Jones Broach's son, Charles... as listed at The Descendants of Jones Broach... moved on to Arkansas. He is the direct ancestor of many of us in the Arkansas branch of our extended Broach family.

Some stories have our Broaches headed for the California gold rush in 1849. Supposedly, they were tired of traveling by the time they reached Arkansas and decided to settle there.

Other accounts have them coming to Arkansas over a two year period.

Henry Broach (henry@broach.net) of Roland, Arkansas has what it most likely the best information on when, how, and why our ancestors traveled to Arkansas. In a recent email, Henry writes:

The story I was told all my life was that my great grandfather, Jones A. Broach and his wife Martha Green Broach... along with their two daughters and my grandfather... came by wagon in the spring of 1848 to Dallas County.

They had been enticed to come to Dallas County by one of Martha's relatives, Col. John C. Green, and have Jones employed as a farm and slave overseer for him on some large acreage he owned in that far eastern side of the county, later to become part of Cleveland Co.

Col. Green, I think was an older brother of Martha's father, Rice B. Green. I know Rice was a vet of the War of 1812 and John C. may have been one of the John Greens listed as also a vet of the same war. The Colonel was a title he assumed, I really think, as I can find no record of a Col. John Green from NC or GA in that war.

The point I was trying to make was that to the best of my knowledge, Charles, your William B., and all the others came between 1849 and 1850. There was a large group who traveled together. Vickie Broach in Arkansas who also descends from William B., thinks they took about 2 years to all get to Arkansas.
(end quote from Henry Broach)

At any rate, sometime in the late 1840s, Charles Broach and his wife Mary... along with their four sons and their families... left the Monroe, Georgia area for Arkansas. Charles was 71 years of age and Mary was 60 at the time of the move.

According to a 1959 article in a Cleveland County, Arkansas newspaper, they were six months on the trip traveling in oxen-drawn covered wagons.

Can you just imagine the trials and tribulations of such a journey before the days of roads and bridges. They traveled with all their little children... and undoubtedly with all their implements, tools, and livestock from chickens and pigs to cows and horses. Our Broaches crossed half of Georgia..., all of Alabama, all of Mississippi..., and half of Arkansas.

This writer was born in 1938 in Chicot County, Arkansas... an area the Charles Broach entourage probably crossed in the late 1840s. My birthplace and home until age 7 was a log cabin on the banks of Cypress Slough (about half way between Bayou Mason and Beouf River.) See photos at Murry Broach Photos

Our cabin was very near what is now a paved highway named Airport Road in the Bayou Mason Community. I can tell you however, that in the early 1940s... almost a hundred years after our Broaches came to Arkansas... this area was almost impassable during the rainy season.

The area was a swamp and a mud-bog deluxe. I personally remember many times when a good team of mules couldn't move a wagon down the road due to the "buckshot gumbo" mud.

Numerous sloughs, bayous, and Beouf River flooded the flat swampy land for miles around almost every Spring.

Charles and Mary's sons and their wives who came to Arkansas with them about 1849 were:

Jones A. 34 and Martha 32,
Henderson 31 and Sarah C. 27,
James T. 28 and Elizabeth 23, and
William Berry 22 along with his wife Martha 18.

(Yes, two of the four sons had wives named Martha.)

All the sons except William Berry had small children who also made the trip to Arkansas. William Berry and his new bride, Martha Jane PETERS Broach, are my (Murry L. Broach Sr's) and my first cousins' great-great grandparents.

The children of Jones A. who made the trip were Sarah Jane 12, Mary Rebecca 9, and William Alexander 1.

Note: The William Alexander Broach above is the grandfather of Henry Broach of Roland, Arkansas (HBroach@aol.com) who has made major contributions to this web site.

William Alexander lived to be 90 years of age and spent his later years in the home of Henry's parents. Therefore, Henry probably has the "closest up" info of anyone alive today about our earliest Arkansas Broach ancestors.

The children of Henderson Broach who made the trip to Arkansas were Elizabeth H. 12, Susan L.B. 7, and William I. age 6.

The children of James T. were Henrietta 5, William 3, and Luticia, age 1.

Many of the Broaches in the nation today can trace their lineage to the above people. If you can trace your ancestry directly to any of them, please correspond with me.

It would also be especially nice for this web site to include any old photographs of these people that you may have available. Please scan the photos and email them to me at murry@broach.net. Or, send copies of the photos to me via Priority Mail. I will scan them into my computer and return them to you post haste via Priority.

Our Broaches settled just northeast of present day Fordyce, Arkansas in Dallas County. Fordyce did not exist at that time. It is unknown whether any town or "settlement" existed nearby where our people settled. On an 1865 Confederate government map, the nearest "settlement" was "Buck Snort" which still exists today a few miles northwest of Fordyce.

The Broach's land was later partitioned into the new Cleveland County when Cleveland was formed in 1873. (Originally named Dorsey when formed and renamed Cleveland in 1885.)

A Broach Cemetery is located near the old William Berry Broach house place. Dozens of people named Broach are buried there.

You can reach the Broach Cemetery by going to Fordyce, Arkansas. Take Highway 167 North toward Little Rock. The best way to navigate is to set your odometer to zero at the intersection of Highway 167 and Highway 79 on the northern suburbs of Fordyce.

Go 4.2 miles north on Highway 167 to the intersection of Highway 273. Turn right (east) on Highway 273. After a little over half a mile, Highway 273 will make a sharp left so you will be heading north again.

Continue going north on this road and you will see the cemetery on your left about 2.5 miles after Highway 273 took the hard turn to the left as described above. The cemetery is fenced and a large sign over the gate says "Broach Cemetery". At the cemetery, your odometer should read 7.4 if you zeroed it as above.

My (Murry Broach Sr's) direct ancestors are buried in unmarked graves near the back of the cemetery on the left side. My great grandpa, John Harrison Broach is buried at the feet of W. T. Daniel, 1868 - 1957. Just to the right of W. T. Daniel's marker is a marker for James T. Broach, April 19, 1819 - October 17, 1852. William Berry Broach (father of John Harrison) is buried at James T. Broach's feet.

Henry Broach's great grandparents, Jones A. and Martha Green Broach along with their daughter Averillar are also buried in the Broach Cemetery. Averillar was born to Jones and Martha shortly after they arrived in Arkansas and died young.

Jones A. had a stroke about 1898. He and Martha went to live with his brother William Berry and son Charles. Jones died in 1900 and Martha in 1904.

Charles and Mary Broach, the parents of William Berry Broach are probably also buried in this cemetery in an unmarked grave of which we do not know the location. There is also the possibility Charles and Mary returned to Georgia before their deaths. We have been unable to find death records for either at this time.

You'll probably see more Broach graves in this cemetery than you've ever seen in one place. The Broach family has a get-together and cemetery cleaning there every Labor Day. Broaches come from all over to help, socialize, and picnic under the trees.

If you stretched a line from the front left corner to the rear right corner of the cemetery, and continued the line for about 300 yards into the woods, you'd be at the old William Berry Broach house place. As late as the early 1970s, their old syrup making pan was still there at the nearby spring.

A personal "warning", however. If you visit the area during the warm weather months... be sure you "dope up" with OFF or some other insect repellant before roaming around in the pine trees behind the cemetery. Otherwise, I can guarantee you the ticks and chiggers will literally eat you alive!

While visiting the cemetery in the early 1970s, I talked with an "old timer" who lived nearby. Said he knew the Broaches well, "way back when".

The old timer told a story of when he was a boy of only ten or twelve in the early 1900s period. He said a Mr. Charlie Broach got appendicitis. The doctor came and Charlie was given whiskey until he passed out. The doctor then performed an appendectomy on Charlie on the dining table while the young "old-timer" held a lamp.

"But"... declared the old-timer in a matter-of-fact voice... "He (Charlie) died anyway".

I kind of wrote off the old timer's story for many years as the vivid imagination of an oldster. Then in early 1999 I corresponded with Gale Bethea and her daughter Phyllis Burger of Camden, Arkansas.

Wow! Now the story makes chills run up my spine... and the hair on my arms stand on end!

One of the first things Phyllis told me was that all her life she had heard the family story of how her great-grandfather, Charles Thomas Broach (son of William Berry) had died of a botched appendectomy on the dining room table.

(Moral of the story.... listen to the old timers. :-)

(note:) Just about every generation of the Broach family had a Charles... who invariably was known as "Charlie". This is very appropriate, of course, considering that our original "Arkansas immigrant" was Charles Broach.

Until recently, practically every generation has also had a "Berry" Broach. At times they were somewhat like "John" in other families..., to tell them apart there were Berry, Little Berry, Big Berry, Tall Berry and Shorty Berry. The name as a Broach given-name predates our Jones Broach (1755 - 1809) Although this is undoubtedly some Broach mother's maiden name... it would be very interesting to know exactly where the name comes from.

The following is copy from:

Sorghum Mill Spring, located on the pilot forest tract north of Kingsland probably brought about as much activity as has been going on recently on the tract but conservation practices were quite different from those of today.

And the history of this 100 acre tract, owned by Mrs. Winton Robertson dates back over a century ago.

During the past few weeks International Paper Company foresters have been turning the 100 acres into a model tract of timberland for a permanent guide to good forestry practices. It will be dedicated along with about 90 other pilot forests over the South on Pulp and Paper Day, April 14.

And just compare these model conservation practices being carried out by the foresters on this tract today with those of the early settlers. One of the early conservation practices by the early settlers, it was pointed out, was cutting down a big pine and letting it rot in the woods so that they could use the bugs in it for fish bait.

Two 40s of the 100-acre tract, according to the records, were homesteaded by William Berry Broach, and Mrs. Robertson said that the land patent was signed personally by President Franklin Pierce in 1855.

Mrs. Robertson pointed out, however, that one marker in the family cemetery dated the earliest death at 1852, so it is presumed that the settlers reached this country in the 1840s.

The William Berry Broach family came from Monroe, GA in a train of 42 wagons and were six months on the way.

"Four generations were nurtured on this land", Mrs. Robertson said, "with as many as 15 in a family".

There are a lot of signs of an Indian camp being located on the Pilot Forest tract at one time.

The big spring on the back side of the tract which never goes dry, according to the owner, was the big drawing card for a sorghum mill and thereby got the name of Sorghum Mill Spring.

An itinerant miller would come by and set up a mill for about two weeks during sorghum-making season and families would come from miles around to make sorghum and visit at the big spring. An old sorghum pan at the spring is at least 60 years old.

Parts of the tract were in cultivation before the Civil War and were in continuous cultivation until 1945.

Mrs. Robertson acquired the tract in 1949 from D. A. Smith, who had purchased the land in 1946 from members of the Broach Family.

The pilot forests are demonstration farm forests set up on selected privately owned tracts. They were selected by local agricultural and forestry agencies co-operating with pulp and paper companies as representatives of the area in which they are located. Pilot Forests are designed to show landowners in the area the way to more profitable tree growing.

The Cleveland county Pilot Forest is one of three in Arkansas.

(end of copy from The Cleveland County County Herald)

In 1999, forty years after the above article was written, I was priviledged to visit with Mrs. Robertson who was quoted in the article. She is in her early 90s now and is sharp as a tack.

Mrs. Robertson showed me the original land patent from the USA to our William Berry Broach. She has it mounted on a board and allowed me to take a photo of it. My photography that day, however, left a lot to be desired and it did not come out viewable.

Following are my (Murry L. Broach Sr.) family names from the headstones in Ricks Cemetery.

William H. Broach
Born 11/16/1887 - Died 8/10/1961
Soula Irene Broach
Born 10/16/1892 - Died 3/19/1948
Fredrick Broach
Born 4/12/1918 - Died 9/20/1920

W. T. Duncan
Born 4/1849 - Died 2/1939
Amanda Duncan
Born 7/28/1854 - Died 7/27/1902
Lora Duncan
Born 1872 - Died 1960

Edward L. Duncan 1876 - 1937
Bossie Duncan 1924 - 1961
Willie Duncan 1883 - 1951

Edward F. Duncan 11/25/1851 - 1/8/1944
H. Alice Duncan 7/22/1858 - 4/29/1955

W. J. Craven 6/29/1849 - 2/20/1903
M. L. Craven 8/4/1854 - 3/13/1937

James D. Craven 12/27/1875 - 2/22/1911
Camella P. Craven 12/31/1884 - 9/27/1971

Sgt Benjamin F. Craven 12/23/1891 - 2/5/1918

Albert Lee Duncan Sr. 7/5/1904 - 10/12/1985

B. Duncan 1924 - 1967

The following are headstones with my family names in the Dickinson Cemetery near Harrell, Arkansas:

W. A. Craven 8/28/1878 - 1/12/1942
Laura H. Craven 2/10/1884 - 1/3/1961

William A. Craven is the son of William Craven (brother of my ggrandmother, Amanda Craven) and his wife, Martha Ricks.

Samuel Guy Duncan 3/3/1884 - 10/30/1969
Hettie L. Duncan 11/20/1882 - 7/29/1943

H. Elmo Duncan 10/23/1882 - 8/31/1959

Samuel Guy and H. Elmo are children of Edward Franklin Duncan, bother of my ggrandfather, William Thomas Duncan.

Help Wanted!

This writer is definitely always open to suggestions... and criticism... constructive or otherwise. Please contact me with any thing you think would improve this web site, make it easier to read and understand, and especially with further information on anyone and everyone named on the site.

Presently, the earliest (generation-wise) photo we have is of John Harrison Broach's wife (William Harrison Broach's mother...) Rachel Wardlaw Broach.

Now, "surely" (hopefully) somewhere, someone in the Broach family has photographs of our John Harrison and even possibly our William Berry Broach. Please help me find and get a copy of them!

We'd love to post any photos you supply right here on the web for the whole world of Broaches to see and enjoy.

The Jones Broach Home Page

The Will of Jones Broach

The Descendants of Jones Broach

Broach Family History

Georgia Branch of
Jones Broach Descendants

The Research of Raymond Charles Broach

Broach Census Records

Broach Family Photos