My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH J. PENQUITE. Not without justice Mr. Penquite is conceded to hold an enviable position among the prominent business men of Pettis County. With but limited means when a young man, and with no influence to help him along except his own good name and upright conduct, with these and by untiring industry and intelligent management, he has steadily risen, until he now occupies a place of marked consideration in the business circles of Lamonte.

A native of Virginia, Mr. Penquite was born in Fauquier County, March 27, 1836, being a son of Stephen and Margaret (Jackson) Penquite. He is one of their family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, seven of whom are now living. They are named as follows: Virginia, wife of D. B. Glasgow, of Blanchester, Ohio; Catherine, Mrs. Kenton Wilson, of Clarksville, Ohio; Mary E., who married Joseph R. Whittaker, of Wilmington, Ohio; Joseph J., of this sketch; John M., a resident of Clarksville, this state; Burr F., whose home is also in that city; and Warren D. While living in the Old Dominion, Stephen Penquite was principally engaged in farm pursuits, and was similarly occupied after coming to Ohio. He made his home on a farm near Clarksville from 1836 until 1873, when he died at the age of seventy-two. His wife, who was born in 1803, survived him for a number of years, dying in 1887, at the age of eighty-four. Both were devoted Christians and earnest members of the Methodist Church.

Tracing the lineage of our subject back another generation, we find that his paternal grandfather was a native of Virginia, where he followed the occupation of a farmer. He reared a large family, and continued to make his home in the Old Dominion until his death, at the venerable age of ninety-eight. The maternal grandfather of our subject was also a Virginian and a farmer.

Upon his father’s farm, three miles from Clarksville, Ohio, the subject of this sketch spent the years of youth, his education being obtained in the neighboring district schools. In 1872 he began the study of pharmacy, and since that time he has been engaged in the drug business. In 1866 he came to Pettis County, Mo., and located on the present site of Lamonte when there was no town here. Sedalia was then only three years old, and was an unimportant village, giving no indication whatever of its present importance as a commercial and railroad center. The development of the resources of the county has been witnessed by Mr. Penquite with the greatest interest, and he has given his active co-operation to all measures calculated to promote the progress of his community.

In 1861 Mr. Penquite was united in marriage with Miss Minerva, daughter of Jonah and Sarah Vandervort. Three children were born to them, namely: Ella V., who became the wife of J. M. Reed, but is now deceased; Walter, who married Miss May Wood, and is a practicing physician of Lamonte; and Robert G., who married Miss Ollie Hall, and is a railroad telegraph operator. Mrs. Minerva Penquite was a faithful member of the Baptist Church, with which she was identified until her death, in 1878. On the 3d of June, 1884, our subject married Miss Eva E., daughter of William W. and Mary O. (Roby) Boswell.

For five years Mr. Penquite was in partnership with A. C. Snoddy, and after discontinuing that connection was associated for a time in business with W. U. Haynie. Now, however, he carries on the business alone. Politically a Republican, he has been very intimately associated with public affairs in Lamonte. He was Postmaster for twelve years. Mayor six years, and served as Councilman for ten years. These responsible positions, as well as all others to which he has been called, he has filled to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens and with credit to himself. During the late war he enlisted in the hundred-days service as a member of the One Hundred and Forty-sixth Ohio Infantry. In religious belief he is a member of the Presbyterian Church, to which his wife also belongs.