Goodspeed's Biography of Asa A. Billingslea, Grant Co, AR

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Submitted by: Jackie Dill <JJDILL1@aol.com>
        Date: 27 Jul 2003

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Asa A. Billingslea, recognized as one of Grant County's successful
citizens, was born in Shelby Co., Ala., October 17,1844, being the
son of Asa A. and Margaret H. (Crowson) Billingslea, natives of
Alabama.  The parents died in Arkansas, Grant County, he in 1849,
when in his thirty-ninth year, and his wife in 1883, in her sixty-
fourth year.  They were married in Alabama, and came to Arkansas in
1845, settling at Camden, and remaining there three years, when they
removed to the locality in which they now live.  After her husband's
death, Mrs. Billingslea married James Bratton.  Upon separating and
being divorced from her second husband, she was married to Hiram
Rodgers.  She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Her
first husband was a Royal Arch Mason, which order conducted his
funeral ceremony.  He was a Democrat politically, and served his
township in Alabama as justice of the peace.  He followed
blacksmithing and well-boring as a business in the State of his
nativity, but after coming to Arkansas, turned his attention to
farming and mercantile pursuits, being very successful in all his
occupations.  He and his wife became the parents of four children,
the principal in this sketch the only one surviving.  Asa received
his education in this neighborhood, and in the fall of 1861,
enlisted in the Eleventh Arkansas Infantry, Company F.  At Port
Hudson, La. He was captured, together with his regiment; shortly
after, however, he was paroled, and joined Poles' battalion, west of
the Mississippi River.  He was again taken captive in Saline County
and conveyed to Little Rock, where he subscribed to the oath of
fealty to the Government, only a short time before the close of the
war, and served the Federals as head-sawyer in a mill at Little
Rock.  In the Confederate army he took part in many battles,
notably: New Madrid, Port Hudson, and Island No. 10.  At the latter
place he and seventeen men escaped.  He was never wounded, but
served with much credit throughout the war.  When the clouds of the
conflict had rolled away, Mr. Billingslea returned to Grant County
and began working at this trade, blacksmithing and wagon making,
continuing in the same occupation ever since.  The people realizing
his superior ability, have given him the best custom in Grant
County.  His prosperity in life he attributes to his professional
knowledge and industry.  He was married to Miss Emily Hamilton,
daughter of William Hamilton, on July 9, 1865.  She was born in
Tennessee, On October 4,1847.  By this union he has become the
father of seven children; two children, Emily A. and Cynthia K.
(both at home).  The parents are both members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and the father is a believer in the principles of
the Democratic party.