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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Phillips 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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Nicholas Brickell, undertaker, Poplar Grove, Ark. There are few branches of business, if any, that require more consideration and sympathetic feeling than that of the undertaker. Their services are only called under the most trying circumstances that can befall a family or friends, and the utmost tact, coupled with decision and perfect, unostentatious knowledge of the business, is required. In these points Mr. Nicholas Brickell is well-grounded by nature and experience. He was born in Surry County, N. C., in 1824, and is the eldest of five children born to the union of J. B. and Frances (Harrison) Brickell, the father a native of South Carolina, and the mother of North Carolina. J. B. Brickell was a cabinet workman, and always followed that trade after his marriage. Previous to that, however, he had followed merchandising. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, having joined while quite young. He was married in 1822, and of the five children born to his union, five are now living: Nicholas, D. C. (is a manufacturer of carriages in Atlanta, Ga.), Mathias (died in White County, Ark., and his family reside in that county), Andrew J. (resides in Tennessee), and Emma (wife of E. A. Peal, of North Carolina). Mr. Brickell died in 1850. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mrs. Brickell died in 1870, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Nicholas Brickell passed his youthful days and received his education in his native county, where, in later years, he learned the cabinet-maker’s trade. He began working at his trade at the age of twenty-one years, and continued the same in North Carolina until 1846, when, in December of that year, he moved to Georgia, settling where Palmetto now stands, and followed the furniture business. This he continued until 1856, when he moved to Franklin, Heard County, Ga., and there followed the same business. In 1870 he moved to Trenton, Big Creek Township, Phillips County, Ark., remained there until 1871, when he moved into the country, and farmed on rented land for three years. In 1875 he moved to his present place of residence, and here built his shop and house, besides two store houses, and has forty acres of land well improved. He was married December 2, 1847, to Miss Martha A. Sanders, daughter of Joel and Fannie (Harris) Sanders, natives, respectively, of North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders became the parents of eight children, five now living: G. H., John, Martha A. (wife of Mr. Brickell), Margaret (widow of John Edwards, who was killed at the second battle of Manassas), and Mary. All, with one exception, residing in Georgia, whither the father had moved when his children were quite small. Mr. Sanders died in 1849, and his widow in 1856. Mrs. Brickell was born February 4, 1830, and by her marriage to Mr. Brickell became the mother of ten children, seven now living: T. J. (resides at Brinkley, Monroe County, Ark.), John C. (deceased), Georgia R. (wife of J. H. Miller, of Holly Grove, Ark.), C. W. (resides in Clarendon, Monroe County), W. P. (resides in Phillips County), J. B. (resides at Helena), Martha A. (wife of J. J. Raleigh, of Poplar Grove), Robert L., C. W. (of Clarendon, who was State senator from that senatorial district, and T. J. (who is a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Brinkley). In 1861 Mr. Brickell joined the State service in Company G, Col. Wilcoxson’s regiment of State cavalry, and was in the State service for six months. He only served a short time in the regular service, being detailed to stay at home and work at his trade, making spinning wheels and looms for making cloth. Mr. Brickell is a demitted member of the Masonic fraternity, Chattahoochee Lodge No. 61, and he and wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of this place. He favors all improvements for the good of the county, and extends a hearty welcome to all white immigration. He and his wife are the grandparents of thirteen children.

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This family biography is one of 103 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Phillips County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Phillips County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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