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Submitted: 12/18/08 • Approved: 10/8/14 • Last Updated: 9/15/18 • R125001-G0-S3
November 23, 1824 - October 11, 1896
William Francis Brandon, M.D., of Morro Township, Chambersville post-office, was born in Bedford County, Tenn., November 23, 1824. His father, Francis Scott Brandon, a farmer and Methodist preacher, was born in Halifax County, Va., in 1804, a son of Francis Brandon, Sr., who was born in 1756, and was a soldier and officer in the Revolutionary War, under Gen. Washington. The Brandons were of English and Scotch descent. The father of the subject of this sketch was married in 1822, at the age of eighteen, in Virginia, to Miss Elizabeth E. Stanfield, a native of Halifax County, Va., born in 1804. This union was blessed with fourteen children - seven sons and seven daughters - only two of whom, our subject and a brother, are now living. Mr. Brandon, Sr. died in 1852, in Haywood County, Tenn. and his wife died in the same county in 1870. Our subject was the eldest of the fourteen children, and was raised in Tennessee, where he resided until 1850, receiving a good education. In 1846 he began teaching school and followed that occupation until 1850, when he left that State. He then came to Pine Bluff, Ark., where he taught five months. Dr. Brandon began reading medicine in Henderson County, Tenn., in 1847, under Dr. John H. Dickinson, and in 1851 he began the practice of medicine at Plum Bayou, Ark. He practiced his profession almost exclusively until 1874, since which time he has not been engaged in active practice. He practiced from 1852 to 1870, in Bradley County, when he moved to Hampton, Calhoun County, and in 1871 purchased a farm of 400 acres, about seventy of which are under cultivation. Dr. Brandon was married, in 1851, to Miss Martha Drake, great-grandniece of Sir Francis Drake, by whom he had one child. She died January 5, 1852, and August 12, 1852, Dr. Brandon was again united in marriage, this time to Miss Hearnsberger, of this county, though a native of Georgia, by whom he had eight children, two of whom are now living, viz: Francis S and William H. Politically Dr. Brandon affiliates with the Democratic party. He was formerly a Whig, and cast his first vote for Zach Taylor. He is a member of the Chambersville Methodist Episcopal, South. Dr. Brandon has been successful as a physician. He is a good honest citizen, highly respected by all, and justly worthy of the esteem accorded him. (Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas - Goodspeed Publishing Company - 1890)
Contributed on 12/18/08 by debbraszymanski
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Record #: 125001