William Walton Stamps

Reverend Thomas Joyner (June 18, 1802 – October 7, 1882), my fourth great grand Uncle was the brother of my fourth great grandfather, Littleton Bunn Joyner.

Although Reverend Joyner and his wife Elizabeth had a grandson, William Walton Stamps, with a very interesting legacy, I can find very little information on him online so I thought it was worth including what I could find here.

I stumbled across him in “The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Volume 4” by The Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History. Not a book many people probably spend much time reading but a great source if anyone from your family happens to be included.


William Walton Stamps of Collierville, Tennessee, Representative from Marshall County, son of George Washington Stamps and Martha Mildred Joyner Stamps, was born at Marshall Institute in Marshall County, Mississippi, December 4, 1871…In 1859 he established at Iuka a boarding school for young ladies. Although this school was broken up by the Civil War it was re-opened after the war was over. During the war the young professor served in the secret service under General Forrest. Some time after the war, he removed to Marshall County, where he still resides. The mother of the subject of our sketch was the daughter of Reverend Thomas Joyner and Elizabeth McGehee Joyner of he Marshall Institute.

Reverend Joyner was for sixty years a Methodist minister in the Tennessee conference, his home being just across the line in Mississippi. The Joyners are of English descent; their ancestors settled first in North Carolina, but migrated to Tennessee early in the 18th century…

Representative Stamps obtained his early education in the free schools of Mississippi; he spent one term at the High School of Augusta, Arkansas and another at Belleview College, Collierville, Tennessee. In 1896 he opened a small country store in Marshall County, and has since remained there…

In 1915 he was nominated to the State Legislature and elected to serve in that body from 1916 to 1920. Mr. Stamps is a man of sterling worth and is deeply regardful of the State’s welfare…

Mr. Stamps is a Democrat, a Mason, a Woodman of the World, and a Columbian Woodman. On December 25, 1901, at Somerville, Tennessee, he was married to Ollie Earl Polk, daughter of Edward H. and Anna Belle (Applewhite) Polk of Mt. Pleasant, Mississippi. Her family belong to the same line of descent as did that of Ex-President, James K. Polk. Mr. and Mrs. Stamps have three children: John Edward, Frances Anna Louis, and Nina Vivan.

A quick search online yields no more information on my distant cousin nor can I find anything else about his ancestors.

You can ready more about others in the Joyner family on HaywoodCountyLine.com.

William Walton Stamps