My Genealogy Hound

Moses M. McSpadden, farmer and stock raiser of Short Bend Township, and the son of Capt. John and Elizabeth (Apperson) McSpadden, and grandson of Moses McSpadden, was born in Washington County, Va., in 1823. His grandfather was probably born in North Carolina, and died in Virginia about 1827. He was of Scotch-Irish origin, and a well-to-do farmer. The parents of our subject were both natives of Virginia, where they lived until 1828, when they moved to Missouri by land, crossing the river at St. Louis, which was at that time a small town. They lived in St. Charles County for about three years, and then removed to Franklin County, where he built a powder-mill on Spring Creek. He died about the time it was completed, which was in 1834. He was a millwright and miller, and an enterprising citizen. He was captain of the militia in early days, and was a surveyor of either St. Charles or Franklin County. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife died a few months prior to his death. She was the daughter of Dr. John Apperson, a native of Virginia, who came to Missouri at an early date. He died in Franklin County, Mo., in 1835, and was a well-known and prominent physician and surgeon for many years. He was of Scotch descent. He reared a large family; one of his sons, John, was a soldier in the War of 1812; another son, Randolph W., now of California, is father-in-law to Senator George Hearst, of California. Moses M. McSpadden, subject of this sketch, is the eldest of four children, one son and three daughters, and is the only one now living. He was left on orphan at the age of ten or eleven, and was mostly reared by a cousin, Moses Berry, of Franklin County. He received a limited country-school education, and when about fifteen years of age he went to Washington County, attended school and worked on a farm. He lived some years with Randolph W. Apperson, who was his guardian. He came to Dent County, Mo., in 1849, and established a store on the Meramec, in Meramec Township, where he remained for about three years. In 1852 he was married, in the house where he now lives, to Miss Juliann Millsaps, daughter of James and Elizabeth Millsaps. Her father died many years ago in St. Francois County, and her mother, who was born in 1808, died near Salem in 1880. Mrs. McSpadden was born in Washington County, Mo. Her grandfather, Thomas Higginbotham, who was a native of Georgia, left home when young on account of a step-mother, and was married in Tennessee to Miss Elizabeth Ross. He then moved to Missouri, when it was still a Territory, and settled in Washington County, where his wife died many years ago. He then, in about 1836, settled on a farm, where the subject of this sketch now lives, and there died in 1851, at the age of eighty-seven. He was known as Capt. Higginbotham, having served as captain in the War of 1812. His father, Joseph Higginbotham, was a native of Ireland, and commanded a company in the Revolutionary War. To Mr. McSpadden and wife were born five children, one son and four daughters now living (one died in infancy): Elizabeth, wife of Moses H. McSpadden; Alcey Jane, wife of Dr. Andrew H. Love; Emeline A. and Joseph M. Soon after marriage Mr. McSpadden settled in Salem, where he followed merchandising a few years, and then settled in the woods near Salem, where he improved a good farm. He lived there until 1887, and then came to his present farm, which consists of over 360 acres. In all he has 1,300 acres, and a business block in Salem. In 1853 Mr. McSpadden was elected county and circuit court clerk for six years, and re-elected in 1859, but was removed during the war. Again, in 1874, he was elected circuit clerk, and served four years with credit and satisfaction. He declined to be re-elected. He has been a Democrat in politics all his life, and his first presidential vote was cast for Franklin Pierce in 1852. He was formerly a member of the Masonic fraternity, now demitted, and has been a member of the Presbyterian Church for many years. At the breaking out of the Mexican War in Texas he joined Company I, of Col. Albert Sidney Johnston’s regiment (Third Texas Infantry), for six years, but after three months was discharged on account of ill health. Sometime after he volunteered his services, but was rejected. He served as sergeant. The lumber in Mr. McSpadden’s house was sawed by a whip-saw on the farm, and is one of the oldest houses in Dent County, the stone chimney bearing the date of 1838. Mr. McSpadden was the first man to be elected county and circuit clerk and recorder of Dent County, and is one of the old and much respected citizens of the county.