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H/aZu-Tlvvt'C^-* — '-^^-<:>
A HISTORY OF
NORTHEAST MISSOURI
EDITED BY
WALTER WILLIAMS
Assisted By
Advisory and Contributing Editors
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOLUME I
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO NEW YORK
1913
PK
V.I
ADVISORY AND CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
William Southern, Jr., President State Historical Society of Mis-
souri ; editor Jackson Examiner, Independence.
F. C. Shoemaker, Assistant Secretary State Historical Society of Mis-
souri, Columbia.
Jonas Viles, Professor of American History, University of Missouri,
Columbia.
John L. BoBards, lawyer, Hannibal.
Mrs. Lily Herald Frost, editor The Leader, Vandalia.
Edgar White, special writer, author, journalist, Macon.
Samuel W. Ravenel, civil engineer; author '^Bavenel's Road Primer,"
Old Franklin, Howard county.
G. C. Broadhead, former Sta.te Geologist; former member Missouri
River Commission and Professor of Geology, University of Missouri,
Columbia.
Rev. Dr. M. L. Gray, Chillicothe.
Rev. Dr. T. P. Haley, Kansas City.
Rev. Dr. John F. Cowan, Fulton.
Rev. Dr. W. J. Patrick, Bowling Green.
Rev. Dr. J. T. Tuohy, St. Louis.
H. C. Scheetz, Palmyra.
Miss Minnie Organ, principal High School ; former Assistant Libra^
rian State Historical Society of Missouri ; Salem.
N. T. Gentry, lawyer, president Commercial Club, former Assistant
Attorney-General ; Columbia.
Ovid Bell, editor The Gazette, Fulton.
Gkorge Robertson, lawyer, Mexico.
Ben Eli Guthrie, lawyer, Macon.
G. F. Rothwell, lawyer, Moberly.
B. H. Winter, editor The Banner, Warrenton.
Joe Burnett, editor The Record, New London.
W. 0. L. Jewett, editor The Democrat; former member of the Mis-
souri house of representatives; ex-president of the State Historical So-
ciety of Missouri ; Shelbina.
B. H. Bonfoey, lawyer, Unionville.
L. P. Roberts, editor The Dem/)crat, Memphis.
S. S. Ball, former member of the Missouri house of representatives ;
editor The Oazette-Herald, Kahoka.
I. Walter Basye, genealogist, special writer, Bowling Green.
John S. Wallace, physician, Brunswick.
R. S. Walton, member of the Missouri house of representatives, edi-
tor The Herald, Armstrong.
Winfred Melvin, member of the Missouri house of representatives;
editor The Excelsior, Lancaster.
J. C. Edwards, physician, 0 'Fallon.
George A. Mahan, lawyer, Hannibal.
* • •
ui
iv ADVISORY AND CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Arthur and E. C. Hilbert, lawyers, Canton.
Mrs. A. X. Brown, editor The Sentinel, Edina.
T. A. Dodge, editor The Standard, <MUan.
Arthur L. Pratt, Judge of Probate, Linneus.
T. V. Bodine, editor The Mercury, Paris.
H. P. Childers, editor The Free Press, Troy.
* E. E. Swain, editor The Express, Eirksville.
Howard Ellis, editor The Leader, New Florence.
BY WAY OF PREFACE
This History of Northeast Missouri seeks to give in simple fashion
the story of the beginnings, progress and present condition of the
twenty-five counties in Missouri forming the northeast section of the
state. In the preparation of the material for the historical volume,
for which volume the editor is responsible, generous aid has been received
from many men and wtmien acquainted with local history and inter-
ested in its preservation. To them and, in particular, to the advisory
and contributing editors, whose names appear on the following pages and
in connection with their respective chapters, grateful acknowledgment
is made. The name of Walter Williams, Jr., should be included in recog-
nition of his unflagging zeal, painstaking industry and constant fidelity
in the assembling of material for this work, to which he gave the last
summer of his brief life on earth. It is in a special sense their history,
the work of their hands.
Other and uncancellable debt for aid and inspiration is acknowledged
in the dedication.
THE EDITOR.
Columbia, Missouri, December 20, 1912.
TO MY WIFE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I The Land and the People 1
II The Story op the Pioneer 13
John L. BoBarda, Hannibal
III The Part TV;oman Played 27
Mre, LHy Heraid Frost, Vandalia
IV In the Time of Civil War 46
Floyd C, Shoemaker, Columbia
V RiVERWAYS AND EOADWAYS 69
Samuel W, Bavenel, BoonvUle
VI Churches and Congregations 88
The Bev. W. J. Patrick, Bowling Green; the Bev, J. T, Tuohy, Jonesburg; the Bev.
T, P. Haley, Kansas City; H. C, Scheete, Palmyra; the Bev. M, L, Gray, Chilli-
cothe; the Bev. John F, Cowan, Fulton.
VII The Literature op the Land 128
Edgar White, Maconr
VIII The Story op the State 147
Jonas VUes, Columbia
IX Adair County 171
E. E. Swain, KirksvUle
X Audrain County 184
George Bobertaon, Mexico
XI Boone County 231
North Todd Gentry, Columbia
XII Callaway County 284
Ovid Bell, Fulton
XIII Chariton County 306
John 8. Wallace, Brunswick
XIV Clark County 334
S. S. Ball, Kahoka
XV Howard County 348
B. S. Walton, Armstrong
XVI Knox County 361
Mrs. A. X. Brown, Edina
ix
X CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XVII Lewis County 378
Arthur and E. C. HUbert, Canton
XVIII Lincoln County 394
H, F. Childers, Troy
XIX Linn County 406
Arthur L. Pratt, Linneus
XX Macon County 419
Ben Eli Cruthrie, Macon
XXI Marion County 443
George A, Mahan, Hannibal
XXII Monroe County 464
Thomas V. Bodine, Paris
XXIII Montgomery County 492
Howard Ellis, New Florence
XXIV Pike County 507
7. Walter Basye, Bowling Green
XXV Putnam County 523
B. ff. Bonfoey, Uniofwille
XXVI Ralls County 531
Joe Burnett, New London
XXVII Randolph County 537
G, F. Sothwell, Moberly
XXVIII St. Charles County 553
/t C. Edwards, O 'Fallon,
XXIX Schuyler County 592
Winfred Melvin, Lancaster
XXX Scotland. County 606
L. P. Roberts, Memphis
XXXI Shelby County 620
W. 0, L, Jcwett, Shelbina
XXXII Sullivan County 647
T. A. Dodge, MUan
XXXIII Warren County 659
E. H, Winter, Warrenton
ILLUSTRATIONS
Relief Map of the United States Showing Location of Missouri .... 2
Daniel Boone 4
Boon's Lick in a Case Car, First Automobile, 1912, at Terminus
of Northeast Missouri's Most Famous Road 6
Original Thomas Jefferson Monument, University Campus, Colum-
bia 7
Landing of Laclede on the Site of St. Louis 9
Map of the Twenty-five Counties of Northeast Missouri 10
Daniel Boone Cabin, St. Charles County 16
A Missourian of the Early Day 17
Map of Old Franklin 19
The Site of Old Franklin 20
RoBards' Mill, Hannibal 22
At Boon's Lick, Howard County 24
Synodical College for Women, Fulton 28
William Woods College for Women, Fulton 30
Hardin College for Women, Mexico 32
Main Dormitory, Howard-Payne College for Women, Fayette .... 34
Stephens College for Women, Columbia 36
Read Hall, Dormitory for Women, University of Missouri 38
Some Women Newspaper Writers in Northeast Missouri 44
Edward Bates 51
Sterling Price 54
James S. Green 56
George C. Bingham 59
Where the Battle was Fought " 63
The New Soldiers — Cadets at University of Missouri 66
An Excursion Boat on the Mississippi 70
A Missouri River Steamer 71
On a Missouri Country Road 77
On the Pike 80
Ready to Make Roads in the Columbia Special District 82
The Only Tunnel on the M. K. & T. Railroad— at Rocheport 85
Dr. William Jewell 93
Missouri Bible College, Columbia 106
Enoch M. Marvin 118
The Rev. W. P. Cochran, Pioneer Presbyterian 123
Westminster College, Fulton 125
Mark Twain 129
Entrance to Mark Twain Cave 131
Eugene Field 133
Missouri Editors and Visitors at Journalism Week, University of
Missouri 135
One of Missouri's Oldest Newspapers 138
xi
xii ILLUSTRATIONS
Women Students in Journalism with Winifred Black 142
Lovers' Leap 145
James S. Rollins 156
Governor Charles H. Hardin 165
Proclamation Admitting Missouri to the Union 170
State Normal School No. 1, Kirksville 179
President Joseph Baldwin 180
An Adair County Coal Mine 181
An Audrain County Saddle Horse 190
Rex McDonald 194
A Haystacking Scene 207
A View of the University of Missouri 253
A View of Missouri University Campus, Showing Old Columns 255
Switzler Hall 258
Lathrop Hall, Dining Club for Students, University of Missouri . . . 260
Academic Hall, University of Missouri 261
Representative Northeast Missouri Landscapes, Views on Farm of
Missouri Agricultural College 267
Dairy Barn of Marshall Gordon, Columbia 274
State Hospital for the Insane, No. 1, Pulton 296
Missouri School for the Deaf, Fulton 298
Afternoon in Harvesting Days 307
Poultry Growing 314
A Mississippi River Boat 335
Arnold's Tavern, Howard County 351
Science Hall, Central College, Fayette 356
James Fresh's Mill 363
A Cattle Feeding Scene .* 382
A Mississippi River Scene 396
At a Northeast Missouri Farm Home 408
Coal Mine in Macon County 434
Cotswold Sheep 446
Jersey Herd 458
A Northeast Missouri Farm Scene 466
JeflE Bridgford 483
The Van Bibber Tavern, Built in 1821 496
Northeast Missouri Apiary 498
A View at Stark Brothers Nursery 512
A Putnam County Coal Mine 524
Northeast Missouri Cattle 532
Missouri Coal 549
Linden wood College, St. Charles 558
Where Daniel Boone Died 563
House Where Legislature Met 565
Mules Ready for Market 595
Scotland County Poultry 618
Old Mill at Wftlkersville 632
Herd of Cattle 649
Missouri 'Possum 662
Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton 668
INDEX
Abbernathey, James R., 468, 472, 474
Academy, Franklin, 5, 19
Adair County— 1, 73, 80, 88, 104, 110;
History of, 171; early settlements,
171; organization, 172; growth, 172;
officers, 172; in the CivU War, 173;
battle of Kirksville, 175; religious
progress, 176; schools, 178; news-
papers, 180; farm interests, 181; coal
mining, 181; railroads, 182; county
towns, 183
Adams, James G., 2011
Adams, President John, 14
Adcock, William M., 1127
Admission to the union, 152
Advisory and Contributing Editors, iii, iy
Agee, Charles A., 900
Agricultural College, 257
Alderton, Ben, 844
Alexander, A. M., 466, 470
Alexander, William H., 1452
AIford,R. Lee, 894
Alford.Mrs. Thompson, 40
Allen, Carl a, 747
Allen, Guy P., 748
Allen, Thomas M., 106
AUen, William, 584
Allsman, Andrew, 64, 457
Anderson, Bill, 50, 65, 66, 220, 497, 544
Anderson, Mrs. E., 686
Anderson, Emmett C, 686
Anderson, Thomas L., 388
Anderson, William B., 1810
Anti-Horse Thief Association, 346
Antram, James W., 808
Arbela, 613
Armstrong, 357
Armstrong, J. W., 1762
Arnold, John P., 1404
Arnold, John W., 1645
Arnold, N. D., 1971
Arnold, Robert, 1409
Arnold, Taylor, 1408
Arnold, Ulysses S. G., 706
Asbury, Francis, 117
Ashland, 236
Atchison, D. R., 158
Athens, Battle of, 344
Atlanta, 434
Audrain county— 1, 73, 80, 88, 102, 109;
History of, 184; organization, 184;
county seat, 186; Judge Edward's
sketch, 187; first county affairs, 190;
early court proceedings, 193; Rex Mc-
Donald, 194; officers, 198; bar, 199;
physicians, 201; pioneer times, 202;
Mexican war, 209; press, 210; Civil
war, 210; Spanish- American war, 223;
Mexico, 223; Vandalia, 226; Martins-
burg, 227; Farber, 228; Laddonia, 228 ;
Rush Hill, 229; Benton City, 229;
Thompson, 229; county's resources,
229
Audrain, James H., 184
Authors, list of, 144
Automobile, first at Boon's Lick, 6
Ayres, Ebenezer, 588
Ayers, George F., 709
Babcock, John, 441
Babcock, John H., 1658
Bagby, David, 1734
Bagby, Robert M., 1830
Bagby, Walter N., 1947
Baker, Frank T., 997
Baker, John R., 998
Baker, Philip M., 991
Balbridge, Hugh, 2090
Baldwin, Pres. Joseph, 180
Ball, David A., 1224
Ball, Laura, 1339
Ball, Sterling S., 334, 840
Ballard, Henry C, 1077
Ballinger, Oliver A., 1884
Bankhead, Joseph E., 1527
Bank of Louisiana, 1643
Baptist churches and Baptists, 89
Baptists, Eminent, 96
Baring, 377
Barnes, E. T., 1634
Barnes, George W., 1883
Barnes, Robert A., 117
Bamett,Mrs. Sallie, 37
Barrett, Brothers, 858
Barrett, C. W., 858
Barrett, Henry H., 858
Barrow, James 0., 2057
Barth, Isador, 1146
Barth, Joseph, 1217
Barth, Victor, 1145
Bartlett, Freeborn E., 1427
Bartlett School for Negroes, 331
Barton, David, 4, 360
Barton, Oswald S., 1993
Bashaw, T. P., 466, 470
Baskett, George V., 898
Baskett, James Newton, 144
ZIU
XIV
INDEX
Ba8kett,John S., 1916
Baskett.N. M., 144
Baskett, William R., 1856
Bass, Lawrence D., 1472
Bassen, Charles F., 2047
Bassen, Joseph, 2019
Bassett, Arthur, 490
Bassett,S. S., 472
Bassett, Samuel S., 1506
Basye, I. Walter, 507, 1437
Ba8ye,John Walter, 511
Batchelor, James £., 1250
Bates, Edward, 11, 51, 572
Bates, Frederick, 4
Bates, Onward, 566
Beagles, John W., 1481
Beasley's Academy, 250
Beaven, Sterling P., 823
Becknell, Captain Wm., 82, 156
Bedford, Edwin W., 1754
Beeby, Charles J., 888
Bell, Charles E., 715
Bellflower, 503
Bell. John B., 1770
Bell, John P., 1038
Bell, Morris F., 1113
Bell, Ovid, 283, 1690
Bell, William T., 1558
Benjamin, John F., 625
Benning, Olaus P., 1103
Benton City, 229
Benton, Thomas Hart, 4, 157
Berry, Charles H., 1079
Berry, Clarence H., 1646
Berry, Gaither, 1684
Besgrove, Alfred, 1477
Besgrove,G. H., 1804
Bethel, 633
Bethel College, 95
Bevier, Col. R. S., 143
Bible College, 250
Biggs, Betsy, 28
Biggs, David C, 1419
Biggs, Edward, 886
Biggs, Marion C, 1564
Biggs, Marion 0., 698
Biggs, William J., 441
Big Spring, 493
Bingham, George C, 11, 59
Bingham, John W., 2003
Bitter, Carl, 707
Black, John H., 1286
Black, Winifred, 142
Blackman, Charles, 723
Blackman, John R., 720
Blackman, Theodore C, 721
Blackwell, Benjamin F., 1190
Blair, Frank P., 165
Blakely,A. B., 1783
Blakely & Markland, 1783
Blanchette, Louis, 4. 553
Bland, Richard P., 168
Blanton, B. F., 472
Bledsoe, John, 1711
Blees Military Academy, 427
Bloebaum, William F., 708
Bloom ington, 436
BlufTton. 503
Bodine, R. N., 466, 470
Bodine, Thomas V., 464, 1571
Boggs, James E., 766
Boland, Frederick, 1521
Boland, William M., 771
Bond, Wallace L., 2051
Bondurant, William E. H., 942
Boney, Arthur T., 1569
Boney, James T., 1420
Boney, Walter G., 1591
Boney, William J., 1419
Bonfoey, Beverly H., 1003
Bonfoey, Beverly L., 1004
Bonfoey, B. H., 523
Bonne Femme Academy, 93, 273
Bonne Femme Church, Little, 92
Boone county — 1, 3, 5, 73, 80, 88, 103,
107. organization of, 231; early towns.
231; Smithton, 232; Columbia, 232;
Rocheport, 233; Stonesport, 234; Per-
* sia, 234; Nashville, 234; Petersburg,
235; Burlington, 235; Boonsborough,
235; Summerville, 235; Bourbonton,
235; later towns, 236; Ashland, 236;
Centralia, 236; Sturgeon, 236; other
towns. 237; ancestry, 237; taverns,
237; first funeral, 238; first courts,
239; early stage drivers, 240; fair as-
sociations, 241; high water, 242; fond-
ness for celebrating, 242; July 4 at
Smithton. 242; Whig meeting, 243;
Centennial celebrations, 243 ; other cel-
ebrations, 243; public meetings, 246;
court houses. 247; liquor laws, 249;
old settlers, 250; military school, 250;
Beasley's Academy, 250; hospital, 250;
Bible college, 250; commercial club,
251; newspapers, 251; State Univer-
sity, 252; Ira P. Nash, 262; roads,
265; early wars, 269; Civil war, 270;
' Thomas B. Gentry, 272; early schools,
273; Christian College, 273; Stephens
College, 274; Model farm, 274; rail-
roads, 275; cemetery, 276; tales of an
old timer, 276; James L. Stephens,
278; Col. Wm.*F. Switzler, 280; Robt.
L. Todd, 280; Boyle Gordon, 281; Moss
Prewitt. 281; eminent citizens, 282
Boone, Daniel, 4, 5, 11, 15, 16, 231, 561,
681
Boone, Daniel M., 5 *
Boone, Nathan, 5
Boonesborough, 235
Boon's Lick, 5, 6, 24, 73, 82
Boon's Lick Country, 350
Boon's Lick road, 5, 74, 76, 77, 78, 82, 83
Botsford, Sheldon E., 1706
Botts, F. John, 791
Botts, William J., 967
Botts, William W\, 1169
Boulware, Theodrick, 293
Boundary dispute, with Iowa, 9
Bounds, Isaac L., 1039
Bourbonton, 235
Bourn, J. J., 748
Bouvet, Maturin, 5, 84, 446
Boving, Charles B., 752
Bower, Gustavus M., 1844
Bowles, John J., 2012
Bowling Green, 521
Box Ankle, 436
Boyd, Hugh, 1659
INDEX
XV
Boyd, John W., 1431
Boyd, William S., 1344
Brace, Penn, 1851
Brace, Theodore, 214, 484
Bradley, Dudley T., 1492
Bradney, Louis Q., 1836
Bradshaw, Burrel M., 825
Bradsher, Alver J., 1603
Brainerd, Epaphroditus, 980
Brann, John T., 979
BranBtetter, Adam G., 1328
Brasfield, James L., 914
Brasfield, Richard M., 689
Brashear, 183
Bridges, Alvah C, 1119
Bridges & Bridges, 1119
Bridges, James R., 1302
Bridges, William, 1119
Bridgford, Jefferson. 469, 482. 483
Briggs, Josiah E., 1429
Bright, Michael, 764
Briscoe, Anne, 31
Briscoe, John B., 1919
Briscoe, Margaret, 1921
Broadhead, James O.. 11
Broadhead, Garland C, 1682
Brockman, Jonathan C, 1766
Brookfield, 410
Brooks, Thomas A., 1354
Brown, Mrs. Amelia X., 361, 1256
Brown, B. Gratz, 165
Brown, Edwin S., 1257
Brown, John C, 1156
Brown, John E., 1714
Brown, J. W., 1555
Browning, 411
Bruere, Theodore C, 1503
Bruere, Theodore C, Jr., 1505
Brunswick, 318
Bryson, William N., 730
Buchanan, John H., 988
Buchanan, Robert, 2029
Buchanan William J., 788
Bucklin, 411
Buckner, A. H., 986
Buckner, William F., 1397
Buford, DelauB J., 1229
Buford, George W., 1204
Buford, W^ellington L., 1216
Bumbarger, John V., 1006
Burckhartt, George D., 1599
Burckhartt, Judge George H., 428
Burckhartt, Henry T., 1756
Burgess, Judge G. D., 417
Burlington, 235
Burnett, Joe, 531
Burnett, Joseph, 1149
Burning of the University, 260
Burns, A. D., 1780
Burton, 357
Burton, James M., 1808
Bush,F. W., 2075
Bush, John T., 1399
Bush, Middleton S., 1132
Bush, William B.. 1356
Butler, J. H., 1752
Cable, John G.. 2020
Cadets University, 66
Caldwell, Col. H. C, 487
Caldwell, Edgar W\, 968
Caldwell, Green V., 467
Caldwell, Robert B., 847
Callaway, Capt. James, 495
Callaway County— 1, 5, 73, 81, 88, 103;
History of, 284; Kingdom, 284; Cote
Sans Dessein, 284; first permanent
settlements, 285; organization, 286;
courthouses, 288; ministers and
churches, 289; pioneer life, 293; pop-
ulation and politics, 294; some old
towns, 294; in war times, 295; earliest
newspaper, 295 ; State Hospital for the
Insane, 297; Missouri School for the
Deaf, 299; Westminster College, 300;
Floral Hill College, 301; first railroad,
301; Civil war, 302; Chicago & Alton
railroad, 303; Synodical College, 304;
William Woods College, 304; Callaway
County today, 305
Callaway, Flanders, 659, 666
Callaway's fort, 675
Camerer, Frank, 739
Camp, Jackson, 58, 162
Campbell, Alexander, 467
Campbell, Robert A., 1268
Campbell, Robert W., 694
Campbell, William A., 583
Campbell, William M., 584
Canton, 390
Capital, Old Missouri, 9, 16
Carman, Isaac N., 2052
Carpenter, David B., 1219
Carpenter, William W., 1440
Carroll, John B., 1385
Carson, Hunter, V., 1991
Carson, Kit, 11, 353
Carstarphen, E. Thom., 1707
Carter, John L., 1842
Carter, Robert C, 818
Carter, Thomas E., 986
Casady, Julius L., 1279
Catholic church, history of, 96
Catlett, James W., 1666
Cave,E. S., 998
Cave, Mark Twain, 131
Cave. Nick T., 1002
Cecil, Rufus G., 878
Cedar creek, 73
Centennial celebrations, 243
Center, 536
Central College, 355
Central Wesleyan College, 669
Central Wesleyan Orphan Home, 671
Centralia, 236
Central ia massacre, 66, 175, 271
Chamier, Arthur B., 1654
Chandler, Abraham E., 1188
Chariton County— 1, 73, 81, 88, 101, 110.
History of, 306; Area, 306; first set-
tlers, 307; Fort Orleans, 307; Old
Chariton, 308; first circuit court, 312;
pioneer life, 313; Muster days, 314;
Monticello, 315; the Point, 316;
Keytesville, 316; postoffices, 318;
Brunswick, 318; commercial, industrial
and agricultural, 321; Mexican war,
322; California gold seekers, 322; high
w^ater, 323; phvsical features, 324;
Civil war, 324; Salisbury, 327; Trip-
lett, 329; newspapers, 329; schools,
330; county towns, 331; railroads,
332.
Chariton, Old, 308
XVI
INDEX
Chariton, river, 72
Chatauqua Assembly, Meadville, 416
Childers,H. F., 394
Childers, W. H., 2091
Chiles, Robert N., 1004
Cholera, 545
Chowning, James R., 1865
Christian churches, history of, 105
Christian College, 273
Christian, W. D., 472
Christian, Wallace D., 1837
Churches, 16, 17, 42, 88, 176, 289, 345,
^59, 364, 401, 425, 467, 470, 500, 521,
529, 545, 597, 610, 615, 627, 655, 666
Churches and Congregations, statistics
of, 88
Civil war, in time of, 46
Clapp, John W., 1800
Clarence, 632
Clark, Boyle G., 1825
Clark, Champ, 685
Clark county— 1, 73, 82, 88, 98, 108;
History of,* 334; topography, 334; early
exploration, 335; first settlers, 336;
Black Hawk war, 337; public lands,
337; agricultural association, 337; or-
ganization, 338; capitol, 338; debt,
339; wealth, 341; elections, 342; pop-
ulation, 342 ; slavery, 342 ; circuit court,
342; politics, 343; Missouri-Iowa war,
343; battle of Athens, 344; schools,
345; churches, 345; press, 345; anti-
horse thief association, 346; fraternal
societies, 346; banks, 346; officers, 346;
courts and lawyers, 347
Clark, Gen. George Rogers, 14
Clark, General John B., 543
Clark, Governor William, 492
Clark, J. Alva, 1819
Clark, Major Christopher, 395
Clark, William, 8, 151
Clark's Fort, 396
Clarksville, 521
Clatterbuck, James H., 2048
Clatterbuck, John W., 1948
Clay, Marion L., 687
Clay,0. C, 389
Cleaver, John S., 1939
Clemens, Samuel L., 11, 128, 465, 468,
477
Clem8on,A. B., 1763
Clemson, Mrs. N. J., 1764
Clithero, John A., 1340
Coatsville, 605
Cochran, The Rev. W. P., 123, 471
Cochran, William Jr., 1981
Coil, Benjamin J., 1720
College Mound, 432
CoUer, Jordan, 1463
Collet, James A., 1914
Collier, Henry A., 839
Columbia, 232
Columbia College, 273
Columbia Commercial Club, 251
Columbia Female Academy, 273
Communistic Colony, 633
Concord, 295
Conditions under French and ^Spanish,
148
Conger, Clarence, 849
Conley, Milton R., 789
Conley, Sanford F., 753
Conley, S. J., 1207
Connelsville, 183
Considine, Joe, 1662
Constitution, Drake, 64
Contributing Editors, Advisory and, —
Conyers, Major Thomas W., 465
Cook, Elder J. W., 143
Coontz,John F., 802
Coontz, Mrs. Lewis, 31
Cooper, ColoAel Benjamin and Sarshall,
1, 89
Corduroy roads, 79, 83
Cornell, Benjamin F., 830
Correll, Richard R., 1569
Cote Sans Dessein, 284
Cottey, Louis F., 1960
Cottey, William M., 1090
Cottleville, 559
Coulter, William D., 1566
County organization, 8
Cowan, The Rev, John F., 120
Cowan, John F., 1494
Cozad, Francis E., 787
Crabb, Thomas P., 1566
Craig, Amanda, 1957
Craig, William C, 1485
Craighead, David C, 963
Cramer, Robert D., 993
Crawford, 614
Creech, Brevator J., 1693
Crewdson, James W., 1090
Crews, Robert N., 1126
Crews, William E., 1186
Crews, Zach, 1872
Crigler, George C, 1728
Crooks, Noah, 732
Crow, Capt. Jim, 489
Croy, Homer, 139
Cruikshank, John J., 2028
Crum, Matthias, 940
Crumly, Asa C, 883
Crump, Robert H., 1517
Cuivre river, 72
Culwell, Joseph H., 1341
Curl, The Rev. John, 655
Currie, Frank, 1421
Curry, John W., 1505, 1668
Curtright, Charles H., 1054
Custer, Daniel M., 724
Custer, J. C, 2042
Dalton, 331
Daniel, Charles G., 901
Daniels, David P., 1321
Danville, burning of, 497
Danville College, 500
Davenport, David R., 1880
Davis, Arthur L., 1068
Davis, Charles M., 754
Davis, Joseph, 543
Davis, N. V. W., 1601
Davis, Judge Samuel, 133
Davis, Thomas B., 714
Davis, William N., 1636
Davis, Winchester, 1739
Deaf, Missouri School for, 299
Dean, Henry Clay, 135
Deaver, Ashley C., 1848
DeCapito, Wm. Sl Son, 1766
Deer Ridge, 391
INDEX
xvu
Defoe, Lutber M., 1457
Delventhal, John W., 1162
Demoney, William T., 1375
Denneny, John, 1782
Denneny, Joseph B., 1771
Denny, iUez, 1574
Denny, Mrs. Belle, 1942
Denny, Clifton E., 1942 '
Denny, John A., Jr., 1789
Denny, John A., Sr., 1784
DeTienne, Frederick B., 831
Dickerson, Hiel L., 1520
Dickerson, Major Obadiah, 621
Diemer, George W., 1966
Dieterich, August H., 869
Dillon, John J., 1212
Dimmitt, Walter B., 626
Dingle, James S., 2024
Districts, Special road, 87
Dockery, Governor A. M., 417
Dod, Albert G., 1638
Dodge, Thomas A., 2040
Dodge, T. A., 647
Dodson, I. B., 2096
Doniphan, Gen. A. W., 26
Donner, A. D., 1211
Dooley, Alonzo G., 1866
Dooley, James H., 1829
Dorian, James C, 1240
Dor8ey,G. B., 692
Dorsey, R. Walker, 850
Dougherty, James L., 1829
Dowell, E. A., 387
Dowell, Emmert A., 1696
Dowell, James, 1633
Downing, 604
Downing, Thomas J., 1562
Downing, William G., 615
Doyle, Joseph, 631
Drain, V. L., 631
Drake, Dr. John S., 476
Dryden, L. J., 680
Duden, Gottfried, 6
Dulany, G. W., 1989
Dulany, William H., 26, 1985
Dulaney, Daniel and William, 470
Duncan, R. S. 143
Dunl^in, Daniel, 4
Dunn, J. L., 1467
Durham, 392
Dutzow, 675
Dye, Frank P., 1304
Dyer, David P., 2080
Dyer,D. P., 137
Dysart, Benjamin R., 429
Dysart, Dr. Ben, 469
Dysart, William P., 856
Eastin, Rufus, 4, 582
Eby, David H., 2032
Economic and social progress, 154
Edelen, Benedict H., 1036
Edina, 374
Editors, Advisory and contributing, iii, iv
Editors, Missouri at Journalism week,
135
Edmonston, James O., 749
Education, of women, 35
Edwards, Brice, 704
Edwards family, the, 589
Edwards, John C., 158
Edwards, John C, 933
Edwards, Dr. J. C, 553
Edwards, Judge S. M., 187, 200
Eidson, Dr.. A. J., 137, 139
EUiot, WUlUm F., 1339
Ellis, Howard, 492, 1475
Ellis, James W., 1295
Ellis, William B., 1722
Ellison, Judge Andrew, 428
Ellison, George W., 875
Ellison, James, 388
Elmer, 435
Elsberry, 404
Elsea, Benjamin, F., 1871
Elsea, Felix, G., 1886
Ely, Martin I., 1954
Ely, William L., 1905
Emancipation, 164
Emmons, Benjamin, 565
Emmons, James H., 995
Emmons, St. Qair P., 1191
Engle, John, 1811
English settlers, 1, 7
Ennis, Joseph, 626
Enterprise, 411
Episcopal, church, history of. 111
Ernst, Frederick J., 1936
Errett, Joseph J., 108
Erwin, John L., 923
Estes, Ambrose J., 1160
Estes, Benjamin F., 1496
Estes, Richard S., 1203
Estes, Thomas J., 1535
Estill, 355
Estill, Richard G., 1989
Estill, Wallace, 2008
Ethel, 435
Eubanks, Clarence F., 1982
Ewing, 392
Ewing,Miss Ella, 619
Ewing, Joel, 1251
Ewing, William H., 1695
Ewing, W. H., 1025
Fabius river, 72
Faessler, Mrs. C, 1316
Faessler, John, Jr., 1315
Fagg, Judge T. J. C, 509
Farber, 228
Farm, Model, 274
Farrell,J. Fletcher, 466
Farrell,John J., 1927
Farrell, William, 490
Farrell, William M., 1854
Farris, James A., 1861
Fayette, 355
Ferguson, John, 1749
Field, Eugene, 11, 132
Field, R. M., 134
Fife, Leon F., 1777
Fightmaster, William H., 917
Finks, Joseph H., 1946
First English settlements, 1, 7
First railroad, 23
Firth, Anna, 1660
Firth, William,l 659
Fisher, Mrs. J. E., 2060
Fisher, Robert E., 1134
Fitzgerrell, John S., 1567
Flag, first Southern, 54
Flagg, B. D., 2073
XVlll
INDEX
Flangherty, James, 566
Fleener, John, 1488
Fleet, Jno. B., 1448
Fletcher, Henry, 1932
Flint, The Rev. Timothy, 6
Floods, 242, 323
Floral Hill College, 301
Florida, town of, 465, 468
Fogle, C. C, 1262
Folk, Governor J. W., 169
Foor, Fred E., 1177
Ford, John, 889
Fore, Charles P., 893
Forest Green, 332
Forquer, Isaac A., 1233
Forrist, William 0., 992
Fort Orleans, 307
Fountain Grove, 411
Fowler, C. R., 1254
Fowler, Richard H., 1456
Fox, Mrs. Cephas, 465
Fox, Mrs. Susan, 33
Frame, Clarence N., 770
Francis, Governor David R., 168
Frank, Joshua C, 1862
Franklin, 5, 19, 20, 71, 78
Franklin, Nelson A., 921
Franklin, New, 355
Franklin, Old, 352, 354
Frazer, Mrs. Laura, 38
French, Edwin L., 1265
French, H. Pinckney, 1313
French settlers, 3, 6, 7
Fresh, James, 362
Frick, John H., 1157
Frier, S. W. T., 1094
Frost, Frank N., 1312
Frost, Mrs. Lily Herald, 27, 1312
Fry, William W., 1170
Fulton, 288
Furr, C. C, 1761
Galwith, Miss Settle, 1415
Gamble, Hamilton R., 163
Gant, Henry T., 1296
Gansz, Philip, 1768
Gantner, Joseph, F. &, Son, 2072
Gardenhire, James 6., 51
Garhart, Clarence W., 2070
Garhart,Jay M., 1962
Garner, John S., 1792
Garrett, Clifford S., 1723
Garrett, Joseph W., 1634
Garth, Walter W., 1703
Garth, W. W. Jr., 1704
Garvin, Joseph L., 1445
Garwood, John J., 1512
Gatson, John S., 959
Geery, David, 1912
Gentle, Doke, 1990
Gentry, Mrs. Ann, 259
Gentry, Enoch N., 826
Gentry, North T., 231, 779
Gentry, Richard, 776
Gentry, Thomas B., 272, 778
Gentry, William R,, 781
Gentry, V. B., 855
Gerdeman's Store, 676
German immigration, 6, 589
Geyer, Henry S., 158
Gibbons, Paul K., 1253
Gibbs, 183 '
Gilbert, C. G., 1892
Gilbert, Samuel, 531
Gill, May T., 1713
Gill, Samuel C, 1818
Gill, Thomas F., 1815
Gillam, John C, 1732
Gillispie, Henry G., 983
Gillispie, William W., 983
Gillum,Mark M., 1560
Gillum, Simeon N., 741
Givens, Joseph W., 1455
Glascock, Hiram, 22
Glascock, Stephen, 464
Glasgow, 355
Glasgow, battle of, 67
Glenn, Ed A., 1380
Glenn, Hugh, 465, 466
Glenwood, 604
Glover, Col. John M., 57
Glover, Peter G., 23
Gold seekers, California, 24, 322, 364,
545
Goodier, Robert H., 1664
Goodman, Manoah S., 1460
Goodman, Peter J., 1338
Goodman, Richard H., 1660
Goodman, William A., 1661
Gordon, Boyle, 281
Gordon, Carey H., 1140
Gordon, John B., 1154
Gordon, Julia L., 1141
(Gordon, Marshall, 274, 1152
Gordon. Turner S.. 845
Gore, Dr. Abner E., 469
Gore, Dr. D. C, 469
Gorin, 611
Goslin's Lane, Battle of, 270
Government in territorial period, 150
Graffert, John, 1326
Graff ert, Thomas, 1306
Graham, Amanda C, 1957
Graham, Eli D., 976
Graham, Robert E., 1956
Grand river, 72
Granger, 613
Grant, Benjamin G., 1401
Grant, Edward W., 1118
Grant, Emmett J., 1260
Grant, Samuel, 1258
Grant, U. S., 55, 212, 487, 617, 641
Grantsville, 411
Graves, Charles H., 1995
Graves, John T.. 1751
Graves, Sea ton E., 1604
Gray, Marcus L., 1373
Gray, The Rev. M. L., 115
Green City. 657
Green, Duff, 311
Green, James S., 11, 56, 386. 477
Green, Col. Martin E„ 56, 57. 59, 68
Greenlee Frank E., 953
Greenley, Lee, 1237
Greenley, Thomas W., 1083
Greentop, 604
Greggers, Peter D., 841
Gregory, Elijah M.. 1080
Gridley, Bert L., 867
Grimes, Francis M., 1983
Groves. Samuel C. 1482
Guerrillas, 66
INDEX
XIX
Guffey, George H., 1081
Guffey, James B., 833
Guitar, David, 1249
Guitor,Odoii, 47, 61, 62, 68
Guitar, William H., 1249
Gunnell, James A., 1231
Guthrie, Ben E., 419, 1449
Guthrie, B. F., 1980
Guthrie, Sterling P., 928
Hackmann, George E., 1159
Haden, Robert W., 1590
Hadley, Governor H. S., 169
Haigler, Elihu F., 909
Hairston, John R., 1758
Hale, Robert G., 1000
Haley, The Rev. T. P., 105
Haley, Thomas P., 1767
Hall, Uriel S., 1077
Hall, Judge William A., 428
Halleck, Gen. H. W., 58
Hammett, James L., 2044
Hammett,J. P., 1938
Hamilton Brothers. 1478
Hamilton, Ernest H., 2072
Hamilton, George W., 142
Hamilton, Jack, 1479
Hamilton, James, 1479
Hannaca, William L., 1773
Hanni, Nicholas, 710
Hannibal, 460
Hardin, Charles H., 11, 53, 94, 165, 199,
200, 299, 1215
Hardin, Mrs. Charles H., 35, 93
Hardin College, 32, 94, 225
Hargis, J. F., 955
Harris, Charles H., 805
Harris, David H., 769
Harris, James, 767
Harris, John, 1545
Harris, Thomas, 484
Harris, T. A., 55, 56
Harris-Trigg Coal Company, 1143
Harris, William B., 1125
Han* Aon, Albert G., 294
Harrison, Crockett, 1549
Harrison, John, 1299
Harrison, John S., 1510
Harrison, Samuel J., 2035
Harrison, Samuel P., 1405
Harrison, Tyre P., 1546
Harrison, William P., 2034
Harvey, George G., 1795
Harvey, Ransom, 1442
Hatch, William H., 2077
Hawkins, James F., 2097
Hawkins, Richard J., 1221
Hawkins, Waldo P., 759
Hawkins, William G., 758
Hawkinson, W. 0., 1765
Hay, Charles M., 1135
Hayes, Charles H., 1041
Hayes, Joseph A., 921
Heald, Major Nathan, 581, 585
Healy, Richard J., 916
Helferstine, John A., 892
Helm, Cyrus T., 2031
Helm, John B., 2030
Helm, Jobn C, 2031
Hell's Kitchen, 648
Hempstead, Edward, 582
Henderson, Jasper, 1876
Henderson, John B., 215
Henderson, Lane B., 1465
Hendrix, Bishop E. R., 115, 119
Hendrix, Whitley G., 1615
Hennepin, Louis, 4, 444
Henry, C. P., 1974
Henry, John L., 854 •
Henry, Judge John W\, 428
Henry, Marcellus W., 1072
Henwood, Berryman, 1966
Hereford, R. Graham, 1515
Hermit, Montgomery County, 496
Hickman, Capt. David H., 465
Hicks, Anthony N., 1064
Hicks, Lloyd H., 1187
Hicks, Redding R., 1035
Higbee, 550
Higginbotham, Thomas J., 852
High Hill, 503
Hilbert, Arthur, 843
Hilbert, Arthur and E. C, 378
Hilbert, Emert C-, 843
Hilbert & Hilbert, 843
Hilbert, Walter M., 1181
Hill, A. S., 1968
Hill, Curtis, 87, 1870
Hill, W. J., 2033
Hills, Glen, 1697
Hinman, John E., 1592
Hinton, Edward W., 1062
Hinton, James P., 2021
Historical Society of Missouri, State, 46
Historical Society, State, 232
Hockaday, John A., 11
Hockaday, Judge Irvine 0., 287
Hockaday, Judge John A., 287
Holland, Dr. Jacob, 647
Holliday, 474
Holliday, Joseph, 464
Hollman, Henry H., 944
Holman, Henry F., 1346
Holman, William, 1600
Holstein, 675
Holt, Ed. S., 1998
Honey war, 9
Hospital No. 1, State, 297
Hostetter, Emos F., 1619
Hostetter, Jefferson D., 701
Houf, Henry S., 1680
Howard, B. F., 1775
Howard county— 1, 5, 73, 82, 84, 88, 101,
105; History of, 348; early settlers,
349; Boon's Lick country, 350; Arn-
old's tavern, 351; organization, 352;
first county officers, 353; Kit Carson,
353; Old Franklin, 354; county towns,
355; bar, 357; press, 357; war, 358;
county today, 359; schools, 359;
churches, 359; politics, 360; eminent
citizens, 360
Howard, Governor Benjamin, 1
Howard, Joseph, 1779
Howard-Payne College, 34, 355
Howat, John, 1529
Howell, Frances, 586
Howelman, Guss E., 1760
Hoxsey, Thomas J., 1303
Huckstep, John C, 795
Hudson, Berry, 1964
Hudson, James A., 1209
INDEX
Hudson, John R., 970
Hudson, Thomas C, 1674
Hughes, J. Romeo, 1742
Hughes, Rupert, 134
Hughes, William J., 1777
Hukriede, T. W., 681
Hulett, Thomas K., 1595
Hull, Lewis C, 1292
Hulse, Ben E., 1588
Hume, John 0., 1791
Hume, Reuben B., 1769
Humphreys, 657
Hunnewell, 632
Hunolt, John M., 1281
Hunt, Ezra, 680
Hunt, Mrs. G. W., 143
Hunt, Sanford C, 763
Hunter, Gen. David, 58
Huntsville, 543, 550
Hurd, Thomas F., 1831
Hurdland, 376
Hurlbut, Gen. S. A., 55, 56, 57, 58
Huston, Charles S., 1292
Huston, John W., 725
Hutton,J. E., 201
Hutton, John R., 1200
nasco, 536
Immigration, early, 5; German, 6
Indian Creek, 473
Indians, 1, 31
Ingels, Rosa R., 797
Iowa, boundary dispute with, 9
Iron, William A., 1887
Irvine, Ernest A., 1308
Irwin, Joseph F., 1043
Irwin, T. H., 1969
Jackson, Claiborne F., 11, 51, 53, 55
Jackson, Hancock, 51, 464
Jackson, J. B. W., 2078
Jackson, Marshall L., 932
Jackson, resolutions, 51, 158
Jackson, William R. P., 1877
Jacobs, William T., 697
James, Alexander C, 1608
Jameson, John, 294
Jameson, Samuel, 1551
Jarman, Edgar A., 945
Jasper, Anthony A., 1633
Jefferson Monument, 7, 243
Jefferson, President Thomas, 8, 14, 15
Jennings, Perry W., 881
Jesse, Frank R., 1480
Jesse, Henry R., 1156
Jester, Alexander, 475
Jewell, Dr. William, 93
Jewett, William 0. L., 620, 1013
Johnson, Francis M., 1167
Johnson, James T., 950
Johnson, Jeremiah R., 774
Johnson, Joseph R., 877
Johnson, John, 1266
Johnson, John D., 810
Johnson, Thomas H., 1078
Johnson, Thomas I., 1218
Johnson, William T., 1144
Joliet, 4, 70
Jonesburg, 477
Jonesburg, 502
Jones, Henry H., 999
Jones, James B., 1676
Jones, James X., 719
Jones, Col, Jefferson F., 302
Jones, Jesse B., 1730
Jones, Lorenzo, 728
Jones, Michael J., 1622
Jones, Thomas H., 1084
Jones, William B., 2023
Jordan, James C, 1450
Kansas troubles, 159
Kaster, Nathan P., 1671
Kaufman, Edward, 1653
Keil, Dr. WiUiam, 633
Keith, J. F., 828
Keithly, Edwin W., 1921
Kelly, F. L., 2038
Kelly, Harrison L., 1325
Kelly, Leonard W., 1593
Keltner,.H. E., 1778
Kemper, Simon P., 1147
Kenepp, John A., 1794
Kennan,Miss Carrie J., 1349
Kennan, William H., 199, 1348
Kennedy, Leonard D., 1624
Kennen, Edward C, 1495
Kern, Emanuel G., 1975
Kerr, Prof. W. D., 299
Keytesville, 316
Kimbrell, Basil B., 1130
King, Dr. Willis P., 142
Kingdom of Callaway, 302
Kirby, Albert L., 1747
Kirk, Pres. John R., 179
Kirksville, 183
Kirksville, battle of, 61, 175
Kissinger, James H., 1423
Kline, Harold B., 815
Knight, George P., 1168
Knott, John A., 2107
Knox City, 376
Knox county— 1, 73, 83, 88, 98; his-
tory of, 361; organization, 361; first
settlers, 362; Fresh's mill, 363; mar-
riages, 364; preachers, 364; goN fe-
ver, 364; Civil war, 364; roads, 366;
courts, 369; physicians, 370; dentists,
371; newspapers, 371; banks, 372;
schools, 373; mills, 374; county towns,
374; the county as a whole, 377
Knox, David, 496
Koch, The Rev. H. A., 669
Kohler, A. W., 2016
Koontz, Elmer L., 1138
Kouns, Major N. C, 297
Kreige, Otto E., 1447
Kunkel, Henry, 1700
La Belle, 392
Lackland, Henry C, 586
Laclede, 412
Laclede, landing of, 9
Laddonia, 228
LaFrance, Marcus P., 1715
La Grange, 392
La Grange College, 94, 393, 1442
Lakenan, 633
Lamb, Charles T., 1606
Lamb, Fred, 2064
Lamb, Gilbert, 2066
Lamme, George, 1471
<
INDEX
XXI
LaMotte, W. 0., 1790
Lancaster, 603
Langtry, Hillary, 1133
LaniuB, James A., 2026
LaPlata, 434
La Salle, 70
Lathrop, John H., 11
Lawyers, pioneer, 19
Leavens, Milton £., 1123
Lee, Charles H., 1755
Legendre, John, 2055
Lehmann, F. W., 207
Lemen, Samuel P., 876
Lemon, Edward C, 1314
Lemon, Lon L., 1882
Lentner, 633
Leonard, Abiel, 11
Lessley, Harvey B., 1797
Lessley, William T., 1772
Lewis county, 1, 73, 83, 89, 100, 108;
history of, 378; first settlers, 378;
pioneer public affairs, 380; early set-
tlements, 383; Civil war, 383; since
the war, 385; political history, 385;
citizens in high office, 386; river and
railroads, 387; bar, 388; county towns,
389
Lewis and Clark expedition, 73, 557
Lewis, Charles W., 1350
Lewis College, 357
Lewis, James A., 1346
Lewis, Meriwether, 8, 151
Lewis, Richard E., 1667
Lewistown, 391
Libby, Henry A., 1553
Lilly, James, 1331
Lilly, Joseph C.,. 1655
Limerick, Arthur E., 1011
Lincoln county— 1, 74, 83, 85, 89, 99, 108;
history of, 394; physical features, 394;
early settlements, 395; War of 1812,
396; organization, 397; county court
proceedings, 398; Slicker war, 400;
Civil war, 400; educational, 401;
churches, 401; raih-oads, 403; towns,
404; political, 404
Lincoln, President Abraham, 53
Lindenwodd College, 126, 559
Link, Forrest O., 1579
Linn county— 1, 74, 83, 89, 101, 110;
history of, 406; separate body politic,
406; early courts, 406; pioneer set-
tlers, 407; first resident of Linneus,
408; first horse mill, 409; first court
bouse, 409; second court houde, 410;
two railroad divisions, 410; other
towns, 411; representatives, 413; state
senators, 414; other officers, 414;
courts, 415; assemblies, 416; new
courthouse, 416; men and events, 4^
Linneus, 412
Linneus, first resident of, 408
Linville, Charles B., 1248
Literature of the Land, The, 128
Living, cost of, 9
Lloyd, Frisby L., 863
Lloyd, James T., 387, 644
Locke, Benjamin L., 1044
Lockhart, J. M., 1513
Logan, Harry K., 2015
Long, James A., 1543
Long, Louellen Z., 1065
Long, William H., 879
Louisiana, 521
Louisiana Light & Power Company, 1099
Louisiana Purchase, 8, 149
Loutre Island, 493
Love, Robertus, 141
Lowell, James Richmond, 1389
Lowry, Andrew H., 713
Lynes, Samuel V., 985
Lyon, Henry C, 952
Lucas, J. B. C, 151
Lucerne, 529
MacFarlane, Alice O., 1046
MacFarlane, George B., 199, 1045
Machir, John, 851
Mackey, Charles A., 1943
Mackey, Irvin J., 1524
Mackey, James C., 1530
Mackey, Parson C, 1524
Macon, 437
Macon county— 1, 74, 84, 89, 102, 110;
history of, 419; physical features,
419; early settlements, 420; organiza-
tion, 421; railroads, 421; pioneer life,
422; quilting parties and log rollings,
422; prairie fires, 425; peace and or-
der, 425; religion, 425; education, 426;
medical profession, 427; bench and
bar, 428; politics and interstate war,
429 ; towns and villages, 432 ; business
and industry, 438; banks, 440; after
the war, 441
Macon execution, 64
MacQueen, Lawrence I., 1291
Madison, Brooks W. B., 1336
Maffry, Chris R., Jr., 1785
Magee, James W., 1275
Magee, Samuel M., 1277
Magruder, John N., 1849
Mahan, George A., 132, 443, 1978
Mairs, W. J., 2074
Major, Elliott, 217, 484
Major, Elliott W., 1787
Major, James R., 1822
Map, of Northeast ^Missouri, 10
Mapes, Seth L., 1539
Marceline, 411
Marchand, Francis L., 387, 782
Marchand, George W., 836
Marchand, William K., 745
Marion, College, 124
Marion county — 1, 5, 74, 84, 89, 99, 108;
history of, 443 ; under three flags, 443 ;
Indians and French, 444; when set-
tlement began, 445; the firsts, 450;
organization, 450; road building, 451;
officers in early days, 451; early court
proceedings, 452; Black Hawk war,
453; river navigation, 453; railroads,
454; Civil war, 455; William Muldrow,
457; county today, 458; Palmyra, the
county seat, 459; Hannibal, 460
Mark Twain, 11, 39, 128, 465, 468, 477
Markland, A. P., 1783
Markland, Levi P., 1786
Markland, William L., 1790
Marquette, 3, 4, 70
Marshall, Hugh D., 918
Marshall, Neal B., 906
XXll
INDEX
MarthaBville, 675
Martin, Charlea £., 1556
Martin, Noah, 946
Martin, Walter A., 1813
Martin, William H., 866
Martinsburg, 227
Marvin, Bishop E. M., 11, 118
Mason, William J., 1351
Masters, DeWitt, 2006
Matchet, James F., 1840
Matlick, Rachel, 1272
Matson, Alfred P., 1410
Matson, Enoch G., 1377
Matson's Mill, 531
Maughs, James E., 1117
Maughs, Jesse L., 1635
May, Robert A., 1232
Mayhall, George E., 1610
Mayhall, William F., 812
Mayo, George A., 1598
Maywood, 392
Maxwell, John H. H., 1179
Maxwell, Thomas B., 861
McAfee, John, 53, 56
McAlester, Andrew W., 1439
McAllister, Frank W., 1888
McBee, William, 1965
McBride, Eben W., 468
McBride, P. H., 193, 481
McCall, Sparrel, 1120
McCall, William K., 962
McCall, W. K., 1702
McCallister, Josephus, 2066
McCallister, William A., 1123
McCampbell, Robert S., 1994
McCarroll, Edgar C, 972
McClanahan, R. H., 2099
McOintic, Robert S., 1924
McCluer, Robert, 584
McClure, Robert L., 1803
McClurg, Joseph W., 165
McColm, James K., 1176
McComas, A. R., 1243
McCullough, Harry, 1741
McCully, Martha, 1706
McCuUy, Samuel B., 1705
McCune, Adniron Judson, 1383
McCune College, 95
McCune, Guy, 1317
McCune, James G., 1318
McCune, J. R. S., 764
McCune, William G., 1316
McDannold, Edgar, 1426
McDannold, James A., 1692
McDannold, William R., 1534
McDearmon, James R., 23
McDermott, James W., 1113
McFadden, Mildred S., 144
McFarland, Roy, 1895
McGee College, 426
McGee, Thomas A., 1498
McGirk, Matthias, 504
McGrew, C. E., 1981
Mcllroy, John W., 1390
McIlroy,W. S., 1382
Mclntire, John W., 738
McIntyre,D. H., 199, 213
Mclntyre, Daniel H., 1209
McKee, Edwin R., 1368
McKendree, William, 117
McKim, Horace W., 1166
McKinley, John C, 926
McKinley, Peter J., 1069
McKittrick, 503
McLoed, William H., 1626
McMaster, Samuel H. K., 2058
McNair, Alexander, 3, 11,
McNally, Miles, 756
McNally, Richard J., 756
McNeil, General John, 39, 63, 64, 488
McPike, Aaron, 902
McRoberts, Hayden R., 885
McRoberts,W. B., 688
Mc Williams, Chester M., 1302
McWilliams, John A., 1302
Meadville, 412
Megown, John £., 1585
Megraw, William J., 1740
Melvin, Winfred, 692, 1266
Memphis, 609
Mendon, 331
Merchants, records of a pioneer, 516
Merrill, Gen. Lewis, 216
Merrill's horse, 59, 61
Methodism and Methodists, history of
115
Methodist leaders, 118
Mexico, 186, 223 '
Meyer, J. Fred, Jr., 1973
Meyer, John F., 1972
Meyer, Julius, 1056
Middle Grove, 464, 465
Middleton, Benjamin R., 1100
Middleton, Charles A., 733
Middleton, James B., 1425
Middleton, W. B., 1320
Middletown, 502
Milam, Joseph, 1597
Milan, 650, 656
Miller, Charles L., 922
Miller, George C, 872
Miller, George W., 907
Miller, Isaac C, 1992
Miller, Governor John, 4, 11, 517
Miller, Joseph, 1273
Miller, Julius C, 1593
Miller, Philip, 2013
Miller, Samuel A., 1015
Millersburg, 295
Million, Dr. John W., 143
Million, John W., 699
Millspaugh, Frank C, 868
Mineola Springs, 503
Minor, Fountain M., 1764
Minter, Dr. Anthony, 627
Mississippi river, 69
Missouri Avenue, 78
Missouri Intelligencer, 5
Missouri river, 70
Missouri since 1875, 168
HJssouri, state of, area, 1 ; population, 1 ;
first settlements, 1
Mitchell, The Rev. Franc, 127
Mitchell, John T., 1163
Mitchell, Miss Pearle, 239
Mitchell, T. Guy, 1834
Moberly, 543, 550
Moccasinville, 437
Monroe City — battle of, 65, 486
Monroe county — 1, 74, 84, 89, 98, 109;
history of, 464; a modern Bourbon
county, 464; the coming of settlement,
INDEX
XXlll
464; politics, farming and lighting,
465; in the empire of agriculture,
466; on the church rolls, 467; by way
of reminiscence, 467 ; in Paris and Jack-
son townships, 469; churches and con-
gregations, 470; schools and banks,
471; the oldest newspaper, 472; Mon-
roe township, 472; Indian creek, 473;
Union and Marion townships, 474;
South Fork townships, 476; Woodlawn
and Clay townships, 476; Washington
township, 477; Jefferson township and
Mark Twain, 477; miscellaneous, 481;
Civil war, 483; after the Civil war, 490
Monroe Institute, 473
Monroe, President James, 464
Monsees, A. H., 1738
Montgomery City, 502
Montgomery county — 1, 6, 54, 74, 84, 89,
100, 107; history of, 492; mother of
Warren, 492; organization and settle-
ments, 492; early settlements and
-settlers, 493; township, 493; war
with Indians, 493; killing of Captain
Callaway, 495; pioneer families, 495;
Mills, 496; Isaac Van Bibber, 496;
hermit, 497; Anderson's raid, 497;
soil 498; resources, 498; products
and pursuits, 499; county seats and
court houses, 499 ; scbools and churches,
500; county towns, 502; Mineola
Springs, 503; Pinnacles, 504; political,
504; financial, 504; fairs and frater-
nal orders, 505; celebrations, 505; old
settlers' picnic, 505; newspapers, 505;
roads and travelers, 506
Montgomery, Theodore L., 874
Monticello, 315, 389
Moore, Aldridge O., 976
Moore, Gilbert B., 1343
Moore, J. K., 1669
Moore's Mill, battle of, 61, 303
Morgan, James G., 943
Morgan, Thomas T., 1970
Mormon troubles, 154
Morris, Belle O., 1020
Morris, George A., 1019
Morris, John Bingle, 1020
Morris, Leonidas R., 1996
Morris, William H., 1063
Morrison, Alfred W., 1743
Morrison Observatory, 355
Morsey, 677
Mor8ey,Col. Frederick, 680
Morsey, William L., 989
Morsey, W. L., 681
Mosby, George R., 1813
Mosby, John J., 1812
Moss, Benjamin G., 1907
Moss, David H., 472
Moss, Luella W. S., 2095
Motley, James D., 1095
Motley, Levi D., 1185
Motley, Marion £., 896
Mt. Pleasant College, 95, 546
Mount Zion church, battle of, 58
Mudd, James R., 1717
Mudd, Joseph A., 60, 143
Muldrow,John G., 211
Muldrow, William, 23, 77, 454, 457
Mulinex, C, W., 1143
MuUenix, Charles W., 1297
Mundy, Horace, 1704
Murray, Frank E., 1099
Murrell, F. Emmett, 1652 ,
Musick, John R., 141
Mussetter, Willis A., 775
Muster days, 314
Myers, Porter D., 1665
Myers, Roy T., 1025
Nalley, Charles W. D., 1363
Nalley, Thomas J., 1364
Nalty, Walter V., 1502
Nash, Ira P., 262
Nashville, 234
Naturalization, 18
Naysmith, Fred H., 1332
Naxera, Fred, 1250
Neal, Milton T., 1128
Neeper, Frederick W., 2037
Nelson, Capt., 71
Nelson, Eugene W., 2046
Nelson, Captain John, 5
Nelson, William L., 2046
Neukomm, John J., 1122
Newark, 376
New Cambria, 439
New Florence, 502
Newland, B. F., 471
New London, 536
Newspapers, 5, 96, 101, 137, 138, 144,
180, 210, 251, 295, 329, 345, 357, 371,
453, 461, 472, 484, 505, 529, 535, 601,
645, 657, 678
Newspaper, First, 5
Newspaper writers, women, 44
Newtown, 657
New Truxton, 677
Nineveh, 183
Noel, Jefferson T., 1863
Noel, Richard B.. 1627
Normal School, First District, 178
Norris, Alfred G., 1642
Norris,Fred, 1698
North State highway, 80
Northcutt, John E., 1324
Northeast Missouri, map of, 10
Norton, Richard H., 1464
Nortoni, Judge A. D., 417
Norvell, Robert B., 1814
Novelty, 376
Novinger, 183
Nowell, W^illiam B., 807
Nickles, Russell, 1327
Oakwood, 536
Ocean-to-ocean Highway, 77, 80
Oglesby, Edwin B., 1561
O'Hern, Joseph P., 2017
Old Settlers' picnic, Montgomery county,
505
Old Trails road, 77
O'Reilly, Edward R., 723
O'Reilly, Frank H., 1493
O'Reilly, James J., 1283
Organ, Minnie K., 1432
Orr, Sample, 51
Osteopathy, American School of, 179
Orthwein, Armin F., 1557
Overall, John H., 429
XXIV
INDEX
Overall, Nelson L., 585
Overton Run, Battle of, 303
Page, Ben F., 2038
Page, Robert J., 884
Palmer, Walter P., 1139
Palmyra, 459, 621
Palmyra, Massacre, 64, 456
Paris, 465, 469
Parker, John H., 727
Parker Memorial Hospital, 250
Parks, Edgar A.. 1629
Parks, Theron B., 2030
Parks, (Mrs.) T. B., 2030
Parrish, Edward E., 948
Parrish,John E., 949
Parsons, E. O., 801
Parsons, Henry R., 798
Parsons, William, 2069
Patrick, Wiley J., Jr., 1073
Patrick, The Rev. W. J., 89
Patriot, Columbia, 35
Patton, Francis W., 1458
Patton, L. E., 1808
Patton, Robert L., 1709
Payne, John W.. 1892
Payne. Pharis K., 880
Pavne.R. J., 1892
Pa vne, Robert W., 1750
Payne, William, 1891
Pearson, W. K, 1859
Peeler, John A., 1860
Peeler, William H., 1911
Peers, Charles E., 680
Pemberton, William J., 1793
Pendleton, 676
Penix, James J., 793
Periodicals, Baptist. 96
Pershing. General John J., 417
Persia, 234
Perry. 536
Peterraan, Elias, 1376
Petersburg, 235
Pettibone, Rufus, 534
Pettingill, Newland M., 1280
Pettit, Alfred, 1224
Pew, James W., 1105
Phelan, The Rev. D. S., 98
Phelps, John S., 165
Phillips, Joseph J., 1212
Pierce, Don, 1083
Pike county, 1, 3, 8, 74, 85, 89, 100, 108;
history of, 507; Garden of Eden, 507;
older than its mother, 508; source.H of
history, 509; beginnings, 509; not the
home of Indians, 510; first white set-
tler, 511; early settlers, 511; trouble
with the Indians, 512; some pioneer
settlements, 514; Revolutionary sol-
diers, 515; records of a pioneer mer-
chant, 516; court proceedingH, 518;
court and school. 518; life and cus-
toms, 519; churches, 521; laying out
of towns, 521
Pike. General Zebulon M., 8, 508
Pike's Peak, 8
Pile, John S.. 1108
Pile. Oscar F., 1236
Pile, Schuvler W.. 848
Pile, Thomas M., 1235
Pinckney, 499
Pioneer life, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16, 30, 148, 202,
293, 313, 349, 361, 380, 395, 407, 420,
422. 508, 519, 525, 538, 539, 593, 620,
622, 648. 661
Pioneer women, 30
Pitman, John, 566, 587
Pitt, James D., 1581
Pitts, 676
Plains, William C, 1759
Platte, Purchase, 154
Platter, A. Edson, 978
Poindexter. Col. J. A., 62
Point, The, 316
Political institutions, 17
Politics, early, 153
Pollard, Braxton, 486
Pollard, Robert L., 822
Pollock, Anna E. D., 1445 .
Pollock, Ira O., 1518
Pollock, Perry C, 1447
Pollock, William, 1284
Pollock, William L., 1820
Pondfort, 559
Pool, Charles O., 1625
Pope, Gen. John., 55, 57, 58
Population, growth of, 47
Population, increase oif. 155
Porter, Addison P., 1173
Porter, Colonel Joseph, 59, 62, 63, 68.
175, 366, 487
Porter, E. S., 1977
Porter, Edward W., 1173
Porter, George T., 790
Porter, J. B.. 1671
Portland, 295
Postmasters, pioneer, 20
Post roads, 79
Potts, WMllard, 929
Powers, Theron B., 1710
Powers vi lie, 530
Pratt, Albert B., 897
Pratt. Arthur L., 406, 1025
Preachers, pioneer, 16, 17
Presbyterians, History of, 120
Preston, J. S., 1368
Prewitt, Moss, 281, 282
Prewitt, WiUiam C, 1532
Price, Sterling, 11, 47, 53, 54, 55. 58, 68,
1537
Priest, Henrv J., 1401
Pritchett, Claude P., 1616
Pritchctt College, 355
Proclamation Admitting Missouri to
Union, 170
Proctor, David M., 1894
Proctor, James M., 1902
Proctor, Thomas, 1873
Prosser, Paul P., 2005
Prough, Sherman L., 712
Provines, John G., 297
Pulis, Stephen A., 939
Purdin, 412
Purnell. Joseph B., 1150
Putnam county, 1. 75, 86, 89, 104; his-
tory of, 523; physical features, 523
population, 523; first settlers, 523
pioneer life, 525; organization, 525
officers, 525; county court, 526; circuit
court, 526; Civil war, 527; politico,
528; railroads and schools. 529;
churches, 529; towns, 529
INDEX
XXV
Putnam county militia, 528
Putnamville, 526
Quantrelle, 50, 65, 66
Quarles, Dr. James A., 124
QuarleSjJohn A., 478
Queen City, 604
Quilting parties, 423
Quinn, Francis H., 1999
Quinn, Malcolm G., 751
Quinn, Pierre S., 1552
Race degeneration, No., 21
Ragland, WilUam T., 1909
Raible, Joseph C, 1926
Railroads, 23, 50, 84, 85, 159, 182, 275,
301, 303, 332, 339, 367, 387, 410, 410,
421, 433, 454, 481, 506, 527, 529, 535,
547, 614, 631, 653
Raine, Cyrus O., 834
Raleigh, Richard J., 1223
Raleigh, Thomas £., 1289
Ralls county, 1, 5, 75, 84, 86, 89, 98, 108;
history of, 531; first American settlers,
531; Indian troubles, 531; organiza-
tion, 532; Daniel Ralls, 533; first
county and circuit courts, 533; first
officers, 534; railroads, 535; topog-
raphy, 535; resources, 535; schools,
535; towns, 536; statistical, 536
Ralls, Daniel, 532, 533
Ramsey, Jonathan, 286, 294
Randolph, 538
Randolph county, 1, 75, 86, 90, 103,. 109;
liistory of, 537; location and topog-
raphy, 537; organization and ai'ea,
537; first white men, 538; the firsts,
539; during war times, 543; cholera,
545 ; search for gold, 545 ; churches and
schools, 545; finances and railroads,
546; roads, 548; agriculture and min-
ing, 549; cities and towns, 550
Randolph, John, 15
Ratliif, Louis, 1651
Ravenel, Samuel W., 69, 1075
Read Hall, 38
Reading, James L., 1366
Rebo,F. A S., 885
Rebo, J. D., 890
Redd, John T., 1371
Redman, Rev. William W., 501
Reeves, Charles W., 1802
Reid, James H., 1206
Rensselaer Academy, 126, 535
Reor&;anization, Financial, 167
Revolutionary soldiers, 515
Rex McDonald, 194
Reynolds, Thomas, 23
Rhineland, 503
Rice, Charles, 1799
Rich, Mrs. M. A., 1354
Rich, Samuel S., 1353
Richard, Thomas, 1334
Richards, Thomas C, 1469
Ricketts, John T., 1347
Riddick, Thomas F., 4
Riddle, Charles F., 1498
Ridgway, Walter, 1753
Riggs, Turner S., 864
Riley, Thomas, 1489
Ringer, Rufus M., 1246
Ritzenthaler, Joseph, 1941
Riverside Scripture Institute, 96
Riverways and roadways, 69
Roadways, 76
Roanoke, 357
RoBards, A. S., 22, 24
RoBards, John L., 13, 24, 1392
RoBard's Mill, 22
RoBards, William A., 23
Bobbins, William O., 1093
Roberts, B. L., 2039
Roberts, John 0., 1521
Roberts, L. P., 606
Roberts, Lee P., 1005
Robertson, Bishop C. F., 113
Robertson, George, 184, 1027
Robertson, J. B., 2010
Robertson, J. W., 1910
Robertson, William M., 1806
Robertson, Dr. W. W., 127
Robertson, The Rev. W. W., 300
Robey, John D., 1898
Robinson, Addison L., 1355
Robinson, John, 1728
Robinson, Matilda, 1728
Robinson, William H., 865
Robinson, Willis F., 1009
Robnett, Pleasant H., 857
Robnett, Thomas, 1486
Robyn, Ernest, 915
Rocheport, 233
Roden, Thomas F., 1056
Rodes, WiUiam R., 1172
Rodgers, Capt. Charles B., 295
Rodgers, Robert D., 1477
Rodgers, Rueben B., 1010
Roelirig, Emil, 681, 1197
Rogers, Julius F., 1605
Roland, Sevilla, lulow, 31
Rollins Aid Fund, 256
Rollins, C. B., 1174
Rolhns, James S., 11, 156, 1174
Roosevelt. Theodore, 169
Ross, Charles A., 1290
Ross, James K., 1805
Rothville, 332
Rothwell, Fountain, 1479
Rothwell,G. F.., 537
Rothwell, Gideon F., 1926
Rothwell. Wade H., 1655
Rouner, David A., 1030
Rouse, Harry S., 825
Rowland, Joshua T., 1698
Rowland, William, 931
Rowland, William P., 932
Row lev, Robert R., 1097
Rowley, William J., 695
Roy, S. J., 2102
Rubey, Web M., 441
Rucker, Roy W., 2063
Rucker, W'illiam H., 1202
Rucker, William W., 2061
Ruffin, Lemon H., 1387
Rule, Edward B., 1092
Rule, John W., 1244
Rush Hill, 229
Rutherford, Hay den L., 1602
Rutherford, William T., 859
Rutledge, 612
Ryland, John F., 543
XXVI
INDEX
Sacred Heart Convent, 559
St. Catharine, 412
St. Charles, 4, 5, 9, 16, 554
St. Charles College, 559
St. Charles county, 1, 54, 75, 86, 90, 97,
107; history of, 553; the village of the
hills, 553; the firsts, 555; the Indian
tribes, 555; the province, 557; Lewis
and Clark, 557; schools, 559; the old
wind mill, 559; topography, 559;
Daniel Boone, 561; the district, 564;
the first legislators, 565; letter from
Onward Bates, 566 ; beginning of Amer-
ican colonization, 581; early court pro-
ceedings, 582; great men in pioneer
days, 583; pioneer citizens, 584; mili-
tary record, 588; the Edwards family,
589*; German immigration, 589; agri-
culture and progress, 590
St. Clair, W. S., 1323
Ste. Genevieve, 1
St. James Academy, 427
St. John, Horace H. H., 1242
St. John, Wilson E., 1227
St. Louis, 4, 9
Salisbury, 327
Sallee, James H., 1241
Salt river, 72
Salt river road, 77
Salt springs, 5, 75
Sampson, F. A., 144, 146
Sampson, Francis A., 792
Sampson, John H., 1640
Sampson, Thomas W., 1641
Sampson, William A., 1641
Sanders, Culvin F., 951
Sanders, James L., 961
Sanderson, Daniel T., 811
Sanderson, John E., 1442
Sanderson, J. E. & Company, 1444
Sanderson, Lewis T., 1444
Sanderson, Newman M., 1047
Sanderson, Samuel M., 832
Sanderson, Walter H., 1444
Sand Hill, 606
Sandison, James, 1362
Santa Fe Trail, 78, 82
Sapp, George B., 1200
Sapp, Joseph W., 801
Sapp, William H., ^200
Sawyer, Tom, 38
Schacklett, Jacob K., 1033
Schaefer, Frederick, 1307
Scheetz, Harry C, 111. 1686
Schenck, David, Jr., 1514
Schnelle, Benjamin F., 913
Schofield, F. L., 389
Schofield, Rufus B., 1146
Schools, 20, 35, 43, 93, 114, 124, 178,
225, 250, 273, 299, 320, 331, 345, 359,
373, 393, 401, 426, 471, 500, 529, 535,
545. 559, 599, 609, 615, 627, 654, 669
Schools, provision for, 20
Schriefer, Madam, 29
Schriver, C. F., 2009
Schurz, Carl, 165
Schuyler county, 1, 75, 86. 90, 105, 110;
history of, 592; before the white man,
592; first settlements, 592; pioneer
homes, 593; early customs, 594; the
grinding of corn, 594; pioneer life, 595;
organization, 596; first court proceed-
ings, 596; census, 597; churches, 597;
schools, 599; fairs, 600; jail, 600;
press, 601; war, 601; court proceed-
ings, 603; towns, 603; the county to-
day, 605
Scofield, Elias, 947
Scotland county, 1, 76, 86, 90, 99, 108;
history of, 606; territory and popula-
tion, 606; organization — county seat,
606; Memphis, 609; other county
towns, 611; debt, 614; schools and
churches, 615; Civil war, 616; agricul-
ture, 617; old settlers, 618; fair, 618;
tallest woman, 619; officers, 619
Scott, Eugene, 1194
Scott, James S., 1879
Scott, John, 4
Scott, William, 23
Scovern, John, 441
Scurlock, N. J., 140
Sebree, 357
Sedelmeier, Antone F., 757
See, Jacob, 495
Seitz, E. B., 1976
Selby, William H., 1885
Settle, W. D., 2101
Settlements, before 1804, 147
Settlements, extension of, 151
Sever, Franklin P., 1288
Sevier, Joseph D., 1798
Shacklett, William F., 1070
Shaffer, George B., 1264
Shafroth, William, 1736
Shannondale, 332
Shannon, Easton A., 930
Shannon, Richard M., 1329
Sharts, Roy, 1034
Shattuck, Allen B., 1333
Shearman, John, 1896
Shelbina, 632
Shelby county, 1, 6, 76, 86, 90, 101. 109;
history of, 620; location, 620; in pio-
neer days, 620; early settlers. 621;
pioneer life, 622; some of the pioneers,
624; residents in 1835; population,
625; schools and churches, 627; muni-
cipalities, 629; early mills, 631; Com-
munistic colony, 633; crimes, 634;
political, 636; slavery, 638; Civil war,
639; miscellaneous, 643; conclusion,
645
Shelby, Gen. J. O., 59
Shelbyville, 631
Sheldon, Samuel, 786
Shelton, Judge N. M., 428
Shelton, Peachy G., 956
Shelton, William A., Jr., 910
Shepard, Austin H.. 1012 •
Shepler, John X., 647
Shibley, Brothers, 1046
Shibley,John W., 1046
Shibley, Lemuel. 1046
Shields, Henry C, 1781
Shoemaker, F. C, 46
Shoemaker, Floyd C, 1453
Sholtus, Bros., 1802
Sholtus, Edward T., 1802
Sholtus, John M., 1802
Short, William D., 1228
Sibley, George C, 11
INDEX
XXVll
SiUiman, WilUam L., 1525
Sims, James £., 1473
Sims, James W., 1131
Sims, Orris B., 1675
Sinclair, James A., 1433
Sipple, Eraitt M., 1900
Sisson. William B., 1125
Slavery, 14, 47, 48, 173, 206, 304, 342,
386,^544, 595, 630, 638, 651
Slicker War, 400
Smelser, Joseph £., 1869
Smiley, Samuel W., 1293
Smith, Albert R., 2015
Smith, Alfred D., 1115
Smith, C. B., 1990
Smith, Charles F., 1165
Smith, Claude M., 1255
Smith, Davids., 1418
Smith, George G., 1734
Smith, James Green, 300
Smith, Robert L., 1416
Smith, Gen. Thomas A., 232
Smith, Thomas Berry, 144, 146
Smith, Thomas J., 1672
Smith, Willard, 1748
Smith, William, 2007
Smith, William A., 746
Smithton, 232
Snell, Ashy, 475
Snelling, Robert W., 1215
Social life, 17, 37
Sosev, Frank H., 141, 457
Southern, John N., 2050
Spalding, Sterling P., 2096
Spangler, Edward P., 682
Spanish settlers, 3. 6
Spaulding,R. M., 2103
Speed, Matthias W., 1832
Spelman, Dennis G., 834
Spence, James H., 2042
Spencer, Robert, 566
Spilman, Dora S., 1231
Spilman, J. T., 1230
Spurling, Henry T., 1673 *
Stage drivers, 240
Stapleton, John E., 1744
Stark Brothers Nursery, 512
Stark, James O., 1238
Stark. William P., 1951
Starke, Newman P., 1701
Starr, James H., 1642
State Highway, 266
State Historical Society of Missouri, 46
State, The Story of the, 147
Statler, Johnson L., 1222
Statton, Frank F., 729
Steeples, Benjamin, 1026
Steele, George A., 761
Steffenville, 391
Stephens College, 36, 93, 274
Stephens, Edwin W., 837
Stephens, James L., 11, 94, 278, 838
Stephens, James Leachman, 735
Stephens, James T., 1656
Sterrett, James G., 1719
Stewart, Charles D., 1261
Stewart, Charles L., 1572
Stewart, Peter S., 681
Stewart, Robt. M., 160
Still, The Rev. Abraham, 597
Still, Dr. A. T., 176, 179
Stoddard Capt. Amos, 150
Stone, Barton, 467
Stone, Josiah W., 743
Stone, Governor W. J., 168
Stone, Walter K., 816
Stonesport, 234
Stoutsville, 480
Strickler, F. W., 2055
Strother, Prof. French, 476
Strother, Harry M., 891
Struble, George, 1278
Struckert, Otto, 912
Sturgeon, 236
Sullivan county, 1, 76, 86, 90, 104, 111;
history of 647; the first settlers, 647;
first land entry, 648; food of the pio-
neer, 648; first birth, 649; organiza-
tion, 649; at the county seat, 650;
Civil war, 651; railroads, 653; schools,
654; churches, 655; towns, 656; the
county as a whole, 657; close political
contest, 657
Summerville, 235
Summers, John M., 1974
Sumner, 331
Sutton, Amos, 1322
Sutton, Robert L., 1164
Sutton, S. P., 1468
Sutton, Thomas F., 1573
Swain, E. E., 171
Swearingen, J. A., 878
Swett, Arthur M., 1501
Switzler Hall, 258
Switzler, Lewis M., 737
Switzler, Col. Wm. F., 137, 280
Synodical College, 126, 304, 1291
Synodical College for Women, 28
Talbot, C. B., 2004
Talbot, John, 2004
Tate, Benjamin, 1178
Tate, John M., 1413
Tatlow, Wm. J. M.. 2060
Tatman, C. A., 1944
Taverns, 237
Taylor, Henry C, 1858
Taylor, James M., 783
Taylor, John D., 2088
Taylor, Joseph W., 1601
Taylor, William R., 1137
Tedford, Fred H., 1785
Teel, Ambrose W., 870
Terrill, Arthur P., 1882
Terrill, Robert G., 1580
Tharp, J. P., 1968
Thatcher, Becky, 38
Thole, John H., 1570
Thomas, D. Clark, 904
Thompson, 229
Thomp89n, Alfred B., 1668
Thompson, B. F., 389
Thompson, Green G., 1620
Thompson, Jasper, 1737
Thompson, Walter S.. 1787
Thomson, Eliza E., 1276
Thorn burg, George, 1767
Thornburg, Thomas O., 1812
Thrall's Prairie, 5
Thurmond, Nicholas D., 1575
Tincher, Judge Hugh. 974
Tincher, James W., 974
XXVIU
INDEX
Tincher, John E., 1700
Tindall, N. Cordell, 1741
Tinsley, David A. S., 740
Tinsley, Gabriel N., 716
Tinsley, William H., 693
Tippecanoe, 603
Tipton, Charles W., 1949
Tipton, Jabez B., 1928
Todd, Judge David, 312
Todd, Robert L., 280
Todd, Roger N., 1372
Toll roads, 265
Tolson, Joseph, 1930
Torbit, Nathaniel, 1199
Torrance, Eli, 417
Torrey, Lafayette, 907
Treadway, John, 1691
Treloar, 676
Trigg, Thomas J., 1142
Triplett, 329
Troy, 404
Truesdale, 676
Tucker, Benjamin F., 820
Tucker, Henry H., 735
Tucker, John W., 1195
Tucker, Samuel L., 2093
Tucks, William A., 1067
Tully, J. Douglass, 2053
Tuohy, The Rev. J. T., 96, 98
Turk, William, 142
Turley, Edward D., 1933
Turley, Laura T., 1935
Turner, Charles C, 1490
Turner, Matthew A., 1193
Turner, Thomas, 276
Tuttle, Bishop Daniel S., 114
Unionville, 529
United States, relief map of, 2
University Military School, 250
University, State, 21, 38, 252, 257, 260
Valentine, Thomas B., 690
Van Bibber, Isaac, 496
Vandalia, 226
Velie, Alexander, 2029
Venable, Paul, 1196
Viles, Jonas, 147, 2092
Vince, Abraham, 1809
Violette, E. M., 141
Vote, for Governor 1861, 52; for presi-
dent, 52
Waddell, Phenicious S., 1367
Wagner, David, 387
Wakefield, John J., 1466
Walden, James W., 1649
Walker, Edwin F., 1149
Walkersville, 632
Walkup, John J., 1776
Walkup, 0. E., 1945
Wallace, David, 1583
Wallace, George, W., 1145
Wallace, Dr. John S., 306 •
Wallace, John S., 1049
Walters, Jacob 8., 1917
Walton, R. S., 348
Walton, Robert S., 1352
War, Black Hawk, 25, 26, 172, 269, 295,
337, 453, 465, 673
War, Civil, 38, 46, 160, 173, 210, 257,
270, 302, 324, 344, 358, 364, 3fi3, 400,
430, 455, 466, 483, 497, 500, 527, 544,
602, 616, 639, 651, 673, 682
War, Kansas, 270
War, Mexican, 26, 157, 209, 270, 295,
322, 358, 543, 673
War, -Missouri-Iowa, 343
War, Mormon, 26, 269, 358
War of 1812, 151, 396, 448, 469, 510, 531,
672
War, Revolutionary, 14, 399, 515, 660^
672
War, Seminole, 1269
War, Spanish-American, 223, 675
Warford, Bennett B., 1796
Warren county, 1, 6, 54, 76, 87, 90, 97;
history of, 659; first white settlers,
659; early homes, 661; organization,
663; first circuit court, 665; churches,
666; Central Wesleyan College, 669;
Central Wesleyan Orphan Home, 671;
war, 672; towns, 675; geographical
and topographical, 677; press, 678;
banks, 678; crime, 679; bar, 680; mis-
cellaneous, 681
Warrenton, 676
Wars, Indian, 171, 188, 309, 444, 493,
510, 512, 531, 532, 543, 555, 601
Washburn, George S., 1824
Washington, President George, 14, 15
Wattenbarger, Jacob M., 1801
Waters, Mrs. Ann, 42
Waters, Edwin C, 1310
Watkins, John H., 971
Watthall, James W., 1500
Watts, Hamp. B., 1727
Watts, Sylvester, 1016
Watson, J. Sam, 1116
Watson, James T., 1611
Watson, Thomas, 585
Waugh, James H., 1827
Waugh, (Mrs.) S. V., 1828
Webb, John f>., 1057
Webb, William A., 1022
Weber, Henry, 1024
Weeks, John H., 1406
Welch, J. B., 1374
Wells, Judge Carty, 680
Wells, Charles P., 1109
Wells, Robert W., 543
W^ellsville, 502
Wentworth, F. H., 726
Werner, John H., 1007
West, Joseph A., 1247
Westcott, Lyman, 1234
Westminster College, 45, 125, 300
Wheat growers, pioneer, 22
Whig meeting at Rocheport, 243
White, Alonzo, 1958
White, B. R., 1657
Whitecotton, James H., 466, 470
White, Edgar, 128, 1893
White, R. M., 210, 981
Whiteside, George W., 1052
Whiteside, John A., 903
Whittle, John E., 1462
Widner. Henry H., 1088
Wien, 332
Wight, Family, 2082
Wight, J. W., 2087
INDEX
XXIX
Wight, J. W.*, Jr., 2088
Wilcoxon, George H., 1725
Wilfley, L. R., 490
Wilkerson, George H., 965
William Woods College, 30, .304
Williams, Abraham J., 4
Williamsburg, 295
Williams, James, A., 2071
WiUiams, John F., 429
Williams, J. M., 1650
Williams, J. T., 1059
Williams, Walter, Jr., 647
Williams, Zechariah, 784
Williamson, Charles R., 1061
Williamson, W. Luther, 1060
Williamstown, 391
Wilsey, P. I., 871
Wilson, Frank L., 803
Wilson, Guy N., 1196
Wilson, H. L., 752
Wilson, General Robert, 543
Wilson, R. E., 2079
Wilson, Thomas C, 1182
Wilson, William S., 1239
Wind mill, old St. Charles, 559
Winter, E. H., 659
W^inter, Edward H., 1545
Wippermann, The Rev. F. H., 672
Wisdom, Carroll H., 899
Witt, John L., 1298
Witty, Lee T., 958
Woman, Part played by, 27
Woman, tallest, 619
Women, education of, 35; in Civil War
times, 40; in pioneer homes, 41; in
the church, 42; in the schools, 43;
newspaper writers, 44
Wood, The Rev. C. N., 141
Wood, David P., 1086
Wood, Ernest H., 1542
Wood, William J., 772
Woodsmall, James C, 977
Woods, S. H., 1913
' Woods Training barns, 467
Woods, Dr. W. S., 466
Woodson, J. B., 1484
Woodson, Richard, 1484
Woodward, John H., 1541
Word, John M., 1098
Worrell, R. D., 2100
Worthington, William D., 1107
Wright City, 676
Wright, James H., 882
Wright, J. Kelly, 1648
Wright, Uriah S., 1745
Wyatt, Anthony, 660
Yancey, Stephen B., 2000
Yates, Martin, 1361
Yeager, Grover C, 1890
Young, Rachel F., 1359
Young, Samuel N., 1051
Yowell, Daniel K., 1904
Zimer, Elizabeth, 2003
Zumwalt, Adam, 581
History of Northeast Missouri
CHAPTER I
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
Northeast Missouri comprises that part of the state of Missouri
lying north of the Missouri river and east of the western boundary of
Chariton county. In the territory thus embraced are the counties of
Adair, Boone, St. Charles, Montgomery, Callaway, Marion, Audrain,
Warren, Lincoln, Pike, Lewis, Clark, Knox, Sullivan, Macon, Chari-
ton, Randolph, Howard, Monroe, Scotland, Ralls, Putnam, Schuyler,
Linn and Shelby. It is not the oldest section of Missouri, as far as set-
tlements by the white man make for age. That distinction belongs to
southeast Missouri where is Ste. Genevieve, oldest of Missouri towns.
FmsT English Settlements in Missoubi
In Northeast Missouri, however, were the first permanent settle-
ments of the English-speaking race in Missouri and the beginnings of
its history antedate those of any other section of the state, excepting
southeast Missouri. In area Northeast Missouri embraces 14,081 square
miles. In all Missouri are 68,736 square miles. The population of all
Missouri counties in the figures of the United States census of 1910
was 3,293,335. Of these 4iBl,008 are in the twenty-five counties of
Northeast Missouri.
In the Boon's Lick country, in St. Charles county and in the Salt
River country were the first settlements in Northeast Missouri. As
all the west, the country now Northeast Missouri had been peopled
with Indians, Sacs, Foxes, Kickapoos, Pottawattomies, Missouris, tribes
that roamed the plains and slunk through the forest shades even after
the coming of the white man. The pioneers often found the red men
troublesome and, on occasion, murderous neighbors. The Indians in
Missouri were less savage, perhaps, than those of the far west, but
their presence was a source of constant irritation. When Cols. Ben-
jamin and Sarshall Cooper in 1808 led a band of Kentuckians to make
their homes in Howard county they were called back by Governor
Benjamin Howard nearer the older settlements because he could give
them no protection against possible Indian outbreaks. In 1810 they
returned and Col. Sarshall Cooper, seated by his own fireside, met death
at an Indian's hand. There were no Indian wars of consequence in
Northeast Missouri. The uprising, in 1832, of Black Hawk and his
band of Indians to the northward stirred up the residents of the out-
lying settlements, but the uprising, by the victory of the whites at the
battle of Bad Axe, was soon at an end. The Indian disturbances were
largely local and soon, with the growth of the white population, ceased
altogether. The Indian struggled for a few years against white occu-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 3
pation, struggled in barbarous fashion and unsuccessfully, and, then,
moved on to the west and southwest.
French and Spanish Settlers
The earliest successors of the Indian in Northeast Missouri came
from France or Spain. Three gates opened wide to the Missouri ter-
ritory in the early days. The Spanish came by the lower water gate of
the Mississippi river — the Great Water of the Indians — ^in search of
gold; the French first by the upper water gate of the Mississippi led
by Marquette 's noble missionary zeal and later by the lower water gate
as well; through the mountain-gate from the eastward came the Vir-
ginians, their children of Kentucky and, in later day, the Scotch-Irish
of farther north. At yet later time came men and women from north
and east and from beyond the sea, all seeking homes where there was
blue sky. and elbow room and freedom. No one, save the earliest Span-
iards or an occasional trapper of the fur trade day, came to Northeast
Missouri to make a fortune in mine or forest and return; he came to
make a home and abide in the home. Home-making, English-speaking
folk settled Northeast Missouri, not gold-seeking adventurers. The
Spanish are remembered by an occasional name of town or river and the
French in the same wise or by some ancient family tree.
The Real Founders
The colonists from east of the Appalachians seeking homes were
the real founders of the^ early state. They were of genuine pioneer
stock. Some peoples will not bear transplanting ; even in the wilderness
others are the architects of states. Of the latter were the earliest set-
tlers in Northeast Missouri, hardy, dominant and daring. Missouri,
easily first of all the states in potential resource, is the product of their
handiwork, while every state from the Mississippi river to the Gk)lden
Oate shows their skill in commonwealth construction. The name of
Pike county, Missouri, has gone abroad in all the land. In struggles
with savage beast and untamed man the pioneer Missourian showed
persistent heroism and hardihood. They were his children who, in the
strife between the states, enlisted to the number of beyond 100,000
in the Union army and more than 50,000 in the Confederate service,
keeping the state's quota full without draft or enforced enlistment,
not merely in one but in both armies, a record unexampled among the
states, north or south. They were church-going and school-encouraging.
Within its boundaries are a majority of the colleges of the state. They
had respect for law. No vigilance committee was needed to preserve
order even in the most primitive community in Northeast Missouri.
In the earliest Missouri constitution Missourians recognized the provi-
dence of God, provided for the establishment of free schools, and planned
for a state seminary of learning, now the State University in North-
east Missouri. One interior county in Northeast Missouri, Boone, with
population of a scant few hundred, in 1839, gave, by voluntary sub-
scription, $117,900 for the founding of a college, a farmer who could
neither read nor write heading the subscription list with $3,000, a
gift, considering time and circumstance, more princely than that of
any modem millionaire.
The early residents of Northeast Missouri were not always from
Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky or Tennessee. From the Middle and
New England states also they came. It was a Fennsylvanian, Alexan-
der McNair, who, settling with his brother in friendly boxing match
4 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
who Bhoold inherit the old homestead and loaing the match, became
the first goveroor of Miasouri. It was a South Carolinian, Daniel
Dunklin, who was the father of the public school system of the state.
From Connecticut came Kufua Easton, the new state's greatest law-
yer. Tennessee gave Missouri one of her first United States senators,
David Barton, and North Carolina the other, Thomas Hart Benton.
Thomas F, Riddick, who gave to Missouri her public school lands,
going horseback at his own expense from St. Louis to Washington to
plead succraBfuUy therefor, John Scott, the first congressman, Frederi<^
Bates, the second governor, State Senator Abraham J. Williams, the
one-legged cobbler from Columbia who succeeded Bates as governor,
John Miller, who succeeded Williams and served seven years — the long-
est term of any Missourian to hold the oGBce — these were of Virginia
nativity. The dominant life, however, in early Northeast Missouri —
in all Missouri — was Virginian and Kentuckian, tempered by the frontier
west.
PmsT Settles in Noetheast Missouri
Louis Blanchette, sumamed Chasseur, the Hunter, a gay French
sportsman, was probably the first settler in Northeast Missouri. He
wandered from the hamlet of St Louis in 1769 and built a cabin from
which grew "the village of the hills," afterward St. Charles. The eyes
of the white man had seen the glories of the land In earlier years.
More than a century before Marquette and Joliet, Jesuit missionaries
and explorers, came down the Mississippi river and doubtless landed
on its attractive western shore. In 1680, a Franciscan friar, Louis
Hennepin, ascended the Mississippi river from the mouth of the Illi-
nois, staying hia frail canoe for occasional converse with the Indians
on the river banks. Trapper and hunter had, here and there, pene-
trated the wilderness or rowed upon the streams, but there was no per-
manent habitation. Following the lead of the adventuresome Blanch-
ette, however, settlers began to enter the territory.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 5
BooKE AND Engush-Speakinq Settlebs
Not until the closing years of the eighteenth century, however, did
English-speaking settlers, chief among them Daniel Boone, America's
most famous frontiersman, make their homes here. Others came with
the birth of the new century and upon the close of the War of 1812
immigration fairly poured into the new country.
After St. Charles . there came the settlement of the Boon's Lick
country and then the lands along the Missouri river between Boon's
Lick and St. Charles. Two sons of Daniel Boone, Nathan and Daniel
M., made salt at the *'lick" in Howard county and shipped it in hol-
low logs down the Missouri river to St. Louis. Soon a settlement grew
up nearby at Franklin on the river and the Boon's Lick country, name
for all the region round about, came into existence, with Franklin,
soon to be washed away by the muddy river, as its chief city. To
Franklin came Nathaniel Patten and Benjamin Holliday, enterprising
Missourians, and began the publication, April 23, 1819, of the Missouri
Intelligencer and Boon's Lick Advertiser, the first newspaper west of
St. Louis. In the same year the Independence, Capt. John Nelson com-
manding, ascended the Missouri river and made landing at Franklin.
"What think you, Mr. Reader," said the Albany (N. Y.) Ploughmim^
"of a newspaper at Boon's Lick in the wilds of Missouri, in 1819,
where in 1809 there was not, we believe, a civilized being excepting the
eccentric character who gave his name to the spot." Franklin became
the metropolis of the Boon's Lick country. Onjy a single brick build-
ing, once the Franklin Academy, now remains of all its early great-
ness. In Callaway county the village of Cote Sans Dessein —
the hill without design — ^had been estabUshed and in a few years was
the center of a small settlement. In 1812, imder the protection of
Capt. William Head's fort in Howard county, there was a settlement
on Thrall 's Prairie in Boone county.
Boon's Lick Road and Immigration
The Boon's Lick road — from St. Charles westward — surveyed by
the Boones \n 1815, brought many settlers. The Intelligencer, April
23, 1819, in one of its brief references to local affairs, said: **The
immigration to this territory, and particularly to this county, during
the present season almost exceeds belief. Those who have arrived in
this quarter are principally from Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. Immense
numbers of wagons, carriages, carts, etc., with families, have for some
time past been daily arriving. During the month of October it is
stated that no less than 271 wagons and four-wheeled carriages and fifty-
five two-wheeled carriages and carts passed near St. Charles, bound prob-
ably for Boon 's Lick. It is calculated that the number of persons accom-
panying these wagons, etc., could not be less than three thousand. It
is stated in the St. Louis Inquirer of the 10th instant that about twenty
wagons, etc., per week had passed through St. Charles for the last nine
or ten weeks, with wealthy and respectable immigrants from various
states. Their united numbers are supposed to amount to twelve thou-
sand. The county of Howard, already respectable in numbers, will
soon possess a vast population, and no section of our country presents
a fairer prospect to the immigrant."
Immigration turned toward the north from St. Louis, the gateway,
as toward the west. Maturin Bouvet, a Frenchman, had found salt
springs in Ralls county in 1792 and shortly afterward, obtaining a
grant of land, had built a cabin and warehouse in Marion county. At
6 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the close of the War of 1812, EDglisb-epeaking settlers, "finding the
Boon's Lick country crowded," moved on to the Salt River country
in what is now Marion, Ralls, Shelby and other counties of that sec-
tion and English civilization began.
German Immigrants
Shortly after the English occupancy a large number of German
immigrants came, chiefly as a result of a book of travels written by a
scholarly German, Gottfried Duden, who had visited St. Charles, War-
ren and Montgomery counties in 1824. The large German population
of St. Charles and its neighbor counties dates it^ beginnings to the
year 1833 and to the result of Gottfried Duden 's illuminating volume.
Thus came the early settlers to Missouri, the Spanish and French,
then the English, the German and people of every nation and speech.
It is a composite citizenship in every sense today.
Pioneers of All Nationalities
The life of the pioneer was one of hardship and loneliness but of
romance. Only men of courage make successful pioneers. Such were
Boon's Lice in a Case Cab, First •Automobile, 1912, at Terminus op
Northeast Missouri's Most Famous Road
the men who laid the foundations of Northeast Missouri. The pioneer
was in peril of Indian attack. Beasts seized upon his cattle. He had
few books and scarcely a newspaper. Schools were rare and the school
term brief indeed. Manners were rough. But the pioneer was honest,
brave, hospitable. He gave welcome to every decent stranger. He was
industrious, sober, law-abiding. "An amiable and virtuous man,"*he
is eaid to have been by the Rev. Timothy Flint, a New England visitor of
1816. The Spanish and French had sought for rich mines, for fur
trading and for adventure. The English immigrants looked for agri-
culture and for homesteads. There was never dispute or qnarrel between
the races. The few Spanish and the more numerous French mixed
readily with the English, who soon far outnumbered the pioneers of
different blood.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 7
The English-speaking pioneer differed from the French pioneer in
life as well as in language. Id nothing was this difference more mani-
fest than in the building of homes. The Frenchman settled always in
villages aod his farm, if land held in common can be called a farm,
came to the very edge of the village. His residence was in the village
and he seldom tilled a farm so far away that he could not at night
join in the amnsements of the village. The Englishman, on the con-
trary, cleared a farm in the wilderness. He located as far from a vil-
lage as the presence of the Indians would permit. He "never wished
Original Thomas Jefferson Monument, Univebstty Campus,
Columbia
to live near enough to hear the bark of his neighbor's dog." With
the French the village came first and then the farm. With the Eng-
lish the farm came first and afterward the village.
The house of the Englishman was constructed differently from
that of his French neighbor. Both were log cabins, soinetimes of one
room, sometimes of two, with a wide open way between. The French-
nun put his logs on end and fastened horizontal seats to the walls. The
Englishman, however, laid the logs for his house horizontally, notched
them together at the ends and filled the spaces between with "chink-
8 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
ing of mud and plaster/' Hospitality was the rule. The door of the
pioneer home was made of boards, swung on wooden hinges. It was
fastened within by a latch. From the latch a string was hung through
an opening in the door. **The latchstring is always on the outside"
indicated the open-hearted welcome. The cabins had windows with-
out glass. A shutter or greased paper in a sash was used instead. A
** Virginia rail fence" made an enclosure around the cabin. The chim-
ney was partly of stone and a huge fireplace gave warmth.
The food and clothing of the pioneer were products of the land.
Bears, deer, turkey and small game were plentiful. Farm and garden
furnished vegetables and from the com came his bread. Skins of wild
animals were made into rough but substantial garments and the loom
in the cabin furnished homespun clothing. He had little money and
little use for money. His wants were few and he could supply them
with moderate ease. When he would buy anything at the village he
could give peltries in exchange. Barter was common. **Pins, needles
and sheets of coarse writing paper were used as money." Spanish
silver dollars were the coin mostly seen. These were cut info small
pieces known as **bits" for change. The expressions, *'two bits" and
**six bits," have not yet disappeared. Thus was the life of the pioneer.
County op Pike and Missouri ** Pikers"
Many Americans, in the early years of the nineteenth century, be-
lieved that the republic of the United States would not extend beyond
the Allegheny mountains. They thought the western country a wil-
derness or desert unfit for human habitation. Others believed that the
country would be divided into several nations, as they thought it impos-
sible for so large a territory as that from the Atlantic ocean fo Louisi-
ana to be successful under one government. It was claimed by many
that the amount of money, $15,000,000, paid by the United States for
Louisiana, was foo great. Surely, they said, the wild land west of the
Mississippi was not worth this sum. To make answer to the criticisms
and doubts the Lewis and Clark expedition was sent out by President
Thomas Jefferson in 1804. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, offi-
cers in the United States army, were at the head of the expedition
which explored the Missouri river 1,200 miles and crossed to the Pacific
ocean. This expedition and the later ones under the leadership of
Lieutenant (afterwards General) Zebulon M. Pike were important
and far-reaching in their effects upon Northeast Missouri. Pike's expe-
ditions in 1805, 1806 and 1807, first to the sources of the Mississippi
river and second to the sources of the Platte and Kansas rivers, turned
attention to the Middle West of which Northeast Missouri was the
frontier. Pike's Peak, in Colorado, and Pike county, in Missouri, are
named for the explorer. For years many persons outside Missouri
knew only one county in the state, the county of Pike in Northeast
Missouri, and called all Missourians '"Pikers."
Inttul County Organization
Five counties were in Missouri territory in 1012, only one, St.
Charles, in all Northeast Missouri. The western boundaiy of St. Charles
county was the Pacific ocean and the northern border the Canada line.
When the state came into the union in 1821 there were fifteen counties,
of which ten, Boone, Callaway, Chariton, Clark, Howard, Lincoln, Mont-
gomery, Pike, Ralls and St. Charles, were in Northeast Missouri. This
shows the growth of the region. Macon county was organized in 1826 ;
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 9
Randolph in 1829 ; Monroe in 1831 ; Lewis and Warren in 1833 ; Shelby
in 1835 ; Andrain in 1836 ; Linn and Macon in 1837 ; Adair and Scot-
land in 1841 ; Sullivan in 1844 ; Schuyler, Putnam and Knox in 1845.
These organization dates show the process of the population.
Boundary Dispute with Iowa
In 1840 the houndary line between Northeast Missouri and the state
of Iowa was finally settled. There had been difference of opinion
between the officers in the two states as to the ownership of a strip of
land about twenty miles wide. Instead of pursuing a sensible policy
and seeking to settle the difference by law, each state undertook to
enforce its authority on the disputed strip. Finally troops were called
out by both states. It looked as if there would be war. The tract of
land, mostly covered by forest, was noted for wild bees and the dis-
liANDINO OF LaCLEDE ON THE SiTE 07 St. LOtJlB
pute was called "The Honey War." Seeing the folly of fighting, it was
agreed by both aides to stop war preparations until the national gov-
ernment could settle the boundary line. This was done and now in
Northeast Missouri tbe counties of Clark, Scotland, Schuyler and Put-
nam have their northern boundaries, the Missouri-Iowa state line, def-
initely marked by iron posts, ten miles apart.
St. Charles, Old Missouri Capital
The capital of Missouri was, for a time, in Northeast Missouri, at
St. Charles, where the building in which the first general assembly met
yet stands. Moat of the members of the first Missouri legislature, in
1820, as well as the governor and other high dignitaries, rode to St,
Charles on horseback. The members boarded at private houses. Pork
sold at 1% cents a [>ound ; venison hams, 25 cents each ; eggs, 5 cents
a dozen ; honey, 5 cents a gallon ; and coffee, $1 a pound. Sugar waa
not in the market and those who drank coffee sweetened it with honey.
The legislators dressed in homespun clothes, buckskin leggins and hunt-
10
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 11
ing shirts. Some wore rough shoes of their own manufacture, while
others encased their feet in buckskin moccasins. Some had slouched
hats, but the greater number wore caps made of the skins of wild-
eats and raccoons. Governor McNair was the only man who had a fine
cloth coat cut in the old ** pigeon-tail" style. He also wore a beaver
hat and endeavored to carry himself with the dignity becoming a
man holding the highest executive office in the state.
General Development
The growth and development of Northeast Missouri, the story of its
progress, is told in the separate county histories. Written by high
authorities, they make a real contribution to the history of the important
territory. The life of the pioneer, the part played by women, the
building of roadways to bind the population together, the waterways,
the organization of churches, the literature, the dark days of the
civil war, the history of the state as a whole — ^these are presented ade-
quately and admirably in separate chapters and need not be considered
here.
Northeast Missouri is a section of many interests. Largely rural,
it contains no city of more than 20,000 population. Its chief interest
is agriculture, but manufacturing and mining are of much importance.
It is a center of fine stock growing. Half the land is underlaid with
coal. Diverse industries, an extended crop season and fertility of soil
make, because of the skill, intelligence and energy of the people, a
prosperous community. The Mississippi and Missouri river bottom lands
are like the Nile valley for richness. The uplands are unexcelled for
fruit. The prairies afford abundant harvests. Nor is there neglect of
those things which make for the higher life of the citizenship.
Eminent Men
The list of eminent men who have been residents of Northeast Mis-
souri is a long one. In the county histories that follow, their names are
recorded. Here may be mentioned, among the dead, James S. Rollins,
the eloquent father of the University of Missouri, Bishop Enoch R.
Marvin, James 0. Broadhead, James S. Green, Edward Bates, John
Miller, George C. Sibley, Sterling Price, Claiborne F. Jackson, Charles
H. Hardin, John A. Hockaday, George C. Bingham, Eugene Field, Mark
Twain, Abiel Leonard, James L. Stephens, John H. Lathrop, Daniel
Boone, Kit Carson, soldiers of war and soldiers of peace, educators,
statesmen.
The spirit of its people is the spirit of progress, tempered by sane con-
servatism. It rejects not the old because of its age nor refuses the new
because it is not old. It is the spirit of a community conscious of its
own secure position, somewhat too careless at times of the world 's opinion,
hospitable, generous, brave. The dream of the greatest statesman is a
nation of citizens dwelling in happy homes. In Northeast Missouri the
dream finds realization.
A Home History of A Home Land
This is a home history, not a story of trumpet and drum, and is told
by men who live among and know the people. The individual county
histories and special chapters, gathered by, this editor to give compre-
hensive and composite view of Northeast Missouri, have been written with
fine discrimination and loving, sympathetic hand. They record the
12 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Missourian's good deeds and the rich romances of his life for the edifying
of the generations that come after him.
This is a home history of a home land. Long the western outpost of
American civilization, its chief contribution to history is the homes it
founded in the wilderness and sustained amid privation, stress and
danger unto the abundant home life of today. The energy the old home
of Northeast Missouri stored, the iron it put into the blood, the clear
eyes and unclouded brain and the faith and love it has bequeathed enable
the men and women of today to walk in straighter path and more safely.
This home — in country or on city street — ^is the old Missouri's heritage to
humanity. First of all and always the Missourian was a home builder.
And with the perishing of the homes he builded and others like unto them,
the republic — ^no matter its cities or its commerce, its courts or its
governors — ^will be at an end. Upon the historic past we build the historic
present. The New Missouri rests upon the Old Missouri.
Let those in Northeast Missouri who know tell of the Old and of the
New, a home history of a home land.
CHAPTER II
THE STORY OP THE PIONEER
By John L. BoBards, Hannibal
For we have seen the land, and behold it is very good, a place where there
is no want o^any thing thai; is in the earth. — Judges XT[II:9-10.
I have travded all over the world, to find in the heart of Missouri, the most
magnificent scenery the human eye has ever beheld — ^Bayard Taylor.
We are all one man's sons. — <]tene6is XLII:!!.
Ancestry of the Pioneer
Who were the pioneers of Northeast Missouri, and who were eligible
to that distinction!
We a£Srm that the pioneers were not prehistoric men, nor men
evoluted from protoplasm, nor men of spontaneous growth, but men living
within the past century, who left lasting memorials of their potential
existence; men of democratic S3nnpathies and high ideals of the true
principles and purposes of constitutional government.
Alfred the Great, King of England in the ninth century, incorporated
the Ten Commandments into the law of the land.
King James the First issued Letters Patent, dated April 10, 1606, to Sir
Thomas Gates, and others, for the Colony of Virginia in North America :
"In propagating the Christian religion to such people as yet live in
darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge of the worship
of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages living in those
parts to human civility, and to a settled and quiet government • • •
shaU have and enjoy all liberties, franchises and immunities within as if
abiding and bom within the realm of England," etc.
It is thus manifest that one aim of the Virginia settlers was the
extension in missionary spirit, of the Divine Redeemer's kingdom.
In virtue of that kingly prerogative, the first permanent English
settlement established at Jamestown, Virginia, on May 13, 1607, the
world known Christian civilization of the United States. That leading
event was of the utmost significance. The Church of England sent
with that expedition of tiiree ships, a missionary preacher, the Bev. Robert
Hunt, a Holy Bible, library, etc. A church edifice was soon built with
materials for that purpose [Ripped from England and formally dedicated
for the worship therein of the Christian religion. Other European
inmiigrants mostly English, Welsh, Scotch, Irish, German, and French
Huguenots of the best blood of Europe came and made homes in
Virginia and in other colonies. They populated the eastern ocean belt
of North America and formed the original thirteen colonies all subjects
of Great Britain. The Virginia colony rapidly increased in population
and elected, by popular vote in 1619, a legislature which made laws
suitable for their new environment, and adopted, as far as applicable
13
14 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
to the times and conditions, the common law of England to govern the
people.
The Beginnings op Slavery
A Dutch merchant ship sold some negro slaves to the planters on the
James river in 1619.
The Plymouth pioneers of the Massachusetts colony of 1620 and
others, built a ship in 1638, and exported and sold their enslaved Indians
to the planters of the West India islands. They also built ships and
engaged in the slave trade in importing negroes from Africa for market
sale in Massachusetts and the various colonies, and prohibited in 1638
the marriage of white persons with negroes; but the legislature of
Massachusetts repealed that law in 1838.
The Royal African Company composed of the nobility of England,
also engaged largely in the slave trafSc at the same time.
England persistently imposed many unjust and oppressite laws on
the colonies ; transported colonists accused of crime across the ocean for
trial ; incited insurrection ; prompted negroes, whom Virginia desired to
exclude by law, to rise in arms against the colonists.
The War op the Revolution
In September, 1774, the battle of Point Pleasant, between Virginia
troops of Gen. Andrew Lewis, and the army of Indian allies of the
British under Cornstalk, the noted chief and warrior, was fiercely
fought with heavy loss of many hundreds killed and wounded on both
sides, resulting in a decisive victory of the Virginia army of patriots.
That battle was in the history of Virginia, by John Esten Cooke,
described, '*as the first bloodshed in the American revolution." John
G. Saxe, the noted historian^ wrote, ** formal defiance came first from
Virginia."
In June, 1775, Gen. George Washington, of Virginia, the richest man
of all the colonies, was by John Adams, of Massachusetts, in the colonial
congress, nominated commander in chief of the continental army of the
united colonies, and unanimously elected. He voluntarily stipulated
that he would not accept pay for his services. His first military strategy
was to drive the British army under General Howe, ten thousand strong,
from Boston, and save Massachusetts from British tyranny, a wonderful
deliverance for New England. The Declaration of Independence on
July 4, 1776, at Philadelphia, in the congress of the colonists, written by
Thomas Jefferson, a Virginian, renounced all allegiance to the crown of
Great Britain.
Gen. George Rogers Clark of Virginia, in 1779, with troops and arms
solely of that colony, conquered the immense Northwest Territory, com-
prising now the five states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wis-
consin, from the English army and its Indian allies under General
Hamilton, who was captured and imprisoned at Williamsburg, the capital
of Virginia. After eight years of varying success and disaster, with un-
paralleled privation, struggle, and patriotic valor, under Divine provi-
dence, victory perched forever upon the American flag of stars and
stripes. The war triumphantly closed with the final defeat of the British
army under Lord Cornwallis, by the allied armies of America and Prance
under Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19,
1781. The treaty of peace was signed in Paris in 1783.
The eight years of bloody war, begun for American independence in
Virginia, were gloriously terminated by a decisive victory won by a native
Virginia general, on the soil of the Old Dominion, the first colony and
# HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 15
mother of states. Also, General Washington was the president of the
convention who adopted, "in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and eighty-seven," the incomparable original Constitution of
the United States, and who was the first president, and his own successor,
without competition or compensation.
The visits of Lief Erickson in 1001, and of other Northmen prior to
that period, to the northern part of America, were valueless to the
civilized world. It remained for Columbus, who was returned to Spain
in chains, to discover in 1492, southward the grandest country ever trod
by the foot of mortal man. Likewise the vicissitudes of the Spanish and
French governments failed of large beneficial results. The opportunity
for grand achievement arose for Thomas Jefferson, president of the
United States, when that great Virginian acquired for his country, by
purchase from the French empire, through the friendly statesmanship
of Emperor Napoleon in 1803, the grand domain between the Mississippi
river and the Pacific ocean.
The State of Missouri derives her name from the tribe of Indians
who lived at the mouth of the river now of that name.
Imperial Missouri, organized by the United States as a territory, a
century ago, in 1812, and admitted with a population of sixty thousand
into the Union as a state in 1821, is conspicuous as the prominent central
state on the map of North America. The northeast part has the follow-
ing boundaries : The Des Moines river for sixty miles is part of its north
boundary line, eastward. Its east boundary line has a full front of
two hundred miles on the Mississippi river. Its southwest boundary has
a front of two hundred miles on the Missouri river. The west boundary
is the west line of Chariton county, extended north to Iowa. Both, by
nature, are navigable rivers. Combined, those river fronts are twice the
navigable length, from the sea to the falls, of the celebrated Rhine river
of Gtermany.
Boone and the First Settlers
The most celebrated typical frontier hunter, soldier and surveyor of
Virginia and Kentucky was Col. Daniel Boone. He removed to Northeast
Missouri when it was a Spanish possession, and remained through the
changes of government. He possessed remarkable force of character
and some eccentricities. He led to Northeast Missouri an important
movement of hundreds of immigrants from Virginia, Kentucky and the
Carolinas, the children of the conquerors of the British army.
That daring Boone band of pioneers, men, women and children, were
the forlorn hope in the march of western Christian civilization. Multi-
tudes followed that expedition as the years passed by. Some came on
horseback, or in wagons, overland across the states of Indiana and
Illinois, bringing what was necessair to begin pioneer life, others came
in steamboats down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. John Randolph
facetiously said, in congress, ''The Ohio river is frozen one half of the
year, and dry the other half." Those pioneers of sterling characters,
with their brave wives and hearty children, overcame the terrors of the
wilderness, and resisted the drouth of the sun and the rigors of the
winter. With strong arms and high purpose they cut and felled the
big trees; and versed in woodcraft, stood by the trunk, and stepped
from the direction of its fall, a secret they observed for their safety,
instead of running out and being caught in its wide-spreading branches.
The pioneer style of architecture was the log cabin, with clapboard
roof and stone chimneys, smooth puncheon floors, solid sliding windows,
wide oak doors on wooden hinges with latch string of warm hospitality —
ever swinging outward. Rooms were built as the family needs multiplied.
16 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Better buildings and increased comforts were added as population and
wealth enlarged. The soil was virgin, fertile and fruitful, game meat
wag plentiful, but bread was hard to get. Com was planted but the
growth was slow. Roasting ears were a jubilee and when the grain
matured, then Johnny cake was a feast, and pone and hominy were
staples. The truck patch was an indispensable part of the living and
furnished the pumpkins, beans, etc. They generally slept with their feet
to the fire, possibly to prevent, or happily to cure the rheumatism. It
was a salutary habit, comfortable if not efficacious.
Timber and prairie land abounded, land was cheap. On^ the
cleared timber lands and bottom land were cultivated, a misapprehension
was common respecting the productive quality of the prairie lands to
respond to cultivation.
Daniel Boone Cabin, St. Charles Countt
The pioneers were of the highest type and purest blood of the white
American Anglo-Saxnn race. They came with indomitable energy and
fortitude, bringing their negroes, stock, guns and tools, for permanent
occupation against the Indians and marauders. They penetrated the
vast regions of prairie and forest to build homes, inheritances, achooU
and churches for themselves and posterity. They were honest in princi-
ples and sound in morals. An instance is recalled, illustrating the com-
mon danger when the war whoop often disturbed the sleeping babe in
the cradle. In the early settlement period in th&west part, forts were
built for the general protection, while some plowed the fields, others
stood guard with loaded guns to defend against Indian attack. The
Indians lurked in the wilderness eager to murder, scalp, and bam.
St. Charles was the first capital of the state, from 1820 to 1826, where
the legislature assembled, and the supreme court held its terma.
The Pionkeb Preachers
As a distinct class, of the pioneer evangelists, the itinerant Methodist
preachers led the van of the churches in extending Christian civiliza-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 17
tion. They were occasiooally on foot, but geuersUy on a good horse,
vith leather saddle bags filled with Bibles, hymn books and tracts ; the
Svangel of the Cross sowing the good seed of eternal life. Methodist
camp meetings were attractive religious occasions. Large numbers
assembled in groves with tents, booths, etc. Under the fervent preach-
ing of the gospel, the praise of Ood in hymn and songs, prayers and
penitential exclamations often religiously produced through the moving
of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of the sinners, wonderful conversions,
manifested occasionally by singular physical demonstrations. Some
came for spiritual uplift, some to enjoy the feast of good things of which
there was generous abundance, and some who came to mock remained to
pray. Undoubtedly multitudes were genuinely converted by faith and
repentance, transforming the wicked into the righteous, and manifesting
the power of God unto salvation, to such as believed. Spiritual life was
preached to be the best gift for this world, and the oiUy hope for the
world to come.
A MiSSOUBIAN OP THE EaRLY DaT
The Life Social
The children of the pioneers developed minds and bodies suited to
the times in which they lived. The girts adapted themselves to house-
hold duties making home life comfortable and attractive. The boys
were bold and energetic, skillful and familiar in the use of firearms,
strong of muscle and fleet of foot.
The social life of the pioneer younger set was not all one way, either
of amusement or of Puritanic self-denial. The sons and daughters were
healthy and robust. They would enter with animation and zest into
the enjoyment of festive occasions, such as the singing schools, the going
and coming; comhusking parties, quilting bees, the fruit parties, when
the delicious strawberries, blackberries, plums, cherries, apples, peaches,
abounded, with walnuts and pecans. The wedding and infare parties
were very popular, where the clergyman always officiated. It was not
considered in good form to have a justice of the peace perform the mar-
riage ceremony. The dances were frequent, when the innocent fiddle
18 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
made music that stirred the hearts and moved the feet to harmless har-
monious measure, when the old tunes, and virtuous people, and the
limited hours, quickened the pulse and afforded rational delight and
merriment. The familiar tunes, money musk, leather breeches, Virginia
reel, cotillion, etc., played chiefly on the violin, delighted all and toned
the amusements in a pure atmosphere.
The forests were a means of education and closely read with the
various variety of trees, soil and vegetation. Shadow cast by the sun
was a familiar method of telling the hours of the day. Game was plenti-
ful, consisting of buffalo, bear, wolf, deer, squirrel, turkey, etc. The
fox chase and deer drive afforded much pleasure to the hunters with
their dogs, horses and guns.
The population had rapidly increased, the danger lessened, and from
territorial beginning, the people demanded state government.
Political iNSTrrurioNS
The United States judged it to be a wise and righteous principle, in
harmony with natural law and the superiority of the people to restrict
citizenship in the United States and territories exclusively to the white
race.
Therefore the following fundamental law was enacted as the estab-
lished basis of citizenship in Missouri :
Naturalization op Aliens.
Abstract of Laws of the United States in relation to the naturalization of
aliens.
Section 1. Any alien bein^ a free white person, may be admitted to be a
citizen of the United States, or any of them on the following conditions and not
otherwise :
Section 4. Any alien, being a free white person, and a minor under the age of
twenty-one years, etc.
Section 10. Any alien, being a free white person, who was a resident within
the limits, etc.
Section 11. Nothing in the foregoing section 10, contained shall be construed
to exclude from citizenship, any free white person who living within the limits, etc.
—Act of March 3, 1813.
The Constitution of the United States (Amendment) : Article 5 — No person
shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor
shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation — March
4, 1789.
The Constitution of Missouri of 1820 — expressly stipulated in Article 3, Sec-
tion 10, that a qualified elector of all elective ofSces shall be a free white male
citizen of the United States.
Section 3. No person shall be a member of the house of representatives, who
shall not be a free white male citizen of the United States.
Section 5. No person shall be a senator, who shall not be a free white male
citizen of the United States.
Section 26. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws.
(Ist) for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners or with-
out paying them, before such emancipation, the full equivalent for such slaves
emancipated.
The General Assembly was vested with power to pass laws.
(Ist) to prevent negroes and mulattoes from coming to, and settling in this
state, under any pretext whatsoever.
Section 2. To oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity and
to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb.
Section 27. In prosecutions for crime, slaves shall not be deprived of an
impartial trial by jury, and a slave convicted of a capital offense shall suffer the
same degree of punishment and no other, that would be inflicted on the free white
person for a like offense: and courts of justice before whom slaves shall be tried,
shall assign them counsel for their defense.
HISTORY OP NOKTHEAST MISSOURI 19
Section 28. An^ petMn wbo sball deprive of life, or diamember a slave, shall
Buffer Bucb punisbDieiit as would be inflicted for a like oeFenBe if it were committed
OQ a free white peraoii.
Article 13, DecUratLon of Rigbte.
Section 7. That courts of justice ought to be open to every person, and eertain
reinedy afforded for every injury to person, property or ebaraeter; and that right
and justice ought to be administered without sale, denial or delay; and that no
private property ought to be taken or applied to public use, without just com-
The laws of a state set forth the manhood of its citizens.
Map of the original town of Franklin, nov known aa Old Franklin, as it was
laid off in 3S16 and made tfae County Seat of Howard County on June 17th, 1616.
The town began to be washed away in about 1628 and in 1S44 was washed back to
Vbe line marked "North Bank of Missouri River." It then had a population of
about 2,500. It was the seat of an "Institute of Learning," the first brick build-
ing in the Boon's I>ick country, now the only building left standing of the once
prosperous town of Franklin.
Pioneer Lawyers
The lawyers many of whom were learned and skillful and wise in
the law, were the leaders in public matters of importance. They tilled
generally the official positions giving direction and emphasis to subjects
of vital concern. The various supreme court reports contain lucid
. expositions of the difficult phases of civil and criminal law creditable to
the bench and bar of any state in the Union.
20 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The pioneer lawyers were very familiar with a few books of general
principles adequate to the litigation of the times. They framed the
laws and were usually men of intellectual strength and public spirit.
They rode the circuit from county to county, with law books in their
saddle bags for authority adapted to the legal problems involved in
contested cases. Professional practice was not very remunerative for
either lawyers or doctors, a bare living was the customary average.
Their social life waa usually with the best society and that promi-
nence encouraged many despondent practitionere. The law first affect-
ing Northeast Missouri was the appointment of the officers of the
federal government. Postmasters were occasionally appointed.
It is told that an appointment of postmaster came to a villager, who
at once swept the fioor and rearranged the chairs. In the evening a
The woman is standiog at a point twelve feet north of the M. K. 4 T. B.
R. Bridge across the Miggouri Kiver at Boonville; at what was in Old Franklin the
Sontheast corner of the Public Square, at the intersection of Madison and St.
Charles Streets, aa shown on the map. The Institute of LeamiuK was located
on Lots II and 12, the Northeast comer of the town, and is now a farm bouse, to
which the woman is pointing, to indicate the present condition of the former site of
Franklin.
letter came by mail. Next morning the postmaster and horse were miss-
ing, rumors were current, friends were anxious and his wife was almost
distracted. A month later the postmaster returned on his jaded and
hungry horse. "Hello, Tom, where have you beent" was a^ed. The
postmaster replied, "The first letter came, and I went to see the presi-
dent to learn what to do with it."
Provision for Schools
The education of the pioneer boys and girls was considered to be a
cardinal duty. Provision was made by the state constitution of 1820.
Article ft— Section 1: "Schools and the means of education shall be
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 21
forever encouraged in this state; and the general assembly shall take
measures to preserve from waste or damage such lands as have, or here-
after may be granted by the United States for the use of schools within
each township in this state, and shall apply the funds which may arise
from such lands with strict conformity with the grant. One school or
more shall be established in each township as soon as practicable and
necessary, where the poor shall be taught gratis." Section two provided
for the permanent fund for the permanent support of the university for
the promotion of Uterature and of the arts and sciences, and effectual
' means for the permanent security of the funds and endowment of such
institution.
The State University was established in Columbia in 1839. The
people of the state are very proud of that noble institution of learning
In 1852, the state of Missouri enacted a law appropriating one-fourth of
the revenue annually for the public schools, and organized a public
school in every township.
Article 13 — Section 7 : Stipulated among other matters, for honest
protection to the owners of property, viz, *'No private property ought
to be taken or applied to public use, without just compensation."
The various churches had their denominational seminaries and col-
leges through Northeast Missouri, so the cause of education and religion
thrived wonderfully.
* No Race Degeneration
Excerpts from Missouri Statutes of 1845, chapter 115. Marriages,
section 3— All marriages of white persons with negroes or mulattoes,
are declared to be illegal and void. Section 4 — ^Provided for violations
of the foregoing by persons solemnizing any such marriages and persons
violating l£e above, penalty of fine and imprisonment. There was no
race degeneration during the pioneer period. Additional to the peril
to life and property from lurking savage^, the pioneer' had to contend
against insurrection and the robbery by the dishonest Abolitionist. One
authentic instance from the circuit court records of Marion county, of
1841, exhibits how the guilty were detected, arrested, and punished. At
Quincy, Illinois, the Mississippi river is about one mile wide to the bot-
tom lands of Marion county, Missouri. Those low lands were overflowed
annually, were uninhabited, and were not in cultivation. In 1841,
George Thompson, a preacher and two others studying for the ministry,
were living in Quincy and they formed a plot to ste^ the slaves of the
Missouri farmers. They came over and secretly induced a number of
slaves of farmers living near Palmyra to agree to run away with them on
a certain night. The Abolitionists and the slaves met at the appointed
time, and went to the river bank opposite Quincy where a white man
with skiffs was waiting to take them over the river. At that juncture
the Missouri farmers captured the Abolitionists and slaves. A faithful
slave had divulged the plot. The Abolitionists were placed in jail in
Palmyra. In due course of law they were indicted, convicted of the
crime and sentenced to imprisonment in the Missouri penitentiary for
a term of years. The pretended, fabricated justification for the crime
« is herein given, in the words of the leader of the gang, who wrote a book
exploiting his criminal conduct: ** Prison Life, by George Thompson,
Oberlin, 1847. The Mission Institute being situated near the IGssis-
sippi river, and just across the river from a slave state (Missouri) we
coidd, as it were, hear the crack of the overseer's whip — ^the shrieks and
groans of those who were suffering its cruel infiiction, their earnest cries
22 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
for help, their sighs for deliverance, their importunate entreaties, as
they rehearsed to us their tales of woe, reached our ears, and our hearts
melted with pity, while the resolution was formed to respond to their
call ; and if need be too, to risk our own liberty and lives to effect their
rescue. ' '
Pioneer Wheat Ghowbbs
The pioneers of Northeast Missouri can boa^t of the fertility of its
soil and the enterprise of its citizens, because of the record success of
the wheat harvested, and the flour manufactured in that desirable part
of the state. In 1853, Hiram Glascock, a Ralls county pioneer from Vir-
ginia, raised on his farm the superior white wheat, that was manufac-
tured into superlatively choice flour, by a- pioneer miller, Capt. A, S.
RoBards' Mill, Hannibal
RoBarda, of Kentucky, at his mill in Hannibal. The flour was exhibited
at the World's Fair of 1853 in New York, against the competition of
all the nations. That Hannibal flour was awarded the highest premium
for being the beat flour, over the competition of the world. The prestige
thus fairly acquired for Hannibal flour, has been of incalculable flnancial
beneflt to the wheat and flour interests of the great Mississippi valley
since that date of 1853.
The pioneers were men of energy and business tact in all the depart-
ments of business commerce One instance will illustrate for all. The
farmers of Northeast Missouri raised the hemp, the com, the wheat, the
fat hogs, the choice beef cattle, the big mules, the finest tobacco. They
were marketed in Hannibal from the different interior localities. The
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 23
mills ground the wheat and exported the flour. The meat packers killed
the hogs and exx)orted the various products.
The steamboats being then in their glory for freight and passengers,
received and discharged their cargoes at the wharves. The manufactur-
ers made the rope, the cigars, the plug tobacco, and pressed the leaf
tobacco into immense hogsheads of several tons weight, and all that class
of business flourished and prospered.* Likewise at Hannibal were the
boat yards, where steamboats were constructed, fluished and launched.
In Honor op the Dead
The state of Missouri adopted the wise and considerate policy of
erecting at its capital, in Woodlawn cemetery, in Jefferson City, appro-
priate memorials to distinguished state officials, whose merits and valued
services entitled them to that distinction. Several are named of the
many to indicate that the dead are not always forgotten:
Peter Q. Glover, secretary of state of Missouri, born in Virginia,
1792, died in Missouri, 1851.
James R, McDearmon, auditor of the state of Missouri, bom in
Virginia, 1805, died in Missouri, 1848.
Thomas Reynolds, governor of Missouri, born in Kentucky in 1796,
died in Missouri, 1844.
William A. RoBards, attorney general of Missouri, bom in Kentucky,
1817, died in Missouri, 1851.
William Scott, judge of the supreme court of Missouri, born in Vir-
ginia, 1804, died in Missouri, 1862.
Railroads
In reviewing the railroad enterprises as expressed in the 147 lines
of operating railways of Missouri, the fact should be known that North-
east Missouri boomed the first railway movement in Missouri in 1835.
The following from the History of Marion County, deserves wider
observation for the reasons therein set forth:
**The first railroad ever surveyed and graded in Missouri was begun.
Its initial point was Marion City, it was to run westwardly, through
'Railroad street,' to the city of Philadelphia, with a branch to Palmyra
and Ely City, and from thence to New York in Shelby county, and as soon
as possible, to the western boundary of the state, and ultimately to the
Pacific ocean.'' This was in the fall of 1835.
At an early date when railroads, or when at that early date, "steam
cars" as they were called, were hardly understood, when Nevada and
California were not a part of the United States, Wm. Muldrow was wont
to speak of the day that would come when a citizen of Marion county
would step on a railroad car at Palmyra on Monday morning, and wash
his face in the Pacific ocean on the following Saturday night. The fol-
lowing is an extract from a letter written by Wm. Muldrow to Major
Moses D. Bates, dated St. Charles, December 26, 1835. Speaking of
Marion City, and a railroad across to the Missouri, Mr. Muldrow says:
*'*Our plan is ultimately to strike the Pacific ocean, with the railroad,
thereby tapping the East India trade, the most important to us of any
in the world. This will make a reduction of three-fourths of the present
route, and more than half of the expense wll be taken off. To complete
* The finished product was shipped by steamboats to St. Louis and New
Orleans for domestic and foreign purchasers to supply the various commercial
demands. Hannibal was a port of entry.
24 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
thifi may require twenty years, though I believe it will be completed
before that time ; and all will admit, that our connection will be complete
with New York before that time expires. And if this be admitted, I aah
you to say what the size of our own city wiU be, and what tie value of
our own lota, when we have this extent of garden land drawing their
products continually to us, together with the trade and products of the
Indies. Coupled with this, the fact that the great Mississippi makes one
part of the crossroad, which passes through an extent of country, which,
for length and fertility, is unparalleled by any on the globe. Now, sir,
I again ask you, what may we not expect our own city to come tot The
man who could not see our just claims to a rivalship with any of our
western cities must be blind. ' '*
That only some twenty miles of roadbed was actually built proved
bow vain and visiooary are, apparently, some men of most splendid intel-
At Boon's Lick, Howakd Cocnty
Marshall Gordon (Btanding) and Judge John R. Haireton.
lect and indomitable enei^, who are slow to concede that money builds
railroads, and not balloon blaster.
When the Pioneer Went West
The California gold iever of 1849 led many enterprising men of the
pioneers to travel across the vast plains in pursuit of gold on the Pacific
slope. The Hannibal company of fifteen was thoroughly equipped and
provisioned by Gapt. A, S. RoBards, who took his son, John L., and his
horse, with him, and started on April 17, 1849. He had five covered
wagons each drawn by five yoke of select oxen, a double spring wagon,
drawn by two mules and his slave, Oreen. He established ^e Cross
State California Trail, almost as straight as the bird files. Beginning on
liie Mississippi river, thence passed through Florida, Mark Twain's
birthplace, on Salt river, to Paris, Monroe county, thence to Huntsville,
Randolph county, thence to Keytesville in Chariton county, thence to
Brunswick on the Missouri r\ver, crossed Grand river, thence to Carroll-
ton in Carroll county, thence to Richmond in Ray county, thence to
Liberty in Clay county, thence to Platte City in Platte county, and
crossed the Platte river, and went into camp for several days. Wm.
* Historj of Marion Coantj, page 236.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 25
Hnbbardy of Marion county, with eight men and two wagons, joined our
company there.
The committee returned from St. Joseph and reported that the chol-"
era was killing tens of thousands of gold seekers on the Salt Lake route.
We concluded it was better to take the longer route, and get to California
alive, than to try the northern route and be buried where the coyotes
would feast on our dead bodies. The company crossed the Missouri
river at Fort Leavenworth, thence southwest about twenty miles, and
struck the Santa Fe trail. We met with Col. Congreve Jackson's com-
pany from Howard county, of twenty men and five covered wagons,
each drawn by four mules, and consolidated trains for mutual defense
and convenience. Colonel Jackson was a hero with General Doniphan,
in his celebrated victorious march and captures in Mexico, in the War
of 1846, and had large frontier experience. He was appointed captain
of the combination when together. Captain RoBards of the 2d division
when separate.
Near the Arkansas river several immense herds of buffalo were seen
and chased and a number killed. Colonel Jackson rode his very fleet
black mule, and took good care of John L., his special pet, whose horse
was gentle, spirited and fast, who had his father's hair trigger ounce
ball pistol belted to him, with which he shot several buffalo. They met
with several roaming bands of Shawnee, Pawnee and Comanche
Indians west of Tucson, Colonel Jackson passed through the Pemo
Indian village several miles and camped. Captain RoBards' division
halted before reaching the village, and formed corral for the night. A
stranger with two horses rode up and asked to eat with us. A number of
Indians recognized the stranger's pack horse, and told our interpreter,
Pedro, that he was stolen by some Mexicans several months before. The
stranger hotly refused to give up the horse. The chief came with several
hundred armed warriors and surrounded our corral. They were angry
and excited about the horse, and became very noisy and demonstrative.
The crisis was urgent. Captain RoBards held up some trinkets, and said
to the interpreter, tell the chief to take his choice. The pistol was in
his face. The chief waved his men away, and accepted some of the beads
and rings. The horse was taken away by the Indian owner. About ten
o'clock our sentinel heard a rapid tramping of feet, as of horses running.
Our company was aroused at once, when Colonel Jackson galloped in at
the head of his men to our rescue. One of our men had slipped away
when our lives appeared in jeopardy. He found Colonel Jackson's camp
and told him of our danger. Forthwith through the night came Jackson
and his men to our rescue. The danger had passed, but we had a joyful,
hilarious time. We felt the prompt, fearless, friendly act was brave
and noble, and we loved them for it.
We passed en route through Los Angeles on Christmas day. The mule
teams went into Mariposa mines only one day before the ox teams, ten
months and four days from Hannibal. Not a man had died from disease
on the trip, while tens of thousands of emigrants died of cholera on the
Salt Lake route. In Sacramento City, in the fall of 1850, Captain RoBards
voluntarily gave his slave Green, his liberty, the first slave set free
in California. A band of Digger Indians had elected Green their cbief .
His owner said. Green had been faithful in Kentucky, in Missouri, and
for two thousand miles from Hannibal, Missouri, to Sacramento, and
a chief of free men ought to be a free man.
The Pioneer in War Time
Our pioneer section of this state was troubled with war in various
forms and against divers enemies. Black Hawk, the Indian insurgent,
26 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
with his desperate braves was the object of a hurried call by the governor
for several thousand militia. Black Hawk's famous defiance was, ''The
white men do not scalp the head, but they do worse, they poison the
heart." He and his band of bloodthirsty braves were exterminated by
the military forces of Illinois.
The Mormon war was almost a bloodless affair. But it manifested
the spirit of Missourians to drive polygamy from the state even though it
paraded in ministerial uniform.
The Mexican war of 1846 was a brilliant historic reality. The pio-
neers of Northeast Missouri furnished about two thousand soldiers under
General Doniphan. The length of the march, the hardship of the cam-
paign, conferred great renown upon them. For they defeated the enemy
in every battle. The pioneer military spirit was splendidly illustrated
in their matchless achievements.
William H. Dulany, Pioneer
A prominent ^nd wealthy citizen of Hannibal has the providential
distinction of having lived more than ninety-four years, and all that
period in the charming locality, Northeast Missouri. He is a native of
the Louisiana Purchase territory, antedating the state of Missouri sev-
eral years. William H. Dulany was bom in what is now Howard county,
Missouri, on January 9, 1818. He has three sets of great grandchildren.
He is in fine health, and will probably yet live a full century. He is a
member of the Christian church, and enjoys the blessings of a long
prosperous and useful life.
CHAPTER III
THE PART WOMAN PLAYED
By Mrs, Lily Herald Frost, Vandalia
Whether preserved on Babylonian bricks, or painted on American
bluffs, whether written by the stylus of Herodotus, or the typewriter
of today, history is the record of the achievements of man, of his con-
quest of the world. Since Deborah's wild war cry stung the Jews to
victory, but few women have been instrumental in shaping the des-
tinies of peoples or of nations. And yet she is the sub-structure of
every world accomplishment. The toil of her hands, her sacrifices,
her insight, the deep red depths of her heart and the clear-eyed vision
of her intellect constitute the welding material that has given strength
and permanency to every establishment of civilization, whether of the
old world or of our own Northeast Missouri.
Real History Around the Hearth
The real history of a country is made around the hearthstone where
women reign. The written page with its record of the deeds of men
and the rise and fall of governments is only the result.
The wanderlust is an ineradicable heritage. When the Aryans
swept down out of Asia and flowed up into Europe, they set in motion
vast currents that still move and sway. They developed instincts that
still pervade the blood, and men. and women are ever traveling hither
to new countries, to far horizons, to wide silences, ever going, ever
travelijig, seeking the Land of the Heart's Desire. The same tang in
the blood sent adventurous spirits across the great America, and shortly
over a century ago the tide of life paused here on the edge of this won-
derland, with silent mysteries brooding along the shores of its wide
and shining river, which came from they knew not where and went
on toward the sea, slowly moving, majestic. Into this land of mystery
man came like King Arthur of old, to let in the light. Nor did he come
alone. But hand in hand with his mate, the woman. And who shall
say which was the stronger of the two? Back of them many days'
journey they had left friends, home and comparative comfort. Here
on the bosom of the mighty river their souls were charged with the awe
of vast potentialities. Under a sky of brilliant blue, a slow-moving,
molten-yellow stream moved sluggishly away between caressing low lying
shores. Stretches of low lands, miles of crowned bluffs. Pleasant val-
leys, the songs of birds, alluring, beckoning, but everywhere mystery,
mystery! What Indians lie in wait under that dense foliage! What
wild beasts lurk in those fair valleys! What pestilences hang along
that sluggish stream! They were heroic, those pioneer women. What
wonder their descendants walk like free women, with head erect, squared
shoulders, meeting the issues of life with courage, with serene eyes.
27
28 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
In the Silences of the Fobbsts
"Thales remained motionless fonr years. He founded philosophy."
Sncceediog the first valorous onalacght on the primitiveness of North-
east Missouri, passed a long period of pioneer years, apparently con-
secutive duplicates. The women spun and wove and cut — Clotho, Atro-
pos, and Lychesis, weaving a. wonderful cloth of character, an even,
beautifiil fabric for their daughters and granddaughters for inter-
minable generations. While the good pioneer women brewed like sybils
and wove like the Fates, great dynamic forces were silently at work
and suddenly it seemed the light was shining. In less than three gen-
erations life swung the limit, from pioneer days to the crest of civiliza-
tion. The needle was relegated for the sewing machine, electric range
and fireless cooker had supplanted the open fireplace, and instead of
her woven, hand made dress, grandmother can now wear the most per-
Stnodical College poe Women, Fui/fon
feet of garments, turned out ready to wear by great industrial fac-
tories.
Civilization is the hand of God working through human agencies.
When the work has been accomplished and valley and plain are blos-
soming like the rose the transformation seems a bit of alchemy, or a
fairy tale, Man may claim the glory, but God planned, and also while
Adam delved Eve span.
Betsy Biaas
When Betsy Biggs moved from Kentucky in 1817 with her husband,
Wm. Biggs, she brought courage and character and a copy of Milton's
Paradise Lost along with slaves and gold and furniture and a brood
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 29
of incipient citizens. The book is a keynote. Her myriad descendants
are lovers of learning, and that Betsy read the book is proven by her
giving her son the name of the blind poet. The book, nearly 200 years
old, was printed in Edinburgh in 1726 and is now the most valued pos-
session of a granddaughter. And Betsy was a wonderful wife, for
when she was to be baptized along in the late twenties, her husband
rode horseback from Jefferson City, where as representative he was
attending the legislature, to observe the rites. And Betsy was a lover
of fine horses and on her eightieth birthday went riding, keeping up
with the best of them. So strong was this love that it passed into the
line of inheritance and wherever a drop of it prevails it means the pos-
session of blooded animals and fine stock. Her women slaves were taught
by her to weave and they were splendid weavers, their wool and linen
being remarkable for their smoothness. When one of her sons was mar-
ried he and also his bride were dressed in fine white linen from head
to foot, even wearing moccasins of deer skin tanned to a gleaming white.
It is related that one of the guests, a pioneer gallant, slipped while
playing ball and had the misfortune to get his pants so stained with
grass tiiat he disappeared in mortification from the company. Betsy
Biggs was a woman of such strong character that among her descend-
ants scattered over several counties of northeast Missouri, her name
is still a household word. ''How strangely do things grow and die and
do not die."
Madame Schbiefer
Only sixty years ago when plodding, ponderous oxen brought Madame
Schriefer, a buxom German bride, through forests, over streams and
by perilous ways to the broad prairie, her chief assets were courage
and youth. Away from her one room log house, prairie grass, taller
than herself, stretched as far as eye could reach, shimmering in the
gleaming sun. Green flies buzzed all day and rattlesnakes were so
numerous it was not safe to venture out without a stout stick. This
precaution Mrs. Schriefer forgot one day when going a few yards away
to the well, but when she stepped on a coiled sni&e her presence of
mind did not desert her, and she quickly plumped her bucket over the
writhing mass. There were no dubs and receptions in Mrs. Schriefer 's
day and when her husband made his three days' journey to the mill,
her chief diversion was climbing a ladder to the roof of her home, where
she would sit and watch the deer go plunging through the tall grass.
No Parsee guarded his altar fires more zealously than this indis-
pensable article was guarded on this hearthstone. Matches were as
rare as jeweled stickpins and one day when not a live coal could be
found in the ashes, a member of the family rode several miles to pro-
cure some from their nearest neighbor, on the return journey riding
with extended arm that the rushing wind might fan the coals and keep
them aUve. A spacious home now replaces the log cabin and from
where Mrs. Schriefer watched the deer, now can be seen fallow fields
rimmed with trim hedges, sleek, fat cattle grazing, winding railroads,
and a breath of peace and opulence.
As a mark of great favor she brings out her spinning wheel and
shows you how she spun a stout woolen thread and a fine linen thread.
''Life was not hard. No, it was fun. I could do it again," says this
indomitable will that helped to make the prairie blossom as the rose.
Here and there in Missouri are women who have seen King Arthur
pass, slaying the beast, felling the forest and making broad pathways
for the children of men. There are only left a few of these dear roses
30 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
o£ yesterday, cliugiiig tenaciously to life, faded, fragrant, anachronisms
among the gorgeous bloom and blossom of today.
Unfortunate indeed is one who does not count among their acquaint-
ance, one of those dear, sweet, white-haired women, in their eyes linger-
ing shadows and depths and vision of things long swept out by the
march of progress. When they say, "I remember," it has the folk lore
quality of "Once upon a time." Their story is of those who have gone
before in the wilderness.
Each pioneer woman, living or dead, baa added her little molecule
to the glory of the state. The story of each life is a sentence in its his-
tory. They are the real uncrowned heroines of Northeast Missouri.
And how pitifully few are left. How close tbey are to the brink of
the river. Every day one slips over. Perhaps another decade will
mark their complete passing. How strangely odd and lonely the world
will seem then.
The Pioneer Woman
Every community has its few pioneer women. Their stories all
vary and are yet all typical and can be duplicated in any other com-
WiLi,iAM Woods College for Women, Fulton
munity. Men and women are so absorbed in the mad rush of the day,
commercial, industrial and social, that they do not realize that the
last human documents of an historic period are yet open about them.
That it is their rare and rich privilege to read if they will. The names
and deeds of these women are never written in boo^. They have only
been written in human lives. They have done nothing great, only lived
and loved, and made a home and borne children, and lived life to the
full of its circumstance, the while imconsciouBly fostering, developing,
crystallizing the character of the men and women of their state. The
historic atmosphere is elusive but their story should have a setting of
the wildness' of a century ago. It should be told about a cavernous
fireplace with the tea kettle hanging on the crane, and the blaze creep-
ing up through the hickory logs and breaking into flickering, waver-
ing shadows on walls of log and puncheon floor. In the gleam and
glow the old wrinkled faces would turn magically back to the smooth
bloom and beauty of youth.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 31
Cevilla Inlow Roland
In 1829 civilization had not disturbed the lair of the panther or
frightened away Indians, or bear or deer. Cevilla Inlow Roland, who
was bom in that year, can still, despite the lapse of eighty-three years,
remember vividly the screams and cries of ** painters*' that made the
nights hideous and kept her shivering even in her warm featherbed.
Around her pioneer log home lay primeval wildness, and once
while fishing in a nearby stream a bear came stealthily padding on a
log across the water, but was seen in time and the children fled in wild
haste. The Indians, too, kept the hearts of the children in terror.
They only committed occasional depredations, but this fact conveyed
no feeling of safety to the children of pioneer days, and one day Cevilla
was almost paralyzed with fright to see an Indian brave with feathers
in his hair emerge from the woods and loom suddenly, before her.
Though he only demanded a handshake, the courtesies of the high-
way were ignored and she fled precipitately, followed by sounds that
her imagination freely translated as challenging war whoops. This
was in 1838 and the last Indian Cevilla ever saw.
In 1843 when Cevilla was fourteen years old tragedy came into the
pioneer home. The mother died. Also the old black mammy slave of
the family. There were ten bodies to feed and ten bodies to clothe in
that stricken household, and the work devolved solely on Cevilla, aged
fourteen, and her sister, aged sixteen, and nobly they rose to the work.
Prom early dawn to late candle light these two young heroines
wrought miracles with their slender, marvel-working fingers. They
carded the wool into rolls, spun it into thread, wove the cloth, made
the garments worn by the father, the children and the cabin of little
darkies. Sometimes there was a roll of jeans to spare and it was car-
ried on horseback forty miles away to the town and exchanged for tea
and coffee and many coveted things. There was not an article used
in that home, sheets, table cloths, towels, but these two girls, fourteen
and sixteen, had not made.
A happy feature of this pioneer life was the over-Sunday visits of a
certain pioneer swain, who arrived on Saturday evening and stayed
until Sunday evening. He gave the ladies the latest news, how mother
was checking the cotton she had in the loom, and they were keeping
their sheep pens covered to keep out the wolves. And they roasted
wild turkey in the fireplace and carefully turned the corn pone on its
board taking on a golden brown before the mellow blaze. On the man-
tel overhead ticked the clock bought from a journeyman peddler the
year Cevilla was born and as the flames danced eyes sent fair speech-
less messages.
The same old clock ticks today in a dignified, deliberate way as befits
its years. Underneath it sit the same swain and the same maid telling
the story of that far-off day. **It was hard work," says Cevilla, **but
we didn't know anything else." By the side of the clock in a hand-
carved frame is a silhouette, ninety years old, of Cevilla 's mother,
Anne Briscoe, bom in 1803, a Bourbon county, Kentucky belle, and
a woman of great strength of character. How else could her daugh-
ter, aged fourteen, have accomplished the work she did in that pioneer
home?
Mrs. Lewis Coontz
Though one of the first settlements of Missouri was made along Salt
river and Spencer creek, life there remained primitive for a long period.
Even at this day a ride in certain communities is like dropping into
HISTOEY OF NORTHEAST MISSOUEI
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 33
the atmosphere of a century ago. Hills are wild and lonely. A brood-
ing quiet prevails. Perhaps in going around a curve a tiny home is
nestled by the side of a small patch of corn, as if it were the first tenta-
tive pioneer essay at cultivation.
In riding over the rocky bed of the shallow stream there are glimpses
of overhanging low growth. A canoe of Indians can easily be pictured
paddling toward you over the green and glassy water. Under the
dense growth of hillsides a thousand feather helraeted braves could
easily hide. There is no noise but the clear bird calls. On a hill etflied
against the sky is a gaunt two-story log house, leaning, tottering. The
setting sun sends shafts of light through its open windows. It is
ghostly, a last lingering shadow. The historical atmosphere antedates
the pioneer. It is tinged with medievalism. An automobile is an
anachronism. It needs slow moving oxen. Even in 1833 when Mrs.
Lewis Coontz came into this country with her father, life was pitifully
primitive.
This family built a one-room cabin of poles and prepared to chal-
lenge the forest for a living. Wild turkeys were in abundance but they
were elusive and wary. One expedient for catching them was for one
to sprinkle corn on the earth floor of the cabin, meanwhile counterfeit-
ing on a bone the cluck of a turkey, while two others held a blanket
at the top of the door ready to drop when the cautious birds had ven-
tured in. More often than not this ruse was unavailing. But a tur-
key trap was maintained which w^as more successful in contributing
to the family needs.
Getting shoes in those days was not the simple matter of sitting in a
leather chair while an obsequious clerk fits a rather fastidious foot and
fancy. Instead there was waiting sometimes months until the shoe-
maker of the section arrived and made the shoes for the family, the hide
from the last cow killed having been dressed and tanned and waiting
for his skill. If shoes wore out before his arrival there was nothing
to do but go barefooted, without any reference to the zero tendency
of the thermometer. This last was the condition of both the family and
the weather when it became known that the turkey trap, a quarter
of a mile away, held a bunch of coveted birds. Mrs. Coontz and the
girls ran to the trap with all speed. Each grasped a bird, but on the
return home they were compelled to frequently sit down and warm
their feet in their woolen skirts before dashing on, on another lap of the
.iourney. These stories seem like a fiction coined by the imagination,
but those who have seen these things still live and tell the story.
Mrs. Susan Pox
Today in Northeast Missouri woman has every facility for learning
that an overeducated age can offer, yet many of their grandmothers
progressed no farther than the Rule of Three and learned that sitting
on a split log seat. It is a rare privilege to meet one of these old ladies
who, so to speak, were in at the birth of our great educational system.
Mrs. Susan Fox, sitting bent with the w^eight of her eighty-six years,
began her schooling in one of those log buildings that belong now only
to history. She is a dear, quaint, but remarkably strong-minded old
lady, with a very just doubt as to the spelling ability of the younger
generations, given to phonetics and queer markings.
She was seven years old in that far-away spring of 1833 when she
started to the log cabin schoolhouse, just at the edge of a forest, pass-
ing on the way with great fear and trembling, a bunch of wigwams,
but gathering courage she stopped to see the Indians execute a dance,
Vol. 1—8
34 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the braves making queer noises on queerer instruments, while the
squaws circled in a slow, fantastic, aboriginal dance. "The school-
house," says Mrs. Fox, "was built of logs, with an enormous 6replaee
occupying one entire end. On one side a log was left out and this gave
us the only light we had. The floor was just a rough puncheon one
and the seats made of logs split in two. There we sat all day, our lit-
tle feet dangling and our poor little backs nearly breaking."
These little martyrs of learning possessed an incongruous collection of
booKs. ilrs. Fox rejoiced in a "blue back" speller and the Life of Waah-
ington, while next to her a little maid had to learn the mysterious proc-
ess of reading from the cheerful source of Fox's Book of Martyrs,
and another still used the Bible. Her father had decided ideas about
learning and his daughter was sent to town where a select school was
taught by a lady late from Philadelphia, who added philosophy to her
curriculum as a touch of eastern culture. Her father also sent his
M.*]N Dormitory, How.^rd-P.4tne College for Wojien. F.wette
daughter to a dancing school but never penuitted her to attend dances.
However, it was an accomplishment he said that every lady should
While spinning and weaving were done in this home, it was for
the use of the darkies, with the exception of Sannel which was made
into petticoats, gathered at the waist and three yards around, top and
bottom.
In 1840 when Mrs. Fox was fourteen years old she made a visit to
her grandfather in Kentucky and brought home with her a salmon-
colored silk that she rejoiced in greatly. One day she wore it to church,
accompanied by a young gallant, also her father, all on horseback. They
stopped at the creek to let the horses drink, when Mrs. Fox's horse
laid down in the cool water. The young man was so excited and fright-
ened that he rode out and left her to her fate. Her father rescued her.
not before, however, the salmoa-eolored silk was a total ruin, the water
turning it to a bright purple. In those days the stork had not been
dislodged from his supremacy and when the young people returned
home a mischievous aunt asked the young man how he expected to take
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 35
care of a wife and twelve children if he couldn't pull one girl out of
the creek, a question that so abashed him that he did not call again
for a month.
In this pioneer household every child was given his own horse and
saddle when it was ten years old, and the twelve members made a
goodly procession when they started to church.
Mrs. Fox's mother had one of the first cooking stoves brought to
Northeast Missouri, but for many years it was simply an ornament.
She was afraid the darkies would break it if they cooked on it. Mrs.
Fox herself had the first sewing machine in her part of the country.
Women would come for miles to see it, and men, sometimes driving
stock, would stop and stay while she showed them the wonders of its
sewing, meanwhile the hogs or cows straying far into the woods.
Mrs. Fox sits now, rocking gently; on her finger, worn thin as her
thread of life, is a gold ring worn one hundred and twenty-five years
ago by her Kentucky grandmother and she shows with pride family
silver hammered out a century ago by Kentucky silversmiths. Her
eyes have witnessed marvelous changes. The town where she dabbled
in philosophy and took her dancing lessons has grown from the small
btinch of houses to a city counting many thousands of population. Log
schoolhouses with their blue back spellers, and their simple games of
*' Black ;Man'' and **Base'' have given way to stately stone-trimmed
edifices where they babble German, wrestle with Greek, and take exer-
cise in a gymnasium.
Section by section the country has had wilderness and wolves,
panther and deer, pushed into the primitive lying beyond. '*! have
seen changes, strange changes,'' says ^Irs. Fox. *'I can remember
when here, where I sit, it was considered as much as a man's life was
worth to venture near it. Yet men were always pushing just a little
further on and women went with them. They are the real heroines of
this country.'' And the old lady sits, her eyes far back into the past,
seeing things that you can never see, this country as it looked when
she herself came and dwelt, making overtures to fortune and the future.
Education op Women
While along in the thirties and forties of eighteen hundred, the
educational facilities were intensively primitive, in a few sporadic
spots, of older settlement, the habits of Virginia clung and the chil-
dren were taught by a governess. Later the girls went to a ** Female
College," where the curriculum was sufiSciently formidable to satisfy
modem requirements.
Columbia even then had young and cherry-lipped maids who bab-
bled Greek with the finished spontaneity of perfect acquirement. The
Patriot, published in Columbia in 1841, in giving an account of the
exercises of Bonne Femme College, says that Miss Mary Jenkins, after-
wards the wife of Charles H. Hardin, governor of Missouri, read
Cicero with ** Extraordinary ease, lucid diction, and inimitable taste,"
and *'read parts of the Greek Testament, named at haphazard by a
gentleman in the audience, and went through the labyrinth of the
Greek verb, not as by the aid of a borrowed clue, but as if nature had
formed her another Ariadne." The latter quotation also gives an illus-
trative flash of information on the educational acquirements of the edi-
torial chair of the period. Or perhaps it was not the chair but a young
tyro from the University sent out on assignment. The rosy-cheeked maid
with a waterfall of curls, a cameo brooch at her throat, the billowy skirts
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 37
of her little checked silk flowing over her sedately strapped ankles, evi-
dently intoxicated him and Ariadnes and Cupids filled all the air.
The meagemess of the early educational facilities was only a phase.
It was a poverty, not of mind, not of purpose, but of resources. The
adjustment was slow, but the strong arm was ever pushing back the
primitive and the strong mind was ever appropriating, assimilating and
improving, until today education is almost a fetich, an obsession, in
Northeast Missouri. It is the freest thing we have. The mysteries of
Greek are as open to the daughter of the day laborer as they are to the
daughter of the capitalist.
Mrs. Sallie Barnett
There prevailed still in the fifties in many communities social life
of great simplicity. Finger bowls and pink teas lay in the unfathomed
future. The blood ran full and expression was free and untrammeled.
The dictum of culture that language is used to conceal thought had
not penetrated to the localities where log cabins and puncheon floors
prevailed. Boys and girls enjoyed life robustly, and when there was
a country dance its opportunities marked the high tide.
It was a great time, says Mrs. Sallie Barnett, w^ho was born in the
last year of the thirties. A star danced the night she was bom, and
for once the horoscopic significance was true, for it is not the work of
her pioneer home that lingers most vividly with this white-haired old
lady, but the jjiemory of the country dances. *'It was none of your come
at half past nine,'' she says, **and home at twelve. We began dancing
at one o'clock and danced all afternoon, and all night and the next
morning until noon.'' By one o'clock of an afternoon they came rid-
ing in from country lane and forest road, brave boys, and buxom maids,
many times the girls riding behind the boys. The flaming hickory blaze
sent dancing lights over the smoothly worn floor, the old darkey tuned
up his fiddle, and under its compelling music feet went flying in the
mazes of the old time cotillion. At early dusk pound cake and cus-
tard and fried pies were eaten with zest, and then the long white tal-
low candles made by the women, were brought out and under their
gentle radiance dancing and love making flowed along, interrupted
only by the occasional disappearance of some of the laughing girls to
make anew their toilets.
The Social Life
For three times aX least during the long dance girls changed their
dresses, slipping away up the stairs and shortly emerging, fresh and
stiffly starched and with smooth locks, for feminine vanity is the same
yesterday, today and forever. Freshness and immaculateness were the
chief points of glory in the matter of dress, for each w^as made alike,
with tight waists and full skirt. In fact, there was only one pattern
in the neighborhood and it passed from family to family, serving al^ke
for the old and the young, the slim and her unfortunate sister. Any
change in dress caused untold wonderment and once when two town
girls appeared at a dance with their hair in curls and with ribbons, it
caused an overpowering sensation.
**We had none of your dreamy waltzing," says Mrs. Barnett; '*we
danced and when it came to swing your partners, the boys fairly lifted
us off our feet." And this same vigor was maintained until noon of the
second day when they mounted horse and rode away to dream for weeks
of swift glances and whispered word and the glory of the dance. Though
38 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the country swain of the fifties was generally in the proper bounds of
conventional jeans and tow linen, a man who is now living and a wealthy
citizen was seen by Mrs. Baniett wearing a gorgeous flowered calico
coat, tow linen pants, and a pair of overshoes.
While this primitiveness of social life prevailed in many localities
during the fifties, in others life was the reflection of the best that was
maintained in Virginia and Kentucky. lu many places fine country
mansions had been built, large and spacious. 5Iany of them stand
yet, their workmanship having a permanent quality. They were built
in a day when houses were built on honor. About their old coloniiil
simplicity stiil hangs that basic idea of stability and honor, as well
AS a kind of story book stateliness telling of a day when men bowed
with courtly irrace and even sometimes kissed a lady's hand. What
flower faces have looked out those little panes, or waited by the little
ladders of light framing the great hall door for a glimpse of Ihe com-
ing swain. What gay figures have come trooping down tliose wide old
Read Hau., Dormitory for Women, University op Missocki
stairs in sprigged muslins, in flowered, flowing, silk, with black sandals
strapping their white ankles, a cameo brooch at their throat and their
faces framed in curls. When they stood in long lines facing BtniUng
gallants and danced the Virginia reel with graceful sway and stately
curtsies, it was different from the country dance only in its little ele-
gancies and the air of culture, for the heart of a maid beats in unison
with the heart of a man, the wide world over.
"Becky Th.\tcher"
Northeast Mis-wuri has the distinction of giving to literatui-e one
of its most famous heroines. For here still lives Mrs. Laura Frazer,
"Becky Thatcher," the heroine of Tom Sawyer, known wherever the
English language is spoken. Though her head is crowned with the
snows of many winters, there is yet a twinkle in the eyes rcminis<rent
of the gay little coquette that -tossed a pansy over the fence to Itare-
footed Toiu. Time has covered the fire with a veil of years, but there?
still shines through the glory of an eternal charm, and it is small won-
der that Bet-ky's initisl appearance, roguish, dimpling, cotjucttish. swept
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 39
Tom's heart like a gale. She sits in her room today, flashing eyed but
serene.
Though the author, Mark Twain, has been her life-long friend and
she prizes beyond anything his photograph he gave her shortly before
his death, and bearing this in his fine old fashioned chirography, *'To
Laura Frazer, from her earliest sweetheart," Becky Thatcher is but an
incident of Mrs. Frazer 's youth.
She has been through fires that have only made wider spaces for a
great soul. When the horrors of war convulsed her state, she too suf-
fered and endured and triumphed. When the emancipation procla-
mation freed the slaves it left a great mass of helpless women to
whom the cooking of a meal was as great a mystery as the hie-
roglyphs of an Egyptian monument. They knew nothing of cooking
or of the management of a kitchen. But these finely bred gentlewomen
of Missouri met the condition with the courage of the brave and the
resourceful. **If a woolly-headed negro could learn to cook,'* said Mrs.
Frazer, *'I knew I, with intelligence, added, could and surely would
learn too." And this was the general attitude of that large number
of women of Northeast Missouri who met the fortunes of war like good
soldiers. Yet how trifling was this domestic disorganization to the
tragedy of war with its harrowing suspense, its torture of soul and
mind.
**It was a black time," says Mrs. Frazer. With her husband in
hiding in another town, this wife and mother, only twenty-three, scarcely
more than a girl, stayed in the home with her two little boys, her soul
torn with the anguish of uncertainty. General McNeil was camped in
her yard. It rained and he asked permission to bring his officers in
her house. She gave it. They filled the house, cooking, eating and
sleeping there. Her kitchen was full of strange negroes and she cooked
for her family as she could. With the guileless craft of sweet and
loving women she made a little dinner and asked General McNeil to
dine with her and when he had broken her bread and was under the
influence of dainty courtesies and the charm of his hostess, she plead
with him to permit the return of her husband, upon the solemn assurance
that while his sympathy was with the south, he was not actively
arraigned against tha government, and that his services as a physician
were needed. Her request was granted and her husband came home,
but only saw his brave wife and his babies that night, for General
McNeil, breaking camp next morning, had reconsidered over night
and had taken Doctor Frazier with him a prisoner.
Then began for Mrs. Frazer a period of waiting in which body and
soul were so lacerated by emotion that life was a living death. She
made continued, frantic, unavailing pleas for her husband's release.
The days went by on leaden feet. Fields were laid waste and homes
burned. Lone women were stupefied with terror. That her home was
not burned was due to herself, General McNeil himself admitting that
he was in that part of the country for that purpose, when her courtesy
saved it.
On an October morning in 1862 she went to Palmyra, only to again
meet curt refusal. So great was her own distress that the crowds
about the officers ' quarters, stern faced men, women crying, women
praying, disheveled women, with hair streaming down their shoulders,
made only a blurred picture in her mind. It was not until she reached
Hannibal that she learned that General McNeil had ordered ten
southern prisoners to be shot, because of the disappearance of one
Allsman. Five had been selected from the prison in Palmyra and men
were there even to take five from the Hannibal prison. And her bus-
40 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
band was in that prison! She made appeals in every quarter that
offered a bare possibility of hope. The only shadow of hope accorded
her was the statement that a number of prisoners were to be transferred
to St. Louis. It was an exhausted, tragic, heroic, little figure that
asked for admission to the prison to see her husband. While waiting
the provost marshal read a list of prisoners to be transferred to St.
Louis. Doctor Frazer's name headed the list! Her alternating hope
and despair burst into a prayer of thankfulness that amazed her hus-
band, who was wholly unaware that his life had been hanging by so
slender a thread. With the undaunted courage of women she followed
him to St. Louis and traveled every avenue of appeal until at last Doctor
Frazer went home with her a free man.
Though half a century has passed away there is a tremor in ^Irs.
Frazer 's voice as she gently turns the leaves in her Book of Years. In
this spacious room high above the city, steals an awe and a holy quiet
and abides. Through the window, a beautiful picture, the broad Mis-
sissippi glistens and gleams and slips by the tree crowned bluffs. Tears
are over the bright eyes of Becky, Becky Thatcher. **Life is a trag-
edy!'' she says. But out of tragedies women weave their starry crowns
of womanhood. From travail of soul and the discipline of life are
evolved the sons and daughters that are the glory of the state. * * Becky
Thatcher" is a beautiful gift of permanent charm to the world but a
greater gift is a rare and beautiful womanhood radiating strength and
virtue, and left as an inheritance to perpetuating descendants.
Women in CmL War Time
All over Northeast Missouri the story of ^Irs. Frazer can be dupli-
cated. Gay, feminine women keep their lady feet in soft and beaten
ways, until occasion arises with stern demand. The soldier on the
firing line is not braver then than she. When word came to Mrs. Thomp-
son Alford that her husband was at Vicksburg and wounded, dainty
dependence dropped from her like a garment. She was all iron.
Through the horror of Vicksburg, her husband, and wounded! What
were the hundreds of miles of Federal blockade that separated them ?
Love and money rendered impotent any barriers that men can build.
She had both, ran the blockade and nursed her husband back to health.
And when she had to return to her Missouri home, he procured an
overcoat belonging to a soldier in the opposing army and going on
board one of their transports put her in charge of the captain. **5ladam/ '
he said with a courtly bow, **I wish you a safe journey home.'' And
he left her there on the deck of the boat. Both were dry-eyed and
calm, and neither had the assurance that they would ever again see
each other. But when a similar call came to her, again she went, and
followed her husband all over the south. The tragedy of the weary
months culminating in Altoona, Georgia, when Sherman went through
to the sea. Captain Alford was in an upstairs room wounded and
helpless. The flames were blazing up the stairway before the frantic
appeals of the faithful wife brought help.
For weeks after she tended him in a tiny cottage near Altoona, their
sole fare being bacon and bread made from corn ground daily. They
were permitted this luxury because of their host's expedient; when
he heard of Sherman's coming he had ripped out the ceiling of his
porch and hidden both bacon and corn under the roof, nailine it up
again securely. When peace came to the WTecked country Mrs. Alford
returned to her ^lissouri home with her husband where they found their
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 41
once magnificent farm a barren waste, and their home in ashes. But
what was that to a husband with such a wife !
Home Life in Pioneer Times
These little stories of human interest are representative of phases
of Missouri history, and show that, in whatever phase, women played
well their part. **In books,'' says Carlyle, '*lies the soul of the whole
past time; the articulate, audible voice of the Past when the body and
the material substance of it, has altogether vanished like ^ dream.''
Vanished indeed like a dream are the conditions and the environments
called to mind by these stories of a day that is past. Ere long the
last human link will have been broken, and it wull be only through
books that we can see the advancing of the sturdy pioneer, his broad
axe whetted to carve out civilization, adventurous men witlif prophetic
eye on the edge of the future with its full and fat years, and with them
women, wives and daughters, building a foundation that their daughters
and granddaughters might be as *' corner stones polished after the simili-
tude of a palace. ' ' Through books only can we see the forest give way to
fields of corn and vistas of prairie grass to fields of waving grain. Now
we see only results.
The little red schoolhouse occupies the site of the old log room.
And they who sat on the old split log seats builded so well that now
their granddaughters matriculate from one of the foremost universi-
ties of the country, here in Northeast Missouri. Instead of a blue back
speller and the Life of Washington every facility known to an age
when education is apotheosized, is at the command of the poorest. '*My
great-grandmother," said one, *' propped an old grammar in front of
her while she wove cloth, and she spoke so pure an English that it put
us to shame." Is it a wonder that her descendants are at the head
of colleges and schools and the center of the educational life wherever
they may be ?
The pioneer housewife tended with zealous care the corn pone slowly
baking on its board before the wide-throated fireplace, and when done
placed it on the snowy square of cloth of her own weaving. Her grand-
daughter takes her pan of biscuits, little flyaway puffs, from the oven
of an electric range, and serves them on a machine-made doilie on a
silver tray, but the fine instinct of looking well to the way of her
household has come down true and unalloved. No more shines the
blaze of the back log and the softer radiance of the candle while girls in
calico gown, home-woven skirts and home-made shoes disport over
smoothly-worn puncheon floors to the inspiring music of the old fiddle.
Instead, stringed orchestras play, and gliding over the waxed expanse
go fairy forms, silken hosed, satin slippered, with wild roses going
a-maying over hair and filmy gown. Everything different except the
coquetry. That is eternal. Women have gone along offering the apple
to man, in one guise or another, ever siBce that little affair in the Gar-
den of Eden.
When the Baby Came
The pioneer woman was happy with two or three little calico slips,
the little flannels that she herself wove for her baby, and when the
time came for her to go down in the dark valley, more often than not
the doctor was forty miles away, and her only refuge was some good
old woman, who many times had performed such offices. Indeed the
pioneer mother was a good doctor, and knew all the qualities of medicinal
herbs. It is related today by the eighty-four-year-old son of Mrs. Ann
42 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Waters, who was born in 1805 and died in 1905, that his mother looked
on a doctor as a genuine disciple of Black Art, firmly believing that if
she were to imbibe any of his potions it meant certain death. There was
not much demand for a doctor in the pioneer day, however. Life ran
quieter, less tense. It is in this swift, madly rushing present of 1913
that the neurologist is coining gold. Then, a birth was a natural proc-
ess of nature, like the opening of buds in spring. Now it is becoming
an event that disturbs the whole trend of life. It means drawers full
of lacy, perishable things, two or three doctors, trained nurses, long
hours of lounging in blue ribboned lingerie, long periods of readjust-
ment. The modern woman has not the physique of her pioneer for-
bears. Invention and modem appliances have so reduced the labor of
modem home life, that the body does not develop its full capacity. The
heart* and mother love are the same though, and no more splendid
mothers could l)e found in the world.
Women ix the Church
While all the presiding ministers in Northeast ^lissouri are men, a
large proportion would not command their salaries if it were not for
the activities of women. From the tip of the spire to the basement
the trail of the women is over the church. The ministers are learned,
erudite, and can thrill to tears, but it is the women who pay for the
pulpit, buy the pipe organ, tack down the carpet, control the missionary
exchequer and see that the coal bins are full. **What great work,"
was asked* a woman of intelligence and broad acquirements, **have the
women of Northeast Missouri accomplished in religious work?" "Noth-
ing,'' was the answer; ** nothing! she has been too busy paying the
preacher and making missionary money." After all is it not practical
religion that is the weightier argument?
The woman of today is a composite of Mary and ^lartha. She
breaks her alabaster box with one hand and serves sandwiches with the
other. Missions and church socials were not thought of in pioneer
days. Church was solely a place in which to worship God, a place of
godly quiet, solemn observance, .firstlies and seventhlies. **You may
say,*' said an upright old lady of eighty, wearing her years like a
coronet, **that for more years than I can remember I never missed a
Sunday service, and my husband and I rode four miles horseback,
each carrying a child behind us and one in front of us. They sat
between us during the service and neither talked or whispered. I car-
ried cookies and a bottle of water in my reticule to give them. I do
not like the way children run about in Sunday-school now, and neither
do I like your godless music or your twenty-minute sermons,*'
It is indeed a far cry from the ante-bellum church habits and
methods to this day of progressiveness. The exponents of each have a
very visible line of demarcation albeit each looks to the same ultimate
point. Outward forms and mental attitudes are a product of the
times, whether of old time sobriety, or modern broad interpretation.
Though the solemn significance is often not felt in the atmosphere of
some of our churches, who shall say that the white-gowned modish
matron or maid who plays bridge on Saturday and sits under the jeweled
light of stained glass windows on Sunday is less religious, less capable
of sacrifice?
As pretty a story as one can hear is that of the recent action of the
women of a Fulton church, who had, by the usual methods of women's
church organizations, raised the sum of $1,000 to be used in providing
long-coveted improvements. But when old Westminster burned —
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 43
Westminster! where their fathers and grandfathers and husbands had
gone to school — and the old columns stood stark and naked and alone
in the grove — these women did not hesitate. They sent their thousand
dollars at once. **Take it/' they said, *'it will help in the rebuilding."
And they probably did this beautiful act of sacrifice in a smiling, every-
day way. There was no solemn, religious hour of rendering a religious
service to the Lord.
Religion is largely hid today under convention, or shall we say, that
a broad, democratic interpretation of religion prevails, an everyday
religion, capable indeed of its high and holy moments, but given mostly
to doing deeds of week-day holiness, noiseless as the snow; There is
no woman, however apparently given over to worldly ways, but has an
inner chamber where the snake has never entered, and which keeps her
soul true to the pole.
Women in the Schools
It is in school work that the women of Northeast jMissouri have
rendered a service next to that of motherhood. It is probable that seven-
eighths of the instructors in the educational world are women. Some of
them are at the head of the most successful colleges and schools and
A. M. degrees are commonplace possessions. However, how many ab-
breviations she may be entitled to suffix to her name, the instances are
rare when she has not been willing to substitute the simple prefix of
Mrs. for the entire aggregation of the symbols of her learning, thus
keeping inviolate the reputation of our women to be above all things
truly feminine, truly women. •
In college, in high school, in the grades, in the rural schools the^
women are doing a great work, not only in purely intellectual w^ork, but
in that broader and deeper influence radiating from a womanhood of
culture and high ideals. Not only do women predominate as instructors,
but they are encroaching in other fields, there being no less than four-
teen women county superintendents of public schools. The work that
women are doing is a growth, a development, a result, harking ba(5k to
the foundation laid by their pioneer grandmothers.
The pioneer woman who looked after a large family, and a goodly
number of slaves, with weaving and spinning, and cooking and sewing
all proceeding under her able direction, was endowed generously with
executive ability, and explains in great measure the women doctors, law-
yers, editors, farmers, real estate dealers, women in public office that
there are today. It is mental activity expressed in a different way, in
alignment with the trend of the times. There are few vocations in which
women are not creditably engaged. She fills many county offices with an
efficiency not in any measure inferior to work done by men. At the
present time there is a woman in Missouri running for the office of
coroner, but this is probably an exposition more of nerve than of brains.
It is impossible to tell what women have done for Northeast
Missouri. The historical perspective is too short. They have come such
a short way. It can not be said that they have come to this present estate
along the primrose path of dalliance. Instead it has been over jagged
stones, through primeval forests, over sunblistered plains, up from
pioneer darkness to a sunlight of industrial plentitude, of broad culture,
of almost opulent ease. The formulation of the modern has been on the
strong, simple, sturdy lines of the pioneer and explains why the women
walk as those who are free. Her broad-minded independence, her lack
of snobbishness, her democracy, is a gift from a day when poverty was
44 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
□of a stigma, but solely the condition of the times, as plentitude is the
condition of the present.
A Polyglot Composite
The women of Northeast Missouri today are a polyglot composite.
English, German, Scotch, Irish, have gone into the "melting pot." Also
the brawn of the backwoodaman, the brain of the intellectual, the breed-
ing of the aristocrat. The result is a woman nobly evolved, rich in honor,
in love loyalty ; splendid mothers, women of wit and resource, of brains
and ready adaptation to circumstances ; woman who can herself perform
the work of her own household, and entertain high dignitaries with equal
grace. She is a creature of merged heredities, culled from many countries.
Many atavistic traits, sometime of manner, sometime of person, some-
time racial, have given her a diversified quality, interesting to ethnolo-
Some Women Newspaper Writers in Northeast Missouri
From left to right — Miss Florence LaTurno, Miss Willielmina Long, Miss Frances
Xiee. Miss I'annie R. Quinn, Mrs. S. E. Lee, Miss Mary Alice Hudson. Miss Mabel
Couch. Miss Bertha Rcid, Miss Malvina Lind^iiy. Miss Sara Locknood.
gists, and curious, bewildering, perplexing, charming and exciting the
admiration of those privileged to luiow her. In the same family one
daughter may with haughty grace and proud carriage surround herself
with the atmosphere of an old wnrid court where an ancestor moved
proudly among its courtiers, another has the housewifely instincts of her
Plymouth forbears, while yet a third seornlng the ways of the protected,
side by side with her lord treads joyously in the course of empires, to
western ranch, or Canadian plains, or the gold fields of Alaska.
As yet no high conspicuous deeds, no names of immortal luster have
been produced in Northeast lliasouri. The average woman is educated,
cultured, domestic, religious, a club woman, and vastly interested in the
live issues of the day, in every problem of public interest that means the
betterment of conditions, and the development of public benefits. Her
methods may lack a certain virile (luaiity, hut her ultimate success ex-
cuses this. In a certain county the young ladies are vitally interested in
good roads, and have issued an edict that every gentleman to be eligible
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 45
to a place on their calling list should possess a certificate of membership
in an active good roads organization. What veteran diplomat could
transcend the subtle craft of that?
While energy has been expended in education, in literature, in jour-
nalism, sculpture, politics, religion, missions, the lecture field, but few
names have emerged from the crowd. Indeed the glory of Northeast
IVIissouri is the splendid type of her average woman, who finds in wife-
hood and motherhood the full tide of her acquirements and her natural
endowments. A modern high priestess of the home, keeping safe and
secure the sweet, sane, everydayness of life out of which grows the pos-
sibility of all goodness and all greatness. Add to these basic virtues
her full acceptance of Victor Hugo's apothegm that ** There is in the
world no more important function than being charming,*' and it must
be acknowledged that she has rendered the greatest possible service to
her state. It may be said without fear of refutation that in its process
of evolution, the fine type of womanhood generated in Virginia, and
deflected to Kentucky, has been perfected here in Northeast Missouri.
CHAPTER IV
IX THE TIME OF CIVIL WAR
By Floyd C, Shoemaker, Columbia,
Assistant Librarian of the State Historical Society of Missouri.*
It is the purpose of this chapter to give a brief account of the Civil
war in Northeast Missouri. The term Northeast Missouri will be taken
to include all that part of this state which lies north of the Missouri
river and east of the western boundary of Linn county. The shortness
of this chapter will forbid a treatment of this subject by individual
counties and will not permit of any detailed account of either campaigns
or battles. Many engagements and executions which took place during
the war and which are matters of common knowledge to the inhabitants
of this section will be but slightly touched upon owing to the necessity
of economizing space. It is to be regretted that so little accurate infor-
mation relating to the Civil war in Northeast Missouri can be obtained
today by the historian. For example, it would seem to be a small affair
to ascertain the exact number of soldiera contributed by this section to
the northern and southern armies, but as far as can be learned no accurate
figures have yet been produced to settle this point.
The Civil war has opened up a mine of material for the historian,
biographer and novelist. To read the bare facts of that struggle will
cause the last three score years to roll away and place one in the midst
of civil strife. The states that furnish the longest, fiercest and most
embittered account are the *' border states." Several things made the
conflict more oppressive in these states than in the other commonwealths :
First, their position, lying between the north and south, secured for
them the battlefield; second, their population, more or less divided in
sentiment during the war, made possible the most cruel and most pro-
longed kind of warfare ; third, and closely related to the first fact, these
states because of their importance became the '^bone of contention" for
both north and south.
All of these facts are peculiarly applicable to Missouri and the events
of the four years, 1861-1865, in this state bear witness to the above state-
ments. That portion of this state which is designated in this chapter as
Northeast Missouri, is a perfect picture of conditions as they existed in
* In this chapter it was thought advisable not to burden the reader with foot
notes stating the page references of statements made. Although this will detract
from the apparent value of the article as a work of historical research, it does not
make it any the less accurate in fact.
The material consulted in preparing the chapter was: — first, general works on
Missouri history and coimty histories; second, treatises on the Civil war in Missouri;
third, Missouri official publications, especially the reports of the adjutant -general,
messages of the governors and reports of legislative committees; and fourth, United
States census reports.
It is a courtesy due the State Historical Society of Missouri, located in Colum-
bia, to state that this chapter was prepared wholly from material forming part of
that institution's great collection on Missouri history.
46
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 47
many parts of this commonwealth during the Civil war. In some
respects person and property were better off here than in other parts
of Missouri, while in many ways both fared worse in this section than
elsewhere. Northeast Missouri gave thousands of men to both sides,
and most of her sons achieved honor, while some became leaders of the
highest note on the field of war. If it were possible here, nothing would
be more delightful and entertaining than compiling biographical sketches
of men like Sterling Price, Odon Guitar, Generals Harris and Green,
Colonel Porter and a score of others from this section. Northeast Mis-
souri can well be proud of both the quantity and quality of the soldiers
she sent to the front.
Missouri a Border State
Before considering the war proper in Northeast Missouri, it might
be well to state by way of introduction a few general facts setting forth :
First, the importance of Missouri as a ** border state," her position,
population, and character of her people as regards color and nativity;
second, the distribution of free and slave in Northeast Missouri; third,
the general character of the war in this section ; and fourth, the political
conditions leading up to the war.
The importance of Missouri as a *' border state" was of the greatest
significance. Her peculiar position alone would have made her a typical
''bone of contention" for both the north and south. Nearly surrounded
as she was on three sides by the free territory of Illinois, Iowa and
Kansas, Missouri was eagerly sought for by the north and as anxiously
desired by the south. As regards area, Missouri ranked ahead of all
the states east of or bordering on the Mississippi except Minnesota ; while
among the slave states she was excelled by Texas alone in this respect.
Still more important was Missouri from the standpoint of population
in 1860.
Growth in Population, 1810-1860
Missouri's almost phenomenal growth in population from 1810 to
1860 can be partly appreciated from the following facts based on the
appended table taken from the United States census report of 1860.
According to this report of 1860, Missouri's population in 1810 was,
whites, 17,227, free colored, 607, slaves, 3,011, total, 20,845; in 1820,
about the time of Missouri's admission into the Union, Missouri ranked
23d among the other states; in 1830, 21st; in 1840, 16th; in 1850, 13th;
and in 1860, 8th in total population but 7th in white population. The
following table will perhaps give some idea of the rapid growth of popu-
lation in this state during a half century of growth.
The rate of increase, by decades, previous to the Civil war, was as
follows :
Year White
1810 17,227
1820 55,988
1830 114,795
1840 323,888
1850 592,004
1860 1,063,489
Free Col.
Slave
Total
607
3,011
20.845
347
10,222
66,557
569
25,091
140,455
1,574
58,240
383,702
2,618
87.422
682,044
3,572
114,931
1,182,012
48 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Year White Free Col. Slave Total Rank
1810
1820 225.007o •42.83 239.48% 289.43% 23
1830 105.03% 63.97% 145.46% 110.94% 21
1840 182.147o 176.62% 132.11%; 173.187o 16
1850 82.787o 66.32% 50.10% 77.75% 13
1860 79.64% 36.44% 31.47% 73.30% 8
Total rate of increase from 1810 to 1860: whites, 6073.38%; free-
colored, 488.477c ; slaves, 3717.03% ; total, 5570.48%.
Among the fifteen slave states, including Delaware, Missouri ranked
first in total white population and in total population was surpassed only
by Virginia. But what is equally important to the war historian is the
strength of a nation's war-population, i. e., the males between the ages
of eighteen and forty-five years. In this respect Missouri easily led aU
her sister southern states, having 232,781 white males between those ages,
or more than Virginia — her nearest competitor — and Florida and Dela-
ware combined.
While Missouri ranked first in white population among slave states,
she held only eleventh place as regards the number of slaves — the latter
being 114,931 out of a total population of 1,182,012 or in other words only
9% per cent of Missouri's total population in 1860 consisted of slaves.
As to the character of Missouri's white population a very interesting
fact or two is brought to light especially as regards nativity. In 1860
only 160,541 persons or 13^ per cent of Missouri's population were of
foreign birth — slightly over one-half of these being Germans, who had
settled in St. Louis and the surrounding counties to the west and north,
about one-fourth of the foreign bom were Irish, and the remaining one-
fourth of various nationalities. Of the 906,540 white persons of native
birth, i. e., born in the United States, over one-half were native Missou-
rians and over three-fourths were of southern birth, i. e., born in a slave
state — principally in IMlssouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. At
this point it should be noted how this free and slave population of Mis-
souri was distributed in the section under consideration.
The total population of Northeast Missouri in 1860 was 309,232 as
compared with 181,894 in 1850. This was a gain of 70 per cent as
compared with the gain of 73.3 per cent all over the state during that
decade. During the same period the white population of Northeast Mis-
souri increased from 145,674 to 254,190 or 74^4 per cent as compared
with the gain of 79.6 per cent over the state as a whole. The slave popu-
lation of Northeast Missouri in 1850 was 35,843 and in 1860 had risen to
46,021 or a gain of only 28 2/5 per cent as compared with the gain of
Siy2 per cent over the state. From these figures obtained from the United
States census reports of 1850 and 1860, it is clearly seen that although
slavery was increasing absolutely in actual number of slaves, it was going
backward relatively, i. e., as compared with increase of either the total
or free population of Missouri. Nor is this all, for when one compares
the ratio of the slave population to the total population in 1850 and then
in 1860, the decline of slavery as an institution is quite apparent. In
1850 the slaves constituted 12% per cent of Missouri's population, while
in 1860 they constituted only 9% per cent ; in Northeast Missouri the per-
centage in 1850 was 19%, while in 1860 it was only 14%. Notwithstand-
ing the fact that this northeast section of Missouri had seen a decrease in
the ratio of her slave population to her total population between 1850
and 1860, she still contained about 41 per cent of the slaves in Missouri
• Decrease.
/
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
49
— a position she also occupied in 1860. Out of the sixteen counties in
Missouri which in 1860 had each a slave population of over twenty-
five hundred, nine of these were of this section and these nine held
33,824 slaves or nearly 30 per cent of the total slave population of the
state and 731^ per cent of the slave population of all Northeast Missouri.
The nine counties that held such unique position were Boone, Callaway,
Howard, Monroe, Pike, Chariton, Lincoln, Marion and Randolph. At
this point it might be interesting as well as instructive to note ttie rela-
tive position of the several counties in this section on this question of
population. For this purpose the following table is given, which is taken
from the United States census reports of 1850 and 1860. It will be
necessary to refer to this table several times in the succeeding pages of
this article.
Northeast Missouri by Counties
1850 Census
W. F. C.
Adair 2,283 8
Audrain 3,048 1
Boone 11,300 13
CaUaway 9,895 25
Chariton 5,685 51
Clark 5,013 10
Howard 9,039 40
Knox 2,626 2
Lewis 5,357 15
Lincoln 7,389 5
Linn 3,679 2
Macon 6,262
Marion 9,322 76
Monroe . .• 8,461 32
Montgomery 4,449 3
Pike 10,299 35
Putnam 1,617
Ralls 4,775 8
Randolph 7,262 21
St. Charles 9,492 13
Schuyler 3,230 2
Scotland 3,631
Shelby 3,744 11
Sullivan 2,895
Warren. 4,921 4
Total 145,674 377
s.
Total
. 51
2,342
457
3,506
3,666
14,979
3,907
13,827
1,778
7,514
504
5,527
4,890
13,969
266
2,894
1,206
6,578
2,027
9,421
377
4,058
303
6,565
2,832
12,230
2,048
10,541
1,037
5,489
3,275
13,609
19
1,636
1,368
6,151
2,156
9,439
1,949
11,454
55
3,287
151
3,782
498
4,253
88
2,983
935
5,860
35,843
181,894
Total for Missouri. .592,004 2,618 87,422 682,044
1860 Census
W. P. C,
Adair 8,436 9
Audrain 6,909
Boone 14,399 53
Callaway 12,895 31
Chariton 9,672 51
Clark 11,216 13
Vcl I— «
s.
Total
86
8,531
1,166
8,075
5,034
19,486
4,523
17,449
2,839
12,562
455
11,684
50 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Howard 9,986
Knox 8,436
Lewis 10,983
Lincoln 11.347
Linn 8,509
Macon 13,673
Marion 15,732
Monroe 11,722
Montgomery 8,061
Pike 14,302
Putnam 9,176
Ralls 6,788
Randolph 8,777
St. Charles 14,313
Schuyler 6,658
Scotland 8,742
Shelby 6,565
Sullivan 9,095
Warren - 7,798
Total 254,190
74
5,886
15,946
7
284
8,727
24
1,279
12,286
23
2,840
14,210
26
577
9,112
13
660
14.346
89
3,017
18,838
42
3,021
14,785
10
1,647
9,718
60
• 4,055
18,417
31
9,207
13
1,791
8,592
11
2,619
11,407
29
2,181
16,523
39
6,607
131
8,873
12
724
7,301
1
102
9,198
7
1,034
8,839
598
46,021
309,232
Total for Missouri. 1,063,509 3,572 114,931 1,182,012
(Note:— W- White; F. C.-free colored; S slave.)
Nature op the War in Northeast Missouri
The general character of the war in Northeast Missouri was deter-
mined by the nature of the country, transportation facilities, charac-
ter of the population as regards both nativity and density, the number
of Union troops, largely imported from Iowa and Illinois, and finally
the needs of the Confederacy. As a result of these factors the Union
and her forces strove to accomplish the following in the order enumer-
ated: First, guard the Missouri river and prevent the southern men
from the northern part of this state from crossing on their way to join
the southern army; to guard and keep intact the two railroads of
northern Missouri, i. e., the Hannibal and St. Joseph and the North
Missouri (now the Wabash) as a means of transporting troops and
provisions of war across and into the state; second, to prevent the
enlisting and organizing of southern troops in this section; third, to
occupy and thereby intimidate by means of Union troops the strong
slave counties. The South and her leaders in this state held the fol-
lowing objects in view and strove to bring about their realization : First,
the enlistment of troops for Price and the Confederacy; second, the
harassing of the Union troops in this section by striking sudden blows
where least expected and capturing towns; third, and closely related to
(2) the destruction of railroads, bridges and trains. The above state-
ments hold true during 1861-1862, after that the warfare in this sec-
tion degenerated into petty bushwhacking with such guerrilla fiends as
Bill Anderson and Quantrell as leaders, who respected neither south-
erners nor northerners. While the withdrawal of many of the Union
troops made this kind of warfare possible, the forces of the North that
remained did little besides trying to put down this robbing and mur-
dering. Sometimes these bands by uniting made up a considerable
force and engaged in open fight with the Federal troops as was the
case at Fayette and near Centralia in 1864, but usually the bands were
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 51
too small for altaoking a large foree and preyed upon isolated com-
iTDinitieB and individuals.
Political Conditions in 1860
The year 1860 saw one of the most divided political contests in
Missouri history. In the August election for governor there were four
men in the field representing four ditferent factions : Pirst, the Douglas-
Democratic candidate for governor was Claiborne F. Jackson — the
aathor of the famous "Jackson Resolutions" of the later '40s; second,
the Bell-Everett or Union candidate was Sample Orr; third, the Breck-
enridge-Bemocratic candidate was Hancock Jackson; and fourth, the
Republican candidate was James B. Gardenhire. The vote resulted in
the election of Claiborne P. Jackson. This contest if it showed anything
regarding the position Missouri took on the national questions of slavery
in the territories and secession indicated clearly that she favored neither
northern nor southern radicalism but was overwhelmingly conservative
and woidd choose the middle ground. And in this respect the vote of
Northeast Missouri was even more pronounced than the rest of the state,
for while this section east between one-third and one-fourth of the state
vote for Claiborne P. Jackson and Orr, sl^e gave Hancock Jackson only
one-fifth of his total vote and Gardenhire a little over one-seventh of his.
(Over one-half of Gardenhire 's vote in Northeast Missouri was east in the
strong German county of St. Charles. )
When the November presidential election took place, Missouri still
adhered to her attitude taken in August — for she alone of all the states
cast her electoral vote for Douglas, the conservative Democratic candi-
date. At the same time she cast nearly an eiiual individual vote for
Bell, the Union candidate, and for Breckenridge and Lincoln but a little
over one-fourth the total vote of the state. In this election Northeast
Missouri gave Bell 1,604 more votes than she cast for Douglas, while on
the other hand she gave Breckenridge over one-fourth of his total state
vote and Lincoln not quite one-seventh of his total state vote. The
following tahle indicates well the position taken by the individual counties
on this important election. Thus it will be seen at a glance that the
52 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
large slave counties in this section — the verj' ones that could reasonably
be expected to have gone overwhelmingly for Breckenridge — either went
for Bell or for Douglas. The only county in Northeast Missouri in
which Breckenridge received more votes than any other candidate was
the county of Sullivan, which in 1860 had only 102 slaves or about one-
ninetieth of its population. Of the six great slave counties, each with a
slave population of over 3,000, three cast typical ** landslide" votes for
Bell and three for Bell and Douglas. Even Marion county, known as
the ** South Carolina of Missouri," cast three times as many votes for Bell
and also for Douglas as for Breckenridge — being excelled in the latter
by both Sullivan and Clark, (the latter having only 455 slaves).
Northeast Missouri like the remainder of the state was simply not
radical but was essentially conservative, and on the whole vastly pre-
ferred the Union in spite of the binding ties of blood and interest.
Vote for Governor, First Monday in August, 1861
Claiborne Sample Hancock James B.
F. Jackson Orr , Jackson Gardenhire
Adair 822 504 4
Audrain 615 677 47
Boone 1066 1522 68
Callaway 1080 1321' 94 1
Chariton 639 548 124 8
Clark 807 769 74 103
Howard 1099 743 28 1
Knox 844 526 3 8
Lewis 1018 • 848 101
Lincoln 885 634 307 13
Linn 796 668 7 19
Macon 1424 484 115
Marion 1409 1322 149 2
Monroe 998 1059 117 1
Montgomery 597 652 14 34
Pike 1548 1388 50 3
Putnam 728 350 118 8
Ralls 616 647 9 1
Randolph 828 852 183
St. Charles 829 774 60 466
Schuyler 500 298 124 4
Shelby 621 576 95 91
Scotland 792 493 19 108
Sullivan 678 326 259 29
Warren .' 630 287 32 18
Total 21,869 18,262 2,201 918
Total Vote in Missouri 74,446 66,583 11,415 6,135
• Vote for President, in November, 1860
Bell- Douglas Brecken- Lincoln
Everett ridge
Adair 293 616 339 185
Audrian 580 289 206 1
Boone 1671 578 652 12
Callaway 1306 839 472 15
Chariton 608 692 295 1
Clark 752 542 497 277
939
247
1
687
301
161
468
597
43
806
396
3
521
219
105
1176
414
134
1240
432
235
680
408
8
612
83
45
1117
420
15
590
246
111
391
149
1
360
520
• • •
832
64
534
455
251
14
476
293
90
741
187
197
557
575
83
510
89
95
16,714
8,352
2,366
58,801
31,317
17,026
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 53
Howard 920
Knox 520
Lewis 833
Lincoln 725
Linn 546
^lacon 655
Marion 1386
Monroe 1086
^Montgomery 658
Pike 1300
Putnam 369
Ralls 585
Randolph 821
St. Charles 619
Schuyler 267
Shelby 702
Scotland 436
Sullivan 373
Warren 307
Total 18,318
Total Vote in Missouri 58,373
On December 31, 1860, the 21st General Assembly convened in Jeffer-
son City — just ten days before South Carolina seceded by ordinance from
the Union. As had been expected this legislature was composed of
four political parties — ^three of which were nearly equal in strength and
none in control. The senate, with a membership of thirty-three, held
fifteen Breckenridge-Democrats ; ten Douglas-Democrats ; seven Bell-
Everett Unionists; and one Republican; the house, with a membership
of 132,. held forty-seven Breckenridge-Democrats; thirty-seven Bell-
Everett Unionists; thirty-six Douglas-Democrats; and twelve Repub-
licans.
John McAfee, an extreme pro-slavery Democrat of Shelby county,
was elected speaker of the house. On January 4, 1861, Governor
Claiborne F. Jackson of Howard county, although elected as a Douglas-
Democrat, in his inaugOral address said that Missouri's destiny was with
the slave-holding states and that she should stand for the South. On
January 6, the Committee on Federal Relations was instructed to report
a bill to **call a convention'' and on January 18th the bill calling a state
convention passed. The tenth section of this bill was introduced by
Charles H. Hardin, who was state senator from Boone and Callaway, and
provided whereby the convention was not to sever relations with the Union
except on a vote of the people of. Missouri. This convention was to deter-
mine the relations to be taken between Missouri and the Union.
The convention met February 28, 1861, and was composed of ninety-
nine delegates. Ex-Govemor Sterling Price of Chariton county was
elected president almost unanimously. It soon became apparent that the
delegates were decidedly Union in sentiment and Sterling Price later
resigned the office of president. Events in other parts of the country
soon brought matters to a crisis. On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln
issued a proclamation for seventy-five thousand troops and a request was
sent to Governor Jackson for Missouri's pro rata of four regiments.
Governor Jackson not only ignored this request but sent a very inde-
pendently worded refusal. The course of Governor Jackson, Sterling
Price, and others high in authority in this state greatly unsettled the
people in their political faith. All hoped for a compromise. It was on
May 10, 1861, that war first broke out in Missouri. On that day the attack
54 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
was made on Camp Jackson and this state was at once plunged into all
the horrors of a civil war.
The War in Northeast Missouri {1861}
Even before the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina and Camp
Jackson in St. Louis, there had been many open exhibitions of northern
and southern sentiment in Northeast Missouri. Naturally the first occa-
sion that called forth these expressions of partisajiship was the state con-
vention that was to meet in February to consider Missouri's relation to
the North and South. During the spring of 1861 aU over this section
not only were these meetings continued but troops were being raised and
oi^anized by both sides. The first southern flag to be raised in North-
east Missouri was at Emerson in northwest Marion county on March 16,
1861, and just two weeks later the second southern flag was unfurled at
Palmyra in the same county.
The four counties of Lewis, Mariou, Monroe and Ralls did much to
keep alive the war in Northeast Missouri. They were the center of south-
ern sentiment and owing lai^ly to the topography of the couuto' aiid
the character of the inhabitants they were the recruiting grounds for the
South in that section. The South was more active and really accom-
plished more here than elsewhere in that section and this in spite of the
overwhelming Union force arrayed against them. To the forest recesses
of the southern recruiting camps of these counties flocked the southern
men of the surrounding counties and on collecting in a body would
strike for the Missouri to join Price and the Confederacy. By the end
of June, 1861, both northern and southern troops were being raised. In
some of the large slave counties the enlistment of southern men proceeded
at a more rapid pace, although the Union sentiment even there placed
thousands of recruits in the northern ranks. Wherever the German
element was strong as in St. Charles, Warren and Montgomery, one nat-
urally finds many recruits for the North. It seems very shortly to have
been the plan of the northern generals in Missouri to send large detach-
ments of troops into those counties where the southern sentiment was
or might become strong. This scheme prevented many southern sympa-
thizers from ever obtaining an opportunity to enlist in tlie causi> of (he
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 55
South. Some very noticeable examples of this policy are found in St.
Charles, Fulton, Columbia, Fayette, Edina, Mexico, Hudson, (later known
as Macon City), Hannibal, Keytesville, and elsewhere in Northeast
Missouri. This plan of the Union generals in Missouri went hand in
hand with the one of patrolling the Missouri in order to prevent any
enlistments in Northeast Missouri for the South from reaching Price.
Of equal importance in the eyes of the North was the protection of
the two important railroads in this section — ^the Hannibal and St. Joseph
and the North Missouri — as these enabled the Northern troops to keep in
touch with each other and enabled reinforcements and supplies
to be distributed quickly. These three plans were strictly adhered to
and within less than two years had practically crushed the southern cause
throughout the state. By cutting Missouri into two parts and by gar-
risoning all important portions of the northern half including the rich
slave district of Northeast Missouri, the organization of southern troops
was made not only hazardous but many times impossible, in spite of the
great ability of such men as Porter. Another point that helped spell
success for the North in Northeast Missouri was the Union partisanship
of the owners and controllers of the two railroads mentioned above. And
it should be mentioned here that the personal interest at stake by these
roads, especially the Hannibal and St. Joseph, did much to inform the
Union generals of their (the Union) mistakes and again ameliorated
conditions for the people along that line who were subject to over-zealous
Federal commanders.
On June 12, 1861, Governor Jackson issued his call to the people of
Missouri to defend their state. This call for state guards under Major-
General Sterling Price was eagerly responded to by many of the southern
sympathizers in Northeast Missouri.
As early as July, 1861, hostilities began in this section around Monroe
City (July 14) and Palmyra, the Federal forces occupying both places.
During this month Brigadier-Oeneral John Pope was assigned to the
command of the Union forces in the north Missouri district. He at
once issued orders whose purpose was to check secession, by requesting
each section of that district to see that it protected all Union property
therein. On July 29, 1861, Brigadier-General S. A. Hurlbut of the
United States Army took up his headquarters at Macon City and pro-
ceeded to distribute the Union forces with the view of protecting the
property of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad from Quincy and Han-
nibal to St. Joseph. Colonel U. S. Grant, later president of the United
States, was stationed at Mexico; and Colonel L. F. Ross at Warrenton.
If all the Union commanders who later came into Northeast Missouri had
acted with the same business-like courtesy and consideration towards the
inhabitants that Grant did on his short stay here, there would have been
far less to write of the history of the Civil war in that section.
The engagement at Monroe City deserves a passing comment. It was
the only cannon battle that was fought in Monroe county. T. A. Harris,
state representative from Monroe county, was given the rank of Brig-
adier-General July 5, 1861, with five hundred recruited southern troops
under him. By the 14th Harris had over one thousand men at Monroe
City where an engagement took place with the Federal troops. After
the battle Harris advised retreat and set out with his command, which
had been augmented to between one thousand two hundred and one
thousand five hundred. The first actual service of U. S. Grant in the
Civil war was against Harris on the latter 's retreat from Hunnewell to
Florida (Monroe county). Near Fulton, Harris was again engaged with
some Union troops under Colonel McNeil in an affair known as the ** Ful-
ton Races'' and the former's force was defeated and scattered.
56 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
All during July the southern troops had been enlwting in and around
Marion county. The Union official and soldiers acted so as to greatly
incense the people in the places where they were stationed. Colonel
Martin E. Green, brother of James S. Green of Lewie county, was the
leader and organizer of the southern cause in Northeast Missouri during
the summer of 1860. John McAfee and Marmaduke, of Shelby, T. A.
Harris of Monroe, Colonel Martin E. Green and Colonel Porter, of Lewis,
and Jlr, Anderson, representative of Marion county, did more for the
South in 1861. and in fact throughout 1861-1862, than any others in
that section — this, of course, does not include General Sterling Price,
who was south of the river during the war. The recruiting quarters of
Colonel Green were near Monticello in Lewis county. From here about
the first of August, he moved north into Clark county and on August
5th, was defeated in battle near the town of Athens (Clark county).
This affair took place about twenty miles northwest of Keokuk. Colonel
Green's force is estimated at between eight hundred and eighteen hun-
dred, consisting mostly of cavalry and besides this having two cannons.
The Union troops consisted of four hundred Home Guards of Clark
county and two companies of United States Volunteers from Keokuk
under Colonel David Moore of Clark county. Colonel Moore had no
cannon. The tight lasted an hour and the southern forces were decidedly
defeated.
After this engagement Colonel Green retreated with his force to
Lewis. Knox and Marion counties to reorganize. Here also gathered
Captain Kneisley of Marion county with his battery made famous at the
battle of Lexington. September 10-20, 1861; and Gen. Tom Harris,
commander of the State Guards of that section.
Before beginning the relation of the maneuvering by Coloned Green
and Jiis forces vs. the Union troops, it might be well to relate several
happenings that took place at and around Palmyra immediately after
the battle of Athens. On August 8, 1861, some Confederate recruits
marched into Palmyra and raided that town. Brigadier-General Stephen
A. Hurlbut, who was then at Hannibal, on learning of this raid issued
a "Requisition" on August 11 on Marion county whereby that county
was made to support his army. It was directed against Palmyra and was
very obnoxious to both southern and northern residents of the town.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 57
especially since they had had nothing to do with the raiding of their
city. There were other annoying things just then that caused the Union
generals much worry. Southern bushwhackers had made it a custom to
fire on passing trains thereby endangering the lives of not only soldiers
but . passengers as well. The actions taken by the Union commanders
were, however, severely criticized by even such ardent northern men
as J. T. K. Haywood, superintendent of the Hannibal and St. Joseph
Railroad, who in his letters to John Wood Brooks of Boston, Massachu-
setts, an official of the same line, relates (August, 1861) many things that
are valuable in throwing light on conditions in northeast Missouri at
that time. He said that a large majority of Monroe and Ralls and a
majority of Marion and Shelby were for the South and secession; that
the southerners had from one to two thousand men in camp ; and that
they could bring two thousand troops in the field easily and were in fine
communication with each other. Another act of General Hurlbut's that
exasperated the people was his requesting them to find and deliver over
to him all bushwhackers in their section.
After the battle of Wilson's Creek in south Missouri, General Price
determined to march north, striking the Missouri near Lexington. His
object was largely to get recruits so he accordingly ordered General
Harris and his State Guards to join him. All the State Guards in North-
east Missouri set out for points along the Missouri river as Glasgow,
Brunswick, and Arrow Rock. Colonel Green was at Marshall's Slill,
six to eight miles from Palmyra, with one thousand two hundred men.
General Hurlbut knew of Green's force and at once set out to capture it.
Colonel Green moved south, being pursued by an equal force of Fed-
erals— four hundred of the latter mounted. From Marshall's Mill, Green
struck Philadelphia, New Market, and on September 2, crossed the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad near Monroe City, destroying the
track. From Monroe City he passed near Paris and Florida, received
reinforcements from both Ralls and Monroe, and then stopped to rest.
Col. David Moore with a Northeast Missouri regiment and Col.
Smith with the Sixteenth Illinois, just from Kirksville, left Palmyra on
September 5 for Hunnewell in pursuit of Green. General Pope and
Colonel John M. Glover also took the field reinforced with four hundred
Illinois troops. Colonel U. G. Williams of the Third Iowa Infantry and
some Linn county Home Guards arrived at Hannibal on August 31,
and on being joined by three hundred Kansas troops set out for Shel-
bina — ^having a force of 620. From there AVilliams set out for Paris
in pursuit of Green, but on learning of the latter 's force retreated in
haste back to Shelbina pursued by Green. The southern leader sur-
rounded that place and on September 4th a battle took place. Williams
owing to the defection of his Kansas troops was forced to take the train
for Macon City. All of Williams' troops escaped, but Green captured
all the camp supplies and then set out for Florida, prepared to march
to the Missouri.
On September 6, Generals Pope and Hurlbut were at Hunnewell.
Pope telegraphed General Fremont at St. Louis of the necessity of
immediate action or Green would escape. Fremont after it was too late
sent a large force to help Pope and sent orders for him to **line the
railroad from Hannibal to Hudson (Macon City)." Fremont planned
the annihilation of Green and sent Major-General Sturgis and others
to help surround that commander.
During all this time Green had already crossed the Hannibal and
St. Joseph Railroad (see above), had received reinforcements from
several counties, rested, won one battle, captured a town, and was pre-
paring to set out on his march to join Price. On September 7, Green
58 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
set out for Lexington — Fremont 's plans totally miscarrying. Brigadier-
General Sturgis left for Hudson over the North Missouri Railroad and
arrived in Mexico in time to have stopped Green and Harris on their
march to Glasgow, but having no cavalry the Union general was helpless.
Green and Harris marched southwest, crossed the North Missouri Rail-
road, at Renick (seven miles south of Moberly) on the 9th, continued on
through Randolph and Howard, reached Glasgow and captured the
steamboat ^'Sunshine,'' crossed the Missouri river on the 12th and
reached Lexington in safety.
On September 8, Pope reached Green's former camp and then returned
to Hunnewell. Oti the 10th he telegraphed Fremont that Green had
gone into Chariton county. Thus ended the march of Green and Harris
and the pursuit of them by Pope and Hurlbut. It was really the first
campaign of the war in Northeast Missouri and it had proven an un-
doubted Confederate success. With the exception of the engagements
at Athens and Fulton the Confederates had accomplished what they
had intended, i. e., organizing recruits and getting them safely across
the Missouri to Price. It was a preliminary of the more brilliant and
spectacular campaign of Porter in 18.62, though it is doubtful if in re-
sults this was not the more successful of the two.
Close op 1861
On November 2, 1861, General David Hunter superseded Fremont
in 'command of the Western Department and a few days later Major
General Henry Wager Halleck superseded Hunter. Towards the end
of November, General Price issued his proclamation **To the People of
Central and Northern Missouri'* appealing for fifty thousand men. This
proclamation was earnest in tone and big inducements were offered.
Many southern sympathizers responded to this call. Price ordered the
Confederates to burn the Hannibal and St. Josej)h Railroad bridges and
to attack the Federals so that these new recruits could get through. Gen-
eral John Pope was ordered to the west of Jefferson City to prevent the
Confederates from crossing the ^lissouri on their way to join Price. Gen-
eral B. M. Prentiss was appointed to the command of Northeast Missouri
with headquarters at Palmyra. Many Union troops were stationed
at Hannibal, Hudson and Palmyra — Glover's cavalry being at the latter
place. Price said he expected at least six hundred men from each of the
counties of St. Charles, Lincoln and Pike and five hundred apiece from
Boone and Howard. According to Price's orders many bridges were
burned in this section and for this the people of Confederate sympathies
in Marion county alone were forced to pay $14,045 by order of the
Federal commanders. On the burning of these bridges the Federal
troops began pouring into this section in great numbers. Some of these
bridge-burners were caught and eight found guilty at a court-martial
trial held in Palmyra December 27, 1861, the sentence of death was
commuted to imprisonment at Alton.
The last engagement of the year was the fight at Mt. Zion church
on December 28, 1861, in northern Boone county, where Colonel John
M. Glover under General Prentiss, with nine hundred Union men de-
feated Col. Caleb Dorsey with three hundred and fifty Confederates.
From Camp Jackson in "May, to the fight at Mt. Zion church in De-
cember, sixty skirmishes and battles were fought in Missouri. More
than half of these were south of the Missouri and all the big affairs had
taken place south of the river. The Confederates were unwilling to risk
troops north of that stream so that all they did was to harass the Union
troops in that section and push forward the enlisting of men for Price *a
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 59
army. The Confederates had accomplished these two things but the
Federal commanders were literally garrisoning practically all North-
east Missouri and tightening the lines ao aa to make harder and harder
the realization of southern enlisting. The Federals bad maintained the
two railroads in a fair condition and were patrolling the Missouri with
greater and greater diligence.
The War in 1862
During the winter of 1862 many Federal troops left Northeast Mis-
souri. In March, 1862, northern Missouri was divided into three mili-
tary districts. Early in the spring bushwhackers became very active ia
this section and there was also witnessed quite a. Confederate uprising.
The Union cavalry known as "Merrill's Horse" was stationed at Colum-
bia from January to July, This cavalry fought in every part of this
state from Scotland to Stoddard county. Also stationed at this place
was Colonel Odon fJiiitar's force. Colonel John M. Glover who was
appointed in March to take command of Northeast Missouri was super-
seded in June by Colonel John JIcNeil at Palmyra. Colonel Glover's
force scouted through Adair. Scotland, Clark, Lewis, Knox and Shelby
counties during the spring and summer of 1862.
During this year took place the last great campaign of the Confed-
eracy in Northeast Missouri — the campaign of Col. Jo Porter. In
fact after the fail of 1862, the war in this section ended except for
the depredations of such guerrillas as were a source of trouble to both
northern and southern sympathizers.
In the spring and summer of this year many ^lissouri Confederate
officers in Arkansas and Mississippi obtained leave to enlist recruits in
Missouri under the inducement that they were to have the command of
all that they enlisted. Captain Jo O. Shelby thus became a colonel and
raised a regiment in Saline and Lafayette. Others were Haj-s. Coffee,
Thompson. Hughes, Coekrell. Boyd, Poindexter and Porter. After the
battle of Pea Ridge. Colonel Porter, who had been selected by Price to
find recruits in this section, reached home in April and he^an open work
June 17.
Colonel Joseph Chrisman Porter and Judge Martin E. Orei>n were
60 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
both from Lewis county. Porter was a farmer living a little east of
Newark in Knox county. In 1861 he was lieutenant colonel under Green
and had seen service at Athens, Shelbina, Lexington and Pea Ridge.
Through his efforts it has been estimated that over five thousand Con-
federate soldiers were drawn from Northeast Missouri in a little over a
half year.* His force was never large and in numbers, arms and disci-
pline was far surpassed by the Union troops arrayed against him. All
Northeast Missouri was covered by his agents who were stationed from
one to five miles apart in all sections except in part of St. Charles and
all of Lincoln and Warren counties. He rarely had over one thousand
men with him and frequently his force was very small. His plan was
to recruit men and get them across the Missouri as quickly as possible.
He rarely drilled his men as there was little chance for it. His lines
of communication or relays knew every inch of northern Missouri and he
always had a guide. These things account for his wonderful success in
spite of such overwhelming odds.
It cannot be definitely stated when Porter began his recruiting. The
first important intelligence of his whereabouts was June 17, on which
date he was near New Market in north Marion county, where he cap-
tured forty-three men. The news is said to have been spread among
the people that ** Porter's coming" and this was suflScient to secure many
enlistments. From New Market Porter moved north through western
Marion, eastern Knox, and western Lewis counties. He recruited about
two hundred and rested at Sulphur Springs in Knox county. From here
he moved north, threatening Memphis, and gathered recruits in Scot-
land and Schuyler counties. About four hundred and fifty Federal
troops (state militia) under Colonel H. S. Lipscomb, followed and at
Cherry Grove (northeast Schuyler) towards the end of June Porter was
defeated. His loss was slight but he at once retreated to a place about
ten miles west of Newark, being pursued by Lipscomb. Here Porter
scattered his force, keeping only about seventy-five men, and with these
as a nucleus went on recruiting. '
In July, Porter's brother captured Newark and then MonticellO fell.
The Confederates had become masters of all the western part of Lewis
county and were rapidly gaining recruits. The Federals at Canton,
LaOrange, Palmyra and even at Hannibal trembled. Porter left New-
ark, went north into Scotland, and on July 12, captured Memphis which
had been occupied with Federal troops. Before this the forces of Colonel
McNeil had started in pursuit of Porter, and on July 9, were at Newark.
At Pierce's Mill on the south side of the Middle Fabius, Scotland county,
Porter was discovered in ambush on July 18, by Major John Y. Clop-
per with a part of ** Merrill's Horse." After three unsuccessful at-
tempts made to dislodge him Clopper was reinforced by Major Rogers
and their united force finally accomplished this after a desperate re-
sistance by Porter. Porter was really victorious here but retreated
south. The Federal loss was heavy, while the Confederates' loss was
light. Porter in less than twenty-four hours after this aflPair was at
Novelty, Knox county. This was quite a record march for within that
time he had fought a battle and retreated sixty-five miles through a sec-
tion that had been drenched with rain a week before. McNeil followed
Porter to Newark and then returned to Palmyra acknowledging being
baffled by the southern commander. It was at this time that McNeil is
reported to have said of Porter : * * He runs like a deer, and doubles like
a fox. ' '
♦ This is not the author 's estimate but taken from * * With Port-er in North
Missouri" by Joseph A. Mudd. This work was of invaluable assistance in the
preparation of tl'^j paper, especially the part relating to 1862.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 61
On July 20, Porter was at Whaley's Mill, six miles east of Newark,
and from there he marched south past Warren (sixteen miles west of
Palmyra) with two hundred men, crossed the Hannibal and St. Joseph
Railroad near Monroe Station and rested in Monroe county. On July 22,
Porter surprised and defeated a small force of Federal troops near
Florida which were under Major H. C. Caldwell of the Third Iowa.
From here Porter marched south and on the 23d crossed the North
Missouri Railroad and entered Callaway county where his force was
increased. He dashed to the heavy timber near Brown's Spring, ten
miles north of Fulton.
Colonel Odon Guitar left Jefferson City on July 27, with two hun-
dred men and two pieces of artillery to attack Porter who was known
to be heading for the river with his new recruits. On July 26, Lieuten-
ant Colonel W. F. Shaffer of ** Merrill's Horse" left Columbia with one
hundred men and taking Sturgeon joined Major Clopper with one hun-
dred. ^Major Caldwell, with part of the Third Iowa and part of Colonel
J. M. Glover's regiment, left Mexico and these two columns marched to
Mt. Zion church. Not finding Porter th^y entered Callaway on the 28th,
and at 2 P. M. heard Guitar's cannon four or five miles away at Moore's
Mill. Guitar had found Porter first and these two able commanders
were engaging in a doubtful battle when the Union reinforcements from
Mt. Zion church gave the victory to Guitar. Porter lost many in both
killed and wounded here and was very fortunate in not having his entire
force captured.
General Scofield, Brigadier-General of the Missouri Militia at St.
Louis, at this time issued his order for all the militia of the state to fight
Porter as though he were a guerrilla. Porter on hearing of this is reported
to have said : ' ' I can raise one thousand men in Monroe and Marion coun-
ties in twenty-four hours on this issue alone." (The same words are
also attributed to this general on hearing of the ** Palmyra Massacre.")
The defeat suffered by Porter at Moore's Mill, the desperate condi-
tion of his force as regards lack of ammunition and also its general
character of being composed of raw recruits, combined with the supe-
rior Federal force under Guitar at that able general's command made it
imperative for the Confederate commander to disband his recruits. Por-
ter retreated with his scattered" forces to Florida, crossed the North
Missouri Railroad near Mexico and on July 30, arrived near Paris with
only four hundred men. It should be noticed that many of his former
recruits found their way in scattered bands south of the river. On July
31, Porter's force had risen to one thousand. His objective point was
doubtless somewhere near Kirksville where he hoped to join forces with
Captain J. A. Poindexter. Porter crossed the Hannibal and St. Joseph
Railroad near Monroe Station and camped at New Market. From there
he struck north by way of Philadelphia, gathering recruits along the way
until he soon had one thousand five hundred men. Continuing in a
general northward direction, he captured a small Federal force at
Newark and on August 2d, was at Canton. During this time McNeil
had attempted to locate Porter and crush him, but again the Federal
commander had been outwitted. Porter had now two thousand two
hundred men under him and marching on north threatened Memphis
and then turned west towards Kirksville.
General McNeil was now close on the heels of Porter and the latter
realized he must fight. Porter chose the town of Kirksville for the
battlefield. On August 6, Porter entered Kirksville and had barely
placed his force when McNeil with the Ninth Missouri State Militia under
Captain Leonard and part of ** Merrill's Horse" under Lieutenant-
Colonel Shaffer began the attaxjk. Although Porter had chosen his own
62 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
field of defense and outnumbered McNeil two to one, he was badly de-
feated. This was largely due to the two facts that only eight hundred of
Porter's two thousand two hundred to two thousand five hundred men
were in action and again to McNeil's artillery virtually forcing Porter
out of all his positions. Only six hundred of McNeil's men out of his
force of one thousand came into action. The battle lasted only three
hours and ended in a veritable rout of Porter's force.
Porter lost 250 prisoners and over 125 in killed and wounded in this
battle; the Federal loss was slight. This battle was more than a defeat
even though in that respect it was far more fatal to the Confederacy
in north Missouri than the battle of Moore's Mill, it was a deathblow
from which not even Porter, with his great prestige in Northeast Mis-
souri, ever recovered. Recruiting for the South in that section after
August 6 was both a hazardous undertaking due to the presence of
Federal troops but was even a greater task from a psychological point
of view. It Was simply harder to persuade men to risk their fortunes
with the South after the Kirksville rout. The execution by order of a
Federal court-martial of seventeen of Porter's men captured in this
battle for violating their parole has been variously condemned and
condoned.
After the battle Porter crossed the Chariton river at Clem's Mill,
five miles west of Kirksville, and struck south towards Chariton county,
planning to join Poindexter, who had between one thousand two hundred
and one thousand five hundred men under him. Porter was closely pur-
sued by McNeil and in western Macon county met the Federal force on
August 8 and turned northeast. On the 9th the Federals fairly drove
Porter into Adair county and east across the Chariton, where he am-
bushed a small force of Federals at See's Ford. The lines were tighten-
ing around Porter and it seemed a matter of only a few hours until all
would be over. He was driven into southeast Adair and his men had
deserted so rapidly that barely five hundred remained with him. He sent
part of this force under Alvin Cobb to Monroe county and with the re-
mainder went southeast through southern Knox near Novelty, from which
place he curved to Whaley's Mill. On August 11, Porter virtually dis-
banded his force in all directions.
It will be necessary at this point to say a word about the other
Confederate general in Northeast Missouri at this time, Col. J. A.
Poindexter. This officer returned from Arkansas during the summer
of 1862, and recruited between one thousand and one thousand five hun-
dred men in Chariton, Randolph and Monroe. On August 8, General
Guitar, who had been sick after the battle of Moore's Mill, landed at
Glasgow with a considerable force determined to put an end to Poin-
dexter's raid in Randolph county. He overtook Poindexter at Comp-
ton's Ferry on the Grand river in Carroll county on Monday night of
August 11, and defeated the Confederate general with great slaughter.
Poindexter fled north to Utica on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad
where he was driven back by General B. F. Loan. In retreating south he
met Guitar on August 13, at Yellow Creek in Chariton county and his
band broke up. Thus at two critical moments for the Confederacy in
Northeast Missouri, General Guitar defeated and dispersed the forces of
both Porter and Poindexter when these two generals were on the verge of
complete success in their recruiting campaigns. These two Federal vic-
tories with the great one at Kirksville sealed the fate of the Confederacy
in this section. Colonel Guitar was in Columbia in August and issued an
order of enlistment to which two thousand one hundred responded. He
was later appointed commander of the Ninth Missouri military district
comprising the counties of Boone, Randolph, Monroe, Audrain. Calla-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST illSSOURI 63
way, Ralls, Pike, Montgomery, Warren and St. Charles. The district
north was at this time under the command of General Lewis Merrill at
Macon City, General McNeil being stationed at Palmyra.
McNeil during this time had marched through BloomingtoQ, the old
county seat of Macon county, Shelbyville, and from there to Hunnewell
trying to find Porter. That Confederate general after disbanding his
force except a very few who remained with him went to Florida to join
Cobb, From Monroe county Porter went into Marion and by August 15
was three miles northeast of Emerson with 150 men. From here he
marched south again into Monroe and then into Shelby. On August 26,
McNeil was at Paris with eight hundred men. The work of Porter at
this time was in a way known by the Federals and Palmyra was alarmed
as Lewis and Marion still held many Confederates.
On September 12, Porter with four hundred men marched into Pal-
myra, released about fifty Confederate prisoners and captured some
arms all within two hours. From here he marched north to his camp on
: Batti^ Was Fought
the South Fabius and on the 13th was reinforced with 150 men from
Lewis. Porter left his camp and marched in a northwesterly direction
towards Newark, touching northeast Shelby. McNeil with his force
was at Newark on September 14, and came upon Porter at Whaley's
Mill where the Confederate general made his last stand in north Mis-
souri. Porter was forced to retreat along the South Fabius and the
chase becoming too hot Porter disbanded on reaching Shelby county.
Porter himself went on into Shelby and JIcNeil to Palmyra. During
the next six weeks according to Porter's biographer, Captain Joseph
Mudd, that general got twelve hundred men through to the Confederate
lines, which was the "last installment of the five thousand sent during
the campaign." Porter crossed the Missouri in a skiif at Providence,
Boone county, and with about one hundred men joined General Marma-
doke in Arkansas. He organized a Missouri Confederate cavalry and
was mortally wounded at Hartville, Missouri, on January 11, 1863. He
died at Bates^'ille, Arkansas, on February 18, 186.1.
64 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
This really marked the end of open warfare in Northeast Missouri
as far as the South was concerned. There was fighting here after
that time and considering the number engaged one of the bloodiest
battles or ** massacres" in the whole history of the war took place after
this, but there was no definite, planned campaign of offensive or de-
fensive warfare on the part of the Confederacy. It is true there were
several bands of Confederate recruits found their way south but they
were small and scattered. The pseudo-Confederate bands that roved
over north Missouri, especially the river counties, after this were, as
has been said, as destructive of life and property of southerners as of
northerners. They were guerrillas and bushwhackers in the lowest and
worst sense of the words and more appropriately should be termed
bands of murderers and robbers who respected no law and did homage
to no cause save that of greed, lust, revenge and murder.
The story of the war in Northeast Missouri during the fall of 1862
will necessarily include the second and third great executions in that
section — the ** Macon Execution'' and what has become known as the
** Palmyra Massacre.'' The first execution of a body of men by order
of a court-martial was that at Kirksville on August 7, 1862. The second
at Macon City on Friday, September 25, 1862, was quite similar except
that the char^ was the triple one of ** treason, perjury and murder."
Ten Confederate prisoners among 144 held by General Merrill at Macon
City were tried, condemned and executed. There has been some argu-
ment advanced to explain this execution as in the case of the one at
Kirksville, it being held that the charge was true and the trial fair. On
the other hand there have been reasons put forward trying to show that
the condemned were not guilty and the sentence should have been
commuted. ,
The Palmyra execution or ** Massacre" took place at Palmyra on
October 18, 1862, on Saturday. The same number were executed as dur-
ing the month previous at Macon. The general in command was Gen-
eral John H. McNeil and although he was responsible for the deed, the
stigma of censure rests today on the head of McNeil's Provost-Marshal
General, Colonel Strachan. Although many writers generally censure
and condemn the bloodthirsty barbarism of McNeil, they all refrain
from trying to offer any excuse whatever for the acts of Strachan, how-
ever the act of McNeil is explained from the standpoint of whr. The
bare outline of this execution seems to be as follows :
During Porter's raid of Palmyra in September, 1862, the Confeder-
ates carried away as prisoner a Union citizen of Marion county by the
name of Andrew AUsman. This man had aided the Federal com-
manders in pointing out those residents of southern sympathies and had
thereby incurred the hatred of many southerners. Nothing being heard
of him after his capture by Porter, McNeil issued an order on October
8, threatening to execute ten of Porter's men in ten days if Allsman
was not returned in safety within that time. The ten men were selected
and as Allsman never appeared they were executed on October 18. (One
of the ten first chosen having been excused or pardoned and another Con-
federate being chosen.) The ten men were all from Northeast Missouri,
some were old and others young. This was horrible enough but was
followed by a licentious act on the part of Colonel Strachan that aroused
the hatred of not only all southerners, but many people of northern
sympathies. It is not the purpose here to go into the later exoneration
of McNeil nor of Strachan 's subsequent record. Allsman seems to have
been murdered, not by order of Porter, but, despite all the precautions
that Porter could take under the circumstances, by certain ones who
were determined to get Allsman out of the way. The whole affair from
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 65
beginning to end was a horrible, deplorable occurrence of the war in
this section.
The year 1862 closed with the destruction of one hundred miles of
the North Missouri Railroad. This is said to have been done by some
of Price's soldiers who were returning about this time. This year
marked the greatest and longest fought campaign in Northeast Missouri,
which was ably led by both northern and southern generals. It saw the
Confederacy in this section at her height and fall. From now on the
Federals simply stationed garrisons in this section. The war of cam-
paigns and big battles and skillful generals had passed to give place to
robbery, murdering and guerrilla bushwhacking.
The Wab in 1863
The year 1863 marked the beginning of the slave exodus in Missouri.
Many ran away, some were emancipated, and others enlisted in the
Federal army. The slaves in this state thought that Lincoln's Emanci-
pation Proclamation applied to Missouri and left in large numbers.
In November, 1862, the regular fall election took plax;e but as all
voters had to take the ** Gamble Oath" and the ** Iron-clad Oath" none
but Union men could exercise the suffrage.
During the fall of 1862 and winter of 1863, all able-bodied men be-
tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five were forced to enroll in the
** Enrolled Missouri Militia" by order of Governor Gamble. This plan
was pursued throughout the rest of the war and was not entirely satisr
factory in some sections.
In February, 1863, the '* Provisional Militia of Missouri" was or-
ganized. This organization demanded continual service and was a strong
adjunct of the regular Union force in Northeast Missouri. The **E. M.
M." was only an emergency militia and in some places it is reported
that it could not be depended upon for service.
In May, 1863, Merrill's Horse left this section and General Guitar
was stationed at Palmyra. Some newspapers were suppressed by Union
orders during the year, but in general everything was quiet except for
spasmodic raids made by small bands of guerrillas. There were no bat-
tles or campaigns or even engagements of any importance in Northeast
Missouri during 1863, which closed as quietly as it had begun.
1864 (Close of the War)
As 1862 marked the close of virtual Confederate hostilities in North-
east Missouri, so 1864 saw the end of all warfare in this section that
can bear that name. There are three subjects that demand considera-
tion during this last period and as they are comparatively unrelated,
each will be considered separately.
First among these was the guerrilla warfare waged by such men as
Bill Anderson and Quant rell. Although these guerrillas professed to be
in the service of the Confederacy, and it seemed as though Anderson
actually was to a certain extent, they respected neither side but fought
purely for the love of fighting, the hope of gain and revenge, and other
similar motives. They were savage and merciless in their methods and
were largely thieves and murderers. As has already been mentioned they
were usually in small bands, but the union of several chiefs sometimes
raised their force to four or five hundred as was the case at the * * Cen-
tralia Massacre." Although relatively few in numbers they were dar-
ing. They were skilled horsemen and rode the best of mounts; their
weapons were of the latest patterns-each man carrying from one to
66 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
six revolvers aloae; and lai^ely through friendg or intimidated in-
formers knew the country and the position of the Union troops prac-
tically all the time.
The most important of all the aetivities of the guerrilla warfare dur-
ing this year was "Bill Anderson's Raid." Although known by this
name it was largely the work of many other guerrilla chieftains among
whom Anderson stood high. Beaides the battles fought and towns cap-
tured that are related below, it may give some idea of the deatruetiveness
of this raid to know that the town of Danville was burned and the depots
at New Florence, High Hill and Reniek destroyed.
Bill Anderson with other guerrillas crossed the Missouri in July, 1864.
He marched through Carroll, Chariton and Randolph plundering and
murdering along the way. On July 27, his band captured Shelbina,
sacking the stores and robbing the citizens. In September, Anderson
sacked Huntsville and later went to Howard county where on the 20th,
The New Soldieks — Cadets at UNivEKsrry op MISSOUBI
in conjunction with Quantrell and others, having a force of 277, an
attack was made on the Federal garrison at Fayette. The complete
Federal guard here numbered about three hundred, but only fifty were
inside the town when the attack was made. The guerrillas gained
entrance into the town but were unable to capture the small Union
guard who repulsed them with great loss. Anderson left Fayette in a
few hours and on the 23d captured fourteen wagons loaded with Union
supplies and some private property seven miles northeast of Rocheport
in Boone county. Here he killed eleven Federal soldiers and three
negroes. At this time Anderson had several hundred fine revolver shots
under him as George Todd, David Pool, Holtclaw and John Thrailkill.
On September 26, between three hundred and five hundred guerrillas
under Anderson camped three miles from Centralia. Early on this
day bands of these men came to Centralia and after looting the town,
held up the stage coach from Columbia, stopped and partially destroyed
a St. Louis passenger train and after robbing the passengers IdUed
nearly all of the twenty-three Federal soldiers on boaid, and set fire to
the depot and train. The bands then returned to their camp. In the
afternoon Major Johnson arrived at Centralia with a force of between
one hundred and fifty and one hundred and seventy-five men of the
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 67
Thirty-ninth Regiment, Missouri Volunteers. Despite the advice of
many, Johnson gave battle two miles out from the town and 139 of
his men were killed and some four or five wounded. Anderson in this
affair lost but two killed and three wounded. The muzzle-loading rifles
of the Union soldiers who were on foot were no match against the three
to six revolvers carried by each of Anderson 's men. It is stated that at
the first shot by Anderson's men sixty-eight of Johnson's men were
kiUed.
The Federals in that section kept up a close pursuit of Anderson
after the affair at Centralia and on October 27 that leader was killed in
Ray county.
The question of Federal drafts came up during 1864 and 1865, and
deserves some consideration. The Federal draft of 1864 was met in
many counties of Northeast Missouri by the offering of bounties by the
county courts. For example, Boone county offered $50 a head to re-
cruits of that county in February, 1865; Schuyler county at a special
term of court held August 30, 1864, offered $100 to married men of that
county or to those having dependents and $50 to others. The latter
county is reported to have appropriated $8,000, and to have actually
paid out $6,120 for these bounties. The second Federal draft of April
5, 1865, was nullified by the peace of April 9, 1865, which terminated
the war here, although bushwhacking stiU continued until June of that
year in some parts.
The last subject for consideration in the war in Northeast Missouri
is the battle of Glasgow. On Price's Raid of 1864 into Missouri, that
general, while marching westward from Jefferson City, sent Generals
Jo Shelby and John B. Clark on October 8, to capture Glasgow. Colonel
Chester Harding in command of the Federal forces at Glasgow was
fini^lly forced to surrender on October 15 to the Confederates who had
brought a force of one thousand seven hundred men against him. The
bombardment by Shelby and Clark was severe and fire broke out in the
town. After capturing the place the Confederates almost immediately
evacuated it
Contributions to Both Sides
This marks the close of the war in Northeast Missouri. Instead of
remaining neutral as the majority of Missourians favored, they had con-
tributed 109,111 soldiers to the Federal cause and between forty and
fifty thousand to the southern armies, and found their state a battiefield
for both sides part of the time and a camp for the North during the
latter years of the war. All this was especially true in Northeast Mis-
souri. She always had soldiers stationed among her counties, during
1861 and 1862 there were armies of both the North and the South within
this section, and from 1863 on to the close of the war she held the Union
camps of troops and tried to protect herself against the inroads of the
bushwhackers.
Northeast Missouri furnished thousands of men to both sides and
for the South during 1861-1862 she was a veritable recruiting ground. It
is strange, but nevertheless true, that many of her counties that con-
tained comparatively few slaves were largely southern in sympathies;
and counties with a large slave population were sometimes strong Union
recruiting fields. The Union sentiment in Northeast Missouri did not
depend on the small number of slave owners and slaves, nor did southern
sympathizers increase as the slave population became larger as a rule.
The Missourian of 1861 was still the independent pioneer of earlier
days and formed his opinions and fought for his convictions regardless
of neighbors, his own self-interest, and even blood-ties. One of the
68 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
stanchest Union supporters in this state and a congressman during part
of the war was James S. Rollins of Boone county. And the tax-lists of
1860 which are today in the court-house of that county show that **The
Father of the University of Missouri" had more money in slaves than
any other slave-holder at that time in the county. On the other hand
there were hundreds of men in Northeast Missouri and thousands in the
state who fought in the southern armies through choice but who never
owned a slave and died on the field of battle for their convictions.
Northeast Missouri can be proud of her war record as regards the
number of men she contributed and also from the generals she gave
to both sides, one of her sons, General Sterling Price, being commander
of the Confederate forces in this state, and another, Qeneral Odon
Guitar, casting glory on the Union arms both north and south of the
river. It is to be regretted that so much has been written about such
petty leaders as Bill Anderson and others of his caliber while so Uttle
has been printed about men of the high rank of Colonel Green and
Colonel Porter. It is the hope of the historian that the day will soon
come when the mere exciting and murderous tales will cease to find their
way into books of so-called ** History" and that more time will be given
to what may be a less spectacular but more enduring study of real men
of war and campaigns. Missouri has already been more than burdened
with the former ; she waits the future in expectation of the latter.
CHAPTER V
EIVERWAYS AND ROADWAYS
By Samuel W, Ravenel, BoonvUle, civil engineer and architect, author
of ^^RaveneVs Road Primer"
Rivers are highways that move on, and bear us whither we wish to go. —
Pascal.
A history of the riverways of Northeast Missouri would seem a trav-
esty on truth — a parody on existing facts — if the Mississippi and Mis-
souri rivers were not given such mention as their importance to this
section of Missouri suggests and merits.
Northeast Missouri, unlike any other section of the United States,
except southeast Missouri, is bounded on two sides by two of the largest
and most important navigable streams in the world, the Mississippi,
lapping her eastern shores for approximately two hundred and fifty
miles, furnishing water fronts and shipping facilities to seven of her
counties, Clark, Lewis, Marion, Ralls, Pike, Lincoln and St. Charles;
while the Missouri performs the same service along her southern shores
for a like number of counties and equal mileage, touching St. Charles,
Warren, Montgomery, Callaway, Boone, Howard and Chariton.
The Mississippi River
The Mississippi river forms the entire eastern border of Northeast
Missouri and is the waterway to the Gulf of Mexico for her various
tributaries that have their sources within the confines of the counties
embraced in Northeast Missouri, or have their origin far beyond the
state boundary line to the northward.
The great ** Father of Waters" is therefore one of the great natural
public utilities of this fortunate section of our great state, which
derives most profitable and advantageous facilities and resources from
its beneficial privileges and uses. This river should be mentioned here
because it is the natural aqueduct or watershed to the sea for many of
the smaller rivers to be hereafter mentioned as conducive to the com-
mercial and agricultural benefits and interests of this section.
The Indians called it **Missi Sepe,'* the accredited meaning of
which, in their tongue, is ** Great River." The distance from its source,
Lake Itasca, in northern Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico, is about
two thousand nine hundred and sixty miles. It is navigable for about
one thousand nine hundred and forty-four miles, and consequently
entirely across the section of country to be considered in this chapter.
As a brief matter of history attaching to it, it should be noted that
its mouth was discovered in 1519 by Pineda; it was crossed near its
mouth in 1528 by Cabeza de Vaca, but he supposed it was only an arm
of the sea, and dismissed its further exploration under that belief.
It was not until 1541 that DeSoto discovered its true character as
69
70 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
a most wonderful and valuable inland stream ; and in 1542 the sur-
vivors of his party, lead by Luis de Moscoso, descended the river to
its mouth, or entrance into the Gulf of MeKico,
In 1673 Fere Marquette and ^ouis Joliet discovered what is known
as the upper Mississippi, which part most concerns this territory. In
1682 La Salle explored it from the Illinois river to the gulf, but the
source was not really discovered until 1832, by Schoolcraft. The French
called it the River St. Louis.
The two principal cities of Northeast Missouri along the west bank
of this river are Hannibal in Marion county and Louisiana in Pike
county, both prosperous and progressive towns.
Like the Missouri river on the south, it is the main sewer, so to
epeak, for the many drainage laterals and sub-laterals in the way of
smaller rivers and creeks flowing through Northeast Missouri and seek-
ing their natural outlets into this great inland stream, thence to the
An Excursion Bi>.*t on the Mississipi-i
gulf, the great basin receptacle for all our western waters, until, as it
bids adieu to the fertile shores of this portion of our state, it receives
the waters of its greatest and longest tributary, the Missouri river,
which, flowing along the southern border of St. Charles county, empties
into it about twenty miles above St. Louis.
The Missouri Riveb
The Missouri river, in reality the longer of the two streams, was
first seen by white men — early French explorers — about July 1, 1673,
when they were descending the Mississippi river, who called it "Pekita-
noui," the name which appears on some of the earliest maps. It so
impressed everyone with its muddy appearance that it was later called
Missouri, from the Indian word for muddy water.
The Missouri originates in southwest Montana by the uniting of
the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin rivers, known as the' "Three Porks
of the Missouri," flowing northeastwardly through ^lontana into North
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 71
Dakota, between Nebraska and Iowa, and between Kansas and Jlissouri
until it reaches Kansas City, Missouri ; thenee eastwardly across the
state, constantly bearing to the south, however, forming the southern
boandary of Northeast Missouri until it runs athwart the clear, blue
current of the Mississippi, emptying its turbulent torrent of muddy
waters into that of the other great world-known waterway, rushing on
to the gulf.
The current of the Missouri is very swift at all times, owing to the
fact that tbe waters have a grade, by actual measurement, of ten inches •
to the mile, a very unusual fall, especially for so large a stream.
Its length above its confluence with the Mississippi, or its mouth as
it is commonly called, is about twenty-five hundred and forty-seven
miles, but including the Jefferson branch of the three forks, ia given by
the Mississippi and Missouri River Commission as twenty-nine hundred
and forty-five miles, making its length to the gulf thirty-eight hundred
and twenty-three miles, counting the distance by the Mississippi river
from the mouth of the Missouri to the gulf. Undoubtedly, had the
Missouri river been ascended first it would have been the main stream,
from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico — the longest and
grandest river in the world.
A MiSSOUBI RiVEK Steajier
This river was again explored in 1804 and 1805 by Lewis and Clark,
and like the Mississippi, had been called by the French explorers, in
honor of a ruler of France, the river St. Philip.
Owing to the steep grade and resultant swift current, this river
was for years considered unnavigable, supposing that no keel boat could
ascend so swift a current.
However, this question was settled by the enterprising spirit of
progress and perseverance of George Sarpy, who sent Captain Labrosse
to experiment on the difficult task. He was successful, and on May
15, 1819, Captain Nelson, of Louisville, Kentucky, succeeded in navi-
gating the stream and safely landed the Independence at Old Franklin,
Howard county, a town of Northeast Missouri, then the largest and
most prosperous commercial and educational center west of St. Louis,
opening even at that early day the great advantages of river traffic to
Northeast Missouri, extending entirely across its southern, as well as
across its eastern border, as the Independence is said to have soon
thereafter proceeded as far as the Grand river, the farthest west of the
Northeast Missouri rivers to be considered in this chapter.
In 1819 the government sent another expedition up this river to
ascertain how far it was navigable and to establish a line of military
72 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
posts. This expedition left St. Louis on June 1, 1819, in the Western
Engineer for the mouth of the Yellowstone, with Col. Henry Adkin-
son's command.
Like the Mississippi river on the east, the Missouri river has fur-
nished to the several southern counties of Northeast Missouri along its
entire southern boundary line all the great advantages of a river traffic
and trade, and has been of untold benefit and advantage in days past,
when the palatial river steamboats did the passenger and freight traffic
of the entire west, before the days of railroads, trolley lines, aeroplanes
and automobiles.
Smaller Streams
The tributaries to these two great natural waterways all flow either
eastwardly or southeastwardly into the Mississippi or into the Missouri
river, thus affording this favored portion of Missouri all the natural
advantages — ^and in a most marked degree— of river irrigation, sewer-
age and drainage.
While these tributaries, creeks and rivulets are not admissible under
the government specifications as navigable streams, except the Grand and
Chariton for very small craft, they serve a most valuable and profitable
purpose in giving Northeast Missouri the reputation of being as well
watered a country as any part of Missouri, which bears the distinction
of being at least among the best watered states of this or any other
country.
These small rivers and creeks, while not navigable, are so distributed
over this section of Missouri that they naturally form rich valleys many
miles wide, with uniform surfaces carpeted in nature's verdant colors,
with the various feed grasses or other graminaceous herbs indigenous
to such conditions, making not only a picture pleasing to the eye, but
affording forests, foliage and timber that produce prosperity and plenty
for man and beast, and render it ideal for homes and domestic purposes,
an abiding place for rich or poor alike. *
This naturally presupposes a resultant fact — ^that this section is
well supplied with babbling brooks and bold and bubbling springs of
pure waters; or perhaps, of mineral waters, such as saline, sulphur,
chalybeate, for springs are generally the sources of our smaller creeks
and branches, seeking their way to nature's great aqueducts, thus, year
after year, eroding and corroding the wrinkles and furrows on the face
of Mother Earth, until we have our beautiful vales and valleys, dales,
dingles and dells, all doing their part in creating and completing
nature's beautiful landscape garden such as is found between the inlets,
coves and creeks in northeast Missouri, as her smaller streams seek relief
by emptying their overflowing freshets into the two great waterways
that pass her doors on their ever-moving march to the sea.
Of these smaller rivers the most important is Grand river, forming
a part of the western boundary of Northeast Missouri and its principal
branch or feeder, the Locust river, flowing south through parts of
Putnam, Sullivan and Linn counties. Next in importance is the Chari-
ton river, which, rising in Iowa, runs between Putnam and Schuyler
and on south through Adair, Macon and Chariton counties, where it
empties into the Missouri river, a few miles west of the Howard county
line.
Of those emptying into the Mississippi river the Salt river and its
numerous feeders, the Cuivre and the Fabius and its several branches,
are the principal and deserve special mention.
However, for the purposes of this chapter it is best to mention the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 73
streams by counties as they each serve their allotted end in carrying out
nature's purpose.
Adair county is served by the Chariton and its feeders, Blackbird,
Shuteye, Spring, Billy, Hog and Walnut creeks on the west and Hazel,
Rye, Big and Sugar creeks on the east, flowing into the Missouri river.
East of the divide the South Fabius, Cottonwood, Floyd, Steer, Timber,
Bear and Bee creeks and Salt river empty into the Mississippi river.
Audrain's principal water-course is Salt river, whose tributaries in
the county are Reese 'a fork. Long branch, South creek, Young's creek,
Beaver Dam, Littleby and Lick creeks in the western part of the county.
In the eastern part we find the west fork of Cuivre river and Hickory
and Sandy creeks. There are a few flowing springs but none large
enough to furnish water power for commercial purposes.
Boone county is well watered by Cedar creek, the east boundary
line between that county and Callaway, emptying into the Missouri and
Petite Bonne Femme, Roche Perche, Hinkson, Rocky Fork, Silver Fork,
Graves' fork from the northeast and Lick and Sugar creeks and the
Moniteau, forming a portion of the western border, all emptying into
the Missouri river near Rocheport.
Callaway is also watered by the Cedar creek and its feeders in the
western slope, while the Auxvasse and its branches do a like service
on the east, as they find their way to the Missouri.
Chariton's principal stream is the river of the same name. The
Chariton creek, and the east and middle forks of Chariton river drain
its eastern portion, while the Grand river and its tributaries, Elk, Tur-
key, Yellow and Little Yellow creeks, perform a similar service on the
west, forming rich and fertile bottom lands as a beneficial result. In
recent years, the Chariton river, a very treacherous stream, on account
of its very tortuous windings, has been straightened and shortened to
but a fraction of its original length to the great benefit of those owning
property along its banks.
In June, 1804, when Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri river,
the Big and Little Chariton had separate mouths, but the changing
erosions and accretions of the river finally united them about a mile
inland.
Clark county is drained entirely into the Mississippi by the Des
Moines, Little Fox and Sinking creek, Wyaconda, Honey and other
smaller creeks wending their ways through its borders.
Howard countv is bounded on its entire southern and about half of
its western border by the Missouri river, draining its whole area by
receiving the waters of Moniteau, Bonne Femme, Salt and Sulphur
creeks and their tributary branches, which flow southwardly from the
northern portion of the county entirely across it. These are all small
streams, but afford ample drainage, but no power supply. Besides the
many fresh water springs there are a number of salt springs in this
county, the most famous of which is the historic Boon's Lick Springs
near Boonsboro, from which quite a salt-making industry was carried on
by the sons of Daniel Boone in 1807.
Knox county is well watered and drained by the Fabius river and
its tributaries. This river is supposed to be named after Fabius Maxi-
mus and flows southeastwardly into the Mississippi river.
Lewis county fronts on the Mississippi river for twenty-five miles
enjoying not only the benefits of its navigation but the gain of many
acres of very rich and productive bottom lands. The tributaries of
the North and Middle Fabius and Wyaconda that fiow through and
water this county are the Sugar, Grassy, Bridge and Troublesome creei»
and their numerous smaller feeders, flowing northwest and southeast.
74 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Lincoln county also fronts on the Mississippi river for its entire
eastern border. The principal streams of this county are the North
Cuivre and West Cuivre, with their numerous tributaries, Bob's, Bry-
ant's, Hurricane, Sugar, Sulphur, Lead, Turkey and Big creeks, which
furnish an abundant water supply and drainage for its entire area.
The Cuivre is the boundary between Lincoln and St. Charles counties,
and is navigable for small craft as far as Big creek, but only for a por-
tion of the year.
Linn county's alternate prairie and timber plopes are well served
with numerous streams, all furnishing ample drainage and some afford-
ing excellent water power. The principal streams are the Yellow and
East Yellow, Long Branch, Turkey, Muddy, Locust and Parson 's creeks,
all flowing southwardly, seeking their way to the Grand river, thence to
the Missouri. Some of these creeks are said to have a fall of six feet
to the mile, and by a system of dams furnish ample water power for
ordinary mill purposes.
Macon county is on the summit between the Mississippi and Missouri
rivers, the divide running north and south across the county. West of
the divide the Chariton river is the principal stream, its tributaries
being East and Middle Porks, with their branches, Walnut, Turkey,
Brush, Puzzle and Paint creeks, all finally reaching the Missouri river,
but east of the divide the Middle Pork and its feeders, Narrows, Winn
and Hooker creeks, empty into the Mississippi river. In the extreme
eastern part are Bear and Ten Mile cre.eks, and in the extreme northern
part Muscle Pork and its small branches.
Marion county fronts for its entire east side on the Mississippi river.
It is especially well provided with waterways, as well as with pure
water, chalybeate and sulphur springs. The principal feeders of the
Mississippi running through this county are the North and South Pabius,
Troublesome, Saline and Grassy creeks. North and South rivers and
many smaller streams.
Monroe county's principal stream is Salt river, its chief feeders
running through this county being Middle fork. South fork. Elk fork,
Lost branch, Reese's creek, Plat and Crawford's creeks, some of them
affording ample water power for flouring mills, etc.
Montgomery county borders on the Missouri river for about twelve
miles, but is watered and drained principally by the Loutre river and
its large tributary feeders. Clear Pork, Prairie Pork and Quick and Mur-
dock creeks, and Dry Pork flowing eastwardly and South Bear and
Whippoorwill creeks southwardly into Loutre river. The northern
portion of this county is drained by Coon creek, a branch of West Cuivre;
White Oak, Elkhorn, Walker and Brush creeks and West Cuivre do a
like service for the northeastern, and North, Bear and Pride's creeks
for the eastern part. This county has a number of salt springs in the
vicinity of the Loutre river, besides other mineral springs, but has a
special local reputation for the medicinal waters of Mineola Springs, a
group of three mineral springs situated on the old Boon's Lick road.
Pike county is another county blest with a Mississippi river frontage
for its entire eastern border. Salt river also runs through the northern
part of it, doing ample and extensive drainage and water service, with
its tributaries, Spencer, Peno, Sugar, Haw and Grassy creeks; Big,
Gwinn, Little Ramsay, Calumet, Noix and Buflfalo creeks flow east 'nto
the Mississippi ; while Sulphur Pork, North Pork, Indian Pork and West
Pork drain the southwest part and empty into the Cuivre river. Numer-
ous salt and mineral springs are also found in this county, principal
among which are Buffalo Springs near Louisiana and Elk Lick near
Spencersburgh.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 75
Putnam county is drained bv the North and South Blackbird, Shoal,
Brush, Wildcat and Kinney creeks and smaller streams, all being tribu-
taries and sub-tributaries to the Chariton river. In the western part
are Medicine creek and East and West Locust creeks. Some of these
streams are capable of affording good water power by a systematic plan
of dams, though they are but little utilized at present,
Ralls county has but a few miles of Mississippi river frontage, only
about twelve or fifteen miles, but is especially well served by the Salt
river and its branches, running from west to east, principal among which
are Lick and Spencer creeks. Besides many springs of pure water,
there are numerous and valuable salt springs in this county, the prin-
cipal being Freemore, Burnett, Ely, Briggs, Fikes and Trabue licks
and the Saverton springs.
Randolph county is a part of the grand divide between the two
great rivers that are the east and west boundary lines of this quarter-
section of our state and is consequently drained to both the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers. The east fork of the Chariton and its branches
drain the eastern and northeastern portions into the Missouri, while
about one fourth of the county on the east side is drained by the
feeders to the Mississippi and its tributaries. The principal creeks in
the county are the Moniteau and Perche, Dark, Muncas, Silver, Sweet
Springs, Middle Fork of Chariton, Walnut and Sugar creeks.
St'. Charles county is doubly water-blessed in being the only county
in Northeast Missouri whose shores are washed on two sides by the
waters of the two greatest rivers of America, the Mississippi and Mis-
souri. The county is intersected in the northwest by the Big, Indian,
Camp and McCoy creeks, which flow into the Cuivre river, thence to
the Mississippi. These are the only streams worthy of mention empty-
ing into the Mississippi, the others all finding their final outlets into
the Missouri river to the southward. The Femme Osage creek, while
rising in Warren county, traverses this county, running nearly due
east and emptying into the Missouri near Hamburg. The other creeks
that tend to draining and watering this county are the Dardenne and
Peruque. St. Charles county, besides these creeks above mentioned,
possesses another water feature worthy of mention, in the Marias Croche
lake, whose appearance has been likened to an *' immense mirror set
in emerald." It is located near the two mounds, Les Mamelles, which
are parts of the bluflfs of the Missouri river, which project a mile into
the prairie at a point six miles from the Mississippi and about two and
a half miles from St. Charles. Of the scene presented by this lake and
the two mounds a cjergyman is quoted as saying, **I have never before
seen anything that gave me a proper conception of the Promised Land,"
and Rev, Timothy Flint, in his "Ten years' residence in the Mississippi
Valley" says, "Here is presented an imposing view of the courses of
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, with the bluffs and towering cliffs,
their ancient meandering banks, the Mariag Croche lake, the mouth of
the Illinois river and the vast prairie dotted here and there with farm
houses."
Schuyler county has as its principal waterway the Chariton river,
which is its western boundary line, and the "Grand Divide" cuts
through the western part of the county. The Chariton drains its west-
em part into the Missouri river, its principal feeders being Lick, Elm
and Lost creeks. In the south and center of this county are the head-
waters of Salt river, and in the east and northeast the same may be said
of the North Fabius, Bridge creek, Fabius and South Fork of Middle
Pabius, forming very rich and fertile divides or plateaus between them,
in addition to the resultant productive valleys.
76 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Scotland county is well drained by the Little Pox, North and South
Wyaconda, Bear, Baker, Foreman, North Fabius, Indian, Tobin and
Middle Fabius creeks and the South Fork of Middle Fabius, all draining
southeast as the entire county slopes that way, towards the Mississippi
river.
Shelby county is especially well watered and for that feature of
nature's bestowal is dependent upon the South Fabius, Tiger Fork, and
North river in the northeast portion; Black creek and North Fork of
Salt river, in the central, and Ten Mile, Crawford and other creeks in
the southeast. These streams all flow southeast into the tributaries of
the Mississippi river.
Sullivan county is traversed from north to south by East Medicine
creek, the West Fork, East Fork, Little East Fork and Main Fork of
Locust creek, which empties into the Missouri river in the edge of Chari-
ton county. It is also traversed southwestwardly by Muddy, Yellow and
Spring creeks, which are said to afford ample water power, if properly
treated for that commercial purpose. Most of the creeks of this county
find their outlets by way of the Locust, but a few smaller creeks drain the
northeast portion into the Chariton, all 'finally feeding the great Mis-
souri river.
Warren county sheds about one fourth of its waters into the Missis-
sippi and the other three fourths into the Missouri, b^ing on the main
dividing ridge between the two rivers. The Missouri river washes its
entire south border, which accounts for three fourths of its territory
draining into that river. The principal streams of the southern slope
are Bear, Lost, Little Lost, Charrette and Tuque creeks. Those serving
the eastern watershed to the Mississippi are Peruque, Big, Indian and
Camp creeks. There are numerous mineral springs of more than ordi-
nary capacity in the county.
Roadways
A road is the means of internal communication between points in any coun-
try; a place where one may ride or drive; it is an open way appropriated for public
passage and travel for wagons or other vehicles, and is necessary to the good of
every community. — Ravenel's Road Primer.
We will begin with the old roads — the roads of the pioneers and
their early descendants — ^with the ** trails, '* **post roads,'* ** state roads,"
as they were termed in those early days — and develop them as well as
is possible to the cross-state highways of today.
It is self evident that the government recognized roads of whatever
material, as essentials, and that Northeast Missouri was of as national
importance as any other part of Missouri in the very earliest periods
of the nineteenth century from the recognition given it by the United
States postoflSce department, as evidenced by the partial list of post
and stage roads enumerated below.
The Boon's Lick Road
The Boon 's Lick road is one of the oldest roads in Missouri and the
unquestioned oldest in Northeast Missouri. It runs from St. Charles
to the Boon's Lick Springs in Howard county, about nine miles west-
wardly beyond the present town of New Franklin and was first used
by Nathaniel and Daniel M., the sons of Daniel Boone, the old pioneer
hunter and trapper, and Messrs. Goforth, Baldridge and Manly, for the
purpose of reaching the Boon's Lick Springs, where they manufactured
salt and shipped to St. Louis, in 1806-7. This road was made a post
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 77
road by the United States government in 1821 and soon after was legal-
ized as a state road by the Missouri legislature, its eastern end being
known as the St. Charles road. This road has now become a part of the
Ocean- to- Ocean Highway, being the connecting link between the "Cum-
berland Road" or "National Pike" from St. Louis, via St. Charles, te
New Franklin, in Howard county, thence by the Jlissouri avenue to tbe
Missouri river, at the site of the extinct town of Old Franklin, opposite
Boonville, thus connecting this old road with the other old trails por-
tion of the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, the Santa Pe trail through Missouri.
The Boon's Lick road is an important feature of the roadways of
Northeast Missouri from the fact that it traverses the following counties,
passing through some of its principal commercial and educational cen-
ters: St. Charles, Warren, Montgomery, Callaway, Boone and Howard.
The Boon's Lick road was regularly surveyed and established by
Nathan Boone, as a commissioner, in 1815 and is undoubtedly the most
historic and widely known road to be treated in this work.
The Salt River Road
The Salt River road, however, follows closely in its chronological
record, being ordered laid out in 1823, from St. Charles to the mouth of
the Pes Moines river. It traverses Northeast Missouri in a direction
On a Mis.=ol'ri Country Road
practically at right angles to the Boon's Lick road, which follows the
Missouri river, for it seems to have followed the direction of the Missis-
sippi, leaving it at St. Charles and passing through St. Peters, Troy,
Eolia, Louisiana, Hannibal and Palmyra and on to the northward, cross-
ing the counties of St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, Ralls, Marion, Lewis and
part of Clark.
Among other "old trails" roads in Northeast Missouri is the Hanni-
bal and St. Joseph rohd, which is said to have been laid out by William
Muldrow, the original of Mark Twain's "Col. Mulberry Sellers," and
which is now practically the line of the Hannibal and St. Joe railroad.
Wetmore's Gazetteer also refers to a road prior to 1837 from Colum-
bia to Liberty, thence to Fort Leavenworth, which passed through the
following Northeast Missouri towns: Sexton's, Payette, Glasgow, Chari-
ton, Keytesville and Grand River, making over seventy miles of it
within its confines.
There was also a road from Marion City to Franklin and Boonville,
running by Palmyra, Clinton, on the South river. Main Salt river, Paris,
Mulligan's store. Payette, New Pranklin, to the Missouri river "and
across the Missouri river to Boonville." making a total distance of one
hundred and sixteen miles.
78 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
There were also in 1836 post routes from Hannibal, by Florida, Paris
and Huntsville, to Fayette, and from McMurty's in Callaway county,
Thomas Harrison's, on the Grand Prairie, to Huntsville; from Bowl-
ing Green, by Bondurant's and Cove Springs to Florida; from Monti-
cello, in Lewis county westwardly to Sandy Hill.
As in other states, there was a toll-road day in road construction
and maintenance in Missouri, and some of these old roads still exist in
Lincoln, Boone and Pike, and possibly other counties, but are not of suf-
ficient length and importance to be treated, except as they may affect
individual counties.
Missouri Avenue
^lissouri avenue, above referred to, is in a class by itself in Missouri
roads, and for that reason will be given especial notice, and also as
being a two-mile link in the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, connecting the
two most famous and oldest ** trails" of pioneer days, the Boon's Lick
road and the Sante Pe trail.
Years ago, about 1787, the state of New York authorized the rais-
ing of revenue for road purposes in a general way by lottery, but only
once in this state was that done by legislative enactment and that was
for the Missouri avenue, one hundred and twenty feet wide, connect-
ing the two Northeast Missouri towns of New and Old Franklin, in
Howard county.
While this road is only eighty years old, it is one of the most his-
toric roads in the United States, known since 1833, when it was made
a legal entity by the legislature as Missouri avenue, but even better
known now as the famous ** Lottery road."
As early as 1833 it was a self-evident fact that Old Franklin was a
doomed town, the erosions of the Missouri river, on the north bank of
which it was laid out in 1816, having then for years made daily encroach-
ments upon its water front, until in 1828 but few houses remained.
On January 16, 1833, an act of the legislature was approved incor-
porating the town of the present New Franklin, now practically the
west terminus of the Boon's Lick road. Among the powers conferred
upon the board of trustees was authority **to raise by lottery a sum
of money not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars, for the construction of
a railroad from the bank of the Missouri river to the town of New
Franklin aforesaid; to provide for the construction and completion of
said road, and the application of said fund to that specific object; to fix
by ordinance the tolls that shall be paid for the use of said road, after
the same shall have been constructed and finished, or for the transpor-
tation of goods, wares and merchandise upon said road, and collect the
same; to procure by contract the land upon which such road is to be
constructed, and to keep the said road in repair."
On February 8, 1839, an act of the legislature was approved annul-
ing the act of 1833, changing the railroad to a macadamized road and
taking from the trustees the power to raise the money by lottery, a^d
conferring the power on the governor in these words: **The governor
may by proclamation authorize the board of trustees to raise by lottery
such amount as may be necessary to complete the road." On Febru-
ary 24, 1853 another act was approved repealing the authority to con-
struct a macadam road and conferring the power to build a plank road.
On December 5, 1855, still another act was approved conferring author-
ity on the trustees to construct a plank road, instead of a railroad or
a macadam road, as originally provided in the acts of 1833 and 1839.
Missouri avenue is still, however, a wide and straight earth road and
this record of the acts of the legislature only shows that it was estab-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 79
lished by law as a connecting link between a point on the Boon's Lick
road and Old Franklin, the acknowledged beginning of the Santa Fe
trail, and is now a part gf the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway running through
Northeast Missouri.
Other State Roads
Besides post roads or military roads, as they were sometimes called,
surveyed by the war department of the national government, there was
a period when state roads were surveyed, whether built in fact or in
the engineer's note book.
Among this class of roads, in 1840 a state road was surveyed under
the direction of three commissioners, from St. Charles to Mexico, the
actual survey being made by F. W. Rowland, passing through Truxton
and Middletown to Mexico, in Audrain county. Another state road
ran from Old Franklin, north to Fayette, thence northwardly through
Chariton county.
Between 1848 and 1856 there were plank roads built in Boone, Pike,
Ralls, Howard and Marion counties, but they were soon worn out and
abandoned, or were turned into gravel or toll roads. In about the same
period, ** corduroy'* roads were tried, but naturally proved a **make
shift" for a road and w^ere only less of a permanent road than the
plank road.
The principal post and stage roads in Northeast Missouri with any
claims to antiquity, may be enumerated, with approximate dates, as
follows :
In 1819, St. Louis to St. Charles; in 1821 and later, St. Louis, via
St. Charles to Franklin, Howard county, one hundred and fifty-four
miles ; via Arrow Rock to Fort Osage ; Franklin to Boonville ; Alton to
Louisiana, Pike county; St. Charles, via Clark's Fort, Stout's Fort and
Clarksburg to Louisiana; St. Louis to *'the county seat of Lincoln
county," which is now Troy; St. Charles to Fulton and Columbia; Col-
umbia to Boonville; and via Thrall's to Fayette.
In 1833, St. Charles via Nay lor 's store. Hickory Grove, Lewiston
and Jones' Tanyard to Fulton, ninety-five miles; Fayette, by Chariton,
Grand Pass, Petite Osage Bluffs, Tabo, and on to Lexington and Inde-
pendence; St. Charles to Dardenne, Femme Osage, Marthasville, Pinck-
ney, Loutre* Island to Middleton, fifty-three miles. St. Charles via
Wellsburg, Eagle Creek, Troy, Auburn, Buffalo Eiiob, Bowling Green,
New London, Hannibal, Hydesburg to Palmyra, one hundred miles.
Prom Auburn, by Waverly, ClarksviUe, Louisiana to Bowling Green,
fifty miles. From New London, Florida, Monroe Court House, Middle-
grove, Huntsville, Mt. Airy to Fayette, one hundred miles; Chariton,
by Keytesville, Richmond and Liberty to Independence, one hundred
miles; Palmyra, La Grange, Canton to Des Moines river, forty-nine
miles; Bowling Green to Shamrock, "Whetstone and Fulton, seventy
miles; Troy, Pendleton, Pinckney, New Port to Union, fifty miles;
Wellsville, Monroe, McQueen's to ClarksviUe, forty miles.
These were all mail routes both ways, the mail being contracted
to be delivered from once to three times a week. In time they all became
well traveled roads and are largely the lines of roadways sought to be
improved through the state at this time. Their width was from forty
to sixty feet, usually the former. This agitation of the road question
took up much of the time of our legislature and continued until the
advent of the railroads in the thirties, when it ceased and was largely
turned over to the county courts, there to slumber, with little practical
or scientific progress until the revived agitation of the last few years,
which has attracted nation-wide attention.
80 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
In the Counties
Adair county has always made liberal appropriations for iU earth
roads, their permanent improvement and maintenance, having inaugu-
rated that move as early as 1903, and these being generously supple-
mented by private subscriptions, the county has been foremost in afford-
ing ample provision in the matter of transportation for its people and
traffic for the products of the field and farm.
Audrain county has boasted one of the leading advantages offered
by any county in its transportation facilities, and justly so, even to its
efforts of today.
Mexico, its county seat, around which her interests center and from
which her roads radiate, is on the north Missouri Cross-State Highway
and her people are alive to the great advantages of the good roads
agitation. This cross-state highway is identical with the Central Cross
On the Pike
State Highway, or "Old Trails Route" of the Ocean-to-Oeean Highway
from St. Louis until it reaches New Florence, in Montgomery county. At
this point it bears to the northward and goes through Montgomery,
Wellsville, Martinsburg, Mexico, two miles north of Centralia, Sturgeon,
Clark, Moberly, Huntsville, Salisbury, Keytesville and Brunswick,
where it leaves northeast Missouri, continuing on by Carrollton, Rich-
mond, Excelsior Springs and Liberty to Kansas City. At Renick this
road has a diverging branch by way of Higbee to Glasgow, where it
crosses the Missouri river.
While there are no "old trails," so to speak, in this county, there
are really old roads that we feel deserve mention, having been established
by special acts of the legislature in our earlier history : The old Hanni-
bal and Mexico ; the old Louisiana and Mexico ; the old Mexico and Dan-
ville, and probably others of less importance, all tending, however, to
interlace the county with a net work of good earth roads.
This county has also largely adopted the eight mile-square road
district plan, from which it will reap immeasurable benefit.
Boone county is on the Oeean-to-Ocean Highway — the Old Trails
Road — and that has naturally created a great interest in road matters,
resulting already in a $120,000 bond issue for rock roads, $100,000 for
the Columbia district and $20,000 for the Harg district.
HISTORY OP NOETHEAST MISSOURI 81
The roads of the county are mostly earth roads at this time, but are
as well maintained as any roads of that character and in this climate,
which is unfortunately anti-good roads on account of the frequent
freezing and thawing. As early as 1853 a plank road was built from the
Missouri river landing at Providence to Columbia, where carriages met
the students for the University, showing that the road improvement
spirit prevailed there over half a century ago.
However, there are now six gravel roads leading out of Columbia,
the pride of the county and the state.
One runs west from Columbia to Rocheport, fourteen miles; one
southeast to Ashland, fifteen miles; one east to the county line, ten
miles; one northwest to Hinton, nine miles; one north to Oakland
church, six miles; and one northeastwardly six miles. Besides these
two others are contemplated and surveyed and will be built ere this
volume is at all dust-worn, one for a distance of five miles southwest
and the other northeast for a distance of four and one-half miles.
Callaway county is also on the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway and the ''Old
Trails Road ' ' across the central part of the state and has paid particular
attention to the formation of special road districts, having formed and
bonded such a district around Fulton, its county seat for $105,000 for
rock roads. The Boon's Lick road passes through Williamsburg, Cal-
wood, Fulton and Millersburg in this county. There is "also a road that
crosses the county north and south from North Jefferson, by way of
Pulton, on to the northward through Mexico, following the general
direction of the Chicago & Alton railroad.
Chariton county shows the interest of her people in the good roads
move that is attracting the attention of all progressive sections through-
out the United States by having spent more on her roads in the twelve
months of 1911 than they had spent in the twelve years prior to this.
The oldest road probably in this county is a road that was located
shortly after Old Chariton was laid out in 1817 and ran to Keytesville
and was known as the ** Keytesville road," Keytesville, the county seat,
being laid out in 1832. This road crossed the east fork of the Chariton
river and the IMuscle fork three miles from Keytesville, is now graded
and is still kept in fine repair. From Keytesville it crosses the Palmer
creek and continues to Brunswick.
Another old road runs from Keytesville to Salisbury, thence in a
northeastwardly direction crossing the Middle fork at Switz's mill,
thence to Roanoke and on through Randolph county.
Another main road runs into Chariton county from Huntsville, Ran-
dolph county. This road was graded and put in good condition in 1905
and is kept in that condition all the year, as near as weather conditions
will permit'. The bridges are kept well painted and the culverts are
constantly looked after. A grader, scraper and dragging system is well
maintained in the county and her roads are made attractive to the
traveler and tourist.
Another old road that had its objective point in this county was a
road surveyed in 1823 and the early part of 1824 by Major A. S. Lang-
ham, for the three commissioners, William Haines, Col. N. S. Burkhartt
and James Logan. It started at the iron banks on the Mississippi river
and ran through Benton, Cape Qirardeau, Jackson and Jefferson City
to Columbia and on to Fayette and Chariton on the Missouri river, a
distance of three hundred miles.
Chariton is also crossed by the northern Cross-State Highway, which
enters it near Clifton Hill, from Randolph county, and crosses the
county from east to west, passing through Salisbury, Keytesville, Dalton
and Brunswick, on thence to Kansas City.
Vol. 1— c
82 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Clark county is the terminus o£ the Salt river road from St. Charles
to the Des Moines river located in 1823 and elsewhere mentioned, but
has no other old "trail" or road about whieh any information has been
obtainable, other than those of local importance. The most prominent
among those is the old "Alexandria and Bloomfield wagon road," or
"main divide." This road started at the mouth of the Des Moines
river, at Alexandria, and continued northwest through Bloomfield and
on to Des Moines. Prior to the coming of the railroads it was used
as a freight road and stockmen drove their cattle and hogs over it to
the Mississippi river for shipment to St. Louis. It was also used as a
mail and express route in an early day.
Howard county being the terminus of the Boon's Lick road and the
beginning of the Santa Fe trail, and the location of the entire length
of Missonrl avenue, all three being fully described in the preface
of the portion of the chapter given up to roadways, is probably pos-
sessed of more historic road interest than any county in Northeast Mis-
Ready TO Make Roads in Columbia Spehal District
The three historic roads above referred to will be dismissed with
only this reference, further than to say that the Boon 's Lick road enters
the county as it crosses the Moniteau creek at Rocheport and runs
throu^ the north edge of the present town of New Franklin and on
west by way of Clark's chapel to the Boon's Lick Springs a few miles
east of the Missouri river near Arrow Rock, where in all likelihood a
branch of the Santa Pe trail crossed the river as a short route to the
main "trail" running by that town, for freighters from the northern
parts of Northeast Missouri.
This was doubtless the crossing used by Capt. William Becknell,
with "pack horses" in one of his Indian trading trips, in 1821, the year
before the actual "first expedition" over the Santa Pe trail, from Old
Pranklin started, that being given by the most authentic records and
historians as 1822, such as Western Annals, Wetmore's Oazetteer,
Campbell's Gazetteer and Johnson's Encyclopedia on the authority of
Ex-Govemor Donaciano Vigil, of New Mexico, who said, "In 1822 the
first train of merchandise from the United States was brought into
Fernandez de Taos by the five Robidoux brothers."
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 83
Prom a point on the Boon's Lick road, **tlie old trails route/' about
eight miles east of New Pranklin, the Central Cross-State Highway con-
tinues on by way of Payette to Glasgow, where it crosses the Missouri
river into Saline county and on thence to Kansas City.
At New Pranklin another road, known as the **01d State Road,"
goes north to Payette and thence on across the county in a northerly
direction on the divide between the Bonne Pemrae and Salt fork of
Bonne Pemme to Huntsville in Randolph county.
In 1852, during the ** plank road" period of Missouri road history,
Major Robert Walker, the engineer of the Old North Missouri railroad,
located and built what is still known as the ''Plank Road" from Olasgow
to Huntsville, in all likelihood to accommodate the great tobacco busi-
ness of Glasgow in those days, serving northeast Missouri to the Iowa
line. The road was first brought to an established grade, on which
three and a half-inch thick white oak planks were laid.
It attracted a great deal of travel, but like all other plank or ''cor-
duroy roads" proved a distinct failure; the planks absorbing the mois-
ture of the earth, on which crude foundation they were laid, soon
assumed the most fantastic shapes from the twisting and warping
of the various planks in divers directions, curves and cups. This road
was built by Irish laborers, brought there for the purpose, but also proved
a financial failure.
The old "St. Louis stage line road" also passed through this county,
leaving it at Glasgow and extending northwest to the Platte Purchase.
It was one of the various Santa Pe trails used by the "forty-niners"
seeking the gold fields of California from and after the year 1849.
Knox county, keeping up with the progress of the times in the inter-
ests of good roads, even as early as 1903 had a well-established system
of earth roads, successfully and systematically maintained by dragging.
As in other counties, the roads of Knox radiate from Edina, its
county seat, reaching in the northeast, Mill Port, Colony and Porest
Springs; in the northwest. Baring, Greensburg and Hazel Springs; in
the southeast. Hedge City, Plevna and Newark, and in the southwest.
Locust Hill, Novelty and on into Macon county.
Lewis county has made a signal success in maintaining her earth
roads by dragging, which is given much attention. It also has ten miles
of pike roads out of Canton, its principal Mississippi river port, making
easy access to such places as Monticello and other important or rail-
road points in the different parts of the county.
Lincoln county is one of the most progressive good roads counties,
and as early as 1903 had twenty-three miles of turnpike roads and
today it has nearly eighty miles of rock roads and "toll roads," either
built or being built.
This system of roads embraces : Elsberry to New Hope, five miles of
first-class gravel toll roads; Silex, east, to Auburn, six miles of gravel
toll road; Silex, west to Corso, eleven miles of gravel toll road; Silex,
westwardly, to Olney, eleven miles of gravel toll road; Milford, south
four and a half miles of free gravel road; Troy, north, to Hines, five
miles of gravel toll road; Troy to Moscow, five miles of free gravel
road; Hines to Pike county line, fourteen miles of gravel toll road;
Auburn to New Hope, six miles of gravel road and from Elsberry to
Smith Mill in Pike county, eight miles of gravel road.
Many other good graded roads radiate in each direction from Troy,
but this enumeration shows the splendid road spirit and condition of
the county.
Linn county is cut across its southern portion by the old Hannibal
and St. Joseph Highway, elsewhere referred to. It enters the county
84 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
■
near Bucklin, at the intersection of the Santa Fe railroad and the H. &
St. J. railroad and passes almost due west through St. Catharine, Brook-
field, Laclede on the B. & K. C. Railroad, MeadviUe and on through
Chillicothe.
The other principal roads of the county radiate from and around
Linneus. The county takes such care of its roads that it has two hun-
dred or more steel bridges to accommodate the travel across its numer-
ous streams. Its earth roads are constantly dragged, showing its up-to-
date progress.
Macon county is crossed east and west a little south of its middle
axis by the old Hannibal and St. Joseph Highway, elsewhere detailed.
The cross-state road enters the county a few miles east of Anabel and
passes through Macon City, Bevier, Callao and New Cambria, leaving
the county a few miles east of Bucklin, in Linn county. This gives
the county a good nucleus for road inspiration and road development
which its people have been ready to take advantage of by building
feeders to this well traveled old road to other parts of the county. The
county employs a county highway engineer and is well abreast of the
times on road matters.
Marion county, while the starting point of the old Hannibal and
St. Joseph Highway is within her limits, enjoys its benefits over only
a few miles of her territory, the old road leaving the county only a few
miles southwest of Hannibal, where it enters Balls county.
As early as 1903 Marion county reported over one hundred miles
of gravel roads and has been a most progressive county in that respect,
extending her improved roads rapidly and in all directions.
What is known as the ** Indian road,*' from a supposition that the
Indians had built this trail, is one of the oldest pack-horse trails in the
state, having been cut out and located by a Frenchman, Mathurin
Bouvet, in about 1795. He had a concession that year to a tract of
land on which was a lick, which he called Le Bastion, to reach which
he made this trail. A quarter of a century later the old ''trail" was
found and used by the settlers, who thought it an Indian path. It was
afterwards known as the Bay Mill road, being used to reach a grist
mill, a little north of Clear creek, in 1823.
The first road in the county, north of Salt river, was the earth road
from New London, Ralls county, to Hannibal, located shortly after 1818,
when the sectionalizing surveys were made by the government engi-
neers. This also followed an old Indian trail and has been much
improved in the gradients in late years.
In 1836 the Palmyra and Marion City Turnpike Company was
incorporated by the legislature, amendments being made to the char-
ter by each session of that body until 1844-45, and the road having a
similar experience to that of Missouri avenue, in Howard county.
This county is today alive on the road question and pushes road
matters.
Monroe county has the old Hannibal and St. Joseph Highway for
only a few miles across its northeast corner, entering the county at
Monroe City and leaving it at Hunnewell, Shelby county. With this
exception, Monroe has no other old trail or cross-state highway within
her borders and is therefore dependent on her own initiative and ener-
gies for such progress as they have made in road development and
improvement.
Montgomery county is one of the counties through which the Boon's
Lick road passes, entering it near Jonesburg, thence through High HUl,
New Florence, Danville and Mineola Springs, a few miles bejrond
which it enters Callaway county.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 65
At New Florence the Northern Cross State Highway is detoared from
the Boon's Lick road, moning northwestwardly through Montgomery
City and "Wellsville, thence on into Audrain county, Middletown is
another road center in this county, being connected on the southwest
with the Northern Cross State Highway at Wellsville and to the south-
east with the gravel roads of Lincoln county at Olney, This gives the
county most promising good roads prospects.
Pike county has heen such a progreBsive good roads county that her
people have lived beyond their generation, having a system of "Turn-
pikes" inaugurated and built nearly fifty years ago. They established
a fixed toll-rate of one cent per mile per single team and one and a
half cents per mile per double team, the elaborate and well-planned
system connecting all important towns.
The Only Tunnel on the M. K. & T. Railbo.io at Rochepobt
This county also had its expensive "plank road" experience. The
original road from Louisiana, its principal river^front town, to Bow-
ling Green, its county seat, was a plank road, eleven miles long. But,
to quote a good authority, "when the ends of the hoards commenced
to curl up, they put gravel on the ends. Then when the boards rotted
out, they were taken up and it became a gravel road."
As a companion to the plank road, the same authority refers to a
road in the edge of Lincoln county, connecting with the Pike county
roads, located and laid out by a competent civil engineer by the name
of Little, over fifty years ago, from Prairieville in the edge of Pike to
Eolia in Lincoln county, — "It was laid out like a railroad dump — high
and dry— and it was not too wide. It was well drained and the top
waa built of rock. • • • This road today, without any care since
that time, is a very good road, and with but little work can be brou^t
back to its original condition. This shows the great advantage of
building a road right to begin with."
The road from Louisiana to Frankford was built of gravel between
forty and fifty years ago. The creeks in this county are especially
86 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
well bridged over their roadways, only four now being needed to com-
plete the county's bridge problem and they are contracted for and will
be completed by the end of 1913. Concrete floors, another feature of
permanency, are being put in as fast as the plank floors wear out.
Putnam countjf reported about two thousand miles of dirt roads, *
improved and being improved, and her roadmen are alive to the road
issue, even though no old trail or cross-state highway reaches them,
the country being hilly, making road building expensive. The neigh-
borhood roads radiate around Unionville, its principal town, and are
kept in as good condition as circumstances permit.
Ralls county has along its northern border the old Hannibal and
St. Joseph Highway, which enters it a few miles after leaving Hanni-
bal, and passes through Rensselaer, Huntington and Hazard, beyond
which it runs into Monroe county at Monroe City. Ralls also has an
old rock road running from New London toward Hannibal, that was
built as a toll road ne/irly fifty years ago, but the toll was taken oflE
and the road is now a free road, but naturally not kept in as good
cojidition.
Randolph county is well served by the Northern Cross State High-
way which enters at its extreme southeast corner and goes entirely
across the county in a northwesterly direction, passing through Clark,
Renick, Moberly, Huntsville, Randolph Springs and Clifton Hill, and
on across Chariton county. Another important old road runs north
and south through it. It is what was Imown as the ** Plank Road"
from Glasgow to Huntsville, which continues on by way of Moberly
across the county into Macon county, and from the same point on to
the south as far as Old Franklin, which in 1823 was the nearest store
or trading point for these people, a distance of over fifty miles, until
later they traded at Fayette.
St. Charles county is the starting point of the Boon's Lick road,
which passes through Cottleville, Dardenne, Wentzville and Foristell,
into Warren county.
It is also the initial point of the Salt River road, northwestwardly,
which, following the direction of the Mississippi river, passes through St.
Peters, Josephville, Enon and Flintville into Lincoln county.
This county has also about two hundred miles of pike roads, besides
nearly seven hundred miles of good dirt roads.
Schuyler county, like Putnam and other northern border counties,
has no old trails nor cross-state highways, although the people are
well provided with an interlacing network of earth roads and have
imbibed the good roads spirit of road-progress.
Scotland county is another northern border county that is not in
the line of either historic old trails nor cross-state highways, of greater
commercial import, but must depend upon the road spirit of its peo-
ple for such development and improvement as they get.
Shelby county is cut across its southern part by the old Hannibal
and St. Joseph Highway, which enters it at Hunnewell, running due
west through Lakenan and northwardly to Shelbina; from there it
runs northwestwardly through Lentner and Clarence into Macon county.
While Shelby is a network of the ordinary earth roads it has no
further claims for the antiquity of its roadways.
Sullivan county has neither an old historic trail nor a cross-state
highway, but is alive to the interests of its commercial purposes for
roads — and good roads. The county is well cared for with neighbor-
hood roads, all leading to or from the direction of Milan, its county
center, and county seat, as well; so there, it can be said, as it is said
of Rome, — all roads lead to Milan.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 87
Warren county is cut entirely across its northern portion by the
old Boon's Lick road. The **01d Trails'* route enters it near Foristell,
St. Charles county, and runs through Wright City, Pitts and War-
renton on out of the county near Jonesburg, Montgomery county. This
county has shown its road energy by forming special road districts along
this road, which takes in all three of these last named towns.
Specul Road Districts
As an evidence of the spirit of progress in road interests in north-
east Missouri, in many of these counties special eight-mile-square road
districts or special benefit assessment road districts have been formed
and are still being organized along these '*01d Trails," and cross-
state highways, with a view to finally bonding them for permanent and
uniform grading and rocking.
It is not too much to say that this increased and beneficial road
agitation is largely due to the endeavors of our State Board of Agri-
culture, under which the State Highway Department operates, and in
particular to our State Highway Engineer, Curtis Hill, whose position
is never so important, nor business so pressing, but that he has the
time, prompted by the disposition, to courteously answer inquiries and
render assistance to the most humble citizen or go miles out of his way
to help and encourage them in forming road districts, and in passing
professional judgment on highway and engineering problems, always
arising to puzzle the layman or inexperienced road builder. Mr. Hill
is most generously possessed of the three-fold power, of professional
ability, indomitable energy and genuine courtesy, which he dispenses
freely and liberally in the belief that a public office is a public trust
and that the public official is the servant of the people and should serve
all alike.
CHAPTER VI
CHURCHES AND CONGREGATIONS
The religions denominations having the largest membership in North-
east Missouri are the Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Presbyter-
ian and Episcopalian. The history of these six denominations is pre-
sented in special chapters by recognized authorities whose names were
suggested for this work by leading churchmen of their respective re-
ligious bodies. In addition, other denominations are represented in
Northeast Missouri in smaller numbers and the local history of the
churches and congregations of these denominations is given in the county
histories.*
* The communicants or members for certain selected denominations in each
county of Northeast Missouri, as reported in the latest (1906) United States cen-
sus of statistics of religious bodies, with the population for 1910, may be thus
summarized :
Adair — ^Population, 21,728; all denominations, 7,400; Protestant bodies, 5,538;
Baptists, 597; Free Baptists, 154; Primitive Baptists, 91; Church of Christ Scientist,
17; Disciples of Christ, 1,572; Methodist Episcopal, 1,376; Methodist Episcopal
South, 507; African Methodists, 52; Presbyterian IT. S. A., 285; Cumberland Pres-
byterian, 373; Episcopal, 70; United Brethren in Christ, 313; other Protestant
bodies, 130; Boman Catholic, 1,862.
Audrain — Population, 21,160; All denominations, 10.254; Protestant bodies,
8,459; Baptists, 2,326; Primitive Baptists, 75; Scientists, 23; Disciples, 2,210;
Gferman Evangelical, 53; Lutheran, 25; Methodists, 631; Southern Methodists,
1,532; African Methodist, 196; Cumberland, 589; Presbyterian U. S. (Southern),
635; Episcopal, 75; other Protestants, 89; Catholic, 1,795.
Boone — ^Population, 28,642; all denominations, 12,948; Protestant, 12,529;
Baptists, 4,119; Free Baptists, 17; Primitive Baptist, 477; Disciples, 3,688; Churches
of Christ, 650; German Evangelical, 106; Methodist Episcopal, 285; Southern Meth-
odist, 2,062; African Methodist, 337; Cumberland, 75; Southern Presbyterian,
388; Episcopal, 95; other Protestants, 230; Catholic, 419.
CaUaway — ^Population, 25,984; aU denominations, 11,552;. Protestant, 11,081;
Baptist, 3,344; Primitive Baptist, 81; Disciples, 3,284; Evangelical, 95; Methodist
Episcopal, 218; Southern Methodist, 2,577; African Methodist, 102; Cumberland,
22; Southern Presbyterian, 1,255; Episcopal, 41; United Brethren of Christ, 62;
CathoHc, 471.
Chariton — Population, 26,826; aU denominations, 9,970; Protestant, 7,008; Bap-
tist, 2,195; Disciples, 1,923; Lutheran, 436; Methodist Episcopal, 625; Southern
Methodist, 1,404; African Methodist, 297; Cumberland, 363; Southern Presbyterian,
160; Episcopal, 6; United Brethren, 90; other Protestants, 109; Catholic, 2,362.
Clark — ^Population, 15,383; all denominations, 5,486; Protestant, 4,855; Bap-
tist, 1326; Free Baptist, 20; Congregationalists, 110; Disciples, 954; Evangelical,
422; Methodist Episcopal, 747; Methodist Protestant, 359; Southern Methodist,
425; African Methodist, 31; Cumberland, 161; Southern Presbyterian, 175; other
Protestants, 125; Catholic, 631.
Howard — Population, 18,337; all denominations, 8,234; Protestant, 7,540; Bap-
tist, 1,901; Disciples, 2,477; Evangelical, 75; Methodist Episcopal, 590; Southern
Methodist, 1879; African Methodist, 257; Presbyterian U. S. A., 60; Cumberland,
167; Episcopal, 24; other Protestants, 110; Catholic, 694.
Knox— Population, 13,479; all denominations, 7,834; Protestant, 3,555; Bap-
tist, 898; Primitive Baptist, 29; Disciples, 1,030; Methodist Episcopal, 741;
Southern Methodist, 544; African Methodist, 15; Presbyterian U. S. A., 93; Cum-
berland, 47; United Brethren, 25; other Protestant, 133; Catholic, 4,279.
88
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 89
Baptist Churches and Baptists
By the Rev, Wiley J. Patrick, D. D., Bowling Oreen
Baptists entered this territory in the closing years of the eighteenth
century and conformed to the Spanish rule, except in matters religious.
In 1808 John Snethen, Sr., of New Jersey, and his wife, who was a South
Carolinian Baptist, settled in what is now Montgomery county. Soon
public services were established. In 1810 the number of Baptists had
been so much increased north of the river that a church was organized.
This was under the ministry of Elder Joseph Baker, one of the immi-
grants. He became pastor. Duncan's Baptist History says that in 1810
of those who came into Boon's Lick country several of the number were
Baptists who came for the purpose of planting the gospel in those wild
regions. Among these Baptists were Col. Benjamin Cooper, Captains
Sarshall and Braxton Cooper and Elders William Thorp and David Mc-
Lain. In 1812 on the 8th of April, Elders Thorp and McLain held a
meeting in a log cabin in which school was kept, situated only a short
distance from Franklin, Howard county, and organized the first Bap-
tist church in the ** Upper Country," **Mt. Pleasant."
Ramsey Creek church. Pike county, was organized in 1816 and had
as its first pastor Elder Stephen Ruddell. December 20, 1817, Mt. Zion
Lewis — ^Population, 16,724; aU denominations, 8,967; Protestant, 7,076; Bap-
tist, 3,072; Disciples, 1,463; Evangelical, 51; Lutheran, 274; Methodist Episcopal,
315; Southern Methodist, 1,528; African Methodist, 47; Presbyterian U. S. A.,
125; Southern Presbyterian, 16; Episcopal, 40; Catholic, 1,891.
Lincoln — ^Population, 18,352; aU denominations, 9,045; Protestant, 7,034; Bap-
tist, 1,965; Primitive Baptist, 37; Disciples, 1,661; Evangelical, 416; Methodist
Episcopal, 720; Southern Methodist, 1,623; African Methodist, 65; Cumberland,
322; Southern Presbyterian, 150; other Protestants, 75; Catholic, 2,011.
Linn — ^Population, 25,503; aU denominations, 9,003; Protestant, 8,020; Bap-
tist, 1,842; Primitive Baptist, 105; Congregationalist, 150; Disciples, 1,562; Church
of Christ, 366; Methodist Episcopal, 1,745; Southern Methodist, 1,011; African
Methodist, 21; Presbyterian U. S. A., 441; Cumberland, 133; Episcopal, 139;
United Brethren, 253; other Protestants, 252; Catholic, 983.
Macon — ^Population, 33,018; all denominations, 12,085; Protestant, 10,029;
Baptist, 3,023; Primitive Baptist, 252; Congregationalist, 341; Disciples, 1,985;
Lutheran, 116; Methodist Episcopal, 706; Southern Methodist, 1,124; African
Methodist, 215; Presbyterian U. S. A., 288; Cumberland, 1,306; Episcopal, 108;
United Brethren. 53; Other Protestants, 512; Catholic, 1,827; Latter Day Saints
(reorganized), 229.
Marion — Population, 26,331; all denominations, 13,585; Protestant, 10,121;
Baptist, 3,233; Primitive Baptist, 15; Congregationalist, 181; Disciples, 1,950;
Lutheran, 1,088; Methodist Episcopal, 500; Southern Methodist, 1,541; African
Methodist, 410; Presbyterian U. 8. A., 537; Cumberland, 40; Southern Presby-
terian, 166; Episcopal, 262; other Protestants, 198; Catholic, 3,462.
Monroe — Population, 19,716; all denominations, 10,731; Protestant, 8,574;
Baptist, 2,462; Primitive Baptist, 106; Disciples, 3,195; Southern Methodist, 1,700;
African Methodist, 83; Cumberland, 335; Southern Presbyterian, 590; Episcopal,
103; Catholic, 2,165.
Montgomery — ^Population, 16,571; all denominations, 6,770; Protestant, 5,520;
Baptist, 1,292; Primitive Baptist, 50; Disciples, 849; Evangelical, 109; Lutheran,
122; Methodist Episcopal, 746; Southern Methodist, 1,438; African Methodist,
25; Cumberland, 626; Southern Presbyterian, 177; Episcopal, 13; other Protestants,
73; Catholic, 1,250.
Pike— Population, 25,744; all denominations, 9,829; Protestant, 9,169; Bap-
tist, 3,377; Primitive Baptist, 22; Disciples, 1,657; Methodist Episcopal, 752;
Southern Methodist, 894; African Methodist, 398; Presbyterian U. S. A., 58; Cum-
berland, 1,833; Southern Presbyterian, 16; Episcopal, 132; other Protestants, 50;
Catholic, 660.
Putnam— Population, 16,688; all denominations, 3,735; Protestant, 3,630; Bap-
tist, 651; Free Baptist, 124; Primitive Baptist, 18; Disciples, 974; Church of
Christ, 442; Methodist Episcopal, 610; Methodist Protestant, 200; Presbyterian
U. 8. A., 76; United Brethren, 243; other Protestants, 292; Catholic, 105.
Ralls— Population, 12,287; all denominations, 6,192; Protestant, 4,578; Bap-
90 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
church, Howard county, was organized. Three ministers were in the
membership, Elders David McLain, Golden Williams and Edward
Turner. Elder James E. Welch, on May 31, 1818, organized Salem
church in what is now Callaway county. Bethel church, now called
Walnut Grove, Boone county, was organized June 28, 1817. The first
permanent pastor was Elder William Thorp.
In what is now Marion county August 5, 1821, Elders David Biggs
and Frank Worson organized Bear Creek church. The first pastor was
Elder Leroy Jackson. Churches were now rapidly multiplied. Several
of these churches lived for some years unassociated with any other eccle-
siastical body.
The first association body in Northeast Missouri was the Mt. Pleasant
Association, which was formed July 25, 1818, in Mt. Pleasant church,
Howard county. William Thorp was moderator, George Stapleton,
clerk. Elder Luke Williams preached the introductory sermon.
Cuivre Association was formed in 1822 of eight churches situated
in "St. Charles, Warren and Lincoln counties. Salt River Association
was formed August 29, 1823, at Peno church. Pike county. The sermon
was preached by Elder Jeremiah Taylor. Elder Davis Biggs was elected
moderator, William Carson, clerk.
Salem Association was formed at Cedar Creek church, Callaway
tist, 1,069; Primitive Baptist, 37; Disciples, 2,375; Methodist Episcopal, 94; South-
ern Methodist, 457; African Methodist, 41; Cumberland, 95; Southern Presbyterian,
225; other Protestants, 185; Catholic, 614.
Randolph — Population, 24,442; aU denominations, 12,607; Protestant, 10,264;
Baptist, 3,117; Disciples, 2,531; Church of Christ, 93; Lutheran, 53; Methodist
Episcopal, 372; Southern Methodist, 2,482; African Methodist, 255; Presbyterian
U. S. A., 220; Cumberland, 1,036; Episcopal, 65; other Protestants, 40; Catholic,
2,134; Latter Day Saints, 209.
St. Charles — Population, 24,474; aU denominations, 15,391; Protestant, 6,454;
Baptist, 287; Disciples, 125; Evangelical, 1,923; Lutheran, 2,319; Methodist Epis-
copal, 234; Southern Methodist, 801; African Methodist, 225; Presbyterian U. S.
A., 110; Southern Presbyterian, 361; Episcopal, 69; Catholic, 8,937.
Schuyler — ^Population, 10,840; aU denominations, 2,932; Protestant, 2,899;
Baptist, 507; Free Baptists, 139; Disciples, 1,195; Church of Christ, 30; Methodist
Episcopal, 505; Southern Methodist, 160; Cumberland, 133; other Protestants, 230;
Catholic, 33.
Scotland— Population, 13,232; all denominations, 4,810; Protestant, 4,782; Bap-
tist, 887; Disciples, 1,365; Church of Christ, 50; Methodist Episcopal, 908; Meth-
odist Protestant, 139; Southern Methodist, 445; African Methodist, 10; Cumber-
land, 509; Southern Presbyterian, 230; United Brethren, 176; other Protestant,
63; Catholic, 28.
Shelby— Population, 16,167; aU denominations, 7,378; Protestant, 6,730; Bap-
tist, 1,802; Primitive Baptist, 41; Disciples, 1,554; Lutheran, 81; Methodist Epis-
copal, 554; Southern Methodist, 2,047; African Methodist, 69; Presbyterian U» S. A.,
139; Cumberland, 68; Southern Presb3rterian, 72; Episcopal, 4; other Protestant,
319; CathoHc, 648.
Sullivan — Population,
tist, 883; Primitive Baptist,
Episcopal, 1,036; Methodist, , ___, , __ ,
Methodist, 10; Presbyterian U. S. A., 227; United Brethren, 8; other Protestant,
405; CathoUc, 249.
Warren — ^Population, 9,919; aU denominations, 3,451; Protestant, 2,762; Bap-
tist, 163; Primitive Baptist, 34; Disciples, 60; German Evangelical, 1,507; Meth-
odist Episcopal, 574; Southern Methodist, 383; African Methodist, 33; Southern
Presbyterian, 8; Catholic, 689.
The total membership of these denominations in the entire state was: Missouri
population (1900), 3,106,665; all denominations, 1,199,239; Protestant, 802,116;
Baptist, 198,459; Free Baptist, 5,525; Primitive Baptist, 4,040; Scientist, 2,644;
Congre^tionalist, 11,446; Disciples, 159,050; Church of Christ, 7,087; German
Evangelical, 32,715; Lutheran, 41,185; Methodist Episcopal, 80,334; Methodist
Protestant, 4,712; Southern Methodist, 112,068; African Methodist, 15,063; Pres-
byterian U. S. A., 25,991; Cumberland, 28,637; Southern Presbyterian, 14,713;
Episcopal, 13,328; United Brethren, 3,321; other Protestants, 33,160; Catholie,
382,642; Latter Day Saints, 7,880.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 91
county, October 20, 1827. Dr. David Doyle was moderator and Dr.
William Jewell, clerk. Callaway and Boone counties constituted most
of the field of this body.
Bethel Association was formed October 17, 1834, at Bethel church,
Marion county. Elder Christie Gentry was moderator, William Carson,
clerk.
Wyaconda Association was organized at Wyaconda church, Lewis
county, in October, 1844.
Little Bonne Femme Association was constituted at Providence
church, Callaway county, November 16-18, 1839. Overton Harris was
moderator; Alia B. Snethen, clerk.
North Union Association was organized at Fabius church, Schuyler
county, in October, 1843. Elder A. T. Hite was active in forming the
body.
Macon Association was formed at the house of Deacon William Grif-
fin, Macon county, the fourth Saturday in November, 1843. Elder Eu-
phrates Stringer was a leading force in the movement.
Bear Creek Association was constituted at Zion church, Montgomery
county, the 18th of May, 1854.
North Central Association was organized at Union vi lie, Putnam
county, September 1, 1865.
North &lissouri Association began life at Fabius church, Schuyler
county, September 4, 1868./ The officers were : C. Daughters, moderator ;
J. M. Epperson, clerk.
Linn County Association was constituted at Linneus, November 2,
1872. At the first annual session Elder A. F. Martin preached the ser-
mon and was moderator. L. E. Martin was clerk; J. M. Cornett, treas-
urer.
Pleasant Grove Association was oi^anized September 21, 1877, at
Pleasant Grove church, Scotland county. Elder J. W. Kettle was mod-
erator; Theodore Williams, clerk.
Mt. Salem Association was organized October 19, 1878, at Mt. Salem
church, Knox county. The moderator was C. L. Harris; clerk, J. A.
Garnett; treasurer, N. S. Nay lor.
Mt. Zion Association was formed October 5, 1880, at Mt. Zion church,
Howard county. Dr. W. Pope Yeaman preached the sermon and was
chosen moderator; B. F. Jackson^ clerk.
Audrain Association became a body October 15, 1884, in Mexico.
Elder James Reid preached the sermon. Gk)vemor C. H. Hardin was
moderator; Joel Guthrie, clerk.
The second Cuivre Association was organized at Corner Stone church,
Lincoln county, September 18, 1891. Elder P. W. Halley preached the
opening sermon. D. T. Killam was moderator ; F. L. Dawson, clerk.
The Monroe Association was organized at Salem chftrch, Monroe
county, October 4, 1905. Elder R. T. Colburn preached the introduc-
tory sermon and Elder W. B. Craig the doctrinal sermon. W. L. Craw-
ford was moderator ; H. H. Utterback, clerk, and John A. Gex, treasurer.
In Northeast Missouri there are 39,128 members of Baptist churches,
384 churches, 226 ministers, and church property, including pastors'
residences, valued at approximately $950,000. This does not include
school property or church endowments. The amount of the latter is
small.
The Baptist position of church independence and co-ordination in the
ministry calls for intelligence in office-bearers and in the entire member-
ship of the churches. The young churches in a new country were a
thousand miles from a school where their young men could be satisfac-
torily prepared for the ministry, and out of easy reach of advanced
92 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
education for secular life. The want must be met. The genius of the
denomination demanded it. The deeper sense of the ministers and mem-
bers felt it. They acted. Bonne Femme church, Boone county, was the
first actor. Inasmuch as this was an original advance step, I will give
the church record. It may be observed that the first date is only four
months after the date of the reception of Missouri into the luiion of
states.
Copy op the REcoRfis op Little Bonne Femme Chubch
** December the first Saturday, 1821.
* * The Baptist church of Christ at Little Bonne Femme met according
to appointment and after prayer to God for His blessing proceeded to
business as follows: first, Brother Luke Williams chosen moderator to
serve us today ; 2d, Brother Anderson Woods chosen clerk protem today ;
3d, On motion agreed to appoint brother Mason Moss to ascertain of Col.
James McClelland on what terms the church can get the land this meeting-
house stands on and how much and report next meeting.
** Signed by order of the church,
** Anderson Woods, P. T."
*' January the first Saturday, 1822.
**The Baptist church of Christ at Little Bonne Femme met according
to appointment and after prayer to God for His blessing proceeded to
business as follows: first. Brother Anderson Woods chosen moderator
for the present day. Second, The reference from last meeting taken up
authorizing Brother Moss to see Col. McClelland to ascertain from him
whether the church could get the ground on which this meeting-house
stands and how much. And Bro. Moss reported that Col. McClelland
was willing to donate to the church from one to five acres of land.
"Third, on motion agreed to appoint three of the brethren of this
church (to wit) Mason Moss, Thomas S. Tuttle and Anderson Woods who
together with Col. McClelland are requested to lay ofif and mark out such
bounds as they think will be to the mutual interest of all parties and to
obtain from Col. McClelland a sufficient title for the land so designated
and marked out, and those brethren to make report to next meeting.
The title to be for the benefit of the church and a school with an under-
standing that if the church should dissolve the title of said land to remain
in Col. McClelland and the church nor no person under them to have the
power to dispose of said land for the purpose of speculation.
Signed by order of the church,
Lazarus Wilcox, Clk.'*
'*Feby. the first Saturday, 1822.
**The Baptist church of Christ at Little Bonne Femme met according
to appointment and after prayer to God for His blessing proceeded to
business as follows :
** First, Brother Anderson Woods chosen moderator for the present
day.
** Second, The reference from last meeting taken up appointing
Brethren Mason Moss, Thomas S. Tuttle, and Anderson Woods who to-
gether with Col. McClelland were requested to lay oflf and mark out
such bounds as Col. McClelland and they should think was necessary for
the 'use of this church and a school and the brethren before-mentioned
presented a title bond from Col. McClelland made to Mason Moss,
Thomas S. Tuttle and Anderson Woods and their successors in office for
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 93
the use and benefit of this church and a school and the said title bond and
all proceedmgs relative thereto was received and ratified by the church.
"Third, On motion to appoint Brethren Mason Moss, Thomas S.
Tuttle and Anderson Woods Trustees for this church in whom this
Tittle of the land donated by Col. McClelland for the use of the church
is to remain until others are appointed in their place.
"Signed by order of the church,
"Lazarus Wilcox, Cllt."
In this Bonne Femme Academy many were educated, some of whom
have become eminent. The Patriot, of Columbia, October, 1841, says
of exercises in tiiia school: "The Greek languaf^e, which unfortunately
is not rendered as prominent in most of our Western colleges as its in-
trinsic merits deserve, was on this occasion splendidly sustained by J. J,
Harvey of Saline and Miss Mary B. Jenkins." This young lady be-
came the wife of C. H. Hardin, subsequently the governor of Missouri.
Dr. Wiluam Jewell
Stephens College, Columbia
The Rev. G. W. Hatcher has kindly furnished the following account
of this institution :
In 1869 the General Association of Missouri Baptists met in Colum-
bia. In thEft meeting a committee "On State Female College" was ap-
pointed to report one year hence. In 1870 that body met in St, Louis
with the Second Baptist church and the committee, composed of E. S.
Dulin, S. C. Major, R. H. Smith and W. R. Eothwell, reported favoring
the establishment of a Baptist college for women.
This report was adopted and steps were taken then and there to
locate the school. Three points of location were made : Columbia, Lexing-
ton and Jennings Station. The vote resulted in the choice of Columbia.
There was in Columbia at that time what was known as "Baptist Female
College at Columbia." The trustees of this college ofiEered to transfer
to a board of curators, to be held in trust for the general aaaociation, all
94 . HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the property of this college, with all its rights and possessions. The
offer was accepted and the ** Baptist Female College at Columbia" then
and there was made by the General Association of Missoari Baptists
the Baptist State Female College.
Upon the location of the State Female College at Columbia, Hon.
James L. Stephens donated to its endowment the sum of $20,000, the
largest sum that had ever been given by one person, up to that time,
to the cause of Christian education west of the Mississippi river. On
account of this magnificent gift the charter of the institution was so
amended that the name was changed to Stephens Female College, which
name it still bears and ever will bear.
One of its largest donors, aside from Hon. James L. Stephens, was
R. E. Sappington, who during his life gave to it $10,500 and made pro-
vision in his will whereby some $5,000 or $6,000 more will be realized.
Many more, who might be mentioned, believing that the Baptists of Mis-
souri would **make good" and make Stephens College all that they
pledged to do for it, have invested money, prayers and tears in it. With
a plant easily worth $250,000, equipped with dormitories for 120 girls,
with the best gymnasium in the West, with a musical conservatory un-
equalled in Missouri, with a location that cannot be suarpassed, right in
the heart of the educational center of the state, Stephens College will
take its place among the stroifgest female colleges in the West.
LaGrange College, LaGrange
The Wyaconda Baptist Association, in 1856, voted to establish within
its bounds a male and female seminary of the highest order. March
12, 1859, the state legislature granted a charter to the institution as the
'* LaGrange Male and Female College." The school was well patronized
and in a flourishing condition when its doors were closed on account of
the Civil war. At the close of the war people of all parts rallied to the
support of the college and the Rev. J. F. Cook, of Kentucky, was called
to the presidency. After thirty years of efficient service, President Cook
resigned in 1896, and was succeeded by Dr. Jere T. Muir, an honored
alumnus of the college, whose superior ability as an educator was
evinced by many improvements in the course of instruction during his
administration. Dr. Muir resigned in 1905 and was succeeded in the
presidency by Dr. John W. Crouch, also an alumnus of the college.
During his administration the work of the academy was made complete,
the scope of the college work broadened, the endowment was materially
increased, and the equipment of the building greatly improved. He
resigned in the spring of 1910 and was succeeded by Acting President
Charles A. Deppe, of the science department, and upon his resignation
from the college in February, 1911, he was succeeded by Prof. C. P.
Marks, principal of the acaidemy. In June, 1911, the Rev. Ransom
Harvey, D. D., who had been connected with the school seven years as
professor of theology and philosophy, was elected president. In the
summer of 1911 an endowment campaign was inaugurated and, under
the wise and successful leadership of the Rev. J. D. Scott, $50,000 has
been secured. A portion of this amount has been designated by the
donors for the building of a dormitory for girls.
Hardin College^ Mexico
The formal organization of Hardin College occurred in Mexico June
10, 1873. The board of directors consisted of Lewis Hord, Charles H.
Hardin, James Callaway, E. J. Gibbs, Samuel A. Craddoek, J. M.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 95
Gordon, T. B. Hitt, James Carroll, William Harper, Thomas Smith,
William H. Woodward, J. D. Murphy and Joel Guthrie. Governor Har-
din's gifts to the institution amounted to $70,000. Citizens of Mexico
and its vicinity gave the grounds and buildings. The first of September
was set for opening the school. The articles of association provide that
the endowment ** shall be kept at interest or invested in stocks as con-
tinuously as possible; and on the third Tuesday in June in every year
forty per cent of the gross earnings of rents arising from any real estate
herein conveyed and also of the interest, profit and other proceeds aris-
ing from any part of the endowment fund being at interest or invested
in stocks shall be added to and become a part and parcel of the perman-
ent endowment fund of said college until such endowment fund shall
amount to one-half million dollars."
Prof. A. W. Terrill, Mrs. H. T. Baird and Prof. A. K. Yancey filled
the presidency of the college, each of whom has passed beyond earth-life.
Dr. J. W. Million is now president and under his administration the
institution has grown in capacity, range and standard of work and in
favor with the people.
Mt. Pleasant College, Huntsville
The best service that I can do in this case is to quote from Elder S.
Y. Pitts' history, **The Mt. Pleasant Association." He says:
'*In 1853 the citizens of Randolph county, impressed with the need
# of an institution of learning and wishing to secure to themselves its
benefits, determined to erect suitable buildings at a cost of not less than
$10,000. Acting on the advice of Hon. William A. Hall to put the insti-
tution under the care and patronage of Mt. Pleasant Association, a letter
stating the above proposal signed by William A. Hall, H. Austin and
P. P. Roby, in behalf of the citizens and accepted by the Association and
the institution took the name of the association. Under this arrange-
ment the money was secured and the buildings erected. In 1872 Macon
Association agreed by resolution to co-operate with Mt. Pleasant Asso-
ciation in building up Mt. Pleasant College. Mt. Pleasant College dur-
ing her twenty-six years of existence had been presided over by Rev.
William Thompson, LL. D., one year ; Rev. W. R. Rothwell, D.D., twelve
years ; Rev. J. W. Terrill, seven years ; Rev. M. J. Breaker, three years ;
A. S. Worrell, D. D., two years ; Rev. J. B. Weber, one year. The college
was burned to ashes July 15, 1882, and on August 16 following, the
courthouse in Huntsville shared the same fate.''
Bethel College, Palmyra
This institution had a brief but useful career. In 1853 Elder John
T. Williams taught a graded school, male and female. In response to a
proposition submitted by Elder Nathan Ayres, chairman of the board
of trustees, the Baptist Male and Female Seminary at Palmyra was
adopted in 1855 and made the school of the Bethel Association. Elder
Williams continued for a while at the head of the school. Prof. H. Ellis,
Elder R. M. Rhodes and Dr. S. A. Taft and others labored eflSciently for
the public and denominational good. About a score of years was the
period of Bethel's career.
McCune College, Louisiana
In 1857 Elder John T. Williams established a seminary in Louisiana.
In 1869 it was incorporated. The first board consisted of N. McDannold,
S. B. Ayres, William Major, Addison Tinsley, A. M. Tinsley, M. M.
96 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Modisett, Hugh Allen. Elder J. D. Biggs followed Dr. Williams in the
presidency and Prof. W. B. MePike was the associate professor and suc-
ceeded him as head of the institution. In 1881 the school was reorgan-
ized as McCune College, named for A. J. McCune, who had been active
in the affairs of the institution. Dr. H. T. Morton, Professor Beeson,
Prof. T. J. Musgrove, Prof. E. W. Dow and Prof. Greenwell followed in
the order mentioned. It had a career of thirty-eight years.
Bai^ist Periodicals
The Missouri Baptist Journal was started at Palmyra, January 8,
1866, Elders J. H. Luther and R. M. Rhodes, editors and proprietors.
In 1868 it was moved to St. Louis and consolidated with The Record and
took the name of The Central Baptist.
The Baptist Battle Flag, a weekly, was started by Elder D. B. Ray
at LaGrange, June 1, 1875. The Flag and the Baptist Herald of Leb-
anon, Missouri, were consolidated in June, 1877, retaining the name
the Baptist Battle Flag, and issued from St. Louis. The paper had
enthusiastic supporters and a varied career.
Eminent Baptists
Among the many distinguished Baptists, ministers and laymen, of
Northeast Missouri, may be mentioned: the Rev. David Doyle, Eli E.
Bass, the Rev. James Smith, Professor Joseph Flood, Col. John Ralls,
David H. Hickman, Dr. J. T. Muir, William N. Biggs, E. W. Stephens,
the Rev. S. Y. Pitts, the Rev. James M. Lillard, the Rev. Dr. W. Pope
Teaman, Governor Charles H. Hardin, Elder Noah Flood, Elder William
Hurley, Elder Jeremiah Vardeman, the Rev. Dr. J. C. Maple, the Rev.
Dr, R. S. Duncan, Braxton Pollard, and the Rev. Dr. W. H. Burnham.
Riverside Scripture Institute
After three years of unorganized teaching, the Riverside Scripture
Institute was organized at Ramsey Creek church. Pike county, August
30, 1894. Elder James Reid was made president. Elder William Calla-
way, secretary. The institute seeks to preserve and cultivate the student
habit, to bring the best results to busy men and women who can spare
only short intervals of time from active work to qualify themselves for
increased eflSciency. The officers of 1912 are : Dr. J. T. Muir, president ;
R. E. McGuire, secretary; Abe C. Jones, chairman of the executive
committee.
In closing, I beg to say that men as worthy and deeds as noble as
those mentioned must be omitted because of the limitations of time and
space.
The Catholic Church
By the Rev, J. T. Tuohy, LL. D,, S.T,D,, Jonesburg
The advent of the Catholic church to Missouri dates long before the
settlement of the Louisiana territory. The first French missionaries had
reached the pioneer settlements as early as 1764. In fact Father Mar-
quette, the Jesuit missionary, had sailed down the Mississippi and passed
the present site of St. Louis a century before. When Laclede had estab-
lished his settlement in St. Louis, two priests came with him. The first
Catholic church was built in 1770. The church was organized into a dio-
cese by the decree of Rome in 1827 and the first cathedral built in 1834,
just thirteen years after the state was admitted into the Union.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 97
From St. Louis as a center the Catholic church soon began to spread
to various points, especially to points in what is now Northeast Mis-
souri. St. Charles county is the pioneer county of this section in this
respect. As early as 1792 the French missionary had reached that point.
The first church edifice, a neat, substantial stone structure, was built
and dedicated at St. Charles by the Venerable Bishop Joseph Rosati,
the first bishop of St. Louis, in 1829. The Jesuit Fathers had come there
the year previous. It was the writer's privilege to have made his first
communion and to have worshipped in this first church.
Between the years 1822 and 1826 the same fathers had established
parishes and built churches at Portage des Sioux and Dardenne. The
Sisters of the Sacred Heart from France had also established a school at
St. Charles, but were obliged to discontinue it for want of support in
1819. When the first church was opened the Venerable Mother Sophie
Barat re-established her community and soon a large convent was built
adjoining the stone church. This convent is still extant. At this time
the parish was very poor, however, numbering 107 struggling French
settlers. Nevertheless, from St. Charles as a center the Catholic church
soon spread all along both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and to
various interior points of the western section of Northeast Missouri.
The late Most Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick succeeded Bishop Rosati
as Bishop of St. Louis, Dec. 1, 1841. Organization was effected by
Bishop Kenrick 's coming to St. Louis and from that time one may take
up each of the counties of Northeast Missouri in historical order as the
Catholic church was established within their borders.
St. Charles County
In addition to the already mentioned parishes established in this
county, Dardenne had its resident priest in 1859 and a year later the
parish of Wellsburg and Dog Prairie was established under the direc-
tion of the famous pioneer missionary. Father Edward Hamill, later the
founder of the rich Irish settlement in Saline county, now called Shackel-
ford. St. Peter's was established soon after and under the pastorate of
the well remembered Father Stautinger the present Gothic structure was
dedicated. 0 'Fallon was the next to build a permanent structure.
Under the distinguished Father Brockhagen, editor and physician, as
pastor for nearly a third of a century, 0 'Fallon has flourished.
Father Jasper, a specialist in scientific agriculture and political
economy, has succeeded the late Father Brockhagen. A fine new church
is now the program of the parish. Shortly after 1870, the nuns of the
Order of the Most Precious Blood came to 0 'Fallon, having been ex-
pelled from Prussia under the Bismarck Falk Laws, since repealed, and
established a large convent. This has since become the Order's No-
vitiate, Normal Institute and Mother-house for the numerous Sisters
who teach in many parish schools of St. Louis and the state. At St.
Paul's a large and still growing congregation Jias been established since
Father Hamill 's day and is now in charge of Father E. J. Kern. Flint-
hill has a flourishing congregation under Father Aug. J. Von Brunn.
Josephsville and Wentzville also have good congregations under Fathers
A. Becker and J. H. Krechther, respectively.
Wabben County
As early as 1852 Marthasville in this county was regularly visited
from Washington where the Franciscan Fathers are now, but the Jesuit
Fathers then were established just south across the Missouri river. Dut-
\*ol. 1—7
98 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
zow was about the next place to have a church in 1868. Later Peers
Has been established. Father John J. Head, well known missionary of
Northeast Missouri, built many churches in adjoining counties, and in
1882 built the commodious brick church at Truesdale. Father Head
was enabled to effect this fine work by the legacy left for the purpose by
Mrs. Ann Gallery, an old settler of Warren county. The Rev. J. T.
Tuohy, LL.D., is at present in charge of this mission.
Monroe County
By the year 1852 large settlements of Kentucky immigrants had been
established in this county. For their accommodation a parish was or-
ganized and a church built and dedicated at Indian creek or ''Swenky,"
as it was familiarly termed. The late Rev. Joseph Tolton, the first Cath-
olic colored priest in the United States, was a native of this parish. The
present fine new church structure was built by the Rev. John Lyons now
of St. Pius parish, St. Louis.
About fifteen years ago many of the parishioners, retiring from the
farms, moved into the new town just then established, Monroe City,
which has since become the chief town of the county, as well as its Catho-
lic center. Today Monroe City has a fine new church. The well known
Father John Ryan is now in charge.
Ralls County
This county as early as 1852 had become the home of many settlers
who had emigrated from Kentucky. A parish was organized and a
church built for them at St. Paul's. Father Andrew Mcl3ride was the
pioneer pastor. New London, however, has since become the chief Cath-
olic center of the county. Father E. A. Casey, now of St. Louis, did
some work here a few years ago. The new church was dedicated re-
cently under the pastorate of the Rev. Daniel Donovan.
Clark County
It was in 1852 at North Santa Fe, as it then was called, that the first
Catholic congregation was organized in this county. It was under the
pioneer missionary. Father Dennis Byrne. By 1859 St. Mary's, now
known as St. Patrick's, had been established. Father Eugene Coyle,
for the past twenty years rector of the old Cathedral in St. Louis, served
ten years as pastor at St. Patrick's. The parish is now in charge of
Father Daniel Donovan, recently of Ralls county. Kahoka has also
grown to be a flourishing congregation.
Knox County
The year 1852 marks the announcement to the outer world of Ediua,
the county seat, as a Catholic parish. The Rev. D. S. Phelan, the vet-
eran editor of the Western Watchman, now of St. Louis, was its pastor
forty-five years ago, and founded and edited the Missaun Watchnan
from there. The pastorate, however, of the later Father John Fitz-
gerald, who was assisted by his brother, marks the red letter days of the
parish. Then was built and financed the large stone edifice and also
the Sisters of Loretto from Kentucky came to the parish and estab-
lished their large convent. Father Fitzgerald died about 1899 towards
his seventieth year. He was succeeded by Father Christopher Byrne,
now of the Church Progress staflE, St. Louis. Under Father Byrne the
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 99
former school was taken down and the new and larger one built. The
present permanent rector is the Rev. Richard Healy, formerly of Macon
City and St. Louis.
Baring, on the Santa Fe Railroad, has developed into an important
parish within the past ten years. Under charge of the enterprising
pastor, the Rev. James J. 0 'Reilly, first class church improvements have
been made.
Scotland County
As early as 1852 the congregation of Mudd Settlement was on the
diocesan roll as a mission regularly attended by the priests of the diocese.
The Settlement is today flourishing as of yore and is attended from
Kanoka.
Memphis, the county seat, has more recently been placed on the roll
of places attended by priests.
Lincoln County
Milwood had become a well known Catholic center by the year 1852.
The pastorate of the late Father J. Clarey was the longest, as he died
past his eightieth year. A new church has been built under the present
administrator, the Rev. P. F. Quigley. A parish school had been estab-
lished just previous to the latter 's coming by the late Rev. Stephen Car-
roll. It is under the charge of the Sisters of St. Dominic from the Mon-
astery of Hunt's Point, New York. Father Quigley, present adminis-
trator, has been assigned Father Carr to aid him in his declining years.
Troy, the county seat, has come up within the last fifteen years.
Under the present rector, the accomplished litterateur and musician, the
Rev. L. A. Schlathoelter, fine improvements have been created. We say
it advisedly ** created,'* not made, because it is diflScult to see how so
few with but ordinary conditions can do so much and so handsomely.
Old Monroe, with its parish school has a flourishing organization. Els-
berry has seen the beginning of work and is regularly attended from
Louisiana. Mashek is a settlement of Catholic Bohemians regularly at-
tended from Troy.
Marion County
Not before 1859 had a Catholic congregation been established in the
county at Hannibal. The advent of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad,
and the location of its shops at this point soon brought the element that
makes for a Catholic parish. Almost coincidently with this influx of
settlers the Parish of the Immaculate Conception, B. V. M., was formed.
The Rev. P. J. Cronin, afterwards the distinguished editor of The Cath-
olic Union and Times, Buffalo, New York, was for a few years in the
late '60s in charge. Shortly after came the pioneer missionary, the late
Rev. Dennis Kennedy, whose pastorate was redolent of good work which
yet continues and which covered about twenty-five years. The large con-
vent and parish school of the Sisters of St. Joseph from Carondelet, St.
Louis, was also established during this pastorate. Father Kennedy died
full of works and days in the early '908. He was succeeded by the
scholarly, accomplished musician and pulpit orator, the Rev. M. J.
McLaughlin, who lived all too short a period of years, dying in 1903. The
Rev. Daniel Sullivan, formerly rector at Monroe City, succeeded to the
Hannibal parish, which is now a parish of over twelve hundred people.
Palmyra, in this county, has also become a Catholic settlement and is
regularly attended by a priest and has its parish school.
100 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Lewis County
By 1859 the Catholic church organization had become known to its
communicants in Lewis county. These had settled near LaGrange and
they were occasionally attended by priests from St. Mary's, Clark county.
But not before ten years later, or 1869, had they the regular services of a
pastor.
Canton has, however, meanwhile grown to be the chief Catholic cen-
ter of the county.
Pike County
The organization of a Catholic congregation in this county dates from
1859, when the first was established at Louisiana. It was not until the
pastorate of the devoted if rather strenuous Father P. J. Gleason that
anything in the way of solid, substantial, lasting improvement was made.
Father Gleason built the present brick church. The Chicago & Alton
Railroad had its terminus at Louisiana and then began extending fur-
ther westward. During this time Father Gleason, availing himself of
the increase in the parish and proverbial generosity of railroaders, made
his improvements. He afterwards was promoted to St. Louis, where he
founded the present Holy Name Parish. Father Daniel Gleason is the
present rector.
There is also another congregation, established now for some years,
in the vicinity of Bowling Green, the county seat, St. Clements. There
is a parish school in connection with the parish. Also the mission of
New Hartford in this county is attended from St. Clements.
Montgomery County
From an early date the Jesuit Fathers from St. Charles visited and
held services at various points in the county. Father P. M. O'Neill
seems to have been the first priest who was located in Montgomery City,
where he built a church and rectory.
Father Michael J. McCabe, now of St. Michael's, St. Louis, followed
soon after Father O'Neill and was pastor at Montgomery City about
forty-five years ago. Father John J. Head, now of Annunciation parish,
St. Louis, followed shortly after Father McCabe, Father J. Daly coming
in between for but a short period. Father Head's pastorate, which lasted
more than ten years, has ever since justly merited him the cognomen
of the ''Apostle of Northeast Missouri." He built the fine new church
at Montgomery City, and, like another St. Kevin as pastor of the ''seven
churches," his record was a church a year for as many years in the
places he attended. The churches of Wellsville and Jonesburg — im-
proved and enlarged, Truesdale, Wentzville, were all built during his
time. At Jonesburg he received from the late Bernard Pratt, a former
mayor of St. Louis (1859), a farm of 229 acres, for the support of the
priest or the building of a new church in their option, and which the
parish still possesses. In turn at the different missions Father Head
conducted daily services, and on Sunday double services, going by hand-
car from station to station. On the week days at each place mass was
said, the attendants, appointments and paraphernalia of each of them,
said a competent eye-witness, would make one feel that he was in some
convent chapel rather than a mission country church. Father Head,
hale and light-hearted, yet lives, capable of much service. All of the
places formerly attended from Montgomery City have become separate
congregations with their own pastors. In the county there are two of
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 101
these, one at Jonesburg, the Rev. J, T. Tuohy, LL. D., pastor, the other
Wellsville, the Rev. D. J. Hurly, pastor.
Starkenburg, near Rhineland station of the Mis^uri, Kansas & Texas
Railroad, has become a most interesting Catholic center. It is the loca-
tion of the celebrated shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary,
under the title of ** Mother of Sorrows." There is a fine stone church
edifice here, large parish schools and the new grand shrine. Every year
thousands are attracted thither, many coming from as far as St. Louis.
A paper Die PUger, in the interests of the Shrine, is published by
the pastor, the Rev. Qeorge W. Hoehn, the present rector and founder
of this interesting work.
Howard County
While scattered settlements had been occasionally visited by priests
in this county it was not until 1867 that we find that Glasgow w^as an-
nounced as the first parish. The permanent church structure and parish
school were established by the late Father Joseph Pauk, founder of St.
Engelbert's Parish, St. Louis. Father John H. Waeltermann has been
pastor for the past ten years. At present he is engaged in building a
fine $50,000 church, soon to be dedicated.
New Franklin, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, has, since
the railroad has been built, come on the church map and is the center
of considerable Catholic work. Father P. J. Ward, the present pastor,
also attends Fayette, the county seat.
Shelby County
In 1869 Shelbina, the county seat, became the first Catholic parish in
this county and the late Rev. D. Macken the first pastor. Rev. Father
M. J. Collins, the present rector, built the present fine church. There
are flourishing Catholic congregations regularly attended in Hunnewell,
Lakenan and Clarence.
Linn County
Previous to the excision of this county from the archdiocese of St.
Louis, as provided at the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866,
various places containing Catholic settlers had been occasionally visited
by priests. It was, however, only after the erection of the St. Joseph
diocese and the annexation of this county thereto that we find any regu-
lar organization attempted. Accordingly, in 1866, we find for the first
time the announcement of a parish, Brookfield. During the pastorate
of the present rector, the Rev. Walter Tormey, M. R., which covers
nearly half the age of the parish, a fiourishing organization has been
maintained. The Rev. D. A. Feely is associated with the pastor in all
the work.
Marceline has come on the map somewhat later and is the seat of a
fiourishing parish under charge of the Rev. P. J. Cullen.
Chariton County
The first mention one finds of any Catholics being regularly attended
at any place in this county is the year 1869, when Brunswick was regu-
larly visited from CarroUton. It soon came under the charge of the
Franciscan Fathers.
Later the Franciscan Fathers organized the parish of Wien from
102 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Chillicothe, and it has become a large congregation, chiefly Grerman,
with a large parish school.
Salisbury, however, is the most important parish in Chariton county.
In the '80s it was but a mission attended from Glasgow. Finally it be-
came part of the late Father J. Hennes' charge. The Rev. J. F. Lubeley,
present permanent rector of Holy Trinity church, St. Louis, succeeded
to Salisbury about 1903. Under his pastorate of about five years the
present fine stone structure was built, fully equipped, paid for and dedi-
cated. Salisbury has likewise a parish school. The present rector is
the Rev. F. J. Ernst.
Aholt, a settlement with its parish school, has a resident priest.
Macon County
Until 1871 the Catholics of this county had no priest permanently
stationed among them. The late R«v. P. B. Cahill came up from Moberly,
where he had been a short time assisting Father F. McKenna, and begun
the real work. The first structure, a brick one, with the rectory, two
rooms in the rear adjoining, was built on the site presented to Father
Cahill. Father Cahill, somewhat broken in health, retired about 1898
and as he had sufficient personal means returned to his native Tipperary,
where he died in 1904. The most recent successor is the Rev. Richard J.
Healy, now permanent rector of Edina, Knox county. Under his pas-
torate the greatest work since the parish was established has been accom-
plished, the building of a splendid new church.
Audrain County
Not until 1871 was there a priest to regularly attend any place in
this county. It was just the year before that the well known and sturdy
pioneer, the Rev. Francis McKenna — '* Father McKinny" of the old
people — ^had come up from New Madrid in the Southeast to Northeast
Missouri and started to organize a congregation at Mexico, the county
seat. He soon, however, went farther west as he sensed a far more
important opening about thirty-eight miles farther west and north.
He had at the time for his assistant, the Rev. C. F. O'Leary. Accord-
ingly he early turned over the organizing, as well as the new parish,
to him. Thus Father 0 ^Leary became the first pastor of Mexico. Father
O'Leary also organized the mission at Martinsburg, fourteen miles east.
He established the parish at Fulton, and built its first church. He vis-
ited Columbia, held services in the court-house, later organized the parish
and turned the further work there over to his assistant, the late Rev.
William T. Stack.
At the close of about seven years of strenuous missionary work, Father
O'Leary was succeeded at Mexico by the late Rev. E. J. Dempsey, a son
of Shelby county. Father Dempsey 's. pastorate covered a period of
about twenty years. During the first years of his time in Mexico he
had for assistant, the Rev. J. T. Tuohy, who attended the missions estab-
lished by Father O'Leary, Martinsburg, Fulton, Centralia, Columbia,
and also Sturgeon. He later gave up these missions and they were
transferred to Moberly
Father Dempsey was succeeded by the present energetic and popular
rector, the Rev. H. J. Dillon. Vandalia was organized and regularly
attended, also Laddonnia. At the former there is now a resident priest.
Father Dillon also built a fine church structure for the congregation at
Fulton. Father Dillon enjoys the distinction of being Dean of the
Northeast Missouri Conference, an honor conferred by the vote of his
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 103
fellow priests, eleven in the district. The conferences are held at his
residence.
Martinshurg finally became a separate parish under the Rev. Joseph
Haar its first rector, who still continues in charge.
Randolph County
Father Francis McKenna in 1876 began his ministrations in Moberly,
then a new railroad town. His long years of fruitful work in Moberly
and surrounding mission stations is part of the church history. He
early opened a parish school under charge of the Sisters of Loretto.
He built a church edifice, St. John's, which at once became a center of
large influence. Father McKenna retired in 1885 and died in 1888.
Father John Ryan succeeded him in a successful pastorate of twenty
years. Father P. J. Carney followed and in a short time succeeded in-
building a magnificent new church of brick and stone costing $75,000.
Moberly, together with other places in twenty of the counties of North-
east Missouri was by decree of the Holy See in 1911, annexed to the
Diocese of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Callaway County
Priests have visited this county from time to time at the various
points which contained Catholic settlers. At the old settlement of Cath-
olics in the southeastern point of the county known as Hancock Prairie
services have been held and a mission chapel built from an early date.
This congregation is still extant and is at present attended from Starken-
burg, Montgomery county.
At Fulton, the county seat, the first effort to organize a regular par-
ish took place about 1874. Father Russell, who later made his head-
quarters with Father O'Leary, was the first to visit Fulton regularly.
He did not long remain, however. Father O'Leary then took up the
work. He soon had the little congregation organized. Work was begun
on a permanent church, and finally the little brick church was dedicated
under the title St. Peter's. This was about 1876. During Father
Dempsey's pastorate at Mexico, Fulton was attended by his assistant,
the Rev. J. T. Tuohy, LL. D., and also by the latter when Father Mc-
Kenna took charge of the missions. The Rev. J. J. Dillon next took
charge of Fulton, attending it from Mexico. During his charge the
present new church was built. About two years ago Fulton was made
a separate parish and the Rev. Joseph Gilfillan appointed the first
pastor. He was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph S. Himer in 1911. Aux-
vasse, Guthrie and McCreedie, on the Chicago & Alton Railroad branch,
have a few small Catholic Settlements. These are looked aft^r by the
Rev. J. J. Dillon, of Mexico.
Boone County
The comparatively few Catholics in small, scattered settlements here
and there in the county had for years received only few and far-between
visits from priests. From the establishment of the church at Mont-
gomery City, however, the records give Columbia as '* attended occa-
sionally" therefrom. At the county courthouse Catholic services were
held a time or two. But not until after the building of the branch
line of the Wabash Railroad, then the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern
Railroad, south from Centralia was there any systematic effort made
in the way of a church organization. The church building was largely
the result of the persistent zeal and activity of Mrs. James Clapp. Later
104 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the work was helped by Miss Cornelia McAfee, now Sister Mary Augus-
tine, of Louisville, Kentucky, a devoted daughter of the church. Colum-
bia was first attended as a mission station from Montgomery City, but
in 1881 was assigned a resident priest, the Rev. John N. Kern. His suc-
cessors were the Rev. G. A. Watson, the distinguished and scholarly
Rev. P. F. O'Reilly, now retired at Elfin Dale, Greene county, the Rev.
C. E. Byrne, the Rev. Arthur O'Reilly, now of Catawissa, Missouri, the
Rev. William E. Randall, the Rev. Dr. J. B. Pleuss, and the pres-
ent, much respected rector, the Rev, Thomas J. Lloyd, who is doing much
excellent organization work. Father Lloyd has secured the Sisters of
St. Joseph to open a parish school.
Sturgeon is likewise an old Catholic center in this county. It has
had the honor of being attended at one time by the Right Rev. Bishop
Hogan, now the nestor of American hierarchy, then pastor of Chilli-
cothe. He left a record of a visit and some baptisms on the occasion of
a visit in 1869. It was Bishop Hogan 's custom at the time to visit
the various railroad camps along the line of the new railroads and the
stations near by. The writer has seen the record which he left, and been
the guest of the family which he visited on the occasion of his call at
Sturgeon. The present church at Sturgeon was built in the early 70s
under the pastorate of the Rev. M. J. McCabe, now of St. Michaers,
St. Louis. It is now attended from Columbia. Centralia is also at-
tended from Columbia, mass being said there the third Sunday of each
month.
Adair County
The Catholic settlements in this county were few and far between.
They were occasionally attended from Edina. The Rev. John Ryan
came to St. Mary's Parish in Adair county as resident priest about 1876.
He had been previously assistant priest to the famous Father James
Henry, that Lord Chesterfield of the clergy, the late pastor of St. Laur-
ence 0 'Toole parish, St. Louis. Father Ryan remained in charge of
Adair until his transfer to St. Bridget's, St. Louis, in 1889. He was
succeeded by the present rector, the Rev. John O'Shea, who had ex-
changed j)lace8 with Father Ryan. Kirksville, the county seat, was
erected into a parish about 1903, when the Rev. A. Gass, S. T. D., was
sent from St. Louis to become its first pastor. Under Doctor Gass a
mission church was built and a rectory. Doctor Gass was succeeded
by the present rector, the Rev. Alexander L. Mercer, a son of the * * Old
Bay State" and, like Doctor Gass, an alumnus of the American College,
Rome. Father Mercer had been assistant at St. Cronin's parish, St.
Louis, the previous ten years. He attends the mission of LaPlata from
Kirksville.
Novinger, another Catholic settlement, and Connelsville have been
organized within the past few years; both are attended from Milan,
Sullivan county.
Sullivan County
The principal Catholic center in this county is at Milan, the county
seat. Its history is hardly twenty years old. It is in charge of a resi-
dent priest, the Rev. John J. Jermain. Green City is also attended from
Milan, and also three other places in the adjoining county of Putnam.
Putnam County
Unionville, the county seat, has been a Catholic settlement and vis-
ited regularly by a priest since 1876. It has a mission church but not a
resident priest. It is, however, regularly attended from Milan.
•HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 105
There are Catholic settlers at Howland and Mendota, which are sta-
tions also attended from Milan.
Schuyler County
The principal Catholic congregation in this county is that known
as Miidd's Settlement in about the center of the county towards the
Iowa state line. Its establishment dates back at least half a century.
It has been visited at intervals by many of the well known missionaries
of Northeast Missouri. While it has had for years a substantial church
structure, it has never had a resident priest. It is now attended from
Kahoka.
Downing, on the Santa Fe Railroad, has come up as a Catholic settle-
ment since the building of the railroad. It is also attended from Kahoka.
General Summary
Outside of St. Charles county, the history of the Catholic church in
the twenty-five counties of Northeast Missouri is little more than sev-
enty-five years old. Not a congregation was organized or a priest regu-
larly stationed in that entire section at that time. Sixty-four priests
are today regularly stationed and resident in this section. There are
seventy-one churches, twenty stations preparing to organize congrega^
tions and build churches, twenty-nine parish schools, having an attend-
ance of 3,206 children. The Catholic population is about 25,000. All
except the eight southern counties adjoining the Missouri river were,
by decree of the Holy See, last year annexed to the Diocese of St. Joseph,
Missouri, having been taken from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of
St. Louis. This, it is considered, will concentrate more direct attention
upon these northern counties by the church officials and should stimulate
rapid religious development.
Bibliography: Catholic Encyclopedia; Catholic History of the United States,
by John Gilmary Shea, LL.D. ; Reminiscences of a Missionary Priest, by the Rt. R«v.
John J. Hogan, D. B., Bishop of Kans=as City; Centenary and Annals of St. Charles
Borromeo's Parish, St. Charles, Mo., by the Rev. James Conway, S. J. ; Historical
Sketch of the Church in Montgomery County, by the Rev. Paul Grops; Official Catholic
Directory, 1849, 1850. 1851, 1852, etc., etc., to 1911.
The Christian Churches
By the Rev. T, P. Haley, D, D., Kansas City
The eastern counties were populated to a considerable degree before
the Missouri territory was admitted *as a state into the Union. With
this early population were many families who were members of the
Christian churches in the states from which they came. With them also
came a number of able ministers of the gospel, who settled among them
and soon began tp preach in dwelling houses, in groves and in the few
country school houses that had been erected. Among these were such
men as Thomas M. Allen, of Boone county, Joel H. Haden, of Howard
county, and Joseph Creath, of Marion county, with others of less power
as public speakers. These men soon began to organize churches and the
people gathered by them began to erect meeting houses and where this
was impossible obtained permission to preach and organize churches in
school houses.
Perhaps the earliest churches were planted in Howard county. In
this county resided Joel H. Haden, a commanding figure more than six
feet in height, weighing not less than two hundred and fifty pounds apd
106 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
finely proportioned. He had a line voice and was a fluent and powerfal
speaker. He was a man of liberal education, though not a classical
scholar, nor a graduate of any college. The common people heard him
gladly and understood him and under his ministry many were converted
and gathered into congregations. After a time Dr. Winthrop H. Hop-
kins also settled in Fayette and began the practice of medicine. He,
too, was a fine looking man of commanding personality. He soon aban-
doned bis profession and gave himself to the ministry and under his
able preaching great numbers were brought into the churches and many
congregations were organized. Joel Prewitt, father of Robert Prewitt
and Dr. Theodore Prewitt, a farmer-preacher, was possessed of liberal
means and preached without salary and for the most part without any
compensation. Hampton L. Boone and his brother, W. C. Boone, and
many traveling evangelists also aided in establishing churches through-
MissouBi Bible College, Columbia .
out the county. Prof. John W. McGarvey, who became a distinguished
preacher and president of the Bible College at Lexington, Kentucky,
was ordained to the ministry in Fayette. Alexander Proctor, another
distinguished preacher, was for a number of years the preacher at Glas-
gow. Noah W. Miller, a graduate of Bethany College, taught school
and preached at Roanoke and at other points in the county. Elder
T. M. Allen, of Boone county, held many meetings at Fayette, Glasgow
and at other points in the county and aided greatly in building up
churches in the county. This accomplished and eloquent preacher trav-
eled and preached extensively in Howard and adjoining counties and
prepared the way for the organization "of many churches. Under his
ministry Hampton L. Boone, a prominent Methodist minister, came into
the Christian church and served the church in Fayette and preached
throughout the county. W. C. Boone, afterwards a banker, became a
member of the Fayette church and a local preacher who did much to
build up the churches in the county. In Fayette Dr. J. W. McGarvey
was ordained to the ministry and became a distinguished preacher and
educator. He was for many years president of the Bible College of
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 107
Kentucky University, now Transylvania. Alexander Proctor was the
first pastor of the church in Glasgow.
The ministers who were most prominent in the organization of the
early churches in Boone county were Thomas W. McBride, William
Roberts, Richard Carr, Richard T. Roberts, Joel H. Haden, Thomas M.
Allen and Marcus P. Wills. Hon. Jesse Boulton gives, as a curiosity,
the following copy of a church record verbatim:
June 6, 1824. We the undersigned subscribers, being called upon to examine
into the faith and ability of brethren living on and near Bear creek (north of Colum-
bia) desiring to be constituted, find them, in our opinion, sound in the faith and
possessing the abilities of keeping in order the house of God. We have therefore
pronounced them a church of Jesus Christ under no other discipline or ritual of faith
and practice, but the Old and New Testaments, professing at the same time to
have charity enough as a church to let each other judge of the doctrines contained
in the Scriptures for ourselves. Given under our hands, who are elders and have
constituted the undersigned names.
Thomas McBride,
William Roberts,
JoHK M. Thomas.
The early preachers in BcTone county were Thomas M. Allen, Marcus
P. Wills and Richard Carr. The churches at Red Top in the northern
part of the county, Friendship, Bear Creek and Columbia were the first
churches formed in the county. The church at Columbia was organized
in the year 1832 and about four years afterwards Elder T. M. Allen be-
came its pastor.
The same men who preached and organized churches in Howard and
Boone counties were prominent in establishing the early churches in
CallaM'ay county. In addition to these men may be mentioned Marcus P.
Wills and Absalom Rice. For many years the churches in Fulton, at
Stephens Store and New Bloomfield were the prominent churches. At
New Bloomfield a debate between the Baptist and Christian churches
was held by Prof. R. S. Thomas, of the Baptist church, and the Rev.
D. P. Henderson, of the Christian church, many years ago.
The first ministers of the church who preached and organized churches
in Montgomery were Elders Sandy E. Jones, Timothy Ford, J. J. Ewell,
Dr. Hatchett, Jacob Coons, and T. M. Allen of Boone county, and still
later Dr. W. H. Hopson, whose father resided in Fulton. Still later
Elder D. M. Grandfield, who after his return from Bethany College
w^here he graduated, located in Middletown, where he taught school and
preached, extending his labors throughout the county and the surround-
ing territory. Near this town also was born the Rev. A. B. Jones, who
afterwards was pastor at Fulton and subsequently resided in Liberty, in
Clay county, where he taught in a woman's college and preached for the
church and in the surrounding country. The churches at Montgomery
City and at Middletown have been maintained through all the years and
many of the most prominent citizens of the county have been members.
The following churches were reported by the corresponding secretary:
Danville, Jonesburg, Middletown, Montgomery City, New Florence, Price
Branch, Two Mile, Wellsville.
St. Charles county has not been a successful field for the Christian
church. While parts of the county have been visited by the ministers
in that part of the state, only one church has been reported, Foristell.
The failure to plant churches in this county is attributed to the fact that
at an early day the foreign population, especially the Germans, occupied
the field. It is not intended to intimate that the people are not a relig-
ious and church-going people, but only that they are for the most part
members of the Catholic, Lutheran, and other churches, better known in
the countries from which their fathers came.
108 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Elders Allen, Jones, Coons, Ford, Grandfield and others have preached
and established churches in Lincoln county. In the latest reports the
following churches are reported: Corinth, Elmgrove, Elsberry, Hawk-
point, Linn Knoll, Louisville, Liberty, Troy, Moscow Mills, Olney.
Nearly all the ministers who resided in the eastern part of the state
held meetings or served as regular pastors in Ralls county. Joseph J.
Errett, S. E. Jones, Timothy Ford, Jacob Coons, D. M. Grandfield and,
in later years, J. B. Corwine and E. V. Rice. Elder T. M. Allen, who
traveled so extensively over the county, also held meetings. The follow-
ing churches are reported : Ariel, Bethel, Center, Hays Creek, Hunting-
ton, Liberty, Lick Creek, New London, Newport, Ocean Wave, Perry,
Pleasant Grove, Prairie View, Renssalear, Salt River, Spaling. At
New London J. B. Corwine resided and preached for many years and in
the meantime evangelized for many years. A school for young men and
young women was maintained at this point. Prof essoins Christian and
Laughlin were the principal teachers.
Joseph J. Errett lived and labored long in Pike county and was the
patriarch of all the many ministers who lived and labored in the county.
J. D. Dawson and son, William, who afterwards became an Episcopal
clergyman, lived at Louisiana and served the churches in that region.
E. B. Cake, T. A. Abbott, Jacob Hugley, Eugene M. Lampton, William
Meloan, E. V. Rice and, in later years, E. M. Richmond served as pas-
tors of churches and on occasion held protracted meetings. The following
churches are reported : Ashbum, Ashley, Bowling Green, New Harmony,
Clarksville, Eolia, Frankford, Spencersburg, Louisiana, Paynesfville,
Salem.
The early preachers in Marion county were Elders Jacob Creath,
Dr. David T. Morton, T. M. Allen, Esom Ballinger, L. B. Wilkes, James
A. Meng, Dr. W. H. Hopson, and others. From an early day the church
of Palmyra was prominent. It established and maintained a female
school. Dr. Hopson was the first president of the school. He was suc-
ceeded by L. B. Wilkes, who subsequently became president of Christian
College at Columbia. In later years E. C. Browning and others served
as pastor. The Hannibal church had the services of L. B. Wilkes and
Henry H. Haley, C. B. Edgar, J. H. Hardin, S. D. Dutcher, Levi Mar-
shall. The following churches were reported : Antioch, Emerson, Hanni-
bal, Hester, Palmyra, Philadelphia, Mt. Zion, Warren, Woodland, Han-
nibal 2d. In the fifties a debate between Dr. W. H. Hopson and Rev.
W. G. Caples, of the Methodist Church South, was held in Hannibal and
created widespread interest in that part of the state. Several state con-
ventions of the churches have been held at Hannibal.
The early ministers of Lewis county were Jacob Creath, Esom
Ballinger, John Shanks, John C. Risk, and later the ministers connected
with Christian University at Canton, Missouri. During all the years
preachers in the faculty of Christian University and student preachers
have preached in the county and in the surrounding counties. The
following churches are reported: Antioch, Buena Vista, Bunker Hill,
Canton, Cool Springs, LaBelle, LaGrange, Lewistown, Midway, ilonti-
cello, Newman Chapel, Prairie View, Sugar Creek, Williamstown, Mt.
Zion, Turpins, Tolona.
Being just north of Lewis county, Clark county has had the services
of the same preachers from the faculty and students of Christian Uni-
versity, with much the same results. The following named churches
have been organized and maintained ministers and kept up regular
services: Alexandria, Carmel, Fairmount, Elm, Kahoka, Louray, Peak-
ville, Shiloh, Star, Winchester.
In Scotland county the following churches are reported: Antioch,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 109
Bible Grove, Concord, Lawn Ridge, Prairie View, Granger, Gorie, Plum
College, Memphis, Rutledge, Salem, and Union. These churches have
been organized by the ministers and students of Christian University.
The ministers who labored in Audrain county in an early day were
Elder T. M. Allen, Dr. W. Hopson and Dr. John A. Brooks. Many meet-
ings were held in the county by traveling evangelists and the following
churches are reported : Farber, Laddonia, Liberty, Friendship, Martins-
burg, ^lexico, Macedonia, Midway, New Hope, Rising Sun, Rock Hill,
Rush Hill, Salt River, Unity, Vandalia. The church in Mexico is one
of the largest and most influential in the state.
Thomas McBride, Thomas M. Allen, Jacob Creath and Henry Thomas
were the first preachers in Monroe county. Other ministers have been
J. W. Mountjoy, William Featherston, Eugene Lampton, John A.
Brooks, T. W. Pinkerton, S. McDaniel, Jacob Hugley. The present
pastor of the Paris church is F. W. Allen. A third church building,
spacious and comfortable, has recently been erected. Before the war
James Campbell, Asa N. Grant and others conducted a school under the
auspices of the churches in the county, in which many of the young
women of the county were educated. The following churches are re-
ported: Ash, Antioch, Fairview, Holliday, Granville, Mt. Carmel, Madi-
son, Mountjoy, Middle Grove, Monroe City, Oak Ridge, Pleasant Grove,
Paris, Santa Fe, Union, Woodlawn. In Paris J. C. Fox was one of the
prominent members. He was liberal and hospitable. His house was
ever the home of the weary and travel-worn preacher. He was a liberal
patron of the Orphan School of Missouri. At his death he left a liberal
sum to the church at Shelbina and to other charities. Judge Howell,
Dr. Gore, the Alexanders, the McBrides, the Crutchers, Judge Race,
James Abbernathy, the first editor of the Paris Mercury, Mason and
Bean, so long its editors and publishers, the Bodines, the Moss family,
the Barretts, Giddings, Vaughns, Eubanks, Beckners, Caldwells, Congers,
Bridgefords, Davis — these all contributed to the prosperity and success
of the churches throughout Monroe county.
Elders Jacob Creath, Frederick Shoot, Henry Thomas, William Feath-
erston, Wood, and other evangelists have labored in Shelby county and
many of the Monroe county pastors have held meetings in the county.
Shelbina has been for many years the most prominent church in the
county and many ministers from other counties of the state have held
meetings there. A new church building has recently been erected.
Shelbyville also has a new church building. The following churches are
reported : Clarence, Concord, Hagers Grove, Hunnewell, Lakenan, Lent-
ner, Leonard, Shelbina, Shelbyville, Oakdale, Pleasant Grove, Union,
Berea, Union Chapel, Walkerville.
The first preachers in Randolph county were Allen Wri^t, William
White, William Reed, Isaac Foster, Thomas Thompson. Afterwards
came Martin Sidener, Henry Thomas, Alfred Wilson, T. M. Allen, P.
Donan, Jacob Creath, Alexander Proctor, Noah M. Miller, Thomas P.
Haley, Henry H. Haley, William M. Featherston, Eugepe Lampton,
Allen Knight, W. H. Robinson, and still later, B. F. Wilson, James A.
Berry, William Anderson, Elder Hollis, John McCann. Dr. James
Shannon, Dr. W. H. Hopson, D. P. Henderson and Samuel S. Church
also held meetings in the county. Many prominent citizens were mem-
bers of the churches from the beginning — W. I. Rutherford, Capt. T. B.
Reed, Capt. John J. Allen, Rowland T. Proctor, Ben J. Haley, Abe Mc-
Kiimey, May M. Burton, Capt. Thomas P. Coates, Alexander Hall, N. B.
Coates, and Irving Guy, with many others equally worthy and equally
useful. The first meeting houses were the school houses and after these
the log meeting houses. The first of these was Antioch, midway between
110 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Paris and Huntsville. In these weekly meetings were held and preach-
ing one Sunday in the month. The following churches are reported:
Antioch, Cairo, Clark, Clifton Hill, Fairview, Higbee, Huntsville, Lib-
erty, McMuUen, Moberly (2), New Hope, New Providence, Renick,
Salem, Yates. Moberly has a large church building and a large member-
ship.
The first preachers in Macon county were 0. P. Davis, Jeremiah
Prather, Allen Wright, and William Fox. Later B. G. Barrow, P. K.
Dibble and James U. Wright were preachers in the county and still
later Elder Mayhew, E. M. Richmond, D. P. Henderson and Jacob
Creath held meetings in the county in the fifties. The first church was
organized in Bloomington, the first county seat, and here as early as
1849 a district was held, at which provision was made for sending out
ministers to hold meetings and gather into churches the scattered mem-
bers in that part of the state. After varied fortunes the Macon church
has recently built a commodious, modern church building and under the
ministry of Elder Munyan is becoming a large and influential congre-
gation. The following churches are reported: Antioch, Bethel, Bevier,
Chariton Grove, Concord, Hopewell, Macon City, LaPlata, New Har-
mony, Callao, Plainview, Union, Union Grove, Freedom, Mt. Zion, Fair-
view, Atlanta, College Mound.
J. C. Davis, O. P. Davis, George E. Bow, Elder HoUis Simpson, Eli
D. Browden, Sherman Kirk, Davis Errett, Elder Wiskizer, H. A. North-
cutt, G. H. Laughlin, Dr. Browden, Elder Willis and others labored in
Adair county and organized churches. Preachers residing in adjoining
counties have held protracted meetings and organized churches in Adair
county. The following churches reported: Kirksville, Illinois Bend,
Pierceville, Sublett.
Lancaster church in Schuyler county was organized as early as 1827
and has kept a record through all the years since, even during the years
of the Civil war. The following named preachers are reported : Isaac
Foster, William Hadley, Hosea Northcutt, James W. Wright, E. H.
Lawson, Josiah Davis. The following churches are reported: Antioch,
Bridge Creek, Coflfey, Darby, Downing, Fairview, Glenwood, Green Top,
Lancaster, Queen City, Pleasant Grove.
The oldest church in Chariton county is Chariton, near KeytesviUe,
founded by William Burton, of Howard county. It has since either ceased
to be or its remains were absorbed some years ago by the church in
KeytesviUe. Brunswick church was next in order. Joel H. Haden, of
Howard county, a warm personal friend of Dr. Edwin Price, of Bruns-
wick, father of R. B. Price, Sr., banker at Columbia, on a visit to the
doctor, preached in Brunswick and practically formed the church. After-
ward Allen Wright, then of Chariton, visited and preached at that church.
Afterward came Joel H. Haden, of Howard, and Doctor Hopson, the
state evangelist, and the church was founded. The writer was their first
pastor and continued from 1854 to 1857. Since that time, except during
a few years, including the years of the Civil war, the church has main-
tained its existence and supported pastors. In the year 1855 a debate
was held there by two of the most prominent ministers in the state, W. 6.
Caples, of the Methodist church, and Moses E. Lard, of the Christian
church.
The first church in Linn county was founded at Linneus. Its early
members consisted of such families as Col. John Ware, formerly of Boone
county, the Prewitts, Colonel Holland, Mr. Burlington, Thomas Browne,
and Editor William Penlington, Doctor Ralph and others of like prom-
inence. Churches have sprung up all over the county, at Salt Creek,
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 111
Cunningham, Rothville, Keytesville and other places. Brookfield and
other churches have prospered and maintain pastors.
JVIilan was the first church in Sullivan county and has been followed
by other churches, still existing. There are many churches in the county
that maintain pastors and the churches are increasing.
This sketch of the Christian churches in Northeast Missouri will pre-
sent to the reader some idea of the great work which has been done by
the churches in that part of the state.
The Episcopal Church
By H. C. Scheetz, Palmyra
The Protestant Episcopal Church of America was introduced in North-
east Missouri in the latter part of 1838 by Bishop Jackson Kemper, who
was the 'first missionary bishop west of the Mississippi river. He was
ordained by Bishop William White, the first presiding bishop of the
American church.
This strong young bishop had for his field Missouri, part of Illinois,
Iowa and Wisconsin. He also visited Mississippi and Louisiana several
times and in 1840 steps were taken to organize Missouri into a diocese.
Much was to be done and laborers few. The first state convention was
held at Christ church, St. Louis, in November, 1840, being five years after
the Bishop 's arrival in Missouri. Seven clergymen were present — Hedges,
Mead, Minard, Paine, Peake, Smith and S. Crane. This was the mother
parish of the state and was set apart to be the bishop's church when
he first arrived in St. Louis in 1835 (and it is yet the bishop's church,
being now called Christ Church Cathedral). For the following five
years the bishop was seldom in St. Louis, for his large field of labor kept
him away. At this first convention in 1840 St. Louis was represented by
delegates from Christ church and from St. Paul's church of St. Louis;
also delegates from Jefferson City, Boonville, St. Charles, Hannibal and
Palmyra, which were called the Twin Parishes, and were under the Rev.
Thomas E. Paine, who had been appointed to attend to the services in
these two places, the Rev. M. Hedges having been called to another church.
At Palmyra a small frame church was built, which had eight members.
Hannibal had ten members. The delegates from Hannibal and Palmyra
were Dr. H. Peake, J. B. Lambert, P. L. Ayres and P. W. Southack.
In 1843 the fourth convention met in Grace church, Jefferson City,
September 25, but immediately adjourned to meet at Christ church, St.
Louis, on September 27, at which place a full delegation was present.
Bishop Kemper advised the election of a Bishop for Missouri. He also
submitted a petition to the next general convention, praying the board to
appoint a ** Chief Shepherd" for Missouri; whereupon at the general
convention in 1844 he nominated the Rev. C. S. Hawks, who was rector
of Christ church, St. Louis, to be Bishop of Missouri ; which was done in
November, 1844. In May, 1845, Bishop Hawks took charge as the first
Bishop of Missouri and on June 20 of that year Hannibal organized as
Trinity church. This was the first organized Episcopal church in North-
east Missouri. The first vestry elected for Trinity church at Hannibal
were H. Peake, T. J. Ayers, C. D. Bourne, R. Lamar, Judge Samuel Har-
rison, M. McDonald and John McDowell. In the summer of 1845 Bishop
Kemper made his last visit to Hannibal and Palmyra, at which time he
baptized and confirmed many persons.
On May 13, 1846, the seventh convention met in Christ church, St.
Louis, and this was the first convention to meet in the month of May.
The Rev. Mr. Hedges preached the sermon and Bishop Hawks made an
112 HISTOBY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
instructive address, in which he said he visited Hannibal and Palmyra
in April, preached two days at each of these places and advised them to
build churches and parsonages. These two towns received $300 from the
missionary board that year. Hannibal, having filed articles as Trinity
parish, was admitted May 16, 1846, with the Rev. George Sill in charge.
Mr. Sill reported that about one hundred attended preaching, but there
were only twenty church members. He reported that he preached in
Palmyra in the morning and in Hannibal in the evening ; that it was his
second year in charge and that he had baptized only six in Palmyra and
had ten communicants. Those baptized were Maria May Scheetz and a
servant, William and Sarah McClintic, John and Eugene Swift, Ellen
Cook and Theodore Valiant, all children. The communicants were:
Charles Swift and wile, Dr. McClintic and wife, H. Cook and wife, F. B.
Scheetz and wife, John Valiant and wife.
In May, 1847, the eighth convention met at Grace church, Jefferson
City. Mr. Sill, in charge of Hannibal anl Palmyra, Doctor McDowell, of
Hannibal, and Doctor Peake were elected delegates to the next general
convention in 1848.
In 1848 the ninth convention met in Christ church, Boonville. The
Rev. Mr. Sill received a call to Christ church, Holly Springs, Mississippi,
and arrangements were begun to plant Kemper College about half a mile
from the town of Palmyra on a fifty acre tract of land. Bishop Hawks
met the committee and the Rev. W. B. Corbyn, D. D., who had accepted
a call as rector in St. Paul's church, Palmyra, was now appointed by the
Bishop and the standing committee to take charge of both church and
school at Palmyra. The Rev. Mr. Corbyn was a highly educated man and
of a very determined character. He soon had a large school of boys from
many parts of Missouri,
No convention was held in 1849, the year of pestilence. In Hanni-
bal and St. Louis and all other river towns the scourge was dreadful,
some churches losing nearly all their members.
In May, 1851, the eleventh convention met in Lexington. The Rev.
George P. Comings, missionary of Hannibal, reports the following inter-
esting official act: The Rev. Dr. W. B. Corbyn, of Palmyra, had shown
much interest in holding services at Hannibal and had married, during
the month previous, a Hannibal lady, Miss McDonald, one of his par-
ishioners, the Rev. C. P. Comings officiating.
The twelfth convention was held in May, 1852, at St. Mary's church,
Fayette.
In 1853 the thirteenth convention met in May at Christ church, St.
Louis. The Bishop in his address tells of there being an increase in con-
firmations in the church at Hannibal, that church having secured the
services of the Rev. J. Adderly, of Illinois, at $250 a year. But $100 more
was to be added by the Bishop from the missionary fund.
The fourteenth convention was held in St. John's church, St. Louis,
in May, 1854. The Rev. Mr. Adderly resigned at Hannibal, having been
called to Grace church, Jefferson City. The delegates to this convention
from Hannibal were Doctor McDowell and Mr. Calhoun.
In 1855 the fifteenth convention met in Christ church, Boonville,
in May. The Rev. Charles Purviance, a young minister, was elected for
Hannibal, but within a month or so resigned. The delegates from Hanni-
bal were F. A. Calhoun, Col. Dick Drain and F. W. Southack. Bishop
Hawks told of his visits to Palmyra and Hannibal and stated that there
were now about nine hundred cpmmunicants in the state, about one-fourth
of whom were negroes; that many families had brought their servants
with them to Missouri from Virginia, ]Maryland and Kentucky, and all
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 113
were baptized when children; and that he was pleased to see that the
colored servants were coming into the churches.
On May 25, 1857, the seventeenth convention was held in St. Paul's
College at Palmyra. Doctor Corbyn resigned as rector of St. Paul's at
Palmyra, and the Rev. S. Y. McMasters was elected to take his place.
The Bishop visited Mr. Scheetz' little church, St. Jude's, on the prairie
near where Monroe City now is, and confirmed ten and ordained P. B.
Scheetz as deacon and missioner.
The eighteenth convention met in May, 1858, at Grace church, Jef-
ferson City. The Bishop reported the laying of the corner stone of
Trinity church, Hannibal, the rector, the Rev. Mr. Dunn, assisting, the
new church to cost $6,000.
In May, 1861, Trinity church, Hannibal, entertained the twenty-first
convention. The Bishop's address had this theme: **Let each one of us
pray night and day that the agony of brotherly strife may be ended, that
men may beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into prun-
ing hooks, and not learn war any more." The Rev. Dr. Corbyn was
appointed by the Bishop and the standing committee to take charge of
St. Paul's church and St. Paul's College again, which he accepted and
held for ten years, or until 1871.
The twenty-third convention was held in Grace church, Kirkwood, in
May, 1863. The Bishop's address tells of the horrors of the Civil war
and states that he is opposed to this convention or the general convention
passing any resolutions of censure upon our Southern brethren.
The twenty-fourth convention met in May, 1864, in Christ church, St.
Louis. Many of the churches were closed, this being the hardest year of
the Civil war. The not unexpected disaster was noted, the sale of St.
Paul's college and church property for debt. But the school property
was bought by friends for the Rev. W. B. Corbyn to continue his school.
The Rev. George Scheetz bought the church property and ten acres of
land and deeded it all to the Bishop for the church. The Rev. George
Scheetz was the father of Rev. P. B. Scheetz. He was rector of old St.
Mark church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1825 to 1855, and had
removed to Palmyra, Missouri, in 1860, with his two married daughters,
Mrs. Mendenhall and Mrs. G. C. Jones, who bought property and who
felt a great interest in the church there. In 1867 they all removed to
Monroe City, when St. Jude's church had been moved to that town from
the Scheetz farm near by. P. B. Scheetz was ordained a deacon by Bishop
Hawks in 1857 and was later ordained as priest by Bishop Vail. He
built up a good membership for St. Jude's church at Monroe City, where
a stone church was erected. The remains of all these families now rest
in one large plot of St. Jude's cemetery in Monroe City, Missouri.
The twenty-eighth convention met in May, 1868, at Kirkwood. Bishop
Hawks died this year. The Rev. Mr. Dunn, who so long had served at
Hannibal, had resigned only a short time previously. He had served
faithfully at Hannibal for the past eleven years. He left one monument
that will last forever — ^a splendid stone church, without one cent of debt,
mostly subscribed by his good friends in the east.
The thirty-second convention was held in May, 1872, in St. George's
church, St. Louis, Bishop C. P. Robertson presiding. The delegates from
Hannibal were Major Hunt and H. E. Towns, J. ^. Hamilton, principal
of the school, was made deacon. At this meeting the state of Missouri
was divided into six districts, the northeast district to be known as the
Hannibal district, and each district was to have a dean. The Rev.
P. B. Scheetz, of St. Jude's church, Monroe City, was appointed dean by
the Bishop and member of the standing committee.
The thirty-fourth convention was held in May, 1874, in Christ church,
Vol. !--»»
114 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
St. Louis. At the end of this year the Rev. J. G. Armstrong, who had
built up the work so much in Hannibal during the past four years,
resigned. He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Ringgold, of Tennessee.
The Rev. F. B. Scheetz, of Monroe City, was appointed temporarily to
take charge of St. Paul 's church and school at Palmyra, as Doctor Wain-
wright had resigned at Palmyra and had taken charge of a school for
girls, called Wolfe Hall, in Denver, Colorado. With the assistance of
his daughter, Miss Katherine, he conducted the school for three years,
or until 1877, when Doctor Wainright was recalled to the presidency of
St. Paul's College and as rector of St. Paul's church, which positions he
held for twenty years thereafter, or until 1898, when he died.
The thirty-fifth convention was held in May, 1875, in Trinity church,
St. Louis. Reports from Mexico and Moberly, new parishes organized,
and from Louisiana and Clarkesville missions, were heard. The Rev.
F. B. Scheetz, who had charge of the school and church at Palmyra,
resigned, because his own parish at Monroe City and several missions at
Shelbina, Macon, Kirksville and Canton, which he visited one Sunday
in each month, were being neglected. The Rev. J. A. Wainwright was
then re-elected president of the school.
The thirty-eighth convention met in May, 1878. St. Paul's chapel, the
old college ground at Palmyra being so far from town, it was deemed
advisable to build a new church on the corner of Olive and Lane streets,
a lot having been secured for $300, paid for by the ladies' aid society,
Palmyra, and deeded to the Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri and his suc-
cessors in oflSce forever, dated May 11, 1877. The new vestry was com-
posed of Hon. Edward McCabe, Dr. G. T. Giles, John Best and J. C. Doo-
little. Colonel McCabe still lives in his old mansion on Main street,
where he and his wife first settled about 1852. They raised a family of
seven, now all members of the church and living in many different states.
Mrs. McCabe died July 20, 1912, at the age of eighty-seven years.
The thirty-ninth convention met in Christ church, St. Louis, in May,
1879. Trinity church at Hannibal reported the election of the Rev.
Abiel Leonard as rector.
From 1840 to 1880, a period of forty years, the total number of con-
firmations in the state was eight thousand, six hundred and fifty. It was
in November, 1880, that the Rev. George K. Dunlop, of Kirkwood, was
consecrated Bishop, being the first consecration of an Episcopal Bishop
west of the Mississippi river.
The forty-second convention met in the Church of Holy Communion,
St. Louis, in May, 1882. The Rer. F. B. Scheetz accepted a call to Kirk-
wood, as rector, leaving his old church at Monroe City, which he organ-
ized as a mission station on his farm in 1855, and which was moved
to Monroe City, Missouri, and rebuilt of stone in 1866.
The forty-fifth convention met in May, 1885, in Christ church, St.
Louis. The Bishop reported several new churches in the diocese, also
St. James Academy and St. Agnes Hall for Girls at Macon City now
open. This was the last convention over which Bishop Robertson pre-
sided. He died within the year, having had scarcely a day's illness in the
fifteen years he had been with us. The committee reported that in the
state are fifty-six churches, four schools, one hospital, one orphans' home
and eleven parsonages and the estimated value of church propertv in
the state is $1,000,000.
The forty-seventh convention met May 24, 1886, in St. Louis. Daniel
S. Tuttle, missionary bishop of Utah and Wyoming, was elected Bishop.
The forty-eighth convention met in St. John's church, St. Louis, in
May, 1887, and was presided over by Bishop Tuttle. The Rev. John
Davis, D. D., was duly elected rector of Trinity church, Hannibal, the
HISTORY OF NOETHEAST MISSOURI ] 15
past year and was editing a parish monthly for his church people. The
paper was called The Trinity Bell. The Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, of
St. James church, Macon, was duly elected Bishop of Wyoming and
Idaho. In this year the Rev. W. A. Hatch accepted a call to take charge
of St. Jude's church, Monroe City, and for sixteen years served this par-
ish well. In 1902 he was called to Holy Innocents, St. Louis, where he
still has charge.
The fifty-second convention met in Christ church cathredral, St.
Louis, in May, 1892. The Bishop reported the death of the Rev. C. S.
Hedges at New Orleans at the age of eighty-four years. He was the first
rector of Palmyra and Hannibal churches, in 1840, and a member of the
first convention ever held in Missouri. St. James Academy at Macon
was discontinued as a church school, expenses being greater than the
resources. Good work had been accomplished by this school for the
church in Northeast Missouri. Colonel Blees, with the board of trustees
at Macon, however, arranged to continue the school.
The fifty-sixth convention met in Christ church cathredral, May 20,
1896. The Bishop reported every parish and mission station in Northeast
Missouri supplied with ministers, except Kirksville. The four missions,
at Macon, Monroe, Mexico and Moberly, showed the best reports ever
known.
The fifty-seventh convention was held in Christ church, St. Louis, in
May, 1897, Bishop Tuttle presiding. The Rev. W. W. Mizner, of St.
Louis, who had spent several years as a deacon at Palmyra and had done
much to revive interest and to secure membership for the church, was jiow
ordered by the Bishop to be priest and to take charge of St. Stephen's
mission, St. Louis. The Rev. S. H. Green was elected rector of Grace
church, Kirkwood, and the Rev. F. B. Scheetz, who had been rector for
the previous fifteen years, was chosen rector emeritus for Kirkwood.
He had in the early days of the church done much missionary work in
different parts of Northeast Missouri.
The fifty-eighth convention met in Christ church cathredral, St. Louis,
in May, 1898. The Bishop said: *'In 1886 you elected me your Bishop
and only ten clergymen remain in this state out of the thirty-seven that
were here then and only one remains who attended the convention of
1886 and that is the Rev. F. B. Scheetz, of Kirkwood.''
The seventy-third convention was held in St. Peter's church, St.
Louis, in May, 1912. The Bishop Coadjutor, F. F. Johnson, D. D.,
elected during the past year, administered the holy communion and
Bishop Tuttle read his annual address.
Methodism and Methodists
*By the Rev. Marcus L. Gray, D. D., Chillicothe^
Bishop E. R. Hendrix in **A Hundred Years of Methodism in Mis-
souri, ' ' writes :
Just a century ago Nashville, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri,
were in the same district and William McKendree was presiding elder.
It was the Cumberland district in the Western conference. The Western
* This department of matter contributed includes * * A Hundred Years of Metho-
dism in Missouri," by Bishop £. B. Hendrix, and sketches of some Methodist people
closely identified with Northeast Missouri. The writer has drawn largely from **The
Centennial Tolume of Missouri Methodism," the copyright to which he holds, and
permission for the use of the same is hereby given for this History of Northeast
Missouri. Much more could be added, but I have exceeded the space allotted already,
in all probability. — Contributing Editor.
116 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
conference embraced what are now the states of Mississippi, Tennessee,
Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, to say nothing of
Arkansas and Missouri, which were taken in that year. There were in it
five districts, some embracing more than one state. Strong men belonged
to the Western conference, which never had a western boundary except
the Day of Judgment. The General conference w^as content with
simply naming the eastern, southern and northern boundaries, so as
not to interfere with other conference lines, and gave the Western con-
ference all west to the setting sun and everything beyond it, if the
^itinerant wanted to go there. The Western conference was a name
never absent from the annals of Methodism for a long period at a time
and even when it disappeared at the last session of our General confer-
ence the name still survived by request in the ** Western district."
Among the honored names on the roll in 1806, when John Travis was
appointed to the Missouri circuit, were those of William McKendree,
James Axley, Jesse Walker, Peter Cartwright and Learner Blackman.
After a year's work in the territory of Missouri, so recently acquired
as part of the famous Louisiana purchase, John Travis reported in the
fall of 1807 at the Western conference, which met at Chillicothe, Ohio,
that he had organized two cirpuits, one north of the Missouri river, which
he called the Missouri circuit, and one south, that he called the Meramec
circuit, and that, together, they numbered one hundred and six mem-
bers. Travis ever had a warm place in his heart for this, his first work,
for he had just been admitted on trial when appointed to it. He returned
from his remote appointment in the Mississippi district the next year
to attend a camp meeting near St. Louis, in company with William
McKendree and Jesse Walker, who walked forty-five miles to reach
here. That was a notable company of preachers at the first camp meet-
ing held in Missouri, and where they witnessed forty conversions. Mc-
Kendree had been an officer in the Revolutionary war and was present
at the surrender of Cornwallis, and as the first native-born American
bishop, was to become its Chief Justice Marshall as well, the expounder
of its constitution. Jesse Walker, who succeeded Travis as preacher
in charge of the Missouri circuit, was the Daniel Boone of Methodism,
of \yhom it was said, *'He was never lost and never complained,*' de-
lighting to go where no white man had gone before him, a hero who, in
the midst of the dense Romanist conditions of the Spanish and French
population, was to pray St. Louis Methodism into existence nearly four-,
teen years after Travis began his work in the country. It was the
privilege of Jesse Walker also to plant Methodism in Chicago. John
Travis was a fearless man of vigorous mind who, after nine years of
itinerant service, married and located, practicing medicine in Kentucky
until some fourteen years before his death, when he became totally
blind, still doing service as a local preacher and thrilling all in public
and private with the story of his itinerant life.
Not until 1814 was the ** Missouri district" formed, with 804 mem-
bers, and two years later the General conference in Baltimore created
the ** Missouri conference," bounded on the north by the Ohio confer-
ence, on the east by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, on the south by the
Arkansas river, and on the west by nothing. In 1819 the first substan-
tial and finished Methodist church ever erected in Miasouri was built
in Cape Girardeau county, two miles from Jackson ; and here was held
the first session of the Missouri conference that was ever held within
the present limits of the state. Bishop George presiding.
When Missouri was admitted as a state in 1821, it had a population
of 66,518, of whom 10,222 were slaves. The Methodists numbered 1.543.
It was not until 1836 that the Missouri conference was confined to the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 117
limits of the state. The first General conference of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, divided the state into two conferences, so that the
name '* Missouri conference'* was given to all that part of the state
north of the Missouri river, as today. In the Methodist family there
are now nearly 200,000 Missouri Methodists.
One of the principal agents in the planting of Methodism in Mis-
souri, William McKendree, in whose district the whole territory of
Missouri was placed at the session of the Western conference, in 1806,
lived to preside over some four sessions of the Missouri conference, the
last as late as 1824, eight years after the death of Asbury. Bishop
Asbury, with a rare sagacity in selecting leaders, had sent McKendree
in 1801 across the mountains from his native Virginia to be presiding
elder of the Kentucky district and to have a sort of general superintend-
ence of the large Western conference. Always in the van and on the
firing line, McKendree was chosen again by Asbury, in 1806, to preside
over the new district, which was to embrace all the inhabited part of
the Louisiana purchase, it being attached to the Cumberland district,
which included much of middle Tennessee and some of Illinois. Mc-
Kendree was a man of genius, to whom the conquest of the Mississippi
vsMey for Christ is largely due, and the numerous ** McKendree ' '
churches and cliapels, reaching from Missouri to the Atlantic seaboard,
are the monuments of his labors in many states that were only territories
in his day.
But what shall we say of Francis Asbury, who, like Moses, looked,
over into the promised land, so recently accpired from France and
Spain, but himself never entered it. His heart was ever with his
** beloved McKendree** as he fondly called him. At the session of the
Western conference, where he presided in 1806, and appointed the first
preacher to the Missouri circuit, his journal records with zeal for the
frontier w^ork in these simple words: **The brethren were in want, so
I parted with my watch, my coat, and my shirt.** We naturally ask
what did he have left out of his $64 a year salary. Who can question that
his heart went with his gift? *' Silver and gold I have none,** well might
this apostle say, "but such as I have give I unto thee.** We claim
Asbury, too, as among the founders of Methodism on this side of the
Mississippi. **In diligent activity no apostle, no missionary, no war-
rior, ever surpassed him. He rivalled Melancthon and Luther in bold-
ness. He combined the enthusiasm of Xavier, with the far-reaching
foresight and keen discrimination of Wesley.*' His mantle fell upon
McKendree, who survived him nearly tw^enty years, but their names are
inseparable, as was their work. '*My fathers, my fathers, the chariots of
Israel and the horsesmen thereof!**
Honored names are they of minister and laymen who, during the
past hundred years, have been connected with Methodism in Missouri.
Some have become bishops of the church and educators and editors,
and some have been governors and United States senators and members
of congress. Others without public office have been the foremost citizens
of their counties, always interested in every good word and work. Large
gifts have come to our Methodism from those not of our communion
in the belief that we would wisely administer them. The largest is a
bequest by the late Robert A. Barnes of St. Louis, who married Miss
Louise De Mun, a daughter of a leading Roman Catholic family, who was
in hearty sympathy with him in his purpose to found a great hospital
under Methodist auspices. For this there has already been purchased
the finest site in St. Louis, having. a frontage of some 1,200 feet on
For^t Park, and it is, the intention of the trustees to retain not less
118 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
than $1,000,000 of the bequest sa an endowment after completing and
equipping the best hospital of its kind in the land.
SIethodist Leaders
The sketches of twenty-five Methodists, ministers and laymen, repre-
seuting the church in Northeast Missouri had been selected for publi-
cation in this chapter. The limitations of space compel the omission
of sketches of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Henry Pritchett, Prof. Richard
Thompson Bond, David Kyle Pitman, the Rev. Moses Upshard Payne,
Thomas Shaekleford, the Rev, Dr. William F. McMurry, Prof. T. Berry
Smith, the Rev. William B, Wheeler, the Rev. Jesae Andrew Wailes, the
Rev. Solomon Harman Milam, William Omar Gray, Arthur Ferdinand
Davis, the Rev. Charles Bemand Duncan, the Rev. Howard Lorenzo
Davis, the Rev. Wesley W. McMurry. Judge Lloyd H. Herrfng, the
Rev. Dr. J. P. Nolan, the Rev. Dr. 0. E. Brown, Thomas E. Thompson,
William McMurray, John J. Hewitt and Prince Dimmitt. Sketches are
appended, however, of the two great bishops of the Methodist church,
Enoch M. Marvin and Eugene R. Hendrix, whom Northeast Missouri
has given to the world.
Bishop Enoch M.\ther Marvin
Enoeb Mather Marvin was born in Warren county, Missouri, June
12, 1823. Catherine Mather was the mother of his grandfather, Enoch
Marvin. Both families were of English descent, Reinold Marvin, who
came to America about 1637 from Essex county, was baptized in St.
Mary's church, Great Bently Parish, England, June 7, 1593. This old
church was built in 1089 by Alberic de Vere, a favorite of William the
Conqueror, and founder of the family long enjoying the title of Earl
of Oxford. At first a private chapel, it came at last by suceessive as-
signments under the patronage of the Bishops of St. Albans. Here
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 119
many of our ancestors worshiped and their bones rest about its conse-
crated walls.
Amid the rude surroundings of a Missouri farm near a century ago
Enoch Mather Marvin was reared. His parents were lovers of learning
and he early evinced a longing for books. Awake to nature, too, every
voice of earth or sky struck a responsive chord in his sensitive soul. In
person tall and angular, long of neck and limb, leaning forward as he
walked; large feet, slender white hands, pale face, rather high cheek
bones, eye between hazel and gray, slightly drooping eyelids, black hair,
high forehead, voice full and deep, yet mellow-
His mental grasp was quick, strong, comprehensive; the organizing
and executive faculties were not wanting. Both the analytic and syn-
thetic seemed to be the natural mode of his mind's working and his
contemplative disposition carried him into the highest regions of human
thought.
At times his preaching became rapturous and was laden with a
strange, magnetic influence that cannot be described and a pathos whose
power was irresistible; yet all the while one felt that his thoughts had
been guided by a sober judgment and his emotions had not borne him
beyond the limits of self-control. His imaginative powers he kept under
strict surveillance and in his most enthusiastic moods was economical
with language. Betrayed into no wild flights of fluent fancy, he packed
his thoughts into the fewest words and every sentence became a glowing
picture.
In the social circle his rich humor often gave forth ''flashes of merri-
ment that were wont to set the table on a roar.*' Too sincere to be
adroit, he yet, in his dealing with men, avoided many difficulties by a
tact that was bom of love.
For family and friends he would have given his life; to an enemy
generous, yet prompt to condemn what he thought unjust and, while
sensitive to a wrong, he was above retaliation.
Unselfishly and humbly, yet faithfully and fearlessly he sought to
do his life work. His love for God and men was the heart-throb of his
being and the flame of his zeal consumed his life. Stricken with pneu-
monia at his home in St. Louis, he sank gently into his last sleep about
4 o'clock on Monday morning, November 26, 1877.
Perhaps the greatest work of his useful life was what he did for
Central College, Fayette, Missouri.
Bishop Eugene Russell Hendrix
Bishop Eugene Russell Hendrix was born in Fayette, Missouri, May
17, 1847. He was born and reared in a Methodist home, both parents,
Adam Hendrix and Isabel J. Hendrix, being members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South. He was converted during a great revival
held in Fayette, Missouri, March 14, 1859, and joined the church the
same date under the ministry of the Rev. S. W. Cope. He was the first
penitent in the great revival held at Fayette that spring; he had been
under conviction since the previous spring, but supposed he was too
young to ask for the prayers of the church; his mother knelt by him
as he gave his heart to God. His religious life was deeply quickened
when he felt called to preach the Gospel and his life as a student for
forty-five years has led him ever nearer to God. He was licensed to
preach in Middletown, Connecticut, when a student at the Wesleyan
University from 1864 to 1867 the Rev. J. J. Pegg being the preacher in
charge. He was recommended for admission on trial by the Quarterly
conference at Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was serving as a supply
120 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
in the summer of 1869, and was received into the Missouri conference
in 1869, the Rev. W. M. Rush, D. D., presiding elder, and Bishop Geo.
F. Pierce, presiding. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Pierce in his
room at Chillicothe, Missouri, in 1869, the Bishop being unable to preach
or attend the public services on that day ; was ordained elder by Bishop
H. N. McTyeire in September, 1870, at Leavenworth, Kansajs. The
appointments filled are: Leavenworth, Kansas, 1869-1870; Macon, Mis-
souri, 1870-1872 ; Francis street, St. Joseph, Missouri, 1872-1876, Mis-
sionary tour around the world, 1876-1877 ; Glasgow, Missouri, 1877-1878.
President of Central College from 1878 to 1886. Elected and ordained
Bishop in 1886. Several hundred persons were received into the church
under his ministry while pastor from 1869 to 1878 and he has ordained
more than one thousand deacons and elders. He attended Central Col-
lege until it was suspended during the Civil war, then the Wesleyan
University at Middletown, Connecticut, where he was graduated in 1867 ;
he attended also the Union Theological Seminary, New York, gradiiat-
ing from there in 1869. He was married to Miss Anne E. Scarritt, June
20, 1872, and his children are: Mrs, Evangeline I. Waring, Mrs. Mary
M. Simpson, Nathan Scarritt Hendrix and Helen C. Hendrix. He
considers the founding of the Korean Mission as being possibly the most
important event in his life.
Presbyterians and Presbyterianism
By the Rev. John F, Cowan, D. D,, Fulton
The first preaching of the gospel of Christ by Presbyterians in Mis-
souri was in the year 1814, in the town of St. Louis, nearly a century
ago. The Rev. S. J. Mills and the Rev. Daniel Smith, Bible agents
from the East, visited the little city, sold Bibles and preached as they
had opportunity.
The first organized body of Presbyterians in Missouri was the Church
of Bellevue in Washington county. This church was organized by the
Rev. Salmon Giddings on the 3d of August, 1816. There were thirty
members.
The second church organized was also by Mr. Giddings. The organ-
ization took place on October 6, 1816. It had sixteen members. This
was in St. Louis county and it was given the name of Bonhomme.
The third church organized in Missouri was in the city of St. Louis
on November 15, 1817. It had nine members and the organizer was the
Rev. Salmon Giddings.
The fourth church, also organized by Mr. Giddings, bore the name of
Union Church of Richwoods. It was organized in Washington county
on April 17, 1818, and was composed of seven members.
The fifth church was called the First Church of St. Charles and was
organized on August 29, 1818, by the Rev. Salmon Giddings and the
Rev. John Matthews. The organization of this church marks the date
and act of Presbyterianism entering Northeast Missouri.
The beginning of Presbyterian church courts in Missouri was on
this wise. The Presbytery of West Tennessee petitioned the Synod
of Tennesse, meeting in Nashville October 4, 1817, that a new presby-
tery to be called the Presbytery of Missouri be erected and that it hold
its first meeting in St. Louis the third Thursday of November follow-
ing; that the Revs. Thomas Donnell, John Matthews, Salmon Giddings
and Timothy Flint be its initial members; and that the dividing line
between the Presl)ytery of West Tennessee and the Presbytery of Mis-
souri be tlie ^Mississippi river. When this set time came Donnell and
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 121
Oiddings were present, with Ruling Elder John Cunningham from
Bonhomme Church, but Matthews and Flint, remote and busy at their
work, had not even so much as heard that there was to be a Presbytery
of Missouri. So the time was postponed to the third Thursday of
December and word was sent to these absent brethren. Mr. Donnell
had ridden eighty miles to attend the meeting and was, no doubt, greatly
disappointed, but four weeks later he was back again. He and my
father were neighbors, only seventy-five miles apart, and helped each
other on communion occasions and protracted meetings, unterrified by
rain or mud and swam boldly the swollen, bridgeless streams that op-
posed their progress. Brother Matthews was present, with Mr. Giddings
and Elder Stephen Hempstead of St. Louis church, and then and there
the Presbytery of Missouri was constituted and organized Presbyterian-
ism inade its entrance < into Missouri.
The presbytery as thus constituted embraced territorially not only
the whole of Missouri but also the western half of the state of Illinois.
The presbytery, as appears from the records, was a constituent part of
the Synod of Indiana and later of the Synod of Illinois. As a matter of
fact, the Presbytery of Missouri grew for a time eastward and not
westward. Its meetings not unfrequently were held in Illinois and at
least twelve churches in Illinois were on its roll, having been organized
by its ministers. In 1828 the Synod of Illinois was erected by the
General Assembly, the Presbytery of Missouri being a constituent part
of it.
In 1831 the Presbyter}' of Missouri was erected into a synod and
divided into three presbyteries — the Presbytery of St. Louis, embrac-
ing all the state south of the Missouri river; the Presbytery of St.
Charles, embracing all the state north of said river to the Iowa line and
all east of the eastern boundary of Callaway county and a line running
from it north to the Iowa line ; and the Presbytery of Missouri, embrac-
ing all west of the eastern line of Callaway county and north of the
Missouri river.
By agreement at the first meeting of the little presbytery, November,
1817, it was agreed that the Rev. Mr. Giddings should spend half his
time at Bonhomme, Florissant and Bellfontaine during the winter and
the other half in St. Louis. The Rev. Thomas Donnell agreed to spend
his time in Bellevue and Mine a Burton. The Rev. John Matthews was
to spend half his time at Buffalo in Pike, where his home was, and the
other half in the neighboring settlements.
A church was organized in Pike county in 1818. As it is not on any
list kept in the records of this little presbytery, it is evidence that it was
organized by the Cumberlands. It was still in their keeping until their
union, in 1907, with the Presbyterian church, U. S. A. Its name is
Antioch.
In April, 1819, while the little presbytery was meeting at the house
of the Rev. ]\Ir. Matthews in Pike county, they were joined by the Rev.
David Tennv and the Rev. Charles S. Robinson, missionaries sent out
from Philadelphia. Things that are cheering and those that are dis-
couraging are close together in this life. At this presbytery the Rev.
Mr. Flint asked for his letter of dismission to Illinois and it was given.
The Rev. C. S. Robinson was asked to take charge of the church at
St. Charles and the surrounding country. He soon organized the Dar-
denne church, which has been a shining light ever since, save in a very
few dark days, as shown by the records. The writer would like to blot
out the records of all church trials. The next move of the little presby-
tery was down into Washington county to Richwoods church and to
122 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
worry through a disagreeable trial in which a woman was accused and
acquitted.
It will be noticed that for several years no other churches were
organized in north Missouri, but the records show that these men were
at work over in Illinois. The church of Auburn in Pike county was
organized in 1822. The Rev. Jesse Townsend, from the Presbytery
of Geneva in New York, joined the presbytery in 1824. John A.
Ball was, at his request, taken under the care of the presbytery as
a licentiate. This man was a Virginian, an educated lawyer. He had
commanded a Virginia regiment in the War of 1812 and was always
called Colonel. In 1815 he had settled in the Bonhomme neighborhood
and was at one time a representative in the state legislature. Mr. Ball
was licensed and ordained as an evangelist. He organized the church
at Salem on Big river and also took part in the organization of the
church at Troy in Lincoln county. He was stated supply in several
churches and was a good and useful man. He died near Buffalo in
Pike county, April 12, 1849. At the same meeting of the presbytery in
which Mr. Ball was made licentiate, William S. Lacy, a licentiate from
Virginia, was received and ordained. He took charge of the Dardenne
church and was a useful man. He was the father of the Rev. Beverly
Tucker Lacy, D. D., who came to St. Louis to become pastor of one of its
churches and afterward was for several years synodical evangelist and
still later was pastor of the Mexico church and later of California church.
In 1828 the church of Ashley, in Pike county, was organized. Cyrus
L. Watson offered himself as a candidate for the gospel ministry. His
first examination was in English grammar, arithmetic and Latin. The
subjects assigned him for study were: Thesis, on the Being of God,
geography, rhetoric, church history, natural philosophy and evidences
of Christianity. He was later dismissed to Illinois. The criticism made
on the presbytery's book at synod was that it contained **bad orthog-
raphy'' and then the critic wrote the word **corry8pondingly" (cor-
respondingly).
In 1828 the Rev. Salmon Oiddings died and later in the year the
Rev. Charles S. Robinson died. The presbytery ordered crepe to be
worn on the arm for one month. With Oiddings and Robinson dead,
with HolUster and Flint and Birch over in Illinois, with Ball and Don-
nell and Tenny in south Missouri, matters began to look discouraging. But
just then new and splendid workers began to come in. W. P. Cochran,
a licentiate of the Presbytery of Huntington, was received and ordained
as an evangelist. He was a man of great energy, who did a vast amount
of evangelistic work, organized many churches and lived long after his
early fellow-workers had passed away. The Rev. Thomas P. Durfee
also was a man who was not afraid to work. In this year came also
licentiate William S. Potts, who was installed as pastor in St. Louis and
later was made president of Marion College.
In Northeast Missouri the churches belonging to the Synod of Mis-
souri, U. S., number fifty-two. In this same part of the state the churches
belonging to the Synod of Missouri, U. S. A., number 118, that church
having gathered into its fold the churches of the former New School
and the churches of the former Cumberland body. These churches shall
be given with no distinction, except as to the date of organization, and
the name of the county in which they are situated.
In 1829 the working force of ministers was increased by the arrival
of the Rev. R. L. McAfee from Kentucky, of the Rev. David Nelson from
Tennessee, of the Rev. Benjamin F. Hoxie from New England, of the
Rev. Alfred Wright, the Rev. Cyrus Nichols and the Rev. George Wood
from the East.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 123
June 1, 1828, the Rev. Thomas P. Durfee organized Auxvaase church
in Callaway county. He was its pastor for three years.
In June, 1828, the Rev. W. P. Cochran organized Fayette church in
Howard county. Because there was no one to look after it, it soon died.
In Fehruary, 1843, the Rev. W. W. Robertson and the Rev. R. L. McAfee
visited the town, preached and reorganized the church. The church
■was put under the care of the Rev. David Coulter, who gave it half of
The Rev. W, P. Cochran, Pioneer Presbyterian
his time and the other half he gave to Rocheport. There was no growth,
but 8 loss of members, and the Rev. Mr. Coulter was compelled to go
elsewhere for support. The church was then put under the care of the
Rev. C. D. Simpson, who preached to it once a month for a while. Again
the church died. Four times after this the presbytery appointed a com-
mittee to reorganize the church, if the way was clear. It was always
reported that the way was not clear and so it remains to this day.
124 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Between the years 1830 and 1840 quite a number of able and distin-
guished ministers entered Northeast Missouri. In Callaway and Boone
counties were R. L. McAfee, Thomas Durfee, Benjamin F. Hoxie, J. L.
Yantis, F. R. Gray, Luther H. Van Doren, R. G. Barrett, Joseph Ander-
son, Hiram Chamberlain, Job F. Halsey, Allen G. Gallaher, Thomas
Lafen, Charles W. McPheeters, James Gallaher, Ezra S. Ely, Harvey H.
Hays, John H. Agnew, Charles W. Nassau, F. B. McElroy and J. M. C.
Inskeep. The Rev. J. J. Marks was supplying Hannibal church and a
number of the professors in Marion College were applying nearby
churches.
Presbyterians have ever boasted of their zeal for education. So the
handful of men in the sparsely populated country felt they must have
a college or university. They procured a charter for Marion College
from the Missouri legislature of 1831-1832. A five thousand acre tract
of land in Marion county, not far from Palmyra, was secured through
the zeal and generosity of Colonel Muldrow, temporary buildings were
erected and agents sent for students and money. The Rev. Hiram
Chamberlain was one of the agents. The college faculty was as follows :
The Rev. William S. Potts, president ; the Rev. Job F. Halsey, professor
of mental and moral philosophy ; the Rev. Sam C. McConnell, M. D.,
professor of natural philosophy and mathematics; John Roche, profes-
sor of Latin and Greek ; Samuel Barschell, professor of German, French
and Hebrew ; Allen Gallaher, principal of the preparatory school. The
theological faculty was as follows: The Rev. Job F. Halsey, professor
of pastoral theology; the Rev. James Gallaher, professor of didactic
theology and sacred eloquence; the Rev. Ezra Styles Ely, D. D., pro-
fessor of polemic theology and biblical literature and sacred criticism;
the Rev. Charles W. Nassau, assistant professor of Oriental languages.
As Dr. James A. Quarles has written: **This enterprise had con-
nected with it some of the grandest men who ever trod the soil of Mis-
souri and labored for the salvation of souls — Nelson, Potts, Ely and
Gallaher. '\
The tottering foundation on which this magnificent superstructure
was reared soon gave way and let it fall into utter ruin, but not until
some men had been educated who did great good in Missouri and else-
where.
It may be doubted whether this great educational failure was due
entirely to financial causes, for just at this time there occurred a widely
felt ecclesiastical earthquake that shook the Presbyterian church apart.
This was the division caused by the New and Old School differences.
Northeast Missouri held to the Old School.
The great war of the states, w^hich began in 1861 and lasted three
years, had the effect of bringing the Old side and the New side to see
eye to eye as they read the Old Confession of Faith and they became
one again in 1869.
But the assembly of 1866 had ordered that, if any synod or presby-
tery admitted to a seat any minister or elder who had signed a paper
called Declaration and Testimony (which set forth the spirituality of
the church) before such minister or elder had appeared at the bar of the
assembly and had been tried, such synod or presbytery was dissolved —
ipso facto.
The Synod of Missouri, meeting in Boonville, October, 1866, refused
by a strong majority to carry out the order of the assembly. The ad-
herents of the assembly could not therefore carry off the records as they
had been told to do and were obliged to walk out themselves. That left
the Synod of Missouri independent, which position it held until the
year 1874, when by vote of presbyteries it decided unanimously to
HISTORY OF NORTHEA,ST MISSOURI 125
unite wilt the Southern church. Not a minister nor a church in North-
east ^lissouri, so far as known to the writer, objected to this union. The
Cumberland Presbyterian ministers were early in Northeast Missouri.
The Church of Antioeh in Pike county, organized in 1818, was the
first of these churches. Missouri is one of the states in which their work
had been abundantly rewarded. Only two other states, Tennessee and
Texas, show a more abundant ingathering of souls. In the territory of
Northeast Missouri they counted at the time of their union with the
Presbyterian, U. S. A., 102 churches and 6,469 members; while the Pres-
byterian, U. S, A., counted but thirty-three churches and 2,683 members.
The Cumberland church has not failed in the matter of Christian edu-
cation. For a good many years they maintained McGee College, but
when Misst>uri Valley College was put forward as the college of the
synod, they did not hesitate to transfer their work and their gifts to the
school in which the better education could he given and better fitted for
the greatest degree of usefulness. It would be easy -to mention many
Wbsthinsteb College, Fuuion
men in the Cumberland church who, in education, oratory, influence and
piety, are the equals of any to be found in the other churches, but we are
not here to praise the living and the work which has been done by
those who have passed on is their adequate praise and is left to be
spoken by those who knew them personally or who knew those who knew
them.
Prior to 1850 there had been a few schools organized for classical
and advanced education. One of these was in Marion county in the
neighborhood of the Big Creek church. From this school came many
fine students to enter Westminster as soon as it was chartered and
manned with a faculty. Another school was the Pulton College, started
in 1849, at the head of which was Prof. William H. Van Doren. When
synod located Westminster at Fulton, largely through the influence
and energy of the Rev. W. W. Robertson, pastor of the Fulton church,
this Fulton College, with Prof. Van Doren, was merged into it. West-
minster was chartered by the legislature of 1853 and sent out its first
graduate, the Rev. James G. Smith, a Baptist preacher. Up to the
present time, 1912, it has sent forth four hundred graduates, among
126 HISTORY OF.NORTHEAST MISSOURI
whom are many ministers, lawyers, doctors and teachers. It survived
the war of the states and when, in 1909, its main building was burned
it erected, as soon as possible, Westminster Hall, a fine science hall, a
commodious dormitory, and an elegant president's mansion. It has a
beautiful campus, which together with Priest Field, the grounds for
athletics, amount to thirty-six acres. The endowment is $222,149.77.
The list of the presidents of Westminster College is as follows: Dr.
Samuel Spahr Laws, 1855-1861 ; John Montgomery, D. D., 1864 ; Nathan
L. Rice, D.D., 1868-1874; M. M. Fisher, D. D. (Acting) 1867-1868;
1874-1877 ; C. C. Hersman, D. D., 1881-1887 ; W. H. Marquess, D. D.,
1888-1894; E. C. Gordon, D. D., 1894-1898; John H. McCracken, Ph.D.,
1899-1903; John J. Rice, LL.D. (Acting) 1898-1899, 1903-1904; David
R. Kerr, Ph. D,, D. D., 1904-1911 ; Charles B. Boving, D. D., 1911.
During the administration of Dr. McCracken the Synod of Missouri,
U. S., offered a joint interest in and control of the college of the Synod
of Missouri, U. S. A., which was accepted. Each synod elects twelve
trustees. The student body numbers this year, 1912-13, one hundred and
fifty-five.
The Synodical College for young ladies was located in Fulton by
the Synod of Missouri, meeting in Cape Girardeau October 10, 1871.
The college secured its charter and the board of trustees named by the
synod was made a corporate body in December, 1871. The Rev. W. W.
Robertson was the man by whose influence and zeal the college was
located in Fulton. He had managed a college for girls in Fulton for
ten years and his zeal for this work had never flagged. He was the
president of the board as long as he lived and his zeal has descended to
his grandson, W. Frank Russell, who has managed the local and financial
interests of the college for a number of years. Daniel M. Tucker
gave a special piece of ground, nearly four acres, as the site of the col-
lege and the citizens of Fulton and CaUaway county gave the money
for the building, which was completed in the summer of 1873. The
presidents of the college have been : T. Oscar Rogers, 1873-1874 ; the Rev.
W. W. Hill, D. D., 1874-1875; the Rev. B. H. Charles, D. D., 1878-1889:
the Rev. H. C. Evans, D.D., 1889-1894; the Rev. J. W. Primrose, D.D.,
1894-1896 ; the Rev. T. Peyton Walton, 1896-1901 ; the Rev. J. M! Spen-
cer, 1901-1906; the Rev. Colin A. McPheeters, 1906-1909; Miss Marv
Allison, 1909-1912; Prof. L. J. McQueen, 1912.
At Rensselaer, in Marion county, is a school under the care of the
Rev. J. E. Travis, which gives to boys and girls the educational work
which fits them for entering college. The Rev. Mr. Travis, a Presby-
terian minister and pastor of Big Creek church, has been, with a com-
petent corps of teachers, carrying on this academic and preparatory
work for several years. His school is one that is recognized by the
Synod of Missouri as one of its valued educational helps. Mr. Travis
not only teaches and trains the youth in that immediate neighborhood,
but canvasses Northeast Missouri for boys and girls and is prepared to
take care of them in his students' boarding house.
Lindenwood College for young ladies is located in St. Charles, but
can hardly be reckoned a Northeast ^lissouri school. It is under the
care of the St. Louis Presbytery and its scholars are largely from St.
Louis, south Missouri, and Illinois. It has recently erected a $40,000
dormitory, which enables it to care for one hundred boarding pupils.
Arrangements are being made for other improvements. The local
attendance of seven or eight girls is scarcely appreciable. Dr. Oeorge P.
Ayi'es is a Northeast Missouri man and a son of Westminster. He makes
a successful president and all Presbyterians will rejoice in his success
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 127
and in the imraeuse good he is doing in sending out so many educated
Presbyterian Christian girls.
Before this history is brought to a close, there is one feature of the
planting and growing of Presbyterianism, often lost sight of, that de-
serves to be spoken of, and that is the work of the men who cultivate
the small fields in the country. It is from such fields that, later on,
much of the best material in the churches of the cities and larger towns
has drifted. This was the kind of work which filled up the evening of
the life of Dr. W. W. Robertson, a work that gave him delight, organ-
izing churchjBs such as Ebenezer in Callaway, Laddonia and Vandalia
in Audrain, caring for them almost free of cost to them and like a
grandfather spoiling the children by failing to develop in them the
thought that they were able to take care of themselves. •
And if I may for one time go over the line that separates the dead
workmen from the living workers, I will mention the Rev. Franc Mit-
chell, who for years fed the weak churches of Callaway county, with
one break in his life when synod made him one of its evangelists, then
falling back into the same sort of work in Chariton county, feeding its
half dozen weak churches with the gospel of God's grace. This is the
sort of men, not rare, that silently, like corals of the sea, create the foun-
dation work on which, later on, other men rear strong and mighty
churches.
CHAPTER VII
THE LITERATURE OF THE LAND ,
By Edgar White, Macon
•
The section represented in this history has produced some writers
who are known wherever books and papers are printed. It has produced
many who have enjoyed a state and national reputation. The average
Missourian is an impressionist. If he can't write a story he can tell
one. The art seems his by birthright. Samuel L. Clemens (**Mark
Twain'') found his real mission when he began to put on paper stories
told him by IVfissourians. The New York Sun once said of him that when
**The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was printed, his standing as
a writer of humor was assured. The ** running gears" for the yarn were
related by Judge John A. Quarles, Clemens' uncle, to the village folk at
Florida, Missouri, and many years afterwards, while in the far west,
*'Mark Twain" put the flesh and blood and sinew on, and a ripple of
laughter ran 'round the world. While in other lands, amid a new people.
Clemens saw% as perhaps he never did here, the possibilities of Missouri
character for fascinating fiction.
Northeast ]Missouri writers have given to the public history, fiction,
humor, poetry, and technical work that will stand the most critical anal-
ysis. In the great white-topped ox wagon of the pioneer was always a
Bible and oftentimes a history of the American Revolution and Shakes-
peare and Scott. Later his children read the lives of American and Eng-
lish statesmen, promptly selecting their ideals, and being able to give their
reasons therefor. Many a log cabin contained quite an extensive library.
While the state was making history the germs were sown that ripened
into the substantial literature of yesterday and today.
The splendid, far-reaching valleys of northeastern Missouri, the
majestic river that ripples against its eastern shores, the towering hills,
the fertile prairies, the alert, active characters one sees everywhere —
all these are like a beckoning hand, inviting narration. The impulse is
irresistible. It is like placing before the artist a beautiful form to repro-
duce on his canvas.
That the writers of northeastern Missouri feave risen to the situation
is attested by the large list of books they have written. If the section
is not known from, ocean to ocean it is not the fault of the men who
wielded the pen. They have covered the ground, and they have done it
with an earnestness and a lovalty that are as touching as the subject is
important.
Mark Twain and His Works
To the little hill village of Florida, in eastern Monroe county, belongs
the distinction of being the birthplace of Mark Twain. Ncvember 30,
1835, was the date of the future humorist's entrance into the world.
John ^larshall Clemens, the father, was a native of Virginia. lie
128
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 129
was of a roving disposition, moving from one locality to another,
Hlnays in search of a place where he could grow up with the
boom. Having tried various settlements in Kentucky and Tennes-
see, he moved to Florida in 1833. became a merchant and justice of
the peace. In 1839 he moved to Hannibal, where he lived, until his
death, March 24, 1847. Mark Twain went to school at Hannibal, and
afterwards learned to set type in the office of the Journal, a paper pub-
lished by his older brother, Orion. Printers who worked in the ofiBce
with Mark Twain are quite certain they never discovered any outcrop-
pings of the genius which was to develop later, unless miscbievousness
was an indication. Orion did the editorial work, and until he had be-
come broken down in health by writing too late at night, it is said
has compositions were excellent. The old printers who remember Mark
Twain as a companion of the ease say they do not recall his having written
anything for the paper. In those days, Mark Twain's ambition — like that
of nearly every other normal boy in Hannibal^was to go on the river.
Mare Twain
Literature never appealed to any of them as a man's work. To be really
great, one must be either a pilot or a pirate. Letters were at the foot of
the professions.
At the age of twenty Mark Twain took passage in the "Paul Jones"
for New Orleans. He had read somewhere that a party oi^nized to
explore the headwaters of the Amazon river had failed to complete its
purpose satisfactorily, and he set out with thirty dollars in his pocket
to finish the job. At New Orleans he learned the next ship for the Ama-
zon river would not sail for short of ten or twelve years, and that even
if it sailed in the morning he didn 't have money enough left to pay his
passage out of sight of New Orleans. So he prevailed on Horace Biiby,
pilot of the Paul Jones, to teach him the river for $500. to be paid out
of his first wages.
In time, under Mr. Bixby's skillful tutorage, Mark Twain became a
first class pilot, and, during the years of his after life, he always referred
130 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
to that accomplishment with peculiar pride. The men of the river he
never forgot. His fame as a writer was well established before **Life
on the Mississippi," was published in 1883, but that work greatly ^en-
hanced his reputation. It is said that the Emperor of Germany once
told Mark Twain that he regarded that as his best book.
Mark Twain admits in his fascinating river story that he stole his
pseudonym from Colonel Isaiah Sellers, whom he refers to as **that real
and only genuine son of antiquity." Colonel Sellers was an experienced
riverman. Whenever there was any controversy among the pilots and
Colonel Sellers would happen along he would always settle it. He was
the high court on river disputes. He knew so much more about the craft
than the other pilots did that they became jealous of him. The old
gentleman, while not of a literary turn, yet was fond of jotting down
brief paragraphs containing general information about the river, and
handing them to the New Orleans Picayune. These he signed **Mark
Twain," a term used by the leadsman indicating ** twelve feet."
Colonel Sellers would prove all his points by referring to conditions
before the other pilots were born, and they had no way to answer him.
It chanced one day that the Colonel printed a paragraph in the
Picayune which seemed to lay him open to ridicule. Young Clemens
took advantage of the opportunity and tried out his first attempt at humor
on the ancient mariner. He showed what he had written to several of
the pilots, who grabbed it and rushed to the New Orleaans True Delta
with it.
Clemens said that he afterwards regretted it very much because *'it
sent a pang deep into a good man's heart." There was no malice in
it, but irresistible humor, and it made all the rivermen laugh. From
that day henceforth Colonel Sellers did the young pilot the honor to
profoundly detest him. He never sent another paragraph to the news-
paper and never again signed his name *^Mark Twain" to anything.
When Clemens heard of the old man 's death he was on the Pacific Coast
engaged in newspaper work, and as he needed a nom de guerre, he con-
fiscated the one which had been used by Colonel Sellers. Feeling him-
self bound to maintain the reputation so long held by the original owner
of the name, Mark Twain wrote : * * I have done my very best to make it
remain what it was in his hands — a sign, symbol and warrant that what-
ever is found in its company may be gambled on as being the petrified
truth. ' '
Mark Twain left the river in 1861, when his brother. Orion, was
appointed Territorial Secretary of Nevada. Orion, who always took a
fatherly interest in Sam, took him along with him. The trip overland
to the far west and the wonderful experiences there Mark Twain told
in his first book, * * Roughing It. ' ' At one time he and a mining friend,
Calvin Higbie, struck a blind lead and were millionaires for ten days.
According to the law those locating a new claim had to do some active
development work within that time. Both Higbie and Clemens under-
stood the importance of this, but it happened that Clemens was called
away to attend a sick friend and that Higbie had gone into the mountains
on very urgent business. Neither knew of the other's mission and each
left word for the other to be sure and do the work required by the law
before the ten days were up. They returned to their mine just in time
to find a new company relocating it.
While in the depths of the blues over his loss of a fortune, Clemens
was tendered a position as city editor on the Daily Territorial Enterprise.
That fixed his career and from the hour he entered the sanctum of that
live western newspaper his pen was never idle. Some of his earlier work,
and Clemens frankly confesses it, was rather wild and woolly ; he wrote
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 131
nil sorts of yarns, without much regard to their foundation, but he was
always interesting and the people loved to read his work. Prom Nevada
he drifted to San Francisco, became very hard up again, and was created
special ambassador to write up the Sandwich Islands for the Sacramenlo
Union. His work on the Islands began to show the real mental status of
the man. While humorous in the main, there waa a. great deal of solid
information given. The beautiful descriptive sketches be sent his paper
could only have been produced by a literary genius. The reception
accorded them by the public caused the production of "Roughing It."
"Innocents Abroad" followed. This was a narration of a voyage
made by Mark Twain and a ship-load of American sightseers to Europe
and portions of Asia and Northern Africa. That time the humorist trav-
eled as a plain citizen. None of the great men of Germany, Prance,
'Entr\.\ce tu JIabk Twai.v Cave
Great Britain or elsewhere thrust through the crowd to shake his hand.
But after the quaint and humorous "Innocents Abroad" was published,
and one or two other works of equal originality and merit, the crowned
heads of the old countries were eager to extend the welcoming hand to
the distinguished American when he touched their shores.
"Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," "Gilded Age," "The Prince
and the Pauper," "Life on the Mississippi," "A Tramp Abroad," etc.,
all became successful books, and were read with pleasure everywhere.
In 1884 Clemens established the publishing house of C. L. Webster
& Co., in New York. The failure of the firm, after it had published
General Grant's Personal Jlemoirs, and paid over $250,000 to "his widow,
involved Mr. Clemens in beayj' losses; but by 1900 he had paid off all
obligations by the proceeds of his books and lectures.
The Missouri -Geueral Assembly of 1911-12 appropriated $10,000 for
a statue of Mark Twain to be erected at Hannibal.
132 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The Clemens home on Hill street, Hannibal, was built by John Mar-
shall Clemens in 1844. It was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. George A.
Mahan and dedicated to the city of Hannibal, May 7, 1912. The dedi-
catory exercises occurred May 15. A large crowd of citizens and people
from abroad attended. The presentation address was made by Mr.
Mahan. Mayor Charles T. Hays accepted on the part of the city. Other
addresses were made by Walter Williams, Dean of the School of Jour-
nalism of the University of Missouri, and the Rev. Ben-Ezra Styles Ely,
Jr., D. D.
The old house has been repaired and strengthened, though every out-
ward feature has been faithfully retained. It is used as a sort of Mark
Twain Memorial House, and contains many interesting relics and sou-
venirs of the dead writer. On a bronze tablet is the bust of Mark
Twain, and underneath it these words: **Mark Twain's life teaches that
poverty is an incentive rather than a bar ; that any boy, however humble
his birth and surroundings, may by honesty and industry accomplish
great things. — George A. Mahan.''
There are some who think that when Mark Twain exiled himself from
Missouri, he lost his love and veneration for the state of his birth. Those
who knew him best, however, will never believe this. He visited Han-
nibal several times after his place had been fixed among the literati, and
on each occasion showed the warmest affection for his old friends and his
native state. If any greater proof were needed, the record stands in his
own words, as he lay upon a sick bed, near the close of his life, when
engaged upon his autobiography. While the shadows crept about him
he looked through the gloom and sketched a picture of the old state as
he had seen it in his boyhood days, and for tenderness and beauty no
writing he ever did surpassed it. It showed where his heart was, and
the unexpected depth of his feeling.
Mark Twain died at Redding, Connecticut, April 21, 1910.
Eugene Field
Eugene Field, who was born in St. Louis, September 2, 1850, enjoyed
an advantage which Mark Twain did not — that of a good university edu-
cation. This gave a smoothness and sureness of touch to his work that
caused it to excel Mark Twain's earlier efforts. While attending the
Missouri University Mr. Field wrote a poem which he styled ** Sketches
from College Life, by Timothy Timberlake." It was descriptive of a
college prank — the capture and painting of the college president 's horse,
''Bucephalus." Although several words were misspelled and but little
attention paid to commas, one of Field's college chums, the late Lysander
A. Thompson of Macon, begged the author for the manuscript, frankly
telling Field that he knew one day he would be a famous writer and poet,
and that he wanted as a souvenir what he understood to be Mr. Field 's
first real eflfort at poetry. The manuscript is still preserved by a rela-
tive of Mr. Thompson's. It has been submitted to several who were
closely associated with Field in newspaper work, and they unhesitatingly
pronounce it a genuine Field manuscript. Of course its main value is
the fact, as asserted, that it was Mr. Field's first venture of the sort.
It was highly appreciated by the college boys, and even members of the
faculty forgot the stern call of discipline to smile at the young poet's
good-natured and clever rhymes.
Leaving college, Field threw his whole heart into his chosen life work.
At the outset of his career he was employed by newspapers at St. Louis.
St. Joseph and Kansas City. From the start his newspaper work was
distinctive. Turning up sensations against men in public life never
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 133
appealed to him. He would satirize them, but it was in sucli a way that
he made friends of the men at whom his shafts were directed. While
Jefferson City correspoudent for a St. Louis newspaper. Field wrote a
poem about Judge Samuel Davis iif MarRhall, a thing bo cleverly done,
and withal so kindly and good-natured that while the whole state laughed
at it, Davis enjoyed it as much as anybody. Davis waa the young legis-
lator from Saline eminty. Rats had been particularly bad out his way,
and he introduced a bill authorizing county courts to pay a bounty on
rat scalps, if they desired. This was grist for Field's mill, uu<l he utilized
it well. Judge Davis, the victim, said he regarded the poem dedicated to
him as one of the finest things Field ever wrote.
Field left Kansas City to enter the service of the Denver Tribune.
There he originated a column of humorous paragraphs which he called
■'The Tribune Primer." Papers everywhere instantly started copying
from this column, and in a short time the Tribune was the best known
paper in the country.
FrOra Denver, Field went to Chicago, where he took a contract with
The News to furnish daily a column of solid agate paragraphs, which he
headed ' ' Sharps and Flats. ' ' -These enjoyed the same popularity that was
accorded "The Tribune Primer."
While residing in Missouri, Field attended all the gatherings of the
State Press Association. Of an intensely social disposition, he was the
life and soul of such occasions. And never did he suffer a meeting to
go by without creating some laughable feature not on the programme.
Field was a lover of childhood. When attending a press association,
if he happened to run across some youngsters on the street, he wouldn't
hesitate to leave the editors to mix with the small chaps and show them
new games.
This poem, written by Field after the death of his little boy, shows
the heart of the man who is loved by all the little folks of Missouri and
known as"The Children's Poet."
"The little toy dog is covered with dust
But sturdy and staunch he stands.
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
134 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new
And the soldier was passing fair ;
That was the time when our little Boy Blue,
Kissed them and put them there.'*
Between times, while engaged on newspaper work. Field wrote the
following books, which are yet enjoying great popularity: **Love Songs
of Childhood ;'* ''A Little Book of Western Verse :'^ ^'A Second Book
of Verse;'' ''The Holy Cross, and Other Tales;" ''The Love Affairs of a
Bibliomaniac." With his brother, Roswell Martin Field, the poet made
some good translations from Horace, — "Echoes from Sabine Farm."
Mr. Field died in Chicago, November 4, 1895.
Rupert Hughes
Perhaps among the living writers ])orn in Northeast Missouri, the one
best known by the public of today is Rupert Hughes, now residing at
Bedford Hills, New York. Mr. Hughes was born at Lancaster, Schuyler
county, January 31, 1872. He is a son of Judge and Mrs. Felix Turner
Hughes. For many years Judge Hughes was president of the Keokuk
and Western Railroad. He is now engaged in the practice of law, and
resides at Keokuk, Iowa.
Rupert Hughes was educated in the public schools of Keokuk, which
he attended from 1880 to 1886, inclusive, then went to St. Charles
College, the Western Reserve Academy and Western Reserve University,
graduating in 1892, taking A. B. degree. Then he spent a year in grad-
uate studies at Yale University, finishing with the degree of A. M. His
first newspaper experience was that of a reporter for the New York Jour-
nal, a position he successfully filled for six months. But literary work
was more to his liking, and he accepted a position as editor of Storiettes,
then became assistant editor of Godey's Magazine and also of Current
Literature. From 1898 to 1901 he was assistant editor of *'The Cri-
terion," a de luxe publication demanding the highest standard of literary
workmanship.
During all this time Mr. Hughes contributed extensively of fiction,
verse, essays and criticisms to the leading magazines. From May. 1001,
to November, 1902, he was in London with the Encyclopedia Brittanica
Company, and from the latter date to May, 1905, in New York with the
same concern as chief assistant editor of "The Historian's History of
the World."
In January, 1897, Mr. Hughes joined the Seventh Regiment. Dur-
ing this country's war with Spain he was acting captain in the 114th
Regiment. He 'resigned from the army in 1910.
But few writers have been as industrious with their pens as Mr.
Hughes. He has written an astonishing number of high-class stories
and popular plays for a man of his years, and is still keeping up the
tremendous output. Following are some of his books: '^Amorii'an (Com-
posers," *'The Musical Guide," **The Love Affairs of Great Musicians,"
** Songs by Americans," **Gyges' Ring," ''The Wliirlwind," '*The
Real New York," ''Zal," and ''The Gift Wife."
Among Mr. Hughes's dramatic works are these: "The Bathing Girl,"
"The Wooden Wedding," "In the Midst of Life," (in collaboration
with Dr. Holbrook Curtis ^ : "Tommy Rot," "Alexander tlu» Great."
(in collaboration with Collin Kemper;) "The Triangle," "All for a
Girl," "The Transformation," (played for five months by Florence
Roberts, then for two years under the name of "Two Women," by
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST JHSSOURI 135
Mrs. Leslie Carter;) "Excuse Me." This last play ran successfully
during two hundred and fifty performances in New York, and met
with the same encouragement when presented by three companies tour-
ing the United States. Next year (1913) two companies will travel
this country with it. Arrangements have been made for the produc-
tion of "Excuse Me" in France, Germany, England, Italy, Russia, Den-
mark, Norway and Sweden.
Mr. Hughes yet finds time to write short and serial atories for the
Saturday Evening Post, Holland's Magazine and many other standard
publications of the United States.
\V.\1.TER WlU.l.iMS
Walter 'Williams, dean of the School of Journalism of the University
of Missouri, is the author of "Some Saints and Some Sinners in the Holy
Land" (1902) ; "How the Cap'n Saved the Day" (1901) ; "The State
Missouri Editors and Visitors at Journalism Week, University of
Missouri
of Missouri" (1904) ; "History of Missouri" (1908); "Missouri Since
the Civil War" (1909) ; "From Missouri to the Isle of Mull" (1909) ;
with John Temple Graves and Clark Howell, of "Eloquent Sons of the
South" (1909) ; with Frank L. Martin, of "The Practice of Journalism"
(19]1)'.
Henry Clay Dean
Henry Clay Dean, lecturer, lawyer and writer, was bora in Virginia,
in the year 1822; moved to Iowa in 1850, and to Missouri some ten years
later, locating on a farm in northwest Putnam county. After the
war between the states, his home was referred to as "Rebel Cove," its
owner being a staneh adlierent of the southern cause. Previous to the
war Jlr. Dean had been chaplain of the United States Senate for a time.
Soon after coming west Mr. Dean became a national character. He
was regarded as a matchless platform speaker, and unsurpassed as a
136 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
pleader at the bar. The argument closing the ease is where Mr. Dean's
talents shone brightest. He rarely examined witnesses himself, prefer-
ring to leave that part of the work to his associate counsel, but his mar-
velous memory enabled him to retain and use with efiEect the evidence in-
troduced.
With a wonderful library at command in his country home, Mr. Dean
read aud wrote constantly. His writing was like his platform speeches
— ^brilliant, forceful and abounding in beautiful metaphor. He was also
a past master in withering sarcasm. No one who heard him speak
ever forgot the magnetic Henry Clay Dean. Mr. Dean published a
strong work entitled **The Crimes of the Civil War." This attracted a
great deal of interest at the time of its issuance. When Mr. Dean died
he left ready for the press the manuscript for a book, of which the fol-
lowing was the title page :
The Voice of the People in the Federal Government
Being an inquiry into the abolition of the abuse of executive patronaj^e and
the election of all the chief officers of the federal government by the direct vote of
the people whom they serve.
By Henry Clay Dean.
Liberty will be ruined by providing any kind of substitute for popular election —
Necker. In one volume.
This exhaustive work was intended for the political guidance of the
public over twenty years ago, but Mr. Dean happened to have his
hands full of legal business and lecture engagements at the time he
finished the manuscript, and he neglected to publish it. Those who have
read the writing say that now a vast majority of the American public,
irrespective of party, endorse Mr. Dean 's position in this last important
literary work of his life, but at the time of its writing many prominent
Democratic friends advised him not to publish it, as it was twenty years
too soon to dare enunciate such views. At the same time they admitted
the teaching was sound, and that it would eventually be a controlling
issue in this country. It was characteristic of Mr. Dean to think ahead
of his time. Some of the things for which he was criticised for advocat-
ing on the platform, are today regarded as results of practical states-
manship.
A great many of Mr. Dean's speeches on murder trials or on political
questions were reported and printed in pamphlet form. These were
given to anybody for the asking. The money feature of his work never
interested him. He might have coined his splendid talent into dollars
and died wealthy, but he seemed to be impressed with a higher idea ; that
he was called upon to elevate the people, and to enable them to use their
suffrage more intelligently. His big library in his country home waa
his pride. It was stocked with a double tier of books extending nearly
to the ceiling, on all sides, save where the windows were. While they
were apparently jumbled together in an unsystematic mass, Hr, Dean
was never at a loss to pick out instantly any volume he wanted.
Upon one occasion a young man requested Mr. Dean to advise him
regarding the books he should read as an initial education in the law.
**Take the Bible first," said Mr. Dean. **You will find lots of sound
law in it, and the most perfect rules of justice that obtain anywhere.
Then take a thorough course in Latin from my good friend, Professor
Jake Hill, for he knows Latin as few men do. Next read up on Camp-
bell's Philosophy of Rhetoric. Then dive into Gibbon's History of Rome.
Follow that with Hume's History of England, Macaulay's history of
the same country, and Green's History of the English People. This
done and well done, you will be qualified to begin the study of lawT*
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 137
Those who enjoyed the pleasure of listening to Mr. Dean speak would
never doubt that he had fully followed his own prescription as to
reading.
^Ir. Dean was tall, straight and soldierly-looking. Shortly before
his death he was sitting out on his porch with his friend and physician,
Dr. A. J. Eidson. Mr. Dean had been quietly interrogating the doctor
about his symptoms, and at last had forced from him the reluctant ad-
mission that the hour of his death was so close that it could almost be
fixed. Then the orator of ** Rebel Cove" said calmly:
*'Do you see that large elm down there in the grove, doctor ?'* indicat-
ing with his hand. **I've watched it grow from a tiny sprout. It has
stood the assault of hailstorms, of hurricanes and of lightning, and now
it reaches up above all the rest, strong, sturdy, unafraid, like my life
has been. That tree, doctor, is to be my headstone. You will see to it ? ' '
Mr. Dean died at his home February 6, 1887.
William F. Switzler.
Colonel William F. Switzler (1819-1906) of Columbia, was the author
of the following works: ** Commerce of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers,"
*' History of Statistics and Their Value," 'illustrated History of Mis-
souri," ''Wool and the Manufacturers of Wool" and "The History of
Boone County." The latter, although very complete, was sold at a
modest figure and enjoyed a wide circulation in the county it described.
During his latter years Colonel Switzler devoted the greater part
of his time to the preparation of a work entitled: "A History of the
Missouri University." His eagerness to complete this seemed to add
the necessary years to his life. It was intended to crown his long and
able toil with the pen, and is said to be a thoroughly accurate and com-
plete history of Missouri's great educational institution. The work
has not yet been published.
Another ambition of Colonel Switzler 's, one which was partly car-
ried out, was to publish a volume on "Eminent Missourians. " Seven-
teen of these sketches by his pen have been printed in the Globe-Demo-
crat, He afterwards sent them to his friend, M. C. Tracy, of Macon, who
is now engaged in the completion of the work.
One of the noticeable faculties of Colonel Switzler was his almost
marvelous memory. Especially did this appear when any matter con-
cerning Missouri was under discussion. He could tell you not only the
name of every county in the state, but why it was so named, when it
was organized and its important features. It has been said of him that
he was so well acquainted with men and events that he could sit at his
desk, without a reference book about him, and write a first-class history
of IMissouri entirely from memory.
Lexington, Kentucky, was the birthplace of Colonel Switzler. When
he came to ^lissouri he was in his seventh year, locating in Howard
county. In 1841 he removed to Columbia, where he practiced law, and
then became editor of the Columbia Patriot. The Columbia Statesman
was established by Colonel Switzler in 1843, and in August of that year
he was married to Mary Jane Royal, a niece of General Sterling Price.
Colonel Switzler published the Columbia Statesman forty-six years.
In 1866 and 1868 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for Con-
gress. Notwithstanding the general disfranchisement of his friends,
he defeated his opponents, George W. Anderson and D. P. Dyer, but was
refused a certificate of election each time.
In 1885, Colonel Switzler temporarily abandoned newspaper work
and writing to accept the position of chief of the bureau of statistics
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HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 139
tendered him by President Cleveland. Retiring from that oflSce, Colonel
S\dtzler returned to the work that was always closest to his heart,
writing stories of Missouri and its people, and occasionally lecturing
on those subjects. He died at Columbia, May 24, 1906, in his eighty-
eighth year.
Homer Croy
Homer Croy is a tall, goo(J-natured youth who is making his literary
way in the metropolis of the nation, and Northeast Missouri claims him,
for it was while attending the State University at Columbia that his
pen began to write things that sparkled. Soon after leaving the Uni-
versity, Mr. Croy diligently besieged the goddess of fame, and though
for some time she turned coyly from his knocking, he was so hopeful
and persistent that at last she threw her arms around him, and set
him on a pedestal before he was twenty-eight. While attending the Uni-
versity Mr. Croy was a regular contributor to a number of high-class
magazines and humorous publications. Going from Missouri to New
York, he had hard traveling for a year or so. He frankly admits there
were times when it took all his diplomacy to convince his landlady and
tailor that destiny had a good place picked out for him if they would
only be patient like he was. So he kept pegging away, never losing
confidence in himself. He established friendly relations with all the big
magazine editors, and never let them forget that it was his business to
produce grist for their mill. Then he founded the Magazine Maker, and
in six months made it an invaluable friend and aid both to editors and
writers everywhere. Having successfully established his magazine, and
demonstrated that he couldn't be stopped, Mr. Croy was recently ten-
dered a good position in the editorial department of Judge and Leslie's,
which he accepted, and is climbing right along.
Mr. Croy is a graduate of 1907. Within five years he has ascended
the rounds from newspaper reporter to magazine editor, and has a right
to feel pretty well satisfied with himself, for a man yet under thirty.
Andrew J. Eidson
Dr. Andrew J. Eidson (1837-1903) referred to as the friend and phy-
sician of Henry Clay Dean, long resided in Schuyler county. He has
to his credit many poems of more than average merit, and these appeared
from time to time in the press. One of his poems that attracted pretty
general attention is entitled: **No Children's Graves in China." It
was inspired by the story of a missionary from China, printed in the
Central Baptist, of St. Louis. It described the pagan practice of throw-
ing dead children to the fishes.
The poem was used extensively as an inspirational battle-song for
increased missionary effort in the Celestial Empire. It follows:
No children ^s graves in China,
The missionaries say;
In cruel haste and silence
They put those buds away;
No tombstones mark their resting,
To keep their memory sweet;
Their graves unknown, are trodden
Bv many careless feet.
No children 's graves in China,
That land of heathen gloom ;
They deem not that their spirits
Will live beyond the tomb.
No little coffin holds them,
140 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Like to a downy nest.
No spotless shroud enfolds them,
Low in their quiet rest.
No children's graves in China
No parents ever weep;
No toy or little relic,
The thoughtless mothers keep.
No mourners e'er assemble.
Around the early dead,
And flowers of careful planting
Ne'er mark their lowly bed.
No children's graves in China
With sad and lovely ties,
To make the living humble.
And point them to the skies;
No musings pure and holy,
Of them when day is done;
Be faithful, missionary,
Your work is just begun.
Dr. Eidson's name occupies an honored place in a work called *^The
Poets of America,'' printed by the American Publishers' Association,
of Chicago in 1890.
NeLSE J. SCURLOCK
Perhaps the strongest poetical genius that ever resided in Northeast
Missouri was Nelse J. Scurlock, whose death November 14, 1903, was
like a tragedy. His body was found on the highway near Glenwood one
frosty morning, but a few days after Mr. Scurlock had written a touch-
ing production that was somewhat prophetic, and which he entitled:
**The Living and the Dead."
There are some very eminent men of letters who have denominated
Mr. Scurlock the real poet laureate of Missouri, and they say they
are perfectly willing to stand on the volume printed after his death by
his friends and admirer, the Rev. Chas. N. Wood.
Mr. Scurlock was a country lad. He never went to college, but he
enjoyed the benefits of a classical education by going to a district
school teacher who had been an instructor in a first-class college. Pro-
fessor Joseph Barbee taught the classics in the original^ and from
him young Scurlock received the inspiration which gave his work a
dignity and power approached by few other pdets.
Scurlock 's **Ode to Edgar Allen Poe'' was so rich in expression
and so well constructed that it would have appealed to Poe himself.
'* Right Here in Old Missouri/' covers all those essential features of
the state's pride that were omitted by the officially adopted Missouri
song. *'Fishin' 'Long Old Ellum Crick," breathes the homely philoso-
phy of the real backwoodsman of Missouri, and rings as true to nature
as the trees of the forest and the wide rolling meadow. ** October in
Missouri," **The Gates of Life," *^The Isle of Peace," and **The En-
chanted Garden" are among the other poems illustrating the splendid
education and the harmony of this rustic poet, who only contributed
for country newspapers, with never a thought of receiving a cent for
his work.
** Living and Dead," next to the last of Mr. Scurlock 's poems, ap-
pears in the final part of the handsome volume of the poet 's work, pub-
lished after his death :
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 141
Living and Dead
Hope for the living, fruition, the dead —
After the Fexton's work, why all the rosea f
One down the way of the cactus must tread,
Ever and ever the other reposes.
Smiles for the living, aye, smiles like the dew,
For the dead, sorrow, serene and uplifting;
These rest from trials, where old things are new,
Those on the mad current darkly are drifting.
Tears for the living, tears, deep from the heart,
Memories holy for all the departed;
Death is a Gilead balm for each smart,
Life is a school for the hosts broken-hearted.
Nothing but good of the living be said —
Rome was barbarian, wrong in her praises;
Eulogy reaches not out to the dead,
Fair speech is help to those lost in care's mazes.
Peace for the living, peace like the May morn,
Flags waving welcome, unvexed by war's thunder,
Peace like the dead's, until nations unborn
O 'er the great crime of their ancestors wonder.
Mr. Scurlock was born near Glenwood, Schuyler county, February
14, 1859.
Other Meritorious Wrffers
** Wayside Musings" is a volume of very meritorious verfee by the
Rev. Charles Newton Wood, the gentleman who compiled and published
the poems of Mr. Scurlock. At the time of the publication of '* Way-
side Musings*' Mr. Wood was pastor of the Methodist church at La
Plata.
Bobertus Love, now of New York, resided in Pike county, Missouri,
** during seven years of his formative period,'* as he expresses it, and
there gathered the inspiration for a cheering volume he calls ** Poems
All the Way from Pike." **In Extenuation," Mr. Love says: ** Being
a 'Piker' himself, the author of * Poems All the Way From Pike' feels
that he possesses license both poetic and proprietary to draw upon the
celebrated ballad (Joe Bowers) for the title of his book." Among the
extensive list of poems in Mr. Love's work are these: **A Pike County
Christmas Tree," ** Joe Bowers' Brother Ike," '^Back in Old Mizzoury,"
•'The Old Blue Spelling Book," **The Boy Who Has No Santa Claus"
and "Eugene Field." Before going to New York, Mr. Love was engaged
in newspaper work in St. Louis. His most successful feat while in that
employment was being the first staff correspondent to cover the Galveston
flood.
** Robert Devoy," by Frank H. Sosey, of Palmyra, is a fascinating
story having for its climax the military execution of ten men at that
town, October 18, 1862. Besides the story, there is much historical in-
formation setting at rest some of the controversies that grew out of one of
the saddest events of war-time.
The late John R. Musick, of Kirksville, was an industrious writer,
He has to his record twenty-three books in the State Historical Society
of Missouri, of which sixteen are histories. Among his best read novels
are ''Calamity Row" and ''Brother Against Brother." Mr. Musick
was one of the many heroes who labored assiduously to save life and re-
lieve suffering on the occasion of the disastrous cyclone at Kirksville,
April 27, 1899. He died not long after that event.
Other Adair county writers and their books follow:
E. M. Violette, "A History of the First District Normal School,"
"A History of Adair County," "Early Settlements in Missouri."
14-2 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Mrs. Belle Travers MeCahan, "The Precious Child," "Stories by
Americaii Authors."
lira. Martha Prewitt Doueghy, "The Feast of Skeletons," poetry,
Mrs. Doneghy has also contributed to the magaziues.
Dr. Andrew T. Still, founder of Osteopathy, "Autobiography,"
Mrs. Ora Bell Goben, contributor to magazines.
The Rev. J. S. Boyd, "The Story of Jonah, The Truant Prophet."
Dr. Horace H. H. St. John of Ediua, Knox county, is a song writer
whose work has been printed and pronounced of a high order by critics,
George W. Hamilton, of Fulton, Callaway county, has written
several good books. The best known of them are "The Lantern Man"
and "Wilson's Way."
Elizabeth Fielder, of Pike county, is the author of "The White
Canoe," a book which has attracted considerable attention among liter-
ary people. She wrote under the pseudonym of "Elizabeth Monekton,"
and is now a contributor to the magazines.
"Love vs. Law" is the title of a novel dealing with the question of
women's suffrage. It is by Mary Anderson Matthews, of Macon, and has
Women Students in Journalism with Winifred Black
From left to right— Top row— Miss Cuiinle R. Quinn, Miss Etiin McComiick, Misi
Mary (!. Paxtoii, Mjbb Florence LaTurno.
Bottom row— Miss Heloise B, Kennedv, Mibb
man, Mrs. C. A. Bonlils (Winifred Black), Miss
run through two editions. Before her marriage to Otho F. Mattbews,
the author was city attorney of Palmyra, a position which she capably
filled. Mrs. Matthews does considerable sketch writing, and is "associate
counsel" for her husband, who is a well-known lawyer.
William Turk, of Macon, an invalid nearly all his life, wrote the
"Completion of Coleridge's Cbristabel. " An eminent critic of poetry,
residing at Boston, said this of Mr. Turk's bold attempt:
"Christabel's completion at the hands of this young western author
has lost none of the dignity and grace that Coleridge himself might
have imparted to it."
Mr, Turk was just twenty when he finished the work which brought
that commendation from Boston. He wrote a great many plays, several
of them tragedies, which he submitted to Mansfield and other high
priests of the drama. All spoke well of the young man's work, and
some of the plays were being prepared for presentation, but on June 14,
1903, the young author died, right at the threshold, seemingly, of his
fame. He was just twenty-seven.
The late Dr. Willis P. King, was at one time resident of Maeon
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 143
county, Missouri, and while traveling on horseback over the muddy
country roads, performing the arduous duties of a rural practitioner,
aecjuired the material for an interesting volume which he published
later, and called '* Stories of a Country Doctor." Dr. King produced
another work, ''Perjury for Pay,'' which attracted a great deal of
attention.
** Forty-five Years in the Ministry'' is a story of the circuit riding
days of Elder J. W. Cook, a Baptist minister of Elmer, Macon county.
'*The Historj' of the First and Second Missouri Confederate
Brigades," and **From Wakarusa to Appomatox" is the title of a
rather large volume by Colonel R. S. Bevier, who lived at Bloomington,
the old county seat of Macon, up to the war between the states. The
work is largely personal reminiscences, and yet there is much valuable
information between the covers of Colonel Bevier 's highly entertaining
book. Colonel Bevier took from Macon county a Confederate battalion,
which joined General Sterling Price, at Nevada, Missouri.
''The Phoebe Cary of the West" is the graceful title that was
bestowed upon Mrs. G. W. Hunt, a poetical waiter, by Colonel W. F.
Switzler. Mrs. Hunt lived in Randolph county. She was a regular
contributor to Godey's Lady's Book and the old St. Louis Eepuhlican,
and occasionally to the Columbia Statesman. In 1876 Mrs. Hunt pub-
lished a small volume containing some of her best work. Among her
most popular poems w^ere: "The Skj'lark," '*The Evening Hour,"
*'Over and Over Again," "A Temperance Battle Cry," "My Happy
School Days." Governor George Hunt, of Arizona, is a son of Mrs.
Hunt, who died at Huntsville, November 3, 1883.
John W. trillion, president of Hardin College, Mexico, has produced
a valuable work entitled "State Aid to Railways in Missouri," which
appeared as one of the studies by the Department of Political Economy
in the University of Chicago in 1897, and which has been favorably
reviewed by leading journals. The Chicago Post devoted a column of
interesting discussion to Mr. Million's book and its purpose. Among
other things the Post said : "We are glad to find, in the economic studies
of the University of Chicago, a volume giving useful information regard-
ing state activity in connection with railroads. The book is entitled
'State Aid to Railways in Missouri,* but it is not limited to the experi-
ence of Missouri alone."
"With Porter in North ^Missouri" is an interesting narrative of the
war of the sixties, by Joseph A. Mudd, a native of Lincoln county,
^lissouri, but now^ residing at Hyattsville, Maryland. The book describes
the battle of Kirksville, the retreat of Porter and his stand in Macon
county, where he stopped the Federals, and made a successful evacua-
tion of the district, with his recruits. The work is of considerable
historical importance, and is well-written by a brave soldier and able
historian. The book was published in 1909. Following the war, Mr.
Mudd was for some time editor of the Troy, Missouri, Dispatch.
Montgomery county has produced some interesting literary people.
Their names and w^orks follow: R. S. Duncan, "History of the Baptists
of Missouri," and a personal memoir.
Mrs. C. K. Reifsnider is an extensive and capable contributor to the
magazines. ft>-»/r» ^^
Robert Rose and Wm. S. Brti^ wrote a humorous and entertaining
book dealing with "Pioneer Days in North Missouri."
Judge Robert W. Jones, "Money Is Power."
Francis Skinner, a 49er, described his experience in a book entitled :
**The Route to California, and the Medical Treatment that was Admin-
istered to the Travelers Thereon."
Elder James Bradley, "The Confederate Mail Carrier."
144 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Mildred S. McPaden developed good literary ability while attending
Central Wesleyan College at Warrenton; afterwards taught music and
then went to St. Louis where she became a member of the Chaperofie
editorial staflF, and later one of the editors of the Sterling Magazine,
which was said to be the handsomest and most attractively edited publi-
cation ever produced in the metropolis.
Here is a verse from Mrs. McFaden's **Song of July/' published in
the Sterling:
My trio of beautiful sisters
Have filled the whole world with their song,
Tho ' scarcely I hope to be welcome,
I promise to tarry not long.
I sing not of beauty and loving —
The heart of a soldier have I;
The deaf 'ning boom of a cannon
Is sweeter to me than a sigh!
**A Little Book of Missouri Verse," comprising ** Choice Selections
from Missouri Verse-Writers," collected and edited by J. S. Snoddy,
of Woodson Institute, Richmond, Missouri, includes work by the follow-
ing who now live, or have lived in Northeast Missouri :
Nathaniel M. Baskett, editor of the Moberly Monitor; M. W. Prewitt
Doneghy, Eugene Field, Willis P. King, Mildred S. McPaden, Thomas
Berry Smith, Adelaide E. Vroom, Mrs. Anna M. Weems, Mrs. Elizabeth
Ustick McKinney, Horace A. Hutchison, Mrs. Lillian Kelly, wife of
George B. Kelly, founder of the Moberly Monitor; Grace Hewitt Sharp.
In 1884 N. M. Baskett published a volume of verse entitled, ** Visions
of Fancy." He edited the St. Louis Medical Almanac in 1889-90; was
state senator from the Ninth Missouri district, 1892-1896. As editor
of the Moberly Monitor he has given that paper a distinction for his
graceful writing and clearness of thought.
Thomas Berry Smith published in 1880 a chart, ' * Circle of the Mater-
ial Sciences," and in 1890 a text book entitled: ** Study in Nature and
Language Lessons." His verses have appeared from time to time in
state and national publications. Since 1886 he has been professor of
chemistry and physics at Central College, Fayette.
List op Northeast Missouri Authors
The following list of Northeast Missouri authors and their work is
taken from **A Catalogue of Publications by Missouri Authors"; com-
piled by F. A. Sampson, secretary State Historical Society of Missouri :
J. W. Barrett — *' History and Transactions of the Editors' and Pub-
lishers' Association of Missouri." Canton, 1876.
James Newton Baskett— ''As the Light Led." New York, 1900; **At
You- Airs House, a Missouri Nature Story," New York, 1898; ''Story
of the Birds," New York, 1897; "Story of the Fishes," New York, 1899;
"Sweetbrier and Thistledown," Boston and Chicago, 1902.
Mrs. Julia ^I. Bennett— "Beauty's Secrets," "Ladies' Toilet Com-
panion," Hannibal, 1880.
Chess Birch — "Reminiscences of the Musical Evangelist," Hannibal,
1891.
J. B. Briney— "Form of Baptism," St. Louis, 1892; "The Relation
of Baptism to the Remission of Alien Sins," Moberly, AIo., 1902.
Carl Crow— "The Columbia Herald Year-Book," Columbia, 1904.
George W, Dameron — '* Early Recollections and Biographical
Sketches of Prominent Citizens of Pioneer Days," Huntsville, Missouri,
1898.
Henry Clay Dean — "Crimes of the Civil War," and "Curse of the
Funding System," Baltimore. 1868. (See sketch of life.)
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI U5
The Rev. R. S. Duncan — "History of Suaday-Sehools, " Memphis,
MiBsouri, 1876; "History of the Baptists in ilissouri," St. Louis, 1882.
W. W. Elwang, papers: "An Address to the Students of the State
University," September 14, 1902; "The Negroes of Columbia, Missouri,"
a study of the race problem, Columbia, 1904.
Forrest G. Ferris — "iloberly Libraries and Literary Societies,"
Moberly, 1904.
Elizabeth Davis Fielder (Elizabeth Monckton) — "The Wbite Canoe
and Other Legends of the Ojibways," New York, 1904,
C. 0. Godfrey— "Treatise on the Bituminous Coats of the West,"
St. Louis, 1872. (Mr, Godfrey was one of the early coal operators of
Macon county, being associated with Thomas E. Wardell^Ed.)
John D. Hacker — "The Church of Christ, Viewed in the Midst
of Rival Elements," Columbia, 1897.
Lovers' Leap
Wilfred R. HoUister and Harry Norman— "Five Famous Missour-
lans — Mark Twain, Richard P. Bland, Champ Clark, James M. Green-
wood and Joseph 0. Shelby," Kansas City, 1900.
Richard H. Jesse and Edward A. Allen — "Missouri Literature,"
Columbia, 1901.
Maximillian G. Kern— "Rural Taste in Western Town and Country
Districts." Columbia, 1884.
W. H. Martin— "Reminiscences of My Home," Moberly, 1902.
Alex. Mudd — "Reasons Why I Am a Christian and Not a Romanist,"
Montgomery City, 1902.
John R. Muaick— "Banker of Bedford," and many other works.
(See sketch.)
Dowler B. Newberry — Masonic papers, "Science of Symbolism,"
Hannibal, 1896, "Ancient and Modern Masonry," Hannibal; "Look to
the East!" Hannibal, 1895; "The Mystic Art Divine," Hannibal, 1894,
Frederick B. Newberry — "The Voice of Christianity," Hannibal,
146 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Philemon Pemeiit — '* Probation After Death/' Moberly, Missouri,
1897.
S. Y. Pitts — **Mt. Pleasant Association; Historic — ^Biographic,"
Salisbury, Missouri, 1895.
J. J. Porter — ** Restricted Communion,'' Columbia, 1900.
The Rev. J. H. Pritchett and Elder John S. Sweeney — ^** Religious
Discussion at Clarksville, Missouri," St. Louis, 1869.
Perry S. Rader — ** Civil Government of the State of Missouri,"
Columbia, 1897; ''School History of the State of Missouri," Brunswick,
Missouri, 1891. Also issued with Thummel's and Rader 's Civil Govern-
ment, Columbia, 1897.
W. K. Roberts — ''Divinity and Man; a Doctrinal Hypothesis upon
the Structural Order of the Universe, th© Career and Destiny of the
Soul and the Moral Obligations of Life," Mexico, Mo., 1895.
WiU A. Roth well— "Moberly Art Souvenir," Moberly, Mo., 1896.
F. A. Sampsdn, Secretary of State Historical Society of Missouri —
papers: ''Natural History of Pettis County, Missouri," 1882; ** Notes
on the Distribution of Shells. Article III," Kansas City, 1883; *' Bulle-
tin of Sedalia Natural History Society," Sedalia, 1885; "The Shells of
Pettis County, Missouri," Sedalia, 1885; "Pettis County and Sedalia,
Missouri," Sedalia, 1886; "Notes on the Subcarboniferous Series at
Sedalia, Missouri," New York, 1888; "History and Publications of the
Missouri Horticultural Society," Jefferson City, 1891; "MoUusca of
Arkansas," Little Rock, Ark., 1893; "A Bibliography of the Geology
of Missouri," Jefferson City, 1890; "A Bibliography of Missouri
Authors," Sedalia, 1901; "A Bibliography of the Official Publications
of Missouri," New York, 1904.
Dr. John Sappington — ''Theory and Treatment of Fevers," Arrow
Rock, Missouri, 1844.
The Rev. Louis F. Schlathoelter — "Hypnotism Explained," Moberlv,
Missouri, 1898.
D. W. Shackleford — "Missouri Criminal Code," indexed and
annotated, Columbia, 1895.
The Rev. George W. Sharp— "Faithful God; as Shown in Sketch
of Life of the Rev. James E. Sharp," 1896. Author resides in Kirks-
ville.
Dr. A. T. Still — "Autobiography, with a History of the Discovery
and Development of the Science of Osteopathy," Kirksville, Missouri,
1897; "Philosophy of Osteopathy," Kirksville, Missouri, 1899.
Wm. F. Switzler — "Report of the Internal Commerce of the United
States," Washington, 1888; "Illustrated History of Missouri," St.
Louis, 1879. (See sketch.)
The Rev. H. E. Truex — "Baptists in Missouri; an Account of the
Organization of the Denomination in the State," Columbia, 1904.
The Rev. Dr. Pope Yeaman — "History of the Missouri Baptist
Association," Columbia, 1899.
G. M. Dewey — "Railway Spine," Keytesville.
Eugene Field and Roswell M. Field — "Echoes from the Sabine
Farm," New^ York, 1895. (See sketch of Eugene Field and his works.)
Mary E. Reiter— "Pure Gold," Moberly, Missouri, 1896.
W. H. Porter — "Seven Original Poems by an Old Blind Man," Han-
nibal, 1887.
T. Berry Smith — (Poems) "Two Weddings," Fayette, Missouri.
1902; "The Pigeon, A Study in American Literature," Favette,
Missouri, 1903.
George E. Trescott— "Chirps; Odd Rhymes at Odd Times," Troy,
Missouri.
CHAPTER VIII
THE STORY OF THE STATE
By Jonas Viles, Professor of American History,
University of Missouri, Columbia
Although Missouri has shared with the surrounding states the great
advantages of soil and climate common to the great valley and also borne
her part in the history of western development, certain influences have
given her history a number of distinctive features. She has unusual
variety of surface and natural resources, leading to a diversification of
industries. Her geographical position in reference to the Ohio, the
Missouri and the Mississippi, great natural highways, have made her a
sort of cross-roads for the commerce of the middle west and brought
about within her borders the meeting and mingling of streams of migra-
tion from the north, the south, and abroad. And the early introduction
of negro slavery made her like Kentucky and Tennessee, a western slave
state, with an allegiance divided between the west and south, a division
for years profoundly affecting her history. ,
Settlements Before 1804
De Soto, the Spaniard, may have reached what is now the state of
Missouri ; Joliet and Marquette and LaSalle, the French discoverers and
explorers of the Mississippi, certainly floated past her shores, but her
history began in 1699 and 1700 when French missionaries, peasants and
fur traders from Canada began their settlements at Kaskaskia and the
neighboring villages. Soon afterward these fur traders explored the
lower Missouri, while other adventurers opened up the lead mines on
the Meramec and the St. Francois. At the crossing to the lead country
grew up about 1735 the first permanent settlement in Missouri, the town
of Ste. Genevieve. Thirty years later the Missouri river fur trade led
to the founding of the second settlement at St. Louis, by Pierre Laclede
Liguest, of the firm of Maxent, Laclede and Company, merchants of
New Orleans, who held a license for the fur trade on the Missouri. After
a winter at Fort Chartres, west of the Mississippi, Laclede fixed his trad-
ing post at St. Louis in February, 1764.
When the great struggle for the control of the Mississippi valley
ended in the defeat of France and her surrender of the valley, the eastern
part to Great Britain and the western to Spain, and when an English
garrison in 1765 took possession of Fort Chartres, hundreds of the
French in the thriving villages around Kaskaskia moved over to Ste.
Genevieve and St. Louis. With this sudden increase in population they
became thriving villages of over five hundred inhabitants, the largest
settlements above New Orleans. Population then increased more slowly
but gradually new centres were established : St. Charles for the conven-
ience of the Missouri river traders and trappers ; Cape Girardeau, origin-
147
148 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
ally an Indian trading post ; and New Madrid just below the mouth of
the Ohio.
After 1796 there came another wave of immigration, this time of
Americans from Kentucky and Tennessee, attracted by the free land and
low taxes. These Americans avoided the French villages and settled on
detached farms, especially in the present county of Cape Girardeau and
around Fredericktown, Farmington and Potosi. Among them was
Daniel Boone, who, in 1799 moved from Kentucky to the frontier of
settlement in the present St. Charles county. When the American flag
was raised over Missouri in 1804, at least six thousand of the total
population of ten thousand was American. The villages, however, re-
mained distinctively French and as yet dominated the whole province.
Conditions Under French and Spanish
After the Spanish took formal possession of the western half of tlie
Mississippi valley, that portion north of the Arkansas river w^as known
as Upper Louisiana and was ruled by a succession of Spanish lieutenant-
governors at St. Louis. These governors, however, identified themselves
with the province which remained French in all but political alle-
giance. The Spanish lieutenant-governor was an absolute ruler except
for orders from New Orleans and rare appeals to the courts there. He
controlled the troops and militia, acted as chief judge under a code
which did not recognize trial by jury, and established local laws and
regulations quite unrestrained by any popular assembly. The French
language was still used in the courts and of course in every-day life.
Spanish law and French law differed only in detail. Very few Spanish
came up the river. In fact, the transfer of Spain brought no real break
in the continuity of the history of the province.
Notwithstanding this primitive and paternal form of government,
the people were happy and content. The Americans on their farms were
interfered with very little, their religion was connived with if not offic-
ially tolerated ; in fact they lived very much as their brothers across the
Mississippi, in Kentucky and in Tennessee. There was practically no
taxation, land was given for nominal fees, and the governors in practice
were lenient and tolerant. The forms of trial were simple, judg-
ment cheap and expeditious and justice reasonably certain. The lack
of any political life was no doubt an ob&tacle to future development, but
does not seem to have worked any tangible hardship or aroused dissatis-
faction. On the contrary, after the transfer to the United Stiites many of
the Americans looked back with regret to the simplicity of the Spanish
regime.
The French have always been a social people and so in Upper Louis-
iana seldom settled outside the villages. Here the home lots stretched
along one or two streets, each lot with its log house, barns and out-
buildings, vegetable garden and orchard. The farms were located all
together in one great common field, where each inhabitant owned certain
strips or plots. There were few distinctions of rank or wealth. The
richer men w^ere the merchants, the wholesale dealers or middlemen,
who sent the products of the colony to New Orleans or Montreal and
distributed among the people the manufactured goods they received in
return. The younger men spent much of their time with the professional
trappers on the Missouri or Mississippi, or in the lead districts on the
Meramec and St. Francois, in any case keeping their homes in the
villages. Here life was simple, happy and uneventful ; the village balls
and numerous church festivals furnished the recreations; crime was
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 149
almost unknown and the people led a gentle, kindly and unenterprising
life.
The settlements, English and American, were a mere island in the
\nlderne8s, hundreds of miles from the outside world. As the Spanish
and French alike kept on good terms with the Indians, there was little
striking or interesting in the narrative history. Only at rare intervals
were these frontier communities touched by the stirring events of the
outside world. At frequent intervals a flotilla of picturesque flat-bot-
tomed barges carried down the Mississippi to New Orleans the fur and
lead, salt from the numerous saline springs and the surplus wheat, com
and beef. In the long and tedious return voyage against the current the
boats were laden with the few articles of luxury required by the colonists,
such as sugar and spices, and manufactured articles of all descriptions.
The artisans were few and incompetent, so that practically all the imple-
ments, except the rudest, were imported. Even the spinning wheel was
a rarity in the homes of the French, and butter a special luxury. The
Kentuckians were a more enterprising and ingenious people, but their
influence on their easy-going neighbors was slight. The merchants,
however, were energetic and successful. Much to the disgust of the
English, they succeeded in diverting from Montreal much of the fur
trade of the Mississippi valley.
The Louisiana Purchase
Meanwhile certain changes were going on in the eastern country and
in Europe which in their outcome were to end this isolation, swamp the
old comfortable French society and substitute the energetic, nervous,
western, American type. The result was probably inevitable when just
at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, Sevier and Robertson and
Boone and their companions crossed the Allegheny barrier and began
the settlements in Tennessee and Kentucky, but it was precipitated by
the problem of the control of the Mississippi river. The free navigation
of this great highway was a matter of life and death to the rapidly
increasing American settlements on the western w^aters, for before the
day of pikes and railroads the river formed the only outlet for their
bulky agricultural products. Unless their corn and w^heat and pork and
beef could be floated down the Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans
and there loaded on the sea-going ships, they could not reach a market
at all or hope for more than a bare subsistence. Spain, however, very
rightly feared the extension of American settlement, seeing clearly that
it would not stop at the ^Mississippi but eventually over-run and conquer
the western half of the valley as well. Accordingly she steadfastly re-
fused to open the Mississippi at New Orleans and intrigued, often with
fair prospect of success, to separate the pioneers of Kentucky and Ten-
nessee from their allegiance to the United States and create a western
confederation under Spanish protection. During the Revolutionary
war and for nearly fifteen years after it, the United States tried in vain
to secure some concession from Spain, but in the end fear of an American
alliance with Great Britain and a joint attack on Louisiana forced her
to yield. In 1795 Spain granted the free navigation of the Mississippi
to the Americans. Migration to Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio increased
at once, and the Americans soon crossed the Mississippi into Missouri.
Five years later the whole Mississippi question reappeared in a far
more serious form. After the confusion and anarchy of the French
revolution, Napoleon had restored a strong government in France and
made her the strongest power on the continent. Turning then to the
restoration of the French colonial empire, which France had never alto-
150 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
gether lost sight of since its loss forty years before, in 1800 he forced
and cajoled the King of Spain to give back Louisiana to France. This
substitution of a powerful and ambitious power for decrepit and bank-
rupt Spain was a serious menace to the United States and to the west
in particular. President Jefferson at once began negotiations for the
purchase of New Orleans or at least, a suf&cient guarantee of the opening
of the Mississippi. When in 1802 the officials at New Orleans closed the
Mississippi anew, the west was in a turmoil. Jefferson sent Monroe to
France to hasten the negotiations and even contemplated an alliance
with Great Britain. But Napoleon had already tired of his colonial
schemes, in the face of the negro revolt in Hayti and approaching war
in Europe. He startled the American ministers by proposing to sell
them not west Florida or New Orleans, but Louisiana, the western half
of the Mississippi valley. After some haggling as to price, the Ameri-
cans agreed to accept the territory for $15,000,000. Thus at one stroke
the area of the United States was doubled, the whole of the great central
valley secured and the Mississippi question settled forever. Incidentally
the purchase marked the beginning of the really vital part of Missouri
history.
Government in the Territorial Period
As far as Upper Louisiana was concerned, the retrocession to France
had been without effect. Napoleon had never taken formal possession
nor had any French official reached St. Louis. Accordingly when
Captain Amos Stoddard, of the United States army, came up the river
early in 1804, he held a commission from France, took formal possession
in her name and then as representative of the United States raised the
American flag. President Jefferson and congress were in complete
ignorance as to conditions and proceeded very cautiously in framing
a government in the new country. Stoddard simply succeeded to the
powers of the Spanish lieutenant-governor and continued the old order
of things until October. Congress also refused to confirm all Spanish
land grants made since 1800. The first regular form of government was
hardly more liberal ; all of the purchase north of the thirty-third parallel
was created the district of Louisiana and attached to the territory of
Indiana. The people were very much dissatisfied, sent a formal
protest to Washington and in 1805 congress organized the same district
as the separate Territory of Louisiana.
Under this act of 1805 Louisiana was a territory of the lowest class,
with a government consisting of a governor and three judges, all ap-
pointed by the president. When the census of 1810 showed a popula-
tion of over twenty thousand, the territory (in 1812) was granted a
legislature, the lower house elected by the people, and the upper house
or council appointed by the president, and a delegate to congress. At the
same time the name was changed to Missouri, to avoid confusion with the
recently admitted state of Louisiana. Four years later the council was
made elective and shortly afterward the agitation for statehood began.
The American law and judicial procedure early supplanted the 'Spanish.
In local government the original five Spanish districts of St. Louis, St.
Charles, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, and New Madrid were retained
until 1812, when they became the first counties. In the next year the
Potosi settlements were organized as Washington county and as popula-
tion increased, more counties were created until there were twenty-five
at the date of admission.
All of the territorial governors were men identified with the west.
As a district, Louisiana was under the governor of Indiana territory.
William Henry Harrison, later president of the United States. The
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 151
first governor of the territory of Louisiana was James Wilkinson of
Kentucky, afterward so deeply involved in the plans of Aaron Burr.
Alone among the territorial governors Wilkinson was thoroughly
unpopular. His successor was Meriwether Lewis, joint commander of
the famous Lewis and Clark expedition, and his, in turn, Benjamin
Howard, of Kentucky. The last and best known was William Clark,
brother of George Rogers Clark and earlier Lewis' companion to the
Pacific. Clark was especially successful in dealing with the Indians,
whose confidence he won by his fair dealing. Other men of note of this
earlier period were Frederick Bates, secretary of the territory ; J. B. C.
Lucas, judge and land commissioner, and Hempstead, Easton and Scott,
delegates to Congress.
Extension op Settlement, 1804 to 1820
While the transfer to the United States stimulated the movement of
population from Kentucky and Tennessee, the great influx of settlers
did not come until after the War of 1812. Until 1815, the newcomers
for the most part filled up the sections already opened up under the
Spanish, with some adventurous pioneers on the Mississippi north of
St. Louis and more in the Boon's Lick country on the Missouri, in the
present counties of Howard and Cooper. The growth of these frontier
settlements was stopped and the pioneers subjected to much hardship
by the Indian raids during the War of 1812, but after peace was pro-
claimed the newer settlements increased with startling rapidity. Of the
sixty-six thousand settlers in 1820 nearly one-half were to be found in
the Boon's Lick section or along the upper Mississippi above St. liouis;
all but a few hundred of these had come since 1815. The control of the
territory was rapidly shifting from the older sections to these purely
American districts.
In the old French towns of New Madrid, St. Charles and particularly
of Ste. Genevieve, the old French society, language and customs still sur-
vived. In St. Louis the seat of government and the commercial oppor-
tunities brought many Americans, but as late as 1820 French was heard
as often as English on the streets and advertisements were commonly
printed in both languages. The most prominent merchants were French
and Spanish, like the Chouteaus and Manuel Lisa, who were able to
adjust themselves to new conditions and take advantage of the rise in
land values and the increase in trade. Even here the old, comfortable,
unenterprising atmosphere was giving way to western energy and
bustle ; with its two newspapers, its fire engine, Protestant churches, and
steamboats, St. Louis was becoming essentially western. Her merchants
were already reaching out for the fur trade of the upper Missouri as far
as the Yellowstone and trying, as yet unsuccessfully, to establish an over-
land commerce with Santa Fe and the far Southwest. The expeditions
of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri and down the Columbia to the
Pacific and of Pike into the Southwest were great stimulants to this
expansion. More important for the general development of the territory
as a whole was the coming of the steamboats just before 1820. There-
after the Mississippi was a highway into the country as well as out of it.
In spite of the increased importance of the fur trade and of lead
mining, agriculture was necessarily the most important industry. In
the southeastern part of the territory the pioneer farmers pushed out
into the Ozark border with their cabins and cleared land in the creek
bottoms and the range pastures for the stock on the ridges. In the
Boon's Lick country many of the settlers were men of means who brought
with them their slaves and furniture, so that typical pioneer conditions
152 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
soon disappeared. As in the earlier period few Americans settled in
towns. Old Franklin, since washed away, opposite the present city of
Boonville, was the center of trade for the Boon s Lick country and a
thriving town of over a thousand people, but the other new towns were
mere hamlets clustering around the county court bouses. While the
brawling, bullying type of frontiersman w^ith his brutal fights and feuds
was by no means unknown, especially on the rivers, the establishment
of several newspapers outside of St. Louis, a growing interest in educa-
tion and academies and the rapid growth of the Protestant churches,
beginning with the Bethel (Baptist) church in Cape Girardeau county
in 1806, were much better evidences of the real character of the people.
Missouri Admitted to the Union
When in 1818, the territorial legislature of ^[issouri petitioned con-
gress for admission to the Union, Missouri in area, in population and in
development was abundantly qualified for statehood. The unexpected
and long drawn struggle between North and South, the first great sec-
tional contest in our history, over slavery in the new state, can not be con-
sidered here in any detail. This struggle revealed the divergence of the
sections from their earlier common condemnation of slavery, a divergence
due primarily to the unprofitableness of slavery in the North and the
extension of the cotton culture through the invention of the cotton gin,
and the subsequent demand for slave labor in the South. The storm
broke when Missouri applied for admission because she was the first
territory in which the existence of slavery could be an open question,
and because the decision in her case involved the whole Louisiana pur-
chase north of the state of Louisiana. The advantage to the South of
admitting Missouri as a slave state was not primarily the opening of the
state to immigration from the South, but rather the addition of two
slave-state senators to the United States senate. Already the North had
so far outstripped her in population that the former elected a majority
of the members of the house ; if tlie South was to retain an equal voice
in the government it must be through an e(iuality of the states from the
two sections and eciual voice in the senate. The debates ran through two
sessions of congress and aroused a popular excitement dangerous to the
Union. The house with its northern majority insisted on a restriction
on Missouri's admission providing for gradual emancipation, which the
more conservative senate refused to accept. The North argued that
slavery was economically and socially a bad thing and ought to be rigidly
restricted that it might die out, while the South insisted that the pro-
posed restriction was unconstitutional and that the evils of slavery might
be mitigated by spreading it over a wide territory. In the end, the first
Missouri Compromise was effected; Missouri was permitted to draw up
her state constitution without any limitations as to slavery, but slavery
was to be forever prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of her
southern boundary. At the same time Maine was admitted as a free
state. The following year the whole question was reopened when the
house refused to approve of Missouri's constitution because it forebade
the immigration of free negroes and mulattoes, who, it was alleged, were
citizens in some states and so guaranteed equal rights by the Federal
constitution. After another contest which threatened the very existence
of the Union, a second compromise was effected by Henry Clay, by which
the Missouri legislature pledged itself not to violate the Federal consti-
tution in reference to the rights of citizens, and Missouri became a state
in the Union in 1821.
Meanwhile, excitement ran high in Missouri, not so much because
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 153
the people were enthusiastically in favor of slavery as because they
bitterly resented this attempt in congress to dictate to them about what
they considered their own affairs. Indeed, until the attempted restric-
tion in congress, there was a quite outspoken anti-slavery sentiment in
St. Charles and Jefferson and Washington counties, but after the issue
was raised in congress all united in opposition to congressional dictation,
and the convention which drew up the first state constitution in the
summer of 1820 did not contain a single anti-slavery delegate. This
constitution, naturally modelled in many ways on those of Virginia and
Kentucky, was a conservative and adequate frame of government, serv-
ing the state with numerous amendments until 1865.
As soon as the convention had adopted the constitution the first state
elections were held, a governor and assembly chosen and a representa-
tive to congress. Soon afterward the governor was inaugurated, made
his appointments to office, the assembly met and elected two United
States senators and the state government was thus fully organized — all
before the second Missouri Compromise at Washington and the formal
admission of Missouri to the Union. The Missourians had little patience
with this second attempt to dictate the action of the state, but passed the
resolution required and President Monroe on August 10, 1821, proclaimed
^lissouri a state in the Union.
Early Politics and Pioneer Politicians
In national politics, this was the so-called era of good feeling. With
only one national political party, the old Republican, politics consisted
of personal contests between the rival leaders. This was particularly
true in a frontier community like Missouri, where a man's personal
ability and popularity counted for more than party organization.
In the first election for governor, Alexander McNair, a moderate
and popular man, defeated William Clark, the territorial governor; John
Scott, the territorial delegate, was chosen ^lissouri's first representative
and David Barton, president of the constitutional convention, was elected
by the assembly as United States senator, both with little opposition.
After a bitter contest, Thomas Hart Benton received a bare majority
for the second senatorship over several candidates, the most prominent
of whom was Judge Lucas. Benton was a newcomer to Missouri and had
already mdde many bitter personal enemies, but his championship of
western interests and the support of Barton gave him the victory.
Benton was very soon involved in a personal quarrel with Barton, but
political parties do not appear at all clearly until about 1830. The
beginnings of the later division may be seen in the presidential election
of 1824, when Missouri supported Henry Clay in the popular election.
When no candidate received a majority and the election was thrown
into the national house of representatives, Scott, with the advice of Bar
ton, cast Missouri's vote for John Quincy Adams, while Benton came out
strongly for Jackson. In the next four years the people of the state
rallied to Benton and Jackson, who carried every county in 1828. Dur-
ing Jackson 's first term Benton was a leader at the attack on the United
States bank and one of the leaders in organizing the national Democratic
party. That party 's victory in the state and nation in 1832, seated Ben-
ton in control of the politics of the state for the next fifteen years.
While Jackson's attack on the bank was popular in Missouri, it would
seem that Jackson's personification of western ideals and Benton's ag-
gressive personality counted even more toward entrenching the Demo-
cratic party in Missouri. The opposition, or Whig party, developed
more slowly late in the thirties, but was badly beaten in every election.
154 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
As a more conservative party interested in the material development of
the country, its strength was naturally greatest in St. Louis and the
prosperous slave holding districts along the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri. But until 1844 the Democrats, united under the rigorous disci-
pline of Benton, carried the state in local and national elections.
The limitations of space forbid even a mention of all the leaders of
public opinion in this formative period in Missouri's history. The terri-
torial secretary, Frederick Bates, succeeded McNair, but died in office.
John Miller was elected to fill out the term and elected for the full four
years in 1828. Then followed in turn Daniel Dunklin, Lilbum W.
Boggs, and Thomas Reynolds. Miller and his successors were all Jack-
son men or Democrats; Miller was born in Virginia, all the others in
Kentucky. Barton and Benton were re-elected to the United States
senate in 1824 and 1826 respectively, but in 1830 Benton succeeded in
bringing about the defeat of Barton, his only formidable rival in Missouri.
Alexander Buckner, Barton's successor, died in office, and was followed
by Dr. Lewis F. Linn, perhaps the best-loved man, by political friends
and foes alike, in all this early period. At least three-quarters of
the men elected to important ofBce were natives of Kentucky; indeed
Jacksonian democracy and Kentucky origin might almost be given as
qualifications for office.
Economic and Social Progress, 1820 to 1845
By far the most important aspect of Missouri history in this period
between 1820 and 1845 was the contest with the \nlderne8s, the exten-
sion of settlement, development and extension of trade, and the more
important social growth. Of the many interesting incidents in the nar-
rative history, only a few can be noted. Through the generosity of
congress Missouri's boundaries (in 1837) were extended on the north-
west to the Missouri river, to include the so-called Platte Purchase.
This technical violation of the Missouri Compromise attracted no atten-
tion from the country at large, but the attempt to establish the northern
boundary of the new grant led to a long drawn-out dispute with the
territory and state of Iowa, settled finaUy by the Supreme Court of
the United States by a line dividing the disputed area. The Mormon
settlements in the western part of the state occasioned a more serious
disturbance. Settling first at Independence in 1831, they increased so
rapidly that the other settlers, alarmed lest they gain control of the
county, drove them across the river to Clay county. Here also they
soon became unpopular and with their own consent were removed to
the unsettled country to the north, where a separate county, CaldweU,
was organized for them. When their leader, Joseph Smith, joined
them here he began Mormon settlement outside of Caldwell on the Grand
river and the Missouri, organized an armed force and declared that
his people were to inherit the earth and more particularly western Mis-
souri. The people of the surrounding counties were up in arms, prop-
erty was destroyed and blood was shed, until finally the Mormons at-
tacked a company of local militia and Governor Boggs ordered out the
state troops. The Mormons were surrounded in their Caldwell settle-
ments and after some fighting surrendered their leaders and agreed to
leave the state. None of the leaders were punished and few of the rank
and file were able to save any of their property. The IMissourian
throughout showed a characteristic impatience of legal formalities and
determination to solve the problem by the most direct and expeditious
methods. While the Mormons could secure no protection from the law
and in many eases were simply plundered, they were undesirable citi-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 155
zens and their expulsion, apart from the methods employed, was an
advantage to the state.
Meanwhile population was inereasiag at a rate remarkable even in
the West. From 1820 to 1830 the increase was more than twofold;
from 1830 to 1840, well on toward threefold; the total population
grew from a little over 65,000 in 1820 to at least half a million in 1845.
In 1810 Missouri ranked twenty-third among the states and territories ;
in 1840, sixteenth. The streams of settlement were along the Missis-
sippi above the Missouri, along both sides of the Missouri from the center
of the state westward, and around the borders of the Ozarks to the south-
west. North of the river, by 1845, all of the counties of today except
Worth had been organized and the country opened up, although the
counties along the Iowa line were as yet thinly populated. The most
backward sections were the whole Ozark region and the western border
south of Jackson county. The newer counties organized since 1845
are to be found in these areas. The new settlers were still for the most
part from the border states to the eastward, and the population of the
state was still on the whole homogeneous. The negro slaves still com-
prised about one-sixth of the total population and until 1840 were in-
creasing about as rapidly as the whites. They were not distributed
evenly over the state but were to be found in greatest numbers in the
older counties along the two great rivers.
The older sections of the state had now passed out of the pioneer
stage of development, the log cabins were disappearing, and the class
of substantial farmers with cleared farms, comfortable homes, and con-
siderable means had appeared. With the increase of wealth and free-
dom from the hardships of the frontier came a growing interest in edu-
cation and philanthropy. In the thirties the endowed academies, fore-
runners of the modern high schools, were organized all through the older
portions of the state, and the assembly passed laws, ineffective it is true,
for the establishment of a public school system. In 1839 the state
made use of the liberal land grants of the national government and
organized a State University, located the following year after a spirited
contest between the counties at Columbia in Boone county. In this same
decade the building of a state penitentiary at Jefferson City on the most
approved eastern models, and the beginning of appropriations for the
defective and unfortunate showed the intelligent interest in the prob-
lems of reform and practical philanthropy.
The development of the state brought to the front new economic
problems. As yet it is true Missouri was almost exclusively a commu-
nity of farmers. St. Louis even as late as 1840 was a town of less than
20,000, while few others exceeded one thousand. Those smaller towns
were county seats or more commonly river towTis, for the rivers were as
yet the only important highways of trade. Many of them sank into
decay or even disappeared after the coming of the railroads but others,
like Boonville and Lexington, have survived and prospered. After Old
Franklin was washed away by the Missouri, Independence and West-
port Landing, the beginning of Kansas City, were the most important,
towns on the Missouri, and Hannibal on the Mississippi. But if the
rivers did furnish an outlet for surplus agricultural products the dif-
ficulties of getting the crops to the rivers and to market was the most
pressing problem of the Missourians and the westerners. The neigh-
boring states in the boom times of the thirties borrowed enormous sums
to build canals and roads; Missouri did not embark on any such ambi-
tious program, but some improvement was secured by the building of
many miles of toll roads by private capital. The success of the first
eastern railroads attracted much favorable attention and the assembly
156 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
granted cliarters for the construction of several in Missouri, but lack of
capital and the panic of 1837 postponed actual railroad building until
after 1850.
Lack of an adet^uate and satisfactory currency and of banking facil-
ities for borrowing money was another grievance of the West at this
time. The common remedy was the reckless chartering of state banks
and the issuance of immense (|uantities of paper money of less than
doubtful value. Here too Missouri showed a healthy conservatism and
only after long hesitation chartered one bank in 1837, the state sub-
scribing to half the capital and retaining a strict supervision over it.
However, Missouri was necessarily involved in the crash which followed
this nation-wide over development, inflation of the currency and ficti-
tious increase in values. The panic of 1837 did not lead to repudiation
of the state debts or destruction of the state credit, but it bore very
hardly on the people, who did not regain their prosperity for some years.
The most interesting and dramatic expansion of Missouri enterprise
was toward the far west and the southwest. In the fur trade up the
Missouri the most important figure was William II. Ashley, first lieu-
tenant governor of ^lissouri, and for years one of her leading men.
After a disastrous encounter with Indians on his first venture in 1822,
he prospered exceedingly and retired leu years later with a comfortable
fortune. His tratlers and agents explored the whole southern water-
shed of the upper Missouri, the Great Salt Lake District, opened up the
famous South Pass through the Rockies and blazed the way for the later
Oresron trail and Great Salt Lake trail to California. After 1830 the
wealthy merchants of St. Louis developed the fur trade on a regular
business basis, and made it one of the foundations of the city's pros-
perity. Before 1845 the settlers were following the traders and Mis-
sourians were opening up the Willamette valley in Oregon.
The commerce of the prairies overland to Santa Fe began in 1821
when William Becknell with a few companions made a successful
trading expedition from Old Franklin to Sante Fe. In 1825 the United
States surveyed the Santa Fe trail and made treaties with the Indians.
Until the coming of the railroads this trade gave employment to hun-
dreds of wagons every year and was an important stimulus to Miasouri'a
prosperity.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 157
Beginnino op a New Period in State History
The forties mark a dividing line in the history of the state. The
coming of the railroads, the settlement of California and the growth of
transcontinental trade, the marvelous growth of St. Louis, tenfold in
the twenty yeara after 1840 until it ranked seventh among the cities
of the whole country, all mark a new era in the economic development
of the state. The population went on increasing arlmost as fast as ever,
but several new elements were appearing. The Germans came to Her-
mann as early as 1837, and after 1848, came to St. Louis and the neigh-
boring counties in large numbers; the Irish also after 1850 were an
important element in the city of St. Louis. The northern stream of
settlement from New England and New York and Ohio finally reached
Missouri, so that altogether the old homogeneity of the population dis-
appeared. And between 1850 and 1860 the slave population was increas-
ing only one-third as fast as the white. In politics the growing sectional
divergence was casting its shadow over Missouri and the Democratic
party was for a time rent in twain by the desperate struggle to eliminate
Benton.
The sectional differences first attained first rate importance after the
annexation of Texas and the Mexican war, both of which were heartily
approved of by Missourians, with their characteristic western eagerness
for expansion and more cheap land and their special interest due to the
Santa Fe trade and the emigration of many of their young men to
Texas. As soon as the ^lexican war began several hundred volunteers
went down the Mississippi to New Orleans ; a little later a regiment of
mounted IMissourians under Doniphan started from Fort Leavenworth
over the Santa Fe trail. This expedition, under the command of Gen-
eral Kearney with some three hundred regulars, captured Santa Fe
without resistance. Doniphan with less than a thousand men continued
to El Paso and Chihuahua in northern Mexico. After resting his troops
here for a couple of months he led his little force in safety to Taylor's
army at the mouth of the Rio Grande, whence they returned to
Missouri by water. Meanwhile a second regiment under Sterling Price
was putting down a serious uprising at Santa Fe (reinforced later by
a third regiment). All told Missouri furnished at least five thousand
troops and conquered New Mexico for the Union,
The Fall op Thomas Hart Benton
The fruits of the ^ilexican war, California and New Mexico, raised the
slavery and sectional issues in national politics in a new and most dan-
gerous form; the same issues were the occasion in Missouri for attack
on Benton. This opposition to Benton had been smoldering for ten
years and was in part personal and in part political. Benton's own
positive and domineering personality made him a difficult man to work
with and created an ever growing number of personal enemies. Then
he was no politician in. the ordinary sense of the word. Soon after
his first election he practically moved to Washington, returning to St.
Louis for a visit every summer and making an occasional triumphant
progress through the state. He never showed any keen interest in the
patronage and absolutely refused to consult or placate the local leaders.
As a result the younger men in the Democratic party came to look upon
Benton as a positive obstacle to their political advancement. Benton
built his influence on his direct appeals to the people of the state, through
his speeches and newspaper articles. As long as Jackson dominated the
158 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
party and Benton was Jackson's trusted friend and spokesman in the
senate, Benton was impregnable; but after 1840 he steadily lost ground.
The national Democratic party came more and more under the influence
of the younger southern leaders, whose unionism Benton regarded with
suspicion. As he grew older he was less and less willing to submit to
party discipline and in the late forties quarrelled openly with the ad-
ministration and Calhoun tried to read him out of the party. Benton
also refused to bow to public opinion in Missouri, and offended very
many by his insistence on hard money and his opposition to the imme-
diate annexation of Texas. When after the Mexican war he insisted
that California be admitted at once as a free state, quite irrespective of
the extension of slavery into Utah and New Mexico, his enemies made
their attack.
As early as 1844, when Benton was to come up for re-election, there
was a paper money, anti-Benton state ticket in the field, but John C.
Edwards, the Hard Money, pro-Benton candidate was elected governor.
The opposition to Benton does not seem to have figured in the state cam-
paign in 1848, when Austin A. King was chosen governor. But when
Benton's fifth term as United States senator drew toward its close, His
enemies closed in for a fight to a finish. Their method was very adroit.
They succeeded in 1849 in passing through the assembly the famous
Jackson resolutions which endorsed the southern contentions as to the
power of congress over slavery in the territories, pledged Missouri to
stand by the South whatever came, and instructed Missouri's senators
to vote accordingly. These resolutions were no more radical than those
passed in several other states and indeed were probably regarded by the
majority of those voting for them as merely an earnest protest against
northern anti-slavery and abolitionist agitation. But Benton, as his
enemies hoped, took them as a challenge. He indignantly refused to be
bound by the resolutions because, as he insisted, they savored of disunion
and did not represent the will of Missouri, and made a dramatic appeal
from the legislature to the people.
The result in the election of 1850 was a legislature divided between
the Whigs and the two Democratic factions, no one having a majority.
After a long deadlock enough anti-Benton Democrats voted for the Whig
candidate Henry S. Geyerto elect him United States Senator, and Ben-
ton's long service was over. He, however, refused to admit defeat. He
took no part in the campaign electing Sterling Price as governor in 1852,
but was himself in that year returned to Washington as representative
from the St. Louis district. Two years later the term of senator D. R.
Atchison, one of Benton's most determined enemies, expired, and Benton
entered the race against him. Again the assembly showed no majority,
but this time no compromise was possible and no senator was chosen.
In 1856, Benton made his last stand ; he ran for governor, but was beaten
by the regular Democratic candidate, Trusten Polk, and for senator,
also unsuccessfully. Polk and James S. Green, both anti-Benton Demo-
crats, were chosen.
Although Benton was sixty-five years of age when the Jackson reso-
lutions were passed, he fought with all his old-time courage and violence,
twice stumping the state from end to end. In spite of his undoubted
faults of extreme egotism, violence and demand for absolute power,
he is the greatest Missourian. His unfiinching courage, his patriotic
devotion to the Union and his services to the West make him a national
figure of commanding importance. His defeat was due in no small
measure to his stanch adherence to his Jacksonian Democracy when his
own party had drifted away from it.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 159
The Kansas Troubles
Meanwhile Missouri politics were still further confused and the state
thrown into a turmoil by the Kansas troubles. When in 1854 Stephen
A. Douglas in his Kansas-Nebraska bill repealed the Missouri Compro-
mise and provided for the organization of Kansas and Nebraska terri-
tories where the people themselves should decide as to slavery, he re-
opened the whole slavery question in a form of peculiar interest to
Missourians. They assumed, as did the whole countr>% that the under-
standing was that Kansas was to be slave and Nebraska free ; moreover,
they saw that if Kansas were to be free and Missouri thus surrounded
on three sides by free territory, slavery, already a declining institution
in Missouri, would be doomed. Accordingly when anti-slavery settlers
backed up by anti-slavery societies began to pour into Kansas and soon
set up a separate government looking toward the immediate admission
of Kansas as a free state, the people of western Missouri were up in
arms. They felt that their interests were too closely involved to permit
them to sit idly by while the free-soilers, contrary to the intent of the
law, as they understood it, were getting control of Kansas. At first the
^lissourians contented themselves with crossing over at election time,
outvoting the Kansas free-soilers and returning home, but after actual
civil war broke out in Kansas the Missourians took an active part in the
fighting and captured Lawrence, the free-soil headquarters. While this
interference in Kansas was quite outside the law and many Missourians
were guilty of unnecessary violence, it must be remembered that they
felt they were justified by the intent of the law and their own interests,
and that these invasions of Kansas had the approval of such men as ex-
Senator Atchison and General Doniphan. In the end the steady stream
of free-soil immigrants decided the issue in Kansas in their favor,
and before the war Missouri was repaid for her interference by raids
of adventurers from Kansas along her southwestern border and still
more heavily during the war when Kansas volunteer regiments served
in ^lissouri.
The Coming of the Railroads
In spite of this confusion in politics the development of the state was
going steadily on. The population from 1850 to 1860 increased over
three-fourths to nearly twelve hundred thousand ; in rank ]\Iissouri rose
from the thirteenth to the eighth state in the Union. The river trade
was at its height and St. Louis had become the largest city in the middle
west. Independence and St. Joseph were growing rapjdly under the
stimulus of the rapid growth of California and Oregon and the trans-
continental traffic. The proportion of slaves to total population had
fallen to less than one-tenth ; slavery was holding its own in only about
twenty-five of the river counties. Over a seventh of the whites were
foreign bom, nearly a seventh were natives of northern states, and for
the first time a majority were native born ^lissourians. The state was
rapidly becoming a cosmopolitan western community, although the sen-
timental attachment to the South was still very strong. The absence of
any staple crop and therefore of the plantation system was fatal to the
development of slave labor.
The most important advance in the decade was the coming of the
railroads. The lack of capital was overcome in two ways ; by very lib-
eral land grants by the national government and, after long hesitation,
by the direct aid of the state. In 1851 the legislature began to issue
bonds, which the railroads could sell in return for mortgages to the
state. On the fourth of July the first spade full of earth was
160 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
turned for the Pacific road and late in 1852 the first locomotive west
of the iMississippi was placed on the rails at St. Louis. Railroad build-
ing proved unexpectedly expensive, work went on very slowly, and even
before the war most of the roads were in diflBculty. Altogether the state
before 1860 issued between twenty-three and twenty-four millions of
bonds for the railroads and already several of them were unable to pay
their interest. Only one, the Hannibal and St. Joseph (now the Burl-
ington) was in successful operation across the state; the Pacific (now
the Missouri Pacific) had reached Sedalia, the North Missouri (the pres-
ent Wabash), Macon, and the Southwest Branch (now the Frisco), Rolla.
The Civn. War Cloud
As the national election of 1860 approached the national parties were
hopelessly disorganized; the Whig party had succumbed to the rising
sectional hostility, the Democrats, in reality just as hopelessly divided,
were to come to an open rupture in the approaching campaign, while
in the North a new sectional party, the Republican, was growing very
rapidly. In Missouri the new elements in the population and the bitter-
ness from the Benton fight were additional local complications. Even
in the special election of 1857 the regular anti-Benton Democratic can-
didate for governor, Robert M. Stewart, defeated James S. Rollins, an
old line conservative Whig, by less than four hundred votes. In the
state election of 1860 the Democratic candidate for governor, Claiborne
F. Jackson, was forced to come out for Douglas, the northern Demo-
cratic candidate for president ; the Breckenridge or southern Democrats
ran a separate ticket; Frank P. Blair organized the Republican party
in and around St. Louis ; the Conservative Whig or Constitutional Union
men nominated Semple Orr. The contest was between the first and the
last, with Jackson the successful candidate. In the presidential cam-
paign much the same lines were drawn, and the more conservative Demo-
crat Douglas defeated the ultra-conservative Bell by a few more than
two hundred votes. In all this confusion one fact at least was clear;
the great majority of the Missourians opposed the radicals, north and
south, and stood for conservatism and compromise on the sectional ques-
tions.
North or South?
The secession of South Carolina from the Union in December, 1861,
forced an extremely difficult decision on the people of Missouri. Their
traditions and^ sentimental attachment were still for the most part
southern; the Benton fight had forced the leaders of the dominant
Democratic party into a support of the southern interests. On the other
hand the material interests of the state were predominatingly western ;
it seemed illogical to secede to protect slavery, a decaying institution and
plainly doomed if Missouri were surrounded on three sides by foreign
free territory, and Benton, like Clay in Kentucky, had left an invaluable
heritage of devotion to the Union. Missouri's decision was of extreme
importance to North and South alike. Having within her boundaries
the control of the ^lissouri and the transcontinental routes, the center
of trade of the northwest, and the largest number of white men of fight-
ing age of any slave state, her adherence was indispensable to the South
and invaluable to the North.
The theatre of war in this fight for Missouri was threefold; the
governor and assembly at Jefferson City, the convention elected to de-
cide on secession, and the United States arsenal at St. Louis. Governor
Jackson, although nominally a Douglas Democrat, was a strong southern
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 161
. sympathizer and believed that Missouri should prepare to leave the
Union in case all attempts at compromise failed and the Union was
dissolved. His plans demanded for their success legislation putting the
state on a war footing and the seizure of the United States arsenal to
arm state troops. The assembly was hopelessly divided, "with' the
Breckenridge or southern Democrats the most numerous, but outnum-
bered by the combined votes of the more conservative^ Douglas and Bell
members. The assembly in January by a large majority authorized th<i
election of a convention to pass on secession, with the proviso that any
ordinance of secession should be submitted to a popular vote. It then
adjourned to await the decision of the people.
They decided against immediate secession by a majority of over
eighty thousand, with not a single delegate elected in favor of immedi-
ate withdrawal from the Union. The factions in the convention reflect
very accurately the opinion of the people. Less than a third of the
delegates might fairly be classed as southern sympatiiizers, i. e., they
believed if attempts at compromise failed Missouri ought to declare
herself for the South. Another much smaller group declared that Mis-
souri must remain in the Union under all circumstances. The majority
of the convention were the conditional Union men, who admitted that
the contingency might arise under which Missouri ought to secede, but
for the most part refused to discuss or define that contingency and bent
all their eflforte in support of some or any compromise that would pre-
serve the Union. Sterling Price, president of the convention, Hamilton
B. Gamble, drafter of its resolutions, and John B. Henderson, leader on
the floor, were all conditional Union men. The repeated attempts of the
southerners to pledge Missouri to secession in case of the failure of
compromise or of civil war were all voted down and the convention con-
tented itself with a declaration that there was no immediate reason
for Missouri's secession, that she besought both North and South to re-
unite, and that she would support any compromise that would preserve
the Union, The convention then adjourned to await the outcome of the
national crisis.
The decision of the convention paralyzed the activities of the gov-
ernor until the firing on Port Sumter and the opening of the Civil
war. He then indignantly refused to obey the call of Lincoln for troops
to ''coerce" the South and thus regained much of his lost ground. But
although thousands of conditional Union men now rallied to an uncon-
ditional support of the South, the majority in Missouri as in Kentucky
leaned toward a poUcy of neutrality. The border states were to stand
by the old Union, take no part in this unholy contest and to present a
barrier to actual fighting. Impossible as this policy was in the long
run it appealed strongly to the people and the assembly still refused
to pass the laws the governor desired.
Pederal Government Participates in State Affairs
Missouri, however, unlike Kentucky, was not allowed to make her de-
cision without interference. Prank P. Blair and the radical Union
men secured Lincoln's reluctant consent that the Pederal government
take a part in the fight for Missouri. Blair realized as well as Gov-
ernor Jackson the importance of the St. Louis arsenal. The United
States army officers there were men of southern sympathies, long resi-
dent in St. Louis and Blair feared they would offer no effective resist-
ance to an attack by the state troops. He accordingly organized an
effective fighting force on the basis of the marching clubs of the presi-
dential campaign. These clubs, composed mainly but not exclusively of
Vol. I— 1 1
162 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Germans, met regularly for military drill and needed only arms to be a «
formidable force. During these same months of late winter and early
spring, Blair was persistently urging the authorities at Washington to
place a more trustworthy officer in command of the arsenal. Lincoln
finally appointed Captain Nathaniel Lyon, a more aggressive Union
man than even Blair himself. When Governor Jackson refused to fur-
nish Missouri's quota of troops after Fort Sumter, Blair offered his
military clubs as a substitute. They were mustered into the United
States service and armed from the arsenal. In this contest also the gov-
ernor was defeated. He did not give up his plans, however. In May
he ordered the militia to assemble for a week of drill. One detachment
went into camp just outside of St. Louis. While this encampment was
strictly according to state law, there seems little doubt that the militia
were to be used as a rallying point for armed resistance to Lyon and
Blair, inasmuch as guns and munitions of war obtained from the Con-
federate authorities at New Orleans were smuggled into the camp. At
any rate Blair and Lyon regarded the force as threatening an attack
on the United States and promptly surrounded the camp with their
troops and compelled the militia to surrender. On the return march to
the city the United States troops were hooted at and stoned, and fired on
the crowd, killing or injuring some twenty-five, including women and
children.
For a few days it seemed as if Blair and Lyon had accomplished all
that Governor Jackson had been trying in vain to bring about. This
open attack on the militia of the state and most exaggerated reports of
the atrocities of the German volunteers sent a flame of indignation
through the state. The assembly at a single session passed the laws
putting the state on a war footing and giving the governor dictatorial
powers. Thousands rushed to enlist in the new state militia, as much
perhaps to defend the autonomy of the state as from any desire for
secession. After a few days when the truth about the unfortunate inci-
dents at St. Louis were better known, excitement decreased and the old
desire for neutrality reasserted itself. Jackson and Sterling Price, now
commander of the state forces, either to gain time or from a sincere
desire to avoid bloodshed, made the so-called Price-Harney agreement
with General Harney, commanding at St. Louis, by which Harney agreed
that the state government should not be interfered with in local affairs.
But at Washington this was regarded as tantamount to a recognition of
neutrality, Harney was removed and Lyon at last put in supreme com-
mand and given a free hand. He absolutely refused to agree to any
limitations on the power of his government to recruit troops or carry on
war in Missouri, Jackson and Price were as unyielding in their demands
for such neutrality, Lyon moved his troops on Jefferson City and war
began.
Evidently it is very difficult to describe with any certainty the real
wishes of the Missourians, for they were not permitted to make a free
choice. It may very well be that with opinions so evenly balanced if
Governor Jaclson and the state government, supported by constantly
growing armed forces at Camp Jackson and throughout the state, had
finally come out for secession, that the majority of the people would
have acquiesced and Missouri would have seceded. If this be true,
Lyon's attack on Camp Jackson was not only justifiable, from the Union
point of view, but necessary. On the other hand, it is more prob-
able that the people would have resented this attempt to force the state
out of the Union in defiance of the still existing convention, and as in
Kentucky, where Lincoln refused to interfere, have changed their senti-
ment of neutrality to a moderate Unionism. Out of the confusion of
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 163
evidence perhaps only one safe opinion emerges, that whichever way the
constituted authorities decided, a very large element would have refused
to submit and so a local civil war was inevitable.
Civil War in Missouri
The state guards were undrilled and very poorly armed and except
for a skirmish at Boonville were unable to oppose Lyon. Jackson and
Price retreated into the extreme southwestern comer of the state gather-
ing recruits on their way. Hither Lyon followed them, after occupy-
ing the river towns on the Missouri and thus cutting off the northern
part of the state. Price induced McCuUoch with a weU armed Confed-
erate force to come to his aid from Arkansas and together they de-
feated Lyon at the battle of Wilson's creek near Springfield, one of
the most sanguinary battles of the war, in which Lyon lost his life.
Price then marched northward to the Missouri, captured Lexington
but was soon forced to retreat. Early in 1862 he was di:iven from the
state and the Confederate army in Arkansas defeated and scattered at
the battle in the Boston mountains in Arkansas. In 1864 Price re-
turned to Missouri, entering the state from the southeast, threatening
St, Louis and marching rapidly westward before the fast gathering
Federal forces. The people did not rise in his support as he hoped and
expected, he was forced to retreat rapidly to Arkansas and his raid
accomplished nothing beyond the destruction of railroads and. public
property. Except for the opening campaign of Wilson's creek, the
fighting in Missouri had little influence on the war in general.
Meanwhile, especially in the first two years of the war, the state was
convulsed with an internal civil war, where neighbor fought against
neighbor and brother against brother. Armed bands in various parts
of the state destroyed railroads and public property, cut off detach-
ments of Federal troops and destroyed the property of Union sympa-
thizers. Some of these bands were men who were trying to fight their
way south, others, while irregular, were bona fide southern sympathizers
but too many of them were simply outlaws fighting under the southern
flag for plunder or to satisfy private grudges. The western border suf-
fered severely from Kansas maurauders of much the same type though
nominally Unionist, and indeed the officers and men of the Kansas and
Iowa regiments were too willing to regard Missouri as a disloyal and
conquered state. To put down this guerrilla warfare the Federal com-
manders put much of the state under martial law, and dealt with spe-
cial outbreaks with extreme severity, such as the Palmyra massacre and
Order Number Eleven. In 1861 and 1862, it almost seemed as if the
Federal authorities were deliberately making it difficult for any mod-
erate Missourian to support the Union.
Governor Gamble and the Provisional Government
The flight of Governor Jackson and the assembly from Jeffeinson
City before Lyon's advance left the state without any organized gov-
ernment. While Lyon was driving Price down to Arkansas the con-
vention reassembled, declared the seats of the governor and assembly
vacant and appointed Hamilton R. Gamble provisional governor. The
Union men of the state now had a regular government to recognize and
support. The situation was still further simplified when late in 1861 a
fragment of the old assembly assembled at Neosho and passed an ordi-
nance of secession. Price now accepted a Confederate commission, his
men either entered the Confederate army or returned home, and Mis>
164 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
soori sent representatives to the Confederate congress. With an empty
treasury, disorganized local government, a large part of the population
in active resistance, and the northern half of the state garrisoned by a
distrustful Federal government, Gamble faced a task of extreme diffi-
culty. The convention authorized a loan, and imposed an oath of loyalty
on all officeholders. Gamble won Lincoln's confidence and succeeded in
substituting loyal Missouri militia supported from Washington for the
Federal garrisons, and gradually restored confidence and order over
most of the state. Missouri's debt to this patient and conservative gov-
ernor is hard to overestimate.
The convention did not dissolve itself until 1863. In 1862 law and
order had so far been restored that a new assembly was elected, but no
election for governor was held untU 1864. The convention imposed a
new qualification for voting in this 1862 election, an oath of allegiance
and that the voter had not been in arms against the Union. At this same
session the convention laid on the table Lincoln's favorite plan of eman-
cipation with compensation. By this time the convention was lagging
behind public opinion, but consented at its last meeting in 1863 to a plan
of very gradual emancipation.
Emancipation and the Drake Constitution
Meanwhile slavery was dead in all but name; it was impossible to
recover nmaway slaves. In the election of 1862 the emancipationists
were in a large majority but not agreed as to the method. Two new
parties soon appeared, the conservatives supporting Governor Gamble
in his moderate policy believing in gradual emancipation, and the radi-
cals, who denounced Gamble as at least lukewarm in his Unionism, de-
manded stringent test oaths and immediate and unconditional emanci-
pation. Although Lincoln steadily refused to interfere in their favor,
the radicals were the better organized and more aggressive, with a more
definite platform, the increasing bitterness as the war dragged on aided
them, so that in 1864 they secured control of the assembly and elected
their candidate, Thomas C. Fletcher, governor. At the same election a
new and radical convention was elected which in January, 1865, passed
an ordinance of immediate emancipation. Slavery, already dead to all
intents and purposes, was thus legally destroyed by state action shortly
before the thirteenth amendment to the national constitution destroyed
it in the whole nation.
This convention of 1865, commonly called the '/Drake Convention'*
from its leading spirit, Charles D, Drake, drew up a new constitution.
The most important changes were the immediate abolition of slaveiy
and the drastic qualifications for voting. In place of the oath of loyalty
and of abstention from open armed resistance to the Union, imposed by
the previous convention, a voter was now forced to take the ** Iron-dad
oath," that he had not shown sympathy with the South by word or deed
in any of a carefully defined list of ways. The obvious intent, and actual
result, in most counties, of this requirement, enforced by registrars of
voters with plenary power to reject oaths even when tendered, was^ to
throw the control of the state into the hands of the aggressive Union
men and disfranchise thousands of moderates who had refused to take
part in the war. The extension of this oath to ministers, teachers and
lawyers, seems absolutely indefensible, could not be enforced in practice
and was soon declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme
Court. Apart from the provisions reflecting the recent conflict, the
constitution was an able and progressive frame of government, particu-
larly in its very liberal provisions for education. Although the iron-dad
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 165
oath was imposed on all voters ou the ratiBeation of the constitntion,
it waa adopted by a ver? small majority and would have failed«but for
the soldier vote.
Period of Reobqanization (1865-1875)
The period from 1865 to 1872, is a time of reorganization and transi-
tion in political parties when party names were confusing and hard to
define. Immediately after ^e war, Frank P. Blair, John S. Phelps and
other former Democrats and aggressive Union men revived the Demo-
cratio party on the platform of loyalty to the Union, opposition to the
iroD-clad oath in Missouri and the radical reconstruction policy of con-
GovERNOR Charles H. Habdin
gress in the South. Blair was candidate for vice-president on the
natiooal Democratic ticket in 1868, but the oath rendered the party help-
less in Missouri. Meanwhile the radicals or Republicans as they most
be ctdled at least by 1867, were far from united. The liberal faction,
led by Carl Scharz and B. Gratz Brown, were ea^r for a general am-
nesty and the repeal of the oath in return for negro suffrage, while the
more radical wing accepted negro suffrage but insisted that it was un-
safe and unwise to repeal the oath. The common support of negro
suffrage held these two discordant elements together and secured the
election of Governor Joseph W. McClurg in 1868, but when the fif-
teenth amendment to the national constitution gave the right to vote
to the negro, the two factions split on the retention of the iron-clad
166 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
oath. In 1870 they nominated separate state tickets, the liberals nomi-
nating B. Gratz Brown, the radicals Governor McClurg. Public opinion
had been steadily becoming more liberal, the characteristic conservatism
of the people was reasserting itself, the carpet bag government and negro
domination in the South was very unpopular in the state and serious
charges had been brought against the honesty of the radical legislature
in Missouri. The Democrats made no separate nomination and sup-
ported Brown, who was elected. At the same time an overwhelming
majority of the people voted to remove the iron-clad oath from the
constitution.
The same general influences that defeated the radicals in Missouri
were weakening the national Republican party throughout the North.
To organize this opposition, the liberal Republicans in Missouri pro-
posed in 1872 a national convention at Cincinnati and the nomination of
a national ticket. The invitation met a hearty response and the na-
tional liberal Republican party was organized. The platform called for
home rule in the South, reform all along the line and especially in the
civil service and the tariff. But the convention very unwisely nomi-
nated Horace Greeley, a disgruntled Republican, not at all representative
of the party principles. Greeley carried Missouri, but was hopelessly
beaten in the country, despite the relufetant support of the Democrats.
In the state election the local liberal Republicans and Democrats made
a formal alliance, dividing the state ticket between them. The Demo-
crats received the governorship and after a long struggle between the
discordant elements nominated Silas Woodson, a conservative moderate
Union man, who had taken little part in the war. He was elected and
the conservatives gained full control of the state government.
After 1872 the liberal Republicans disappeared as a separate party,
the majority of them joining the Democrats, thus making the party
still more complex. The repeal of the test oaths in 1870 brought back
the ex-Coofederates into politics, so that radical Unionists like Blair,
men who had risen high in the Confederate army like Cockerell,
conservative Whigs like Rollins and liberal Republican advocates of
negro suffrage were all fighting under the same banner. The result was
that for some years old antagonisms kept the more positive leaders in
the background. In 1874 the Democrats nominated for governor and
elected another conservative who had not taken an active part in the war,
Charles H. Hardin. After long discussions the people at this election
by a slight majority decided in favor of a new constitutional convention,
which in 1875 drew the present frame of government of the state. It is
chiefly remarkable for its ultra-conservatism and stringent limitations on
the powers of the government state and local. In spite of frequent
amendments, it is today quite inadequate for the new conditions.
The United States senators during this period show clearly the kalei-
doscopic changes in politics. Waldo P. Johnson, supposedly a mod-
erate, succeeded Green in 1861, but both Polk and Johnson were ex-
pelled from the United States senate for disloyalty. To succeed them
the assembly elected B. Gratz Brown, a former Republican, and John
B. Henderson a former Democrat, but both at that time uncompromising
Unionists. Brown was succeeded in 1867 by Charles D. Drake, author
of the iron-clad oath and Radical Republican, while two years later
Henderson was supplanted by Carl Schurz. On the resignation of
Drake, Prank P. Blair, in 1871, was chosen to complete the term, but
in 1873 the Democrats found it impossible to agree on any positive
candidate and finally selected a relatively obscure conservative, Louis
V. Bogy. When Schurz 's term expired in 1875, however, the Democrats
had to a great degree forgotten their former differences and elected
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 167
Francis M. Cockrell, ex-brigadier-general in the Confederate army.
Cockrell served continuously until the Republicans secured control of
the assembly in 1904.
While these changes and realignments were going on in politics the
state was recovering from the losses incurred during the war. In spite
of the abolition of slavery, the depredations of the guerrillas and the
damage to the railroads the destruction of wealth was not very great.
But local government broke down, taxes could not be collected, schools
were closed and business almost at a standstill during the first year of
the war. After Price was driven from the state, and Governor Gamble
restored order and secured the withdrawal of most of the Federal
troops, conditions north of the river became fairly normal except for
the guerrillas. Even after the war was over these were a disturbing
factor, now attacking banks and railroad trains instead of Union sym-
pathizers and private enemies. Perhaps the most serious loss to the
state during the war was in population. With the actual loss of life
and the very large emigration of ex-Confederates to Colorado, Oregon
and Montana, the population was probably no larger in 1865 than in
1860. In the next seven years, however, there was a large immigration,
particularly to the cities and from the old northwest into the cheap land
in the southwestern part of the state.
Financial Reorganization
The finances of the state were one of the hardest of the problems of
the period. Except for the Hannibal and ,St. Joseph, the railroads were
quite unable to pay interest on the state bonds loaned to them, which,
principal and accumulated interest, amounted to nearly thirty-two
million dollars in 1865. Extraordinary war expenses brought the total
debt up to about thirty-six million. The railroads had suffered severely
during the war, were in deplorable physical condition, and quite unable
to borrow money or pay the thirty-two million they owed the state. The
state foreclosed its mortgages and was forced either to run them itself
or to sell them. The latter alternative was chosen but the state realized
only about six millions on the sales. Ugly stories of corruption, probably
founded on fact, figured prominently in Missouri politics for years
afterward. As the sales contained provisions for the completion and
extension of the railroads the state really received more than the pur-
chase price.
In spite of this unfortunate experience the people eagerly welcomed
new projects and aided them very liberally through city and county
bond issues. Some of these projects were legitimate and resulted in
new lines of great value, particularly the lines connecting Kansas City
and St. Joseph with Chicago, but the larger number were fraudulent.
The promoters, with or without the connivance of dishonest officials,
secured the bonds, sold them to innocent third parties and never built
the roads. To this day some of the poorer counties have been unable to
redeem these railroad bonds.
By heavy taxation, selling the railroads, holding back the school
fund and using the large Federal grants made to reimburse the state
for war expenditures, the radicals were able by 1869 to reduce the debt
about one-third. When the conservative elements secured control in
1870 and 1872 they cut down expenditures and steadily reduced the re-
mainder. This was a period of expansion and inflation in business the
country over, new settlers were coming to Missouri by the thousand and
the state on the whole had more than regained the losses of the war
when the national panic of 1873 brought widespread distress. The debts.
168 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
state and local, became a serious burden, taxes were hard to pay and
prosperity did not revive much before 1880.
In spite of the confusion in politics and the feverish speculation and
consequent collapse in business, the state was steadily advancing in the
decade before 1875. Both the new constitutions provided for liberal ap-
propriations for the schools, and the conservatives restored the school
fund. The state made its first appropriation for the State University,
and improved it by the addition of professional schools of agriculture,
law, medicine and engineering. To supply the demand for trained teach-
ers, a normal department was added to the University and three separate
normal schools were established. Population was docking to the cities ;
Hannibal and St. Joseph doubled in population, Kansas City grew from
a little town of five thousand in 1860 to a bustling western city of over
thirty thousand ten years later and was becoming the headquarters
for trade to the west and southwest. St. Louis in 1870 was the largest
city in the West and the third in the Union. The completion of the Eads
bridge across the Mississippi in 1874 gave St. Louis for the first time un-
interrupted rail communication with the East. But the confusion of the
war and the rapid building of the railroads was ruining the river traffic,
and Chicago with her better railroads and lake trade was already dis-
puting St. Louis' supremacy.
Missouri Since 1875
Missouri politics for thirty years after 1875 seem monotonous and
uneventful. Year after year the Democrats carried the state in national
and state elections. The nominal issues were those of the reconstruc-
tion times; the Democrats insisted on economy and conservatism and
denounced the carpet bag regime in the South, the iron-clad oath, the
sale of the railroads and the heavy debt in Missouri. As the party be-
came better united, the more positive leaders came to the front. Gov-
ernor John S. Phelps had served in congress from 1844 to 1862, had
commanded a regiment in the Union army and had aided Blair in the
re-organization of the Democratic party. He was succeeded by another
Union Democrat, T. T. Critenden and he in turn by a Confederate
brigadier-general, John S. Marmaduke. With Marmaduke the older line
ends and" the later governors are younger men who took no part in the
great sectional struggle.
After the panic of 1873, the reconstruction issues although nominally
dominant in politics, were really subordinate in the minds of the people
to the newer economic and social problems. Times were hard and the
westerners believed, rightly or wrongly, that their troubles were due
to the excessive rates and discriminations of the railroads and to a cur-
rency which enabled the East to exploit the West. In Missouri the de-
mand that the government remedy these evils did not lead to any con-
siderable third party movement, but the assembly made some attempt
to regulate the railroads through a railroad commission. The demand
for the free coinage of silver was generally endorsed and found one of
its earliest and ablest champions at Washington in Richard P. Bland.
In the eighties the revival of prosperity temporarily obscured this eco-
nomic and social unrest and the Democrats maintained their unity.
Governors D. R. Francis, a successful business man and efficient mayor of
St. Louis, and W. J. Stone, a former member of congress received sub-
stantial majorities. Francis was later a member of Cleveland's cab-
inet and Stone has represented Missouri in the United States senate since
1903 ; both are today among the most prominent men in the state. Until
1903 the Democrats reelected to the United States senate Cockerell and
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 169
Vest, first chosen in 1879, two senators who worthily continued the
traditions of Benton, Henderson and Schurz.
When the panic of 1893 brought the economic issues to the front once
more, the old party cries lost their magic. The Missourians joined the
new People's or Populist party by the thousand and in the off year of
1894 in coalition with the Republicans elected a Republican superintend-
ent of schools. Before the next national election, however, the radical
or Populist wing had captured the national Democratic party. Its can-
didate W. J. Bryan swept Missouri by tremendous majorities in both
1896 and 1900, carrying with him the Democratic candidates for gov-
ernor, L. V. Stephens and A. M. Dockery.
Then came the first substantial Republican victory since 1868. The
national Democratic candidate for president, Parker, was an easterner
and a conservative, unacceptable to the radical element in the West, while
the Republican candidate Theodore Roosevelt, apart from the currency
issue, which renewed prosperity was driving into the background, repre-
sented many of the reforms which the radicals desired. At the same
time there was a revolt in the Democratic party against the older leaders
under J. W. Folk, who secured the nomination on the issue of reform.
The election resulted in the success of Roosevelt and Folk and the Re-
publican candidates for the other state offices. The Republicans secured
also a majority in the assembly and sent William Warner to the United
States senate to succeed Cockrell. Four years later the split in the
Democratic party still continued, Taft carried the state by a small ma-
jority over Bryan, H. S. Hadley, the Republican candidate, was selected
governor, but the Democrats captured the other state offices and a small
majority in the assembly, which they held in 1912. The truth is that
the older allegiance to party name and party machinery has broken
down, the people more and more are voting intelligently on men and
issues, and Missouri today is a doubtful state.
After 1872 Missouri entered a new stage in her economic develop-
ment. The good government land was all taken up and immigrants
from the East went farther west in their search for cheap land. From
1870 to 1890 the increase in population in the ten year period was about
one-fourth, from 1890 to 1900 it fell to one-sixth and in the next decade
was very small. After 1880 the increase was to be found chiefly in the
cities. As far as an agricultural population was concerned, the state had
reached the limit of rapid growth. The future development of the state
must be along the lines of manufacturing and varied industries, although
scientific farming is already checking the decline of agriculture. The
manufacturing interests have grown steadily since the war. St. Louis
ranks high in the boot and shoe and tobacco industries, while Kansas City
and St. Joseph are among the most important meat packing centers in the
country. The rapid development of the southwest is today of great
advantage to these cities, which as in the days of the old Santa Fe Trail
control the trade routes. In the extreme southwestern part of the state
the zinc and lead mines, all developed since the war, have produced a
group of prosperous and growing cities unknown in 1870; Springfield
also has shared in their prosperity. While the great majority of Mis-
sourians are still farmers, the state has passed definitely out of the ex-
clusively agricultural stage in her history.
170
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
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Proclamation Admitting irissouBi to the Union — Facsimile
PROM THE Original
CHAPTER IX
ADAIR COUNTY
By E. E. Swain, KirksvUle*
Early Settlements
Excepting those on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, Adair was
one of the first counties of Northeast Missouri to be settled.
The first party of whites came in 1828, from Howard county. The
men who composed this band of settlers, according to tradition, were
James Myers, Isaac Gross, Stephen Gross, Nathan Richardson, Reuben
Myrtle and Jacob Qupp. All except Gupp are supposed to have been
married. They located on the east side of the Chariton river about six
miles west of the present site of Kirksville. They built three cabins,
from which the settlement became known as **The Cabins.'' This set-
tlement was broken up the next year by what is known as the *'Big
Neck War.'' Some Indians came down from Iowa, bent on making
trouble. The little band, after having had some hogs killed by the in-
vaders, sent to Randolph county for aid. Twenty-six men came to help
the settlers rid themselves of the Indians. A battle .was fought in which
three white men, John Myers, James Winn and Powell Owenby, were
killed. The Indians were well-armed and it is thought that the attempt
of the whites to make them give up their arms brought on the fight.
After the contest the Indians withdrew to Iowa. The whites thought
it best to retire to Randolph county, although by this time troops from
several other counties and two hundred United States troops from St.
liouis had arrived on the scene to protect them.
According to tradition the settlement of ''The Cabins" was restored
in 1830. John Cain, Andrew Bozarth, Isaac Parton and possibly others
came to the settlement about that time. It is said that John Cain bought
the claims of the Myers family to the land around the settlement, for a
pair of shoe leathers. Between 1830 and 1840, settlements were made in
all parts of the county.
Persons who are known to have settled in Adair county before 1841,
besides those already mentioned, are : Frank Adkins, James A. Adkins,
Hiram Bozarth, Washington Conner, Lewis Earhart, Samuel Eaton, Ben-
jamin Ely, K. S. Filts, Jack Floyd, Nathaniel Floyd, William A. Floyd,
Jesse Gilstrap, James H. Ginnings, William Hurley, Isaac Hargis,
Charles Hatfield, William Horton, Samuel Hay, David James, William
B. Jones, Jesse Jones, John Lesley, A. H. Linder, John Morrow, John
Murphy, John Myers, Jr., Robert Myers, Fray el Myers, Robert Miller,
• In the preparation of the sketch of Adair county the contribiitinfj editor wishes
to acknowledge an extensive use of the * * History of Adair County " by E. M. Violette,
professor of history at the State Normal School No. 1, at Kirksville.
171
172 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Canada Owenby, William Parcells, Hartin Parton, Thomas Parton,
Josiah Rogers, Hiram Reed, John Shibley, David E. Stone, Edward
Stewart, Coleman Stewart, John Stewart, Andrew Thompson and Jesse
Walker. Many women and children also came into the county during
that time.
There were no troubles with the Indians after 1845. In 1832, the
year of the Black Hawk war, a fort known as Port Madison, was built
in the northern part of what is now Polk township, to furnish protection
against the Indians. After about 1835, the red men did not offer vio-
lence to any of the whites, but contented themselves with killing their
hogs and other stock.
Organization
The county was organized in 1841, being taken from the territory at-
tached to Macon county. The territory to the north of the new county
was attached to it for purposes of government. This was erected into
Schuyler county in 1843, but was not completely severed from Adair
county until 1845. Putnam county, which was organized in 1843, was
attached to Adair county until 1845.
It is probable that there were less than one thousand people in Adair
county when it was organized. The early settlers came from other coun-
ties of Missouri to the southward, especially from Howard and other
counties bordering on the Missouri river. Some came also from Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Illinois. The life of the pioneer was hard,
just as it was elsewhere. Farming was done under difficulties. Farms
in the timbered region had to be cleared first and this meant much hard
work. Because of the scarcity of oxen and plows, persons living near
each other would often join and do the plowing on their farms together,
taking them one at a time.
Grain was ground at first by hand-mills which the pioneers brought
with them. Horse and water mills soon came into use and a steam mill
was built about 1850 by a German colony near Nineveh. A tan yard was
established in 1837 by Washington Conner.
The trading posts for the earliest settlers were Hannibal, Quincy
and Huntsville, the two first named on the Mississippi river, to the east-
ward, and the last named to the southward in Randolph county. Mail
was carried across the county at first on horseback and later in stage
coaches.
The County's Growth
Adair county has grown both steadily and substantially. The census
reports show its population as follows: 1850, 2,342; 1860, 8,531; 1870,
11,448; 1880, 15,190; 1890, 17,417; 1900, 21,728; 1910, 22,700.
The county was one of the seven in Northeast Missouri that showed
an increase in population between 1900 and 1910. An increase in the
wealth of the county accompanied the gain in population. From $49,946
in 1845, the assessed valuation of property grew to $3,176,789 in 1880,
and $5,8^,078 in 1910. The actual valuation is, of course, several times
the assessed property valuation.
When the county was organized in 1845 it was composed of five town-
ships: Morrow, Benton, Liberty^ Pettis and Wilson. Five additional
townships have since been formed : Nineveh, Polk, Clay, Salt River and
Walnut.
County Officers
The first county oflScers were appointed in 1841 and held office until
the election of 1842. Samuel Easton, Joseph Ringo and John Morrow
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 173
were the first judges of 'the county court; Isaac Eby was the first sheriff,
and David James was the first clerk of the county and circuit courts.
Until 1872, when the office of county collector was established, the sheriff
went around the county and collected the taxes.
The other first county officers were : James A. Clark, circuit judge ;
B. F. Stringf ellow, circuit attorney ; Thoret Rose, assessor ; W. C. War-
rener, treasurer. The office of coroner was created in 1846 and David
Smith was the first incumbent. Grant Corbin was the first recorder, be-
ing chosen after the office was created in 1898. The first county collector
was A. J. Ejiight, chosen in 1873, and the first county superintendent
was Robert Mercer, chosen in 1867. Guy Chandler, chosen in 1869,
was the first public administrator, and J. D. Stephens, chosen in. 1879,
was the first probate judge.
The present county officers are: Aaron P. Hopson, presiding judge
of the county court; Jacob H. Shoop, judge of the county court from
the first district ; Seymour J. Reed, judge of the county court from the
second district; U. S. G. Keller, probate judge; Ed Rorabaugh, clerk
of the circuit court ; John T. Waddill, clerk of the county court ; Grove
Lowrance, recorder of deeds; Glenn C. Weatherby, prosecuting attor-
ney; George F. Williams, sheriff; Ulysses G. Downing, collector;
W. S. PoUey, assessor; H. C. Worman, treasurer; Foster R. Easley,
coroner; George E. McDowell, public administrator; Tyler Paine, sur-
veyor; L. B. Sipple, superintendent of public schools.
The first court house of Adair county was a temporary, one-story
brick structure, which cost about $1,000. It was built in 1843. A
second building was erected between 1853 and 1855. This cost about
$2,350, and was used until it was destroyed by fire in 1865. More than
thirty years passed before Adair county had another court house.
Four propositions were submitted before a fifth effort was successful.
In 1897, at a special election, $50,000 in bonds was voted for a court
house and jail. The vote was 1,933 for and 650 against the proposition.
The building was completed in 1899.
The county had contracted bonded indebtedness for other purposes
than building the courthouse. The First District State Normal School
was secured for Kirksville by issuing $78,000 in bonds. This issue was
authorized in 1871. In the following year $75,000 was issued for the
Q. M. & P. Railroad. This amount was to be granted to the road as
soon as it was built to Kirksville. Benton township voted $40,000 and
Salt River township $6,000 for the same railroad. In 1906, $17,000 in
bonds was voted to build a county jail.
In the Civil War
Adair county took an active part in the Civil war. Slavery had
never been an extensive institution here, there being only fifty-one
slaves in the county in 1850 and eighty-six in 1860. Many of the
early settlers had come from Kentucky or were of Southern descent and
there was much sympathy with the South, but when the issue became
clearly drawn between North and South, Adair county sided with the
North. Even many of the Southern sympathizers were unable to agree
with the doctrine of secession, so the only thing they could do when the
Southern states began to secede was to oppose their action.
The first expression of the county's attitude was probably at the
election of delegates to the state convention called by Governor Jack-
son to consider the question of secession. This election was held on Feb-
ruary 18, 1861, with two tickets in the field — one an unconditional
Union ticket and the other a conditional Union ticket. The candidates
174 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
on the first ticket, Frederick Rowland, of Marion county, Joseph M.
Irwin, of Shelby county and John D. Foster, of Adair county, were
elected by a decisive majority, carrying both Adair county and the dis-
trict as a whole.
Several war mass meetings were held in Kirksville during the spring
of 1861. W. T. Davis and Tom Brannon addressed those made up of
Southern sympathizers. Meetings of Northern sympathizers were also
held and it is said that at one large Union meeting, held on May 27,
much enthusiasm was aroused by the sight of an aged man named Fos-
ter, the father of Adair county's delegate to the state convention, carry-
ing an American flag. Mr. Foster was a heavy slave owner.
Confederate troops were recruited from this county during May and
June, 1861. W. T. Davis and E. M. C. Morelock, editor of the Kirfa^
ville Democrat, a weekly newspaper, are thought to have been the leaders
of the movement. In August, of the same year a part of the Third
Iowa Regiment came to KirksvUle and put a stop to this work. It is
said that not less than three hundred men joined the Confederate
army while enlistments were being made and that many others slipped
out of the county later and joined the Confederates.
In some of the counties of the state. Union S3nnpathizers were per-
mitted to kill Southerners against whom they had an old grudge and go
anpunished. This was not true in Adair, however. On July 4, 1861, a
Union man named Ward, stabbed and killed a Southern man named
Sumter. As he had a bad reputation previously, while Sumter had been
quiet and inoffensive, Ward was put in jail and a few nights later he was
taken out and hanged. No investigation of the lynching was made.
Adair county furnished at least four hundred and seventeen men to
the Northern armies. This number, which is one hundred and sixty
more than was called for, is the number which has been credited to the
county. It does not include those men who enlisted outside the county
or those who enlisted in 1865.
Companies of Home Guards were organized in Adair county in 1861,
some of which remained in the service only three months. There were
at least three companies which disbanded after ninety days and there
were many others organized during the war, which were in the service
for several years. Some of these troops were organized into Com-
panies A and B, of the Twenty-second Infantry, Missouri Volunteers.
The work of recruiting men for these two Adair county companies and
of getting them into service was facilitated by the arrival in KirksviUe
in July of some detachments of the Third Iowa Infantry, already spoken
of, and the Sixteenth Illinois Infantry. These troops helped not only
in recruiting Federal soldiers, but also in running down Confederate
recruits and recruiting officers.
The first military event of the war in Adair county occurred on
August 19, 1861, a few miles northeast of Kirksville, between a squad
of twelve men from the two Adair county companies and a squad of
Confederate recruits under Captain Robert Hagar, of Monroe county.
The Union men were scouting around, trying to find a Colonel Green,
who was a successful Confederate recruiting officer. When at dinner at
the house of a Union man, the Union troops were attacked and Corporal
Hervey Dix, of Company D, Third Iowa Infantry, their leader, was
killed in the fight that ensued. The appearance of Confederate rein-
forcements under Captain W. S. Richardson, of Lewis county, compelled
the squad of Federals to flee as best they could.
Some of the Union soldiers from Adair county saw service in the
South. In the Twenty-seventh Infantry, Missouri Volunteers, there
were companies, C and D, which were made up largely of men from
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 175
Adair county. This regiment was first sent to RoUa, Missouri, then or-
dered to Vicksburg, where it participated in the capture of that place.
It was also in Sherman's march from Corinth to Chattanooga, and took
part in the fights at Tuscumbia, Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge.
Later it took part in the siege of Atlanta and the march to the sea,
assisting in the taking of Savannah. It was also in the engagement
aigainst General Joe Johnston at Bentonville, North Carolina, and was
mustered out of service June 13, 1865.
Adair county troops in the Thirty-ninth Infantry of Missouri Vol-
unteers were in the famous Centralia Massacre. Company A, under
Captain James A. Smith, and Company B, under Joseph R. Good,
were made up largely of men from Adair county. The companies of
the regiment were recruited in August, 1864, and in September, of the
same year, were put on the trail of bushwhackers in Northeast Missouri.
During the movements, Major A. V. E. Johnson started from Paris
with parts of Companies A, E and H, and followed the trail of Bill
Anderson, the famous guerrilla, until he found him at Centralia on
September 27th. Coming into Centralia with only about one hundred
and seventy-five men. Major Johnson, against the advice of citizens of
Centralia, decided to attack Anderson, who had stationed himself in the
timber near the city. Anderson had the advantage of position and
superior troops as well as of numbers. Johnson had to leave fifty of
his men to take care of the horses and wagons, while Anderson had
more than three hundred men ready to fight. Company A was almost
wiped out in the struggle that took place. Few of Anderson's men were
killed or wounded. According to Lieutenant Colonel Kutzner's report,
one hundred and twenty-two Federal troops, including Major Johnson,
were killed — all within a few minutes.
The Battle op Kibksville
Of Adair's part in the Civil war, probably the most important
part remains to be told — the battle of Kirksville. Although relatively
unimportant as a battle, it was the only engagement of any size that
took place in the county.
Joseph C. Porter, a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate army, was
enlisting troops in Northeast Missouri. He was trying to gather as
large an araay as possible and move it to Arkansas, where it could join
the forces that were gathering there. The Federals decided to attack
the Southern troops and crush them before they became too well organ-
ized. Colonel McNeil, of St. Louis, with twelve hundred and fifty men,
largely directed the attack.
From a camp in Lewis county. Porter started southward, keeping
constantly on the move to escape attack and to increase the number of
his enlistments. He was reinforced when he reached Callaway county,
so that he had in all two hundred and sixty men. Porter then turned
northward again, sending detachments to Paris and Canton to capture
these places. A courier from Captain Tice Cain brought him the in-
formation that Cain and his Schuyler county men had entered Kirks-
ville and had taken it. This news caused Porter and his men to join
The combined force under Porter now numbered about two thousand.
Cain at Kirksville, near which place they might bring on an engagement.
Of this number only about five hundred were well armed, while five
hundred were fairly armed and one thousand were not armed at all.
The large number of unarmed men is accounted for by the fact that
Porter was gathering up recruits rapidly, many of whom had no arms
176 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOXJRI
of their own and could not get any until they reached the main Confed-
erate army in Arkansas.
On reaching Kirksville, Porter warned the people to get out of town.
Some of his troops barricaded themselves in houses and drew up his
main line of defense behind a rail fence. Kirksville was then a small
village, having a population of less than eight hundred.
McNeil's forces arrived at the edge of Kirksville about 10 o'clock
on the morning of August 6th. After ascertaining the position of the
enemy at the loss of several of his men, McNeil attacked Porter. After
a hot fight in which Porter's men were driven out of a cornfield by a
battery of five guns and the public square was taken after a struggle,
Porter was driven out of the town. McNeil's troops were too fatigued
to offer pursuit very long, so most of Porter's army escaped, although
they lost some supplies. The loss on both sides is unknown. The num-
ber of Union men killed has been given as fiv6 by one authority and as
twenty-eight by another. Of Porter's twp thousand men, only about
five hundred were able to take part in the battle. The number of Con-
federates killed is variously estimated all the way from thirty-five to
one hundred and fifty; the wounded from seventy-five to four hundred;
and the captured from fifty to two hundred and fifty. McNeil's force
is said to have consisted of about one thousand men, of which number
probably more than half took part in the fight.
The Confederate wounded were in a frightful condition after the
battle. Finally, John L. Porter, then deputy circuit clerk and recorder
of Adair county, a Southern sympathizer as well as a friend of McNeil,
succeeded in getting a Federal surgeon to attend to the wounded. The
Federal wounded were cared for east of Kirksville until they could be
brought into the city. If the citizens had not acted on the advice of
the Confederate leaders and left the town, many would have been killed.
As it was, one woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Coots, was mortally wounded.
On the day of the battle, fifteen Confederates, who had been cap-
tured in the fight, were executed because of alleged violation of their
paroles. They were: William Bates, R. M. Galbreath, Lewis Rollins,
William Wilson, Columbus Harris, Reuben Thomas (or Thompson),
Thomas Webb and Reuben Gbreen, of Monroe county; James Chnstian,
David Wood and Bennett Hayden, of Shelby county; William Bailee
and Hamilton Brannon, of Marion county; and John Kent, of Adair
county. On the second day after the battle Colonel Frisby H. McCol-
lough, a successful Confederate recruiting officer, was also executed.
The importance of the battle of Kirksville has never been recognized
by some. The Union officers congratulated themselves because they
were rid of a dangerous enemy. Porter was never able to recover fully
from the defeat he met with at Kirksville. He kept up his recruiting,
but was less successful. What he might have done had he won the battle
instead of losing it, is problematical. It was an important part of the
desperate effort made by the Confederates to force Missouri out of Vie
Union.
The Reuoious Progress
The earliest religious denominations in Adair county were the Baptists
and Methodists. It is impossible to tell which came first. The first
preacher who is known to have preached in the county was the Rev.
Abram Still, father of Dr. A. T. Still, who came to Macon county in
1836. He frequently preached in what is now Adair county until he
left for Kansas in the forties. He is said to have delivered the first
sermon ever preached in Kirksville.
Religious services were held at first at very irregular intervals.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 177
Then circuit riders began to have regular appointments. It was some
time until services were held every Sunday, however. The lack of
regular services was often made up for by having camp meetings at
which religious meetings were conducted for several days. The first
camp meeting in the county is said to have been one held by the Rev.
James Dysart and the Rev. Robert Mitchell at Lesley's Ford on the
Chariton river, some time in the forties.
Church buildings, when any were erected, were simple, inexpensive
frame structures. The Civil war brought about peculiar conditions in
the churches of the county. In an eflEort to get on their feet again, they
permitted doctrinal differences to get the better of them and denomi-
national strife became bitter. Nearly every sermon was doctrinal and
any stranger could tell to what denomination the preacher belonged by
listening to him a few minutes. Religious debates began to be held.
They seem to have been most frequent and most thoroughly enjoyed in
1878. Probably the most interesting debate was one held between Dr.
Jacob Ditzler, a noted Methodist preacher, and Professor Jamison, a
Liberalist residing in Kirksville at the time. The four propositions dis-
cussed by the debaters were: (1) The Old and New Testaments are
the inspired revelation of God to man. Ditzler upheld the affirmative.
(2) The Bible is merely a human production, abounds in contradictions
and conflicts with success. Jamison upheld the affirmative. (3) In-
fidelity and materialism tend to immorality and to the injury of society.
Ditzler upheld the affirmative. (4) The Christian religion and the
Bible tend to immorality and the injury of society. Jamison upheld
the affirmative.
Argumentative addresses of all kinds were frequent. Spiritualism
and astronomical subjects were among those discussed. President Bald-
win, of the State Normal School was one of those who spoke in oppo-
sition to spiritualism. The debates were not only between the orthodox
and the heterodox, but were sometimes between those who were strictly
orthodox. Baptism and predestination were favorite subjects for these
discussions.
The denominations now represented in the county include the Meth-
odists, the United Brethren, the Presbyterians, the Missionary Baptists,
the Free WiU Baptists, the Christians, the Catholics and the Episco-
palians. The Methodist Episcopal church has congregations at Kirks-
ville, where they have a fine church building; Brashear, Novinger, Con-
nelsville, Sabbath Home, Bethel, Cater Memorial and Bullion. The
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has churches in the county, also.
The church at Kirksville has a large brick building. There are also
congregations at Brashear, Trinity, Gibbs and Curtis, in Clay township.
The United Brethren have congregations at Brashear, Gibbs, Prairie
View, Green Grove, Prairie Bend and one six miles northeast of Kirks-
ville. This denomination has split into two branches. Some of the con-
gregations in Adair county belong to the branch known as th^ Liberals,
some to the branch known as the Radicals. There are churches at
each of the places named above ; at Gibbs there are two.
The Baptists have always been strong in Adair county. The oldest
Baptist organization in the county is the Bear Creek church, which was
organized in 1840 by the Rev. Talbot Hight. The denomination also
has churches at Kirksville, Novinger, Millard, three in the country in
Clay township, Wilsontown, and one in Walnut township called Morris
church. The congregation at Kirksville expended $12,000 in rebuild-
ing their church building in 1910, after it had been badly damaged by
fire.
, There are four Free Will Baptist congregations in the county — ^at
Jewell, Connelsville, Bethel and Sublett.
Vol. 1—1 2
178 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The Christian church has congregations at Kirksville, Brashear,
Gibbs, Illinois Bend and Star.
The Cumberland Presbyterians were a denomination of some
strength in Adair county when they united with the Presbyterians in
1906. The Cumberlands had a good church building in Kirksville,
which is now used for the united congregations. There is also a Pres-
byterian congregation at Millard. The Cumberland churches at Mul-
berry and Mount Moriah became Presbyterian churches at the time of
the union.
There is an Episcopal church at Kirksville and there are Catholic
churches at Adair, Kirksville and Novinger. The Catholic church at
Adair is very strong. The Lutherans, Universalists, Swedenborgians
Spiritualists, Holiness church and Salvation Army have had congrega-
tions in the county at diflPerent times.
Schools in the County
The schools in Adair county in early days were, like those elsewhere,
not up to the standards of today. In 1855 there were only six school
buildings in the county. There were six teachers, all men, who received
an average salary of $13.00 a month. Out of one thousand and thirty-
seven children of school age only one hundred and sixty-eight were
enrolled in these schools.
Interest in schools soon began to increase, however. By 1857 the
number of school houses had increased to twenty-six and the number of
teachers to thirty-eight, five of whom were women. The percentage of
enrollment had also increased, for out of an enumeration of 2,913, 1,152
were enrolled in the schools.
The Civil war caused practically all the schools of the county to sus-
pend or at least continue irregularly. The condition at the close of the
war was as good as could be expected. Out of an enumeration of
13,937, 2,574 were attending school. There were seventy-one teachers,
of which thirty-seven were women. The decrease in the proportion of
men teaching in the schools is noticeable in Adair county as elsewhere.
Efforts made throughout the state from 1865 to 1875 to unify the
school system brought good results in Adair county. By 1872 there
were seventy-four school districts in the county. At the present time
there are eighty districts. Each district, with the exception of five,
has a board of directors composed of three members elected for three
years, one member retiring every year. Kirksville, Novinger, Brashear,
Connelsville and Wilmathsville have boards of six ipembers, two retir-
ing every year.
The size of the districts varies. In the western part of the county
they are three miles square, as a rule, but in the eastern part they are
of several diflPerent sizes. There has been little tendency toward district
consolidation, although there is need for it in several instances.
The schools of the county cost about $50,000 a year, of which the
state pays about $10,000. The average teacher's salary is about $42.50.
At Kirksville there are three public schools, occupying substantial
brick buildings. There is also a good high school, which is accredited
by the University of Missouri. Good schools are also found at Novinger,
Brashear, Gibbs and Connelsville as well as in country districts.
The First District State Normal School of Missouri is located in
Adair county, at Kirksville. It was established by act of the legislature
in 1870, which created two normal school districts in the state, and
made provision for the location of a state normal school in each. The
first normal school was located at Kirksville, while the second district
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 179
normal school was located at Warrensbui^. The citlzeuB of Adair
county had voted bonds not to exceed $100,000 in all for the location of
the first district school at Kirksville. Livingston county offered $60,000
to have it located at Cliillicothe. The proposition made by Adair county
was accepted unaniniouBly by the board of regents appointed by the
legislature after the people of the county had voted in favor of it, 629
to 189. The actual expenditure by Adair county was $76,000.
The buildings occupied by the North Missouri Normal School were
taken over by the state normal and President Baldwin, who had
founded the first named school in 1867, became president of the new
institution. A new building, to cost $51,400, was begun. It developed
after the contract had been let that this amount did not call for a com-
pleted building, but only for the enclosure, so the legislature appropriated
$50,000 to complete the structure.
The school has had four presidents besides its first one. President
- State Normal School, No. 1, Kirksville
Joseph Baldwin. John R. Kirk is the present president. The school
has had for several years an enrollment of considerably more than one
thousand each year. For the year ending August 31, 1911, the enroll-
ment was 1,405.
Besides the public educational institutions, Kirksville also has a
Bcbool which attracts students from all over the United States — the
American School of Osteopathy. It was founded by Dr. A. T. Still,
founder of the science of osteopathy. When Doctor Still made his
discoveries, he was living at Baldwin, Kansas, the home of Baker Uni-
versity, a Methodist institution which he and his relatives had helped
materially to get started several years before. When he asked the
privilege of explaining his new-found science in the school, he was flatly
refused. Finding Kansas an unwelcome field he came to Missouri in
1875 and settled at Kirksville. Doctor Still and his sons made slow
progress in spreading the discovery, but after some years of hard work,
success came to them. By 1891 patients began to come to Doctor Still
180 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
from all parts of the country. Sometimes he would have from one
hundred t« 125 in a week. In May, 1892, Doctor Still incorporated the
American School of Osteopathy. The school has grown from homble
beginnings to an institution of much influence. The enrollment haa
increased rapidly and in 1910 there were 153 in the graduating claas,
making a total of 2,997 graduates of the school. The science of oste-
opathy haa been legalized in Miseouri and has also been given recognition
by law in forty-one other states and territories, and one province in
Canada.
Prom 1897 to 1900 there was a second school of osteopathy in Kirks-
ville — ^tbe Columbian School, This was founded by Dr. M. L. Ward.
The school went out of existence after many diSiculti^
President Joseph Baldwin
History of the Newspai'Ebs
The first newspaper published in Adair county was the KirksviUfl
Enterprise, established about 1856. L. F. Walden is said to have been
its first editor and publisher.
The newspapers and periodicals published in the county et the pres-
ent time are : The Democrat, the Journal, the Graphic, the Tan Ouard
and the Daily Express, the first four weekly and the last named daily,
the Normal School Index, a weekly, and the Journal of Osteopathy and
Atlas Bulletin, monthlies, all published at Kirksville; the Free Press,
published at Novinger ; and the News, published at Brasbear. The last
two mentioned newspapers are weeklies.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 181
The county has been Republican most of the time since the Civil war,
although nominees of that party have been defeated several times. Dur-
ing the life of the Greenback party in Missouri the Republicans were
beaten by a fusion of Greenbackera and Democrats. At the present
time the county court is Democratic for the second time since the war.
All but one of the other county officers are Republican, however,
Fabm Interests
The chief industry of the county is, aud always has been, that of
farming. The county ranks third in the state in the number of tons of
coal mined, but its agricultural interests exceed even its mining inter-
ests. The comity has a corn acreage of about sixty-three thousand.
The acreage of hay and forage is even greater than this. Some oats and
a little wheat are grown.
An Adaib County Coal Mine
- The county also ranks well in live stock. Cattle, sheep and hogs are
' found in large numbers. The live stock of the county is estimated
to be worth about $3,000,000. Much poultry is also raised.
The largest manufacturing establishment in the county is the fac-
tory of the Friedman-Shelby Shoe Company, whose home office ia at
St. Lonis. This factory was built in EorkariUe in 1908, after the
citizens had given the company $60,000 in cash, a free site for the boild-
ing and had promised free water for five years. The factory employs
three hundred people and the weekly pay-roll is about $2,500. The
daily output of shoes is twelve hundred pairs.
Coal MiNiNa
The county began to be important in the mining of coal about 1900.
Coal had been mined since 1688, but the county did not rank among the
leading counties in the state until 1900. Since 1902 it has produced
from five hundred thousand to seven hundred and ten thonsand tons
of coal a year. In 1905 it ranked second among the counties in the
state in the number of tous mined. Since that year it has ruiked
182 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
third. The coal fields are for the most part in the western and north-
western parts of the county. There are at least three veins of coal depos-
its. The first one is found in the hills in and around Stahl and seems
to be confined to that part of the county altogether. The second vein
extends rather generally throughout the coal fields of the county and is
found at a depth varying from fifty to seventy-five feet. The third vein
underlies the second at a depth of about one hundred and fifty feet and
has been found at Stahl, Connelsville, Novinger and perhaps elsewhere.
The veins vary in thickness from twenty-four to forty-four inches.
There are in the county now shaft, slope and drift mines in operation.
The first mining machinery in the county was installed at Stahl in 1907.
The coal industry of the county has gi^en rise to several towns, as
well as increased the size of others. Stahl, Novinger and Connelsville
owe their existence to the fact that under and around them lie great beds
of coal which have been operated to a great extent. Novinger, espe-
cially, has benefited by the coal industry. While ten or twelve years
ago it was a little village of about a dozen houses, it is now a town of
two thousand population and has just begun its growth.
The first coal company to do business in the county that repre-
sented much capital was the Pennsylvania Coal Company. This
company purchased, in 1837, the mines at Stahl and Danforth and oper-
ated them both. The company's name has since been changed to the
Stahl Coal Company. There are now four large mining companies at
Novinger, — ^the Kansas City Midland Company, the Manufacturers'
Coke and Coal Company, the Great Northern Fuel Company and the
Rombauer Coal Company.
Railroads
Four railroads pass through Adair county. They are the Iowa & St.
Louis, the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City, the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe and the Wabash.
The first to be built was the Wabash, which was known at first as the
North Missouri Railroad. It was built from St. Louis through Adair
county and northward to the Missouri-Iowa state line by December,
1868. There was a great celebration when the road was completed as
far as Kirksville on July 4th. On July 18, 1868, an excursion train
was run over the new road from Macon to Kirksville. This was the
first time a railroad train had ever been seen in Adair county. It
stopped at each station along the route while the band played. Two
hours were required to make the trip. The name of the railroad was
changed, in 1872, to the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern. It was
taken over by the Wabash company in 1889.
The Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad was built through
the eastern half of the county to Kirksville in 1872. The road was
later built on to the westward. The Burlington has acquired this rail-
road and it is now known as the **0. K." or Quincy route. It runs
from Quincy to Kansas City and Omaha.
There are two railroads, the Santa Fe and the Iowa & St. Louis,
that do not pass through Kirksville. The Santa Fe was built through
the county in 1888. The only important station on the Santa Fe in
Adair county is Gibbs. The Iowa & St. Louis Railroad was built
through the county in the last ten years. It runs from Sedan, Iowa,
to Elmer, Macon county, Missouri. The road is now o^^Tied by the
Burlington system. It was originally built to open up rich coal mines.
Yarrow, Youngstown, Novinger, Connelsville and Hiberton are all on
the route of this road through Adair county.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 183
There are ten banks in the county. Four of the banks are in Kirks-
ville. There are two at Brashear and Novinger and one at Connelsville
and Gibbs. The first bank organized in the county was the Kirksville
branch of the Bank of St. Louis, which was opened for business in
November, 1859. The second bank, the Kirksville Savings Bank, was
established in 1873. All the other banks have been founded since 1890.
There has never been a bank failure in the county.
County Towns
The largest town in Adair county is Kirksville, the county seat.
According to the 1910 census, it had a population of 6,347. It was laid
out in 1841, at which time Jesse Kirk, David E. Sloan and possibly
others were living in the vicinity. It was incorporated in 1857.
The city was visited by a cyclone on April 27, 1899, in which twenty-
eight people were killed. Much damage was done to property. Some
little damage has been done from time to time by water.
Kirksville has been without open saloons for the last five years. At
an election held in June, 1912, the city voted against the sale of liquor
for four years more.
Brashear, in the eastern part of the county, on the Quincy, Omaha
& Kansas City Railroad, was laid out in 1872. It had a population of
458 in 1910.
Nineveh was founded by German communists who came from Bethel,
Shelby county, Missouri. Their leader was Dr. William Keil. The
colony was dissolved soon after the death of Dr. Keil in 1877. The com-
munity still exists, however. Most of its members have joined other
churches.
Connelsville, incorporated in 1904, has a population of 652. Coal
mining is the chief industry in this vicinity.
Novinger, founded by and named for John C. Novinger, who lived
in the neighborhood, is the junction point of the Iowa & St. Louis and
Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroads. It has a population of about
two thousand and is a coal mining center.
Gibbs, in the southeastern part of the county, on the Santa Fe
Railroad, has a population of about 250. It is a grain and stock ship-
ping center for farmers in three counties.
Stahl, a coal mining town on the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Rail-
road; Shibley's Point, three miles northeast of Stahl; Adair, a Catholic
community; Wilmathsville, in the northeast part of the county; Sub-
lett, a shipping point on the Wabash; and Millard, also a shipping
point on the Wabash, are unincorporated villages.
Other communities in the county are Danforth, Youngstown, Nind,
Yarrow and Wilsontown. Danforth is on the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas
City and Youngstown and Yarrow on the lowar & St. Louis Railroad.
CHAPTER X
AUDRAIN COUNTY
By George Robertson, Mexico**
Organization
Audrain county was the forty-seventh county organized in the state
of Missouri. It was originally a portion of St Charles county. Its
area consists of about 440,000 acres. It is bounded on the north by
Monroe and Ralls, on the east by Pike and Montgomery, on the south
by Montgomery, Callaway and Boone and on the west by Boone and
Randolph' counties. It lies on the divide between the Missouri and
Mississippi rivers. Some of the streams heading in the county flow into
one river and some into the other.
As the territory of St. Charles county was sub-divided into other
counties by the territorial legislature, and the general assembly of the
state after the adoption of the constitution of 1820, an unorganized
piece of territory surrounded by other counties was left within the
boundaries of no organized county. When Montgomery county was
organized December 14, 1818, the unorganized territory west of it was
attached to that county for military and civil purposes. Callaway,
Boone and Ralls counties were created, however, in 1820, and for civil
and military purposes, parts of what is now Audrain county were
attached to them, and when Monroe county was organized January 6,
1831, a portion of the unorganized territory south was attached. This
accounts for the fact that some of the early conveyances and records of
Audrain county are found in the counties adjoining.
The legislature of 1830 discovering the fact of the unorganized ter-
ritory, since composing Audrain county, two bills were introduced into
the house constructing that territory into a county. One proposed
to name it Union county, the other **Ioway" county. The bill giving
it the name of Union county passed the house and, on being taken up in
the senate, was so amended as to give it the name of Audrain county,
in honor of the senator from the Eighth district, composed of Lincoln
and St. Charles counties, James H. Audrain, who had died during the
session.* .
* Senate Journal, 1830.
** It is not claimed that this sketch of Audrain county is in all things accurate,
neither that it is sufficiently complete to arise to the dignity of a history of the county.
There are many matters within the scope of the real history of the people of the
county not even touched upon. So far as it goes, the writer has sought the most
reliable sources extant. On questions of conflict, he has attempted to reconcile former
statements as far as possible, and in making a choice has adopted the one which seems
most reliable.
The authorities of Audrain county and the city of Mexico have not been at all
particular in preserving the public records, and when it comes to the early records of
184
HISTORY OF NOETHBAST MISSOURI 185
The bill was signed by the governor, John Miller, and became a
law, January 12, 1831. The bill provided that **So soon as there shall
be inhabitants in said territory sufficient to entitle said designated county
to a representative, by the then existing law of the land, the same shall
be organized and entitled to all the rights and privileges of other coun-
ties in the state. '* The bill further provided that parts of the county
should remain attached to Callaway, Monroe and Ralls counties, for civil
and military purposes as theretofore until such organization should
take place.
So far as the legislature is concerned, the territory thus constructed
into Audrain county, was left to itself until it had acquired a sufficient
number of inhabitants to entitle it to a representative. Then the legis-
lature of 1836 passed an jblqI authorizing the organization of the county.
An act was approved December 17, 1836, appointing Cornelius Edwards
of Monroe county, William Martin of Callaway county and Robert
Schooling of Boone county, commissioners, for the purpose of selecting
the seat of justice for the county, and vesting in them all necessary
power for the organization of the county, and providing that they
should meet on the first Monday of June, 1837, at the house of Edward
Jennings, in **New Mexico," for the purpose of selecting and locating
the permanent seat of justice of the county. The act further provided
that the courts, both county and circuit, should be held at the house of
the said Edward Jennings in *'New Mexico."* Subsequently the act
was amended changing the date of the meeting to the first Monday of
'SiBTch, 1837.
The boundaries of the county as originally laid off by the legislature,
so remained until 1842, when the legislature passed an act further defin-
ing the boundaries of Monroe and Audrain counties, and a strip of
territory one mile wide, in all thirty-one square miles was taken from the
the countj, there is almost an inextricable confusion, besides much omission, as well
as a failure to preserve records of many matters of importance.
Neither the county nor the city of Mexico has ever had the offices of a historical
society, the services of which are absolutely essential to the preservation of the deeds
of the people. A society of this kind would find in this county abundant work to
perform, and before it is too late succeed in reducing to a permanent record, many
things wliich now appear to be in a mistful state.
Becourse has been had to a short sketch of Audrain county written by the late
Saml. M. Edwards in 1877, to Bryan and Roses 's ** Pioneer Families of Missouri,''
about the same date, and to a history of Audrain county published in 1884 by
National Historical Company of St. Louis. The latter is quite voluminous and in
many things inaccurate and incomplete, with much confusion, but nevertheless exceed-
ingly valuable to the writer of a ^etch of this kind.
In referring to pioneer times, great reliance has been placed upon statements
made by Messrs. R. A. Calhoun, A. G. Turner, Rufus S. Pearson and John W. Beatty.
In matters relating to the Civil war, in addition to the letter from Col. Brace, pub-
lished in this sketch, consultations from time to time have been had with James H.
Bailee, E. D. Graham and as well John W. Beatty, all of whom lived in Mexico
throughout that period, also Dr. Wm. W. Macfarlane, one of the active participants
therein, in affairs around Mexico. In matters of doubt reference as far as pos-
sible has been had to the ** Official Records, War of the Rebellion," besides other,
historical matter including a letter from Capt. Geo. W. Bryson.
Acknowledgment is made to John B. Graham, county clerk; Eppa F. Elliott,
circuit clerk; A. H. Whitney, recorder of deeds, for many courtesies, and Mr. J. F.
Llewellyn, for access to his valuable library, besides many other persons, too numerous
to mention, who have shown their interest in a history of the county, by aiding the
writer in many ways.
It is hoped that before a great while some person with sufficient time and
patience, together with the suitable qualifications, will prepare as nearly as possible,
an accurate and complete history of the people of Audrain county. The material
is abundant and the people owe it to themselves to have a permanent record made of
their participation in the affairs of the great state of Missouri.
* Laws of Missouri, 1836, page 45.
186 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
southern part of Monroe and added to Audrain county. As at that
time defined, the boundaries of Audrain county have ever since remained.
There is no stream in the county rising to the dignity of a river.
Loutre creek, rising in the southeastern part of the county forms one
of the sources of Loutre river, running into the Missouri river. Cedar
creek, forming the boundary between Callaway and Boone counties,
and running into the Missouri river, rises in th(5 western part of the
county. Cuivre creek, rising in the eastern part of the county is one
of the sources of Cuivre river, running into the Mississippi. Salt river
is formed by Beaver Dam and Davis or North Pork of Salt river, both
heading in the county. Also Long Branch and Young's creek, branches
of Salt river, head in the county. Littleby creek, another stream which
is a branch of Salt river, heads in the county.
Loutre, Cuivre and Salt creeks derive their names from the rivers
which they help to form. Beaver Dam, which is the south fork of
Salt river, gets its name from the fact that in the early days, it had a
dam across it generally believed to have been made by beavers. Young's
creek derives its name from an early settler, Benjamin Young, who
located on it in 1821. Young was a native of North Carolina, living
for a time in Kentucky and Howard county, Missouri, before coming to
the territory afterwards within Audrain. Fish Branch gets its name
from the many fish that were found in it in the early days.* In time of
high water of Salt river, into which it runs, and owing to the slight fall
of the bed of Fish Branch, the fish coming up the stream would be
retained for a longer time in that branch than any other stream, and
made it a bountiful fishing place for the early settlers.
The County Seat
On April 23, 1836, Robert C. Mansfield and James H. Smith, having
entered the land upon which the original town of Mexico was located,
filed a plat of the town at Paris, the county seat of Monroe county, and
gave the town the name of Mexico, in recognition of the excitement at
that time in this state over the growing controversy between Mexico and
the United States concerning the independence of Texas. These pro-
prietors thought that the note of the name would bring popularity to
the town.t There is no warrant for ever having called the town New
Mexico except through the mistake of the legislature in naming the
commissioners, yet in the records of both the county and circuit courts
for two terms, the place is designated as New Mexico. These records
further state that the commissioners to locate the county seat met, and
the first courts were held at the house of Edward Jennings. The com-
missioners met as directed by the legislature and located the county
seat of the county at Mexico, in consideration of the donation of certain
lots and blocks to the county, and they further required an additional
donation which has ever since been known as the donated or county
addition to the town. These donations were accepted by the county
and block twenty-five of the original town was set aside for the court
house square. The author of this sketch has made as thorough investi-
gation as it is possible to make, of where the house of Edward Jennings
was located. The fact is that Edward Jennings never owned a house
in or near Mexico, but after the laying off of the town and prior to the
act of the legislature above referred to, James E. Fenton had purchased
from the proprietors of the town, lots six and seven of block twelve and
* Probably named by Merideth Meyers who settled on the creek in 1841.
t William Mansfield, son of Robert C, living near Mexico.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 187
had located on lot six where the book store of James E. Sallee is now
located, a grocery and general store and this business was conducted
by the firm of Jennings & Fenton. This was the Edward Jennings
named in the act of the legislature. Prom Rufus S. Pearson now living
in Mexico, and at that time a boy ten years of age, living with his
father on a farm adjoining the northern limits of the town, it is learned
that the house where this store was maintained is the first house ever
built within the original limits of the town plat, and from a suit begun
by Gross & Robbins at the July term, 1837, at Mexico, against Jen-
nings & Penton, it is learned that as early as June 22, 1837, Jennings
had ceased to be a resident of Audrain county. Prom the conduct of
Jennings as disclosed in a bill of exceptions now on file in that case, it is
not surprising that Jennings had claimed the ownership of the house
where he and Penton were doing business, and had succeeded in getting
the legislature to designate the house as his, when as a matter of fact,
it belonged to Penton. After the troubles out of which this law suit
arose, there is no further account of Jennings in and around Mexico.
Owing to the fact that people generally cherish the places where
beginnings take place, the author of this sketch has taken special pains
to locate the place where the commissioners met and where the first courts
of Audrain county w^ere held, and after accepting the statements of
IVEr. Pearson as above stated and examination of the early records so
far as they go, the conclusion is irresistible that this place was on lot
six of block twelve of the original town of Mexico and the further
conclusion is that the house designated as that of Edward Jennings was
the house of James E. Penton on that lot. This particularity has been
gone into for the reason that a former historical sketch of Audrain
county has stated that the house of Edward Jennings was at a different
place in the town.
Judge Edwards' Sketch
A part of the history of Audrain county by the late Judge S. M.
Edwards, written in 1877, for an atlas of the county, is adopted as being
correct in the main with the exception of the location of the house of
Edward Jennings, and the account of Robert Littleby, from whose
name Littleby creek takes its name. Bryan and Rose in their account
of Audrain county in ** Pioneer Pamilies of Missouri,'' 1876, give
Littleby 's settlement there as early as 1816, and say that he removed
west in 1822, instead of his death there as stated by Edwards. Littleby
was a trapper and hunter and sold his furs and pelts in St. Charles.
The excerpt from Judge Edwards' sketch follows: **Very little is
known of this section prior to 1828. Of the thrilling events in her past
but a single one comes down to us through the memoj'y of the old settler ;
and this occurred as late as 1822. It is related that the Indians, who
then held possession of all the country from the Boonslick settlement,
north, had made a raid on the whites at Loutre Island, and robbed them
of stock which they could not well afford to lose, and a force of some
thirty men was at once sent in pursuit. They followed the trail for
several days, until they found they were getting too far in the enemy's
country when they gave up the chase and started to return and when
night came on they pitched camp on the head-waters of a small stream
and in the open prairie at a point near the present residence of Mrs.
Margaret Potts.* After partaking of their rude repast, weary and worn
from travel they lay down in the tall grass to sleep, a sleep few ever
* Now owned by James A. Surber.
188 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
awoke from. The savages, having spied their movements, fell upon
them in the night, and killed many as they lay asleep in their blankets.
Two only escaped from the camp, and one of these was the late John
Gibson, of Callaway county, from whom my informant got the story.
These were closely pursued by the Indians, and the last Gibson saw
of his companion was when they were nearing the timber on the head-
waters of Loutre creek, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of the
site of the village of Martinsburg.
** Gibson was three days getting back to the settlement, and during
this time his only food was a hawk which had had a wing broken.
Gibson alone returned to tell the sad story to the wives and mothers on
the island. The whites got together a sufiScient force and came back
and buried the dead, but the coyotes and the wolves no doubt unearthed
the bodies, for afterward when the county came to be settled, a large
pile of human skulls and other bones were found here,* and from this
the stream is called Skull Lick.
**Many human teeth, in a fine state of preservation, recently taken
from the spot, are now in the possession of Dr. J. W. Luckie, dentist,
in the city of Mexico.
**The territory which forms Audrain county up to 1837 was known
as **Salt River Region," and not even Hades with all its horrors was
more uninviting to the timid female than a home within its borders.
**Up to 1828 there was not a human habitation within its limits.
Its primeval stillness was broken only by the hideous howl of the wolf,
or the hair-raising whoop of the Sac or the Pottowattomie.
**In the fall of that year a large hunting party of these genteel
thieves came in and camped on Beaver Dam, near the place afterward
improved by Roland Mclntyre, and as far as we can learn, this was
the last of 'Poor Lo' in this vicinity; at least in force sufficient to
arouse any feeling of fear. The smoke from the settlers' cabins from
this time began to go up, and scenting danger, as the war horse does
the battle, ye savage bent his tall form toward the setting sun, which
remote point it is much regretted he did not reach.
**The first settlement attempted on the borders of the county was
about 1829, by one Littleby, a misanthropic old Englishman. He built
a cabin on the stream that now bears his name at a point where Colonel
R. W. Sinclair now lives. He had nothing but his horse, dog and gun —
and his horse and dog shared his cabin with him. Here afterward he
was found dead, torn and mutilated, and the presumption was that
the wolves killed him.
*'In 1830, Joseph McDonald moved in and settled on the farm now
owned by Garland Sims, and about the same time one Wainscot came
and settled what is now known as the Clem Smith place, but soon after
sold to John Martin;
**In that same year came William Levaugh, John Bamett, Caleb
Williams, Black Isam, Fiddler Isam and John Eolgore and Richard
Willingham. Levaugh sjettled what is now known as the Powell place —
owned at present by M. Y. Duncan.^ Willingham took a claim on the
place known as the Kirtley farm.^ This he sold in 1831 to Reuben Pulis.
**John Kilgore settled on the north side of Davis' Fork, on the farm
known as the Mcllhany farm. It was on this place early in the year
1831, that the first white child was born in the county. This was our
* In a deer lick.
1 North end of Jefferson street, Mexico, Missouri.
2 Western part of Mexico, Missouri.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 189
fellow-citizen, Prank Kilgore,^ who, perhaps, has the best claim to that
much-coveted title, *'The oldest inhabitant."
**Next after these came Roland Mclntire, Thomas Barnett, Richard
Pierson, Charles Mclntire, Roland and Joseph Watts, William and
Richard Byrns — a Mrs. Throgmoten, Judge James Jackson, John A.
Pearson,* Judge James Harrison, Joel Haynes and James E. Fenton.
Later came Judge J. B. Morris, William and Jerry West, Wm. White,
Robert C. Mansfield and the ubiquitous Smith — this one was Jas. H.
"In 1834 there was not exceeding thirty families in the entire limits
of the county. Settlements were ten and fifteen miles apart, but this
great distance did not cool their friendship or blight their hospitality.
With the inseparable and trusty old flint-lock rifle, a man, regarding
it as a solemn duty, as real pleasure, would go ten and fifteen miles to
aid his neighbor to rear the rude cabin, or garner the crop, and at the
conclusion of their labor they would enjoy a wholesome, if not elegant
repast of corn bread and fried venison, with rye coffee, but sugar was
wholly unknown.
* ' The young folks would then devote the night to dancing and court-
ing, while the older and more staid would engage in card-playing —
and so high a regard was at that time held for the game, that no con-
viction could be had under the indictments of the courts. It is said
that on a certain occasion the learned counsel in defending showed to
the entire satisfaction of the court that poker was a game of science,
and not of chance. Of course the acquittal that followed upon this
defense must be attributed to the respect the game inspired, and not
the mental obfuscation of that high dignitary, the Judge. On another
occasion one of these cases had been submitted to the jury, and it had
retired to a hazel thicket, where the Savings' bank now stands, to make
a verdict, the defendant's counsel went out and argued it into an
acquittal. Rude and uncivilized as these men appear to us today it is
doubtful if their kind acts of real neighborship would be appreciated
now. The selfishness, the wild desire to amass wealth, the freezing
formalities of this age of refinement were then unknown.
**At this time on account of a pestiferous fly, known as the *Qreen
Head,' whose bite was very tormenting to beasts — travel in the summer
season by day was impossible — and in consequence travel was almost
entirely in the night; as a result we acquired from our neighbors in
the surrounding counties, the name of *Salt River Tigers.' This was
no doubt from the prowling disposition of this animal, rather than its
vicious habits."
Outside of the Fenton house the first improvement in the town was
by John B. Morris, afterward county judge, who built a log house on
lot 4, block 21, where he kept a store and tavern for many years and
where was kept the first post office in the county.
Edwards continued : * * Soon- after R. C. Mansfield built the house on
the opposite comer known as the Old Scott place, and on the southeast
corner-lot of the same block of the Green Tree tavern,*^ one Ramsey built
a double log house.
**At an early day in the history of the town a race-course was
established. This was a half-mile track, on Promenade street, from
where the Hardin house stands east, to about where Captain J. M.
Ctordon lives.® These races occurred with great regularity every Satur-
day evening, and on them anything from a quart of whiskey to a town
8 Now deceaped.
* Father of Rufus S. Pearson above referred to.
B Morris ' house.
• From Washington street east to what is now Louden street.
190 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
lot was lost and won; and the fist fights which invariably ensued were
presided over by some skilled scientist with the same gravity and
decorum that was given to the race itself.
"It is not to be supposed that the rollickers had things entirely their
own way. There was even then many Christian men and women
amongst them. The Jletbodists bad a church organization with Rev.
Robert Younger as their pastor. At this time they bad no church
building but held regular services at the house of John Martin. The
Baptists also had an organization, and about the year 1835, a church
building was erected on the present site of Hopwell.^ This was built
mainly through the efforts of William Jesse, a minister of that denomina-
tion, of great natural power, and of pure character. This was the first
church erected in the county. In 1838, the Methodists built the brick
church yet standing on the comer of Promenade and Jefferson streets
An Audr.*in County Saddle Horse
in Mexico,^ and it was not until this church was built that the race-
course moved its hilarious doings from Promenade street to a more
respectful distance."
The First County Apf.«rs
The first county court was composed of James Harrison, James E.
Fenton and Hezekiah J. M. Doan, all appointed by the governor as
county judges.
James Jackson had been appointed sheriff by the governor but
declined to qualify.
The court met on the 6th day of February, 1837, as the record has
it, at the house of Edward Jennings, Doan not being present. Being
without a sheriff, William Levaugh was appointed elisor. Joel Haynes
3 Two tnilea irest of Mexico on tbe Coluniliia roail.
* Where the vHy ball now at&nda.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 191
was appointed clerk and gave bond in the sum of $5,000, with John
B. Morris, George W. Turley and James Jackson as sureties. Court
adjourned on the 6th until the morning of the 7th day of February
when Doan appeared, produced his commission and was sworn in, and
the first oflBcial act of the county court was an order granting to James
E. Fenton, one of its members, license for selling and retailing spiritu-
ous liquors and groceries, at his house, for a period of six months. That
order at this time will be of some interest.
It is as follows : * * On the motion of James E. Fenton, leave is granted
him for selling and retailing spirituous liquors and groceries at his
house in the town of New Mexico, in this county, for six months from
the 17th day of December, 1836, upon his paying a tax of $5; also a
tax of one-eighth per cent on every $150."
It would seem from this order that Fenton had been in the same
business before his license and that it was dated back **to cover acci-
dents.'^ The house where the grocery was kept is the same place where
Jennings and Fenton had been doing business and where the court at
the time was sitting.
James Harrison was appointed president of the court and then
the court proceeded to divide the county into six townships * and ordered
elections for constables and justices of the peace of the same. Before
the adjournment of the term, another license to sell and retail spirituous
liquors was granted George W. Turley, for a period of six months, to
date from the 4th day of February 1837, upon paying a license of $5,
and a tax of one-eighth per cent on every $300. It is learned that Turley
then located his business on the northeast corner of the public square,
at the place now known as Harper's Comer, where he kept a general mer-
chandise store and sold whisky. Within the next year or so Fenton built
a house on the northeast corner of block 7, where he kept a tavern and
bar. A tavern was kept there many years and it is the place where
Samuel Dingle was killed by a man named Hall in 1841. It is the same
place where William Kemper's saloon is now kept. Ackley Day was ap-
pointed commissioner for the purpose of laying off and selling lots
belonging to the county of Audrain and which had been donated by the
proprietors of the town of Mexico.
John A. Henderson was appointed county treasurer. George W.
Turley and James E. Fenton were appointed commissioners to super-
intend the Wilding of a temporary court house on the northeast comer
of lot 6, block 8, to be a **good white oak hewed logs, one story high,
ten feet between floor and * sealing,' thirty-six feet long, and eighteen
feet wide, with a partition of logs through it, making one room twenty-
two feet long, two outside doors and one middle door, good walnut
batton doors. Four, fifteen light windows, good square joint floor of
plank, the * sealing' to be lathed and plastered with one coat of plaster-
ing, cracks chinked and seamed with lime and sand, with a good roof of
shingles. One good chimney of brick, one 'plane' chimney piece and
wash board all around said house." The commissioners were authorized
to let the contract for the building **by crying and knocking off the same
to the *loest' bidder."
The court then proceeded to the establishment of roads. The first
road established was to commence at the west end of Love street and run
west to intersect the road from Columbia to Paris; then another from
the east end of Promenade street in the direction of Danville; then
• Salt River township named for the stream heading: within it, Loutre the same,
Cuivre the same, Prairie from the fact that it was mainly composed of prairie lands,
Wilson for David Wilson, an early settler of that township, and Saling for a man
of whom we have no account.
192 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
another from the public square in the direction of the town of Pulton ;
then another to intersect the road from Paris to Fulton ; thence a road
in the direction of Columbia. From term to term the courts then,
within the next year or two, established roads and appointed commis-
sioners to lay them off in the direction of Hannibal, Louisiana, Paris,
Florida, HuntsviUe, St. Charles, Millersburg and Concord. Afterward
by special acts of the legislature, as will be seen by reference to the
session acts in the 40 's and 50 's, these roads were all adopted by the state,
made state roads and commissioners appointed to complete them in the
direction of the several places mentioned. To this day, until the prairies
are reached, in all directions from Mexico, these roads remain with slight
changes as originally laid out. They ran as the **crow flies," and as
the surface of the ground would permit, directly to the points of desti-
nation. Until the prairies began to be occupied in the 70 's and 80 's,
these roads continued as originally established. In order to accommodate
the farms, the county court began to change these roads on to section
lines and quarter section lines, until now on the prairies generally, all
roads run in a direct north and south or east and west direction. This
change has practically increased the lengtn of the road between points
about twenty per cent of the original distance.
John Willingham was appointed sheriff and collector and on a settle-
ment made with him on the 5th day of February, 1838, it was found that
the amount of taxes collected by him for the year 1837 was $45.92. He
was credited with $16.7§, for delinquent taxes for that year.
The court for the year 1838, levied taxes for state purposes amount-
ing to $113.70 11/12, and for county purposes $227.51 10/11.
It has been stated on good authority that Willingham on one occasion
loaned the entire amount of the revenue in his hands to one of his
neighbors, under the following conditions: Willingham was on his way
to Jefferson City to pay the money into the state treasury. On his way
there he met Charles Mclntire on his way to a neighbor's to buy some
cattle and wishing to get them on the best terms possible, Mclntire
desired to pay cash. Mclntire had learned of Willingham — ^that he was
taking the money to the capital and immediately entered into negotia-
tions for a loan. The sheriff loaned to Mclntire all of the money,
returned home and in due course of time Mclntire returned the revenue
to the sheriff, who then went to Jefferson City and turned it into the
state treasury.
At the August election in 1838, James E. Fenton, Jonah B, Hatton
and George W. Cardwell were elected county judges. James Jackson
was prevailed upon to become a candidate for, and was elected to the
legislature.* His first official act was to vote for Benton for United
States senator. Jackson was reelected again in 1840 and subsequentlj'
served four consecutive terms as judge of the county court. In 1840,
James E. Fenton and Qeorg^ W. Cardwell were again elected judges
of the county court.
The judges of that court were more intimately connected with the
development of the county than any other body of public men. Some
of the men performing the most conspicuous services on that bench prior
to 1885, besides participating largely in other affairs of the county, are
as follows:
* Jackson later in life became a minister of the Missionary Baptist church. By
some it has been claimed the reason he declined office as sheriff was because^ as at
that time the Constitution prohibited a clerfi^yman from holding office, he preferred
the ministry to the sheriff's office but it is definitely learned from his nephew, A. O.
Turner, that Jackson never entered the ministry until after he was through office
holding. That provision was omitted from the Constitutions of 1865 and 1875.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 193
#
William H. Lee, three terms, 1842 to 1848; Robert Calhoun and
Joel Hajmes, two terras each, 1844 to 1848; John A. Pearson, six terms,
1848 to 1860; John B. Morris, five terms; Increase Adams, four terms;
T. J. Marshall, one term; Andrew J. Douglass, four terms; E. L. Grigsby,
two terms; R. C. Carter, two terms; John P. Clark, one term; B. P.
Ritchie appointed in place of W. D. Summer, disqualified under the
test oath, then elected twice; E. P. Cunningham, B. H. Wilder and
William Mason.
The court house provided for was soon built and ready for occupa-
tion. It not only served as a court house, but for all public meetings,
religious worship, etc., for some years.
When the second court house was built on the public square, the
county sold the lot and for many years it was the place of Charlie
Weinand's bakery, he using in part the same log building. About
twenty years ago the log building was removed and a brick building
replaced it.
A second court house of brick costing $1,600 was commenced in
November, 1838, and finished in 1839. The sale of lots donated to the
county had yielded a suflScient amount to build this court house. It
is here noted that James E. Fenton was still one of the county judges.
Notwithstanding his duty to represent the county as one of the con-
tracting parties, for the building of this structure, he had the contract
for the brick work in the construction of the building. There are
several entries during the time that Fenton was county judge which
very clearly indicate the loose methods of doing public business in
those days. At that time the county court had jurisdiction of all probate
matters. Fenton not only granted himself a license to keep a grocery
and also to keep a tavern, but in numerous cases was administrator and
guardian in his own court, had the contract for furnishing the supplies
to the court house, and on February 5, 1839, when he was granted a
license to keep a tavern and was charged a license of $10 a year, the
next entry of the court was to allow him $22 for services as judge of
the county court. According to the records, he took upon himself the
duty in vacation, of appointing three justices of the peace and a con-
stable for Salt River township. He qualified them to hold office until
the next general election without the consent of the other judges or ever
having submitted the matter to the court. He acquired considerable
property in the town, but became indebted to various persons and lost
all of his property under executions and in the latter part of the 40 's
removed to Oregon. Matters growing out of his transactions bobbed
up in litigation in various ways in this county as late as 1880.
Early Court Proceedings
The first term of the circuit court began March 13, 1837, and for
the sake of the regularity of the record, to have it comply with the
act of 1836, that record shows the opening of the court '*at the house
of Edward Jennings, in the town of New Mexico.'* But the fact is, the
court was held at the same place as the county court, in the house of
James E. Fenton, located on one of the lots of the town of Mexico.
Priestly H. McBride, of Columbia, then, afterwards of Paris, and
also later a member of the supreme court presided. The sole business of
the day was to record McBride 's commission as judge of the Fourth
judicial circuit, and that of John Heard, circuit attorney.
There were two cases on the docket for the 14th : State of Missouri
against Richard Bryant, under indictment for larceny and also State
against Samuel Mounts, under indictment for the same. The original
194 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
papers of these eases cannot be found but as the witnesses were mainly
from Monroe county, it is inferred that these men had been previously
indicted by a Monroe county grand jury, for offences in the territory
of Audrain, but within the jurisdiction of the Monroe county circuit
court. At a subsequent term of the court, the case against Samuel
Mounts was dismissed and a verdict of not guilty rendered in the case
against Bryant.
On the next day, the commissioners appointed by the act of the
legislature for fixing and locating a permanent seat of justice made
their report, which was received, examined and approved by the court
and ordered certified to the elerk of the eonnty court. This report
cannot be found.
Rex McDoNALn
The July term of the same year began July 10th and again for the
flake of regularity of the record, court was opened "at the house of
Edward Jennings in the town of New Mexico." The first official act
of the court was to adjourn it from that place to the court house which
had been completed. The following grand jury was called : Thomas Kil-
gore, foreman, William Wood, Efi Smith, William C. West, Adam Clark,
James McDonald, John Peery, Deloney Willingham, John Wood, John
H. Kilgore, Rowland Mclntyre, James Davis, John B. Kilgore, John W.
Bamett, Joseph Brown and Harrison Norvel. After consultation, the
grand jury returned into court reporting that they had nothing before
them and were discharged.
The following lawyers from other counties, there being no local
members of the bar at that time, were enrolled—John Heard, James
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 195
R. Abernathy, Sinclair Kirtley, William H. Russell, Henry Cave, Phil-
lip Williams, W. K. Vanarsdall and Thomas Miller.
Two eases were tried at this term, one an appeal case from a justice
court, of William Bybee against James H. Smith, before the following
jury— -James Sims, William L. Williams, Thomas M. Joplin, Richard
Byrns, Benjamin B. Wilkerson and James Pearson, in which a verdict
was rendered for the plaintiff in the sum of $22.21 2/3. The case of
State against Bryant, which is above noted, in which there was a verdict
of acquittal, was tried before the following jury — Johnson Kilgore,
James M. Hicks, George W. Cardwell, Isham C. Kilgore, Thomas M.
Barnett, George L. Smith, Jacob Houpt, Hezekiah J. M. Doan, Robert
C. Mansfield, Henry B. Gill, George W. Turley, and Benjamin B. Wil-
kerson.
The two cases of Gross and Robbins against Jennings and Fenton,
one an appeal case from a justice court and the other on a note, were
continued to the next November term.
At the next November term, in the cases against Jennings & Fen-
ton, both of which were tried, the court sitting as a jury, found that
as to the suit upon the note, Jennings had signed the firm name of
Jennings & Fenton to a note for an old debt that Jennings owed
before coming to Mexico and before the partnership between Jennings
and Fenton, and that as to the suit for the merchandise purchased,
and money loaned, that Jennings had appropriated that to his own use
and it had neve^ gone into the partnership.
At this term two additional attorneys were enrolled, John H. Stone
and John Jamison. At this term several cases were called and disposed
of.
At the next March term, 1838, the grand jury was discharged with-
out finding any indictments, but Grandison F. Williams and Caleb
Williams were both put under bond to keep the peace toward all citizens,
particularly toward Thomas T. Stone, until the next term of the court.
The civil eases had increased to ten in number. Court lasted only two
days.
At the July term, 1838, eleven cases were disposed of.
At the November term, 1838, James R. Abernathy produced Jiis com-
mission as circuit attorney of the fourth judicial circuit. There were
nineteen civil cases on the docket. Eight indictments were returned
for assault and battery, seven for playing poker, two for keeping gaming
houses. All of the men indicted for playing poker were prominent in
the community, some of whom had been former grand jurors, and
reported there was nothing before them.
At the March term the indictments for playing poker were quashed
and in the assault and battery cases the defendants were acquitted by
juries.
At the July term, 1839, the poker players were again indicted, some
of whom pleaded guilty, one or two of whom stood trial and were con-
victed by juries. The business of the court at this time had greatly
increased. The civil cases were mainly for debt, the criminal prosecu-
tions for assault and battery, gaming at cards, and occasionally for
selling whiskey without license. An occasional suit for slander, for
damages for assault and battery, appeared but were generally dismissed
at the plaintiff's costs. Damage suits at that time did not appear to be
very popular. No divorce case appeared on the docket from the begin-
ning of the couft until April 29, 1847, when Elizabeth Gass was granted
a divorce from David Gass.
Up to and including the year 1843, the following additional names
had been enrolled as attorneys— W. P. Howell, July 9, 1838, John D. S.
196 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Dry den, November 13, 1838, Preston B. Reed, March 11, 1839, G. H.
Burckhartt, April 4, 1843, J. F. Jones, October 2, 1843, John B. Dun-
can, 1843, and Charles H. Hardin, 1843.
The first murder case in the county was that of State of Missouri
against Milroy Powell, for killing George Eubanks with a hoe. The
altercation in which Eubanks was killed took place on the first day of
July, 1840, on a farm just north of Mexico. Eubanks died on the sixth
day of July, thereafter. Powell was indicted for murder in the first
degree and was tried by the following jury — William M. Jones,. John
W. Truett, Joseph Smith, Thomas Larkin, William Hayse, James Mc-
Cormack, Joseph Surber, Robert Todd, Thomas R. Musick, William Sox,
Parish Garner and William Doolin. The court gave instructions for
murder in both the first and second degrees and for manslaughter in
the third and fourth degrees. The defence was self-defence and that
Eubanks died as the result of the mismanagement of his physicians and
nurses. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter in the fourth
degree and fined him the sum of $325. He was sent to Monroe county
for imprisonment but was released before the expiration of his sentence.
A notable criminal case is the case of State of Missouri against
James N. Rodman, for the murder of John W. Ricketts, on the third
dav of March, 1857. Ricketts and Rodman were brothers-in-law, the
wife of Ricketts being Rodman's sister. It was claimed that Rodman
shot Ricketts from ambush. Rodman had two trials, one a mistrial,
then a change of venue to Pike county, in which he was cleared. After
the trial Rodman left the country. His father had spent a great deal
of money in making a defence for him. A great number of homicides
occurred during the war, growing out of the then unsettled conditions,
for which no criminal prosecutions were ever begun. After the Civil
war, society was in an unsettled state and a number of homicides were
committed, some of which went to trial, some of which did not.
The next case which created a great deal of excitement was that of
State against Joseph Kribs, for killing William O. Creason, in Monroe
county, July 20, 1874. Creason was a one-armed ex-Confederate soldier
and the feeling in Monroe county ran very high against the prisoner,
and a change of venue was granted to Audrain county. After a hard
contest, a jury at the June term, 1875, found him guilty of murder in
the second degree and the court assessed his punishment at twenty years
in the penitentiary. Sentiment was very much divided in this case on
account of the prominence of Cl*eason, and the verdict of the jury and
sentence were not considered favorable to the Creason side of the issue.
The attorneys for Kribs were so well satisfied with the verdict that no
appeal was taken.
The next murder case of interest was that of State of Missouri against
Frederick D. (Monk) Branstetter, for killing Jefferson D. Lowry, at
Vandalia, in December, 1876. The trial took place at Mexico in January,
1877. Branstetter belonged to a large influential family, his
father being a Baptist minister. He was defended by W. O. Forrest
and the firm of Macfarlane & Trimble. Forrest was chief counsel
and a veteran of criminal cases. By that time matters after the Civil war
had begun to take on a more law abiding hue. Forrest had been the
leading criminal lawyer of this section of the state since 1868, and after
hearing his client's side of the story, concluded that an acquittal would
be an easy matter. The prosecuting attorney was John ^I. Gordon,
who was assisted by Armstead Alexander, a very able lawyer of Paris.
Missouri. Forrest had the reputation of not looking very carefully
after financial matters and it was (juite often that his clients got the
better of him on arrangement of fees. However, in this case he under-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 197
took to be unusually careful and made an agreement with his client,
before going to trial at the January term, 1877, that Branstetter should
give a note for the fee secured by a chattel mortgage on the growing
crop of the coming year, to be grown on a farm which Branstetter had
rented. Forrest's dismay may be imagined when the jury returned a
verdict for murder in the second degree and fixed the punishment at
eighty-three years confinement in the penitentiary. Branstetter was
about thirty years of age and the court in the exercise of its mercy
reduced the verdict to sixty years.
The father of Branstetter was in the court room when the announce-
ment of the verdict was made and he, completely overcome, sank to the
floor bewailing aloud his son's misfortune and the family disgrace.
Amid much excitement of the spectators. Judge Forrest, with a voice
heard above everything, exclaimed — ** Father Branstetter, be not over-
come nor discouraged at this verdict, this is just the entering wedge,
the law suit has just begun."
Branstetter failing to get a new trial, appealed the case to thfe
supreme court, the decision of which is reported in the 65th Missouri
Report. That court ordered a new trial and a change of venue was
granted to another county, where the case finally resulted in the dis-
charge of the prisoner.
In 1878, J. McD. Trimble was elected prosecuting attorney of the
county. He served two terms and during that time prosecuted eleven
defendants for murder. One of them was the case of State against
Stephen J. Moore, for killing his brother-in-law, Albert Gentry, on the
15th of June, 1878. He was convicted of murder in the first degree,
the court granted a new trial and a change of venue was granted to
Pike county, the case going into the hands of new prosecutors, for at
that time the law did not require a prosecuting attorney to follow
cases out of his county. Moore was acquitted.
Among the other criminal cases during Trimble's term, was that of
Walker Kilgore, charged with the murder of S. D. Willinghara. Kilgore
was ably defended. He was convicted of murder in the first degree and
was executed by Sheriff Harrison Olasscock, March 6, 1880.
Another important case was that of State of Missouri against Joe
Hicks, Nathan Faucett, Jake Muldrow, all three colored, and Emma
Prilly, white, for the murder of Octive Inlow, on the 30th of September,
1879. In a joint trial, April, 1880, Hicks was found not guilty, Muldrow
and Faucett guilty of murder in the first degree and the jury failed to
agree as to the woman. The two defendants convicted were duly exe-
cuted. After the trial, on a promise to leave town, never to return,
Emma Prilly was discharged. Shortly after this she returned to Mexico,
voluntarily entered a plea of guilty of murder in the second degree and
served twelve years in the penitentiary.
Another case creating a great deal of excitement in the county was
that against William and Leslie Hartley, charged with the murder of
Mastin Wiley, in January, 1879. They were both convicted of murder
in the second degree, Leslie Hartley getting a sentence of ten years
and William Hartley for sixty years. There were some extenuating cir-
cumstances in the case of Leslie Hartley and after two or three years
confinement, he was pardoned by the governor and returned to Mexico
and made a good useful citizen, until his death a few years ago. William
Hartley served for a good long time and was finally pardoned.
The only legal executions ever taking place in the county are those
above referred to. There never was a lynching within the county and
the foregoing murder cases are not all, hut are the notable ones within
the county. Taking the county as a whole, from its early history down
198 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
to the present time, it may be said to be of more than above the average
as to the law abiding character of its inhabitants .
• County Officers
The names of judges who have served in the Audrain county circuit
court from date of organization, 1837, to the present time, are as
follows : P. H. McBride, afterward supreme judge, Boone county, March
13, 1837, to March 31, 1841 ; John D. Leland, afterward supreme judge,
Howard county, March 31, 1841 to October 25, 1848 ; William A. Hall,
Randolph county, October 25, 1848, to April 30, 1856 ; John T. Redd,
Monroe county, April 30, 1856, to April 28, 1862 ; Gilchrist Porter, Pike
county, April 28, 1862, to October 17, 1862 ; John I. Campbell, Marion
county, October 17, 1865, to April 16, 1866 ; William P. Harrison, Marion
county, April 16, 1866, to March 4, 1872 ; Gilchrist Porter, Pike county,
March 4, 1872, to January 24, 1881; Elijah Robinson, Pike county,
January 24, 1881, to January 1, 1887; Elliott M. Hughes, Montgomery
county, January 1, 1887, to July 1, 1903; Robert D. Rodgers, Audrain
county, vice Hughes, deceased, July 7, 1903, to August 19, 1903, ap-
pointed by Governor Dockery; Houston W. Johnson, Montgomery
county, vice Rodgers, resigned, August 19, 1903, to January 16, 1905,
appointed by Governor Dockery; James D. Barnett, Montgomery county,
present incumbent, since January 16, 1905.
Joel Haynes was the first circuit clerk of the county and some of
those holding that office subsequently, were John B. Morris, John P.
Clark, Silas Wilson, James Carroll, Ben C. Johnson, three terms, John
J. Steele, P. M. Morris, and Captain James C. Buckner.
In 1872 the legislature passed an act giving to Audrain county a
probate court, thereby transferring to that court all probate business
from the county court.
June 1, 1872, George B. Macfarlane was by Governor Brown ap-
pointed judge, and at the November election the same year, he was
elected and held office until the 15th of January 1875, when he resigned
and Samuel M. Edwards was by Governor Hardin appointed his succes-
sor. This office he held by election until January 1, 1903, when he
voluntarily retired and William W. Botts, the present incumbent became
his successor.
In 1840 James Harrison was the Whig candidate and James Jackson
the Democratic candidate for the legislature. Harrison obtained the
certificate of election but his seat was successfully contested by Jackson.
Abraham B. Tinsley was at that election chosen sheriff. In 1842, James
Harrison, the Whig candidate defeated James Jackson, for the legis-
lature. John B. Morris was elected clerk of both the circuit and county
courts. In 1844, Robert Calhoun, Whig, defeated Richard R. Lee, Demo-
crat, for the legislature. In 1846, Abraham B. Tinsley, Democrat, was
elected to the legislature over James Harrison, Whig. In 1850, Bazel
Offutt, Whig, defeated Tinsley, Democrat, for the legislature. In 1854,
John R. Crosswhite, Democrat, was elected to the legislature, over Thomas
J. Hardin, Whig. In 1856, Thomas J. Hardin, Native American candi-
date, defeated A. B. Tinsley, Democrat, by one majority. Tinsley
contested the seat and Hardin resigned. In an election to fill the
vacancy, Hardin beat Tinsley two votes. Prior to the Civil war, the
parties were about equally divided in the county, sometimes the Whigs,
sometimes the Democrats were successful. In 1858, Mortimer Mcllhany
defeated A. B. Tinsley, Democrat, for the legislature. Mcllhany was
again elected in 1860. In both races he ran against a regular Democrat.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOXJRI 199
Mcllhany attended the legislature, voted for secession, was also at the
Neosho special sitting of the legislature called by Governor Jackson and
there voted for sepession. Charles H. Hardin, who was the senator
from the senatorial district in which Audrain was situated, attended the
last named sitting of the legislature and voted against secession. Mcll-
hany was sent as a representative of Missouri to the Confederate congress.
In the county election of 1860, John B. Morris, W. D. Sumner and
John P. Clark were elected judges of the county court, Alexander Carter,
sheriff, and M. Y. Duncan, county clerk. W. D. Sumner, the sheriff and
the county clerk were ousted under the test oath. B. P. Ritchie was
appointed the successor of Sumner. George 0. Yeiser, a lawyer and
deputy provost-marshal, was appointed in place of Duncan, John W.
Gamble, sheriff in place of Carter.
The Bar
The business of the courts was carried on by the non-resident attor-
neys, following the circuit, as was the fashion then until 1851, when
Samuel A. Craddock from Kentucky, established an ofBce in Mexico.
He was followed by Samuel M. Edwards from Virginia, M. Y. Duncan,
formerly from Callaway county, and Charles C. Ricketts from Virginia.
Then in the later 50 's by John M. Gordon from Boone county, Mortimer
Mcllhany and John T. Brooks from Kentucky. During the Civil war
and for some years thereafter the bar was made up of the following
additional attorneys — John D. and George B. Macfarlane, brothers,
L. M. Conklin, H. W. Smart, George 0. Yeiser, Charles H. Hardin, 1861 ;
Milton F. Simmons, Ira Hall, Thomas H. Musick, Henry C. Daniel and
J. E. Hut ton. William J. Howell and Theodore Brace of Paris, after
the Civil war carried professional cards in The Weekly Missouri Ledger,
Charles H. Hardin carried a card in which he appended to his name —
*' Under the constitution of the United States." All of the local law-
yers of that period, outside of George B. Macfarlane and Hardin engaged
as well in insurance and real estate business. Conklin was also an agent
for a nursery. Hardin spent a part of his time improving a farm north
of Mexico.
Then came William H. Kennan, William 0. Forrest, Daniel H.
Mclntyre, J. McD. Trimble, Colby T. Quisenberry and W. B. Mclntire,
then later C. G. and J. W. Daniel and L. C. Sweaver, then in 1876,
W. W. Fry, Orlando Hitt, T. B. Buckner, George Robertson, David
T. Gentry and J. G. Trimble. It was not until Forrest, Kennan, Mcln-
tyre, Geo. B. Macfarlane and Trimble had established practices that the
foreign attorneys disappeared in charge of the main litigation of the
courts of the county.
D. H. Mclntyre held the office of prosecuting attorney, state senator,
was twice a member of the house of representatives from the county and
in 1880 was elected attorney general.
William H. Kennan represented the county one term in the legis-
lature, was a successful financier and retired from the practice several
years before his death.
John M. Gordon was three times prosecuting attorney of the county,
was a fair lawyer of his time, died very poor and left no family.
Geo. B. Macfarlane became supreme judge in 1891 and held the
office until his death, February 12, 1898.
M. Y. Duncan never aimed to devote his entire time to the practice.
He was more or less of a publicist, and became reasonably well oflE for
his time.
200 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Ricketts was a bachelor, never engaged actively in the trial of cases
but associated himself with William J. Howell of Paris in that regard.
He acquired considerable real estate before his death.
John D. Macfarlane died about 1870.
Craddock' succeeded fairly well in local practice, and like the other
Mexico lawyers of that time, dealt more or less in real estate. He raised
a family of two sons and three daughters and was especially devoted to
the care and education of his daughters.
Edwards for a great many years presided as probate judge as before
stated and his widow resides in Mexico.
Hardin after the Civil war was again elected state senator, was
elected governor in 1874, never attempted to return to the practice after
that, but spent the remainder of his life as president of the Mexico
Southern bank and supporting Hardin College of which he was the
founder.
Mcllhany after the Civil war served two terms in the legislature in
one of which he was speaker of the house. After that he retired from
the practice, engaged in trading in real estate and about 1880 removed
to the state of Texas where he died some years ago.
Conklin, Smart and Yeiser flourished more or less out of the condi-
tions arising during and after the Civil war, and in the later 60 's all
left here.
Simmons turned his attention to the newspaper business and after-
wards removed westward and engaged in the real estate business.
Hall along in the 80 's removed from Mexico to Los Angeles, Califor-
nia, and there it is said became quite successful as a practitioner.
About the same time of Hall's leaving Mexico, Musick removed to
Hartville, Wright county, there engaged in the practice and died there
a few years ago.
L. C. Sweaver was a conveyancer and was the first to engage in mak-
ing complete abstracts of title. He left Mexico about 1880.
Brooks with his profession of law, was also a minister of the Chris-
tian church and the editor for a number of years of the Missouri Ledger.
He died about 1877.
Forrest died at his home in Mexico, March 7, 1890. In a resolution
adopted by the bar of the county at his death, it said of him in part :
**He was a lawyer of great ability and learning; earnest and elo(|uent
in behalf of the interests of his clients; genial, courteous, true and
accommodating to his brother lawyers and kind and generous to a fault
in social relations."
Henry C. Daniel, about 1870, removed to Cass county where he
engaged in the practice.
C. G. Daniel removed to Yandalia, where he became interested in
financial matters and for a great number of years has given his attention
to banking in which he has been very successful.
J. W. Daniel has for a number of years been engaged in a success-
ful insurance and real estate business at the latter place.
Buckner held the oflBce of prosecuting attorney, in his second terra
resigned and removed to Kansas City where he has since been engaged
in the practice.
Robertson was his successor by appointment of Governor Marmaduke
and has since been engaged in the practice at Mexico.
Hitt removed to Colorado in 1887, where he served as prosecuting
attorney of Los Animas county and acquired considerable distinction
as a lawyer. He returned to Audrain county in 1896, again engaged in
the practice of law at Mexico and died in November, 1908.
Trimble removed to Kansas City in 1887, and there has been engaged
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 201
in the practice ever since. He acquired a reputation of being one of the
ablest lawyers in the West and after removing to Kansas City soon took
rank at the head of the bar in that city.
Fry is still engaged in the practice at Mexico. In addition to his
successes as a lawyer he has acquired considerable property and for a
number of years has been president of the Mexico Savings bank.
W. B. Mclntire was quite successful in trading in real estate and
never aimed to devote his time wholly to the practice. He has a son
in Mexico in business and his widow lives in St. Louis.
Quisenberry came to the county from Kentucky in 1866, a very
wealthy farmer. He engaged in farming and stock raising here for a
number of years, was a candidate for state auditor on the Granger's
ticket which opposed the Democrats in 1874. Being defeated and losing
his property, he turned his attention to the law but never with any
considerable success. About 1880, he removed to Trinidad, Colorado,
where he died about 1890. He was a man of fine personal character.
J. E. Hutton after some effort at practice, turned his attention to
newspaper work. He became the editor and proprietor of the Intelli-
gencer, In 1884, he was elected to congress and served two terms. He
died soon after retiring from congress. His widow resides in Mexico.
Gentry after engaging in practice for a few years took up life insur-
ance as a business. J. G. Trimble was twice prosecuting attorney. He
now practices law in Kansas City.
As to the present bar, the writer will leave it to the future historian,
but will add by way of comment that taking it as a whole, they are
maintaining the high standard set them by their predecessors. The
real estate and insurance business is no longer followed in connection
with the duties of the regular profession.
Physicians
The first doctors practicing in Audrain county were Mathew Walton
and G. W. Penny. When the county seat was located, they were at or
near Mexico. Soon after Mexico was laid off, Dr. Edward Ratliff, a
native of Maine, and a graduate of Bowdoin College of that state, located
on a farm three or four miles northeast of Mexico and engaged in
practice. He afterwards removed to Mexico and from there to Santa
Fe, Missouri, where he continued to practice for many years. About the
same time came Dr. W. H. Lee, afterward county judge.
In 1854, Dr. R. W. Bourn came to Mexico from Kentucky and at
that time found Drs. Lazarus N. Hunter, Nathaniel Allison and W. H.
Lee located there. Later came Chas. H. Hughes, then S. N. Russell, a
native of Maine also, a graduate of Bowdoin College. About the time
Russell located here, were Drs. T. P. Rothwell, Wesley Humphrey, C.
B. Fetter, J. W. Lanius, John S. Potts, and R. Arnold, the first homeo-
path.
Located in the county on Littleby was Dr. Joshua H. Crawford,
Edward Duncan on Long Branch, who practiced in northern Audrain
and southern Monroe. In 1875 from Concord also came Dr. Wm. W.
Macfarlane. Soon after that Dr. W. R. Rodes from Santa Fe, who
while living here was made superintendent of the Fulton Insane Asylum.
Then came Dr. T. J. Baskett, from Callaway county.
In 1872, there was organized an Audrain county Medical Society,
and the following made up the oflBcers and the membership: W. H.
Lee, president; J. H. Crawford, vice-president; A. M. Vandeventer,
treasurer; Wm. W. Macfarlane, secretary. The members were — John
Bryan, on Young's creek; J. W. Lanius, C. B. Fetter, T. P. Rothwell, S.
202 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
N. Russell, Wesley Humphrey. By 1884 the membership was made up
of the following additional doctors — ^W. L. Reed, S. M. Dodson, Piekney
French, F. M. Moore, W. R. Rodes, T. J. Baskett, W. V. Walker, Thos.
S. Murdock, A. M. Patterson, R. W. Bourn, N. Allison, W. R. Blanken-
ship, W. H. Vandeventer, Samuel Welch, J..H. Terrill, J. B. SchoU,
M. M. Scott, M. E. Crawford, J, J. Halley, John McDermon.
All of the above named are now dead with the exception of Drs.
Rodes, still practicing in Mexico, Macfarlane located at Auxvasse,
R. W. Bourn, living in Mexico, but long since retired from practice,
Blankenship removed, M. E. Crawford, removed, M. M. Scott, removed,
J. B. SchoU, removed to Eureka Springs, Halley, in Fort Collins, Colo-
rado, Hughes, located in St. Louis, a prominent alienist there and Pink-
.ney French, in St. Louis.
It is not the purpose of this sketch to give the later-day members
of the medical profession of the county. But one will be mentioned,
Dr. Edwin S. Cave, who began practice in Mexico in 1884 and after
attaining prominence in his profession, died at Mexico, July 10, 1910.
Of these named a number enjoyed more than a local practice, and
gained considerable distinction in the profession, notably Russell,
Hughes, Bryan, French, Rodes and Macfarlane.
Pioneer Times
The early settlers of Audrain county were principally from Ken-
tucky, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. The first settlements
were made in the timber and on the water courses. The dwellings were
always small cabins in the timber on account of convenience for build-
ing material and fuel and near the water courses on account of water.
Game was abundant. They devoted themselves mainly to hunting,
trapping and fishing. This was not done merely as a pastime or a
pleasure but of necessity. By common consent of the settlers, the skins
of the fur-bearing animals were a legal tender. The first houses were
built on Beaver Dam, Salt river, Loutre, Cuivre, Young's creek and
Littleby. They aimed to group themselves together as much as pos-
sible in neighborhoods, but owing to the distance of the streams apart,
these settlements were far apart and separated by broad prairies. Nat-
urally these early settlers took to the timber along the streams because
they had all come from states where there were no prairies.
For the first ten years after the creation of the county by the leg-
islature in 1830, the early settlers so far as is ascertainable, and in
addition to those named in this sketch as taking a part in the first
organization of the county, and the town of Mexico, and settling in
the county, are as follows: Franklin Armstead, 1833; John Bybee,
1833 ; Thos. Bradley, a soldier of the War of 1812, 1838 ; Neil Blue,
also a soldier of 1812, 1831; Richard Brynes, 1832; Edward Beatty,
1837 ; John and Thomas Bamett, 1831 ; Joseph Crockett, 1840 ; Robert
Calhoun, 1840; William M. Clark, 1839; Peter and Silas Cawthom,
1835; Carter and James Cauthorn, 1835; John Charlton, 1830; Wil-
liam Cardwell, 1837; Thomas Crouch, 183 — . He settled on Cuivre.
Nimrod, Reuben, John and Frank Canterberry settled on Littleby in
1836 ; Hezekiah J. M. Doan, on Salt river, 1831 ; Edward H. Douglass,
1837 ; Calvin M. McCarty, 1838 ; Carter and John G. Dingle, 1839 ; John
Wilson, 1834. He settled on Young's creek near where the Paris road
crosses that stream and was the father-in-law of James Berry, John
Vance and John Price soon after coming into the county. David
Eubank, 1837 ; Elias EUer, 1838 ; Edward Faucett, 1835 ; Josiah Fuget,
1836; Ausey H. Fike, 183—; Josiah and Thomas Qantt, 1835. They
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 203
settled in what is now known as the Gantt postoffice neighborhood.
Jacob Heppler, 183 — . He settled on Salt river about six miles north
of Mexico; Elisha Hall, 1836; Thomas Hook, 1833; Asap Hubbard,
1830. Hubbard settled in the northeastern part of the county and was
the father of the late Thomas Hubbard, a man of more than ordinary
ability. John C. Martin, in 1830. He was the father-in-law of the
late Henry Williams, elected to the legislature in Audrain county, in
1870. Mr. Williams was a merchant in Mexico for many years and
became one of the wealthy men of the county, but it is said when
he married he was so poor he could not pay the minister, but gave him
an old spinning wheel for his trouble. Drury and Beverly Mayes, in
1832; Marion Pate, 1832; Louis Musick, 1839; William, John and
Reuben Pulis, as early as 1836; Thomas Peery, 183 — . John A. and
Joseph Pearson, about 1835, settled on what afterwards became part of
the City of Mexico. Thomas Powell settled north of Mexico about
one mile on Salt river, in 183 — , James Reed, 1834, John Reynolds,
1832, Russell, father of Frank Russell, after whom Russeirs
Pord is named, on Salt river about ten miles north of Mexico, 1835 and
Joseph D. Spencer, about 1839 settled on Salt river about one mile north
of what is now Rising Sun church. Henry Shock settled in the now
Gantt postoffice neighborhood in 1831, Abraham B. Tinsley, 1837, Wil-
liam Talley, 1839, and George Talley in 1831, John Wayne, in 1827,
settled about six miles southeast of Mexico. Caleb Williams settled in
the county in 1830 and died in 1832. It is said his funeral was the first
ever preached in the county and that the preacher was a Methodist
circuit rider, the Rev. Robert A. Younger, who performed the first
marriage ceremony in the county, February 2, 1837. Younger lived in
Boone county.
It has been stated that the Rev. R. A. Y'^ounger was the father of Cole
Younger and his brothers, the notorious bandits. Albert G. Turner,
bom in 1837, whose father, John Turner settled at the head of Salt
River southwest of Mexico in 1835, knew the Rev. Younger in his later
days and knows that the statement as to his being the father of the
jl ounfifer bovs is a mistake
Rowland Wats, 1833, William Woods, 1837, Jeremiah J. West,
brother of William C. West, 1837 and Timothy Barney settled on
Cuivre in 1835. Shorten Blankenship settled east of Mexico about
eight miles in 1837. William Crosswhite settled in Saling township in
1839. In the same township, EUerton B. Mallory settled in 1837. Pey-
ton Mahan lived in Saling township when it was first organized. The
election for township officers was held at his house in 1837, and the
number of votes cast was ten. In February, 1838, there lived in Loutre
township, and who were appointed judge of the township election,
William McCormack, and Andrew P. Hays. At the same election iu
Salt River township, the judges of the election were Thomas Kilgore,
George L. Smith, and John C. Martin. At the election in Wilson town-
ship, Thomas Stricklin was one of the judges. Jesse Perkins and Miller
Barnes also lived in Saling township at that time. William M. Jesse
settled southeast of Mexico in 1883. He was one of the founders of Hope-
well church, John Y^ounger in 1837. This was a different family than
the Y'^oung after whom Young's Creek was named. Barnett McDonald,
1838, WilUam White, 1836, David Martin, 1836, James Harrison, 1837,
Jackson Thomas, 1838, Thomas Boyd, 1830.
Matthew Scott, Mrs. Jane Gregg and Louis Day in 1832 established
for their children and those in the neighborhood, the first school in
the county. The house was built on the northeast comer of section
35, township 50, range 9. Archibald Gregg was the first teacher. One
204 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
day at noon he took his gun, which he always had at the school house,
w^ent into fhe woods and brought in a dead wild cat, to the curiosity of
his pupils. \
There were doubtless others settled in the county within the decade
here mentioned, but at this late date, their names are not obtainable.
There were thirty-three voters in Cuivre township in 1840.
On February 2, 1837, the Rev. Mr. Younger performed a marriage
ceremony for Samuel Riggs and Nancy Dollins. June 22, 1837, Michael
Perkins, J. P., performed a marriage ceremony between Jesse Robards,
and Parthenia Smith. On the 19th of September, 1837, Benjamin Can-
terberry, J. P., performed a marriage ceremony between Joseph A.
Peery and Harriett Talley. December 21, 1837, J. B. Hatton, J. P.,
solemnized the rites of matrimony between John Pearson and Mary
Barson. February 8, 1838, Lycurgus L. Ramsey and Jane Fenton were
married by the Rev. Robert C. Mansfield. Ramsey became one of the prin-
cipal merchants of the town afterward. April 16, 1838, Greensberry
Johnson, J. P., performed a marriage ceremony in Prairie township
between Jesse C. Clarkson and Mary Ann Dicken.
The first deed placed of record was dated February, 1837, wherein
William Wood conveyed to John B. Morris, the northeast quarter of
the southwest quarter of section 36, township 51, range 9, of Audrain
county. However this was not the first conveyance made in the county,
for prior to that time deeds were sent to Monroe and some other counties
for record and others withheld from record till the county was organ-
ized.
According to the United States census for 1840, the population of
the county was, 1,949. This growth chiefly took place after the organiza-
tion of the county in February, 1837.
The county court of Audrain county was authorized by the legisla-
ture by an act approved January 25, 1837, with the counties of Pike,
Ralls, Monroe, and Shelby, **to subscribe and take so much stock in 'The
Salt River Navigation Company,' as they may think proper for the use
and benefit of the county. ' ' ^
The Salt River Navigation Company was one of the projects of John
M. Clemens of Florida, Monroe county, the father of Samuel L. Clem-
ens (Mark Twain). By this act Clemens and his associates were given
authority to open and deepen the bed of Salt river from the junction of
the Three Forks of Salt river near Florida, to its mouth on the ^lissis-
sippi river, to erect dams, locks, culverts, bridges, etc., so as to render the
stream navigable for steamboats and other crafts. The same legislature
gave Clemens and associates also authority to incorporate and build the
Florida and Paris railroad ^ thereby completing a line for transportation
from Paris, Monroe county, to the Mississippi river. It does not seem
that Audrain county ever availed itself of its privilege of taking stock
in the Navigation Company. This is as near as Audrain county has
ever been able to come in establishing any connection with Mark Twain.
These wildly conceived projects of John M. Clemens were doubtless in
the mind of the son when fashioi^ing the character of Colonel Mulberry
Sellers in the ** Gilded Age."
The buffalo, like the Indian, had disappeared from this county prior
to the early settlements. The country surrounding Audrain county
being largely timber, was settled years before this county, hence the
Indian and buffalo had gone westward of the civilization of these
other counties. At the time of the Clark and Lewis Expedition, the
line between the Sacs and Foxes ran through the county north and
1 Laws of Missouri, 1836-7, 229.
2 Id. 237.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 205
south, most probably about a mile east of what is now Mexico. Even to
this day, arrow and spear heads are found on the banks of Beaver Dam
in the flint rock vicinities just east of Mexico.
The last elk killed in the county was in 1837. The deer, however,
remained in abundance until late in the '50s and the last wild turkey
killed in the county was about 1875. The prairie chicken disappeared
soon after the turkey was gone. It was not only supposed by these
early settlers, but on account of the green head flies, it was impossible
to live upon the prairies. So bad were these flies in the day time, that
the plowing in the summer was largely done in the night time. One of
the draw-backs to the settlement of the prairie country too, was the want
of water. All the water at that time was such as accumulated in the
streams. Audrain county never had any streams or natural wells
Again until the Graduation Act, so called, of 1854, they had not the
money to enter land from the government at $1.25 per acre, and it was
not until that Act reduced the price to 12^^ cents an acre that the
prairie lands began to be taken up. By 1850 the population had in-
creased to 3,506 over 400 of whom were slaves.
The early settler of Audrain county lived in the same fashion as did
the early settlers of other places. They produced all of their own food
and their own clothing, and very few of them produced anything to
sell. One of these early settlers, being asked what they did for money,
said **Why, we didn't need it. Taxes amounted to nothing, or very
little, we had our own sheep and our own flax fields, and from the wool
and flax we manufactured all our own clothing and bed clothing. We
raised our own com for meal. We raised and killed our own pork and
cured our own bacon. We managed to get leather from the tanners
and the neighborhood cobbler made it into boots and shoes." Later
on, cattle and hogs were raised for the market. Before the advent of the
railroad, the cattle were driven to St. Louis to market. The hogs were
butchered at home and turned into bacon, but later driven to Hannibal
where 'there was a pork packing establishment. The only markets
were at St. Louis and Hannibal and Louisiana and all of these were
reached by wagon.
Teaming in the late '40s and through the '50s, until the North Mis-
souri Railroad reached Mexico in 1858, was a very flourishing business.
All supplies coming into the county until that time came over the prai-
ries in wagons from Louisiana and Hannibal to Mexico. When the
Mississippi was frozen over so boats could not get to these towns, goods
were hauled from St. Louis. Two noted teamsters of that time were
John and Samuel Dingle.
R. A. Calhoun, now living in Mexico, a boy eight years of age in
1844, when his father, the Whig candidate, defeated Richard R. Lee,
Democrat, for the legislature, says that on that day there were many
fights over the election without any special ill-feeling, and what there
was disappeared when the election was over. He also says that both
sides had an open barrel of whiskey, to which their adherents went for
free drinks. Up until shortly prior to the Civil war fighting and drink-
ing were as much a part of the election d^y performance as voting.
Albert Oass, now living near Mexico, says that when he was a boy,
he always went to the election for the amusement of seeing the fights.
When this sondition began to disappear, the present hackneyed expres-
sion of some newspapers that the election '^passed off quietly," had
more significance than it has now.
These early settlers of the county as a rule raised large families.
Picking out a few names from them at random, Franklin Armstead had
nine children, Neil Blue ten, Richard Byrnes eight, John Barnett
twelve, Elias Eller nine, William M. Jesse sixteen, three of whom died
206 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
in childhood. The others lived to maturity and three of them, like
their father, were Baptist ministers. Asap Hubbard had four children,
but that was an unusually small family. Asap's father had twelve.
John Kilgore married twice and had eighteen children. John Bybee
had six wives and twenty-six children, but he seems to be rather an ex-
ception both as to wives and children.
Chills and fever, especially in the fall of the year, were the prevail-
ing sickness of the people, and this condition continued until about
1880, when the prairies had been largely subdued and the stagnant
water drained off. People then thought that ague was produced by the
condition of the atmosphere arising from the rank vegetation and pools.
They called it malaria, but they are ready now to agree with the medical
profession, which has discovered that this disease was produced by the
bite of the mosquito which was bred in the stagnant water and pools
of the county.
In 1860 the number of inhabitants had increased to 8,075, 1,166 of
whom were slaves. Yet a slave trader in the community was not ac-
counted a respectable person and to sell a slave to be sent south was
considered inhumane. Many are the acts of these people showing their
kindness to their slaves, and that really at heart they were abolitionists
themselves. Edward Beatty in his will, dated May 24, 1847, disposed
of certain of his property to his children, on condition that **If Aaron,
the black man, is still living, the property then falling back to my
children must not be divided until they make some permanent arrange-
ment between themselves for the support of said negro man Aaron,
allowing him to make choice which one of the children he will live
with.''
Some years before the Civil war, John P. Clark owned a likely btight
negro man named George. A southern slave trader took a fancy to
George and wanted to buy him to take south. He made several offers
for George but each #was refused until finally the sum of $3,000 was
offered, a very large sum for a slave. Clark^ being pressed for money,
finally consented to the offer on condition that George was to decide.
The matter being submitted to George, he conferred with his master
and the conclusion w^as that George would not be sold. George did
remain until Lincoln's proclamation of freedom, when he volunteered
into the Federal army, made a good soldier and after the war returned
to Mexico where he is now living.
Instances of this kind are entitled to a permanent record in the
history of slavery. Slavery was more of a condition than a choice
of the slave holder. It was an institution coming to him from former
generations and there can be no doubt that the Civil war only has-
tened what would have been finally peaceably reached.
By this time the families along the streams had begun to extend
their farms into the prairies and occasionally a farm house would be
found with the entire farm on the prairie.
The North Missouri Railroad was completed to Mexico in 1858 and
extended northward to Hudson City, now Macon, by 1860. The
county court in 1853 subscribed $50,000 to the capital stock of that
railroad on condition that it would be located on what was called *'The
Ridge Route," and thus touch Mexico, the county seat. At the time
this subscription was made people thought this to be an enormous
indebtedness, but by the time the road was completed to Mexico in June,
1858, the entire amount had been paid without oppression or even
inconvenience.
By 1860 the county was beginning to be accounted one of the
progressive agriculture counties of Northeast Missouri, and James S.
Rollins, comparing it with the older county of Boone, referred to it
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 207
as '"Little Sis." Cattle raising became one of the chief enterprises of
the people. The prairie constituted probably three-fourths of the
county and on it grew a very luxuriant grass commonly called "blue
stem." It grew from one to five feet high and furnished very rich
grazing. The cattle were herded on these prairies and it was not an
act of trespass for them to go on to the imenclosed lands of others for
the purpose of grazing. The courts held that the Common Law of
England, requiring persons to fence their stock in, never applied to
Missouri, but on the other hand it was the law regardless of the owner-
ship of the prairies, that they were the common range and the common
property for the purpose of grazing by stock collected in herds or run-
ning at large. The owner of a herd of cattle or sheep would go early
in the spring and stake out what part of this common range he pro-
posed to appropriate to the use of his herd the coming year. This
often brought about conflict and more than one homicide has been
recorded in the county, as a result of these conflicts.
P. W. Lehmann, lately Solicitor General of the United States, when
a boy herded sheep in the county, and the following from him is a fair
expression of the conditions of the time he speaks: "I went to Audrain
A Haystaceing Scene
county in the summer of 1867 in the employ of a Mr. McCausland, who
was moving from Pennsylvania to Missouri. My work was to assist in
the care of a flock of about a thousand sheep. We stayed in Audrain
county until the fall of that year, so long as the pasturage was good,
and then drove our flock to a place in Cooper county, near Arrow Rock,
where we remained for most of the winter. Our stay in Audrain county
was on a prairie, a few miles east of Mexico. The country was sparsely
populated. Here and there was an occasional farm which was fenced
in. We had what in ray memory seems to be an almost Umitless range
for the sheep and had it free I think, and without asking for leave or
license of anybody. I was a boy of fourteen at the time, it was my
first view of a prairie, and I was greatly impressed with its immen-
sity. I recall that the summer was one of drought and that the wells
quite generally failed in their supply of water. We watered the sheep
at a creek near by, and the same creek was the resource of the neigh-
boring farmers for water for their stock and for household purposes. I
have a vague "recollection that I boarded for a time with a family
named Field.' and later with a family recently come from Michigan
whose name I have entirely forgotten. Some tobacco and a consider-
able amount of sorghum,^ was grown in the neighborhood."
As the prairies began to be encroached upon for the purpose of
establishing farms this condition produced great hardship because it
1 John H. Fielii, Sr., four miles east of Meiico.
I New Orleans molasses was quoted in the Missouri Ledger at $1.10 per gallon
in 1867.
208 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
cost as much or more to fence a farm to protect the crops from the
stock running at large, as it did to pay for the farm.
The growth of the county as well as other parts of this state, was
retarded on account of this condition, which caused many people from
the east to pass over the state and locate in Kansas and Nebraska, where
the early legislatures had provided against this condition by a suitable
stock law. The general assembly of this state by an enactment in
1883, provided a law submitting it to the voters of any county at an
election to be held for that purpose, as to whether they would adopt or
reject the law requiring all animals to be kept up or fenced in. Soon
after this act, the matter being submitted in Audrain county, was
adopted.
While there are no definite statistics upon the point, it is safe to say
that by the later '80s all of the prairie and open lands of the county
had been either put under fence or brought under subjection in such a
way that every owner had control of his own lands, and from that
time on, herding was no longer engaged in.
Prom the early settlement of the county until about 1855, the county
grew quite slowly, but the Graduation Act before mentioned had the
tendency to invite immigration. Then the agitation of railroads and
the completion of the North Missouri Railroad in 1858 was another
impetus to settlement, especially along that line. Then after the Civil
war from 1865 to 1870, there was quite an immigration into the
county from the east. The population of the county in 1870 was
12,370. There are many families in the county who came into the
state shortly after the Civil war from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and other
northern states east of the Mississippi. Another addition to the county
was brought about by a number of families from Virginia, Kentucky
and Tennessee leaving their homes which had been destroyed in the
Civil war. A dozen or more families living in the county now came into
the county from those causes from Virginia. As a result of this. Audrain
county has an unusually mixed population. It is a fair example of what
is often said of Missouri, that it is neither north nor south, east nor west,
but is a national blend.
- In murder cases frequently in the past, from one hundred to two
hundred men have been summoned from all over the county, from
which to procure juries and almost invariably on those occasions in
asking the usual questions about birth, former citizenship, etc., etc.,^
men would be found on the panel from nearly every state in the
Union, especially east of the Mississippi river. It is recalled that on
one such occasion every state east of the Mississippi, with the exception
of Rhode Island, together with Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska
was represented on thc/panel, but before the call was completed the
missing Rhode Islander turned up. On such occasions also would turn
up an Englishman, Scotchman, German, Irishman and often immigrants
from other countries of Europe. The population by 1880 had increased
to 19,732, in 1890, it was 22,074 and in 1900, 21,160 and in 1910, 21,687.
The Louisiana & Missouri River Railroad was completed to Mexico
in 1872. The county had issued bonds to the amount of $300,000 to aid
the construction of this road. That bond issue was made by the court
elected in 1866,composed of Increase Adams, John B. Morris and B. H.
Wilder. There was never any serious question of the legality of the
subscription. The last bond was paid in 1881. This road now forms
part of the Chicago & Alton Railroad. That road was extended from
Mexico to Kansas City in 1878. The Burlington System entered the
county in 1905.
After the building of the North Missouri Railroad and the immigra-
tion into the state, after the Civil war, the next period of rapid growth
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 209
came in the late 70s to 1880 and continued until the early part of the
next decade. The prairie lands were settled rapidly. For the first
two or three years of the '80s they doubled and trebled in value. In the
western part of the county the immigration was largely from the
older counties, mainly from Boone, Callaway, and Monroe. On the
prairies along the Chicago & Alton, the settlers came mainly from Illi-
nois and along the line of what is now the Wabash, especially around
Martinsburg, came a great many Oermans. The prices of land settled
down, depending on location, character and improvement from twenty
to fifty dollars per acre. Then there was no marked change, but the
improvement was gradual until about 1902, when there came a great
rush for Missouri lands from the eastern and northern states. Begin-
ning with that time up to the present, lands have steadily increased in
value until they have doubled and trebled and in many instances
quadrupled.
The early settlers depended upon the streams for water and as
they were compelled to move back from these, it having been found out
that the earth would hold water like a jug, people depended upon ponds
for stock water and cisterns for family use. Later on it was discovered
that by boring, water could be found anywhere on the prairies and now
almost every farm has its deep well and wind mill.
In this limited sketch it is impossible to give a full ILst of all the
officers of the county but they have been generally men of high charac-
ter, from the beginning down to the present time. Mismanagement
of county affairs are scarce and not more than one or two defaults have
ever occurred. In the earlier days, when nominations were made by
the convention system, the parties, through the leaders, put up for
election only their ablest and best men.
Audrain county has always maintained the county unit system, tak-
ing the idea from Virginia and Kentucky, thereby bringing into the
county seat a concentration of the strongest elements of the county. At
one time in the 70 's, when B. L. Locke was county clerk, B. R. Cau-
thorn, collector, S. M. Edwards, probate judge, James Carroll, circuit
clerk, and John J. Steele or Harrison Glasscock,* sheriff, they composed
a collection of men in the courthouse that would have done credit to
any state capital.
Audrain county has contributed a fair share of the public men of
the state. Charles H. Hardin, governor; D. H. Mclntyre, attorney
general; George B. Macfarlane, supreme judge; Sam B. Cook, secretary
of state; A. H. Buckner and J. E. Hutton, congress; Col. Green Clay,
M. R. K. Riggs, state senate ; Hardin and Mclntyre also state senators ;
John W. Gamble, constitutional convention of 1865; Lebius R. Wifley,
attorney general of the Philippine Islands and the first judge of the
extra territorial United States court in China; and Howard A. Gass,
state superintendent of public instruction.
Mexican War
Audrain county was most too young to participate, . excepting
remotely, in the Mexican war. It contributed only one volunteer to
Company H, First Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, made up in Calla-
way county, and joining Doniphan's Regiment. That wa^ Alexander
Reed. Temple Wayne also went into the war from this county, but
not into that company. Members of that company, after the war liv-
ing in this county were Thomas Jamison, Thomas Harrison, Charles
A. (Aus) Rodgers, Paul H. Duly, John M. Kelso, William H. North-
• Glasscock, October 18, 1877, captured James Berry, the Union Pacific train
robber.
Vol. I— 1 4
210 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
cutt, John M. Robards, Thomas Picklin and William French. The
latter died at the age of 87 years on July 17, 1912, being the last sur-
vivor of that company.
Other soldiers of the Mexican war living in the county, but not in
that company or regiment, were James Shell, Richard T. Throckmor-
tin, John Ellis, Elijah Bennett and David Hiner. These men all lived
long and honorable lives and were the leading men of their neigh-
borhoods.
The Press
The first newspaper published in the county was the Weekly Ledger,
which was established at Mexico in the summer of 1855, by John B.
Williams. Mr. Williams who was well known as a newspaper man in
central Missouri, conducted the paper until 1856, when he sold it to
William D. H. Hunter who continued its publication until January,
1862, when fire destroyed the oflBce. In January, 1863, a paper called
the Audrain County Beacon was established by Captain Amos Ladd and
O. A. A. Gardner. John T. Brooks took an interest with Ladd and
Ladd & Brooks published it as the Weekly Missouri Ledger. Later Brooks
took over Ladd's interest and continued the publication till in March,
1872, Colonel J. E. Hutton purchased the paper and re-christened it
the Intelligencer. In 1879 Colonel Hutton began publishing a daily
edition of the paper. In 1885 the paper was purchased by Samuel B.
Cook, who, in 1898, accepted C. M. Baskett as partner, and in 1900
Cook sold his interest to Baskett, who published it for a short while,
and from him it was taken over by a corporation of which F. A. Morris
is the president, the editor being Rufus Jackson. In October, 1865,
W. W. Davenport established the Messenger and soon afterward sold
it to M. P. Simmons, who conducted it until September, 1874, when it
was purchased by J. Lynn Ladd, who changed its politics from Repub-
lican to Democratic re-christening it the Ledger, and in 1876 sold it to
R. M. White. ^Ir. White began publishing the Daily Ledger in 1886.
Both weekly and daily issue of that paper are now published by R. M.
White & Son, L. M. White.
In 1859, the Audrain County Banner was started by William H.
Martin, but existed only a few months. A paper called the Signal
was established in 1858 by William A. Thompson, who ran it for
about two years and then sold it to Joseph A. Armstead, who, after
publishing it for about a year, discontinued it. In October, 1868,
the Agriculturist was started by W. 6. Church, and lived one year.
John Beal began publishing the ^lexico Message, November, 1899. The
State Leader, a prohibition paper, was published here for a while al)out
1900, by Charles E. Stokes, then and now the Prohibition candidate
for governor. He removed it to Kansas City. In October, 1868, the
Audrain Expositor was started by Ira Hall, J. D. Macfarlane and
Milton P. Simmons, and existed about a year. The Mexico Ihiion
was established in 1878 by Harry Day, and in 1879 was acquired by
C. A. Keeton, who changed its name to the Audrain County Press,
which, after an existence of a few years, ceased publication. At dif-
ferent times journalistic ventures were put forth, flourished for a
while, and died a natural death.
The Civil War
As noted above the old parties were prior to the Civil war about
equally divided in the county. In 1860 all three of the Democratic
tickets as well as the Republican were represented in the campaign.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 211
The Bell and Everett voters and the Douglass voters maintained flags
on a pole in the courthouse yard throughout that campaign. In that
election Lincoln received one vote in the county. As above noted
Audrain's representative was a secessionist and its representative in
the state senate was a Union man. Early in the spring of 1861 when
the lines between union and secession were beginning to be drawn,
the people of the county were about equally divided, there being, how-
ever, a strong secession sentiment in and around Mexico. The divided
sentiment is well illustrated by an effort which was made to raise a
secession flag in Mexico that spring. William 0. Johnson, Green
Bishop, James and Robert Carter and Joe Inlow were the leaders
of the participants on the part of the secessionists. On the other hand,
were George W. Fentem, Samuel Fentem, Henry Estes and W. II.
White, the leaders of the opposition. It was undertaken to put the
flag on the Bell and Everett pole of the fall campaign still standing.
This resulted in a general fight in which no one was killed but several
badly hurt. The secessionists were compelled to retire without 6ver
getting the flag on the pole and the secession flag never floated in
Mexico.
From the time of the Camp Jackson affair at St. Louis in May
it was the determination of the Federal forces to hold the Missouri
river through the entire state. General Lyon, after that affair, promptly
seized Jefferson City, and the contention was over the possession of
the river west of there, culminating in battles at Boonville and Lex-
ington. It was also the determination of the Federal forces to keep
up a complete line of communication along the line of the North ^lis-
souri Railroad to Macon City and from there east on the Hannibal &
St. Joe to Hannibal. From the central position of Mexico it was
regarded as the military key to all Northeastern Missouri and was
occupied by the Union troops early in the war and held by them to
the end of the conflict.
The first troops stationed at Mexico were in June or July, 1861.
A portion of the Second and Eighth Missouri Regiments, in all about
six hundred men were under the command of Colonel Morgan L. Smith
and Lieutenant Colonel G. A..Schaefer. Prior to the arrival of these
troops efforts were made in various parts of the county toward raising
companies of the State Guard, under the call of Governor Jackson,
for 50,000 men to defend the state against invasion. While they were
called State Guards, they in reality afterwards became the bulk of
Price's army.
John G. Muldrow, a strong secessionist, got a crowd of men and
l)oys together, which he called the ** Audrain Rangers," but never per-
fected an organization of them. W^hen the first train load of these
soldiers riding on flat cars, were approaching Mexico from the east,
he took his men a mile or so east of Mexico and just east of the Salt
river bridge, hid in the corn and brush and fired on the Union soldiers,
killing some and wounding a number of them. There is no account of
this affair in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, but it
must have occurred in the last half of July. Immediately after this
affair, Muldrow 's crowd dissolved, some hiding in the brush and some go-
ing to their homes and remaining hidden for a number of days. It was
the first start of real disorder which was constant throughout the
remainder of the war. This regiment of Union soldiers was mostly
composed of undisciplined Germans and they seemed to have the idea
that the war was a personal matter between them and the individual
secessionists as they came into contact with them. Muldrow was a
brother-in-law of John P. Clark, who was a very strong Union man
and it was doubtless through his efforts that Muldrow was never held
212 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
accountable for this affair. John Q. Muldrow being mistaken for the
real Muldrow, was by the soldiers, on being met by them, shot down
and killed, and by a company of these soldiers passing through the
town about the same time, two other citizens, William Lockridge and
Garland Surber, were killed.
When Col. U. S. Grant came to Mexico, John G. Muldrow came in
from hiding and at the house of John P. Clark surrendered to Grant,
took the oath of loyalty and remained loyal from then on.
When General Pope was placed in command of north Missouri he
located his headquarters at Mexico, where he remained from the 29th
of July until the 7th of August. On the day that General Pope estab-
lished headquarters here, he assigned Col. U. S. Grant, Twenty-first
Illinois Volunteers to command at Mexico, with a territory from
Montgromery City on the south to include Centralia on the north.*
Colonel Grant remained here until August 7th and it was while here
that his name was sent into the senate for promotion to brigadier
general. On August 6th Colonel Grant was ordered to St. Louis, and
from there to Iron ton, Missouri.^ While it is true that Grant's name
was sent into the senate to be made brigadier general while at Mexico,
he did not receive his commission until he had arrived at Ironton.
» The first order addressed him as brigadier general was at that place
August 8th and the next day, reporting to General Fremont, he says —
*'I arrived here yesterday and assumed command in pursuance of
directions from Major General John C. Fremont.''
In Ironton in commemoration of Grant's promotion from colonel
to brigadier general, there has been erected a statue of him in Emer-
son Park, where he stood when he received his commission. General
Grant in his Personal Memoirs does not state the date of his arrival
in Mexico. He mentions being here in charge of a sub-district embrac-
ing the troops in the immediate vicinity and composed of three regi-
ments and a section of artillery. Here he spent some time restoring
order among the people, disciplining the soldiers, ** drilling his regi-
ment and studying Hardee's Tactics." He says, **We were encamped
just outside of town on the common, among scattering suburban houses
with enclosed gardens." He further says that ** owing to a want of
proper discipline of the other regiments, it became necessary to take
steps to prevent marauding and the appropriation of property for
their own' or government use, by the soldiers, but that soon the peo-
ple were no longer molested or made afraid." He adds, **I received
the most marked courtesy from the citizens of Mexico as long as I
remained there." An account of his stay in Mexico is found in Per-
sonal ^lemoirs. Vol. 1, pages 251-253.
On account of Grant's after prominence in the Civil war, his loca-
tion in Mexico at the very beginning of his career has always been
regarded with great interest by the people here. There has been
some controversy as to the location of his headquarters. It has been
claimed that he had his headquarters in a house on the lot which has
been purchased by the government for the postoflSce building. Some
day, the people of Mexico, or some patriotic society may want to mark
the spot where he was located. While persons are living who know
where that spot is, it should be settled. His regiment was camped on
what is now the western part of Mexico, mainly on what composes
lilorris' addition, north of the railroad. Under the tactics at that time
the colonel of a regiment was required to keep his tent with his men.
His tent was located on the west side of Depot street, on the east end of
1 Official Records, War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. Til, p. 415.
2 Ibid.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 213
block No. 9, of that addition, and his men were encamped in every
direction from him except east. At that time there was more vacant
space on the north side of the railroad than now, for it was before
the building of the Chicago & Alton Railroad along there. In sup-
port of this statement reference is made to ** History of Audrain County,
1884" information furnished by John Saunders, now deceased, at that
time postmaster at Mexico and a citizen of ^Mexico throughout the
entire war. Of those living now who were on the ground and at his
headquarters during the time he was located here, are James H. Sal-
lee, E. D. Graham, John W. Beatty, Elmer Cunningham and George
Clark (colored), all of whom were there under such circumstances
that they cannot be mistaken about the place of location.
Major W. M. Stone of the Third Iowa Volunteers, commanded the
post at Mexico in January, 1862.* Upon the authority of Mr. Sallee,
the statement is here made that it was he who occupied the building
on the postofBce lot.
In June, 1861, James O'Bannon raised a company of men, not in
^lexico, but in the vicinity around Mexico and undertook to join the
Confederates at Boonville, but before reaching there the battle had
taken place and it being impossible for them to get across the river
they returned home and the company disbanded. Several members
of that company afterward in one way or another got to Price's army.
Among them were Louis and George Simpson, Richard Lee and Joseph
W. Luckie.
The t^nion forces were not of sufficient numbers in that time to
spread all over and take charge of Northeast Missouri, hence in Audrain,
Monroe. Boone, Marion and Callaway, remote from the county seats,
where Federal posts had been established, there was a great deal of
recruiting going on for the Confederates.
D. H. Mclntyre, at that time a student at Westminster College,
raised a company in Callaway county, composed largely of Audrain
county men,
Alvin Cobb, a one-armed man, raised a company of bush whackers
which during the early part of the war he kept in the north part of
Callaway county and south of Martinsburg in Audrain county. Lieu-
tenant Jaeger of St. Louis, a German, was in command of a company
of Union soldiers around Wellsville. Some time in August, 1861, with
a few men on either side there was a little fight near the town of
ilartinsburg in which Lieutenant Jaeger was wounded. Benjamin
T. Sharp, a citizen of Wellsville, was riding in a buggy with Lieuten-
ant Jaeger and was also wounded. He and Jaeger were both followed
into the town of Martinsburg and taken prisoners. Cobb took them
with him and within about four miles of Martinsburg on Hickory
creek in Audrain, killed both of them. The killing of Sharp was due
more to a personal matter between him and Cobb, than to sectional
strife. The excitement of the time furnished Cobb an excuse for the
murder, Jaeger being with Sharp, had to suflfer with him. By way
of retaliation for the murder of Sharp, a company of German troops
marched on Danville and without as much as a drum-head court mar-
tial, lined up and shot four citizens, all of whom were southern sym-
pathizers.
The next day after the murder of these men the Federal soldiers
destroyed Cobb's dwelling. He had a force of about one dozen men
together, stayed in the brush, bush-whacked, plundered and robbed,
and was with his force at the battle of Moore's Mill, in Callaway county,
on the Confederate side. He finally got to Price's army and in a per-
• Official Becords, War of the Rebellion, Series II, Vol. I.
214 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
sonal interview with General Price, was told that he must cease his
^erilla warfare and take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate
states if he desired to have his company mustered into the Confed-
erate service, but civilized warfare not being suited to his tastes and
from inability to carry on his bush-whacking further, he, in the early
part of the war, went west into the state of Oregon, where he died
many years ago. Shortly after this, three young men, not in arms,
Robert and James Rodgers and one Hawkins were killed by the Fed-
eral soldiers west of Mexico.
John Murray raised a company in Audrain county which became
a member of Colonel Brace's regiment. The first officers were, cap-
tain, John Murray; first lieutenant, James B. Davis; second lieuten-
ant, Henry Gillispie. Murray afterward became major of the regi-
ment and was succeeded as captain by George W. Edmonston. W. J.
Botts now living in Mexico, upon the reorganization of the regiment,
after the battle of Lexington became its ordnance master.
As this company has the most complete record of any raised in
Audrain county for warfare, the writer of this sketch addressed
Colonel Brace, for twenty years a judge of the supreme court of Mis-
souri, after the war, and a man nearly eighty years of age now, a let-
ter of inquiry concerning it, to which was received the following
answer, and it is here inserted as the best account extant of Captain
Murray's company:
Pabis, Mo. Aug. 6, 1912.
When Lee surrendered, I determined to forget all about the Civil war, and have
succeeded pretty well. It remains with me only vaguely in memory, and the only
record extant of my regiment is such slight mention as may bo found in the official
reports preserved and published by the Federal government, and the newspapers of
the day. The only record I have is my commission as colonel of *The Third .Regi-
ment of Cavalry of the Second Military District,' dated September 23, 1861, signed
by C. F. Jackson, commander in Chief of the Missouri State Guards, B. F. Massey,
secretary of state and Warwick Hough adjutant general Missouri State Guards, with
seal of the state, and recorded Vol. one, page 54, adjutant general's office. The inci-
dents which led up to the organi2ation of the regiment are briedy as follows: After
our return from the Boonville raceSf where I with quite a number of young men from
Monroe first heard the report of a cannon in actual warfare, we commenced and
66nsummated the organization of a company under the state law of which I was
elected captain, and we commenced trying to make soldiers of ourselves by daily drill.
After some scouting and skirmishing I went into camp at the site of Higgenbotham *s
old mill on Elk Fork where we were soon after joined by a company from Audrain
of which Murray was captain, Davis, first lieutenant and Gillispie, second lieutenant.
This must have been about the first of August, 1861. Soon after we were joined by
a company from Ralls and one from Pike, and we organised a battallion, of which I
was elected lieutenant colonel and Murray major. At this time the Federal forces
occupying the line of the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad were thence from time to time
making inroads upon the adjoining territory. Cols. Green and Porter of the State
Guards were operating north of the railroad and I with my force south of it, and
General Price was in southwest Missouri, on the move towards the Missouri river.
Green and Porter crossed the railroad on the move to join Price's forces and joined
me in Monroe county; after a skirmish at Shelbina we went into camp for a short
time east of Florida where the * Salt River Tigers ' Captain Grisby joined my battalion
and soon after another company was added to my battallion, but I cannot recall the
name of its captain. I think it came from Montgomery county. Colonel Green and
I determined to join General Price's forces south of the Missouri river while Colonel
Porter determined to remain in northeast Missouri. I cannot give the date of our
starting but we croFsed the Missouri river and reached Lexington and joined Price's
forces, in the seige and battle followed, where we first met and came under the com-
mand of the brigadier general of our district who was Gen. Tom Harris.
The position of our brigade was on the river below the Anderson house, from
which we rolled up the hill the Hemp bales which enabled us to use our shot guns
and rifles with some advantage in bringing about the surrender of Mulligan 's forces.
After the surrender my battalion then consisting of six companies was entitled to a
regimental organiiation and accordingly the regiment was organized as *Tho Third
Missouri Cavalry of the Second Military District.' I was elected lieutenant colonel
and Murray of the Audrain Company major, and thereafter we were absorbed in
Price 's army and operated therein until after the battle of Pea Ridge. By that time
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 215
the tenxiB of enllBtment of my men (being for only six months) had expired, and the
men had been discharged, some entering the Confederate Service others returning to
their homes, and this ended the brief and inglorious existence of Brace's Begiment.
Yours truly,
Theodore Brace.
After the battle of Lexington, Major Murray returned to Audrain
county to recruit, was not successful, and in company with Joseph
Lakenan, he and Lakenan were drowned in crossing the Missouri river *
in an attempt to rejoin Price.
Grant was succeeded at Mexico by General S. D. Sturgis. Stur-
gis had under his control about four thousand men. He arrived at
Mexico on the 9th of September, 1861, and was ordered to Lexington
the 13th. He left a small force in charge of the post at Mexico.
Along in July desperate efforts were made by the Confederates
and citizens who were secessionists, to destroy the North Missouri
Railroad, so as to break up the line of communications established
by the Union forces. They succeeded in practically destroying the
railroad from Wellsville to within a short distance of Mexico, destroy-
ing the bridge west of Mexico on the 27th day of July. In the destruc-
tion of this bridge, a number of citizens of Mexico were engaged.
They acted under a commission from General Price, who sent men
along the line of the North Missouri Railroad for that purpose, com-
missioned to destroy the railroad, with authority to procure assistance
from the citizens. A great many citizens of Audrain county were
arrested for their participation in this matter, but none were ever
tried for it by court-martial although a great number were sent to
St. Louis and Alton as prisoners on account of it.
John B. Henderson of Pike county, prominent before the war as
a Democrat, and distinguished as a lawyer, raised a regiment of militia
for the Union side. Colonel Jefferson P. Jones, equally prominent
as a lawyer, in Callaway county, raised a regiment under the call of
Governor Jackson for troops to prevent invasion of the state. These
two distinguished men being well acquainted and having probably
met as antagonists often in court, concluded to effect a compromise
and so far as they and their sections were concerned, bring about a
fightless, bloodless war. In August, 1861, they met at Benton City
about six miles east of Mexico and signed a paper providing that the
Union forces should after that date, keep out of Callaway county and
the Missouri defence or Confederate forces should after that date keep
out of Pike county. It is needless to say that when this compromise
was brought to the attention of the Federal authorities, it was promptly
repudiated. Colonel Jones* force soon surrendered and disbanded.
He was taken prisoner by the Federal forces and put under bond for
good behavior during the remainder of the war. He was tried by
court marshal, but not found guilty of violation of any of the Articles
of War.
Colonel Henderson continued in charge of his command but changed
his views as to warfare. He became brigadier general and was placed
in charge of a section of the country in north Missouri. He was located
at Mexico in the early part of January, 1862, and on January 9th
reports having captured forty prisoners, ten of whom he took in bat-
tle. They were held by the Federal authorities for bridge burning.
After Henderson came Major H. C. Caldwell, t Third Iowa Cavalry.
He and different detachments of his men were located at Mexico for
some time.
• Some Bay Murray was crossing the Mississippi aiming to go down the river on
the Illinois side.
t Afterward United States District Judge in Arkansas and Judge Eighth Cir-
cuit United States Court retired, residence Los Angeles, Calif.
216 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Another attempt to organize a company for the Confederate forces
was made by William 0: Johnson, in the northern part of Audrain
county, in the early winter of 1861. On the 24th of December, a
company of Colonel John W. Burge's Sharp Shooters, then called,
afterward the Thirteenth Missouri Infantry, was on its way from Pal-
myra to Sturgeon and in order to avoid the timber and thus escape
chances of ambush, they detoured south through Audrain county over
the prairie and stopped to rest in a barn known as McClintock's barn,
situated on the northeast cornei: of section 16, township 52, range 9.
This presented a splendid opportunity to the mind of Captain John-
son, for a battle or surrender. His company was mostly undisciplined
farmers of the neighborhood. He approached the barn from the east
and when within a short distance of it, halted, lined up his men, to
give the Federals an opportunity to surrender. . They filed out of the
barn, formed a line of battle, swung around in front of Johnson's
company, to use the language of Johnson, **like a gate,'' and when all
this military precision was observed, before any one had time to fire,
his men broke. The Federal company fired a volley or two after them,
probably not aiming to hit anybody, and continued on their way to
Sturgeon, arriving there the next day in time for the battle at Mount
Zion, in Boone county. This resulted in the dissolution of Captain
Johnson's company.
In the battle of Mount Zion, on the Union side, Captain John D.
Macfarlane of Mexico distinguished himself in action and was men-
tioned in the report of the battle, for meritorious services. Later
on account of his splendid services in the Ninth Missouri Cavalry, his
brother, Wm. W. Macfarlane, a Confederate soldier, who had been
taken prisoner at the battle of Moore's ^lill, and ordered shot without
a judgment of court martial, had his sentence commuted to imprison-
ment at Alton, Illinois.
In September, 1862, General Lewis Merrill was commanding the
Northeast Missouri Division and was located at Macon. There were
three ^Macfarlane brothers, George B., a lawyer. Captain John D., above
mentioned, also a lawyer; and Wm. W. ^Macfarlane, a physician. The
Macfarlane family was prominent in Callaway and Audrain counties.
During a part of the war and after the war they lived in Mexico, hence
an order like that issued by General Merrill on September 2, 1862,
from his headquarters at Macon, would produce unusual excitement in
Audrain county. On that date General Merrill addressed an order to
Major Caldwell, located at Mexico, to dispose of the following prison-
ers, as follows: First, John Gastemee, to be shot to death, the 5th of
September, between the hours of 10 A. M. and 3 P. M., at Mexico,
Missouri. Second. W. W. Macfarlane, to be shot to death on Friday,
the 5th of September, between the hours of 10 A. M. and 3 P. 1^1., at
Mexico, Missouri. Third, Solomon Donaldson, to be shot to death on
Friday, the 5th of September, between the hours of 10 A. M. and 3
P. 'M. at Mexico, Missouri. There was no attempt made to carr\' out
the order as to Gastemee and Donaldson, but what final disposition
was made of them there is no account. As to Macfarlane, he was
ordered to be taken to the execution ground and an order read to
him as follows : * * In consideration of the noble stand taken for the right
by your brother, Captain Macfarlane, of the Ninth Missouri State
Militia, the commanding general is pleased to order that your life be
spared and your sentence commuted to confinement during the war."*
Amidst great excitement of the people of IVIexico and a large crowd
which had gathered there that day to w^itness the execution of Dr.
• Official Records, War of the Bebellion, Series II, Vol. IV, p. 480.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOUBI 217
Macf arlane, as well as three others, he was led to the execution grounds,
where all necessary preparations for his execution had been made.
Standing in his place, the order was read to him, whereupon he was
returned to the prison house and removed to prison in St. Louis, where
he remained for some time, thence to Alton, where he remained until
December 30, 1862, when he was paroled by Col. J. O. Broadhead,
provost marshal at St. Louis.
By another order. Major Elliott Major of Monroe county was ordered
to be shot at Mexico at the same time as Macfarlane. Major had been
in the Confederate service, taken prisoner and discharged upon tak-
ing the oath of allegiance and not to again bear arms against the
United States. He had violated his oath and had again taken up arms
for the southern cause, having been given a commission as Major in
General Joe C. Porter's command. Upon being taken prisoner Ihe
second time, this order was made. Major had participated in the bat-
tle at Kirksville under Porter and afterward at Chariton river. He
had surrendered under promise of being treated as a prisoner of war.
In the minds of the people of Audrain and Monroe counties, there
has always been a romance connected with the release of Major. He
had a sweetheart living at Paris, Missouri, the daughter of a Union
man. Lieutenant Cravin Hartman of the Third Iowa Cavalry, located
at Mexico and part of the time at Paris, was attempting to pay his
addresses to the sister of Major's sweetheart. Hartman was a fine-
looking young fellow but considerable of a swash-buckler and in order
1o ingratiate himself into the good graces of this young lady, pre-
tended at least to be interested in the release of Major. John W.
Beatty now living in Mexico accompanied Hartman to Monroe county
to secure the influence of Union men there to petition General Mer-
rill to prevent the execution. Just how far Hartman 's influence went
is not known, or if it be real or pretended, may never be known. Hart-
man turned out to be a man of neither veracity nor integrity. He
committed many depredations in this section of the state, under the
guise of warfare.*
It is more probable that the kind-heartedness and soldierly con-
duct of Major Caldwell had more to do with the saving of Major's life,
as well as the others from Monroe county, who were ordered shot, than
that of any other person. In a letter of September 6, 1912, to the
author of this sketch, Judge Caldwell says: *'The day after I received
this order, the mothers, sisters and friends of these men, appeared
at my headquarters in Mexico to entreat for their lives — the day fixed
by the orders for their execution was only four days off. The dele-
gation was headed by Mr. Marion Biggs, of Monroe county, one of
the kindest and most tender-hearted men I ever knew. He was so
highly esteemed by both sides in the war, that neither side molested
him; and he devoted himself to the task of interceding for the relief
of his neighbors (whether rebels or Federals, he made no distinction)
who were so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the enemy and
likely to become victims to the rigors and passions of a civil war.
**As soon as the delegation entered my headquarters and before
Mr. Biggs or any other member of it had spoken a word, I said, *Mr.
Biggs, you don't have to tell me what you or your friends have come
here for. You want to save the lives of these men who are under
sentence of death, which I am ordered by my superior officers to carry
into efl^ect. I have not the power to cancel General Merrill's orders
however much I might desire to do so, but I can tell you who can can-
cel these orders and how you can save the lives of these men. ' At that
• ** With Porter in North Missouri," pp. 130-133.— Mudd.
218 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
remark a female voice m the crowd cried out in great anguish, * Oh, for
God's sake, tell, tell, tell us quick.' And I replied, * Hasten to the
railroad station and catch the morning train to St. Louis and as soon
as you get there, go to the headquarters of General Curtis and tell
him what you have come here to tell me. He is one of the most humane
and tender-hearted men you ever saw and when you have told your
story, he will at once revoke General Merrill's orders, and send me
an order to that effect. Have him send his order to me by telegraph
and give you a duplicate to fetch to me, so that if the wires are cut
and the order by telegraph does not reach me, you will be sure to get
here with the one intrusted to you. Now go quickly and catcli your
train.' * Major Caldwell is right,' said Biggs, *we must act on his
advice, come let's go.' And they hastened to the station, caught the
train, got to St. Louis and by eleven o'clock the next day. I had
received an order from General Curtis revoking the orders to shoot
the men, and directing me to send them to St. Louis."*
Major was sent to prison at Alton, where he remained for some
time and was regularly exchanged, reentered the Confederate arm\%
and after the close of the war removed to California, where while city
marshal of a town in that state, died.
Major Caldwell was in charge of the post at Mexico through the
summer and fall of 1862. During the time here, he with his command,
fought Porter at Florida, July 22d; Santa Fe, called by the Federals,
but by the Confederates, called Botts' Bluflf, July 24th; and Moore's
Mill with Colonel Guitar's regiment, July 28th. After the battle
at Botts' Bluff, Caldwell pushed Porter south in Audrain county, north
of the Callaway line on the north fork of Salt River, where Porter's men
rested for a day or two before the engagement at Moore's Mill. Major
Caldwell has always been well and favorably remembered by the people
of Audrain county.
After the battle of Lexington, Silas L. Hickerson, a member of
Murray's command, returned to Audrain county with a commission
as a captain, for the purpose of recruiting a company. He was never
able to get back to Price's army, but with his company, joined Porter
and remained in Audrain and surrounding counties. He was in the
battles of Florida, and Santa Fe, and was looked upon by both sides
as a guerilla.
Another man of Audrain county, with a company, was Young
Purcell. Before the war he was a farmer on Littleby. With his band
he was part of the time with Porter, and at other times out carrying
on the usual work of a bush-whacker on his own account. On August
13, 1862, he and another, with a company of two hundred men, entered
Columbia and liberated the Confederate prisoners there in jail, one
of whom was Wm. R. Jackson, son of Judge James Jackson, of pioneer
days of the county.
After the battle of Moore's Mill, Porter's command divided up into
small detachments, some going to their homes, some to their rendez-
vous but the main body was removed to the northern part of the state.
After the battle at Kirksville, Porter's command again divided
into small detachments, some surrendering under Lieutenant Todd at
^lexico and some going south with Captain R. K. Phillips, among
whom were Joe Inlow and Sam Murray, both of Audrain county.
The* Confederate forces were never at any time able during the
war to enter Mexico. After the battle at Moore's Mill the last of July,
1862, Col. Odon Guitar, with the Ninth Missouri moved into Mexico
and in doing so cut off a Confederate force from entering Mexico and
• Official RecordB, War of the Rebellion, Series IT, Vol. IV, pp. 604. 657.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 219
which was coming in that direction from Concord. Guitar was here
a short whfle and afterward was promoted to brigadier general and
placed in charge of the northern district of Missouri.
A great deal of recruiting took place in various parts of the county
and a great deal of bush-whacking was done. Small numbers of men
would get together, stay under cover and at the first opportunity,
make an effort to get south of the Missouri river to join Price's army.
Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes they did not. The number of
men going into the Confederate service from Audrain county was
probably about four hundred.
When the Third Iowa Cavalry was removed from here, it was suc-
ceeded by a company of militia under Captain John McRoberts, then
he was followed by Colonel Smart and the Third Missouri State Militia,
Cavalry. Smart's regiment was located here until January, 1863, when
he was succeeded by the return of McRoberts' Company. McRoberts
in turn in May, 1863, was succeeded by Col. Joseph B. Douglass and
Douglass remained in Mexico and the vicinity until the close of the
war. Douglass was in charge of a district.
In August, 1864, a company of Home Guards was organized in
Mexico, for the purpose of helping to defend the town from the vari-
ous guerilla bands operating throughout the county. John M. Gor-
don was captain ; W. D. H. Hunter, first lieutenant ; and F. M. Shryock,
second lieutenant. There are many living in Mexico and its vicinity
now who were members of Captain Gordon's company. It was their
duty to keep the town picketed and to keep guards at the blockhouses
at the railroad bridges on either side of the town.
In 1864 when Price made his raid north, there was again a fresh
outbreak of activity in Audrain county, as well as all over Northeast
Missouri. Three hundred Confederates crossed the river near Glas-
gow and got as far northeast as Paris, where they compelled Captain
William E. Fawkes with a company of seventy militia, to surrender.
This was October, 1864.
The excitement at this time caused Captain Gordon to take extra
precautions to guard the town. On this occasion or some similar one,
the town was picketed for fear of an attack from the Confederates.
In those days it was not always just exactly safe to be too free about
expressing one's sentiments in the presence of strangers, and until it
was known which side the stranger belonged to, cautious men were
careful, and it becoming known that the stranger was a Federal or
Confederate, it was not unusual to express great sympathy for his
cause, especially if he was serving either. At the time referred to,
Jim Carroll and John Jeffries were sent out to picket the road com-
ing in from toward Centralia. They were stationed at suitable dis-
tances apart along the road, with Carroll the farther out. They were
instructed that if they heard gun shots in their direction, they were
to give the alarm by firing their guns and immediately retreat into the
to^n to give further alarm. Carroll while handling his gun, allowed
it to go off accidentally. Jeffries hearing this, immediately fired his
gun and started to run for the town. Carroll, becoming panic-stricken,
struck out at his best lick to town and in his excitement ran against
Jeffries, knocking him down and falling on him. Jeffries mistaking
Carroll for a large part of the rebel forces, concluded that he had been
taken prisoner and without looking to see who had him, began to pro-
fess adherence to the rebel cause, swearing that he was as good a rebel
as anybody and **for goodness sake to let him go the way of a good
rebel." By this time Carroll had recovered sufficiently to recognize his
friend Jeffries, and said to him, ''John, don't make a fool of yourself.
220 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
I'm no rebel, it's nobody but Jim.'* When Jeflfries discovered that it
was Carroll, and looking round to see that no one else was there, and
to make sure they were alone, said, ** Being as it is you Jim, and there
is nobody here but you and me, we'll just stick to our principles."
Qreat excitement was created in Mexico and its vicinity when it was
known that the notorious Bill Anderson was in an adjoining county
and headed toward Audrain, shortly before the Centralia Massacre.
A little after the middle of September, 1864, Anderson made an attack
on the post at Fayette and was driven off. He then went through
Randolph county to Paris and finding the federal forces there too
strong for him, turned to the southward, coming in the direction of
^lexico, until he reached a point where the Mexico and Paris road
crosses Long Branch. Instead of continuing on his way toward Mex-
ico, he turned southwestward and crossed the western part of Audrain
county to Centralia. He was followed from Paris by Major John-
son with about one hundred and seventy-five men and the next day
the fight at Centralia occurred. Shortly before this Captain George
W. Bryson, a regular Confederate soldier of the Missouri troops, who
had been in the siege of Vicksburg, was transferred to the Trans-Mis-
sissippi Department, then commanded by General Kirby E. Smith,
made his appearance in this section on a recruiting expedition. In
April, 1864, General Smith made a detail of ten men, of his best and
most daring scouts to go to north Missouri to recruit men for the ser-
vice. Pursued by Federals from the south side, these men got across
the river just below Jefferson City. After traveling about twenty
miles northward in Callaway county, they separated, each going to his
former home. Bryson went to the home of John Barnes south of
Centralia and there recruited four men. Near Centralia Bryson ran
across a company of Federals guarding a wagon load of ammunition
and guns, being taken from Centralia to Columbia. Bryson, with his
men, opened fire on the Federals, and though Major Evans in charge
of the troop, had a full company, they ran, abandoning their charge.
Bryson captured 75 guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition and soon
raised a company of sixty-two men. He soon afterward captured a
train of Federal horses at Centralia. He then started on a scout to
capture Mexico. While north of Mexico about ten miles one morn-
ing, he divided his men into small bunches in order to breakfast at
different houses. One of these houses was that of Peyton Botts. The
lieutenant, who had ordered breakfast at the Botts' home, failed to
leave a guard there to look out for Federals. While Mrs. Botts was
preparing a breakfast, a Federal troop came along and seeing that unus-
ual preparations were being made for breakfast, compelled Mrs. Botts
by threats of killing her husband, to tell that the breakfast was for a
band of rebels. The Federals concealed themselves and when Bryson
with ten men returned to the house to eat breakfast, they were fired
upon at close range by the Federals, killing one horse and wounding
Bryson. Bryson fell back into the woods and rallied his men, but
when he got back to Botts' house, they were all gone, carrying with
them as a prisoner the man whose horse they had killed.
This fight occurred the day before the Bill Anderson fight at Cen-
tralia, and for that reason in the minds of some, Bryson has been
connected with Anderson in the guerilla warfare of North Missouri.
Bryson was never connected with Bill Anderson though Britton in
his '*The Civil War on the Border," puts Bryson down as a guerilla,
and classes him with Anderson, Todd and others. He was a r^rular
Confederate soldier and at the time of these occurrences was recruit-
ing. Captain Bryson was taken care of by Logan Mundy and John
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 221
Ellis of that neighborhood, until he recovered from his wounds. He
was kept in the timber near their houses. Bryson was attended by
Dr. W. R. Rodes, then of Santa Fe, now residing in Mexico. While
Hryson was still unable for service, the first lieutenant of the com-
pany, under Bryson 's instructions, joined General Price near Boon-
\dlle. ' By the time Bryson was able to travel, seventy-five men had
come to him and he started to the southern army and after a long and
tiresome march, rejoined Kirby Smith, with whom he remained until
the surrender. Captain Bryson returned to Missouri after the war
and married the daughter of Logan Mundy, with whom he became
acquainted while being nursed for his wounds. He now lives in Gaines-
ville, Texas, and is treasurer of Cooke county.
In addition to those already mentioned, the non-combatants killed
by the Federals in and around Mexico during the Civil war, was
Gabriel Turner, a citizen of Boone county, being in Mexico along the
latter part of the war, was fallen upon by a number of soldiers and
killed. Then the Barnett boys, two inoflfensive young fellows, attend-
ing to their own affairs at their home about two miles from Mexico,
on the Florida road were also killed by the Federal Militia. The Fed-
* erals by virtue of military power had a means by which they could
hold the other side responsible for murders and depredations, but
there was no way to hold responsible the Federal soldiers, or militia-
men, who were guilty of killing southern sympathizers, so that mat-
ters of that kind went uninvestigated, unpunished and passed into a
mere memory.
At the beginning of the war General Pope, by his Order No. 3,
undertook to make all citizens, regardless of political belief, stand
responsible for the destruction of the North Missouri Railroad.^ This
was a policy he undertook to pursue throughout Northeast Missouri.
Every man living within five miles of the railroad, he undertook to
hold responsible for anything done toward destroying it. This and
other things done by him, instead of restoring order and creating con-
fidence in the Federal authorities, had the opposite effect, and the
consequence was that so long as that policy was pursued, there was a
general state of disorder, not only in this, but in all the surrounding
counties of Northeast Missouri.^
Later in the war a coiAmittee of seven was appointed for each
county, whose duty it was to assess the various counties of Northeast
Missouri, their share of $300,000 with which to compensate for depre-
dations done by all forces unfriendly to the Union cause. On Jan-
uary 15, 1863, there was assessed by the Federal authorities against
Audrain county as its part, $21,000, which was levied against the
southern sympathizers of the county, and which they were compelled
to pay. In many instances, people perfectly innocent of any wrong,
and who had taken, and were living under the oath of loyalty, were
compelled to suffer for the acts of irresponsible outlaws.
Shortly before the close of the war, there was a fellow by the name
of Nath Williams with a band in the southeastern part of the county,
engaged in bush-whacking Union men and robbing men of both sides.
A Federal soldier named James Davis returned to his home in that
neighborhood, and Williams with his band, took Davis out and murdered
him. This was unknown to and contrary to the desires of the citizens of
the neighborhood, but notwithstanding that the Federal authorities
caused Henry and James H. Shock, Thomas R. and Josiah Gantt and
J Seriea III, Vol. I, Official Records, War of the RebeUion, pp. 417-424.
2'* The Civil War on the Border. ' '—Brit ton, Vol. I, pp. 144-146.
222 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
1
•
William Bagland, to be arrested and held in prison as a ransom for
Davis, not knowing that he had been killed, and when that was ascer-
tained, these men were compelled to raise a considerable amount of
money to pay the Federal authorities, as a recompense for the loss of
the soldier.
^^ •
The number of men going into the Federal service from Audrain
county was probably about five or six hundred. The secession senti-
ment probably prevailed in the north and south parts of the county,
but in Cuivre township, it was almost unanimously Union, from the
beginning, of the war until the end. Before the Civil war there had
settled in that township a considerable number of French and a great
many Pennsylvania Germans, and these men were strong adherents
to the Union, and being generally men of strong character they domi-
nated the sentiment in that end of the county. It has been said that
eight out of every ten men of military age in Cuivre township were
in the Union army. There were parts of three companies of militia
made up in Cuivre, those of Captain Geo. M. Boss, Abraham Kempinsky,
and Captain Lewis Musick. Another company, that of Captain M. E.
Swift, was made up in the western part of the county while McRoberts
company came more from the central part.
In this sketch, the Federal volunteer soldier and the militiaman is
referred to as either Federal or Union. There was a vast difference
in the conduct of the regular soldier from that of the militiaman. In
many instances, the militia were as disorderly and unlawful as were
the guerillas.
It is not attempted to give a full list of the murders and depreda-
tions committed by the militiamen in the county during the Civil war
Numbers of southern sympathizers and sometimes Union men were
killed and mistreated of which no account has ever been taken.
The civil administration during the war was but a reflex of the
military. In 1862 strong Union men were elected to all of the offices
in the county. In 1864, armed 'soldiers guarded the polls while the
voting took place and of course this resulted in the carrying out of the
will of the military power. W. D. H. Hunter was elected to the leg-
islature, where he opposes the adoption of the constitution of 1865
on account of the test oath and the disfranchisement provisions. In
1866, notwithstanding all of the ex-Confederates and southern sym-
pathizers were precluded from voting, the Democrats were successful
in electing a set of officers, all of whom had been Union men. In 1868
Jolm D. Macfarlano, a Liberal Republican, was elected to the legisla-
ture, over W. T. Cook, Radical. Cook contested and Macfarlane re-
signed, and at another election M. F. Simmons, Liberal, was elected over
R. M. Sturgeon, Radical. It was not until 1870 that the whole people
had a voice in the elections. In that year the Democrats elected a good
class of officers, all former Union men, among whom was William H,
White, sheriff, who in 1861 had opposed the raising of the secession flag
in Mexico. In 1872, Captain Daniel H. Mclntyre was elected prosecut-
ing attorney. He was the first ex-Confederate elected to an office in
the county after the close of the Civil war. Since that time, there has
been scarcely an election but some ex-Confederate soldier has been
elected to a place in the court house.
On May 7, 1868, the county court, composed of John B. Morris.
Increase Adams and T. J. Marshall, ordered an appropriation of $50,000
for the building of the third court house.
E. P. Cunningham, who in 1840 was one of the contractors to
build the State University, was selected as commissioner. The con-
tract was let for the building at $40,900. Including everything, the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 223
house was built and accepted by the county court August 4, 1869, at
a total cost of $42,807.76. At that time county courts had power
without submitting the matter to the vote of the people, to create a
county debt. The court house was built by a direct levy made by the
court and by an issue of some short term bonds. It was one of the best
buildings in the state at that time and except for lack of room since
the increase of county business, it is one of the best court houses in
this section of the state. It has been remodeled inside and is well
preserved outside.
Spanish-American War
Audrain county contributed to the Spanish-American war in 1898
one company, Company L, Fifth Missouri Volunteers, officered by Her-
bert E. Black, captain; William C. Egan, first lieutenant; Hamilton
B". McKinley, second lieutenant. The company was mustered in in
April, 1898, went to Chickamauga Park in May and remained in camp
until September when it was ordered to Kansas City, where it was
mustered out.
Mexico
So intimately connected with the history of Audrain county, is that
of Mexico, that necessarily a considerable portion of its history is
woven into that of the county. It was first incorporated by special
act of the legislature, approved March 5, 1855. By that act it was-
styled **The Town of Mexico," and the corporate limits confined to
the original town and the county addition, as accepted by the commis-
sioners when the county seat was located. The corporate powers were
vested in a board of trustees, consisting of seven members chosen by
the qualified voters. This board was authorized to select a chairman
and also a town clerk, and the county court had power to appoint for
the town, a justice of the peace, who should have the same power as
other justices of the peace in Salt river township. This board also
had power to appoint an assessor, collector, treasurer, constable and
any other officers as might be necessary. Of course this board had
power to enact ordinances for the government of the town. The act
provided for the election of the board of trustees on the first Monday
in April, 1855, but the organization of the town under that act, was
neglected and as a consequence the town was not organized until the
legislature passed an amending act providing for the election of the
board of trustees, on the first Monday in January, 1856. This act also
provided that the trustees hold their offices for a period of one year,
and for the election of trustees thereafter.
At the election held for that purpose R. W. Bourn, Jacob Coons,
John II. Slaughter, S. A. Craddock, A. Cauthorn, M. Y. Duncan and
S. Scott were elected a board of trustees and subscribed to support the
constitution of the United States and of the State of Missouri, and to
faith fuUv demean themselves in office as trustees of the town of Mexico,
on January 27, 1856, before Charles R. Ward, justice of the peace.
R. W, Bourn, now living in Mexico, was elected chairman of the board.
The first set of ordinances was adopted March 3, 1856.
The first chapter devoted itself to the office of assessor, his duties
and the assessment of property for taxation. The second chapter pre-
scribed the license for confectioners and the third was devoted to the
regulation of persons exposed to or having smallpox. The fourth pro-
vided for a town constable and provided his duties. Chapter V pre-
scribed ten different misdemeanors, one of which prescribed a punish-
ment *'of ten stripes on the bare back, to be laid on well by the con-
224 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
stable instanter" against a slave for getting drunk- within the limits
of the town.
Section 52, Chapter VI, on nuisances, regulated the use of fire-
places, chimneys, stoves and flues. Chapter VII provided a license
for peddlers, especially clock peddlers. The remainder of the ordi-
nances were such as towns of that size would usually have at that time.
In 1855, John P. Clark, and in 1856 John P. Beatty, L. N. Hunter,
John A. Pearson and S. W. Davis laid oflf additions to the town which
were outside of the corporate limitis.
The legislature, by an act approved February 17, 1857, granted
the town a new charter, extending the corporate limits from the center
of the court house square one-half mile in each direction, and changing
the name to *'The City of Mexico." The permanent officers by this
last act were mayor, city council, clerk, recorder, marshal, assessor,
treasurer, city attorney and street commissioner. The first mayor under
the second charter was Israel Lander.
The town remained under that charter until 1872, when it was
amended by an act of the legislature, giving the city some additional
powers and extending the corporate limits one-fourth of a mile to the
east, west and south.
The city remained under that charter until March 27, 1874, when
an act was approved repealing the former charters and enacting an
entirely new charter for the city. There was very little change in the
charter of 1874 from that of 1857 and its amendments. The corporate
limits remained the same.
#
The city remained under that charter until March 4, 1892, when
by a vote, the third-class charter was adopted. By an ordinance approved
March 24, 1890, the corporate limits were extended so as to include
one mile south of the court house square, three-fourths of a mile north
and remained three-fourths of a mile east and west. There being some
dissatisfaction about this ordinance, the matter of extending the cor-
porate limits as above stated was submitted to a vote of the people,
and the limits were extended at an election for that purpose, the 21st
day of March, 1892, by a vote of 259 for the extension and 31 against.
In the meantime numerous additions have been made to the city, until
now there is scarcely any land left within the corporate limits that
has not been laid off into lots and blocks.
The inhabitants of Mexico in 1860 were about 1.500 or 2,000; in
1870, about 3,000 ; in 1880, 3,835 ; 1890, 4 J89 ; 1900, 5,099, and in 1910,
5,939.
Of the first merchants in Mexico very little is known excepting that
the first mercantile business was that established by Jennings & Fenton,
prior to the location of the county seat. They were succeeded by James
E. Fenton, who sold dry goods, groceries and intoxicants under a license.
Then George W. Turley kept a tavern in which he had license to sell
intoxicants. Then Lycurgus L. Ramsey, Robert C. Mansfield and James
H. Smith established first what would now be known as a grocery store.
Then came John B. Morris and W. H. White and George F, Muldrow.
Thomas Stone was the first cabinet maker in the town. Reuben Pulis,
Ilarrv Norvell and David Cad were the first blacksmiths. James L.
Stephens was one of the early merchants. The first gunsmiths were
John and Did Welkins. Charles R. Ward in 1845 established a black-
smith shop and auger factory here.
The county court reserved two lots, No. 6 and No. 7 in block No. 6
for a seminary, lot No. 8 in block No. 21 was reserved for a school house
and the block in the northwest corner of the donated addition was
reserved for a cemetery. The first grave was that of William Card-
well, brother of the county judge.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 225
Numerous were the merchants of that time, but it would be uninter-
esting to give an account of all those engaging in business.
The first bank established in the town was the private bank of
A. R. Ringo, in 1861, J. E. Dearing was the cashier. Ringo's bank,
as it was called, continued in business until about the year 1867, when
a corporation was formed called the Mexico National Savings Bank,
with a capital stock of $100,000, but the word national was soon stricken
out and that bank has been known as the Mexico Savings Bank ever
since. The first president was A. R. Ringo, J. E. Dearing was the
first cashier, S. M. Locke, today cashier of that bank was assistant
cashier. Dearing at his death was succeeded by John M. Marmaduke,
who remained there something like thirty years. The first directors
were A. R. Ringo, C. T. Quisenberry, R. W. Bourn, James E. Ross and
William Stuart.
The Mexico Southern Bank was organized in 1867 by Charles H.
Hardin, William M. Sims, William Harper, James Callaway, and Joseph
W. Carson. Hardin was made president, and Carson cashier. In 1878
Carson resigned and was succeeded by Hiram A. Ricketts, cashier, and
Redmond Callaway, assistant cashier. The capital stock of the original
organization was $100,000. In 1888 the bank was reorganized, the
capital stock being increased to $150,000.
In 1870 the Farmers and Traders Bank was organized with Henry
Williams as president and R. R. Arnold as cashier. This bank was
soon succeeded by another. The Mexico Exchange Bank, and in 1882,
it was converted into a national bank with a capital stock of $50,000,
now the First National Bank of Mexico. R. W. Tureman was the first
president and R. R. Arnold the first cashier. The board of directors,
in addition to the president and cashier were Edward Rines, B. B.
Tureman and Jos. M. Coons.
In 1903 North Missouri Trust Company was organized with a sub-
scribed capital of $150,000, one half paid up. W. W. Pollock was
made president and James C. Mundy, secretary. The first directors
were Wm. Pollock, W. W. Pollock, D. H. Mclntyre, S. P. Emmons,
R. M. White, George Robertson, George A. Ross and R. J. Lawder.
Prior to the Civil war the schools of the town were mainly private
schools. There is no record extant of the public schools back of 1870.
Soon after the Civil war, the public school system of the town was
developed and school after school added, a high school created, until
the public school system of Mexico became equal to that of any town
of its size in the state. In 1858 an effort was made to establish a school
exclusively for girls on the grounds afterwards occupied by Hardin
College. Five thousand dollars was donated by William Kirtley, John
P. Beatty, J. M. Gordon, M. Y. Duncan, John P. Clark, C. P. Wade,
S. W. Davis and R. W. Sinclair and a frame building was erected.
School was begun and conducted very successfully by Professors
Skelton and William P. Hurt, until the Civil war closed its doors. This
school laid the foundation for a girls' school in Mexico. In May, 1873,
Gov. Charles H. Hardin purchased these grounds and with a dona-
tion by him of $40,000 established Hardin College. The corner stone
for Hardin College was laid July 23, 1874, with much ceremony in
which participated all of the Masonic orders, the Odd Fellows and
all other societies in Mexico. The first -faculty of the school was com-
posed of W. A. Terrill, president, with the following: V. C. Vaughan,
Mrs. Rebecca Terrill, Miss Viccie A. Sears, Miss Jeannie G. Morrison,
Miss Eliza Marshall and Mrs. R. W. Harrisi School opened in the fall
of 1874 with ninety students. The first class graduated was in June,
1876, and was composed of the following: Ella Forrest, Ella Hitt,
''d. 1— IB
226 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Laura Clark, Ada Marshall, Mattie Craddock, all of Mexico; Nellie
Boulware of Pulton, and Nannie Garrard of Centralia. From that day
to this a little less than one thousand young ladies have gone forth
from the different departments of Hardin College with their certificates
of graduation.
In 1879 President Terrill was succeeded by Mrs. H. T. Baird, she
by A. K. Yancy in 1885, and Yancy by the present president, J. W.
Million, in 1897. Each adding to the work of the other has made
Hardin College one of the best young ladies schools in the West.
In about 1873 Howard M. Hamill established a school for boya
on Jackson street, in the brick house now the residence of R. R. Arnold.
It continued three years and ranked high in its class. He was assisted
by Howard A. Gass mentioned ante. Hamill was an ex-Confederate
soldier from Alabama and now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where
he is engaged in church work.
In 1891 Colonel A. F. Fleet, from the Missouri University established
the Missouri Military Academy, with an able corps of assistants. It
became one of the leading military schools of the West. Unfortunately
it was destroyed by fire in October, 1896, whereupon Colonel Fleet
removed to Culver, Indiana, having charge of Culver Military Academy
until his death.
In 1901, aided by the citizens of Mexico, A. K. Yancy and W. D.
Fonville established a military school under the name of the tii*st
school of that kind at Mexico. It continued to flourish under these
gentlemen until Mr. Yancy 's death a few years ago, and being con-
tinued under W. D. Fonville until 1911, when it was taken charge of
by Col. W. A. Kohr, formerly of St. Charles Military Academy.
In 1879 William Pollock established the Mexico City Mills which
have for a number of years been known as the William Pollock Milling
& Elevator Company. It is one of the largest enterprises of this kind
ever established in northern Missouri, and was the first mill to create
a local market for grain in this section of the state.
Mexico and vicinity produces a fine quality of fire clay and several
efforts have been made to establish fire brick works at this place, the
most successful of which is the Mexico Brick & Fire Clay Company,
employing a capital of more than $100,000, with a payroll of $2,000
a week and an annual output of something over $200,000 under the
management of A. P. Green.
In 1906 Morris Brothers of St. Louis established at Mexico a shoe
factory with a capital of $50,000. It has a weekly payroll of $2,000.
It was lately transferred by them to the Freidman-Shelby Shoe Com-
pany of St. Louis, and is conducted under the management of William
Morris.
Another thing in which Mexico is famous is its saddle horse indus-
try. As early as 1867 C. T. Quisenberry located at Mexico, introduced
into the county from Kentucky, the horse known as Missouri Clay. A
famous line of stallions since that time has been Royal Gold Dust,
brought here by Joseph Stanhope, Black Squirrel by L. B. Morris,
Artist by Robert Edmonston, Artist Rose by Joseph A. Potts and
finally, Rex McDonald, a native of the county stands at the head of
the list of saddle stallions of the world.
m
VANDALL4
One of the flourishing towns of Audrain county is Vandalia, located
on the Chicago & Alton Railroad in the northeastern part of the county.
Its business is contributed to largely by Ralls and Pike counties. The
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 227
town was laid off iii 1870 by Aaron McPike and Judge Harmon Cald-
well, the plat being filed in the recorder's office the 2d of July, 1871.
The first three houses erected in the town were by Aaron McPike and
were constructed of lumber hauled from Louisiana, a distance of thirty-
six miles. It is surrounded by a good agricultural country. The town
grew rapidly and within ten years it had a steam flouring mill, two
grain elevators, and soon had two newspapers, one of these, the Van-
dalia Leader was established in 1875 by J. Linn Ladd. He was suc-
ceeded in the control of it by R. W. Barrow, he by White & Simpson,
they by "White & Emmons, they by Emmons, he by Thomas R. Dodge
& Son, then the paper went into the hands of CuUen Brothers, then
transferred to W. W. Botts, by him to Prank N. Frost and upon Mr.
Frost's death, he was succeeded by his widow, who has made it one
of the brightest newspapers in the state. There was another paper
there of short life called the Argus. For some time there has been
another newspaper there, the Vandalia Maily published by F. B. Wilson.
The banking interests of a towTi always indicate its commercial
activity. Soon after the founding of the town, Mayes & Burkhart
established a private bank there with $10,000 capital and in Decem-
ber, 1882, their banking interests were taken over by C. G. Daniel, who
continued to operate a private bank there until 1889, when the Daniel's
Bank was organized into the Vandalia Banking Association, by Mr.
Daniel, Aaron McPike, J. C. Parrish, W. S. Boyd, J. H. Wright, M. R.
K. Biggs and George W. Calvert, with a capital stock of $50,000.
Mr. McPike was the first president and C. G. Daniel cashier. Mr.
Daniel is at present the president of the bank and has been for a num-
ber of years, and Will C. Daniel, his son, cashier. The Farmers & Mer-
chants Bank of Vandalia was organized in 1897, by Fred Reid and
Harvey Coons with a capital stock of $25,000. The first president was
J. R. Bondurant; J. T. Williams, vice-president; W. L. Wright, sec-
retary. The present oflBcers are as follows: J. P. Alford, president;
J. T. Williams, vice-president; Edward Lemon, cashier.
The third bank is the Commercial Bank of Vandalia, organized
October 11, 1907, with a capital stock of $30,000. S. A. Waters at
first and now president; C. E. Blaine, vice-president; F. B. DeTienne,
cashier.
Besides being in the midst of a good agricultural country, there are
two coal mines operated there, one tiling factory, the Missouri Glass
Company of St. Louis, operates a factory there engaged in manu-
facturing fire clay products.
The population of Vandalia in 1890 was 979; in 1900, 1,168; and
in 1910, 1,595. Its high school is one of the best in the state.
Martinsburg
This town was laid off in June, 1857, under the name of Hudson
City by Wm. R. Martin. The name was given it in honor of the presi-
dent of the North Missouri Railroad. What is now Macon City was
organized about the same time and given the same name. Mr. Martin
yielded to the name taken by the latter town and by an act of the leg-
islature passed in 1857, the name was changed to Martinsburg, in
honor of its founder. It has always been an important shipping point
for live stock on the railroad. The town cut considerable figure dur-
ing the Civil war. When the war came on, the notorious Alvin Cobb
living just south of town organized a company of bushwhackers with
which he terrorized that whole part of the country. After the killing
of Captain Jaeger and Mr. Sharp related in another part of this
228 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
sketch, his house was burned to the ground by the Federal troops and
he driven away from there. When General Scofield succeeded Gen-
eral Pope in north Missouri, he for a short while had his headquarters
there.
The town has had for several years a newspaper, the Martinsburg
Enterprise.
April 1, 1893, The Martinsburg Bank was organized with a capi-
tal stock of $10,000; Stephen Bertels, president; Edward P. French,
vice president; and Robert L. Morris, cashier. The directors were
Stephen Bertels, Edward P. French, Robert L. Morris, J. C. Blain,
Joseph Fenneward, J. H. Scott and N. M. Friedman. H. P. French
is now cashier. Mr. Bertels continues as president.
It has no manufacturing interests, but has a coal mine.
In 1890, the population was 276; in 1900, 345; and in 1910, 436.
It is incorporated under the village act.
Farbeb
Farber is on the Chicago & Alton Railroad five miles west* of Van-
dalia and was laid off in 1872 by Silas W. Farber. It has a coal mine.
For a number of years there has been published ther^ a newspaper
called the Farber Forum, by C. A. Davault.
The Farber Bank was organized in 1891 with a capital stock of
$10,000. The first officers were Lyman Osterhout, president; A. E.
Jenkins, cashier; and the following directors: Lyman Osterhout, J.
W. Smith, N. H. Sutton, J. W. Northcutt, G. B. KeUy, A. M. Hunt-
ley, and George W. Chase. The president at this time is M. R. K.
Biggs; J. D. Sutton, cashier.
The population of Farber in 1890 was 272; in 1900, 247; and in
1910, 305.
Laddonia
Laddonia was laid off in 1871 by Amos Ladd and J. J. Haden and
given its name in honor of one of its founders, Mr. Ladd.
Upon the iJuilding of the railroad through there, it became at once
an important shipping point for live stock and grain. At the time
of its location, it was surrounded by an unoccupied prairie and the
first business established there was that of a lumber business by D. P.
Moore and E. C. Kennen.
Soon thereafter William W. H. Jackson established the Laddonia
Enterprise which lived two or three years. Then in 1884, the Lad-
donia Herald was established by J. N. Cross and John BeaL Soon
they were succeeded by John and Grant Beal and they were succeeded
by Grant Beal and he by C. E. Mayhall, who is now its editor and
publisher.
The town has two banks. David P. Moore and E. C. Kennen
established a private bank there in March, 1884, with a capital stock
of $10,000. This was sold in 1892 and The Bank of Laddonia was
organized by B. L. Locke, E. R. Locke, S. M. Locke, C. A. Wilder, R.
M. Pearson, and George E, Ferris. The first president was B. L.
Locke and E. R. Locke, cashier.
In 1895 The Farmers Bank of Laddonia with a capital stock of
$20,000 was organized by John W. Stephens, president; B. C. Tor-
bert, vice president; W. H. Logan, cashier; with the following direc-
tors: Dr. A. F. Brown, Adrian Hagaman, J. W. Ohearen, W. U. Coil
and W. H. Logan. John W. Stephens has continued its president and
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 229
W. H. Logan, cashier. The present capital stock is $15,000 with a
surplus of $10,000.
The population in 1890 was 520; in 1900, 619; and in 1910, 614.
Rush Hill
Rush Hill, a station on the Chicago & Alton iBailroad, five miles
west of Laddonia and ten miles east of Mexico, was laid off by Wil-
liam Preston Hill and Gustav Reusch in 1881 and given the name of
Rush Hill. In 1890 it had a population of 210 ; in 1900, 181 ; and in
1910, 168.
The Bank of Rush Hill with a capital stock of $10,000 was organized
February 6, 1905, with W. E. Comett, president; Frank Erdel, vice
president; Charles L. Stewart, secretary; J. W. Rogers, cashier; with
the following additional directors: H. L. Smith, B. C. Torbert, and
Qaither Berry. Charles L. Stewart is now president and E. A. Feutz,
cashier.
Benton City
Benton City is an incorporated village on the Wabash six miles
east of Mexico. When the North Missouri Railroad was first built
a station was located there under the name of Jeflftown, in honor of
Jeflferson F. Jones, who lived a short distance south of there in Cal-
laway county and who had been instrumental in the building of that
railroad. A plat of the town was made by James S. Rollins in 1881.
In 1890 there was a population of 109; in 1900, 116; and in 1910,
233. It is an important shipping point for both grain and live stock,
and maintains an elevator.
Citizens ' Bank was organized there the 3d of March, 1906, with a
capital stock of $10,000, with J. J. F. Johnson, president; and C. A.
James, cashier.
Thompson
Thompson is a station on the Chicago & Alton and Wabash Rail-
roads, six miles west of Mexico. It has never been incorporated but
about one hundred people are living there. It is an important ship-
ping point for both live stock and grain and maintains one blacksmith
shop and two general stores. It has a postoflSce from which several
rural routes emanate into the western part of the county.
Other villages are Worcester, fifteen miles northeast of Mexico on
the Hannibal dirt road, and Molino, nine miles north of Mexico, the
terminus of the Mexico, Santa Fe & Perry Traction Company Elec-
tric line starting at Mexico.
The County's Resources
Audrain county with the exception of some manufacturing inter-
ests noted before, is almost purely devoted to farming and stock rais-
ing, cattle, horses, mules, sheep and swine. The farms range in size
from 3 acres to 1,000 acres and over. The largest number of farms
range in acreage from 100 to 174 acres. The land area is approxi-
mately 438,400 acres and of this 426,550 acres are devoted to farm-
ing. 97 A % 0^ the total land of the county is farm land and the aver-
age size of the farm is 156 acres. The average part of each farm actu-
ally improved is 143^^ acres.
230 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The value of the farm property in 1900 was $14,096,544.00 and
in 1910, $33,575,009.00, showing an increase in ten years of 138^%.
The average value per acre in 1900 was $22.40 and in 1910, $55.93.
The total value of the cattle in 1910 was $1,059,586.00, of horses
$1,705,915.00, and of mules $826,088.00, of swine $588,463, and of sheep
$147,636.00, besides $74,000.00 worth of other live stock. The poultry
in 1910 was of the value of $210,634.00, giving the county a total value
in domestic animals of $4,401,633.00.
The total com crop for the year 1909 in bushels was 4,441,194,
oats 1,700,292, wheat 211,780, and in hay, timothy alone 21,507 tons.
The total of all surplus commodities of the county for the year
1909, including live stock, poultry, all farm products directly and
indirectly, including coal, clay, stone and clay products were
$5,297,126.00.
There are ninety-nine school districts, including the high schools of
Mexico, Vandalia, Laddonia and Martinsburg, and the children of school
age for the year 1912 were 5,829.
CHAPTER XI
BOONE COUNTY
By North Todd Gentry, Colu7nbia
Organization op County
No history of Boone county* would be considered authentic, unless
in the opening paragraph it is stated that Boone county was named for
Col. Daniel Boone (name usually spelled Boon), the famous Kentucky
hunter and pioneer Missourian. While it is generally believed that
Boone was never in the county that bears his name, still the early set-
tlers of Missouri had the greatest admiration for him and for his deeds
of bravery. It is a fact worth mentioning that the death of Daniel Boone
occurred in St. Charles county, Missouri, on September 26, 1820, and the
legislative enactment that subdivided Howard county (often called ''the
mother of counties") and created Boone county was passed by the ter-
ritorial legislature in October, 1820, and approved by the governor oh
November 16, 1820, just a few weeks following the death of Daniel Boone.
A son of Daniel Boone was then a member of the legislature from Mont-
gomery county and all the members wore crape on their arms for the
remainder of the session. It was natural, therefore, that this county
should be named in honor of the man they loved and whose death they
all regretted.
As far as known, the first house built in Boone county was built by
John and William Berry. The land oflSce records at BoonviUe and the
United States government plat book in the recorder's office of Boone
county show that the first land ever patented by anyone was near the
present village of Woodlandville, formerly a part of the Model Farm
but still earlier known as ** Thrall's Prairie," named in honor of Au-
gustus Thrall. But the certified copy of the government book of entries,
now belonging to the Bayless Abstract Company, shows that the first
land entered in this county was by Elijah Foster, July 2, 1818. This
land is located one mile south of Rock Bridge. The patent to it was
not issued till September 8, 1821. Durrett Hubbard was the patentee.
Early Towns
The early towns of Boone county were Smithton, Columbia, Stones-
port, Rocheport, Persia and Nashville,* all of which, except CJolumbia
and Rocheport, have long ceased to exist.
* Much of the history of Northeast Missouri is common to several or all of
the counties. Hence the sketches of Boone, St. Charles, Chariton and other older
counties should be read for any apparent omissions in the several county histories.
Duplication is thus prevented and a comprehensive history given of the entire
section.
231
232 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Smithton
Smithton, named for Gen. Thomas A. Smith, register of the United
States land oflSce at Franklin, was the first county seat of Boone county.
It was situated where Smithton addition to Columbia is now located —
about one mile west and a little north of the present courthouse- Twenty
families lived in Smithton, and the first terms of circuit court and county
court were there held. Several stores did a flourishing business. In the
Missouri Intelligencer, a newspaper published at Franklin, in Howard
county, on file at the State Historical Society, the following notice
appears.
Smithton.
The Trustees of Smithton wish immediately to contract for building a double
hewed-log house, shingle roof and stone chimneys, one story and a half high, in that
town. Timber and stone are very convenient.
They will also contract for digging and walling a well. The improvements to
be finished by the first of November next, when payment will be made. Apply to
the subscribers,
Taylor Bebrt,
BiCHABD Gentry,
David Todd,
Trustees.
July 23, 1819.
But the inability to get water in that locality doomed Smithton, and
caused the citizens to move the town to the east and build on the banks
of Flat branch and the other streams flowing into it on the east side;
this town they called Columbia. The transfer occurred in 1821.
Columbia
The citizens of Columbia have ever been proud of the fact that it
was named for America's discoverer; and some of her enthusiastic
citizens still say that Columbus should be proud of his namesake. As
soon as Boone county was organized, the legislature appointed five com-
missioners to locate the seat of justice, receive donations and procure
a site for a courthouse and jail. The report of said commissioners, as
printed in the Missouri hitellige^icer of April 14, 1821, is as follows:
Columbia.
The commissioners of Boon county have located the permanent seat of justice
in said county , near the centre upon the lands adjoining Smithton, and have laid
off the above town. This town site is located in a neighborhood of first rate lands,
and intersected by the most public roads in the state leading to St. Louis, and from
the "Upper Missouri to the expected seat of government, and in every respect is cal-
culated to meet the expectation of the public and its friends.
The commissioners propose to sell lots therein on the third Monday in May,
being county court day; and on the first Monday in August, being circuit court day,
at the town of Smithton, and will adjourn to the town site, on which days they
expect the sales will be entirely closed.
L. Bass,
John Gray,
David Jackson,
Absalom Hicks,
Jefferson Fulcher,
Commissioners.
April 14, 1821.
The first trustees of Columbia, in an advertisement printed in the
Intelligencer May 21, 1821, informed the public that persons who had
purchased lots in Smithton could exchange the same for lots in Columbia,
on the first Monday in August, 1821. The lots in the original town
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 233
of Columbia were 1421^ feet from north to south, and eighty feet from
east and west; there were some eleven-acre lots, and some forty-acre
lots. All the streets were sixty-six feet wide, except Broadway and
Fourth street, which were laid out one hundred feet each, they being
supposed to be the principal streets of the town. Market square was
located one block west and one block south of the present Missouri,
Kansas & Texas station, but it has since been divided into lots and is
now occupied by residences.
After selling all the lots they could, it became necessary to divide the
remaining lots among the trustees, who owned them ; so a different num-
ber was written on different pieces of paper, the pieces put in a hat,
one man was blindfolded and a drawing was had. If number six, for
example, was drawn for Mr. A., a deed was thereupon executed to him,
conveying him lot six in the original town, also eleven-acre lot six in
Columbia; and so on, till all of the lots were disposed of. Columbia
has been the county seat ever since 1821; and there have been built
in Columbia three courthouses, in 1824, in 1846, and in 1909.
The first brick residence built in Columbia was built by Charles
Hardin, and may be seen on the south side of Locust, between Fourth
and Fifth streets; it is said on good authority that this was the first
brick dwelling built in Missouri, west of St. Charles. Charles Hardin,
and his wife, Mrs. Hannah Hardin, occupied this house many years;
they were the parents of Governor Charles H. Hardin, Missouri's twenty-
third governor. Charles Hardin was the first postmaster in Columbia.
From the little village that Columbia was for many years, she has
grown till today there are ten thousand people living in Columbia,
twenty miles of paved streets and sixty-eight miles of granitoid side-
walks. Located in Columbia are the following: University of Missouri,
Agricultural College, Christian College, Stephens College, Missouri
Bible College, University Military Academy, five ward and two high
schools, Catholic school, Stephens Publishing House, Hamilton-Brown
shoe factory, flouring mills, ice and packing house, brick plant, laundries,
three planing mills, five banks and one trust company, one monthly,
three daily and three weekly papers, the government model road, State
Historical Society, Wabash and Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroads,
municipal water and light plant, Parker Memorial Hospital, and Bap-
tist, Catholic, Christian, Christian Science, Episcopal, Holiness, Metho-
dist and Presbyterian churches.
ROCHEPORT
On September 2, 1825, a notice appeared in the Missouri Intelligencer
advertising the lots in Rocheport for sale. Among other things, it was
stated that the roads leading in all directions would be good, Avith only
a little work on them, and that the views from the town were more
beautiful than anywhere on the river between its mouth and Fort Osage.
Rocheport soon became an important shipping point. All of the goods
for Columbia and western Boone county were shipped through Roche-
port for many years. Then, as now, Rocheport drew considerable busi-
ness from Howard, Cooper and Moniteau counties. It was incorporated
in 1843, and its corporate limits extended by act of the legislature in
1853.
Rocheport was one of the towns in the central part of the state
that wanted the state capitol when it was removed from St. Charles
in 1826. It is said that had Rocheport had the support of the representa-
tives from Boone county, the capitol would have been located in Roche-
port. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was built through Roche-
234 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
port in 1892-93, and Rocheport has lost that distinctive river transporta-
tion feature which she once had; but Rocheport 's merchants, banks,
newspapers and traders have kept up the business record of this well-
known hamlet.
The Columbia and Rocheport turnpike, fifteen miles in length, con-
nects Rocheport with Columbia, and passes through one of the best
parts of Boone county. For many years after steamboating was aban-
doned, the Rocheport hack, driven by William Ridgway, was Rocheport 's
principal method of transportation. This turnpike now forms a part
of the Old Trails Road, Missouri's first cross-state highway.
A number of distinguished men have come from Rocheport, CoL Jno.
F. Philips, afterward judge of United States court. Dr. A. W. McAlester,
dean of medical department of university. Judge E. W. Hinton, dean
of law department of university, Capt. F. F. C. Triplett and J. de W,
Robinson, two well-known Boone county lawyers, and Dr. Wm. S. Woods,
of Kansas City, S. C. Hunt, of Columbia, and Jno. T. Mitchell, of Cen-
tralia, well-known bankers of those cities.
Stonesport
In 1836, the town of Stonesport was laid out by Josiah Ramsey and
Washington Ramsey, and named for Asa Stone, an extensive land owner
in that neighborhood; the town was located on the Missouri river, one
and a half miles west of Claysville. Stonesport was quite a shipping
point, and continued to be a town till the high water of 1844, when a
sand bar was formed in front of it, and boats were unable to land there.
The next year it was abandoned and a convenient landing nearby was
selected ; and, at that time, Henry Clay was the idol of Boone countians,
most of whom were Whigs, so the new town was named Claysville.
There are few graves of Revolutionary soldiers in Boone county;
but in the old cemetery at Stonesport, Captain William Ramsey, an
officer in Washington's army, is buried. Captain Ramsey was the father
of the founders of Stonesport, to- wit : Josiah Ramsey and Qeorge Wash-
ington Ramsey. H. H. Rice, now a citizen of Hartsburg, says that he
knew Captain Ramsey very well, and often talked with him about Gen-
eral Washington.
Persia
On April 1, 1820, the Missouri Intelligencer contained an advertise-
ment, signed by O. Babbitt, J. Teffts, E. Stanley and N. Patten, Jr.,
offering the lots of Persia for sale on July 4, 1820. Persia was described
as being on the main road leading from Franklin to St. Charles, about
twenty-eight miles from Franklin close to Roche Perche creek, and near
the center of the contemplated county. It was stated that the waters
of that creek were sufficient to supply mills of any description, and that
there were plenty of springs nearby. It was also stated that it was the
intention of the proprietors soon to erect saw and grist mills near the
town, and a wagon bridge across the creek, and that a brewery, distillery
and carding machine would soon be constructed there. But Persia never
became the rival of Columbia that it was expected she would be; and
now not a vestige of it remains.
Nashv^le
In 1819, Ira P. Nash laid out a town on the bank of the Missouri
river, two miles below the present town of Providence, near the mouth
of Little Bonne Ferame creek, which town he named for himself. Jfash
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 235
was a surveyor and was employed by the Spanish government to locate
certain claims, one of which he located in Boone county, and Nashville
was laid out on said claim. A notice appeared in the Missouri Intelli'
gencer of December 18, 1819, advertising the sale of the lots of Nash-
ville, on Saturday, January 1, 1820, by which it appears that Peter
Bass, J. M. White and others were interested with Nash. In 1825, Nash
brought suit in the Boone circuit court for the partition of the remain-
ing lots in Nashville, and the division of the proceeds of the sales.
Nashville continued to be a town of some importance till 1844, the year
of the high water, when all of it was washed into the Missouri river,
except two or thr^e houses which stood till 1865, when they were washed
away.
Petersburg
In 1836, Petersburg was laid out in Bourbon township, near Silver's
Fork, five miles south of Sturgeon; but all evidence of that town has
long since passed away. It contained at least one noted person. Miss
Mary Cunningham, who married Gen. John A. Logan, United States
senator from Illinois, and Republican nominee for vice-president in
1884. Mrs. Logan has always been loyal to Boone county, and to her
numerous relatives, the Fountains and Tuckers many of whom still
reside here. She wrote an interesting letter, which was read on July
4, 1890, the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the laying of the
comer stone of the university.
Burlington
In 1856, Col. Thad Hickman laid out Burlington, which was located
on the Missouri river, two miles to the west of the present town of
Hartsburg, or Hart City. Burlington soon had one hundred people and
proved to be a great shipping point, especially for tobacco, which then
was one of the main products of the southern part of Cedar township.
But in 1887 it was washed away by the Missouri river, and now the site
of the town is in the middle part of that treacherous stream. For som^
reason, no plat of either Burlington or Petersburg was ever filed or
recorded.
BOONSBOROUGH
Like other counties in the central portion of our state, Boone county
had a town named for Daniel Boone. It was platted and laid out ift Jan-
uary, 1836. The record says that **Mr. John Wood is both resident and
proprietor of this town." It was also stated that the town was located
on the road leading from Columbia to St. Charles, at the crossing of
Cedar creek. Boonsborough, though popularly named, long ago ceased
to exist.
SUMMERVILLE
In January, 1848, Eusibiis Hubbard and David Jacob platted a town
on the east side of the Range line road, half way between the present
towns of Deer Park and Englewood, which they called Summerville.
But this was only a town on paper.
BOURBONTON
In March, 1849, the town of Bourbonton was laid out by Wm. H.
Harris and Wm. F. Cartwill. This town was situated two miles west of
the present city of Sturgeon, and was popularly called Buena Vista.
236 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
But Bourbonton was abandoned and its houses were moved to Sturgeon
after the building of the North Missouri Railroad.
Later Towns
*
In comparatively recent years, the other towns of Boone county were
founded. Perhaps one reason no town was built in the northern portion
of the county In early times was that the prairie land was not considered
valuable ; and very little of it was entered prior to 1850.
Ashland
The history of the town of Ashland dates back to 1853. The Nichols,
the Martins, the Christians and the Burnams were among its promoters,
but the town was not incorporated till 1877. Two banks, three churches,
one hotel, a ward and high school, several stores, two livery stables and
a number of modern dwellings are now located in Ashland. The Ash-
land mill is one of the oldest and best known flouring mills in this
part of the state ; and the Ashland Bugle exerts a great influence, politi-
cally and otherwise, in Boone county. The Columbia and Ashland
gravel road, fifteen miles long, furnishes fine travel for the hack
and automobile lines to Columbia, and also for the transportation of
the large amount of farm produce, live stock and poultry from that
part of the county. Another hack line connects Ashland with the M.,
K. & T. Railroad at Hartsburg. Ashland has a population of four hun-
dred, and is the largest town in Cedar township.
Centralia
The ** Queen City of the Prairies," so called, was laid out in 1857
by Col. Middletown 6. Singletgn and James S. Rollins, both of whom
owned a great deal of what was then called the ** Grand prairie." In
1859, the North Missouri Railroad was constructed along the northern
border of Boone county, and Centralia came into permanent existence.
It derived its name from the fact that it was centrally located near the
center of a vast prairie between Mexico and Huntsville, and between
Columbia and Paris. The Columbia branch of the Wabash connects
Centralia with Columbia, and has had much to do with cementing the
business relations between these two towns. Centralia now has a popula-
tion of 2,100, seven churches, good schools, four banks, numerous stores,
two garages, a city hall, livery stables and shops, two hotels, several large
poultry houses, and is one of the greatest mule and corn markets in the
state. The Centralia fair is a great annual event, and attracts people
from many parts of the state. Two weekly newspapers are printed
here, the Fireside Guard and the Courier; and Centralia boasts of some
of the best business houses and most beautiful homes in the county.
Sturgeon
This city was laid out in 1856 on the line of the North Missouri
Railroad, and was named for Isaac H. Sturgeon, of St. Louis, an official
of that road. The plat made by the town company, composed of J. D.
Patton, J. E. Hicks and Arch Wayne, and on file in the recorder's
office of this county, shows that it was the intention to make Sturgeon
the county seat of the new county which it was desired to form and which
they intended to call Rollins county. In 1860, the Sturgeon court of
common pleas was established in this town and it was given jurisdiction
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 237
in civil cases over parts of four counties, viz. : Boone, Audrain, Howard
and Randolph. A suitable courthouse was erected for said court,
and the same serves Sturgeon as a town hall. The present population of
the city is eight hundred; three banks, one good hotel, various lodges,
public schools, five churches, may be found here. The Sturgeon Leader
is a leader in everything that goes to help this little city, as well as Bour-
bon township, of which it is so important a part. Sturgeon also has a
good fair association, which gives liberal premiums and furnishes good
exhibits, and a first class brass band, which gives frequent concerts in the
band stand, which is situated on the main street.
Other Toytns
Owing to the brevity of space, mention can only be made of Harts-
burg, named for Luther D. Hart ; Huntsdale, named for W. B. Hunt ;
Hallsville, named for John W. Hall; Harrisburg, named for John W.
Harris; McBaine, named for Turner McBaine; Spencer, or Wilton,
named for Gilpin Spencer; and Midway, which is said to be midway
between the east and west boundaries of Missouri.
Where They Came From
Most of the early inhabitants of this county came from Kentucky,
and many of them came from Virginia. Captain William Madden and
John Tount, of Cedar township, came from Tennessee; as did Mont-
gomery P. Lientz, of Missouri township, and Dr. George B. Wilcox, of
Rocheport, who was Boone county's first physician. William D. Hen-
derson, of the Midway neighborhood, was bom in Illinois in 1817, while
his parents, John Henderson and wife, were traveling from Kentucky to
Boone county. The Rev. Berryman Wren, Boone county's first Baptist
preacher, came from North Carolina in 1816; and Walter R. Lenoir
(father of Dr. Walter T., Dr. Wm. B. and Slater E. Lenoir, all of Colum-
bia township), came from the same state. Stephen Bedford and B. F.
Robinson, both of Missouri township, and John Corlew, of Perche town-
ship, came from South Carolina in 1817. Mrs. Louis Hume, of Cedar
township, came from Maryland in 1819; and Gilpin Spencer and Wil-
liam Douglass (father of Gen. Joseph B. Douglass) came from the same
state in the early times. John Slack, a justice of the peace of Perche
township, and John Coonce, an extensive farmer of Cedar township,
came from Pennsylvania in 1818. Captain Ugenus Baldwin, of the * * Tar-
repin" neighborhood, came from Indiana in 1833. Oliver Parker, one
of Columbia's early merchants and the grandfather of James H. and
Moss P. Parker, came from Vermont in 1819. The Sapp brothers came
from Delaware, and Commodore P. Hultz came from New York, as did
Robert G. Lyell, of Missouri township, in 1819.
Taverns
The hotels of early times were known as *' taverns," and they were
the center of attraction, both social and political. The early taverns
of Columbia were kept by Ira Wall, James McKnight and Richard
Gentry, and afterwards by Mrs. Richard Gentry. On top of each tavern
was a bell, about one-third the size of an ordinary church bell, which was
always rung at meal time. What would now be called the hotel oflBce was
then termed the **bar room" and liquor was then served to guests. In
the bar room was a large fireplace and around that open fire every
evening would be gathered the landlord, his family and guests. The light
238 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
from the flame of the Yule log was suflBcient to illumine the bar room and
perhaps other rooms, but when any additional light was needed a tallow
candle, or tallow dip, was used. Here the old lawyers, who *'rode the
circuit," would tell their interesting stories of court proceedings in other
counties, here the politicians would meet their friends and plan politi-
cal campaigns and here the pioneer preachers would call together the
members of their respective churches, and plan for the erection of a house
of worship, as well as a war against the sins of that day. But, as most of
the early inhabitants of this county were from Kentucky, perhaps the
** lodger at the tavern'' who attracted the most attention was the owner of
a premium race horse. In language that no one else may imitate, he told
of how his ** little bay mare fairly flew" at a neighboring race track, and
distanced all her opponents ; and, as she came in on the last quarter, how
she ran faster and faster, as the people cheered, tossed their hats into the
air, etc., etc., until the persons in the bar room thought they had seen
the race and heard the jubilant multitude.
As all of the travel was then on horseback or in wagons, a large stable
was conducted in connection with each tavern. This was not a livery
stable, but it was simply kept for the accommodation of travelers ' horses.
An advertisement of a tavern in those days was not considered complete
without mentioning the fact that a good stable could be found close by,
where horses would be well cared for.
The bar room was usually adjoining the dining room and the two
could easily be thrown together. On frequent occasions this was the
social center of the community, for here our good people danced the min-
uet and Virginia reel, and afterwards were disciplined for it in their
respective religious denominations. The music on such occasions of
frivolity was furnished by two negroes, experts in the use of the fiddle
and banjo, who needed no bandmaster to wield the baton, for they marked
time as they called the figures with a footfall heavy enough to give an
emphatic accent. In many of the kitchens in those days could be found
one or two darkey musicians, who expected to be called on whenever the
** white folks" felt like dancing. The dances at the tavern often lasted
till the '^ small hours" and doubtless such gatherings as these inspired
some native poet to write :
The boys delight
To dance all night,
Till broad daylight,
And go home with the gals in the morning.
Col. W. B. Royall was one of the early tavern keepers of Columbia.
His tavern was situated on the north side of Broadway, between Sixth
and Seventh streets. Coming from Virginia and being a Latin scholar.
he deemed it appropriate to advertise his tavern in that language, so had
painted on a sign-board and placed over his front door the words, *^ Sem-
per peratus." Buck Lamp ton, who was the auctioneer of Columbia and
the town wit, said that those words were appropriate for an eating house,
as they meant ** Sweet milk and potatoes."
First Funeral
We are indebted to R. B. Price, one of the best posted men on Boone
county history, for the following, which he said «yas told him by William
Keith, who lived on a farm on the Sexton road near Perche creek, which
farm is now owned by Tilf ord H. Murray. A young man had moved with
his parents to Boone county and died shortly after reaching here. His
parents lived on the Keith farm,. This was before the days of saw mills
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 239
in this county and before any undertakers had moved here. So Mr.
Keith and Joel McQuitty cut down a walnut tree and split the log half
in two. Then with their axes they made a sort of trough out of each half
log. The body of the young man was placed in one trough and the other
was placed over the top of him.* The two were then fastened together and
the young man buried on the Keith farm, where his grave may still be
seen. This was the first funeral and burial in Boone county.
First Courts
Fortunately nearly all of our county records have been preserved,
although they were kept for many years in buildings that were not fire-
proof. The early records were all written with a goose quill and each
scribe usually trimmed his own quill. Most of these records are free from
blots and were written in a remarkably good hand, although all of them
are on unlined paper. The first term of the courts of record was held
at Smithton.
At the first term of the circuit court David Todd produced a com-
mission from Alexander McNair, Missouri's first governor, which
appointed him judge of the first judicial district of Missouri. He had
previously served as territorial judge, having been appointed by Presi-
dent James Monroe, in 1817. Judge Todd's circuit was the largest in
Missouri and consisted of the counties of Howard, Boone, Cole, Cooper,
Saline. Chariton, Clay, Ray and Lillard (now Lafayette). These coun-
ties then embraced all that part of Missouri w^est of the present east line
of Boone county and north from the Osage river to the Iowa line, not
including the Platte purchase. As provided by statute, the Boone cir-
cuit court was opened on the first Monday in April (April 2) 1821, and,
there being no courthouse in Smithton and no building large enough in
which to hold court, court was held under the spreading boughs of a
sugar tree. Hamilton R. Gamble (afterwards judge of the supreme
court and later governor of Missouri) produced his commission as circuit
attorney and Overton Harris produced his commission as sheriff. And
here, in this primitive style, justice had an honored birth in Boone
county.
The first term of county court antedated that of the first term of
circuit court, and was held on Monday, February 19, 1821, at Smithton.
Lazarus Wilcox, Anderson Woods and Peter Wright were the first judges
of that court, and on that day the first official act of that court was to
appoint Warren Woodson county clerk, which office he held continuously
till 1860 ; and he afterwards was county clerk in 1867 and 1868.
As clerk of the county court, Warren Woodson was also probate
judge, and discharged the duties pertaining to that office for many years.
The first probate matter attended to was the granting of letters of admin-
istration to James Turley, as administrator of the estate of Daniel Tur-
ley, deceased, on May 21, 1821. In 1872, the general assembly separated
the probate business from the county clerk and county court, and created
the office of judge of probate court. Judge James A. Henderson was
first appointed probate judge by the governor, and served till the next
election, when «fohn Hinton was elected probate judge, and served for
nineteen years. He was succeeded by Judges W. W. Garth, Lewis M.
Switzler and John F. Murry.
As far as our records show, the first civil case ever tried before a jus-
tice of the peace in this county was the case of Henry Elliott & Son
against Robert Hinkson, which was a suit for $31.50 on a judgment ren-
dered by a justice of the peace of Ste. Genevieve county. This suit was
filed on January 22, 1821, and John Slack (the grandfather of Miss
240 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Pearle Mitchell) was the justice. Mr. Slack then lived on a farm abont
three miles southwest of the present postoffice of Hinton, and on a stream
known as ''Slack's branch." The Slack cemetery is located on the old
Slack farm. The summons commanded the constable to notify the
defendant to appear before the justice at the dwelling house of said jus-
tice in Smithton township. It might be added just here that Smithton
township consisted of the present township known as Columbia, and two
miles off of the east part of the present township of Missouri, and four sec-
tions in the southeast corner of the present township of Perche. The
words of ** Roche Persia township" were first written in this summons,
and then a line was drawn through them, and the words '* Smithton
township" added. In this summons, the words ** Territory of Missouri"
were first written, and then the word ** Territory" erased, and the word
''State" was interlined. The justice also forgot that Boone county was
no longer a part of Howard, for he wrote ** County of Howard," and then
scratched Howard and wrote Boone. Robert Hinkson was the man for
whom Hinkson creek was named. He lived on a farm east of Columbia,
near that stream. At the trial of this case before the magistrate, Hink-
son lost ; but he was successful on appeal to the circuit court.
Early Stage Drivers
Few persons are now living who can remember the primitive meth-
ods of carrying Uncle Sam's mail in Boone county, and especially dur-
ing the thirty years that Mrs. Ann Gentry was postmistress in Columbia.
Columbia was on the state road, which extended from St. Louis, through
St. Charles and on to Independence, crossing the Missouri river at Arfow
Rock, which was said to be the narrowest point on the river. «At intervals
along said road, there were ''stage stands," which were places where a
new driver and fresh horses could be obtained, when needed, and hotel
accommodations furnished a few people. About half a mile west of
Perche creek, on the present Columbia and Rocheport gravel road, was
the home of Ishmael Yanhom. His place was a stage stand. A similar
place was located on the farm of Dr. Geo. R. Jacobs, eight miles east
of Columbia, on the St. Charles state road. This state road, which was
hardly worthy of being called a road, was traveled at irregular intervals
by the old-fashioned stage coach, which was sometimes drawn by four
horses but usually driEiwn by six. The mail and a few passengers accom-
panied the driver on his long, lonely and ofttimes dangerous journey.
Frequently the wheels of the stage would get so deep in the mud that
driver and passengers must needs work long and patiently. The under-
standing with all passengers was that they must assist the driver when-
ever called on. The stage driver was a great man in his day — ^great in his
own estimation and great in the estimation of the small boys, both white
and black. Even the grown-up boys admired the stage driver so much
that they had diflSculty in trying to decide whether they wanted their
boys to become preachers or stage drivers. Ordinarily, Columbia had
mail twice a week, unless the swollen streams or bad roads delayed the
travel. It several times happened that three weeks or more passed with-
out any mail coming to Columbia and then two or three wagon loads
would arrive at once, and sometimes at the inconvenient hour of eleven
o'clock at night.
The arrival of the stage in Columbia was an important event, far
surpassing the arrival of a train of cars at the present time. When the
stage reached the hill on Broadway just north of Stephens College,
which was then the eastern limits of Columbia, the driver would take out
his little brass horn, blow a sort of tune, crack his whip and drive his
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 241
horses full speed down Broadway to the posto£See. All at once he would
apply the brakes, pull his horses back on their haunches, toss his lines out
to one of the many persons there assembled, pitch the mail bags out and
walk into the bar room and take a drink. Even in that early day, the
stage driver, like the modern politician and so-called reformer, realized
the value of blowing his own horn. After sufficiently quenching his
thirst, the driver- would return to the street and was then ready to talk
business, religion, politics or anything else. He knew the news of the
neighboring towns along the road, and he always had in stock a lot of
interesting stories regarding his trip, many of which were thrilling and
amusing. His experiences in crossing the unbridged streams, his efforts
to guide his ** coach and four" through the muddy, narrow passes, along
the rocky cliffs, and up the steep hills were not only interesting to boys
and adults alike, but had they been written and preserved, would have
been entertaining to us. To say that the stage driver of that day, with
his commanding figure and still more commanding voice, his long whip,
his hands full of lines, driving his prancing steeds, was the '^ Admired
of all admirers," is but putting it mildly.
The stage driver, after stopping in town, would pitch his reins out
to others, and then he would leave the stage. This was true for the stage
driver never fed, nor hitched up nor unhitched his horses. That work
he left for the stable men ; neither did he grease the wheels nor repair
the stage while he was in town, leaving that duty for others. The stage
driver considered himself far above such menial work; he was a stage
driver, he was a letter-carrier, he was a gentleman.
Pair Associations
Col. Wm. P. Switzler is authority for saying that agricultural fairs
in Missouri had their origin in Boone county, the first one being held
in Columbia, on ground just east of Stephens College campus, in Octo-
ber, 1835. No amphitheatre, no floral hall, no band stand, no high fence
were to be seen on the grounds, and not even a brass band on that occa-
sion, but a silver cup was given to each owner of prize cattle, horses,
sheep, hogs and mules.
Boone county has had three other fair grounds in Columbia, one on
the Pyfer, or Hubbard place, on the south side of Broadway and east
of William street; one where Pair Qrounds Addition is now located,
and one on the David H. Hickman or Mrs. Sarah Young ground, situ-
ated at the north end of Pifth street.
But prior to any of these, Columbia had a race track and paid due
attention to horse racing, which may be explained by the fact that the
early inhabitants mostly came from the blue grass regions of Kentucky.
This race track, said by some to have been constructed in 1825, was on
ground south of the original town of Columbia. It began at the corner
of Hitt and Rollins streets, extended north through the present site
of Read Hall, thence west passing to the north of Lowry HaU and going
along where the **01d University Columns'' now stand. It then turned
to the south and passed in front of Lathrop Hall, and on to the present
Rollins Athletic Field, thence to the east to the judges' stand, which was
seventy-five or a hundred feet north of the Rothwell gymnasium. The
writer can remember, when a small boy, of seeing the ruins of this old
race track, an embankment across a little ravine in the back campus' of
the university, and a cut in the hill on the old Gentry place to the south
of Conley avenue.
Pair Grounds Addition was used for many years for the county fair,
but in 1890 the ground was purchased by Jas. A. Kimbrou'gh, Ben M.
Vol. 1—16
242 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Anderson and F. W. Smith. These gentlemen used it for camp meeting
purposes for two or three years, under the auspices of the M. E. church
South, and the annual gatherings were called the ** Columbia Summer
Assembly."
High Water
In June, 1844, the Missouri river was higher than ever before or since,
the waters extending from bluff to bluff. Much damage was done to
growing crops and fences, and one young man, John Collier, of this
county, was drowned. During this time, Nashville was under water, and
most of it was >vashed away. John Parker and other merchants moved
their stocks of goods, and later built Providence, where they opened up
their business.
luyJune, 1903, the Missouri river again overflowed its banks, and
again its waters extended from bluff to bluff. While the water was not
as high as in 1844, still much more damage resulted, owing to the fact
that there were more buildings, fences and crops in the river bottom, and
these were washed away. The Wabash, Chicago & Alton, M., K. & T. and
Missouri Pacific railroads stopped running their trains entirely, as many
of their stations and much of their track was under water. Many people
moved out of their houses just in time to see the houses lifted off their
foundations, and go floating down the stream. While there was great
destruction of property, there was fortunately no loss of life during this
overflow.
In September, 1905, the Missouri river again got out of its banks,
and again crops and fences were washed away, and train service crippled
on various roads; and the same thing occurred in June, 1908, to some
extent.
Fondness for Celebrating
The people of Boone county have ever been fond of celebrations and
public displays. In fact, the announcement of such an event has always
brought throngs to the place of celebration. Especially were they fond
of celebrating the Fourth of July. On such occasion, military proces-
sions would be formed and marched, patriotic speeches would be deliv-
ered, the Declaration of Independence be read and the day made noisy
by the firing of cannon, guns, torpedoes and firecrackers. The night
would be illuminated by Roman candles, sky rockets, pin wheels and
colored fire. It is to be hoped that our patriotism will always lead us
to join in celebrating important events and in showing our sympathy
for a cause that we believe to be a proper one.
July Fourth at Smithton
July 4, 1820, was celebrated in appropriate style in Smithton. Such
toasts as United States of America, George Washington, Thomas JeflPer-
son, James Madison, James Monroe and Henry Clay were responded to.
Reuben Cave spoke on *'Col. Daniel Boon, the Pioneer of the West —
may his last days be his happiest, and may his posterity prosper."
Thomas Duly, afterwards one of the first trustees of Columbia, responded
to the toast, '*the Hon. David Todd, the enlightened judge and accom-
plished politician ; may the citizens of Howard county ever* appreciate his
worth.'' Judge Todd was afterwards the Whig nominee for governor
of Missouri, and the Whigs of Boone and Howard counties supported
him and were constantly sounding his praises.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 243
Whig Meeting at Rocheport
The largest political gathering ever held in Boone county, and one of
the largest ever held in any town in Missouri, was the Whig meeting at
Rocheport in June, 1840. Harrison and Tyler were the Whig candidates
for president and vice president, and Van Buren and Johnson were the
Democratic candidates. The meeting at Rocheport lasted three days, and
addresses were delivered by Fletcher Webster (a son of Daniel Webster),
Gen. Alexander W. Doniphan, Gen. Geo. C. Bingham, Judge Abiel
Leonard, Judge David Todd, Maj. Jas. S. Rollins and others. Many
counties in Missouri sent delegates to this meeting, some of them travel-
ing for miles and miles on horseback. Three steamboat loads of jubilant
Whigs came from St. Louis, bringing with them several cannon, plenty of
flags and pictures of Harrison, and perhaps other things that were then
considered necessary for such a celebration. The Whigs of Boone and
Howard counties had constructed a log cabin, with a live coon chained to
it and a barrel of cider just inside of the door. As delegations would
arrive, they were invited to enter the log cabin and take a drink of
hard cider, using a gourd for a drinking cup. At night the delegates
paraded the streets and roads in the vicinity of Rocheport, carrying ban-
ners with the words, ''Tippecanoe and Tyler too,'' and a float with a log
cabin on it, each delegate wearing a coon-skin cap. It was at first said,
by way of ridicule, that General Harrison was born and raised in a log
cabin and that he wore a coon-skin cap, but soon such statements created
sentiment in his favor, hence the log cabin and coon-skin cap became the
party emblems. Between six and ten thousand people attended this meet-
ing. They camped on the hill to the east of Rocheport, and they created
a sentiment for '*01d Tippecanoe" that was lasting.
Among the visitors who attended this Rocheport meeting was Miss
Mary Todd, a niece of Judge David Todd, who a few years later married
Abraham Lincoln.
w
Centennial Cei.ebration.s of the Fourth
The Fourth of July, 1876, was observed by celebrations in two places
in Boone county. The people of Columbia celebrated at the university,
it being commencement day and the day on which President S. S. Laws
was inaugurated. One hundred students of the military department
dressed in costumes similar to that worn by the Continental soldiers,
paraded on the campus and around Columbia. At the close of the exer-
cises in the university chapel, the artillerymen fired the cannon one
hundred times.
At Ashland, on the same day, one hundred citizens, dressed in the
costumes worn a century before, represented the members of the Conti-
nental Congress. Speeches were made in favor of the adoption of the
Declaration of Independence, the motion was put by the speaker and the
vote was unanimous. Then the impersonators of John Hancock and
others signed the paper, amid cheers from the audience, and the ringing
of an imitation of the Liberty bell.
Jefferson's Monument on the Fourth
On July 4, 1883, a celebration was given in the chapel of the old
university, and on the university campus, under the auspices of Christian
College and Stephens College. The Declaration of Independence was read
by Col. Wra. F. Switzler, and appropriate addresses delivered by Maj.
Jas. S. Rollins, President S. S. Laws, of the university, President T. W.
244 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Barrett, of Stephens College, President W. A. Oldham, of Christian Col-
lege, Col. B. C. More and Judge Chas. E. Peers, of Warren county. Pa-
triotic music was furnished by Mrs. E. C. More and Mrs. L. E. Thompson.
A telegram was received from Prof. A. P. Pleet, of the university, who
was then visiting in Virginia, that he had secured the old Jefferson tomb-
stone from the members of the Jefferson family and that he had shipped
it on that day to Columbia. This telegram was read by President
Laws, amid applause; and thus another Pourth of July was added to
the history of Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson monument soon reached
Columbia, and has been on the university campus ever since, an inspira-
tion to the young men of the largest state that was formed out of the
Louisiana purchase, which might well be termed the Jefferson purchase.
On the evening of the Pourth of July, a committee in charge of the
fireworks had erected a platform some eight feet high, and intended
using it as a place to send up the fireworks. Unfortunately some one
dropped fire into the package, and all of the sky rockets were discharged
at once. They shot in every direction, but fortunately just over the
heads of the frightened crowd. Marcellus Dimmitt, a druggist, was on
the platform at the time, and in the excitement jumped off, injuring his
foot and ankle, and causing him to go on crutches for a long time.
A. O. U. W. Celebration
The next celebration of the ''Illustrious Pourth" occurred in Cen-
tralia on July 4, 1884, under the auspices of the Select Knights of A. O.
U. W. The Declaration of Independence was read by Prof. L. J. Hall,
whose ability as a reader has since been appreciated by the Missouri legis-
lature of 1911, and by the United States congress under the leadership of
Speaker Champ Clark. Owen T. Rouse, of Randolph county, delivered
an address, and thirty-eight little girls, dressed in national colors, rode
. in the procession, representing the thirty-eight states that then consti-
tuted the Union. One of the cannon on the university campus was bor-
rowed and taken to Centralia, where the Centralia Light Guards fired
the national salute, under the command of Capt. J. W. Kneisley, then
representative from Boone county. By mistake of some one, the cannon
was prematurely discharged and two men, D. W. Conger and John
Pinks, were killed.
Cleveland Celebration in 1884
Some days were necessary to determine the result of the election
between Cleveland and Blaine in 1884, but when it was definitely set-
tled that Cleveland and Hendricks had been elected, the Democrats of
Boone county had a monster celebration in Columbia the Monday fol-
lowing. Large delegations from every township, every town and almost
every neighborhood in the county attended, all carrying flags and many
of them carrying tin horns, which were used at every turn. Many ladies
rode on horseback and in wagons and carriages in this procession, some
of them dressed in red, white and blue costumes. At night, a torch-light
procession paraded the streets of Columbia, headed by a brass band, and
local orators sounded the praises of Grover Cleveland, and predicted that
the much needed reforms were now at hand. The university students
joined in the celebration, and it is hardly necessary to say that they had a
good time, and, by their stunts, added to the enjoyment of the occasion.
The crowd, although unusually large, was a well-behaved one, and no acci-
dents resulted from this overflow of Democratic patriotism.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 245
Democratic Jubilee at Rocheport
In 1884, one week following the Democratic meeting at Columbia
there was held a Cleveland Democratic celebration at Rocheport, which
was also noted for its size, harmony and good feeling, crowds being pres-
ent from Boone, Howard, Cooper and Moniteau counties. Col. Wm. F.
Switzler and E. W. Stephens, who were rival editors and had previously
belonged to two warring factions, shook hands, buried the hatchet and
promised ever afterwards to be political friends. Jno. M. Samuel, a very
successful Democratic office-holder of this county, in making a speech,
said that the old radical party had seen the handwriting on the wall,
and that the words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Vpharshi," had forever sealed
its doom. As soon as his speech was finished, he was taken to task by
a certain politician from Columbia, who said that those were the words
on the cross on Calvary. The two men agreed to leave it to a certain '
preacher, the Rev. J. McBarron, to decide. After he was asked the mean-
ing of those words, Mr. Barron said : ** Well, it is difficult to give a literal
translation of those words, but the substance is that the Lord is tired of
a man where he is, and sends him out in the woods to eat grass like an
ox."
The Fourth at Rocheport
July 4, 1895, was celebrated by the good people of Rocheport ; and,
in addition to a baseball game, the usual amount of noise from firecrack-
ers, a picnic dinner and a balloon ascension, the people were entertained
by oratory. State Treasurer Lon V. Stephens made a speech, and was
introduced by Editor Willard J. McQuitty, of the Rocheport Commer-
cial, as the **next governor of Missouri." His words proved prophetic,
for Mr. Stephens was elected governor the next year. Col. Wm. F. Switz-
ler made a speech on ** Betsy Ross and the Flag."
Another Centralia Celebration
On July 4, 1902, Centralia ** remembered the Fourth," and her people
showed their patriotism in various ways, a free dinner, patriotic decora-
tions and public speaking. J. Kelly Pool presided, and speeches were
delivered by A. M. Dockery, then governor of Missouri, Col. Wm. F.
Switzler and Senator Chas. J. Walker.
Sane Fourth of July Celebration
The first **sane Fourth of July celebration" occurred in Columbia,
under the auspices of the Columbia Commercial Club, and the exercises
' were held on the university campus, July 4, 1912, just twenty-nine years
after the accident to Mr. Dimmitt. As advertised, no cannon, no fire-
crackers, no fireworks nor explosives of any kind were used. Prof. John
R. Scott, of the university, read the Declaration of Independence to the
large crowd on the campus ; and Mrs. Luella W. St. Clair-Moss, of Chris-
tian College, delivered an address on **True Patriotism." A number of
boys and girls sang patriotic songs, and danced around the May pole,
using red, white and blue ribbons. These exercises were in charge of
Misses Frances L. Denny and Julia Sampson. Different business men in
Columbia offered prizes to the boys and girls, who would best represent
colonial and revolutionary characters; and the young people appeared,
dressed in proper costumes. After the crowd had been entertained by
looking at the different contestants, the judges announced that they had
awarded the prizes as follows: Oeorge Washington, Benton Banta;
246 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Thomas Jeflferson, Harold Greene; Daniel Boone, Norman Trenholme;
Paul Revere, William Taylor; Powhatan, Harold Meyer; Gk>ddess of
Liberty, first prize, Sarah Steenbergen, second prize, Emma Davis;
Martha Washington, Aletha Pemberton; Dolly Madison, Marion Babb;
Pocahontas, first prize, Catherine Tandy, second prize, Aldeah Wise;
Priscilla, first prize, Mary Gentry, second prize, Mary Banks; Molly
Pitcher, Marion Stephenson; Betsy Ross, Rosemary Belcher. It is
needless to say that no accident resulted from such a satisfactory cele-
bration of our Nation's birthday.
Public Meetings
For many years the Boone county courthouse was the place for hold-
ing public meetings of various kinds. Not only have the various courts
been there held, but railroad meetings, gravel road meetings, water works
meetings, fair association meetings, farmers alliance and grange meet-
ings, local option meetings, anti-local option meetings, old settlers reun-
ions and political meetings of nearly every character. In order to
secure the relocation of the university in Boone county, after the fire
of 1892, the citizens of this county held a meeting there and raised the
sum of fifty thousand dollars, which was paid to the State of Missouri.
On February 8, 1866, David H. Hickman and James L. Stephens pre-
sented a petition to the county court which was the longest petition ever
filed in any proceeding in this county. It contained a double column
of signatures, and the petition, when spread out on the floor, extended
across the courthouse from east to west. It was a petition, asking the
county court to appropriate money with which to build a railroad from
Columbia to Centralia, and also to appropriate money with which to con-
struct a gravel road from Columbia to Claysville by way of Ashland,
another gravel road from Columbia to Rocheport, and a third gravel road
from Columbia to Cedar creek, the Callaway line. A crowd of anxious
citizens had assembled in the courtroom, and for once in the history of
this county, proceedings in court were greeted with applause. The court
on that day decided to appropriate two hundred thousand dollars to be
used in paying for the Columbia branch to connect with the North Mis-
souri Railroad (now the Wabash) at Centralia, and also decided to appro-
priate one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be used in paying for
the three gravel roads above mentioned. Bonds of this county were then
issued for those sums, and every dollar has long since been paid.
On May 20, 1871, another meeting was held in the county courtroom
and another petition presented to that court, asking it to appropriate
eight thousand dollars to aid in the construction of the Columbia and
Blackfoot gravel road. The court made the order; and that road also
stands as a monument to the wisdom of our fathers and our grandfath-
ers.
In 1899, another meeting was held in the courthouse and the sum of
twenty thousand dollars was raised and donated for the construction of
the Missouri Midland Railroad, a road eight miles in length, now the
Columbia branch of the M., K. & T. system.
In 1906, still another meeting was there held, and the sum of sixty
thousand dollars was raised, by the sale of town lots, and the money
donated to the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company in consideration of the
location of a shoe factory in Columbia.
Memorial Meetings
On four occasions our people have been called together, and. in the
old courthouse, without regard to political ties, have given expression
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 247
to their sorrow over the death of our national officials. Presidents Lin-
coln, Garfield and McKinley, and Vice-Presidents Hendricks and Hobart.
Similar meetings have been held on occasions when some of the prominent
citizens of our county have died, John H. Lathrop, Warren Woodson,
John W. Harris, James Harris, John M. Samuel, James S. Rollins, John
Hinton, Robert L. Todd, James L. Stephens, B. McAlester, W. Pope Yea-
man, Wm. P. Switzler, Odon Guitar and others. And there, the law-
yers have always met after the death of a brother lawyer, and, laying
aside whatever differences they formerly entertained, have taken appro-
priate action regarding the loss of one with whom they labored. And
there, the lawyers have also prepared memorials and adopted resolutions
regarding the deaths of Judge David Todd, Judge Wm. A. Hall, Judge
Geo. H. Burckhartt and Judge Jno. A. Hockaday.
Flag Poles
In 1876 the Democrats of Boone county, and especially of Columbia
township, erected a flag pole, dedicated to Tilden and Hendricks; in
1880, they erected one to Hancock and English ; in 1884, they erected one
to Cleveland and Hendricks ; in 1888, they erected one to Cleveland and
Thurman; and in 1892, they erected one to Cleveland and Stevenson.
These flag poles were placed in front of the old courthouse, a few feet
south of the curbing. Of course a flag was fastened to the top of the pole,
and usually the names of the candidates for president and vice presi-
dent were painted on it in large letters. A large crowd, a brass band and
local orators would be on hand on the day when a pole was raised and the
pole would be allowed to remain till about two months after the election.
Perhaps the largest one of these poles was the one erected in 1892 ;
it was one hundred feet tall and twelve inches across at the lower end,
and cut from a sycamore tree that grew on the river near McBaine.
When Walnut street was paved with brick in 1906, it became necessary
to do a little grading in front of the courthouse, and the butt ends of
these flag poles were found, silent witnesses of the political glory of the
past.
The First Courthouse
In 1824 the county court let the contract for building the first court-
house in Boone county, in pursuance of the following, which was pub-
lished in the Missouri Irvtelligencer :
Public Notice.
The commisBionera of Boon county will, on the first day of the next term of
the circuit court of said county, at the town of Columbia, on the second Monday
in June next, let to the lowest bidder, the building of the hull of a court house, forty
feet square, and two stories high, to be covered with good shingles. Payment —
part cash, and the balance cash notes. They will also sell, at the same time and
place, about forty lots in said town, at six and twelve months' credit.
Particulars made known on the day of the letting of the house and sale of lots.
John Gray,
Lawrence Bass,
jEFrERSON FULCHER,
AbsaLom Hicks,.
David Jackson,
May 1, 1824. Commissioners of Boon county.
This courthouse was a two-story brick, and the floors of both circ^iit
and county courtrooms were of brick. The prisoner occupied what was
called the prisoner's dock, and was seated across the room from and oppo-
site the witness chair, presumably in order that he might *' confront his
248 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
accusers." At the first term of circuit court held in this building. Judge
David Todd presided, and Roger North Todd was clerk, and James
Barnes was sheriff. This building stood where the present (1909) court-
house stands, and north of the ground for many years thereafter occu-
pied by the Columbia Baptist church.
The Courthouse op 1846
Shortly after the location of the State University in Boone county, the
people of this county began agitating the question of a new courthouse.
In December, 1845, the contracts for such a building were let, and the
work was begun in 1846. Larkin Richardson did the stone work, Henry
Kenne the brick work, B. McAlester the wood work. Roily Asberry the
plastering, and Dr. William Jewell was superintendent. This building
was a two-story brick structure and consisted of a circuit courtroom,
grand and petit jury-rooms on the second floor, and county courtroom,
sheriflE's ofl&ce, collector's oflBce and ladies' waiting-room on the first floor.
Having some sentiment, our people erected the university building at the
south end of Eighth street, and the courthouse at the north end of that
street. The center door of the courthouse was due north of the center
door of the university, and the two were just one-half mile apart. The
courthouse, as erected, had a cupola, but no clock in it. So in 1859, Jas.
L. Stephens undertook to raise the money to buy a suitable clock, but he
made a failure of it. He thereupon contributed that sum himself, and
bought the town clock, and the people of Columbia and Boone county had
the benefit of that timepiece for just one-half a century.
The first term of circuit court held in this building was presided over
by Judge John D. Leland, of Howard county. Robert L. Todd was clerk,
and T. C. Maupin was sheriff. The courthouse was erected partly on the
public square and partly on Eighth street, and the same served the people
of Boone county from 1847 till 1909. So many famous cases were here
tried, so many noted lawyers and judges were here in attendance, and so
many national, political and local orators here made themselves heard
that the old courthouse became one of the historic landmarks of Mis-
souri. During the time this building stood. Judges John D. Leland, Wm.
A. Hall, Geo. H. Burckhartt, John A. Hockaday and A. H. Waller were
the regular judges of the Boone circuit court ; and Judges Jas. D. Bar-
nett, Wm. N. Evans, Nat M. Shelton, 'N. M. Bradley, Samuel Davis, R. S.
Ryors and A. D. Bumes were called in from other circuits ; and Alexander
Martin, W. A. Martin, Charles Martin, Lewis M. Switzler, E. W. Hinton
and N. T. Gentry, at different times, acted as special judge. Not only
was this building used for county and political purposes, but religious
services, memorial services, patriotic celebrations, and theatrical and
musical entertainments were here given. Perhaps the most noted patri-
otic celebration was given on February 22, 1876, when a number of our
people dressed in ** Ye olden style'* took part in what was termed ** Recep-
tion to General and Mrs. Washington."
In 1872, the county court erected a two-story brick building to the
west of the ieourthouse, which was used by the circuit clerk, recorder of
deeds, county clerk, probate judge, prosecuting attorney and public ad-
ministrator. Both of these buildings stood until June, 1909, when they
were torn away, to prevent obstructing the view of the new courthouse.
The old courthouse was sold at auction, and purchased by J. K.
Fyfer and Sidney Calvert, who, in behalf of J. Th. Fyfer, deceased*
presented to Boone county the stone slab that was built in the wall over
the door, and the same is now a part of the wall at the entrance of the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 249
•
new courthouse. On the slab is inscribed the following, **0h, Justice,
when expelled from other habitations, make this thy dwelling place!"
On Saturday, June 19, 1909, two nights before the dedication of the
new courthouse, the lawyers held a farewell meeting in the old court-
house, which was attended by a goodly number of people, and was the last
meeting ever held in that historic building. C. B. Sebastian spoke oh the
courthouse before the war. Judge Lewis M. Switzler spoke on the court-
house during the war, and N. T. Gentry spoke on the courthouse since
the war. The old courthouse bell, so familiar to the people of Columbia
and Boone county for so many years, was rung that night and heard for
the last time. On the day of the dedication of the new courthouse, the
workmen began tearing down the old courthouse. And now the four col-
umns, which formerly supported the front portico of the courthouse,
alone remain, mute witnesses of the glory of a building, of beautiful de-
sign, that served our people long and well.
The New Courthouse
After three unsuccessful elections, the people of Boone county held
a fourth election on September 30, 1905, and decided to build a new court-
house. It was erected on the public square in Columbia, some two hun-
dred feet northwest of the old clerk's office building, which stood just
west of the old courthouse. The new courthouse was built Vy J. A.
McCarter, contractor, under the direction of J. H. Felt & Co., architects,
at a cost of one hundred and nine thousand dollars. The new courthouse
was dedicated on the first day of the June term (Monday, June 21st)
of the circuit court, 1909. Court was opened by Judge N. D. Thurmond,
who presided ; James B. Boggs was clerk, Wilson Hall was sheriff, and
G. B. Sapp deputy sheriff. After the formal opening of court on that
day, an adjournment was had till that afternoon, when Judge Lewis
M. Switzler presided, and Rev. W. S. St. Clair acted as chaplain. A
poem was then read by Miss Julia Turner, now Mrs. Dennis Craighead,
and speeches were delivered by E. W. Stephens, Prank G. Harris, Will-
iam Hirth, Judge Jno. S. Bedford, Judge Wm. F. Roberts and Dr.
A. W. McAlester. Music on that occasion was furnished by the Sturgeon
brass band.
Liquor Laws
In 1875, the legislature passed what was called the '* Three Mile law,'*
which prohibited the sale in quantities of less than one gallon of intoxi-
cating liquors within three miles of the State University. This law was
in force until 1885, when it was declared unconstitutional. Columbia
and the rest of Boone county were then governed by what was termed the
** Downing High License law" till June, 1888, when the local option law
was adopted in Columbia. On the same day, the rest of the county voted
against the local option law. In 1892, Columbia and the rest of the
county voted **wet" and saloons were operated in Columbia till April,
1907, when the legislature passed what was termed the **Pemberton
Five Mile law," which prohibited the granting of saloon license in
any city where an educational institution was located, which then had
an enrollment of fifteen hundred or more students. This law was de-
clared unconstitutional by the supreme court in February, 1908. A few
days later, Columbia and Boone county held elections, and both adopted
the local option law; and four years later, June, 1912, the same were
readopted in both city and county.
250 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Old Settlers
Beginning in 1897, an annual meeting of the Old Settlers of Boone
county has been held, usually on August 10, Missouri Day. Any man or
woman, who has lived in this county for forty years, or who is sixty years
old (fr over, is eligible to membership. On the occasion of their annual
reunion, addresses are delivered, a dinner served and reminiscenced
indulged in. The Old Settlers have been addressed at different times by
Gen. Odon Guitar, Col. Wm. P. Switzler, E. W. Stephens, Dean Walter
Williams, Frank G. Harris, J. L. Stephens, Judge Jas. B. Gantt, Champ
Clark, Wm. H. Kennan, Chas. M. Hay and others.
There is a similar organization for Bourbon township, which holds
its annual meeting on the first day of the Sturgeon fair.
Military School
In 1897, Col. J. B. Welch started a school for boys, which is called the
University Military School, and which has been successfully conducted
ever since. Colonel Welch limits the number of scholars to thirty, and
maintains the strictest military discipline. The school building, a hand-
some brick structure, is situated south of Stewart road and just to the
west of the M., K. & T. track.
Beasley's Academy
About the same time that Colonel Welch started his school. Prof. Geo.
H. Beasley opened a school for young men and young women, with a
boarding department, which was called Beasley 's Academy, or the Uni-
versity Academy. Later on it was known as Beasley 's Business College,
but it has recently been discontinued. Mr. Beasley erected a three-story
brick building for this school, at the southeast corner of Tenth and
Cherry streets, which was the site of the Moss Prewitt residence.
Parker Memorial Hospital
Wm. L. Parker, for many years a farmer of this county, died in
Columbia in 1904, but prior to his death, gave fifteen thousand dollars
for a hospital. The state then appropriated sufficient money to build
and equip the hospital, and Adolphus Buseh, of St. Louis, donated five
thousand dollars to the institution. This building was erected on the
west part of the university campus, which was not a part of the original
campus, but a piece of ground purchased from Wm. J. Babb; and the
hospital was named for Mr. Parker.
Laying Corner Stone op Bible College
On Sunday, August 8, 1904, the corner stone of the Mission Bible
College was laid, in the presence of a large number of people. Dr. W. T.
Moore, president of the college, presided, and addresses were delivered
by Dean W. J. Lhamon, Rev. M. L. Thomas, of the Baptist church, Dr.
Chas. A. EUwood, of the university, and N. T. Gentry, representing the
Presbyterian church. The building is situated on corner of Ninth and
Lowry streets in Columbia, and was named Lowry Hall, in honor of B.
F. Lowry, of Boone county, who donated fifteen thousand dollars to the
college.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 251
Columbia Commercial Club
The Columbia Commercial Club was organized in 1906. Wm. T.
Anderson, William Hirth, J. A. Hudson, S. F. Conley and Judge V. H.
Roberts were largely responsible for the starting of this organization and
much credit is due to them for its existence as well as its service. A
weekly luncheon on Thursday is served by the club and its members meet
and discuss matters of importance to the city, its health and beauty.
An annual banquet is given on the last Friday in February, at which
Bpeechea are made by one or more persons from a distance and several
home men. The organization is considered one of the best civic organi-
zations that Columbia has ever had; and it is believed that it has had
much to do with the recent advancement of Columbia, as well as its
increase in population.
Ira T. G. Stone, E. B. Cauthorn and Turner S. Gordon have served
as secretaries of the club.
Newspapers
No county has more cause for being proud of the newspapers printed
in it than has Boone county, for its papers are of a high order, and very
properly exert great influence. Beginning with the Columbia Patriot,
a Whig journal, which had James S. Rollins and Thomas Miller for its
editors in 1835, the newspapers of Boone county have been known far
and wide. The Patriot was succeeded by the Statesman in 1843, which
was edited by Col. Wra. F. Switzler for forty-two years, and afterwards
by Irvin Switzler, Will G. Barrett, L. H. Rice, H. T. Burckhartt, Will-
iam Hirth, H. S. Jacks and Omar D. Gray. Then in 1871, Edwin W.
Stephens began the publication of the Columbia Herald, and continued
till he was succeeded by Walter Williams ; later M. H. Pemberton, L. H.
Rice and E. R. Childers were the editors. The third paper to be printed
in Columbia was the Sentinel, edited by Wallace J. Davis, now of Bowl-
ing Green ; the name of this paper was changed to Columbian, and after-
wards its editor (Will G. Barrett) consolidated it with the Statesman.
E. M. Watson, in 1901, was the first to conduct for any length of time
a daily paper in Boone county, which was the Columbia Daily Tribune,
and it is still being successfully managed and edited by him. The Colum-
bia Daily Times, under the management of C. C. Howard, is a friendly
rival of the Tribune, The University Missourian, a daily, is published
during the university school year by the students of the School of Jour-
nalism. In 1868 Adam Rodemeyer began publishing the Centralia Fire-
side Guard, and was its editor till his death ; and his sons have published
it since then. J. Kelly Pool, whose name is so familiar in Missouri,
started the Centralia Courier, now published by himself and son, Roscoe.
The only newspaper edited by a colored man in this county is the
Professional World, a weekly, with Rufus L. Logan for its editor.
Some of our journalists have become leading men of the county and
state, and have been called to fill high positions. Colonel Switzler was
appointed chief of the bureau of statistics, by President Cleveland;
Mr. Stephens was appointed a member of the state capitol commission ;
Mr. Williams is dean of the School of Journalism and has been president
of the National Press Association; Mr. Gray has been president of the
Missouri Press Association; Mr. Pool was chief clerk of the house of
representatives of the forty-sixth general assembly, and is now secretary
of the capitol commission; and Mr. Hirth is president of the State
Federation of Commercial Clubs.
252 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Location op University
It is generally understood that the contest for the location of the
State University began in 1839, after the passage of the legislative enact-
ment providing for it, but in reality the people of Columbia and Boone
county began working for its location on April 7, 1821. On that day,
the commissioners for the location of the seat of justice filed their report
that Columbia had been selected as such seat, that fifty acres of land
and two public squares of ground had been donated for the purpose of
the erection of county and town buildings; also the donation of ten
acres of land for the erection of bridges across Roche Perche, Moniteau,
Hinkson and Cedar creeks, along the St. Charles road; ''also ten acres
conditional if the State University be established therein." This ten-
acre tract was located on the south side of Broadway and just west of
the Columbian cemetery, and was marked on the original plat of the town
of Columbia as ** Seminary land." A part of the ground was many
years afterwards purchased by the Columbia school district, and the
West ward school building erected thereon.
But even before that early day, the members of the constitutional
convention from Howard county, on July 19, 1820, introduced and had
adopted as a part of Missouri 's first constitution two sections, as follows :
''Article VI. Of Education. Section 1. Schools and the means
of education shall forever be encouraged in this state ; and the general
assembly shall take measures to preserve from waste or damage such
lands as have been, or hereafter may be granted by the United States
for the use of schools within each township in this state, and shall apply
the funds which may arise from such lands in strict conformity to the
object of the grant; one school or more shall be established in each
township as soon as practicable and necessary, where the poor shall be
taught gratis."
"Section 2. The general assembly shall take measures for the
improvement of such lands as have been, or hereafter may be granted
by the United States to this state for the support of a seminary of learn-
ing; and the funds accruing from such lands by rent or lease, or in any
other manner, or which may be obtained from any other source for the
purposes aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund to support
a university for the promotion of literature, and of the arts and sciences ;
and it shall be *the duty of the general assembly, as soon as may be, to
provide effectual. means for the improvement of such lands, and for the
improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of
such institution."
Contest for University
During the session of the Missouri legislature in 1838-39, Maj.
James S. Rollins introduced and had passed an act entitled "An Act to
Select a Site for the State University," which was signed and approved
by Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs on February 8, 1839 (see Session Acts of
Missouri, 1839, pages 184, 185, 186 and 187). Briefly stated, this act
provided for the appointment of five commissioners, whose duty it should
be to locate a site for the Missouri State University, the location to be
at the county seat of one of the following named counties : Cole, Cooper,
Howard, Boone, Callaway or Saline. These commissioners were directed
to receive bids from the counties named, and to locate the university in
the county wftich should make the highest bid. The bids were required
to be received on or before June 1, 1839, and the commissioners required
to meet on that day at Jefferson City. As we all know, Boone county was
the highest bidder, and the handsome sum of $117,900 was subscribed
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
254 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
by this county, every dollar of which was paid. At that time, this county
had a population of 13,361, but three thousand of that number were
slaves. The amount thus subscribed and paid was sufficient to have
consumed the entire revenues of the county for the next twenty-four
years. Missouri was then less than eighteen years old, and the taxable
wealth of Boone county was small and her resources limited. Yet these
pioneer advocates of higher education determined that they would make
their* county seat the location of the State University, and they worked
to that end day and night. Never were people more thoroughly aroused.
Meetings were held throughout the county — in churches, in schoolhouses,
on muster grounds and beneath the shades of arching oaks. Major
Rollins, to whom much of the credit has been justly given, was ably
assisted by Dr. William Jewell, Dr. Anthony W. Rollins, Dr. Wm. H.
Duncan, Jno. B. Gordon, A. W. Turner, Warren Woodson and others,
many of whom have descendants still living in this county. The largest
subscriptions were for $3,000 each, and were made by Jefferson Garth,
Eli E. Bass and Edward Camplin. Mr. Camplin could neither read nor
write, and said that he often felt the need of education.
Although Boone county had so large a sum subscribed, Major Rol-
lins was in Jefferson City on the day that the bids were opened, was there
for the purpose of raising Boone county's bid, if it became necessary.
When it was learned that Boone's bid was nearly $22,000 ahead of that
of any other county, IMajor Rollins hastened from Jefferson City to
Columbia on horseback, bringing the good news with him, which was
received with more delight and more enthusiasm than the news of any
state appropriation ever made afterwards by the general assembly.
Laying Corner Stone op University
By far the greatest event in the history of Boone county was the
laying of the comer stone of the main building of the State University,
which occurred on July 4, 1840. This was not a local or state event,
but rather a national event, as this was the first occasion of its kind west
of the Mississippi. After the long contest to secure the university, the
people of Boone county were ready to show their appreciation of it by
making this occasion an imposing one, and they did. The university
building .was erected on two eleven-acre lots (numbers 9 and 27), which
were presented to it by John B. Gordon, who was a member of the legisla-
ture from Boone county, and who aided Maj. James S. Rollins so mate-
rially in securing the passage of the bill establishing the State University
in 1839.
Judge David Todd was chairman of the day, and Capt. David M.
Hickman was grand marshal; his assistants were Jacob S. Johnston,
Gen. John Ellis and Maj. Nathaniel W. Wilson. A long procession of
horsetaien, headed by a brass band, and numerous men carrying flags
assembled in front of the courthouse, and marched over to the university
lot, as it was then called. There, the Rev. Robert L. McAfee, a pioneer
Presbyterian minister, acted as chaplain; and addresses w^re delivered
by Hon. James L. Minor, secretary of state; Maj. James S. Rollins,
John B. Gordon and A. W. Turner. Every store, shop and dwelling
in Columbia was decorated with flags and bunting, and few persons
then living in Boone county failed to attend. A barbecued dinner, froe,
of course, was one of the features ; this dinner was served on the campus
just north of the present building now known as **Switzler Hall.'*
The Old Building
No architect of today could design a more beautiful building, and no
contractor of today could construct a better building than did the archi-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
View of Mis^orRi Uxiversitt Campits, Showing Old Coltimns
256 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
tect and contractor of the university building of 1840. The contractor
and his mechanics did not have any of the modern machinery for erecting
buildings, but resorted to the old-fashioned methods. A tripod was made
of sycamore poles and one rope and one pulley used to raise the three-
foot blocks of native limestone that formed the old columns. Twenty
oxen were attached to the other end of the rope ; and as the oxen walked
out toward town, slowly but surely the University of Missouri was
erected. So well was the work of that day done, that the walls of the old
building had to be blown down with dynamite after the fire in 1892;
while most of the walls of the additions of 1885 tumbled down the night
of the fire.
For nearly seventy-five years, the old columns, around which cluster
memories so many and so pleasant, have stood amid storm and fire ; and
it is to be hoped that they will continue to stand and be the pivot, around
which the students will march, play and give their stunts, year after
year.
Rollins Aid Fund
The first person to give any money to the university after it was
started was Dr. Anthony W. Rollins (father of Maj. James S. Rollins),
and he gave ten thousand dollars, by his will, which was probated in 1845.
The will provided that the county court of Boone county shall hold this
sum in trust, and that the interest on it shall be used to aid worthy
youths of Boone county in obtaining an education at the university.
Some years ago, the county court resigned as trustee, and I. 0. Hockaday
was appointed and acted until his death in 1907 ; and the Boone County
Trust Company was then appointed. This fund now amounts to about
$51,000, and has been of assistance to hundreds of young men and
young women.
Maj. James S. Rollins expressed the intention of establishing six schol-
arships in the university, but on account of his poor health, failed to
make provision for that in his will. But after his death (which occurred
on January 9, 1888) his children remembered what was their father's
wish, and gave $6,000 to the univei'sity, and the same has been used for
that purpose ever since, and is known as Rollins Scholarships.
In 1882, Major Rollins gave to the university the college bell which
has always been on top of the building known as Science hall, now known
as Switzler Hall. On this bell is appropriately inscribed the following:
**Ring out the old, ring in the new.
Ring out the false, ring in the true.*'
The Campus — University's Poverty
For many years, the front campus of the university was kept just as
nature kept it, a beautiful blue grass lawn, with stately elm, ash, walnut,
hickory, sugar maple, and cotton wood trees growing on it. About 1871,
a pond was dug in front of the main building, and it was surrounded
with flowers, flags and bushes; it was named **Lake St. Mary" in honor
of President Read's daughter. Three or four skiffs were on the pond,
and furnished entertainment for the students in pleasant weather, and
the ice on the pond furnished entertainment in. winter time. This lake
performed another service, it was a repository for the old cannon every
Hallowe 'en night.
The back campus was used by President Read and President Laws as
a pasture for their horses, cows, calves and colts. And in 1866, so Samuel
H. Baker says, the back campus was rented to Judge Warren Woodson,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 257
and he had the whole of it planted in corn. Another Columbia gentle-
man said that in 1844, he got permission from the president to keep his
calf in the front campus, which then had a good fence around it, and
every day he visited the front entrance on Eighth street, and fed his calf
a pan of meal.
The poverty of the university is well illustrated by the fact that Doc-
tor Lathrop, who was president of the university from 1840 until 1849,
and then again from 1865 till his death in 1866, donated to the univer-
sity a part of his salary.
The poverty of the university is further illustrated by this circum-
stance, which was told by Prof. Joseph Ficklin, head of the mathematical
and astronomical departments for many years. When Professor Fick-
lin first came to the university in 1865, he found one of the shutters on
the observatory had a broken hinge and there was no money in the
university treasury to pay for a new one. So he got a Columbia black-
smith to mend the hinge and paid him by allowing him to look through
the telescope at the moon.
During the Civil Wab
In the year 1862 the Federal forces topk possession of .the university
building, and occupied it for some months; the south campus was used
for their horses.
The room on the third floor of the main building was used. as a prison
for the confinement of captured Confederates; and, at one time some ten
or twelve prisoners were confined there, and among the number a former
member of the Athenaean society. He remembered the situation of the
rooms and his old society hall just below him, and he procured a knife
from his mother, who visited him. Then he succeeded in cutting a hole
in the floor and through the ceiling in the old Athenaean hall, swung
himself down into it and passed through into the gallery of the old chapel.
There, he swung down to the first floor and then out of the window to the
ground, and escaped with his fellow prisoners. After this Gen. Lewis
Merrill, the commandant of the post, took possession of that society hall
for his headquarters, and used it as such for some time.
For some months during the Civil war, the university was closed,
the only time that its exercises have been suspended.
President's House Burned
In November, 1865, the president's house on the university campus
was burned. The fire probably was the result of a defective flue. The
legislature, after much hesitation, appropriated ten thousand dollars to
rebuild this house — the first money the state ever appropriated for the
university. After the fire, President Lathrop and family moved to the
frame building which stood near the north line of the campus, known as
the Model School, and afterwards as the School of English. Here Presi-
dent Lathrop lived until his death.
Agricultural College
In February, 1870, the general assembly passed an act establishing
the Missouri Agricultural CoUege, and locating it in Columbia, in con-
nection with the university. Much of the credit for this legislation is
due to the active work of James S. Rollins, then state senator, and Col.
F. T. Russell, then representative from Boone county. The act was
passed, on condition that Boone county would purchase and pay for a
Vol. n— IT
268 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
suitable farm for the college. Accordiogly, meetings of citizens were
held, and Boone county appropriated eighty thousand dollars, sud
Columbia appropriated ten thousand dollars, which money was used to
purchase a farm of 640 acres situated south and southeaet of Columbia.
President Wm. W. Hudson having begun the erection of a large dwell-
ing on a piece of land on the east side of the Columbia and Ashland
gravel road, and died before finishing it, that property wos purchased by
the state, and the building completed and called the "Hudson Miinsion."
This building was destroyed by fire several years ago, and a handsome
stone farmhouse has been erected in its place, and is now used by the
dean of the college.
r"
SWITZLER SaIAj
Pictures of Governor McClurg and all the members of the gi.'neral
assembly that established the Agricultural College were procured, framed
and placed in the university library.
Corner Stone op Scientific Bitildikq
The building known as the Scientific building was for many j-ears
devoted to the chemistry department on the first floor, the agricul-
tural and geological departments on the second floor, and the mathe-
matical department on the third floor. It was afterwards called the
Agricultural building, and is now used by the School of Journalism, and
called Switzler Hall, in honor of Colonel Switzler, the life-long friend
of the university and an active journalist for so many years.
The comer stone, of this building was laid on commencement day,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 259
June 28, 1871, the ceremonies being in charge of the Masons of Colum-
bia. Governor B. Gratz Brown and Mayor Barrett, of St. Louis, made
the speeches of the occasion, and the usual amount of bunting and flags
were in evidence. Governor Brown spoke of the value of a school of
agriculture to the farmers of Missouri, and predicted that some day its
value would be felt and appreciated. As was customary, the ladies of
Columbia served dinner on the campus, and each lady tried to outdo
her neighbor in the number of cakes, pies and other good thincrs
furnished.
Dedication op University Additions
June, 1885, was a great month in the history of the Missouri Univer-
sity, as the new wings,, or additions to the main building, were dedicated,
Dr. S. S. Laws presiding. Dr. W. Pope Yeaman, Missouri's greatest
pulpit orator, delivered the baccalaureate address ; Judge A. W. TerriU,
of Texas, a graduate of the class of 1846, delivered the address to the
literary societies; Stephen B, Elkins, afterwards secretary of war and
United States senator from West Virginia, delivered the address to the
alumni; and Senator Geo. G, Vest delivered an address on commence-
ment day, on Thomas Jefferson, at which time the marble tablet from
the Jefferson monument was unveiled. Secretary of State Thos. F. Bay-
ard and Commissioner of Agriculture Norman J. Colman accompanied
Senator Vest to Columbia, and also spoke in the new chapel. Among the
distinguished guests present on that day were Governor John S. Marma-
duke, Mayor David R. Francis, and Congressmen Wm. J. Stone and
John T. Heard. The keys of the building were delivered by Governor
Marmaduke to Major Jas. S. Rollins, president of the board of curators,
and by him accepted in a most eloquent speech, perhaps the last public
address delivered by him. During that commencement, a bronze bust
of Major Rollins was presented by Col. John F. Williams, in behalf of
the alumni, and placed in the new library, where it remained till the
university fire of 1892. Among the academic graduates of that year
were Wm. A. Rothwell, of Moberly, Thomas L. Rubey, of Lebanon, and
Prof. W. S. Dearmont, of Cape Girardeau. The Missouri Press Associa-
tion held its annual session in Columbia at that time, and many of the
leading newspaper men of our state were in attendance. The Columbia
Herald, always an enterprising journal, printed a mammoth edition the
week following, giving full accounts of the occasion, which was a credit
to the editor of that paper, E. W. Stephens, and to every one connected
with it.
Celebration op Fiftieth Anniversary
On July 4, 1890, the semi-centennial of the laying of the corner stone
of the university was celebrated in Columbia. It was the intention to
have Maj. Nathaniel W. Wilson, Gen. John Ellis and Jacob S. Johnston,
who acted as marshals on July 4, 1840, to act a« honorary marshals ; but
the death of Major Wilson the week before, prevented carrying out of
the original plan. The other gentlemen named were present, and occu-
pied seats on the rostrum. The ceremonies were of the most interesting
and imposing character. The town and university were profusely deco-
rated with bunting and other appropriate insignia ; a long procession of
citizens on horseback, headed by the governor, secretary of state, treas-
urer and attorney-general, and the surviving donors of 1839, paraded
our streets and marched over to the university campus, amid the firing
of cannons and the playing of three brass bands. To some extent, the
procession resembled the one that marched in Columbia just fifty years
260 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
before. A magnificent barbecued dinner was aerved on the campus by
the ladies of Columbia to the many friends of the university from Boone
county and from a distance ; and that night the sky was made luminoos
by an elaborate display of fireworks.
Robert L. Todd, a member of the first graduating class, the class of
1843, acted as chairman of the day, Jas. C. Gillespy was grand marshal ;
and Gov. David R. Francis, acting president M. II. Fisher, Col. Wm. P.
Switzler, Leonidas M. Lawson, Gardiner Lathrop, Judge B. M. Dilley
and Judge John Kinton, the last three being members of the board of
curators, entertained the crowd with speeches fitting for the occasion.
Gen. Odon Guitar delivered the eulogy upon the men who subscribed to
the raising of $117,900 in 1839; and he performed that duty, as usual,
in a handsome manner. All of the subscribers to that fund who were
still alive were given seats of honor on the piatforra, and many inter-
esting incidents were told by them. Levi James, who was a drummer
in the procession of 1840, was present at this celebration and rode in a
carriage. Edward D. Henry exhibited at that time a trowel, which he
Lathrop Hall, Dining Club for Students, University op Missoubi
used in doing the brick work on the building in 1840; and Dr. Wm.
H. Duncan, a pioneer Columbia physician, presented the university a
large pocketbook, which had contained, at different times, every dollar
that was used to pay for the first university building, he being treasurer
of the university for some years after its organization.
The annual meet of the League of American Wheelmen was held in
Columbia on this day, and was attended by a number of men, and they
entertained the large crowd at the Columbia fair grounds in the after-
noon.
Burning op the UNivERsrrr
Saturday, January 9, 1892 (just four years after the death of Major
Jas. S. Rollins) will be an occasion that will never be forgotten by the
people of Boone county, as the main building of the State University was
hurned that night. At about 7 :30 preparations were being made for the
annual exhibition of the Athenaean society in the university chapel, and
as usual on such occasions, many people were on their way to the chapel.
Some few had assembled in the chapel, including Prof. P. Pannell and
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 261
the members of the uoiveraity brass band. The falling of the large
chandelier on the rostrum, the flashing of the electric lights and the dark-
ness following was the first intimation of danger. It was soon discov-
ered that the electric wires, that had been laid in 1885 between the floor
of the library and the ceiling of the chapel, had set fire to the building
near the northeast corner. A strong wind from the northeast swept the
flames through the building, which was anything but fireproof ; and soon
all hope of extinguishing the fire was abandoned. Much of tJie class
room and laboratory apparatus, all of contents of the library and many
valuable books, pictures, documents and relies of the university were
destroyed. The students, members of the faculty and citizens of Colum-
bia worked heroically, trying to save the building, but their efforts
were in vain.
At once, there was talk of the students leaving for home, but Dr.
R. H. Jesse, who was president from 1891 till 1908, the right man in the
right place, called a meeting of students and citizens for Sunday morn-
ing at 9 :30 at the Haden opera bouse. All churches and Sunday aehools
ACADEHtc Hall, Univebsitt op Missouri
gave up their services to this meeting, which lasted till noon. After stir-
ring talks from Dr. Jesse and other members of the faculty, citizens and
students, a vote was taken and every student agreed to remain. Invita-
tions were received from the various religious denominations of Colum-
bia, offering the use of their churches, from the county court, offering
the use of the courthouse, and from the owners of some vacant store
rooms. The teachers and classes had rooms and hours assigned to them,
and on Monday morning every class was conducted the same as if nothing
had happened.
It is a fact worthy of mention that the first entertainment ever held in
the university chapel at night was an exhibition of the Athenaean society,
and the old building burned on the night of an exhibition of the same
Bociety.
A special session of the Missouri General Assembly created consider-
able uneasiness in Boone county, as an effort was made by Sedalia,
Clinton and other enterprising towns to have the university removed.
But with the aid of Governor Francis and other friends of the univer-
262 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
sity and especially after Boone county raised fifty thousand dollars and
gaye to the state, the university was re-located in Columbia. The legis-
lature made appropriation at that session for re-building the university,
and, as has often been expressed, **the new university rose phoenix-like
from the ruins." So the burning of the university building, which so
many feared would be the destruction of the university itself, proved
to be a blessing in disguise. The old columns, which stood in front of
the portico of the old building, are now appropriately called "The con-
necting link between the old and the new university."
Manual Training Building Burned
There have been three fires on the university campus— only three in
seventy-three years. In March, 1911, the Manual Training Building
caught fire at midnight, from some cause unknown, and was almost
destroyed. The valuable machinery, drawings and material in it were
burned. A part of the building has been repaired and is now used.
The University op Today
Under the admirable administrations of former President R. H. Jesse
and President A. Ross Hill, the university has grown to an enrollment
of more than three thousand students, and every department is well
equipped.
Ira p. Nash
One of the most eccentric men in Boone county was Ira P. Nash, who
was living here in 1819, but who came here as early as 1804. Nash,
when his deposition was taken in Columbia in February, 1844, in a suit
involving the title to certain lands near Nashville, tells us of the services
he rendered A. Soulard, surveyor general of Spain, and how he located
certain land claims in 1804, in Boone county, near what he termed
' * River Petit Bon Femme. ' ' In speaking of the country near the mouth
of that stream, Nash says, ** Thinking I could not find a more beautiful
spot 'of land in all creation, I determined to locate one claim there."
Nash was raised in Virginia, moved to Tennessee and thence to Missouri.
He was well educated, a graduate of the University of Virginia, was
a surveyor and a physician, but did not possess the good will of his
neighbors. He planted the first apple orchard in Boone county, was a
farmer, a live stock dealer, the owner of a fine stallion and also inter-
ested in a steamboat. In his will, which is of record in Boone county
and is a quaint document, he tells us that he was born in Fauquier
county, Virginia. His will begins as follows: **That it is appointed
for all men once to die is a maxim well established, and can be brought
home to the breast of every thinking human, not only with mere convic-
tion, but with the most powerful demonstration, to prove which you men
of say sixty-five or seventy years look around, enquire, enquire largely
for the men of your present age at your earliest recollection, nay those
that were just quitting the muster roll, or if you chose those in the prime
of life, say thirty years, where are they, gone, irrecoverably gone, dead
nearly ninety-nine in a hundred of them, and will soon all be dead, for
it is appointed for all men once to die. Socrates could not hear of a
place where men did not die. When a man has arrived to mature age and
by his industry, care and frugality has accumulated enough of this
world's goods to be worth distribution, that he has an inalienable right
to dispose of it as may best suit his desire is a doctrine which I have ever
supported and which right I hold most sacred. I shall therefore proceed
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 263
to declare in what manner I desire my little property to be distributed
amongst those who may think they have some legal right to it or a share
of it, though they never aided in the collecting of it and when I have no
more use for it and may possibly leave them behind me. It is my desire
that John McDow, having married my eldest daughter Alpha Morgan,
shall have sixteen gallons and one-half of good proof whiskey. ' '
In another place in his w411, Nash made a bequest to one son named
Man L., and then a bequest to his other son named L. Man. Later on,
Nash gave 240 acres of land in Morgan county, Missouri, to the county
court of that couirty for the erection of a seminary of learning and its
support. This land he says he entered from the United States govern-
ment, under the name of **H. Sanari," which is Ira Nash spelled back-
wards. The records of the land oflSce at Washington, D. C, show that
this land described in Nash's will was entered under the name of H.
Sanari, in February, 1837, and October, 1836.
Nash had considerable trouble with his first wife, Nancy, and she
committed suicide in 1829, by hanging herself in the kitchen, probably
the first suicide in the county. He also had trouble with his second wife
who sued him for divorce but the case was dismissed.
One of the indignities which the second Mrs. Nash charged her hus-
band with was that he took a slave belonging to her, a negro named Sam,
and hired him to a man in Alississippi, and then reported to her that
Sam ran off to Canada, whereas Sam had been sold and Nash had col-
lected the money. One of the indignities that Nash charged his wife
with was that she sold cider belonging to him, collected the money and
failed to account to him for the same. The suit of Nash vs. Nash was one
of the first divorce suits in Boone county, and it was a complicated one.
Nash acting as his own attorney in this case, took a change of venue from
Boone county, on account of the prejudice of the people against him.
Then an agreement was entered into between him and his wife and the
divorce suit dismissed ; but another divorce suit was soon brought by the
wife in Boone county.
Harrison Acton, Green B. Acton and Jno. L. Ballenger, all of whom
lived near Nashville, told this story of Dr. Nash, and many others
have vouched for its truth; in fact, it was universally believed by the
older citizens of Cedar township. Nash was in his orchard one day, shoot-
ing at a bird in his cherry tree, when one of the shot from his gun struck
a small boy in the face. The boy was helping himself to cherries in one of
Nash 's trees, and it was believed that Nash, who was then an old man, did
not see him. The boy -was barely hurt, but the neighbors, who were ready
to get after Nash for other reasons, became greatly incensed against him,
and organized a small band for the purpose of killing him when night
came on. Nash beard of it and made all necessary arrangements for
entertaining his uninvited visitors. He got a sack of wool, placed it in
his bed, put a long handle in his hatchet, blew out the light and climbed
into the loft of his house, where he waited till the crowd came. Each
man that came in made a cut at the sack of wool, which he supposed was
the slumbering form of Nash, and the next morning, Harrison Acton
said that he counted eleven stabs in that sack. Meanwhile Nash was in
the loft, swinging his hatchet back and forth, cutting and bruising the
faces and heads of his would-be assailants. The men who composed the
mob, all of whom were partly under the influence of liquor, decided that
they were fighting themselves, and finally did get to fighting each other.
As each man came to the conclusion that he had been whipped, he left
the house and sought refuge at the near-by grocery, where he told his
experience to his companions. As they were all convinced that Nash
was dead, they agreed with each other that they would dress their
264 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
wounds, patch up their bruised heads and come out of their houses the
next morning as usual. They agreed to tell the same tale when the
sheriff and coroner would come the next day, and bound themselves with
a solemn oath to stand by each other. Instead of said county officials
coming to the house the next day, Ira P. Nash came out of the house, and
he was the only man in the neighborhood whose head was not wounded.
Dr. Nash filed complaint before Warren Woodson, J. P., and had four
men arrested on the charge of breaking into his dwelling with intent to
beat, wound and kill him ; but the case was dismissed. Then one of the
men, Henry Peninger, brought suit against Nash for damages, on account
of malicious prosecution, but that case was afterwards dismissed. In the
petition, the date of the breaking into Nash's house is given as August
6, 1842. It is said that Nash never spent a night in his house after that,
and never sat down during meal time after that, but always remained
standing, expecting further trouble from the same neighbors who com-
posed the mob. Nash was a small man physically, had long hair and wore
ear rings.
Three of the men who entered Nash's house were not satisfied with
the result of their night's work, so they made another effort to get him.
They knew that Nash would walk along a certain road, or path, from
his house one night, so they armed themselves with guns just after dark,
and climbed a tree near by. Nash heard of their intentions, as he heard
of nearly everything going on, and went to work to check-mate them. He
had a bull dog that had been trained to pull a Utile wagon, and he fas-
tened a bucket in that wagon, filled the bucket with tar, and set fire to the
tar. The bull dog had already discovered the presence of strangers in
the front pasture, and was barking and tugging at his chain. So when
Nash hitched his dog to the wagon and turned him loose, the dog ran
straight to the tree in which the three men had climbed ; and the burn-
ing tar soon set fire to the tree. It is hardly necessary to say that the
three sentinels, like Zacheus of old, made haste and came down. Nash
was close by with his gun, and the burning tar and burning tree fur-
nished light where the three men were, and Nash had no trouble in
seeing them, while he was safe in the darkness. He fired twice at the
men, wounding one of them, though not seriously.
Warren A. Smith says that he remembers Dr. Nash, as he took dinner
with Capt. William Smith, father of Warren A. and Fielding W. Smith,
about one year before the death of Nash. In 1844, Mr. Smith says, his
father was a candidate for representative, and attended a barbecue near
Nashville. Dr. Nash saw him and called him out into the woods and
said, * * You are going to get nearly every vote in this neighborhood, and
I hope you will be elected. But don't tell anybody that I am for you, for
if these grand rascals find that out, they will all vote against you."
Mr. Smith further said that Nash disliked Jack Parker, a neighbor,
and waited for an opportunity to **get even." One winter day, he saw
some negro men cutting ice on the creek and asked them if they were cut-
ting it for Mr. Parker. When he learned that the wagon and team be-
longed to Parker, Nash borrowed the ax and broke all of the spokes out
of the wagon wheels. The negroes reported to their master what Nash
had done, and Parker sued for damages. When the trial came off, Parker
learned that his witnesses were all slaves, and could not testify ; hence he
was compelled to dismiss his suit.
At the February term 1831, the grand jury of Boone county indicted
Dr. Nash for sending a letter, challenging Gilpin S. Tuttle to fight a duel.
The wording of the letter was very adroit, but the intention of the writer
was clear. The indictment was signed by R. W. Wells, attorney general,
certified by Mason Moss, foreman of the grand jury, and the trial oc-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 265
curred before Judge David Todd, in Columbia. It resulted in the con-
viction of Nash and his being fined one hundred dollars, the only man
ever convicted of that offense in this county. The letter is as follows :
Sir:
I have always been fond of the chase, and of gunning. I have experienced great
satisfaction in the chase, in the countries of West Florida and New Mexico, and in
the states of Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, S. Caro-
lina, Missouri and Tennessee, — in the extreme eastern part of the latter, I took my
first chase when quite a boy. Now, Sir, the object of this communication is to let
you know that there is not anything could be more greatful to my feelings than to
take a short hunt with you, in some place not exposed to Indians depredations, and
as my first chase was in the East of Tennessee, I propose to take this (perhaps my
last^ chase in the extream West of that state, say in the Mississippi bottom opposite
New Madrid. I propose the hunting camp to be located some where near the Mis-
sissippi river (nigh to where the eye of Leonard flashed on Major Berry) and then
and there the preliminary arrangements will be made for the hunt, by * * * say
our camp keepers — and they will, no doubt, give you liberty to execute your threat of
12th of June last, on me — and if you stick close to the chase, I insure that we will
have something of better colar, if not so strong scented, as that with which you
plastered my letter 10th of last June.
To Capt. Gilpin S. Tuttle, Yours &c.,
Nashville, Mo. I. P. Nash.
P. 8. Sir — I most seriously invite you to this hunt — you may object to the
season, but 'tis the best time to save meat and skins, and the climate is more mild
at New Madrid than here. I have frequently observed that men by being camp-
mates (each doing his duty) would become great friends, and agreeable associates.
Therefore this measure is absolutely necessary three days after this is delivered, I
shaU call at Nashville for an answer for this invintation, believing most confidently
that you wiU perfectly understand this prelude at the first glance. There is an em-
bargo (and something worse) on those who execute certain instruments of writing
in Missouri, which criminal words I have, and will avoid. But there is no law (that
I know of) which prohibits hunting parties.
Yours,
I. P. Nash.
The will of Nash, ahove referred to, is dated September 28, 1844, and
it was admitted to probate on November 11, 1844, so the death of Nash
must have occurred between those two dates. Nash requested that he be
buried on the highest bluff on the Missouri river, so that he could look
down on his former neighbors, whom he hated intensely, and he also
requested that he be buried in a standing position. The last part of his
request was not complied with, but his grave, constructed like an Indian
mound, ten or twelve feet high, surrounded by cedar trees which Nash
planted himself, may be seen on top of one of the highest bluffs in this
county, near the site of the town that bore his name. Persons who take
the trouble to climb to the top of that bluff and see the muddy waters of
the Missouri, the beautiful valleys and picturesque hills of that part of
Boone county will agree with Dr. Nash when he said that that was one
of the most beautiftil spots in all creation.
Judge James C. Gillespy now owns the Nash farm, and the place
where Nash is buried. It is situated on Spanish Grant No. 1726, and it
is the only Spanish grant in Boone county. The land office records show
that this grant contains 810 arpens.
Toll Roads
Under the provisions of chapter 64 of the Revised Statutes of Mis-
souri, 1865, the* people along several roads leading into Columbia, as-
sisted by some patriotic men in Columbia, began to organize toll roads,
shortly after the Civil war. Geo. C. Pratt, afterwards railroad commis-
sioner of Missouri, made the surveys, and superintended most of the work.
N. T. Mitchell, Jas. H. Waugh, Robt. L. Todd, John H. Sampson, F.
T. Russell, John Hinton and others organized the Columbia and Roche-
266 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
port Turnpike Company, which operated a gravel road between the two
towns named till 1912. Then, the east part of the road was sold to the
Columbia Special Road District, and the rest of the gravel road was
abandoned by the company.
Joel H. Haden, Philip Prather, Monroe Bateman, Eli Mars and others
formed the Columbia and Blackfoot Turnpike Company, and constructed
a gravel road from Columbia to a point near Hinton. This road is still
in operation.
P. H. Robnett, David Gordon, M. R. Arnold, R. R. Vivion and others
formed themselves into the Columbia and Cedar Creek Turnpike Com-
pany, and built a gravel road from Columbia to the Callaway line. This
company abandoned its franchise in 1903, but the gravel road still re-
mains.
John Machir, Boyle Gordon, 'Michael Fisher, Thos. H. Hickman and
others were >the charter members of the Columbia and Jefferson City
Gravel Road Company, afterwards the Columbia and Ashland Gravel
Road Company. This company still operates a gravel road as far south
as Ashland, the part from Ashland to Claysville having been aban-
doned some years ago.
Long before the construction of any of these toll roads (in 1853), a
plank road was built from Columbia to Providence ; Providence was then
the great shipping point for Boone county. A company composed of
Warren Woodson, Jas. S. Rollins, Moss Prewitt, D. B. Cunningham,
John Parker and others subscribed the money and built it. The plank
road cost thirty thousand dollars, but it proved to be a failure, for it
was soon worn out, and was never rebuilt.
Another gravel road, the one from Columbia northeast toward Shaw,
or the Twin churches, was built in 1904, partly by private subscription,
and partly with money donated by the county. . It has never been a toll
road.
The Providence road and the Cedar Creek gravel road are now partly
in the Columbia Special Road District ; and such parts are kept in good
repair by the efficient commissioners of that district.
State Roads
Prior to the time of our turnpike roads, the legislature of Missouri,
on motion of the representative from Boone county, passed an act estab-
lishing a state road, leading from the town of Columbia to the town of
Williamsburg, in Callaway county, by way of David Gordon's, Thomas
Arnold's and Thomas Grant's. It was made the duty of the county
court to keep this road open and in good repair.
Two other state roads established in Boone county in February, 1857,
by legislative enactment were one from Fayette to Sturgeon, and the
other from Providence to the mouth of Cedar creek, opposite Jefferson
City. A similar provision was in this act, in regard to the duty of the
county court to work the road.
The Cross-State Highway
In the summer of 1911, the State Board of Agriculture decided that,
in the interests of good roads, it would be well to have a cross-state high-
way established. Immediately different routes wer5 suggested, the
northern route, the central route and the southern route, and a spirited
contest resulted. The Columbia Commercial Club took the lead ; and E.
W. Stephens, Walter Williams, J. A. Hudson, S. C. Hunt, T. S. Gordon,
Jas. W. Schwabe and N. T. Gentry started out.in automobiles, and vis-
HISTORY OK NORTHEAST MISSOURI
268 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
•
ited every county and every town along the central route, which was
practically the line of the Boon's Lick road and the Santa Pe trail.
Meetings were held at Marshall, Glasgow, Fayette, Rocheport, Columbia,
Millersburg, Stephens Store, Fulton, Williamsburg, Mineola, New Flor-
ence, High Hill, Jonesburg, Warrenton and St. Charles; and the peo-
ple of those localities were thoroughly aroused.
After driving in automobiles over the proposed routes, and being en-
tertained at Columbia and other cities and towns through the country,
the State Board of Agriculture held a public meeting in the opera house
in Jefferson City on August 2, 1911, at which the governor presided, and
arguments were then presented in behalf of the various lines of road.
George Robertson, of Mexico, and John F. Morton, of Richmond, spoke
in behalf of the northern route ; Sam B. Cook, of Jefferson City, and J.
H. Bothwell, of Sedalia, spoke in behalf of the southern route; and U.
S. Hall, of Glasgow, and Walter Williams, of Columbia, spoke in behalf
of the central route. About two hundred of Boone county's road boosters
and the Hartsburg brass band accompanied the representatives of the
Columbia Commercial Club to this meeting on a special train ; and they,
in company with similar delegations from Callaway, Montgomery, St.
Charles, Howard, Saline and Lafayette counties, all wearing badges,
paraded the streets of Jefferson City, carrying banners, marked Boon's
Lick road, Santa Fe trail, Nature's road, Historical route, etc., etc. Some
sixteen hundred delegates were in attendance, and the meeting resembled
a state political convention.
A committee on resolutions, consisting of Frank W. Buffum. from
Pike, Newlan Conkling, from Carroll, James W. Gill from Montgomery,
John R. Hairston, from Howard, David H. Harris, from Callaway, N. T.
Gentry, from Boone, A. H. Bolte, from Franklin, J. W. Hunter, from
Moniteau, and M. V. Carroll, from Pettis, recommended the permanent
improvement of the roads all over the state, the enactment of laws for the
encouragement of road building, and the use of convicts to work on our
public highways. The resolutions were unanimously adopted by the con-
vention.
So much improvement was made on the roads and so much interest
was shown by the people along the central route, that the State Board
of Agriculture, at its next meeting, August 17, 1911, unanimously de-
cided in favor of the central route as the state highway of Missouri.
Following this decision, a celebration was held in Columbia, at which
time R. B. Price, riding a prancing gray horse, represented Governor
Alexander McNair, T. C. Scruggs represented Uncle Sam, aud Wm. E.
Bradford represented Daniel Boone, carrying a rifle and accompanied by
his faithful dog. All of the steam whistles in town were sounded, all of
the church and school bells were rung, and a long procession paraded up
and down Broadway, carrying shovels, picks and axes, followed by J, A.
Hudson, seated on a road grader, and driving six three-year-old mules.
Accordingly, October 28, 1911, the state highway, oflScially termed
the **01d Trails Road" was dedicated. The dedication ceremonies were
held in the University Auditorium in Columbia, and were attended by
Governor Hadley, Mayor F. H. Kreisman of St. Louis, Mayor D. A.
Brown of Kansas City, Congressmen Borland, Hamlin and Shackleford,
State Highway Engineer Curtis Hill, the State Board of Agriculture and
others interested in good roads from all parts of the state. The Colum-
bia chapter of the D. A. R. gave a splendid dinner, which was served by
them in Lathrop hall ; and the occasion was one long to be remembered
in Boone county. E. W. Stephens, president of Columbia Commercial
Club, was toastmaster.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 269
Columbia Special Road District
During this time, the people of Columbia and the surrounding coun-
try formed themselves into a special road district, under the provisions
of Ajrticle VI of Chapter 102 of Revised Statutes of IMissouri 1909, and
the name ''Columbia Special Road District" was given to the district.
J. A. Hudson, S. P. Conley and John L. Dodd were appointed commis-
sioners by the county court, and they at once called a special election to
vote on a proposition to issue one hundred thousand dollars in bonds, for
the purpose of improving the roads within said eight-mile district. An-
other contest was then had in Columbia on the subject of good roads;
and again the Commercial Club, headed by E. W. Stephens, took an
active part. After holding meetings in the Airdome in Columbia, and at
the various school houses and churches in the road district, the voters
decided in favor of issuing the bonds. The Columbia brass band stood on
the courthouse square on the day of election and played patriotic airs,
and representatives of the D. A. R. met the voters and pinned on each
a badge, bearing the words, "I am for good roads.'' It is not surprising
that the result was about fourteen to one in favor of the bond issue. This
election was held on September 8, 1911, and for its unanimity surpassed
any election ever held in the city or county.
Similar road districts have since been formed to the east of Columbia,
known as the Harg district, and one to the southeast, known as the Deer
Park district.
Early Wars
Black Hawk Indian War — Much has been written, and still more
might be written, about the volunteers from Boone county, in the various
wars our country has been unfortunate enough to engage in. Beginning
in 1832, with the Black Hawk Indian war, we find Boone county furnish-
ing soldiers, and we learn of their marches to Clark and Lewis counties,
and over into the state of Iowa. By being at the right place on time,
they prevented Black Hawk from coming to Missouri, with his band of
Indians.
Seminole Indian War — In 1837, Boone county furnished a large num-
ber of soldiers, who, under the leadership of Col. Richard Gentry, Capt.
John Ellis and Capt. Thomas D. Grant, inarched to Florida and took part
in the battle of the Kjssemee and Okeechobee. By their successful fight-
ing, the Indians were driven from Florida and compelled to go west,
where by treaty they had agreed to go. The ladies of Columbia made and
presented to this regiment a silk flag, on which was the following :
Gird, gird for the conflict.
Our banner wave high.
For our country we'll live.
For our country we'U die.
The presentation of this flag was in front of Gentry's tavern, which
then stood at the northeast comer of Ninth and Broadway, where the
J. H. Haden building now stands. This flag is still in existence.
Mormon War — ^Almost as soon as Boone county's soldiers returned
from Florida, which was early in 1838, the Mormon war broke out.
Again, Boone county soldiers were found ready and willing to do service
for their country, and two regiments were raised for that war. Col. John
Ellis, Col. Joel Hem and Maj. Stewart B. Hatton were in command, and
did service in Missouri and Illinois; but the Mormon war was soon at
an end.
270 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Mexican War — Strange as it may seem to us today, the young men
and boys of Boone county were eager to leave home and join Doniphan,
Kearney, Price and others and cross the plains to engage in the Mexi-
can war. But strange though it is, many of them did, and they won for
themselves honors that are equal to those worn by any of our military
heroes. The march across the plains under the leadership of Oen. John
Ellis and Capt. John Hinton, through an enemy's country, without sup-
plies, and the victories they won were simply marvelous. Then, too, most
of them were beardless boys; but General Doniphan said they marched
and fought like old regulars. Again, the ladies of Columbia showed their
appreciation of Boone county soldiers by presenting to this company a
silk flag with the words ** Boone Guards" printed on it. On their return,
the people of Boone and Howard counties gave a dinner in Rocheport in
honor of these heroes.
Kansas War — After many public meetings and a great deal of discus-
sion, on the subject of whether Kansas should be a free state or a slave
state, troops were raised and marched to ** Bleeding Kansas," as it was
called, and they engaged in the Kansas war. Lewis Robinson and Samuel
A. Young, both of Boone county, were the leaders in this military under-
taking. These men accompained the troops from Howard county, and
took part in the famous battle of Ossawatomie.
The Civil War
Boone County Men — Fortunately few battles of any importance were
fought in Boone county during the Civil war, although Boone county fur-
nished such leaders on the Union side as Gen. Odon Guitar, Gen. Jos.
B. Douglass, Col. Jno. P. Philips, Col. F. T. Russell, Maj. Frank D.
Evans, Maj. Lewis P. Miller, 6apt. Henry N. Cook, Capt. Samuel A.
Garth, Capt. James A. Adams, Capt. Tyre G. Harris, Lieut. Marshall H.
Harris and Lieut. Carey H. Gordon; and on the Southern side such
leaders as Gen. William Y. Slack, Col. Eli Hodge, CoL J. J. Searcy,
Col. Harvey McKinney, Col. M. G. Singleton, Capt. Jno. H. H. Maxwell,
Capt. C. V. Bicknell, Capt. M. G. Corlew, Capt. Wm. F. Roberts, Capt.
Jas. H. Lowry and others.
Columbia — A skirmish between the Federal forces under Gen. Lewis
Merrill and some Southern soldiers occurred on Broadway in Columbia,
but few persons were injured. The Federals were encamped in and
around the university, and the Southern men suddenly rode into town,
taking the Federals by surprise, and taking possession of Broadway, the
courthouse and county jail. In the jail were confined some Southern
prisoners, who were released and taken away by the soldiers; and some
eighty Federal horses were also captured. Soon the Federals organized
themselves, galloped down Ninth street to Broadway, keeping up a con-
stant fire, and followed the fleeing Southerners to a point beyond Mores
station. General Merrill was very indignant because he thought some citi-
zens of Columbia had reported conditions in town to the Southern sol-
diers ; and he threatened to bum the town, but some Union sympathizers
persuaded him that such action would be wrong and would result in no
good.
Goslin's Lane — The battle of Goslin's lane occurred near Woodland-
ville, in this county, and resulted in a victory for the men in command of
Thomas Todd and George Todd, and their capturing a large number of
wagons of provisions and supplies from the Federal soldiers. Other bat-
tles were known as the battle of Hallsville, the battle of Mt. Zion church,
the battle of Perche creek, the battle of Dripping Springs and the battle
of Cedar creek.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 271
Centralia — By far the most serious engagement in Boone county dur-
ing the war was the Centralia massacre, which occurred in September,
1864. Bill Anderson, the guerrilla leader, was camped with about three
hundred and fifty or four hundred of his men at a point a few miles
southeast of Centralia, near the M. G. Singleton farm. There was no rail-
road from Centralia to Columbia then, Imt a stage made one round trip
each day, being driven by Joseph Kelley, a son of the former jailer of
Boone county, and a brother of Miss Roxy Kelley, of Columbia. Maj.
Jas. S. Rollins, Jas. H. Waugh, Jno. M. Samuel, Boyle Gordon, Lafayette
Hume, and perhaps others, were passengers in the stage on that day, on
their way to attend a political convention at Mexico. Major Rollins was
then a member of congress and Mr. Waugh was then sheriff of this
county. Anderson's men attacked the stage, and at the point of a pistol
required each man to hand over his pocket-book, watch and other valua-
bles. The valise which Major Rollins was carrying contained a white shirt
with his name written in indelible ink across the lower part of the
bosom. Ab the guerrilla could not read, he was unable to identify Major
Rollins; and, as Major Rollins insisted that his name was Johnson and
that he was a Methodist preacher and wanted a clean shirt to wear the
next Sunday, he was allowed to go and take his shirt with him. .Mr.
Waugh had a somewhat similar experience, for he had a number of
papers in his pocket, which had his name and official character written
on them ; but, as he insisted that his name was Smith and that the papers
he had were simply copies of his grandfather's will, the guerrilla allowed
him to go, and take the tell-tale papers with him.
A barrel of whiskey was discovered on the depot platform, and the
guerrillas broke open the head and helped themselves. They were begin-
ning to feel the effects of it, when the train on the North Missouri rail-
road came in from the east. As soon as the engineer saw the guerrillas
in town, he at first tried to run through Centralia without stopping; but
the guerrillas fired on the train, threw some ties and pieces of lumber on
the track and compelled him to stop. On the train were twenty-four
Federal soldiers, who were going home on a furlough, and these were
at once taken in charge by the guerrillas, and, under the direction of Bill
Anderson, their clothing was taken off, and they were marched to one of
the streets of the town. After taking one of their number, who was an
officer, to their camp for the purpose of exchange, the remaining sol-
diers were shot and killed, while standing in Une. The guerrillas, after
robbing the mail, Ifaggage and express car and assaulting and robbing
many of the passengers and citizens of Centralia, and burning the train
and the station, returned to their camp, taking with them some of the
whiskey, which they gave to their companions.
Maj. A. V. E. Johnson was at that time in command of the Federal
forces at Mexico, and, hearing of the outrage in Centralia, he at once
came with some of his men to that town. He was cautioned not to at-
tempt to attack Anderson, as Johnson's men were new in service; and
he was specially warned that Anderson was past master in the art of
strategy. But Johnson, feeling that it was his duty to resent this insult
to his country and his flag, marched to the place where Anderson's men
were encamped. As he approached the little hill, he discovered Ander-
son's men on top of the hill and apparently ready for an attack. An-
derson ordered his men to dismount, which they did ; and Johnson, being
surprised and fearing some trick was about to be played on him, ordered
his men to dismount, which they did, sending their horses some feet to
the rear. In a moment Anderson's men leaped into their saddles, their
horses started down the hill at full speed, and every man began firing at
the Federals and at the same time yelling at the top of his voice. Before
272 HISTORt OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Johnson's men could either mount or take in the situation, they and
their horses were in the worst of confusion, and were completely routed,
123 out of 130 of them being killed. Major Johnson fell at the first fire,
and no one near him survived. Major Johnson and many of his com-
mand are buried in the National Cemetery at Jefferson City, where a
suitable monument to their memory was erected.
One of Johnson's soldiers who survived said that he made his escape
by running forward and passing between two of Anderson's men, un-
observed. He ran on to a meadow and hid behind a haystack, pulling
up hay at the bottom and crawling under. He remained there till late
that night, when he crawled away, passing over the dead bodies of his
comrades and often putting his hands and knees in their blood.
Hearing of the slaughter of Major Johnson's command, Gen. Joseph
B. Douglass, then stationed at Columbia, started out in pursuit of Ander-
son's men. Coming close enough, two small cannon were used by Gen.
Douglass, which had a telling effect on the guerrillas, and caused them to
leave Boone county, after sustaining serious loss.
Columbia Tiger Company
After hearing of the great destruction wrought by Bill Anderson
and his men in other parts of the county, especially in and near Cen-
tralia, the citizens of Columbia, irrespective of their war feelings, joined
a company for the protection of Columbia, its schools and churches.
This organization had the bold and somewhat vicious name of *' Columbia
Tiger Company, ' ' and the members of this company were the first tigers
who ever called Columbia their headquarters. James S. Rollins was
elected captain, A. J. Harbinson and John F. Baker, lieutenants, and
Lewis M. Switzler, sergeant. A blockhouse, made of logs, was erected at
the intersection of Broadway and Eighth streets, suitable portholes
made in the four sides and suitable military supplies placed therein. This
blockhouse was built just over a well, which had previously been dug
at the crossing of those streets, and thus plenty of water could be fur-
nished the soldiers. The courthouse and Baptist church were used as
sleeping quarters for the soldiers and both buildings were barricaded,
and had portholes. They were surrounded by a ditch, which was intended
to keep the ''Bushwhackers" from setting fire to a load of hay and
running it up to the courthouse, and thereby bum the courthouse.
Of course, sentinels were on every road leading from Columbia, and a
watchman was on top of the courthouse day and night. By reason of
the determination of the men composing this company. Bill Anderson
and his cohorts never came to Columbia.
Carried Money to St. Louis
Thomas B. Gentry, who was a merchant in Columbia and well
acquainted with its early history, told the following experience that he
had during the Civil war:
**The express companies refused to accept of money for transporta-
tion, after one or two robberies, and, as Bill Anderson's men were
threatening to come to Columbia, and had visited every other town in the
county, the banks were afraid to keep much currency on hand. As I
was going to St. Louis to buy goods, my friends at the Exchange National
Bank asked me to take twenty thousand dollars to St. Louis for them,
and deposit it with a bank in the city. I did so, riding on the stage from
Columbia to Centralia, and on the North Missouri Railroad from Gen*
tralia to St. Charles, with no protection, except a pistol that I carried.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 273
The weather was very cold, and it was necessary for me to walk across
the Missouri river on the ice, which I did, carrying my valuable package.
On the St. Louis county side, I boarded a train, which got me into St.
Louis after dark. The first hotel at which I stopped was crowded,* and
some gamblers ttiade so much noise in an adjoining room that I could not
sleep. So I got up and left that hotel and walked around a few blocks
to the Laclede, where I registered and took the package of money with me
to my room. That night a burglar tried to gain an entrance to my room,
over the transom, but I heard him and frightened him away. I do not
suppose that he had any idea how much money was in my room, or he
probably would not have been so easily frightened. The next morning I
went to the bank and gave the package to the proper person, and for
once in my life was glad to get rid of money.''
Early Schools
Bonne Femme Academy — One of the first schools in central Mis-
souri was the Bonne Femme Academy, a school for young men, which
was established in 1829 ; it was situated near what is now known as Bonne
Femme church, on the Columbia and Ashland gravel road. Rev. Robert
S. Thomas, afterwards professor of English in the university, was one of
the early teachers ; and the school was so well advertised that young men
from other states were in attendance. Prof. Gteorge C. Pratt also taught
there. In an advertisement in the Missouri Intelligencer, it was stated
that this school was located in a healthy and highly moral neighborhood,
and that board could be obtained at reasonable prices in respectable
homes.
Columbia College — In 1831, the Columbia College was organized, and
Dr. A. W. Rollins, Richard Gentry, Warren Woodson, James W. Moss,
John B. Gordon and Judge David Todd were the first trustees ; this was
also a school for young men. From this school, the State University origi-
nated, and it may also be added that the first session of the university
was held in the Columbia College, which was a brick building situated
just west of Parker Memorial hospital, on South Sixth street, and after-
wards known as the residence of Rev. R. F. Babb.
Columbia Female Academy — ^In 1833, the Columbia Female Academy
was started, the first school exclusively for women west of the Mississippi
river. The first trustees of this school were Dr. William Jewell, Dr. Will-
iam Provines, Stephen R. Bedford, Roger North Todd and Austin A,
King ; and the first act done by them was to secure Miss Lucy Ann Wales,
of Massachusetts, to take charge of said school. Miss Wales proved to be
one of the distinguished educators of the state. The first session of that
school was held in the old Presbyterian church ; but later a brick building
was erected and used by the school for many years. This building was
afterwards used as a residence, then as the Cottage hotel, still later as the
Gordon hotel, and now it is rented to the university and used by the
home economics department; it is situated at the southwest comer of
Cherry and Tenth streets. *
Christian College
In 1851, the legislature of Missouri passed an act incorporating Chris-
tian College; and James Shannon, W. W. Hudson, Thomas M. Allen,
Thomas D. Grant and others were the incorporators. John Augustus
Williams, of Kentucky, was elected the first president ; and he was suc-
ceeded by L. B. Wilkes, J. K. Rogers, Geo. S. Bryant, W. A. Oldham,
Frank P. St. Clair, Mrs. Luella W. St. Clair, Mrs. W. T. Moore and Mrs.
St. Clair, now Mrs. Woodson Moss.
Vol. II.— 18.
274 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
In 1911, ChriBtian College celebrated its sixtieth anniversary, and a
large number of graduates and former students attended; among them
being two graduates of the class of 1854, Mrs. Jennie Robards Rogers, of
Kansas City, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cooper Pollard, of Fayetteville,
Arkansas.
The college campus, which is a beautiful lawn, has on it buildings
erected by friends and dedicated to the memory of Robert H, Stockton,
J. S. Dorsey and J, K. Rogers.
Stephens College
In 1856, the Baptists of Boone county oi^anized a school for young
ladies, which was named "Columbia Baptist Female College." Among
those who were active in its organization and liberal contributors were
James L. Stephens, Warren Woodson, John M. Robinson, Judge James
Harris, Moss Prewitt, David H. Hickman, Noah Flood and ^bert T.
Dairt B&itN OF Marshall Qobdon, Columbia.
Prewitt. The presidents of this school have been W, R. Rothwell, X. X.
Buckner, J. T. Williams, J. H. Hollis, E. S. Dulin, R. P. Rider, T. W.
Barrett, Sam Frank Taylor, W. B. Peeler, H. N. Quisenberry, G. W.
Hatcher and John M. Wocd.
In 1870, James L. Stephens donated twenty thousand dollars to the
college, and ita name was changed to ' ' Stephens College, ' ' by which name
it is still known. Later on, he gave ten thousand dollars more to the
college.
The Kate Quinn studio was erected by the liberality of M, G, Quinn,
of Columbia ; and the Sappington Chapel by the liberality of R. E. Sap-
pington, of near Ashland.
The Model Farm
In 1870, the State Board of Agriculture offered a prize of one hun-
dred dollars to the man whose farm was kept in the best condition. After
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 275
a lively contest, the prize was awarded to Jno. W. Harris, who owned a
farm of fifteen hundred acres situated northwest of Columbia and eight
miles south of Harrisburg, a town which was named for him. Mr. Harris
was indeed a model farmer, and many stories are told of the care with
which he kept fences and buildings in repair, and scrupulously cut the
weeds from his fields and pastures. He represented Boone county in the
legislature, was a son of the first sheriff of Boone county and the father
of Virgil M. Harris, a well known St. Louis lawyer, and Jno. W. Harris,
a banker, now living in Kansas.
Railroads
Of course the construction in 1858 of the North Missouri Railroad
(now the Wabash) was a great event in Boone county's history, as that
was one of the early railroads of Missouri. The people of the central
part of Boone county were anxious to have that road built through Co-
lumbia; but the slavery question was uppermost in the minds of our
people at that time. IVIany persons in adjoining counties feared that if
such a railroad should be constructed, the slaves would be more inclined
to run away, and could more easily make their escape to Canada. So
Howard and Callaway counties declined to aid this road, and it was
built to the north of them, and consequently to the north of Columbia.
But the people of Boone county, although said road simply passed
through its northern part, made liberal contributions to it.
In 1857, a charter was obtained to build the Columbia and Jefferson
City railroad ; but no work was done on it till 1866, and it was not com-
pleted until 1867. It was built from Centralia to Columbia, and was
afterwards leased for a long term by the Wabash, and is known as the
Columbia branch. The building of this road is due largely to the fore-
sight and liberality of David H. Hickman, James L. Stephens, W. W.
Tucker, Jefferson Garth and others; and it was appropriate that the
only two stations that were originally on the road were named Hickman
and Stephens. Hickman was one mile southeast from Hallsville, and it
was later abandoned, and the station built just to the east of Hallsville.
In 1869, the Louisiana and Missouri River railroad was laid out,
surveyed and much of the grading done through Rocky Fork and Perche
townships; and the abutments for a number of bridges were con-
structed ; it extended from Mexico, through Hallsville and Harrisburg, to
Fayette and on northwest. A large sum of money was spent in the
enterprise, and a debt was incurred by said townships, which it took
several years to discharge. The road had much work done on it through
Howard county, and it bid fair to be in operation i& a short time. But
there was a delay in Saline county, and this delay occurred at the wrong
time, the time when the money was about to be procured by the sale of
the railroad bonds. When the brokers heard that there was going to be
trouble to finish the road, they declined to buy the bonds, and the road
building was abandoned.
The Chicago & Alton Railroad was the next road to be built in this
county, and it was finished in 1878. Centralia is the only Boone county
town through which this road runs but it is only about two miles north
of Sturgeon. Since 1904 its track has been used by the C. & A. trains,
and also by Burlington trains.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was built through the south-
em and southwestern parts of this county in 1892 and 1893. It enters
Boone county at Rocheport and practically follows the Missouri river till
it crosses the line into Callaway county. From Rocheport east are the
towns of Huntsdale, McBaine, Providence, Rutland, Wilton, Hartsburg
276 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
and Claysville. At McBaine, a branch of this road, eight miles long, con-
nects with Columbia. This branch was at first known as the Jlissouri
Midland Railroad, was built in 1899, and was for a year operated inde-
pendently of the M., K. & T.
Columbia Cemetery
One of the most beautiful and historic places of our county is the
Columbia Cemetery, which was located in 1820, at the same time that the
town of Columbia was laid off. Six of the original lots of this town, each
lot eighty by one hundred and forty-two and a half feet, constituted the
original cemetery ; and for many years our people used that ground for
burial purposes, without having the same laid off into private lots. Three
times have the grounds been enlarged ; and today there are thirty acres
within its enclosure.
On February 23, 1853, the general assembly of Missouri passed an
act incorporating the Columbia Cemetery Association and by that act
Jefferson Garth, James R. Boyce, Moss Prewitt, William P. Switzler,
Richard C. Branham, Henry H. Ready and James S.'RoUins were named
as the first board of trustees. It is a fact worthy of mention that all of
the members of the first board of trustees, and all of the members of all
succeeding boards who are dead, sleep in this ground thus set apart by
them, with one single exception. Richard C. Branham, a Columbia mer-
chant, was drowned in the Gulf of Mexico while trying to escape from a
burning vessel, and his body never could be recovered.
Old citizens have told us that the first person buried in this cemetery
was Dr. James Wilcox. If that is true, it is unfortunate that there is no
monument to mark his grave, and no record of when he died nor where
he is buried. The first person buried there according to the record on
monuments, was Robert Barr, who died in 1821, shortly after moving
here from Lexington, Ky.
Among those interred in this cemetery are three presidents of the
State University, two presidents of Stephens College, two presidents of
Christian College, one acting governor of Missouri, one consul general,
one congressman, two judges of the supreme court, one circuit judge,
three state senators, twenty-three ministers of the gospel, fourteen uni-
versity professors, legislators, county and city ofScials, physicians, law-
yers, farmers, bankers, merchants, mechanics, miners, manufacturers and
persons of all vocations.
Henry Crumbaugh and B. McAlester said that for many years there
was no hearse in Columbia, and that the pallbearers carried the casket
all the way over to this cemetery, and then did the work of filling the
grave.
Tales of an Old Timer
Thomas Turner is a farmer residing six miles east of Columbia.
Though ninety years old, he is possessed of a good memory, and enjoys
talking over old times. He told the following about his father's family
and early conditions in the county: **My father's name was Thomas
Turner, and he came to Boone county from Madison county, Kentucky,
in 1828 ; he drove a carriage for one of our neighbors, who was moving
here. He purchased land and entered land east of Columbia, and re-
turned to Kentucky. The next year, he moved to this county, bringing
with him my mother and ten children ; another child was born to them
after moving to Missouri. I remember the trip very well ; we came in
three wagons, one of them being drawn by oxen, and the other two by
horses. We crossed the Ohio river at Louisville and the Mississippi
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 277
river at St. Louis, using a horse ferry at both places; we were twentynsix
days in making the trip. When night would overtake us, we would
stretch a tent, and some of us would sleep in the tent, and some of us in
the wagons. We continued to use them to sleep in till my father could
built a two-room log cabin, each room about eighteen feet square. We
used that log cabin till 1833, when my father burned two kilns of brick,
cut the timbers and sawed the planks for the brick house that I am now
living in. My father lived here till 1836, when he died, and I have lived
here ever since, with the exception of one year.
**When we first came here, we could hear wild animals at night, the
howling of wolves and the screaming of panthers, and we often heard
and saw wild hogs in the woods. The wolves were so bad that they used
to kill our pigs at night, and we kept traps set for them. One of my
brothers went with me one day to water our horses in a nearby creek,
when we saw a gray wolf and four little ones on the side of a bluflf. We
called all of our dogs and all of our neighbors' dogs; but that she wolf
whipped all the dogs in the country. But when we got our guns and
went there, the wolf saw us coming, and ran to the woods; and we took
a hoe and pulled the little wolves out of the hole in the rocks, and killed
them. Then we set a trap at that hole, hoping to catch the old wolf,
but she was too smart to go into it.
* * I have often seen deer in Boone county, and have killed them many
times. One day, about 1830, I was plowing with one of my brothers,
and thirty-two deer came into the field, and stopped within two hundred
yards of us. We stopped the oxen, and brother ran to the gap in the
fence where he had left the gun ; and as soon as he got it, the deers seemed
to understand, and all ran away before he could get close enough to shoot.
These deer interfered so much with our corn, by tramping it and eating
it, that we tried in various ways to get rid of them. They jumped our
fence at the same place every time, so we set sharp stakes inside of our
field, extending out of the ground about a foot or two, and inclined them
toward the fence. Several times we saw blood on the points of these
stakes, and often we saw that the animals had fallen on the stakes and
bent them over or puUed them out of the ground. Once we found a dead
deer on one of them. The deer moved their jumping place, and we had
to move our sharp stakes to that place.
"There were a few bears in the county at that time, but only a few.
One bear in our neighborhood used to climb a tree, a bee tree, at night,
gnaw a hole in the tree and eat honey; he hid in the caves during the
day time. He tried stealing honey once during the day, and the bees got
on him so thick and stung him so severely, that he seemed to lose his
sense, and came running down the road, making as much noise as a cy-
clone. My father got his gun and shot the bear twice, but he ran a mile
before he finally dropped.
' * I did not see the stars fall in 1832, as I was asleep, but I heard the
family talk about it the next morning. Some of our neighbors were
frightened almost to death, and an old negro preacher thought judgment
day had come, so he ran and jumped into a well and his master had
trouble in pulling him out.
**The first year after coming to Missouri, my father bought a cow
and calf for four dollars and a half, and a real good cow for seven dol-
lars. Out of his first crop, he sold two hundred bushels of wheat for one
hundred dollars, and haided the wheat six miles ; and he sold eight hun-
dred bushels of oats for one hundred dollars, and hauled that six miles.
My father raised a good deal of tobacco, which he had me to haul to
Nashville and ship it to St. Louis. I often went to Nashville, and was
there at the time of the high water in 1844, and helped some of the mer-
278 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
chants move their stocks. We had to walk in water up to our waists,
but most of the goods were saved. I knew Ira P. Nash, and often saw
him at Nashville ; he had the largest orchard in the county, and he did
not allow anybody to go in and get his apples.
* ^ It was customary once a year to get a shoemaker to visit our farm,
and he would make shoes and boots for all of the men, women, boys and
girls on the place, white as well as black. Nearly all of our clothing was
made on the place, and mother made it ; in fact, we raised some cotton
each year for our own use. We had no ice houses, so we put our milk
and butter in buckets, and hung the buckets in a well; and, as we did
not have any cellar, we buried our apples and potatoes before cold
weather.
**When I attended school in this county, it was in a log schoolhouse
and was what was called a subscription school; that is each patron paid
the tuition of his own children. The price was one dollar per month for
each child, and I reckon it was worth that much to pay the teacher for us-
ing the hazel switches. The schoolhouse was two miles from my father's
home, and the road was simply a passway through the woods.
**My father was clerk of the Bonne Femme Baptist church, and we
attended that church till I heard Alexander Campbell preach near Colum-
bia, in a schoolhouse. Then I joined the Christian church, which has
many times been called in honor of Mr. Campbell. Just before my
father was forty-five years old, I went with him to Bonne Femme church
to muster, and Col. James McClelland was the commanding oflScer. My
father told me that he would not have to attend again, as the law did
not require a man under eighteen or over forty-five to attend. (See Re-
vised Statutes of Missouri, 1825, page 533.) My father died at the age
of fifty-three, and his eleven children lived to marry, and all raised
families.
**In 1849, I went to California, and stayed just one year mining
gold; but did not make much money. While there, I saw William
Broaddus, a young man who went with me from this neighborhood, run
onto a grizzly bear in the mountains, and the bear killed him before
we could reach him. I returned by way of Nicaragua, and our sailing
vessel got into a calm on the Pacific ocean, and for forty days we could
not go anywhere. We almost ran out of water, and the captain allowed
us one pint a drfy for seven days. Then a storm came up, and we were
driven on our way. When I got home, I came to the conclusion that
Boone county was the best place on earth, so I have lived here ever
since.
**None of our family ever took part in any war, except my brother
James, who was a private in the Black Hawk Indian war, and went
with the Boone county soldiers. . I saw the Boone county company that
formed the First Regiment of Missouri Volunteers that took part in the
Seminole Indian war. They were marching from Columbia to Millers-
burg, on their way to Florida, and I met them near where Harg is now
situated.
**I am the only one of my father's children now living, but many
of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are living in Boone and
Callaway. They are named Turner, Hamilton, Quinn, Hendrick, Car-
lisle, McKimpson, Evans and Stewart."
James L. Stephens
One of the most successful merchants Boone county ever had was
James L. Stephens, who died in 1902, at the age of eighty-seven. Mr.
Stephens was a very generous man, and made numerous gifts to good
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 279
«
causes. He gave five hundred dollars to found the Stephens Medal, a
prize in oratory at the university, and thirty thousand dollars to endow
Stephens College, at Columbia.
Mr. Stephenfi^ was a most resourceful man, and undertook something
that was new in Boone county, and which seemed almost impossible, a
cash store in 1843. He announced that he would sell exclusively for
cash, and that he could and would therefore sell cheaper than he other-
wise could. It is said that Mrs. Eli E. Bass, the wife of the richest man
in the county, came to his store and made purchases amounting to about
one hundred dollars, for which she paid. Then she saw a little cup,
which was worth twenty cents, and she asked Mr. Stephens to charge
that to her, but he told her he would have to decline, as he never sold
to anyone on credit. This incident was told all over the county, and
brought Mr. Stephens a great deal of business.
Mr. Stephens understood legitimate advertising better than any
other man; and, among other things, concluded he would advertise his
business in the bucket line. At that time, ordinary wooden buckets sold
for fifty cents each ; so Mr. Stephens bought a large quantity of them,
more than had ever been brought to Columbia before. By purchasing so
many, he got them at a reduced price. Then he began selling these
buckets at twenty-five cents, which was a few cents less than they cost
him. As quick as a flash the news went over the country that Mr.
Stephens was selling buckets at just one-half the price asked by his com-
petitors. So people came to his store for twenty-five miles around to
buy buckets; and incidentally bought other articles. At that early
day, Mr. Stephens understood people well enough to know that they
wanted bargains, and would go where they could be obtained.
Mr. Stephens would buy goods in St. Louis and New York, and they
would be shipped to him by boat up the Missouri to Providence. At one
time, a boat loaded with his goods ran on a snag and sunk before it
reached Providence. After Mr. Stephens settled with his insurance
companies for this loss, he concluded he would have the boat raised
and bring the goods ashore. He did so, and this was the first lot of dam-
aged goods offered for sale in the county. He got a large quantity of
dry goods and any number of ladies' hats, all of which he spread out on
the bank of the river and all were soon dried. Of course, the news of
this went like wildfire, and Mr. Stephens announced that he would sell
these goods at one-third price, and the hats for ten cents each. It is
said that he did not have half enough hats to supply the demand at his
store the next week, and the ten-cent hats were seen the following Sun-
day in churches all over the county.
Mr. Stephens was the first merchant to accept of farm produce in
payment for merchandise. Not only did he buy bacon, lard, butter and
the like, but he purchased coon skins, hickory nuts and even calves and
mule colts. On his farm just northeast of the old town limits, Mr.
Stephens fed any number of cattle, mules and hogs, which he had ob-
tained in exchange for goods. The result was that Mr. Stephens, who
also operated a similar store in Mexico and Fulton, was soon recognized
as one of Missouri's greatest merchants.
Mr. Stephens was the first man to lay oflE an addition to Columbia;
this was done shortly after the Columbia branch railroad was built
through the northern part of his farm. He laid off three additions,
known as Stephens' First, Second and Third additions; but for a long
time that part of Columbia was known as **Jim Town."
The Stephens' Cash Store was situated at the southeast comer of
Broadway and Eighth streets, where C. B. Miller's three-story building
now stands. In 1850, it was blown up by the accidental explosion of
280 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
two kegs of gTinpowder; the goods were scattered and badly damaged,
and the building was a total wreck. A young man was sitting on the
counter and smoking a cigar, when a spark from it fell onto one of the
kegs of gunpowder which had a broken head, and in a moment the
building was in ruins, several persons injured and two persons killed.
But from the ruins, Stephens' store rose and its distinguished proprietor
continued to succeed.
Geo. W. Smith, of Columbia, says that Mr. Stephens was the first
merchant in the county to quit the practice of keeping whiskey for the
use of his customers.
Col. Wm. F. Switzleb
No man was better known in Boone county, and no man did more un-
selfish work for Boone county than Col. Wm. P. Switzler, who died in
1906, at the advanced age of eighty-seven. Colonel Switzler was editor of
the Statesman for many years, and conducted a paper on a high plane.
He took particular pains that each item be strictly correct, and few in-
deed were the errors in that paper, during his editorship. So careful
was he in all that he printed that when the county court once had
trouble ascertaining at what term of court a certain order had been made
some one visited Colonel Switzler 's office and procured a copy of the
Statesman, which showed the term at which that order was said to have
been made; the court declined to look any further, saying that paper,
during the administration of Colonel Switzler, was always correct.
Colonel Switzler 's name was being considered by President Cleve-
land in 1885 for the position of chief of the bureau of statistics, to which
position he was afterwards appointed, and friends of Colonel Switzler
urged the president to appoint him. It was jokingly told to the presi-
dent that Colonel Switzler was a natural statistician, that he could take
a half bushel of shelled corn, give each grain a name and a number, and
then recognize the grain ever afterwards and call it by its name and
number.
As a historian. Colonel Switzler was ever accurate ; and many articles
did he write for publication, which were simply for the purpose of cor-
recting mistakes which other writers had made. A suit was tried in the
Boone circuit court in 1901 and the object sought was to set aside a deed
on the ground that the grantor, an old man, was then said to be of un-
sound mind. It so happened that Colonel Switzler was a witness in the
case, and remained in the courtroom during the arguments of counsel.
The plaintiffs' attorneys insisted that the deed should be set aside be-
cause the grantor must have been of unsound mind, he then being
seventy-five years old. Counsel for the defendants argued that his ad-
vanced age was no proof of unsoundness of mind ; that Colonel Switzler
had a good mind and memory, yet he was a very old man, in fact no one
knew just how old he was, as he was the only survivor of those who
sailed up the Mississippi river with DeSoto. Colonel Switzler spoke up
and said, ^'That is a mistake, sir, DeSoto did not sail up the Mississippi;
he simply sailed across the Mississippi." Prom that time on, Colonel
Switzler was jokingly called '* DeSoto."
Robert L. Todd
Robert L. Todd, who lived in Boone county from 1822 till 1898, and
was circuit clerk and recorder for twenty-one years, and cashier of the
Exchange National Bank of Columbia for thirty-one years, told this story
of his boyhood days :
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 281
"It was customary for the small boys, in the summer time, to wear a
single garment, and that garment was made of tow linen. But my
mother thought that I was too good to dress that way, so I was denied
the great privilege of wearing a shirt alone. As a result, the other boys
used to make all manner of fun of me, saying that nobody but a girl
would wear pants. One afternoon when I was with the boys, all of us
hunting blackberries, they began teasing me again. So, in order to con-
vince them that I could dress as they did, I took off my trousers and hung
them on a blackberry bush. Now my shirt was not made to be worn by
itself, and I soon found out that the blackberry patch was not the place
to begin wearing such a costume. But I was determined, and worked on
till my bucket was filled with large ripe berries, and I carried them home
to my mother. Without stopping to commend my industry, she excitedly
exclaimed, 'Bob, where on earth are your pants?' and when she learned
that I had forgotten and left them hanging on a blackberry bush, she
gave me such a paddling with her slipper that I really wished I was a
girl.''
Mr. Todd Talks op Smoking
Mr. Todd was a great smoker and some of his friends thought that he
smoked to excess ; but he insisted that if tobacco was poison, it was a slow
poison. One day, a Baptist friend asked him how long he had been smok-
ing and Mr. Todd told him that he had been smoking for over fifty years.
The Baptist gentleman was interested in foreign missions; and he re-
marked that these cigars cost Mr. Todd so much a day, which would
amount to so much a year, which would amount to a large sum in fifty
year, and that if he had not spent that sum on tobacco, he could have
made a handsome donation to foreign missions. Mr. Todd took his cigar
out of his mouth, blew a cloud of smoke across the room and said, **Well,
sir, you don't smoke, have not smoked for the past fifty years; now how
much have you given to foreign missions?"
Boyle Gordon
Judge Boyle Gordon, one of Boone county's best lawyers, was repre-
sentative of the county in the legislature in 1865, and professor of law
in the university from 1872 till 1882. During August, 1864, General
Sterling Price was coming north to Missouri and reached as far as Jeffer-
son City, and numerous bands of bushwhackers were in different parts of
the county, so the banks and express companies declined to receive any
money on deposit. Judge Gordon represented various Philadelphia
wholesale houses and collected five thousand dollars from persons in Co-
lumbia, which he intended remitting to his clients. Owing to the refusal
of the banks and express companies to receive money Judge Gordon was
compelled to keep this sum and carry it around for about a month. He
took it to his home, just east of Columbia, and every night slept out in
the woods with his valuable package. Mr. Gordon was one of the hap-
piest of men when he was able to send this money to Philadelphia, and
perhaps his clients were as pleased at receiving it.
Moss Prewitt
The first bank ever started in Boone county was the banking hguse
of Prewitt & Price. Mr. Prewitt was a hatter and a merchant, came from
Kentucky to Franklin in early times, then to Columbia in 1821. He
began by taking care of money for his customers in his store. His store
was situated in a brick house on Broadway, one door east of the present
282 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Boone County National Bank. At first, he would take a man's money
and place it in an envelope, and write the owner's name on it, and put it
in his safe. He never had any vault. Then, he concluded that he would
put the money in his safe, and write down on an account book the
amount, and thus he began banking; this was in 1857. In 1867, this
bank received its charter, which was the first national bank established
west of the Mississippi river. In 1871, the bank acquired the name of
Boone County National Bank, by which name it is still known.
While Mr. Prewitt was conducting his store, about 1830, there was
a narrow passageway between his store and the building just west of
it (now the bank), and a back door of Prewitt 's store opened into this
passage. Although nearly all of the bears had been killed in the county,
a few still remained, especially out north of Columbia. One day a num-
ber of men discovered a black bear near Bear creek, and with guns
and dogs started a chase. The bear would fight the dogs, then run, and
a new supply of dogs would be called to the rescue. Finally the frightened
animal ran into town, down Eighth street, and turned into the alley just
north of the bank. Mr. Prewitt, hearing the terrible noise, stepped out
of his side door to see what it was, when the bear turned into this pas-
sage, knocked him down, and bear and dogs all ran over him. The bear
ran across Broadway, and to the southeast, and was killed on what
is now the Marshall Gordon farm. While Mr. Prewitt lived in Franklin,
he had a brother, who was not a success in business. As Mr. Prewitt
was leaving for Columbia, the brother decided to go to Texas; and Mr.
Prewitt fitted him out and gave him some money. He did not hear
from the brother, and did not know that he had married till he heard of
the brother's death. On his deathbed, this brother told his wife of the
kindness and liberality of Moss Prewitt, and, as he had no children, he
gave his wife all of his property, and asked her to give the same to Moss
Prewitt at her death. When she died, Mr. Prewitt heard of their where-
abouts for the first time, and learned that she had willed him a league
of land, four miles square, which Mr: Prewitt afterwards sold for twenty-
five dollars an acre.
Mr. Prewitt, who died in 1871, was the father of a large family. One
of his daughters married R. B. Price, who, although now eighty years old,
claims to be the youngest man in Columbia.
Citizens op Boone County
Boone county has always been the home of useful and distinguished
men, men of state as well as national fame. James S. RoUins, lawyer,
editor, congressman, senator, legislator and friend of education, stands
at the head of the list. Wm. F. Switzler, editor, historian, and chief of
the bureau of statistics, was one of the men who had much to do with
making Boone county. W. Pope Yeaman, minister and orator, E. C.
More, consul general to Mexico, Beverly T. Galloway, the plant expert,
St. Clair McKelway, editor of .the Brooklyn Eagle, James L. Stephens,
state senator, merchant and philanthropist, Edwin W. Stephens, editor,
publisher and public servant. Moss Prewitt, R. B. Price, Jas. H. Waugh.
Robt. L. Todd, Jno. S. Clarkson, Jno. T. M. Johnston, Wm. S. Woods,
H. H. Banks and Jno. T. Mitchell, bankers and financiers, Jonathan
Kirkbride, Oliver Parker, R. H. Clinkscales, J. S. Moss, J. S. Dorsey,
Victor Barth, B. Loeb, C. C. Newman, J. L. Matthews, C. B. Miller, S.
H. Baker, W. B. Nowell, J. W. Strawn, B. F. Dimmitt, L. Grossman,
Hulen & Hulett, Jas. M. Proctor, M. H. Harris & Son, John Parker,
Bass & Johnston and John Wiseman, active and successful merchants,
John A. Stewart, farmer, real estate dealer and city beautifier,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 283
and Attorney General Wm. A. Robards, Sinclair Kirtley, Judge P. H.
McBride, Boyle • Gordon, Gen. Odon Guitar and Col. Squire Turner,
lawyers of state-wide reputation, one and all have added to Boone
county's fame. In the live stock business, Boone county farmers have
been in the front rank, with A. H. Shepard as a breeder of Holsteins,
I. C. Huntington as a breeder of Galloways, F. W. Smith as a breeder
of Herefords, and R. W. Dorsey, Parker Brothers, Hickman Brothers,
and Joseph Estes, Sr., as breeders of Shorthorns, Wm. H. Bass, A. E.
Limerick, D. K. Crocket, and F. S. Sappington as breeders of jacks,
Doctor McAlester, Doctor Keith, M. D. Brown and 0. J. Moores as
breeders of horses, J. H. Sampson & Sons as breeders of sheep, Geo. E.
Thomson, Allen Park and Wm. E. Bradford as breeders of hogs, J. M.
Stone, J. E. Bedford, W. H. Cochran and Miss Lizzie Hodge as breeders
of poultry, and Dr. W. P. Dysart, Jno. S. Chandler, W. L. Greene,
Jas. T. Gibbs, R. L. Keene & Sons, Tilford Murray and Abram Ellis
as mule feeders.
These persons and such successful farmers as Jno. W. Harris, W. R.
Wilhite, W. B. Hunt, Col. Eli E. Bass, Dr. H. M. Clarkson, A. J. Estes,
Marshall Gordon, the Robnets, the Brights, the Bradfords, the Denhams,
the Glenns and the Tuckers, with their Boone county products, have
many times ** topped the market.'* And D. A. Robnett's apples, Nathan
King's butter and T. C. Mclntyre's vinegar each enjoys a national
reputation. Mention should also be made that Boone county has reason
to be proud of the teachers, mechanics, manufacturers and skilled
laborers in all lines of work, who have added so materially to the wealth
and prosperity of our county.
It is to be hoped that in days to come Boone county, around whose
memory clusters so much interesting history, will furnish even more and
better citizens and even more and better farm and manufactured prod-
ucts than she has in days gone by.
CHAPTER XII
CALLAWAY COUNTY
By Ovid BeU, Fulton
**The Kingdom"
The Kingdom of Callaway, as Callaway county has been called since
the Civil war, boasts of the patriotism and moral and mental fibre of its
citizens. Whenever duty has called — ^whether to war, or statecraft, or
hard and earnest labor — the men and women of Callaway have responded
willingly and gladly. The first settlers came principally from Virginia
and Kentucky, descendants of the band who
Barely hating ease,
Yet rode with Spotswood 'round the land,
And Baleigh 'round the seas.
Their sons and daughters have inherited the land they settled, and
though born with the pioneer instinct, have remained in the county of
their birth and given its citizenship stability and worth. The manners,
customs and traditions of the pioneers have been handed down through
succeeding generations, and though there have been several periods of
extensive immigration into the county from other sections, life in the
county remains true to the kindly, helpful, neighborly ways of the
fathers from the Old Dominion and the Blue Grass State.
Cote Sans Dessein
The first settlement of white men in the county was at Cote Sans
Dessein, where in 1808 a few French traders established a village and
built a fort. The historian Rose, who was not always accurate, says
the settlement was founded before 1800, but cites nothing to prove
his statement, while Henry M. Brackenridge, who visited it in 1811,
says the village was about three years old at the time of his visit.* The
* Brackenridge says : ' ' The Cote Sans Dessein is a beautiful place, situated on
the northeast side of the river, and in sight of the Osage. It will in time become a
considerable village. The beauty and fertility of the surrounding country cannot
be surpassed. It is here we met with the first appearance of prairie in Missouri,
but it is handsomely mixed with woodland. This wooded country on the northeast
extends at least thirty miles, as far up as this place, and not less than fifteen on
the other side. The name is given to the place from the circumstance of a single
detached hiU filled with limestone, standing on the bank of the river, about 600 yards
long, and very narrow. The village has been established about three years; there
are thirteen French families and two or three Indians. They have handsome fields
in the prairies, but the greater part of their time is spent in hunting. From their
eager inquiries after merchandise, I perceived we were already remote from the
settlements.*'— Journal of Friday, April 12, 1811. ('* Views of Louisiana,'' p. 209.)
Switzler, in his "History of Missouri" (p. 175), said: "Goto Sans Dessein was
once a viUage of considerable importance, contained a small block house, and during
the War of 1812 was the scene of some hard-fought battles with the Indians, in
which were exhibited many instances of woman's bravery and determination."
The name Cote Sans Dessein means "hill without design."
284
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 285
history of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-06) does not speak of
Cote Sans Dessein, presumably because it did not exist at that time, while
the Rev. John Mason Peck, positively fixes the date as 1808.*
Grants of land in the county were made as early as 1800, however,
for in that year Baptiste Duchoquette, of the city of St. Louis, obtained
a grant of four thousand arpens from Spain, the cession being known
even now as Survey No. 1837. Cote Sans Dessein was built on the land
granted to Duchoquette.
Cote Sans Dessein has ceased to exist, even the postof&ce having been
discontinued. The hill on which it was located remains, but the river
has encroached on the surrounding ground and washed away the old
graveyard, while all of the buildings that stood in the original settle-
ment have rotted down. The name has been given to the township in
which the settlement was located, and in that way it will be preserved.
Cote Sans Dessein was the first site chosen for the state capital by
the commissioners appointed by the general assembly to select a place
for the permanent seat qt government. The statute appointing the com-
missioners required that the capital should be located within forty miles
of the mouth of the Osage river, and also provided that the commission-
ers should hold their first meeting at Cote Sans Dessein on the first
Monday in May, 1821. The records of the meeting of the commissioners
have been destroyed and the fact cannot be ascertained, but it is be-
lieved that they selected Cote Sans Dessein for the capital at that meet-
ing. It is known that after Cote Sans Dessein had been selected a
question concerning the title to the land was raised, and that then Jef-
ferson City was chosen. An act of the third general assembly required
the commissioners to meet a second time at Cote Sans Dessein on Septem-
ber 15, 1821, to complete their work, and this second meeting probably
was held after the question of title came up.
Daniel Boone is credited with having crossed Callaway county in
1808 in company with Captain Clemson, who was on his way to establish
Fort Osage. An oak tree still stands on Nine Mile Prairie on which
is inscribed, **D. B., 1808,'* and local tradition says that the letters
and figures were carved by Boone. Seven years after that time Col.
Nathan Boone, a son of Daniel Boone, surveyed the Boon's Lick trail
from St. Charles to Old. Franklin, directly across Callaway county ;
and the following y6ar Colonel Boone, with Joseph Evans, began a sur-
vey of the county, which was completed in 1817.
The First Permanent Settlements
Uncertainty exists concerning who was the first permanent American
settler. Campbell (** Gazetteer of Missouri," p. 94) and Rose (** Pioneer
Families of Missouri," p. 265) accord the distinction to the Rev. John
Ham, a Methodist minister, and Jonathan Crow, who built bark cabins
on Auxvasse creek, about ten miles southeast of Fulton, in the fall of
1815. In a brief sketch of James and John Estens (probably Estes),
Rose (p. 328) says they came to Callaway county in 1815 and also were
the first American settlers, while in still another sketch (p. 384) he says
Asa Williams, of Cote Sans Dessein, settled here in the spring of 1815,
•The "History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition'' (McClurg's reprint, vol.
ly p. 10) tells of the explorers camping at the mouth of the Osage river on the night
of June 1, 1804, and spending the next day in the vicinity **for the purpose of
making celestial observations." Describing the mouth of the river, the history says:
"At a fi^ort distance from it is a high, commanding position, whence we enjoyed a
delightful prospect of the country." The "high, commanding position" undoubtedly
was the site of the future Cote Sans Dessein. On the return trip the party spent the
night of September 19, 1806, at the mouth of the Osage.
286 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
which, if true, probably would make him the first American settler.
Ham's Prairie was named for Ham, and Crow's Fork creek for Crow.
During the next few months a few other American settlers came to the
county, and by the fall of 1817* a number of families were established
in the district which now comprises Callaway county.
Capt. Patrick Ewing, of Virginia, who later was the second sheriff
of Callaway county, built the first residence in the county outside the
village of Cote Sans Dessein in January, 1816. It was located a short
distance northwest of the present town of Mokane. Aaron Watson lo-
cated on the Boon's Lick trail in the spring of 1816 and about the same
time James Van Bibber, of Kentucky,! settled on Auxvasse creek, near
the present Cross-state Highway crossing. Immigration into the county
was heavy during the next two or three years, and by the time the state
was admitted into the Union, the county was quit^ generally settled.
John S. Ferguson, of Kentucky, who settled near Cote Sans Dessein
in the fall of 1817, is credited with having built the first mill in the
county in the spring of 1818. Previous to that time meal and flour were
obtained in St. Charles county, or ground by the settlers by hand. Henry
May, who located on May's Prairie, southwest of Fulton, in the fall of
1818, soon afterward built another mill and also established 'a race track.
John Phillips, who settled on Crow's Fork creek, east and south of
Fulton, in 1817, built a still house and made whiskey a short time
after coming to the county. Benjamin and James Goodrich, who settled
on Auxvasse creek, near the present Berry ford bridge, in 1817, built
both a horse mill and distillery.
Organization op County
Even before Missouri became a state, Callaway county was organized
out of territory that had previously belonged to Montgomery county.
• Campbell 's ' ' Gazetteer of Missouri," p. 95, says: * * The settlers prior to 1817,
as far as can be ascertained, were, in and near Cote Sans Dessein, Jean Baptiste,
Francois, Joseph and Louis Boi, Joseph Bivard, Joseph Tibeau, Baptist« Graza,
Francois Tyon, Baptiste and Louis Denoya, [Francis] IJrno [Emo], Louis LabraSi
Louis Yincennes, Nicholas Foy and Louis Laptant, French Catholics; Patrick Ewing,
Asa Williams, Thomas Smith, . Jonathan Bamsey« Major Jesse and George Evans.
Further north were John Ham, Jonathan Crow, Bev. Willian! Coats, Thomas Kitch-
ing, William Pratt, Joseph Callaway, John Ward, Aaron Watson, Felix Brown and
John French."
Instead of living north of Cote Sans Dessein, however, the Americans lived north*
east — some near the present town of Mokane, and more on Coats' Prairie.
Jonathan Bamsey, mentioned above, was a member of the convention of 1820
which framed the first constitution of Missouri, being one of the two representatives
from Montgomery county, of which Callaway was then a part. He was the first
representative of the county in the general assembly and served in that capacity
until 1827. His daughter, Jane, was the wife of Bobert Ewing and the mother of
Henry Clay Ewing, attorney-general of Missouri from 1873 to 1875.
t It is possible that Minerva, daughter of James Van Bibber, and Elizabeth
Hays (the latter a granddaughter of Daniel Boone), was the first American chUd
born in Callaway county. Efforts made by the writer to learn of some one who was
born earlier have failed. She was the wife of William J. Davis, of Coats' Prairie.
Campbell's Gazetteer (p. 9Sl) says,: "She is the oldest living woman born in Calla-
way county. She is (August, 1874) fifty-six years and six months old." According
to these figures, she was bom in February, 1818. Mr. Huron Burt, of Nine Mile
Prairie, now 84 years old, thinks that probably she was the first American child
born in the county. Mr. Burt lives on the farm on which he was bom and is the
best informed man living on pioneer days in Callaway county. His mother was a
daughter of Isaac Van Bibber and a great-granddaughter of Daniel Boone. His
father, George W. Burt, came to Missouri from Ohio in 1821, and, with his brother,
John Burt, built the first water mill in this part of the state in Montgomery county.
They later built the first water mill in Callaway county for Neal Calbreafh on
Auxvasse creek, near the Mexico road crossing.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 287
It is one of the three counties that can claim the distinction of being the
twenty-third organized in the state, for Callaway, Gasconade and Saline
each came into existence on November 25, 1820. The county was named
for Capt. James Callaway, who was killed by Indians on March 7, 1815,
while crossing Loutre creek, just above the mouth of Prairie Pork, sev-
eral miles below Mineola Springs, Montgomery county, where, a year
later, Isaac Van Bibber erected his famous tavern.
The first officials of the county were appointed by Alexander McNair,
first governor of Missouri. Judge Irvine 0. Hockaday,* founder of a
distinguished Missouri family, came from Winchester, Kentucky, to be-
come clerk of the circuit and county courts and to act as treasurer, and
Wynkoop Warner, of Nine Mile Prairie township, was sheriflf and acting
collector. The county court was composed of Benjamin Young, t Steplien
C. Dorris and Israel B. Grant, t Robert Criswell was appointed assessor
by the county court, and David Sterigere was recommended by the court
to Governor McNair for appointment as surveyor, and later was commis-
sioned by the governor.
The first session of the circuit court was held on Pebruary 5, 1821, at
the tavern of Henry Brite, at the northwest comer of Ham's Prairie,
about one-half mile northwest of the present village of that name. Rufus
Pettibone, of St, Charles, afterwards a member of the state supreme court,
presided, holding his commission from Governor McNair. The grand
jury called for that term of court was the first to meet in the county and
was composed of James Van Bibber, Samuel Miller, James Guthridge,
Patrick Ewing, Thomas Hornbuckle, Robert Craghead, Robert Criswell,
Josiah Ramsey, Jr., Richard Humphreys, James Henderson, John Nevins,
Arthur Neal, Robert Read, William Goats, James Langley, William H.
Dunnica, John Gibson, William Hall, John Evins [Evans], Thomas Smith
and Wharton Moore. Mr. Moore was foreman. The jury reported to
the court that there was no business to come before it and was discharged.
A week later, on Pebruary 12, 1821, the county court met at the
same place. Much of the business of the first session of the court con-
cerned highways, as it does today, and has throughout the county 's his-
tory. One of the first acts of the court was the division of the county
into two townships, the one east of Auxvasse creek being called Auxvasse,
* Judge I. O. Hockaday was the father of Judge John Augustus Hockaday, of
Fulton, who was attorney-general of Missouri from 1875 to 1877, and judge of the
circuit court of Callaway, Boone, Randolph and Howard counties from 1890 until
his death on November 20, 1903. Judge John A. Hockaday was born on Hockaday
Hill^ just south of Fulton, on May 6, 1837. He was city attorney of Fulton in 1865,
and in 1866 was elected a member of the state senate, but was not allowed to serve
because he was not of constitutional age. He was graduated from Westminster Col-
lege in 1856 and was the first person to obtain the degree of bachelor of science from
the college. His widow and only child, Augustus Hockaday, live in Fulton.
t After serving on the county court nearly a year, Judge Young resigned and
Samuel T. Moore, who lived on Ham 's Prairie, and was founder of one branch of the
Moore family in Callaway county, was appointed to take his place. Judge Young
was elected a member of the state senate in 1822 and continued in that office until
the session of 1834. He also was a member of the state constitutional convention
of 1845.
t Judge Grant was murdered by two negroes on December 29, 1835, and they
were legally executed. The murder was the first in the county. One of the negroes
belonged to Judge Grant and the other to Col. William Cowherd, grandfather of
William S. Cowherd, of Kansas City, former mayor of that city and former repre-
sentative in congress from the Jackson county district. William S. Cowherd says
the Grant negro confessed the crime and implicated the Cowherd negro, and that
when the Grant negro heard the tolling of the bell which announced the execution
of the Cowherd negro, he broke down and confessed that the Cowherd negro was
innocent. ' ' My grandfather felt so outraged at the resulf of that trial, ' * Mr. Cow-
herd says, *'that he left Callaway and came to Jackson about 1837."
288 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
and the one west, Cote Sans Dessein. When the court met in May, 1821,
Rouiid Prairie, Elizabeth (now Fulton), and Nine Mile Prairie town-
ships were created. Cedar township was formed in 1824 and Bourbon
in 1825. Liberty township came into existence in 1838, while the other
townships of the county are comparatively modem in their origin.
The election of August 5, 1822, was the first held in the county after
its organization. Judge John B. C. Lucas, .father of the man whom
Thomas H. Benton killed in a duel, carried the county for representative
in congress, securing 146 votes, to 96 cast for John Scott, of Ste. Gene-
vieve, who had been territorial delegate to congress and who was elected
representative, and thirty-three for Alexander Stewart.* Jonathan
Ramsey was elected representative in the general assembly; Wynkoop
WaAier, sheriff, and Samuel T. Guthrie, coroner.
The meeting place of the first courts was designated in the statute
which created the county (**Laws of a Public and General Nature of
the District of Louisiana," etc., vol. I, p. 679). The same statute ap-
pointed commissionerst to locate the county seat and they subsequently
selected a site near Brite's tavern and named it Elizabeth,^ in honor of
Brite's wife. Elizabeth remained the county seat until 1825, when, by
authority of the general assembly, the permanent seat of government
was moved to Fulton, where it has since been located. During the years
that Elizabeth was the county seat Brite's tavern was used for a court-
house.
The County Courthouses
The original town of Pultonll comprised fifty acres of land bought
* The figures on the congressional election are taken from the Missouri InieUi-
gencer, published at FrankUn, Howard county, October 8, 1822. The files of this
newspaper are owned by the State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia.
tThe commission was composed of Henry Brite, William McLaughlin, Samuel
Miller, Josiah fiamsey, Jr., and Enoch Fruit. They reported on their work on the
8th of March, 1821, aU but Fruit and Bamsey favoring Elizabeth. Fruit dissented
on the ground that the site was not in the center of the county, while Ramsey did
not sign either report. Evidently Fruit was in harmony with the sentiment of a
majority of the citizens of the county, for in 1824 a majority petitioned the general
assembly to change the location of the county seat.
t Elizabeth was located in section 9, township 46, range 9, on 100 acres of
ground donated by Benjamin Young, one of the members of the first county court,
and Thomas Smith. The town was platted, lots were sold, and at least a jail built.
The jail was burned shortly after it was erected. The records of the county do not
give the exact location of the site of the proposed town. When the county seat was
movefl to Fulton, the owners of lots in Elizabeth were given the privilege of buying
lots in Fulton to take the place of those bought in Elizabeth (''Laws of a Public
and General Nature of the State of Missouri, 18041836," vol. II, p. 10), while the
ground on which Elizabeth was located reverted back to Young and Smith.
A tradition says — ^and the writer thinks it is probably true — that the Brite
tavern was located on the farm now owned by C. F. Shiffler (1912), just east of
Elizabeth. The Shi£9er house is built of logs and as it stands has two stories, though
it is said that the original house was one story high, and as it was built constituted
the Brite- tavern.
Brite 's tavern also contained a store which was owned by Collier & Company,
of St. Charles, and was managed by John Yates, founder of the Yates family in
Callaway county. Mr. Yates became a partner in the store soon after it was opened,
and in 1825 moved it to Fulton, then buying out the interest of his partners. He
built the first house on the site of the original town of Fulton at the southwest
corner of the courthouse square. The store at Elizabeth was the second in the count}*,
the first being located at Cote Sans Dessein and owned by Daniel Colgan, Jr. Mr.
Yates died in 1853. Dr. Martin Yates, a Fulton physician, is his youngest son.
f The site of Fulton was selected by James Moss and James McClelland, of
Boone county, and James Talbot, of Montgomery county, who were appointed com-
missioners for that purpo&e by the general assembly. They located the town July
29, 1825, and named it Volney, after the French infidel. The county court on the
first day of August, following, changed the name to Fulton, in honor of Bobert
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 289
from George Nichols* for $50. The town was platted by Henry May,
Ezra B. Sitton and Hans Patton, who were appointed by the general
assembly as a commission to erect a courthouse and jail. The original
town lay between Sixth and First streets, north and south, and Bluflf
and Nichols streets, east and west.
A brick courthouse was built in Fulton in 1827-28 by S. J. Ferguson
at a cost of $l,297,t and remained in use until 1856, when it was super-
ceded by the present courthouse building. The structure was thirty-six
feet square, two stories high, and had brick floors on the ground floor,
making what was considered the finest courthouse west of the Mississippi
river at that time. When the first courthouse was torn down, Daniel
M. Tucker, who was then and for many years afterward a merchant in
Fulton, bought the building for $400 and used the brick in erecting his
dwelling, which stood at the head of Court street until 1911, the year
after his death. The present courthouse was erected by Alfred I. Moore
at a cost of $17,850.
Ministers and Churches
The first minister to settle in the county was the Rev. John Ham,
who came in 1815. He was a Methodist, though two of his brothers were
ministers of the Baptist church. Next to come, probably, was the Rev.
William Coats,* a Primitive Baptist, for whom Coats' Prairie was
Fulton, inventor of the steamboat. Bobert Dunlap, wbo lived northeast of the town
and was the founder of the Dunlap family in Callaway county, is credited with hav-
ing proposed the name Fulton. When Mr. Nichols sold the land on which the town
was located, he had not perfected his title from the government, and was required
by the commissioners to give a bond of $5,000 that he would make a deed when he
secured title. The document is stiU on file in the office of the recorder of deeds of
Callaway county. The original town contained 147 lots, many of which sold for
*$1 apiece. The highest price paid was $56, and the proceeds from the sale of lots
amounted altogether to $1,946.18%. The first lots were sold September 5, 1825.
Edward •G. Berry, who died in 1905 at the age of 97 years, carried a chain for
the surveyor who laid ofE the town of Fulton. Mr. Berry was a son of Bichard Berry,
of Kentucky, who signed the bond of Thomas Lincoln when he was married to
Nancy HaiJcs, mother of Abraham Lincoln. Bichard Berry moved to Callaway
county in 1823 and settled on Garden Prairie, southeast of Fulton. His son, Capt.
Bobert M. Berry, a veteran of the Mexican and Civil wars, now in his ninety-fifth
year, lives at Williamsburg, this county.
* Mr. Nichols was a native of Loudon county, Virginia, and the founder of the
Nichols family in Callaway county. He entered the land on which the original town
of Fulton was built in December, 1824, and, contrary to most statements concerning
the transaction, sold the ground on which the town was located. The first house
erected within the present confines of Fulton, though not the first in the original
town, was the log structure he built in West Fourth street, near the corner of Jeffer-
son, which stood until about 1886. The writer remembers seeing it in 1885. It is
said that Mr. Nichols had to send ten miles to get men to help him ''raise" the
house. Mr. Nichols was the grandfather of James Irvine Nichols, who, with Judge
Nicholas D. Thurmond, and Dr. John Jay Bice, of the faculty of Westminster Col-
lege, established the Fulton Gazette in 1877.
t The story has been told that most of the money used in building the first court-
house was obtained from the forfeited bond of Hiram Bryant, who was convicted
in 1823 on a charge of horse stealing. The records of the circuit court show that
after his conviction Bryant gave bond himself for $500, and his brother, William
Bryant, also gave an additional bond for the same amount. The records show that
judgment on the bonds was entered against both, but do not show that the judgment
was ever satisfied. The records of the county court and of the commissioners who
erected the courthouse also are silent on the subject, so, if the story is true, the
records are not complete.
After the removal of the seat of government from Elizabeth to Fulton and
before the completion of the courthouse, the courts of the county met at the house
of Joseph T. Sitton, who is supposed to have been a tavern-keeper.
t R. 8. Duncan in his ''History of the Baptists in Missouri'* (p. 160) says:
'*Ab a member of the 'pioneer brigade' of Baptist emigrants to the far west, Will-
\ol. 1—19
290 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
named, and who settled here in 1817. Campbell (p. 98a) says that the
Rev. James E. Welch and the Rev. John M. Peck, both Baptists, preached
in the county during the years 1817-18-19. The Rev. John Scripps • a
Methodist circuit-rider, held services in the county in the summer or
fall of 1818 and probably was the first minister of his denomination to
visit Callaway county in a clerical capacity. "Of the pioneer Chris-
tians," says Campbell (p. 98a), ''perhaps Rev. David Kirkpatrick
preached the first Presbyterian sermon ever delivered in the county
[1823]."
A Catholic mission which was established at Cote Sans Dessein in
1816 1 was the first religious organization in Callaway county. Probably
before the mission was established the village was visited by the Rev.
Fr.' Joseph Dunand, a Cistercian priest who was stationed at St. Charles
from 1809 to 1815, for all of the inhabitants of the village were French
iam Coats weU deserves a place in this cliapter. He had been a' member of the
Baptist denomination nearly twenty years when he came to Missouri, and a few years
after this event in his life he became a Baptist minister. • « * The first Baptist
church in CiUlaway county was formed at his home by Bev. James E. Welch, in June
[Mayjy 1818. There was no pastor to pay them the usual 'monthly visits,' and the
little flock was greatly encouraged by the influence of Brethren Goats and Smith,
who kept up prayer meetings regularly in the community."
Mr. Coats came to Missouri froin Tennessee and died here in 1834 or 1835.
Many of his descendants live in the county.
*McAnally's ''Methodism in Missouri" (pp. 207-8) quotes Scripps as follows:
"The eastern extremity of my circuit was on the' Moniteur creek [Moniteau creek,
Howard county], from which eastwardly, still farther down, on the north side of
the river, were several scattering settlements to the village of Cote Sans du Sein, a
distance of seventy miles. To this I resolved to extend my labors, and renew my
acquaintance with Major [Jesse] Evans, my fellow traveler to Vincennes, in Sep-
tember, 1816. I preadied several times on my way down and formed a society of
thirteen members on Cedar creek. The viUage of Cote San du Sein was populated
principally by French Catholics, over whom the major, a reputed Deist, was said
to exercise great influence, and it was thought he would not suffer preaching there.
Every argument was used to deter me, but I pressed on. He eordiidly received me,
obtained for me the largest room in town to preach in, and procured the attendance
of all the inhabitants at preaching; nor did he ever seem to grow weary in his
efforts, although he remained irrdigious. The place became a regular appointment
and a small c&iss was formed there, as also at General Bamsey's settlement, about
four miles higher up the river, Mrs. Bamsey, her father-in-law, Mrs. [Hannah] Fergu-
son [mother of T. J. Ferguson], and Brother Tom (the name he principally went by),
and old Methodist negro, four in all, joined this year."
It is possible that tiie society formed on Cedar breek was located in Callaway
county, and it is also possible that it was in Boone county. Jacob Zumwalt settled
on the Callaway side of Cedar, about tve miles above its mouth, in 1818, and Mr.
John Gilmore, of that section, who is one of the old residents of the county, says
Mr. Zumwalt was a great Methodist. That being true, the natural thing would be
for him to have a circuit-rider visit him and preach at his house.
T. J. Ferguson, son of John S. Ferguson, in a letter published in the Fulton
Gazette of November 16, 1883, says Scripps preached in the house of William Nash
the first night he was at Cote Sans Dessein, and the next night at the house of
his father. He says Scripps continued to preach at the settlement about a year,
Mr. Ferguson first saw Cote Sans Dessein in September, 1817.
t This date was goften from the Most Bev. John J. Glennon, archbishop of St.
Louis, who, in a letter to the writer, says : ' ' From all accounts the mission at Cote
Sans Dessein was established in the year 1816. It appears that the river swept it
away. A small church was built in the early days and I think some of the fixtures
belonging to it are now with the Catholic church at Bonnot 's Mill, or at Westphalia,
Osage county."
From Tousand Foy, of Fulton, it is learned that at least some of the records
of the church are at Westphalia, but efforts made to get information from tiie priest
there failed.
The writer is indebted to the Bev. Fr. Lawrence J. Kenny, 8. J., professor of
history at St. Louis University, for the information concerning the connection of the
Jesuits with the church. St. Louis University has many records of early-dij^ bap*
tisms, marriages and deaths at Cote Sans Dessein.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 291
*
Catholics from Canada. The Cote Sans Dessein church was turned over
to the Jesuits in 1823^ on their arrival in Missouri, and the church was
placed under the ministry of the Rev. Fr. Peter J. Timmermans, who
served it between one and two years. The Jesuits were in charge of the
church at least until 1839. The organization passed out of existence
many years ago.
The first Protestant church in the county was Salem Primitive Bap-
tist,* located on Coats' Prairie, northeast of Reform, which was organized
May 31, 1818. A substantial log house was built under the supervision
of the Rev. William Coats, and the building was used for religious and
school purposes many years. Church services were held in it as late as
1880, and a few of the logs in the structure, though greatly decayed, are
still on the ground. The cemetery adjoining the site of the old church
probably is the oldest public burying ground in Callaway county.
Miller's Creek Methodist church, f organized in 1820 by the Rev.
James Scott, of the Cedar Creek circuit of the Missouri conference, was
the second Protestant church :|: in the county. A church house was not
built until some time afterward, however, and services during the in-
terim were held at the house of Samuel and Polly Miller.1
Old Cedar Primitive Baptist church, located west of the village of
*B. S. Duncan in his ''History of Baptists in Missouri" (p. 149) says: "At
the house of William Coats, in what is now Callaway county, Elder James E. Welch^
then a missionary of the triennial convention, on the thirty-first of May, 1818, con-
stituted the * Salem Baptist church, ' with nine members, five of whom were pious and
prudent men, and one of them a deacon of long standing in Tennessee. Immedi-
ately after the organization was completed, the diurch celebrated the dying love of
Jesus Mn the breiSdng of bread.' 'The meeting was a solemn and deeply interest-
ing one.' says the venerable EaUier Welch in his ' BecoUections of the West.' John
M. Peck was the first Baptist preacher who visited this church, which occurred in
December after its organization."
fThe "History of Callaway County" says the first Methodist church in Calla-
way county was organized in 1821 at the house of B. M. Craghead, four miles south-
west of Fulton. It was not the first church, however, for Meier's Creek church was
first. Mrs. Margaret Nichols, of Fulton, now 77 years old, who is a granddaughter
of Mr. Craghead, says preaching services were held at the house of her grandfather
untU his death in 1857. Mrs. Nichols thinks the Fulton Methodist church grew out
of the organization effected in 1821. Mr. Craghead came to Missouri from Frank-
lin county, Virginia, in 1818, and was the firat Craghead in the county. George
Nichols, the husband of Mrs. Nichols, was the only Confederate killed at the Overton
Bun fight, southwest of Fulton, on July 17, 1861.
I Campbell (p. 98b) says: "At an early day south of Millersburg, in the
western part of the county, lived Abraham Ellis, and near his residence was a
famous camp ground that witnessed the early struggles and triumphs of Methodism. ' '
The camp meetings doubtless were features of the life of the Miller's Creek church.
Abraham Ellis reared a family of devout Methodist children, one of whom — ^Mrs. T.
B. Bedsworth, of near Fulton — ^is still living.
^Bose (p. 359) says that Mrs. Miller was the first Methodist in Callaway
county, and gives the date of her removal to the county as 1819. The first Method-
ist, however, was the Bev. John Ham, who, possibly was one of the first two Ameri-
can settlers in the county. The Bev. John Bcripps also made converts to Methodism
at Cote Sans Dessein and at Bamsey's settlement in 1818.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller were the parents of the Bev. Wesley Green Miller, D.D., who
attained greater eminence as a Methodist minister than any other person born and
reared in Callaway county. He was bom January 1, 1831, and after graduating from
Jefferson Medical college, Philadelphia, and practicing medicine for a time, entered
the ministry in 1853. While pastor of the Methodist church at Columbia, Mo., he
studied at and was graduated from the State I7niversity. He was professor of
natural science at Central College, Fayette, Mo., from 1870 until 1880, and then presi-
dent of Central Female college, Lexington, Mo. He died in Louisville, Ky., August
20, 1895. The story is told that on one occasion, while pastor of a great city church,
Dr. MiDer announced to his congregation he had something to say to them which he
was ashamed to say to their faces, and that he then tumeid his back and while look-
ing at the waB, said the things he had to say.
292 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
ft
Stephens, was organized July 14, 1821, and Thomas Peyton Stephens*
was its pastor from 1824 until 1865. It is one of the three Primitive
Baptist organizations still maintained in the county, and among its
members are grandchildren of Elder Stephens.
The Cumberland Presbyterians were the third Protestant body to
establish a church in the county. They organized New Providence, lo-
cated at Guthrie, on October 4, 1823, and the ** History of Callaway
County'' (p. 527) says the Rev. Robert Sloan was instrumental in eflEect-
ing the organization. The church has remained steadfast to its original
faith throughout all of the intervening years, and is one of the few
churches of the denomination in Missouri which rejected union with the
Presbyterian church, U. S. A., in 1905.
Middle River Primitive Baptist church, in the southern part of the
county, was organized in August, 1824, by the Rev. William Coats, and
Providence church of the same denomination, located northeast of New
Bloomfield, was organized in 1826. Providence went over to the Mis-
sionary Baptists when division came, and the congregation now worships
in a house in New Bloomfield.
Old Auxvasse church, t two miles north of Calwood, the mother of
Presbyterianism in Callaway county, was organized on the 31st of May,
1828. A few Presbyterian families settled in that part of the county
in 1820, and after 1823 preaching services were held occasionally by
itinerant ministers at the homes of the settlers. A log house twenty by
twenty-six feet in size, was raised on February 13, 1826 — ^more than two
years before the church organization was perfected. In the middle of
one side of the house was a door and opposite it was the pulpit and a
window.
MiUersburg Presbyterian church, t now known as White Cloud
Presbyterian church, which was organized November 26, 1831, was the
second of that denomination in the county, and Concord, organized
June 25, 1833, was the third.
Antioch Christian church,1I three miles south of Williamsburg, or-
* Elder Stephens was born in North Carolina in 1787. He moved to Kentucky
in 1815, and three years later became a member of the Baptist church. He came to
Callaway county in 1820, and the next year with "his brother, Elijah, William
Edwards, Isaac Black and Abraham Benfro, with a few sisters, organized Cedar
Creek Baptist church," says Duncan (p. 293). He was a leader among the preachers
of the denomination and continued in the ministry until his death on April 2, 1805.
During aU of those years he was pastor of the church which he helped to establish.
fThe constituent members of Old Auxvasse church were: William Meteer,
David Kennedy, Mary Kennedy, Beuben Scott, Mary T. Scott, James Tate, Clarinda
P. Tate, John Hamilton, Peggy C. Hamilton, Ann T. Hart and Betsey Fatten. John
Hamilton and Beuben Scott were elected elders the day the church was organized.
The Bev. Charles S. Bobinson was the moderator of the meeting.
The Bev. John F. Cowan, D.D., of Fulton, is now serving his fifty-second year
as pastor of Old Auxvasse church, a record probably unequalled west of the Mis-
sissippi river. The church is one of the most prosperous rural congregations in the
state and has services every Sunday. From it have sprung the churches of Augusta,
Auxvasse City, and Nine Mile.
X The constituent members of MiUersburg Presbyterian church were: Matthew
Culbert, Prudence Culbert, Amerger Lilly, Sarah P. Lilly, William Hamilton, Bebecea
Hamilton, Joseph D. Hamilton, Jane E. Hamilton, Margaret W. Hamilton, Andrew
W. Hamilton, Frederick Beed, Eliza Beed, John Bobison, Barbery S. Bobison, and
Mary Ewing. The Bev. William P. Cochran was moderator of the meeting at which
the church was organized.
IThe "History of Callaway County" (p. 528) says the original members of
Antioch church were Philip Love, Elizabeth Love, Charles Love, Jesse McMahan^
Polly McMahan, Joseph Duncan, Nancy Duncan, WiUiam Douglass, Oreenup Jack*
man, Mrs. Enoch Fruit, Mrs. John Clark, James Love, Matilda Love, Bichard, Isham
and John McMahan, and their wives.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 293
gauized in October, 1828, was the parent church of the Disciples in the
county. The second organization of the denomination was in Pulton.
The Primitive Baptists were the first to organize a church in Pulton.
The date has been lost, but it was some time prior to May 15, 1830, for
on that day the church obtained title to the lot at the corner of Bast
Sixth and Bluff streets on which the Pulton Negro Baptist church
stands. The church was organized at the house of James McKinney,
one of its first trustees, and was named Liberty,* for one of his sons.
The Rev. Theodrick Boulware t was its first pastor and continued to
serve the congregation until his removal to Kentucky in 1866. A $3,000
brick church house was erected in 1833-34, and though it has undergone
many alterations, is still used for religious purposes. The organization
died out before the beginning of the present century.
The Methodists probably had the second religious organization in
Pulton, their church dating from about 1833, though circuit-riders
(among them the Rev. Andrew Monroe) of that denomination visited
the town as early as 1828 and held services. The Disciples of Christ
effected an organization in the county seat between 1833 and 1835, while
the Presbyterians delayed their organization until June 14, 1835.
The Life of the Pioneer
Life in the county during its first years was not unlike that elsewhere
on the frontier of civilization. The men were robust and stalwart, the
women strong and resourceful, and under their hands farms were cleared
of timber, settlements established, and highways opened. Many of the
pioneers were slave owners and brought their bondmen with them when
they immigrated to the state, and until slavery was abolished, the insti-
tution was recognized and accepted by the most influential men of the
county. The county was an independent commxmity, for besides the
grain and vegetables required for food, the land grew the cotton and flax
which were needed to make the lighter clothing, while the farmers raised
the sheep from which wool was gotten for the heavier clothing. Game
was plentiful— even buffalo being seen at times — ^and such time as the
settlers were not employed at other pursuits they devoted to the chase.
Even the powder the settlers used was made in the county, as were
the augers, the guns, the wagons, the hats, and the boots and shoes.
Indians had long since ceased to be a menace and the years were filled
with a contentment such as only like communities know.
•The ** History of Callaway County" (p. 945) says among the constituent
members of Liberty church were Theodrick Boulware and wife, George Nichols and
wife, William Ficklin and wife, William Martin and wife, Benjamin Bailey and
wife, Samuel Martin and wife, and R. Sheley and wife. John Jameson (I), and Wil-
liam Armstrong were trustees of the church in 1830, though they may not have been
constituent members. John Ficklin, deceased, a nephew of one of the charter mem-
bers of the church, was its last member.
t Elder Boulware was born in Essex county, Virginia, November 13, 1780. He
was ordained a minister of the Baptist church in Kentucky in July, 1810, and
preached in that state until he moved to a farm located two and one-half miles north
of Pulton, in 1827. He began to preach as soon as he arrived in Callaway, and though
the records have been lost and the fact cannot be established, it is probable he organ-
ized the Fulton (Liberty) Baptist church soon after his arrival. Elder Boulware
was a man of large mental attainments and uncompromising in his adherence to
the doctrines of his church. He continued as pastor of the Fulton church until 1866,
when, says Duncan (p. 298), "on account of the *test oath' and being threatened
with imprisonment [for preaching], he left Missouri ♦ ♦ • and went to live
with his daughter, Mrs. C. A. Rogers, near Georgetown, Ky." He died September
21, 1867. Elder Boulware was married three times and had a family of nine chil-
dren. The last survivor of the family is Isaac Wingate Boulware, of Fulton, now
83 years old, the youngest child, who, in his prime, was the most prominent criminal
lawyer in central Missouri.
294 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Schools came early. Among the first, if not the first, was one taught
by Joseph James, four miles above Cote Sans Dessein (in the Ramsey
settlement, probably), in the winter of 1818-19, according to T. J. Fer-
guson, who has been previously quoted. Another pioneer schoolmaster
was ''Peg-leg" David Dunlap, who taught in Fulton shortly after the
town was laid out.
Population and Politics
The population increased rapidly, going from 1,797 by the state
census in 1821, to 6,159 by the government census in 1830. Its growUi
in political prominence was equally rapid. Besides having a member of
the first constitutional convention of the state (Jonathan Ramsey), it
had a state senator (Benjamin Young), and later it furnished a speaker
of the lower house of the general assembly (John Jameson) in 1834 and
1836. It was Whig in its politics and remained so practically until the
Civil war, though occasionally a Democrat succeeded in being elected
to ofSee. Notwithstanding its Whig tendencies, it always gave a major-
ity to the county candidates for congress. Thus Albert G. Harrison,*
who was elected representative in congress in 1835 as a Van Buren
Democrat, got the highest vote given that year to any of the four candi-
dates for congress. Capt. John Jameson, t another Democrat, who served
three terms in congress between 1839 and 1849, also carried the county
every time he was a candidate.
Mr. Harrison and Mr. Jameson were among the first, if not the first,
resident lawyers in the county. Mr. Jameson opened an. office in fhilton
In 1826, and Mr. Harrison arrived and entered upon practice the fol-
lowing year. Both were men of strong intellect and fit to lead at the bar
and in public affairs. Mr. Jameson followed Mr. Harrison in congress,
and was the last man from Callaway county to serve in the Federal
legislature.
Some Old Towns
The exact facts concerning the establishment of the old towns of the
county probably have been lost forever. Either Smith's Landing, lo-
cated on the site of the present town of Mokane, or Elizabeth, the first
county seat, was the next village after Cote Sans Dessein. Thomas
Smith settled on the ground on which Mokane is built in 1818, and soon
afterward established a cemetery and boat lan^ng. Samuel Ewing, his
brother-in-law and the brother of Capt. Patrick Ewing, looked after his
business at the landing. The cemetery is still used as a burial place by
* Mr. Harrison was born in Mount SterUng, Ky., June 26, 1800. He was edn-
cated at Transjlvania University, graduating in law therefrom in 1821. He moved
to Fulton in 1827, and the next year President Andrew Jackson appointed him
one of the visitors to attend the annual examination at West Point Military Academy.
Mr. Harrison died September 7, 1839. He Uved on the hill west of Fulton, near the
residence of David Smith. Jilson P. Harrison, of Calwood, is his nephew. The family
is not related to the other Harrisons of the county.
t Captain Jameson was a son of John Jameson I of Montgomery county, Ken-
tucky, who settled one mile north of Fulton in 1824, and built one of the first millfl
in the vicinity of Fulton. It is said that Mr. Jameson ran a race all the way from
St. Louis to get the land on which he settled. He was a membnr of the first board
of trustees of the Fulton Primitive Baptist church, whUe his son viras one of the two
founders of Christian University, at Canton, Mo. Captain Jameson disagreed with
Senator Thomas Hart Benton while he was a member of cong^ress and was bitterly
denounced by Benton in a speech made in Fulton in 1849. Captain Jameson died in
1856. He has grandchildren and great-grandchildren living in Fulton at the present
time.
HISTOEY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 295
the descendants of the early settlers. The village was known as St.
Aubert for many years.
Thomas Miller, who came to Callaway county from Kentucky in
1826, laid off the town of Millersburg, and named it for Millersburg,
Kentucky. The records of the county recorder's oflSce show that the plat
of Millersburg was filed on October 15, 1829. It ranks next to Fulton
in age.
Portland was laid off September 8, 1831, by John Yates, the Fulton
merchant, and Eden Benson. Possibly the village was in existence at an
earlier time. Later on Portland became second in importance only to
Fulton, and at one time was its commercial rival. Located on the Mis-
souri river, shipping to and from it was easy, and it became the trading
point for a large section. It retained its importance as a tobacco market
up to about 1885, when the culture of tobacco in the eastern part of the
county became unprofitable.
Williamsburg was laid off December 1, 1836, by B. G. D. Moxley, and
named for Harvey Williams, who was interested with him and a man
named Compton in the town's first store. It is said that the town was
founded two years before it was laid off.
Concord, which is not even a postoffice now, was laid off by John
Henderson on May 18, 1837. Before the building of the Chicago & Alton
Railroad it was an important trading point.
In War Times
Two companies were furnished by the county in the Black Hawk
Indian war, one going out under Capt. John Jameson, and the other
under Capt. Patrick Ewing. They did duty alternately at Fort Pike,
on the Des Moines river, just below Eeokuk, Iowa. Jameson's com-
pany left Fulton on July 1, 1832, and was away about six weeks, while
Swing's company went out in August and was on duty even a shorter
time. Neither company participated in an engagement.
The next war to which the county furnished men was that with
Mexico. Company H of Doniphan's immortal expedition was organized
in Callaway with Capt. Charles B. Rodgers* as captain. The roster
of the company contained 111 names, according to Connelley's ''Doni-
phan's Expedition" (pp. 560-62). The company left Fulton on June
14, 1846, going to Fort Leavenworth, where it joined the remainder of
the expedition, and then began the most spectacular military exploit in
the history of the United States. The company served throughout the
campaign and was mustered out at New Orleans on June 21, 1847.
The Earliest Newspapers
The Banner of Liberty, established in Fulton in 1839 by "Warren
Woodson, Jr., was the first newspaper f published in the county. The
* Captain Rodgers also served in the Florida Seminole war under General (Gentry,
and was wounded in the right arm by an arrow at the battle of Okeechobee. He was
bom in Halifax, Va., on November 25, 1802, and was married to Aletha Ward Over-
felt in Bedford county, Virginiaf in 1823. With his family he moved to Fulton in
1830, and a few years afterward bought and moved to the farm now owned by James
Walthall, just east of the Fulton city limits. He died there on March 7, 1853, and
is buried in the Bodgers burying ground, eight miles northeast of Fulton. His son,
Charles Austin Bodgers, served under him in the Mexican war; and in the Civil war
was a captain in the Confederate army. The family of Captain and Mrs. Bodgers
consisted of eight sons and four daughters.
t Though the county has a number of newspapers at this time, and has had
many which had brief careers, only two of her newspapers have attained considerable
age. The Telegraph is one and the Fulton Gazette is the other.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 297
next year Isaac Curd and William Henry Russell became editors of the
paper and changed its name to Fulton Reformer, Then the name was
changed to Western Star by W. A. Stewart, who remained in charge
until 1843. Duncan & Goggin in 1845 named the paper Fulton Tele-
graph, and as the Telegraph it is still published.*
State Hospital for the Insane
, The State Lunatic Asylum, now known as State Hospital No. 1, was
located in Fulton on July 13, 1847. An act of the general assembly ap-
proved on February 16, 1847, provided for the establishment of the insti-
tution, and for its location wdthin the counties of Boone, Callaway, Chari-
ton, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau and Saline. When the commis-
sioners met at Boonville, bids from a number of counties were received,
and the offer of Callaway to give about five hundred acres of land and
$11,500 in money being considered the best, the institution was located
here. The contract for erecting the building was let to Solomon Jenkins
on April 16, 1849, for $47,450, and the building was opened and the
first patient t received on December 2, 1851. The first superintend-
ent of the hospital was Dr. Turner R. H. Smith, J and the first treasurer
Judge James S. Henderson.1I Charles H Hardin, afterward governor
^'IJwo men of special brilliance have been engaged in newspaper work in Fulton.
One was John G. Provines, wio owned an interest in the Telegraph before the CivU
war, and later published the Press in 1868, and the other was Maj. Nathan C. Kouns,
who published the Fair Play in Fulton about 1871.
Mr. Provines was a native of Boone county, a graduate from the State Univer-
sity an able lawyer, and a writer and speaker of rare ability. He was prosecuting at-
torney of Callaway county from 1873 to 1875, and afterward editor of the Moberly
Monitor many years. He died in Randolph county about 1902. Mr. Provines wrote
a small hand, but formed every letter perfectly, and spelled and punctuated cor-
rectly, and printers were always eager to get his copy. Though his style would be
called Aorid now, for his day it could not be excelled. The writer believes he knew
more about English coiAposition than any person it has ever been his fortune to
know. He was tall, erect and knightly, and even in his old age, his long hair and
beard were very black.
Major Kouns was a son of Br. Nathan Kouns, one of the pioneer physicians
of Fulton, and was bom here in 1831. At the age of nineteen he was professor of
Greek and Latin in a school at Palmyra. Afterward he studied law and practiced
in Fulton until the beginning of the Civil war, when he joined the Confederacy. Just
after the war he was married to Miss Anna Overton Bootes, daughter of Commodore
Thomas Bootes, of the United States navy, and also of the Confederate States navy.
He was a prolific writer of fiction, and besides many magazine stories, published
two books — ** Arius, the Lybian," in 1883, and ** Dorcas, the^Daughter of Faustina,''
in 1884. The last-mentioned book had a large sale in France, Germany, England
and Scotland. ' ^ Arius, the Lybian ' ' is a story of the time of Constantine, and critics
have said of it that it showed a profound knowledge on the part of its author of
the religious factions of that time. Major Kouns died in 1890. His only child, now
Mrs. Thomas C. Martland, resides in Fulton.
tThe first patient at the asylum was Thomas Green, who came from Jackson
county and was discharged March 22, 1852. H. F. Hunter, of Callaway county, who
was admitted December 4, 1851, was the second patient. Charles H. Thorp, of Adair
county, who was admitted October 30, 1852, and was the sixty- third patient received,
died at the institution on August 4, 1911. He was dismissed from the hospital four
times, but each time had to be returned. More than 10,400 patients have been
treated at the institution, while 1,100 are under treatment at this time.
t With the exception of about seven years. Dr. Smith was superintendent of the
Fulton State Hospital from the time it opened until his death at the institution on
December 21, 1885. He was bom in Christian county, Kentucky, February 21, 1820,
and was a practicing physician at Columbia, Mo., when he was 21 years old. His
wife was Mary E., eldest sister of Govemor Charles H. Hardin. Few men who
have lived in Fulton have left such an impress upon the life of the town, and prob-
ably none has been more universally loved.
If Judge Henderson was a son of Daniel Henderson, who died July 10, 1828, and
was the second person buried in Old Auxvasse Presbyterian church cemetery, the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
HISTORY OF NORTBffiJAST MISSOURI 299
of Missouri,* was the first secretary of the board of managers, and held
the position about ten years. The hospital was closed during part of the
Civil war and the buildings and grounds were used for barracks by the
Federal soldiers stationed in the county, and also for a military prison in
which to confine disloyal Gallawegians.
The Missouri School for the Deaf
Before the Hospital for Insane was opened, an act of the general
assembly was approved on February 28, 1851, establishing the Asylum
for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb (now officially designated The
Missouri School for Deaf) and giving to it forty acres of ground and a
two-story frame building that had belonged to the State Lunatic Asylum.
The building was located near the building now used by the State Hos-
pital as a cow barn, and there, on November 5, 1851, under the superin-
tendency of Prof. William Dabney Kerr t the first pupil t of the school
was enrolled. In 1854 the present site of the school was bought and a
building costing $28,000 erected. The school closed during the first
two years of the Civil war, part of which time its buildings were used by
soldiers as barracks, but was reopened in April, 1863. The principal
buildings of the institution were burned on the night of February 27,
1888, making the largest fire in the history of Fulton. Temporary build-
ings were provided immediately, and the work of the school went on with-
out interruption until new buildings could be erected. Professor Kerr
continued as superintendent of the school until February 28, 1889, when
first person buried in the cemetery being a child. Judge Henderson was a success-
ful merchant in Fulton from 1830 to 1842, when he was elected county treasurer,
and he held that position until he became treasurer of the State Hospital. He con-
tinued as treasurer of the hospital untU 1883. Judge Henderson assisted in organ-
izing the Fulton branch of the Western Bank of li&ssouri in 1857 and became its
cashier, continuing in the position until after the beginning of the Civil war, when
the bank went into liquidation. The bank was the first in Callaway county, and the
Callaway Bank of Fulton traces its history back to it. Judge Henderson lived many
years in a brick house on the north side of the courthouse square in Fulton. His
wife was Emily Boone, daughter of Jesse Boone and granddaughter of Daniel Boone.
He died in Fulton in January, 1884.
* Eighteen of the twenty -three years Governor Hardin was engaged in the
active practice of law were spent in Fulton and here he made the reputation which
gained the governorship for him over Gen. Francis Marion CockreU, who afterward
served thirty years in the senate of the United States. Governor Hardin located
here in February, 1843, and from 1848 to 1852 was circuit attorney of the district
of which Callaway was a part. He was the county's representative in the general
assembly in 1852, 1854 and 1858, and was elected state senator in 1860. The next
year he moved to Audrain county, where he Resided untU his death. He was elected
governor of Missouri in 1874 and served a term of two years. He was born in
Trimble county, Kentucky, on July 15, 1820, and died at Mexico, Mo., on July 29,
1892.
t The life of Professor Kerr will be forever associated with the history of deaf-
mute education in Missouri, while his memory is more revered by the deaf of the state
than that of any other man. His father, the Bev. John Bice Kerr, was super^
intendent of the Kentucky School for Deaf at Danville, prior to 1833, and Professor
Kerr took up in that school the work to which he devoted his life. In DanviUe he
was the school-mate of the Bev. Dr. W. W. Bobertson, and partially through Dr.
Bobertson's influence, he came to Missouri. Professor Kerr was born in Charlottes*
ville, Va., on March 4, 1808, and died in Fulton May 24, 1889. His only surviving
child is Mrs. John T. Brown, of Fulton.
Bather notable in connection with the history of the Missouri School for Deaf
is the fact that it has had only four superintendents during its existence — ^Professor
Kerr from the beginning to 1888; Dr. J. NoUey Tate from 1888 to 1896; Dr. Noble
B. McKee from 1896 to 1911; and Prof. S. T. Walker, the present superintendent.
t John Isaacs, a Jew boy of St. Louis, was the first pupil enrolled in the school.
The enrollment the first year was 17, and the second year it was increased to 54.
The enrollment now is 299.
300 HISTORY OP NQRTHEAST MISSOURI
he resigned, after having devoted fifty-eight years of his life to the edu-
cation of the deaf.
Westminster College
The first institution of higher learning in Fulton was the Fulton Fe-
male Seminary, established in 1850 by the Rev. William W. Robertson,
D. D.,* and at which many of the older women of the county received
their education. It was the only school for the higher education of
women between Fulton and St. Louis, and during the ten years of its
existence was liberally patronized, the attendance probably averaging
125. The school opened in a dwelling located somewhere southeast of
the State Hospital, and soon afterward moved into buildings Dr. Robert-
son erected for its use at the corner of West Seventh and Walnut streets.
Mrs. Anna Patton Vance, then and now a resident of Fulton, was the
first ^aduate, receiving her diploma in 1854. At the beginning of the
Civil war. Dr. Robertson moved to Concord, where he opened and con-
ducted a seminary for boys and girls several years.
From Fulton College, chartered by the officials and members of the
Fulton Presbyterian church on February 18, 1851, grew Westminster
College, which is the only college in Missouri outside of St. Louis that
did not suspend during the Civil war. Fulton College was owned inde-
pendent of both presbytery and synod, and located on the site of the
present Westminster. The college opened on the first Monday in October,
1851, and the record shows that the Rev. Benjamin Y. George, D. D.,
then a resident of Fulton and now a resident of Elmwood, Illinois,
was the first student enrolled. Prof. William Van Doren was the presi-
dent and during the first session fifty students were in attendance.
Westminster College t dates from February 23, 1853, when it was
chartered by the general assembly of Missouri, though Fulton was se-
lected as the site of a Presbyterian college for boys at a meeting of the
Synod of Missouri in Fulton in October, 1852. The comer-stone of the
main college building and the comer-stone of the School for JDeaf were
laid on July 4, 1853, when the principal address was delivered by the
Rev. Nathan L. Rice, D. D., afterward president of the college. The
main building, with a chapel building which was erected in 1887, was de-
stroyed by fire on the night of September 10, 1909. James Green Smith,t
* The strong tendency of Callaway county toward Presbyterianism is due more
to the work of Dr. Robertson than to any other person. He became pastor of the
Fulton Presbyterian church in 1840, and during the remainder of his life preached
and taught in the county. He held many revivals, and through his earnest exhorta-
tion, many persons united with the chur<;Ji. Besides establishing Fulton Female Semi-
nary, Dr. Robertson was a member of the board of trustees of Westminster College
from the time the college was established until his death, and for nearly forty years
served as president of the board, and also during part of the time acted as its finan-
cial agent. He had a strong personality — ^was, indeed, a thorough-going Scotch Pres-
byterian. He was born in Danville, Ky., Decembet 6, 1807, and died in Fulton May
29, 1894. Mrs. Robertson was a daughter of the Rev. Robert H. Bishop, D. D., an
early president of Miami University, Oxford, O. She died about six months before
her husband. Two of their daughters — ^Mrs. Anna Russell and Mrs. Nicholas D.
Thurmond — ^live in Fulton.
fAn excellent history of Westminster College from 1851 to 1887 was written
by the late Rev. M. M. Fisher, D. D., once acting president of the college, and in
1903, Prof. John Jay Rice, LL. D., at that time acting president, revised the manu-
script and. brought the history up to date. Through the generosity of the late Mr.
S. J. Fisher, of St. Louis, who was a member of the college board, the work of his
brother and Dr. Rice was published in book form for the golden jubilee of the college,
which was celebrated in October, 1903.
t Mr. Smith was a son of Elkanah Smith, who lived on ''the old Smith place/'
at the northeast corner of Fulton, and in early times had a carding mill there. Of
Mr. Smith, the ''History of Westminster College" (p. 11) says: "That the first
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 301
afterward a minister of the Baptist church, who received his diploma in
1855, was the first graduate from the college. Judge Robert McPheeters,
an honored and respected citizen of Fulton, who was a member of the
class in 1856, is the oldest living alumnus of the college. Westminster
has had the following presidents : Rev. Samuel Spahr Laws, D. D., Rev.
John Montgomery, D. D., Rev. Nathan L. Rice, D. D., Rev. Edwin Clif-
ford Gordon, D. D., John Henry MacCracken, Ph. D., Rev. David Ram-
sey Kerr, D. D., and Rev. Charles Brasee Boving, D. D., the latter being
in office now. Though the college is in its sixtieth year, all of^the men of
this illustrious list are living except Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Rice.
After the Civil war the college for many years was controlled entirely
by the Synod of the Southern Presbyterian church, but in 1901 the Sy-
nod of the Northern church united in its control and support.
Floral Hill College
Floral Hill College, located on the west end of what is now known
as Hockaday HiU, just south of Pulton, was opened about 1858 by the
Rev. P. K. Dibble, a minister of the Christian church, who came from
Ohio. A comfortable frame college building was erected, a large and
competent faculty was employed, and until the beginning of the Civil
war the school enjoyed a substantial patronage. Many of its pupils
were from places outside of Callaway county, and but for the war, the
college doubtless would be in existence today.
The First Railroad
CaUaway county's first railroad, which was one of the first completed
in the state, was built between the years 1855 and 1857,* and extended
from Cote Sans Dessein back into the county a distance of about seven
miles to a large cannel coal mine. The road was built by the Callaway
Mining and Manufacturing Company, which was chartered by the gen-
eral ^assembly in 1847, and was composed of Pennsylvania men. The
company planned to mine cannel coal extensively and also to extract oil
from the coal and sell it for commercial uses. To this end the railroad
was built, a mine opened, an oil factory erected, and a number of houses
constructed for the use of employes. After the railroad was built, the
product of the mine was shipped on a steamboat owned by the company.
The enterprise proved to be a wild dream of riches, for the demand for
the coal was small, while the oil-producing scheme was impracticable.
graduate chose to preach the gospel m&y be regarded as an earnest of what God
had in store for an institution planted for his glory — an earnest of what that college,
as we trust, will be to the latest generation, a fountain of genuine Christian educa-
tion and a school of the prophets. Mr. Smith was bom in Fulton in 1830; he was
ordained to the full work of the ministry in June, 1859, and died the thirtieth of
June, 1863. His end was peace. His body rests near the old homestead and near
the college of which he was the first graduated son. ' '
* This date may be slightly inaccurate. A right-of-way deed on file in the
recorder's office of CaUaway county, dated December 10, 1855, contains the state-
ment that the railroad was then under construction, while a deed of trust which
was given in November, 1857, indicates that it was completed then. James Smith,
who was for many years a coal operator in the Fulton fields, came to Missouri in
1854 to prospect the mine for the company, and work on the railroad had not begun
at that time. Tousand Foy, of Fulton, who was born at Cote Sans Dessein in 1842,
but spent part of his boyhood elsewhere, does not remember the date of the building
of the railroad, and neither does John W. Hord, of Tebbetts, who was a boy at the
time and saw the locomotive used by the company unloaded from a flat boat at
Cote Sans Dessein. It is said that Samuel Maycock, once a Fulton coal miner and
operator, was the engineer on the locomotive.
302 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
t
The property was sold at trustee's sale in St. Louis on September 26,
1859, and was bid in at $95. At least part of the first railroad track
built by the company was laid with wooden rails, and it is said that horses
were the first motive power used. The whole of the track was finally laid
with steel rails and a locomotive put into use. Traces of the old track
and the foundations of the building are yet to be found.
During the Civil War
A large number of men from Callaway county were engaged in the
Civil war, the estimate being from 800 to 1,100* on the Confederate
side, and 350 on the Union side. Accurate records were not kept, and
probably the names of many persons from the county who enlisted in
the conflict have been lost forever. The first company to leave the county
was organized by Capt. Daniel H. Mclntyre, afterward attorney-general
of Missouri, in response to the call of Oov. Claiborne F. Jackson.
Captain Mclntyre was a student in his senior year at Westminster Col-
lege when he left in April for the war, and though absent from com-
mencement in June, 1861, the faculty granted him his degree. His com-
pany contained five students t of the college.
At least fourteen other companies of Confederates (not all of them
full, however) left the county during the war, their captains being I. N.
Sitton, David Craig, Milton Scholl, Henry Burt, Thomas Holland, Creed
Carter, Oeorge Robert Brooks, Thomas Hamilton, Jefferson Gibbs, Robert
M. Berry, Preston Wilkerson, George Law, W. P. Gilbert, and Charles
Austin Rodgers. In addition to these companies, a large number of men
were recruited during the war for the Confederate service.
Capt. William T. Snell, Henry Thomas and J. J. P. Johnson raised
companies for the Union, while many men from the county enlisted for
service in companies which were organized elsewhere.
Fulton was occupied during the greater part of the war by Union
soldiers and militia, and Southern sympathizers were in constant fear
of imprisonment and death. A number of non-combatants were killed
in the county by soldiers, most of the crimes being committed by
"Epekel's Dutch," as the troops under the command of General Arnold
Krekel, of St. Charles county, were called.
The name, '' Kingdom of Callaway," came to the county during the
Civil war through a treaty negotiated by Gen. John B. Henderson,
representing the Union, and Col. Jefferson F. Jones,:]: representing the
* The estimates concerning the number of men from Callaway county engaged
in the Civil war are taken from the "History of Callaway County" (p. 390). Sur-
vivors of the war think, however^ that the number of Confederates could not have
been less than 1,500.
t Besides Captain Mclntyre, the Westminster College students were Joseph C.
Watkins, W. S. Duncan, John P. Bell and George Davis. Mr. Bell lives in Fulton,
and probably is the only survivor of the group.
X Colonel Jones was one of the most picturesque characters who has ever lived
in Callaway county. Bom in Montgomery county, Kentucky, in 1817, he came to
Fulton in childhood, was educated here, and practiced law at the Fulton bar from
1843 until near the beginning of the Civil war. He entered a large trace of land
northeast of Auxvasse, and from 1859 until his death on January 24, 1879, lived on
the farm. An order banishing Colonel Jones and his family from the county was
issued by Federal officials during the early part of the war, only to be revoked a
week later by General Schofleld. One of his sons was named Southwest, another
Northeast, and his eighth child, a son, was named Octave. He represented the ooun^
in the general assembly in 1859 and also in 1877. His name will live because of hii
connection with the incidents which gave the name ''Kingdom of Callaway" to thia
county, though to his contemporaries at home his fame was greater because of his
connection with the events attending the building of the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 803
people of Callaway county. In October, 1861, General Henderson, with
a considerable force of militia, started from Louisiana, in Pike county,
to Callaway, intending^ to invade the county and bring its citizens under
subjection to the Union. Hearing of the project, Colonel Jones assem-
bled three or four hundred men and boys and went into camp at Brown's
Spring, on Auxvasse creek, east of the present Mexico road crossing.*
After drilling his men a few days. Colonel Jones on the morning of
Sunday, October 27, sent an envoy under a flag of truce into Wellsville,
where Henderson and his men were located, and that day a treaty was
made whereby Oeheral Henderson agreed not to attempt to invade Calla-
way county, and Colonel Jones agreed to disband his force. Both sides
kept the agreement, and thereby the county obtained a name which
probably will last through the ages. The terms of the treaty were
especially fortunate for the force under Colonel Jones, for his men were
inexperienced in war and armed only with rifles and shotguns, and in
an engagement probably would have been routed, for Henderson's men
were drilled and well equipped. Part of the equipment of the force
under Colonel Jones consisted of two home-made cannons, one of which
was made of wood and was bound with iron hoops.
The only battle fought in the county during the war was at Moore's
Mill,t one and one-half miles south of Calwood, on Monday, July 28,
1862, between forces under Col. Joseph C. Porter, Confederate, and Gen.
Odon Guitar, Union. The engagement lasted from a little before noon
until late in the afternoon. The Confederates lost six men and had
twenty-one wounded, while the Federals lost thirteen men and had fifty-
five wounded. The battle was not decisive. Porter had about 280 men,
and Guitar about 680.
Overton Run, a small engagement on the Overton farm, about two
miles southwest of Pulton, on the morning of July 17, 1861, resulted in
tiie killing of George Nichols, of Callaway county, who was with the
Confederate force, and several Federals. Hearing that Caldwell's men,
of Jefferson City, were about to invade the county, a force of several
hundred men and boys was organized to meet the enemy. The home
guards camped in brush on the Overton farm, and when the Federals
came in sight, fired once at them and then ran. The Federals also fired
once and ran. The affair has always been the subject of jest.
CmcAQo & Alton Railroad
The Louisiana & Missouri River Railroad, now known as the South
Branch of the Chicago & Alton, was built from Mexico across the
county to Cedar City in 1872. The county court, composed of men who,
under the provisions of the Drake Constitution, were appointed by the
governor and therefore were not beholden to the people of the county for
their position, issued $640,P00 t worth of nine per cent bonds for the
* Colonel Jones 's force was augmented by troops under the command of Gen.
S. B. Hatton and Captain Searcy, according to the ''History of Boone County"
(p. 411). General Hatton 's band was composed of |ibout 75 cavalrymen, but the
number under Captain Searcy is not given. Facts and dates given in the history
referred to enabled the writer to fix upon the date of the "Kingdom of Callaway"
treaty.
t Joseph A. Mudd, of HyattsviUe, Md., who was with Porter, has written a book
under the title, ' ' With Porter in North Missouri, * ' which gives an extended account
of the battle of Moore 's Mill, and from which the facts for the statements made here
are taken.
t In an address delivered at the celebration in Fulton at which the last of the
bonds were burned, Judge David H. Harris, now judge of the circuit court of Boone
and CaUaway counties, said that only $550,500 worth of the bonds of the county
304 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
building of the railroad. In 1872 the people of the county refused to pay
interest on the bonds, and then ensued five years of litigation to test
the validity of the debt. The end came when the United States supreme
court, by a vote of five to four, decided adversely to the people of the
county. After the decision of the court, a convention* was held in
Fulton to consider a compromise with the owners of the bonds. Some
of the members of the convention advocated paying fifty per cent of the
debt while others desired to pay seventy-five per cent. Much discussion
ensued, and finally Richard Hord, of Cote Sans Dessein, proposed that
inasmuch as only five of the nine members of the supreme court thought
the bonds were valid, the county should agree to assume five-ninths of
the debt. The suggestion was adopted by the convention, and afterward
most of the bondholders accepted payment on that basis. The bonds
were refunded twice and the last of the debt was discharged in 1906,
when, on September 26, the last of the bonds were publicly burned at a
celebration held in Fulton. It is estimated that the debt cost the people
of the county $1,500,000 in principal and interest before it was paid.
The history of the debt is the darkest chapter in the history of the
county.
Synodical College
Synodical College, the successor of Pulton Female College, though
thirteen years intervened between the close of one and the opening
of the other, was located at Fulton by the Synod of Missouri (Southern
Presbyterian) at a meeting held at Cape Girardeau in October, 1871,
Several towns made bids for the institution, but the oflfer of $16,500 in
money and four acres of ground valued at $3,500 made by Fulton was
the one accepted. The present college building was begun in the spring
of 1872 and finished during the summer of 1873, the cost being $25,000,
including furnishings. The first session opened in the fall of 1873 with
Prof. T. Oscar Taylor, of Virginia, as president. Through all of its
history the college has done splendid work, and at this time plans are
being made for the enlargement of its plant to meet present require-
ments.
William Woods College
William Woods College for girls, then known as the Orphan School
of the Christian Church of Missouri, opened in Fulton on September 18,
1890. Following the burning of the orphan school at Camden Point,
Fulton offered $40,000 in money and ten acres of land to have it located
here, and the offer was accepted. The school opened in the Lehmann
Hotel building, and during the following winter moved into the present
main building of the college. When the institution became involved in
financial troubles in 1901, Dr. William S. Woods, a banker of Kansas
City, came to its rescue and his name was given to the college. The
college has a large patronage throughout Missouri and the Soutiiwest.
were actuaUy delivered to the projectors of the railroad. For that occasion Judg«
Harris prepared a history of the bonded debt of the county, and the facts given hert
are taken from it.
* The convention was called by Judge Hugh Tincher, presiding justice of the
county court, to whom, more than to any other person^ is due credit for having
the debt reduced. He was a member of the court during the time the litigation
was pending and twice had to leave the county to avoid service of writs from the
Federal court ordering him to levy taxes. Judge Tincher was born in Monroe eountj,
West Virginia, on July 28, 1819, and died on his farm, southeast of Hatton, on
February 29, 1888. He was married twice and had fourteen chUdren, most of whom
are stUl living. At the time of his death he was one of the wealthy men of the
county, and besides other property, had 1,800 acres of land on Grand Prairie.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 305
Callaway County Today
During the years 1892-93 the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad
was built across the southern part of the county. It follows the course
of the Missouri river.
By far the most important development in the county in recent years
is the building of permanent highways adjacent to Fulton. A road
district eight miles square, with Fulton almost in the center of it, was
organized in 1911, and on December 30, 1911, a bond issue of $100,000
was authorized. The seven principal roads out of Fulton are being
graded at this time, and during the coming year will be macadamized
to the boundary of the district. From this beginning it is hoped that a
system of permanent roads throughout the county will be developed.
By the census of 1910 Callaway county had a population of 24,400
people, of which 5,228 resided in Fulton. Nearly the whole area of the
county has been cleared and is productive. A large majority of the
people own their homes, and while none is immensely wealthy, none is
miserably poor. The county is noted especially as a mule-feeding cen-
ter, though its mule industry is small compared with its other live stock
interests. The town of Fulton is prosperous, owning its water and light
plants, and having an adequate sewerage system, besides a public library
and many miles of paved and macadamized streets. From the town
and county have gone many men and women who have done, or are
doing, splendid work in the world.
Vol. 1—20
CHAPTER XIII
CHARITON COUNTY
By Dr. John S. Wallace, Brunswick
Present Area and Original County
At a session of the legislature which met at St. Charles, then the
capital of the Territory of Missouri, in the winter of 1820, an act
was passed organizing the county of Chariton to embrace all the coun-
try west of the Howard county line to the eiastern boundary of Ray
county and extending to the Iowa Une. The county was given juris-
diction for all civil, military and judicial purposes over a vast terri-
tory embracing the counties of Linn, Sullivan, Putnam and a part of
Admr and Schuyler counties.
The present limits of Chariton county as defined by the legisla-
ture are as follows: '' Beginning at a point in the middle of the Mis-
souri river, where the line between sections 17 and 20, township 51,
range 17 west, intersects the same; thence with the western line of
Howard county, thence with the north line of Howard county to the
sectional line which divides range 16 into equal parts; thence north
to the line between townships 56 and 57; thence west with said line
to a point where Locust creek crosses the same; thence down the mid-
dle of said creek to the middle of the main channel of Grand river;
thence down said river in the middle of the main channel thereof to
the Missouri river; thence down said Missouri river in the middle of
the main channel thereof to the beginning." The county was originally
organized with four townships, viz : Grand Biver, Buffalo Lick, Prairie
and Chariton.
In 1840 the county was again divided into Missouri, Bowling Green,
Brunswick, Triplett, Cunningham, Yellow Creek, Salt Creek, Mendon
and Mussel Fork townships. These townships were composed of what
was then called Buffalo Lick township with one voting precinct located
in Brunswick. There are now sixteen townships, to-wit: Brunswick,
Bee-Branch, Bowling Green, Cockrell, Cunningham, Clark, Chariton,
Mendon, Mussel Fork, Missouri, Keytesville, Triplett, Salisbury, Salt
Creek, Wayland and Tellow Creek.
The area of Chariton county having been reduced one-third its
original size to 749 square miles or 479,360 acres, one might think it
has been shorn of much of its power and influence and that its present
limits were too insignificant to furnish material for the compUation
of an important history. It must be remembered, however, that the
most noted events in ancient and modem times, transpired within the
smallest territorial compass and it must also be borne in mind that
this county was settled by a hardy race of pioneers, many of whom
were noted in after years in the making of history of the state, some
of whom had fought in the War of 1812 and many of them were
306
J
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 307
descendants of the ScotctL-Irish, whose forebears bad helped to make
'history in the Indian and colonial wars in this coontry, as did their
sires in north Ireland and Scotland during the days of religioiu and
political persecutions.
The Fiest Settlebs
The first settlers in Chariton connty were the French fur traders
and trappers who had a settlement at the mouth of the Chariton rivers
and who gave the name to these streams. Lewis and Clark, while
passing up the Missouri river in 1804, state in their report that the
Chariton rivers were named by the early French explorers and fur
traders. These rivers at that time emptied into the Missouri river at
separate outlets, but later united as the Missouri, receded and formed
one stream for more than a mile above the present outlet. In the
lattor half of the seventeenth century and the early part of the
eighteenth century France made good her claim to all the territory
west of the Mississippi river by establishing settlements and a chain
of posts along the upper Missouri river. In pursuance of this plan
Afternoon in Harvesting Days
Captain Etienne de Bourgmont, who had seen service in Canada and
Louisiana and had resided as a trader for several years among the
Missouri Indians, was commissioned as conunander and with Lieu-
tenant Saint Ange proceeded in the spring of 1823 with thirty soldiers
in three datboats, loaded with arms, ammunition and provision, up
the Missouri river to the village of the Missonris and established a
fort on an island in the Missouri river opposite the Indian village said
to have been located five miles below the month of Grand river and
called it Fort-de-Orleans, in honor of Duke Philip of Orleans, brother
of Louis XIV.
Fort Orleans
The location of this fort has been a disputed question among his-
torians for many years. We will give the statements of a few writers
who locate it below the mouth of Grand river.
Stoddard in his "Historical Sketches of Louisiana" says that "Ft.
Orleans was on an island in the Missouri some distance above the
mouth of the Osage river." A similac statement occurs in "The
Annals of the "West."
In the journal of Lewis and Clark the location is thus mentioned:
"June 19, 1804. They passed Deer creek and five miles farther the
two Charitons, the first thirty and the second seventy yards wide when
they enter the Missouri at separate outlets." They made five miles
308 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
above on the 12th, nine miles on June 13, 1804, and at four miles above
their last camp passed up a bend of the river, where two creeks come
in on the north, which he speaks of as '* Round Bend creeks." Between
the two creeks there is a prairie on which there once stood the ancient
village of the Missouri Indians. Opposite there had been a French
fort, now gone. Five miles above they came to the mouth of the Grand
river.
Early maps show that the mouth of Grand river at that time was
five miles above this bend. The burying ground of this tribe of Indians
is located two miles east of the town of Brunswick and several of the
mounds are still visible. The wTiter of this sketch has in his posses-
sion two beautiful stone pipes of curious design made of red pipe
stone and many flints, stone axes and parts of a skeleton taken from
these mounds. About twenty-five years ago on a farm settled by John
Hibler in 1831, just two miles east of Brunswick, nine skeletons were
plowed up in one grave, but many of the bones crumbled when exposed
to the air.
Bossu's '^ Travels in Louisiana" speaks of the fort being near the
village of the Missouris. DuPratz speaks of Fort Orleans being on an
island opposite the Missouri village. Dutisne, who visited the Mis-
souris in 1719, states that *4t is eighty leagues to the village of the
Missouris." John Bradbury's ** Travels" of 1811 says: **We passed
the site of a village on the northeast side of the river once belong-
ing to the Missouris tribe. Four miles above it are the remains of Fort
Orleans. It is 240 miles above the mouth of the Missouri." H. M.
Brackenridge says: ''At 236 miles there had been an ancient village
of the Missouris and near by formerly stood Ft. Orleans." Many other
historians, however, locate the fort near the town of Wakenda, in Car-
roll county.
The first white settler in the county of whom we have any record
was George Jackson, who came before the War of 1812, and located in
the southern part of the county near the Missouri river and after the
organization of the county was a representative in the general assembly.
Old Chariton
In the spring of 1817 the town of Chariton was laid out and it waB
located in Chariton township, about one-half mile east of where the Chari-
ton river joined the Missouri river and about four hundred yards north
of the latter river. General Duflf Green and Sabret Johnson were the
original proprietors of the town site. It was always called **01d Char-
iton," not because there was another town of the same name, but because
it was the oldest and first settled town in the county. In fact, it was
to Chariton county what Jamestown was to Virginia and St. Augustine
was to Florida. Being the most western town on the Missouri river, in
a few years after being laid out it grew rapidly and gave promise of
being a rival of St. Louis in controlling the trade of the Missouri valley.
So bright seemed its future and so enthusiastic its early inhabitants
that it would be the great commercial center of the northwest that a
shoemaker, William Cabeen, familiarly called ** Uncle Billy Cabeen,"
sold his property in St. Louis, a block near the old court house, for
$3,000 and invested the money in lots in Chariton. But alas for human
hopes and expectations, the St. Louis property is now worth hundreds
of thousands of dollars, while *'01d Chariton," the once ambitious
and hustling little village is a thing of the past and in the field of grow-
ing corn one would hardly recognize the ancient town site. In the winter
of 1816-17, it was the wintering ground of a tribe of the Sac and Iowa
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 309
Indians and during the summer of 1817 three or four log cabins were
built. The lowas camped for many years in the neighborhood of where
**01d Chariton" was afterwards located. Their noted chief was White
Cloud, who is said to have possessed many good traits of character
and was a fine looking Indian. Wahoochee was one of the prominent
chiefs of the tribe of the Sacs. These Indians were not always peaceable
and resented the encroachments of the whites and at times were quite
hostile, often committing many depredations on the settlements of
the early pioneers. Major Stephen Cooper, of Colusa, California, who
served as a volunteer in the company of his father. Captain Sarshall
Cooper, who had command of Cooper's Fort in Howard county, was
detailed as a scout, and often was sent out to look for Indian trails and
camps in the territory of the Chariton rivers. On one occasion, accom-
panied by Joseph Stills, in October, 1813, they were scouting on the
Grand Chariton, when they were surrounded by about three hundred
Indians of the Sac nation. In attempting to charge through them
Stills was shot from his horse and instantly killed, but Cooper escaped
unhurt, after killing one of the principal braves of the Sac nation.
The town of Chariton could boast of as good society as any city in
America, having men of great literary attainments, of skill in their pro-
fessions, and of great social endowments, many of them graduates of
the leading institutions of learning in this country and some even from
Edinburgh, Scotland. Among the early business men were General
Duff Green and Stephen Donahoe, John Ross and Company — composed
of John Ross, William Glasgow and John AuU. Fred Beanbrick was the
tailor and the only German settler at that time in the county. John
Moore and Isaac Campbell each kept a hotel and lived for many years
in the place. Mr. Moore met his death in a very tragic manner years
afterwards at the hands of an assassin. General Duff Green and his
brother-in-law, James Semple, were the first lawyers in the place. The
latter moved to Illinois and was United States senator from that state
for six years. General Duff Green was one of the most noted and
prominent citizens of the place and gave tone and direction to all its
leading industries. He started the erection of a two-story, fourteen-
room brick house, but before its completion he returned to St. Louis to
engage in the management of a newspaper that was to promote the
interest of John C. Calhoun for the presidency. This enterprise having
failed, he was induced to go to Washington, D. C, where he established
a paper called the Telegraph, in advocacy of General Jackson's claims.
General Green took an active part in politics and by his vigorous espousal
of General Jackson's cause he was given credit for his election and was
the director of the leading features of his administration. Col. John
White owned a harness shop and made saddles for many years and it
is said that the celebrated Kit Carson, scout and noted Indian fighter,
worked for him for some time.
In 1818 Capt. W. W. Monroe and family, Edward B. Cabell and
family, and Daniel Duvall and family reached the town of Chariton and
united their destinies with the people of what is now Chariton county.
When the county was organized, Edward B. Cabell was appointed clerk
of the circuit court and held that oflSce for thirty years. In 1819, Col.
Joseph J. Monroe, brother of President James Monroe and a graduate
of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, a man of vast learning, became
a citizen of Chariton county for a time, but afterwards purchased land
near Fayette, Missouri, and died a few years afterward. In the year
1818, many prominent families came from Kentucky and Virginia and
among them were Col. Hiram Craig and family. He was a gallant
ofScer of a Virginia regiment in the War of 1812, and for many years
810 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
was a surveyor in Augusta county, Virginia. He located a New Madrid
claim of several hundred acres, five miles northwest of ''Old Chariton,"
where the road through the bottom strikes the upland or hills on the
road to Eeytesville. He was appointed by the legislature ipi 1820, one
of the commissioners to locate the county seat and they selected Old
Chariton, making their report January 25, 1821. He was a man of
fine education, of heroic build and his advice was sought by his neigh-
bors in every enterprise for the upbuilding and good of the county. He
was a man of great force of character, of strong likes and dislikes and
was always loyal to his friends and for the man who had little mean
traits of character he had the most supreme contempt and did not
hesitate to express his sentiments when occasion required. His wife
was a no less distinguished personage, a descendant of prominent Scotch-
Irish ancestry, the Campbell clan of Argyleshire, Scotland. She was
a Presbyterian of the strictest sect, deeply pious and with an unfaltering
trust in the one true and living Gk>d. Her home was the hospitable
resting place of every pioneer preacher, irrespective of the sect to
which he might belong, and her house was the regular preaching place
for that neighborhood for many years. She was the daughter of Thomas
and Jane (Campbell) Tate, of Augusta county, Virginia, and her mother
was a sister of General William Campbell, the **Hero of King's Moun-
tain," who married Elizabeth Henry, sister of Patrick Henry, governor
of Virginia. In the year 1817, Abraham Locke and his family and his
sons, Thomas, John D., Nelson P. and William M. Locke, came from Vir-
ginia and settled in the same neighborhood of Colonel Craig. In 1818,
others from Virginia and Kentucky settled in the same neighborhood,
among them Nathaniel Butler, Joseph Vance, James Fowler, Thomas
Watson, Peterson Parks, Robert Hayes, Daniel Hays, Samuel and
Jonathan T. Burch, Samuel Dinsmore, Capt. James Heryford and
Abner Finnell.
Near the town of Chariton and west of the Grand Chariton, James
Earickson settled and afterwards was elected state senator and state
treasurer. His son-in-law, Talton Turner, Archibald Hix, Samuel Wil-
liams, Col. John M. Bell, John Morse, Henry Lewis, Richard Woodson,
John Doxey, Thomas Doxey, and others occupied the county as far
north as the Bowling Green prairie. Col. Martin Palmer lived in the
western edge of the Bowling Green prairie on a creek to which he gave
his name. Colonel Palmer went to Texas and tried to start a revolution,
but returned to Arkansas, where he was quite prosperous. On the east
fork of the Chariton lived the celebrated Dr. Sappington, who after-
wards moved to Saline county and was the originator of the "Sapping-
ton pill" — composed of quinine, blue mass and piperin and extensively
used by the pioneers in the treatment of malarial fevers. It was often
stated that one could go from the Missouri river to any point in Texas
without money and get accommodation for man or beast at any house
or tavern if he had plenty of Doctor Sappington 's pills in his saddle-
bags.
In the eastern part of the county lived John Doxey, who gave name
to '^ Doxey 's Fork," that empties into the east fork of the Chariton
just above the town of Chariton. In the same neighborhood lived Samuel
Forrest, John Tooley, Joseph Maddox, Thomas Anderson, and others.
In October, 1818, Maj. Daniel Ashby and family, accompanied by
Abraham- Sportsman, James Leeper, Thomas Shumate, Pleasant Brow-
der, and their families, came from near Harrodsburg, Mercer county,
Kentucky, and settled on the blufb west of the present town of Keytea-
ville. Major Ashby drove 375 head of stock hogs from Kentuc^ to
where he finally settled in the western part of what was then Howard
HISTOEY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 311
county. In his autobiography, ''Reminiscences of a Missouri Pioneer/'
he says: ''I was the northwest pivot man of the pioneer settlements of
the United States. There was no white man between me and the Rocky
mountains on the west, nor was there anyone between me and the Lake
of the Woods on the north." He learned to speak the language of the
Iowa Indians and Qen. Duff Green furnished him with goods and he
trafficked with the Indians for five years and they divided the profits
equally. He was a member of the first county court of the county,
was a member of the lower house of the Missouri general assembly for
several sessions, was twice elected a member of the state senate (1834-
36), was appointed by President Van Buren a receiver of public moneys
in the land office at Lexington, Missouri, and was reappointed by
President Tyler. He was a great hunter and in his autobiography he
relates many thrilling incidents of the chase, while hunting bear, wolves,
elk, deer, and wild turkeys in this county. He owned a celebrated pack
of deer hounds and it was the great delight of his children and tiiose
of his neighbors to gather around his fireside and listen to the recital
of the exploits of old ** Sounder" and "Trailer" on the chase or to his
thrilling accounts of fights with Indians and hunting bear and wolves.
The recital of the stirring events of the life of this single pioneer would
fill a large volume and the experiences of many of his neighbors were
equally as thrilling. In his unpublished autobiography he has related
many of the stirring events in the lives of the pioneers of this county
and has given a vivid pen-picture of the trials and hardships as well as
the pleasures they enjoyed and the staunch friendships engendered
among those sharing a common danger in the winning of the West.
The Rev. John M. Peck visited the town of Chariton in January,
1819, and while there was a guest of Gen. Duff Oreen. In his memoirs
he speaks of organizing a ''female mite society" to aid ''the United So-
ciety for the Spread of the Gospel" in sustaining ministers in traveling
and preaching in destitute settlements.
The first Sunday school west of St. Louis was commenced in Chari-
ton in the spring of 1819, and it became auxiliary to the Philadelphia
Sunday School TJnion. The Rev. James Keyte, who afterwards founded
the towns of KeytesviUe and Brunswick, was among the early residents
of the town and ministered to the spiritual wants of the people as a
Methodist preacher. The Baptists started the erection of a church but
never finished it.
Among the pioneer physicians were Dr. Willis Green, brother of
Gen. Duff Green, Dr. John Bull, afterwards a member of congress who
deserves much credit for securing the "Platte Purchase," and Dr. Ben
Edwards, brother of Gov. Ninian Edwards of Illinois, Doctors Wood,
Holman and Folger were physicians of great skill and ministered to
the sick and afflicted.
The Rev. Ebenezer Rogers, a Baptist minister, and. a Mr. Pierce
were the first school teachers of the town and nearly all the children
in that vicinity received their early education under the training of
these two men. Another teacher by the name of John Brownjohn also
had a school in the town and there was considerable rivalry between the
two schools. The pupils of Brownjohn 's school concluded they would
go over and "clean out" the boys of the Rogers school and at noon
they went over in a body. One of the largest and bravest boys chal-
lenged the champion of the Rogers school to a fight. William H. Davis,
brother of Judge John M. Davis and H. H. Davis, of this county, was
one of the big boys of the Rogers school and accepted the challenge and
literally "wiped the earth up" with his boastful rival. Mr. Rogers,
who was a strict disciplinarian, heard of the fight and ciQled young
312 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Davis up to his desk, as he had done several times before for the same
offense, and was about to inflict corporal punishment upon him when
he informed the teacher that the Brownjohn boys had jeered them and
said the teacher of the Rogers boys was nothing but an **01d Tory"
and he whipped the bully for saying it. Rogers, when he heard that
he had been accused of being a Tory, having come from England, felt
keenly the sting of the epithet and told his pupil that under the circum-
stances he would not punish him that time, but he must cease his
fighting.
The First Circuit Court
The first circuit court that convened in the county of Chariton met
on February 22, 1821, in the town of Chariton. Judge David Todd,
the presiding judge of the first judicial court, being present, produced
the following commission:
Alexander McNair, governor of the state of MiESOuri: To all who shall see
these presents greeting: Know you that reposing special trust and confidence in
the integrity, learning and ability of David Todd, esquire^ I have nominated and
by and with the advice and consent of the senate do appoint him circuit judge of the
First Judicial Circuit in the state of Missouri and do authon7e and empower him
to hold said office with all the rights, privileges and emoluments therewith appertain-
ing unto him the said David Todd, during good behavior unless sooner removed accord-
ing to law. In testimony whereof I have affixed my private seal. (There being no
seal of state yet provided.) Given under my hand at St. Louis the 5th day of
December, A. D., 1820, and of the Independence of the United States the forty-fifth.
By the governor,
A. McNaib.
Joshua Barton,
Secretary of State.
The capital of the state was then in St. Louis and the state of Mis-
souri had not been fully admitted into the Union, that event being con-
firmed August 10, 1821.
Edward B. Cabell was appointed the first clerk of the court. John
Moore was appointed the first sheriff. Hamilton R. Qamble was ap-
pointed the first circuit attorney. In 1824, he was appointed secretary of
state by Governor Bates; in 1857, he was presiding justice of the su-
preme court ; and in July, 1861, was made governor of Missouri. The at-
torneys present upon the first day of the court were Cyrus Edwards,
John C. Mitchell, William J. Redd, Joseph J. Monroe, John Payne, An-
drew S. McGirk, and Hamilton R. Gamble. The following commission-
ers, appointed by the general assembly in 1820, to locate the county seat,
Col. Hiram Craig, William Pearce, Baylor Banks, Richard Woodson, and
Lawson Dennington, appeared and took the required oath.
The court met again June 25, 1821, and John T. Ryland, Dabney
Carr, and George Tompkins were admitted as practicing attorneys.
The commissioners appointed to locate the county seat made the follow-
ing report :
That the permanent seat of justice for the said county of Chariton be fixed
in the town of Chariton and that courts in the future are to be held in the brick house
in the public square. That the deed made to the commissioners for the benefit of
Chariton county is herewith submitted for your approval. We are with due
respect,
Hiram Craig,
Wm. Pearce,
Baylor Banks.
June 25, 1821.
The third term of the court was held October, 1821, at which time
Abiel Leonard, P. R. Hayden, and Henry T. Williams were admitted
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 313
as practicing attorneys. Samuel Williams, father of the late John P.
Williams, was the representative in the legislature and had been one
of the delegates to the constitutional convention. He died before his
time expired and Gen. Duff Green was elected to fill the vacancy.
James Earickson, Daniel Ashby, and John N. Bell composed the first
county court. Edward Cabell was clerk of both county and circuit
courts; also county treasurer, notary public, and postmaster. The first
deed book was made by Mrs. Cabell, by sewing quires of foolscap paper
together.
There was much confusion in regprd to titles of land in Chariton
county, as it was in the center of the military land grant set aside by
congress as bounties for the soldiers of the War of 1812. Grants were
also made in the county to those whose land had been destroyed in the
New Madrid earthquake of 1811, and the ** vacant land,*' as it was
termed, was scattered about among the New Madrid claims and the
bounty claims. A great deal more land was ** located'' than was ever
destroyed and because of their conflict with other entries there was
much litigation. The military district contained but few inhabitants.
The titles to the land could not be had and the land subject to entry
was in detached pieces so as to prevent the formation of neighborhoods.
The first sale of land for taxes took place in 1825, and was called
** Trent's Sale," because Alex Trent, the sheriff, conducted the sale.
A large number of the military tracts were sold and the law required that
the land should be surveyed by the county surveyor before the state
would make a deed. In the spring of 1825, the county surveyor, Col.
Henry T. Williams, while out on one of these surveying expeditions up
the Grand Chariton river, in company with Maj. Daniel Ashby, Thomas
Williams, John P. Williams and Henry C. Sevier, were visited by a
party of Indians and one of them who had imbibed too much ** fire-
water" showed a disposition to fight. He brandished his scalping knife
in a threatening manner and with a hideous war whoop made a rush
for Major Ashby, who stood with an axe in his hand. When the Indian
got near enough, Ashby struck him in the face with the axe with all his
might. It was with the back or pole of the axe or his head would have
been severed. Strange as it may seem, the Indian recovered, but for
years the relatives of this Indian were skulking about Ashby 's home to
kill him, but were afraid to attack him openly and could never surprise
him.
Pioneer Life and Customs
It will be observed that the early pioneer located his home in the
heavily timbered sections of the county, as there were no prairie farms.
The reason for this was obvious, for the logs could be cut and hewed
close by where the cabin was to be erected. The land was cleared of
the timber and rails made to enclose that portion which was to be used
for cultivation of crops. These were the days of log-rolling for the
men, quilting for the women by day, and corn huskings and dances by
night. The primitive log-cabin was the scene of jollity and good nature
and true western hospitality was extended to all. The latch-string
always hung on the outside of the door. Wild game, such as bear, elk,
deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, quail and prairie chickens were plentiful
and the rifle furnished all the meat the family required. Luxuriant
grass grew in the forest and on the prairies and furnished pasturage
for the stock in summer and hay for the winter. The hogs fattened on
the acorns, hickory nuts and walnuts and wild plums and wild grapes
furnished luxuries for the table. Many families used honey in the
place of sugar. This article was very abundant, as bee-hives were
314 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
found wherever tliere were hollow trees. Hunting bee-trees was a
bosiness mach followed in the fall of the year, as beeswax was alwaTS a
cash article at twenty-five cents a pound. Money was scarce and trading
was done, by barter, exchanging one article for another. The Spanish
dollar was the circulating medium and these were often halved or
quartered for small change and called "four bits" and "two bits."
Keel-boats were used for bringing iu supplies and as New Orleans
was the nearest market, flatboats were built and this market reached
once a year. Colonel Craig would build a flatboat every year on the
Qrand Chariton and with a cargo of bacon, com, tobacco, furs, tanned
deer^ins, beeswax and honey would make a trip to New Orleans with
Andrew Thrash as pilot. When a boy I have listened to this aged
pilot relate the many thrilling experiences on the Missouri and Missis-
sippi rivers while acting as pilot on my grandfather's fiatboats. Th^
would return from New Orleans to St. Louis on a steamboat and Mr.
Thrash would foot it from St. Louis to his home at "The Point," just
POULTBT ObOWINO
below Old Chariton, and Colonel Craig and other members of the crew
would travel by stage or on a keel-boat up the Missouri.
Muster Days
In 1823, the legislature passed a militia law and it was in force until
about 1840. Its purpose was to prepare the state for Indian wars or
any other emergency that might arise. Those exempt from service
were civil officers, preachers, teachers, millers and students in school.
Under the militia law all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen
and forty-five were required to organize into companies, choose officers,
meet at stated times and places for drill and exercise in military evolu-
tions. Company commissioned officers were a captain and lieutenants.
Companies were organized into battalions; battalions into regiments
with colonels and lieutenant-colonels, majors and other file officera;
regiments into brigades with a brigadier-general in command; brigades
into divisions with a major-general. The whole was under the governor
as the commander-in-chief of the military forces of the state. Com-
missioned officers from colonel down were elected by the rank and file
and the titles gave rank and standing and were eagerly songht and
HISTORY OF NOETHEAST MISSOURI 315
there was much electioneering and log-rolling to secure them. On the
first Saturday of April, every year, the citizens of each township or,
in thinly populated sections, the citizens of each county came together
to be formed into companies and drilled for soldiers.
In May companies met for battalion drill, which lasted for several
days. In October, drills were had by regiments and brigades. There
was no evading the militia law and militiamen had to attend musters
or they were assessed a fine. They had to provide and bring arms
with them and have them in good condition. General muster day was the
greatest event of the year and was looked forward to by every one in
the county. The wealthy officers made display of magnificent uniforms
and popular heroes were cheered and hurrahed. On that day aU
the people from the surrounding country came in, looked at the drill
and, as a result of getting together, friendships were cemented, debts
were paid and new loans were negotiated. It was .effective in cultivat-
ing a fine feeling of pride in the state and her institutions. The old
darkey was there with his stand loaded with ginger cakes, cider and
spruce beer. There was horse-racing, foot-racing, wrestling and fist-
fights, rough and tumble, to settle some family feud. Then at night
there was the dance when they cut the pigeon wing, the double shi^e
and winding up with the ranking colonel leading out the grandest dame.
The theory underlying the old militia law was a good one — In time of
peace prepare for war. But in practice it was cumbersome and failed
in its main purpose of creating an efficient militia and was repealed by
the legislature some time before the Mexican war.
Among the commissioned officers in Chariton county were Col. Hiram
Craig, Major Daniel Ashby, Capt. John S. Wallace, Capt. Abner Pin-
nell, Capt. William Herriford, and Lieut. Jerry Wilson.
MONTICELLO
In the summer of 1825 there was quite a flood in the Missouri river
and the Chariton rivers overflowed the bottom lands and the town of
*'01d Chariton" was surrounded by the high water. After the water
subsided there came sickness and death to many of the inhabitants of
the town and surrounding country and the dreaded disease malaria
decimated the ranks of these pioneers. There was a camp-meeting in
progress in the Missouri bottom where the water overflowed the land
and the people had to be rescued in boats. The first attempt to locate
another town near Chariton was in 1831, when Dr. John Graves founded
the town of Monticello, one mile east of Chariton on the high bluffs
where it was thought the location would be more healthful. The town
of Monticello was beautifully located and many men moved there with
their families and it was quite an aristocratic and social center. Among
those who built residences in this place were Judge John M. Feazle,
who also erected a large tobacco factory. Walker Lewis, Stephen W.
Lewis, William A. McLure, Judge John B. Clark, John P. Morris, Joshua
A. Belden, John A. Haldeman, and Judge James Clark.
In 1839 a seminary for male and female students was conducted at
Monticello and the catalogue of the opening session of Monticello Sem-
inary, which began the last Monday in July, 1839, shows that the school
had a four years course and a splendid curriculum. It continued to
prosper for eight years and finally reached an enrollment of nearly
four hundred pupils. It was a noted institution of learning through-
out the state. The school was conducted by the Rev. William Henry
Lewis, as principal, an active minister of the Methodist church South for
more than a half century. Alfred Mann, for many years a resident of
316 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Keytesville and a noted educator in this county, and James W. Lewis,
brother of the Rev. William Henry Lewis, were assistant teachers, while
Miss Martha W. Lewis, who afterward married Dr. J. J. Watts, of Fay-
ette, and is the mother of Mrs. J. C. Wallace, of Keytesville, presided over
the women's department. Among the pupils enrolled at the first term
were Alfonso Moore, of Keytesville, Miss Frances Lockridge, who after-
wards married Alfred Mann — their son, Horace L. Mann, no\Y resides in
Brunswick — Miss Susan M. Fristoe, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Fris-
toe, a pioneer Baptist minister. Miss Fristoe married Jordan Bentley
and now lives near Forest Green. Among the pupils we recognize many
former citizens of Chariton county, among whom were : Sarah A. Keyte,
James 0 'Fallen Keyte, John M. Spencer, Benjamin D. Spencer, Marie
E. Spencer, Julia E. Spencer, of Brunswick, Jonathan T. Burch, William
V. Hall, James W. Lewis, Jr., William J. Lewis, James Moore, Adelia
and Amanda Campbell, Richard C, Robert E. and William T. Cabeen,
of Chariton.
The Point
An attempt was made in 1835 to start another town at what was
called * * The Point, ' ' just east of the mouth of the Chariton river where
a ferry was operated on the Missouri river. The ferry was owned by
R. B. Thornton and Andrew Thrash and the town was called Thornton-
burg, in honor of one of the proprietors of the ferry. Capt. Thomas
Joyce, of Louisville, Kentucky, made claim to the land and after several
years litigation, gained title to the land and christened the town Louis-
ville-on-the-Missouri. The proprietors of the new town were Thomas
Joyce, Tilly Emerson and R. B. Thornton. Carson and Hays and John
Mulligan operated stores there and Irving Hays operated a grist mill
at the place for many years. Like Monticello and Old Chariton, this
town has become a thing of the past, as the business from these places
finally went to Glasgow after it was laid out.
There were no mail facilities west of Chariton for ten or twelve years
after it was founded and no mail route on the north side of the Missouri
river until 1833. James Wilson was the first mail contractor for carrv-
ing mail westward from Chariton and his son was the first mail-boy to
carry mail from Chariton to Liberty, Clay county. The next boy to
carry mail was Charles Mann and he in turn was succeeded by John
M. Davis, who when fifteen years of age, carried the mail for several
months. It took six days to make the round trip from Chariton to
Keytesville, then to Grand river, then to Cary's postoffice in Carroll
county, then to Richmond and Liberty in Clay county. The mail west-
ward could be carried in a small mail sack and the mail eastward, being
mostly letters, could be easily carried in a pair of old-style saddle-bags,
as there were no newspapers printed west of Old Franklin, in Howard
county. This boy, who received the munificent sum of $9 a month, his
board and expenses paid, the carrier providing his own horse for carry-
ing the mail 120 miles, afterwards became sheriff and county judge and
one of the wealthy men of the county. He often spoke of the changes
that had taken place within his recollection in the facilities and quan-
tities of mail distributed over this route. In 1833, he could carry the
accumulation of a week's mail in his saddle-bags, while today more than
a ton of mail passes daily over the same route.
Keytesville
In 1830 James Keyte, a pioneer Methodist preacher from England,
purchased the land upon which the town of Keytesville was located,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 317
of Caleb Woods, and in 1832 he donated fifty acres to the county, upon
which the court house and other public buildings were erected in 1833
and 1834. The county seat was moved from Chariton in 1833 and the
first term of circuit court was held July 16, 1833. The first house was
erected by the Rev. James Keyte in 1831 near the present residence of
Hugo Bartz and about the same time he built a small storeroom near his
house and put his sister, Miss Sarah Keyte, in charge of the store and
postofBce. He^lso built a water mill near the site of the present old
mill on the Mussel Fork. The first hotel was conducted by Isaac W.
Redding and was a double log house, built in 1832. Among the pioneer
merchants, tradesmen and professional men were Thomas Givens and
Hackley Brothers, Peter Lassin, a Dane, blacksmith, Squire McDonald,
tailor. The first physician was Dr. David Pettigrew, who died in 1847.
The first lawyer was William H. Davis, brother of Judge John M. Davis
and H. H. Davis. His bright career was cut short at the age of thirty-
four years. But in that brief space of time he proved himself to be a
gifted lawyer of rare eloquence and wonderfully magnetic influence.
Wetmore, in his Gazetteer, published in 1837, says: ** There are
in Keytesville a good court house, four stores with a general assortment
of merchandise in each, and three taverns, and various mechanic 's shops
that are requisite in a farming country. West of the town, across the
Mussel Fork, is a good bridge, a sawmill and gristmill, with two pairs
of stones which is run the whole year.*'
Among the early settlers of Keytesville was Pugh W. Price, who came
from Prince Edward county, Virginia, and settled for a time in Randolph
county. In the fall of 1831 he settled on a farm one mile south of
Keytesville. He was the father of General Sterling Price, Doctor Edwin
PriiRe, Major Pugh Price, John R. Price, Mrs. Pamelia Royal, mother of
Col. William Royal of the United States army. John R. Price built a
hotel in Keytesville and in 1835 sold it to his brother. Sterling Price,
who conducted the hotel and embarked in the mercantile business with
his brother-in-law, Walter G. Childs.
Chariton county has had but two courthouses, as no courthouse was
built at Chariton, where the courts were held for eleven years. The first
courthouse was erected in 1832-33. It was a two-story brick house,
square in form, with one large room, the court room, below and the jury
room and other offices above. This building was burned by the Confed-
erate guerrillas during the Civil war and much valuable information con-
cerning the early history of the county was destroyed. The records of
deeds from 1821 to 1826, deeds of trust from January, 1859 to 1861, and
the marriage record from 1852 to 1861 were all destroyed. In 1881 the
offices of circuit and county clerks were located in a building in the south-
west corner of the courthouse yard and on the night of November 11,
1881, the offices were discovered to be on fire. It has never been ascer-
tained by whom or for what purpose the building was set on fire. J. C.
Crawley and Senator A. Mackay broke open the doors to the building
and threw out the books. A new court house, costing nearly $75,000,
was built in 1866 on the site of the old building. It is a two-story brick
building and is 110 by 62 feet, with a circuit court room and jury
rooms above and the county court room and county offices below.
The first jail, erected in 1872, at a cost of $11,000, was torn down and
a new building erected in 1906 and 1907, just west of the courthouse,
at a cost of $11,000. The sheriff's headquarters are in the same building.
The poorhouse is located on a farm about two and one-half miles
northwest of Dalton and four miles west of Keytesville. It is estimated
that the building and farm cost about $8,000.
Among the physicians who practiced in Keytesville were Dr.
318 HISTOEY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
David Pettigrew, Dr. John Qrinstead, Dr. George M. Dewey, Dr. M. J,
Rucker, Dr. Felix Clennond, Dr. H. T. Gamett, Dr. Luther Perkins,
Dr. John Aldridge, Dr. C. T. Holland, Dr. James A. Egan, Dr. B.
Hughes and Dr. T. J. Dewey.
Keytesville has one of the largest high school buildings in the county,
built in 1887 at a cost of $24,000. There are nine rooms and nine teach-
ers, with the principal, and an average attendance of 353 pupils. It is
a first-class graded high school, fully accredited by all coUeges and
by the University of Missouri. Under the supervision of the teachers,
athletics are encouraged, but are not carried to excess so as to interfere
with the other school work.
Two newspapers are published in Keytesville, the Chariton Courier,
owned and edited by Earl 3* Kellogg, and the Keytesville Signal, owned
by the Rev. Franc Mitchell and at present edited by A. M. Child.
There have been only two banks in Keytesville, the Bank of Keytes>
ville, established in 1871, with William E. Hill owner and cashier, and
the Farmers Bank of Chariton county, which commenced business in
1880, with L. M. Applegate, president. Judge J. B. Hyde, vice-president,
and John C. Miller, cashier. The present officers of the Farmers Bank
are: A. S. Taylor, president; James C. Wallace, vice-president; H. C.
Miller, cashier ; A. F. Taylor, assistant cashier.
Among the prominent attorneys of Keytesville have been : William H.
Davis, John C. Crawley, C. B. Crawley, A. Mackay, Jr., Capt. J. C.
Wallace, Judge W. W. Rucker (now member of congress), 0. F. Smith,
John D. Taylor (now member of legislature), J. A. Collett', and Roy W.
Rucker, county attorney.
POSTOPPIOBS
In 1837 there were only three postoffices in Chariton county, Chari-
ton, G. Compton, postmaster; Keytesville, Sterling Price, postmaster;
Brunswick, James Keyte, postmaster. In 1912 there are twenty post*
offices and twenty-eight rural mail routes.
Brunswick
The town of Brunswick was laid out by the Rev. James Keyte in 1836,
on the northwest quarter of section 11, township 53, range 20, which at
that time was one mile below the mouth of Grand river, and the original
site was several hundred yards south of the present site on the Missouri
river. The banks of the river kept caving in at every rise in the river
and forced the business houses and residences to be moved back to the
base of the bluffs. The Missouri river in 1875-76 cut through a bend on
the Saline county side and left the town and the Grand river, followed
the old channel of the Missouri river and empties into that river three
miles below town. The first house erected in Brunswick by the Rev. James
Keyte was a log-house used as a general merchandise store. He also
erected the first sawmill in the town. He was the first postmaster in
the town and held the position until his death, in the fall of 1844.
Among the pioneer business men were: Peter T. Abell, Perkins and
Comwell, who had general stores; John Basey, father of Capt. D. C.
Basey, kept the first hotel. Captain Basey was the first white child
bom in the town. Nathan Harry was the first saddler ; Joseph Winters
and Joseph Caton were the first tailors; Col. Peter T. Abell and Col.
Casper W. Bell were the first lawyers to practice in the town. Dr. Edwin
Price, brother of Gen. Sterling Price, was one of the most distinguished
pioneer physicians. His daughter, Lizzie, married Dr. Henry W. Cross,
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 319
who was also a prominent physician and for several years edited the
Brunsmcker. R. B. Price, son of Dr. Edwin Price, is a prominent banker
in Columbia, Missouri. George R. Dupuy, Broady Barrett and Thomas
L Beazley were among the early buyers and shippers of tobacco. Ada-
mantine Johnson and Thomas E. Gilliam were the first manufacturers
of chewing tobacco. The pioneer school teacher was Judge John M.
Davis, who opened the first school in a log-cabin in Brunswick on June
19, 1840.
Brunswick grew rapidly and prospered until the time of the Civil
war, as its trade was quite extensive and much of its business was drawn
from the counties north and northeast as far as the Iowa line. It was
no tmusual thing in the winter time to see from fifty to seventy-five
wagons arrive daily from the upper counties loaded with tobacco, which
they would sell for cash and would invest the money in groceries and
other merchandise. The building of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad
took away much of Brunswick's trade.
The first church building erected in Brunswick was built by the
Methodist Episcopal Church South and shortly afterward the Presby-
terians erected a house of worship.
The first bank was started in Brunswick in 1856 and was known
as the Brunswick branch of the Merchants' Bank of St. Louis. The
president was Adamantine Johnson; George W. Outcalt, cashier; and
William C. Applegate, clerk. The bank suspended business during
the Civil war. Willis H. Plunkett started a private bank in 1865
and continued until the Chariton County Exchange Bank was char-
tered in 1877, with Robert H. Hodge as president; J. A. Merchant,
cashier; and Frank Kennedy, clerk. The capital stock is $25,000. The
present officers are L. H. Herring, president; T. J. Marshall, vice
president; W. D. Magruder, cashier; L. O. Riley, assistant cashier.
The First National Bank of Brunswick was organized in 1889,
with Capt. J. M. Peery, president; T. S. GriflSn, vice president; and
Lon Dumay, cashier. The capital stock is $50,000. The present oflB-
cers are George W. Cunningham, president; L. A, Sasse, cashier; A.
L. Friesz, assistant cashier.
Among the prominent business men who have lived in Brunswick
and extended its trade were H. C. Brent & Company, R. H. Dickey
& Company, Hathaway & Anderson, Brinker Brothers, Ballentine &
Outcalt, Johnson & Company, Willis H. Plunkett, Merchant & Beazley,
D. C. Basey, J. J. Heisel, Morgan Bowman & Company, Stark Mauzey,
Douglas & Blue, J. W. Cunningham, Griffin Brothers & Company, Wil-
liam Rosenstein, Kennedy Brothers, J. T. Plunkett, J. M. Spencer, A. F.
Tooley, Lewis Bosworth, John Strub, Sr., Strub Brothers, Strub & Meyer,
Knight & Rucker, C. B. Wallace & Company, H. L. Mann, George Defani,
C. W. Bowen.
Among the physicians who practiced medicine in Brunswick and
vicinity have been Dr. Edwin Price, Dr. John H. Blue, Dr; Henry
W. Cross, Dr. W. H. Beddow, Dr. Groves, Dr. G. M. Brinker, Dr.
Drake McDowell, Dr. I. P. Vaughan, Dr. James AUin, Dr. William S.
West. Dr. Lewis S. Prosser, Dr. C. T. Kimmel, Dr. William Watte,
Dr. Clarkson, Dr. J. S. Wallace, Dr. G. W. Edwards, Dr. Thomas Mar-
tin, Dr. R. O. Davenport, and Dr. H. E. Tatum.
*
Brunswick Lodges ,
Eureka Lodge No. 73 A. F. & A. M. was organized August 23,
1845. The lodge room and all the furniture and regalia were destroyed
by fire February 1, 1882. The present officers are: J. B. Roberteon,
320 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
W. M. ; Dr. L. L. Cleveland, J. W. ; J. I. Crossland, S. W. ; Otto Ben-
ecke, secretary; and Dr. J. S. Wallace, treasurer.
Houston Royal Arch Chapter No. 37 was organized September 10,
1847. The charter was surrendered in April, 1851, and reorganized
January 30, 1869. The present offices are: H. L. Mann, H. P.; G. D.
Kennedy, scribe; Robert Morehead, king; Q. W. Rucker, C. H. ; Wil-
liam Rosenstein, R. A. C. ; J. M. Barker, P. S. ; H. E. Tatum, secre-
tary; L. H. Herring, treasurer. This is the only chapter of R. A. M.
in the county, as the chapter formerly at Salisbury surrendered its
charter several years ago.
Brunswick Lodge No. 34 I. O. O. F. was chartered June 9, 1848,
and organized June 24, 1848. They have a commodious, well-fur-
nished lodge room over the Presbyterian church. The present officers
are: R. C. Meyers, N. G. ; L. M. Paul, secretary; A. B. Crismond, fin.
secretary; J. R. Meyer, treasurer.
Among the attorneys of Brunswick have been Col. C. W. Bell,
county attorney in 1876-1880; Judge Charles Winslow, judge of the
common pleas court and supreme judge in 1882; Col. R. H. Musser;
Col. Andrew Harris; Col. Peter T. Abell; Benjamin Stringf ellow ;
Judge John M. Davis; Judge Charles Hammond, member of the leg-
islature in 1876; E. Kinley; I. H. Kinley, county attorney in 1872;
Capt. J. C. Wallace, county attorney from 1885 to 1890; T. S. Dines;
C. C. Hammond; Ed T. MUler, now in St. Louis, and general attorney
for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway ; Lee J. Davis ; F. C. Sasse ;
L. E. Merrill ; Charles Finch ; James W. Davis, member of legislature in
1896.
Brunsv^ck Schools
The high school building at Brunswick was built in 1892 at a cost
of $25,000. The directors are now building a new addition that will
cost $8,000. The building is commodious, well lighted and heated,
convenient and strictly modem. The class and recitation rooms are
supplied with maps, globes and reference books, and a well-equipped
physical laboratory and they are preparing to have a well-equipped
agricultural laboratory. There is a library with several hundred vol-
umes, and new books are added each year. There is a well-equipped
gymnasium in the basement and the school grounds have been graded
and a basketball court and cinder track prepared. An outdoor gym-
nasium, provided with trapezes, horizontal bars, swings, etc., is being
constructed. This is the only high school in this part of the state
equipped for all kinds of wholesome athletic sports. The high school
is fully accredited by all universities and colleges. The total units
credit 21M», being the highest in Chariton county by three units. Many
of the graduates of the high school are holding responsible positions in
the army, civil service, educational field, professional and business
world. The principal of the high school is Prof. G. W. Diemer.
The B. K. Bruce graded school for colored children has a large
and commodious building, costing $8,000, and they have two men teach-
ers and one woman teacher. The average attendance is eighty-five.
The Catholic school building is situated on the hill just north of
the Catholic church. It has several large rooms and the average
attendance is about forty pupils. The school is under the careful super-
vision of the parish priest, the Reverend Father Alexander, a kind-
hearted, broad-minded man with a classical education, who numbers his
friends by the extent of his acquaintance.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 321
Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural
The steel bridge across Grand river at Brunswick is the longest free
bridge in the state and was built in 1906 at a cost of $16,500, by con-
tributions of the citizens of Brunswick and vicinity and appropria-
tions made by the county court of Chariton county.
Before the days of railroads all the freight for Brunswick and its
vicinity and the counties north came by steamboats from St. Louis
and there were from fifty to sixty boats running on the ^lissouri river
every year. The number of steamboat arrivals and departures at
Brunswick for on« year was 534 and one boat alone that year made forty-
four landings at this wharf. Now it is a rare thing to have a steam-
boat land at Brunswick.
One of the principal manufacturing establishments in Brunswick
is the Brunswick Tobacco Company, owned and managed by T. W. Jen-
nings and J. M. Barker, an independent concerrf that has no connection
with any of the consolidated American tobacco companies. They manu-
facture both chewing and smoking tobacco, employing about fifty or sixty
hands, and have an extensive trade for their products all over this state
and also a large business in Iowa and Kansas. The tobacco production
in Chariton county during the past few years is due, in a great meas-
ure, to the encouragement of this tobacco, manufacturing company
and has more than kept pace with the increase in other farm crops of
the state, no other crop having sho^Ti such a marked increase in acre-
age, production and value. They imported the White Burley tobacco
seed from Kentucky' and distributed the seed to the farmers and as-
sured them the highest market price on all they raised. In 1875
Chariton county produced over 15,000,000 pounds of tobacco, but the
low prices prevailing from that time until about 1905 caused the
farmers to almost quit raising the weed. The efforts on the part of
these manufacturers to encourage the growing of tobacco in this county
have met with splendid success and in 1911 Chariton county was sec-
ond in the state in the production of tobacco, having raised in that
year 1,533,997 pounds, valued at $169,000 and realizing to the farmer
from $100 to $250 an acre. The soil in many parts of the county is
peculiarly adapted to the raising of the White Burley tobacco, as
the ridges where the white oak and pawpaw grow produce that beau-
tiful golden yellow and ** piebald'* tobacco leaves that are so popular
with manufacturers of chewing and smoking tobacco.
Another important industry located in Brunswick is the Bruns-
wick Brick and Tile Company. Started in 1886 on a small scale, it
has grown and prospered from year to year until the present output
annually is about 500,000 bricks and 250,000 tiles of all sizes. They
employ from eighteen to twenty persons and to the general manager,
L. Kinkhorst, and the foreman, A. C. Salter, is due the splendid suc-
cess of this enterprise. The large clay hill just two blocks north of
the tile factory furnishes an inexhaustible supply of fine material for
the manufacture of both brick and tile.
Parmera in Chariton counly who own low land or swamp land,
unfit for cultivation, find that after properly ditching and tile drain-
ing this kind of soil the value of the land is enhanced three or four
fold.
The Owen Grain and Milling Company, owned by Walter S. Owen,
is one of Brunswick's thriving enterprises, with a capacity of turning
out daily 125 barrels of flour and 100 barrels of meal and shipping
annually over 80,000 bushels of Avheat and more than 100,000 bushels
of com. This company stands high for fair dealing and they enjoy
ToLI— 21
322 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
not only a splendid trade at home, but also throughout Chariton and
neighboring counties their products of flour and meal are rated as
the best.
The Brunswick Elevator Company, owned by Cashraan Brothers,
also ship from this place annually some 50,000 bushels of wheat aud
more than 100,000 bushels of corn.
Brunswick has an excellent telephone system and a splendidly
equipped electric light and water works company, the latter supply-
ing an abundance of water to stores and residences and serves as a
protection in case of fire.
The Mexican War
In May, 1846, the battles of Palo Alto and R.esaca de la Palma were
fought and Mexico having declared war against the United States,
great excitement prevafled and the patriotic people of Missouri offered
their services to fight for their country's cause. During May, 1846,
Governor Edwards of Missouri called for volunteers to join the **Army
of the West." General Sterling Price resigned his seat in congress
and during the summer of 1846 raised one mounted regiment and one
mounted extra battalion to join the Army of the West. Sterling Price
was commissioned colonel and D. D. Mitchell, lieutenant colonel. Chari-
ton county furnished one company of this regiment of seventy as bravo
men as ever fired a gun or unsheathed a sword in defense of their coun-
try. William C. Holley was elected captain; Daniel Herryford, first
lieutenant; John Mansfield, second lieutenant; Golden Wassen, third
lieutenant ; D. Mansfield, orderly sergeant ; Valentine Cupp, flagbearer :
Hiram Lewis, bugler. This company was made up of men from all
walks of life and from their youth they had been accustomed to the
use of firearms and many of them were expert marksmen. They were
men who had reputations to maintain at home by their good conduct
in the field and there was an individuality of character in the men of
this regiment found in the ranks of few armies. Their ideal and hero
was their commander. Colonel Sterling Price. Fatigue, hardships and
privations of a soldier's life in a barren and inhospitable country
brought on disease and death and only about half of the men lived
to return to their homes. On their return to Missouri the people of
Chariton county gave a barbecue on October 20, 1847, at KeytesviUe
to the officers and soldiers of General Price and General Doniphan's
regiments. The address of welcome was made by Dr. John H. Blue,
editor of the Brunsmicker, and the response in behalf of the volun-
teers made by General Price was very touching, as he told of their
hardships on the march and their gallantry on the field of battle. The
flag of the company, presented to them by the women when they
started for Santa Fe, was unfurled amid the applause of the multitude
and the sixteen bullet holes in this faded and tattered banner showed
it had been borne in the front of the battle where the bullets flew the
thickest, where 280 Missourians whipped 2,000 Mexicans led by their
bravest generals at the battle of Canada and also at the siege of Taos.
Colonel Claiborne F. Jackson, an invited guest, also made an address
and spoke of the heroic deeds of these gallant Missourians.
CAI.IFORNIA Gold Seekers
In the fall of 1848 exaggerated reports were printed in the news-
papers of the wonderful richness of the placer mines of CaUfomia and
the lust for gold pervaded every community in the West. The most
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 323
sober-minded and incredulous men could not resist the infection and
the winter months were spent organizing companies and making plans
to start early in the spring for the new-found Eldorado. The roads
were crowded every day with a long line of white-topped wagons, to
each of which were hitched from three to five yoke of oxen, wending
their way slowly from east to west as far as the eye could reach. Many
of those who left their families and peaceful firesides were doomed
to disappointment and others never returned, having fallen victims
to the epidemic of cholera that was raging in that year. Several com-
panies were organized in Chariton county and among them was one
formed by John S. Wallace, of which he was elected captain. In this
company were Erastus Butler, a neighbor boy ; William Shomens, Sam-
uel Burch, and a colored man named Abe belonging to Capt. J. S.
Wallace. This company started the latter part of April from Chari-
ton county and on April 25, 1849, just three hours after the birth of
the writer of this sketch, my father bade farewell to his family, mounted
his horse and with tear-bedimmed eyes started for the far West and over-
took his companions at Weston. He kept a diary of his trip and in
its pages he relates many thrilling skirmishes with hostile Indians.
He remained in California two years, returning on a sail ship that
was becalmed in the Pacific ocean for several weeks, crossed the Isth-
mus of Panama, and returning home by the way of New York City.
He found on his return that his wife, by her frugality and skill in
management of the farm, had made and saved more money than he
had accumulated in his two years in California. He lived only a few
months after his return, falling a victim to Asiatic cholera on August
14, 1851, which disease was raging as an epidemic at that time in
Glasgow. Among others who went to California in 1849 and 1850 were
James N. Staples, Cyrus Hutchison, Philip Hooper, R. W. Price, Andy
J. Crockett, James Peery, Dr. L. S. Prosser, Tilly Emerson, John G.
Moore, Ephraim Moore, Alfonzo Moore, Hiram Lewis, George Apple-
gate, Frank Woods, Jacob Trent, T. H. Walton, and Lisbon Apple-
gate.
High Water of 1844.
One of th^ greatest calamities that ever befell the people of Chari-
ton county was the high water of 1844, when the lowlands on the north
side of the Missouri river from Brunswick to Glasgow and on both
sides of the Grand Chariton were covered with water from five to fif-
teen feet in depth. It was due to the June rise in the Missouri river
causing it to overflow its banks and, with an unusually heavy rainfall
throughout Kansas, Missouri and Iowa, the tributaries of this stream
in Chariton county overflowed their banks and the water in the south-
em part of the county was six feet higher than it had ever been before.
There was great suffering among the farmers in the submerged dis-
trict and they were forced to flee with their flocks and household goods
to the bluffs, where they were kindly cared for by their friendly and
hospitable neighbors. All the flatboats, skiffs and canoes that could
be had were pressed into service to rescue the unfortunate people from
their danger. Many of them lost not only their crops, fences, houses
and stock, but some lost their lives by remaining in their houses and
trying to rescue their stock from the flood which covered the land for
more than three weeks. Two other floods have occurred in recent years,
one in 1903 and the other in 1909, at which times there was perhaps
greater loss of crops than in 1844, but no loss of life.
324 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Physical Features
Chariton county is well watered by many streams, the Missouri on
the south border being the principal one, and its tributaries, Brush,
Salt and Yellow creeks, Locust, Elk and Turkey creeks, Lake and
Palmer creeks, the Grand Chariton, Mussel Fork, Little Chariton, east
and middle fork of the same. The streams flow generally in a south-
erly direction and, as the county is an undulating plain neither too
flat nor too hilly, form a perfect system of natural drainage. In some
parts of the county the land along these streams is flat, but by syste-
matic drainage it can be made to yield large crops of corn, timo-
thy and wheat. The ** divides'' between the streams or high table
lands extending nearly the whole length of the counties is a rich black
loam of vegetable deposit with a porous subsoil and is inexhaustible
in fertility. In the bottomland the soil is a rich, sandy, black loam as
fertile as the valley of the Nile, peculiarly adapted to the raising of
potatoes, onions and melons, and it yields the farmers bountiful crops
of corn, wheat, oats, barley, timothy and alfalfa. It is no unusual
thing for a farmer to cut three or four crops of alfalfa each year, yield-
ing two tons an acre, and for potatoes to yield 200 bushels and onions
400 bushels an acre. The prairie lands of the county are generally roll-
ing and quite fertile. The vast primeval forests of oak, elm, honey locust,
walnut, hickory, pecan, hackberry, linn, cottonwood, and sycamore that
grew on the uplands and along both sides of the various streams have
been ruthlessly and improvidently destroyed. Many farms have large
woods pastures set in bluegrass that grows as luxuriantly as it does in
the celebrated blue grass counties of Kentucky. If the farmer is not a
stock-raiser, he can easily rent it out for grazing stock upon, at from $3 to
$5 an acre. This county is peculiarly adapted to the production of all
kinds of fruit. Peach, apple, pear, apricot, plum and cherry trees grow
rapidly, stand the winters well and yield bountiful crops of excellent
quality. Grapes, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries yield boun-
tiful crops also and find a ready market. Many of the farmers of Chariton
county who devote a great deal of care and attention to their orchards are
amply rewarded by selling the fruit on the trees to shippers for from
^1,000 to $1,500 an orchard, the prices depending upon the number
of trees, the yield of such trees and the kind of apples grown.
The type of disease has changed very much in the last thirty^ or
forty years. The early pioneers suffered severely from the autumnal
fevers, remittent and intermittent, and in the recollection of many
now living it was no unusual thing to see whole families down with
malarial fever with scarcely enough well ones to wait upon the sick.
Now malarial fever is quite rare. That the health of the county has
improved is due to the fact that the lakes and swamps in the bottoms
have been drained and the lowlands are being filled up by the allu-
vial deposits brought down from the cultivated fields. Professor Koch
in his studies in South Africa indicated that malaria is conveyed by
mosquitoes. These swamps and lowlands were the breeding: places of
these pests and by removing the cause the disease has in a great meas-
ure disappeared from this section. Pneumonia and typhoid fever are
not so prevalent or so fatal as they were forty or fifty years ago.
Whether due to a more rational mode of treatment or a modification
of these diseases is hard to say.
The Civil War
During the Civil war it is estimated that six hundred or seven hun-
dred men in this county enlisted in the Coiifederatt' army. Thr first com-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 325
pany was organized at Hrunswick and enlisted as Missouri State Guards,
with the following officers : Captain, E. W. Price ; first lieutenant, H. L.
Gaines; second lieutenant, R. A. Dickey ; jun. 2nd lieutenant, J. 0. Patter-
son. The officera of the second company were: Captain, Thomas H.
Price; tirat lieutenant, John Barr; second lieutenant, John Crowder;
jun. 2nd lieutenant, William McAshan. These companies were composed
of about eighty -five men each. Another company composed of men from
the forks of the Chariton enlisted in Company B, Third Missouri* State
Guard, with the following officers: Captain, T. H. Walton; first lieu-
tenant, John Lampkin ; second lieutenant, William Ewing ; jun. 2nd lieu-
tenant, John Taylor. This company was composed of eighty-five men
and reenlisted in 1862 in the Confederate army, remaining in the service
until the close of the war and was mustered out at Shreveport, Louisiana,
in June, 1865. Captain T. H. Walton was promoted to the rank of
major and belonged to General Elliott's battalion of General Joe Shelby's
brigade. In October, 1862, two companies. Company A., Third Regiment
Missouri State Guard, and Company I, Eighth Battalion ^lissouri In-
fantry, consolidated and formed Company E, Eighth Regiment, C. S. A.,
of which regiment R. H. Musser was lieutenant-colonel and p. L. Gaines
major. The following officers were elected in Company I, Ninth Regi-
ment: Captain, James C. Wallace; first lieutenant, G. T. Vaughan; sec-
ond lieutenant, J. N. Thompson ; junior 2nd lieutenant, F. F. Weed. This
company was made up of men from Chariton coimty and participated
in the engagements at Carthage, Drywood, Springfield, Lexington, and
Elk Horn. At Elk Horn Captain Wallace was severely wounded in
the right thigh. Among other engagements in which this company par-
ticipated were at Cypress Bend, Little Rock, Gaines' Landing, Jenkins
Ferry, and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. Captain Wallace was again
wounded in the knee at Jenkins Ferry. He surrendered his company
May 10, 1865, at Shreveport, Louisiana.
Several companies of Union soldiers were organized in Chariton
county and entered the Union army in 1861. The officers of Company
B, Eighteenth Missouri Infantry, were: Captain, Peter R. Dolman;
first lieutenant, Fred Partenheimer ; first lieutenant, J. J. Hersel, re-
.^igned ; second lieutenant, J, J. Abrigg. Captain John A. Vance organ-
ized a company of Home Guard Militia, composed of Germans living
in the southeastern part of the county. Captain Buckshardt organ-
ized another company of Home Guard Militia composed of Germans
and were stationed in the Bowling Green prairie south of Dalton.
Quite a number of men in Chariton county enlisted in Companies E
and H of the Ninth Regiment of Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, known
as Colonel Guitar's regiment. The officers of Company H, Missouri
State Militia, were: Captain, H. S. Glaze; first lieutenant, T. A. H.
Smith ; second lieutenant, J. A. Donahoe ; first sergeant, J. X. Mitchell ;
second sergeant, J. Shaw; third sergeant, F. O. Boomer; fourth ser-
geant, Monte Lehman; fifth sergeant, John S. Foggin.
During the last year of the Civil war there were enacted in Chari-
ton county some of the darkest deeds of cold-blooded murder that
were ever perpetrated in any civilized community by men who seemed to
be possessed of the instinct of the savage instead of that of civilized
beings. Old men who had borne the burdens of the early pioneer in
this county and whose gray hairs and tottering forms entitled them
to more humane treatment were shot down by the roadside by these
creatures in human form for the sole reason that they were accused of
being southern sympathizers. On the other hand, there were roving
bands of guerillas scouting over the country, many of them not com-
nected with any military organization, who retaliated by killing inof-
326 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
fensive Union men who were non-combatants and had taken no part
in the war. The Union men as well as the southern sympathizers who
remained at home to care for their families suflEered more from these
atrocities than those who enlisted in either army. Among those who
were thus shot by the militia in 1864 was Moses Hurt, who had been
a Union man all during the war. He was taken a short distance from
his home and killed by the roadside. Abner Finnell, one of the pioneer
school-teachers in Chariton county and a captain of the state militia
in 1838, was taken from his home by the same crowd and shot by the
roadside a few hundred yards from his front gate. James Stark, Sr.,
living in the same neighborhood with Moses Hurt, was given the alter-
native of going in the militia or going to prison. Being a Southern
sympathizer, he declined doing either and so remained away from
home. A captain of militia, with some thirty men, went to his home
to arrest him. He was not there and they told his son, James Stark,
Jr., to tell them where his father was or they would hang him. But
none of the family could tell anything of his whereabouts. They then
took James, Jr., a boy only sixteen years old, to the woods and hung
him several^ times to the limb of a tree, while the boy protested his
inability to tell where his father was. They finally hung him to a
limb and rode off and left him hanging. His body was found some
days later and given decent interment by his neighbors. The writer
of this sketch was a schoolmate of a sister of James Stark, Jr., for
several months during the summer of 1864 and often heard her tell
the story of the brutal murder of her little brother. Horatio Phil-
pott, one of the pioneers of Chariton county, who came to the county
in 1837 and opened a mill on the east fork of the Chariton, was known
as a southern sympathizer, as were many of his neighbors. In Octo-
ber, 1864, he was taken from his home by a company of militia under
the command of ^ Captain Trueman and this aged pioneer, seventy-five
years old, was shot a few hundred yards from his home. When found
by his family he had on his person five gunshot wounds and two bay-
onet thrusts. Two of the gunshot wounds were in the head and the
others, with the bayonet thrusts, were in the breast. Dr. James Brum-
mall, living in the same neighborhood, was killed the same day by the
same company of militia. It is said that among the soldiers who com-
mitted the bloody deeds were one or two of his neighbors who boasted
that they had killed old Dr. Brummall. Jesse Rogers, an old man
of more than seventy years of age, was shot the same day by the same
soldiers after they had partaken of his hospitality and they refused
to permit the family to bury him. As a result, his body lay two or
three days before it was buried. He was a quiet, peaceable citizen
and a most humble and devout Christian, whose only crime was that
he was a southern sympathizer. Theophilus Edwards, aged seventy
years, was another victim of this same lawless band, who left a trail
of blood along their line of march through the county.
One of the most brutal and cowardly deeds committed by men
claiming to be soldiers was the wanton murder of John W. Leonard^
a boy only fifteen years of age, by the militia stationed at Brunswick.
He was arrested by John Cox, who was raised on an adjoining farm
and who had gone to school with young Leonard. Leonard was
brought to Brunswick January 4, 1865, and placed in the guard house.
• The ^Titer of this sketch met Captain Trueman in 186.') and 1R66 in Ottumwa,
Iowa, and often talked with him in tne presence of Wm. II. Howerton and W. S.
Locke about the wanton slauf^hter of old men in Chariton county in 1864 by his com-
pany and he contended that he was merely carrying out the instructions of bis
superior officers.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI B27
At night he was taken out by a squad of militia and taken to the Mis-
souri river, where a hole was cut in the ice, and, while he was pleading
for his life, he was thrust in the river and held until life was extinct.
The charge against him was that it was reported by some neighborhood
spy that he had been active with bushwhackers and for this without
trial, he was made to forfeit his young life to gratify the lust for blood.
The writer of this sketch knows that the charge that John Leonard
was ever a bushwhacker was a falsehood, for he boarded with the
boy's mother, ate at the same table and slept in the same bed with
him from February, 1864, until late in August of the same year and
knows positively that he was never a member of any company of guer-
rillas. The boy's mother, accompanied by a neighbor woman, came to
Brunswick in an ox wagon a few days after her son's arrest and tried
to find out the fate of the boy. She was informed that he had been
sent to the military prison in St. Louis. The aged mother died a few
years afterward in the asylum at St. Joseph. Her mental trouble was
caused by grief for her devoted son. Among others who were killed
in Bruns\^ick were Judge J. J. Flood, who was shot in his own house ;
John T. [McAshan, who was shot and his body thrown in the Missouri
river; an old man by the name of Pixley, who was shot and his body
left in the road near Brunswick, was partially eaten by hogs; a man
by the name of Franklin, who was shot and his body thrown in Clark
Applegate's yard.
Among the Union men who were killed by the guerillas, in retali-
ation for those killed by the militia, were Senstra Coleman, Mr. Parten-
heimer, Charles Jensin, and James Bittinger.
On September 22, 1864, the town of Keytesville was taken by Cap-
tains Todd and Threldkill and their men and about fifty militia, under
Captain Berry Owens, surrendered. Robert Carmen and William
Young were taken prisoners and Senator A. Mackay plead with Todd
to save the life of Carmen, as he was the sheriff of the county and a
quiet, peaceable citizen. But they were taken outside of the town
and killed.
After General Price's raid many houses were burned by the militia,
among them the fine residences of John D. Locke, Green Plunkett, Capt.
William Herryford, Martin Hurt, and the John Moore tavern in Old
Chariton. A. Kennedy's warehouse in Brunswick, together with a large
quantity of furniture and tobacco and several pianos, was also burned.
The loss was more than $30,000 as the building contained the property
of citizens who were leaving for St. Louis and other cities to escape the
horrors of the Civil war.
Salisbury
Salisbury was laid out April 1, 1867, by Lucius Salisbury (for whom
the town was named), George W. Williams and 0. W. Lusher. Judge
Salisbury was one of the fibrst storekeepers and also kept a house for
the entertainment of travelers. He was elected a county judge in 1850,
and was a member of the legislature in 1868 and 1870.
W. S. Stockwell was the pioneer lawyer and the Rev. William Penn
was one of the first ministers of the Methodist Church South. The first
church was built by the Cumberland Presbyterians. Mrs. M. A. Robin-
son was the proprietress of the first hotel after the laying out of the
town. Capt. James Herryford was one of the early settlers of Salisbury
township, a native of Virginia, but coming from Tennessee to Chariton
county in 1817. He erected one of the first horse mills, the first cotton
gin and the first distillery built in the county. He was the father of
Capt. William Herryford, who was a member of the state legislature
328 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
in 1854 and again in 1880. Among the other pioneers who settled in this
section were James Ryan, James Dinsmore, Peterson Parks, Samuel C.
and Jonathan T. Burch, Judge Shannon, Jesse Rogers, Samuel Williams
and Martin L. Hurt.
Salisbury has been visited by two destructive fires, the first June 11,
1877, when nine frame houses were burned. The second fire occurred
June 28, 1882, and the loss aggregated $20,000. On June 11, 1872, a
destructive tornado swept over Salisbury township, coming from the
southwest and destroying the amphitheatre at the fair grounds south-
west of the town, entailing a loss of more than $8,000. The annual fair
was discontinued after this tornado. The Presbyterian church was
blown from its foundation. The Baptist church was also badly damaged.
Salisbury is beautifully located, standing as it does on an elevated
ridge in the center of a high, rolling prairie surrounded by rich farming
land and as far as the eye can reach are seen fine farm houses and barns,
cultivated fields and bearing orchards, the whole presenting a scene of
pastoral loveliness which is seldom seen in any county. Salisbury is at
the junction of the Glasgow branch of the Wabash Railroad with the
main line and it has grown rapidly until it has the largest population of
any town in the county. The citizens are progressive and the business
men wide-awake to the advantages to be derived from all modern im-
provements. They have a finely equipped electric light plant and water
works, miles of granitoid sidewalks, finely graded streets and well
dragged roads leading in from the country. It is a city of beautiful
homes, with well kept lawns, which show that the citizens are cultured
and blessed with plenty of this world's goods and know how to enjoy
it. It is no unusual sight to see more than forty automobiles on the
streets at one time.
The public school of Salisbury was organized in April, 1867, having
at that time two teachers and an enrollment of 108. The school was
taught in a frame building with only four rooms. The Salisbury high
school building was erected in 1902 at a cost of $18,000. It contains
thirteen rooms. There are twelve teachers and 494 pupils. It is a graded
high school and articulates with the University of Missouri and the
normal schools.
Salisbury has three banks. The People's Bank of Salisbury has
a capital stock of $25,000. The officers are : G. W. Harhart, president ;
Benjamin Hayes, vice-president; J. W. Grizzell, cashier; W. R. Tindall,
assistant cashier; E. C. Ferguson, accountant. The Salisbury Savings
Bank has a capital stock of $30,000. The officers are : Joe W. Ingram,
president ; W. E. Sutter, assistant cashier. The Farmers and Merchants
Bank, with a capital stock of $25,000, has the following officers : J. W.
Luck, president; George G. Johnson, vice-president; R. P. Asbury,
cashier ; E. J. Sutter, assistant cashier.
A number of wealthy, enterprising citizens of Salisbury organized
an insurance company which has been quite successful. It is called the
American Life and Accident Insurance Company of Salisbury and has
a cash capital of $100,000. The officers of the company are : John W.
Cooper, president ; George T. Johnson, vice-president ; C. C. Hammond,
secretary; E. M. Williams, treasurer.
Salisbury has two large grain and milling companies and a large
grain elevator.
There are two newspapers in the town, the Press-Spectator, started
by J. ;M. Gallemore in 1871 and now owned by Joe Ritzenthaler» and the
Detnocrat, owned and edited by Dismukes and Son.
The various religious denominations are well represented. The Bap-
tists, Methodists, Christians, Cumberland Presbyterians and Catholics
each have a church building in Salisbury.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 329
Among the prominent physicians of Salisbury have been Dr. J. A.
Egan, Dr. B. F. Wilson, Sr., Dr. F. B. Philpott, Dr. W. H. P. Baker,
Dr. J. F. Welch, Dr. J. D. Bnimmall, Dr. Wilhoit, Dr. Hawkins and
Dr. Banning.
Among the attorneys-at-law who practiced their profession in the
town have been W. S. Stockwell, J. B. Ellington, W. H. Bradley, C. C.
Hammond, Judge Fred Lamb, A. W. Johnson, Gilbert Lamb, J. A.
Collett and Roy McKittriek.
Triplett
The town of Triplett was laid out in 1870 by H. H. Hooper and John
E. M. Triplett (for whom the town was named) and is located on the
Omaha branch of the Wabash Railroad. It is a Ihrivinji: ttjwn of six
hundred inhabitants, situated in the center of a fine farming and stock-
raising country and with the finest roads for automobile traveling in the
county. It has a fine public school building, with six rooms and six
teachers, and is a twelfth grade school. The average attendance is two
.hundred pupils. There are two banks in Triplett. The Farmers Bank
has a capital stock and surplus of $15,000. The officers are : President,
J. 6. Bartoe; vice-president, B. F. Fleetwood; cashier, T. V. Phelps.
The People's Bank has a capital stock and surplus of $15,000. The offi-
cers are : President, A. C. Smith ; vice-president, C. T. Collins ; cashier,
Wade McCallister. There are two churches, the Christian, with a mem-
bership of about 180, and the Methodist church South, with a member-
ship of 125. Each of these churches has a ladies' aid society in good
working order. There is a Masonic lodge and a lodge of the I. O. O. F.,
Knights of Pythias, and ^lodern Woodmen of America. The Com-
mercial Club has about forty members. The Triplett Chautauqua band,
of fourteen pieces, organized in 1898, is one of the best in the county.
In 1906 a company was organized to sink a well for oil and, after
digging to the depth of 1,500 feet on Wash Triplett 's land, just east of
town, work was stopped as no evidence of oil was found. An artesian
well of sulpho-saline water was developed, which has fine medicinal
properties and **Siloam's Pool," near the well, is a popular bathing
resort in the summer. On Frank EUibtt's farm, just west of town,
another well some three hundred feet in depth was sunk in 1906, which
is also a sulpho-saline water and also has fine medicinal (jualities. Trip-
lett would be a fine location for a sanitarium. The Triplett Tribune is
^ a hustling newspaper ably edited by Harry Spencer.
Newspapers
The first newspaper published in Chariton county was the Rf porter,
established in 1847 by J. T. Quisenbury. After a few months he sold
the plant to Dr. John H. Blue, who changed the name to the Bruns-
wicker. He continued as editor and manager until 1854, when he sold
it to Col. C. W. Bell and Willis H. Plunkett. In 1856 the paper was
sold to O. D. Hawkins, who shortly afterward sold it to Col. R. H.
Musser. After editing it for about a year. Col. Musser sold it to Dr.
Henry W. Cross, who consolidated it with the ('entral City and the name
was changed to Central City Bninswicker. It retained this name until
1866, when it was changed to the Weekly Bninswicker. In 1858, Dr.
Cross sold the paper to Robert C. Hancock, who was its editor until
1862, when it was sold to Dr. J. F. Cunningham. In 1864, Hancock
bought the paper again, but in 1865 sold it to Winslow and Cunning-
^ k
330 HISTORY OF NOETHEAST MISSOURI
ham and they sold it, in 1866, to J. B. Naylor and Capt. William H.
Balthis. In 1875, Naylor purchased the interest of Capt. Balthis and
ably edited the paper until 1880, when he sold it to I. H. Banley and
Capt. J. C. Wallace. In 1888, I. H. Kinley retired from the paper and
the Brunswicker Publishing Company was formed and Hon. Perry S.
Rader was editor until 1896. Prom 1896 to 1901, C. E. Stewart was
business manager and from 1898 to 1901 Dr. J. S. Wallace was editor.
In 1901 C. J. Walden purchased the paper and was editor and manager
jjntil 1903, when he sold it to Robertson and Patterson. In about one
year Patterson sold out his interest to J. B. Robertson, who has since
been editor and manager.
The Keytesville Herald was started by T. D. Bogie in 1871. In 1874
Bogie sold the paper to William E. Jones and he, in turn, sold it to
J. H. Hudson, who in 1878 changed the name of the paper to the
Chariton Courier. He sold the paper to Vandiver and ColUns. In 1890
Charles J. Vandiver became the proprietor of the Courier and made it
one of the most aggressive Democratic papers in the state. He continued
as editor and manager of the paper until his death, when his widow and
step-daughter edited and managed the paper for about a year, wth
much credit to themselves. It was then purchased by E. B. Kellogg,-
who at this time is editor and proprietor.
The Keytesville Signal was started by Joe K. Robertson in 1893,
and in 1905 it suspended publication and the Rev. Franc Mitchell pur-
chased the plant and started the Keytesville Recorder, with his son,
Homer Mitchell, as editor. The Recorder is now edited by A. M. Child,
who has had charge of the paper for the past three years.
The Salisbury Press (Democratic) was started by James M. Qalle-
more, June 1, 1871, and was consolidated with the Spectator, July 15,
1881, and was run under the name of the Press-Spectator by the Galle-
more brothers. It is now owned and edited by Joe Ritzenthaler.
The Spectator was established in November, 1880, by R. M. Williams
and Whitfield Williams and continued by them until July, 1881, when it
was consolidated with the Press.
The Salisbury Democrat, Democratic in politics, is ably edited by
Dismukes and Son.
The Mendon Citizen is owned and edited by E. L. Wicks.
The Sumner Star, Republican in politics, is published at Sumner by
C. W. and B. F. Northcott.
The Weekly Swastika, of Prairie Hill, was started in 1908, with L.
Roy Sims as editor and proprietor. The paper was formerly Republican
in politics but is now an organ of the Progressive party.
Public Schools
But few counties in the state possess a larger school fund than is
to be found in Chariton county, or a better system of free schools, and
the grades of the teachers show that they rank with those of any other
county in the state. The amount of the principal of the county and
township school funds of Chariton county is $200,000. The amount of
the school funds received from the state for 1911 was $13,200.44. The
amount of interest from county and township school fund for 1911 was
$17,919.52.
The number of school children in Chariton county is 7,322, divided
as follows: White male, 3,339; white female, 3,141; colored male, 434:
colored female, 408. The school houses in the county number 145;
school districts, 137 ; colored schools in operation, 12.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 331
Babtlett Agricultural and Industrial School for Negroes
A coterie of Missouri philanthropists have been trying to solve the
so-called negro problem by making of him a farmer, and they have
furnished the funds to buy a farm of more than two hundred acres near
Dalton, in Chariton county. Dormitories were erected through the gen-
erosity of the benefactors. N. C. Bruce, a negro educator, is the prin-
cipal and is a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute and Bates College.
He obtained much of the support which started the institution and has
been the prime mover in its organization. The object of the school, as
stated by the promoters and trustees, is to give the negro boys and girls
a thorough and practical education along farming and agricultural
lines and domestic pursuits, as this is the one occupation open to the
negro vtoday which is not overcrowded. What the negro needs most is
vocational training, which shall enable him to make a good living, have
a comfortable home, own a patch of land and do scientific farming.
Students from every part of the state are admitted as fast as accommo-
dations will allow and the Bartlett School is working tow^ard the redemp-
tion of the negro race.
Mendon
Meudon was laid out in 1871 by Christopher Shupe and it grew to
be quite a considerable village, but the Santa Fe Railroad, in running
through the county, went two miles northwest of the town. A new
town was started in 1887 and the old one was abandoned and most of the
houses were moved to the new town, which has now some 450 inhabitants.
The progressive citizens of the town have taken much interest in good
roads and they pride themselves on having as good roads as any town
in the county. The public school building was built in 1906, at a cost
of more than $5,000. It has four rooms and four teachers. The princi-
pals of the school for several years have been women. Miss Qertrude
Hosey is principal at the present time, with Misses Kate Barry, Mary
Stewart and Hattie Virgin as assistant teachers. The Bank of Mendon
has a capital stock of $25,000. The officers are: President, W. L. Mc-
Campbell; vice-president, J. A. Engleman; cashier, C. A. Felt. The
Mendon State Bank has a capital stock of $10,000 and the officers are :
President, B. V. McKeever; vice-president, Joseph Ralph; cashier, M. M.
Harmon. There are two churches in Mendon, the Methodist church.
South with the Rev. C. Baker as pastor, and the Christian church with
the Rev. W. C. Whitehouse as pastor. There are lodges of I. O. O. F. and
Rebekah, Modem Woodmen lodge and Royal Neighbors, and Knights
of Pythias.
Dalton
Dalton was laid out in 1863 by William Dalton and is located on
the Wabash Railroad, seven miles east of Brunswick. There are several
stores, one hotel, a grain elevator and a bank. The Bank of Dalton has
a capital stock of $10,000. The officers are: President, Henry Gall;
vice-president, William Bucksath ; cashier, T. R. Hamilton.
Sumner
The town of Sumner is in Cunningham township and was laid out
in June, 1882. It is located at the junction of the Omaha branch of the
Wabash Railroad with the Chicago, Burlington and Kansas City Rail-
road. It has a good school building, several churches, a number of
stores and one bank. The town is situated in the midst of a fine farming
332 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
and stock-raising country and the citizens are live, wide-awake and
greatly interested in the improvement of the public highways. Dr. John
W. Hardy and Dr. Andrew Lewis are the physicians and Attorney W. S.
House is the only lawyer in the town. The Sumner Exchange Bank,
with a capital stock of $10,000, has the following ofScers: President,
G. S. Taylor ; vice-president, Dr. J. W. Hardy ; cashier, J. T. McCormiek.
The Masons, I. 0. 0. F. and Eastern Star have lodges in Sumner.
ROTHVILLE
The town of Rothville is in Bee Branch township and was laid out by
John Roth in 1883. It is in the midst of a fine stock-raising and farm-
ing country and the large crops of corn and wheat raised every year
prove the wonderful fertility of the soil. They have fine roads in every
direction out of the town. The town has several stores and one bank.
The Bank of Rothville, with a capital stock of $10,000, has the following
officers: President, John P. Riddell; vice-president, S. A. Richards;
cashier, H. H. Miller.
SHANNONDALE
The town of Shannondale is on the Salisbury and Glasgow branch
of the Wabash Railroad and was laid out by Charles Shannon in 1874.
It has several stores and a good school building. It is quite a shipping
point for both grain and stock.
Forest Green
The town of Forest Green is in the southeastern part of the county
and was laid out by John G. Forest in 1873. It has several stores and a
large tobacco factory. The town is located in the midst of the finest
tobacco-growing section of the county and is on the Salisbury and Glas-
gow branch of the Wabash Railroad. For many yeara it has been one
of the principal points for prizing and shipping tobacco.
" WiEN
The village of Wien is located in the northeastern part of the county
and is twenty miles northeast of Keytesville. On twelve acres of ground,
donated to the Catholic church, is located the Franciscan Monastery
and Mount St. Marie's church. The monastery and church were built
in 1877 and the membership embraces nearly one hundred families.
Wien is a quiet and rapidly growing village and its location is remark-
able for healthfulness, being high, rolling prairie almost exempt from
malarial and typhoid fevers. The people of the village take great interest
in education and maintain an excellent school for ten months of each
year.
Railroads
Chariton county is well supplied with railroads, as the main line
of the Wabash from Moberly to Kansas City passes through the towns
of Salisbury, Keytesville, Dalton and Brunswick. The Omaha branch
of the Wabash forms a junction with the main line at Brunswick and
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 333
runs through the western part of the county, passing through the towns
of Triplett, Whittam and Sumner. The Salisbury and Glasgow branch
of the Wabash Railroad passes through the towns of Shannondale and
Forest Green. The Santa Pe Railroad, running from Kansas City to
Chicago, goes through the northern part of Chariton county and passes
through the towns of Dean Lake, Whittam and Mendon. The Chicago,
Burlington and Kansas City Railroad passes through the northwestern
part of the county and crosses the Wabash Railroad at Sumner.
CHAPTER XIV
CLARK COUNTY
By S, S. Ball* Kahoka
Topography
Clark is the extreme northeastern Missouri county. It is bounded on
the north by the state of Iowa, and on the east by the state of Illinois.
The Des Moines river forms the boundary line of a portion of the north-
east of the county, and below its confluence with the Mississippi, the
latter stream forms the boundary line between Missouri and Illinois.
Clark county contains about five hundred square miles. It is watered
by the Mississippi, Des Moines, the two Fox rivers, two Wyacondas, the
North Fabius, Sugar creek. Honey creek and lesser streams. The Des
Moines flows in a southeasterly direction through a picturesque valley
ornamented by many high bluffs and empties into the Mississippi a short
distance above the town of Alexandria, Missouri, and almost at the
suburbs of the city of Keokuk, Iowa, now world-famous as the *' water
power'* city, between which municipality and the lesser city of Hamil-
ton, Illinois, the great $200,000 horse-power dam is being constructed.
This vast project will be completed July 4, 1913. The several streams
mentioned flow in a southeasterly direction and all empty into the Missis-
sippi river. As will be gathered from the course of the several streams,
the general trend or slope of the country is south and east. In the
county there are numerous living springs ^nd many **deep" wells.
Shallower wells supply water from *' veins'' and sheetwater. In the
more level prairie regions sheet water of excellent quality may be ob-
tained, wherever desired, and at an easy depth.
Approximately two-thirds of the county is made up of upland and
bottom prairie; the balance was timber and hazel land. About twelve
thousand acres of land in the extreme northeast of the county, and
lying between the Des Moines and Fox rivers, is protected by a levee. A
part of this levee was originally built by the Egyptian Levee Company,
which company was succeeded by the Des Moines and Mississippi Drain-
age District No. 1. This latter company is now completing an extensive
levee and drainage system, designed to reclaim much low-lying land,
extending from the Des Moines, south to Fox river. A minor part of
this district was, at an early day, covered with a magnificent growth of
timber, of the several valuable varieties common to this region.
The general surface of the county varies from the gently undulating
prairie to the. gracefully rounded hills. In portions of the county the
hills are quite steep and in places along some of the streams there are
precipitous clay bluffs and high cliflfs of lime-rock. For the most part
the soil along the bottom lands is alluvial and sandy; but there are
stretches of fertile, stubborn ** gumbo." The soil of the uplands is of
♦ The writer acknowledges valuable aid in the preparation of this sketch fTom
Judge David N. Lapsley, Judge Otho S. Callihan and Jasper Blines, historian and
''Sage of the Seven Pines."
334
HISTOEY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 335
a dark to clay loam, with a joint clay undersoil. This latter is remark-
able for its fertility and for its peculiar property of conserving fertilizer
placed upon the top soil.
Wyaconda Drainage District No. 1 is the style of the organization
formed for the purpose of making a drainage ditch for the reclamation
of 6,140 acres of the exceptionally fertile lands of the Wyaconda river,
beginning at a point below the confluence of the two Wyacondas. This
ditch will begin at the south of the Santa Fe Raibroad and extend down
the stream, departing largely from the old channel of the river and
following in the main, the lower regions of the expansive bottom. The
ditch will be twelve and one-half miles long and drain about ten square
miles of territory. The mammoth dredge boat is now at work on this
ditch. Presumably another district will be formed immediately below
this and if so the two, or rather the continuation of the first, will afford
a stream nearly straight, carrying the waters to the rock-walled por-
tions of tbe water-course, lying below the Lewis county line.
A Mississippi River Steamboat
Another district has been formed embracing lands in southwest
Clark, Lewis, Knox and Scotland counties. Clark has two thousand
acres in this district and will carry a ditch four miles in length. This
last is known as the Fabius River Drainage District No. 3.
Early Explorations
It was on the ITth day of May, 1673, when Father Marquett« and
Sieur JoHet, French miBsionaries, with five other men, departed from
the mission of St. Ignatius, on the Straits of Mackinaw, Michigan, bent
upon the discovery of the "Great Father of Rivers." In their historic
journey they passed by the territory now known as Clark county, and
circumstances which cannot be here recorded, furnish pretty conclusive
proof that the Frenchmen landed near the mouth of Fox river. Here
were found some metal instruments of French making and bearing the
date 1670.
336 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Pike, in his admirable history, gives what is accepted as the most
authentic account of explorations touching this county.
When the White Man Came to Remain
Explorers, surveyors, hunters and possibly adventurers, visited Clark
county long before the white man arrived to make this territory his
permanent home. It was in September, 1829, when Jacob Weaver, hia
wife, Elizabeth, and their five children came from Kentucky. They
settled upon the banks of the Des Moines, near the site of the present
town of St. Francisville. It is not disputed that ^'Greneral" Harrison,
trapper, trader and interpreter, had invaded this territory prior to the
coming of the Weavers ; but they were first to locate. Only a little later
the **Generar' did locate at Marysville, further northwest, on the Des
Moines. Following soon after Weaver came John Sackett, then Jere-
miah Wayland, George Haywood and Samuel Bartlett, all from the same
neighborhood in Kentucky. All located at or near St. Francisville and
the descendants of each are now honored citizens among us. The
families of these sturdy men did not follow them until the following
spring. The cabin built by Jeremiah Wayland on the first bottom, near
the river, was swept away by the flood of 1832. He builded again, and
better, within the limits of what is now St. Francisville. In 1830 Peter
Gillis, Giles Sullivan and William Clark joined the little colony. The
wedding of the last named to Elizabeth Payne, at the home of Jeremiah
Wayland, was the first occurring in the county. Romance was added to
this in the knowledge that the minister performing the ceremony was an
impostor. Esquire Robert Sinclair later legally tied the knot and an-
other dinner was in order.
The first white children born within the territory of the present
county were John Weaver, Elizabeth Bartlett and Martha Haywood.
The first death was that of the wife of Giles Sullivan, 1831 ; the second
that of Mrs. Joseph Wayland.
In 1831 Dr. J. E. Trabue settled on what in late years is known as
the J. W. Jenkins farm, in Clay township. Here he built a horse mill
and executed grinding for the community, thus obviating the necessity
of going to Palmyra, a distance of forty miles, with the grists. Follow-
ing soon after those mentioned were Asa Wormington, Henrj' Floyd,
the latter going further west and settling about two miles north of the
present site of Waterloo; Col. Thomas C. Rutherford, with his family
and several slaves from Tennessee, settled at the present homestead,
in Madison township; John Condiff and Jeremiah Riley; William Hen-
shaw, wife and children. But few additions were made to the settlement
of the year 1832, due to the great flood and trouble with the Indians.
Among those who ventured was George K. Biggs, who settled on the
old homestead in Clay township. Others residing in the county in 1832
were : Uriah S. Gregory, on the farm later owned by Judge John Boul-
ware, who came shortly after ; Harvey and John Thompson, then on the
farm now owned by Ed Connable; Asa Wormington, on the old Dr.
Chapman place; W. W. Clifton, near Fox River church; John Mont-
gomery, who lived east of the present church site; Peter Hay, to the
north ; Judge John Taylor, and Fielding Wayland. Daniel Mullen had
established an Indian trading post and store in what is now Sweet Home
township. In this year there was only a log cabin at the site of Alex-
andria. During this year Alexander Waggener, William Phelps and
John Billings located near ''Sweet Home." It will be observed from
the foregoing that the major portion of the early settlement of the county
was along the Mississippi and Des ^loines rivers bluffs. Many of the
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 337
pioneer homesteads are yet held by the descendants of the sturdy men
who first came to blaze the way for those to follow.
The Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk war caused no open hostilities in the territory now
named Clark county. But in May, 1832, a company from Pike county
marched to and erected a fort at St. Francisville, which was named Fort
Pike, in honor of the county from which the men came. Following the
cessation of hostilities ** Uncle" Jeremiah Wayland and Colonel Ruther-
ford spread a notable banquet to the Indian chiefs and a few of their
** braves/' done in celebration of the declaration of peace.
Public Lands
The first survey of lands, including Clark county, was made by
Thomas Rector, in the year 1820. The first entries were made by Jacob
Weaver, George Haywood, Samuel Bartlett, the Waylands and others.
The title to this land was then vested in the United States government.
Subsequently the public lands were classified and designated as congress
lands, swamp lands, and school lands. The s^vamp lands were donated
to the state; this by act of congress, in 1850. Under this act, in 1858,
2,722.56 acres of land were conveyed to the state of Missouri. Again in
1860 the government patented to the state 825.23 acres of swamp lands.
The sixteenth section of each congressional township was donated by
the government to the states to be sold and the proceeds used to create
a perpetual school fund; the principal to be loaned and the interest to
be used for current school purposes. These lands sold at from $1.25
to $4.00 per acre. By this method and other increments, Clark county's
permanent public school fund has accumulated to more than $50,000.
A total of $24,296.20 was originally derived from the sale of these
lands.
Cereals and Grasses
In those early days the prairies were covered with tall grass, desig-
nated as **blue stem" which grew to a height so great that a man on
horseback could not be seen at a distance. This, in the main, has long
since disappeared. Blue grass and white clover, now natural products
of the soil, were not here when the early settlers came. With the intro-
duction of blue grass, came timothy and in later years, clover, and
now alfalfa is being successfully introduced. The early comers be-
lieved tame grasses would never thrive in this region.
All of the grains peculiar to this region are successfully grown in
the county, the second bottom lands being best adapted to the propaga-
tion of corn and wheat. The county is splendidly adapted to growing
of live stock.
Agricultural Association
In November, 1881, the county court authorized the incorporation
of the Clark County Agricultural and Mechanical Association. Of the
original petitioners those now living are: Dr. W. H. Martin, William
Pollock, H. L. Hardy, M. E. Bishop, A. J. Oilar, G. W. Kearns, James
McNally, E. B. Christy, Joseph W. Meyer, W. L. Berkheimer, B. P.
Snyder, T. L. Montgomery, 0. J. Snyder, W. H. Robinson, I. E. Sher-
merhom, F. Karle, J. L. Greenlee, William Ackland, C. Todd, Wm Neil,
John M. Wood, William Snyder, R. L. :\IcKee, S. F. Sackett. N. T.
Cherry, D. N. Lapsley, James R. Hume, and possibly others. The act
%'ol. 1— C2
338 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
of the court authorized the purchase of land not to exceed one hundred
acres, at a cost of not more than $50,000. Later the society purchased
the present site of thirty acres, lying to the east of Kahoka, at a cost
of $1,800. This organization followed that which for years maintained
a county fair, at a site on the Fox river bottom, just to the south and
west of Waterloo, then the county seat.
TnE Creation of Clark County
Prior to the organization of Clark county, the territory was a part
of Lewis county. In the present confines of this county were originally
the civil townships of Jefferson, Des Moines and Jackson. Jefferson
township comprised the territory lying north of the lines dividing town-
ships 65 and 66. Des Moines contained all of township 65 and that por-
tion of township 64 lying north of Sugar creek. The residue of the
territory was Jackson township. The county was organized in 1836,
under and by virtue of an act of the legislature, duly approved on the
16th day of December. The county was named in honor of Gov.
William Clark. In accordance with the act, above referred to, the
governor appointed John Taylor, Thaddeus Williams and Robert McKee
to act as county court justices, and Uriah S. Gregory to act as sheriff.
These men met at the house of John Hill, three miles south of St.
Francisville, on the lOlh day of April, 1837, and organized the first
county court. John Taylor was created president, and Willis Curd,
clerk. Their first act w^as that of granting to William Bedell a license
to keep a grocery on his farm in Sweet Home township, upon payment
of the sum of $5 to the state and an equal sura to the county. At
the second meeting of the county court, Joseph McCoy was appointed
county treasurer, and required to give bond in the sum of $500.
The first election was ordered to be held in the several townships of
the county on the 6th day of May, 1837. Two jusl:ices of the peace for
each township were to be chosen.
The County Capital
The commissioners appointed under the act creating the county
recommended that the county seat be located in section 15, township
65 north, range 8 west. That is to say, just in front of what is now
know^n as the Oscar Ensign house, west and a little north of Kalu^ka.
This report was held to be erroneous, hence its rejection. Afterwards,
but at the same term of the county court, April, 1837, the court ap-
pointed Stephen Cleaver, of Ralls county, Obediah Dickerson. of Shelby
county, and Micajah J. Noyes, of Pike county, as commissioners to locate
the county seat of Clark county. These officials recommended that the
county 's capital be located at the village of Waterloo. Title for the site
was procured from John H. Alexander and Sarah, his wife, for a con-
sideration of $1.00. The deed for the same was dated the 17th day of
June, 1837, and called for four acres and seventeen vacant lots. Begin-
ning with August, 1837, courts were held at Waterloo. Samuel D. South
was appointed commissioner for the county seat and Joseph McCoy was
appointed superintendent of the building of the county's first court-
house, which was completed in the summer of 1840. In 1829 the county
was further sub-divided and additional townships created. In 1837,
by an act of the legislature, a portion of the territory of Scotland county
was attached to Clark county.
In July, 1847, the county court was petitioned for the removal of
the county seat from Waterloo to the town of Alexandria. A remon-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 339
strance was also filed. At the special election held on the 13th and 14th
days of December, 1847, it was determined that a majority of the tax-
payers ajid householders favored removal. The court so ordered and the
seat of justice was removed to Alexandria. The people of that town
donated the ground and built the house, which was a plain, two-story
brick building providing for the county officers on the first floor and the
courtroom on the second, or just the reverse of the arrangement at
Waterloo.
But the permanent seat of county government was only temporarily
located. On the 9th of November, 1853, a petition was filed, praying
that the county seat be sent back to Waterloo. The election was held
on the second Monday in June, 1854, and the voice of the people ordered
that the county officers be re-located at '*the city by the classic Fox."
Accordingly the old courthouse was repaired and the first session of
court held on the fifth of November, 1855. Ten years later and by an
act of the state legislature, approved February 20, 1866, the county
seat was again made the subject of peti^on. It was in this instance deter-
mined by the court that a majority of the legal petitioners desired
removal to Kahoka, and the court so ordered. On the 8th day of June,
1865, petitions were preseAted to the county court praying for the re-
removal of the seat of justice from Kahoka to Clark City and again the
court appointed commissioners to locate a site.
Another election followed on November 6, 1866. Again a majority
favored removal. At the December term following, the court was
asked to set aside the previous order; which motion was overruled.
Meantime, the county's capital remained at Waterloo and in December,
1869, the court was again asked to create a commission to locate the
county's **Hub." The court refused to create this commission. The
state supreme court was appealed to by the petitioners and that tri-
bunal issued a writ of mandamus, the legal eflPect of which was to cause
the county court to provide the commission, as prayed. This body
was composed of Thomas Woods and John Pugh, of Lewis county; J.
W. Allen, of Knox, and Sterling McDonald and William Purdy, of
Scotland. These men recommended that the courthouse be located at
the site of the present building. The contract price for this structure
was $18,595.00. The work was completed during the year 1871 and the
first terra of the county court was held therein on the 15th day of
Januar>% 1872.
Bonded Indebtedness
In 1864 the county court subscribed $200,000 to the capital stock
of the Alexandria and Bloomfield Railroad Company. In 1865 Justices
Harvey Seymore, B. P. Hannan and Edward Anderson were upon the
county bench. This court caused an order to be entered upon the rec-
ords recognizing the liability of the county to prosecution by reason of
the bond issue above mentioned. The clerk was ordered to issue $50,000
of seven per cent bonds, payable twenty years from date, stipulating
that the issue was to be received by the railroad company in full satis-
faction for the larger issue of $200,000. The $50,000 bonds were issued,
delivered to and accepted by the company. Later the bonds were re-
pudiated by the people upon the ground that the court had authorized
the issue without submitting the matter to the voters, at an election.
The supreme court held with the holders of the bonds. In 1884 the
court ordered an election upon the proposition of refunding the bonds
and in conformity with the decision of the voters, and at the Novem-
ber, 1884, term of the court, bonds of the denomination of $500 to the
amount of $50,000 were issued, to bear date January 1, 1885, to run
340 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
thirty years, payable after twenty years, interest six per cent. Later
these bonds were again refunded and the interest rate lowered.
In July, 1868, the county court ordered an election upon the propo-
sition to issue bonds in the sum of $75,000 in aid of the Alexandria and
Nebraska City Railroad Company. The proposition was accepted by
the voters and on the 7th day of August of the same year, bonds to the
sura mentioned were duly executed. They were dated August 10, 1869,
interest seven per cent, twenty years. These were refunded at a lower
rate of interest in 1888.
At the same election at which the Alexandria and Nebraska City
Railroad bonds were voted there was a vote ordered upon the proposi-
tion to issue $75,000 of bonds in aid of the Missouri and Mississippi
Railroad Company. The result was favorable also to the latter com-
pany. The records of the court fail to disclose the issuance or accept-
ance of these bonds. But afterwards and in January, 1870, the same
company moved the court to subscribe an additional $125,000 to the
<?apital stock of the M. and M. ^This the court refused to do; but an
election was ordered for July to determine the proposition of issuing
to the sum and for the purpose, as above, and to ascertain further, tlw
public will with reference to the issuance .of the sum of $75,000 in
aid of the Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad Company. Both
propositions were overwhelmingly defeated.
In May, 1871, the M. & M. R. R. Co., again asked the court for money
— $200,000 — the line to extend from within one mile of Fairmont thence
in a northeasterly direction to the town of St. Francisville. The mo-
tion of the railroad company was sustained by a majority of the court
composed of S. W. Moorehouse, Peter S. Washburn and Thomas H.
Roseberry. The former dissented from the decision of the majority;
but tjie court, without submitting the question to the voters, subscribed
$200,000 to the capital stock of the company; the issue to include the
$75,000 previously subscribed and covered the $125,000 asked for
and refused, as just previously related. A petition, numerously signed,
prayed the court to set aside its order of a $200,000 subscription, but
the court refused. The protesting citizens authorized a committee to
wait upon the officers of the railroad, at Macon, Missouri. This com-
mittee was composed of George Rensley, E. R. McKee, A. C. Walsworth
and David McKee, and was not successful in procuring concessions
from the company, and in June, 1871, the bonds were issued. In May,
1872, the court held that the contract between the county and the rail-
road company had been violated by the latter, hence entered an order
demanding that the financial agent of the company deliver possession
of the bonds. This was not done. In 1872 the county court was suc-
ceeded by a board of supervisors, under township organization, and
Judge John N. Boulware was authorized to employ N. F. Given to
institute proceedings against the road to the end that the bonds might
be recovered. The effort was unsuccessful. In November, 1880, a prop-
osition to compromise this debt, at thirty cents on the dollar, was de-
feated. Later, and in March, 1881, by a vote of 964 to 665 a com-
promise of thirty cents on the dollar was accepted. In November
following, $112,000 of bonds were issued to cover the sum of the com-
promise and accrued interest. These were signed by Judge W. M.
Boulward and bore date April 1, 1881. Against this sum there was a
sinking fund of $5,000 in the treasury and this reduced the sura total
to $107,000. Later these were refunded at a lower rate of interest.
After the issuance of the bonds in aid of these railroads the Alex-
andria and Nebraska City and the Alexandria and Bloorafield roads were
consolidated and the one road constructed under the name of the Mis-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 341
souri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Company, now under the Burlington
ownership, known as the Keokuk & Western.
For years the county was engaged in litigation as affecting the re-
fusal to pay some $40,000 of the detached coupons of the old M. &
M, bonds. This suit w^as compromised by the court for the sum of
$4,000. The court at this date was composed of D. N. Lapsley, John
Martin, and C. C. Calvert. The former two are now living. This same
court prosecuted and won, on a compromise, a suit instituted against
the M. I. & N. R. R., for back taxes, alleged to be due, getting in pay-
ment for the claim of the county a check for $26,000. This suit was
instituted and won by T. L. Montgomery, then prosecuting attorney.
This was in the early '908 and some $14,000 of this compromise money
was used to reduce the railroad bonded debt of the county.
In the year 1906, Judges J. H. Hardy, J. D. Rebo and S. J. Dare
procured an order under which they authorized a levy of fifty cents
on the $100.00 valuation for the purpose of creating a sinking fund to
discharge this railroad bonded debt, then amounting to the sum of
$218,500. The tax of 1912 will liquidate the last of this great mort-
gage upon the property of the county, for a large proportion of which
the people got nothing in return.
Vernon Township's Debt
While the spirit of aid to railroad construction was running ram-
pant in the state, the little township of Vernon, at the extreme east
of the county, issued in aid of the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad
its bonds, in the name of Clark county, to the sum of $25,000. In
1886 these bonds were refunded and compromised for $14,900, and some
years since the entire debt was discharged.
Wealth and Taxation
The earliest records now available are those of the year 1858. Then
the real estate of the county was valued for the purpose of taxation at
$2,917,740. The persoral property at $549,980, slaves, $187,800. Total
assessed value of taxable property, $2,775,520; total taxes $17,709.
The earliest assessment against the properties of the railroads and
telegraph lines of the county appears to have been in the year 1879.
In this year the property of the Western Union Telegraph Company —
the only one — was valued at $2,217, the taxes charged thereon amount-
ing to $39.94.
This year, 1912, the real estate of the county is valued at $3,586,370 ;
tax $77,704.71. The personal property is valued at $1,327,245; tax
$28,571.96. The Western Union Telegraph Company is valued at $16-
306.01, tax $347.01; the American Telegraph and Telephone Company,
and the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company together at'e valued
at 32,001.75; taxes, $492.86. Traversing this county are three railroads:
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; The St. Louis, , Keokuk & North-
western, and the Keokuk & Western. For 1912 these are valued at
$1,177,042; taxes $25,126.33.
The total for 1912 taxes is $106,276.67, as against the sum of less
than $18,000 for 1858, while values have mounted up to $6,113,658.75.
The taxes for 1912 include a levy of fifty per cent for sinking fund and
fifteen cents for interest, on account of the railroad bonded indebtedness.
Additional to this there is a local tax upon the lands within the
limits of the Des Moines and Mississippi Levee District No. 1. Merchants'
and local telephone companes are not included in the foregoing valua-
tions and taxes.
342 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Elections
In August of the year 1838 was held the first general election in
Clark county ; but the figures are not available. In 1840, William Henry
Harrison, Whig, received 240 votes ; Martin Van Buren, Democrat, 206.
In 1844, Henry Clay, Whig, received 225 votes ; James J, Polk, Democrat,
220. In 1848, Zachary Taylor, Whig, received 243 votes; Lewis Cass,
Democrat, 242. In 1852 Winfield Scott, Whig, received 325 votes;
Franklin Pierce, Democrat, 28. In 1856, Millard Fillmore, American,
received 721 votes; James Buchanan Democrat, 587. In 1860, John
Bell, American, received 752 votes; Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat, 542;
John C. Breckenridge, Democrat, 497; Abraham Lincoln, Republican,
277. In 1864, Lincoln, Republican, received 969 votes ; George B. Mc-
Clellan, Democrat, 128. (In this last election period southern sympa-
thizers were not allowed to vote.) In 1868, Horatio Seymour, Demo-
crat, received 1,136 votes, Ulysses Grant, Republican, 302. In 1872,
Grant, Republican, received 1,288 votes; Horace Greeley, Democrat,
1,276; O'Connor, Democrat, 5. In 1876, Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat,
received 1,581; Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican, 1,494; Peter Cooper,
Nationalist, 3. In 1880, Winfield S. Hancock, Democrat, received 1,570
votes ; James A. Garfield, Republican, 1,503 ; James B. Weaver, National-
ist, 120. In 1884, Grover Cleveland, Democrat, received 1,652 votes;
James. G. Blaine, Republican, 1,599. In 1888, Grover Cleveland, Dem-
ocrat, received 1,791 votes; Benjamin Harrison, Republican, 1,726. In
1892, Cleveland received 1,807 votes; Harrison, 1,684. In 1896, William
J. Bryan, Democrat, received 2,090 votes ; William McKinley, Republican,
1,955. In 1900, William J. Bryan received 2,020 votes; William Mc-
Kinley, Republican, 1,900. In 1904, Alton B. Parker, Democrat, re-
ceived 1,721 votes; Theodore Roosevelt, Republican, 1,836. In 1908,
William J. Bryan, Democrat, received 1,736 votes; William Howard
Taft, Republican, 1,740; the Prohibitionist, 36; and the Socialist, 5. In
1912, Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, received 1,590 votes; William H.
Taft, Republican, 1,212; Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive, 483. In the
last election the Prohibition party polled 26 votes; the Socialist 12 and
the Socialist Labor 1.
It is worthy of remark that in the elections in all the years since
1840 the two parties dominant in the county have maintained a votQ
nearly equal.
The Story op Population
In 1840, Clark county boasted a population of 2,864 ; in 1850, 5,527 ;
in 1860, 11,684, of which number 405 were colored. In 1870 there were
13,667, of whom 295 were colored ; in 1880 there were 15,031, of whom
308 were colored. In 1890, there was a total of 15,126 ; in 1900, 15,383 ;
in 1910, 12,811.
Negro Bondage
The early settlers of this county brought with them their slaves. In
1860 there were 129 slave owners residing in Clark county. The number
of slaves is given at 405 ; their value for purposes of taxation, $171,300.
Circuit Court
It was on the 6th day of April, 1836, at the house of John Hill, in
the territory of what is now Des Moines township, that Hon. Priestly H.
ilcBride appeared with a commission from the governor to hold the first
term of the Clark county circuit court. The names of the first gp^and
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 343
jurors were : David Hay, Thomas Sawyers, Franklin Levering, Jeremiah
Wayland, Robert Wainseott, Joseph McCoy, Jeremiah Lewis, 0. F. D.
Hampton Joseph 6. Scott, Jesse McDaniel, Richard Lewellyn, Amery
Wheeler, George K. Biggs, Burrel Gregory, Joseph Higbee, John Riney,
Rice Overstreet and Frederick Johnson, and one other, eighteen in all.
These pioneers and first county inquisitors were duly charged and or-
dered to retire for their .deliberation. Their ** jury room'' was the com-
fortable shade of a friendly tree. No bills were reported. This was the
Fourth Judicial Circuit and John Head, Esq., appeared as the circuit
attorney.
The second term of this court was held at the home of Joseph McCoy,
in what is now Clay township, beginning on the 3d of August, of the same
year. It was at this term when the first cause of action was made and
the style of this case was : William L. McPherson versus William Mercer,
for debt. The third term of this court was held in December, when was
presented the first criminal cause. John Taylor and Simeon Conway,
justices of the peace, presented a prisoner, charged with breaking into
the store of Daniel McMullen, of Sweet Home township. A change of
venue to Marion county was granted and ultimately the prisoner was
freed, Uriah Wright defending.
The first petit jury case coming to trial was that of the State vs. T. I.
White, who was found guilty and fined fifteen dollars.
Clark Countians in Politics
The only state oflSce ever held by a resident of this county was attor-
ney-general, held by John M. Wood, who was elected in 1898 and served
with honor for four years. He did not seek re-nomination. On Janu-
ary 1, 1913, John M. Dawson will have filled a four years' period as
assistant to Attorney-Gtneral Elliott W. Major, lately elected governor.
The county has furnished two state senators, George K. Biggs and C. F.
Carter, the present incumbent of the office. In 1904, J. W. McDermott,
of this county, was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention,
held in St. Louis. Joseph S. Tall was chief of the engrossing force of
the 40th and chief clerk of the 41st and 42nd general assemblies.
The Missouri-Iow^a War
Comparatively little can here be related of this unique, interesting
and bloodless '*war." The dispute out of which came this near- war
without a fight, originated in an act of congress, authorizing the territory
of Missouri to form a state government, provided the boundaries of the
proposed new state should be within certain limitations, described in
the law passed March 6, 1820. An act of April 12, 1838, authorized the
establishment of the territory of Iowa, prescribing **that the southern
boundary line should be the northern boundary of the state of Missouri.''
The Missouri legislature in 1836 directed the governor to appoint a com-
mission to ascertain and establish the northern boundary line of the state.
Iowa was then in Wisconsin territory. This territory was requested to
appoint commissioners and the United States government a civil engineer
all to meet with the Missouri commission. This was not done; hence
in 1837 the survey was made by" the Missourians, alone, and their report
rendered to the legislature of 1838-9. In the interval between the Mis-
souri survey and the leport of same to the legislature of the state, the
congress directed a survey of the boundary line, in connection with
'* commissions from the state of Missouri and the territory of Iowa.''
Neither the state nor the territory acted and the government's agent
344 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
was alone to make the survey and report, — January 19, 1839. The re-
port of the government 's agent. Major Lea, determined nothing, except-
ing a failure to confirm either the Missouri or Iowa contention. The
history of this remarkable and interesting warfare cannot be traced in
its fullness, replete as it is in iticidents bordering perilously near to
open hostilities upon the part of the officers and the mlitia of the con-
tending states.
The line, as finally determined, was, at the t>es Moines river, on the
east, eight miles, sixty -three chains and twenty-three links south; and
at the west end exactly eleven miles south of that point claimed by the
state of Missouri. The Missourians contended the line w-as exactly oppo-
site where Bentonsport, Iowa, now stands. The disputed strip along the
entire northern line dividing the two states was about nine miles in
width. Many Clark countians are to-day of the opinion that the dis-
puted strip extended eastward to and terminated at the **Des Moines
Rapids'' of the Mississippi river, below which the power dam at Keokuk
is now being constructed ; but this belief is not developed as a fact by the
available history of thi case.
In 1839 the sheriff, Uriah Gregory, of Clark county, went into the dis-
puted territory to collect taxes from the few residents and was repulsed
and ordered back to his own state. On November 20th of the same year,
he again went into the hostile camp, under instruction from Governor
Boggs, and this time was arrested by the sheriflf of Van Buren county,
Iowa, upon the charge of ** usurpation of authority,'* taken to Farming-
ton; thence to Burlington, the capital; thence to Muscatine, where for
a time he was confined to jail, but afterwards released on his own
recognizance. This incident caused great excitement on both sides of the
line. The county court of Clark county convened at the tavern of John
S. Lapsley, in Waterloo. The court ordered that the militia be mustered
to sustain the civil authorities. Public indignation meetings were held
in the counties of Clark, Lewis and Marion. Maj.-Gen. David Willcock
called 2,200 men from his division. The men of the territory of Iowa
also had mustered and had upon the line a force of men, declaring they,
too, were ready for war. On the 4th of December of the same year, the
Clark county court moved to prevent actual hostilities and appointed a
peac-e commission to confer with the Iowa territorial solons. The court
also sent a peace message to the Iowa legislature. A spirit of concilia-
tion dominated the Iowa law-makers and the end of the **war" was in
sight. On the 12th of December ** peace" was declared, a commission
from Iowa having met with the county court of Clark county, and others,
including Thomas L. Anderson, of Marion. The commission from Iowa
presented a preamble and resolution, which were spread upon the records
of the court. The resolutions requested the governors of the two states
to suspend hostilities, pending an amicable adjustment of the difficulties.
This order was communicated to the governors of the contending states.
In 1840 congress settled the contention by legislation, making the ** In-
dian Boundary Line" run by Colonel Sullivan, the true northern bound-
ary of Clark county, and the state. A few years later this line was again
run by commissioners f i om both states and some corrections made. Judge
D. N. Lapsley of Kahoka, Jlrs. B. F. ^Martin, of Keokuk, and Judge O. S.
Callihan, of Kahoka, have distinct recollections of the unpleasantness
mentioned.
The Battle op Athens
This was the one battle fought in Clark county, during the war be-
tween the states, known to history as the Civil war. Col. ^lartin E.
Green commanded the Southern forces; Col. David Moore those of the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 345
•
North. The clash of arms occurred on the morning of August 5, 1861,
in and about the town of Athens and along the Des Moines river. The
issues of the day were favorable to the Northern forces. Neither of the
warring generals commanded to exceed five huudred men. Five Con-
federates were killed and about twenty wounded. John Thompson was
the only Clark county Confederate killed. The Union loss was William
C'. Sullivan and Harrison killed and several wounded. A brick house
in Athens now shows the effect of the cannon shot.
School History
There are ninety-two school districts in Clark county and 112 teachers
are employed — all are white. The 1911 report gives the expenditures for
teachers' wages at $33,952.55; the total expenditures, $41,798.76; per-
manent county fund, $32,359.92 permanent township fund $20,096.73;
average levy, fifty-nine cents ; enumeration 3,371 ; amount received from
state, $6,258.28; amount of interest on county funds $1,504.19. Miss
Helen M. McKee is county superintendent.
In August, 1884, the preliminary steps were taken for the establish-
ment of a college in Kahoka. T. L. Montgomery, Colonel Hiller, Judge
0. S. Callihan, Jacob Trump, Adam Lang, Dr. R. S. McKee, George W.
Bostic, G. S. and John Stafford and others were the prime movers in
this successful compaign. Prof. J. D. Blanton was the head of the school.
In the succeeding years several different men were called to the head of
the institution, which flourished measurably for a time and then was dis-
continued. Then for two years a commercial school was conducted in
Kahoka, in the building now the property of the school district, accom-
modating the high school of which Prof. S. L. Mapes is superintendent.
At St. Patrick, in Jackson township, is conducted a splendid paro-
chial school. The building is modern, constructed of cement and cost
about $11,000. It is located by the Catholic church and the home of the
priest. The Rev. Father E. A. Bolger was actively in charge of the church
and the work, during the construction of the college building.
In the early history of the county colleges of broad note were con-
ducted the Alexandria and St. Francisville.
Religion
The Baptist and the Methodist were the pioneer churches. The Rev.
Jeremiah Taylor, Baptist, of Marion county, preached the first sermon in
Clark county, at the home of Dr. Trabue, in wiiat is now Clay township.
The Methodists established the first church at St. Francisville. The Rev.
Mr. Allen preached there and at the homes of George Haywood and
George K. Biggs. The second church was organized in 1834, at the home
of Jeremiah Wayland, in St. Francisville; but soon after removed to
Fox river, south of Wayland, with the Rev. Mr. Broaddus in charge.
The Rev. J. J. Martin arrived in the county in 1837 and became a noted
circuit rider of his day — one who, if necessary, descended from the pulpit
to enforce order.
The religious denominations now represented are : Baptist, Methodist
Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South, Methodist Protestant, German
Evangelical, Presbyterian, Christian, and the African Methodist Epis-
copal; and at Kahoka, Wayland and St. Patrick there are Catholic
churches.
The Press
Four newspapers are published in the county: The Free Press, semi-
weekly, Republican, established in 1910, J. H. Talbot, editor; the Clark
34a HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
County Courier^ weekly, Republican, established in 1890, F. E. Greenlee,
editor; the Gazette-Herald, weekly, Democratic, established in 1880, S.
S. Ball, editor; the Clark County News, weekly, independent, established
in 1888, R. B. Rodgers & Son, editors. The News is published at Wya-
eonda, the others at Kahoka, the county seat.
Anti-Horse-Thiep Assocution
Clark county is the home of this useful organization, primarily made
for the prevention of crime and secondarily for the apprehension of
criminals. The date of its birth, 1863 ; place, Luray. This was effected
in the upper story of what in late years is known as the J. W. Ponds
store building. Those who met there to organize were: David Shuler,
David Mauck, John Wilson, H. A. Stewart, James Day, H. L. McKee,
Maj. David McKee, of Clark county; Wm. Everhart, Jonathan Longfel-
low, S. Grant, William Beach, and W. Matlock, of Scotland county ; and
James McGowan, of Upton, Iowa. The second meeting was at Millport,
Knox county. The organization sprung from a public necessity, peculiar
to those times. At this day it is still in a flourishing condition and has
spread to many states with a membership of nearly 35,000. There are
seven lodges in Clark county.
Praternal Societies
Of these there are : The A. P. & A. M. ; the I. O. P. ; A. O. U. W. ;
G. A. R.; K. of P.; M. W. A.; P. 0. E. ; and Mystic Workers; A. H. T.
A. and several sister organizations.
Banks
The banks of Kahoka are: The Clark County Savings Bank; the
Kahoka Savings Bank; and the Exchange Bank. At Luray there is
the Central Bank of Luray; at Wyaconda, the Farmers' and Traders*
Bank; at Revere, the Bank of Revere; at Wayland, the Bank of Way-
land; and at Alexandria, the Sage Banking Company, owned by D. H.
Sage.
The Clark County Savings Bank was organized in 1874, with an
authorized capital stock of $50,000, one-fifth of which has then paid up.
The ofBcers of the bank were : J. R. Wood, president, and William McDer-
mott, cashier; John P. Bourn, assistant. The officers of 1912 are: J.
W. McDermott, president; John P. Bourn, cashier; Charles Ilauptman,
J. H. Puder and McD. Turner, directors.
The Kahoka Savings Bank was organized in 1883, with a capital
stock paid up of $10,000. The officers were: George W. Bostic, presi-
dent; James R. Hume, cashier; and L. C. Bostic, assistant cashier.
The officers of 1912 are : J. R. Bridges, president ; Adam Lang, cashier ;
C. G. Lang, assistant cashier.
The Exchange Bank was organized in 1894 with a capital stock of
$20,000. Judge E. L. Christy was president ; Charles Hiller, vice presi-
dent and H. M. Ililler, cashier. The officers of 1912 are: Walter White,
president ; Charles Hiller, vice president ; Sam S. Hiller, cashier.
County Officers
The representatives in the general assembly from Clark eountv
have been: Samuel D. South, Dr. J. W. S. Mitchell, ^laj. A. W. Da^get,
John P. Lowry, I. N. Lewis, Charles 0. Sanford, N. F. Givens. Isaac
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 347
N. Lewis, Frank Smith, James Cowgill, John N. Boulware, Erastus
Sacket, Dr. 0. B. Payne, Asa P. Healy, James M. Asher,. George K.
Biggs, John M. Wood, James Pore, Col. N. T. Cherry, J. J. Stafford,
James M. Sourgeon, P. A. S. Rebo, James Mackey, S. S. Ball, E. P.
Spangler, Charles P. Carter, McD. Turner, and Drf A. W. Teel.
Limited space will not permit the publication here of the names of
the other county officers, except the present incumbents, as follows:
Circuit clerk, N. T. Cherry ; county clerk, James P. Scott ; probate judge,
M. L. Clay; collector, P. I, Wilsey; judges of coiftity court, David S.
Rider, Jacob Reese, John Grimes; prosecuting attorney, J. H. Talbott;
sheriff, L. J. Howell; treasurer, Thomas J. Doggs; court reporter,
Thomas Raleigh.
Courts and Lawyers
The judicial circuit of which this county forms a portion has been
presided over by the following named: Priestly H. McBride, 1837-45;
Addison Reese, 1845-60; Thomas S. Richardson, 1860-62; James Elli-
son, 1862-64; David Wagner, 1864-66; E. V. Wilson, 1866-74; John C.
Anderson, 1874-1878; Benjamin E. Turner (elected in 1880, died in
October, 1896), 1880-1896; Edwin R. McKee, 1896-1904; Charles D.
Stewart, the present judge, was elected in 1904 and re-elected in 1910,
for a period of six years. At the date of his election Judge Turner was
the youngest circuit judge on the bench in the state. He was the only
resident judge. Judge E. R. McKee at one time resided in this county.
The local bar has the reputation of being one of the strongest in
Northeast Missouri. At this day the older members engaged in the
practice hark back in memory to their early experiences, when N.
F. Givens was at once the ** father" and, in the language of Judge
Turner in accepting his portrait, the *^ Nestor of the Bar of Northeast
Missouri.'* Judge McKee, son-in-law of Mr. Givens, had caused to be
painted a life-size bust portrait of the latter, and on the 1st day of
October, 1883, this was placed in the court room. When the old gen-
tleman, to whom all affections bent, came leisurely and unsuspiciously
into the room, C. B. Matlock, in a fervent and notable speech, presented
the portrait to the court. Judge Turner accepted the offering for the
court and ordered the portrait placed upon the walls of the. court
room, where it now hangs. To this have been added portraits of Judge
Anderson and Judge Turner, both deceased. Additional to those named
and most prominent in the practice of that day were : Col. H. M. Hil-
ler and W. L. Berkheimer. Then Messrs. Montgomery, Whiteside and
J. W. Howard — the latter deceased — were in their infancy, legally
speaking. Ex-Congressman James G. Blair died while a member of this
bar, the firm name being Blair, Marchand & Tall.
The following named are members of the Clark county bar: W.
L. Berkheimer, C. W. Yant, O. S. Callihan, G. M. Callihan, Fred P.
Lang, James Talbott, C. T. Llewellyn, J. S. Tall, Charles Hiller, J.
A. Whiteside, T. J. Easton, W. H. Robinson, L. J. Montgomery, M. L.
Clay, J. M. Dawson, T. L. Montgomery, E. Hitt Stewart, B. L. Grid-
ley, W. T. Rutherford. Thomas Raleigh, oflBcial stenographer.
CHAPTER XV
HOWARD COUNTY
By R. S. Walton, Armstrong
Before Missouri Was a State
The history of Howard county, from the date of its organization on
January 16, 1816, to 1860, is in a great measure a history of the state
The history of the county antedates the history of the state nearly ten
years.
These ten primitive years of the county were filled with stirring
scenes and thrilling events of the pioneers of the Boon!s Lick country.
It was these hardy settlers, who by their heroic deeds blazed a way in
the wilderness and thus opened up a new and wonderful country to
those who were to follow after them. All honor to those men and women
who first cast their lots for weal or woe in this New Eldorado. They were
a noble and grand body of men and women, they were imbued with a
laudable ambition to succeed in establishing for this ancestry happy
homes in this far off country. How w^ell these early pioneers laid the
ground work for their descendants to reap in the years to follow is to be
seen in the splendid homes, here and there on hilltop and in valley. Other
fruits of their labors can be seen in the school houses and stately churches.
These pioneers were not without their reward, for through the many
privations they suffered those to come after them have obtained happy
homes.
Agriculture is the greatest among all the arts of man, as it is the
first in supplying his necessities. It creates and maintains manufac-
tures, gives employment to navigation and furnishes material to com-
merce. It animates every species of industry and opens to nations the
safest channels of wealth. It is the strongest bond of well regulated
society, the surest basis of internal peace, and the natural associate of
correct morals. Among all occupations of life there is none more hon-
orable, none more independent, and none more conducive to the health
and happiness of the individual or community. As an agricultural
county Howard is the farmer's paradise, where he may always reap an
abundant harvest from the soil. The soil has an open, flexible structure
which (|uickly absorbs the most excessive rains and retains moisture with
great tenacity. This being the case, it is not easily affected by a drouth.
The prairie portion of the county is covered with a sweet, luxuriant
grass equally as good for grazing and hay as the famous Kentucky blue-
grass. The rich sandy loam soil of Howard county produces from year
to year enormous crops of corn, wheat and oats, with a boundless pas-
turage.
The water supply is not only inexhaustible but everywhere conven-
ient. There are few cereals, only a very few, that the soil of Howard
county will not produce at a profit in the mart of commerce.
348
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 349
ft
The following products of the soil yield in abundance, broom-corn,
sorghum, beans, peas, hops, sweet potatoes and in fact, all kinds of
garden vegetables. Fruits of the orchard of every variety, including
the apple, pear, peach, cherries, apricots, strawberry, raspberry, and
blackberry are cultivated with great success. With the building of the
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad through the county from south to
north and the Chicago and Alton Railroad from east to west, these
great arteries of commercial industry and progress presaged the dawn of
a brighter and grander era in the history of the county. Her fertile
prairies, rich high lands and prolific valleys have been made ten-fold
more productive of material profit, these additional facilities afforded
by the railroad have opened wide the marts of trade and commerce,
transportation to and from all parts of the country have been secured
and a fresh impetus given to the growth of our towns and cities and
furnishing new hopes and aspirations to all our people.
Early Settlers
The early pioneer settlers of Howard county were deeply imbued
with religious convictions, for we find as early as 1816 church services
were held in the county by the Baptists, being followed in 1820 by the
Presbyterian church, and in 1826 by the Disciples of Christ, and in the
year 1836 by the establishment of a small colony of communicants of
the Protestant Episcopal church located in Fayette, the county seat.
Histoiy we are told *4s but a record of the life and career of people
and nations. '^ The historian in rescuing from oblivion the life of a
nation or a particular people should nothing extenuate, nor set down
aught in malice. Myths, however beautiful, are but fanciful ; traditions,
however pleasing, are uncertain; and legends, though the very essence
of poesy and song, are unauthentic. The novelist will take the most
fragile thread of romance and from it weave a fabric of surpassing
beauty. But the historian should put his feet upon the solid rock of
truth and turning a deaf ear to the allurements of fancy, he should sift
with careful scrutiny the evidence brought before him from which he
is to give the record of what has been. Standing down the stream of
time far removed from its source, he must retrace with patience and
«are its meanderings, guided by the relics of the past which lie upon its
shores, growing fainter and still more faint and uncertain as he nears
its fountain, of times concealed in the "debris of ages and the mists of
impenetrable darkness. Written records grow less and less explicit and
finally fail altogether as he approaches the beginnings of the community,
whose lives he is seeking to rescue from the gloom of a rapidly receding
past. Memory, wonderful as are its powers, is yet frequently at fault
and only by a comparison of its many aggregations can he be satisfied
that he is pursuing the truth in his researches amid the early paths of
his subject. It cannot then be unimportant or uninteresting to trace
the progress of Howard county from its crude beginnings to her present
proud position among her sister counties. To this end, therefore, we
have endeavored to gather the scattered and loose threads of the past
into a compact web of the present, trusting that the harmony and per-
fections of the work may speak with no uncertain sound to the future.
Records have been traced as far as they have yielded information sought
for, the memories of the pioneers have been laid under tribute and into
requisition from all of which we could obtain reliable material to con-
struct a truthful and faithful history of Howard county.
The first white men to visit the territory of Howard county were
a colony under the direction of Pierre Laclede Liguest, who held a
350 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
■
charter from the French government, granting him the right and priv-
ilege to trade with the Indians in all the territory west of St. Louis and
as far west as the Rocky mountains. Levens and Drake state in their
history of Cooper county that Ira P. Nash with his companions visited
Howard county territory in the year 1804 and established a trading post
two miles northwest of Old Franklin. Col. Benjamin Cooper, of Ken-
tucky, moved to Howard county in the year 1808 and he states that
when he arrived in what is now known as Boon's Lick in Howard county
there were no settlements in this part of the state. It is claimed on good
authority that the old hunter, Daniel Boone, visited the Boon's Lick
country about the year 1795 and manufactured salt from the many salt
springs found in that region of Howard's territory.
The first authentic record of a permanent settlement to be made in
Howard county was in the year 1800, when Joseph Marie sold and
deeded a tract of land to Asa Morgan. This land was situated one mile
southwest of Fort Kincaid, in what is now Franklin township. Charles
Dehault Delassus, lieutenant-governor of Upper Louisiana, granted a
large tract of land situated in Franklin township on the 26th day of
January, 1804.
The next American in Howard county was Ira P. Nash, a deputy
United States surveyor, in company with Stephen Hancock and Stephen
Jackson, in the year 1804. These pioneers located on land opposite the
mouth of the LaMine river in Howard county. In July, 1804, Ira P.
Nash and his brother Wm. Nash, also James H. Whitesides, William
Clark and Daniel Hubbard, again came into what is now Howard county
and surveyed a tract of land on the site of Old Franklin. On this second
trip of Nash he claimed that he had left a compass in a certain hollow
tree several miles from the river and started out with two companions
to find the compass which he did the following day, bringing the compass
to camp with him which proved beyond doubt that he had visited the
country before as he had stated. Lewis and Clark, on their exploring
expedition to the Rocky mountains arrived at the mouth of the Bonne
Femme in Howard county on the 7th day of June, 1804, and camped
for the night. When Lewis and Clark returned from this journey in
1806, after having accomplished all the objects for which they were sent
out, they passed down the Missouri river and camped on the 18th of
September, in Howard county, opposite the mouth of the LaMine river.
The Boon's Lick Country
The next evidence we have of any white persons being in the Boon's
Lick country is in 1807, when Nathan and Daniel M. Boone, sons of
Daniel Boone, the great pioneer, who lived with their father in what is
now St. Charles county, about twenty-five miles west of the city of St.
Charles, on the Femme Osage creek, came up the Missouri river and
manufactured salt at Boon's Lick in Howard county. After the Boons
had manufactured what salt they wanted, they shipped it down the river
to St. Louis, where it was sold. It is thought by many that this was
the first instance of salt being manufactured in what was at that time a
part of the territory of Louisiana, now the state of Missouri.
Previous to the year 1808, every white American who came to the
Boon's Lick country came with the intention of only remaining a short
time. Three parties had entered it while on exploring and surveying
expeditions, two parties had been to the salt licks to make salt. In the
spring of 1808 Col. Benjamin Cooper, of Kentucky, arrived in the
Boon 's Lick country with his family, consisting of his wife and five sons,
and located two miles southwest of Boon's Lick, built a cabin, cleared a
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 351
piece of groimd and made arrangements for a permanent home. But he
was not permitted to remain, for Meriwether Lewis, governor of the
territory, issued an order directing him to return to below the mouth of
the Qasconade river, as the governor thought he had advanced too far
into the Indian territory and too far from any white protection in case
Indians should go on the warpath. So he was forced to return to
Loutre island, about four miles south of the Gasconade river, where he
remained until the year 1810, when he again returned with his family to
the Boon's Lick country.
The rich territory, however, was not destined to be left forever to the
reign of the wild beasts and savage Indians. Aside from the fact that
the character of the men of the early days caused them continually to
revolt against living in thii^kly settled communities, the Boon's Lick
country presented advantages which those seeking a home where they
could find the richest lands and the most healthful climate could not and
Arnold's Tavehn, Howard County
did not fail to perceive. Its fertile soil promised with little labor the
most abundant harvests. Its forests were filled with every variety of
game and its streams with all kinds of fish.
Two years after the settlement by Benjamin Cooper and his removal
to Loutre island the first permanent settlement was made in the Boon's
Lick country and this party was the forerunner for many others who
soon followed. Most of the emigrants who came to the Boon's Lick
country were former citizens of Aladison county, Kentucky, and we will
give the names of a few of the most prominent pioneers whose names
are indissolubly linked with the early history of Howard county: the
Coopers, Hancocks, Berrys, Browns, Thorps, Jones, Woods, Bynums
■ and many others who left good homes in Kentucky and Virginia and
came to the far west.
During the years 1811 and 1812 there was a great influ.K of new-
comers from the ea.st. On their arrival the first work was to erect a
log cabin and to clear a small patch of ground and plant just enough
corn and garden vegetables to feed their families through the winter.
They knew that the country was full of Indians and that the Indiana
might at any time begin depredations on the whites. Therefore, they
352 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
located in colonies where in ease of danger they could render each other
assistance in time of need. The county was full of wild game of all
kinds which furnished meat in abundance to the settlers. There were
large droves of wild turkey, elk, deer, and bear and as soon as a cabin
was complete for the family occupancy the men folks turned their atten-
tion to hunting and fishing. Th,e range was good and the stock kept fat
on the luxuriant grasses, while nuts and berries of all kinds furnished
ample food for every species of animal.
It was during the two years of 1811 and 1812 that quite a number
of emigrants came into the Boon's Lick country. Many of these new
arrivals included families of wealth and culture, who left splendid homes
and life-long friends in the east to take up their abode in a new country
infested with savages and wild beasts. They had hardly got comfortably
located in their new homes before rumors and mutteriugs were heard
that Great Britain had incited Indians to take the warpath and with
British assistance to attempt to drive the whites from the territory.
They, therefore, lost no time in building log forts and stockades and
making other preparations to defend themselves from the attacks of the
Indians and the British. Three large log forts were built, Port Cooper
was located two miles southwest of Boon's Lick. Fort Kiucaid was
built about one mile north of the present Boonville railroad bridge. Fort
Hempstead was built one mile and a half north of Fort Kincaid. Each
fort was a series of log houses built together around an enclosure. In
each house lived a family. The stock was corralled and the property
of the settlers secured at night in the enclosure. Other small forts were
built, but those named were the most important.
As soon as the forts were completed, all the settlers moved into them.
They organized themselves into a military company with Sarshall Cooper
as captain and William Mahon as first lieutenant. In these forts were
112 men able to bear arms. Life in the forts was not one of idleness
and ease. It was one of constant vigilance and activity for the space
of over two years until the war clouds had blown over. Schools were
maintained in the forts for the children and religious exercises were
held every Sunday. The first horsemills in the county were erected at
Fort Hempstead ai>d Fort Kincaid. The first dry goods store in the
county was kept by Robert Morris within the inclosure of Fort Hemp-
stead.
In accordance with an act of the territorial legislature approved Jan-
uary 13, 1816, the county of Howard was created, being the ninth organ-
ized county in the territory. Its limits were taken from the territory of
St. Louis and St. Charles counties.
Organization op the (^orNT\'
Howard county at its organization was an empire in area, repre-
senting 22,000 square miles. It was one-third as large as the state of
Missouri and was larger than Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware and
Rhode Island. It is from the fact that so many counties have been
created from original territory that Howard county is called the ** Mother
of Counties'* and the appellation is a just one. By an act of the legis-
lature February 16, 1825, Howard county was reduced to its present
limits of 463 square miles in area, instead of 22,000 square miles.
In the fall of 1816 the town of Old Franklin was laid oflP opposite
the present site of Boonville. It was located on a tract of land containing
100 acres. Benjamin Estill, David Jones, David Kincaid, William
Head and Stephen Cooper were appointed commissioners to locate a
county seat which had been first located at Cole's Fort. On June 16,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 353
1817, the commissioners made their report to the court and recommended
the site of Old Franklin as the most suitable place for the county
seat. So on the 2d day of November, 1817, the court was opened for
ofiScial business by the sheriff. The land office was also located at Old
Franklin in 1818 and Thomas A. Smith appointed receiver and Charles
Carroll register.
The first newspaper published west of St. Louis was on April 23.
1819, by Nathaniel Patten and Benjamin Holliday. The name of the
paper was the Missouri Intelligencer.
The first steamboat that ever touched the soil of Howard county was
on May 28, 1819. It cast anchor at Old Franklin, then a town of 350 in-
habitants, and the arrival of the boat was the occasion of great rejoicing
by the citizens of Old Franklin. The event was celebrated by the firing
of cannon and by big toasts and speeches by her most prominent citizens.
The first postoffice established in the county was in the year 1821.
Until that time the news was carried by the scout and traveler passing
from one settlement to another.
The first county court was held on February 26, 1821, at Old Frank-
lin. The judges were Henry V. Bingham, David R. Drake, and Thomas
Conway. Hampton L. Boone was appointed county clerk pro tem.
First County Officers
Elias Bancroft was appointed county surveyor, Nicholas S. Burck-
hartt, county assessor, and Joseph Patterson, collector of the revenue in
1821. These were the first county oflBcers. The county from 1816 to 1821
was divided into four townships: Moniteau, Bonne Femme, Chai^iton
and LaMine. In 1821 the county court made a second division of the
county into townships and made seven townships: Franklin, Boonslick,
Chariton, Richmond, Prairie, Bonne Femme, and Moniteau. Later on
the county court created Burton township from territory taken from
Richmond and Prairie townships.
Kit Carson
Among the famous men who lived in Howard county and whose name
and fame is world-wide is Kit Carson, the famous scout who piloted the
exploring company of men under the lead of Gen. J. C. Fremont to
the Pacific coast. He was born in Madison county, Kentucky, in 1809,
and was brought by his father, Lindsey Carson, to the Boon's Lick coun-
try in 1810 when **Kit" was only one year old. Young **Kit'' when
barely seventeen years old joined a party and left his home in Howard
county to seek his fortune in the far West, where he remained until his
death.
County Organization
From 1804 until October 1, 1812, the territory of Missouri was divided
into four districts. At that date Governor Clark issued a proclamation,
in accordance with an act of Congress, reorganizing the four districts
into five counties : St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau
and New Madrid.
Under the act of the General Assembly approved January 13, 1816,
the county of Howard was created, being the ninth organized county in
the territory, and was taken out of the counties of St. Louis and St.
Charles. The boundaries of Howard county, as established after its or-
ganization, included within its confines the following counties, which
have been created and organized since February 16, 1825 : Boone, Cole,
VOL I— 2t
354 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Miller, Morgan, Benton, St. Clair, Henry, Johnson, LaPayette, Pettis,
Cooper, Moniteau, Saline, Clay, Clinton, DeKalb, Gentry, Worth, Har-
rison, Daviess, Caldwell, Ray, Carroll, Randolph, Livin^on, Grundy,
Mercer, Putnam, Sullivan, Linn, Chariton, Macon, Adair, parts of Shelby,
Monroe and Audrain, and the following counties in Iowa : Taylor, Adams,
Union, Ringgold, Clark, Decatur, Wayne, Lucas, Monroe and Appanoose.
In the year 1816 after Howard county was duly organized the first
term of court was held at the home of Joseph Jolly in Hannah Cole's
fort on the 8th day of July, 1816. Hon. David Barton was the presiding
judge, Nicholas Burckhartt, cheriflf, and Gray Bynum, clerk of the
court. The attorneys in attendance were Edward Bates, Charles Lucas,
Joshua Barton and Lucius Caston.
At this term of court Hannah Cole obtained a license to establish a
ferry across the Missouri river.
The first licensed tavern was kept by Harper C. Davis, in Kincaid's
Fort.
The first road laid out in the county was a road from Cole 's Fort on
the Missouri river to intersect the road from Potosi in Washington
county at the Osage river. Stephen Cole, James Cole and Humphrey
Gibson were appointed to lay out and make the road.
The first elections held in the county were held at Head's Fort, Mc-
Lain's Fort, Fort Cooper and Cole's Fort.
The first civil action was styled Davis Lodd vs. Joseph Boggs.
Old Franklin
About the year 1820 John Hardeman, of German extraction, came
to Old Franklin and purchased land five miles above the town nearly
opposite the mouth of the LaMine creek and planted a garden and filled
it with every known species and variety of plants. He was a man of
wealth, and he spared neither expense nor labor in beautifying the gar-
den and making it attractive to the eye. It has been claimed by some
that it equalled the celebrated garden of Henry Shaw of St. Louis.
This beautiful garden was finally engulfed by an overflow of the Mis-
souri river in the year 1826. Old Franklin was made the county seat in
1817 and the land office was also located there. The town waa the most
promising and prominent west of St. Louis and its population was rapidly
on the increase year by year. Some of the best blood of Kentucky, Vir-
ginia and Tennessee and other states flowed in the veins of its citizens.
The town was noted for the intelligence, hospitality and enterprise of its
people. Among the illustrious citizens whose names sparkle upon the
historic page with a fadeless luster were L. W. Boggs, John Miller,
Hamilton R. Gamble, C. F. Jackson, all of whom were afterwards govern-
ors of the state ; J. F. Ryland and Abiel Leonard, later on judges of the
Supreme Court of Missouri, Gen. Robert C. Clark and Cyrus Edwards,
both distinguished lawyers, Judge David Todd, David Barton, H. V.
Bingham, the father of the great artist whose pencil made famous the
General Order No. 11 of General Ewing of Civil war fame. The Baptists
organized a church in the town in 1819 and the Methodists one year later
on but no house of worship was erected.
Franklin continued to be the county seat until 1823, when the county
seat was located at Fayette, the latter town being about the geographical
center of the county. Many of Franklin's citizens moved to Fayette,
especially the lawyers. The Masonic lodge was organized at Old Frank-
lin in 1820. It was removed to New Franklin in 1852 and reorganized
and known as Howard lodge No. 4, being the fourth Masonic lodge
instituted in the state.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 355
The first postoffice was established at Old Franklin on April 20, 1821,
and Augustus Stores appointed postmaster. With the flood of 1826, the
town of New Franklin owes its existence. With the advent of the Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas Railroad to New Franklin it soon increased in
population from 250 people to 1,500, but of late years the railroad com-
pany has removed the round house and repair shops from the town and
since their removal the town has gradually decreased in population until
at present it has not more than 600 inhabitants.
Estill
Estill station is a small country village with one store and blacksmith
shop and postoffice. It is situated in the richest part of Howard county
and is named in honor of Col. J. R. Estill who gave the site for a depot.
Fayette
Fayette, the county seat of Howard county, was named in honor of
General LaFayette when he was about to revisit the United States; The
town was laid out in 1823. The following citizens located the present
site of the county seat: Jonathan Crawley, WiUiam Head, Samuel
Wallace, Glenn Owens, and Samuel Hardin. Hiram Fugate and Hick
Burnham each donated twenty -five acres for the county seat. Elisha Witt
built the first house of logs. The first merchant was named O'Neal. Dr.
Wm. ^IcLain was the first physician and Mathew Semmons the first black-
smith. Lawrence J. Daly was the first school teacher, as well as the first
postmaster of Fayette. He was a native of Ireland and died in Fayette.
In 1838 a bank, a branch of the ^Missouri State Bank, was established in
Fayette with Dr. J. J. Lowery as president and C. F. Jackson as cashier.
In 1865 A. Hendrix established a private bank which later on became the
Merchants and Mechanics Bank of Fayette.
The Fayette bank was established in 1871. The Commercial Bank
has recently been opened for business in Fayette. There have been three
court houses in Fayette since it became the county seat. The first was
built in 1824, the second in 1859, and the third in 1879. The cholera
visited Fayette first in 1832 and again in 1873. The latter visit re-
sulted in nearly 100 deaths.
Central College, under the management of the Methodist Church
South is located at Fayette and is in a prosperous condition. Howard-
Payne College at Fayette is a school for the education of girls and is also
under the direction of the Methodist Church South. Both schools are
well patronized.
Glasgow
The town of Glasgow was laid out in the fall of 1836. It was named
in honor of James Glasgow, one of the early settlers of the township.
As Glasgow was located on the Missouri river with the advantages
of river transportation, it was not long until the town was of much im-
portance in a commercial sense. Glasgow has four flouring banks in
active and successful operation. The Chicago & Alton Railroad has
a railroad bridge over the Missouri at Glasgow for the main line of its
road from Chicago to Kansas City.
Pritchett College at Glasgow, an educational institution of high
repute, is in a flourishing condition under the presidency of Hon. U. S.
Hall, assisted by a corps of able teachers. The Morrison Observatory,
donated to the use of Pritchett College by the will of Mrs. Berenice Mor-
rison-Fuller in the year of 1874, is at Glasgow.
HISTORY or NORTHEAST MISSOURI
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 357
Lewis College is also located in the city of Glasgow. This is an educa-
tional school under the charge of the Methodist Church North and was
made possible by the generous donations of B. W. Lewis.
Other Towns
Armstrong, a small town located in Prairie township on the Chicago
& Alton Railroad ten miles from Fayette, was laid out in 1878. It was
incorporated as a village in 1879 and remained under the village act until
1894 when it was incorporated as a city of the fourth class. Armstrong
has four neat churches : Christian, Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian.
The town of Roanoke was laid out in 1834 and named ** Roanoke''
in honor of the country home of John Randolph, the great Virginia
statesman. Roanoke was for many years a town of considerable busi-
ness importance and remained so until the building of the Chicago &
Alton Railroad three miles south of the town and the location of the
town of Armstrong, which has grown rapidly until it has virtually killed
the trade of its sister town, Roanoke, until at present only one store
and a few old houses remain to tell of the departed glory of the grand
old town of ante-bellum days.
Sebree is a small town located in the southeastern part of the county
in Moniteau township.
Burton in Burton township on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail-
rail was made possible by the construction of the railroad through the
county in the year 1880. It has a depot, postoffice and one store. At one
time in its history it had a large trade in the shipment of railroad ties and
leaf tobacco.
The Bar
From 1815 to 1860 the bench and bar in Howard county was rep-
resented by some of the most learned and able jurists not only in the state
of Missouri but in the American Union. We find recorded the names of
such legal lights at the Howard county bar as Judge David Todd, Judge
David Barton, Judge George Tompkins, Judge Mathias McGirk, Judge
Abiel Leonard, Gov. Hamilton Gamble, Judge John F. Ryland, Judge
James H. Birch, Hon. J. B. Clark, Sr., Hon. Joe Davis, Hon. Robt. T.
Prewitt, Gov. Thomas Reynolds, Gen. Robt. Wilson, Judge William B.
Napton, Hon. A. J. Herndon, Judge J. W. Henry, Col. John F. Williams,
Judge Thomas Shackleford, and many others.
The Press
The first newspaper issued in Howard county was on April 25, 1819,
by Nathaniel Patten and Benjamin Holliday at Old Franklin and was
known as the Missouri Intelligencer, In 1826 the Intelligencer was
moved to Fayette, the county seat, where it was issued until April 9, 1830,
when it was purchased by Columbia citizens and moved to that city. It
was the first newspaper published west of St. Louis.
The next newspaper published in Howard county was the Western
Monitor at Fayette in August, 1827, by Western F. Birch, who was the
editor until 1837, when it passed under the control of James H. Birch,
a brother of the retiring editor, who changed its name to the Missourian.
In a few years the Missaurian passed into the hands of C. H. Green, who
changed the name of the paper to the Boon's Lick Times. About the time
of the publication of the Times by Green, Judge William B. Napton es-
tablished the Boon's Lick Democrat. The Dem/>crat was published until
1844, when it ceased publication and the Times was moved to Glasgow and
358 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
was published until 1861. The next newspaper was the Howard County
Banner, started in 1853 by R. C. Hancock. This paper was sold to Ran-
dall and Jackson, who in a couple of years sold the paper to I. N. Houck,
who changed its name to the Howard County Advertiser. The Advertiser
under different management is still in existence at the present time. The
Glasgow Journal, Glasgow Times, and Netvs were short-lived publications
of only a few years. Since the Civil war the Central Missouriati at
Glasgow, the Democrat-Leader at Fayette, the New Franklin News and
the Armstrong Herald are the representatives of the press in Howard
county.
War History
In all the wars, including the Mexican war of 1846, the Mormon and
Civil wars, Howard county has always furnished her full quota of sol-
diers. In the war of 1846, Capt. J. W. Hughes, at the call of Governor
Edwards of Missouri, raised a company of Howard county boys and
joined Gen. A. W. Doniphan in his march to the land of the ^lontezumas.
In the Black Hawk and Florida wars the sons of old Howard were among
the first to respond to duty's call. To attempt to write a full and com-
plete history of Howard county just preceding the great Civil war, which
swept over our country like a besom of destruction, would fill a book
of many volumes. With a very few exceptions, most citizens of Howard
county at the beginning of the war between the states were bom in Ken-
tucky, Tennessee or Virginia and were strong believers in the doctrine of
states' rights, as advocated by J. C. Calhoun and other southern states-
men. They were also strong advocates of slavery. Most of the wealthy
citizens were owners of large numbers of slaves. As a matter of fact
they could not help espousing the cause of their brethren in the South
when war was declared between the states.
After the firing on Fort Sumter, when there was no doubt that civil
war with all its terrible ravages was close at hand, the citizens of Howard
county began to take sides and as most of her citizens were of Southern
birth or extraction the general sentiment and feeling was with the South-
ern cause. A mass meeting was held at the court house in Fayette and
many speeches made by those who were in favor of secession and others
advising against a severance from the Union. As the Southern sentiment
was the strongest and led by such men as Gen. John B. Clark, Gov. C. F.
Jackson and many others, a company of men was raised and J. B. Clark,
Jr., made captain of the state troops to repel invasion of the state from
Federal troops. After every effort had failed to reconcile and com-
promise the difference of opinion as to what course the people of Howard
county should take in the war, those of her citizens who were believers in
the justness of the Southern cause from time to time as the war progpressed
went south and joined the armies of Gen. Sterling Price. It is estimated
that Howard county furnished no less than two thousand soldiers to the
South and about fifteen hundred to the Union cause during the war.
During the Civil war Howard county suffered considerable from
the ravages resulting from the contending forces occupying her territory.
No large battles were fought in Howard county, but there were a great
number of engagements between small bodies of soldiers representing
federal troops and what was known as guerrilla squads under Todd, Jack-
son, Anderson and Quantrell.
The only battle of any moment was the battle of Glasgow between the
Confederate forces under Gen. Sterling Price and a body of Federals
stationed at Glasgow under the command of Col. Chester Harding, of the
Union army, in October, 1864. The battle was begun by the Confed-
erates under Generals Joe Shelby and John H. Clark and after a few
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 359
hours' engagement the Federals surrendered with a loss of sixty killed
and a great many wounded. The Confederate loss was nearly as large.
After the close of the Civil war and the smoke of battle had cleared the
horizon from the effects of the most stupendous internecine strife of
modern times, the citizens of Howard county returned to the peaceful
walks of life. JMany had lost all their earthly possession in the war,
and hence were compelled to begin life anew.
The County Today
The area of Howard county is about 463 square miles, with a
frontage on the Missouri river on the west and south of thirty-four miles.
The face of its territory was originally covered with a growth of heavy
timber, except small upland and southern prairies and a much larger
acreage in the northern part of the county which is included within
Prairie township. The bluffs near the city of Glasgow in Chariton
township rise to a height in some places of 275 feet above the aver-
age water mark of the Missouri river and this is probably about the
general elevation of the highlands throughout the county. The river
bluffs on the western border are very steep and in some places are
perpendicular, but on the southern border are more gentle in decline.
The streams often pursue their course 150 feet below the tops of the
ridges and the valleys are connected with the ridges by long and easy
slopes. The southern portion of the county is not as hilly as the,
northwestern. The undergrowth of timber consists of many valuable
varieties such as white, red and black oak, chestnut, oak, black wal-
nut, elm, hickory, ash, linden, and sycamore. Aside from the frontage
on the ^lissouri river the rest of the county is watered by such streams
as the Moniteau, Bonne Femme, Salt creek. Sulphur creek. Bear, and
Gregg's. There are many salt springs to be found in Boon's Lick
and Richmond townships which were utilized by the early settlers
to furnish domestic salt. Good coal and profitable deposits of coal
are to be found in nearly every township in the county in sufficient
quantities to supply all home consumption. In fact, in Burton town-
ship a coal shaft is in active operation on the line of the Missouri, Kansas
& Texas Railroad.
Schools
The crowning glory of American institutions in the establishment
of the public school system. Nowhere is it found of a higher order of
efficiency and conducted by more energetic teachers than in Howard
county. The public school system was organized in 1867 under the
state laws of 1866. Since that date the public schools have gradually
increased both in number and efficiency.
Churches
The religious and moral development of her citizens has not been
neglected and the march to a higher plane along the lines of moral
rectitude is looked after by the various Protestant churches; Southern
Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Presbyterian and Episcopal. There are
also denominations of Seventh Day Adventists, Holiness, and Catholic.
It has been a question of dispute for many years as to which denomi-
nation was the first to raise the standard of Christ in Howard county.
After a close investigation into the records of the past, it is generally
conceded that the Baptists were the forerunners in carrying the ban-
ner of the cross into the virgin territory of what is known as the
360 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Boon's Lick country. The Methodists were but a few years later in
establishing the emblem of the cross in Howard county. Mount Pleas-
ant Baptist church near New Franklin is evidently from the records
the oldest church organization in the county, having its origin April
12, 1812. The Christian church in Howard county, one of the largest
in membership as well as in wealth, was organized between 1816 and
1820. The Presbyterian and Episcopal churches were organized some
years later. The Southern Methodist church is probably the largest
in wealth and membership of any in the county. The Catholics have
churches at Fayette, Glasgow and New Franklin.
Politics
The political complexion of the voting citizenship in Howard county
has always been largely Democratic.
Conclusion
In conclusion it may be said that there are few counties in the
state with an acreage of only 463 square miles that have had a more
interesting history filled with more thrilling events and heroic deeds,
and none that have been more potent as a factor in shaping and direct-
ing the political history of the state.
From the year 1810 to the present time Howard county has been
the center of political thought in the state and has furnished many
prominent and eminent men in the state and nation.
In the councils of the nation she had a rtepresentative in the United
States senate in the person of David Barton. In the ho^se of repre-
sentatives are to be found the illustrious names of John G. Miller, Gen.
J. B. Clark, Sr., and J. B. Clark, Jr. In state councils and on the
supreme bench: William Scott, George Tompkins, and Abiel Leon-
ard ; in the treasury department : A. W. Morrison and R. P. Williams ;
as state auditor, John Walker; and as governor: John G. Miller,
Thomas C. Reynolds, Lilburn W. Boggs and C. F. Jackson.
Abiel Leonard, Jr., and Ethelbert Talbot, bishops of the Episcopal
church, Eugene R. Hendrix, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church
South, James P. Major, Major General United States Army, Uriel S.
Sebree, Rear Admiral United States Navy, are natives of Howard
county.
CHAPTER XVI
KNOX COUNTY
By Mrs, A. X. Brown, Edina
Organization
This fertile and beautiful part of the commonwealth of Missouri
made its advent into her sisterhood of counties by an act of the general
assembly, which was approved January 6, 1843. This act provided
that, **A11 that part of Scotland county south of the dividing line
separating townships 63 and 64 is hereby constituted and established a
distinct county, to be called and known as Knox county."
Knox county was named for a soldier of the American Revolution,
General Washington's chief of artillery, Gen. Henry Knox, of Scotch
and Irish Presbyterian stock, afterward secretary of war.
For two years Knox county remained a part of Scotland county.
During this period it was provided by legislative action that all moneys
and dividends of money accruing to Scotland county should be equally
divided between the two counties, and further, that the people of Knox
county should not be taxed for the erection of any public buildings
in Scotland county.
In 1845 the county was fully organized with metes and bounds as
at present. The act for this provision was approved February 14, 1845.
By the terms of this act the first county court judges of Knox county
were Edward Milligan, Melker Baker and Virgil Pratt, who met at
Edina on the first Monday in April, 1845. The place of meeting was
in the log building on the east side of the (now) square where the first
postoffice was located. Melker Baker was made presiding judge; John
H. Fresh of Newark was made acting sheriff; Jesse John, county clerk;
Warner Pratt, assessor ; and I'eter Early, county treasurer. The bonds-
men of the county clerk were Henry Callaway, E. H. John and Horace
A. Woodbridge. It is a significant fact that the first business transacted
was the appointment of three commissioners to view a road. The com-
missioners appointed were Thomas Ferguson, John Black and Lewis
Fox. The road petitioned for was to extend from somewhere on the
South Fabius to the road between Quincy and Kirksville. At this term
of court other road viewers were appointed and township 61, range 12
was organized for school purposes. The county was divided into four
municipal townships: Benton, Center, Fabius and Salt River. Of the
first county officers Judge Milligan is recorded as having made the
first entry of land in the county (west half of the northwest section 32,
township 63), dated November, 1830. This man was an Irishman, mar-
ried in Boston, and lived in St. Louis the greater part of his life. His
wife lived upon their pntry until five years after the organization of
the county, but in 1850 she returned to St. Louis. Judge Pratt was
from the Empire State. He founded a family in Knox county, and
361
362 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
while his descendants are widely scattered, the name is a familiar one
in Knox county to this day. He operated a mill in Bee Ridge township,
known as Pratt's Mill. He died in California. Judge Melker Baker was
from Maryland. He was a man of powerful frame, of strong will, kind
heart and strictest integrity. Jolin Fresh was the son of James Fresh,
the early pioneer. He lived at Newark.
The site of the present beautiful park at Edina was set apart on Sep-
tember 4, 1845, and reserved by the county forever as a public square.
It comprised all of block 3. During the same fall a clerk's office and
an office for public records were erected on block 2. They were of brick,
the former 20 feet square and the latter 16x24 feet.
In November, 1845, a seal of the following description was ordered
to be made: **A raised circle at the outer edge one-sixteenth of an inch
in width, inside of which shall be engraved the words, Seal of Knox
County Court, Mo., and inside of this shall be engraved a buck sheep
without horns, all of which shall be in raised work so as to present the
words and devices on the front side of the paper upon which the im-
pression is to be made. ' '
In May of the following year (1846) Walter Ellis was allowed six
dollars for erecting six finger boards in the county. In June a hundred
citizens petitioned the county court to dig a well in the public square
in Edina until living water should be reached. The court appointed
Peter Early, Martin Baker, Jr., and Jesse John to superintend the work.
Water was reached at a depth of one hundred and sixty-six feet, and that
splendid well today, with a little engine, pumps water sufficient to water
the teams, the year round, of thirsty horses that are driven to town.
The assessors' books indicate that in 1846 there were 384 taxpayers,
in 1847, 679; in 1848, 686; in 1849, 701; in 1850, 766; in 1851, 1,044; in
1855, 1,255.
On May 7, 1845, the court appointed John C. Rutherford of Clark
county, Walter Crockett of Putnam county and Walker Austin of Macon
county as commissioners to locate the permanent seat of justice for the
county of Knox in conformity to an act approved December 9, 1836.
These commissioners made their report, locating the county seat at Edina
on the second day of October, 1845.
John Thompson was appointed commissioner on July first preceding
and was ordered to survey the county addition to the permanent seat of
justice, and to lay it off in lots for sale: During the summer he was or-
dered to cut the brush and burn it and clear the streets of obstructions.
John Thompson resigned the following February and Martin Baker was
appointed to fill his place. By 1847 the lots were nearly all sold.
First Permanent Settlers
James Fresh was probably the first permanent settler in Knox
county. Mr. Fresh was a Marylander and brought his family, consisting
of himself, his wife and children, also three slaves, brothers, Abe, Dan
and Dave, and settled first in Marion county, but in the fall of 1833 came
up into what in January, 1833, had been incorporated in Lewis county,
and settled on or near the site of the historic town of Newark. He
selected a site for a home and without the preliminary of entering the
land began with his slaves the erection of a cabin.
In the spring of 1834 Fresh built a water mill a mile west of where
old Newark now stands. This was a saw and grist mill and was largely
responsible for the influx of people into that part of the county soon
afterward. Fresh built an addition to his dwelling and sawed boards
with which to weatherboard it. He entered a large tract of land and
UISTOEY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI S63
neighbors booh thronged into the region. Records show that John Watts
and Robert Davis entered land near Newark in 1833, but it ia not known
that they made permanent settlement. The building of Fresh's Hill
indicates the presence of settlers. Somewhere in the fall of 1833 Stephen
Cooper came either to the southeast part of Scotland, or the northeast
part of Knox county. There he founded what was known as the Cooper
settlement, which included lands in both counties. In about the year
1839 Cooper and a man named Roberts erected a mill on the site of the
present little hamlet of Millport, Cooper lived near Millport for ten
years or more, when he moved to California. Roberts brought to the
county four thousand dollars in gold, most of which he lost in the mill
business. He finally died by his own hand.
In 1834 Joseph and Josiah McReynolds settled in Colony township.
Samuel Manning settled near Fresh's about this time, also Osburn
SleCracken. The year 1835 found Reuben Cornelius, Abner Johnson,
Thomas McMnrray, Thomas Price, Hugh Henry, Richard Von Carnip
in the vicinity of Colony. Richard Vou Carnip was the first of a hundred
frugal and industrious people, of whom we now have so many, the Ger-
Jahes Fresh's Mill
mans. In this year, the Youngs and the Hawkinses settled in Jeddo
township and Robert McReynolds in Myrtle. In 1836, Fabius, Jeddo,
Myrtle and Colony townships received^uite an influx of settlers. In 1837
• they thronged in and in 1838 the tide of emigration to the west having
set in more strongly than ever the rich prairies of north Missouri were
now attracting hundreds of home seekers. It was in this year that the
Baker brothers, James "W. and Joshua W., and their father, Martin
Baker, settled near the site of Edina, the present county seat. They
entered the land that now comprises the Eyman farm and the Bowles
farm. Farther up on Rock creek Nathan Roseberry and James Williams
were improving claims. John Black and George Taylor also settled in
this vicinity. It may here be stated that the laud iu this vicinity was not
open to government entrj- until 1840, but the settlers had a method of
their own for obtaining land. They formed an association* with consti-
tution and by-laws, and the metes and bounds of each claim were
recorded in a book kept by John Black. The "Squatters" pledged
mutual protection one with another until such time as their lands should
come into market. These claims were sometimes called "tomahawk
claims" from the fact that the boundaries were often blazed upon trees.
There is no record of "claim jumping" in those days.
364 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOXJRI
The tide of emigration increased until in 1840 the population of
what is now Knox county comprised some fifteen hundred people. The
log cabins of the early settlers were found in the near vicinity of all the
streams although the wide prairies were still unbroken. Newark and
Edina had been laid out^ two mills were running, one at Millport and
one at Newark.
Marriages
Up to the year 1845 the marriages occurring in Knox county were
recorded in Lewis and Scotland counties, hence it is difiScult to obtain a
record of the earliest marriages. In 1836 it is stated that Absalom R.
Downing and Mrs. Susan Kelly (nee Fresh) were married at the resi-
dence of the bride's father, James Fresh, near Newark. After the organ-
ization of the county the first marriage on record was that of William
P. Marshall and Sallie Harrington. The ceremony was performed by
William Saling, justice of the peace, on May 5, 1845.
Preachers
With early settlers came preachers of the gospel. The first of whom
we find any record was in 1836, the Rev. Geo. C. Light, a Methodist, who
preached at the house of Hugh Henry of Colony township. A class was
organized at the same time. The Revere^jd Mr. Still, a Methodist circuit
rider, preached in Edina in 1840. The Reverend Mr. Shoats and Elder
John Shanks, of the Christian church, preached in Knox county previous
to its organization. The meetings were held in the settlers' cabins. An-
nouncements of the meetings were widely circulated and the isolated
and lonely settlers came for miles. Some came on horseback and many
in the ox wagons, then in almost universal use.
The Gold Fever
In 1849 the gold fever broke out in Knox county. It will be remem-
bered that the exciteirient produced at that time by the discovery of gold
in California swept the whole country. The sturdy settlers were fired
with the desire for gold, and hastily gathering together sufficient means
to buy the necessary ** outfit" when they should reach St. Joseph. A great
many Knox county settlers, with iron courage, left their new farms, and
often young families, for the terrible journey of three months' duration
across the great American desert-% Oxen were invariably chosen with
which to make the journey, and the month of May the time to start.
Then the buflPalo grass was sufficiently started to support the cattle, which
were herded at night in turns by members of the party. Some of those
courageous men returned successful. A few are living in Knox county
today, one, Custer C. Sharp, in 'Edina. But, alas ! many succumbed to
heat and thirst and disease; many were victims of the Indian's arrow,
and some of the murderous assassin.
During the Civil War
Knox county was very much divided, yet the preponderance of people
were for the Union. Early in 1861 Crockett Davis organized a company
of secessionists at Edina. In the early summer, Union Home Guards
began to form. The Edina legion was formed with E. V. Wilson captain,
the Millport company under Captain Murrow, the Antioch company
under Captain Northcutt and the Paulville company under Captain
Sever.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 365
In the latter part of July the Home Guards gathered in Edina in con-
siderable force. The armed secessionists were collected under Martin E.
Green. lie took up the march to Edina July 30, 1861. On the evening
of July 30 his force camped at Troublesome, about four miles west of
Edina. The more heedless of the home guards were eager for a fight,
but wiser councils prevailed. Colonel Wilson was in command by sort
of common consent and he ordered the evacuation of the town. He
marched at the head of a portion of the men to Alacon City, while many
others dispersed to await further developments. Green's men came up
rapidly and were soon in occupation of the town. It was found that the
actual force of the enemy was far less than reported and when too late,
it was found that the town might have been held against them, but with
results not justifying the inevitable shedding of blood.
Green put out picket guards, patrolled the town and floated from a
staff on the courthouse a flag new and strange to eyes only familiar with
the Star Spangled Banner. That flag contained fifteen stars and three
stripes. Green established a camp on the Fabius at Milltown, now a part
of Edina. Green s occupation of Edina occurred July 30, 1861.
A few days before this, the first Knox county victim of the Civil war
fell. This was Jackson Grant, one of the Home Guards, who was shot
by William Everman.
On August 3, Colonel Green took charge of a force that was march-
ing against Colonel Moore at Athens. He left a force at Edina under
Capt. Frisby McCuUough and Lieut. Col. Joe Porter. The camp re-
mained at Milltown. Nearly all the battalion were McCullough's men,
as the greater part of Porter's men were with Green. On August 5th
occurred the battle of Athens in Clark county between the Union forces
under Col. David Moore and the Confederates under Col. Martin Green.
It was a complete victory for the Union forces and meant the occupancy
of this part of Missouri by the Union people, although at no time free
from molestation and trouble.
When the fugitives from Athens informed McCuUough and Porter of
the defeat at Athens of the Confederate forces, they evacuated the camp
at Milltown and taking a circuitous route, again made camp in Knox
county at Phelps' bridge on Salt river.
A few days before the battle of Athens word was sent to General Pope
at Mexico of the condition of affairs at Edina. Colonel Worthineton
at Keokuk was ordered to organize a campaign looking to the occupation
of Edina by Federal troops. Soon after this order was issued, Green was
defeated at Athens and with all his force made his way toward Lexing-
ton. Hence this order was not carried out.
In August another company of Home Guards was organized at Good-
land under Capt. Valentine Cupp. This company took part in an en-
gagement at Blue Mills Landing, where Captain Cupp was killed. This
company became Company F in the Third Missouri Cavalry.
In the latter part of March William Ewing led a band of ** bush-
whackers'' in the north part of the county. A part of the Home Guards
were sent out to rout them out. They were said to be working in con-
junction with Bill Dunn, another guerrilla leader. Accordingly Capt.
Joe Cell was pu^ in command of a scouting party to reconnoiter. When
they approached Ewing 's house they were fired upon and two of their
number killed, Thompson Botts and William Spiers. The squad of mili-
tia returned to Edina with their dead comrades and next day a squad of
some twenty-five or thirty soldiers took them to the neighborhood cemetery
near Novelty for burial. As the burial party was returning it was
ambushed at Allred's Hill, about two miles south of Edina, in the dusk
of the evening. Two men, Sergeant Norcross and William Troutman,
were killed and a number of others wounded.
366 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
On April 6 Glover returned with five companies of militia and orders
from Sehofield and Halleek of great severity. The country was scoured
and some were killed. The deplorable condition was quieted and a bet-
ter atmosphere was restored until the Porter campaign opened. In the
latter part of June a skirmish occurred between Colonel Lipscomb and
Colonel Porter at Cherry Grove in Scotland county. He followed Porter
through Knox county but did not overtake him.
At five o'clock in the evening of August 1st Porter's men attacked the
Union men at Newark, about eighty in number, Companies K and L of
the Eleventh Missouri State Militia. They returned the fire and fled to
the town, where they took refuge in the Presbyterian church, Bragg 's
store and the Masonic hall over the store. Here they defended themselves
as best they could until two loads of hay were backed up preparatory to
burning them out. A flag of truce was sent demanding a surrender.
The terms were they to be released on parole and give up their arms,
tents, etc. Colonel Porter was a resident of the vicinity, and the Federal
soldiers were his neighbors. When the mother of Jack Downing said to
him beside the dead body of her son, ** Colonel Porter, here is my son
and your brother" (both were Presbyterians), he replied, ** Madam,
such are the vicissitudes of war." The Federal loss was four killed,
six wounded and seventy-two prisoners. The killed were Lieutenant
Lair and Sergeant Hancock of Palmyra, Company K, and Jack Downing
and James Berry of Newark, Company L. The father of the writer,
Joel Sever, was beside Downing at a window of the Masonic hall when
he was shot. At that moment, Steve Middleton, a private of Company K,
rose and, lifting both arms, uttered a touching prayer. The prayer
was not the result of fear, but the expression of dependence upon God
in the hour of peril. To Colonel Porter's credit be it said the conditions
of the surrender were carried out with the exception of the clause respect-
ing private property, but we must remember that the needs of the captors
were very great. Of Porter's men eight were killed and some twenty-
odd wounded. On the morning of August 2d Porter, realizing that
McNeil was in close pursuit, hied himself northward to effect a junction
with Colonels Franklin and McCuUough. Porter had now perhaps two
thousand two hundred men. On August 5th they set out toward Kirks-
ville, closely pursued.
On August 6th occurred the crushing defeat of Colonel Porter
at Kirksville. After this there was no more bushwhacking in this
part of Missouri. True, there were some skirmishes, notably the one
at Cunningham's on the Middle Fabius, but this was a fight in the
open in which Captain Ewing of the Confederates and young Bob
Cunningham of the militia were killed and others mortally wounded.
The total number of men who were regularly enlisted from Knox
county in the Federal army was six hundred and fifty. About six hun-
dred more served in the enrolled militia. It is estimated that about one
hundred and fifty Knox county citizens were regularly enlisted in the
Ck)nfederate service.
Public Highways and Railroads
In the fifties Edina was a growing town with a number of drygoods
stores and business enterprises. Among the stores were those of John
Winterbottom, James Daugherty, James Cody and Bryant & Connelly.
They carried fairly good stocks of goods, which were hauled from Quincy
by wagon. This required a man with a good team some three days'
time when the weather was fair. Many men followed teaming **to the
river." A good pair of horses was required, fifty cents per hundred
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 367
was paid. Two thousand pounds of pork were generally taken down,
the hauling of which realized to the teamster about $10. About that
weight of goods was brought back. In fair weather the teamster usually
camped out. When it was bad weather a hospitable roof was readily
found with bountiful board for man and beast. The isolated people
were glad to hear local news of the world that could be brought to them
by the teamsters.
About 1859 the question of a railroad through the country was agi-
tated. Mass meetings were held and a petition was prepared to present
to the county court asking for an appropriation for a survey of a road
from Alexandria to Bloomington, which latter was, at that time, the
county seat of Macon county, and also for a subscription of $100,000
in its aid. A corporation called the Alexandria & Bloomington Railroad
Company had been duly chartered to build this road. On November
8th the county court accordingly made an order for $300 to be appropri-
ated for the survey, and for an election to be held at the various pre-
cincts on the first Monday in January, 1860, to determine the will of the
voters as to $100,000 subscription being raised. This order was subject
to the conditions that the $300 appropriated for survey and $100,000
subscription, if voted, should be expended in Knox county and that the
order for appropriation for survey should not take effect until the rail-
road company should prove that they had sufficient funds to complete
the survey through the entire route ; also that the subscription, if voted,
should not take effect until the said railroad company could show to the
satisfaction of the court that sufficient funds, including the said $100,000,
had been subscribed to prepare said roadbed for the iron. The judges
were Henry T. Howerton, John Ross and William Beal.
The election resulted in 757 votes for the subscription, and 333 votes
against it. It was therefore ordered that said subscription be made in
accordance with the order of November 8, 1859.
The line of the Alexandria & Bloomington road was surveyed but no
other work was ever done on this road under the name of the Alexandria
& Bloomington Railroad, as the Civil war stopped ail business.
The legislature of 1865 granted a number of charters to different
companies, among which was the Missouri & Mississippi Company. The
company was chartered February 20, 1865, with a capital stock of
$4,000,000. This stock was divided into shares of $100 each. Its first
board of directors were Abner L. Gilstrap, Thomas A. Eagle and Thomas
Moody of Macon county; Erastus Sacket, James McCrane and H. Cox
of Clark county, and E. V. Wilson, S. M. Wirt and William Plumer of
Knox county. Under the charter this board was given full power to
survey, mark out, locate and construct a railroad from the town of Macon
in the county of Macon, state of Missouri, through the town of Edina in
Xnox county and thence to or near the northeast corner of said state in
the direction of Keokuk in Iowa or Alexandria in Missouri.
Before this time the county seat of Macon county had been removed
from Bloomington to the town of Macon. It will thus be seen that Macon
was one terminal of the M. & M. Railroad, instead of Bloomington, as
in the Bloomington & Alexandria road.
The route of the proposed Missouri & Mississippi Railroad was much
the same as the one that had been surveyed by the A. & B. R. R. Co. five
years before this time. It will be seen that the Missouri & Mississippi
Railroad Company was a local company, as the first board of directors
was composed of well-known residents of the counties through which the
road was to be built. It thus appears that the people of these counties
had the intention of building and operating their own railroad.
The agitation continued and finally on March 5, 1867, the county
368 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
court made an order for another special election in order to learn the feel-
ing of the voters upon the question of subscription to the Missouri & Mis-
sissippi equal to that made to the old Alexandria & Bloomington Railroad.
The election resulted 510 to 98 in favor of the bonds.
In accordance with this vote bonds were issued from time to time
until the whole amount ($30,000) was consumed.
On May 2, 1870, under same authority as above, 550 shares of stock
were subscribed and bonds issued from time to time, but not quite to the
full amount. On April 6, 1869» on a proposition by an eastern company,
presented by S. M. Wirt, to take and complete the road, furnishing the
iron and equipments, the court agreed if this was done in eighteen months
or some other reasonable time to subscribe an additional one thousand
shares. In June, on motion of James A. Reid, it was ordered that the one
thousand shares be taken in the stock of the Missouri & Mississippi road,
to be paid in Knox county bonds at par, running twenty years at seven
per cent. By a subsequent order fifty thousand dollars was made payable
upon the completion of the roadbed ready for the iron, and fifty thousand
dollars made payable when the cars were running from Clark City in
Clark county to Edina.
P. B. Linville was made trustee to receive and hold the bonds on con-
dition that they were to be paid out only on completion of the road within
a prescribed time, viz. : July 4, 1872, afterward extended to January 1,
1873. Mr. Linville gave bond for $200,000 for the faithful performance
of this trust. On February 4, 1873, he made his report and the road not
being completed the bonds were cancelled and were burned in the pres-
ence of the court.
It will be seen that the contract ending by the burning of tliese bonds
was definite. Had the public servants of the county exercised fhe same
care in other issuance of bonds, the county might have been spared need-
less humiliation and loss; but the conditions for a completed railroad
within a certain time did not appear. The total 'amount of bonded
indebtedness amounted to an immense sum. After tedious litigation
and much expense, the debt was paid and the bonds burned September
26, 1899.
In 1870 the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad was discussed. The
townships through which it was to pass were authorized to hold elections
and have bonds issued upon themselves — Fabius, Jeddo, Center, Lyon
and Salt River— Jeddo voting $20,000, Center $50,000, and Lyon $5.000 ;
totaling $75,000. The road was completed to Edina April 25, 1872.
Until 1882 the road was controlled and operated under the name of.
Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railway Company, headquarters at Quincy.
Later it was operated and managed by the Wabash Railroad Company.
From 1890 to 1895 it was operated individually as Quincy, Omaha &
Kansas City Railway Company, headciuarters at Omaha, E. E. Soule,
superintendent, J. H. Best, traffic manager. From 1895 to 1898 it was
operated as part of Kansas City Southern Railway Company and known
as the Port Arthur Route. From 1898 to 1902 this road was operated
individually as Omaha, Kansas City & Eastern with general offices at
Kansas City. W. G. Brimson, general manager and W. J. Stonebruner,
superintendent. From 1903 to the present time it has been known as
the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad Company.
In the early spring of 1887 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad
Company began that division of its road between Kansas City and Chi-
cago which passed through Knox county. The survey missed Edina by
a few miles, but our citizens hoped that the line might be deflected so
as to pass through our city. Very little attention was paid to the propo-
sition of donating to the company the old M. & M. grade upon which
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 369
months of labor and thousands of dollars had been expended. Then, to
induce the company to brin^ the survey through Edina, a subscription
was proposed, but to no purpose. The line was completed the following
year.
Bridges
The first bridge built in the county after its organization was over
South Fabius, west of Edina, and cost $150. It was ordered in 1845.
In 1846 Medley Shelton was appointed to build a bridge over Salt river,
near the farm of Kindred S. Feltz. The county appropriated $100, the
remainder to be contributed by citizens. This was the ''Double Cabin
Bridge," noted during the Civil war. In 1846 $92 was appropriated
to build a bridge across the north fork of South Fabius, one-half mile
north of Edina. Thus from time to time bridges were built as the public
treasury could supply the funds. In February, 1847, a bridge was built
over the Fabius at Howerton's mill. When the funds fell short, work,
money and material were contributed. In June, 1846, a bridge was com-
pleted across South Fabius and it was expressly stated that William
and James Fresh were to pay one-half the cost of the bridge in material.
The Coxtnty Courts
Courts composed of three judges were held from 1845 to 1870. At
that time county organization was effected in July, 1872, and from that
time until the following May the county affairs were conducted by a
board of supervisors composed of. one member from each township.
In May, 1873, the county was divided into four districts and the
court consisted of a judge at large and a judge from each district. This .
method obtained until 1878, when a judge at large and one from the
eastern and one from the western district made up the court. This
system has continued until the present day.
The county court is now composed of Judge Reuben Rhoads, judge at
large ; Judge Frank Luckett, judge of the eastern district, and Judge
John F. Botts, judge of the western district. Ralph Hazelwood is clerk
of the court and gives courteous and able service. The business of the
county is conducted in an economical and impartial manner. Beside the
above named the present officers are Emmett Bradshaw, circuit clerk,
D. A. Rouner, probate judge, David Delaney, county collector, C. M.
Smith, prosecuting attorney, Chas. Shumate, sheriff, J. W. Ennis, public
administrator, Wm. Cook, assessor, C. F. Jarvies, coroner.
The Probate Court
A probate court was established in this county in 1849. William
Everman was the first probate judge. He had served but two years when
the law was abolished. Probate business was transacted in other courts
until 1873, when William Clancy was elected probate judge. He served
until 1878. E. D. Brown served from 1878 to 1884. C. R. Fowler was
appointed upon the resignation of E. D. Brown in 1884 and continued
in the office until the year 1907, when F. A. Wilson was elected. He
resigned and ^I. 6. Biggerstaff was appointed to serve the unexpired
term. At the ensuing election he was defeated by D. A. Rouner, who now
fills the oflSce.
The Circuit Court
Circuit court convened in Knox county for the first time at Edina,
on October 1, 1845. Sheriff John H. Fresh opened court with Addison
Reese on the bench. Jesse John was clerk.
V..I. 1—24
370 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The records show the firat grand jury to have been John Fulton,
foreman; Benjamin T. Hatfield, William N. Shotten, Mason Palmer,
John C. Allred, Samuel Shannon, E. A. Bryant, H. B. Musgrove, Will-
iam Kibbee, Melker Baker, Thomas Fox, Willis Anderson, John H. Tay-
lor, Benjamin G. Riney and Armstead Hamilton.
On the second day of October, the grand jury returned three in-
dictments; one against William H. Holmes for stealing the negroes
whom he held under mortgage (the case was never tried). The other two
indictments were against William M. King for selling liquor without
license and for selling goods without merchants' license; the first was
dismissed, the other returned, and the following October tried and
found **not guilty."
Of more importance to present day Knox county people was the
ordering of the Seal of Knox Circuit Court, which words were to be
engraved between two circles, the outer circle to be one-sixteenth of
an inch in width, the inner circle to be one-eighth of an inch inside
the first circle ; a pair of palm branches to be within the inner circle, all
to be engraved so as to present the words and devices on the right side
of the paper on which the impression desired is to be made.
The circuit judges who have presided at the bar at Edina are : Addi-
son Reese, John Anderson, E. V. Wilson, Ben E. Turner, Ed R. McKee
and Chas. D. Stewart, the present judge.
A bar association has been organized but is not active. Those prac-
ticing here at this time are: L. F. Cottey, 0. D, Jones, C. R. Fowler,
D. A. Rouner, Geo. R. Balthrope, James C. Dorian, John W. Ennis,
W. C. HoUister, F. H. McCullough, F: E. Robinson, R. J. Raleigh, P. K.
Gibbons, Claude M. Smith.
A number of Knox county's sons have entered the legal profession
and have distinguished themselves in other fields. Among these are:
Charles Wilson of Sedalia, John Brown of Chicago, Orville Barnett of
Sedalia, E. 0. Beal of Kirksville, F. A. Wilson of Quincy and John G.
Brown of Helena, Montana.
The Medical Fraternity
A sketch of early life in Knox county would be very incomplete with-
out a tribute to those noble men who spent their lives in prolonging the
lives of others. Among them the name of Dr. J. H. Campbell stands
out. He began the practice of medicine in Knox county in 1847, having
studied under Dr. Wm. Armington in Decatur county, Indiana. He
afterward attended the State University Medical School in St. Louis and
received his diploma in 1849. He died May 27, 1905, at the age of nearly
eighty-one years. He is succeeded by his son. Dr. T. A. Campbell, of
Edina. Dr. Alfred White was an early physician of Edina, much
esteemed for his skill, and had a wide practice. Doctor Barnett practiced
at Greensburg over a wide scope of territory. He was born in Kentucky
in 1835 and died in Edina May 25, 1884, at the untimely age of forty-
eight years. Doctor Lee practiced with Doctor Campbell. Doctor McKim
practiced at Newajk, Doctor Morris at Goodland and Doctor Magee in
the south part of the county.
A medical association is in existence in Edina. Dr. L. S. Brown was
its first president, a man much revered not only for his skill as a physi-
cian, but also for his character as a man. Doctor Brown was born in
Fauquier county, Virginia, March 3, 1836. He began the practice of
medicine in Knox county, Missouri, in 1851. He died in Edina April
17, 1911.^
The prominent physicians of Knox county are Drs. George S. Brown,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 371
I
T. A. Campbell, Henry Jurgens, William Morris, H. H. St. John, Hum-
phrey, Xorthcutt, McReynolds, Arnett, O'Connor, Luman, and Dr.
Annie Brownlee, osteopath.
The Knox County Medical Association has been in existence for about
ten years. Dr. Henry Jurgens is president and Doctor Luman, secretary.
Dentists
The dental profession in Knox county is represented by Drs. Ed S.
Brown, Charles A. Brown, Charles McKay, Humphrey and O'Connor.
Knox county young men engaged in this profession elsewhere are Drs.
Alex Van Arsdel and D. A. Rouner of Kansas City, Nickel Brown of
Chicago, Emery Green of Kirksville, T. C. Brown of Clarence, Maurice
Fowler of Brashear, Bruce Linville of LaJunta, Colorado, and Andrew
McBride of Carthage, Missouri.
Newspapers
The first newspaper in Knox county was the Edina Eagle, This six-
column folio was established at Edina, in 1857, by Albert Demaree. It
was Democratic in politics. It ran for about a year and was suspended.
It was succeeded by the Edina Democrat in 1858, owned by Robert R.
Vanlandingham and edited by John M. Robinson.
In 1859 the Knox County Argus was founded by Warner Pratt and
edited by William S. Bennington, school teacher, county superintendent
of schools and poet. It died soon after the defeat of its party and was
succeeded by the Herald, edited by Prank Daulton and Chas. Newman.
They were Democratic, finally enlisted in the Confederate army and let
the Herald suspend.
During the war Tom Reid and Dick Wirt got out, at irregular
intervals, a sheet called the Rebel and Copperhead Ventilator. It was
sometimes printed on brown wrapping paper and was in no sense a news-
paper.
In 1865 John B. Poage and S. M. Wirt, havinsj purchased the press
and material, began the publication of the Knox County Gazette, This
paper was Republican in politics. It ran less than a year. Its ofiice
equipment was bought by Alfred Cooney and Rev. Father D. S. Phelan,
who founded the Missouri Watchman, In January, 1869, this publica-
tion was removed to St. Louis and is today known as the Western Watch-
man. It has always been Democratic in politics and Catholic in religion.
The Knox County Democrat was established in 1871 by William
Clancy and Theodore Coony, the first issue being published on March 4
of that year. In September, 1874, Judge Clancy disposed of his interest
to his partner, who later leased the plant to Griffin Frost, who purchased
it after having charge of it for a year. Mr. Frost remained as editor
and proprietor until August 17, 1905, when it was purchased by Mulinex
& Son. On that date the name was changed from the Knox County
Democrat to the Edina Democrat, It still holds that name. C. W.
Mulinex, who was the senior member of the firm, is editor and publisher
of the La Belle Htar, at La Belle, ^lissouri, a newspaper founded by him
on April 14, 1883, and has never changed hands. Clio H. Mulinex, the
junior member of the firm, had charge of the Edina Democrat. During
the present year the paper was sold to William Batchelor, from Fayette-
ville, Indiana, who is now editor and proprietor.
In 1878, a Greenback paper, the Edina National, was published by
R. W. McNeil. The Greenback campaign was on, and was materially
assisted by this paper. After a year or two, the patronage not meeting
372 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
9
Mr. McNeil s expectations, he became the editor of a Republican paper in
Minnesota. He died several years ago.
The Knox City Independent was established in Knox City by J. R.
Horn, January 1, 1885. On May 1, 1886, he removed his press to Edina
and changed the name of the paper to the Knox County Independent.
This paper was afterward edited by Frank Sullivan, and subsequently
to this by Frank O'Reilly, who sold the equipment to the two other city
papers and removed to St. Louis.
The Knox City Bee, edited by Frank Yeager, is a neat little paper
published weekly. It is loyal to the interests of the town, boosting earn-
estly for its fair and other enterprises.
The Baring Messenger, edited by G. W. Barnes, is a creditable paper.
The Hurdland Gnt enjoyed a short period of existence.
On April 15, 1868, number 1 of volume 1 of the Edina Sentinel
was issued at Edina by Taylor, Porter & Stephenson. It was edited
by Gen. T. T. Taylor, who came to Knox county from Brown county,
Ohio. In 1870 General Taylor became the sole proprietor and in 1873 he
sold the property to J. C. Claypool. Mr. Claypool edited the paper
until 1889, when he sold it to W. R. HoUoway, who later transferred it
to Robert F. Schofield, who from that time until June, 1906, edited it
continuously, except for a few months when it was temporarily leased.
It has been the sad duty of the present management to record the death
of its founder, General Taylor, which occurred some time ago at Lake
Charles, Louisiana. On March 11, 1909, the Sentinel, upon which Mr.
Claypool worked for so many years, printed his obituary. He died at
Ottumwa, Iowa, March 7th of that year. In 1906, Mr. Schofield, who
was at the helm for seventeen years, sold the property to Dr. Ed. S.
and ^Irs. Amelia X. Brown, who are its joint editors at this time. Mr.
Schofield is now a prosperous business man of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Banks
The history of the Bank of Edina begins about the year 1865, when
Linville & Wilson began a private banking business. It was organized
under the laws of the state of Missouri in 1876 with a capital stock of
$50,000 with forty per cent paid up. The charter of this bank was
granted for tw^enty years. Its officers w ere Philip B. Linville, president ;
Elias V. Wilson, vice-president, and John Quiney Adams, cashier. This
bank was re-organized in 1896 with capital stock of $20,000, and has
$20,000 surplus at this time. The present officers are R. M. Ringer,
president; C. R. Ringer, vice-president; C. B. Linville, cashier, and
John W. Hayes, assistant cashier.
The officers of the Knox County Savings Bank are : J. W. Ellis, presi-
dent ; Fred A. Knapp, vice-president ; E. O. Parsons, cashier, and Thomas
O'Donnell, assistant cashier. The directors are: H. R. Parsons, J. W.
Ellis, Fred A. Knapp and E. O. Parsons. This is one of the oldest bank-
ing houses in Edina. It was chartered in 1872 with Willis Anderson,
president ; Ed. J. Brown, vice-president, and H. R. Parsons, cashier.
The banking house of T. J. Lycan was founded by T. J. Lycau in
1891 as a private bank with a capital of $20,000. First officei's were:
T. J. Lycan, president, and V. E. Lycan, cashier. Its present officers are:
P. A. Lycan, president; J. «/. Ilonan, cashier; T. J. Lycan, assistant
cashier.
The First National Bank of Edina was organized April 4, 1909,
with a capital stock of $85,000. Its present officers are: ^Irs. Laura
Biggerstaff, president, J. M. Beal, vice-president ; M. F. Cloyd. cashier,
and P. K. Gibbons, assistant cashier.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 373
The* Citizens Bank of Knox City was organized in 1903, with a
capital stock of $10,000. The officers are: F. H. Meyers, president;
J. E. Burch, vice-president ; A. Pettit, cashier, and M. R. Pettit, assistant
cashier. It is a private institution.
The Home Bank of Knox City was organized in 1892, with a capital
stock of $10,000. Its officers are : J. B. McKay, president ; Peter Hone,
vice-president, and A. B. Anderson, cashier. It is a state bank.
The Farmers' Bank of Hurdland was organized in 1890, capitalized
at $12,000, as a private bank. Its first officers were : W. H. Buhl, presi-
dent, and Frank J. Qrassle, cashier. It was incorporated in 1912, its
present officers being: John H. Black, president; Martin Humphrey,
vice-president; Homer Black, cashier, and L. C. Sheniraann, assistant
cashier.
The Hurdland State Bank was organized and incorporated in 1910
with a capital stock of $12,000. Its officers are : William Delaney, presi-
dent; B. F. Holman, vice-president; P. G. Delaney, cashier, and V. De-
laney, assistant cashier.
The G. G. Morris Bank of Newark began its history in June of 1891.
Its capital stock is $20,000. Its record is one of continued prosperity.
Its present officers are: Stonewall Morris, ca.shier, and J. L. Keetler,
assistant cashier.
The Farmers Bank of Newark began business in 1905 with a capital
stock of $10,000. The officers are : Arthur Burk, president ; G. S. Minn,
vice-president ; J. V. McKim, cashier, and J. M. !McKim, assistant cashier.
It is a state bank.
The Novelty State Bank was organized in 1903 with a capital stock
of $10,000. The history has been one of continued prosperity. Its
officers are : J. M. Epperson, president ; W. E. Pond, vice-president ; J.
U. Townsend, cashier, and John B. Norris, assistant cashier.
The Bank of Plevna was organized as a private bank in 1905 with
a capital stock of $10,000, with A. W. Hamilton, cashier, and Frank
Meyers, assistant cashier. The present officers are : A. Pettit, president ;
C. R. Campbell, cashier, and Delle Campbell, assistant cashier.
The Baring Exchange Bank was organized in 1896 with a capital of
$10,000. The officers are: J. H. Myers, president; J. F. Hayes, vice-
president; C. S. Houston, cashier, and M. E. McKendry, assistant cashier.
It is a state bank.
Schools
The schools of Knox county in an early day were subscription schools.
Although the state laws made provision for the maintenance of public
schools, the provisions were not sufficient to keep the schools up for
even six months of the year. During the Civil war the schools were
closed. For some time after that period they were conducted by inex-
perienced teachers in poor schoolhouses, teachers often being reciuired
to ** board around.''
In 1866 Lyon Academy was opened in Edina in the third story of
the Pratt building. It was in charge of Professor Caldwell and was
conducted some two or three years with considerable success. About the
time of the opening of the Lyon Academy, the Sisters of Loretto opened
St. Joseph s Academy in Edina.
The Knox Collegiate Institute was founded in Edina by Prof. Edwin
W. Fowler in 1878. For three years he conducted a good school in the
Winterbottom Hall. In 1881 he erected a commodious building, now
known as Maplehurst and occupied as an infirmary by Dr. H. H. St. John.
This fine school established here was then called the Edina Seminary.
Professor Fowler remained at the head of this school for six years and con-
374 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
ducted it successfully. Later, not being able to meet the financial obli-
gations incurred, he forfeited the property and removed to the west.
He was succeeded by the Rev. A. V. Francis who changed the name
to the original one, Knox Collegiate Institute. He was a scholarly and
refined gentleman and conducted the college successfully for a number
of years. It was taken in charge by Mrs. Annie Ringer and Miss Ella
White, under whom the name of Edina Seminary was resumed. These
cultured women conducted the school for some years, when its doors
were finally closed. The Edina School of Music was the outgrowth of
this closing chapter of the Edina Seminary. This excellent school was
founded by Mrs. Ringer, her successor was Prof. J. L. Biggerstaff, now
of the North Missouri State Normal and his successor is Mrs. Frank
Krueger, the present able directress.
Oaklawn College was founded in 1876 at Novelty by Prof. W. N.
Doyle. This was a fine school, and was conducted by Professor Doyle
for eleven years, afterward by Charles Cornelius for some time, then
removed to Hurdland, where it was successively under the management
of Professors HoUoway, Simpson and Sever. The necessity for these
preparatory colleges has passed with the present system of high schools
articulating with the university. Hence there are none in existence in
Ejiox county at this time.
Mills
After Fresh's mill came Tage Howerton's mill on the Fabius, near
Edina. This was a horse mill with a pair of buhr-stones and was called
a **com cracker. '^ A grist mill was built at Milltown, Edina, early in
the fifties by Charles Ingles and afterward run by Bowen and then by
Fulton. This mill was later destroyed by fire. Moss & Baker built
a saw and grist mill near the same place. A man named Van Norman
built the fi^t carding mill at Edina on Main street on the site of the
present residence of the Corcoran family. This was operated by tread-
wheel. Later Ed Wilson built a carding mill about one hundred yards
west of Moss & Baker's mill. A carding machine was afterward operated
by the Bowen family east of the railroad crossing.
The Edina Roller Mill Company was organized in 1883 and incor-
porated in 1884. The mill was erected that year, but not meeting with
the desired success the number of the company was diminished and a
new charter obtained. The incorporators were: Ed J. Brown, T. P.
Cook, R. M. Ringer, F. M. Gifford, T. C. Baker, and Shumate & Burk,
with Ed J. Brown as president. The mill was a three-story brick, with
basement. It had nine pairs of rolls and a capacity of sevent>'-five
barrels of flour per day. It made the best grades of flour. T. P. Cook
bought the stock of the individual stockholders and became the sole
owner. The mill was burned August 13, 1902, This was the last enter-
prise of this kind in Knox county. However, there are in operation
several grist mills in the countj'.
Edina
Edina, the county seat of Knox county, is located near its center
on the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad. The town was laid out
by William J. Smallwood in November, 1839, and named by Stephen
W. Camegy, of Canton. In 1845 it became the county seat. In 1842
a postofSce had been established, with James A. Reid as postmaster
at a salary of one dollar a month.
St. Joseph's parish, Edina, is one of the oldest Catholic congrego-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 375
tions in Northeast Missouri. As early as 1844 a log church was erected.
The Presbyterian church was organized by the Rev. Thomas H. Tatlow in
1865, the Methodist church in 1861. The Methodist Church South held
meetings at an early day at the home of Stephen Sharp. Martin Lutlier
Eads, grandfather of L. F. Cottey, was secretary of the first organization.
The Christian church was organized in 1846, the Baptist church in 1909.
Edina was not incorporated until 1851 and up to the breaking out
of the Civil war had less than eight hundred inhabitants. Since that
time it has had many vicissitudes of business depression and disastrous
fires, from the ashes of which it has risen Phoenix-like to a better built
and more up-to-date city. It has wide streets, beautiful shade trees, and
a public park whose elms almost rival those of New Haven, **the Elm
City." The splendid business houses, fine churches and beautiful
homes make this a city of fine buildings. The wagon factory, grain ele-
vator, mills and other enterprises make it a point unexcelled for busi-
ness. Besides these enterprises this little city has a well-equipped hos-
pital, 5 beautiful churches, not including the 2 churches for colored
people, a third-class postoffice, an articulated high school, an excellent
graded school, a convent and parochial school, a school of music offering
a fine course in vocal and instrumental music. Its business includes
4 banks, 3 dry-goods stores, 3 drug stores, 2 millinery stores, 9 grocery
stores, a meat market, 2 poultry houses, a furniture store, 2 undertaking
establishments, a jewelry store, 2 hotels, 2 restaurants, 2 harness shops,
2 grain depots, 3 cigar factories, a smoking tobacco factory and numer-
ous other business houses. The city is well lighted, having a well-
equipped and carefully .operated electric light plant, which furnishes
day power to many motors. The city is also supplied with ice manu-
factured within its limits.
In connection with the eaily history of Edina the name of John
Winterbottom is entitled to an honored place. He was an Englishman,
a Catholic and a good man. One of the early merchants, he built a
very substantial brick building, now occupied by Hirner's shoe store.
This was completed before the war. About the year 1866 Mr. Winter-
bottom conceived the idea of putting in a woolen factory in Edina. He
accordingly invested several thousand dollars in a plant for the manufac-
ture of woolen goods of all grades, from plain white blankets to fine
broadcloths. The approximate investment in this plant was $50,000.
Much of this was borrowed capital and when Mr. Winterbottom discovered
that Edina merchants opposed his factory and offered severe competi-
tion by the importation of all such goods as he manufactured, he became
discouraged, accepted an offer from Denver, Colorado, and his factory
was removed to that city. The plant used 360 spindles and gave employ-
ment to some fifteen persons.
Another pioneer whose name is prominently connected with the his-
tory of Edina is that of Patrick Cooney. Mr. Cooney came to Knox
county about the year 1843. He entered government land near the
present location of Edina and returned to his home at Somerset, Perry
county, Ohio. In 1844 he sent P. B. Linville, then a young man about
thirty years of age, to take charge of a stock of goods in Edina. After
settling up his affairs, he removed with his family to Knox county,
where he entered government land to the amount of several thousand
acres. This land was sold to emigrants at a low price, to induce them
to settle at or near the prospective county seat. He bought forty acres
of what is now the east part of Edina from his brother-in-law, James
Bradford. A part of this land has been in the name of the Cooney family
ever since. P. B. Linville, afterward merchant and banker, and for
twenty-five years public administrator, died two years ago at the ripe
old age of ninety-six years.
376 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Peter Early, Richard Cook, Patrick Jarvies, Price Parker, James
Cody, Andrew Biggerstaff, E. V. Wilson and James Reid are other
names associated with the early life of our city and deserve the grate-
ful remembrance of our people.
The present mayor of Edina is P. K. Gibbons, and the city collector,
J. E. Cooney ; city clerk, J. W. Ennis ; the postmaster is Dr. Ed S. Brown,
who received the appointment seven years ago. The postoffice is a third-
class office and its management has been pronounced eminently satis-
factory. The office is in a handsome room and is furnished with modern
equipment.
For information on the early history of Edina, the writer is indebted
to Thomas Rogerson, Rufus McAtee, Theodore Coony, L. F. Cottey and
the kindness of many other Edina people.
Newark
Newark is the oldest town in the county. It was laid off as a town
in 1836. In 1858 the Newark Fair Association was organized with Y. P.
True as president and James Agnew, secretary. The Newark fair was
the first real county fair in the state and enormous crowds came from
every part of Missouri. Lewis Bradshaw was president, James Bal-
thrope, secretary, and Hodge LaRue, marshal. After the war the organ-
ization gave money as premiums. From 1869 to 1891 the Newark fair
was known throughout the country. In 1893 the buildings were destroyed
by fire and the organization was disabled. The buildings were not re-
stored and the once famous Newark fair passed into history. Again
the people of Newark decided to revive the fair. The association
organized with W. R. Glover, president; D. R. Downing, vice-president,
and J. C. Callaghan, secretary. The new site of the grounds is south-
east of town on Mr. Downing 's place. Fine new buildings were erected,
plenty of stalls and an excellent half-mile track.
The Knox, Lewis and Shelby county fair at Newark is now an event
of the year. Thousands of people gather every year at this fair and
many are the reminiscences of early days that are recalled at these
annual gatherings.
Novelty
The town of Novelty was laid out by Nars W. Hunter in 1857. Oak-
lawn College was established in 1876 and for a number of years was
most successful. Novelty has many good business houses and is the
center of a fine farming community.
HURDLAND
Hurdland, incorporated in 1878, has a population of about four
hundred. It has excellent schools, good business houses, an attractive
public park and excellent railroad facilities. It is on two railroads, the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City.
Knox City
The first station on the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad after
entering Knox county from the east is the thriving town of Knox City.
It was laid out in 1872 by Charles S. Wade and C. M. Pomeroy. Knox
City was first named Myrtle, afterward Knox, and finally Knox City.
It is situated on a high rolling prairie and commands a beautiful view
in every direction. It is surrounded on every side by fine farms, some
of which are among the best in Knox county.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 377
Barino
Baring was incorporated in 1889. It is a progressive town, with
good business houses and fine residences, and is surrounded by an ex-
cellent farming community.
The County as a Whole
Knox county, in the northeast part of Missouri, is in the second tier
of counties west of the Mississippi river; and in the second tier south
of the southern boundary of Iowa. Fully nine-tenths of the land is
beautifully undulating prairie, diversified with streams whose banks
are lined with timber which extends for some distance into the rich
bottoms. The Pabius river, with its many tributaries, flows diagonally
across the county, and affords ample drainage for the fertile uplands.
The rich bottoms sometimes overflow, but this is being overcome, year
by year, by intelligent systems of drainage. The surface is very slightly
broken, the few elevations seldom rising more than fifty feet above the
common level.
The soil is a clay loam and is extremely productive. It sets naturally
in blue grass, and withstands long periods of drought exceedingly well,
owing perhaps to clay sub-soil which underlies this region. The soil
will withstand a succession of crops, but of course is better if given a
rotation, and responds quickly to a year or so in grass or clover.
Com is the principal crop grown, but wheat, oats and other cereals
do well. This county is naturally a grass-growing region. Blue grass
makes its appearance everywhere, and timothy is very profitably grown ,
for seed, pasture and hay. It naturally follows that stock raising has
always been profitable and that dairying is a coming industry.
There is perhaps not another county in the state with fewer acres
of waste land. Knox is the banner county in the number and value of
mules shipped, and in her shipments of cattle and hogs she ranks among
the first in the state. Edina, the county seat, has been known for years
among horse buyers in the east as one of the best markets for that kind
of stock in the west. In agricultural products Knox county was awarded
the first prize at The Show You Congress at Moberly, Missouri, in 1910.
CHAPTER XVII
LEWIS COUNTY
By Arthur and E. C. Hilbert, Canton
The First Settlers
Lewis county, organized January 2, 1833, was named in honor of
Capt. Meriwether Lewis, a native of Virginia, at one time private sec-
retary to President Jefferson. In 1803, he and Capt. William Clark
made the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. In 1807, he was appointed
governor of Louisiana Territory, with headquarters at St. Louis.
Lewis county is on the west bank of the Mississippi river, and in the
second tier of counties from the Iowa line. It is bounded on the north
by Clark county, on the west by Knox county, on the south by Marion
and Shelby counties and on the east by the Mississippi river, which is
the dividing line between the state of Missouri and the state of Illinois.
Some time soon after the war of 1812, a Frenchman named LeSeur,
came up the river from St. Louis, and built a cabin on the Mississippi,
at or near the present site of La Grange; he remained for some years
engaged in trading with the Indians.
In the spring of 1819, John Bozarth came from Grayson county,
Kentucky, and opened a small farm in the Mississippi bottom, a short
distance below the present site of La Grange ; he settled on the southeast
quarter of section 11, township 60, range 6. He was accompanied by
his son-in-law, John Finley, and his son, Squire Bozarth, and was the
first white settler of the county. He built a house, which consisted of
a log cabin, and that year planted twenty acres of corn ; the following
fall he returned to Kentucky, and in the latter part of November brought
his family; he was accompanied by another son-in-law, Jacob Weaver,
and his slaves, eighteen people in all, all of whom came to make their
permanent home. They crossed the Mississippi river above Alton, Illi-
nois, landing in St. Charles county on the 19th day of November. From
there the journey was made by land on the Missouri side.
The following account given in 1874 by Reason Bozarth, a son of
John Bozarth, will be of interest: ''When we came to this county, in
the fall of 1819, it was then a part of Marion. We put up a log cabin
which had no chimneys ; it had a hearth in the middle of the room and it
required an open roof for the escape of the smoke; when our day's work
was done we laid down to sleep around the family hearthstone ; eighteen
of us occupying the only room of which the house consisted; our food
was principally boiled com and honey, the latter which we procured
from bee trees, which we made a business of hunting; our bread was
made from meal which we obtained by pounding corn in a mortar and
our clothes were made from buckskin, which we tanned ourselves; our
nearest neighbors were twenty miles away; we had chills but nobody
died until a doctor came to the county.*'
378
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 379
The part of Lewis county in which Bozarth settled was a pqint where
the bottoms push back the bluffs for about a mile, forming a horseshoe,
this land is still in cultivation and is one of the most fertile farms in
the county. He entered this land at Bowling Green, Pike county, April
20, 1819. His son-in-law, Jacob Weaver, settled near the river, but the
overflow soon drove him out; he afterwards located in Clark county,
Missouri. His other son-in-law, John Finley, located near his father-in-
law.
Following the settlement of the Bozarth family, the next settlers in
the county were John Taylor, Llewellyn Bourne, Robert M. Easton,
Isaac Norris, Edward White and Robert Jones; all of them settled in
what is now known as Union township. William Pritchard settled on
or just below the present site of Canton. They all entered land about
the same time, in the year 1819.
In the year 1822, John McKinney built a grist and saw mill on the
Wyaconda river, a short distance above where it empties into the Mis-
sissippi river, the first mill built in Lewis county. The town of Wya-
conda in Lewis county was laid out about the same time ; it gave promise
of being a thriving town but it never fulfilled its promise and in a short
time became obsolete. The mill was washed away in a short time and
was never rebuilt. In the year 1832 the to^Ti of La Grange, a short
distance below where the mill stood, was established, now one of the
principal towns of the county.
Settlements were made slowly for the next few years. A few persons
came in 1824 and 1825, among whom were Churchill Blakey, Lockwood
Chaflin and Elijah Rice, who located on or near the present site of
Canton.
In the year 1829 there was considerable immigration and the popula-
tion increased rapidly, most of the settlers coming from Kentucky;
among the number were : John G. Nunn, John Wash and his son, John
Wash, Jr., and Thomas Creasey and others. At this time there was the
Bozarths, Chauncey Durkee, Gerry McDaniel, Thomas Threlkeld, James
Thomas and James S. Marlowe, most of whom located in what is now
Union township. About the same time there located at not far from the
present site of Canton, Capt. William Pritchard, Robert Sinclair, Elliot
Sinclair, Robert M. Easton, Gregory Hawkins and a number of others.
Emigrants pushed farther westward into the interior of the county.
The first settlers found the bottom lands unhealthy, soon abandoned them
and moved into the interior of the county and on high ground.
The following includes the names of a number of those who settled
in Lewis county during and prior to the year 1830, many of whom have
descendants now living in the county :
Jos. Loudemilk, April 16, 1829.
Chas. 0. McRoberts, October 6, 1830.
Thomas LaFon, August, 1830.
John McAllister, November 20, 1830.
John Norris, November 19, 1830.
Chauncey Durkee, July 23, 1829.
Edward White. June 30, 1829.
John Bozarth, Sr., April 20, 1819.
Abner Bozarth, March 8, 1828.
John S. :Marlowe, February 26, 1829.
Eli Merrill, June 25, 1825.
Lucien Durkee, November 29, 1830.
Joseph B. Buckley, December 3, 1830.
John G. Nunn, January 4, 1830.
380 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
John Thompson, August 6, 1825.
John Wash, Jr., January 4, 1830.
Steward Matthews, June 24, 1830.
John Taylor, April 20, 1819.
Wm. Bourne, November 29, 1825.
Dabney Bowies, November 29, 1825.
Llewellyn Brown, June 2, 1819.
Jeremiah Taylor, October 12, 1825.
Saml. K. Taylor, December 20, 1830.
Gabriel Long, August 11, 1828.
Jacob Jones, October 3, 1829.
Saml. King, Novemljer 23, 1830.
George Vaughn, July 21, 1830.
H. H. Brown, October 5, 1830.
Bdmond Weber, October 5, 1830.
William Ewing, December 22, 1829.
Thos. Francis, June 15, 1830.
Thos. LaFon, November 22, 1830.
Stephen Cooper, September 17, 1829.
Saml. Brown, June 15, 1830.
Abel Cottrell, June 26, 1830.
Robt. Jones, April 24, 1819.
Wm. Pritchard, April 21, 1819.
Isaac Bland, October 5, 1829.
Nathaniel Brown, November 7, 1829.
Wm. Duncan, July 8, 1829.
Gregory F. Hawkins, March 13, 1829.
Samuel Bland, October 12, 1829.
Samuel Morton, January 9, 1830.
James F. Jenkins, November 18, 1830.
Thos. Creasy, August 16, 1830.
Wm. Anderson, November 3, 1828.
Benj. Jones, November 6, 1828.
Wm. McReynolds, October 30, 1830.
Nathaniel Richardson, October 18, 1830.
Benj. Williams, October 18, 1830.
John C. Johnson, April 19, 1830.
Silas Reddish, March, 1830.
George Railey, November 20, 1830.
William IL Edwards, December 9, 1830.
Pioneer Public Affairs
When the Territory of Louisiana was purchased from France in
1803 by President Thomas Jefferson, the land now within the border
of Lewis county formed a part of the District of St. Charles. In the
year 1812, St. Charles county was organized and included the territory
extending from the Missouri river north, and to the northern boundary
of the state. Upon the organization of Pike county in 1812, what is
now Lewis county became a part of that county. At the time Ralls
county was organized, in 1820, it became a part of that county. In
1826, the legislature formM the county of Marion; the act establishing
Marion county attached the territory that is now Lewis county, to Marion
county, for all military, civil and judicial purposes; so in reality Lewi*
county never formed a part of Marion county, but was also attached to
the same for the certain purposes mentioned.
At the first session of the Marion county court, held in March, 1827,
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 381
one of the first acts of the court was to establish a road beginning at a
point in the road nearly opposite the northeast corner of John Bozarth's
field to Wyaconda creek, at Sugar Camp ford, thence to the foot of the
bluff of the Mississippi bottom, and along the foot of the bluff to the
north line of township 61, which terminates south of the present limits
of the town of Canton.
Marion county was divided at first into three townships, Liberty,
Mason and Fabius ; Fabius township included all the territory embraced
within the borders of Lewis and Clark counties, as well as a part of
Knox and Scotland counties. Lewis county remained a part of Fabius
township until 1830; in May of that year Canton township was formed.
Its boundaries were declared to be a line beginning at the mouth of the
Fabius river in the Mississippi, thence up the Fabius to the junction of
the North and South Forks; up the South Fork to township 60; thence
west to range line between 9 and 10 ; thence north to the northern bound-
ary of the state; thence east to the middle of the Mississippi, and then
down to the beginning. The territory included within Canton township
consisted of what is now a portion of Marion county and all of Clark and
Lewis counties and contained nearly seven hundred thousand acres of
land and had less than one hundred taxable inhabitants in the year 1830.
The first justices of the peace of Canton township were Edward White
and James Thomas. Thomas refused to serve and Stephen Carnegy
was appointed in his stead.
The first election was held at the home of Edward White. The total
number of votes cast was thirty -seven.
In July, 1831, the Marion county court created Union township,
which was bounded as follows: Commencing at the mouth of the Wya-
eonda river, thence up the main channel to the north side of the tract
of land owTied by Stephen Cooper; thence west to the dividing ridge
between Wyaconda and Durgans creek; thence west to the ridge to
range line between ranges 9 and 10; thence south to the township line
between townships 59 and 60 ; thence east to the Mississippi river.
The first election in Union township was held at the home of John
Bozarth, below the town of La Grange, which had been designated as the
temporary seat of justice. Court was convened on Wednesday, June
5, 1833; there were present only two of the justices, Gregory F. Hawkins
and John Taylor; the sheriff was Chilton B. Tate and the clerk was
Robert Taylor, all of whom had received their oflSce by appointment of
Gov, Daniel Dunklin; on the following day Judge Alexander ^I. Morrow,
who was not present at the opening day of court, appeared and tendered
his resignation, and Judge James Richardson was subseciuently ap-
pointed. Not much business was transacted at this term; the sheriff
was appointed collector ; a change of road was granted in the road lead-
ing from Bozarth 's mill to the town of Canton. The county was divided
into two townships named Union and Canton. The next term of court
was held at the Bozarth home, commencing on July 8. During this term
of the court J. H. McBride was appointed treasurer of the county and
the bond fixed at $500. Sometime in October of that year McBride
resigned as treasurer and Robert Sinclair was appointed to fill the
vacancy.
On the 22d day of October Judge Richardson was present for the
first time. At this term of the court the first letters of administration
ever issued in the county were upon the estate of Henry Smith, deceased.
This was the last term of the court held at the home of Mr. Bozarth.
There is today a small table in the circuit courtroom, at Canton, made
from one of the walnut logs taken from the old Bozarth home, in which
the first court of the county was held. This table was presented by A.
Bozarth, a descendant of John Bozarth. ,
382 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The next court was held at the home of Morton Bourne in Canton,
September 2, 1833. Judges Hawkins and Taylor were present at this
term of court. The first attorneys ever enrolled in the county were
admitted to practice, Stephen W. B. Carnegy and Thomas L, Anderson.
At this term the first ferry license was granted by the court. This was
issued to Jeremiah Wayland and authorized him to keep a ferry across
the Des Moines at a point called St. Francisville. Canton was desig-
nated as the temporary seat of justice of the county. A name was
selected for the county seat — Montieello. The fourth term of the Lewis
county court met on December 2d at the home of V, S. Gregory in
Canton. The commissioners who had been appointed to prepare a plat
and plan of the county seat presented the plat for the county seat, which
was approved by the court and Mr. Reddish, the commissioner, was or-
dered to sell half the lots.
The fifth term of the court was held at the home of Joseph Trotter, in
Canton. At this terra the court contracted with J. B. Buckley to build
a courthouse at Montieello. The contract price was $210. Ml lots re-
maining unsold in Montieello, the county seat, were ordered sold.
The next or sixth term of the court was held at Montieello, in June,
1834. All the judges were present. The courthouse had been com-
A C.\TTLE Feeding Scene
pleted. It was a log structure and very small and had few conveniences,
even for that day. Thereafter all other terms of court were held at
Montieello, the county seat.
Lewis county was attached to and made a part of the second judicial
circuit and the time for holding the first term of circuit court was fixed
by law on July 14, 1833, but on that date Judge McBride failed to appear.
On the third day the sheriff adjourned the court until the next regnlar
term thereof, in accordance with the law then in force.
On the 14th day of October, 1833, the first term of circuit court ever
held in Lewis county was opened at the home of V. S. Gregory in Canton.
All the officers were present. The attorneys present at this term of the
court were: Thomas L. Anderson, Uriel Wright and Stephen W. B.
Carnegy. The visiting attorneys were: John Anderson of PalmjTa aod
Ezra Hurt of Lincoln county. At this term of the court was convened
the first grand jury that ever met in Lewis county. This grand jury
found no indictments. The first indictment ever returned by a grand
jury was in 1834, and was for adultery. The parties against whom the
indictment was returned were Joseph Fry and Elizabeth Jones. The
case was never tried but was at a subsequent term of court dismised.
The first session of the circuit court ever held at Montieello was
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 383
convened on the 10th day of June, 1834, and was held in the new court-
house. Among the number of attorneys enrolled in Lewis county, in
the early days of the development and settlement of the county, is the
name of Stephen W. B. Carnegy, who contributed much to the develop-
ment of the county and especially to the development of Canton. Not
only was he active as an attorney but in the promotion of various busi-
ness enterprises.
Early Settlements
The development of the county was slow but steady from the time
of the early settlement up to 1845. From that time on it was more rapid
and it continued up to about the time the Civil war commenced. The
people had become prosperous and more energetic in their efforts to
develop the resources of the county and to accumulate for the future.
The inhabitants were mostly engaged in agricultural pursuits, some
stock raising, but not to any large extent. The towns had grown between
1840 and 1850. The towns developed more rapidly and at the close of
the forties La Grange and Tully had become towns of considerable
importance; Monticello and Canton were small; there were no other
towns of importance in the county.
Lewis county was reduced to its present limits by the organization
of Clark county in 1838, Scotland county in 1841 and Knox county in
1845.
In the spring of 1851, there was more than an ordinary overflow of
the Mississippi river. The town of Tully was overflowed and partly
destroyed. The flood sounded the death knell of the town of Tully;
from that time it rapidly declined. After the flood Canton became more
prosperous and grew rapidly and by 1860 had attained a population of
more than 1,500. Canton became a town of considerable commercial
importance and so did La Grange.
During the Civil War
Lewis county, like most all other counties situated on the border of
the free states, suffered a setback during the Civil war.
There were a number of home guard companies organized in the
county. One of those companies was organized at La Grange, and was
under the command of Capt. J. T. Howland. It consisted of about
sixty men. There was one organized at Deer Ridge. It was under the
command of Capt. Felix Scott. There were others organized at various
parts of the county. There had been some companies organized in the
county whose sympathies were known to be with the secessionists. The
sentiment was much divided and the excitement was high. On the 5th
day of July, 1861, the first Union troops were sent into the county.
They were under the command of Col. John M. Palmer. They num-
bered about eight hundred and were sent from Quincy, Illinois. They
came by a steamboat up the Mississippi river ; they quartered their men
in the university building on the hill and in the church and school
building of the M. E. Church South. It was while here that they took
United States Senator James S. Green a prisoner while he was trying
to make his way to Monticello. He was brought to Canton and subse-
quently released on parole, which he kept during the war.
The first shots fired in the county were between a part of Colonel
Palmer's men, who were under the command of Lieutenant Thompson,
and a few secessionists who were supposed to belong to Captain Richard-
384 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
son's company. Colonel Palmer remained in the county until about the
13th of July, when he left for Monroe City.
The direct cause of the sending of the troops under Colonel Palmer
into the county was the shooting of Capt. John Howell, of the Canton
Home Guards by Richard Soward, who was the proprietor of the Soward
hotel, which was located on the southwest corner of Fourth and Lewis
streets. This was on the 4th of July. It seems that Charles Soward, who
was a son of Richard Soward, with a number of others tried to take a
flag away from the ensign of the German Guards of La Grange, which
company was in Canton on the 4th day of July to celebrate. Captain
Howell came to the aid of the ensign, and in the melee that took place
struck young Charles Soward. There are some who say that some feel-
ing had existed between the elder Soward and Captain Howell. As
to this we are uncertain, except that their sympathies were on opposite
sides. In the evening Captain Howell was coming up from the river,
where the trouble had taken place over the flag. Wlien he reached the
northeast corner of Lewis and Fourth streets, the corner on which the
Bank of Canton now stands, and which was diagonally across the street
from the Soward hotel, Richard Soward came out of his hotel with a
double-barrelled shotgun in his hands and called out, *'John, defend
yourself." In a moment more Soward fired, Captain Howell fell mor-
tally wounded and died a short time afterwards. This shooting caused
much excitement and feeling ran high but nothing of a violent nature
was done. Soward was placed under arrest but was never brought to
trial. For some time he was under restraint, sometimes under the con-
trol of the state authorities and part of the time he was held by the Fed-
eral authorities. He finally left the county and located in California.
Colonel Woodyard procured from General Fremont the authority of
recruiting a regiment. He raised four companies of about three hundred
men in all. The Home Guards were at Canton. There were four compa-
nies under the command of William Bishop, colonel, and H. iL Wood-
yard, lieutenant-colonel.
The Confederate forces were on the North Fabius, northwest of llon-
ticello at a point called Horse Shoe Bend. The companies were under the
command of Capt. W. S. Richardson, Captain Duell, Captain Porter
and Captain Carlin. When Judge Martin E. Green heard that Colonel
Palmer was in Canton, he at once set out for the camp of the Confeder-
ates. When the oflRcers were selected he was selected as colonel, and
Captain Porter was selected as lieutenant-colonel. Both of these selec-
tions proved to be wise, as they soon gave good evidence of their ability.
As leader Colonel Green steadily arose until he became a brigadier-
general. Captain Porter also rendered valiant service to the cause he
had espoused.
Of the actual battles in the county, the first skirmish occurred at
Clapp's Ford in the northwest part of the county on the night of the 14tb
of August. One man was killed on each side and six or seven wounded.
There was a skirmish at Monticello. No one was killed in the skir-
mish and only three wounded. From this time there was considerable
happening incident to the war; and the people came to realize what real
war meant. Business was at a standstill. In August, 1862, a raid was
made on Canton to capture arms believed to be at Canton. En a short
time most all the county was under Confederate control. There was the
skirmish at Grass creek, not far from the present site of Maywood.
where one Federal was killed and one wounded ; there was considerable
bushwhacking and small skirmishes in Lewis county, but no battles of
any considerable importance were fought. A number of men enlisted on
the side of the cause thev favored and went to the front.
HISTOEY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 385
Since the War
The close of the Civil war found the business of the county demoral-
ized. There was general satisfaction that the war was over. There were
some extremists on each side, but as a whole the people counselled peace
and harmony and they returned to their farms and business and in a
short while each was trying to better the conditions for their families
and for themselves.
Considerable feeling was engendered over the new state constitution
which deprived a large part of the citizens of the county of a voice in
governmental affairs.
The county ofScers were removed by Gov. Thomas C. Fletcher and
Republicans appointed in their stead. By the adoption of the Drake
constitution some of the leading ministers and teachers of the county
were prevented from carr3ang on their callings and professions, until
that part of the constitution had been declared unconstitutional by the
supreme court of the United States. Since the Civil war the county
has steadily prospered and grown in wealth and influence.
In all the elections held in the county after 1870, the county uniformly
went Democratic.
The local option law was adopted in the county in 1911, and is now in
full force throughout the county. The county buildings are only fair
and not in accord with the wealth and prosperity of the county. Our
taxes are low and we have no bonded indebtedness; our roads are being
steadily improved and we have several miles of macadamized roads in the
eastern part of the countjr.
PoLmcAL History
In the month of August, 1833, the first election was held in Lewis
county. This was a general election to choose a representative in con-
gress as Missouri was entitled to two, one of which had been chosen the
previous year. They were chosen from the state at large. At this time
two townships were in the county. Union and Canton. The successful
candidate at this election was Dr. John Bull, a Jackson Democrat. At
this election there was cast and counted in all eighty-four votes. Perhaps
about twenty-five or thirty voters did not attend the election or cast their
votes.
The first presidential election in which Lewis county participated
was held in 1836. The leading candidates at that election were Martin
Van Buren and William Henry Harrison. The vote in this election
resulted : Van Buren, Democrat, 289 ; the vote for Harrison and the oppo-
sition candidates being 197.
The campaign of 1840 was one of more than ordinary interest; the
opposing candidates were again Van Buren and Harrison. Again Lewis
county registered a majority of votes for Van Buren. The total vote
cast this year was 1,144. In the campaign of 1844, Polk carried the
county over Clay. The campaign for presidential preference in the year
1848, in Lewis county, resulted in a tie vote between Taylor and Cass ;
each received 479. At this election Austin King, Democratic candidate
for governor, carried the county. In the presidential campaign of 1852,
the county cast its preference for Franklin Pierce, and it again gave its
preference for the Democratic candidate for governor of the state,
Sterling Price. In the campaign of 1856 Lewis county's presidential
preference was James Buchanan, Democrat. The campaign preceding the
election of 1860 was an exciting one ; owing to the dissension that sprang
up over the matter of slaves the Democrats were divided. There were
Vol I~S6
386 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
four candidates voted for, Bell, Breckenridge, Douglas and Lincoln.
The vote resulted : Bell 833, Breckenridge 597, Douglas 466, Lincoln 43.
There was much disatisfaction in the county over the success of Lincoln.
The sentiment of the county, at that time, was very much in favor of
the South and against emancipation, or interference with slavery in any
form. Following Lincoln's election there was considerable talk of seces-
sion. Among the strong advocates of secession was Senator Green. A
number of public meetings were held. Among the number was one at
Monticello, in December, 1860, a short time before South Carolina
seceded. At this meeting was a large number of prominent and influen-
tial citizens of the county. There was some difference of opinion, but
the sympathy of a large majority of those present was with' the South.
James G. Blair offered a resolution, which was adopted, stating in sub-
stance, that if the dissolution of the Union should take place, that we
would be forced to join the Southern Confederacy. Other meetings
were held in the county from time to time and a large sentiment was
developing to remain neutral in the impending conflict. A strong bond
of sympathy existed with the South, many of the inhabitants being
bound to the South by kinship, birthright and association, and believing
that their rights were much in common, hesitated to express an opinion
or array themselves on either side of the impending conflict. Most all
men, either Union or Secessionist, were at that time against the aboli-
tion of slavery. Slavery had existed in the county to some extent, ever
since the early days of the settlement of the county, up until they were
freed by the emancipation proclamation ; but it had not flourished in this
county as it had in other counties in the state, owing to the fact that
it had not proved as profitable here as in some other parts of the state.
A number had disposed of their slaves long before the crisis came. Some
had freed them, while others had retained them up until the time they
were freed. The slaves owned in this county were uniformly well treated
by their owners, many of them remaining in and around the premises
of their masters long after they were free.
Lewis county was originally divided into two townships, Canton and
Union. Another township, called Dickerson, was organized in Decem-
ber, 1833. Another township, Allen, was organized in March, 1836, com-
posed of a part of what is now Lewis county and also a part of the terri-
tory now within the boundaries of Knox county. Highland township
was organized in IMarch, 1838. Salem township was organized in June,
1841, and Reddish township was organized in August, 1841.
At the March term of the county court, in 1866, the county court
organized Lewis county into eight municipal townships, named Canton,
Lyon, Reddish, La Belle, Dickerson, Union, Highland and Salem, and
these townships have continued as then fixed.
Citizens in High Office
Many of the citizens of Lewis county have been called upon to occupy
positions of high official preferment and trust by their fellow-citizens.
They have filled these positions with distinction and honor. Among
them were James S. Green, who was elected to congress in 1846, from
the state at large and re-elected in 1848; in 1853 he was appointed by
President Pierce to the Republic of New Granada, to represent the
United States, from which position after serving a short time he resigned
and returned home in 1856; he was again elected to congress; the follow-
ing year he was elected to the United States senate. James J. Lindley
was elected to congress from the district of which Lewis county formed a
part ; James G. Blair was elected to congress in 1870 ; John M. Glover,
then of this county, was elected to congress in 1872, 1874 and 1876.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 387
Those who have served with credit and distinction in the state senate
from this county are James Ellison, Samuel Stewart, Gen. David Moore,
Wm. G. Downing, Francis L. Marchand and Emert A. Dowell. The last
two named are now living and reside in the county.
In 1865 David Wagner, of Lewis county, was appointed judge of
the supreme court. He was elected in 1868 and 1870, without opposition.
This position he filled with distinction to himself and his fellow citizens.
He was a man of rare ability and learning in his chosen profession.
The Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1879, are named after him, the Wagner
Statutes of Missouri.
The present congressman from this district, James T. Lloyd, was bom,
reared and educated in Lewis county; he was admitted to the bar and
practiced law in the county until 1885, when he moved to Shelby county,
his present home.
The River and the Railroads
There flows along the eastern boundary of Lewis county, from north
to south, the entire length of the county, the Mississippi river, the great-
est river of the United States, which for a long number of years fur-
nished the only avenue for commerce that the early settlers of the county
enjoyed. The first surplus products of the county were sent down the
Mississippi river, in small boats and rafts to St. Louis. Engaged in this
business for some years, among others were Eli Merrill, George Wright
and J. P. Harrison. Probably the first steamboat to ascend the river as
far as Canton in Lewis county, was the General Putnam. This boat was
a small stern wheeler and carried a cargo of merchandise for the lead
mines at Galena and Dubuque, in June, 1825. The boat made several
other like trips that year. There was established between Quincy, Illi-
nois, and St. Louis, Missouri, in 1836, a regular run by a boat named
Envoy, which made regular trips between those points carrying freight
and passengers. In the year 1837, the first boat to land and discharge
any freight on the shores of Lewis county was the William Wallace, which
made landings at the town of TuUy and at another place called Smooths
Landing, about two miles south of the present town of Canton. Other
boats visited the shores of the county bringing freight and taking away
the surplus products of the county, but without much regularity until
the latter part of the ** Forties,'* when regular packet lines were estab-
lished. After the boats commenced to visit the county its progress was
much more rapid, for they afforded a market for the surplus products
that it produced and a market in which to buy the supplies needed. The
boats that plied the river in the early days did much to develop the re-
sources of the county. Packet lines now make regular trips daily from
Keokuk, Iowa, to Canton, LaGrange and Quincy and return during the
navigable season. There is a regular packet line from St. Paul to St.
Louis and a number of fine excursion steamers that ply the waters of
the Mississippi river each season.
Railroad building in Lewis county came slowly at first. The first rail-
road chartered in the county was to run from Canton to Bloomfield,
Iowa. This was in April, 1860. It was helped by donations and by
bonds issued, and in the latter part of the year considerable grading and
bridge work was done and iron laid, and construction trains run out as
far as Bunker Hill, in Lyon township, Lewis county. The Civil war
stopped the building of this railroad. In 1864, the owner of this rail-
road sold the iron rails on this road to the United States government,
and they sent officers to remove the same. Iron was wanted for use
in the South.
388 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
There was an effort in 1866, after the war, to build this road again.
In 1868, it was sought to rebuild the road under a different name and
charter, with considerable deviation in the route, to call it the Missis-
sippi & Missouri River Air Line Railroad, and to start it at West
Quincy, Missouri, and terminate it at Brownsville, Nebraska. There
was some work done on this road and the grade was completed through
the county. In the year 1870, the West Quincy & Alexandria Railroad
Company was chartered and took over the Mississippi & Missouri Air
Line Company, and thereafter it became the St. Louis, Keokuk & North*
western, and having passed through numerous changes, is now known
as the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. In 1871, the
road was completed through the county ; in April of that year it reached
Canton, adding much to the development of the county. It has been
gradually improved, until today it is one of the principal lines west of
the Mississippi river. The road travels the county from north to south,
along the eastern boundary of the county, following closely the Missis-
sippi river. The principal stations along the line in Lewis county are
Canton and LaOrange.
In 1869, there was incorporated the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific
Railroad Company. This road runs through the county from the west
to the east, passing nearly through the entire county in a southeasterly
direction. In the south part of the county the first train on this road
reached La Belle in January, 1872. Along the line have sprung up
several small towns and villages, among them Maywood, Durham, Ewing,
Tolona, Lewistown and La Belle. Until the advent of the railroad La
Belle was only a small trading point, but since that time it has developed
into one of the principal towns of the county. This road is now known
as the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad.
The County Bar
Among the leading attorneys of the early days was Thomas L. An-
derson. His home was at Palmyra, in Marion county, but he was for a
number of years engaged in the practice in this county. He was a
man well fitted for the practice of his chosen profession. He and Stephen
B. Camegy were the first attorneys ever enrolled in the county. Stephen
B. Camegy at that time was residing at Palmyra in Marion county, mov-
ing to Lewis county at an early date. He was for a number of years
active in the practice in the county.
Adam B. Chambers, of Pike county, was the first circuit attorney
who appeared in the circuit courts of the county ; this was in 1834.
James Ellison, who was enrolled in the county in 1836, was actively
engaged in the practice in the county. He was a man of fine qualities,
with a large amount of legal talent and was among the leaders of his
profession; his descendants seem to have inherited much of his legal
talent. One of his sons, James Ellison, is a member of the Kansas
City Court of Appeals ; which position he has filled for a number of years
with credit to himself and his profession. Another son, Andrew Elli-
son, now deceased, was for a number of years judge of the judicial cir-
cuit in which he resided. His home was at Kirksville, in Adair county ;
he was an able and competent jurist and left behind him an honorable
and upright record. Another son, William C. Ellison, whose home is
at Maryville, in this state, is circuit judge of the judicial circuit in
which he resides. George Ellison, who resides at Canton, is a man of
fine legal mind, whose advice and counsel are much sought.
On the roll of attorneys at an early day appear the names of a large
number of eminent attorneys, many of whom did not reside in the county
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 389
but who practiced in the courts of the county. Among this number was
Samuel T. Qlover, of Palmyra; John S. Dryden, and Addison Reese,
enrolled before 1840. In 1840, James S. Green was admitted to practice
and enrolled in the county ; he developed into one of the leading attor-
neys- in the state. He was an eloquent speaker and his arguments were
clear and convincing.
H. M. Woodyard enrolled as a lawyer in 1842 ; Thomas S. Richardson
in 1846, and James J. Inndley in 1846.
In the year 1854, M. C. Hawkins was enrolled among the list of
attorneys in the county. He resided at Canton. The same year John
C. Anderson was admitted to practice in the county. They were men
well versed in the law and soon won distinction as lawyers of ability.
John C. Anderson was called upon to fill the ofiSce of circuit attorney
and afterward became judge of his judicial circuit, which place he filled
with distinction and credit to himself and his profession. Another attor-
ney who was admitted to the practice of law in this year was James 6.
Blair. He was one of the leading attorneys of Northeast Missouri
for a long number of years and engaged actively in the practice up until
the time of his death, which occurred in 1907. He was uniformly suc-
cessful in his cases, a man capable of drawing fine legal distinction and
of presenting his cases with force and effect. He served in congress
one term.
Among the notable attorneys who have commenced the practice of
law in the county since 1860, is Francis L. Marchand, who commenced
the practice of law in 1863. He has ever since that time been actively
engaged in the practice. He is a lawyer of high standing, with fine
legal talent and has for many years enjoyed the distinction of being one
of the leading attorneys of Northeast Missouri. John J. Louthan was
an attorney of ability, and enjoyed for a long number of years a large
practice in the county.
F. L. Schofield is a lawyer of high standing and attainments who has
won distinction in the state and federal courts. For a number of years
he was a member of the Lewis county bar. He now resides at Hannibal.
0. C. Clay, of Canton, was admitted to the practice of law in 1876.
He is a man of fine legal mind, a hard worker and has forged ahead until
today he is one of the leading attorneys of Northeast Missouri.
Judge B. F. Thompson, of La Belle, is a man of much ability. He
for a long time was actively engaged in the court practice, but has in
later years directed most of his time to banking and his office practice.
Among the notable lawyers who practiced in the county for a number
of years are James T. Lloyd, of Shelby county, the present member of
congress from this district ; S. B. Jeffries, of St. Louis, who practiced in
the county before being appointed assistant attorney general of the
state under General Crow ; W. G. Downing, now deceased, late of Great
Falls, Montana, who served as prosecuting attorney of the county and
also in the state senate.
The bar of Lewis county, at the present day is made mostly of young
men, ranging in age from 30 to 50 years. They are active, energetic
and well learned in the law and endowed with good judgment and dis-
cretion, and are the equal of any bar in the state.
MONTICELLO
The town of Monticello, county seat of Lewis county, is located in a
commanding position, on the east bluffs of the North Fabius river. It
has at the present time a population of 350, which has increased but
390 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
little for the last quarter of a century, owing to the growth of the river
and railroad towns of the county, which had the efEect of diverting trade.
Monticello, meaning ^ kittle mountain,'' was established in 1833, as
the county seat. Silas Reddish surveyed and laid out the town site.
In December, 1834, Judge J. A. Richardson selected a lot on which to
build a jail and another for a church and schoolhouse.
The first houses were built by William Graves and William Smith;
the first hotel by William Ellis. The old Pemberton hotel was built by
W. S. Pemberton in 1836. Two hotels are now conducted in the town.
The first school was taught in 1835-36, by Miss Bradley, in the court-
house, which was a one room log building. The present courthouse is
a two story brick building and compares favorably with other Northeast
Missouri county buildings. It is situated in a beautiful grove of fine
trees overlooking the fertile river valley and the verdure clad hills, which
stretch away in every direction.
Strong sentiment prevails in and about the historic town, and much
practical work has been done toward procuring an electric road here,
through the town, which would revive its prestige and make it again an
important center for a rich territory. It lies directly upon the line of a
prospected road which will extend from Quincy to Des Moines, when
completed.
The Lewis County Journal, a bright, newsy, well arranged weekly,
edited by R. B. Caldwell, has been in existence for forty years. It was
established December 18, 1872, by John Moore.
The town has two general stores, two hotels, two drug stores, a feed
mill, livery stable, blacksmith shop, restaurant and a flourishing bank,
the Monticello Trust Company, organized in 1904, as the successor to
tne Monticello Savings Bank, three churches, the Methodist Episcopal,
South, the Christian and the Baptist, and a well conducted school and
high school.
Canton
The town of Canton is the oldest in the county. It was regularly laid
out in the winter of 1830, by Edward White, Robert Sinclair and Isaac
Bland. The pla^ was filed in the oflSce of the circuit clerk of Marion
county, on the 15th of February. Edward White built the first house,
which was used as a tavern. Mr. Block had the first store, which stood
on the levee, somewhere near the foot of Lewis street. Thomas Gray had
the second store, in a one story log building above Block's.
Canton is beautifully situated on the west bank of the Mississippi
river, within twenty-five miles of the great dam that has been built at
Keokuk. It is here that the river takes its boldest sweep westward,
and making a beautiful semi-circle around the town, furnishes an at-
tractive landscape.
Canton's principal lines of business are manufacturing, shipping,
merchandising and education. Upon the bluff west of the town stands
Christian University, the first institution of learning west of the Mis-
sissippi to establish coeducaition. The main building was erected a few
years ago at a cost of $45,000, most of which was contributed by the
generous citizens of the community. Just south is the new Stockton-
Culver gymnasium and dormitory; which with its heating plant, was
erected in 1912, at a cost of $80,000; these buildings, with a group of
modern brick cottages occupied by students, and the fine campus give the
institution a property value of $150,000.
Under the brow of the hill is the St. Joseph school, erected by the
Catholics of Canton and immediate neighborhood, which is also flour-
ishing.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 391
A large planing mill, two pearl button factories and a large elevator
give employment to more than two hundred people. The fishing industry
also affords employment to nearly one hundred. A new button and
finishing plant, built by the Canton Commercial Club in 1912, will give
employment to from two hundred and fifty to three hundred men and
women.
With the advantage of the Burlington railroad and of cheap river
transportation, farm products bring higher prices in Canton than at
any interior point for a radius of fifty miles. The public schools are
fiourishing. A new school building with modern appliances was com-
pleted in 1911, at a cost of nearly $25,000 and is capable of accommo-
dating six hundred pupils. Quite a large number of pupils from various
parts of the county attend here.
Eight churches, well maintained, indicate that the citizens are
preparing for the future as well as caring for the present.
Canton has her own system of electric lights and water works, fifteen
miles of graded and macadam streets and many beautiful residences.
It has a population of about 2,500, but its rapid growth since the census
of 1910 gives assurance that by 1920 it will have doubled or trebled
its population.
WlLLIAMSTOWN
Williamstown, situated in the northwest part of the county, was
platted in 1856, on the west half of the southwest quarter of section 21,
township 63, range 8. It is an ideal site for a town, being situated on a
beautiful rolling prairie and on the old Canton, Monticello and Memphis
state road. At the commencement of the Civil war there was but two
stores and few dwelling houses. It now has a number of good stores, a
bank, a mill, and two hotels. It has a population of about three hundred.
It has no railroad but undoubtedly will be connected with an electric
line in the near future.
Deer Ridoe
Deer Ridge is a small village situated in the west central part of
Reddish Township, between the North and the Middle Fabius. It was so
named by the pioneers from the number of deer found by them. A post-
office was established and called Deer Ridge in 1846; and a store was
established at the same time ; this was the origin of Deer Ridge. It is
now a small village, has two general stores, wagonmaker's shop and mill.
It has a population of about fifty.
Stefpenville
Steffenville is situated in the southwest part of the county, in one
of the richest farming communities in the county. It has good stores, a
bank, two churches and schools.
Lewistown
Lewistown was laid out in 1871, on part of section 17, township 61,
range 8. The first building erected in the town was by William Fible.
Mr. Fible opened a large general store which he conducted for a number
of years. It has a population of about five hundred people. It has a
number of good stores, two banks, mill, electric light plant, a number
of churches and a good school. It is situated on the Quincy, Omaha &
Kansas City Railroad.
392 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
EWING
Ewing is a village of about 350 inhabitants situated in the south cen-
tral part of the county on the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad.
The growth of this village began when Antoine Sedlemier, formerly of
Steffenville, located here and started a general store. It has a number
of good stores, a newspaper, a mill, electric light plant, creamery, salting
works, two banks, lumber yard, a number of churches, and good schools.
DuRHAiir
Durham is a small hamlet laid out in 1872, and is located on a part
of section 27, township 60, range 7. It is on the Quincy, Omaha & Kan-
sas City Railroad ; has two or three stores, a bank, creamery, churches
and schools.
Maywood
Maywood is situated on the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad
and is about fourteen miles from Quincy, Illinois. Its railroad station
was established in 1872. It is a prosperous little town, with a number of
good stores, two banks, several churches and good schools.
La Belle
La Belle is one of the principal towns of the county. It is situated
in the west central part of the county, near the Knox county line. It is
built on parts of sections 4 and 5, township 61, range 9. In 1857, William
Triplett established a general store in the present site of La Belle, the
first resident of La Belle. La Belle is some times called the '^ Queen of
the Prairie.'' It is situated in one of the finest communities of the
county and occupies a sightly position. Any direction the eye may reach
you will see fine farms with commodious dwellings and other improve-
ments. It increased slowly from the time of the establishment of the
store by William Triplett until 1871, when the town of La Belle was
regularly laid out. Prom that date it increased more rapidly. The post-
office was established in 1858. William Triplett was the first postmaster.
With the advent of the railroad, which was so far completed that the
cars reached La Belle in 1872, and by the end of five years it had a
population of over 350 ; since that time it has been gradually increasing
in population until the present day and it now has a population of about
twelve hundred.
It has a number of large and commodious business buildings, many
beautiful dwellings ; it is well supplied with good stores, has an electric
light and water works system, two of the largest banks in the county, a
live newspaper, and a number of churches and good schools.
La Orange
La Grange is situated in the eastern part of the county, on the Missis-
sippi river, a short distance south of where the Wyaconda empties into
the Mississippi river. It is one of the oldest and principal towns of the
county. It was laid out in 1830, by William Wright. John F. Marlowe
was the first settler on the present site of La Orange. He located there
some time during the year 1828. The first merchant was Campbell,
who had been an Indian trader. La Orange is surrounded on the south,
north and west by a fertile and productive agricultural community.
La Orange gradually increased in population and business until it
reached its present position. In the latter part of the forties to 1861
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 393
it was at its most prosperous time. It commanded a large and extensive
trade, it had a number of large stores, wholesale and retail, and a num-
ber of other business enterprises. Trade came to it for many miles ; not
only to purchase from the ample stores with which it abounded but to
find a market for their surplus products. The war brought La Grange 's
growth to a stand still, business became stagnated and demoralized ; for a
number of years there was no improvement in La Grange ; after the war
there was established some large business enterprises which flourished
for a time and then were abandoned. For a number of years the town
remained almost at a standstill. La Grange today has a number of good
stores, two flourishing banks, a live newspaper, electric light and water
works system, a number of pearl button blank factories and one finish-
ing plant, a large foundry, a thriving creamery, a lumber yard and vari-
ous other business enterprises. It affords good markets and enjoys a
large share of trade of the surrounding community. It has good schools
and a number of churches. It is becoming somewhat famous as a sum-
mer resort. It has a fine spring of mineral water and a number of
summer cottages have been erected by C. N. Thomas, an enterprising
citizen, on the high bluff of the Wyaconda overlooking the Father of
Waters, at one of the most sightly points along the river.
Here is located La Grange College, an institution for the education
of both sexes. This college is supported by the Baptists. It was estab-
lished in 1857, and is in a flourishing condition. A fine dormitory build-
ing has just been completed.
CHAPTER XVIII
LINCOLN COUNTY
By H. F. ChUders, Troy
Physical Features
Lincoln county is bounded on the north by Pike county, on the
east by the Mississippi river which separates it from Calhoun county
in Illinois, on the south by St. Charles and Warren counties, and on
the west by Montgomery county. It has an area of 620 square miles,
or 396,148 acres.
The county is drained on the east by the Mississippi and some of
its tributaries, the principal ones being Bryant's Big Sandy, McLean's
and Bob's creeks, and the Cuivre river which forms a portion of the
southern boundary of the county. All that part of the county lying
west of the dividing ridge before mentioned is drained by Cuivre and
its tributaries. This river is formed by the flowing together of Sul-
phur Fork, Sandy Fork, and other small streams in the northwestern
comer of the county in Waverly township. It then flows in a south-
erly direction to the mouth of Big creek at the southern boundary
of the county and thence north of east on a very tortuous line on the
county boundary to the Mississippi.
The timbers comprise all the serviceable wood except pine and
poplar. Lincoln is the best timbered county in North Missouri. In
it are found oak, walnut, cherry, ash, maple, birch, elm, hickory, lin-
den, Cottonwood, sycamore, locust, pecan, hackberry, mulberry, willow,
dogwood, hombean, box-elder, sassafras, persimmon and some others,
showing an excellent variety for domestic, farm and manufacturing
purposes. Of the eighteen species of oak found in this state more than
a dozen are here; of hickory, six; locust, sycamore, maple and elm,
three each; walnut, two, and so on. This list embraces all that is
required in nearly the whole range of manufactures, including, as it
does, an admirable variety of hard, soft and finishing woods, and the
supply may be said to be inexhaustible.
The minerals of Lincoln county are almost entirely undeveloped.
In the southwest part of the county coal is found to the thickness of
twenty-seven feet, the layers containing cannel, bituminous and block
coals. An analvsis of cannel coal from this mine bv the chemist of the
state geological board, exhibits: water 1.15; volatile matter 41.25;
fixed carbon 49.60 ; ash 8.0. Several shafts have been sunk, hut owing
to want of transportation facilities, only enough coal is mined to sup-
ply local demand.
Over a large area of the northern and northeastern parts Trenton
limestone is found in layers of from ten to twenty-five inches in thick-
ness. It is light yellowish gray or drab in color, fine crystalline, very
hard and compact, with smooth conchoidal fracture and susceptible
394
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 395
of a fine polish, in many cases resembling a marble. In the southeast
is the St. Louis limestone, hard, fine crystalline, and of a light blue and
drab color. Over the remainder of the county are the Encrinital and
Archimedes limestones.
The soil of Lincoln county is varied in kind and quality. It
ranges from poor to extremely rich. While none is too poor to make
fair return on labor judiciously bestowed, none is too rich for care-
ful and thorough cultivation to pay over slovenly tilling.
The Early Settlements
The history of Lincoln county properly dates from the first year
of the last century when Major Christopher Clark erected his cabin
and made the first permanent settlements within its present limits.
About five years previous a few persons located on Spanish grants,
in the eastern part of the county, adjacent to the Mississippi and
Cuivre rivers. These were mostly French trappers and hunters, w^hose
residence was only temporary. It is estimated that at the commence-
ment of the last century only about forty acres of land had ev^r been
put in cultivation in the county.
Major Clark was born in Lincoln county. North Carolina, in 1766.
His father, James Clark, was a native of Ireland, and his mother,
Catherine Home, of Scotland. They settled first in Winchester, Vir-
ginia. Christopher Clark in 1788 settled in Lincoln county, North
Carolina. He married Elizabeth Adams, by whom he had six chil-
dren— James, Sarah, Catherine, David, Hannah and Elizabeth. He
served as lieutenant in a company of volunteers, guarding the fron-
tiers of Kentucky, and also during a campaign up the Wabash river
in 1790. He came to Missouri in 1798, bringing with him his horses
and cattle. On this occasion he came on a prospecting tour as far
north as the present site of Troy, where was then situated a small
Indian village, the wigwams being placed in a kind of circle around
the spring. The following year he brought his family in a pirogue,
or large keel-boat, down the Kentucky and Ohio and up the Missis-
sippi and Missouri rivers, and landed at St. Charles. He settled at
what is now known as Gilmore. A few days after his arrival his wife
died. He returned to Kentucky and purchased a black girl to do the
housework in his new home and in April, 1801, he moved into the
limits of this county, being the first white man to cross Big creek with
a wagon, and built his cabin three and a half miles southeast of Troy,
on the St. Charles road. This was the first permanent settlement in
the state north of present limits of St. Charles county. At that time
his nearest neighbor was Anthony Keller, who lived on the south bank
of Big creek, four miles off.
Shortly afterward came Jeremiah Groshong, a native of Penn-
sylvania, who had lived a few years in St. Charles county, near the
Missouri river. He settled half a mile northeast of Clark's. Next
came the families of Zadock Woods and Joseph Cottle, from Wood-
stock, Vermont, who settled in Troy in 1802.
At the time of Major Clark's settlement, this country was com-
monly called New Spain. Its official designation was the Province
of Upper Louisiana. After its purchase by the United States it was
added to the Territory of Indiana, of which Gen. William Henry Har-
rison was governor. General Harrison on December 21, 1804, com-
missioned Christopher Clark a captain of volunteers and he was sworn
into service February 9, 1805. Clark's company used to muster at
Zumwalt's spring, now known as Big Spring Mills, near Flint Hill.
396 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The only murder known to have been committed by Indians in
Lincoln coonty before the breaking out of the War of 1S12 was the
massacre of the McHugh children. Doubtless some others were per-
petrated as some of the descendants of the pioneers remember to have
heard the facts stated; but names and circumstances are alike for-
gotten.
In 1804, William McHugh sent his sons, James, William and Jesse,
to hunt the horses, which they found about a mile from home up
Sandy creek. On their return they fell in with Frederick Dixon, a
famous Indian scout. The two older boys were each riding a horse and
Jesse, a lad of ten or twelve years, got up behind Dixon. At the ford
of Sandy creek, while their horses were drinking, they were fired on
by Indians concealed behind a large sycamore. The two older boys
A Mississippi Riveb Scene
were killed instantly and Dixon and Jesse were thrown to the ground
by their horse. Dixon, unarmed, fled, and Jesse was killed.
The War op 1812
The apprehensions of the early settlers as to the Indian attitude
were greatly increased by the news of the declaration of war with
Great Britain. The population within the confines of Lincoln county
did not exceed five hundred. The exposed condition of the inhabitants
would invite the hostile attention of the five or six tribes who con-
sidered the county their hunting ground. The people lost no time
in building stockade forts and providing for the defence of their homes.
Major Clark, with the assistance of two hired men, built a stockade
at his residence, and it was called Clark's Fort. He put up seven thou-
sand pounds of pork to eure.'with other provisions for the use of famili»
that would seek shelter within its walls after being driven from their
homes. A large stockade was built at Troy and called Wood's Fort,
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 397
Stout's Fort was built on Port Branch, near Auburn, and another
large stockade was built on a bluflP between Chain of Rocks and Cap-
au-Oris. This was called Port Howard.
Most of the rangers who volunteered from Lincoln county, as far
as known, served in the companies of Capt. Christopher Clark, Capt.
Daniel M. Boone, Capt. Nathan Boone and Capt. James Callaway,
the last named a grandson and the two Boones sons of Daniel Boone.
All three were from St. Charles county. A few were under a Cap-
tain Craig, who was killed in Lincoln county.
The County Organization
To the first settler of Lincoln county was reserved the honor of
securing its establishment as a separate county and also of selecting
its name. In the territorial legislature which convened in St. Louis
in December, 1818, the organization of several new counties was dis-
cussed. Major Clark, who was a member, proposed a new county
out of the area of St. Charles, of about twenty-four miles square, with
the boundaries corresponding very nearly to the present Unes. The
county was organized and was the sixth one set off by the territorial
legislature, not including the county of Arkansas, which has since
been made an independent state.
The act creating the county and a supplemental act fixing the time
and place for holding courts had been passed only a short time before
the organization of the county began. The first court convened at the
home of Zadock Woods, in Troy, on Monday, April 5, 1819. It was
a circuit court, but under the provisions of the law it exercised the
functions of a county court and kept separate and distinct records.
David Todd, of Howard county, was the first circuit judge; John
Ruland, the first circuit and county clerk; and David Bailey the first
sheriff. The commissioners to locate the county seat were David Bai-
ley, Daniel Draper, Hugh Cummins and Abraham Kennedy.
The first grand jury was composed of Joseph Cottle, John Null,
Prospect K. Bobbins, Samuel H. Lewis, Thacker Vivion, Job Wil-
liams, Alembe Williams, Jr., Jeremiah Groshong, John Bell, Jacob
Null, Sr., John Hunter, Elijah CoUard, William HarreU, Jacob Null,
Jr., Isaac Cannon, Hiram ^Iillsaps, Alembe Williams, Sr., and Zacha-
riah Callaway, *'who after being duly sworn and charged, retired to
their room, and after some time returned without making any pre-
sentment and were discharged."
On the second day the clerk was ordered to apply to the clerk of
St. Charles county for all orders relating to public roads heretofore
established in this county. The court then proceeded to divide the
county into four townships. The county lines, the fifth principal meri-
dian running through the center of the county running north and
south and the line between townships forty-nine and fiifty, running
through the center east and west, constituted the boundaries of the
townships, which were named Monroe, in the southeast, Bedford, in
the southwest, Union, in the northwest, and Hurricane in the north-
east.
Prospect K. Bobbins, James Woods and Joseph Oldham were
appointed judges of the election for Monroe; Elijah CoUard, Benja-
min Blanton and Alembe Williams, Jr., for Bedford; Robert Jame-
son, Philip Sitton and Samuel Gibson for Union; and Benjamin Allen,
John Ewing and Jesse Sitton for Hurricane. The places the elec-
tion was to be held were also named, in three townships at the home
of one of the judges. In Bedford township the home of Zadock Woods
398 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
was the polling place. James Woods was appointed a constable of
Monroe township, Lee F. T. Cottle of Bedford, Thacker Vivion of
Union, and Allen Turnbaugh of Hurricane. Their bonds were fixed
at one thousand dollars each, a large amount for those days.
The first justices of the peace in the county, appointed by the gover-
nor, were Benjamin Cottle and James Duncan for Bedford, Daniel
Draper for Union, Benjamin Allen for Hurricane and Prospect K. Rob-
bins for Monroe township. The election provided for was held August
2nd, and a delegate for congress was voted for. Samuel Hammond and
John Scott were the candidates. Hammond carried Lincoln county, sixty-
nine to five, but Scott was elected. He was then the incumbent, having
held the office from 1816; he continued until Missouri was admitted as
a state, abd then was elected as a member of congress three times, retir-
ing in 1827.
County Court PROCEBa)iNGS
The first county tax ordered to be levied and collected by the sheriff,
was as follows: On each horse over three years old, fifty cents; neat
cattle same age, six and a quarter cents ; on each negro or mulatto slave
between the ages of sixteen and forty-five years fifty cents; on each
billiard table, twenty-five dollars; on each able-bodied man, twenty-one
years old and upward, not possessed of property to the value of two
hundred dollars, fifty cents ; on mills, tanyards and distilleries, in actual
operation, forty cents on every hundred dollars of their valuation.
At the third term of court, December, 1819, the first petit jury was
impaneled, consisting of Ira Cottle, foreman; John Lindsey, Onion
Gibson, Jacob Williamson, George Jameson, Samuel Gibson, Robert
Jameson, Sr., Thacker Vivion, Isaac Cannon, Abijat Smith, Hugh Ber-
nett and Andrew Cottle. The case was that of the ** United States vs.
Robert McNair, for hog stealing." Robert McNair was a brother to
Alexander McNair, the first governor of the state of Missouri..
The commissioners to fix upon a county seat reported that they had
selected Monroe and that a jail had been erected there, and the court
thereupon ordered that the courts be held afterward at that town.
The first accounts ever presented against the county were allowed at
this term.
The court met at the new county seat for the first time on Monday,
April 3, 1820. The first change in the boundaries of the municipal
townships was made. Part of Monroe was cut off and added to Bed-
ford. Little else was done besides appointing judges of election, which
was to be held on the first three days of May, 1820, for a member of
the convention to frame a constitution for the admission of the state
into the Union. This election was the second held in the county and
was the first in which all four townships participated. In the first
election held in the county no vote was cast in one township. Pour can-
didates were voted on in the election, Malcolm Henry, Sr., receiving
119 votes, Meredith Cox 81, Joseph Cottle 42 and James Duncan 6.
These were all pro-slavery men and all but Cottle came from slave-
holding states.
At the January term, 1821, Bennett Palmer appears on the records
as county and circuit clerk. The first county court as a separate body
was then in session. Jonathan Riggs and Ira Cottle produced commis-
sions from Gov. Alexander McNair and took their seats as county judges.
In the April term, John Geiger produced a like commission and took his
seat.
The selection of Monroe as the county seat was never satisfactory to
the people of the county. By reference to the session acts of the legis-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 399
•
lature for 1822, will be found an act providing for its removal from that
point. In the preamble it is set forth that the inhabitants of the county
suffer great hardships and inconveniences occasioned by their seat of
justice having been located at Monroe, which is situated in the south-
east corner of the county, and that a good majority of the citizens had
presented a petition to the general assembly for the passage of a law for
the removal of the seat of justice to the center of the county or some
suitable spot not more than three miles from the center. The legisla-
ture thereafter appointed Robert Gay, of Pike, Francis Howell, Sr., of
St. Charles, and William Lamme, of Montgomery, commissioners and
empowered them with full authority to select a suitable site in accordance
with the petition. The courts were to be continued at Monroe until the
erection of a court house and jail at the new county seat.
The last term held in Monroe was in November, 1822. No mention
is made on the records of any compliance with the terms of the
legislative act before the removal of the county seat; but on the first
Monday in February, 1823, the county court convened at Old Alexandria,
the point selected by the commissioners as the new county seat. The
books and papers had been sent up the previous Saturday and deposited
in the only dwelling house in the place. This was a hewed log building,
one and a half stories high, with one window containing twelve lights
of eight by ten glass, clap-board roof, floor and door of rough wood and
mud chimney with stone back, capable of holding a six-foot log. A
small room adjoining was used as a kitchen. This was quite a stylish
and comfortable residence for the frontiers of Missouri in that day, and
it was with no little pride that the good lady of the house surrendered
the **best room" for the use of the court, and retired to the kitchen.
In 1828 three-fifths of the voters of the county petitioned the county
court to remove the county seat from Old Alexandria to Troy. The
court appointed Felix Scott, of St. Charles county, Thomas Kerr, of
Pike, Richard Wright, Philip Glover and George Clay, of Montgomery,
commissioners for selecting a court of justice. The commissioners chose
Troy and their selection was approved by the circuit court. An election
was held December 8th at which the people of the coimty ratified the
removal by a vote of 211 to 2. The last session of the county court at
Old Alexandria was held on January 3, 1829, and the first one in Troy
was on February 9, 1829. •
Miscellaneous
Eight new townships have been created in Lincoln county at differ-
ent times. They are Waverly, Clark, Prairie, Millwood, Nineveh, Burr
Oak, Snow Hill, and Hawk Point.
From the assessment list of 1821, the earliest one preserved among
the records, is found the list of the then resident tax-payers. The list
together with the widows and the estates of deceased persons made the
number 276 tax-payers. The taxes paid ranged from two and one-half
cents to $12.41i4> the latter sum being the amount paid by Shapley
Ross. The average was about 95 cents. Ross was the largest ^aveholder
in the county as well as the largest tax-payer. He had seventeen slaves
and also much other property, including 504 acres of land, on which
stood a saw and grist mill, thirty-nine town lots, twelve horses, eighteen
cattle and one watch. He was taxed on these things, according to the
records.
Several Revolutionary soldiers were among the early settlers of
Lincoln county. Among those known to have lived in the county are
Noah Rector, Isaac Hudson, John Chambers, John Barco and Alembe
400 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Williams. Noah Rector lived at Millwood until 1849, when he died at
the age of 102 years. Isaac Hudson moved to the county from Kentucky
in 1819 and settled in the present Nineveh township. He was a black-
smith and a farmer. John Chambers, a veteran of the battle of Mon-
mouth, lived in Clark township. Williams and Barco were natives of
North Carolina.
The first letters of administration granted in the county were granted
to Dr. Benjamin English, on the estate of Daniel Epps. They were
dated May 10, 1819. The first guardian was James Murdock, appointed
to the heirs of William Lynn, April 3, 1820. The first divorce granted
in the county was that of Samuel Smiley from Elizabeth Smiley. The
charge was desertion. The first foreigner naturalized was Eleazer Block,
a native of Bohemia, February 6, 1827.
The present court house was built in 1870 at a cost of about $27,500.
The present jail was built in 1876 at a cost of about $7,500.
The ** Slicker" War
During the years 1843, 1844 and 1845, there raged in Lincoln county
what was known as the ** Slicker" war. The term originated elsewhere,
probably in Benton county in 1841, and came from the peculiar mode of
punishment inflicted by the regulators — whipping with hickory withes
or ** slicking," as the backwoods parlance of that day termed it. An
organized band of counterfeiters and horse and cattle thieves existed in
many counties of Missouri and other western states, and about the period
mentioned above, the people of the eastern part of the county found it
necessary to organize for the protection of their property, so extensive
were the depredations. It has been said that the persons who operated
in Lincoln county sold twelve hundred horses during a single season at
one sale stable in St. Louis. Of course, not all of these were taken from
Lincoln county. Their operations in beef cattle were on as large a scale.
Sometimes the thieves would be taken with the stolen property in pos-
session, but would always manage to have enough convenient witnesses
on hand to secure acquittal, and would march oflf with the stock before
its owner's eyes. This aroused the greatest indignation which was
heightened by the fact that the prevalence of counterfeit money, both
metal and paper, seriously affected the transaction of business. A
company of regulators was organized with James Stallard, of Hurricane
township, as captain. Some of the very best men of the eastern half of
the county went into it. Brice Hammock drew up its constitution and
by-laws. Had the spirit of these been strictly followed, some blood-shed
and much ill-feeling might have been avoided. Some inexcusable ex-
cesses were committed, partly the result of the excitement of the times,
but more from the fact that a few unprincipled men took the opportunity,
either as active members of the organization or as pretended friends, to
settle personal grudges. When the evidence against a suspected person
became satisfactory to the regulators, such person was either "slicked"
or ordered to leave the county by a given date, or both ; and the penalty
for a refusal or a failure to leave was either ** slicking" or death, accord-
ing to the merits of the case. The principals all fled.
The CiVHi War
The people of the county were profoundly interested in the stirring
political events that followed the presidential campaign of 1860. Their
sympathies were largely with the South and when Qovemor Jackson
issued his proclamation calling for volunteers to defend the state against
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 401
the invasion of the Federal troops, no county responded more enthusi-
astically and more freely than did Lincoln. Her soldiers were in every
considerable engagement fought in the state. They were in the first
great battle, that at Springfield, in a regiment that went into action with
232 men, killed the Federal commander, and almost unaided drove back
two of the finest regiments of the opposing army, and answered roll-call
next morning with 105 men, and not one missing, having the severest
loss in the army. The same bravery and patriotic enthusiasm were shown
by them on a hundred battle fields, ending at Blakely on Mobile Bay,
where the last gun of the war was fired, and by Lincoln county men under
Lieutenant-Colonel Carter, who kept up the battle for more than, one
hour after the last Confederate flag had been furled for the last time.
If the career of the Lincoln county soldiers who entered the Federal ser-
vice was less brilliant from force of circumstance, it was none the less
honorable. They fought over nearly the same ground as did their
brothers on the other side, and they were ever distinguished for bravery,
a strict obedience to discipline and a heroic devotion to the cause for
which they contended. Further than this, which is only a just tribute
to the brave men who fought on either side for their conviction of
right, I shall not speak.
Educational
The early development of the* educational interests of Lincoln county
makes an interesting chapter in its history. One of the first teachers in
the county was Samuel Groshong and others were Philip Orr, James Wil-
son, James Reid, Clayton Alcorn and Ariel Enapp, all of whom taught
in the vicinity of Auburn. Joseph E. Wells was one of the early teachers
in the vicinity of Millwood. Richard H. Hill, who afterwards moved
to Texas, also taught in that neighborhood as did Athanasius Mudd, a
graduate of the college at Georgetown, D. C. William Watts was one of
the early teachers of Hurricane township, teaching the first school in
the vicinity of where Elsberry now stands, about the year 1833. The
first public school districts of which the records make any mention were
organized by the county court at the term held in February, 1837. They
were Nos. 1 and 2, township 50, range i, east. Elijah Myers, Alexander
Martin and James Stoddard were appointed trustees of No. 1 and Thomas
S. Reed, James Finley and Harrison D. Allen of No. 2. At the same
term of court four districts were organized in township 48, range 1 west
and Andrew Brown, William Vaughan and Benjamin Bowen were
appointed trustees of No. 1 ; Silas M. Davis, Robert Hammond and Allen
Jameson of No. 2; John Thurman, B. F. Blanton and David Boyd of
No. 3; and John M. Faulkner, Mervin Ross and A. Cahall of No. 4.
The work of organizing the county into school districts went on rapidly
after these districts were formed, more districts being organized as the
population increased.
There are now 91 school districts in the county with 93 school houses
and 125 teachers. The enumeration is 4,889. The value of the school
property is estimated at $95,000. The school funds amount to about
$55,000 annually. The total permanent school fund of the county —
loaned on farm mortgages — amounted in 1912 to $53,121.32.
In addition to the common schools in the county, there are graded
and high schools at Troy, Elsberry and Wipfield.
Churches
The early religious history of the county has not been accurately pre-
served and hence there is a- difference of opinion on the subject of the
Vol. I— 26
402 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
organization of the earliest churches. Dr. Joseph A. Mudd gives it
as his opinion that Sulphur Lick Baptist church was organized in 1813
by Elder Bethuel Riggs. But the Rev. R. S. Duncan, an authority on Bap-
tist history, says that the church was not organized until 1823. If Dr.
Mudd is correct, the Sulphur Lick church was the first one organized in
the county. If he is not correct, then probably the New Liberty Method-
ist church was the first, the date of its organization being given as 1818.
It is believed to have been organized by the Rev. John Scripps at the
home of some private citizen.
Among the pioneer ministers of Lincoln county were Andrew Mon-
roe, David Hubbard, Bethuel Riggs, Hugh R. Smith, Abraham Welty,
Darius Bainbridge and Benjamin S. Ashby, all of whom solemnized
marriages, as shown by the record of marriage certificates prior to 1830.
And, commencing with 1830, the record shows the following: 1830,
James W. Campbell and Thomas Bowen ; 1832, Elder Thomas McBride,
of the Christian church, and the Rev. Samuel Findley, of the Presbyterian
church; 1833, Nicholas C. Kabler, of the Methodist Episcopal church;
1834, John S. Pall, of the Presbyterian church, Jacob Lanius, of the
Methodist Episcopal church, Sandy E. Jones, of the Christian church,
John M. Hopkins and Robert Gilmore, of the Baptist church, and Fred
B. Leach ; 1835, Hugh L. Dodds, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
J. H. Hughes, of the Christian church ; 1836, Ephraim Davis and Eze-
kiel Downing, of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, Peter R. Le-
fever, of the Catholic church, and S. G. Patterson, of the Methodist
church; 1837, Robert L. McAfee and Lewis Duncan; 1838, F. B.
McElroy and William Patton, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
Nathan Woodsworth. Some signed their names as ** ministers of the
gospel, "and others as ministers of the churches to which they belonged.
In the early history of the county, the Baptist church (known since
1836 as the Primitive Baptist) was among the first organized. The
Stout's Settlement (afterwards 'New Hope) church was organized in
1821 by Elders Bethuel Riggs and Jesse Sitton. If Dr. ]Mudd errs in
regard to the organization of Sulphur Lick church, then the New Hope
church is the oldest Baptist church in the county. We are, however,
inclined to the opinion that the Sulphur Lick church is the older, from
the fact that it was organized at the home of Elder Ri^s; it seems
probable that he would organize a church at his own home earlier than
at a point so far distant as that at which the Stout's Settlement church
was organized. The Troy church (now Sand Run) was organized in the
year 1825. A church taiown as Cuivre was organized in 1828. Xt'W
Hope and Sand Run are the only churches of that faith in the county.
After the division in the church over missions, in 1836, the Troy
and New Hope Missionary Baptists were first organized. New Salem
church was organized in 1843 and has today a larger membership than
any other church in the county. Pairview church was organized in
1845 as Bethlehem. Mill Creek church was organized in 1851, Ebenezer
in 1869, and Comer Stone in 1874. At the present time there are other
Baptist organizations in the county as follows: Elsberry, Foley, Har-
mony Grove, Highland, Mount Qilead, Oak Ridge, Olive Branch, Olney,
Pleasant Grove, Silex, Star Hope, Whiteside and Winfield. The total
membership of the denomination in the county is about nineteen hundred.
All of the churches belong to the Cuivre Association, organized in 1891.
The Methodist Episcopal denomination, as has been previously noted,
organized New Liberty church at an early day at a private home in the
northwestern part of the county. They did not build a house of worship
until 1848. That and the congregation at Truxton, which was organized
about the year 1864, are the only churches of that denomination in the
county.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 40»
Next to the Baptist denomination in point of membership is
the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Among the earliest churches
of the denomination organized in Lincoln county were those at
Troy, Moscow and Slaven's Chapel. The congregation at Troy built
a substantial brick house of worship in the year 1859, the comer stone
of which was laid on the 19th of July, 1859, by Troy Masonic lodge.
On August 24, 1900, the same lodge officiated at the laying of the corner
stone of the handsome edifice which now stands where the old house
was built forty-one years before. There are now eighteenr congregations
of the denomination in the county: Olney, Oak Grove, Souls Chapel,
Elsberry, Smith's Chapel, Briscoe, Old Alexander, Asbury Chapel,
Winfield, Bethany, Highland Prairie, Old Monroe, Moscow Mills, Sugar
Creek, Troy, Slaven's Chapel, Linn's Mill and Little Zion. The total
membership is not far from fifteen hundred.
The Christian church is third strongest in point of numbers. The
oldest organizations were at Louisville and Troy. The church at Troy
was organized in July, 1856. Judge F. Wing, of Moscow Mills, was the
first church clerk, and held that office for many years. Other organiza-
tions in the county are at Lynn Knoll, Corinth, Elm Grove, New Hope,
Highland Prairie, Old Alexander, New Gallilee, Winfield, Sulphur Lick,
Louisville, Hawk Point, Olney, Elsberry and Moscow Mills. The mem-
bership in the county is about one thousand.
There are two Old School Presbyterian churches in the county. One
is at Troy, which was oi^anized in 1831, and it is one of the few churches
which has perpetuated its original organization to the present day. It
has about one hundred members. The other is located at Auburn.
There are four Catholic churches in the county. That at Millwood
was organized in 1840, when the first church was built ; the second house
was built in 1851 and destroyed by a storm in 1876. It was rebuilt in
1877. It has a large and wealthy congregation. The congregation at
Troy was organized in 1875 and numbers about fifty families. It has a
$14,000 church and rectory. The congregation at Bals was organized
in 1867. It now sustains a parochial school. The church at Mashek
has a congregation of about forty families.
There are two German Methodist churches in the county^-one at
Truxton, organized about 1850, and one near Schroeder's Mill.
There are three German Evangelical churches — ^in Troy, near Win-
field and at Moscow Mills.
Mount Zion Associate Reformed Presbyterian church, located at
Okete, was organized about the year 1840, and enjoys the distinction
of being the earliest church of that denomination in Missouri. A church
of the same denomination was organized in Elsberry in 1912, and a house
of worship built.
There are Cumberland Presbyterian churches at Whiteside, Elsberry,
Olney and Silex.
Railroad History
There are three railroads in Lincoln county, one in the eastern,
one in the central and one in the southern part of the county. The St.
Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, which is a part of the Burlington
system, was completed through the county in 1879, and is one of the
best lines in Missouri. The St. Louis & Hannibal Railroad was com-
pleted through the central portion of the county in May, 1882. The
line first mentioned was built without any aid from the county. The
latter road, however, has cost a vast sum and the county has not yet
paid all of the debt incurred. The third road was built in 1904, by the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, from Old Monroe
404 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
to Mexico, Missouri, and forms a short line between St. Louis and
Kansas City. This line of road has been used jointly by the Burlington
and Chicago & Alton for passenger service between Missouri's largest
cities. It is expected that the Burlington will ultimately complete this
line from Mexico to Kansas City.
The history of the creation of the original debt of $300,000 in aid
of the St. Louis & Hannibal Railroad is fresh in the minds of the
people. It is sufficient to say that it was created in 1870, and that in-
terest was paid on it up to and including 1876 ; then the county court
refused further pa3rment of interest on the ground of the invalid nature
of the debt. Litigation ensued which ended in judgments by the United
States supreme court against the county. Finally, in 1883, by a vote
of the people the county court was authorized to compromise the debt
and issue six per cent bonds in lieu of the old ones. This required the
issue of $372,000 in new bonds. Five years later $325,000 of that debt
was refunded at five per cent^ and on January 3, 1899, $100,000 of the
five per cent bonds were refunded at four per cent. At the present time
the debt amounts to $30,000 and the interest to $1,200 a year. The
debt will be fully paid on or before February 1, 1914.
These railroads give the citizens of the county ample shipping facili-
ties to the markets of both St. Louis and Chicago, while the passenger
and mail service on the roads are excellent. In addition to these ad-
vantages, the southern border of the county is only about seven miles
from the Wabash Railroad and some portions not so distant.
Towns
Troy, the county seat of Lincoln county, is the largest town in the
county. It has a population of 1,120. It is on the St. Louis & Han-
nibal Railroad, sixty-eight miles from Hannibal and sixty miles from
St. Louis. It is a shipping point for a large area. It has six churches,
a fiouring mill, a good graded school and a high school.
Troy was surveyed and laid out September 16, 1819, almost two
years before Missouri was admitted to the Union. The owners of the
land were Joseph and Lee F. T. Cottle and Zadock Woods. The town
as originally platted contained two hundred building lots. The first
house built within the limits of the town was a log structure erected by
Joseph Cottle. Zadock Woods' house, built not long afterward, was
the first tavern or hotel in the county. For protection against the fre-
quent depredations of the Indians of that early day, a stout blockade was
built which enclosed the houses of both Mr. Woods and Mr. Cottle, as
well as the public spring, which had to be relied upon for water in
case of attacks from the Indians. '
The second town in point of population is Elsberry, which has 1,018
people. It is on the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railway. It
was laid out in 1879 on lands belonging to Robert T. Elsberry.
Silex, with a population of 276 ; Foley, with 227 ; Hawk Point, with
299; Old Monroe, 251; Winfield, 422, and Whiteside, 129, are other
towns in the county.
The population of the entire county in 1910 was 17,033. In 1900 it
was 18,352 and in 1890, 18,346.
POIiinCAL
Lincoln county is Democratic in politics by a majority of between
eight hundred and a thousand. For president in 1908, the vote was:
Bryan, Democratic, 2,555 ; Taf t, Republican, 1,620.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 405
The county officers at the present time are all Democrats, except the
superintendent of schools, which office is non-political. The officers are :
Benjamin W. Wheeler, presiding judge of the county court; Prank L-
Dawson, judge of the county court from the first district; Fillmore
Story, judge of the county court from the second district; James W.
Powell, probate judge; Abe Stephens, circuit clerk; J. Forrest Johnston,
county clerk; Charles H. Thompson, recorder; Stuart L. Penn, prose-
cuting attorney ; Richard T. Bennett, sheriff ; William E. Swan, collector ;
Lee H. Fisher, assessor; Clarence B. Tucker, treasurer; Edward A.
Hicks, coroner; Robert S. Martin, public administrator; Andy J.
Brown, surveyor; Miss Zula Thurman, superintendent of public schools.
The representative in the state legislature is Wiley Huston, of Troy,
a Democrat. The county is a part of the eleventh state senatorial dis-
trict, which is represented by Robert D. Rodgers, of Mexico, a Democrat.
Champ Clark is the representative in congress of the congressional dis-
trict of which the county is a part — the Ninth district.
CHAPTER XIX
LINN COUNTY •
By Arthur L. Pratt, Linneus
A Separate Body Politic
The territory now comprised within the limits of Linn county
was originally a part of the county of St. Charles and was next embraced
within the limits of Howard county, which latter county was organized
by an act of the territorial legislature, approved January 23, 1816.
It so remained until the 16th day of November, 1820, when the county
of Chariton was organized by act of the state legislature. There was a
provision in the act organizing Chariton county that **A11 that section
of the country north of the county of Chariton to the northern boundary
of the state which lies between the range lines dividing ranges 13 and
14 and the range line dividing ranges 21 and 22 be and the same is hereby
annexed to the county of Chariton for all civil, military and judicial
purposes."
By act of the legislature approved January 6, 1837, Linn county
was formed as a separate county having the following boundaries: ** Be-
ginning at the southeast corner of township 57, range 18, thence west
with said township line to the range line dividing ranges 21 and 22,
thence north with said range line to the township line dividing townships
60 and 61, thence east with said township line to the range line dividing
ranges 17 and 18, thence south with said range line to the place of be-
ginning. ' '
By an act of the general assembly approved January 14, 1837, the
county line dividing the counties of Linn and Livingston was so changed
as to continue up Grand river from where the range line dividing ranges
21 and 22 crosses said river to the section line dividing range 22
into equal parts, thence north with said sectional line to the township
line dividing townships 59 and 60. The intention seems to have been to
add the east half of range 22 to Linn county. That there was error is
manifest. Just' when the error was discovered can only be surmised.
At any rate the Revised Statutes of 1879 fixed the boundaries of Linn
county as follows: Beginning at the southeast corner of township 57,
range 18 west ; thence west to the southwest corner of section 34, town-
ship 57, range 22 west ; thence north with the subdivisional line to the
northwest corner of section 3 of township 60, range 22 west ; thence east
with the township line between township 60 and 61 to the northeast cor-
ner of township 60, range 18 west; thence south with the range line
between ranges 17 and 18 to the place of beginning.
Early Courts
The organic act provided that the courts of the county should be
held at the home of Silas Fore until the county court should decide
406
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 407
upon a temporary seat of justice for the county. William Bowyer,
James Howell and Robert Warren were appointed justices of the county
court by the governor, and the first term of the county court was held
by Judges Bowyer and Howell at the house of Silas A. Fore on the first
Monday in February, 1837. The court appointed James A. Clark, after-
wards judge of the circuit court of this circuit, clerk pro tem for the
term. The court divided the county into three municipal townships.
All that part of the county lying west of Locust creek was named
Parson Creek township; that part lying between Locust creek and the
main branch of Yellow creek was named Locust Creek township, and the
remainder was named Yellow Creek township. An election for justices
of the peace was ordered to be held in the several townships, on the 8th
day of April, 1837.
The voting precinct for Parson Creek township was established at the
house of Irvin Ogan, Esq., that for Locust Creek township at Barbee's
store and that for Yellow Creek township at the house of Sampson
Wyatt, Esq. The court adjourned to meet at the home of E. T. Denni-
son, Esq., but at the next term changed to Barbee's store.
At the election held in pursuance of the above mentioned order,
Thomas Russell and David Mullins were elected justices of the peace for
Locust Creek township, Irvin Ogan for Parson Creek and Mordecai
Lane for Yellow Creek township. ^
James Howell was chosen as president of the county court, John J.
Flood was the first assessor and his pay for making the first assessment
of the county was $28.75. John W. Minnis was the first sheriff. The
total amount of revenue collected by him the first year was $148.99,
which amount fully met the county expenditures.
Thomas Barbee was the first treasurer of the county.
The first circuit court was held at the house of Thomas Barbee on the
11th day of December, 1837. Thomas Reynolds was then judge. The
following persons were summoned and served as grand jurors : Augustus
W. Floumoy, foreman, John M. Ogan, W. Tyre, Kinith Bagwell, Jere-
miah Hooker, Samuel S. Masses, Alexander Ogan, Bowling R. Ashbrook,
K. Ashbrook, William Comett, Abraham Venable, George Taylor, Isaac
Taylor, John Beckett, John Cherry, Uriah Head, Rennison J. Tisdale,
Littrel B. Comett, and William P. Southerland.* They were in session
but one day and no indictments were returned.
There was but one suit brought at that term of court which was an
action for trespass on the case for slanderous words spoken, brought by
Thomas Stanley against Thomas Botts for having said that he, Stanley,
burned the house of Joshua Botts. The cause was tried at the August
term, 1838, before Judge Reynolds and a jury of the following named
persons: John Ogan, James C. Slack, Johnson McCouen, R. J. Tisdale,
Preston O'Neal, James M. Warren, Jeremiah Phillips, Jefferson Han-
cock, William Smith, William Clarkson, Wharton R. Barton and John
Neal. There was a plea of not guilty and a plea of the truth of the
words in justification. The verdict was in favor of the plaintiff and
judgment was rendered against the defendant in the sum of $600. Jo
Davis was the attorney for plaintiff and James A. Clark for the de-
fendant. The pleadings were drawn under the common law system
and are regarded as a curiosity in the way of verbose literature.
Pioneer Settlers
For many years after the admission of Missouri as a state, the terri-
tory ,now embraced in Linn county was given up to the hunter and
trapper. Parties of Indians from the Iowa tribes vied with the hunters
408 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
from the river ooimties. Qame was plentiful, the stresms aboanded in
fish and honey was found in abundance. The timbered regions along
the three principal streams, Locust creek, Parson creek and Yellow
creek, were full of game and the hunters from the river counties es-
teemed thia a hunter's paradise, and this region soon came to be known,
especially to the people of Howard and Chariton counties, as the "Lo-
cust Creek Country." Among the Howard county hunters who visited
the "Locust Creek Country" were James Pendleton and Joseph Newton.
They came in the fall of 1831, and erected their log cabin, filing on
section 14 in township 58 of range 21. Having established their claim
they returned to Howard county for their families and returned the fol-
lowing spring. They were the first white settlers in Linn county.
The family of William Bowyer was the next to come from Howard
county. He and his brother Jesse were among the Howard county
hunters who had visited the "Locust Creek Country" and liked it so
well that they decided to make it their home. That was in January,
1832, five years before the county was organized. The Bowyers made
their first camp on section 2, about one and one-half miles west of Lin-
neus. In 1832 Silas and Peter Fore came to section 29 in township 59
of range 20 and located. Others who settled in the county before its
At a Missoubi Fabh Home
organization were James A. Clark, Col. A. W. Floumoy, Capt. Jere-
miah Phillips, E. T. Dennison, Robert Warren, James Howell, John J.
Flood, Irvin Qgan, Thomas Botts, Willis Parks, Meredith Brown, Mor-
decai Lane, Sampson Wyatt, Wharton R. Barton, John Kemper, Thomas
Barbee, John Minuis, Thomas Russell, Col. John Holland and David
Mullins. The early settlers were in the main Kentuekians with a few
from Virginia and Tennessee. E. T. Dennison was a "Yankee" from
Vermont. Nearly all were Democrats. David Mullins is said to have
bad the distinction at one time of being the only Whig in the county.
PmsT Resident of Linnbus
Col. John Holland, familiarly called "Jack" Holland, was Lin-
neus' first settler. He came from Virginia in the spring of 1834 and
located his claim on the section where Linneus now stands and con-
structed a two-room edifice. In this pioneer edifice, court was after-
wards held, a school was taught and the business of the county was
transacted. The cal)in stood near the center of the public square. Dinah
was the name of a negro slave who came from Vii^nia with Colonel
Holland to cook for the pioneers who built the cabin and cleared the
timber about it. Colonel Holland also brought with him from Virginia
thirty head of sheep and these were the special charge of the black
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 409
woman. Every day Dinah led her flock into the woods to let them browse
and graze. She was the shepherdess of the flock and it was her duty to
shoo away the savage wolves which were then numerous. At night Dinah
penned the sheep in one room of Colonel Holland's cabin, barred the
doors and left a large dog, the match of any wolf that might appear,
guard on the outside. Colonel Holland returned to Virginia for his
family and supplies and Dinah and the big dog were left alone. Occa-
sionally William and Jesse Bowyer would pass the cabin and stop to see
that all was well with Dinah and her charges. Aside from these visits
the black woman had no one to speak with but her four-fo<Jted friends.
At last, after many months of waiting, the rumbling of wagons and the
lowing of cattle heralded the approach of Colonel Holland, bringing
with him his family and slaves and other belongings, and Dinah
solemnly declared that that day was the happiest of her life.
The First Horse Mill
The first mechanical enterprise in Linn county was a horse mill put
up by William and Jesse Bowyer, on the east side of Locust creek. That
mill did most of the work that had been going to Keytesville. It was
erected three years before the organization of the county and was oper-
ated successfully for many years thereafter. Soon after the county was
organized Botts' mill was constructed and began grinding on Parson
creek in township 59, range 22, and Maddox and Rooker erected a mill
on Yellow creek in township 58, range 18. In 1840, Seth Botts and
William Bowyer constructed a water mill on Locust creek three and one-
half miles from Linneus. This mill was not quite completed when Mr.
Bowyer sold his interest to Thomas Botts, a brother of Seth, and the
Botts brothers completed the mill and operated it for many years. There
was not much money passed in those days as the miller was usually paid
a certain per centum of the grain for his labor. The miller generally
obtained his cash by feeding the grain to hogs and selling the hogs to
the buyers.
The First Court House
Early in 1841, the affairs of the county had reached that point where
it was deemed necessary to have a court house in which to transact the
business of the county. Theretofore the various officers kept the books
and records of the county at their respective homes and a person hav-
ing business to transact with the county officers would frequently have
to go to the field or forest and locate the officer and have him return to
the house to look up the records needed.
Accordingly at the February, 1841, term of the county court an
order was made for the erection of the first court house. These are the
specifications:
**The house to be built on the southeast comer of Lot 3, Block 19,
of hewed logs, 36 feet long and 20 feet wide (the house to be 20 feet
wide, not the logs, of course) from out to out; the wall to be fifteen feet
high from the bottom of the sill to the top of the plate, with a wall
partition to be carried up from the bottom to the top of the plate so
as to make the front room twenty-three feet long in the clear ; the logs
all to be of sound oak; the sills to be of white oak or burr oak; the sleep-
ers to be of good white oak or burr oak of sufficient strength, two feet
from center to center ; the joice to be of good sound oak three feet by
ten inches, put in two feet from center to center, to extend through the
walls ; • ♦ ♦ The house to be covered with good oak shingles ; ♦ • •
the end of the house is to front the public square, with one door in the
410 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
center of the end of the house ; one fifteen-light window on each side of
said door, eight by ten inches; one door in the center of the partition
wall; one door and one window in the end of the back room so as to
leave room in the center for a chimney ; the window to be twelve-light of
eight by ten inch glass, the doors and windows to be finished in plain
batten order, with good black-walnut plank ; • • • the whole build-
ing to be chinked with stone suitably tamped ; the lower floor to be laid
down roughly, with square joints; the upper floor rough-tongued and
squared, the plank to be of good sound oak timber well dressed, with an
opening left in the southwest comer for a staircase ; the whole to be done
in a workmanlike manner on or before the first day of August, 1841.''
The building of the temporary court house was let to David Jenkins
and Goolsby Quinn, $400 having been appropriated for that purpose
February 5, 1841, and was superintended on the part of the county by
William Hines. It was not completed within the time specified. In
November Mr. Hines was ordered to have a brick chimney erected in the
building, to contain two four-foot fireplaces below and two two-foot
fireplaces in the upper story. The building finally cost when completed
$516.50 and long stood in Linneus and is well remembered by the old
settlers.
As heretofore mentioned, court was held at the house of Silas Fore,
E. T. Dennison, Barbee's store or at Colonel Holland's. Judge James A.
Clark held his first court at Holland's. The court was held in one room
of the cabin which was warmed by a fireplace with a smoky chimney.
The judge and the attorneys shed tears copiously. The trouble with
the chimney was that the back wall was bad, full of gaps and cracks.
In the midst of the session this wall fell out. Thereupon the court ad-
journed and as the judge left the court room the sheriif came to him
and advised him that a fight was in progress ne^ by and asked for
instructions. **0h! never mind," said the judge, **let the boys enjoy
themselves."
The Second Court House
After 1846 dawned, the growth of Linn county and its official busi-
ness demanded a more adequate court house. The pressure on the county
court became so strong that on March 4, Thomas Barbee was ap-
pointed to prepare and submit to the court a plan for the building of a
court house in Linneus, fixing the dimensions, naming the materials and
estimating the cost of such a structure. On July 1, following, an ap-
propriation of $4,000 was made for the new building. William San-
ders, Hiram E. Hurlbut and Daniel Qrace were appointed to superintend
the construction. After the August election a new county court took
charge and Messrs. Grace and Hurlbut were relieved from acting as
commissioners. Later Mr. Sanders reported plans and specifications
for a new court house and the same were approved and placed on file.
James L Nelson, who had built the court house in Gallatin in Daviess
county, was the contractor for the Linn county court house On Octo-
ber 16, 1848, Augustus W. Floumoy, who had succeeded Mr. Sanders
as superintendent of construction of the new building, reported to the
court that the new court house had been completed according to contract
and recommended that the same be received. The court accepted the
report and paid the balance due to contractor Nelson. The total cost
of the building, including some slight alterations made in the contract,
was $3,894.85, which was less than the contract price.
Two Railroad Divisions
Linn county is notable in that it has within its confines two railroad
divisions, Brookfield, on the Chicago, Burlington and Quiney railroad,
HISTOEY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 411
and Marceline, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. Brook-
field was laid out by Josiah Hunt, land commissioner of Hannibal &
St. Joseph Railroad company, July 20, 1859. Filed and recorded
July 23, 1859. It is half way between Hannibal and St. Joseph and
has long been the metropolis of Linn county. Situated in the midst
of a beautiful and fertile agricultural region and having within its con-
fines hundreds of railway employes, the commercial progress of Brook-
field is assured. The last census showed a population of nearly six
thousand. In the way of public and private utilities it has an electric
light plant, a gas plant, waterworks and sewerage. The commercial club
was organized in 1905 and one of its initial endeavors was to secure the
location of the Brown Shoe Factory. A bonus of $70,000 was raised in
four days and the factory secured.
Marceline was laid out by the Santa Fe Town & Land Company and
the plat was filed for record on January 19, 1888. In 1890 it had a
population of 1,977, in 1900 a population of 2,638, and in 1910 a popula-
tion of 4,000. The town was named in honor of the wife of one of the
directors of the railroad whose Christian name was Marcelina. In addi-
tion to its location in an excellent agricultural region and being a rail-
road division with its hundreds of railway employees, large coal fields
have been developed in close proximity to the city affording emplo3anent
for 300 men. The city has a waterworks system, an electric light plant
and last year the work of paving the streets was begun. Claud C. Dail,
who still resides in Marceline and who is a son of ex-sheriff R. J. Dail,
has the honor of being the first child born in Marceline, the date of his
birth being March 6, 1888.
Other Towns
Browning, located partly in Linn and partly in Sullivan county,
was laid out by Wm. R. Rtobinson and wife, Jno. C. Stone and wife,
Benj. F. Stone and wife, Francis E. Stone and wife, Benj. Mairs, Thomas
H. Arnold and wife, and John Arnold and wife in 1872. The plat was
filed and recorded November 20, 1872. The town draws patronage
from a wide scope of country, has three banks and has always been re-
garded as a '*good trading point.'' The population is 700.
Bucklin, in east Linn, is at the junction of the * ' Burlington ' ' and the
''Santa Fe'* railroads. The town was laid out by James H. and Mary
Jane Watson and the plat filed and recorded January 1, 1855. Of
late years it has been enjoying a steady, substantial growth, has two
banks, good mercantile establishments, and has a population of more
than eight hundred.
The town of Enterprise was laid out by A. D. Christy and wife. The
plat was filed for record May 4, 1859. Situated about fourteen miles
northeast of Linneus in a fijie farming country, it once had several
stores and a population of about one hundred and fifty. With the ad-
vent of rural free delivery, the post office was discontinued, the stores
have been removed or closed and the business has been transferred to
other towns located on railroads.
Grantsville was laid out by E. C. Hutchinson and wife and Wm. M.
Moore and the plat filed February 12, 1866. It once boasted of four
or five stores and shops and about one hundred inhabitants. The trav-
eller now beholds only a small residence to mark the place where once
was a thriving village.
Fountain Grove was laid out by F. R. Green and wife and Thomas
McMuUin and wife. Plat filed and recorded March 20, 1871. This
village is located in the extreme southwestern part of the county on the
412 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Wabash Railroad. It now has one store, a stock of general merchandise
and is a convenient trading point for that locality.
Laclede was laid out by Jacob E. Worlow and wife. The plat waa
filed and recorded August 20, 1853. It is the junction of the old
Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and the Burlington & Southwestern,
both lines now a part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
It has often been remarked that the site of Laclede was the most beauti-
ful in Linn county for a town. The town is lighted with electricity
transmitted from Brookfield. The population is 750.
Meadville was laid out by the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Com-
pany and John Botts. The plat was filed and recorded February 27,
1860. It is seven miles west of Laclede and was formerly known as
Bottsville in honor of one of its founders. It is in the midst of a fine
farming community and has always enjoyed a good trade. The popu-
lation is 600.
St. Catharine was laid out by W. H. Elliott and wife and Caleb S.
Farmer and wife April 28, 1856. In its younger days it had large
flouring and woolen mills and these industries drew patronage from a
large scope of country. With the loss of its mills which were not re-
placed and by reason of the rapid growth of Brookfield, its near neigh-
bor on the west, St. Catharine ceased to enjoy the extensive trade it once
had when it was a prospective railroad division. The population is
200.
Purdin was laid out by Peter Bond and Charles B. Purdin and wife
May 28, 1873. Its first merchant was W. G. Beckett, still the moving
spirit in the large establishment known as the Purdin Mercantile Com-
pany. It is six miles north of Linneus, located on the railroad, and
enjoys an extensive trade. Two banks are located in Purdin. The popu-
lation is 400.
The town of Boomer in the south part of the county, Eversonville on
the western limits. North Salem in northeast Linn, New Boston on the
eastern side and Shelby, sixteen miles northeast of Linneus, are all
thriving inland villages that enjoy good local patronage.
Linneus
Linneus was laid out by Linn county, December 2, 1839, as the
county seat. There seems to have been some irregularity in the location
of the permanent seat of justice for the county. In the act organizing
the county of Linn, John Riley, Ransom Price and Levi Blankenship,
all of Chariton county, were named as ** commissioners to select a seat of
justice for said county." It does not appear that these commissioners
ever undertook the duties of their appointment. On the 5th of Febru-
ary, 1838, the county court appointed David Duncanson and Doctor
Thompson of Livingston county and James Stater of Chariton coun^
such conunissioners. They seem to have made a report at the April
term, 1839, of the circuit court, which report was disapproved by Judge
Bfurch. Later, however, Duncanson and Thompson selected the present
site of Linneus and at the August term of court following Judge Burch
approved the selection. On August 25, 1839, John Holland and wife
conveyed fifty acres of land, the present location of the county seat, to
Ldnn county, **for a permanent seat of justice."
The original name of the county seat was Linnville, but for some
reason was changed to Linneus. John U. Parsons, a man of liberal edu-
cation and a good lawyer, always insisted that it was the intention to
name the town in honor of the great botanist, commonly called Linnteus,
but that the clerk had inadvertently written it Linneus. Another
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 413
account has it that Judge James A. Clark wrote to Senator Linn that
the county and its capital had been named in his honor and asked his
endorsement. Senator Linn is said to have replied that while he did
not wish to dictate in a matter of that character, yet he preferred the
name of Linneus. In an act of the legislature approved November
23, 1857, the name of the town is spelled Linaeus. There had been
some irregularity in the acts of the commissioners appointed to locate the
seat of justice and accordingly in December, 1840, the legislature
passed an act legalizing the location of the county capital, and also
providing ''that aU acts and proceedings wherein either Linneville or
Linnaeus is used or occurs as the name of the seat of justice of said
county shall be as binding and effectual as if the name so used or occur-
ring had at all times been the regular name of the seat of justice of said
county." Linneus was incorporated as a town March 2, 1856, and as
a city March 7, 1863.
County Representatives
The representatives of Linn county in the state legislature from
1838 until the present were as follows :
1838. James A. Clark, Democrat.
1840. Irvin Ogan, Democrat.
1842. David Jenkins, Whig.
1844. E. C. Morelock, Democrat.
1846. Jeremiah Phillips, Democrat.
1848. C. W. Guinn, Democrat.
1850. Jacob Smith, Whig.
1852. Wesley Halliburton, Democrat.
1854. John Botts, Democrat.
1856. Beverly Neece, Democrat.
1858. John F. Gooch, Whig.
1860. E. H. Richardson, Democrat.
1862. A. W. Mullins, Republican.
1864. Dr. John F. Powers, Republican. Died in 1865. R. W.
Holland, Republican, unexpired term.
1866. T. J. Stauber, Republican.
1868. A. W. Mullins, Republican.
1870. Abram W. Myers, Democrat.
1872. S. P. Houston, Republican.
1874. Abner Moyer, Democrat.
1876. George W. Easley, Democrat.
1878. W. H. Patterson, Democrat.
1880. E. D. Harvey, Democrat.
1882. Harry Lander, Democrat.
1884. Hiram Black, Republican.
1886. James A. Arbuthnot, Republican.
1888. Charles W. Trumbo, Democrat.
1890. Thomas D. Evans, Democrat.
1892. Abra C. Pettijohn, Republican.
1894. Abra C. Pettijohn, Republican.
1896. J. H. Perrin, Populist.
1898. Abra C. Pettijohn, Republican.
1900. Clarence M. Kendrick, Democrat.
1902. Edward Barton, Democrat.
1904. Abra C. Pettijohn, Republican.
1906. George W. Martin, Republican.
1908. Benjamin L. White, Democrat.
1910. Walter Brownlee, Democrat.
414 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
State Senators.
The state senators from the districts of which Linn county has been
a part, from the year 1840, are as follows:
1840. Thomas C. Burch, Macon county, Democrat.
1842. Dr. John Wolfscale, Livingston county, Democrat.
1846. Augustus W. Flournoy, Linn county. Democrat.
1850. Augustus W. Flournoy, Linn county, Democrat.
1854. Frederic .Rowland, ]Macon county. Democrat.
1858. Wesley Halliburton, Sullivan county, Democrat.
1862. John McCullogh, Sullivan county, Radical; died in 1863.
1863. I. V. Pratt, unexpired term, Linn county. Radical.
1866. I. V. Pratt, Linn county, Radical.
1870. William A. Shelton, Putnam county, Radical.
1874. Dr. E. F. Perkins, Linn county Democrat.
1878. Andrew J. Mackey, Chariton county, Democrat.
1882. Wesley Halliburton, Sullivan county, Democrat.
1886. Andrew J. Mackey, Chariton county, Democrat.
1890. Edward R. Stephens, Linn county. Democrat.
1894. Alfred N. Seaber, Adair county. Republican.
1898. Emmett B. Fields, Linn county. Democrat.
1902. Emmett B. Fields, Linn county. Democrat.
1906. Emmett B. Fields, Linn county. Democrat.
1910: Benjamin L. White, Linn county. Democrat.
Other County Officers
The judges of the circuit court of Linn county in the order of their
service are Thomas Reynolds, Macon county; James A. Clark, Linn
county; Jacob Smith, Linn county; Rezin A. DeBolt, Qrundy county;
Gavon D. Burgess, Linn county ; William W. Rucker, Chariton county ;
John P. Butler, Sullivan county, and Fred Lamb, Chariton county, pres-
ent incumbent.
The circuit clerks in the order of their service are E. T. Dennison,
John J. Flood, Wharton R. Barton, Jeremiah Phillips, George W. Thomp-
son, Frederick W. Powers, Arthur L. Pratt, Joseph A. Neal, James II.
Black, John N. Wilson and James D. McLeod, present incumbent.
Prior to 1871, the circuit clerk was ex-o£5cio recorder of deeds. After
the oflSce was divided the recorders of deeds in order of service are
Thomas Kille, W. W. Peery, John H. Craig, Thomas H. Flood, Robert
W. Flood, John S. Reger, Robert W. Flood, John L. Bowyer and William
B. McGregor, the present incumbent. Thomas H. Flood died during
the last year of his term and his son, Robert W. Flood, was appointed to
serve the remainder of the term.
The county clerks in the order of their service are E. Kemper, T. T.
Woodruff, William McClanahan, George W. Martin, B. A. Jones, George
W. Adams, John H. Craig, George W. Adams, Ben B. Edwards, Harvey
S. Johnson and Peter F. Walsh, the present incumbent. After serving
a little more than three years, Mr. Edwards died and Mr. Johnson was
appointed by Governor Folk to fill the vacancy. While filling such ap-
pointment, Mr. Johnson was made the candidate of his party and was
elected to succeed himself.
J. W. Minnis was the first sheriff of Linn county. The other sheriffs,
in the order of their service, were Jeremiah Phillips, Wharton R. Barton,
John G. Flournoy, Beverly Neece, Peter Ford, Thomas M. Booker,
Joel H. Wilkerson, James A. Neal, Marion Cave, E. C. Brott, Elias
Chesround, John P. Phillips, Francis M. Boles, W. W. Wade, George K.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 415
Denbo, Edward Barton, E. B. Allen, Edward Barton, R. J. Dail, David
J. Buckley and George W. Anderson, the present incumbent.
Thomas Barbee was the first county treasurer. The other treasurers
in order of service were Jeremiah Phillips, David Prewitt, Edward
Hoyle, John G. Flournoy, Thomas H. Flood, Geo. William Sandusky,
Wm. H. Brownlee, Edward Hoyle, A. W. Mullins, Marion Cave, A. W.
Mullins, H. C. Clarkson, Milton Goldman, John C. Phillips, Thomas H.
Flood, J. M. Cash, James T. Hamilton, Henry C. Prewitt, Robert R.
Smith, C. Edward Kelley, James B. Fleming, James E. Hartzler, James
B. Fleming, John E. Hayes and Mrs. Ruth Hayes, the present incum-
bent. Mr. Hayes died in October, 1910, and Mrs. Hayes was appointed
by Governor Hadley to fill the vacancy. At the ensuing November elec-
tion she was elected, without opposition, her own successor. She is now
the candidate of the Democratic party for a full term of four years.
History op the Courts
The probate court of Linn county was established by special act
of the legislature in 1853. The first judge of probate was Jacob Smith.
At the August term, 1853, of the Linn county court and on the 8th day
of August, 1853, the following order was made and entered of record:
**It is ordered by the court here that the clerk of this court deliver to
the probate judge of Linn county all the original papers now on file in
his office relative to all estates of deceased persons, minors, idiots and per-
sons of unsound mind and all papers relative to any subject or matter
over which the said judge of probate has jurisdiction by the act estab-
lishing said probate court."
The county court at that time was composed of Henry Wilkerson,
presiding judge, and Joseph C. Moore and Daniel Beals, associate judges.
The clerk of the county court was T. T. Woodruff. The first probate court
of Linn county was convened on the 5th day of September, 1853, but
adjourned without transacting any business until the following day,
when a considerable amount of business was disposed of. Judge Smith
served for four years and was succeeded by Judge Thornton T. Easley,
who served four years. The next judge of probate was Judge William
H. Brownlee, who served until about the close of 1864, when he resigned.
Colonel George W. Stephens, who still resides in Linneus at the ripe age
of eighty -six years, was designated by the county court as probate judge
and served about three months, when James F. Jones was appointed by
Governor Fletcher. Judge Jones served until January 1, 1871, and
was followed by Judge Eli Torrance, now of Minneapolis, Minn., who
served four years. He was succeeded by Judge J. D. Shiflflett, who
held the office one term. The next judge of probate was John B. Wilcox,
who served from January 1, 1879, to the date of his death, which occurred
in February, 1887. His brother, Edward Wharton Wilcox, was ap-
pointed by the governor to fill the vacancy. Judge E. W. Wilcox was
elected at the. next general election and again in 1890. He was suc-
ceeded by Robert M. Tunnell, who held the office for eight years. The
present judge of probate is Arthur L. Pratt, who is serving his third
term.
The court of common pleas was established in 1867, and at the end
of four years its jurisdiction was enlarged, giving it ''exclusive and
original jurisdiction of all misdemeanors arising under the laws of this
state, committed in Linn county." The salary of the judge of the court
was $600 per year. This court was abolished January 1, 1881.
By act of the general assembly approved April 5, 1887, it was pro-
vided that two terms of the circuit court should be held at Brookfield.
416 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
This court has the same jurisdiction in all matters as the court at the
county seat.
Assemblies
An annual event in Linn county looked forward to with pleasant
anticipations is the two days' reunion and picnic held at Linneus under
the auspices of the Old Settlers* Association. The first reunion, a one-
day affair, was held September 26, 1901. The first president was Dr.
E. F. Perkins and the first secretary was Fred W. Powers. Since 1903,
two days have been devoted to this reunion. There is always a large at-
tendance of the **old timers" and the most prominent speakers of th^
state have delivered addresses. At the twelfth annual reunion, Jesse
Turner was elected president and J. W. Phillips, secretary.
The Meadville Chautauqua Assembly is a matter of pride to Linn
county and a monument to the enterprise of that city. This Chautauqua
was organized in 1905, and is held annually in a magnificent grove im-
mediately north of Meadville. During the assembly, the grove is a city
of tents, people from all over Linn, and even adjacent counties, availing
themselves of ten days' recreation and instruction. The entertainment
is of a high order and from year to year the most noted platform speakers
of the nation have graced the Chautauqua platform of Meadville.
A New Court House
Linn county has long been in need of a new court house, the old
structure now located in the public square on the site of *'Jack" Hol-
land's cabin merely sufficing for office room for the various officers while
the sessions of the circuit court have been held in the opera house across
the street. On the 1st day of August, 1911, a special election was held,
at which time it was voted to erect a new court house to cost $60,000 and
provided for payment of the same by special levies for three years.
Plans have been submitted and approved and work was begun on the
structure, March 1, 1913.
Men and Events
Among the memorable events of Linn county was the day that Benton
spoke in Linneus. This occurred in 1856 and he addressed the ''citizens"
from the south door of the court house. The stone step on which he stood
is now a part of the present structure. Some of the older citizens are
devising plans to preserve the step and have it suitably inscribed.
A brilliant meteor passed over Linn county the night of December
21, 1876. It burst forth from the southwest and was vividly clear to the
people all over the county for nearly one-half minute. It occurred early
in the evening and the first impression was that the building was on lire
and that the fire had gained such headway that the roof was in imminent
danger of falling in.
September 5, 1876, is remembered as the date of a cyclone in Linn
county that destroyed much property and at least' the loss of one life.
The storm broke in awful fury near the western border of the county
shortly after four o'clock in the afternoon. The residences of William
Harvey, John H. Botts, Nathaniel P. Hopson, Dr. Milton Jones and
others were razed. William Harvey was killed outright and several
others injured.
What is regarded as the severest straight wind that ever visited the
county occurred a while after noon on July 13, 1883. It was of wide
scope. North of Linneus a passenger coach was overturned and several
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 417
passengers injured. Mrs. Peery, mother of Squire T. J. Peery, was a
passenger and lost her life.
Professor Rover, who came from Howard county, taught the first
school in Linn county, in 1837, on 24-58-21. He had from eighteen to
twenty pupils, among whom were James and Elizabeth Beckett, James
and Robert Tisdale, James, Kenneth and Martha Newton, James M.
Prailie, Rebecca Pendleton and the children of David Mullans. R. W.
Foster conducted a school one winter northwest of Professor Rover's
school. Mr. Foster afterward became county surveyor and county agent
for Linn county. Allen Oillespie taught the first school in Linneus.
The Rev. Mr. Wilhite was one of the early preachers. The Rev. John
Baker was another of the early preachers of the county. Both were
Baptists. The Revs. Jesse Goins and A. F. Martin were early ministers
in the county. They were Baptists, but were soon followed by the
Methodist circuit riders.
The first recorded wedding was that of Henry Cherry, son of John
Cherry, and Miss Susan Kemper, daughter of Enoch Kemper, who was
the first county clerk. The wedding occurred in 1838.
The first white male child bom within what is now the present limits
of Linn county was Thomas Benton Bowyer, who still resides in Linneus,
He was bom on Christmas day, 1833.
The circuit clerks of Linn county who have held that office since the
first ^londay in January, 1871, are all living and all reside in Linn
county. This represents a continuous succession of more than forty
years and it is believed that this record is not surpassed by any office
in any county in the state.
Prominent among the citizenry of Linn county, who afterward be-
came prominent in the affairs of the state, is Gavon D. Burgess. He
was born in Mason county, Kentucky, November 5, 1833. He moved
to Linneus in 1865, and in 1874 was elected judge of the circuit court.
He served as circuit judge for eighteen years. In 1892 he was elected
judge of the Supreme Court and re-elected in 1902. He died December
17, 1910, having had nearly a continuous judicial career of thirty-six
years. It is said of him that **He never made a partisan ruling, wrote
a partisan opinion, or rendered a partisan decision." He is buried at
Linneus beside his wife, Cordelia Trimble Burgess, who died in 1908.
Alexander Monroe Dockery, Governor of Missouri from 1901 to
1905, was long a resident of Linn county. It was from Linneus that
he went to attend medical lectures, and after taking his course in medi-
cine he returned to Linn, first locating for the practice of medicine at the
village of North Salem in northeast Linn. He was made a ]\Iaster ^Vlason
in Locust Creek lodge at Linneus.
Eli Torrance, now a prominent la^^yer of Minneapolis, was judge of
probate of Linn county from 1871 to 1875. He has since been National
Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R., and a few years since was promi-
nently mentioned as a candidate for the vice-presidency.
John J. Pershing, now brigadier-general in the United States army,
was born in Linn county about the year 1859. He received his appoint-
ment to West Point at the hands of Congressman Burrows in 1880. It
will be recalled that the negro troops under his command saved the day
at San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American war.
Albert Dexter Nortoni, judge of the St. Louis court of appeals, and
now the Progressive candidate for governor, while not a native of Linn
county, was long a resident, he having read law in Linneus and was
admitted to the bar by Judge Burgess and began the practice in Brook-
field, later removing to New Cambria, in Macon county, the place of his
birth.
Vol. 1—27
418 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The population of Linn county is now more than twenty-five thou-
sand. In the last quarter of a century the increase in population has
been in the towns and villages rather than in the rural districts. The
glowing appeals from the west and southwest have lured the restless
thousands who have passed through the gates of our county and sought
cheaper lands farther on. But our course has been onward and upward.
The hills of the county are dotted with churches and schools, the leading
periodicals and daily papers are found in practically all the homes in
even remote parts of the county, they feel the pulse beats of the nation
and keep step in the march of progress. There are no **dark spots" in
Linn county and it is boasted that the average intelligence is not sur-
passed by any county in any state.
CHAPTER XX
MACON COUNTY
By Ben Eli Guthrie, Macon
Physical Features
Macon county comprises twenty-three congressional townships.
These lie between townships 61 and 55, north, and between ranges 12 and
18. However, there is a half township cut out of the northeast corner of
the county and attached to Knox county, and a township and a half cut
out of the southwest corner of the square and attached to Chariton
county.
The Muscle fork of the Chariton river runs through range 17. The
Grand Chariton river runs through range 16 the whole length. There
is much bottom land in this range, averaging about three miles wide, with
bluifs on either hand. Range 15 is washed by ]\Dddle fork of the Grand
Chariton. The extreme eastern part of this range, as well as range 14,
is drained through the whole county by the East fork of the Chariton.
The Grand Divide between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers lies
in range 14, running a little west of north. From the Divide east the
county is drained by the Middle fork of Salt river. The bottoms on
these streams are large and the watersheds have many large plateaus.
The general lay of the land is sightly, abounding in beautiful landscapes.
Many of the streams were skirted to a great extent by timber which
extended well up into the hills. On the divides and plateaus were large
expanses of prairie. The timber land has a lively soil. The prairie has
less sand and the soil is apparently tougher and somewhat stiff. The
timber soil produces tobacco, and, as a matter of course, corn, wheat and
oats, and, when cleared and properly pastured, runs into blue grass.
The prairie soils produce large crops of native grass, and, when culti-
vated, yield large harvests of tame grasses. There is sufficient clay in
the soil to hold all fertilizers, and, as a consequence, the soil repays care
and nursing as few soils do.
The timber of the county was of various characters of oak, hick-
ory, walnut, Cottonwood, linn, hackberry and sugar tree. The tim-
ber was ample for the early settlers, who built their homes, fenced their
farms and kept themselves warm therewith.
There are some springs in Macon county. The clay retains the water
and cisterns are therefore easily built. Living water is usually found in
large parts of the county from fifteen to twenty-five feet.
The topography of the county would render road building somewhat
diflBcult. But the drainage of the roads is good, and, when once built,
they can be maintained with reasonable outlay.
There are a few historic trails across the county, the most ancient of
which is the Bee Trace, which, coming from the south, struck the
county about the center of range 14 on the Grand Divide and extended
' 419
I
I
420 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
up that watershed, passing through what was then called the Narrows,
near the present site o^ Macon City, then through what was called Moc-
casinville and on north to Blanket Grove, which was in Adair county,
just north of LaPlata.
Another historic road was the Hannibal and St. Joseph stage road,
that struck the county on the east and passed through township 58,
passing by old Ten Mile post office, then on to Bloomington, the old
county seat, thence on to Winchester and across the Chariton river on
to Linneus in Linn county. This was the great highway of traffic east
and west, until the building of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, some
six miles to the south, in 1857-58.
Still another road was the old stage road from Glasgow and Boonville
northward, and, as years passed by, reaching the Iowa line and finally
on to Des Moines. It passed through Bloomington, the county seat,
thence on to LaPlata and to KirksviUe.
Early Settlements
The territory above described was originally a part of that Mother
of Counties, Old Howard, and when her daughter, Randolph, was sep-
arated by legislative hand, Randolph county then extended to the Iowa
line. As a matter of course, the pioneer, with his natural restlessness
and his shyness of the restraints and limitations of civilization, slipped
up these roads and left no record behind him of the date he crossed the
south line of Macon county. Doubtless it was away back in the '208.
But Randolph was not the only county to the south. The present
Monroe county was there and its people would naturally follow up the
Salt river into Macon county. The same is equally true of Ralls and
Marion counties. To the southwest was Chariton county, and its people
would follow the Muscle fork into Macon county.
The southeast corner of the county, now known as Middle Fork town-
ship, was one of the earlier settlements, and at a very early date the
country to the southwest was settled by the Morrows and others who pre-
ceded them. However, Mr. James Loe had made a settlement just
south of Callao and some time thereafter built a mill on the Chariton
river. It was claimed it was a considerable time before the Loe family
saw any human being save the Sioux Indians on their hunting expedi-
tions. Somewhat earlier, possibly, the Blackwell settlement near Moc-
casinville, which was about five miles north of Macon and just west of
the Bee Trace, was started. Mr. Blackwell w^as quite a prominent man
and gave the name to the settlement. Farther to the west and north,
over in range 15, there was a settlement known as the Owenby settle-
ment. This was largely developed in the early '30s. West of the Char-
iton, in township 57, sprang up, somewhat early, the Lingo settlement.
These settlements on the south, like Topsy, just grew to the north.
In range 13 there was a very considerable settlement on Ten Mile
creek and also on Bear creek, coming chiefly from Clarion and Ralls
counties.
The early settlers from necessity followed the usual course and
located in the timber along the streams. There water was near, timber
at hand for their cabins and comfort was found at the least outlay of
labor and money. The wild turkey infested the woods. The deer had
his run through the timber and, not far distant, the prairie chicken had
his habitat. The rifle could be trusted for meat and a few acres of
cleared ground could produce the necessary bread.
The settlers, like in all the counties to the south, were largely
Virginians and Kentuckians. North Carolinians and Tennesseeans were
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 421
also found in goodly numbers, and, not infrequently, these came through
the old Northwest Territory. Natives of that territory likewise were
in the number and New England was not without its representatives.
A very considerable number were slave owners and brought their slaves
with them and acquired land and commenced the opening of large farms.
These were not numerous and were found more largely in the southern
part of the county, though they were spread to the northern part in the
early '50s.
Organization
The general assembly in the winter of 1836-37 organized the county,
extending from the north line of Randolph county to the Iowa line.
The act appointed Joseph Baker and Henry Lassiter as commissioners to
select a county seat. They located it in the Owenby settlement, in what
was then known as Box Ankle and later Bloomington. It was the fifty-
seventh, county to be organized in the state.
The county court convened for the first time on the 1st of May, 1837,
at Joseph Owenby 's. The court consisted of John S. Morrow, Joseph
Owenby and James Cochran. Daniel C. Hubbard was the clerk and
Jefferson Morrow was the sheriff appointed by the governor. They
righted up the old township bounds that had been made by the Randolph
county court, and ordered an election for justices, and, among other
things, appointed a commission to open a road commencing at Jones'
mill on 5liddle fork of Salt river and running by way of Centerville.
Fred Rowland's and Dan Crawley's and intersecting with the Bee Trace
on the grand prairie, meaning, no doubt, to go to Moccasinville and on
to the old county seat. The second meeting of the court was held on
the 3d of July at the house of Dabney C. Garth, which became the
Capitol of the county.
The first term of the circuit court was not held until August 17.
Jiidge Thomas Reynolds, being the judge of the second judicial circuit
of the state, presided. Circuit court had seventeen civil and ten crim-
inal cases on its docket the first year. The criminal cases were one mur-
der case and various misdemeanors, such as marking hogs and gambling.
The first marriage was performed on April 30, 1837, by the Rev.
Wm. Sears, of the Primitive Baptist church, and united in matrimony
Joseph P. Owenby and Nancy Garrett.
The court house was ordered built at the August term of the county
court in 1838 — a wooden concern. But the county court had some
ambition, and, in November, 1839, ordered a brick court house, forty-five
feet s(iuare, two stories in height and at an estimated cost of $30,000.
The house was completed in 1852.
Railroads
As stated above, tne great stage road from Hannibal to St. Joseph
ran through the center of Macon county. So in 1853 when the Hannibal
& St. Joseph Railroad was located it naturally fell within the boundaries
of Macon county and runs through township 57.
The North Missouri Railroad was projected in 1853. Among its
incorporators were some Macon county men.
After the war the Missouri & Mississippi Railroad was projected,
running northeast from Glasgow, Howard county, through Macon, Knox
and Clark counties to the Mississippi river. This road was located
through Macon City. The county made two subscriptions, amounting to
$350,000. The road was not completed and in the panic of 1873 it was
abandoned. Later on the St. Louis, Macon & Omaha air line was pro-
422 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
jected, running from Macon in the direction of Omaha. This road had
some work done on it. Its location touched old Bloomington. Hudson
township subscribed $60,000 and Liberty $40,000. These bonds were
defaulted and finally compromised and settled.
Pioneer Life
The dwellings of pioneers in Macon county were copies of the well-
known pioneer cabin. It is easy to see that this is a matter of necessity.
He brought his axe with him, and maybe, occasionally, had a crosscut
saw, and sometimes some fortunate fellow had an ill-assorted kit of tools,
including an adze or broadaxe, possibly. Poles were at hand, growing
in the timber. These were straight and could be found of desired
lengths, from sixteen to twenty feet.
Doubtless the modern housewife would scare at the idea of a dirt
floor and the immense amount of dirt that would go with it. Well, that
depends somewhat. The dirt of the floor became packed until it often
glistened in a way, and when brush brooms were used, as in some in-
stances, and other brooms when broom corn would grow, the deft art of
the pioneer housewife made those floors look clean and refreshing.
One wonderful thing about one of these cabins was its capacity to take
care of people and house strangers. The lat<;h-string was on the outside
and no questions were asked, but the invitation was : ''Come in, be seated
and welcome.'*
The furniture of these houses was as varied as the tastes and inge-
nuity of the owner and his wife. A pioneer bedstead would be some-
thing interesting were there space to describe it. There is a little insti-
tution that existed in every home in those days that seems almost to have
passed from memory. That is the trundle-bed. If it was not brought
along, it was not hard to construct one. It was placed during the waking
hours under the other bed and consequently occupied but little room and
could be pulled out when occasion required.
The following story is told of the distinguished Methodist Bishop
Marvin : Stopping one day in one of these cabins, he was put to bed at
night with the children in the trundle-bed. In the night the little fellow
beside him wakened him by crying and saying: "Mother, mother, this
man's a scrougin' me.'' The good bishop moved over and is said to
have wondered if he had *'scrouged" anybody else during his life.
But there has been many a fellow *'scrouged" in trundle-beds, as well
as other places, in Macon county. These primitive devices for furniture
gradually but slowly gave place to better.
But the round-pole cabin, while persisting in many places, eventually
gave way to the hewed log house. It subsisted with some persistency,
but gradually gave way, as the sawmill and the carpenter and a little
money came, to the dignified frame buildings. These, setting back in
great lawns, were signs of prosperity and wealth and gradually sprang
up here and there over the county. Occasionally the brick residence
raised its substantial form above the lawns and outbuildings of the thrifty
farmer.
The early ^lacon county citizen was not without his diversions, not-
withstanding the monotony of a new country. He found many direc-
tions where he could give vent to his surplus energies.
The streams abounded largely with fish and the only drawback was
hook and line and net. These were costly, but, when once possessed,
were stored with the jewels of the family. The squirrel inhabited the
forest and was wont to chatter in his season. The rabbit infested the
paths, roads and fields and could be taken by dog or gun. The wild tur-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 423
key made the timber his habitat. The deer roamed the prairies and
bivouacked in the timber and knew every crossing from branch to branch
and from timber point to timber point. The early comers in Macon
county occasionally found the bear, especially in the southeastern corner.
The wolf howled and robbed. When he could find the time, the settler
was found in pursuit of game. It filled his smokehouse and made his
table rival the viands of the nobility. Major William J. Morrow claimed
that for years, from the early frosts of October to the coming of the
spring rains, his smokehouse was never without from two to a half dozen
saddles of venison and from three to a dozen turkeys, to say nothing of
smaller game.
In the spring after the crops were in and before com plowing began,
the farmers, or at least the young people, were liable to go on fishing expe-
ditions to the nearest river and spend at least one night. Again, in the
fall, after the wheat was sown, there was a hunting excursion. Macon-
ites usually went to the Chariton river and those expeditions often lasted
a week or ten days. All the young bloods of the neighborhood got into
the company and there were scenes of social enjoyment, feats of physical
strength, as well as exhibitions of pluck and marksmanship.
An incident will serve to illustrate : Old ** Uncle" James Dysart was a
pious Presbyterian elder and a dominant figure in his neighborhood
and he believed in a hunt on the Chariton in the fall and the neighbors
were much pleased to send their boys with him, because of the somewhat
restraining influence of the old gentleman's presence. The old gentle-
man was given to keeping up his devotions, even in camp. One Sunday
morning, however, the boys slipped out before the old gentleman awoke
and got away, all except his young son, Jimps, who was quite a character
and lived and died in Macon county. Young Jimps did not dare to
breach the parental discipline and stayed in camp. When the hour for
the morning service came, and while right in the midst of his father's
prayer, Jimps heard the hounds a short distance from camp. He knew
exactly where that deer was going to cross the branch and he quietly
took his gun and slipped away while his father was still engaged in his
devotions. In due course ** crack'' went Jimp's rifle and in a reasonable
time he appeared with the saddle of the deer, which he hung on a pole.
The old gentleman came out and said: **Jimpsy, Jimpsy, Jimpsy!"
The boy threw up his head and said: ** Father, no deer's a going to run
over me in the path, if it is a Sunday morning. ' ' The story followed the
boy to his grave and he even laughed and told it himself long after he
had become an ordained Presbyterian minister.
Another fall sport that was somewhat largely followed was shooting
for beef. The neighborhood assembled and shot for the right to choose
the pick of the beef. Dear as powder and ball must have been, it was
not thought illy spent when used in this sport. It not only developed
the rifleman, but it brought food for the family as well, and the winner
was as proud as the victor at some modern state tournament would be.
Qun^TiNG Parties and Log Rollings
The surroundings explain the necessities for much bedding. Con-
sequently quilting parties were active industries of the women. The
quiltings brought together all the dames and daughters of the neighbor-
hood. When the dinner hour came the quilt was hoisted above the
heads, the table was spread and a sumptuous dinner laid thereon and
there was room and to spare for all. So the wagging tongue, the laugh-
ing mouth and the sparkling eyes had their opportunity, whether they
got to the first table or the second or third. And the boys and men
424 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
always made it convenient to be around more or less at is^eal hours at
least. With the sinking sun the quilt would go up among the rafters
for the night, and while fathers and mothers, at least the older ones,
may have wended their way home, the yofunger ones stayed to dance 'til
morning's light.
Cupid plied his art with assiduity in Macon county and the records
show that his dart was as fatal here as elsewhere. Weddings were grand
social events. The friends were invited, or, failing invitation, came,
and where it was at all possible the infare must follow, and the bride-
groom's family must be just as liberal as the bride's. These were fre-
quently followed by the dance and made much for the' social development,
as well as diversion, of the people.
Another phase of the social life is represented by house raisings,
where the men assembled to help a neighbor build a log house. This
may have lasted for one day or more, though generally for one day. It
was hard work, but they were a jovial lot of men and workers, and the
joke went 'round and the news was retailed and the questions of the day
were discussed and the men swapped ideas. All this called for cooking,
and, consequently, the good women of the neighborhood came in to
assist and the men and women all met at the noon, if not at the evening
meal.
The same incidents attended the great com huskings, when the farmer
was behind with his work and his corn had to be shucked. These were
especially attractive to the younger element, and when the negro came in.
as he very frequently did, his rich melody and jingling songs added to
the interest and entertainment of the occasion.
Log rollings were not infrequent. Great trees that could not be split
into rails were cut into proper lengths, because the land had to be cleared.
These logs were rolled into great heaps to be burned. Even tobacco out-
tings and strippings occasionally fell into the same line. Th^ pioneer
did not throw these opportunities away, but gathered them up and car-
ried them home for reflection.
In the early days of Macon county musters were still in vogue. While
intending to keep the militia in training, they served a far better pur-
pose. It was the mixing and mingling of men, the sharpening of wits
and the development of ideas and thought, as well as the dissemination
of news and information. There is always in all new communities and
settlements a ** bully." He is liable to attend any large gathering, ami,
next to the county court days, the muster was his favorite resort. But
it was rather a fatal place for him to attend, because the sense and brawn,
as well as the moral forces of the community, was felt at such places.
The following story may illustrate : One year the Macon muster was
held at Huntsville. Among other Maconites was Basil Powell, a stalwart
man, weighing 200 pounds, without a surplus pound of flesh — a North
Carolinian — and as peaceable a man as a new settlement ever contained.
The ** bully" appeared, looked the field over and chose Mr. Powell for his
victim. He jibed, taunted and teased in a way, but got no respoase or
recognition. Powell simply ignored him. So, taking advantage of some
circumstance, he taunted PowtU in a way that touched the quick and
brought rapid and unexpected action Powell arose from his kne^s.
where he had been fixing his fire, seized the '* bully " by the neck and with
Herculean strength laid him flat on his back and sat on him. Then,
holding his hands with iron grip and without breaking the skin or
inflicting a blow, he simply sat there until the man begged to be released.
One of the early amusements in Macon county was horse racing.
Man likes a horse and likes to see him run. Moreover the horse likes to
run. Man is a plunger and will bet on a horse-race. Macon county was
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 425
not very old when she made a record in the courts which shows that the
passion for horse racing, if not ruling, was at least active in the commu-
nity. The race was run near old Bloomington. They disagreed about
the payment of the stakes and suit was instituted which was finally
carried to the supreme court. (Humphreys v. ]\rcGee, 13 Mo. 436.)
Some nice things cannot be said about horse racing. Nevertheless,
they played their part in the advancement of men and horses.
The Humphrey-McGee race was run in November, 1847. There still
t*emains in Macon county a witness of the race — Isaiah Lewis, who seems
to have reached Bloomington in 1835 before the Qounty was organized.
He locates the track a mile south of Bloomington on a quarter-stretch.
Prairie Fires
A peculiar dread of the settler, especially in the fall of the year, was
the dread of the prairie fire. The old settler expatiates in most vivid
terras upon the grandeur and fearfulness of those wild agencies of
destruction. One of Dr. Willis King '3 most famous oratorical efforts
was his description of a fight against a great prairie fire. There was
nothing equal to it. By the way. Doctor King was a Macon county man,
and the prairie fire he described a ^lacon county incident of pioneer life.
Peace and Order
Taking the traditions that come down to us, as well as the records,
in the early days of Macon county peace and order seemed to prevail
to a remarkable degree. The above is true up to the war. That period
from 1861 to 1870, however, was a period of revolution. All her rail-
road towns were garrisoned. Negroes rushed into large garrisons, in-
cluding the county seat. Her citizens became greatly divided on the
questions at stake and were losing property by the strong arm of military
rule, as well as the hand of the guerrilla and the robber. Strife was
engendered and turbulence reigned on every hand. Everything was
confusion and chaos and the old saying^ inter anna, silent leges, was
fully illustrated and exemplified. Not only the regular forces, but inde-
pendent commanders, responsible to nobody, made the highways dan-
gerous and the night hideous. Death, as a matter of course, followed,
and famine and vendetta raised their reeking hands.
It must be said, however, to the credit of the county and its inhab-
itants, that, considering the circumstances, when we look at it at this
distance, the damage and destruction was much less than it might have
been. With the coming of peace, civil authority regained its power
and the people settled down face to face with one another and began to
take in the situation and slowly to accommodate themselves to the basis
of peace and quiet and good order. There were here and there occa-
sional outbreaks with telling consequences.
Eeligion
In no small sense, possibly, the above conditions resulted from the
deep religious sense that animated the early inhabitants of the county.
They were, as stated, largely from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.
They were only fifty years from the great Revival of 1800, and many of
them brought with them the impulses received in that wonderful move-
ment, and, when they found themselves in the wilderness of Missouri,
away from every religious movement, they were a little lonesome and felt
the loss of a great privilege. The consequence was that the missionary
426 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
was looked for — longed for — and hailed with welcome when .he came and
his meetings were attended by throngs. The Baptists of various kinds,
the Methodists and the Presbj^erians got an early start in Macon county,
as well as the Disciples (so-called Campbellites), and all stayed with us
and have given us moral power and religious tone and have been a chief
factor in making us what we are.
Education
Macon county was some time getting its public school system under
way. But it should not be inferred that it was indifferent to education.
That by no means followed. The private subscription school was soon
in vogue in many neighborhoods. The teacher was abroad and stirred
up sentiment in favor of education. It may be well here to correct a not
uncommon idea in regard to the pioneer, and especially the Missouri pio-
neer. He gets credit for being a dullard and an ignoramus. He is
entitled to no such credit. He may have been dull, and often was; he
may have been more or less ignorant, and sometimes was. But he was
a man with nerve. He was a man whose contact with the world had
made him dissatisfied with his own condition and that dissatisfaction had
sent him into the wilderness to better himsfelf and he knew that dullness
and ignorance were not going to stay in that wilderness simply because
he was there. He understood that his children would meet the children
of learning and intelligence and he made this venture to get a vantage
ground by which he might prepare his offspring to meet the coming wave
of culture and refinement. Consequently, the intellectual, as well as the
religious, culture of his children lay next to his heart and inspired him
to sacrifice. The pioneer was a man of enterprise He had the sagacity
to see visions and the nerve to attempt their realization.
At present there are 139 school districts in Macon county.
Macon county years ago adopted by popular vote the system of
superintendents in lieu of the old commissioners when that was a matter
of option, and the common schools of the county are fulfilling to as large
a measure as in any county in the state the object of their creation.
There were many private teachers in different parts of I^Iacon county
to supplement the public schools. Religious denominations lent their
aid in this direction, and we find Bloomington Academy, under the
patronage of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, in a very thriving
condition and disseminating knowledge at the county seat and thus
over the whole county.
In 1853 McGee College was opened by the Cumberland Presbyterians
at College Mound in the county, and the early settlers, such as the Dy-
sarts, McCormicks, Sharps, Caldwells, Pattons, and many others, were
throwing their influence to build it up, so that in 1861 when the long roll
of war was sounded through the land it had an attendance of some 250
students, and its graduating class for the year numbered ten or more.
Several of its students have spent lives of usefulness in Macon and ad-
joining counties, among whom may be mentioned Maj. A. W. Mullins,
the distinguished attorney of Linn county, ^laj. B. R. Dysart of Macon
county, no less distinguished as a lawyer, Capt. B. F. Stone of Macon
county and the Rev. H. R. Crockett and many others. That institution
was stopped by the exigencies of the war, but opened again in 1865.
In 1867 there was established in Macon under the patronage of the
Methodist Episcopal church an institution known as Johnson College.
It ran for several years and was well managed and did good work. But
the necessities of the early 70s following the great panic put it out of
commission and it was never reopened.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 427
In the early '80s the Reverend Ethelbert Talbot, rector of St. James
Episcopal church in Macon, opened a school which he called St. James
Academy. Mr. Talbot was well known for his energy, diplomacy and
ability. The school was opened in a modest way and grew possibly
beyond his expectations. Later on the school was conducted by Mr.
Davis, a successor of Mr. Talbot as rector, and he did good work. In
about 1890 Col. Frederick William Blees became the principal of the
school and developed with considerable rapidity the military feature
which had been introduced by some of his predecessors. He continued
the school until about 1895. About that time Colonel Blees came into
a fortune and in 1897 built, just south of the city of Macon, in a most
beautiful location, what became known as Blees Militarv Academv,
said to be the best designed military school building in the country.
The high schools of ^lacon county are quite numerous and all of
them are in articulation with the State University and the great private
and denominational colleges of the state.
]\Iedical Profession
Like all new counties, and especially lying as Macon county did, the
early settlers had more or less sickness — chills and fevers and malaria
being the dominant ailments. The enterprising physician followed in the
wake of the advancing immigration. To every settlement soon came the
physician. As far as tradition goes, the profession was represented by
men of sterling worth, who helped to give tone and worth to the com-
munity. As a sample may be mentioned Dr. J. B. Winn, who in the
early '30s settled in the Morrow neighborhood and rode far and wide
wherever fever burned and disease raged. The touch of his hand, like
the ^ound of his voice, was more or less inspiring to the racked patient.
He was a strong believer in Christianity and a devoted member of the
Methodist church. He stood at the head of every movement for the ad-
vancement of morality and religion.
There lives to-day in the county Dr. Josiah Gates, at LaPlata,
who is far into the 80 *s and has ministered to the aches and pains of
humanity all over the north half of the county since his early manhood.
It is impossible to name all the worthy individual members of the
profession. We trespass to mention an old English doctor who came
to Macon county in the early days, bringing with him his diploma from
Oxford and Edinburgh and fitting himself with his elegance, learning
and gentility into the crudities and rudenesses of frontie!r life, traveled
over the eastern half of the county and was called in almost every con-
sultation. The older people remaining to-day, who were children in
Barron's time, continue to speak of him with great respect and dwell
upon his peculiarities and his efficiency.
Dr. William I. Lowry, son of old Doctor Lowry of Fayette, was a
doctor by nature and practiced widely in the southwestern part of the
county before and during the war. Doctor Lowry was the father of
Professor Thomas J. Lowry, who for years taught in the University of
Missouri.
Another physician who was partly contemporaneous with Doctor
Lowry in southern Macon county — a surgeon of the Fifth Regiment,
Missouri Infantry, C. S. A., was Dr. Benjamin Dysart, who, after
the war, settled in Paris, Mo., where he had an extensive practice and
died a few years ago.
Dr. T. F. Owen, who came to the country from Kentucky during
the building of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, got his start fol-
428 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
lowing the camps of the laborers on the railroads, and, later, settling
at Callao, practiced extensively and died some years ago.
Dr. J. F. Campbell settled in the southwestern part of the county
during the war and built up a large practice when he moved to Callao
and practiced extensively up and down the Chariton river. He was a
public spirited man and took a deep interest in public affairs and repre-
sented the county in the legislature.
Dr. T. F. Jackson, son of Lieutenant-Governor Hancock Jackson,
was for years a prominent figure in the medical profession of the county.
At the time of the Porter raids through the northeastern portion of Mis-
souri, the doctor, by tradition at least, is credited with visits made dur-
ing the shades of night to the secret retreats of Porter's sick and
wounded.
Macon county has had for years a County Medical Association, which
is connected with the state organizations and its members to-day are
devoted to their profession and are studying its interests.
Bench and Bab
Macon county when organized was attached to the second judicial
circuit, of which Judge Thomas Reynolds was the presiding judge. Judge
Reynolds became governor in the election of 1840, and seems to have
been succeeded for a short term by Judge James Birch, and then fol-
lowed by James Clark and Judge Leland. These were all gentlemen of
fine ability. They were followed by Judge William A. Hall of Ran-
dolph county, who was a learned lawyer and a just judge. He had some
peculiarities, but waB a great thinker and understood his profession.
He is said to have been on fine terms with the younger members of the
bar.
Judge Hall was succeeded by Judge George H. Burckhartt of Hunts-
ville, a great character and native of Randolph county. He was proud
of the fact that he had never been outside of the great state of Missouri. •
Then followed Judge John W. Henry, who served from 1872 to No-
vember, 1876. He saw justice and was quite prompt to take the
right. Quick in his mental and physical action, he reached an opinion
and was somewhat firm in it, but was always ready to reverse himself,
which he could do with the greatest grace when convinced he was
wrong. In 1877 he became judge of the supreme court. In November,
1876, he was succeeded by Judge Andrew Ellison of Adair county, who
succeeded to the vacancy and continued on the bench until 1898. He
was another of nature's noblemen. Not an over-bookish man, but a
man who knew the meaning and purport of what he read and with a
somewhat remarkable tenacity of memory as to the principles of the
law and their application to the jurisprudence of Missouri, he made a
most acceptable judge and could have' remained on the bench until his
death had he so desired. But he went into private practice, and died
a few years thereafter.
In 1899, Judge Nat ^1. Shelton of Schuyler county succeeded to the
bench and has continued ever since. This last fact speaks more for
Judge Shelton than could a page of words. Sometimes after his elec-
tion the judge moved to Macon, which is now his home. The bar of
Macon county has always been one of ability and devotion.
An incident may serve to illustrate pioneer life and jurisprudence:
There lived at Bloomington, from the earliest period, one Absalom Lewis,
commonly called Uncle Ab. When he was getting along towards his
ninetieth birthday the writer was passing his house one day and saw
him at the gate in the sunshine of a beautiful fall day. Stopping to
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 429
say ** howdy,*' the old gentleman would not be satisfied unless I stayed
for dinner and said I could put up my horse and he would show me
where the corn was. While doing so, he told me that he was for eleven
years a justice of the peace at Old Bloomington and had had but two
cases appealed and that both were afBrraed. Then he said that Abner
Gilstrap and Wesley Halliburton had a case before him one day *'and
they were running along all right, when Abner, he sprung a pint, and
they argued her up and they argued her down, and I gave the pint to
Abner. And then/' he said, *'they ran along and directly Wesley,
he sprung a pint, and they argued her* up and they argued her down, and
I gave the pint to Wesley. Then they ran on again and directly Abner,
he sprung another pint, and they argued her up and they argued her
down, and I gave the pint to Wesley, and Abner — he got as mad as hell.
I told him if he did not sit down I would adjourn court, take off my
coat and go into the yard and whip him. And," he said, **they quieted
down and the case went on.'* It may be mentioned that the squire
prided himself on his fighting ability as much as on his legal.
Among the young men who were circuit attorneys and afterwards
became distinguished at the bar was John F. Williams. He was circuit
attorney in 1858, and represented the state in connection with Attorney-
General Gardenhire in the celebrated case of the State against Hayes.
The case was quite famous in its day. Colonel Williams became a
colonel of militia during the war. After the war he settled in Macon
and practiced law in connection w^th Judge John W. Henry. After
Judge Henry 's election to the bench. Colonel Williams continued to be a
most successful lawyer. He was an advocate and made a most telling
speech to a jury, free from cant and always managed to find some point
of merit in his case and present it with effect and for all there was in it.
Colonel Williams was also a good stump orator.
During Colonel Crittenden's administration, Colonel Williams was
superintendent of insurance. He was a friendly man and especially
so with the younger members of the bar, and the writer, as well as
others, is under many obligations to him.
Space forbids the mention of many good and great men w^ho have
practiced at the Macon bar, among whom is the late John H. Overall,
an able man and lawyer.
The present bar is of ability. The Honorable Benjamin R. Dysart,
who was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1875, is at pres-
ent the nestor and dean of the Macon bar. The writer may be permitted
to say that Major Dysart is a good pleader, a close thinker and a fine
j\idge of the law, and on a legal point makes a most plausible and
convincing argument. For a line Italian hand in the management of
a case, and especially in giving plausibility to its weak points, he is
a full match for his* old schoolmate, the Honorable A. W. ^Mullins of
Linn county. Mr. Dysart 's age and eminence will justify this personal
mention of the living while the rest of the bar are left unnamed.
Politics and Interstate War
I^Iacon county from the first seems to have been largely Democratic,
though there was a large intelligent and influential minority of Whigs
who managed to influence in no small degree the civic destiny of the
county. Its location put it on the route of the pilgrimages of the great
political orators in campaign years, and tradition is rife with the great
speeches made by the great men of the day, such as Claiborne F. Jackson,
James J. Lindsey, James Clark, Thomas L. Anderson, James S. Rollins,
James S. Green, Thomas Hart Benton and many others. Among the
430 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
local politicians Fred Rowland soon pushed to the front and became
representative. William S. Fox likewise became an active politician
and legislator. Colonel Abner Lee Qilstrap also was a prominent poli-
tician and member of the convention of 1865. Wesley H. Halliburton
was also quite a prominent man and became a member of the state
senate.
The Benton split in the Democratic party created a good deal of
excitement in the county, and it is believed the anti-Bentonites domi-
nated. The great questions of slavery and states rights had their advo-
cates and opponents and at times discussion grew warm, and the Jack-
son resolutions of 1849 became quite a subject of animated debate among
all parties.
In 1860 the Breckenridge men ran for representative, Dr. James
Weatherford of Bloomington — a good man and States Rights Democrat.
The Douglas men ran Fred Rowland, a dignified thoughtful Demo-
crat with little culture, blessed with good common sense, but a slow
speaker. The Bell and Everett party were represented in the race
by George Palmer of Macon, a young lawyer with a good gift of speech,
quick to catch a point and apt to dodge a thrust. In that campaign
his ofl5ce was to advocate * * The Constitution, the Union and the Enforce-
ment of the Laws,'' but he was in fact principally engaged in goring
his two opponents. He seemingly aimed to pet Doctor Weatherford and
to go after Uncle Fred, because he was himself almost a secessionist and
had the idea that his mission was to beat the Douglas men in the
county. The issues were discussed wuth great earnestness, not to say
warmth, and union and disunion, secession and coercion came in for
heated declamation. The consequence was that Weatherford was elected
and Douglas and Bell lost in the conflict in Macon county. The Whig
and Democratic issue went out of the discussion and the Whigs, a great
per cent, of whom were States Rights men of the strictest sect, were
acting with the Breckenridge Democrats. Lincoln received no votes
in Macon county it is said.
The legislature of 1860-61 called a state convention to take into
consideration the ** Federal Relations." The election of delegates to
that convention engendered much strife.
There is a little incident that occurred in the early spring of 1861,
which seems to have escaped notice in these late years. Macon City
was a new railroad town and was enjoying her youthful notoriety.
Early in April notice went out that there would be speaking on the
political issues of the day by Col. Thomas L. Anderson of Palmyra,
Mo., an ex-congressman, and a secessionist flag would be raised. Thie
city made considerable preparation for the event. The crowd came,
the train from the east brought Colonel Anderson, and all the political
debaters of the surrounding country were present. The flag went up
in the afternoon in front of the Harris house, and the crowd cheered,
and, as its folds fluttered to the breeze, Colonel Anderson was intro-
duced and made one of his telling and captivating speeches. He was
followed by Wesley Halliburton in his most bitter and sarcastic vein,
in which he dealt out facts that were damning to the East and the
Republican party.
Soon after the pole raising at ^lacon, Bloomington announced a
speech from the Honorable James S. Green, then a senator from Mis-
souri. His fame and reputation had filled the nation by reason of his
demolition of the Squatter Sovereignty doctrine of Douglas. The day
came and a large crowd. Green seemed to have been in good condition,
and spoke it is believed in his ordinary way, with possibly an increased
enthusiasm by reason of the intense excitement that saturated the mind
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 431
and thought of the community. He spoke his words as if they were
hot and spit them from him as if to get rid of them. The audience was
at rapt attention when a messenger came in and a telegram was passed
to tfie speaker. He perused it and then read it to the crowd. It an-
nounced the taking of Camp Jackson by General Lyon. The crowd
was still, as if trying to get hold of something, but the response came
a little later, as it were, in a deep unconscious groan. Then Green pro-
ceeded, and in his way scored the act, denounced the actors and made
his audience feel that the day of liberty had passed in Missouri. How-
ever, there was a seriousness and comprehension of the situation that
sent the audience home deeply impressed with the sterner facts at hand.
The theories had become facts and discussion had vanished before reali-
ties. This was followed in a day or two by a great meeting in Macon,
which was simply a spontaneous running together from all comers of
the county of men, anxious to know and learn and see and determine
when and what was to be done. It is said that this crowd in Macon
was largely armed with old muskets, shot guns and rifles and the temper
of the crowd was ^anything but assuring for peace.
During all the preceding exciting events several organizations of
men were exercising in the different neighborhoods, and musters and
drills were frequent, but informal and ineffective. Few real organiza-
tions existed. Among them were the Silver Greys of Macon City, under
Captain Halleck, and the Macon Rangers, under Capt. William D.
Marmaduke. These companies had some more or less organization and
some systematic drill, especially the Halleck company. The preceding
incidents attracted the Federal attention and early in June a couple of
regiments under General Hurlbut reached Macon from the East. This
created consternation and drove out a good many people. About the
same time the proclamation of Governor Jackson, calling for fifty
thousand volunteers at Jefferson City, sent quite a number of the Hal-
leck and Marmaduke companies on their way, and they joined Gen.
John B. Clark, brigadier-general of the third division, at Jefferson
City and made a part of the first regiment of that division. This regi-
ment played an important part in the battle of Wilson creek on August
10th. There may be others of that company remaining, but the only one
recurring to memory now is Maj. B. R. Dysart of Macon, who was
severely wounded in the fight and fell in front of where General Lyon
was killed.
About August 20th, there rendezvoused at Marshall three companies
of Capt. James Scovern, Capt. Theodore Sanders and Capt. Ben Eli
Guthrie, all of Macon county. This constituted the Bevier Battalion
of the Third Division and operated with that division during the exist-
ance of the Missouri State Guard. This, with the contingent of about
one thousand men under Col. Ed Price, joined General Price's ad-
vance at Nevada and took part in the battle of Dry Wood and there-
after marched on to Lexington. There, great numbers of other Macon
county people joined the various organizations to which they belonged,
and the Bevier Battalion was increased to third regiments by the com-
panies of Gross, GrifiBn and Smith and some three other companies, so
that it may be safely said that in Price's army there was at that time
in the neighborhood of twelve hundred Macon county people. These
followed the fortunes of Price and from time to time additional recruits
straggled in.
The Federal army doubtless had as many as two thousand Macon
county men during the war in its various commands and militia. Some
of them did valiant service, among whom may be mentioned Wm. T.
Forbes, C. R. Haverly, John M. London and Ben F. Stone. These were
432 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
all respected citizens. Garrisons were continually maintained at Macon
City. Among the commanders at different times were Forbes, Ebber-
man, Gilstrap and Williams, who were disposed, as much as may be, to
make a hard situation as easy as possible. The tradition among the
people afterwards was that General Merrill was quite severe and his
nemory is not reverenced highly in the county. Col. Odon Guitar
commanded for a while and General Fisk also.
There was a Federal prison maintained at Macon \n which from
time to time many of the old citizens of the county found a temporary
abode. On the 25th of September, 1862, ten Confederate prisoners, tried
by court-martial, were shot. Among the condemned was a boy who
vnrote the general the following note, which is preserved in the form in
which it was sent :
j<eneral for ^od sake spare my life for i am a boy i was perswa<led to do what
i have done and forse i will go in service and fight for you and stay with you
douring the war i wood been fighting for the union if it had bin for others.
J. A. Wysong.
There is a well authenticated report of a Confederate officer being
hung in Macon in the fall of 1864, on the ground of intercepting the
United States mails. The name has passed from the records.
The garrisons were not confined to Macon City. It is estimated at
one time there were as many as seven thousand soldiers in the county,
but this was only for a short time. But garrisons were kept along the
Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and especially at the Chariton bridge,
where a block house was built in 1863 for the protection of the bridge,
which still remains and is now used for a better purpose, to-wit, a stable.
There was one stirring little campaign in ^lacon county in '64 when
Colonel Poindexter made his raid through the country and took Kirks-
ville. In his retreat southward he came into Macon county and crossed
to the west of the Chariton, where he met a detachment which was trying
to cut off his retreat, and a running fight occurred along the west bluffs
of the Chariton, on what is known as Painter's creek, in which there
was some maneuvering and a good deal of shooting and maybe one or
two deaths. Some of his command were Macon county people.
Towns and VmLACEs
Old Centerville seems to have been the first trading point in the
county. It was situated in the southeast corner of the county, near
the lines of the three counties — Shelby, ^lonroe and Randolph, and was
in its day the center of considerable influence. Its name for years has
been Woodville. It is still a trading post, having a blacksmith shop,
store and postoffice.
About ten miles west of old Centerville, in years agone, stood the
village of McClainesville, which the necessities of the pioneer life had
called into existence and the rich prairies that surrounded it made it
a point of much prominence and importance at one time.
Some six miles farther west, in about 1850, sprang up the little ham-
let of Floretta. This was located on the main stage road from Huntsville
to Bloomington. For many years large quantities of tobacco was bought
and shipped.
In 1852 McQee College was located at College Mound, some two
miles almost due west of Floretta. There were several stores, blacksmith
shop, carpenter shop, boot and shoe shop, mill, tobacco factory and quite
a number of other things that went to make a thriving little village
around the college and overshadowed Floretta, which gradually de-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 433
clined. College Mound held its own during the war fairly well, and is
still a flourishing town.
About two miles north of the old town of MeClainesville the Wabash
Railroad established a station, Excello, some time in the '80s. This
became quite a village by reason of the mining of coal in the immediate
vicinity.
In the early '90s the village of Ardmore, lying about half way be-
tween Excello and College Mound, was laid out by the Kansas & Texas
Coal Company, who opened tlieir main store there in connection with
several mines. It is a mining camp, having the usual luck of such
villages.
In Morrow township on the southwest there has existed since the
70s a trading post called Kaaeyville, near the Randolph county line,
where they have stores and the usual shops.
Some five miles north of Kaseyville is the postoffice of Barryville,
which is a store where there is a fair amount of trading.
With the building of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, a sta-
tion was established in Round Grove township on the east side of the
county, which still continues to be a thriving trading point for a large
and wealthy community. In the '90s the railroad company changed the
name to Anabel.
The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad placed a station five miles west
of Macon and about four miles south of old Bloomington and called it
Bevier. This was in 1858. It soon became a hamlet of some importance.
In 1865 coal was discovered in great quantities. The original mines
have been worked out, other mines have been opened and traffic goes
on. Mining camps grew up at mine **61." Keota and other shafts
were sunk and a railroad was built some ten or twelve years ago from.
Bevier passing by these several shafts and villages, including Ardmore
with its surrounding shafts and camps, and running into Randolph
county. Bevier, today, is a good strong town of two thousand people,
having many nice residences, hotels, busine3S houses, churches and all
the general features of an organized community.
In 1858, sometime in the late summer, the Hannibal & St. Joseph
Railroad reached Callao, where its trains stopped for a while until its
tracks could span the botton of the Chariton and reach the western
bluffs. From that day to this, Callao has grown. It has a population
of intelligent, refined and enterprising people and does business for a
great country to the north and south, its trade extending into Randolph
county.
The next stop in the county for the railroad was New Cambria, in
range 17. The town for years has had an active, thriving trade, serving
the great territory far into Chariton county to the south and extending
even farther to the north, until its northern trade was somewhat clipped •
by the building of the Santa Fe Railroad.
In the early '70s coal was discovered along near the western line of
the county and a station was located and named Lingo. Shafts were
sunk and a large quantity of coal mined and shipped. The village grew
around it and continues, notwithstanding the coal has been largely
exhausted. The community is largely Bohemian — a cheerful and happy
people.
On the line of the old Hannibal and St. Joseph stage road was a
postoffice from the earliest times, called Ten Mile postoffice, in township
58, and, the country around being rich, it was not long until it became
the nucleus for a village and was pushing ahead with vigor when the
railroad came in 1857. It still remained a postoffice, but it was a *'star
router."
Vol. 1—28
434 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST HHSSOURI
Some ten miles north and west of Ten Mile postofSce, in the northern
part of the county, out on the great prairie in township 59, and iiear
the Salt river, was a little village called Vienna in the olden time, but
later dubbed Economy. When the railroad came and, later, the war,
its brightness began to tarnish, but, still, by reason of the wealth of the
community around it, it is a considerable trade center.
When the Wabash Railroad pushed north from Alacon in 1866, it
established & station almost west of Vienna and called it Atlanta. From
that day on Atlanta was a growing town. It is a good place to live in
and will grow as the country developea. It has in this good year of
1912 established a local fair, and its first meeting in September woald
be a credit to any rural community.
In the latter part of the '70s there sprang up a store out on the
prairie in range 15. This was called Barnesville. It was simply a
necessity of a growing, thriving people, and it is still there. The start
of this little town showed the growth of population and the spirit of
business in the comiminity. It is almost ten miles west of Atlanta,
Some six mites farther west there sprang up in the '90s on the eastern
bluffs of the Chariton, a postoiBce called Cash, There is a store there and
its existence means that the Chariton bottom had begun to be drained
and the farming commuDJty needed a local store.
Coal Mine in Macon Countv
There had in the meantime grown up a store and embryonic village
called Dodd. It lay on the north side of the prairie, on the south of
which old Winchester had formerly existed.
In the ante-bellum days in township 60, range 16, there grew np a
trading post called Mercyville, situated at the foot of the bluff where
Sand creelt wound its way toward the Chariton river, and bespoke the
fact that the second bottom of the Chariton in that country was being
inhabited and cultivated. The old town is still on the map, although it
has been absorbed in a measure by its younger neighbor — Elmer.
This brings us to another old town. At the edge of the timber on the
Richland prairie in the early days was a store and postoffice and a
little community called Newberg. This must have been in existence
in the '408, In fact, it seems to have been quite an early town of some
importance. It was beautifully located and it was impossible to get np
the divide in range 15 without going across this prairie and striking the
timber to the west.
The principal rival of old Newberg was LaPlata, some eight miles
to the east on the Wabash, although it existed as a town in the early
'50s. But the coming of the Wabash in '67 gave it new life and the
timber was hauled past old Newberg to LaPlnta, and the stock came
from all directions to the pens of LaPlata, The fact is that its active
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 435
merchants, careful traders, daring shippers and the general enterprise
and intelligence of its citizens make LaPlata tfie second town in the
county. It has some two thousand inhabitants. The town is neat and
clean. The residences are nice, tasty and comfortable. It has a fine
school building and some six or eight churches. The Santa Fe and
Wabash railroads maintain good stations and large yards. It made
money off the timber trade and the shipping trade — ^horses, cattle and
hogs — ^and is the mart for the farmers who own the highly productive
fields around. It draws largely from the southern part of Adair county
and has a large territory to the northwest and northeast. For its size
LaPlata can be safely said to be one of the most enterprising and thrive
ing little cities of the fourth class in the state.
In 1865 the Missouri & Mississippi Bailroad was laid out from Macon
City to Alexandria, Missouri. In Johnson township, in the northeast
corner of the county, a town was laid out and called Sue City. As the
road was slow in coming, the town did not wait, but moved ahead. The
country around is broad prairie land with good farms and nice farm
houses.
From 1858 to 1877 the Hannibal & St. Joseph and the North Missouri
were the only railroads in the county. In the latter year the Santa Fe
was projected, entering the county from Linn county just north of
Bucklin, and running northeast for twenty-six miles, and passing into
Adair county just northeast of LaPlata. The road was built in one
year from Kansas City to Chicago, and the first train went over it on the
1st of January, 1888. It passed through a country that was sparsely
inhabited, on west of the Chariton, and, as a matter of course, had to
have stations, and that made towns. Southwest from LaPlata the first
station is Lacrosse, where there has grown up an ordinary village, with
stores and postoffice and doctor.
The next station to the west is Elmer, which was built just three-
quarters of a mile southwest of old Mercyville, the object being, no
doubt, to wipe the old town off the map and build a new one. It is
certain they built a new one, and a nice town it is, with its bank, several
stores, churches and schoolhouse, two or three timber factories, charcoal
pits, etc. It is situated on the edge of the Chariton bottom and has a
large country trade in all directions.
The next towTi to the west on the Santa Fe is Ethel. It is a good
town. It has a large territory to the northwest and immediately to the
south and draws from the western bottoms of the Chariton — a most
productive agricultural district. In fact, the pressing in of the popula-
tion on the Chariton and its tributaries had the effect to bring under
cultivation these great bottoms, which in that part of the country are
large as well as productive. Ethel is a good shipping point for live-stock
and it has the distinction of being the largest turkey shipping point
in the state, the southwest of Adair, the southeast of Sullivan and the
northeast of Linn being tributary to it for shipping purposes. It has
quite a number of thriving stores, banks, poultry houses and school-
house, churches and all the things that make a live rural village.
The next point to the west is simply a stopping point called Hart.
There is a general store for the convenience of the community, which
thickened up with the coming of the Santa Fe, and the store is doing
well.
In the early '80s there arose on the line between townships 59 and
60, about six miles north of Ethel, a town called Goldsberry. The move-
ment of the population to the northwest and the opening of farms made
a trading point a necessity. A general store, drug store, physician,
blacksmith shop and such things needed by a farming community fol-
436 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
lowed. It still remains about the same and holds its own, notwithstand-
ing the establishment of Ethel and Elmer.
Further up in the township, some six or eight miles to the northwest,
had sprung up the postofiQce of TuUvania, which meant there was a store
and the people demanded postal facilities by reason of that growth. It
still maintains the store without being specially more than a /srossroads
with blacksmith shop, etc.
But long prior to these two villages, there had existed up in the town-
ship right on the west banks of Muscle fork, in 1848, a town called New
Boston, and in its day it was something of a town. It had as many as
two general stores, blacksmith shop and hotel. It continued to be a
center until after the war, when its condition and unfortunate location
in the bottom served to wipe it off the map, and in 1872 a town with the
same name was started on the west bluff of the creek, which is in Linn
county, and remains as a considerable center today. Doubtless its re-
moval contributed quite largely to the building of Goldsberry and TuU-
vania, to say nothing of the village of Walnut to the northeast, situated
on Walnut creek, which has grown to be quite a little center.
Among the early towns in the county was the village of Old Win-
chester, about half way between Old Bloomington and the Chariton river
on the old stage road. It had some prominence as a tobacco center. It
had a store and there was a splendid timber and prairie country, which
would be attractive to early settlers, and it was close to the water and
this made it still more inviting. It was some five miles north of the
present town of Callao, and with the coming of the railroad and the
ceasing of the stage its struggles for life began. The fates were against
it, for the population to the north in the meantime began to have centers,
such as Bamesville and Mercyville, to attract them, as well as the rail-
road towns of the south.
Some six miles to the east of Old Bloomington was the Richardson
home, situated at the crossing of the stage road and the old Bee Trace.
It had received the name of Moccasinville, tradition says, because at
one time the men were compelled to wear moccasins for want of shoes.
In 1837, when the commission to name the county seat was appointed,
these three towns — ^Winchester, Moccasinville and Box Ankle — were rival
claimants. Possibly Box Ankle was the least known of these claimants.
But it had some advantages. Its inhabitants were pushing and in-
fluential and it was situated ver>' near the center of the county, as
it was anticipated the county would be in the near future. The com-
missioners reported in favor of Box Ankle, which was confirmed by the
county court. The court subsequently changed the name to Blooming-
ton. After these events, as a matter of course, it got to be quite a con-
siderable town. It was the center of a great country, and when the war
came on it was not asking favors of anybody, not even of railroads, and
let the Hannibal & St. Joseph go by. The war came and with it came
many things, among them being the removal of the county seat.
This did good old Bloomington up and it has settled do\iTi into quite a
humdrum little crossroads town. Its appearance speaks of the past and
not of the future.
In about 1900 some promoters started to build a railroad down to the
Chariton river from Centerville, Iowa, called the Iowa & St. Louis Rail-
road. The road was in fact built as far south in Macon county as old
Mercyville. The first station in Macon county was QiflPord. But so great
was the boom that one Giflford was not sufficient for the community,
and a new town called South Gifford was started. The towns join one
another. *They have a bank in each town and stores and difficulties with
the United States government about the postoffice. But they are both
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 437
thriving little towns and while neither or both of them may ever rival St.
Louis, it will not be the fault of the promoters if they do not. They are
wide awake little villages and, as a matter of course, will be one town,
as they* ought to be.
While Moccasinville has gone off the map, the settlement still remains,
a thriving community, and about two miles and a quarter away is the sta-
tion of Axtel, having a postoffice and store, being situated on the Wabash,
showing that Moccasinville was not a dream but a necessity and now
lives in another name.
When in 1857 the railroad reached the present site of Macon City,
the town was laid out and plotted just north of its depot. After the con-
tractors had moved on west, the town continued to increase and became
quite a thriving village during that year. In 1858 the North Missouri
Railroad reached a junction with the Hannibal & St. Joseph, and laid
off a town some quarter of a mile south of the junction and called it
Hudson. The parties that managed the site were thrifty men, consisting
of James S. Rollins, D. A. January and Porter C. Rubey and others,
and the consequence was that in 1858 the two town companies, as well as
the two railroads, had a friendly understanding and they laid out a new
town between Macon City and the railroad junction, and the name was
changed to Macon. In 1859, '60 and '61, the town grew and made strides
in business. A union depot for both railroads was placed at the junction
and Macon grew and got its first great boom. All the country to the
Iowa line and extending a very considerable distance east and west had
come to Macon to get their goods and to ship their produce. Then the
war came on and the garrisons that were in the town during that time
tended to keep business very lively and there were thousands and thou-
sands of dollars disbursed by the government to maintain the garrisons.
In 1864 a bill was prepared it is said at Macon, changing the county
seat from Bloomington to Macon. There is no indication anywhere
that the matter was mooted publicly, even in Macon City or Blooming-
ton. The bill was prepared, it is said, and taken to Jefferson City, and
in forty-eight hours the messenger returned with the bill passed and
approved and certified and the matter was then made public. One would
think rather swift work. Yes, but those were rather swift days.
The next session of the circuit court was held in Macon City. The
town company immediately laid out a large addition to the city, called
the ** County Addition," near the south line of which the courthouse
was located, looking down the principal business street of the town —
Rollins street. In 1865 the jail was built and also a very decent court-
house for the times and conditions.
Life in Macon City during the war was not as pleasant as it might
have been for the Southern people. Southern sympathizers all over the
county detested the town. As a matter of course, the Union people
praised it. This sentiment, however just or unjust, followed the town
for years.
After the war the farms of the county began to be cultivated and
provision made to take care of the surplus products. During the war
large tobacco factories were opened in the city, but with the close of the
war still larger ones were opened and every spring until way up in the
'80s the city's barns would be loaded with tobacco and its streets crowded
with tobacco wagons and its merchants were reaping something of a
harvest. and getting their biUs paid.
Macon today is a thriving city by reason of the great growing agri-
cultural community surrounding it. Socially Macon is equal to any
county seat in northeast Missouri. In civic pride she is among the
foremost. She has a fine waterworks and electric light system, a large
and extended sewerage system, a splendid telephone system, well con-
nected with the large telephone systems of the country.
438 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Business and Industry
The primitive industry and the substantial one of Macon county
has always been agriculture. As a matter of course, in the early days the
settlers derived a large per cent of their cash from the sale -of pelts. But
it is to be remembered that the early settler, fortunately, did not require
a great deal of cash. Barter was a great means of living and when he
had nothing else to barter, he bartered his labor for the necessaries of
life. He dressed in homespun and the domestic duties were spinning
and weaving. The men and boys wore jeans and the women linseys
and woolseys, and the wives and daughters were always busy with some
part of these industries. Flax was raised in small quantities by some
and this furnished the various grades of homespun linen. As a matter
of course, in a short time the tobacco crop became the money crop. This
was hauled to Glasgow or Hannibal, according to whether the settler
was west or east of the Bee Trace and he came back with groceries for
the year and such goods as were necessary. As a matter of course, these
supplies were quite limited. As the farms opened the tobacco trade
increased and money became more plentiful and supplies were bought
in larger amounts. Up to the war the loom, the spinning wheel and the
flax wheel were implements of domestic industry and kept the forces
well employed. It was a matter of pride whose husband was dressed
the best in homespun, to say nothing of the linseys and woolseys that
the women wore. It should not be forgotten that many families had
their calicoes and their silks and other fine materials. The men con-
tinued to wear jeans, but some had in reserve for occasions their broad-
cloth and other like apparel, because your ante-bellum Missourian was,
among other things, a dresser.
Timber was for many years a source of great revenue, especially
after the coming of the railroads. Scarcely a station on either road but
had a timber yard connected with it. Ties became necessary for the
construction of the road and were always needed. As soon as the engines
were run they needed fuel and long lines of cord wood were found on
every hand. The tie business continued to be something of an industry,
but from '60 up to the late '908 it was a great natural industry of the
county. With the opening of the mines came the. need for props and
that industry has flourished since 1865 and still survives. The sawmill
business continues, the high price of imported lumber raising the demand
for native timber. The timber business for many years appealed to
the adventuresome and gave employment to the young man of the com-
munity who had the nerve to risk the work, and in that respect was a
great developer of enterprise and brought the farmer boy in contact
with the world and also with the risks of business.
During all this time it must be remembered that stock — hogs, horses
and cows — were being raised. The farmers found wide range for their
hogs, and when brought up in the fall they required no great amount
of com to equip them for the market. They were collected in droves
in the fall and driven to Hannibal or Glasgow. It is even claimed in
the early days that hogs were driven from this county to St. Louis. These
facts give a vivid view of the imperiousness of trade.
The cattle trade has always been of interest in i\Iacon county.
The broad ranges and prairies and the rich grass served in the early
daj's to raise and fatten the cattle. The great prairies furni^ed hay
for the winter which supplemented the rapidly increasing production
of corn in the county. The cattle industry in Macon county has thrived.
Thousands upon thousands of head of cattle have beeri'shipped since the
railroads came.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 439
Before leaving the subject it is well to consider for a moment the
part played in the early development of the county by the patient ox.
He was the beast of burden, indeed. A large per cent of the hauling
was done by oxen. Most every farmer could get hold of a yoke of oxen
and the better-to-do had sometimes several yoke. Even the donkey
could not play the part performed by the ox. While he may have had
the patience, he lacked the great power of the ox. In the summer season
he lived on grass to a very considerable extent, though com was good
for him. In the winter prairie hay, supplemented by corn, kept him
fit for service. The ox may be termed the settlers' friend. In fact, he
deserves a monument for his contribution to civilization, and it should
show him in patient action and unswerving determination to move civil-
ization to the front.
Out of this cattle industry has growTi the creamery business. Every
train takes up the cream and returns the cans at every station. Macon
has a first class creamery, doing an extensive business and drawing its
cream from the local farmers. Many thousand dollars' worth of cream
is sold in the county every year.
The Macon county boy loves a horse and always has. More than
that, he loves a fine horse, and the consequence is the farmers of Macon
county have always been great raisers of horses and mules. The sales of
horses and mules are very large.
Some Macon countians have dared to claim that the Missouri hen
was discovered in Macon county. At any rate she seems indigenous to
the soil and perfectly at home, producing* her very best results. Every
considerable town in the county has a large poultry house where eggs
and chickens are brought, sold and shipped, and the carloads that go
out of Macon county are wonderful indeed.
The sheep industry in Macon county is large and growing and yield-
ing a fine return for those who pursue it, and some of them are quite
skillful.
Macon county is not wheat producing, but still quite an amount
of wheat is raised by the farmers. Rye is raised in limited quantities
over the county. The oats crop is largely increasing from year to year
and the yield under the improved methods of cultivation is likewise
increasing. The cultivation of corn in Macon county is on the rapid
increase. Farmers are maintaining connection with the Agricultural
College of the University of Missouri and are receiving bulletins and
studying the best practices in the growth of the crop and it would not
be too much to say that in the last ten years the yield in the corn crop in
Macon county has increased fifty per cent per acre. Silos are coming
into common use and the shredding of the stock fodder has also increased
the usefulness of the crop. Macon county exports little or no com.
Rather, she imports it, because of her large demand to feed her stock,
the theory of the Macon county farmer being to drive his crop to market
on foot and not haul it away in wagons.
Macon is a grass country. Consequently, Macon county produces
beef and butter. Timothy is grown extensively. Large quantities of
millet and cane are produced every year and fed upon the farms. Soja
beans and cow peas are also cultivated in increasing quantities and are
fast winning their way into the esteem of the farmer.
The enterprise of the farmer and the general interest in the above
matters is showTi by the fact that local fairs are held where the different
products of the county including the livestock are shown. Fairs are
held at LaPlata, New Cambria, Callao and Atlanta within the county,
and at Jacksonville across the line in Randolph county, which is also
largely prompted by Macon county farmers. Macon this year inaugu-
rated a fair with a success that surprised the promoters.
440 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Farmers in Macon county are not behind in the use of improved
agricultural implements that mark this era. The implement trade is
large in the county and every village has an implement house or an
agent for some implement house, and the amount of implements coming
into the county in the course of a year is quite large.
In 1865 the discovery of coal near Bevier in the county was followed
by the sinking of three or four shafts. Large numbers of miners came
to the county, a great number of them foreigners, mostly from Wales,
and up until the panic of 1873 all thrived and did a good business. They
helped to develop the county and put in circulation much money that
otherwise would have passed by. At present the principal mines in
Macon county are conducted by the Northwestern Coal & Mining
Company and the Central Coal & Coke Company, both of which have
offices and stores in the town of Bevier and mines to the south and pos-
sibly running as many as ten mines. The coal fields of Macon county
are but fairly opened and the indications are there is a great business
for the future.
The miners have always been a bright and intelligent people and
have made good citizens. Many of them are enterprising as far as their
means will permit. They can also be said to be quiet and orderly. They
built the town of Bevier, which is a substantial monument to their thrift
and industry as well as their regard for law and good order.
Macon county has quite a number of valuable institutions that have
grown to meet the demands of and keep pace with the community.
Atlanta has a fine wagon factory, turning out quite a large number
of wagons and meeting a ready sale over the county. Mr. Holbeck, the
proprietor, simply built his business up as his means permitted and his
experience dictated, and it is moving forward today in health and vigor.
Miller Brothers of Macon have a growing wagon factory, turning
out a fair supply and meeting the expectations of their customers and
keeping outlays within income.
Macon has the Blees Buggy Company, an institution that has been run
in Macon for some twelve or fifteen years. They not only supply the
local demands, but ship largely to the foreign trade and maintain quite
a number of laborers.
The Macon Creamery has been mentioned under another head.
Having the debt hanging over it which has been mentioned in another
place, Macon county lands for quite a while moved very slowly and
the advance in price was quite gradual. But for the last few vears,
with the increased production of the lands, came a corresponding in-
crease in the value of the lands, and lands that could have been bought
twenty-five years ago for $10, $15, $20 and $25 an acre bring $40, ^0,
$75 and $100 an acre. The last census gave Macon county a population
of some 36,000. These people are living in happiness and growing rich.
However, it is equally true that they would be just as happy and get
rich faster if there were just twice that many people. There would be
plenty of land for all and plenty of labor, and all would make more
money in a shorter time. In fact, it is quite possible that children now
living in Macon county may see one hundred thousand people in the
county living amid plenty and surrounded by all the comforts of life,
Baxks
The banks of Macon county speak in a certain quite definite way of
the wealth, enterprise and thrift of the people. In this respect Macon
county will favorably compare with any of the counties of her age. There
are now some twenty banks in the county. Every little town of any
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 441
size has one or two banks. These institutions are all doing a thriving,
conservative business and have the confidence of the community.
We add the following items in regard to banks — Liabilities: Capital
stock, $411,000; surplus, undivided profits, $162,181.69; time deposits
and others, $1,994,036.14.
Resources : Loans, overdrafts, real estate, $2,005,496.69 ; cash on hand,
$526,039.46.
These figures show that they are not exact, but are, however, sub-
stantially correct.
Among the men who have been bankers in Macon county and have
passed oflf the stage of action with credit, may be mentioned John Bab-
cock, who for many years was connected with the First National Bank
of Macon and was a safe conservative man. Another is William J. Biggs
of LaPlata, who for thirty years was connected with the LaPlata Sav-
ings Bank. He was a man who had the confidence of the business com-
munity and built up a great and growing institution.
In Macon, Web M. Rubey has been more or less connected with
banks for many years. John Scovem, the founder of the First National
Bank of Macon, has for thirty years given his whole attention to the
banking business, and is today the president of the State Exchange
Bank of Macon, having a capital of $100,000 and a growing surplus, and
is regarded as one of the safest and most conservative bankers in north-
east Missouri.
After the War
From the settlement to the war was a period of some twenty years
in which the settler had established a home and gathered around him
many of the comforts then known to rural life. He had stocked and
equipped his farm and was reaching out with young and vigorous hand
and with watchful eye to acquire the good things of this world. And
this can be said to a gi*eater or less extent of every portion of the county.
But the war came. War means desolation, and here in Macon county
where both parties came and went and where the intelligence and wealth
of the community was largely with the weaker party, neither wealth
nor intelligence had much protection. Returning peace was not cheered
by the smoke from the chimney of the peaceful home, but too often was
chilled by the lonely chimney and the ashes of the once happy home.
Where the home remained, often the son and father and husband were
missing. Almost always the horses and stock were missing and plows
and wagons and other implements of industry were scattered. These,
singly, are small items, but when taken in a mass they meant a vast
sum of money that in the five years of strife had been absolutely swal-
lowed up and was gone beyond recall. How slowly a community reacts
from such a thing can only be known by experience. It is first a fear
and tnembling and an anxiety to get the necessities of today, and then
all these means and implements of industry must be gotten together
before a start can be made. After reassurance in some measure settles
upon the community, credit is strained to the breaking point to supply
the wastes of war. But in 1873 came the great panic, not so red-handed
as war, but in a certain way more destructive of confidence and com-
mercial activity and energy, and, as a consequence, credit is destroyed,
defaults are common, the red flag flies at the courthouse door and at the
cross-roads and the hard earnings of the last half dozen years are gone
wuth but little to show for it.
Recollect, this period was not confined to 73. It hung on with a
deadly fatality until in the '80s, the sun of confidence began to climb
the skies and invite men to real effort and gave them real hope and
inspired them with early expectations.
442 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
From the '80s to '93 Macon county in a certain sense boomed. . Not
that her progress was phenomenal, but it was steady and forward and
she grew in wealth and intelligence and her roads were improved and
her confidence in herself and in her people and in the future returned.
Consequently, in 1893 the panic was not to be compared with that of
1873. No banks failed and there were but few forced sales and only an
occasional foreclosure, and, while the flood of business was stayed in its
rapidity, it moved on by the force of its momentum with a steadiness and
sureness that gave the community confidence. Macon county can be said
to have done well during the trying years from 1893 to 1896.
The panic of 1907 struck the country with an unusual suddenness.
In that fall and winter and the following spring the ordinary sales that
occur among the farmers of stock and grain were largely attended and
large amounts of property were sold. The terms at such sales were
cash, or note at eight per cent. It was a remark at the time in the county
that the banks got very few sale notes, which is another way of saying
that the vast amount of property that changed hands at these sales
was paid for on the spot in cash.
For the last fifteen years the farmers have been depositors in the
banks and the cattle men and wealthy farmers have been the great bor-
rowers of the banks. This wealth has been grown in Macon county since
1880. From the war to that period the people had just got started and
had made back a small amount of what they owned at the beginning of
the war and lost during its continuance.
♦ CHAPTER XXI
MARION COUNTY
By George A. Mohan, Hannibal
Under Three Flags
Like the dashing Revolutionary dragoon captain, whose distinguished
name it bears, Marion county always has been a province loving freedom
and despising injustice ; and if its people at any time seemed to depart,
even in trifling afifairs or contentions, from the lofty ideals which in-
spired them, the mistake was of the mind and not of the heart. The
pioneers — men and women — who made the county what it is, by their
sacrifices and tribulations, were mostly descendants of the soldiers who
fought against British oppression and helped to form the United States
and they came to Missouri, as their forefathers had come to America,
imbued with the principles of pure democracy.
Though there is nothing wonderful to relate regarding Marion, in
the nature of great martial conquest or amazing mercantile aggrandize-
ment, that other counties of Eastern and Southern commonwealths have
not experienced in similar degree, the county has had, at least, its share
of bloodshed, misery, hardship and trouble, with the lights and shades
of happiness and grief boldly accentuated, and in honor the people have
acquitted themselves in the transitions, often menacing, leading up to
peace, comfort and progress in modem agriculture and commerce and
manufacture.
Every old land or district or city has its thrilling narrative of rise
and fall, of servitude and independence, of renown and shame, and the
older the place the more romantic is the history. Marion county, as a
settlement, is still young ; but its brief life is chequered with a diversity
of stirring mutations glistening with the achievements of war and re-
splendent with the victories of peace. In 120 years, or the span of two or
three generations, what is now Marion county has been the scene of many
deeds, plans and denouements which figure with some prominence in Jhe
larger matters of the republic.
Marion county has been French, Spanish, French and American in
its time and for an uncertain season it was under the British influence
of territorial expansion, though never under British ownership or con-
trol. Its magnificent hills and plains have re-echoed the tramp of the
moccasined Indian bent on the hunt or slaughter, and the fearless wan-
derings of the indomitable trapper in quest of game and fur ; its rough
roads and pathways in the primitive wilderness were as avenues to dar-
ing missionaries; its rivers, streams and highways bore the crafts and
vans of exploration and settlement ; its cities, towns, hamlets and lordly
hills displayed, as occasion demanded, the carmine aspect of war. And,
after all the sufferings and contentions were ended, the smiling valleys
443
444 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
blazoned with fields of corn and wheat, the knobs of the Missouri moun-
tains or, more properly, the great hills along the Mississippi, gave forth
their hidden riches for manufacture, and under the stimulus of agrieul'
ture and industry prosperous towns came into existence and grew into
ever-increasing importance.
Induns and French
Before the torch of civilization gleamed from Lover's Leap at Han-
nibal up and down the silently swift Mississippi, and from summit to
summit, the country was inhabitated by various tribes of Indians, in-
cluding the Sacs, Foxes, lowas, Pottawottamies, and Missouris. Some
of the red men were hunters and fishermen, living the simple life and
content with winning their daily livelihood from forest and stream ; but
others were instinctively fighters, and they shocked the primeval quiet-
ude with alarms and massacres. The very earliest denizens of the wilds
were the mysterious Mound Builders, whose identity is lost in the secret
labyrinths of unknown ages, but who have left reminders of their habits
and their artifice in scattered mounds, containing utilitarian devices
made of clay and instruments of war wrought of stone.
The first white men to behold the green-dad land of Marion were the
celebrated French Jesuit priest, Marquette, and the intrepid French
trader, Joliet. Their hearts moved by the spirit of religion and adven-
ture, the gallant forerunners of Western civilization set forth on their
memorable voyage down the Mississippi in June, 1673, with the dual ob-
ject of spreading Christianity and finding a short route to the South
Seas ; for at Montreal the governor of New France, Frontenac, had heard
from Indians and adventurers startling accounts of a mighty river which
pierced the heart of the continent and swept into the ocean at land's end
in the South. Frontenac appointed Joliet chief of the expedition, and
the party left Montreal in May.
It was in June, 1673, that the courageous party, led by Marquette and
Joliet, started from Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, on their course down
the great waterway — five 'men in two birch canoes — and they passed by
Marion in the summer or autumn of that year. They probably did not
land, as they had no time or inclination to tarry anywhere, but they may
have done so in pursuit of food, or they may have been attracted ashore
by the surpassing beauty of the land before their wondering eyes. Here
and there they halted and Father Marquette raised the cross and ex-
plained to the Indians the truths of Christianity and it is possible that
the voice of the white man, in the French tongue, was lifted in Marion
232 years ago.
Louis Hennepin, the renowned French Franciscan priest, who was
an associate of the great La Salle, was the first white man to set foot in
Marion. History accords him this credit. Operating from Quebec, La
Salle outlined a comprehensive plan to claim the Western and Southern
territory for the French throne, and with three Franciscans he made his
way through the Great Lakes and down the Illinois river to Fort Creve
Coeur, near Peoria, Illinois, and at Creve Coeur (Broken Heart) estab-
lished headquarters. La Salle delegated Hennepin and two comrades to
explore the upper Mississippi, while he reserved to himself the expedition
to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle had to return to Fort Frontenac, but
Hennepin launched out immediately on the perilous excursion, leaving
Fort Creve Coeur on February 28, 1680.
About a month later — recorded in the manuscripts as about April l.st
— Hennepin and two friends caught glimpses of the immense hills stand-
ing on the Missouri shore like giant sentinels, and they decided to land.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 445
They found an entrance and paddled their pirogues into the Bay de
Charles, as they named it, and stepped onto the inviting land some two
hundred yards north from the inlet's mouth. Hennepin exalted a cru-
cifix and celebrated mass. Hennepin remained on the site two days, ne-
gotiating terms of friendship with the natives, and resumed the voyage
northward to the Falls of St. Anthony.
Wherever they landed, the French cavaliers nailed tablets of wood
or metal to the trees, claiming whole empires for their king. By right
of discovery all that vast stretch of land known as Louisiana Territory
was annexed to France, and what is now Marion county, became a part
of the expansive French colony in the New World. Louisiana Territory
compromised, though the French statesmen, traders and soldiers of for-
tune could not realize it, the richest agricultural region in the world,
priceless minerals, coal, ores and a land of timber, limestone and clays.
Grain and cotton, lead and zinc, iron, oil, cementing stone and innumer-
able minor resources were the riches that France had won, but failed to
appraise.
Gold was the guerdon that charmed the cavaliers. Spain and Por-
tugal had inaugurated the era of discovery, and it was the prowess of
their navigators that opened new domains to settlement and commerce.
Astonishing tales related by the successful voyagers had engendered a
**get rich quick" fever throughout Europe. England, France and the
Netherlands followed the example of the maritime powers of the South,
and their courtiers either led or encouraged expeditions to spread the
monarch's sway, and incidentally acquire wealth or additional honors
in knighthood for themselves. The noble gentlemen and professional
soldiers of fortune who were electrified by the truths and fabrications
concerning the New World were as human as humbler creatures, and they
were not above feeling keen interest in their own welfare and setting
honest store on the value of the most precious of metals.
Thus it happened that most of the early heroes searched for gold, and
would be satisfied with nothing else. Individuals and corporations re-
ceived from their governments vast tracts of land, covering what are
many states today, and surrendered their grants because they did not
at once discover gold. Very valuable articles of commerce were neglected
with disdain. Yet, something may be said for the slighting of the land
and wares, because, in many cases, if not in most, the cost of marketing
commerciable resources threatened ruination.
There was in France a certain friend of the court named Francisco
Crozat. King Louis XIV, in 1712, gave Crozat the Louisiana Terri-
tory by letters-patent, and Crozat appointed de la Motte governor. In
the following year the governor located colonies at several places along
the Mississippi river below the mouth of the Missouri. Crozat went about
the work in a businesslike way, and la Motte adhered to the custom of
looking carefully for gold and silver. Crozat abandoned the enterprise
in 1717 and returned Louisiana Territory to the King. John Law and
his Company of the West next came into possession of the territory, and
there followed a season of **get rich quick" speculation. Law yielded
back his charter in 1731. France ceded the territory to Spain in 1762,
Spain ceded it back to France in 1801, and Napoleon sold it to Jeffer-
son in 1803.
When Settlement Began
Settlement was begun in what is now Marion county under the
French, while Louisiana Territory belonged to Spain. Though the coun-
try had been deeded to Spain in 1762, Ithe actual transfer really did not
take place until 1764, and it chanced in 1763 that Pierre Liguest Laclede,
446 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the head of a great trading corporation known as jraxent, Laclede & Co.,
obtained from D'Abadie, the French commandant, rights to the fur trade
in a large district west of the Mississippi and north of the Missouri.
Laclede came himself to America, founding St. Louis and establishing
his headquarters there. Trappers in the service of the Louisiana Far
Company operated in the present Marion county.
Zenon Trudeau, the sixth Spanish governor of Upper Louisiana,
stimulated exploration, settlement and trading. He was a captain in
Spain's army. While he was ruling the country from St. Louis, the
first white settlement was made in Marion county. Trudeau seems to
have had a progressive policy, which kindled the ambition of colonists
and trappers in the promotion of commerce. He was liberal with land
grants and other favors which might contribute to advancement of any
kind. The movement toward Marion county had its inception under
Governor Perez, in 1790, but it was Tmdeau's admirable policy that
gave substantial form to exploration.
COTSWOLD Sheep
Spanish cavaliers, in 1790, penetrated the wilderness two leagues
above the river Auhaha {now Salt river), as called by the savages, and
to the Bay de Charles, as shown by the chart of Hennepin, and they
reported their observations to Perez; but there appears to be no record
of their attempting colonization. Two years later, in the spring, Maturin
Bouvct, a Frenchman resident in St. Louis, led an expedition up the
Mississippi in a pirogue, probably bent on organizing somewhere a small
mercantile colony for his own benefit and amassing an independent for-
tune.
Bouvct belonged to Laclede's party. He was registered in the direc-
tory of the colony as an artisan, and the old French land book of St-
Louis records him as a mechanic. From the best accounts obtainable, it
must be concluded that he was a skilled workman, master of several use-
ful trades.
Bouvet was the first white man to colonize Marion and make serious
efforts at starting in business. From Ihe French cavaliers who had vis-
ited the county, or from trappers or Indians, he had heard of saline
springs in the wilderness, and he determined to examine the prospects
for a salt factory, as there was a steady demand in St. Louis for salt.
Two boatmen and a guide accompanied Bouvet. The voyage was
undertaken in a pirogue, according to the old manuscripts, yet it is au-
thentically reported that Bouvet conveyed along three horses. Small ai
the expedition necessarily was, it^lacked naught of heroism or prepared-
ness. The head of the party evidently was resolved to overcome all dif-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 447
Dculties, and he exercised the foresight of being situated to meet such
emergencies, at least, as might be anticipated.
The voyage itself was uneventful. The quaint vessel pushed up the
Mississippi with the impetus of the stout hearts that controlled it, turned
into the Auhaha, or Salt river, and finally stopped at a point in Ralls
county near the present town of Cincinnati. Bouvet and his comrades,
carrying provisions, utensils and tools, marched in a northerly direction
about a mile and a half, *'to a point in the north'west quarter of the south-
west quarter of section 25, township 56, range 6, Ralls county/' and
located the salt spring which was the object of the quest. The place is
now known as Spauldings Springs. •
Experiments with the water satisfied Bouvet as to the possibilities for
salt making, and he hastened back to St. Louis, by pirogue, for more help
and additional material and supplies. No time was lost in the voyage,
but, upon returning, with three men, Bouvet confronted his first mis-
fortune. The Indians had destroyed all of his articles and effects and
stolen his horses.
Bouvet, however, was a man of will and fearlessness. Undaunted
by the circumstances, the leader and his companions cleared a large area,
and in the summer and autumn of 1792 built a salt furnace, a dwelling
house, a warehouse and other structures.
The 3'ear's labors were concluded with the manufacture of a quantity
of salt. Bouvet dispatched three of his men to St. Louis, before winter,
to buy provisions, and they took along many bushels of the product of
Bouvet 's factory. The men, falling ill, did not return, and Bouvet
cached his goods and followed them to St. Louis by land. The prospec-
tor was disheartened in the spring of 1793, when he revisited the scene
of his work, for the Indians had again raided his settlement, and he
abandoned his project temporarily. Bouvet estimated his loss in the
venture at $1,200, and March 17, 1795, he communicated his troubles
to Governor Trudeau and prayed for a grant of land twenty arpens
square, specifying the bastion as the center. Trudeau considerately hon-
ored the petition, with the stipulation that the survey be made at Bou-
vet's expense.
Bouvet resumed his enterprise. The factory and houses were rebuilt.
But he decided not to reconstruct the warehouse at the Bastion, as it was
called, because the difficulty of transporting the salt down the Auhaha, or
Salt river, was too great. He needed a port on the Mississippi, and there
he would locate the warehouse. Exploration convinced him that the best
site for the warehouse was at a point near the mouth of the Bay de
Charles, and he applied to Trudeau for a tract eighty-four arpens in
length, **to be taken," as specified in the grant, **six arpens above the
outlet of the Bay de Charles. ' '
The first white settlement in what is now Marion county immediately
resulted from Trudeau 's second concession to Bouvet. The warehouse
was built at the site on the Bay de Charles and a road made from the
Bastion to the port. The first settlement in Marion was begun in July
or August, 1795. A large field was cleared about the warehouse, and
houses were built. How many persons settled at Bouvet *8 port is not
known, but there is no doubt that the concessionaire made earnest ef-
forts to bring as many families as he deemed desirable from St. Louis.
In the journal kept by August Chouteau, one of the early settlers
of St. Louis and a trusted associate of Laclede, there is the following en-
try, in the autumn of 1798, concerning Bouvet 's settlement: ** Father
Anthony returned from the settlement on the Bay de Charles this morn-
ing, where he had gone to say mass and attend to some christenings.
His boat upset near town, and he came near drowning.'^
448 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The site of the first white settlement in Marion county was a slight
distance south of the mouth of Clear creek. It is said to have been in
the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 12, totvnship
57, range 5, or in the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of sec-
tion 7, township 57, range 4, or both.
Bouvet ran his factory five years. Competition from the sons of
Daniel Boone and others impaired the business. There were salt fac-
tories on both the Mississippi and the Missouri, and all shipped their
product by water to St. Louis. Besides the embarrassment from com-
petition, there were hazards from the untamed Indians. The workmen
and their families preferred the greater safety of the larger settlement in
St. Louis, and Bouvet at last had only two or three assistants.
The owner of the factory and warehouse lived at the Bay de Charles
settlement. In the spring of 1800 a band of ferocious Indians attacked
the place, and Bouvet himself was the victim of their worst cruelty.
Charles Gratiot, another resident of St. Louis, bought the estates of
Bouvet at auction the next year, and petitioned Charles Dehault Delassus,
the successor of Trudeau as governor for Spain, for a concession of land
** which will complete one league square in superficies, or 7,056 arpens."
Gratiot said he intended to conduct a stock farm. The same day that
the grant was made, Gratiot, who* described himself as a merchant, ap-
plied to Delassus for a modification of the terms of the original Bouvet
concessions, so that the property would be regular in its lines and con-
formations, and this plea was acknowledged favorably. Soulard, the
surveyor-general, tried to make surveys. The Indians were causing un-
usual trouble at this very time, however, and Gratiot was obliged to
delay putting his plans into execution.
After Louisiana Territory was sold to the United States in 1803, some
Americans settled on the Gratiot lands, and the claims required the con-
sideration of a board of commissioners. Many of the old French set-
tiers testified concerning Bouvet's activities. The litigation continued
for many years.
Settlement in this part of the country was retarded by the War of
1812 between the L^nited States and Great Britain. The Indians took
advantage of the opportunity to persecute the French, Spanish and
American trappers and settlers who had entered Marion county, and the
white people were driven back to St. Louis. Carlos Friman de Lauriere,
who had helped in the surveying on the Bouvet and Gratiot estates, had a
salt factory near New London in 1812, and there was a James Ryan on the
Salt river, at the mouth of Turkey creek, the previous year; but they
and others were driven away by the cruel savages, and the district was
deserted.
The annals of the county show conclusively that Maturin Bouvet was
the first white settler in what is now Marion county ; the first land owner ;
the first manufacturer ; the first merchant ; the first public officer, for he
was a notary, and the first to build a hamlet. The records also show that
there were births in the Bouvet settlement on the Bay de Charles. Bou-
vet was earnest in his attempts to found a lucrative business and a pros-
perous colony, and had he lived a few years longer, until the War of
1812 was over, he probably would have been successful. But Bouvet s
was the luck of many of the original adventurers in the West.
Settlement and development in Marion county had their true be-
ginning in Clarion in 1817, with the arrival of daring pioneers from
Kentucky. From September, of that year, dates the progress of Marion.
There is some contention as to who was the first of the pioneer settlers,
some holding that the honor belongs to John Palmer, and others asserting
that Giles Thompson pre<'eded Palmer. It is of record that Thompson
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 449
was located at Freemore's Lick, on the Salt river, in 1818, and he then
declared to the advance guard of the real builders of Marion that his was
the only cabin north of the Salt.
Bourbon county, Kentucky, furnished the bold men who went about
the project systematically of formii>g permanent settlements. Edward
Whaley, Aaron Foreman, Joseph Foreman, Aaron Foreman, Jr., and
David Adams left Bourbon county in September, 1817, for St. Louis,
with the idea of investigating prospects in Missouri territory. They
moved onward into the Boon's Lick country, in Boone and Howard
counties, and proceeded seventy miles up the Grand river, and then
struck out eastward, hoping to find the Auhaha or Salt river. They
thought the settlements in Boone and Howard counties were too crowded
and their chances would be better at the Bastion or Bouvet's port.
Their journeys brought them to the North river, and they kept to
the south back of the stream until they reached a point a short distance
south of the present city of Palmyra. Then they crossed to the north side
and camped, in order to do some exploring. The next day they continued
on their way down the North river, and, going around the bluffs, entered
the Bay de Charles, where they made a camp. After exploring the sur-
rounding'<5ountry, they pressed down the bay, and suddenly, to their
surprise, beheld the Mississippi. At Hannibal, as they were traveling
south, the huge hills forced their course to the rear; they went some dis-
tance up Bear creek, and then set out southward across the country,
striking Freemore's Lick on Salt river, where they met Giles Thompson.
Thompson welcomed the newcomers eflPusively. He was delighted to
hold converse with men who had traveled from Kentucky and visited
virtually all of the settlements in northern Missouri, and they were glad
to meet a pioneer qualified to give reliable information to aid their in-
vestigations. Thompson told them of the Bastion and Bouvet's port, and
they insx>ected the site of the old salt factory. Each of the prospectors
chose a place to live, and then returned to Kentucky, by way of St. Louis,
to bring their families to the new homes in Missouri.
The surveying of what is now the county into ranges and townships,
in 1818, facilitated exploration and settlement, and many former resi-
dents of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and other southern states, came
to Missouri. Most of those arriving were descendants of Americans of
the Eastern states, and they were chiefly Scotch, English and Irish.
Some of the early French adventurers of St. Louis also settled in Marion,
but they were decidedly few.
John Longmire, Martin Gash and Hawkins Smith settled along South
river, as did also John Palmer. Benjamin Vanlandingham, another Hen-
tuckian, settled on the present site of Palmyra. Sons of Vanlandingham
settled along South river with their families. Major Obadiah Dickerson,
the founder of Palmyra, arrived somewhat later. In what is now Warren
township settled George See, William See and Carroll Moss, and iii Mil-
ler township, Samuel Miller. Other newcomers in the county were Sam-
uel Culbertson, Abraham Culbertson, G. L. Sams, Burdette Sams, Noah
Donley, William Ritchie, Reverend C. L. Turner, John Gash, William
Gash, Boone Gash, Benjamin Thomas, Anson Parish, Charles Smith and
Jacob Mathews. Mathews brought the first wagon that ever crossed
North river, and built the first house in Fabius township.
Hannibal and Palmyra were laid out in 1819, which proved to be a
flourishing year, as settlement increased rapidly. Hannibal was laid out
by Thompson Bird, who held the proxy of Abram Bird, and Elias Rector,
Thomas C. Rector and Laban Glascock. Moses D. Bates acquired a half
interest in Hannibal, which he sold April 17 to William Brigham for
$800. Palmyra was laid out by Samuel R. Caldwell, Joel Shaw, Obadiah
Vol. X— 29
450 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Dickerson and John McCune. The first stores were established in 1820,
Bates' in Hannibal and Vaughn's in Palmyra, in which everything the
settlers might need was sold. The general store was the creature of
necessity.
The Firsts
Before relating larger matters of history in the county, it is appro-
priate to refer to the ** honor list*' among the pioneers. Adeline Palmer
was the first American child born in Marion, the event occurring in 1818.
The first marriage, which took place in 1819, was that of AjQson Parish
and Betsy Smith. Jacob Fry opened the first hotel, which was in Pal-
myra, and the first store was run in that town by James L. Vaughn-
The first furniture dealer was Joshua Morris; the first blacksmith, A.
Shannon; the first hatter, Abram Huntsberry. The first grist mill, a
horse mill, was that of Hawkins Smith, in 1818 or 1819, on South river ;
the first distillery, also built by Hawkins Smith, near the mill ; the first
water mill, that of William Massey, on North river, near Palmyra ; the
first carding machine, that of William Ritchie, and the first cotton fac-
tory. Kit Keyser's.
Patrick McGee was the initial school teacher. He had been an officer
in the United States army. The school was a little log cabin, in South
river valley, and it was opened in 1823 or 1824.
South River Baptist church was the first church organized, in 1821,
and it stood near Smith's mill and distillery. Reverend William Fuqua
was the minister. Reverend John Riddle, a Baptist, in 1821, deliv-
ered the first sermon. He spoke in the woods, on South river, on what
was afterwards Bowles farm. Palmyra had the first postoffice, and
Obadiah Dickerson was the first postmaster.
County Organization
Clarion did not obtain its identity as a county until December 23,
1826. When the United States, in 1803, bought the Louisiana Territory,
what is now Marion was a part of the District of St. Charles. Governor
Clark proclaimed St. Charles a county on December 14, 1818, and Marion
continued to be part of St. Charles. Pike county was formed December
14, 1818, and Marion was included in it. When Ralls county was estab-
lished November 16, 1820, Marion was embraced in it.
The Missouri legislature took the initiative on February 16, 1825,
toward organizing Marion as a county. A law enacted by the assembly
specified the boundaries of the new county to be formed from Ralls, and
named it Marion. December 23, 1826, the legislature provided by law for
the organization of Marion as a county, with Isaac Ely and Stephen
Dodd, of Ralls county, and Charles C. Trabue, of Pike, as commissioners
to select the seat of justice.
The first courts were to be held, as ordered by the organizing act, in
the house of William Massie. But Massie had sold his property to Rich-
ard Bruer in the interim, and the county court held its first session in
Bruer's house, in Palmyra, March 26, 1827. Four justices, appointed by
Governor John Miller, were present, qualified to act. They were Elijah
Stapp, James F. Mahan, William J. McElroy and John Longmire. Judge
Stapp was chosen to preside. Joshua Gentry presented his commission
fi^m the governor as first sheriff, and Theodore Jones his credentials as
first county clerk.
The court desired a larger place than Bruer 's, and inquiry disclosed
that the room best adapted for the conduct of judicial business was in
the tavern of Abraham Frye. The court adjourned to the inn. There
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 451
Daniel Hendricks presented his documents as fifth judge, and the court
formulated rules of procedure. The first bill, for $20, was for blank
books for the oflSce of Circuit Clerk Richard Bruer.
Road Buh^ding
It is highly significant that the first important work which engaged
the deliberations of the court was the construction of good roads, so as
to provide highways between the principal settlements of the county and
to put Marion into comparatively easy communication with the neigh-
boring counties. Action by the court resulted in the building of the fol-
lowing seven roads: Prom Palmyra to the Boon's Lick settlement in
Howard county ; from a point in Wyaconda prairie to Wyaconda creek,
and thence along the foot of the bluff to township 61, in Lewis county ;
from Hannibal to Muldrow's Lick, or Trabue's Lick, in Ralls county;
from the crossing of the North Pabius to the Mississippi, opposite Quincy,
Illinois; from Hannibal to John Thrasher's place on the Palmyra road;
from the Palmyra-New London state road to the Peazle and Bruer lands,
north of Rush Hill, and from Palmyra to intersect the northern state road,
so as to cross North Two rivers.
Officers in Eablt Days
Joshua Gentry was appointed tax collector. At the second day's ses-
sion six licenses were issued for selling merchandise, six for retail liquor
stores, and one for peddling. Fifty per cent was added to the state tax
to produce funds for the county.
The next important business of the court was the formation of three
townships on March 27, 1827. The first oflBcers of Pabius township were :
School land commissioners — John Gash, Joseph Trotter and William
Muldrow; constable — Jacob Mathews; patrols — John Lear, Dabney
. Bowles and Henry Mathews. In Pebruary, 1828, the Moses D. Bates
house, occupied by William and Hugh Anderson, was selected for holding
elections, and Eli Merrill, James B. Riland and Joseph Trotter were ap-
pointed judges.
The first officers of Liberty township were : School land commissioners
— ^Benjamin Thomas, John D. Gash and George McDjmiels; constable —
Lewis Vanlandingham ; patrols — ^Daniel Bradley, Marshall Kelly and
Samuel Morton. In Pebruary, 1828, the house of George C. Parker was
selected as a polling place, and Benjamin Thomas, Andrew Muldrow and
George C. Parker were appointed judges.
The first officers of Mason township were : School land commissioners
— Edward Whaley, Moses D. Bates and William Ritchie; constable —
Thomas McLean ; patrols— John McReynolds, John S. Strode and Lewis
Gillaspy. The house or tavern of J. W. Brasher, in Hannibal, was se-
lected as the polling place, and Daniel Hendricks, John Thrasher and
Edward Whaley were appointed election judges.
The county seat was designated by the three commissioners, Isaac
Ely, Stephen Dodd and Charles C. Trabue, who reported to the court
on June 18, 1827, that they had selected fifty acres from land belonging
to Moses D. Bates and David G. Bates, adjoining the north side of the
then town of Palmyra and one block, 21, in town. The court approved
the choice on November 26, 1827, and Obadiah Dickerson was appointed
county seat commissioner.
The circuit court held its first session at the house of Richard Bruer,
in Palmyra, February 19, 1827. Nathaniel Beverly Tucker was the first
circuit judge; Ezra Hunt, circuit attorney; Richard Bruer, clerk pro
452 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
tern, and Joshua Gentry, sheriff. Ezra Hunt and William Smith were
admitted to practice as attorneys.
A seal of the court was adopted: ''Device — ^A mounted dragoon offi-
cer; legend — In large black letters, the word Marion."
Early Codrt Proceedinqs
At the June term C. B. Rouse, William C. Young and John C. Naylor
were admitted to practice as attorneys. The court validated the title
of Moses D. Bates and David G. Bates to the town site of Palmyra. At
the October term a grand jury was chosen, and Marshall Kelly was fore-
man. The first civil suit was filed, Richard H. Newell vs. Moses D.
Bates, two cases of debt and damage, each for $6,000. The cases were
transferred to Ralls county. Two cases were disposed of: George Mc-
Daniel, assignee of Joseph Gash, Jr., v. Martin Gash, Sr., judgment by
default for $177.60, and Thomas Newell V. George McDaniel, issue
joined. October 28, the first criminal case was called — James Whaley
fined $1 and costs for assault and battery.
The first grand jury was impaneled in Marion county, at the June
term, 1827, on the following venire : Edward Whaley, foreman ; William
McReynolds, Elijah Rice, Hugh Henry, William Lander, EzeMel Parish,
Richard W. Jones, Clement White, William McRae, Jasper Lewis, John
Podman, Zachariah Feagan, Burdett Sams, Joseph Culbertson, William
M. Lewis, William Garner and Benjamin Thomas.
Judge J. P. Mahan, in March, 1827, rented two rooms in Richard
Bruer's house, in Palmyra, for holding court, at a rental of $2 a day.
County Collector Joshua Gentry reported taxes for 1827 amounting to
$272.25.
Arrangements for building the court house interested the court and
the people in 1828. Preparations went forward all year, until October,
when tiie court appropriated $4,000 for the main edifice and jail. Judge
James F. Mahan protested against the acceptance of block 21, donated by
the town site company, declaring that the land belonged to the United
States and no authority but the Federal could invest the county with a
valid title. His opinion was weighty, and the court delayed the project
until a title could be guaranteed. In August, 1830, Robert L. Samuel
submitted to the court a petition from citizens for the construction of the
court house on block 21, and with the petition he tendered a bond for $10,-
000 to protect the county from any loss on account of the title. The bond
was signed by Obadiah Dickerson, Chris Kieser, Edmond Rutter, Wil-
liam Blakey, Thomas P. Ross, Thomas A. Young, James C. Hawkins and
William Carson.
The bond satisfied with the court, and orders were given to start the
work. Samuel C. Reed was appointed superintendent of public build-
ings, and he was instructed to submit to the court plans for the building.
Reed contracted, in October, with John D. White, of Ralls county, for the
brick work at $1,649. Certain changes brought the cost of the brick work
up to $1,750. The building was completed in February, 1835. It occu-
pied practically the same site as the present courthouse.
Marion held its first elections in 1828. The county had somewhat
more than 2,409 inhabitants then, and of course the vote was small. At
the elections in 1828 there was no voting in Fabius township. Jackson
carried Marion county against John Quincy Adams.
Palmyra was incorporated at the August term of court, 1830, as a
town, by Daniel Bradley and others. The first board of trustees in-
cluded Samuel C. Reed, Robert L. Samuel, Abraham Huntsberry, Wil-
liam M. Lewis and William Carman.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 453
Thb Black Hawk Wab
Marion heard the mmblings of war in 1832. Black Hawk, the Sac
Indian chieftain, had disturbed the North with his activities, and it was
feared by Governor Miller that attacks might be made on settlements in
the extreme northern parts of Missouri. Preparations for defense were
made. Major-General Richard Gentry, of Columbia, was empowered to
raise 1,000 volunteers. Gentry ordered . Brigadier-General Benjamin
Means to raise 400, Brigadier-General Jonathan Riggs, 300, and Brig-
adier-General Jesse T. Wood, 300. Means, of Palmyra, was in command
of the seventh brigade of the seventh division of the militia, but the
Marion county companies were under Gentry, who was in command of
the third division.
Subsequently a mounted battalion from Pike and Ralls county was
asfflgned to Means' command, one of the companies being from Pike, the
other from Ralls. They were ordered to elect a major upon assembling at
Palmyra. James Culbertson, the Ralls nominee, received the greater
number of votes, but the Pike contingent declined to recognize him.
Trouble brewed and for a while it looked as if there would be war at the
rendezvous. Means averted a battle by threatening court martial against
the captains, and he announced that there would be no major and no
battalion.
The companies were separated. The Ralls company was sent to Schuy-
ler county to defend that section of Missouri, and at a point eight miles
from the Chariton river they erected Fort Matson, named after their
captain. The Pike company built a fort ten miles from the mouth of the
Des Moines river, in Lewis county, and called it Port Pike.
Two companies of mounted volunteers, under command of Captain
David M. Hickman, of Boone, and Captain John Jamison, of Calloway,
were detailed by Governor Miller to relieve the Pike and Ralls forces.
At Palmyra there arose a misunderstanding between Governor Miller
and General Means. Means, who was subsequently court martialed, was
acquitted. Gentry approved the acquittal.
The capture of Black Hawk terminated the disturbance, and the vol-
tmteers returned to their homes.
In 1832 Marion county rejoiced in the publication of the first news-
paper, the Missouri Courier, issued in Palmyra by Stewart and Ange-
vine.
Asiatic cholera broke out in 1833, again in 1835, and again in 1849.
The most deaths occurred in Hannibal and Palmyra. -The ravages of
the disease were terrible, and the people were almost overwhelmed with
dread.
River Navigation
Modem progress owes most to the facilities of transportation. The
crude and antique cart which our forefathers employed in their humi-
nations and journeys may not be classed as a convenience ; it was simply a
means for moving purposes. That quaint type of wagon, which enacted
a highly important role in the settlement of the West, must not be rid-
iculed, though it made no pretentions to beauty or comfort.
The great waterways — ^the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Missouri —
being the best and safest highways, carried most of the traffic in the
early days. With the rivers available for pirogues, canoes, barges,
steamboats and all sorts of craft, the pioneers and adventurers had only
to launch forth and row or drift to the port of hope. And from the very
first day of exploration and settlement, commerce felt vigorous impulse
from the facilities of transportation offered by the marine routes.
454 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The steamboat era dates from 1809, when Fulton launched the Cler-
mont in the Hudson. The New Orleans, the first Western steamer, was
put into commission at Pittsburg in 1811. In the early days steamboats
plied between St. Louis and Hannibal, and some vessels came to Hanni-
bal from Pittsburg. In the heyday of William Muldrow and his fleeting
town, Marion City, many Ohio river boats came to Marion county.
Hannibal was the leading port in Missouri, north of St. Louis, and
the steamboats made it an influential mercantile center. Until the rail-
roads offered more rapid transit, and provided more satisfactory ac-
commodations, the steamboats handled the traffic.
Keel boats were popular until 1830, and in 1821 Moses D. Bates was
building them in Hannibal. The General Putnam was the flrst commer-
cial steamer to land in Hannibal.
River navigation will win back much of its former greatness. The
Mississippi will again be a highway for commerce. There will be a
great water route for freight, with the Mississippi as the main artery.
Transportation by water is necessary, both to regulate freight rates and
to convey tonnage which boats may haul better than railroads. The
time is approaching fast when all the towns on the Mississippi will prac-
tically be seaports, with direct routes to the Gulf of Mexico and the
Atlantic and Pacific. The restoration of water transportation for freight
purposes is not a visionary hope, but a material promise based on new
conditions and requirements.
RaUiROADS
Marion county has been an exemplar with regard to railroads. It
has led the way for development in Missouri, and its pioneer citizens and
statesmen forecast the commercial tendencies and fluctuations of the
present day, as well as of years yet to come. Is it not amazing that the
great importance of the Oriental trade should have been foreseen clearly
by the men who cut down the wilderness and founded towns in swamps?
The confirmation of their visions, which may have appeared absurd to
many, is only another proof that advancement, especially in commerce, is
based on substantial promise and can be read by the expert.
The first railroad construction in Missouri was done in Marion county.
The first railroad to cross Missouri was a Marion county enterprise, and
the first train that ever ran from the Mississippi to the Missouri, in this
state, was operated over that road. The first extraordinary movement
for stupendous railroad development in the JVfississippi Valley had its
beginning with a memorable convention in Hannibal.
William Muldrow, who has been immortalized under another name by
Mark Twain, was founding, in the early thirties, several of the greatest
cities in the world in Marion county, and the world's leading metropolis
was to be Marion City. The builders of Marion City projected a line from
Marion City to Philadelphia, with a branch to Palmyra and Ely City,
which would extend into Shelby county and the far West. The ultimate
plan was to prolong the road to the Pacific coast, so that Marion City and
Ely City would be able to command the bulk of the Oriental trade.
Unfortunately, perhaps, the venture was not realized as contemplated
and Marion City failed to dominate the commerce of the Orient. But
the first survey and grade for a Missouri railroad were made on Railroad
street in Marion City in 1835 and continued across the valley and over
the hills to Palmjnra.
The Palmyra & Marion City Railway was projected in 1847, with
Stanton Buckner as president ; James F. Mahan, treasurer, and Joseph
G. Easton, secretary. The construction contract was awarded to J. W.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 455
Shepherd. Considerable work was done on the line, but the road was
abandoned when overshadowed by the project for the Hannibal & St.
Joseph.
When ground was broken in Hannibal in 1853 for the Hannibal & St.
Joseph there was great rejoicing. St. Louis organizations, military and
mercantile, assisted in the demonstration. The first train of cars was run
between Hannibal and Palmyra about June 10, 1856, and passenger ser-
vice between the cities was started in July. The first through passenger
train between St. Joseph and Hannibal was operated February 14, 1859,
and this was the first regular train to cross Missouri. The event was
celebrated in St. Joseph, and Marion county was prominently represent-
ed, taking a conspicuous part in the ceremonies. The Quincy & Palmyra,
which, like the Hannibal & St. Joseph, was absorbed by the Burlington
System, was completed about April 1, 1860. The Hannibal & Naples,
now part of the Wabash, was launched in 1857, but was completed after
the Civil war. The Hannibal & Central Missouri, now a part of the Mis-
sourA Kansas & Texas, was organized March 23, 1867. The St. Louis &
Hannibal was projected as the St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk ; it is one
of the best short lines in the West, although built in the early 70s. The
Hannibal bridge, providing an entrance from the East, was built in
1870-71. The St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, part of the Burlington
System, is a merger of the Mississippi Valley & Western and other small
lines, projected mostly in the early '70s.
Hannibal was foremost in the movement to build the St. Louis-Keo-
kuk line, and June 13, 1855, one of the most important railroad conven-
tions ever held took place in the city. Delegates assembled from St.
Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, Ralls, Marion, Shelby and Lewis coun-
ties, Missouri, and Lee and Keokuk, Iowa, in Hannibal to arrange for
the building of the Mississippi Valley Railroad. The convention lasted
two days.
Marion has the transportation facilities and the commercial adjuncts
of a great trading center. It has the Mississippi river, which is sure
to be a traflSc artery, carrying vessels direct into the sea. A transporta-
tion corporation located at Hannibal is operating barges which transport
some of the cement that is used to build the Panama Canal and large
quantities in Southern states and this utilization of the river is only be-
ginning. Soon Hannibal will be really a seaport.
The Marion county railroads connect the cities and towns, by good,
short lines, with St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Pittsburg, New Orleans,
Kansas City, St. Joseph, San Francisco, Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In considering the commercial prospects of Marion county, the con-
veniences for manufacture must also be taken into account. For build-
ing purposes the resources of the Hannibal hills are practically inexhaust-
ible. The completion of the water-power transmission line, in May, 1913,
from Keokuk to St. Louis, will give Hannibal and other cities in Marion
county exceptionally cheap power. There will be, therefore, additional
inducements for the location of new factories here.
The Civil War
The Civil war is a record of history, and a few words, to indicate
what Marion county did in it, should suffice. Nearly all the pioneers and
early settlers had come from the South, and it was natural that they
should be in sympathy with the South. With the arrival of settlers
from Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states in 1836, an anti-abolition sen-
timent was fostered and the attempt to give the action a conspicuous as-
pect caused trouble. The founders of Marion City, Muldrow, Ely and
456 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
their associates, were behind the move, and Marion College was looked
upon as its seat. The first settlers had slaves, but it is recorded, even in
1836, that freedom had been granted in some cases and the masters had
provided for their care. The activity of the anti-abolitionists resulted
seriously in several instances. In 1847 a branch of the American Coloni-
zation Society was organized. Old reports show that the slaves were
valued at $250 to $1,000 each. The agitation concerning abolition per-
sisted until the beginning of the war.
When the war broke out, the people of Marion divided into sides, some
being Federals and some Confederates. A Confederate flag was raised
in the public square in Palmyra, March 30, 1861. Companies were or-
ganized soon thereafter, and preparations were made for hostilities.
Governor Jackson had had powder distributed throughout the state,
and the warriors had no difficulty in obtaining implements for the strug-
gle. Many cannon were made in the foundry of Cleaver & Mitchell,
in Hannibal, for the Confederates. There were, too, a large number of
Unionists in Marion, and they organized their forces. The first Federal
troops to enter the county from without came from Illinois, the next
from Iowa and the next from Kansas. General Grant first entered hostile
territory in Marion county at West Quincy.
The Federals desired to prevent Missouri from joining the South,
if they could not preserve it to the Union. Missouri was a vital unit,
and for this reason unusual efforts were exerted in the state to settle the
issue with dispatch. The importance attached to Missouri brought
Grant, Palmer and other leaders to the scene almost at the opening of
the struggle. The Marion County Battalion of the United States Reserve
Corps was organized in Hannibal on June 1, 1861. The Missouri State
Militia was organized in the winter and spring of 1860-61.
Probably the events of the war which are told today with the warmest
eloquence are the campaign of Colonel Martin E. Green in northeioi
Missouri, the battles and activities of Colonel Jo C. Porter, and the
Palmyra massacre. Residents of Marion county were busy, on one side
or the other, in all the movements of Green and Porter. Green stirred
this part of Missouri for the Confederacy with his exploits in surprise
ing the Federals, evading them at pleasure, and leading them into danger
from the Mississippi to the Missouri.
Porter, who had been with the Confederate forces in Mississippi and
Arkansas, returned to Missouri to gather recruits and enthuse the people
for the Southern cause. The Confederates in the summer of 1862 re-
ceived him with acclaim, and he went from place to place, increasing his
forces everywhere. He engaged in many conflicts with success, but the
battle of Kirksville, which he had lost, reduced the number of his fol-
lowers, and it was necessary that he should win another triumph to re-
kindle fervor and strengthen his command.
What is known as the Palmyra raid, or Porter's raid on Palmyra,
was the colonel's final attempt to organize the Confederates in Missouri.
With four hundred men Porter surprised Palmyra in the morning of
September 12, 1862. Porter demanded that the town be surrendered,
but Captain Dubach refused. After a hot skirmish. Porter released the
prisoners and captured the arms and stores; he had planned no more
tiian this. Seeing that he could not take possession of the town with-
out heavy bloodshed, he decided to move forward and try another ex-
ploit. Soon afterwards Porter retired to Arkansas, where he achieved
renown in the Civil war before his untimely death. He is described as
a leader of fine qualities, and it is the general opinion that the failure
of his strenuous efforts to organize the Confederate forces and keep them
intact cast a pall over the Southern cause in Missouri.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 457
Andrew AUsmau, a contractor and builder, who had performed many
services for the Federals, was captured in Porter's raid on Palmyra and
carried away. Porter, when on his flight from Missouri, told every man
**to take care of himself" and counseled AUsman to seek safety. Alls-
man replied that he feared to escape, as his enemies among Porter's men
would kill him. Porter then permitted him to choose the men to accom-
pany him. AUsman did this, but he was killed, nevertheless.
Incensed, General John McNeil gave public notice to Colonel Porter
that, unless Allsman were returned in ten days, ten Ck)nfederates, then
in Palmyra, would be executed in reprisal. On October 17, when it was
apparent that Allsman would not appear, McNeil ordered the provost
marshal, W. R. Strachan, to pick the men to be shot. Strachan went to
the jail and selected the ten whom he classed as the most pronounced
Confederates. Some of the men had been with Porter, others were non-
combatants.
About noon, the next day, the doomed men were taken to the place
of execution in government wagons, seated on their coffins. They were
driven to the old fair grounds. The coffins were placed on the ground
six or eight feet apart, and the prisoners knelt between them to pray.
Their orisons done, the men took seats on the cofQns, facing the execu-
tioners and braVely met death. Several volleys from the muskets ended
the Palmyra massacre, which shocked the whole world.
Jefferson Davis demanded of Lincoln the surrender of McNeil, threat-
ening the shooting of ten Federal soldiers if his request were not honored.
McNeil was not surrendered ; yet Davis did not fulfill his threat. Hon.
Frank H. Sosey, editor of the Palmyra Spectator, h^ truthfully treated
this execution in an entertaining book entitled ** Robert Devoy, a Tale of
the Palmyra Massacre.''
William Muldrow '
ilinus reference to that picturesque character, William Muldrow, no
chronicle of Marion county would be complete. Charles Dickens took
occasion to draw one of Muldrow 's great enterprises in ** Martin Chuz-
zlewit."
While associated with the Reverend Doctor David Nelson and others,
the remarkable Muldrow conceived the brilliant idea of founding a link
of great cities in the county and Ijuilding a railroad to the Pacific ocean.
Among those whom Muldrow Succeeded in interesting in his project,
while he was in the east exploiting the college, were the Rev. Ezra Stiles
Ely, of Philadelphia; Rev. James Qallaher, of Cincinnati, and John
McKee, of Pittsburg.
Muldrow 's talents were equal to almost any situation, and 'his im-
agination was unsurpassed for fertility and extravagance, though it
must be said that many of his ideas and plans were logical and promis-
ing. He proposed building at what is known as Oreen's Landing, about
six miles from Palmyra, on the Mississippi, the great metropolis of
Marion City. Had the city been formed as it was laid out, with spacious
streets and wide lots, it would probably have been the world's city most
beautiful. It is said to have been the first city beautified by great public
buildings, churches, schools, hotels, on paper, west of the Mississippi
river.
The site of Marion City was a marsh. Other cities which Muldrow
and his friends projected were New York, Philadelphia and Ely. The
enterprises were well advertised, and Muldrow succeeded in obtaining in-
vestments of $185,000 in Marion City and $35,000 in Philadelphia.
Boats brought new citizens from the East with the blare of trumpets.
The Muldrow towns were flourishing. But the Mississippi started on a
458 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
rampage, overflowed the country and wrecked the promise ot Marioa
City. In brief, this is the etory of Muldrow's prospects; it is well worth
the time to read the account of them in detail. Muldrow was really an
accomplished promoter. After he left Marion county he continued his
enterprises in California.
The County Today
The restoration of peace, with all the scores forgotten, brought happi-
ness back to the people, and Marion county settled down to the arts of
agriculture and commerce. Before the war there came the formative
period ; during the war conditions arose which would delay a while accel-
erated progress, as it was first essential that the residents should retrieve
their losses, recuperate, and amass resources. In recent years the de-
ferred prosperity has been manifesting itself with vigor, and Marion
is animated by the ambition and energy not only of the natives, but
Jebsby Herd
also by the skilled and favored talents of farmers from Iowa, Illinois
and other states who are settling here,
Marion county, according to the last census, that of 1910, had a popu-
lation of 30,572. Most of the people are devoted to agriculture. In 1860
the total population was 18,700. There is exhibited a gain of 11,872,
which is large for an agricultural community, and unusually large for
a community that had to overcome the reverses of war.
The real estate of the county has an assessed valuation of $7,484,030,
and the personal property an assessed valuation of $2,808,210, a total
of $10,503,465. The actual value of the property is about $45,844,780,
of which $37,420,150 represents real estate and $8,424,630 personalty.
There are 275,911 acres, assessed at $3,580,940, or $12.97 an acre, and
6,316 town lota, assessed at $3,903,090, or $617.96 each.
The assessment, as follows, on the personal property, gives some
idea of the holdings in the county: Horses, $311,055, or $39.82 each;
mules, $80,745, or $51.89 each; asses and jennets, $10,455, or $145,20
each; cattle, $164,170, or $14.54 a head; sheep, $19,570, or $2.03 each;
hogs, $71,915, or $3,55 each; money, notes, bonds, etc., $1,003,485; bank
stock, $697,5()0, and all other personal property, $449,315.
The agricultural production of the county is best exemplified by the
shipments to outside markets. The Bureau of Labor Statistics givra the
items, as follows, for 1911: Cattle, head 4,299; hogs, head 9,650; homes
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 459
and mules, head 750 ; sheep, head 2,971 ; goats, head 12 ; live poultry,
pounds 240,904; dressed poultry, pounds 32,008; eggs, dozen 137,180;
feathers, pounds 3,202 ; honey, pounds 500 ; sorghum molasses, gallons 90 ;
com, bushels 13,200 ; wheat, bushels 31,500 ; oats, bushels 9,400 ; timothy
seed, bushels 300 ; clover seed, bushels 91 ; millet seed, bushels 60 ; hay,
tons 174; straw, tons 5; popcorn, pounds 420; slough grass, tons 470;
nuts, pounds 530; vegetables, pounds 74,532; potatoes, bushels 320;
sweet potatoes, bushels 320; tomatoes, bushels 110; canned vegetables
and fruits, pounds 396; miscellaneous fresh fruit, pounds 900; melons,
900 ; strawberries, crates 1,100 ; apples, barrels 58 ; raspberries, crates 2 ;
cantaloupes, crates 2 ; blackberries, crates 15 ; grapes, baskets 42 ; peaches,
baskets 60; roots and herbs, pounds 50; ginseng, pounds 50; nursery
stock, pounds 1,000; cut flowers, pounds 4,375; wool, pounds 96,800;
butter, pounds 174,924 ; ice cream, gallons 10,385 ; milk and cream, gal-
lons 4,816 ; cheese, pounds 250 ; lumber, feet 144,000 ; logs, cars 2 ; wal-
nut logs, cars 3 ; railroad ties, 14,000 ; fence and mine posts, 1,000 ; cord-
wood, cords 1,421 ; game, pounds 18,400 ; fish, pounds 6,600 ; furs, pounds
13,606 ; gravel and ballast, cars 4,504 ; sand, cars 125 ; stone, cars 111 ;
flour, barrels 86,200 ; bran, shipstuff, pounds 325,975 ; feed, chops, pounds
26,4()0; wine, gallons 6; vinegar, gallons 10; cider, gallons 60; natural
mineral water, gallons 100; hides and pelts, poun£ 140,718; dressed
meats, pounds 9,292; tallow, pounds 216,050; lard, pounds 120,710;
brick, cars 12 ; lime, barrels 87,600 ; junk, car 1 ; ice, cars 44.
The land along the river contains stone, minerals and clay unsur-
passed for many industrial purposes, and these resources promise as-
cendancy in manufacture to Hannibal, which soon will have the extra
advantage of cheap power from the Keokuk dam and transmission line.
Behind the bluffs there is rolling prairie and timbered land, unex-
celled for agriculture. The land is fertile and productive. The country
is settling up rapidly. Farmers from Iowa, Illinois and neighboring
states, appreciating the value of the land, are moving into Missouri and
Marion county is getting^ a large percentage of them. The increase in
the population and the quickened development are stimulating advance-
ment in all directions. Marion county is modern in all respects. The
lands and properties are well maintained, and there are numerous evi-
dences of wealth and progress.
The leading markets, St. Louis and Chicago, are near, and Marion
has the best of transportation facilities. There are direct trunk lines
north, south, east and west — the Burlington, the Wabash, the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas, and the St. Louis & Hannibal, and the Mississippi af-
fords conveniences for steamboat and barge traflSc with St. Louis, New
Orleans, Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Palmyra, the County Seat
Palmyra is the county seat. Situated somewhat east of the center
of the county in the celebrated elmwood district, it is one of the best
built and most beautiful cities in the state. It has fine homes, stores,
mills, hotels, colleges and aU other conveniences. Its people are well
educated, highly, intelligent, contented, prosperc|us and progressive.
Palmyra is leading in building fine gravel roads. Already many miles
of gravel roads center there and many more are contemplated and under
construction. It has a splendid commercial club, always at work and
very effective. It has two newspapers, the Spectator being one of the
oldest in the state, and fine railroad facilities, being in direct connection
with all the large cities, ports and markets of the world. In addition to
its colleges, Palmyra maintains one of the best public school systems in
460 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the state and has constructed excellent public school buildings. Its
church edifices are especially commodious and attractive, while the
water and electric light systems are as good as can be constructed. There
is no better place in IVIissouri in which to live and be contented and
happy than at Palmyra.
HANNIBAIi
Hannibal, the metropolis of Marion county and Northeast Missouri,
bears the distinction of being one of the largest ports on the Mississippi
and a manufacturing center of prominence. It has always been able to
hold its own against larger rivals, making gains in the number of its in-
dustries, as well as in the population, and nearly every year finding
some means of planting a new and pretentious industry. Hannibal has
the spirit that makes great cities, and, with the resumption of steam-
boat traffic on the world's principal waterway, it should rise to higher
rank in manufacture and commerce. It has one of the best commercial
clubs in the state, which is always at work for the advancement of
Hannibal.
Some of the advantages that Hannibal has are :
The best shipping facilities of any city on the Mississippi, except St
Louis.
The best railroad center in the Mississippi Valley.
Trunk facilities in all directions.
Abundant supply of clear water — 20,000,000 gallons daily.
Population of 20,000.
Free sites for factories in all parts of town.
First class fire department, well equipped and ably directed.
Two thousand miles of river transportation.
Low tax valuation — 25 per cent, and low tax rate — 2.5 per cent on
$100.
Fifty-four passenger trains daily, thirty-four regular freight trains;
handsome union station.
Ten railroads — one east, two northeast, two north, two west, one south-
west, two south.
Three shoe factories, daily output of 10,000 pair of shoes.
Three strong banks, one strong trust company.
The largest railroad shops in the west — ^the Burlington.
One hundred and ten factories.
Four thousand factory and railroad employes.
$4,000,000 annually paid to labor,
Municipal electric light and power plant.
The cheapest electric power.
The largest Portland cement plant in the world.
The largest shoe factory outside of St. Louis.
Twelve cigar factories, output of 15,000 cigars daily.
Three large flour mills.
Four large grain elevators.
Two large breweries.
First class electric railway system.
The largest brick works in Northeast Missouri.
Cold storage plant of large capacity.
Inexhaustible deposits of commercial limestone, 99 per cent pure lime.
The finest building stone in the Mississippi Valley.
Unlimited supply of natural resources for Portland cement.
Ten hotels.
First class public library.
Ten public school buildings.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 461
Modem hospital.
Protestant, Catholic and Hebrew churches.
One orphans' home.
Largest car-wheel foundry in the West.
Stove foundry turning out 60,000 stoves and ranges annually.
First class theater.
One of the largest printing and book manufacturing concerns in the
West.
Center of winter wheat production in the United States.
Surrounded by prosperous farming settlements.
Within twenty-four hours of center of com production.
First class public school system.
Two modem daily newspapers.
Fast mail facilities to St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Minneapolis,
St. Paul, Kansas City and other places.
Center for lumber and high grade millwork.
The future of Hannibal cannot be overestimated. As a commercial
center, no city between St. Louis and Minneapolis and St. Paul has such
bright prospects. Raw material, adapted to industrial or mercantile
purposes, is a necessity for any place aspiring to leadership, and this
Hannibal possesses. -The eminent modern town is the one that manu-
factures, or produces. The conspicuous success of the great cement
works, the shoe factories, the stove foundries and other large industrial
plants furnishes demonstrations from experience of the city's capacity in
manufacture.
When the hydro-electric transmission line of the Keokuk water-
power system is put into commission, in May, 1913, the position of Han-
nibal will be strengthened. There will be available any quantity of
electric power desired, and at a remarkably low price. Factories will
have a more emphatic incentive to locate in Hannibal, where they will
be sure to have, besides, the most favorable labor conditions, an agree-
able environment and unsurpassed transportation facilities.
Hannibal is the foremost jobbing center of Northeast Missouri, and
it will undoubtedly increase its already large business as a distributing
point. It is a logical procedure in business that the big manufacturing
and wholcusale houses of St. Louis, Chicago, New York and other metro-
politan centers should have branches in Hannibal and use the special
conveniences afforded by this city for distributing their wares through-
out northern Missouri, a part of Iowa and a part of Illinois.
Great cities, like St. Louis, have more railroads than Hannibal, but
they are not, relatively, better provided than this city with transporta-
tion facilities ample for all demands. Hannibal has the Wabash, the
Burlington, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the St. Louis & Han-
nibal, with three lines to St. Louis and points to the South and South-
west; one line to New York, Boston, Detroit and Eastern points; two
lines to Chicago, Milwaukee and the Northeast ; two lines to the North in-
cluding Minneapolis and St. Paul, and three lines to Kansas City, St.
Joseph and points in the West.
Hannibal has the advantage of the Mississippi for marine transporta-
tion. It is a certainty that an immense volume of freight, now hauled
by the railroads, will in the future move by boat or barge. It is a rea-
sonable certainty that the towns on the Mississippi will soon be, to all
practical purposes, seaports. Already Hannibal is in the advance, with
a barge line that is hauling a large quantity of freight. Boats operat-
ing on the Mississippi have access to the Gulf of Mexico, ports on the
Ohio and ports on the Illinois, and the time is not remote when they
462 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
will find their way, past Chicago and past Minneapolis and St. Paul,
into the Great Lakes and thence into the Atlantic. Already, a barge
line, the Atlas Transportation Company, has its home olSBce in Hannibal
and is very successful in handling articles in that city.
Marine transportation means as much to Hannibal, and thereby to
Marion county, as it does to any port. There will be numerous mercan-
tile opportunities in the development of traflSc by river.
Hannibal has always displayed a lively public spirit in behalf of
enterprises which might benefit city or county. The people of this
city have contributed large funds in the support of the railroads pene-
trating the country, and to the construction of gravel and rock roads,
and I doubt whether there is any railroad line operating here, with the
possible exception of one, that has not been benefited with money
given by the city. This public spirit Hannibal is manifesting at present
in the efforts to get more factories, especially by offering free building
sites and similar inducements, and it is bound to be a factor in the
greater progress just begun.
The Business Men's Association is the potential body that is striving
energetically and loyally to promote the interests of Hannibal at home
and abroad. The rapid increase in population during recent years attests
to the organization's conquests, as do also the new factories, business
homes and buildings, and the stimulation of an enthusiastic civic pride.
The association is giving land and offering other inducements to bring
more industrial plants to Hannibal, and it is wide to accept every chance
for advancement. It is leading in the construction of gravel and
crushed rock roads, not only in the county, but in different sections of
the state. Good roads is one of its slogans.
Hannibal is the home of the Federation of Missouri Commercial
Clubs. It is becoming widely known as an interesting convention city,
and it is growing customary for many state and national organizations
to hold their regular and special meetings here. It is a city of beautiful
homes and well paved streets, with all the public utilities that give com-
fort and advantages to the young and the old. It is one of the richest
and most cultured towns in the West.
The Marion county of the present is an area of comfort, happiness
and prosperity. The troubles and reverses of the war are forgotten,
and men and women who were foes from impulses of honest resentment
are cordial friends, enjoying the blessings of accelerating prosperity.
The lands and riches won by daring, self-sacrificing pioneers are, in
many instances, in the possession of respected descendants of the brave
souls who civilized the wilderness. Sons and daughters of the gallant
pioneers, loving Marion as the best district in the world, are cooperating
with equally patriotic newcomers in making the county a place of greater
contentment and greater agricultural and commercial importance. It
has one of the best managed and finest public school systems in the
nation.
Marion's future is now marked out, and its people are working with
systematized purpose to mould it well. The utility of all the natural
resources has been ascertainec^, and the means of employing them has
been invented and applied. For pursuits of agriculture Marion has the
best hearts, the best talent, the best hands, in the world. For industrial
progress and commercial offices, Marion has the sterling brains and
the indomitable will. All the resources of the county are at last in use ;
yet advancement has only just begun. The full development of these
resources points to population and wealth and influence many times
greater than today's records show.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 463
Marion co.unty is now and always has been essentially a comity of
splendid homes, having about them a delightful home life.
** Without the roundness and the glow of life
How hideous is the skeleton."
Without the pleasures and contentment of the home how bleak and
barren is life. .
''To make a happy fireside chime
To weans and wife;
That's true pathos and sublime
Of human life."
CHAPTER XXII
MONROE COUNTY
By Thomas V. Bodine, Pans
A Modern Bourbon County
It was Motley who demonstrated that all real history is of necessity
a ** story," and it can be said without any resultant charge of provin-
cialism that the history of Monroe county is peculiarly so. The history
of the establishment of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic civilization in the valley
west of the great river teems with romance, but in no instance is the
romance in question more real, more virile or more alluring than in
connection with the settlement and developmgit of Monroe county.
Monroe county was settled by the Virginia-Kentucky-Tennessee
strain, which had a genius for war, politics and story-making, and no
county in the state has so preserved its racial solidarity or more effectu-
ally kept to its traditions. Most of its people came from half a dozen
counties in Kentucky — Clark, Boyle, Madison, Jassamine, Woodford and
Mercer — and their descendants for the large part occupy today the
fat prairies and the fine woodland farms their grandsires subjugated,
repelling unconsciously alien intermixture, and emigrating, as in the
case of Texas and Oklahoma, only to return. They have, of course,
been modernized, all the towns and the country as well being abreast
of twentieth century civilization, but the Brahmin instinct persists de-
spite. A Kentucky or Virginia pedigree is still the highest social guar-
antee— ^the best that earth affords, though others are not despised. It is
one of the typical Bourbon counties imbued with an essentially modem
spirit.
The Coming op Settlement
Monroe county was cut off from what was then Ralls county in 1831
and Hancock S. Jackson, of Randolph, Stephen Glascock, of RaUs, and
Joseph HoUiday, of Pike — who afterwards moved to the county, where
he died — ^were appointed commissioners to select the county seat. The
new county was nluned for President James Monroe, which indicates
clearly the political complexion of its settlers, which, with a Whig
victory occasionally in the forties, has ever since been maintained.
As early as 1817 parties came into what was then Pike county and
laid out tracts of land near Middle Grove, but no permanent set^ements
were made in what is now Monroe coun^ until 1820, when Ezra Fox«
Andrew and Daniel Wittenberg and others located three miles east of
what is now Middle Grove and began that historic community. About
the same time a settlement was formed by Joseph and Alexander Smith
and others between the North and Middle forks of Salt river close to
Florida, being known as the Smith settlement, another by the McGees
south of Paris, and others by Daniel Urbin east of Madison, near old Clin-
ton by Robert Martin and Caleb Woods, and by Robert Greening and
464
. HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 465
Samuel Nesbit at Florida following. As early as 1820, Benjamin Young
settled on South Fork near Santa Fe and remained there until 1828, only-
eight families residing in this, one of the richest sections of Missouri, when
the county was organized. A colony of Virginians joined these, extending
along the river from Lick Creek in Ralls past Florida, and as elsewhere
in the county the names found there today are much the same as those
of the first settlers. The Kentuckians invariably settled in the timber,
near springs or along water courses, leaving the prairie wild.
Paris was laid out in 1831, and was named by Mrs. Cephas Fox of the
Middle ♦Grove settlement, wife of the famous pioneer merchant and
philanthropist by that name, for her native town, Paris, Kentucky.
Trading places were few for ten years. The first blacksmith shop in
the county was opened on the Louisiana road south of Paris by Charles
Eales and the first store was opened up by Major Penn, afterw^j-ds
county clerk and enshrined in tradition by reason of his connection with
the Clemens family, at Florida. The town of Florida was laid out in
the winter of 1831, by Robert Donaldson, John Witt, Dr. Kennan, Joseph
Grigsby, W. N. Penn and Hugh Hickman, and here three years after
transpired an event of historical importance to the whole nation and by
far the biggest event in the history of Monroe county — the birth of
Samuel Langhome Clemens, known to the literary world as Mark
Twain, of whom more hereafter. The first mill in the county was built
by Benjamin Bradley two miles northeast of Florida and along with
the Hickman mill at the same place, both operated by water power, be-
came famous throughout this section of Missouri, people coming forty
miles with grain. The first road laid out in the county was **the old
London trace," and ran from Middle Grove to New London, being
surveyed by J. C. Fox and others on order from the county court of
Ralls county. The houses were all of log and seldom had glass.
Politics, Farming and Fighting
The history of the county centers around its agricultural develop-
ment and its military and political activities. As early as 1832, on the
outbreak of the Black Hawk war, Major Thomas W. Conyers, a Monroe
countian, commanded two companies, one under Captain Jamison from
Callaway and the other under Captain David H. Hickman of Boone,
which occupied Fort Pike for thirty days. The strain was built for
war and when the war with Mexico came on sent a company under Cap-
tain Giddings to Santa Fe, the command marching every foot of the
way. This company afterwards elected T. H. McKamey captain and
saw valiant service, not, however being in the march to Mexico. It
returned home following the war and the trenches for the big barbecue
given across the river from Paris in its honor are still partly preserved.
With the piping days of peace an adventurous spirit, which was a
distinguishing mark of the race, led the younger men by scores in cara-
vans across plains and deserts to the California gold fields. Some per-
ished on the way in battle with Indians, others returned empty-handed,
and yet others remained and became rich, the names of Glenn, Biggs
and others becoming a part of the history of the golden state. Perhaps
Monroe county is famous for nothing so much as the men of note it has
furnished the states to the southwest and west and also to the northwest
— governors, congressmen, judges and business men. Hugh Glenn, owner
of the Willows wheat ranch in Tulare county, California, and at one
time grain king of the world, was from Monroe county, as was also
his slayer, Hurem Miller, the story being one which mocks manufactured
romance but not within the province of historical narrative.
Vol 1—80
466 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The Civil war followed in ten years and the inborn soldier bent of
the people of this county showed itself. It sent twelve hundred men
into the Confederate army to fight under Price, Cockrell and Bledsoe,
and almost half as many into the Union army. It waa known as "Little
North Carolina," and for thirty years after the war "the brigadiers,"
as the old Confederate organization was known, dominated the political
and business activities of the county. It elected Frank L. Pitts, hero at
Franklin, state treasurer, and elevated Theodore Brace to the supreme
bench. Only in the late nineties did it give way to the younger crowd
and even after that was a power. In politics besides these Monroe has
furnished the state two speakers of the house, T. P. Bashaw in 1880 and
James II. Whitecotton in 1902, and two congressmen from the Second
district— A. M. Alexander in 1886, and R. N. Bodine in 1896. Gov-
ernor Shortridge of South Dakota — 1896 — was a Monroe countian, as
was Supreme Judge Reavis of "Washington, Attorney-General Ford of
California, and Superior Judge Eugene Bridgford of the same state.
Others of minor note by the score might be named, it being the pride of
the strain to "have itself elected to office wherever it goes. Politics has
been its specialty since war has passed.
A Northeast Missouri Farm Scene
Besides Hugh Glenn Monroe has furnished the country another
of its big business figures — Dr. W. S. Woods, of Kansas City, who, while
bom in Boonp, began his career in Monroe, marrying Miss Bina Mc-
Bride of Paris, and claims it at hia home. To the hanking world it has
given also J. Fletcher Farrell, vice-president of the Fort Dearborn
National Bank at Chicago, and vice-president of the American Bankers'
Association, The county is provincial only about its horses and its
people.
In the Empire op Agriculture
The development of its stock and agricultural interests from the
days when only a timbered farm was visible here and there contains moat
of romance. The Kentuckians and Virginians, next to com, naturally
took to hemp, but there is not a stalk of it raised in the county today,
the only reminder that it was ever a staple here being in the wreck of
an old hemp-breaker encountered now and then in the outhouse on some
farm long in possession of a single line. The crop, along with tobacco,
which supplanted it in the late sixties and early seventies, exhausted the
soil in the less fertile portions, constant coming added to the min, and
it was years before the people knew what was the matter. All the waste
and impoverished land, however, has been built up again by scientific
methods, no county being more progressive in its agriculture, and it is
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 467
now one of the richest stock and grass counties in the state. Blue grass
and corn are its staples and its hig farmers are mostly ''grass men"
and feeders. They feed on the land and reap a double profit. But little
grain is shipped, the act being considered treason. Contemporaneously
it has developed into the greatest fine stock county in the state, espe-
cially in horses, mules and sheep. The Kentuckians who came to Mon-
roe county had .the race failing for fine horses and with the develop-
ment of the saddle type — the Denmark strain — began to breed for it,
buying the pick of Kentucky stallions as early as 1870. Today, with the
Hook Woods training bams at Paris, the biggest institution of its kind in
the country, as evidence of the fact, Monroe is the greatest fine horse
county in the middle west. The story of the development of this great
industry also reads like romance. The county is equally as famous for
its mules and in the persons of B. F. Vaughn, Stone & Son and James
Warren, has the most extensive feeders and developers in the state. This
ascendancy is due to the work of the Agricultural College of the Uni-
versity of Missouri, which numbers many graduates in Monroe, and
to that more historic institution, the Paris fair, established in 1838,
and which has devoted over half a century to developing the stock and
agricultural interests of the county. As far back as J859, David Major,
a prominent planter and slave owner, was awarded a gold-headed cane
for the best essay on agriculture, and the association has ever since
emphasized the farm and its stock, having little to do with racing. Each
year sees thousands of people gather on its beautiful grounds with
nothing more to attract them than friendly contests of neighbors in
grain, poultry and stock shows, Monroe leading the state in poultry also.
However, this is immaterial as history.
On the Church RouaS
The religious evolution of the county, in its intimate phases, carries
an absorbing interest. The Kentuckians were originally Old School
Baptists or Presbyterians, occasionally Methodists, but early fell under
the spell of the Campbell movement which swept the central valley states
in the ^rly years of the last century. Barton Stone, ** Raccoon John"
Smith and other great pioneer preachers of the Disciples movement came
to ^lissouri in the thirties, swaying the thought and intelligence here
as they did in Kentucky, and Alexander Campbell himself was twice a
visitor at Paris, the last time in 1848. As a result the county is pre-
ponderantly of this faith in its religious ideals, or rather was, the Dis-
ciples predominating. The Old School Baptists, once the most power-
ful and numerous sect in the county, have gradually vanished, and only
three or four of their church edifices, some of these, like Berea in South
Pork, having no congregation remain. They furnished the county with
some of its most militant and heroic figures, such men as Wm. Priest,
Elder Sutton and Epaphroditus Smith, known in person and tradition,
but save for Cedar Bluflf, Stoutsville, Berea and Old Baptist, there re-
mains not a vestige of them. Every other denomination has grown and
in a measure kept pace, but the faith of the pioneer is evidently no
more. Monroe has one Catholic community, Indian Creek.
By Way op Reminiscence
Green V. Caldwell, of Ralls county, was the first storekeeper in
Jackson township, establishing a trading point two miles south of where
Paris now stands in 1831 — probably where the county infirmary is
located. Paris was laid out the same year and for many years there-
468 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
after had Florida as an ambitious county seat rival. The fight began
with the organization of the county and did not end until the late for-
ties, when, to lay the rivalry. Major Howell and Dr. Flannigan, mem-
bers of the legislature, the county having double representation in those
days, hit upon the trick of having a row of rich sections cut off the north
and south ends of the county, making it impracticable to divide it
further east and west, as proposed by Florida, with Paris the seat of
one county and Florida of the other. As a result Monroe county was
ravished of some of its richest territory and both men forever forfeited
their political standing. Howell was among the most brilliant Missouri
lawyers of that day and the consequences were serious as regarded him,
spoiling a career which would have no doubt been useful and distin-
guished. The geographical effects of the rape may be seen by looking
at the map and noting the cut-oflf into Shelby in the northwestern part
of the county. Even in those days Monroe countians were true Bourbons
and those cut off into Shelby never forgave the authors of the enforced
separation, it requiring a new generation to obliterate traces of the
feeling engendered. For forty years it remained a miniature Alsace-
Lorraine, the inhabitants persisting in calling themselves Monroe coun-
tians and their political interests centering in Monroe county elections.
In those days Salt river was thought to be a navigable stream and
Florida was looked upon as the headwaters of navigation, an important
advantage considering that there were no railroads. Among the county
seat boomers at Florida was John Marshall Clemens, the visionary and
impractical father of Mark Twain, who moved to Hannibal before the
fight was settled.
The land on which Paris is located was deeded to the county seat
commissioners by Hightower I. Hackney and wife, James R. Abbernathey
and wife and J. C. Pox and wife. The first sale of town lots occurred
September 12, 13, and 14, 1831, and a letter to the St. Louis Republican
at the time stated that the results were gratifying. The first two lots
were bought by Marshall Kelly for $301 and are occupied by the Glenn
hotel, Paris' historic hostelry, built in the fifties. Among the purchasers
was Eben W. McBride, father of ^Irs. W. S. Woods, and on« of the
famous pioneer citizens of the county, a man of learning, wit, and kindly
heart, who having grown rich and become the head of one of the most
historic homes of the state, gave up his life in a steamboat explosion on
the lower Mississippi in the late sixties. He was going south with mules
and his body was never recovered, though a big shaft in his honor stands
in beautiful Walnut Grove cemetery at Paris today. Perhaps no couple
in Monroe county were so justly famed as Mr. McBride and his wife,
Julia Snell McBride, both Kentuckians.
When the court house site was being surveyed the men engaged in the
work caught a spotted fawn, which leaped from the thicket, and it was
taken to the home of James R. Abbernathy, afterwards the famous Whig
editor of the Mercury, and raised until it grew into a large deer.
The first house in town was erected by J. C. Fox and Hightower Hack-
ney and the first business house by Fox, standing until 1887, where the
Paris opera house now stands. It was occupied by Fox & Caldwell.
Marshall Kelly kept the first tavern in a log cabin where the Glenn
house now stands and Alfred Wilson, afterwards famed as a Christian
preacher, along with Henry Davis, another Kentuckian, afterwards
county judge and business man, was among the first blacksmiths. Talia-
ferre Bostick and Jonathan Gore were saddlers and William Stephens
was tailor. Among the early citizens were the eloquent Dr. Flannigan,
referred to before, Wm. K. Van Arsdale, whose name appears as among
the charter members of Paris Masonic lodge, and Anderson Woods.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 469
Just north of town on a big farm, surrounded by an accomplished
family and a large number of slaves, lived that Dr. Bower, afterwards
congressman, who was in the march on Detroit during the War of 1812,
and who earlier was a survivor of the Indian massacre at the River
Raisin. He was a Kentuckian and a graduate of the Philadelphia school
of medicine and was surgeon of the first company sent from Kentucky
in response to call for troops. Being captured and taken to Maiden
he fell into the hands of the women of the family of a well known Eng-
lish officer, one of whom he fell in love with, and was finally sold as a
captive to an American citizen for $12. He lived to return to Maiden a
conqueror and to return the kindness of his English lady friends.
When arraigned by Qeneral McNeil during the Civil war and compelled
to give ransom he proudly related the incident of having been sold once
for $12 while in his country's service, and declared he had never
thought to be subjected to like humiliation again. The story procured
his release from McNeil'^ superiors, but the old veteran never recovered
from what he deemed an insult and died soon afterwards. He had lost
three boys in the Confederate army and one in the war with Mexico.
Dr. Bower was captain of the Kentucky guards sent out to meet Mar-
quis de Lafayette on his visit to Kentucky and was a gentleman, a real
gentleman, of the old school, famed in the history and traditions of
Monroe county.
In Paris and Jackson Townships
In the early days, before the organization of the fair association, there
was a race course at Paris, southwest of town, and here the pioneers
gathered to witness the racing feats of such horses as **Tom," and
** Charlemagne, " belonging to the Bufords, Kentuckians, as will be
recognized by their names. People came for miles and money and
whiskey were generally waged on the result, more often whiskey, as it
was more plentiful. Here also was the muster field, where Gteneral R. D.
Austin drilled his daughty warriors.
Perhaps the history of Jackson township would not be complete
without mentioning names like Curtright, Grimes, Ragsdale, Barker,
Arnold, Bridgford and McCann, associated with the early agricultural
and stock interests of the county and still inseparably identified with
these industries. First the most famous short-horn man in the state,
both breeder and importer, Jefferson Bridgford, afterwards became the
main factor in the development of its saddle horse industry, winning
the prize for the best gentleman rider at the Columbian exposition at
Chicago on his famous '* Artist Montrose*' when a man of seventy-five.
Avory Grimes owned '* Black Patsy" and **Ned Forest," the foundation
almost of the horse stock of Monroe county, the Arnolds o\^Tied **Tom
Hal," and the McCanns and Ragsdales were cattle men.
The early physicians of the town included Dr. Abner E. Gore and
Dr. Long, later Dr. Ben Dysart, surgeon of Cockrell 's fighting brigade,
also Dr. D. C. Gore, the Gores, father and son, both being honored with
the presidency of the Missouri Medical Association. These men con-
tinued down until the new order in medicine was practically established,
and, along with Dr. Loyd, were regarded as among the brightest physi-
cians in the state. The elder Gore used to tell this story of his early
struggles as a young practitioner : He was young, but had already ac-
quired a wife and one boy, afterwards Dr. D. C. Gore, then of Marshall,
but patients were few. Finally an epidemic of pneumonia broke out
south of Paris and he was kept busy day and night. During iis absence
n
it
it
it
470 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
one day a stranger rode up to the gate where his young hopeful of a son
was idly casting rocks and inquired for him.
Where is your father?'' he asked.
Dunno," replied the boy.
Gone to see his patients?"
Nop — ^patients all dead," said the boy tersely and resumed his rocks.
The elder Gore, as indeed also his son, were men of wide culture and
fine wit. Dysart ranked as one of the greatest surgeons of the state in
his day. They were men whose names are still loved and revered and are
enshrined in the town's traditions.
Aside from Major Howell the early bar at Paris included such names
as that of Theodore Brace, afterwards supreme judge of Missouri, Hum-
phrey McVeagh, who quit the law for business and grew rich at Hanni-
bal, James R. Abbernathey, and Colonel Philip Williams, Virginian,
miser and hermit, owner of a hundred slaves, who died unmarried and
without direct heirs and whose estate was th'fe subject of one of the
greatest pieces of litigation in the history of Northeast Missouri, Senator
Vest and Judge Samuel Priest, then a young barrister, being among the
opposing counsel. The estate went to a niece, Mrs. Annie Williams
Magreiter, the old hermit's housekeeper, who speedily dissipated it,
and as mysteriously disappeared. A clause in the old miser's will is
worth reproduction in the ** Green Bag." It mentions a woman he had
known in Virginia, refers to an alleged illegitimate son, and says:
*'I do not of my own knowledge know that said Williams is my son,
but it being ungallant to dispute the word of a lady in such matters, I
hereby bequeath him the sum of $10,000."
Colonel Williams was one of the historic figures of early Paris and
lived in a picturesque grove east of town. Later came A. M. Alexander
and R. N. Bodine, both elected to congress from the second district, and
it may be said that the Monroe county bar has always been a brilliant
one. It included T. P. Bashaw, Jas. H. Whitecotton, Judge W. T. Rag-
land, Senator F. W. McAllister and other men of note throughout the
state. Like everything else in Monroe county, it is well supplied with
tradition.
Back in the days of the tobacco industry two men obtained their start
at Paris and subsequently became famous in both business and philan-
thopy in this section of Missouri. They were Daniel and William Du-
laney of Hannibal, founders of the Empire Lumber Co., and their names
live today on account of good deeds associated with them. At one time
they bought and prized tobacco at Paris.
The Masonic lodge at Paris was organized March 1, 1835, and boasts
a continuous charter, being the fourth oldest lodge in the state. Its
first master was Stephen Barton and it owns and occupies its own struc-
ture, a three story building. Monroe Chapter was organized in 1861,
with Dr. Gore and W. F. Buckner as its leading spirits, and Parsifal
commandery was organized in 1884.
Paris Odd Fellows lodge was organized March 2, 1848, and retains
today the traditions of its founders as does the Masonic lodge, both
being agencies for good during their long history. The charter members
of the Odd PeUows lodge were Wm. Taylor, Joseph Lefever, A. J. Cap-
linger, P. A. Heitz and others.
Churches and Congregations
The Paris Christian church was among the earliest of the congre-
gations established by the Disciples in Missouri and dates back to the
thirties, first meeting in the old brick house known as the Addison Bodine
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 471
place, and later — ^in 1848— building a brick structure on the present
site. This building was torn down and a new one erected in 1884, and
this in turn demolished and supplanted by a modem $35,000 structure in
1910. Among its ministers have been Alexander Proctor, famous
throughout the brotherhood, W. J. Mountjoy, J. B. Davis, the Rev.
Samuel McDaniel, T. W. Pinkerton, W. N. Briney, — . — . Wright, J.
R. Perkins and F. W. Allen, all distinguished men and the two latter
known outside their denominational world, Perkins as a publicist and
Allen as a novelist.
The Paris Baptist church was organized at the home of Eli Bozarth,
four miles south of where the town now stands, in May, 1831, and the Rev.
Edward Turner was its first pastor. He was followed by Anderson
Woods in 1836, the name of the body first being Bethlehem church. It
has had a succession of able ministers and has been a power for good in
the development of community life.
Paris Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1832, and was
among the first to join the Southern Association following the division
in 1844. Its first minister was the Rev. James Jameson and among its
first members Thos. Miller, Thos. Noonan, Joel Maupin, Jefferson Marr,
William Stevens, names known still in the history of the county.
Paris Presbyterian church was organized in 1842, and its first pastor
was the Rev. W. P. Cochran. Among the charter members were Thos.
Barrett, J. S. Caldwell, 0. P. Gentry, Welthy Applegate, Rosella Vanars-
dale and John Curry.
The .organization at Paris followed that at Pleasant Hill, seven miles
south by several years. Pleasant Hill was organized in 1825, before the
county had a separate existence, and is probably the oldest as well as
the most historic congregation in the county. The Rev. Thomas Durf ee, a
missionary, was its founder, and the Rev. Alfred Wright its first pastor.
James McGee and the JNIcKamey family were its charter members, a
slave woman by the name of Marietta also being included in the number.
The church is still very much alive and is one of the few original con-
gregations to maintain a continued existence. In its yard sleep many
of the famous pioneer men and women of Monroe county.
The Methodist church at Ooss, Jackson township, was organized in
1833, and was founded by Henry Marr, Samuel West, Susan Austin,
John Shearman, David Ashby and others.
Salem Baptist church was organized in 1857, by the Rev. Henson
Thomas, one of the most noted of the county's pioneer preachers, and
among its charter members were a group of Kentuckians, hailing from
Madison county — ^Lewis Philips, Thomas P. Moore, Samuel Willis,
Richard Thomas and others.
Long Branch Baptist church was organized in 1844, by John B.
Rudasill, James Botts, Edward Goodnight and others, and its first
pastor was Wm. Jesse. For over twenty-five years W. B. Craig of Paris,
the most famous of Monroe county Baptist preachers, ministered to it,
and his labors ceased only with his death.
These congregations are singled out on account of their age and
the traditions that cluster about them. It is interesting to note that the
names appearing on their charter rolls continue in their present mem-
bership, illustrating as nothing else can the degree to which the county
has maintained its racial solidarity.
Schools and Banks
The public schools at Paris were organized in 1867, and the Paris
high school in 1873, the latter by B. P. Newland, a German scholar and
472 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
a graduate of Heidelberg, still lovingly remembered. W. D. Christian
has been its superintendent since 1886, a period of twenty-six years, and
the school has been notable in the character of men and women it has
sent out into the world. Prior to the public schools the old-time academy
for boys and seminary for girls constituted the town's educational
plant, as they did in most southern communities of that day. The Paris
Female Seminary, which stood on Ijocust street, the town's main resi-
dence thoroughfare, was noted in its time, and the young ladies educated
there possessed all the graces and just as few of the essentials as it
w^as necessary to get along without. Just prior to the war S. S. Bassett,
recently returned from Bethany college, opened up an academy for boys
on the hill east of town, and it flourished for a season, most of its pupila
casting aside book and rule to respond to the call of bugle and tap of
drum.
The Paris National Bank, the town's oldest financial institution, was
first organized in 1871, being preceded by the old Monroe County Sav-
ings Association, organized in 1865, the moving spirit in both being the
late David H. Moss. It has continued, with one reorganization, under
practically the same management until the death of Judge Moss in
1907. Associated with him all these years was W. F. Buckner, who
retired in 1912. The latter 's son, A. D. Buckner, a member of the
executive committee of the American Bankers' Association, is now at
the head of the institution.
The Paris Savings Bank was organized in 1885, and W. M. Farrell
has been cashier practically all the time since, his son, J. F. Farrell of
the Ft. Dearborn Bank at Chicago, being associated with him as assist-
ant for several years.
The Oldest Newspaper
The real history of Paris and Monroe county would be incomplete
without mention of its oldest and most historic institution, the Paris
Mercury, possibly the oldest weekly newspaper in the state, under a con-
tinuous name. 'The Mercury was founded by Lucien J. Eastin in 1837,
and without its files, preserved in a score of Monroe county households,
authentic account of the stirring events entering into the county's history
would be impossible. Beginning with Eastin the Mercury has had a suc-
cession of unusual men as editors, among the most notable being James B.
Abbernathey, famous as a Whig lawyer in the forties, and James-M. Bean,
state senator following the reconstruction period. Associated with Bean
was A. G. Mason, whose hospitality and geniality are still a matter of
tradition, and kindly remembered Joe Burnett. The paper is at
present published by Alexander & Stavely, and, valuing its historical
associations, makes an effort to live up to its traditions.
No less potential is the Monroe County Appeal, though not so old,
being moved to Paris from Monroe City in 1873. The Appeal is now
owned and edited by B. F. Blanton and Sons and has been in the family
practically since it was founded.
The history of Jackson township is largely the history of the county
and in the names that appear in its beginnings — Crutchers, Curtrights,
Buckners, Gores, Vaughns, Batsells, Fields and others already men-
tioned is to be found the moving cause behind the county's social, polit-
ical, and religious development.
Monroe Township
Monroe township has a larger infusion of nothem and eastern blood
than any other township in the county, though Monroe City, its only
town, is distinctly southern in its ideals and standards.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 473
The town of Monroe City was laid out in 1857 by E. B. Talcott, a
contractor building tracks for the new Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad,
then in process of construction, and was bom in time to acquire a most
eventful history, being the scene of the biggest battle fought on Mon-
roe county soil during the bitter civil strife that foUowed.
This checked its growth, but on the restoration of peace it speedily
recovered and in 1910 was the largest towa in the county, having a
population of over two thousand. The first church in the town was St.
Jude's, an Episcopal congregation organized in 1866. The Christian
church followed in 1869, the Baptist in 1870, the Presbyterian in 1871
and the Methodist in 1876, the large Catholic church there coming at
a comparatively recent date. Its public schools were organized in 1867,
and the Monroe City Bank followed in 1875, John B. Randol being presi-
dent and W. R. P. Jackson, cashier. The latter organized the Farmers
and Merchants Bank in 1886, and the two institutions, Mr. Jackson still
being at the head of the latter, are among the strongest country banks
in the state. The old bank is now in charge of Dr. Thos. Proctor, a .
member of the family which has been identified with the growth and
development of the township from the beginning, mainly as farmers,
stockmen and financiers. The first house in Monroe City was built
by J. M. Preston and the first regular dry goods store was owned by
John Boulware. Dr. Proctor, above mentioned, was its first physician.
The most famous institution in Monroe City from a historical stand-
point was the old Monroe Institute, erected by a stock company in 1860.
It was in this building the Federal troops took refuge to beat off the
attack of General Harris and his raw Confederate recruits during the
Civil war and an examination of the names signed to the articles of
incorporation discloses that Monroe City, like the rest of the county,
has changed little in blood strains and in family lines. There were then
the Baileys, Proctors, Warners, McClintics, Boulwares, Sheets, Fuquas
and Yates and the samre names and the same families continue today.
Monroe is a fine cattle producing township and enjoys an especial ascend-
ancy in the Hereford strain, an outgrowth of the Monroe Hereford
Association organized in 1874.
Indun Creek
Closely identified with Monroe township, and associated with its
growth and development, is Indian Creek township, home of the first
Catholic colony to settle in ]Monroe county and which yet preserves both
its racial and religious solidarity. Indian Creek is an inland township
merely skirted by a railroad and there has been little perceptible change
in it for fifty years. There history has unfolded evenly, without the too
sudden exception, and in most respects it remains today pretty much
as it was when the historic spire of St. Stephens, visible for miles across
the rich prairie, was first reared by the devout Celts who came to make
the rich land their own. The names of Yates, Parsons, Mudd, Buckman,
Miles, Lawrence and McLeod are connected with its material develop-
ment, as well as its social and religious growth, and they are still asso-
ciated with its life and its activities. Swinkey, or Elizabethtown, once
a village of 350, has dwindled with the coming of rural routes, but
at one time was an important trading center, laid out by a man of
the same name in 1835, and subsequently changed to Elizabethtown,
in honor of his first wife, whose name was Elizabeth. The history
of St. Stephens church is not obtainable, but it is one of the oldest
religious bodies in Monroe county, dating back to 1833, and has exer-
cised a profound influence over the lives of the generations that have
474 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
grown up within its shadows. Indian Creek township, if the legend be
correct, has never had an inmate in the county infirmary, and for years
elected neither constable nor justice of the peace, two facts showing the
character and quality of the religion inculcated by the succession of
good fathers who have ministered to the people of this little Arcady.
All events in Indian Creek are reckoned from the destructive cyclone
which occurred there March 10, 1876, and which practically destroyed
the village of Elizabethtown. Historic St. Stephens church — the first
house to be built — was crumpled up like a straw and of the entire town
there remained, when its fury was spent, but four houses, among them
the parochial residence. In all fourteen people wete killed, the storm
cutting a pathway of death and destruction practically through the
entire township, and the little community never fully recuperated. St,
Stephens was rebuilt, the new church being a beautiful building capable
of seating eight hundred people, but was burned in 1907, being rebuilt
in 1908-09 and dedicated by Archbishop John J. Glennon in one of the
most notable services of the kind ever held in this section of the state.
Its present shepherd is Father Cooney.
Union and Marion Townships
These townships lie along the western edge of the county and next
to Jackson and Jefferson are of most interest historically.
Among the early settlers of Marion township were the Parrels, Over-
felts, Swindels, Davises and Embrees.
Madison was laid out by James R. Abbemathey in 1837, and the
ninety lots brought him $1,100. The first house was put up by Henry
Harris, who came from Madison county, Ky., and was used as a tavern.
James Eubank came out from Tennessee in 1838, and started the first
store, Dr. Nicholas Ray being the first physician. Among its first citi-
zens were Joel Neel, James Ownby, Ezra Pox and other Kentuckians.
Madison Masonic lodge was organized in 1844 and the Madison
Christian church in 1838, by Elder Henry Thomas and Martin Vivion.
Holliday, the second town of this township, both being on the Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, was organized in 1876 and was laid
out by W. B. Holliday and Brother, sons of that Holliday who was
among the commissioners appointed to organize the county over forty
years before. No man of the name, save a former negro slave, remains
in the county at this time.
Union township was the home of the Pox and Whittenberg settle-
ment, referred to elsewhere, and was settled largely by Virginians, Mid-
dle Grove being one of the points of real historic interest in the county.
It took its name from two facts — first, because it was a half way point
between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers on a route much traveled in
those days, and second, that it was the most central point on the first
mail route established between New London and Payette. It was
located in a belt of timber bordering on the Grand Prairie, from which
came the Grove part of the name and was famous as a stopping point
for the early travelers en route from river to river, the old Glasgow
and Hannibal road, it is presumed, being one with the Payette and
London road, known earlier as the ** London trace.'* The town was
properly laid oflf in lots by John C. Milligan in 1840, and soon became
a thriving village and one of the best trading points in Northeast Mis-
souri. It is notable in Paris, the county seat, that nearly all of its
established families came originally from Middle Grove or Florida,
Most of the county's moneyed men of the older generation laid the
foundation of their fortunes at Middle Grove and its place in local hift-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 475
tory and tradition is fixed. Milligan, who was a Virginian by birth,
was its first postmaster and first hotel keeper and John Myers was the
first mail carrier over the London-Fayette route, going as far as old
Franklin on the Missouri river. Edward Tucker was the town's first
tailor and Henry Lutz the first carpenter. The first school in the town-
ship was established in 1830 and its teacher was William Maupin from
Howard county. The Christian congregation built the first church as
early as 1825, and William Reid was the officiating minister. At Middle
Grove also was opened the first store in the county, its owners being
Olenn & Parsons.
Among the famous early homes of the township was that of Ashby
Snell, called ** Hunter's Rest,'' and noted for its hospitality. Here
gathered the wit and beauty, the culture and courage, of an early day
and mine host was never so happy as when his house was filled. A
famous hunter himself, many pleasing traditions yet exist regarding
the quality of his venison and the fame of his pack. Owner of a hun-
dred slaves and the father of six handsome daughters, his home was a
retreat for travelers and the resort for the socially elect living between
the two rivers. Mrs. Snell was in her maidenhood Susan Woods, eldest
daughter of that Anderson Woods who was among the most noted of the
county's pioneer citizens. It was to ** Hunter's Rest" Colonel Lebius
Prindle, of fame in Price's army, came to get his bride — Miss Nora
Snell — ^and the romance of the wooing of the young Virginia soldier is
still one of the pleasing legends of the county.
Union township, in an early day, was the scene of one of the most
revolting and for a time mysterious crimes in the county's history — the
murder of Mrs. Amanda Davis by a negro slave who had become in-
fatuated with her. Mrs. Davis was a daughter of that Joel Stephens who
had been seven times elected to the legislature from Monroe county, and
in some manner offended the slave, who was overseer on the farm and
one of her husband's most valuable men. He slew her with an axe,
beheading her completely, and when the husband returned, being absent
from home at the time, he found her body lying across the well top.
The negro disappeared and a week's hunt with blood hounds failed to
locate him. It was believed he had escaped to free territory, but years
afterwards his skeleton was found in a grove adjacent to the house, where
he had shot himself.
It was in Union township near Middle Grove also that Alexander
Jester is supposed to have murdered Gilbert Gates, younger son of Asa
Gates, and brother of the late John W. Gates, of Steel Trust fame.
Jester was an old man — an itinerant preacher — who fell in with young
Gates in southwestern Kansas in the fall of 1871, both being on their
way back home, one to Indiana and the other to Illinois. Young Gates
had a span of good horses and a buffalo calf which he was exhibiting,
and the two traveled together as far as Middle Grove, where the boy
mysteriously disappeared. His father took up the trail and finally
ran Jester down, finding him in possession of his son's clothing. The
accused man was placed in jail in Paris, took a change of venue to
Audrain county, and in 1871 escaped from jail at Mexico. Nothing
was heard of him until the summer of 1899, when he was betrayed
to the authorities by his sister, Mrs. Street, the couple then living to-
gether in Oklahoma. How the trail from Kansas to Indiana was
picked up by the Pinkertons after thirty years, and the money spent by
the older brother, then a multi-millionaire, in his effort to convict the
aged murderer, need not be retold. Jester was tried at New London the
following summer and acquitted, dying a few years later in Nebraska
without throwing any light on the grim mystery.
476 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
An instance of primitive justice in Monroe county is embodied in the
story of John Burton, one of the pioneer justices of the peace in Union
township. His brother, Reuben Burton, had lost a hog and finding it in
possession of one Rious, a free negro, brought suit before his brother
John to recover it. Plaintiff was present with his lawyer, J. C. Pox, but
defendant had no attorney. After all the evidence had been heard Justice
Burton arose and asking Pleasant Ford, another prominent citizen, to
swear him, gave testimony on his own account, declaring himself in pos-
session of evidence that had not been brought to the court's attention.
He had hunted with the negro, he testified, knew the hog to be his, and
reascending to the seat of justice decided the case against his brother.
There was something Roman in the act and modem judges stumbling
over the obstacle of *' judicial knowledge'' might well copy his example.
South Fork Township
South Fork township, the richest agricultural section of the county,
was organized in 1834 and Santa Fe, its one town, was laid out in 1837
by Dr. John S. Bybee, a Kentuckian. The first business house in the
town was built by Henry Canote and was followed by Clemens Hall
with a general store. South Fork is an inland township, settled mainly
by Virginians, and Santa Fe has been an important trading point from
the beginning. Its first physician was Dr. D. L. Davis and its first tailor
Alvin Cauthorn. The Methodists had a church house there as early as
1840, South Fork Presbyterian church was organized in 1853 and the
Santa Fe Christian church in 1855. Among the pioneers of this rich
township were the Criglers, Prices, Bybees, Tanners, Hannas, Hizers and
Davises. Later came the Trimbles, Creighs, Cowherds, Quisenberries
and others whose names still figure largely in its life and activities. From
South Fork came Colonel Pindle of sharp-shooter fame in Price's army,
before mentioned, and there lived Dr. William Houston, who, amid re-
bellion on all sides, continued to uphold the Union cause during the
Civil war. Dr. John S. Drake, Kentuckian, has been one of the re-
vered figures of this fine community for fifty years. The names of Bates,
Vaughn, Brashears, Fleming, Peak, Ragsdale and others of the early fam-
ilies continue in perpetuity and Monroe county possesses no finer or more
progressive body of people. At Strother in the northern portion of South
Fork township was once located one of the county's chief institutions
of learning. It was established by John Forsythe, Jacob Cox, Joseph
Sproul, William Vaughn, Hiram Bledsoe and others before the war and
continued up until the late seventies, when it burned, having in its time
many renowned instructors, the last being Prof. French Strother, now
making his home in Virginia. South Fork has had the educational im-
petus from the beginning and has furnished the county with some of its
most illustrious citizens.
WOODLAWN AND ClAY ToWNSHIPS
Woodlawn township lies along the northwestern border of the county
and is also an inland township, as is Clay, its neighbor on the southeast.
Its early settlers were the Atterburys, Millions, Robinsons. Jen-
nings, Stephens and Woods. It has two villages, Woodlawn and Dun-
can's Bridge, the latter in the western end of the township. For many
years Woodlawn had the oldest ^lasonic lodge in the county outside of
Paris and many of the names familiar to the student of local history
originated there. It is a rich farming country and has as large an in-
fusion of northern and eastern blood as Monroe, the flat lands early at-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 477
tracting buyers. Woodlawn's history has been uneventful in a measure,
its most potential figure in days past being Judge Woods, one of the mem-
bers of the county court in the eighties and a man of fine native ability
and much force of character.
Clay township, which lies just northwest of Jackson, was named for
Chas. Clay and its history is closely associated with that of its neighbor.
Among its early settlers were the Hangers, Stalcups, Henningers, Sid-
ners, Sparks, Eppers, Bartens and Webbs.
Granville was at one time one of the county 's most prosperous towns
and is still a good trading point. Its earliest religious body was the
Christian church, organized in 1858, Rev. Alfred Wilson being its first
pastor. Tirey L. Ford, ex- Attorney- General of California, hails from
Clay and his family was among the pioneers who settled there. The
roll-call and reunion of the Granville Christian church, an annual event,
brings home-comers each year and observation leads to the conclusion
that Clay township has furnished the country at large a multitude of
useful and potential people, active in all the walks of modern life.
Washington Township
Among the oldest townships in the county, and one about which tradi-
tion clusters in myriad forms, is Washington, settled by the Coombs,
Maupins, Raglands, Crutchers, Harts, Dulaneys and Bufords.
Old Clinton, famous as a muster point, was established in 1836 and was
laid out by George Glenn, Samuel Bryant and S. S. Williams, who built
the first store and operated the first mill in the town. Jacob Kirkland
was a pioneer blacksmith there and among its early citizens were Major
Howell, afterwards the county's leading lawyer, and Daniel Dulaney,
muster captain, subsequently the Hannibal lumber king, legends of
whose doughty plume still survive among the older men who remember
it and the man who wore it on these annual events. Clinton was at one
time an enterprising town, but the completion of the Hannibal & St.
Joseph Railroad a few miles north, resulted in towns like Shelbina and
HunneweU and it soon began to decay. Today nothing remains of it but
a few ramshackle buildings and ragged cabins to speak a former glory.
It is located in the North Fork hills, one of the most picturesque sections
in north Missouri, and long ago lost even the likeness of a town.
Jonesburg, Clinton's rival, built by Colonel Gabriel Jones in 1836,
and separated from its neighbor by only a narrow alley, died along with
its more ambitious rival, and nothing but the merest legend remains con-
cerning it or the unconscious element of grotesque humor that led to its
organization. Among the first merchants at Jonesburg were Blakey &
Lasley and Coombs & Gough. The names still survive in the life of the
county today, as does that of Ragland, the founder of which family be-
came famous as keeper of the historic tavern at Clinton, which, in its day,
entertained United States Senator James S. Green and many other hon-
ored guests. It might be mentioned in this connection that Senator
Green, when a young man, spent several years at Paris as a hatter's ap-
prentice, and that he never failed to capture the suffrage of Monroe
county.
Jefferson Township and Mark Twain
Jefferson township, lying along the eastern border of the county,
has more actual history perhaps than any other township in the county
unless it be Jackson, but the wealth of legend regarding its early life,
particularly that at Florida, is lost sight of and obscured by the one
supreme fact of its existence — it was the birthplace of Samuel Lang-
478 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
home Clemens, known to American letters as Mark Twain, who first saw
light at the then busy little village in 1834.
In the shadow of this important event the historian is prompted to
overlook and ignore the dry facts and details of lives not known outside
the traditions of the county, and would in a measure perhaps be justi-
fied. Yet while Florida, by some sort of accident, produced the king of
American letters, it was not lacking in other good human stuflf, which
might have shown genius fully as commanding under like circumstances.
One of the earliest settlements in the county was at the point where
the great humorist was born and the names written on the headstones
in the burying ground there today are those that were prominent in the
day when the town was thought to have a future and when it drew set-
tlers from far and near led by the belief that the dream, later embodied
in **The Gilded Age,'' might by some happy chance, come true.
Among the early pioneers in this oldest of townships was Major Will-
iam Penn, whose wife was god-mother to Clemens and whose oldest
daughter. Miss Arzelia, afterwards Mrs. William Fawkes, was the first
sweetheart of America's greatest literary genius. Along with Penn were
the Hickmans, Stices, Scobees, McNutts, Buckners, Violetts, Poages,
Merediths, Chownings, Quarles and a host of others whose names are
readily recognizable to IVIonroe countians.
Florida is located upon a high point of land between the middle and
north forks of Salt river and seems to have been looked on as a likely
spot even by the prehistoric people who inhabited this continent, as so-
called Indian mounds in various states of preservation are to be found
all around it.
Owing to the presence of water power it was in the early days a great
milling point. The first mill, that on South Fork, was built by Peter
Stice, a German whom legend describes as ** jolly" — all millers in ye olden
time were jolly — and that on North Fork by Richard Cave. The Stice
mill was purchased by Captain Hugh A. Hickman in 1830 and was op-
erated by him for nearly forty years. The Cave mill was bought by
Aleck Hickman from Dr. Meredith, a New Englander, in 1852, and from
1845 to 1860, the two plants were the most famous in this section of the
state, doing the largest milling business perhaps ever done in the county.
They shipped flour to Hannibal, Mexico and other surrounding points,
and the fame of their product finally reached the St. Louis market, with
the result that several boats loaded with flour were run down Salt river
to the Mississippi by Hugh Hickman and floated from there to St. Louis,
where it found a ready sale. Captain Hickman was a large, handsome,
muscular man, a gentleman of the old type, and is still remembered lov-
ingly, though his dams have washed out and his burrs are dust. Among
the early merchants at Florida were John A. Quarles and John Marshall
Clemens, father of Mark Twain, who were brothers-in-law. Clemens
was a visionary, but Quarles was an essentially practical man and one of
the strongest figures and most forceful characters in the history of the
county. Both were Tennesseeans and both married Lamptons, who were
Kentucky women. Quarles came to Florida first and later sent back for
his improvident brother-in-law and family. Clemens failed at Florida,
as he did subsequently at Hannibal, and Quarles, alternately merchant
and farmer, finally hotel keeper at Paris, attained a measure of success,
though dying poor.
The influence he had upon the subsequent life of his nephew by mar-
riage, who bore a striking resemblance to him, both in his physical as-
pect and in his whimsical personality, was emphasized and elaborated in
an article by the writer appearing in the Kansas City Star during May,
1912.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 479
It was at the home of his uncle, Judge Quarles, which he visited
each summer until a boy of twelve, that Mark Twain became saturated
with the unwritten literature of his race, drinking it in from the stories
told him in the slave cabins behind his uncle's house and hearing it
afresh as sifted through the fine fancy of the man who was every bit
his equal in the high gift of story-telling — ^perhaps his superior in the
quality of an exquisite and •refined humor, for which he is still famed
in the history of the people among whom he spent his life. The story
of *'The Jumping Prog of Calaveras County,'' which made two conti-
nents roar, traces by the clearest sort of literary genealogy back to Judge
Quarles' stoi^^ of the frog he encountered while taking refuge in a de-
serted Tennessee negro cabin to await the subsiding of a storm. To oc-
cupy his time he began to catch flies and toss them to the frog and when
there were no more flies, began to cast the shot from his ammunition
pouch at the hungry amphibian. These exhausted, he caught a Pandering
yeUow jacket, which he stripped of its wings, and tossed at the frog, and
at this juncture came the climax to a story which has since gained world-
wide fame. On its way down the dying yellow jacket stung the frog and
with one titanic effort — for a frog — it — the frog — coughed up the flies
and along with them the Judge 's shot, enabling him to return home with-
out violating an ancient superstition of hunters which looked on an
empty ammunition pouch as a bad omen. The Judge used to describe
in detail, the efforts of the frog to move with the shot weighing it down
and his hearers invariably convulsed with laughter. He used the story
with many another to draw custom while a merchant at Florida and
many an old man in Monroe county relates it today, who never heard of
**The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," and with no idea that he
may be infringing on copyright.
It was this same Judge Quarles who, while landlord at the old Vir-
ginia House at Paris during the war, became impatient over the com-
plaint of a captain of Federal cavalry anent the condition of a roller towel
in the wash room and who in retort said :
**Sir, two hundred men (referring to a troop of rebels who had been
in town the preceding day) have wiped on that towel and you are the
first to complain."
Judge Quarles lies buried in the old cemetery at Florida, beside his
first wife, and a big marble mausoleum, graven with Masonic emblems,
covers them both. A short distance away, the grave covered with bram-
bles and wild roses, sleeps little Margaret Clemens, the older sister of
Mark Twain, who died in 1835, at the age of twelve years. Time has al-
most eroded her name from the little fluted headstone
Of Judge Quarles the great humorist himself wrote: '*I have never
known a better man and I have never consciously used either him or his
wife in a story. That was a heavenly place for a boy — that farm of his. ' '
And that is one small admission of the undoubted influence the elder man
had on his life. Mark Twain passed through Monroe county on his way
to Columbia in the summer of 1902 and great crowds turned out to do
him honor along the route. Old men all remarked on the striking re-
semblance he bore to his uncle. In this connection it might be well to
state that the great humorist was not bom in the house pictures of which
have been circulated so widely throughout the country and which was
torn down by would-be vandals and made into souvenir canes the year of
the Chicago exposition, but in a little log room behind the store, then
kept by his grandfather Lampton, afterwards the first church in Florida.
His mother was staying there at the time, the story being vouched for by
the only man who can know — Rev. Eugene Lampton, a first cousin and
childhood playmate, now living at Louisiana, ^Iissouri. Mr. Lampton
480 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
also explains away the quaint contention of Mark Twain that the family
forgot him and left him behind when his father moved to Hannibal. He
was forgotten, but not on this particular occasion, it being on one of
the weekly Saturday visits paid by the family of John Marshall Clemens
to the home of Mr. Lampton's father, who lived in the country five miles
from Florida. The mother had taken the remainder of her brood out on
Saturday afternoon and left Samuel to come with his father Sunday
morning. The elder Clemens, being an absent-minded man, came away
and forgot the boy and was not conscious of the fact until he arrived at
his destination and was confronted with the anxious inquiries of the
mother of the future great. Mr. Lampton's father had to mount a horse,
return to Florida, and get the boy. It was a way, says Mr. Lampton,
Sam had of occupying the center of the sta^e.
With the settlement of the county seat fight, the removal of Clemens
with his restless and disturbing spirit, and the realization on the part of
the people that Salt river was not navigable, Florida as a possibility began
to wane, though it remained a trading point of importance until 1869,
when the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was built through the county
and left it some ten miles to the south. Following that it became a prey
to the slow decay that saps inland towns. Its isolation was rendered more
pronounced with the advent of the rural mail route and the abolishment
of the local postoffice, the route now serving it running out from Stouts-
ville, its busy and modem rival located on the railroad ten miles north.
Bitter hurt was added to this humiliation when Stoutsville tried a few
years later to remove the historic Masonic lodge to that place, the Grand
Lodge of Missouri interfering to save it the final mortification. Barring
diminution in population, it is today pretty much as it was seventy-five
years ago. The old Buchanan House, the pride of the town in the days of
the humorist 's childhood, and its social center, still stands in a fair state
of preservation, and frowns seemingly on the busy little smithy nestling
beneath its shadows and on its pretentious modern rival, a concrete bank
building further down the roadway up which General Grant marched
fifty years ago, breaking for the first time on the vision of the nation. The
house is of brick, is a majestic structure, and its ivy-covered walls seem
redolent, almost vocular, with the legends of the quaint hamlet of which
it was once the pride. The last person living in Florida who actually
knew the Clemens family was Aunt Eliza Scott — nee Violett — ^and she
died in the early years of the present decade. With her death passed
the succession of oldest persons who could tell all one wished to know and
the town has given up the hopeless task of any longer furnishing first-
hand information. On account of its isolation Florida has preserved
its racial and community solidarity more than any other place in the
county. It drowses over its delectable memories like some old hidalgo,
oblivious of the ruin and dilapidation about it. The silence there is all-
pervasive, the indolence infectious. It is at once the most beautiful and
the most historic town in Monroe county.
Preparations are already in progress to erect the Mark Twain memo-
rial shaft there, provided for by state appropriation, and it is to be lo-
cated at the intersection of the two roadways leading into the hamlet.
The first resident physician in Florida was Dr. Willis, who was
drowned — some supposed killed — in Salt river while paying a profes-
sional visit. In the cemetery stands a handsome granite shaft to the
memory of that Dr. Chowning to whose doses of medicine Mark Twain
referred as being so large and so generous — castor oil in particular.
Stoutsville was laid out in 1871 and was named for Robert Stout,
a wealthy Kentuckian and farmer, who lived near there. The first busi-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 481
ness house was erected by Dennis Thompson and the first general store
opened by J. R. Nolen and Henry Dooley, the latter subsequently county
judge for many years and among the historic figures of the county. The
Old School Baptists erected a church there in 1840, long before the town
was thought of, and the congregation, one of the few remaining in the
county, still has a building at that place. Hiram Thompson, William
Wilkerson, W. J. Henderson, Job Dooley and Underwood Dooley were
among its charter members.
Matters Miscellaneous
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was built through Monroe
county in 1871, having been commenced in the year of 1869, under the
name of the Hannibal & Central Missouri. The county had voted $250,-
000 at a special bond election held in 1868 and in 1873 held another elec-
tion transferring its stock to the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Company.
The debt was finally discharged in 1891, after having been once refunded.
The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, only four miles of which runs
through Monroe county, was completed to Monroe City in 1857.
The first circuit judge of Monroe county was Priestly H. McBride,
who moved from Columbia to Paris, where he was elected judge of the
second judicial district. He was appointed supreme judge in 1845 and
prior to that, in 1830, had been secretary of state under appointment by
Governor Miller.
The first circuit attorney was Ezra Hunt, who was born at Milford,
Mass. The second was John Hurd.
The county's first representative in the legislature was Joseph Stevens.
He was succeeded in turn by Major Penn and Jonathan Gore. Charles
Flannigan — 1844-46 — was the first Democratic representative elected
from Monroe county. The county was Whig by about two hundred until
1854, when the Know Nothings appeared. After that it was Democratic
until the disfranchisement of the reconstruction period and has been
Democratic ever since. T. T. Rodes, a Democrat, was elected in 1868, but
was denied his seat. Among the succession of representatives are such
names as William J. Howell, Waltour Robinson, James M. Bean, Samuel
Drake, Samuel Rawlings, John Parsons, William Giddings, George W.
Moss and James C. Fox. The county has, almost without exception, ele-
vated good men to the legislature. Ebenezer McBride was the first county
clerk and was followed by Major Penn, who served from 1848 .to 1859.
Thomas Crutcher, one of the best loved men who ever lived in the county,
served in the same office from 1873 to 1886 and was succeeded by James
L. Wright, who served until 1898.
The first circuit clerk was Edward M. Holden and the second Thomas
S. Miller.
The first county judges were Andrew Rogers, John Curry and William
P. Stephenson. •
The first sheriff was \yilliam Runkle, the second Pleasant Ford and
the most famous, Joel ^laupin.
There has been but one legal execution in Monroe county and but one
lynching. The execution was that of Thomas Blue, a negro, who was
hanged June 21, 1867, for the murder of Wm. Vandeventer and wife, an
aged couple living near Florida. The execution occurred beneath a huge
elm tree near the bridge on North Main street at Paris, and was witnessed
by thousands of people. It was afterwards discovered that Blue was the
tool used. by two white men, the object being robbery, and for forty
years it was impossible to convict a man of capital offense in Monroe
Vol. I— 31
482 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
f
county. So lax did the courts and juries become that in June, 1905, a
mob, which nobo;dy considered at all dangerous, broke into the old rock
jail at Paris, took out Abraham Witherup and hanged him from the
bridge fifty yards north of where Blue had been hung forty years before.
Witherup had murdered a young man named Grow, with whom he had
been cropping on a rented farm near old Clinton, and in order to hide
his crime had placed the body in a sack and thrown it into North Fork
river four miles away, hauling it there after night. A special jury was
summoned, but no indictments were found.
In 1831 the county court of Monroe ordered roads to be laid off from
Paris to Columbia, from Paris to the Fayette road and from Paris to
Florida. The first license for the sale of liquor was also issued by this
court and the county tax rate was fixed at seventy-five cents. Edward
M. Holden was granted a license to conduct a ferry over Salt river at
Paris near where the Palmyra bridge now spans that historic stream.
The old covered wagon bridge near the woolen factory, still used, was
built in 1834. The court at its second session appropriated $500 to
'* clear out'' Salt river before the forks, presumably to gratify Florida
navigatora.
The first murder case tried in the county was against Burgess Oglesby,
John J. Callison, et al, charged with killing Robert Donaldson. They
were defended by Austin King and were acquitted.
James H. Smith and Rosey Ann McKeammy were the first couple
to be married in the new county. The date was May 12, 1831, and
Elder Alfred Wright ofiiciated.
The first court house was built in 1831 and was of brick, fifty feet
square and two stories high. It burned in 1866 and a new structure of
brick was erected in 1867 at a cost of $45,000. This was torn down
and a modern stone structure, one of the finest in the West, built in
1912 at a cost of $100,000. Three years prior to this the county spent
$25,000 erecting a modern infirmary to care for the weak and helpless.
The Paris fair association was first organized in 1838 and the first
fair held on a lot adjacent to the home of J. C. Fox. Among those
who exhibited stock and who are still living is Uncle John Curtright,
one of the biggest land owners in the county. He still has the silver cup,
which, as a boy, he won on his fine horse.
In 1860 Monroe county had a population of 11,772 white people and
3,063 slaves. In 1910 it had a population of 18,304. In 1848 it had
6,691 white people and 1,826 slaves. The population of Paris was 502.
As early as 1845, Samuel & Haines, Hannibal packers, who handled
most of the stock from this county,, began to ship Monroe county beef
abroad and even at that time the county had taken front rank among
Missouri fine stock counties. The credit was given to men like Pleasant
McCann, breeder and importer of short-horn cattle, and to others among
those early farmers whose names have already been given as being
associated with the development of the county's live stock interests.
In 1876 David McKamey fed and shipped one hundred head of short-
horn cattle for export use that averaged over 2,200 pounds in Chicago,
and they were the heaviest cattle, so far as known, at least in such
numbers, ever placed on* the market in this country. He fed them for
three years and they were known as the Centennial drove.
In 1868 Jefferson Bridgford, then owning a fine pack of hounds^
found the track of a lynx near his home south of Paris and though it
was twenty-four hours old, followed the trail to the Missouri river
opposite Jefferson City, ninety miles away, and captured the lynx, the
longest chase in the history of the state.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 483
The Civil "War Period
As stated before, Monroe county, from the very beginning of the
Civil war, was a hot-bed of sedition, and for the greater portion of the
time that bloody struggle continued, was an armed camp. The Union
forces had it under heel practically after the first year, but there was
a constant going and coming of Confederates, As a result there were
murder and arson, hatred and assassination. The spy flourished and the
informer lurked in every household.
The first Confederate company in Monroe county was organized
at Paris by Capt. John Drake, a Virginian, sojourning in the town at the
time. This was on June 17, 1861, and shortly after the news of the cap-
ture of Jefferson City by the Federals, had reached Paris. The com-
pany was organized in front of the old Virginia House, where the
Dooley House now stands, and the crowd was summoned by drum beat,
the drummer being Uncle Billie Stevens, the most noted performer in
that line in Monroe county at the time. A Confederate flag was un-
Jeff Bridgpord-
furled to the breeze and enlistments called for, but responses were slow
owing to the fact that the excitement and enthusiasm afterwards prev-
alent had not yet been aroused. The first man to enlist was Richard
Tnissel, driver of the Wyman stage between Paris and Shelbina, and
who, on his way up the street, encountered the crowd and asked what
it meant. On being told he immediately jumped from his seat, signed
his name, and in short order was followed by 125 others. Drake was
elected captain and Thos. B. Wilson, of New York, another sojourner,
first lieutenant. This company, headed by the Paris brass band, and
bubbling over with patriotism, started for Boonville with colors flying,
war then being looked on as a holiday, and the inglorious annals record
that it returned in a few days singly or in small groups, each soldier
appearing at his place of business following that memorable battle as
if he had never experienced martial ardor or known the sraell of powder.
The Drake company was disbanded and no more of war was heard
until a month later when a rider came galloping into town with the news
that "the Federals were coming." Though Federal troops had been
484 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
quartered in various parts of north Missouri, following the capture
of Gamp Jackson, none had yet set foot in Monroe county and the
excitement the news occasioned can be imagined. A chronicler, B. C.
M. Farthing, records in the Paris Mercury of June 2, 1901, that it was
bawled from one end of Main street to the other and that men, women
and children, along with negroes, quit everything and gathered in an
excited and rebellious crowd, talk calculated to hurt being quieted by
James R. Abbernathey and Henry M. Fields, the latter famous for hiis
Union proclivities though Eentuckian and slave-owner. Women carried
Confederate flags and the crowd finally assembled around the Mercury
office, where heralds riding in from various sources, brought the news
of the rumored approach of an invading force, the Mercury, then edited
by Bean and Mason, being a radical secession sheet. As night came on
great bonfires were kindled and old men, mounting . hastily improvised
stands, spoke eloquently beseeching the younger men to stand fast in
repelling alien invasion. IVIen and boys carrying guns and clubs
paraded up and down the street in companies awaiting attack, but no
Federals came, though that night the *' rebel yell'* was bom. The
excitement was not confined to Paris but was prevalent throughout the
county. Mounted and armed men in a few days were to be encountered
everywhere and strange troopers in groups or pairs, riding from the
north, drifted into town every day and out again to join the Confeder-
ates south of the river.
Odd incidents occurred, and romantic ones, as the real war spirit
grew. One day there rode into town from the north over the flinty hill
leading down to the old covered bridge a strange company of horsemen,
halting in front of the courthouse. Riding at the head of the grim
troopers who composed this weird cavalcade was a slender and beauti-
ful boy of fourteen, who sat in his saddle with the grace of a Centaur.
He was garbed in the uniform of a Confederate lieutenant, wore a pair
of high-topped cavalry boots, and a cap with a jaunty feather curling
from the side. His face was pallid, says the chronicler, his hair long,
black and curly, and his eyes brown and pensive. Curiosity was rampant
until the men dismounted, tied their horses to the courthouse fence and
the boy captain, doing the same, ran to a box in front of the Mtrcury
office, leaped upon it, and began to sing a rebel song in clear sweet tones.
Finishing he began a raging rebel speech and in a half an hour the
flame of war, real war, which it required four years of blood and suf-
fering to quench, was lighted in the town and county. This strange
company, its purpose accomplished, remained a day or so, giving little
account of itself, and finally rode away, the boy at its head, as myste-
riously as it came. A few weeks later Marshall's Illinois command roile
into town from the east and a slip of a girl, Mildred l^onan, standing
in the doorway of the home of Martin Bodine, sang ** Dixie'' as they
passed. Miss Donan, sister of the famous Peter Donan and afterwirds
Mrs. Reavis, had a beautiful voice and every soldier tipped his cap as
he rode by. A year later she was the sweetheart and iutercoder for
the famous Monroe county Confederate captain, Elliott Major, and the
act would have cost her her. life. The war began quite differently from
the manner in which it ended.
By July permanent companies were being organized all over the
county and only the briefest mention can be given each.
The first company was that of Capt. Theo Brace and the secoml
that of Gen. Tom Harris. Elliott Major was first lieutenant of
Brace's company, being subse([nently captured, reprieved and ex-
changed, fighting to the Gulf and dying in California, as mayor of n
country town, and Benjamin Welsh was second lieutenant. Abe Ed-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 485
wards was third lieutenant, John Hanger first sergeant, both being
wounded at Franklin, and John Smizer second sergeant. John Vaughn
was commissary and Frank Pitts, Jack Bower, James Bower, 6. M.
Bower, Chas Hanger, Wm. Giddings, Wm. Bassett, Joe Clapper and John
Maupin were among the privates. Of this company, at the close of the
war, twenty-one had been killed and w^ounded and eleven made prisoners.
Brace himself being made prisoner at Pea Ridge and the company
subse(|uently joining other commands east of the river and west.
The next company to be organized was that of Gen. Tom Harris,
which did most of its drilling up and down Main street and which was
w-hipped into military shape by Dr. Bower, before mentioned, and Lieut-
tenant Kelly of Canton, afterwards killed in battle. Shortly afterwards
several other companies were organized throughout the county, among
them that of Capt. Elisha Grigsby, Capt. W. G. Hastings, Capt. Preston
Adams, a veteran of the Mexican war, and Capt. John Murray. Mur-
ray 's company was organized in South Fork and G. W. Edmondston was
first lieutenant, Henry Gillespie second lieutenant, and Jas. B. Davis
second sergeant. This company afterwards joined Brace's battalion and
when Brace was made colonel, Murray was chosen major.
The Grigsby company was organized at Florida wdth Ben F. White
as first lieutenant, and had a fateful career, most of its members before
the war closed being killed, wounded or missing. Even its organization
was accompanied by treachery, the recruiting oflScer deserting to the
Federals and leading his new command of 1,100 men back to Florida
to annihilate his former comrades in arms only to find them gone. It
was this same valiant soldier, a veteran of the Mexican war, noted for
his looting proclivities, who captured two of the most beautiful young
women in Monroe county, girls of its foremost families, and sent them
in irons to Hannibal on charge of being Confederate spies, finally ban-
ishing them from the state. The young women. Misses Creath and Power,
were alone in a carriage at the time wdth no escort save a negro boy, and
were found with arms and ammunition which they were taking to the
recently organized Confederate company in the southeastern part of the
county. His name is withheld by the chronicler to whom the writer is
indebted for these facts. Grigsby *s company was also a part of Brace's
battalion and with its captain afterwards found service under Captain
Pindle, (irigsby being made (luartermaster of that famous command.
Hastings was a northern man by birth, a native of Indiana, but
espoused the cause of the people among whom he lived. He was a
refined and cultured man, being at that time a teacher at Strother, and
was a brave man and gallant soldier. This company was organized at
McKamey schoolhcmse and numbered 125 men and was made up of some
of the best blood of Monroe county — the McGees, Sprouls, Beauchamps,
Bridgfords, Coppages, McBrides, Snells, Cruthers, Millers, and others.
John Ewing Nevins, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, was chaplain.
Hastings was not the only Northerner to cast his lot wrth the South in
this county, John Carter, ** Captain John,'' son of ex-Governor Carter
of Illinois, at the head of a dozen adventurous comrades, coming over
and going south with local commands.
Other companies organized during the summer and fall of 1861-62
were those of Capt. Frank Davis at Madison, and Captain Preston
Adams of Washington township, later Worden Willis and James Crow
at Paris. All these companies saw hard service, but little is known of
their muster-roll. Thos. Sidner, who lost his life in the McNeil massacre
at Palmyra, one of the bravest and handsomest of Monroe county's
fighters, was first lieutenant of the Davis company and among its privates
were J. R. Chowning, afterwards of Bledsoe's battery, W. L. Noel, Jim
486 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Farrell, J. W. Atterbury and a dozen more from representative families
of that section — the Drys, Hunters, Overfelts, Eubanks and others.
Sidner was captured at Kirksville after the battle of Porter's com-
mand with those of Guitar, Merrill and McNeil. He was recruiting for
Price at the time, had a captain's commission, and was shot by McNeil's
order, along with nine others. Sidner was captured at Shelbyville after
being wounded and just as he was stepping into a carriage clad as a
girl to make his escape. Tradition still exists as to his handsome bear-
ing and brave conduct in the face of a shameful death. Story says he
was as beautiful as a woman and as shapely and that many women
loved him, as cavaliers were supposed to be loved.
This company had many members who fought Sherman from At-
lanta to the sea and who opposed Grant at Shiloh.
In the spring of 1862 Braxton Pollard organized a company at
Florida and in August of the same year at Newark was so severely
wounded as to be incapacitated for further service. A number of his
men were killed and the company reorganized with Worden Willis as
captain and Dave Davenport as first lieutenant. This company was
also in the battle at Kirksville and finally made its way south to join
Price.
Aside from these regularly organized companies, hundreds of men
joined Porter on his raid or rode singly to the river, running the gaunt-
let of Federal troops, and joined Price on the other side. The county
was practically robbed of its young manhood.
The first serious invasion of Monroe county by Federal forces came
in September, 1861, when a force of two thousand men under command
of Colonel Williams of the Second Kansas Infantry and Major Cloud
of the Second Iowa Infantry rode into Paris without warning, the pur-
pose, as soon discovered, being to loot the Farmers' Bank, of which
the late 0. P. Gentry, a wise and thrifty man, was cashier. Gentry had
hidden his money under the counter, the vaults were empty, and Cloud
especially expressed his disappointment. The command remained over
night, ordering the citizens indoors, and camped in the old courthouse
yard, the officers taking possession of the Glenn hotel for headquarters.
Strong pickets were placed out in every direction and Paris had its
first real taste of war. Brace's company, which had recently taken part
in the battle at Monroe City, was in camp sputh of town, and the next
day the first blood was shed when one of the Federal scouting party
was killed in a running fight near the county farm. Cloud moved out
toward Shelbina next morning and was followed by Brace's company
and a motley of free riders urged on by Dr. Bower, whose military
spirit was irrepressible. An attempt was made to cut oflP the Federal
retreat, but was useless. Cloud 's command, though fired on from every
side, moved on evenly and in good order, arriving at Shelbina after
eluding his pursuers at old Clinton. One man of the Federal rear
guard was killed in the running duel. At Shelbina, Brace was joined by
General Green and Gen. Tom Harris and the combined commands forced
Cloud to evacuate. Green having cannon.
The only real battle fought in Monroe county during the war was
at Monroe City, July 14, 1861, between Gen. Tom Harris' command of
five hundred men and Colonel Smith's Sixteenth Illinois, reinforced by
Iowa troops, then located at Palmyra. Harris had been in camp at
Florida and his command was growing so fast that orders were sent
from St. Louis to Smith to go out and attack him. Smith started and
when near Swinkey ran into an ambush prepared by a body of Harris'
scouts under Clay Price. Alarmed he went into camp at Hagar*s farm
and waited until the following day. The next day he found himself
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 487
almost surrounded by Confederates and began his retreat to Monroe,
arriving there in time to find the station house in flames, freight cars
burning, and the Confederates in possession. He entered, driving out
the small command, and took refuge in the seminary building, and the
siege began. The Harris command was soon increased to one thousand
men by recruits from all directions and confidence was enhanced by the
arrival of a nine-pound cannon from Hannibal. This was turned on
the seminary while the Confederates cheered and General Harris made
speeches, and it looked for a time, even to the spectators, who were
present by hundreds in all manner of vehicles, as if the Federal command
would be compelled to surrender — only the nine-pound balls gave out
and firing six-pounders was as dangerous to the gunner, an Ohio man,
as it was to the besieged. By this time rumors that Smith's regiment
was cut off at Monroe and was being annihilated reached all the sur-
rounding country, even getting as far as Washington, and commands
from Illinois, one under Lieutenant Grant at Springfield and the other
under Gen. John M. Palmer, were ordered to his relief. In the mean-
time 250 men from Hannibal and Palmyra, with a brass field piece
loaded on a flatcar, started for Monroe City and as they came in sight
Harris' command melted away. Its retreat was a rout in buggy, carriage
and on horseback over the prairie, some of the soldiers even throwing
away their guns and jumping into vehicles with lady friends. Three
shots struck the seminary, wounding two of Smith's men, and one
Confederate was killed by the accidental discharge of his own gun, yet
the battle raged for a day.
The Harris command reassembled in camp at Florida, its numbers
being again augmented, and for the second time orders were sent out
from St. Louis to disperse it, this time to Lieutenant U. S. Grant, who
had come over from Springfield, Illinois, and who with Gen. John M.
Palmer had just opened up the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad again
by rebuilding the bridge, burned by Monroe county rebels, over North
Fork near Hunnewell. It is needless to say that Grant acted more
quickly and with more eflBciency than Smith. He marched twenty-five
miles to Florida, but when he arrived there found that General Harris
and his men had again decamped, scattering as it were to the four
winds. This was Grant's first military experience during the war and
the beginning of the career that ultimately led him to the command of
the entire Union army. His dispatch is brief, wasting no words, and in
his autobiography written long years afterwards he wrote that it was
during the Florida expedition that he learned the most important of
all military lessons — ^that was that the other fellow was always **just
as scared" as he was, which stood him in. good stead in the bigger cam-
paigns to follow. In the Harris command at Florida was Mark Twain
and a number of other men afterwards noted in war and peace, and the
humorist's war papers, which ran in the Century, were perhaps the
most delightful bits of fun he ever wrote, dealing as they did with his
own disastrous retreat as. Grant approached. Yet the men in the Harris
command proved themselves on a hundred bloody fields in the struggle
that followed, dying at Vicksburg, Franklin and Shiloh by scores.
On July 22, 1862, four hundred Confederates under Col. Joseph
Porter encountered fifty men of the Third Iowa cavalry near Florida
and a fight ensued in which the Federals lost six men and the Confed-
erates one. The Federals were under command of Col. H. C. Caldwell,
afterwards appointed to the Federal bench by Lincoln, and now judge
of the eastern district of Arkansas, a man still kindly remembered in
Monroe county for his justice and mercy, who has made an admirable
record as judge. His company retreated to Paris, where the main body
488 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
was quartered, and Porter went south. A few days afterwards a
company of the Iowa regiment met a detachment of Porter's men on
the Botts farm near Santa Fe and another fight ensued in which each
side lost four killed and wounded. It was at Santa Fe that Lieutenant
Brooks of Guitar's command, leading a scouting party, was killed by
one of his own soldiers during a night alarm.
In the spring of 1862, a band of Confederates under Marion Marma-
duke encountered a troop of state militia under Captain Benjamin of
Shelby county near the Elliotsville bridge on Salt river above Stouts-
ville and the Confederate lieutenant and four men were captured.
Marmaduke jumped his horse over a high bank, swam the river and
escaped. The lieutenant, Rowland Harvey, was taken to Shelbyville
and shot in alleged retaliation for similar outrages committed by bush-
whackers— ^a word as applied to military warfare which Col. R. N.
Bodine says undoubtedly originated at Florida.
On the afternoon of October 15, 1864, when the Confederate cause
was hopeless north of the river, five hundred men under Colonel Mc-
Donald rode into Paris and engaged in battle with Capt. Wra. Fowkes*
company of home guards, fortified in the Glenn House. The firing con-
tinued all day and until the invaders set fire to a frame building below
the hotel near the Masonic Temple, which compelled Captain Powkes
to surrender, all his men being paroled. The bullet holes can still be
seen in the door frames at the historic hostelry and in the sides of the
brick walls.
In July, 1862, a flag pole stood just at the corner of the Glenn House,
where Main and Marion streets intersect and for months the starry
banner of the Union had been floating from its top — to the disloyal
breezes of Monroe county. A proud-spirited people chafed but there
was no help. Price had failed with his army of deliverance and had
sent Porter on his reckless detour north of the river, with Kirksville
yet to be fought. The flower of the county's young manhood had long
since run the gauntlet to the South and was fighting on southern fields
and the inevitable had begun to dawn on those at home. The bush-
whacker flourished, of course, there was murder, the midnight call to
the door, the shot and scream, but the war was practically over so far
as this section of Missouri was concerned. Yet one night irreverent
hands were laid on the flag and down it came at the hoarse yell of five
hundred drunken and unorganized men who were on their way to join
Porter. ** Paris is free'* was shouted as it lay in the dust, but the
bravado of a wild night and a drunken orgy came to a sudden end.
Next morning when the town awakened it heard the measured tread
of Federal troops and on rubbing its eyes and looking out the window
saw McNeil and Strachan, twin horrors of that terrible struggle in this
part of Missouri, riding at the head of one thousand men into the public
square. They had come to avenge the insult to the flag. The first
man encountered felt the impact of their drunken wrath.
** Where is Mr. Crutcher?" (referring to Thomas Crutcher), McNeil
thundered. **The flag pole yonder has been cut down and if it is not
up again by night I will bum the town. Go tell him. ' '
By noon the pole had been restored, and four pieces of artillery
facing in each direction were stationed beneath it, but that did not
placate the pair. Incoming farmers were pulled from their horses and
the animals appropriated by McNeirs troopers. Protest was met with
violence. Two young men, **Ake'' Johnson and Armstead Ragland,
had already been ordered shot as a sort of blood lesson to a disloyal
people. They were of rebel connection, so informers had said, and
Captain Cox had captured them that morning before they arose from
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 489
bed, but Cox was as just as he was brave, being the same Cox who sub-
sequently slew the noted guerrilla, **Bill" Anderson, in personal com-
bat, and had no idea of the contemplated murder. He despised McNeil,
his superior, hated Strachan as he did a viper, and determined to save
the young men. McNeil was in an upper room at the Glenn House drink-
ing, his thirst for liquor and desire for blood being fed by the cunning
Strachan, and had just declared to interceders that he would ** smother
the whole d — d breed in their mothers' wombs if he could.'* Cox, hear-
ing of the sentence, leaped the fence at the court house, rushed up the
stairs, and brushing past Strachan, confronted McNeil and in angry
but determined voice told him it should not be. Then McNeil started
in to curse and abuse his inferior, but the look in the eyes of Captain
Cox deterred him. He followed the young officer into another room and
grew iiuieter as the latter talked. The result was that he went to sleep
drunk and that the execution was stopped. It was the one real day of
terror for Paris in the latter part of the war and many live who recall
it vet with a tremor in their voices. McNeil was the Claverhouse of
Northeast Missouri.
Scarcely less terrifying was another visit by soldiers of an entirely
different but none the less dangerous kind. On the 23d of September,
1862, there rode into Paris from the south a troop of three hundred
men from St. Charles county, militia under command of Major Bailey
and Captain Krekel. Their conduct in the homes on which they quar-
tered themselves was intolerable. It was Krekel's men who murdered
John Ownby near Madison. At their request Ownby's step-father,
Judge Quary, had sent the boy with them as a guide and out of w^anton
cruelty and for no other reason, when they had gotten where they
wished to go, they stood him up against a tree and shot him. Two
years after the war while shipping cattle to St. Louis, Quary met Krekel
near an alley-way unexpectedly, seized him, and grasping a brick, beat
him into insensibility, his life for a time being despaired of. Judge
Quary was driven from the city in a buggy to escape arrest.
If the war had its dark side it also had its lighter side and more
humorous aspects.
During Christmas week, 1861, Capt. Jim Crow's company had been
lined up along the curbing on Main street at Paris and sworn into the
Confederate service. They were all young fellows, cavaliers fr6m the
best families in the county, and on Christmas night, before going to war,
they gave a farewell ball to their sweethearts at the Glenn House. Snow
was over the whole state and the night was cold, but not to the young
warriors and their lady-loves, who, amid sentiment excusable at all
times, had forgotten the virtue of vigilance. The ball had barely
closed and Captain Crow mounted his horse preparatory to leaving
when the sound of a bugle came across the crisp night and the echo of
cavalry at a gallop was borne to his ears. He wheeled in time to face
a column of riders under General Prentiss, the subsequent hero of
Shiloh, who captured him and took him before Colonel Glover. Some
of the Confederates escaped, but a great many were captured. Next day
General Prentiss published the names of two hundred alleged Con-
federate sympathizers and ordered them to report at the courthouse
yard. Here, inside a high board fence and surrounded by a cordon of
five hundred men commanded by Colonel Glover, into which the male
citizenship of the town was driven like so many sheep, the work of
extortion was begun. All had to pay to get out and many amusing
incidents occurred. The old Farmers Bank was then in a failing con-
dition and knowing beforehand what was to happen, some of the more
far-sighted had slipped several hundred dollars of its notes into the
490 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
stockade, paying it for liberty and demonstrating at the same time that
thrift was not a ''Yankee" possession altogether. General Prentiss
himself stood at the gate and called off the names. ** Samuel Thomp-
son," he called, and one of the older men ambled up — the possessor of
a wit and eccentricity still noted in the county. **Mr. Thompson,"
asked General Prentiss, '*how do you stand, North or South?" **Well,
General, to tell the truth," replied Thompson, **I lean just a leedle
South."
''Twenty-five dollars, Mr. Thompson," retorted the General, and
it was years before the aged joker joked again on serious matters.
John Cheny, another citizen, asked to borrow his ransom from the
Gteneral and Prentiss was not without humor enough to get enjoyment
out of the occasion, along with the money. He left Paris with his
coffers bursting and in 1901, when he refused to ask for a pension, pre-
ferring to die in poverty, it was diflScult to convince Monroe county
citizens that he was in earnest. However, there was naught set down
in malice. It was whispered that the old hero 's pet vice was gambling,
faro being his hobby, and that when at Paris his funds to gratify the
passion were low.
Monroe county sent one bersiker to the war. He was Robert Swin-
ney of Middle Grove, son of Preston Swinney, ex-sheriff, and had lost
a hand with Walker in Nicaraugua. He carried no carbine, fought with
a revolver alone, and was assigned to no command or company in Price's
army, fighting alone and if necessary attacking an entire company.
Legend avers that he loved bloodshed and frothed at the mouth when
in battle. Swinney rode with Shelby across the border into Mexico
and John N. Edwards tells of his death in storming a hacienda where
an American woman had been imprisoned and whom Shelby's men. like
knights of old, had gone to aid.
The Civil war history of the county might be written into thousands
of words without loss of interest, but enough of the really important
happenings have been given to give an idea of what Monroe county
suffered and endured during that period and the heroism and sacrifice
of which its people were capable. Its young men fought on nearly
every southern battle field of note and those that were not killed returned
home to make useful citizens, some of them to become state and national
characters. The record would not be complete without mentioning that
a large number of returning Confederates from Monroe county were
on the ill-fated transport Tennessee, which sank in Red river after the
surrender at Shreveport and that some lost their lives, most of them,
however, escaping. Wm. Farrell of Pindel's command, now cashier
of the Paris Savings Bank, was one of the guard of honor that accom-
panied General Price down the river to surrender. It might be well to
mention also that X. 0. Pindel, acting governor of Arkansas in 1908,
was the son of Col. Lebius Pindel of sharp-shooter fame in Price's army
and that L. R. Wilfley, judge of the first extra territorial court in
China, of which Arthur Bassett, another Monroe county boy, was i?ov-
emment's attorney, was a nephew of the same man, showing that blood
lines sometimes do persist.
After the Civil War
Since the war Monroe county's history has been uneventful and
given mainly to its material development principally agriculture. In
1898 it sent a company of srold hunters to Alaska who were among th**
first over Chilcoot Pass. They were to have had a dredge boat, but the
boat did not reach them and they proceeded without it. like hundreds
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 491
of others being subjected to many privations and much suffering that
first winter, when supplies were scarce. Among these argonauts were
T. 6. Bassett, Tom Murphy, C. R. Buerck, Marcus Rodes, C. L. Dry,
D. M. Fields, J. B. Davis, and others.
In 1879 Paris was visited by a disastrous fire, which consumed the
block on the east side of Main street and in 1900 it was visited by an
epidemic of small-pox, brought home from the Spanish war and con-
tracted mainly by negroes. There were eighty cases in all and the town
was practically segregated from the surrounding country for a period
of six months.
CHAPTER XXIII
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
By Howard Ellis, New Florence
Mother of Warren County
The early settlers of Missouri were liberal indeed in their distribution
of lands. The counties of ]Montgomery, St. Charles and Warren have
many things of a kindred nature and truly can be called sisters. On
October 1, 1812, Governor William Clark, in accord with an act of
congress, proclaimed St. Charles a county within itself and defined its
limits as follows: **Prom the Missouri river on the south to the British
possessions on the north, and from the Mississippi river on the east to
the Pacific Ocean on the west." This territory embraced Montgomery
county and continued to do so until December 14, 1818, when Mont-
gomery and Lincoln counties were organized and the dimensions of St.
Charles county correspondingly decreased. Consequently it can truth-
fully be said that St. Charles county is the Mother of Montgomery
county.
The territory, as embraced by Montgomery county at its organization
in December, 1818, remained so largely until January, 1833, when the
legislature, then in session at Jefferson City, Missouri, duly designated by
metes and bounds the county of Warren, taking such territory from
Montgomery county; hence, it can also be truthfully said that Mont-
gomery county is the Mother of Warren county. The early histor>' of
these three counties is so interwoven as to apply directly to each other
in many incidents.
Organization and Settlements
Callaway county was organized November 25, 1820, securing from
Montgomery county a portion of its territory.
The early settlers no doubt reached what is now Montgomery county
interior as early as 1725, being the French, who ascended the Missouri
river, and Loutre creek in search of game. Along this stream of Loutre
were found many otter, and the stream was named in their behalf. The
first actual settler within the bortler of either of the four counties was
Louis Blanchette, a Frenchman, who located at the present site of St.
Charles in 1769. The first American to settle in the territory was Daniel
Boone, who also located in St. Charles county about 1791. His son,
Daniel ^I. Boone, settled in St. Charles county in 1795, afterwards mov-
ing to ]Montgomery county in 1816, thereby becoming among the first
American settlers within Montgomery' county.
The early French settlers located along the Missouri river and on
Loutre island, where trading posts were established and commerce car-
ried on with the Indians. The Indian in his attempt upon the life of
492
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 493
these settlers, apparently in his effort to take from them their hunting
ground, was very daring and cruel in his treatment and the settlers never
left the water or ventured away from the timber, leaving the fertile
prairies on the north to later and more progressive inhabitants. Accom-
panying the Boone family from Kentucky were a great many from their
native county, and Montgomery county received as its earliest American
settlers the best blood of Kentucky. The county received its name for
Montgomery, Kentucky, because so many citizens from that county had
settled here previous to its organization.
The early settlers of Montgomery county made their homes in the
southern section and did not venture into the northern section until
after the red man began to take his course westward. Therefore, the
earliest history connected with the county is. found in the southern part.
Many evidences can be found as to settlers earlier than this record of
1725. Along the Loutre river stood for years block houses built of stone
with portholes. To these houses the settlers are supposed to have re-
treated from the Indian. Even as late as 1864 there stood in the middle
street of Danville a block house built for the protection of the people
and to keep away the intruder.
Early Settlements and Settlers
The Big Spring settlement was next in order following that at
Loutre island. Here the first cabins were built in about 1808. Jacob
Groom was a prominent citizen of this place in 1810. Later in the year
and during the attack of the Indians, Mr. Groom moved from the Big
Spring settlement to Fort Clemson for protection. Mr. Groom was a
native of Kentucky, a man of considerable education and was among the
first school teachers of the county. He also represented the county in
the state legislature.
James Massey, who located at the Loutre Lick springs in 1813, was
the first white settler in what is now known as Danville township. Fol-
lowing James Massey was Major Isaac Van Bibber and a little later
Robert Graham from Kentucky. Daniel Boone, the noted Kentuckian
and the father of Daniel M. Boone, made frequent visits to the homes
of Major Van Bibber and Graham.
Townships
From 1818 to January, 1872, Montgomery county consisted of five
townships, and at this latter date the county court changed these town-
ships and formed the county into six municipal townships. The new one
created was called Montgomery and was taken in part from Danville,
Upper Loutre and Prairie.
Wars with the Indians
In the years 1808 to 1811 a great influx of people came to the county,
chiefly from the state of Kentucky. Most of these settled along the
Loutre river and all that country was thoroughly explored by the new
people who kept one eye open for game and the other for Indians. The
hills along Loutre creek were sparsely timbered and the new comers
peered from the edges before exhibiting their entire bodies. The first
victim of the Indian wars was Harris Massey, who in the early spring of
1813, was killed while plowing in his father's field near Loutre Lick.
Among the incidents of early life in which the settlers had trying
experiences with the Indians, probably none elicited greater bravery
494 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
than that manifested by John Snethen, who located in Montgomery
county in 1808. During the bitter war with Great Britain from 1810 to
1815, Mr. Snethen and his family lived on a small creek in the southern
part of the county. For many months they had not been disturbed by
the red man. One evening about dusk a neighbor came walking into
the home as Mr. Snethen was placing away his stock for the night. The
expression upon this neighbor's face was one of despair and when ques-
tioned by Snethen, replied with one word, ** Injuns.'' Without further
ado Mr. Snethen and family began to barricade their home against an
attack of the anticipated ^^ Injun.'' In the stillness of the night a tramp,
tramp, tramp, was heard on the roof of the cabin which startled the
occupants within. A slight flame from the fireplace was quickly ex-
tinguished by a dash of water. The neighbor made ready to defend the
door entrance. The smoke and steam rising up the chimney caused to
fall sprawling upon the floor a big burly Indian. At the same time a
much stronger one, with his deadly tomahawk in hand, bolted through
the door. Mr. Snethen grappled with his adversary from the chimney
while the neighbor crushed to the floor the giant of the aborigines at the
door. Mrs. Snethen, standing in the center of the room, holding in her
hands a heavy pole axe that never missed its place each night, looked
upon the scene and wondered as to which one to help. Suddenly her eyes
discovered a large puncheon rising from the floor. These large timbers
were never fastened but kept their place by means of their weight. Mrs.
Snethen instantly divined the cause and significance of the moving and
from one great blow of her axe with a dead thud the timber settled
back to its place and moved no more. By this time Mr. Snethen had
made away with the adversary, the neighbor had conquered his foe and
for a few seconds all was still. Mrs. Snethen told of her experience, the
neighbor raised the puncheon floor and pulled therefrom a dead Indian
which he lay alongside the one killed by himself, as well as that one by
Mr. Snethen. The neighbor crawled through the opening in the floor
and after an anxious wait of some two hours returned and informed Mr.
Snethen that it was time to go. By sunrise the next morning a cart
filled with the wife and children, proceeded and followed by a man
carrying a long rifle, moved steadily toward Fort Clemson on Loutre
island for protection.
Another incident in the life of Mr. Snethen occurred while living at
the fort on Loutre island. A band of Indians had attacked a colored
boy hauling wood and caused him to race for his life to safety. Volun-
teers were called for to ascertain the strength of the attacking enemy.
John Snethen was placed in charge and after traveling a few miles along
Loutre river overtook the fleeing p.arty. They were about of equal num-
ber and seemed to occupy formidable positions on opposite sides of the
river. Each man faced his respective foe and kept a close watch. So
great was the distance and so uncertain the aim, that members of both
parties became unusually venturesome, exposing themselves even care-
lessly. Snethen took shelter under a large white oak tree and was
determined to get a shot at a brave Indian on the other side of the creek.
At length he exposed a greater part of his body in order to get a better
view of his enemy which drew the Indian's flre. The ball the Indian
had fired struck the tree several feet above Snethen 's head, so drawing
his ramrod he motioned to the Indian with it and then pointed to the
spot where the ball had struck. The Indian evidently understood the
ridicule and quickly fired before Snethen could take refuge behind the
tree. This time the ball cut a slit through his hat crown, after which he
wasted no more time before retiring to shelter. In his old age, Snethen
often related this story to groups of his friends as the most adventure-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 495
some one of his life and usually wound up with the expression, **and by
gum, boys, that was the last time that I ever showed an Indian where
he was shootin'."
The Killing op Captain Callaway
The early settlers of the county were of that progressive nature and
disposition that caused them to face any hardship or fight any battle
whereby they might attain the things they most desired. During its
early life Montgomery county was the scene of many tragic incidents
in which human lives were sacrificed in order that the daring spirit of
progressiveness might prevail. Probably the tragic death of Captain
James Callaway on March 7, 1815, is of greatest renown. The Sacs
and Fox Indians continually stole horses from the Loutre island neigh-
borhood. Captain Callaway, with a company, started in pursuit of
these marauders, overtaking them at the head of Loutre creek. Captain
Callaway retook the horses and proceeded on his return to Loutre island.
Things went pleasantly until just before reaching Prairie Fork. Captain
Callaway put his lieutenant, Jonathan Riggs, in charge of th^ company,
the Captain undertaking to swim the horses across the creek. A body of
Indians numbering from eighty to one hundred, who had lain in ambush,
suddenly attacked Captain Callaway and party. Captain Callaway
was mortally wounded and died soon after reaching the southern bank
of Prairie Fork. Several of his comrades were also slain. The friends
of the captain buried the body on the hill just south of the creek and the
grave is to this day marked by a huge pile of stones. Captain Callaway
was the nephew of Daniel Boone and for him Callaway county was
named. A monument stands in the courthouse yard at Fulton to his
memory.
Pioneer Families
Jeflferson Benson, a son of Thomas Benson of Maryland, settled in
Montgomery in 1832, locating in the southern part thereof. He married
Sarah Hayes, to which union were bom nine children, and these chil-
dren have been instrumental in the success of Montgomery county. The
name of Benson is a household word. •
The name of See is familiar throughout Montgomery county. The
early history finds two brothers, Jacob and Noah, playing prominent
parts in the civilization of the county. Jacob See settled in the county
in 1837, and represented the county in the state legislature in its early
days. He was a great stock raiser and in 1871 raised 18 hogs that aver-
aged from 700 to 1,000 pounds each. He took them to St. Louis and had
them made into bacon and sent the hams to Memphis, Tennessee. The
merchant at Memphis shipped them back with this statement, '*We are
not buying horse hams.'' Mr. See also raised the largest ox in the world
and exhibited it in the Centennial at Philadelphia in 1876. This ox
weighed 4,400 pounds. Samuel See, a retired farmer now living at New
Florence, Missouri, is a son of Jacob See. Noah See, a brother of Jacob
See, settled in Montgomery county in 1839. He was an infiuential and
wealthy citizen. His children, M. F. See, George W. See, S. C. See,
Robert W. See and Mrs. Anna Weeks still reside in the county.
The name Bush is another familiar county name. Ambrose Bush
in 1818 settled on Dry Fork. He was a shrewd business man and made
quite a fortune. Mr. Bush served as sheriff and assessor of the county,
as well as a member of the state legislature. Several members of this
family are yet living in the county. W. D. Bush of Fulton is a member
of the family.
496 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST JHSSOURI
Id the early part of 1818 Richard Fitzbugh of North Carolina located
on Loutre. This is one of the old families in the county, a number of
descendants of whom yet reside in its borders, E. H. Fitzhugh, now
president of the Central Vermont Railroad, with headquarters at
Montreal, was a member of this family, bom at Danville and reared in
the county.
George Bast settled in Montgomery county in 1819 near Loutre
island. His son, Dr. George Y. Bast, located in after years near New
Florence. His sons, William and Charles have been prominent men in
the affairs of the county. William died some years ago and Charles now
resides at Mexico.
David Knox settled in the county in 1818. He was one of the men to
locate the county seat when moved to Danville. He reared a large fam-
ily of bo3^, one of whom is now living, a retired merchant of Portland,
Missouri, D. R. Knox. The grandchildren of David H. Knox, William
H, and John U., are now prominent farmers in Montgomery county
engaged in stock raising. John U. oeeupies the old Davault home of
stage coach days one mile south of New Florence.
Mills
St. Charles and St. Louis were the principal trading points of this
section during the earlier days the people often went to St. Lonis to
mill. Pretty soon, however, horse mills sprang up in different places
and the Patton horse mill on Loutre island at Fort Clemson in 1814
was the wonder of the natives. The Dryden mill just east of Danville
was the first in that section of the county and the burrs used in that mill
are now used by Hon. Alf Davault as an ornament to his yard. In 1820
Capt. John Baker built a water mill on Loutre at the mouth of Dry Fork,
the first of Ha kind in the county.
IsA.vc Van Bibber
Isaac Van Bibber was a son of Isaac Van Bibber of Holland, who
came to America and settled in Virginia previous to the Revolutionary
The V.vn Bibber T.wern Bi'ilt in 1821
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 497
war. His father was killed when he was only 2^2 years old. He was
adopted and raised by Col. Daniel Boone and at the early age of 13
acted as a scout against the Indians in Virginia. In 1800 he came to
Missouri with Nathan Boone and settled in St. Charles county, moving
in 1815 to Loutre Lick of Montgomery county. Major Van Bibber was
one of the interesting characters of bygone days. His tavern was a
much sought after place for weary travelers. The major believed in
evolution and not only believed it but preached it. Two travelers,
after spending the night with him, discussed the theory in its fullness.
Upon attempting to depart in the morning, they appeared to be a little
short of funds. Asking Major Van Bibber to credit them, said, **that
they would pay him when they returned 1,000 years hence.'' The
major, with his quick thought, exclaimed, **You are the same rascals
that visited me 1,000 years ago. You did not pay me then and you are
not going to get away now."
The Montgomery County Hermit
The strangest of strange characters that have ever resided in the
county was George Baughman, a hermit, who for 30 years lived a
solitary life in a cave south of Danville. During all that time he was
searching for gold, which he claimed was hidden in the surrounding
hills. Baughman, being struck with the gold fever, started for the West
in 1852. Camping at Loutre Lick for a few days, one of his oxen died
and the other strayed away. In search of the stray animal, he found the
cave which afterwards became his permanent dwelling place. Baugh-
man died in Danville after having been removed there by order of the
court that he might be better cared for. His remains were buried near
the cave in which he had so long lived. The deep wells surrounding the
cave will long remain as a monument to this noted character.
Anderson's Raid
Perhaps the most terrible event in the history of the county during
the Civil war took place in October, 1864, when Bill Anderson's band of
guerillas made its entry into the county and left behind destruction,
death and sorrow. In Danville, the county seat, the guerillas charged
the citizens, firing and riding upon them and killing every living thing
in view. Building after building was fired and the town almost com-
pletely destroyed. The courthouse was burned and the records of the
county from 1818 lost. After the destruction of Danville, Anderson pro-
ceeded to New Florence where the depot was burned, stores were robbed
and boxes in the depot were robbed of their contents. The postofBce was
robbed. The guerillas, in the light of the burning depot, deliberately
opened and took therefrom the contents of all letter mail. Anderson next
proceeded to High Hill where the depot was burned, stores ransacked and
citizens mistreated. Emil Rosenberger, a saddler at that time, was robbed
of all his harness and saddles and horsewhipped with the whips from his
own store. Mr. Rosenberger, now 82 years old, still lives in Montgom-
ery City. On each recurring day in October Mr. Rosenberger celebrates
this day by firing his pistol many times.
Another sad event of the Civil war occurred near New Florence,
when F. M. Ellis, John Marlow and Ira Tatum, reputable citizens, were
ordered by Capt. Kendrick to haul rations from New Florence to the
Rhineland militia. They did so and returning Ellis induced Marlow
and Tatura to haul back corn for him. Upon their return and when
Vol. 1—32
498 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
within two miles of New Florence, they were met by the Bill Anderson
guerillas and taken captive. Just about this time, the Wellsville militia,
which had been in pursuit of Anderson during the two days intervening
his entry into the county, came upon the party. Anderson and his
men made their escape and the Wellsville militia continued firing upon
these peaceable citizens until Marlow and Tatum were killed, together
with John Anderson and Mr. H. Patton who had joined them on their
return. Ellis and a young Whiteside made their escape. The militia
alleged that they were mistaken in attacking this party and supposed
them to be bushwhackers.
The Soil op the County
The soil of Montgomery county shows fully sixty per cent in har-
mony with that which is found in the Northeast Missouri level prairie.
It is a mulatto loam from one to four feet deep. Blue grass is of spon-
taneous growth. The southern portion of the county is red limestone
clay moderately flinty and indicating mineral deposits. The lands
along the Missouri river sell from $100 to $150 an acre. The lands in
NoRTHE.\ST Missouri Apurt
the central and northern section sell for the same price, while lands in the
section intervening sell from $10 to $40 an acre.
The soil of Montgomery county produced in the early days things
that it seems to be unable to produce now. Cotton was raised success-
fully on Loutre island in 1818, Oily Williams, the founder of Danville,
built a cotton gin just east of the town in 1822 at a point now on the
cross-state highway.
The County's Resources
The products of the county are varied, agriculture being the principal
occupation. Corn, wheat, oats, rye. barley, timothy, are raised in all
parts of the county, some alfalfa in the southern portion. Stock raising
is followed very largely and very profitably. Large herds of thorough-
bred Shorthorn, Black Polled and Hereford cattle are found in various
portions of the county. The fanners have quite a competition among
themselves in cattle raising.
The watershed between the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers runs
angling across the county from the southeast to the northwest. Along
this watershed lay the tracks of the Wabash Railroad Company. The
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 499
water falling on the north side courses its way to the Mississippi. The
water falling on the south side finds its exit through the Missouri.
The county contains 327,129 acres. From north to south its extreme
length is nearly thirty-two miles, from east to* west twenty miles. As to
the topography of the county, nearly seventy-five per cent of it is
beautiful rolling prairie interspersed now and then by clear running
streams, along whose banks are many varieties of timber. The southern
part of the county is broken and slopes gradually toward the Missouri
river bottoms. Along the Missouri river are lands so rich as to do credit
to the Valley of the Nile. The broken section of the county extends from
its eastern to its western borders in a strip some four or five miles wide,
and affords some of the rarest sceneries and landscapes even beyond the
reflection of tjie finest painter's brush. The soil of this section, while of
not that deep nature, is very productive and today is producing apples,
peaches, pears, strawberries, plums, currents and other small fruit of the
finest quality.
Products and PuRSuns
While the citizenship depends entirely upon agricultural pursuits for
its livelihood, flour is manufactured in all of the larger towns: Mineola,
Wellsville, New Florence, High Hill and Jonesburg, have large and
up-to-date flour mills. These mills ship their products to various parts
of the state, as well as into other states.
Some mining is carried on in the county. While maps indicate an
underlying strata of coal, it is only mined in the northern section near
Wellsville. Fire clay is mined extensively at Jonesburg and High Hill.
At Jonesburg an electric line conveys the coal from the mines to the
railroad. Many clay beds remain untouched south of the Wabash Rail-
road and will some day prove a very valuable asset to the county.
The county is drained on the northern side by the Cuivre river, on
the southern by Loutre river. These streams have been navigated by
small boats.
In the early days of the county tobacco was a profitable article to
raise and many farmers living in the timber section produced it, creat-
ing a demand for a tobacco factory which was established in Montgom-
ery City in the spring of 1880 by Messrs. J. H. Lacy and Paul BroVn.
The company began operation January 1, 1881, under the name of Lacy
& Brown Tobacco Company. This factory was the foundation for the
Brown Tobacco Company of St. Louis. Mr. Brown, after a few years,
moved the plant from Montgomery City to St. Louis and later sold it
to the American Tobacco Company.
County Seats and Courthouses
At the organization of the county in 1818 the county seat was
located at Pinckney near the Missouri river, a point long since swept
away by the river. The first terms of the county and circuit courts were
held some three miles west of Pinckney in a log cabin owned by Maj.
Ben Sharp, the first clerk of these courts. Pinckney being the southeast
comer of the county was inaccessible to the few settlers in the central
and western parts. In 1826, by a vote of the few people, the seat of
justice was moved to Lewiston, a point just north of the timber line and
on the old Boonsliek road, now the National Old Trails road, the official
cross-state highway of Missouri. The county seat remained at Lewis-
ton until 1834, when Oily Williams laid out and platted the town of
500 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Danville and to which the seat of justice was moved. Danville became
the most thriving town in this section of the state, its population in-
creased and it soon numbered about five hundred people. With the build-
ing of the North Missouri Railroad, Danville was left to the south some
six miles and her glory began to fade. While still the county seat, it is
now one of the smallest hamlets within the county with more histor}'
connected therewith than any other town. With the coming of the
railroad new towns began to spring up, new territory was opened and
the broad prairies heretofore unoccupied were soon seized by the settlers
and Montgomery county began to grow in all of its parts.
During the Anderson raid in October, 1864, the courthouse was de-
stroyed, together with all the records of the county from its organiza-
tion. After the close of the war the county court proceeded to rebuild
the county courthouse and did so at a cost of $27,700, the contract hav-
ing been let to James Getty of St. Louis. At that time it was fair to
presume that the location of the county seat was permanently settled,
but since several attempts have been made to remove it to either New
Florence or Mongomery City, but the people have never seen fit to grant
the necessary two-thirds vote. The records and county offices have
frequently been moved from Danville to Montgomery City on techni-
calities, but as readily returned under orders of the supreme court. In
1889, by an act of the legislature, terms of circuit, probate and county
courts were established at Montgomery Citj'. The citizens of Mont-
gomery City donated to the county a courthouse. Courts are still held
at Danville, but a majority of the county's business is done at Mont-
gomery City.
The night of April 12, 1901, fire broke out in the dome of the court-
house of Danville and the building with many of its valuable records
which had accumulated since the previous fire of 1864, was destroyed.
This fire caused much trouble in the land titles of the county and to as-
sist in correcting many errors, the legislature by h special act legalized
the Gupton Abstract Books as correct transfers. The courts and county
officers at Danville are located in a small frame building near the site of
the burned courthouse.
Schools and Churches
The educational part of the county is well up, and well maintained
district schools are found in all sections. Montgomery county has eighty
public school districts. These are superintended by a county officer,
devoting his entire time to their success, visiting each of these schools
two or three times a year, enabling the teachers to raise the standards
higher. No county in Northeast Missouri has a better school system,
and becoming better each year. Montgomery City, Wellsville, Middle-
town, Bellflower, New Florence and Jonesburg have graded school sys-
tems, ^fontgomery City and Wellsville schools are doing improved
work and a diploma therefrom admits to the State University.
The first public schools in the Big Spring settlement and the second
in the county was organized in 1824.
A female college was established in Danville in 1844. Th\A school,
during its first three years, was in charge of Mrs. Monroe, the wife of
Andrew ^fonroe, the noted preacher. This became a college of much
note. In 1847 Prof. James H. Robinson took charge and the college
afterwards bore his name. Its attendance reached three hundred and
here the young girls and women of this and adjoining counties received
their higher education. This college flourished until the Anderson raid
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 501
in October, 1864. The experiences of the boarding students during this
raid is still fresh in the memory of many living today with all of its
horrifying elfects. A short time after the close of the Civil war this
college closed and the building today is used for private residences.
The dates of the organizaton of the various churches in Mont-
gomery county seem to have been lost. The first Baptist church of which
we have record was organized April 16, 1824, at the house of John
Snethen on Dry Fork. A small log church was erected the following
July. In this church on January 4, 1825, were ordained the first min-
isters from Montgomery county, Alexander Snethen and Jabez Ham.
That the churches were not conducted then as now is proven by the fact
that only $1.75 was taken up in collections during its first four years
existence.
Another church organized in Montgomery county was located on
Bear creek in the year 1834. It was of the Baptist denomination and
located near a pond and, because of the continuous music of the frogs, it
received the nickname **Frog Pond Church." This church ^as after-
wards moved to Jonesburg and the congregation is still in existence.
The first Methodist church congregation to be organized in Mont-
gomery county was formed in 1819 by the Rev. Drury Clanton and the
Rev. Robert Baker. A Sunday school was also organized at the same
time and place. This congregation met some five miles south of Dan-
ville on what is now known as ** Pinch."
The most prominent Methodist preachers who preached in Mont-
gomery county in early days were Jeff Green, Andrew Monroe, Richard
Bond, William Tatton, William W. Redman and Bishop Marvin. The
most prominent Methodist preachers bom and reared in Montgomery
county are D. R. Shackelford and his brother Willis Shackelford, and S.
W. Cope. William W. Redman was born in Indiana in 1799, received
on trial in ^Missouri conference in 1820, was secretary of Missouri con-
ference for fourteen yeais, was presiding elder for thirteen years, elected
three times as a delegate to general conference, a member of the famous
general conference of 1844, when the church divided, and died at Dan-
ville, October 31, 1849, where he had lived for sometime. His grave
has been suitably marked by Methodists. Dr. Richard Bond was bom
in Maryland in 1800 and was accidentaUy shot by a gun in his own hand
at Danville, Missouri, March 7, 1823. He was transferred to Missouri
conference in 1841 and was appointed presiding elder of St. Charles
district at once. He made his home in Danville from 1841 until his
death. He was a graduate in medicine from Columbia College, Washing-
ton, D. C. Two prominent preachers, who for some years made their
home in Montgomery county, were George Smith of Jonesburg, and B.
H. Spencer. The first Methodist meeting house at Danville was built in
1836 or 1837.
The various religious denominations have churches in most of the
towns. Bellflower has five churches and four Sunday schools, Middle-
town has four churches and four Sunday schools, Wellsville has four
churches and four Sunday schools, Montgomery City has four churches
and four Sunday schools, New Florence has two churches and two Sun-
day schools, High Hill has three churches and two Sunday schools,
Jonesburg has three churches and three Sunday schools and Mineola
has two churches and one Sunday school.
The Montgomerj^ County Sunday School Association is one of the old-
est organizations in the state, being organized in 1868. It has held ses-
sions regularly. In 1908 and 1909 Montgomery county was the banner
Sunday school county of the state.
502 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
County Towns
The principal towns at present are Montgomery City, Wellsville, New
Florence, Jonesburg, Middletown, High Hill, Rhineland, Bellflower and
McKittrick. Each of these towns is incorporated under its own govern-
ment.
Montgomery City, now the largest town in the county and with a
population of 1,789, was laid out in 1853 by Benjamin P. Curd. Mr.
Curd, as an inducement to the North Missouri Railroad Company, agreed
to give every other lot in town plat if the railroad company would build
its road through and locate a permanent depot therein. The town was
named in honor of the county. The grading for the railroad reached
Montgomery City early in 1856 and the track was laid about December,
1857, after which the cars began to run regularly. The Montgomery
College was established in 1859 with the Rev. William A. Taylor as
principal. About this time many other improvements took place at Mont-
gomery and the town grew rapidly. It is a progressive town and its
citizens have contributed much to the early history of the county, as
well as its present prominence. It has several large stores, electric lights
and ice plant, and fine residences. For a number of years it has been a
freight division of the Wabash Railroad, but this was recently moved to
High Hill.
Upper Loutre township in the northern part of the county com-
prised a considerable extent of territory at first, but in January, 1872,
the county court made a division, establishing therefrom Montgomery
township. The principal town of Upper Loutre Township is Wellsville,
laid out by Hon. Carty Wells in 1856. He was the original owner of the
town site and deeded to the railroad company five acres for the depot
and railroad purposes. The town was named for its founder. Wellsville
is now a splendid little city, the second largest in the county, and recog-
nized as the greatest trading point between St. Charles and Mexico. Two
very large department stores draw trade from adjoining counties, and
it is no uncommon sight to behold farmers driving from twenty to twenty-
five miles turkeys in herds of 1,000 to 1,500 to the Wellsville market. It
has an electric light plant, ice plant, refrigeration plant and ice cream
factory. Its population -is now 1,194 and steadily growing.
Now Florence was laid out in 1857 by Hon. E. A. Lewis who pur-
chased the land from Mortimer Mcllhaney. The town was first called
Florence in honor of the only daughter of Judge Lewis and was so
platted and recorded, but after a time it was discovered that there was a
town of the same name in Morgan county, so by an act of the legislature
in March, 1859, the name was changed to New Florence.
The town of Jonesburg is located on lands first settled by James Jones
for whom the town was named. Jones settled in this county in 1829.
and at his home was a ** stand *' for the stage coach line that ran from
St. Charles to Boon 's Lick in Howard county.
Charles Wells, a familiar family county name, resided at the place
now Middletown in 1817. Middletown is claimed by some to be the
oldest town in the county, but the claim is not clearly established. The
first farm opened in the vicinity of Middletown was in September 1824
by James Smith. In 1829 Richard Cox located in this vicinity and
became one of the pioneer families of the county. The first business
house built in Middletown was on the sife of the present hotel and was
occupied by Josiah Willbarger, who surveyed the town and platted it
for its original owners, James Lynn, John Dudgeon and Stewart Slavens.
Captain S. W. Hammock was one of the early Middletown settlers and
for years surveyor of the county. Presley Anderson settled on Cuivre
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 503
near Middletown in 1818. Mr. Anderson, while hunting one day, killed
a wolf and throwing it into the stream named the stream Wolf Creek,
which bears the same name to the present day. Reuben Pew located near
Middletown also in 1818 and was elected colonel of the first war company
ever organized in the county. Middletown has more gravel streets than
any to>Mi in the county. Not far away it has a coal mine undeveloped,
but shows veins measuring sixteen feet.
One of the early postofSces in the county was known as High Hill
and located near the present site of Jonesburg. As time moved onward
this postofBce was moved westward and was finally located at a place
now called High Hill. In 1851 the present town of High Hill was
platted. Hance Miller was among the first to settle at this place. He,
in connection with William H. Hoss and John S. Howe, erected a grist
mill which is still standing, and in operation.
In 1846 six German families settled in the southern part of the
county. In 1853 one of their number laid out a small village, naming
it Rhineland in honor of the River Rhine. Here Hugo Monnig con-
ducted a store for many years. With the coming of the Missouri, Kansas
& Texas Railway, the town was moved some little distance east. It is now
a prosperous little village, surrounded by a wealthy German settlement.
Bluffton is also located on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway.
The first settlements date back to 1844. Samuel Miller, who conducted
the Bluffton Wine Company in 1866, was the founder of the town.
The town of McKittrick is situated in the extreme southeast corner
of the county on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. Here the
railroad company has watering and coaling stations. The town has a
large flouring and grain elevator, several business houses, bank, Meth-
odist church and Sunday school.
The town of Bellflower is the newest town in the county, being in-
corporated about two years ago. John W. Schowengerdt was owner of
its present site and platted the town. He did more for its advancement
than possibly all of the other citizens together. He built a great many
houses, public business places, improved its streets, located a beautiful
park and contributed in every way possible for the advancement of the
town. It now numbers about 400 people and is located on the Burlington
Railroad, the principal town on that road in the county.
Buell is a small town located on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railway and surrounded by a very rich section of the county. It has a
bank, churches, a good school and is the railroad shipping point for
Middletown.
The i>opulation of Montgomery county is principally American and
German. The Germans largely inhabit the southern portion of the
county.
In addition to the railroad towns, Mineola, Americus, Big Spring,
Price's Branch, Gamma, Marling and Egbert are inland hamlets sur-
rounded by a thrifty citizenship. The rural free delivery mail system
practically covers the county and with daily mail and telephone service
the farmers are in close touch with each other.
Mineola Springs
The most historical, interesting and attractive place within the county
is ^lineola Springs, located on Loutre river, one among the first places
to be settled in the county. At this point are several mineral springs
which have gained notoriety for the medicinal properties throughout
the United States. Health seekers from far and near have visited here.
Mineola was laid out as a town by H. E. Scanland in 1879, who owned
504 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the large farm upon which the springs were located. The town was
named for Mineola, Texas, signifying healing waters. It is located
upon the cross-state highway between St. Louis and Kansas City and is
recognized as the most scenic point en route. Here many noted charac-
ters have visited, camped and refreshed themselves from the mineral
waters. Here Thomas H. Benton stopped and designated it as the
**Bethesda of the West." Here Washington Irving spent a number of
days and upon the mantel now resting in the old Van Bibber tavern,
penned some of his brightest thoughts. In bidding goodbye to his
friend, Major Van Bibber, said: **When I get rich, I shall buy this
place and build me a home."
Pinnacles
In the southeastern part of Montgomery county there is a huge, sin-
gular-looking rock known as the Pinnacle. It stands alone in the midst
of a small valley and rises perpendicularly to a height of 75 feet. Its
area is about one acre and is covered with trees. A winding path takes
the visitor to the top, where have often been held preaching and Fourth-
of-July celebrations.
Political History
Montgomery county has played well its part in politics. The first
election in which its citizens took part was in 1820 when James Monroe
carried the county for president, the only voting place at this time being
at the house of Jacob Groom. George W. Windsor of Mineola now has
in his possession the poll book of these early elections. In 1824 John
Quincy Adams carried the county for president after a very warm and
close fight. In 1840 the Whigs carried the county. In 1860, possibly
the warmest contested election in the early days of the county, resulted
in the Bell electors receiving 658 votes, the Douglas electors 612, the
Breckinridge electors 83 and the Lincoln electors 45. For a number
of years after the close of the Civil war the Democrats were in power
and carried the elections by a safe majority. Of recent years, the Re-
publicans have often elected some of their ticket. In the election of No-
vember, 1912, the Democrats carried the county by a majority of 186
votes. As to the present county officers, their political complexion is
as follows: Representative, S. S. Cox, Democrat; presiding judge of
the county court, J. W. Shocklee, Democrat; associate judges, William
Schroer and William Martin, Republicans ; prosecuting attorney, Harry
C. Black, Democrat; sheriff, W. H, Verser, Democrat; county clerk,
E. W. Hunter, Republican; circuit clerk, Everett Barton, Republican;
recorder, D. P. Qrennan, Republican; collector, L. E. Blades, Repub-
lican; assessor, Harry S. Bishop, Democrat; treasurer, John D. Ulrich,
Republican; coroner, Dr. J. M. Menefee, Democrat; surveyor, T. L.
Cardwell, Democrat.
One of the first three judges of the supreme court of the state of
Missouri was Matthias McGirk of Montgomery county. Judge McGirk
settled in this county in 1819, living in the Missouri river bottom, and
erected a brick house which stands today well preserved and in use.
Judge McGirk was appointed to serve until he arrived at the age of 65.
He resigned in 1841.
Financial
The financial institutions of the county consist of eighteen state
banks, whose combined capital reaches $504,200, and whose deposits
on November 26, 1912, amounted to $1,475,856.92. The stability of the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 505
financial institutions of the county reflects the character of the people
living therein.
The tax rate of the county is low. The county levies $0.35 on the
$100 for county purposes and an additional $0.25 for road purposes.
The school tax averages from nothing to $1.10, a number of districts
being able to maintain their eight-months schools from public money
the total assessed valuation of the county is a few dollars less than
$6,000,000 based upon a fifty per cent valuation. The county is free
of indebtedness.
Fairs and Fraternal Orders
The Montgomery County Agricultural and Mechanical Association
was organized and held its first fair in Montgomery City in 1866. Since
that time fairs have been held at New Florence, Wellsville and again at
Montgomery City. The present Montgomery County Agricultural and
Mechanical Association was organized in 1908 and holds annually suc-
cessful fairs.
The county, as a whole, is well supplied with secret societies. The
Masonic order has lodges at Jonesburg, New Florence, Montgomery,
Wellsville, Bellflower and McKittrick, forming a district within itself.
The Odd Fellows have organizations at New Florence, Montgomery City,
Wellsville, Bellflower and Middletown. The A. 0. U. W. has a lodge at
Montgomery' City. The Modern Woodmen of America have camps at
Rhineland, McKittrick, Wellsville, Middletown, Bellflower and New
Florence. The Order of Eastern Star has a strong organization at New
Florence, the only one in the county.
Celebrations
The first Fourth-of-July celebration was held at Loutre Lick, or
Mineola Springs, in 1821. Major Van Bibber was the ruling spirit and
paid all expenses attached thereto. Speech-makers were present from
St. Louis and St. Charles. At night there was a big dance in the Van
Bibber tavern engaged in by the prominent guests.
Old Settlers Picnic
The disposition of the citizens of Montgomery county is indeed social.
The most noted gathering within the history of the county and probably
within the history of Northeast Missouri is that of the *'01d Settlers,''
of Montgomery county, who organized themselves into an association on
June 3, 1882. in the Woodland district, a short distance west of New
Florence. This association has held a reunion annually. It has grown in
importance and attendance until now it is the largest picnic held in
Northeast Missouri. The attendance has reached fifteen thousand. The
association owns its park of twenty acres, where on the first Saturday in
each August gather not only the old settlers but the young settlers as
well. The politicians of the state have come to recognize it as a good
place and here many booms for governor, United States senator and
minor offices have been launched. To carry further the social idea,
nearly every community has a day for its annual picnic.
Newspapers
The newspapers of the county are eight in number: The Standard,
published at Montgomery City ; the Optic-News and Star at Wellsville ;
506 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the Chips at Middletown ; the News at Bellflower; the Montgomery
County Leader at New Florence; the Journal at Jonesburg, and the
Record at Rhineland. Each of these papers has a modern plant and is
issuing a weekly edition in harmony with the present progressive spirit
of Missouri.
Roads and Travelers
The early travel from the eastern to the western states, and especially
during the gold fever of 1849, found its way across the county over the
Boon's Lick road and it is said that as many as 3,000 people passed over
it monthly.
In matters of transportation, Montgomery county has the Wabash
Railroad running through its center; the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
in the northern section ; the Missouri, Kansas & Texas along its southern
borders. Several surveys for an electric line, extending from St. Louis
to Kansas City, have crossed its borders, and those interested feel con-
fident that this too will be built in the near future. With the railroad
facilities the county enjoys, she is thrown in close touch with the east-
ern markets, as well as the western markets.
The spirit of good roads has lain dormant these many years. During
the years 1911 and 1912 more progress was made in the improvements
of roads than ever before in its history. The Old Trails road, the ofiScial
cross-state highway, approved by the State Board of Agriculture,
enters the county just east of Jonesburg and continues its way across
to the western border, a distance of 20 miles. Near New Florence the
North State Highway branches from the Old Trail and extends through
the northern central section. The farmers of the present day realize
their need of transportation facilities for reaching the railroad and are
enthused with a spirit of making their conditions better.
CHAPTER XXIV
PIKE COUNTY •
By I. Walter Basye, Bowling Green
The Garden op Eden
Who has not heard of Pike county, its famous men, its beautiful
women, its schools and its churches, its undulating prairies, green-car-
peted valleys and sun-kissed vine-clad hills, its crystal streams, its
macadamized roads rivaling the old Appian Way, its delightful climate,
its fine farms, fruits and flowers? It is God's country. And who dare
say it is not the veritable Lost Paradise, the Garden of Eden retouched
in its pristine glory, rehabilitated and rededicated by the latest and best
edition of the genus homo — the Piker 1
Come, step out from the rushing rabble throng that is passing by
and let me lead you to this quiet nook inside the garden gate hard by
the Missouri Pippin tree that Mother Eve used to climb and get apples
to pelt his Adamic lordship. What! Not convinced? Skeptical of the
identity of Pike county and the Paradisian garden? What other land
than Pike county could Moses have had in view in his usual evening
address to the children of Israel while journeying in the wilderness?
He at least gives a description of the land that so completely fits that
the burden of proof is on you to show that the great leader did not have
Pike county in his prophetic eye. Vide Deuteronomy viii: 7, 8, 9.
'*A good land, of brooks of waters, of fountains and depths that spring
out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines, and
honey, a land in which thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou
shalt not lack for anything in it.'' Isn't that Pike county? Again,
Deuteronomy xi: 12. **A land which the Lord thy God careth for.
The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of
the year, even to the end of the year."
To tell the story of the county, taking no thought of the time to tell
it, no studied effort at literary merit, no ''apples of gold framed in
pictures of silver," doing even a passing justice to the characters who
contributed so much* to make that story fascinating, would not only
require historical genius, but genius with the dip of inspiration. The
Creator surely did care for the land as stated and He was so pleased
with the new Piker that He took him into full partnership, gave him the
keys to this western world, and whispered in his ear talismanic words
for greater achievements. Nor has this partnership been dissolved.
Baron Munchausen 's fancy flights may yet be put to flight by the real-
ities of the Piker. One day, some day he may be seen coming home from
the North with splinters from the Pole with which to cook the evening
meal. Some wise old philosopher said he could move the earth with a
lever, if he only could find a place to stand. The Pike county product
has found that place and is being noted for his skill in using the lever
and making things move.
507
508 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Older Than Its Mother
Pike county is old and venerable, with the anomaly of the child
being older than its mother, the State of Missouri, by two years, seven
months and twenty-four days, born and christened at St. Liouis, Mis-
souri, December 14, 1818. Quadruplets were born on that day — Pike,
Montgomery, Lincoln, and Madison counties. Only seven came before —
St. Louis, St. Charles, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, New Madrid,
Washington and Howard. Except the last two, the other children were
six years old when Pike threw her hat into the i:ing, the birth of the
other five corresponding to that of the Territory of 5lissouri, 1812.
In 1805 a young lieutenant of more than passing worth was trusted
with an important military expedition up the Mississippi to find its
source, establish forts and trading places and to make report to the
government of any and all valuable information about the new country
just purchased from France. Perhaps we were cheated. So began an
inventory. Clark and Lewis fourteen months before had gone up the
Missouri and on to the West. This last expedition was voluntary and
not yet concluded when the former, which was the first military exploi-
tation of the Louisiana Purchase, was begun. Clark and Lewis had well
set their faces to the setting sun in the Rockies when, on August 9, Zeb-
ulon Montgomery Pike, a young man of twenty-six and of soldierly bear-
ing, made his way through a mixed crowd gathered at the wharf at St.
Louis. At his sharp word of command, one sergeant, two corporals and
seventeen privates, with one guide, embarked in a seventy-foot keel boat.
Another word of command, as the summer sun was setting, and the men
bent to their oars, the vessel groaned and slowly put out from shore.
This exploration was overshadowed by the much more pretentious one
to the Wes^T'and both overshadowed private searches, one up the Mis-
souri river three years before Clark and Lewis, and one up the Missis-
sippi fourteen years before Lieutenant Pike. Pike was an efficient
officer and a very popular man. Seven years later, in 1813, he was com-
missioned a brigadier-general and was killed in attack before Toronto.
Five years later, in 1818, his glory had not the least abated. Two of
the counties formed in 1818 divide the honor of his name — Montgomery
and Pike.
Pike county, being a lusty child, made its cry heard afar off. The
rugged, impetuous mountaineer came clambering over the Allegheny
and the Blue Ridge mountains to help shape her destiny. The immobile
Carolinian, the blue blooded Virginian, the Hoosier schoolmaster, the
' ' down Easter, ' ' and there came too, on horseback or in mountain wagon
or gliding by boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi, the Kentucky
colonel. Each and every one of these immigrants, no matter how
learned or ignorant, how humble or how lordly he was in his old home,
brought to the new home elements that were to become the warp and
woof of a new race, industry, grit, optimism and a heaped up measure of
double distilled honesty. Many of them were poor, as property goes,
but they were rich in hope and neighborly kindnesses. They nestled
down side by side in a neighborly way, on the hillside, or in the rich
valleys, helping one another, intermarrying and becoming the progeni-
tors of a new, a composite race, leaders in every department of life in
this western world. They were dreamers, big dreamers, practical
dreamers, the advance guard of humanity, the toilers who with bent backs
and sweating brow cut smooth roads over which mankind marches on-
ward and upward from generation to generation. Were it not for
such dreamers the American people would still be hugging the Atlantic.
The present advancement is but the sum total of dreams of past ages
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 509
made real. All honor to our dreamers who looked far enough into the
future of this country to see our people emancipated from the narrow-
ing, hampering fetters of their day. Let us honor the men who had the
ability to foresee greater things, aye, and the nerve to make them
realities.
Sources op History
Very much of the early history of the county, like that of other coun-
ties and the first few years of the state, has not been preserved in such a
form as we now wish had been done. It has been only in the more recent
years that we begin to find real joy in the faintest traces and incidents
of our ancestral pioneers. Pike's honored citizen, Judge T. J. C. Fagg,
from time to time contributed articles reminiscent of early days. Thirty
years ago a voluminous history of the county was prepared by a non-resi-
dent, who failed to imbibe the interest he would have had, had he been a
resident. Especially do I want to accord value to researches made some
thirty odd years ago and printed in pamphlet form by Dr. Clayton
Keith of Louisiana. Before publication his writings were submitted to
pioneers then living, such as Levi Pettibone, Edwin Draper, the Rev. J.
AV. Campbell and son, Gov. R. A. Campbell, yet living, and to others,
getting information at first hand. From all these sources, from the rec-
ords at the courthouse, from my ancestors, who were here very early,
from historical clippings, *and especially from two old records kept by
the first merchant in the county, Uriah J. Devore, September, 1818 to
1826, the information in this chapter was obtained.
The Beginnings of the County
Of the seventh annual session of the territorial legislature, held at
St. Louis December 14, 1818, Pike county was cut out of St. Charles
county, which embraced all that part of the territory that lies north of
the Missouri river, west of the Mississippi river, north of the British
possessions and west of the Pacific oceam On the same day Lincoln
county was outlined on the north of the present St. Ch Aries county.
Then came Pike, the articles of description reading: **A11 that part of
St, Charles county lying north of the following lines, viz., beginning at
a point in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river between
townships 51 and 52, thence west with the township line to the range
line, between 2 and 3, west of the fifth principal meridian, thence south
to the township line between 50 and 51, thence west with said line to the
eastern boundary of Howard county, thence north and west with the
county line between St. Charles and Howard, to the most western point
of St. Charleis, shall be and is hereby laid off into a separate and dis-
tinct county, which shall be called and known by the name of Pike.'*
Such, gentle reader, is the legal description of Pike county to which I
introduce you, the home of Joe Bowers and his brother, Ike. Can any-
body on earth make a plat of it ? The south line, the southeast and the
southwest comers fixed, the west vague, the northwest tacitly under-
stood to extend to the ocean, no north, while the Father of Waters is
supposed to be the east side. Imagine a huge comet with a fairly well-
defined head drinking from the big river at the southeast corner of the
county, while its tail indefinite and indefinable spread over the great
northwest, covering Iowa, the Dakotas, and all the lands to the Pacific.
Such was the '* State of Pike'' and such were its boundaries until
1820, when Ralls county cut off a big chunk on the north and sixteen
years later Audrain county on the west was cut off. For three-fourths
of a century Pike has neither gained in size nor lost any of the 620 square
510 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
miles within her borders. Let us not be too critical of the legislature
then sitting in St. Charles for the indefiniteness of the boundaries. They
did the best they could, never dreaming of the extent of the empire
which was theirs to cut up and apportion out among the thousands then
hunting homes in the West.
The second war with England closed with the year 1814. Many of
those who sought homes here were soldiers of that war and quite a num-
ber of soldiers of the Revolution also came, older in years, but drank in
just as joyously freedom for the second time. Both of these wars were
nominally with England but in each case in the West and Northwest the
fighting was with Indians who were incited to bloodshed by whites.
Those who fought in the War of 1812 were known as ** Rangers.'' Some
who had ventured to make homes in the county several years before the
war, but had abandoned them and gone to St. Louis or other places of
security, now came back.
Not the Home- op Indians
Let us here correct an impression that almost universally prevails, —
that this and contiguous territory were ever the real homes of the Indians,
if they can be said to have had homes. It was their hunting ground in-
stead and perchance their battle ground in conflicts between the tribea
The Sacs, Foxes, and other tribes lived to the north on Rock river in the
Selkirk regions, on both sides of the river. Black Hawk, Keokuk, and
other famous chiefs lived there, while to the south, near St. Louis, and on
the Missouri river lived the Winnebagos, Osages and other tribes. But
they had no homes in Pike. Here they hunted buffalo, deer and bear
for food and the skins of which they bartered at the trading posts or
used for clothing. They hunted other game, too, such as wolves, panther,
elk and turkey. The prairies were the feeding places for the buffalo
and their trails going to and from water courses are yet to be seen in
various places, one distinct, one two miles northwest of Bowling Green.
For centuries perhaps countless thousands of buffalo would go in herds
and in course of time made deep road beds from two to six feet deep.
The graves that have been found in a number of places, especially
along the bluffs and water courses, belonged to previous races, as evi-
denced by the method of burial and by the contents buried with the
bodies.
As the whites increased, the Indians became less frequently seen,
although as late as 1856 Indians were seen coming single file into town,
having their bows and arrows. They would shoot at coins set up in
split sticks. Persons still live who saw them coming into Louisiana
bringing nuts, game and trinkets, and they always walked single file,
the squaws carrying the burdens. I started to school one morning in
1856. The school house was on the opposite side of the village from my
home. The teacher was A. P. Rodgers, who still lives in Bowling Green.
I did not know Indians were near and as I always had great fear of
them, I fled, not home, for they were on that side, but to the school house.
I was followed by a big buck, the biggest man I ever saw. I ran inside
and closed the door. He followed and bolted in without ceremony and
laughingly pointed me out to the teacher and said **him big fraid."
Full fifty years passed when a few years ago I took coach at Yankton.
South Dakota, to go out near the Rosebud reservation. I was on a big
land deal, by which I was to get the hotel, store, mill and most of
the little town. The deal had been worked up by letters to near the
closing and I began to count my gains. We reached the place about
nightfall and I, not knowing Indians were near, was greeted by a big
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI ' 511
Sioux about four times bigger than the one I saw when a boy. His
** how-how" and the sight of hundreds of tepees on the hillside brought
back that same old tremble of a half -century before, with added interest.
The First White Settler
In the last days of December, 1790, a young man lacking a few months
of his majority, bade his parents goodbye, seated himself in a little boat
and started from the Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and went
down the Ohio river. His father sixteen years before had come from
Fairfax, Virginia, and built the first house at Louisville. He went
up the Mississippi river and landed at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, January
1, 1791. That old French town for a week had been aglow with Christ-
mas festivities. This unostentatious young man was destined to play
a goodly part in starting a westward trend. He was a practical dreamer.
More than a hundred years before that time his Huguenot ancestors had
been driven from France because of their-Protestantism. Three hundred
years previously his forefathers had left Spain, near Biscay Bay, for
France, that they might earn a more reputable living than by piracy and
robbery, then practiced in that mountainous country. After a few days
at Ste. Genevieve and Mine LaMotte, thirty-five miles inland, he went
on up the river to St. Louis, a trading post containing about five hundred
people, mostly French. From there he resumed the journey up the river
to Fort Madison, stopping off in Pike county, where Louisiana now is.
Returning, he made St. Louis his home for twenty-seven years or until
March, 1818. He made frequent trips to the ** upper country" and was
frequently in Pike. It is said that he knew every man, woman and child
in the Missouri territory when the land was purchased. The news of
the transfer of ownership reached St. Louis March 10, 1804. He and
John Allen, his old friend, were chosen to make the transfer of fiags.
That evening the Stars and Stripes were hoisted and the next morning
the foreign flag was lowered. St. Louis then contained 825 people, all
French except about 150. It was almost exactly one-half as large as
Bowling Green is today. The name of John Walter Basye is in the list.
That year a daughter was born to his wife and she was named Louisiana.
When he moved to Pike county in 1818, John E. Allen, his friend's
son, accompanied him. Many others were attracted by the opportunities
in Pike county. The records of St. Louis show several of his clearing
out sales of land, preparing to take his permanent abode elsewhere. He
entered the southwest quarter, section 13, township 54, range 2, near
Louisiana, and at the same time the land where Bowling Green now
stands. Louisiana, plat filed December 10, 1819, but was laid out in
the spring of 1818. At the suggestion of John E. Allen, his friend's son,
the town was named Louisiana, for the rollicking girl born at the time
of the transfer of flags at St. Louis. The old family Bible bears out
the date, and the facts given by John C. Basye, then seven years old,
Joseph J. Basye, twenty years old, and Ann Watson, a daughter of
David Watson, all of whom were present.
The statement sometimes made that the town was named for Lucinda
Walker is not correct. She had married John Venable nearly a year
before and had moved away. Besides the names are not alike.
Early Settlers
Judge T. J. C. Fagg says that in the year 1800, James Burns, of
Kentucky, effected the first temporary settlement of what is now Pike
county, at or near the present site of Clarksville. He returned to
512 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST JlISSOrRI
Kentucky, then came back brining his family and his brother, Arthur
Burns, in the year 1808. This time he settled a little above Clarksville
and erected the first log house in the county. Our public records show
that on June 4, 1802, Frederick Dixon, a celebrated hunter and Indian
trader, brother-in-law of James Bums, applied to the lieutenant-goveruor
of Upper Louisiana, for a grant of eight hundred arpens, 680 acres, im-
mediately on the north bank of Grassy creek. The grant was made, but
Dixon never made settlement. Instead, he settled where Clarksville now
stands and established a trading post with the Indians. In the years
1808, 1809 and 1810, other settlements were made by immigrants from
Kentucky and the Carolines.
The first families after the Burns brothers, if indeed not contem-
porary with them, was a colony in 1807 from York district. South Car-
olina, and Lincoln county. North Carolina, destined to leave distinct
footprints in our history. There were four brothers, John, James, David
and Samuel Watson. In this colony also were John. James and Robert
Jordan^ brothers; Alex. Allison. William SlcConnell, Thomas Cunning-
ham, John Walker and Abram Thomas. John Watson settled where
Watson Station now is. James settled near the mouth of Noix creek;
David, farther up the creek at what is now known as the Andy Scott
A View At St.\bk Brothers Xcbsery
farm. John Jordan settled where Buffalo church now is; Rot)ert. on
the Fry farm ad.joining, and James, a mile south of Uniisiana, between
the two creeks. William McConnell settled on the Shy farm and Alex.
Allison on the Isrig farm near by. John Turner located on Little Calu-
met, John Walker on Grassy creek, and Thomas Cunningham on the
Price farm. In each and every case, a spring of water was the objective
point, more attention being paid to this than to the quality of land.
Two years later, in 1810, another colony came from Kentucky and
settled on Ramsey ereek. In this group were Joseph McCoy, a noted
Indian fighter. Eli Burkalen or Burkaleo. George Myers, Daniel McQuie,
Andrew Edwards and Joel Harpool. In 1811 came John Mackay, James
Templeton and his nephew. Mijaniin Templeton. the latter eleven years
old, all settling on BnfFnlo.
TlWIUBI.E Wmi THE IXUHNS
The Indians were numerous and peaceably disposed, hui by nature
they were easily incited to depredations by the British agents similar
to the "hairbuyer" (scalp purchaser) of Old Vincennes. In December,
1811, a conference was called of all the settlers, as trouble seemed to be
portending by the mysterious actions of the Indians.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 513
A fort was settled on and immediately commenced on the Alex. Alli-
son farm, two miles south of Louisiana. Into this fort, called Buffalo,
more than twenty families were gathered, taking turns at guarding and
cultivating crops the next year. An underground passage was made
to a spring not far away. In the year 1812, no harm came to them and
they were thrown off their guard. They went farther away to work
and began to think their preparation for defense was unnecessary. But
in the following March, Capt. Robert Jordan and his son, James, were
shot and scalped by the Indians while working on their farms. They
were buried where they fell and were the first persons in the county
to die, except a small child pf John Jordan, several years before. Today
a memorial stone at their graves in the old Buffalo cemetery keeps the
visitors continually reminded of those dangerous days.
The people were now thoroughly alarmed and requested Governor
Clark at St. Louis to* send soldiers for protection. Samuel Watson,
one of the oldest, went to St. Louis to intercede with the governor, who
refused, but agreed to send a guard to conduct the colonists to St.
Ipuis. They bundled up such goods as they could, put them in a flat-
boat and took refuge in St. Louis.
One of the soldiers, Peter Brandon, and Mary McConnell were mar-
ried in the fort, and this is probably the first marriage in the county.
There was no minister nor officer to legalize the marriage and it was
performed by the good old Samuel Watson.
The settlement farther south also called a meeting at the Clarksville
fort to devise means of defense. At this meeting was James O'Neil,
who had come, four years before, and while at the meeting his wife and
nine children were most brutally murdered and scalped. The youngest
child, about one year old, was thrown alive into a large oven and baked.
This settlement went to Fort Woods at Troy, or Port Stout at Auburn.
A few of the braver ones remained in the fort at Buffalo, and others came
to them from nearby settlements. There were probably no women or
children left. In July, 1814, a company of sixty-four volunteers, known
as rangers, came up from Cap-au-Gris, commanded by Capt. Allen
Ramsey, for whom the creek was named. They started to go to Port
Mason, near Saverton, and stopped at Buffalo Fort.X From there, for
some unknown reason, part of them returned to Cap-au-Gris. The
others, under command of Captain Ramsey, continued toward Port
Mason.
Somewhere between the two forts they encountered a band of Win-
nebago Indians, who were lying in ambush. A fight ensued, in which
Captain Ramsey, David Whitesides, Levy Lansy, Mr. Duff and one other
were killed. Alex Matthews, Daniel Griffith, John Lucas, and in fact
most of the others were wounded, but their names are unknown. This
battle, about which we know so little, is thought to have taken place on
Mud Lick prairie. Some of the wounded got back to Buffalo Port. Some
friendly Indians took David Whitesides, who was wounded, in a canoe,
and started down the river to Cap-au-Gris, but he died before that place
was reached. About six months after this battle, and in the early days
of 1815, the war closed and the Indian hostilities ceased. The refugees
began making preparation to return, bringing with them many new set-
tlers.
There was as yet no Pike county nor was there to be such for nearly
three years. At that time there was no Louisiana or other named town
or creek, though they have been mentioned. The names of early settlers
mentioned herein were, of course, not all who then lived in Pike county.
There were many others,
voi. I— an
514 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Some Pioneer Settlements
From 1817 to 1820 there was a great rush to this new field, none
doubting at that time bnt that the settlements were to be really per-
manent. Daniel Draper came from Smith county, Tennessee, in 1816,
stopping first in Lincoln county, bringing his six sons, at least three
of whom were to become prominent in the county affairs — Daniel,
Edward and Philander Draper, who were eminently fitted as leaders and
business men.
Early in the same year came John Bryson and John Venable with
their families from York county, South Carolina. They met the Jordan
refugees at St. Louis and arranged to occupy the cabins already built
until their return the next year.
This year also came Richard Matson and his brothers, Enoch and
Peyton. They brought with them mill stones for grinding corn and the
next year erected a mill at Peno creek. Prior \o that time the settlers
used hand mills or went to St. Charles, sixty miles away. Ninety-two
years after the Matson mill was built, a grandson, A. P. Matson, took
out a log that had been used in making the dam across Peno. The log,
having been weighted down by stones, was perfectly sound.
About this time, possibly two years later, Mulharin, a brother-in-law
of the Rev. Stephen Ruddle, built a mill on Ramsey creek. John and
James Patterson, sons of the Revolutionary soldier, William Patter-
son, came in 1817, and that year erected a small mill near Rock Ford.
These stones, as well as another mill, are yet at the place known as the
Patterson farm. The Matson mill proved inadequate and he built a
horse-mill on Spencer and still a larger one on Salt river. Near this
mill, which ground most of the com for many miles for both white and
Indian, salt was manufactured and sold to the settlers through the
stores at Louisiana, at 6^/4 cents a pound.
In 1816 there came from Bourbon county, Kentucky, a county which
furnished many newcomers, James Stark, who later became a county
judge. The next year he returned to his old home and brought back, in
a pair of saddlebags, seeds, scions and rootlets. He was an enthusiastic
fruit grower and the contents of the saddlebags were the foundation for
perhaps the largest nursery in the world, at Louisiana, now operated
by the third and fourth generations of descendants of the founder.
Another settler came from Scott county, Kentucky, the Rev. Stephen
Ruddle, who organized the first Baptist churcli on Ramsey creek in
1817. In 1780, when he was twelve years old, he with many others
were captured by the Indians and most of his companions were mur-
dered. Colonel Bird, having six hundred British and more Indians,
claimed he could not control the latter. Ruddle grew up among them,
married a squaw and did not return for years. He was tall, athletic,
straight as an arrow, and wore his black hair hanging down his neck.
He said he had accompanied the Indians on many expeditions and ''had
murdered and scalped many white captives, often continuing the use
of the tomahawk until his arm would give out from pure exhaustion."
Others who settled in these parts were John Mulharin, William and
Joseph Holiday, William Biggs, David Todd, who became the first cir-
cuit judge of Pike county, Benjamin Gray, John and William McCune.
In the same year came Joseph Carroll, father of Thomas M. Carroll,
from York district, South Carolina. He was a blacksmith, brought a
bellows and other tools with him and opened a shop a few miles south
of Louisiana. With him came from Kentucky, the Caldwells, Maidens,
Browns, Shaws, William Campbell, father of one of Pike county's truly
greatest and best men, Rev. James W. Campbell, and grandfather of our
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST :\IISSOURI 515
well-known governor, Robert A. Campbell. This year also came Maj.
James Jones, first surveyor, later senator and sheriff and an all round
good citizen, Elijah Hendrick, a Revolutionary soldier, John Walter
Basye, from St. Louis, first explorer of the county and founder of
Bowling Green. Mr. Basye came from Louisville in 1791. John E.
Allen, the progenitor of the Aliens and Rowleys, also came from North
Carolina. Isaac Orr settled at Antioch, upon whose farm the first Cum-
berland Presbyterian church was built. That first church was organized
in 1819, under a walnut tree, still standing on the farm of Robert
Fullerton.
In 1818 from Bath county, Kentucky, came Joab Smith. In 1819
from Virginia came William Stephenson, school-teacher and first judge
of the county court, settling on Grassy creek. About this time came
George Reading, a Revolutionary soldier, who later went to Lewis county
and died there. Other soldiers of this war came in the early years and
though well on in years they still possessed the nerve to commence life
anew. Let us bow our heads in reverence to these heroes, who are
buried in our county, some of them on the farms they tilled, this custom
being quite common until later years.
Revolutionary Soldiers
John Poenix, buried in the family burying ground on Sugar creek,
was born in Virginia, September 2, 1757, and died in Pike county
September 11. 1839. He served under General Green and was present
at the surrender of Cornw^allis.
William Patterson, buried on his farm nine miles from Louisiana
on the road to Eolia, was born in North Carolina, came to Pike county
in 1818, and died in 1849.
Roland Burbridge, born in Virginia, died in Pike county in 1842,
was buried at Buffalo cemetery. His tombstone inscription states that
he was in the battle of Cowpens.
James Mackey, born in South Carolina in 1743, died in Pike county
in 1855, was buried at Buffalo. The inscription on his monument reads :
**An American patriot who lived to see the success of the American
arms."
James ^I. McElwee, buried at the McElwee cemetery five miles west
of Louisiana on the Paris road, was born in Greenville, Virginia, July
24, 1776. His name last appears on the pay roll of 1780, which reads :
'* Regiment in garrison at the siege of Charleston."
The Pike county records of March 6, 1821, show that Elijah Hen-
dricks applied for pension and made affidavit that he ** enlisted and
served on the continental establishment March 7, 1776, to some time in
1781, was with General Sullivan in his Indian expedition, marched to
New Jersey to join Washington, was taken prisoner at Charleston and
remained such until honorably discharged. I have a wife, Nancy,
aged 62, and with me one son, Mose, aged 14. As to myself and wife,
we are neither able to manage for ourselves, being quite infirm and of
worn-out constitution. My son is and has ever been of a weakly nature
and is in no wise able to render us any assistance." He and his wife
are buried on the farm on which he lived, four miles southwest of
Bowling Green. They were the parents of the late Moses, Johnson and
Wesley Hendricks.
Cornelius Beasley, born in Carolina county, Virginia, was a soldier
in the War of 1776, lived in Virginia until 1836, when he came to Pike
county. He died in Bowling Green October 24, 1840, in his eighty-
516 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
fourth year and was probably buried at Bowling Green by the side of
his daughter, Mrs Jacob Rhodes.
On August 9, 1819, Reuben Smithers presented to the circuit court
a petition asking for a pension from the United States. The petition
was accompanied by his affidavit and also that of Jonathan Oyler.
Samuel Baird died near Louisiana December 22, 1840, at the age of
eighty years. He was a native of Virginia and served with the Virginia
militia at the battle of Yorktown and the capture of Comwallis.
William Sherwood, a Revolutionary war hero, came to Pike county
in 1818, but no further record is found of him.
Descendants of nearly all the persons mentioned are now to be found
in the county, to say nothing of many who have gone to almost everj'
country of the world.
Records of a Pioneer Merchant
In the day book and ledger of the first store ever kept in Pike county,
covering a period from September 12, 1818, to December, 1826, are
found the names of a number of pioneers of the county. These books,
aside from the mere entries showing who then lived in the county,
contain perhaps the most valued history.
The store was at Louisiana and was kept by Uriah J. Devore, who
came from St. Louis to establish the branch of a St. Louis store. The
Louisiana store was kept in a log house on the southwest corner of
Georgia and Second streets. Later the eccentric John Schwimmer
bought it and twenty-six years afterward erected a brick building on
the spot where he had so long kept store.
In the old books we find the name of Moses Kelly. Of him Judge
Fagg says: ** There was no better citizen. It seems to be generally
understood in the early days that if a man could get to be sheriff and
fill the office with credit, the next step in his advancement would be a
seat in the legislature.*' Kelly served two terms as sheriff, 1832-36,
and then served, with A. B. Chambers, as representative.
The name of Willis Mitchell appears as a patron. He performed
the first marriage ceremony at Bowling Green, marrying the girl for
whom the town of Louisiana was named, Louisiana Basye, to David L.
Tombs. October 14, 1818, Samuel K. Caldwell bought goods. He,
with Joel Shaw, came for the purpose of laying out a town and did so.
He was admitted to the bar at the first session of the circuit court, April
12, 1819, together with Augustus Le Grand and Ezra Hunt. He was
the first assessor of Pike county, receiving his appointment from Gover-
nor Bates January 1, 1819. His bondsmen were Maj. James Jones,
John E. Allen and John Campbell. Col. James Johnson purchased
$58.75 worth of merchandise. He, together with Andrew Edwards.
John Jordan, James Bryson and Peyton Matson, was appointed by the
legislature to fix on ** suitable places for courthouse, jail and permanent
seat of justice, ' ' at Louisiana in 1818.
On October 17th Samuel Watson bought merchandise. To this man
Ashley, by his munificent gift, .is indebted for the famous Watson Semi-
nary. He served on the first grand jury and was appointed by the court
to locate a road from the salt works or the '"lick" to Louisiana. Boru
in 1766, he served, though young, in the War of the Revolution.
John Mathews bought goods next day. He was an Ohl School Pres-
byterian preacher, the first of that denomination in the county. He
taught the first school in the county, except the rather informal one
taught in the fort. He organized the first Bible society at the county
seat, performed most of the marriage ceremonies of those times, among
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 517
which were the following: James Templeton and Jennie Maekey, January
26, 1818 ; John Venable and Lueinda Walker, February 6, 1818 ; Andrew
Jordan and Peggy Henry, October 18, 1818; Carroll Moss and Miss
Maekey, December 18, 1818; John Hymen and Betsy Moss, February 7,
1819; James Orr and Betsy Campbell, May 11, 1819; James Lanes and
Maria Phillips, June 22, 1819. He was asked by the court to pass on
the fitness of applicants for the first surveyor. This office fell to Maj.
James Jones.
There appears in the old store books also the name of John Walker
He o^^'ned part of .the ground on which the town of Louisiana was built.
There appears also the names of the Rev. Joseph Jackson Basye, son of
John W, Basj'e, of whom it is stated that he was the first Methodist to
preach in the county. He was an eccentric man and minister of the
type of Peter Cartwright, with whom he often held meetings in Illinois.
He married Ann Watson, daughter of David Watson.
James Culbertson bought two pounds of coffee for seventy -five cents
a pound. He was killed July 6, 1840, by the overturning of an ox-
cart, on which he was riding, between Bowling Green and Louisiana.
The name of ^lichael J. Noyes is found frequently in the books.
He was first circuit clerk, which office he held more than twenty years.
He was a very conspicuous character, a stout man with a red face and
prominent eyes. He wore a broad-brimmed hat which he seldom removed
from his head either at the sessions of court or in his home, even at the
table. He was an efficient officer and did much to shape the destiny of
the county until 1842, when he left the county and became an active
citizen of Pittsfield, Illinois, where he died. It is said "he could write,
whistle and converse with two or three persons at the same time without
making an error or failing to put in an oath at the proper place.''
There appears, too, the name of Judge Ezra Hunt, a noble man.
He was graduated from Harvard in 1816, taught school in Tennessee the
next year, came to St. Louis in 1818 and to Pike county in 1819. He was
a hard student, a just lawyer and a much-loved man. His home was at
Bowling Green. He died suddenly at Troy, Missouri, September, 1860.
The names of John Miller, who subseriuently became governor of
Missouri, Marshall Mann, who conducted a hotel, Dr. Allison T. Crow,
who was the first physician to practice in the county, Willis Mitchell,
one of the three appointed by the general assembly of Missouri in 1822
to ** superintend the erection of a courthouse at Bowling Green," Capt.
Obadiah Dickinson, at whose home the first circuit court of Pike county
was held, and who at that time kept tavern on Georgia street where the
National Hall now stands, Captain Ralls, for whom Ralls county, Mis-
souri, was named, are among the others found in these old record books.
These names were charged with merchandise between September 12, 1818,
and July 31, 1820. The books were well kept, showing dates and details
and are absolutely correct. The names are given here, hoping they may
prove of value to their descendants. Space forbids taking up the other
book, which carries an additional list, from 1820 to August 26, 1826.
The names follow :
Vincent Kelly, IMatthew Kelly, Samuel Small, John Yates, Thomas
P. Ross, William Fullerton, Isaac Orr, James Orr, William Hemphill,
Joseph Rodgers, John Wamsley, Nathaniel Carr, John Carr, Edward D.
Emerson, Mijamin Templeton, James Findlay, James Crider, William
Givens, John Vallier, Ezekiel Jenkins, Walter Conway, Fountain Con-
way, Alexander Henley, W. K. Pickens, Elisha Moore, James Bruce,
Harrison Booth, Carroll Moss, Hugh Gordon, Charles McGiffin, Wilson
Cook, John E. Allen, Captain Benning, John Morris, John Galloway,
William Campbell, William Robinson, William Johns, Samuel Kem,
518 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
William Cunningham, Anthony Palmer, James Frier, James Boyer,
John Lindsey, Travis Angle, William York, John Lewis, Nathaniel
Montgomery, John Williams, Isaac Hostetter, Jacob Dennis, George Kin-
eaid, Edward Byers, Abram Ross, Alexander Allison, Wach Allison,
Samuel Megary, Richard Campbell, Archibald Clayton, George Bur-
bridge, Daniel Ferguson, P. A. Thacker, John Hymers, Elisha Jackson,
Moses Hicklin, Joseph Yates, Samuel Watson, Lester Vashall, James
Cox, Joseph Carroll, Ira Pierce, Benjamin Burbridge, Andrew Little,
Robert Barnett, Samuel Shaw, William See, David James, Alexander
Lord, Robert McConnell, Joseph Meacham, John Barnett, John Ander-
son, Robert Muir, James Watson, Lindsay Lewis, Capt. William Brown.
Ezra Hunt, Robert E. Mott, John Markley, James Burnett, Benjamin T.
Dickinson, Robert FuUerton, John Turner, Timothy Lamberton, Henry
Yeater, John Jordan, Leonhard Dean, Joseph Scott, Marshall Parks,
James Glenn, James Baird, John Watson, John McCune, Thorp R.
Estes, McGee Jordan, Enoch Matson, William Montgomery, William
Gwynn, Uriah Anderson, Amible Partney, Benjamin Munn, Col. James
Johnson, James Venable, Musick, James Love, William McConnell,
William P. HoUiday, Ephraim Pearse, Charles Scanland, John Bishop.
David Watson, Samuel McCadam, Joseph Trotter, Alexander Wood-
side, Hugh White and Bennett Goldsbury.
Court Proceedings
The legislature in session at the time of organizing the county prob-
ably fixed the place of meeting of the court. This was at the home of
Capt. Obadiah Dickinson. It also fixed the time **from and after the
first day of February, 1819," at which time the judicial existence of
Pike county was to exist. Cases then in the courts affecting the interests
of the people in the new county were to be certified for settlement.
David Todd, though living in what is now Boone county, was a ** Piker."
He was designated by the governor as judge of the Northwestern circuit,
including Pike and other counties. The judge appointed Michael J.
Noyes clerk pro tem. The governor appointed Samuel K. Caldwell
sheriff.
Pike county at that time had not been shorn of its immense size and
the court busied itself carving out townships, appointing constables,
justices of the peace and judges of election, and laying out roads. The
four townships were Buffalo, Calumet, Peno and Mason, the last named
including Ralls county. Dabney Jones, John Bryson and Willis Mitcrhell
were made justices.
The first article of record was the commission of Dabney Jones, Book
A, page 1. Page 2 of this volume records the contract of John Cald-
well of St. Louis and James Johnson of Pike county, binding the former s
two sons, Alva and Reigny, until they were 21 years old. Johnson
binds himself **to teach the boys to the best of his ability the blacksmith
and gunsmith trades and to teach them to read and write welK and
arithmetic, as far as the rule of three, to board and clothe them." Wit-
nessed by James Jones, first surveyor, and by Walter Conway, first
deputy sheriff.
Court and School
The first grand jury was composed of James Watson, foreman, David
James, Willis Mitchell, Jesse II. Lane, Samuel Small, Samuel Watson.
William See, Moses Kelly, Samuel McGary, William K. Pickens, John
W. Basye, David Watson, John Turner, Hugh Gordon, James Maekey,
John Venable. John M. Jordan. John Lewis, Samuel Green, Ephraim W.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 519
Beasley, and James Crider. It had no business to transact. This court
gave Samuel K. Caldwell license to conduct a ferry, he having stipu-
lated in laying out the town to reserve ferry rights. The next session of
the court was held August 9, 1819, and being unable to continue at the
house of Captain Dickerson, it adjourned to meet at the schoolhouse.
This was the first schoolhouse. At the third session, in 1820, the com-
missioners having announced the readiness of the new courthouse and jail
on lot 24, the court was held there. Two years later, December 14, 1822,
the general assembly appointed Willis Mitchell, William McPike and
G. C. Trabue to superintend the building of a new courthouse at Bowling
Green. This second courthouse was completed August 5, 1823. Na-
thaniel Montgomery, a brother-in-law of John W. Basye, contracted
with the court to build the house for $75 and **to take it from the
stump.'' It was built of round logs, was very low and covered with
boards four feet long, which were held in place by poles. It stood
northeast of the present courthouse. Sessions of the supreme court of
Missouri were held in it. The third courthouse, being the second one
at Bowling Green, was built by John and Walter Crow. It was a brick
house and was used until 1844. The third courthouse at Bowling Green
was built in 1844 by W. W. Blain and Samuel Kem. This building was
burned on the night of March 18, 1864. The present courthouse was
then erected.
Life and Customs
The earliest settlers came with the feeling of insecurity and that
this was not their home. By 1820, however, all doubt was gone. The
Upper Louisiana territory had become the Missouri territory. The
settlers no longer thought of returning to their old homes except on visits
and to induce others to come. They began to settle down, not only in
security but in real happiness and often in prosperity. They did not
look backward, but ahead and with optimism. The machinery of local
government had become oiled and set in motion. Laws suited to their
needs were being made. Learning, common sense and experience were
happily blended. The first settlements are always an era of good
neighborly feeling, feeling of dependence that brings people nearer
together and makes them feel the necessity of assisting one another, in
the way of raising their cabins, clearing the forests, harvesting their
crops and helping each other in the rude efforts to build homes for the
wives and little ones. There is no era in the history of a settlement to
which the old settler could look back with more pride and pleasure than
that when he commenced life in the wilds, where luxuries were unknown
and human nature had to be studied in the rough, the good separated
from the bad and estimates made, not from appearances but from actual
tests. The clear-cut characters of the pioneers, or at least of most of
them, some rough diamonds and some cut and polished, all were jewels
of some kind.
'*God will reward those dead heroes of ours
And cover them over with beautiful flowers."
The census of 1820 showed 2,667 population, about one-sixth slaves.
The cost of that census was $40. Audrain and Ralls counties were in-
cluded in the census. In the census of 1910, ninety years later, Pike
county alone shows a population of 22,556.
The crops grown were wheat, potatoes, flax, tobacco, cotton and
com. Every family raised from fifty to one hundred and fifty pounds
of cotton for its own use. As late as 1858 cotton fields of ten to fifteen
520 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
acres were sometimes seen. The young people enjoyed very much the
cotton pickings in the evening before the huge fires in the wide fire-
places. Later the Rev. John Mathews, the preacher-teacher, built a cot-
ton-gin on Moses Kelly's farm and received most of the cotton to be
picked for the whole county and more. Com was the principal crop
raised by these pioneers. The blades were pulled off below the ear and
tied in bundles for winter feed for horses. The tops were then cut off
above the ear and tied in bundles for the cows. Late in the fall the ears
were pulled from the stalks, hauled and put in two piles of equal size
near the place where it was to be stored and then the neighbors were
invited to a ** husking'' some night. The crowd gathered and two cap-
tains were selected. They alternately chose from th« buskers until all
were taken. The slaves came also and were among the early ones
chosen. Lanterns of the old style, tin ones perforated, were hung up for
light for the shuckers. There was also a jug of whiskey furnished by the
host. All drank from the same jug. The fun commenced and the
side getting its pile shucked first was entitled to extra drams. No
drinks were taken until the work was done. The house-raisings for
homes, stables or tobacco barns were likewise enjoyed. Even the women
frequently attended as spectators and it may be that some maidens were
there to stimulate the young men to do their best. Horse races were fre-
quent and drew crowds. The bets were small, seldom more than five dol-
lars. The races, in the main, were conducted fairly, winners and losers
usually going away satisfied. If not, coats were deliberately drawn, a
crowd formed around two men, who fought with their bare fists to
a finish. They washed away the blood, the two shook hands and went
away friends. At the dances were, perhaps, the greatest joys. They
were more select in their company than at other amusements. The
** Swing your partners,'* mingled with the sweet music made by Sambo
on his fiddle, no doubt started many young couples waltzing into wed-
lock. Fun and pleasure in these days ran riot. Everyone enjoyed a
joke and a laugh at the expense of another.
The following story is told of Robert Allison, more familiarly known
as ** Dandy Bob," and well known to everybody then and to hundreds
of persons now living. He was by trade a tailor and his greatest delight
was to show himself in fine clothes, always looking as if he **had just
stepped out of a bandbox." He had sent away for the finest broad-
cloth suit possible to buy and he could afford it, too. Then even the
well-to-do felt that jeans coats and pants, home-grown, were good
enough for any man. The women, young and old, at church or
wedding or dance, wore linsey-woolsey or cotton, home-spun and hand-
made. The night for the party in question was very cold, but ** Dandy
Bob," determined to show his new suit, decided to wear underneath it
dressed buckskin, which is impervious both to heat and to cold. He
had thought only of keeping out the terrible cold. The crowd assembled
and dancing time came. The ladies removed their wraps and were
ushered to the glowing fire in the big, open fireplaces. In the mean-
time, ** Dandy Bob," strutting like a lord, walked to and fro to attract
the attention of the ladies. He was more than Chesterfield. As the
dance was about to begin, he walked up to one of the big fires, getting
nearer to it than he thought. He turned his back to the fireplace and
spread his feet wide apart, brought his coat tails to the front and stood
so several minutes. All eyes were fixed upon him him and he was lost
in self-admiration. A little smoke was soon seen in his clothing, but
no one gave the alarm. The buckskin began to burn him. The whole
back of his suit was burned and brushed off by a stroke to put out the
fire. ** Dandy Bob" reached for his beaver hat, leaped over the gate and
went to do his dancing at home.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 521
The Churches
Frequently the pioneers met for religious services. These services
were held in the homes or in the open air, as there were no meeting
houses. It was in a grove on the FuUerton farm, six miles southeast of
Bowling Green, near Scott Spring, the first Cumberland Presbyterian
church in Missouri was organized ninety-three years ago and there the
next year, May 1, 1820, was held the first session of the Missouri Presby-
tery, embracing all of Missouri, Arkansas and Western Illinois. The
associations of the nearby church, Antioch, are hallowed and its founder
and pastor for a half-century, the Rev. J. W. Campbell, is revered.
About the same time the Baptists were active in building at Rarasy
creek. Among their great preachers of the early days were the Rever-
ends William H. Vardeman, William Hurley, Davis Biggs and ^I. M.
Modisett. The Rev. John ^lathews, of the Old School Presbyterian
church, was an early and active worker from 1818 for many years.
Later the Rev. J. J. Basye, ^Methodist, preached at Louisiana in 1818
and the Rev. Phineas Killibrue preached at about the same time near ^
Frankford. The Rev. Anthony W. Cassbd, who preached the first ser-
mon ever preached at Bowling Green, was active in the work of the
church in 1820 to 1822.
The Laying Out op Towns
We have learned to accept as correct the dates of the *Uaying out''
of towns as shown in the published atlases. These are really the dates
of the filing of the plats, while we are interested in the actual laying
out of the towns.
Louisiana was laid out in 1818 and the plat filed December 10, 1819.
Clarksville was laid out in 1819 and the plat filed in 1826. Deeds
made in 1819 from John Miller, who laid out the town and who was
afterwards governor of Missouri from 1828 to 1832, are recorded in
Book A of the county records. Many of these deeds from both places
antedate the usually accepted time of the laying out of the towns.
The same authorities give the date of the laying out of Bowling Green ^
as in November, 1826. As early as Q^tob^r 14, 1822, the general assem-J'*^^^^^^
bly of Missouri appointed Willis Mitchell, G. C. T. Trabue and Will-
iam McPike to ** superintend the erection of a courthouse at Bowling ^ ,
Green/' On August 5, 1823, the building was completed and approved Aput tA ^ * ^
and the November, 1823, term of court was held in it.^^ot a person
in the to\^Ti now, probably, but feels that its centennial/anniversary is ^U -^
due in 1926, while the real centennial will be earlier. \
The entry of land where Bowling Green now stands was made \ \
December 23, 1818, or nine days after the county was organized. John I \
W. Basye moved to it May 1, 1820. The main consideration in location
was the big spring, which is near the quarter section line. He regretted
that he had to take so much prairie land in order to get the spring. He
killed a bear at a big elm tree in the southeast part of the town between .
the home of Mrs. Albert Sutton and the brick church across the street. I
In St. Louis his home was the secret preaching place for the Rev. Mr. /
Clark and others from Illinois. Protestants were forbidden to congre- /
gate. At Bowling Green and at Louisiana, during his two years resi- /
dence there, his home was again a preaching place and he organized a /
Sunday school in his home at Bowling Green. Anthony W. Cassod /
preached the first sermon there and was on the work two years. /
-J^ The sessions of the supreme court of Missouri, when it was an itinerant
body, were held in this building, which stood where the marble yard ^^
^Iv
O^HmAWU'
I
^^^<o^
522 HISTORY OF SpiTHEAST MISSOURI
now is, northeast of the square. The grand jury room was a loom house
standing where Folk's house now is. Charles B. Rouse was the first
lawyer. He was assassinated at New London. The centenarian, Levi
Pettibone, married his widow.
Edmond Basye taught the first school on a rocky, now abandoned,
point one hundred yards north of Champ Clark's house.
Miss 8tniftl»«l( was the first person buried in the city cemetery. Mrs.
E. G. McQuie, whose body lies under the quaint marble slab, was the
second person buried in the cemetery. '* Under this stone," they say,
''lies old Grandmother McQuie.'' Her husband was the first saloon
keeper in the town.
Oliver Sherman was the first drygoods merchant.
Dr. Michael Reynolds was the first druggist.
Major William Pigg, in 1828, made brick for the second courthouse.
The first courthouse was ordered plastered with mud and also the roof
repaired in 1827.
Certain people from near Bowling Green, Kentucky, — the Thorntons.
Culbertsons, Pikes, Readings and others, known as the Bowling Green
crowd — ^gave the town its name. The two places are laid out alike.
At Bowling Green some of the best lawyers of the state commenced
practice, among them Ezra Hunt, Foster P. Wright, T. J. C. Fagg, A. B.
Chambers, James 0. Broadhead, A. H. Buckner, Gilchrist Porter, D. P.
Dyer, Samuel T. Glover, Elijah Robinson and John B. Henderson.
CHAPTER XXV
PUTNAM COUNTY
By B. H. Bonfoey, UnionviUc
Physical Features
Putnam is in the most northern tier of Missouri counties, its northern
boundary being the Missouri-Jowa state line. It is bounded on the east
by Schuyler county, on the south by Sullivan and Adair and on the west
by Mercer. It is thirty-six miles from east to west and fourteen from
north to south, except in the southeast corner, where the boundary ex-
tends three miles further to the southward. It contains 523 square
miles.
The land is generally rolling and some of it hilly and broken,
although there is much level land. There are few springs and water
is gotten from cisterns, and wells 15 to 30 feet deep, or artificial ponds.
There are no rivers in the county, except Chariton on the eastern bound-
ary line, but numerous small creeks drain most of the land well.
The county is crossed by three railroads, the Chicago, Milwaukee &
St. Paul, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Iowa & St. Louis.
All run from north to south.
Although practically all the good farming land is now being tilled,
the resources of the county are still both numerous and diversified.
There is some good timber land left in the eastern part of the county.
In the western part it is found only along the streams. Coal is found
in abundance. Layers underlie the entire county, but it is readily
accessible only in the eastern part. Here it can be reached either by
shafting or drifting. Numerous coal mines are worked on a small scale
and there is one large company, the Mendota Coal and Mining Company,
which owns twelve thousand acres of coal land in Putnam county.
Limestone and sandstone are both found in the county, the latter excel-
lent for building purposes. Paint clay, fire clay and gravel are also
found. ,
Increase in Population
The population of Putnam county since its organization has been as
follows: 1850, 1,657; 1860, 9,208; 1870, 11,217; 1880, 13,555; 1890,
15,365; 1900, 16,688; 1910, 14,308.
First Settlers
The first settlers in what is now Putnam county came in the decade
beginning with 1830. Who was the first to come is a matter of dispute.
John Corneilison and his daughter, Hannah Vincent, settled in the
county in March, 1836. Brightwell Martin is said by some to have
come earlier than this. Settlers who preceded these were Spencer Gro-
523
524 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST -MISSOURI
gan, William Miunix, Thomas Eelly, James Cochran, Thomas Wright
and Jack Martin. The dates of their coming are unknown. Of the
early settlers the largest .number came either from some other part of Mis-
souri or from Kentucky. Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio and Illinois were also
represented in the population of the county during its early history.
Later, immigration from the northern part of the United States came in
larger numbers.
Besides the nine persons mentioned above, the following were among
.the early settlers in Putnam county. Lilburn Smith, Joshua Shaddon,
Joseph Shaddon and John Shaddon, the latter two brothers, William Loe,
Col. James Wells, G. W. R. Ledford, Elias Ledford and Jesse Trewhitt,
all of whom arrived before 1840; S. P. Kirby, James G. Humphreys,
Hamilton W. Berrj', Mary M. Johnson, John J. Brasfield, Martha J. Ful-
lerton, Joshua Guffey, W. R. Berry, Charles T, Berry, John Bragg, W. A.
Smith and Bennett West, who came in 1840; Elias Morgan, Peter Nich-
olas, Richard West, Daniel Sparks, James Ryals, Wilson Lee. James M
Brasfield, R. M. Shaddon, Hiram Perkins. F. K. McCollom, John A.
McCollom, A. Q. MeCollom, Luey Smith, William Kirby and John Ryals,
A PUTN.4M County Co.\l Mine
all coming in 1841 ; and Samuel Marshall^ John Williams. J. M. Gil-
strap, William P. Shanklin and Branch Morris, who settled in the
county in 1842. Samuel West, Thomas Holman and his brother, Roltert
Smith, Joseph Quffey, John F. Crabtree, Wesley Crabtree, William J-
Cook and James Shaw, all came in before 184v), but the exact date of
Iheir arrival has not been ascertained. Immigrants in large numbers
continuedtto come up to the time of the Civil war.
The early settlers made their homes in different parts of the county.
St. John, in the northwestern part ; Medicine Creek, in the aoulhwe-stem
part; Putnamville, which was the county seat for a time; and the Mulli-
nes settlement in the southeastern part of the county — these were
early settlements within the borders of what is now Putnam coonty.
The early settlers did not, as a rule, enter their land. The office of
entry was at Fayette, in Howard county, about 100 miles away, and
journeys there had to be made overland. There were few entries made
before 1849, in which year a land office was opened at Milan, now the
county seat of Sullivan county, which adjoins Putnam on the south.
Entries from that time on were numerous. Entries for land in Putnam
county were first made in 1836. Bt-ightwell Martin made the first entrj"
— on April 24th. Several residents of adjoining counties entered land
in Putnam county during the next few years.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI . 525
The early settlers found the valleys partly or entirely covered with
timber. Fences were rare and the settlers held their lands almost in
common. Their cattle, sheep, hogs and horses ranged at will.
Pioneer Life
Poor but honest, the early settlens had the proverbial hospitality of
the South. Strangers were cordially entertained and the people were
kifidly toward each other. The market was far distant, so they produced
little that they did not consume themselves. Then too, the '*good roads
movement^' had not begun to be agitated and the roads and bridges were
very bad. Deer and wild turkeys were common and fish were found in
the streams. These could be gotten with little effort and helped to sup-
ply the wants of the settlers. The women spun, wove and made cloth-
ing for the family. Tobacco was raised at home and whisky was plenti-
ful at only fifteen cents a gallon. On election days, this intoxicant was
often given away free to influence the voters.
The nearest markets were Brunswick, on the Missouri river, seventy-
five miles distant, almost due south ; and Alexandria, on the Mississippi,
eighty miles to the eastward. Bad roads made it impossible, usually,
to make the trip in less than eight or ten days. The early settlers did
not commonly travel for pleasure. The trips were tedious and it was
hard to get the ** ready money" which was necessary on the journey.
Little that the pioneer had could be converted into cash except with great
difficulty. Even the most prosperous financially had trouble getting
funds.
These features of the early life in the county were not unlike those
of life elsewhere in Northeast Missouri. The pioneers were much the
same in manners and customs.
Organization op the County
When Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1821, Putnam county
was a part of the territory comprised in Chariton county. Between 1841
and 1845 it was in Howard county, then a part of Sullivan county.
Part of Sullivan county was known as Dodge county, St. John was the
county seat. Putnam was organized from Sullivan county in 1845.
Putnamville was chosen as the county seat of old Putnam county by the
board of commissioners, which consisted of Robert Bronaugh, of Ralls;
Harrison Monday, of Lewis ; and John H. Rumjue, of Scotland county.
The county was divided into five townships — Grogan, Cochran, Elm,
Richland and Locust. Justices of the peace were appointed for each
township. The townships have been changed on numerous occasions.
There are now ten — York, Medicine, Sherman, Jackson, Union, Wilson,
Lincoln, Richland, Liberty, Grant and Elm.
County Officers
The first county officers of Putnam county, with the years they held
office, are as follows: Burnet M. Henderson, sheriff, 1845-1848; John
McMillan, clerk of the county court, 1845; Wesley Halliburton, circuit
and prosecuting attorney, 1845 ; David Eckles, treasurer, 1849;
Christopher Miller, assessor, 1847 ; J. Lavenburg, coroner, 1866 ; William
J. Cook, school commissioner, 1853 ; John Me^Iillan, clerk of the
circuit court, 1845 ; L. P. Smith, county surveyor, 1845-1868.
The present county officers are : E. F. Haigler, presiding judge of the
county court ; J. L. Casady, judge of the county court from the eastern
526 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
district ; William L. Pollock, judge of the county court from the western
district; Lorenzo Jones, judge of the probate court; Sang Triplett,
clerk of the circuit court; John T. Morgan, clerk of the county court;
Peter D. Greggers, recorder of deeds; Edgar A. Jarman, prosecuting
attorney ; Noah Crooks, sheriff ; C. W. Mulinax, treasurer ; J. H. Holman,
coroner; A. F. Kenne, public administratdir ; Cloe Tingley, surveyor;
W. K. Armstrong, superintendent of public schools.
County Court
The first session of the county court was held on April 28, 1845, at
the home of James Cochran. The first county officers were appointed
and it was provided that the county and circuit courts should be held at
the home of James Cochran until a permanent seat of justice was estab-
lished. Jacob Willis was given permission to conduct a ferry across the
Chariton river, and the rates of ferriage were fixed. The rate for a
single person or horse was six and one-fourth cents and for a wagon
twenty-five to fifty cents.
Among the records of the court is found one very interesting order.
On August 18, 1845, it was ordered that the county buy four gallons
of whiskey to be used on the day of a lot sale in Putnamville. The order
reads as follows :
Ordered that the town commissioner be authori?ed to purchase four gallons of
whisky for the sale of lots, and that he be paid out of the lot fund. Signed by
Walter Crockett,
Isaac Gilstrap, Sr.,
Thomas Hargraves.
The whiskey was evidently expected to make bidding on the part
of the purchasers of lots more spirited. The court was anxious to make
the lots sell for as high prices as possible, because numerous debts had
to be paid for out of the fund derived from the sale of the lots. The
first county seat was Bryants Station, then Hartford and afterward
Putnamville.
In 1848 a petition was presented to the court by 212 taxable inhab-
itants of the county, out of a total of 269, asking that the county seat
be removed from Putnamville to the center of the county. The request
was granted and five commissioners were appointed to locate the county
seat. They were : James Wells and William Oglesby, of Schuyler county ;
Marcus Stephenson, of Adair county ; and Thomas Z. Whitson and John
R. Davis, of Mercer county. The voters of the county, at an election held
on December 15 and 16, 1848, ratified the action of the county court*
Lilbum P. Smith, the county surveyor, located the geographical center,
of the county and a court house was begun. This was finished in 1858,
costing in all, $11,175.
Circuit Court
The first term of the circuit court began at Putnamville on Septem-
ber 16, 1845. James A. Clark was the judge. The grand jury was com-
posed of John Comeilison, Richard West, Abraham Morris, Jacob Younf^.
John Dillon, Benjamin Musgrove, Wesley J. Crabtree, Morris B. Atkins.
John L. Upton, Lewis Scobee, Asa Fisk and Richard Humphreys. The
first case to come before the court was that of the State of Missouri v«.
James Trewhitt, for murder. This was continued until the next term
of court, when Trewhitt was acquitted. The first suit for divorce iiras
brought on October 19, 1848, and was styled Amanda Green vs. Abraham
Green.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 527
«
One of the most interesting and important suits ever brought in the
circuit court of Putnam county was that of the county against the
Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City Railway Company, in 1885, for
taxes due the county for the yea>s 1881, 1882, 1883 and 1884. The
railway maintained that it was exempt from taxation. The case was
decided in favor of the county. It was appealed by the company to the
supreme court of Missouri and later to the supreme court of the United
States, both of which courts sustained the decision of the lower court.
The company finally paid into the county treasury the sum of $5,383.08.
Putnam county is now in the third judicial circuit of Missouri.
George W. Wanamaker, of Bethany, is the judge. Court meets in
April, August and November, on the fourth Monday in the month.
Grundy, Harrison and Mercer counties are in the same circuit. A
probate court was established by act of the legislature in 1848.
In the Civil War
In the Civil war Putnam county sided strongly with the North.
When J. H. Halley, a former representative in the Missouri legisla-
ture sent word that he would make speeches in the county in support of
the Southern cause, word was sent back to him that if he came and at-
tempted to carry out his program, a scaffold would be erected on which
he would be hanged. He was told that there were to be no speeches by
Southern sympathizers in Putnam county. Needless to say, Halley did
not come. The few residents of the county who joined the Southern
forces had to slip quietly away.
A contingent of Southern sympathizers in Schuyler county, about
four hundred in all, sent word to N. P. Applegate, sheriff of Putnam
county, that if he did not enroll troops for the Southern army, the
four hundred Schuyler county soldiers would come over to **aid'' him.
When the time came which had been fixed by the Schuyler county men
to come over to **aid" Sheriff Applegate, about five hundred men
assembled at Unionville, armed with all kinds of weapons and organ-
ized themselves. They wanted to go over to the Chariton river to invite
the Schuyler county **army" over into Putnam county, so that the enroll-
ment question might be settled then and there. The troops started off,
and reached the Chariton river, after having been delayed once, soon after
they started, because they thought they saw the Schuyler county troops
approaching. However, the Southerners did not come, but went off to
join Price's army, so Schuyler county was left with few Southern sym-
pathizers, at least among the men, and no attempt w^as made to organize
Southern troops in Putnam county. The Putnam county troops remained
on the banks of the Chariton river about a week, then, learning of the
departure of the Schuyler county troops, returned to their homes, after
organizing themselves into six companies of **Home Guards."
Each of these companies consisted of seventy-five men, armed with
their own guns. Among the captains of the companies were William
H. Bolander, of Liberty township ; M. T. Steen, of Elm ; Peter Thompson,
of Wilson ; Sylvester S. Collins ; and G. W. R. Ledford. Captain Wil-
liam H. Bogle commanded another company composed of fifty-nine
men. It was organized in August, 1861, and performed duty under
orders from General Hurlbut, by reinforcing Colonel Scott, of the
Third Iowa Infantry, at Kirksville. It was also stationed for a tiine
at Sepley's Ford and was in the service in Putnam, Schuyler and Sulli-
van counties until it disbanded in October. Another Putnam county
organization was the Shawneetown Home Guards, of which James
Ewing was captain.
528 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
I
The first speech made in Putnam county in favor of the war was that
by Lieut.-Col. I. V. Pratt, at the court house in Unionville, during the
efarly summer of 1861. In 1862 Alexander Woolfolk, recruiting at the
time for the First Missouri State Militia, spoke requesting recruits for
the regiment of which he was later made lieutenant-colonel.
Most of the Putnam county citizens who enrolled in the Union army
were in either the Eighteenth or Forty-Second regiments of the Mis-
souri infantry, or the Seventh Missouri cavalry. Some enrolled in
cavalry regiments in Iowa. Guerrillas and bushwhackers did not trouble
anyone in Putnam county during the war, except during 1864, when a
band passed through the eastern part of the county. An attempt was
made to capture J. M. Brasfield, but it failed. No one was killed by
the guerrillas in Putnam, but a man was shot in Sullivan county by
the same party.
Several men were killed during the war by Union sympathizers.
Among these were James M. Overton, Samuel Bland, William Cain,
Braston Carter and John Henry. The Eev. John L. Woods, pastor of the
Methodist Episcopal church at Unionville and a Southern sympathizer,
was killed by Union soldiers at home on a furlough, while they were
under the influence of liquor.
These deeds of Union soldiers must not be taken, however, to repre-
sent the spirit of all the Union men. Putnam county furnished many
loyal soldiers to the Northern army, some of which died on the field of
battle. It is estimated that 1,345 Putnam county citizens enlisted during
the war — more than the number of qualified voters. This number is
fairly accurate as it is based on actual returns from all the townships
except Union, where the number had to be given approximately.
Although few people at Putnam county actually enlisted in the
Southern army, there were a larger number who sympathized with the
Southern cause. One of these men, William Adkins, was disqualified
from voting because of his ** hurrahing for Jefferson Davis.'* This
disability was removed when, later during the war, he served in the
Union army. One of the interesting proceedings of the Putnam county
circuit court is the record of the removal of his disability. The order
was made that **it is • * • considered and decreed by the court
that the disqualification resting upon the petitioner, William Adkins,
in consequence of • • * hurrahing for Jefferson Davis, is re-
moved."
At the close of the war it was proposed to erect a monument, to cost
about $2,000, out of respect to the memory of the defenders of the Union
from Putnam county, who died while in the service. Interest was per-
mitted to wane, though, and the monument has never been built.
County Politics
Putnam county has been strongly Republican in politics since the
beginning of the Civil war. In 1864 the vote for president was : Lincoln,
Republican, 1,292; McClellan, Democrat, 47. In 1880 the vote was:
Garfield, Republican, 1,513 ; Hancock, Democrat, 725. In 1910 the vote
for judge of the Missouri supreme court was: Brown, Republican,
1,697; Gantt, Democrat, 777. These figures are given to show that the
county has remained continuously and strongly Republican. All the
present county officers, except the presiding judge of the county court,
are Republicans.
The liquor question began to be agitated in Putnam county about
1876. In 1887 an election was held in which the sale of intoxicating
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 529
liquors was prohibited in the county. The vote was 900 to 627. The
county has since been continuously dry.
Railroads and Schools
The people of the county have shown their progressiveness by the
support they have given to railroads proposing to run through the
county and to other expenditures of xnoney which would prove beneficial.
In 1870 the people voted to subscribe $150,000 to the capital stock of
the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad Company, to be paid when
the road was built through the county. The money was never paid,
however, as the road was never built. In 1871 the county court sub-
scribed $150,000 to the capital stock of the St. Joseph '& Iowa Railroad
Company, all of which was to be used in building the road within the
county. Of this amount only $100,000 was ever paid, as the railroad
refused to deliver to the county their certificates of stock. In 1875 a*
proposition to subscribe $110,000 to the capital stock of the Missouri,
Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Company was defeated, 464 to 784.
Putnam county has encouraged education since its organization.
The schools of the county are equal, or superior, to those elsewhere in
^lissouri. The teachers of the county have formed, for their own benefit,
teachers' associations and teachers' institutes. The first meetings of
each of these organizations were held in 1866.
Churches
The strongest religious denominations of the county are the Method-
ists, Christians and Baptists. The Methodists and Baptists were early
in the field. Preachers of these denominations came soon after the first
settlers. The Rev. A. J. Wall, a Methodist preacher, came as early as
1852. Other denominations having churches in the county are the
Presbyterians, Church of Christ, Adventists, Catholics and Universalists.
There have always been few negroes in Putnam county. In 1860
there were only thirty-one negro slaves and at the present time the negrr-
population is less than twenty-five. Nearly all the people are not only
native born Americans, but children of native born Americans and by
far the largest part of the population own the homes in which they live.
Putnam county is pre-eminently agricultural in its interests. The
incorporated to^Tis are to wit: Unionville, the county seat, a city of the
fourth class, and Lucerne, Powersville and Worthington.
Towns
Unionville has a population of slightly more than two thousand. It
has two newspapers, the Journal and the Republican; four banks; two
flouring mills; and a brick and tile factory. Grain, lumber, live
stock and coal are produced around Unionville and make it a business
center of importance. It has good schools, including a high school
approved by the University of Missouri. It was founded in 1853, when
Putnam and Dodge counties were united and w^as first called Harmony,
as all factions were conciliated in its selection. At the sale of lots when
Harmony was laid out the prices for single lots varied from $8 to $100.
The total amount received from the lot sale was $1,703.
Lucerne has a population of about three hundred. It is in the west-
ern part of the county and is the center of a rich farming region. Coal
deposits are found near by. It is on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad. It has one bank and one newspaper, the Standard.
Vol. 1—34
530 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Powersville, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, north
of Lucerne and three miles south of the Iowa line, is the center of
agricultural interests. It has one newspaper, the Record; two banks;
saw and grist mills ; and a cheese factory. It is incorporated, and has a
population of about four hundred.
Lemonville, Blackbird, Howland and Mendota are stations on the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Much coal is mined at Men-
dota. On the Iowa & St. Louis -Railroad are Worthington, Mapleton
and Livonia.
There are small communities elsewhere in the county, but none of
importance. Lowground is the only postoffice off the railroad. Post-
offices are located at all the above mentioned places. The primary inter-
ests of all of them are agricultural. Other,industries are either dependent
or subordinate.
CHAPTER XXVI
RALLS COUNTY
By Joe Burnett, New London
First American Settlers
The first white men to put foot on Balls county soil were Dr. An-
toine Saugrain and Louis Bouvet, two Frenchmen who left Paris, France,
in 1795. They landed in New Orleans, bought a boat and supplies, hired
a crew and came up the Mississippi river to the mouth of Salt river.
Going up Salt river to where New London is now located, they divided
forces. Doctor Saugrain went to Saverton and built a fort. Bouvet
went further up the river to Spalding, where he also built a fort and
proceeded to make salt.
In 1807, Samuel Gilbert, a Eentuckian, came to Saverton, bringing
his family with him, to seek a home in the new territory. He at once
began to make salt from the spring there, shipping it to St. Louis. The
place was then known as ** Little Prairie." Upon his arrival there Mr.
Gilbert found a French settlement. It consisted of a fort, three cabins
and as many families. Victor La Gotra, one of the settlers, had some
sort of claim to the spring and adjacent lands, and was the head or
leader of the settlement. Gilbert bought his claim. Gilbert's family
was composed of several daughters and a son. He also brought with
him a number of slaves. Shared G. Swain, a son-in-law, soon arrived,
followed by others. About this time the Indians had destroyed the
fort at Spalding and Bouvet and his men had fled to St. Louis.
Then came the McDowells, the Tompkins, the McCormicks, the Ryans,
the Foremans and other families. The white men pushed out along
Salt river and began to build an empire upon the ashes of the wigwam.
The Indians were numerous but friendly and continued on good
terms with the whites until the War of 1812.
About this time Mr. Foreman built a mill near New London and
turned out com meal for the settlement. A Mr. Shepherd bought the
mill, afterward selling it to Col. Dick Matson, who improved it, and for
many years it was known as Matson 's Mill. This was the first mill in
Northeast Missouri.
Indian Troubles
From the time of the first settlement to the War of 1812, the pioneers
were as happy and prosperous as could be wished. Bears, panther,
wolves and other wild animals abounded, and made night hideous with
their bowlings and squalling, but the pioneers were not timid. Wild
game and fish were plentiful and the table never lacked for supplies.
But when the war note sounded along the banks of Salt river, the
change wrought was a sad one for them. Their Indian neighbors, ever
531
532 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST JIISSOURl
treacherous by nature aud instinctively cruel, were influenced by British
emissaries and soon became their deadly enemies. Fiendish and blood-
thirsty, they delighted to apply the torch to the rude dwellings of those
whom they regarded as intruders, and shoot down and scalp without
distinction of age and sex.
It soon became necessary for the settlers to abandon their houses
and seek shelter in forts and block- houses. Gilbert and his neighbors
aud the settlers along Salt river united for self-preservation and built
a block-houae on the high ground a short distance northwest of the
mill above mentioned and gathereil their families into it. The war
grew warm aud they were compelled to seek protection at stronger
posts. They went to Fort Buffalo, near Louisiana ; then to Kort Howard ;
then to St. Charles, where (lovernor Clark called them to St. Louis.
The Balis county pioneers, under Captain Alusick, returned to their
homes and went on the warpath. They encountered a gang of Winne-
bagoee near Saverton and fought a bloody battle in which they were
defeated, leaving a number of dead on the field. They then built a fort
Northeast Missoi-ri Cattle
near Saverton and failed it Fort Mason. This fort afforded protection
for a while, but was finally destroyed by fire.
After the War of 1812 the whites and ludians fought another battlf
on Spencer creek, south of New London, which resulted disastrously
to the whites. The last battle took place near where Cincinnati now is.
in the southwest part of the county. The trees there are scarred with
bullet marks and many bullets have Iieen cut out of them. There art-
Indian pictures on the bluffs there, indicating an exo<lus. Thus the
Redman left Ralls county and moved on west.
OrUANIZATION UF the I'OINTY
Ralls county was born on the 16tli day of Noveiriber, 1820. It was
named for Daniel Ralls, a meuilHT of the legislature. Halls was then
a county of magnificent proportions, having an area larger than somt-
of the slates, stretching north to tlie Iowa line aud west to the liu-
between ranges 1-1 and 14. and comprising the territory now forming
Audrain, Monroe, Shelby, Lewis. Clark. Clarion. Knox and Scotland »•
Well as the Ralls county of today. Marion was taken from the northern
part of Ralls in 182C. In 182!) Ran<ii>lph was oi^anized. Monroe in
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 533
1831, Audrain in 1836, when Ralls assumed its present shape and
limits.
The act of the legislature of November, 1820, forming the county of
Ralls, designated Dabney Jones, James Garnett, Richard Jones, Stephen
Glascock and Francis Grant as commissioners to locate the county seat.
Soon afterward they fixed upon New London and proceeded to build
a court house and jail.
The first court house was built in 1822. It was a log structure,
twenty feet long and eighteen feet wide, two stories high. The upper
story was the court room and the lower story the county jail. One of
the lower stories was called the dungeon, where rogues, felons and
malefactors were imprisoned. In those days men were often imprisoned
for debt. The next courthouse was of brick, two stories high, fifty feet
square. It was built in 1835. It became unsafe and was torn down in
1858 and the present courthouse, built of cut stone, erected at a cost of
$48,000. It is held today as one of the handsomest old courthouses in
the state and will be standing for years to come, it is thought.
Daniel Ralls
Daniel Ralls, the man for whom the county was named, was the son
of Nathaniel W. Ralls. He was a native of Virginia, but emigrated tb
the wulds of Kentucky in his youth. He became familiar with the fron-
tier life, was schooled in the art of woodcraft and grew to stalwart young
manhood. He learned to read and write and took every opportunity to
improve his mind. He moved westward to Missouri in 1818 and settled
on a tract of land four miles west of New London. He was a man of
more than ordinary intelligence and force of character. In two years
after his arrival here he was elected to the legislature from the then
existing county of Pike. He was at that time about thirty-five years
old. On August 4, 1820, the legislature met in St. Louis and soon after-
ward Ralls was taken very ill. Col. Thomas H. Benton was a candidate
before the legislature for United States senator. The contest was close.
One vote would decide it.
Mr. Ralls was a strong Benton adherent and although he was unable
to go himself to the hall, he was carried there on his bed and cast the
vote that elected Benton. This was his last act in public life. He was
taken home weak and fainting and in a few days he died. He left a
widow and five small children. One of his sons, John Ralls, was a
lawyer in Ralls county and was active in political and military affairs.
Although the name of Daniel Ralls is remembered in history because
Ralls county is named for him, it is unfortunate that his grave was not
marked and that no one now knows where he was buried. It is supposed
that he was buried in a small graveyard near his f^m, but the grave
stones have been scattered and time has wrecked the place.
First County and Circuit Courts
The first circuit court of Ralls county was held at the home of William
Jameson on the 18th day of March, 1821, and the first county court on
the 2d day of March of that year at the same place. Col. Peter Journey,
Peter Grant and William Ritchie were the first judges. They appointed
Stephen Glascock clerk. Green DeWitt was appointed sheriff. They
were all commissioned by Alexander McNair, governor of the state of
Missouri. The first act of the court was to appoint John B. White and
Joseph D. Gash administrators of the estate of William Mitchell, de-
534 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
ceased. Then they appoined Lydia Young administratrix of the estate
of James Young, her deceased husband, and i\Iary Ralls and Thomas
Lewis to administer the estate of Daniel Balls. Green DeWitt was
appointed collector, fixing the penalty of his bond at $2,000. The
present collector, Marshall Hulse, gives a bond of $110,000 and he
collects annually in taxes, $100,584.17. He collects ninety-six per cent
of the taxes levied.
The first attorney at law enrolled in the county was Ezra Hunt.
He was the first prosecuting attorney and was later circuit judge for
many years. Then came other attorneys, including A. B. Chambers,
David Barton, William K. Vanarsdall, A. A. King, Thomas L. Ander-
son, Gilchrist Porter, John D. S. Dryden, Aylett H. Buekner, Carty
Wells, James 0. Broadhead, Samuel T. Glover, Richard P. Richmond,
James S. Green, A. W. Lamb, R. F. Lakenan, T. J. C. Fagg and others.
Some of the oldest lawyers in Missouri have practiced in Ralls county.
Among the early settlers were Joseph Wright, William Dabney,
Robert Burns, Joshua Massey, G. W. Stubblefield, Achilles McGinnis,
William Jameson (the founder of New London), Chauncy Honey,
Thomas and Woodson Blankenship, Isaac Lord, James Chitwood, Absa-
lom Phears, James Blair, Yuby Paris, John Tapley, Page Portwood,
Anthony Thomas, James Voshel, Asa Glascock, John Fike, Hiram Thomp-
son, William R. McAdams, Alexander Boarman, Joseph Evans, David
Smallwood, Conrad Grossman, Silas Thompson, Francis Graham, Stephen
Dodd, Jacob Seeley, John Turley, Isham Thompson, Josh Yoshel, R. W.
Jones, John McFarland, William Hays, William S. Sims, Radum Sims,
James Muldron, Seth Chitwood, John Priest, James Chitwood, GriflSn
D. Shillon, Pleasant Hudson, Robert Jeffries, Alvan Foreman, Green
Tapley, Thomas P. Norton, Josiah Fugate, Henry Butler, ' David Shep-
herd, Daniel Smith, William McCormack, Isaac Ely, Oney Carstophen
Aaron Bryce, James W. See, James Herrington, Joshua Ely, Jacob
Clawson, John S. Miller, Morgan Paris, Silas Brocks, James Turley,
Peter Grant, Benjamin A. Spalding, Rev. Christy Gentry and James
Cox.
First County Officers
The first circuit judge of Ralls county was Rufus Pettibone, who
presided in 1821. The present circuit judge is W. T. Ragland. The
first incumbents of other county offices were: Prosecuting attorney,
Edward Bates ; state senator, William Biggs ; representative, Peter Jour-
ney; sheriff, Green DeWitt; circuit clerk, Stephen Glascock; probate
judge, Stephen Glascock; assessor, Clement White; treasurer, Thomas
J. Rhodes; surveyor, Thomas Marlin.
The present county oflScers are: Presiding judge of the county court,
Henry J. Priest; judge of the county court from the Western district.
Thos. Evans; judge of the county court from the Eastern district, W.
T. Gore ; judge of probate, Thomas E. Allison ; clerk of the circuit court,
Benton B. Megown ; clerk of the county court, Jesse W. Pitt ; recorder.
J. Roy Rice; prosecuting attorney, Joseph F. Barry; sheriff, H, A.
Pritchett; collector, Marshall Hulse; assessor, 0. M. Fuqua; treasurer.
Miss Estelle Buchanan; coroner, Dr. Harr>' Norton; public adminis-
trator, James F. Bro^vn; surveyor, A. Victor El^'; superintendent of
schools, O. E. Hulse.
The county has six banks, forty churches, sixty-six schools, four
newspapers and the largest cement plant in the West. The towns are
New London, Center. Perry, Hasco, Savertou, Rensselaer, Hassard,
Sidney, Madisonville, Spalding, Hatch and Huntington.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 535
Railroads
The county is touched by six railroads, the Missouri, Kansas &
Texas; the Chicago & Alton; the St. Louis & Hannibal; the Hannibal
Connecting Railroad; the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern; and the
Hannibal & St. Joseph. There are sixty-three miles of railway in the
county.
The Chicago & Alton barely touches the southeast corner of the
county, but the other roads run through it for some distance. The St.
Louis & Hannibal has the largest mileage in the county. It runs through
the county from north to south and has a branch running from Ralls
Junction to Perry, in the western part of the county.
Topography
The surface of Ralls county is diversified. About two-fifths is prairie
and the remainder was originally timber land. In the eastern part
the county is considerably broken. Along the Salt river and Missis-
sippi river there are broad strips of bottom land. These have a rich
alluvial soil containing some iSknd. The so-called ^^elmland" is next in
fertility and is sufficiently undulating to aflford good drainage. The
white oak lands, underlaid in places with a reddish clay, are among the
best for growing wheat and oats. The hills of the eastern part and the
land near the streams are the best fruit lands.
The county is well drained by Salt river, which flows in a winding
course from west to east. Lick creek, its chief tributary, flows from the
south near the western bbrder. Spencer creek and other smaller streams
furnish all the necessary drainage for the rest of the county.
Many fresh and salt water springs are found in different parts of
the county. The principal saline springs include Freemore, Ely, Spald-
ing, Trabue and Fikes licks, and Saverton Springs.
Resources
Coal is found in Ralls county near Spencer creek and a number of
shafts have been sunk. Much cannel coal has been mined for home
consumption. Mjneral clay is used for paints and potter's clay of a
fine quality is found in considerable deposits.
In diflFerent parts of the county plenty of stone for building purposes
is found.
Cattle, hogs and sheep are raised in the county in large numbers
and wheat, corn and oats are important grain crops. The county has
always been noted for its wheat. The first premium for flour in the
competition open to the world at the New York World's Fair in 1853
was awarded to a Ralls county man, Hiram Glascock, of four miles
east of New London. The wheat was ground at Colonel RoBard's
mill in Hannibal, which is near the northern boundary of the county.
Ralls county has one of the largest cement plants in the world. It
is located at Ilasco on the Mississippi river, nine miles northeast of
New London. Its output of cement in 1910 was 2,013,137 barrels. The
market value of its agricultural products in 1910 was $1,736,458.
Schools
There are high schools at New London and Perry and a private
educational institution, Van Rensselaer College, located at Rensselaer,
in the extreme northern part of the county.
536 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
While not model by any means, the schools of Ralls county are
very good. The number of pupils enumerated has showed a slight de-
crease during the last ten years.
Towns
New London, the county seat, is the largest town. According to the
census of 1910, it has a population of 942. It has grown slowly, but
steadily, for the last twenty years. In 1880 it had a population of 683.
In 1836, according to Wetmore!s Gazetteer of Missouri, New LondoQ
had a brick courthouse, five storifes (four grocery stores and one tav-
ern), a church, a clerk's oflSce and a jail, which, the writer informs us,
was **of little use."
Perry, with a population of 895, and Center, with 540, are the other
incorporated towns. Both are supported mainly by agricultural and
live stock interests. Perry has also coal fields of importance.
Ilasco, in the northeast part of the county, is a cement manufactur-
ing center and Oakwood is the home of lime manufacture.
Statistical
Ralls county is divided into seven townships — Center, Clay, Jasper,
Saline, Salt River, Saverton and Spencer.
The population of the county in 1910 was 12,913; in 1900 it was
12,287 and in 1890, 12,294. The negro and foreign element comprise
only a small part of the total population.
The county contains 313,600 acres of land, of which about 240,000
are in improved farms. The price of land varies greatly, the most val-
uable being near New London. Some of the bluff lands along the Mis-
sissippi river can be had for $25 an acre. This land is especially fav-
orable to orcharding and live stock grazing.
There are four newspapers, the Ralls County Record and the Times,
at New London ; the Herald at Center ; and the Enterprise at Perry.
In politics Ralls county is Democratic by a ratio of more than 2
to 1. All of the present county oflScers are Democrats. The vote in
the county in 1908 for president was: Bryan, Democrat, 1,947; Taft,
Republican, 900.
At the March term, 1869, of the county court, conlposed of Judges
Nathan S. Dimmitt, Nimrod Waters and William E. Harris, and George
E. May hall, clerk, the court tendered to the St. Louis and Keokuk Rail-
road a subscription of $275,000. Bonds were issued. Litigation fol-
lowed. Interest piled up, the total debt reaching $325,000. Payment
of the bonds was fought on the ground that they were illegal, as the
people had voted against their issue on two separate occasions. After a
long struggle, the Supreme Court finally decided that the bonds were '
legal and must be paid. The bonds, through the efforts of Judge J. M.
Smith, were refunded and a tax of fifty cents on the $100 of valuation
levied and the payment of the bonds began. In 1901, at the suggestion
of Judge H. J. Priest, the court raised the assessment to sixty cents.
Today the debt amounts to $34,000. It will be paid off in 1914. For
forty-four years the taxpayers have labored under an unjust burden —
money paid for a railroad that was never built. This debt has militated
against the growth of the county, but now the outlook is better and peo-
ple can come to Ralls county assured of fine land and low taxes.
CHAPTER XXVII
RANDOLPH COUNTY
By G. F. Rothwell, Moberly
Location and Topography
The county of Randolph is located just north of the Missouri river
and half way between the eastern and western borders of the state.
The nearest point upon the Big Muddy is at Glasgow, ten miles away
while within fifty miles to the northeast at Quincy, rolls the Father of
Waters. The Grand Divide between these two converging streams
passes through Randolph county from north to south a little east of the
middle line and forms its prairie lands. This belt of prairie plateau
running through the county from north to south is narrowest in the
middle, being there only about a mile and a half wide and then spreads
out in fan-shape northward and southward to approximately eight miles
in width. It has an elevation of eight hundred and twenty-five feet
above the sea level. To the right and the left the waters of the county
are parted. The streams rising upon the east of the divide flow to the
Mississippi while those departing from the west empty into the Missouri
river. In their descent of one hundred feet from the center to the borders
of the county the gradually deepening and widening valleys of the
streams give rise to corresponding hills and in this region remains all
that is left of the great forests which once enriched their slopes. In
these primeval gardens of the woods once grew the giant oaks and elms,
walnuts and hickory, cottonwood and sycamore, in whose fastnesses the
wild beasts had their habitats and beneath whose hospitable shades the
first settlers found homes. But, like the first settlers, the first forests are
now represented by a younger generation and the old monarchs of the
glen have fallen in the clearing.
Organization and Area
Among the fifteen original counties which had been organized in the
Territory of Missouri at the time of the admission of the state was How-
ard county. Out of Howard county the first General Assembly, in 1820,
carved the county of Chariton and eight years later out of Chariton
county was taken the boundaries of Randolph. Thus we stand related
to these contiguous territories, not only by the bond of blood of a common
ancestry but by heredity of soil as well. As originally organized the
county of Randolph extended northward to the Iowa line. From this un-
wieldy scope she has been trimmed to her present symmetrical form of a
rectangular card with the lower left hand corner folded down. The
county is twenty-one miles wide and twenty-five miles long and contains
470 square miles of surface. The sections along the north line and those
lying along the west side of its middle range overrun so that it contains
537
538 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
but 432 sections. The soil of the prairie lands is a yellow loam turning
to black soil in the low lands and along the streams. It produces with
great fecundity all the fruits and vegetables, grasses and grains of com-
merce which are indigenous to this climate but is chiefly devoted to the
production of coni and hay. Except in a limited portion of the central
region, it is underlaid with a four foot vein of coal and a two foot vein
above it. In many places this coal crops out along the hillsides. A de-
posit of shale one mile wide and eleven miles long and from eighty to one
hundred feet in thickness runs east and west through the central part
and is used for making vitrified paving brick. Fire-clay and limestone
also abound.
Randolph county was named for the shrill-voiced orator of Roanoke,
Virginia, John Randolph.
When the First White Men Came
At the time of the organization of the coimty, January 22, 1829,
there were within her borders nearly three thousand people. Ten years
later the census of 1840 shows a population of 7,198. We do not know
definitely when the first white man arrived. In 1810 one hundred and
fifty settlers came from Kentucky' to Old Franklin in Howard county.
The first settlement known to have been made in the locality now known
as Randolph county was made in 1818 by emigrants from Kentucky,
Virginia and North Carolina. At some time between these dates we
may infer that the land had been reconnoitered by pioneer trappers and
hunters from the old settlements near by. The early settlers entered the
county from the south and made their settleqients along the timber line.
They took to the woods, chiefly because of the convenience of water aJid
fuel and because the soil was richer and the sod easier to turn. In the
timber they were safe from prairie fires and the green-head flies which,
in vast numbers, tortured their beasts of burden to distraction in the
open. The forest was also a shelter in the time of storm and the material
was there at hand for his cabin w hich was built of logs.
This home of the pioneer was one of the institutions of his times. It
pictures his family life, it measures his privations and suggests our prog-
ress. It has mouldered into decay and passed from view. On its door
posts he hung the strings of scarlet pepper like the red symbol of the
Passover, but the grim reaper did not spare this first born of the wilder-
ness. Posterity will not see the log cabin and taxidermy can not preserve
it. A brief description of it may deserve the space: *' These were of
round logs, notched together at the corners, ribbed with poles and cov-
ered with split boards from a tree. A puncheon floor was laid down, a
hole cut in the end and a stick chimney run up. A clapboard door is
made, a window is opened by cutting out a hole in the side or end, two
feet square and finished without prlass or transparency. The house is
then chinked and daubed with mud. The cabin is now ready to go into.
The household and kitchen furniture is adjusted and life on the frontier
is begun. It was furnished with the one-legged bedstead which was made
by boring holes in the side and end of the cabin the proper distance for
the width and length and into these were fastened poles whose intersec-
tion was joined with a corner post at right angles. Clapboards were
laid down across the poles and on this structure the bed was laid. The
convenience of a cook stove was not thought of, but instead, the cooking
was done by the faithful housewife in pots, kettles or skillets on and
about the big fireplace and frequently over and around too, the distended
pedal extremities of the legal souvenir of the houseliold, while tlie latter
was indulging in the luxuries of a cob. pipe and discussing the prol>able
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 539
results of a contemplated deer hunt on the Chariton river/' The
mealy if plain, was wholesome.
The an|usements of the early settler were simple, in keeping with his
primitive life. His labors were often lightened and converted into social
pleasures at house-raisings, log-rollings, corn-shuckings and quilting
bees. They would assemble from miles around and, at the close of their
merrymaking, dined upon the first fruits of a virgin world. Nowhere
on the globe can that life be ever lived again. The frontier is gone. The
juicy venison and bear steaks, the wild honey and sweet milk, turkey
and corn pone, cooked with the lid on the skillet, were placed on the
boards. At the close of the meal cob pipes were filled with plain, honest,
robust natural leaf and while they offered up a fragrant incense to the
Goddess of Contentment and expectoration was flowing free, they talked
about the things which concerned their daily life, ** their homely joys
and destiny obscure." They talked about the new comers and the prob-
ability of an Indian raid, about the prairie fires, the chills and fever,
the green flies and the rattlesnakes, talked about their yoke oxen and
bull-tongue plows and spinning wheels, the candles they had made and
the yarn spun, about the time they had to borrow fire from the neigh-
bors, about the big sleet, the cholera, when the stars fell and quoted
**scripter." Their voices are hushed and their times are obsolete. Their
tallow dips have sputtered out and the embers on the hearth no longer
glow. The house is gone. The forest, where it stood, has been cut down.
The prairie has been burned over and plowed. The pioneer sleeps here
and there in the little clumps of locust trees which he planted, forgotten.
Many of the old family names still cling to the soil in the vicinity of
their preemptions and some of their descendants comprise the first fam-
ilies of the county while others of them have gone to occupy leading
places in other states.
The Firsts
Only a few of the names of the first settlers of Randolph county are
known. I will place them under the corner stone of this article for
preservation, if not for reading. They are as follows: Wm. Holman,
Squire Holman, James Dysart, Iverson Sears, John Sears, Asa Kerby,
Hardy Sears, David R. Denny, Younger Rowland, Archie Rowland,
Saml. Humphries, Wright Hill, Rev. James Barnes, Uriah Davis, Abra-
ham Goss, Isaiah Humphreys, Rev. S. C. Davis, James Davis, John
Viley, Jacob Medley, Thos. Mayo, Sr., Jas. M. Baker, Charles M. Baker,
Jr., Chas. Finnell, Val. Mayo, Chas. Mathis, Tillman Bell, James Beatty,
Chas. Baker, Sr., Dr. Wm. Fort, Jer. Summers, John Welden, Wm.
Elliott, Neal Murphy, Wra. Cross, Nat. Hunt, Blandermin Smith, Geo.
Burckhartt, John C. Reed, Capt. Robt. Sconce, James Goodring, Elijah
Hammett, John J. Turner, Joseph Wilcox, James Cochran, Thos. Gor-
ham, T. R. C. Gorham, Daniel Hunt, William Goggin, Reuben Samuel,
TTiQs. J. Samuel, John Head, Robert Boucher, Joseph Hammett, Dr.
W. B. McLean, F. K. Collins, Paul Christian, Sr., Joseph Cockrill,
Robert W. Wells, Nathan Hunt, Robert Wilson and Hancock Jackson.
The first three named settled in the county as early as 1818, and
some of the ** Recollections" of one bf these men, Squire Holman, taken
from the Macon True Democrat, thirty years ago, are of such interest in
detailing the pre-historic facts and incidents of early times that they are
here incorporated :
** Squire Holman was born in Madison county, Ky., Oct. 31st, 1807,
and with his father's family, emigrated to the Territory of Missouri in
1817. They settled just a few miles below Old Franklin, in Howard
county, and from thence moved in the spring of 1818 to Silver Spring,
540 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
in what is now Randolph county. His father (Win. Holman), James
Dysart (the father of Rev. James Dysart, of Macon) and Joseph Holman
(the uncle of Squire Holman) were the first settlers of Randolj)h county.
**When Randolph county was organized it included Macon and all
the territory north to the Iowa line or Indian Territory.
*^The Indians were numerous and frequently came into the settle-
ments. Huntsville was laid out shortly after Squire Holman was grown
hut he does not remember the first officers. The early settlers had fre-
quently to beat their corn in wooden mortars, and when they went to
mill, had to go to Snoddy's Mill, near Glasgow. The first school ever
taught, as far as he recollects, in Randolph county, was by Jack Dysart,
who afterwards became colonel of the militia (andwas father of B. R.
Dysart of Macon) about 1822. This school was kept in a log house
seven or eight miles southwest of the present site of Huntsville, on Fos-
ter's Prairie. •
**The first church was a log house used by the Old School Baptists,
near Silver Creek, and the first sermon preached was by the elder Mer-
riman, between the years 1822 and 1825, the early settlers previously
going to Mt. Ararat in Howard county to hear Elder Edward Turner.
**For a number of years the settlers of Randolph went to Fayette
for such groceries and dry goods as they absolutely needed. The set-
tlers, male and female, wore home-made clothes. Many beautiful young
ladies were married in home-made striped cotton and handsome young
men in home-made jeans.
**Mr. Holman remembers when the early settlers, of what is now
Randolph, had to go to Fayette to court where Gen. Owens kept a tav-
ern. The General used to laiigh and say that he could always tell a
Randolphian by the color of his clothes. The early male settlers gen-
erally wore jeans dyed with walnut bark. They would have passed
during the war for No. 1 Butternuts. Squire Holman was married to
Arethusa Barnes, of Randolph county, in 1832, and of their twelve
children, raised nearly all.
'*Mr. Holman believes that the first store opened in Randolph county
was by Daniel G. Davis near the residence of William Goggin, which site
was afterward made Huntsville. He did not remember the first post
office, but said the mail was carried on horseback.
**The first mill was Hickman's horse mill between Silver Creek and
Huntsville. The father of Mr. Holman also had a horse mill and cotton
gin. In those days the settlers raised their own cotton for all domestic
purposes.
**When Mr. Holman 's father settled, in what is now Randolph
county, the government had not offered any land for sale. The emi-
grant selected his land and settled on it and whien the land came into
market, purchased it of the gov(5rnment at Franklin, where a land office
was opened.
**• • • The wolves were very numerous, both gray and prairie. The
wolves became so troublesome that a premium was offered and his father
killed and took the scalps, that brought several hundred dollars. They
were good for paying taxes.
** About the year 1833 Mr. Holman, with several others, made a trip
for honey between the Chariton and Grand rivers and in three weeks
time took eight barrels of strained honey and left fifteen bee trees stand-
ing, having no need of packing more. He remembers when elk were
plenty within the present limits of Randolph and bears and catamounts
were numerous."
Thus did the pioneers of old Randolph county live. The sons of
these sires now pay taxes to hunt, rather than hunt to pay taxes, for
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 541
Randolph contributes annually $500 to the state game commissioner.
The Virginia quail and the common hare are the only surviving speci-
mens of game. The wire iemte has destroyed their breeding places in
the weedy corners of the old rail fence and the bird dog and the automatic
gun are gradually eliminating them. The noble ardor of the chase is
turning its pursuit to the clay pigeon and the effete frog leg. '*To such
base uses do we come at last."
When we open the first records entered by the first courts which were
instituted at the organization of the county we feel all the interest that
is aroused by the first movements of an embryo society. At the same
time these first pages are treasured as keepsakes like the little shoes in
w^hich babyhood learns to walk.
The county had been organized by law on the 22nd of January, 1829,
and on the 2nd of February following, the three justices of the first
county court met at the residence of Blandermin Smith, one mile north-
east of the present seat of justice, for the purpose of convening the first
court. This place had been designated by law as a temporary court-
house. James Head, \Vm. Fort, and Joseph M. Baker, the men appointed
judges, having assembled at the appointed time and place, exhibited to
each other their commissions from the governor as justices of the county
court. They qualified by taking the oath of office and elected James
Head to be presiding justice and Robert Wilson to be the first clerk.
Wilson was the clerk of the circuit court of that district and had come
up to Mr. Smith's new county seat to show the county court how to put
on the ermine. After the court had been sworn in it directed that all
persons who wished to become candidates for the other county offices
should file their applications with the clerk in writing. The court then
adjourned from its ardous labors until the next day. On the second day
it divided the county into four townships by the intersection of the
township and range lines which intersect near Huntsville. The north-
west quarter of the county was named Salt Spring township, the north-
east Sugar Creek township, the southwest Silver Creek township and the
southeast Prairie township. The governor had the appointment of jus-
tices of the peace but upon the recommendation of the court. The follow-
ing were recommended and appointed as the first justices of the peace :
Blandermin Smith, James Wells and Archibald Shoemaker for Salt
Spring township; John Peeler and Elisha McDaniel for Sugar Creek
township; Thomas Bradley, John Viley and John Dysart for Silver
Creek township and Charles McLean for Prairie township. There is
nothing of record to indicate whether the failure of the court to appoint
a full set of justices for some of the townships was due to an exhaustion
of legal talent or to the good behavior of the people. Constables were
appointed for the above townships in the order named, as follows : Nathan
Hunt, Abraham Gooding, John McCuUy and Nathan Floyd, with bonds
of $800 each. Thomas Gorham was appointed first surveyor. Terry
Bradley first assessor and Jacob Medley first collector. There being
no money on hand for a treasurer to keep, the appointment to that empty
honor was deferred. Eleven road overseers were appointed who were
also without funds and their labors could not have extended further
under their oath of office than to ** support the constitution of the United
States.*' Certified copies of the necessary records were ordered to be
procured by the clerk from Chariton county. The court adjourned to
May, and Randolph county was on her way. Those four townships have
since grown to eleven, the nine justices to twenty-four and the eleven
road overseers to about seventy and disburse a fund of $7,000. in addition
to a road and bridge fund expended by the court annually.
At a special term held in March ensuing: the adjournment of the first
542 HISTORY OF XORTPIEAST MISSOURI
court, the temporary seat of justice was changed to the house of William
Groggin, and the circuit court ordered notified.
The first settlement with the collector was made in May showing:
Taxes collected, $253.60; delinquent, $1.25; collector's commission,
$20.20. By way of contrast as showing the growth of the county in 81
years succeeding the first collection of taxes, the county collector settled
for the collection of $144,552.68 for all current and back taxes and li-
censes, for which his commission aggregated over $3,400 in 1910. For the
succeeding year an increase of $23,117.20 was added to the tax books on
account of the road and bridge fund with a further increase in
commissions.
At the August term, 1830, the seal of the county was adopted with the
American eagle for its emblem and that design has been continued with-
out change to the present time. At the same term Robert Wilson, who
was both circuit and county clerk, was appointed commissioner of the
county seat and received deeds, without consideration, from William
Goggin and Nancy, his wife, and Gideon Wright and Rebecca, his wife,
Daniel Hunt and wife and Henry Winbum and wife, conveying four
parcels of land of 12 1-2 acres each for a county seat. The four parcels
fitted together formed a square cut from the four corners of contiguous
quarter sections of which the division lines are the diagonals, thus revolv-
ing the plat to an angle of forty-five degrees with the cardinal points
of the compass and causing the streets of Huntsville to run in that di-
rection. The county seat was named for one of the grantors, Daniel
Hunt.
The first circuit court was held at the house of William Goggin in
1829 with David Todd, of Boone county, presiding. Robert Wilson was
clerk and Hancock Jackson was the first sheriff and James Gordon
prosecuting attorney.
The first grand jury returned two indictments, one for wife beating
and the other against five Iowa Indians for murder. At the next court
they were tried and acquitted and this circumstance was pointed to with
pride, as evidence of remarkable integrity of the jury. It seems to have
been contrary to the spirit of the age to let one get away. The names of
the defendants are picturesque. They rejoiced in such sobriquets as
**Big Neck," ** Pumpkin," ** Brave Snake," '* Young Knight," and
**One-That-Don't-Care." If, as it is said, the Indian receives his name
from some personal trait of character, the latter at least might have been
found guilty of contempt of court.
In this connection it may be said that only one white man and two
negroes have ever suffered capital punishment in Randolph county.
This may be due to the skill of the bar in preserving to the citizen his
presumption of innocence when in jeopardy. Of a surety we can not
claim to be wholly void of offences since the disbursements from the
criminal cost fund for 1909 and 1910 amounted to $15,096.49.
Among the first oflScers of the county were men who afterward served
in other capacities with distinction. Dr. William Fort represented the
county in both branches of the general assembly. Robt. Wilson also
served in both branches of the legislature and in the United Statues
Senate. Robert Wells became attorney general. Even the justices of
the peace served with distinction since fourteen marriages were recorded
the first year.
The first court house was built in 1832, of brick, with a court room
below and three jury rooms above. It cost $2,400, and was torn down in
the winter of 1858-59. The second court house was completed in 1860,
at a cost of $15,000. It was two stories high, built of brick, and was
consumed by fire on August 12th, 1882, one month and a day after the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 543
burning of ^It. Pleasant College in Huntsville. A county seat contest
between Huntsville and Moberly, for the removal of the seat of justice
to Moberly in 1876, had failed of the necessary two-thirds vote by 2,453
for, and 2,271 against removal. Another contest had just been held
preceding the fire in 1882 with the same result, failing by a vote of
3,481 for, and 3,068 against removal. It will be observed that the voting
strength of the county thirty years ago was 400 ip excess of the present
count by the secretary of state. Feelings of bitterness had been en-
gendered by these contests to such a crisis that the leaders of both sides
effected a compromise whereby the insurance of the burned building
added to private subscriptions, was used to restore the court house at
Huntsville and bills were passed by the general assembly abrogating
the court of common pleas, which had existed at Moberly with limited
jurisdiction since 1875, and establishing instead the regular county, pro-
bate and circuit courts at Moberly with full jurisdiction co-extensive
with the county. No buildings were provided for the new courts, and
the salaries of the new deputies, in the interest of peace and harmony,
were temporarily made nominal, it being intended that **when the first
bitter throbs of anguish had been softened into the gentle tear of recol-
lection," such buildings and salaries would be provided. Although the
old wounds have long since healed and the bulk of litigation is now at
Moberly, these courts are still tenants by the leasehold.
The third court house at Huntsville was erected in 1883 at a cost of
$35,000.
The first jail was a log building situated just north of the present
site of the court house in Huntsville. A second jail was erected in 1865
which was found inadequate and torn down in 1871 and a new jail
built of stone, with the sheriff's residence connected in front. It was
constructed upon the plan of a dungeon, strong enough but cruel and
wholly out of keeping with modern ideas of a sanitary jail. This latter
jail was condemned by the grand jury in 1909 and a new jail and sher-
iff's residence, costing $27,742.66, was erected on the same site. It was
built by an issue of bonds of $25,000, which brought a premium of
$1,120. It is sanitary and humane in all its appointments and contains
twelve chrome steel, tool proof cells with others for juvenile and first
offenders, women and insane persons.
Besides these public buildings the county maintains a county poor
farm one mile from Huntsville, purchased in 1878, at a cost of $2,000, in
which an average of twenty-one inmates are kept at an average annual
expense of $3,100. A superintendent is employed and his accounts
audited by the county court.
Among the members of the first bar of Randolph county were strong
men. John F. Ryland held the office of judge of the state supreme
court. Joseph Davis was a colonel in the Indian war, commanded a
brigade in the Mormon difficulties and served for twenty years in the
legislature. General Robt. Wilson, previously mentioned, was a member
of both the house and senate, of the constitutional convention of '61
and as United States senator in 1862. General John B. Clark became
a member of congress and of the Confederate congress. Robt. W. Wells
served as attorney general of the state and judge of the United States
district court.
During War Times
The history of Randolph county is a chronicle of peace rather than
the annals of war, but her people have not been wanting in the martial
spirit when occasions demanded. For the Indian insurrection of
1835 she furnished a company of seventy soldiers. For the Mexican war
544 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
a company of one hundred men was raised in Randolph, of which Han-
cock Jackson, the first sheriff, was captain. They were presented with
a silk flag upon their departure for the front, by the patriotic ladies
of Huntsville and the emblem was carried victoriously in two engage-
ments, and upon the company's return home, it was deposited with the
names of those who marched under it, in the court house at Huntsville.
The fire, which destroyed the court house in 1882, consumed these memor-
ials of their arms.
A history of the Civil war even in its local phase, can not be included
in the space allotted. Out of the body of her population of 11,407 people,
were enlisted l>etween 1,200 and 1,800 men, divided about equally be-
tween the North and the South. The people were not, however, divided
in their sympathies by the same ratio, as fully eighty per cent favored
the Confederacy after the war began. Randolph county was one of the
largest slave-holding counties in the state at the beginning of the war.
Approximately $2,000,000 worth of slaves were held here at the begin-
ning of hostilities. A state census taken twelve years earlier shows 2,024
negroes owned by the other 6,787 whites, which would indicate the
grounds of the sympathy. Their commercial aspect is brought vividly
into view by the following advertisement published in the Independent
at Huntsville, 1854:
Slaves for Sale
The un(1er8igiie<l wiU keep constantly on hand, negro men, women, boys and
girls in Huntsville.' All persons who wish to buy negroes can make it their interest
to call on the subscribers, or address them by letter, giving description of the kind
of Hlaves desired. All negroes warranted to come up to recommendations, or taken
back or exchanged. H. L. Ruthehford,
Wm. D. Ma lone.
The negroes have only increased their numbers one-third in this
county since the war while the whites have multiplied nine times as fast.
The names of the soldiers who took part in the Civil war must re-
main, of necessity, indistinguishable in the ranks but the names of their
leaders are here recalled. Those raising troops for the Southern army
were: Colonel H. T. Fort, Colonel John A. Poindexter, Colonel C. J.
Perkins, Captain Thos. G. Lowry, Captain John W. Bagby, Captain Ben-
jamin Guthrie. For the Union army : Captains T. B. Reed, W. T. Aus-
tin, C. F. Mayo, W. S. Burckhartt, W. A. Skinner, M. S. Durham and
Alexander Denny.
After the departure of the regulars the worst phases of the prevail-
ing social disorder were suffered by those who remained at home from
the *• bushwhackers '* on the one hand, and the marauding militia on the
other. Bill Anderson, the noted guerrilla chief, recruited a number of
those who could *' shoot with both hands" in this county and there are
staid and sober citizens now living, who can remember how, in their
younger days, they clipped the hands off the town clock in Huntsville
without even looking through the sights.
One unique incident of that chieftain's visit to Huntsville on the day
before the Centralia massacre, September 26th, 1864, was the spectacu-
lar method of opening the store doors adopted by one of his men when
the town was raided. This soldier of fortune rode a large bay horse
along the sidewalk on Main street and at each store door would back his
horse against it and touch the high-spirited animal in the flanks with his
spurs. The doors opened. After selecting such articles of apparel as
were required, the men drew their pay for that month out of the Hunts-
ville bank with a crowbar, and in the evening departed for Centralia.
Bill Anderson was killed just one month afterward.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 545
The Spanish war awakened little general interest in enlistment for
service and only one company — colored troops — was recruited.
Cholera
Worse than the fear of war is the dread of pestilence. The health-
ful environments of Randolph county are not favorable to epidemics
but three times when cholera swept across the country, it has visited
us, the first time in 1832, again in 1849, and again just after the
close of the Civil war. The mortality resulting at its first and second
appearance is not recorded. At the third visitation sixteen died in
Huntsville. It made a deep impression on the public mind. Neither
the cause or the cure was known to science and the suddenness and mys-
tery of the death, coupled with a sense of utter helplessness created a
state of dread strongly reflected in the public press of the times. All
sorts of nostrums were advised and as a last resort ^' courage^' was pre-
scribed with the consolation that should death seize the victim he would
have at least have escaped its fearful anticipations and acquit himself
with dignity while awaiting the inevitable.
The Search for GtOLd
The love of gold is more contagious than cholera. In the year 1848
the first discoveries of the yellow metal in California by the advance
guard of pioneers were heralded across the continent and many of our
citizens caught the contagion. They forgot their fight against the re-
election of Thos. H. Benton in their eagerness to get rich quick. Many
of them made the trip across the plains. Some took with them their slaves
and set them free upon the golden coast. Pew of them realized their hopes
of wealth and probably more money was deported from the county than
was brought back by the emigrants. At the present time much is being
said and written about the high cost of living with beef on the hoof at
10y2 cents, and flour selling for $2.30 per hundred-weight, but the real
thing seems to have been encountered by the '49r8 who crossed over the
old Santa Pe trail. A private letter written to Captain Cooper, of Pay-
ette, from San Prancisco in the spring of 1849 advising him to bring out
a stock of goods, quotes some interesting prices and indicates why the
Randolphians had to hurry back. Pork sold for $80 per barrel, lard for
$50, flour for $30, blankets from $60 to $200 per pair, cotton shirts
brought $10 each, cloth coats for $120, sugar for 25 cents a pound. Two
barrels of whiskey, retailed by the drink, brought $14,000. These prices
were in gold. I have been told that about that time on election days a
barrel of free whiskey was rolled out on the street in Huntsville, the head
knocked out and dippers hung aroung the barrel for the voters' use.
Some of the more adept in the bibulous art would gallop their horses up
and down Main street, brandishing their dippers and as they passed the
barrel, would plunge these shining weapons of Bacchus to the hilt and
would quaff the libation while at full speed without spilling a drop.
Churches and Schools
Before Missouri became a state and long before Randolph county be-
came a separate political part of it the earliest settlers of the territory
in 1819 established the first church nine miles south of the present site
of Huntsville. It was at first known as Happy Zion. The name was
later changed to Silver Creek church. It was of the Old School Baptist
faith, as were all the churches which were organized in the county prior to
Vol. I— 36
546 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
1834. Nearly all the first settlers were Baptists. The first church house
built in the county was made of logs and built by that denomination*
The first Methodist church was organized in 1834. The first Christian
church was organized in 1860, and the first Cumberland Presbyterian
church in 1840. These were the pioneer churches which opened the way
for others to follow. Now there is not a city, town or village in the
county, and scarcely a school district which does not have one or more
churches. All the leading denominations are represented. The Christian
Science church and a $75,000 Catholic cathecbral were built this year.
Churches are not listed by the assessor and their property value in the
county is not known, but may be conservatively estimated at $300,000.
Prior to the constitution of '65 the educational interests of Randolph
county were fostered by colleges and private schools. Mt. Pleasant col*
lege was organized in the year 1853 by patriotic citizens of Randolph
county, and upon the advice of William A. Hall, was placed under the
care and supervision of the Baptist church. Four years later, in 1857,
a building was erected at Huntsville costing $12,500. The Rev. William
Thompson, LL. D., the first president, opened school the same year with
one hundred and seventy students in attendance. The faculty consisted
of Dr. Thompson, president ; the Rev. J. H. Carter, professor of mathe-
matics and Miss Bettie Ragland, principal of the woman's department.
The college was destroyed by fire on July 13th, 1882. During the twenty-
three years of its existence it was presided over by the following presi-
dents: the Rev. Wm. Thompson, one year; the Rev. W. R. Rothwell,
twelve years ; the Rev. J. W. Terrill, seven years ; the Rev. M. J. Breaker.
three years. The Rev. A. S. Worrell was president for a brief time and
was succeeded by the Rev. J. B. Weber who was in charge when the col-
lege closed. It turned out during this time 109 graduates, instructed
many youths and exercised an elevating and refining influence on the*
entire community. J. W. Wight, Sr., of Moberly, was valedictorian of
the class of 1863.
The first public school was partially organized in Huntsville some
little time after the war, but the organization was not completed until
1877. At the present time this system of free education has expanded
into eighty-three school districts which enumerate 9,000 children of
school age, and distributes annually for their education $85,868. The
county has a permanent school fund of $57,872.94, which is constantly
augmented from fines and forfeitures. This fund is loaned on real es-
tate security and personal collateral and the interest therefrom appor-
tioned with the state funds pro rata. The county derived from the state
at the last distribution, $14,000 for schools. The railroad school tax in the
county, raised by the levy of an average rate of fifty-oiie cents, is
$12,000. One hundred and fifty-two teachers are employed and receive
a total pay-roll of $45,022, paid out at an average salary of $68.00 for
men and $41.00 for women. There are 6,700 volumea in the school li-
braries of the county. The high schools at Huntsville and Moberly are
articulated with the University of Missouri. Two hundred and forty-six
pupils have been graduated from the public schools in the past three
years. Nothing indicates more plainly the vitality of Randolph than the
fact that forty per cent of its population is embraced in the school
enumeration.
Finances and RAHiBOADS
The financial resources of Randolph county are held in twelve bank-
ing institutions with a total of 17,300 shares owned by two hundred and
seventy- two stockholders, aggregating in capital and surplus, $437,510
in 1910, of which a controlling interest of $250,000 is held by twenty
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 547
shareholders. The resources of these banks approximate $3,000,000. In
the past twelve years the deposits have grown rapidly from the proceeds
of the sale of lands to northern and eastern buyers and the removal to
town of the farmers. The sale of coal rights under the lands to large
eastern companies, one of which holds 43,000 acres, has contributed as
well as expanding industry to increasing our*banMng resources. Every
town and village in the county has one or more ban^ and all are pros-
pering.
The merchandising activities of the county are conducted by 331
merchants and fifteen manufacturers with stocks valued for assessment
at $340,000. This represents but a small fraction of the actual value in-
vested, as one corporation has a capital stock of $300,000 on which it
guarantees a six per cent dividend.
The value of all kinds of property has more than doubled within the
past ten years. The resources of the county for the year 1910, upon
which a total tax rate of $1.42 for all purposes, state, county and school,
is levied, aggregate $10,029,785.
The growth in population is shown by the census for the following
years : 1830, 2,942 ; 1840, 7^98 ; 1860, 11,407 ; 1870, 15,908 ; 1880, 22,751 ;
1890, 24,893 ; 1900, 24,442 ; 1910, 26,182.
Few counties can boast better railroad, telegraph and telephone serv-
ice than Randolph. Besides the Western Union Telegraph Company,
six telephone companies with numerous private rural lines, make quick
communication with every part of the county. The companies are the
Buffum Telephone Company, the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Com-
pany, the Moberly Telephone Company, the New Century Telephone
Company, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and the
Huntsville Telephone Company.
The evening papers can announce the result of elections in every
precinct as quickly after the close of the polls as in a city ward.
All of the eleven townships in the county have railroad shipping
facilities except two — Chariton and Salt River.* In the early days of
railroad building it was customary for railroads to receive financial as-
sistance from the counties through which they ran. Usually this was
rendered by a subscription of stock through the sale of county bonds.
Randolph county pursued a more direct method by taxation and as a
consequence escaped the pitialls into which many counties fell, and was
never burdened by a long indebtedness. The old North Missouri Rail-
road, which was incorporated in 1853 and completed to Moberly Novem-
ber, 1858, and to Macon City in February, 1859, was the first railroad to
enter the county. After the road had been finished to Mexico efforts
were made to continue it by subscriptions to its stock along the proposed
route. Randolph county subscribed $175,000 of its stock and paid for
it in four years. This road entered the county at its southeast comer
and, following the Grand Divide, passed through its middle line from
north to south. In 1858 the Chariton and Randolph Railroad Company
was chartered to run from Brunswick in Chariton county to connect
with the North Missouri at some convenient point in Randolph county.
The war interrupted the construction of the road and its franchises fell
into the hands of the older company which built it from Moberly to
Kansas City. These roads now constitute the Wabash Railroad Com-
pany. The machine shops for the western division are located at Moberly
and were secured by the city with a donation of 818 acres of land given
for that purpose. Judge Wm. A. Hall was the commissioner to represent
Moberly in presenting its claims and accompanied the locating ofScials
on their tour of inspection from St. Louis to Kansas City. The shops
548 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
were located April 2ndy 1872, on 218 acres of this land lying in the T
of its north and west extensions and exempted from taxation for twenly
years. The city of Moberly raised $27,000 by the sale of bonds for the
purchase of the land. When upon the expiration of the exemption limit,
the constitution prohibited its extension, an agreement was entered into
between the city and Superintendent Hays, that the city limits of
Moberly should be changed, excluding the shops' ground, and in consid-
eration of this relief from city taxation, the Wabash would erect a
$40,000 union station in the city. The contract was ratified by a vote of
the citizens and was carried out by both parties. Its completion was cel-
ebrated by a memorable banquet and baU in the new building. It is the
most complete and handsome station between Kansas City and St. Louis
and advertises the city to travelers, but upon the other hand, the local
properties of the Wabash have escaped an annual tax of $3,700 for more
than twenty years with benefits continuing. The Wabash has a mileage
of forty-four miles in the county. It has a pay-roll of $100,000 monthly
and employs 2,000 men in the county, principally at Moberly and 1,700
men are at work in its shops at that place. Within the present year the
road has passed into the hands of receivers and large improvements to
its road-bed and rolling stock and machinery departments are being
added. A hospital is maintained by the employees' association at Moberly
for the western division.
The M. K. & T. Railroad was organized April 7, 1870, by the con-
solidation of the Tebo & Neosho with certain other lines. To this latter
road Sugar Creek township issued its bonds for $65,000. In 1874 it
acquired by purchase the Hannibal & Central Missouri, which had been
chartered in 1865, and thus opened the road from Hannibal to Sedalia,
passing through Randolph county via Moberly and Higbee for a distance
of twenty miles. The Sugar Creek bonds were funded in 1879 and have
since been paid. It passes through rich coal fields in the southern part
of the county.
The Chicago & Alton Railroad enters the county at its southeastern
corner and crosses the county in its southern part, passing through Clark
and Higbee. It was constructed in 1871 and has a mileage in the county
of eighteen miles. This road passes through some of the richest agricul-
tural and coal regions of the county. These three railroads have a total
of eighty-three miles of road bed in Randolph and pay a yearly tax of
$25,000 to the state and county.
Roads
Second only in importance to its railroads, are the highways of the
county. Randolph county has not yet entered upon a systematic con-
struction of permanent roads. It has 650 miles of earth roads reaching
every section in it and the streams are spanned by one hundred steel
bridges. All traces of the old plank road from Huntsville to Glasgow,
built in the early '50s, are obliterated long since and its recollection
serves to show the early resources of white oak now selling at $50 per
thousand. Two years ago the statute authorizing county courts to levy
up to twenty-five cents on the hundred for roads and bridges was adopted
by a vote of the people and the limit has been levied. This sum added to
the revenues of the two eight-mile road districts creates a fund of $30,000
which is annually disbursed for roads.
We have no navigable streams but the soil is watered by four hundred
miles of creeks and small water courses.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 549
Aqriculture and Mining
This network of natural irrigation, aided by a mean annual rainfall
of thirty-seven inches and an average July temperature of seventy-seven
degrees, makes agriculture a dependable vocation. Sixty thousand
acres of com and forty thousand acres of timothy hay smile at the con-
tetited herds of kind-eyed kJne. The kind of blue grass that makes race
horses in Kentucky grows here voluntarily, where it is not killed by dense
woodlands. The surplus of the plow brings an average of $10 per acre
for every acre in the county, while that which is fed, supports live stock
values of $15 to the acre. As if this were not enough, the bottom aa
well as the top of this valuable county is producing wealth. All hut the
central portion is underlaid with four feet of bituminous coal at varying
depths of one hundred to two hundred feet. In many places it crops
from the hillside. An annual output of half a million tons at $2.50 per
MiRSOUKi Coal
ton, makes the mineral almost equal to the cereal products. The chief
operator is the Northern Central Coal Company, holding 40,000 acres.
Mining is conducted at Huntsville, Higbee, Renick, Elliott and Tates.
Brick shale is also one of the valuable minerals of Randolph county.
It is found in the central portion where the eoal has been destroyed by
the opening of a crevasse a mile wide and eleven miles long, which has
filled with shale to a depth of eighty to a hundred feet. It is manufac-
tured into a superior quality of paving brick at Moberly and shipped to
Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois and North and South Dakota. The
Moberly Brick and Paving Company convert this shale into 110,000
bricks per day, burning daily fifty tons of eoal and working the year
round. This shale has a blue color like soap-stone and its analysis is so
similar to decomposed granite that it is inserted for comparison : Hygro-
scopic water, 1,47; combined water, 5.42; silica, 66.34; alumina, 15.81;
ferrous oxide, 5.12; lime, .97; magnesia, .78; potash, 2.97; soda, 1.24.
550 HISTOBY OJP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
A few of the industries which once were remuneratiye have passed
away. The manufacture of salt at Randolph Springs, the making of
hoop poles and railroad ties at Renick and Jacksonville, and the cultiva-
tion of tobacco which in the '70s reached six million pounds are no more.
Cities and Towns
The cities, towns and villages of Randolph county hold nearly three-
fifths of the population. Their citizenship a^regates 15,600 people,
while the 2,500 farms hold the other 10,582. The census of these munic-
ipalities in 1910 was : Moberly, 10,923 ; Huntsville, 2,247 ; Higbee, 1,215 ;
Clark, 300 ; Cairo, 220 ; Renick, 213 ; Jacksonville, 200.
Moberly and Huntsville are cities of the third class. They deserve
some separate mention.
Huntsville, the county seat, is the oldest and most historic town in
the county. Its streets are paved with macadam and ancient elms grow
in the yards and fringe with shade its avenues. It is hard to realize
when looking down the spacious streets that the first county court
ordered all persons cutting timber in the streets to remove the brush
and cut the stumps not more than one foot high. Huntsville has five
blocks of business houses and many beautiful homes. Two blocks of
Main street are paved with vitrified brick and granitoid walks are being
laid. It has three churches, two newspapers, two banks, a modern hotel,
a rake factory and axe-handle factory, three livery barns, the public
buildings, radium springs with salt baths, an electric light plant and
new water works system owned by the city. It is the principal mining
center and enjoys a large rural trade. Its Commercial Club is a wide-
awake, aggressive body. The public school building is one of the largest
and handsomest in the county and its school district is assessed at
$600,000. The railroad station is about one-half mile from the court-
house and all trains are met with a bus.
Sometimes called the Magic City, in allusion to its sudden appear-
ance and rapid growth, Moberly, located near the center of the county
on the Wabash Railroad, is within forty miles of the center of the tftate,
148 miles west of St. Louis, 129 miles east of Kansas City and seventy-
five miles from a larger city. At the close of the Civil war it contained
a population of one man ; its population now is fourteen thousand. It
covers compactly two square miles of ground, and but few of its seven
thousand town lots are unimproved. Half the people of the county live
in Moberly. It has eighty miles of streets, twenty-five miles of which
are paved with vitrified brick, and 160 miles of sidewalks, now changing
from brick to granitoid by blocks and streets. Moberly never deserved
the name of magic city more truly than now. During Mayor RoUa
Roth well's administration of four years, the city increased in value
thirty-three per cent, or $3,000,000, purchased Forrest park and recon-
structed every public utility in the city. The city is worth on the basis
of its assessment, $10,000,000. From the date of the first lot sale to the
last deed recorded is forty-six years. An old photograph of Seelens
store, one of the first buildings in the town, shows a little barelegged boy
leaning against the awning post, about ten years of age, named Johnnie
Lynch. The lion. J. E. Lynch is not yet fifty-seven years old.
The city has developed in a lifetime. It was located upon a treeless,
trackless prairie. A birdseye view of it from the top of one of its
buildings shows it nestling now beneath a forest of shade. The seal of
the old common pleas court had for an emblem, a deer chased by a pack
of hounds. It was suggested by the judge, Hon. O. II. l^urckhartt, be-
cause he had caught a deer where the *' white way" now sheds its
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 551
lambent light upon the throngs of evening shoppers. The directors of
the Randolph & Chariton Railroad first platted Moberly in 1858 and
notified the village of Old Allen, one mile north to move down.
Patrick Lynch put his house on wheels and with a yoke of oxen hauled
it to Moberly and settled on lots 11 and 12 in block 12, original town, on
Clark street opposite the Merchants hotel. The war stopped the build-
ing of the new railroad and with it further development of the town.
After the war, the North Missouri Railroad again laid out the town and
on September 27, 1866, the lots were auctioned by Barlow, Valle &
Bush, terms $10 cash and balance in one and two years. Tables were
set near the Coates street crossing and solid and liquid refreshments
were served. Lots brought an average of $45. Where the Merchants
hotel stands, brought $150. A marshy pond of water was on the rear
of that lot. Excavation for a gas main shows the original surface of
the ground to have been four feet lower there than at present and where
the brass bands now discourse sweet music beneath the verandas of
that fashionable hostlery, the moping frogs did erstwhile to the moon
complain. Bill Robinson, 0. F. Chandler, Doctor Tannehill, Elijah
Williams, John Qrimes, Ernest Miller, C. Otto, J. 6. Zahn and Patrick
Lynch were bidders at the sale. Tate's hotel at the comer of Reed and
Clark street was the first house completed. The first business houses
were frame buildings. Adam Given sawed the lumber for the first house.
One by one the first buildings were destroyed by fire and replaced with
brick structures. The ordering out of the old board walks as the city
grew met with much opposition and at times almost created conflicts.
The miring of vehicles in the streets during the early spring thaws
brought a demand for paving. The first laid was a square of wooden
blocks on Reed street at the depot, by Superintendent Butler. Then
Reed street in 1888 was laid with brick and Williams street next im-
proved.
The location of the Wabash shops in Moberly in 72 was the beginning
of lively times. The big pay roll of the Wabash ran riot through the
veins of business and in the circulation was felt the mounting tide of
life. The wheels began to turn, and not only the car wheels, but the
buggy wheels also. Livery stables were more profitable than picture shows
There was nothing to do and nowhere to go on the bare prairie except
to go buggy riding. The street crossings were all wooden walks and
placed above grade to keep foot travelers out of the mud, so when the
joy riders hit the crossing on high gear the '^auto sensation" was lost
in the clouds of dust which arose. Family horses learned to trot a block
and stop, then go another block and stop. Low license and dramshops
prevailed.
One of the crises through which the town passed was the adoption
of the stock law and withdrawing the keys of the city from the cows.
.The fences were taken down. One of the handicaps of young Moberly
was that the roofs of the houses were too small to keep the cisterns
filled with water and at each drouth the city went dry. It was not
known that an abundant supply of water was beneath the surface. In
the early days when everybody went to the postoffice for their mail, it
was the best business asset in the town. The postmaster was compelled
to rent a building for the office and furnish the boxes at his own expense.
This supplied both the incentive and the opportunity for keeping the
office on wheels. The inside machinations of the removal conspirators
plotting against each other would put to blush the courtiers of Genoa.
In 1906 a $50,000 federal building was erected for the postoffice and an
additional $35,000 has been appropriated for its enlargement. 1,500,000
pieces of mail were received and deliv.ered and 1,181,000 pieces dis-
552 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
patched last year. A money order business of $346,502.23 was handled
in the same time. The monthly pay roU of the Mobefly oflSce is $3,000.
Its rural carriers serve twenty-five thousand.
It is said that a man is what he eats. Moberly consumes annually :
one million, seven hundred and fifty thousand loaves of bread, one
million pounds of beef, one million pounds of pork, three million eggs,
three hundred and twelve thousand pounds of butter, one million pounds
of cheese, eighty thousand pounds of mutton, eighty thousand pounds
of lard, fifty miles of sausage, thirty thousand pounds of flour, twenty-
one thousand gallons of ice cream, fifteen thousands baskets of grapes,
ten thousand bunches of bananas, eight thousand boxes of oranges, six
thousand cases of strawberries, five thousand boxes of lemons, two thou-
sand gallons of oysters, two thousand crates of pineapples, Moberly ex-
ports twenty-six million eggs, three million, seven hundred and seventy-
five thousand pounds of poultry, seven hundred and fifty thousand
pounds of groceries. Her intellectual yearnings are satisfied with four
thousand, five hundred volumes in the Carnegie Library.
Her artificial ice plant has a capacity of sixty tons daily. Her
brick plant makes 110,000 brick daily. Her poultry house does an annual
business of $752,688.11. Moberly has two wholesale grocery houses,
three banks with $2,000,000 resources and gaining at the rate of $100,000
per year, a shoe factory employing 193 men and 124 women, who make
2,600 pairs of shoes daily, one Y. M. C. A. with a membership of
512, has $200,000 invested in churches, $160,000 in school buildings
employing fifty teachers, with an enrollment of 1,500 and an
enumeration of 4,500, disbursing $35,000 annually for instruction under
the superintendence of J. C. Lilly, one of the foremost educators in the
state. The assessed valuation of its school district is one-fourth million
with $57,000 outstanding bonds. Moberly has two daily newspapers, a
finely equipped hospital, two machine shops, a cold storage and produce
plant, planing mill, Standard Oil storage capacity of 150,000 gallons.
Moberly owns her own water system at a cost of $150,000. The
streets are lighted by 102 arc lights from a plant of 1,200 horse power.
The main business street is illuminated with a decorative collection of
many white globes creating a fairy scene of beauty. The gas plant has
a capacity of 175,000 feet, and seventeen miles of mains. The telephone
system cost $100,000 and has a switchboard of 3,500 capacity. The
outstanding obligations of the city amount to $240,000.
These statistical statements are set out not that we may glory in our
greatness now, but that future historians commenting upon their small-
ness may have the data by which to measure the city's future growth.
Looking at the marks upon the wall which have been made in the past
we see how each time this child of destiny has been measured, the
index shows a head taller. Many things of interest have been left out
and that whioh has been said could have been told better. We believe,
however, that it meets the essential requirements of truth. **The truth
needs no ornaments and what she borrows from the pencil is but de-
formity."
CHAPTER XXVIII
ST. CHARLES COUNTY
By Dr. J. C. Edwards, 0' Fallon
The Village op the Hiii>;
The first settlement made in what is now the state of Missouri bv
Europeans was made at Ste. Genevieve about the middle of the eighteenth
century. St. Louis was probably settled about ten years afterwards by
Pierre Laclede with a few French adventurers. There was another
settlement made on the Mississippi river below St. Louis called New
Bourbon.
About the year 1770, a young and adventurous Frenchman named
Louis Blanchette, called by the Indians **La Chasseur'' — **the hunter"
— found himself on the west side of the Missouri river, on a series of
beautifully symmetrical hills overlooking to the north a lovely stretch
of plains bordering the great rivers and clothed in all the wealth of
spring-time verdure and summer flowers. No natural landscape could
have been more entrancing than the Missouri and Mississippi valley
covered with green grass and wild flowers as tall as a man on horse-
back. This scene was viewed from the two beautiful mounds that over-
looked it from the south. These mounds were named by the fanciful
Frenchman the **Mau Melles." Here he erected his ** wickiup/' and
decided to fix his abode. In what is now the town of St. Charles, he
erected the first cabin and called the place **Les Petites Cotes," ** Little
Hills." Here, by the authority of the governor of Upper Louisiana,
he built a house and established a trading post on what is now square
No. 13 in the upper part of the town of St. Charles, near a little stream
of water then called Blanchette, but now known as Factory Branch.
Near here was afterward erected the government house and prison,
built of logs hewn on two sides. This post was established while the
French government still held control of Louisiana.
The transfer of this territory to Spain took place about 1762, but
the French held control of it till 1770. Planchette, who had been
appointed commandant of the post by the French governor, remained
commandant till 1793. The town, which had grown to quite a village,
in 1784 changed the name of ** Village Des Cotes" to **St. Charles," in
honor of Don Carlos, the reigning monarch of Spain, at that time the
mother country. Blanchette lived in peace with the Indians and we
have no record of any murder by them during his lifetime. He com-
manded the post till his death. He was respected as a commander and
a magistrate. In 1793 he died of a fever and was buried in September
beneath the waUs of a little Roman Catholic church, which he had
erected, and which was the first church built west of the Missouri river.
Thus St. Charles contains the ashes of its founder.
Don Carlos Tyon succeeded to the command of the post. Upon his
553
554 HISTOBT OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
resignation in 1802, he was succeeded by a Scotch-Irishman, Capt.
Charles Mackay, or as his name appears, **Don Santiago Mackay."
He was in office one year when the country was ceded by Napoleon
Bonaparte to the government of the United States. At tlus time the
village contained about four hundred inhabitants, nearly all of whom
were French.
The village of St. Charles on the west bank of the Missouri river,
gave name to the county, or province as it was termed under French
rule. At that time it was an empire in dimensions. It was bounded
on the north by the Mississippi river, extending to the British posses-
sions ; and on the south, extending from where the Missouri emptied into
the Mississippi, west to the Pacific ocean. Out of this tract were formed
many of the now wealthy states of the Union, with millions of popula-
tion and billions of wealth, the result of a little more than one hundred
years of development. In laying out the town, each settler received
from France a plot of ground 120x150 feet. In addition to this there
were the ''common fields." These fields were one arpent wide and
forty arpents long. One such lot of about thirty-four acres was set
apart for each head of a family for farming purposes. Besides these
grants, there was laid off a larger tract of land for common use, as
pasturage, fire wood and building timber. This tract belonged to the
town and was known as ''St. Charles Commons." This has long since
been disposed of to settlers and ceased to be city property. These
"commons" were enclosed and enlarged as the population increased and
the necessities of the people demanded. The commons were first en-
closed in 1793.
The first Spanish grant of commons was made in 1790, and two years
afterwards, Governor Delassus made an additional grant. The entire
grant aggregated fourteen thousand arpents. Many other grants were
made about this time. One was to Pierre Chouteau in 1789, for building
a water mill at the mouth of a small stream at the southern or upper
end of the town, some traces of which still remain. The secretary of
Delassus, Jacques St. Vrain, for public services, also received a grant on
Cuivre river in 1799, on which he afterwards settled. John Baptiste
Blondeau, an early settler, also received a large jgrant in 1796. These
grants were always made for some supposed public service rendered or
to be rendered.
One enterprising Frenchman, at an early date in the history of the
village, finding that the inhabitants of the territory were in great need
of peach brandy, solicited and received a grant of land that he might
plant an orchard and supply the want. The governor fully appreciated
the request and at once yielded to the demand. These grants were of
various sizes, ranging from eighty acres to several thousand.
Daniel Boone, in consideration of his promise to introduce one
hundred families into the territory, was to receive ten thousand arpents,
but owing to his oversight in not having his deeds signed in New Orleans
by the governor-general, failed, under the United States government,
to secure title. The Arend Rutgers Survey on the upper waters of
Dardenne creek contained six square miles or 5,760 acres. The average
grant was about eight hundred arpents. The surveys were not made
on meridian lines, but to suit the fancy of the grantee.
The growth of the little Village of the Hills, in the western wilds,
was slow. In 1781, it contained less than a dozen houses and perhaps
not over thirty white inhabitants. Ten years afterwards it had increased
to about two hundred inhabitants, with fifty or more houses. In 1796,
the place had acquired more importance and settlers of Anglo-Saxon
blood were beginning to come in and make homes among the happy-go*
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 555
lucky Frenchmen. The irregularities of the boundaries of much of the
land in the county is due to the way the Spanish grants were surveyed,
most of them running to any point of the compass, so as to suit the claim-
ant. In 1797, the place had become suflBciently important to demand
a young ladies' school and the Baron of Carondelet appointed Madame
Blanche tutoress of the village, with a salary of fifteen dollars a month,
but the salary was never paid, there being no funds in the school treasury
for such a purpose. Her assignee, however, received a grant of 1,600
arpents of rich alluvial lands, which would now be worth a pmall fortune.
The Firsts in the County
The first assembly of the people of the county, of which we have any
record, was held on a certain Sunday in 1801, due and timely notice
having been given by Monsieur Tyon, commander of the post, to deter-
mine the question of fencing in the new addition to the commons in the
lower part of the town. This was unanimously agreed upon and signed
by ninety-three persons, which w^e suppose comprised the total number
of heads of families.
The first marriage in St. Charles, of which there is any record, was
that of John Baptiste Provost and Angelique Savanges, on the 25th of
September, 1792. But there were doubtless marriages before that.
The first infant baptism which we find recorded waa Perry Belland,
son of Baptiste Belland and Catherine Lelande Belland. There were
doubtless others before, for Blanchette, the founder of the village, had
built a small church in which religious services had doubtless been held
by some passing missionary priest.
The first records we have of the village describe it as being on the
river bank on the level ground at the foot of the range of small hills
rising above the river. This is now Main street and the town as it is
now is built back on this gentle elevation to the level country back of it,
presenting a beautiful view when approached from the east on the
opposite side of the river. It now has a population of about twelve
thousand prosperous and happy people, the growth of a little over one
hundred years. A stranger once approaching St. Charles in its earlier
days was struck by its (luaint appearance like a string extending for
a mile along the bank of the river, and exclaimed, * * My ! but this would
be a tall town if it was standing on its end."
There is no record or tradition of any trouble between the earlier
French settlers of St. Charles and the Indians. Their relations seem
to have been amicable. There was a system of barter carried on between
the two races, the Indians giving peltry and furs in exchange for such
trinkets and goods, guns and tomahawks as the white man had to offer.
The Indian Tribes
The Indian tribes who were near neighbors of the village were the
Kickapoos, an inoffensive, friendly people, who had a village two and
a half miles southwest of town up the Missouri river, and another below
on the Mississippi ; the Osages and the Sioux were also in possession of
much of the St. Charles territory. They were much more warlike than
the Kickapoos, and were almost constantly engaged in war with each
other. They gave the early American settlers of the country much
trouble and murdered a number of the earlier American settlers during
the War of 1812 and even as late as 1830. After the death of Tecumseh
556 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
a treaty of peace was made in 1815 at Portage des Sioux between the
Confederate tribes and United States. This place had been named by
the Indians, and afterwards settled by the French, who retained the
name.
The Osage Indians were the most warlike and blood-thirsty of these
tribes and were hostile to the Sioux. The Osages lived on the Missouri
river and the Sioux on the Mississippi. A hunting party of the Osages,
trespassing on the hunting grounds and encountering some of the latter,
killed a few pf them. The enraged Sioux resolved on revenge and a
bloody feud followed. The warriors were assembled and a formidable
fleet of bark canoes well-manned descended the Mississippi to the mouth
of the Missouri, ascended that river to the possessions of the Osages,
and surprising them, the Sioux, in a night attack, made a great slaughter
of their unsuspecting enemies. They then returned to their canoes and
fled down the river. The enraged Osages collected a large war party
and gave hot pursuit. Both parties were skilled in water-craft and in
dextrous handling of the canoe and a life and death race began down the
turbid stream. On they sped, pursuers and pursued, the one impelled
by fear of cruel death, and the other urged on by the mad hope of a
bloody revenge. The Sioux made good speed down the river, but the
Osages, filled with rage, were gaining on their foes. On, on they sped,
day and night, until in a long straight channel of the river, the pursued
were sighted. A loud, wild war-whoop arose from the pursuers, and
pallid fear filled the hearts of the pursued. Who can tell the savage
joy and the no less savage fear of poor Lo at such a time as this. But
a friendly bend in the mad stream, twelve miles above its mouth, gave
the Sioux a renewal of hope and, quickly landing and lifting out of the
river their frail barks and secreting themselves in high grass, permitted
the wild and impetuous Osages to speed on towards the mouth of the
river. Manitou had favored the Sioux and the Osages were foiled.
The wily Sioux then transported their light canoes across the narrow
strip of land to the Mississippi, thirty miles above its mouth, and thus
made their escape. The point where they re-embarked received the
name of ** Portage des Sioux'' — **The Passage of the Sioux" — and was
sometimes afterwards settled by the following Frenchmen and their
families: Francis Saucier, Francis Sesieure, Simon Lepage, Charles
Hibert, Julean Roi, Augustia Clairmount, Etine Papan, Abraham Du-
mont, Louis Grand, Jaquies Godfroid, and a number of others from the
village of St. Charles, and the name was retained. Some of the descend-
ants of these men still reside in what is called the Point Prairie, the
beautiful bottom lands between the two great rivers. Below it on the
river is now West Alton in a most beautiful and highly cultivated valley,
richly remunerating the faithful husbandmen for his toil.
The first white child was born in this settlement in 1800. She was
Bridget Saucier, the daughter of the commandant. She married Stephen
De Lille and some of their descendants still live in the county.
The soil of this part of the county is mostly an exceedingly rich and
productive sandy loam, with occasionally a black ** gumbo,*' which is
also wonderfully productive. The cereals all grow to perfection, pro-
ducing from fifty to one hundred bushels of com and from twenty to
forty bushels of wheat of fine quality, with all the variety of vegetables
that can be grown in the temperate zone. The beautiful valley between
the two great rivers is almost equal to the valley of the Nile and the
region is emphatically the farmers' paradise. These lands are now
worth one hundred dollars per acre and upward. The rivers sometimes
overflow and a crop is lost.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 557
The Province op St. Charles
The Province of St. Charles, up to 1790, consisted of these villages :
St. Charles and Portage des Sioux, and one near the mouth of the Mis-
souri inhabited by Canadian French and Indians. They lived in close
proximity and in comparative peace. But few Anglo-Saxons had as
yet crossed over the Missouri and such as had ventured from' the United
States were primitive backwoods men, or men who had left their country
for their country's good.
We are indebted to the writings of Major Stoddard, Mr. William
Bryan and Joseph H. Alexander for many facts in this sketch. The
nearest authentic account of the first settlement in Missouri, proper,
places it at Ste. Genevieve in 1735. Nearly fifty years before this time
a party of French explorers had passed down the Mississippi river from
St. Anthony 's Falls and had reported Upper Louisiana, which had been
named for Louis XIV., king of France, as a most wonderfully fertile
country.
The acquisition of the Louisianas and the formal possession taken
of them by the United States in 1804, at once opened to free navigation
the great rivers, and abolished the heavy tariffs that had been imposed
on Kentucky and Tennessee by the Spanish government. It started the
flow of immigration from these and other Southern states of the Union
to the new Eldorado — a country like Canaan, flowing with milk and
honey. St. Charles was the gateway to this land of promise, and for
forty years, a constantly increasing tide of immigration flowed through
it, from the two above named states and others farther south, and the
beautiful and rich land has blossomed like the famed gardens of the
Hesperides. The enforcement of religious belief by an oath was an-
nulled forever in the land and freedom of speech and religious freedom
forever established and guaranteed under the constitution of all future
generations. A new era had dawned on the country and the Anglo-
American manners and customs took possession of the land. It was
astonishing to see how quickly the new blood revivified the whole body
politic, and how rapidly sped the onward march to prosperity and push
in business.
Lewis and Clark
On a bright May morning in 1804, the renowned Lewis and Clark
expedition reached St. Charleston its first day's march, and created the
first sensation of patriotic ardor the village ever experienced. This
was the first body of soldiers wearing the United States uniform that
ever set foot on the western shore of the Missouri river. The results
of this expedition are known to the world, and gave rise to the well-
known axiom **Show me," and they did. The settlers from the East
came like a swarm of locusts and were received with no small degree of
suspicion by the earlier settlers, as most ferocious monsters, and doubt-
less the personal aspect of some of them justified their suspicions.
<•- ^he advent of Daniel Boone into the country, which took place in
17yo^may be stated as the opening wedge to the influx of a new civiliza-
tion, and as the advance guard of Anglo-Saxon supremacy in the new
West. No people have ever been able to scotch the way of the Anglo-
Saxon as a civUizer and enforcer of civil and religious Uberty since the
days when King John signed the Magna Charta, that synonym of the
world's freedom. The amalgamation of the early French settler, the
Anglo-Americans and the later German immigrant has produced, after
the second generation, a homogenous American citizen, the champion of
civil and religious liberty.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 559
Schools in St. Charles
The town of St. Charles is distinguished for its educational efforts.
It is the seat of three of the earliest educational institutions in the
state: St. Charles College, founded about 1825 by Mrs. Catherine Col-
lier and her son, George Collier; Lindenwood Seminary, founded about
the same time by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Sibley ; and the Sacred Heart
Convent, established a few years earlier in 1818. These three institu-
tions have done good wj^rk in educating the girls and boys of the state.
Some of the ablest men of the state were educated at St. Charles College,
and it is still doing a noble work in substantial and Christian education.
The same may be said of the two other institutions. The ravages of
time have wrought many changes in the old town. The old college
buildings are gone and have been succeeded by new and more modern
structures. Her old church buildings have gone the same road.
The Old Windmill
So with the first mills that furnished the pioneers with their daily
bread. Perhaps not a trace of the little water mill remains on the
friendly little branch at the south end of the town, a mill built by
Pierre Chouteau in 1789, who received a grant of land for the same.
And what of that fabulous fortification," the round house ? The writer,
when a boy at St. Charles College, often explored that wonderful fort.
Its diameter was eighteen feet, its height about twenty-four feet. Its
port-holes were about ten feet from the ground — four on the east front
and four on the west front. These holes were about ten inches square
and two of the ancient oaken joists which once supported a floor to its
second story were still in place. It was on top of the hill, half a mile
from the nearest water. What a situation for wise men to build a fort 1
The writer, when a schoolboy in St. Charles, knew well the oldest settlers
in town. Maj. Wm. Morrison, who had lived in the village all his life,
stated to him that the structure had been erected about 1785, by Francis
Duquette for a windmill and in it was ground all the bread-stuff used
by the village from his earliest recollection. This was in 1850, and the
major was then about seventy-five years of age. Neither by record or
tradition is it shown that the early French settlers built a fort or
stockade as a defense against the redman. There was a stockade built
in the town between the foot of what is now Clay street, and the river,
in 1808. It inclosed about two acres and extended along the river so as
to furnish water in case of a siege. It was built of split logs set endwise
in the ground. It was erected by the early American settlers. At
about the same time a fort was built at a large natural pool of water
near where Cottleville now is, and ten miles west of St. Charles. It was
called Coonz's Fort. Another fort ten miles west of that on the Boon's
Lick trail was called Pond Fort, as there were several large ponds of
water there.
Topography op the County
This county, as laid out in the final division of the state into counties,
is an almost exact representation of the letter *' Y" of the English alpha-
bet. While it presents in its outlines an unusual spectacle, its location
in the world is not devoid of beauty and romance. It lies between the
junction of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and is the natural
gateway to the great Northwest, and from the fact that it was the
pioneer county of north Missouri, it takes precedence in any historical
account of the great Northwest. It is bounded on the east and south
560 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
by the Missouri river from its mouth to the Warren county line ; along
its entire western border parallel with the fifth principal meridian on
a township line to Big creek; it is divided from Lincoln county on the
north by Big creek, Cuivre river and the Mississippi, whose clear waters
are lost in the turbid rushing stream from the west, whose waters nearly
bisect it and it loses its name in an inferior stream.
The county is well watered by an abundance of smaUer streams;
in addition to the two great rivers, it has Peruque creek traversing it on
its northern border from west to east for about thirty miles, and emptying
into the Mississippi twenty miles above its junction with the Missouri.
Through its center meanders Dardenne creek nearly bisecting the county.
It also flows into the Mississippi about ten miles above West Alton.
From West Alton to its western border the county is about fifty miles
long. In width, it varies from a few miles to about thirty on the western
border. Femme Osage creek enters on the west and runs across the
southwest corner, emptying into the Missouri river near Hamburg,
Sam's creek and Ballou creek pass from southwest to northeast. All
these streams have fertile bottom lands along their courses. The county
and its adjacent islands in the two great rivers has about 540 square
miles, approximating 345,600 acres of rich land, almost all of which is
arable.
About one-third of the county consists of rich alluvial soils brought
down by the streams in past ages, and to the tillage of the farmer, they
respond with almost Egyptian fertility. The high lands of the other
two-thirds of the county are mostly beautifully undulating landscape,
much of it in a high state of cultivation, yielding to the husbandman
an ample remuneration for his labors. Some of the highlands are hilly.
The prairies are beautiful.
There are several large prairies in the county, the Point Prairie,
Dardenne, Mississippi, Howell, Thomhill, Allen and Dog Prairie. These
sections of the county, in their primitive state, clothed in summer with
tall grass and wild flowers, were beautiful beyond expression. One-half
of the county, when first opened to the Anglo-American settler, was
heavily timbered with many species of valuable timber, such as black
walnut, white walnut or butternut, cotton-wood, white and sugar maple,
pecan, and all the varieties of oak. These have now practically disap-
peared. The lands had to be cleared for the plow, and much valuable
timber was, in earlier days, burned on the ground to get rid of it. The
wild prairie grasses were wonderfully succulent and nutritious and the
wild deer and buffalo thrived and kept fat all through the winter. A
hundred years ago every species of game abounded. Fish of many
varieties were found in the streams and lakes. The river cat, growing
to large size, sometimes weighing as much as 175 pounds; the buffalo,
pike, bass, croppie and sun perch. Wild turkeys, wild geese and every
variety of water fowl abounded. And very soon the honey bee, that
precursor of civilization, filled the woods with its luscious sweets. This
area is now (1912) divided into about three thousand farms producing
annually millions of bushels of wheat, corn and oats, and every variety
of vegetable in profusion, known to the temperate zone.
There is a low stony ledge of bluffs extending along the north side
of the Missouri from St. Charles to the western boundary of the county
showing, in many places, the erosions of a flowing stream, before a
channel had been formed by the rushing waters in past aeons. These
ledges will furnish an inexhaustible supply of the finest building stone
for all time. Every part of the county is abundantly supplied with
fine blue and yellow limestone, admirably adapted to all building pur-
poses. A number of fine farm houses have been built of it throughout
the county and there are also some very fine stone churches.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 561
The early settlers utilized this fine limestone, manufacturing from
it the finest lime for home consumption, by breaking up the stone and
placing it in log heaps and burning. There are traces of many minerals
to be found but nowhere in sufficient quantities to be valuable. There
are also some traces of fine clays, such as kaolin, etc.
Coal has been found and was at one time pretty extensively mined
near the town of St. Charles, but the strata were too thin and its depth
too great to justify working the leads at the present rates of labor.
Quite a number of deep wells have been sunk in the county in search of
oil, but none have been successful. Robt. D. Silver, representative in
the general assembly, has gone down some three thousand feet without
result, except that he encountered a flowing stream that discharges
many hundred barrels of fine mineral water per hour.
The soil of the low lands is a dark loam, intermixed with humus
underlaid with sand, generally, and with an occasional streak of black
gumbo; all of which is wonderfully productive. The high lands are of
a lighter soil, with humus in smaller quantities. These soils are from
five to ten inches deep, underlaid by clay, with sometimes hardpan;
beneath this is the bed or * * county rock, ' ' found at varying depths.
Daniel Boone
A history of St. Charles county would be incomplete without a
sketch of Daniel Boone, the most wonderful character of his time. There
is some doubt as to the place of his birth, and from two men we have
the statement that he first saw the light in the state of Virginia, and that
while a lad, his father moved across the state line into North Carolina,
One of these men was William Logan, whose wife was a relative of
Mrs. Boone, and who came to Missouri in 1816 from Boonesborough,
Kentucky. He was a personal friend of Boone. He died in 1852 in his
seventy-fifth year. The other was the late Morgan Bryan, a nephew of
Mrs. Boone, who died about the same time that Mr. Logan did, and at
about the same age. They lived near Marthasville, in Warren county,
Missouri. In 1849, these men assisted in conferring upon the writer the
degrees of Free-masonry, in Douglas Lodge No. 54, A. F. & A. M.
According to the testimony of these two old men, Daniel Boone was
bom in the colony of Virginia, July 14, 1732, the same year in which
George Washington was born. While he was a lad, his father moved
across the Dan river into the province of North Carolina, where he
received some little education. While a schoolboy he met and learned
to love Rebecca Bryan, who afterwards became his wife. He finished
his literary course by thrashing the teacher. Rebecca Bryan's parents
were Irish. And Boone married her in Buncombe county. North
Carolina, about the year 1756 or 1757 ; so says Mr. John Jones, his
great-grandson, who is a friend and contemporary of the writer. There
were bom to Colonel Boone, nine children, viz: James, Israel, Su-
sanna, Jemima, Daniel M., Lavinia, Rebecca, Jesse and Nathan. James,
in his sixteenth year, was killed by the Indians. Israel was killed at the
Battle of Blue Lick, Kentucky, August, 1782, aged twenty-four years.
Susanna married William Hays and their descendants still live in the
county. She died in her fortieth year. Jemima married Flanders Cal-
laway, and lived near where Marthasville now stands. Her daughter,
Rebecca, n^arried Doctor Jones, who came from Kentucky in 1814, settling
near Marthasville. He was assassinated in his yard in 1842, supposedly
by a man called ** Billy Whiskers," who was tried on strong circum-
stantial evidence ; but he was so ably defended by Judge Edward Bates
that the jury acquitted him. Mrs. Callaway died in 1829.
Vol. I— 8C
562 HISTORY. OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
While the Boone family lived in the fort at Boonesborough, Ken-
tucky, she and two other young girls, Betty and Frances Callaway,
daughters of Col. Richard Callaway, were captured' by the Indians.
These venturesome girls had bravely crossed in a canoe, to the opposite
bank of the Kentucky river in search of wild flowers. The Indians were
swiftly pursued by Boone, Callaway, his son Flanders (whom she after-
wards married), and five other men. They were overtaken the next day
and dispersed or killed, and the girls were restored to their friends,
having suffered no ill effects at the hands of the savages. The Indians
generally treated humanely their female captives.
Daniel M. married a Miss Lewis of Missouri. He settled in Darst
Bottom in 1795, and moved to what is now Montgomery county in 1816.
He held many important offices under the government and during the
Indian wars was made colonel of the state« militia. He surveyed and
laid out the state road from St. Charles through Howard county, now
known as the Boon's Lick road. It was the great thoroughfare for the
mighty tide of immigration then setting in from the East. He also made
the surveys for the government, of St. Charles, Warren, Lincoln, and
Montgomery counties. He was a man of irreproachable character and
sterling integrity, resembling very much his father in personal appear-
ance and deportment. He died in 1839, in his seventy-second year.
Lavinia married Joseph Scholl and died in Kentucky. The youngest
daughter married Philip Goe and she also died in Kentucky. Jesse
married Cloe Van Bibber. He settled in Missouri in 1819. He had a
good education and was an able and influential man. He died in St.
Louis in 1821 while serving his state as an honored member of the first
legislature. Nathan Boone, the youngest son, came to the county in
1800. He married Olive Van Bibber, sister of Jesse Boone's wife. He
was a surveyor and did much government work. At the commencement
of the War of 1812, he enlisted a company of rangers, and was com-
missioned captain by President Monroe. He was patriotic and, like
his father, showed military skill, and rendered the country good service
in those piping times. In 1832, he was commissioned captain in the
United States army by General Jackson, then president; and during
President Polk's administration, he was promoted to major of dragoons.
In 1850, he was again promoted to lieutenant-colonel, though he was
seventy-two years of age. He received his commission from President
Fillmore. He died peacefully on October 16, 1856, in the seventy-sixth
year of his age. Like his other brothers, he served his country well.
Col. Daniel Boone came to St. Charles county in 1797 and settled
in Darst 's Bottom. He had lost his valuable lands in Kentucky, by
neglecting to have his deeds recorded and through the chicanery of
land sharks. He had, at the solicitation of his son, Daniel M., and
because of a flattering offer from Delassus, lieutenant-governor of the
Louisianas, undertaken to form a settlement in the territory. Daniel
had preceded him to the territory, and with others had sent Boone won-
derful accounts of its fertility and the great abundance of game — ^two
attractions which he could not resist, and he determined to again face the
dangers and hardships of subduing the wild Indian and opening the wil-
derness to the habitation of his countrymen. In June, 1800, the governor
of Louisiana appointed him commandant of Syndic — judge of Femme
Osage district, twenty-five miles west from St. Charles. He retained his
command with perfect satisfaction to all parties, rendering* righteous
judgments in all cases which came before him, until the county passed
into the hands of the United States in 1804. Colonel Boone received from
the Spanish governor, Delassus, a grant of one thousand arpents of land
in the Femme Osage district. Subsequently another grant of ten thou-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 563
Band arpenta was made him by the same govemment on a contract which
he filled so far as his part of it went; i. e., to introduce into the territoir
one hundred families. But owiog to his neglect in having the contract
signed by the governor-general at New Orleans, it proved void, and again
the old and too honest pioneer was robbed of a princely domain. His
beloved wife — his life-long helpmate and sharer of all his dangers, tribu-
lations and adventures in subduing the wilderness, died on the 18th of
March, 1813. They had shared their sorrows and joys, labors and dangers
together, for more than fifty years. He laid her to rest on a beautiful
knoll near Marthasville, overlooking the rushing waters of the Missouri
river, on the farm of his favorite son-in-law, Flanders Callaway, where
very soon he followed her.
. Daniel Boone was devoted to his wife and soon after her death
he marked off his own resting place by her side and had his coffin made.
The last two years of his eventful life he spent with his daughter, Mrs.
Flanders Callaway, and her husband, who lived on Tuque creek near the
Where Daniel Boone Died
place of Mrs. Boone's burial. Around them lived many of his kin and
people who had followed him from Kentucky. His health was cared
for in his lest days by his grandson-in-law, Doctor Jones, the second regu-
lar physician who settled in the county. Doctor Millington being the &at
American doctor. He died of acute indigestion on September 26, 1820,
in his eighty-eighth year. In 1835 Capt. John Wyatt erected two stone
slabs over the two graves. These had been prepared some time before
by a stone-cutter. He was directed to the graves by a great niece of
Boone, a daughter of Jonathan Bryan. Selecting the graves from among
many other unmarked ones was guesswork, and Kentucky may now
be honoring the remains of some other worthy couple. Dr. Sylvanus
Griswold, son of Harry Oriswold, of Marthasville, always thought so.
The funeral was preached by the Rev. James Craig, a son-in-law of Maj.
Nathan Boone. The constitutional convention was in session in St.
Louis and appropriate resolutions were presented by Ben Emmons and
adopted by the convention.
The citizens of Kentucky in 1845, in a convention held at Frankfort,
resolved that the proper place for the bodies of the old pioneers was
amid the scenes of his earliest and greatest achievements — the Bloody
Ground of Kentucky. The consent of his living relatives having been
564 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
obtained, in the summer of 1845, a deputation of citizens consisting of
John J. Crittenden, Wm. Boone and a Mr. Swaggart came to the state
on the steamer ** Daniel Boone,*' and conveyed the remains b'ack to
Kentucky, where they were re-interred at a beautiful place near
Frankfort.
The District op St. Charles
The district of St. Charles, as first laid out under the Spanish gov-
ernment, embraced an immense territory. The lower part of it directly
between the two great rivers may aptly be termed the ** Mesopotamia"
of the New World. In 1803 the United States took possession of this
territory and organized a temporary government. Qen. \Vm. Henry
Harrison was at that time governor of the territory of Indiana, and
under his jurisdiction came Upper Louisiana. He at once appointed
Francis Saucier, Arend Rutgers, Daniel Morgan Boone, Francis Du-
quette and Robert Spencer, Esqs., as the judges of a court of common
pleas, in and for the district of St. Charles, any three of whom to con-
stitute a quorum to hold court. The first term of this court was held
on Main street where the old courthouse stood and where the United
States postoffice now stands.
The first term of this court, and the first of like juridiction held west
of the Missouri river, was convened in January, 1805. Francis Saucier
was chief justice; Daniel Morgan Boone, Francis Duquette and Robert
Spencer were associate justices; IMaj. Rufus Easton was attorney-gen-
eral; Mackey Wherry acted as sheriff; Edward Hempstead as clerk,
and Anftoine Renal as coroner. It was held in the house of Antoine
Renal.
The names of the first grand jury ever convened also deserve to be
perpetuated. They were as follows : Arend Rutgers, David Darst, John
Weldon, Jonathan Bryan, John McMicke, Henry Orowe, Elisha Good-
rich, James Flaugherty, Jrt, Peter Journey, Antoine Jarris, St. Paul
Lecroix, Joseph Piche, Pierre Troge and James Green — all good men,
and true. Arend Rutgers was foreman.
The first assessment in the St. Charles district was made by the
sheriff, Mackey Wherry. His returns show that the population of the
district at that time was 705. There were 275 heads of families, and
ninety-five taxable single men. The amount of taxes collected was
$501.80.
This form of government continued in force till 1812, when the
Missouri territory was regularly organized by an act of congress. Prior
to this time there had been no representative government by the people.
All the officers had been appointed by the Indiana governor, and were
under hia supervision.
In 1812, congress passed an act organizing the district of Missouri
into a territory, partially curtailing its boundaries, and empowering
the people to elect members to a territorial legislature to enact laws
for their own government. A governor for the territory was appointed
by President Monroe. The legislature convened on the 12th day of
December, 1812, in the town of St. Louis, and the following organized
counties sent delegates: St. Louis, St. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, New
Madrid and St. Charles. St. Charles county was represented by John
Pitman and Robert Spencer.
The first act of the legislature after its organization was to recom-
mend to the president eighteen men, nine of whom were to be selected
by him and confirmed by the senate, to act as a council for the territory.
The men selected from St. Charles were Ben Emmons, Sr., and James
Flaugherty. Howard county was set off from St. Charles. It was or-
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 565
ganized in 1614. In January, 1816, the general assembly passed an
apportioning act, giving St. Charles three representatives and St. Louis
city and county two. In 1818, the present limits of St. Charles, Mont-
gomery and Lincoln counties were established and the representation
of the county reduced to two.
The First Leoislators
The county of St. Charles, soon after its organization, for municipal
convenience, was divided into the following six townships: Portage, St.
Charles, Dardenne, Femme Osage, Callaway and Cuivre.
Prom the earliest times in the history of the state, St. Charles county,
as the mother county of north Missouri, has wielded a marked and envi-
able influence in public affairs and private life, through the high char-
acter and ability of her representative citizens. In the first territorial
House Where Legislature Met
assembly the county was represented by two men in the council and two
in the house. These were men of intelligence and sterling integrity, and
would have been acknowledged leaders in any assembly of men, Benja-
min Emmons and James Flaugherty in the council ; and John Pitman
and Robert Spencer in the house.
Benjamin Emmons, the senior member of the council, was a New
Englander by birth and education, and came to St. Charles with bis
family about 1795, while it was under Spanish control. He was well
edncated and a man of broad views and wide and varied information.
He was gifted with many of the stronger and better qualities which fit a
man for a popular leader. He was a man of irreproachable integrity,
great public spirit, and withal of a genial temperament and pleasing man-
ners. He was looked upon as one of the most able and infiuential men
of the council. He was a man of original ideas and of sound views on
the science of government. He was a clear, forcible, pleasing speaker.
His decision of character and persuasive manners made him a successful
566 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
legislator. In the War of 1812, he served as an adjutant, with honors
to himself and to his country. He represented this county in the first
state convention which met in St. Louis. He served again in both
branches of the state legislature with distinguished ability. He was the
father of Col. Benjamin Emmons, an able circuit clerk of the county,
and of Edward Emmons, a successful practicing lawyer, of St. Louis.
James Flaugherty was a native of Virginia and of Irish descent. He
was a man of ability and a born orator, and when he spoke he fairly elec-
trified his audience. He was a man of great modesty and of a retiring
disposition, entirely unconscious of his genius, and consequently he never
became a political leader. He had no ambition for political preferment
and sought to avoid it whenever he could do so. His prominence in that
early day was solely a tribute to his ability and his purity of character.
The magic of his eloquence had been handed down by tradition from gen-
eration to generation. Had he been ambitious, he would have taken rank
with the most influential men of that or perhaps any other time.
John Pitman, the first man to represent the county, was not a public
speaker, nor was he a politician. He was a sturdy, clear-headed, thor-
ough-going farmer, whose judgment was a safe guide on all legislative
subjects. He was patient and industrious in his duties as a law-maker.
He thoroughly digested every measure presented to the house, and his
judgment was relied upon by his colleagues. His vote recorded for a bill
always had a strong influence upon the votes of others. In those days
politics exerted but small influence upon legislation. In 1812, he was
commissioned colonel of the Fifteenth state militia.
Robert Spencer completed the quartette of St. Charles county mem-
bers to this honored body of law-makers for the new territory. We doubt
if any subsequent legislative body of the state has contained, in proportion
to numbers, any more fertile brains than was to be found in that small
assembly. Mr. Spencer was a lawyer by profession and one of the
pioneers of the province. He was the first judge of the common pleas
court for the district, having received his appointment from Thomas
Jefferson in 1804. He was a man of native ability and of some wealth.
He built the first brick house in the county below the town of St. Charles.
He was chairman of the committee on jurisprudence and originated many
of the important laws enacted at that session. He was a man of great
hospitality, genial and companionable, of fine mind but mentally lazy.
He was not a hard student, but had a retentive mind, and what he accom-
plished was more by natural intellect than .by any application to study
on his part. However, as a legislator, he was earnestly solicitous for the
enactment of wise and just laws, and was an active and prominent mem*
ber of the body.
Such were the four men who, without any training in law-making,
left their und3dng impress for good upon the legal code of the new minia-
ture state. They may be termed the "Irresistible Four," from the fact
that their infiuence for good in shaping legislation was irresistible, and
to a great extent, has shaped the destinies of the state.
Letter From Onward Bates
In soliciting historical facts from the descendants of the pioneers of
the county, the author wrote to Onward Bates, son of two of his dearest
friends. Judge and Mrs. Barton Bates. Mr. Bates, who is an eminent
civil engineer of Chicago, sent this reply :
"Dr. J. C. Edwards, OTallon, Missouri. — ^My dear Dr. Edwards:
When I read your letter of May 30th, I felt so sjonpathetic an interest
HISTOBT OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 567
in your task of writing a history of St Charles county, and withal
such a desire to respond to any call for service from an old and valued
friend, that I consented to do what I could to aid you. Since then I
have been absent from home much of the time and have been unable to
give consideration to the subject. Now that I take it up in earnest,
I find myself so limited by the absence of reliable data, which should be
the foundation of all history, that it is very difficult to keep my promise.
Tou ask for my. family record as it relates to this history, and as I am
the oldest of my generation, I am the proper person to supply this in-
formation; and yet my records are so incomplete that I must depend
mainly upon my memory of the conditions as they existed when I was a
boy, and upon what I am able to remember of the incidents related to
me by older people, most of whom have gone to their reward in the next
world. Early impressions are the strongest, and these are empha-
sized by the stirring events which occurred during my boyhood.
''I can distinctly remember Dardenne Prairie and its people, dating
back for several years previous to the distressful Civil war. The picture
of this prairie land which lingers with me, shows one of the most desir-
able places for living that I have seen in any country. Family life was
patriarchal. Residences were scattered and located according to the de-
sire of the owners. Sufficient land was under cultivation to provide
subsistence for the people who were privileged to live upon it, and the
remainder, which consisted of undulating prairie and timber lands, was
unenclosed as if it were intended that homesteads should be separated by
natural parks. Nature was lavish in its provisions for man and beast,
grass was plentiful for the latter, and an abundant variety of wild fruits
and nuts, with an apparentiy unlimited supply of four-footed and feath-
ered game, would maintain life and provide clothing for men, if they
chose to live as did their predecessors, the Indians. Flowers blossomed
on the prairie stretches and in the woodlands in many varieties, which
seem to have disappeared as the country became fully settled. There was
no rugged scenery, but Dardenne Prairie was a lovely and restful country
designed for the use and enjoyment of its inhabitants, and an ideal loca-
tion for homes. And such homesteads, buildings in primitive and simple
style, occupied by large families with quarters never too small nor too
crowded to interfere with an unbounded hospitality. Such friendships
as existed between families, and such recognition of neighborly obliga-
tions do not exist in our more 'advanced' condition. Slavery is inde-
fensible, and was properly abolished, but there was a friendship and a
recognition of human oUigatiojis between the whites and the blacks
that never ought to be forgotten. Slavery on Dardenne Prairie was a
name rather than a condition, and the visitor to one of these homesteads
was sure of a genial welcome from white and black, as the negroes adopted
the names and held all things in common with their masters, including
their virtues and their manners. The conditions in those days for enjoy-
able living cannot be duplicated under those which maintain at the
present day.
''The Civil war came on with its bitterness and all of those good
people were ranged, some on one side and some on the other. Some of
them moved away, and among them all lines of separation were strictly
drawn. The war exhausted the country, and when its bloody term was
ended the old conditions were not restored. There were new methods of
living, and more or less new people in every locality, and a new era was
established.
"We may be grateful that the enmity of those war days was buried
with those who so bravely took part in that great struggle, and that those
who were willing to meet at one time in mortal combat, are now recon-
568 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
ciled in a friendship made strong by remembrance of the trials which led
to it. The war and all that preceded it is but a memory, and we live
under the new conditions which are, doubtless, better than the old ones.
We must not, however, forget that the people of the old times are the par-
ents of those who now occupy their places, and the historian miust deal
with the ancestry of people and of conditions. We may enjoy the per-
sonal comforts of this 'age of progress,' due to the increased conven-
iences at our command; but it is to be questioned whether people are
happier or worthier than when you and I were young, Doctor. (This
remark is made with due respect to the fact that you are a contemporary
to my parents.) You did not ask me for an eulogy of our county, but
being a Missourian, born on Dardenne Prairie, in St. Charles county,
the one place in all the world I would choose for such an event, I cannot
be expected to refrain from oflfering my tribute, unworthy as it may be,
to such a favored portion of the earth's surface.
**The history of Missouri, and, indeed, the history of the great West
cannot be written without taking into account St. Charles county. This
county was a starting point, .being one of the first localities settled in the
territory of Louisiana. Its historical importance is perhaps due to the
character of its settlers more than to any other cause. The county should
be noted, not only for the people who occupied it, but as well for the
people and the influence it gave to other parts of the West. Daniel
Boone explored and lived for a time in St. Charles county. The road
skirting my father's place was called the Boon's Lick road, or in the
vernacular of ante-bellum days, the ' Big Road. ' After him came a host
of good people, many, perhaps most of them, from Virginia, bringing
their families, their slaves, their household goods and their live stock,
making a new home without expectation of returning to the places from
whence they came.
**A country is blessed by the goodness of the people who inhabit it,
and no better people ever emigrated than those who settled in this fair
county. I know many of the old families personally, and if I name some
of them it is because of this personal knowledge, and not that they were
any different from those I did not know, and I name them in the order
of acquaintance and without respect to particular merits. Such people
as Coalter, Woodson, Hatcher, Randolph, Watson, Wilson, McCluer,
Muschaney,' Howell, Pitman, Gill, Nay lor, Edwards, Bates, and so on
throughout the list of Dardenne Prairie settlers were fit to build a com-
munity characterized by honor and righteousness. It is amongst such
people that a minister may preach in the same church for forty-odd
years, making his preaching effective by his blameless life, shepherding
his flock, holding the love and veneration of each member, and then to be
followed in his office by a worthy son. And in what other community
can be found one who has been physician and friend and counsellor in
the same families for more than fifty years f I may name the minister
whom I have described, since we have only his beloved memory, the
Reverend Thomas Watson, but out of consideration for you. Doctor, I
will not name the physician.
'^I am related to some of the families whose names I have mentioned,
and such information as I am able to collate is at your service to be used
in any way you think best in preparing your history of the county. I
shall not be able to suppress a proper pride of ancestry and of family
connections, but will try to tell the truth according to the best of my
undeis^tanding. I will also try to be as brief as possible, and will ask you
to revise and condense my notes. In biographical notes it will be im-
possible to separate St. Charles county from the state at lai^e, or even
from a greater territory, for our characters moved from their home
it
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 569
states into the Mississippi Valley and, while their families are represented
in the county, their sphere of activity and influence was not confined to
the county limits.
Beginning with the family whose surname I bear —
It has been said that the family name of Bates is one which the
state of Missouri delights to honor and as that statement refers particu-
larly to members of the family not numbered among the living, it may
with propriety be quoted by their descendants.
** Thomas Fleming Bates, son of Fleming Bates and Sarah Jordan,
was bom in York county, Virginia, November 1, 1741. He was a man
of peace, bom and bred in the doctrines of the Quaker sect and so im-
bued with these doctrines that they were illustrated in his whole life
and transmitted to his posterity. But this did not deter him from fight-
ing for his country in the War of the Revolution. The old flintlock
musket, which he carried throughout the war, and which is said to have
been used by his son, Edward, in the year 1813, in the second war with
England, is still possessed by his oldest great-grandchild. In the stock
of this gun there is a silver plate placed there by Edward Bates, which
bears the inscription, 'Thomas F. Bates, Whig of the Revolution, fought
for liberty and independence with this gun. His descendants keep it
to defend what he helped to win. ' On August 8, 1771, he was married to
Caroline Matilda Woodson, who was bom in Henrico county, Virginia,
October 17, 1751, and who was the daughter of Charles Woodson and
Agnes Parsons. There were twelve children born to this pair, seven sons
and five daughters. The first three children were born in Henrico
county and the remaining nine at Belmont, the family seat in Qoochland
county. From the family letters which have been preserved it is appar-
ent that the seven sons were all exceptionally able and enterprising, tak-
ing active parts in the public affairs of the Old Dominion State and in
the settlement of the Mississippi Valley. They attracted the attenion
of President Jefferson, who commissioned several of them to perform im-
portant duties in the country west of the Ohio. The performance of
these duties was so satisfactory that these young men won the confidence
of the president, who increased their responsibilities and their honors.
It was remarkable that great trusts were given to men who were so
youthful, and it is related of Frederick that during his journey from
Virginia to the Northwest, at the age of twenty-one, he was so youthful
in appearance that a man with whom he wished to lodge mistook him for
a runaway from home. Of these seven sons, three were identified with
the history of their native Virginia, and of the four who moved West,
some mention is due them in this account.
**Tarlton, second son of Thomas Fleming Bates, was bom at Belmont,
May 22, 1775, and was killed in a duel near Pittsburg, January 7, 1806.
At the time of his death he was prothonotary of the county of Alleghany.
The following account of the duel and the circumstances leading up to it
is copied from a Pittsburgh newspaper published nearly a hundred
years later than the incident: 'Bates' antagonist was a young man
named Thomas Stewart, about whom little information can be found,
except that he was a partner in a small store in Pittsburgh for the sale
of dry goods and groceries. The origin of the trouble leading to this
event may be traced to the violent newspaper controversies of that day.
The ** Democratic," or, as it was generally called, the **Eepublican"
party, at that time had for several years carried all before it in this state.
The Federalist party, formerly so strong under the leadership of Wash-
ington and Hamilton, who were both dead at the time, was in a state of
hopeless collapse. History repeats itself always, and this great success of
the party was followed by dissensions within itself. The spoils of ofSce
570 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
were not sufficient to satisfy all, and a faction whose organ was a paper
called the Commonwealth was formed in this vicinity. The columns of this
sheet teemed with abuse of the regular ** Jeffersonians," who were styled
''Quids." The origin of this designation is wrapped in obscurity, but
it was probably equivalent to the modem "mugwump.*' Of course, they
were ako styled ' ' apostates, " ' * traitors, ' ' etc. The most conspicuous mem-
bers of the regular Jefferson party in the county at this time, 1804-05,
seem to have been Henry Baldwin, Tarlton Bates and Walter Forward,
the latter having been editor of the Tree of Liberty, the regular Demo*
cratic organ.
'' 'Henry Baldwin attained later eminence as judge of the supreme
court of the United States, and Walter Forward also became a great
lawyer in after years, and was minister to Denmark at one time. The
opposition paper, under the conduct of a young man named Pentland^
was unsparing in its attacks on these men, and finally Bates was pro-
voked into making a personal assault on the editor, who promptly sought
safety in flight. Bates, a day or two afterward, inserted a card in the
Tree of Liberty, of which he was associate editor, giving his version
of the occurrence, and saying that he had been traduced, and also his
father and grandfather, so often in the pages of the ComjnomveaUh
that he had been provoked into correcting "the licentiousness of the press
with the liberty of the cudgel. ' ' He also stated in his card that the editor
had challenged him, but that he would pay no attention 16 it, as he con-
sidered the editor as merely an apprentice, and of no social standing.
This was not, unfortunately, the end of the matter, for it would appear
that the clique of personal and political enemies who had inspired
these attacks on Bates and his associates succeeded in putting forward
the obscure individual, Stewart, as another challenger, in place of the
editor. This challenge was accepted, and on the afternoon of July 8,
1806, the parties went out to about where Craft avenue is now located
in Oakland. They were placed at a distance of twelve paces apart, and
fought with pistols. The first fire was ineffective, but at the second
fire Bates fell, shot through the body, and died within an hour. '
"His friend, Walter Forward, wrote a few days after: 'Thus per-
ished one of the best of men, who by a long series of systematic persecu-
tion was drawn to this dreadful fate. The public has lost an invaluable
servant, society one of its brightest ornaments, the poor their best
friend.'
' ' Tarlton was never married. Letters which passed between him and
different members of the family indicate that he possessed a brilliant
mind, and had begun a career of great promise, which was cut short by
his untimely death.
"In Fergus' History of Early Illinois, Frederick Bates is mentioned
as follows: 'Frederick Bates, third of seven sons of Thomas Fleming
Bates, merchant, was bom at Belmont, Qoochland county, Virginia,
June 23, 1777; after receiving a rudimentary education, was, when
about seventeen, apprenticed to a court clerk, thereby supporting him*
self, by doing the practical duties of the place, and studying law, intend-
ing, as was then the common practice in Virginia, to go through the
clerk's office to the bar. About 1795, he obtained employment in the
quartermaster's department of the Army of the Northwest on the
frontier, intending to return as soon as he was able to the study and
practice of his profession. He was stationed at Detroit but was often on
business at Mackinac and other posts. In a few years he acquired some
capital as a merchant but. lost the greater portion of it by the fire of
1805, which was a lucky turn, as it forced him from a business that was
unsuited to his taste and talent. Having by this time acquired a large
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 571
experience of frontier character and business, he was about to enter the
profession when in 1805 he was appointed senior associate judge of the
territorial district and land commissioner by President Jefferson, who
with his secretary of state, James Madison, were friends of his family.
In 1807 he was transferred to St. Louis, Upper Louisiana, as secretary
of the territory and United States recorder of land titles; these oflSces
he held many years, as secretary till the admission of Missouri in 1820,
and the recordership till 1824, when he was elected the second governor
of Missouri, and died in ofQce August 4, 1825. Edward Bates, Lincoln's
attorney-general, was his youngest brother. '
''Frederick Bates was the first member of his family to settle Upper
Louisiana, at that time a village whose inhabitants were principally of
French descent. It is to be remarked that he was in the government
service at the age of eighteen, and as indicating the principles which
guided his life and may be of value to young men who read this, the
following extracts are taken from a letter written him by his father:
Belmont, Vibginu, 27th December, 1793. — My Dear Frederick: Having written
frequently to you in the early part of your residence at Detroit, and not having an
acknowledgment of the reception of one of my letters, made me despair of a con-
veyance to you, but having lately received your very acceptable favor of the 7th
October, and finding that Tarlton is still at Pittsburgh, this is intended for the next
post. Though I lament your separation to such a distance it is a pleasing consolation
to hear that you enjoy eood health, and possess the esteem and confidence of the
worthy Captain Ernest, whose polite and friendly attention to you demands my warm-
est acknowledgments, but I cannot doubt of your steady attachment to business, or
your inflexible adherence to principles of honor, which will insure the esteem of the
good and virtuous, and afford lasting comfort to the man conscious of the rectitude
of his conduct.
I must once more intreat you, my Dear Son, to omit no opportunity of writing
to us, that being all we can expect at present; indeed I believe a partial visit and
to lose you again would add poignancy to my present feelings. All here have you
in tender remembrance, and join me in best wishes for you — ^be assured of the hearty
prayers and warm benediction of your ever affectionate father, Thomas F. Bates.
*' Frederick Bates married Nancy Opie Ball, and had children as
follows : Emily Caroline, born January 5, 1820, who married Mr. Robert
Alfred Walton, by whom she had eight children, and whose family home
was the city of St. Charles. Lucius Lee, bom March, 1821, who married
Dulcinea Conway, daughter of Samuel Conway, of St. Louis county.
His widow and his children, Conway Bates and Lucia Lee Bates, are liv-
ing in St. Louis. Woodville, born July 29, 1823, died, unmarried, Febru-
ary 12, 1840. Frederick, bom February 1, 1826, died October 18, 1862.
James Woodson, sixth son of Thomas Fleming Bates, was bom at Bel-
mont, August 25, 1787, died December 26, 1846. He left no descendants.
He followed his brother Frederick to Upper Louisiana, and Batesville,
Arkansas, is said to be named for him. The writer has no further record
of his life. Edward Bates of Missouri, the seventh son and youngest
of the twelve children of Thomas Fleming Bates, was born at Belmont,
September 4, 1793. He died in St. Louis, March 25, 1869, in the
seventy-sixth year of his age.
*' Edward attained more prominence as a public man than others of
the name and the full account of his life which follows is from
the pen of another of Missouri's distinguished men, the Hon. Wm. F.
Switzler: 'Edward Bates, Lincoln's attorney-general, one of Missouri's
greatest citizens; his career as lawyer, farmer, statesman — Among the
many memories of a long and active editorial, political and official life
in Missouri, during which he personally knew nearly every one of its
public men, living and dead, of two generations, and performed services
with them in parliamentary bodies, none are more pleasant to the writer
of this sketch than those connected with the late Edward Bates. An«
572 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
tenor to the Civil war they were old Whigs together, entertaining many
of the same convictions of public questions and worshipping at the same
shrine of public duty.
** * Measured by any of the approved standards of civilized life, Mr.
Bates was no common man. First of all, and better than all, he was a
Christian gentleman, and, therefore, a loyal friend ; sweet-tempered, com-
plaisant, obliging, polished in manner, and one of the most entertaining
conversationalists of his day. In short he belonged to that illustrious
line of gentlemen, who, alas ! are not as numerous as they ought to be,
who dignified the bar, the legislative hall, and the executive chamber;
who made the street brighter, home happier, and mankind better by
their presence. With all, he was a natural orator, master of the most
elegant diction and beautiful imagery, and gifted with all the graces of
elocution. His voice was as musical as a lute, and words fell from his
lips without effort. He did not write and memorize his speeches, but
spoke as moved by the inspiration of the occasion, trusting to the occasion
for arguments and illustrations and the most befitting words.
** * Edward Bates was bom at Belmont, Goochland county, Virginia,
September 4, 1793, and died at his home in St. Louis, March 25, 1869,
in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His father, Thomas F. Bates, was
of old English stock and a Quaker ; but, on the occurrence of the Revolu-
tionary war, his love of country and hatred of tyranny caused him to
break faith with that sect and he enlisted as a soldier, and continued
as such until the patriot armies of the colonies conquered a peace. Mr.
Bates was the seventh son of a family of twelve children, and his father
died while he was very young. Books were scarce, and schools in that
part of Virginia were almost unknown. Benjamin Bates, a kinsman,
lived at Hanover Court House, Virginia, and was a good scholar. To
some extent, the education of Edward, who early evidenced a fondness
for study, was committed to him. He taught him the elementary
branches, instructed him in mathematics, some philosophy and a little
history. Finally he entered Charlotte Hall, a Maryland Academy,
where he acquired a good knowledge of the higher branches of English
and the classics. He desired to enter the -American navy, and, through
the influence of a friend, was appointed a midshipman, but his mother
objecting to his becoming a sailor, he declined it. He did, however, enter
the militia service at Norfolk, and served from February to October,
1813. His brother, Frederick Bates, of St. Louis, who had been ap-
pointed secretary of the territory of Missouri, wrote him of the bright
prospects of the great country west of the Mississippi, and he resolved
to **.go West and grow up with the country." Frederick Bates was the
second governor of the state of Missouri, elected for four years in August,
1824, and died in office August 4, 1825. In the summer of 1814, Edward
came to St. Louis, in the twentieth year of his age. He resolved to study
law, and, with this view, entered the office of Rufus Easton, then an
eminent lawyer, and from 1814 to 1816 a delegate to congress. He died
in St. Charles July 5, 1834. In 1816 Mr. Bates was admitted to the
bar and rapidly rose to distinction as an attorney and speaker ; so rapidly
indeed, that in 1818 Governor William Clark (of the celebrated Lewis
and Clark expedition), then governor of Missouri territory, appointed
him attorney-general of the territory. In May, 1820, the fifteen counties
then organized in Missouri elected forty-one delegates to a convention
to form a constitution for the prospective state. Of this number St.
Louis elected ten, namely, David Barton, Edward Bates, Alexander Mc-
Nair, William Rector, John C. Sullivan, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Bernard
Pratte and Thomas F. Riddick. The convention met in St. Louis, June
12, 1820, and elected David Barton president, and framed a constitution
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 573
for the state, which remained its organic law for forty-five years, till
it was supplanted by the ** Drake Constitution" of 1865. Mr. Bates took
an active interest in the proceedings of this body and rendered valuable
service to the state.
*' *When the state was admitted into the Union in 1821, Mr. Bates
was appointed attorney-general by Governor McNair, but held the office
only a short time, and was succeeded by Rufus Easton. He resumed the
practice of his profession and prosecuted it with distinguished ability and
success. In 1822 he agreed to serve the people of the county in the
lower branch of the legislature and was elected. In 1824 he was ap-
pointed by President Monroe United States attorney for the district of
Missouri and discharged the duties of that position with acknowledged
fidelity and ability till 1827, when he resigned and was elected a repre-
sentative to congress, serving from 1827 to 1829. His opponent was
Hon. John Scott, of Ste. Genevieve, who had served the previous
term. Both were Whigs. On May 29, 1823, Mr. Bates was united in
marriage to Miss Julia D. Coalter, a daughter of David Coalter, who
moved to Missouri in 1818 from South Carolina, where Miss Coalter was
born. Gen. John D. Coalter, deceased, was an able lawyer and
well known "Whig politician of St. Charles, was a brother of Mrs. Bates.
Mrs. Hamilton R. Gamble, of St. Louis, and Mrs. William C. Preston,
of South Carolina, were her sisters. Mrs. Bates died in St. Louis about
twenty years ago. Very few of her children, one of whom was Barton
Bates, once a judge of the supreme court, survive her. John C. Bates
is now a distinguished officer in the United States army. In 1828 Mr.
Bates was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by Spencer Pet-
tis (in honor of whom Pettis county was afterwards named) by a large
majority. Political parties were not organized in Missouri until 1828,
at which time, under the influence of Andrew Jackson, who was elected
president, the Democrats and Whigs of Missouri met each other at the
polls for the first time as forces drilled for such an encounter. Bates
was an old-time Henry Clay Whig ; Pettis, a Jackson Democrat.
** *In 1834 Mr. Bates was elected as a Whig to the Missouri house of
representatives, and was regarded as the ablest and most eloquent mem-
ber of that body. It was at this session that he practiced a laughable
but harmless joke on a Democratic member from a southwest county,
whose name, like Mr. Bates', commenced with the letter **B. " The mem-
ber was a very clever but uneducated man, who really didn't know
half the time how to vote. Some of his friends advised him that as
Bates' name on a roll-call was called first to watch how he voted and
vote the other way, **agin Bates," and he would vote all right. This
came to Bates' ears, and, not being averse to a little harmless mischief,
he resolved at the next call of the roll on a political question to vote
against his opinion and for the Democratic side and afterwards ask leave
to change his vote. And he carried out the joke, and the old fellow
from the southwest voted *'agin Bates," and against his party, for his
"idee was so he voted agin Bates it was sartin to be Dimicratical. "
** *His health becoming impaired and his law practice neglected by
active participation in political and official life, he concluded to move to
St. Charles county, where he owned a farm on the Dardenne Prairie,
and regularly vibrate between his farm and law office. He did so, but
the experiment ran its course in a few years, and in 1842 he removed
Tl)ack to St. Louis. The writer of this once asked him at his home in St.
Louis what success he had as a farmer, to which he replied that **it took
all the money Lawyer Bates could make to support Parmer Bates." In
1847 the great internal improvement congress met in Chicago, and Mr.
Bates was one of the delegates from Missouri. At that time he was
574 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
comparatively unknown outside of the state, but at that convention in a
single speech he leaped at one bound into national prominence and fame.
He was chosen president of the convention and delivered the opening
address, in which he electrified the members by the great ability and elo-
quence he displayed in combating the doctrine that the constitutional
power of congress to make appropriations for internal improvements
was limited to the tide waters of the ocean. No single speech delivered
during the last generation produced a more beneficial or lasting effect
upon our national internal improvement policy. In the West especially
it was electrical ; and it was not long thereafter until the great states in
the Mississippi Valley were admitted to be entitled to a share of federal
patronage in the construction of their interstate railroads and improve-
ment of their rivers and harbors. Upon the accession of Mr. Fillmore to
the presidency in 1850, Mr. Bates was nominated by him and immedi-
ately confirmed by the senate as secretary of war, which he declined. In
1853 Mr. Bates was elected by the people of St. Louis judge of the St.
Louis land court, the important duties of which he discharged with
marked ability and to universal public approval. In 1854 he co-operated
with the Free Labor, or Emancipation, party in St. Louis in opposing the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise andT the admission of Kansas into the
Union under the Lecompton, or pro-slavery, constitution. At the Republi-
can national convention at Chicago in 1860, his name was favorably
mentioned by conservative RepubUcans for the presidency, and on the
first ballot he received forty-eight out of the 465 votes cast. But Mr.
Lincoln being regarded as the strongest compromise candidate between
the friends of Mr. Seward and the conservative element, his name was
withdrawn, and Mr. Lincoln was nominated. After his election and in-
auguration he tendered Mr. Seward the place of secretary of state, and
to Mr. Bates his choice of the remaining positions in his cabinet. He
accepted the oflSce of attorney-general, the duties of which he, of course,
discharged with distinguished ability. Near the close of the year 1864,
his health failed under the great strain of ofScial duties and responsi-
bilities, and believing the interests of the country demanded the services
of a younger and more robust official, he resigned and returned to his
home in St. Louis. His official life ended here. Although rid of the
cares and labors of public station, his health continued to wane, and
near the close of 1868 it assumed a dangerous form, and he died as
above stated. An immense concourse attended his funeral, Reverend
Doctor Niccolls pronounced an appropriate and eloquent funeral dis-
course, and the remains of the illustrious citizen were laid to rest in Belle-
fontaine Cemetery. At a meeting of the St. Louis bar held a few days
thereafter, Hon. John F. Darby presided and a feeling address
recalled many of the civic and Christian virtues and most important
services of the deceased. Speeches were also delivered by other members
of the bar — Shepley, Hufiton, Broadhead, and others, after which Mr.
Broadhead offered resolutions, one of which was as follows :
'^ 'He has filled high places of trust, both in the state and nation, and
following the example of Sir Mathew Hale, he discharged those trusts
uprightly, deliberately and resolutely; so that no man could say that
he did not confer more honor on the office than the office did upon him ;
and he retired all the poorer for his public services, except in that esteem
which follows the faithful discharge of duty.
'^ 'He was a firm believer in the Christian religion, and a ruling elder
in the Presbyterian church at the time of his death.' *'
''Reference to the memorable speech of Edward Bates at the Chicago
River and Harbor Convention on July 7, 1847, is made by Horace
Greeley, reporter for the New York Tribune, as follows: 'Previous to
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 575
4
putting the question, however, the president of the convention, Hon.
Edward Bates, of Missouri, returned thinks for the honor done him in a
speech which took the convention completely by surprise — so able, so
forcible, and replete with the soul of eloquence. I will not attempt to
give an account of this wonderful speech, of which I regret to know
that no full notes were taken. No account that can now be given will
do it justice. In the course of it, Mr. B. remarked that when he emi-
grated in 1814 to the French village of huts called St. Louis, which has
now 50,000 inhabitants, he was obliged to hire a guard against hostile
savages to accompany him across the unbroken wilderness which is
now the state of Illinois, with a civilized population of 600,000 freemen.
His speech was greeted at its close by the whole convention rising and
cheering long and fervently. '
**A like reference was made by Thurlow Weed, reporter for the
Albany Evening Journal: 'Wednesday morning. — Convention met
pursuant to adjournment. Provisions were made for the publication
of the proceedings and their distribution among the people. Hon.
Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, then offered the usual resolution of thanks
to the chairmen. Thereupon, the chairman, Mr. Bates, of St. Louis,
arose and in one of his most appropriate speeches, returned his thanks
to the convention. The speech, if ever published as delivered, will be
pronounced one of the richest specimens of American eloquence. He
was interrupted continually by cheer upon cheer; and at its close, the air
rung with shout after shout, from the thousands in attendance. The
convention adjourned at half-past eleven today, with more harmony, if
possible, than it commenced. Never have we w^itnessed such a harmo-
nious meeting, from beginning to end. Its proceedings have been wor-
thy any people and any cause. And the interest of the people was con-
tinued'throughout all the sittings. Up to the last hour the crowd was a
dense one, and every delegate stayed to the end. This convention must
rank as one of the most respectable and we hope it will prove one of the
most useful ever assembled on the continent. This is a strong expression,
we know, but we ask those who may be inclined to doubt it to hear before
they judge. *
*'The family life of Edward Bates and his wife, Julia Davenport
Coalter, was ideal. Both lived to an advanced age and they were the
parents of seventeen children. The oldest child of their first-born hesi-
tates to speak in his own words of the virtues of his ancestry, and prefers
to enter here the tribute of a family friend, the Hon. John F. Darby, to
the widow of Edward Bates, upon the occasion of her funeral services : —
Mrs. Julia Bates, Widow op the Late Edward Bates, Esq.
[For the Bepuhlican.l
Yesterday, the widow of Edward Bates, deceased, Mrs. Julia Bates, was buried
in Bellefontaine CemetAry, an account of which has already been given in your
widely circulated joumsJ. One who has so long and so prominently been connected
with the past history of St. Louis, as has been the widow of Edward Bates, is entitled
to a passing notice, and I propose to give you a short and very brief sketch in rela-
tion to her. The writer hereof has known Mrs. Bates in the city of St. Louis for more
than fifty years. As a friend of her husband and as a devoted personal friend of
the family, he has been a visitor of that amiable, accomplished and refined domicile
for more than half a century, and has shared in the hospitality and partaken of the
kindness of the household at the board of that devotefl and pleasant establishment
full many a time and oft. Edward Bates was married to Julia Coalter in the year
1823, the same year that his partner, Joshua Barton, was killed in a duel by Rector.
I have known Mrs. Bates ever since. Mrs. Bates bore her husband seventeen children,
surviving her husband more than eleven years. She was, when young, a most beauti-
ful woman. Modest, gentle and retiring, she was calculated to impart happiness
around the domestic circle. When she went with her distinguished and talented hus-
band to Washington City, she did it as a matter of duty, and not of pleasure, where
576 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
she lived four years, while her husband was attorney general of the United States,
without ostentation or display of fashion. Mrs. Bates was one of the noblest and best
of women. The father of Mrs. Bates, David Coalter, came to the territory of Mis-
souri in the year 1817 from South Carolina while Mrs. Bates was a child. He was a
man of distinction and wealth, and purchased a large tract of land in the Dardenne
Prairie, St. Louis county, in the Missouri territory, for which he paid at that time
$20,000, money enough in that day to have purchased more property than the Lucas
.and Lindell estates, which have since been counted by millions, were worth.
''Reasoning at every step he takes,
Man yet mistakes his way."
Mr. Coalter was a man of distinction, from what I can learn of his family; he
lived for awhile in the neighborhood of Florissant township in the vicinity of that
eccentric individual, Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, who was at one time judge of the
St. Louis circuit court, and who utilized a hollow sycamore tree in the country by cut-
ting off the top of it, and making a law office of it, in which his books were stored
around the shelves on the inside. Mr. David Coalter had five daughters and two sons.
They were a most distinguished family. The daughters married, all of them, most
distinguished and talented men of position, place and station. One of the daughters
married Governor Means, who afterward became governor of South Carolina; another
daughter married Chancellor Harper, who was the first and only chancellor the state
of Missouri ever had; and after the constitution of the stjite of Missouri was
amended, giving the circuit courts chancery jurisdiction, the office of chancellor was
abolished, and the chancellor removed back to South Carolina, remaining the chancel-
lor of that state as long as he lived. Another daughter married William C. Preston,
who came all the way to St. Louis county to marry his wife, and married her here in
Missouri. His maternal grandmother was a sister of Patrick Henry, for many
years he was in the United States Senate from South Carolina. He it was who
delivered the eloquent and fine oration at the founding of the monument of the bat-
tle of King's Mountain. Another daughter, Caroline, married Hamilton Rowan C^am-
ble, of Missouri, who went to South Carolina to marry her in the fall of the year 1827.
And Julia, just buried, married Edward Bates in Missouri in the year 1823. She
was the youngest child. I might give further and many other interesting sketches of
the Coalter family, but this will suffice. John F. Darbt.
St. Louis, Oct. 18, 1880.
**0f the seventeen children of Edward Bates, only two survive;
Matilda, the tenth child, was born January 21, 1840. She married Maj.
Edward Best Eno, and bore him five children, one of whom, Henry, died
in childhood. Another, Edward Bates, died in the prime of manhood,
unmarried. She is now a widow and lives in Silver City, New Mexico,
with her daughter, Matilda, and near the home of another daughter,
Julia Bates, the wife of Wayne Wilson, and the mother of three children.
Her eldest daughter, Christine, the wife of Qeorge Compton, and the
mother of three sons, lives at Kirkwood, in St. Louis county. John
Coalter, the twelfth child and sixth son of Edward Bates, was bom in
St. Charles County, August 26, 1842. He entered the army in 1860 at
the age of eighteen, and after a long and continuous and distinguished
service, was retired at the completion of his sixty-fourth year with the
rank of Lieutenant General. He is unmarried and resides in Washing-
ton City.
* * Barton, the first child of Edward Bates, was bom in St. Louis, Feb.
29, 1824. He died at Cheneaux, in St. Charles eounty, at the end of
the year 1892. He was a lawyer and was credited by his friends with
great natural talent for the practice of that profession, having a judicial
mind and an inherent sense of justice which ruled every action of his life.
The writer was told by Edward Bates that Barton was the best law
draughtsman that he ever knew, and his opinions as judge are cited as
models of clear and explicit language. He followed the practice of law
for only a few years and about 1885 established the family home on Dar>
denne Prairie, which he named Cheneaux, where he resided till his death.
''This home place was so dear to the father and mother and the
children that no idea of exchanging it for one in the city was success-
fully maintained, although professional and business requirements caused
the father to make frequent visits to Jefferson City and St. Louis. For
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 577
many years his duties as judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and,
later, as a railroad president, occupied much of his time and talents.
He was a close friend and admirer of that great man and engineer, James
B. Eads, and was interested with him in the construction of the St. Louis
bridge, the Mississippi Jetties, and in other business enterprises. Bar-
ton Bates and Caroline Matilda Hatcher of Oakland, St. Charles County,
were married March 29, 1849, and after a few years residence in St.
Louis, settled at Cheneaux on Dardenne Prairie. The Cheneaux family
consisted of father, mother and ten children. Considering the latter
in order of birth : —
** Onward, a Civil Engineer, lives in Chicago with his wife, Virginia
Castleman, daughter of the late Judge Samuel Miller Breckenridge, of
St. Louis. They have no children.
'* Hester is the wife of Mr. Justin R. Graves of Evanston, Illinois.
They have no children, but Mr. Graves was a widower, and had children
by his first wife.
* * Cora, wife of the Rev. Edwin Brown McCluer, D. D., lives at Bon
Air, Virginia. She is the mother of five children: Dr. Bates McCluer,
Mrs. Edwin Pinkerton (who has a daughter), Nellie, who is a teacher,
and Edward and Margaret who are at school.
* * Tarlton, who died in his early manhood.
'^Frances Barton is unmarried and lives with her mothef in Chicago.
** Margaret married Seth Singleton and is the mother of five children:
Barton, who is married and has a son ; Caroline and Eatherine, who are
school teachers, Julian, who was drowned while swimming with some
playmates, and Hatcher, a young man just entering business.
** Hatcher, the one boy who remained at the homestead, well known
throughout the county and loved by all, died July 24, 1900, the result of
an accident.
Eads lives in Colorado and is unmarried.
Katherine was a physician. She had a university education, then
graduated in the Medical College of New York, and completed her train-
ing with a year*s hospital practice. She practiced medicine for a while
in Chicago, but was compelled, by failing health, to relinquish this
work. For several years she was an invalid, and during this period was
engaged in literary work. She died at Bon Air, Virginia, August 6,
1906. During the years of her study and practice she formed an ex-
tended acquaintance, and she seemed to possess the rare quality of getting
and holding the love of all who knew her. In a beautiful tribute written
by one of her college friends is to be found this sentence : — * * Her genius
for friendship, and surely it was nothing short of this, was due to her
wondrous gift of sympathy. Some one said after she was gone, — *It
wasn't that she listened to you, was interested in you as you talked;
she became you,'
* * Barton, the tenth and youngest child of Barton and Caroline Matilda
Bates, died in infancy.
'^Barton, son of Edward, known as also his father was, as 'Judge
Bates' was prominent in the history of the state. Born at the corner of
Sixth and Market streets in the village of St. Louis, he was identified
with the life of the state, and choosing St. Charles county for his home,
he reared his large family here, — ^he belonged to this county In a sense
he was not a public man, for he loved retirement and never sought pub-
licity, but the citizens of the county knew and respected him and appre-
ciated his character and qualities. The doors of the Cheneaux homestead
were kept open, the old people loved their neighbors and the young
people gathered their friends about them without question and without
limit. It was always a holiday at Cheneaux, and yet the sense and prac-
VoJ. I— 87
578 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
tice of duty was taught with Quaker simplicity and insistence. After the
death of Hatcher, the home could not be maintained for Mrs; Bates.
The children were scattered and so bound with engagements under the
new order of things that no one could attend her in the old home. She
is now living with her daughter Frances (Fanny) in Chicago, in her
eighty-fourth year, still active and cheerful, in a circle of relatives and
friends, whom she loves and who love her in return, compelled to do so
by her own lovely character.
* * Nancy Coalter Bates, the eldest daughter and third child of Edward
and Julia Bates, was born December 11, 1827, and died October 17, 1872.
She was never married. She was well known on Dardenne Prairie,
being a frequent visitor to her brother's house, and her memory is held
reverently and affectionately by those who did know her.
''Julian, the sixth child and third son, of Edward and Julia Bates,
was born January 7, 1833, and died in St. Louis, July 20, 1902. He was
a physician, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and practiced
medicine, first in Florissant, St. Louis County, and afterwards in St.
Louis. He married Sarah Friend Woodson, daughter of Charles F.
Woodson, of St. Louis County. They had a large family of children, of
whom there are now living four sons, — George W., Fleming, Frank, and
Hodgen ; and one daughter, Wenona, the wife of Rev. Wm. McCluer, who
is the son of the late Samuel McCluer, of Dardenne Prairie. His widow
lives in St. Louis with her son Frank. Dr. Bates was a scholar and a
man of refinement and gentleness, a true example of the Christian
gentleman.
''Fleming, the seventh child and fourth son of Edward and Julia
Bates, was born April 2, 1834, and died December 8, 1871. He married
Miss Nannie Wilson, daughter of Dr. Benjamin Wilson^ of St. Charles
County. They had three children, Allen Cumberland, Benjamin and
Nannie Fay. Mrs. Fleming Bates and the two sons are dead, and Miss
Nannie Fay Bates, the only surviving member of the family lives in St.
Louis.
"Richard, eighth child and fifth son of Edward and Julia Bates,
was born December 12, 1835, and died September 25, 1879. He married
Ellen Wilson Woodson, daughter of Charles F. Woodson, of St. Charles
County. They had two children, Charles Woodson Bates, who is a
prominent lawyer of St. Louis, and Mrs. Annie Bates Hersman, a widow,
who, with her mother, is living in Chicago.
"Charles Woodson, thirteenth child and seventh son of Edward and
Julia Bates, was born November 4, 1844. He married Alice, daughter
of Seth Frink, of St. Louis. They had three daughters, Ellen Coalter,
Bertha and Caro, who lives with her mother in St. Louis. Charles Wood-
son died in St. Louis some years ago. Woody Bates, as he was familiarly
called, was known on Dardenne Prairie almost as well as if he were a
resident and his name is synonymous with that which is gentle and
lovable.
"The children of Edward and Julia Bates not named above, Holmes
Conrad, Fanny Means, Maria Fleming, Edwa, Kora Wharton, Ben
Edward, Catherine Harper, Julia and David Coalter, all died in their
childhood.
* ' Following in the lead of Frederick Bates were relatives and friends
who settled in St. Charles and St. Louis counties. There were amount
them men of education and means, full of enterprise and willing to en-
dure the hardships of frontier life. Men whose patriotism had been
stirred by the wars with the mother country and who were committed to
the destiny of our Republic. Too much honor can never be given to this
class of men, who converted this Spanish-French Territory of Louisiana
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 579
, into the Sovereign States which now exist. Some of these pioneers who
settled St. Charles county deserve mention here. David Coalter, son of
Michael Coalter and Elizabeth Moore, was born in Virginia, September
24, 1764. He was married to Ann Carmiehael, daughter of James Car-
michael and Catherine Sheiders, who was born near Orangeburg, South
Carolina, on June 1, 1772, the date of their marriage being December
29, 1791. In addition to the five daughters mentioned in Mr. Darby's
memoir of Mrs. Edward Bates, there were four sons, to- wit : — (1) James,
who died unmarried, (2) John David, who married Mary Means and had
one child that died in infancy, and who was an honored and respected
citizen of St. Louis, (3) Beverly Tucker, who married and had three chil-
dren, Julia Bates, Caroline Gamble and John David, — his family resi-
dence being in Pike County where he practiced the profession of medi-
cine, and (4) James 2nd., who died in infancy. David Coalter lived for
a time on Dardenne creek, and the writer remembers that when a boy,
he was shown the foundation timbei's which were all that remained of
a mill built by David on the creek near the place afterward owned by
Mr. Samuel McCluer.
'* Henry Hatcher, a son of John and Nancy Gentry Hatcher, w^as born
in Virginia, December 30, 1801, and died at his residence, Oakland, in
St. Charles County, January 7, 1879. He was married November 3,.
1825, to Susan Matilda Ann Spears, and had twelve children as follows : —
**(1) Ann Maria, born September 14, 1826; died January 19, 1879;
married Strother Johnson, November 13, 1850, and had children.
**(2) Caroline Matilda, born February 20, 1829; married Barton
Bates, March 29, 1849.
**(3) Charlotte Virginia, born February 26, 1831; died in Virginia;
married Daniel H. Brown, February 2, 1866, and had children. Daniel
Brown was previously married and had children by his first wife.
** (4) Frederick Alfred, born 1833; died ; married first
Julia Chenoweth, and second, Susan Nicholson. No childi;pn.
(5) Martha Powell, bprn January 17, 1836; died December 1, 1836.
(6) Mary Elizabeth, born September 24, 1837; died 1908; married
Col. George W. Jackson, October 31, 1867, and had children.
**(7) Sarah Margaret, born December 1, 1839; married Peyton A.
Brown, September 21, 1858, and had children.
**(8) Pamily Susan, bom May 4, 1824; died March 29, 1878;
married Capt. Wm. E. Chenoweth, October 31, 1867, and had children.
**(9) Wortly Gay, born December 22, 1844; died December 2, 1867.
Unmarried.
**(10) John Henry, born April 3, 1847; married Caroline Harris,
and had children.
**(11) Henrietta Frayser, born February 4, 1850; died November 5,
1877; unmarried.
**(12) Samuel Josiah, born March 21, 1853; died ; mar-
ried Irvine, and had no children.
** Margaret Maria Spears, the mother of Mrs. Henry Hatcher, was
the eighth child and third daughter of Thomas Fleming Bates of Bel-
mont, Goochland county, Virgina, and so was a sister of Edward Bates
of Missouri. She married first Mr. Spears, and second, Dr. Wharton.
She died in Mr. Hatcher's home at an advanced age, the great-grand-
mother of numerous children.
** Henry Hatcher, with his family and all his personal property,
moved from Virginia to St. Charles county about 1836. He \vaa accom-
panied by Judge Robert Fraser, the husband of Maria Spears, who was
a sister of Mrs. Hatcher. Henry first lived at the Heald place near
0 'Fallon and moved from there to Oakland on Peruque creek, where
1 1
1 1
580 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
he remained to the end of his Ufe. It is related that in the first year of
his residence in St. Charles county he killed more than sixty deer to
provide meat for his household. Deer and wild turkeys were so plentiful
in those days that a hunter had only to walk a short distance from his
house to procure all the fresh meat that was needed. Mr. Darius Heald,
himself a famous hunter, once told the writer that Mr. Hatcher was the
best turkey shot he ever saw, but that he (Mr. Heald) could beat him kill-
ing deer. Mr. Hatcher was a man of great integrity, unless it could be
said that he neglected himself in his generosity toward others. His
mode of life was modest, but his home was never excelled in hospitality
by any other, and with his large family and the almost constant presence
of guests, it was always full of life and pleasure. His only living chil-
dren are Mrs. Barton Bates of Chicago, Mrs. Peyton A. Brown of
Saline county, and Mr John Hatcher, who, after living in the county for
more than sixty years, recently moved to Callaway county to be near his
son and daughter, who, with their families, live near Williamsburg.
^' Judge Eraser lived and died on his farm adjoining that of Mr.
Hatcher. Two of his children are living; — Eliza, (Mrs. Thompson)
lives in St Charles county, and Edward Bates Praser who is a promi-
nent citizen of Fort Smith, Arkansas.
**No family in St. Charles county was better known or enjoyed
greater respect than that of Charles Friend Woodson. The Woodson
and Bates families were intermarried for generations and in addition to
the tie of relationship, Charles F. Woodson and Edward Bates were
intimate friends. Charles F. Woodson was descended from John Wood-
son, a native of Dorsetshire, England. He came to Virginia in 1624, as
surveyor to a company of soldiers, with Sir John Harney. Charles F.
Woodson was born in Virginia, November 20, 1794, and was married to
Ann Thomas, daughter of Dr. Goodridge Wilson and Elizabeth Woodson
Venable, who was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, December 7,
1806 ; the da^e of their marriage being April 15, 1830. To this pair were
born: (1) George Thomas; (2) Richard (Joodridge; (3) A son who died
in infancy; (4) Sarah Friend, who married Julian Bates; (5) Annie
Virginia; (6) Elizabeth Venable; (7) Ellen Wilson, who married Richard
Bates; (8) Julia Bates, who married Mr. Stotemyer; (9) Lilly, who
died in infancy. (10) Mary Randolph, who is the wife of Mr. William
Harris of St. Charles county. The surviving members of the Woodson
family of Dardenne Prairie are, Mrs. Julian Bates, living in St.
Louis; and the Misses Virginia and Elizabeth, who, with Mrs. Richard
Bates, reside in Chicago.
**And now. Dr. Edwards, I am sure I have done my share in supply-
ing you with biographical notes of people living in or related to St.
Charles county. If other descendants of the old families have done as
well, you will have a mass of data to be assorted, abridged, simplified and
expurgated, until it in proper form occupies the space in the history of
Missouri which is allotted to St. Charles county. Family histories
cannot be impartially written by members of the family, and it is said
that no true history can be written except by future generations. Never-
theless, no history can be written without the testimony of those who
took part in it, and a practiced writer should be able to fevise and elimi*
nate such notes as I have furnished and make a record of interest to
posterity.
' * I have hardly treated you fairly in sending you all these dates of
births, deaths and marriages, for I became personally interested in these
people of the same blood, and resolving to keep a copy of this letter for
my own records, fear that I have served myself at your expense. Still I
am sure that an old Patriarch, such as you are, who has been so intimalely
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 581
connected with the lives of some of these families, will be glad to have
these family notes, even if they do not suit your present purpose, and so
I send them«
^^ Your friend,
** Onward Bates/'
Beginning op American Colonization
About the year 1795, straggling Americans began to come into the
county from the east. Three brothers, Christopher, Jacob and Andrew
Zumwalt, settled in the county They were of Dutch extraction and came
from Virginia, settling on or near Peruque creek in 1796. They were
sturdy, courageous Christian men, and brought their families, stock and
household **penates" with them, — ^among other things, some sheep.
They selected land on which were found springs of living water, and
at once erected comfortable log dwellings, the timber being hewn on two
sides ; the first houses of that style built west of the Missouri. The house
built by Jacob one mile south of 0 'Fallon, is still standing and is in a
good state of preservation. It was built in 1798. In it was born the
late Darius Heald, only son of Maj. Nathan Heald, an officer of the
United States army, and who commanded Fort Dearborn in 1813 when it
was captured by an overwhelming force of English and Indians, when
many of the prisoners were massacred. Port-holes were made in the
sides of the building to be used in case of an Indian raid. Major Heald
bought the property of Zumwalt about 1815. He and his wife, Rebecca,
lived and died there, and are buried near the house. The old house of
three rooms on the ground floor is still habitable and picturesque in
the extreme. They are the oldest buildings in the county, and are now
beautifully fitted up, and it is the Chapter House of the Rebecca Heald
Chapter of the D. A. R's. and the *' Daughters of 1812,'' of whom there
are a goodly number in the community. When the Zumwalt brothers
came they brought their religion as well as other necessities of life with
them into the wilderness. They were Wesleyan Methodists and like the
first Frenchman, Blanchette, who settled in the county, they very soon
erected of logs, the first Protestant church, as a temple dedicated to the
worship of God west of the river. This little church stood on the ridge
just west of where 0 'Fallon now is. In this humble temple was cele-
brated the first sacramental service ever fidministered west of the river.
The services were conducted by the Rev. Jesse Walker, in 1807. The
wine used on this occasion was prepared by Sister Zumwalt and Mrs.
Col. David Bailey, from the juice of the poke berry and sweetened with
maple sugar. The bread prepared by the same faithful hands was the
crust from a corn pone baked in an oven.
Adam Zumwalt, who came with Jacob, settled near where Flint Hill
stands. He brought sheep, horses and a few cattle. He thought, like
his earlier French neighbors, that it was not good to live without a stim-
ulant; so he built a still-house and made brandy from Indian corn.
One of his neighbors was the famous Indian chief, Black Haw^k, of the
Dakotas, who partook of Mr. Zumwalt 's beverage that cheers, and con-
sequently soon became his fast friend and ever remained such. He
was fond of dancing with, the young daughters of Mr. Zumwalt. He
got drunk sometimes, but never boisterous, and was always a gentleman
in his demeanor. Black Hawk was ever a friend to the Zumwalts, even
during the bloody Black Hawk wars. On one occasion, when the hostile
Indians were raiding the country and scalping the inhabitants, he was
warned by Samuel Keithly, a lieutenant of the militia, to take his family
to Pond Fort for safety and promptly report at headquarters, armed
582 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
with his musket and all the powder and balls he had — ^to fight the sav-
ages. He explained in great dismay: *'What, do you fight mit guns?
I thought you fight mit sticks/' The old man's simplicity of heart
greatly amused Mr. Keithly.
Early Court Proceedings
The first representative in congress from the new territory was from
St. Charles, Edward Hempstead. He was one of the distinguished law-
yers of the territory, and a man whose career forms an honorable page
in the history of the state. Colonel Rufus Easton was another dis-
tinguished citizen of St. Charles, and a noted lawyer. He was a candi-
date against Mr. Hempstead, and afterward twice elected to congress.
At this time there were but five counties in the territory, and in
point of importance, St. Charles took precedence. They were thus enum-
erated: St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New
Madrid. These, however, covered almost unlimited territory. This was
in 1812.
At the second session of the assembly the county of Arkansas was
formed. At each succeeding session of the assembly new counties were
formed. During this time St. Charles continued to hold a commanding
position in public affairs, both in the number and ability of her repre-
sentatives. When the state was admitted into the Union in 1821, St.
Charles became the capital. The first state legislature convened there
and it became the home of the state officers. While the country was still
under the territorial government, a grand jury made the following
deliverance. The people of the country were in favor of negro slavery,
as it was a recognized institution of the country under Spanish rule,
and most of the immigrants from the southern states had brought their
slaves with them. So this grand jury felt called upon to draw up this
bill of indictment against the government and congress:
We, the undersigned grand jurors from the body politic of the county of St.
Charles, Missouri territory, and summoned to attend the sitting of the circuit court for
the county aforesaid, beg leave to present to the honorable court that we deem it
our high privilege and bounden duty to take notice of all and singular grievances of
a public nature: that amongst the various duties assigned us we do present that the
congress of the United 8tat.es, at the last session in attempting to restrict the people
of Missouri in the exercise and enjoyment of their natural rights as American free-
men in the formation of their state constitution, assumed an unconstitutional power,
having the direct tendency to usurp the privileges of our state sovereignty, guaranteed
to us by the declaration of American rights, the constitution of the United States,
the treaty of cession with France, and the blood of our fathers who achieved our
independence. This is a restriction heretofore without precedent or parallel, as it
regards the admission of territory into the Union of States, and if persisted in by
those members of congress who at the last session proved themselves opposed to
the growth and prosperity of our happy land and luxuriant country, will be, in our
opinion, a direct attack and infringement upon the sacred rights of state sovereignty
and independence, and the tocsin of alarm to all friends of union under our repubUcan
form of government. Although we much deplore any existing political differences of
opinion with the majority in the house of representatives of the last congress, who
introduced and supported the restriction, yet we consider it our bounden duty as free-
men, and as republican members of the great American family, to take a dignified
stand against any assumption of our rights from whatever quarter it may come, and
to support the constitution of the United States as the anchor of our political hopes.
Signed: Thos. Dozier, Wm. S. Burch, Wm. Keithly, Randal Briggs, James Bald-
ridge, Francis Howell, James Smith, Antoine Renal, Warren Cottle, James Clay.
Samuel Wells, Foreman, N. Howell, T. D. Stephenson, David Lemaster, Edward
Woods, Joseph Sumner, Antoine Derrocher, Armstrong Kennedy, Chas. Fanner, D.
Beauchamp. ^
This was the St. Charles declaration of independence. This pre-
sentment to congress was made July 6, 1819. Exactly what effect it had
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 583
on that august body is hard to tell, but that winter congress passed an
enabling act, and the constitutional convention authorized by that act
met in the summer of 1820, in St. Louis, with forty-one delegates pres-
ent and a constitution was framed, which was afterwards ratified by the
people, and the state was admitted into the Union in 1821. There were
fourteen counties in the state.
'f
Great Men in Pioneer Days
St. Charles had three delegates, the largest number of any county.
They were Major Benjamin Emmons, Colonel Nathan Boone, and Hiram
H. Barber. Colonel Boone was a son of the pioneer. He was an edu-
cated man, and an able representative in the convention. Mr. Barber
was an early settler in the county and one of its leading citizens. He
was sheriff of the county for some years and a man of great influence
and popularity.
About this time the lines between the two political parties was drawn.
St. Charles, as a rule went Democratic, when strict party lines were ad-
hered to, but it sometimes elected a Whig ticket. The early German set-
tlers, almost to a man, were Democrats, up to the time of the Civil war,
when most of them became Republicans.
Felix Scott was one of the early politicians of the county and some-
what of a character. Though a man of culture, he fell in with the man-
ners and customs of the country and the spirit of the times, and was not
averse to a fist fight. Being challenged to fight a duel, such was his
courage and contempt for his antagonist that he quietly stood with his
gun in his hand presented without offering to fire, and after his oppo-
nent had fired at him, coolly laid his gun aside and gave the fellow a most
unmerciful beating with his fists. He served a number of terms in the
lower house and also in the senate, and was made president pro tem of
that body in the absence of a lieutenant-governor. He came from Monon-
gahela county. West Virginia. He moved to Oregon in the early 40 's.
John D. Coalter was a man of fine mental culture and a lawyer
of ability. He was a logical and effective speaker. His speeches were
models' of diction and literary elegance and were eloquently delivered.
While they read better than those of Wm. A. Campbell, they did not
equal Campbell's fine and el<^uent delivery.
Campbell, while somewhai eccentric, was a finished orator. He was
indifferent to his personal appearance, and an anecdote to this effect is
told on him. He staid much of his time with his sister, Mrs. Dr. Mc-
Cluer. When starting to the legislature of which he was a member, Mrs.
McCluer packed his trunk, and placed in it a dozen laundried shirts,
and strictly charged him that he should put on two clean shirts a week,
which he promised to do. Six weeks afterwards on his return to Dar-
denne, his sister examined his trunk for the soiled linen, but to her great
consternation, found none. She at once said to him, ** Brother Billy,
where are your soiled shirts? I find none in your trunk." He replied,
**Did I not promise' to put on one twice a week?" and he had strictly
followed orders, but had forgotten to take oflf the soiled ones. Both men
were of temperate habits and strictly honorable and upright in their lives.
Neither was ever defeated in an election when before the people. Camp-
bell distinguished himself as a leader in the senate and Coalter was the
acknowledged leader of the house.
Major Overall, who came to the county in 1795, was a wealthy farmer
of the Point Prairie. He represented the county as one of its law makers.
He was a man of high character and intelligence. He took no part in
political stump speaking, but was an earnest Whig and well posted in
politics and current events.
584 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The first session of the legislature of the new state was held in the
town of St. Charles in a house on Main street, which had been built for
a hotel. The building has long since been removed and replaced by
another. St. Charles has been remiss in preserving historical land-
marks. A new people has come in who seem to have cared nothing for
the old heroes. There is but one relic of the past in the county. That
is the old log house on the Major Heald place, built bx 1797, and now
occupied as a chapter-house by the Rebecca Heald Chapter, D. A. R.
William Allen, a son of an early settler of the county, who came from
Virginia, was a man of such ability and represented the county in the
lowpr house in the early '40 *s. He was also a member of the state senate.
He was a Whig and contributed to the election of Henry S. Geyer to
the United States senate. The Whigs were in the minority in the state,
but the Democrats were divided into two factions — the Hards and the
Softs, or Benton and Anti-Benton. Through Mr. Allen 's persuasion and
the hatred existing between these two the Anti-Bentons were won over
to Geyer and the first and only Whig was elected to the United States
senate. During this memorable contest there were two county men can-
didates for the senate: Joseph Wells, Anti-Benton, and Phineas H.
Shelton, Benton Democrat. Benton had been accused of being an aboli-
tionist, and all Benton men were held to be of that persuasion. Shelton,
a slave owner and a strong southern man, had been called an abolitionist.
Being a Virginian, his accent was the broadest Virginia dialect. In a
debate at Naylor's store between himself and Wells, Shelton, who had
heard of the heinous charge, exclaimed, '^Whar is the man that dares
say that I am an abolitionist?" There was no one in the audience bold
enough to reply. Wells beat Shelton for senator. This was the begin-
ning of Benton's decline in political power, and he never regained the
ascendency. Mr. Shelton had never before been defeated, and he was
so disgusted that in a few years he moved with his family to Texas. Long
years afterward when the late ** unpleasantness" between the states took
place, he, though an old man, commanded a regiment of ** rebels" and
fought for Dixie, helping Dick Taylor rout General Banks on the iipper
Red river. His father, Colonel Shelton, died at Norfolk, Virginia, in
1814, while in command of that post.
William Allen was first elected to the legislature in 1846 and after-
ward served in the state senate. He was a^^uent stump speaker and an
able representative. He was a Whig till the Know-nothings killed that
old party. He then became a Jeflfersonian Democrat. The Whigs ad-
vocated internal improvements by the general government, a national
bank and a protective tariflf. These measures were all opposed by the
Democrats. These were the main principles upon which the two divided.
Pioneer Citizens
William Massilon Campbell was born in 1805 in Rockbridge county,
Virginia. He came to Missouri in 1829, in company with Dr. Robert Mc-
Cluer. Mr. Campbell was prominent as a lawyer -and an editor, and
took an active interest in political matters. He was most highly esteemed
by his friends and acquaintances, and served several years in the state
legislature. Mr. Campbell was exceedingly modest and retiring, but
possessed a brilliant mind which won him applause and honor, even
though unsought. His untimely death at the early age of forty-five years
caused deep regret and sorrow.
Dr. Robert ^IcCluer and family moved from Lexington, Rockbridge
county, Virginia, in 1829. They settled southeast of Dardenne Prairie,
on a farm which is still in the possession of some of their descendants.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 585
In company with him when coming to Missouri were William M. Camp-
bell, a brother-in-law, James H. Alexander and family, Messrs. Mc-
Nutt and Cummings, and Jacob Icenhouer and family. Dr. McCluer
lived but a few years after coming to Missouri, falling a victim to the
bilious fever, which was the scourge of this new territory. Four of his
children grew to maturity and settled in homes in the same locality.
These were Samuel Campbell McCluer, Mrs. Dr. John Baptist Mus-
chaney, Mrs. Thomas Watson and Robert Alexander McCluer, who is
still living.
The Reverend Thomas Watson was of Irish-English descent, his
father, Thos. Watson, being a native of Londonderry, Ireland, and his
mother, Sarah Hannis, an English woman. The family crossed the
seas to our country, settling at New Berne, North Carolina. There, in
1820, the young Thomas was born and continued to reside until 1836,
when his father moved to St. Louis. He received his theological training
at Princeton, New Jersey, and became pastor of the Dardenne Presby-
terian church in the autumn of 1844, six months after he was licensed
to preach. He continued pastor of this church till shortly before his
death, a period of nearly forty-four years. Mr. Watson was genial and
affable in^ manner, a close reasoner, a delightful conversationalist, and
brimming over with sentiment.
He loved nature in all her aspects and was the very soul of music
and poetry. He loved his people, and they returned that love with a
devotion rare and beautiful. His sermons were characterized by earnest-
ness and logical argument. He was a ** gentleman of the old school,"
adhering strictly to the old-time Calvinistic doctrines of his church.
Throughout his long, useful career he was aided and comforted by his
loving wife, formerly Nancy Calhoun McCluer, whom he married five
years after taking the pastorate of the Dardenne church. There, to-
gether, in the quiet church yard so dear to them, they sleep in the midst
of that community where the largest part of their lives was spent. On
the pastor's tombstone are these words, taken from one of his own
poems, *'He never cared for earthly fame, His record is on high."
Nelson L. Overall came from Tennessee and settled in St. Charles
in 1797. His wife was Mary GriflSth. He had seven sons and two
daughters by this marriage. By his second wife he had one son, and by
his third wife, who was the Widow Patten, he had three children. His
oldest son, Ezra, never married. He gave St. Charles College its present
location on Kings Highway, and about ten thousand dollars. Samuel
was a prominent physician of St. Charles, a man of ability and enter-
prise. Asa was a lawyer, and also John H., his youngest son, became a
noted lawyer of St. Charles. Nelson Overall built a house in the Point
Prairie of red cedar logs that had been cut in the Alleghany Mountains,
rafted down the Alleghany and Ohio rivers, and brought up from Cairo
on boats. There were two of these houses built and they were known as
* ' The Red Houses of the Point. ' ' Major Nelson Overall represented the
county in the state legislature and was a useful and able member of that
body.
Major Nathan Heald was an early settler in the county. He was the
son of Colonel Thomas Heald, who was an officer in the Revolutionary
war ; whose wife was Sybil Adams. He was born in Ipswich, New Hamp-
shire, September 29, 1775. He was married to Rebecca Wells, daughter
of Colonel Samuel Wells, in Louisville, Kentucky, May 23, 1811. He
was in command of Port Dearborn, the present site of Chicago, when
it was captured by the English and Indians on August 15, 1812, and
the garrison massacred. Major Heald was severely wounded at the time
and the wounds eventually caused his death. He came on horseback
586 HISTORY OiP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
with his wife in 1815 and purchased a farm of 360 acres from Adam
Zumwalt on Ballou Creek, one mile south of where 0 'Fallon is located.
His son, Darius, was bom here in 1822. Major Heald died in 1832, and
his widow in 1857. Darius Heald was married twice. First to Miss
Virginia Campbell, who died in a few years. In 1861 he married Miss
Hunter. He left two sons and five daughters. He represented the county
in the state legislature in 1854. He was a painstaking law maker, and
had enacted the first game law ever enacted in the state. He was fond
of the sport of hunting and fishing.
St. Charles county, up to 1860, had been noted for the ability of
her representatives in both branches of the legislature, but after what
was known as the Drake Constitution came in force, a large element were
disfranchised by a test oath and for ten years, until that constitution
was set aside, misrule prevailed and mediocre men were selected for
law makers. Very few counties in the state elected the best men for
representatives. The result was a bonded debt of about twenty-five or
thirty millions of dollars was fixed on the state. After the infamous
Drake Constitution had been set aside, and the southern element had
been again made citizens of the United States, abler men were sent to the
state capital. Henry Abbington, an old settler and a Virginian by birth
was elected to the legislature.- He was not an orator, but he was a man
endowed with more than ordinary sense, and at once restored his county
to her original prestige. After several terms in the assembly, he was
succeeded by Albert H. Edwards, a young lawyer, son of the late Henry
Edwards, and a man of great ability. While not an orator, he com-
manded the entire confidence of the house, and was instrumental in shap-
ing the actions of the law-making body. He served several times in both
branches of the assembly, and died while a member of the senate.
Henry C. Lackland, a man of irreproachable character and great
ability, served his county and his state and maintained the high record
of his county in the legislative assembly.
For the first sixty years of the county's history the two old parties
alternated in the selection of representatives. Party lines were not so
strictly drawn as to induce the party voters to elect an inferior man.
Both parties were forced to put forward their ablest men, and it made
little difference which party triumphed. In politics the county has been
overwhelmingly Republican for the past twenty-five years. Her prim-
aries name her officers, the final election only confirming them.
Henry C. Lackland, son of James C. Lackland, an early settler of
the county, was educated at St. Charles College, graduating in 1849.
He studied law. In 1856, he was elected a professor in St. Charles
College, and taught mathematics and also Greek and Latin. In 1860
he resumed the practice of law. He was one of the ablest men of the
hour. In 1875 he was elected to the state convention that had been
called to repeal the iniquitous Drake Constitution. He had no opposi-
tion, and received every vote cast in the county except five. The I>rake
oath had become a dead letter, and the franchise had been restored to
the better class of citizens who had been disfranchised for ten years.
Mr. Lackland was a leading figure in that convention and the county
came into her own once more. He afterwards represented the county
in the legislature where he at once became a leading spirit and conferred
much honor on his county and constituents. He died two years ago (in
1910) honored and lamented by his fellow citizens.
Francis Howell
Francis Howell married Susan Stone in South Carolina and came to
St. Charles in 1797. He settled on and gave name to Howell's Prairie
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 587
fifteen miles west of St. Charles. He built a mill, the third one in the
county. His home became a central point for the meet and drill of the
militia, and rendezvous for public functions. He died in 1834, aged
seventy-three, and his wife died eight years after. They had ten chil-
dren. Thomas married Susanna Callaway, grand-daughter of Daniel
Boone. He died in his eighty-fifth year, and his wife lived to be ninety
years of age. They had fourteen children. He was a colonel in the war
of 1812, and commanded the militia. Newton married and raised ten
children. Benjamin married Mahala Costlio and they raised twelve
children. These men all served in the Indian wars and the war of 1812.
They certainly lived up to the Bible command, ** Multiply and replenish
the earth." Lewis Howell, the youngest child, was born on Howell's
Prairie and grew to manhood in the piping times of the earliest settle-
ment of the county. By his fondness for study and his boyish energy,
he succeeded even in that early day in acquiring a fine classical educa-
tion, and became an able teacher. By his energy and scholarly influence,
he aided materially in advancing an active interest in education in the
county, and assisted in the education of a number of young men, who
afterwards became eminent and useful citizens. He lived to be nearly
ninety years of age, retaining full control of his bright intellect to the
last. He was an educated Christian gentleman, eminently useful to his
fellow man, in his day and generation, and the world was better for
his having lived in it. He left one son, John William Howell, who served
through the Civil war, a brave Confederate soldier under the banner of
Sterling Price. He is still living on Howell's Prairie, an active farmer.
Colonel John Pitman
Colonel John Pitman, a part of whose life has already been noted,
came to the county in 1804, and was an active part and participant in
all the leading events of that period, as soldier, law-maker, and class-
leader in his chosen church, an ideal citizen to open to civilization a
new world. He had one son by his first wife, the late David Kile Pit-
man, who was born about the time he moved west. The young man grew
up amid the stirring scenes of frontier life, improving the scant oppor-
tunities for an education that were offered in a frontier life. He inher-
ited from his father, many broad acres of fertile land, and had been
trained by this careful and competent father to a farmer 's life. He soon
became the leading planter of his section and led an ideal rural life.
He was fond of all innocent sports, hunting, fishing and social pastimes.
He married Caroline L. Hickman of Kentucky, about 1827. She bore
him one son, Richard Hickman Pitman. She died in 1833. In a few
years he was again married to Miss Eliza H. Baker, of Virginia. Thuy
had two children, Anna, who married William Glanvil in 1854; and
Dr. John Pitman, of Kirkwood, Missouri. David K. Pitman was a pol-
ished Christian gentleman, affable and entertaining in conversation, and
lived an exemplary Christian life, read and known of all men. In him
was no guile. He exerted a wide Christian influence in the county.
Professor R. H. Pitman, of Wobdlawn Female Seminary, was an
educator of the highest order. No man who ever lived in the county ren-
dered a greater service to it and to society than he did. For forty years
he educated and trained the girls of Northeast Missouri. His pupils,
many of them now gone to their reward, have made Christian homes and
reared sons and daughters who are now some of the brightest ornaments
and fill the highest places in our broad and happy land. Dr. John
Pitman, now of Kirkwood, has been an active and able physician, an
ornament to his profession and a factor in the progress of the county.
588 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
*
Military Record
All of the early settlers who came to the county in pioneer day«
were endowed with the military spirit. Making a home in the wilderness,
surrounded by savage tribes, whose every instinct impelled to cruelty
and bloodshed, inspired the art of defence and aroused courage in the
hearts of the inhabitants. But a few years passed after the county came
under the government before it became necessary to form military organ-
izations and erect forts for the protection of the people ; and such organ-
izations were formed and officered by brave and competent men. From
1805 to 1812 many of the settlers were killed by the treacherous red
man. Among the murdered were Joseph Price, Lewis, Mike Baldrage,
Abram Keithly, Hutchins and a number of others. These murders were
perpetrated* by desultory bands of marauding Indians ; and not infre-
quently the savages met the same fate they had meted out to the whites.
A courageous settler, William Van Burkleo, returning touhis cabin
opposite Grafton on the Mississippi, after being out a number of days
with the Rangers, was attacked by eight Indians. He, with a friend
and his wife, were sitting in the door when they were fired on. He was
shot in the leg and his wife slightly wounded. He returned the fire and
killed the chief. The others retreated, but carried oflf the body of their
dead chieftain. The bullet that killed the Indian, severed the buck-
skin cord that fastened to the red man's neck a peculiar talismanic stone,
which Van Burkleo found the next morning. The stone is of white
quartz, highly polished. In shape, a perfect prism, with a smooth round
hole piercing it longitudinally. It is about an inch and a half long.
No such quartz is found in this section. The writer has the stone from
the old man, who died in 1864, in his ninetieth year. He was a noted
character, an Indian fighter of note, and fond of horse-racing. His
descendants are scattered over the West.
Ebenkzer Atres
Ebenezer Ayres came from Pennsylvania about 1795, and settled on
the borders of the Mere Cranch lake. His house was built of logs cut on
the Alleghany mountains, rafted down that stream and the Ohio to
its mouth, thence on keel boats up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers,
and two hewed log houses were built of them in the Point Prairie by
Ayres and a neighbor in 1800. He built the first horse-mill in that part
of the county. He planted an orchard and made cheese for the market.
His house was of red cedar, and it was called the **Red House," and
in it was preached the first Protestant sermon ever delivered in the
** Point.'* He had one son who married Louisiana Overall. His daugh-
ter married Anthony C. Palmer, who taught the first school in the
** Point." He served as a soldier in the Indian wars under Captain Cal-
laway.
Samuel Griffith settled in the Point in 1795. He was one of the first
American settlers in the territory. ' Mr. Griffith was married in North
Carolina and raised four children: Daniel A., Asa, Mary and Sarah.
Daniel married Matilda McKnight and had five children. Asa married
Elizabeth Johnson and they had five children. Mary married Wilaon
Overall and Sarah married Forster McKnight.
Alexander Garvin of Pennsylvania, married Amy Mallerson and set-
tled in the county in an early day. His house was built in a day. It
was 16x18 feet in dimensions and was covered with linden bark weighted
down with poles. The chimney was of sticks and mud. They moved into
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 589
it the Bext day. The son, Alexander Garvin, married Elizabeth Boyd.
Their children live in St. Louis. One son is a lawyer of fine reputation.
The Edwards PamOiY
The Edwards family were pioneers of the county. The progenitors
of the family came to the colony of Virginia in an early day. In the
early part of the eighteenth century, a Welsh gentleman fitted out a
vessel called the ''Brice/' and sent his young son, John Edwards, with
a number of Welsh families to the colony of Virginia. They settled in
what is now Caroline and Albemarle counties. John Edwards was mar-
ried to Susanna Chiles, an I^glish girl, about 1740. To this marriage
were bom eight children. The oldest son was John. One of the girls
married William Bibb. Her son, William A. Bibb, lived and died in
Charlottesville, Virginia. The third son, Ambrose, was born in Novem-
ber, 1747, at Shadwell, on the Rivanna river, in Albemarle county, Vir-
ginia. He was married to Miss Olive Martin, daughter of Joseph Martin,
on the 14th of February, 1774. They had ten children : Susanna, Brice,
James, John, Martha, Henry, Chiles, Joseph, Booker and Carr. Pour
of them died in Virginia. The other six came to Missouri between 1833
and 1840 and settled in St. Charles county. In 1811, John Edwards
married Martha Johnston. They had seven children, five sons and two
daughters. Of these children, only one is living. Dr. J. C. Edwards.
Judge Samuel Edwards died at his home in Mexico, Missouri, in 1910.
Captain John Edwards, served in the Pourteenth Virginia regiment
in the War of 1812. So did his brothers, Brice, James and Henry.
Their father served in the Revolutionary war under General Gates at
the surrender of Burgoyne, and also in 1780, under General Lafayette
in Virginia. Henry Edwards married Sarah Waller in Henry county,
Virginia, in 1811. His sons were W. W. Edwards, a lawyer who served
his state faithfully. He was district attorney for the Eastern District
of Missouri, appointed by Judge Edward Bates when he was United
States attorney-general in 1841. He also served as a circuit judge for
many years. His youngest son, Colonel James T. Edwards, bom 1836,
was a gallant Confederate soldier. He entered the southern army under
General Price. He was soon selected by General Parsons as his chief
of staff, and was promoted to the rank of colonel. He was badly wounded
at Wilson's creek where General Lyons was killed. He served with
honor until the close of the war. In 1876, he was appointed assistant
door-keeper of the United States senate, and is still serving in that
capacity. He has' filled that honorable position for thirty-two years,
through all the political changes, notwithstanding the fact that he is a
Jeffersonian Democrat.
The German Immigration
The German immigration set in about 1830. In 1825 an 'intelligent
and enterprising German came to the United States on a visit of inspec-
tion and to increase his knowledge of the western country. This gentle-
man, Gottfried Duden, spent a year in St. Charles and the adjoining
counties studying the climate and the various productions as well as
the manners and customs of the people. He traveled and made his
observations under the guidance of Daniel ^I. Boone and others. He was
delighted with the country and the people he met with and their cordial
and hospitable treatment. On his return to the ** Fatherland** he pub-
lished a book in German giving a description of the country, the people,
their manners and customs, the laws of the country and its wonderfully
590 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
productive soil. The book, which had a phenomenal sale, aroused an in-
terest in many of his countrymen and a number of well to do, educated
men came over and settled in the county. Louis Eversman came with
Duden and remained here. He married a Miss McLane, raised an intel-
ligent family and was a prominent and influential citizen. He purchased
a farm in Warren county.
Among the early German settlers were Francis Krekel with four sons,
one of whom was Judge Arnold Krekel, a prominent and honored citizen,
a lawyer of prominence, who represented the county in the legislature in
connection with Dr. John A. Tally in the early fifties; Julius, Herman,
Emile and Conrad Mallinckrodt, These men were all well educated
and became influential. They had Studiedl the English language before
they came to the country but their pronunciation was very defective, but
they soon learned the correct pronunciation. When Julius Mallinckrodt
arrived in St. Louis, wishing to make some inquiries about the town he
addressed the first man he met in what he supposed to be the English
tongue, as it had been taught him, but the man could not understand
him. He then addressed him in German, and then in Latin with no bet-
ter success; as a last resort he tried French. Instantly the man em-
braced him delighted to find some one with whom he also could con-
verse. He was a Frenchman who had also just arrived in the city and
had been unable to find any one with whom he could converse.
In 1834 a small colony from Hesse Darmstadt arrived in the care of
Frederick Muench, who was a man of talent. He was a minister of a
Liberal Protestant church in Germany for fourteen years. In 1834 he
organized what he called the Gissen Society from among the members
of his congregation and migrated to America, settling in the western part
of this county and Warren. He was popular and influential and repre-
sented his county in the legislature. With him came Dr. Fred Kruge,
Jonathan Kunze and a number of others with their families. This man
and his colonists were Rationalists in their religious belief. Their So-
ciety gave way in time to Orthodox Christian denominations, German
Methodists, Lutherans and Evangelical. A large German immigration
came to the county from this commencement up to 1850. They have
been a valuable acquisition to the county. While not so quickly assimi-
lated by the Anglo-American as some other nationalities, they are,
however, in the second generation, thoroughly Americanized.
Immigration for seventy years from foreign countries has been great,
but the amalgamation of races has not been so thorough as to evolve an
American type. That result will follow in due time.
Agriculture and Progress
Great improvements in the manner of agriculture have been achieved,
and a great variety of products have been added since the primitive days
of one hundred years ago. In the advance of civilization crude methods
have succumbed to science. The wooden mould board, the bull-tongue
plow and the shovel and the hoe have forever disappeared, and in their
places we have riding plows, disc harrows, self binders, motor plows,
steam threshers and every appliance of labor saving machinery. Verily
the glory of the reap hook, the cradle and the threshing floor is gone.
The little two-horse mill that ground our fathers' corn and wheat into
meal has been superseded by the steam roller mills.
From 1804 the increase in population was very rapid. In 1810 when
the first census was taken it had increased from 700 to 3,505. At the
next enumeration, it had increased but 465, but the Indian wars and
the war with England had checked immigration almost entirely. In
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 591
1830 it was 4,320 ; in 1840, it reached 7,911, almost double. In 1860 it
had reached 16,523. In 1900, 24,474. In the next decade to 1910, there
was an increase of only 110. In 1804 the amount of taxes collected was
$705.00. In 1818, the taxable property was $87,419. In 1830 it had
increased to $727,575. In the next twenty years there was a phenomenal
increase of wealth in the county. Its assessed valuation up to 1912 has
been about three hundred and fifty per cent. The county has kept
pace with the balance of the state in wealth and all the varied produc-
tions of the soil as also in manufactories.
The city of St. Charles has one of the largest car factories in the
United States, besides a large shoe factory, breweries and other impor-
tant factory concerns.
The number of farms in the county as shown by the last census is
about fifteen hundred. Number of acres in cultivation is 206,000. The
amount of com raised in 1911 on forty-five thousand acres was 1,675,000
bushels. The wheat raised on seventy -five thousand acres of land was
1,500,000 bushels. Oats, barley and potatoes in about equal pro-
portions. In the early settlements of the county, the farmer, for
home consumption, also raised cotton and flax and some hemp of fair
quality and good yield to the acre. Farm lands in the county are Valued
at from fifty to one hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre. About
seven-eighths of the land in the county is under cultivation or under pas-
turage. Stock raising is largely followed, and the poultry business is
second only to the other combined interests of her agriculture.
There are two unusually large farms in the county, one, the Baldwin
farm, between the Mississippi river and Dardenne creek. It consists of
four thousand acres, under the management of one man whose large
crops of cereals and hay are produced annually and pay dividends on
the investment. The tract has been levied and thoroughly drained, and
shows the success with which wet lands may be drained. The other
consists of about twelve hundred acres of Mississippi bottom land which
has also been thoroughly prepared for cultivation by ditching and levy-
ing. It belongs to John M. Keithly, who^ superintends its cultivation.
It is highly productive and yields its owner a handsome income. He is
a model up-to-date farmer, putting into practice all the modem ideas
of cultivation and stock raising. His farm lies one mile west of St.
Peters.
CHAPTER XXIX
SCHUYLER COUNTY
By Winfred Melvin, Lancaster
Before the White Man
Schuyler county is situated in the central northern part of Missouri,
which land is included in the Louisiana Purchase acquired from France
in 1803. After 1812 the northern part was known as the Missouri terri-
tory. At first the settlements followed the Mississippi and Missouri
rivers, but at the close of the War of 1812, the immigration grew larger,
most of the settlers coming from Virg^inia, Kentucky, Tennessee and
North Carolina.
Schuyler county was visited by the Sac and Pox Indians in their
hunts, and excepting the fight on Battle creek, in the southwestern part
of the county, where several were killed on both sides, they were always
on friendly terms with the whites. It is thought by some that the Mound
Builders once inhabited this county, since a number 6f mounds have
been discovered. But these were probably graves of Indians.
First Settlements
The first permanent settlement in the county was made in the south-
east corner by Moses Stice late in 1834 or in the early part of 1835. The
next settlement was made by Samuel Eason in township 65, range 16,
near the Chariton river. Then came David Floyd, who settled in the
same township, and in 1837 Jeflferson, Richard, and John S. Fulcher
settled in township 65, north range 15 west. Other early settlers were
John Davis, Martin Parton, Robert Bowler, Henry Downing and a man
named Taylor. In 1837 Henry Downing settled four miles southwest of
where the village of Downing now stands. The following is a list of names
of the early settlers in the respective parts of the county : In the central
and southern part — Oliver Towles, Henry Davis, Austin Coflfey, Price
Arnold, Uriel Sebree, Henry Weitzel, Jacob Snowbarger, Nicholas Sloop,
John Fugate, Herman Figge, Frederick Warner, John M. Fish, Edward
K. Gibbon, John S. Sheller, Elias Fletcher, Isom B. Fletcher, M. F. Brasa-
field, John Lesley, A. D. Farris, Samuel Tipton, Josiah Hathaway, Will-
iam A. Rhodes, Elkanah Hensley, William T. London, Charles M. Lon-
don, Jesse Holt, William Barlow, Spottswood Bradford, James M. Brj-^-
ant, David Rice, Ezekiel Rice, Henry ]Mull, Thomas Threlkeld, Thomas
B. DuBois, John Mikels, Elias and John Bromer, Moran Hiisley, James
Wells, Benjamin and John Brown, John Johnson, Isaac Mitchell, Will-
iam Baker, Leonard Griggs, and George Crump ; in the northern part —
James Custer, James H. Ford, A. K. Cowgill, Bright Gilstrap, James
and George Hombs, William Athel, George and Moulter Tobin, Thomas
Butts, Hiram Reeves, George Bridewell, Morris James, Robert J. and
592
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 593
William Maize, Jesse Gray, Henry Piercy, Stephen G. Custer, Peter
Blansett, and Maneil Garrett; in the eastern part — James Hall, Henry
Buford, Nicholas Shobe, Edward Snyder, William Ogg, William Webster,
Henry Kethe, George Kethe, Jr., Henry H. Kethe, Henry Downing,
George Palmer, George and John Lyle, A. T. Hite, A. D. Farris, John
Hulen, Henry Prime, Charles Cook and Thomas Butts.
The first settlers located in groups, or, as they termed them, settle-
ments. One of the chief attractions to them was the great number of
bee trees. Beeswax was one of the principal exports. Honey and wild
fruits and game were their principal articles of food. A whole neigh-
borhood would go bee-hunting sometimes a great distance from home.
Until the white people came, such wild animals as the buffalo, bear, pan-
ther, wolf, wildcat, catamount, deer, and wild turkey were numerous.
But as the country became settled these animals gradually moved west-
ward to unsettled parts. The early settlers followed the streams and the
timber. One reason offered for this was because they needed the timber
for their homes and were assured of food and fuel; but the principal
reason seems to have been because they came from timber countries.
Pioneer Homes
Their homes were crude. The typical house was built of logs and con-
sisted of one room. The cracks were filled with mortar. The fioor was
made of puncheons split out of white oak timber and one side made
smooth with an ax. The roof was clapboards fastened overhead by
weight poles. The fire-place or chimneys were boards or wood plastered
from top to bottom with clay mortar. The doors were made of clap-
boards and were very open, allowing the wind, rain and snow to enter
freely. Oftentimes a log was left out of the side of the house that suf-
ficient light might be received. Nails were not to be had and this was a
great inconvenience. The bed was mtfde by fastening a post in the floor
and running poles into holes bored in the logs of the wall on the two
adjacent sides of the house. Chairs and other pieces of furniture were
made of hickory bark. P. C. Berry gave the following account: '*Our
cooking utensils consisted of coffee pot, skillet, frying pan, and small
pot for boiling dinner. Cook stoves were not in use at that time. The
cooking was by the fireplace. My father's family consisted of nine per-
sons and the cooking, eating and sleeping were all done in the same room
for a number of years. Our food consisted of cornbread, hog meat,
coffee and vegetables. There was no fruit except wild fruit, such as
plums, crab apples and blackberries. Our bread cost us more labor than
any other part of our food. The corn was ground on steel mills by hand.
These mills were made of steel and iron on the plan of a coffee mill. It
was bolted to an upright post and had a crank or handle on both sides
in order that two persons could work. The meal was of a coarse variety
but made very good bread. There was no mill at that time nearer than
Monticello in Lewis county. But, after all, living was not bad. ' '
The implements, as w^ell as the houses and furniture, were very crude.
The plow of that period had a wooden mould-board and cut a furrow
from thirty to forty inches wide. It was drawn by from four to ten
yoke of oxen. The average settler did not possess this number of oxen,
so certain settlers in each neighborhood broke prairie for the neighbors
for wages.
The settlers had no money except what they got in trading with the
Indians, who received money from the government. The taxes were paid
in wolf scalps. The state gave one dollar for every wolf caught and
killed. At that time the taxes were of very slight importance.
Vol, l—HH
594 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
For years stock ran at large. Each settler used a peculiar mark to
designate his herd. The cattle were branded. A number of hogs strayed
away from the owners to the dense forests and became wild and savage.
Those who had lost hogs this way would organize into clubs in the late fall
and hunt and kill the wild hogs. The horse was a rare animal; oxen
were used instead. The pioneer strove as hard to have a matched yoke
of oxen as the present farmer does for a matched team of horses.
Early Customs
In the early period the settlers endured many hardships. Markets
were far away and roads were very bad. The growing, spinning and
weaving of flax took up a great portion of their time and the rest was
spent in hunting. So little time was left for the securing of extra wealth.
Money was very scarce and what little they had went to enter land ; there-
fore the barter regime was put in full play. They used skins, furs,
honey, venison, beeswax, hogs, etc., to pay for their imported articles.
Neighbors frequently exchanged commodities. The average farmer
made a trip to market each year and this annual trip was one of the
utmost importance. The wagon, drawn by an ox team, was loaded with
skins, venison and other commodities of trade. A large bunch of hogs
were driven behind the wagon. They often traveled more than a hun-
dred miles to market and sometimes received as high as two cents a pound
for the hogs. The principal markets were Ottumwa and Alexandria.
The farmer usually received in exchange for his commodities a barrel
of sugar, a barrel of whisky, and as many other household necessities,
such as turpentine, powder, tin cups, etc., as he could procure with his
load of produce. Later when the little villages and towns sprang up it
was a familiar sight to see the farmers come to town about harvest time
with two large jugs, one in eacb- end of a sack. One they filled with
New Orleans molasses; the other was reserved for whisky with which
to treat the harvest hands.
The Grinding of Corn
The settlers were far away from mills and blacksmith shops, which
are so essentially necessary in all communities. In some neighborhoods
there was a hand-mill with which to grind the corn. These mills were
steel and were fastened to a piece of timber, so* fashioned that two men
could work at the same time. They were carried from one house to
another on horseback. They were set up in a mortise in the sleeper in
front of the fireplace. Two men could grind three or four bushels of corn
in a day. They were not adapted to wheat, as flour was used only on
Sunday and special occasions. Those who could not get the use of a
steel mill pulverized the corn in a mortar with a maul or iron wedge.
One old pioneer had described the way they fared thus: '*We made what
we called a hominy mortar, so you see we had plenty of meal when we
ground it, and plenty of honey when we found it, with plenty of fat hog
and hominy. *' These steel mills were followed by horse mills. William
Hendren, living in the eastern part of the county, built the first one.
Later another was built by Oliver Towles and W. H. Harrison in the
western part. In 1840 John Jones erected a carding machine near
Tippecanoe to which was attached a set of burrs for corn. After a time
these mills gave way to two water mills built on the (/hariton river, by
James Hargraves and James Wells.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 595
The Life op the Pioneer
In the early period eows were worth five dollars a head ; a veal calf
could be bought for seventy-five cents; a yoke of steers for $22; horses
ranged from $25 to $40 a head; hogs (dressed) from $1.25 to $1.50
each ; wheat brought from 35 cents to 40 cents a bushel ; com 50 cents a
barrel, delivered; honey 25 cents a gallon; venison 50 cents a saddle,
skin thrown in for a quarter of a dollar ; wages for labor were 25 cents
a day, and mils were split for 25 cents a hundred.
While it is true that the pioneers suffered many hardships, they also
had many pleasures. In general they preferred the eornbread to the
wheat-bread and consequently did not suffer much when deprived of the
wheat-bread. They fattened their hogs on acorns and such feed, making
their pork coat them but little. Then with plenty of wild honey, veget-
ables, wild turkey, venison and pork, "and a hoe cake to sop in the
gravy." they lived rich as kings. The settlers were very friendly and
helped each other in harvesting, house-building, etc. Men would go for
miles to help raise a cabin. ,
Judge Caywood, a well known early settler, gave this account: "A
large proportion of the early citizens of this and neighboring counties
were made up of men and families of more than ordinary culture and ed-
ucation. This is accounted for in this way : Following the hard times
and general crash among all classes in the year 1837, found thousands
Mules Ready for Market
of the best business men, including all classes, hopelessly ruined; and
rather than drag out an aimless life when they were all at the bottom
round of the ladder, without hope, many of them gathered up their little
remnant of a fonner fortune and determined with brave hearts to start
anew in life, in the far west and there, with the class of hardy hunters
that had preceded them, rebuild their ruined fortunes; and they carried
with them what they found among the earlier pioneers — hearts over-
flowing with kindness and good feeling for their fellowmen ; all being
poor, with no wealthy nabobs amongst them to. imitate or envy, their
wants few, and each one made it a point to contribute to the general
enjoyment and happiness and, with moderate industry, aided by the
rich virgin soil, they soon gathered around their humble homes a suf-
ficiency to make them comfortable and, as time rolled on, advanced to
even the luxuries of life and now from among the children of this stock
have arisen and gone out into the world the best business men and the
finest talent of the country."
The proof of the statement that the pioneers were poor and self-
reliant, is seen in the fact that very few brought slaves. In 1850 there
were only 57 colored people in Schuyler county. Thus the county did
not sustain a great loss by the abolition of slavery. At that time there
were only 39 colored people in the county and only a portion of these
were competent to work. For a number of years there has not been
A colored person residing permanently in the county.
596 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
One evidence that the pioneers had pleasures as well as hardships is
the description and pictures left of the happy family or families gath-
ered around the fireplace. The time waa spent in roasting apples, pop-
ping corn, making molasses taffy, and telling ghost stories. P. C. Beny
gave the following account of one of the Fourth of July celebrations:
**It was customary in the early days to celebrate the Fourth of July
with a barbecue. I remember being at Hill Town July 4, 1849. A
small beef was roasted with plenty of bread and coffee. I suppose there
were present twenty-five or thirty people. John W. Minor, a lawyer
from Lancaster, was to make the speech, but for some cause he did not
come. The Declaration of Independence was read by an old man by
the name of Wells, after which dinner waa declared ready. But before
you were allowed to eat, a gentleman appeared on the ground with a tin
cup and a three gallon bucket of whisky. He proclaimed that no man
should drink until the ladies were served. He proceeded to take the
bucket and the tin cup around among the ladies. Every woman and man
on the ground took a drink out of the bucket* The day was wound up
with an old-fashioned dance under the shade of a tree. ' '
County Organization
Schuyler county was created by an act of the legislature passed
February 17, 1843. The boundaries of the county were: Beginning at
the northeast corner of Adair county in the middle of range 13, thence
due north to the boundary line of the state of Missouri, thence west with
said state line to the middle of the Chariton river, thence south through
the middle of the main channel of said river to the northern line of
Adair county, to the place of beginning. At first Schuyler county
remained a part of Adair especially for civil and military purposes,
but the revenue collected in Schuyler county was set aside for its use.
On March, 1845, the legislature completed the organization of the county.
The governor of the state of Missouri, John C. Edwards, appointed Will-
iam L. Robinson, Alexander D. Farris, and William Hendren as county
judges; Joshua Riggs, sheriff, and G. W. Johnson, surveyor. These
county judges met at the home of Robert S. Neeley on the third Monday
in April, 1845, and organized the first court organized by choosing
William L. Robinson as presiding justice. Then they appointed Isaac
N. Ebey clerk, George Naylor assessor, and Robert Neeley treasurer.
The court then proceeded to divide the county into the municipal town-
ships, Fabius, Independence, Wells, Chariton, Liberty, and Salt River.
Later Schuyler lost jurisdiction over Wells and Independence, as it was
the disputed land between Missouri and Iowa and fell to Iowa in the
settlement. Then a n^w Independence township was formed, also Glen-
wood and Prairie, making seven townships, the present number.
First Court Proceedings
The first jury empaneled in the county, the first jury trial, the first
verdict rendered, and the first gn^ardian and ward was when Jesse Hall
presented a petition for the appointment as guardian for Joseph Jack-
son, thought to be of unsound mind. The court ordered a jury to be
empaneled of **six good and lawful men*' to investigate the affair. The
jury gave a verdict of insanity and appointed Jesse Hall guardian of the
estate and person of Joseph Jackson.
At this time the road problem held the attention of the county. Com-
missioners were appointed to view the best places for roads. There
were unique descriptions of roads. In 1853 the court described a
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 597
road as ** beginning between the garden and stable of Jefferson Fulcher
and running nearly a westerly course along said Fulcher *s orchard fence,
thence north along said fence to a pasture, thence a few yards in said
pasture, etc.*' The first public road established in Schuyler county
led from Kirksville to Iowa City. It was established in 1845 and laid out
by Isaac N. Ebey, William L. Robinson and Henry Davis who were
allowed $9 each for their services. George W. Johnson was allowed $18
for surveying the road through the county. Peter Klein and Thomas S.
Davis were allowed $4.50 each as chain carriers. Then a number of
roads followed. The average width of the road was thirty feet. The
expense of road building was paid from the state apportionment of the
road and canal fund. In the summer of 1847 Schuyler county began to
negotiate with Putnam county for a bridge across the Chariton. Funds
were appropriated and the bridge built.
In 1859 the North Missouri railroad or the Wabash was extended
through Schuyler county to Glenwood, Missouri. It was not until the
summer of 1872 that a railroad passed through the county seat.
The Census
From 1850 when the first census was taken to 1900 the population of
the county had increased from 3,287 to 10,840. It t6ok the first assessor,
George Naylor, twenty-two days to assess the taxable property of the
county. He was allowed $44 for his work, the one-half to be paid by the
state and the other half by the county. There is a striking contrast be-
tween the time it took and what it cost then to assess the county and the
time it now takes and what it costs to assess the county. But then the
county was in its infancy and there were only a few persons and but
little property to assess.
Church History
The first sermon preached in the county was in 1837, and was de-
livered by Elder William White of Boone county, a minister of the
Christian church. The second sermon was by the Rev. Abraham Still, a
Methodist minister, who shortly afterward settled in the southern part
of the county. He was also a physician and the father of Dr. A. T.
Still of Kirksville. In those days there 'were no churches and the meet-
ings were held out in the groves where the settlers erected rude pulpits
of slabs and seats of the same material for the congregation. In the
winter and bad weather the meetings were held in the cabins of the
settlers. The entire population were church-going people and when a
minister came into the neighborhood everyone went to meeting and
united in the work with the greatest zeal regardless of denomination.
The following account came from P. C. Berry: ''Religious meetings
were held in cabins or the woods. I have seen as many as ten or twelve
persons at one meeting, sometimes not more than three or four. The
people seemed inclined to be religious and I think, as well as I remem-
ber» the majority belonged to the church. The first sermon I heard
preached after we came here in the fall of 1849, was by the Reverend
Dr. Still. I remember he sang a song, the chorus of which I shall never
forget. It was
'* 'This world is a howling wilderness,
This world is not my home.'
''And as I look back over the time, I think nothing could have been
more appropriate. 1 remember at one of these meetings held in a
598 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
grove near my father's cabin in August , 1842, while the minister was
preaching a swarm of bees came over the congregation causing some
disturbance. The minister turned it to good account by telling his
hearers that they should seek a home in Heaven as the bees were seeking
a home in the forest. It had quite a good effect on the congregation. A
Sunday school was organized in a grove. People came five or six miles
to attend it. They brought their dinners with them and held one ses-
sion in the forenoon and another in the afternoon. '*
The first camp-meeting was held in the county in 1840, on Battle
creek in the southwest part of the county, by the Rev. Abraham Still
and the Rev. Jesse Green of the Methodist church. The organization
of the Methodist church in the county dates from this period. Dr. Still
. was the first circuit rider in the county.
The first Methodist Episcopal church society in the county was organ-
ized at the house of Jefferson Fulcher in 1838. Prominent among the
members were Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Fulcher, Mr. and Mrs. Mansel
Garrett, Mrs. Threlkeld, John and Richard Fulcher, Mr. and Mrs. W. L.
Robinson, George Naylor and Mrs. Mitchell. Other Methodist Episcopal
churches were soon organized. In 1844 the church was divided by the
question of slavery. The new organization was designated as the Sleth-
odist Episcopal Church South. Until after the Civil war the new
church was the stronger in Schuyler county, but since the war it has
been outstripped by the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1854 the
Methodist Episcopal church organization at Lancaster erected a
building which was used after the Civil war by the Methodist Episcopal
church. Later a more commodious brick building was erected. The
Methodist Episcopal church in Glenwood was organized in 1870 by Rev.
John Wayman. The same year they erected a building costing $1,200.
The Methodist Episcopal church at Queen City was dedicated on Sun-
day, October 22, 1871, by the Rev. John Wayman and A. H. Hamlin.
The Methodist Episcopal church South has two organizations in the
county, one at Bethel, the other at New Hope.
The first Baptist church in Schuyler county was known as Lynn
Grove church and was organized about 1837. The first meeting house
in which this society worshipped was a log cabin which was erected on
the south side of Bridge creek and three-fourths of a mile south of the
present Lynn Grove church. The next church building was also made
of logs and stood near where the present frame building stands, which
is between two or three miles south of Downing. Among the original
members were the families of William B. Rippey, H. Garden Petty
and Mr. Lake. The Rev. A. T. Hite was the first pastor. While he was
preaching during the fifties, donations were not numerous then and
some of the people forgot to pay their dues. Mr. Hite appealed to one
of these delinquents one day and the man gave him a calf if he would
catch it. The proposition was accepted and after a prolonged chase,
in which the preacher's clothes were considerably soiled with mud, he
succeeded in capturing the animal. During the Civil war he was shot
and killed one night while sitting by his own fireside. The second Bap-
tist church in the county was organized at the home of David Floyd.
The first Christian church in the county was organized during the
. forties by the Rev. Mr. Wells of Boone county. George Nichols, John
Sleighton and Josiah Hathaway were the first elders of the church,
the Rev. Isaac Foster succeeded as pastor and continued preaching and
organizing churches until about the year 1858. In 1845 a Christian
church was organized, meeting a mile north of Lancaster. A brick
church building was afterward built in Lancaster. Later this church
was taken down and a frame building put up just south of the south-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 599
•
west corner of the square. Plans are now being cogitated for a more
commodious building. The Christian church has grown in Schuyler
county until it has as many and perhaps- more different organizations
than any other religious denominations. The Christian church at Down-
ing was organized in 1883, with W. B. Smith, Jerome Bridges and J. K.
P. Tadlock as elders.
Other denominations in the county are the Lutheran, Union and Holi-
ness churches. In the early day the Presbyterians had an organization
in the county, but it has since dissolved.
Schools
The school houses were very crude constructions. One. pioneer has
said: **The teachers were like the school houses and the pupils were
like the teachers.'^ Pew books could be gotten hold of. In early times
they used Webster's spelling book, the New Testament, Aesop's Fables
and United States history for readers. The pupils were known as sub-
scription pupils, each one paying $2.00 for three months. Usually
there were fifteen to twenty pupils. Sometimes they lived five miles
or more from the school house. In 1860, when, according to Parker's
Gazette, Schuyler county had 6,658 people, there were seven frame and
twenty-seven log school houses. There were 3,091 children, of whom
1,748 were in school at that time. There were thirty-three common
schools, six select schools and no high school. Years ago some pioneer
settler published in the Excelsior the following retrospective view of a
backwoods school house of seventy or seventy -five years ago: **When
enough had settled in a neighborhood, say from three to four miles
around, some sage old veteran would suggest to his neighbors the ne-
cessity for a school. Then by common consent they met at a convenient
place to wood and water, with chopping ax in hand a schoolhouse to
build, and while some of them do cut and haul, others hew and maul
puncheons for the floor ; and at night they have it ready for the school.
Then who is to teach comes up. There is one of them who has learned
to read and write and cipher to the rule of three, and he proposes to
teach six months if they will raise twenty-five scholars, he to teach for
$1.50 per scholar per quarter. of thirteen weeks, and board around; if
not, he must have $1.75 and board himself; in either case the tuition
to be paid at the end of each quarter. School commences and the little
fellows have blue primers and wooden-back Continental spellers and
the older ones have slates and Dillsworth's or Smiley 's arithmetic and
in the bosom of their . hunting shirts the English reader. The school
must be taught from an hour after sunrise until an hour before sunset.
They are seated on long benches. At such places Corwin and many
others were educated and the teacher was paid in coon skins, bear meat,
venison, etc."
The first school house in the county stood a few miles south of the
present site of Downing. In this rude cabin Miss Hathaway, afterward
Mrs. Edwin French, taught the first school in the county in the spring
and summer of 1841. The second school was taught at the old town
of Tippecanoe, the same summer,%by Jesse K. Baird. In 1842 James
Johnson began teaching at a point about a mile northeast of Lancaster.
He died about the middle of the first term and Miss Hathaway finished
the term.
Log school-houses then sprang up in various parts of the county
where there were enough settlers to sustain a school. The schoolhouse
of the forties was built of logs, generally hewn, and was in size perhaps
sixteen feet square. A fireplace took a large part of one end of the
600 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
house. The chimney was made of sticks and clay. The roof was made
of clapboards and at first these were kept in place by weight poles.
The seats were split logs supported on sticks which were fitted into holes
bored into the ends of the logs. Such a thing as an individual desk
was unheard of. A long board fastened against the wall slantwise and
held in place by pegs was the writing desk and the pupils would line
up to this desk in a row for instruction in penmanship. The ordinary
school-house had two small windows in which oiled paper was used for
panes, but sometimes light was furnished by leaving out a log from the
side of the house. Log school houses were not uncommon as late as 1880.
Reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic constituted the course of study.
Any desire for more learning was gratified by taking more work in arith-
metic. The teacher who could do fractions was considered a very learned
person.
By an act of the legislature approved March 12, 1859, John M.
Minor, Reuben Whitewell, E. M. Bradley, Richard Caywood, William
Buford, R. J. Christie, Q. B. Alverson, William S. Thatcher and William
V. Rippey were granted articles of incorporation for the formation of
Lancaster Academy. The school was established and progressed well
until the outbreak of the war. It was disorganized during the war and
afterward became a public school under the free school system.
The first public school building was erected in 1869, which has since
been remodeled and is now one of the most beautiful homes in town.
It is owned by Dr. W. A. Potter. The old building was not used as a
school house after 1886, when another house more commodious was built
in the southwest part of town. This building was destroyed by fire on
Monday, April 27, 1908. A modern, large, fire-proof buil^ng now
stands in its place. A four year high school course is offered and it is
accredited by the University of Missouri.
In 1846 the first school census was taken. This was done by a justice
in each of the six townships. In 1854 one district added orthography,
geometry and natural philosophy to the usual three subjects. The same
year William Casper was appointed the first county school commissioner
in Schuyler county. He was paid $1.50 pertday, not to exceed forty-five
days in the year.
At the present time there are rural schools and one high school, offer-
ing a four-year course.
County Fairs
In 1859 there was presented to the county court a petition to permit
the organization and incorporation of a society known as the Schuyler
County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, the purpose of which was
the improvement of agricultural and mechanical arts. It was signed by
fifty names of freeholders. The court granted them the right to incor-
porate. They leased from Elias Brown land for a fair ground. The
first fair was held in the fall of 1859. During the Civil war they were
discontinued. The last fair was held in 1867.
In 1872 another society was organized under the name of *'The
Schuyler County Agricultural and Mechanical Association.** The society
bought fifty-five acres of land from Edwin French and James
Roley in the suburbs of Lancaster. TKe following year the ground was
fitted up and a fair held annually until 1881, when Louis Schmidt
became the sole owner of the capital stock through a mortgage sale and the
organization dissolved.
County Jail
In April, 1847, the county appointed James M. Bryant to superin-
tend the building of a jail. Before this time the county prisoners were
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 601
boarded by some citizen ; for example, James M. Bryant was allowed $1.26
for such service. A small two-story log building was erected and in 1853
was consumed by fire, supposedly set afire by Renoch Beeves, confined
there on the charge of horse stealing. In 1869 the court appointed F. M.
Wilcox to superintend the building of a new brick jail.
The county poor farm consists of 200 acres and is located on sections
3 and 4 in township 66 north, range 14 west. E. E. Barker was the first
manager of the county farm.
The Press
The first newspaper published in Schuyler county was the Lancaster
Herald, established at Lancaster in 1855 by Huron Jackson of LaGrange,
Missouri. It was succeeded by the Lancaster Democrat. In 1861 it was
discontinued because of the war, but in 1866 the weekly Lancaster Ex-
celsior was established by H. D. B. Cutler, which later took the name of
The Excelsior, In a column of the first copy of The Excelsior this item
was inserted: ** George Washington was first in war, first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen, but George Mann was the first
subscriber to The Excelsior and J. F. Fenton the first advertiser." The
paper is now conducted by Winf red Melvin and is Democratic in politics.
October 18, 1899, James L. Baker established the Schuyler County
Avalanche, now Republican, which he published until April 16, 1906,
when he sold to George B. Shaffer, the present editor. It is Republican
in politics.
The Queen City Transcript was established in 1887 by Nat L. John-
son. It is now owned by J. W. McNaught and is Republican in politics.
The Glenwood Criterion was established in 1870 by Cutler and Wil-
cox. In 1872 Cutler became sole owner and published it until 1884,
when he sold to G. D. Gray, who sold it the next year to Grant M. Potter.
Mr. Potter ran the paper six months, then in 1887 sold it to W. D.
Powell. During the campaign of 1876 H. H. Williams published it as
a Democratic organ. At all other times it has been Republican. It
ceased publication in the nineties and was succeeded by the Phonograph
in 1894. It suspended publication in 1910. Its last editor was Mrs. Fred
Crook.
Besides the Republican, Excelsior, and Transcript, the other county
papers are : Downing News, independent in politics, published by J. F.
Hargis; Queen City Leader, Democratic, published by Saxbury and
Eason; and Glenwood Journal^ independent, published by W. O.
Forsythe.
War History
In early times the Sac and Fox Indians came to this county to hunt,
but their title was thrown aside by a treaty with the United States.
However, the early settlers permitted them to continue their annual hunts
here. In 1835 James Myers, who had settled on Bear creek in the south-
west part of the county, refused to give up the property. A fight fol-
lowed. Several Indians and two white men were killed. The white
men were driven back to Huntsville. Except for this one fight, the In-
dians and the settlers of Schuyler county lived peaceably together.
The Iowa war was an important one and peculiar in the fact that no
battles were fought and no lives were lost. It was a dispute as to the
boundary line between that part of the state of Missouri and Iowa. A
strip of territory about nine miles in width, between the Des Moines and
the Missouri rivers, was claimed by both states. A Missourian cut three
602 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
bee trees on this territory and was arrested. The difficulty was decided,
without bloodshed, favorable to Iowa.
The first great division of Schuyler county came with the outbreak
of the Civil war. In October, 1861, it was rumored that Col. David
Moore was at Memphis and was threatening Schuyler county. An em-
bassy was sent to entreat him not to enter Schuyler county. When they
arrived at Memphis they found that Colonel Moore had not arrived. They
then returned. In a short time Colonel Moore came to Memphis and on
the 24th of November he took possession of Lancaster. Capt. John McCul-
ley with his company of state guards took position the day before, a
half mile south of town for the purpose of forcing Colonel Moore back.
But the latter met with no opposition on his march through the city.
He sent out a foraging party to get hay for his horses. This party met
Captain McCulley and a skirmish took place, in which five people were
killed, among them Captain McCulley.
The spring of 1862 was a period of strong and profound excitement
on both sides of the vague and shifting line which divided the loyal
North from the misguided, but honest and brave men of the South. The
Civil war was now in full blast and the once quiet little towns and vil-
lages were crowded with Federal soldiers. From morning until night
could be heard the fife, the drum, the bugle call and the tramp of hun-
dreds of soldiers marching and drilling preparatory for active service in
the near future.
On Sunday, September 6,. 1862, a portion of Capt. Robert Maize's
company of the enrolled militia was stationed in Lancaster with a few
sentinels posted on the outskirts of the town. The guns of the company
and a few men were in the court room of the courthouse, but most of
the men of the company were sitting on the south side of the public
square and some were scattered elsewhere, all feeling that no enemy
was near. John McGoldrick, the enrolling officer, on his way *'up to
town,'' saw the enemy coming from the north just as he reached the
southwest corner of the public square. He waved his hat to the men
seated in the court-yard and ran to the courthouse, but was tired upon
before reaching it. He ran in the court-room and aroused the few
inmates and urged them to action. He was followed closely by Capt.
John Baker, who immediately took charge of the firing s(|uad. The
militia men on the south side of the courthouse, unarmed, fled south-
ward into the hollow for protection.
A force of the enemy, consisting of foot -soldiers, commanded by ( .'ai'-
tain Searcy, and mounted men, commanded by Captain Leeper, had
passed the sentinel at the northwest corner of town and liad nearly
reached the public square before they were discovered. On coming into
the scjuare they were fired upon from the windows of the eourt-rooiii
and thus checked in their advance. The firing continued for some time,
during which Edwin French, one of the men in the court-room, carried
water from his residence for his comrades who did the firing, thus
exposing himself to great danger. Finally, the enemy, finding their
attempt to defeat the men useless, left the town. There were only nine-
teen men, including Mr. French, in the court-room and they did all the
fighting on the Federal side.
A number of stores and farms in the county were confiscated during
the war. A large number of the county's people answered the call of
their nation and bravely gave their lives for the cause.
Elections were held at private houses in the different precincts in the
county in the early days. The voting was done by the work of mouth
There were no ballots. The law required the constable to cry the vote
at the window of the voting place in a loud voice, as the voter called
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 603
the name. The clerks registered the name of each voter and placed the
vote under the name of the man voted for.
Edwin French was the first representative to the legislature from
Schuyler county. He was elected twice, in 1846 and 1848.
Court Proceedings
The first term of the circuit court of Schuyler county was held in
April, 1846, beginning the ninth day. Judge Addison Reese was on the
bench; James R. Abemathy, of Macon county, circuit attorney; Jon-
athan Riggs, sheriff ; Isaac N. Eby, clerk ; and the following named attor-
neys were enrolled as members of the bar for Schuyler county: James
R. Abernathy, Thomas S. Richardson, James S. Green, James Ellison,
Levi J. Wagner, G. C. Thompson, Joseph Wilson, William R. Jones,
Samuel S. Fox, and Clare Oxley. James S. Green was afterward United
States senator and Thomas S. Richardson was circuit judge of this
district.
In July, 1846, the county court met for the first time in the new
courthouse. Prior to 1852 the office of county attorney did not exist.
In lieu thereof was a circuit attorney, representing the state in each
of the counties in his judicial circuit. The present county officers are :
Presiding judge of the county court, Green Drummond, Republican;
judge of the county court, northern district, L. Freeman, Demo-
crat ; judge of the county court, southern district, S. I\I. Swanson, Repub-
lican; judge of probate, C. M. York, Democrat; clerk of circuit court and
recorder, P. O. Sansberry, Democrat; clerk of the county court, W. A.
Geery, Democrat; prosecuting attorney, E. E. Fogle, Democrat; sheriff,
G. P. Hope, Democrat; collector, Spencer Mitchell, Democrat; assessor,
E. F. Harris, Democrat; treasurer, J. H. Green, Democrat; surveyor,
George Grist, Democrat.
Towns
The little town of Tippecanoe was established a number of^ years
before Schuyler county was organized and was the first town made in
the present county. The little village was situated about two and one-
half miles southeast of Lancaster on the land now owned by Lot Farris.
The town prospered for a number of years, but after Lancaster was
established, Tippecanoe began to go down and there are now no remains
of the once busy little town.
The business men of the community desired to establish a coupty
seat and two commissioners were appointed to select the location. They
met in 1845 in Tippecanoe at the home of John Jones, grandfather of
T. G. Neeley, who lives now in Lancaster, and selected the present loca-
tion. The site selected was bounded on the north by North street, on
the west by Linn street, on the south by Madison street, and on the east
by Liberty street. On June 16, 1845, Edwin French entered the land
thus chosen, as it was government land, and conveyed it to Schuyler
county for the location of the county seat. The county court at its
special term, June, 1845, made the following entry on its record: '* Or-
dered by the court that the seat of justice selected by the county of
Schuyler shall be known and called by the name of Lancaster.'' The
name was chosen by Robert S. Neeley in honor of his native town,
Lancaster, Ohio. Edwin French was appointed commissioner and was
ordered to lay off the site in squares, blocks, lots, streets, and alleys,
and to offer the lots for sale. The next commissioner was James Bryant,
who in turn was succeeded by William S. Thatcher.
604 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
At the July term of court, 1851, it was found that the full amount
derived from the sale of lots up to that date was $1,685. No consider-
able amount was ever afterward added to the fund, the valuable lots
having been nearly all sold.
Lancaster is nearly the highest point in the county. It is about one
hundred feet higher than Downing, which is a few miles to the east.
Good water is easily obtained by digging from ten to forty feet.
The first house built in Lancaster was a log cabin, built by Thomas
Bryant, in the southeast part of town just east of where Charles Decker's
house now stands. It was in this house in July, 1845, that the first
session of the county court was held in the established county seat.
One of the first store-buildings was built by James Bryant. It was
a log building and is still standing on the northeast corner of the square.
He also put up a hotel near the store.
Thomas McCormick was another early merchant; also William Bu-
ford and Shelton Orimes, who brought on a stock of goods and opened
a store. James Cochrane opened the first grocery store in the town in
a one-story, log house on the southeast corner of the square. Yelverton
Payton established a tanyard near where W. P. Hall's pond now is,
on what is known as the Charley Bunch farm. In 1848 Asa Leedom
settled in Lancaster and opened a tailor shop. Dr. Jason Brown, father
of Mrs. Charley Bunch, moved to Lancaster in 1856 and ** Uncle" George
Melvin, one of the oldest settlers, living at the present time and at one
time an efficient postmaster, moved to town in 1853. In 1856 Wesley
Parrell, father of Web and Dick Farrell and Mrs. George Grist, Lan-
caster citizens, came from Maryland and established a tanyard in the
south part of town near the railroad.
The first Fourth of July celebration was held in the year 1845, about
one-half mile north of the original town. The grove is now gone and
the land is now owned by Chas. Geery. Isaac N. Ebey, first circuit
clerk, delivered the oration. Dr. George W. Johnson read the Declara-
tion of Independence, William Blansett beat the drum, and all enjoyed
themselves.
Lancaster was incorporated by a special act of the legislature in 1857.
Queen City, on the Wabash Railroad, is about eight miles south of
Glen wood and four miles north of Green top. It was laid out in 1867
by George W. Wilson. The first house was built by Doctor Wilson and
the first hotel by Henry Bartlett. The town was incorporated July 18,
1870.
Downing is on the Keokuk & Western Railroad, three-fourths of a
mile from the eastern boundary of Schuyler county. The town was laid
out in 1872. In 1874 Doctor Petty 's drug store was burned, caused by
the explosion of a keg of powder which had been too near the fire.
Glenwood is situated on the Wabash Railroad about five miles south
of the state boundary line on the north and about two and one-half miles
west of Lancaster. It was laid out in 1868 by Stiles and Alexander
Forsha. The first dwelling house in the town was built by John B.
Glaze in October, 1868. A number of dwellings were built soon after
this. In 1869 a school house was built. In 1870 a large woolen factory
was built and started by Buford and Neeley. About the same time the
foundry and machine shop of Dunbar brothers was erected. The Glen-
wood mill burned in 1870. Glenwood was incorporated May 4, 1869.
Greentop is a village of Schuyler county, situated on the Wabash
Railroad about fourteen miles from Lancaster. The town was laid out
in 1855, and in 1857 a postoffice was established. Greentop is one of
the oldest towns in Schuyler county. It was incorporated in February,
1867.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 605
Coatsville is on the Wabash Railroad at the state line. The town
was laid out in 1869 by Alexander H. Wells, John B. Holbert, and James
T. Guinn. The town was incorporated February 8, 1870, with James
Dowis, J. F. Fenton, Joshua Simmons, J. A. Hughes, and John Bowling
as trustees.
The County Today
Schuyler is the third county west from the Mississippi river on the
northern tier of counties in the state of Missouri. It is bounded on the
north by Appanoose and Davis counties, Iowa ; on the east, by Scotland
county ; on the south by Adair ; and on the west by the Chariton river,
which separates it from Putnam county. In form it is nearly square.
Its area is about 320 square miles or 205,000 acres. It varies in its
surface features from the broken to rolling and even flat land. In the
northern part of the county the rolling character seems to predominate.
The southeastern corner of the county is broken, rising into rough
ridges and hills in the vicinity of streams and extending a considerable
distance on each side of them. Most of the broken land lies near the
Chariton river. Lancaster is perhaps nearly the highest point in the
county.
The greater part of the county is lightly timbered with oak in most
of its varieties, common and scaly bark, hickory, elm, black walnut, ash,
haw, crab apple, wild cherry, hazel, sumac, etc.
The county produces a great amount of wooL It ranks among the
first in this production. Also a great amount of livestock is produced.
CHAPTER XXX
SCOTLAND COUNTY
By L, P. Roberts, Memphis
Territory and Population
What is now known as Scotland county was originally a part of the
territory known as Lewis county, the latter being organized in 1832.
The present boundaries of Scotland county are as follows : Bounded on
the north by the state of Iowa, on the south by Knox county, on the
east by Clark county and on the west by Schuyler and Adair counties.
The east line of the county lies about twenty-eight miles west of the
Mississippi river, and Memphis, the county seat, is about forty miles
distant fi:om the city of Keokuk, Iowa.
The territory embraced within the boundaries of this county is
about twenty-three miles scjuare, or 529 square miles. This, which is
only approximately correct, means 338,560 acres of land, most of which
is tillable and very fertile. The population of Scotland county accord-
ing to the census of 1910 is given at 11,869, which is about 1,400 less
than it was in 1900.
Organization — County Seat
By an act of the general assembly approved January 29, 1841, that
part of Lewis county known as Benton township was set apart as a sep-
arate county and was duly organized for civil and military purposes.
Benton township included the present territory of Scotland county,
together with a strip of the north part of Knox county from east to
west and six miles wide.
Under the terms of the legislative action referred to, the governor
of Missouri was authorized to appoint the first officers of the county.
Accordingly the following were appointed as county judges: Hugh
Henry, Joseph DaVis and William Anderson. The other officers ap-
pointed were: Jaraes L. Jones, sheriff and ex officio collector; Allen Tate,
county clerk; and Henry C. Asbury, assessor.
It seems that while the center of the county, geographically, lay north
of where the first county seat was located, yet the center of population
in the earliest days of the county's history was near the town of Sand
Hill. This was, and is yet, only a small village, but in an early time
was considered quite an important trading point. However, the first
term of the county court ever held, was called at Sand Hill, and several
terms thereafter were held at that place. Hugh Henry was by common
consent of his associates on the bench made presiding judge. This court
was held the 7th, 8th and 9th of February, 1842.
Volume I, of the records of the county court is now on file in the
606
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST mSSOURI 607
vault at the oflSce of County Clerk Walter B. Scott, in Memphis. The
accuracy with which the records were kept at that time is almost a
marvel. Inasmuch as the state of Missouri was then a comparatively
new commonwealth and at the same time educational advantages of the
pioneers being limited, Clerk Tate's record was considered a model in
its day. But Mr. Tate was a fine scribe and the written pages in that old
book stand out as a monument of the care and accuracy with which this
man did his work. The spacing was almost as nearly perfect as the
printed page and the lettering was such as to excite the admiration of
later generations, who have grown to regard good penmanship as a lost
art.
One of the transactions recorded in this book was where fifty dollars
of school money .was loaned to a citizen of the county at a rate of ten
per cent interest per annum. The rate of interest was so large that in
this day it would be considered usury to demand so much. They could
not secure a borrower now at such a rate, because of the fact that plenty
of money can be secured at a much lower rate of interest.
Elections had been held in the county some years before its organ-
ization. A writer of contemporary history says the first election held
in Benton township was in August, 1835. Sand Hill was the polling
place and the territory was the same as described heretofore. While
the northern portion of the county was then but sparsely settled, it is
probable that one-third of those casting their votes at that election lived
in the six mile strip that was afterwards made a part of Knox county.
In view of the great increase in the population since that time it will
be interesting to note that only fifty-two votes were cast in this election
at Sand Hill, which was the precinct for so large a territory.
The first postmaster of Sand Hill was Robert Smith, a man who was
prominent in the later history of the county, and whose name frequently
appears in the public records. The first store in the place was conducted
by James L. Jones, the man who was afterwards appointed sheriff and
collector of the county. Sand Hill gave promise of growing into an
important industrial center, but circumstances were such that these
prospective developments were never realized. On the organization of
Knox county, the six miles to the south were taken from Scotland county
and the county seat had to be moved to a place more centrally located.
Even the postolBce was taken away, giving place to the modern rural
delivery route, and today Sand Hill gets all of its mail from the town
of Rutledge, that is situated not far distant on the Santa Fe Railroad.
One of the earlier settlements of the county was Edinburg, which is
not far from the south line of the county. This once thriving place has
likewise been supplanted by towns that have sprung up along the lines
of railroad and grown to larger proportions. In the year 1836 HoUiday
& Eskridge started a store at Edinburg. In July of that year Mt. Pleas-
ant township was organized by dividing Benton township so as to cut
off a strip of ten miles width to the west. At the presidential election
held in 1840, 150 votes were cast in Mt. Pleasant township alone, which
was but a small portion of the former township of Benton. It is thus
seen that the thinly settled district of five years before was fast filling
up with people.
In these early days, Indians were quite numerous in and around
Edinburg and the store there was the rendezvous for the wily red man.
The husky natives came frequently for the purpose of hunting, racing
and other sports. *^0n one occasion, *' says George T. Collins, **a com-
pany of * bucks and squaws' imbibed too freely and became boisterous.
Passing to the southwest between Tobin creek and the Fabius, they
began to create some uneasiness on the part of the white settlers who
608 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
thought it best to watch their movements. Accordingly they kept three
watchers in a position where they would be unobserved. The band went
into camp near Middle Fabius. In their drunken revelry one of their
number bound another with a cord. When the latter was released he
was so enraged that he seized his rifle and shot down the other. Immedi-
ately all the guns in the camp were fired — it is said — as a precaution
against further bloodshed.''
By an act of the general assembly, passed and approved in the year
1843, a commission was created for the purpose of locating a permanent
seat of justice for the county of Scotland. This commission was com-
posed of Obediah Dickerson, John Lear and Matthew Givens. They held
a meeting at Sand Hill, which was then the county seat, and during
their deliberations, were offered several different tracts of land, notable
of which was a tract near the Thomas H. Smith farm, southeast of
Memphis, that was then offered by John C. Collins, and the Rev. Jlr.
Smith, Thomas Smith's father. But the commissioners did not think
it was a suitable site for a town, and finally decided on the place where
Memphis now stands, as being less than a mile northwest of the geo-
graphical center of the county and of easy access to all of the people.
Samuel Cecil donated a tract containing fifty acres of ground, the
commissioners securing title thereto by a deed that was subsequently
executed by Samuel Cecil and his wife. This instrument was signed
on the 19th day of September, 1843. It was approved by the circuit
court at its next session. George Woods was by the county court ap-
pointed as a commissioner to lay off the land into blocks and lots and to
locate a public square near the center of the tract, to be preserved for
the permanent seat of justice. J. F. Forman was employed to make the
survey and mark off the lots. This preliminary work having been ac-
complished, a sale of the lots was ordered; From the sale of lots the
county realized something more than four thousand dollars, and this
money was expended in the erection of public buildings to be used for
county offices and as places to hold court.
There have been three court houses built in Memphis. The first build-
ing used for that purpose was erected near the northeast comer of the
public square. In 1856 the first courthouse in the center of the S(|uare
was erected at a cost of $10,000. Levi J. Wagner was appointed by the
county court as superintendent of construction.
The first county jail and jailer's residence was built in 1850. This,
like the court house, was a brick building and answered the purposes for
which it was intended many years. Subsequently two wings were added
to the court house, and were built fire proof, for use as vaults for the
safe keeping of the public records.
Early in the year 1907, the court house that had stood the tests of
time for a half century and answered the purpose of a seat of justice,
showed signs of decay and as the walls were badly cracked, an expert
was employed to make an examination and pass upon its safety. R. H.
Phillips, a civil engineer of St. Louis, came and looked over the building
and in his report, which was supplemented by the reports ot others,
declared the building unsafe. Thereupon the court was petitioned by
taxpayers to order an election for the purpose of voting bonds for the
building of a new court house. Prior to this time, however, the offices,
together with the records, were removed to a building on the east side of
the square, known as the Bence building and all the county business was
transacted there. The election was held, and the vote of the people of the
county gave the required two-thirds and many votes to spare. The bonds
were registered and sold and the contract was awarded to the Falls City
Construction Company, of Louisville, Kentucky, at the price of fifty
thousand dollars.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST .MISSOURI 609
The building, which was completed late in the year 1908, is a large
stone veneered structure, having ample room, and vaults of fire proof
construction, that it is believed will answer the purposes intended for
a long number of years.
The county court at the time the old court house was condemned
was composed of John H. Barker, William R. Matlick and George Struble.
At the time the bonds were voted and the building erected the county
court was composed of Judge Walter S. Hickerson, William R. Matlick
and J. S. Crawford.
City of ^Iemphis
Memphis, the county seat of Scotland county, in point of popu-
lation, is the metropolis. The population of Memphis, according to
the census of 1910, was 1,984. It is faiown, however, to have two or three
hundred more than that in 1912, as this is written. This fact is ascer-
tained because there are no houses of any consequence that are vacant.
When the census enumerator was around there were about a hundred va-
cant houses in the city. Since the town was originally laid out there
have been fourteen additions to the town, now city, of Memphis. This
was necessary in order to accommodate the growing population. The
first house built within the present limits of the city of Memphis was
erected in 1835 (before the town was platted) by Burton Tompkins.
This was a log house and stood near the present site of the K.& W. depot.
The first hotel was built by Harry Baker, deceased. This was near the
southeast corner of the square. Another hotel was soon built just west
of Townsend's wagon factory, by Andrew Lovell. This was a frame
structure. The public square in the earliest days of the town's existence
was surrounded mainly by frame or log buildings. Subsequently and
after the town got a new charter and was classed as a city, the council
passed an ordinance forbidding the erection of buildings out of combus-
tible materials, at or near the public square. This ordinance has been
so long in force that now there only two frame buildings on the square.
Memphis has two fine school buildings. One of these, a grammar
school in the north ward, was erected in 1900 at a cost of five thousand
dollars. The other is the high school, a handsome structure of fire proof
construction, that was built in the year 1910, at a cost of twenty thousand
dollars. This building is a monument to the progressive spirit of the
people of the city of Memphis. Parents feel secure when their children
are so comfortably and safely housed. It may be added here that the
high school of lilemphis has been built up to a school of the first class.
The curriculum has been approved by the State University, and the
Memphis high school articulates with the University. The last time
the examiner from the state institution visited Memphis the school was
advanced to seventeen units. Under this arrangement students who grad-
uate here in the full course can enter the freshman class in the State
University without further examinations. The faculty of the high school
now is as follows : superintendent. Professor A. 0. Moore ; history. Miss
Essie McQuoid ; English, Miss Cox ; Latin and German, Miss Ella Shaw ;
principal of the high school, Lloyd King.
The grade teachers for the coming term are the following: At the
South school, blisses McWilliams, Mudd, Critz, Bumbarger, and Jackson.
North school — F. 6. Mason, principal ; Mrs. Reckard, Misses Gutman and
Knight.
The business houses of Memphis are all well kept. There are many
fine plate glass fronts and attractive windows. Some of the large stores
here have fine displays of merchandise and they would be a credit to
many a city of five to ten thousand population. Memphis draws
Vol. 1— 8>
610 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST [MISSOURI
trade from a large territory on the north, south, east and west, and her
business men, in the main, are quite prosperous. The churches repre-
sented here are the Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, M. E. South,
Baptist and Christian. The churches all maintain strong organizations,
have Sunday schools, and all have pastors, except the Baptist church,
whose minister recently resigned to accept similar work elsewhere. The
resident pastors now are Rev. C. H. Morton, of the First Presbyterian
church ; Rev. H. G. Waggoner, of the Christian church ; Rev. C. V. Lan-
ius, of the M. E. Church South ; and Rev. George Sturgis, of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church.
Since the organization of the town, there have been various news-
paper enterprises launched. The Memphis Conservative was a paper
established in 1866 by John Gharkey. The Reveille was established
September 9, 1865 by Lem Shields and G. A. Henry, two Federal sol-
diers who had lately returned from the Civil war. The editors of the
Reveille at successive stages of its history were: S. R. Peters, John A.
McGrindley, Cy W. Jamison, James Gillespie, and present proprietors,
W. W. and H. G. Gillespie, sons of the late James Gillespie. The Re-
veille has steadfastly advocated the principles of the Republican party
since its beginning. It is a weekly publication and a six column quarto.
The Memphis Democrat was established in the autumn of 1873 by
Samuel Dysert. This paper has been under the guidance of the follow-
ing persons since that time : James Donnelly, McDowell & Burch, Felix
Lane, J. C. Kirby, Eugene P. Moore, S. A. Allen, Colonel M. A. Bates,
Dr. J. C. Gristy, and the present editors and proprietors, Roberts &
Bumbarger.
The National was established June 1, 1882, by C. W. Sevier, but did
not long continue publication. At various times other newspapers, the
Standard, by Colonel Bates; the Daily Chronicle, by J. W. Bence, and
other minor publications, have been published in Memphis.
A business directory of the city of Memphis at the present time is
as follows: Citizens Bank, G. E. Leslie, president; A. B. Hirsh, ladies'
clothing; Ben Morris, hardware and implements; E. F. Bertram, dry
goods; Barnes Building (under construction) ; Miller Mercantile Com-
pany, dry goods, clothing and millinery; Clarkson Brothers, groceries;
J. E. Mount, hardware ; M. L. Jackson Estate, general department store ;
J. H. Mulch, furniture and undertaking; Simon Saddlery Company,
harness and saddles; D. R. Brown, drugs and notions; Bertram & Bal-
low, groceries; A. E. McQuoid, groceries; W. B. McLane, jewelry;
Taylor Brothers, restaurant; Davis & Hockett, meat market; Jeffries
Brothers, barbers ; D. W. Payne, furniture and undertaking ; J. E. John-
son, photographer; E. Walsh, tailor; W. I. Humbert, meat market;
Farmers Exchange Bank, John R. Hudson, cashier; W. P. Briggs &
Son, garage, implements, and grain elevator; Otis Goodenough, photog-
rapher ; W. C. Chew, house furnishings and musical instruments ; Thomas
J. Baird, restaurant; Courtney Brothers, barbers; Thomas Naggs, bak-
er>' ; George Bratz, shoemaker ; Frank Harkness, shoe store ; Isaac Royer,
shoemaker; Memphis Hotel, Wm. Newman, proprietor; Hotel Barber
Shop ; Dr. Givens, drugs ; Hanzel & Garrett, meat market ; A. G. Craig,
flour and feed; Ed. Driscoll, pool hall; Williams Brothers, restaurant;
Oyler & Son, groceries; W. C. Clement, hardware; C. A. Qerhold, har-
ness and saddles; Scotland County National Bank, R. M. Barnes,
cashier; Cone & Davidson, barbers; A. Ammerman, grocery; Zumsteg
Brothers, drugs; G. D. Dawson, druggist; Memphis Clothing Company,
clothing and gents furnishings ; T. H. Wiegner, lumber ; A. P. Patterson,
dry goods; The New Store; Memphis Democrat; Memphis Reveille ;
John Holley, real estate; J. J. Townsend & Son, wagons and buggies;
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST illSSOURI 611
John Klotzer, harness; Memphis Telephone Exchange, Dr. J. J. Risk,
proprietor; Dougla$ & Prather, blacksmiths and wagon makers; Martin
Humphrey, monuments, etc. ; Merritt 's Mill ; Myers, Moore & Company,
manufacturers of brick and tile; C. H. Byrne, news stand; McHenry
Brothers, livery; J. A. Cassingham, livery, dray and coal; Mrs. Minnie
E. Bence, music school; W. W. Eckman, lumber; T. C. Tulley, jeweler;
T. H. Warwick, plumber; W. O. Tucker, barber; Memphis Produce
Company, Steeples & Adams, proprietors; John Scott & Sons, building
contractors; Clark & Davis, livery; D. C. Morgan, coal; Mrs. H. B.
Dougherty, hotel; Drs. J. E. and E. E. Parrish, A. E. Platter, P. M.
Baker, Prank Givens, W. E. H. Bondurant, W. E. Alexander, 6. F.
Foster, J. D. Skidmore, all M. D's. ; Drs. J. A. Grow, Benson and Mabie,
Osteopaths; Dentists — L. E. Hudson, N. A. Thompson & Son, J. A.
Curtis, Simpson Grow, L. C. Pitkin ; Real estate — Witty & McCandless ;
Shacklett & Combs; J. H. Watkins; Insurance — C. F. Sanders, W. L.
Scott, H. H. Jones, F. C. Reddish; Attorneys — Judge E. R. McKee,
J. M. Jayne, Pettingill & Luther, J. H. Watkins, H. V. Smoot, J. M.
Doran — ^W. L. Scott, H. H. Jones, Judge Elias Scofield, Major
R. D. Cramer, J. W. Bence, H. A. Miller, R. W. Campbell, W. B. Scott,
A. H. Pitkin.
Some of the business men of Memphis in its early history were:
H. Gorin, Paxton & Hudson, Charles Mety, William G. Downing, Dud-
ley Webber and John Crook. Several manufacturing enterprises have
been carried on in the town at various periods, such as the making of
furniture, flour and cigars. One of the late manufacturing enterprises
that in its day did a large export business was Rees Brothers' Handle
Factory. This factory furnished employment for a good many men
and boys, but the scarcity of timber made it necessary for this enterprise
to close its doors.
Memphis has a large brick and tile factory that furnishes employ-
ment for a good many men. This is conducted by Myers, Moore &
Company, and employs twenty-five men through the brick making season.
There is now (July, 1912) under consideration the establishment
of a button factory, which it is claimed by the promoters will furnish
employment for about one hundred men. The money to be raised by
the business men of the town to insure the starting of this factory is
about all subscribed, and it is believed the factory is an assured fact.
The city of Memphis at this time has the following officers : Mayor, '
Dr. E. Brainerd; city clerk, Earl McDaniel; marshal and street com-
missioner, Sam Dauma; night watchman, Milt Palmer; aldermen, J. C.
Woodsmall, A. Ammerman, L. E. Courtney and J. L. Houtz; city at-
torney, J. M. Doran.
Gorin
Gorin is second in size among the towns of Scotland county. Gorin
was started in 1886 and 1887, about the time the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railroad was completed. The place has grown to be an im-
portant commercial center, located as it is, on one of the most gigantic
and best equipped railroad systems in America, which within the past
five years has completed the double tracking of the entire distance be-
tween Chicago and Kansas City. Gorin has had a healthy growth — ^not
a mushroom boom — ^but the kind of growth that is substantial and will
last. The population by the census of 1910, of Gorin and South Gorin
combined was 830, which is more than double what it was ten years
before. Within the borders of this enterprising town are a number of
important enterprises.
612 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
A few years ago the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, a portion of
the Standard Oil corporation, put in a pipe line along the right-
of-way of the Santa Fe Railroad and established one of its pumping sta-
tions at Gorin. This is a big concern and furnishes employment to a
number 6f men.
In the year 1907, the Gorin school district voted bonds to build a
new and commodious school house, the contract price of which was
$7,500. The district employs four teachers for the grades and high
school, having adopted a two years' course in the latter.
Gk)rin has four churches, namely: The Christian, Methodist Epis-
copal Church South, Baptist and Cumberland Presbyterian. The citi-
zens are a live and progressive people and they look well to their religious
and educational interests.
The business directory of the town is as follows: Shibley Brothers,
general store; Williams & Estell, druggists; J. A. Guiles, harness and
saddles; Irwin & Company, hardware; Steve Harker, meat market; W.
P. Piles, postmaster, restaurant; Henry Beckman, groceries; Charles
Kiefer, meat market; Southern Hotel; Guiles & Ewing, Hotel Savoy:
Harry Ratherf ord, implements and buggies ; Gorin Savings Bank, Henry
Weber, cashier; Greeno & Ewing, bakery and restaurant; Lafe Trotter,
restaurant, pool room; Piles & Company, barbers; Citizens Bank, Roy
Myers, cashier ; Gorin Argus, a weekly newspaper edited by Roy Sharts
& Son ; Fred Gerth, furniture and undertaking ; Abe Gardner, hardware ;
Piper & Eraus, drugs ; A. D. Way, clothing ; Powers & Kraus, grocery ;
Mrs. Maud Hays, millinery; A. W. Richardson, racket store; Walter
Smith, livery ; Thomas Brothers, automobiles ; Haff & Sons, blacksmiths ;
etc.
One of the earliest mayors Gorin ever had was W. L. C. Ratherford,
a pioneer of the town, who located there a short time after the Santa
Fe was built. He established a wagon and buggy factory and after
conducting a shop there several years, put in a stock of buggies and
farming implements. Associated with him in business were his two
sons, Harry and William. Since the death of his father, Harrj' has been
conducting the business at the old stand. The present mayor is J. A.
Guiles. Stephen Harker is the city marshal.
RUTLEDGE
Next in size and importance among the towns of Scotland county is
Rutledge. This place, like Gorin, was brought into existence by the loca-
tion of the Santa Fe Railroad. Soon after the town was laid out Edwin
L. Hilbert established a newspaper which under the name of the Record
he continued to publish for a number of years. He sold the plant, which
has since that time had a checkered career. It was owned and conducted
at one time by Lyman Westcott. Another publisher was ]Mr. Bounds,
now deceased. After the death of Mr. Bounds the paper was for a time
suspended, but resumed publication about a year ago under the man-
agement of E. T. Barnes, who is still engaged in the publication of
the paper.
A. E. McQuoid, now a grocery merchant of Memphis, was one of the
fii'st men to conduct a general store at Rutledge. The present business
directory of Rutledge is as follows : Albert Green, hotel ; Neely Mercan-
tile Company, general store; Mrs. George Parcells, general store; J. R.
Comley, furniture; Walter Wingerter, hardware; Lou Rose, hardware:
W. P. Rule, drugs ; Petty & Petty, drugs ; Tom Bone, blacksmith ; Mart
Smith, machinist ; W. J. Taylor, lumbenuau : Gale Myers, pool hall and
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI' 613
restaurant; Frank Smith, grain dealer; Gunnel, Bertran ^ Buford, real
estate; Bank of Rutledge, D. J. Buford, cashier.
In religious matters Rutledge stands well among the towns of the
county, these denominations being represented: Christian, Methodist
Episcopal Church South, Baptist, and Holiness. The people of the town
are believers in education and have put their belief into practice by
building up their school to a high standard for a town no larger than
Rutlecige. Some months ago the citizens of this community voted
bonds to the amount of $7,500 for the erection of a brick schoolhouse,
containing ample room and equipment for the needs of the district for
many years to come. The corner stone of this neat structure was laid
by the ^lasonie fraternity, June 12, 1912, when members of that order
from all over the county attended and participated in the ceremonies.
The population of Rutledge according to the census of 1910 was 418,
a gain of 126 over the census of 1900. It has grown to be quite an im-
portant trading point, and is surrounded by a rich farming community.
Granger
Granger is a clean little town on the Burlington Railroad twelve
miles east of Memphis. Its population in 1910 was not given in the
census report, but there must be from 150 to 200 people living there.
The town was incorporated June 3d, 1912, when an application to the
county court signed by nearly all the residents of the place was filed.
At the same time the court made Granger a voting precinct. Previously
the voters of that community had to go to Arbela to cast their votes, that
place being in Thomson township also. Granger stands on a high
prairie, in the center of a vast area of fertile farming land. Heretofore
the government of the town was along the lines of the ordinary village.
All power was vested in the county and township organization. Since the
town was incorporated — June, 1912 — ^there have been five trustees of the
place, and the chairman of the board of trustees is by virtue of his
oflSce, mayor of the town. The first trustees of the town were: J. A.
Graham, Dr. J. L. Statler, J. L. Witt, Richard Lewis, and Z. N. Kennett.
The first chairman the board had was Richard Lewis. The business
directory of Granger is the following: J. A. Graham, general store;
R. C. McEldowney, general store; Farwell & Adams, hardware; U. S.
G. Foster, general store; Granger Exchange Bank, J. L. Witt, cashier;
Richard Lewis, groceries; Arthur Steeples, meat market; R. L. Fair-
brother, druggist; barber shop; Harve Cline, restaurant; Pryor House,
hotel ; Captain Hyatt, hotel ; Friend Allen, blacksmith ; Harry Franklin,
livery; Dr. J. L. Statler, physician and surgeon. Granger, by reason
of its location and natural advantages, bids fair to become a very im-
portant business center and to show up much larger by the census of
1920 than it is now.
Arbei^a
Arbela is located on the Keokuk & Western branch of the Burling-
ton Railroad nine miles east of Memphis, and also in Thomson township.
The original survey of this town, then called North Perryville, was made
March 24, 1858, by Thomas Russell. Afterward, the town of Arbela,
lying south of and including the southern part of North Perryville, was
surveyed and laid out, but when and by whom the record does not state.
The original town was at one time called ** Burnt Church.*' The town,
as now constituted contains the following business enterprises: C. H.
Overhulser, general store ; A. W. Tucker, general merchandise ; Hamilton,
postmaster and hardware ; Dr. A. L. Davis, physician and surgeon, and
614 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
drugs; A. J. Robinson, lumber and grain; Nere, blacksmith. The
churches of the town are three in number — the Methodist, Christian
and Baptist. Arbela has a very good school and employs two teachei*8.
Arbela's population is 131.
Crawford
On the Burlington Railroad the village of Crawford is also situated,
being about six miles west of Memphis, the county seat. Crawford has
two general stores, one church and a schoolhouse.
Other villages of the county that are not on any railroad are : Bible
Grove, in the southwest part of the county ; Energy, in the western part
of the county ; Killwinning and Hitt, in the northwest part ; Azen and
Brock, in the north part; Law^n Ridge, near the center; Etna, in the
southeast. Since the advent of the rural delivery of mail these villages
have all disposed of their postofSces and their inhabitants receive mail
at their doors.
The Bonded Debt
The history of the bonded debt of Scotland county is much like that
of many other communities, in that the indebtedness is closely identified
with the building of the railroads of the county. There was one rail-
road only partly built, however, for which the county was never held
responsible for the bonds. This is due to the fact that a proviso was
wisely inserted, making the result of an election null and void unless
the road should be completed and running trains before said bonds could
be issued. This came about in the year 1860, when a petition largely
signed by resident tax payers of the county, was presented to the county
court praying that an election be ordered for the purpose of ascertain-
ing whether the citizens of the county were in favor of taking $100,000
stock in the proposed Mississippi & Missouri River Airline Railroad,
which was then in course of construction from Canton, Missotlri, in a
northwesterly direction. The election was accordingly ordered (Justice
Thomson dissenting), to be held September 17, 1860. The result was
that the election carried, but it was conditioned as aforesaid, stipulating
that construction should proceed to a point six miles northwest of
Memphis. Henry M. Gorin was appointed by the county court as the
agent of the county. The company at the back of the project having
failed within the stipulated time to complete the railroad as stipulated.
Mr. Gorin recommended that the county's interest in it be revoked,
which was done in August, 1868.
In the year 1870, however, when the construction of the Missouri,
Iowa & Nebraska Railroad was being agitated in this section of the state,
a large petition was presented to the county court asking that body to
subscribe $200,000 to the capital stock of said company. This also was
conditioned on the construction and operation of the road through
Memphis, the county seat, and thence to a point six miles west thereof.
This stock was to be payable in county bonds due twenty-five years
from date, with interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum. This
petition was headed by Charles ^lety, H. H. Downing, H. A. Montgomeiy,
David Guinn, R. P. Wayland, et al — 1365 in all — and a remonstrance
almost as large as the petition was headed by Levi J. Wagner. Prior
to the delivery of the bonds, which had been ordered by the court, an
injunction suit was instituted by Levi J. Wagner, et al, against Charles
IMety and other officers of the county to restrain them and prevent the
delivery of the bonds. The case was not brought to an issue, however,
nor a decision reached until long after the bonds had been delivered.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 615
The cause was continued from time to time and finally taken to Shelby
county on change of venue, and was tried before Judge John T. Redd,
who decided in favor of plaintiffs, that the bonds were illegal and void
and ordered them returned to and destroyed by the Scotland county
court. Attorneys for the railroad company got the case taken to the
federal court and there secured the reversal of the decision of Judge
Redd. John D. Smoot, the prosecuting attorney of Scotland county,
filed a motion praying the court to set aside certain orders pertaining
to the bonds. This litigation continued for several years. The seeming
conflict between the statutes of Missouri and the federal laws could not
be settled. Meantime, in the year 1881, the members of the county
court, acting under the state law, were taken up by the federal author-
ities for contempt of court. These judges were the late Judge Ben F.
Bourn, E. E. Sparks and Judge Riley Gale. Judge Treat of the federal
court, caused them to be arrefSted and placed in the jail at St. Louis for
a term of three months. Finally a compromise was agreed upon. Mean-
while the costs of the litigation and accumulated interest on the bonds
had grown to be nearly as large as the face of the bonds. But since
that compromise was reached, a sixty cent levy has been made each
year, by the county court, and at this time (July, 1912) a debt of nearly
$400,000 has been reduced to about $145,000. Each year a large part
of the interest fund is transferred to the sinking fund and paid on the
original bonds. It is estimated that at the present rate of reduction in
seven or eight years the railroad bonds will all be paid.
Schools and Churches
The proper training of the children has long since been considered
a duty characteristic of the people of Scotland county. As in other
counties the sale of government lands set apart for school purposes, es-
tablished a nucleus of a fund from which the early settlers derived
some funds to carry on the country schools in a crude way. It is claimed
that Judge John C. Collins, father of George T. Collins, taught the first
school in the county. This school was held in the vicinity of what was
later called Edinburg. William G. Downing, once a prominent citizen of
Memphis, who afterwards held the state oflSce of railroad and warehouse
commissioner, was among the earliest teachers of Scotland county. In
1841 he taught school in the Smoot neighborhood eight miles west of
Memphis, tVe place being styled **Pulltight'* district.
Although the public school system was only crudely developed in
those early times, they managed, by the use of the small public fund in
addition to paying a small tuition, to pay the teachers from fifteen to
twenty dollars per month, which was considered fair remuneration, in
view of the scarcity of money.
But with the increase in population came improved methods of se-
curing a fund as well as improved methods of teaching the ' 'young idea
how to shoot.** Township and district organizations were formed and
annual elections were held for the purpose of making a levy sufficiently
large to maintain better schools for a longer period of time, and at the
same time pay large enough salaries to justify teachers to adequately
prepare themselves.
Under the now law of Missouri recfuiring counties to have a super-
intendent whose time is all taken with the work of visiting the schools
and making suggestions for their improvement, the schools of Scotland
county have made great advancement. County Superintendent I. M.
Horn has taken hold of this work in a manner that is showing results'
The rural schools are being graded up under his supervision, so that all
616 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the schools pursue the same course up to the eighth grade during each
school term of six to eight months. Annual examinations are held at
all of the approved schools, and the pupils passing the eighth grade
requirement are entitled to enter any high school in the state as fresh-
men. This forms a correlation of the country schools with the city high
schools, just as these city high schools correlate with the State University.
Superintendent Horn is industriously engaged in bringing about the
best results from this model arrangement. In May, 1912, of the number
of rural pupils taking the examination in the eighth grade, eighty-seven
earned satisfactory grades and were promoted to the high school. For
such pupils, commencement exercises are held annually at the county
seat, when the superintendent gives them their certificates.
There are seventy-two rural school districts in Scotland county,
besides the independent district of Memphis.
While there is no college in the county at this time, the high schools
maintain such high standards that any ambitious pupil completing a
high school course has become so enthused with the possibilities of an
education that he is not satisfied without going up higher, if such a
thing is possible for him. !Much stress is placed on music in Scotland
county, and there are not a few boys and girls who develop to a high
degree their talents in this line of learning.
Along with the development of the educational interests, the religious
nature of citizens of Scotland county has in no wise been neglected.
Within the boundaries of the county many church organizations are
maintained, and most of them hold regular stated services. Rev. Mr.
Smith, an early Methodist preacher, is said to have started the Methodist
organization in the county. Rev. James M. Lillard, of Lewis county,
organized the Baptist church at Edinburg on the 12th of May, 1838,
Jesse Stice, who settled near Bible Grove in 1834, wrote before his death
of the organization of a Christian church in 1836 under the preaching of
Elder J. White, of Howard county. The Presbyterian church at Mem-
phis was organized in 1844 by Rev. Joseph Anderson, the father of
Judge John C. Anderson, former circuit judge of this circuit. The
Cumberland Presbyterian church in this county was organized in 1840
by Rev. Mr. Briggs and others. The Methodist, Christian, Baptist,
Cumberland Presbyterian, Southern Presbyterian, United Brethren,
Catholic, Holiness and other churches are well represented all over
Scotland county. The Catholic and Holiness churches are the weakest
in point of numerical strength.
The Civil War
From 1861 to 1865, the period of the Civil war, Scotland county was
a place from which many recruits were gotten, both for the Confederacy
and for the Union. In those troublous times animosities were engen-
dered that continued for a long time after the end of hostilities. The
most troublous event, however, in that period was in 1862. The Federals
had some men imprisoned at Memphis who were known to have been in
sympathy with the Confederate cause. On the second day of July, 1862,
Colonel Joseph C. Porter and his regiment entered Memphis, and caused
the Confederates held here to be released. He also took several prison-
ers from here that were affiliated on the opposite side. From here he
proceeded to Henry H. Downing 's residence eight miles west of Mem-
phis. Here the execution of Dr. Aylward took place, he being hanged
to a tree. Some of Porter ^s men, who were great admirers of the gallant
leader, claim that the Colonel never knew of this execution. After rest-
ing there for the night. Porter's command proceeded to Pearce's Mill.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 617
Crossing the bridge near the mill they marched up on the hill on the
south side of the creek and entrenched themselves just over the brow of
the hill, safe from the view of the road. Colonel Porter had information
that a regiment far superior to his own in point of numbers and equip-
ment was in pursuit. The Union regiment was known as Merrill's
Horse. While Porter's men were thus entrenched, he sent Lucien Dur-
kee and another man back toward the bridge to decoy the enemy into
the trap. They soon came along and wounded Durkee slightly, but he ran
into the brush and escaped. When Merrill's Horse ascended Vassar
Hill they knew not the fate that was in wait for them. But when they
advanced within easy range, Porter's men opened fire, mowing the front
rank down as with a giant scythe. Colonel Clopper, the Union com-
mander, ordered a retreat; but after resting they renewed the charge.
Seven times they charged on Porter and his men, but were repulsed with
heavy losses every time. The Federal losses were eighty-five killed and
a large number wounded. Porter lost two men killed and about a half
dozen wounded. This battle, which was the only important engagement
in Scotland county during the Civil war, is described in detail in a book
written by Dr. Joseph A. Mudd, now of Hyattsville, Maryland, who was
an officer in Porter's command. The book is entitled, **With Porter in
North Missouri, ' ' and it seems to be a fair and impartial account of the
military activities of that time.
Major Shacklett, who it is believed succeeded at one time in capturing
General Grant, but released him on his word of honor, was also a resident
of Scotland county, Missouri.
Agriculture
It has been intimated before that Scotland county is pre-eminently
an agricultural community. The rich, black soil, of the broad prairies
is highly productive of corn, oats, wheat, timothy and clover. The
prairies and wooded fringe along the several small streams alike, produce
as tall blue grass as grows anywhere on the face of the earth. The bot-
tom lands along the Wyaconda, North Fabius, Tobin creek and other
smaller streams are especially fertile. Com on these bottoms has been
known to yield as much as seventy-five to one hundred bushels to the
acre.
While the land is thus productive, there is very little surplus grain
and hay shipped out of the county. Our farmers prefer to raise stock,
and good stock at that, and ship the products out on the hoof. Conse-
quently most of the corn, hay and oats are fed right here in the county.
In the early history of the county, farming and stock raising was
carried on in rather a crude manner. Almost any kind of an animal
suited the average farmer thirty years ago. But now this is not so.
Farmers are buying the best pedigreed stock and thus improving their
herds. Among the breeders who are keeping pedigreed stock of super-
ior quality are the following: Joseph Miller & Sons, F. L. Davis, T. R.
Sanders, J. L. Sanders, M. Billups, J. M. Lockhart, William McClellan,
Evan Jones, A. C. Cowell, Harvey T. Drake, D. W. Burns, John Wolf,
fine cattle; John R. Hudson-, Shetland ponies; J. E. Gray. William Hart-
man, A. D. Walker, Moore Brothers, James Harker,.Matt Moffett, horses;
C. B. Walker, J. L. Tennant, Rice & Leslie and others, sheep; G. E.
Leslie, Newell Cone, B. F. Moore, Arthur Dawson and many others,
breeders of fine hogs.
At a public stock sale held by Joseph Miller & Sons, two miles north
of Granger the 7th of June, 1912, one short horn bull sold for $365.
618 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Forty head put up in the sale, many of which were only calves, averaged
$136 per head,
G. E. Leslie, of Memphis, has a herd of Poland-China hogs as fine
as can be found anywhere.
Old Settlers
A history of Scotland county would be very incomplete indeed if it
failed to make meution of some of the oldest settlers. Some of these
came here when the county was Benton township, comprising the present
limits of Scotland and six miles of the north part of Knox county.
Willis Hicks and his father, James Hicks, settled in March, 1834. in
the southeast part of Sand Hill township, and near where the town of
Rutledge now stands. Robert T. Smith, formerly a citizen of Tennessee,
came to this county in May, 1834, at which time he and his family
located about one-half a mile east of the village of Sand Hill. Among
the earliest settlers of the county were Jesse Stice, Moses Stice and
Tyra March, whose homes were in the vicinity of Bible Grove, in the
southwest part of the county. George Forrester came here from Ran-
dolph county, Missouri, in 1835, and settled in the vicinity of Pleasant
Scotland Countv Poultrv
Retreat, which is located about eight miles south of Memphis, Many of
the descendants of Forrester still reside in the county. Others who came
here about the same time were Elijah Whitten, from Boone county, who
settled two miles northwest of Edinburg; Thompson and Cornelius
Holliday who settled at Edinburg; Elijah Mock who settled in Tobiu
township; Joseph Price settled near Saud Hill; William Myers located
two miles south of Pleasant Retreat; Burton Tompkins settled at Mem-
phis; Jonathan Riggs settled on the farm now owned by J. J. and J. L.
Sanders, in the suburbs of Memphis; Branch Miller settled in the
forks of the Fabius, a few miles northwest of the site of Memphis: Mr.
Niseley settled about ten miles west of Memphis.
In 1836, or a year or two later fame John C. Collins, George Buskirk.
Rev. Sanford Myers, from Kentucky; Jacob Maggard. Phillip Purvis,
Joseph Johnson, JMcliael Spillman. Sylvester Allen. Allen Tate. Samuel
Wilflt'v and others, who were among the first settlers of the c<mnty.
The ScoTL.txD County FAm
One of the oldest fairs in Missouri is the Scotland County Agricul-
tural and Mechanical As.sociation that is located just south of the Mem-
phis corporation line. At the August term of, the eouut.v court, in the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 619
year 1856, a petition was presented to the county court asking that this
fair association be incorporated. A number of the. signers of the peti-
tion were as follows: Thomas S. Richardson, Samuel Arnold, James L.
Jones. Josiah Smoot, Henry Ferryman, E. Mclntyre, Curtis Cody, T.
H. Richardson, William G. Downing, J. M. Rowan, I. I. Reyburn, Levi
J. Wagner, James Proctor Knott, Alfred S. Myers, Thomas Gunn, Ed
M. Beckwith, L. W. Knott, H. M. Gorin, John M. T. Smith, W. D. Smith,
H. D. Clapper, John A. Childress, R. T. Nesbit, Chas. Mety, Chas. Martin,
E. G. Richardson, Charles Hughes, James S. Best, John Sanders and
E. W. Roberts.
The first officers of the fair were : Isaac M. Rowan, president ; Charles
]\Iety, treasurer; Sterling McDonald, secretary; H. (-. Baker, chief mar-
shal. The fair was held annually, except that the exhibitions were
greatly interfered with during the Civil war. But since that time there
have been annual exhibits.
The Tallest Woman
Scotland county boasted of the tallest woman in the world. If any
as tall has ever been discovered the fact has never yet been made known.
Miss Ella Ewing, who was born in Harrison township, near where the
town of Gorin now stands, was eight feet and four inches tall. She
was a quiet, modest woman, intelligent, and possessed of many accom-
plishments. She had seen much of the world and in her travels had taken
advantage of the education that comes to a close observer who has seen
the ways of many people. Miss Ewing, when she was a young girl,
was quite sensitive about her unusual size. When she went to public
gatherings in company with other girls she would cry because the curious
people would follow her and make remarks. She was the principal
attraction in Ringling's circus several years and had also been em-
ployed at different times by other companies. She had made some money
that way and built a house with high doors, constructed for her special
use. Her bedstead was made to order and other furniture about tlie
house was fashioned for ]Miss Ella's convenience.
Miss Ewing died at her late home in this county January 10, 1913,
after being in ill health for a period of more than a year. She had in
her lifetime an aversion to being buried as other persons are buried after
death; fearing that showmen would rob the grave for the skeleton or
scientists take the body away for other purposes, and because of this
belief made the request that her body be cremated after death Her
request was not complied with by her father, who could not bear the
idea, but instead he had the body placed in a metallic casket and sealed
and this imbedded in a concrete vault. The woman was universally
liked and her funeral was one of the most largely attended of any funeral
in that communitv in vears.
County Officers
The present county officials of Scotland county are: Representative,
Wesley M. McMurry ; presiding judge of county court, John H. Barker ;
judge, eastern district, Thomas P. Smith ; judge of the western district,
Anslum Corwin; sheriff, J. 0. Myers; collector, Alfred Vaught; treas-
urer, S A. Hammond: circuit clerk and recorder, R. W. Campbell;
county clerk, Walter B. Scott; surveyor, William H. Davis; assessor,
W Frank Barker; probate judge, William T. Reddish; coroner, John
P. Davis.
CHAPTER XXXI
SHELBY COUNTY
By W. 0. L. Jewetty Shelbina
Location
Bounded on the east by Marion, on the north by Knox, on the west
by Macon, and on the south by Monroe, Shelby county is the second
west of the Mississippi and the third south of the Iowa line.
The county is small in territory, being twenty-four miles east and
west by only twenty miles north and south, except at the southwest
corner where it juts south four miles by six miles east and west, making
the west line twenty-four miles long. The area of Shelby is 504 square
miles, one of the small counties of the state. It is in ranges 9, 10, 11 and
12, and in townships 57, 58 and 59 and the north part of 56.
In Pioneer Days
When first visited by white men about half of this territory was
covered by timber and the remainder was prairie. Some land which
was prairie then grew up to young timber before it was brought under
cultivation. This was doubtless caused by partial protection from fires.
There was more prairie in the western than in the eastern part. The
highest and most nearly level land was generally in the centers of the
prairies ; nearer the water-courses the ground was more rolling, in some
places quite broken. The timber consisted mainly of oak of various kinds,
hickory and elm, but along the streams there were also walnut, ash, soft
maple, and sometimes hard maple, birch, sycamore, and other timber
growth. On the bottom lands the soil is often quite dark, elsewhere in
the tree land it is a yellowish clay loam, and on the prairies generally
of a gray cast ; all of it is very fertile, producing abundant crops when
properly tilled. It is, however, pre-eminently a grass country. It is
said that blue grass had to be introduced by the early settlers, but now
it seems to be indigenous, springing up everywhere. Forty years ago the
prairies were covered with wild grass much of it being called blux?-
joint, growing from six to ten feet high. As soon, however, as this was
pastured short, bluegrass took the place of the wild growth. A piece
of ground sown to timothy or other cultivated grass and pastured, will,
in a few years, produce nothing but blue-grass and white clover. Prof.
G. C. Broadhead, now eighty-five years of age and living at Columbia,
ilissouri, is quoted in the Missouri Historical lieview as saying that in
1840 blue grass was found only where it had been sown, chiefly in yards,
in Missouri; that before 1850 blue-grass was not found in pastures in
this state ; but by 1870 it was in most pastures and along the roadways ;
and that by 1880 it was common in north Missouri.
620
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 621
Shelby is a well-watered county, abounding in streams. The north
fork of Salt river is the largest of these. It enters the county near its
northwest corner and meanders in a southeasterly direction to near the
southeast comer where it crosses the south line. North river flows for
some twenty miles through the northern part of the county; the Fabius
crosses the northeast corner; and Tiger Fork of North river runs for
some considerable distance through the northeast part of the county;
while Black creek flows from near the northwest corner north of Salt
river to near the southeast corner where it empties into the last-named
stream. Then there are Crooked, Clear, and Otter creeks, and some
other named and many unnamed branches.
This county was named in honor of General and Ex-Governor Isaac
Shelby of Kentucky; and originally, as organized by act of the legis-
lature in 1835, was only eighteen miles north and south, the south line
being the north line of township 56 in ranges 9, 10, 11 and 12; but in
1843, the legislature, at the instance of William J. Howell, who repre-
sented Monroe county, cut off sixty square miles in townships numbered
56 from the latter county and added them to Shelby. This is said to
have been done to insure keeping the county seat of Monroe county at
Paris.
Early Settlers
The first white persons known to have visited the territory now in-
cluded in this county, were Edward Whaley, Aaron Forman, and a few
other Kentucky hunters, who came across from the Boon's Lick country
seeking the head waters of the Salt, then called Auhaha, or Oahaha,
on their way to the Mississippi. It is probable, however, that hunters
and trappers had visited this territory at earlier dates. In the spring
of 1831 a man named Norton came from Monroe county and built a
cabin on the banks of Black creek near where it joins Salt river. He
brought some hogs there but he did not remain to become a permanent
settler. It is probable thkt Maj. Obadiah Dickerson, who in October,
1831, built a log house on the north side of Salt river, three and one-half
miles north of where She^bina now stands, was the first permanent set-
tler. It is said that Major Dickerson was the founder of Palmyra,, the
county seat of Marion, and it is certain he was the first postmaster there.
Some interesting stories illustrating how things were done in those
early days are told of this postmaster. It is said he kept his oflBce in his
hat, which was a large, bell-crowned head-gear and the letters were
tucked behind the lining. He often went out on business or hunts and
carried the ofl&ce with him. He said he delivered more mail to parties
he met in the country than to parties who came to Palmyra. He thus
became the first rural mail-carrier. A man from the frontier came to
Palmyra to find the postoffice, but keeper and office were away. Going
in pursuit, he found the Major, who fished out of his hat half a dozen
letters for this man and his neighbors, and handed out three more, say-
ing: **Take these along with you and see if they belong to anyone in
your settlement. They have been here two weeks; I do not know any
such names and do not want to be bothered with them longer *'
Major Dickerson was an honored citizen of Shelby, represented the
county in the legislature and held other important offices. His son, John
Dickerson, was three times chosen sheriff and collector of the county,
and several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are good citi-
zens of Shelbina now.
Of the early settlers more came from Kentucky than from any other
state, and this continued to be the case up to the Civil war. Virp^inia
furnished the next largest number; a few came from Maryland, Dela-
622 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
•
ware and Tennessee, and a sprinkling from the north, the latter being
more numerous during the '40s and the '50s and much more so since
the Civil war. From 1865 to 1870 many came from Illinois, Michigan,
Ohio and New York. Quite a number of these became dissatisfied and
returned, but many became permanent and valuable citizens and their
number has been added to every year since, and numerously during the
past ten years. Nearly every state, south, north and east, has contributed
substantially to the population of this county and the people from these
various sections have intermarried and the citizenship is becoming
homogenous.
Ever since the earliest recorded history the race has migrated west-
ward, mainly directly toward the setting sun; but often deflected some-
what tow^ard the north or south. It was so with Abraham when he left
Mesopotamia and went to Canaan ; but the journey of Israel from Egypt
under the leadership of Moses was an exception to the rule. We have
been taught that the race had its first abode in central Asia, and that
from there it migrated to the western part of that continent, then into
eastern Europe and so on westward. On this continent the movements
have been principally westward. IMissouri being a central state has
received settlers from all sections of the Union ; but the northern portion
attracted more from the northern states than did the southern.
The Life op the Pioneer
The pioneers here, like those in most of the country, were a hardy,
robust race. In fact, frontier life produces that class of people. There
was no place for weaklings among them. Only the strong survived.
They became accustomed to enduring hardships and their manner of
life was plain and simple compared with that of their descendants.
Their houses were built of logs, the cracks filled with split pieces plas-
tered with clay. A large fireplace provided heat for comfort and for
cooking purposes. Some had glass windows but others did not. Many
lived in one room for years, but usually there was an upstairs used for
sleeping purposes. Some built two rooms on the ground to begin with.
Usually there was a wide passageway betw^een the two with a roof over
all, and later this passageway was closed up alid made a third room on
the ground floor. The roof was made of clapboards, split on the prem-
ises and held on by the weight of small logs. The floor was made of
split logs hewn smooth. Few were able to secure nails and wooden
pins were used to fasten things together. Furniture was home-made
except where the immigrants had brought a few things in their wagons.
They were generally provided with good featherbeds. In a few years
saw-mills appeared, and then frame houses began to be erected, and at
a later period brick was used to some extent.
For the first twenty years the settlements were in the timber, gener-
ally along streams where springs could be found. Few ventured to tackle
the prairie ; and there were several reasons for this : the luxuriant growth
of grass made the prairie soil too wet for cultivation, the sod was tough
and difficult to break, and the flies were so numerous and hungry that
neither man nor beast could endure them. It is related that when a
settler had occasion to cross any considerable extent of prairie in the
summertime, he went at night to escape these pests. Then in the timber
material was at hand for building purposes and for fuel.
While the life of the pioneer was rough and he had few advantages
compared with the present, he had his pleasures and his virtues and he
was not, as a rule, destitute of the feelings and promptings of a gentle-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 623
man. He was kind, generous, hospitable, ready to lend a helping hand
not only to neighbors but as well to strangers. He had few opportunities
to learn of the happenings in his own vicinity and the world at large
except by word of mouth ; and this one source of information he usually
impro<'ed. He went long distances to attend all gatherings, and thus
he gained information and enjoyed intercourse with his fellows. Of
course there were good and bad people then as now, but these qualities
were manifested then somewhat differently from now. The use of whisky
was then common, and the article was cheap and free to all and
few thought its use wrong; indeed many considered it absolutely neces-
sary for health. Yet excess was condemned, but drunkenness was not
considered so disgraceful as now.
To build a farm in the timber is necessarily a slow and laborious proc-
ess, and especially was this the case with the poor equipment of the pio-
neers. With the exception of the ax there is scarcely a tool which has
not been greatly improved in the past sixty years. Farmers now would
think it impossible to make a crop with only a crooked stick or a wooden
mouldboard with an iron point, with which to stir the soil. Yet the pio-
neers had only such plows and they secured good yields as a rule. They
farmed, however, on a small scale. Some years were too wiet and some
too cold. We hear little complaint of drought and heat in those days,
but accounts of ha^d winters and late and early frosts have been handed
down. It is related that just before the middle of May, 1835, there
came such weather that the ground was frozen to the depth of two feet.
This is no doubt an exaggeration. On September 16th of that year
there came a killing frost which cut the corn crop short. No doubt the
seasons have changed for the better as science recognizes the fact that
clearing up of forests and cultivation of a country renders a climate
warmer and dryer. It is said that two thousand years ago when Ger-
many was covered with dense forests, the seasons there w^re much colder
than now.
In the early days corn was raised largely for bread; some, however,
was fed to work horses. Oxen were chiefly used for work on the farm,
and these lived on wild grass and prairie hay. To have pasture a lot of
neighbors would burn off a patch after the young growth had reached con-
siderable height. Hogs lived and fattened on acorns and other nuts,
but constant watch had to be kept to protect pifes from wolves and other
wild animals. Wolves were numerous and sometimes attacked people.
There were also wildcats, bears and panthers, and of course snakes,
poisonous and harmless, were abundant. With the exception of flies and
mosquitoes most of the pests which now bother the farmers had not made
their appearance at that date. The chinch bug first became destructive
about 1842 and its last appearance in great numbers was in 1881. Be-
tween these two dates this bug did more or less damage several seasons.
Com was the chief crop but wheat yielded as generously as fifty bushels
to the acre sometimes. All farm products when the yield was good,
brought low prices ; wheat twenty-five cents per bushel, corn ten to fifteen
cents, horses twenty-five dollars, cows ten dollars, hogs a dollar or two
each. Fat hogs were driven to LaOrange or Hannibal and sold at from
one to two cents a pound. Most articles of food were raised on the farm
or secured by the gun or trap. Deer, turkey, prairie chickens, quails, fish
and wild honey were abundant. Clothing was made from wool and flax at
each home. There was little money and the pioneer had little use for it.
The men generally wore buckskin trousers and jackets of other kind of
skin. They made moccasins, but usually went barefooted in summer,
as did the women, except upon dress occasions.
«
624 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Some op the Pioneers
To return to individuals among the pioneer settlers, the HoUiday
family was one of the earliest and most prominent. Mrs. HoUiday, a
widow with six sons and three daughters, came in 1830 from Winchester,
Virginia, and soon after settled in what is now the eastern part of Shelby
county. These sons were named Richard T., Angus MacDonald, William
J., James M., Elias L., and Cornelius T. The last named was one of those
appointed to view the first road laid out in this wild country, but William
J. was the most prominent. He was the first representative to the legis-
lature from this county, being elected in 1836. In 1838 he was chosen
county judge for four years and in 1847 county clerk for six years. In
1865 he was appointed county clerk by the governor. In 1866 he was
elected to that office by the radical Republicans. When the war came
and men had to choose sides, he became a strong Union man, and later
was known as a bitter hater of those he considered disloyal. He served
as a soldier in Colonel Benjamin's regiment.
Some of the HoUiday descendants still Uve in this county, and James
M., son of ComeUus T., after being a prominent citizen of this count}'
for many years, moved to Sixteen, Montana, where he still Uves. He has,
for many years, been considered a walking encyclopedia of historical
knowledge, especially political, of this county, state and nation.
Another family prominent in the early history of tte county was that
of the Vandivers. Abraham Vandiver was here at the time the county
was organized in 1835, and some years later it was said that the Vandiver
connection was the most numerous of any in the county. Samuel A.
Vandiver represented the county in the legislature which convened in
January, 1885.
W. B. Broughton had a store at Oak Dale, the first in the county, and
at his place the first circuit court was first held. He raised a family of
three sons, two of whom settled in Paris, Missouri, and established and
ran a woolen mill. One son, W. C, after living in Ralls county for sev-
eral years, returned and bought the farm where his father Uved at Oak
Dale, and a son of his, T. J., now owns the old place ; and two other sons
are large farmers near Oak Dale. These are B. F. and J. L. There is
still at Oak Dale a store and also a good school and Methodist church.
Russell W. Moss was a settler prior to the organization of the county,
and for many years he was a prominent figure, both in this county and
'at Hannibal. He held several offices, among them that of representative,
to which he was chosen at the August election in 1844, and for more than
thirty years after that he was active and influential. His physical form
was large and impressive and he was a man of energy and capable of
enduring great hardship.
Robert and Addison Lair were also settlers prior to the organization
of the county, and they became prominent and the Lair famUy numerous.
John McAfee is also numbered among those living in the county at
the time of its organization, and more than once afterward, he repre-
sented the county, and was chosen speaker of the house.
Dr. Adolphus E. Wood was originally a New Yorker, but came here
from Cuba where he had lived for some years, to settle near Oak Dale
in the early '30s. He had, as most men of that day did have, a large
family, and some of his sons still live in the county, but most of them have
crossed over to the unknown country. One sou. Dr. A. G. Wood, living
at Lentner, in this county, is quite active at the age of eighty-one. Doctor
Wood 's brother Fernando was at one time mayor of New York and was
also a congressman.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 625
Residents in 1835
Following are the names of seventy men who were residents in the
spring of 1835, as recorded in a history of the county compiled in 1884 :
George Anderson, Josiah Abbott, James Y. Anderson, Thomas J.
Bounds, W. B. Broughton, Anthony Blackford, James Blackford, Isaac
Blackford, Samuel Bell, Alexander Buford, Silas Boyce, Samuel Buck-
ner, Thomas H. Clements, William S. Chinn, Bryant Cochrane, Samuel
Cochrane, J. W. Cochrane, Charles Christian, Obadiah Dickerson, Robert
Duncan, William H. Davidson, Levi Dyer, George Eaton, Elisha K.
Eaton, John Eaton, James Foley, Benjamin F. Forman, Jesse Gentry,
George W. Gentry, Julius C. Gartrell, James B. Grenn, William J. Holli-
day, Thompson Holliday, Elias L. Holliday, Thomas Holeman, Charles A.
Hollyman, Bradford Hunsucker, William D. B. Hill, Julius C. Jackson,
Robert Joiner, Peter Looney, Oliver Latimer, Michael Law, Russell W.
Moss, J. M. Moss, John H. Milton, William Moore, William T. Matson
(died same year), J. C. Mayes, S. W. Miller, Henry Musgrove, John
McAfee, Samuel J. Parker, George Parker, Elijah Pepper, W. H. Payne,
Peter Roff, John Ralls, Hiram Rookwood, Robert Reed, James Shaw,
Cyrus A. Saunders, Henry Saunders, James Swartz, Peter Stice, Montil-
lion H. Smith, Hill Shaw, John Sparrow, William Sparrow, Major
Turner, William S. TowTisend, John Thomas, Abraham Vandiver, Dr.
Adolphus E. Wood, Nicholas Watkins.
Aiid the following twenty-two men settled in the county within a
year after its organization :
John Dunn, James Graham, Alexander Gillaspy, Lewis Gillaspy,
Stephen Miller, James L. Peake, Samuel Bell, John Jacobs, Joseph
West, James Ford, William Conner, Robert R. Moffit, William Matson,
Elisha Moore, J. T. Tingle, G. H. Edmonds, S. O. VanVactor, M. J.
Priest.
One familiar with the people of this county will recognize a majority
of these names among the citizens of the county at this time, more than
three-quarters of a century after their ancestors settled here.
Population Increases
From the time of the organization of the county when it contained
less than five hundred, probably not over three hundred, inhabitants,
until the breaking out of the Civil war, population in the county grad-
ually increased, both in the natural way and by the addition of settlers
from other states. One of the latter who obtained most prominence was
John F. Benjamin, who came from central New York some years before
1850, and settled on a farm some few miles southwest of Shelbyville, the
county seat. He was then about twenty-five years of age, with a fair,
probably superior for those days, education. The gold fever attracted
him to California, but he returned in time to defeat John McAfee for the
legislature. This was the first time Joshua M. Ennis figured prominently
in politics except as a candidate himself, and I shall have more to say
about him hereafter. While in the legislature, Benjamin commenced the
study of law, and soon became the leader of the bar in Shelby. He was
a man of strong mental faculties, and w^as inclined towards financial
affairs. Had he been in a place where business centered, he would prob-
ably have become a millionaire. When the war came on he became an
uncompromising Union man, and in the winter of 1861-62 he raised a
company of cavalry, was its captain, later its major, and when this
company was consolidated with the Second Missouri State Militia, he
became lieutenant-colonel. At the election of 1864 he was chosen to rep-
Vol. 1—40
62G HISTORY (W NORTHEAST MISSOURI
resent the district embracing a large territory in Northeast Missouri in
congress and was reelected in 1866 and 1868, but declined to be a candi-
date in 1870. He made a good record in the house. Before his terra
expired, he established a National bank at Shelbina, the tirst bank organ-
ized in the county. Now there are fourteen. Mr. Benjamin built the
best homes in the county in his day, two at Shelbyville and one in Shel-
bina. In 1873 he closed his bank in Shelbina and embarked in the bank-
ing business in Washington. This was caused by a difficulty between
him and James Hanley. Benjamin accused Hanley, who was an honor-
able man, of stealing. This Hanley resented and shot Colonel Ben-
jamin. This developed the fact that there was much feeling against
Benjamin, growing out of his course during the war. This led the
colonel to change his abode. But Mrs. Benjamin remained in their man-
sion, which was built like an Italian villa and stood in grounds of five
acres. At Washington, in the spring of 1877 the colonel died, and a
long lawsuit over his will ensued. He had no children and his wife soon
followed him across the river. His brother George from Syracuse tried
to break the will, but after two hung juries, the case was dismissed.
In 1837 Joseph Ennis came from Maryland and settled at Shelbyville,
where he ran a mercantile house. Merchants in small places did not
specialize but kept a general stock of all articles their customers were
expected to buy. His son, Josl^ua M., who had gone from Maryland to
New Orleans, joined his parents at Shelbyville and made his home there
from that time until his death a little over twentjr years ago. The older
Ennis was county treasurer. He built the first brick building at the
county seat in 1839. This was used as a hotel building for half a cen-
tury. The younger Ennis was ambitious and became sheriff and col-
lector in 1846 and held these positions for four years, again from 1856 to
1860 he held the same positions, and still again from 1880 to 1884. Thus
he was six times elected to these important positions and for four years
from 1874 to 1878 he was county treasurer. Mr. Ennis did not aspire
to wealth, but he was a liberal, large-hearted, genial man, very hospitable,
his home being open not only to his friends but also to all strangers who
were gentlemen. This made him popular and gave him political influ-
ence. If a candidate could count **Josh'' Ennis as his active friend he
was almost certain to succeed. In 1850 he espoused the cause of Ben-
jamin, a comparative stranger and a ** Yankee," against John McAfee,
who sought reelection, and Benjamin won. This was the beginning of a
life-long friendship, though Benjamin was an uncompromising Union
man and a Republican and Mr. Ennis the reverse. Mr. Ennis had the
qualities which w^ould have made him a first rate political boss had he
aspired to such a position. He raised a large family, one son of which,
Charles, has been clerk of the county court for eight years, and is now a
business man in Shelbina.
It is said that the Dimmitt family was originally from France but
they came to Maryland at an early day from England and then to Ken-
tucky. Judge Walter B. Dimmitt settled in Marion county, Missouri,
in 1829, and became a large land-owner and farmer. Philip was bom in
the *^ blue-grass state'' in 1824 and came with his parents to Missouri
At twenty-one he began the study of medicine and practiced at Monti-
cello, the county seat of Lewis county, at Boonville, in Cooper county,
both in this state, and just before the Civil war he located on a farm in
this county. He was a leading physician and a large farmer, and
although he never held office, he was always prominent in political and
other affairs. He raised six sons, five of whom are prominent and re-
spected citizens of this county at the present writing, three of them being
bankers. He died something like twenty years ago.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 627
Dr. Anthony Minter was one of the early settlers from the Old Do-
minion, a physician and an agriculturist in the northeastern part of
the county. He died in Shelbina more than thirty years ago. He was
a man of strong pei'sonal character and somewhat eccentric. His
nephew, Daniel G. Minter, came to the county in the fifties, was a mer-
chant in Shelbyville, a captain in the Confederate army, was captured
and banished to the North under a $10,000 bond, but was permitted to
return at Colonel Benjamin's intercession. Later he engaged in business
in Shelbina, from which he retired some fifteen years ago. He was a
man of commanding personality and always influential. He died June
10, 1912.
There were^ others among the very early settlers worthy of special no-
tice in this history, but limited space compels their exclusion. From my
ac(iuaintance with many of these early settlers, and from information
gathered during the past forty-odd years, it seems to me there were an
unusual number of strong characters, many more than could be found
among an equal number of people now. Perhaps this is true of pioneers
generally. Weaklings seldom migrate. And then the fact that these
men had access to few publications, and the sparseness of the settlement,
gave those inclined to think at all, time to reflect on the common as well
as the great questions and problems of life. Thus each thought out
matters for himself and came to an independent conclusion. The life of
the pioneer, no doubt, developed men vigorous physically and mentally.
As the foundation of a building is the most important part of a
structure, so the character, habits and surroundings of the early settlers
of a county should be carefully noted in history, since these have much
to do in shaping the future course of events. For this reason much
space has been taken in describing the pioneers of this county.
Schools and Churches
The early settlers were not indifferent to education or religion, but
it was some years before either churches or schools could be established.
The wilderness had to be grappled with, the wild beasts subdued, and
dominion over the land secured. Inhabitants were too few to maintain
schools. No record seems to have been kept of the first efforts at educa-
tion. Prior to 1865 the school system as it exists now was unknown in
this state. But private schools were organized in all neighborhoods in
the county as soon as there were sufficient people to support them. The
circuit rider and the schoolmaster came at an early day; the one with
saddle bags in which he carried a Bible, a hymn book, and a few articles
of apparel, the other a little bundle containing a spelling book, a reader
and an arithmetic. The former was unselfishly seeking the lost sheep
and earnestly trying to persuade men to amend their ways. The latter
felt called to instruct the young in the elements of book knowledge. Some-
times the children were taught in private houses, but generally the neigh-
borhoods, each for itself, by mutual agreement erected a log schoolhouse,
and here the children gathered for instruction. The benches were of
slabs or of split logs with pins for legs, and the writing desk was of the
same or was a wide plank fastened to the side of the room. All was rude
and primitive, but many boys received in these rough buildings the foun-
dations on which they built until they became men of education and
power. The proportion of the illiterate gradually decreased, and soon
more pretentious schools were established. Palmyra, the seat of justice
for Marion county, had several colleges before the Civil war. Philadel-
phia, in that county and near Shelby, had a college of note. At Shelby-
ville a seminary of high standing was established and flourished until the
628 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
early seventies. In 1877 Shelbina Collegiate Institute was established
with a good building, and subsequently a large boarding-house in connec-
tion. Dr. Leo Baer was the first principal, and later, E. L. Riple}% a man
of much culture and ability, occupied the position for a number of years.
In 1888 Macon district high school was established at Clarence.
This is now controlled by the Independent Holiness people. In 1890,
the Rev. John T. Welch established a school of high grade at Leonard, in
the northwest part of the county. However, in a few years the public
schools became so good that there was no field for seminaries, academies
or institutes, and the Holiness school at Clarence is the only one whieli
was not long since abandoned. Shelbina, Shelbyville and Clarence each
have high schools of such standing that all educated citizens are proud of
them. There are now in the county about eighty publfc schools, and
though more improvement in the rural schools is to be desired, yet they
are probably as good as such schools elsewhere. Missouri has an excel-
lent public school system and a large school fund. The Tniversity. th<*
five normal schools, and the schools in the cities generally, are al)reast
of the times.
Whether the ^lethodist. Baptist or Presbyterian, first proclaimed
the Gospel in this territory cannot now be determined, but at an early
day the first-named denomination held a camp-meeting near North river.
As early as 1835 the Revs. Jeremiah Taylor, M. Hurley, and William
Fuqua, Baptists, preached in the county and organized a society known as
Mount Zion, which still exists in the northern part of the county, and
later a Sunday school was organized there with William T. Looney as
superintendent. W Moffett was the clerk of this church. Near Tiger Fork
was also organized at an early day Looney 's Creek Old School Baptist
church. This denomination, which was once quite prominent in this
part of Missouri, now call themselves Primitive Baptists. North River
Baptist church was organized in 1844. Later Shiloh, also Baptist, was
organized farther west than the others named. Oak Ridge Baptist in
the southwestern part of the county was organized immediately after the
Civil war. And later still, Prairie View Baptist in the southeastern
part of the county. These are rural churches. Shelbina, Shelbyville.
Clarence and Hunnewell each contains an organization and a church
building of this denomination. Henry Loudon, who made a large farm
in the eastern part of the county near North river, was a Primitive Bap-
tist preacher of force and power, who did much before the Civil war in
making this denomination strong. But since his day the numbers have
dwindled to small proportions. The Missionary Baptists, however, havt*
grown and become a very influential denomination.
No records seem to tell of the first Methodist preachers and societies,
but they were among the first. The circuit rider has always followed th«^
pioneer, and has always been indefatigable in his efforts for the salvation
of souls. As early as 1836 the Oak Dale church of this denomination
was organized, the Rev. H. James being its pastor. In 1839 the Methoil-
ists organized at the county seat and erected the first building for wor-
ship in the county. Even prior to this the Methodists organized Bacon
Chapel, a little southwest of the center of the county. This has been a
stronghold for the Methodists since early daj'S. It has produced a num-
ber of preachers of ability. Soon after Shelbina became a station on the
railroad with a few inhabitants, the ^lethodists organized a society there.
So churches of this denomination were organized at Clarence and Hnnne-
well, and since then they have been scattered all over the county. When
the division in the Methodist church came in 1844, all the organizations
in this county went with the Southern church and no ^L E. chun-hes
were seen until Civil war time. Then and shortly after the conflict.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST •MISSOURI 629
quite a number of organizations affiliating with the Northern branch
came into being, but most of these have been absorbed by the M. E. church
South. The M. E. church has a good edifice and congregation at Clar-
ence, also at Epworth, and perhaps at some other points.
The Christian church, known as the Disciples, was early in this field.
The Rev. Jacob Creah was one of the earliest ministers. He was a man of
zeal and ability. As early as 1839 an organization was effected at Shel-
byville, and a building was erected in 1844. A story is told of one of the
early settlers who had been accustomed to use profanity, but was con-
verted under the preaching of Elder Creath. When it came his turn in
baptism at Black creek, he saw a water snake coming directly towards
him. Though he was a brave man, he, as many others, feared snakes.
As this snake approached him when he was being led into the deep water
toward it, the man said, **Good God, Brother Creath, hold on. Look at
that snake !'' But the good preacher was equal to the occasion, and said,
'*Come along^ Brother, a good Christian need not fear serpents."
This denomination has had many able preachers in the county, and
it now has many church organizations, buildings, and In numbers is,
perhaps, about equal to the Methodist. The Baptists are also strong.
The Presbyterians had missionaries here at an early day and during
the forties. Dr. David Nelson, president of Marion College, at Phila-
delphia, spoken of above, often visited this county and held meetings,
but the organization of churches was not effected until 1859, when three
congregations were organized, one at Shelbyville, one at Clarence, and
one, called Cumberland Presbyterian, in the northwest part of the county.
Since then others have been established, but that denomination has never
been strong here.
The Catholics have never been numerous in this county but they have
churches in Shelbina, Clarence, near Hagar's Grove, at Lakenan, and at
Hunnewell.
The people of this county are probably above the average in morality,
temperance and religious inclinations. Churches as well as schoolhouses
are scattered all over the land. There has not been a saloon in the
county for nearly thirty years. Before the enactment of the local option
law in 1887. places where intoxicants were sold had disappeared because
the county court refused to grant anyone license for that purpose. In
the fall of 1887 the county adopted local option by a vote of 1,231 for to
964 against. In 1901 another vote was taken on the question and this
resulted in a greatly increased majority, the vote being 1,823 for to 932
against. Since then no effort has been made to secure another vote.
Though the law is violated, there is much less intoxicating drink sold
and much less drunkenness than where there are open saloons. It has
also been demonstrated that neither saloons nor the licenses from these
places are n'fecessary for the prosperity of a town or city. The towns of
this county have grown as rapidly, to say the least, as those where saloons
exist. Shelbina has been more prosperous during the past twenty years
than any of the cities of Northeast Missouri where liquor is openly sold.
Again, most of the rural counties shrank in population between 1900 and
1910, but Shelby increased.
Municipalities
At the organization the county was divided for voting purposes into
two townships, North River and Black Creek. Afterward and for many
years, it was divided into eight townships: Black Creek, Bethel, Clay,
Jackson, Jefferson, Salt River, Taylor and Tiger Fork. Lately Lentner
and North River have been added, making ten.
630 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
At the time of the organization a commission was appointed to select
a place for the future county seat. This commission was composed of
Elias Kinchloe of Marion, James Lay of Lewis, and Joseph Hardy of
Ralls. This commission selected the land where Shelbyville now stands
as it was near the center of the county. A title was obtained and a plat
made for a town, leaving a square in the center for the courthouse.
Then the village commenced. The first county and circuit courts were
held at the house of W. B. Broughton at Oak Dale and Shelbyville in
1838. Afterward wings were built to this for the use of the county and
the circuit clerk and this building was used for over fifty years, when it
was consumed by fire. Then a good, substantial courthouse was erected
with ample accommodations for clerks at a cost of only twenty-five thou-
sand dollars ; but building material and labor were much cheaper then
than now.
The first levy for taxes made by the county court was twelve and one--
half cents on the hundred dollars and poll tax thirty-seven and one-half
cents. At the close of the year Collector Duncan reported a delinquent
list amounting to two dollars and sixty cents. How much he collected is
not stated. Russell W. Moss received for his services as assessor twelve
dollars and seventy-five cents.
The first circuit court was held in November, 1835, at the house of
W. W. Broughton, Hon. H. McBride, judge of the second judicial cir-
cuit, presiding; Robert Duncan, sheriff; Thomas J. Bounds, clerk. The
grand jury reported no business. Three attorneys, all from Palmyra,
were present: J. Quinn Thornton, John Heard and James L. Minor,
The last named was afterward secretary of state. Only two cases were
before the court: one was for partition and the other was dismissed.
The total expense of the term was sixteen dollars, eighty-seven and one-
half cents. The next term was in July, 1836, at the same place ; and the
third term in December of that year at the house of Thomas J. Bounds
in Shelbyville. At thi July term the first indictment was found. It
charged Henry Meadly with grand larceny ; but the case was dismissed.
In 1838 a number of persons were indicted for gaming, playing '*loo.''
Of these, one was fined five dollars, one two dollars, one one dolfer and
the others escaped clear. Shelby has had less crime than most sections of
the country ; especially in homicide has it been below the average. The
first one occurred in 1839 when John L. Faber shot and killed John
Bishop in the tavern at Shelbyville. Faber and Thomas J. McAfee
were fighting and Bishop went to Faber 's aid; Faber, being in close
quarters, drew his pistol and discharged it, thinking he was shooting
McAfee but he killed his friend, Bishop. On preliminary examination
he was released and never indicted. The second homicide occurred in
1842, in what is now Taylor township, when DanieF Thomas was killed
by Philip Upton. Thomas had spoken slanderously of Upton's daughtere.
The former had a pistol and the latter a rifle. At the preliminary' ex-
amination Upton was discharged on the ground that he did the killing
in self-defense ; but subsequently he was indicted and convicted of man-
slaughter in the second degree and sentenced to three years in the peni-
tentiary; but at the end of two years Governor Edwards gave him a
pardon. As everybody carried weapons in those days, it is not surpris-
ing that many homicides occurred in many parts of the country.
Anyone who examines the earlj^ decisions of the supreme court, those
before the Civil war, will discover that much litigation was, in one way
or another, connected with the institution of slavery. At that time
there were no banks in the country and notes and accounts were collected
by lawyers. These things together with unsettled land titles and a dis-
position to litigate caused more lawsuits in proportion to business than
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 631
now. For twenty years after the Civil war there was considerable liti-
gation in this county, and each term of court was very busy, often work-
ing at night and continuing ten or twelve days. In late years, however,
people have been more inclined to settle disputes, and the court has had
little to do. At some terms there has not been even one jury trial, and
usually not more than two or three. The term holds only from four
to six days and the court is idle most of that time. The last legislature
gave the county three terms of court, one in February, one in June, and
the other in October. Though there is little business, as the lawyers
say, numerous terras are desirable to prevent so much delay in legal
matters. In fact, if each county had a circuit judge and court was
open practically all the time, it would doubtless be a great improvement.
The members of the legislature from Marion at the time the charter
for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad was asked, had a clause put in
the charter requiring the road to go through Palmyra. Had the repre-
sentative from Shelby been alive to the situation and required the road
to be built through Shelbyville, there would have been no Shelbina as it
is today, and the county seat would have been a much larger and more
important place than it is. Not being compelled to go by way of Shelby-
ville, the company constructing the road preferred to take an easier
route, and also through a country where the land could be bought for
a little money and new towns laid out. This gave a good chance for
speculation. At that time a strip of prairie extended from Salt river
near the eastern border of the county to the Macon line. A few farms
jutted out into this prairie, but it was mainly unbroken — just as Nature
had made it, and covered with a luxuriant growth of wild grass. Rail-
roads usually take the line of least resistance ; and it was far less expen-
sive to build a road over this level prairie than through the hills between
Palmyra and Shelbyville. Palmyra was six or eight miles too far north
for a direct line so the road was run from Palmyra sharply to the south-
west until it struck the Monroe line; then westward bearing a trifle
north over the strip of prairie mentioned across this county; then the
men building the road formed a land company, bought tracts and platted
town sites where the stations were to be, and thus Hunnewell, Lakenan,
Shelbina, Lentner and Clarence were laid out and lots sold.
Under these circumstances Shelbyville grew very slowly, and for
more than forty years the people of that town wished and hoped for some
rail communication. They were always ready to jump at each of the
many propositions to build a road from Iowa southward, which were
made from time to time. But though they spent some money on these
efforts, no railroad materialized. But at least these people learned the
lesson taught by the fable of the bird nest in the field of wheat, and
in 1906 concluded to build a road themselves between the capital and
Shelbina, which lies eight miles directly south. Joseph Doyle, who had
long published The Herald at the county seat, aided by V. L. Drain, Esq.,
and other enterprising citizens soon succeeded in building this short line,
when they once determined so to do. For some years Shelby has had the
distinction of having a railroad wholly owned by its own people; but
lately, Louis Houck, a non-resident, has become the owner. Since the
building of the road Shellbyville has improved more rapidly and the
road is a benefit to the whole people. That little city contains about one
thousand inhabitants and has an electric light plant.
Early Mills
Mills to grind grain into meal and flour were an early demand ; for
the pioneers had either to use a home-made mortar or go to Florida, in
632 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Monroe county, or to Maaaie's mil) near Palmyra, some thirty miles or
more, to secure even meal. The first mill in the county was built by
Peter Stice, where Bethel now stands. Soon afterward, one was built
on Salt river southeast of Shelbyville ; and another on Black creek in
the same direction. William J. Holliday in his historical sketches about
the early days says that the first mill was on Black creek near Oak
Dale; but other early settlers deny this. The most important of the
early mills, however, was built on Salt river about five miles southwest
of Shelbyville by William 0. Walker and George W. Barker; and soon
a store and postoSlce were established there, and the place was called
Walkersville. This was in 1840 and this mill, which did sawing and
grinding and hIso ran a carding machine, remained there for more than
thirty years. It was a great place for the people from all the southwestern
part of the county to gather. After the railroad was built. Walkersville,
like other trading points off the line of this road began to decline and in
the course of twenty-five or thirty years, ceased to exist as a village,
and the mill was abandoned.
Old Mill at WjU<eebsvillei
Durin); 1S57 the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad was built as far
west as where Shelbina stands. A station was established on the level
prairie and the town began at once to grow. It became the place to
receive goods for Shelbyville and all places within twenty-five miles north,
and for Paris eighteen miles south, and other points. It became the
market place for a very large scope of country. With these advantages
business thrived and the place grew rapidly. The war checked this;
but after peace came it took a new start and has become a beautiful little
city of some twenty-five hundred inhabitants with many elegant homes,
fine church edifices, and commodious store-bnildings. The city owns its
electric and water plant and has a fine sewerage system, all of which
cost about one hundred thousand dollars.
One year after Shelbina was started, Clarence, which is twelve miles
west, was also laid out. It is surrounded by a fine agricultural country
and has become a substantial city of fifteen hundred people. It has
churches and schools, little, if any, inferior to those in Shelbina; and
it owns a good electric lighting plant.
Hunnewell is near the southeastern corner of the county and it was
laid out the same year as Shelbina. It has about six hundred inhabitants
and is a good business point.
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 633
Lakenan is half way between Shelbiua. and Hunnewell, and contains
three churches and several stores.
Lentner is half way between Clarence and Shelbina, and contains
several stores, a bank and one church.
These towns were all made stations on the railroad about the same
time.
Communistic Colony
Bethel — The most interesting story, especially to a sociologist, con-
nected with this county is the history of the communistic colony of Bethel.
David R. McAnally, D. D., for many years the able editor of the St.
Louis Christian Advocate, in an editorial on the subject of Communism,
said that the communistic settlement at Oneida, New York, and^ the
Bethel colony in Missouri with its offshoot, Aurora, in Oregon, were the
most notable instances of the application of the communistic theory upon
American soil. And, doubtless, this is correct. Since then, several
sketches have been published in metropolitan newspapers in reference to
this colony ; and Dr. William G. Bek of the University of Missouri has
published a small volume giving most of the details connected with the
founding and managing of this peculiar settlement.
The founder was Dr. William Keil, a Prussian by birth, and later
in Pennsylvania and Ohio a Methodist preacher. It is said that in his
native country he practiced the ** black art," whatever that is; but in
this country he professed to have been converted under the powerful
preaching of Dr. William Nast, the founder of the German Methodist
church. In the presence of Dr. Nast, he burned the secret formulae of
his art and renounced its practices. Later on, the church was dissatisfied
with his preaching and took away his authority. But he had secured a
large following among the Germans of the two states mentioned ; and he
proposed the establishment of a colony in the distant West. In 1844,
Adam Shuele, David Wagner, and Christian Tesser were sent to spy
out the country and select a location. These men purchased a consider-
able tract of excellent land on North river, and the next year they and
Dr. Keil, at the head of about five hundred colonists, came by wagons to
this land of promise. The title to the land was taken in the name of a
few individuals, who really held it for all. While there was no written
contract or articles of regulation, all seemed to go on harmoniously
and peacefully. Everything was taken on faith. The colony seemed to
be one great happy family, whose code, moral and religious, was the New
Testament, especially the Golden Rule, and whose motto was, *'Gott
mit uns."
There were no drones in this hive. Dr. Keil managed everything
through superintendents of different works. Each man and woman had
certain duties, and these seem to have been discharged with fidelity.
Eleven hundred acres were enclosed in one field and cultivated. The
colony owned four thousand acres. There was a treasurer who took
charge of the funds ; a common store-house ; and a commissary to allot
to each what was needed. The married people lived in separate houses
and received food and clothing from the store-house. A large boarding-
house accommodated those without families. A mill was built to run by
steam, no doubt the first one in all this section of the country. After
some years a woolen factory was connected with the mill. There was
also a glove factory which turned the skins of the deer, and these were
abundant in that day, into coverings for the human hand. In 1858 these
gloves took the premium at the World's Fair in New York. The skins
of cattle were made into shoes, and there was also a hat factory. Then,
too, these colonists established a distillery where corn and rye were turned
into alcohol and whiskey.
634 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
In 1848 a large brick structure trimmed with stone was built for
religious purposes. The church was finished with black walnut lumber ;
the floor made of large square brick or tile ; and large galleries helped
to accommodate the people, as all were required to attend. Dr. Keil
oflSciated as minister. This church was also used as a schoolhouse.
Moses Miller, who crossed over the river only a few years ago, was the
first teacher and he had one hundred and thirty pupils. At one time
there were almost one thousand people in the colony. Most of the houses
faced one street, and were built mainly with a frame filled in with brick
and mortar and plastered outside and in. Usually these were of two
stories height.
East of the town, and down the picturesque North river, was erected
a mansion-house, called **Elim." It contained a large banquet hall,
and here the head of the colony lived as became a feudal lord, except that
he assumed no superiority but what was necessary in directing the affairs
of the colony.
In 1851, a branch colony was formed in Adair county where eight
hundred acres were purchased, and this was called Nineveh. Then, a
few years later, Dr. Keil sent out spies to the land ** where rolls the
Oregon" of which he heard so much. The reports from these spies were
so enchanting that the favorite son of the leader at Bethel determined
to go to Oregon. But after preparing to do so, he sickened and died.
Yet he had exacted a promise that his remains should be laid at rest in
the distant land. Then the father made haste to fulfill his promise to his
dying son j and an emigrant train waa organized, composed of Dr. Keil
and such as desired to go towards the land of the setting sun. The
corpse was placed in an iron coffin filled with alcohol, sealed up, and
placed in the front wagon of the train drawn by six mules. Thus, amid
the lamentations of all the colony, there was begun what is perhaps the
strangest and longest funeral march in the history of America.
The doctor fulfilled his promise, but he never returned to ^lissouri.
This colony in Oregon was named Aurora. After Dr. Keil left. Dr.
Christopher C. Wolf became the leader at Bethel. He was not the equal
of his predecessor, yet the colony continued to prosper. When the war
came on, the people of Bethel were strong Union men, and they became
and continued Republican in politics. Twice the Southern forces de-
manded and obtained provisions at the mill. Some of Green's and
Porter's men robbed some of the stores, but the commanders made the
men return the goods. These people were not for war, and only two or
three, and they quite young, entered the army.
In the '70s some of the people became dissatisfied and proposed to
bring legal proceedings to get their share of the property. Then D.
Pat Dyer, now United States judge, was consulted, and Ijy mutual agree-
ment parties were appointed to make a division. The land was divided
and deeded to individuals according to their rights. Of the personal
property on an equitable division, it was found that each man was
entitled to receive the amount he originally contributed and $29.04 per
year for each year he had lived and labored at Bethel ; and each female
one-half of this sum for her services. Thus ended after thirty-five years,
this interesting communistic experiment.
Crimes
It has been stated that Shelby has not been cursed with as much crime
as many other localities; and yet even a brief history of the county
would be incomplete without some account of the more flagrant viola-
tions of the law which have occurred ; for such things have taken place
as the years rolled away. Something has been said about the first two
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 635
homicides which took place in the county ; and now a brief statement will
be given of the most startling offenses after the Civil war, as I find no
record of any of that character before hostilities broke out, other than the
two homicides mentioned ; and those during the Civil war will be men-
tioned in connection with that subject.
November 20, 1868, the county was robbed of about $10,000. There
were no banks in the county then; hence the treasurer kept the county
funds in a poorly constructed vault in the county clerk's office. The
robbers entered the office through a window and pried the doors of the
vault open with levers and steel wedges. A day or two before this Col-
lector J. M. Collier had taken $30,000 to Quincy for safe keeping. Two
strangers from Quincy. who happened to be in town were arrested and
threatened with lynching; but as there was no testimony against them,
they were discharged. No one else was arrested for the crime.
In 1873 a colored man named George Queary was shot and killed on
the main street in Shelbina by George Ashby, another negro. Ashby
was sent to the penitentiary for twenty years.
In May, 1875, J. Dank Dale, then but fifteen years old, now an able
and honored lawyer of the county, in defense of himself and father, in
the latter 's restaurant at Clarence, shot and killed Jim Phelps and seri-
ously wounded John Phelps. Dale was indicted and tried, but the jury
acquitted him without leaving their seats.
In 1880 at Lakenan, Bruce Greene stabbed Calvin Warren so that he
died. Greene was indicted and tried, but was acquitted. Warren was
a drinking man and had attacked Greene.
In 1881 a negress was shot and killed in a house in the eastern part
of Shelbina by a gang of young colored men. These negroes were after
a yellow fellow and shot into the house and the bullet hit the woman.
One mulatto turned state's evidence and two negroes were sent to the
penitentiary, one for ten, and the other for eleven years.
In 1882 a powerful man, called J. P. Johnson, a stranger, stopped at
the hotel in Shelbyville. In the night he drew a revolver on B. F. Smith,
the proprietor, and demanded his money, which was, of course, delivered
to him, in amount about $50. The next day near Clarence, Johnson was
arrested and in attempting to escape, jumped from a second story window
and broke his leg. He was sent to the penitentiary for twelve years.
There he headed a revolt of the prisoners, cut the hose, and set fire to
the building. The loss to the state was $150,000. For'this he was com-
mitted to twelve years more; but in 1900, on proof that he was near
death's door, the governor pardoned him on condition that he leave the
state.
In 1885 John Buford shot and killed his father, William Buford, at
the Buford home on North river. John was sentenced for thirty years,
but Governor Stephens pardoned him in 1897, he having served a little
over one-third of his time.
Excitement was produced in Shelbina, November 16, 1887, by the
report that the body of Nicholas Brandt had been found in the well at
the house where Brandt lived and shaved hoop-poles, five or six miles west
of Shelbina. He was a German, who lived alone, and it was understood
that he had considerable gold about him. A German named Henry
Deiderich, little known about here, had passed the road west of Shelbina
and had taken a train at Shelbina a few days before the finding of
Brandt's body. It was found that the murdered man's money and his
team were gone; and the team had been seen at several places in the
direction of Hannibal. Deiderich was found in St. Louis and identified
as the man who sold the Brandt team in Illinois and some articles be-
longing to Brandt were found in the prisoner's possession. He was
636 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
committed to jail, indicted, arraigned, and plead not guilty; but that
night he and another prisoner broke jail and no trace of him was ever
afterward found.
The murder that caused the greatest excitement, the most intense
feeling, was that of Joseph Hunolt, near Hagar's Grove on June 4, 1886.
He was one of the judges of the county court, a large land owner and
stock raiser. Between five and six o'clock in the afternoon of the day
mentioned, he left Leonard on horseback. Leonard is a small town and
between it and Hunolt 's home was a section of land owned by him and
used as a pasture. As the Judge did not return home that night, a search
was instituted early the next morning ; his horse was found hitched in the
pasture mentioned, and a little way off the dead, body pierced with two
bullets, and his throat cut, was also found. Detectives were employed
and Joseph and Christian Glahn were arrested. On the preliminary
hearing Christian was discharged, but Joseph was held. On change of
venue Joseph was tried at Paris and convicted; but on appeal to the
supreme court, the cause was remanded for a new trial, and that court
intimated that the evidence was too weak. The evidence consisted
mainly of a few threats and the fact that the defendant was hunting
not far from Hunolt *s pasture that fatal afternoon. So the case was
dismissed.
In 1888, also near Leonard, Andrew Howerton shot and killed his
wife and then himself. They had been married only a few months.
Some years before the crimes we have mentioned, in October, 1874,
Pat McCarty, who owned the mill in Clarence, was shot while in his
house as he sat by the window just after supper. No clue to the guilty
one was ever found.
July 22, 1897, M. Lloyd Cheuvront was shot and killed on the streets
of Shelbina by Tol Smock. The murdered man was a quiet, inoffensive
person, but Smock thought he had been following his (Smock's) wife.
The case against Smock was taken to Macon, and at the first trial the
jury hung. At the second trial the jury found him guilty of man-
slaughter and assessed his punishment at six months in jail and a fine
of one hundred dollars. Of this verdict the Macon Times-Democrat said :
**The verdict is an outrage upon this community, and it is just such
mockery as this which diK'gusts the people with juries and courts and
causes them to take the law into their own hands and mete out justice."
June 5, 1901,- a mile west of Clarence, James Stacey killed his wife,
daughter, and then himself.
The last tragedy that occurred in this county was in Taylor township,
not far from Leonard, in June, 1912, when Thomas Ralls shot and badly
wounded Charles Upton and his wife. They were the parents of Ralls'
wife, who had left her husband. A month before this Ralls started a
quarrel and was wounded by Upton. After shooting Upton, Ralls fled,
but a posse made pursuit, and finding himself hard pressed, Rails
killed himself.
Political Matters
This county was before the Civil war pretty evenly balanced between
the Democrats and the Whigs in number of votes, but the former elected
nearly all the officers ; only occasionally would a popular Whig secure a
position. About the close of the war and for a few years following,
the Radical Republicans controlled the county as many Democrats
were disfranchised. But after all the people were again allowed to vote,
it sustained the Democratic ticket with an increasing majority until
1896, when more than two Democratic votes were cast for one Republican.
At the August election in 1841, for clerk of the county court, Thomas
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 637
J. Bounds received 224 votes to John Jacob's 198. At the presidential
election the year previous, Van Buren received 233 votes to Harrison ^s
226. In 1844 the votes of both parties amounted to 448, not (luite so
many as four years before. But in 1852, there were 511 votes cast, of
which Franklin Pierce, Democrat, received 309, and Scott, Whig, only
202. In 1856, however, there was a change. The campaign was very
exciting. The Whig party had ceased to exist and in its place was the
Know-Nothing party. The vote gave Fillmore 432 votes to Buchanan's
373.
The campaign of 1860 was still more exciting. Everybody felt that
important events were near at hand. The people, North and South,
were wrought up to the highest tension. The " fire-eaters ' ' were threaten-
ing disunion, while the Republicans were preaching a crusade against
slavery. The Democratic party had split — Stephen A. Douglas for
the North and John C. Breckinridge for the South. The Republicans
had nominated Abraham Lincoln, and the Know-Nothings, or peace
party, John Bell. The vote in this county stood: Bell, 702; Douglas,
476; Breckinridge, 293; Lincoln, 90. But the state chose Douglas
electors, it being the only one that did, though a part of New Jersey
was for him. Thus the voting strength at this time had increased to
1,561, about five times what it was in 1841.
At the circuit court, in November, 1860, some slaves belonging to
the estate of George Gains w^re sold at the courthouse door according
to law, and a German made some strong remarks against the sale. He
was arrested and placed under bond, which he forfeited by not appear-
ing. Further on something will be said about **the peculiar institution."
Claiborne F. Jackson, w^ho was elected governor of the state at the
election in 1860, was for secession, and John McAfee, Shelby's repre-
sentative, was also a strong secessionist. He was elected speaker of the
house, yet the majority of the legislature were in favor of preserving
the Union. An act was passed in February, 1861, calling a convention
to consider the relation of this state to the other states. Some southern
states had already seceded. But it was provided in this act that this
convention could not take the state out of the Union, that this could be
done only by a vote of the people. Candidates were nominated for the
convention who were unconditional LTnion men and conditional Union
men. That is, the latter were for secession in the event of certain con-
ditions arising. Joseph M. Irwin was the unconditional Union candi-
date in this county, and G. Watts Hillias was the conditional Union
candidate. The county voted nearly three to one for the unconditional
Union candidates ; and the county always remained strong for the Union
and against secession. The majority of the convention was for the
Union, but they passed resolutions against the government's using force
to coerce the seceded states. A measure was introduced into the con-
vention and supported by Mr. Irwin for the emancipation of the slaves,
to take effect July 4, 1876, the master to be paid three hundred dollars
for each slave. This is the price Lincoln proposed in his proclamation
in 1862.
During war times men change their political opinions rapidly. Some
who were ultra pro-slavery Democrats in 1860, the next year found
themselves Radical Republicans. This county was an uncompromising
Union county and perhaps one reason that made the sentiment for the
Union so strong was the position of John F. Benjamin, Joseph Irwin,
Alex McMurtry, William J. Holliday, J. M. Collier, and other leading
men, who early declared their uncompromising position. The elections
held during the war were not strictly legal and regular, as the polls
were generally surrounded by soldiers, and only such persons were
allowed to vote as the commanders designated.
638 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
In 1865 a constitutional convention was held in Missouri, controlled
by the radical element. A rigid test oath was provided. Before any
one could vote, teach school, practice law, sit on a jury, or even preach
the gospel, he must swear that he was well acquainted with that pro-
vision of the constitution, and that he never sympathized with those in
rebellion. Registrars were appointed for each county, and only those
whom this board, composed wholly of members of one party, admitted
to register could cast their ballots. Those who carried out the consti-
tution were even more drastic than its provisions. A long string of
questions was asked each applicant for registration; such as, **How
did you feel when you first heard of the battle of Bull Run ? ' * One wag,
Cobe Wood, of this county, replied, ''I never felt so happy in my life.
I rode home and the old woman and I had a regular camp-meeting shout-
ing/' Even if one took the oath and answered all the questions satis-
factorily, still the registrars might reject him. Men who had served
years in the Union army were disfranchised.
Thus in each county there was formed a ring, the members of
which divided the offices, and disfranchised enough men to keep them-
selves in power. Under this system there was as complete a tyranny as
ever existed. B. Gratz Brown, Carl Schurz and others determined in
1870 to end this tyranny, and as the Republican convention refused to
declare in favor of abolishing the test oath system, they bolted the con-
vention and organized the Liberal Republican party of Missouri. Brown
was nominated for governor. Col. John Shafer and the writer of this
article organized the party for Brown and enfranchisement in this
county, and in the state Brown was chosen by a large majority and
enfranchisement was carried by an overwhelming vote.
In 1870, the total registration in this county was 1,403, and this was
more than twice the number of votes cast in 1864. The vote in 1872,
when all were admitted to the polls, was over two thousand. In 1896 the
vote in the county aggregated 4,183. Of these Bryan received 2,878
and McKinley 1,275, the Prohibition ticket 21, and Palmer and Buckner
9. Since then the vote has somewhat decreased.
Slavery
Those who lived in the far North could never fully comprehend
the real situation in the South on the subject of slavery; and those
who have grown up since the war do not understand how good people
could own and work slaves. But two hundred years ago few people
thought it wrong to bring the uncivilized African to this continent and
hold him in bondage. At one time the institution existed North as
well as South ; but about the time of our revolt against England and
following that for a few years slavery was abolished in nearly all the
northern states. New Jersey alone holding on to it for some years later.
By the time of the Revolution, the more enlightened men of the country,
South as well as North, had become unfriendly to the institution and
hoped to see it gradually die out. When Virginia ceded the Northwest
Territory to the United States, it made a provision in that grant that
slavery should never exist there ; yet at that time that state held many
slaves. In the border states, like Missouri, the slave-holder usually inher-
ited these chattels. It was an institution handed down from generation to
generation, and one who had slaves and had conscientious scruples
against selling them as most of them had, could not easily free himself
from this condition. The free negro was not favored, was considered
dangerous, and was in a bad condition. For this reason the laws hamp-
ered emancipation. !Most of the masters in Missouri at least, treated
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST :MISSOrRI 639
their slaves humanely, and were kind and considerate. In 1860 there
were 724 slaves in this county. These people were more numerous in
Monroe and in all the river counties. As the prospect for war grew
darker, some men fearing emancipation took their slaves South and
sold them ; but most of the masters kept them until the law set them at
liberty. Even then some of the colored people refused to leave their
old masters, and nearly all held their former owners in great respect,
and continued to look to them for help in time of trouble.
The anti-slavery sentiment of the North was of slow growth, but
it had been yearly increasing, and the agitation over the Wilmot Proviso
and the compromise measures of 1850, including the Fugitive Slave
Law, and especially the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854 to
permit slavery in Kansas, stirred up a very bitter opposition over all
the free states. The profitable use of slaves in the cultivation of cotton
had gradually changed the sentiment in the South so that by 1850 and
1860 a large element there justified the institution, declared it heaven-
ordained and sacred. Thus the antagonism between the two sections had •
by 1860 become acute. If a settlement could have been made by peace-
ful means, much blood and bitterness might have been spared. But
war seemed to be the only remedy. The split in the Democratic party
which occurred that year insured the election of Lincoln, and as many
Southerners said they preferred him to Douglas, Northern men took
them at their word. Some of the fiery men down there were anxious
for a pretext to set up a new government; and bitter men of the North
urged them on. The secession of South Carolina and other states
which occurred in the winter of 1860 and 1861, and then the firing on
Fort Sumter, which occurred in April, brought the country face to
face with Civil war.
During the conflict the border slave states like Virginia, Kentucky
and Missouri, became very largely the seat of war, and in consequence,
the people of those states suffered much. Missouri had her full share
of loss and bitterness.
The Civil War in Shelby
Governor Jackson early took steps to organize regiments of militia,
professedly to defend the state ; but Union men believed these would be
used to help the secessionists. Crockett Davis and Daniel 6. Minter
early raised a company for Jackson's forces in this county. The people
of Shelby w^ere as profoundly stirred by the exciting events occurring
in the country as the people of any county. The Union men and the
secessionists each began to hold secret meetings to lay plans to advance
the cause they favored . They remained friendly when they met men
of opposing views, but both sides began to prepare for war. Though the
Union men were in the majority, the secessionists were bold. Public
as well as secret meetings were held, and strong language was used on
both sides. Flag-raisings were common and these were occasions for
bitter talk. June 13, 1861, the Second Iowa Infantry came through
Hunnewell on the train, fired on the citizens and took two prisoners.
This made the excitement more intense. Captain Hughes organized a
company for the Union army at Shelbina. A lot of young men from this
company went to St. Joseph and enlisted in the old Missouri Thirteenth
and a little later were captured with Mulligan at Lexington. July 10,
the fight at Monroe City took place, and about the same time a detach-
ment of Illinois soldiers from Macon went to northwest Shelby and cut
down a secession flag. About this time a company of home guards
was organized at Shelbyville with Joseph Forman as captain. This
640 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
company helped for some months to guard the railroad and the govern-
ment supplies at Hannibal. On July 10, a company of secessionists
from Ralls county burned the railroad bridge across Salt river near Hun-
newell; and soon after Brig.-Gen. John McNeal made his headquarters
for a time at Hunnewell and then a short period at Shelbina. Quite
a number of young men left the county and enlisted in Colonel Green's
Southern regiment. Frisby McCuUough sent some of his Confederates
to Shelbyville and took Captain Forman and Col. John F. Benjamin
prisoners, but they were soon released. In September, General Hurlbert
concentrated his Union forces at Bethel to attack Green, supposed to
be at Philadelphia, in Marion county. Three soldiers of Hurlbert 's
command, going alone from Shelbyville to Shelbina, were fired upon by
bushwhackers, one was killed and one wounded. The bushwhackers
made their escape. They were all young men of this county, but are
now dead; one, at least, subsequently became a good citizen of the
county, but most of them were killed during the w^ar.
About the 1st of September, Colonel Williams of low^a, with six
hundred men passed through Shelbina and went to Paris, then return-
ing to Shelbina. As he returned, he learned that General Green, who
had mustered all the Confederate forces he could secure, was coming
from Florida, in Monroe county, with the intention of capturing Will-
iams and his men. Williams reached Shelbina after dark and learned
that Hurlbert had taken all his troops to Brookfield, and that Green
with two or three thousand men was about to attack Shelbina, The next
morning Green sent Colonel Williams a note demanding his surrender
or to have the women and children moved out of town. The women and
children were moved, but Colonel Green's note was not answered. The
latter then opened fire with two pieces of artillery of Captain Kneis-
ley's Palmyra battery. The cannon were well aimed and the shots struck
near the center of the town, two passing through the hotel. The Federals
had no artillery and therefore could not fight back. So the infantrj'
took a train for Brookfield and the mounted men rode along near the
train. Colonel Williams reported that he barricaded the streets for
battle, but being besieged by three thousand Confederates, who had
cannon, w^hile he had none, he was unable to hold the town ; that he lost
one man and that Captain McClure, of the Second Kansas, had his
foot shot off. After the Federal retreat. Colonel Green took the to%ni
and captured a few knapsacks, four mules, a wagon and some guns.
This was called the Battle of Shelbina. Then Colonel Green s men
went east to Salt river bridge, which they burned. This was the second
time it had been destroyed. At night after Green left Shelbina, some
of his men returned and burned some cars on the track. Soon after the
above. General Pope arrived at Hunnew^ell with a considerable force
and made that town his headquarters for some days.
After the Federal defeat at Bull Run and after Wilson's Creek,
secessionists ^became active in this county, and quite a number of
young men and boys joined Green and later Green joined General Price
south of the Missouri. In Auo:ust, Captain Stacey of Hunnewell vicinity,
organized an irregular squad of men which never became a part of the
Confederate army. With these men he made a raid on Palmyra and
took provisions and two prisoners. He also fired on a train load of
soldiers near Hunnewell and wounded two.
Hon. John ^IcAfee, once speaker of the ^lissouri House, Ex-Senator
James S. Green, of Lewis, and Ex-Congressman Thomas L. Anderson,
of Clarion, did more, it was said, to incite men to fight against the
government than any other men in North ^lissouri : yet no one of these
ever became a soldier. General Hurlbert took McAfee prisoner and
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 641
put him at hard labor, digging trenches. Yet he lived through it all
and for many years afterward was a citizen of Quincy, Illinois. The
other two notables named went over to Illinois early in the war and
remained there till the war was over.
In July, Colonel, afterward General, TJ. S. Grant in command of
the Twenty-first Illinois and Colonel, afterward General, John M. Pal-
mer in command of the Fourteenth Illinois, came to Salt river bridge near
Hunnewell as it was important to the government to keep the railroad
open. General Grant sent for substantial citizens of the vicinity and told
them he was not there to injure any individual, but only to uphold the
government; that the war was not to free the negro, if he thought it
was, he would take his men to the South. He talked to his guests in
his easy, business-like way, explained the difference between soldiers
and marauders, and said that when he required any provisions he would
pay for them. He acted so differently from some who had been there,
that he became popular even with the Southern sympathizers. About
this time a block house was made on the eastern bank of Salt river over-
looking the bridge. It was so constructed as to leave opportunity for
the soldiers while in it, to shoot through the corners and at the same
time be mainly protected.
General Grant went from the bridge to Florida, then to Mexico,
Missouri, and then further South. In his *' Personal Memoirs,,'- the
General says: **At the time of which I now write we had no transporta-
tion and the country about Salt river was sparsely settled, so that it
took some days to collect teams and drivers enough to move the camp.
While preparations for the move were going on I felt quite comfortable ;
but when we got on the road we found every house deserted. In the
twenty-five miles we had to march, we did not see a person, old or young,
male or female, except two horsemen, who were on a road that crossed
ours. As soon as they saw us, they decamped as fast as their horses
could carry them. I kept my men in the ranks and forbade their enter-
, ing the deserted houses or taking anything from them. We halted at
night on the road and proceeded the next morning at an early hour.
Harris had been encamped in a creek bottom for the sake of being near
water. The hills on either side of the creek extend to a considerable
heigl.L, possibly more than a hundred feet. As we approached the
brow of the hill from which it was expected we could see Harris camped
and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting
higher and higher until it felt to me that it was in my throat. I would
have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not
the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on.
When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view,
I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before
was still there and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly vis-
ible, but the troops were gone. ^ly heart resumed its place. It occurred
to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I
had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken
before; but it was one I never forgot afterward. From that event to
the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting
an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot
that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had to fear his. The
lesson was valuable.'*
In 1884 General Grant wrote R. L. Holcomb, who was compiling a
history of this county, as foUbws: **Long Branch, New Jersey, August
3, 1884. In July, 1861, I was ordered with my regiment, the Twenty-
first Illinois Infantry, to north Missouri to relieve Colonel Smith of the
Sixteenth, who was reported surrounded on the Hannibal & St. Joseph
Vol. 1—4 1
642 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Railroad. On my arrival at Quincy I found that the regiment had
scattered and fled. I then went with my regiment to the junction of
the road from Quincy with the one from Hannibal, where I remained
for a few days, until relieved by Colonel Turchin with another Illinois
regiment. From here I was ordered to guard the workmen engaged in
rebuilding the Salt river bridge. Colonel Palmer was there with his
regiment at the same time. When the work was near completion, I
was ordered to move against Thomas Harris, who was reported to have
a regiment or battalion encamped near Florida, Missouri. I marched
there, some twenty-five miles from Salt river, but found on arrival that
he had disbanded about the time I started. On my return, I was ordered
to Mexico, Missouri, by rail. Very truly yours, U. S. Grant."
Of the events of the Civil war the above are the principal ones taking
place in this county during 1861.
Early in 1862, under the directions of Acting-Governor Gamble,
who took the place of Jackson after he went south, H. S. Lipscomb, of
Palmyra, John F. Benjamin, Dr. A. C. Priest and W. J. Holliday of
Shelbyville, and others, the Eleventh Cavalry regiment was organized.
Afterward this was consolidated with the Second regiment, state militia.
When the leaves came out in the spring, many opponents of the govern-
ment resorted to bushwhacking. They hid in the brush and shot soldiers
as they passed along the road or were carried past in trains. In March,
Stacey's men took J. M. Preston from his home near Monroe City to
Stacey's camp in Shelby and killed him. They charged him with being
a spy. This aroused the Union men and they threatened retaliation.
Stacey kept eastern Shelby and western Marion disturbed for a long
time. Later in the season his men fired upon Colonel Lipscomb's regi-
ment as it marched from Shelbina to Shelbyville, killing two soldiers
and a citizen named Lilburn Hale. A posse from Shelbyville went in
pursuit of Stacey, killed two and one drowned, and Stacey just escaped
capture. When the news of the bushwhacking reached Shelbyville, great
indignation was manifested. Colonel Benjamin was wild withi excitement .
and declared that three of the men held there as prisoners should be
shot. He selected first, Roland Harvey of Clark county, who had been
captured a few days before, and had him shot. Then the news came
that two of Stacey 's band had been kiUed, and the Colonel was persuaded
to stay his hand.
The following from Colonel Glover will give an idea of the condi-
tion of affairs in 1862 :
' * Edina, April 10, 1862. — Captain Benjamin, Sir : I send you a list
of names marked (A), who did the killing of militia in this (Knox)
county. The others are members of a bushwhacking company in this and
other counties. Give a list of the names to your commissioned oflficers
with instructions to hold all such if arrested. Keep their names as
secret as possible. I do not want them to know they are suspected or
we shall not be able to catch them. You have two of them, I am told
(the Feltz). Hold them safely. We have five or six of them, and on
yesterday we killed one of the murderers, William Musgrove. These
men are scattered all over the country. You will be as active as possible
and charge your men to be cautious. These men are frequently to be
found in the vicinity of Magruder's on Black creek. These fellows are
in the habit of crossing Salt river, southeast of your town, on a bridge
on an unfrequented road. You will do well to give it some attention.
My instructions are not to bring in these fellows if they can be induced
to run, and if the men are instructed they can make them run. Yours
respectfully, J. M. Glover."
In September, Gen. Lewis McNeil in command at Macon, shot ten
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 643
prisoners, two of them citizens of this county, to- wit: Prank B. Drake
and Edward Riggs. About this time also was the massacre of ten men
at Palmyra by order of General McNeil. Buildings were also burned,
three in this county being especially notable : the home of Robert Joiner
in Tiger Fork, and the homes of Carter Baker and John Maupin in
Jefferson township. These men were accused of keeping rendezvous
for bushwhackers and murderers. Lieutenant Holliday and Captain
Priest executed the order to burn these houses.
In the latter part of '62 Colonel Porter was about the only active
Confederate in northeast Missouri. The others had gone south. Many
men from Shelby joined him. J. T. S. Clements of Hager's Grove raised
a company of eighty men in twenty-four hours and joined Porter. Soon
after this, the battle of Kirksville was fought. McNeil was in command
of the Union forces and Porter commanded the Confederates. Porter
was routed and many prisoners were taken. Of these many were tried
for violating their parole and shot. The Shelbyites among these were :
James Christian, David Wood, Jesse Wood and Bennett Hayden.
In 1863 and 1864 Shelby county had 504 men in the militia, and the
people lived in more peace than during the two preceding years. But
in July, 1864, the notorious and dreaded Bill Anderson with thirty-four
desperate men entered Shelbina early one morning. He made Judge
Daniel Taylor hold his horse while he looked around the place. He
lined up the citizens and robbed them, and then plundered the business
part of the town, then fired the depot and some cars standing on the
track. He was in Shelbina about four hours, and then went east and
burned Salt river bridge for the third time. Soon after this, occurred
the Centralia massacre by Bill Anderson. The foregoing are the more
important events in Shelby during the terrible war. Though peace came
in 1865 and was heartily welcomed by the people, it found a very bitter
state of feeling between Union men and Southern sympathizers. The
former were elated by their victory and the latter felt the strong arm
of power over them. They felt depressed and downtrodden. They had
no voice in choosing any officers, and many Union men declared that
*'the Rebels" had no rights and ought to be punished. In 1866 the
following ministers were indicted for preaching the gospel without hav-
ing taken the test oath : Jesse Paubion, Henry Louthan, Robert Holliday,
^lilford Powers, William PuUiam, Father Phelan, and some others.
These men were arrested, but the cases were never tried, as Father Cum-
mins had taken his case to the supreme court of the United States, and
the prohibition against preaching and teaching without taking oath was
knocked out. Gen. Frank P. Blair, who had been a gallant soldier on
the Union side, refused to take the oath and was disfranchised. This
was all ended by B. Gratz Brown's election in 1870; and after that
the bitter feeling between those who had been on the Union side and
the Southern sympathizers died out, and is now happily dead forever.
Miscellaneous
At an early day Palmyra had a strong bar; men of state wide and
some of national reputation. Among these were Thomas L. Anderson,
a great advocate; Samuel T. Glover, a great lawyer; John S. Dryden,
John T. Redd, Edward McCabe, and W. M. Boulware. These men did
a large part of the practice in Shelby before and for twenty years after
the Civil war. While this county never had a bar equal to that in the
neighboring county to the east, yet it had men of good ability and fair
learning, and thirty years ago the people of this county found out that
it was not necessary to go to other counties to secure lawyers.
644 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
John F. Benjamin rose to prominence as an able, reliable practitioner
before the Civil war commenced. He was sent to congress three times
and then declined to run again.
John W. Shafer and A. M. York had quite a practice immediately
after the Civil war. They were from the North, as were also Manville
and Burlingame. Charles M. King was a hard student and took much
pains with his cases, and was especially expert in drawing papers. B. F.
Dobyns was the first prosecuting atorney elected in 1872, under the new
law. Before that, circuit attorneys, elected by the judicial circuit, did
the prosecuting. Mr. Dobyns was a man of ability, and had a clear
mental vision. J. C. Hale was brilliant, but not proficient. He was
judge of probate for twelve years. R. P. Giles was a brilliant man, a
first-rate advocate, a fine conversationalist, and very popular. In 1896
he was elected to congress, but died two weeks after his election. James
T. Lloyd, who had been practicing law some years at Shelbyville, was
pushed by his friends to fill the place made vacant by the death of Mr.
Giles. The friends of this writer induced him also to become a candidate
for the place, and a spirited race ensued in the county. The latter had
been connected with the sound money movement opposed to the coinage
of silver at the rate of 16 to 1, irrespective of the action of any
other country, and many Democrats opposed him on that ground. The
older men were generally for him, while the younger ones were for
Mr. Lloyd. The primary was held in the county on January 2, 1897.
The rain poured down all day and the streams were very high. This
kept the older men at home. Thus Mr. Lloyd won by a small majority,
and then won in the district against strong opposition. He is a popular
man, very accommodating, active and stands high in the house. He
has been re-elected seven times, and is now a candidate for his ninth
term without opposition.
The writer practiced law in the county for about forty years, and
he and Mr. Giles were usually pitted against each other. In prosecut-
ing cases, 'Mr. Giles' strong points came out in his closing arguments.
Now, J. D. Dale, V. L. Drain, and Enoch O'Brien, of Shelbyville; H. A.
Wright and W. S. Hamrick, of Clarence, and George W. Humphrey,
J. T. Gose, and H. J. Libbey, of Shelbina, are the principal practitioners
at the bar of Shelby.
Those who have presided over the circuit court since tlie organiza-
tion of the county are: Priestly H. McBride, 1835; Ezra Hunt, 1836;
Priestly H. McBride again from 1837 to 1844 ; Addison Reese, 1845 to
1855 ; John T. Redd, 1856 to 1862, when he was ousted because he would
not take the test oath ; Gilchrist Porter, 1862 to 1864 ; John I. Campbell,
1865; William P. Harrison, 1866 to 1871; John T. Redd, 1872 to 1881;
Theodore Brace, 1881 to 1887; Thomas Bacon, 1887 to 1893; Andrew
Ellison, 1893 to 1899, and Nat M. Shelton from 1899 to the present time.
No one of the judges has resided in this county. Judges are elected for
six years.
The history of the county published in 1884 and the one published
in 1911, both state that Salt river was the highest ever known in 1876,
but this is certainly a mistake. That was the centennial year. June
was a wet, cold month, and on flat prairies the grass outgrew the com.
The first part of July 4th was too wet to celebrate, but in the afternoon
a good crowd gathered at Swift's Grove, north of Shelbina, where the
celebration for the county was held. Men came from various parts of
the county to attend this. The year, however, of 1875, the rains com-
menced on June 5. It had been dry, corn had been cultivated once or
twice, and was clean. From this commencement until after July 4th,
it rained more or less every day, many days very hard, and the weather
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 645
was hot. On July 4, 1876, the bridge between Shelbina and ShelbyviUe
was tied with ropes to trees to keep it from being moved ofif its abut-
ments. This is the time the river is said to have been the highest ever
known. The corn crop was heavy.
F. M. Dalton published the first newspaper in the county called
the ShelbyviUe Spectator. This was in 1853. N. C. Sperry, who bought
the paper, changed the name to The Star of the Prairie. This paper
was started as a Whig organ, but it failed. About the spring of 1861
Griffin Frost and 6. Watts Hillias started the Shelby County Weekly.
This was a red hot secession paper, and the Union men did not like to
have it published. So in June, 1862, the militia notified the proprietors
to stop the publication, and they did.
In 1866, J. D. Moudy started the Weekly Gazette at Shelbina and
in a little while sold out to his foreman, E. D. Hoselton. The paper,
however, soon became the property of Daulton, who started the first
paper in the county. He sold to Shafer & York, who changed the
politics, to radical Republicanism and the name to the Shelby County
Herald. In 1871 it was sold to W. L. Willard and moved to ShelbyviUe,
where it is still published by Ennis Brothers as a Democratic organ.
April 1, 1869, E. D Hoselton founded the Shelbina Democrat and the
next year Col. S. A. Rawlings bought a half interest in the paper. In
September, 1875, the latter died. It remained the sole property of Mr.
Hoselton from the sale by Rawlings' administrator until May, 1881,
when this writer bought one-half interest in it. He had been assisting
in editorial work after Colonel Rawlings' death. In 1891 John W. Cox
bought Mr. Hoselton 's interest, and in 1901 sold it to this writer, who
still owns the plant, though H. H. and E. W. Jewett now publish the
paper. The paper, from its first issue, has been as its name indicates.
Democratic in politics.
J. R. Horn started a paper at Hunnewell called The Echo, then
moved it to ShelbyviUe and named it The Shelby County Times, but
it did not long survive.
In 1892 E. D. Tingle, started the ShelbyviUe Guard. This paper
passed through several hands to W. A. Dimmitt, and finally burned.
Now the county seat has only The Herald.
In 1881 Bumbarger and JNIcRoberts started the Shelbina Index. It
passed through many hands, its name was changed to the Shelbina
Torchlight and under that name it is now published by N. E. Williams.
Mr. Williams practiced law for some years before he went into the news-
paper business.
W. !M. Bradley founded the Clarence Courier, which, after passing
through a number of hands, is now owned by Hon. H. J. Simmons and
Enoch Ragland. It is Democratic.
The Clarence Bepublican is the only paper in the county that ad-
vocates the principles of the Republican party. It was founded by
0. P. Devin, but is now published 'by A. B. Dunlap.
The Hunnewell Graphic was first published by 0. P. Sturm, but is
now run by H. A. Stephens. It is neutral in politics.
The county has nine Odd Fellow lodges and five Masonic. It has
also Knights of Pythias lodges and many fraternal insurance organi-
zations.
Conclusion
Limited space has compelled leaving out events and persons worthy
of a place in this history, and also, in many cases compelled very brief
mention where a more extended account would be justified under less
restricted requirements. The aim has been to chronicle the more im-
646 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
portant and striking occurrences in a manner to give a correct idea of
the settlement and growth of the county, the character and genius of
its people from the first settlers down to the present time, and to indicate
the state of civilization which has prevailed and now exists in this section.
Eighty-two years ago the territory now comprising Shelby county
was without human inhabitants. The land was covered with primeval
forests and prairie grass, about half each. The deer, wolf, bear, panther,
turkey, prairie-chicken, quail, beasts and reptiles wandered about, un-
alarmed by the presence of man. There was not a road, a house, or an
acre of tilled land. See what civilized man has done! Now there are
about five hundred miles of laid out road. Upon some of this little work
has been bestowed, and but a small part is really good except in dry
weather. Now there are thousands of pleasant homes, some of them
really delightful. Nearly every acre of land is more or less utilized,
though much more might be produced if the land were more thoroughly
tjultivated. There are three cities, three incorporated towns, and several
villages. A trip over the county will disclose many charming spots,
many highly improved farms, and many evidences of culture, taste and
refinement. As a rule the houses and barns show thrift and comfort.
Here nearly seventeen thousand people dwell in safety and peace,
surrounded with an abundance of the necessaries of life and many
encouragements to mental development and moral and spiritual uplift.
These people are a not unworthy part of this great and growing republic
of which we are all so proud. Shelby will measure up fairly well with
the most favored sections of this favored land.
CHAPTER XXXII
SULLIVAN COUNTY
By r. A. Dodge, MUan*
The First Settlers
The first settlement in Sullivan county was made by Dr. Jacob
Holland and his son, Robert W. Holland, near the site of the present
village of Scottville. They came to the county in 1836 or 1837, the
exact date being unknown. Dr. Holland was not a graduate of any
medical school, but had learned what he knew about the profession from
the Indians and from his personal observations. He left the county in
a few years to serve in the Black Hawk war, after which he settled in
Putnam county. From there he went to the Mexican war and later to
California to mine gold.
The next settler was a farmer, John Hatpher. Other settlers who
came soon afterward were Hawkins and Hazael Harrelson, Mrs. Charles
Read and Henry Dell. John Dennis, with his wife and four children,
moved into the settlement in 1838. These people, with B. T. Dennison
and the Rev. John Curl, who lived about twelve miles north of where
^lilan is now, and Matthew Kidd, who lived near the present site of
Kiddville, composed the entire population of the county at this time.
The Reverend Mr. Curl was a Baptist preacher, the first minister
of the gospel to come into the county. Dennis was later a county officer,
being sheriff and assessor of the county for terms of four years each.
Reuben Wilhite, Jesse Gk)ins, William Daly, Hugh C. Warren and Robert
Bums settled in the county soon afterward. In 1839 William W. Sevier
settled about six miles south of the present town of Milan with his wife
and five children. Jeremiah 6. Smith came into the county from Boston,
Massachusetts, in the same year, and in 1841 married one of the daugh-
ters of Mr. Sevier.
Among the other early settlers were : John McCullough, James Mur-
phy, Jacob Weaver, John Weaver, Elias Hudnall, Daniel Wilhite, Thomas
Spencer, Gabriel Jones, William Eaton, Hiram T. Elmore, Jefferson El-
more, Harrison Elmore, Armstead C. Hill, Elisha Smith, Thomas Lane,
John Baldridge, Jr., Esom Hannon, William Tally, Benjamin Couch,
Levi Dennis, Martha Hale, William Walker, Samuel Darr, John Con-
stant, Oliver P. Phillips, Samuel Rogers, Branson Jackson, Peter Qroves,
Stephfen R. Fields, Samuel Read, Lewis Todhunter, C. H. Levin, John
Crumpacker, Francis Drake, Joseph Couch, Daniel Doyle, Sr., Daniel
Doyle, Jr., Daniel Shatto, John Montgomery, Ira Sears, Solomon Grim,
Hayden Brown, Barnett Yates, Griffin Taylor, George Baker, Robin-
son ]Morris, George W. Smith and Jesse Yates.
* In the preparation of this history of Sullivan county liberal use was made,
by permission, of the historical sketches by John N. Shepler and others in the Milan
Standard* Walter Williams, Jr., collected material for this and other county his-
tories and special chapters in this volume, writing a substantial part of them.
647
648 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The large majority of the early settlers brought with them their wives
and children. They settled in all parts of the county, the largest num-
ber being in what were known as the Hill settlement and the West Locust
Creek settlement, around the present site of Milan or on the Yellow
creek.
PmsT Land Entry
The first entry of land in Sullivan county was made March 22, 1839,
by John Snell, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 24,
township 61, range 21. The next entries were made on May 6th of the
same year by Meshack Smith, Lewis Tyre and Elisha T. Dennison.
Many entries were made by persons who never settled in the county.
By the close of the year 1842 settlements had been made along all
the streams of the county. The settlers grouped themselves together, to
some extent, according to the state or locality from which they had emi-
grated. Medicine Creek was settled mainly by people from Illinois and
Main Locust Creek by Virginians, Tennesseeans and Ohioans, except that
part later called ** Heirs Kitchen," where the people were mainly Ca-
nadians. The Canadians were nearly all related to each other but were
almost always in some kind of quarrel among themselves. They later
moved aw^ay, but the name ** Hell's Kitchen" has clung to the localitj'.
There had never been many Indians in Sullivan county and when
the first settlers came they were not annoyed by them. They had, how-
ever, many other hardships to encounter and diflSculties to overcome.
They were usually poor and made slow progress in opening up their
farms. As a result they raised little more than was needed to supply
themselves.
The Food op the Pioneer
A mill was established in Linn county in 1840 or 1841 on Main Lo-
cust creek. It was kept running only about six months in the year, but
was a great convenience to the settlers in Sullivan county. When the
mill was not running the settlers either ground the com by hand or did
without bread. During the latter part of the summer potatoes and
squashes were used as substitute; and these, with fat venison, beef or
pork, enabled the pioneers to get along comfortably. Deer and wild
turkey were abundant, but such necessary articles as coffee, sugar, tea
and salt could not be obtained nearer than Glasgow or Brunswick, both
about seventy-five miles to the southward.
Cattle and hogs were raised by the early settlers and some kept sheep.
Wolves were numerous, however, and were a serious obstacle to suc-
cessful sheep husbandry. Wild honey was plentiful and beeswax, pel-
tries and tallow furnished the staple articles of export and trade. Money
was so scarce that for many years these articles were used to pay even
the state and county taxes.
The first crop of wheat in the county was raised by James Shipley,
When the grain was ripe he could find no implements with which ,to cut
it, so he went on foot to Glasgow, where he bought two old-fashioned
sickles. With these he returned home and harvested his crop.
A mill was built in Sullivan county in 1842. It was on Main Locust
creek and was owned by Peter Groves. It was equipped for grinding
corn and wheat and for sawing logs. Soon afterward a mill was built on
the same creek by Samuel R. Fields. A third mill was built on Medicine
Creek by Charles Haley. These three were the only mills in the countv
in 1845.
Among the crops of the early settlers were some raised as experi-
ments. The Prather brothers, N. M. Hamrick and other settlers on Medi-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 649
cine creek cultivated hemp on a small scale, but had to abandon it as the
remoteness of the market compelled them to sell their product at too
low a price to yield them a profit. Tobacco was also raised by some of
the early settlers, J. W. Thomas, a former Virginian, built a small
tobacco factory on West Locust creek about the year 1844. Mr. Thomas
went to California tjjiring the gold fever of 1849 and afterward the
manufacture of tobacco was carried on in the elm woods north of Milan
by Daniel Baldridge, Robert Baldridge, Branson Jackson, William
Jackson and William J. Talley. They met with considerable sncceas
until the imposition of the internal revenue tax made the business unprof-
itable.
Corn, rye, wheat and oats soon became staple crops in the county
and peas, beans, Irish potatoes, cabbage, beets, parsley, turnips, squash
and pumpkins also were profitable. Little attention was paid to the
tame grasses such as timothy, red top and clover because of the great
amount of native grass. Later blue grass became plentiful and timothy
and both white and red clover came to be cultivated.
Herd op Cattle
In earlier days the creek bottoms were of little use except for pasture.
The creek banks were higher than the bottom lands and the latter over-
flowed in the spring. The land is now better drained, making the county
much more healthful in which to live.
The First Birth
The first known marriage in the county was that of John Shipley and
JIary Poison, in August, 1840. The second was that of Jeremiah G.
Smith and ilary Ann Sevier, February 11, 1841. The first child bom in
the county was that of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Toalson, born about
January 1, 1840. It died four months afterward.
The County Organized
Sullivan county was organized in 1845. It was formed with its pres-
ent boundaries in 1843, when it was organized as a county, except that
it was attached to Linn county for all civil and military purposes. It
was then known as Highland county. In 1844, by a state census, High-
650 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
land county was found to have enough people to permit a full organiza-
tion. The representative in the state legislature from Linn and High-
land counties, E. M. C. Morelock, succeeded in having the act organizing
the county under the name of Sullivan passed by the legislature.
The county was divided into six townships — Liberty, Pleasant Hill,
Duncan, Polk, Morris and Vrooman. Voting precyicts were established
in each township and the county organization was completed. The pres-
ent townships are : Buchanan, Bowman, Clay, Duncan, Jackson, Liberty,
Morris, Pleasant Hill, Polk, Penn, Taylor and Union.
The county court of Linn county was ordered by the legislature to
pay over to Sullivan county all the revenues which had been collected
within the limits of Sullivan county since February 17, 1843, after
deducting the expenses of assessing and collecting the taxes and all money
spent for improvements in Sullivan county. Under the provisions of
this statute, Sullivan county was paid $156.55.
The first incumbents of county oflSces in Sullivan county were:
County clerk, H. T. Elmore, 1845 to 1849 ; sheriflf, E. B. Morelock, 1845
to 1848; treasurer, George Irvine, 1845 to 1846; prosecuting attorney,
R. D. Morrison, 1872 to 1876; collector, James Morris, 1872 to 1874;
public administrator, James Beatty, 1868 to 1870 ; judges of the county
court, William Doyle, 1845 to 1846, Samuel Lewis, 1845 to 1849, Patrick
McQuown, 1845 to 1850 ; surveyor, Jephthah Wood, 1845 to 1846 ; judge
of the probate court, Stephen G. Watkins, 1850 to 1857; Pierson Tyer,
1845 to 1846 ; coroner, William Orr, 1868 to 1876 ; circuit clerk, Allen
Gillespie, 1858 to 1862. The first representative was E. M, C. Morelock,
who served from 1844 to 1850.
The present county officers are: William H. W. Dewitt, presiding
judge of the county court ; Thomas Jefferson Briggs, judge of the
county court from the first district; Jesse H. Franklin, judge of the
county court from the second district; Clarence F. Eubanks, judge
of probate ; Andrew D. Morrison, clerk of the circuit court ; ^lark II.
Mairs, clerk of the county court; Edward E. Shoop, recorder of deeds;
Jacob M. Wattenbarger, prosecuting attorney; J. S. Shaw, sheriff;
(^luirles Van Wye, coroner; L. E. Harris, public administrator; Roy
Glidewell, surveyor; Roxaua Jones, superintendent of schools.
At the County Seat
The county seat was located at Milan and the first meeting of the
county court was held there, at the home of A. C. Hill, on May 5, 1845.
The first saloon license was granted November 3, 1846, to George W.
Smith, who asked permission to open a dramshop at Milan.
The first courthouse was built in 1847. It was of hewn logs, one
and one-half stories in height, and 20x24 feet in size. The lower story
was all one room. Above there were two rooms, one for a grand jury
and the other for the petit jury. The building was erected by William
Putnam of Linn county, and was occupied as a courthouse until 1858,
when it was removed to the southwest corner of ^lain and Third streets
and was destroyed by fire in 1892. A substantial brick courthouse
with offices below and court and jury rooms below was erected in
1858. This building burned June 26, 1908. The county court then
bought an office building, which is now used for a courthouse.
The first jail was erected in 1849 and 1850 at a cost of $700. It
stood until 1859, when it was burned down by a runaway slave, who was
being kept in it until his master should come to claim him. The new jail
stands on the northeast corner of the square.
From a population of about two hundred in 1840, Sullivan county
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 651
has grown until it has at the present time a population of about 18,600.
The population, according to the census, has been: 1850, 2,983; 1860,
9,108 J 1870, 11,907 J 1880, 16,569; 1890, 19,000; 1900, 20,282; 1910,
18,598.
The increase in population has been accompanied by an even more
rapid increase in wealth. The taxable property of the county in 1912
was assessed at $7,680,114.48.
The negro and foreign-born population of the county has always been
small. At no time have there been more than 125 negroes in the county.
The foreign element is larger, but there have been few undesirable immi-
grants.
The county is very close politically. The Democrats hold all the
oflSces except probate judge and presiding judge of the county court.
In 1844 the county, voting together with Linn, which then included
Sullivan, gave Henry Clay 269 votes for president and James K. Polk
494. The first presidential contest after the organization of the county
separately from Linn, resulted in a vote of 250 for Lewis Cass and 154
for Zachary Taylor. In 1908 Taft carried the county over Bryan by
a vote of 2,389 to 2,269. A majority of the present county officers are
Republicans.
In the Civil War
The first event in Sullivan county connected with the Civil war was
the mass meeting at Milan on February 4, 1861. The secessionists called
the meeting, but the Union men made plans to turn it from a secession
into a Union meeting. The leaders of the Union men were II. T. ]Mc-
Clanahan, O. P. Phillips, Thomas Lane, S. H. B. Cochrane, James
Beatty, James T. Dunlap, Ichabod Comstock, John McCullough, Joel
De Witt, Gabriel Jones and P. W. Martin.
On the following Monday a meeting was held in the courthouse to
discuss the questions of the day. Oliver H. Bennett, then the county's
representative in the legislature, who had come home to arouse enthu-
siasm among the people in favor of secessioif, was elected chairman of the
meeting. After speeches had been made by K. S. Strahan, Dr. E. P.
Perkins and John C. Hutchinson, all advocating secession, H. T. Mc-
Clanahan obtained recognition from the chairman and said that a
majority of the people of Sullivan county were in favor of sustaining
the Union. He called for a division of the house, saying **A11 those
in favor of standing by the Union come to my side of the room; those
in favor of secession rally round Strahan." About two-thirds of those
present sided with McClanahan. The secessionists, having found them-
selves in the minority, retired from the courtroom. The Unionists or-
ganized and selected Col. Gabriel Jones, Benjamin Smith, 0. P. Phillips
and Philip W. Martin delegates to the senatorial district convention to
be held at Chillicothe, which selected delegates to the state convention.
After the Union meeting had adjourned the Southerners reassembled
and nominated their delegates to the state convention. At the election
which took place soon afterward, the Union men carried the county by
a large majority.
A mass meeting was held at Milan on June 29, 1861, to express the
sentiment of the county concerning the condition of affairs in the state
at that time. About 1,500 persons were present. Col. Gabriel Jones
was made chairman of the meeting and B. F. Smith secretary. Reso-
lutions were passed fixing the blame for the **evil times and the unprec-
edented distress of the American people" upon the secessionists.
Sullivan county furnished its share of troops to the Union army.
The Sixty-sixth Regiment of Enrolled Missouri Volunteer*; Company C
652 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
and a part of Company K of the First Regiment and Company G of the
Second Regiment of Missouri State Militia ; a large part of the Twenty-
third Infantry, especially Companies A and G; and Company B and a
part of Company F of the Eighteenth Regiment and Company E of the
Forty-second Regiment of Missouri Volunteers — all these were raised in
Sullivan county.
There were no important engagements in Sullivan county during the
Civil war and most of the fighting was confined to pursuits of bush«
whackers. About fifty men were on duty at Milan to guard property
there. These men were chosen from the Sixty-sixth Regiment, each
company furnishing a few. The post was in charge, at different times,
of Capt. J. W. Jewett, Capt. Dennis Adams, Capt. E. L. Webb and
Lieut. James Sterling. While the post was in charge of Captain Webb,
a party of bushwhackers made a raid through the southern part of the
county and a portion of the guard at Milan gave pursuit. Failing to
come up with the intruders, they returned, arresting two men, Joseph
and Thomas Stephens, on their way home. They intended to take them
to Milan, but the guard over the prisoners shot them in a reported
attempt to escape.
When 0. P. Phillips was sheriff and ex-ofl5cio collector of the county
revenues, he was robbed of about $800 by bushwhackers in the neigh-
borhood of Lindley. They made him get down on his knees and hurrah
for Jefferson Davis. Jerome Payne was arrested soon afterward,
charged with complicity in the robbery. Nothing was proved against
him, but he was taken to a place about a mile north of Milan and
hanged to a tree.
During the war, a farmer, William Calhoun, was killed by Union
men, whom he was guiding through his farm to a road on the other side.
No one was ever found guilty of the crime, although James Head was
indicted for it. Before the day set for Head's trial, he accidentally
broke his leg and died soon afterward. It is believed that he was not
guilty of the murder.
During the war another atrocious murder was committed. This was
the killing of Daniel Mummy by a Mr. White. John Ellers, one of
whose daughters White is said to have been courting, is accused of
having instigated the crime. Both Ellers and White left the country
after the crime, but Ellers was captured in Iowa by Judge William
Beatty, Solomon Poole and James McClaskey. They were to bring him
back to Sullivan county, but on reaching a point south of Unionville, in
Putnam county, their prisoner was taken away from them by a posse
of citizens and hanged.
Although the number was small in comparison with the number of
Union men, Sullivan county furnished some troops to the Southern army.
A company of men encamped at Field's mill, in the southern part of the
county, in September, 1861, with the ultimate object of joining the Con-
federate troops to the southward. There were between Mty and seventj'-
five men, under Capt. Thomas H. Flood. With a company under
Capt. George W. Sandusky, of Linn county, they went southward,
crossing the Missouri river at Brunswick and joining General Price's
forces at Lexington. They were mustered into service there and were
attached to the Third Regiment of the Third Division of the Missouri
State Guards. Col. E. W. Price was in charge of the regiment and
Gen. John B. Clark of the division. They participated in the battle
of Lexington and went south with General Price on his retreat. Cap-
tain Flood, on account of sickness, resigned his position in the company,
and the command devolved on Lieut. Samuel Baker. When their term
of enlistment, expired in the spring of 1862, quite a number of the
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 653
men enlisted in the Confederate service, under Capt. P. C. Floumey,
and surrendered with him at Fort Blakely.
The Twenty-third Regiment of Union troops, which was raised in
Sullivan county, went south in 1862 and took part in the battle of Pitts-
burg Landing, or, as it was called by the Union troops, the battle of
Shiloh. This engagement was a severe one for the Twenty-third Begi-
ment. Captain Dunlap, Captain Brown, Captain Robinson, Adjutant
Martin, Lieutenant Munn and Lieutenant Simms were wounded, 30
private soldiers were killed, about 170 wounded and 375 taken prison-
ers. The regiment later participated in the battle of Murphreesboro,
most of the engagements in the Atlanta campaign, Sherman's march
to the sea and the march through the Carolinas. Part of the troops
were mustered out of service in January, 1865, and the rest July 18,
1865.
The Forty-fourth Regiment saw service at Franklin, Tenn., in
Louisiana, around New Orleans, and at Montgomery, Ala.
Other Sullivan county troops saw service elsewhere, partly in Mis-
souri and partly in the South.
A reunion of old soldiers, both Union and Confederate, was held at
Milan July 3, 4 and 5, 1884. People from all over the county, as well
as the veterans themselves, attended the reunion. A sham battle took
place between the Union and Confederate forces.
Railroad History.
There are three railroads in Sullivan county, the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Quincy, Omaha &
Kansas City. The first named has 18.40 miles of roadbed in the county,
the second 26.30 miles and the last mentioned 33.74 miles. The Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul passes through the extreme western part of
the county, running north and south. The Burlington runs north and
south through the central part of the county, passing through Milan.
The Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City runs through the county from
east to west.
The first movement to assist a railroad company to build a road
through the county was made in June, 1869. The county court ordered
that the county subscribe $125,000 to the capital stock of the North
Missouri Central Railroad Company, for which bonds were to be issued
by the company and given to the railroad as needed to build the road
through Sullivan county. When submitted to the voters, the proposi-
tion was not sustained. At an election held soon afterward, a similar
proposition ordering a subscription of $100,000 was defeated also.
At the December term of the county court in 1869, a special election
was ordered to be held in the county February 22, 1870, to ascertain
whether two-thirds of the qualified voters of the county would consent
to a $200,000 subscription to the capital stock of the Quincy, Missouri
& Pacific Railway Company, on condition that the company build a
railroad across the county from east to west, as nearly as practicable
through the center of the county. The company was also to maintain
stations at Milan, Greencastle and Wintersville. At the election 1,049
votes were cast in favor of the subscription and 257 against it. The
company started work on the road soon afterward. It was forced to
suspend work during the panic of 1873, but graded twelve miles of road
and built bridges and laid ties along it by the end of June, 1879. The
company then offered the county $80,000 of its capital stock and asked
in return for $80,000 in bonds. The county court refused to comply
with their request and the railway company brought suit to compel the
654 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
issuance of the bonds. The road was later completed through the
county.
In 1871 the county court subscribed $200,000 to the capital stock of
the St. Joseph & Iowa Railroad Company for use in building the North
Missouri branch of the road. The company agreed to build the road
through the county within twenty-one months. Although they man-
aged to get $160,000 out of the $200,000 worth of bonds from the county,
they did not build more than one-fourth of the road they had promised
to build. The Burlington & Southwestern Railway Company had bought
the property of the St. Joseph & Iowa Railroad Company and they
maintained that they were entitled to all the bonds except $40,000
worth. The county compromised a suit they brought against the rail-
road to recover the bonds by agreeing to take over the capital stock of
the railroad. This was worth very little and was later sold by the
county court for $100.
Milan now has the Burlington and the Q. 0. & K. C. railroads run-
ning through it, four mail and passenger trains stopping there each day.
The Q. 0. & K. C. shops are located at Milan, where about 200 men are
employed with an average payroll of $600 per day.
The history of the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad is given
in the historical sketches of Knox and other counties and need not be
duplicated.
History op the Schools
The first definite steps toward organizing Sullivan county for perma-
nent educational purposes were made in 1847. The qualified voters of
township 62 of range 20 petitioned the county court about this time to
organize a school district of this territory and name it School Township
No. 1. Their request was granted and R. D. Morrison was appointed
commissioner and Samuel Maggart and Esom Hannan, directors. Town-
ship 64 of range 21 was organized into a school township at the same
time and numbered township No. 2. John Wood was appointed com-
missioner for the school township and Thomas Wood and Robert Allen,
directors.
The early schools had few conveniences. The blackboard and crayon,
even, were absent. The schoolhouses were built to be as convenient and
as comfortable as possible, but were poor compared with many of the
country schoolhouses today. It was considered extravagant in the
earlier days of Sullivan county to buy fuel for the schools. The patrons
of each school took turns in furnishing fuel. To hire it cut, it was
thought, would make the larger boys lazy and the task of cutting the
wood for the fireplace or stove was imposed on them.
The number of children of school age in the county in 1860 was 3,242
and the amount of money appropriated by the state for school purposes
in the county was $1,426.48. During the Civil war the schools were
neglected and it was not until 1877 that education was again put on a
systematic basis. In this year there were in the county the following
number of school children : White males, 2,697 ; negro males, 8 ; white
females, 2,584 ; negro females, 9 ; total whites, 5,281 ; total negroes, 17 ;
grand total, 5,298.
There were 95 schoolhouses in the county. There were 103 teachers,
of which number 70 were men and 33 women. The average salary paid
to the teachers was $32.01 a month for the men and $21.76 for the
women. The marked difference in the salaries of the men and women
teachers seems to indicate that men were held in much higher esteem
as teachers. The total valuation of school property in 1877 was $28,366.
The total enumeration of children of school age in Sullivan county in
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 655
1912 was 5,678. There were 2,914 white males, 2,763 white females,
11 negro males and 10 negro females. The total number of whites was
5,657 and negroes 21. There were 115 schoolhouses in the county, with
139 teachers. Of these, 56 are men and 83 women. The school property
of the county is valued at $121,850.
The first county institute in the county was held in 1884. It was
called by D. M. Wilson, county school commissioner, to meet at the
public school building in Milan. It was conducted by W. P. Nason of
the faculty of the Kirksville State Normal School. Institutes have been
held every year since that time, after 1890 under the new Institute law.
The institutes have usually been held at Milan, although one meeting
has been held at Humphreys, another at Green City and a third at
Harris. Humphrey's College at Humphrey and Green City College at
Green City, private institutions, went out of existence several years ago.
The schools at Milan are especially good. The grammar school is
well equipped and the high school is accredited by the University of
Missouri, 18 units work being taught. The new laws in regard to teach-
ers' certificates will make this four-years high school a valuable asset
to the county.
Church History
The churches represented in Sullivan county include the Northern
Methodist, Southern Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Christian, Free
United Brethren, Catholic and Adventist. There are probably individ-
uals here and there who prefer some other church, but these are the only
ones that have exercised much religious influence.
The first preacher to come into the county was the Rev. John Curl, a
Baptist. He lived in the northern part of the county, either in or not
far from the Dennison settlement. He preached the first sermon at the
home of John Hatcher, in the southern part of the county.
The first camp meeting was held by the MethoSists in 1842 about
three miles west of Milan. The division of the Methodist church over
the slavery question had not then occurred and all the Methodists who
could reach the place attended the meeting. Three preachers were
present — ^the Rev. George Land, the Rev. James McClaskey and the Rev.
George Conway. The meeting lasted about thirteen days and about
300 persons attended.
The Rev. Jesse Goins was another of the early ministers. After the
division in the Methodist church, the Rev. John Martin was probably the
first minister belonging to the Methodist Episcopal church South to
preach in the county. The entire body of Methodists in Sullivan
county united with the southern wing of the church. The Methodist
Episcopal church was re-established in Sullivan county in 1859 under
the name of the Wintersville Mission. The pastor was the Rev. P. W.
Duree. Both the northern and southern branches of the church are
now well represented in the county. There are at present sixteen
Northern and six Southern Methodist churches.
The Presbyterian church was organized in Sullivan county in 1865
by the Rev. William Reed. The first church was in the country and a
Presbyterian church was not organized at Milan until 1881. There are
now five Presbyterian churches in the county.
The Presbyterians were preceded ten years by the Cumberland
Presbyterians, who organized their first church in 1855 at the home
of Christopher Cooper, in Bowman township. The next year a Cumber-
land camp meeting was held. Meetings were also held on the same
ground — Christopher Cooper's farm — for the two following years. The
Pleasant Hill congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian church was
656 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
organized in 1868 by the Rev. James M. Ragan. There are now five
churches of this denomination in Sullivan county.
The Christian church was organized in the county in 1883. The first
church was at Humphreys, where there were thirty-three original mem-
bers. There are now eleven Christian churches.
The Baptists were early in the field in Sullivan county. Besides
the Rev. John Curl and the Rev. Jesse Goins, pioneer Baptists, were
the Rev. A. J. Williford, the Rev. John McAlester, the Reverend Mr.
Green, the Rev. A. W. Cole, the Rev. Alton F. Martin and the Rev. J.
W. Wadleigh. In 1856 a Missionary Baptist church was organized
at Yellow Creek. The first services were held at the home of Matthew
Kidd. The Rev. Henry Gibson became the first pastor.
A congregation was organized in Milan in 1871 by the Rev. Peter
. Setters. There were at first only seven members, but the number
rapidly* increased.
The Free United Brethren have had numerous congregations, or
classes, in Sullivan county. The denomination was organized by mem-
bers of the old United Brethren church, who withdrew from that church.
The first congregation in the county was organized at the Dudley school-
house.
The first priest to administer to the spiritual wants of the Catholics
of Milan and Sullivan county was the Rev. John J. Ilogan, of Chilli-
cothe, who visited them the first time in the summer of 1867. Father
Hogan was consecrated bishop of the newly erected diocese of St.
Joseph the following year, and was succeeded by Father J. J. Ken-
nedy, who established his residence at Unionville. At that time the
congregation was small, Dennis Ryan, who came to Milan in 1854, being
the pioneer member. But Father Kennedy thoroughly organized the
few and scattered members and started the young parish on a career of
progress, which continued under the succeeding pastors, until today
it is a well-established, prosperous organization. St. Mary's church,
Milan, is the only sacred edifice that the Catholics of Sullivan county
have. When services are held elsewhere in the- county they are con-
ducted in private residences or when convenient in places for public
gatherings. The present pastor of the Catholic church of Milan is the
Rev. J. J. Jermain, who received his appointment in November, 1902.
The Right Rev. J. J. Hogan, the first pastor, who during the course
of his episcopate was transferred to Kansas City, is still living and is
the oldest bishop in the American hierarchy.
The Towns of the County
The county seat of Sullivan county, Milan, is nearly in the
geographical center of the county. The original town was laid
off upon the farm of Arrastead C. Hill and contained fifty acres. Several
additions have since been made. Milan was incorporated February 9,
1859. R. D. Morrison was the first mayor and John Sorrell, William
H. Watson and C. M. Freeman the first aldermen.
It is on two railroads, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the
Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City. The Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City
shops, employing 200 men, are located here. It is an important shipping
point for cattle, hogs and grain. There are two newspapers, the Re-
publican, edited by B. F. Guthrie, and the Standard, edited by Thomas
A. Dodge. The former, as ita name indicates, is Republican in politics,
while the latter is Democratic.
The 1910 census gave Milan a population of 2,191. At the present
time it is about 2,300.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 657
Green City, twelve miles northeast of Milan on the Quincy, Omaha
& Kansas City Railroad, has a population of about 950. It has one
newspaper, the Press, edited by R. H. MeClanahan.
Newtown, in the extreme northwest corner of the county on the Chi-
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railvoad, has a population of about 300.
It has one bank and one newspaper, the Newtown Chronicle, edited by
P. P. Reed. It is the center of a farming and stock-raising section.
Humphreys is sixteen miles west of Milan on the Quincy, Omaha
& Kansas City Railroad. It has a population of 300.
Cora, Boynton and Pollock are small towns on the Chicago, Burling-
ton & Quincy Railroad; Reger, Sorrell and Greencastle are on the
Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City; and Osgood and Harris are on the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. Judson, Wintersville, Bairdstown,
Cookman, Parson, Pawpaw, Pennville, Bute, Owasco, Stickler\411e,
Mystic and Brown are small communities or postoffices off the railroad.
There are two banks at Pollock, one at Reger, two at Greencastle, one
at Harris, and one at Osgood.
The County as a Whole
Sullivan county contains 656 square miles of land area. Cattle rais-
ing and feeding and horse breeding are the main sources of revenue.
The live stock industry is more important than the grain farming. The
corn crop is worth almost $1,000,000 a year, but little wheat and oats
are grown. Within the county are twelve pure-bred cattle herds, some
of which are among the best Hereford, Shorthorn, Polled- Angus and Red
Polled herds in Missouri. There are also several stables of high grade
horses.
About four-fifths of the land in the county is in improved farms.
Topographically, the county is rolling, even broken along the streams.
This makes the soil widely diversified. While one may find rich bottom
lands, next to such a farm may be one comprising hills and low-lying
bluffs and adjacent to this a farm of undulating prairie land.
Abundant stock water is furnished by Medicine, Yellow, Mussel,
Spring, Mussel Pork, East Locust, Main Locust and West Locust creeks,
running north and south, almost parallel to each other. The county is
well adapted to its principal industry — stock raising. All of the lands
grow grasses with native adaptability. .
Coal is thought to underlie half the county, although little mining has
been done. Limestone in great quantities is found on the streams, but
is used for local foundation purposes only.
Coal is now being mined at Milan and is owned and operated by
Hiram Qrear. About twenty miners are employed and the coal is mined
by machinery. From 30 to 50 tons a day are mined. The coal is
splendid quality, extra hard, and is used mostly by the citizens of Milan.
Close Political Contest
Sullivan county has had some of the bitterest political fights in the
history of the state. In 1902 J. M. Dormer, Republican, received 2,252
votes and Ed L. Montgomery, Democrat, 2,251 votes for the oflSce of
circuit clerk. J. W. Yardley, Republican, received 2,250 votes and Estra
E. Frazier, 2,245, Democrat, for the office of presiding judge of the
county court. The election of these two Republicans was contested on the
grounds of alleged fraudulent voting. The case was tried at the May
term of the circuit court in Milan before E. M. Harber, special judge.
Montgomery was given twenty-one and Frazier seventeen votes that the
Vol. 1—42
658 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
Republican judges had thrown out and would not count. The case was
appealed to the supreme court of Missouri and was affirmed by that
court. To show how close the political lines are drawn in this county,
we reproduced an item taken from the Milan Standard under date of
Nov. 13, 1902 :
** Democrats Disfranchised"
**More than two years ago the county court divided Buchanan town-
ship into two voting precincts; the eastern precinct was called Penn-
ville and the western was called Brown. The lines between the precincts
were designated by the court and a plat was made in the county clerk's
office and sent to the officers therein. Peter Lunsford and his son, J. M.,
were in the Pennville precinct and voted at the general election in 1900,
and at the township election in 1901 at Pennville. This year, without
any change made by the county court (and made in the same hand-
writing), another plat was made for the use of the Pennville precinct,
whereby it was made to appear that the Lunsfords resided in the Brown
precinct. They voted as they had formerly done, and where they regu-
larly belonged, at Pennville. When it came to counting the votes, the
judges got into a wrangle about it, the Republican judges insisting on
them being thrown out and the Democratic judges that they be counted,
and the matter stood until nearly noon Wednesday, when the Democratic
judges yielded and the two votes, that had previously been voted and
counted, were thrown out and the returns signed. Thus two Democratic
votes were lost and Dormer, Republican, elected circuit clerk by one
vote, when had they been counted, as they should have been, Montgomery,
Democrat, would have been elected instead of Dormer. The Lunsfords
could not vote at Brown because the plat used by those judges showed
they resided in the Pennville precinct, and they would not let them vote
at Pennville because the plat showed them to reside in the Brown
precinct. Both plats were made in the county clerk's office and in
the same handwriting. The Democrats were disfranchised and the office
of circuit clerk stolen from Ed Montgomery by the manipulation of the
county clerk's office and the aid of the Republican judges, but the
end is not yet. ' '
When Dormer was notified to vacate the office, he refused and the
United States marshal was compelled to send a deputy to Milan to
oust him.
CHAPTER XXXIII
WARREN COUNTY
By E. H. Winter, Warrenton
First White Settlers
One hundred and ten years have elapsed since the first daring adven-
turer set foot on the soil, now known as Warren county, discovered its
advantages in soil and climate, the topographical beauties of its surface
and its rich hunting ground. At that time the region was the home of
the daring and savage Red Man and life to the first settlers was an end-
less struggle to protect life and property and rear the children who be-
came the parents of a happy and prosperous community.
The first settlement, by the whites, on what is now the soil of Warren
county, was made by French trappers at the mouth of Charrette creek,
several miles east of the present town of Marthasville. This settlement
is said to have been made about the year 1763. These pioneers were sent
to this country in the interest of a fur company and all reliable data as
to who they were has been lost. The tradition has come down, however,
that a famous trapper, Indian Phillips, was one of the first. He is said
to have lived until after the war of 1812, and made frequent visits to the
settlers of the country up to that time. Others who are said to have
belonged to this colony of trappers were men named Chateau and Lozie.
These men secured grants from the Spanish government for large tracts
of land, now located in St. Charles and Warren counties. The rude log
cabins of these daring settlers were erected on the banks of the Missouri
river and the treacherous currents of this stream have long since removed
all traces of the homes of the first settlers on Warren county soil. At
various points along Charrette and Tuque creeks, however, sugar camps
were established, and traces of these were found many years later.
The first settlers are said to have disposed of their holdings in the
year 1812 and left the county. Flanders Callaway, son-in-law of the
renowned Daniel Boone, was the purchaser. Callaway and the famous
Kentucky hunter came into the county in 1795 and established a settle-
ment several miles west of Marthasville, which was called Callaway Post.
This was the first American colony to be established in what is now War-
ren county. The fame of Daniel Boone and his fearless and daring
methods in coping with the savage Indians, soon attracted other settlers
who sought homes in the hills along the Missouri river. Flanders Calla-
way died at the post which he established, which, many generations ago,
was engulfed by the waters of the Missouri river. With it went the rec-
ords of its organization, the names of the brave people, and the stories
of their desperate struggles for life and property. There is no doubt
that to these French settlers belongs the honor of discovering a com-
659
660 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
munity which has since become populous, and one of the richest farm-
ing communities in the state.
Eight years after Boone and Callaway came to this region, Anthony
Wyatt of Kentucky made a horseback trip to the same community. He
located several miles north of Marthasville. After several horseback
trips to and from his native state, he brought his family to his new home
in 1816. This homestead is one of the historical landmarks of the county
and has ever since been in the possession of descendants of the family.
It is now occupied by John Wyatt.
Settlements in the more central parts of the county were made sev-
eral years later. In 1808 Thomas Kennedy, a Virginian, was attracted
by the remarkable tales of settlers who had returned from the far west,
and he pushed westward to the wilds of Warren county. He settled near
the present town of Wright City, where many of his descendants still
reside, and they are among the most sturdy citizens of the community.
Major Kennedy was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and escaped
from his regiment, which, through treachery, had been surrendered to
the British. His experiences as a leader made him a valuable man in
the little group of daring settlers in planning for their safety and wel-
fare. Several years after Jthe settlement was made, Indian troubles
arose, and in 1811 it became necessary to erect a fort and stockade so as
to provide adequate defense in case of attack. This fort was erected
exactly where the residence of Judge Royal J. Kennedy stood for many,
many years and where is now the home of Pleasant Kennedy, a descend-
ant of the first daring settlers. Other settlers who came to this commu-
nity prior to 1810, were Anthony Keller of Pennsylvania, Samuel Gib-
son of South Carolina, and Daniel McCoy and David Boyd of Kentucky.
During the year 1810 and several years following, a large number
of settlers came. Nathan Cleaver and James Dickson settled on Indian
Camp creek, some five miles northeast of Wright City. Henry and
David Bryan located on Tuque creek near Marthasville. They were de-
scendants of Daniel Boone, and many of their posterity reside, at this
time, in various parts of the county. Jonathan Bryan settled at Pemme
Osage. William Johnson, John Wyatt, Jonathan Davis, Absalom Hayes
and William Thurman settled in the Tuque Prairie vicinity. William
Logan settled on Tuque creek, and his brothers, Hugh, Alexander and
Henry Logan settled near Marthasville. William and Benjamin Han-
cock also settled near Marthasville, and Hancock's Bottom is still so
named in their honor. William Lamme, whose wife was a daughter of
Col. Flanders Callaway, settled in the same community, and their de-
scendants lived in the county for many years. Benjamin Cooper and
family settled in Hancock's Bottom in 1807, but later moved to South
Island near the present site of McKittrick. Mr. Cooper later became
one of the organizers of Howard county.
These are among the daring early settlers who took a leading part
in developing the community, clearing away the timber, educating their
children, building schools and churches and creating such laws and
regulations as were required for the safety of the community. Most
of these men were rigid and resolute, possessing all the traits of char-
acter that constituted the genuine frontiersman. In addition to this they
were endowed with practical, good sense. The present population of the
county includes many descendants of these pioneer settlers.
The first settlers knew nothing of law or government, save the law
of fair and upright conduct. Every man was put upon his honor, and
his relations and dealings with his fellowraen were nothing more than
a test of genuine manhood. It was their creed to lend a helping hand
when required, and to be ever ready in time of sickness or danger.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 661
The Early Homes
In those early days the homes of the settlers were crude and almost
unfit for human habitation. The first to arrive modeled after the homes
of 'the savage Indian, and erected flimsy and temporary structures. As
the settlers at the several forts increased, more permanent buildings
took the place of the first primitive huts. Before many years passed,
the typical Missouri log cabins could be found in many parts of the
county. The open fireplace served as the ** kitchen range*' for the
good housewife. This, at the same time, also warmed and lighted the
single room of the home. The furniture was the product of the hand-
work of the head of the family, and as a rule was crude and un-
wieldy. In later years, saw mills made it possible to build more shapely
and comfortable residences, though a few of the log cabins of pioneer
days may still be found in various parts of the county.
The tools and implements with which the pioneer cleared oif the
timber and tilled the soil, were entirely in keeping with the primitive
homes. Riding cultivators and plows, the modern reaper, the steam
thresliing machine with **wind stacker" were beyond the remotest antici-
pation of the first farmers who located and developed the many rich
farms that now dot the surface of the county. Home-made tools and
implements sufficed to till the soil and harvest the golden grain, as well
as to separate the wheat from the chaflf. And yet it may truthfully be
said that these pioneers lived on *4he fat of the land." A meal pre-
pared by the good housewife in one of the open fireplaces, carried with
it the assurance of plenty, and a guarantee that no ill effects would fol-
low the indulgence of a hearty meal.
Visiting cards, or servants announcing the arrival of a guest, were
unknown, and any formality in neighborly visits was a sure sign of
unfriendliness. Neighbors, as well as strangers, always found the latch
string hanging outside, and it was a token of welcome to the hospitable
home. Unhappily and unfortunately these men and women of genuine
harmony of ideas, have been forced to abdicate before the infringe-
ment of latter-day social culture and the stiff and embarrassing rules of
etiquette.
Our first settlers were men and women with all of the virtues and
graces, and also the vices and frailties of the people of their class. They
were hospitable and generous, as a rule. They did good works, and ren-
dered generous deeds. There was industry and laziness, thrift and
penury, happiness and misery, good and bad. Wliile the life of the
early settler was that of the pioneer of the west generally, it can not well
be said that they suffered hardships, since the lack of many of the mod-
ern luxuries and conveniences was made up by ample substitutes. There
was a scarcity of silks and fine linen, but there was an abundance of linsey
and jeans. There were none of the present fancy products of pastry or
factory cured meats, but there was plenty of meal in the chest, milk
and butter in the cellar or spring house, and home cured meats in the
''smoke house." To this was added, almost daily, choice cuts of game.
When the country was first occupied, the wood was full of game of
all kinds. Buffaloes were not found in the county when the first settlers
arrived, but there was evidence that they had not long left the county.
Their bones, ''wallows" and trails were still to be found on the prairies.
Deer were quite plentiful, however, as late as 1840, and some were killed
as late as 1850 and later. In the early days it was not difficult for the set-
tler to kill a deer at almost any time he desired — ^before breakfast, if he
liked. Bears were numerous, too, in the hills in the southern part of the
county. They were the black species, and many of those killed were
662 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
fine specimens, weighing as much as 400 and 500 pounds. While they
occasionally killed a stray hog, yet they were usually not harmful to the
settler. "Bear bacon," as the cured meat was called, was to be found
in every hunter's larder and was an article of food not to be despised.
Many interesting adventures of the early settlers of the county with
bears have come down to their posterity.
The hills and timber along the streams were also the home of the
panther. The blood of many a settler was sent coursing through his
veins as the piercing scream of the prowling panther was borne to his
lonely and peaceful cabin. Wolves were a pest, and made it a difficult
matter for the settler to raise sheep and pigs on account of the depreda-
tions of these marauders.
Up to 1825 the chief occupation of the settlers was hunting and fish-
ing, and but little farming was done. Every settler had a "truck patch"
and grew a little corn, potatoes and vegetables. On his little farm, com
was the principal crop, and if enough of this was raised to supply the
family with pone, Johnny cake and honey, the settler was satisfied. Very
Missouri 'Possum
little wheat was raised. Cotton was quite successfully raised, and pro-
vided some of the wearing fabrics of the settlers. Flax was also among
the first crops raised, and was grown chiefiy for the bark, of which linen
and linsey were made. A flax patch and a flock of sheep were the pride
of every family, and the lady who was an expert flax spinner and
weaver was the envy of her sex.
The people in those days were, as a class, religious and firm believers
in the Bible, though stated preaching services were rare. Their spiritoal
life was kept up largely by the old traditional Bible reading and fam-
ily prayer. The natural surroundings were such as to create feelings
of love and veneration for the Creator of all things. However, follow-
ing closely upon the first settlers, came the ministers, who labored among
their parishioners without money and without price. They received
freely and gave freely, and gained their substance as did their neighbors,
by toil in the fields and by hunting and fishing. Nearly every minister
was as adept in the use of the rifle as any of the laity.
Services, as a rule, were held in the cabin of a neighbor, and the peo-
ple generally attended. The men folks always brought their rifles, so aa
to procure game going to and from the house of worship. The minister
was not a graduate of any eastern theological seminary, and knew noth-
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 663
ing about higher criticism. But he was devout and consistent, and pro-
claimed the truths of the gospel with a power and simplicity that showed
the spirit of the Master was with him. His sermons had elevating and
helpful effects upon his auditors.
A pioneer wedding would not compare well, in point of elegance and
finery, with a modern wedding. In the early days few people wore
*^ store goods.'' The wearing apparel consisted of home-spun clothes.
The toilet of the bride was not expensive, neither was it extensive, but
it was sensible, for it was suflBcient and appropriate for the times. Though
there were discomforts and disadvantages, yet the marriages were for-
tunate and felicitous, and the wedding as joyous as any of modern times.
There were rarely or never private weddings. The entire community
was invited and attended. It was a grave offense to neglect to send an
invitation, and it was an insult to refuse one. On the wedding day there
were usually diversions of various kinds, ending at night with a dance.
If the event happened in the summer, many of the dancers were bare-
footed, though the floor was usually made of large split timbers.
The wedding was always worthy of the name. The champagne and
claret were good old Kentucky or Missouri whisky, pure and unadulter-
ated as mountain dew. The cake was corn-pone and the meats, the choice
cuts of venison or other game.
Such, in a measure, is the history of the early pioneers of the county,
and the people of the present generation can look back with interest
and admiration to the days which tried the nerves, the muscles, and the
indomitable will of the fathers and mothers who had the future of
the community in their keeping. Thus the county grew and prospered
under the strength of her noble pioneers. They had come into the vast
wilderness, penniless, but were rich in faith and powerful in endurance.
They made volumes of history, but, unfortunately, made no effort to
preserve it. They laid the broad and deep foundation for the com-
munity, and on this the superstructure was to be built. Upon this the
moral, physical and political future of the country would securely rest.
•
Early Organization
Between the years of 1800 and 1825 a great many settlers from the
east and south made their homes in Warren county, and it soon became
evident that some protection, other than the rustic honesty of the set-
tlers was needed. The territorial legislature of Missouri was in session
in St. Louis in December, 1818, when the counties of Jefferson, Frank-
lin, Wayne, Lincoln, Madison, Pike, Pulaski, Cooper and Montgomery
were organized out of what was then St. Charles county. Prior to that
time St. Charles county extended from the Missouri river north to the
British possessions and from the Mississippi river west to the Pacific
ocean. Montgomery county, formed December 14, 1818, included not
only the present territory of that county, but also that now included
in Warren county. The first seat of justice of Montgomery county was
located at Pinckney on the ^lissouri river, now in Warren county. The
land upon which the town was built was first deeded to John Meek by the
Spanish government, but it later reverted to the United States govern-
ment. In 1818 it was sold to Alexander McKinney who sold 50 acres
to the county commissioners for $500 for the use of the county.
The first public building erected in the first city on what is now War-
ren county soil, was a jail which was built in 1820 at a cost of $2,500.
The same year Nathaniel Hart and George Edmondson built a large
frame house which they rented to the county for a courthouse at $100
a year. Frederick Griswald soon after built a log house which became
664 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
the first store in the town. Andrew Faust built the first hotel in Pinck-
ney and on court days his hostelry was a lively place. It was generally
conceded that men could go there, get drunk, quarrel and fight, as they
regarded the hotel as a public place.
Pinckney was a post town and was located on the north bank of the
river, several miles from Marthasville. The site was low, and soon
after the county seat was removed to Lewiston, the town disappeared.
The spot where it originally stood has fallen into the Missouri river. A
postoffice bearing the name was maintained several miles north of there
for many years. The office has long since been discontinued, though the
community still bears the name ** Pinckney."
The names of the first county officials and court are of interest here,
as some of them were citizens of the present territory of Warren county,
and the court was held on Warren county soil. The first judges of the
county court were Isaac Clark, Moses Summers and John Wyatt. Irvine
S. Pitman was the first sheriff and John C. Lang the first county and cir-
cuit clerk. In 1826 the county seat of Montgomery county was moved
from Pinckney to Lewiston, a short distance south of the present town
of New Florence.
The county was rapidly developed and immigrants continued to
come in. In 1833 a request was made to the legislature to divide the
county. Accordingly the legislature passed an act January 5, 1833,
organizing Warren county out of Montgomery county. It was named in
honor of Gen. Joseph Warren who was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill.
The eastern side of the count}' was taken off ; also a large portion of the
southeastern part, which, it is said, was done for the benefit of Jonathan
Ramsey who desired to live in Warren county and who resided in that
part. This comer of Warren county still remains so and forms a
portion of Bridgeport township. The boundaries of the new county were
regularly surveyed and established, and this brought with it the necessity
of a permanent county organization which was at once effected. The
following commission was appointed to select a seat of justice: Jacob
Groom o^ Montgomery county; Jesse McDaniel of Franklin county; and
Felix Scott of St. Charles county.
The first session of the first court of Warren county, was held on the
20th day of May, 1833, at the home of Mordecai Morgan. Fortunately
the records of this first court are still fairly well preserved. Thomas N.
Groves, Tilman CuUom and Morgan Bryan were the judges of the court.
Mr. CuUom was elected presiding judge and Absalom Hayes was
appointed sheriff. Carty Wells was the first clerk of the court and Walter
Dillon was appointed his deputy. James Pitzer was appointed county
surveyor. Following are some of the proceedings :
Frederick Griswald was granted a license to keep a tavern at Pinck-
ney, the license fee being $15. Walter Dillon was granted a similar
license to keep a tavern at Hickory Grove, the license fee being $12. The
court ordered the county divided into the following townships : Elkhorn
in the central and northern part of the county ; Pinckney township com-
prised the western and southwestern part of the county ; Camp Branch
comprised aU the northwestern part and Charrette all the southeastern
part of the county. Later Hickory Grove was set off in the eastern part
and Bridgeport in the western part of the county, making six townships,
which division is still maintained.
In the first election of the county there were but four polling places,
one in each township. In Charrette township the election was held at
Marthasville and John McGaw, Jared Erwin and John S. Wyatt served
as judges.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 665
In Elkhorn the judges were: Newton Howell, John Preston, and
Wm. Langford, and the polling place was at the home of Grief Stewart.
The election in Camp Branch township was held at the home of
Nicholas C. Kablers. Cornelius Howard, John Ferguson and Philip
Glover were the judges.
In Pinckney township the voters came to the home of Tilman Cul-
lom. John Wyatt, John B. Carter, and Hugh A. Skinner were the
judges.
The following constables were appointed at the first session of the
court: Charrette, Lewis L. Wyatt; Elkhorn, Lawrie Williams; Pinckney,
Hugh McDaniel.
The court ordered that the temporary seat of justice of the county
be at the home of John Wyatt, Sr., and that the regular sessions of the
court be held there until other provisions were made.
The following were appointed the first road overseers of the several
townships: William Hancock, William Logan, Lawson Thurman, Mioses
Edwards, Samuel Morris, John Tice and John Butler.
Patrols were appointed for each township for the purpose, chiefly,
of protecting slave owners in their property. The patrols kept a con-
stant lookout for escaping negroes, and dispersed all gatherings of the
colored people. They arrested and prosecuted all strangers found con-
versing with slaves. Among the early minutes of the court appears the
following: Wm. James filed a complaint setting forth the improper
valuation of a negro slave, valued at $300. Upon full examination of
the premises, it was ordered that the said James be exempted from tax
on the said slave.
The Tilman CuUom who was selected the first president of the county
court, was a brother of Shelby M. CuUom, ex-governor, and for many
years United States senator of the state of Illinois. He was a Ken-
tuckian and reared a large family. His descendants in Pinckney and
Bridgeport townships are numerous, and are among the best people of
the county. One, Tilman Cullom of Gore, bears the name of his dis-
tinguished ancestor.
Absalom Hayes, the first sheriff, served in that capacity for twelve
years. He married a Miss Annie Skinner of near Jonesburg.
First Circuit Court
The first term of the circuit court of Warren county was also held in
May, 1833, just previous to the first session of the county court. The
session was also held at the home of Mordecai Morgan by Priestly B.
McBride, judge of the second judicial district for the state of Missouri.
Following were the grand jurors for this court : Thomas Talbot, foreman ;
Grief Stewart, Samuel Dokerty, Benoni McClure, Andrew J. Long,
Isaac Kent, Jr., William Cameron, James Miller, Edward Plaisant,
Turner Roundtree, Jonathan D. .Gordon, Benjamin Hutchinson, Wood-
son A. Burton, Thos. Chambers, George Clay, James B. Graves, John B.
Shaw, and Jared Erwin. After several days' deliberation, the jury
reported to the court that they had no business before them, and they
were accordingly discharged.
Wm. Logan was arraigned before the court on a charge to keep the
peace of his wife. The case was removed to the justice of the peace.
Thos. Talbot was sued by John Jones on a charge of fraud in set-
tling an estate. The case was dismissed. Several other minor proceed-
ings constituted the work of the first circuit court.
Since the first court was held by Priestly McBride, who served until
1836, the following judges served in the county and district : Ezra Hunt,
666 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
1836 to 1848 ; Carty Wells, 1848 to 1857 ; A. H. Buckner, 1857 to 1862 ;
Thos. J. C. Fagg, 1862 to 1866; Giles Porter, 1866 to 1871; W. W.
Edwards, 1871 to 1889; E. M. Hughes, 1889 to 1905; H. W. Johnson,
1905 to 1906; James D. Barnett, 1906 to present date.
Churches
Soon after the first settlers found homes on Warren county soil,
the ministers came to cast their lot with them, and sometimes they were
the first settlers to arrive. The history of the community is largely the
history of religion. The progress of the community is inevitably ac-
companied by the helpful influences of the church. The early pastors
did not make merchandise of their mission. They received freely and
gave equally as freely.
Services, as a rule, were held in the cabin of a neighbor, and notice
of the meeting was promptly and generally circulated. The people
generally attended, bringing their rifles with them so as to procure game
going to and coming from the house of worship. The services were not
looked upon in the light of a task, but adherence to the holy observance
of the Sabbath day, and loyalty to the precepts of Christianity. Amidst
the rudest surroundings and in the most unpretentious homes, the old
doctrine of faith, hope and charity was proclaimed to men and women
whose daily lives were pure and consistent. The same gospel truths
w^ere laid down to those simple people as are now expounded to the
fashionable audiences in costly ediflces. The same rules of religious and
moral conduct were laid down, and there was much more hope of their
observance than in the present time of free thought and scientific skep-
ticism.
The first church society organized in the county .was affected by the
Baptists soon after the first settlers came. The society was known as
Friendship church, and services were held in the home of Flanders
Callaway.
In the year 1831 a large log church was built in the Hopewell vicinity,
which was not confined to any particular denomination, but was used
freely by all. The building was also used as a schoolhouse. A number
of men who later became prominent, received the rudiments of an edu-
cation in this church. Among them were: John D. S. Dryden, later
one of the justices of the state supreme court; John A. Howard, later
sheriff of the county ; and Jos. L. Fant, who became a leading citizen of
Warrenton.
The Methodist church, South, in Warrenton was organized in 1840.
Some of the charter members were : A. S. Wood, Elizabeth Wood, Eliza-
beth Buxton and Ann Smith. A frame building was erected in 1859,
and this building is still the house of worship of a flourishing congrega-
tion.
A Missionary Baptist church was organized in 1855. Albert W.
Johnson and wife, and William Harper and wife were among the first
members. A building was erected in 1866 under the pastorate of Rev.
Joseph Nichols. This building was later sold to the school board and
was used for school purposes. The organization closed when the build-
ing was sold, and has never been revived.
The Evangelical Friedens church in Warrenton was organized in
.1878, the names of some of the original members being, John G. Sehrantz
and wife, Fred Fahrmeyer and wife, Fritz Sievert and wife. James
Drewer and wife, Wm Fahrmeyer, and others. The congregation is
still in a flourishing condition.
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 667
The St. Vincent Catholic church near Dutzow was organized in
1837, having for its charter members Bartholomew Roesner, Henry
Dieckhaus, Francis Krekel, Herman Struckhoff and others.
The Evangelical Harmony church, later known as Strack's church,
in honor of the Rev. Karl Strack, who served the congregation as pastor
for many years, was organized in 1843. The original members were:
George Wahlbrink, Doctor Brandt, E. Theermann, H. H. Kerkhoflf,
F. Waltemath, Henry Bockhorst, and E. H. Suhre.
The Evangelical church at Holstein was organized in 1848 and it is
now one of the largest congregations in the county. The congregation
first worshipped in a log house which burned in 1855. A brick building
was then erected. On account of the growth of the congregation this
was razed in 1884 and the present $10,000 edifice was erected. Rev.
Jos. Rieger was the first pastor of the congregation.
The German Evangelical church at Marthasville was organized in
1864, the first members being Herman Schulte, Henry Hilgedick, Fr.
Lagemann, W. Otterman, R. Hillebrandt, H. Eilers, E. H. Suhre, E.
Hovelmann and their families. The first pastor was 0. Neithammer.
A beautiful brick edifice was erected in recent years, and the congre-
gation is a very large one.
The St. Paul's German Evangelical church, located five miles north
of Warrenton, was organized in 1865 by the Rev. J. G. Stranger. Some of
the original members were: William HoUmann, Henry Pape, Henry
Reese, Henry Fischer, Herman Vogt, Jacob Leek, William Karrenbrock,
Kunrod Bebermeier, Henry Dettermann, William Voss, Frank HoU-
man, William Linnert and William Buschmann. A stone house of
worship was erected in 1875 at a cost of $1,000, and a parsonage was
built soon after. The latter has been abandoned, the pastor residing in
Warrenton, though a flourishing church is still maintained.
The German Methodist church of Warrenton came into existence
with the founding of Central Wesleyan College in 1864. It is now one
of the largest congregations in the county, and boasts a Sunday school
of over three hundred pupils. Dr. 0. E. Kriege, president of Central
Wesleyan College, is the superintendent. A handsome brick edifice was
erected in 1887 under the pastorate of the Rev. Wm. Koeneke, D. D.,
which served the purposes of the congregation until 1912, when the
building was ra^ed to make room for a larger house of worship, which
was erected at a cost of over $20,000.
A German Evangelical congregation was organized at Lippstadt,
four miles south of Warrenton, shortly after the Civil war. The first
church was a log structure, but in 1877 a fine brick building was erected
at a cost of $4,500. The congregation had its own pastor for many years,
but is now being served by the pastor located at Warrenton.
The Methodist Episcopal church at Pendleton was organized in 1871
by the Rev. C. S. Cooper, its charter members being Wm. F. Chiles, Rob-
ert N. Chiles, Mrs. Ellen Watkins, Wilford Johnson, Mrs. Mary E.
Johnson, Joseph P. Chiles, Henry Benney, Mrs. Jane Martin, Lewis H.
Jackson, Alfred Wingett, Allison Baldwin, Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis, and
Mrs. Mary Benny. A frame building was erected in 1872 at a cost of
$1,000. A congregation is still maintained with some of the charter
members as regular attendants.
The German Evangelical congregation at Wright City was organ-
ized in 1880. The first members were : Capt. E. F. Ordelheide and wife,
William Kamp, Fr. Nieburg, Fr. Liedke, Henry Blattner, Florence
Ordelheide, and Henry Schmidt. A frame structure was erected in
1881 and the congregation was in a flourishing condition until the spring
of 1912, since which time they have been without a pastor.
HISTOKY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 669
Since that time other congregations have been established in the
county. A Catholic church at Concord Hill has a large membership
and they worship in a large and modern brick building. A Catholic con-
gregation in Truesdale is also in a nourishing condition. In Wright C^ity
a Southern Methodist and a Baptist church were organized in the 'SOs
and both have a large membership. At Palmyra, a Baptist congrega-
tion has worshipped the last (juarter century, and» while no minister is
maintained at the present time, the pulpit is freciuently supplied by
neighboring pastors. One of the strongest churches of the Alethodist
church. South, is at Central Grove. Another congregation of the same
denomination is doing a good work at Macedonia. In recent years a
German Evangelical congregation was established at Pinckney, and a
Catholic congregation at Case. German Methodist congregations are
maintained at Pinckney, Hopewell, Marthasville and Steinhagen. The
churches at Pinckney and Hopewell are among the oldest in the county.
The dates of the organizations of some of these old churches are very
difficult to obtain, though most of them have maintained a continuous
organization for many years, and have grown in usefulness and in
membership.
Central Wesleyan College
This splendid educational institution is located at Warrenton and
is under the control of a board of trustees, ministers and laymen, elected
bv the St. Louis and West German conferences of the German Methodist
church.
The college owes its beginning to the necessity of the church in sup-
plying ministers for the German work. Everywhere in the central west,
congregations were being established, and no ministers could be secured
to take charge of them. Several plans were adopted and tried to supply
this want, but all without success. The needs of the church, however,
were pressing, and the Southwest German Conference at that time
decided to start a school in connection with the seminary of the church
at Quincy, Illinois.
In 1855 the Rev. H. A. Koch, D. D., was appointed agent to secure the
finances necessary for the undertaking and the Rev. John Walter was ap-
pointed principal of the school. In the year 1857 Doctor Koch was placed
in charge of the German department of the college, and this had an at-
tendance of about twenty-five, all preparing for the ministry. During
the Civil war the Quincy College, as it was later called, went down under
financial troubles, but the German department was continued with
Doctor Koch as teacher until 1864. At that time the church recognized
the need of a home for the children of deceased soldiers, and it was
proposed to purchase an estate from Wm. Truesdale near Warrenton,
and establish there both the college and the orphan home. After a hard
fight the proposition was finally accepted, largely through the efforts
of the Revs. Philip Kuhl, and Henry Pfaff and Doctor Koch. The Trues-
dale farm was purchased and in the fall of 1864 both institutions were
opened. The Rev. George Boeschenz was appointed superintendent of the
orphan home, and Doctor Koch was made principal of the college. In
1865 a charter was obtained and the institutions were incorporated under
the names: ** Western Orphan Asylum and Educational Institute.*'
The object of the institutions as set forth in the charter were : First,
'*To found and support a home for orphan children, especially of de-
ceased soldiers; to clothe, feed and instruct them.'' Second, **To pro-
vide for the instruction and education of the youth of our land and thus
enable them to become honorable members of society." **In the recep-
670 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
tion of orphan children and students, no regard shall be paid to the
religions denominations of parents and children." Both institutions
were established upon the broad and secure basis of Christian philan-
thropy, and both have had a generous growth during the forty-eight
years of administration in accordance with these principles.
Doctor Kuhl was the first president of the corporation, and Doctor
Koch the first principal of the college. With the help of two other
teachers, school opened October 3, 1864, with 190 pupils, including
orphans, enrolled. The following courses were offered: Primary, clas-
sical, scientific, normal and commercial.
In March, 1870, the charter was amended by the general assembly
and the name changed to Central Wesleyan College and Orphan Home.
In June of 1870 the first class in the classical course graduated. The
class consisted of Wm. Balcke of Davenport, Iowa, and John H. Frick
of Liberty, Missouri. The former has been a leading member of the
patronizing conferences since his graduation, and Mr. Frick has been
teacher of mathematics in his alma mater for over forty years and is
the Grand Old Man of the college.
In the early '70s strong efforts were made to have the college re-
moved from Warrenton. Offers of Quincy, Illinois, and Mt. Pleasant,
Iowa, were rejected. In the meantime a large subscription was raised
in Warren county which amounted to over $10,000 by the time the
conference met in Quincy, Illinois, in September, 1872. The subscrip-
tions were accepted, and the trustees were authorized to proceed with
the erection of a building, fifty-five by ninety feet, three stories high,
and to cost about $20,000. The building was dedicated November 14,
1875, and still serves as the principal building of the college. Some of
the early financial agents of the college were the Revs. Mr. Kuhl, M.
Roeder and Chas. Heidel. Through their efforts a substantial en-
dowment fund was raised which has grown from time to time. The
endowment now amounts to over $150,000 and a special campaign is
now being made to raise this to $250,000.
For a number of years the college made rapid progress. More stu-
dents enrolled each year and more teachers were added to the faculty,
and more and better facilities provided. At midnight of May 8, 1882,
the college suffered a severe blow when a destructive cyclone struck
the new college building which carried away the roof and tore away the
whole east wall. Other buildings were also damaged.
The untiring workers of the faculty, however, did not give up in
despair. Two hours after the storm a faculty meeting was called and
it was at once decided that not a single day of school must be lost. Class
rooms were arranged in nearby public buildings, and the arrangements
for the continuance of the work were so well made that not a single
recitation was missed. The trustees' board met shortly after and decided
to rebuild and repair all damages at once. The professors and resident
pastor, the Rev. Wm. Schutz, solicited funds. The unfortunate loss of the
school aroused the sympathies of the people so well that the necessary
funds to make the repairs were soon raised.
In 1884 the charter was again amended and at this time, too, the
separation of the college and orphan home was carried into effect. The
Central Wesleyan College and the Central Wesleyan Orphan Home were
each incorporated under separate charters. Each now has separate
boards of trustees appointed by the St. Louis and West German confer-
ences of the Methodist church, German.
The college then entered upon an era of prosperity and soon it be-
came necessary to provide larger facilities in all of its departments. In
the fall of 1884 a woman's home was built at a cost of $11,000. This
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 671
provided room for about fifty young women, and a dining room built
in connection with this building was large enough to seat 125 students.
In 1893 the college again suffered a serious loss when the woman's
home was destroyed by fire, but a far greater loss than that of the build-
ing, was the death of Prof. J. Louis Kessler, who died from injuries
sustained while attempting to save the building. In his memory a
chapel hall, and quarters for a conservatory of music, was erected in
1895. A larger woman's home took the place of the one destroyed by
fire, and accommodations for about eighty young women are now pro-
vided.
In 1900 a liberal donation of Andrew Eisenmayer of Trenton, Illi-
nois, made possible the erection of a modern and commodious boys' hall
at a cost of $25,000. The building is four stories high «Bd aeeom-
modates over one hundred students.
In 1910 a large gymnasium, said to be one of the best in the state,
was erected at a cost of $15,000, which was largely the gift of the late
Wm. Niedringhaus of St. Louis. This year, 1912, a college church is
being erected at a cost of $20,000 and plans are under way for the
erection of a science hall at a cost of about $80,000.
Doctor Koch, the first president, conducted the affairs of the college
quite successfully for a number of years. In 1894 he was succeeded by
the Rev. Geo. B. Addicks, D. D., who served with a masterful hand until
1909, when he was compelled to resign on account of failing health. The
Rev. Otto E. Kriege, D. D., succeeded him, and has built the school up to
a high standard. During the past year 316 students were enrolled. The
college is a member of the Missouri College Union, which alone is evi-
dence of its growth and excellent work. The college maintains the fol-
lowing departments: College of liberal arts, academy, normal school
and summer school, school of business, conservatory of music, art and
oratory, physical culture, German theological seminary.
Central Wesleyan Orphan Home
The early history, the organization and purposes of the orphan home
have already been given in the history of the college. Both existed
under the same corporate name until 1882, when a separate board of
trustees was appointed for the home or asylum. The Revs. G. Boeshenz,
H. PfaflP, and F. W. Meyer, each had charge of the institution a short
time. Then followed the administration of Rev. Philip Kuhl. He was
very active and enterprising, and built up the interests of both asylum
and college so well as to assure their success for a number of years. The
asylum is supported largely by contributions from members of the
German Methodist Episcopal church and their friends. Another means
of support is the asylum farm of several hundred acres. The boys in
the home assist at cultivating the farm, and much of the food consumed
in the home is raised on the farm of the asylum. A large orchard pro-
duces quantities of various kinds of fruit, and is therefore no small
factor in the support of the orphan family. The girls of the home are
taught to do cooking, housework and sewing. In 1878, the Rev. Chas.
Heidel succeeded Doctor Koch as superintendent and managed the
affairs of the home successfully until 1880, when the Rev. C. F. Schlinger
was appointed superintendent. He was succeeded in 1888 by Ph. Nau-
mann, who served until 1892, when P. Gruenewald was chosen super-
intendent. Three years later, in 1895, J. H. Kuehaus succeeded him
and in 1903 F. H. Wippermann was selected as the superintendent, and
he is still serving in that capacity.
At the time of the separation of the college and asylum, it became
672 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
evident that the old buildings were fast becoming inadequate. A new
building was therefore erected at a cost of $10,000, which was completed
in 1885. Since that time two additions, each costing as much as the
original structure, have been built, and at the present time a third addi-
tion is being built at a cost of $10,000. There are over one hundred
children in the home and all are carefully and tenderly cared for by the
superintendent and wife, Rev. and Mrs. F. H. Wippermann, and their
assistants.
A graded school of three rooms is maintained in the home where the
children are given the best education. After completing this course,
they may continue in the college where they receive free tuition. In
addition to this, they are instructed in the principles of the Christian
religion and good morals from first to last, and the children have a
home that is ideal in every particular and exceeded only by that pre-
sided over by father and mother.
The. War History
The people of Warren county are, and always have been, peaceable
and law abiding, and avoided strife and discord whenever they found
it possible so to do. When it became necessary, however, to defend
their honor or their rights, no people were more willing to contend for
these rights. Impelled by a patriotic love of country and a deep-seated
veneration for her institutions, the brave sons of the bounty left their
loved ones, severed the ties of friendship and hastened to defend the
flag of their country.
In all of the wars in which our beloved country has been engaged
since the Revolutionary war, Warren count}' contributed her full quota
of brave and gallant men.
The first conflict to involve the settlers of Warren countv was the
War of 1812. Though far removed from the active scene of operations,
the country along the Missouri river did not escape the ravages of war.
For mutual protection from the marauding bands of Indians, two posts
were established in the county — ^Kennedy's post. near Wright City and
Callaway's post near Marthasville. The Boone and Callaway families,
led by the famous hunter, and the Kennedy family understood the
methods of Indian warfare well, and were ever ready to meet and re-
pulse the enemy when attacked. During this war, however, no skirmishes
of any consequence took place. For three years after the war the set-
tlers enjoyed immunity from their former enemies. On a beautiful
May day in 1818, however, they were rudely awakened from this dream
of a peaceful and quiet existence when an event took place that brought
death and sorrow to the colonists at the Callaway fort. At an early
hour a band of Indians surprised a family by the name of Robert Ram-
sey, and at once opened a murderous fire on the defenseless family.
Three of the children were killed and scalped, Mrs. Ramsey was mortally
wounded and Ramsey himself received serious wounds. Several boys
escaped and at once spread the news of the attack. Volunteers from
neighboring camps at once rushed to the rescue and several desperate
engagements ensued. In one of the engagements Captain Callaway, of
Callaway's Fort, with several of his companions were captured, and
were later horribly tortured and put to death.
The following residents of the county were among those who enlisted
in the War of 1812: Anthony Wyatt, Morgan Bryan. James Bryan,
William Hancock, John King, William T. Lamme (a lieutenant in
Nathan Boone's company), Newton Howell, Thomas Bo wen. Jame^
Kennedy, John Kent, William McConnell, Thomas Chambers, Alexandrr
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 673
Chambers, Joseph, John, James and Guion Gibson, Robert Lisle and
Robert Gray.
The next call to the people of Warren county to take up arms in
defense of the country came upon the outbreak of Indian troubles in
1832, known as the Black Hawk war, because of the famous Indian chief,
Black Hawk. The only names obtainable of men who enlisted in this
war are : Woodford F. and Edward Roundtree and Turner Miller.
At the opening of the war with the Republic of Mexico in 1846,
Warren county was again called upon for troops. In response to a call
by Governor Edwards for volunteers, a company was at once organ-
ized in Warrenton. The following enlisted: Thomas W. Stewart, who
was chosen captain, P. P. Stewart, J. H. Faulconer, Lewis Gibson,
A. Z. Kent, Joseph L. Fant and James A. Stewart. John Ballard, of
Pendleton, and James B. Oliver, of Wright City, also volunteered.
When the war cloud of 1861 burst upon the country and involved
the people of the South and the North in the great Civil war, the people
of the county were at once aroused and took sides according to their
beliefs on the question which divided the nation. The situation in the
county was a rather unusual one. Located near the line of demarcation
between the free states and the slave states, a large number of sympa-
thizers of both the North and the South were found in the county. There
were a large number of slave owners in the county, and when the time
came when warfare was to determine whether the system of African
bondage was to continue in the country, they were aroused to action.
Volunteers enlisted freely on both sides. Neighbors who had lived
peaceably together for many years, suddenly found themselves placed
in a position where they must oppose each other in a long and bitter
war. With the first volunteers in the county, began a state of public
fear and anxiety that continued throughout the four long years of the
struggle for supremacy.
While there were a number of Union sympathizers in the county,
the town of Warrenton contained a large majority of Southern sym-
pathizers. The few Union men in the town who dared to take a stand,
were threatened with injury and sometimes death. Col. Frederick Mor-
sey, who later organized the Third Missouri Cavalry, was served with
notice to leave town. He was a man of courage, however, and remained
to carry out his plans. Recruits were brought to his house at night and
enlisted, and in this way the regiment was enrolled. To these men
belongs much of the credit of preserving the lives and property of many
of the people of the county. Occasional raids, however, were made into
the county, and the militia was kept on a constant move in order to pre-
serve order.
On a dark night in August, 1861j the people of Warrenton and its
vicinity were given the first realization of war. At midnight a party
of guerrillas rode through the town and created some disturbance. They
went at once to the Red Hill bridge on the North Missouri Railroad
several miles west of Warrenton, and burned it to the ground. The
object was to prevent the transportation of Union troops to St. Louis
from western Missouri and other states. The bridge was at once recon-
structed and only a temporary delay was occasioned.
In September, 1863, a more serious war experience occurred at
Wright City. A small band of Confederates was encamped near there
and the Union militia, under command of Capt. Jos. L. Fant, attempted
their capture. The militia surrounded the camp of the enemy and
began to close in upon them. The Confederates then made a dash for
liberty. They charged the Union lines and kept up a rapid fire, which
was as hotly returned. In the excitement the Confederates escaped
Vol. 1—43
674 HISTORY OIP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
with only one killed. The Union forces also lost one man, William
Barklage, of near Wright City. The killing of Barklage and the report
that the Confederates were provisioned from Wright City, incensed
the militia to the extent that they determined to avenge the death of
their comrade. News of the excited feeling reached Wright City, and,
fearing the town would be attacked, the people sent runners to Capt.
John E. Bali, of Lincoln county, who organized a company of Union
men, to come at once to the aid of the town. Captain Ball and Lieut.
H. H. Schaper immediately responded, but came too late to prevent the
destruction of several buildings owned by sympathizers of the rebellion.
The militia went first to the Baptist church, which was known as a
rallying place for the Confederates, and applied the torch. They next
fired the blacksmith shop of Clint Bryan and the saloon of Bill Kennedy,
both avowed Confederates. Before further destruction was accom-
plished, Captain Ball and his company arrived, and advised the mad-
dened militia to retire.
In July, 1861, a train load of Union soldiers was dispatched from
St. Louis to General Sigel in the western part of the state. News of the
passage of this train through Warren county reached the people several
days in advance of the troops, and the Confederates determined to
attack the train as it passed through. Several prominent Confederate
leaders in the county sent runners through the county and a small army
was asseml^led along the railroad track near Foristell. They were
distributed at convenient points for several miles. When the train
passed Foristell into Warren county, a murderous fire was opened upon
it and this was continued for several miles. The Union soldiers returned
the fire from the train and severely wounded several of the Confederates.
Thomas Edwards was mortally wounded and died several days after
the attack.
Great excitement followed this attack and rumors were rife to the
effect that Union men would be sent into the county to avenge the on-
slaught on the train. Owing to a fear that indignant Union soldiers
would call upon them, many Confederates left their homes and made
their way to Price's army. This struggle had the effect to arouse the
Union men of the county who at once organized for their own protec-
tion. These organized companies were soon ready for service which
served to check the daring acts of the Confederates.
In the spring of 1862 the Union army of Brigadier-General Pope
marched through Warren county and camped for some time at Trues-
dale. The army numbered ten thousand, and the citizens of Warrenton
extended every possible kindness to both officers and men.
In March, 1862, the report was given out that a man named Hen-
derson was soliciting and drilling Confederate soldiers in the southern
part of the county. He was fearless in his efforts to aid the rebellion,
and the militia determined to affect his capture. Thirty men of the
Third Missouri Cavalry left Warrenton March 20, for the farm of Doctor
Briscoe, three miles north of Marthasville, where Henderson was reported
in camp with several companies of soldiers. The house was surrounded
and a surrender demanded. The demand was answered by a volley of
shots, when a general fire was concentrated on the building. After a
short skirmish the militia captured the entire party. Henderson was
severely wounded and was brought to a hospital in Warrenton, where
he died several days later. Private Conrad Drunert, bugler in Captain
McFadden's company of the militia, was seriously wounded in this
fight.
In July, 1864, an entire army corps of fifteen thousand veterans,
commanded by Maj.-Gen. A. J. Smith, marched through the county
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 675
from the west. The army camped several days, one mile east of War-
renton.
In August, 1862, Capt. Jos. L. Fant, of Warrenton, organized a com-
pany of volunteers for the Union army which was later known as
Company K, Thirty-second Missouri Infantry. Thirty Warren county
men enlisted in this company.
A call for volunteers was issued during the winter of 1862 when
Capt. J. W. McFadden organized Company F, Third Missouri Cavalry.
Samuel W. Hopkins was chosen first lieutenant of this company, and
F. H. Hukriede second lieutenant. Seventy of Warren county's loyal
citizens enlisted in this company, and during the long struggle, exper-
ienced many bitter conflicts. Henry Dreyer, a private, was killed in the
battle at Rocheport, Missouri, as was also Private Conrad Drunert. The
regiment in which this company served, was organized for duty in Mis-
souri and it distinguished itself on many historic occasions.
Besides the soldiers enlisted in the two companies, a large number
of Warren county citizens enlisted in other Missouri regiments. All of
them were recruited from the best material of the county, and none of
them ever failed to do his full measure of duty.
The Confederate army also received a number of recruits from War-
ren county, though the number w^as not nearly so large as that of the
recruit-s of the Union army. They, too, were the best of the county and
fought valiantly for the principles which they believed right.
The divisions and animosities caused by this war have long since
been forgotten, and today the people are happier, more contented and
harmonious than they have ever been before. At the close of the war,
the boys in blue and the boys in gray returned to their quiet pursuits
of civil life and manfully built up the material interests of the county
which had been seriously injured by four years of bitter warfare.
During the Spanish- American war, Warren county again furnished
a small number of her bravest sons, though none succeeded in experien-
cing actual service.
Towns
The first village on what is now Warren county soil, is said to have
been established at the mouth of Charrette creek, near Marthasville,
about the year 1763. In 1795 the renowned Kentucky hunter, Daniel
Boone, and his son-in-law, Flanders Callaway, established a fort, known
as Callaway's Fort, several miles west of Marthasville. Both of these
settlements, however, were destroyed many years ago by the treacherous
currents of the Missouri river, and at present only the story of these
early settlements, as handed down from time to time, remains. The
village of Marthasville was the first town settled in Warren county.
The exact date of the settlement of this town is not known, though it was
about the year 1800. For many years in the pioneer period it was the
principal landing place for all the territory now comprising Warren
county. Its shipping interests at that time was an immense business.
It is now a town' of about four hundred population, is located in a rich
farming community, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and
enjoys a substantial trade from the surrounding country. It boasts a
good school, several churches, a good bank, four or five general mer-
chandise stores and other business firms.
Other villages established in the southern part of the county are
Dutzow, five miles east of Marthasville; Holstein, five miles west of
Marthasville and Hopewell, about the same distance north. Dutzow
and Holstein are villages of two hundred population each, while Hope-
well has only one store and several residences. The date of settlement of
676 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
these early towns is not known. In later years villages were established
at Concord Hill and Peers, both about three miles west of Marthasville.
The town of Treloar was built on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad,
near Holstein shortly after the road was built. It is now a busy town
in a very fine farming community, and compares well in size with its
older neighbors.
In 1833, when Warren county was organized, tlie question of a loca-
tion of a permanent seat of justice became a matter of intense public
interest. Property owners in various parts of the county made a very
spirited and bitter fight to secure the coveted prize. After several years
of fighting, a board of commissioners, appointed by the state legislature,
finally selected the present site of Warrenton in 1835. This commission
was composed of James Finley, Benjamin Emmaus and John Smith.
In 1838 the first court house, costing $2,500, was built. Pending the com-
pletion of the building, the sessions of the court were held in the home
of Joseph B. Wells, which later became the hardware store of John
Middlekamp. After the permanent seat of justice was secured, the
town at once entered upon a career of prosperity. The first store was
opened by Ford and Munson. John M. Faulconer was the first school
teacher. Church services were held in the court house until 1855 when
the Methodists erected a wooden church. The same year the Baptists
built a church.
Through the years from the establishment of the town until the Civil
war, the growth was very slow. The manufacture of tobacco was the
chief industry. Since the Civil war, when Central Wesleyan College
was located in Warrenton, it has enjoyed a steady and healthy growtli.
While at this time it does not rank with the larger cities of the state,
yet it occupies an enviable place among the county seat towns of Missouri.
The location is excellent and its people have always enjoyed the* reputa-
tion of a hospitable, energetic and enterprising community. It is now a
town of 1,000 people, and is known as the town of beautiful homes. Its
neat and beautiful appearance and its continual growth is due largely
to the influence of the Central Wesleyan College, and the Central Wes-
leyan Orphan Home; also because it is the county seat. There are a
good high school, four churches, two banks, two newspapers, six general
stores and other business houses and firms. It is located on the main
line of the Wabash, sixty miles west of St. Louis.
Wright City is the only village in Hickory Grove township, and is
situated about seven miles east of Warrenton on the Wabash. The village
was located and plotted in 1857 by Dr. H. C. Wright for whom the town
was named. Some of the early settlers were : A. P. McConnell, who built
the first store ; C. M. Bryan, the first blacksmith ; Henry Ordelheide and
others. Before the Civil war, the nearest school was two miles from the
village. In 1865 a school house was built, and since that time the village
has enjoyed the best of educational advantages.
A postoflSce was established at Pitts in the early sixties which was
maintained for many years. Since the establishment of the rural mail
route, the ofB.ce was abandoned, as was also the village, except as used for
farm residences. •
In 1858 Pendleton, five miles west of Warrenton, was laid out by the
Wabash railroad. Among the early settlers of this village were Job
Price, Capt. J. W. McFadden, George Wright, A. S. Wood and John
Skinner. The town now has one general store and about a dozen resi-
dences. Gerdeman's store, a mile from the town, does a large business*
The village of Truesdale derives its name from William Truesdale,
who plotted and laid out the village. Ground for the Wabash depot and
switch yard was given to the railroad on condition that the town be named
HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI 677
after him. Among the first settlers were Stephen Austin, Alfred John-
son, F. G. Meinershagen and Michael Kelly. Truesdale and Warrenton
make up one town of a population of 1500. Several unsuccessful efforts
were made to unite the two towns. A great deal of grain, stock, fire
clay and hardwood timber is shipped from Truesdale. It boasts two
churches, a good school, two stores and a blacksmith shop. The popula-
tion is 500.
In the early 'OOs, the village of Morsey in the northern part of the
county, was established. A store and a blacksmith shop were maintained
for some years, though both are now abandoned. In 1904 the village of
New Truxton was laid out by the Burlington railroad in the extreme
northern part of the county. It now has a population of 100, has a
school, two stores and a blacksmith shop.
The County Geographically and Topograpihcally
Included in the area of Warren count}' are 396 sciuare miles. ]\Iuch
of the surface is broken, and at one time, a luxuriant grow^th of valuable
timber abounded. Walnut, white oak, hickory and other valuable trees
were plentiful. Eastern buyers, however, have almost depleted the for-
ests of the county of these valuable trees, while much of it was cut off in
order to make room for agricultural land. About two-thirds of the total
area of the county has been cleared for agricultural purposes.
In the southern part of the county, bordering on the IMisouri river,
there are thousands of acres of rich bottom land and there are located
many of the most valuable farms. The central part of the county com-
prises the dividing ridge between the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers.
Much of it is broken and the soil is not rich. The northern and eastern
parts of the county contain large areas of open prairies where are lo-
cated many of the best farms of the county. This fine prairie farming
country, however, is broken here and there by streams. Camp creek
and Big creek in the northern part of the county, flow northeastward,
across Lincoln county and empty into Cuivre river. Along both streams
there are areas of broken land and valuable timber. In the southern
part of the county there are a number of streams. Charrette, the largest,
has its source near Warrenton, flows in a southeasterly direction and
empties into the Missouri river near Marthasville. Other streams are
**Dry Fork,'' Charrette creek, Peruque, Smith's creek. Tuque creek
and Lost creek. These streams, especially those in the southern part of
the county, and the broken county adjacent to them, furnish a great
many beautiful and romantic scenes. Nature was quite lavish in giving
to the rocky gorges and towering hills the wildest aspect of romance.
In few other places in Missouri can be found a greater number of beau-
tiful and romantic localities than are to be found in the valleys of Char-
rette and Lost creeks.
Among the natural resources of commercial value, are coal and fire
clay, though the coal is of a poor grade and is found only in small quan-
tities. A six-inch vein was found at a depth of forty-five feet at Pendle-
ton. In the Lippstadt vicinity there is another area containing coal,
and another in the Morsey vicinity in the northern part of the county.
The banks at Morsey were worked for some time but the deposits were
limited in extent and have long since been abandoned. At the Hines
Bank, six miles northeast of Warrenton, the coal is said to be over
twenty feet thick. Large quantities were taken out of this bank for
local consumption, but it, too, has been abandoned for some ten years.
The fire clay on Charrette creek has been mined extensively for a
number of years. The quality is of the best. Limestone, for building
678 HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI
purposes, is also extensively mined among the several creeks in the
county.
Agriculture is the chief occupation. Wheat, corn and hay are the
leading crops. The bottom farms along the river and the several creeks
furnish some of the best land for the cultivation of corn in the world,
while the up-land is excellent for wheat. Stock raising is also exten-
sively engaged in by many of the farmers.
The Press
A quarter of a century after the organization of Warren county,
the first newspaper was established in the county. It was the Warrenton
Nonpareily which was established by Charles Corwin and Robert Pleas-
ants. It was a 16 by 22 sheet, and was so published until 1863 when it
was enlarged and the ownership transferred to Col. John E. Hutton,
later congressman from the seventh district. In 1864 the paper was
suspended, and Charles E. Peers became the owner of the property. The
following year he began the publication of the Warren County Banner,
In 1869 the title was changed to the Warrenton, Missouri, Banner,
In 1872 the plant was sold to Landon Rummons and Thomas Morsey.
Since that time, the following have been owners and editors of the Ban-
ner, R. B. Speed and George W. Morgan; R. B. Speed and Thomas
Morsey ; Thomas Morsey and S. B. Cook ; Thomas Morsey and Fred L.
Blome. In the early '90s the plant went into the hands of a company
and the paper was edited by A. W. Johnson until 1901 when fire de-
stroyed the plant. E. F. Williams then became editor and manager and
had charge of the paper until 1905 when a stock company was formed
and E. H. Winter became editor and manager; also chief stock holder.
The plant is still managed by him.
In 1869 the Warrenton Chronicle was established by A. Ackerman.
The title was later changed to the Warrenton Citizen when a German
department was added and the editorship transferred to Frank T. Will-
iams. In 1875 the property was purchased by Maynard & Co. who con-
ducted the paper until 1881 when it was discontinued.
In 1871 the Wright City Visitor was founded by Landon Rummons.
lie conducted the paper for one year and then purchased the Warrenton
Banner, when the plant and subscription list of the Visitor were con-
solidated with the Banner,
The first German paper was Der Buerger, established immediately
after the Civil war. In 1869 the German edition of the Citizen took the
place of Der Buerger and in 1875 the Union was launched and pub-
lished for four years. In 1880 the Union gave way to the Warrenton
Volksfreund under the management of George Bartholamaeus and F. A.
Boehmer. This paper 'is still published by John Bartholamaeus who is
a son of the founder of the paper.
In 1897 the Marthasville Record was established by J. E. Lavender,
who later sold the plant to Julius Iserman who is now the editor and sole
owner. The Wright City Xews was founded by Artie B. Keadle in 1896.
Mr. Keadle is still the owner and publisher. The Central Wcsleyan Star
made its appearance in 1899. It is the principal publication of Central
Wesleyan College, Warrenton, and circulates among the graduates and
ex-students of the college.
Banks
The Warren County Savings Bank at Warrenton was the first bank
organized in Warren county. This institution was incorporated in 1872
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 679
with a capital stock of $60,000. Rudolph Ritter was president and
Henry Parker secretary. Some eight years later the business of the bank
wa3 wound up. In 1883 the Bank of Warren county was organized with
a capital stock of $10,000. Samuel B. Cook was president and Thomas
J. Fariss cashier. Mr. Fariss is still serving as cashier of this old and
substantial institution. The capital stock has since been increased to
$25,000.
In 1874 the Wright City Savings Bank was incorporated and did a
general banking business until 1877 when its affairs were wound up.
In 1875 the Citizens Bank was organized at Warrenton with a
capital stock of $20,000. Since then the following banks have been estab-
lished in the county : Marthasville Bank, capital stock, $20,000 ; Wright
City Bank, capital stock, $20,000 ; Treloar Bank, capital stock, $15,000 ;
Dutzow Bank, capital stock, $10,000 ; New Truxton Bank, capital stock,
$10,000; Farmers and Merchants, Wright City, capital stock, $20,000;
Holstein Bank, capital stock, $10,000.
Crimes
While the people of Warren county have always been peace-loving
and law-abiding, yet the county has not been entirely free from crime.
Reference must be made to the leading criminal trials. Several murders
which occurred were sensational in their detail, and monstrous in their
conception.
The first crime to blot the history of the county of which there is
record, was a most dastardly one. On September 22, 1851, Mrs. Calla-
han, wife of Squire Callahan of Pinckney, was murdered at her resi-
dence by a slave. She was quite old and infirm. In her efforts to prevent
the wretch from carrjdng out a fiendish purpose, the brute choked her
to death. His arrest speedily followed and he was hanged November
14, 1851.
Soon after this crime, Mr. Bevins, another slave owner in the same
community, was killed by one of his servants. Bevins was sick, and while
asleep, one of the negroes, who had been abused, took a position at the
window and with a gun deliberately shot his master. The negro was
captured before Bevins died, but realizing he could not live, Bevins had
a neighbor take the negro to New Orleans where he was sold for $1,000.
The negro was never indicted and his victim was buried before the officers
of the law learned of the crime.
On Sunday, August 25, 1875, a negro was shot in the back and in-
stantly iilled near the Warrenton depot, and his body was found soon
after near the railroad track about one mile east of Warrenton. A
stranger who had given his name as William Foster, was suspected, and
a search for him was at once begun. He was captured several days later
in the southern part of the county and was brought back to Warrenton
for trial. After several days' imprisonment, he confessed having com-
mitted the crime, and paid the penalty on the gallows June 19, 1876.
The next day after the execution of Foster, Samuel Taylor, a white
man of Pinckney Bottom, was shot and killed by Daniel Price, a negro.
The shooting was the result of a quarrel in which Taylor accused Price
of having been criminally intimate with Taylor's wife. The negro was
captured the day after the shooting. In the trial it was proven that
Price and Taylor's wife had conspired to bring about the death of
Taylor. Both were found guilty, the woman was sentenced to the peni-
tentiary for twenty-five years, and the negro expiated his crime January
18, 1877, upon the same gibbet from which the body of Foster swung
six months before.
680 HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
In an altercation which took place on the main street of Warrenton,
April 18, 1877, Col. Ferdinand Meyer was shot by Nat. C. Dryden, an
attorney of Warrenton. Colonel Meyer was collector of United States
internal revenue and resided in St. Louis. Dryden was tried and ac-
quitted on a plea of self defense. Colonel Meyer recovered from the
wound.
On the afternoon of Saturday, September 21, 1879, Warrenton was
again startled by the report of a murder— this time on her main thorough-
fare. John Hurt^en, a blacksmith, was' shot and killed by George Lee
in a quarrel over a bill which Lee owed the murdered man. In the trial
witnesses proved that Hurtgen had a pistol in his hand when shot by
Lee, and in view of this fact, the jury brought in a verdict of acquittal
and Lee was discharged.
The last crime of any consequence in the county was the most cow-
ardly and brutal of any that have blemished the history of the county.
On the night of August 30, 1903, Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Yeater, two
of the best known citizens of the county, met death at their homes six
miles north of Warrenton. William E. Church, an orphan, who had
found an ideal home with them for many years, crept to their beds like
a panther and cut the throats of the aged people while they peacefully
slept. According to his own confession later, he hurriedly changed his
clothes after he committed the crime, secured what money was in the
home and stole through the country for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
Railroad in the southern part of the county. He then took a train for
Minneapolis, later went east and enlisted in the United States navy.
He was detected and arrested while on duty as guard in 1905; was
brought back to the scene of his crime; confessed to the brutal deed,
and paid the penalty on the gallows at the court house in Warrenton,
January 8, 1907. He gave no other reason for committing this brutal
crime than that he wanted to put the old people out of the way. He
maintained until death that he would repeat the crime had he an
opportunity.
The Bar
Among the members of the bar of Warren county of the past were
men who gained wide fame for their ability as attorneys. The first law-
yer to register in the circuit court of Warren county was Ezra Hunt,
He was the first circuit judge of the district of which Warren county is
a part. Mr. Hunt w^as a native of Massachusetts. He was a man of
literary attainment and was an able jurist.
Judge Carty Wells was the second circuit judge of the district. Be-
sides being an able jurist, he was a leader in politics, and represented
Warren county one term in the state legislature.
Col. Frederick Morsey was a native of Hanover, Germany. He came
to America, and to Missouri the year when Warren county was organ-
ized, 1833. He received a college education, and then received special
training as a civil engineer and surveyor. During the Civil war he
served as colonel, and after the war settled in Warrenton as a law>'er.
For many years he was a leading attorney in Warren county and North-
east Missouri.
Leonidas J. Dryden started in life with the advantage of a college
education. His training as a lawyer he received in the office of his
distinguished brother, John D. S. Dryden. He had a wide reputation as
a student of commercial law, and was a member of the constitutional
convention in 1875. He practiced his profession in Warren county from
the time he was admitted to the bar until his death.
Charles E. Peers was a native of Lincoln county. He received his
HISTORY OP NORTHEAST MISSOURI 681
training in practical life, and was therefore a self-made man. His first
experience in public life was as editor of the Warrenton Banner. Later
he received a law training, and practiced in Warrenton until his death
in 1910. He took a leading part in politics, and represented the county
and district respectively in the state legislature and the state senate.
W. L. Morsey is a son of Col. Frederick Morsey, and received his
law training in the office of his distinguished father. For a large num-
ber of years he served the county as prosecuting attorney. As the law
partner of Charles E. Peers, he enjoyed a large practice. He was also a
leading politician, and in recent years served in the capacity of assistant
United States district attorney, and then as United States marshal for
the Eastfern district of Missouri. At present he is practicing law in his
native town, Warrenton.
Peter S. Stewart was a native of Pennsylvania. He was a self-made
man, and after practicing law in Warrenton a number of years, removed
to Oklahoma where he continued his practice. He died in 1911.
J. W. Delvethal read law in his home on a farm in the northern part
of Warren county. He was prosecuting attorney of the county two
terms, and then devoted his efforts toward commercial law.
Theo. W. Hukriede, a native of the county, received his law educa-
tion in the law department of the State University. After completing
the course, he opened a law office in Warrenton, and from the start had
a large practice. He served the county six years as prosecuting attorney,
and was then elected to the position of probate judge, which position he
now holds.
Emil Boehrig also graduated from the law department of the State
University, and then settled in Warrenton for the practice of law.
Several years later he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county,
and is now serving in that capacity. He is a native of Warren county.
Miscellaneous
A history of Warren county without some mention of the world
renowned frontiersman, Daniel Boone, would be incomplete. The famous
hunter came to Warren county in 1798, and located near Marthasville.
He soon distinguished himself as a leader and was selected as the com-
mandant of the community. While he punished all offenders severely,
yet he was just and charitable in his decisions. So fair was he in settling
disputes of his people, that citizens, engaged in litigation, took their
troubles to him for settlement long after local government was established.
For a quarter of a century, he resided on Warren county soil. On
March 13, 1813, he suffered a great loss in the death of his devoted wife.
She was buried on the Henry Dieckhaus farm on a picturesque spot on
Tuque creek. The loss of his companion was a blow which he could not
bear, and the brave and fearless frontiersman, who had suffered num-
erous, and many times almost unbearable hardships, followed his wife
in death September 26, 1820. His body was laid to rest beside that of
his wife on Tuque creek. There it was permitted to rest for twenty-
five years, when the bodies of Boone and his wife were removed to Frank-
fort, Kentucky, where a costly monument was later erected to their mem-
ory. The stones which marked the graves of Boone and his wife in
Warren county, were quarried on Femme Osage creek in the southern
part of the county, and the names and figures were cut by John S. Wyatt
a blacksmith of Marthasville. The graves remain in a sunken condi-
tion, the stones have been carried away, the burying ground neglected,
and the picturesque burial place of the famous hunter in Warren county
is almost forgotten.
Vol. 1—44
682 HISTORY! OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI
The first deed in Warren county was recorded January 25, 1833,
and it provided for the conveyance of 160 acres of land in section 13,
township 47, north; range 2, west, from Guyon and Betsy Kennedy to
Sarah Kennedy. The price was $640.00.
Several times in the history of the county, cyclonic storms destroyed
a vast amount of property. In May, 1833, a destructive storm passed
through the county. It first struck near Hopewell, and then passed
through the county toward Wright City. In its path many homes, and a
vast amount of property were destroyed.
In May, 1882, another cyclone passed through the county. Thou-
sands of dollars worth of property were destroyed in several parts of the
county, though the greatest loss was suffered in Warrenton. The east
wall of the college building was blown out, and many residences in the
town demolished.
In May, 1896, another storm laid waste a vast amount of property,
this time in the northern part of the county. The homes of Henry Boeh-
mer, H. C. Niehuss, and F. A.. Winter were completely destroyed. After
passing through the county, the storm lifted, and did no further damage
until it reached St. Louis.
Since the Ciyil war, the people of the county have suffered many
hardships and reverses, and have enjoyed much pleasure and success.
By industry and wise management, all obstacles and hardships were over-
come, and today not a more contented and prosperous people contribute
to the high standing of the state and nation than those of Warren
county. Over eighty per cent, of the farmers own their own farms, and
are- living in modern homes, and on modemly equipped farms. The
latest equipped schools, fine churches and other public buildings are
found in every part of the county. The last census showed a population
of almost ten thousand, a large per cent of whom are Germans. During
the last twenty years the county has not had a cent of indebtedness, and
therefore public funds have accumulated very rapidly. These funds
are being used toward public improvements and the county boasts a
modem court house and other public buildings. At present much atten-
tion is being paid toward the building of permanent public roads and
also the improvement of agricultural conditions in the county. '
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