I am sure everyone will be pleased to know that Frank Ambrose and his cousin William M Ambrose did not burn any barns or murder anyone - I know I am - nor is there a shred of evidence that they were involved in an feud with anyone.

Frank and his cousin William M. Ambrose were supposed to be involved in a feud along the Arkansas-Missouri border but as it turns out I have been able to prove neither of them burned any barns or killed anyone. They were allegedly involved in a feud that no one knows the why of, and there is no evidence of, yet both Frank and William M. Ambrose were arrested on charges of arson and 1st degree murder. Now, as the evidence will show, they were cleared by the judicial system of all charges. And it was not William J. brother of Frank, said to be the one arrested with Frank, it was William M. a cousin, a son of John W. Ambrose, so this is just one more fallacy in a saga of misinformation and gossip that resulted from speculation and hearsay.

The kindest construction I can put on it is that this whole tragic affair came about as a result of the intense feelings engendered by the Civil War and the Eden-Green murders committed by the Baldknobbers, who were night riding "regulators", which were so brutal that the Governor and Attorney General of Missouri sent federal marshals to investigate and arrest those responsible for the many unlawful activities of the Baldknobbers.

Here is the evidence from arrest to dismissal of all charges direct from the Circuit Court of Stone County, Missouri.
=======
Frank B. Ambrose
in Account with Z. A. Johnson,
Committed: February 22, 1889
Christian County Jailer.
By: Sheriff Stone County
Discharged: April 8, 1889
Offense: Murder 1st Degree
How Discharged: On Bond
Ledger Page: 128
Acc't Payable by: State
February 22, 1889
Commitment 1.00
April 8, 1889
Board of Deft 46 Days 23.00
Clothing furnished deft 2.40
December 23, 1890 Board paid, Clothing not paid
-------------------
Wm. M. Ambrose
in Account with Z. A. Johnson
Committed: February 22, 1889
Christian County Jailer
By: Sheriff Stone County
Discharged: April 8, 1889
Offense: Murder 1st Degree
How Discharged: On Bond
Ledger Page: 128
Acc't payable by: State
February 22, 1889
Commitment 1.00
April 8, 1889
Board of deft 46 days 23.00
Clothing furnished deft 2.50
July 26, 1890
26.50 Paid
--------
April 8, 1889
State of Missouri Plff )
Action on Forfited Recognizance
Vs Franklin B. Ambrose ) Dismissed by the State
By W. P. Weatherman )
Now at this day comes the Prosecuting Attorney for the State and says he will no further prosecute this action against the Defendant, but will suffer the same to be dismissed. It is therefore considered and adjudged by the court that the plaintiff (the State) take nothing by reason of its writ, that Defendant be discharged and hence hereof without day.

Source: Circuit Court Stone Co, MO
---
I hope this will put an end to a matter that nearly killed Frank Ambrose, said to be in a dying condition when released from the Christian County Jail, and provide a modicum of justice for Frank, his cousin and brother for their suffering and clear the Ambrose family's good name for the descendants of this family. The history of the Ambrose family is one of industry and achievement from 1742 to the present - and for Frank Ambrose and his generation this was accomplished during the Civil War era of national chaos and strife - these are laurels enough for any family.
Shirley Ambrose Russell

I hate to disagree with you, but I am a great-granddauter of Frank Ambrose and he was involved in the Feud that has been spoken and written about. Frank was still living when my father and aunt were born and they remember him and him talking about the feud and the fights surrounding it. I have always maintained that Frank was never prosecuted for the murder of Cul Garrett (A.C. Garrett). He was; however, prosecuted and sent to the Arkansas State Penitentiary for two years as was his brother Bill. I have copies of the the trial that lists the jurors and the charges and where he was sentenced. Bill's asked for a change of venue to Madison County, Arkanasas, which he received. He also served time in the Arkanasas State Peneteniary. I do not know anything about it being a cousin William instead of brother, as I know descendents of Bill and they know him to be the one involved.

My aim has certainly never been to slander the Ambrose family name, as that is MY maiden name and I still have many realtives with the name. I love the Ambrose family and would never disrespect our heritage. No ones knows all of the motives and circumstances that they lived through, but, it is our history and it has a right to be told.

I would enjoy hearing from anyone who wants to discuss this.

I forgot to add that Frank and Bill were sent to prison for the burnring of the barn before mentioned.

Dannette,

If you persist in believing Frank Ambrose served time in prison, THEN SHOW THE RECORD. I found NONE in either Missouri or Arkansas.

I posted the official record of the release of Frank and William M. Ambrose, the charges dismissed in total. They were cleared and released.

Frank and William M. were released just 31 days before John Andrew Mathews, Jr, leader of a group of Balknobbers was hanged on the Christian County Courthouse lawn, Ozark Missouri, May 10. 1889 for the Eden-Green murders.

When I first started researching the Ambrose family I believed all the junk out there - put there by other people who may also have believed it. Research does not prove it true.

The gossip is wrong, the facts show that the William M. Ambrose arrested with Frank was NOT his brother, this William M. Ambrose was Frank's cousin, a son of John W. Ambrose -- but that did not stop people from saying it WAS William J. Ambrose who was Frank's brother and he suffered for it.

You state that you "know" what you hold to be true - SHOW THE PROOF.

The simple fact is there is not a shred of evidence to support this story of Frank Ambrose having been involved in any feud, killed anyone, burned any barns, or gone to any prison.

As for the Baldknobber connection, it was the Baldknobber killings of the Eden-Green families that got a number of innocent men arrested in Stone, Taney and Christian Counties, MO and Carroll County, Arkansas. These men were arrested on the word of others who gave up names to save their own skins. These accused men were held in the Christian County jail until the Governor of Missouri and the Missouri State Attorney General ordered them releasesd because there civil and constitutional rights had been and were being violated.

Until I see official records of any imprisonment of Frank and William Ambrose in a penitentary, I don't want to hear it, and I don't want to see it published anywhere for any reason. Shirley

I will be happy to send you a copy of the court records from Carroll County, Arkansas if you will provide an address. I have a copy of the handwritten court order and trial. Please let me know if you would llike a copy.

Here are two excerpts from the Carroll County Court Records pertaining to this matter. Note, if Wm. Ambrose was not a brother to Frank, why did their father, Henry C. Ambrose, post bond for him in the amount of $750.00? Also note that one of the defendants first listed with Frank and Wm. and later dischaged was Cole Waggoner, twin brother of Grant Waggoner, who was killed along with A.C. Garrett. Grant is buried in Blackjack Cemetery North of Berryville.

The last court record is where Frank was remanded to the Sheriff of Carroll County to be taken to the State Penitenary. I also know he was there as I knew Franks daughter Ida Ambrose Ray, who lived to be almost 100 years of age and she always said her Father and Uncle Bill spent time in the Penitenitary. John Ambrose, another brother, spent five years in the Penitentiary and was later killed in 1895 by a Mr. Helt who found him in the woods with his dauthers. I also have the published record of this incident for the Green Forest Tribune of 1895.

I am not trying to be argumentative or disrespectful, but these are documented facts.

STATE OF ARKANSAS
VS.
Rufus Peters
Wm. Ambrose
Frank Ambrose
Cole Waggnoner
John Mitchell
DEFENDANTS

ARSON

On this day comes on this cause to be heard and comes the State by her attorney prosecuting and the defendants Wm. Ambrose and Frank Ambrose bring their solemnly called cause no but under default and Henry Ambrose the security of Wm. Ambrose and Frank Ambrose and C.S. Davis, the security of Frank Ambrose in their recognizance in the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars even and being their solemnly called failed to produce said defendants. It is therefore considered and ordered by the court that since recognizance be and the sum is thereby forfeited and that a summons issued against said securities to appear o the 1st day of the next August term of this court and show cause of why judgment should not be ordered against them for the said sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars, each, and it is further ordered that they are ??? writ issued for said defendants.

1888 --- Rufus Peters, Cole Waggoner, and John Mitchell are acquitted of the charge of arson and are ordered discharged by the court.

Wm. Ambrose requested a change of venue to Madison Count stating that it would be impossible to obtain a fair trial in Carroll County. Change of venue is granted by the Court.

STATE OF ARKANSAS
VS.
Frank Ambrose

ARSON
First trial ends with a hung jury in August 1888.

STATE OF ARKANSAS
VS.
Frank Ambrose

ARSON

Comes the State by her attorney in their behalf prosecuting and the defendant in his own proper person in custody of the Sheriff and being informed of the nature of the charge plea and the verdict of the jury was asked if he had any legal cause to show why the judgment and sentence of the law should not be pronounced against him and no legal cause or excuse being shown, it is by the Court considered and adjudged that said defendant, Frank Ambrose be taken by the Sheriff of Carroll County to the State Penitentiary of the State of ARKANSAS and there delivered to the keeper of said Penitentiary and that he be confined at hard labor in said Penitentiary for the period of two (2) years from this date and it is further ordered and considered that the State of ARKANSAS have and recover of from said defendant all its costs in thus first laid out and expanded and ??? issue thereof.
FEBRUARY 27, 1890.

Grant Waggoner's date of death is listed as September 1, 1887.

And I say to you again, show me an official record of Frank Ambrose being an inmate in said Arkansas prison.

This verdict was appealed. NOTE the date of Frank and William M. Ambrose's release from the Christian County Jail - DECEMBER 23, 1890 - he was a free man - the case(s) against him DISMISSED. The order to deliver him to the Arkansas penitentary was given FEBRUARY 27, 1890 - and this was set aside with the DISMISSAL of December 23, 1890.

Christian County Jail Records,1887-1894.

Frank B. Ambrose
in Account with Z. A. Johnson,
Committed: February 22, 1889
Christian County Jailer.
By: Sheriff Stone County
Discharged: April 8, 1889
Offense: Murder 1st Degree
How Discharged: On Bond
Ledger Page: 128
Acc't Payable by: State
February 22, 1889
Commitment 1.00
April 8, 1889
Board of Deft 46 Days 23.00
Clothing furnished deft 2.40
December 23, 1890 Board paid, Clothing not paid
---
So again, show me an official record showing that Frank, William M. or William J. Ambrose were sent to prison.

I am not going to engage in a battle over this. I have the court documents from CARROLL COUNTY, ARKANSAS about the arson case. The case in Christian County, Missouri had no bearing on what happened in ARKANSAS. As I have said before, the farm that Henry Ambrose owned at the time was on the Arkansas/Missouri line. The murder happened in Missouri, the barn burning in ARKANSAS. Jut becaus the murder charge was dismissed in Missouri did not discharge the case in CARROLL COUNTY, ARKANSAS. Do you have proof of the dismissal of the charges in ARKANSAS? Of course Frank would not have been sent to the Penitentiary for a murder that happened in Missouri.

Are you disputing the facts as related by Frank's daughter and son? I would certainly think they would know if their father was in prison. Anyway, you can draw your own conclusions as can anyone else. As I stated at the first of this posting, I do not want to engage in a battle over this. The records are in CARROLL COUNTY, ARKANSAS for anyone that wants to research them.

Frank was bonded out of jail in April 1889. The charges were not officially dropped on the murder until December 1890. If you notice, it mentions "failed recognizance" which means he failed to appear after he bonded out. The reason they probably decided not to further prosecute or revoke his bond was becasue he was already in prison in Arkansas. I have never found a record of where charges were dismissed again him on the arson charges in Arkansas.
It has always been known that the charges against him in Missouri were dismissed.

The old Carroll County, Arkansas court records are full of accounts of the arrests of Frank, Bill and John Ambrose during this period. Not every one of the records has to do with the feud. There are incidents of wearing weapons, assaut and battery, etc, etc. Some of Bill's experiences in prison are written about in a book written by Edgar Hulse that is no longer in pulbication. I do have excerpts from this book if anyone wants to see them. Bill was a blacksmith in Urbanette and was well known to the oldtimers around here (although their number is diminishing.) Prison is where he learned the blacksmithing trade. I don't think he got into anymore trouble after his release from prison.

My grandfather said his father (Frank) used to brag about having killed more than one man in his life. I have never documented that fact, but it would not surprise me. My grandfather was eight years old when he first met his father Frank, as Frank and Mary had divorced around 1902. They remarried in 1910. My grandfather was born in 1902, which would have made him 8 when his father came back. His mother and father remarried and had two more sons, Eldon and Eddie. Frank and Mary moved to Oklahoma, which is where she died. When Frank came back to Arkansas, he moved to a house outside of Grandview. My grandparents took Eldon and Eddie in as children and helped raise them.

My grandfather and his sister, (Ida) and their mother Mary were taken in by Mary's family, the Long's, when Frank left the first time in 1902. Ida was 2 years old and Mary was still pregnant with Grandpa when he left them, destitute in the middle of winter. Frank was a scarpper and fighter until the end of his life, a fact that he did not hide. I have records of him being arrested for being drunk in public and disturbing the peace even up into the 1920's.

This does not distract from the accomplishments of the Ambrose family. Henry C. Ambrose was a well-respected man of Kentucky, Arkansas and Missouri. Most of his children were well-respected and upstanding members of their communities. Just because some of his children got in trouble does not mean that the Ambrose family as a whole were not well accomplished and respected. Merida Ambrose, a brother to Frank, donated land in Urbanette for the public school and his old house still stands. I drive by it every day on my way to work. I know many of his descendants well and they are all wonderful people. I am in no way being disrespectful to the family, but I do know many things about Frank that most people probably do not know. I am not disrespectful to his memory, but I don't think he would want his life glossed over and made into something it was not. Henry and Emily came to Arkansas from Kentucky to get the boys away from the fights and feuding that was going on in Kentucky. They thought bringing them here would do them good, but some of them ended up getting invovled in fights here. The Ambrose and Terry families were definitely not the only families fighting at this time. The history of this area is rich with stories of all of the feuds going on. I don't know who was right or wrong and we probably never will.

I love history for the sake of history. I think the Ambrose family has a wonderful heritage and I have enjoyed their story more than any family I have ever researched. I have met many descendants from all over the United States and still correspond with many of them. I hope we continue to thrive and accomplish many splendid things in the generataions to come.

Hi Shirley,

I believe you may have misinterpreted -- at least the records you have posted here.

The Christian County jail records show Frank and William were incarcerated from 22 Feb 1889 to 8 Apr 1889. They were released on bond.

The Court record of 8 Apr 1889 says the State will not persue action in the forfeiture of a recognizance bond (perhaps for a different charge?). It does not mention the murder charges and has no affect on them.

The 1890 dates on the jail records are when the charges for board and clothing during their jail stay were paid. They were released in Apr 1889 and the charges could have been paid by anyone, including their apparently long suffering father :)

Pat

Pat - either this was the murder charge or the barn burning charge - one or the other. Frank and his cousin William M. Ambrose were arrested and jailed in Christian County, MO on a charge of 1st degree murder - a hanging offense. As neither Frank or cousin William were hanged it is apparent that the Taney County,MO prosecutor, who was one of the primary prosecutors trying the Baldknobber issues, and trying the murder charges in Taney and Christian Counties, I tend to think given the dates and the fact that it was Weatherman, Taney County, MO prosecutor, who dropped the charges, that it was the murder charge.

The only two serious charges ever brought against Frank and cousin William Ambrose were murder and barn burning - no one else has ever even alluded to any other charges except misdemeanors under the blue laws for playing cards and/or drinking on Sunday.

Now, if anyone wants to hold that the dropped charges were for the barn burning, that's okay, it would certainly clear all charges as neither Frank or cousin William were hanged or spent their lives in prison - though it would not surprise me to hear that any day now. Shirley


However, since neither Frank or cousin William were hanged, if

The barn burning was in Carroll County, Arkansas. It would have nothing to do with the charges in Christian County, Missouri. Frank and Bill Ambrose did not spend their lives in prison, but two years each. Have you ever seen the book entitd "The Ozarks: Past and Present" by Edgar Hulse written in 1977? It has several good anecdotes from some of the "goings on" in Carroll County, Arkanas that included numerous local figures, including Frank and Bill Ambrose. He tells a story about Bill while he was in prison and an incident in a pump house. Good reading. I think it wasn't too unusual in this area during the era we are speaking about, to value a man's stock and barns as much as a life. Also, have you considered that the charges may have been dropped since both the Ambrose and Terry sides each shot each other and each had a person die? A.C. (Cul)Garrett and Cole Waggnoner both shot each other and subsequently died. Supposedely, Frank came and shot Garrett after Waggoner had already shot him. Bill had been with Waggoner when they waylaid Garrett, but I have never heard of him doing any of the shooting. These two facts probably played a part when it came to the charges brought against them in Missouri and since they had already been sentenced in Carroll County, Arkansas for the barn burning. A.C. Garrett was a brother-in-law to Ike Terry, whose barn they burned. Garrett, Waggoner, Frank and Bill had been at Henry Ambrose's house all that day reloading ammunition. Henry Ambrose's farm was on the Arkansas/Missouri line. The shooting happened across the line in Missouri. The buring of Ike Terry's barn was in Arkansas. Whose son was William Ambroe, if he was cousin instead of a brother? As far as I know, Henry Ambrose only had one brother and his family that was in this area at this time.

I forgot to mention that the only other William Ambrose I can find is a Henry's brother Francis Ambrose had a son William listed as 2 years old in the 1880 Carroll County, Arkansas Census. He would not have been old enough to have been involved in the incidents we are talking about.