My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Miller 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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Dr. R. L. Grant, physician and surgeon, Texarkana, Ark. This clever and scientific practitioner was born in Boone County, Ky., on September 10, 1860, and his parents, William H. and Elizabeth J. (Willis) Grant, were natives also of the Blue Grass State. The father has cultivated the soil all his life, has been unusually successful, and now resides on the old homestead in Kentucky. He was a first cousin to the late Gen. Grant, but is a Southern sympathizer, and is still active and strong. The mother is deceased. They were the parents of ten children—seven sons and three daughters—Dr. R. L. Grant being next to the youngest child in order of birth. The latter was reared to manhood in Boone County, Ky., received his education at Danville Centre College, Danville, Ky., and graduated in the literary school at Oxford, Ohio, in 1880, being the valedictorian. He attained his growth on the farm but his ambitions were above that work, and with a good education he started out to fight life’s battles when but a boy. He began the study of medicine and entered college at Philadelphia in September, 1880, graduating at Jefferson Medical College in 1882. After this he located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was there for some time before he built up a practice. He taught clinical medicine in the Medical College of Ohio from September, 1883, to November, 1886,when he resigned on account of a serious throat trouble, and placed himself under a specialist at Philadelphia until the following March. After that he resumed his practice in Cincinnati, and continued there until October, 1887, when he abandoned his profession and traveled for a year along the coast. He visited many places of interest, and feeling very much recruited, decided to enter his profession again. On October 13, 1889, he opened up an office over J. A. Lightfoot & Co.’s drug store, at Texarkana, Ark., where he has built up a very lucrative practice. He is classed a No. 1 physician and surgeon, and has obtained a liberal share, of public favor, the best proof of his skill and care. He has performed several very difficult operations, which have gained him considerable notoriety, and is examining physician for the Knights of Macabees. Although a resident of Texarkana but for a few months, he already has a large practice and numerous friends.

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