William Alexander Beaty (1855-1961)

William Alexander Beaty, known to his many relatives and friends as "Uncle Bill", died at his home in Brownsville, Texas December 5, 1961, at the age of 106.  He was born July 16, 1855 near Lincoln, Arkansas, the son of Alexander and Emily Holt Beaty, pioneers in this area.  On his maternal side he was the grandson of Jack and Elizabeth Pogue Holt, who came here from Tennessee in 1829.

He grew up on a farm on what was to become Beaty Mountain, north of Lincoln.  As a boy of seven, he heard the gunfire in the battle of Prairie Grove.  Later, he watched Confederate troops march by his parents' farm and stop to water their mounts.

In the course of his long life, Mr. Beaty saw and participated in the making of quite a bit of history.  As a young man he went to the Indian Territory and also spent some years in Texas.  He was a cowpuncher, a ranch foreman, and at one time kept a store in Red Rock, Oklahoma.  He was in Oklahoma for the opening of the Cherokee Strip where he rode a horse named 'Frank' and won his share of land.  He was so grateful to 'Frank', and thought so much of him, he brought the horse to Arkansas with him when he came several years later.

He married Mondella Stoner in Oklahoma and to this union four children were born: Travis of Lincoln, Frank of Mt. Comfort, Mildred (who died at an early age), and Mrs. Merle Whitlow of Brownsville, Texas, with whom he had made his home for several years before his death.  Other survivors are ten grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.  His wife died in 1918.

He was accustomed to spending his summers in Lincoln, Arkansas at the home of his son Travis, before he became unable to travel.  He was here for his 100th, 102nd, and 103rd birthdays, celebrated in conjunction with the Holt reunion, where he was the oldest member and the guest of honor.  On his 100th birthday he was made an honorary member of the Washington County Historical Society and on his 101st birthday was presented with the "Washington County Pioneer" certificate.

Funeral services were held in the Presbyterian church, with Rev. Joe Dickens and Rev. Walter Pennell officiating.  Interment was in Lincoln cemetery next to his wife.

= = = obituary written by Ruth Holt Payne of Route 2, Lincoln, Arkansas, in 1962 and published in the Arkansas Family Historian.  Transcriber is not a relative and has no further information regarding this family.