William Satterfield was born in Laurens County, South Carolina on Sunday, Dec.7th, 1800. He was the first child of record born to Edward M. and Elizabeth (Walton) Satterfield. For his career and livelihood, William became a blacksmith and a gunsmith. There is an entry in Book 5 of the Person Co., NC 1811-1815 that a William Satterfield became an apprentice of a Thomas Walton in Person Co. It is thought that this William may have been our G(2)-grandfather, and that Mr. Walton may have been related to William's mother. If this is true, William may have been apprenticed to Mr. Walton to become a gunsmith. However, no concrete evidence of this supposition is extant as of this date. At any rate, William learned the trades of blacksmithing and gun-smithing, and was able to provide for a large family.
It is believed that the whole family moved to White Co., TN about 1822/1823, as William's next younger brother, Hiram, is known to have been in White Co. at that time. It was while the family was living in White Co. that William met Ms. Dovey Tapley, the daughter of William and Delilah (Keeton) Tapley.

William and Dovey were married early on Jan. 29, 1826, and on New Year's Day of 1827, their first son, Allen, was born. By 1830, the family is listed as living in Morgan, Co. TN. The census indicates that at this time the family had grown by four children: Allen, John, Edward Hampton (Uncle Jake), and his twin sister, Elizabeth Annabelle, who was known as Aunt Puss.

Sometime later about 1836, near the time of the death of William Tapley, Dovey's father, the family moved to Bledsoe Co., and William Satterfield was granted a parcel of land nearby that of William Tapley and his son James. By about 1837 the family moved again to Overton Co. where William purchased a tract of about 800 acres. This purchase was completed by 1838, as Overton Co. lists William as owning the tract in 1838. The reason for the move from Bledsoe Co. to Overton Co. is difficult to understand. Perhaps the death of William Tapley changed the family's plans. If it is difficult to understand why the family left Bledsoe Co. to move to Overton Co., it is even more difficult to understand why they left what must have been a potentially very prosperous farm in Overton Co., to move to the edge of the frontier in Washington Co., MO. Nonetheless they did, arriving in the late Spring or early Summer of 1839. William immediately set about building a home for the family, and setting up his blacksmith and gunsmith businesses. William was not to realize much of the benefits of his labor, as he died on Nov. 6th, 1840, about 1-1/2 years after the family's arrival on the West Fork of Black River, Washington Co., MO, in an area that became Reynolds County in 1845. William Satterfield, Sr. was the first adult person to be buried in what became the family cemetery, presently known as the West Fork Satterfield/Sutterfield cemetery; his namesake son, William, Jr was the first, having predeceased him in 1839. The land for this cemetery was donated by the family from the original family tract to be a community cemetery. The original family home of the William Satterfield family is currently owned by Mr. Dale Brooks. The original log structure was covered with siding some years ago.

The records of the William Satterfield family are on the attached genealogical photo. Several points can be made from these records: 1) The only child of William and Dovey born in Missouri was James, the last child; 2) The fifth child, the daughter Susanna, not often mentioned in connection with the family, died in Missouri in 1842 at about 10 years of age; 3) The second son John, was an adult of 21 years at the time of his death, and died 10 years to the day after his father, William; 4) The fact that the last daughter, Matilda (aka Aunt Tilda), was born in Tennessee in the Winter of 1838 indicates that the family cannot have arrived in Missouri earlier than 1839.
----- J. S. Sutterfield, Ph.D., R.P.E., family researcher and V.Griese, co-researcher