JOSEPH LEBOW. The original of this notice is a Tennesseean by birth and has inculcated into him the sterling principles of the better class of citizens of that State. He was born in Hawkins County in 1833, and is the son of Isaac and Sarah (Gray) Lebow, both natives of Tennessee.
The father born in Grainger and the mother in Washington County. Both parents received limited educational advantages and after marriage located in Hawkins County, where the mother passed away in 1865 and the father in 1882. Both were worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years. Mr. Lebow was a well-to-do farmer, and, when only eighteen years of age, was a a soldier in the War of 1812, under Jackson. His father, John Lebow, was a native of the Keystone State, but removed to Grainger County, Tennessee, at an early date. There he was engaged as a farmer and distiller until his death.
Our subject’s maternal grandfather, Robert Gray, lived in Tennessee nearly all his life, and was of Scotch-Irish origin. He reared a large family. The eleven children born to Isaac and Sarah (Gray) Lebow were named in the order of their births as follows: Mary was the wife of George Bassett, and both she and her husband are now deceased; the next two were twins and died in infancy; John and Robert, twins, are deceased, the former died at Kingston, Ga., while in the Confederate Army and Robert died at home; Joseph, subject; William; Albert died in Hawkins County, Tennessee; Jefferson died during the war; Sarah Catherine, deceased, was the wife of Jacob Johnson, and Fannie, single, died in Hawkins County.
A common-school education was received by our subject, and he was early trained to the duties of the farm. In 1856 he married Miss Rebecca Harris, a native of Virginia, who died about 1859, leaving a daughter, Sarah Catherine, who has since died. Our subject’s second marriage occurred about 1867, the lady being a native of Hawkins County, Tennessee During the Civil War Mr. Lebow served in the Eighth Tennessee Infantry a short time, and was then in the East Tennessee Battery until the cessation of hostilities. In 1870 he came to Christian County, Missouri, and for about six years lived near Sparta. Later he moved to his present farm, consisting of 108 acres, three miles southwest of Highlandville, and has now one of the best tracts of land in his section. Industrious and ambitious, he has done a great deal of hard work in his day. At one time he was a member of the Masonic fraternity, but he is not an active member now. His brother, William, came to this county with our subject, and they live together. William has one child.
