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Below is a family biography included in the Woodruff County portion of Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  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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Edmond Roddy, sheriff and collector, Augusta, Ark. Mr. Roddy is now filling his third term as sheriff and collector of Woodruff County, and no man ever held the position who was better fitted to discharge the duties connected with it than he. He was born in this county (then Jackson) on November 11, 1850, and is the son of Thomas B. and Elizabeth R. (Erwin) Roddy, the father a native of Spartanburg District, S. C, born in 1821, and the mother a native of North Carolina. The parents were married in Jackson County, Ark. Thomas B. Roddy was left an orphan when very young, both his parents dying the same day of some malignant disease, and he came with an uncle to Tennessee from his native State. In 1833 he came to Jackson County, Ark., located about four miles east of Augusta, entered a tract of land in the woods and cut and hewed logs to make a cabin. Here he opened a farm and tilled the soil for a number of years. He then purchased a second farm in the woods, three miles north of Augusta, cleared it and resided there until May, 1887, when his death occurred. The mother died in 1858. There are only two children of this marriage: Edmond and Morgan A. The subject of our sketch was reared to agricultural pursuits, and received his education in the log school-house of pioneer times. He remained on the farm until 1874, when he hired to W. P. Campbell, then clerk of the circuit court, now clerk of the supreme court of the State, and remained with him until his election to the office of sheriff in 1878. He served one term and was defeated on a second run. He purchased a farm, moved on it, and there remained for three years. In 1886 he was re-elected to the office of sheriff and again elected in 1888. He owns 500 acres of land, and has 300 acres under cultivation. He also owns a homestead of twenty-five acres in Augusta. He was married on February 12, 1877, to Miss Beatrice Skinner. Mr. Roddy is a prominent political worker, and is a first-class citizen. He is a member of Knights of Honor, and Mrs. Roddy is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Roddy spent one year at the Gulf of Mexico, on account of a slight misunderstanding between himself and Powell Clayton’s militia, occurring in 1868 and 1869.

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This family biography is one of 69 biographies included in the Woodruff County portion of Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Woodruff County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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