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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.

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Hon. Thomas H. Musick, attorney at law and proprietor of the Southwest Republican, a journal published weekly at Hartville, Mo., was born in Pike County, Mo., May 27, 1834. He attained his growth in his native county, and supplemented his common-school education with a course at Ashley Seminary. He afterward followed the profession of teaching in Pike County for ten years. About this time the Civil War broke out, and he joined the Ninth Missouri Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. Having read law while teaching, he was admitted to the bar at Danville, Mo., and located at Mexico, Mo., and there practiced law until 1880, when he went to Douglas County, of the same State, and there remained one year. He then moved to Wright County, Mo., entered upon the practice of his profession, and was thus engaged until 1885, when he purchased the Wright County Republican, which he changed to Southwest Republican, and which he still runs in connection with his law practice. Mr. Musick was elected prosecuting attorney of Wright County, Mo., in 1882, re-elected in 1884, and served until 1887. He was a Republican candidate for Congress, Eleventh Congressional District, in 1888, and reduced the Democratic majority from 3,598 to about 400. Mr. Musick was married January 20, 1863, to Miss Lois E. Pickett, who was born in Pike County, Mo., in 1846, and who became the mother of three children, two now living: Ida, now married to J. C. F. Clark, and Shelley. Cyril died at the age of three months. Mrs. Musick died in 1870, and two years later Mr. Musick married Miss Kate Taylor, and by this union became the father of two living children: Ruth V. and Lois E. Mr. Musick is the son of Rev. Lafreniere C. and Jane D. (Hayden) Musick. The law firm of which Mr. Musick is now a member is Musick & McKenney. Mr. McKenney is a man of long years of experience in the practice of law, and has practiced in some of the highest courts of the country. Mr. Musick has been a consistent member of the Baptist Church for thirty-six years; has always been strictly abstemious, and an advocate of temperance and other reformatory measures. He is in favor of the equal rights of all before the law, and, as might be expected, is in favor of a strict enforcement of the law. Politically he was a Whig prior to 1860; since then he has been a steadfast, active and aggressive Republican. During his term as prosecuting attorney he was vigorous in his prosecution of criminals, but withal he was so just and kind in the discharge of his official duties that, contrary to the general experience of vigorous prosecutors, he made but few enemies by enforcing the law. Mr. Musick is a fluent and effective speaker, and pays more attention to bringing out the strong points than to mere oratory; yet, when he wishes, he can be very ornate in his language. He is a man of very cool, even temper, never permitting himself to be drawn into a quarrel, nor does he ever become perceptibly excited. But, notwithstanding this, his experience has proved that having a cool, even temper, and avoiding quarrels, will not always shield a man from the rough corners in life, for while he resided in Douglas County there was a most dastardly attempt made to take his life. He was sitting one evening, a little after dark, in his house in Ava, the county seat of Douglas County, with a babe on each knee, one of them being three years old and the other eleven months, when the would be assassin, in a stealthy, cowardly manner, slipped up and fired at him through the window. The ball struck him in the breast, and followed a rib round for about four inches, then glanced off and went through his right arm above the elbow, fracturing the bone down to the elbow. It also passed through the wrist of the youngest child, shattering it in a fearful manner. The child, had it lived, would have been a cripple, but it died about six months after. Mr. Musick’s wounds were so severe that he was not really in a proper condition to attend to business for six months after receiving them, yet, such was his energy that he went into court in about four weeks after he was shot and tried a murder case with success. The only cause known for the dastardly act is the fact that Mr. Musick had been employed to prosecute the claim of an old blind man, on a plain promissory note, against his sons, who had scheduled against it, and it is supposed that he was shot to prevent his doing so. While Mr. Musick enjoys a large, laborious and lucrative practice, he finds time to devote himself assiduously to literary and scientific pursuits, for which he has a strong liking. He controls the county paper in such a manner that it has a circulation of something over 1,000 in this sparsely populated country. In addition to this he has written a monogram of fifty-six pages on the “Conservation of Forces,” a deep and intricate subject, yet treated by him in such a way that any scientist can read it with pleasure and profit. He is now engaged in re-writing, revising and enlarging it, and it is thought by scientific men that when the revised edition appears it will attract an enlarged attention. William H. H. Musick, a younger brother, born on the 26th of June, 1840, edits the Southwest Republican, making it not only a good newspaper but an able and fearless investigator of all current public questions, as well as a journal of high literary merits, considering its rural location. He is a gentleman of indomitable energy and industry, correct habits and stern integrity.

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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

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