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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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John M. Parker is a son of William B. Parker, and like his father was born in Georgia, but at the age of twenty-one he started out for himself and moved to Arkansas at the age of twenty-two. Prior to this he had married Miss Clara Barton, a daughter of Larkin Barton, a blacksmith and farmer of Meriwether County, Ga., who died when Mrs. Parker was fourteen years of age. To her union with Mr. Parker the following family of children have been born: Maryander (wife of Jackson DeVaughn), Josephine (wife of Robert Stuart), John C. Larkin, James I. Jeff, Guss, Judson (wife of John Robertson), and Janie (who died at nineteen). All but the last named are living at this date. On first coming to this State Mr. Parker settled in Hot Spring County, where he remained ten years, then removed to Columbia County, and after a residence of twenty-six years here he came to Hempstead County. In 1863 he enlisted in Crawford’s regiment, Fagan’s brigade, and the most of his service was in Arkansas. He was captured at Long View in 1865, and remained in prison at Little Rock, Ark., and Rock Island, Ill., until about one month before the final surrender. His regiment was discharged at Marshall, Tex., and he returned to his home in Columbia County, Ark., and resumed farming, remaining here during the reconstruction period. He has resided on the farm on which he is now living since 1881, his estate consisting of eighty acres, and as the land is fertile it produces abundant crops of cotton, corn, small grain and fruits. He and his wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. He is a Democrat, politically, and has filled a number of honorable callings in life. His parents were of English descent, and Baptist people; his mother died in 1848 in Dallas County, Ark., and his father in 1865 in Jasper County, Tex.

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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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