NEW EDINBURG - Turning off the Cleveland County twolane onto a red clay road south of Kingsland and west of New Edinburg, one is transported back in time traveling on the old Pine Bluff/Camden Road built in 1832.Well off the beaten path, where pine plantations have replaced cotton fields, the sound of traffic is faint if heard at all. The lack of modem noises allows the natural world to express itself. Once a year for a century and a half, the additional sounds of family conversation, laughter and the joyous noise of children playing echo through the hollows of Salt Branch Creek.On midday Sunday, June 7, the parking lot next to the historic Marks Family Cemetery was filled with automobiles bearing license plates from Arkansas, Texas, New York, Mississippi, Florida and Missouri.The original Marks ancestors who first settled in the region were John Harvie and Hastings Marks. John Harvie was bom in Georgia in 1808 while elder brother Hastings was bom in 1795. Following the War of 1812, in which Hastings saw active combat as a Georgia militiaman in the Creek Indian War of 1813, the pair moved their families from Georgia to Montgomery, Ala. From there, John Harvie came to Arkansas in 1834 where he acquired large landholdings across south-central Arkansas. The brothers and their families now lie at rest in historic Marks Cemetery.Many other significant early settlers he beneath the ancient cedars towering over the burial grounds. Another pair of brothers who helped tame the early Arkansas wilds were Thomas W. Chowning, born 1848, and John B. Chowning, bom 1846. They operated an important ferry on the Saline River north of Kingsland on what was then the Pine Bluff/Princeton Military Road.Marks/Bamett Family Association President, Robert Kresko from Missouri addressed the 45 Marks descendants on hand for the annual event, welcoming them with thanks for the good turnout. Considering a mere 12 folks were able to make it in 2022, only 28 i...
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