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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Logan County, Arkansas published by Southern Publishing Company in 1891.  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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W. H. Fort, hotel keeper, Paris, Ark. The town of Paris is to be congratulated on her good hotels, among which, that conducted by that popular and genial gentleman, W. H. Fort, ranks prominent. This gentleman was born May 20, 1822, and is a son of Spear and Margaret (Tittsworth) Fort, the father a native of North Carolina, and the mother of Tennessee. The mother was captured by the Creek Indians when ten years of age, and was released after a year’s captivity. She married Mr. Fort in the last named State, and to this union were born twelve children—six sons and six daughters. At an early day the parents removed to Cooper County, Mo., entered land, and there the father tilled the soil until his death in 1828. The same year his widow removed to Logan County, Ark., with her children and there received her final summons in 1847. W. H. Fort, the next to the youngest child, was married in 1846 to Miss Nancy Sewell, daughter of John Sewell of Mississippi, she being a native of that State. Her father removed from Mississippi to Arkansas when Mrs. Fort was about ten years of age, and when she was sixteen years of age she was married to Mr. Fort. Eleven children were born to this union: Susan M., Mary T., Belle, James, Sallie, Harmon, Eudora, Isabella, Jefferson, Maud, and the next died in infancy. They have seven children now living. Mr. Fort is now the owner of the Paris Hotel in Paris, his property being worth about 15,000, and by his social, pleasant manners has won many patrons. Having followed the active duties of the farm for many years he became too old to follow the plow any longer, and so he gave his land, which amounted to about 2,000 acres altogether, to his children, while he chose the hotel business for himself. He is a Mason and one of the oldest and most esteemed citizens of Logan County, of which he has been a resident for sixty-two years. He and wife are both church members, he of the Cumberland Presbyterian and she of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

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This family biography is one of 92 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Logan County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Logan County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Logan County, Arkansas family biographies here: Logan County, Arkansas

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