My Genealogy Hound

William A. Koonce, sheriff of Fayette County, was born in Somerville, Fayette Co., Tenn., May 12, 1840, and is the son of J. and Mary (Crook) Koonce, natives of Alabama and South Carolina respectively. The father was one of the first settlers of Somerville, and about 1832 he was elected county court clerk of Fayette County, Tenn., and served until 1858. He then moved with his family to St. Francis County, Ark., where he died in 1867. His wife died in 1876. Our subject was educated at Somerville, and in 1858 moved to Arkansas and engaged in agricultural pursuits until the breaking out of the war. He then enlisted as a private in the Third Confederate Cavalry, Col. J. H. McGehee commanding, and in 1863 was made quartermaster of the regiment and served as such until the surrender. After the war he engaged in agricultural pursuits in Arkansas, and was thus engaged until 1868, when he came back to Tennessee and entered into the mercantile business at Stanton in Haywood County, remaining there until 1879, when he moved to Somerville and was engaged in no permanent business until 1886, when he was elected sheriff of Fayette County. December 1, 1860, he married Laura E. Glasscock, daughter of Katherine (Gregory) Glasscock, of Arkansas. To this union was born one son December 1, 1861, and died in January of the next year. Mr. Koonce is a Democrat in politics, a Mason, a K. of H. and he and Mrs. Koonce are members of the Baptist Church.