William Green Pumphrey was born on 27 Jul 1819 in Rockcastle Co., Kentucky. All of the birth records and many of the early death records for his family come from his family Bible which was in the possession of his granddaughter, Velma Pumphrey in 1959. The Bible was subsequently in the possession of her first cousin, Vera (Pumphrey) Morefield. I finally came into possession of the Bible in 2021 but by that time all of the pages containing the vital records had been removed. Sic transit ...

William's father, Lewis R Pumphrey, moved from Rockcastle Co., Kentucky to Rutherford Co., Tennessee around 1830. The Pumphrey family lived in Rutherford County and neighboring Cannon County until 1839 at which time they moved to Izard Co., Arkansas. The area of Izard County in which they settled became a part of Fulton County when it was created from Izard County in 1842.

William was known as Bill and according to the Bible records; he was married 4 times and had a total of 16 children. His first wife was Fannie P Holt whom he married in August 1842. She died on 19 Apr 1846. They had 2 children:
1. Mary E Pumphrey (b 3 Jun 1843, d 8 Feb 1913)
2. Joseph Lewis Pumphrey (b 26 Feb 1846, d 8 Oct 1849)

A year after Fannie's death, William remarried to Elizabeth C Hawkins on 2 Aug 1847. She was born in 1828 in Tennessee and died on 15 May 1864 in Ozark Co., Missouri. This was probably caused by some communicable disease as her death came just 11 days after her infant son, William M, had died. They had 6 children:
1. Benjamin Franklin Pumphrey (b 2 Sep 1847, d 6 Apr 1873)
2. Eliza J Pumphrey (b 1 Oct 1852, d 14 Feb 1908)
3, George Washington Pumphrey (b 2 Mar 1854, d 2 Mar 1902)
4, Sarah Ann Pumphrey (b 12 Oct 1855, d 10 Nov 1911)
5. Meredith Thomas Pumphrey (b 15 Nov 1857, d 8 Dec 1929)
6. William M Pumphrey (b 18 May 1863, d 4 May 1864)

William then remarried less a year after the death of his second wife. William's third wife was Phoebe Ann Margaret Compton. They were married on 5 Mar 1865 in Webster Co., Missouri. She was born about 1837 in North Carolina and died on 21 Jan 1873 in Ozark Co., Missouri. This was undoubtedly due to complications from childbirth as she died just 6 days after having given birth to the twins, Ollie and Volley. William and Phoebe had 5 children.
1. John Henry Pumphrey (b 24 May 1866, d 28 Sep 1921)
2. James Pyrum Pumphrey (b 30 Dec 1867, d 20 Jun 1943)
3. Jarrett C Pumphrey (b 12 Sep 1869, d 14 May 1947)
4. Ollie Isabel Pumphrey (b 15 Jan 1873, d 11 Oct 1873)
5. Volley Fidell Pumphrey (b 15 Jan 1873, d 2 Sep 1955)

Once again, William remarried less than a year after the death of his third wife. His fourth and last wife was a widow, Permelia (Hawkins) Kisner whom he married on 21 Sep 1873 in Ozark Co., Missouri. She was born on 27 Dec 1838 in Arkansas and died on 11 Dec 1923 in National City, California. She was a first cousin to William's second wife, Elizabeth C Hawkins. They had 3 children.
1. Elijah Lee Pumphrey (b 21 Apr 1875, d 23 Mar 1963)
2. Elbert E Pumphrey (b 13 Aug 1877, d 7 Mar 1926)
3. William Walter Pumphrey (b 12 Sep 1879, d 23 Mar 1959)

After living in Ozark Co., Missouri for some 50 years, William and family moved to Boone Co., Arkansas where he lived for the remainder of his life.