William Frederick Browning, son of John Browning and Nancy Peebles Browning, married first Margaret Eliza Bostwick sometime before 1825 when their first child was born. The date July 29, 1824 has not been substantiated but some have that as the marriage date. Margaret was the daughter of Henry H. Bostwick and Ann Hickson Bostwick who came to Lowndes County, Alabama from Williamsburg District, South Carolina. She was born in September 1809 in Williamsburg, and died October 8, 1839 in Lowndes County, Alabama where she is buried in the Mount Gilead Cemetery.

William and Margaret were the parents of at least six children:

Sophronia A. P. Browning
Richard Henry Browning
Mary Camilla Browning
Martha H. Browning
Eliza Diademia Browning
William Edwin Browning

By 1842 William had moved from Lowndes County, Alabama to what became Amity, Clark County, Arkansas. He was a merchant, operating a store from which he also delivered mail. He had a farm on the Caddo River and named the area Amity because of the meaning of the word, friendship and harmony. He was also, at one time, surveyor for the county. It is here, in Clark County, that he married Mary Lucas Burke on August 11, 1842.

From "Clark County Historical Journal, 2001," pages 121-123

"At Amity [Clark County] Mr. Browning built a church for the Baptist domination and when he died in 1854 he was buried near this church, the ruins of whose foundation are still to be seen."

Per Tom Todd (#46900975):

"Together with other citizens, William Browning formed the Caddo Valley Baptist Church of Christ. Browning's group built a large log house that would serve as church and school. The first schoolteacher was Captain Robert S. Burke, a former military officer and Browning's brother-in-law. A few months later the Amity Post Office was established nearby where William and his wife Mary operated a store. William also built and operated a cotton press.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, the Community saw dark times. Initially in support of the Confederacy, soon the Community became divided, with the men of Amity leaving to fight in both the Confederate Army and the Union Army. In several cases, families were split by their loyalties, causing turmoil within the small community. Midway through the war Union Soldiers burned the Burke School and the Browning cotton press."

William and Mary were the parents of at least six children:

Joseph Alanson Browning
John Robert Browning
Georgia Ann Browning
James Nathan Browning
Washington Lafayette Browning
Nancy P. Browning

After William's death, Mary married John H. Stegall. The census taker listed the Browning children as the Stegall children in the 1860 census in Clark County, Arkansas. Nancy P. Browning was listed as a step-daughter of John H. Stegall in the 1880 US Census, Young County, Texas.