Terrill Helping to Preserve Local History at Historical and Genealogical Society

History has held fascination for John Terrill since his childhood in Western Kansas, an interest that eventually turned into a sharp focus on the stories of Waldron and Scott County.

Terrill currently spends his semi-retirement years as one of the mainstays of the Scott County Historical and Genealogical Society, located in the historic Old Scott County Jail on Second Street in Waldron. He prefers to concentrate on the historical branch of the organization, while another dedicated volunteer, Carolyn Hanna, serves as the go-to person for genealogy.

Hanna keeps the facility open from 10 to 1 on Tuesdays, while Terrill is there from 9:30 to 11 on Fridays. Visitors also may request a special visit by calling volunteers. “My phone number is the first one listed on the front door,” Terrill said.

Terrill spent his early years in Horace, Kansas, located in Greeley County (the historical connotation is obvious) only eight miles from the Colorado border. It was a railroad town, drawing passengers and residents from all over the country. Terrill’s own family had an immigrant history, with his grandfather coming from Austria and his grandmother from Hungary.

“I became interested in history as a youngster,” Terrill said. “My favorite comic strip in the Denver Post was Prince Valiant with its stories of the Knights of the Round Table.”

Adding to his interest in history and education was his mother’s position as a schoolteacher. His father served as the superintendent of city utilities in Horace.

The family eventually moved from Kansas to Plainview (Yell County) and Terrill graduated from high school there. He went on to attend college at Arkansas Tech, and in 1968, landed a position teaching history, sociology and economics at Waldron High School.

Terrill tells a humorous story about this trip to Waldron for the interview. He came into town on a motorcycle, having had to detour several miles out of the way because of a flooded road. The detour featured several miles of unpaved road that was in very poor condition. He wore a pair of overalls over his suit and tie but ended up miserably wet and muddy.

“I normally would park my motorcycle several blocks away because that form of transportation was considered pretty shady back in those days,” he said. “But I decided to park right at the school and just walked straight in for the interview. I was thinking that I might as well write this one off, but the guy hired me.”

The “guy” was superintendent Tom Sawyer (“yes, that was his name,” Terrill said with a laugh).

Through a matchmaking effort involving his landlady in Waldron and some of her relatives, Terrill married the former Carolyn Douglas. They were married 48 years until her death in 2017.

“My wife’s family dates back to 1843 in Scott County,” Terrill said. Her interest in the area’s history and her connection with friends involved in the Historical and Genealogical Society further cemented Terrill’s own path to local historian. He started using his construction skills to help with projects at the old jail location, and to turn an appropriate phrase, the rest is history.

“Everybody likes a story,” Terrill said, and he personally enjoys reading and hearing about fascinating characters and then getting in on the narrative. “With history, the stories are the real thing rather than made up and they often are wilder than anything in fiction.”

One of Terrill’s favorite stories involves the life of Scott County’s most famous outlaw, John Middleton.

Though Middleton was at one time an assistant jailer in Scott County, “he was actually a horse thief by trade,” Terrill said. Born in Mississippi, his family was known to have been in Scott County by 1873. Middleton’s first known crime was stealing boots, previewing a life of crime that included participating in the famous Lincoln County War in New Mexico. In that famous chapter of western history, he served on the side of the Regulators (one of whom was Billy the Kid). He was back in Scott County by 1880 and eventually burned down the Scott County Courthouse in 1883 to destroy warrants and other criminal records that had been issued against him.

Middleton eventually moved on to Texas, where he was hired to kill the marshal of Lamar County by a competing candidate for the office. After that deed, he escaped to the Younger Bend hangout of the infamous Belle Starr (“some sources insinuate a relationship,” Terrill said). Middleton was later traveling with the Starr entourage to hide out with members of her family in Chickalah (Yell County) when he was killed along the banks of the Poteau River in Oklahoma, not far from Fort Smith, in 1885.

“There are lots of stories about John Middleton,” Terrill said, “but the only two things that we are absolutely sure about is that he had a fine-looking handlebar mustache, and he was found dead in the Poteau River.”

As a student of Waldron and Scott County history, Terrill points to the area’s unique geographical location as the reason for its early development. 

Scott County was, of course, part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In an important development for the area, the U.S. Army established Fort Smith in 1817 to help enforce the law along the new frontier.

The Army decided to cut a supply road south from Fort Smith through the Ouachita Mountains to the Red River. Present-day Waldron was located along the road, which became the most important north-south route in Western Arkansas. Terrill explains that Waldron also is situated well, because of natural passes, for east-west travel through the mountains.

By 1838, settlers were arriving in the area and Waldron featured a tavern and a post office. The city was incorporated in 1852, with a courthouse erected in 1859.

Waldron served as a Civil War garrison town for the Union Army (some 900 soldiers) in 1863, with a major setback occurring when the Second Kansas Cavalry burned it to the ground when they left in 1864. Terrill said the town was substantially rebuilt by 1869.

A turbulent period in the city’s history came during Reconstruction years, involving violent conflict between competing factions centered around Civil War feuds and political interests. Known as the Waldron War, it began in 1870 with disputes over the elections of that year and continued forward throughout the decade.

A series of arson incidents and some 30 violent deaths took place, eventually resulting in Governor William Miller’s dispatching state militia to the area in 1878 to restore order.

Terrill said corn was the major agricultural crop in Scott County in the early days, with cotton coming along after the Civil War. Local farming often involved “40 acres and a mule,” with cotton generating some cash and the remainder of the farm providing sustenance for the family.

Of course, the Great Depression had a huge impact on Scott County as farmers and other residents headed west in hopes of better times in California. Agriculture was still important, though, as Terrill notes there were some 1,100 farms in the county in 1942. Cotton eventually declined as local gins closed, until by the 1950s the closest facility was in Dardanelle.

Timber remains an important part of the local economy, but it’s not as dominant as in earlier days. Amazingly, the company sawmill town of Forester, located southeast of Waldron, had some 1,300 residents in 1940, making it the largest in the county. It is essentially extinct today. At its height, it was one of the largest sawmill operations in Arkansas.

An important current sawmill operation is owned by West Fraser in Mansfield.

Traffic on Highway 71 has always been an economic factor, with the route previously running through the downtown area. Terrill enjoys recounting stories of the earlier days relating to travelers passing through. “A lot of the old-timers were practical jokers,” he said.

Jeweler R.G. Oliver had an inventive bent and devised a way to put together an elaborate mechanical duck that he walked on a leash along Main Street. “It led to a lot of fender benders until the city fathers decided the duck needed to go,” Terrill said.

He recounts another story relating to the fact that travelers in those days tended to stop and pick up items along the highway that may have appeared valuable. A group of local boys managed to put a bobcat into a hard-sided suitcase and lay in wait until some unfortunates stopped and grabbed it. Within a couple of minutes, the car swerved off the road and four passengers came flying out.

Meanwhile, local farming developed into cow-calf operations, augmented eventually by the poultry business with the arrival of the AVI processing plant in Waldron. Poultry has continued to be a mainstay of the local economy with more than a thousand employed at the current Tyson Foods plant and auxiliary operations.

Terrill said other important manufacturing areas locally have involved industrial emission control monitoring systems, and currently WeighTech, manufacturer of industrial scales and other modern processing plant equipment. Other major employers include the Waldron and Mansfield school districts.

Other important economic engines in the county are related to federal funds, including good jobs in the U.S. Forest Service and the Corps of Engineers. Terrill said residents receiving Social Security are important, with some related growth as retirees are attracted by the area’s affordable real estate.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the high-water mark for Scott County population was 14,302 in 1910. The lowest ebb was 7,297 in 1960, rising to roughly 10,000 today.

Terrill, 78, enjoys his work with the Historical and Genealogical Society, spending time as a docent while also providing volunteer assistance through his construction and woodworking skills. Additionally, he has built picnic tables for his church, Waldron United Methodist, where he also tends to a flower garden.

After fours years as a high school teacher and two more as a die setter at Wolverine Toys in Booneville, he spent his working career in the construction business. He continues to take on projects on a part-time basis. “I enjoy working in wood, metal and stone,” he said.

His wife Carolyn spent most of her career in the banking industry, while later handling federal grant and program monitoring for the Waldron School District.
As noted, she was the original reason for his becoming involved with historical work in the old county jail facility, which was completed in 1908. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Terrill said the building features poured concrete construction and 18-inch rock walls.

The facility was used as a jail for only 27 years, until the completion of a new courthouse in 1933. Various organizations were located in the building over the years, including the public library, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and Juvenile Services. The Historical and Genealogical Society began its occupancy in 1987.

Terrill has been instrumental in donating numerous items for display, including historical tools and toys. They are a part of a collection of artifacts and historical pieces relating to the county’s history. The first floor also includes the library and research space. The second floor of the building contains archives in a climate-controlled environment. 

An important part of the Society’s efforts is the quarterly publication of Echoes, which focuses on various aspects of Scott County history.

The county records in the facility date back to 1883, right after the courthouse was burned down by outlaw John Middleton. “We have things here that no one else has,” Terrill said. 

Some of the information does relate to the Middleton story. “But no one has ever put all the pieces together on that,” Terrill said. “I know one thing – it would be a great movie.”