JOHN H. GLENN
is a member of the firm of R. C. Glenn & Co., extensive dealers in furniture. They also have in an adjoining
room the leading drug store in the city. Their business is carried on in the first building erected in Holt County,
having an iron front.
The subject of this sketch is one of the most prominent citizens of this place, and was born in Gallia County,
Ohio, May 23, 1818. His grandfather, William Glenn, at a very early period, emigrated from Virginia to Ohio,
and was one of the pioneers of the southern part of the state, he having made his home there when the county
was a wilderness, inhabited by only a few scattering persons. John's father, George Glenn, was born in Virginia,
and was a small boy flirhen he came to Ohio with his father.
He married Nancy Carlisle, a native of Virginia,
and John H. Glenn vvas the eldest child by this marriage. He grew to manhood in Gallia County, Ohio,
receiving such an education as the schools ot those early days afforded. When at the age of twenty-two years, or
January 1, 1840, he was married to Jane Dupre, who belonged to a family of French descent, and whose ancesters
formerly resided on the Isle of Jersey.
After his marriage Mr. Glenn continued to live in Southern Ohio, and was
engaged in
farming and milling in the counties of Gallia and Highland till 1860, when he drifted westward and located in
Holt County, Missouri. He purchased land in Whig Valley, one of the most fertile and beautiful
farming districts in the county, where he resided till 1870. During the war he remained on his farm and took.no
active part in the struggle, though he sympathized with the Union side. In 1868 he was elected the representative
from Holt County in the General Assembly and took
his seat in the legislature at an important period in the history of the state. He served at Jefferson City during
the winters of 1868-69 and 1869-70, and represented his constituents in a creditable and conscientious manner.
In 1870 he gave up farming and removed to Mound City, where he has since resided. He has had five children, four
of whom are now living: Addison N., Sheherzada Angeline (now deceased), George P., Nancy J. (wife of William Mackay),
and R. C. Glenn.
Whether or not the name of "Whig Valley" offered any inducements for Mr. Glenn to settle in that
locality when he first came to Holt County, the fact nevertheless remains that in politics he was originally an old
line Whig and an ardent supporter of Whig principles and policy as long as the party of Clay and Harrison remained
in existence. He deposited his first vote for president for General Harrison, the Whig candidate, in the celebrated "log
cabin and hard cider" campaign of 1840, when the whole country, particularly Ohio, the home of Harrison, was ablaze
with excitement and good humored log cabin processions and jovial barbecues carried the hero of Tippenoe into the
presidential chair. Mr. Glenn became a Republican on the formation of that party and has since been one of its supporters,
following the example of most of the old Ohio Whigs in becoming the bone and sinew of the new Republican party, and has
taken an active interest in political affairs and contributed to the success of that party in Holt County.
Source:"History of Holt and Atchison Counties, 1882"
Transcribed by Karyn
