Dale County AlArchives Biographies.....Painter, William Rufus July 25 1841 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 18, 2004, 7:49 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   WILLIAM RUFUS PAINTER, dealer in live stock, wagons, harness, etc., is one of
the enterprising men of Ozark. He was born in Muscogee county, Ga., July 25,
1841. His parents had four children, he being the only son. Those parents were
William and Nancy (Everets) Painter. The former was born in South Carolina in
1806, and while young moved to Muscogee county, Ga., where he grew up with but
limited educational advantages, and moved to Alabama in 1830, settling in Dale
county. Here he bought a farm and was for some years engaged in improving his
premises. Later he opened a store with a good stock of general merchandise,
conducting this business in connection with his plantation, and amassing quite a
fortune, most of which was swept away by the war. After the war, having little
left beside his land, he resumed farming operations, which he continued until he
became too old for active labor, and he now lives a retired life in the town of
Ozark. Politically he was an old line whig and a great admirer of Henry Clay,
and he was also a member of the Primitive Baptist church. The mother of our
subject was also born in South Carolina, in 1808, and at an early age moved with
her parents to Alabama, where she grew to womanhood, where she was married in
her eighteenth year, and where she raised her four children. She was a member of
the Missionary Baptist church, and still survives at the advanced age of
eighty-four years. William R. Painter, when five years old, was brought to Dale
county by his parents. Here he was brought to Dale county by his parents. Here
he was brought up on his father's farm, receiving a common school education. At
the age of seventeen he entered his father's store as a clerk, his time being
divided between plantation and store. When Alabama seceded from the Union our
subject, although he did not believe in the wisdom of the movement, yet enlisted
in the Confederate army, in company E, Fiftenth Alabama infantry. This was at
Fairfax Court House in Virginia, in October, 1951. The second day of his service
found him on picket duty, and on that day he witnessed an engagement in which
one man was killed and one had his ear cut off, the first bloodshed Mr. Painter
had seen. The succeeding winter was a very cold one, and he was kept busy
drilling, building breastworks and fortifications and dwellings for the troops
every day until the spring of 1862, when the army fell back across the
Rappahannock, and here he witnessed the first heavy artillery duel that he ever
saw. Afterward the Fifteenth Alabama was transferred from Johnston's army to
that of Stonewall Jackson in the valley of the Shenandoah. Here he was taken
sick, sent to a hospital in Richmond, and returned just in time to witness the
close of the battle of Port Republic. He next fought in the battle of
Mechanicsville, and then in that of Cold Harbor, in which he saw the duel
between the famous Elllsworth's Zouaves, and the equally famous New Orleans
Tigers, in which the former were successful and in which Maj. Wheat of the
Tigers, was killed. He was in all of the seven days' fighting before Richmond,
in the battle of Cedar Run, in the second battle of Manassas, in the battle of
Frederick, Md., of Williamsport, Md., of Harper's Ferry, and of Antietam, after
which he assisted in the work of destroying the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and
other railroads in Virginia. He then participated in the famous Pennsylvania
campaign, terminating with the battle of Gettysburg, in which the Fifteenth
Alabama made a gallant and historical charge on Round Top, gaining the very
summit of the mount, and there he had the honor of a personal encounter with the
commander of the Twentieth Maine regiment, Joshua L. Chamberlain, afterward
governor of Maine. He was captured July 2, 1863, sent to Fort McHenry, and
shortly after ward to Fort Delaware, where he was held a prisoner of war until
July 15, 1865. While in Fort Delaware he learned the engraver's art, and.
employed his spare moments in engraving souvenirs, making rings, etc., from
which he received an income. Upon being released he was furnished transportation
home, to Montgomery, Ala. Upon arriving home he began life again by engaging in
farming, which he continued until 1886, when he moved to Ozark and engaged in
the hotel business, running a well equipped livery in connection with his hotel.
Thus he was engaged until in 1890, when he retired from both, and took up his
present business, as a dealer in live stock, wagons, buggies, harness, etc. In
1866 he was married to Miss L. M. Bruner, daughter of judge and Anna Bruner.
Judge Bruner was a man of prominence and was judge of probate for many years. He
removed from South Carolina, his native state, to Georgia while young, and to
Alabama in 1861, settling in Dale county, where he died at the advanced age of
eighty-four years. The wife of our subject also moved to Alabama in 1861, and
was married in her twenty-third year. She became the mother of two children, one
of whom died in infancy, the other dying at the age of sixteen years. He was
born July 8, 1871, and died in 1888, in early manhood, and his death was a sad
blow to his parents. Both Mr. and Mrs. Painter are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, south. He is a member of Ozark lodge, No. 269, F. & A. M. He
worked hard to secure the construction of a railroad through Ozark, and took
stock in the road. He also assisted to secure the present permanent water supply
of Ozark. He is one of the most successful business men of Dale county, one of
its largest property holders and one of its most widely known and highly
respected citizens.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 830-832
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI



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