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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lafayette 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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Charles B. Ravenscraft, a prominent citizen of Baker Township, was born March 8, 1839, in Kentucky, being a son of John and Letta (Johnson) Ravenscraft, natives of Virginia, the former of German parentage. The paternal grandparents, Thomas Ravenscraft and wife, died of cholera, in 1833, their death occurring in Paris, Ky., on the same day, within a half hour of each other. John Ravenscraft was a farmer by occupation, and moved with his parents to Kentucky while still a boy, and it was here he grew to maturity, and passed his days, dying in that State. The mother was a daughter of William Johnson, a native of England, and departed this life in 1881, being a worthy member of the Christian Church at the time of her death. Of the ten children born to their marriage, but six are now living: Nancy (now Mrs. Day, of Kentucky), Samuel (a farmer of Kentucky), Charles B., John N. (a farmer of Missouri), William (a successful agriculturist of Illinois), and James (now practicing medicine in Kentucky). Charles B. Ravenscraft moved from his native State to St. Louis in I860, and there was employed in a saw-mill until the outbreak of the late war, when he enlisted in Brown’s battalion, Col. Freeman’s company, and afterward in the First Missouri Regiment. When he was a boy, he learned the distillery business in Kentucky and Richmond, Ohio, and while in the Confederate service, he was detailed on special duty, making alcohol and whisky for the Confederate hospitals. He participated in many battles, and was wounded a number of times; among his principal engagements maybe mentioned: Wilson’s Creek, Belmont, Shiloh (where he was wounded in the back of the neck by a ball), Big Black, Vicksburg, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Murfreesboro. At the battle of Belmont he was struck in the foot by a ball which killed his horse. He was wounded at Oak Hill, Mo., in the left arm and side by a ball, which is still in his side, and again, at Vicksburg, he was struck by a ball and rendered insensible. While on scouting duty in Missouri, he was captured and taken to Alton, Ill., where he was held for several months. At the close of the war he was at Lewisville, this county, occupied in the manufacture of whisky for the Confederate Government, and after the surrender he remained here, purchasing an unimproved farm, and engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he has successfully followed ever since. He now owns a fine farm of 1,860 acres, with about 200 acres under cultivation, and is considered one of the prosperous and well-to-do farmers of this locality. He was united in marriage in 1865, to Miss Margaret I. Gant, a native of Lincoln County, Tenn., born on December 16, 1843, and a daughter of James and Carlisle (Hinkle) Gant, both of whom were born in Tennessee, and of the eight children born to their marriage, five are still living, viz.: John N., Thomas H., Bettie B., Jennie and Eugene. The wife is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Socially, Mr. Ravenscraft belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the County Wheel and the Knights of Labor, and in politics always casts his vote with the Democratic party.

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This family biography is one of 44 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lafayette County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Lafayette County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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