William Trucks, farmer, Kedron,
Ark. There is probably no man within the limits of Bradley County who is deserving of more
credit for the interest he has taken in its behalf than Mr. Trucks, and the facts here
presented indicate to a more than ordinary degree the relations he has borne to the
county's development. He was born in Bibb County, Ala., in 1824, and is the son of George
and Sarah (Johnson) Trucks, the former born and reared in Pennsylvania and the latter in
Tennessee, where they were married. From there they emigrated to Alabama, where the father
died during the war and the mother afterward. The father was a farmer and carpenter by
occupation, and was a man of considerable ability and good, sound judgment. He was a
soldier in one of the early Indian wars. Both he and wife were members of the Baptist
Church. Of the fifteen children born to their union, fourteen lived to be grown, but only
two, William and a brother, are now living. Three were killed in the same battle while
serving in the Confederate army, and one returned. William Truck's time in early youth was
divided between assisting on the farm and in attending the common school, where be
received a fair education. He was married in 1849 to Miss Margaret Walker, who was left as
an orphan when quite young and was reared by her grandfather, Coddingham. She was a native
of Bibb County, and by her marriage became the mother of ten children, six now living:
John D., Marion, Sarah (wife of William Meeks), Elizabeth (wife of William England), Mary
E. (wife of S. A. Toleson), and Mattie (wife of James England). In 1850 Mr. Trucks came to
Arkansas, settled in his present neighborhood, and just before the war settled on his
present farm. He at one time owned about 600 acres, but after giving his children each a
good home still has considerable left. He served about a year in the Confederate army in
Capt. Ingram's company of Arkansas Infantry, and was at Little Rock when it was captured.
In politics he has been a Democrat all his life, with the exception of a short time after
the war, when he voted with the Republican party. He has been a member of the Baptist
Church from youth, and is one of the honored and much respected citizens of the county. |