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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski 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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Judge Eben W. Kimball is a native of New Hampshire, and was born in 1839. His ancestors on his father’s side, came from England in 1626, and settled in Watertown, Mass., but his father’s mother was born in Ireland. On his mother’s side they are traced from Scotland and Wales, and he thus unites in one stream the blood of the four quarters of the Isle of Great Britain. Eben was educated in Massachusetts at the Salem Latin school, the first public school in the country, and afterward entered Harvard College, and read law in Salem, where he practiced his profession for several years with signal success. He was elected to the legislature of Massachusetts before he was twenty-one years old, and served with much honor and credit. Becoming settled in Indianapolis, he took a leading rank among the bar of that State, where he won his full share of credit against such opponents as Harrison, Hendricks and McDonald. In 1874 he moved to Little Rock, where he now resides. His practice is largely in the United States courts, and he has been remarkably successful in litigation concerning county and municipal bonds, and in suits against corporations generally. He is the attorney of all the leading insurance companies, and of foreign investment companies, as well as of the First National Bank, the Arkansas Industrial Company, Gas Light, and many other large corporations. He is said to be the best cross-examining lawyer in the State. Judge Kimball has always been a strong Republican, and when in Indiana he stumped the State with Gov. Morton in his famous race against McDonald, Gov. Morton pronouncing him to be among the foremost of political orators. He stumped Western Missouri with Col. Van Horn, for Grant in his last presidential campaign. His political affiliations, however, do not deter him from entering heartily into every movement for the improvement of Arkansas, and the fact that he is not in accord politically with the majority in his State, is never thought of when brains and energy are needed. He, however, manages to keep out of office, and is among the foremost dozen men now bringing Arkansas to the front. He has been special judge many times in various courts, and is a member of the bar of the supreme court of the United States. Everybody calls him “Judge” Kimball, and when asked how he came by that title he replied: “Some men are called ‘Judge’ because they happen to be elected such, others because they are judges of the law. I don’t belong to the former class.” He has been twice married. The present Mrs. Kimball is a beautiful and charming lady, and has displayed more than ordinary skill and talent in painting on china and in oil. They have two attractive young children; his eldest daughter is the accomplished wife of George B. Rose, Esq., of Little Rock. The eldest son, Horace Kimball, is a rising young lawyer, who inherits much of his father’s brilliancy and good judgment. Judge Kimball is a great organizer, and any movement in which he is interested runs smoothly and systematically, the work being all carefully planned beforehand, and men to carry out each portion of it selected with rare good judgment; as a consequence, great results are accomplished without friction or undue disturbance. The late State exposition of the resources of Arkansas and State Immigration Convention, are illustrations in point. Judge Kimball was the president of the exposition, and the master mind behind the immigration convention, the most unanimous and generally approved movement that has ever taken place in the State, the constitution of which was written by him. Judge Kimball is an ideal companion to men who value that sort of refined and strong speech which made Dr. Johnson so attractive. He possesses a quickness of conception and an aptness of illustration that at once silence the conversational bore and win admiration from men of keen intelligence. His marked gentleness of manner, and the sympathetic play of his wit, invite friendship and confidence. He never wounds a friend, and there are no dregs of bitterness in the rich draught of his mirth. Judge Kimball is now engaged in the practice of law, in which it is needless to say, he is more than successful. He is a director in the Arkansas Insurance Company, which he organized, is president of the Little Rock & Choctaw Railroad, of the Layman Safety Car Coupler Company, of the Arkansas Abstract Company, and is largely interested in the development of the minerals in Northern Arkansas. He is one of the most eloquent of “after dinner’’ speakers, and his response to the toast ‘‘ The Commercial Traveler as a Factor of Civilization,” at the great banquet of the Travelers’ Protective Association at Little Rock, in 1889, is pronounced one of the most brilliant speeches of his life. No higher encomiums can be passed on him than by simply calling attention to the positions he has held with such honor and credit, and the respect and unqualified esteem that is given him throughout the country. His is a record that the rising generation should at least try to follow.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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