FRANCIS MARION YOUNGBLOOD. There is something essentially American in the life and character of the gentleman who is the subject of this sketch. The United States has given rare opportunities to men with courage, honesty of purpose, integrity and energy to secure success. Francis Marion Youngblood has all the above characteristics, and his success as an agriculturist and citizen has come as his devotion to right and his tenacity of purpose. Mr. Youngblood was born in DeKalb County, Missouri, about 1838, son of Ambrose and Martha (Fanning) Youngblood, who resided for many years in Tennessee. From that State they moved to Illinois, and thence to northwest Missouri. When our subject was about six years old the parents came to Carroll (now Boone) County, and settled on Long Creek, where the father improved a good farm, and where he passed the remainder of his days, dying about 1882. His wife died in the same county a few years before. Mr. Youngblood was considerable of a hunter, and one of his reasons for settling in this section was on account of the game. The grandfather, James Youngblood, was probably a Revolutionary soldier, but very little is known of him. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Youngblood were named as follows: Nancy, wife of John Sharp, of Kansas; Jeremiah McClinton, a soldier in the Federal Army, now resides in Missouri; James resides in Boone County; William, a soldier in the Federal Army, makes his home in Carroll County; and Francis M., our subject.
The latter received but very little schooling in his youth, only a few months each year, for he had several miles to walk and most of his time was spent in assisting on the home place. In the year 1861 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Hulsey, who was born in__________ , and who was the daughter of Hiram and Nancy Hulsey, early settlers of Boone County. Ten children were the fruits of this union: William Riley; Mary, wife of John Thomas Philips, of Colorado; T. S., a graduate of Marion Medical College, St. Louis, and is now a prominent physician of Adair, I. T.; Carrie, wife of Andrew Hayhurst, of Carroll County; James; Martha Delaney, wife of William Vowel; Cordelia; Mac. Noah, of Indian Territoy; Ida and Hattie. Since a boy our subject has made his home on Long Creek, near Shaver Postoffice, where he has one of the best farms to be found. He has 390 acres, the old farm owned by his father, and has always followed farming and stockraising, being one of the best known men in his part of the county. In the month of July, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, First Arkansas Cavalry, Federal Army, at Springfield, Missouri, and operated in Missouri and Arkansas. He was captured in Carroll County in the fall of 1862, but was released after about a month, and was musered out at Fayetteville, Arkansas, in February, 1864. After the war he resumed farming and has followed it ever since. He and wife have been members of the Christian Church for many years, and he has been a Republican since he first commenced voting.