Born in Newton Co., Ar July 9, 1854, son of Riley and Sarah J. (Harrison) Cecil, the father born in Arkansas on July 10, 1829 and the mother in Tennessee on April 11, 1835. Riley was the son of Solomon Cecil, who was born in Tennessee in 1786, and who was married to Sarah Hatfield in Tennessee in 1814. There was born to them seven sons and two daughters, Riley being the fifth child. Two sons and one daughter are now living in Visalia, California. Solomon moved to Arkansas in 1827 and settled in Newton County on what is called Cecil Fork of the Buffalo River being among the first settlers in this part of the country. After twenty-nine years of pioneer life, he died in 1856. After his death, his widow, Sally, along with all her children except one son, and the most of her relatives, started, in the spring of 1857 on an overland journey to California, and was in the wagon train of which a part was massacred in Utah by the Mormons and Indians, known in history as the Mountain Meadow Massacre, Two days before the massacre she and her sons and a few others took another trail and thus escaped a horrible death. She died in Visalia, Cal. about 1880. Riley Cecil was married to Sarah Harrison on September 10, 1852, she being the daughter of R. W. and Clerinda (Austin) Harrison. He lived on the Buffalo River. Two children were born to them: William H. and Mary Jane (the latter on July 11, 1856). On Jan. 10, 1856, Riley Cecil died and was buried at the family burying ground. When Grandma Cecil left for California, Sarah J. Cecil went to live with her father. In 1858, R. W. Harrison moved with his family to Bluff Springs, Ark. in order to send his children to school. William H. attended school there for about 2 years. At the approach of the war, Grandfather Harrison moved back to Jasper, Ark where he remained till 1864 when he moved to Springfield, Mo. on the Widow Eastham's farm where he stayed for about one year. In 1866 Grandfather Harrison moved back to his farm at Jasper - finding the house burned and fields full of briers but he soon had a house and cultivable fields. Grandfather Harrison was born September 6, 1810 and died March 15, 1882. After returning from Missouri, Sarah J decided to leave her father's house with her son, now thirteen years old, and moved to her brother-in-law's place (Mr. A. F. Davis) near Jasper. On March 11, 1875, William H. was married to Virginia Letitia Baker, daughter of Andrew and Polly Baker, and there has been born to this couple three sons and three daughters, all living except one daughter. Their names are: Hallie Vivian, Riley Bentley, Walter Wesley, Troy Otis, Lulu Evangel, and Minti Ora. William is recognized as one of the leading business men of Harrison and he and his wife are staunch members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

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