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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lafayette 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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William Travis Bowden, formerly a farmer of La Grange Township, but now engaged in the saw mill business, was born September 9, 1852, in Chickasaw County, Miss., being a son of Bryant Bowden and wife, nee Rosanna Purtell, both of whom were natives of North Carolina. The former was a son of Bryant Bowden, of Irish descent, and was born in 1801. Early in life he moved to Kentucky, and soon after to Alabama, where his marriage was consummated. Later going to Mississippi, his death occurred there in 1854, when his son William was but two years of age. He was a devout member of the Missionary Baptist Church, as is his wife, who still survives. She was born in 1810, and was a daughter of Michael Purtell, of German and Irish parentage (the maternal grandfather was a native of Germany, and the grandmother of Ireland), and is now making her home with one of her sons in Hempstead County. She was the mother of eleven children, eight of whom are still living: Jesse (a farmer of Hempstead County), Catherine (now Mrs. Wright of Clark County), Benjamin (deceased), Michael (a farmer of Hempstead County), Mary (widow of Daniel Purtell, of Texas), Bryant (died during the war), Thomas (also died during the war), George W. (a resident of this township; he owns a saw-mill in this township, and another at Canfield), James (a farmer of Hempstead County, Fannie (now Mrs. Robertson, of Hempstead County),and William. Mrs. Bowden has 109 children, grandchildren and great-grand children now living. William Bowden has been engaged in farming in Hempstead County all his life, until about three years since, when he came to this county, and he is now occupied in farming, in addition to conducting a saw and grist-mill, and cotton gin. He was married in 1877, to Miss Victoria A. Crider, daughter of Andrew Crider, a native of Tennessee, and five children have been born to their union: Andrew Bryant, Nevada A., Edward B., James Sydney and Dudley. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bowden are worthy members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Socially the former belongs to the K. of L. and the County Wheel, and in politics is a decided Democrat.

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This family biography is one of 44 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lafayette County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Lafayette County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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