WILLIAM W. KIMBERLING. It is owing to the enterprise and push of such men as Mr. Kimberling that Stone County, Missouri, owes much of its prosperity, for he has been one of its thrifty, industrious and intelligent agriculturists for many years, and is at the present time the proprietor of a fine and well-improved farm of 110 acres on the south side of White River. He was born in Franklin County, Arkansas, April 16, 1840, a son of Nathaniel and Nancy (Birchfield) Kimberling, native Tennesseans.
The father became a resident of Stone County a few years after the disposal of the land by the Indians, and here made his home. The greater part of the time, although he resided for about a year in Texas and Arkansas. His death occurred in the Lone Star State in 1862, at the age of sixty years. He was of German descent, a Republican in politics, a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and, through-out life, he followed the honorable occupation of farming, at which he obtained a comfortable competency. He was truly one of the pioneers of Stone County, and as he was a skillful marksman and fond of hunting, had numerous opportunities of gratifying this taste, and many a bear fell a victim to his unerring aim. He was married in Stone County to a daughter of John Birchfield, who was an early settler and the owner of a good farm on the James River. He died many years ago. Mrs. Kimberling died in 1865, having become the mother of fourteen children, only four of whom are living: Caroline, wife of James Mayes, of Moniteau County, Missouri; Benjamin, who is a resident of Stone County; California A., married, and a resident of Moniteau County, and Eliza, who is living in Christian County, the wife of Jesse Gardner. Those deceased are Peter, John P., Rebecca, James J., Melissa, Sophia, and several infants. Four of the sons were soldiers in the Civil War: James J., Benjamin, Peter, and William W.
The latter was reared in the county of his birth, and as schools were few and far between, he received but a limited education. When the great conflict between the North and South opened, he first joined the Home Guards, but in 1862 enlisted in Company F, Fourteenth Missouri State Militia, afterward becoming a member of the Eighth Missouri Militia, and took part in the engagement at Springfield, and was also engaged in fighting bushwhackers and in following up Price through the State. He received an honorable discharge in April, 1865, and for one year there-after resided in Colorado, after which he returned to Missouri and located in the upper part of Stone County on a farm. In 1870 he located on his present farm on the White River, where he also conducts a ferry, known as the Mayberry Ferry on the Wilderness road. Mr. Kimberling has always affiliated with the Republican party, and, for one term, held the position of postmaster of Radical. In a business way he has been reasonably successful, and is now the owner of a comfortable and pleasant home.
At the close of the war he married Miss Phoebe A. Cox, a daughter of John Cox and a sister of Judge Cox of Stone County, and to them the following children have been given: John; Nancy, wife of Thomas F. Biles; Susan, wife of William Biles; William W., Lula A, James H., Charles B., Frederick, Nettie, Bessie, Myra, and two who are dead-Columbus and Mirtie May. Mr. and Mrs. Kimberling are members of the Baptist Church, and he belongs to the G. A. R. post at Galena.
