William Holliway S. McClure

Our great grandfather, William Holliway S. McClure was born February 29, 1832, in Clinton County, Illinois. Census records give his place of birth as Kentucky, but the family was living in Clinton County from 1825 through 1836/37. William Holliway was the son of Stephen McClure and Sarah Smith.

William was a small boy when his family moved to Arkansas in 1836/37. He appears as a male between five and ten years of age on the 1840 Conway County, Arkansas, census in Hardin Township, near Greenbrier.

In 1849, William's father acquired 160 acres of land near Quitman, in Benton Township of Conway County, and the family moved from the Greenbrier area where they had lived for several years.

The 1850 Conway County census, Benton Township, Quitman Post Office, shows William, age 18, single and living at home.

In 1854, William acquired 80 acres of land in Conway County. This property was near his father's property near Quitman. The land was valued at $240. Conway County tax books show that William paid taxes on this land in 1855.

William married our great grandmother, Sarah Nancy Elizabeth Cargile, on January 14, 1855, in Conway County. The marriage was performed by James M. Scarlett, a Methodist Protestant minister. The license is recorded in Conway County Marriage Book 1, page 67.

Sarah Nancy Elizabeth Cargile was born May 29, 1836, in Kentucky, probably Hickman County. She was the eldest of at least eight children born to Nenion Elijah Cargile and Sarah Johnson.  Nancy was probably named for her mother, Sarah Johnson, and her grandmother, Nancy Elizabeth (Lewis) Cargile.

William and Nancy settled on their 80 acre farm near Quitman to begin their family.  Family records show their first child was born in 1855 while the couple was living in the area near Quitman.  The child died the following year. 

Conway County tax records show that William paid taxes in 1858 on a horse valued at $35 and five head of cattle valued at $80.

About 1859, William and Nancy moved to Madison County, Arkansas. The 1860 Madison County census shows them living in Prairie Township with the family of A. J. Vaughan, a farmer. William is listed as a farm laborer. Tax records show that William paid taxes on a horse and four head of cattle in Madison County in 1860.

A second son was born to William and Nancy in 1861. He may have been born in Madison County.

We believe William enlisted in the Confederate 34th Arkansas Infantry, Co. F, on August 9, 1862, at Bentonville, in Benton County, Arkansas, for a term of three years or until the end of the war. We found several William McClure's in the Civil War and were unable to make a positive identification of our William. If this is the correct William, records show he reenlisted on February 19, 1864. Nancy and their son moved to White County, Arkansas, sometime after William's enlistment in 1862. They may have moved there after the war ended in 1865.

White County Deed Book I, page 287, shows that on July 15, 1867, William and Nancy bought land in White County. He paid taxes on the land only a couple of years. William and Nancy raised corn and cotton as a money crop on their farm. White County records show bills of sale for these crops.

The 1870 White County census, Gray Township, shows W. McClure, age 35, a farm laborer, born in Illinois; wife Nancy, age 33; son Conway, age 8 and daughter Drissilla, age 2. William paid taxes in Gum Spring Township of White County in 1873 and 1874.

Three more children were born to William and Nancy before 1880.

The 1880 White County census, Marion Township, shows the family living in the Latona area, in northwestern White County.  The census shows William, 47; Nancy E., 44; Ransom C.,18; Sarah A.P., 11; Dorah, 9; Harriet, 2 and William M., 6 months old.

White County tax records show William paid taxes in Des Arc Township in 1882 on personal property valued at $25. In 1883, he paid taxes in Royal Township of White County on personal property valued at $20. The family was living near El Paso at that time. The 1884 tax book shows the same tax. In 1885, William paid tax on a hog valued at $2 and on other personal property valued at $20. In 1887, he paid tax on 10 hogs valued at $16 and on other personal property valued at $20.

We have been unable to locate William and Nancy after the death of their son, Robert Conway, in September 1887. William and Nancy both died prior to 1900.

The 1900 census shows daughter Sarah Ann Priscilla and her family living in Lonoke County, Arkansas; son Dora Bannon and his family living in White County, Arkansas and daughter Harriet living with a family in Conway County, Arkansas.

Oral family history relates that Nancy is buried in White County and that William died sometime after Nancy and is buried in Faulkner County, Arkansas.

Children of William Holliway McClure and Nancy Cargile

The music you are hearing is Morning Has Broken.