Nothing is recorded or known of what Peter Mankins did in those intervening years, until at the age of 33 he married Rachel Bracken Lewis, widow of Zachariah Lewis and the mother of three children. Peter and Rachel were married on September 23, 1803 in Orange County, North Carolina. The couple would have eleven children. The first three sons, John B., William and Walter, were born in Orange County, North Carolina.
The family, along with the Walter Mankins family moved in 1809 to Floyd County, Kentucky.
There Rachel bore three more sons, Peter, Jr., Henry, Samuel, and five daughters; Edith, Rachel, Millie, Sarah and Elizabeth. With fourteen children to feed, clothe and discipline, the Mankins must have been a hard working couple. While they lived in Kentucky Peter was a backwoodsman, farmer and hunter.
He would take his produce and hides by canoe to sell at Louisville. He also operated a distillery,
not unusual in those days. Peter was a member of the Primitive Baptist Church and twice stood
for the draft in the war of 1812. He was known far and wide for his strength, courage and
endurance.
The confusion of land claims in early Kentucky caused many folks to move on and settle where
they could homestead land that would be their own. Once Peter journeyed to the newly opened
country of Illinois to look around, then went back to Kentucky. Finally, in the year of 1833, when
he was 63 years old, he followed his son Peter Jr., into Washington County, Arkansas where they settled on the Middle Fork of the White River. No further mention is made of Rachel in the
Mankins family records we found, and she is not buried at Reese Cemetery with her husband and other family members, so we can surmise that she died in Kentucky before Peter Sr., came to Arkansas. There he lived for the remainder of his life, leaving behind wonderful folk tales that
have been passed down from generation to generation.
It is said that he once whipped the legendary Mike Fink in a rough and tumble fight on a river
boat at Louisville, Kentucky.
At the age of 91 he was help captive for three days by the Union Army. This occurred prior to the battle of Pea Ridge and he was questioned on the location of the Confederate troops. He is
reputed to have said to his worried family when released, “They would never have got anything
out of me anyway.”
He lived through the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War.
Peter worked hard all his life, even after he came to Arkansas, and he had a reputation of never
shirking his chores or duties. Though he’d never had a decayed tooth in his life, he finally had
five extracted when he was 106 because they came loose. He chewed tobacco and all his life was
said to have used, “bitters, good whiskey and yellow root” as a tonic. Though he tended to
become forgetful in later life, he remained alert and got around with the help of a cane. Even
when he passed away, he was only ill for two days. He took a chill and passed away in bed in his
home with Peter Jr., at his side.
Peter is buried at Reese Cemetery beneath one of the coffin-shaped vaults found in only a few
cemeteries in the area. Six tall cedars shade his resting place. Chiseled on top of the flat stone,
nearly covered over in moss, is inscribed: In Memory of Peter Mankins, Died December 30,
1881, age 111 years, 3 months.