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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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John Calvin Pierce, a prominent farmer of Calhoun County, Ark., was born in La Fayette County, Miss., August 19, 1848, the first child born to the union of C. J. and Lucretia Pierce, the former a native of Georgia, and the latter of Alabama, and both residents of Mississippi for some time. The immediate subject of this short sketch was reared and schooled in Mississippi, receiving a limited education in the common county schools of his native State. At the age of nineteen years he began doing for himself, choosing farming as his occupation, at which he has been unusually successful, and now owns 240 acres of fine land, with about 100 acres under cultivation. He was married in 1870, to Miss Eveline L. Orr, youngest child of William and Margaret Orr, old and respected settlers of Arkansas. To this union were born five children, viz.: Franklin H., Dora A., William R., Walter L. and Asbury J. All except Dora A., who died at the age of four years, are living at home. Mr. Pierce enlisted in the late war, at the age of fifteen years, as private, under Capt. Fomby, in the Twenty-second Mississippi Regiment, and served under different captains until the close of the war, participating in a great many skirmishes, but no important battles. He takes considerable interest in politics, and votes with the Democratic party. He served as bailiff of Polk Township for four years, and served in the same capacity in Huey Township two years. In 1886 he was appointed deputy sheriff. He is a member of the Laborers’ Union, which he joined in 1885, and is a liberal contributor to all worthy public enterprises.

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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

To view additional Calhoun County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

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