William Clark Falkner (1825 - 1889)

Born 6 Jul 1825 in Knoxville, Knox, Tennessee, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Houston (Vance) Falkner — married 14 Oct 1851 in Pontotoc, MS

Descendants

Died 6 Nov 1889 at age 64 in Ripley, Tippah, Mississippi, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Carter Broach [send private message]

Biography

William Clark Falkner (July 6, 1825 or 1826 – November 6, 1889) was a soldier, lawyer, politician, businessman, and author in northern Mississippi. He is most notable for the influence he had on the work of his great-grandson, author William Faulkner.

Born in Knox County, Tennessee, the son of William Falkner and Caroline Word, Falkner lived with his family in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri and Pontotoc, Mississippi before settling at the age of 17 in Ripley, Tippah County, Mississippi.

Family lore asserts that the name was originally spelled Faulkner but that the Colonel dropped the “u.”

He served in the Mexican-American War and, when the American Civil War broke out, he raised a company of men and was made colonel in the Second Mississippi Infantry of the Confederate Army. Later, he was demoted in an election of officers; he subsequently formed a unit known as the 1st Mississippi Partisan Rangers.

7th Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry OVERVIEW: 7th Cavalry Regiment [also called 1st Partisan Rangers] was organized during the early summer of 1862 and in July had 35 officers and 817 men present for duty. It served in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana and later was assigned to Chalmer's, R. McCulloc's, and Starke's Brigade. The unit took an active part in the operations in North Mississippi, Kentucky, and West Tennessee. It contained 310 men in October, 1863 and reported 13 casualties at Collierville and 1 at Oxford. The regiment ended the war in Mississippi and was included in the surrender on May 4,1865. The field officers were Colonels William C. Falkner and Samuel M. Hyams, Jr., Lieutenant Colonels L.B. Hovis and James M. Park, and Majors W.L. Davis and William N. Stansell.

He never regained a prominent role in the Confederate Army, but he was forever known as "Colonel Falkner" or just "The Old Colonel" after the war.

During Reconstruction, he was active in rebuilding northern Mississippi and founded the Ship Island, Ripley, and Kentucky Railroad Company. The first and only station on the line was located in what is now the community of Falkner.

Falkner was also an author, writing novels, poems, a travelogue, and at least one play. His most famous work was a novel entitled The White Rose of Memphis (New York, G. W. Carleton & co.; 1881), a murder mystery set on board a steamboat of the same name. This work was popular enough to be reprinted several times through the early 20th century, selling over 160,000 copies.

On 4 Nov 1889 He beats his rival and former business partner, Richard Thurmond and is elected to the Mississippi Legislature. Thurmond was very unhappy and accused William of cheating in the election.

On November 5, 1889, he was shot multiple times with a .44 caliber pistol, by Richard Jackson Thurmond, He died the next day from internal bleeding.

Thurmond was indicted for Manslaughter rather than Murder. After a 4 day trial, the jury came back with a not guilty verdict. They believed he acted in self defense in Falkner's death

Family Life

Marriage 9 Jul 1847 • Ripley, Tippah, Mississippi, USA to Holland Pearce (1828–1849)

William and Holland had one son:

John Wesley Thompson Falkner 1848–1922

In 1850, shortly after Holland's death, he gave up his son John Wesley Thompson Falkner to his aunt Justianna Dickinson Word Thompson (his mother's sister) and her husband John Wesley Thompson. He agrees to never attempt to reclaim him.

Marriage 14 Oct 1851 • Pontotoc, Pontotoc, Mississippi, USA to Elizabeth Houston Vance (1833–1910)

William and Elizabeth had 6 children:

William Henry Falkner 1853–1878

Willett Medora Falkner 1856–1918

Thomas Vance Falkner 1859–1861

Lizzie Manassah Falkner 1861–1861

Stephanie "Effie" Deane Falkner 1868–1957

Alabama Leroy Falkner 1874–1968

Although they were never married, William had a child by an enslaved person named Emeline Lacy Falkner 1837–1898. Their daughter was Fannie Forrest Falkner (1866–1929).

Commits Murder

On 8 May 1849 in Ripley, Tippah, Mississippi, USA, William stabbed Robert Holt Hindman through the heart. He claimed self defense. He was tried and acquitted of murder. The argument was about William voting against Robert becoming a member of the Sons of Temperance.

On 28 Feb 1851 in Ripley, Tippah, Mississippi, USA, William once again commits murder. He murdered Erasmus W Morris by shooting him in the head after an argument over the rental of a house. He was tried and acquitted. The prosecutor was Thomas Hindman, the brother of the man William had killed in 1849.

Major Literary Works of William Clark Faulkner

The Life and Confession of A. J. MacCannon, Murderer of the Adcock Family. 1845

The Siege of Monterey. 1851.

The Spanish Heroine. 1851.

The Lost Diamond. 1867.

The White Rose of Memphis. 1881.

Rapid Ramblings in Europe. 1882.

The Little Brick Church. 1882.

Lady Olivia: A Novel. 1895.

Colonel William Clark Falkner’s impact on the literary world through his own writing is minimal, but the importance of his life and work on his great-grandson, William Faulkner, is great and has been duly noted by scholars.

As a child, Falkner's great-grandson William Faulkner is reported to have said, "I want to be a writer like my great-granddaddy." Whether or not young William actually said this, the elder Falkner served as the model for the character of Colonel John Sartoris, who appeared in the novels Sartoris (1929) (reissued in an expanded edition as Flags in the Dust (1973)) and The Unvanquished (1938), as well as a number of short stories. Thus, Colonel Falkner is the inspiration for an integral part of the history of Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County.

Sources

• Rowland, Dunbar. Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898. and Howell, H. Grady. For Dixie Land, I’ll Take My Stand. cited by "1st Regiment, Mississippi Partisan Rangers (Falkner's), aka 7th Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry". Unit Histories - Mississippi CSA. Mississippi Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Retrieved May 7, 2014.

• Hagood, Taylor (June 2003). "Falkner, William Clark". Mississippi Writers Page. University of Mississippi. Retrieved 15 September 2015

• "Family and Early Life". Faulkner Site. University of Michigan. August 1998. Archived from the original on April 19, 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2015.

• Find A Grave: Memorial #5383

• https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=CMS0007RC