My Genealogy Hound

William Henry Roberson, whose record while occupying the public office of assessor of Lonoke County has been an honorable and upright one, was born in Marion County, Ala., October 15, 1844, and is the son of Thomas and Priscilla (Lee) Roberson, originally of Tennessee and South Carolina, respectively. They migrated to Alabama with their parents at an early day, and there married. They moved to Mississippi in 1855, and three years later came to Arkansas, locating near Austin, then in Prairie County, but since changed to Lonoke County, where they now reside. William Henry lived with his parents till manhood, receiving all the educational advantages to be had in those days, which were, of course, very meager. In 1861 he enlisted in Company I, of the Fifth Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Capt. Jingles, of Austin. He participated in many skirmishes and battles, among them Murfreesboro, Farmington, Shiloh, Mumfordsville, Perryville and Chickamauga. At the latter place he was shot through the arm, this wound afterward necessitating amputation at the shoulder, after which he took part in the sixty-days’ battle in the Georgia campaign, and served until the close of the war; he was very fortunate in not once being taken prisoner. At the close of the war he returned home and attended school for ten months, after leaving school began farming, and has since continued that occupation. In 1866 Mr. Roberson purchased his present farm in Section 17, Lonoke Township, where he has eighty acres, with thirty-five under cultivation. The year 1869 his marriage with Miss Lydia Atchley was consummated. She was a native of Tennessee, and came to Arkansas with her parents. To them have been born four sons and three daughters. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1886 the people elected him assessor of Lonoke County, and again elected him in 1888 to fill the same position.