Joseph Burleson was born July 25, 1830, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Yancy County, North Carolina. He came to Arkansas with a wagon train about the year 1848. He was an orphan and a brother of Martha, who was the wife of Issac C. Wilson. The Wilsons were members of the wagon train. On the trip west, he went ahead of the others and, with his muzzle-loading rifle, killed enough game -- deer, turkey and other animals -- for the group to eat.
Joseph married Nancy Dearman on April 16,1852, and homesteaded land where the Cedar Grove Church now stands. He reared his family there. He served during the Civil War with the Confederate Army as a mule skinner, driving ammunition wagon drawn by six horses.
The children of Joseph and Nancy are: Charlie, who married Flora Weast; Jasper, who married Annie Perry; Fannie, who married Bud Bogle; Rachel, who married Bill Wilkerson; John, who married Margaret Wolf and later (1915) moved to Texas; Molly Belle married J.B. Narramore; and Jim whose wife's name is not known. Nancy Burelson was killed in a cotton gin accident.
The descendents of Joseph and Nancy Dearman Burleson are: Charlie, who married Flora Weast, had eight children. Namely, Joe who married a Dodd and then Agnes Richey; Virgil who married Dalia Cline; Garland who married Lucy Boils and later Minnie Pierce Briggs; Arthur who married Bessie Smart; Floyd who married Irene Keeter; George who married Stella Rhoton; Brice who married Oza Lancaster; and Lois who married Frank Gilley.
Jasper and Annie Oerry Burleson ahd five children: Elza who married Pearl Cunningham; Wally who married Helen Freeman; Buell who married Sally Williams; Lucille who married Elva Kirkwood; and Elva who married Charlie Williams.
The children of Fannie Burleson Bogle and Bud Bogle are: Willie (wife unknown); Ross (wife unknown); and Lillie who married Ray Parish.
Rachel Burleson Wilkerson and Bill Wilkerson had one daughter, Rachel, who never married.
John and Margaret Wolf Burleson had one daughter, Neacy, who married Joby Pangle, who stayed in Marion County; the other children -- Russel, Bob,Hershel, Johnny, Lee Roy, Dee, Doyle, and Ressie -- lived and married in Texas.
The children of Molly Belle Burleson Narramore and J. B. Narramore are: Oscar (unmarried); Charlie who married Essie Pierce; Chester who married Tressie Pangle; Bertha who married Auby Pangle; and Ruth who married Henry Hudson.
The children of Jim Burleson are unknown but there are presently many descendents of Joseph Burleson living in Marion County.
Reprinted with permission from History of Marion County edited by Earl Berry, copyright 1977.