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Below is a family biography included in The History of Hickory 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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Dr. James R. Pack, a prominent physician of Hickory County, Mo., was born in Buncombe County, N. C., May 5, 1826, and from his birth until the age of twenty-one years lived with his parents, Elias and Sophia (Bishop) Pack, who were born in the Carolinas in 1802 and 1805, respectively, and resided in those States about as follows: First in Greenville, S. C.; then in Haywood County, N. C.; thence to Pickens’ District, S. C.; and then in Macon, N. C. The Pack family are of Irish descent, and settled in America previous to the Revolutionary War, in which struggle the great-grandfather took an active part. About 1849 the family removed to Monroe County, Tenn., and, after residing in that and other counties for some time, came to Lebanon, Mo., where the mother’s death occurred July 22, 1870. She had been a consistent member of the Baptist Church for many years. The father was a Democrat in his political views, and a farmer by occupation, and his death occurred in Hickory County, Mo., January 11, 1873. His father, James Pack, who was grandfather to the subject of this sketch, is supposed to be a native of South Carolina, and was a soldier of the war of 1812. His wife’s maiden name was Woody. She came with her parents from Scotland to Virginia when she was about ten years old. Dr. James R. Pack received his rudimentary education in South Carolina, and, when about twenty-one years of age, went with a younger brother to East Tennessee, where he began working in what was known as the Coker Creek gold mines, remaining thus employed two years, after which, feeling the necessity of a better education, he again entered school, and for the next five years was engaged in attending and teaching school, and doing other work, as opportunity offered and necessity required. On the 1st of September, 1853, he was married to Miss Rachel Waren, near Loudon, Tenn., and the following year moved to Marion County, Ark., where he taught school two years, and then moved to Miller County, Mo. Having for the previous five or six years given all his spare time to the study of medicine, he now entered upon the practice of that profession in Miller County, and in 1859 moved to Douglas County, where he practiced until the Rebellion. When hostilities began between the North and South, he remained true to the Union, and denounced secession. He helped organize one of the first companies of Home Guards in Southwest Missouri, with which he served until 1862, when he was appointed surgeon, and assigned to duty at a place called Clark’s Mills, twenty-five miles north of the Arkansas line, where, with four companies of militia and a battalion of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry, a fort was erected, called Fort Stevison, in honor of Maj. Stevison, of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry, who was chief in command. Dr. Pack remained post-surgeon until the place was besieged and taken by the rebels under Cols. Burbridge and Green. He then returned home, and did not again go into service during the war. In 1862 he had moved his family to Marshfield, and from there, in 1863, he moved to Maries County, where he practiced medicine three years, then returned to Marshfield. In 1870 he located in Lebanon, and two years later took up his abode in Hermitage, where he has since made his home. In 1881 he attended the practitioners’ course in the Chicago Medical College, and the following year received the honorary doctorate degree of physician and surgeon from the St. Joseph Hospital Medical College. In 1884 he moved to Florida, but, not being satisfied with that country, he returned to Hermitage, his former home, in 1886, where he is at present residing. His wife is a daughter of Jacob Waren, one of the earliest settlers of Roane County, Tenn. By her he became the father of five children, of whom two survive: Mary S., wife of M. N. Niehardt; and Dr. George W., who is now residing at Preston, Mo.

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This family biography is one of 53 biographies included in The History of Hickory County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Hickory County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Hickory County, Missouri family biographies here: Hickory County, Missouri

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