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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pope 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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Daniel B. Granger, attorney, Russellville, Ark. Mr. Granger, a prominent attorney at law at Russellville, Ark., is among those who contribute to the strength of the Arkansas bar. He is a native of Allegany County, N. Y., was born on January 28, 1836, and is the sixth in order of birth of a family of ten children born to Girden and Nancy (Flanigan) Granger, natives of New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. The father was a mechanic and erected a great many buildings, besides engaging in various other enterprises. He was justice of the peace for many years and made his home in New York, until his death in 1876, when nearly seventy-six years old. The mother died in 1884 at the age of eighty-three years. She was for many years a member of the Free Will Baptist denomination, but later, united with the Methodist Church at Wiscoy, N. Y. where she died. The paternal grandfather, Peter Granger, was born in Vermont, and was a carpenter and builder by trade. The maternal grandfather, James Flanigan, was a native of Ireland, and born near Londonderry. He was an educated gentleman, and came to America in early life, locating at Norfolk, Va. Later he moved to Harper’s Ferry, Va., then to Yorktown, Penn., and afterward to Allegany County, N. Y., where he died at the age of seventy-eight years. Daniel B. Granger was reared to his father’s trade, attended the common schools of New York, and also pursued his studies and readings at the home fireside under his father’s direction. In 1855 he went to Fairmont, Va. (now West Virginia), and there began reading law under Hon. E. B. Hall. In December, 1856, he returned to Allegany County, N. Y., and embarked in mechanical pursuits and photographic business until the latter part of 1860, when he went to La Grange, Mo. In the summer of 1861 he was a member of the La Grange (Union) Home Guards, and in the fall of 1861 he entered the employ of S. N. Marshall, suttler of the Third Missouri (United States) Cavalry Volunteers, commanded by Col. John M. Glover, and remained with this command until 1862. He then entered the Thirty-sixth Missouri (United States) Infantry Volunteers, (then being raised by Col. H. C. Wormoth at Rolla, Mo.) as first lieutenant of Company A., and served in this capacity, principally engaged in recruiting service, until the latter part of October, 1862, when the regiment was consolidated at St. Louis, Mo., with the Thirty-second Missouri Infantry Volunteers commanded by Col. Manter, at which time Mr. Granger was on detached duty in charge of furloughed men and recruits and the barracks at Rolla, Mo. When the consolidation of the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-second regiments of Missouri Infantry took place the position of first lieutenant of Company A was filled by the muster-in of another person, and Mr. Granger declining to “promote backward,” by accepting a similar position in Company K of the consolidated regiment, he then returned to the employ of Mr. Marshall in the suttler business and continued in this until the spring of 1863. He then left the army at Pilot Knob, Mo., and went to Carthage, Ill., where he engaged in merchandising. Subsequently in June, 1865, he went to Little Rock, Ark., and on June 15 of that year engaged in the collecting business, and began practicing law, having continued his law readings until that time. He was licensed to practice in the Supreme Court of Arkansas November 3, 1865, and the next spring in the United States Circuit Court at Little Rock, Ark. He remained in Little Rock until May, 1873, and then removed to Russellville, Pope County, Ark., where he has since been in the active practice of his profession. During this time he has been an earnest adherent to the principles of Democracy, but has never been a candidate for office. He has been elected by the bar, and served as special circuit judge on several occasions, and is at present city attorney for Russellville, having served in that position since June 1, 1887. He was married on the 10th, 1866, to Miss Alice C. Wills, of Palmyra, Mo., the daughter of Claiborn C. and Amelia Wills. To this union were born four children—two sons and two daughters—viz.: Lizzie Belle, Edward Jennings (died in infancy), Amelia Alice, and Harrison Wills (who died at the age of sixteen months). Mr. Granger and his wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church at Russellville. Mr. Granger during his residence in Arkansas has been a frequent contributor to the local press, and in 1874 edited the National Tribune published at Russellville, in the interest of what was known as the “Baxter” movement in the celebrated “Brooks and Baxter war,” and was a strong advocate of the adoption of the present constitution of Arkansas. He is a member of Russellville Lodge No. 47, of the order of K. of P., and was the first chancellor commander of that lodge. He is now special deputy grand chancellor for that lodge and a member of the Grand Lodge of the State. He owns both farm and town property. In 1878 he erected his residence, and in 1886 he had this remodeled and improved.

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This family biography is one of 96 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pope County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Pope County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Pope County, Arkansas family biographies here: Pope County, Arkansas

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