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William F. Beene, a member of the firm of Beene & Talbott, merchants and
millers of Star of the West, Pike County, Ark., was born in Itawamba
County, Miss., on June 10, 1855, and was the sixth of eight children born
to Jesse and Matilda (Stephenson) Beene, natives of Tennessee. The parents
were married in Mississippi, but afterward moved to Arkansas, and settled
in what is now Howard County (then part of Sevier) in 1859. The father was
a Democrat, and was quite active in politics. He died in 1863 at the age of
fifty-six years. The maternal grandfather of our subject came to this
country from Ireland when a young man. William F. Beene was reared in this
State and was left fatherless when quite young. On this account he failed
to obtain a good education, and when twenty-two years of age started out
for himself as a farmer. He is at present the owner of considerable land,
though for the last five years he has turned his attention to
merchandising. He has been quite successful in this last venture and does
an annual business of about $8,000. He was married in 1885 to Miss Fannie
Richmond, a native of this State, and the daughter of Smiley Richmond, a
resident of Howard County, Ark. Three children are the fruits of this
union, only one now living, Walter Ray. Like his father, Mr. Beene takes an
interest in politics, and is also Democratic in his views. He is a member
of the Masonic fraternity, which he joined in 1889, Star of the West Lodge
No. 210. He and Mrs. Beene are members of the Missionary Baptist Church,
holding membership at the New Hope Baptist Church.
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Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas, The Goodspeed
Publishing Company: Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis, 1890, Pike County,
page 315.
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Update 03.19.01 David Kelley 1997 BIO-0009.HTM