John Wesley Wadlow was born on December 17, 1797, in Washington county, Virginia, now a part of West Virginia, and there he spent his earlier years, removing first to Tennessee, where he remained until about 1835, when he made the rough overland journey to Greene county, Missouri, and settled about twelve miles northwest of Springfield. On July 24, 1837, he married Mary Hastings, and to them seven children were born, namely: Alzirah Jane, deceased; Mary Louisa is living; Sarah Ann, Margaret Elizabeth, Martha Agnes, Matilda Caroline and John W. are all deceased. Mary Hastings was born on January 27, 1820, and her death occurred on December 12, 1854. John W. Wadlow married, on November 29, 1858, Mary Ann Lethco. To this second union were also born seven children, namely: Joanna, Susan Arbell, Charles E, George W. and Dora Emma were twins; Laura May is deceased; and Lillie D. The death of the mother of these children occurred on March 13, 1909. Cyrus Cunningham, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. John Wesley Wadlow was one of the early-day leaders in the Southern Methodist church in Greene county. He gave a tract of land on which was built the Wesley chapel, of Murray township, and close by he donated ground for a cemetery, in which he himself was finally laid to rest, when he had finished his useful, industrious and honorable life at the ripe old age of ninety-two years. In his early days he taught school, and was a justice of the peace in Greene county for many years. He was a successful farmer and accumulated a comfortable fortune by his thrift and honest dealings. He was a well-informed man, was a loyal Democrat and an influential citizen. His wife, Mary Ann Lethco, was born on March 28, 1829, in Richland county, North Carolina, and when twelve years of age she emigrated from that state to Illinois, later to Greene county, Missouri, the family locating near Ebenezer, in Robberson township. Her death occurred at the age of seventy-nine years; she had been a member of the Southern Methodist church for over sixty years.

Source: Past and Present of Greene County, Missouri by Jonathan Fairbanks and Clyde Edwin Tuck, A. W. Brown & Company, 1915.