Born near Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee,
John Mitchell Tedlock was twelve years old when his father Andrew Nelson settled in Urbana, Dallas County, Missouri, having moved from Tennessee. John grew up in Urbana and fell in love with Sarah Nunn. They were married near Urbana, December 11, 1881.
On July 02, 1884, Sarah and John were blessed with a son, Charles Preston Tedlock,..John and Sarah moved west into Kansas, where they homesteaded, John went to work for the railroad while living there.
Sarah passed away four years later (1888) from childbirth.

When Preston was eight years old, his father brought him back to Urbana where they lived with Grandma Tedlock ( "Betsy" ), Aunt Bell ( Margaret Isabell) and Uncle Lem ( Joseph Lemuel). While living with John's mother, John farmed for a short time and in November 1894 married Emily Howard. He then traded his place in Kansas to John Grooms for a log cabin and 160 acres Northwest of Plad, Missouri.
John and Emly had six children; Eulalie Elizabeth, Rosie Elma, Grace Ethelie, Olive Ressie , Bertha Jewell, and Benjamin Ralph Tedlock.

In 1908 they built a frame house West of the cabin, which is where all the children grew up. All the children as with most families, helped clear the land and worked long hard hours.
John raised a variety of crops, from corn, hay, wheat, oats and tobacco. He also had sheep, and would sell the wool and some of the lambs in the spring. On winter days he would stem and twist tobacco for chewing.
Relaxation to John was taking his hounds and accompanied by some neighbors, go into the woods, sit around the campfire and see who could tell the tallest tales. The morning after would find the hounds sore footed and the men with sore throats.

The above was written by unknown author, someone in the family I am sure.
This writer has many pictures of Preston, he was a close family member and was a favorite cousin to her grandfather Andrew Chilton Redifer. ( JMB )

Note of interest, this writer's mother was named after Bertha Jewell, "Jewell" by her father Andrew, my grandfather loved the name.
Research by JMB