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Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Adair 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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Jackson Megrew, one of the leading farmers and stock raisers of Adair County, was born in Liberty Township, same county, in 1836. He is a son of William M. and Rebecca (Donaldson) Megrew, natives of Indiana. The father was of Irish ancestry, his father being a native of England, but an early pioneer of Monroe County, Mo., to which place William M. accompanied his father, and was soon after married. He moved to what is now Adair County, and located in the southern part of the county on the Chariton River, soon after moved to Hog Creek in the western part of the county. After living in Nebraska six or seven years, he returned to Adair County, in 1882, but again returned to Nebraska, where he died April 9, 1885. He was one of the earliest inhabitants of Adair County, and was recognized as one of its enterprising and substantial farmers. The mother was born in Indiana, and died about 1837. Our subject was reared in the woods of Adair County, without receiving any education, as he did not attend any school until after he was twenty-one, when he went to the district school for about three months. In 1864 he married Miss Nellie P., daughter of William M. and Jerusha Walters, formerly of Tennessee, but who, in 1841, came to Adair County, May 28, 1865. Mr. Megrew moved to Nebraska, within four miles of Omaha, but, at the end of one year, moved back to Spring Creek, and from there to Schuyler County, and five years later purchased W. M. Walter’s farm. Mr. and Mrs. Megrew have seven children and all of them are living. They are Rosetta (wife of John Powell), Henry, Anna Belle, Robert, John, Minnie and Bertie. He has since been a resident of Adair County, with the exception of five years, from 1873 to 1878 inclusive, spent in Schuyler County. Since then he has been a resident of the old Walters’ farm on which Mrs. Megrew was born and reared. He is now the owner of 700 acres of land in Morrow Township and Spring Creek, nearly all of which is the result of his own labor and good business ability. For two years he was a merchant in Stahl. He is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Douglas. Mrs. Megrew is a member of the Baptist Church.

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This family biography is one of 150 biographies included in the Adair County, Missouri portion of the book,  The History of Adair, Sullivan, Putnam, and Schuyler Counties, Missouri published in 1888 by Goodspeed Publishing Co.  For the complete description, click here: Adair County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Adair County, Missouri family biographies here: Adair County, Missouri Biographies

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