Georgia:  Coweta County:  Biography of WILLIAM T. STALLINGS

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WILLIAM T. STALLINGS, a prominent citizen of Coweta county, is the grandson 
of Pelasiah and Mary (Edwards) Stallings, native of Virginia, who settled in 
the Georgia wilderness at an early day, and reduced a part of it to 
cultivation. They had brought with them a little son, Malachi, born in 1805, 
who afterward married Miss Martha Crawley, and became the father of William 
T. The latter was born in Morgan county, Ga., in 1833, and grew up on the 
farm, making the best of such educational opportunities as were afforded him, 
albeit for some years only those to be found in a log school house, with dirt 
floor, mud and stick chimney and puncheon seats. After coming of age by hard 
work and close economy he saved enough money to pay his way at school four 
years. One year he attended school at Madison, Ga., one year in 
Fayetteville, Ga., and then at Bowdon college, Carroll county. After this he 
taught three years and a half, until the outbreak of the war, when, in 1861, 
he enlisted in Company D, Nineteenth Georgia regiment, under Capt. J. D. 
Hunter. He went as orderly sergeant, but was soon promoted to a lieutenancy, 
and before long was made first lieutenant, from which time he really 
commanded the regiment most of the time, as the captain was sick at home. 
Lieut. Stallings was engaged in several very hard-fought battles, among them 
Occoquon, fourteen miles from the city of Washington, the second battle of 
Manassas, and all the principal battles of the Virginia Campaign. He was 
once wounded, being shot through the thigh on the Dec. 13, 1862, by which 
wound he was laid up some time. At the close of the war Mr. Stallings came 
to Coweta county, and having but fifty cents with which to start life, began 
the labor of accumulation which has made him at the present time one of the 
largest landholders and wealthiest citizens of his section. His first 
occupation was teaching, which he pursued for two years in Coweta county and 
one year in Fayetteville. After this he turned to farming, to which calling 
he has ever since devoted himself, and by prudence and industry has become 
the proprietor of a fine farm of 2,200 acres of good land, well improved, and 
with a pleasant home, a frame dwelling of two stories. Mr. Stallings was 
elected to the legislature in 1882, serving two years. In 1866 he married 
Miss Nancy S. Freeman, whose parents, Henry and Nancy (Moody) Freeman, were 
among the early settlers of Coweta county, where the daughter was born and 
reared. Mrs. Stallings is a member of the Baptist church. Eleven children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stallings, one of whom is dead: W. L. is a 
graduate of the university of Georgia, Athens, and is now a practicing 
attorney in Newnan. The next son is T. O. The daughters, Lillian and 
Mattie, the latter of whom is dead, were graduates of Wesleyan Female college 
at Macon. Another daughter, Inez, is now attending college at La Grange. 
The remaining children are Earnest L., Wade H., Pink, Charles R., Elgin and a 
babe unnamed. Mr. Stallings is one of the leading citizens of Coweta county, 
where he and his family are deservedly widely known and esteemed.

Transcribed from MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA published by the Southern Historical 
Association, 1895.