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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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G. W. Oliver, farmer of Polk Township, is a native of Arkansas, being born in Dallas Township, this county, in 1851. His parents, Jeptha and Elizabeth (McCants) Oliver, had a family of thirteen children, our subject being the sixth. They were natives of Alabama, and came to Arkansas in 1846, settling in Dallas County (now Calhoun) on the farm on which he now resides. [See father’s sketch.] Our subject was reared on a farm, and attended the common schools, but owing to the outbreak of the war obtained only the rudiments of an education. At the age of twenty years, in February, 1872, he was married to Miss Katie Miears, daughter of J. H. Miears, an early settler and pioneer in this county. In 1873 his father gave him a farm of eighty acres, to which he has since added 160 acres, 100 of which are under cultivation, most of which he has cleared and improved himself. He does a general farming, but devotes considerable attention to raising cotton and corn, averaging about one half bale of cotton to the acre. He is also somewhat engaged in stock-raising. His farm is one of the best in Polk Township. In 1872 he erected his neat and substantial residence, and has fair improvements. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver were born nine children, viz.: J. Harvey, Mary Elizabeth, Robert Lee, Martha Bell, Charles Gaston, Hattie Bradford, William Henry, Bettie Miears and John Franklin. The family are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

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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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