Tag Archives: Arkansas History Commission

Birth of Little Rock’s 22nd and 24th mayor – William Eliot Ashley

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On August 6, 1823, future Little Rock Mayor William Eliot Ashley was born in Little Rock.  He would go on to become the first Little Rock Mayor to be born in Little Rock.  Ashley was the son of Mary and Chester Ashley; his father would later serve as a U. S. Senator from Arkansas.  He was the second of the couple’s seven children.

Though he was raised in Little Rock, he did receive some schooling out of state. The State History Commission has correspondence between eleven year old William, studying in New York, and his father. Part of the letter is a request for money.

On October 26, 1846, he married Frances Eliza Grafton at Christ Episcopal Church.  They were the first Little Rock residents to be married in that church.  The couple had five children, including triplets.  Only one of the children, Frances (who was one of the triplets) survived to adulthood.

Ashley was first elected Mayor of Little Rock in 1857. After completing a two year term, he was succeeded by Gordon N. Peay (another scion of a prominent Little Rock family).  In 1861, Ashley returned to the office of Mayor.  He was reelected to a third term in 1863.  In September 1863, following the defeat of Confederate troops by the Union forces at the Battle of Little Rock, the City of Little Rock ceased operations.  On September 21, 1863, Little Rock municipal government closed its doors, stopped collection of taxes and disbanded.  Thus Ashley’s third term ended.

In addition to his interest in local government, Ashley was a member of St. John’s College Board and a director of the newly-formed Little Rock Gas Company.

William Eliot Ashley died on August 16, 1868, at the age of 45.  He was buried in Mt. Holly Cemetery (which sat partially on land that had once belonged to his family). His parents, wife and children are all buried in Mt. Holly as well.

Interestingly, for someone who grew up in a prominent family, there does not appear to be a surviving likeness of Mayor Ashley – either in painting or photograph.  Several exist of his parents, but none of him.

Arkansas Heritage Month – LR Mayor John E. Knight

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May is Arkansas Heritage Month. This year’s theme is “Arkansas Arts: Celebrating Our Creative Culture.”

Did you know that a former Little Rock mayor was a published songwriter?

John Elliott KJno E Knight signight (1816-1901) published a song entitled “I A Near to Thee” in 1858. He wrote the lyrics while Benjamin Scull wrote the music.  The song was dedicated to Mary Woodruff, a daughter of Arkansas Gazette publisher William Woodruff.

 

As an attorney and newspaper editor, John E. Knight collected documents about the settlement of Little Rock. Those papers are now part of a collection at the Arkansas History Commission.  The majority of these papers are from William Russell to Chester Ashley, pertaining to pre-emption claims in and around Little Rock. Other material concerns the 1819-1822 dispute related to the the New Madrid Certificate and pre-emption claims of James Bryant, Stephen F. Austin, and William M. O’Hara.

Suffragist Clara McDiarmid focus of Old State House Museum Brown Bag lecture today at noon

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OSH Brown BagToday at noon, the Old State House Museum Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series continues with Danyelle McNeill, Digital Archivist at the Arkansas History Commission, who will share her research on Clara McDiarmid, one of Arkansas’s most influential reformers in the nineteenth century.

She will be talking about Clara McDiarmid, her life and family and her work with suffrage and temperance. Much has been written about Clara, some accurate and some not so accurate.

 

The Old State House Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

1897 UFO Sightings in Arkansas topic of Old State House Brown Bag Lecture today at noon

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On Thursday, October 15, at noon, at the Old State House Museum, Brian Irby of the Arkansas History Commission will tell the story of one of the first waves of UFO hysteria that swept through the nation for a Brown Bag Lunch Lecture.

Between 1896 and 1897, the country was in the grips of what was one of the first major panics created by sightings of strange objects in the sky. Less than a decade before the Wright Brothers would fly the first powered flight, newspapers around the country began reporting on sightings of an airship, spotted in the wild.

In April of that year, the unidentified flying object stories came to Arkansas. In April, railroad conductor Jim Hooton told the Arkansas Gazette that he had seen the airship while hunting and provided a sketch to the paper. Just a few weeks later, mounted deputies near Hot Springs said they “noticed a brilliant light high in the heavens,” and drew their Winchesters on a man they said was traveling in an airship.

Brian Irby has a BA and MA from the University of Central Arkansas. He has been on staff at the Arkansas History Commission since 2008 as an archival assistant where he works on educational programs.

Admission is free, and attendees are welcome to bring a sack lunch. Soft drinks and water are provided.

The Old State House Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Little Rock Look Back: Mayor John E. Knight

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Jno E Knight sigOn September 20, 1816, future Little Rock Mayor John Elliott Knight was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. In 1843 he married Hannah Donnell in New York, and came to Little Rock that same year.

Knight was editor of the Arkansas Democrat from 1846 to 1850. He was also associated with the Arkansas Gazette and published the short-lived Chronicle. In 1851, Knight served as Mayor of Little Rock. In 1855, he served as a member of the City Council.

In 1858 a song was published entitled “I Am Near to Thee” which featured music by Arkansan Benjamin Scull and lyrics by Knight.  The song was dedicated to Mary Woodruff.

During the Civil War, he served as a Colonel.  During the 1850, 1860 and 1880 census, he was listed as an attorney.

He had one daughter, Elizabeth Knight, who married James S. Pollock, a banker in Little Rock. Knight died in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 28, 1901, and was buried in Mount Holly Cemetery. Elizabeth Knight Pollock died in 1910.

As an attorney and newspaper editor, John E. Knight collected documents about the settlement of Little Rock. Those papers are now part of a collection at the Arkansas History Commission.  The majority of these papers are from William Russell to Chester Ashley, pertaining to pre-emption claims in and around Little Rock. Other material concerns the 1819-1822 dispute related to the the New Madrid Certificate and pre-emption claims of James Bryant, Stephen F. Austin, and William M. O’Hara.

Explore the Transformation of Arkansas during Civil War and Reconstruction at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center

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MTCC-1Through December 31, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is featuring the exhibit “Freedom! Oh, Freedom!” Arkansas’s People of African Descent and the Civil War: 1861-1866.

The Civil War radically changed the lives of all Arkansans, especially those of African descent. Across the country freed Africans were no longer property or simply viewed as a part of the South’s agrarian society. The war destroyed a society and an economy that had enslaved Africans and used them as chattel property.

“Freedom! Oh, Freedom!” tells a story of transformation, as it will allow visitors the opportunity to explore the African American perspective of the Civil War from the lens of slavery, the contributions of African American soldiers, and what happened through and after the Reconstruction Era.

The transformation was not swift or seamless as the United States government made empty promises to the newly freed African Americans, however in the aftermath of the Civil War Arkansas’s African Americans seized new opportunities and freedoms to create a new way of life as citizens of the United States. African Americans used the war to participate in their own emancipation. Former enslaved people experienced not only physical liberation from the ties of slavery, but a transformation of the spirit from bondage to freedom.

African American politicians emerged after the war ended and took seats in the state general assembly in 1869. The state general assembly even passed the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1873, which provided for equal access to all public institutions and outlawed segregation. However, as Reconstruction came to an end in 1874, Democrats replaced Republicans and began altering the civil rights laws and enacting segregationist policies in their place. African Americans maintained some representation in the general assembly until 1893, but it was nearly a century later when Arkansans elected another African American to the legislature in 1973. The fight for full equality, the fight for justice,and the fight for civil rights had just begun.

This exhibit was made possible through a grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resource Council, funded by the Arkansas Real Estate Transfer Tax. All pictures are courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission.

The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Little Rock Look Back: Mayor William Ashley

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W E Ashley signature

On August 6, 1823, future Little Rock Mayor William Eliot Ashley was born in Little Rock.  He would go on to become the first Little Rock Mayor to be born in Little Rock.  Ashley was the son of Mary and Chester Ashley; his father would later serve as a U. S. Senator from Arkansas.  He was the second of the couple’s seven children.

Though he was raised in Little Rock, he did receive some schooling out of state. The State History Commission has correspondence between eleven year old William, studying in New York, and his father. Part of the letter is a request for money.

On October 26, 1846, he married Frances Eliza Grafton at Christ Episcopal Church.  They were the first Little Rock residents to be married in that church.  The couple had five children, including triplets.  Only one of the children, Frances (who was one of the triplets) survived to adulthood.

Ashley was first elected Mayor of Little Rock in 1857. After completing a two year term, he was succeeded by Gordon N. Peay (another scion of a prominent Little Rock family).  In 1861, Ashley returned to the office of Mayor.  He was reelected to a third term in 1863.  In September 1863, following the defeat of Confederate troops by the Union forces at the Battle of Little Rock, the City of Little Rock ceased operations.  On September 21, 1863, Little Rock municipal government closed its doors, stopped collection of taxes and disbanded.  Thus Ashley’s third term ended.

In addition to his interest in local government, Ashley was a member of St. John’s College Board and a director of the newly-formed Little Rock Gas Company.

William Eliot Ashley died on August 16, 1868, at the age of 45.  He was buried in Mt. Holly Cemetery (which sat partially on land that had once belonged to his family). His parents, wife and children are all buried in Mt. Holly as well.

Interestingly, for someone who grew up in a prominent family, there does not appear to be a surviving likeness of Mayor Ashley – either in painting or photograph.  Several exist of his parents, but none of him.