W. K. Ramsey, Ouachita County, AR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889. Contributed by Carol Smith. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ouachita County, Arkansas - from Goodspeed's History of Arkansas W. K. Ramsey, a cashier of the Ouachita Valley Bank, and insurance agent of Camden, Arkansas, is a native of Wilcox County, Alabama, born June 18, 1843, being a son of Rev. A. C. and Elizabeth A. (Wardlaw) Ramsey, the father a native of Georgia, and the mother of South Carolina. The former is now residing in Wilcox County, Alabama, aged eighty three years, but the mother died in 1854. They have had a family of seven children, born to them of whom five are now living. Rev. A. C. Ramsey was a pioneer Methodist minister, and at one time had a circuit which took three months to make. W. K. Ramsey was educated in the University of Arkansas, but his books were laid aside on the opening of the war, and he became a member of the Mobile Cadets, Company, A, Third Alabama Regiment, and served faithfully the cause he espoused until the close. He was slightly wounded four times and still carries a ball in his thigh, and during his term of service he was a participant in many of the principal engagements under Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Upon his return home, in November, 1865, he followed bookkeeping for some time and in 1874 became deputy clerk of the county, in which capacity he served four years. In 1878 he was elected to the position of county clerk, serving six years. He was appointed register of the United States land office by President Cleveland, a position he held four years, and at the expiration of his term as register he organized the Ouachita Valley Bank, and was elected cashier. This is doing a prosperous business at Camden, Arkansas. Mr. Ramsey is the present commissioner in building the new courthouse which is to be completed by July 1, 1890. It is a beautiful structure and the leaders deserve much credit for their enterprise. He has always been deeply interested in secret organizations, and has filled all the chairs in the Masonic fraternity, and ahs been grand high priest of the State, and is at present Deputy Grand Master and Grand Commander in the Commandery; he also belongs to the K. of H., R. A. and A. L. of H. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is now serving has city alderman. He was married in 1869, to Miss Mary Vickers, of Kentucky, by whom he became the father of four children: Marion, Anna, A. C., Jr., and Carlton. He married his present wife in 1884, she being a Mrs. Stanley. They have two children: W. K., Jr., and Margaret. Politically he is intensely Democratic and never misses an opportunity to advance the interest of his party.