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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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William C. Johnson has been identified with the farming and stock dealing interests of Friendship Township, Greene County, Ark., since 1856, and in that time he has proven himself to be a man of intelligence and enterprise. He was born in Knox County, Tenn., in October, 1821, and is the eldest of five children born to Pleasant M. and Ellen (Thompson) Johnson, who were born in Virginia, and at an early day emigrated to Tennessee, where they were married. They were engaged in farming in West Tennessee until 1858,when they moved to Dunklin County, Mo., where the father died in 1861, aged sixty-four years, his wife’s death having occurred in Tennessee, in 1854. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His mother was Mary Hancock, a niece of John Hancock, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. William C. Johnson was educated in the district schools near his home in Tennessee, and was married in Madison County, of that State, in 1842, to Amanda C. Sanders, a native of Lincoln County, Tenn., a daughter of Samuel and Linnie (Looney) Sanders, who were Tennesseans, and prosperous farmers of that State. They moved to Ozark County, Mo., in 1854, where they were engaged in farming until their respective deaths in 1857 and 1887. Mr. Johnson and family emigrated to Lawrence County, Ark., in 1854, where they entered a tract of 120 acres and remained two years, moving thence to his present farm in Greene County. He first entered 156 acres, which he proved up in 1861, and has added to this land until he now owns 197 acres, with nearly 100 acres under cultivation. Besides this he owns forty acres of land in Clark Township (twenty-two acres in cultivation), the most of his tillable property being devoted to cotton and corn. He has aided in the organization of Friendship Township, and assisted in building the county road. He has always affiliated with the Democratic party, and has helped largely in increasing the number of Democratic voters in his section. He has been one of the foremost men in developing the resources of the county, and has always been an active supporter of schools and churches, being ordained in 1874, by Thomas D. Lloyd and David Thorn, a minister of the Missionary Baptist Church. He has expounded the gospel since that time and has been instrumental in converting some people to Christianity. He and wife are the parents of three daughters and ten sons: Permelia Lane and Emerentha Virginia (deceased); Linna Elender, wife of A.M. Shearer, living near Halliday; W. S. C., married and residing in Greene County; John H., married and resident of Halliday; David Pleasant and James Monroe (deceased); Ben. Franklin, also deceased; Alfred Jefferson, single; Christopher A, also married; J. N., P. G. and L. L.

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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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