My Genealogy Hound

William A. Matlock, farmer, was born June 24, 1816, in Overton County, Tenn., one mile from the Kentucky line, and is a son of David C. and Martha D. (Armstrong) Matlock. The father was born in Buncombe County, N. C., April 4, 1793. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson, whom he greatly admired, and participated in the battles of Talledaga, Horseshoe and Tallahoochie. When young he went to Tennessee on pack-horses, and his father buying land of John Sevirs, they proceeded to make a home in the wilderness. From 1822 to 1845 he lived in Kentucky, working at the shoemaker’s trade in connection with farming, and in 1846 he bought land in Crawford County, where Logtown is now situated, remaining until his death, at the age of seventy-nine. The mother was born in Surrey County, N. C., October 6, 1798, and when nine years old went to Cumberland County, Ky., by wagon. She was married in Overton County, Tenn., and died in Crawford County in 1865. Of her children these are living: William, Judah (deceased), married to Hugh McDougal, of Little Rock; Martha, widow of A. Smith, of Logtown; John, of Clarksville, Ark.; and David, Catherine, George, Jane, Harriet and Judah are deceased. When our subject’s father settled in Arkansas, there were but eight houses in Jasper Township, wet of the county road, and game and buffalo were abundant. William Matlock, the grandfather, was born in Henry County, Va., on Plumb Creek, from there went to North Carolina, and from there to Tennessee. He subsequently moved to Overton County, where he died. He was a soldier in the Cherokee War. Catherine Matlock, the grandmother, was reared in North Carolina and died in Overton County, Tenn. John Armstrong, the maternal grandfather, was born in North Carolina, and during the Revolution served as major, being a field officer in the battle of Saratoga, under Gen. Gates. He died in Batesville, Ark. His wife, Letitia, died in Tennessee. William A. Matlock was married in 1839 to Elizabeth Walthall, a native of Kentucky, who bore him one child, William J., now a resident of Lamar County, Tex. Mrs. Matlock died May 13, 1846, in New Orleans. Mr. Matlock came to Crawford County in 1846, and February 1, 1854, married Harriet, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Stewart [see sketch of John P. Stewart]. Mrs. Matlock has borne our subject ten children, all save one now living: Stephen T., Keturah, Martha Ellen, Edgar, Letitia, David, Hector, Lillie, Sidney and Elizabeth. Politically Mr. Matlock is a Democrat. He is the owner of a fine farm, and has been a successful agriculturist. He has now suffered with palsy for over twelve years, but was formerly the strongest man in the county, capable of lifting 950 pounds.