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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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Capt. W. H. Liggett, of Hickory County, Mo., was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, March 14, 1831, and, after attending the common schools, completed his education by attending an academy in Knox County, of that State. In 1857 he went to Iowa, and was engaged in teaching school in Fayette County until May, 1858, when he came to Missouri, and entered 120 acres of land in Hickory County, but was engaged in teaching school until the spring of 1859, when he married Miss Louera E. Heath, in Benton County, Mo., and moved upon his farm, and, in connection with tilling the soil, followed pedagoguing during 1859 and 1860. When the Rebellion broke out he organized Company D, Hickory County Battalion of the Missouri Home Guards, and was orderly sergeant until the company was disbanded in November, 1861. December 29 of that year, the company became a part of the Missouri State Militia, and the following year Mr. Liggett became sergeant-major on the non-commissioned staff in the Eighth Cavalry Missouri State Militia Volunteers. In June, 1862, he was appointed circuit and county clerk of Hickory County, and was discharged from the army, when the reorganization of the civil and municipal law took place, to enter upon the duties of said clerkships, and afterward became captain of Company C, in the Sixtieth Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, during Price’s raid through Missouri, and served in this capacity until the close of the war. He held the position of county and circuit clerk until the spring of 1867, when he was elected school commissioner, and held that position until 1869, when elected probate judge, which office he held until 1879. He and William Q. Paxton were the chief founders of the Hickory County Mirror, a weekly newspaper, the first paper published in Hickory County, which was organized in 1874, the editors being Moore and Tiller. He is a very wealthy farmer, and owns about 2,000 acres of land, a considerable portion of which he devotes to the propagation of a good grade of stock. He has been president of the Hickory County Bank for some time, is a Republican in politics and is a Master Mason. His children are as follows: Alexander C., who died at the age of seven years; Minnie, wife of S. A. Jackson; Ida M., who died when twenty years of age; Eva, a student at Columbia, Mo.; Henry Paxton, and Ernest Cuthbert. Mr. Liggett’s father, William Liggett, was born in Pennsylvania, October 5, 1795, and died in Ohio on the 4th of July, 1874. His wife, Nancy (Vincent) Liggett, was also born in Pennsylvania, her birth occurring February 9, 1797, and her death September 18, 1851. They were reared and married in their native State, and became the parents of eight children, three of whom are living. The paternal grandfather, Alexander Liggett, and grandmother, Isabella (McCloy) Liggett, were born in Pennsylvania October 4, 1775, and September 19, 1771, and died in their native State in 1866 and 1841, respectively. They were married January 5, 1795.

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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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