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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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James A. Brown, a well-known, influential citizen, and one of the most prominent planters of Saline County, was born in Lincoln County, Tenn., in 1829, and is a son of John and Nancy Brown, born in North Carolina in 1807 and in Tennessee in 1825, respectively. The parents were married in Lincoln County, and a few years after their union, moved to Fayette County, West Tenn., where they resided until the year 1853, then coming to Arkansas. The father was a prosperous farmer during his life and for many years a captain of militia. His wife, a devout Christian woman, died in 1853, and he followed her two years later. He was a son of James Brown, of North Carolina, one of the earliest settlers of Lincoln County, Tenn., who resided in that State the remainder of his life. The paternal grandfather, James Brown, came from Ireland to America in his boyhood and first settled in North Carolina, and afterward in Lincoln County, Tenn., where he died in 1830. Champion Blithe, the maternal grandfather, was a Kentuckian by birth, and in an early day fought the Spaniards at Santa Day. The remainder of his life was spent on the frontier of Texas fighting against savage tribes. James A., the second of six children born to his parents, received his education in the log cabin schools of his day. He started out in the world for himself when only fourteen years old, and at the age of eighteen was assistant overseer of a large plantation, having entire charge of over 100 slaves. In 1851 he was married in Shelby County, Tenn., to Virginia, a daughter of Payton and Sarah Fletcher, of Kentucky, who settled in Tennessee after their marriage, the father becoming one of the largest planters in Shelby County. Mr. Fletcher was also a soldier in one of the Indian wars. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were the parents of seven children, of whom two only are living: William H. (born in 1857, educated in Benton, Ark., and Shelby County, Tenn., and married in 1888 to Miss Edna E. Hooker, of Shelby County), and Thomas Jefferson, (born in 1864, also educated in Benton, Ark., and Shelby County, Tenn., and at Little Rock; married March 7, 1889, to Miss Maggie L. Wilder, of Georgia, who came to Benton, Ark., with her parents, the latter now residing in Texas). The following year after his marriage, Mr. Brown came to Arkansas and settled in the wilds about twenty miles below Little Rock, which was then the nearest post office and trading point. Here he opened up a small clearing and built himself a slab cabin, and one of his greatest pleasures is to recall the many happy hours spent in that primitive habitation. The country was overrun with wild animals at that time and many a night he was forced to get out of bed and let the dogs in to keep them from being eaten by the wolves. During the first year he killed twenty-two bear besides a quantity of other game, and on one occasion stood in his door with a shot-gun and killed seven wild turkeys at one shot. Wild deer were then more plenty than the domestic hog of today, and the delicious venison now sold for exorbitant prices was then a common fare. Mr. Brown was an ardent hunter, but never let his fascination for that sport interfere with his other duties, and the severest weather did not hinder him from improving his farm and building up his place. He cultivated about 250 acres of fine bottom land, which, on his arrival had been covered with a dense growth of timber, and has done perhaps as much hard work as any man in Arkansas. He now owns 3,200 acres of fine bottom land, having placed some 600 acres under cultivation, all accumulated by his own energy and judicious management; besides this he was a considerable loser by the Civil War. He now employs about 100 people on his place and operates his own gin and store. In earlier days Mr. Brown was engaged in rafting lumber down the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers, and after getting through with his season’s business made the journey back home on foot through the wildest and most unsettled portion of the country. In politics he was a Whig until after the war, and now votes the Democratic ticket. For eight years he held the office of justice of the peace and filled the position with great dignity and wisdom. He has been a member of Pemington Lodge No. 273, A. F. & A. M., at Hensley
since 1865, and has been junior and senior warden, treasurer and junior deacon. His sons also belong to the same lodge.

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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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