CROSS CO, AR - WILLIAM FOUNTAIN - Bio

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Submitted by: Jason Presley <daclyde@usa.net>
        Date: 9 May 2005
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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SOURCE:  Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern 
Arkansas. Chicago:Goodspeed Publishers, 1890.
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   William Fountain, one of the oldest and most respected farmers in
Cross County, was born in 1829 to the union of Cary and Sarah (Powers)
Fountain, natives of North Carolina and of English descent, the paternal
grandfather of our subject coming to this country from England.  Cary
Fountain was a farmer by occupation, and a slave owner.  The paternal 
grandfather served in the Revolutionary War after emigrating to this
country, and the maternal grandfather served in the American Navy.
Cary Fountain was the father of six children, two of whom only are
living: Maria (wife of Wyatt Earp of North Carolina) and William (our
subjet).  The latter was reared on a farm in North Carolina, his native
State, and at the age of fourteen engaged in teaming, hauling turpentine,
in which occupation he was engaged for two or three years.  He was
afterward occupied in clerking in a dry-goods store for some years, and
then learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked about twenty
years.  Mr. Fountain has been married three times; first to Martha A.
Cutchins, who died in 1855, leaving four children, one surviving, 
George A., who resides in this county.  His second wife was Clara A.
Parker, a native of Tennessee; she was a member of the Methodist Church
and died in 1880, leaving one child now deceased.  In 1880, Mr. Fountain
was married to his third and present wife, Mrs. Charlotte T. Martin (nee
Shaver).  They are the parents of two children: Cary E. and Ernest H. 
In 1849 he left North Carolina for Tennessee, and remained there until
1860, when he came to Cross County, Ark., locating on the place on which
he now resides.  This then consisted of 140 acres, upon it there being a
log-cabin, with ten or twelve acres of land under cultivation.  He now 
owns 827 acres, 100 under cultivation, and raises a large amount of stock,
which costs but little to keep through the winter.  Mr. Fountain is a 
member of the Masonic lodge, and holds the office of Junior Warden.  He
was formerly a notary public of Cross County, and has held the office of
constable for about six years, serving as school director for some twenty
years.  He is also president of the County Wheel, and is one of the
prominent Democrats of the county.