My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Lewis County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  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.

* * * *

Massanello M. Buford, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Lewis County, in 1836, the son of Henry and Eleanor (Hardy) Buford, the former of French-Huguenot stock, born in Bedford Co., Va., in 1798, and the latter born in Maryland in 1800, and deceased in 1853. (His second wife was Eliza Merryweather, nee Dodd). The grandfather, Abraham, a native of Virginia was also a farmer, and a soldier of 1812. The father came to this county in 1834, after his marriage, and stopped near Monticello for two years. He then settled near where Colony now is, in Knox County, where he bought eighty acres of land. He passed his last years with our subject, and died in 1877. He was in the Iowa boundary war also. Our subject, the seventh of ten children, was reared in his native county with pioneer advantages, and lived with his parents until the age of twenty. In 1861 he joined the Confederate forces of Gen. Green, and served in the State guards twelve months as orderly sergeant and lieutenant. Then entered the Confederate service for a period of the war. The last six months he was a clerk in the quartermaster’s department. He served at the battles of Athens, Shelbina, Lexington and Prairie Grove, where he was wounded in both legs and left hip. He was disabled for eighteen months, and surrendered at the close of the war at Mount Pleasant, Tex. In August, 1863, he married Elizabeth K. German, in Titus County, Tex. She was born in 1836, in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Raymond and Katharine German. After the war he spent six years in Hancock County, Ill., and then bought forty acres of his present estate, which embraces 152 acres. He first voted for Fillmore, and has since been a Democrat. He became township collector in 1870, and four years later became county assessor, and served four years. He is a Mason, and the entire family are Baptists, of which church he is clerk. Their children are Kate E., Mildred B. and Henry L.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 293 biographies included in the Lewis County, Missouri portion of the book,  The History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties, Missouri published in 1887.  For the complete description, click here: Lewis County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Lewis County, Missouri family biographies here: Lewis County, Missouri Biographies

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.