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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published by Southern Publishing Company in 1891.  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. Hiram Dacus. In giving a sketch of the lives of the representative men of the various trades, occupations and professions, the history of Yell County would be incomplete were that of Dr. Dacus, of Chickalah, omitted. He was the eldest son of fourteen children born to James A. and Martha J. (Burton) Dacus, born, respectively, about 1820 and 1825 in the State of Tennessee, this also being the birthplace of our subject, who first saw the light of this world in Tipton County in 1840, and when three years old his father moved his family to Arkansas and entered a large tract of land, and began at once the preparations of what in the future proved to be a very comfortable home. Farming and its many duties occupied his attention till 1877, when he departed this life, a worthy communicant of the Church of Christ, and a member of the Masonic order. His widow still lives and makes her home on the old homestead. The Doctor attended the schools of his county and received a thorough education in the common branches, and having chosen medicine as his lifework, attended lectures at a medical institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and about 1861 opened an office in the old town of Lewisburg and Plummerville, Conway County. About this time the call for troops being sent over the land, he put aside his professional duties for service in defense of his country’s honor and enlisted in Company F, Third Arkansas Regiment of Cavalry, remaining in the army till June 30, 1865, when he was discharged as lieutenant, having received this title as an award for his bravery and faithful services while a soldier. On his return home he resumed his practice, and in connection with his professional duties assisted in the reconstruction of the States as deputy clerk, and in 1868 was elected justice of the peace of Dardanelle Township. In 1879 he again attended lectures, and in 1885 was chosen by his fellow-citizens to represent the State in the Legislature. In 1859 he led to the altar as his chosen bride, Miss Sarah E. Patey, of Tennessee, and a consistent member of the Church of Christ, and who died in 1881, having borne him the following family: Rosa B. (wife of A. D. Malone), Ida M., James A., Martha (deceased), Mary M. (deceased), and Emma A. (deceased). He was again married, to Mary L. Durham, of Missouri, born in 1864, and daughter of Thomas J. and Josephine (Stafford) Durham, and who became the mother of two children by this marriage: William M. and Roy B. The Doctor and wife are united in fellowship with the Church of Christ, and socially he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, having been initiated in the Plummerville-Howard Lodge No. 253, and as a citizen and physician has the respect of his many friends and patrons.

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This family biography is one of 124 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Yell County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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