William Persky was a native of Germany who migrated to the United States with his family at the age of eight. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served time as a prisoner of war. A farmer, he lived in Austin and Bell counties before moving to this area in 1925. He lived to be 100, and at the time of his death in 1945 was the oldest resident and the last Confederate veteran of Milam County.