Christena Barger
The stone is broken and the birth date cannot be read. Christena’s tombstone has inscribed that she married J. P. Steele on August 27, 1829 (Moscow Cemetery, Prescott, Nevada County, Arkansas).
More About CHRISTENA BARGER:
Burial: Moscow Cemetery, near Prescott, Nevada County, Arkansas
Religion: Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Marriage Notes for JOHN STEELE and CHRISTENA BARGER:
From: Goodspeed Biography and History Memoirs of Southern Arkansas, Pages 586-587.
"... J. P. and Christiana (Bargar) Steele, natives of North Carolina. They were married in (Henderson County) Tenn., and resided there for some time after (until 1838), then moved to Mississippi, remaining there until 1848, when they came to Arkansas, locating in Ouachita County, and here the father died in 1850, in his fifty-second year. After his death his widow married Hiram Medlock, who lived but two years, dying in 1858. Mrs. Medlock moved from Ouachita County to Pike County, in 1858, and the following year came to Nevada County (then Hempstead), where she remained until her death in 1877, dying at the age of sixty-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Steele were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and took an active interest in all church affairs. It was at his house that the first Methodist Episcopal Church in this part of Ouachita County was organized, and this house is known as Steele's Chapel until this day. Politically he was a Whig. He learned the millwright's trade when a young man, and afterward worked at it for a good many years, taking contracts, etc. He was also a silent partner in a tannery in Mississippi. The latter part of his life he devoted exclusively to farming. To the union of Mr. and Mr. Steele were born twelve children, five of whom still survive, viz.: Col. William T. (a farmer of this county, and one of its prominent citizens), Sarah E. (wife of J. T. W. Gill, also a farmer of this county), Amanda C. (wife of David F. Garrett, a farmer of this county), Benjamin F. (our subject), and Luther C. (also engaged in tilling the soil in this county). Those dead are: Thomas H. (died in Ouachita County, before the war, in his twenty-third year), John G. (died in Ouachita County, in 1860, when twenty-five years of age), James L. (died at the age of twenty-two years, in Ouachita County, near the beginning of the war), Victoria C. (married Robert James, and died in Pike County, Ark.), Washington J. (died in Ouachita County when about twenty-six years of age), and David A. (died at Little Rock, Ark., in infancy)."
NOTE: John Jehu and Christina Steele may have had a daughter born in early 1830. On the 1830 Tennessee Census for Henderson County there is a John P. Steel between 20-30 years old with a wife also between 20-30 years and a female child under five years old. This child is probably the first born of John and Christina. She is listed on the 1840 Mississippi Census for Lafayette County as being 5-10 years old. Probably almost 10 years old. She does not appear on the 1850 Arkansas Census for Ouachita County. She may have either died or married and left home by that time. Also on the 1830 Tennessee Census for Henderson County, TN is a female in the household between 15-20 years old who may be a sister to John P. or Christina.
Children of JOHN STEELE and CHRISTENA BARGER are:
i. "DAUGHTER"3 STEELE8, b. Abt. 1830.
(4.) ii. COL. WILLIAM T. STEELE, b. November 12, 1832, Henderson County, Tennessee; d. Abt. 1881, Arkansas.
iii. THOMAS H. STEELE9, b. July 24, 1834, Mississippi; d. July 26, 1856, Ouachita County, Arkansas.
Notes for THOMAS H. STEELE:
Thomas Steele did not have children.
More About THOMAS H. STEELE:
Burial: Old Steele Cemetery, Ouachita County, Arkansas
iv. JOHN G. STEELE10, b. August 31, 1836, Tennessee; d. May 13, 1861, Ouachita County, Arkansas.
Notes for JOHN G. STEELE:
John Steele did not have children. On his grave marker is a circle with a star inside, possibly a reference to Masonic membership.
More About JOHN G. STEELE:
Burial: Old Steele Cemetery, Ouachita County, Arkansas
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