Biography of Robert Bell Gartrell, Sebastian Co, AR

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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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page 1317

Robert Bell Gartrell, farmer and miller of Center Township. Sebastian Co.,
Ark., was born in Lumpkin Co., Ga.,  in 1835, and is a son of William J. and
Malinda (Hallum) Gartrell, the father being of French-Welsh descent.  They were
born in Georgia and South Carolina, in 1791 and 1819, respectively, and were
married in Union  County, Ga., soon after moving to Lumpkin County, Ga., where
the father worked in the gold mines. He moved  to Gordon County, Ga., in 1863,
where he died four years later, followed by his wife in 1868. They became the
parents of twelve children, five of whom are living at the present time, Robert
Bell Gartrell being the eldest of  the family. He was reared to manhood on a
farm, and in the gold mines, the fall and winter seasons being spent  in the
mines. He made his home with his parents until thirty-three years of age, and
in December, 1868, was  married to Miss Mary Ward, who was born in Gordon
County, Ga., in 1852, and by whom he became the father  of seven children: The-
ophilus, Viola Gertrude, Lenora Irene, Charles Serastus, Martin Luther, Cora
Sedalia  and Robert Franklin. Mr. Gartrell resided in his native State until
1871, when he immigrated to Sebastian  County, Ark., and purchased 327 acres of
land in Center Township, about seven miles from the county seat,  where he
located and has since resided. In 1874 he purchased a horse gin, which he
operated seven years, the  last year converting it into a steam gin, the
capacity of which was about 300 bales of cotton per year, and in the  fall of
1888 erected a gin at a cost of about $180. He is considered one of the
enterprising farmers of the county,  and in his political views is a Democrat,
casting his first presidential vote for James Buchanan. He is a Master  Mason
of Hackett Lodge. In April, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, Fifty-second
Regiment Georgia Infantry,  but was afterward transferred to Company I, Eighth
Regiment Georgia Infantry. He went out as a private, but  was promoted to
second lieutenant, and participated in the battles of Missionary Ridge and
Perryville, being  wounded in the latter engagement by a falling tree, which
was shattered by a cannon ball. He was honorably  discharged at Cumberland Gap,
and returned to his home and the peaceful pursuit of farming.