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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hempstead 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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W. A. Jett was born in Washington, Ark., in 1849, and is a son of Dr. Benjamin P. Jett, who was born in Culpeper County, Va., in 1808, and came to Washington, Ark., when a young man, and was married here in 1833 to Hester Block, a native of Richmond, Va., born in 1813. She came with her parents to Arkansas in 1826, and here she and her husband spent the rest of their lives, the former dying in 1865, and the latter in Little Rock, in 1887, Presbyterian in faith. Dr. Jett was a practicing physician for many years, was exceptionally successful in the treatment of his cases, and became well and favorably known throughout this region, not only as a skilled physician but also socially and politically. He served several terms as a member of the General Assembly of the State, and was at one time speaker of the House. He was registrar in the land office at Washington prior to the Civil War, and was one of the electors on the Breckinridge ticket in 1860. He held high rank in the Masonic order. His father, Burkett E. Jett, came from Virginia to Washington some years after the Doctor’s death, and held the position of judge of Hempstead County for several years. The mother’s father, Abraham Block, came from Europe at the age of twelve years, was married in one of the Atlantic States, and in 1820 came to Washington, Ark., where he became one of the wealthiest men of the county, being one of the leading merchants of Washington. W. A. Jett is the tenth of seven sons and six daughters, nine of the family now living, and in his youth was educated in the town of Washington. At the age of seventeen years he began clerking, an occupation he followed until 1877 in different places, then engaged in the warehouse business at Fulton, and in 1880 was elected clerk of Hempstead County, being re-elected two years later, serving in all four years. In 1884 he was chosen sheriff of the county, but at the end of his term he engaged in the mercantile business, discontinuing it in 1880 to open an establishment in Ozan, Ark. He has affiliated with the Democratic party ever since he has had the privilege of voting, and socially is a member of the I. O. O. F., and has been Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, and is at present Grand Guide of the Grand Lodge of the K. of H., and is also a member of the K. of P. He was married in Fulton, Ark., in 1875, to Miss Kate, a daughter of Michael R. and Elizabeth P. Green, of Alabama and Tennessee, respectively, who came to Hempstead County when young, the Jetts and the Greens coming together. Mr. Green was a merchant, and died when his daughter, Mrs. Jett, was a child, his widow afterward marrying Samuel Ogden. She died about 1883 having been a member of the Baptist Church. Mrs. Jett was born in Washington, Ark., and she and Mr. Jett are the parents of three sons and one daughter. They have a beautiful home in Washington, and are surrounded by every comfort calculated to make life easy and enjoyable.

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This family biography is one of 131 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hempstead County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Hempstead County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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