My Genealogy Hound

REUBEN W. FISHBURN, farmer and stock-raiser, section 33, post-office Avilla, has the distinction of being the first white child born within the limits of what is now McDonald township, which event occurred June 21, 1837, in a pioneer cabin on White Oak Creek and within a few rods of his present residence. His father, John Fishburn, was a native of Kentucky, and settled on White Oak Creek in 1836. He was married Oct. 18, 1832, to Miss Faitha Roark, a native of Tennessee. They were the parents of three children: Reuben W., Sarah, now Mrs. A. M. Blucher, and Peter. He died at the Fishburn homestead, Jan. 13, 1876. His wife followed him to the better land, Jan. 12, 1880. Our subject during his youth, from the age of ten, had nearly or quite the entire responsibility and work of the farm, being the eldest, and his father becoming crippled by an accident, consequently his education was of necessity limited. He was married Aug. 31, 1859, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Nathan and Mary Austin, well-known old, settlers of Jasper county, now of Mt. Vernon, Mo. He was a strong Union man during the civil war, and suffered many indignities and severe losses in consequence at the hands of bushwhackers. Was a member of Captain Stemmons’s company of the Seventy-sixth Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, and was engaged in several skirmishes and taken prisoner by Bark’s band. Since the war he has been quite prosperous. His farm consists of 115 acres, seventy acres in cultivation, good house, barn, orchard, etc., well fenced, and watered by White Oak Creek. His family consists of four children: Mary A. E., born Nov. 15, 1860; Rebecca H., born March 16, 1867; John N., born Jan. 18, 1871; and Moses P., born Dec, 27, 1874. Mr. Fishburn has spent his entire life in Jasper county as boy and man, and has witnessed its progress and development. Is well and favorably known throughout the county as one of its substantial citizens.