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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Ashley County, 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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Jake Whetstone, farmer and stock-raiser, Hamburg, Ark. The father of our subject, Dr. J. A. Whetstone, of South Carolina, was a noted physician and a graduate of Bellevue Hospital College, N. Y. He practiced his profession in Alabama for many years and died in Morehouse Parish, La., December 29, 1858. Jake Whetstone was born in Allen County, Ala., in 1843, was reared in that county, and there received his primary education in the common schools. Later he took a collegiate course in Louisiana and part of a collegiate course in Bastrop High School. He started out for himself in 1865, but previous to this, on December 29, 1864, he was married to Miss Pattie A. Pugh, of Ashley County, and the daughter of Greenwood W. Pugh, of Georgia, one of the pioneer planters. To this marriage were born four living children: Willie E. (born January 15, 1866), Bernard P. (born January 2, 1872), Cora Mattie (born November 10, 1873), and Annie (born January 27, 1883). Those deceased are: Fannie L. (born December 1, 1867, and died October 25, 1887), and B. L. (born January 11, 1886, and died November 24, of the same year). Mr. Whetstone enlisted in the Confederate service on March 1, 1862, Company F, Twelfth Georgia Regiment Infantry, and participated in the battles of Corinth, Vicksburg and numerous other engagements. He was assigned duty in the Texas Cavalry, and remained there until the close of the war, his regiment being disbanded at Shreveport, La. Mr. Whetstone’s first engagements were at Mansfield, then Pleasant Hill, and fought at Alexandria for forty days. Returning home after the war he moved to Arkansas, in 1868 and bought and cleared land until he is now owner of 1,000 acres in hill land, 150 acres under cultivation. On his large plantation he has twelve tenants, and averages about thirty-five bales of cotton per year. He raises about half a bale of cotton, and twenty bushels of potatoes to the acre. In politics he is a Democrat, and socially he is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and K. of H. He is active in all public enterprises, and gives freely to all.

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This family biography is one of 97 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Ashley County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Ashley County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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