"William R. BRASHEARS, merchant, was born in Perry County, Ky., November 4, 1841, and is a son of Sampson and Margaret (BRIGHT) Brashears, and grandson of Samuel BRASHEARS.

James BRIGHT, his maternal grandfather, was a native of England, and came to the United States with his parents when a child. He grew to maturity near Baltimore, learning the trade of ship carpenter. He enlisted in the Revolutionary War under George Washington, serving seven years. He was once wounded in the neck, and his life saved by the kind nursing of a German woman, whose memory is cherished by his posterity. He also received a bullet in the left hip, which at the time of his death had made its way nearly to his ankle. He died in Tennessee about a century old, and was the father of six children.

William R. BRASHEARS was reared on the home place in Kentucky, and at the age of twenty-two enlisted in the confederate army as a private under Gen. H. MARSHALL. In 1862 he was shot by bushwhackers, and the ball still remains in his hip. After attending school a short time after the war, he immigrated to White River, Ark., with his brother, Harvey, in 1866, where he farmed two years. In 1868 he went into the mercantile business at St. Paul, and in 1887 established his present business.

November 20, 18709, he married Lucina, daughter of H. B. SUMMER, who was born in Ohio, May 28, 1843, and came to Arkansas in 1844. Mr. And Mrs. BRASHEARS have eight children: Martha B., Mary M., Charles W., William B., Minnie G., Allie, Myrtle, and an infant unnamed. Mr. BRASHEARS is a public-spirited man, a member of the school board, a Democrat, and a Master Mason of high standing. The family is connected with the Methodist Church.

Harvey G. BRASHEARS, brother and business partner of our subject, was born in Kentucky in 1835, where he grew to manhood. In 1862, he enlisted in Company H, Thirteenth Kentucky Volunteers, Confederate in 1866 with his brother, and in 1875 married Mary A. CORNITT [a.k.a. CORNETT], a native of Kentucky by whom he has six children: Joseph R., Robert L., George H., Mason; Mrs. BRASHEARS is a member of the Baptist Church." (Goodspeeds' History of Northwest, Arkansas…)