My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Franklin County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1888.  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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Boyle L. Ellett, M. D., a prominent and enterprising druggist of St. Clair, Franklin Co., Mo., was born in Indian Prairie, Franklin County, September 14, 1839, the ninth of ten children (six now deceased) of William R. and Susan Frances (Barnes) Ellett. The parents were natives of Virginia, where they were reared, married and lived in Charlotte County, until about 1832 or 1833, when they immigrated to Franklin County, Mo., and settled on a tract of land in Central Township, where they resided until their deaths; the mother dying in 1844 or 1845, and the father the following year. Boyle L. Ellett, after the death of his parents, lived with his brother-in-law, Dr. Richard W. Booth, attending the common schools of his native county and Westminster College, at Fulton, Callaway Co., Mo. He lived with the Doctor until twenty-one years of age, when he graduated from the Missouri Medical College, at St. Louis, and soon after enlisted in the Missouri State Guards, subsequently entering the Confederate army, where he remained in service until the close of the war, though he received an honorable discharge on account of disability in September, 1863, after which time he served as clerk in the commissary department at Louisburg, Ark. At the close of the strife he returned home, but was so broken down in health he was unable to do but little work until 1870,when he located at St. Clair and established himself in the drug business, in connection with which he has done a great deal of the medical practice of the place. In 1874 he was appointed postmaster of St. Clair, which position he held until 1881, being reappointed in 1885. March 16, 1881, Mr. Ellett was married to Mary L., daughter of Rufus and Sarah (Kanada) Moseley, who was born near St. Clair, Franklin Co., Mo., in 1861. Dr. Ellett is an active, energetic and enterprising business man, and has succeeded in building up a good trade. He is a Democrat, politically, and cast his first presidential vote for John C. Breckinridge in 1860, and, though an active advocate of his party, has never been a political aspirant. He and his wife are worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and he has been Sunday-school superintendent for the past fourteen years.

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This family biography is one of 305 biographies included in The History of Franklin County, Missouri published in 1888.  For the complete description, click here: Franklin County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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