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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Greene 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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Manoah B. Hampton. This name is synonymous in Greene County, Ark., with successful agriculture, for Mr. Hampton has been one of its enterprising tillers of the soil since 1878. He was born in Lincoln County, Tenn., in 1841, and is a son of James M. and Melissa (Owen) Hampton, who were also born in that State, the former’s birth occurring in 1812 and the latter’s in 1823. The father was reared to maturity in Lincoln County, Tenn., and there continued to make his home until 1871, then moving to West Tennessee, where he died in 1876, having been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a stanch supporter of Christianity and education. His wife died in Shelby County, Tenn., in 1883; she was a daughter of William Owen, a prominent farmer of the middle portion of that State, where he died in 1861, being eighty years old. The paternal grandfather, James M. Hampton, was born, reared and married in North Carolina, and after becoming the father of a number of children, moved to Tennessee and located on a plantation in Lincoln County, where he became a wealthy planter and slaveholder. He died in 1858 or 1859 at the age of eighty years, he, as well as the maternal grandfather, having been an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The immediate subject of this sketch is one of the following children: Martin F., Pinkney P., Pleasant R. (deceased), Manoah B., James W., Martha J., Mary (deceased), John T., Franklin H. (deceased), Narcissa A., Maggie (deceased), and Nancy S. Manoah Hampton attained his majority in Lincoln County, Tenn., and received his early education in the old log school house. He remained with his parents until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he enlisted in 1861 in the Confederate army, in Company K, First Tennessee Regiment, under Col. Turner, and was at first and second Manassas, Cedar Mountain, under Stonewall Jackson, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Gettysburg, Richmond and Petersburg, besides numerous other engagements. At Hanover Junction he was wounded by a spent cannon ball striking him in the left side. He was taken prisoner at Shepherdstown, Md., and taken to Baltimore jail, where he and 800 others were condemned to be hung. They were afterward taken to Point Lookout, Md., where they were kept in prison for eight months, then being exchanged. He, however, remained there until the final surrender, when he returned home and continued his farm work until 1867. Later he moved to Shelby County, Tenn., and in 1878 to Arkansas, as above stated. He has an excellent farm here, with 100 acres of it under cultivation, and is doing well financially. He was married in 1866 to Miss Mollie Stevenson, who was born in Giles County, Tenn., in 1848; she became the mother of three children: John B., who died at the age of eleven months; Mattie M., wife of James R. Miller, deputy clerk of Greene County; and Sally N., who lives at home. Mr. Hampton is now rearing a little girl by the name of Anna Davis. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a stanch supporter of churches and schools, and in his political views is a Democrat.

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This family biography is one of 120 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Greene County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Greene County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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