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Below is a family biography included in The History of Wright 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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Hon. Dixon F. Gourley, member of the Legislature from Wright County, and minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born in East Tennessee in 1849, and is the son of S. H. and Deliza (Carroll) Gourley. The paternal grandfather was a tiller of the soil, and lived in Tennessee. He entered the Confederate army at the age of sixty-three, and died in Tennessee after peace was declared. The Gourley family were square-built, long-lived people. The maternal grandmother, who was a native of North Carolina, died at the age of eighty-nine years. S. H. Gourley, who was born in Tennessee about 1828, was married in that State, and there carried on mercantile pursuits until about 1856, when he came to Missouri and located in Phelps County. He is now residing in Laclede County. His wife died in 1882, and was the mother of eleven children, eight of whom are now living. S. H. Gourley enlisted for the Mexican War, but peace was declared before he entered the service. Hon. Dixon F. Gourley grew to years of maturity on a farm in Phelps County, Mo., and received his education in Springdale Academy of that county. He was married in Maries County to Miss Hester A. Matlock, a native of Crawford County, Mo., and this union resulted in the birth of these children: Mary E., Adam, Etta, Dixon E., Rebecca O., Elbert W. and Nancy R. Those deceased were George, an infant, and Emil, who also died in infancy. Mr. Gourley came to Wright County in 1884, and has been an active preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church for eighteen years in Phelps, Maries, Stoddard, Laclede and Wright Counties. He was elected to represent Wright County in the Legislature in November, 1888, on the Union Labor Ticket. Mr. Gourley owns 430 acres of land, with fifty-five acres in Laclede County.

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This family biography is one of 90 biographies included in The History of Wright County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Wright County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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