Biography of William J Brandon, Sebastian Co, AR

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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Dr. William J. Brandon, physician and surgeon of Dayton, was born in Shelby
County, Tenn., in 1837, his  parents being Philip Brandon and Elizabeth Snell.
The former was probably born in Alabama, and the latter was  a native of
Bedford County, Tenn., born in 1801. They were married in Alabama, whither Mrs.
Brandon had  removed with her people, and then went to Shelby County, Tenn., in
1830, where Mrs. Brandon died in 1864.  Mr. Brandon was a farmer, and died in
Alabama, while on a business tour, in 1842. The paternal grandparents  of our
subject were natives of North Carolina, and the grandfather, William Brandon,
was a soldier in the  Revolution, and of Irish parentage. The maternal
grandfather, Stephen Snell, was of English descent, born in  North Carolina,
and served in the Revolution. He died in Texas in an early day. Our subject was
left to help care  for his widowed mother when a boy, and was the fourth of a
family of five children. He attended the log  schoolhouse in Western Tennessee,
where he lived, and began the study of medicine upon attaining his  majority.
In 1859 he entered the Memphis Medical College, and after one course practiced
with his former  preceptor until 1861. He then joined the Fifteenth Mississippi
Volunteer Infantry as lieutenant, but soon  afterward became a soldier in the
Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry, Company A. Confederate Army. In January,  1863, he
was captured on the Mississippi and Tennessee line, near Colliersville, Tenn.,
but was afterward  paroled. In 1863 he entered Bellevue Medical College at New
York, and graduated from that institution the  following year with high honors,
since which time he has practiced his profession with success. In 1867 he
married Medora Farned, a native of Mississippi, and daughter of Marshall
Farned, by whom he has had two  children. In 1868 the family removed from
Mississippi to White County, Ark., in 1872 went to Texas and in  1881 came to 
Since 1882 the Doctor has practiced medicine and engaged in
the drug  business at Dayton with success, and he is also the owner of 300
acres of good land. He is a public-spirited  citizen and a prominent member of
the I. O. O. F. In politics he is a Democrat, and his first presidential vote
was cast for Douglas in 1860. His wife is a Baptist in religion.