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 George Edgar McIninch

The contribution of George Edgar McIninch to the upbuilding and progress of Missouri has come from his connection with commercial and industrial interests and through valuable public service. He is now vice chairman of the Missouri state highway board and important duties and responsibilities devolve upon him by reason of his office. He makes his home in St. Joseph, where he was born March 3, 1867, his parents being Amos A. and Lydia E. McIninch. About ten years prior to the Civil war the father removed to Missouri from Dundee, Ohio, in company with his parents, the family home being … Read more

Biography of Fred C. Hall

One of the alert and enterprising business men of Nowata is Fred C. Hall, secretary and manager of the Henderson Gasoline Company, with offices in the First National Bank building. He was born in Galt, Illinois, on the 15th of October, 1883. His father, William Boyd Hall, was a native of New York and removed to Illinois at an early day, where he followed farming. His death occurred in 1885. William B. Hall married Miss Alice Buck, a native of Illinois. Her death occurred in Nowata in 1919. In the acquirement of an education Fred C. Hall attended the schools … Read more

Biography of Wilfrid Cavaness

Wilfrid Cavaness, who had been a Kansas newspaper man for over twenty years, was born at Chetopa November 24, 1875. He attended the public schools there, graduating from high school in 1892, and for two years was a student in Baker University. In 1895 he became connected with the Chetopa Advance under his father, and remained there until 1899. For the following two years he was with the Columbus Courier, and in 1901 came to Chanute and is now treasurer and manager of the Chanute Tribune. The Chanute Tribune was established April 8, 1892, by George M. Dewey. It had … Read more

Biography of Solomon Emerick

SOLOMON EMERICK, – Some time before Horace Greeley gave his advice, “Go West, young man, go West,” there were hardy young Americans making tracks across the Rocky Mountains, and pushing into the fastnesses towards the pacific Ocean. “Ribs of brass and hearts of steel” had these young fellows; and they were without fear or even caution. One of these was Solomon Emerick, who was born in Ohio in 1820. He moved to Buchanan county, Missouri, in 1830, and in 1843 was on the way to the rendezvous on the border. Falling in with the pioneer Gilmore, he accepted of him … Read more

Biography of Hon. Charles Miner Bradshaw

HON. CHARLES MINER BRADSHAW. – The present efficient collector of customs of the Puget Sound district, a portrait of whom appears in this work, is a gentleman who has worked his way from the lowest rung of the ladder until he now stands at the front rank in his chosen profession, as well as having acquired a recognized position among the men who lead public opinion and form institutions and states. Mr. Bradshaw was born in Bridgewater, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, August 9, 1831, – the son of Salmon and Sarah F. Schurz Bradshaw, and is a lineal descendant of John … Read more

Biography of William M. Boone, M. D.

William M. Boone, M. D., who located at Highland, Doniphan County, a well-equipped physician and surgeon in 1892, had steadily practiced in that community for over a quarter of a century and is now the oldest member in point of continuous service of the local profession. Doctor Boone belongs to the family of Kentucky Boones and four or five generations back his ancestry was the same as that of the famous frontiersman and hunter, Daniel Boone. The Boone family origlnated in Southern England, and it will be recalled that Daniel Boone was a native of Pennsylvania but subsequently went to … Read more

Biography of John Caleb Storr

John Caleb Storr, a native son of Oklahoma and a member of one of the oldest families of the state, has resided in Vinita for the past twenty-three years and has become well known as an attorney, farmer, stock raiser and oil operator, being a man of versatile talents whose efforts are resultant factors in whatever he undertakes. He was born in the Flint district of the Cherokee Nation, near Stilwell, Indian Territory, October 15, 1870, and his parents were James and Emma Jane (Rider) Storr, the former born in Tennessee in 1832, while the latter was a native of … Read more

Biography of Mansfield M. Sturgeon

One of the most brilliant and astute attorneys practising at the Rock Island County Bar is Mansfield M. Sturgeon, senior member of the legal firm of Sturgeon. Stelck & Sturgeon, a man whose great ability and profound learning as an attorney has been demonstrated in the trial of many important suits, as well as in sound counsel and legal advice. He was born September 10, 1843, at Letart Falls, Ohio, his parents, being Oliver Hazard Perry Sturgeon and Mary Ellenor (Summers) Sturgeon. The father was born March 14, 1818, at Sistersville, Virginia, the date of the marriage of the senior … Read more

Biography of Thomas Jones

THOMAS JONES. – It is a noted principle, that in the degree in which one is called to endure hardship and successfully surmounts all obstacles and triumphs over every opposition, in that degree is his character strengthened and his forces of real manhood brought out. May it not be that because of the application of this principle, we have in so many of the early pioneers of this wealthy county, such fine specimens of genuine manhood and especially developed in the virtues mentioned. Well known among this worthy number is the esteemed gentleman, whose name initiates this paragraph, and who … Read more

Biography of J. S. Summers, M.D.

Dr. J. S. Summers, specializing in the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat at Jefferson City, his thorough preliminary study and his later postgraduate courses keeping him in close touch with professional thought, progress and scientific investigation and research, comes to this state from Indiana, his birth having occurred in the city of Wallace, June 27, 1870. His parents, A. J. and Annie (Cunningham) Summers, were also natives of Indiana, where the father followed the occupation of farming, and in addition to his care of the fields he took an active interest in public welfare, particularly … Read more

Biography of David Bailey

David Bailey. In the latter part of 1854 or the early part of 1855 Mr. Bailey moved to Monticello, Illinois. After a short sojourn there he came to Urbana, and in March or April, 1856, moved to Champaign, where for a number of years, in connection with W. B. Bailey, he conducted a small country store in a frame building that he erected on the site now occupied by the Robeson Department Store. David Bailey was one of the thirteen men who founded the First National Bank of Champaign, in 1865. Application for organization was made to the government in … Read more

Biography of Homer C. Bidwell

HOMER C. BIDWELL. – The well known and enterprising businessman, of whom we now have the pleasure of speaking is one of the substantial citizens of Union, & has by dint of hard effort, wise management and considerate treatment of patrons built up a fine business in the livery and transportation line. Having as fine stables and his rigs are among the most comfortable and well kept to be secured anywhere. Homer C. was born in Galesburg, Wisconsin on January 25, 1871, being the son of Charles C. & Mary A. (Gilbert) Bidwell. The father was one of those brave … Read more

Biography of Joseph S. Homan, M.D.

Dr. Joseph S. Homan, an alumnus of the St. Louis University in which he won his professional degree, has throughout the intervening period successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in St. Louis. He was born in Buchanan county, Missouri, January -, 1882, and is a son of Henry Homan, a native of Maryland, who represented one of the old families of that state of German lineage, founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war. On leaving Maryland Henry Homan came to Missouri in 1870. He was a Civil war veteran, acting as a bridge builder with the … Read more

Biography of Joseph H. McGauhey, M. D.

Joseph H. McGauhey, M. D.,had been in the general practice of medicine at White Cloud, twenty-eight years, and is also identified with the banking business of his town, and had farming interests in Brown County. The McGauhey ancestors were Scolch-Irish, and Doctor McGauhey’s great-grandfather was the immigrant to this country. His grandfather was Archibald McGauhey, who spent most of his life as a farmer in Indiana, where he died. John McGauhey, father of Doctor McGauhey, was born in Pennsylvania in 1809. For a time during his childhood his parents lived in North Carolina and afterward moved to Indiana, where he … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George Washington Schaffer

The subject of this sketch, George Washington Schaffer, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, July 4, 1847. His parents removed, during his boyhood, to Galesburg, Illinois, where they resided several years. Returning to St. Louis, Mr. Schaffer engaged in the butcher business, and continued there until the fall of 1868. His next field of operation was Kansas City, where he followed his trade for some time. From Kansas City he went to St. Joseph, where he remained until 1874, and then returned to St. Louis. He lived in St. Louis one year, during which time he had a rib broken while … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel Rockwell

Rockwell, Samuel; civil engineer; born, Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 20, 1847; son of William and Susan Lawrence Prince Rockwell; educated, Yale College and Sheffield Scientific School, 1873; Ph. B.; married, St. Joseph, Mo., June 7, 1881, Cordelia Ann Geiger; issue, four sons and one daughter; business career, 1873-1877, resident engineer D. L. & W. R. R., Hoboken, N. J.; built tunnel through Bergen Hill and other changes of line and separation of grade work; 1877-1881, contractor; 1881-1882, asst. city engineer, Kansas City, Mo.; 1882-1884, principal asst. engineer, St. Paul Water Works; 1884-1887, locating and constructing engineer, St. Paul & M. … Read more

Biography of Fred C. Gardner

Fred C. Gardner, a Kansas educator of wide experience and exceptional qualifications, is now superintendent of the city schools of Howard, Kansas. Though a native of Missouri he had spent most of his life in Kansas and is a product of Kansas institutions of higher learning. He was born at DeKalb in Buchanan County, Missouri, August 25, 1888, and as he is still a young man much may be expected of him from the work that he had already accomplished. He represents a branch of the Gardner family that was established in Kentucky during the pioneer days and is of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Benjamin Harding

For many years Benjamin Harding was a leading free-soil man and a resident of Doniphan County, Kansas. A native of Otsego County, New York, born in November, 1815, at the age of twenty-five he became a resident of Livingston County, Missouri, and in 1842 entered the Indian trade at the Great Nemaha Agency. He moved to St. Joseph in 1849, but re-entered the Indian trade at Wathena, Kansas, in 1852. In 1854, while serving there as a judge of election he incurred the enmity of the pro-slavery people, and twice reported at Leavenworth to answer charges brought against him, which … Read more

Biography of Moses Alexander

The sturdy German element in our national commonwealth has been one of the most important in furthering the substantial and normal advancement of the country, for this is. an element signally appreciative of practical values and also of the higher intellectuality which transcends all provincial confines. Well may any person take pride in tracing his lineage to such a source Moses Alexander is one of the worthy sons that the Fatherland has furnished to America, and Boise now numbers him among her leading merchants, while in the office of mayor he is capably handling the reins of city government. He … Read more