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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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Hon. James Philip Eagle, Governor of Arkansas was born in Maury County, Tenn., August 10, 1837, but has been a resident of Arkansas for half a century. He is a son of James Eagle, whose father, Joseph Eagle, a native of North Carolina, was a son of Philip Eagle, who was the son of Adam Eagle, who was the son of Marcus Eagle, who came to America from Switzerland in 1743 and settled in Pennsylvania. Philip Eagle served as a private soldier in the Continental army. After that event he settled in Rowan County, N. C., where he made his home until the time of his death. His son, Joseph Eagle, grandfather of James P. Eagle, left North Carolina in the year 1829 and located in Maury County, Tenn., where he farmed and also followed his trade of brick-mason. He was united in marriage to Miss Cena Furr, also a native of North Carolina, by whom he had a large family of children. In 1841 Joseph Eagle and his family removed from Tennessee and came to Arkansas, where he resided until his death, in 1844, his estimable wife surviving him until the year 1861. James Eagle, the eldest child of this family and the father of Gov. Eagle, was eighteen years of age when he left North Carolina for Tennessee, where he lived ten years. Coming to Arkansas in 1839, he first located in Pulaski County, now Lonoke, about twenty miles northeast of Little Rock, and there opened up a farm, which calling he followed all his life with success. During the Civil War he went to Texas as a refugee, and died near Austin, in that State, in the fall of 1863. James Eagle was a man of remarkable energy and perseverance, as was illustrated by his career through life. He started as a poor man, but by using good judgment in his financial transactions and stock deals, slowly built up a competence and then a fortune. At the opening of the Civil War he owned about thirty slaves, besides valuable farms, stock and other property, and was one of the most substantial men in this section of country. His wife was, before marriage, a Miss Charity Swaim, of North Carolina, who moved to Tennessee with her parents, William and Polly (Wetherby) Swaim, and whose death occurred in 1880, in Lonoke County. James Philip Eagle was but two years old when his parents moved to Arkansas. He was reared on a farm, and had his full share of the hard work that usually falls to the lot of a farmer’s son, such as splitting rails, log rolling, building fences, plowing, etc., and remained with his father pursuing the duties of farm life until the outbreak of the rebellion. He then enlisted in the Confederate army, becoming a member of the Fifth Arkansas State Troops, though shortly afterward he was transferred to the Second Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, commanded by Col. James Mclntosh. He entered the ranks as a private soldier, but when a vacancy occurred, in the fall of 1861, he was elected by the members of his company to fill the position of second lieutenant, and in the spring of 1862 was promoted to the captaincy. He subsequently obtained the rank of major in recognition of his gallant services, and remained in that position until the Confederate Congress passed a law consolidating the Confederate forces, on account of the ranks being thinned; when Gen. D. H. Reynold’s brigade was consolidated into one regiment, known as the First Arkansas Mounted Regiment, dismounted, of which H. C. Bunn was appointed colonel and James P. Eagle lieutenant-colonel. In this position Col. Eagle surrendered with his regiment at Greensboro, N. C. During his service he was wounded at Peach Tree Creek, near Atlanta, and laid up for over two months by the wound. Previous to this, on December 31, 1862, he was captured at the battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, and subsequently to Fort Delaware, where he was exchanged. His actual service covered the period from the battle with Apotholahola, in the Indian Territory, until the surrender, taking part in the battles at Pea Ridge, Richmond, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga (under Gen. Joe Johnston from Dalton to Atlanta), and (after recovering from his wound), at Franklin, Nashville and Bentonville, N. C, besides a number of others of lesser note. After the war he returned to find that his father had died during his absence, that the remainder of the family had gone to Texas, and that his home was broken up. He pluckily went to work, however, to put his former home in some recognizable shape, and built himself a cabin in which to live. He cultivated the land, and fortune seemed to so smile upon him that he was soon enabled to purchase more land. As the years went by, his success increased, and he added to his lands until now he owns several thousand acres. Seeing the necessity of a more thorough education, he attended school for one year and a half after the war, part of this time being spent at the Mississippi College (Baptist denomination), at Clinton, Miss., he being thirty-five years of age at that time. In 1867 he united with the Baptist Church, and in 1870 was ordained to preach. Since then his labors have been given to districts where the denomination was not able to pay a minister, and where the Gospel was needed, never asking and never receiving a cent for his ministerial work. He has presided over the Arkansas Baptist State Convention for ten successive years. During his absence in Kentucky, in 1872, he received an unsolicited and unexpected nomination from the Democratic party for the State legislature, and after making a canvass of the district was elected by that body. He served his term, and also a term in the called legislature of 1874, being appointed, with two others, by that body to represent the State and adjust the claims arising out of the Brooks-Baxter war. In 1877 Col. Eagle was again a member of the State legislature, and in 1885 was once more elected to the same position, the last time being elected speaker. In 1888 he received the nomination of his party for the Governorship of Arkansas, after a five days’ session of the convention, and on the 137th ballot. He was elected by a good majority. The Governor was married, on January 3, 1882, to Miss Mary Kavanaugh Oldham, of Madison County, Ky. Mrs. Eagle is one of the most cultivated and charming ladies of Arkansas. Like her sister Kentuckians, her beauty and womanly graces are proverbial, and her gentle, kindly disposition has won her many friends in every nook and corner of the grand State over which her husband presides. She is well fitted to be the wife of the Governor of Arkansas, whose administration has been just and highly satisfactory to the people.

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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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