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Below is a family biography included in The History of Barton County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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Capt. M. Breeden is one of the earliest settlers of Barton County, Mo., having located near where Golden City now stands in 1856. He is a native of Putnam County, Ind., and was born January 28, 1830. His father, who was a shoemaker by trade, and also a farmer, emigrated to Missouri in 1840, settling near Springfield, where our subject grew to manhood, and December 16, 1850, married Miss L. R. Ward, a native of Virginia. He engaged in farming in Greene County, Mo., until 1856, when he removed to Barton County, settling one mile southeast of Golden City, where he entered 200 acres of land, which he improved. At that time the inhabitants of the county numbered not more than one hundred. Mr. Breeden made this his home until the outbreak of the war, when he enlisted, April 1, 1861, serving as a scout until the battle of Wilson’s Creek, when he went to Fort Scott, Kan., making that his headquarters, and acting in the same capacity, under Lane and Montgomery, until March, 1862; he then returned to Missouri, and raised Company G, Fourteenth Missouri State Militia, of which he was chosen captain. This company was subsequently consolidated with another, and Mr. Breeden became Captain of Company L, Eighth Missouri Regiment, where he served until the close of the war. He then returned to Lawrence County, Mo., where he remained two years, and then located on his farm in Barton County, where he has since lived. He is now serving his fifth term as justice of the peace, and is serving his sixth term as Post Commander of the G. A. R. Capt. Breeden has always taken an active part in public affairs, and is a leading citizen of the county. He now owns a fine farm of 115 acres, and is at present devoting considerable attention to the real estate and loaning business at Golden City. His first wife died in 1862, the mother of five children; of whom John is a farmer in Dade County, Mo.; Elizabeth (deceased); George D., a farmer of Lawrence County, Mo.; Delaney, a widow, living at Pittsburg, Kan.; and James, who died in childhood. Mr. Breeden afterward married Margaret C. White, a native of Polk County, Mo., and eight children have been born to this union, viz.: Virginia, an accomplished musician, who died in March, 1886, aged twenty years; Abraham L., who died at the age of ten years; Lydia Belle, deceased in childhood; Sherman, now in St. Louis, Mo.; Jackson, Peter Cooper and Alice, all at home; and Russell, who died in childhood.

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This family biography is one of 166 biographies included in The History of Barton County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Barton County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Barton County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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