William Mac Pasley

Mac Pasley

William Pasley, born February, 1834, in Indian Territory, and

Lucinda Jane Diven Edmiston Pasley, widow of Moses Edmiston,

and second wife of William, born in Lincoln County, Tennessee,

in 1828, were married in Washington County, Arkansas, in the

1860s. Their children were Loretta, Mac Crawford, Martin

Luther, and Hattie.

Mac Crawford Pasley, born March 4, 1866, near Rhea's Mill,

Arkansas, was my grandfather.

After he finished the Amity School, Mac's family attempted

to send him to Cane Hill College, a forerunner of the University

of Arkansas. The dormitory for boys was apparently too restrictive

for Grandpa. He refused to stay and his folks had to let him

move home.

On December 29, 1886, at age 20, he married 19-year-old

Mary Bell McCord, daughter of James H. McCord, a school

teacher, and Mary Jane Hartley McCord.

After the birth of their first two children, Daisy Dolorita,

April 1, 1888, and my father, Albert Vane, April 19, 1890, near

Rhea's Mill, Grandpa moved his family by wagon to a farm near

Vinita in Indian Territory, (now eastern Oklahoma).

Edna Earle was their first child born after the move on

August 3, 1892. Aunt Edna later related to us that it was the

Barn area of Mac Crawford Pasley Farm 3 miles east of Cincinnati,

Arkansas. L. to R.: son, Albert Vane Pasley and Mac Crawford Pasley

Albert V. Pasley's 1912 English Class, Siloam Springs High School.

custom in those days for pioneer families to provide hospitality

for travelers since there were no inns for miles on the prairie.

She remembered that one dark, rainy night, when she was about

three years old, two horsemen knocked on their door and asked

to spend the night. Her father invited them into their two room

cabin and her mother fixed supper for the horsemen. But Edna

was wary of the strangers. She sat in her little rocker by the

fireplace, rocking her cat and watching the visitors. She didn't

want to talk, but one of the men started teasing her about the

cat's name. He said its name was Saskewatchen. She replied that

it was not and refused to talk any more-. The Pasley family all

slept in one room, even the strangers who slept with their saddles

on the floor. After breakfast the next morning, they were on

their way.

Grandpa's family prospered on the prairie and more children

were born; Gertie Bell, November 25, 1895, followed by Jennie

Grace, April 6, 1898. Another boy, Robert H., was born October

10, 1900. On July 21, 1903, the family received a bonus; twins,

Jesse Ray and Bessy May.

The little Pasleys attended school with the Cherokee Indian

children. Aunt Edna stated that they thought nothing of being

the only "white" students in school as they knew their

grandfather, William, was part Cherokee.

But times were not always happy for the family. Grief and

disappointment were unwelcome visitors. Little Gertie Bell died

of membraneous croup March 23, 1897.

One year after a season of dry weather, Christmas neared and

there was money only for the barest necessities. My father, Allie,

Pasley Twins, L. to R.: Bessy May and Jesse Ray,

about two years old, 1905. Children of Mac

Crawford Pasley and Mary Belle McCord Pasley

of Cincinnati, Arkansas. Taken at Siloam

Springs, Arkansas.

Hew related that he and his brother and sisters were expecting no

presents when their papa went to Vinita to buy a few provisions.

But, to the children's glee, their beloved papa returned to their

cabin with two sacks. One contained groceries and the other had

presents. When the young father related his plight to the store

keeper, the kindly merchant told him to select a gift for each

child. My father, who was fascinated with penmanship, had a

life-long memory of the pencil box received that Christmas, as

the most cherished present of his childhood.

Grandfather Mac's youngest sister, Hattie and her husband,

George Barton, lived a few miles east of Cincinnati, Arkansas.

Uncle George was a miller at Moore's Mill near Eureka School

and the Bartons' home. Although the Bartons had no children,

they knew of the good reputation of the Eureka School. Children

attending ranged from the ages of 6 to 20.

In Indian Territory most schools were the subscription type

with terms as short as three months. Thus the Mac Pasleys pondered

a return to Washington County where the children could

get a better education.

My grandfather made a trip from Vinita to Rhea's Mill to

visit his parents and brother, Luther, as well as the Bartons near

Cincinnati. His main purpose was to scout the area for a farm.

He located one for sale near his sister in the Cincinnati area near

Eureka School. He hired two drivers with covered wagons to

return with him to his home in Indian Territory. His father also

accompanied the group to help with the move.

My Aunt Grace remembered that the twins were about six

months old at the time they moved in December, 1903. The

weather was very cold so Grandfather Mac sent my grandmother

with Grace, age 5, Robert, age 3, the twins, and their grandfather,

William, on the train from Vinita to Westville, where they were

met by Uncle George Barton. He took the traveling Pasleys to his

home to await the arrival of the covered wagon caravan from

Indian Territory.

Grand pa Pasley and the drivers loaded three covered wagons

to make ready for their journey to Cincinnati, Arkansas. Allie

and Doto, ages 13 and 15, rode in the wagon with their papa.

When ready to board, one of the hired drivers announced that he

had a bottle of whiskey and needed someone to sit beside him to

protect his spirits from breakage. Eleven-year-old Edna quickly

volunteered for the job. Even though the children were dressed

warmly, with quilts to shield them from the cold, Aunt Dolo's

toes were frost bitten during the trip. At night, the wagons served

as sleeping quarters.

Before planting time in the spring of 1904, the Mac Pasleys

were settled in their new home east of Cincinnati, Arkansas, and

Dolo, Allie, Edna and Grace were enrolled in Eureka School.

Aunt Dolo helped her mother with the housework, canning,

sewing all the children's clothes, caring for the twins and the last

baby, Mac Emerson, born October 7, 1906. My father and Aunt

Edna helped Grandpa with the farm where he raised a garden,

corn, wheat, oats, and some cattle. Grandpa had two teams of

horses and a team of mules. By 1905, he and Allie had set out a

40-acre apple orchard.

My Uncle Robert related that Grandpa was Sunday School

Superintendent of the Methodist Church at Cincinnati for about

six years. He was also a Justice of the Peace. In that capacity, he

performed a number of marriage ceremonies for couples in the

Cincinnati area. In addition, he belonged to the Masonic Lodge

of Cincinnati. His father was a member of the Prairie Grove

Lodge.

By the spring of 1906, Aunt Dolo had finished Eureka

School. She took a civil service test and was appointed

postmistress at Cincinnati at the age of 18! During her tenure as

postmistress, she contracted a severe case of measles, and was in

bed for several weeks. Prolonged bed rest was the prescribed

treatment for severe illnesses in that era. Dolo gave up the job at

the post office. Upon her recovery, she took the Washington

County Teachers Exam, passed, and was certified to teach. Her

first school was at Rennie, near Cincinnati. The next was War

Eagle. Dolo's last school was at Colony, north of Cincinnati, on

State Highway 59. During a term at Colony, she married Roy

May, of Cincinnati, on August 20, 1922. They settled on a nearby

farm and she continued to teach one more term. They later

operated the Cincinnati telephone switchboard.

After Allie graduated from Eureka he worked on the farm.

Later, he attended high school in Siloam Springs for one year.

Then he took the civil service test about 1913 for rural mail

carrier. He scored well and was assigned a route out of the Rhea's

Mill Post Office.

About 1919, Grandpa's apple orchard had a bumper crop. He

made enough money to build the large house they had wanted

for their large family.

Grandmother Mary Bell subscribed to the Holland's

Magazine, where she got the ideas for the dream house. She drew

the plans and work was started on the residence about 1/8 mile

east of the old house. The new place had a two-story wing containing

six bedrooms and a parlor. The one-story west wing had a

large dining room, kitchen, large pantry lined with shelves for

canned food, and screened porches on the north and south sides

of the dining room. There was space off a hallway between the

dining room and a back bedroom for the bath. No stairway was

visible from the first floor. It was hidden by a door in the dining

room. The arrangement also prevented downstairs heat from escaping

up the stairway. A small water pump in the kitchen sink

produced water with a slight push and pull of the handle.

Another special feature was the pass through china cabinet

between the kitchen and dining room. The two story section had

an outside porch that wrapped around two sides. About the time

the house was completed, Grandpa Mac developed Parkinson's

disease.

While carrying the mail from Rhea's Mill, my father met a

pretty young widow, Rella Mae Henderson Cowan, a teacher at

Howe School. The following year she taught in Watts, Oklahoma.

After a few months courtship of commuting by train on

weekends, Allie persuaded Rella Mae to give up the teaching job

and get married. They were married in the Methodist Church in

Watts, Oklahoma, February 19, 1917. In 1918, they bought the

160-acre farm, then known as the Jacobs' place, about 1/2 mile

west of the Rhea's Mill store and post office. Father carried mail

one more year. Then he farmed full time.

By 1912, Edna had also finished Eureka School and secured a

teaching certificate. Her first school was Scrougeout, near

Wedington. The next was at Goshen (go-shen) located east of

Fayetteville. During one of her summers at normal school (a special

training school for teachers), Aunt Edna and one of the

professors developed a special friendship. His name was Jimmy

Lee Harris. Jimmy Lee quit teaching normal school to run for

the Legislature from Washington County and was elected. He and

Aunt Edna kept up a correspondence and decided to get married

during the school term. They met on a train at "some town in

Arkansas" for the ceremony. She returned to Goshen to finish

the school year, and Jimmy Lee returned to the legislature. At

the end of her school term and his legislative session, they moved

to Winfield, Kansas, where he attended Southwestern University

until he received his B. A. degree. His quest for a higher education

was to benefit more of the Pasleys in forthcoming years.

Around 1918, it was Aunt Jennie Grace's turn to try for a life

away from the nest. She went to Fayetteville to take a civil service

test for a post office job in Texarkana, Arkansas. She was the

third of Mac Pasley's children to score well on the government

test. So, she got the assignment in Texarkana. While working in

the post office, she met a young man who worked with the mail

on the trains. He was James Floyd Needham. They were married

on January 21, 1924, and both continued working with the mail.

1921 proved to be a tragic year for the Pasleys. Grandpa Mac

had Parkinson's disease, Grandmother had cancer, and their

youngest son, Mac Emerson, died on February 21, at age 14.

Mary Bell Pasley died on December 10, 1921 at age 54, after

living in the new house just over one year.

Robert was the last of the Pasley children to be certified to

teach school. He got a job at Rock Springs, on the Jackson Highway,

but after one year, was convinced that he should be a

farmer. He took care of Grandpa and worked the family farm.

In the meantime, Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim Harris moved to

Dallas, Texas. Uncle Jim worked for the Y. M. C. A. and enrolled

in S. M. U. Divinity School. The Pasley twins moved to Dallas to

live with them and go to school. Bessy then graduated from a

business college and moved to Texarkana, Arkansas, to live with

her sister, Grace. Jesse (J. R.) worked with Uncle Jim at the

Y. Later he worked at an ice plant while he finished high school

and S. M. U. Aunt Grace remembers that J. R. finished the fouryear

high school in three years, at the top of his class. He

graduated from S. M. U. in 1929.

Uncle Jim Harris received his B. D. degree and was ordained

a Methodist minister. He was assigned a church in .the Weatherford,

Texas, area. He continued attending S. M. U. as he worked

toward his Master of Theology degree. By this time, Edna and

Jim Harris were the proud parents of James Lawrence Harris,

born November 5, 1926.

When the writer was a child, one of the great times was to

visit Grandpa and Uncle Robert. The big house was empty except

for the two residents. Grandpa had a pump organ, a Victrola, and

a new gadget, called a radio. To hear the radio one had to use

headsets. There were three or four headsets and the adults were

very excited about their new "toy". When they let the child of

the family listen on a headset, it was baffling to her to understand

why the adults were so delighted with a machine that produced

sounds of static and scratchy music. A four to five-year-old of

that era couldn't comprehend the significance of the new invention.

Grandpa Mac died on August 28, 1928. His funeral was one

of the vivid memories of the writer's childhood. Because of the

heat, before the service the relatives were all gathered under the

shade trees on the front lawn of the Pasley home. Little James

Harris and Virginia Nell were the only grandchildren. James was

wearing a navy blue sailor suit with white braid trim and short

pants, while his cousin wore a beige silk pongee dress. Uncle

Robert was engaged to a recent Apple Blossom Queen, Elsie

Snodgrass, of Lincoln, Arkansas, so they captured admiring stares

from his six-year-old niece. All the families climbed into Model

T's for the ride to the service which was held in a white

Methodist Church, high on a hill in Cincinnati.

Thus, Mac and Mary Bell Pasley were departed from their

family. They instilled in their children a heritage of Christian

values, a love of country, and an unusual desire toward education

as we shall see in the following lives.

Aunt Dolo and Uncle Roy May lived on the farm in the Cincinnati

area until Uncle Roy's death. Their daughter, Mary Bell,

completed the Cincinnati Public Schools; then went to Weatherford,

Texas, to live with Aunt Edna while attending Weatherford

Junior College. She graduated from North Eastern State

University at Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Mary is a third grade

teacher in the Hobbs, New Mexico, school system. She married

George Mooney who works for a natural gas company. Their

daughter, Alicia, is attending college and working on a degree to

teach special education. Their son, Bill Mooney, attended North

Texas State in Denton; Texas. He is a musician in California.

Aunt Dolo lived her last years with Mary and family. She died of

a heart attack, at age 75, in Hobbs, New Mexico.

James L. Harris, son of Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim, graduated

from Weatherford Junior College; then received B. A. and

M. A. degrees from Texas Wesleyan College at Fort Worth, Texas.

James has been Medical Education Director for the F. A. A. for

the past 25 years. His career started at the agency in Fort Worth.

Later he was transferred to Washington, D. C., where he worked

until the F. A. A. headquarters were moved to Oklahoma City,

Oklahoma. James married Sammie Phillips of Weatherford,

Texas. They have one daughter, Lauranne, who earned a

B. S. degree from Bethany Nazarene College in Oklahoma City.

In June of 1987, Lauranne graduated with honors from the

University of Oklahoma Medical School. She is currently doing

an internship in a hospital in Oklahoma City. Next she has a

three-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology.

Grandsons of Mac and Mary Bell Pasley. James

L. Harris and William Barton Pasley, July 1987,

Weatherford, Texas.

Uncle Jim Harris, formerly of Washington County, Arkansas,

died in the 1950's. He was a helper and inspiration to Mac

Pasley's family. Aunt Edna died July 15, 1987, in Oklahoma

City. She had an alert and agile mind to her very last days.

Aunt Grace and Uncle James Floyd Needham had one

daughter, Jennie Carol, who attended the University of Arkansas

and received a B. S. in Medical Technology. She works for a

hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana. Uncle James died many years

ago but Aunt Grace is 89, mentally alert, and residing with her

daughter, Carol, in Shreveport. Carol married Joe Hays. Their

daughter, Holly, is in junior college in Shreveport. Their son,

Jim, is a high school student. Two years ago, Aunt Grace flew

alone to Oklahoma City to attend her sister Edna's 93rd birthday

party.

Uncle Robert married Elsie Snodgrass soon after Grandpa's

death. They farmed in the Cincinnati area on part of the original

Pasley farm for many years. When they were in their forties, they

took time off the farm to work in Fayetteville. Uncle Robert

worked as a mail carrier out of the Dickson Street Station. Aunt

Elsie worked in a nearby canning factory. They worked tho~e

jobs for five years, saving money to buy a larger farm east of

Grandpa's place. They retired in Lincoln, before they were disabled.

Uncle Robert is now 87 years old. He plants and tends a

beautiful garden each year, mows their lawn, cooks some, does

The laundry, and cares for Aunt Elsie who had a stroke earlier

this year. She is partially disabled. Uncle Robert, an amazing

uncle, is mentally and physically agile. He likes to discuss the

foods that are good for the body.

Bessy May Pasley continued to live in Texarkana until she

married Albert McKinney in 1936. They moved to Beaumont,

Texas. Mr. McKinney died after they had been married just a

few years. She later married Albert Lasiter who also preceded her

in death. Aunt Bessy died of a heart attack in Beaumont, Texas,

October 24, 1964. According to Aunt Edna, when the twins were

in Eureka grade school, it was Bessy who did their homework

after school each day. In the mornings she cornered her brother,

Jesse, to help him with his lessons before they left for school. At

that time, he disliked school intensely. It was ironic that Jesse

was the one child of Mac and Mary Bell's clan to graduate from a

major university.

Jesse (J. R.) Pasley married Virginia Wyatt on February 14,

1932. He worked as a supervisor in the auditing department of

Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for his lifetime career.

He died of cancer on November 23, 1971. J. R. and Virginia had

two children; Nell Diane and William Barton Pasley. Diane attended

North Texas State at Denton, Texas, before she married.

Her oldest son, James McCary Bogan III, received an appointment

to West Point and graduated in 1984. Her younger son,

Todd Wyatt Bogan, graduated from the Culinary Institute of

America in 1986. Diane works in a veterinary clinic in Fort

Worth, Texas. William Barton (Bill) graduated from S. M. U. in

1962, from S. M. U. Law School in 1965; and received his Master

of Laws from the same university in 1974. He married a teacher,

Linda Robbie Lewis. They have one son, Wyatt Lewis Pasley, a

Highland Park Junior High student in Dallas. Bill, named for his

great-grandfather, William Pasley, ht;ads a law firm in the Bank

of Dallas Building. Since Luther Pasley had no grandsons, and

Mac's sons, Robert and Albert, had no sons, Wyatt Lewis Pasley

is the last male to carry the Pasley name from his great-greatgrandparents,

William and Lucinda Jane Diven Edmiston Pasley

of Rhea's Mill, Arkansas.

Allie and Rella Pasley were my parents. They continued to

live most of their lives on the farm west of Rhea's Mill. Allie

farmed like his father - including a 40-acre apple orchard. When

the good crop with high prices hadn't come through in about ten

years after the bearing stage, he had the orchard cut down. Then

he concentrated on a stock farm - cattle, hogs, sheep and goats.

Many times a goat pushed its horned head through the fence in

search of greener grass. Then the animal was stuck until one of

us turned its head sideways to get the horns loose from the fence.

The fence line had to be walked each day. Periodically, a neighbor

would report to my father that a goat was high on a rock on

Nola Nolen Koutsouflakis, Nancy Nolen Kirschbaum, and Nikki Nolen

Gardner, December 1986, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, airport.

Thomas E. Nolen and Virginia Pasley Nolen, November 1987, Del City,

Oklahoma.

We attended the Rhea Methodist Church. There was a

minister one Sunday per month. The other Sundays we just had

~unday School. At Christmas time we always had a big cedar tree

m _the church. It was decorated with strings of popcorn, and

vanous homemade ornaments. On Christmas Eve there was a

program by the children, and Santa Claus passed a bag of candy,

an apple and an orange, to each person attending.

Mother belonged to the "Club", or the Rhea Home

Demonstration Club. She enjoyed the programs and the visiting.

My father served on the Rhea's Mill school board for two

terms when I was in grade school.

The school building was used for community activities such

as debates, pie suppers, and spelling bees. My dad enjoyed the

debates. Mother and I like the pie suppers and the bees.

Mother raised chickens and sold eggs for her "pin" money. In

the late 1930s, my father built a double wall two room rock

chicken house. The rocks were sandstones from the farm. On the

In the winter time my dad liked to work on his inventions.

When h~ was carrying the mail, he invented and patented some

part to improve the performance of a buggy. Around 1915 or

1916, the buggy's manufacturer paid him $100.00 for the rights

t? the patent. W~en, I was a child, he patented two different toy

airplanes. He d1dn t have the contacts to sell bis toys to a

producer. Woodworking was another hobby. He built a solid

walnut buffet and china cabinet from lumber he had cut from

trees on the farm. He also carved a set of birds from pine.

My father paid a high personal price for the rock chicken

house. He once continued to work on the rock after removing

his goggles for a few minutes. A piece of steel from the chisel

shot into his left eye. The injured eye was surgically removed and

he was fitted with a glass eye. Twenty years later, he died of

cancer which started in his remaining good eye. He died on

April 17, 1961, at our home in Del City, Oklahoma.

Mother sold the farm and bought a house in Lincoln. She

attended the Lincoln Methodist Church and kept her membership

with the Rhea Club. Thanksgiving Day, in 1968, she was

riding in a car with neighbors, returning home from a dinner.

As the driver crossed Highway 62, the right rear side of the car

was hit by a Trailways bus. Mother's seat mate and next-door

neighbor, Mrs. Williams, was killed. Mother's skull was fractured;

she was in a coma two weeks, and totally disabled for life.

She lived in a nursing home in Del City, Oklahoma, and died of

pneumonia in Midwest City Memorial Hospital January 1, 1974.

As the writer, I, Virginia Nell Pasley Nolen, attended Rhea

Elementary School, Prairie Grove High School, and started to

th~ Un!versity of Arkansas while still 16. After two years at the

university, I taught elementary school at Viney Grove (northwest

of Prairie Grove) for two years. Then I moved to Tulsa to work

for Douglas Aircraft Company while attending the University of

Tulsa. Flying had always been a secret passion, so I saved enough

money to return to the University of Arkansas for two quarter

terms. There was a flight school for air cadets at the Fayetteville

Airport. Since I had no car, I enrolled in horseback riding lessons

west of the campus, and flight lessons at the airport, in addition to the regular college schedule. On flight instruction days,

if there was no ride to the airport, I went to the stables, saddled a

horse and trotted off to the flight lessons. My flight instructor was

Mr. Austin Ellis. The lessons in the plane were the most exciting

times of my life up to that point. When the ten hours flying time

had elapsed, I had soloed three times. With finances almost gone,

I needed to return to work in the payroll department at Douglas.

Mr. Ellis let me take my cross country flight to Tulsa, while my

friend, Pat Johnston (now Reed), rode the bus with our baggage.

There was no room for a third passenger nor luggage in the little

Piper Cub plane.

I graduated from the University of Tulsa in 1945, and moved

to Oklahoma City where I secured a job with Braniff International

Airways. During that time I married Thomas E. Nolen,

a teacher and later administrator, in the Midwest City-Del City

Schools. We took advantage of Braniff's travel benefits for

employees by flying all their South American routes during two

summer vacations.

After the birth of our three daughters, Nola, Nancy, and

Nikki, I became a substitute teacher. When Nikki was in kindergarten,

I was drafted by the principal in the junior high school

where my husband was vice-principal, to fill out the year for the

counselor-librarian's position. I went to library school at the

University of Oklahoma during the summers. During the year

1965-66, I was hired for the position of librarian at Jarman

Junior High in Midwest City, Oklahoma, and worked there until

retirement in 1986. It was a great honor to have the library

facility named "The Virginia Nolen Library." I had to quit the

master's degree program just a few hours before completion,

when Mother was in the accident. My husband had his B. S.,

M. S., and all course work completed for his doctorate from the

University of Oklahoma.

Our daughter, Nola, graduated from the University of

Oklahoma with a degree in ballet pedagogy. She danced professionally

with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, of Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania, for five years. Knee surgery nipped her dancing

career. She now teaches at Pittsburgh High School of Performing

Arts; is married to Bill Koutsouflakis, and has 7-year-old Kiki,

and 4-year-old Grace. Nancy attended Oklahoma City Community

College and Pittsburgh Art Institute, married Tom

Kirschbaum, and had Shawn, 12, and Cara, 9. Nancy has had an

upholstery business, worked for the Dallas post office, Delta Airlines,

and is currently a travel agent with N. E.W. S. Travel, Inc.,

Dallas, Texas. Nikki graduated from Central State University,

Edmond, Oklahoma, with a degree in vocal and instrumental

music. She was outstanding female music student when she

graduated. Nikki married Jim Gardner, and they moved to Los

Angeles, California, to try the music business. She is currently

head instructor for Barbizon Modeling School in Los Angeles.

She does some modeling and sings with a band on weekends. She

writes songs and music, and plans to be a professional musician.

Jim is working toward a private helicoper license.

It would seem that our grandparents, the Mac Pasleys, who

braved a move one cold December in 1903, so their children

could have better schools, influenced their children,

grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to strive for the same

goal - a better education.

By: Virginia Nolen

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PASLEY, W.M. - Memerial of W.M. Pasley.Hall of Viney Grove Lodge Number 285, F. & A.M., Rhea, Arkansas.- Whereas: The Great Creator in his infinite wisdom has seen fit to permit the dread messenger Death to enter within the circle of our midst, our beloved and much esteemed brother, W.M. Pasley. Who departed this life January 13, 1922. He being a master Mason of this Lodge April 6, 1887 and mad an honorary member February 15, 1908. Resolved: That by the death of our brother we have lost a true and worthy member of our Fraternity, who was ever faithful to his convictions of right and to the ties of our brotherhood. Be it further Resolved: That while we his brothers greatly deplore and mourn his death, we cherish his memory in the abiding faith that our temporary loss is his eternal gain. Be it further Resolved; That we extend our Fraternal sympathy the deeply afflicted and sorrowing family, and commend them to him who doeth all things well. - C.C. Bunnell, J.F. Matthews, S.V. Rhea - Committee [Prairie Grove Herald 2/2/1921]

William Pasley of Summers, Arkansas was born February 11, 1838 in Washington County, Arkansas the son of William Pasley born in South Carolina and Mintie Wood, daughter of William and Littie Wood of South Carolina. Subject was a Democrat, Presbyterian and a Mason. He was a Captain in James Pettigrew’s Company, Col. Gunter Brooks Regiment full time. In 1861 he married Lucinda Jane Devon, daughter of Irvin Devon of Washington County, Arkansas. Their children are: Mrs. Lorella Flint; Mac Pasley of Summer, Arkansas; M.L. Pasley of Rhea, Arkansas and Mrs. Hattie Barton of Summers, Arkansas [1911 Arkansas Confederate Census]

Wm. Pasley, 82 years of age, who had been a resident of Washington County for many years, died recently at the home of a granddaughter in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The remains were returned to Rhea, this county, for burial. [The Springdale News 1/27/1922]

W.M. Pasley filed Veteran Application #21518 with the Confederate Pension Board of Washington County for a Confederate pension and it was received as allowed August 16, 1917 at the State, citing service with the Arkansas Infantry from 1862 thru 1865. [State of Arkansas Confederate Pension Archives]