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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Fulton 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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William M. Lafevers, farmer, Viola. No worthy reference to the affairs of this county would be complete without mention of Mr. Lafevers, who, among others, is engaged in tilling the soil. Besides enjoying to an unlimited extent the confidence and respect of all who know him he came of a family of children that have not only done credit to themselves but have brought honor upon the name they bear. Mr. Lafevers’ parents, Alexander and Rebecca (Bradley) Lafevers, were both natives of North Carolina, the father born in Burke County and the mother in Cherokee County. They moved to Hardin County, Tenn., in 1871, to Izard County, Ark., about 1876, and to Fulton County in 1878, where Mrs. Lafevers died in 1883. The father is still living, and is sixty-four years of age. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, as was also his wife. He is a farmer by occupation and served in both the Mexican and Civil Wars. Of the ten children born to his marriage seven are still living, and all but one in Fulton County. William M. Lafevers is the eldest child of this family. He was born in Cherokee County, N. C., in 1852, and though his educational advantages in youth were very meager, and though perhaps deficient in general learning, his vigorous mind has so grasped and embraced the opportunities which have presented themselves that he is accounted among the intelligent men of this vicinity. He was from the first taught everything connected with farming, later moving with his parents to Izard County. In 1875 he wedded Miss Tennessee Cole, daughter of Henry and Mary Cole, early settlers of Arkansas, and the same year of his marriage he moved to Fulton County. He is the owner of 207 acres of land, with 100 under cultivation, and also has other interests. He is a Democrat in politics, casting his first vote for Tilden; is a member of the Agricultural Wheel, and he and wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

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This family biography is one of 70 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Fulton County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Fulton County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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