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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Nevada 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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William B. Calhoun, farmer and ginner, Lackland, Ark. There are a number of men prominently identified with the growth and prosperity of the county, but none among them are more deserving of mention than William B. Calhoun. He owes his nativity to Abbeville District, S. C, where his birth occurred March 10, 1818, and is the son of Nathan and Martha (Puckett) Calhoun. The father was born in 1792 in South Carolina and died in 1870, and the mother was born in 1802 and died in 1826. The parents were married in South Carolina in 1817, and to them were born six children, two now living. The father took for his second wife Miss Amelia Smith, in 1827, and fourteen children resulted from this union, one now living. The second wife was born in 1804 and died in 1888. The parents of our subject were members of the Missionary Baptist Church. William B. Calhoun was early taught the duties of the farm, and received his education in his native State, where he assisted his father until 1838. He then engaged in tilling the soil for himself, and has continued to follow this occupation ever since. His first wife, Marie Beasley, was born in South Carolina in 1817 and died in 1849. They were the parents of seven children: Martha, Nathan, Eugenia, Emma, Jesse, and two who died unnamed. Mr. Calhoun’s second wife, Tilda McSeeny, was a native of Maryland, born in 1817, and died in 1867. His third wife, Hannah Turnage, is a native of Alabama, born in 1840, and is still living. Mr. Calhoun moved from South Carolina to Mississippi with his first wife in 1840, thence to Arkansas in 1848, and settled in Nevada County, where he remained five years. He then went to Concordia Parish, La., residing there until the Civil War, and then went to Texas, where he remained during hostilities. He afterward returned to Louisiana, remained but a short time and then came to Arkansas, where he remained one year. From there he went to South Carolina again, but after two years came back to Nevada County, Ark., where he has continued ever since. He is the owner of 500 acres of choice land and a large cotton-gin. He lost all his property during the war. Aside from his farming interests he is also raising a few fine horses and is quite successful as a stock man and farmer. He and wife are worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a strong Union Labor man in politics.

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This family biography is one of 96 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Nevada County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Nevada County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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