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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Clay County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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A. J. Langley, a South Carolinian by birth, who is prominently identified with the farming interests of Clay County, was reared and remained in his native State until forty-two years of age. He attended the common subscription schools of the county of his birth, and in 1862 enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Mississippi Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. He was under Gens. Bragg, Johnston and Hood, in all the principal fights, was captured at the battle at Franklin, Tenn., in November, 1864, and was sent to Chicago, Ill. He was held at Camp Douglass as a prisoner of war until he was released June 18, 1865, and then returned to Mississippi, where he followed farming until 1869, finally moving to his present residence, seven miles west of St. Francis, Clay County. He is the owner of 240 acres of land, 100 under cultivation, and is one of the wide-awake, thorough-going farmers of the county. His first marriage was to Miss Mary A. Pert, of South Carolina in which State Mr. Langley first met her, and to them were born two children, one of whom, Thomas L., now lives near Yazoo City, Miss., where he owns a farm, and is the father of one child. Mr. Langley was married the second time to a sister of his former wife, Miss Elizabeth Pert, who bore him one child, Elizabeth, who is now married to Willis White, and a resident of South Carolina. After the death of his second wife Mr. Langley married Miss Mary A. Goodman, also of South Carolina, she being the daughter of James W. Goodman, of Cross Hill. To this union were born eleven children: W. W. lives on a farm in Mississippi; Virginia, one of a pair of twins, married J. W. Daniels, a farmer of Clay County, and is the mother of seven children; Andrew W. married Miss Fannie Malone, and is the father of three children — he is farming in Clay County; Charles married, and died, leaving a wife and child; Jackianna, married R. M. Wayster, of Clay County, where they now live, and are the parents of three children; Samuel, recently married to Miss Lula Booth, is now living in Missouri; Fannie, who married John McLeskey, bore two children, and is now deceased; Tollula, married D. J. McCleskey, and is now deceased; Eugene P. is not married, and lives on a farm in Missouri; Ira C., at home, and Robert, at home. Mr. Langley is a Democrat in his political views; is a member of the Methodist Church, and belongs to the Masonic fraternity, Blue Lodge and Chapter. He is generally identified with all public enterprises, giving cheerfully as far as he is able.

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This family biography is one of 124 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Clay County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Clay County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Clay County, Arkansas family biographies here: Clay County, Arkansas Biographies

View a map of 1889 Clay County, Arkansas here: Clay County, Arkansas Map

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