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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Garland 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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Capt. N. N. Lester is one of the prominent farmers of Antioch Township. Born in Tennessee in 1853, he was the son of John E. and Eliza (Key) Lester, the former of whom was a native of Virginia, his birth occurring in 1796. He followed farming for a livelihood all his life. In the family of himself and wife were ten children, only two of whom survive: N. N. (the subject of this sketch) and Tranguilla (the wife of Marion S. Hargis). Mr. Lester emigrated to Tennessee from Virginia in 1830. He was a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Methodist Church, as was also his wife. He died in 1856 and his wife in 1843. N. N. Lester was married to Elizabeth V. Ashford, of Francis County, Ark., in 1859. They became the parents of five children: Tranguilla (wife of Dr. F. H. Redwine), Abbot C., John E., Thodos D. and Elizabeth V. Mr. Lester was married to his second wife, Martha R. Haskins, in 1875. In 1862 he enlisted in the Thirty-second Arkansas Infantry, under Capt. F. H. Stenson, and took part in the battles of Helena, Morefield (La.), Jenkins’ Ferry and a number of others, receiving a promotion to captain in 1863, which position he held until the close of the war. In 1859, leaving Tennessee, he moved to Arkansas, where he bought 160 acres of land, and has since added to it forty acres, making a 200-acre farm, with eighty acres under cultivation. Capt. Lester was elected justice of the peace in 1873, and served in that office for the following ten years. Mrs. Lester first saw the light of day in Virginia in 1831. Her father and mother were born in October, 1803, and June 9, 1809, respectively, both in Virginia. They were married in 1826, and were the parents of nine children, only three of whom are living: Martha R., Mary J. (Mrs. Traumell) and Matilda (Mrs. Frammell). Mr. Haskins emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky in 1836, where he was engaged in farming until 1849; coming thence to Arkansas he located in Bradley County, living there until his death, which occurred in 1878. His wife died in 1865. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Capt. Lester is a prominent Democrat and also a member of the Methodist Church.

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This family biography is one of 55 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Garland County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Garland County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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