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Below is a family biography included in The History of Dent 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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Col. Edmund T. Wingo, attorney at law and justice of the peace, of Salem, was born in Amelia County, Va., December 23, 1818, and is the son of John and Mary (Hutchings) Wingo. John Wingo was born in Amelia County, Va., in 1788, and was of English descent. He was the son of John Wingo, Sr., who was a native of England. John Wingo, Jr., was a farmer by occupation, and in 1829 his wife and six children went to Missouri with her brother, Charles Hutchings, who located in Washington County, Mo. John Wingo remained behind to dispose of some property and settle up business; was taken sick, and died in 1830. The same year his widow moved to Madison County, Mo., and bought a farm, where she died about 1832. After her death the children remained with their uncle until 1837, when Edmund T. went to Montgomery County, Tenn., to live with his uncle, John Hutchings, and attend school. The following year he returned to his birth place, in Virginia, and continued going to school, living with his uncle, William Green, who had married a Hutchings. In 1844 he graduated from William and Mary’s College at Williamsburg, Va., and received a diploma to practice law, practicing for fifteen months in Amelia. He then moved to Liberty, Bedford Co., Va., and in January, 1846, was married to Miss Mary J. Fizer, a native of Bedford County, Va., born in 1822. One child was born to this marriage, Jacob W., who is now deputy postmaster of Salem, Mo. In May, 1847, Mrs. Wingo died, and Mr. Wingo went to Botetourt County, Va., where he taught a four months’ term of school. In September, 1850, he married Miss Sarah Stull, a native of Botetourt County, Va., born in 1808. In the fall of 1850 he returned to Washington County, Mo., with his wife and nine negroes. At the end of six months he sold all his negroes except one, and returned to Virginia, where he remained until 1857, when he again came back to Missouri, but this time located in Salem, where he resumed the practice of law, in which business he has since been engaged. In 1860 he organized a cavalry company in Dent County, and in 1861 he organized the First Regiment, Seventh Division Missouri State Guard, and he was elected colonel of the same. In 1862 he was commissioned brigadier-general of the Seventh Division Missouri State Guard, and at the battle of Lexington he was shot in the right shoulder while dismounting from his horse. He was with his regiment until it was disorganized, which occurred in 1862. Col. Wingo is a man now in the evening of life, and is as highly esteemed and as universally respected as any man in the county. He is a man of fine legal ability, good judgment, and is scrupulously honest. He has a pleasant disposition, is courteous and accommodating, and is a man who is fond of a joke and is witty in giving them. He has been a life-long Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for Gen. Cass in 1848. He has been in official life the greater portion of his days; was lieutenant of militia in Virginia, a notary public; was a Douglas elector in 1860; was elected to the State Legislature in 1882, and is now justice of the peace. Col. Wingo’s second wife died April 14, 1886, and in October of the same year he married Miss Lucinda E. Wheeling, who was born in Washington County, Mo., in 1842, and who is a member of the Baptist Church. Col. Wingo is a pleasing and forcible speaker, and he has been one of the most influential men of Dent County; was a candidate for the nomination of circuit judge, and carried Dent County, Mo., by a large majority, but was defeated in foreign counties. The number of votes he has always commanded in Dent County illustrates to a nicety his high standing among his own people. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is a strong believer in the Christian faith, and is very charitable and liberal in giving to laudable enterprises.

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This family biography is one of 82 biographies included in The History of Dent County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Dent County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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