JOHN NANSON

From the 1887 History of Vernon County, Missouri, p. 572-573:

John Nanson

(Farmer, Section 11, Post-office, Deerfield).

   This plain, unassuming, but representative citizen of Coal township, was born in England, November 17, 1836, being the eldest son and second child born of the union of his parents, Joseph and Mary Bell Nanson, also natives of that country.  The former was a farmer by calling and brought up his son to that occupation – one which he has since followed.  In 1856 Mr. N. emigrated to the United States, first settling in Coles county, Ill., where he remained until coming to this county, May 17, 1867.  His home has continued to be here until the present and upwards of twenty years’ residence in the community, has given him a wide and respected acquaintance.  He is the owner of 280 acres of land well managed and improved.  In 1860, Mr. Nanson married Miss Eliza Armstrong, of Indiana, who died in January, 1870, leaving three children:  Joseph, William and Ann.  March 17, 1873, Mrs. Lydia M. Boyd, née Farris, of Cooper county, Mo., became his wife.  Mrs. Nanson’s father, Sampson M. Farris, a Kentuckian by birth, became settled in this State in 1856.  During the war he was made the victim of one of the most brutal murders in the annals of the entire Civil War.  He had been ordered to leave his  home, and started to obey, but returning to the house for provisions which he had left he was confronted by Dick Parmenter, who first shot him through the body, and afterwards, despite the entreaties of the wounded man, through the head, death of course ensuing.  His wife, a native of New Madrid, Mo., was formerly Miss Modest Westbrook.  She died in 1880, leaving eight children:  Thomas, Lydia, who first married Reuben Boyd in 1856, and after his death in 1863, Mr. Nanson; Jane, wife of John Grant, of Metz township; Richard, Daniel B., Rebecca, wife of A. J. Cotner; William, deceased, and David.  Mrs. Nanson by her former marriage has two children:  Mollie, now Mrs. David Lambert, and Ida, wife of E. F. Hall.  Mr. and Mrs. Nanson are members of the Christian Church.

[Transcribed by Julia Brown ]

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