Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.], Part 111

Author: Goodspeed, firm, publishers, Chicago. (1886-1891. Goodspeed publishing Company)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, St. Louis [etc.] The Goodspeed publishing co.
Number of Pages: 826


USA > Arkansas > Faulkner County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Garland County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Grant County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Hot Spring County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Jefferson County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Lonoke County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Perry County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Pulaski County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111
USA > Arkansas > Saline County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 111


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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and his wife were the parents of eleven children, of whom Burell was the third child born. The latter was married to Miss Elizabeth Sweeney on April 21, 1840, and had six children by this union, of whom J. F. is the only one now living. In 1857 Burell Sellers moved with his family to Perry County, Ark., and settled at a point near the mouth of the Fourche, where he entered land and farmed until his death, on February 24, 1864, his wife surviving him until April 28, 1881. J. F. Sellers was reared and remained on his father's farm until he was twenty-two years old, when he began the study of law, a profession for which he had the profoundest admiration. He had no in- structors but his law-books and his intelligent brain, but he mastered his studies, and obtained as good a store of law knowledge as though he had attended the best university of that period. In 1873 he was admitted to the bar, and the follow- ing year commenced to practice, since which time he has ascended from the bottom to the topmost rank in his profession. He owns one of the finest law libraries in this section of the State, and though now an experienced and successful attorney, is almost as much a devotee of his books as when he first began. In 1872 he was elected to the position of county clerk and served one term, and in 1883 he was elected to the legislature, in which he has served three terms. He is at present a member of that body, and chairman of the judiciary commit- tee of the house. Mr. Sellers is a brilliant parlia- mentarian, and during the absence of the Speaker in the last session he was unanimously chosen to fill his place pro tem. He is editor of the News, pub- lished every Friday at Perryville, the only paper is- sued in Perry County and one of the most readable in the State. On December 23, 1866, Mr. Sellers was married to Miss Polly Brazil, a daughter of Moses Brazil, one of the earliest settlers of this county, and eight children have been born to their union: Marion (born January 18, 1868, died March 16 of the same year), Jordan (born January 3, 1869), Lucretia A. (born August 27, 1871, died August 24, 1875), Walter L. (born November 25, 1874, died April 25, 1875), Addie (born March 5, 1876), Calvin (born August 3, 1879), Jack


(born July 20, 1883) and Edward H. (born Feb- rnary 24, 1887). The success Mr. Sellers bas at- tained and the eminence which has come to him are a fitting illustration of what merit will secure. He began life as a poor boy with no education but what he learned by his own application, but stead- ily he has gone upward from year to year, pushing himself towards the goal of his ambition by the spirit of determination which has remained with him and marked his after life, until now he stands as an example that should infuse new life and new courage in the breast of every young man strug- gling for a position among the country's honored men.


Morgan G. Smyers is a man from whose active line has emanated no slight influence for good among those with whom he has associated. Born in Johnson County, Ark., he is the son of Jacob and Sophie (Bolanger) Smyers. Jacob was born in North Carolina about 1787, and died in 1875. In 1823 he came from North Carolina to Johnson County, where our subject was born February 2, 1832. He was one of the first settlers of the county, a carpenter by trade, and in 1837 located in Perry County, where he held the office of jus- tice of the peace. The Smyers are of Dutch descent, the father having been born in Pennsyl- vania. Morgan G.'s mother was born in North Carolina about 1801, and died in Perry County in 1854; she had borne eleven children, of whom Sarah, Rebecca and Jacob are living, as well as the subject of our sketch, the fourth in the family. He received his education in the subscription schools, and at the age of twenty-one began business for himself, going in 1853 to California by the over- land route, where he engaged in gold mining and dealing in live stock. After six years he returned to Perry County, and purchased the farm he now owns which at that time contained 160 acres; he has now about 1,600 acres, some 400 being under cultivation, and is one of the largest land owners in the county. In 1861 Mr. Smyers en- listed in Company H, Tenth Arkansas Infantry, and was immeniately elected second lieutenant, and afterward promoted to first lieutenant. He served until the close of the war, when he returned


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to Perry County and engaged in farming. In 1877 he entered the mercantile business in which he is still engaged, in partnership with P. W. Mosby. November 29, 1867, he married Miss Masy S. Guerin, who was born in North Carolina in 1846; they had six children: Rosalee and Ellen Dale living, and Elizabeth J., Robert Lee, Charles W. and Edward deceased. In 1866 Mr. Smyers was elected sheriff of Perry County, served one term, and was elected to the same office in 1870 to fill an unexpired term, his official duties being discharged in a commendable manner. In 1874 he was elected representative of Perry County, a choice highly creditable to his efficiency and talent, and in 1876 was again elected sheriff and served two years. He is a Democrat, and in 1864 was initiated into the Masonic order. and is a member of Aplin Lodge No. 444. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.


Charles Henry Tanner. It is no disparagement to other citizens of Casa Township to state that Mr. Tanner is one of the leading tillers of the soil in this locality. John Tanner, his father, was born in East Tennessee, in 1804, and after going to Alabama was married there, in which State our subject was born, May 23, 1835. His mother was Laura Jane Williams. In 1874 they removed to Logan County, Ark., and in 1877 to Perry County, the senior Tanner following farming. He was of Dutch descent. His father, Henry Tanner, was a - son of John Tanner, who was born in Maryland, and who at the age of one hundred and twenty-five years came from that State to Jackson County, Ala., on horseback, surviving thereafter two years. Henry died in Northern Alabama, at the age of ninety years. John was born in 1804, and died in 1876; and his wife, of Tennessee origin, was born in 1849, and died in 1884, in this county. She was the mother of twelve children, three of whom are still living: Charles H., Almeda and George. Charles Henry was practically brought up on the railroad, and began to drive a cart when he was eight years old, thus losing the advantages of an education. He continued this work till the breaking out of the war, when, on Christmas Day, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Forty-ninth


Regiment Alabama Infantry, serving three years and nine months. He was in the battles of Shiloh. Baton Rouge and Corinth, where he did not taste food for five days, on account of its scarcity. He was with Johnston on his retreat back to Atlanta; was under Hood at Peachtree Creek, and with him, in Tennessee, at the Franklin fight; also at Nashville. He was wounded in the right arm, at the elbow, at the battle of Shiloh, and still has the shirt he wore, with six bullet holes in it. This wounded arm has been of but little use since that time. After the war Mr. Tanner went to Alabama, and remained three years, when he removed to Yell County, Ark., residing there two years; then he came to Perry County, and now has 160 acres of land, with fifty under cultivation. In politics he is a Democrat. He and his wife are members of the Primitive Baptist Church, and he is an hon- orable and respected citizen. In November, 1865, Mr. Tanner married Miss Elizabeth Bryant, who was born in Jackson County, Ala., in 1835. She is the mother of eight children: Clayburn B., John H., Mary Jane and Martha (twins), George W., Murtie S., Charles H. and Mary E., all at home.


Sanford B. Taylor, a prominent planter and stockman of Perry County, Ark., is a son of Will- iam and Priscilla (Donaldson) Taylor, of South Carolina, the forefathers for several generations having been residents of that State. The great- grandfather on both sides of the family were sold- iers in the Revolution, whose deeds of valor have been handed down through each generation to the present. About the year 1840 William Taylor emigrated from his native State to Mississippi, and located in LaFayette County, where he remained until 1852, and then moved with his family to Pulaski County, Ark. They resided here for three years and came to Perry County, but in 1857 the father went to Texas, where he died, the mother dying in Johnson County, Ark., in 1861. Sanford B. Taylor was born on June 9, 1846, in DeKalb County, Ga., and was trained to look upon farming as his natural occupation. He commenced in life for himself at the age of nineteen years, first working a farm on shares, and then engaging at a salary. In 1856 he was married to Miss Mary


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Jane Albia, a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth acres, although he has now been retired from active business life for seven or eight years, owing to ill health brought on by exposure in the army. He is a member of Aplin Lodge No. 444, A. F. & A. M., and was initiated in the fraternity about 1880, at Perryville. He attends the Missionary Baptist Church with his wife, and is a liberal sup- porter and warm friend to all religious and educa- tional matters. Mr. Taylor is well known in the surrounding country, and popular with every one in that section. (Brazeale) Albia, who were among the earliest set- tlers of Arkansas, the father coming from Vermont and the mother from Illinois. This union was a happy one in every respect save one-they were childless. Mr. Taylor has farmed all his life ex- cept the period of the Rebellion, when he was con- scripted in the Confederate army. He did not vol- unteer his services, as the terrible tales of cruelty and hardships endured in the Mexican and Indian Wars by his grandfather and father were so vividly impressed upon his mind, that he concluded to re- B. D. Taylor is well-known as a teacher of Perry County, and one of its most scholarly men. In every sense of the word he is self-made. Born in Montgomery County, Miss., October 7, 1859, he is one of twelve children in the family of B. B. and Elizabeth (Corley) Taylor, all of whom are living: J. P. (is the present representative of Montgomery County, in the legislature of Missis- sippi), W. A. (is a prosperous farmer in that State) and B. D. (is the seventh child), T. N. (also a well- known farmer in Mississippi), James (a physician), O. P. (who is the only one of the boys married, and is a farmer in Mississippi), Mary (is the wife of R. E. Neal, and resides in Mississippi), Sarah (wife of William Long, also of the same State, in which her husband is a prominent jeweler at Gren- ada), Angeline (also married and living at Kosci- usko, Miss.), Lula (who resides with one of the brothers) and Annie (who resides with her sister in Grenada, Miss). The father was a native of Kentucky, and was born February 11, 1817, and his wife was born in Missouri in 1826. The elder Taylor moved with his father to Alabama and re- sided there five years, and from there went to Mis- sissippi in 1836, where he has resided ever since. His father was J. P. Taylor, a noted Baptist preacher who came originally from North Caro- lina, and whose brother fought and died in the War of 1812. J. P. Taylor was a widely known man during his life, and a large land and slave owner. His death occurred in 1844, leaving his estate to be divided among his children. His son, B. B. Taylor, served through the Civil War in Gen. Thomas' army, and was twice married, his main and protect his wife and family instead of ex- posing his life to the tortures of war. His inten- tions were changed, however, in 1863, when he was pressed into the Confederate army, becoming a private in Company A, of Col. Brooks' regiment of infantry, and was at the battle of Helena, Ark., when the attempt was made to capture that town. He was also within hearing of the guns at the battle of Pea Ridge, but did not participate on ac- count of being unarmed. Mr. Taylor served alto- gether about a year in the Confederate army, his company for the most part being on duty on, and in the vicinity of the Arkansas River, near Little Rock. While they were badly demoralized at the time, and every man seemed to have entirely lost all sense of discipline, it was not through fear but because of the successful efforts of the Federals, who greatly exceeded them in numbers. Mr. Tay- lor finally joined the Federal army at Little Rock, and was detailed as a nurse in the hospital, where he remained until the close of the war. June 30, 1865, he was mustered out, and July 5, of the same year, he received his final discharge and pay. The next day he embarked on a steamer at Little Rock, and proceeded to Lewisburg Landing, the nearest point to his home, arriving there in the latter part of the month. On his return home he again resumed his farm work on the land he had purchased before the war, and in addition com- menced cultivating forty acres adjoining. Mr. Taylor has purchased various tracts and sold them again, and did not come upon his present farm until 1887. Altogether he owns 325 acres in various lo- calities, and the present farm consists of twenty | first wife dying July 3, 1876. He married his


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PERRY COUNTY.


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second wife in 1882, and the union has been a happy one in every respect. B. D. Taylor, his son, remained on his father's farm in his youth, and attended school at Winona, Miss., for a short time. He afterward went to various other schools and academies, and when he had received a thorough education, taught school himself for a short period. In 1882, wishing to see some of the country further west, he started out with the intention of going as far west as Texas, but npon reaching Arkansas he concluded to remain in that State, and has been here ever since. He was em- ployed here for some time in a business capacity, but in 1885 he went to Little Rock and entered the Commercial College at that place. On his re- turn to Perry County he attended school at Aplin, and also taught for several terms. In 1886 he went to school at Morrillton and studied under Prof. Cox, and then launched out into the world of learning himself. He has taught six times at Esan, three times at Houston, once at Dixie, once at Council Bluffs and once at New Tennessee. In polities Mr. Taylor is a Democrat, and September 4, 1SS8, he was elected assessor, a position he tilled with great credit to himself and satisfaction to the county. The example he has set is one that should be followed by every young man who intends to make a successful career. He has been educated by his own exertions, spending his entire earnings in acquiring an education, and has labored at $15 per month, and put that sum in schools. He now owns a fine farm of fifty two acres with twenty acres under cultivation, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of the entire community. He is an ardent advocate of public schools. and has never asked tuition from those who were unable to pay.


Hezekiah Lewis Trundle has been actively oc- cupied in the capacity of an agriculturist here- abouts for a long time. Now of substantial worth as a planter of Perry County, he was born in Montgomery County, Md., October 30, 1817, the third in a family of ten children which blessed the union of Hezekiah and Christina (Whitaker) Trun- dle, both natives of Maryland, the father born in 1792 and the mother in 1795: she died in 1873 and he in 1856. The subject of this sketch was


reared and educated in Maryland, and in 1846 moved to La Fayette County, Mo. In 1865 a loca- tion was chosen in Chicot County, Ark., where he remained a year, then going to Clarksville, Tenn., to educate his children. After two years there they removed to Nashville, and one year later to Little Rock, in 1876 coming to the present home. Mr. Trundle bought about 700 acres of land on the Arkansas River, all but ten acres of which was unimproved, but by energy and self application he now has the finest farm in Perry County, with a splendid residence situated on a hill overlooking the Arkansas River. When Mr. Trundle purchased his farm he went into debt $3,500; this, however. he has since paid, besides making all the improve- ments. He raises from 140 to 150 bales of cotton a year, and with the gin which he has placed on the farm usually gins about 300 bales. Before the war he owned over forty slaves, but lost all. He is now a Democrat and cast his first presiden- tial vote for Harrison, being a Whig in those days. At the age of twenty two, April 23, 1839, he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Nichols, who was born in Maryland in 1822; she died in 1851 leaving two children living: Ernest and Harriet Ellen. His second marriage was in 1856, to Sarah Ann Lee, born in Henderson County, Va., in 1836. She died in Arkansas in 1870; there are two children of this marriage living: Susan (wife of James H. Johnson) and Mary L. Mr. Trundle's third wife was Mildred C. Lee (a sister of the second) born in 1838. They have one child living, Ruthie A. Mrs. Trundle is a member of the Episcopal Church.


L. G. Vollman, a prominent and highly re- spected farmer of Perry Township, Perry County, is a grandson of G. C. F. W. Klingelhoeffer, who came to this State at the head of a colony of Ger- man emigrants in the spring of 1833, and first set- tled at a point about three miles from Little Rock. There he resided three years, then moving up the Arkansas and Fourche la Fave Rivers on board of canoes lashed together (there being no steamboats at that time) to a point about three miles southwest of Perryville, known as the Dubois place. He en- countered many hardships in making this trip, the shores and bottoms being dense cane brakes twenty


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to thirty feet high. He camped with his family one night, and it is said that when he woke up to his surprise there were three bear houses in sight of the camp. Remaining on the Dubois place but a short time, he removed to where Perryville now stands, and ran the ferry there, going thence to a point two miles west of Perryville, where he resided about twenty years. From there he moved to a point two miles above the mouth of the Fourche, on the Arkansas River, where he resided till his death. I. F. St. Vollman, the father of the above named, was married to Augusta Klingelhoeffer, by whom he had two children: Louis G. Vollman and a daughter, Emaline, the former born January 15, 1851, and the latter January 9, 1855. The mother died March 14, 1858, and the father was again mar- ried to Mrs. Anna Taylor, a widow, by whom he had one child, a daughter, Florence (born in October, 1861). He volunteered in the Confederate service in the spring of 1862, enlisting in Bebee's com- pany, and departed this life in the fall of 1862, at the hospital in Tupelo, Miss. After the death of his father Louis G. Vollman resided with his grand- father, and grew up during the war when there were no schools, thus receiving only a limited edn- cation in his youth. He was married, March 16, 1873, to Miss Sarah E. Bland, a daughter of Daniel Bland. They are the parents of five children: George G. (born September 1, 1874), Angusta E. (born April 4, 1877), Ivan D. (born August 18, 1879), Lily J. (born November 2, 1881, died July 1, 1886) and Clarence F. (born March 29. 1884.) Mr. Vollman resides about two miles northeast of Esan postoffice, and about five miles above the mouth of the Fourche. He owns 240 acres of up- land, and about twenty acres of valuable bottom land, having about thirty in cultivation, with good dwellings, stables and a fine yonng orchard. Mr. Vollman and his wife are members of the Mission- ary Baptist Church, which they attend regularly, and take great interest in all educational and re- ligious matters, the former having served on the school board for several terms. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and has always voted that ticket. His maternal grandfather, Klingelhoeffer, was one of the first settlers of Perry County, coming to Lit-


tle Rock at the time of the largest rise (in 1833) of the Arkansas River of which any account is given. He paddled a canoe over the highest ground where Argenta now stands, the water being six feet deep, and as a result much damage was done to lands and property. Daniel Bland, the father of Sarah E. Vollman, was born and raised in Perry County, and resided there up to his death. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and his father was one of the oldest pio- neer settlers of Perry County. They were both well-to-do farmers and highly respected and es- teemed gentlemen. The senior Vollman was a sub- stantial farmer, and was favorably known by all who knew him.


J. M. Wallace has been occupied as a farmer and stock-raiser of Fourche La Fave Township with good results. A native of Carthage, Moore County, N. C., he was born on March 4, 1850, his parents being Isham and Nancy Wallace, both born in the same State, who were the parents of fifteen children, eleven of them yet living: William W. (residing in North Carolina, where he is a farmer. and has been sheriff of Moore County for three terms), Quimby (a farmer and residing in the same county), Emsby (a farmer also in the same county, who represented them in the State legislature in 1868), S. D. (a farmer, and at one time sheriff of that county), V. A. and Samuel B. (both farmers of Moore County, N. C.), Clarkie (wife of George Corkman), Sarah (wife of John Garner), Hettie (wife of James Horner), Mary (also married), and all residing in Moore County. The father of these children died June 15, 1885, his wife following him on August 3, 1886. J. M. Wallace remained with his father and attended the public schools at Carthage in his youth, and when eighteen years of age went to college at Greens- boro, Guilford County, N. C. He afterward taught school for about two years, and then moved to Little Rock, Ark., where he entered into busi- ness, and from there to Texarkana, where he was engaged in the cigar business. He again returned to Little Rock, but did not remain long before he moved to Dardanelle, Yell County, and from there to Aplin, Perry County, where he took charge of


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and conducted a saw-mill. From Aplin he came to Perryville, where he bought a farm of eighty acres, with about fifty-three acres under cultiva- tion, and has resided there since. On December 3, 1875, he was married to Miss Emma Mitchell, a daughter of William Mitchell, by whom he had one child: Byrdee (born June, 1877, and dying in August of the same year), the mother dying some time afterward in Texarkana. Mr. Wallace was again married, his second union taking place on August 3, 1881, to Miss Dora Laughlin, a daugh- ter of S. H. and L. E. Laughlin, of Perryville, by whom he has had five children: Ernest I. (born June 13, 1882), Myrtle (born December 13, 1883), Jessie (born August 15, 1885), Johnie Ellen (born December 27, 1887). Mr. Wallace became well and favorably known after a short residence in Perry County, and for two years was constable of Fourche la Fave Township, during which period the county was without a sheriff. He and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics Mr. Wallace is a strong Democrat and a valuable support to that party.


Rev. Ambrose Hunter Williams, whose efforts as a minister in the Arkansas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Perryville, have been signally blessed by God, is a native of what is now Stone County, Ark., where he was born November 16, 1846. His father, Burton Williams, was born in Missouri about 1823, and is also a minister, now living at Eureka Springs, Ark. He belongs to the Arkansas Conference, and has been engaged in ministerial work thirty years. He is a son of Ambrose Williams, of Irish descent, who came to Northwest Arkansas from Missouri in a very early day, where he died. Burton married Clarissa Brown, of Missouri, she dying in Johnson County, Ark., about 1874. Our subject's father went to South Arkansas when Ambrose was a child, where he was pastor before and during the war. There were eleven children in this family, of whom young Ambrose was the third. He was partly reared and educated in Chicot County, Ark., and completed his education in Hickory Plains Institute, R. H. Crozier, of Oxford University (Miss.), being principal. He has acquired most of ! was Mrs. Amanda Scott (widow), who was born in


his ministerial education in the pastoral work by study and practice, having begun preaching in 1874, the conference at that time being held at Dardanelle, Yell County, Bishop G. F. Pierce pre- siding. December 26, 1879, Mr. Williams mar- ried Miss Loduska A. Horton, who was born in Shelby County, Ala., in 1855, daughter of D. A. and Mary Eliza (Arnett) Horton, who came to Ar- kansas in 1876. They have had a family of five children: Lily A., Willie May. Mather Wilton, Panl H. and Myrtle Lucile. Quite recently Mr. Williams and wife have been called upon to bear much sorrow, their two boys, Paul H. and Mather Wilton, having passed from earth to a home above, where they await the coming of loved ones. Mr. Williams has always voted the Democratic ticket, but supports the man more than the party. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.




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