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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Cross 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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James O. Halk is a son of M. T. and Permelia (Stacy) Halk, who came to Arkansas from Georgia, and settled in what was then Poinsett (now Cross) County, in 1843, entering 200 acres of land in the locality known as “Crowley’s Ridge.” As part of his first crop he put in six acres of cotton, which was considered a large amount in that section of the country at the time. He afterward sold his farm and bought a place containing 400 acres on the west side of the ridge, where he lived at the time of his death, in 1887, at the age of sixty-three. Mr. Halk enlisted in the Confederate army during the war, and served as a private on Price’s raid through Missouri. In his three years’ service he was not permitted to fire a gun. Himself and wife were members of the Methodist Church; they had a family of ten children, eight of whom are still living: James O., Flora (wife of W. L. Neal), Bettie (wife of J. N. Abies), Helen (wife of C. M. Gardner), John, Robert, Gussie and Elsie. The last four children are at home with their mother, who lives on the old homestead. When James O. Halk was twenty years old he was presented by his father with eighty acres of fine farming land, upon which he engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising for himself, and now has some seventy-six acres under cultivation, with a good house, buildings and fences, and considerable stock, mostly cattle, mules and horses. Mr. Halk was married in his twenty-first year to Miss Julia Shaver, of this county. They are the parents of five children, three living: Annie, Zemmie and Sheton. James O. Halk was born in this county in 1857, and is one of the leading young Democrats of the community. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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This family biography is one of 103 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Cross County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Cross County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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