Musick

Isaac Musick was a member of the Musick family who originally came from Virginia to Kentucky then to Missouri. One of the brothers, Peter Musick, settled on the site of what is now St. Louis. Isaac left Missouri and came to northern Arkansas in the early 1800's. He homesteaded on the White River at the mouth of what is known as Musick Creek (now shown as Music Creek). Isaac is presumed to have had a wife and possibly children when he came to Arkansas. His children are: Try, Andrew Benton, Lee, Atlanta who married a McCracken, and Virginia who married a Hogan.

Try Musick went to the Indian Territory after the Civil War. He settled near Eufala, Oklahoma. One son, Lee, lived at Telahoma until the late 1930's and nothing is known of his decendents.

Lee, son of Isaac, joined the southern army and was injured in a skirmish on a march to New Orleans. His troop left him at a farm house to be cared for; however, nothing more was heard from him.

Andrew Benton left the Musick Creek settlement and homesteaded at the mouth of Jimmies Creek on White River about 1850. He met and married Mary Louise Desocia, daughter of a French trader who had a trading post or store in the former Indian Village, Shawneetown, situated where the town of Yellville now stands. Andrew and Mary Louise had five children: Louise, who married Ben Fee; Thomas; Genira, who married Ben Estes; Samantha, who died in childhood; and Virginia, who died at 16.

Andrew B. joined the army early in the war. He served in the cavalry and was a captain. He was at the Battle of Pea Ridge and several other engagements in this area. He had a narrow escape while on furlough, when a band of jayhawkers invaded his home. The jayhawkers were known to kill every man and boy they ran into, so Andrew escaped by swimming White River and hiding in the caves on the other side. The jayhawkers robbed the house of everything they could tie on their horses.

Thomas B. was to tell in later years how, during all the hardships they endured, his mother broke down and cried when one of the jayhawkers took a mirror that had been a wedding present from her father and had come from France. Unable to tie it on his horse, the jayhawker broke it over the chopping block.

The family endured many hardships as they tried desperately to live. The grandfather Isaac, whose wife had died, came to live with them at the beginning of the war to help care for the family, but he was captured by a raiding party and taken to Springfield, Missouri, to the Federal Prison Camp. He was 71 and did not long survive.

Andrew Benton returned home after the war and two years later his wife died. He later married Janie Stone, sister of George Stone, another pioneer settler. Two children were born to this marriage: Anna, who married Jim Bond; and John Greenleaf. Andrew Benton contracted a re-occurring form of dysentery in the army which resulted in his death in 1874. His wife died a few weeks later in childbirth.

Thomas Benton continued to operate the farm and care for the younger children after his father's death. Cattle and hogs were raised for market in Springfield, Missouri.

After the death of his sister Virginia, John G. went to live with the older sister Louise and attend school at Yellville. Returning to the farm after he finished school, he taught a term of school at the Wild Cat School and in 1897 took a job, helping a Mr. Gregory drive a herd of cattle through to Oklahoma Territory. He settled there in Brodlin near Eufala where Try Musick was living. He married Julia Stewig and moved to Atoka. They reared two sons and five daughters. One son died, and another (a retired Air Force Colonel) lives in Colorado. The daughters live in Oklahoma.

Thomas Benton taught school for a time, then in 1885 he went to the Indian Territory to visit his Uncle Try Musick. He taught one term of school there and attended a school that taught penmanship. He then returned to Arkansas and resumed farming. He married Tennessee Parker but the marriage lasted only a few months. She later married a Gregory. Thomas Benton and Sarah Kathryn Cochran were married in 1888. They continued to live on the home farm until about 1900. Thomas became involved in the railroad tie and cedar business. He and Sarah moved to Minerva, near the mouth of Buffalo River. He hired crews to cut the timber and build the cedar logs and ties into rafts and floated them down White River to Batesville to be sold.

When building of the railroad up White River began, he moved to Cotter where he opened a general store, the first business there. The first post office was also housed in one comer of the store. The first Postmaster was Benny Bodenhamer. Thomas Benton continued to operate this business until the White River Bridge was completed and the crews moved on toward Yellville. He then moved the store six miles north of Flippin, where he was appointed Postmaster of Stone Post Office. This post office was also located in the corner of the store. Several years later, he sold the store to a Miss Dutton, who had come from Illinois to keep house for her brother, Acie Dutton. Mr. Dutton was the local blacksmith. Thomas Benton returned to farming on Jimmies Creek where he lived a few months before his death in 1928. Sarah Kathryn died in 1939. They were blessed with five children: Clarence J.; Jack C.; Duff Flippin; Dorothy Hudson; and Ruth Merlick. Clarence F. died in 1948 and Jack C. died in 1965.