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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Randolph 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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Jesse G. Ham, M. D. Among the widely known and most successful physicians of this county is Dr. Ham, who was born in Gibson County, Tenn., in 1834, and was reared and educated in Trenton, Tenn., being a faithful student in Andrew College, of the latter place, for some time. At the early age of sixteen years he began clerking in a drug store, and there acquired a taste for the science of medicine. He commenced his studies under Drs. Tulafro and Leaster, and after making a thorough preparation and devoting his energies to this study for some time, he began attending lectures in the Nashville Medical College, and graduated from McDowell’s Medical College, in St. Louis, Mo., in 1857. He decided to commence his professional career in the “Blue Grass State,” and accordingly located at Birmingham, but moved shortly afterward to Memphis, Tenn., and entered upon an active and prosperous career there, in partnership with his uncle, Dr. Tom Peyton, who was one of the leading members of the medical fraternity in West Tennessee. After dissolving partnership with his uncle he went to the Indian Territory, and after remaining for some time in Maryville, he again made a change of residence, this time taking up his abode in the “Lone Star State.” From this point he moved to Matamoras, and after a short period spent in that place he returned to Texas, first to Dallas, then to Johnston Station, back again to Dallas, and then to Fort Worth. In this place he remained until May, 1861, when he and Mr. DeEldrige, of Virginia, raised a company of soldiers, and Dr. Ham was made its captain. They went to Louisiana, but, as, according to the law no organized body of men could be received from Texas, the battalion was disbanded at New Orleans. After this Dr. Ham joined the Fifth Louisiana Regiment, Crescent City Guards, commanded by Judge Hunt, which was the third regiment of men that landed at Yorktown, where Cornwallis surrendered. After the first fight near the coast the command fell back to Williamsburg, where Washington’s old barracks were still standing, and Dr. Ham was in the house in which Patrick Henry lived. Dr. Ham was there requested to go before the medical board, and was made assistant-surgeon of the Regular Confederate States army, and was assigned to duty at Chiborago Hospital, Va. He remained in the medical department until the final surrender, then returned to the State of Tennessee, and moved from there to Woodruff County, Ark., where he recommenced the practice of medicine. From that time until 1880 he practiced in Jackson and Lawrence Counties, after which he came to Cherokee Bay, and here has since resided. He was first married to Miss Lizzie A. McKee, of Mississippi, and took for his second wife Miss Lizzie A. Thome, who was a native of New Jersey. Dr. Ham is a Democrat, and a member of the A. F. & A. M. He is a son of James and Martha (Peyton) Ham, the former of whom was a Virginian. Mr. Ham moved to Tennessee when about twenty-five years old, and had acquired a large fortune in the gold mines of Georgia. He held a number of local offices, and was first constable, then deputy sheriff, and finally sheriff of the county in which he resided. He was also clerk of Gibson County, Tenn. He is now deceased. His father was a native of Virginia, and was a son of a native Frenchman.

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This family biography is one of 110 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Randolph County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Randolph County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Randolph County, Arkansas family biographies here: Randolph County, Arkansas Biographies

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