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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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Paschal P. West. On April 16, 1845, was born in South Carolina the subject of this sketch. He was raised to manhood in Georgia, and given the benefit of the common schools, and learning the blacksmith’s trade, at the age of nineteen, started in business for himself, following this trade, more or less, in connection with his farming and milling interests. Soon after the establishment of his business he was married to Miss Rebecca Westree, daughter of Samuel Westree, of Forsythe County, Ga. This union has been blessed with seven children, four of whom are living: Alpha (born in Georgia, in 1865, and given a good common schooling, at the age of nineteen married John Grownover, a farmer, living in the vicinity of her parents), Eddie (born in 1876), Effie L. (born in 1878), and George (born in 1880). All have been given the advantages of the public schools. Our subject fought in defense of his country in Company E, Forty-third Georgia Regiment of Volunteer Infantry; was in some small skirmishes, and while fighting at Resaca was wounded, and taken to the hospital, where he was discharged, on account of disability, and returned to his home in Georgia. In the fall of 1874 he came to this county, and purchased 115 acres of valuable land, forty of which are in a high state of cultivation, and the remainder good timber land. Here he has not only carried on the business of farming, but erected mills, and entered quite extensively into milling flour, lumber, and ginning cotton, his plant being estimated at $2,500. In 1889 he met with a severe loss in the destruction of his entire property by fire, together with eighteen bales of cotton and 150 bushels of wheat. Our subject, being a man of indomitable energy and push, immediately set to work to repair his loss, and there now stands on the old site new and substantial buildings, valued at $1,800, which are in constant operation. He has never been connected with any religious organization, but gives liberally of his means for the support of churches, schools and all worthy public enterprises. In political and social circles he is respected and esteemed by his fellow-citizens, and, although a Democrat, does not take any active part in politics, but votes for the best man; is an A. F. & A. M., affiliating with a lodge at Bellville, and is postmaster at the little village of Milan, which had its origin on his farm. Mrs. West is an energetic worker and member of the Baptist Church, and, with her husband, enjoys the confidence of the community in which they live.

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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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