My Genealogy Hound

William R. Harvey, a planter and stock raiser, of Glass Township, Jackson County, is one of the pioneer settlers of that county. He was born in Hardeman County, Tenn., in 1843, and was the tenth in a family of thirteen children born to William M. and Josephine (Blunt) Harvey, natives of North Carolina. William M. Harvey settled in Hardeman County, Tenn., in an early day; he owned and operated there a large plantation until 1849, when he emigrated to Jackson County, Ark., entering land in Bird Township. He cut a road to his claim, upon which he erected a small log cabin and commenced clearing and improving his land; this was his home until 1872, in which year he went to Oregon, remaining in that State until 1876, when he returned to Jackson County, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in August, 1886. The mother of our subject died in 1860. William R. was reared on the farm, and received the limited advantages of the subscription schools, assisting his father in the meantime in clearing the farm. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army, Capt. Hooker’s company, for two years, and was assigned to Gen. Van Dorn’s bodyguard, being afterward transferred to John McRay’s brigade, Col. Young’s regiment; he was in the battles of Prairie Grove, Rockfence, Pilot Knob, Jefferson City, and was with Gen. Price on his raid through Missouri and Arkansas, to Fayetteville. At the close of the war Mr. Harvey returned to Jackson County and engaged in farming, purchasing a tract of 280 acres in Bird Township, which was partly improved; in 1880 he sold out and removed to Glass Township, where he first bought 440 acres, upon which was considerable improvement, and to which he has since added until he now owns in all 700 acres, with over 220 acres under cultivation, one of the finest stock farms in the township, as it is well watered. Mr. Harvey devotes a good deal of attention to stock-raising, owning about sixty head of cattle, forty horses, and a large drove of hogs. He annually raises about 100 acres of cotton. Mr. Harvey was married in Bird Township, in 1865, to Miss Eliza Bettisworth, who was born in Tennessee, and is a daughter of George and Sarah (Anderson) Bettisworth, natives of Kentucky, who removed to Independence County, Ark., in 1850. Mr. Bettisworth, who was a saddler by trade, died in 1855; his widow, who removed to Pocahontas, Randolph County, in 1861, died in 1880. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harvey, viz: Joseph, William, Sydney, Arthur, and Ross (who died in 1877, at the age of four years). Mr. Harvey is an active politician, working and voting with the Democratic party. He is an enterprising farmer, and fully alive and interested in the advancement and development of the county.