William Hall of Oregon County, Missouri
William Hall (1811-1859) and Mary Reed (1811-1884) migrated from the Paint Rock Valley in Jackson County, Alabama, to Ripley County, Missouri, in 1843. They settled in that part of Ripley County which became Oregon County in 1845. They lived the rest of their lives in Oregon County, and are buried just across the state line from their farm, in the Walnut Grove Cemetery, in Randolph County, Arkansas.
Many references to this couple can be found in family information posted to the internet. Unfortunately, most of the posted information posted about the identity of this William Hall is incorrect. Because this William Hall was my great-great-grandfather, I would like to do what I can to help other genealogists correctly identify the man.
The William Hall buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery is often identified as William C. Hall, or as William Carroll Hall, son of James Hall and Mary Williams. In actuality, he was not William C. Hall, or William Carroll Hall, and he was not the son of James Hall and Mary Williams. The William Hall buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery was the son of Thomas and Sarah Hall, was born in Tennessee in 1811, was married to Mary Reed in 1831, and died in 1859. To my knowledge, his middle initial, or middle name, has never been identified.
The mistaken identification undoubtedly stems from confusion between two men named William Hall. Both men were raised in the Paint Rock Valley of Jackson County, Alabama, and migrated to Oregon County, Missouri. The other William Hall was actually William C. Hall, son of James Hall and Mary Williams. William C. Hall was born about 1821 or 1822, so he was about ten years younger than the William Hall buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery. The two William Halls probably migrated to Ripley/Oregon County, Missouri, about the same time. However, William C. Hall, son of James and Mary Williams, was married to Epsy Jobe. William C. and Epsy Hall appear in the 1860 census of Oregon County, enumerated ten months after the death of the William Hall buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery. William C. Hall enlisted in the Confederate Army, in Oregon County, more than two years after the death of the William Hall buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery.
The William Hall who married Mary Reed, and who is buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery, may have been a cousin of William C. Hall, son of James Hall and Mary Williams (see Were James and Thomas Hall Related?). But they were not the same man. If you have questions about the identity of either of these two men, or their families, please feel free to contact me for further information.