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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pike 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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W. B. Thomasson, farmer, Murfreesboro, Ark. There are a number of men prominently identified with the agricultural affairs of this county, but among them none are more deserving of mention than W. B. Thomasson, who was born in York District, S. C., in l823. He was the elder of two children born to James and Jane (Barron) Thomasson, natives of South Carolina, where the father followed agricultural pursuits. The mother died when our subject was an infant, and the father, died in Georgia, in 1832. The paternal grandfather, William Thomasson, was a native of North Carolina, and a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The maternal grandfather was a merchant of Ebenezerville, made a large fortune, and died in 1840. W. B. Thomasson was reared on the farm until fourteen years of age, and then entered school at Franklin, Ga., where he remained for two years. After this he began the study of law, was admitted to the bar when but nineteen years of age, under a special act of the Legislature, and at once began the practice of his profession in the town of Franklin. In the spring of 1862 he raised a company at home, was elected captain, and soon went to the front, where he was attached to the Forty-first Regiment Georgia Infantry and was in the battles of Corinth, Perryville, Missionary Ridge and in the battles of Georgia, siege of Vicksburg, Jonesboro, on the Georgia campaign, and at Bentonville, where the last gun was fired. He then returned to Georgia and resumed the practice of law. In 1872 he came to Arkansas, settled in Clark County for three years and then came to Pike County, where he has since remained. He was appointed county clerk, was soon after elected at a special election and served three terms in succession. He practiced his profession for a short time and at the expiration of his term of office returned to a farm five miles southeast of town, which consisted of 500 acres. He now has 700 acres, of which 110 acres are under cultivation, and he is rapidly opening more. He has erected good buildings, planted an excellent orchard, and is one of the most enterprising farmers of the county. He was married in 1847, to Miss Mary Stewart, a native of New Jersey and the fruits of this union have been ten children: James S. (married), Walter (died at the age of nineteen years), Charles (resides at Arkadelphia), Horace J. (married and resides on the farm with his father), W. B. (resides in California), Dr. N. T. (a physician at Murfreesboro), Anna (wife of J. A. Holland, resides in California), Joe, Robert and Samuel J. Mrs. Thomasson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and socially, Mr. Thomasson is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Pike Lodge No. 91.

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This family biography is one of 71 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pike County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Pike County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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