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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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W. H. and Josiah T. Murphy, farmers, Hamburg, Ark. These brothers were born in Georgia, on October 20, 1836, and July 20, 1838, respectively, and were the sons of Josiah Murphy, who was also a native of the Empire State of the South. The father was a prominent merchant at Jeffersonville, was a member of the I. O. O. F., and held the office of justice of the peace for many years. He moved to Ashley County, Ark., in 1860, bought 500 acres of land, cultivated about 150 acres, and there his death occurred two years later. The two brothers were in the Confederate army in the late war, the elder enlisting in Company A, Bell’s regiment, and Josiah T., under Gen. Price. The latter was at Cane Hill, Helena, Jenkins’ Ferry, etc. The company was disbanded at Marshall, Tex., while he was home on a furlough. The elder Mr. Murphy was also with Gen. Price, and was captured at Port Hudson. Later he was paroled and returned home. Afterward he was under Gen. Fagan around Mark’s Mill. Both brothers returned home at the close of hostilities and resumed their work on the farm in Ashley County. They now own 500 acres of land, and are men of ability and judgment. Their farming operations are conducted in a manner indicative of progressive, thorough agriculturists, and they are among the foremost to aid any movement which tends to benefit the county or their fellow men. Josiah T. Murphy was married on May 11, 1871, to Miss Nannie Thompson, of Ashley County, and the daughter of A. L. Thompson, who was a pioneer planter of Ashley County, and a native of South Carolina. To Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were born two living children. Both children are in Hamburg, the son clerking for P. M. Moore, and the daughter still attending school. Mr. Murphy himself was educated in the private schools, and his wife received her education in the Unionville Seminary. Mrs. Murphy has one brother and two sisters. The brother is a bachelor, but one of the sisters married A. H. Wilson, of Hamburg. Mr. Josiah Murphy and brother commenced farming at the age of eighteen years, and this occupation they have since carried on. They are both Democratic in their political views, and J. T. is a member of the K. of P. Mrs. Murphy joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1876.

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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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