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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Randolph 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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Simon Peter Hurn. Among those who deservedly rank among the progressive and rising agriculturists of Randolph County, Ark., is the above mentioned gentleman who has resided here since 1850, and is now the owner of 400 acres of as good land as there is in the county. He is one of ten children, and was born in Monroe County, Ga., April 25, 1829, and is a son of Randall and Nancy (Dunn) Hurn, natives of North Carolina and Georgia, respectively. The father removed to Georgia when a young man, was married there, and there resided until 1850, when he moved to Arkansas, and located in Randolph County, where he died in May, 1858, when sixty-six years of age, followed by his widow two years later when aged about fifty-six years. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was a Baptist until a few years before his death, when he became Methodist in belief. He was a life-long Democrat, a farmer by occupation, and after a lifetime of hard labor he became a wealthy citizen. His father, James Hurn, who was of Irish birth, served in the Colonial army during the Revolutionary War and was a participant in many battles, being at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. He died in North Carolina. The maternal grandfather, James Dunn, was born in North Carolina, and also served in the American army during the Revolution. The children born to Randall and Nancy Hurn are as follows: James and Simon Peter, farmers of Randolph County; Paul R., a farmer of Washington County, Ark., Mark, a farmer of Clay County, Ark.; Ezekiel, a minister of the Washington County Primitive Baptist Church; Permelia E., wife of James Sammonds of Randolph County; Nancy J., wife of Ben F. Tyler, a farmer of this county, and Leah S., wife of William Kirk of this county. Those deceased are John and Matthew, who was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Randolph County. At the age of twenty-one years, Simon Peter Hurn, our subject, began life for himself as a farmer, but afterward learned the butcher’s and stone mason’s trades, at which he worked for many years. He started without any means whatever, but by the help of his wife, who was a strict economist and an excellent manager, he has become one of the wealthy men of the county. In 1861 he enlisted in Capt. Connor’s company, Adams’ regiment of the Confederate States army, and during his four years’ service he was in the battles of Saline, Pilot Knob, Big Blue and others. He was a heavy loser by the war, but afterward managed to make his losses good. Sarah Jane Alexander, a daughter of John W. and Mary T. (Mostice) Alexander, became his wife November 21, 1850. She is a native of the county and was born August 31, 1830, becoming by Mr. Hurn the mother of eight children: Matilda E., Mary L., John W., Emily J., Luther D., Peter M., Eliza Ann, Leslie B. and Thomas F. Peter M. died when six years of age. Mr. Hurn and his wife have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the past forty years, and he has served the most of this time as steward. Politically he is a Democrat.

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This family biography is one of 110 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Randolph County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Randolph County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Randolph County, Arkansas family biographies here: Randolph County, Arkansas Biographies

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