Dr. A. Elston is a native of the county in which be now resides, and was born at Elston Station on the 6th of December, 1830, being a son of Andrew M. and Jane G. (Anthony) Elston, who were born in Tennessee and brought up in Boone County, Mo. The Elston family are of Welsh descent, the great-grandfather having come directly from that country and settled in New Jersey at a very early day. The grandfather, Elias Elston, removed from New Jersey to Tennessee, thence to Boone County, Mo., soon after Daniel Boone, and was among its first settlers. He was a farmer by occupation, as was his son Andrew M., the father of our subject. The latter became a resident of Cole County, Mo., about 1828, and located where the town of Elston now stands, the place taking its name from him. He entered and bought a large tract of land, and became one of the prominent men of the county. He was justice of the peace for many years, judge of the county court, a member of the State Legislature different terms, and an inspector of the State Militia, being adjutant-general. He was one of the prominent men of the State, and was regarded with respect and esteem by all who knew him. He died in 1879, and his wife in 1869. They were the parents of nine children, four of whom are living. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in Cole County, and at the age of fifteen years had acquired, unaided, a fair education. At sixteen he taught school, was deputy county and circuit clerk of Cole County at seventeen, and soon commenced to read law with Gen. M. M. Parsons. At the age of twenty ears he began the study of medicine with Prof. H. Waters of the St. Louis Medical College, from which institution he graduated in 1864. Soon after he was appointed United States surgeon, and assigned to duty at Jefferson Barracks. Subsequently he was commissioned surgeon of the Thirty-first Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and reported for duty at Atlanta, Ga. After the fall of Atlanta he marched with Gen. Sherman's army through Georgia to Savannah, and from there through South and North Carolina to Raleigh, where the army was at the termination of the war. He was in all the battles in which the Fifteenth Army Corps was engaged during these marches. After the close of the war he went with the army through Virginia, by Petersburg and Richmond, to Washington City. In 1866 he began practicing his profession at Elston, Mo., and in 1869 attended a course at Bellevue Medical College, at New York City. In 1870 he received instructions at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1871 located in Jefferson City, where he has built up a large and lucrative practice, and is one of the eminent physicians of the county. June 4, 1864, he was united in the bonds of matrimony to Miss Columbia Smith, by whom he has had four children, two of whom are living: George and Addison.

Transcribed from:
History of Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Benton, Miller, Maries, and Osage Counties, Missouri, Goodspeed Publishing Company (1889).