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Elizabeth Partain

The following is from a hand-written story about my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Partain. The account was written by my cousin Ola Fern Ford Speer (daughter of my aunt Callie Partain Ford). I got a copy from my cousin Flossie Evans (daughter of my uncle John Partain) who received it from Ola Fern Ford Speer. Some of the events are pretty fuzzy and some don’t agree with other accounts I have heard. I make no judgment on the accuracy of the details, however, it is certainly very interesting and efforts have been made to validate some of the information through written records, such as census, death records and land deeds.

“Our Great Grandma Partain (Elizabeth) was ¼ Cherokee Indian. (LP Note: some accounts have her ½ Cherokee.) It isn’t known if the Indian bloodline came from her father, or her mother. She married our Great Grandpa, Charley Partain. He was of French ancestry, serving as a soldier in the Confederate Army. He was born in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas. After the marriage, they lived in Heber Springs, Arkansas. They had three sons: Bill, the oldest; John; and Mance (or Manson, or Sherman, as he was sometimes called.) Great Grandma’s father lived with them.

Since Great Grandpa Partain was a soldier, he was seldom home. Raiders, or bushwhackers, came to their home while he was away. They destroyed everything they owned, took all their livestock, chicken, all the food, and burned the house.

There was a refugee camp for devastated families in Rolla, Missouri. Great Grandma went there, taking her father and the three boys. She met a wealthy merchant in Rolla by the name of Pritchett. (Some reports say he was a Union officer.) Great Grandma became pregnant by him. He offered to marry her if she would give up her father and her three sons. She refused to do this. She left Rolla, Missouri and went to Fayetteville, Arkansas. (LP Note: if the story is true, she could only have had two sons when she left for Rolla since John was to be born after she met Pritchett and returned to Arkansas.)

At this time, Great Grandpa Charley returned to Heber Springs to see his family. He saw the house destroyed and started searching for his family. He searched everywhere he thought they might be, even (going) back to the Cherokee Indians to see if his wife had returned to her people. He said he could recognize her whatever stage of age, or suffering, or whatever might have changed her appearance if he could only just see her eyes. He could recognize her by her eyes, they were so very beautiful and so unusual. But he never found her. He went back to his soldier life, and was killed in battle.

The child by Pritchett was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, December 6, 1866. He was named John Thomas Partain, the same last name as his half brothers.

At sometime between the year of 1866 and 1876, Great Grandma Partain moved back to Independence County, Arkansas, perhaps to the town of Heber Springs, where they lived when she and Great Grandpa were married. In the year of 1876, Great Grandma was raped by a carpetbagger by the name of Bill Fowler. (A Carpetbagger is a Northerner who settled in the Southern states at the close of the Civil War. They got the name “Carpetbagger” from the bags made of carpet they carried their possessions in. They were considered to be the scum of the earth.)

Great Grandma gave birth to a daughter in the year of 1877, in Independence County, Arkansas. No city was given. She was given the name Callie Pritchett.

Great Grandma Partain died in the year 1879. Grandpa Partain was 13 years old. Callie Pritchett was two year old.

In the year 1885, or 1886, it was reported that Grandpa John Thomas Partain shot and killed Bill Fowler, the carpetbagger, for the rape of his mother. He would have been 19 or 20 years old at the time. Fort Smith, Arkansas, Crawford Count Seat, records show of the death of Bill Fowler at that time. But the cause of death was not stated.”

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