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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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Henry S. Goodner, general merchant and farmer, residing near Mount Ida, Ark., is justly conceded a place among the enterprising, influential men of worth in this community. He was born in Wayne County, Tenn., in 1827, to John C. and Susanna (Smith) Goodner, who were born in Tennessee in 1801 and 1804, respectively, and until the subject of this sketch was twelve or thirteen years of age they resided in different parts of West Tennessee, moving then to Tippah County, Miss., where they made their home until 1851. They then became residents of Montgomery County, Ark., settling near where Oden now is, at which place they spent the rest of their lives, Mr. Goodner dying in 1872 and his wife in 1863, the former being a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, and a farmer by occupation. His father, Henry Goodner, was born in Germany, and when a young man came to the United States, and was probably married in Maryland, his death occurring in Alabama, a tiller of the soil, having been a soldier in the War of 1812. The maternal grandfather, John Smith, was in all probability born in the Old North State, and died in Wayne County, Tenn., a worthy agriculturist. The immediate subject of this sketch is the second in a family of five sons and one daughter, and his youth was spent in laboring on his father’s home place. He was given the advantages of the common schools, near his home, and in the State of Mississippi was married in 1848 to Miss Miriam, daughter of George and Nancy Willhite, who died in Tippah County, Miss., Mr. Willhite also being a farmer. Mrs. Goodner was born in Alabama, and has become the mother of fourteen children, five sons and seven daughters living. In 1851 Mr. Goodner came to Montgomery County, Ark., and has since been a resident of Polk Township, where he owns a fine farm of 300 acres, 90 acres under cultivation. For the past six years he has been engaged in merchandising also, and is accounted one of the substantial business men of this section of the country. In June, 1862, he joined Company I, Grimstead’s regiment of Arkansas troops, and was in the engagements at Prairie Grove and at the evacuation of Little Rock. He was then furloughed home, where he was captured in December, 1863, but after being released, was again captured in September, 1864, at Fort Gibson, Ind. Ty., and was kept in the stockade at Tyler, Tex., until after the war. Since then he has been with his family in Arkansas. He served some years as justice of the peace, and in 1876 was elected sheriff of Montgomery County, being re-elected in 1878 and again in 1880. Since then he has given his attention to his own business affairs, with the above mentioned results. Socially he is a member of Mount Ida Lodge No. 140 of the A. F. & A. M.

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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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