W. E. Gentry was born March 11, 1842. He is the second son of James Gentry, of Alabama, and grandson of Elijah Gentry, a white man who married a full-blood Catawba Indian, and Miss Caroline Bush, a United States citizen. William was sent to school for a short time in Mississippi, and then moved to the Creek Nation, in 1855, with his father and mother. Here he went to Asberry Mission, Eufaula, for one year, after which he commenced agriculture with his father, continuing until the outbreak of the war, when he joined the Confederates under Colonel Chily McIntosh, Second Creek Regiment. During the last year his company was transferred to Jumper’s regiment, Seminole Nation. At the termination of the war, Mr. Gentry came back to his father’s home, where he assisted him on the farm. In 1867 he married Miss Sarah Crestmond, who died in 1868. In 1872 he married Miss Martha Lynch, who died September 3, 1873. The issue of this marriage was one boy, named Albert James, born August 27, 1873, and died February 2, 1891. On August 11, 1878, he married Miss Sallie D. Carr, eldest daughter of Chipley Carr, by whom he has six children, William, born August 13, 1879; Caroline, born April 21, 1881; Mary E., born April 24, 1883; Sallie P., born May 29, 1885; Bobby Lee, born September 15, 1887; Bluford, born October 1, 1889, and Rachel Jane, born November 2, 1891. From the year 1868 until 1875, when his mother died, Mr. Gentry took the responsible charge of his brothers and sisters, living with them and looking after their welfare and comfort during all these years. Mr. Gentry commenced stock-raising at first on a very small scale, but now, with Mr. Lerblance, is the owner of 3,500 head of stock and a mercantile house furnished with a $12,000 stock of goods, and a $3,500 gin and mill, the store and mill at Checotah, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, also a half interest in the Indian Journal, a newspaper published at Eufaula, Creek Nation. Mr. Gentry’s individual property consists of a farm of 500 acres of good land, all in cultivation, a pasture consisting of one square mile and 300 head of cattle. He was elected to the House of Warriors in 1887, which office he holds until the present time. Mr. Gentry is three-fourths white, five feet ten inches high, of gentlemanly deportment, has a great many true friends, and is a man of good business education and sound sense.
