THOSE WHO SERVED®
Searcy County, Arkansas

Franklin Wortman, son of John Wortman and Nancy Morris Wortman, was born in Campbellsville, Giles County, Tennessee on 6 July 1822. His mother died in 1840. By the 1850s his family was settled in Searcy County, Arkansas. He married Elizabeth Turney in 1852. They had four children: John Lemuel, Mary F., Nancy Jane, and Margaret Lou.

When the Civil War came, Franklin and his family were among the abolitionist Union supporters, though Franklin, his brother Christopher, and their step-brother Paris Strickland preferred to stay there and protect their home and families and joined the Arkansas Peace Society (Cox, personal interview; Warren 7).

Franklin, Christopher, and seventy-five other Peace Society members were rounded up and marched in chains to Burroughville (now Marshall); his son John Lemuel never forgot the sight of his daddy being marched away in chains (Cox, personal interview). They were kept there for a time then marched to Little Rock where Judge Rector offered them the choice of hanging or membership in the Confederate Army (Bishop qtd in Warren 6). They chose the army. Franklin later escaped and returned home. While he was gone, a group of Confederate Soldiers led by Captain Black stormed his father John's house to get to Paris. John was killed, and Paris captured but let go; he later joined the Union Army (Bishop 137). His brother-in-law B. F. Taylor recruited him into the Union army and Franklin enlisted in Co M, 3rd Arkansas Cavalry on 1 January 1865 and mustered out on 22 May 1865 (Vaughn, genealogical information). During his absence, Elizabeth had to contend with raising crops herself and hiding the food from the bushwhackers that stole from the women and children left at home and from her children, as after one visit from these marauders she discovered that her youngest child was too young to understand to keep the whereabouts of the food a secret (Vaughn, genealogical information).

Franklin and Elizabeth stayed in Witts Springs and enjoyed visits from their children and grandchildren, though he was never the same after the war (Cox, personal interview). Franklin liked sardines and his son John Lemuel would get them for him (Cox, personal interview). Elizabeth passed away in 1910 and Franklin in 1911. They are buried in Witts Springs Cemetery, he has a white upright military marker and she has a small metal marker.

View military marker of Franklin Wortman in Witts Spring Cemetery Album

Bibliography
Bishop, A. W. Loyalty On The Frontier. Conway, Arkansas: Oldbuck Press, Inc., 1993. Original publication: St. Louis: E.P. Studley and Co., Printers, 1863.

Cox, Grace Wortman. Personal interview, 1990s.

Vaughn, Ruenell Wasson. Genealogical information, 1998.

Warren, Luther E. Yellar Rag Boys. 2nd ed. Sandra L. Weaver, ed. Conway, Arkansas: Penny Pincher Printing, 1993.

Read Searcy County Memories of Grace Wortman Cox