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Below is a family biography included in The History of Barry County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1888.  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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Christian E. Fawver was born in Frederick County, Va., in 1819, and is a son of Joseph and Polly (Ellinger) Fawver, both of German descent, and natives of Shenandoah County, Va., born in 1784 and 1789, respectively. Joseph Fawver’s ancestors immigrated from Germany and settled in Maryland, in the early part of the seventeenth century. Soon after his father, Jacob Fawver, located in Shenandoah County, Va., being among the pioneer settlers of the northwestern part of the State. He purchased a small improved farm and passed his life there, dying in 1830. Joseph was the youngest son of his father’s family. He obtained a common-school education in both the German and English languages. He served in the War of 1812 as a musician, and while marching ruptured a blood vessel, which compelled him, much against his will, to return home before the close of the war. He married in 1817, and settled on a farm in Frederick County, Va. He also engaged in coopering, manufacturing barrels for all the mills in his vicinity. He died in 1861, highly respected by all who knew him. He and wife were the parents of four children, viz.: Christian E., Jacob, Eliza (wife of Philip Siple, of Illinois) and Joseph. Mrs. Fawver died in 1863 at the home of her daughter, Eliza. Christian E. obtained a good English education in the common schools of Virginia, having acquired a good knowledge of German by private study. He assisted on his father’s farm until he was sixteen years of age, when he learned the cooper’s trade under the direction of his father. In 1841 he went to New Market, Va., where he worked at his trade until the following spring, when he began work on his uncle’s farm, near Woodstock, Va., remaining there about three years. In April, 1846, he married Mary A. Spigle of Shenandoah County, Va., and located on a farm. Not being satisfied with his environment in Virginia, he removed his family to Illinois, locating in Hancock County, where for a short time he pursued teaming and butchering. In the fall of 1851 he sold his butchering business, and purchased a farm near Fountain Green. Being active and industrious, he soon owned 200 acres of good land. The climate of Illinois not agreeing with him, in 1866 he sold his land and settled in Barry County, Mo,, one and one-fourth miles from what is now Seligman. In 1882 he built a grist-mill near Seligman, which mill he remodeled in the fall of 1886, putting in the latest improved roller machinery. His wife was born in Shenandoah County, Va., in 1820. They have six children: Mary A. (Mrs. William McColum), Amanda C. (Mrs. Even Morgan, of Benton County, Ark.), Lydia V. (Mrs. Isom Collier), Joseph, Christian C. and John M. Mr. Fawver’s first wife died on January 4, 1887, and on February 12, 1888, he married Lucy Morgan, of Benton County, Ark. Besides his mill, Mr. Fawver owns a fine, well-improved farm of 400 acres, after having given his children about 300 acres.

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This family biography is one of 103 biographies included in The History of Barry County, Missouri published in 1888.  For the complete description, click here: Barry County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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