My Genealogy Hound

Edwin H. Jeffries, a son of Charles K. and a nephew of C.S. Jeffries was born on his father’s oldhomestead near St. Clair, August 12,1842. He remained on the farm until the outbreak of the late war, when he entered the State service in the cause of the South, from which he passed into the Confederate army, and served under the “Stars and Bars” until the surrender of the Southern forces. He was seriously wounded in the battle of Port Gibson, after which he was engaged in behalf of the Confederate Government in an engineering corps at Richmond, un- til the cessation of hostilities in the spring of 1865. He arrived at his old home in 1865, and at once determined to devote his attention to the law; completing his education at St. James, Phelps County, he was duly admitted to the bar and at once devoted his attention to the profession. He formed a partnership with T. A. Lowe, Esq., at St. Clair, where he remained until 1875, when he located at Union. He ran on the Democratic ticket for the office of probate judge and was defeated by only a small majority. He was elected to the office of county attorney in 1875 by a handsome plurality, and during the term of office ably and faithfully discharged the duties of his position. He was married in 1872 to Miss Octavia V., daughter of Thomas F. Renfroe, an early settler of Franklin County; she was born in Franklin County in 1852, and died in May, 1878, leaving two children, one deceased. In 1880 Mr. Jeffries moved from Union to his present home, on the farm, in Section 25, Franklin County, where he devotes his attention to the pursuit of agriculture and mining. He is United States deputy collector of Internal Revenue, is manager of the Jeffries Mining Company, owns a good farm of 160 acres, upon which he resides, and an interest with his former law partner, Hon. J. W. Booth, in 2,000 acres of pasture land on the Meramec River. He is a Democrat, politically, and cast his first presidential vote for Horace Greeley, in 1872. He is a worthy member of Union Lodge, No. 273, F. & A. M., and of Excelsior Lodge, No. 399, A. O. U. W.