Gone, but not forgotten: When Marble City was its own township

In 1900, Marble City was enumerated as its own township. There were 396 people living in the township, most of them working on farms. But there was mining, industry, and business going on as well.
Three men, Lorenzo Lewis, John Roberts and John G. Thomas, were all listed as being miners "of ore."
This was likely marble, as Charles Haynes was employed as a stone cutter. John W. Sanders was an engineer, perhaps overseeing the construction of machinery to extract the marble. John W. Willcockson, a prominent member of the community, was a miller.
The physician for the community was Dr. Silas Shruggs Stacey. Born in 1828 in Tennessee, he moved westward as a youth, and married Armenda Abbott in 1845 in Springfield, Missouri. He graduated from Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati in 1862. He moved to Newton County by 1880, when he lived in Jasper. By 1900, he was living and practicing at "Willcockson," or Marble City. He died there in 1915 and was buried in Jasper Cemetery.
There was also a nurse in the community. Her name was Queen C. Clopton, widow of Confederate veteran Abraham Clopton. She was born Queeny Tinsley in 1828 in South Carolina. She married Abraham Clopton in Conway, Arkansas, in 1856, and they moved to Newton County. After his death in 1862, she raised their children on her own. In 1900, she was living with son James and his family, and was working as a nurse. She purchased 80 acres of Newton County land from the government in 1901, and died the next year.
There were several retail establishments in Marble City. The dry goods merchants were Willis Moore, William Gibson and John Moore.

Mahala Truelove, a young widow, lived with her father, Isom Gibson, and was a storekeeper as well.
William Pruitt was a grocer.
Willis Wilson Moore was born near Gaither in 1861, and his family moved to Sulphur Mountain east of Marble City when he was five. He married Margaret Thompson there in 1883 and started his mercantile business. He was postmaster of Marble City and then entered politics. In 1906, he was elected county clerk and moved to Jasper, where he lived the rest of his life, serving as mayor of Jasper, county judge, and state representative. He died in 1951 and was buried in Jasper Cemetery.
John Moore was Willis's brother. He didn't remain in Newton County, and moved to Boone County, where he died in 1866. William Gibson also moved to Harrison, where he died in 1918. Mahala Truelove remained in Newton County but a few years. Her father died soon after the census was taken, and she moved to Boone County, where she married William Riley. She died in Springfield Missouri in 1949.
William Jonah Pruitt was born in 1871 in Arkansas. By 1910, he was no longer a grocer, but was farming in Marble Township. He later moved to Jasper where he again had a store in 1920. He died in Jasper in 1954 and was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Harrison.

Barbara LeRoy is the author of “Which Side Were They On?,” a 302 page book listing biographical sketches of the Newton Countians who were involved in the Civil War, available for sale either in the Bradley House Museum or by purchasing online at www.newtoncountyar.com. The book sells for $33.