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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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William J. Garrard, farmer and county assessor, Sharman, Ark. Mr. Garrard, well known to almost all residents of this portion of the county, was born October 4, 1836, and like many of the prominent men of the county, is a native of Georgia. His parents, John and Martha (Kendrick) Garrard, were natives of the same State, and the former died there about 1840. The mother died in this county in about 1878. They were the parents of fourteen children—seven sons and seven daughters—only one. a sister, now living, besides our subject. William J. Garrard, the youngest of the above-mentioned children, remained in Georgia until fourteen years of age, and in 1850 came to this county with his sister and brother-in-law. Here he has resided ever since. His sympathies were with the Southern cause during the late war, and in 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate army, but did not go into service until 1862, when he was placed in Company G. with Asa Morgan as colonel of the regiment. He entered the ranks as a private, but was promoted to the position of second lieutenant, holding the same until wounded at Prairie Grove. There he had his right arm shot off, and was afterward discharged. Since then he has been engaged in farming, and in 1878 he was elected county assessor, which position he held for six years. In 1880 he was elected to the same office, and is now acting in that capacity to the entire satisfaction of all. On September 19, 1860, he was married to Miss Sarah A. C. Jack, a native of Georgia, born in 1840. She died during the war with small-pox. Her father, William C. Jack, was a man of education, and a prominent citizen of this county, whither he had moved in 1849. He was educated as a lawyer, but became a very prominent school teacher. He died in Louisiana, in 1888. To Mr. and Mrs. Garrard were born two children—a son and a daughter—both deceased. Mr. Garrard’s second marriage occurred in 1867, with Miss Sarah C. Black, a native of Mississippi, born in 1840, and the daughter of Alex P. and Caroline M. (Drake) Black, the mother a relative of Sir Francis Drake. Mr. Garrard and his present wife had seven children, three sons and one daughter now living: Alfred, Caroline, John S. and Samuel J. Mr. Garrard has a fine farm of 280 acres, 160 acres in the home place, with about fifty acres under cultivation, and this is situated about twelve miles southwest of Magnolia, and two miles and a half north of Sharman. He has resided where he now lives since 1880, and is one of the substantial men of Georgia Township. He is a member of the Wheel, and in his politics is strictly Democratic, his first presidential vote being for Breckinridge. He and Mrs. Garrard are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and are upright, straightforward citizens.

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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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