Missouri Biographies

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Missouri

Biography

Online Resources

• Missouri Archives
• Missouri Museum
• Access Genealogy Missouri Biographies.
• County and Town Histories, includes biographies
• Missouri History Encyclopedia, 1901($), index
• Missouri History, 1908($), index & images
• A history of Missouri : from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the Union($), index & images
• Missouri Biographical Dictionary($), index & images
• Central Missouri Counties Biographies($), index
• Missouri biographies by county, at My Genealogy Hound, index
• Battles and biographies of Missourians, or, The Civil War period of our state, e-book
• Missouri: Opening the Ozarks: First Families of Southwest Missouri, 1835-1839 at American Ancestors - index & images ($)

Biographies in Local Histories

• Biographical information is often found in state, county, and town histories.
• Towards the end of the 19th century, began publishers soliciting short biographical/family histories from local founding families, offering to publish them in an upcoming local history. This then became an incentive for family members to buy a copy of the book.
• Families represented were not necessarily prominent. Practically everyone living there, especially in the Midwest, counted as an early settler.
• These biographies often start with the first member of the family to settle in the area, and detail their descendants at the time of publishing. They may tell where the family moved in from. Children's marriages often are given, with maiden names included.

Finding Biographies

• The county Wiki page lists several county histories. It also lists local libraries, and societies which probably have copies of local histories.
• Many histories are no longer under copyright and can be found in the following online, digitized book collections. Search with keywords "History" and "the name of your locality" (state, county, or town).
  • FamilySearch Books
  • Google Books
  • World Cat
  • HathiTrust
  • Internet Archive
• The FamilySearch library has extensive collections of these local histories. Many are digitized. Search the FamilySearch Catalog under your locality for the topics "Biography" and "History".

Many of the archives of Missouri have collections of published biographical information. The public libraries in St. Louis and Kansas City also have good collections. Also search the biographical sections of statewide, regional, and county histories.

• Central Missouri Counties Biographies at Ancestry ($)
• Missouri Biographical Dictionary at Ancestry ($)
• Historical and biographical sketches of the early churches and pioneer preachers of the Christian Church in Missouri at Ancestry ($)
• Autobiography of Samuel S. Hildebrand : the renowned Missouri "bushwhacker" and unconquerable Rob Roy of America : being his co at Ancestry ($)

FamilySearch Library

• Conrad, Howard Louis, Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, a Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference (New York, New York: Southern History Company, 1901) WorldCat; FS Library films 1000272-73, fiche 6051492–97, book 977.8 H2c
  Digitized version for Volumes 1,2,3 and 6 are found at Internet Archive
  Some of the volumes are found at [www.books.google.com Google Books]

• Christensen, Lawrence O. Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia, Missouri : University of Missouri Press, 1999) At various libraries (WorldCat); FS Catalog book 977.8 D3c
  Some of the pages are digitized and included in a book preview found at Google Books

• The FamilySearch Library has a collection of biographies particular to Missouri. To access these, use the Place-names search in the FamilySearch Catalog for:

MISSOURI - BIOGRAPHY - PERSONAL NARRATIVES

MISSOURI,[COUNTY] - BIOGRAPHY

MISSOURI,[COUNTY],[TOWN] - BIOGRAPHY

Websites

• Missouri Biographies at Access Genealogy
• Missouri Family Biographies from numerous counties at My Genealogy Hound
• USGenWeb.org Search county pages for Biographical references.
• Historical and biographical sketches of the early churches and pioneer preachers of the Christian Church in Missouri at Ancestry ($)
• Google Books
• FamilySearch.org: Books, catalog, and microfilms.
• Missouri Digital Heritage Online: http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.