My Genealogy Hound

William Davis Person. He whose name heads this sketch is a farmer and blacksmith by profession, and by dint of industry and natural ability, has made for himself a good business, and a local popularity that gives him a prominent place in the history of Lincoln County. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Elman) Person, and his birth occurred in Shelby County, Ala., on January, 1818. The Person family are of Irish descent, and claim quite a long list of distinguished ancestry. The subject of this sketch was married to Miss Julia Eleman, daughter of Charles P. Eleman, and in 1852 moved to what is now Lincoln County, Ark. Mr. Person devoted much attention to clearing the land which is now a beautifully cultivated plantation, and through many years worked hard as a blacksmith and a gunner. He also surveyed a large proportion of the surrounding country, with which he is perfectly familiar now, even to the minutest detail. He was married, the second time, in 1880, and this time to Mrs. Sarah Wells, daughter of Samuel and Arvilla Ralph, of New York. Of this union have been born six children—three sons of which lost their lives in the Confederate army. The names of these children were as follows: Redford E., Willie Franklin, Wesley, Martha, Elizabeth, Sallie, Susan, Emma Joannah. All the daughters are well and happily married.