Kinfolks
by Evelyn Flood

In the Newton County Family History Book 2 there was a story about
Charley Kindrell Hefley on page 95. In this story the author stated
that there didn't seem to be any relationship between J.P. or Jep
Hefley and any of the other Hefleys that are listed in Vol. I of
Newton County Family History Book. Not so.
They were related to many Newton County Arkansas Hefley families.

Have been researching the Hefley Families for a long time and have
many,many Hefley Family Group sheets and this is what my records
show:
The Jep Hefley she was talking about was Daniel Jeptha "Jep"Hefley,
born 13 June 1855 in Boone County, Arkansas, son of John Bailey Hefley and first wife Mary Jane Byrd.

Jep's brothers and sisters were:
1.Marthursie"Thessy Ann"Nichols
2. Mary Alice Criner
3. John Alexander Hefley
4.William Bailey"Toad" Hefley
5. Phillip Harvey Hefley
6. Hanna Caroline Hefley
7.Franklin Bird Hefley
8. David Hefley
9. Caroline Hefley
10.Jobie Keys Hefley.

John Bailey Hefley married a second time to Martha Jane Shuler Davis,
(widow of Richard Davis)and their children were:
Joseph Calvin Hefley; Robert Allison Hefley; George M Hefley;
Nora L Boatman and Cora Martha Jane Andrews.

John Bailey Hefley had a brother Daniel Hefley who lived, married and
fathered many Hefley children while living in Newton County,Arkansas.
Daniel's wife was Eliza Jane Greenhaw, daughter of Ephriam B Greenhaw
and his first wife Angeline Foster.

John Bailey and Daniel Hefley also had a sister Catherine Hefley
Campbell Johnson who moved to California and raised her children there.See the "Catherine Hefley Campbell Johnson Story" in my 'Kinfolks Stories' on my website. Wrote a copyrighted story about her in a past issue of a Kinfolks column in the Newton County Times Newspaper.

The parents of James Hefley,John Bailey Hefley, Daniel Hefley and
Catherine Hefley Campbell Johnson were Phillip Hefley and Hannah Sharp.

Found James, John, Daniel and Catherine Hefley in 1850 in Carroll
Arkansas, Crooked Creek Township,Visit #533.
Their older brother James Hefley born 1821 in Tennessee was also listed, along with their grandmother, Elizabeth Bailey Hefley.
This James Hefley married Susanna Parker and they went to Bosque
County,Texas.
1860 Bosque County, Texas, Flag Pond Postoffice No.28, Visit 114-116
Film #1289-M652
1870 Sebastian County Arkansas, Upper Township, Visit 331-328
1880 Sebastian County, Arkansas, Center Township. Susan Parker Hefley was a widow.

James Hefley served in the Mexican War. Have him listed in the Arkansas Mexican Soldiers List on my webpage.
Their children I have record of are: (have Family Group Sheets)
1.Martha E Hefley, born 1850.

2. Missouri Catherine Hefley, born 1851

3. Virginia A Hefley, born 1854 in Texas. (alex@oknet1.net(Jerry) wrote me in November 1999.His great grandmother was Virginia Hefley.
Virginia married WILLIAM C. MITCHELL.

4.Albert Perry Hefley. He married MATTIE CLEMENTINE PHILLPS. Albert was living in Franklin County, Arkansas in 1920 alone.Vol 20, ED45, S9, L72

5. Columbus Leander Hefley.
Joel Worst, son of James Louis Worst wrote me in 2003 stating: "We only know our Hefley line as far back as Hannah, Phillip and their son James Hefley (born 1821 in TN), his wife Susan Parker, their son Columbus Leander Hefley (born 1859), his wife WINNIFRED HARGROVE, their son James Marcus Hefley (born 1893), his wife FLORA AGNES FLETCHER, and their daughter Loile Hefley (born 1912) who married FERDIE WORST. Ferdie and Loile Worst are my grandparents, and resided to death in Fort Smith Arkansas. My name is Joe Worst, son of James Louis Worst (born 1931)Jeanna May Coffey and I live in Loudoun CO, Virginia."

6. Eliza J Hefley

7. Mary Allison Hefley,

8.Allison Nelson Hefley. He married DORIE M. GARNER on 25Dec1892 at Greenwood, Sebastian County, Arkansas.
(per Sharon Lee Garner (Leesha98765@yahoo.com)

James Hefley was in a group of Texas Rangers called "The Minute Men".
Nothing further known.
James Hefley also served in the Mexican War and I have him listed in the Arkansas Mexican Soldiers on my website.

Daniel Jeptha "Jep"Hefley married 5 Feb 1877 (page 329) in Newton County to Mary Jane Holt, daughter of Charles K Holt and Mary Campbell.
Mary Campbell's mother was Julia C (maiden name unknown)GRANGEENE CAMPBELL and her father was George W CAMPBELL.
Have much more information on George W CAMPBELL family before his life in Arkansas.

Daniel Jeptha "Jep" and Mary Jane Holt Hefley had the following
children:
(1) Mary Jane Hefley born 17Dec1878 , married Harley Nichols in Newton County, Arkansas on 11 June 1896 (page 328)
Harley was son of Martin W. Nichols and Mary L. Adams.

Harley Nichols died 23 April 1904 with burial in Sexton Cemetery at Mt. Judea, Arkansas. Mary Jane Holt Nichols died 8Dec1907 and is also buried in Sexton Cemetery. Jep and Mary J. Holt Hefley raised their three boys to adulthood.

(2)Columbus Hefley born 1880 who married MAUDIE JONES 4 Feb 1904,Newton County, Arkansas.
Maudie was the daughter of Dave and Laura Davis Jones.
Columbus Hefley's children I have record of are:
Edna, Nima and Tressie Hefley.
Columbus Hefley died in 1965 in Coalgate,Oklahoma.

(3)Bailey J Hefley born 1882 who married
LEORA FARMER 31 Aug 1905 in Newton County.
I show their children as:
Jep W, Hugh and Hazel Hefley.
Their pictures are in my "Kinfolks Album"
Bailey J Hefley died in 1970 in Clarita,Oklahoma.

(4)Martha Alice Hefley born 29 Mar 1885 who married JOHN ALVA HAMILTON, son of Joe and Mary Frances Greenhaw Hamilton.
Married on 29 Dec 1905 (page 132)Newton County.
Their children were: (pictures in my "Kinfolks Memory Album")
i:Roy Lee Hamilton;
ii:Harley Joe Hamilton
iii:Eldon Jeptha Hamilton,
iv:Lester Charles Hamilton,
v:Martha Darlene Hamilton,
vi:William S Hamilton, and
Vii:Mary Frances Juanita Hamilton Gilmore Macdonald.
The Floods are related to this branch of the Hefley family.

(5) Charles K "Charley"Hefley born 14 Feb 1889 who married
Daisey Lee Greenhaw,(daughter of Andrew Jackson Greenhaw and
Caroline Shuler)on 14 May 1911 (page 63)in Newton County, Arkansas.

Charley and Daisey had five daughters.
Their daughters were:
Ardith Hefley Norton
Wilda Hefley;
Jessie Hefley
Helen Hefley, and
Mildred Hefley Mullins

Daisy Lee Greenhaw Hefley died on 26 January 1922 of breast cancer and is buried in Mt.Judea Cemetery, Newton County, Arkansas.
Charlie Hefley died 6 February 1951 in Coalgate,Oklahoma.

(6) Bonnie May Hefley born 14 February 1892 in Newton County,
married General A Taylor(1889-1935). They had two known children:
G.A. and Jack Taylor.
Bonnie Hefley Taylor died on 24 December 1961 with burial at Haskell,
Cemetery in Muskogee County, Oklahoma.

(7) Myrtle L Hefley born 31 July 1895(tombstone) in Newton
County, ARkansas.

Myrtle married:
(1)Will Sprague 19 Oct 1916 and (2) Alfred Payne.
Myrtle and Will Sprague had two children:
Billy and Violet Sprague.
The last record I have, Myrtle was still living.
Alfred R Payne, born 23 December 1881, died 23 December 1964 (tombstone)
and is buried in Haskell Cemetery, Muskogee County, Oklahoma.

Mary Frances Hamilton Gilmore Macdonald sent me a xerox copy of the
picture of Jep and Mary Holt Hefley. I thank her for that.

Mary Frances Hamilton Gilmore Macdonald told me a story about
Daniel Jeptha and Mary Holt Hefley.I would like to pass that story on
here,as told by Mary Macdonald.

When their youngest child was three and my mother Martha Alice Hefley
was thirteen, the family loaded up in a covered wagon in 1898 and they
headed for Texas. They had folks living there in Hood County and
Meridian County.
How long they stayed, I don't know, but probably not long as they went
back to Arkanasas.

In the year of 1922 they, along with four other wagons,moved to
Oklahoma. Jep and Mary bought some acres with a house, barn, smoke-
house and a spring. They were about two miles west of Coalgate,
Oklahoma.

Their children had married and they lived in Oklahoma. Bonnie and
Myrtle lived at Haskell. Bailey lived at Clarita (near Coalgate).
Lum, Charley and Alice lived about a half mile away.

Jep and Mary had some bad years of farming and due to some technicality
in the deeds, Jep and Mary lost their home.
This was a sad time in their life. They were in their seventies
and they lost their home.

Mary Macdonald's impressionable memories of them that day has stayed
with her all her life.
They were packed and ready to go when my mother and I walked in to
help them to move. They were sitting there, and Grandpa Jep was
reading. He asked us to listen to a poem in the newspaper that he
wanted to read to us. He read the poem:

"Over the Hill To the Poor House, trod a couple old and grey, nothing
left but their memories of yesterday."

It made me feel so sad for them.
That was in 1932\33 and before Social Security.
They moved north of Coalgate, over on "ole Boggey"; did some farming
there and then they moved four miles west of Coalgate to Bethel.

When Jep was eighty-one plus and Mary was seventy-nine, he took
pneumonia. So did Mary. Jep died the 13 of February 1936. Mary survived
the pneumonia. She was now a widow. Her daughter and son-in-law John
Alva Hamilton moved Mary Holt Hefley into the house with them.
She lived with them until 1942 when the Hamiltons moved to California.
Her son Charley Hefley had also moved in with the Hamiltons, and when
they moved to California, Mary stayed there in their house, with her
son Charley.
Charley and his mother moved from there to thirty miles north of
Coalgate and Mary Holt Hefley lived there until she needed more care.
Her daughters Bonnie and Myrtle lived at Haskell, Oklahoma and moved
her in the house with them.
Mary Holt Hefley lived to be 91 years old. She died from the results
of a stroke on 27 June 1948 and is buried beside her husband at
Coalgate Cemetery, Coalgate,Oklahoma.
end of story
Evelyn Flood
Rkinfolks@aol.com
copyright(c)1999
This story published in the Newton County Times Newspaper in my
Kinfolks Column, sent to Times on 30 August 2000.
I did research on the Hefley Families for Carri L Vance
She placed my research on her website without my permission.
She also wrote a book and included this family in that book.
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