My Genealogy Hound

Rev. Henry Roam, minister of the Christian Church at Swedeborg, Mo., and also a farmer and stock raiser of Liberty Township, was ordained in 1884 by Elder John Glover, and since that time has expounded the doctrine of the Christian Church in Pulaski, Camden and Laclede Counties. He is the pastor of the Pleasant Grove congregation, but owing to ill-health has been compelled to abandon many other congregations. He united with the church in 1861, and has since been a faithful member and active worker for the grand cause of Christianity. He had been an elder for some years prior to his ordination, and had occupied pulpits at different times in the absence of the regular pastor. He was born in Overton County, Tenn., in 1835, was reared on a farm, and in early life had meager educational advantages. In April, 1853, he was married to Rhoda, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Lydia Strain, by whom he became the father of eleven children, six sons and three daughters living. He came to Pulaski County in 1857, and in 1867 settled on his present farm near Swedeborg. He owns 400 acres of land in different farms, and has about 150 acres under cultivation, and has proved himself to be one of the industrious and honorable citizens of the county. He started in life a poor boy, but by the breaking out of the war had accumulated considerable means, all of which were destroyed during that conflict. He was then obliged to commence anew, with broken health, and by close application to business, good management and economy has secured a good home for his declining years. In July, 1864, he joined Company A, Missouri Infantry, United States Army, at Waynesville, Mo., and went with the regiment to Rolla, where he was taken sick. He remained with the regiment, however, until it was ordered to Tennessee, and while at Spring Hill was sent to the hospital at Nashville, in which he was kept eight or ten days. Later he was removed from there to Louisville, Ky. Up to this time he could not write his name, but while in the hospital he was seized with a desire to write a letter to his family, and requested one of the officers in charge to set him a copy, which he soon mastered, and in a short time was able to write his name, and soon wrote a letter home. He remained at Louisville until May, 1865, when he was sent to his regiment at Chicago, and in June to St. Louis, where he received his discharge. He then returned home, and has since been engaged in preaching the gospel, farming and stock raising. He has spared no pains to educate his children, and has done all in his power to promote the welfare of the community in which he has resided. He has been a life-long Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Buchanan in 1856. His wife and six children are also members of the Christian Church. His parents, Rev. Isaac and Elizabeth (Ward) Roam, were born, reared and married in North Carolina, and about 1832 moved to Overton County, Tenn., where the father died in 1862, at the age of seventy-one years. The mother is still living, and has resided in Pulaski County since 1872. Both were members of the Christian Church for many years, and reared a family of nine children, seven of whom are living. The father was a minister of the Christian Church for many years, and was also a miller and farmer. He was thrown on his own resources at an early age, and would work wherever he could find employment. He grew to manhood without obtaining any schooling, but in after years became an exceptionally well-informed man. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His father was a wealthy German, who came to the United States and settled in North Carolina, and when Isaac was about eight years of age he was making preparation to start on a visit to his native land; but before starting, and while making preparation, his dead body was found in a creek in North Carolina. The mother lived until Isaac was a man.