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.

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Stephen Thomas Slay. Sulphur Township is indebted to Georgia for one of its most extensive planters, Stephen Slay, who was born in De Kalb County, that State, on December 19, 1842. He is the fifth of nine children, six of whom are still living, born to the marriage of Noah Slay and wife, nee Nancy Cruse, both of whom were natives of South Carolina. They came to Arkansas from Georgia, in 1858, and chose a home in Miller County, where they resided until the death of the father, which occurred on February 5, 1886, in his seventy-eighth year, while in Atlanta, Tex., on a visit. His widow still survives, and makes her home in this county with her children. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as was her husband, and is now in her seventy-eighth year. The father was a Democrat. The school days of our subject were spent in his native State. On December 19, 1862, at the age of nineteen years, he joined the Fifteenth Arkansas Confederate Infantry, and was in the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. He was taken prisoner, and after being retained at Camp Butler, Ill., for seven months and sixteen days, he was returned to his command at Jackson, Miss. He was again taken at Port Hudson, but was paroled. Afterward he joined the Sixth Louisiana Cavalry (which was afterward dismounted), in which he served until the close of the war, and during all his term of service was not wounded once. After the surrender he returned home and commenced to farm for himself, and since then has met with wonderful success. He started out without means, and now owns 1,050 acres of good land, 720 of which lie in one tract, 240 in another, and eighty acres in a tract lying near Texarkana. Two hundred acres or more are under cultivation, and yield excellent returns to the husbandman. On July 13, 1865, Mr. Slay was united in marriage with Miss Polly, daughter of Baldwin Evers, of this county. She was born near Vicksburg, Miss., on January 1, 1847. Early in life she united with the Missionary Baptist Church, and is now a much esteemed member of that body. Mr. Slay affiliates with the Democratic party in his political views, and socially is a Royal Arch Mason. He is one of the enterprising planters of this county.

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