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Below is a family biography included in The History of Dade County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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William N. Poe, farmer, of Washington Township, and judge of the Dade County Court from the Eastern District, was born in Benton County, Ark., in 1846. His parents were John and Matilda Ann (Ferguson) Poe, he of Dutch descent, and probably of North Carolina, and she of Tennessee. About 1845 they removed to Benton County, and, when William N. was about nine months old, removed to Dade County, finally settling on a small improvement of the farm where our subject now lives, and where they were burned out in 1862. In February, 1863, Mr. Poe died, at the age of sixty-three, his wife afterward marrying John B. Evans, dying, in 1879, at the age of fifty-two. Both were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Poe was married three times, the first two wives living but a short time. He had two children by his second wife. The subject of this sketch is the second of a family of eight children, all the sons and two daughters living. He attended school but very little, and, after the death of his father, the family returned to the farm, on which our subject has since lived. He is now the owner of 140 acres of good farm land. In March, 1869, he married Louisa, daughter of William and Isabelle Cecil, of North Carolina, who came, in 1841, to Johnson County, where the mother died in July, 1888. The father, who served in the Federal army, and who was constable for some years, is still living. William N. has four children: John William, Albert, Arthur and David Lee. In 1888 he was elected county judge by a good majority. He is a Republican, having voted for Grant in 1868, and every Republican candidate since; is a member of South Greenfield Lodge No. 292, I. O. O. F., having served one year as vice-grand. He and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for nearly twenty years he has served as steward.

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This family biography is one of 68 biographies included in The History of Dade County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Dade County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Dade County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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