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| Captain William Fletcher Pace impacted area |
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| Question: A phone call requested that more columns tell about the lives of early Boone County residents, so in filling that request, today's topic will be the life of Captain William Fletcher Pace. |
 Answer: Captain William Fletcher Pace (pictured left in December 1910, age 70) was born July 1, 1840 in Milan County, Texas to William and Hester Armitage Pace (The Armitage name also fits in the early history of Harrison). When he was only two years old, his widowed mother moved to Dent County, Missouri. His education was interrupted by the War Between the States, with Pace joining at an early age.
According to records, he was a brave and daring soldier, wounded twice, but stayed on until the end of the conflict.
At the end of the war, Captain Pace became a resident of Arkansas. He resumed his studies and later taught private schools in Woodruff, Sharp, Monroe and Boone Counties. He entered the mercantile business in Harrison, where his store stood on the banks of Crooked Creek near the later site of the Riverside Hotel. Even while running a business, he studied law and was admitted to practice. His first law partner was Col. J.M. Patterson, who was well known and respected by the older citizens of the state. |
| Civic matters always appealed to Pace, and when the question of the removal of the county seat from Harrison to Bellefonte was to be put to the vote of the people in 1876, he worked diligently in te campaign, speaking in favor of Harrison. Captain Pace had a long and honored legal career. Many of the younger lawyers studied under Pace, receiving training in his office. Two of his sons entered the legal profession, joing his firm and taking on all the heavy work load when Captain Pace's health began to fail. |
| Death came to Pace while a patient in the Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Eureka Springs. He had been there for several months, under the treatment of his son, Dr. Henry Pace. Surgery had been performed on his hand and had fully recovered, but his general health was impaired. |
| He suffered an acute attack of asthma and bronchitis, and later pneumonia developed, taking his life. |
| Captain Pace had married in August 1866 to Miss Sarah Jane Howell. She and six children survived: Frank Pace of Little Rock, Dr. Henry Pace of Eureka Springs, Troy Pace of Harrison, Mrs. A. H. Purdue of Nashville, TN, Mrs. H.E. Cantrell of Deming, NM, and Miss Ada Pace of Harrison. |
| A friend of Captain Pace wrote the following: "The funeral of Captain W. F. Pace was at the family residence, September 1, 1912, at 3:30 p.m. A large concourse of friends gathered to pay a last tribute to the departed, who had been a resident of Harrison for more than 40 years. |
| "The interment was in the city cemetery. The sun was sinking towards the horizon, when the long line of carriages reached the quiet city of the dead. With a final song and last prayer, the flower covered casket was lowered. The hour seemed sacred and a solemn hush pervaded the air. All nature was saying that a man who had once borne the heat and burden of the day was at rest." |
| Pallbearers included some of the county's leading citizens: Dr. C.M. Routh of Batavia, John Clendinin, J. M. Shinn, B.F. McMahan, L.F. Eoff and Ed Zimmerman. Honorary pallbearers were: Captain J.W. Williford, Captain H.W. Harrell of Bellefonte, Dr. H.L. Routh of Batavia, Col. G.J. Crump of Muskogee, OK, Dr. W.H. Clark, Major H.A. Crandall, Sam Jones, W.S. Allen, J.W. Andrews, and J.D. Tyson of Harrison. Those veterans, who had served in the Confederacy, wore their grand old uniforms. The historic old Rose Hill Cemetery holds the remains of many of these men mentioned above. Their lives were honored each time the Sons of the Confederate Veterans hold their bi-annual ghost walk. It is an educational and respectful affair you do not want to miss. |
| There are more Pace family stories to be told - one includes the Pace-Aderholt gunfight. |
| The shooting took place near the southeast corner of the Harrison square - better known as Deadman's Corner. You can read about the gunfight in The History of Boone County, Arkansas with a narrative by Roger Logan, Jr., and in Boone County and its People, by Ralph Rae. Both are available for purchase at the Boone County Heritage Museum, located at 124 South Cherry in Harrison. |
| The museum is now observing winter hours and is open each Thursday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. We encourage you to turn in church, organization and family histories for Volume II of the Boone County, Arkansas Family History Book to be published this year. |
| This column appears Fridays in the Harrison Daily Times. Mail questions to Boone County Heritage Museum, P. O. Box 1094, Harrison, AR 72601. Marilyn Breece can be contacted at bchm@alltel.net |
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