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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jackson 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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Thomas Britt, planter and stock raiser, son of Alexander and Nancy (Prauat) Britt, natives of North Carolina, came with his parents from Mississippi, in 1848, and located on Section 23. He was born April 10, 1842, in Mississippi, and received his education in the private schools of that time. In 1863 he entered the Confederate service in Col. Gaw’s Regiment, Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, was captured in the hospital at Little Rock, in September, 1863, and sent to Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Ind., where he remained till the close of the war, arriving home May 13, 1865. His father was wounded in battle, from the effects of which he died; the mother died in 1865. Coming into possession of all his father’s property by will, Thomas took possession of the homestead, and at once commenced cultivating the land, which was in bad condition, but little of the farm having been cultivated during the war, and only fifty of the 360 acres being cleared. August 11, 1868, Mr. Britt married Miss Anna Combs, a native of Alabama, and whose parents came to Arkansas in 1852; their children were Julia M., (born July 6, 1870), Iduma (born March 7, 1873, deceased), Ida (born October 2, 1875), Alice (born July 29, 1880), Luvena (born May 7, 1878, deceased), Jacob L. (born March 4, 1883) and John F. (born August 29, 1885). In 1872 Mr. Britt erected the comfortable house in which he now lives. He has upon his place a steam cotton-gin, also grist-mill and barns. Being an early settler, he remembers well when the only grist-mills were turned by hand, when the meat was obtained from the forests, and when wolves and bears rendered it almost impossible to raise sheep and hogs. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and his wife of the Methodist. He is a Democrat, and has been justice of the peace, and although not an educated man himself, his children have received the advantages of the best schools in the neighborhood.

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This family biography is one of 144 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jackson County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Jackson County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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

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