Hubert and Maud’s second house was a log house, a portion of which still exists. A history of the house and a picture of it are on pages 50 and 51 of Louie Clark’s book, Wolf Bayou, Arkansas and Healing Springs Township. The house was built by Jacob Artimus Kever, great grandfather of Hubert Martin. Louie Clark describes the house as follows, "In a letter to his brother in North Carolina, Jacob A. Kever told how he had his new house almost finished. That he had hired John Barker to help install the floor. The letter is dated 1875. By this time his two oldest children had married."
"The house was one and a half stories made from hewed logs and dovetailed corners. A sleeping loft was in the upper half-story. Considering the tools of trade for that time, the house is constructed well. He also tells in his letter that he has three glass windows."
"This old house had been added to and taken away from so many times that the only original part was the log structure 20’x22′ with the original rock fireplace." Louie’s daughter, Jeannie Clark McGary, had the log house moved to their home and restored.
The Artimas Kever House |
The house being relocated |
This is the house where Elva says she learned to crawl. Clee and Clyde were born in this house. Lorene says she heard stories of how Clee was afraid of the geese they had when they lived there – they chased him!
About 1905 the Clark family in the Banner community left their place where they had a grist mill and some land in the area still known as the "Clark Bluffs." For years this had been the center of things in this rural community. It was a crossroad for wagons, nestled at the foot of a row of bluffs, beside a stream large enough to power the mill. It had included a little general store in addition to the grist mill where people went to have their corn ground. There was no longer a store there by that time. Hubert acquired this place. Maybe he paid the Clarks informally, but there was no registered owner until he, Hubert, homesteaded it in 1915.
Hubert and his family moved into a log house about a mile or so from the mill site on the Banner/Big Creek road. Lorene says the house consisted of a big room with undressed lumber walls. There was a partition across to divide the kitchen, with a fireplace at one end. The boys slept in the kitchen portion and the girls had a bedroom. Cloyse and Myrtle were born in that house.