In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri (1910)
MANFORD J. WILSON.
Agriculture has been an honored vocation from the earliest ages and as a usual thing men of honorable and humane impulses, as well as those of energy and thrift, have been patrons of husbandry. The free outdoor life of the farm has a decided tendency to foster and develop that independence of mind and self-reliance which characterize true manhood and no greater blessing can befall a boy than to be reared in close touch with nature in the healthful, life-inspiring labor of the fields. It has always been the fruitful soil from which have sprung the moral bone and sine of the country, and the majority of our nation's most renowned and distinguished men were born on the farm and are indebted to its early influence for the distinction which they have attained.
Manford J. Wilson was born in Fremont county, Iowa, on February 21, 1873. and is a son of Jerry and Caroline (Sharpe) Wilson, the former a native of the state of Indiana and the latter of Missouri. The subject's maternal grandfather, James Sharpe, was an early pioneer of Missouri, where he and his wife spent their last days, both being deceased. The paternal grand parents, Jerrv and Elizabeth ( Lockett) Wilson, located in Indiana in an early clay, subsequently locating in Iowa, where his death occurred, after which event his widow came to Missouri, where her death occurred. Jerry Wilson, Jr., came West in young manhood with his parents, who first located in Fremont county, Iowa, later removing to Taylor county, that state, and still later to Gentry county, Missouri, where his death occurred in May, 1904. His widow is now living in Gentryville, Gentry county. They became the parents of twelve children, of which number eight are living. Jerry Wilson was by vocation a farmer, and was highly respected in the various communities where he lived. Politically, he was a stanch Democrat, while, religiously, he and his wife were members of the Christian church.
Manford J. Wilson was reared on the paternal farmstead and is indebted to the common schools for his early mental discipline, which has been liberally supplemented during the subsequent years by much reading and habits of close observation. In young boyhood he removed with his parents to Taylor county, Iowa, and in 1899 he came to Nodaway county, but two years later he went to Nebraska, where during the following six years he engaged in farm ing. In 1904 he returned to Nodaway county and bought one hundred and twenty acres of land where he now resides. On this land he has made many permanent and substantial improvements and because of his practical methods and progressive spirit he stands high among the farmers of Independence township. He carries on general farming and stock raising, in both of which lines success has attended his efforts.
Politically, Mr. Wilson is numbered among the stanch supporters of the Democratic party, in the success of which he takes a deep interest. He and his wife are constant attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Wilson is a member and to which they give a liberal support.
On November 5, 1902, Mr. Wilson was united in marriage with Fannie Jackson, a daughter of Edward and Mary Jackson, who were natives of England. These parents, on coming to the United States, located in Iowa, from which state they removed to Nebraska, where the mother's death occurred. The father is now living at North Platte, Nebraska. Of the five children born to them, two are living. Mr. Jackson is a farmer by vocation, in politics, a Democrat, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his wife also belonged. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson has been born a son, Roy. Their comfortable and attractive home is the center of a large social circle, who appreciate the spirit of hospitality and good cheer which is ever in evidence there. Mr. Wilson is a stanch supporter of all movements which promise to be of benefit to the community and enjoys a high standing among his fellows, who appreciate and value him because of his genuine worth.
As printed in Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1910. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.