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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Calhoun 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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D. H. Tobin is another of the prominent farmers of Franklin Township. Born in this county, in 1850, the fifth in a family of eleven children born to Daniel H. and Rebecca (Harrison) Tobin, natives of Alabama, where the former followed farming until 1845 when he came to Arkansas and settled in Union County where he remained two years. Here he bought a farm which he soon sold and removed to Calhoun County, where he entered a tract of 300 acres. He lived here about ten years and cleared about 300 acres and made extensive improvements. He removed from his State to Texas in December, 1859, and bought a large tract of land in that State; he remained there until December, 1865, when he came back to Arkansas and settled on a farm six miles south of Hampton. Here he engaged in farming on an extensive scale with free labor, but it did not prove successful. He died in 1876. From the advent of Mr. Tobin in this section he took a great interest in its affairs. When the county seat of this county was decided upon, Mr. Tobin surveyed the land and gave the town its name, after his old friend, Col. Hampton, of Hamburg, Ark. He was interested in the steamboats on the Ouachita in connection with his brother John W. Tobin who was captain. Their first boat was the “R. W. McCrea,” a fine side wheel steamer. This interest was destroyed at the outbreak of the war. He was in the Confederate service for three years, engaged mostly in the Southwest. He also had two sons, elder brothers of our subject, in the war. Henry enlisted at the age of fourteen years and served for three years. He died March 21, 1879; his birth occurred March 21, 1849. John W. enlisted in 1862 and served until the close of the war; he died in 1876, two weeks before his father’s death. Our subject was reared on his father’s farm, receiving his education in the common schools of his native State, and remained at home until his marriage in 1873, to Miss Jennie Barker, a native of Calhoun County, daughter of Sheriff Barker. He then entered a homestead and soon added by purchase 360 acres, making 480, 130 acres of which he has under cultivation. He raises mostly cotton and potatoes, raising one-half bale to the acre, and other crops in proportion. He has a good young orchard, fair dwelling and good outbuildings. This is the result of Mr. Tobin’s industry and labor as he started in life poor, at the close of the war. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Tobin were born six children, one of whom is dead, viz.: Henry Augustus, John, (died in 1882, at the age of five years), Oll, Effie, and Grover Cleveland (born November 4, 1884), the date of the election in which Cleveland was elected President, and Mary. He takes an active interest in school matters and has served as school director. Although not active politically, he votes with the Democratic party, and is one of the whole souled planters of this community.

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This family biography is one of 67 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Calhoun County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Calhoun County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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