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Below is a family biography included in The History of Laclede 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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William H. Schmalhorst, one of the leading citizens of Union Township, Laclede County, residing one mile east of Conway, was born in the Kingdom of Prussia in 1825, and is a son of Henry Christopher and Ann Maria Schmalhorst, both natives of Prussia, who came to the United States about 1839, by way of New Orleans, and located in Perry County, Mo., where they engaged in farming, but lived only a few years after their arrival in this country. Of their six children four were living at the time of the parents’ death. William H. was employed most of the time working out at farming in his early life. January 17, 1847, he married Isabella Whybark, who was born in Perry County, Mo., in 1830, and is a daughter of Samuel P. Whybark, a farmer of that county, who is now eighty-seven years of age. In 1854 our subject and wife located on their present farm in Laclede County, where he bought a claim of forty acres, with improvements, for $500, to which he has since added the balance of a section of some of the best land in that section of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Schmalhorst are the parents of eleven children, all of whom are living, viz.: Nancy N., wife of J. C. Leonard, a farmer of Barton County, Mo.; Mary E., who married J. J. Miller, a farmer of Webster County, Mo.; Cordelia I., now Mrs. John A. Durbie, a farmer near Marble Falls, on the Rio Grande River, Texas; Frances Patterson, wife of James T. Patterson, a farmer of Webster County, Mo.; Margaret, married Frank P. Knight, a farmer of Laclede County; Samuel H., who is living near Conway, Mo., a farmer and stock raiser; Levi, also a farmer of Laclede County; Victoria C, at home; Moses D., who will graduate at Drura College, Springfield, Mo., in the spring of 1890; William L. and David E. Mr. and Mrs. Schmalhorst and all but two of the children are members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Schmalhorst has been an elder in the church for twelve years or more. He is a Republican in politics, and during the late war served as orderly-sergeant in the State Militia. He was justice of the peace of his township a short time, but has never aspired to political office. He is one of the most prominent citizens of Laclede County, and is ever ready to support all educational and religious enterprises for the good of the community. He built a grist-mill on his farm in 1867, which he successfully operated until 1887, when he sold out. The family have the respect and high esteem of all who know them.

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This family biography is one of 104 biographies included in The History of Laclede County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Laclede County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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