He was born October 6, 1851. William, at 14 years old, was a volunteer for the Confederacy of Company "L" (1863-1865) and afterwards, Company "D" First Regiment Virginia Calvary. Later he joined the Glade Springs Rifles, Company "F", 37th Virginia Regiment Infantry- a private. Miraculously, through all this, he was never sent.
    He eloped with Mary Jane Lamie to St. Joseph, Missouri. They married there May 28, 1873. Their son Perry was also born there. They returned to Chatham Hill, Virginia in 1876. He died December 23, 1879, drowned while trying to cross a swollen North Fork of the Holston River on a horse. Family sources say he was slightly inebriated. (The horse survived) His body was found on Christmas day.