My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson 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.

* * * *

Samuel M. McGehee, one of the old resident planters of this county, has seen considerable of pioneer life, having come to Arkansas in 1857. He was born in Meriwether County, Ga., September 1, 1828, where he was reared, having few school advantages, and where he cast his first vote. At the age of twenty-one he commenced clerking in a general store for $8 per month and board, at Griffin, Ga. On this small sum he supported himself for two years, later engaging in farming in his native county, and four years later removed to Arkansas, locating in the vicinity of where he now resides, and becoming one of the leading farmers of his section. He has upward of 250 acres of open land devoted to the best purposes of agricultural life. In 1861 Mr. McGehee enlisted in the Confederate army, in what was called the Fogin Guards, and was made first lieutenant. They went to Virginia, camping on the Potomac, where he remained till his health gave out, when he was transferred to the Western department. He then helped organize the Trans-Mississippi department, and served as quartermaster. He was at Arkansas Post, January 10, 1863, but succeeded in making his escape, also taking part in a number of skirmishes during service, and at the battle of Williamsburg, Va., he was shot, though by the ball hitting his watch and glancing off he was not injured. In 1864 he was elected to the State legislature but did not serve. In 1870 he was commissioned postmaster at Double Wells (which is at his home), named from two wells on his place. He has since held the office, with the exception of one year when he resigned. He has been very successful, and now owns 4,000 acres of good land. Mr. McGehee’s first wife was Miss Mary Blackwell (sister of Thomas P. Blackwell), who was born in 1829, and died in 1866, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had a family of six children, two of whom are now living: Dr. Marshall M. (living and practicing in Georgia), and Sarah E. (wife of A. B. Craig of this county). September 11, 1866, Mr. McGehee was married to his present wife, formerly Miss Eliza J. Griffin. She was born in Fayette County, Tenn., in the year 1832, and was the daughter of Lucy and Perryman Griffin, of Kentucky, the former of whom died in 1873; the mother is still living at the age of eighty-eight, but for ten years has been deprived of her eye-sight, the affliction resulting from measles. Mrs. Perryman is one of three living out of a family of eight children. She has been a resident of this county since 1859, having come here with her parents. One son, Franklin O., is the result of this union; he was born December 2, 1868, graduated from the Central Collegiate Institute, at Altus, Ark., and is now teaching his fourth term of school. Mr. McGehee and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which he is steward, and he has been a lay member of every conference at Little Rock for the last twenty years. He is a Democrat, taking some interest in county and State elections, and has held the office of justice of the peace for some years, and it is recorded that soon after taking that office he married a couple on horseback. His father, a farmer and local Methodist minister, was a native of Georgia, and married Sarah Martin, of the same State. He was a leading worker in the church, was in one of the Indian wars of Alabama, and held a commission as major in the Georgia State militia. He was born in 1805, and died in 1876. His wife was born in 1804, and died in 1868; she was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a lovely woman, charitable, kind and generous to a fault.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 136 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Jefferson County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Jefferson County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.