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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Montgomery County, Arkansas published by Southern Publishing Company in 1891.  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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Alex N. Thornton is a miller of Black Springs, Ark., and the work which he turns out is remarkably satisfactory, the patronage which he has attracted to this place for milling purposes being constantly on the increase. He was born in Forsyth County, Ga., in 1844, to Isaac and Clara (Nuckles) Thornton, the former born in Georgia and the latter in Virginia. Mrs. Thornton removed to Georgia with her parents when a girl, and there she married and lived until her death in 1862, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Thornton afterward married a second time, and in 1867 removed to Texas, and in 1879 to Montgomery County, where he still lives, a farmer and a member of the Missionary Baptist Church also. He served in a regiment of Georgia Infantry during the Rebellion. His father, Thomas Thornton, was born in the Palmetto State, and died in Georgia, he being also a worthy and successful tiller of the soil. He was of English descent, a soldier in the War of 1812, and his father was a native of England. Alex Nuckles was the mother’s father, an Englishman by birth, who became a farmer of Whitfield County, Ga., where he spent his declining years. Alex N. Thornton was the fifth of ten children, and although he was reared on a farm, he, as soon as old enough, was put to school and acquired a good common-school education. In 1862 he joined Company C, Thirty-ninth Georgia Infantry, Army of Tennessee, and was in the siege of Vicksburg, at Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, Franklin, Nashville, Mobile and back to Johnston’s Army in North Carolina, surrendering with him in that State. He was slightly wounded twice. In 1867 he was married in Whitfield County, Ga., to Mary E., daughter of Ellis and Permelia Sloan, the former born in Tennessee, and the latter in North Carolina, their marriage being consummated in Whitfield County, Ga., where Mrs. Thornton was born and where she and Mr. Thornton resided until 1870, when they came to Clark County, Ark., in eight years later to Montgomery County, their residence being at Black Springs. Mr. Thornton is the owner of a good water saw, grist-mill and cotton gin, and if close application and study of the wants of his customers will serve to make a permanent success of his mill, Mr. Thornton need have no fear as to the outcome of his venture. By his own efforts he has become the owner of 320 acres of land, but the first six years of his residence here he was engaged in merchandising. He has been justice of the peace two years and his wife worships in the Missionary Baptist Church.

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This family biography is one of 37 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Montgomery County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Montgomery County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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