English Cemetery ~ Ballard P. Tarter ~ part of the Polk County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
Tarter, Ballard P.
LAST: Tarter FIRST: Ballard MID: P.
GENDER: M MAIDEN NAME:  TITLE: 
BORN: 29 Jun 1842 DIED: 24 Mar 1913 BURIED:  (English Cemetery)
OCCUPATION:  Farmer
BIRTH PLACE:  Hawkins Co., Tennessee
DEATH PLACE: Dallas, Polk Co., Oregon
NOTES: 
1900 OR CENSUS - Ballard P. Tartar, b June 1842, East Tennessee; single
DISCREPANCY - 1900 census and biographical sketch [below] give place of birth as Tennessee, but DC and obit give place of birth as Virginia.

BIOGRAPICAL:
Ballard P. Tarter – A man who has the courage of his convictions is entitled to respect, and it is well to say that no man ever walked in pioneer shoes who was lacking in that quality. It took men of courage to face the hardships of the west and operate here. Among this number we are constrained to mention the gentleman, whose name is at the head of this article, for he has been a potent factor in the material advancement of Grant county and in its substantial development for a goodly number of years.
His birth occurred in Hawkins county, Tennessee, on June 29, 1842. Scarcely out of his swaddling clothes, he was left fatherless, and the widowed mother removed with her little ones to Wythe county, Virginia, where Ballard P. was reared and educated. When the dogs of war became active he enlisted in the cause that lay nearest his heart and took up arms in Company E, Fiftieth Virginia, in Floyd’s Brigade in June, 1861. His service was valiant and faithful until laid low by disease and when sufficiently recovered he was transferred to the quartermaster’s department where he continued until the close of the conflict. He participated in many skirmishes and witnessed some of the large battles of the war. It was his lot, to use his own words, to see “Dixie bloom and fall.” Subsequent to the war he went to Garrard county, Kentucky, and worked at the carpenter trade and from there he migrated to Springfield, Missouri, and in September, 1873, he came to Polk county in this state. He came via San Francisco, and from that city to Portland he went on the steamer, George M. Elder. Through Oregon, California, and Arizona, he followed his trade until 1887, when he came to Grant county and took a homestead nine and one half miles north from Longcreek. Here he resides at the present time and is giving his attention to the art of agriculture and fruit raising. He has been exceedingly successful as an orchardist and possesses one of the finest orchards in the county.
Mr. Tarter is one of the celibatarians of the county and is enjoying the quiets of that life rather than the cares and responsibilities of the connubial relation. He is highly respected by all and is secure in the esteem and confidence of his fellows.
Source - An Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties, Oregon (Western Historical Publishing Company, 1902), pp 497-98
OBITUARY: 
[abstracted]
died yesterday (Mar 26) in Dallas  hosp; b. Withville, Va; mov to Ore 1874; settled near Airlie; mov to Grant Co. 1886; returned to Airlie 1909; was a cousin of the Tarter boys of Airlie; never married.
Itemizer 27 Mar 1913
INSCRIPTION: 
SOURCES: 
OSBH DC (Polk County 1913) #1261
Saucy/Tolle Survey & Photographs
1900 OR CENSUS (Grant Co, Warm Springs, ED 16, Sheet 3A)
IHB, pp 497-98
Itemizer 27 Mar 1913
CONTACTS: 
ROW: 25-1  
IMAGES: