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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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Judge William C. Hickman, ex-judge of the Eastern district of Hickory County, Mo., was born in Wilson County, Tenn., near Lebanon, August 2, 1832, and is a son of Snowden and Frances (Newman) Hickman, who were born in North Carolina and Virginia, and died in Wilson County, Tenn., in 1852, at the age of fifty years, and in Hickory County, Mo., in 1882, at the age of eighty-two years, respectively. The former was a child of four years of age when his parents took him to Tennessee, and there he grew to manhood, married, and was engaged in farming and stock raising until his death. His father, who also bore the name of Snowden, was born in North Carolina, followed the occupation of farming, and died in Wilson County, Tenn. The mother was a daughter of Joel Newman, a Virginian, who lived and died in his native State. He was a Revolutionary soldier. Judge William C. Hickman is the second of six children, three now living: Zachariah, a practicing physician, of Benton, Ill.; Martha Ann; and the judge, who was educated, and resided in Wilson County, Tenn., until eighteen years of age. In 1851 he came West, and roamed around for a number of years. In 1853 he crossed the plains with an ox-team, taking the Carson route, and at the end of six months and eighteen days reached the Golden Sate, having suffered many hardships and privations on the journey. He was engaged in teaming, ditching and other occupations, in that State, for about four years, then returned home via the Isthmus of Panama, Cuba and New Orleans, bringing with him about $2,400, which he had earned while in the West. After staying for a time in Tennessee, he came to Missouri and purchased land, on which he has since resided. In 1863 he enlisted in Company B, Eighth Missouri State Militia, and served until the close of the war, when he returned home, and began trying to retrieve his fallen fortunes, having been a heavy loser during the war. He has been very successful, and is now the owner of about 1,600 acres of land, some of which is the most valuable in Hickory County. He has been a Democrat since the death of the Whig party, and, in 1878, was elected by that party as county judge from the Eastern district, and was re-elected in 1882, thus showing how the people of the county appreciate his merits, his district being strongly Republican. He at all times supports educational and religious enterprises, and is always public spirited and enterprising. Martha Hicks, a daughter of Thomas M. Hicks, became his wife December 17, 1857. She was born in Wilson County, Tenn., in 1833 (July 14), and, by Mr. Hickman, became the mother of seven children, who are living: Fanny, wife of George W. Morgan, of Kansas; Cora, wife of William Y. Bennett, of Hickory County, Mo.; Robert, a farmer of Hickory County; Nina, Charles, Horace and Joel N. Alice, the second child, died when two years of age. Mrs. Hickman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

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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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