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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Columbia 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 P. Atkinson, M. D., is a young man who is rapidly and surely making his way to the front among the professional men of this community, and although only in his twenty-ninth year, he is thoroughly posted in medical lore, and is building up a rapidly increasing patronage. He has been a resident of Columbia County all his life, his birth occurring here in 1861, and he is the second of a family of eight children born to J. H. and Nancy A. (Harris) Atkinson, who were native Georgians, and came to this State and county at a very early day. Mr. Atkinson served as captain of a company of Confederate soldiers during the Rebellion, and during the engagement at Island No. 10 he was captured, and kept a prisoner in the city of Chicago for some time. Since the war he has devoted his attention to farming. To himself and wife, who died July 10, 1879, eight children have been born, five of whom survive: S. W., J. P., Mattie, Mollie and Ionie. In 1880 Mr. Atkinson married Miss Sarah J. Hogue, who died November 17, 1889. James P. Atkinson was reared to farm life, his early education being obtained in the common schools, and in 1881 he commenced the study of medicine, under the instruction of Dr. S. W. Jack, and in the fall of 1883 was sufficiently prepared to enter the Louisville Medical College. After remaining in this institution for some time he came home, and engaged in the practice of his profession close to where he was reared, and is now in the enjoyment of an extended patronage, as the people repose much confidence in his skill and ability. His marriage, which took place January 22, 1890, was to Miss Catherine E. Stricklen, a daughter of William and Nancy (Crain) Stricklen, natives of Mississippi, though among the early settlers of Columbia County, coming here about 1850. Dr. Atkinson’s paternal grandfather came to Arkansas in 1846, when the country was comparatively uninhabited, and here he entered land and reared his family.

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This family biography is one of 106 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Columbia County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Columbia County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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