Biographical Sketch of John Oden

John Oden, of England settled in Loudon County, Virginia. His children were Hezekiah, Thomas, John, Lewis, William, and Vinson. Hezekiah married Elizabeth Leach, of Virginia, and settled in Pike County, Mo., in 1828. They had John, William, Vinson, Harriet, Maria, Polly, Sally, and Alfred. Vinson married Mary House, and lives in Montgomery County. William and Polly died in Kentucky. Sally was married first to Joseph Thomas, and second to Garland T. Hudson. She is a widow again, and lives in Audrain County. Maria and Alfred married and remained in Pike County. Harriet married John King, who moved to New Orleans, … Read more

Biography of Hon. Sam B. Cook

Hon. Sam B. Cook, president of the Central Missouri Trust Company, the leading banking institution of Jefferson City, is not, only active in the control of important financial interests but has in many ways left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the history of the state. He has at various times been called upon to fill positions of public honor and trust and has recently retired as a member of the state senate. He was born at Front Royal, Virginia, January 11, 1852, a son of William and Sallie (Kelly) Cook, who came to Missouri from the Old … Read more

Missouri Atlases and Plat Books

Sample Missouri Plat Book closeup

198 online plat books and atlases organized by county and ordered by date for the State of Missouri. At the bottom of the page are two items that can help you use these documents in your genealogy research. The first is a blog post Plat Books Revealed: Mapping Generations of History and the second a video where Ben Clark explains what plat maps are used for, how to navigate them, and pulls out a few interesting stories from them.

Biography of John W. Jacks

The value of the local newspaper in the upbuilding of the best interests of any community is universally conceded. The rule is that good papers are found in good towns, inferior journals in towns of stunted growth and uncertain future. It is not so much a matter of size as excellence and of adaptability to the needs of its locality. These conditions given, in an appreciative and progressive community, the size of the paper will take care of itself in a way mutually satisfactory to publishers and patrons. Montgomery City is fortunate in having the Standard as its local instrument. … Read more

Biography of Hon. R. S. Strahan

HON. R.S. STRAHAN. – Judge Strahan, as a member of the Oregon supreme court, is widely known as being able and upright, and is universally recognized as one of our most popular representatives of the state judiciary. He was born in Kentucky in 1835. During his childhood he removed with his father to the Platte reserve, as the section was then known, in Missouri, and several years later to Mexico in the same state, living on a farm until he reached manhood, and cultivating the use of brain, brawn and nerve, and cherishing a country-boy’s ambition. The strength and hope … Read more

Biography of A. Banks Wilburn, M. D.

Dr. A. Banks Wilburn, engaged in the practice of surgery in St. Louis, was born in Audrain county, Missouri, February 19, 1874, a son of St. Clair and Susan (Coyle) Wilburn. The father was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising for many years in Audrain county but has now passed away. The family numbered fourteen children, nine sons and four daughters, of whom thirteen reached maturity. Dr. Wilburn was educated to the age of fourteen years in the district schools of his native county and spent that period of his life upon the home farm. The family then removed … Read more

Biography of Hon. Clarence A. Barnes

Hon. Clarence A. Barnes, commissioner of the St. Louis court of appeals, was born in Mexico, Missouri, February 10, 1876, and is a son of A. C. Barnes, a native of Ohio and of English descent. The father was reared and educated in the Buckeye state and in 1865 became a resident of Mexico, Missouri, where he has since made his home, successfully conducting a real estate business. During the Civil war be joined the army and was with General Thomas in active service during the last year of hostilities, being at that time between seventeen and eighteen years of … Read more

Biography of Jefferson Beauregard Searcy

JEFFERSON BEAUREGARD SEARCY, county clerk of Shannon County, and one of the most popular officials of the county, is a product of Boone County, Missouri, born December 30, 1858, and the son of George N. and Amanda J. (Cochram) Searcy, both natives of Boone County, Missouri In this county the parents were married, and here passed the remainder of their days, dying when comparatively young people, the father in 1865, when thirty-three years of age, and the mother in 1868, when thirty years of age. The grandfather, Lemuel Searcy, was an early settler of Boone County, Missouri, from Kentucky. The … Read more

Biography of Adam Hance

Adam Hance was born in Coblin, a French province of Alsace, and, as usual with the people of that country, spoke both German and English. He came to America and settled near Germantown, Pa., in 1722, where he married a German lady, and raised a large family. His younger son, also named Adam, married a Miss Stoebuck, of Pennsylvania, in 1768, and settled in Montgomery County, Va. When the revolutionary war began, fired by the prevailing patriotic feelings of the day, he joined the American army under Washington, and served during the entire war. He was in the battles of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Christian Strobe

Christian Strobe, of Pennsylvania, removed first to Indiana, and from thence to Audrain Co., Mo. His wife was Marry Miller, of Kentucky, and they had William H., Eliza, James, Isabella, George, Rebecca, Mary, and Christian, Jr., most of whom have families, and live in Audrain and Montgomery counties.

Shock, George T. – Obituary

George Shock, Well Known, Dies Sunday Resident of Halfway and 19 years at Haines “Haines–(Special)–George T. Shock, pioneer resident of Baker County, was born January 19, 1854, at Mexico, MO., and came to the San Luis valley, Colorado, at the age of 20 with his parents, brothers and sisters. The family left Missouri in March 1874, with a party of about 29 other families. They crossed the plains in a caravan of covered wagons driving mostly oxen and bringing their stock and equipment with them. They traveled together to guard against Indians and sought homes in different parts of Colorado. … Read more

Biography of Reuben C. Pew

Reuben C. Pew was left an orphan at a very early age. According to the custom of those days he was “bound out” for his living, and got a very poor one. His master treated him badly, worked him hard, and gave him no education. When he was sixteen years of age he could not read or write, and his master, desiring to get rid of him, induced him to sign the muster roll of a company that was recruiting for service in the revolutionary war, telling him it was only a common piece of writing, and could do him … Read more

Biography of C. F. Reid

C. F. Reid, who has devoted much of his life to public service, is now acceptably filling the office of county treasurer and his thorough reliability and efficiency have won for him the confidence and respect of his fellow townsmen, who have found him faithful to every trust reposed in him. He was born in Bowling Green, Pike county, Missouri, and his parents were Alexander Finley and Anna M. (Blaine) Reid, the former a native of Kentucky, while the latter was born in Missouri. The ancestors of the subject of this review in both the paternal and maternal lines participated … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John B. Williams

John B. Williams was the son of Cordey and Mary Williams, was born upon a farm in Callaway county, Missouri, August 11, 1844. When he was two years old his parents removed to Montgomery county and settled on a farm near Danville, where he lived until seven years of age. In the spring of 1853 his parents again changed their place of residence, this time moving to Gentry county, near Albany, where he lived until he reached his seventeenth year, when, in 1861, he enlisted in the Union army, joining Colonel Manlove Cranor’s regiment of six months militia. At the … Read more

A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri

Map of Early Missouri Settlements

A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri was written by William Bryan in 1876. William along with his associate, Robert Rose, traversed by horse across five counties in the state of Missouri interviewing families for the information found in this manuscript. As such, readers should not use this as the Gospel for these early Missouri families. Research is warranted to validate what the families claimed, as they were often in error, merely detailing the information passed down to them. Even William acknowledged such in his preface to the book. The five counties included were: Audrain, Callaway, Montgomery, St. Charles … Read more

Biography of James Franklin Norton

JAMES FRANKLIN NORTON, merchant and farmer of Eminence, Missouri, is a native of the Blue Grass State, born in Lawrence County, in 1839. His father, David Norton, who was reared in Virginia, moved to Kentucky at an early date and when our subject was but an infant came to Audrain County, Missouri, where he passed his last days. He was a prominent farmer and stockraiser, and while a resident of Audrain County held the office of justice of the peace. Politically he was a Democrat, and fraternally a Mason. His death occurred in 1852 when about forty years of age. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Hickerson

John Hickerson, of Fauquier Co., Va., married Elizabeth Baker, and their son, Thomas, came to Missouri in 1816, as teamster for John Ferguson, who settled in Darst’s Bot-tom. In 1818 Hickerson moved to Montgomery County and settled on the west bank of Loutre creek, near Loutre Lick. He soon after married Susan VanBibber, daughter of Major Isaac VanBibber, by whom he had thirteen children Melissa, Thomas A., James, Isaac V., Robert L., Alfouzo, and Susan J. The other six children died in infancy. Ezekiel Heckerson, a brother of Thomas, married Elizabeth Hayden, of Kentucky, and settled in Pike Co., Mo., … Read more

Biography of George A. Clark

George A. Clark, now president of the Toneka Title and Bond Company, is a representative of that class of citizen who without special ostentation have been leaders in making Kansas one of the foremost states of the Union. He is a true and typical Kansan by reason of more than thirty-five years of active participation in its life and affairs. In one respect his career had been unusual. The greater part of his life had been passed in newspaper work, ranging in locality from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, but chiefly in Kansas. This work began as “printer’s … Read more