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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Craighead County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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James Gordon Frierson was born on Duck River, in Maury County, Tenn., November 5, 1838, and died in Jonesboro, Ark., March 8, 1884. His father was Dr. Charles Curren Frierson, descended on the father’s side from French Huguenots, who settled in South Carolina some time before the Revolutionary War; on the mother’s side, he comes from Scotch-Irish lineage — early emigrants to Middle Tennessee. Dr. Charles Frierson married, in 1828 or 1829, Miss Mildred Payne, of West Tennessee, of English descent, numbering among her progenitors some of the pioneers of the State, and among her kindred some of the best people of Tennessee and Mississippi, counting among their cherished possessions many relics of the Revolutionary days, and pointing with pride to the record of their family. Among these are the Van Burens, the Taylors, the Alexanders, and others. Thomas Paine, the noted political and deistic writer of early times, was a member of the family and was spoken of with mingled feelings, in which pride of race did not predominate. Dr. Frierson and wife were the parents of eleven children, only five of whom are now living. They removed many years ago, with quite a colony of neighbors and relations, accompanied by many colored families who had descended to them, to La Fayette County, Miss., where, four miles from Oxford, the site of the State University, they founded College Hill with a fine Old Presbyterian Church, and male and female high schools, and added much to the culture and refinement of that part of the State. Dr. Frierson died at a ripe old age in 1879, and his wife the previous year. Both were devout members of the Presbyterian Church, in which faith their children were all reared. One daughter married Rev. Mr. McLamroch, of Hernando, Miss.; another Hon. Martin L. Clardy, of St. Francois County, Mo.; a third, Ben. G. Peers, of Farmington, Mo.; still another, a Mr. Hurt, of Germantown, Tenn. The remainder of the family still reside at the old homestead at College Hill, Miss. James Gordon Frierson was the second son. At the age of twelve or fourteen years he was taken from the home of his birth, near old Zion Church, in Maury County, Tenn., to Mississippi, the State of his adoption. He was educated at Oxford, graduating with honor, and numbering among his professors the distinguished Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, Dr. John Waddill, Justice Lamar, Judge Longstreet, and others of less note. Mr. Frierson volunteered at the age of twenty-three in an infantry regiment, in the Confederate service, serving as captain under the noted Gen. Walthall, in the Army of Tennessee, and was in many of the fiercest battles fought in that section — Corinth, Iuka, Franklin, Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. Here above the clouds he was captured by some of Hooker’s men, taken to Johnson’s Island, held a prisoner for nineteen months, being released at the close of the war, with health shattered by hardships and privations and exposure he was poorly fitted by nature to endure. Soon after the war (in January, 1869) he with his brother-in-law, Maj. M. L. Clardy, located at the little village of Cleburne, Cross County, then the county seat of the county, to practice law. November 12, of the same year, he was married to Miss Emma G. Davis, the oldest daughter of Dr. N. A. Davis, formerly of Ozark, Christian County, Mo. In 1870 he was elected to the State Senate of Arkansas, held this office two terms (four years), and was president of the senate during the Brooks-Baxter war. Mr. Frierson, assisted by the Hon. James Berry, who was then speaker of the house, drew up a bill the next day calling for a constitutional convention. The bill passed immediately. He was then elected a member of the convention, and took a leading part in its deliberations. In 1882 he was elected judge of the Second judicial district, consisting of the counties of Cross, Craighead, Clay, Randolph, Greene, Mississippi, Poinsett and Crittenden. He held this office to the entire satisfaction of all parties, by his pure life and varied learning winning the respect and affection of the people. He possessed, in an eminent degree, those virtues which adorn the bench, and that law knowledge which makes the safe and wise jurist a unity of purity and integrity. He was kindly, true and patriotic, a zealous Christian, and as legislator, patriot or jurist, his merit was only exceeded by his modesty. He died at the age of forty-six at his home in Jonesboro, Ark., leaving a wife and three children: Gordon, Camille and Charles Davis Frierson. Mrs. Frierson established and conducted a high school, which flourished for several years until superseded by the Jonesboro graded schools, in which she at present occupies a position as first assistant.

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This family biography is one of 98 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Craighead County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Craighead County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Craighead County, Arkansas family biographies here: Craighead County, Arkansas Biographies

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