-HON. JAMES MING-
Mr. Ming is a native of the Old Dominion, and was born in Campbell County, May 16th, 1824. He left Virginia in company with his parents when about thirteen years old. A location was made on the farm on which Mr. Ming now lives, in 1837, five miles east of Washington, in the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River. Soon afterwards Mr. Ming went to live with an uncle, Wm. North, a merchant at Port William, near Gray Summit. He remained with Mr. North, employed as clerk, till 1844, and then began merchandising on his own account at the same stand. He sold goods there for a period of eighteen years, commanding a large trade, there being no stores on the west nearer than Union, on the east Manchester, and on the northwest Washington and South Point.
He also acted as Postmaster, while engaged there in the mercantile business. From 1859 to 1864 he was engaged in farming and settling up accounts, after which he crossed the plains with a stock of goods, and merchandised two years in Montana territory. He returned home in 1866, and the following year aided in starting the wholesale establishment of Barrow, House & Ming, on Main Street, St. Louis. They did an extensive business, but not being satisfied with the outlook, the partners closed up business within eight months, when Mr. Ming returned to his farm at Gray's Summit, and again began merchandising at that point.
After two or three years he settled down on the old homestead of his father, where he has since lived, engaged in farming and in prosecuting the live-stock trade on the extended scale. He has here one of the best farms of the county, and which commands the finest views of any on the Missouri River. He also, in company with Mr. J. Hinkle, has a large stock farm in Henry County (a choice piece of property), to further facilitate the cattle trade.
In 1868 he was elected to the legislature on the Democratic ticket, by a handsome majority, and was returned in 1870 almost unanimously; and while there, served on a number of important committees and was distinguished as an active worker, though not as a brilliant speaker.
He was married in 1846, his wife being Miss Jemima Osborn, the daughter of Wm. Osborn, one of the earliest settlers of the county. They have an interesting family of five children, and have built up a happy and cultured home, where the old-fashioned hospitality of former days is preserved.
The name Ming points back to Germany as the "Fatherland." The ancestry was early in Virginia, and the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a commissioned officer in the army of the American Revolution. Wollery, Mr. Ming's father, was a native of Culpepper County. He was married in Virginia to Miss Dorothy North, and they had a family of eight children, prior to settling in this county. Their remains repose in the family cemetery, on the premises they settled on becoming citizens of Missouri.
From: 1878 Atlas of Franklin County, Missouri
