My Genealogy Hound

Capt. William H. Clark, of Marianna, Ark., was born in North Carolina in 1841, and in 1846 moved with his parents (James and Virginia L. (Pinnell) Clark), to Memphis, Tenn., and from there, in 1857, to Walnut Bend, Ark., where the father purchased land. The latter was born in Guilford County, N. C, in 1816, and was a painter by trade. This he followed until after he moved to Walnut Bend, where he resided up to 1867, when he died of yellow fever. He followed merchandising, and owned some land in Walnut Bend. Clark’s Landing was named in honor of him, and he owned the same. The mother was born in Virginia, in 1824, and died in Memphis, Tenn., in 1854. They were the parents of three children, Capt. William H. Clark being the eldest; and the second, James Preston, was captured in Walnut Bend during the war, and died from a fever contracted in prison. He was a member of Capt. Cowley’s company, C. S. A. The youngest child died when young. Capt. William H. Clark was reared and educated in Memphis. He commenced steam-boating in 1856, as clerk on the steamer Katie Frisbee, and followed this in different capacities until 1861, when he joined the Confederate army at Memphis. Previous to this, in 1859, he was appointed route agent for the United States mail, between Memphis, Tenn., and Vicksburg, Miss., and was serving in that capacity when the war broke out. He joined the One Hundred Fifty-fourth Senior Tennessee Regiment as private, in Company B (Bluff City Greys), was a clerk in Adj.-Gen. Bragg’s office, of the Army of Tennessee, under command of Gens. Bragg, J. E. Johnston and Hood, at department headquarters, and served from May, 1863, until the close of the war. He participated in the battles of Belmont, Shiloh, Corinth, Richmond (Ky.) and Perryville, with his company, the Bluff City Greys. During the fight at Richmond there were seventy-five in the company, and they captured from 125 to 150 of the enemy, and were in front all day. After the battle nearly all had their clothes torn by bullets, but no man of the company was wounded. They were sharp-shooters of Gen. Preston Smith’s brigade. Capt. Clark was with the Army of Tennessee while under the commands of Gens. Braxton Bragg, J. E. Johnston, John B. Hood, G. T. Beauregard and Dick Taylor, from Murfreesboro, Tenn., to the surrender at Greensboro, N. C, serving continually in the adjutant-general’s office under the different commanders. After the surrender he returned to Memphis and followed steam-boating until 1876, part of the time being engaged in the cotton seed business. He was married m 1866, to Miss Maggie Harrison, who was born in Paducah, Ky. Her grandfather moved to Christian County, Ky., in 1809 from Virginia, and was one of the owners and founders of Paducah. Her grandfather and William H. Harrison were first cousins, and the subject of this sketch was named for that president. Capt. Clark came here in 1876, and engaged in the receiving and forwarding business. By his marriage he became the father of seven children: William H., Jr., Dudley S., Emma, Maggie, Benigna, Ruth and Charles Preston. Capt. Clark is a member of the Masonic fraternity—Chapter, Council and Commandery—K. of H., and K. & L. of H. and K. of P. He and wife and all the family are members of the Episcopal Church. G. F. Clark was born in Guilford County, N. C., and was a first cousin of Abraham Clark, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was of Scotch descent. The grandmother on his father’s side was a Lilly, and a relative of the Lillys of Halifax County, Va. The Carringtons, of Cumberland County, were relatives to the wife’s father