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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Desha 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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Alford Knowlton (colored) is successfully engaged in tilling the soil on his farm, which embraces 352 acres of fine land, of which 180 acres are in an excellent state of cultivation and will average about 135 bales of cotton per year. Mr. Knowlton deserves much credit for the admirable way in which he has surmounted the difficulties which have strewn his pathway through life, and by his ceaseless industry, united with a strong and determined effort to succeed in life, has acquired his present property. He owns an excellent steam cotton and grist mill combined, and is regarded as one of the leading representatives of the colored race in the county, being honest, industrious and thrifty. Not only is he respected and esteemed by his colored brethren, but also by the white residents of the community, and this sketch is published by the request of many of his white neighbors. Educational institutions, as well as churches, find in him a liberal patron and a hearty supporter, and he is public spirited in every respect and deeply interested in the welfare of his county and State. He is a native of Desha County, Ark., his birth occurring on July 15, 1833, and on January 20, 1867, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Blackburn, a native of Kentucky, by whom he has a family of ten children—seven daughters and three sons—eight of this family being now alive: Melissa (the wife of Peter Johnson, a planter living in Desha County), Lillie, Ella, Hattie, Jennie, Katie, Oregon and Norman.

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This family biography is one of 80 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Desha County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Desha County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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