My Genealogy Hound

William Hurt, the leading merchant of Flat Woods, Tenn., was born in Carroll County, Tenn., in 1841, son of Robert M. and Emily (Dickson) Hurt, who were born in Virginia and Tennessee, respectively. The father became a resident of Tennessee at the age of nine years, and was a farmer and merchant by occupation. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and a Democrat. After his wife’s death, in 1856, he married Martha E. Woods, widow of W. H. Woods. Both reside in Carroll County. At the age of twenty our subject enlisted in the Confederate Army, and was captured at Missionary Ridge and taken to Rock Island, Ill., where he was retained until the close of the war. He fought in all the principal battles up to the time of his capture, receiving only a slight wound at Murfreesboro. After his return home he began merchandising with two partners at Trezevant, Carroll Co., Tenn., but the firm dissolved at the end of six years. Mr. Hurt was elected county trustee by the county court, to fill an unexpired term. He spent two years in Obion County farming, and for several years afterward was engaged in different pursuits. In 1882 he and George W. Harris, of Louisville, Ky., opened a general merchandise store at Flat Wood, and are now doing a thriving business. He is a Mason, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and a Democrat, and was married, in 1865, to Mary E. Woods, daughter of William and Martha E. Woods. She was born in 1843, and became the mother of one child, Robert. Mrs. Hurt died in 1868, and in 1884 Mr. Hurt married Ada Whittaker, daughter of John C. and Susan Whittaker. She was born in 1866, and is the mother of one child, Roe.