WILLIAM R. GREESON, M. D. This gentleman is one of the successful physicians of Van Buren County, Arkansas, and as he has ever been very conscientious in the discharge of his professional duties, is well up with the times in medical lore, and as he has the ability to apply his knowledge at the proper time and in the proper place, it is not to be wondered at that he has always had a large patronage. He was born in Tennessee, January 5, 1850, and received his literary education in the schools of Clinton. In 1872 he took up the study of medicine in the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated from the Vanderbilt University class of 1881-82. Immediately thereafter he came to Clinton, Arkansas, and established himself in the practice of his profession, which he continued exclusively up to 1887, at which time he entered the mercantile business with his father, although he did not allow this occupation to interfere in the smallest degree with his practice. In 1894 his father retired from the business, and C. W. Patterson took his place, the firm taking the name of Greeson & Patterson. The Doctor has always done a general practice and during the twenty-two years that he has been a follower of the healing art he has made both name and fortune for himself. He is a member of Patterson Lodge No. II1, of the A. F. & A. M., and politically has always been a strong Democrat, serving as postmaster of Clinton from 1886 to 1890 under President Cleveland. He has ever been interested in the cause of education and is one of the trustees of Clinton Academy. He and his wife, whom he married in 1874, are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Her maiden name was Sarah Pate, a daughter of W. J. Pate, Sr., one of the early pioneers of the county, and she and the Doctor have four children: Maud and Myrtle (twins), Paul and Bruce, all of whom are students in Clinton Academy. The Doctor and his wife have many friends in the county and especially so in the town of Clinton, where they have so long made their home.
Hartwell Greeson, the father of the Doctor, has made his home in Van Buren County since 1852. He was born in Bedford County, Tennessee, near Shelbyville in September, 1819, and was the third child born to Henry and Elizabeth (Cook) Greeson, the former of whom was a North Carolinian and a son of Isaac Greeson, also a native of the Old North State, and the son of native Germans who came to America prior to the Revolutionary War, in which the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a participant. Henry Greeson was a tiller of the soil and died in the State of his birth. Upon reaching manhood he removed to Kentucky, where he married, after which he settled in Tennessee, where he made his home until his death in 1859, after a lifetime devoted to the pursuit of farming. His wife was a Kentuckian by birth and a daughter of John Cook and his wife Elizabeth, who were also natives of the Blue Grass State, and her death occurred in Wayne County, Tennessee. in 1869, after she had borne her husband the following children: Martha (deceased); Dorothy, who is living in Tennessee; Hartwell; David (deceased); W. R., who is living in Hot Spring County, Arkansas; John W. (deceased); Lucinda (deceased), and Henry, who was a soldier during the Civil War, is now living in Tennessee. Hartwell Greeson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, as was his wife, and he was formerly an Old Line Whig in politics, but has long been a Democrat. His youth was spent in his native county, but his educational advantages were exceedingly limited. He started out for himself in 1841 as a tiller of the soil, but in 1844 became a blacksmith and wagonmaker. In 1852 he came to Van Buren County, Arkansas, and located on the Middle Fork of the Red River, where he for a long term of years devoted himself to farming and his trade, that of a mechanic. He is a man of natural skill in this direction, and can do almost anything to which he turns his hand, in a workmanlike manner. In 1856 he moved to Clinton, and three years later erected an hotel at this place, of which he has since been the proprietor. During the war he removed to the country and resided on a farm until the war closed, after which he returned to Clinton. He has witnessed the most of the growth of this place and has always interested himself in every movement tending to its improvement and advancement. He is the owner of a good farm of 165 acres, one-fourth of a mile from Clinton on the Red River, all the result of his own efforts, besides which he owns other valuable property. He is a pronounced Democrat and has long been a member of Patterson Lodge No. 11, of the A. F. & A. M., and is a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He was married in Tennessee to Miss Flora Harrison, daughter of J. S. Harrison, who died in 1861, after having become the mother of the following children: Mary, widow of William York; Lucinda, wife of J. R. Patterson; George, who was killed during the war; William R., who is a physician at Clinton; Margaret, who is a widow, and James (deceased). Mr. Greeson took for his second wife Miss L. Harrison, a sister of his first wife, and their children are: Martin W., who is a successful lawyer; Sally, wife of Dr. Guthrie of Quitman; Luther, who died at the age of three years, and Louise G. Mr. Greeson and his family are highly respected residents of their section and are well known throughout northern Arkansas.