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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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Jeremiah Hopkins, farmer. In sketching the life of this gentleman, it is but just to say that his good name is above reproach, and that he has won the respect and esteem of all who know him. His birth occurred in Chicot County, Ark., in 1835, but his parents, Solomon and Margaret Hopkins, were born in South Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. Jeremiah has always lived in the State of Arkansas, but as good schools or, in fact, schools of any kind, were very few in his youth, he did not receive many advantages for acquiring an education. He remained with his father, assisting him on the farm until the latter’s death, in 1865, at the age of sixty years, and as he was then thirty years of age, he took the entire management of affairs into his own hands. In 1867 Sallie A., the daughter of Jesse and Tabitha J. Harrall, natives of North Carolina, became his wife, but she died in 1870, leaving her son, William J., who is now at school in Selma, but was then only a few days old, to the care of his father. The latter remained a widower two years, then married Tabitha J., a sister of his first wife, and their union resulted in the birth of six children: John T., Frederick O., Sallie A., Louis J., Eliza B. and James A. The last three children are deceased. Mr. Hopkins was so unfortunate as to lose this wife, in 1884, and his third and last union took place in 1886, his wife, Mary E. Smith, a daughter of Levi and Lucinda Smith, living only three years after marriage, her death occurring in May. No children were born to this union. Mr. Hopkins has 200 acres of his fine 540 acre farm under cultivation, but does not give much attention to the propagation of stock, raising only enough for his own use. He is a patron of education and all good works, is a member of the Methodist Church, a Mason, and in his political views is a Democrat.

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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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