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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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W. T. Allison was born on the 25th of December, 1850, in Gibson County, Tenn., being the eldest of six children, two now living, born to John W. and Elizabeth (Harrington) Allison, who were born in the ‘‘Old North State’’ and emigrated to Gibson County, Tenn., in 1828, where the father engaged in cabinet making and farming, and made his home until 1867, when he moved to Weakley County, Tenn., where he now resides. In 1862 he enlisted in the army and served under Gen. Forrest until nearly the close of the war. He is a Democrat. His wife died in 1861. W. T. Allison attended the schools of Gibson County, and in his youth also followed the plow, which occupation has been his chief calling ever since. In January, 1876, he removed to Stoddard County, Mo., and for a number of years was engaged in teaching school in Dexter and other places. While there he was married on the 8th of May, 1879, to Miss Minnie A. Walker, a native of Carroll County, Tenn., and a daughter of John and Sarah (Gibbons) Walker, also Tennesseans and farmers by occupation; after residing in Stoddard County, Mo., for five years, the father died in 1877. The mother is still a resident of that county. Remaining in Stoddard County until the 5th of September, 1882, Mr. Allison and wife then moved to Craighead County of this State, and after working as salesman in that county until March, 1883, he came to Greene County, Ark., and purchased two years later eighty acres of improved land, to which he has since added 122 acres, making 202 acres in all, of which forty are under cultivation. He has taken an active part in politics, and votes the Democratic ticket, being the present justice of the peace and is filling his second term. Socially, he is a member of the Agricultural Wheel at Halliday, and he and wife belong to the Baptist Church. Three of the four children born to their union are living: Clyde Eugenia, Dero Dean, and Vernie Pearl. Adolphus Burdette died in 1881 at the age of six months and three weeks. Mr. Allison is still engaged in teaching, having followed that occupation a part of four years in Greene County, and is considered one of the successful educators of his district.

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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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