Thong Trees

Thong trees are known by many different names, marker trees and message trees are just to name a few. Regardless of what they are called, thong trees were part of a Native American message and trail mapping system. Native American thong trees can be found all over the United States, especially in the eastern, southern and mid western parts of the country. In the Ozark region some of the Native Americans would have been Cherokee,Qua paw, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek. The purpose of these trees were to mark trails and to point to other trails, water, caves and sources of food are just a few of the many. Trade route trails were also marked with thong trees. During the Trail of Tears thong trees could have showed a way of escape to safety, which more often then not was one of the numerous caves in the Ozarks.

Thong trees are bent into odd, but easily recognizable shapes. The shapes are unnatural and different looking from trees that have been deformed by natural causes. The Native Americans would use white or red oak saplings because the saplings were supple enough to bend and not split and kill the tree. To form a thong tree, Native Americans would first drive the base of a forked stick into the ground near the base of the sapling. The trunk of the sapling was then bent over the V of the forked stick to form the first bend or hip. Then a leather strip or thong was tied about 2 or 3 feet from the top of the sapling and staked to the ground and the top was left to either grow up toward light or rot off forming the second bend or hip, which became the nose. Depending on the location, further shaping may have been needed on the smaller limbs. Eventually the leather strap or thong would break or rot off leaving the shaped sapling.

Sometimes there were messages on these trees that told more then just the direction they were pointing. Native Americans caused knobs or bumps to grow, made marks or other indications on the tree that told more information about the direction the thong tree was pointing. The meaning and placement of the knobs or bumps was different for the various Native American tribes. On the Trail of Tears soldiers would often lose a whole band during a night without a trace. Native Americans simply had to read the knobs or bumps to find safety.

Knobs or bumps on the tree were made by slitting the bark and inserting a piece of charred bark from the came kind of tree. To protect the slit from insects, the slit was packed with rosin or pitch.

The tree would grow around the charred bark forming a permanent knob or bump. Most of the knobs or bumps were created on the first hip or bend, because it was immediately available for the inserting of the charred bark. The knobs or bumps on the second hip or bent could not be created until the tree top straightened up forming the nose.

The Murder of Elijah Blankenship

Disclaimer: This is a legend passed down by word of mouth.  I have not proved or disproved this legend.

Here is another legend from the darker side of Izard County’s history.  This is a legend about the murder of Elijah Blankenship.

Elijah was about 7 years younger than his wife, Sarah Jane Goodrich Blankenship, and they had five children together, Poline, Mary, Elijah, Jerusha, Altha.  They lived on Pine Ridge just off state hwy 56.

Elijah was cruel to his family and a heavy drinker.  He was known to spend their money on liquor instead of providing for his family.  It has also been said that Elijah would hide the money under rocks to keep it away from Sarah Jane.  Elijah would come home drunk and beat Sarah Jane and threaten to kill her. Instead of whipping his children, Elijah would make them place their hands on a hot wood stove for punishment.

Sarah left Elijah sometime around August 1877. Elijah had this notice printed in

The Melbourne Clipper on August 7, 1877:

“Notice

Is hereby given that my wife Sarah J. Blankenship has left me without just cause and that I will not be responsible for any debt, contract,  or promise she may make from this date henceforth.  This September 13^th, 1877. Signed Elijah Blankenship”.

But, by 1880 Sarah Jane was back living with Elijah.  Sometime in 1880, Elijah came home very drunk and said when he got up one of them is going to die.  Sarah was unable to take the abuse anymore.  So sometime during the night Sarah sewed a sheet around Elijah so he could not move when he woke up.  Sarah then took an ax and struck Elijah in the neck cutting his Jugular vain and took the children and hid.  Some how Elijah managed to get out of the sheet and get on his horse, or mule.  Elijah was able to ride to the end of their lane before falling from his horse and bleeding to death.

Some believe Elijah made to the Doctor in Brockwell and got treated.  After he healed he moved north and started a new family.

It has been said it was Sarah Jane’s half brother, Tom Rushing, who killed Elijah.  Sarah admitted to the murder  because the courts would be more lenient on a woman. 

During the preliminary hearing the judge, who is believed to have been Judge Cap Hanley Sr, said “You should have chopped the old devil’s head off a long time ago”.  The judge dismissed the case.  After the hearing was over the Goodrich family moved to Texas to start over.  We may never know which one killed Elijah or what was said at the hearing because all the records of the hearing were lost when the court house burned down on the mourning of April, 11^th 1889. 

I have tried to lay the facts of the legend out so the reader can decide for them selves what to believe.  I have, have you?

Update

I received this e-mail from Mr Loven who lives in Texas:

         "The story you have on your page about Elijah Blankenship is a truth, my Poppie  was the last child of Elijah and Sarah Jane Goodrich Blankenship, she was pregnant with him when she killed their father, and she fled to Hill county Texas, she and their son Elijah Conway Blankenship lived in Abbott Texas and Sarah died may 6/1908, and Elijah Conway had a wife Margret Larinda they married and had 8 children, and Elijah Conway passed away 3/12/1918. Poppie would never talk about his family much more than to tell a story or two about growing up in Hill Co. Texas where they fled to. Elijah and his mother Sarah are buried in the Jessie Cemetery, his sisters Mary and Jerushia Anise Blankenship both married Mary married a Merriman E. Simmons and her and her husband are buried in Lubbock City cemetery, Jerushia Anise married a  Adolphus Andrew Loven, she is buried in the Breckenridge city cemetery, her husband is buried in the Afton Cemetery. I have been unable to find out what happened to Polina Jane or Atha because I can find no records of them after Arkansas so I am guessing they died young or something to that affect I have a Auntie that my Poppie named Alpha Jane because he said it was after his two sisters that passed away and he never knew them. My Aunt Johnnie had an old bible of where the names of the kids and married and birthdates were in it, it belonged to Sarah and I wish I knew where that bible was today, but I guess you never think about things like that when you are young and can only wonder what happened to it later on in life".

The Legend of John William (Bill) Dark

 Disclaimer: This is a legend passed down by word of mouth.  I have not proved or disproved this legend.
                    
   
   The Ozark mountains in Northeast Arkansas is rich in history, but is equally so in Legends.  One such legend is of Bill Dark.  Some have said he was a bushwhacker.   Some have said was a jayhawker. And some have said he was just an outlaw who preyed on defenseless people.  But lets start at the beginning.
    Bill Dark was born sometime around 1835 in Arkansas, but the exact location is unknown.  His mother is believed to be Dilla (or Dilly) Dark.  His father may have been Pvt William Dark who enlisted in Co A Arkansas Battalion Infantry and Mounted Rifles in Clarksville (Johnson Co), Ar for the Mexican War.  In 1850,  fifteen year old Bill was living with is mother and man named James Hutchins in Little Rock, AR at the City Hotel on main street.  In 1857 he was a printer in Little Rock, Ar, so he must have been educated.  Late that same year, Bill was indicted for the murder of Hardy Foster.

The details of the murder were not recorded.  In early 1858 Bill's attorneys, one of which was the future Arkansas Governor, Henry Massie Rector, successfully petitioned the court for a change of venue. Then in October 1858, Bill was found guilty of  second degree murder and was sentenced to 5 years in the state penitentiary in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1860 Bill was reported  invalid and marked for bad behavior.  Then in 1861 Bill was paroled on the condition that he join the Arkansas Civil War effort. Bill enlisted at Fort Smith, Arkansas as a  Private in Capt. Galloway's Company, Churchill's Regiment, Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, which later became Co F 1st Regiment Arkansas Mounted Riflemen for 12 months.  It is unclear to me if he served the full year.

Some time after 1861, Bill married Rachel Adeline George, daughter of James S. and Margaret George of Izard County.  Bill and Rachel settled near Timbo in present-day Stone County Arkansas.  They had one son named John William Dark Jr.

By 1862 the Civil War in Arkansas had become a brutal guerrilla war.  This was caused in part by most of the Confederate units having been ordered east of the Mississippi River.  This left Arkansas vulnerable to Union advance from Missouri.  Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi District was General Thomas C. Hindman, who used guerrillas (bushwhackers) to destroy all assets that may be used by the Union Army.  This slash and burn policy was not popular among the people of Northeast Arkansas.  It was in this environment that Bill became a legend.

By this time, Bill had become Captain of Company A of Coffee's Recruits, a bushwhacker unit.  It was reported that Bill had a reputation for ruthlessness and brutality by terrorizing the old men, women and children left behind in the chaos of war.  Bill is credited with every sort of atrocity: murder,theft, plundering, torture, and burning homes.  It has been said that Bill would burn the bottom victim's feet, throw hot grease on them or burn out their fingernails.  One story that has been passed down  is that Bill killed Icy Mills' daddy and sister.  Mr Mills wouldn't give Bill some information.  So, when Bill didn't get what he wanted to know, he burned off Mills' fingers and toes.  Bill then took Mr Mills outside to shoot him.  Mr Mills' two little girls clung to him and begged Bill not to shoot him.  He told the little girls to get away or he would shoot them too.  Icy let go but her sister didn't.  Bill shot both Icy's sister and her daddy.

There are many stories about Bill's death -  too many for me to write about.  But they all have one thing in common:  Bill was shot between the eyes by 15 year-old  Jim Berry with a cap and ball pistol.  Jim was a member of a Union Home Guard Unit formed to protect homes.  It is unknown where he is buried.


Bill was accused of war atrocities by both the Confederate and Union armies, so maybe he was just an outlaw.  Dark and his story is  legend so you can make up your own mind about what you want to believe.

                                                                                                                                 Jim Berry 
Sources:

Encyclopedia of Arkansas
The Legend of Jim Berry
Rootsweb

Note - Photo from Herman Cummings' page on The Legend of Jim Berry.