JOHN DAVIS HARDGRAVE FAMILY PAPERS
Family papers, ca. 1825-1885
Manuscript Collection MC 1318
JOHN DAVIS HARDGRAVE
John Davis Hardgrave was born February 18, 1809, in Tennessee,
the fourth of five children born to James Hardgrave. He was
married to Virginia Armstrong on February 5, 1837, and around
this date he relocated to Arkansas and settled in hand-hewn log
house on the Wire Road near Horsehead Creek. At that time, the
Wire Road was a main north-south highway from St. Louis. The
house also served, at various points in time, as a stagecoach
station and a post office for the town of Smedley, Arkansas.
Hardgrave and later his daughter, Ally Almira, were the
postmasters of the Smedley Post Office. Hardgrave died January
25, 1875, and was buried at the Hardgrave Cemetery.
THE COLLECTION
Hal Milsap of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, donated his family's
papers to the Special Collections Division in December 1994.
The collection contains a manuscript notebook, dated February 9,
1825-February 26, 1826; a land certificate of title to Hardgrave,
July 10, 1844; a letter from Skelton Demass to Hardgrave,
December 5, 1851; a commission for William B. Smedley in Arkansas
State Militia, January 28, 1862; and a land certificate of title
to Kerney L. Harman, May 9, 1885.
Processed by Vera Ekechukwu, October 1995. Special Collections
Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville,
Arkansas.
CONTENTS OF COLLECTION (1 container)
Box 1
- Manuscript notebook, February 9, 1825-February 26, 1826.
- Land certificate, July 10, 1844.
- Land certificate, May 9, 1885.
- Commission, January 28, 1862.
- Correspondence (one letter), December 5, 1851.
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