My Genealogy Hound

Hilliard H. Estes, miller and ginner, Brownstown, Ark. Mr. Estes was born in Gwinnett County, Ga. in 1835, and is the son of Eli O. and Fannie (Rakestraw) Estes, the former born in South Carolina about 1806, and the latter in Georgia in 1812. The parents were married in the last-named State, and there resided until 1870, when they came to Sevier County. Here the father died in 1887. He was a farmer and the son of Joshua Estes, who was also a farmer and a native of North Carolina. The latter died in Forsythe County, Ga. The maternal grandfather, William Rakestraw, was of Irish descent, and was a successful tiller of the soil. He died in Gwinnett County, Ga. He was justice of the peace for a number of years, and was a Revolutionary soldier. The mother of our subject, is still living, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Hilliard H. Estes, the second of ten children, four now living, was reared to the duties of the farm, and received a fair education in the country schools. When twenty-one years of age he commenced farming for himself, and when the war broke out he enlisted in the Confederate army, Company D, Thirty-eighth Georgia Infantry, the Army of Virginia, under Stonewall Jackson, and fought at Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Gaines Farm (where he was wounded), Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Winchester and Chancellorsville, etc. He was severely wounded and was disabled for several months. After recovering he joined Graham’s battery as a lieutenant, and served until the close of the war in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. He fought at Athens and Georgetown, Tenn., and at Tunnel Hill, Ga. He surrendered at Atlanta, returned home, and in 1866 came to Clark County, Ark., where he remained until 1870. He then moved to Sevier County, where he married in 1871 Miss Sarah Elizabeth, a native of Pike County, and the daughter of James and Catherine Gentry, natives, respectively, of Arkansas and Alabama. Mr. Gentry was a soldier in the late war. He was a farmer, and died in Sevier County about 1884. His wife is now living. To Mr. and Mrs. Estes were born six children, two sons and one daughter now living. Mrs. Estes died in May, 1882, in full communion with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Estes has operated a gin for many years in connection with farming, and he is also the owner of a house in Brownstown, where he has resided for some time. In his political views he is a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was for James Buchanan in 1856. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for twenty-two years, now belonging to Ben Lomond Lodge, of which he is a charter member.