William H. Rea, teacher, P. O., Marshall. Was born in Cooper county, Missouri, July 24, 1845.When he was five years old, his parents moved to Carroll county, Missouri, where he resided ten years. He was raised on a farm to the age of fifteen, and was educated at the Kemper high school, Booneville, Missouri. In 1861, he enlisted in company B., Hughes’ regiment, M. S. G., and was in the battle of Lexington. Started south in December, 1861, in the body of recruits, under Colonel Robinson, and was one of the few who escaped being captured at Blackwater, on the nineteenth of December, 1861. In the fall of 1862, he enlisted in company H., First Missouri cavalry, under Colonel Shelby, afterwards under Colonel B. F. Gordon; was in the battles of Coon Creek, Newtonia, Boston Mountains, Prairie Grove, Little Rock, Helena, Springfield, Hartsville, Cape Girardeau, and Marshall. He was taken prisoner at Marshall and held first in St. Louis, then in Rock island, Illinois; and in June, 1864, was released on special pardon from President Lincoln. He then returned to Carroll county, and followed farming. Went back to school to the Kemper high school, in Booneville, and then engaged in teaching, which he has followed ever since, in Carroll, Lafayette and Saline counties. He came to Saline in 1873, and has since lived in this county. Mr. Rea was married March 7, 1870, to Miss Mollie H. Rea, daughter of Rev. P. G. Rea, a graduate of the Missouri Female College, Booneville, Missouri. They have four children: Edna G., Florence, and twins, Madie and Sadie.
