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Below is a family biography included in The History of Moniteau 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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John W. Yarnell, a wide-awake, thorough-going farmer of Moreau Township, was born in Ashland County, Ohio, in 1844, and is the son of James and Sarah (Patterson) Yarnell, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. The father was born in Wayne County in 1818, and died in Missouri in 1875, at the age of fifty-seven years. The mother is still living near Clarksburg, Mo. In the spring of 1866 the parents moved to Moniteau County, and in 1870 they moved to Henry County, where they remained until 1875, and then, in the spring of that year, they returned to Moniteau County. Here the father died soon after. He was a stone-mason and plasterer by trade. Their family consisted of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, all living: Thomas, John W., Francis M. (blacksmith in Clarksburg), Mary E. (wife of William D. Brown), Joshua P. (carpenter), James H., Ruth E., Clarence E., Hamilton H., M. F., Anna R. and Sarah B. (wife of Joseph Dunham). John W. Yarnell spent his boyhood days on a farm in Ohio, attending, besides the district school, a school in Wooster a short time. He came west with his parents in 1866, locating in Moniteau County, and there remained until 1877. He then went to Cooper County, and remained there until 1882, when he sold out and returned to his present place of residence. He was married in January, 1871, to Miss Emma Siegenthaler, a native of Wayne County, Ohio, born about 1850. She came west with her parents in the fall of 1858, locating in Moniteau County, and there she has since lived. Her father, Darius J. Siegenthaler, lives near Clarksburg, not far from the place where he first located. To Mr. and Mrs. Yarnell have been born three children: Mary Edith, Anna Belle and Lizzie May. Mr. Yarnell served in the United States service during the war, and went from Knox County, Ohio, with the One Hundred and Forty-second Ohio. He was in service about four months, and then, in answer to a call made by the President in 1864, served from that State in the Ohio National Guards, belonging to the Second Brigade, Third Division, Tenth Ohio, under Col. W. C. Cooper. He was discharged in September, 1864, and has since followed farming.

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This family biography is one of 187 biographies included in The History of Moniteau County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Moniteau County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Moniteau County, Missouri family biographies here: Moniteau County, Missouri Biographies

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