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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hempstead 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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J. T. Lewis is a native of Limestone County, Ala., where he was born in 1846, his parents, William and Hester Ann (Reynolds) Lewis, being also born there, the former in 1820, and the latter in 1823, respectively. In 1847 they moved to Columbia County, Ark., and in 1860 to Hempstead County, where Mr. Lewis died in November, 1875, his wife departing this life in May, 1874, both worthy members of the Baptist Church. Mr. Lewis held a number of local offices in the communities in which he resided, was a member of Zion Lodge, of the A. F. & A. M., being master of the same at the time of his death, and for some three years served in the Confederate army, being a member of Monroe’s regiment, of Arkansas cavalry, and was with Price on his raid through Missouri. His father, Elijah Lewis, was a Kentuckian, who came to Arkansas in 1847, and in 1869 to Hempstead County, where he followed the calling of a farmer, and died in 1888 at the age of ninety-two years. J. T. Lewis is the third of eleven children, eight living, and after obtaining a fair education, he began for himself at the age of twenty, and in 1869 married the daughter of Samuel H. and Sallie Robins, who came from Georgia to Hempstead County, Ark., in 1859, and settled at their present place of abode. Mr. Robins was a farmer and a merchant, and for some time served in the Confederate army. Both parents were born in Georgia, and there Mrs. Lewis, formerly Miss Nancy D. Robins, was also born. She has borne Mr. Lewis three sons and four daughters, and they are living on their present farm of 540 acres, 220 of which are under cultivation, situated six miles east of Nashville, which comprises one of the best farms in this section of the country. Mr. Lewis is a Democrat, Seymour receiving his first vote in 1868, and socially he is a member of the A. F. & A.M., Pleasant Valley Lodge No. 30, of Nashville, and has been a member of that organization since he was twenty-two years of age. He and wife are members, in good standing, of the Missionary Baptist Church.

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This family biography is one of 131 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hempstead County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Hempstead County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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