F. Marion Tagart was born on Kentucky soil, and came with his father, Andrew Tagart, to Cole Co., Mo., in 1840, settling on land that now comprises a portion of Moniteau County. Here the father died in 1850 and the mother in 1846. They left a family of nine children, of whom F. Marion was the youngest. He was married, in 1858, to Miss Ann J. Catlet, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of Benjamin Catlet, and soon after purchased a farm on Rock Creek, which he tilled for eleven years, erecting on it a good house and barns. He then bought the place known as the Dr. Dunlap farm, on which he resided five years, then sold out and moved to where he now lives, his farm consisting of 160 acres. His children are: James T. (a lawyer of Silver City, New Mexico), Fernando (who is attending a business college in Kansas City, from which he expects soon to graduate), Missouri (is the wife of Thomas Gregory, the mother of two children, and resides in Decatur County, Kan.), Gilmer, Eva, Arelia and Cecelia (twins), and Eldon, an infant. Mr. Tagart is a Republican, and in 1860 cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, his being one of six votes, in a total of 290, which were cast in Marion Township, Cole County, for "Old Abe." The other voters for him were Philip and Charles Ott, Abe and Doc Elliott and Thomas Reece.

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