Joseph Hoyle MENDENHALL

  General Notes:

ANCESTRY: Descended from Warinus de la Strode (born 1020 in Bretagne, France), a French knight who lived at the time of William the Conqueror
ANCESTRY: 6th Great-Grandchild of John Mildenhall Jr. (born 1560), the only Englishmen to visit both royal courts of the Emperors Akbar and Jahangir, and the first Englishmen to be buried in India
ANCESTRY: Great-Nephew of John Bartram, the "Father of American Botany"
ANCESTRY: First-Cousin (Twice Removed) to William Bartram, "America's first Ornithologist"
ANCESTRY: Second-Cousin (Once Removed) to Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (born 1841), Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier's namesake

NOTEWORTHY: Joseph moved to Arkansas from North Carolina in the early 1840's along with his brother, Jacob. He first settled in the Russellville area with Jacob, but about 1850 moved to Carroll County. Later, Jacob moved to the Fort Smith area and Joseph went with him.
Joseph was a farmer. He ran for local office and in 1858 and in 1860 ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature.
When the Civil War broke out in April of 1861, a citizen's group met to consider what course they should pursue in connection with the war. Joseph was appointed to a committee to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting. After due deliberation the committee reported as follows:
Whereas, The administration of Lincoln, with a spirit of duplicity equaled only by its total disregard of every patriotic duty, has inaugurated a policy of coercion and subjugation by force of arms, arraying brothers against brothers: therefore be it, resolved, by the citizens of Sebastian County, of all parties, in mass assembled, that we will resist such policy on the part of the administration even to the death and to this end we pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

  Research Notes:

-- Mendenhall Family Association (http://mendenhall.org/mfa/tng/getperson.php?personID=I28077&tree=Mendenhall2010)
-- Smith Family Tree (http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/13769941)

Joseph married Abigail Rebecca RUDISILL, daughter of Jacob Dellinger RUDISILL and Susannah HOYLE, on 27 May 1834 in Lincoln County, North Carolina. (Abigail Rebecca RUDISILL was born on 18 Jan 1810 in North Carolina and died on 28 Nov 1860.)