My Genealogy Hound

W. A. Prather, a Georgian, born in 1841, is a son of M. C., and a grandson of Thomas Prather, the latter of whom was of English descent, a native of South Carolina, reared in North Carolina, and died at about the age of seventy-five years. M. C. Prather was a merchant tailor and planter, was a stanch member of the Royal Arch Masons, and died in 1866. The subject of this sketch received a fairly good education in the public schools of his native State, and upon reaching the age of eighteen years, began working for himself at the carpenter’s trade, but gave this up in 1861 to join the Confederate army, becoming a member of Company A, Fourteenth Alabama Regiment, under Longstreet and Hill. He became first lieutenant as a non-commissioned officer, and was in the engagement at Williamsburg and the evacuation of Yorktown. He was also in the seven days’ fight around Richmond, Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg, Antietam, Gettysburg, Chancellorsville (where he was wounded in the thigh and arm), the Wilderness (receiving a wound in the shoulder and breast), and besides participated in numerous skirmishes. He surrendered with Hill’s division at Appomattox Court House. After the war he spent three years in Alabama, engaged in farming, then the following year resided in Mississippi, after which he came to Arkansas in 1870; and until 1888 resided a short distance north of his present home. His land is reasonably productive, and he has a comfortable and happy home. His marriage to Miss Mary Brooks, of Georgia, took place in July, 1865. He is a Democrat, and in his business, as well as social relations, he commands respect wherever he is known.