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Below is a family biography included in The History of Franklin County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1886. 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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JOSEPH A. SHORT, the present superintendent of the Tennessee Iron, Coal & Railroad Company’s works at Cowan, was born April 12, 1850, in Rowan County, Tenn. His parents were George W. and Eliza (Parks) Short; they being parents of fourteen children. The father is a native of Virginia, the mother of Tennessee. They now reside in Roane County, Tenn., where the father follows farming, having formerly been engaged in iron interests in Roane County. The subject of this sketch remained with his parents to the age of nineteen, when he engaged in the iron business in his native county for four years. He was then engaged in the same business in Dade County, Ga., about three and a half years. He then went to Dickson County, Tenn., still in the iron business, remaining there a few months. Thence he went to the Chattanooga Furnace for a few months; thence to Baxter County, Ga., in the employ of a New York Iron Company for one year. In 1881, he took charge of his present business at Cowan, where he now resides. He was united in marriage, in 1871, to Miss Caroline Underwood, a native of Roane County, Tenn., the fruits of this union being two children, viz.: Michael and Cora. This wife died at her parents’ home in Roane County, Tenn., in 1875. In 1879, Mr. Short married Lizzie Allison, a native of Alabama.
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This family biography is one of 83 biographies included in The History of Franklin County, Tennessee published in 1886. The History of Franklin County was included within The History of Giles, Lincoln, Franklin & Moore Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Giles, Lincoln, Franklin , Moore Counties of Tennessee
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