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Below is a family biography included in The History of Sebastian 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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Leroy Dawson is a worthy tiller of the soil in Sebastian County, Ark., and owns a fertile farm of 160 acres, 110 of which are under cultivation. He is the eldest of eight children, and was born in Jackson County, Ala., June 26, 1824, and from his earliest boyhood up has been engaged in farming. At the age of twenty he began the battle of life for himself, and June 26, 1847, was married in Missouri, whither he had moved with his parents, to Elizabeth C. Burtoff, by whom he became the father of four sons and three daughters. For his second wife he chose Miss Elizabeth Wilhite, who bore him one son and five daughters. Mr. Dawson is a Democrat, and since 1879 has been a resident of Sebastian County, Ark. His parents, Larkin and Lucinda (Williams) Dawson, were born in North and South Carolina, respectively, and when quite young were taken to Jackson County, Ala., where they married and lived until about 1842, when they took up their abode in Crawford County, Mo. The both died in 1864 at a good old age, their deaths occurring one day apart. The mother was a true Christian in every sense of the word, and was a devoted member of the Primitive Baptist Church. The father was a Democrat in his political views, and was highly esteems and respected by all who knew him.

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This family biography is one of 217 biographies included in The History of Sebastian County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Sebastian County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Sebastian County, Arkansas family biographies here: Sebastian County, Arkansas

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