The Hanging of a McBride

My grandfather was James Thomas McBride, born on Nov 30, 1888 in Belleville, Yell County Arkansas. He was the son of Hugh Robert McBride, born May 5, 1855 in Dardenelle, Arkansas. A family story has been passed down about the death of Hugh Robert's father, James P. McBride, who was born in 1802 in Kentucky. The following is the story as written by a granddaughter of James McBride whose name I do not know.
"James was hung in Civil War. As I heard it, he was living on farm outside of Havana (Arkansas). When renegades (neither North or South) came he was sitting on porch with baby. They left the baby and took him back in the field and hung him (I saw the tree when I was there once). Granpa McBride said his mother told him and Scott to stay with the Baby. She would be back. But they followed her and watched her cut his dad down, then beat her back to the house. Lucindy (James' wife) then married James brother Andrew Jackson, born about 1812 in Tennessee. Married about 1862. Lucindy and James had 2 children (Andrew McBride, born 1863 in Ark, Mary McBride, born 1865 in Ark.)"

I decided to pursue this story and see if we could find James' grave. I had information that James was buried in the McBride Cemetery near Havana Arkansas. Havana is a small town of about 230 people located about 10 miles from the County Seat of Danville. We stopped in a gas/grocery store to ask if anyone could tell us where McBride Cemetery was located. An older gentleman thought it was out near Cedar Creek; another man drew us a map showing the cemetery on a road turning west off the road we would be on. When we were unable to find that road, we stopped at a house about where the road should be. There were few homes in the area. I introduced myself to the woman who answered the door (Gina). Gina lived with her parents, Doris and Garland. Gina was very interested in genealogy and was quite eager to help us. She invited us in and found some books by a local author, Kathryn Rogers from Dardenelle. Ms Rogers had been a high school English teacher and had written several books concerning local history. I told Gina that I had heard the story about James being hung right after the Civil War by renegades. Gina felt sure that she had read that story in one of the six books. Gina called the author who thought it was either in the book "Rabbit in the Run" or When the Bob White Calls". Gina had these books but we were unable to find the story. I have since tried to find the books but have not been able to.
The location of the "hanging tree" was well known by Gina and her parents. In fact, Garland had been worried that the owner of the land had been clear-cutting the land and was concerned that the tree might have been cut down. He was adamant that this was a historical location and that it was important the tree be preserved. Garland drew us a map of how to find the tree and said that it had been marked by ax with an "X". Gina called the owner of the land to tell them we would be there shortly.
Gina next called a friend named Frankie who was another McBride descendant of the father of James P. McBride (who was also James McBride, born in 1777 in Ireland. Frankie came to the house and visited for a while, telling us of the McBrides that remained in the area. She and Gina then took us to the McBride Cemetery which was through a gate and a ways off in a pasture. We would have never found it on our own. We found the headstone of Lucinda (also known as Lucindy) (James P.'s wife), but not of James P. There were two unmarked small stones, one on each side of Lucinda.
After we left the cemetery, we went to the home of a Mr and Mrs Gray. Mr Gray's mother was a McBride and they had worked many years on the McBride genealogy. They were in their 80-90s. Mr Gray was recovering from hip surgery and bore an uncanny resemblance to a photo I had with me of James and Lucinda's son Scott that I had with me. We visited for a while and compared notes. It was from this discussion that I learned that the McBride who was hung was actually Andrew Jackson McBride, who was the brother of James P. and who had married Lucinda after James' death in 1859. Thus, it was the stepfather (and uncle) of Robert who was hung, rather than his biological father. The hanging occurred in 1864, and James had died in 1859. Lucinda married Andrew in 1859. Robert was born in 1855 and was about 4 years old when his father James died, and was about 9 when his stepfather was hung. While the story written above showed Lucindy and Andrew married in 1862, they were living in the same household in the 1860 census record so I feel the 1859 date of marriage is reliable.
We then went to the land where the hanging tree was. We searched through approximately 5 acres, going over barbed wire, through weeds, and over hills. While we had Garland's hand drawn map, the terrain had changed due to clear-cutting since Garland had been there. We never did with certainty find the tree, but there was a tree standing alone in a field that had a branch off to the side as Garland had described as the "hanging tree". We did not see an "X" mark, but it was the only tree in the area that generally fit the description so we liked to think that we did witness history in that tree.
I have found that people who are interested in genealogy are extremely willing to help others in their searches. As I have often said, only another genealogist can relate to the excitement of finding an old tombstone and saying "Eureka"!