This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Back, Wells, King, Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/TMB.2ACI/3295 Message Board Post: History of SE Missouri, Goodspeed Publishing 1888 Biographical Appendix, page 820 JAMES WILLIAM BACK James William Back, an intelligent young citizen of Bollinger County, Mo., was born in 1863, and is a son of William H. and Mary (Wells) Back, natives of South Carolina and Southeast Missouri, respectively. William H. Back was born in 1825, and when eighteen years of age immigrated to Missouri and located in Stoddard County where he was married. He always followed farming as an occupation and died in 1886. His wife was born in 1839 and died in 1875. They were the parents of nine children, only one of whom is dead. James W. Back is their second child. He was born in Stoddard County, Mo., and received his education in the Mayfield-Smith Academy, Marble Hill, Mo. After finishing his education, he taught very successfully in the public schools. For some time he was in the employ of the Northwestern Railroad Company. In 1885, he was united in marriage with Miss Ella King, a native of Bollinger County, Mo., born in 1871. The next year after his marriage, Mr. Back locate! d on a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits, at which he has a good prospect for success. He and wife and the happy parents of one child, Cora.