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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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Silas F. Myers has been a resident of Mississippi County, for the past thirty-six years, and has spent a lifetime in pursuing the noble vocation of agriculture, having learned this occupation of his father who was an extensive tobacco planter in Kentucky. His life has not been without adventure or self-denying experiences, yet success has attended him both in material affairs and in the esteem which has been accorded him by those among whom he has so long made his home. He was born in Macon County, Ill., but at the age of eighteen months was taken by his father to Davis County, Ky., and remained on the latter’s tobacco plantation until 1852, or until he was twenty-two years of age. His father, who bore the name of Levi Myers, died about 1837, and the mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Campbell, was a daughter of Henry Campbell, of Virginia. Abraham Myers, the paternal grandfather, was a German. To Levi Myers and wife a family of nine children were born, of whom Silas F. Myers is the only surviving member. The latter came to Mississippi County, Ark., and raised a crop of cotton the same year on rented land, and has since raised a crop of from 50 to 125 acres of cotton each year. He has nearly always worked on new ground, and has cleared sixty-three acres in one place, fifteen in another, and ten, twenty-five, eighty, twenty and sixteen acres, respectively. In 1876 he purchased land to the amount of 118 acres, all of which he has under the plow. He is very pleasantly situated, and his residence is substantial and roomy, being 72x34 feet, with a hallway running through the center, and a large porch extending around the house. It was built by his individual labor with the exception of about one week’s work, when a carpenter was employed, and is excellently finished inside and out. Four families and three single men are employed to keep the farm in order, and on the place are five good workmen’s cabins. He has a large orchard, well stocked with different varieties of peaches, apples, pears, plums, etc. Two years after coming to Mississippi County, he was married to Miss Sarah T. Williamson, a daughter of Richard and Harriet (Willingham) Williamson, who were formerly, from Alabama, but removed to Tennessee when Mrs. Myers was a small child, and when she was fourteen years of age came to Mississippi County. Mr. and Mrs. Myers’ children are as follows: Joseph B., a commercial traveler for a Memphis, Tenn., house; James H., a planter residing at Nodena, is married, his wife’s maiden name being Nora Cissell, a daughter of Levi Cissell; and Minnie O., Nancy Ardella, and Cora Elizabeth, at home. Three children died in infancy, and one son died when eleven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Myers, their daughter, Nancy Ardella, and son, James H., are members of the Presbyterian Church at Nodena, while Miss Minnie O. belongs to the same church at Osceola. Mr. Myers is a member of Lodge No. 27, A. F. & A. M., of Osceola.

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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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