My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Scott 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.

* * * *

R. P. Dickens is a gentleman of substantial worth, residing in Scott County, Ark., and all his farming operations have been carried on according to the most advanced and progressive ideas, and have resulted to his own good, and to the benefit of those with whom he has come in contact. He was born in Tennessee May 7, 1839, and, at the age of eight years came to Arkansas with his parents, Richard and Mary Jane Dickens, and having been brought up to a farm life, he determined to make that his calling through life, and accordingly, at the age of twenty-one years, purchased some land in Faulkner County, of this State, and began immediately to put it in good farming condition. After remaining on this farm for twenty years, he sold it and came to Scott County, Ark., purchasing his present farm of 140 acres, 85 acres of which are in a good state of cultivation, and nicely improved with good farm buildings of all kinds. Although his orchard is small, his trees are well selected, and bear well. His land yields an average amount of cotton, corn and oats, and in 1889 he established the first and only tannery in the western part of the State, which he has worked very successfully, finding a ready sale for all the leather he can produce. His intention is to enlarge the business at no distant day, and then will give the greater part of his attention to that work. He was married at the age of twenty-three years, but after a wedded life of seven years his wife died, leaving him with four children, the eldest three of whom are married. He was again married, but his second wife lived only about fifteen months, and he next espoused Miss Mary Douglas, their union resulting in the birth of three children. The family attend the Christian Church, of which Mr. and Mrs. Dickens are members, and he is a Democrat, and belongs to the I. O. O. F. and the A. F. & A. M. fraternities. Mr. Dickens keeps fully apace with the progress of agriculture, and his place is one of the neat, comfortable homesteads for which this county is famous.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 62 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Scott County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Scott County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Scott County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.