Much confusion and many errors on Bybee family trees have been caused by the intermixing of information on the two John S. Bybee’s who lived in Monroe, Missouri in the 1830’s through about 1860. The two were cousins. First let us look at the one normally identified as Dr. John Solomon Bybee. His father was Cornelius “Neily” Bybee, mother, Mary Lee Norman. He was born in 1792 in Clark County, Kentucky and married a Nancy Champlin on 10 Nov 1814 in that county. She appears to have been his only wife with the two listed in the 1860 Monroe, Missouri census shortly before his death in Dec. 1861 in Santa Fe, Missouri.
There is an 1830 Clark, KY census listing for a John Bybee that is probably his listing. According to a history of Monroe County, MO John Solomon Bybee was a Kentuckian who was the founder in 1837 of Santa Fe, Missouri. A Missouri BLM land patent site shows many purchases of land in the Santa Fe area by a John S. Bybee in the late 1830’s so he probably came to Missouri about the mid-1830’s. He is listed in the 1840, 1850 and 1860 Monroe, Missouri Federal census.
According to a Bybee researcher, no will is available for John Solomon, but estate papers list his heirs as: Norman Bybee, N. Ann Yowell, Amanda Wilkerson, John Bybee, William Bybee and James Bybee. Assumedly, these are his children born in the 1810’s and 1820’s in Kentucky and one in Missouri in 1830’s. They are listed below with birth years.
Wife and children of John Solomon Bybee, 1792—1861
NANCY CHAMPLIN 1795–1865
10 Nov 1814 Clark, Kentucky
Norman Bybee 1815 KY–1867 MO
John Bybee 1818 KY–?
Nancy Ann Bybee Yowell 1823 KY–?
William Bybee 1824 KY--1908 OR
James Bybee 1827 KY -- 1824 OR
Amanda Malvina Bybee Wilkerson 1833 MO–1917 MO
The other John S. Bybee is usually identified as John “Sog” or “Sag” Bybee. He also was born in Clark County, Kentucky, but in 1796. His father was James Bybee, a brother to the above Cornelius, and his mother is named as Margaret Emerson Baker or Margaret Baker Emerson with her true name apparently unknown. Historical records show six wives for him and he is reported to have had 22 children, but I have not been able to identify that number. One report says John had the following children: Polly Adams of Kentucky-6 Children, Nancy Adams-2 children, Mary Myers-1 child, Mary Kyle-4 children, Janetta Creed-9 children, Widow McGee-no children, to total 22.
His known wives and children based on marriage dates and birth years will be listed at the end of this article. They were born in Kentucky and in Howard County and Monroe County, Missouri. He is listed in the 1820 Clark, KY census, the 1830 Howard, MO and the 1840 and 1850 Monroe, Missouri Federal census.
According to an item in a history of Monroe County by his daughter, Cinderella Bybee, my gg grandmother, her father, John Bybee, and her mother, Mary “Polly” Adams, settled first in Howard County, Missouri in 1822. In 1834 he moved to Monroe County, MO and in 1858 he died. Missouri BLM land records show a John Bybee from Boone County, MO (Boone County was formed out of Howard County) and Howard County buying land in 1833 and 1835 near the later location of Santa Fe, Missouri. Other reports say he raised hemp and corn on his farm.
Listed below are the six wives and 15 of the possible 22 children of John Sog Bybee:
JOHN S. (SOG) BYBEE, 1792—1858
Wives and Children
MARY “POLLY” ADAMS
4 Jan 1817, Clark, Kentucky
James Francis Bybee (1818 - 1901)*
Elizabeth M. (J.) Bybee Emerson 1819
William S. Bybee 1820
Martillus Bybee (1821 - 1903)*
Cinderella Bybee Williams 1823–1884
Sarah Elizabeth Bybee Williams 1826
NANCY ADAMS
10 Dec 1828, Howard, MO
MARY ANN MYERS
1 Aug 1832, Howard, MO
John Seth Bybee (1833 - 1918)*
MARY KYLE
9 Jan 1834, Monroe, Mo
Ritter (Belle?) Bybee 1837
JANETTA C. CREED
26 APR 1837, Monroe, MO
George Washington Bybee (1838 - 1907)*
Serena Bybee Hill (1839 - 1919)*
Daniel Bybee 1842
Nancy Jane Bybee Goodnight (1844 - 1922)*
Louisiana A Bybee Blum (1846 - 1917)*
Martha Ann Bybee Davis (1848 - 1899)*
Logan F Bybee (1850 - 1934)*
ELIZABETH McGEE
27 Jan 1856, Monroe, MO
I appreciate questions, comments, additions and improvements.
Dick Payne rpaynegen@yahoo.com
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