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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. J. Carr, a prominent planter at Barfield, was born in Robertson County, Tenn., in 1853, and was the fifth child of Robert D. and Elizabeth (Lowe) Carr, of Virginia and Tennessee, respectively. The father was an extensive farmer and stock-raiser in Tennessee, until 1858, when he moved to Mississippi County, Ark., and settled at Barfield, on the farm upon which his son now resides. At his removal Mr. Carr sold his property in Tennessee for $60,000, and invested the greater portion of that sum in lands of this county, buying some 10,000 acres of land, and erecting a handsome residence one mile from the river. Since that time the river banks have caved in to such an extent that the residence has been removed one mile farther back, and now the river flows directly past it. The elder Carr, soon after his arrival, began improving his land on quite an extensive scale, and in a short time had over 200 acres of land under cultivation. His death occurred in 1861, at the age of fifty-five years, just three years after his settlement in Arkansas. After his decease the estate was managed by his widow and her oldest son. At the age of sixteen years J. J. Carr attended school at High Plains, Tenn., and afterward entered the seminary at Walnut Grove, where he remained for three years, returning to Mississippi County on the occasion of his mother’s death. He then entered the business house of Edrington & Co., at Osceola, and occupied a clerical position for three years, after which he went to Memphis, Tenn., and traveled for a firm of cotton factors. At the first outbreak of yellow fever, in 1877, he gave up his employment, and returned to Mississippi County, where he took possession of his farm, then consisting of 125 acres under cultivation, but numbering in all about 1,100 acres. He has added 350 acres more since then, and has some 150 acres under cultivation, well stocked and fenced. Mr. Carr was married in 1882 to Miss Susie Phillips, of Missouri, a daughter of Richard R. Phillips, one of the oldest settlers of New Madrid County, Mo. This union has given them three children: John Haiden, Rosa Louise and an infant daughter. Mrs. Carr is a devout Christian, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Carr is a member of Osceola Lodge No. 1153, Knights of Pythias. His land will average one bale of cotton to the acre, and about fifty bushels of corn, and in connection with his farming interests he operates a cotton-gin on his place, and owns the steamboat landing, known as the Chickasawba Landing, where most of the cotton from the township of that name is shipped, and the goods for that locality are received. Mr. Carr is a gentleman of pleasing manners and address, and is well and popularly known throughout that section, where he is highly esteemed.

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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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