Mary Frances "Mollie" McKenzie, an orphan, was reared by Joel Monroe and Sarah A. "Sally" (unknown maiden name) McClintock in or near DeValls Bluff, Prairie County, AR. When the old McClintock house was razed, my paternal aunt and uncle, the late Harry C. & Goldie Hurley (Parker) Mason of Biscoe, Prairie, AR, were able to salvage a large antique built-in china cabinet from the old McClintock home and reuse it in their kitchen when they built their house in Biscoe, Prairie, AR, in the 1950s.

Uncle Harry C. Mason and my dad, Douglas F. Mason, told me that they thought Capt. McClintock was a riverboat captain who came to the region of DeValls Bluff via the White River and settled there. Recently I located a little more information on Capt. Joel Monroe McClintock, which clarifies why he was called "Captain McClintock." Whether he was a riverboat captain or came there on a riverboat certainly is feasible, but I do not know for certain. It appears Capt. McClintock was born 20 Jun 1839 somewhere in Pennsylvania.

In the 1850 census of Missouri, St. Charles, District 78, there is a family as follows: Ralph McClintock, 35, b abt 1815, PA, farmer, and his wife Agnes, who is 30, b abt 1820 in PA. Their children are Wm, 11; Joel, 9; Margaret, 7; and Ralph, 6; all born in PA. The dates work out to be correct for Joel McClintock to be J. M. McClintock, b PA, so this is probably his family. [Not proven yet.]

In the 1840 census, there are three Ralph McClintocks in PA, one in Blockley, Philadelphia, PA with 6 persons in the household; one in Plum, Allegheny, PA, with 4 persons in the household; and one in Albany, Albany, NY, with 9 persons in the household. More research needs to be conducted to decipher the Ralphs!

From this Message Board and some of the queries and replies, I learned of some new sources, such as: Arkansas in the Civil War, The Centennial History of Arkansas, Vol II, and from the Sons of the Veterans of Civil War Graves Registration database, all of which reference Capt. Joel M. McClintock [See http://history-sites.com/cgibin/bbs62x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=29232]
who served in the Civil War for the Union.

Capt. McClintock, along with his parents, resided in Mineral, Bureau, IL, in 1860, the same county where Dr. Stephen Robey Mason resided before moving to DeValls Bluff, AR, after the Civil War. Capt. McClintock was captured sometime during the war, was in Helena, AR, when he had typhoid fever, was in DeValls Bluff, Prairie, AR, and was with General Steele in Little Rock, Pulaski, AR.

In the 1870 census records of Wattensaw, Prairie, AR, there is listed a Joel M. McClintock, born about 1840 in Pennsylvania, with an occupation of sheriff of Prairie County. The 1880 census of DuValls [sic] Bluff, Prairie, AR, lists Joel M. McClintock's occupation as judge of the county court. At that time, he was 40 years old. My great grandmother, Mollie F. [Mary Frances "Mollie" McKenzie] was living in their household at age 16, which corroborates what Uncle Harry and Daddy said, that Mollie was an orphan. The same census states that Mollie was born in Mississippi, and I located a "John McKenzie" in Mississippi whose age is right to be her father. No mother was listed. [More proof needed on her paternity.]

Capt. McClintock served in the 33rd Ill. Inf., Co. E., discharged for promotion to captain, commissioned to Co. D, later I, 57th U.S. Colored Infantry. [See also 2nd Miss. Marine Brigade.]

As was done in small communities back then, rarely was there a legal adoption. If someone's neighbors died leaving children, they were often placed in homes in the community. It doesn't appear that Capt. Joel M. fMcClintock and Sarah A. "Sally," his wife, had children. They certainly had means, though, owning a 2,500-acre farm. So they took Mollie in after the 1870 census and before the 1880 census.

In 1864, Capt. McClintock resigned from the military and went into private business. He served in the state legislature and was the one who introduced legislation to create Lonoke County in 1873. He served as sheriff of Prairie County and as sheriff of Old Brownsville (1868-1872) and then when Lonoke was formed, was sheriff from 1873-1874. He owned 2,500 acres of land in the general area of DeValls Bluff, and in 1910, he and his wife took a trip to Europe to see the sights. At the ripe old age of 95, Capt. McClintock died in Nov 1934 and was buried in Oaklawn Cemetery in the town of DeValls Bluff, Prairie, AR.

In 1885, Mollie McKenzie married Wilbur John Mason in Prairie County, and they resided on Hwy. 70, on the south side of the little town of DeValls Bluff in the home built by Wilbur's father, Dr. Stephen Robey Mason. That house was torn down in the decade of 1970-1980.