My Genealogy Hound

Alfred Vinyard, farmer, of Valle Township, was born in Bellevue Township, Washington Co., Mo., in 1828, and is the tenth of twelve children born to Peter and Lucy (Richardson) Vinyard, natives of Botetourt County, Va., where they were reared and married. In the winter of 1827 and 1828 they crossed the country with wagon and horses and came to Missouri. During their journey Mr. Vinyard was taken sick with the measles, and was compelled to remain for six weeks in Tennessee. He settled in the western part of Washington County in the wilderness, but about a year later moved to Jefferson County and settled in Valle Township, where he died about 1844, at the age of sixty-three He enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, but was not called into service He was of German descent, a farmer, blacksmith and wagon-maker by occupation He was also for some time justice of the peace of Valle Township, and his father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His people were formerly from Pennsylvania. The mother of Alfred died about 1854, at the age of sixty-eight. Alfred Vinyard was reared to manhood without any educational advantages and worked for several years getting out railroad timber. In 1867 he married Mrs. Adelia Beron, daughter of John and Sarah Aubuchon, early settlers of Jefferson and Washington Counties, respectively. Mrs. Vinyard was born in the latter county, and became the mother of two children: Rosetta and David. Mr. Vinyard, since the war, has lived on his present farm, which consists of 790 acres, and is situated three miles southwest of Vineland, and is one of the leading farmers of the county. During the war he was in the employ of the Iron Mountain Railroad Company to furnish supplies, etc., and since then has devoted his attention to farming and wooding. He is, politically, a Democrat and his first presidential vote was for Gen. Cass, in 1848. Mrs. Vinyard is a member of the Catholic Church. Our subject has just engaged in stock-raising, in partnership with Alexander W. Siegrist, the firm being Vinyard & Siegrist, stock-raisers and farmers. Mr. Siegrist was born in St. Louis in 1864, and was educated at Smith’s Academy. He then worked for his father, and was then in the butcher business for two years. In 1884 he came to Jefferson County where he has since remained, and where he is, in partnership with Mr. Vinyard engaged in the breeding of Holstein cattle and Berkshire hogs, having some of the finest of each breed in Jefferson County. Mr. Siegrist is the son of John H. and Mollie (Farrow) Siegrist, now of St. Louis, where they were married, and where they have lived for thirty years. The father is a wholesale and retail dealer in coal, but was formerly engaged in the clothing business in St. Louis. He was born in Lebanon, Penn., in 1829, and at the age of seventeen began teaching school. He came to St. Louis in about 1857. The mother was born in New Orleans in 1839, and came with her father, John Farrow, to St. Louis. Of their four children Alexander W. is the third.