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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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James W. Hawkins is a native-born resident of Arkansas, his birth occurring in Bayou Bartholomew, December 13, 1846, and is a son of John L. Hawkins, of Virginia. The father was postmaster at Hawkin’s Landing on the bayou and died in 1866. James W. Hawkins was reared in Marie Saline Township, received a common-school education and began business for himself as a clerk in 1866. In 1869 he became a member of the firm of Files Morris & Co., and continued with this company for one year. They carried a stock of goods valued at about $2,000 and had a good business. Mr. Hawkins bought his present property in 1875, has 157 acres, and has ten acres in Hamburg. He cultivates about sixty-eight acres and averages about a third of a bale of cotton and fifteen bushels of corn to the acre. He handled about fifty or fifty-five bales of cotton per annum. During the late war he enlisted in Company H, Wright’s regiment Cavalry, and was in active service until paroled at Marshall, Tex. In 1873 he was married to Miss Ella Frost, of Ashley County, the daughter of Capt. J. Frost, a farmer and resident of Arkansas. They have six living children: Ora, John, Lilia, Edgar, Arthur E. and Oliver Ernest. In politics Mr. Hawkins is a Democrat, Mrs. Hawkins is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They are excellent citizens, and are esteemed wherever known.

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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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