The Granville Franklin Clement Home

 The Granville Franklin Clement Home later known as the the Hurst Home was located approximately seven miles east of Marion on Hwy. 120.  It was build by Granville Franklin and his wife, Margaret Saline Phillips Clement.  Granville and Margaret were married in July 1833, and their home was probably built soon afterwards.

This picture of the beautiful old home was made about 1910 after the Earl Hurst family was living there.  Left to right are: Lura Bell (Kemp) Hurst, holding daughter Katie; Louisa Jane (Woolf) Hurst; Ormond Hurst; Robert Earl Hurst; Fred Hurst; Roscoe Dye - a neighbor; and Leonard Hurst, husband of Lura, father of Katie.

The Sunday Law - Marion, Kentucky

Times certainly have changed.  From the old files of The Crittenden Press, May 1900 we can read about their city law forbidding working on Sunday's.

Sec. 24. - No work or business shall be done on the Sabbath Day, except the ordinary household offices, or other work of necessity or charity.

If any person on the Sabbath Day shall himself be found at his own or any other trade or calling, or shall employ his apprentices or other persons in labor or other business, whether the same be for profit or amusement, unless such as is permitted above, he shall be fined not less than two, nor more than fifty dollars for each offense.  Every person or apprentice so employed shall be deemed a separate offense.

The Mayor's statement in the Press has set the town agog, and a warm discussion of the matter continues.  

There are those for it and those against it and it is likely to be a matter of local interest for some time to come.

The following are the expressions of a few of the citizens touching the matter:  All are prominent business men of Marion.

• Harry V. Stone - I am in favor of enforcing the law:  Six days are enough for any man to work.
• Sam Gugenheim - I don't want to do any business on Sunday, the other fellow can do as he pleases.
• Wiliam B. Yandell - I am not in favor of transacting business on Sunday.  Let others be governed by their conscience.
• Thomas H. Cochran - I am for closing every business on Sunday
• George M. Crider - I favor enforcing the law.
• Robert F. Haynes - There should be no whiskey sold on Sunday.  Two hours is enough for any business on Sunday.  Drug stores should be allowed the privilege of keeping open to 10 a.m.; and then close until 1:30 p.m.  We fill on an average ten prescriptions every Sunday and to close up and go home, would keep us on the run all the time.
• Robert Fowler - I am not for it.
• James Paris - I wouldn't close the butcher shops.
• J. B. Grissom - I am against any Sunday law; if a fellow wants something to eat, he out to get it.

Marion's New Graded School 1895

Saturday evening, January 18, 1895, was a red letter day in the history of Marion.  

The magnificent new graded school building was on that day formally turned over to the people and dedicated to the cause of education.

When the hour for dedicating the new building that punctuates the new chapter in the county's educational affairs at last rolled around, it is no wonder that the building was crowded, and people had to turn away for want of room.

From the time the first spadeful of dirt was moved until the weather vane was set in its socket on the tower, the relations between the board and the contractor were of the most agreeable nature.

Everything came up to contract and even better.  The trustees are especially indebted to the contractor and his skilled foreman, Mr. C. J. Burget, of Marion.

The building which was completed Saturday, embraces eight rooms and four large hall ways, besides six cloak rooms.  On the first floor are four large school rooms.  In each which may be easily seated sixty pupils.

On the second floor are two school rooms similar to those below, besides the music room, and the auditorium or chapel, the latter will seat four or five hundred people.  

The rooms were all constructed with an eye to comfort and convenience.

There are two flights of steps leading from the first floor; the building has three entrances and into a commodious hallway, through double doors.

Just before the tower was completed, some enterprising spirits conceived the idea of putting in a clock, and in a few days a big $600 clock and bell will tell and toll off the time, and as it measures off the days and years the people of Marion will cheer their hearts with the fact that they have placed within easy reach of every child, be he great or small, a heritage so rich that it can not be computed in dollars and so permanent that reaches to eternity.

                          ***

This beautiful old building was torn down in 1938 to built the new High and Graded School which is still standing today, and I feel it's days are numbered, for as each day goes by it gets in worse condition.

Graveyard Knob

Crittenden County has beautiful scenery all across the county.  Out in the Eastern part of the county are many hills and bluffs that almost make the area look like you are driving into the Smokie Mountains of Tenn., especially early of a morning when there is a fog hanging on the top of the bluffs. It is a beautiful sight.

Many of the bluffs and hills have names that have been carried down through the ages by family and people that lived in the area.

One of these beautiful and mysterious bluffs is known as "Graveyard Knob".  It is located from Marion on Hwy 120 about 5 miles.  I don't know who owns this bluff now but back in the 1800's the Stewart family owed it.   

Mr. J. N. Dean who lived at Deanwood and wrote in-valuable articles about the area told in one of his stories that at one time there was a graveyard located on top of the bluff.  He even stated that there was a row of graves and that Mary Newell Stewart's grave was there.  Mary Newell Stewart was the wife of William Stewart.  

Children that lived in the area and could see the rounded bluff from a distance would tell that they thought a giant was buried there, as the bluff resembled a huge coffin or grave from a distance.  As you can see in the picture above it does resemble a grave.

Moses Lam, born Jan. 16, 1788, son of John and Comfort Beller Lam, died when he was about sixteen years of age from 'cramps."  He had been working in the harvest field and went into the creek bathing when he was too hot and died a the result.  He was buried on the Graveyard Knob.

There must have been other family members buried here as Mr. Dean stated he saw a row of graves, but there is nothing now that anyone can find. 

B. C. McNeeley told me back in 1995 that the knob had been logged for timber, and the sandstone rock monuments were suppose to have been stacked against a tree. 

 Mr. McNeeley and myself searched for a long time in March of 1995 and we never found these rocks or anything that looked like a grave.  But after a wooded area has been logged, the heavy equipment would have destroyed anything that once was there.

Mr. McNeeley, takes a break from our searching and rests against one of the unusual rocks that were located on the bluff.

Graveyard Knob, and the lost burials that are there, are now just a part of our Forgotten Passages of time, few now, even know of it's existence.

Early Attorney's

Attorney's played an important role in the early day's of our county's history.  They not only had many cases to try in Court at Marion but when the need arose, they would travel to the different districts in the county and would have court there.  Towns such as Shady Grove and Dycusburg had their own city courts and the attorney's would handle the cases.

Two of these young attorney's in 1895 were A. C. Moore and John A. Moore.

 A. C. Moore, a native of Crittenden County, 38 years of age, of prepossessing a distinguished appearance, he makes sad havoc with the preconceived ideas of the twelve good men and true in the jury box, provided, their thoughts of the verdict to be rendered are contrary to his side of the case.

Educated largely in our high school, supplemented by the Madisonville normal, he placed himself under the directing touch of Judge L. H. James, the eminent lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in 1888.

Alfred Clay Moore died in Dec. 11, 1946 and is buried in Mapleview Cemetery.


John A. Moore is devoted to his professional practice of the law.  He has been city attorney for the past five years.  Mr. Moore's experience has been for so young a man - 3- years - varied and extensive.

He graduated from the Marion high School in 1890 and was admitted to the bar in 1894.

John A. Moore died in 1952 and is buried in Mapleview Cemetery.

 This is their ad that appeared in The Crittenden Press in January 1895.

Barnes-Nunn Home

The Barnes-Nunn home, another one of our old historic homes is located on West Bellville St., a short distance from the Court house.  These old homes are becoming fewer and fewer.

No 'for sure' date is known for when it was built, but history shows it would have been in the 1870's.  It was built by Lemuel James, a noted lawyer in Marion, at the time.

In January 1893 the home was sold to Mary L. Barnes.  Mrs. Barnes moved to Marion, from the Dunns Springs area, and purchased the home after her husband died.

The family included Mrs. Margaret Barnes, her children, James M., Ninna, Della and Lemah.  This was truly a family home, for in 1894, daughter, Leman Barnes married Clement S. Nunn, a well-known attorney and they made this their home, all the family continued to live here until 1896, when son James, got married and moved to a home of his on.

C. S. Nunn, who was an Appeals Court Judge, and wife Lemah lived out their lives in this beautiful home and in later years the home was always referred to as the Barnes-Nunn Home.

Thankfully the home is in beautiful condition today, and holds the offices of Crittenden County Attorney, Rebecca Johnson.

Pleasant Grove School

Another one of our county schools was Pleasant Grove School.  It was located on what they called the Irma-Salem Road, and later became S. R. 723 S.

Early settlers built the first school house in this community.  It had a dirt floor, a large fireplace and a stick chimney daubed with mud.  The seats were made of logs that had been split open and had pegs for legs.

This building was located south of the Pleasant Grove Church near a spring.  This was the water supply for both places.

As the community grew there was a need for a larger building.  A second one was built on the west side of the church on the road known as the Pleasant Grove and Lola Road.  This was also a log structure, quite a bit larger and with some improvements over the first building.  Some of the improvements included a puncheon floor, glass windows and a stone chimney.

As time went along another building was needed.  This was the third building.  It was much improved over the other two.  It was frame with modern seats and windows for that time.   Slates had been used in the previous buildings but this one had a large blackboard across one end of the room.  

The fireplace had been replaced with a coal heater that had a large jacket around it.  There would be no more carrying water from the spring because a cistern had been dug and a latticed shed was built around it.

The fourth building was erected in 1909 or 1910.  It was located on the Salem and Tolu road and at that time it was a narrow dirt road.  Later it was made wider and was blacktopped and would be S. R. 723.

Due to the growing number of students the fourth building was much larger than the preceding ones.  Enrollment was somewhere near 70 or 75.  That did not mean the attendance was always that many.  Boys that were large enough to do farm work would have to drop out and help during the harvest season.  During the cold winter months, the smaller chilren couldn't make it every day. 

This was a one room school for several years, but later another room was added, as you can see in the picture above.

The last year for school here was the 1957-58 school year.  The old building burnt and the students were sent to Tolu School.