My Genealogy Hound

HON. JOHN T. WILLOUGHBY, farmer and stock-raiser, section 16, post-office Sarcoxie, was born in Allen county, Ky., Jan. 18, 1834, and was there reared to the age of seventeen. His youth was spent in acquiring an education with the limited means at his disposal, and working on the farm with his father, William Willoughby, a native of Kentucky, who though an owner of slaves was a staunch Union man. He immigrated with his family to southwest Missouri in 1851, and settled within one mile of where his son John now lives; he died in Newton county, Mo., Nov. 20, 1861, aged sixty-one years. Our subject went to Newton county in 1854, where he erected a saw-mill and engaged in the lumber business, and was married there Jan. 21, 1858, to Miss Ann Lawrence, a native of North Carolina. In 1859 Mr. Willoughby returned to Jasper county and commenced improving the farm on which he now lives, and was happy and prosperous at the breaking out of the war. Though born and reared in a slave state and nurtured in pro-slavery principles, he was never in favor of the doctrine of slavery, and opposed by voice and vote the ordinance of secession, which course made him many bitter political enemies, consequently his property was raided and his life repeatedly threatened, and he was hunted like a criminal for months. During the occupation of the country by the Second Ohio Cavalry, he succeeded in moving his family and part of his livestock within the Union lines near Jefferson City, where he became a member of Company F, Forty-third Regiment, E. M. M., and participated in may scouts, skirmishes, and the last campaign against Price in his last raid through Missouri. He returned to the ruins of his home in Jasper county in Sept., 1865, and assisted in the reorganization of the county, and has since held numerous offices of honor and trust in the county. His family consists of four daughters and five sons. His farm consists of 239 acres of as good land as Jasper county can boast of; 125 acres are in cultivation and well improved. Mr. Willoughby is a highly respected and valuable citizen of the county.