L>R: Oscar Walker & WIlliam Henderson Thatch

ON-LINE: Sent by Norbert Woolsey, Tucson, AZ 85750.
Sunday, 17 Sep 2000. ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE.
Neglected for generation, cemetery nearly forgotten. by Chris Branam.
Fayetteville - John Thaddeus Skelton was a veteran of the Civil War and a prominent resident of Fayetteville by the end of the 19th century. Now, Skelton lies next to his wife, Mary Rebekah, in an abandoned family cemetery in the woods behind the First United Presbyterian Church in east Fayetteville. The most frequent visitors to his grave are squirrels & snakes. At least eight people are buried in the Skelton Cemetery, located on a small piece of land belonging to the church. Sitting just a few hundred yards from a residential neighborhood, the cemetery hasn't been maintained for years. A stone for William J. Thatch sits (hid) in brush in the Skelton Cemetery. Weeds are growing over the tombstones, and locust saplings are spreading their roots among the grave markers. A lead-pipe fence was erected years ago to mark the plot, and nearby a rusted chain-link fence protects four more tombstones. "Gone but not forgotten" is etched into a granite marker lying between two large tombstones. The stone bears no name. It's important to preserve family cemeteries, said Paul Marinoni, the president of the Washington County Historic Preservation Association. Marinoni, a Fayetteville mayoral candidate, pointed out the discovery of the grave marker of Samuel Woolsey, whose 1800s farm was part of the land bought by the city as a buffer for a sewage-treatment plant north of Farmington, which is hoped to be built by 2004.. .

Woolsey's tombstone describes him as starting a farm on the site in 1830, which is important information for historians, Marinoni said. The Woolsey farm is going to be considered for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. . . . .Twenty years ago, George Crabtree and his wife, Bitsy, recorded the information on tombstones in the Skelton Cemetery for the Northwest Arkansas Genealogical Society. The couple, describing the cemetery, said: "Tombstones have been turned over and are broken; it's very probable that some are missing." The Crabtrees visited about 20 to 25 family cemeteries, said George Crabtree, 86. Bitsy Crabtree died in 1991. . . . . "These people can't look out for themselves," said Marinoni of the people buried in the Skelton Cemetery. "There has to be somebody to watch out for them." [There is more in the article, but not pertinent to Woolsey.]

Family Researcher: Sue Morrison
ON-LINE: My connection to Priscilla Woolsey and John Woolsey III, I am descended through John Woolsey IV and Mary Gilbert John IV's son Samuel Gilbert Woolsey md Matilda Thompson. Samuel and Matilda moved to Arkansas, first to Hempstead Co and then to settle finally in Washington County. They had 13 children, one of whom was Sarah, also called "Sallie" who md Josiah Trent. Josiah and Sallie Trent's dau Mary Jane was my great great grandmother. She md John Forrest McGee in Washington Co, AR and they eventually moved with their children, including my gt grandfather Edgar Trent Gee, to Wise Co., Texas. Edgar Trent McGee md Mary Flora Beavers, and their oldest son, Albert Goldman McGee, was my maternal grandfather. Sue Morrison

Josie & W.H. Thatch