My Genealogy Hound

William Montgomery Mayo, planter and stock man, Indian Bay, Ark. There are many incidents of peculiar interest presented in the career of Mr. Mayo, which cannot be given in the space allotted to this article. Known over a large region of country tributary to Indian Bay, his reputation is that of a man honorable and reliable in every walk of life. He is the son of James and Sarah Eliza (Cokely) Mayo. [For family history see sketches of John W. and Laurence S. Mayo, elsewhere in this volume.] Capt. William M. Mayo was born September 26, 1822, in Martin County, N. C. He was early initiated into the details of farm life, and received a liberal education in an academy established by his father, the latter being the prime mover in securing its establishment. William moved with his parents to Tennessee, in 1837, and finished his education in the public academy in Fayette County, taught by Hartwell Rollins, near La Grange, Tenn. Afterward this school was taught by him for one year, but his principal occupation during life has been tilling the soil. On Christmas Eve of the year 1844 he was united in marriage to Miss Jane Elizabeth Anderson, daughter of Major Joel and Sallie (Younger) Anderson, both natives of Virginia, and whose ancestors on both sides probably came to America about 1765. Jane E. Anderson was born April 27, 1829, and is one of three children born to her parents: John Anthony, Lucinda Thomas and Mrs. Mayo. The latter was educated at the same school in Tennessee with her husband, was almost reared with him, their parents living on adjoining farms, and was a pupil of her husband during the year he taught school near La Grange. To Mr. and Mrs. Mayo have been born eleven children: Frederick Anthony (born March 31, 1846, now resides in Somerville, and an attorney at law at Somerville, Tenn. He married Miss Laura Cocke and became the father of seven children), Leauna Melvina (was born June 10, 1848, and died August, 19, 1849), Richard Dale (was born November 5, 1850, married Miss Willie Pointer, and has one daughter and four sons), Laura Montgomery (was born December 29, 1851, and became the wife of W. H. Boyce, a native of Tennessee, who is now residing near her parents; they had ten children, three now living), William Thomas (was born December 20, 1853, and died August 5, 1854), Nannie Jane (was born July 28, 1859, and married Sidney S. Bond, of Jackson, Tenn., January 14, 1879; has one child now living), William James (was born June 23, 1861, graduated in B. A. course and B. L., at the University of Mississippi in class of 1884, now an attorney at Clarendon, Ark.), Gaston Baldwin (was born September 26, 1863, and died November 28, 1865), Fannie Lula (born June 4, 1866), Lillie Lina (born August 11, 1868) and Walter Lee (born June 28, 1871, and died April 30, 1877). Fannie Lula married Samuel W. Hargis, on February 11, 1885. Her husband died on September 10, 1886, and in 1888 she was married to Major S. L. Black, Indian Bay, Ark. William James married Miss Annie C. Lake, of Oxford, Miss.; she died at Clarendon, Ark., October 10, 1886. Lillian L. Mayo married John S. Black and resides at Indian Bay; they have one child. Capt. Mayo came to Arkansas in 1853, bought a tract of 2,400 acres, with a few acres cultivated, and he now has 1,200 acres under cultivation. In 1859 the Captain completed a story and a half log-house, 18x52 feet, and the same year added to that a two-story frame, 20x52, the two constituting the house in which he has since made his home, and in which his children received the principal part of their schooling. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private in the company known as the Monroe Rebels of the Twenty-fifth Arkansas Infantry. In August of the same year he received a commission as captain with orders to return and report to the command of the Trans-Mississippi Department. He then raised what is known as Partisan Company to operate in the Eastern portion of Arkansas. The company afterward became Company C of the Forty-fifth Arkansas Cavalry, operating under Gen. Shelby, at Clarendon, Ark. At or near the last-named place, in 1864, he commanded two companies in a battle near Clarendon, Ark., with a detachment of the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, which he defeated; was then in a battle at Miller’s Creek under Gen. Thomas McRae, was then at Brownsville under Gen. Shelby, Ironton Mountain under Gen. Price, and at the last-named place received a wound in the shoulder and was left on the field for dead. He was afterward assisted from the field by members of his company, and although his wound rendered him unfit for duty he remained with the command through the Missouri raid and until the end of the war, being in the recruiting service near his home at that time. In politics Capt. Mayo is a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was for Henry Clay. He was a member of the convention when Arkansas seceded from the Union. He holds membership in Indian Bay Lodge, No. 256, F. & A. M., and also holds membership in the Chapter and Council at Clarendon. He and wife and all their family are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.