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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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Mirrabeau B. McMurrain, farmer, El Dorado, Ark. Mr. McMurrain, a prominent farmer of El Dorado Township, was born in Bibb County. Ga., in 1832, and his early impressions were at once directed toward the channels of agricultural pursuits. He was the sixth of nine children born to John and Liddie (Pool) McMurrain, and the grandson of David McMurrain, who died in 1848 at the great age of one hundred and six years. The latter served during the entire time of the Revolutionary War and was a farmer, tilling the soil until his death. He was of Scotch descent. On the mother’s side the people were long lived also. The father followed farming all his life, and was very successful in this occupation. He died in 1851. He was a strong Whig in politics. Mirrabeau B. McMurrain assisted on the farm in his youth and received but a limited education. At the age of nineteen years he was married to Miss Noncie Fulton, a native of Georgia, and he afterward bought a farm which he carried on for some time. In 1853 Mrs. McMurrain died, and her child died about the same time. Mr. McMurrain’s second marriage took place in Georgia, in 1854, to Miss Amanda Bosworth, and in 1858 he sold his farm and emigrated to Arkansas, settling in Union County, where he bought a farm of 600 acres near Hillsboro. This was a wild tract of land, and Mr. McMurrain at once began clearing and cultivating, soon having 100 acres cleared and a good house erected. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in Company D, Pleasant’s regiment, and was in the battles of the Trans-Mississippi Department, serving for four years and twenty days. In 1870 he sold his farm and moved to Sevier County, where he bought 300 acres of improved land. There he resided until 1881, and during this time his second wife died. They were the parents of five children: Henrietta Lula (wife of Samuel Sparks, and resides in Sevier County), Emia Ophelia (died in 1858), Fannie (wife of John Langford, of El Dorado), Mirrabeau L. (resides in Union County), Alice (who died in 1879, at the age of eleven years), and Minio Lee (born November 29, 1871, now with her parents). In 1881 Mr. McMurrain returned to Union County, where he married Miss Mattie Ingram, a native of Alabama, and the daughter of Thomas Ingram, one of the pioneers of Union County. The farm of 310 acres on which Mr. McMurrain now resides is situated three miles from El Dorado, and he has 100 acres under cultivation. The improvements on his place are of a good order, and are kept in good condition. He has an excellent orchard, a fine vineyard, and raises a great deal of cotton. By his union with his third wife, Mr. McMurrain became the father of one child, Ruby Hastletine. Mr. McMurrain became a member of the Masonic fraternity in 1859, and is now a member of the El Dorado Lodge No. 13, in which he has never held any office. He is quite active in church and school matters.

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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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