| James
W. Greer was born in Tennessee on May 25, 1830. His father was born in
Virginia, but his name is not known. James married Amanda Stewart in
the late 1840s. Amanda was born in Overton County, Tennessee on August
11, 1830. She was the daughter of John Gilbert and Margaret Stewart.
(More about this family in the Burnet County History, Vol II, by
Darrell Debo) Margaret Stewart's maiden name was Copeland. At the time James and Amanda were married, there was a great movement of people to the West. James and Amanda are believed to have joined a wagon train which included Amanda's parents. Apparently this wagon train went into Illinois, and then down into Arkansas. James and Amanda stayed in Illinois for a short time and their first child Emelia was born there, in 1850. Soon after Emelia was born they traveled down into Arkansas also. Their second daughter Margaret was born there in 1851. They were in the Gabriel Mills community in north Williamson County by early 1851, acquired land and started farming. The Indians were a constant problem for them. The women would wash their clothes in the North Gabriel River with a gun by their sides and the men would take their weapons to the fields with them. It is a tribute to their hardy pioneer spirit that James and Amanda did survive the hardships of their teip and the early days at Gabriel Mills. But survive they did, and raised a large family while doing it. In 1869, James bought some land from his father-in-law, John Gilbert Stewart, in the Mahomet community in Burnet County and moved his family there. They remained there for the rest of their lives. Amanda died in 1903, at age 73. James died in 1906, at age 76. They are buried in the Mahomet Cemetery. [See descendant chart here] |
