WILLIAM T. DAVENPORT. Among the worthy residents of Searcy County, Arkansas, it is just to say that Mr. Davenport occupies a conspicuous and honorable place, for he has always been honest, industrious and enterprising, and as a result has met with more than ordinary success. He is a man well known in agricultural circles, and is recognized as a careful, energetic farmer, who by his advanced ideas and progressive methods has done much to improve the farming interests of his section.
He was born in Alabama, October 13, 1822, a son of George W. and Mary (Weemes) Davenport, the former of whom was born in Lawrence District, S. C., and the latter in Greenville District, S. C. At an early day they moved from the Palmetto State to Alabama, and settled in the vicinity of Birmingham, where Mr. Davenport was called from life in 1864, but his widow passed from life in 1872. The paternal grandfather was born in England, and after coming to this country settled in Virginia, and took part in the Revolutionary War. He died in South Carolina. The maternal grand-father, William Weemes, was a South Carolinian, settled in Alabama in 1815, and made his home in Birmingham until his death, which occurred in 1822.
To George W. and Mary Davenport six sons and six daughters were given, William T. being the eldest of the family. He received his education in the schools of Alabama, and in 1842 started out to make his own way in the world, locating in Noxubee County, Miss., where he made his home one year. He then took up his abode in Chickasaw County, Miss., and in 1860 became a resident of Marion County, his home being six miles from Yellville for about twenty years, and in 1883 he came to the farm where he now lives, his estate comprising 160 acres of fine farming land about fifteen miles from Yellville. He was married in Alabama in 1849 to Miss Mary C. Cauthorn, a daughter of Tilman G. and Elizabeth Cauthorn, who were natives, respectively, of Virginia and Kentucky. Mrs. Davenport was born in the last mentioned State April 29, 1829, and she and husband have become the parents of the following children: George P., who is married and living in Marion County on a farm; Frank L., who is married and resides on a farm in Searcy County; John H., who is a farmer of Marion County and a man of family; Thomas N. is a man of family and a farmer of Texas; Lawrence H., who is married and a farmer of Marion County; Louise J., wife of John McLean, of Stone County, Arkansas; Julia and Robert L. Two children died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Davenport are connected with the Christian Church, in which he is an elder, and he is a member of Yellville Lodge of the A. F. & A. M. Soon after coming to Arkansas Mr. Davenport enlisted in Company A, Fourteenth Arkansas Infantry, with which he served from the commencement until the close of the conflict, participating in the battles of Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, in the engagements of Gen. Price’s raid, and Corinth and luka. He was wounded in the Price raid, also in Mississippi, both gunshot wounds, and at the close of the war he held the rank of orderly sergeant, although he could have held a much higher position had he so desired. He was a faithful and efficient soldier, and saw some hard service while in the war. He is a thrifty farmer, a wide-awake man of affairs, and one of the substantial citizens of the county.