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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline 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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J. B. Wilson, one of the oldest farmers of Saline County, came upon the stage of action in the State of Tennessee in the year 1813, being the fourth child born to Joel and Christnie (Buckley) Wilson, natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Tennessee. Joel Wilson was a farmer by occupation, moving to Tennessee when but a lad. He was married about 1804 and became the father of thirteen children, four of whom are known to be living: John B. (the subject of this sketch), Theresa, Emily and Holland. The three sisters live in Dixon County, Tenn. Mrs. Wilson died in 1869. Joel Wilson was first married in 1797, and had by this marriage three children: Elisha, Sarah and Mary, all supposed to be dead. Mr. Wilson served through the Revolutionary War as a private, and died about 1833. J. B. Wilson was reared to farm life and educated in the country schools of his county. At the age of eighteen he married and began farming for himself on rented land. After four or five years he purchased land in Humphreys County, where he lived until 1849, when he sold out and came to this State, settling in Beaver Township, Saline County. He bought 160 acres of land with but a cabin on it, later entered eighty acres, and now owns 300 acres, with forty acres improved. Mr. Wilson was married the first time, in 1833, to Miss Saline Graves, of Tennessee, and by her became the father of six children (two now living): John (farmer, married and lives in Saline County), Washington (farmer, lives in Pulaski County, this State), Thomas Dean and Thomas W. (deceased, family resides in this county), Jane (deceased wife of James Canada, family resides in this county), Margaret (deceased wife of B. Chastne), Archibald (deceased). Mrs. Wilson was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, dying in 1851. Mr. Wilson was married the second time to Mrs. Mary Hall, in 1864. She was a daughter of Griffen and Nancy (Sanford) Bruner, natives of Alabama. Mr. Bruner moved to Texas about 1876, where he died two years later. Mrs. Bruner died in Alabama. Mrs. Wilson came to this State in 1858, with her first husband, Mr. Hall, who died in the Confederate army in 1862. J. B. Wilson was one of the very early settlers in this vicinity, the county having only 900 voters when he came: now it has 2,000. He was elected to the office of justice of the peace in his township in 1850, and has served in that office ever since, with the exception of three or four years during the war, making his tenure of office the longest on record in the county, if not in the State. He served six years in Tennessee as justice of the peace, and forty-five years here, making fifty-one years in all. Hundreds of couples have been united in the bonds of wedlock by him. He never served in any war, being opposed to the Civil War, though he supported the cause of the South in the struggle. In 1874 he united with the Missionary Baptist Church, his wife belonging to the same congregation. He is a strong Democrat, and has always befriended the public schools. He is a liberal donator to the Baptist Church and all public enterprises.

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This family biography is one of 100 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Saline County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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