My Genealogy Hound

Joseph Highfill has given his attention strictly to farming throughout life, and his earnest endeavors in pursuing this calling, coupled with strict integrity and honesty of purpose, have placed him among the honored and respected agriculturists of the county. He was born in Tennessee in 1839, and is a son of Dr. James and Martha (Jackson) Highfill, who were born in Tennessee in 1812 and 1825, and died in Oregon County, Mo., and Jackson County, Ark., in 1878 and 1874, respectively. The father was of English lineage, and was a well-known and skillful physician. He also followed the occupation of farming, and in this connection as well as in the capacity of a physician, he attained prominence. Bennett and Margaret Highfill emigrated from Tennessee to Dallas County, Mo., in 1854, and five years later moved to Oregon County. The grandfather Bennett died in Tennessee, and his wife in Dallas County, Mo. Joseph Highfill was the fourth of fourteen children, and made his home with his parents until twenty-two years of age, receiving during his youth a very limited education. In 1880 he removed from Oregon County, Mo., to where he now lives, and is the owner of a good farm, comprising 120 acres, with about forty acres under cultivation. During the Rebellion he spent some eight months in the Confederate army, but has since been a Republican in politics. Miss Mary Kirby, who was born in Tennessee, in 1843, became his wife in 1863, and by her he has had a family of five children: Jennie, Rosa, Ellen, Alice and Hattie. They are also rearing an orphan child named Maud Koontz. Mrs. Highfill is a daughter of Henry and Temperance Kirby, the former born in the State of Tennessee, and the latter in North Carolina. They moved from Tennessee to Illinois in 1851, and in 1859 located in Oregon County, Mo., where they both died. Mrs. Highfill belongs to the Christian Church.