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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hot Spring 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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Moses P. Goodman, a well-known and popular citizen of Hot Spring County, residing in Harrison Township, was born in Henderson County, Tenn., in 1831, and is a son of Clales and Pollie (Cammell) Goodman, both natives of North Carolina. The father was a prominent farmer in his native State as also in Tennessee, emigrating to the latter State at an early day and residing there until the year 1834. He next moved to Tippah County, Miss., being a pioneer of that place, and in the year 1848 came to Hot Spring County, Ark., where he purchased land, improved it and became one of the most influential planters in that section, until his death in 1870, at the age of eighty-three years. The mother died in 1863, at the age of sixty-five years, and, like the father, was a devoted member of the Baptist Church. They were the parents of nine children, of whom three are yet living: William R. (a leading citizen of Grant County, Ark.), Moses P. (the principal in this sketch) and Artie M. (wife of Thomas Cheneweth, of Calhoun County, Ark.). Moses P. Goodman came to this county with his parents when a lad of eighteen years, and as the country was new, he spent the greater portion of the first few years in assisting his father clear up and improve the land. In 1852 he was married to Miss Nancy A. Selph, of Gibson County, Tenn., but lost his excellent wife in 1870, who left seven children. In 1871 he again married, his second wife being Miss Josephine Berry, a native of Arkansas, by whom he had five children: Daniel B. (residing at home), Nancy (wife of M. F. Harkins, of this county), John Thomas, Joseph A. Goodman and one deceased. The children by his first wife were Marcy M. (wife of A. B. York, of Columbia County, Ark.), Sarah (wife of Love Johnson, of Hot Spring County), W. F. (residing in Texas), Robert P. (at Malvern), Martha Ann wife of William Johnson, of Saline County), James M. (now residing in Columbia County, Ark.) and Caleb L. Goodman (residing in Hot Spring County, Ark.). Mr. and Mrs. Goodman are both members of the Baptist Church, as was also his first wife, and are earnest Christian people. Mr. Goodman is deacon of his church, and takes an active part in all of its affairs. During the Civil War he served three years in the Confederate army with distinction. After that event he found himself as poor as when he first started in life, but by the most untiring energy and perseverance, he has again placed himself on an independent basis, and owns about 200 acres of the most productive land in that section. Mr. Goodman is a representative citizen, and liberal in his aid to all enterprises that have a tendency to advance the affairs of his county, and is specially interested in educational matters.

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This family biography is one of 52 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Hot Spring County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Hot Spring County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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