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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Grant County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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Augustus A. C. Williams, son of James Williams, a planter of Georgia, was born in Tippah County, Miss., September 26, 1840, his father having also been born and reared in Georgia, where he met and married Barbara Myers, a native of the same State. He owned and operated a plantation in Tippah County up to the year 1844, but at that time moved to Arkansas, settling in Jefferson County, in what is now Grant County. He later purchased a farm, reared his family and resided in prosperity till shortly before his death, which occurred in St. Francis County. Augustus A. C, his son, grew to manhood on the farm of his father in Grant County and in 1862, when the war broke out, enlisted in the Confederate service, casting his lot with the First Arkansas Regiment, also Ninth Arkansas Regiment and later with the Eighteenth. He served faithfully and gallantly until his discharge in 1863, participating in the fight at Farmington (Miss.), Fort Pillow and many minor skirmishes. When discharged he returned to his old home in Grant County and took up his work where he had left off, following farming until 1869. Then moving to Union Springs he began the manufacture of lumber, but left this in 1874, and took up the study of medicine. His literary education had been almost wholly self-gained, but he advanced rapidly in his new study and began to practice in 1876. In 1880 he took a course of lectures at the Medical Department of Little Rock University, and in 1882-83 took the graduating course, graduating in the spring of 1883. Previous to this (1872) the Doctor had located at Prattsville, and ever since has been a resident of this place, becoming connected with some worthy business enterprises. He also served as postmaster of Prattsville for about seven years. He has been married twice. The first wife, Elizabeth Davis, a native of Jefferson County, he married in 1863. There were nine children by this marriage, his wife dying in 1881. His second wife, Sarah Welthy Ann Laster, daughter of George Laster, he married in Grant County in September, 1883. She has borne him five children. A member of the Baptist Church, she has always been a worthy helpmate to him. The Doctor is a member of Sheridan Lodge of Masons at present, and has held important positions in White Sulphur Lodge and also in Taylor Lodge. Starting in after the war without a dollar, he has, through his frugality, accumulated a large amount of property, real and personal. He owns two good farms of about 200 acres, besides his mill property, cotton-gins and interest in lands in St. Francis and Jefferson Counties. The politics of the Doctor formerly was Democratic, but he now believes in protection and is, consequently, a strong Republican.

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This family biography is one of 68 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Grant County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Grant County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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