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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Chicot 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 B. Daniels is possessed of those advanced ideas and progressive principles regarding agricultural life which are always the chief characteristics of a successful farmer. His birth occurred in Wilkinson County, Miss., December 24, 1852, and he is a son of William A. Daniels, also a Mississippian, born about the year 1821, his death occurring March 25, 1868. He was a successful farmer, but lost heavily by unfortunate business investments which he made in his latter days. He was collecting and disbursing officer for his section, under the Confederate Government, during the war, and after the war was a member of the Legislative body of his State during 1866 and 1867, discharging his duties faithfully and in a highly satisfactory manner, and being a Democrat, sacrificed much for the success of the party. He was a Master Mason, a member of the Presbyterian Church, being elder in the same for many years prior to his death, and was noted for his piety and religious devotion, living an exemplary Christian life under all circumstances and conditions. He left to his children the most honorable and valuable of all heritages—a good name and an unblemished record in both public and private life. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Caroline L. Buford, a native of Amite County, Miss., where she was reared and educated, but her marriage to Mr. Daniels took place in Granville, Ohio, while she was there finishing her literary education at college. Their union resulted in the birth of the following children: Adella S. (wife of Robert Lowry, of Texas), John B., Ida I. (wife of N. S. Anderson, a farmer of Mississippi), Lily A. (widow of J. B. Krisel, a resident of Chicot County, Ark.), William P. (a farmer and merchant of Chicot County), Ernest W. (a resident of Tacoma, Wash.), and Coral L. (wife of W. S. Adams, residing in Chicot County). Robert J. died in Mississippi in 1854. Mrs. Daniels is living on the old homestead near Dermott, Ark., to which she removed with her husband and family in 1858. John B. Daniels, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared in Chicot County, and here obtained a fair academic education. From the time he was sixteen until he attained his majority he superintended his mother’s business, after which he began for himself as a farmer, and as such still continues. He was in the mercantile business in 1878-79, but at the end of that time retired from this business and returned to his farm, to which he is devoting all his time and attention. He has a fine body of land near Dermott, embracing about 800 acres, 300 of which are under cultivation, well improved, and adapted to the raising of grain, cotton and grasses, but the most of the land is devoted to cotton and corn. He is, to a small extent, engaged in the stock business, raising cattle, hogs and sheep. He is a member of the K. of H., is a Democrat in his political views, and for several years has been deputy collector of taxes. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and he is an elder, occupying a prominent position in the councils of his church at Dermott. They are a truly Christian family, and are devoted to church and Sunday-school work, both at home and abroad. Mr. Daniels is an honorable, high-minded gentleman, whose influence for good reaches far beyond the narrow confines of the community in which he resides. On October 29, 1885, he was married to Miss Annie Canon, a native of Shelby County, Tenn., and a daughter of John Q. and Mary E. (Smith) Canon, who were born in South Carolina and Shelby County, Tenn., in 1820 and 1839 respectively. The former’s death occurred in 1876, and the latter’s in Crittenden County, Ark., in February, 1884, she, at the time of her death, being the wife of Joseph Williams, of Shelby County, Tenn., whom she married in 1879, removing with him to Arkansas in 1883. Mr. Daniels and wife have two children: Bertie C, born September 7, 1887, Robert J., born August 29, 1889.

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This family biography is one of 34 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Chicot County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Chicot County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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