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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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Judge P. O. Thweatt, attorney at law. To undertake to introduce to our readers the subject of this sketch would be something entirely unnecessary, for his extensive acquaintance and long connection with the affairs of this county have rendered him well and popularly known. Born near Franklin, Williamson County, Tenn., October 10, 1834, he is a son of Harwood D. and Elizabeth (Echols) Thweatt, who were of Welsh and English origin, and natives of the Old Dominion, their ancestors having settled in that commonwealth prior to the American Revolution. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers participated in that war, and two of the Judge’s paternal uncles died while serving in the War of 1812, and his mother’s only brother died the next year of disease contracted at Pensacola. Harwood and Elizabeth Thweatt moved from Virginia to Tennessee in 1811, and located near Franklin, but in the year 1845 moved to Mississippi and settled in Yalobusha County, where both died on a farm. Two of their seven children are now living: Nichols and Judge P. O. The latter spent his youth and received his early education near what afterward became the battle-field of Franklin, he being an attendant of Harper’s Academy, from which institution he graduated in 1856. From that time until 1859 he made his home in Mississippi, and at the latter date removed to Monroe County, Ark., where he spent some time in teaching school and studying law, being admitted to the bar at Clarendon, in March, 1860, and entered at once upon a successful career. His labors were interrupted, however, by the opening of the war, and in June, 1861, he went to Fort Smith and joined Churchill’s regiment, but owing to his receiving a gunshot wound in the left leg, at the battle of Oak Hill, Mo., August 10, of that year, he was unfitted for active duty for the remainder of the war, but served as commissary. In 1862 he was elected county and probate judge of Monroe County, and served until the Federal troops took possession of the county, in 1863, when he went as a refugee to Texas and there remained until the war closed. In 1865 he returned to Clarendon, Ark., built him an office and resumed his law practice. In 1866 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the First Judicial District, which extended from the Missouri line to the mouth of White River, and served until the reconstruction period, when he was removed from office. Having located at Helena, he practiced alone until April, 1870, then formed a co-partnership with Judge T. B. Hanley, continuing until 1873, when he became associated with Hon. G. Quarles, which partnership lasted for about ten years. His professional career was one of gratifying success, and he has built up a reputation for ability that is not merely local, but extends over a wide range. He owns two good farms, each containing several hundred acres, and his farm on Old Town Ridge comprises 800 acres, of which 400 are in cultivation; and the one on Old Town Island comprises 320 acres, of which 220 are in a high state of cultivation, and on which is erected a fine steam cotton-gin. All this has been earned through practicing his profession. He was associated for some time with his brother, W. H. Thweatt, at Clarendon, but like himself the latter enlisted in the Confederate army, was wounded at the battle of Shiloh, in 1862, and died in 1864. The Judge is a Royal Arch Mason, has passed all the chairs in the Odd Fellows lodge, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arcanum and the Legion of Honor. His marriage, which occurred on February 23, 1870, was to Mary, the only daughter of Judge J. S. Hornor, and by her he is the father of three children: Bessie, Oscar and Re, who are living, and two dead. The Judge has now in his possession a Virginia land grant, dated 1735, to a tract of land in Prince George County, Va., signed by George II., and granting a large tract of land to his ancestors on the father’s side.

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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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