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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Garland 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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Judge James B. Wood, circuit judge, Hot Springs, Ark. No name is justly entitled to a more enviable place in the history of Garland County than the one which heads this sketch, for it is borne by a man who has been usefully and honorably identified with the interests of this county, and with its advancement in every worthy particular. He owes his nativity to Drew County, Ark., where he was born January 25, 1851, and is the son of John S. and Martha (Bussey) Wood, both natives of Georgia. John S. Wood removed, when a boy, to Alabama, and came to Drew County, Ark., at an early day, where he married Miss Bussey, and followed the occupation of a farmer. He is also a Baptist minister. He resided in Drew County until 1853, when he removed to Ashley County, of the same State, and there he now resides. Judge James B. Wood was reared in Ashley County, Ark., received his education in the common schools, and at the age of twenty began the study of law, being admitted to the bar in 1872. He practiced in Ashley County until March, 1875, when he came to Hot Springs, where he has since practiced his profession. In 1878 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the Seventh judicial circuit, composed of the counties of Garland, Hot Spring, Grant, Saline and Perry, and held this position for four years, or two terms. In 1882 he was elected circuit judge of the same circuit, and so great was his popularity that he was re-elected in 1886. Mr. Wood, when elected, was the youngest circuit judge in Arkansas, but nevertheless this has not interfered with the respect and esteem manifested toward him for his sterling integrity, sound judgment and liberal, progressive ideas. A younger brother, C. D. Wood, is also one of the circuit judges of this State, his being the Tenth judicial circuit. He was elected in 1886. Judge Wood’s marriage to Miss Hettie G. Scott, a native of Louisiana, occurred in 1877, and to them have been born four children: Guy, Scott, John S. and Marnette. The Judge and Mrs. Wood are Baptists.

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This family biography is one of 55 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Garland County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Garland County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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