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John W. Gilleylen, postmaster, and one of the leading merchants of Bills
post office was born in Monroe County, Miss., July 17, 1849. His parents,
James M. and Eliza (Feddis) Gilleylen, natives of Mississippi (the former
born in 1818), had a family of four children, viz., Bedora C., John W.,
Thomas B. and Nancy E. The father was engaged in agricultural pursuits
until the breaking out of the late (Civil) war, when, in 1863, he enlisted
in the Confederate service, under Gen. Samuel Gaston, and served until the
close of the war, when he returned home and resumed farming, and died May 9,
1866. Politically he was a staunch Democrat. His wife died May 9, 1857, a
worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The immediate
subject of this sketch was education in the common country schools of his
native State. In 18__ he emigrated from Mississippi to Arkansas, settling in
Pike County, where he took up land and began farming. In 1879 he married
Miss Margaret Conatser, a native of Arkansas, and the fruits of this union
have been these children, viz., Bessie E., Hueston P. (deceased), Annie,
Hittie and Jesse O. Some time since Mr. Gilleylen entered the mercantile
business, beginning with a capital of $500, and his capital has since
increased to $1,000. In connection with this business he owns a fine farm
of 250 acres, with forty acres under cultivation. He is a Master Mason,
belonging to Pisgah Lodge No. 250, and both he and wife are members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
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Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas, 1890, Pike County,
page 327.
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