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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee 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 H. Spivey first saw the light of day in Alabama, and after spending nine or ten years of his life in that State, he moved to Tennessee, remaining there about four years; the balance of his boyhood days were passed in Mississippi. He was reared on his father’s farm, but received a good education in the common schools of the community in which he lived, and when grown served an apprenticeship as a mechanic, but has followed farming nearly all of his life. He was born on April 8, 1821, to the union of Temple and Charity (Hicks) Spivey. The former’s birth occurred in Moore County, N. C, on September 22, 1794. He emigrated to Alabama in 1818 and was married in June, 1820, remaining in that State some ten years, when he went to Hardeman County, Tenn. Four years later he removed to the Chickasaw Nation in Mississippi, which was then occupied by the Indians, and now forms a part of Tippah County. In 1849 he went with his wife to Texas, in which State they spent the balance of their lives. Mr. Spivey was a millwright and farmer by occupation, and at the time of his death, in 1877, was possessed of considerable property. Mrs. Spivey was born on October 17, 1802, in North Carolina, and died in 1873. They were members of the Baptist Church, and had a family of sixteen children, nine sons and seven daughters, eight of whom are still living. John H., the principal of this sketch, removed to Monroe (now Lee) County, Ark., in November, 1863, and was engaged in farming until 1872, when he entered the ranks of the merchants of this county, though he still carries on farming. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army as a member of Blythe’s battalion, and participated in a number of battles and skirmishes, being wounded at the battle of Beaver Dam Bayou, by a shot through the right arm. This disabled him so that he was disqualified from active duty. He was at that time a lieutenant of his company. Mr. Spivey was married in November, 1845, in Hardeman County, Tenn., to Miss Martha A. Howard, of Madison County, Ala., and daughter of George and Penelope (Moore) Howard, of North Carolina nativity. She was born on November 17, 1824, and is the mother of nine children, six sons and three daughters, five of whom survive: Mary E. (wife of John Ward, of Lee County), William A. (also a farmer of Lee County), Andrew T. (a farmer of Lincoln County, Tenn.), Luada (now Mrs. Bickeroff) and Thaddeus F. (also of this county. Mr. Spivey is a stanch Democrat, and was elected justice of the peace in 1874, which position he held six years; he has also been a notary public for eight years. He was appointed postmaster of Moro in 1882, and discharged the duties of that position until November of the past year. He is an unaffiliated member of the Masonic order, in which he has taken the Royal Arch degree, and is a member of the County Grange; he also belongs to the Missionary Baptist Church, as does his wife.

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This family biography is one of 104 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Lee County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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