Biographical Sketch of Gideon P. Balay, Greene County, Missouri, Boone Township >From "History of Greene County, Missouri," St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1883. ********************************************************************** Mr. White was born in Greene county, Kentucky, July 9th, 1818. He is the son of Perry and Tomsey (Warren) Balay. When he was about ten years of age his parents emigrated to Johnson County, Indiana. Gideon moved to Marion county, Missouri, in 1839, but only remained in that section of the State a year, and then removed to Cole county, where he remained until 1866. He then moved to Greene county and settled perm- anently. He now owns a fine farm two and a half miles southeast of Ash Grove. Mr. Balay held the office of constable, for four and one-half years, of Boone township. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church at Ash Grove. He was married June 15th, 1843, to Miss Eliza A. Hightower, of Patrick county, Virginia. Their union has been blest with thirteen children, five of whom are dead. Their family is one whom every one respects, and no man in Greene county enjoys the confi- dence of his neighbors to any greater extent than Mr. Balay. During the war he was chairman of the Home Guards of Cole county. His oldest son John, was killed in Arkansas by a band of bushwhackers. He was a Union soldier, defending his country from the advances of the Confed- erates. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================