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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Drew 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 R. Cotham, editor and proprietor of the Monticellonian, Monticello, Ark. Generally age and experience are essential to success and promotion, but in the example before us we have a young man who has risen, without any especial fortuitous circumstances, to the head of one of the representative papers in that part of Arkansas. He owes his nativity to Drew County, Ark., where his birth occurred on February 5, 1850, and was one of a small family of children born to the union of David B. and Eustasia (House) Cotham. The parents were married in Drew County, Ark., where they located in 1847, and were among the first settlers of the same. The father tilled the soil until the breaking out of the late war, and then enlisted and was captured on the Saline River. He was taken to Rock Island and there died. The mother had died in 1859. James R. Cotham was reared in the country until sixteen years of age, and then learned the printer’s trade, being enabled ere long to work at the case. In 1873 he purchased a half interest in his present paper, and in 1884 bought out the whole concern, which is the only paper published in Drew County. In his youth he began the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1879, and has since been in practice in partnership with Z. T. Wood, one of Drew County’s most eminent lawyers. Mr. Cotham was married, October 14, 1874, to Miss Alice Powell, by whom he has six children: Norwood, James R., Jr., Edward F., Coke, Mattie and Blanche. He is a member of the K. of H. and is an enterprising citizen of the county.

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This family biography is one of 83 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Drew County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Drew County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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