My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Arkansas County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  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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Jesse P. Poynter, editor of the DeWitt Gazette and county treasurer of Arkansas County, is a native of Kentucky, in which State he was reared and educated until fourteen years of age. Then he went to Ohio, and in 1852 came with his father and family to Arkansas, locating in Monroe County, but remained only a short time. Going thence to Memphis, Tenn., he was employed on the Memphis Bulletin until 1858, after which he returned to Monroe County. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Arkansas Infantry, holding the position of first lieutenant, in which he served until 1864, when he was transferred to the Forty-seventh Arkansas Cavalry; he took part in Price’s raid through Missouri, Kansas and the Indian Territory, and was appointed first lieutenant of Company K. After the war he engaged in farming, which occupation he followed until 1879, when he moved to De Witt, and was employed at his trade as printer. Mr. Poynter married Miss Amanda Coster, of Monroe County, and to them have been born three children: Walter, Ethel May and Cora. Mr. and Mrs. Poynter are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and is a Royal Arch Mason. In 1886 he was elected county treasurer, and re-elected in 1888, and fills the office with entire satisfaction to the community, and with credit to himself. In 1883, in De Witt, he started a paper called the Sentry, which he published until 1884, when he started his present paper, the De Witt Gazette, Democratic in politics, and the only paper published in this place. This ably advocates the interests of this section. Mr. Poynter was born in Kentucky, in 1835, the son of David E. and Judith B. (Moseley) Poynter, also natives of the Blue Grass State, where they lived until 1852, then coming to Monroe County, where they lived until their death. David E. Poynter was county surveyor of Monroe County for a number of years. His death occurred in 1859, at the age of fifty years, and his wife died in 1870, at the age of sixty-nine. They belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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This family biography is one of 50 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Arkansas County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Arkansas County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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