Biography of Charles J Brunson, Fulton Co, AR

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Submitted by: Michael Brown <michael@grnco.net>
        Date: 26 Sep 1998
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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page 270

Charles J. Brunson's life from his earliest recollections has been
passed on a farm, his early days being spent in assisting his father on the old
homestead in Georgia, in Twiggs County of which State he was born January 7,
1827. His parents, Jarrett N. and Mary M. (Stephens) Brunson, were born in
South Carolina, the former's birth occurring about 1797. He was a farmer by
occupation, of Scotch descent, and died in Georgia near 1842, being one of
thirteen children (eleven sons and two daughters) born to Peter Brunson, who
lived and died in South Carolina. Mrs. Mary M. Brunson died in the State of
Georgia about 1829, having borne a family of four children, of whom our subject
is the third. After his father's death Charles J. began making his home with
his elder brother, and while living with him attended school one year, making
good use of his opportunities. He then went to his uncle's, Marion Brunson, in
Alabama, and again entered school, attending about three months, after which he
took charge of his uncle's plantation, and overseered his slaves, who numbered
about sixty, for two years. Being offered better wages, he became an overseer
for a neighboring planter, remaining with him one year. In 1848 he was married,
in the State of Alabama, to Miss Mary Hickman, who was born in Twiggs County,
Ga., October 23, 1833, and died in Fulton County, Ark., January 1, 1872. She
left, besides her husband, a family of three children to mourn her loss:
Charles J., James L. and Anna E. (wife of J. H. Nichols.) Three children are
deceased. In the latter part of 1872 Mr. Brunson took for his second wife Mrs.
Margaret (Huffman) Willcox, who was born in Davidson County, N. C., November
19, 1837. They have one son, Joseph A. In 1854 Mr. Brunson moved with his
family [p.270] to Ashley County, Ark., and there resided until 1865, when he
settled in Jefferson County, where he spent two years. Since that time he has
been a resident of Fulton County. By his own unaided efforts he has become the
owner of a fine farm comprising 280 acres, with about 130 under cultivation,
and has made all the improvements, such as building fences and houses, and
clearing the land, himself. He served two years in the Confederate army during
the Rebellion, and has since been a Democrat in politics. He has held the
position of constable both in Alabama and Arkansas, and has been solicited to
accept other local offices, but has declined. He and family belong to the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which he has been a member since twenty
one years of age. His first wife was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.