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Below is a family biography included in The History of Sebastian 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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Daniel S. Altstatt, farmer, was born October 4, 1840, in Franklin County, Ark., and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Covert) Altstatt, natives of Clark County, Ind., born March 17, 1806, and March 17, 1804, respectively. The father was reared on a farm in his native county, where he was married October 15, 1826. In 1838 he immigrated to Franklin County, Ark., where he died in 1840. Mrs. Altstatt died in the same county in May, 1875, and was the mother of seven children, of whom four are living: John W., Margaret E., Thomas F. and Daniel S. Rachel J., Indiana and America are the ones deceased. The paternal grandparents of our subject came to the United States from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, where they reared their family, afterward moving to Clark County, Ind. The husband was a soldier in Jackson’s war, and a blacksmith by trade. He died in 1849, at the age of eighty-seven, after a residence in Indiana of about thirty-two years. The maternal grandparents were natives of Pennsylvania, moved to Indiana, and bought land and remained there some time. The husband was in the Florida War, and about 1833 came to Arkansas, and died in 1849. He was a member of the A. F. & A. M., and belonged to the first grand lodge held in the State of Arkansas, and frequently went to Little Rock to attend lodges. Learning the blacksmith’s trade when a boy, in Franklin County, our subject followed that business about twenty-one years. During the war he worked at his trade in the United States shops at Fort Smith, he being one of the first workmen of the place. After the war he settled where he now lives. He then owned but forty acres of land but partially cleared, but now has 210 acres, 100 being under cultivation. His farm is nicely situated and well watered, an iron spring being immediately in front of his house. December 27, 1864, Mr. Alstatt was united in marriage to Mary E. Jones, who was born in Sebastian County September 6, 1846. Her grandparents were early settlers of Tennessee, where her parents, John and Narcissus (Rutherford) Jones, were both born. They immigrated to Arkansas in 1833. Mrs. Altstatt’s maternal grandparents were natives of Tennessee. The grandfather died in his native State, and his wife in Arkansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Altstatt ten children have been born: Pleasant J., Eliza J., Mary E., Hiram A. B., William W., George W., Robert D., Abbie L., Sarah L. (deceased) and Thomas F. (deceased). Mr. Alstatt is a Republican, and a member of the I. O. O. F. and Masonic fraternities. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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This family biography is one of 217 biographies included in The History of Sebastian County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Sebastian County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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