Joseph H. Hess, farmer. The subject of this sketch was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, November 8, 1814, and was partly raised in Albemarle county, Virginia. He was educated in Virginia, and raised on a farm. His father, John Hess, was an old revolutionary soldier, and also in the war of 1812, and took an active part in the battle of New Orleans. He served under Jackson to the end of the war. In 1838 J. H. Hess came, with others, to Missouri in wagons and carriages, and located in Cooper county. He was married February 27, 1840, to Miss Barthina Kelly a cousin of Captain J. Stephens, who died May 12, 1851, in Moniteau county, leaving three children: Mary, wife of Frank Hines, of Colorado; Lee, wife of Henry Chrisman, of Waverly, Missouri, and Jackson T., now living at Booneville, Missouri. In 1863 Mr. Hess was banished to Ohio by the Federal authorities at Tipton, and took his family with him. In 1864 he returned to Missouri, but was again compelled to leave, and went to Nebraska and remained eighteen months. He then returned and settled in Saline county, on the Hugh Galbraith farm, which he sold to Joel Meadows, and purchased the farm on which he now lives. In 1849 Mr. Hess went to California, and was one of the first to discover the Nevada "diggings." His first wife died shortly after his return the next year. He was again married March 2, 1852, to Miss Matilda Gist, formerly from Kentucky. Mr. Hess is one of Saline’s most enterprising farmers, handling cattle, horses and sheep.
