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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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James N. McCreery, one of Adair County’s most enterprising merchants, and a prominent citizen of Brashear, was born in Ripley County, Ind., in 1841, and in childhood moved near Quincy, Ill., with his parents, where he spent his youth. In 1862 he entered the One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, serving one year, and at the close of the war (1866) embarked in the general mercantile trade at Paulville, Adair Co., Mo., where he remained until the founding of Brashear, when he moved his stock of goods to the new town, to the improvement of which he has contributed largely, and is regarded as one of its most public-spirited men. He was a member of the county court two years, soon after locating in Brashear. He has a stock of about $7,000, consisting of a complete line of dry goods, clothing, groceries, etc. He became postmaster of Paulville immediately after locating there, and filled the position faithfully until it was changed to Brashear, where he continued to fulfill the same duties until October 1, 1885. In 1866 he married A. B. Kirkpatrick, a native of Lima, Ill., by whom three sons and two daughters have been born, of which but one daughter, Emir, survives, who was born in 1876. Mr. McCreery is a Free Mason, and, with his wife, is a regular attendant of the Methodist Episcopal Church. James, the father, was born in Ireland in 1811, and when about twelve years old was brought by his parents, Robert and Mary, to Beaver County, Penn., where James was reared, and at which place he married Cynthia Johnson, a native of Beaver County, Penn. The father was in the wholesale grocery and liquor business for four years at Florence, Ala., and after that, for the same period of time, in Louisville, Ky., after which, at about the age of thirty, he married, and located in Ripley County, Ind., subsequently residing in Quincy, Ill., until 1850, since which date he has lived on a farm near Lima, Ill. Their family consisted of three sons and four daughters, all of whom reached manhood and womanhood. A brother of our subject, Henry, enlisted in the Forty-third Illinois Infantry, and died at Nashville, Tenn., in 1864 The McCreery Methodist Episcopal Chapel, dedicated at Brashear in 1881, was named in honor of Mr. McCreery.

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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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