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Below is a family biography included in The History of Rutherford 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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BENTON P. MANKIN, a successful farmer and stock raiser of Rutherford County, was born November 12, 1843, and is the son of John and Elizabeth (Hodge) Mankin, natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Tennessee. Our subject was reared on a farm and received a limited education as he attended school but a short time before the war broke out. After reaching his majority he began farming and so continued until the death of his father, when he moved to the old homestead. In 1884 he purchased and moved to the place where he now resides. In 1877 he was married to Miss Alice F. Hearn, of Wilson County, and to this union have been born two children: Mardilla H. and Mary L. In 1884 he married Miss S. J. Atkinson, of this county, and one child, Jessie J., has blessed this union. Mr. Mankin is a stanch Democrat and enlisted in Company E, Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, as a private. He took an active part in most of the battles in which his command was engaged, and was wounded at Thompson’s Station and a second time near Knoxville, being off duty one month. At the close of the war he returned home and attended school, going at intervals and farming until 1869, when he attended strictly to his farm duties. He and wife are members of the Christian Church and he is justly considered one of the leading farmers of the county.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in The History of Rutherford County, Tennessee published in 1887 by Goodspeed.  The History of Rutherford County was included within The History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Beford and Marshall Counties of Tennessee

View additional Rutherford County, Tennessee family biographies here

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