Nathaniel E. Honeycutt
1914-1973
The Life And Legacy of N. E. Honeycutt
N. E. Honeycutt was born in Randolph County, November 22, 1914, to Elijah and Pearl Honeycutt of Union Township. The Honeycutts were members of the Ring Church of Christ. It is likely that they also attended the English Bluff Church as well as the Jeff, Missouri, Church of Christ. Elijah was reared on the Arkansas/ Missouri state line and did much of his business in Thayer, Missouri. Nathaniel lived in Thayer much of his adult life.
N. E. grew to manhood in the rugged hills of northwest Randolph County and attended the common schools of the area. He was baptized in 1933 by John H. Howard. Four years later he married Opal Lois Whitman and to this union thirteen children were born, eight boys and five girls: David, Loretta, Viletta, James, Jerry, Mike, Kathy, Glen, Sherman, Althea, Kendall, Regina, and Trevor.
Honeycutt loved to preach and the church at Thayer gave him his first opportunity in 1940. He preached for small churches through the years and supported himself and family as an electrician, welder, woodworker and insurance salesman. In 1945 he began a ministry with the Biggers Church of Christ and the elders there authorized his ministerial credentials.
NATHANIEL E. HONEYCUTT
MINISTER OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
The Church of Christ at Biggers, Arkansas, recommend N.E. Honeycutt as a competent gospel minister. We believe him to be clean in life and sound in doctrine. Elders C. E. Powell, W.E. Johnson, S. J. White
Filed for record this 11th day of May, 1945, at 10 o'clock
A.M. Recorded May 11, 1945.
Carl Brown, Clerk and Recorder1 (1Randolph County Book F. p. 178. See: Preachers of Today (1959), p. 205. Additional information was submitted to Michael L. Wilson in letters from Opal Honeycutt and Loretta (Honeycutt) Mills, June 28, 1994.)
Later Honeycutt served churches at Alton and West Plains, Missouri, as well as Hardy, Arkansas. When Honeycutt lived in Pocahontas in the 1950s he preached for a number of area churches and conducted a radio program over KPOC.
Honeycutt studied for a time at the University of Arkansas but most of his study was Bible related and gained during 35 years of special effort and 29 years of preaching. Nathaniel died when he was 59 years old; his body awaits the resurrection in the Thayer Cemetery.
His beloved wife and several of his 57 descendants attend the Thayer Church of Christ.
-Michael L. Wilson, Arkansas Christians: A History of the Restoration Movement In Randolph County, Arkansas, 1800-1995, pps. 240,241
Ring Church Of Christ
L to R: Arthur Taylor, Neva James, Phyllis White, Mary
Violet Marriott, Dena Smith, and Raymond Smith
(Photo Source:
Arkansas Christians, p.97
Traveling along lower Janes Creek Road north from Ravenden Springs through the beautiful hills and rugged country of northwest Randolph County, one will eventually come to the old Ring community. An old building that once housed a school and church bears mute testimony to the vigor and vitality that once was Ring Church of Christ. Near this old building is the site of an old store operated by I. Frank James, an early merchant and member of the Ring Church. Evidently a congregation had met in the Ring community shortly after (or before) 1900 but it did not continue. 1 (1Mary Violet Honeycutt Marriott and Neva Honeycutt James (daughters of old Ring resident, Elijah Honeycutt), Interview with Michael L. Wilson, January 22, 1990.)
The building that now represents the Ring School, Church and polling place in Union Township, was built in 1924. The entrance was on the south side of the original building. The building was remodeled in 1939 to form an L shape, and a second entryway was placed on the east side. Around 1970, the entire structure was remodeled and modernized with interior paneling, a new ceiling, and other accouterments. The church was dissolved in March 1975, but the building continues to be used as a polling place during elections and for social gatherings.
In September, 1933, 1(1Some say the year was 1935.) Bynum Black and several Christians from English Bluff organized a congregation at Ring, according to Frank James. 2 (2 W.P.A., "Ring Church of Christ," (Feb. 18, 1941). The church met for Sunday School, preaching and Sunday night singing every first day of the week. Some of the preachers who served the corigregation through the years were "Uncle" Jim Honeycutt (brother of Elijah Honeycutt), Burl Curtis, Fred Kilabrew, Elias Bozarth, D. D. Rose, A. B. Shaver, N. E. Honeycutt, Grover DuBois, Boyd Morgan, Cecil Wilson, Lowell Blasingame, Arthur Blackwell, Charles Wilson, George Browning, Charles White, Thomas and Glen Olbricht, Neil and Jim Inness, David Elkins, Shirley Allison, Gene Shocklee, Arvil Hill, Earl Brown, Tim Carter, Gerald Fears and G. W. Allison: Vic Morin, a student from Harding University, was the minister when the church at Ring dissolved.
Some of the early members of the church were the Elijah Honeycutt, Grover DuBois, Frank James, Earnest Bush, and L. E. Mahaffey families, and Doctor N. A. Rodgers and his sister. This writer met at the old Ring building with Mary Violet Marriott and Neva James, daughters of Elijah Honeycutt, Phyllis White, daughter of Mary Marriott, Raymond and Dena Smith and Arthur Taylor in January, 1990, and discussed the history of the Ring Church. It was lamented that the church had been dissolved and the building allowed to
deteriorate, but sadly, such are the permanent effects of time and dwindling population.
-Michael L. Wilson, Arkansas Christians: A History of the Restoration Movement In Randolph County, Arkansas, 1800-1995, pps. 97,98.
Ozark County Times, Gainesville, Missouri
Thursday, April 16,
1964, page 3
The Newark Journal, Newark, Arkansas
Thursday, December 29,
1938, page 4
Christian Worker, August 15, 1946, page 6
Christian Worker, November 1, 1945, page 8
Directions To Grave
The Honeycutt family plot is located in Thayer, Missouri. Just a few miles north of Mamoth Springs, Arkansas, Thayer is located on Hwy. 63 in Oregon County. Coming into town from the south turn right on Oregon County Rd. 269 and turn left into the cemtery. Head straight up the hill and just as you come to the second drive to the right, look to the right and the Honeycutt plot is right by the car. The GPS location below is the actual location of the grave.
GPS Location
36°30'57.4"N 91°32'21.5"W
or D.d. 36.515950,-91.539300
HONEYCUTT
Opal L. - August 28, 1920 - January 12, 2013
Nathaniel E. - November 22, 1914 - July 16, 1973
Photos Taken Saturday, 05.03.2025
Webpage Produced -
05.26.2025
Courtesy Of Scott Harp
www.TheRestorationMovement.com
Special Recognition: The graves of Nathaniel and Opal Honeycutt were the third of 29 graves of gospel preachers it was my privilege to find during the first week of May, 2025. I had the great blessing of traveling from my home in Russellville, Kentucky to Lebanon, Missouri that week for the purpose of preaching a gospel meeting at the South Hwy. 5 church of Christ. During the week, I stayed on American history's most famous U.S. Hwy, Route 66. Daily, I had the opportunity to travel a number of miles to visit graves of preachers of yesteryear. It was a wonderful week for the gospel, and a blessing for me to stand at the graves of giants in the Kingdom of our Christ.