My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Wright 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.

* * * *

Rev. Peter Lair, minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Brush Creek Township, Wright Co., Mo., was born in Georgia in 1830, and his mother’s name was Letty May. She married a man by the name of Nero, who was the father of our subject, Peter Lair. Mr. Lair was sold out of the Weaver family, to whom his mother, by transfer, belonged, and was bought by a family by the name of Lair, hence his name. He lived with them until the time of the emancipation, and was set free in Dallas County, Tex. He then went to work and earned $2 plowing. He has preached since he was eighteen years of age; has taught school and preached at Springfield. He drove a six-mule team through to Springfield for a man, in order to get his wife through to that city. In 1866 he purchased three acres of land on St. Louis Street, in Springfield, and lived there for seventeen years. He came to Missouri in 1880, and has 160 acres of land. He sold out of three acres, $2,545 worth of property, and owns about $1,000 worth of property there yet. Since the war he has preached nearly every week. He has preached in the Kansas City Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was absent just lately on a tour through a number of the States, but was in Topeka, Kas., for seven weeks. He was married to Miss Fanny Carson, who was a native of Butler County, Ky. Her mother belonged to a family by the name of Carson, and her father to a family by the name of Porter. She was with her husband in Dallas County, Tex., when first set free. She earned her first money by spinning and knitting. They have never had any children of their own, but have several adopted children; one, George Lair, is the nephew of Mr. Lair.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 90 biographies included in The History of Wright County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Wright County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Wright County, Missouri family biographies, click here

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.