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

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Dr. John B. Heck, a merchant of wide experience, and the trustworthy and honored physician of Bellville, was born and reared in Yell County, his birth occurring in 1850, within three miles of his present home, and is the only child of Abraham S. and Alfleda (Balch) Heck, of Pennsylvania and Tennessee, respectively, and deceased, the mother in 1860 and the father in 1861. The senior Heck came to Arkansas in its pioneer day, and as a means of livelihood busied himself with tanning, having the only tanyard in the county. The Doctor’s early educational advantages were exceedingly few, but being possessed with a strong spirit of determination and the desire to become a physician, in 1871 he began the study of medicine at home, and the succeeding year went to Nashville and entered the medical college, and later thence attended lectures at a Louisville institute, from which he graduated in 1873-74. Returning to Arkansas, he opened an office at Danville, practicing here for some nine years, and in 1877 the firm of Heck & Briggs was formed, and was so known till February, 1881, when the Doctor withdrew and came to Bellville, where he and Isaac N. Martin opened a general store, which they conducted till 1885, when he sold out his interest, and October of 1886 became one of the firm of F. C. Jones & Co., general merchants, carrying a well-selected stock, invoicing some $5,000, and doing an annual business of $15,000. In 1886 he erected his present handsome residence, costing him $3,000. Besides this property he owns several farms, comprising 500 acres, with 150 cultivated. He was one of the founders of the town’s beautiful institution of learning—a most excellent place of its character. The Doctor has been twice married: First to Miss Alice T. Logan, daughter of Jonathan Logan, one of the earliest settlers of this county, who died in April, 1881, leaving him the father of one child, Alice. In 1883 Miss Fannie L., daughter of Dr. D. F. Huckaby, also a pioneer of Yell County, became his second wife, and she bore him the following family: Eula Maze, John and Barbara Wave. Dr. Heck and his wife and family are communicants of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Christian Lodge No. 394, of Bellville, and of the Chapter and Council of Dardanelle. He is a most exemplary citizen, aiding and supporting all of his town’s interests.

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This family biography is one of 124 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Yell County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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