North Sawba Cemetery
Mississippi Co AR-AHGP site
Memories by TSgt. Dave Lee

The main road from Blytheville to Gosnell was at one time running through the middle of what is now Blytheville AFB. It came down Michigan Avenue, across the flight line, to the area where the Chickasawba Cemetery is now located, on through the woods into Blytheville.

On the other side of the flightline, the dirt road is still there. The cemetery is there too, along with several interesting aspects of local history.

At one time there was a small country church, New Hope Methodist, located alongside the cemetery. The Church has since been relocated and the old building no longer exists. The first move of the church was to an area near where the base chapel is now located. When Blytheville AFB was first built as an Army Post, the church was moved to the town of Gosnell where it shared the same building as the Gosnell Baptist Church. Later, it moved into facilities in downtown Blytheville, where it remains to this time.

Prior to the building of the levy(sic), the road from Blytheville was known as the only high ground around. This was what led to it being used for the road and the cemetery just naturally got placed on high ground. The road was also used by the refugees, who were all migrant workers in the area, during the big flood about 100 years ago. The first person to be buried in the cemetery was one of those refugees.

Reminiscing about the cemetery, Mayor Andy Bevill of Gosnell said,"The cemetery on base has been there for many years, the base just sort of grew up around it. I can remember some of my family talking about how my Great Grandfather John Byreans came into this area on a houseboat." The Mayor's Grandfather passed away in 1901 at the age of 68.

Mayor Beville(sic) continued "I've got several relatives buried there, including a sister Margaret, my Dad's uncle Cid L. Bevill (1888-1929), both my grandfathers and some Uncles." Originally the cemetery was used by both the Gosnell and Yarbro communities, and the name of Yarbro is found there.

Mayor Bevill also said "Most of the older families who have been here for some time have used the cemtery, including the Bunch family who were around at the founding of Yarbro.

Mr. Hurbert Green, a civilian employee at the base golf course, also has family in the cemetery. He remembers the cemetery as being "a really beautiful place with Pecan trees all around it" Mr. Green added "I've got a son and a sister-in-law with her baby lying there, as best I can remember there's been no one buried there since the early 1949's."

According to Mr. Ed Martin, 97thCivilEngineeringSquadron,Real Property Office, "The base acquired the property long ago when the area was first being developed for a military base. The Army Corps of Engineers has the original deed. Although the terms of acceptance did not require that the land be maintained, Civil Engineers does."

The oldest dates found in the cemetery are for a family from Yarbro, Nov.19 1833-March 26, 1896.

During the period between the closing of the Army Post and the reopening as an Air Force Base, the property belonged to the City of Blytheville.

According to Mr. Martin "While the Army had the area as a Post, prior to World War II, there had been some training exercises in the vicinity of the cemetery that caused many of the headstones to be laid over. Once the Air Force took possession of the property, the cemetery was repaired and headstones were placed as near the original sites as could be determined." Since 1955 when the cemetery was repaired, Civil Engineers have tended to the groundwork.