My Genealogy Hound

John A. Jackson, Sr., who is classed among the prominent farmers and stock-raisers of Cedar County, was born in Anderson County, East Tennessee, April 21, 1820, and is the son of Claiborne and Kizzie Jackson, natives of North Carolina, where Mrs. Jackson had married a Mr. Cheek, who died. She went to Tennessee in about 1817, and was there married to Mr. Jackson in 1819, after which they spent their lives in that State, she dying just before the war, and he just after. Mr. Jackson was a farmer and trader, and was a member of the Baptist Church. John A. Jackson, the eldest of three sons and four daughters, received a very limited education, never attending school more than a few months in all. He was married September 15, 1842, to Miss Sarah L. Hardin, the daughter of Marlin and Maria Hardin. Mrs. Jackson was born in East Tennessee, August 28, 1822, and died December 9, 1888, aged sixty-six years three months and eleven days. When nineteen years of age she had joined the Baptist Church, but, at the time of her death, was a faithful member of the Christian Church. She left two sons and two daughters: Abner, John A., Jr., Sarah E. and Margaret C., wife of Elihu Hess. All are living in the neighborhood of their father. One son, Samuel Fuston, lost his life in the Confederate army, it is supposed. Mary J. died in August, 1865; Nancy A. died January 1, 1884; and Samantha A. died in September, 1880. In 1854 Mr. Jackson came to Cedar County, Mo., settled on his present farm, and there he has since lived, with the exception of a short period during the war. He has about 300 acres in different tracts of land, and is one of the substantial farmers of the county. He is honest, industrious, and is one of the county’s first-class citizens. He is a member of the Christian Church; was a justice of the peace about three years previous to the war, and is virtually the founder of El Dorado Springs. For some years prior to its publicity he had made considerable use of the water, carrying it a distance of two miles in a jug to his home, and, during the summer season, he would frequently spend nearly the entire day at the spring. It was he who piloted Joshua Hightower and family through the woods to the spring, they being the first to camp there. Mr. Jackson is a Democrat politically, and his first presidential vote was for James K. Polk, in 1844. He is one of the pioneers of northwest Cedar County, and at the time of his settlement on his present farm there were but eight acres cleared. He now has a well improved farm.