My Genealogy Hound

W. G. Wilson is the mayor of Sulphur Rock, Ark., and is the proprietor at that place of one of the best livery stables in the county. He is a native-born resident of the county, his birth occurring in 1837, and during his early youth and manhood he attended the subscription schools, and worked with his father on the home farm. On the 26th of January, 1859, he was married to Miss Mary E. West, a native of the “Bay State,” who came with her parents to Arkansas when a child. Her death occurred on the 27th of January, 1873, and she left her husband and three children to mourn her loss, the names of the latter being: Ed. M., Charley G. and Florence, who died aged twenty-seven years, the wife of Solon Burkett, and left two children. Mr. Wilson took for his second wife Miss R. F. Morgan, a native of Alabama, and the following children have been given them: Emma, Myrtie, Bertha, Fay, and Julia A. Two children died when quite small. When the thunders of war resounded through the land, Mr. Wilson enlisted in the Confederate army, in the First Arkansas Cavalry, and served from July 26, 1862 to June 5, 1865, surrendering at the latter date. He was in Little Rock, Helena, and various fights in Missouri, being with Price on his raid through the latter State. After the war he returned home and resumed farming, continuing until 1885, when he came to Sulphur Rock and embarked in his present business, which is one of the most popular establishments of the kind in the county, and is meeting with well-deserved success. He has a fine farm, two miles north of Sulphur Rock, and is well fixed in a worldly point of view. In April, 1889, he was elected mayor of Sulphur Rock, Ark., and also served part of an unexpired term of the previous year. Besides this, he served one term as constable and four terms as justice of the peace. He belongs to the Blue Lodge of the A. F. & A. M., is a Royal Arch Mason, and Royal and Select Master Mason, and is a member of the K. and L. of Honor. In his religious views he is a Methodist. He is one of the substantial residents of the county, and is well known and highly respected by all. His parents, William M. and Hannah (Masters) Wilson, were born in Tennessee and Missouri, respectively. The father moved to the mother’s native State after reaching manhood, and afterward went to Arkansas, and located in Independence County, where he died in November, 1864, at the age of seventy-five years, followed by his wife in November, 1868. Of the ten children born to them, only two are living — our subject, W. G. Wilson and his sister, Mrs. Davidson.