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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lonoke County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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Henry Ellingsworth was born in Richland County, Ill., in 1838, and was a son of Thomas and Eunis (Loomis) Ellingsworth, natives of Delaware and New York, respectively. The former moved to Indiana at an early date, and in 1837 went from that State to Illinois, where he engaged in farming until his death, in 1885. The mother of Henry is still living, and is in her eighty-fourth year. When residents of Illinois, they were compelled to go thirty miles to a post-office. They were the parents of eleven children, three of whom are living: Henry, and Manly and Sophia (twins). Henry Ellingsworth commenced farming for himself, at the age of twenty-two, but continued for only a few months, when his patriotism led him, in 1862, to enlist in the Ninety-eighth Illinois Mounted Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war. He participated in a number of important battles, being under Gen. Rosecrans, in the battle of Chickamauga, and under Gen. Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, in the engagements of which he took part until after the fall of Atlanta. His regiment was then dismounted and sent to Louisville, Ky., where it was remounted and sent out with Gen. Wilson, on his raid through Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Mr. Ellingsworth was wounded in the right arm by a gunshot, at Selma, Ala., and was left there in a rebel hospital, from April 2, 1865, to May 18. He was then returned home on a furlough, receiving a discharge at Nashville, Tenn., with his regiment, about July 1, 1865. Arriving home on the 6th of that month, he remained upon the farm until May, 1877, when he removed to Arkansas, and settled in Grand Prairie. Three years later he came to his present farm. Mr. Ellingsworth’s wife was formerly Mary A. Millington, a native of England, who came to this country with her parents when a child, and settled in Richland County, Ill., where the mother still lives, her father being dead. Mr. and Mrs. Ellingsworth have had three children, two of whom are still living: Josie and Cora, Laura being deceased. Cora is married, and is the wife of D. B. Perkins. In 1881 Mr. Ellingsworth purchased a saw mill, and has since been engaged in that business in connection with farming. He is a stanch Republican, and is very temperate in his habits, using neither tea, coffee, tobacco, nor intoxicating liquor of any kind. He has seen the complete development of Lonoke County, and has always taken a great interest in enterprises for the improvement of the community, of a religious, educational and material nature.

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This family biography is one of 143 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lonoke County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Lonoke County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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