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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi 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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William V. Dean, an extensive farmer of Dean’s Island, was born at that place in 1855, and was the youngest in a family of eleven children. His parents were James C. and Mariah (Wright) Dean, of Georgia and Tennessee, respectively. The elder Dean moved to Arkansas with his father in 1828, and settled on Crowley’s Ridge in Craighead County. In 1829 the father came to Mississippi County and located on what is now the McGavock farm, below Pecan Point. He acquired several hundred acres of land at that point, which he afterward sold to Jacob McGavock, and then moved to an island in the Mississippi River, which has since been named Dean’s Island in his memory. He bought 600 acres of land upon his arrival at the latter place, and soon afterward purchased 500 acres more, and had succeeded in totally clearing 400 acres up to the time of his death in 1874, at the age of sixty-three years, the mother dying in April, 1889, at the age of seventy-seven years. William Dean remained with his parents during their lifetime, and after his father’s death continued on the farm, while the other sons left home and traveled in various directions. In 1880 he was married to Miss Tennessee Wigley, of Alabama, and this estimable wife has given him five children: William R., James C., Nellie, Elizabeth M. and Lillie Maud. Mr. Dean, Sr., in his life was noted for his great strength as well as for his prowess in hunting. He was one of the pioneers of this section, and made a business of selling wood to the steamboats. He was strong in his denunciation of slavery, but did not sanction the war, and would neither enter into the army nor allow his sons to do so. He cleared most of his farm of 300 acres himself, and was a man of great popularity on account of his integrity and truth. His youngest son, William, lives quietly on the old estate, cultivating the land, and has a pleasant home at the upper end of the island.

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This family biography is one of 162 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Mississippi County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

View a map of 1889 Mississippi County, Arkansas here: Mississippi County, Arkansas Map

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