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Below is a family biography included in The History of Coffee County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  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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George W. Cross, a prominent lawyer of Manchester, Tenn., was born in Anderson County August 31, 1849. He is the son of William and Jane (Black) Cross, both of English descent and natives of Anderson County. The former, born in 1810, is still living; the latter, born about 1820, died February 26, 1885. Married in 1836 the elder Cross engaged in farming. He is a Democrat, and sympathizes with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of which his wife was a member. Our subject, the fifth of eight children, was educated chiefly at Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tenn., and the military school of Knoxville, Tenn., from which he graduated in 1874. After three years’ teaching in Decherd and Salem, Tenn., in September, 1877, he took ten months at Vanderbilt University Law Department, and the professor granted him license to practice. Since 1878, when he came to Manchester, he has become one of the most successful lawyers of Coffee County and among the ablest in this section. January 17, 1882, he married Beulah Hickerson, born in 1861, the daughter of Judge W. P. Hickerson. She was a cultured lady. Her death occurred July 24, 1885. Mr. Cross is a decided Democrat.

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This family biography is one of 59 biographies included in The History of Coffee County, Tennessee published in 1887.  The History of Coffee County was included within The History of Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Warren & White Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Warren, White Counties of Tennessee

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