My Genealogy Hound

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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P. R. Worsham, a retired farmer, residing at Mountain Grove, Mo., was born in East Tennessee May 18, 1827, his parents being Joseph and Melvina (Lewis) Worsham. They were born, reared and married in Virginia, after which they immigrated to Tennessee, locating in the eastern portion of the State, where the father died. He was the father of five children, four of whom lived to maturity, and after his death his widow, in company with her son, P. R. Worsham, came to Missouri, and died at her son’s home, in Texas County, in 1880, aged seventy-seven years. P. R. Worsham grew to manhood in Tennessee, and was there married to Miss Nancy Scott, who was born in East Tennessee in 1825, and is a daughter of William and Susan (Parker) Scott. Their union was blessed in the birth of eleven children, the following of whom are living: Sarah J., wife of John W. Wallace; Mary E., wife of G. W. Hunter; Henderson, Susan, wife of James Cardwell; Catherine, wife of F. Cardwell; Cordelia, wife of Grant Sebum; Alice, wife of James Mabon, the present treasurer of Wright County. The children deceased are Eliza (Mrs. Mitchell), who died at the age of eighteen years; William, at the age of eleven months; David, at the age of two months, and Oliver, aged fourteen months. Mr. and Mrs. Worsham have also reared a grandson, Columbus Mitchell, who is now a student in Mountain Grove Academy. Mrs. Worsham’s father was of Scotch-Irish descent, a farmer by occupation, and in 1841 immigrated from his native State of Tennessee to Missouri, and died in St. Louis County. Mr. Worsham came to Missouri in 1853, locating first in Wright County, afterward in Texas County, making the latter his home until 1886, when he concluded to retire from active business life, and moved to Mountain Grove, but still retains his farm, which consists of 340 acres. He also has thirty-seven acres one mile west of Mountain Grove, but lives in town. He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Masonic fraternity. For twenty years he was post master of Pleasant Ridge, and holds his commission as justice of the peace.

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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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