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Capt. John A. GOODGAME, is a merchant, farmer, and
the postmaster at Holly Springs, Ark. This wide-awake and
very successful business man owes his nativity to Bibb County,
Ala., where he was born in 1828, and received his education
in the common schools. He remained at home until 1851, and
then emigrated to Holly Springs, Ark., where he was married,
in 1852, to Miss Permelia E. WATKINS, a native of Alabama,
and the daughter of Harlan and Nancy WATKINS, natives of
Kentucky, where they were married. Her parents afterward
emigrated to Alabama, where the father died a few years later.
Mrs. WATKINS was married again and removed to Mississippi,
thence in 1853 to Dallas County, Ark., and during the war
to Texas, where she died in 1884. Mr. GOODGAME’s
union was blessed by the birth by the birth of eight children,
three sons and three daughters now living. Since his marriage
Mr. GOODGAME has lived in his present neighborhood on three different farms,
and now has 160 acres. Since 1879, or for about ten years, he has been engaged
in merchandising at Holly Springs, and for about eight years has been postmaster.
During the late war he was about four years in the confederate army, Company
C, Thirty-third Arkansas Infantry, serving as lieutenant the first year, and
then captain until the close of the war. He operated in Arkansas and Louisiana
and fought at Prairie Grove, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Saline, etc. He surrendered
at Marshall, Tex., in May 1865, and returned home. He was formerly a Whig in
politics, but is now a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was cast for
Gen. Scott in 1852. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1862,
St. John’s Lodge No. 38, and has been a member of the temperance order
of P. of H. He and his wife have been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
since 1855. His parents, James and Telitha C. (COBB) GOODGAME, were born in
Georgia in 1799, and South Carolina, in 1808, respectively. They were married
in Bibb County, Ala., where they resided until about 1834, and then removed
to Talladega, thence to Coosa County, where Mr. GOODGAME died in 1884. The
mother is still living, and has been a member of the Baptist Church for many
years. The paternal grandfather, John GOODGAME, was born in Georgia and died
in Talladega County, Ala. Mr. GOODGAME was of English-Irish descent, but the
ancestors were early settlers in America, and was a soldier in the Creek War.
He was a farmer. The paternal grandmother of our subject, whose maiden name
was Sarah E. CROCKETT, was a second cousin of David CROCKETT, and was born
in Georgia and died in Alabama when about seventy-five years of age. She was
a member of the Baptist Church. The maternal grandfather, Alexander COBB, was
born in South Carolina and died in Bibb County, Ala. He was a soldier in the
war with the Indians.