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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Sevier County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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William Gortney, farmer and stock-raiser, Chapel Hill, Ark. This well known, representative farmer of Sevier County was born in Franklin County, Ga., in 1824, and is the fourth of six children born to his parents. He early became familiar with farm life, and his educational attainments were of a rather limited order. At the age of nineteen years he began life as a farm hand, and continued this for a few years. He was married in Itawamba County, Miss., when twenty-two years of age to Miss Keziah A. Ayers, a native of Hardeman County, Tenn., and the daughter of Jonathan and Susan Ayers, formerly of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Ayers moved to Itawamba County, Miss, but in about 1857 came to Southeast Arkansas. Mrs. Gortney died some two years after the war, leaving four children: Isabella (wife of Rev. Alex Lausman, a Presbyterian minister), Abigail (wife of Glen Hollingsworth, of Red River County, Tex.), George and Alex. Mr. Gortney’s second marriage occurred about 1868 to Mrs. Matilda Greenwood, daughter of Finis Robinson, a native of Kentucky, but a very early settler of Sevier County, where Mrs. Gortney was born; when a little girl she was taken by her parents to the frontier of Texas. They afterward returned, and died in Sevier County, the father during the war. In 1859 Mr. Gortney came to Sevier County, where he has since resided for the past twenty-two years on his present farm, consisting of about 600 acres. He is a very industrious man, and all his property is the result of his own exertions. He has about 200 acres under cultivation, and is a first-class tiller of the soil. His father and grandfather before him were very industrious men, but had little education. In July, 1861, Mr. Gortney joined Company K, Nineteenth Arkansas Infantry, and in January, 1863, he was captured at Arkansas Post and imprisoned at Camp Douglas, Ill., for several months. In the spring of 1864 he was taken to City Point, Va., exchanged and rejoined his company at Petersburg, Va. From there he went to Tennessee and was captain at Tullahoma, Tenn., in the summer of 1864, and imprisoned at Louisville until shortly before the close of the war, when he took the oath of allegiance. He then returned to his family in Sevier County. He is a member of the Wheel, and in his political views is Democratic. He and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. His first wife was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. His parents, William and Polly (Bennett) Gortney, removed from Georgia to Itawamba County, Miss., and from there to Tishomingo County, where they died soon after. Both were members of the Hardshell Baptist Church. The father had a limited education, but became a well-to-do farmer. His father, William Gortney, who was probably born in Ireland, resided in Georgia for many years, but died in Mississippi. He was a young man during the Revolutionary War. The maternal grandfather, Thomas Bennett, was a farmer and died in Tennessee. Our subject’s father was twice married, his first wife being the mother of William.

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This family biography is one of 96 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Sevier County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Sevier County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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