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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Union 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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John C. Langford, editor and proprietor of the Public Sentiment, published at El Dorado, Ark., was born near Champagnolle, Union County, Ark., in 1858, and was the third in a family of four children born to Judge W. C. and Louisa (Witherington) Langford, the father a prominent attorney of El Dorado for many years [see sketch]. John C. Langford was reared to the onerous duties of the farm, and was educated in the schools of El Dorado until sixteen years of age. He then began learning the printer’s trade in the Union County Times, and later on the El Dorado Eagle. In 1880 he went to Blanchard Springs, and worked on the Blanchard Herald, from there he went to Farmersville, La., and there engaged in the publication of the North Louisiana Appeal for two years. In October, 1886, he came back to El Dorado and bought the Union Herald, which name was changed to the Public Sentiment, on March 27, 1888. Mr. Langford has always conducted his paper as an orthodox Democratic publication, advocating home interests and improvements, At the time of buying the Herald, its circulation was about 300 copies, and the Sentiment has a circulation at the present time of over 1,000. Although still a young man, Mr. Langford commands the good opinion of all around him, and since personal respect is the key to success in every department in life, journalistic no less than the legal or official, he has that assurance of success beyond peradventure. He was married in 1883 to Miss Fannie M. McMurrain, a daughter of M. B. McMurrain [see sketch], and three interesting children were the fruits of this union: Ellis Everette, Alice Idela and Myrtle. The family are members of the Baptist Church.

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This family biography is one of 84 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Union County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Union County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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