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May Hope Moose Papers

Memoirs, Letters, Genealogies, Photographs

Manuscript collection MC 721

• Information about the Moose Family
• Information about the Collection
• Contents of Collection (2 boxes)

THE MOOSE FAMILY

The Mooses were also a noted family: Judge William Lewis Moose graduated in law from Vanderbilt University in 1879. He was elected Arkansas State Senator in 1895, reelected in 1897, and elected Attorney General of the state of Arkansas in 1912. Reelected to this post in 1914, he died in office the following year. James Sayle Moose, Jr., who studied modern Oriental languages in Paris, held several significant diplomatic posts, including the ambassadorship to Syria, 1952-57, and to the Sudan, 1958-62.

THE COLLECTION

The papers include photocopied genealogies and memoirs by May Hope Moose and Florence Cazort Byrd (first cousin to May Cazort McClurkin); a photocopy of the memoirs of May Cazort McClurkin constitutes part of the collection as well, as do photocopies of familial correspondence. Clippings, pamphlets, and programs related to Conway County churches and the Morrilton centennial are also present in the May Hope Moose Papers, as is a series of photographs. May Hope Moose, who retained the originals of her mother May Cazort McClurkin's memoirs, assembled photocopies of memoirs, genealogies, and correspondence, and clippings, pamphlets, and photographs, as well, to provide a record of her own and her husband's families.

Processed by Janet G. Tucker, February 1988. Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

• Series 1. Cazort Family Materials. Box 1.
  • Subseries 1. May Cazort McClurkin Memoirs.
  • Subseries 2. Florence Cazort Byrd Memoirs.
• Series 2. Garner-Huddleston Family Materials. Box 2.
  • Subseries 1. Garner Family Correspondence.
  • Subseries 2. Garner-Huddleston Family Notes.
• Series 3. Hodnett-McClurkin Family Papers. Box 2.
  • Subseries 1. Hodnett Family Materials.
  • Subseries 2. McClurkin Family Materials.
• Series 4. Moose Family Materials. Box 2.
  • Subseries 1. Histories.
  • Subseries 2. Clippings.
• Series 5. Materials concerning Conway County, Arkansas. Box 2.
• Series 6. Photographs. Box 2.

Series 1. Cazort Family Materials. Box 1.

The memoirs and genealogies in this collection consist of the memoirs of May Cazort McClurkin and those of her cousin Florence Cazort Byrd. In 1662, the Hugenot Jacques Cossart, Jr. sailed from Holland to North America, where "Cossart" became corrupted to "Cazort." His descendants lived for a time in North Carolina before settling in Arkansas. Following the Civil War, the Cazort brothers founded a chain of general stores (which later became department stores) with the parent store in Cabin Creek (later Lamar), Arkansas, in Johnson County; they bought a tract of land in the Ozark Mountains in northern Johnson County, Cazort Springs in Ozone, Arkansas, and it was here that they spent their summers.

May Cazort McClurkin wrote out a copy of her memoirs for each of her children; the copy in the present collection is a photocopy of the volume given to May Hope McClurkin Moose. Items in quotations are titles given by May Cazort McClurkin and Florence Cazort Byrd, respectively. A copy of Florence Cazort Byrd's memoirs, given to May Hope Moose, comprises subseries 2.

Subseries 1. May Cazort McClurkin Memoirs, written Aug 1-Dec 25, 1957.

Box 1

1. McClurkin family history and genealogy, 1730-1971, pp. 1-21.
2. "The Cossart (Cazort) Family in America," pp. 23-44, Cazort family genealogy, 1595-1959, pp. 45-46.
3. "Family Stories." The Cazort family in North Carolina and the move to Arkansas, 1771-1849.
4. Cazort family in Arkansas through the Civil War, 1850-c. 1865, pp. 56-68.
5. Cazort family after the Civil War: Cazort Brothers Store, Cabin Creek and Lamar, pp. 69-75.
6. Cazort family after the Civil War, "courting watch," Cazort burial ground, pp. 76-82.
7. Cazort family after the Civil War: Vincent Wallace murder and its aftermath, Sid Wallace (relatives of May Cazort McClurkin's grandmother), pp. 83-94.
8. Cazort family stories: Uncle Ben story, Conway home, Charles Humphry and Paraclifta, pp. 94-101.
9. Cazort family stories: Garner twins, Belle and May (mother of May Cazort McClurkin), W. W. Garner and the Gold Rush, family jewelry, pp. 102-105.
10. May Cazort McClurkin, Winthrop Road, Morrilton, corre-spondence with Winthrop Rockefeller, pp. 105-111.
11. Ozone (Cazort Springs), pp. 111-127. "Reminiscence," by Pauline Cazort Berry, "An Arkansas Boy," by James Courtney Challis; Uncle Jim's [Cazort] Ozone poem, "Is This Not the Land of Beulah," separate typed page.
12. Verse, pp. 125-172.
13. "Old Weather Superstitions," pp. 173-177.
14. "Grandmother Brown," "Songs ...," pp. 178-205.
15. Songs and ballads, pp. 205-213.
16. "Hodge-podge," p. 214; "Ancestral [Cazort] War Records," pp. 215-216.
17. Family slang and sayings, "Advice to Wives," number game, oil well, pp. 217-220.
18. "Description of Papa's Ozone Land," pp. 222-224.
19. Spirituality, pp. 225-231.
20. May Cazort McClurkin's letter to May Hope Moose, Dec 25, 1957, pp. 233-234; all additional material added by May Hope Moose. "Personal pages," addendum Jan, 1959, pp. 235-236.
21. "Styles," copied from the [Arkansas] Gazette c. 1934, pp. 239-241; materials about members of the Moose family, pp. 242-251; May Cazort McClurkin, "The Holy Trinity: A Meditation," p. 253.
22. May Hope Moose, letter to to Terry Humble of Morrilton, Arkansas, Feb 8, 1966; "The Business Empire of Cazort Brothers," not paginated. Cazort Family Record, c. 1850, photocopy.

    Subseries 2. Florence Cazort Byrd Memoirs, c. 1970s.

    Box 1 (cont.)

23. "Our Echoes Roll," 47 pp. + dedication page, "partial list of relatives." Partial history of Garner and Cazort families and Byrd's reminiscences.
24. Glimpses of an Arkansas Girlhood," sequel to "Our Echoes Roll."

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Series 2. Garner-Huddleston Family Materials. Box 2.

The Garner family can be traced back to Englishman John Garner, who came to Virginia c. 1650. His descendant Samuel Garner brought his family to Jackson County, Arkansas c. 1835. Samuel's son W. W. Garner wrote a body of letters from the field to his wife Henrietta while a lieutenant in the Confederate Army. Their daughter Ruth married George David Huddleston in 1892, and her twin sisters Belle and May married J. R. and W. A. Cazort, respectively, in Lamar, Arkansas. All materials are typed and photocopied.

Subseries 1. Garner Family Correspondence.

Box 2

1. Correspondence from W. W. Garner to Henrietta Garner, Apr 15, 1863-Apr 2, 1864.
2. Correspondence from Henrietta Garner to her children, Nov 3, 1876-Feb 15, 1877.

   Subseries 2. Garner-Huddleston Family Notes.

   Box 2 (cont.)

3. Garner-Huddleston Family Notes. c. 1970.
   
   

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   Series 3. Hodnett-McClurkin Family Papers. Box 2.

   The Hodnetts first appear in America in the person of John Hodnett, a Justice of the Peace in Goochland County, Virginia in 1741. His descendant Benjamin Hodnett served in the American Revolution and was in turn an ancestor of Hilliard Hodnett, who married Saphronia Kimbrough Hodnett in 1845; their photographs can be found in Series 6. Their daughter, Lee Hope Hodnett, married John Dean Hodnett and was the grandmother of May Hope McClurkin Moose. The most prominent McClurkins were John Irving McClurkin, Treasurer and Business Manager at Hendrix College, 1912-26, and educator Dr. W. D. McClurkin, his son.

   Subseries 1. Hodnett Family Materials. Typed, photocopy, c. 1960.

   Box 2 (cont.)

4. "Hodnett," a brief history listing members of the Hodnett family, 1741-1978.
5. "The Hodnett Family in America."

   Subseries 2. McClurkin Family Materials.

   Box 2 (cont.)

6. John Dean McClurkin and Rebecca Lee Hope Hodnett, Bond for a Marriage License, Nov 13, 1880, photocopy.
7. Clippings concerning Golden Wedding Anniversary of John Dean McClurkin and Rebecca Hodnett McClurkin.
8. Parole Deposition issued to Confederate J. W. McClurkin by the Union Army in Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863. Negative photocopy.
9. Page from the Population Census of 1860 for Columbia County, Arkansas concerning the Starnes and McClurkin families. Typed, photocopy.
10. "Who's Who in Hendrix." Newspaper article about John Irving McClurkin, Hendrix Bulldog, Jan 15, 1915, photocopy. "Arkansas Man New Peabody Unit Officer," clipping about Dr. W. D. McClurkin, no title, n.d., photocopy.
11. Letter to May Cazort McClurkin from Georgette N. Manla, editor of American School and University, Jan 22, 1969. Photocopy of cover photograph included. Original photograph in series 6, #16.
    
    

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    Series 4. Moose Family Materials. Box 2.

    The Moose family can be traced back to German immigrant David Mussgenung, his wife Elizabeth (nee Kurtz), and their son George, who arrived in the new world in 1751. George is the ancestor of the Present Arkansas Mooses. Descendant John Lewis Moose eventually settled in Morrilton. James Miles Moose was his son. John Menifee Moose, son of James Miles Moose, was pastor of the Morrilton Methodist Church. In Little Rock in 1882, he established and edited the Arkansas Methodist, official organ of the Methodist Church in Arkansas. James Miles Moose's daughter Mary Emily Moose Fletcher of Little Rock was very active in civil, state, and charitable organizations, including a term as President of the State Federation of Daughters of the Confederacy, 1910-12, State Federation of Women's Clubs, Vice-President of National Associations of Musical Clubs, President for eight years of the Missionary Society of the Christian Church, and secretary to the Little Rock Orphans' Home Board.

    James Miles Moose's son William Lewis Moose, a graduate from the Vanderbilt University School of Law, was a law associate of the late congressman C.C. Reid. He was an Arkansas State Senator and at one point President of the Senate, eventually elected Attorney General of the State of Arkansas.

    Virginia Darden Moose, who attended Hendrix College and Vanderbilt University, graduated with highest honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law, the only woman in her class; she was admitted to the Bar in 1921. she was Assistant Attorney General of the State of Arkansas under Attorney General J.S. Utley from 1921-25, later holding the post of Chief Deputy Clerk in the United States District Offices in Little Rock

    James Miles Moose's daughter Eugenia married Charles Burrow of North Carolina. He was President of the Little Rock Cotton Exchange in the 1920s.

    The Moose Family Histories in the present collection were written by May Hope McClurkin Moose. All three are typed; two are photocopies.

    Subseries 1. Histories.

    Box 2 (cont.)

12. "The Moose Family in Arkansas," c. 1970. Covers the period 1751-1970s.
13. Moose Family History. PART 2. Private printing. c. 1960. Contains the same basic material found in "The Moose Family in Arkansas."
14. "A History of the Moose Family in Conway County," Arkansas, carbon copy, Sept 1979. Essentially a repetition of "The Moose Family in Arkansas," with the additional information that John Menifee Moose, son of James Miles Moose and pastor of the Morrilton Methodist Church, established and became editor of the Arkansas Methodist, official organ of the Methodist Church in Arkansas, in 1882.
15. James Miles Moose, genealogical table, n.d.

    Subseries 2. Clippings.

    Box 2 (cont.)

16. Clippings concerning Judge William Lewis Moose and his wife Linnie Porterfield Bright Moose (in her wedding dress). no title, n.d., photocopy. "Formula for a Successful Retirement," Morrilton (Arkansas) Democrat, Wednesday, oct 8, 1980, p. 14, photocopy.
    
    

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    Series 5. Materials concerning Conway County, Arkansas. Box 2.

    Morrilton, Arkansas, home town of the Moose family, celebrated its centennial in 1979. Several items dealing with that event are contained in the present collection. The Methodists of Morrilton, Arkansas, constructed a log school house, established a Sunday school, and hired a circuit preacher in 1838; there were twenty Methodist churches in Conway County by 1890. The first Baptist church in Conway County was erected in Lewisburg in 1879; the Baptist church moved to Morrilton in 1917. In addition to the above denominations, an Episcopal Church and a Christian church were organized in 1885, with a Christadelphian church founded near Solgahachia in 1882 and a Presbyterian church begun at Lewisburg in 1869. The Sacred Heart Catholic Church was established in 1879. The centennial of The First Methodist Church of Morrilton was celebrated in 1979.

    Box 2 (cont.)

17. Correspondence, 1979.
18. "Morrilton: 100 Years, 1879-1979. A History of Early Morrilton Researched by Retired Teachers Association of Morrilton." Pamphlet.
19. Clippings, c. 1979, photocopies.
20. "Early Churches in Conway County," typed, c. 1970. Written on verso: "For 6-page program booklet." [not included].
21. Pamphlets, clippings about churches in Morrilton and Conway County, Arkansas, 1924-79.
22. The First United Methodist Church Centennial, 1979.
    
    

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    Series 6. Photographs. Box 2.

    This series consists of photographs of the Mooses and the related families of the McClurkins, the Cazorts, the Hodnetts, and the Garners. Photographs of such places as "Whitehall" (home of J. R. and Belle Cazort), Cazort Spring at Ozone, Arkansas, and the grave of Petit Jean are also included, as are a group of seven 35 mm. negatives. The photographs are numbered (a total of 36 images) and grouped in folders.

    Box 2 (cont.)

23. Images 1-8. Cazort Family.
24. Images 9-11. Garner-Hodnett Family.
25. Images 12-21. McClurkin Family.
26. Images 22-32. Moose Family.
27. Images 33-36. Sites.
28. Negatives. Removed to negative storage.

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