In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1899) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1829
From History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day (v. 2) (1883), Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference (v. 3) (1899)
John Robert Lionberger was born in Virginia, Aug. 22, 1829. As the name indicates, his father was of German, his mother of English-Scotch descent — a mixture of blood calculated to produce an enterprising and aggressive race. His father was engaged in mercantile business in Virginia, which he resumed upon the removal of the family, in 1837, to Boonville, Cooper Co., Md.
Up to the age of sixteen young Lionberger attended the Rioted Kemper's Academy in Boonville, and subsequently entered the University of the State of Missouri at Columbia, and took a classical course. Although thus equipped with an education which fitted him for a professional career, his tastes led him to engage in mercantile pursuits, and he spent some years thus occupied at Boonville. The small and quiet town, however, offered at best only a limited prospect to a young man of energy and enterprise, and in 1855 he removed to St. Louis, and established the wholesale bootand shoe-house of Lionberger '& ! Shields, on Main Street. This partnership lasted some two years, when Mr. Lionberger purchased Mr. Shields' interest, and for some time managed the business as sole proprietor under his own name. Subsequently junior partners were admitted, and the firm became known as J. R. Lionberger & Co., under which title it flourished until 1867, when he retired, leaving to his associates a well-established and prosperous trade, and having made for himself a fortune and reputation for rectitude and business sagacity second to none of the merchants of that period.
As printed in History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day (v. 2) (1883). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
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As printed in Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference (v. 3) (1899). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: Isaac H. Lionberger (b. 1854)
The printed record stops around 1883. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.