Our ancestors on both mother and father's side sailed from Belfast, Ireland to South Carolina. They may have originated in Scotland and went to Ireland sometime before 1800.
b-11/23/1911
Mt. Vernon, Arkansas
b-12/19/1904
Harrisburg, Poinsett, Arkansas
John and Martha had 5 children in Alabama before going to Arkansas. Their first born son, William, married Exeline Bridges in 1877. From this union 5 boys and 2 girls were born between 1878 and 1891. William and Exeline's first born son was Alonzo, my grandfather. Alonzo married Leanna Steel in March 1904. In December that year my father, John Cecil McCulley, was born in Harrisburg, Poinsett Co., Arkansas. Alonzo and Leanna also produced two daughters, Irene and Lucille McCulley. Alonzo died soon after Lucille was born and Leanna later married David A. Hedgepath and they had 3 children.
John Cecil first married Rosa Lee Partain on October 11, 1925 in Harrisburg, Poinsett Co., Arkansas. Rosa Lee died in childbirth and it has not been proven if the child died at the same time. We searched for this child in the event it did live but have found nothing to date. On June 4, 1927 also in Poinsett Co., Arkansas, John Cecil married Eleanor Wilcox. They produced one son, Wallace Posey McCulley, born June 29, 1928. However, John Cecil was unaware of this child because he and Eleanor had separated before his birth. John had told me that he had another son but did not know his name or where he was. After 15 years of searching, which started in 1977, we found the family of Wallace in Russleville, Arkansas. Wallace had died in 1981, only 4 years after we began searching for him.
b-June 28, 1928, Searcy, Arkansas
Married Betty Fey Norris9on January 17, 1953 and had 3 children all of whom are still living in Arkansas.
My dad, John Cecil, died in 1946 from a brain hemorrhage (called a stroke in those days). After his death, supporting this large family became very difficult for Leona. The youngest, Patricia Kay, was born in March 1947 which brought the total number of children at this time to 9 ranging in age from 15 to 0. This situation was apparently too much for Leona to handle because she started hanging out with a guy who was an itinerant and drunk. In a few months she left the family in care of me and my younger sisters. In the spring of 1949, the welfare department took the two youngest children, John Cecil Jr. and Patricia Kay and placed them in adoption homes. John Cecil was taken to Tennessee by "Buck" Oliver and his wife. Patricia Kay went with David Barton and his wife in Catron Missouri.
When the adoption happened, I decided to join the Air Force, as opposed to being a foot soldier, because the Korean War was starting and the draft had begun. My sisters, Mary, Delphine and Betty took care of the three younger girls until they went on their own.
Picture taken about 1968 after all the children found each other and just before their mother, Ida Leona, died in a car accident.
b-August 5, 1931 Lake City, Arkansas
Picture taken about 1952
In December 1978 Delores and I divorced. In late 1977 I met B. Esther Oviedo. Esther and I were married in 1980 and it was she who introduced me to this hobby of genealogy. Through the years, we generated data for this website.
