My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM PERSONS CARRINGTON, after a busy and useful life, is now retired, and is enjoying the fruits of his labors. His home is beautifully finished and furnished, and is situated on section 19, township 44, range 27, Chilhowee Township, Johnson County. He is a native of Orange County, N. C., his birth having occurred October 30, 1832, but for the past forty-five years he has been an inhabitant of Missouri, in whose upbuilding and progress he has been an important factor.

Our subject’s parents, Ephraim H. and Nancy A. (Parish) Carrington, left North Carolina about 1837, with the intention of driving through to Missouri, but on account of sickness they decided to settle in Darke County, Ky. Mr. Carrington owned several slaves, who accompanied the family from the East, and they assisted in managing the farm where the little household dwelt about twelve years. In 1850 the senior Mr. Carrington sold out, and after four or five weeks of steady traveling arrived in Pettis County, Mo., where he rented land and raised a crop. During the year he had bargained for a farm in Cass County, making a payment on the place, but before the family was ready to start he was called to his final rest, in the fall of 1851, and was buried in the cemetery of Mt. Pleasant, eight miles west of Sedalia. His widow had become attached to the people in Pettis County, and eventually sold the land in Cass County, buying instead a farm near Dresden, where she lived for many years. Then for a few years she dwelt in that village, and later, having a paralytic stroke, took up her abode with our subject, in whose home she died in the spring of 1864, and was placed to rest by the side of her husband. They were the parents of eight children, one of whom, Cynthia, was married, and died in Kentucky, leaving two children. One of these, Nancy A., is still living in the Blue Grass State, and the other, Mrs. Annie Elgin, resides in Saline County, Mo. Mr. and Mrs. Carrington were faithful members of the Christian Church, and strove to bring up their children to be good and useful citizens.

W. P. Carrington was reared on a farm, and received such meager education as was afforded by the pioneer schools. He remained with his mother until she left the farm, and when about twenty years of age began learning the carpenter’s trade. For a number of years he worked as a journeyman, and managed his mother’s farm during the summers. When he had laid by some money he entered three hundred and sixty acres of land and built a frame house. In time he increased his possessions until he now owns fourteen hundred acres, besides having given away a tract of two hundred acres. In 1882 he purchased property in Hoi den, and removed thither in order to give his children better educational privileges. While there he sold a portion of his land for $19,000, and in 1885 built his handsome residence, in which he has since lived.

June 24, 1858, Mr. Carrington married Susan J., daughter of R. Z. R. and Mary J. (Covington) Wall, natives of North Carolina. She, however, was born in Johnson County, and here grew to womanhood. Ten children graced the union of our subject and his wife. Mary Belle was born June 26, 1859; Richard E., now of Indian Territory, is married and has one son, Wylie V.; Nancy A. is the wife of Baxter Anderson, of Chilhowee Township, and the mother of one child. Pearl; Margaret, Mrs. Seth B. Bradley, died, leaving one child, Margaret; William Stonewall is unmarried, and a resident of Indian Territory; Flavia A. is the wife of Early Wright, of Warrensburg, by whom she has one child; Cornelia M. died when in her eighteenth year; James M. died in infancy; and Robert and Claude are still at home. The mother of these children was called to her final rest May 7, 1884. Mr. Carrington was married to Miss Ella Yankee, of Warrensburg, April 4, 1888.

In 1856 Mr. Carrington cast his first Presidential vote, for Buchanan, and, like his father before him, has always supported the Democracy. He has never cared for public office, but has often served his party as a delegate to various conventions, and on one occasion was elected Township Collector before he even knew that he was a candidate, and was afterward re-elected to the office. As he was an only son, and his paralytic mother was dependent upon him during the war, he felt that his first duty was to take care of her, and for that reason did not enlist in the army. He was often disturbed and his property destroyed, but these reverses he met with fortitude. Since he was fifteen years of age he has been a worker in the Sunday-school, and has been a teacher and Assistant Superintendent many years. Both he and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he being one of the Elders.

Orson M. Horn, now deceased, married our subject’s eldest daughter March 8, 1877. He was born in Simpson County, Ky., November 19, 1856, his parents being Dr. L. M. and Patty (Morrill) Horn, who are represented on another page of this volume. On the 12th of December, 1878, Walter Earl, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Horn, was born. Mr. Horn was a practical young farmer, and he conducted the property which his wife had inherited from her mother, and which belonged to the Wall estate. For a short time Mr. Horn was engaged in merchandising in Blairstown, but, his health failing, he went to New Mexico in the fall of 1893. Receiving little benefit, he returned home and passed away July 10, 1894, and was buried in the cemetery of the Wall family. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, to which his wife also belonged. Politically he was a Republican.