My Genealogy Hound

William Thomas Clifton, an active carpenter of Forrest City, was born in Elerton, Jefferson County, Ala., near Birmingham, March 23, 1823, being a son of Amza H. and Adelissa (Goode) Clifton, natives of Virginia and North Carolina, respectively. The paternal grandfather of our subject, William Clifton, was a Scotchman by birth and came to America about the close of the Revolutionary war, settling in North Carolina, where he married a Miss Martha Rice, daughter of John Rice. Mr. Rice was in the employ of the United States Government as a surveyor under President Monroe, and assisted in moving the Indians west, receiving 5,000 acres of land for his services, part of which tract is the land on which Memphis is now situated, and to this day it is known as the Rice grant. The father of Adelissa Goode (Thomas Goode), was a soldier and served seven years in the Revolutionary War, and was commissioned colonel in Gen. Washington’s body guard, and his grandson, Thomas Goode Clark, was a soldier in the late war, and fell at the battle of Gettysburg, together with his son; the pine boards which marked their resting place are now among the relics at the Libby Prison War Museum. Mr. Amza H. Clifton was born in Caswell County, N. C, and was married in 1821 at Hopkinsville, Ky. He settled in Jefferson County, Ala., moved to Tennessee in 1828 and located in Covington, where he lived about ten years, and then moved to Mississippi in 1837. In 1840 going to Memphis, Tenn., he resided there and worked at his trade as carpenter, until his death in 1849. William T. Clifton gave his attention to the carpenter’s trade under his father’s instruction until of age, and in 1845 came to Arkansas, but remained only a short time, in 1847 making another trip. In 1848 he was married to Miss Araminta Cathey, and settled in Mount Vernon near the present site of Forrest City, where he has since lived. He and wife are the parents of three children: Mattie C. (wife of Joseph M. Davis, of this city), William A. (a confectioner of Morrillton, Ark.), and Mollie, now Mrs. Bitter of the same place. Mr. and Mrs. Clifton are members of the Baptist Church. He is a strong Democrat and a prominent citizen.