Al and Paulina (Flaherty) Bush

Paulina Flaherty was born in 1854 and grew up in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia. Her family, Irish immigrants and Quakers, supported women's equality and opposed slavery. As the sixth of ten children, Paulina grew up in a landless, impoverished family. In 1860, they relocated to Wood County, near the Ohio border. During the Civil War, her two oldest brothers fought for the Union. Paulina and her sister Eliza assisted their mother in caring for their younger siblings.

When Paulina was 14, her family relocated westward to Missouri, probably journeying via covered wagon. Her father secured a land patent for 80 acres close to Cassville, Missouri. Paulina went to school and was able to read and write. Their neighbor, a tall young man named Al Bush, owned the 80 acres next door.

Originally hailing from Ross County, Ohio, Al chose to set out on his own when his family moved to Muncie, Indiana, around 1870. He traveled alone to Barry County, Missouri. There, he obtained a land patent for 80 acres from the U.S government and began homesteading. The neighboring farm was owned by the Flaherty family, and eventually, Al and Paulina noticed each other. They fell in love, and soon Paulina was expecting their first child. At 20, Paulina married Al Bush when she was seven months pregnant.

They were married for 63 years and had seven children. They lived on their farm in Cassville, raising a large family and remaining active in the community. Al and Paulina both died in 1937, just months apart, and are buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Barry County, Missouri.