William Amos Wortham, the son of William H. and Eliza Johnston Wortham, was born in Maury County, Tennessee, on November 3, 1830. In 1842, he came to Texas with his widowed mother. Wanting to be a printer, he became an apprentice in a printing office and subsequently spent most of his life as a newspaper editor and publisher. On June 11, 1852, he married Miss Adeline Elizabeth Ashcroft, daughter of Dr. Levi H. and Elizabeth Ashcroft of Tyler, Texas. In 1854, he and his family moved to Sulphur Springs, Texas. In Sulphur Springs, William A. Wortham remained active as editor of The Gazette, was representative of Hopkins County three times in the House of Representatives of the Texas Legislature, and also served as Senator in the state Senate. In 1891, he was appointed superintendent of the State Orphan's Asylum at Corsicana.

W. A. Wortham enlisted as a lieutenant in the Confederate Army in approximately 1862. He took part in a number of important battles. Later Wortham became Colonel of the 34th Texas Cavalry . After the war, he returned to Sulphur Springs where he reentered the newspaper business. On October 1, 1910, William A. Wortham died in Fort Worth.

("WORTHAM, WILLIAM AMOS." The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/WW/fwo30.html)