Mary N., daughter of Judge R. E. McDaniel, of Saline county, Missouri ...
John H. McDaniel. Is a son of Judge R. E. and Delia McDaniel, and was born in Caroline county, Virginia, July 31, 1838. In 1842 his father moved the family to Cooper county, Missouri, and in 1844 to Saline county, where John was raised on a farm. ...
Judge R. E. McDaniel, merchant and farmer. Judge McDaniel, who during the latter years of his life, was one of Saline’s most prominent citizens, was born near Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia, March 9, 1799. He lived in Virginia until 1841, when he moved west and settled in Booneville, where he carried on the mercantile business for several years. In 1844 he moved to Saline county and established two stores, one in Miami and one in Marshall, then but recently located. He superintended both establishments for several years. He had entered a large body of land, southeast of Miami, and on retiring from the mercantile business, he turned his attention to farming, and improved a large farm. At his death he possessed several thousand acres of first-class Saline county land. After becoming a citizen of Saline, he united himself with the Bethel Church, having joined the Baptist Church long before leaving Virginia. His business habits were excellent, his personal integrity beyond question, and his disposition kind and generous in the extreme—and his benevolence extended to every class of his fellow citizens. In no sense was Judge McDaniel an office-seeker, but he held the office of county judge for a number of years. In 1858 the democracy of Saline nominated him as their candidate for representative, the whigs or know-nothings opposing him with William H. Letcher, then, as now, a resident of Marshall. The contest was an exciting one, and party lines were sharply drawn. Mr. Letcher was elected and Judge McDaniel defeated, but by a very small majority. The personal popularity of both gentlemen made the race still more exciting. The war found Judge McDaniel, as he had always been, a straight, uncompromising states-rights southern democrat. For five years he was moderator in the Baptist General Association of Missouri, and always acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his brethren. He was always a consistent Christian. He died on the night of April 6, 1870, and his remains rest in the church-yard he loved so long and so well, and there, with others of his family, await the judgment day. He caught his death stroke riding home in a rain from Howard county, where he had been on a charitable errand of assisting the indigent widow of his whilom warm friend and pastor, A. P. Williams, D. D. Judge McDaniel was married three times. First to Miss Delilah Priddy—his two last being sisters, Misses Delia and Jane Richardson. He raised a family of eleven children, eight of whom are still living, and seven of them residents of Saline county: Reuben E., John H., Giles R., and Alex S. are well known farmers of Saline, while Mary N. is the wife of Rev. William M. Bell, of Miami; Flora E, is the widow of Quincy A. Thompson, and now lives in Liberty, Missouri; and Lucy is the wife of C. C. Ross, a prominent farmer of Miami township.
