My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Washington County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1888.  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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Rev. John H. Headlee was born in Murray (now Marshall) County, Tenn., in 1820, and while growing up received a limited education in the schools. By personal application he has acquired a good practical education. When about fifteen years of age, he, with his parents, went to Greene County, Mo., and in 1841 he was licensed as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in that county. He then began his ministerial duties, his circuit extending over vast tracts of land, and much of his study was obtained while jogging along on horseback. Since his ordination he has been actively engaged in the good work. Of the fourteen received in the conference at the same time, he is the only one now in the field. Toward the close of the war he went east, and spent about four years in Vermont, but after returning has since made this county his home. He has always taken an active interest in the Bellevue Collegiate Institute, having held the position of financial agent, of president, and as member of the board of curators, nearly ever since the Institution was founded. In 1848 he married Miss Artemissa Baker, who bore him one son, Isaac B. She only lived about nineteen months. In 1857 Mr. Headlee married Miss Carrie T. Dean, a native of Vermont, who was a teacher in St. Francois County. The result of this marriage was the birth of three children: John F., Jennie D. and Alice L. Mr. Headlee has been actively engaged in the cause of religion for forty-seven years, and in that time has accomplished much good. His parents, Daniel and Jane (Steele), were both natives of North Carolina, the father of English and Irish, and the mother of Irish extraction. They were married in Middle Tennessee, and came to Missouri in 1837, dying in Greene County. He was a farmer and lived to be sixty-eight years old. The mother lived to be eighty-two. Of their family of eight children, four sons and four daughters, two of the boys became ministers of the gospel.

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This family biography is one of 138 biographies included in The History of Washington County, Missouri published in 1888.  For the complete description, click here: Washington County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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