My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Scotland 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.

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Dr. B. H. Edelen, a prominent physician at Etna, was born September 17, 1860, at Luray, Mo. He spent his youth in Etna from about the age of six years until 1880, when he went to Kirksville, and there completed a two years’ course at the State Normal. He then taught school a few terms in Scotland and Audrain Counties. He began the study of medicine in 1881, with his father, and afterward attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Chicago, from which he graduated in 1884. Since that date he has been at Etna, engaged in his profession, and now enjoys a large and lucrative practice. The great-grandfather was one of Lord Baltimore’s colonists, who settled in Maryland, and after a time there went to Kentucky, in which State the grandfather, Benedict, was born, probably at Lebanon. The latter was a hatter by trade, and early became a resident of Marion County, Mo., where he afterward died. R. M., the father, was but a boy when they came to Missouri, but afterward became a physician at Luray, in Clark County. After 1865, however, he was the predecessor of our subject at Etna, where his second wife still survives him. His first wife, Sophia (Hammond) was a native of Clark County, Mo., and died in our subject’s infancy, leaving, one son and one daughter. The father’s second wife was Rebecca J. Kellar, whom we have mentioned as living at Etna with our subject, and who is the mother of two sons and two daughters.

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This family biography is one of 140 biographies included in the Scotland 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: Scotland County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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