Gabriel M. Pike of Texas County, Missouri

Gabriel M. Pike, farmer and stock man, was born in Grainger County, Tenn., in January, 1825, and is a son of Benjamin and Mary (Hooker) Pike, who were born, reared and married in the “Old North State,” moving to Tennessee soon after the celebration of the latter event, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The father was a Democrat, and he and wife were members of the Methodist Church. Gabriel M. Pike was the fifth of their seven children, and although he has a fair English education his early educational advantages were very limited. He worked with his father as a collier until 1843, then drove a team for his passage to Missouri, but after working two years in Pulaski County he found himself but little better off than when he came to the State, and he engaged in rafting on the river for ten years, working on the Piney, Gasconade, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis, making in all some forty trips, and traveled homeward on foot most of the time. He then purchased a tract of land on Piney River and engaged in farming, but during the war served six months in the State Militia, and then kept a grocery in Rolla for about seven months, returning to his farm in 1865. June 25, 1876, he was married to Miss Mary Truesdell, who was born in Texas County December 19, 1845, and by her is the father of four children: Alva E., Benjamin M., Nancy T. E. and Robert. By good management and industry Mr. Pike has become the owner of about 500 acres of land, 150 of which are under cultivation, and besides this has other property, which makes him one of the heaviest tax payers in the county. He deserves much credit for the success which has attended his efforts, as he came to the county without any capital whatever, and has been, in every respect, the architect of his own fortune. He is a Democrat politically, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity.