Family Reunion 2017
To: The descendants of Joseph Renard, wherever they may be:
My wonderful niece, Sharon, recently posted this:
I am Sharon Brady Small
Dortha Renard Brady's daughter. I remember your family coming to Mother and Daddys house when we lived at Boydaville and we came to you house in the middle of a rice field ( seemed Like it anyway ) I'm thinking around Lepanto. Mothers brother Franklin Renard asked about a Renard reunion so we are trying to get one together for June 17th 2017. at Boydsvill Community Center The address,7158 HWY 90, Rector, AR. 72461. We are hoping to get several cousins we haven't seen in a long time or never to come. Where do you live now? I still live close to Rector,
Dortha Renard Brady's daughter. I remember your family coming to Mother and Daddys house when we lived at Boydaville and we came to you house in the middle of a rice field ( seemed Like it anyway ) I'm thinking around Lepanto. Mothers brother Franklin Renard asked about a Renard reunion so we are trying to get one together for June 17th 2017. at Boydsvill Community Center The address,7158 HWY 90, Rector, AR. 72461. We are hoping to get several cousins we haven't seen in a long time or never to come. Where do you live now? I still live close to Rector,
I hope she will forgive my copying this, but it is a good introduction to a proposed reunion. I would like to add a bit of family information that you may find interesting.
Decoration Day
Decoration Day was first established by a presidential proclamation just after the Civil War. It apparently had been observed in many different places in the country previously and was intended primarily to honor those killed in the war, both North and South. It was a day when relatives and friends would place flowers on the gravesOver the years, and particularly in the Southern states, many graves suffered from the neglect of many years, so Decoration day had become a day not only to place flowers but also to clean the gravesite. It gradually joined into and became Memorial Day.
Mars Hill
Such was the case in the little hillside church located in the red gravel hills of Crowleys Ridge, a string of hills in Arkansas's Clay County, a low ridge running northeast to southwest, several miles west of the Mississippi and marking the westernmost edge of that great rivers floodplain.Mars Hill is a country church. I have no idea of it's origins, philosophy or history.
I have never been inside the white sided building and, if it has more than one room, it is not apparent from outside. It appears well maintained, dignified and polite, but there are no surrounding shrubbery and the parking area is not paved, just the natural gravel of the hill. It obviously has withstood the wear and tear of many winters, but it still stands tall and proud.
But it is not the church that is my focus here but the gravesites that fill the hill that stretches upward to the building's left and holds the remains of my paternal grandparents and several of my uncles (none of whom I ever had the honor of meeting). The site of my grandfather's cabin is within walking distance of the church and graves of grandpa's mother and others are at the Blooming Grove church a mile or so away. Great Grandma's home was near that church also and my grandfather's brother Eli also owned property nearby. If the family history has an epicenter, perhaps it is here.
The Reunion
It is here that the reunion began on a spring day about 75 years ago.
Frank Renard had died in 1924, and some years later, probably on the l930's those of his children who had survived childhood and still lived nearby (less than a day's drive) decided to meet to clean the gravesites and visit. So each year on Decoration Day, they met in the morning, worked at the church, had lunch (dinner) at one of the closer sibling's home, had the afternoon for visiting before returning home. At one of these occasions they brought materials and poured a concrete cover over all of the several graves to prevent sinkage and erosion.Who am I?
Who am I, you might well ask. I am the youngest child of Henry Issac Renard, who was the fourth child of Frank Renard. I am perhaps the last living grandchild of my namesake, but I'm not sure. Born Henry Franklin Renard, youngest of four children of Henry Renard and Lela Mae Corlew, named for my father and my mother's favorite big brother, I grew up on a farm a few miles from the Mars Hill Church. Over time my name shortened to "Frank" and I migrated to Baltimore where I live today, alone, except for Farley, my overweight cat. But this is not meant to be my story, my hope is that I provide enough of what little I know of the family's history to pique your curiosity enough to provide some data to fill in some of the blank spaces for me and perhaps motivate you to drop by the upcoming "reunion" and meet some previously unknown relatives and make new friends, etc. My records are sketchy and my memory is not much better; my documentation is disorganized. I have hope that someone younger could take what little I have and put together a much better and longer lasting documentation. Volunteers ?The Family
A lot of what I know of the family's "ancient" history, comes from handwritten notes made by my aunt, Bertha Eva (Renard) Holdifield, written long before Altzheimer's claimed her and therefore dependable. What her sources were, I have no idea. According to her notes, Frank Renard's father was Levi, and Levi was the son of John Renard and Sarah Wilkins who lived in the latter part of the 1700's and early 1800's. John died in his 30's and, left only one sibling, Nancy, who also died quite young. John was the son of Joseph Renard, but the dates and places Joseph and the location of John and Sarah remain unknown.For Levi, we do have information. Born in 1820, he married Sarah Roberts in 1847 and sired two children, John and Sarah Elizabeth. Sarah died in 1853 and shortly thereafter Levi married Nancy |Hardisty and fathered a number of children, namely, Eli, Medora, Alice, Levi Z and Frank. There were others who died as children, etc. but I don't have their names at hand. Levi's grave is located in a small family cemetery in southern Illinois, which is actually in the backyard of a residence. (seen it).
Levi died in 1884 and Nancy moved with some of her twelve children and a brother (a peddler) to Arkansas. She paid personal taxes as a landowner in Clay County in 1893. Her son Eli also owned land near her farm in Blooming Grove. (I don't have much information on Eli except that he had three wives, lived for a time in Kansas and/or Oklahoma and left descendants there. He and his last wife were buried in a cemetery in Malden Mo, but I believe the markers have long since disappeared.)
Frank, my grandfather, acquired land and married Amanda Scroggins, of southern Illinois. Not sure exactly where, but I can remember cousins from Mound City visiting us on the farm. Six of Amanda and Frank's children reached adulthood, Lewis, John, Henry Bertha Thad and Rollie. Three others died in childhood and are buried with their parents at Mars Hill. Lewis died in California and was returned to Mars Hill. He left family both here and in California.
Amanda died in 1904 and about ten years later, Frank married Minnie Riddle. Their two children, Frances and L. T. have descendants throughout southwestern Arkansas and eastern Texas, many of whom are among my Facebook "friends".
