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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of St. Francis County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  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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Orville J. Hall, enlisted during the Civil War, in the Confederate service, at the age of twenty-four, serving in the Sixth Kentucky Infantry, under Col. Lewis, who is now judge of the supreme bench of Kentucky. He entered as a private, but was appointed a corporal, later made third sergeant, and at the close of the war was virtually captain of his company, although he had not received his commission papers. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge (in which he was wounded), Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro and a number of minor engagements; was captured at the battle of Jonesboro and taken to Nashville, where he was held for twenty days. After his exchange he returned to his regiment, and during the latter part of the service was on detached duty, being attached to the provost-marshal’s division. Following the war period, Mr. Hall returned to his home in West Point, Ky., and commenced farming on his father’s old place, his mother living with him. He was born in Hardin County, Ky., on September 3, 1837, being a son of John W. Hall, also a Kentuckian by birth, born in 1802, who removed to West Point, Ky., a short time after his marriage, and engaged in the hotel business; he was the proprietor of the well-known West Point Hotel, and also owned considerable property at the time of his death, which occurred in 1852. His wife came upon the stage of life’s action at West Point, Ky., in 1805, and is still living at that place. In their family were seven children, three of whom are living. In 1867 Orville J. Hall removed to Crittenden County, and the following year came to St. Francis County, carrying on the timber business for a year and the next year rented a farm. He was married in 1872 to Miss Margaret E. Davis, daughter of Jasper N. Davis, an old settler of this county. They are the parents of ten children, eight living: Margaret, John William, Orville Jessie, Robert Young, Samuel Davis, Henry Russel, Edwin Winchester and Hugh. Following his marriage Mr. Hall bought a farm of 200 acres, with fifty acres under cultivation, lying in the fertile valley of the St. Francis River. He is a good Democrat. Mrs. Hall is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

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This family biography is one of 87 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of St. Francis County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: St. Francis County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional St. Francis County, Arkansas family biographies here: St. Francis County, Arkansas Biographies

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