My Genealogy Hound

William J. Voss, farmer, Hector, Ark. This enterprising citizen of Jackson Township, Pope County, Ark., was originally from Tennessee, his birth occurring in Lawrence County, September 2, 1839, and is the son of Robert and Charlotte (Mitchell) Voss, natives also of the Big Bend State. They were the parents of fifteen children, who are named in the order of their births, as follows: Wiley, Allen, Caroline (deceased), Rebecca (wife of James Beard), William J., Joseph (now in Texas), Sarah (wife of James Walters), Mary (deceased), John, Newton, Emeline, and four others deceased. William J. Voss received a very limited education, his whole schooling consisting of three months in a free school in Middle Tennessee, but he is a man of observation, and this, with his experience, has gained him a good business education. He was married, in 1857, to Miss Susan J. Pennington, a native of Tennessee, whose parents, Jacob and Araminta (Harrison) Pennington, were both natives of Tennessee. Four children were born to this union: Emeline (wife of Hugh Mansker), Frank P., Laquincy and William Robert, all living. Mr. Voss and family left Tennessee and emigrated to Arkansas, in 1858, settling in Pope County, but afterward removed to Yell County, thence to Searcy County, where his wife died, in 1868. In 1869 Mr. Voss purchased 120 acres of land in the last named county, and improved seventy-five acres, but sold it all in 1881. He then purchased his present property, consisting of 160 acres, with eighty acres under cultivation. This he has further improved by putting up new and substantial buildings, erecting two new houses on his farm, which has more than trebled in value under his management. Later he added forty acres more to his farm. In 1869 Mr. Voss was married to Miss Mary T. Williams, a native of Arkansas, and the daughter of John and Mary (Simms) Williams, the former a native of Tennessee, and the latter of Alabama. To Mr. and Mrs. Voss have been born ten children, nine of whom are living: James A. (deceased), Philander M., John Morris, Victoria Ellen, Nathaniel S., Sally, Wiley A., Aranna May, Joseph L. and Benjamin Harrison. Mr. Voss was conscripted in the Confederate Army, but enlisted in the Federal Army, in Company D, Second Arkansas Cavalry, under Col. Phelps, and served from 1864 to the close of the war. He was detached from his regiment near the close of the war, and has never been discharged. After cessation of hostilities Mr. Voss resumed agricultural pursuits, and this he has continued up to the present time. He is engaged in stock-raising in connection with agricultural pursuits, and is wide-awake and enterprising. He keeps a good grade of stock, and in the management of everything connected with his farm he displays excellent judgment and thoroughness. Mrs. Voss is a member of the Baptist Church.