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Submitted: 8/29/11 • Approved: 8/13/17 • Last Updated: 12/28/19 • R580876-G0-S3
Born in Newton County, Ga
March 30, 1834
Died
May 21, 1894
Aged 60 Years 1 Mo 20 Days
A. J. Brewer is a general merchant of Magnolia, Ark., and is at the present time conducting a successful and paying business. He was born in Georgia in 1834, being the youngest of a family of seven children born to Alfred and Nancy (Jackson) Brewer, both parents being also born in the State of Georgia. The father was a farmer, a successful pioneer, and at the time of his death left quite a large fortune to be divided among his children. He died in 1855, at the age of fifty-five years, having held the office of justice of the peace for twenty years or more. His wife died in Georgia, when the subject of this biography was an infant. In 1841 he wedded Mrs. Mary Coleman, by whom he became the father of five children. She died in 1887 at an advanced age. The brothers and sisters of A. J. Brewer are as follows: Osborne (who died while serving in the Mexican War), William (who resides in Alabama), Martha, Eliza, and Emily (deceased), and Sarah. The following are his half brothers and sisters: J. C. (who died while serving in the Confederate army), L. R. (who lives in Sulphur Springs, Tex.), R. K. (who is a farmer of this county), C. A. (a grocer at Sulphur Springs, Tex.), and Narcissus (now Mrs. Ponder, of Alabama). A. J. Brewer's early advantages for acquiring an education were not of the best, but by contact with the world he has since become a well-informed man, and he is now one of the most successful merchants of this county. He is in every aspect a self-made man, both in point of education and in general information, and by his indomitable will and energy he has succeeded far beyond his expectations. He was in the Confederate army for a short time near the close of the war, and having first come to this county in 1858, he returned here after the war, and engaged in huckstering on quite a large scale, and soon afterward began speculating in cotton. His first experience in merchandising was about six miles from Magnolia, and he has followed this calling with success for twenty years. His stock of goods is now valued at about $20,000, and he does an annual business of some $85,000, his establishment being one of the leading ones in Southern Arkansas. His marriage, which was to Miss Mary Furlow, took place in 1857, and to them eight children have been born: Sallie E. (widow of John Chidester), Thomas A. (in the store with his father), Anna (deceased), A. J., Jr (who is attending Bethel College, Ky.), Fannie (attending Ouachita College of this State), Dawson (deceased), George and Harry. Mr. Brewer has been a member of the Baptist Church since 1860, has been a deacon in the same for some time, and is an ordained minister of that denomination. His wife has been a member of that church the same length of time as himself and is a true Christian lady. Mr. Brewer is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Columbia Lodge No. 82, and he has attained to Magnolia Chapter No. 11. He is quite wealthy, and is the owner of a number of fine farms, all of which, he has rented out, and he also owns his residence, business house and other property in Magnolia, the result of many years of hard and persistent labor. (Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas - Goodspeed Publishing Company - 1890)
Contributed on 8/29/11 by debbraszymanski
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Record #: 580876