Andrew Simpson and Louisa Catherine Dodd Hemperley

Andrew Simpson and Louisa Catherine Dodd Hemperley had moved to Bright Star prior to the beginning of the Civil War. They had four children, one of whom was Jefferson Beauregard, who later in life was a prominent merchant at Collins Bluff, Spring Bank, and Doddridge. “Gard,” as he was called, was born July 31, 1861. His father became active in the War, and on May 26, 1863, he died from wounds received in battle three days earlier at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Gard was twenty-two months old at the time.

Louisa Catherine was thus left a widow with four small children to support. In a letter to his cousin in Georgia many years later. Gard comments on the hardship that came upon his mother after his father’s death: I have heard her say [at] times that she kept us alive one winter on sweet potatoes. We would have biscuits on Sunday. . . . Mother carded, spun, and wove the cloth and made all our clothing by hand.

In 1864, Louisa Catherine married a bachelor, Henry Stuckey, who owned a mercantile business in Bright Star. Life was more secure after this marriage because Henry Stuckey had modest means and was helpful and considerate toward the children. He taught Gard many useful things about farming as well as store keeping, and Gard was an astute and eager pupil.

After Gard had matured, his stepfather perceived that he would be very capable in operating another store; consequently, in 1884, Stuckey bought a store at Collins Bluff on Red Fiver (near Spring Bank) for Gard to operate. Gard did very well with the store; in fact, he did so well that he bought it in 1885.

On August 27, 1885, Gard married Luvenlia “Lula” Virginia Sheppard of Era. She was the eldest daughter of John Harris and Louisiana Virginia Phelps Sheppard. Through the next twenty-seven years Gard and Lula had thirteen children whose names were Oscar, Buron Conway, Frankie, Carmie, Jennie Belle, Maude, Myrtle, Mabel, Vangel, Jewel, Pauline, James Bernie, and Kathryn (not necessarily in this order). According to Gard and Lula’s grandchild, LoRene Poole McCarty, the thirteen Hemperley kids made Ripley’s “Believe it or Not,” a national newspaper feature of the time. Its “believe it or not” message was that six of the children had blue eyes, and six had brown; the middle child had a blue eye and a brown eye!

Due to the persuasion of Gard’s stepfather, Henry Stuckey, who now had a store in Mena, Arkansas, Gard sold his store at Collins Bluff in 1898 and moved the family to Cove, Arkansas, to open a store there on the railroad.

Things generally did not work out well with this venture, including family health, and so in 1901 the family moved to Doddridge. Gard then opened two Stores, one at Spring Bank, and one at Doddridge. His grown daughters, Frankie, Jennie Belle, and Maude helped in managing these stores. Eventually, Gard let go of the store at Spring Bank and concentrated on the Doddridge store.

In 1915, this store, along with all other stores east of the railroad, including the Ezekiel Pool cotton gin, burned to the ground. But like the mythical phoenix bird arising from its ashes, every merchant immediately rebuilt, this time with brick. It has never been conclusively determined what caused this fire. One speculation is that it started in the boiler section of the cotton gin; another is that someone was bankrupt (the ultimate disgrace), and torched his own business. After seventy-six years, it doesn’t appear likely that the cause will ever be known.

McCarty relates that her Grandfather Gard managed his store until shortly before his death in 1944. This was sixty years after opening his first store in 1884. She remembers him as a loving, stern father who could roar like a lion and purr like a kitten all in the same breath. He was an honorable, hard-working person, and he expected his children to follow in his footsteps. He was a Methodist but respected all religious beliefs. Gard was indeed a most unforgettable character. As it has been with most of the families of Sulphur Township, The Hemperleys are now gone from the Doddridge and Era communities. Not one remains. One might ask what it is that takes people from places their forebears struggled to come to and develop in the first place.

Economic and social changes, which are inevitable, are certain to be the primary factors. Sulphur Township came to be less the provider as time went by. Thus, people simply moved on to survive better and to find greater fulfillment of their social interests.

Because economic and social movements are known to go in cycles or waves, there is every reason to expect that, in time, population and activity will return to Sulphur Township. However, it is certain to be for reasons vastly different from those which brought the Hemperleys and others to this area during the days of the pioneer.