WILLIAM BAIN. The farming class of America, and especially of the State of Missouri, is notable for the degree of intelligence that is possessed among its representatives. William Bain, who resides in Finley Township, owns a fine farm, which attests by its value and productiveness the excellent qualities of thoroughness and system which mark the owner. Like many other first-class citizens of the county he came originally from Tennessee, his birth occurring in the eastern part of the State in 1821.
His parents, Arthur and Mary (McFerren) Bain, were natives of that part of Tennessee also. There the father and mother passed their entire lives, dying in McMinn County soon after the war. Mr. Bain was a hatter by trade, and a man whose industrious habits and honorable, upright career endeared him to all. He inherited sturdy Scotch blood from the paternal side of the house, and his wit and activity from his mother, who was a native of the Emerald Isle. The father, William Bain, was a weaver by trade. One of his sons, Rev. John Bain, was a prominent Presbyterian minister in Nashville, Tennessee, at one time. Our subject’s maternal grandfather, Samuel McFerren, was of Irish origin, and followed farming and teaming in Knox County, Tennessee, until his death. William Bain is the eldest of nine children, who are named in the order of their births as follows: Sallie Ann died in Tennessee; Samuel died in Tennessee; Mary A.; John, of Christian County; Jackson died in Tennessee; Francis was killed in the Confederate Army; Malinda and Martha.
Our subject received very little schooling during his youth, as his parents were poor and needed his help on the farm. He grew to sturdy manhood on the home place in Tennessee, and selected his wife in the person of Miss Mary Ann Anderson, daughter of Steven and Susan Anderson, who spent their entire lives in Tennessee. Mrs. Bain was born in Monroe County, Tennessee, and by her marriage to Mr. Bain, which occurred on the 11th of August, 1842, she became the mother of nine children, viz.: Rufus, deceased; Susan C., deceased, was the wife of E. A. Adams; John C.; Stephen; Mary died when young; William died in infancy; Lina J. became the wife of John Page; Martha Alice and James. The two last named were twins and are deceased.
In 1859 Mr. Bain came to Christian County, Missouri, and lived on the Finley, near Ozark, until after the war. He then purchased his present farm of 200 acres, situated six miles southeast of Ozark, and is now actively engaged in farming and stockraising. He was a Union man during the war, and was in the Missouri State Militia most of the time, on guard at Springfield and scouting in southern Missouri. He and his worthy companion have been members of the Missionary Baptist Church for many years and are highly esteemed in the neighborhood. Mr. Bain has done a great deal of hard work in his day, and is strictly honest and upright, his character being above reproach.