chintro The Akron Congregation from 1874 to about 1884
     The list of members of the Church of God at Akron in 1874 included 98 names.
The first post office was opened at Akron on August 1, 1854, and the families
represented in the Akron church record are some of the earliest settlers in this
part of Independence County.  Of the 54 family names listed in the record, 24
appear in the 1830 census of the county.
     In 1874, the elders at Akron were Harrison W. Robertson #1 and Warren Hulsey
#2.  The deacons were W. H. "Bill" Tomlinson #3 and Nathaniel M. Wilson #4.
     Harrison Robertson was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, on October 9,
1828, and came to Arkansas Territory in 1832.  His wife, Jane, was a daughter of
J. R. Reeves of the old Blue Springs church.
     A Hardin Hulsey was a very early settler in the Oil Trough bottoms.  His wife
was Nancy Smalley.  This Hulsey, a veteran of the War of 1812, raised a large
family, and they played a prominent role in the history of the Oil Trough
community.
     The Tomlinsons also moved to Independence County from Rutherford County,
Tennessee, in 1827.  Hugh Tomlinson was the father of three girls and four boys
when he married Jemima Henderson on September 18, 1842, in Independence County.
The boys were Louallen, John N., Owen, and Houston.  John N.Tomlinson #22 has been
called the "father of Newark" because he patented 240 acres in 1852 where the
town of Newark was later established.  Hugh Tomlinson, the patriarch, died in
1851, and his widow Jemima married Adam Byber on July 19, 1853.  Jemima Byber #7
was one of the oldest members of the Akron congregation in 1874.  She was born in
Tennessee in 1812 and died on November 12, 1881.  Her son was W.H. Tomlinson, born
July 11, 1843.
     W. H. Tomlinson #3 was a leader in the church for over 50 years.  He served
as a soldier for the Confederacy during the Civil War.  He was baptized by John M.
Lemmons during the War and later became an elder in the church.  He married Sarah
Porter about 1863 #12 and they had thirteen children.  Wilson K. Tomlinson, on of
their sons, is still living in 1987 in Kennett, Missouri.
     Nathaniel M. Wilson #4 was born March 15, 1840 in Mississippi.  The family
moved to Independence County between 1846 and 1849.  Wilson was married three
times.  He married Jane Drennen on January 17, 1861.  She died before 1870 and he
then married Sarah ______.  N. M. and Sarah Wilson (#4 and #11) are listed with
the Akron congregation in 1874.  Sarah Wilson died in 1882 and Nat last married
Nancy Todd.
     Nancy had been born Nancy Arnold to John Newton Arnold and Nancy Magness
Arnold on April 23, 1852.  She first married Nathan Prince on February 6, 1870,
and they are listed together in the Akron register (#32 and #28).  Nathan Prince
died in 1876, and Nancy next married Milton Todd on March 15,1877.  Todd died in
1883 and Nancy married N. M. "Nat" Wilson on May 3, 1885.
     Possibly the oldest member of the Akron congregation was Rebecca Drennen
(#8), my great-great-great-grandmother.  She was born in South Carolina in 1804 as
Rebecca Robinson (?) and married Joseph Drennen on August 2, 1832, in Independence
County, Arkansas Territory.  Three of their seven children are listed at Akron:
Joanna Drennen (#46), Martha Drennen Holderby (#49), and Sarah Drennen McHenry
(#48).  The Jane Drennen who married N. M. Wilson as his first wife was also their
daughter. Rebecca Drennen owned 80 acres of land in Section 7, Township 12 North,
Range 4 West in 1865.  She died on October 3, 1875.
     The Jonathan Reeves family came to Arkansas about 1838 from Tennessee. *See
Appendix II.  Jonathan and his wife Martha Young, had sixteen children and all
were raised in the church.  In October 1855, J. R. Reeves served as secretary of
the district cooperation meeting held at Blue Springs Church in Independence
County, and he reported a summary of events of that meeting to the Gospel Advocate
of January 1856.
     Mariah Morgan (#64) was born Mariah Arnold on October 11, 1845.  She was a
sister of Nancy Arnold Prince (#28 - later Todd Wilson).  Mariah first married
Henry Holderby on December 10, 1866.  After his death in 1872, she married James
F. Morgan.  She died November 25, 1882 and is buried beside her first  husband in
the Akron Cemetery.  A total of seven people from the Akron register are buried
there in marked graves.
     Henry H. Burns (#51), a brother of Joseph and Morgan Burns, was my
grandfather's uncle.  He was born June 28, 1839, according to his tombstone in
Dugger Cemetery.  He served in the Confederate Army, then married Martha Hill in
1874.  After her death he married Mrs. Jane Garner Pennington.  He died December
28, 1896.

Sources
The original Cleghorn Chapel Church Book.
Cemeteries of the Newark-Magness Area by James Logan Morgan with Chal and Mae
Green.
Fight and Survive!  by Lady Elizabeth Luker.
Freeze Scrapbook.
Numerous articles from the Independence County Historical Society Chronicle.
The Gospel Advocate.
Family records and interviews with many residents of the area.

Akron Congregation  -  1874
Names of the Members of the Church of God

 1.  H. W. Robertson
 2.  Warren Hulsey        Elder
 3.  W. H. Tomlinson
 4.  N. M. Wilson         Deacon
 5.  W. H. Morris         transfered by letter March the first 1875
 6.  G. C. Brown          transfered by letter Sept. the 22, 1883
 7.  Jemima Byber         Deceased Nov. 17th, 1881
 8.  Rebeca Drenen        Deceased October the 3 - 1875
 9.  Harit Hulsey
10. Antinett Tomlinson            Deceased Aug. 16th, 1878
11. Sarah Wilson          Deceased Dec. 17th, 1882
12. Sarah Tomlinson
13.  Mary McKingrey               Deceased 1877
14.  N. E. Brown          transfered by letter Sept. 22, 1883
15.  Jane Robertson
16.  John McKiney         1875
17.  W. M. Robertson              Deceased March 17th, 1884
18.  Moley Palmer
19.  Poter Hulsey
20.  Annie Robertson
21.  Tennessee Coker
22. John Tomlinson        withdrawn from
23. Mrs. L. Jones
24. Rebeca Walker         Deceased April the 7th 1876
25.  W. L. Garner
26.  R. V. Garner         Runaway
27.  Ellin Moris          transfered by letter March 15th, 1875
28.  Nancy Prince
29.  Caroline Garett
30.  Ed Potts                     Runaway
31.  Caroline Blevens             Deceased 1878
32.  Nathan Prince        Deceased July the 15th, 1876
33.  M. A. King                   transfered by letter April 24th, 1885
34.  H. Tomlinson         Runaway
35.  Clint Owen                   Deceased
36.  R. Childress         Deceased 1882
37.  Nancy A. Childress
38.  Mary Tomlinson               Runaway
39.  Helender Holderby            transfered by letter March 1877
40.  A. J. King
41.   Misey Finch
42.  R. R. Reeves
43.  D. B. Lane                   Deceased 1876
44.  M. Porter                    withdrawn from
45.  W. M. Henderson
46.  Joaner Drenen        Deceased 1878
47.  Joseph Ansheets
48.  Sarah McHenry
49.  Martha Holerby
50.  Katy Arnold
51.  H. H. Burns
52.  A. A. Henderson
53.  W. G. Vandiver
54.  James Hungate
55.  W. W. Hulsey
55.  R. B. Stephens
56.  R. W. Hulsey
57.  T. R. Mitchel        transfered
58.  J. W. Brown          Deceased
59.  M. E. Mitchel
60.  Louisa Hulsey
61.  Sarah C. Stephens
62.  M. D. Brown          Deceased
63.  Eveline Prince               Deceased
64.  Mariah Morgan        Deceased
65.  Mary Hellen Tomlinson        Runaway
66.  Thomas Beard
67.  Caroline Beard
68.  Martha Flanagan
69.  Martha Holderby
70.  Mary A. Thornton
71.   Ellen Tolbert
72.  Amanda Tolbert
73.  Molly Smith
74.  Kate Stephens
75.  W. H. Gains          transfered by letter
76.  Mrs. W. Harris
77.  H. Blevens
78.  McGravack
79.  James Martin
80.  Zade L. Martin
81.  N. A. Crownover
91.  Lisa Boister         Runaway
92.  O. M. McGravack              transfered by letter Nov. the 3, 1883
93.  Amanda King          Deceased December 1884
94.  J. M. Owen           by confession and baptism-deceased March 22, 1884
95.  Maggie Owen
96.  Caroline Harrel              transfered by letter
97.  R. Comer
98.  Maxon Comer
99.  George Bows          Runaway
100.  Lily Owen
101.  Osker McCord
102.  Molly Nowlen        Runaway
103.  Katy Hulsey
104.  W. W. Young         transferred by letter Sept. the 22, 1883
105.  _____ Young
106.  Martha J. Hicks             transfered by letter Feb. the 7th, 1885
        Alfred Owen