My Genealogy Hound

Capt. William C. Sloan, of Smithville, Ark., was born in Lawrence County, August 14, 1833. His father was Fergus Sloan, of Lincoln County, N. C., who was born in December, 1787, and died in November, 1849. The elder Sloan remained in North Carolina until he reached his twenty-fifth year, and then moved to Missouri, and settled in Washington County, near Caledonia. He resided there until his marriage to Miss Rosanna Ruggles, of Otsego, N. C., who was born in 1797, and came to Missouri in 1818. They moved to Arkansas in 1820, and located in the Spring River district, where they opened up a large farm (for that time) of 150 acres. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sloan were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the elder Sloan’s house in early days was often a meeting place for the missionaries of that time. He died, while on a visit to his former home in Missouri, on November 13, 1849, and his wife, the mother of Capt. Sloan, died on the old homestead, August 10, 1860. Nine children were born to the parents, all of them living to be married. William C. Sloan was the seventh child, and the youngest of four boys, and besides himself, has three sisters still living. He grew to maturity in this county, and on arriving at the age of twenty-one years, commenced doing business for himself. During the war, he was captain of Company A. Twenty-fifth Arkansas, and was mustered in with his company, March 1, 1862, serving about six months in that command. He next joined Col. Baber’s cavalry regiment, the Forty-fifth Arkansas, and was a member of the raiding expedition, under General Price, through Missouri. After the war was over, he returned home and entered actively into mercantile life, and has resided in Smithville ever since. He is also a partner in the firm of Sloan & Co., at Imboden, Ark., and besides, deals in stock very extensively. Capt. Sloan is a Democrat in politics, and represented his county in the rebel legislature of 1866-67, when they first convened after the war, and was known throughout the county, as a fair-minded and conscientious man in the discharge of his duties. He was first married to Mrs. Susan Sloan, the widow of his brother, who was born in Lawrence County, in 1831, and died in October, 1865. This union gave them two children, William F., and Leona, wife of L. T. Andrews. His second wife was Miss Elizabeth J. Cravens, whom he married in 1871, a native of the same county, but educated at Shelbyville, Ky., and by whom he had three children: Homer F., Eula L., and Fannie, all of them living. The mother died September 29, 1887. Capt. Sloan is a member of Lodge No. 29, A. F. & A. M., of Smithville, and is widely known for his generosity and good-fellowship.