Peter C. Carnahan

Rev. Peter Carnahan, who resides one mile east of Bentonville, Ark., is a

native of Washington County, Ark., horn in 1838 at Cane Hill. He is a son of

Samuel and Mary (Pyeatt) Carnahan and grandson of Rev. John Carnahan, who

was a South Carolinian. a Cumberland Presbyterian minister and an immigrant

to Tennessee in 1800. Eleven years later he moved to Arkansas Post, and a year

later-went to Pulaski County. He was the first Protestant minister in the State

-Of Arkansas. His son, SamuPJ, was born in South Carolina in 1794, and made

his home with his father until 1827, when he moved to Cane. Hill, Ark., where

he passed the remainder of his days. During the time he was living at Crystal

Hill his father moved back to Tennessee, but after Samuel moved to Cane Hill

his father made liis home with him. Samuel Carnahan died in 1867. He was

the owner of 500 acres of land at the time of his death. His wife was of French

descent. born in South Carolina in 1797, and died in 1879. She was a daughter

of Jacob Pyeatt, and became the mother of twelve children, nine of whom are

living, Peter Carnahan, our subject, being the eleventh child. He was reared

on his father's farm, and was attending the Cane Hill College when the war

broke out, and he immediately espoused the cause of the Confederacy, serving

as third lieutenant of Capt. Buchanan's company. In 1862 he enlisted in

Company B, Thirty-fourth Arkansas Regiment of Infantry, and was elected

second lieutenant of the same, and after the battle of Prairie Grove was promoted

to adjutant, holding the latter position until the close of the war. He

participated in the battles of Oak Hill, Prairie Grove and Jenkins' Ferry. After

the war be returned home and farmer on the old homestead until 1870. He was

ordained a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1866, and was

given charge of a church at Pleasant Hill and one at Cincinnati, Ark. In 1870

he was called to Bentonville to take charge of the church at that point, and was

pastor of the same for fourteen years. During this time he also bad charge of

the Mt. Vernon congregation, on Pea Ridge, which charge he still retains. In

1884 the Bentonville congregation was divided, and Rev. Carnahan took charge

of the new congregation, known as Wood's congregation, the church being

about two miles east of Bentonville. In June, 1862, Mr. Carnahan was married

to Martha J., daughter of Rev. John Buchanan, one of the pioneer Cumberland

Presbyterian ministers of Washington County, Ark., and by her became the

father of six children: Stella (wife of D. C. Lewis), Otho, Edgar, John Hurley,

Harry Pyeatt and Earl. He has a good farm of ninety-four acres, and is a

Democrat and an Ancient member of the Masonic fraternity. He is noted for

his many Christian virtues, and the fact that he has· been eighteen years the

pastor of the same two congregations speaks volumes in his praise.