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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Monroe 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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B. J. Lambert, merchant and farmer, Lamberton, Ark. Among the most important industries of any community are those which deal in the necessaries of life, and nothing is more necessary than bread and meat. Lamberton at least has one first-class establishment doing business in this line, which is successfully conducted by Mr. Lambert and son, who handle nothing but the best and freshest goods. This gentleman owes his nativity to Tennessee, his birth occurring in Madison County, in 1838, and is the son of Jordan B. and Judith W. (Key) Lambert, the father a native of the Old Dominion, born in 1797, and the mother of North Carolina, born in 1799. They were married in Henderson County, Ky., and later moved from there to Madison County, Tenn., where they resided for seventeen years. In 1839 they came to Monroe County, located near Indian Bay, among a wild and immoral class of people, who were opposed to culture or refinement, and rather disposed to riot and turmoil. Such a class of people was very obnoxious to the cultured and refined taste of Mr. Lambert, who put forth every effort to effect a change in that direction, and his exertions were eventually crowned with success. Here he passed the closing scenes of his life, his death occurring in January, 1860. He was a prominent Cumberland Presbyterian minister for many years, and was one of seven brothers, six of whom were ministers in that church. He was the only one to reside in Monroe County, where he was one of the prominent pioneers. In 1844 he served in the Arkansas legislature, and afterward was judge of the county and probate court. He probably did more toward moralizing the people and advancing the general interest of the country than any other one man. He was a member of the A. F. & A. M. His father, Joel Lambert, was a native Virginian, of English descent, and died in Kentucky, Mrs. Lambert (mother of the subject of this sketch) died in 1868. She was the daughter of Chesley Key, who was a native of North Carolina and who died in Kentucky. B. J. Lambert was next to the youngest of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, seven of whom lived to be grown, but only two of whom are now living: B. J. and S. T. The former received his education in the common schools and attended two and a half years at Princeton, Ky., and one year at McLemoresville, Tenn. He then engaged in agricultural pursuits and continued at this until the opening of the war. He served two and a half years in the Confederate army, in different companies, and was first with his brother, Capt. Robert Lambert, who was killed at the battle of Shiloh. Afterward he was in McCrea’s brigade and operated in Arkansas. He was captured in Monroe County, April 10, 1864, and was imprisoned at Camp Chase, Ohio, until the close of hostilities, and then returned home. He was married March 20, 1861, to Miss Fannie A. Beasley, a native of Tennessee, and the daughter of Maj. John P. and Evaline T. Beasley, who came from West Tennessee to Monroe County, Ark., in 1859. There Mrs. Beasley still resides, but Mr. Beasley was murdered in Texas, December 14, 1865, whither he had gone after stock. He and wife were natives of Alabama, and both were church members, he of the Methodist and she of the Baptist. To Mr. and Mrs. Lambert were born eleven children, three sons and two daughters now living, and since 1871 Mr. Lambert and family have resided at Lamberton, where he purchased 1,500 acres of land, and has about 500 acres under cultivation. Since 1883 he has conducted the plantation store. He has been postmaster at Lamberton since the establishment of that office and in 1872 was elected sheriff of Monroe County, but was counted out and the matter was not settled for three years. In politics he was formerly a Whig, but is now a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was cast for Bell in 1860. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Indian Bay Lodge No. 256, and Forest Home Chapter No. 16, at Clarendon. He and wife are members in good standing in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

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This family biography is one of 86 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Monroe County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Monroe County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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