Willie Townsend AKA Will Townsend AKA Major William Townsend AKA M W Townsend (1860 – 1919)

The real name of Will Townsend seems to be a mystery. A family bible of his parents Presley Ephraim and Amanda Offutt Townsend lists him as Willie, as if this is his given name. The census of 1870 also lists him as Willie. An account was found that said that he added the "Major" to his name because he admired an older cousin, William P. Townsend, who was an army major. He is sometimes listed as M. W. Townsend. His second wife, Alma Boyd Townsend, always referred to him as "Will Townsend himself".

All stories indicate that he was a very interesting man. His first wife died in 1894, leaving him a widower at the age of thirty-four. He was then the father of four children, ages seven months to eleven years old. It is believed that the children were sent to live with others. The 1900 census has him living with his brother-in-law Rubin Peneck. The only child listed on the census that might have been his is G Hunt. Two years after his wife died, his father died and he inherited some money. Family lore says that he quickly spent his inheritance. There are tales of him winning a steamboat in a card game and simply walking away from it. Someone who knew him once referenced the fact that he "ran with the Angel boys" indicating he lead a wild life for some period of his life. We assume that the Angel boys were a local group or family of wild boys.

Thirteen years after the death of his first wife, he married Sarah Alma Boyd who was thirty at the time and had never been married. Their first child was born within the year. When faced with the new family and wife to care for, Will worked in the area around Logan County, Kentucky in the construction field. Within a year, he had moved the family to Arkansas where he built cabins, moving ahead of the turn-of-the-century sawmills. He built homes for the crews that were moving along the Mississippi River, clearing lumber.

Will and Alma moved from Blytheville to Burdette, finally settling in a community near Palmer and Ragtown. They purchased some timberland to be cleared for farming. They picked a site for a home. It was here, in Arkansas, just twelve years after his marriage to Alma, that he died in a logging accident. He and Alma were out in the woods, their children (Elizabeth eleven years old, Presley nine years old and Maude Catharine "Teddy" four years old), were in the care of another family for the day. A tree fell in an unexpected manor, falling on Will as Alma watched. She had to find her way back to their home alone to get help.

Some old letters found in the papers of Martha Butt Cheek indicated that Will attended Hickory Wild School for Boys in Olmstead where he learned to play the violin among other things. Another letter said "if we had television in those days he would have been in the front line as an entertainer. He was extremely attractive, full of fun, witty and clever, and amazing at repartee." He was also described as “the damndest man with horses and dogs”.

Will is buried in Frank's Cemetery south of Holly Grove, Arkansas.

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