Our Arklahoma Heritage: Pope County family lived "A Simple Life" long before Paris Hilton spent time on the farm

In the history of Pope County, where old cemeteries hold the stories of early settlers, Carool McDnald "Mac" Burris lived a life tied to the land.

Born on July 12, 1865, in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Mac’s journey brought him from the Ozarks to the fields of Arkansas, where he built a family and left a quiet legacy in a community shaped by hard times and survival.

Mac, son of William Carroll Burris and Melvina Osburn Burris, grew up in a rural world of hard work and simple values. By the early 20th century, he had settled in Pope County’s Illinois Township with his wife, Nancy E. Freeman Burris.

They raised three children--Emma Bell Burris Bonds, Rev. William David Burris, and Tommy Burris--on a farm that sustained them through decades of change.

The 1920 census shows Mac at 54, farming alongside Nancy and their teenage son, Tommy. Life in Pope County was tough, with the Great Depression and shifting markets testing farmers like Mac. Yet he stayed rooted, hands in the soil, family close. Nancy’s death in 1937 left him to carry on alone until his passing on October 26, 1944, at age 79.

Mac’s final resting place is Shiloh-Williamson Memorial Cemetery, near Russellville. This historic site, originally Shiloh Cemetery, was established in the 1830s alongside the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church, a hub for religious revivals during the Second Great Awakening.

In the 1960s, the creation of Lake Dardanelle threatened several historic cemeteries. To preserve their legacies, remains and headstones from Shiloh, Williamson, Smith, and two Johnson County cemeteries---Jetton and Reznor--were carefully relocated to the newly formed Shiloh-Williamson Memorial Cemetery.

This effort ensured that the resting places of early settlers like Mac remained intact, though the move reflected the region’s changing landscape as progress reshaped Pope County.

The Burris name runs deep here. Relatives like William Carroll Grant Burris, buried at Saint Joe Cemetery in Atkins, and John Thomas Burris, at Oakland Cemetery in Russellville, point to a family woven into the county’s fabric.

Mac’s son, Rev. William David Burris, carried the family’s faith forward as a minister, also laid to rest at Shiloh--Williamson in 1959.

Mac’s life mirrored the grit of rural Arkansas. He weathered wars, economic hardship, and the arrival of railroads and highways that transformed the region. His farm, family, and faith were his anchors. Though few records detail his daily life, his story reflects the endurance of those who tilled the land.

Today, Shiloh-Williamson Memorial Cemetery, with its 528 memorials, stands as a testament to lives like Mac’s. The relocation in the 1960s preserved not just graves but the history of a community.

Visitors can sense the weight of that history, where each headstone tells a story of perseverance. For those tracing their roots, the Pope County Library System offers genealogical records to uncover more about families like the Burrises.

Mac Burris sought no fame, but his life, etched in the soil and the cemetery that holds him, speaks to the enduring spirit of Arkansas’s heartland.