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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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Dr. George W. Granberry, a prominent physician and surgeon, of Jacksonville, Ark., was born in Russell County, Ala., September 13, 1848, being a son of Richmond and Zilpha (Duncan) Granberry. The father was a native of Jefferson County, Ga., born in 1817. His parents were Thomas and Claricy (Yarbrough) Granberry, both from the State of Georgia, who moved to Mississippi, when Richmond was in his sixth year. After a residence of a few years in Mississippi, they returned to Georgia, moving to Alabama in 1837, but during their declining years decided to again return to Georgia and pass their last days in that State. Thomas Granberry was a well-known Baptist preacher, and of Irish descent. Mrs. Zilpha Granberry was born in North Carolina, in 1820, and was the daughter of Edmond and Nancy (White) Duncan; the father a native of North Carolina, and of Scotch descent. Mr. Duncan was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and fought in a regiment from his native State. He escaped the siege and capture of Charleston with his regiment, by being mounted in place of a sick trooper, and taking part in the disastrous expedition with Gen. Moultrie to Monk’s Corner, where the command was surprised by Tarleton, and cut to pieces. Mr. Duncan was among the fortunate few who escaped the butchery that followed, and afterward served under Gen. Green until peace was declared in 1783. He settled in Georgia in 1812. Upon the visit of Gen. Lafayette to the United States in 1834, he was among the few old veterans left to greet that venerable patriot. Richmond and Zilpha Granberry were the parents of nine children, four of whom are yet living, the oldest son Benjamin F. Granberry, being killed in the Confederate army. The others died from natural causes. Dr. Granberry was reared in Alabama until twelve years of age, when his parents moved with him to Panola County, Miss., where he was educated in the public schools. On September 27, 1862, the Doctor enlisted in Company H, Second Regiment Mississippi Partisan Cavalry, Capt. C. H. Johnston, and served in the Confederate army until the close of the Civil War, surrendering at Meridian, Miss., May 13, 1865. Upon reaching his eighteenth year, he commenced the study of medicine, attending his first course of lectures at Memphis, Term., in 1868-69. Returning home, he entered a printing office at Water Valley, Miss., and was afterward connected with Capt. R. M. Brown, editor of a paper called the Mississippi Central, at that town. He occupied that position for four years, when he became news editor of the Tennessee Baptist, published at Memphis, Tenn., and acted in that capacity until 1880. He then entered the Memphis Hospital Medical College, in that city, having previously taken a course of lectures at that institute, and graduated in 1881. In the same year he moved to Jacksonville, Ark., and commenced the practice of his profession, and has remained in that town ever since. He was married on April 30, 1871, in Water Valley, Miss., to Miss Eleanor Neville, who was born in Yalobusha County, of that State, and a daughter of Whitley W. and Frances (Milani) Neville, the father a native of North Carolina, and a well-known physician, and the mother from Alabama. Seven children were born to the Doctor’s union with Miss Neville, five of them yet living: Benjamin F., William D., Edmond W. (deceased), George W., Lillie M., Maude E. (deceased) and Eleanor. Dr. Granberry is a stanch Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Horace Greeley, the nominee of the Democratic party, in 1872. He received the nomination of his party, for representative of Pulaski County to the legislature, in 1886, and was elected; was re-nominated in 1888, and was re-elected, but resigned before the expiration of his term. He was an active and influential member, and took rank among the most effective and eloquent debaters upon the floor of the General Assembly. The Doctor is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F., having been initiated at Water Valley, Miss., in 1870, and has taken the Encampment degrees. He was a member of the Grand Lodge, at Canton, Miss., in 1873, and at Vicksburg in 1874; and is now a member of Banner Lodge 146, at Memphis, Tenn. Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church, as are nearly all of the descendants. Dr. Granberry’s profession brings him in contact with all classes and character of men, and his popularity with each and every one is due as much to his personal traits as to his reputation as a practitioner.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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