Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Randolph's grave almost forgotten

Last year, Roy Cagle, an amateur photographer from Prescott, and Everette Orren, a local historian also of Prescott, set out on an adventure to find the grave site of Meriwether Lewis Randolph, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson.

When motorists turn off of Highway 67 in Gurdon and start down Main Street, they will see a marker placed there in 1960 by the Daughters of the American Colonists. The marker tells of Randolph and that he is buried 9 miles out of Gurdon.

When Cagle and Orren saw the sign, their interest was sparked and the two set out to find the grave. However, the two couldn't find it.

Orren had to leave town for a short time to take care of business. In the mean time, Cagle started to research Randolph.

"I finally found information in a book called "Clark County History" at the Henderson State University Library," said Cagle.

According to reports, Randolph was employed as a clerk in the Department of the State and worked in the White House under President Andrew Jackson. Meriwether met his future wife, Elizabeth Martin, in the White House in 1833/34. The two planned to wed in November of 1834, but, as Jackson planned to give Randolph some kind of appointment, he advised that they postpone the wedding to avoid a charge of nepotism.

In February of 1835 Jackson's nomination of William S. Fulton as Governor of the Arkansas Territory was confirmed, and on March 7, Meriwether Lewis Randloph accepted the appointment as the Secretary of the Territory of Arkansas.

On April 9, 1935, Betty and Lewis Randolph were married at her home in Tennessee.

Randolph's appointment to the territory included inspection of land offices in Helena, Batesville, Little Rock, and Washington.

Randolph also bought land and made investments for Eastern capitalists who gave him thousands of dollars to purchase somewhere close to 10,000 acres which was located mostly in Clark County. Randolph purchased some land in Ouachita, Nevada, Conway, Dallas and a few other counties, but seemed to like the land in Clark County the most.

When a Constitution for Arkansas was written and petition was filed to the U.S. Congress to admit Arkansas as a state, new counties were added to the territory. One of those was Randolph County, named for Meriwether Lewis Randolph, who didn't feel he had done anything to merit the honor and requested the county be named Roanoke County.

Roanoke was a family name of Randolph's.

In April of 1835, Randolph returned from his travels around Arkansas to his wife who was in Tennessee. When he arrived there he found his wife and a newborn son whom they named Lewis Jackson Randloph, after Randolph's boss, President Andrew Jackson.

When Randolph returned to Clark County in June, he made his first purchase of land, more than 6,000 acres between Terre Noire Creek and the Little Missouri River.

On July 4, 1835, Arkansas was granted admission as a state. Randolph continued to serve as Secretary of the Territory until September 13, 1836.

In November he moved his wife and son to the home in Clark County where Randolph became a farmer.

It was said that Randolph and his wife planned to build a Monticello plantation on their land.

Randolph continued to purchase land. Between April and July of 1837 he purchased 4,000 more acres including Whetstone Mountain and a "salt lick" in south Clark County. In August he supposedly bought more land and headed to Camden on a two week trip to purchase supplies for the winter.

Rumor is he was caught in a rain storm which caused him to take sick and run a high fever. After being sick for more than 10 days, Randolph died from malignant malaria. He was 27 years old.

It is not clear as to what happened to Randolph's wife, Betty, and their son after Randolph's death. It is speculated she went back to Tennessee with her family.

Cagle said he and his wife did the research and then started driving. They talked to several people within the Gurdon community to see if anyone knew where the actual gravesite is located.

Margaret McKenzie, who lives in the Kansas Community, told Cagle he should start at the Crossroads Baptist Church and go from there.

Cagle ran into a young man who was hunting in the area. The young man took Cagle to were he thought the grave was located.

"When we first walked up to it, the grave was covered in limbs and other debris. My wife had tears in her eyes as she cleaned off the grave and told me she couldn't imagine Randolph being buried there for all of those years alone," said Cagle.

He went on to say he was glad to finally find the grave site and he hoped more people would find interest in it.