My Genealogy Hound

Samuel Y. Puryear, farmer and stock raiser of Webster County, Mo., was born in Bedford County, Tenn., January 7, 1833, and is a son of Robert H. Puryear, who was born and reared in Virginia. The latter served in the War of 1812, and when a young man went to Tennessee, where he met and married Miss Mary Blythe, whose birth occurred in North Carolina. They resided in Tennessee until 1857, when they moved to Missouri, and located on the farm on which their son Samuel Y. now resides, and here the father’s death occurred on the 6th of September, 1860. His twelve children grew to mature years, but one son afterward died in Mexico, during the war with that country, and another died in Tennessee. Samuel Y. Puryear came to Missouri from his native State on horseback, in the year 1855, and selected the location on which his father afterward settled. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate service, Third Missouri Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, participating in the battles of Cape Girardeau, Jenkins’ Ferry, Pilot Knob, and was with Price on his raid through Arkansas and Missouri. He was discharged at St. Louis, Mo., in 1865, and went to Illinois, where he resided four years, and then returned to Missouri, and took charge of the home farm, which he has since managed. He owns a tract of land consisting of 400 acres, all in one body, near Seymour, and has about 150 acres under cultivation, on which are erected a neat dwelling house and good barns. His orchard consists of about 100 bearing trees. Mr. Puryear is unmarried, and a sister, who is also unmarried, resides with and keeps house for him.