The James and Sally McDaniel Home, Mid 1900's.

This image of the McDaniel home southwest of Rogers captures both the beauty of an Ozarks autumn and the simplicity of pioneer life. When this photograph was taken a few decades ago, the home James and Sally McDaniel built about a century before seems to have been abandoned.

In 1844 James and Sally left Illinois with their three children and a baby. The family traveled in a wagon train with several other families. The McDaniel’s baby died and was buried along the way. Some of the families went on the southern Arkansas, but the McDaniels homesteaded land southwest of what is now Rogers.


The James and Sally McDaniel home near Rogers, mid 1900s. (Neg. # N007939)
Off of present-day Laurel Road west of what is now Highway 71 James built his family a snug log cabin and put in an orchard. Later the log walls of the home were covered with siding, as was common practice in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The McDaniels had eight more children after arriving in Benton County. According to family history James served in the Confederate Army. While he was gone, Sally and the children had to hide in the woods while the Union Army ransacked the homestead.

As each child married James and Sally gave them enough land to make a start in life. James died in 1885, and Sally died nine years later. Some of their children and grandchildren left Northwest Arkansas, but there are many descendants still living in the area.