Crawford Co., AR - Biographies - William A. Matlock

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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William A. Matlock, farmer, was born June 24, 1816, in Overton County, 
Tenn., one mile from the Kentucky line, and is a son of David C. and 
Martha D. (Armstrong) Matlock. The father was born in Buncombe County, 
N. C., April 4, 1793. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 under Andrew 
Jackson, whom he greatly admired, and participated in the battles of 
Talledega, Horseshoe and Tallahoochie. When young he went to Tennessee 
on pack-horses, and his father buying land of John Sevirs, they 
proceeded to make a home in the wilderness. From 1822 to 1845 he lived 
in Kentucky, working at the shoemaker's trade in connection with 
farming, and in 1846 he bought land in Crawford County, where Logtown 
is now situated, remaining until his death, at the age of seventy-
nine. The mother was born in Surrey County, N. C., October 6, 1798, 
and when nine years old went to Cumberland County, Ky., by wagon. She 
was married in Overton County, Tenn., and died in Crawford County in 
1865. Of her children these are living: William, Judah (deceased), 
married to Hugh McDougal, of Little Rock; Martha, widow of A. Smith, 
of Logtown; John, of Clarksville, Ark.; and David, Catherine, George, 
Jane, Harriet and Judah are deceased. When our subject's father 
settled in Arkansas, there were but eight houses in Jasper Township, 
west of the county road, and game and buffalo were abundant. William 
Matlock, the grandfather, was born in Henry County, Va., on Plumb 
Creek, from there went to North Carolina, and from there to Tennessee. 
He subsequently moved to Overton County, where he died. He was a 
soldier in the Cherokee War. Catherine Matlock, the grandmother, was 
reared in North Carolina and died in Overton County, Tenn. John 
Armstrong, the maternal grandfather, was born in North Carolina, and 
during the Revolution served as major, being a field officer in the 
battle of Saratoga, under Gen. Gates. He died in Batesville, Ark. His 
wife, Letitia, died in Tennessee. William A. Matlock was married in 
1839 to Elizabeth Walthall, a native of Kentucky, who bore him one 
child, William J., now a resident of Lamar County, Tex. Mrs. Matlock 
died May 13, 1846, in New Orleans. Mr. Matlock came to Crawford County 
in 1846, and February 1, 1854, married Harriet, daughter of Jesse and 
Elizabeth Stewart [see sketch of John P. Stewart]. Mrs. Matlock has 
borne our subject ten children, all save one now living: Stephen T., 
Keturah, Martha Ellen, Edgar, Letitia, David, Hector, Lillie, Sidney 
and Elizabeth. Politically Mr. Matlock is a Democrat. He is the owner 
of a fine farm, and has been a successful agriculturist. He has now 
suffered with palsy for over twelve years, but was formerly the 
strongest man in the county, capable of lifting 950 pounds. 

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