William Asbury Miles
William Asbury Miles was born on 12 April 1828 in Franklin County, Tennessee. The 1959 family genealogy takes the date from his own pension declaration. As a boy he moved with his family to Illinois in 1838. His mother died that year or the next near Cairo, at the southern tip of the state. By 1839 the family was in Mississippi. He served in the War with Mexico.
In January 1850 he came to Rusk County, Texas. There he married Nancy Ann Kuykendall Grimes, a widow two years older than he was, with a small son, George. The genealogy gives the wedding date twice, as 11 November 1851 and as 20 November 1852 at Nip and Tuck; a memorial gives 21 November 1851. In 1854 they moved to Harrison County. They had seven daughters, among them Laura Texana, born at Hallsville in 1858.
In the Civil War he served, the genealogy says, in Company E of the 14th Texas Cavalry. He lost an arm. The genealogy says he "had one arm shot off with a mini-ball just above the elbow." A minie ball was the soft lead rifle bullet of that war. On the way home, the genealogy says, "he swam the Mississippi River near Memphis with only one arm." After the war he "amassed a fortune in farming."
Nancy died on 15 April 1893. He made his will in Harrison County on 24 July 1909 and died on 10 September 1910, aged 82. They are buried together in Gum Springs Cemetery at Longview Heights, under a double stone headed "Father" and "Mother," with MILES across the base.
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Cite: Heirology, "William Asbury Miles (1828-1910)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/william-asbury-miles-1828-1910-03dad9.