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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Ashley 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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Robert Jefferson Kinnaird. Ashley County is one of the most fertile and flourishing of Arkansas’ many admirable counties, and here Mr. Kinnaird is considered one of the leading tillers of the soil, his home farm comprising 320 acres of land, fifty acres being under cultivation, usually averaging one-half bale of cotton to the acre, but the year of 1889 yielding nine bales to twelve acres. Mr. Kinnaird was born in Alabama in March, 1844, his father, William Kinnaird, being a native of South Carolina, and a participant in the Mexican War, his death occurring in Arkansas in 1855. He was a highly esteemed pioneer of Ashley County, and was one of the wealthy men of the State. He lies buried in a beautiful pine grove, fifteen miles south of Hamburg, and on the monument at his head is the following inscription:
“William Kinnaird, died November 21, 1856, aged 55 years.
A loving husband and father dear,
A faithful friend lies buried here.”
Words which are true in every respect. Mrs. H. P. Kinnaird died in 1880, aged sixty-three years. R. J. Kinnaird came to Arkansas when about twelve years of age, his educational opportunities being good until he was fifteen years of age. At the age of seventeen years he espoused the Confederate cause, joining Company B, of the Third Arkansas Infantry in October, 1801, the first fight in which he participated being at Capron Bridge, then Hancock, Va., and the next at Hanging Point and Lookout Mountain. He was taken sick at this place, and after some time spent in the hospital he rejoined his command at Winchester, and participated in the seven days’ fight around Richmond, after which he went to Suffolk, and was in numerous skirmishes for a week or so. He next took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, following which came the Second battle of Manasses, and Winchester; then Harper’s Ferry, and at Sharpsburg. At Gettysburg he was wounded in the right arm, and remained in the hospital until he joined Hood, on his way to Alabama, after which he secured a furlough, came home and resumed work on the farm. In 1866 he was married to Amanda Smith, whose father died in Georgia, in August, 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Kinnaird have had a family of thirteen children born to them: Mattie (wife of William Langford), Robert Jefferson, Needham Thomas, Sarah Ann, William Luther, Charles Walter, James Athel, George Henry, Joe, Jack, Ella, Dovvie and Fred. The father of these children is a supporter of Democratic principles, and his wife is a member of the Baptist Church.

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This family biography is one of 97 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Ashley County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Ashley County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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