William Albert Atkisson (1841 - 1928)

Born 3 Mar 1841 in Jefferson, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Died 28 Nov 1928 at age 87 in Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States

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Biography

The third son of James Atkisson and Margaret Mendenhall, "Preacher Billy" was born in Jefferson County, Illinois, but his family moved to Lee County, Iowa around 1849 and then to Wayne County, Iowa and Grundy County, Missouri. Around 1858 his mother Margaret died and the family scattered in several directions, with Billy going to live with his sister Sarah and brother-in-law Benjamin Cozad on their farm in Hacker's Creek, Lewis County, Virginia. There he met his first wife, Eleanor "Ellen" Elizabeth Ransbottom.

In August 1862, Billy enlisted as a corporal in Company D, 15th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, for service in the War of the Rebellion. His younger brother James also served in the company as a private. Billy was shot in the foot in February 1863 and transferred to the U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps in June 1864, where he spent the rest of the war. He and Ellen had at least seven children, a son named Prince Albert and five daughters: Martha Jane, Laura Ellen, Elnorai, Elizabeth Katherine, Geneva, and Olive. Ellen died sometime between 1880 and 1896, when Billy married his second wife, Lucille "Lucy" May Custer. They had a son named Otie Howard, who died shortly after birth, and a daughter named Ruth Rebecca.

Following intentionally or not in his own father's footsteps, Billy pursued a career in the ministry. He served as a pastor and organizer of Christian Advent churches in West Virginia for about 45 years, and was at one time pastor of the First Christian Advent Church on Randolph Street in Charleston. He retired around 1915. The change in spelling of his last name from ATKISSON to ATKINSON was, according to his daughter Ruth, the result of a clerical error that began in the Civil War and followed him for years after, and which he eventually gave up fighting.

• Fact: Residence (1870) Roane, West Virginia, United States
• Fact: Residence (1880) Ripley, Jackson, West Virginia, United States
• Fact: Residence (1900) Cologne district Leon village, Mason, West Virginia, United States
• Fact: Residence (1910) Cologne, Mason, West Virginia, United States
• Fact: Burial (1928) South Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States of America

Sources

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 10 June 2018, 17:49), entry for Rev. William Albert Atkinson(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KPQF-MHV); contributed by various users.
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40485562/william-albert-atkinson