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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Bradley County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890. These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary. Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more. There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.
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D. H. Balfour, a prominent resident of Washington Township, Bradley County, Ark., was born in Tallahatchie County, Miss., December 5, 1845, and was the eldest child born to John and Elizabeth (Harton) Balfour, natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Tennessee. The father was married twice, and by each wife became the father of twelve children, only five of whom are now living. He was a planter, and at an early day became identified with the interests of Marshall County, Miss., and during the war with Mexico held the rank of colonel. In 1850 his sight began to fail him, and he was compelled to retire from active business life, and is now making his home in the city of St. Louis. Although a resident of the South, he was a strong Union man during the late Rebellion, but did not serve on either side on account of his defective eyesight. On one occasion Gen. Grant and a portion of his staff, while passing near Mr. Balfour’s plantation, stopped and took dinner with him. In 1862, with the most of his family, he started for Europe with the intention of going to Paris for medical treatment for his eyes, but upon reaching New York City stopped there and consulted the noted occulist, Dr. Agnew. His wife, the mother of our subject, passed to her long home in 1870. D. H. Balfour was reared on his father’s estate in Mississippi, receiving the greater part of his education at Holly Springs, but in 1862 went North with his people and was placed in the public schools, remaining until 1864. During all this time his sympathies were strongly with the South, so much so that in 1864 he left home and kindred, went South and joined the Confederate army, becoming a member of Company I, Third Mississippi Cavalry, and was on active duty for several months, during which time he was in a number of skirmishes but in no regular battle, as the war was almost over in that locality. He surrendered at Gainesville, Ala., in April, 1865. He had three half brothers in the Confederate service, one of whom, Andrew, raised a company and became its captain, serving as such throughout the entire war. He was severely wounded several times, but is still living in Marshall County near the old estate. After the war, D. H. Balfour came to Arkansas, and after teaching school for about a year, went to the Lone Star State to see about locating, but, liking Arkansas best, he returned in October, 1869, and purchased 160 acres of land in Bradley County, it being partially improved. He immediately erected good buildings of all kinds, made other valuable improvements, and here continued to make his home until September, 1888, when he came to Simpson and became book-keeper for the firm of Glasgow & Roddey, general merchants of that place. He is an active and enterprising citizen, seeking in all ways to advance the interest of the county in which he makes his home, and is courteous and agreeable in his intercourse with his fellow-men. He was married in 1869, to Miss Elmira E. Gross, a daughter of William Gross, an old pioneer of this section from Kentucky, and to them have been born a family of six children, only two of whom are living at the present time: David and Jeppie. Calista E. died at the age of two and one-half years, Zula Ione died August 18, 1887, when five years of age, and two children died in infancy.
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This family biography is one of 64 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Bradley County, Arkansas published in 1890. For the complete description, click here: Bradley County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps
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