Oliver Rice Fortenberry was the son of Jacob Fortenberry(War of 1812) b.1789 in the State of Franklin and Nancy Taylor Fortenberry b.1791 in Kingston, Tenn. He was the grandson of James Leath Fortenberry b.1755 in Anson Co, NC. and Margaret "Peggy" Jones b.1755 NC. Oliver's great grandfather, Henry Fortenberry Jr. and gg grandfather Henry Fortenberry Sr. signed the Anson County Petition to Gov. Tryon in 1768 that started the Rev. War. The Anson county citizens expelled the King's officials from the county. The Fortenberrys were also in the Regulator Movement. March 24,1776 James Leath joined Co F of the 5th SC Continental Line under Col.Issac Huger until the fall of Charleston in 1779 at the Battle of Stono. After that, James Leath joined the Patriot Militia (Whigs) and moved his family over the mountains to Eastern Tenn. to join Col. John Sevier. He was in the Battle of Kings Mountain Oct.1780. After the Rev. War, the Fortenberrys moved to Kingston, Tenn. Here, Jacob met Oliver's mother, Nancy Taylor. Nancy's father was Isom Taylor. The Taylors were related to Nancy Ward, Nanye'hi-Most Beloved Woman,The Chi-ga-u(Cherokee). In about 1800, the Fortenberrys moved west with one of the first groups of the Western Cherokees and settled in New Madrid, Missouri. In 1815 the Fortenberry, Taylor, Rainey and Finley families moved from Missouri to Lawrence Co.,Ark. They were the first families in NE Ark. Oliver Rice grew up on his father's farm on the Strawberry River in Lawrence Co, Ark. His family attended the Strawberry Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He married Nancy Hider Bandy on July 28,1841. They both descend from Huguenots. It is thought that the family was originally in France with the name "Fortin" and were Huguenots. In about 1600 they fled to Sweden to escape the persecution of the French Protestants in La Rochelle, France by the Roman Catholic Church. In about 1650 they moved to America and landed on the east bank of the Delaware River in present day New Jersey. In 1677, when the first English settlers arrived in western New Jersey, they were assisted by an interpreter for the Indians named Henry Jacobs Faulkinburg (Fortenberry). His son Henry, born in 1685 moved to Virginia and then to Anson Co, North Carolina in 1746.