My Genealogy Hound

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

* * * *

Judge James W. Yates. It is now thirty-one years since Mr. Yates first came to Miller County, Ark., and took up his residence, and during this time he has proven a most desirable citizen, as well as an upright and conscientious gentleman. He was born in Spartanburg District, S. C., on March 27, 1839, and is the son of William H. and Sarah (Cooper) Yates, natives also of Spartanburg District; he was born on January 6, 1814, and she on July 6, 1814. Their marriage was consummated in their native State on November 26, 1835, and in 1840 they moved to Campbell County. Ga., where, on the 7th of the following October, the mother passed from life, after bearing four children, two of whom only grew to maturity and are now living: James W. (our subject) and Tabitha E. (unmarried, and living with her brother, James W.). After her death the father married Miss Eleanor D. Smith, of Campbell County, Ga., whose birth occurred in Spartanburg, S. C, on June 27, 1814. Together they came to Arkansas in 1859, and located near where our subject now lives, and here the father resumed his former occupation (farming), in connection with tanning. He was a stanch Democrat, politically, and before the organization of Miller, served as justice of the peace of Lafayette County. While in Georgia he was very successful as a farmer, and was considered one of the leading agriculturists in his county, and his good fortune followed him to Arkansas, where he was highly esteemed as a prominent and enterprising citizen, as well as an upright and honorable man. His death occurred in Miller County, Ark., on January 6, 1880, and was followed six years later by that of his wife, who passed away on August 19, 1886. For many years he was a deacon in the Missionary Baptist Church, to which denomination he and both his first and second wife belonged, and he always took great interest in church matters, attending as delegate all associations. He never talked much, but acted, and had but few enemies. He was a Royal Arch Mason, and was buried with all the honor and ceremony of that order. The fruits of his last marriage were eight children, of whom four are still living. James W. Yates’ school days were spent in Campbell, Carroll and Polk Counties, Ga. At the age of nineteen years he left school, and turned his attention to farming. In 1858 he came to what is now Miller County, and located on a farm now owned by Allen & Smith, and has resided in this neighborhood ever since, with the exception of his term of service in the late war. He is the owner of a well improved farm, two miles south of Bright Star, a good portion of which is under cultivation. In 1860 he went to Mississippi, and in April, 1862, enlisted from that State in the Thirty-fifth Mississippi Confederate Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war. His command was at the siege of Vicksburg, and he was once captured and paroled at Yazoo City, and in 1866 returned to his home in Arkansas. While in Mississippi, in 1860, he met Miss Mary F. E. Richardson, daughter of Hon. W. R. Richardson, of Winston County, Miss, and on December 13, of the same year, their marriage was consummated. Their married life has been blessed with thirteen children, ten of whom are still living: James T. (a farmer of this township); Sarah E. (wife of Joseph A. Stanley, a farmer also of this township), Mattie J., Mary E., Robbins P., Landrun C., Henry Erwin, Virgil F., Nicholas P., and Jasper F., at home, and William H., John C. and Frances E., deceased. The two former died in their sixth and seventh years, and the latter in infancy. Mr. Yates has been a deacon and secretary in the Missionary Baptist Church for eighteen years, and both he and his wife are worthy members of that body. He has been honored by his constituents with several offices of responsibility. In 1889 he served as president of the County Alliance. From 1874 to 1876 he served as justice of the peace, of Sulphur Township, and in the spring of 1888 was elected county and probate judge of Miller County, the duties of which office he is now discharging to the satisfaction of all. He has also served as treasurer and moderator of the Zion Missionary Baptist Association. He is a Council Mason, and in politics, a stanch Democrat. When a young man he learned the shoemaking trade, at which, in connection with saddlery, he worked in Bright Star for some time; but he now devotes his attention exclusively to cultivating his valuable farm.

* * * *