My Genealogy Hound

William P. Freeman, circuit clerk and recorder, was born in Miller County, near Brumley, June 15, 1858, and is the son of Andrew J. and Editha A. (Tinsley) Freeman, the father a native of Missouri, and the mother of Virginia. The paternal grandfather emigrated from Tennessee to Missouri at an early day and settled in Hickory County, where he died in 1872. He served as a private in the Mexican War. Andrew J. Freeman, father of the subject of this sketch, was a tiller of the soil. He came to Miller County in 1857, and entered land and settled near Brumley. Here he resided until 1861, when he answered his country’s call, and enlisted in Company E, Thirty-third Regiment Missouri Infantry Volunteers, on the 11th day of August, 1862, and served as corporal until the 15th day of December, 1864, when he was discharged for disability, the effects of a gunshot wound in the right shoulder, received at the battle of Tupelo, Miss., on the 15th day of July, 1864. After his discharge he returned to his home in Miller County, and died from the effects of the wound on the 14th day of November, 1874. To his marriage were born five children, one son and four daughters, viz.: William P., Lucy E., wife of William Golden; Paralee F., wife of J. M. Cox; Belle, wife of F. Hooker, and Dora. William P. Freeman assisted his father on the farm until twelve years of age, when he took upon himself the duties of a “printer’s devil” in the Miller County Vidette office. He worked at the trade until twenty-one years of age, and was at one time local editor and business manager of the Lebanon (Mo.) Journal, and was also one of the publishers of the Richland (Mo.) Sentinel. He was clerk in a general store at Tuscumbia for two years, and in 1881 was appointed deputy sheriff and collector by C. P. Myers, who then held those offices, and served as such for two years, when he was again appointed deputy sheriff by W. C. Howell, in 1883. In 1885 he was again appointed deputy sheriff and collector, which position he held until his election to the office of clerk of the circuit court in 1886, which office he holds until 1890. He, at an early age, took a great interest in politics, identifying himself with the Republican party, and has many times represented his county in the State and congressional conventions of his party, and is now and has been for a number of years member of the congressional committee of the Eleventh Congressional District. He was married September 19, 1881, to Miss Alice Harris, a native of Laclede County, Mo., by whom he has two children, Harry and Elsie. Mrs. Freeman is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Freeman is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Odd Fellows, and is also a member of the Christian Church. He is self made, having attended school but fourteen months, and that when yet a mere child, and in the old log country school-house. He is a bright young man, having by his own exertions worked himself up to his present position, and is a prominent citizen of Miller County.