My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Barton 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. Berry G. Thurman, attorney-at-law, and State senator from the twenty-eighth district, was born in Miller County, Mo., January 25, 1851, and is one of the representative men of the county. He is the son of John B. and Jane (Allee) Thurman, and the grandson of Robert Thurman, who was a native of Virginia. John B. Thurman was born in Kentucky, in 1814, and in about 1832 came to St. Louis County, Mo., where he remained for some time, and then came on to Moniteau County, where he married Miss Jane Allee. He was a blacksmith by trade, but in later years he followed farming. He moved to Miller, then to Morgan County, and finally found a home in Dade County, in 1868. He died January 1, 1888, but the mother is still living in that county. Both were members of the Baptist Church, and he was a Democrat in politics. Hon. Berry G. Thurman, one of ten children —six sons and four daughters —received his literary education in the common schools, and was a student in the Missouri State University two years. He read law under Judge D. A. De Armond, and graduated from the law department of the above university in 1873. The same year he was admitted to the bar at Lamar, though he located at Greenfield, Dade County. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Dade County in 1874, and again in 1878, being the first Democrat chosen to that office in that county after the war. In 1884 he came to Lamar, and formed a partnership with A. J. Wray, which still exists. In 1888 he was elected to the State Senate, where he received appointment on the following important committees: judiciary revision, labor, mines and mining, deaf and dumb asylums. November 12, 1879, Mr. Thurman married Miss Lula Clark, daughter of Capt. S. S. Clark, and a native of Benton County, Mo. They have two children: William H. and Bessie. Mr. Thurman is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity, and stands at the head of the bar at Lamar. Mrs. Thurman belongs to the Congregational Church.

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This family biography is one of 166 biographies included in The History of Barton County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Barton County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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