Another sprightly pioneer woman is Mrs. Reed, affectionately called 'Aunt Kate,' widow of George Allen Reed, also a pioneer. When abstractors get a bit mixed on the title for a deed, they consult Mrs. Reed, who can tell exactly who settled that tract, and who several subsequent purchasers were.

This is how she came to be a pioneer.
'My father, David Harkey, started with twelve other families in wagons from Cabrais, Stanley County, N.C. November 15, 1839. They came through Tennessee and part of Mississippi and Georgia and they got to this section on December 12, 1839, just lacking three days of taking a month on the way. They crossed at Memphis on the first steamboat they ever saw. My father built a house and cleared some land at the foot of Norristown Mountain. There were 18 children, and I am the youngest. I have two brothers living in Texas, Henry Harkey of Arlington, and Jacob Harkey of Lancaster, we are the last of the family. My father lived to be eighty-seven, but mother died at fifty-six.'

' My mother spun and wove and knit, and taught her girls to do the same, and I think, helped to clear land, too. Everyone worked hard to get their land ready to farm.'

'Sometimes bears passed through on their way across the river to higher mountains, panthers, too. But what the women and children feared most was wild hogs.'

'We crossed the river in skiffs and flat-boats when we wanted to trade in Dardanelle, and later there were a good many steamboats. I remember one called 'Tennessee Belle' from Tennessee. Another was the 'Glandy Bird' and Mr, Love's negroes made a song about it. Part of it was like this: I'll take mah duds an' pack on mah back Till de Glandy Bird comes down.'

'Another man built a tavern at Norristown, but I don't remember who that was. Col. Norris was the first.'

'There was a Masonic Hall built about 1850, I think, and the lodge was held in the upper hall of it, and church service in the lower part; we had service on a week-day usually for the ministers had to go to other places. Later, there was a log church built by the Methodists on the present site of the city cemetery, but the first frame building was built just back of the present Methodist Episcopal church and served for all denominations, with a Union Sunday School.'

'The first stores in Russellville were Jacob and Madison Shinn's, and Hugh Wells'. J.B. Erwin bought out Mr. Wells, who then went into the grocery and liquor business while Mr. Erwin did general merchandising.'

'Dr. Russell built an office and he and his brother, Capt. James Thomas Russell, lived for a short time with the Maddox family, until they could build a home. The Russell’s were English and came from Liverpool, originally. Dr. Russell was the only physician anywhere near. The town, you know, was named for them, a second choice being for the Shinn family, but it was finally decided in favor of Russellville.'

'I can remember the gold rush in 1849 and how people cried when their kin left for the west.'

'The first hotel or tavern in Russellville, it was where the Central Presbyterian church now stands, and was built by Coke Darneil. Another tavern was built by a man named Richmond and later sold to Jonah Tucker, who conducted it for many years. It was on the opposite side of River Street.'

Mrs. Reed told of many Indians living here and later of hundreds coming each fall on a secret pilgrimage, camping at the foot of Norristown Bluff. White people were kind, but feared them. The annual visits continued until after the War Between the States. Mrs. Reed is now in her eighty-fourth year and lives with her daughter, Miss Emma Reed, a teacher in the city schools. A son, L.D Reed, lives at Ozark. Mrs. Reed maintains the high standards and ideals of the old citizenship and an honored and active member of the Methodist church, enjoying a wide circle of friends.

Above article dated January 14, 1929, Russellville Courier-Democrat

Note: Kate Harkey Reed's given name was Eliza Catherine Maria. Born to David Robert Harkey and Elizabeth Sarah Shinn. Kate was born August 21, 1846 in Pope County, Arkansas, and died May 10, 1933 in Russellville, Pope County. She married George Allen Reed September 26, 1867 in Pope County. George was born January 30, 1840 in Russellville and died August 27, 1892. George Allen Reed was son of Claiborne Reed and Eliza Carlock Shinn. Eliza Carlock Shinn was a sister to Elizabeth Sarah Shinn, Kate's mother. Another child of Claiborne Reed and Eliza Carlock Shinn was Mary Malinda Reed. She was first married to William Jackson Harkey, who was born June 11, 1836 in Montgomery County, North Carolina, died July 7, 1864 in Pulaski County, Arkansas. He was son of David Robert Harkey and Elizabeth Sarah Shinn...brother to Kate Harkey Reed. Mary Malinda Reed's second husband was Edmond Guthrie. Kate Harkey's disposition is included in the pension paperwork of Edmond Guthrie. A daughter of Edmond Guthrie and Mary Malinda Reed Harkey was Sarah Ellen Theodothia Guthrie, see Maternal Reed Family. Sarah Ellen Theodothia Guthrie married Edward Edgmon...one of their sons was Leither Edgmon, hence my email address :o). And to add to the tangle, Edmond Guthrie's first wife was Elizabeth Price...their first born child was Thomas Guthrie, born February 3, 1858 in Mossville, Newton County, Arkansas. He died in Russellville October 16, 1923. Thomas Guthrie married Eliza Allen 'Allie' Reed February 10, 1878 in Pope County. Allie was born May 7, 1863 and died May 9, 1951 in Russellville. Allie was daughter of George Allen Reed and Minerva K. Copeland. After Minerva died, George Allen Reed married Kate Harkey...