Markham Hill memories include Mr. Pennington
Back in the 1960s, I met an elderly gentleman named Ward Pennington, who lived alone in a traditional Ozark cabin in the woods atop Markham Hill near the U of A campus. Recent interesting back-and-forth about various possible futures for Markham reminded me of Mr. Pennington. I think his old cabin is still up there, though greatly deteriorated.
When I met him in the 1960s, Ward was the occasional handyman for Joy Markham and her sister, Evangeline Archer. Born in 1890, Ward lived most of his years alone in the cabin built by his parents when he was 13 or 14. He died Nov. 18, 1971. House cleaning after his death produced some interesting Fayetteville history. For example, in the attic there were pictures and a camera, both apparently part of the studio of early day local photographer B.E. Grabille.
Other relics in the attic included piles of the Fayetteville Democrat, forerunner of today's Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. There was also a stack of papers from the People's Progressive Party, a socialist party from the 1920s. Ward's mother, Julia Ward Pennington, was listed in the paper as a member of the PPP's national platform committee.
In 1908, a socialist ran for Washington County sheriff. There were well-attended socialist meetings on Dickson Street in 1915. Julia was secretary for the Arkansas branch of the Socialist Party of Eugene Debs fame. The 1928 state convention was held in Fayetteville. Among radical demands: an old-age pension (Social Security), abolition of the death penalty, a $500 tax exemption on homes of the poor.
Up on the Markham Hill where Ward grew up, his family had a small commercial farm: "Pennington & Son, Growers of Ever Bearing Red Raspberries." They also grew asparagus. From the time he was a boy, Ward worked in the family berry patch, walking behind a plow drawn by the black horse Barney, so named for its reluctance to leave the barn.
In his old age Ward received a small pension from service during World War I. He had accompanied a shipment of mules bound for the battlefields of France. Other than this, as far as I can tell, Ward spent his life on Markham Hill. He was buried in the National Cemetery in Fayetteville.
This is a little piece of our town's history now hard to remember in our busy scramble to become Dallas in the Ozarks. I guess even 50 years ago, Ward could see it coming. I remember a sign he put across the rough two-track road leading to his cabin: "Trespassers will be persecuted." I don't know if he meant this seriously. He didn't persecute me anyway, but he certainly made an impression.
Joe Neal
Fayetteville
Predator control needed to aid quail population
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission issued a press release regarding its new quail conservation stamp. In it, Deputy Director Chris Colclasure was quoted as saying: "Much of the public perceives bobcats, coyotes and other predators as the driving force behind quail and turkey declines, but that's only partially correct. Quail still exist in many areas of Arkansas and other portions of the nation alongside the same predators that they always have coexisted with."
Well, Mr. Colclasure is the one who is only partially correct. First, quail in Arkansas did not have to coexist with the armadillo or the numbers of feral hogs back in the bird's heyday. Secondly, the population of nocturnal ground predators has exploded. So they might be the same predators (except armadillo and hogs), but are in way larger numbers. So Mr. Colclasure, listen to us "public" landowners. Habitat improvement must be done hand-in-hand with predator control for effective quail restoration.
Dave Johnson
Fayetteville
Commentary on 10/03/2018