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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Little River 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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Samuel L. Anderson, Little River County, Ark. A representative citizen of Little River County, and a man recognized and respected as such wherever known, is Mr. Anderson. He is the third of eleven children born to William B. Anderson and wife, nee Rosetta Benthal, natives of Tennessee and Mississippi, respectively, and his birth occurred in Fayette County, Tex., January 20, 1843, whither his parents had moved in 1839, soon after their marriage, which was consummated in Mississippi. The father was a farmer by occupation, and soon after his arrival in Texas he was granted a headright claim under the laws of the Republic, and being among the early pioneers of this State, he acquired a fine lot of land. He was a very prominent man in his Community, and acted in several official capacities, serving as justice of the peace of his county for a number of years. Although never in any of the wars of that Republic, he was frequently called upon by the community in which he lived, with others, to protect themselves against the Indians, who were quite numerous and hostile at that time. He was born in 1812, and his wife in 1818, and both are now living at their home in Texas. Of the eleven children born to their marriage, all grew to maturity, their names being Julius C. (died in 1802, leaving a widow and one child, William), Susanna B. (now the wife of Robert L. McCauley), Samuel L., Littleton B., James C, William E., Mary E. (widow of Miles Rhoads), Virginia E. (wife of Joseph Dunsmore), G. W. and John B. (twins) and Robert L. Samuel L. received such an education as the common schools of Fayette County, Tex., afforded. In 1861 he left school and joined the Texas Rangers (afterward known as the Eighth Texas Cavalry), being a member of Company F, under Col. Terry, who was killed at Green River, Ky., and John A. Whorton was then elected colonel; he afterward became major-general. He was assigned to the east side of the Mississippi River for twelve months, being attached to the command of Albert S. Johnson, and took part in the battle of Shiloh. In July, 1802, on account of sickness, he returned to his home in the West, where he remained but a short time, and then joined a command raised by Jack Baylor to scout on the western frontier and Arizona, but was sent to the Indian country, and in 1803, before his twenty first birthday, he was elected to the office of lieutenant of Company F of Col. Peter Hardeman's regiment. During this service his company became almost extinct, and the captain having left, the remaining portion of the company was assigned to the artillery service, and young Anderson was assigned to duty as acting assistant adjutant-general on the staff of acting Brig-Gen. J. M. Bankhead, but was soon after released and assigned as ordnance officer for the brigade. He served in that capacity until the end of 1803, when Bankhead was relieved by Brig.-Gen. R. M. Gano, of Kentucky, and then be acted as aid-de-camp on his staff while he was the commander of the brigade. Gen. Gano was wounded at Prairie de Ann, and the brigade was then under the command of Charles De Morse, young Anderson still acting in the same capacity. After the battle at Poison Spring, near Camden, Ark., in which he participated, he returned to the Indian country. During the summer of 1804 he was released from duty and ordered to report to Gen. S. B. Maxey at Doaksville, Choctaw Nation, and was assigned to his staff and appointed drill-master of Gen. Gano's brigade, which went into winter quarters in the winter of 1864-65 on the Red River, and the place is known today as the Gano Camp Farm. In the early part of 1865 he was ordered to report to Col. Hardeman for assignment for duty in his regiment, and was appointed by him to take command of Company E, which had been abandoned by its officers, and he served in that capacity until the close of the war. His command disbanded near Houston, Tex. Prior to this, in the fall of 1864, Mr. Anderson had joined his fortunes with those of Mrs. Margaret E. Ward, nee Lane. She was the daughter of B. H. and Margaret (Moren) Lane, early pioneers of this county, and natives of Virginia, and previous to her marriage with Mr. Anderson had been twice widowed. She had one child by her first marriage, Villulia E. Brooks, who married J. C. Anderson, a brother of our subject, and she also had one child, a son —John C. Ward —by her second marriage. For some time after the close of the war Mr. Anderson was occupied in teaching school, but in the fall of 1866 he, together with his wife, made a visit to his parents in Western Texas. In 1867 he was engaged as a clerk in a mercantile house at Rocky Comfort, and was thus occupied until the spring of 1869, when he entered upon the duties of assessor, to which office he had been appointed in 1868, and during the spring and summer of that year he visited every man's house in the county. After finishing his term as assessor, he turned his attention, to farming, and was thus occupied when he received his second appointment as assessor. He served in this capacity in 1870 and 1871, and then he opened his real-estate business at Rocky Comfort, this county. He also served as deputy clerk and postmaster for several years. In 1873 he moved to the country on his farm, and there tilled the soil until 1874, when he was again elected assessor of the county and served for two years. During the latter part of 1876-77 he was occupied in teaching the public school, but in 1878 again returned to his farm and remained there, extensively engaged in farming until 1882, when he was elected county surveyor, and he has succeeded himself at every election since then. He is still engaged in agricultural pursuits, having a farm of 250 acres, with thirty-five or forty acres under a fine state of cultivation, and ever since 1871 he has been carrying on a real-estate business. He is conceded to be one of the best-posted men in the southwestern part of the State in regard to the lands and land laws of the State and Government. He also holds license to practice law in the State and Federal courts, having been admitted to the practice of law in the State courts in 1873, and in the Federal court in 1878. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party, and both he and wife are much esteemed members of the Missionary Baptist Church.

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This family biography is one of 38 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Little River County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Little River County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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