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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski 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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Walter A. Galloway, one of the leading merchants and a popular resident of Pulaski County, was born in that county on November 22, 1844, and was educated in the schools of that neighborhood. At the early age of seventeen years, he gave up his books to follow the fortunes of war, and enlisted in Company F, of the First Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, his uncle, M. G. Galloway, commanding the company. His experiences through that struggle were many and varied, and on several occasions he was wounded while in the thick of battle. He was in the battles of Richmond, Ky.; Pea Ridge, Helena, Ark.; Mansfield, La.; Pleasant Hill, La., and a number of minor skirmishes. After the war was over, he returned to Pulaski County and commenced farming up to the year 1871. He then went into business at what is now Galloway Station, on the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad, and opened up a general merchandise store, the town being named in his honor. He continued in business at that point for three years, and then moved to Kerrs, in Lonoke County, where he entered into the same line of business in connection with farming. In 1879 he came to his present place in Pulaski County, and established a general merchandise business in which he has been very successful ever since. He carries an excellent stock of goods, valued at about $5,000, and owns something like $7,000 worth of real estate in his county, consisting of 820 acres of land. Besides this, he owns 280 acres of valuable land in Lonoke County and several buildings in the town of Jacksonville. On January 10, 1867, he was married to Miss Lavena T. Heanes, of Mississippi, but lost his wife on May 16, 1882. This marriage gave them eight children, of whom six are yet living: David, Jennie L., Maggie, Katie, Annie, Emma. Mr. Galloway was again married in 1882, his second wife being Miss Susan S. Smith, of Georgia, by whom he has had four children: Edna and Elenore (deceased), and Walter A. and Susan S. (yet living). Mr. Galloway’s parents were James B. and Margaret A. (Shall) Galloway, the father a native of Virginia, who was one of the earliest settlers of Pulaski County, having arrived here in 1830. His parents were R. L. and Maria Galloway, who came to Arkansas the following year. In 1849, when the gold fever was spreading its contagion from the Pacific to the Atlantic, James Galloway was one of the first of those venturesome ‘49ers to cross the plains and dig for the glittering metal in California. On his return, four years later, he commenced farming and merchandising, which occupations he continued in up to the time of his death, in 1861. The Galloways are of Scotch descent, their forefathers coming from Scotland to America at an early period in this country’s history. Walter A. Galloway is a representative business man and an influential citizen of Pulaski County. He has been postmaster of Jacksonville since 1882, and holds the post-office in his place of business. A member of the Masonic order he belongs to Jacinto Lodge No. 216, and has also been a member of the Grand Lodge, representing that body as a delegate on several occasions. In politics he is a Democrat, and a man of valuable aid to his party in this section. He has held the office of justice of the peace for one term in Lonoke County, and one term in Pulaski County, and has been school director in his district since 1879.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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