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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Bradley 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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William Boneparte Fike, farmer and cotton-ginner. It will be seen, from a perusal of this sketch, that Mr. Fike is one of the well respected and honored residents of Bradley County, and although his educational advantages in youth were confined to the common schools, he possesses a vigorous mind and is one of the well-read men of the county. Born in Perry County, Ala., February 29, 1836, he is one of ten children born to the union of Terryll Fike and Elizabeth Gordon, whose marriage was consummated about the year 1833. They removed to Union County, Ark., in 1844, and here the father’s death occurred in 1872, at the age of sixty-four years. William B. Fike was the second of their family, and in early youth learned the occupation of farming from his father, learning also lessons of industry and habits of economy, which have since been of great benefit to him. In 1881 he settled on a farm in Clay Township, Bradley County, and here has an excellent farm of 300 acres, 160 being in a desirable state of cultivation, and on which is erected good buildings of all kinds, and a fine steam cotton gin, the latter brings him in a handsome annual income. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, Nineteenth Arkansas Infantry, as second lieutenant, and filled this position with credit until the close of the war, participating in the following engagements: first battle of Farmington, second battle of Iuka, Corinth, Hatchie Bridge, Champion Hill, being wounded in the knee in the last-named engagement, which laid him up for two months. After recovering, he took part in the siege of Vicksburg, but was here captured and afterward exchanged. His command was reorganized in Arkansas, and he was in the engagements at Jenkins’ Ferry and Saline River, which were the last important engagements in which he took part. Mr. Fike is a stanch Democrat in politics, and for four years has held the office of magistrate, and has been school director four terms. In 1865 he married Miss Martha A. Stephens, a native of Union County, Ark., and by her has had a family of three sons: William T. (who graduated from a college at Bowling Green, Ky., and is at present a book- keeper for a leading business house in Little Rock, Ark.), Theodore E. (who is the principal salesman in an extensive general store in Little Rock), and Robert P.

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This family biography is one of 64 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Bradley County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Bradley County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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