My Genealogy Hound

Mrs. Isabella (McKamey) Spessard, of Sebastian county, Ark., was born in East Tennessee in 1841, and is a daughter of John C. and Zerelda (Tunnell) McKamey, both of whom were born in East Tennessee and died in Arkansas, where they moved in 1869. The father was a farmer, but served on year in the army in 1838. Two of their children are living: Isabella (Mrs. Spessard), and John S., a merchant of Huntington, Ark. William T. is deceased. The grandparents, John and Mary McKamey, were born in Virginia, and removed to East Tennessee at an early day. The maternal grandparents, William and Elizabeth (Worthington) Tunnell, were born in North Carolina and Virginia, in 1774 and 1781, and died in 1861 and 1862, respectively. The grandfather was a farmer, and a colonel in the War of 1812. He was sent ten times to the Legislature at Nashville, Tenn. Mrs. Spessard spent her early life in East Tennessee, and received some education in Robertsville Academy. September 12, 1867, she was married to William R. Spessard, who was born in East Tennessee, in 1844, and by whom she became the mother of seven children: Zerelda A. Lipard, William M., Nancy E. and Mary E., living, and John F., Robert L., Ada D. and William R., deceased. Mr. Spessard was a Master Mason in good standing when he died, March 22, 1880. His parents, William and Delana (Leach) Spessard, were both born in Tennessee. In 1862 he enlisted in Col. Cain’s Artillery, and was captured at Cumberland Gap, and taken to Camp Douglas, Ill., but was not exchanged until near the close of the war. He then returned home and resumed farming.