RUNNER BIOGRAPHIES, Henry County, Missouri
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RUNNER, W. T. - b: 1865 Peru, IL
source: 1919 History of Henry Co MO, Uel W. Lamkin, Historical Publishing Co - 
page: 297
residence: Clinton, Henry Co, MO

W. T. Runner, the well known and popular sheriff of Henry County, is a native of 
Illinois. He was born in Peru, Illinois, November 20, 1865, and is a son of William 
and Helen (Epperson) Runner, the former a native of that part of Virginia which is 
now West Virginia and the latter of Missouri. The Runner family were early 
settlers in western Missouri. Michael Runner, grandfather of Sheriff Runner, 
settled in Post Oak township, Johnson County, on Mineral Creek several years 
prior to the Civil War. He was a Virginian and came to this State with his family 
and followed farming in Johnson County until his death. He was a victim of 
bushwhackers during the days of the border war. He was an old man at the time 
when the Civil War broke out, and on account of his advanced age, he believed 
that he would be unharmed and remained on his place, but subsequent events 
proved that he was mistaken, for his blood-thirsty assassins were no respectors 
of gray hairs. They murdered him the next day after they had murdered his son, 
Isaac, who was a cripple, having lost a leg in an accident some years previous. 
The father and son were killed while they with the assistance of their women 
folks were preparing for the burial of an uncle of Sheriff Runner, a brother of his 
father, whom the bushwhackers had previously killed. After murdering the three 
members of the family, the marauders robbed the house of everything of value 
and took the horses with them. Sheriff Runner's grandmother spent her life on the 
old home place in Johnson County, which is still owned by her descendants. 
William Runner, father of Sheriff Runner, went to Illinois, where he remained 
during the Civil War and at its close returned to Johnson County, where he was 
successfully engaged in farming and stock raising during the remainder of his 
life. He died January 26, 1892. His wife departed this life November 15, 1903. 
She was born in Pettis County, and her parents were early settlers in that 
section of Missouri. They were Kentuckians. Sheriff Runner is one of a family of 
six children born to his parents as follows: James, Joplin, Missouri; W. T., the 
subject of this sketch; Walter, Memphis, Tennessee; Joseph, died at the age of 
twenty-one years; Leota, now the wife of Thomas Garnett, a railroad contractor 
residing at Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Maud, the wife of J. B. Thompson, Lake 
Charles, Louisiana. W. T. Runner was reared to manhood in Johnson County, 
Missouri, and received his education in the public schools. He followed farming 
there until 1889, when he came to Henry County and bought a farm in Shawnee 
township. Here he was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1916, when he 
was elected sheriff of Henry County, and since that time has resided in Clinton 
and devoted himself to the duties of that office. He is a capable and 
conscientious public official and has a broad acquaintance in Henry County and 
friends without number. He has a valuable farm of 160 acres in Shawnee 
township which he has rented since he assumed the duties of the office of 
sheriff. Sheriff Runner is a Democrat and has been identified with that party 
since boyhood. In 1887 W. T. Runner was united in marriage with Miss Blanche 
Cameron, a native of Henry County, and a daughter of James Cameron, a Henry 
County pioneer, now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Runner have been born three 
children: Rolla, now a member of the One Hundred Twenty-ninth Field Artillery, 
National Army, in service on the western front in France; Glenn, and Earl, who 
reside at home. Mrs. Blanche Runner, mother of the foregoing children, died in 
1907. Mr. Runner married Mrs. Carrie Cochrane, a widow, in 1909. Mrs. Carrie 
Runner has one daughter by a former marriage, Jessie, at home. Sheriff Runner is 
a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Baptist Church.

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