confederate Militia, 45th Regiment. He and Sarah were living in Carrollton Township in Boone County before 1900. Eleven of their fifteen children were Milbra Catherine, above; George W. MARTIN (born 1850); William (Bill) MARTIN (1851-1915); Jane MARTIN (born about 1853); James M. (Jim) MARTIN (born 1854); Jasper MARTIN (born about 1856); John MARTIN (born about 1858); Richard MARTIN (born 1860); Susan F. MARTIN (1866-1904), unmarried; Nancy A. (born 1868), wife of C. C. (Lum) CANTWELL; Caroline C. (born 1870), wife of B. S. ARMSTRONG. Hamp MARTIN died on 6 May 1902 and was buried at Carrollton Cemetery. Sarah died in Boone County about 1920.

Mellie Lee Ann HUNT, daughter of Eli and Dona, was born 29 October 1894, west of Harrison. She first married on 17 April 1913 in Boone County to George Edward (Edd) WILSON, son of Charles Herbert WILSON and Jane SCHNITZER. Edd was born in Boone County on 20 July 1890 and died before the birth of his fourth child at Harrison on 11 Aug 1919, being buried at Denning Cemetery. They were the parents of John Edward (Johnny) WILSON (1914-1999); Charles Hamilton WILSON (born 1916); Roy Lee WILSON (1918-1999); and George Edward WILSON (1920-1986). Mellie married secondly on 5 December 1933 in Harrison to William John COLE, a resident of California, who was born 18 September 1876 in Fremont, Nebraska, the son of John TUMA and Katerina (Katie) SVOBODA. William first married Inez PARKHURST in Nebraska and had two daughters and three sons. Two children were born in Boone County from the union of William and Mellie: Billy Maynard COLE and Norma June (born 1937), wife of Billy Joe CAMPBELL. William died in Harrison on 19 October 1959 and was buried at Grubb Springs Cemetery. Mellie married Ralph Edward PEERY (1885-1967) in Rock Springs Community, west of Harrison, on 5 July 1962. She married Floyd Luther SMITH (1889-1983) in Boone County on 5 September 1967. She died on 7 June 1980 in Harrison, Arkansas, and was buried at Denning Cemetery. Read more about her life in "A Tribute to Grandma Mellie" and Grandma Mellie's Scrapbook. In the mid-1970's she helped create a rough map of Rock Springs as it appeared around 1900.

Billy Maynard COLE, son of William and Mellie, was born near Harrison on 31 May 1935. He married Freda Belle STUCKEY in Harrison on 29 June 1953. They resided in the Rock Springs Community from 1955 till their deaths in 2021. They were buried at Gass Cemetery, south of Omaha, Arkansas. They are the parents of Michael Steven Cole, a family physician in Fort Smith, Arkansas; and Rebecca Jane (Becky) (born 1957), wife of Mark Anthony (Andy) NEWBERRY. Freda is the daughter of John Crittendon STUCKEY, Sr., and Velma Ora GASS.

John STUCKEY was born on 9 August 1904 in Moline, Kansas. He came to Harrison before 1924 with his parents, Charles Elmer STUCKEY and Lena Liza LONG. Charles, the son of John Martin and Anna (SLIFE) STUCKEY, was born on 19 March 1877 in Marshall County, Indiana. He married Lena at Gravelpoint, near Mountain Grove, Texas County, Missouri, on 20 April 1899. She was born 25 July 1882 in Howell County, Missouri, the daughter of Crittendon Christopher and Emily J. (FISHER) LONG. Charles and Lena were the parents of Nora Alice STUCKEY (1902-1914); John Crittendon, above; Ellen Marie (1906-1955), wife of Lloyd Lavernis SHAFER; Rosella Ethel STUCKEY (1910-1912); Homer Ervin STUCKEY (1912-1991); Clifford Howard STUCKEY (1915-1979); Gladys Alta (1919-2005), wife of Charles Asberry LONG and John Erving CAVES; Mable Maxine (born 1921), wife of Marion GILLMORE; and Edward Clinton (Ed) STUCKEY (1924-1993).

John C. STUCKEY, Sr., married in Boone County to Velma Ora GASS on 24 May 1926. Their children were Ora Bee, wife of Robert Calder MORRIS; Anna Cathleen (born 1927), wife of Jack FLIPPO; Joan (born 1932), wife of William Robert (Bill) HILL; John Crittendon STUCKEY, Jr. (born 1932); and Freda Belle, above. John, Sr., died on 31 October 1981 in Wichita, Kansas, and was buried at Gass Cemetery. Velma died in Wichita on 31 March 1988 and was buried at Gass Cemetery.

Velma (GASS) STUCKEY, born on 18 October 1904 at Lick Branch in Boone County, was the daughter of Lewis Samuel GASS and Alice Joann HENSLEY. After marrying on 19 October 1893 in Boone County, they became the parents of Cecil Hubert GASS (1895-1974); Virgie Lucettia (1897-1974), wife of Thomas Henry ENIX; Velva Louie (1901-1983), wife of Robert Lee CHRISTENBERRY; Velma Ora, above; Coy Alonzo GASS (1907-1980); Mary Susan (1909-1978), wife of Clarence Roy LEMON; and John William GASS, Sr. (1913-1987). Lewis GASS died 23 November 1914. Alice died on 22 February 1956. Both died in Boone County and were buried at Gass Cemetery.

Lewis Samuel GASS, born on 6 July 1871 in Macon County, Tennessee, came to Boone County about 1881 with his parents, John Houston GASS and Susan Josephene PIPKIN. John was born on 1 February 1839 at Trace Creek, Jackson County, Tennessee, the son of Jesse Newton and Sarah (BRAY) GASS. He and Susan were married on 1 April 1858 at Moss, Jackson Co., Tennessee. Susan was born on 13 January 1840 at Gainesboro, Tennessee, the daughter of Lewis Samuel and Abigail (GILLAM) PIPKIN. The children of John and Susan were Sarah Abigail (1859-1934), wife of James Edward (Jim) RAND; Leusettia Frances (Fannie) (1861-1879), wife of William NIBLETT; Clemency Elizabeth (Clemie) (1864-1947), wife of William Stuart PORTER; William Newton (Willie) GASS (1867-1949); Lewis Samuel, above; Jesse Huston GASS (1872-1879); James Oscar GASS (1876-1956); Narcissa Arthula E. GASS (1878-1880); Robert Franklin GASS (1882-1918); and Otis Marion (Ott) GASS (1886-1973). During the Civil War, John Houston GASS served in the Union Army in Company B, 9th Regiment, Kentucky Infantry. He died on 20 August 1917. Susan Josephene died on 28 January 1920. They both died at Burlington, Boone County, Arkansas, and were buried at Gass Cemetery.

Alice (HENSLEY) GASS was born on 7 October 1875 at Burlington, Boone County, Arkansas, the daughter of John W. Alexander HENSLEY and Mary Ann JOHNSON. John was born in May, about 1840, in Wayne County, Tennessee, probably the son of Sarah (BISHOP) HENSLEY. John served in the Union Army in Company E, 2nd Arkansas Infantry during the Civil War. John and Mary were the parents of John William (Johnny) HENSLEY (1865-1937); George F. HENSLEY (1870-1945); Joel HENSLEY (born and died in early 1870's); and Alice Joann, above. They moved to Boone County in the early 1870's and lived on Long Creek. Shortly after moving to Boone County, John was permanently injured near his home in a shoot out with Jesse JAMES' gang. Mary died in 1883 in Boone County and was buried at Auman Cemetery in Boone County. John remarried in Boone County on 10 September 1893 to Elizabeth (Liz) REX, who was born in November 1874 in Arkansas. After John's death, Liz married Clarence FERGUSON. John and Liz were the parents of Ross Dale HENSLEY (1895-1980); Zora (1896-1985), wife of Ernest ROTHWELL; Joseph Wesley (Wes) HENSLEY (born 1898); Cora HENSLEY (born and died early 1900's); and Paralee (1905-1993), wife of Hollis RUDD and Marion FLEETWOOD. John Alexander HENSLEY died in July 1913 in Boone County and was buried at Auman Cemetery.

Mary Ann (JOHNSON) HENSLEY, was born in 1839 in (probably Cannon County) Tennessee. Her mother Elizabeth (maiden name probably PARKER) JOHNSON was living in Boone County in 1880, probably having come with her daughter and son-in-law in the early 1870's. Elizabeth was born about 1813 in Tennessee and died in (probably Boone County) Arkansas about 1890. She was the mother of Mary, above; and William Matthew (Mat) JOHNSON (about 1845-1865).


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