GREATHOUSE, Benjamin Harvey – {Social and Personal} Hon. B.H. Greathouse came down from Lowell Friday afternoon to hear the speech of his friend, Senator Kirby. [The Springdale News 7/9/1920]
Senator B.H. Greathouse and sons, who recently disposed of their farm and store at Harmon, have purchased the mercantile business of Frank Barr at Lowell and will make their home there. Mr. Barr and family have returned to their former home in Fayetteville. [The Springdale News 4/16/1920]
Greathouse Resigns From Legislature; Place Not Filled - Representative B.H. Greathouse today telegraphed Governor Parnell that he will be unable to attend the special session of the legislature which meets in Little Rock Tuesday, tendering his resignation he announced this afternoon.
Illness of his wife, he said, in his message, will prevent him from leaving home at this time.
GOVERNOR NOT YET AWARE
Governor Parnell this afternoon in telephone conversation with the Democrat said he had not yet received Mr. Greathouse's message. "I of course have given no thought as to whom his successor will be, if I name one for the short session," he said. [Fayetteville Democrat 9/24/1928]
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Stories of Civil War Days - as told to the author by his father, the Reverand B.H. Greathouse.
In the fall of 1864 the author's father, Benjamin H. Greathouse, enlisted in Colonel Buck Brown's regiment at Cane Hill, Arkansas. He was assigned to a company commanded by Captain Pleas Crawford of Prairie Grove. Except for a few men from Carroll, Madison and Crawford Counties, this regiment was made up entirely of men from Washington and Benton Counties.
My father said that although Buck Brown's regiment was not part of General Stand Wadie's command, they were often attached to it and operated under his orders. He recalled that at one time while his regiment was operating under General Stand Wadie's orders, they raided the livestock supply of the Federal troops at Fayetteville and drove off some 200 horses and mules. Those animals were being pastured on the "prairie" between Fayetteville and Greathouse Springs. Among the animals driven off was an exceptionally fine saddle horse, the property of Major Hunt, a Federal officer with the garrison at Fayetteville. Major Hunt was a long-time resident of Fayetteville after the War and he and my father became good friends. I remember hearing those two gentlemen discuss this incident many years after the Civil War. In this conversation I recall hearing my father jokingly remark that he (Major Hunt) "had provided the Southern Army with one of the best saddle animals he had ever seen, thereby aiding and abetting (no doubt unwillingly) the cause of the Confederacy."
Another Civil War experience, told by Benjamin H. Greathouse, was as follows:
During the early spring of the last year of the War, Benjamin H. Greathouse, Jack Mount and the Reverand Jasper Banks, all soldiers in the Southern Army, were on their way home for a "stolen" and short visit with their families. They were forced to travel at night inorder to avoid encounter with enemy patrols from the Federal garrison at Fayetteville and also northern sympathizers among their neighbors who might report their presence to the Federal troops.
The signs of spring were all about them. It was a bright, moonlit night and the blossoming redbud and dogwood trees were clearly discernable. The grass was green and the spirits of the three men were extremely high in anticipation of again seeing their families and loved ones after a long separation.
Their first stop was to be the home of Jordan Banks. As they rode onto his place, a scene of utter ruin met their eyes. Where the house and barn had stood, there were two great piles of fresh, gray ashes which, in the moonlight, looked like two dirty patches of late winter snow which had not as yet melted.
The three men sat on their horses for some time in stunned silence as they viewed this picture of wanton destruction. Not a sign of life was in evidence. Mr. Banks, of course, did not know whether or not his family had survived this holocaust or, if alive, where they had taken refuge. Afdter a time, and while the silence of him and his comrades still prevailed, Banks dismounted from his horse, dropped to his knees on the grass in front of the charred embers of his ruined home, and with bared head and eyes turned heavenward, began to pray aloud. The gist of his prayer was as follows: "Oh Lord, Thou teacheth us to pray for our enemies and all those who dispitefully use us. I am now asking Thee, oh Lord, to please forgive these 2nd Arkansas Yankees for the terrible things they have done. But, Lord, if Thou, in Thy infinite tenderness and mercy, cannot find it in Thy heart to bestow Thy loving forgiveness upon them, then let them die and go to hell. Amen."
My father stated that the "Amen" uttered by the Reverand Jordan Banks on that occasion was loudly and enthusiastically echoed by his two companions who, throughout his prayer, had sat on their horses with bared and bowed heads.
(Note: The Reverand Jordan Banks in the above story was the same Jordan Banks who was the officiating clergyman at the marriage of Benjamin H. Greathouse to Miss Martha Kate Stout in 1869.) ["Greathouses" by Jack Murray Greathouse - Family Files - Fayetteville Public Library]GREATHOUSE, Martha Emmaline Kate STOUT - Gone To Her Reward - Last Sunday at twelve o'clock, Mrs. Kate Greathouse, wife of Rev. B.H. Greathouse, pastor of the Methodist Church of Longview, died in her home in this city. She was an acquaintance of mine for nearly forty years.
I knew her father and mother in my childhood and do not know when I did not know her grandfather, Mr. MacCurdy. His life reminds one of the fine sketches of Scotch Presbyterian character given in Pollock's poem, "The Course Of Time." My close acquaintance with Mrs. Greathouse began in 1867. In October of that year, in association with two other girls at the home of one of them, while singing at my request -Wesley's hymn, "Jesus Lover of My Soul," she, with the other girls, accepted Jesus as the "Lover" of their Souls and gave to Him their hearts and lives.
Her religion was never called in question. She lived in harmony with the song of her life. In her suffering for long years she was never out of conscious relationship with Christ.
She leaves a husband and seven sons with the bereavement that comes with the death of wife and mother, A host of friends, made in the years of her varied life, as the wife of a preacher, shed their tears with those of her husband and sons. It was my lot to receive her into the fellowship of the church and to lead the worship of those gathered in her home when she was carried to her grave.
She was the daughter of Peter B. and Grace MacCurdy Stout; born February 5th, 1853; Professed religion and joined the C.P. Church under the ministry of S. H. Buchanan when 14 years of age. She married Rev. B.H. Greathouse, March 18th, 1869 and joined the M.E. Church, South and was a preacher's wife 31 years. Two years on circuits, two on districts and twenty seven in stations. Her life was pure and useful.
She departed this life September 24th, 1905 at 12 o'clock. She closed her life without a shadow over her good name or the assurance of her bright hopes and comfort as a Christian.
Let us give those bereaved by her death a love kindred to that Jesus gave to Mary and Martha when Lazarus was in his grave and He gave him back to them when He gave again to the widow of Nain her only son. - S.H. Buchanan [Greathouse Obituaries from Greathouse Family Files, Fayetteville Public Library]
Greathouse, Kate Stout - Born February 5, 1853 Died September 24, 1905 - Oakwood Cemetery, Tyler, Smith County, Texas
Mrs. B.H. Greathouse died September 24, 1905 and was buried in City Cemetery in Tyler. She was survived by her husband, Reverand B.H. Greathouse, former pastor of