Biographies W
William B. Wickliffe
William B. Wickliffe, Muhlenberg County, was born February 15, 1808, three miles from South Carrollton. He is the eighth of five boys and five girls - all of whom lived to man and womanhood - born to Arington and Catharine (Davis) Wickliffe, natives of Prince William County, Va., and of English descent. Arington was a soldier in the struggle for Independence, and came to Muhlenberg County in 1801, and purchased and settled 400 acres of land near South Carrollton. He died, in 1820, at the age of sixty-eight years.
W.B. Wickliffe was reared on a farm, and lived with his parents till their death; his mother died in 1836, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. Wickliffe has had considerable experience of life in the wilderness, and when a young man made several trips on flat-boats to New Orleans. When the war broke out, he owned 500 acres of land, and sixteen slaves; he now owns forty acres, where he resides, south side of railroad.
He was married, February 16, 1837, to Sarah J. Bodine, of Muhlenberg County, Ky., a daughter of Jacob and Jane (Wickliffe) Bodine, natives, respectively, of Nelson County, Ky., and Virginia, and of Dutch and English descent. To this union were born two children, both deceased.
Mrs. Wickliffe died in 1842, and July 12, 1854, Mr. Wickliffe married Mrs. Margaret Nicholls, of Muhlenberg County, a daughter of Abner and Margaret (Barnett) Lee, who were natives of North Carolina; three children were born by this marriage: Sarah (deceased), Carlisle (deceased), and William A., who is now county attorney, and ranks as one of the foremost young men of the county. Mrs. Wickliffe had five children by her former husband, viz.: Pamelia (King), Elizabeth (Glover), Catherine (Hill), James M. and Louisa (Grundy). Mr. and Mrs. Wickliffe are members of the Baptist Church; he is a member of the F. & A.M. since 1851.
Source: Battle, J.H., W.H. Perrin, and G.C. Kniffen. Kentucky: A History of the State. Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, 1885. Page 925-926.
Updated July 9, 2018