Built for the family of Thomas and Calphurnia (Carty) Buford in 1847, using hand hewn native short leaf pine logs and hand tooled local stone, both found on the farmstead; the Buford-Carty Log House stands today as testimony to the six generations of family ownership and the lives of the people who lived here. Few homes survived the historical events of the time period and generations of family ownership.
The stories about this log house describe a small slice of the American experience of what life was like deep in the Missouri Ozarks for the Buford-Carty family. Particularly hard times before, during and after the Civil War were overcome by strong, independent women who kept their family together, thus allowing for the continuing ownership today by direct descendants. Many of the family members are buried on the farm in the Carty Cemetery. Carty Cemetery is an active cemetery, and family “Decoration Day” is observed every year. The log house and surrounding farm are currently owned by the Carty Branch Family Trust.
The farm was named a Missouri Century Farm in 1992, and the Buford-Carty Log House and farm were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Restoration of the log house to nearly original condition was completed in 2006. Tours are available on a limited basis and by appointment only. For information, address Kevin C. Skibiski, 330 Texas Drive, Ozark, Missouri 65721; or phone 417-844-8780.
Joshua Carty and Rhoda Jane (Buford) Carty
Joshua Carty was born on November 16, 1842, the second child of Greenberry V. and Julia Ann (Adams) Carty, in Black River Township, Washington County, Missouri. Joshua’s paternal grandparents were Moses and Elizabeth Carty. Moses, along with his brothers William and James, moved to Missouri in 1821 from Cumberland County, Kentucky. In Kentucky, Moses served as a chain carrier on several land surveys, and in 1845, was appointed by the Missouri State Legislature as one of the commissioners to select a county seat of justice for the new county of Reynolds. Joshua was a farmer and served in Company B, Clardy’s Battalion Missouri Calvary (Confederate) from September 1864 to May 1865, and was at the Battle of Pilot Knob. Rhoda Jane (Buford) Carty was born on October 16, 1842, in Searcy County, Arkansas. Rhoda was quoted as remembering moving into the new log house when she was five years old, placing the construction date as 1847. Rhoda was the only daughter of Calphurnia Buford to live to adulthood and marry.
After Joshua and Rhoda married in 1865, they lived on the farm in the log house with Calphurnia. Joshua and Rhoda Carty had five children; Green Berry Carty (1868), Thomas James Milton Carty (1870), Sarah Ann Carty (1873), John Henry Moore Carty (1875) and Calphurnia Carty (1878). The farm and family prospered under Joshua Carty. Unfortunately, Joshua died at age 37 on January 5, 1880, leaving Rhoda widowed with five small children. Rhoda lived in the log house with her son Thomas until she died on May 14, 1931. Joshua and Rhoda Carty are buried in Carty Cemetery.
Thomas Buford was born on November 9, 1801, the eighth child (and second Thomas) of John and Rhoda (Shrewsbury) Buford in Bedford County, Virginia. John Buford served as a sergeant in Virginian troops during the Revolutionary War. Thomas Buford’s uncle, William Buford moved to Breckenridge County, Kentucky in 1810, and later to Washington County, Missouri in 1814. Thomas followed his Uncle William to Missouri before 1830, where he was listed as living by himself as a single man in the 1830 Federal Census. Thomas Buford married Calphurnia Carty on June 26, 1831, in Washington County, Missouri, with Peter Williams, an ordained Baptist minister, officiating. Calphurnia (Carty) Buford was born on September 18, 1814, the seventh child of James and Sally (Copeland) Carty, in Cumberland County, Kentucky. It is believed that James and Moses Carty moved their families, along with other neighbors, from Cumberland County, Kentucky, to Black River Township, Washington County, Missouri, in 1821. James Carty was instrumental in establishing the Black River Baptist Church of which he was a member and a trustee. Thomas and Calphurnia Buford had six children: John M. A. Buford (1833), Nancy Diadem Buford (1836), James Carter Monroe Buford (1839), Rhoda Jane Buford (1842), Sarah Ann Buford (1844), and William A. M. Buford (1847). Thomas Buford bought the patent for forty acres of land on December 30, 1835, then sold this land, and moved his family to Searcy County, Arkansas in early 1836. They moved back to Black River Township, Washington County, Missouri, prior to 1844. Thomas Buford joined his cousin , James M. Buford, on a “gold rush” trip to California, dying of cholera on the way to Californiaon on May 21, 1849, leaving Calphurnia a widow with six children. She lived in the log house with her daughter Rhoda Jane and her daughter’s family until her death on August 9, 1886. Calphurnia is buried in Carty Cemetery.
Thomas James Milton Carty (Uncle Tom), the second child of Joshua and Rhoda Carty, was born on September 30, 1870, in Black, Reynolds County, Missouri. Uncle Tom never married and lived his entire life on the farm, living in the log house until 1960. He died on the farm on November 14, 1962, and is buried in Carty Cemetery.
John Henry Moore Carty was born on the farm in Black, Missouri on October 16, 1875. John married Bertie Maud Hughes on July 3, 1901, at the home of Bertie’s parents, in Black. Bertie was born April 6, 1883, in Howe’s Mill, Dent County, Missouri. John and Bertie had seven children; Leora Pearl Carty (1902), Elsie Gray Carty (1904), Edith Jewel Carty (1908), Dallas Clee Carty (1910), Willie Marie Carty (1913), Arnold Cornell Carty (1916) and Marvin Pierce Carty (1923).
John H. M. Carty died on the farm on October 16, 1941 of consumption. Bertie Carty died on the farm on December 31, 1963. John and Bertie are buried in Carty Cemetery.
