Meriwether Lewis Randolph purchased many tracts of land in Arkansas. Much of it he quickly assigned to wealthy friends who gave him the money to make the purchases. He kept for himself lands in southeastern Clark County. Born on January 31, 1810, Randolph was a grandson of Thomas Jefferson. He spent his childhood and youth at Monticello, his grandfather's home near Charlottesville, Virginia, and studied law at the University of Virginia. By the early 1830s, he was in Washington where he met Elizabeth Martin of Tennessee, a pretty young niece of Andrew Jackson's wife and his future wife. Jackson liked the young man and appointed him the last Territorial Secretary of Arkansas in 1835. After statehood, he continued to serve in this capacity until mid-September 1836. Hoping to recoup the failing Jefferson/Randolph fortunes, the young planter was at his new plantation in the wilderness of Clark County by November 1836. He died there less than a year later on September 24, 1837, of "bilious congestive fever"--now known as malignant malaria. He was four months short of his 28th birthday. He is buried there, a largely forgotten figure from early Arkansas history.
Directions: take hwy 53 south out of Gurdon Ark to Kansas Rd. Go 9.3 miles to Stroud Rd. Turn left. Grave is .6 miles in the woods down Stroud rd. GPS N 33.51.942, W -93.01.157

Meriwether Lewis Randolph purchased many tracts of land in Arkansas. Much of it he quickly assigned to wealthy friends who gave him the money to make the purchases. He kept for himself lands in southeastern Clark County. Born on January 31, 1810, Randolph was a grandson of Thomas Jefferson. He spent his childhood and youth at Monticello, his grandfather's home near Charlottesville, Virginia, and studied law at the University of Virginia. By the early 1830s, he was in Washington where he met Elizabeth Martin of Tennessee, a pretty young niece of Andrew Jackson's wife and his future wife. Jackson liked the young man and appointed him the last Territorial Secretary of Arkansas in 1835. After statehood, he continued to serve in this capacity until mid-September 1836. Hoping to recoup the failing Jefferson/Randolph fortunes, the young planter was at his new plantation in the wilderness of Clark County by November 1836. He died there less than a year later on September 24, 1837, of "bilious congestive fever"--now known as malignant malaria. He was four months short of his 28th birthday. He is buried there, a largely forgotten figure from early Arkansas history.
Directions: take hwy 53 south out of Gurdon Ark to Kansas Rd. Go 9.3 miles to Stroud Rd. Turn left. Grave is .6 miles in the woods down Stroud rd. GPS N 33.51.942, W -93.01.157