Springfield-Greene
County LibraryHON. HOSEA MULLINGS (deceased). There is no inheritance so rich as the records of the worthy lives of those who have parted from this world and have gone to receive the reward which awaits them in heaven. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch, although no longer on earth, still holds a firm position in the memory and affection of his family and the numerous friends be won by his correct mode of living. He was one of the pioneer settlers of Robinson Township, Greene County, Mo., his birth having occurred in South Carolina, in 1795, of English parents. He received a limited education in the common schools near the home of his boyhood, but being ambitious and enterprising he determined to seek a home for himself in the then far West, and while a resident of Marshall County, Tenn., he was married to Margaret Reed. In 1818 he drove through what was then an almost wilderness to Greene County, Mo., and located in the woods eight miles north of Springfield. At that time there were many Indians and but few white settlers, and he experienced the hardships, dangers and privations which have been the lot of the sturdy pioneer since time immemorial. He improved a good farm and on it spent the remainder of his days, dying January 8, 1882, at the age of eighty-seven years. For some years, in an early day, he did considerable teaming from Boonville for Springfield merchants, and while thus employed experienced a good many hardships. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 under Gen. Jackson, and being of rugged constitution and a man of good habits he bore the hardships of pioneer life and war well. He was a Christian in all that the term implies, being a consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was generous and charitable, although at all times just, in his views of the faults and failings of others, and for this reason often served as judge of the court of Greene County. His wife was born in North Carolina in 1793, a daughter of John Reed, who became a farmer of Tennessee where he died. He and his wife, who was formerly Miss Esther Coffey, were members of the Presbyterian Church. She was also born in North Carolina, and there she and Mr. Reed were married. To Mr. and Mrs. Mullings eleven children were born, four of whom are living at the present time. John P., George, Margaret, wife of J. T. Walker, and Hon. Hosea G. John P. Mullings was born near Farmington, Marshall County, Tenn., and when a small lad was brought by his parents to Missouri where he was reared and received such educational advantages as could be obtained at that period. At the opening of the civil war he joined the Missouri State Militia, and after a short service joined the Home Guards, operating at Springfield and Yellville, Ark., with which he remained until 1863, when he became a member of Company E, Sixteenth Missouri Cavalry, which operated in the southern part of the State, holding the rank of first lieutenant. He followed Price on his raid through Missouri into Kansas. He made an excellent soldier, being on active duty the most of the time, and was neither wounded nor captured while in the service. At the close of the war he turned his sword into a ploughshare, and has ever since contentedly resided on the old home farm, the entire time spent on that place amounting to sixty years. He has never married, preferring to put up with the ills he has than to fly to those he knows not of. While in the Home Guards he was detailed with others to form what was known as the Sixth Provisional Regiment early in 1863, and he served as orderly sergeant until he joined the regular service in the fall. Hosea G. Mullings enlisted in Company A, Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry, August 5, 1861, and was with it in Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, being in the Red River expedition and in many hotly contested engagements with the Sixteenth Army Corps with Gen. A. G. Smith, serving as lieutenant from May 5, 1863. He was slightly wounded in the battle of Pea Ridge. He was mustered out at St. Louis, in October, 1864, after which he settled down to the life of a civilian. He took a prominent part in the political affairs of his section, and "three different occasions was elected to the State Legislature, serving from 1866 to 1872, and in 1888 was elected county judge, filling this responsible position two years. These gentlemen are law abiding citizens and are considered, and justly so, as among the foremost men of their section.
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