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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee 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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Andrew J. Thompson. Foremost among the leading farmers of Lee County, and well known throughout Phillips and Lee Counties, is Andrew J. Thompson, who has been a resident in this State since 1840, and a citizen of Lee County since 1881. Born in Garrard County, Ky., on December 12, 1828, he is a son of Davis and Gabraella (Dunn) Thompson, natives of West Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. Davis Thompson moved to the Blue Grass State with his parents when a child, and remained there until 1836, when he came to Arkansas, having been appointed land agent by President Jackson, for the State of Arkansas. Locating at Helena he moved his family four years later, and held the position referred to until elected to the State legislature in 1840. He was also one of the commissioners appointed to re-establish the line between Arkansas and Missouri. In 1846 he enlisted for the Mexican War, starting out as a private, but was soon promoted to the command of his company, and was commissary of his regiment. After the close of the war he was elected sheriff of Phillips County, in which capacity he served four years. Mr. Thompson then retired from active life, and died in 1859. He was a son of Arthur Thompson, of Scotch and Irish descent, who died in Kentucky about 1820. Mrs. Thompson was a daughter of Benjamin Dunn, and was born in Baltimore, Md. Her father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Of their large family of children four are still living: Josephine (now Mrs. Hargravis, a resident of Helena), Helen (wife of Judge Hanks, of Helena), one daughter (now Mrs. C. L. Moore, also of that city) and Andrew J. (the subject of this sketch and the eldest of those living). The latter was reared and educated in Helena, remaining there until the war. After Gen. Curtis had taken Helena, Mr. Thompson passed the Federal lines and joined the Confederate army, enlisting in Dobbins’ regiment, in which he was afterward promoted to second lieutenant. In December of that year (1862) he was captured by a party of the Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry and taken to Helena and then to Memphis, Tenn., where, through the influence of Senator Sebastin, he was given his freedom for a time, but was soon sent North and confined at Camp Chase, in Ohio, and then to Fort Delaware, and was held a prisoner until exchanged at Johnson’s Island in December, 1864. After the war, returning to Helena, he was engaged in farming for twelve years, later ran a steam ferry, and for two years was occupied in operating a large steam cotton-gin at Helena. In 1881 he came to this county and purchased a farm on which he still lives, and has now 1,000 acres of land, with nearly 700 acres under cultivation, all made since the war by hard work and good business management. He at one time also owned a half interest in the Helena Oil Mills. Mr. Thompson was married in July, 1865, to Miss Eliza Jones, a native of Limestone County, Ala., and who died in 1868, leaving one son, Arthur Thompson, now book-keeper and general superintendent in D. H. Crebe’s oil mills at Helena. His second wife, to whom he was married in 1870, was formerly Miss Sallie E. Crenshaw, also of Limestone County, Ala., and who died in 1886, leaving one daughter, Jessie F., at home. Mr. Thompson is a Democrat, and a leader in the political movements of his township.

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This family biography is one of 104 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lee County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Lee County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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