My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Dent 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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Franklin C. and Hardy Blackwell, proprietors of livery and feed stable at Salem, were born in 1856 and 1864, respectively, being sons of James H. and Nancy M. (Barnes) Blackwell, grandsons of William and Mary (Halbert) Blackwell, who were natives of Virginia, coming to Missouri at a very early date, and settling in Crawford County. William died in 1856, at the age of sixty-three, and his wife is yet living, and is now in her eighty-ninth year, her birth occurring in 1801. James H. Blackwell was born in 1822, and died in 1866 in Dent County, eight miles north of Salem, where his widow now lives on the old homestead of 393 acres. She was born in Tennessee, later moving to Alabama, and came to Dent County, Mo., with her parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Barnes, who located four miles north of the county seat. Mrs. Blackwell is the mother of nine children: Sarah, wife of Harvey McDonald; Eliza J., wife of James L. Chambers; Frances, wife of Thomas Frank; James T., Rachel, wife of Samuel Roney; Franklin C., John P., Nancy, wife of George Plank, and Hardy. Franklin C. was reared on his father’s farm, and in 1884 was elected constable of Spring Creek Township, and was also appointed deputy sheriff of Dent County. In 1886 he was elected sheriff of Dent County, and served the people faithfully for two years. In September, 1888, Blackwell Bros., bought the livery and feed stable of Powell Bros., and are doing a good business. They have nine horses, three buggies, three hacks and one wagon. They are young men of good business capacity, and gentlemen in every sense of the word. They keep a first-class stable. In October, 1877, Franklin C. was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Ann Norris, who was born in Dent County, Mo., in 1860. They have one child, Emmet H. In 1886 Hardy Blackwell married Miss Jane Peck, a native of Dent County, Mo., born in 1866, and the daughter of Thomas Peck. They have one child, Arley Fulton. In politics the Blackwell brothers are Democrats, and Franklin C. and wife are members of the Christian Church.

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This family biography is one of 82 biographies included in The History of Dent County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Dent County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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