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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Independence 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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Ephraim Drake Swain owns a fine farm of 840 acres, in Washington Township, Independence County, situated about one and a quarter miles east of Victor post office. He was born October 2, 1828, in what is now Yadkin County, N. C., and his parents were Michael and Elizabeth (McGuire) Swain. Michael Swain was also a native of North Carolina, and was born in 1809; he died in the house in which he was born, and which was always his home, January 8, 1886. He was a farmer, of English descent, and for about forty years previous to his death was afflicted with blindness. The mother of our subject was born in North Carolina in 1811, and died in her native State in May, 1882. Ephraim D. was the third in a family of twelve children, five of whom are living. He lived with his parents until about twenty-four years of age, receiving his education in the subscription and free schools of the State in which he was born. In 1854 he married Miss Lucinda Chappel, a native of North Carolina, who was born in 1830. Of the nine children who have been born to them five survive, viz.: Sarah, Pleasant M., James M., Rosa and Buck. Mr. Swain emigrated from North Carolina in 1871, and settled in Independence County, Ark., where he has since resided and been successfully engaged in the pursuit of farming. He has 300 acres of his large farm under cultivation, and is one of the well-to-do and most enterprising farmers of the township. His first presidential vote he cast for Pierce, and he still votes the Democratic ticket, though not an active politician. Mrs. Swain is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. The paternal grandfather of our subject was also Michael Swain, whose life was spent in his native State of North Carolina.

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This family biography is one of 158 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Independence County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Independence County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Independence County, Arkansas family biographies here: Independence County, Arkansas Biographies

View a map of 1889 Independence County, Arkansas here: Independence County, Arkansas Map

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