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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Calhoun 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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James W. Raiford, a prominent farmer of Champagnolle Township, was born in North Carolina, in 1842, the eldest of a family of five children born to Robert J. and Charlotte C. (Covington) Raiford, natives of North Carolina. His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His father was a farmer in North Carolina, and in 1852 came to Arkansas, settling near Little Bay, Calhoun County, where he bought and entered a tract of land, employing some twenty to thirty hands to improve some of this land; he died February 6, 1855. His widow, after a time, married a Mr. McDonald, and died. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, attending the common schools until the outbreak of the war, in May, 1861, when he enlisted in the company of Dr. Eckles, which company was disbanded, and our subject returned to his home in Calhoun County. He then joined the company raised by O. H. P. Black, left home December 9, and December 22, 1861, joined the Confederate service. He participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, from there went to Corinth, was in the battles of Tennessee and Kentucky; was with Kirby Smith in Kentucky; was at Covington, Ky., then went to Harrodsburg, and then to Cumberland Gap, and then at Murfreesboro, then to Shelbyville, for the winter. He then went to Mississippi, was at Big Black, July 4, 1863 then stood a siege of ten days at Jackson, was in the battle of Chickamauga, then to Mobile and into Florida, where they remained until May 4; then to Resaca, Ga., from that point in all the battles of the Georgia campaign; then in many skirmishes before Atlanta; next through Georgia, after Sherman; then after much marching, to North Carolina, at Bentonsville, March 19, 1865, and surrendered at Jamestown. He had a brother, J. K. Raiford, killed at Atlanta. He reached home September 23, 1865, and at once began farming, and soon purchased the place on which he now resides. He has as good a farm as there is in the township; his farm consists of 280 acres of good land, with 185 acres under cultivation, which he devotes principally to the raising of cotton, of which commodity he averages one-half bale to the acre. He also does general farming, and has a fine orchard. Mr. Raiford was married January 22, 1868, to Miss C. E. Furr, the daughter of an old pioneer of this county. To this union were born nine children, viz.: Robert E. (died in infancy), Maud Covington, James G. (died at the age of fourteen years), Willie (died in infancy), Emmitt O’Neal (died in infancy), Jewell (died in infancy), Lillian, Minnie Lee and Ellis Elmo. The family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

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This family biography is one of 67 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Calhoun County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Calhoun County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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