My Genealogy Hound

W. J. STEGALL, saw-mill contractor and farmer, of Fayetteville, Tenn., was born in Rutherford County, in 1823, son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Webb) Stegall, born in Mecklenburgh County, Va., in 1794 and 1801, respectively. The father, in 1818, determined to seek his fortune in the far West, and accordingly located in Rutherford County, Tenn., where he bought property, and lived until 1833, and the following ten years resided in Bedford County. From 1842 to 1860 he was a resident of Marshall County. In 1866 he went to Waco, Tex., where he died in 1867. The mother died in 1842. Mr. Stegall was twice married, and the father of sixteen children, ten by his first wife and six by his second. Our subject secured a limited education in the old-fashioned log schoolhouse of early days. February 2, 1847, he wedded Rebecca McCleary, who died in 1848. In 1850 Melvina (Temple) Wilhoit became his second wife. She was born in 1832, in Shelbyville, Tenn., and has borne three children, two of whom are living: Ewing B. and William W., the former a carpenter of Fayetteville, and the latter a resident of Florida. Mr. Stegall has been a resident of Fayetteville since 1856, with the exception of four years during the war. He joined Col. Hatton’s regiment in 1861, and later was given a position in the quartermaster’s department. February 2, 1865, he wedded Mrs. Florence M. (Batie) Foster, who was born in Georgia in 1848. For a time Mr. Stegall worked, and had an interest in a carriage-shop, but soon disposed of his interest and engaged in contracting and building and speculating in stock. He owns 220 acres of land, one business house and twenty-two houses and lots in Fayetteville. He is a Democrat, and a member of the Masonic fraternity. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.