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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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Stephen Simons, a progressive and successful farmer of Monroe County, is a native of Alabama, his father, William Simons, having come originally from Massachusetts. He was a bridge builder and carpenter by trade, which occupation he followed up to the late war. He then erected a steam grist mill in Alabama, and operated it until his death in 1877. He married Susan D. Wheelock, a native of Alabama and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who died in 1861. They were the parents of ten children, four still living: Stephen (our subject), Cornelia (the wife of A. S. Neeley, of Kentucky), Martin E. and John. Stephen Simons was born in 1848, and remained in his native State until 1874, when he removed to Arkansas, settling in this county. He worked at the carpenter’s trade the first two years, and for three years following was engaged in the saloon business, after which he began farming on his present farm of 168 acres, with sixty acres under cultivation. He was married in 1878 to Miss Nancy A. Brown, daughter of Jesse and Mary Brown. She was born in this county in 1854. Her parents are now dead, her father having been killed in the late war, and her mother dying in 1877. Mr. Simons is an influential Democrat in political circles and a leading man in his township.

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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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