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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline 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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Mr. Hicks lives on Section 8, Township 3, Range 14 west, and is well known to the residents of the county, having lived in this and adjacent localities since his sixth year. He is a native of Tennessee, and was born in Hickman County, October 6, 1838, being the sixth in a family of twelve children born to Gilbert and Elizabeth (Allen) Hicks, natives of North Carolina and Virginia. Gilbert Hicks went to Tennessee with his parents when a child, and grew to manhood, and afterward married there. He was a farmer and wagon maker, and in November, 1844, moved to Saline County, Ark., purchasing land in what is now Grant County. At the time of his death, which occurred in October, 1881, he was the owner of 1,000 acres, and during his lifetime cleared over 400 acres. In politics he is a Democrat, but not an enthusiast on the subject. The later years of his life were spent in raising and trading stock, in which he was very successful. He was regarded as a leading, influential citizen, and his death was mourned by the entire community. Mrs. Hicks was a niece of Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame. She was a true and loving wife for fifty-two years, only surviving her husband a few months. James M. Hicks received his education in the common schools of Arkansas, and when nineteen years of age spent five months in the Hill Creek Academy, in Conway County, Ark., but, owing to sickness, was obliged to discontinue his educational pursuits and returned to farm life. It had been his intention to adopt teaching as a profession, but in this he was disappointed, although he did teach several terms. No doubt the world was deprived of a brilliant scholar when he gave up such an idea of teaching, for his fitness was destined to make him a “shining light” in educational matters. In September, 1860, Mr. Hicks was married to Miss Martha R. Burnett, a native of East Tennessee, and a daughter of Jeremiah and Sarah (York) Burnett, natives of Virginia and Tennessee, respectively. Mr. Burnett came to Arkansas in 1857, and was one of the successful farmers of the State. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the War of 1812 and was in the battle of New Orleans. Mrs. Burnett still survives him, at the age of eighty-four. After his marriage Mr. Hicks bought land and settled in Saline County, but in 1868 sold this farm and came to Shaw Township, purchasing 160 acres, sixty of which he has since cleared. The improvements made are too numerous to mention, but among them he has built good barns, etc. He now owns eighty acres in Shaw Township, 130 cultivated, and 200 in Grant County. Mr. Hicks raises his own stock, such as horses, cattle and hogs, the principal crops grown being corn and cotton, and he was for sixteen years the principal potato grower of Saline County. He takes the lead in fruit raising, having 110 varieties, including fifteen kinds of grapes and thirty-nine kinds of apples, with about the same of peaches, and nine varieties of plums. All the different kinds of berries that thrive in Arkansas are seen on his farm, and it is really a pleasure to observe such an excellent and highly cultivated farm as he owns. It would be a difficult matter to find its equal, and certainly not possible to obtain its superior. For several years Mr. Hicks has been the lending man in experimental fruit-raising and vegetable trial crops. In 1874 he began by budding peaches, and proved the same to be a success. His method of setting the trees is very peculiar, as he digs a pit 3x4 feet and twenty five inches in depth, then fills the first fourteen inches with alternate layers of coarse manure and earth, the last twelve inches being of solid earth well packed. In politics he is a Democrat, though conservative and independent. He has never been an office seeker, but has been elected to a county office, and once to township office, in both cases, however, declining to serve. For a number of years he has been director of the school district. He served three years in the Confederate service under Col. Johnson, in the Sixth Arkansas Infantry, but was never in any active engagement. He was in the hospital service, and filled the different positions of nurse, wardmaster, clerk and steward. Being a cripple he was exempt from field duty, and in order to serve the cause he believed to be right, applied to the hospital department and served there as stated above. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are the parents of the following family: Marian W., J. G., Robert L., Emily Leo, Jeremiah T., Ida Florence, Monroe H., Obed B., Elijah F., James A. Garfield and Benjamin F. Himself and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for thirteen years he has been superintendent of the Sunday-school.

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This family biography is one of 100 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Saline County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Saline County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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