My Genealogy Hound

William H. Darby, a carpenter and farmer of Urbana, Dallas County, was born in what was then Polk and is now Hickory County, Mo., in 1842. His parents were Daniel and Phoebe (Evans) Darby, the former of whom was born in Ohio in 1799, and the latter in 1801. After their marriage they moved from Ohio to Illinois, and later settled in Polk County, Mo. Of their thirteen children six are still living, viz.: Ezra, Ruami, Ephraim, William H., George W. and Isabelle, all living near Urbana, Mo. Daniel Darby was a wagon-maker and farmer, and served as justice of the peace many years; he died in 1862, and his widow in 1880. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Jedediah Darby. William H. Darby spent his early life in his native county. In 1863 he enlisted in Company F, Seventh Missouri State Militia Cavalry, under command of Col. John F. Phillips and Capt. B. H. Wilson, and took part in the battles of Jefferson City, Boonville and Big Blue, Mo., and Westport and Mine Creek, Kas., receiving an honorable discharge in 1865. In the same year he married Emily Andrews, who was born in Buffalo, Mo., in 1843, and is a daughter of Mark and Virginia (Thompson) Andrews, both natives of Virginia. Mark Andrews was a physician and farmer, and moved from Virginia to Buffalo, Mo., in 1840, and thence to near Urbana, Hickory Co., Mo., in 1850. In the Andrews family were ten children, seven of whom are still living, viz.: Martha Darby, Virginia Fletcher, Emily Darby, Lucy Reser, John Andrews, Joseph Andrews, Harriet Coon, Susan Darby and Mark Andrews. Mr. Darby owns 160 acres of land, of which eighty-five acres are under cultivation. He served as justice of the peace in Hickory County four years, and in 1880 bought and removed to his present home in Dallas County. He is a Democrat in politics, and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Darby are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.