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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi 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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J. A. Leatherwood is a man whom nature seems to have especially designed to be a planter, for, owing to his desire to keep out of the beaten path, and to his adoption of new and improved methods, together with industry and good judgment, he has met with more than the average degree of success in pursuing his calling. He was born in Tishomingo County, Miss., in 1858, and there received his education in the district schools, which, in his day, were not of the best. At the age of nineteen years he began clerking in a store belonging to S. N. DeWoody, who was afterward succeeded by J. J. Comon & Co., of whom Gov. Stone, of Mississippi, was the “Co.” and the leading member of the firm. He remained with them for about three years, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the business in all its details. In 1885 he came to Mississippi County, Ark., where he settled on a plantation with his brother, J. D. Leatherwood, they renting a tract of land consisting of 200 acres, which they devoted to the raising of cotton, and employed from twenty to thirty hands. Two years later they rented the Idaho Landing plantation, which place they have leased for seven years. They have a steam cotton-gin, and aside from this and farming they are quite extensively engaged in conducting a mercantile establishment, and are in possession of the landing at the river, where they conduct a large wood yard. J. A. Leatherwood is a member of Lodge No. 180, of the K. of H. J. D. Leatherwood is a native of Tishomingo County, Miss., where he was born in 1861, his educational advantages being about the same as his brother’s. On reaching manhood he engaged in the livery business in Iuka, Miss., but at the end of three years came with his brother to Mississippi County, Ark., where he has since been following the occupation of a planter and merchant. In 1887 he was married to Miss Dixie Dean of Iuka, Miss., by whom he had one child, Lloyd, who died in infancy.

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This family biography is one of 162 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Mississippi County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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

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