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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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V. M. Threlkeld was born in Greenville, S. C., on May 9, 1857. He lived at his native town until 1872, when he visited Hot Spring County, Ark., where he remained some eighteen months, teaching school and following to a limited extent his profession as surveyor. He then returned to his old home, and resided there till the year 1877, when he visited Texas, stopping in Rains County for one year, being elected to the office of county surveyor. His health failing him, he did not complete his term, but returned to Hot Spring County, where he arrived in the spring of 1879. He immediately began teaching school, continuing until the summer of 1880, when he was elected county surveyor. Holding this office until 1886, he made the race for the office of sheriff, being defeated by I. H. B. Adams. He held the position of deputy surveyor till 1888, when he was again elected to the office of county surveyor, a position the duties of which he is still discharging in a gratifying manner. Mr. Threlkeld’s father, Willis D., was born in Mississippi, and at the early age of thirteen, left home to shift for himself. He made his way to Greenville District, S. C., where he took up his home with an old gentleman by the name of Kilgore. This man was one of the deputy surveyors of the State, and gave the young stranger an education in the art of surveying. In his twentieth year, young Threlkeld was appointed and commissioned deputy surveyor of the State of South Carolina for the Greenville District. He served in all, as surveyor, fifty-two years of his life. He married Malinda Sheppard, of the Greenville District, and to this union there was born a family of eight children, three of whom are now living: Malinda Caroline (aged fifty), Behethland Butler (aged forty-six) and V. M. (the subject of this sketch.) In 1861 Willis D. Threlkeld enlisted in the Fourth South Carolina Regiment, Capt. James Hawthorne, serving one year in the field, and participating in the first and second battles of Manassas. Becoming unwell he was released from regular duty and placed in the hospital at Richmond, Va., remaining there till 1863, when he was discharged and returned home to Greenville, S. C. He was always a Democrat, casting his first vote for Van Buren in 1837. He joined the Baptist Church early in life, and was always a liberal donator to the churches and schools. V. M. Threlkeld, was married in May, 1887, to Margaret T. Alford, daughter of Rev. Leander H. Alford, a prominent minister of Hot Spring County. The fruit of this marriage was one child, little Delia, aged about eighteen months. He is a highly respected citizen, and his estimable wife and himself are recognized as among the good people of this county.

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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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