Biographical Sketch of William B. Garoutte, Greene County, Missouri, Pond Creek Township >From "History of Greene County, Missouri," St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1883. ********************************************************************** Mr. Garoutte is the son of James S. and Mary (Bobington) Garoutte, and was born in Washington County, Ohio, May 9, 1820. His grandfather was a French soldier, who settled at Tuckahoe, N. J., after the Revolution- ary War was over. France sent some of her best sons to aid us in securing our independence, and many of them stayed in America. In 1829 his parents moved to St. Joseph County, Indiana, and in February, 1830, his mother was frozen to death. She was an eminent practitioner in midwifery, and had gone nine miles to see a patient. She was caught in a snow storm, and it is supposed she dismounted to walk so as to keep warm, and her horse got away from her. She was found the next day dead. In 1837 he and his father came to Greene County, Mo., and settled in Pond Creek township. His father died in 1876. William went back to Indiana in 1848, and in 1849 went to California and returned in 1852, and has since resided in Greene County. He was elected justice of the peace when he was twenty-one years of age. In 1856 he was a candidate for the State Senate upon the Benton ticket, but was beaten by Judge Price by seventy-seven votes. In 1859 he was a candidate for Congress, and in 1882, he was a candidate for the Legislature upon the Democratic ticket, and though his district was Republican by three hundred major- ity, he reduced it to fifty-six. He was a Union man until the war actually came on, and then took the position that the Jackson troops were the law and authority troops. He was offered and refused a brig- adier general's commision. In 1862 cast his fortunes with the Confed- eracy, and went South with Gen. Price. In the fall of 1862 he returned to Greene County, as provost marshal for the county, but was taken prisoner at his home before the Confederate troops arrived. He was taken to St. Louis, then to Johnson's Island, and from there to Fort McHenry, and held prisoner two years. Just before the war closed he was exchanged at Demopolis, Alabama and sent by Gen. Hardee, with dis- patches to Gen Price in Arkansas. He was there when the war closed. He lost twenty thousand dollars by the war, and has since labored to re- pair his losses. He owns over seven hundred acres of land. Mr. Garo- utte is a Master Mason. He has been married twice, the first time to Miss Amanda, daughter of Royal and Mehitable (Arms) Hazelton, of this county. They were blest with five daughters. Mrs. Garoutte died April 7, 1857, and he was married the second time, October 15, 1857, to Miss Mehitable, daughter of Magruder and Theresa (Hazelton) Tannahill, also of Greene County. They have by this union eight children. ==================================================================== 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 ====================================================================