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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lonoke 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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Alphonse Hamberg. Not everyone who enters into mercantile life makes a success of it; but there are some whose excellent business judgment and straightforward manner of carrying on trade win prominence and success in commercial life. One of the leading merchants of Lonoke is Mr. Hamberg, a native of Holland, who was born in Maestricht, in the Province of Limburgh, October 25, 1851. His parents were Moses and Sarah (Arenz) Hamberg, natives of Germany. When Alphonse was fifteen years old, he became a clerk in a wholesale dry-goods house, where he remained for some time, and during youth received all the advantages of a superior education in the public schools and college of his native city, becoming a cultured and well-educated man. At the age of sixteen he entered the military schools at Kampen, and volunteered for a period of ten years, serving his term of enlistment, and being promoted to the position of first sergeant and clerk in the United States Normal School, in which he was instructor for two years. In 1878 he emigrated to America, landing in the Quaker City (Philadelphia), and after a few days started for Arkansas, locating upon arrival in Lonoke, and for eight years he was a clerk in the stores of Daniel & Strauss, and A. G. England & Co. He established his present general merchandise and millinery business in 1885, in which he has met with the most gratifying results, his store having become known throughout the country. His marriage with Miss Sally Austin was consummated in 1882, and to their union have been born three sons. Mrs. Hamberg was a native of Tennessee, and is a highly accomplished and attractive lady. Mr. Hamberg is a Democrat in his political views, and is thoroughly American in all that he does. He is a member of the K. of P. and Past Vice Commander. He comes from a long-lived race of people, his grandmother having attained her ninety-fifth birthday at the time of her demise, and his parents are both hale and hearty at the age of eighty years. They have not had an inclination to leave their native land, and consequently have never crossed the water.

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This family biography is one of 143 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lonoke County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Lonoke County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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