My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS H. TILLER, farmer and stock-raiser, section 5, post-office Carthage, was born in Kentucky, May 24, 1838, The same year his parents immigrated to southwest Missouri and settled in Greene county. At the age of fifteen our subject went overland to California, where he remained five years engaged at mining, being moderately successful. On his return to Greene county he invested his savings in land. Though a firm believer in the principles and traditions of the Democratic party, he was at heart a Union man, and during the war of the Rebellion took up arms under the Federal flag. In the early part of the war he was a member of Capt. Jenkin’s Company, E. M. M., and participated in the battle of Springfield, and several engagements of minor importance in southwest Missouri. He subsequently enlisted in Company E, Sixteenth Regiment Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, and participated in the campaigns against Price, Van Dorn, and Marmaduke, in Missouri and Arkansas, and was also at the battles of Boonville, Independence, Osage, and numerous skirmishes. He was discharged in June, 1865, and resumed his farming operations in Greene county until 18S0, when he became a resident of Jasper county, and purchased the farm upon which he now lives. It is nicely situated at the confluence of Dry Fork and Deer Creeks, ten miles northeast of Carthage, and consists of 360 acres, 300 acres being in cultivation, and skirted with natural groves of timber on the north and west sides, admirably situated for a stock farm, averaging 100 head of cattle, 125 hogs, and a fair number of horses and mules. He also owns 350 acres of good farming land in Greene county, and 196 acres in Chariton county. Mr. Tiller left his home to seek his fortune at the age of thirteen, and through his industry, frugality, and sagacity, he has gained possession of this valuable property. Mr. Tiller has been married three times. His first marriage occurred May 27, 1860, to Miss Caroline Donnel, a native of Missouri, who died in Nov., 1869, leaving five children, Thos. J., Geo. W., Wm. C., H. Greeley, and Carrie. His second wife was Miss Fanny Barton, also a native of southwest Missouri. They were married in Feb., 1870. She died in Nov., 1876, leaving two children, McGruder and Emery. He married for his present wife Mrs. Phoebe A. Mahan, Jan. 10, 1877. She is the daughter of James and Maria Hackney, deceased, who were well-known old settlers of Jasper county. Mrs. Tiller owns 155 acres of valuable mining land in Vernon county, containing rich deposits of coal.