My Genealogy Hound

ALEXANDER A. FARIS, M. D., Fulton County, is the third child born to Richard and Ethalinda (Harris) Faris. The parents were natives of South Carolina and North Carolina, respectively; they emigrated to Missouri in 1838, locating in Mississippi County, where subject was born March 1, 1840. The father was a farmer and mechanic, and died in October, 1849, at the age of forty-five years. Subject was reared on a farm, and remained with his mother until 1861, when he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in the Fifth Regiment Tennessee Infantry, with which he served during the greater part of the war. He participated in the hard-fought battles of Belmont, New Madrid, Shiloh, and lost his right arm at the bloody engagement of Perryville, where he was taken prisoner. He was exchanged in December, 1862, and immediately rejoined his command, remaining in active service until the winter of 1863, when, on account of disabilities, he was discharged. Two months after leaving the service, he went back to the army and was employed as courier and mail carrier, in which capacity he served until the close of the war, after which he commenced reading medicine under the tutorship of Drs. H. M. Ward and D. G. Hart, of Jacksonport, Ark., with whom he remained six months, and in 1866, entered the Nashville University, from which he graduated in 1868. He commenced practicing his profession in Hickman in the spring of 1869, and in the fall of the same year entered the Louisiana University at New Orleans, where he remained four months, taking a full course of lectures. In the fall of 1870 he went to New York, and took a course in Bellevue Hospital, and practiced at Bellevue in 1871. In 1876 he took a full course of lectures at the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, Penn.; has practiced in Hickman since 1868, and at the present time is one of the leading physicians and surgeons in the county. He was married May 20, 1871, to Miss Florence, daughter of James and Sallie (Wilson) Goalder, of Springfield, Ky. Dr. and Mrs. Faris are the parents of six children, five of whom are living: Light, May M., Alexander A., Irene, and Even G. The doctor is a member of the K. of H., and politically a Democrat. His wife and family are members of the Episcopal Church.