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Below is a family biography included in The History of Cole 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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Charles F. Clarenbach, who is closely associated with the farming and stock-raising interests of Cole County, was born in Osage County, Mo., January 13, 1844, and is the youngest in a family of six children born to Peter F. and Wilhelmina (Hofins) Clarenbach, natives of Germany, where they were married June 4, 1830, immigrating to the United States in December, 1833, and settling in Osage County, Mo., and there entered and bought 180 acres of land. He immediately began making improvements, cleared land, erected buildings, set out orchards, and made many other improvements, but at the same time carried on his trade, that of a watchmaker. He died at his home February 22, 1851; his widow sold the farm in 1865, bought a farm in Cole County, and there died, November 21, 1869. Charles F. Clarenbach worked on his mother’s farm in summer and attended school in winter until eighteen years of age. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, Seventy-second Illinois Infantry for three years, or during the war, served with his regiment, and was discharged at Springfield, Ill., July 15, 1865. He then returned to his mother’s farm in Cole County, Mo., and later clerked in a store in Jefferson City for some time. He then purchased his mother’s fine farm of 285 acres, situated on a branch of Honey Creek, following grain and stock-raising with good success. In January, 1870, he married Miss Elizabeth Hehenberger, a native of Austria, who came to Missouri with her parents when quite young, her father dying of cholera soon after reaching this country. To this marriage have been born five children, four of whom survive: Emma (died in infancy), Minnie, George, Willie and Julius.

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This family biography is one of 127 biographies included in The History of Cole County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Cole County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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