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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lawrence 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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Dr. William H. James, of the firm of James & Wayland, merchants and lumber dealers, was born in Gibson County, Tenn., in 1844. He is the son of John W. James, of Virginia, who was born in 1819, and came to the State of Tennessee in his young days, where he was graduated from the Nashville Medical College, being in his after career a successful physician. He was also a minister of the Baptist Church, of which denomination he died a member in 1863. The mother, Lucinda D. (McWhirter) James, was born January 4, 1817, in the State of North Carolina, and died in 1860. They were the parents of five children, three of whom lived to maturity, but only one, Dr. William H. James, is living at present. Dr. James came to Arkansas with his parents in 1858, where he remained until the war commenced. He enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861, and served until the close of hostilities, when he surrendered at Jackson, Miss. He was severely wounded at the battle of Bentonville, N. C., while making a charge upon the enemy, and slightly wounded at Murfreesboro, Tenn. When the war was over he returned home, and was engaged to oversee a plantation near Memphis, and afterward accepted a position in a mill near that place. He commenced the practice of medicine under Dr. Boardman of the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, and entered that college in 1866. He returned to Arkansas, and commenced practicing at Smithville, and from there came to Powhatan in 1869. He now resides on Flat Creek, between Smithville and Powhatan, and enjoys a large practice. The Doctor was first married, in 1869, to Miss Temperance A. Wesson, of Virginia, who died August 1, 1884, leaving five children to survive her — Ada L., Ella L., Ida L., Ora L., and Ula L., of whom the first letter in each name makes the five vowels. His second wife was Miss Virginia Brady, of this county, who is still living, and by whom he has had three children - Willie V. (a girl), Yancey V. (a boy), and Edward, all of them living. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and the Doctor himself of the A. F. & A. M., in which he is a Chapter member. He entered into mercantile life in 1879, and one year later formed a partnership with F. M. Wayland, now the manager of the firm. Dr. James is one of the most successful men in Lawrence County. He owns a large farm, well under cultivation, besides several large tracts of timber land, and is engaged in saw-milling to some extent. He is very popular, both on account of his business and personal qualifications, and is a man of fine physique.

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This family biography is one of 111 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lawrence County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Lawrence County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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