My Genealogy Hound

S. M. Pickler, dealer in general merchandise, lumber, railroad ties, piling, etc., was born in Washington County, Ind., in 1846, removed to Iowa in 1852, and to Kirksville in 1866. He soon after became a student in old Normal College, in which he efficiently filled the chair of elocution, logic and mathematics, until 1873, after which he was the editor and publisher of the Kirksville Journal until 1882. Since that date he has been handling timber and ties, and, in connection with that, he has opened, October, 1885, his general merchandise store, in which he carries a stock of about $15,000, and employs five assistants. He is not only an extensive and successful operator in business, but is also very prominent in political life, having served as county school commissioner, and a member of the Legislature in 1877. He is also identified with the A. F. & A. M. order. His wife, M. M. Bowen, to whom he was married in 1873, is a native of New York, but was reared in Adair County. They have one son and one daughter. His parents, George and Emily (Martin) Pickler, were natives of North Carolina and Kentucky, respectively, and reared a family of ten children. The father was reared in Indiana, and died in Adair County in 1870, while the mother still survives him, and is living in Kirksville. Their son, John A., became a major in the Third Iowa Cavalry. Mr. Pickler has been a success as a teacher, business man and statesman.