My Genealogy Hound

George W. Spurr deserves honorable mention as one of the prosperous farmers of Cole County, Mo. He was born in St. Louis County in 1839, and until nine years of age he made his home with his father, his mother having died at the time of his birth, he being the youngest of their seven children. His early days were spent in attending school and assisting on the farm, and after his father’s death he made his home with his brother Henry for about eight years, and then (at the age of eighteen) spent eighteen months in learning the blacksmith’s trade, after which he went to Illinois and was engaged in farm labor for a short time, and then entered Shurtliff College, Upper Alton, but had only been in this institution one year when the Rebellion broke out, and he left school and enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, but was soon afterward assigned to the Sixteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, and took an active part in the battles of Nashville, Pleasant Hill (La.),Mobile (Ala.), Overton Hill (Miss.), Tupelo (Miss.), and was in thirty-three engagements of less note. After three years of hard service he was mustered out at Camp Butler, Springfield, Ill., in 1865, and after spending about six months in Illinois came to Missouri, and for two years worked in Moniteau County, in the stove factory belonging to John Howe, of St. Louis. During this time he was united in marriage to Miss Katie S. Webber, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of N. B. and Ora Ann Webber, by whom he became the father of six children, only three of whom are living: Lawrence S., Olive and Emma. Mrs. Spurr’s father was engaged in prison contract work, and was later associated in the stove business with John Howe, but discontinued this after a short time and engaged in other pursuits. He soon after went back to Illinois, and ten years later removed to Kansas, and after residing in that State two years came to his daughter’s (Mrs. Spurr) home, where he died on the 6th of January, 1889. In 1867 Mr. Spurr, after his marriage, engaged in farming on rented land, but four years later bought a farm of forty-five acres on Grey’s Creek, where he resided until 1875, when his house was destroyed by a cyclone. In 1880 he sold his farm and bought fifty acres on the Boonville road, six miles from Jefferson City, on which he erected a cottage and barns. It is all under fence and cultivation, and on it is a good orchard of 200 apple trees of choice varieties. He is a Republican in politics, and has been quite active in school matters, having served a number of terms as school director, and is the present clerk of the district. He and family are members of the Baptist Church. His children who are deceased are: William U., who died at the age of four years; Georgie, at the age of three years, and Benjamin, when three years of age. Mr. Spurr’s father, William Spurr, was born in Kentucky, and learned the trade of cabinet-maker. While still quite young he come to Missouri, and worked at his trade near St. Louis, and was then engaged in the business for himself for twenty years. During this time he married Mrs. Dorothy Maddox, a native of Virginia, and the widow of Mr. Maddox, and also of Philip Lanham. Her death occurred on the 16th of August, 1839, at the birth of her youngest child. In 1848 the father sold out in St. Louis County and removed to Texas County, where he was engaged in the saw-mill, lumber and building business until his death, a few months later. Grandfather Spurr was a farmer of Virginia.