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Wiley D. Deen FROM: Wiley D. Deen, farmer of White River Township, Washington Co., Ark., was born in Hamilton County, Ill., in January, 1841, and is a son of William and Barsheba (Durbam) Deen, who were born respectively in Tennessee and North Carolina, in 1799. The father was nearly grown when he left home and went to Illinois, and he was a farmer of Hamilton County until he was nearly seventy-nine years of age, dying in 1878. His wife resided in her native State until about fourteen years of age, when she was taken to Tennessee by her parents, and there resided for about twenty years, then moving to Illinois, where she met and married Mr. Deen. She died in Washington County, Ark., June 13, 1888, being the mother of two children: Martha, who died when three days old, and Wiley D. The father was previously married to Miss Jane Coffee, of Illinois, by whom he became the father of eight children, three of whom are living: Jacob (who lives with 300 years of where he was born, and is about sixty-five years of age), Susan (the wife of Henry Davis, residing in Illinois) and Frances (the wife of James Johnson). Wiley D. Deen came to Phelps County, Mo., with his parents when he was in his eighteenth year, and located on a farm heavily covered with timber, which they began to improve. About 1864 he came to Benton County, Ark., where he resided two years, and then came to his present location. During the war he was a Confederate soldier in a Missouri cavalry regiment, serving as third lieutenant, but the company was soon after disbanded, and after visiting in Illinois for some time he returned to Missouri the following year (1866). He participated in the battles of Oak Hill and Springfield, and was in numerous skirmished. He was married in June 1862, to Margaret J. Brown, of Phelps County, Mo., born in 1841, and died November 23, 1883, having a family of twelve children: Andrew J. (deceased), Melvina (wife of G. W. King), Barsbeba (wife of J. N. Jarvis), Ashal, Albert, Martha, Wiley, Alfred and Allen (twins), William, Leta and Amos. Mr. Deen was again married, March 1, 1888, to Mrs. Mary E. (Parker) Woodruff, who was born in Arkansas in 1853, and was first married to James Adair, and became the mother of two children: Emma and George. Their father died in 1881, and she afterward married J. Woodruff, who died four years later. To them was born one child, Viola. Mrs. Deen is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, and Mr. Deen is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which he is a steward, and he takes an active interest in church work. He is a Democrat, and is the present justice of the peace of his township. Our subject has a good farm of over seventy-seven acres, with forty acres under cultivation, and a fine hearing orchard of over 600 trees. |
