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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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Judge William S. Lawson is one of the well-known and successful attorneys of Ashley County, located at Hamburg, Ark., and although he was born in Logan County, Ky., October 12, 1815, he has been a resident of this county since 1854, and has always been one of her most public-spirited citizens, and deeply interested in her welfare. His parents, Peter and Sarah (Lofland) Lawson, were born in Scotland and Harrisonburg, Va., respectively, and the former came to the United States about 1790, landing at Martinsburg, Va., from which place he moved to Kentucky about 1806. He was a soldier in the Whisky Insurrection in West Virginia, and was known to be a man of much ability and force of character. Of a family of thirteen children born to himself and wife, the immediate subject of this sketch is the third in order of birth, and he and three sisters are the only members of the family now living. His early life was spent in Kentucky, where his opportunities for acquiring an education were limited, but by the time he was twenty years of age he had succeeded in obtaining a fair practical education, and commenced life for himself as a clerk in the county clerk’s office. He afterward entered a branch of the Bank of Kentucky, of which he became head clerk, but resigned that position, and in 1843 went to Dover, La Fayette County, Mo., where he sold dry goods for two years. From this place he came to Arkansas, and from December 25, 1845, until 1854 he resided in Union County, being engaged in merchandising and operating a warehouse on the Ouachita River at Pigeon Hill. Since then he has resided in Ashley County, and first kept books for a mercantile establishment. Having studied law in Kentucky, he began brushing up his knowledge of Blackstone, and since 1866 has been a regular practitioner at the bar in this and adjoining counties. He has been justice of the peace and county and probate judge ever since he has been in the county, and at one time was appointed county clerk to fill a vacancy, and held the position until the election of his successor. He has been married twice, first in September, 1846, to Sarah A. Frohock, who died in July, 1847, leaving one child, a son, now living in Hamburg. The second union was to Miss Sarah A. Norris of Ashley County, in March, 1854, and to them six children were born, three daughters and a son living. The mother of these children died in August, 1882, since which time the Judge has remained a widower. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, having joined the same in 1839, of which he has been ruling elder for many years. He has long been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and in 1852 was a member of the convention that remodeled the present constitution of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. He has always been a strong supporter of the law and its execution, and although stern and firm when right is on his side, he is ever courteous, and his decisions while judge have almost always been found satisfactory, for they are not made without careful and painstaking study of the evidence, and his judgment has always been thoroughly relied upon.

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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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