My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Newton 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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M. E. Benton, United States district attorney at Neosho, Mo., was born in Obion County, Tenn., January 29, 1849, and is the son of Thomas H. Benton Jr., and Mary Ellen Benton. The Benton family moved to Tennessee from Hillsborough, N. C. Nathaniel Benton, grandfather of M. B. Benton, was the son of Col. Jesse B. Benton, a lawyer, who was private secretary to Gov. Tyron, the last royal governor of North Carolina. He married into the Gooch family, of Virginia. Jesse B. Benton died when his son Thomas H. was eight years of age, and Nathaniel was two years of age. His widow then left North Carolina and moved to Tennessee, and settled about twenty-five miles from Nashville, at a place called Bentontown. M. E. Benton was reared in Dyer County, Tenn., and educated in the university of St. Louis. He then chose law as a profession, and read with Caruthers & Green, and graduated from the Cumberland University, in Tennessee, in 1870. He then came to Southwest Missouri. Ex-Gov. Phelps, Mr. McAfee and others took an interest in him, and advised him to settle in Neosho, which he did. He took a prominent place at the bar of Southwest Missouri, and was elected two terms prosecuting attorney of Newton County, Mo. After President Cleveland was inaugurated Mr. Benton was appointed district attorney of the Western District of Missouri in March, 1885, and was the first appointment made west of the Mississippi River. He married January 24, 1888, Miss Lizzie Wise, daughter of Nathaniel G. Wise, of Texas. Mr. Benton is a grand-nephew of ex-Senator Thomas H. Benton, and is a man of more than ordinary ability. He is a member of the K. T., the I. O. O. F., the A. F. & A. M., also the K. H. and the A. O. U. W.

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This family biography is one of 220 biographies included in The History of Newton County, Missouri published in 1888.  For the complete description, click here: Newton County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

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

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