My Genealogy Hound

William Jefferson Wilson, merchant and farmer, Buckner, Ark. The mercantile trade of Buckner is represented by honorable business men who are wide awake and full of enterprise. Among the most prominent in this line is Mr. Wilson, who, in connection with his mercantile trade, is also engaged in tilling the soil. This gentleman was born in Ouachita County, Ark., on January 8, 1849, and moved with his parents to Alabama when a child, remaining there until 1862, when he returned to Arkansas. He has since resided in his native State. He was married the first time in 1869 to Miss Eliza Wyott Scott, who died on November 22, 1888. They were the parents of seven children, six now living: Jasper Bennett, William Anderson, Joseph H. (deceased), Lova Grace, Walter Douglas, Elizabeth Pearl and James Patrick. Mr. Wilson’s second marriage occurred on July 31, 1889, to Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Fears. He engaged in merchandising at Buckner in January, 1886, but previous to that he had been engaged in tilling the soil. He carries a stock of general merchandise valued at about $500, and at the same time continued his farming operations. He owns eighty acres near town, and 160 acres of an improved farm in Nevada County. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and his wife is a member of the Christian Church. His father, James Bennett Wilson, was born in North Carolina and emigrated from there to Alabama, and thence to Sevier County, Ark., while a single man. There he was married to Miss Elizabeth Henry, a native of Arkansas, who bore him eight children—four sons and four daughters, all but one living, and William Jefferson second in order of birth. The father went from Sevier County to Ouachita County, Ark., and thence to Alabama, when our subject was but a child. He died in what is now Nevada County in November, 1865, and was a farmer by occupation. The mother died on January 24, 1863.