My Genealogy Hound

William Carroll Church, who is well known throughout Cedar County, Mo., as “Uncle Billy” Church, was born in Maury County, Tenn., in 1816, and is a son of Robert and grandson of Thomas Church, both of whom were born in North Carolina, the former in 1795. When a young man he moved with his father to Maury County, Tenn., and there Thomas died in 1847, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Culbertson, died in Cedar County, Mo., in 1856, aged about seventy-five years. Robert Church was engaged in farming in Tennessee, and was there married to Miss Frankie Fitzgerald, in 1815. She was born in the “Old North State,” in 1799, and died in 1845, her husband dying in 1876. Robert Church was twice married, his second wife being Lucy Fitzgerald, a sister of his first wife, and a daughter of Edmund Fitzgerald, who was born in North Carolina, and died in Maury County, Tenn. William Carroll Church was the eldest of thirteen children born to his father’s first marriage, and was reared to manhood on a farm. In 1835 he married Miss Mazey Petty, a daughter of Abram Petty. She was born in North Carolina, in 1815, and her union with Mr. Church resulted in the birth of seven children: Hardy J. (deceased) was deputy sheriff four years and sheriff of Cedar County four years; Frances, wife of George R. Corbin; Naomi; Sarah, wife of Nelson Fritts; Robert; Cynthia, wife of E. W. Montgomery; and George W. When Mr. Church was a young man he learned the blacksmith’s trade, and in 1854 removed to Stockton, Mo., and erected a blacksmith’s shop, in which he and G. R. Corbin were partners for nine years. About this time the war broke out, and Mr. Church went to Cooper County, where he remained until 1865, then returning to Stockton, and he and H. J. purchased a carding machine and also ran a nursery for four years. Since that time Mr. Church has given his undivided attention to farming, and is the owner of 300 acres of fine land near Stockton, and 300 acres about twelve miles south west of the town. Mrs. Church died in 1877, and the following year he married Mrs. Mary Jane (Maxey) Morrison, a daughter of William and Sarah (Nelson) Maxey, who were natives of Tennessee, and came to Pulaski County, Mo. Mrs. Church was born in Lawrence County, Tenn., in 1832. Mr. Church is one of the oldest citizens of the county, and is a man whose honesty and integrity have never been questioned. He is a Democrat in politics, and his first presidential vote was cast for Harrison in 1840. He has been a member of the Masonic order since he was twenty-one years of age, and, when only eighteen years of age, united with the Southern Methodist Church, in which he soon became a class-leader. After the war closed he joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and has been a ruling elder in the same for the past twenty-three years, and has attended many presbyteries and synods. In 1881 he was sent to the General Assembly at Bowling Green, Ky., and in 1885 was sent to the General Assembly at Sedalia, Mo. All his children are members of the same church, but his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.