Robert C. McBride of Texas County, Missouri

Robert C. McBride, farmer and ex-sheriff, of Texas County, Mo., is a son of James H. and Mildred A. (Barnes) McBride, who were born in Harrodsburg, Ky., and Cooper County, Mo., in 1814 and 1824, respectively. The father was of Scotch-Irish descent, and when a young man came to Missouri and engaged in merchandising at Paris but soon after began the study of law and was admitted to the bar, establishing himself after his marriage in Springfield, and afterward represented Greene County in the State Legislature. He went to California in 1850 and at the end of three years returned home and resided in Springfield until 1859, when he became a resident of Texas County. The same year he was elected circuit judge, and served until the late war broke out, when he was appointed brigadier-general of the State troops by Gov. Jackson, and commanded a brigade at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington, but just before the battle of Pea Ridge he resigned and was commissioned brigadier-general in the Confederate army. After about a year's service he resigned on account of failing health and returned home where he died in March, 1864, of consumption. He was an able lawyer and a judge that stood high in his circuit, a Royal Arch Mason and a Democrat. His wife was a member of the Christian Church, and died in June, 1873, having borne a family of nine children, two sons being in the Confederate army, the elder being killed at Batesville, Ark. Robert G. McBride is the fifth child and was born in Springfield, on the 16th of May, 1849. He received very meager educational advantages, and after the death of his father and his eldest brother, the burden of caring for the family fell mainly on him. He first engaged in hiring out as a farm hand, and as soon as he could engaged in farming for himself, and now owns 200 acres of land with about sixty under cultivation, all of which he has made since his marriage. September 29, 1870, he was married to Mary J. Rider, a native of Tennessee, by whom he has seven children: Edward H., Obal C., Jennie B., Callie L., Ewing E., Florence M. and Robert C. Mrs. McBride is a member of the Christian Church, and Mr. McBride is a Democrat and in 1880 was elected sheriff of Texas County, which office he held six years, with two years intermission. He is a member of the Masonic and I. O. O. F. fraternities.