My Genealogy Hound

Riley F. Redford, a farmer of Splice Creek, Linn Township, Moniteau County, was born in 1845, and is a son of William and Ruhama (Randolph) Redford, natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Missouri. The father of William Redford was Jesse, who was an early settler of Missouri, and died in 1855 or 1856, at an advanced age. He reared a family of fourteen children, all of whom married and reared families in Missouri, but three of whom are now living, viz.: Washington, John and Mary. William, who was one of the youngest of the family, was born in 1813, and was about twenty-one when the family located in Missouri. He received only a limited education, and soon after coming to Missouri was married and settled near Union Church, in Linn Township, Moniteau County. His wife, Ruhama, was born in 1815, and was a daughter of Elijah and Rachel Randolph, natives of Tennessee, who settled near Prairie Home, Cooper Co., Mo., removing to Moniteau County when Ruhama was about thirteen years old. They reared a family of eight children, and lived to be very old, the mother dying in 1873. William Redford and Ruhama Randolph were married in 1840, and to their union were born eight children, viz.: P. Adaline, James, Marion, Riley F., Cordelia, Sally, Elihu P., who died at the age of nineteen, and an infant, also deceased. William Redford died in 1867, and his wife in September, 1884. Riley F. Redford was reared on the farm, and remained at home until the outbreak of the war, when he enlisted in Company A, Tenth Missouri Cavalry, which was soon after consolidated with Company H, in which he served until peace was declared. He returned home in June, 1865, and the following year engaged in farming for himself, near Jamestown, where he remained two years, and then removed to a farm on Splice Creek, where he still lives. In 1866 he married Rebecca J. Stevens, who was born in Moniteau County in 1847, and is a daughter of Joab S. and Polly (Pettigrew) Stevens. Joab S. Stevens was born in Tennessee in February, 1815, and when a child came to Missouri with his parents, David and Rebecca Stevens, settling in Moniteau County. David Stevens was born in 1771, and died in 1856; his wife was born in 1775, and died in 1834. Only one of their nine children survives, Absalom, living near Sedalia, Mo. Joab Stevens was reared in Moniteau County, and at the age of nineteen married Polly Pettigrew, who died at the age of thirty-three, leaving eight children, five now living, viz.: Milton, Eveline, Franklin, Isaiah and Rebecca J. The father next married Mary Martin, who died leaving no issue, and his third wife was Kesiah Williamson, who is still living, and by whom he had five children. Joab Stevens died May 17, 1888, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was also class leader. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Redford: Dora C., wife of James H. Smith, and an infant, deceased. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are highly respected citizens of the township. Mr. Redford owns a good farm of 200 acres, all of which is well under cultivation.