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ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF THE
History of Missouri,
A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
FOR READY REFERENCE.
EDITED BY
HOWARD L. CONARD.
VOL II.
New York, Louisville, St. Louis :
THE SOUTHERN HISTORY COMPANY,
Halde,«an, Conard & Co.. Proprietors.
1 90 1.
THE SOUTHERN HISTORY CO,
1199597
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
c
PAGE
Clapp, Charles L! i
Clarke, William B 15
Clayton, Ralph 22
Coffin, George 41
ColHer, William 48
Collins, George R 50
Collins, Monroe R., Jr 52
Colman, Norman J 54
Comstock, T. Griswolcl 80
Conn, Luther H to6
Connor, Thomas 108
Corby, Amanda M 135
Corby, John 136
Corby Chapel 1 38
Corrigan, Bernard 140
Courtney, Caldwell C 172
Crane, Walter S ' 181
Crawford, Dugald 182
Cresap, Sanford P 191
Cresap, Martha P 192
Crutcher, Edwin R 201
D
Daugherty, James A 225
Daugherty, William A 226
Dean, Oliver H 246
De Menil, Alexander N 257
Dennis, George W 259
Desloge, Firmin 268
Dockery, Alexander M 284
Doniphan, John 295
Donovan, John, Jr 303
Drumm, Andrew 318
Drummond, James T 320
Dubach, David 322
Dulany, Daniel M 333
Dulany, William H 334
E
Eitzen, Charles D 357
Elliott, Charles E 370
Emerson, John W 377
Estill, James R 383
F
Ferree, Charles M 424
Finney, Thomas M 441
Flemirfg, Alfred W 472
Flory, Joseph 476
Forrist, William 487
Forsee, Edgar B 489
Forsee, Zeilda 490
Foster, William D 499
Fowler, William 500
Francis, David R Frontispiece.
Frank, Nathan 509
Frederick, Philip A 512
Fruin, Jeremiah 530
G
Gallaher, John A 549
Gantt, James B 553
They who lived in history .... seemed to walk the earth again.
— Longfellow.
We may gather out of history a policy no less wise than eternal.
— Sir Walter Raleigh.
Histories make men wise. — Bacon.
Truth comes to us from the past as gold is washed down to us from
the mountains of Sierra Nevada, in minute but precious particles. — Bovee.
Examine history, for it is "philosophy teaching by example." — Carlyle.
History is the essence of innumerable biographies. — Carlyle.
Biography is the most universally pleasant, the most universally
profitable, of all reading.— Grr/jVr.
Both justice and decency require that we should bestow on our
forefathers an honorable remembrance. — Thucydides.
"If history is important, biography is equally so, for biography is
but history individualized, in the former we have the episodes and events
illustrated by communities, peoples, states, nations. In the latter we have
the lives and characters of individual men shaping events, and becoming
instructors of future generations."
y
Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri.
Civil War.— See "War Between the
States."
Clan-na-Gael. — A secret organization
composed of Irishmen and having for its ob-
ject the estabhshment of Ireland's independ-
ence of Great Britain. There were many
branches of the society in the United States,
and leading Irish Nationalists were identified
with it until a faction which obtained control
brought odium upon it by its violent and
criminal methods. The Clan-na-Gael was, in
a sense, the successor of the Fenian Broth-
erhood, which was founded in New York in
1857 and spread over the United States and
Ireland. A branch of the Clan came into
existence in St. Louis after the Civil War,
and some prominent Irish-Americans of that
city were numbered among the members of
that organization. None of these, however,
were involved in the plottings which over-
whelmed the Clan in Chicago and other cities
and practically put an end to its existence.
Clapp, Charles, B., physician and sur-
geon, was born in Danville, Illinois, Novem-
ber 21, 1858. He is a son of George A. and
Catherine Clapp, both of whom were of
German descent. The original American an-
cestry of the paternal line came to America
in the early Colonial days and settled first in
Massachusetts. Later on descendants of
these Clapps drifted into North Carohna and
here George A. Clapp, father of Dr. Charles
B. Clapp, was born. In 1832 George A.
Clapp, with his brothers, moved to Danville,
Illinois, where twenty-six years later Dr.
Clapp was born. The story of Dr. Clapp's
experiences in life should afford encourage-
ment and inspire confidence and ambition in
many a struggling youth to whom the future
may look dark and hopeless. It is a story of
early bereavement and privation, of subse-
quent struggle and effort against overwhelm-
ing odds, and finally of success achieved
Vol. II— 1
solely through persistent, intelligently direct-
ed, never ceasing endeavor. It is a story
that must command the admiration of the
thoughtful and appreciative reader, for the
heroism displayed, and at the same time the
heart throb of sympathy goes out involun-
tarily to the brave lad, who, with the stoical
patience and sturdy bravery characteristic of
his race, battles on and on with only the
end in view, scorning the obstacles encoun-
tered by the way. When Dr. Clapp was but
seventeen days old his mother died; the
infant was cared for by various kindly dis-
posed persons for some six months following,
and finally found a home in the family of his
father's eldest brother. Here he remained
eight years, when, his father having married
again, he was taken under the parental roof
together with a twin brother and a sister
two years their senior. This was in 1866.
The father was a farmer, and thus in rural
surroundings and pastoral pursuits Dr. Clapp
passed his boyhood until 1872, when the elder
Clapp removed with his family to Nemaha
County, Nebraska, where he still resides. In
the meantime, Charles B. Clapp, now ap-
proaching man's estate, felt the need of an
education, and a longing for something dif-
ferent in the way of a life's career from that
of a simple farm hand. This aspiration and
ambition grew with his growth and would
eventually no longer be stifled. On the 2d
day of March, 1874, with but four pennies in
his pocket and the snow nearly a foot deep
on the ground, he set out afoot from his
father's house to fight, as best he might, life's
battle and carve out for himself the best
career future opportunity or environment
might offer. After a journey of about forty
miles, which brought him into the State of
Iowa, he found employment as a farm laborer
at $15 per month. The following winter he
attended school. The succeeding summer he
again worked on a farm, and with his ac-
cumulated earnings entered the State Normal
CLARDY— CLARK.
School as a student. When eighteen years
of age he taught a district school in Ne-
braska and in the autumn of 1879 went to
Philadelphia and entered the College of
Pharmacy, working on Sundays and all extra
time for C. J. Biddle, on West Market Street,
for his board. He graduated from this col-
lege in 1882, and at once took charge of a
large drug store at Chestnut Hill, Philadel-
phia. The incessant demands he had so long
made on his vital energies, however, brought
about a physical collapse, and after a few
months he found himself compelled to retire
for a period of long needed rest and recupera-
tion. He returned to his native town of
Danville, Illinois, and after some four
months' rest and nursing, felt himself again
able for the conflict. He then assumed
charge of the wholesale and retail drug busi-
ness of W. W. Woodbury, of Danville, where
he continued until 1884, when he went to
Chicago and purchased a drug store on State
Street, and the next year one also on Prairie
Avenue. These properties he disposed of in
1886 and began the study of medicine in the
office of Dr. H. W. Morehouse, of Danville.
In the autumn of that year he entered Rush
Medical College, Chicago, and graduated
from that institution February 19, 1889. Re-
turning to Danville, he opened an office there
March 4, 1889, and that year was appointed
local surgeon of the Wabash Railroad. In
October, 1890, he removed to Moberly, Mis-
souri, and was at once appointed division
surgeon for the Wabash, and on the comple-
tion of the Wabash Employes' Hospital at
that place, was appointed surgeon-in-charge,
which position he still holds. He has been
health commissioner of Moberly from the
beginning of his residence there to the pres-
ent time. Dr. Clapp now directs his prin-
cipal attention to surgery, although he has
an extensive general practice. He also de-
votes all the spare time at his command to
bacteriological researches. In politics he is
a Democrat. He is a thirty-second degree
Mason and has filled all the offices in the
Blue Lodge. He is a Knight of Pythias and
has held all the offices in his commandery.
He is also a member of the orders of For-
esters, Modern Woodmen of America and
Maccabees. He was married November 21,
1883, to Miss Laura Dell Lockhart, eldest
daughter of J. R. Lockhart, of Danville, Illi-
nois. Her father is of German parentage,
and her mother of English. Mrs. Clapp is
a lady of culture and refinement. She grad-
uated at the Danville High School in 1879,
and from that time till her marriage was a
teacher.
C'lardy, Martin Liinn, lawyer and
member of Congress, was born in Ste. Gene-
vieve County, Missouri, April 26, 1844, and
was educated at St. Louis University and the
University of Virginia. He then studied law
and devoted himself to the profession. In
1882 he was elected to the Forty-eighth Con-
gress as a Democrat, and re-elected to the
Forty-ninth and Fiftieth, serving three full
terms as the representative of the Tenth Mis-
souri District. He subsequently removed to
St. Louis and became attorney for the Mis-
souri Pacific Railroad Company.
Clarence. — A city of the fourth class in
Shelby County, twelve miles west of Shelbina,
on the Hannibal & St. Joseph division of the
Burlington Railroad. It was founded in 1857
by the railroad company. It has five
churches, a graded public school, a flouring
mill, bank, two hotels, two newspapers, the
"Courier" and the "Farmers' Favorite," and
about half a dozen other business concerns,
both large and small, including shops and
stores. The leading fraternal orders have
lodges in the city. Population, 1899 (esti-
mated), 1,500.
Clark. — An incorporated town in Ran-
dolph County, eleven miles southeast of
Moberly. It is located at the junction of the
Wabash and the Chicago & Alton Railroads.
It has a substantial bank, a saw and grist
mill, hotel, churches, excellent public school,
a commodious operahouse, and about fifteen
stores and shops. It is surrounded by an un-
surpassed farming country. Population, 1900
(estimated), 250.
Clark, Champ, lawyer, journalist and
member of Congress, was born in Anderson
County, Kentucky, March 7, 1850. He re-
ceived his education at Kentucky University
and Bethany College, with the advantage of
a course of law at the Cincinnati Law School.
He served for a time as president of Mar-
shall College, of West Virginia. After estab-
lishing himself in the practice of his profes-
sion in Missouri, he was elected city attorney
of Louisiana, Pike County, and afterward
held a similar office in Bowling Green, and
was elected prosecuting attorney of Pike
County. He also served in the JNIissouri Leg-
islature and as presidential elector. In 1892
he was elected, as a Democrat, to Congress
from the Ninth District. In 1896, after an
interval of one term, he was re-elected, de-
feating the Republican antagonist, William
M. Treloar, who had defeated him two years
before, and in 1898 he was again re-elected.
He is one of the limited number of members
of Congress who are always listened to with
interest and delight by the promiscuous
crowds at Washington City. He has, in his
varied life, worked for wages as a farm hand,
taught school, clerked in a country store,
assisted to pass laws in the State Legislature,
practiced law, and had a wide experience in
the making of stump speeches. He is cheer-
ful, genial and humorous, often brilliant and
entertaining, and there is never a failure of
a full audience in the House when it is
known that Champ Clark is going to speak.
Clark, Charles, was born in the city of
New York, December i, 1831. At the age of
twenty-two Mr. Clark entered commercial
life. In 1858 he removed from New York
City to St. Louis and engaged in the insur-
ance business until the Civil War. On July
22, 1862, he married Miss Susan McLure,
daughter of William Raines and Margaret A.
E. McLure, of St. Louis, and has two chil-
dren, Louis Vaughan Clark and Charles
McLure Clark. At the close of the war Mr.
Clark went to Montana and spent several
mo.nths studying the mineral resources of
that State, then a Territory. Not deeming
the time propitious in which to project min-
ing enterprises, he returned to St. Louis and
engaged temporarily in the grain commis-
sion business. When the time seemed ripe
for him to enter upon the business of mining
he returned to Montana and engaged in it.
Meeting with success, he formed the syndi-
cate which purchased the Granite Mountain
properties, and subsequently organized the
Bimetallic Mining Company, of which he was
president and manager until it was a pro-
nounced success. These companies, pro-
jected by the foresight and propelled by the
energy of Mr. Clark, have paid about
$14,000,000 in dividends to the owners and
placed ir circulation in St. Louis and Mon-
tana over $23,000,000, the greater portion of
which was invested in St. Louis enterprises.
These successful mines were no doubt some
of the principal causes of the material pros-
perity which St. Louis has enjoyed for the
past dozen years. He is still largely inter-
ested in mining. He was prominently identi-
fied with the organization and erection of the
St. Louis Merchants' Bridge and Terminal
Railway system of St. Louis.
He is a director in the JNIississippi Valley
Trust Company (in which he is also a mem-
ber of the executive committee) and in the
Merchants'-Laclede National Bank. He is
also a member of the board of directors of
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Trust Com-
pany (of Kansas Chy, Missouri) ; of the
Kansas & Texas Coal* Company ; of the St.
Louis Fair Association, and of other less well
known business enterprises and associations.
He has always been active in the support
of the parish of the Church of the Holy Com-
munion, and is in the directories of many
charitable and philanthropic institutions.
His interest in general enterprises is shown
by holding membership in various business
and social clubs of the city.
In business, social and religious circles he
enjoys the favor and esteem of his intimates
and associates, and sees the setting sun of life
shedding roseate hues athwart his pathway.
With excellent health and a sound mentality,
he is fitted to enjoy life to its full, and bids
fair to reap for many years to come the
fruits and pleasures resulting from a well
ordered life.
Clark, Charles N., Congressman, was
born in Cortland County, New York, August
21, 1827, and was educated at Hamilton, in
his native State. In 1859 he removed to
Illinois. In i86i he assisted to raise a com-
pany of cavalry and served with it in the
Union Army until 1863, when, being disabled,
he left the service and settled at Hannibal,
Alarion County, Missouri, where he took an
active part in building the Sny Island levee,
by which a hundred thousand acres of choice
land was saved from overflow. This experi-
ence led him into the movement for the im-
provement of the Mississippi River, in which
he became active and prominent. In 1894
he was elected to Congress as a Republican,
from the First District, Missouri, receiving
15,786 votes, to 15,357 cast for W. H. Hatch;
CLARK.
4,270 for John M. London, Populist, and 228
for W. S. Little, Prohibitionist.
Clark, Cyrus Edgar, merchant and
manufacturer, was born February 19, 1853, in
the town of Rahway, Union County, New
Jersey, son of Daniel and Harriet (Williams)
Clark. His father, who removed from New
Jersey to St. Louis in 1858, was the founder
of the business which the son has since in-
creased and expanded in keeping pace with
the development of the country and the de-
mands of trade. The elder Clark was a man
of superior capacity and large enterprise, and
during his business career in St. Louis built
up the most extensive leather trade controlled
by any house west of the Alleghany Moun-
tains. He was recogflized by the leather in-
terests of the country as an authority on all
matters pertaining to the trade, and in St.
Louis he is remembered as an eminently suc-
cessful merchant and a citizen noted for his
benevolence and philanthropy. Coming to
St. Louis in his early childhood, the subject of
this sketch grew up in that city, receiving
thorough educational training in the public
schools. At the end of a scientific course of
study, which included the higher mathe-
matics, the Latin and German languages and
English literature, he was graduated with
honor from the high school in the class with
Charles Nagel, John S. Thompson, Dr. Rob-
ert Luediking and others, who have since
distinguished themselves in various callings.
In accordance with the practical views of the
elder Clark he began, as any other boy would
have had to begin, to learn the leather busi-
ness, and worked his way upward from one
position to another, as his merits justified
promotion. When he had thoroughly mas-
tered all the details of the business he was
admitted to a partnership and became an
active participant in its conduct and man-
agement. Upon the death of his father, in
1895, his uncle and cousin, who had pre-
viously been partners in the business, with-
drew, and Mr. Clark then organized the
James Clark Leather Company, a corporation
of which he has since been president, and
which has greatly extended the trade of the
old house. He married, in 1876, Miss Mary
Cliff Warren, daughter of Samuel D. and
Josephine Warren, of St. Louis. The chil-
dren born of this union are : Celeste W.,
Warren D., Arline and Robert E. Clark.
Clark, Cyrus F., farmer and legislator,
was born November 17, 1847, in Strafford
County, New Hampshire. His parents were
John and Betsey (Jenness) Clark, both
natives of that State, and of English par-
entage. In 1855 they removed to Ohio, and
thence to Audrain County, Missouri, in 1869.
The father died in 1872, and the mother in
1899. The elder Clark was a Democrat until
the breaking out of the Civil War, when he
became a Republican. His wife was a most
charitably disposed woman, delighting in
kindly deeds. Their two oldest sons, Jacob
Pike and John Everett Clark, were Union
soldiers during the Civil War, and the first
named lost an arm in battle in Virginia.
Cyrus F. Clark acquired the rudiments of an
English education in the common schools,
and afterward entered the high school in
Batavia, Ohio, where he mastered the pre-
scribed course, and passed the final exami-
nation most creditably. In 1867, when
nineteen years of age, he removed to Audrain
County, Missouri, and engaged in farming
and school teaching. After teaching in vari-
ous country schools, he taught in the graded
schools in Mexico, Missouri, from i86g to
1871, and for a year following in a school in
Texas. Except for the time occupied in teach-
ing, and a few months' visit with a brother,
then land register in Washington Territory,
his attention has been given to the conduct of
large farming and stock-breeding interests in
Audrain County, Missouri, in which he has
been industrious, persistent and successful.
His real estate holdings amount to more
than two thousand acres, and he usually cares
for from one hundred to three hundred head
of cattle, and upwards of one hundred horses
and mules, together with many hogs and
sheep. He has had much of public concern
to deal with, evidence of the confidence and
esteem in which he is held by his fellows.
For thirteen years he has been a director and
the secretary of the Hardin College board,
and for twelve years a director in the South-
ern Bank. He has been a member of the
Audrain County Fair board for ten years,
and has served as secretary, treasurer and
president of that body. His interest in high-
grade horses led to his election to his present
position of president of the Horse Breeders'
Association of Missouri. Being a pro-
nounced Democrat, and a man of command-
ing influence in city and county, he has been
CLARK.
frequently called upon to occupy important
positions through the suffrages of the people.
In 1886 he was elected to the City Council of
Mexico, Missouri. His service in this body
ceased in 1888, when he was elected from
Audrain County to a seat in the General
Assembly of Missouri, and he was re-elected
on the expiration of his term. In both posi-
tions his services were faithful and merito-
rious. Not assuming to be an orator, his
speech was always earnest and effective, and
was heard with deep respect because of the
honesty and good judgment of the man;
while in the committee room, and in con-
sultation, he was regarded with interest, and
his influence was commanding. In both
legislative sessions in which he sat, revision
of the statutes occupied a large part of the
consideration of the lawmakers. In the
Fortieth General Assembly, Mr. Clark was
chairman of the ways and means committee,
and a member of the committees on banks
and corporations, on accounts, and on agri-
culture. He introduced and championed to a
successful finish the bill establishing the
State Fair of Missouri, a measure of vital
importance to the farmers of one of the most
prolific crop and stock-producing States in
the Union. In advocacy of this important
measure, he acquitted himself admirably, for
he had given so much thought to the sub-
ject, and had drafted the bill so carefully and
exhaustively, that it was adopted substan-
tially as it came from his pen. There are
States that hold in grateful remembrance
those who instituted. their fairs many years
ago, and it may be that Mr. Clark will be
similarly appreciated. He was also author
of the bill establishing veterinary service in
Missouri, for the abatement of disease, and of
bills for the regulation of railways, for the
taxation of favored classes, and of other salu-
tary measures. Mr. Clark is an active mem-
ber of the Baptist Church. His benevolent
spirit holds him in warm sympathy with the
Home for Aged Women, at Mexico, and he
is treasurer of its board. He is a member of
the American Order of Modern Woodmen,
and of the King's Sons. He was married
January 19, 1876, to Miss Wilmoth Sims, a
lady of culture and benevolent disposition,
and an active member of the Baptist Church.
She was a daughter of William M. and
Frances (Barnes) Sims. Mr. Sims was a
prominent citizen of Audrain County, and
took an active part in public concerns. He
served as county judge, and occupied other
responsible positions, and was one of the
founders and the vice president of the South-
ern Bank, of Mexico. He was one of the
most extensive land-owners and stock dealers
in the county. To Mr. and Mrs. Clark have
been born five children, of whom three are
deceased.
Clark, Harvey Cyrus, lawyer and
prosecuting attorney of Bates County, is a
descendant of one of the most prominent
families of English ancestry residing in New
Jersey in Colonial times. Abraham Clark,
one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, was a descendant of the first
of the family to settle in the Colonies, and a
distinguished patriot of New Jersey. The
first of the family of whom there is extant
any authentic record, was Joseph Clark. He
settled in South Carolina, and some of the
subsequent generations located in Kentucky.
One of his sons, James Clark, was the father
of James C. Clark, whose son, James Harvey
Clark, was the paternal grandfather of the
subject of this sketch. James Harvey Clark,
a native of Kentucky, practiced medicine in
that State for many years. He was a veteran
of the Mexican War, and served as captain
in a Confederate regiment raised in Ken-
tucky during the Civil War. His son, James
Cyrus Clark, was born in Kentucky, and in
young manhood removed to Otterville,
Cooper County, Missouri. There he married
Melissa M. Myers. Their son, the subject
of this sketch, was born in Cooper County
September 17, 1869. When he was two
months of age his parents removed to But-
ler, where his father immediately engaged in
mercantile pursuits. The elder Clark was
one of the early pioneers of Butler, the
village numbering, at that time, not more
than a dozen small frame houses. In 1875
he was elected sheriff of the county as the
candidate of the Democratic party, whose
principles he has always endorsed. In this
office he served two terms. Subsequently he
was elected county collector, serving in that
capacity also for two terms. In 1880 he was
elected cashier of the Bates County Bank,
and is still the incumbent of that position.
The career of General Harvey C. Clark has
been a most noteworthy one, considering his
age. Few men of his years rise so rapidly
CLARK.
to positions of trust and responsibility, stand
so high in the esteem of the public, or wield
so potential an influence as he. As a boy he
attended the public schools of Butler, and
Butler Academy, from which he was grad-
uated in the class of 1887. In the fall of that
year he entered Wentworth Male Academy at
Lexington, Missouri, from which he was
graduated in 1889. The two following years
were spent as a student in Scarritt College,
at Neosho, Missouri, which granted him a
diploma in 1891. Soon after the conclusion
of his college course he entered the law ofifice
of Honorable David A. De Armond, of But-
ler, and in June, 1893, was admitted to the
bar before Judge Lay, of the Twenty-ninth
Judicial Circuit. The Honorable W. W.
Graves, of the circuit court, at that time a
practicing attorney of Butler, immediately
ofifered him a partnership, upon which he
entered, sustaining this relation until the
elevation of the senior member of the firm to
the bench, on January i, 1899. Since that
date General Clark has been engaged in
professional practice in partnership with J.
S. Francisco. In 1896, as the candidate of
the Democratic party, he was elected to the
ofifice of prosecuting attorney of Bates
County. So satisfactory were his services
to the public that he was renominated and re-
elected in 1898, being the recipient of a large
number of votes from the ranks of the Re-
publican party. He is now (1900) closing his
second term of office. General Clark is a
Royal Arch Mason, and is identified with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights of Pythias and the Modern Wood-
men of America. But it is in military affairs
that he has risen to a position of the greatest
distinction. In 1888, while yet under age, he
organized Company B of the Second Regi-
ment, Missouri National Guard, stationed at
Butler, and was elected, without opposition,
to the captaincy. In this position he served
continuously until June, 1897. During his
inciunbency he was twice elected lieutenant
colonel of the Second Regiment, but refused
to accept the office, preferring to remain as
an officer in the company he had organized.
In June, 1897, he resigned the captaincy of
Company B to accept an appointment as
major and quartermaster on the staff of Brig-
adier General Milton Moore. L^pon the out-
break of the Spanish War, in t8()8. Governor
Stephens requested him to raise and organ-
ize the command which became known as the
Sixth Missouri Volunteer Regiment of In-
fantry. This he did at once, and was com-
missioned lieutenant colonel of the regiment,
filling that position during practically all of
its service in the war. The command
formed a part of General Fitzhugh Lee's
Army Corps, and was the only Missouri regi-
ment which reached Cuba. During this
service of about a year he displayed rare mili-
tary ability ; and in recognition of his services
and his skill as an organizer and commander,
in February, 1899, Governor Stephens ap-
pointed him brigadier general of the Missouri
National Guard, thus placing him in com-
mand of the entire military organization of
the State. Since that time he has effected a
complete reorganization of the National
Guard, placing it on a firmer and more sat-
isfactory basis than has ever before obtained.
He is probably the youngest man ever as-
signed to the highest position of command
of the military establishment of any State
in the LInion. General Clark was married
June 30, 1897, to Harriet De Armond, daugh-
ter of Judge David A. De Armond, of But-
ler, now (1900) Representative in Congress
from the Sixth District.
Clark, John B., Jr., lawyer, soldier
and member of Congress, was born in Fay-
ette, Missouri. January 14, 1831. He was
educated at the common schools and the
State University. He studied law under his
father, John B. Clark, Sr., and graduated at
the law department of. Harvard University.
In 1 861 he espoused the Southern cause in
the Civil War, entered the Confederate
service as lieutenant, and served through the
war, rising by successive promotions to brig-
adier general. At the close of the struggle
he returned to Fayette, and was elected col-
lector of Howard County. In 1872 he was
elected to the Forty-third Congress from the
Eleventh Missouri District, as a Democrat,
and re-elected four times in succession, serv-
ing in all ten years.
Clark, S. H. H., railroad president and
manager, was born October 17, 1836, on a
farm near Morristown, New Jersey, and died
at Asheville, North Carolina. June i, 1900.
In his early boyhood he found it necessary to
contribute his share to the support of his
father's family. While working at whatever
CLARK.
he could find to do, he managed to obtain a
fairly good c(hication l)y studying diligently at
night and spending the most of his leisure
time reading such books as were accessible
to him. He began "railroading" as a boy in
a humble capacity, but was apt, faithful and
efficient, and in the course of a few years
reached, through successive promotions, the
position of passenger conductor on one of the
railroads running between New York and
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was while serv-
ing in this capacity that he attracted the
attention of the distinguished railroad man-
ager and financier, Sidney Dillon. Dillon was
an admirable judge of men, and was always
cjuick to discover the capacity for usefulness
of those in his employ. He discovered such
capacity in Mr. Clark, and took him from
the passenger train which he was running to
make him general manager of the Flushing
Railroad, on Long Island. This brought him
into an intimate relationship with Mr. Dillon
and his New York associates, and the ability
which he displayed as a railroad manager
marked him for promotion and operation in
a larger and broader field. When the Dillon
syndicate obtained a controlling interest in
the Union Pacific Railway system Mr. Clark
was sent west to take the position of general
freight agent on that line. In this new field
his splendid capabilities were soon made man-
ifest, and after a time he became second vice
president and general manager of the Union
Pacific system. While acting in this capacity
he was brought into close contact with the
eminent financier. Jay Gould, and a warm
friendship sprang up between the two men.
In 1886 Mr. Could persuaded him to accept
the vice presidency and general management
nf the Could Southwestern Railway system,
and he was given full control of the manage-
ment of lines aggregating seven thousand
miles of trackage and earning thirty millions
of dollars per annum. For years after this,
in fact, until Mr. Gould's death, he was one of
that gentleman's closest and most confiden-
tial friends, and was the recognized repre-
sentative of his interests in the west. After
Gould got control of the Union Pacific the
second time Mr. Clark became vice president
and general manager of that system, as well
as of the Southwestern system, and continued
to hold that position until 1893, when failing
health compelled him to relieve himself of a
portion of his responsibilities. As a result
he severed his connection with the Alissouri
Pacific and was elected president of the
Union Pacific Railroad. Afterward, when the
Union Pacific Company went into the hands
of receivers, Mr. Clark was made chairman
of the receivers' board, and was practically
the manager of the property up to the time
that its affairs were reorganized, in 1897. He
was conspicuously active in perfecting the
plan of reorganization, under which the road
relieved itself from the government claims
against it and entered upon a new era of
development. i\s a natural consequence of
his close connection with this reorganization,
and of the ability which he had displayed as
a railroad manager and executive officer, he
was the first choice of those most largely
interested in this great railway property for
the presidency of the reorganized Union
Pacific Company, but failing health com-
pelled him to decline the position, and toward
the close of the year 1898 he retired from
active participation in railway management.
At the time of his retirement to private life
he had been for nearly thirty years a con-
spicuous figure in the Western railway world,
and among his contemporaries none had
shown broader capacity or contributed more
to modern railway development. Mr. Clark
married Miss Annie M. Drake, of New
York, and one son was born to them, S.
Hoxie Clark, now a member of the St. Louis
bar.
Clark, Williaiii, Governor of Missouri
Territory, was born in A^irginia, August i,
1770, and died in St. Louis. September i,
1838. lie belonged to an old Virginia family
that did much for the West at a critical
period in its history. His parents were John
Clark and Anne Rogers, who were married
in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1749-
They had four daughters and six sons. Wil-
liam Clark married Julia Hancock at Fin-
castle, \'irginia, January 5, 1S08. Their chil-
dren were :
1. Meriwether Lewis.
2. William Preston.
3. Mary ]\Iargaret.
4. George Rogers Hancock.
5. John Julius.
Julia Hancock, first wife of William Clark,
died at the family estate of Fothcringay, Y'lr-
ginia, June 27, 1820.
Subsequently William Clark married a
CLARK.
widow with three children, Mrs. Harriet Ken-
nerly Radford. By this second marriage they
had two sons :
1. Jefferson Kearny.
2. Edmund.
Of the above, three of William Clark's sons
were married.
]\Ieriwether Lewis Clark married Abigail
Churchill. Their children were, William
Hancock, who married Camilla Gaylord;
Samuel Churchill, Mary Eliza, Meriwether
Lewis, who married Mary Martin Anderson
(their children being John Henry Churchill,
Caroline Anderson and Mary Barbaroux) ;
John O'Fallon, George Rogers and Charles
Jefferson, who married Lena Jacob (their
children being Alary Susan, Evelyn Kennedy
and Marguerite Vernon).
The second wife of Meriwether Lewis
Clark was Julia Davidson.
The next son of William Clark, who mar-
ried and left descendants, was George Rogers
Hancock Clark, who married Eleanor A.
Glasgow. Their children were, Julia, who
married Robert Stevenson Voorhis (their
child being Eleanor Glasgow) ; Sarah Leon-
ida, John O'Fallon, who married Beatrice
Chouteau (their children being Henry Chou-
teau, Beatrice Chouteau, Carlotta, William
Glasgow, Clemence Eleanor, John O'Fallon,
Harriet Kennerly and George Rogers) ; and
Ellen Glasgow, who married Willis Edward
Lauderdale (their children being Seddie Clark
and Walter Clark).
The third son of William Clark that mar-
ried was Jefferson Kearny Clark, who
married Mary Susan Glasgow, the only sister
of Eleanor A. Glasgow, they being daughters
of \\'illiam Glasgow, of Delaware, and Sarah
Mitchell, of Fincastle, Virginia.
The Clark family has been illustrious in
three States — Virginia, Kentucky and Mis-
souri — and its connection with the history of
each is honorable and patriotic. Of the six
brothers born in Virginia four bore a prom-
inent part in the Revolution, and when,
in the year 1784, the family came to the West,
and settled at the falls of the Ohio River on
the site of the present city of Louisville, their
patriotic name had preceded them and pre-
pared the way for eminence and usefulness
among the large number of Virginians ; emi-
nent because of their struggles and sacrifices
during the Revolution, who sought the glow-
ing West as a field in which to begin life anew
and with whom Revolutionary service was a
sufficient claim on their confidence and sup-
port. One of the brothers was General
George Rogers Clark, whose daring and diffi-
cult expedition for the capture of the posts
of Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes forced
the British to abandon the Ohio and Missis-
sippi Valleys and retire to the northern lakes,
and thus secured the West to the United
States at a time when neglect and inaction
might have made a long and bloody struggle
necessary. The subject of this sketch was the
youngest of the brothers. He was only four-
teen years of age when the family came from
Virginia to the fort which his enterprising
elder brother, George Rogers Clark, had
built at the falls of the Ohio ; and it was in the
dangers, alarms, expeditions and combats
c'onnected with this fort that William Clark
received the rugged experience that prepared
him for his future historic, military and bril-
liant career. Life in the West at that time
demanded unflinching and daring personal
courage, vigilance, prudence and a thorough
knowledge of Indian character and habits —
and these qualities young Clark already pos-
sessed in no small degree, when, in 1788, at
the age of eighteen years, he was appointed
ensign in the United States Army. Four
years later, in 1792, he was made lieutenant of
infantry, and next promoted to adjutant and
quartermaster. In 1796 failing health com-
pelled him to resign his position in the army,
and he shortly afterward came to St. Louis,
at that time in foreign territory, but recog-
nized by the emigrants from Kentucky and
Virginia already moving into the trans-Mis-
sissippi region as destined, at no distant day,
to become part of the United States. Presi-
dent Jefferson was familiar with the patriotic
record and the high qualities of the Clark
family, and when, in 1803, the President
planned the expedition to the mouth of the
Columbia River, he selected William Clark,
at that time thirty-three years of age, and in
the full vigor of his powers, as the companion
of Meriwether Lewis in the conduct of the
enterprise. The expedition, composed of
Lewis, Clark, nine young men from Ken-
tucky, fourteen regular soldiers, two Cana-
dian voyageurs and a colored servant, started
in the spring of 1804, made the journey to the
Pacific in November, 1805, and returned, ar-
riving in St. Louis September 23, 1806. This
famous expedition accomplished all that
CLARK.
President Jefferson expected and much more.
It not only gave a great deal of valuable and
interesting information about a region before
almost unknown, but it made an assertion of
United States authority over the great North-
west which forced the Hudson Bay Company,
at that time encroaching upon it under Brit-
ish claims, to withdraw and concede the un-
disputed possession of it to our government.
When William Clark, appointed lieutenant of
artillery, began his preparations in company
with Lewis for the enterprise in 1803, St.
Louis was a foreign village, but before the
party started, in 1804, the cession treaty had
been made and the young officers had the
satisfaction of making the journey on the soil
of their own country. The return of the ex-
pedition, in the fall of 1806, after an absence
of two years and a half, was an interesting
event in the history of St. Louis, and of
national value also, and the record of it is to
this day one of the most charming books of
travel in existence. In 1807 Clark resigned
from the army and was appointed brigadier
general for the Territory of Upper Louisiana,
and in 18 13 was appointed Governor of JNIis-
souri Territory by President Madison, hold-
ing the office until the State of Missouri was
organized, in 1821. In 1822 he was appointed
superintendent of Indian aiifairs in St. Louis,
and held the office until his death. Governor
Clark was a citizen of St. Louis for forty-one
years, and his residence on the corner of
Main and Vine Streets was a center of hos-
pitality known far and wide — -North, South,
East, and especially throughout the West —
to army ofificers, travelers, authors and dis-
tinguished visitors. He expended a large
amount of time and effort in the foundation
of an Indian museum, the first collection of
Indian weapons and curiosities in the coun-
try, and for a long time it was one of the
sights in St. Louis which visitors were accus-
tomed to examine. The friendship that
existed between Clark and Meriwether Lewis,
companions in the famous expedition ever
since known by their joint names, was of a
chivalrous and romantic character. They
were high-bred, accomplished young men, of
noble and gentle natures, firm and fearless in
the presence of danger and sincere and
faithful in their affections. At the be-
ginning of the century their successful
exploration marked a brilliant event in
history.
In February, 1806, President Jefferson ad-
dressed to Congress a communication re-
garding the discoveries made by Lewis and
Clark. This was read in Washington, and
afterward the President's message was re-
printed in New York and in London.
j\Iany editions have been published of the
Lewis and Clark expedition, in America and
in England; there appeared an Irish edition
in Dublin in 1817, and translations have been
made into French, Dutch and German, show-
ing the continued public interest, both na-
tional and foreign. Toward the close of the
century its vital importance has been empha-
sized anew in the literary tribute of Dr. Elliott
Coues" splendid volumes of "The Lewis and
Clark Expedition." This complete and schol-
arly work was published in 1893 by Francis
P. Harper, of New York. It contains a map
of North America from the Mississippi to the
Pacific Ocean, made from the original draw-
ing of William Clark, which shows his re-
markable power as a draughtsman at that
early day.
Dr. Coues writes : "William received his
first title or distinction of any sort while yet
a mere lad, being made a member of the So-
ciety of the Cincinnati on March i, 1787,
before he had completed his seventeenth
year. His original certificate of membership
is extant; it bears the signatures of George
Washington, President, and General Henry
Knox, Secretary."
To quote again, Dr. Coues says : "General
and Governor Clark was known far and wide
to the Indians. . . . Probably no officer
of the government ever made his personal
influence more widely and deeply felt; his
superintendency grew to be a sort of lawful
autocracy, wielded in the best interests of all
concerned, on the strong principle of even-
handed justice ; his word became Indian law,
from the Mississippi to the Pacific. . . . This
man was a large factor in the civilization of
that great West which Lewis and Clark dis-
covered. It may be said of him, with special
pertinence, stat magui nominis umbra — for the
explorer stands in the shadow of his own
great name as such, obscuring that of the sol-
dier, statesman, diplomat and patriot."
Clark, William Heni-y, deputy sher-
iff of Jackson County, was born August 28,
1857, near Blue Springs, Jackson County,
Missouri. His father, David M. Clark, was
10
CLARK COUNTY.
born in \'irginia in 1822 and is now a resi-
dent of Kansas City, Missouri. He came to
this State with his parents and the greater
portion of his Hfe was spent on the farm
near Bhie Springs, a fine tract of land owned
by him. He has always been in sympathy
with the principles of the Democratic party,
but has never sought public office. David
Clark served four years under General Price,
in the Confederate Army. The mother of
the subject of this sketch was Mary E. Har-
ris, daughter of Samuel Harris, one of the
earliest settlers of Jackson County, ^Missouri.
She was born in that county, and is living
a life of contentment and deserved happiness.
David M. Clark and wife are the parents of
eleven children, of whom ten are living.
William H. is the third son. He was edu-
cated in the public schools of Jackson County,
limited as they were when compared with
the splendid educational advantages of to-
day, and made the best of his opportunities.
At an early age he accepted his full share
of the farm work and gave evidence of indus-
try. He made his home with his father until
he was twenty-seven years of age. In 1883
he removed to Independence, Missouri, and
engaged in the hardware business, which he
followed from that year until 1897. He was
connected with the Russell Hardware Com-
pany for ten years, and as a business man
showed himself possessed of keen judgment
and commercial ability, coupled with strict
integrity and an adherence to the principles
of right and honor. In January, 1897, he
was appointed by Sheriff Robert Stone, of
Jackson County, to the position of deputy
sheriff, having charge of the outside work
for the eastern part of the county. He has
always affiliated with the Democratic party,
and as a representative of that party served
the constituency of the Third Ward of Inde-
pendence as member of the city council dur-
ing the year 1896-7. Mr. Clark is a member
of the Christian Church. He is identified
with McDonald Lodge Xo. 324, A. F. and A.
M.. and is' a member of the Knights of
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of Amer-
ica. He was married October 30. 1889, to
IVIiss Nannie J. Oldham, daughter of John R.
Oldham, one of the pioneer residents of
Jackson County. Mr. and IMrs. Clark have
two children: Alattie Oldham Clark, aged
five, and John R., aged three. The head of
this familv, devoted to his home and church.
exerts a strong inlluence in the community
and enjoys the high esteem of his neighbors
and those who are brought into daily contact
with him.
Clark County.— -A county in the ex-
treme northeastern part of the State. l)ounded
on the north by the State of Iowa ; northeast
by the Des Moines River, which divides it
from Iowa ; east by the Mississippi River,
which separates it from the State of
Illinois : south by Lew-is County, and
west by Knox and Scotland Counties;
area, 325,238 acres. The surface of
the county is about two-thirds prairie.
Along the larger streams and back
from the river bottoms, the land is broken
and hilly. About 11,000 acres of rich bottom
land lies between the Des Moines and Fo.x.
Rivers, and this land is protected from over-
flow by an expensive system of levees. An-
other rich tract of bottom land is south of the
Fox River. The county is drained by the
Des Moines, Little Fox, Sinking Creek,
Wyaconda, Little Wyaconda, Honey and
many smaller streams which flow directly or
indirectly into the Mississippi River. The
soil of the bottom lands is of great fertility,
and year after year produces enormous crops.
The soil of the uplands is a friable loam,,
with a stiff clay subsoil, in places streaked
with gravel and sand. About 68 per cent of
the land is under cultivation and in pasture.
Ten per cent of the area of the county is
still in timber, consisting of fine growths of
oak on the uplands, while along the streams
are oak, black walnut, butternut, hickory,
sycamore, ash, maple, elm and honey locust.
The grasses grown are bluegrass, clover and
timothy. The average yield to the acre is :
Corn, 32 bushels ; wheat, 16 bushels ; oats,
25 bushels ; potatoes, 90 bushels ; clover hay,
two tons, and timothy hay, 1^/2 tons. All the
vegetables are produced abundantly. Fruits
of all kinds that can be grown in a moderate
climate bear well. In the northern part of
the county are considerable deposits of
bituminous coal. There is plenty of lime-
stone suitable for building purposes. The
most profitable industries of the residents of
the county are agriculture and stock-raising.
According to the report of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, the exports of surplus prod-
ucts from the county in 1898 were : Cattle,
4.252 head; hogs, 35.715 head; sheep, 1.319
CLARK COUNTY.
11
head; horses and mules, 1,694 head; wheat,
17,732 bushels; oats, 129,996 bushels; corn,
468,186 bushels; hay, 394.000 pounds; flour,
1,621,000 pounds; timothy seed, 111,000
pounds; lumber, 1,854,000 feet; walnut logs,
84,000 feet; piling and posts, 18,000 feet;
cross ties, 1,135; cord wood, 1,248 cords;
cooperage, 496 cars ; stone, 18 cars ; wool,
8,155 pounds; potatoes, 1,202 bushels; mel-
ons, 12,000; poultry, 733,304 pounds; eggs,
308,070 dozen; butter, 31,361 pounds; game
and fish, 53.973 pounds ; hides and pelts,
30,451 pounds; vegetables, 888,694 pounds;
molasses, 1,993 gallons; whisky and wine,
1,220 gallons ; vinegar, 60,000 gallons ; canned
goods, 168,030 pounds; furs, 1,430 pounds;
feathers, 5,995 pounds. Other articles ex-
ported are brick, tobacco, cheese, dressed
meats, tallow, strawberries, fresh fruit, honey,
beeswax, nuts and nursery stock. Accord-
ing to the most authentic record obtainable,
the first settlement in the territorj' now Clark
County was made in September, 1829, when
Sackett and Jacob Weaver, who came from
Kentucky, settled upon land on the Des
Moines River, near the present site of St.
Francisville. A year later William Clark
built a log cabin near the present site of the
town of Athens. Soon after a number of
Kentuckians settled in the same neighbor-
hood. Among them were Samuel Bartlett,
Jeremiah Wayland and George Heywood.
Wayland moved to where St. Francisville is
now situated and there built a log cabin,
which, in 1832, was swept away by a flood.
In 1831 Giles Sullivan settled in the county
about two miles above St. Francisville, and
a few months later his wife died — the first
death in the new settlement. The winters of
1830-1, so it is related in the traditions of
the old settlers, were of great severity, and
the snow was of such depth that travel was
almost impossible, and Indians who occupied
the bottoms along the Des Moines River
lost nearly all their horses. In 183 1-2,
among the people who settled in the county
were Richard Riley and Dabney Phillips, of
Kentucky; Colonel Rutherford, of Tennes-
see ; J. Weaver, who, in 1832, built the first
mill on Fox Creek, near the present .^ite of
Waterloo, and which afterward became
known as Moore's Mill. William D. Hen-
shaw, of Virginia, and Messrs. Butts, Rebo
and Ripper, who came from Kentucky. The
first children born in the Clark Countv terri-
tory were George Wayland, Elizabeth Bart-
lett and Martha Heywood. For some time
the nearest mill was at Palmyra, some sixty
miles distant, and there was no store much
nearer until 1833, when John Stake opened
one at St. Francisville. Owing to the Black
Hawk War, there was no heavy immigration
to the county until 1834, when numerous
families from Kentucky joined the settle-
ments about St. Francisville. All the earhest
settlers lived on the most friendly terms with
the Indians, particularly with Chief Keokuk's
band, against whom the only grievance was
that their dogs killed the hogs of the set-
tlers. A complaint about this resulted in a
pow-wow, at which the Indians were feasted,
and the "talks" were of such a nature that
soon few Indian dogs were seen running
about without a muzzle of lind tree bark.
During the Black Hawk War a fort, called
Fort Pike, was erected at the present site
of St. Francisville, and was occupied for
about three months by a company from Pike
County. After the defeat of Black Hawk,
it is a tradition in Clark County that his
squaw and papooses were guests at the house
of Jeremiah Wayland, where they helped hoe
corn and dig potatoes. The first marriage in
the territory now Clark County was per-
formed by, as it was afterward learned, a
"bogus" minister. The contracting couple
were William Clark, who came from Illinois,
and Elizabeth Payne, a young widow, and
the first ceremony took place at the house
of Jeremiah Wayland. When it was discov-
ered that the minister was a counterfeit.
Squire Robert Sinclair, who lived at Tully,
was sent for, and the matrimonial knot was
legally tied, and the event was duly cele-
brated. The first brick house in the county
was built in 1837, at Waterloo, by Pleasant
Moore. The Baptists were the first to organ-
ize a religious society, their organization
dating from May 7, 1835, and soon afterward
they built the first church, on the trail leading
to the Fox River ford. In 1818 the Terri-
torial Legislature organized a county which
was called Clark, in honor of Governor Wil-
liam Clark, and it included the territory that
is now embraced in half a dozen counties
in the northeastern part of the State. Owing
to the lack of population, the county govern-
ment became disorganized, in fact it never
was thoroughly organized, nor did it have
representation in the Legislature. December
12
CLARKE.
16, 1836, the county was reorganized and its
limits further defined. Thus did the present
county of Clark come into existence. The
members of the first county court were John
Taylor, Thaddeus, William and R. A. Mc-
Kee, with Willis Curd, clerk, and W. S.
(Sandy) Gregory, sheriff. The first county
court met at the house of John Hill, in Des
Moines Township, April 10, 1837. The com-
missioners appointed to locate a permanent
seat of justice were Stephen Cleaver, of Ralls ;
O. Dickerson, of Shelby, and Michael T.
Noyes, of Pike County. They selected a
tract of land four miles east of the site of
Kahoka, and in 1837 a town was laid out,
which was named Waterloo. This place re-
mained the county seat until February, 1850,
when the county court changed the judicial
seat to Alexandria, where courts were held
until August 9, 1855, when it was ordered
that the Circuit Court of Clark County be
notified that the county seat had been
changed back to Waterloo. Waterloo re-
mained the county seat until 1872, when the
present courthouse was completed at Ka-
hoka, and in it the county court first met,
January 15th of that year. The first county
court met about two miles west of the present
site of Kahoka. The second term was held
at the house of Joseph McCoy, the first
county treasurer, which place was the meet-
ing place until August 8, 1837, when the court
made an order moving the county seat to
Waterloo. The first circuit court for the
county of Clark was held April 6, 1837, at the
house of John Hill, in Des Moines Township,
about two miles west of the present site of
Kahoka, Honorable Priestly H. McBride,
presiding judge. The first grand jury re-
turned no true bills and was discharged. At
the December term, 1837, the first indictment
was found against J. C. Boone, who was
charged with larceny and burglary. Clark
County, being on the dividing line between
the North and the South during the Civil
War, was in a constant state of agitation,
first from one side and then the other. In
all, however, the county fared well, and dam-
ages within its borders were small. The
county furnished a large number of soldiers
to the Northern side, and a few to the cause
of the Confederacy. Clark County is divided
into thirteen townships, named, respectively.
Clay, Des Moines, Folker, Grant, Jackson.
Jefferson, Lincoln. Madison, Sweet Home,
Union, Vernon, Washington and Wyaconda.
The assessed valuation of real estate and town
lots in the county in 1899 was $2,439,860;
estimated full value, $4,879,720; assessed
value of personal property, including stocks,
bonds, etc., $974,240; estimated full value,
$1,948,480; assessed value of railroads and
telegraphs, $727,590.47 ; assessed value of
merchants and manufacturers, $75,135 ; esti-
mated full value, $150,270. There are fifty-
nine miles of railroad in the county, the
Keokuk & Western passing from east to west
near the center; the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe, passing diagonally through the
county in a southwestwardly direction, and the
St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, passing
south from the eastern center of the county,
along the Mississippi River. The number of
schools in the county in 1898 was ninety-
one; teachers employed, 114; pupils enrolled,
4,805; permanent school fund, $29,898.56.
The population of the county in 1900 was
15.383-
Clarke, Enos, lawyer, was born near St.
Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio. He is of
Scotch-English descent and the founders of
his family in this country, who settled in Vir-
ginia, were active patriots in the Revolution.
During his childhood his parents removed
to Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois, where
he received such instruction as was afforded
by the common schools of that day, then
prepared for college in a private classical
school, and in 1855 entered Madison Univer-
sity, at Hamilton, New York, from which he
was graduated in 1859, sharing the highest
honors of his class. Having determined
upon law as the profession of his life, he
studied in the office of ex-Chief Justice Sam-
uel M. Beardsley, of Utica, New York, and
was admitted to the bar of Oneida County,
New York. Justice Beardsley having died
just prior to this time, he became a member
of the firm which succeeded to the large and
important business of that eminent lawyer,
his associate being a son of the deceased jus-
tice, and the firm known as Beardsley &
Clarke. At the bar of his district, it was his
good fortune to frequently meet those who
were classed with the leading legal minds of
that long-distinguished bar, composed at that
time of men since eminent, as Justice Ward
Hunt, Roscoe Conkling, Hiram Denio,
Francis Kernan and others. While condi-
13
tions seemed to assure honor and success at
that bar, he had cherished the purpose of
returning to the West, and in 1863, in re-
sponse to overtures from Edward R. Bates,
of St. Louis, Missouri, he removed to that
city and entered into a law partnership with
him. This relation was terminated by the
death of Mr. Bates, and in 1866 he became
associated with John C. Coonley, the firm
being Clarke & Coonley. This continued
until the removal of his associate to Chicago,
and then he formed a partnership with
George A. Madill, under the name of Clarke
& Madill, which was maintained until about
the time Mr. Madill was elected judge of the
circuit court, when Mr. Clarke formed a law
co-partnership with Daniel Dillon under the
name of Clarke & Dillon, and this continued
until 1878, when Mr. Dillon was also elected
judge of the circuit court. About this time
he found it necessary to withdraw from pro-
fessional life on account of an illness which
came upon him in the fullness of his powers
and prospects, and was protracted through
many years, and he has since devoted his
attention to various official and private
trusts committed to his care. In 1867 he
was appointed register in bankruptcy of the
United States District Court for the Eastern
District of IMissouri by Chief Justice Chase,
under an act of Congress enacted that year,
and performed the duties of this position,
often arduous and exacting, through the va-
ried volume of cases and issues presented with
a method, ability and fidelity which brought
distinction and honor to the office. At a na-
tional commercial convention, called to con-
sider proposed bankruptcy legislation, held in
the year 1888, he was appointed a member of a
committee of three to prepare and submit to
Congress a draft of a new bankrupt law,
which was thereafter formulated and became
known as "The Torrey Bill." His active life
was largely occupied with political concerns,
natural consequence of his early training and
theimportanceofthequestions at issue. In his
boyhood he had imbibed from his environ-
ments a deep-seated abhorrence of slavery.
During these impressible years of his life,
while moved by parental teachings, he came
under the personal influence of Owen G.
Lovejoy, brother of the martyred Elijah P.
Lovejoy, which tended to strengthen the
convictions governing his subsequent politi-
cal life. In New York State, at the begin-
ning of the Civil War, he furnished prompt
assistance in the organization of troops for
the Union cause, and afterward in Missouri
rendered service as a member of the Seventh
Regiment of the State Enrolled Militia. On
the occasion of the National Fast Day pro-
claimed by President Lincoln, in 1862, he
delivered, at the request of the citizens of
Utica, a public address on the state of the
country. On coming to St. Louis he allied
himself with the few who were then prepared
to assert themselves as anti-slavery men, in
forming the first immediate emancipation
association known in a slave State. In 1863
he was a member of the famous delegation
of seventy appointed by a mass convention
held at Jefferson City, under the leadership of
the late Justice Charles D. Drake, to visit
President Lincoln and urge the removal of
General Schofield from the command of the
Department of Missouri and the appointment
of a commander more radical in his L'uion-
ism and anti-slavery sentiments. In 1864 he
was an alternate delegate from St. Louis in
the convention which nominated President
Lincoln at Baltimore. During the same year
he was elected from St. Louis to the Legisla-
ture, and in that body he commanded respect
and attention by his vigor of address upon
questions which the more timid w'ould have
avoided. Among measures of public interest
which he introduced at that time was a reso-
lution providing for a constitutional amend-
ment conferring the right of suffrage upon
the colored people, and he advocated it in
a speech remarkable for its force of argument
and boldness of utterance. It was widely cir-
culated and received the warm commenda-
tions of Senator Charles Sumner, Gerritt
Smith and others. When John M. Langston,
the colored orator of Ohio, on conclusion of
a State canvass, made a visit to the State
capital, during the session of the Legislature,
it was upon presentation by Mr. Clarke that
he was accorded the privilege of delivering an
address in the chamber of the House — the
first time in the history of Missouri that the
courtesy had been extended to a colored man.
In 1868 the Missouri (now "Globe") "Demo-
crat," on its own motion, brought out the
name of Mr. Clarke for the position of
Attorney General of the State, and with a
number of the leading Republican papers in
the State, warmly advocated his nomination,
but the selection of a St. Louis man (E. O.
14
CLARKE.
Stanard) for second place on the ticket re-
ferred the choice of a candidate for Attorney
General to the western part of the State.
When the Liberal movement in Missouri
came into existence, and even before, Mr.
Clarke vindicated the consistency and logic
of his convictions by giving it the support of
his name and his active eiTorts. Having al-
ready maintained a protest against a gov-
ernment half free and half slave, he now
recognized that the State, in time of restored
peace, could not long e.xist with its former
voters half enfranchised- and half disfran-
chised. This led him to join in remonstrance
against the extreme measures of his party,
and ally himself at the outset with a dozen or
more persons, with Carl Schurz in the lead,
in an organization known, in 1868, as the
"Twentieth Century Club," which preceded
the liberal movement and prepared the way
for that removal of disabilities from voters
that followed it. In 1870 he was a delegate
to the State Republican Convention, urging
the restoration of the sufifrage to all dis-
franchised persons, and in 1872 he was a dele-
gate to the National Liberal Republican
Convention at Cincinnati, and supported the
nomination of Charles Francis Adams for
President, and that failing, he supported Hor-
ace Greeley. The same year, in the State
Liberal Republican Convention, he was nom-
inated for Lieutenant Governor on the State
ticket with Governor Woodson, but declined
in favor of another. With the readjustment
of parties, he resumed active afifiliations with
his old-time party, and has since usually given
his support to its policies, and now and then
participated in its conventions. He is recog-
nized as a scholar, a thinker, a student and
a speaker of impressive address, and never
fails to impart a charm and an interest to dis-
cussion in the lyceums and clubs in which he
is a frequent participant. As early as the
year 1866, on invitation from the Alumni
Association of his alma mater at Hamilton,
New York, he delivered before the literary
societies the annual commencement address,
the poem on that occasion being delivered by
the then venerable Dr. Smith, of New Eng-
land, author of the national anthem, "Amer-
ica." This event was the first when so young
an alumnus had received this distinction from
that historic institution. His deep interest in
educational matters led to his election, in
l86> as one of the curators of the L^niver-
sity of Missouri, and he served a number of
years. Some years ago he retired to his
beautiful home at Woodlawn,near Kirkwood,
suburban to St. Louis. There, with his library
and attractive environments, he pursues his
literary researches with even more enthu-
siasm and real enjoyment than in his earlier
days, and is a keen observer of all current
events. During recent years improved health
conditions have permitted the resumption of
more active interests, which, in many direc-
tions, now engage his attention. He is a
member of the Ohio State and Missouri His-
torical Societies, the Contemporary Club, and
other organizations in the city, and mem-
ber of standing committee of legislation of
the World's Fair committee of two hundred.
His home is yet shared by the bride of his
youth, to whom, as Miss ^l. Annette, daugh-
ter of the Honorable John J. Foote, of New
York, he was wedded in 1862. A daughter,
Rowena A., is their only child.
Clarke, Joseph Marcus, journalist
and banker, was born June 4, 1814, at Bethel,
Ohio. His parents were Houten and Nancy
(Riley) Clarke. The father was an English-
man, who came to Ohio when a young man,
there married, and reared a family of three
sons and four daughters. Smith, the oldest,
married and settled in his native State.
Wright was for some years a member of
Congress, and afterward served as third
auditor of the treasury under the adminis-
tration of President Grant. Joseph Marcus,
the third child in order of birth, mastered the
common school course in the place of his
nativity, afterward adding to his education in
academies in Bethel and Bavaria, Ohio. His
first effort in business life was at Shawnee-
town, Illinois, where, for two years, he man-
aged with signal success the Illinois "State
Journal," the third newspaper in the State,
with respect to age, one of high reputation,
and of which much was expected. His
health was impaired by the confinement, and
seeking its restoration, he spent three years
in travel through Virginia, Kentucky, Ala-
bama and Tennessee, busying himself with
dealing in horses. This tour proved most
satisfactory, for while it was profitable in a
pecuniary way, it cured him of his physical
ailments. For a couple of years he managed
a plantation near Richmond, Mrginia, after-
ward removing to New Liberty. Kentucky,
.a ^'Z^^-
^^
15
■where he engaged in mercantile pursuits for
some years. In 1854 he settled in Osage
County, Missouri, and cultivated a farm for
fifteen years. While residing here he repre-
sented his county in the Legislature during
the session of 1858 and 1859. About 1866
he returned to Kentucky, again locating at
New Liberty, where he established the
"Owen News," the first newspaper printed in
the county. He conducted this successfully
for some years, when he returned to Alis-
souri, and engaged in the banking business at
Jefiferson City, eventually becoming presi-
dent of the First National Bank of that city.
He was an earnest member of the Christian
Church, and the acknowledged founder of
that organization in JefTerson City. Major
Clarke was twice married. While traveling in
the South he met and married Miss Elizabeth
E. Mottley ; several children were born to
them, all of whom, with the mother, are de-
ceased. In 1845, ns^r Richmond, Virginia,
he was married to Miss Lavinia E. Nunley,
daughter of Anderson and Frances (Russell)
Nunley, and of this union was born one son,
Julius S. Clarke. Major Clarke died Decem-
ber 7, 1889, and his loss was deeply felt
throughout the community. He was a man
of great force of character, whose influence
and example were potent in all concerns en-
tering into the welfare of the people among
whom he lived. With a versatility of talent
which served him in various and diverse
lines, he was constant in all his purposes, and
all of his efifort was to a definite and useful
end. Benevolence was a feature in his char-
acter which marked him pre-eminently before
his fallows, his kindness and charity reaching
all classes of the suffering and distressed, yet
so quietly that his good deeds went unher-
alded, except by the recipients of his bounty.
In movements for the public good, he was
active and liberal. Jefferson City is indebted
to him for its city hall, a fine edifice, elegant
in its appointments. In recognition of this
munificent gift, as well as his worth as a man
and value as a citizen, the city has set up
his statue in that building. The figure is of
bronze, in exact life size, standing six feet
two inches in height, designed by Doyle, of
New York, and is a real work of art, as well
as a piece of faithful portraiture. In the same
building are fine oil portraits of Mrs. Clarke,
widow of Major Clarke, and of their deceased
son, Julius S. Clarke, executed by Miss Ober-
miller, of Toledo, Ohio, at a cost of $1,000,
under order of the city authorities, who were
desirous of yet further honoring the memory
of this philanthropic family. Julius S. Clarke,
at the time city attorney, died at the home
of his mother in Jefferson City, August 5,
1878. He had received his literary education
in Louisville, Kentucky, afterward studying
law at Jefferson City, Missouri, where he was
admitted to the bar. Although but a young
man in years, and scarcely entered upon the
active work of life, he had won for himself
an honorable place in his profession, giving
promise of unusual usefulness and high dis-
tinction. He inherited the best traits of the
father, displaying virtues of the highest type,
and was regarded with confidence and esteem,
in all the relations of life, by all classes of
people, who, to this time, cherish his mem-
ory and deplore his untimely death with deep
sorrow. He was a member of the Christian
Church, consistent in his life, and abounding
in works of charity and kindness. The re-
mains of father and son rest side by side in
the cemetery near Jefferson City, in a family
mausoleum of impressive design, built of
Carthage limestone, eighteen feet in length
and thirteen feet in width, erected in 1898.
Mrs. Clarke survives. She is a devoted mem-
ber of the Christian Church, in whose special
work and beneficences she maintains a deep
interest and bears a liberal part, at the same
time extending aid to all worthy objects
throughout the community.
Clarke, William Bingham. — Th«
name of W. B. Clarke is illustrious not in
Kansas City alone, where he is prominent in
financial and social circles, but throughout
the West. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio,
April 15, 1848, his parents being the late
Aaron Clarke, formerly of Milford, Connecti-
cut, and Caroline E. Bingham, of Andover,
in the same State. He was educated in the
public and private schools of his native city,
and afterward studied law and was admitted
to the bar. In his subsequent career as a
banker, financier and capitalist, he found his
legal attainments invaluable. He acquired a
practical mastery of the banking business in
two of the largest banks in Cleveland. In
1869 he visited the Northwestern States in
search of a favorable locality for engaging
in banking on his own account, deciding at
length on .'\bilene. Kansas, then the -head-
16
quarters for the Texas cattle trade for the
West. It was a place of rapid growth and
of much prominence, with all the wild charac-
teristics of a frontier town. Mr. Clarke, ever
strictly temperate, and carrying no weapons,
was always treated with respect and had no
personal difficulties in this lawless commu-
nity. He there established and carried on a
successful and rapidly increasing business.
After the scattering of the cattle trade, he
removed to Junction City, Kansas, there
organizing the First National Bank of that
place, which he afterward purchased and
changed to a private banking house bearing
his name. He early saw the advantages of
buying bonds in all parts of the State and
negotiating them in the East, where money
was more plentiful and consequently cheaper.
He has conducted his "Kansas Bond Bureau"
for nearly twenty years without the loss of a
dollar to any of his clients. Following the
panic of 1873, a county upon whose bonds
he had advanced a large sum of money re-
pudiated its obligations, causing him a total
loss of the whole sum invested. On the heels
of this misfortune (for misfortunes never
come singly) came the suspension of several
of his correspondents, followed by a run on
his bank, which forced him to make an as-
signment for the benefit of his depositors.
He called a meeting of his creditors ; made a
statement of his financial condition, and the
causes which led to it, and laid before them a
proposition to pay them 25 per cent of his
indebtedness, which — such was their confi-
dence in his integrity — they accepted with-
out a murmur and signed a full release. He
was thus able to keep his bank open and con-
tinue his legal warfare against the delinquent
county to recover the sum due him. Not
long afterward, to his own gratification and
much to the surprise of his creditors, he was
enabled to declare a dividend of 10 per cent
on his discharged indebtedness. At the end
of seven years, having won his case in the
United States Supreme Court, at great ex-
pense, he collected the amount of the repudi-
ated bonds, with interest, and at once de-
clared a further dividend of 65 per cent and
interest for the entire time depositors had
been deprived of the use of their money. In
his determination to discharge every shadow
of obligation against him, he even made good
to certificate-holders their losses in selling
their claims, which they did at the moment
of his suspension, when the excitement was
at fever heat. This way of doing business — all
too uncommon everywhere — and which IMr.
Clarke could not have been legally compelled
to, was widely commented upon and dis-
cussed by the press throughout the country
— no such record ever having been made by
a banker before. No combination of circum-
stances could have inspired the public with
greater confidence in Air. Clarke than this
misfortune, and the able manner in which
he extricated himself and others from its
eflects. After relieving himself from these
moral obligations, which seemed to worry
him more than his creditors, he continued his
banking and bond business with remarkable
success, for he had come to be recognized as
the most extensive and best informed dealer
in municipal bonds in the State.
In 1886, having been chosen president of
the Merchants' National Bank, of Kansas
City, Missouri, in which he was a .large
stockholder, he reorganized his private bank
in Junction City, Kansas, into the First
National Bank of that city, in which he still
retains an interest and is one of the directors,
the president of that bank being the Honor-
able G. W. McKnight, the young man who
came west with Mr. Clarke, in 1871, to Abi-
lene, and was with him and has been connected
with him ever since. Mr. Clarke then removed
with his family to Kansas City, Missouri,
where he has since resided. In 1881, when
telephones were being introduced throughout
the East, Mr. Clarke's attention was directed
to their utility for business and other pur-
poses, and he invested largely in the stock of
The Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company,
becoming its president. During his admin-
istration the business grew to a remarkable
degree, largely covering the field indicated
by its name, and also the Indian Territory.
Other important enterprises calculated to
enhance the prosperity of Kansas City and to
open up its tributary country, have always re-
ceived his liberal and practical co-operation,
and he is prominent in the city's financial,
commercial, religious and social circles and
helpful in all to a remarkable degree. He is
a thirty-second degree Mason ; has been
twice president of the Kansas City Club ; once
president of the Country Club ; third, second
and first vice president of the Commercial
Club, and in 1891 was elected president of
that remarkable semi-social organization. On
CLARKSBURG— CLARKSVILLE.
account of his private business, however, he
found it impracticable to do the office justice,
and therefore decHned the election. He is
an officer and director in several benevolent
associations, and has been conspicuously
identified with various other interests of a
charitable, social and business character. In
1888 Mr. Clarke organized the United States
Trust Company, of Kansas City, Missouri, of
which institution he was the first president,
and still holds the office. In 1891 he became
interested in the manufacture of salt at Salt
Lake, LTtah, and in connection with some
associates and prominent officials of the
Mormon Church organized the industry into
one large corporation controlling the entire
output of salt from that great lake. His bus-
iness interests brought him in close touch
with the Mormon Church, and the business
has been conducted most successfully. In
Colorado he early became interested with
many of the leading and wealthy mine-own-
ers and capitalists in developing the mines of
their State. Some of the largest enterprises
conducted in Colorado have had the benefit of
his co-operation in their development. When
the proposed road connecting Salt Lake City
with Los Angeles and San Pedro, California,
was organized, he was invited into it and
became one of its incorporators, bringing to
it a large amount of influence and prestige.
As a layman of the Protestant Episcopal
Church he has always been prominent, and in
the State of Kansas was the first treasurer of
that diocese, and held the office until his
removal to Missouri. When the diocese of
Missouri was divided and the new one
formed, known as the Diocese of West Mis-
souri, he was chosen the first treasurer of
that diocese, and still holds the office. He
has six or seven times been elected a delegate
to the Triennial Convention of the Protestant
Episcopal Church of the United States. He
is a prominent member of the Sons of the
Revolution, and is also a member of and has
held important offices in the Society of
Colonial Wars. In 1896 he was requested by
the National Republican Committee to assist
in stamping out the free silver fallacies, then
at their height. He immediately organized
a Sound Money League, and was elected its
president, and in that capacity used his re-
markable executive and organizing powers
for the benefit of his party. The league
secured in a few weeks a membership of
17,000 out of 32,000 registered voters in Kan-
sas City, who voted for sound money, efifect-
ing a change of over 8,000 votes in his own
city, thereby bringing it to the notice of the
business world that the business interests of
Kansas City recognized the wisdom of a
sound circulating medium. In the campaign
of 1900 Mr. Clarke was made a member of
the National Advisory Committee from Mis-
souri, again adding his business sagacity and
executive ability to another successful sound
money campaign. ]Mr. Clarke has always de-
clined any political office, but by his action
has shown that he feels it the duty of all
good citizens to take an active interest in the
selection and election of proper representa-
tives to office. In 1876 he married Miss Kate
E. Rockwell, daughter of George Rockwell —
a native of Ridgefield, Connecticut — and
Catherine C. (Westlake) Rockwell, of New-
burg-on-the-Hudson. They have tw'O sons,
William Rockwell Clarke, Yale, 1900, and
Bertrand Rockwell Clarke, Williams, 1904.
Clarksburg. — A city of the fourth class,
in the northwestern part of ^Moniteau County,
on the main line of the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road, six miles west of California. The rail-
road name of the town is Moniteau. The
first house on what is now the site of the
city was built by Hiram Clark, a Kentuckian,
who settled upon the land. In 1859 a post-
office was established there, with Mr. Clark
as postmaster, and the same year a store
was opened by W. J. Stephens, and since that
the growth of the town has been gradual. It
is in the central part of the Moniteau County
coal district. It has Union and Baptist
Churches, one hotel, a good public school
and two private institutions, Llooper's Insti-
tute and Clarksburg College, the latter under
the supervision of the Baptist Church. Pop-
ulation, 1899 (estimated), 850.
Clarksdale.— A town in DeKalb County,
laid out in 1885, and incorporated in 1887.
There are five stores and one church build-
ing, used by Baptists, Christians and Latter-
Day Saints. Population, about 250.
Clarksville. — A city of the fourth class,
in Pike County, located on the Mississippi
River, twelve miles below the city of Louis-
iana, on the St. Louis, Keokuk & North-
western branch of the Burlington Railroad. It
18
CLARKTON— CLAY COUNTY.
was laid out in 1819 by John Miller, who
afterward became Governor of Missouri. It
was incorporated as a city in 1854. Its loca-
tion is picturesque, inclosed by clififs running
back from the river. It has two public
schools, one of which is for colored pupils;
Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist,
Episcopal, Catholic and Christian Churches,
and Baptist and Methodist Episcopal
Churches for colored people. The business
interests of the town are represented by two
banks, an iron foundry, a vinegar and cider
works, tobacco factory, opera house, two
hotels, a flouring mill and about twenty-five
other business enterprises, including stores
in the different branches of trade, shops, etc.
Population, 1899 (estimated), 1,500.
Clarkton. — A village in Freeborn Town-
ship, Dunklin County, eighteen miles north-
east of Kennett. It has a church, public
school, a flouring mill and cotton gin. It was
founded in i860 and named after Henry E.
Clark. Population, 1899 (estimated), 250.
*' Claybaiiks." — This was the name
given to the conservative element of the Re-
publican party when it became divided into
two factions, as a result of President Lincoln's
removal of General John C. Fremont from
the command of the Western Military De-
partment in 1861. This element of the party
had opposed the radical action of General
Fremont, indorsed President Lincoln's action
and recognized the fact that great diplomacy
was necessary on the part of the government
in dealing with the war issues. The radical
Republicans of that period were known as
"Charcoals."
Clay County. — A county in the north-
western part of the State, bounded on the
north by Clinton County, on the east by Ray
County, on the south by the Missouri River,
separating it from Jackson County, and on
the west by Platte County. The land surface
is rolling, in a few parts so rough as to be
untillable, with rocky and precipitous bluffs.
The Missouri River bottom portions are
richlv productive. The county was originally
heavily timbered, and much forest is yet
standing, comprising oak, hickory, ash, wal-
nut, hackberry and cottonwood. It is abun-
dantly watered, having a front of nearly fifty
miles on the Missouri River, and being
drained by its many affluents. Flowing
springs are abundant, and wells sunk to a
depth of thirty feet yield excellent water. The
climate is salubrious, and the hygienic condi-
tions are favorable to health and longevity.
The county contains some of the most pro-
ductive farms in the State. The chief
products are corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley,
grass, cattle, horses, hogs and sheep. The
following were the principal surplus product
shipments reported by the State Bureau of
Labor Statistics in 1900: Wheat, 13,395
bushels; corn, 13,457 bushels; flour, 1,231,300
pounds ; shipstuff, 330,000 pounds ; vegeta-
bles, 1,043,255 pounds; fruit, 245,255 pounds;
poultry, 734,752 pounds ; eggs, 177,588 dozen ;
game and fish, 26,398 pounds ; cattle, 19,739
head ; hogs, 60,328 head ; horses and mules,
633 head; sheep, 5,090 head; wool, 27,834
pounds; lumber, 590,700 feet; coal, 7,000
tons; stone, 117 cars; brick, 1,570,000. The
valuations for taxation in 1900 were : Real
and personal property, $5,698,066; railway
property, $1,616,975; merchants and manu-
facturer's, $153,845; total, $7,468,886. The
county tax was 40 cents on the $100; there
is no bonded county or township debt. The
first white settlement was by French trap-
pers about 1800, at Randolph Bluff, on the
Missouri River, but no trace of their occu-
pancy remains. Major John Dougherty, on
his way to the Rocky Mountains, was in the
county in 1808. The first permanent settlers
came in 1819, and among them were John
Owens, Samuel McGee, Benjamin Hensley,
William Campbell, Thomas Campbell, John
Wilson, Zachariah Everett and John Braley.
In 1820, and until 1828, a brisk tide of immi-
gration set in. The new settlers were mostly
from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Mary-
land and North Carolina. They were of the
true pioneer type, possessed of sturdy inde-
pendence and self-assertion, and free from
vice. In 1820 the Indians became trouble-
some, and four blockhouses were erected;
one was on the Thornton farm, five miles
southwest of Liberty ; another was one and
one-half miles southeast of that place, and
the other two were on Fishing River, in the
southeastern part of the county. In the same
year, in the latter locality, a number of In-
dians were killed in a skirmish, and the set-
tlers were thereafter undisturbed. Much
distress was caused by the deep snow in
1830-1. October 29, 1830. snow began to fall,
CLAY COUNTY,
19
and soon covered the ground twenty inches
deep on the level, with five feet drifts in
places. A week afterward there was a snow
fall of two feet, and a third heavy fall oc-
curred January 3d following. The snow went
off in a flood in March. Nearly all crops and
growing farm products in the Missouri River
bottoms^ were destroyed by the great flood
of 1844, and much suffering ensued. Clay
County was created January 2, 1822, by de-
tachment from Ray County, and was named
after Henry Clay, of Kentucky. It extended
to the northern boundary of the State, and
included the territory now constituting the
counties of Clinton, De Kalb and Gentry, and
the larger portion of Worth. The legislative
act of January 2, 1833, constituting various
counties, reduced Clay County to its present
dimensions. The creative act appointed John
Hutchins, Henry Estes, Enos Vaughn, Wyatt
Atkins and John Poor as commissioners to
locate a permanent seat of justice, and made
the house of John Owens the temporary seat.
There convened, February 11, 1822, the first
county court, consisting of Justices John
Thornton, Elisha Cameron and James Gil-
mer, commissioned by Governor Alexander
McNair. The court appointed W. L. Smith,
clerk ; John Harris, sheriff ; W. Hall, asses-
sor ; Jesse Gilliam, collector, and Samuel Til-
ford, John Hutchins, Howard Everett, R.
Linville and B. Sampson as commissioners
to preserve the school lands from waste. The
court allowed the justices one dollar a day
each, and Mr. Owens the same sum for the
use of his house. At the May term, John
Thornton was made presiding justice, and G.
Huffaker and J. Williams were recommended
to the Governor for appointment as justices
of the peace for Fishing Creek Township. In
1822 there were six stores in the county,
which paid a license of five dollars each. The
first road established in the county was from
Liberty to the Bluffton road. The tax list was
-for $142.77, of which less than two dollars
Avas uncollected. In 1824 a road to Council
Bluffs was established. The county court,
in 1825, comprised the justices of the peace,
George Burnett and Sebron G. Sneed, and
court sessions were held in Sneed's house in
Liberty. In February, 1826, the county
court adopted a seal with the following de-
vice : "A plough and rake with the sun im-
mediately over the plough, the rays of which
point in every direction." The court ap-
pointed patrols to see that slaves remained at
home at night. In February, 1823, were re-
corded deeds of emancipation to "Tom, a
man of color," by Henry Estes, and to
"Sylvia, a woman of color," by John Evans.
In 1836 was built a bridge, the first in the
county, over Fishing River, at the crossing
of the State road. March 4, 1822, was held
the first circuit court, at the house of John
Owens, with David Todd as judge, W. L.
Smith as clerk, Hamilton R. Gamble as cir-
cuit attorney, and John Harris as sheriff.
The first grand jury was composed of Rich-
ard Linville, foreman ; Z. McGee, B. Samp-
son, R. Y. Fowler, Z. Everett, H. Everett,
J. Ritchie, J. Munker, J. Evans, T. Estes, A.
Robertson, R. Hill, D. Magill, W. M. Mc-
Clelland, R. Poage, S. Tilford, D. Gregg, W.
Allen, E. Hall and J. Williams. Dabney Carr
was the first attorney admitted to practice.
Among the first judicial processes was a war-
rant, issued by Judge Todd, for the arrest of
three Indians, Buffalo Nose, White Briar and
Where-He-Is-Crossing, of the lowas, who,
while passing through, stole horses from Eze-
kiel Huffman and others. Arrests were made
and the Indians were jailed at Fayette,
whence they were taken to the Chariton
County jail, from which they escaped. The
horses were recovered. In 1828 a slave
woman named Annice drowned two of her
small children in a stream ; she was put upon
trial, convicted, and was hung in Liberty,
August 23d following, this being the first legal
execution in the county. The first Repre-
sentative from Clay County was Simon Cock-
rill, elected in 1822, and the first State Sena-
tor was Martin Parmer, elected in 1826. In
i846Williard P.Hall was elected to Congress.
He was nominated as the regular Democratic
candidate while he was a private in Captain
AIoss' Clay County Company in Mexican
War service, and was opposed by James H.
Birch, Independent Democrat. Hall marched
with his company to Santa Fe, and wrote an
address of reply to his opponent, who was
making an active canvass. Hall's address
was printed, and proved a most effective cam-
paign document. Hall was elected by a large
majority, and was duly advised of the fact.
He remained with the army, however, for a
time, accompanying General Kearney from
Santa Fe to California, and was commis-
sioned a lieutenant. In 1836 two school dis-
tricts were formed in Township 52, Range 30,
■20
CLAY COUNTY.
with Fishing River as the dividing Hne ; the
southern district was called Franklin, and had
as trustees, Hames Dagley, George Withers
and Samuel Crowley; the northern district,
called Jefferson, had as trustees, Winfrey E.
Price, Michael Welton and Joel P. Moore.
Later four school districts were formed in
Township 52, Range 31, and schools were
opened in all. In 183 1 the county court ap-
pointed W. S. May to select the school sec-
tions, and sales were made from these lands
by Samuel Tillery as commissioner. In 1853
Colonel A. W. Doniphan became the first
school commissioner. August 29, 1854, the
Clay County Teachers' Institute was organ-
ized at Alount Gilead Church, with James
Love as president, and L. R. Stone as secre-
tary; this is believed to have been the first
body of the kind in the State. Clay County
is now pre-eminent in its educational advan-
tages. In addition to William Jewell College
and Liberty Ladies' College (both noted un-
der their respective heads in this work), and
Haynes' Academy, at Excelsior Springs,
there are excellent high schools at Liberty,
Kearney and Excelsior Springs, and high-
school work is done at other places. In 1899
there were ninety-five public schools, of which
six were for colored children ; the enrollment
of pupils was 4,192 white and 226 colored;
the number of teachers employed was
117, of whom six were colored; the
value of school property was $104,840;
the average tax levy for school purposes was
51 cents on the $100; the permanent school
fund amounted to $75,802.34.
Many of the early settlers were devout
people who turned their minds to public
worship as soon as there was a settlement
sufficiently numerous. The old-school Bap-
tists, mostly from Kentucky, predominated
and effected the first church organization in
Clay County, known as Little Shoal Creek
Church, in Liberty Township. This was con-
stituted May 28, 1823, by Elder William
Thorp, a forceful pioneer preacher, who
served the congregation for twenty-eight
years. In 1824 was built a log house of
worship, which was replaced with a brick
structure in 1882. In 1823 Elder Thorp also
organized the Big Shoal Creek Baptist
Church. Other churches of the denomina-
tion were formed at Duncan's schoolhouse, in
Platte Township, in June, 1827; Mount Zion
Church, in Fishing River Township, in Sep-
tember, 1830; Clear Creek Church, in Kear-
ney Township, August 6, 1840, and the Provi-
dence Church, in Liberty Township, organ-
ized April 28, 1848, by the Rev. Robert
James (father of the James boys), and the
Rev. Franklin Graves. A Cumberland Pres-
byterian Church was organized at Barry,
June 3, 1826, by the Rev. R. D. Morrow; it
numbered twenty-seven original members.
An old-school Presbyterian Church \.as
formed at Liberty in 1829. In 1837
a Methodist Episcopal Church was or-
ganized at Pleasant Grove, from which place
it was removed, first to Haynesville, and
then to Holt. The same denomination
formed a church at Liberty in 1840, and at
Gosneyville in 1843; the Rev. E. M. Marvin,
afterward known as Bishop Marvin, was first
pastor of the church at Liberty. The first
organized body of Christians was at Liberty
in 1837. Other Christian Churches \vere the
Barry Church, which organized April 26,
1840, and built a frame house of worship the
same year; the Church of Christ, at Smith-
ville, organized in October, 1843, which in
1848 built a brick edifice, which was replaced
by a larger structure erected in 1883. at a
cost of $4,500; and Mt. Gilead Church, in
Kearney Township, organized in 1844 by the
Rev. A. H. Payne; the latter body built a
house of worship the same year, and replaced
it in 1873 with a brick edifice costing $2,600.
Bethel German Methodist Church, in Kear-
ney Township, was organized in 1845, with
the Rev. Heinrich Neulson as first pastor,
who, the same year, organized Zoar Church,
in Fishing River Township ; in 1847 a church
of the same denomination was formed four
miles east of Liberty by the Rev. H. Hogrefe.
The churches at Liberty are noted at length
in the article on "'Liberty." The military and
political history of Clay County is of intense
interest. In 1832 Colonel Shubael Allen,
with two mounted companies, commanded
respectively by Captains George Wallis and
Smith Crawford, made a thirty-two days'
campaign to the Iowa line to protect the set-
tlements against Indians ; the expedition re-
turned without finding an enemy. It was at
a regimental muster on the farm of Weekly
Dale, three miles north of Liberty, in the
summer of 1835, that the Platte Purchase
movement had its inception ; William T.
Wood, David R. Atchison, A. W. Doniphan,
Peter H. Burnett and E. M. Samuel were
CLAY COUNTY.
21
there appointed a committee to conduct the
negotiations. (See "Platte Purchase.") In
1836 Colonel Shubael Allen's battalion, be-
fore mentioned, was called into service in
"the Heatherly War" (which see) and re-
turned without having encountered an enemy.
In 1838 two companies, commanded respec-
tively by Captains Moss and Prior, partici-
pated in the "Mormon War." It is to be noted
that Joseph Smith and several of his Mormon
leaders were brought to Liberty and confined
in the jail; they were thence sent to Boone
County for trial, and on the journey Smith
made his escape. Clay County took a dis-
tinguished part during the Mexican War.
May 3, 1846, at a meeting presided over
by J. T. V. Thompson, a committee, consist-
ing of J. M. Hughes, M. J\L Samuels, Alvin
Lightburn and J. T. V. Thompson, was ap-
pointed to procure means to equip a company
of volunteers. As a result, a company of
114 men was formed and equipped, officered
by O. P. Moss, captain; L. B. Sublette, first
lieutenant ; James H. Moss, second lieuten-
ant, and Thomas Ogden, third lieutenant.
The company rendezvoused at Fort Leaven-
worth, and became part of Colonel A. W.
Doniphan's Regiment. (See "Doniphan's
Expedition.") After its return from Mexico,
at the close of the war, the company was
banqueted at Liberty, when a reception pro-
cession was marshalled by Judge J. T. V.
Thompson, a welcoming address was made
by H. L. Routt, and addresses were deliv-
ered by Colonel A. W. Doniphan, General
D. R. Atchison and Honorable James H.
Birch. During the border troubles, in 1854-8,
the people of Clay County were intensely in-
terested. Recognizing the menace to slavery,
they were among the foremost in active oppo-
sition to the designs of the Free-Soilers, and
evidence of the spirit which then prevailed
is found in the action of a public meeting at
Liberty, where resolutions were adopted ap-
proving the destruction of the "Parkville
Luminary" newspaper by a mob, because of
its Free-Soil utterances. December 4, 1855,
a pro-slavery party seized the Liberty Ar-
senal. At the presidential election in i860,
the county cast 1,036 votes for Bell, the Con-
stitutional-Union candidate ; 524 votes for
Douglas. 304 votes for Breckinridge, and not
a single vote for Lincoln. When South Caro-
lina seceded, a meeting was held in Liberty,
when Judge J. T. V. Thompson and H. L.
Routt were the principal speakers, and a com-
pany of minute men was formed to meet such
emergencies as might arise. Later, Colonel
A. W. Doniphan and James H. Moss were
chosen by an overwhelming vote as Union
delegates to the State Convention in Janu-
ary, 1861. In April following, when Fort
Sumter was fired upon, followed by President
Lincoln's call for troops, a great popular
movement set in in favor of secession. April
20ththe Liberty Arsenal was taken possession
of by those favoring the Southern cause. A
few days later a meeting was held in the
courthouse, where secession flags were dis-
played, and violent secession speeches were
made. This was followed next day by a
Union meeting, in which addresses were
made by Colonel Doniphan and James H.
Moss, and resolutions were adopted declaring
adherence to the LTnion, but protesting
against coercion. A company of home
guards was organized at Liberty, under the
command of Captain O. P. Moss, an Uncon-
ditional Unionist, and a company of Mounted
Rangers, composed almost entirely of
"Southern Rights" men was formed under
Captain H. L. Routt, and were provided with
arms taken from the Liberty Arsenal. Four
other companies were formed elsewhere in
the county, and most of their men afterward
entered the State Guard. June 19th Captain
Prince entered Liberty with several com-
panies of United States troops and captured
and paroled twenty of the State Guards, and
tore down a secession flag. Five companies
from the county took part in the siege of
Lexington. September 17th occurred the
battle of Blue Mills. After the capture of
Lexington, five companies were organized in
the county, and joined General Price's army.
December 8, 1861, General B. M. Prentiss
entered Liberty with 2,000 Federal troops,
and administered the oath of loyalty to a
numl^er of Southern sympathizers, and took
away with him a number of the most con-
spicuous of them. March 14, 1862, Colonel
Parker, with a company of Confederates,
appeared, shot and wounded Owen Grim-
shaw, a LTnionist ; captured Captain Hubbard,
a Federal officer, and ten of his recruits, and
tore down a United States flag. In the sum-
mer of 1862 the county was in possession of
Colonel Penick's regiment of Missouri State
^lilitia, who arrested many Southern sym-
pathizers, whom he obliged to take the oath
22
CLAYTON.
of allegiance and give bond for good be-
havior. Among these was Frank James, who
took the oath, gave bond for $i,ooo, and soon
afterward joined Bill Anderson's guerrilla
band. The same year, Judge J. T. V. Thomp-
son and Colonel H. L. Routt, original seces-
sionists who had supported Governor Jack-
son, returned to Liberty and took an active
part in Union movements. A considerable
number of Clay County Confederates partici-
pated in the battles at Independence and
Lone Jack, and several were killed, among
them Colonel John T. Hughes. August 14,
1862, Colonel Penick and iifty men were am-
buscaded near Barry, losing three men killed
and two wounded. They drove ofif the bush-
whackers and killed two citizens whom they
accused of giving false information. May 19,
1863, guerrillas entered Missouri City and
killed Captain Sessions, of the Enrolled
Militia. Lieutenant Gravenstein and a
private, plundered the stores, and took a
number of horses. September 6th a bush-
whacker named Donovan was killed in a
skirmish between Liberty and Missouri City.
In the fall of 1863 Colonel James H. Moss
formed the Eighty-second Regiment Enrolled
Missouri Militia ; among its members were a
number of ex-Confederate soldiers. The
year 1864 was notable for crime and dis-
order. Bands of bushwhackers roamed
about. Among those who came to death at
their hands were Bradley Y. Bond, Alvis
Daily, the brothers Simeon and John Bige-
low. All these were Unionists, and most of
them ex-soldiers. The perpetrators of these
deeds pleaded that they were in retaliation
for the killing of their own people. June 2d,
while pursuing the bushwhackers. Captain
Kemper and party were ambuscaded on Fish-
ing River, losing two killed, while Captain
Kemper and two others were wounded. In
the summer of 1864 Bill Anderson's band
routed Captain Colly's company of militia;
Captain Colly was shot and killed by Ander-
son, two of his men were killed in the affair,
and two others were shot after being taken
prisoners. March 30, 1865, Shepherd's band
of bushwhackers were attacked by armed
citizens, and routed, losing Alexander and
Arthur Dever, killed. These disorders ended
May 28th, when Oliver Shepherd, with four
of his men, surrendered to Lieutenant Ben
Cooper, at Liberty. Shepherd was hung by
a vigilance committee in Jackson County in
1868. Ling Litton became a quiet citizen,
and was afterward elected city marshal at
Liberty and sheriff of Clay County. Several
of the guerrillas became brigands after the
war, and were concerned in various bank and
train robberies between 1866 and 1881.
Among these depredations was the robbery
of the Clay County Savings Bank, Septem-
ber 13, 1866. A number of the outlaws stood
guard, while two of their number entered the
bank, covered Cashier Bird and his son with
their revolvers, and took from the vault
$60,000. One of the robbers wantonly shot
and killed a young man, William H. "Wymore,
who was standing on the street. In 1867 the
Kansas City branch of the Hannibal & St.
Joseph Railway was completed from Cam-
eron, INIissouri, to Kansas City. The Wabash
Railway was completed through the county
in 1868, the Council Bluffs Railroad in 1869,
and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail-
road in 1886. Notwithstanding the drainage
of war times, the population in 1870 was
15,564, a gain of more than 2,500 since i860.
In 1900 the population was 18,903.
F. Y. Hedlev.
Clayton. — The county seat of St. Louis
County, nine miles west of the city of St.
Louis. It was laid out in 1878 around a tract
of four acres donated by Mrs. Hanley for
the public buildings, and was named after
Ralph Clayton, an old citizen, who donated
one hundred acres of his farm to the new
county. Mr. Clayton was born in Augusta
County, Virginia, February 22, 1788, came
to Missouri in 1820 and settled in Central
Township of St. Louis County, on the land
which he opened and lived on, till his death,
at the age of ninety-six years.
Clayton, Ralph, one of the most hon-
ored citizens of St. Louis County, and the
man after whom its county seat was named,
was born February 22, 1788, in Bath County,
Virginia, and died at his home, in the town
of Clayton, July 22, 1883. When he was a
small child his parents removed to Augusta
County, Virginia, and there he grew up and
received a good practical education. His
father, whose name was John Clayton, and
his mother, whose maiden name was Mar-
garet Rice, were both natives of England.
From the land in which they were born and
reared they came to Virginia, and for many
£ha.iu m//iams ^/y
A' ' ^-5^
CLEARING HOUSE.
23
years they lived on a large estate, which has
been handed down from father to son through
several generations, and which is still in the
possession of their descendants. Ralph
Clayton came to Missouri in 1820, at the
time when the new Commonwealth was pre-
paring to assume the duties and responsi-
bilities of statehood. He settled on a farm
which was nine miles west of what was then
the little city of St. Louis, and for more
than threescore years thereafter he was a
prosperous agriculturist and one of the lead-
ing citizens of St. Louis County. On this
farm he lived for sixty-two years, and in the
later years of his life he saw a thrifty and
prosperous village grow up on the lands
which he had cleared and cultivated. When
St. Louis County was separated from the
city and it became necessary to establish a
new county seat, he donated to the county
a site for its capital, and, in honor of him,
the town was named Clayton. Near his home
he built a JN'Iethodist Church, in which he
and his family worshiped for many years.
In this good work he was generously aided
by his neighbors and friends, and those who
applied to him for favors in turn were never
disappointed in his contributions, no matter
what religious denomination benefited by his
gift. A most hospitable and generous man,
he was the friend of all who came to him
for aid, and no unfortunate was ever turned
away from his door unblessed by his benefac-
tions. Frequently urged by his friends to
accept office, he as frequently declined the
honors, preferring the quietude of his home
and his farm life to public position. Only
once did he vary from this rule, and that
was when he consented to serve a term as
justice of the peace. After a long, useful,
happy and contented life, he died when in
his ninety-sixth year. One of his distinguish-
ing characteristics was his temperance in
everything and total abstinence from the use
of into.xicating drinks, and doubtless this had
much to do with the prolongation of his life.
Notwithstanding his remarkable age, as long
as he was able to walk he could be seen every
day directing his workmen on the farm and
in the village of Clayton. Two weeks before
his demise he walked from his home to a
Sunday service at the church which he loved
so well. He had a remarkably retentive
memory and was a great reader, his Bible
being the best beloved of all his books. It
was his custom to spend the early morning
of each day in the privacy of his own cham-
ber reading the Book of Books, and the old
volume which was his constant companion
through life is treasured as a sacred heirloom
by his family. In all his business relations
his integrity was of the ideal kind, and the
good name which he left behind him is a
precious inheritance to his children. May
31, 1831, he married Miss Rosanna McCaus-
land, of St. Louis County, who died in 1862.
Their children were John A. Clayton, Rev.
William D. Clayton and Mrs. Mary McCaus-
land.
Clearing House. — The clearing house
is of comparatively modern origin, the first
institution of the kind having been established
in London about the beginning of the last
centur}^ The New York Clearing House,
the first organized in the United States, be-
gan its operations October 11, 1853. The St.
Louis Clearing House was organized in 1868,
beginning its operations December 24th of
that year. The banks and banking institu-
tions numbered among its charter members
were as follows : Accommodation Bank, Bar-
tholomew, Lewis & Co., Boatmen's Saving
Institution, Butchers' and Drovers' Bank,
Central Savings Bank, Clark Bros. & Co.,
Commercial Bank. Exchange Bank, First
National Bank, Fourth National Bank,
Fourth Street Bank, Franklin Avenue Ger-
man Savings Institution, Franklin Savings
Institution, German Bank, German Savings
Institution, Haskell & Co., International
Bank, G. H. Loker & Bro., Mechanics' Bank,
Merchants' National Bank, National Bank
State of Missouri, National Loan Bank,
North St. Louis Savings Association, Peo-
ple's Savings Institution, Provident Savings
Institution, St. Louis National Bank, St.
Louis Building and Savings Association,
Second National Bank, State Savings Asso-
ciation, Third National Bank, Traders' Bank,
Union National Bank, Union Savings Asso-
ciation, United States Saving Institution,
Western Savings Bank. Of these banks the
following have since voluntarily retired from
business, many of them soon after the panic
of 1873: Accommodation Bank, Central
Savings Bank, Clark Bros. & Co., Exchange
Bank, First National Bank. German Bank,
Haskell & Co., G. H. Loker & Bro., Na-
tional Bank, State of Missouri, National
CLEARING HOUSE.
Loan Bank, North St. Louis Savings Associ-
ation, People's Savings Institution, Second
National Bank, Traders' Bank, Union Na-
tional Bank, United States Savings Institu-
tion, Western Savings Bank. Of the banks
belonging to the original clearing house not
in business, or represented by legitimate
successors in 1897, the Provident Savings In-
stitution is the only one which went into
bankruptcy. This bank failed, but paid the
depositors almost in full. The first president
of the Clearing Houwe Association was Wil-
liam E. Burr, and the first vice president was
Charles Hodgeman. The first committee of
management was composed of J. H. Britton,
Felix Coste, J. C. H. S. Block, W. H. Mau-
rice and John R. Lionberger. The first man-
ager was Jas. W. Howenstein. Howenstein
was succeeded as manager in 1871 by Edward
Chase, who continued to act in that capac-
ity until his death, which occurred March i,
1897. Thomas A. Stoddard succeeded Chase.
A reorganization of the association took
place soon after the panic of 1873, and in 1875
an aniendment to the constitution was
adopted, providing that no member should
be added to the association who has not a
paid-up capital of $150,000. Mainly through
consolidations of the banking interests of the
city and the building up of banking institu-
tions prepared to operate on a vastly larger
scale than their predecessors, the number of
members of the association had been reduced
in 1897 to twenty, one of these members be-
ing the Cfnited States Subtreasury in St.
Louis. For the month of January, 1873, the
total clearings were $43,033,907; the total
clearings for the month of January, 1897,
were $113,589,327, and these figures are fairly
illustrative of the growth and expansion of
the financial and commercial interests of the
city during this period of twenty-four years.
The purpose of the Clearing House Associa-
tion is, primarily, to facilitate the exchange
of checks and bring about the immediate set-
tlement of balances between the banks of the
city. Tlie method of doing this is a matter
of interest to the public in this connection.
In the conduct of his affairs a business man
receives checks on various banks. These
checks are not presented for payment at the
banks upon which they are drawn, but are
deposited by the man in whose favor they
are drawn in the bank in which his own ac-
count is kept, and either cashed or passed to
his credit. At the end of each day's business
each bank finds itself in possession of large
numbers of checks drawn upon other banks,
which must be presented for payment. To
bring together representatives of all these
banks, to check up their accounts against
each other and to settle the balances before
another day's business begins is the business
of the clearing house. When a bank closes
its business for the day all of the checks
drawn against each of the other banks of the
city, which have been deposited during the
day with such bank, have been filed away
in an envelope bearing the clearing house
number of the debtor bank. A memorandum
made on a clearing house slip, showing the
amount due the bank from each of the debtor
batiks, is filed with the checks which are to
be sent to such banks for payment. On the
following morning a delivery clerk and a set-
tling clerk representing each of the banks
proceed to the clearing house, carrying with
them all of the checks held by the bank which
they represent drawn on other banks. At
10:30 o'clock the clearing house is called to
order by the manager, and the delivery clerks
then present to the settling clerks of each
of the banks the checks charged up to them
on the preceding day. When the accounts of
the different banks against each other are
thus brought together the exact amount that
one bank owes another on account of the ex-
change of their checks is quickly ascertained,
and a clearing house check, drawn in favor
of the creditor and against the debtor bank,
settles the day's business between them.
Thus in fifteen minutes all the transactions
of the previous day are adjusted between
the banks of the city and the new day begins
with all scores settled. Banks which are not
members of the Clearing House Association
arrange to make their clearings through
banks which are members of the association,
their checks being treated the same as those
of individual depositors in such clearing
house banks, except that the clearing house
makes it a point to keep informed as to their
solvency. July 29, 1884, the St. Louis post-
office was admitted to clearance privileges,
the idea originating in that city. IMoney or-
ders, as turned into the banks by their de-
positors, bear the clearing house stamp of
the bank offering them in lieu of and equiva-
lent to indorsement. Balances are certified
in favor of some bank having a credit.
CLEARMONT— CLEARY.
25
•Checks in favor of the clearing house certifi-
•cates are issued by the postmaster upon the
United States Subtreasury, which is the de-
pository of all postofifice moneys. Fully
seven-eighths of the money orders payable
at St. Louis are credited on the accounts of
bank depositors engaged in trade, thus af-
fording to payees an easy method of cash-
ing the same without the annoyance in many
cases of personal identification. January i,
1897, the Subtreasury joined the Clearing
House Association. In addition to facilitat-
ing the exchange of checks between banks,
the clearing house "exercises a supervisory
watchfulness over the afTairs of its members
and bonds them all together in mutual help-
fulness in times of commercial distress."
Clearinont.— A village in Atchison Town-
ship, Nodaway County, five miles northeast
■of Burlington Junction, on the Chicago,
Burlington & Ouincy Railroad, and also on
the Clarinda branch of the Wabash, St. Louis
& Pacific. It is a thriving place of 300 in-
habitants. The place contains Methodist,
Baptist and Christian Churches, a Masonic
lodge, a lodge of the Independent Order
Good Templars, the Jackson Bank, with a
capital of $12,000 and deposits of $46,000,
and is the center of a large grain trade. The
■"News" covers the field of local news-gather-
ing acceptably. A good creamery receives
fair support.
Cleary, JohnM., lawyer and legislator,
Kansas City, was born August 21, 1869, at
Odell, Illinois. His parents were Michael
and Ellen (Burke) Cleary. The father was
a native of Livingstone County, Illinois, a
wealthy land-owner and stockman, a mem-
ber of the State Legislature from 1882 to
1890, and again elected in 1898. The mother
was reared in Sandwich. Illinois. The son
lived at home until he was seventeen years
of age, engaged in such labors as pertain
to a large stock farm, and laying the founda-
tion for an education in the district school
and in the Odell High School, following this
with a course in the Northern Illinois Normal
School, at Dixon, Illinois. In 1886 he entered
St. Victeur's College, at Bourbonnais Grove,
near Kankakee, where he completed a liberal
literary course. He then engaged in the study
of law in the Bloomington Law School, at
Bloomington, Illinois, and in the office of Ste-
venson & Ewing, in the same city. One of
his preceptors, Mr. Stevenson, was elected
Vice President of the United States in 1892.
Mr. Cleary was admitted to the bar in 1893,
and in September, 1894, removed to Kansas
City, Missouri, where he engaged in practice.
In November, 1898, he was elected a repre-
sentative in the General Assembly, where his
intelligent judgment and careful discharge of
duty commanded deep respect. In politics
he is a Democrat, and has always been ear-
nest in advocacy of the principles and inter-
ests of his party. In religion he is a Catholic.
He is a member of the Phi Delta Theta, a
Greek letter society, with which he became
connected in his college days; of the Mar-
quette Club of Kansas City, and of Kansas
City Lodge, No. 26, Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks. He is unmarried. Mr.
Cleary occupies an honorable place at the
Kansas City bar, and in other courts where
his professional attainments and enthusiasm
in his calling have won for him respect and
admiration. In his political affiliations he
commands a degree of confidence among his
associates which afifords promise of prefer-
ment in the field of politics or in the line of
his profession, as he may prefer, while for
his social traits he is highly esteemed in all
circles in which he mingles.
Cleary, Kedmond, was bom May 25,
1829, on a farm in Tipperary County, Ire-
land. He was reared at home and attended
a private school near there until fifteen years
of age. His father died about this time and
he then had to work on the farm until his
twenty-first year. Owing to reverses, the
family emigrated to this country in the lat-
ter year — 1850 — via New Orleans, and settled
in Carondelet. After several years of hard
work and economy he managed to accumu-
late a few hundred dollars. With these
savings he started in the grocery and feed
business in 1854. Later in this year he be-
came a member of the then Union Merchants'
Exchange of St. Louis, which was in its in-
fancy, and remained an active member of
'Change until his death, covering a period
of nearly forty-five years. He continued in
this line for a number of years, being suc-
cessful from the start, and in the spring of
1865 he organized the general grain and com-
mission house of Cleary & Taylor. This firm
also prospered, and he remained in this co-
26
CLEAVESVILLE-CLEMENS.
partnership until 1876. In that year he
bought Mr. Taylor's interest, and continued
the business under the name of Redmond
Cleary & Co. — he being the sole owner. In
1887 he incorporated the latter concern as
the Redmond Cleary Commission Company.
Shortly after Mr. Cleary's death — which oc-
curred in January, 1898 — this latter very well
known corporation went into voluntary liqui-
dation and retired from business, after nearly
half a century of honorable and successful
commercial life. Air. Cleary was of a specu-
lative turn, at times being largely interested
in real estate, mining, banking and elevators.
Although often solicited, his modesty pre-
vented him from accepting many very high
positions in either public or private life, he
having no taste for the excitement of the
former, although deeply appreciating the
honor his fellow citizens sought to confer
upon him. He was a devout member of the
Roman Catholic Church, and always gave lib-
erally to charity, being a generous benefactor
of several local institutions. In 1858 he mar-
ried Miss Alice K. Ryan, of St. Louis, who
lived a little more than a year, and whose
death was preceded a few days by that of
their only child. Some months after this
great loss Mr. Cleary, in i860, left for Ire-
land, where he revisited the many dear
scenes of his youth. While abroad he trav-
eled extensively, spending nearly two years
in Europe. Shortly after his return to this
country, on June 17, 1863, he married Miss
Julia H. Doyle, of St. Louis, daughter of John
Do3'le and Mary C. Hayden.
Cleavesville. — A hamlet in Gasconade
County, forty miles southwest of Herman.
It has one store, a school and church. Popu-
lation, 1899 (estimated), 20.
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, bet-
ter known as "jMark Twain," distinguished
as an author, is a native of Missouri, born in
the village of Florida, Monroe County, Mis-
souri. He was of aristocratic lineage. His
father, Judge John Marshall Clemens, of
Virginia, was a descendant of Gregory
Clemens, who was one of the judges who
condemned to death King Charles I, of
England. Jane Lampton, mother of Samuel
L. Clemens, was of the Lampton family of
Durham, England. The Montgomerys, who
accompanied Daniel Boone to Kentucky, in
which State she was born, were also among
her ancestors. John Marshall and Jane
Clemens were married in Kentucky, and first
made their home at Lexington, where they
owned a handsome estate and six slaves who
came to them by inheritance. They removed
to Jamestown, Tennessee, w'here Judge Mar-
shall had procured a large tract of land from
W'hich he anticipated large returns, and this
transaction afterward prompted the writing
of "The Gilded Age" by "Mark Twain." In
1835 the parents removed to Missouri, locat-
ing at Hannibal. Their son, Samuel, was
then a delicate child, three years of age.
Somewhat later he was sent to the farm of
an uncle, where he could enjoy open air and
outdoor sports. He was anything but
studious, and could neither be coaxed nor
driven to school after he was ten years old.
He found occasional occupation in the office
of a newspaper conducted by his brother,
Orion, but tiring of confinement, left home
at the age of eighteen years, and went east
where he lived for four years. In 1857 he
began learning steamboat piloting, under
Horace Bixby, on the Mississippi River. His
memory was marvelous, and his eye for land-
marks sure, and he soon became a skillful
pilot. In his leisure hours upon the boat,
or while lying in port, he sought society,
and made himself agreeable in conversatioa
and as a piano performer and singer. At the
breaking out of the Civil War, he entered the
Confederate Army as a second lieutenant
under General Tom Harris, but he aban-
doned this service a few weeks later. His
brother, Orion Clemens, having been ap-
pointed secretary of the new Territory of
Nevada, .Samuel accompanied him in his trip
across the plains, and, residing in Virginia
City, contributed to the leading paper of the
town a series of letters which found such
favor with the proprietor, that he appointed
the writer local editor, and sent him to
Carson City, as legislative correspondent. It
was while so engaged that his journalistic
nom dc plume, "]\lark Twain." was adopted.
Shortly afterward, he removed to San Fran-
cisco, California, and became city editor of
the "Morning Call." After a short time he
was sent to Hawaii as a newspaper cor-
respondent, and while so engaged his de-
scription of the burning of the ship "Hornet"
brought him generous recognition as a
CLEVELAND— CLIMATE OF MISSOURL
27
descriptive writer. Six months later he
returned to CaHfornia and gave a few lec-
tures, but soon abandoned the uncongenial
labor. In 1867 he wrote "The Jumping Frog
of Calaveras," and this gave him immediate
introduction as a humorous writer. The
next year he went abroad with the "Quaker
City" steamship excursion to Europe and
the Holy Land, and this afforded him inspira-
tion for his first considerable published
volume, "Innocents Abroad," which brought
Him immediate fame. An episode of his
voyage was his meeting with Miss Olivia L.
Langdon, to whom he was married in Feb-
ruary, 1870. For four years following his
return home, he was successfully engaged in
lecturing. Shortly after his marriage he
established his home at Buffalo, New York,
where he purchased an interest in a news-
paper, but he found confinement irksome,
and removed in 1871, to Hartford, Connecti-
cut, where he produced two volumes,
"Roughing It" and "The Gilded Age." In
1873, with his family, he visited Great
Britain. Among other works he has pro-
duced "Life on the Mississippi," 1875 ; "Tom
Sawyer," 1876; "A Tramp Abroad," 1880;
"Prince and Pauper," i88i,and "Huckleberry
Finn," 1885. In 1885 he became a member of
the new publishing firm of Charles L.Webster
& Co., New York. This firm paid to the
family of General Grant, $350,000 for the
"Memoirs" of the distinguished soldier, the
largest sum ever paid for a biographical
work. The fortune thus acquired was lost
through investment in a type-setting machine,
and "Mark Twain" turned again to author-
ship and with the proceeds of his book "Fol-
lowing the Equator" paid a debt of $96,000
outstanding at the time of his failure. He
made a lecturing tour in various countries,
and afterward wrote "Pudd'nhead Wilson,"
which was entirely successful, as was an after
dramatization. Years of voluminous writ-
ing have failed to exhaust Mr. Clemens'
originality or buoyant humor. On the con-
trary, improvement and versatility are dis-
cerned in his more recent work. His works
have been translated into seven different
languages, and are as familiar in many
foreign countries as at home.
Cleveland. — See "Burlington Junction."
Clevelainl, Cincinnati, Chicago &
St. Louis Railroad. — The Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad,
lying entirely on the east side of the Mis-
sissippi, is one of the most important systems
reaching St. Louis. It controls 2,248 miles
of road in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, ex-
tending into the southwestern part of Mich-
igan and connecting the four great cities that
constitute its name in a quadrilateral of trade.
It was formed in 1889 by the consolidation
of several valuable roads, St. Louis contribut-
ing the Indianapolis & St. Louis, and other
lines coming in to complete the "Big Four"
system. There are nine divisions, each of
these four cities having one, and four oth-
ers, being those of Cairo, Whitewater, San-
dusky and Michigan. It is one of the most
compact systems west of the Alleghany
Mountains, and it would be difficult to over-
estimate its advantages to St. Louis, one
being the connection it affords with the Ches-
apeake & Ohio Railroad and Newport News.
Cliff Cave. — A cave thirteen miles below
St. Louis, on the Mississippi River, used for
a wine cellar. It is known also by the name
of Indian Cave.
Clifton Hill. — An unincorporated town,
located in the extreme western part of Ran-
dolph County, on the Wabash Railroad,
twelve miles west of Moberly. It has five
general stores, two drug stores, hardware
store, lumber yard, barber shop, hotel, shops,
etc. The town also supports an enterprising
newspaper. It has a good public school and
two churches. Population, 1900 (estimated),
200.
Climate of Missouri. — The annual
mean temperature of Missouri, as computed
from all available records to the end of 1898,
is 54.5 degrees. The annual mean of each of
the five physiographical divisions of the
State is as follows: Northwestern plateau,
51.9 degrees; northeastern plain, 53.6 de-
grees ; southwestern lowlands, 54.5 degrees ;
Ozark plateau, 55.2 degrees, and southeast-
ern lowlands, 57.6 degrees. The lowest an-
nual mean temperature is found in the
extreme northwestern counties, where it is
slightly below 50 degrees, and the highest in
the extreme southeastern counties, where it
is about 60 degrees. The variations in the
annual mean temperature from year to year
rarely exceed three degrees and are often less
CLIMATE OF MISSOURI.
than one degree. The following table shows
the mean temperature of each division by
seasons :
Division. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter.
Northwestern plateau 51.8 74.5 53.6 27.7
Northeastern plain 53.5 75.3 55.1 30-6
Southwestern lowlands 54.3 75.7 56.1 31.9
Ozark plateau 55.1 74» 56.2 '34.7
Southeastern lowlands 58.0 76.7 58.3 37.3
State 54.5 75-3 55-9 32-4
The warmest month of the year is July,
with a mean temperature for the State of
77.0 degrees, and the coldest is January, with
a mean temperature of 29.8 degrees. During
the months of June, July, August and Sep-
tember the temperature occasionally rises to
■95 degrees, but does not often exceed 100.
The highest temperature ever recorded at
any weather bureau station in the State was
106 degrees, at St. Louis on August 12th
and 26th. 1881. During the winter months
the temperature sometimes falls to 5 or 10
degrees below zero, but temperatures of 20
degrees below zero are of very rare occur-
rence. The lowest temperature ever re-
■corded at any weather bureau station was 29
degrees below zero, at Springfield on Febru-
ary i2th, 1899. The average number of days
during the year with maximum temperature
above 90 degrees is twenty, and the average
number with minimum temperature below
32 degrees ranges from about 75 in the south-
ern, to no in the northern portion of the
State. During the winter cold waves occa-
sionally sweep over the State, causing falls
in temperature of from 40 to 60 degrees in
twenty-four hours, but periods of extreme
cold are usually of short duration, as are also
periods of extreme heat in summer.
The average date of the last killing frost
in spring and the first in autumn, as com-
puted from the records of the several weather
bureau stations, is as follows :
<, . Last in First in Length of
Spring Autumn. Season, days.
Keokuk, la April ii October 13 1S4
Hannibal April 13 October 16 185
St. Louis April 10 Octoher3i 20;
Columbia April 13 October 14 1S3
Kansas City April S October 16 100
Springfield April 16 October 13 iSo
Cairo, 111 March 29 October 25 20^
The average annual precipitation for each
division, and for the State, is as follows :
Northwestern plateau, 36.33 inches ; north-
eastern plain. 38.41 inches : southwestern low-
lands, 39.24 inches; Ozark plateau, 43.73
inches ; southeastern lowlands, 46.36 inches,
and for the State, 40.81 inches. The wettest
months are May and June, the average pre-
cipitation for the State for those months
being 5.23 and 4.95 inches, respectively, and
the driest are February and October, with an
average for the State of 2.33 and 2.36 inches,
respectively. The following table shows the
average precipitation for each division by sea-
Spring. Summer Autu
Northwestern plateau 10.74
Northeastern plain 11.58
Southwestern lowlands 12.44
Ozark plateau 14.00
Southeastern lowlands 14-53
State 12.65
.75 8.89
.36 9.90
.44 8.47
Of the eleven years from 1888 to 1898,
inclusive, the wettest was 1898, with an aver-
age for the State of 53.67 inches, and the
driest was 1894, with an average of 33.18
inches. Rainfalls of from 2 to 3 inches
in twenty-four consecutive hours occur in
some portion of the State during nearly
every month of the year, but falls of more
than 4 inches in twenty-four hours are com-
paratively rare.
From November to March, inclusive, the
precipitation is usually general in character,
but during the summer months the greater
part occurs in the form of local showers.
The average seasonal snowfall ranges from
about 10 inches in the southeastern, to about
25 inches in the northwestern portion of the
State.
The prevailing winds are southerly, al-
though during the winter season northwest-
erly winds prevail a considerable part of the
time. The average hourly wind velocity
ranges from five to ten miles during the sum-
mer, and from eight to twelve miles during
the winter months.
The average cloudiness ranges from 35 to
50 per cent during the summer and autumn,
and from 50 to 55 per cent during the winter
and spring. The average number of rainy
days (days on which .01 of an inch or more
of precipitation falls) is 9 in January and
February, 10 in March, 11 in April, 13 in
May, II in June, 9 in July, 8 in August and
September, 7 in October, and 8 in November
and December.
The mean annual relative humidity is 72
per cent. a. E. Hackett.
CLINKSCALES— CLINTON.
2»
Clinkscales, James R., banker, was
born May 25, 1851, in Carroll County, Mis-
souri, and died at Excelsior Springs, Mis-
souri, October 24, 1893. His remains now
rest in Oak Hill Cemetery at Carrollton, Mis-
souri. His parents were John W. and Joanna
P. (Thomas) Clinkscales, the first named of
whom came of a Virginia family, and the last
named of a Kentucky family. His father was
only a child when he came to Carroll County,
Missouri, and his family were among the first
settlers in that county. James R. Clink-
scales obtained his early education in a
private school at Carrollton and completed
his academic studies in the University of the
State of ^Missouri at Columbia. For two
years after leaving college he lived at Golden,
Colorado, having gone there for the benefit
of his health. While there he was engaged in
mercantile pursuits. At the end of this
period of two years, he returned to Carroll-
ton, Missouri, and embarked in the general
merchandising business there, which he con-
tinued until about the year 1889. The First
National Bank of Carrollton was then or-
ganized through his efforts, and he became
its president, a position which he continued
to fill until his death. By nature a public-
spirited and enterprising man, he was long
recognized as one of the most useful citizens
of Carrollton. Having in view the building
up of the town as a trade center, he was espe-
cially active in promoting the building of
railroads through this portion of the State,
and in bringing about the establishment of
manufactories of various kinds in the chief
town of Carroll County. It was through his
efforts largely that the Dain Manufacturing
Company, which engaged in the manufacture
of mowers and all kinds of agricultural im-
plements, was induced to begin business at
Carrollton, and he was a director and treas-
urer of this corporation up to the time of his
death. • He had also been a stockholder in a
planing mill and other manufacturing con-
cerns, and scarcely any enterprise was sug-
gested or promoted during his active bus-
iness career at Carrollton which he did not
aid and assist with his means and influence.
He was the kind of man looked to by his
neighbors and townsmen to lead in all move-
ments having for their object the advance-
ment of the material interests of the place,
and his high character and unquestioned
probity commanded the confidence of the
public for any enterprise with which he was
identified. In politics he was a Democrat,,
and he was a member of the Christian
Church. When the new church of that de-
nomination was erected in Carrollton, he was-
a member of the building committee, and be-
sides handling all the building funds, gave-
his personal and daily supervision to the work
of erecting the edifice. Deeply interested
in all the work of the church, and holding the
office of deacon, he contributed in every way
possible to the extension of its usefulness.
He affiliated with fraternal societies as a
member of the Masonic Order, in which he
had attained the degree of Knight Templar.
October 3, 1878, Mr. Clinkscales married
Miss Annie F. JMcBaine, of Columbia, Alis-
souri. Mrs. Clinkscales has been, and is still,
very prominently identified with educational'
and philanthropic work and various move-
ments for promoting culture and intelligence
among women. She is now State secretary
of the Missouri Federation of Women's
Clubs and has taken an active part in formu-
lating and pushing forward educational and
literary work among the women of Carroll-
ton. She is a director, and has been presi-
dent, of the Carrollton Magazine Club, and
is a member of the Chautauqua Circle of that
city. She was graduated from Christian Col-
lege, of Columbia, Missouri, in 1876.
Clinton.— The county seat of Henry
County, on the Kansas City, Fort Scott &
Memphis, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas,
and the Kansas City, Osceola & Southern
Railways, eighty-five miles southeast of Kan-
sas City, and 230 miles west of St. Louis.
The business center is substantially built, and
the residence districts are laid out in broad
streets and avenues, upon which stand beau-
tiful homes of various types of modern archi-
tecture, surrounded with spacious and
well adorned grounds. Water is provided by
the Home Water Works, incorporated in
1886. For two years the supply was drawn
from Grand River. In 1888 a six-inch well
was sunk to a depth of 840 feet, and in 1894 a
second well was sunk, eight inches in diam-
eter, and 550 feet deep. The aggregate
capacity is 600,000 gallons per diem. The
water is slightly sulphurized. Other large
water sources are the artesian wells of the
Clinton Ice Plant, 800 feet deep, and eight
inches in diameter ; and the free-flowing un-
30
CLINTON.
utilized well, 900 feet deep and eight inches in
diameter, owned by Britts and Dorman. The
Holly system affords pressure for fire pur-
poses, and the city maintains a fire depart-
ment at an annual cost of $960 for men in
charge, paying additional men when called
into service. The city expends $4,000 per
annum for water for public uses, and $3,700
per annum for electric lighting, furnished by
the Clinton Gas & Electric Light Company.
The bonded indebtedness is $18,000 on sewer
and building account. The city hall is a two-
story brick building, erected in 1891 at a cost
of $6,000; it contains a council chamber,
police court room, calaboose, and rooms for
the fire equipment. The courthouse is a
beautiful edifice of Warrensburg stone, com-
pleted in 1893, and costing $50,000. The
walls are rough, with smoothly dressed fac-
ings of same material as the body of the
building.
Church edifices are spacious, and in most
instances are of modern and handsome de-
sign; these are of the Baptist, Catholic,
Christian, German Evangelical, Methodist
Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, South ; Pres-
byterian, Cumberland Presbyterian and Prot-
estant Episcopal denominations. Churches
are also maintained by the colored Baptists
and Methodists.
The public schools were organized soon
after the Civil War, with Rev. L. C. Marvin,
Dr. G. Y. Salmon and Judge J. G. Dorman
as directors. The first superintendent was
Aaron T. Bush, and he was assisted by Mrs.
Richard Wooderson, i\Iiss Irene Rogers
(Mrs. B. G. Boone) and Miss Almira Parks
(Mrs. A. M. Fulkerson). The first school
building was a four-room, two-story frame
structure, located about half a block west
from southwest corner of the square. The
Franklin school, of six rooms, was built in
1870 at the northwest corner of Franklin and
Third Streets, and the frame school building
was moved to North Clinton and named
"Lincoln School." This was occupied by the
colored school until 1894, when it was de-
stroyed by fire, and a four-room, two-story
brick structure took its place. In 1881 six
rooms were added to the west side of the
Franklin building, and an east wing, consist-
ing of six rooms, was built in 1885. Eight
years later a six-room brick edifice was
erected at the corner of Franklin Street and
Orchard Avenue for the benefit of the children
in the western part of the town. This school
was named "Jefferson Park." The crowded
condition of the rooms necessitated still an-
other schoolhouse, and in 1897 Washington
School, on the corner of Ohio and Sixth
Streets, was built. Although there are eight
rooms in that building at the present time
(1900), only seven have been used. About
four miles southeast from Clinton is Reid
School, which, although it is in many respects
but a rural school, yet is in the Clinton dis-
trict and under the supervision of the city
school. There have been fourteen superin-
tendents since the war: Aaron T. Bush,
1865-6; Joel Townsend, 1866-7; J. A. De La
Vergue, 1867-8; Mrs. Maggie Salisbury,
1868-9; C. L. Wells, 1869-70; L. M. Johnson,
1870-3; F. Rowe, 1873-4; J. N. Cook, 1874-6;
E. W. Stowell, 1876-8; C. J. Harris, 1878-9;
E. P. Lamkin, 1879-81; C. B. Reynolds,
1881-97; G. M. Hohday, 1897-9; F. B. Owen,
1899. Since 1875 there have been 258 grad-
uates from the high school. In 1897 the
course was lengthened from three to four
years, two courses — Latin scientific and Eng-
lish scientific — were offered, and the high
school was placed on the list of approved
schools of the State University. The prepar-
atory work is divided into eight grades— four
years primary and four years grammar.
Upon the completion of the work in the
grammar school, certificates of admission
into the high school are given. The school
board is strictly non-partisan, each of the
two leading political parties making one nom-
ination each year. The growth of the schools
may be shown by the following: Teachers
employed in i88'6, 18; 1891, 22; 1893, 27;
1895, 30; 1897, 32; 1898, 36; 1900, 37. Value
of buildings and grounds, 1886, $40,000;
1 89 1, $51,000; 1893, $65,000; 1897, $79,000.
It is said that Judge J. G. Dorman, one of
the prominent citizens of Clinton to-day, at
one time knew the name of every child in the
district, and that he was one of two who
took the enumeration in an hour's time. The
report of the State superintendent for 1899
shows the following: Total enumeration,
2,131; total enrollment, 1,617; number of
days school is maintained, 180; number of
pupils that may be seated, 1,861 ; volumes in
library, 1.125: value of library, $1,000; as-
sessed value of taxable property, $1,452,680;
levy for school purposes, $1 on $100.
Fraternal societies include a Masonic
31
lodge, a chapter, a commandery and a
chapter of the Eastern Star ; two lodges and
an encampment of Odd Fellows, and lodges
of the Knights of Pythias, United Workmen,
Modern Woodmen, Woodmen of the World,
the Maccabees, the Ancient Order of Aegis,
the Home Roofers, and the True Samari-
tan; the latter order has its principal office
here. In 1895 was organized Company F,
Second Regiment Infantry, National Guard
of Missouri, under command of Captain John
W. White ; it served with its regiment during
the Spanish-American War under Captain A.
C. Landon, and under him resumed its place
in the State military establishment after be-
ing mustered out of the service of the
United States. The newspapers are the
"Democrat," daily and weekly. Democratic,
founded in 1868 by Joshua Ladue, and now
conducted by Charles H. Whitaker & Son;
the "Tribune," weekly. Democratic, founded
in 1895 by Hutchinson, Stark & McBride,
and purchased in 1897 by the present propri-
etors, E. R. and W. P. Lingle; the "Eye,'
weekly. Democratic, founded in 1885 by its
present proprietor, T. O. Smith; and the
"Republican," the only Republican newspaper
in the county, conducted by Harry H. and
T. E. Mitchell; it is successor to the "Clinton
Advocate," founded in 1845 by W. H. Law-
rence, and purchased in 1891 by Harry H.
Mitchell, who changed its name.
The oldest banking house is that of Salmon
& Salmon, one of the pioneer financial insti-
tutions of southwest Missouri. It was
founded December i, 1866, by George Y. and
Harvey W. Salmon, and De Witt C. Stone;
Stone retired in 1873, the Salmons buying
his interest, and yet continuing in manage-
ment. The capital is $50,000, the deposits
are $600,000, and the loans are $500,000.
The Citizens' Bank of Clinton was founded
in 1872, as the First National Bank of Clin-
ton ; in 1894 it surrendered its charter, and
became a private bank under its present
title ; March 20, 1900, its capital was $25,000,
its deposits were $115,000, and its loans were
$90,000. The Brinkerhofif-Faris Trust and
Savings Company, capital $150,000, was es-
tablished in 1867, and incorporated in 1887.
The industries comprise two large steam
roller process flour mills, a custom mill, a
foundry and machine shop, an ice factory,
and two pottery works, one operated by
steam. Large shipments are made of live
stock, grain, flax seed, broom corn, flour,
pottery ware, coal, leather and cigars. One
and one-half miles southwest of Clinton, at
the terminus of a horse-car line, are the
beautiful grounds of the Artesian Park, con-
taining a spacious lake, with hotel of three
stories, basement and attic, equipped with all
modern conveniences, including dancing hall,
billiard rooms and bowling alley, a pavilion,
and boat and bath houses. The artesian well
on the grounds discharges a palatable water,
possessing known medicinal qualities, con-
taining the chlorides of potassium, sodium,
magnesium and calcium, the carbonates of
magnesium and calcium, sulphate of calcium,
and sulhydric gas. The park is a favorite
resort, and attracts visitors from considerable
distances. Adjacent to this property, and
owned by the same company, are the fair
grounds of eighty acres, which afford annual
exhibits of farm and garden products, and
are the scene of spirited contests in the speed
ring. One and one-half miles east of Clinton
is Englewood Cemetery, owned by the city,
upon rolling and well shaded grounds, con-
taining many artistic productions from the
chisel of the sculptor.
Clinton was made the county seat of Rives
County (see "Henry County") in November,
1836, and the first sale of lots took place in
February following. The first building
erected on the site was a weather-boarded
log house, built by Thomas B. and Benjamin
F. Wallace, who opened a store, removing to
it a stock of goods from their old location
a mile northward. Others who soon put up
buildings were John M. Reid, Asaph W.
Bates and John Nave, the latter named open-
ing the first tavern. In 1837, when the popu-
lation of the town did not exceed fifty, the
building of the courthouse was begun, and a
postoffice was established. The office was
known as "Rives Court House," and retained
this name for some time ; Benjamin F. Wal-
lace was the first postmaster, and was suc-
ceeded by Frank Fields about 1841. In the
latter year came Dr. Hobb, the first physi-
cian, and Preston Wise opened a dramshop.
In 1843-4 the United States land office had
been removed from Lexington, and Daniel
Ashby was receiver, and John L. Yantis was
register. Gold and silver were required in
payment for public lands, and large quan-
tities of specie were conveyed by wagon to
St. Louis, guarded by armed men. One
CLINTON ACADEMY— CLINTON COUNTY.
Turner was keeping a school in a frame
building on what is now FrankHn Street, near
the public square ; among his pupils were Dr.
J. H. Britts, afterward a man of prominence ;
Mrs. B. L. Owen and her sister, Mrs. Garth,
and others. The population was then not
much more than loo.
Religious meetings were held in the court-
house. The first preachers were itinerants,
among whom are remembered Frank
Mitchell, a Methodist; Reece, a Cumberland
Presbyterian ; Longan, a Christian, and Mar-
vin, a Universalist. The first church build-
ing was of frame, built in 1858, on the south
side of the public square, on Main Street, by
William Schroeder, a Methodist preacher:
the building was occupied by preachers of
various denominations, as they made their
visits. In 1858 the first newspaper appeared,
the "CHnton Journal," Isaac E. Olney, pub-
lisher. It suspended publication in 1861.
The town sufifered no material damage dur-
ing the Civil War, but industry and develop-
ment were paralyzed. Progress was slow for
some years after the restoration of peace.
The first church building erected after the
war, and next after the Schroeder church, was
that of the Cumberland Presbyterians. It
was a two-story brick structure ; the lower
floor was used for religious purposes; the
upper story was used as a Masonic lodge
room, and was occupied by the resuscitated
Tebo Lodge No. 68, chartered in 1844, and
suspended during the Civil War. Numerous
churches organized in 1866, and began the
erection of houses of worship. Among these
was the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
the fruit of a revival held by Hugh R. Smith
and J. H. Houx ; the latter named had been
invited to Clinton after his arrest under the
provisions of the Drake Constitution test
oath, while conducting a revival at the Bear
Creek camp ground, in the south part of the
county. In 1866 Salmon & Salmon opened a
bank, and G. Sellers began the publication of
the "Advocate" newspaper. Its first issue
claimed for the town a population of 250.
August 26, 1870, the first railway, the Tebo
& Neosho, reached the town, and that dates
the beginning of the substantial development
and prosperity of the place. Clinton was in-
corporated February 6, 1858; it became a
city of the fourth class April 2, 1878, and a
city of the third class February 24, 1886.
Population in 1900, 5,061.
Clinton Academy. — An educational in-
stitution formerly conducted at Clinton, and
founded by W. H. Stahl. In 1881 Emilius
P. Lamkin became associated with Mr. Stahl^
and soon afterward assumed complete con-
trol. The school was first conducted in
rooms over a store building on the south
side of the square, but afterward was moved
to a one-story frame building on North Sec-
ond Street. The lack of suitable buildings
was always an obstacle in the way of a large
attendance. The enrollment averaged about
125 each year. The work done was not sur-
passed by any school of its class, and the
courses offered were exceptionally advanced.
The school was chartered in 1885, and degrees
were conferred upon the completion of the
classical, scientific. English or commercial
courses. From 1882 to 1896 there were sev-
enty-one graduates, many of whom are rising
into prominence in their chosen life work. In
1891 the secret society of Phi Lambda
Epsilon was founded by four of the students
in the academy. The death of the principal,
Professor Lamkin, in the middle of the term
of 1893-4, was an irreparable loss to the
school. For the remainder of that session
the associate principal, William M. Godwin,,
and Charles F. and Uel W. Lamkin, con-
ducted the work. The following year Rev.
J. S. Worley and W. H. Forsythe were joint
principals, and during 1895-6 Rev. J. L. Dar-
sie was at the head of the institution. .-Vt
the close of 1895-6 the doors of the academy
were permanently closed.
Clinton County. — A county in the
northwestern part of the State, bounded on
the north by DeKalb ; east by Caldwell ;
south by Clay, and west by Buchanan and'
Platte Counties; area 420 square miles, or
269,000 acres. It was named after De Witt
Clinton, the distinguished Governor and
statesman of New York. Its latitude is about
that of Philadelphia. The surface is mainly
undulating prairie, well drained, with little
swamp, and with little land that can not be
tilled. The soil is rich, black loam, easily
cultivated and exceedingly productive. The
largest stream in the county is Smith's Fork
of Platte River. The others are Shoal Creek,
Castile Creek. Horse Fork, Clear Creek,
Dear Creek, Robert's Branch, all unfailing-
streams, which afford a good supply of run-
ning water. Ever flowing springs abound,.
CLINTON COUNTY.
and in digging wells good water is found at
a depth of twenty-two feet. Every water-
course is marked by a line of timber, with
occasional isolated groves, and although it
is a prairie county, nearly a fourth of the area
is timber — red, white and black oak, ash,
maple, cottonwood, elm, wild cherry and crab
apple. The soil is light, porous, and capable
of holding and absorbing moisture. Good
building stone is plentiful, the limestone be-
ing of a superior quality and used in the con-
struction of buildings. The mineral springs
of the county enjoy a high reputation.
The first settlers in the territory now Clin-
ton County were William Castile, who lived
on the creek which bears his name, and
Hiram Smith, a hunter, whose cabin stood
about the center of what is now Jackson
Township. This was in 1826, and shortly
afterward James McKowan, from Clay
County, and Armstrong McClintock and
Samuel Biggerstaff, from Kentucky, located
on Castile Creek. In 1828 Mrs. Nellie Coff-
man, from Kentucky, settled near the present
site of Hainesville, and Josiah Cogdell, Drew
Cogdell, George Denny and Collet Haynes
located in the same neighborhood shortly
after. John Stone made a settlement near
the present site of Cameron, and Isaac D.
Baldwin, James Shaw, John Ritchie, Samuel
McKorkle and Edward Smith came into the
same neighborhood before 1830. Two years
later John Livingston made a settlement
about a mile northeast of where Plattsburg
now stands, and in 1833 he put up a pole
cabin on the present site of Plattsburg. The
earliest settlements were made nearest to
Clay County, which was already comfortably
settled, and because the Indians were not yet
gone from the northern part of the county.
The pioneers had no trouble in supplying
their rude tables with wholesome food, for
the groves and prairies alike abounded in
game. Deer were to be seen in herds, even
when not looking for them, and wild turkeys
and prairie chickens were plentiful, while the
streams were alive with wild ducks, geese
and swan and fish. The bears had not en-
tirely left the country, and were occasionally
encountered. Hunting and trapping were
profitable vocations, and the experienced
trapper could easily manage to gather a
yearly pack of furs and pelts, which, taken
to the nearest town, brought him in exchange
all the necessaries of his simple life, and some
Vol. II— 3
money besides. Wolves were abundant, and
wolf scalps were first-class currency, always
received for taxes. Bee trees were frequent
in the timber along Smith's Fork, Castile
Creek and Shoal Creek, and when located and
cut down yielded a supply of wild honey for
the settler's table. The act of the State Leg-
islature creating Clinton County was passed
January 2, 1833, and it named David R.
Atchison, afterward United States Senator;
John Long and Howard Everett commission-
ers to select the seat of justice. On the 15th
of January Governor Dunklin appointed
John P. Smith, Archibald Elliott and Stephen
Jones judges of the county court. On the
second Alonday in March following, the
county judges met at the house of Laban
Garrett, and organized the first county court
by choosing John P. Smith for presiding jus-
tice, and Richard R. Rees for clerk, and
recognizing Thompson Smith, appointed by
the governor, as sheriff. Elijah Fry was ap-
pointed assessor. On the 8th of April fol-
lowing the court met at the house of John
Biggerstaff and appointed Washington Huf-
faker, collector ; Levi Shalcher, surveyor, and
John Biggerstaff, treasurer. The commis-
sioners appointed to locate the seat of justice
reported that they had selected the east half
of the northwest quarter of Section 24, of
Township 55, Range 32. The report was ap-
proved, and the name of the town to be laid
off was Concord. In the following January,
1834, the name was changed to Springfield,
and in 1835 it was again changed to Platts-
burg, after Plattsburg in Clinton County,
New York. Henry F. Mitchell was appointed
commissioner of the seat of justice, and on
January 18, 1834, presented to the court the
plat of the town. After six weeks' notice in
the "Liberty Enquirer," the first sale of lots
was made July 13, 1835. The first deed re-
corded in the county was from Vincent and
Sarah Smith to John P. Smith, all of Clay
County, conveying eighty acres of land for
the consideration of $200. There were four
attorneys present at the first term of the
circuit court, Amos Rees, W. T. Wood, D.
R. Atchison and A. W. Doniphan. The first
courthouse was built in Plattsburg (then
called Springfield) in 1834. It was of hewed
logs, two rooms, one eighteen by twenty feet,
the other sixteen by eighteen, one story.
Henry F. Mitchell was the superintendent
and Solomon Fry the contractor. This was
34
CLINTON COUNTY
a temporary structure, and in June of the
same year, the county court let the contract
for a brick courthouse thirty-two feet square
and two stories high. This building stood
until 1859, when a large courthouse was
erected, the main building being a square
with short wings projecting north and south
from the western side. In 1873 the county
court purchased from Daniel Thomas a farm
of 156 acres at $46 per acre, and made it a
pauper farm, at which the paupers dependent
on the county are cared for. In 1868 the
county court, in compliance with the general
wish of the people of the county, subscribed
$200,000 in aid of two railroads — $100,000 to
the St. Louis & St. Joseph, and $100,000 to
the Leavenworth & Des Moines. The first
of these is now part of the Wabash system,
and the other a part of the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific system. The St. Louis &
St. Joseph road was completed in July, 1870,
and on the 23d of that month the last spike
was driven at Plattsburg with formal cere-
monies and amid great rejoicing. The Leav-
enworth & Des Moines road was finished in
1871, and there was a double excursion, one
from Chicago, and the other from Leaven-
worth, meeting at Trenton. Missouri. The
Hannibal & St. Joseph road, which runs
through the northern edge of the county in
two places, was completed through Cameron
in 1859. The roads in the county in the year
1900, with their modern names, were Atchi-
son, Topeka & Santa Fe, St. Joseph branch ;
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, Leavenworth
branch, and Hannibal & St. Joseph. Cameron
branch.
When the Mexican War began, in 1846,
Clinton County was only thirteen years old,
but its people shared the war spirit that pre-
vailed in western Missouri and produced the
Doniphan Expedition, and the army under
General Price which followed. A consider-
able number of young men went into Clay
County and entered companies that served
under Doniphan and Price, among them be-
ing W. J. BiggerstafT, Halet Jackson, Cyrus
Jackson, Thomas J. Morrow, Charles C.
Birch, James H. Birch, Jr. ; Hort Peak, Rom-
ulus E. Culver, James H. Long and Henry
Quine. In the Civil War there was the same
division among the people of Clinton County
that prevailed in so many counties of Mis-
souri, though happily there was less viol.ence
and bloodshed than occurred in Clav and
Platte Counties. In the election for dele-
gates to the State Convention of 1861, Judge
James H. Birch, an avowed Unionist, was
elected over Rev. A. H. F. Payne, who was
put forward as representative of the Southern
element. During the summer of 1861 there
was active recruiting on both sides carried
on, four companies, under Captain William
H. Edgar, who was afterward killed at
Shiloh ; Captain Hugh L. W. Rogers, Captain
Archibald Grooms and Captain James H.
Birch, Jr., being raised for Federal service,
and at least 150 young men from the county
being enlisted in the bodies that joined Gen-
eral Sterling Price's army. In November a
body of Confederates arrested Judge Birch,
member of the State Convention and the
most prominent Union man in the county,
and carried him ofif to General Price's camp,
south of the Missouri River, but after a short
confinement he was released. In 1863 a de-
tachment of Colorado troops came into the
county and plundered several merchants,
John E. Shawhan being robbed of $10,000.
Shortly after a body of the Twenty-fifth Mis-
souri came in and killed two prominent citi-
zens. Southern sympathizers. Captain John
Reed and Rev. A. H. F. Payne, the last
named an old minister of the Christian
Church, who, two years before, had been the
Southern candidate for delegate to the State
convention, and been defeated by Judge
Birch. The return of peace, after the pro-
tracted strife marked by so much animosity,
estrangement and blood, in the State, was
joyfully received by the people of Clinton
County, and on the 21st of April, 1866, there
was a large mass meeting held in Plattsburg
to commemorate the happy event. Judge
Robert Johnson presided and W. J. Bicker-
stafif was secretary. On the 14th of May,
following, there was an ovation to the dis-
charged Union soldiers at the Plattsburg fair
grounds. The "Clinton County News," pub-
lished first at Plattsburg in 1859, was the
pioneer newspaper of the county. G. W.
Hendley was the publisher. It continued till
the year 1862, when the office was burned
and the paper ceased. During the Civil War
the "New Constitution" was published for a
time by W. L. Birney, and in 1866 Judge
James H. Birch started the "Clinton County
Register," a Democratic paper; in 1873 the
"Lever." also Democratic, was started by
Tolin McMichael. and in 1880 C. T. Nesbit
CLINTON NORMAL BUSINESS COLLEGE— COAL.
35
and Thos. G. Barton commenced the "Puri-
fier," all these exhibiting ability and intelli-
gence, and recognized as useful and valuable
journals. In 1867 the "Chronotype" was first
published at Cameron by J. A. Carothers. A
year afterward the name was changed to
"Observer," and it is Republican in politics.
The "Cameron Democrat" and the "Cameron
News," both Democratic, were started after-
ward, but did not survive long. In 1867 the
"A'indicator" (Republican) was begun by J.
H. Frame and G. T. Howser, and soon grew
into a prosperous journal. In 1881 it began
the issue of a daily edition. The Lathrop
"Herald" was first published in 1869, and
ceased in 1871. The same year the Lathrop
"Monitor" was begun and became a spirited
and thriving Republican journal. The
Lathrop "Herald," a Democratic paper, be-
gun in 1880 by Lee & Chonstant, has become
a useful and influential local organ. Ac-
cording to the report of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics for the year 1898, the products
shipped from the county at that time were :
Cattle, 33,600 head ; hogs, 70,022 head ; sheep,
3,821 head; horses and mules, 3,588 head;
wheat, 3.899 bushels ; oats, 3,959 bushels ;
corn, 5,997 bushels ; flax, 536 pounds ; hay,
49 tons; flour, 1,446,653 pounds; corn meal,
14,891 pounds; shipstuff,6,ioopounds ; clover
seed, 27,000 pounds ; timothy seed, 3,970
pounds ; lumber and posts, 6,000 feet ; cord-
wood, 1,846 cords ; wool, 23,738 pounds ; poul-
try, 532,230 pounds; cheese, 17,459 pounds;
dressed meat, 9,728 pounds ; game and fish,
1,560 pounds; tallow, 23,815 pounds; hides
and pelts, 84,400 pounds ; feathers, 4,337
pounds; nursery stock, 12,410, and other arti-
cles in smaller quantities. In the year 1900
the enrollment of school children in the pub-
lic schools in the county was 3,868 white and
294 colored, total 4,162; number of volumes
in the school libraries, 1,137 ; valued at $1,200.
There were seventy schools in operation ; 106
teachers employed, 100 white and six colored,
of whom forty-three were male and sixty-
three female ; estimated value of school prop-
erty, $70,000 ; total receipts for school
purposes, $83,795; total expenditures, $55,-
309 ; permanent county school fund, $24,505 ;
township school fund, $20,586; total, $45,092.
The assessment of property for taxes of 1898
in Clinton County showed 265,000 acres of
land valued at $3,142,747, being at the rate
of $11.85 per acre; 4,000 town lots valued
at $777,045; total real estate, $3,919,792;
horses, 7,913, valued at $148,285; mules,
1,488, valued at $32,951; asses and jennets,
34, valued at $1,620; neat cattle, 26,451, val-
ued at $416,548; sheep, 2,320, valued at
$2,961 ; hogs, 34,327, valued at $78,542 ; all
other live stock, $520; money, bonds and
notes, $835,667; corporate companies, $151,-
089; all other personal property, $297,366;
total personal property, $1,965,549; railroad,
bridge and telegraph , property, $1,076,908;
total taxable wealth of the county, $6,962,249.
The total taxes levied for the year 1898
against real and personal property were for
State purposes, $15,983; for all county pur-
poses, $34,339; total, $49,322. In addition to
this there were taxes on railroad, bridge and
telegraph property in the county, $13,457;
taxes on merchants and manufacturers,
$2,441 ; foreign insurance taxes apportioned
in the county, $1,009; total taxes, $66,299.
The bonded debt of the county in 1898 was
$65,000, consisting of $50,000 in 6 per cent
bonds, issued in 1880 and running ten to
twenty years, and $15,000 in 6 per cent bonds,
issued in 1896 and running five to ten years.
The population of the countv in 1900 was
17.363- 1199597'
Clinton Normal Business College.
A commercial college at Clinton, formed
by consolidation, by Joseph Harness, of what
was known as the Clinton Business College,
C. E. Greenup, principal, and Smith's Bus-
iness College, Ellis Smith, principal. After
this consolidation the building now occupied
by the institution was erected, in the year
1895. The principals of the college have been
Ellis Smith. C. J. Davis, J. E. Fesler, E. W.
Doran, and at the present time (1900) H.
A. Harness is in charge. The college has
enjoyed a good enrollment during its exist-
ence and its graduates are to be found in
almost every walk in life.
Coal. — Coal is the most abundant mineral
in ^lissouri, and there are more persons em-
ployed in mining it than in mining any other.
It is estimated that the coal fields of the State
are 25,000 square miles in area, of which
8,400 square miles are upper coal measures,
2,000 square miles are exposed middle, and
14,600 square miles are exposed lower meas-
ures. The upper measures contain about
four feet of coal ; the middle measures about
36
seven feet, and the lower measures about five
workable seams, varying in thickness from
eighteen inches to four feet and a half, and
thin seams varying from six to eleven inches
— in all about thirteen feet and a half of
coal. The area of over eighteen inches thick-
ness of coal within 200 feet of the surface
is about 7,000 square miles. The southeast-
ern boundary of the coal measures runs from
the mouth of the Des Moines River through
the counties of Clark, Lewis, Scotland, Adair,
Macon, Shelby, Monroe, Audrain, Callaway,
Boone, Cooper, Benton, Henry, St. Clair,
Bates, Vernon, Cedar, Dade, Barton and Jas-
per Counties, into Oklahoma, and all the
counties northwest of this line are known to
contain coal. The regular coal rocks exist
also in Ralls, Montgomery, Warren, St.
Charles, Callaway and St. Louis Counties,
and local deposits of bituminous and cannel
coal are found in Moniteau, Cole, Morgan,
Crawford, Lincoln and Callaway Counties.
In 1865 the State geologist. Professor Swal-
low, estimated that the coal area of the State,
at an average thickness of only one foot,
contained 26,800,000,000 tons of coal. But
in many places the thickness is fifteen feet,
and a reasonable estimate places the average
thickness at five feet, so that, it is probable
the State contains five times this quantity of
coal, in workable beds. In 1880 the quantity
of coal mined in the State was 543,990 tons,
valued at $1,037,100; in 1898, 2,036,364 tons,
valued at $2,295,000. Coal was mined in
forty counties of the State in 1898, those
yielding the largest quantities being Adair,
58,420 tons; Barton, 13,032 tons; Bates, 364,-
254 tons; Henry, 26,448 tons; Lafayette,
299,338 tons; Macon, 655,415 tons; Vernon,
239,554 tons; Linn, 7,218 tons; Randolph,
171,078 tons ; Putnam, 56,320 tons ; Ray, 132,-
200 tons. I
Coates, Kersey, conspicuous among
the few whose foresight and energy made
Kansas City the metropolis of the Missouri
\'alley,was born September 15, 1823, in Salis-
bury, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and
died in Kansas City April 24, 1887. His par-
ents were Lindley and Deborah (Simmons)
Coates, both members of the Society of
Friends. The father, who was a farmer,
afforded liberal educational advantages to
his son. Kersey, who acquired a thorough
knowledge of the English branches and some
of the modern languages at Whitestown
(New York) Seminary, and at Phillips Acad-
emy, Andover, ]\Iassachusetts. For some
years afterward lie taught English literature
in the high school in Lancaster, Pennsyl-
vania. When twenty-five years of age he
began the study of law in the office of the
distinguished statesman and lawyer, Thad-
deus Stevens, and in 1853 was admitted to
the bar. Before he could fairly enter upon
practice, an unforeseen circumstance gave a
different direction to his life, leading him
into a field of peculiar usefulness, and eventu-
ally rewarding him with fortune and distinc-
tion. The struggle for possession of the
Territory of Kansas between the Free-Soil
and pro-slavery parties was just beginning.
In sympathy with the former element were a
number of Pennsylvanians, members of an
Emigration Aid Society, whose purpose it
was to save the Territory to freedom, and
who were also desirous of purchasing pub-
lic lands, solicited Thaddeus Stevens to name
a man of capability and integrity to go-
thither as their adviser and agent. Upon his
warm recommendation Colonel Coates w-as
engaged, and in 1854 he departed upon his
mission, which was destined to engage him
for two years, during which time he wit-
nessed many scenes of violence and blood-
shed, while his own life was frequently im-
periled. He was more than the mere agent
for men of means seeking prospectively re-
munerative investments. His natural in-
stincts led him to ablior slavery, and his
convictions had been deepened through the
influence of his father, an active aider in the
management of the "Underground Railway,'
and of his personal friend and patron, Thad-
deus Stevens, an implacable enemy of a sys-
tem of human bondage. Colonel Coates
aided the Free-Soilers persistently and fear-
lessly, and soon came to be regarded as one
of their most resourceful leaders. In two
instances his experiences were among the
most intensely interesting and dramatic of
those troublous times. In the one, he was of
counsel for the defense of Governor Charles
Robinson, put on trial for treason. In the
other, he afforded concealment to Governor
Andrew H. Reeder, whose life was in jeop-
ardy, and aided his escape to Illinois. Years
afterward Governor Reeder sent to Mrs.
Coates an oil painting representing himself
in the disguise of a woodchopper, as he ap-
37
peared at that critical time. When the imme-
diate emergency had passed, Colonel Coates
located in Kansas City, where he passed the
remainder of his life, continually exerting his
effort for its development and improvement.
From the beginning he was tlie acknowledged
leader in all important enterprises. There
were a splendid few. such men as R. T. Van
Horn, E. M. McGee, M. J. Payne and others,
who were as sanguine of the future of their
city, and as energetic in their effort, but
Colonel Coates stood alone in his remarkable
prescience of conditions and possibilities, and
in a reserve resourcefulness which achieved
success in face of apparent failure. At the
close of the Civil War the population of
Kansas City was less than 5,000, and the
nearest railway was thirty miles distant.
Leavenworth, Kansas, claiming a population
of 15,000, was generally regarded as the com-
ing Western metropolis. It was under these
conditions that Colonel Coates and his col-
leagues made their . greatest effort and
achieved their greatest successes. The build-
ing of the Cameron branch of the Hannibal
& St. Joseph Railway was begun; a charter
for a bridge over the Missouri River at Kan-
sas City was procured ; the Missouri River,
Fort Scott & Gulf Railway was incorporated
and endowed with State lands in Kansas ; and
railway right of way was secured by treaty
through the Indian Territory. In all these
great enterprises Colonel Coates was one of
the ablest leaders ; in awakening the interest
of Eastern capitalists, and in securing means
for railway and bridge-building, his efforts
\vere the most incessant, and his influence was
the most commanding. He was a familiar
figure in the moneyed circles of Philadelphia,
New York and Boston, in legislative as-
semblages at Jefferson City and Topeka. and
in Washington City during congressional
sessions. His purpose was ever the same, the
advancement of the interests of Kansas City,
and he never failed to command attention,
and ultimately to effect his purpose. Mean-
time, he busied himself as earnestly in insti-
tuting and advancing purely local enterprises
as though he bore no weightier burden. He
aided in the establishment of newspapers,
banking houses, and innumerable commer-
cial and industrial concerns. From the first
his faith in the city had been implicit. At
the close of the war period the Philadelphia
investors whom he represented were dis-
couraged, regarding as a poor investment a
tract of no acres of land bounded by the
Missouri River, Main Street, Broadway and
Santa Fe Street, which he had purchased for
them at an outlay of $6,600. At their solici-
tation, he purchased it from them, and this
tract ultimately became the foundation of his
fortune. The payment of a security debt
at one time forced him into a mercantile
business, from which he soon retired, but
which developed into the present mammoth
house of Emery, Bird, Thayer & Co. The
most conspicuous buildings of his erection
were the Coates House, one of the most ele-
gant hotels in the country, and the Coates
Opera House. He assisted in organizing the
Kansas City Industrial Exposition & Agri-
cultural Fair Association in 1870, and the
Inter-State Fair Association in 1882; he was
for many years president of the latter organ-
ization. He was also president of the Mis-
souri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railway Com-
pany at its organization, and for some years
afterward. He was an original Republican,
and in i860 was president of the only Re-
publican Club in western Missouri, and one
of less than eighty Kansas City voters who
voted for Lincoln. During a part of the war
period he was colonel of the Seventy-seventh
Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia, which
rendered efficient service, particularly during
the Price raid in 1864. In his religious views
he leaned to L'^nitarianism. His wife, SARAH
W. CHANDLER, was born March 10, 1829,
at Kennett Square, Chester County, Penn-
sylvania, She was descended from the
Chandlers of Wiltshire, England, a Quaker
family which established its American branch
in 1687, on the River Brandywine, twenty-
seven miles from Philadelphia. Her parents
were John and Maria Jane (Walter) Chand-
ler. The father was a farmer, a man of great
force of character, who, for three consecu-
tive terms, occupied a seat in the Pennsyl-
vania Legislature, The mother was also of
English descent, a member of an influential
■family. The parents removed to a farm near
Kennett Square when their daughter Sarah
was an infant. There she was reared, and the
influences by which she was surrounded were
traceable in the years of her mature woman-
hood. It was the place of birth of Bayard
Taylor, and the home of his first wife, Mary
Agnew. Both became intimate personal
friends of Sarah Chandler, who, after com-
pleting her education at the Simmons Sem-
inary in Philadelphia, became first an assist-
ant and then a principal in the Martin
Seminary. Here, in her young womanhood,
she met many of the literary celebrities of
the day, from whom she derived inclination
to investigate social, economic and political
questions, eventually abandoning orthodox
Quaker reserve and allying herself with a
more progressive and- active element. Here,
too, she first met him who became her hus-
band, whose admiration she won in her
delivery of an address upon the "Social Ad-
vancement of Woman" before a Young
Ladies' Lyceum. From the first, she gave
evidence of high talent. At the age of ten
years she had mastered arithmetic, and un-
dertaken the higher branches. She never
regarded her education as completed, and
through her lifelong habit of study she con-
stantly added to her store of knowledge.
She was an accomplished botanist and lin-
guist. After her marriage to Mr. -Coates,
in 1855, she accompanied him to Kan-
sas City. In their journey up the Missouri
River she witnessed scenes of violence which
were a severe shock to one of her delicate
sensibilities. In the troublous times which
followed she sympathized with her husband,
and encouraged him in his every undertak-
ing, sharing the labors in which he engaged
and the dangers to which he was exposed.
Previous to and during the Civil War her
home was at once a refuge for the pursued
and terror-stricken, and a hospital for the
sick and wounded. When peace was restored
she became equally interested and equally
active in promoting the material progress of
the community, and in the leadership of
various movements having for their object
the awakening of inquiry, the dissemination
of knowledge, and the advancement of edu-
cation, art and science. A history class, of
which she was president, was a most success-
ful organization of its kind, and left a broad
and enduring influence. She was an earnest
friend of the Art Association, to which she
afiforded great encouragement and liberal
pecuniary assistance. It was in the fields of
social and domestic life, however, that her
efforts were mainly exerted, and her influence
was most strongly felt. A woman of re-
markably sympathetic disposition, she sought
amelioration of the condition of the suffering
and oppressed, particularly of her own sex,
and her zeal at times led her to advocate
measures so greatly in advance of the day,
and so foreign to prevailing sentiment, that
few followed her, and a lesser number
aided her, until accomplished results
vindicated her course. She was an inde-
fatigable worker in the Woman's Christian
Association — of which she was one of the
founders — having for its purpose the aid of
the homeless and struggling, and in the
Woman's Exchange, which afiforded oppor-
tunity for remunerative labor to necessitous
women who were unable to engage in em-
ployment away from their homes. The
Mothers' Club claimed a large share of her
attention, and in that body her counsels were
regarded as of unusual worth. Her interest
in the Social Science and Equal Suffrage
Societies was earnest and continuous, and led
her to investigation resulting in the discov-
ery of peculiarly distressing conditions. As
a result, she visited the State Board of Char-
ities to enter a protest against neglect and
ill treatment of women committed to public
institutions, and it was largely through her
effort that relief was afforded to insane
women sent to county poorhouses on ac-
count of the overcrowding of the State
Insane Asylums, and that a police matron
was placed in charge of women committed to
prison. Her last appearance in a public
capacity was in January, 1897, in Kansas City,
as honorary chairman of the reception com-
mittee, on the occasion of the annual meet-
ing of the Missouri Federation of Women's
Clubs. She extended bountiful pecuniary aid
to all societies with which she was connected,
and her private charities were many and lib-
eral. In religion she was a Unitarian. Her
death occurred July 25, 1897. The record of
her remarkably useful life is preserved in an
interesting volume, "In Memoriam Sarah
Walter Chandler Coates," printed by her
children for private distribution, and edited
by her daughter, Mrs. Homer Reed.
F. Y. Hedley.
Cobb, John Columbus, banker, was
born in Sniabar Township, Lafayette County,
Missouri, March 18, 1843, son of Albert T.
and Louisa (Hoskins) Cobb, and is one of
the oldest living natives of the county. His
father was born in North Carolina, was reared
in Tennessee, and came to Missouri in 1838,
becoming one of the first inhabitants of
Sniabar Township, where he spent the re-
mainder of his Hfe. His wife was a native
of Tennessee. They raised a family of nine
sons and one daughter, all of whom are still
living. J. C. Cobb attended the common
schools of his native place, but his studies
were interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil
War. In 1864 he entered the Forty-fourth
Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment and
fougjit for the preservation of the Union until
the close of the war. Soon after peace was
declared he engaged in freighting on the
plains, devoting two years to this exciting
life, of which he had had a taste in 186 1. In
1868 he began cultivating the farm at Chapel
Hill, Lafayette County, owned by A. W. Rid-
ings, who had been his employer on the
plains. This fine property he purchased in
1869, and has added to it from time to time
until the estate now includes 430 acres. It
is the seat of the old Chapel Hill College, at
one time one of the noted institutions of
learning in Missouri, where many of the
famous men of the State were educated. In
1879, upon the founding of the town of
Odessa, Mr. Cobb established a grain busi-
ness there. The next year he removed with
his family to the town and established the
Bank of Odessa, of which he has since been
president. The original capital stock was
$10,000, but this has been increased to $50,-
000. Mr. Cobb continues to raise stock on
his farm, which is one of the best improved
and most highly cultivated in Lafayette
County. Though he has always been a Dem-
ocrat, he has never cared for public office.
He is deeply interested in the cause of edu-
cation, and has been trustee of Missouri
Valley College at Marshall ever since its
establishment. In the Cumberland Presby-
terian Church he is an active and influential
factor, and for some time he has served as
treasurer of the church at large, home and
foreign. He is also a member of the board
of trustees of the Lexington Presbytery. Mr.
Cobb was married April 12, 1868, to Lou A.
Hobson, a native of Jackson County, Mis-
souri, and a daughter of Lemuel Hobson,
one of the early settlers of that county, who
erected the first brick house in Independence.-
They have been the parents of two sons and
one daughter. The only living child is the
daughter, Dora Lou, now the wife of Gordon
Jones, president of the St. Joseph Stock
Yards Bank.
Cobb, Seth Wallace, Congressman,
son of Benjamin and Margaret (Wallace)
Cobb, was born in Southampton County,
Virginia, December 5, 1838. He lived on a
farm until he was seventeen years of age,
receiving in the meantime what education he
could get at intervals in the public schools,
and then took up the business of saddle and
harness-making, which he followed for four
years. During this period he also served as
deputy postmaster at Jerusalem, the county
seat, pursuing his studies at night and vary-
ing these occupations by sending local news
items to the Petersburg "Express," which re-
sulted in his becoming a correspondent of
that paper, continued after the war, under the
pen name of "Black Eagle," by which title he
is still known among his friends in Virginia.
Mr. Cobb entered the Confederate Army as
orderly sergeant with one of the first com-
panies raised under the call of Governor
Letcher for volunteers. His family had been
strong Whigs and opposed to secession, but
when his native State seceded he was prompt
to enlist. He served in the artillery of the
Army of Northern Virginia during the entire
war, reaching the rank of major by brevet
toward its close. When General Lee sur-
rendered, Major Cobb returned to his home
with the view of resuming life on the farm,
but after only, a short experience he went to
Petersburg, where he was employed as a
clerk, first in a grocery and commission
house, and then in a clothing store. An op-
portunity was offered him by friends to be-
come associated in the editorship of the
"Inde.x," the successor of the "Express,"
which had been suppressed by the military
authorities, and Major Cobb embraced it,
serving on that paper with William E. Cam-
eron, afterward Governor of Virginia. In
December, 1867, he came to St. Louis, with-
out money and among strangers, and demon-
strated by his subsequent career that merit
and perseverance can wrest success from the
most unpromising surroundings. By the aid
of Colonel Thomas Richeson, then of the
Collier White Lead Company, he obtained a
situation with the late Ira Stanbury, which
he held for a short time and then went with
the grain commission firm of James G. Greer
& Co., afterward with E. E. Ebert & Co.,
working through all the lower grades of
clerkship. In 1875. with a few hundred dol-
lars, alone and unaided, he started the firm
40
COCHRAN— COCKERILL.
of Seth W. Cobb & Co. This house at this
date — 1899 — stands as high as any in St.
Louis, and is equaled by few in the volume of
its business. Few enterprises for the ad-
vancement of that city's interests have been
inaugurated during a period of almost a quar-
ter of a century, in which Mr. Cobb has not
been a factor. During his presidency of the
Merchants' Exchange the Merchants' Bridge
was projected, and he was the president of the
company that built it until 1889, when he was
first elected to Congress. Though not a
seeker for office, his abilities and popularity
early indicated to his fellow citizens his avail-
ability for the public service, and he was
easily elected. He represented the Twelfth
Missouri District as a Democrat in the Fifty-
second, Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Con-
gresses, refusing a renomination which was
offered him for the Fifty-fifth.
Cochran, Charles Fremont, editor
and member of Congress, was born at Kirks-
ville, Adair County, Missouri, September 27,
1848. His parents were Dr. W. A. and
Laetitia Cochran. The father located at Lan-
caster, Schuyler County, Missouri, in 1852,
and was one of the substantial residents and
prominent professional men of northeast
Missouri. The mother was the daughter of
a South Carolina farmer. Charles received
a solid education in the common schools of
the localities where his parents resided dur-
ing his boyhood, and from his youthful days
down to the years of maturity has shown a
preference for political economy, biography
and history, choosing these branches above
all others. He has in his library the works
of most of the great authors on these sub-
jects and the studied pages are thumb-
marked by frequent handling and are still his
favorites. The family removed to Weston,
Platte County, Missouri, in 1857, and re-
mained there until 1859, when there was a
removal to Atchison, Kansas. At the age
of sixteen Charles was left to make his own
way in the world, on account of the death of
his father, and was henceforth to fight life's
battles alone. He learned the printer's
trade and followed it faithfully for seven
years. He set type during the long days and
studied the books of legal authorities at
night, without the advantage of the precep-
tor or the opportunities of the class room.
Notwithstanding the unfavorable circum-
stances under which he struggled he mas-
tered the study sufficiently to secure speedy
admission to the bar, and within a few years
was recognized as one of the leading mem-
bers of the profession in the State of Kansas.
His health failing, on account of injuries re-
ceived accidentally, Mr. Cochran was com-
pelled to retire from the legal profession. He
removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, and became
the editor and publisher of the St. Joseph
"Gazette," a newspaper that has long battled
for the political principles to which it stead-
fastly holds, and which is counted among the
oldest, most reliable and most influential pub-
lications of the State. Mr. Cochran contin-
ued in the editorial chair until he was elected
to Congress. He has enjoyed a political ex-
perience that is brilliant on account of its
steady and rapid advancement. He was
county attorney of Atchison County, Kansas,
for four years, being twice elected to that
office. In 1890 he was elected State Senator
from Buchanan County, Missouri. In 1896
he was elected to Congress from the Fourth
District of Missouri. In 1898, and again in
1900, he was renominated and re-elected. As
a legislator Mr. Cochran is known as a tire-
less and conscientious worker, a man who
pays close attention to the welfare of his dis-
trict and of his constituents, and who is nota-
bly brilliant in debate and while on the plat-
form expounding the principles in which he
has abiding faith. He is generally recognized
as a forceful writer, a logical reasoner and
a consistent advocate of that which he holds
to be right. Mr. Cochran was married April
27, 1874, to Miss Louise M. Webb, of Leav-
enworth, Kansas. To this union one child
has come, Charles Webb Cochran, a promis-
ing young man of the age of twenty-four.
Cockerill, John A., was born in Ad-
ams County, Ohio, in 1846, and died at Cairo,
Egypt, April 10, 1896. His father, J. R.
Cockerill, was a member of Congress and
colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment Ohio
Volunteers in the Civil War. John A. Cock-
erill served in the Union Army, also, enlisting
at the age of fifteen years as a drummer in the
Twenty-fourth Ohio Regiment, and serving
under Rosecrans and Buell. After the war
he was associated with C. L.\'allandigham, of
Ohio, in the "Dayton Ledger," and in 1870
became connected with the "Cincinnati En-
quirer," beginning as a reporter, and rising
'^J
COCKRELL— COFFIN.
41
rapidly to the position of managing editor.
In 1876 he went to southeastern Europe and
served the "Enquirer" as correspondent on
the field in the Russo-Turkish War. On his
return, he became connected with the "Wash-
ington Post," and the "Baltimore Gazette,"
and in 1879 came to bt. Louis and took a
position on the "Post-Dispatch." In 1882 the
"P^ost-Dispatch" becarne involved in an acri-
monious personal quarrel with Colonel A. W.
Slayback, a prominent lawyer and public man
of St. Louis, which resulted in Slayback, in
company with a friend, going to the editorial
room of the "Post-Dispatch," and in the en-
counter that followed being shot and killed on
the spot by Cockerill. The tragedy provoked
intense feeling, for both the combatants were
prominent and influential, each with a back-
ing of prominent and influential friends — it
being asserted on the Slayback side that
Cockerill had goaded his antagonist beyond
endurance and then wantonly slain him — and,
on the Cockerill side, that Slayback had come
to the office armed, with a mortal purpose,
and Cockerill had only killed him in self-
defense. Cockerill stood an examination
and was discharged. He afterward went to
New York and became editor of the "World,"
and was subsequently connected with the
"Commercial Advertiser." During the Japan-
China War he went to the scene as war cor-
respondent for the New York "Herald," and
on the w-ay home, after the war, died at Cairo,
Egypt. He was a brilliant writer, equally at
home in the editorial ofiice, in the field or at
Washington as correspondent. He was high-
spirited and warm-hearted, and was affection-
ately esteemed by his friends.
of Franklin, besides many other smaller en-
gagements. "Cockrell's Brigade," com-
posed entirely of Alissourians, was recog-
nized as one of the best disciplined, best
fighting and most efficient bodies of soldiers
in the Confederate Army. When the war
was over he came back to Missouri and set-
tled down to the practice of his profession.
In 1875 he was chosen to the United States
Senate as successor to Carl Schurz. It was
the first civil office he had ever held, and he
was the second native-born Missourian,
Lewis V. Bogy being the first, chosen to
that august position. Senator Cockrell's
record at Washington has been in the high-
est degree honorable and acceptable to the
people of Missouri, an evidence of which is
that, without encountering a competitor for
the honor in his own party (the Democratic),
he has been re-elected four times. Fidelity
to duty, loyalty to his country, the highest
sense of honor and a watchful regard for the
interests of his State, mark his senatorial
career, and there is no one of his compeers
who commands a larger measure of personal
influence and a higher respect from his polit-
ical opponents than Senator Cockrell, of Mis-
souri.
Coffeysburgj. — A village on Grand
River, in Daviess County, sixteen miles north
of Gallatin, the county seat, on the Omaha,
Kansas City & Eastern Railroad. It has
Baptist, Christian and Methodist Episcopal
Churches, a bank, two hotels, a weekly
paper, the "Sun," and about twenty-five
miscellaneous stores and shops. Population,
1899 (estimated), 400.
Cockrell, Francis Marion, lawyer,
soldier and United States Senator from Mis-
souri, was born in Johnson County,
Missouri, October i, 1834, and raised to
farm work, receiving the best part of his
education at Chapel Hill College, in Lafay-
ette County, Missouri, where he graduated
in 1853. He studied law and began the
practice at Warrensburg. When the Civil
War came on he espoused the Southern
cause and entered the Confederate Army,
serving with distinguished gallantry to the
end of the strife. He rose rapidly to colonel
and brigadier general, taking part in the
battles of Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge, the
siege of Vicksburg and the bloody battle
Coffin, George Oliver, physician, was
born August 4, 1858, at Danielsville, North-
ampton County, Pennsylvania. His parents
were Samuel T. and Lavina (Seigenfuss)
Coffin. The father was directly descended
from Tristram Coffin, the founder of Nan-
tucket, and originator of whaling industries
in Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachu-
setts. The mother was great-granddaughter
of John Boyer, whose parents were among
the earliest settlers of Pennsylvania, living
in the Wyoming Valley. At the time of the
famous massacre the Boyer mother and three
children found protection in the fort. The
father was killed and scalped by the Indians,
who took two of his children to Canada. The
42
COLE.
daughter remained in that country. When
John, the son, was of age he walked back
to Pennsylvania, where he married and
founded a family. George Oliver Coffin, fifth
in descent from him, was educated in the
common schools of his native town and at
Williamsburg Academy. When nineteen
years of age he entered the Penn Medical
College at Philadelphia, from which he was
graduated in March. 1879. He engaged in
practice at Frankfort, Kansas, where he re-
mained for five years. In 1884 he removed
to El Paso, Te.xas, where he passed the
winter, and then entered the Marine Hos-
pital service as contract surgeon and quar-
antine officer. He was in Mexico during
the winter of 1885-6, and in the spring of
the latter year removed to Silver ClifT, Col-
orado, where he remained in practice for
about eighteen months. In the fall of 1887
he located in Kansas City, where he is now
usefully and successfully engaged. Soon after
arrival he took a course of study in the Kan-
sas Citv Medical College, and in 1891 a second
course, receiving the degree of doctor of
medicine for the second time. In May, 1894.
Mayor Webster Davis appointed him house
surgeon of the City Hospital, which position
he held until his appointment as city physi-
cian. May I, 1895. Upon the expiration of
the latter term he was reappointed in 1897.
and was again reappointed in 1899, for a
term expiring April 20, 1901. During his
occupancy of this position he has received
high commendation for marked improvement
in the hospital service. In the first year of
his administration he secured from the city
council an appropriation of $25,000, with
which he constructed the second of the brick
buildings, the first at all adequate for hos-
pital purposes. This was two stories, with
full basement, and contained the offices, in-
sane ward, female wards, male surgical de-
partment, and female sick and surgical
department, all provided with modern equip-
ments. In 1897 he secured a further appro-
priation of $7,000, and remodeled the original
brick building, constructing a modern operat-
ing room, provided with necessary accesso-
ries, an amphitheater accommodating two
hundred students, and sanitary bath rooms,
making the building and furnishings as com-
plete as any new hospital. In 1899 he pro-
cured $3,500, with which he erected a ward
for tuberculosis and infectious cases, practi-
cally establishing the first isolation for tuber-
culous cases, with accommodations for
forty-four patients. In 1897 he was elected
professor of surgery of the Medico-Chirur-
gical College, which position he continues to
hold, as well as that of dean of the faculty,
to which he was elected the year following,
and re-elected in 1899 and 1900. He is also
professor of clinical surgery in the Woman's
Medical College, of Kansas City. He is a
member of the medical staff of the Kansas
City, Fort Scott & Alemphis Railway Hos-
pital, consulting surgeon to the Kansas City
Southern Railway and the Metropolitan
Street Railway, surgeon on the staff of the
German Hospital, consulting surgeon to the
Douglas Hospital, at Kansas City, Kansas,
and medical director for the Kansas City
Life Insurance Company. He is a member
of the Kansas City Academy of iNledicine,
the Jackson County [Medical Society, the Mis-
souri State Medical Society, and the Ameri-
can Medical Association. From 1876 to 1879
Dr. Coffin served as a private in Company K,
of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, Na-
tional Guard. His political affiliations have
always been with the Republican party, but
his conduct has been marked by independ-
ence and freedom from political aspirations.
He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Xoble
of the Mystic Shrine, a past chancellor in the
order of Knights of Pythias and a member
of the order of Elks. ' In 1883, Dr. Coffin
married Miss Alinnie A. Deane, daughter of
Colonel G. A. A. Deane, of Frankfort, Kan-
sas, present land commissioner of the Mis-
souri Pacific Railway. Their children are
Deane Oliver and Eertha M. Coffin. Edward
Carl Coffin is a son of Dr. Coffin by a former
marriage, his first wife having been jMiss
Lucy Brady, of Frankfort, Kansas.
Cole, Amadee, a leading representative
of the younger generation of business men in
St. Louis, was born in that city, September
21, 1855, son of Honorable Nathan and Re-
becca (Fagin) Cole. He was educated in the
public schools of that city, at Washington
LTniversity, and at Shurtleff College, of Upper
Alton, Illinois. Soon after leaving college he
became interested with his father in the com-
mission business, and is now rounding out
a quarter of a century of successful operations
in that field of enterprise. As the elder Cole
sought to withdraw from the business to
COIvE.
43
which he had devoted so many years of his
life, he shifted its burdens and responsibil-
ities to the shoulders of the son, who has
not only maintained the high reputation
which the house had previously established
for integrity and correct business methods,
but has added to its prestige and promi-
nence. When the business was incorporated
he became vice president of the corporation,
and for a decade or more he has had entire
charge of the conduct and management of
its afifairs, transacting annually a large vol-
ume of business, having numerous ramifica-
tions and extending over a wide area of
territory. No higher compliment can be paid
to him than to say in this connection that
he has proven himself a worthy successor
to one who has always enjoyed to the fullest
extent the confidence of the people of St.
Louis, and whom it has been their pleasure
to honor in numerous ways. For many years
Mr. Cole has been a member of the Mer-
chants' Exchange, has served as vice presi-
dent of that organization, has been solicited
to accept the highest office in its gift, and
has enjoyed at all times the unqualified es-
teem of those with whom he is brought into
contact in the afifairs of everyday life. A
member of all the Masonic bodies of the city,
he has attained high rank in tnat order,
and is one of a comparatively small num-
ber of thirty-second degree Masons in Alis-
souri.
Cole, Nathan, merchant, ex-mayor and
ex-Congressman, was born in St. Louis, Julv
26, 1825. His father, Nathan Cole, had emi-
grated from Ovid, Seneca County, New York,
to St. Louis in 1812. Li 1837 he removed his
family to Chester, Illinois, and made a deter-
mined but fruitless stand against the finan-
cial ruin of that year. He died in 1840,
leaving nothing to his children but the in-
heritance of an honorable name and a repu-
tation for great energy of character and
unsullied integrity.
In such a school of discipline young Cole
grew up, and while the teaching was bitter,
it no doubt contributed to strengthen his
character to a degree attainable in no other
way. In 1845 h^ went to St. Louis and
began the search for employment. He had
neither money nor friends, and no acquaint-
ances even. For some time he canvassed
the city in actual privation, but eventually
a position was offered him at ten dollars a
month, and he gladly accepted it. His salary
was rapidly advanced, and so efficient and
valuable had he become to his employers that
in a comparatively brief period he was earn-
ing fifteen hundred dollars a year, no small
compensation in those days for the salary of
an employe.
In July, 1851, Mr. Cole was admitted as
a junior partner in the house of W. L. Ewing
& Co., wholesale grocers, and during the
fourteen years of this connection he contrib-
uted his full share toward giving the house
its reputation as one of high character and
remarkable success. On January i, 1865,
this partnership was dissolved, when, in con-
junction with his brother, the house of "Cole
Brothers, commission merchants," was es-
tablished. From that day to this the firm
and succeeding corporation has enjoyed a
continuous success, amid all the vicissitudes
of the war and the panic that followed it, and
to-day it stands among the first in St. Louis
in credit and reputation for fair and honor-
able dealing, and for the faithful discharge
of all trusts confided to its care by its nu-
merous patrons.
In 1869 Mr. Cole's fellow citizens pressed
him into public service and (much against
his personal inclination) elected him mayor
of the city to deal with certain- evils that
had been inflicted upon the people by "rings"
in the municipal government.
In 1876 he was summoned to a more im-
portant service, to represent his district in
the Forty-fifth Congress, and in this case
also against his will. He discharged the du-
ties of the office, however, to the general
satisfaction of his constituents. He went to
Washington as a business man, and devoted
himself specially to the commercial interests
of St. Louis and the Mississippi Valley. He
was an ardent advocate of closer business
relations with Mexico and South America,
and delivered a speech on our commercial
relations with Mexico which was highly
praised, and in Mexico was hailed as the
commencement of a new era. It was
widely reprinted in the Spanish language, and
Mr. Cole had the pleasure of receiving copies
of it elegantly printed and bound.
Mr. Cole has also held many minor offices
and positions in the public service, always,
however, unsought on his part. Among the
institutions with which he has been promi-
COLE CAMP— COLE COUNTY.
nently connected are the St. Louis National
Bank and National Bank of Commerce.
Cole Camp. — A village, in Benton
County, on the Sedalia, Warsaw & South-
western Railway, twenty miles northeast of
Warsaw, the county seat. It has a public
school, Baptist, Methodist, South, and Cath-
olic Churches, the latter with a parochial
school ; a Republican newspaper, the "Cour-
ier" ; a bank, a flouring mill and a cream-
ery. In 1900 the population was 700. The
first settler was Hosea Powers, in 1839; he
was an educated man, a lawyer, and a practi-
cal surveyor, who established the lines for
his own claim. In 1846 V. G. Kemper set
up a store, and others followed. A post office
was established by removal from a location
on Cole Camp Creek, and from this the new
settlement took its name. It is believed that
the name originated from the fact that some
of the Cole family, from Cooper County, had
camped in the vicinity while on a hunt.
Cole Camp was the scene of one of the
most bloody conflicts of Civil War days, in
which the loss of life, for the numbers en-
gaged, exceeded that of many greater
engagements. Early in 1861 Captain A. H.
W. Cook organized here a force of some 300
loyal Home Guards. This command was
occupying the barns of Harman Harnes and
Henry Heisterburg, two miles east, on the
night of June i8th. At nearly daybreak next
morning they were attacked by two compa-
nies of Confederates organized at Warsaw,
led by Captains O'Kane and Hale, who, on
their way, had captured one Tyree, whom
they charged with being a spy, and killed.
As they approached the first barn the doors
opened and they met a heavy fire, which
killed six of their number, but the Home
Guards failed to follow up the advantage.
The Confederates then turned to meet the
Guards issuing from the second barn, who
broke under their fire, and in their retreat
were met by a party of Confederate horse-
men, who hastened their retreat with further
loss. Of the Home Guards nineteen were
killed and twenty-two wounded; the attack-
ing party lost six killed and numerous
wounded. This affair broke up the Home
Guard organization for the time, but most
of them soon found service in other com-
mands.
Cole County. — A county in central
Missouri, of irregular shape, bounded on the
northeast by the Missouri River, on the east
by the Osage River, which joins the Missouri
at the eastern extremity of the county ; on the
south and southwest by Miller County, and
on the west by Moniteau County. It is
drained by Moniteau and Moreau Creeks,
and numerous other small streams. It com-
prises 234,466 acres, of which 70,000 acres
are under cultivation. Considerable portions
are untillable, but afiford excellent grazing.
The upland soil is rich and warm, producing
grain and small fruits of superior quality,
while the low lands yield a rank growth of
nearly all products known to the latitude.
The crops are wheat, corn, oats, barley and
hay, with tobacco of peculiar excellence.
Peaches and apples are abundant, and per-
fect in quality. Hogs and cattle are large
and profitable products. The broken lands
are rich in lead, iron and bituminous coal,
with some deposits of cannel coal. The
native woods are oak, hickory, walnut, elm,
ash, sugar maple and cottonwood. In early
days there were many relics of the Mound-
builders, which have all but disappeared. The
most numerous and perfect mounds were at
the junction of the Missouri and Osage Riv-
ers and on Moreau Creek, some containing
stone sepulchers enclosing human skeletons,
with war and hunting implements. The late
EHas Elston, of the village named for him,
made a collection of these relics, which in-
cluded specimens before unknown, now in
possession of the Missouri Historical Society,
in St. Louis. Cole County was originally
contained in the tract occupied by the Osage
Indians, and was in the St. Louis district of
Louisiana Territory. It became a part of
Howard County upon its organization, in
1816, and of the new county of Cooper in
1818. In 1820 it was organized as a county,
and named for Captain Stephen Cole, a pio-
neer, who built Cole's Fort, where Boon-
ville now stands. The first whites came from
Tennessee, in 1815-16. settling at the mouth
of Moniteau Creek. John Inglish located
west of that point, and Henry McKenney op-
posite, with James Miller, James Fulkerson,
John Mulkey, David Chambers, Joshua
Chambers, John Harman, David Young,
William Gooch and Martin Gooch near by.
Harman brought one son, and all the others
COLEMAN.
45
from two to five sons each. In 1819 came
James Hunter, the first militia colonel ; John
Hensley, the first Senator, with others, who
located on the Missouri River, nine miles
from the site of Jefiferson City. In 1820
the lands of the county were opened for
entry, and a large immigration began. In
1821 John Vivion and James Stark were ap-
pointed judges, and opened the first county
court April 2d, at the house of John Inglish.
In 1822 the first elected judges, John Inglish,
Reuben Smith and James Stark, took their
seats. Marion was designated as the seat
of justice, and order was made for the erec-
tion of a courthouse and jail ; the cost of
the former was $748, and of the latter was
$690. The north half of Marion Township
was detached, being designated as Marion
Township, and in 1823 Jefferson Township
was created. February 3, 1829, the county
court held its last session at Marion, the
building selling for $450, and March 30th
convened at the house of John C. Gordon,
in Jefferson City, pursuant to a removal act
of January 21st, and appropriated $900 for
a jail. In 1831 the court occupied the State
House, and in 1832 rented a building from
R. W. Wells. In 1838 the new courthouse
was occupied, built at a cost of $4,000, part
of the realty being donated by the State.
Judge David Todd held the first circuit court
at the house of John Inglish, with Paul Whit-
ley as sheriff, January 15, 1821. In 1824
Reuben Hall was indicted for murder, and
sentenced to death, but the execution was
deferred, and he was afterward pardoned.
Judge Todd held the first term of court in
Jefferson City, at the home of John C. Gor-
don, February 20, 1829. In 1835 the first
divorce case in the county was tried, that
of Alary Hodges against Peter B. Hodges.
Louis White and David Duaine, Canadians,
were the first foreigners naturalized. In 1839
Henry Lane was tried for murder, found
guilty, and his execution, October 14th, was
the first in the county. The old courthouse
was replaced in 1897 by the present hand-
some edifice of Carthage stone, erected at
a cost of $49,700, and furnished at a cost of
$10,000. The indebtedness of the county is
$60,000 for building the courthouse, and
$30,000 on railroad bond account. The first
church building was of logs, erected by the
Baptists, in 1837, on the James Dunnica farm,
ten miles west of Jefferson City. Rev. John
B. Longdon was the first minister, and James
Fulkerson and Martin Noland deacons. The
same year a Catholic Church was formed by
Father Helias. Rev. James AlcCorkle was
the first Cumberland Presbyterian minister,
and the elders were James Mead and Sam-
uel Crow. The Methodists organized a
church in 1838. The first school was opened
by Lashley L. Woods, in the courthouse at
JNIarion, March 10, 1827. In addition to the
children of James Miller, Jason Harrison
and others, he had for pupils about twenty
grown men and women. Another pioneer
teacher was Jefferson Thomas, who died in
1832, and was the first person buried in the
Jefferson City Cemetery. Jefferson School
District was instituted in 1835, with Daniel
Colgan, John Walker and Samuel L. Hart
as trustees. In 1898 there were in the county
55 public schools, 76 teachers, and 6,241 pu-
pils ; the permanent school fund was $16,-
636.56. Railroads entering the county are
the main line and the Lebanon branch of the
Missouri Pacific. In 1898 the principal sur-
plus products were as follows: Wheat, 158,-
883 bushels; flour, 7,746,180 pounds; corn-
meal, 87,000 pounds; shipstuff, 1,428,600
pounds ; clover seed, 97,993 pounds ; hay,
98.500 pounds ; wool, 7,850 pounds ; neat cat-
tle, 2,458 head; hogs, 20,950 head; logs, 36,000
feet ; cross ties, 76,953 feet ; lumber 246,900
feet. In 1900 the population was 20,578.
Coleman, Henry B., physician, was
born July 27, 1853, at Columbus, Missouri.
His parents were Thomas and Leah Cather-
ine (Tackett) Coleman. The father, born in
Henrico County, Virginia, son of a practicing
physician, was educated at Yale College,
studied medicine in Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania, and removed to Columbus, Mis-
souri, in 1846, where he practiced medicine
until 1854, when he came to his death by
drowning near his home. The mother, born
in Monroe County, Virginia (now West Vir-
ginia), was educated at Abingdon, in that
State, and came to Missouri with her parents
in 1844, the family making their home in
Cass County. Her grandfather came to
America from France at the same time with
Lafayette, to aid in the cause of independ-
ence. Her grandmother, Mary Anderson, was
a relative of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton,
one of the signers of the Declaration of In-
dependence. She died in 1861. The son,
COLLEGE MOUND— COLLEGIATE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION.
Henry B., orphaned at the age of eight years,
was cared for by an uncle until he was twelve
years of age, when he went South with his
older brothers to make his home with an
aunt at Tulip, Arkansas. After two years'
residence there his uncle and aunt, John AL
Rice and wife, removed to Missouri, making
their home near Columbus, and he accom-
panied them, remaining with them until he
began to work for himself. His only edu-
cation was such as he received in the ordi-
nary ungraded schools where he made his
home during his boyhood days. In 1875 he
entered the Missouri ^Medical College, St.
Louis, from which he was graduated in 1878,
and in 1893 he took a postgraduate course
in Chicago. In 1878 he began the practice
of medicine at Columbus, and was occupied
in a large and remunerative field for many
years. In 1893 he removed to Kansas City,
Missouri, where he is now engaged in a prac-
tice which has been for many years widely
useful, and in which he has risen to promi-
nence. In 1888 he was elected to the IMis-
souri House of Representatives from the
Western District of Johnson County, and
served one term, commanding the unquali-
fied respect of the members of that body
for his careful and diligent attention to the
duties devolved upon him. In politics he is
a Democrat, earnest in support of the prin-
ciples of his party, without undue self-
assertion. While a boy at Tulip, Arkansas,
he became a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, and has since main-
tained his connection with that denomina-
tion, being now a member of the Olive
Street Church, in Kansas City. In 1882 he
became a member of iMitchell Lodge, A. F.
and A. M., at Columbus, Missouri, over which
he presided at one time as worshipful mas-
ter ; he now holds membership with Temple
Lodge, No. 299. of Kansas City.
College Mound. — An incorporated vil-
lage, twelve miles southwest of Macon, in
Macon County. It was laid out October 10,
1854, McGee College, a private institute, con-
ducted under the auspices of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, having been started
there the year before. The school was discon-
tinued some years ago. The town is seven
miles from Excello, a station on the Wabash
Railroad. It has two general and two drug
stores. Population, 1899 (estimated), 300.
College of Physicians and Sur-
geons, St. Louis. — This institution was
organized in 1869, by Professor Louis Bauer,
then but recently from Brooklyn, New York.
The faculty was composed of the following
phvsicians: Louis Bauer. M. D., M. O. C. S.;
Montrose A. Pallen, Augustus F. Barnes, T.
F. Prewitt, J. K. Bauduy, John Green, G.
Baumgarten, I. G. W. Steedman, W. B. Out-
ten, A. J. Steele, F. H. McArdle, J. M. Leete,
J. M. Scott, Charles E. Briggs, William L.
Barret, James F. Johnson, William T. Mason,
A. G. Jackes.
The second year Dr. Barret withdrew from
the faculty, and Dr. Le Grand Atwood was
added thereto. In the course of the second
vear dissensions sprang up between members
of the faculty, and the school was aban-
doned at the close of the year. The building
in which the two years' lectures were deliv-
ered stands on Locust Street, between Tenth
and Eleventh Streets.
As the name of this college indicates, one
of its principal features was the introduction
of a "Practitioner's Course," which, at this
time, had begun to attract considerable at-
tention in medical circles, and this college
is credited with having been the first to inau-
gurate a special course of lectures for physi-
cians and advanced students of medicine.
Collegiate Alumnae Association,
St. LiOuis Bi'anch of. — In 1893 there
met in St. Louis all graduates from the
State of the colleges then admitted to the
Collegiate Alumnae Association, for the pur-
pose of forming a State branch, which might
work to better advantage under local condi-
tions than as individual members of the
national organization. There was such a
large number that it was deemed wise
to form two Slate branches — from the mid-
dle of the State westward in Kansas City,
and from the middle eastward in St. Louis.
The first president of the St. Louis branch
was Mrs. William Trelease, with Miss Ade-
laide Denis as secretary, who served until
May, 1897, when their places were filled by
Mrs. Philip N. Aloore as president, and Mrs.
George C. Vich as secretary. The meetings
are held three times a year at the homes of
the members. The membership is small,
when considered as a union of forces from
half the State, but it is an organization that
grows steadily, and must increase in power
47
with its growth. The national organization
is working toward higher courses of study
and better equipment in the colleges; toward
scholarships at home and fellowships abroad,
and toward establishing an American Table
in the Archaeological School at Athens. Each
member of a branch becomes a member of
the Collegiate Alumnae Association, and half
of her fees go to the work of that body.
Local conditions are very much benefited by
local aims, and the St. Louis branch has
taken direct interest in the public schools of
the city. Its first aim was toward better work
in English, in preparation for college, and
toward that end the best work of different
colleges was brought to the student's notice,
and a prize was offered to the girl preparing
for college who had the best record in Eng-
lish. Three such prizes were given, with
excellent result. During the last year the
work has been directed toward proper sani-
tation of the schools — not necessarily of the
old buildings, which were known to be much
out of order, but of the new buildings, where
the advice of women who were interested
might help toward that perfection of result
which all wish to attain. The report of such
work will be given to the building superin-
tendent, at his own request, as quietly and
unobtrusively as possible. JMeantime any-
thing that seems a part of direct educational
advancement is of interest to the association,
whose aim is always toward the highest and
the best. Martha S. Kayser.
Collier, George, in his day one of the
wealthiest citizens of St. Louis, was born
March 17, 1796, near Snowhill, Worcester
County, Maryland, and died in St. Louis,
July 18, 1852. He was the son of Peter and
Catherine Collier, and was reared in Mary-
land. He came west in 1818 and engaged
in business with his elder brother in St.
Louis, under the firm name of John Collier
& Co. His brother died, unmarried, at an
early age, and from him and his mother
George Collier inherited a considerable for-
tune. He afterward became identified with
various manufacturing and other interests in
St. Louis, among them being the Collier
White Lead Company, which is still in ex-
istence, and is widely known throughout the
country. He acquired a large fortune and
died a millionaire, when millionaires were
•comparatively few in number in the West.
He was twice married, first to Frances E.
Morrison, daughter of James Morrison, of
St. Charles, Missouri, and after her death
to Sarah A. Bell, daughter of William Bell,
of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. At his death
Mr. Collier left five sons and two daughters.
Collier, Luther, lawyer, was born June
19, 1842, in Howard County, Missouri, son
of William and Susan (Higbee) Collier. His
father was prominent both as a man of af-
fairs and a public official. He served as jus-
tice of the peace in Grundy County, was a
judge of the county court for two or three
terms in the fifties, and was postmaster at
Trenton eight years, beginning with the first
administration of President Lincoln. He died
at Trenton, October 10, 1870, and is remem-
bered as a worthy pioneer and a useful and
honored citizen. The son, Luther Collier,
was carefully educated in the schools of Tren-
ton, graduating from the high school of that
city when Professor Joseph Ficklin, later of
the University of the State of Missouri, had
charge of the Trenton schools. In i860, the
year after his graduation from the high
school, he became assistant instructor in that
institution, and was teaching when the Civil
War began. His patriotic impulses carried
him into the militia service, beginning with
a six months' term in the Enrolled Missouri
Militia. He was mustered out of the mili-
tia organization in March of 1862, and three
months later enlisted in the Twenty-third
Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment. With
this regiment he served until the close of
the war, being mustered out at Washing-
ton, D. C, in 1865. He was with General
Sherman on his famous march to the sea
and in the siege at Atlanta, and saw much
hard fighting. Gallantry and soldierly con-
duct won for him promotion from a private
in the ranks to the captaincy of Company A
of his regiment, and he was later made adju-
tant of the regiment. After the war he re-
turned to Trenton and first embarked in
business as a partner in a marble shop. He
was thus occupied for a year, and then farmed
for another year. At the end of that time
he turned his attention to the study of law,
and read under the preceptorship of Colonel
J. H. Shanklin, while serving as road and
bridge commissioner of Grundy County. He
was admitted to the bar in February of 1870,
and began the practice at Trenton in the
48
COLLIER.
summer of 1871. A careful and judicious
counselor and adviser, he has since built up '
a large office practice, with which he has
coupled the abstracting of land titles and in-
surance. Candid and conscientious in all his
dealings with clients, he has gained and re-
tained the confidence of the public, and is
much beloved by the people among whom
he has lived from early boyhood up to the
present time. Immediately after the Civil
War he was appointed by the county court
of Grundy County a justice of the peace,
and throughout the reconstruction period
had some difficult duties to perform in that
connection. Other official positions which
he has filled have been those of docket clerk
in the General Assembly of Missouri, dur-
ing the years 1870-1-2; mayor of Trenton,
in 1882; city attorney of Trenton for several
terms, and member of the school board of
that city. The last named position he has
filled for twenty-five years, and he is now pres-
ident of the board. In politics he is a Repub-
lican, and he has been a member of the
Christian Church since he was fifteen years
of age. Since 1879 he has been an elder
in that church. He was first post commander
of Colonel Jacob Smith Post, No. 72, of the
Grand Army of the Republic, and gave to
that post its name. Other organizations of
which he is a member are the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order
of United Workmen and the Woodmen of
the World. Captain Collier was first mar-
ried, March 27, 1862, to Miss Martha B. Car-
ter, of Trenton, who died June 16, 1878,
leaving five children. October 29, 1879, he
married Miss Fannie C. Brawner, who died
April 30, 1893, leaving four children. Febru-
ary 28, 1895, he married Alexa W. Marshall,
and two children have been born of this
Collier, William, pioneer, was born
June 2, 1828, in Fayette, Howard County,
Missouri, and died at Trenton, Alissouri, Sep-
tember 8, 1900. His parents were William
and Susan Collier, both of whom were na-
tives of Kentucky. His mother's maiden
name was Higbee. Prior to his marriage
the elder William Collier saw service in the
War of 1812 as a Kentucky volunteer. He
was married in 1817, and lived in Kentucky
until he came with his family to Missouri.
The younger William Collier attended the
common schools at Fayette in his early boy-
hood, and later attended the schools at Tren-
ton, Missouri. His father was a brickmaker
and mason by occupation, and the son
learned these trades. The elder Collier was
the contractor for the building of the court-
house in Grundy County, and began this
work in the year 1843, completing it in
1844. He removed with his family to Tren-
ton before beginning work on the court-
house, becoming a resident of that place in
the year 1842. William Collier, Jr., who was
then fifteen years of age, assisted his father
in the building of the courthouse, which is
still standing and in use. He worked at the
building trade, in all, about fifteen years, and
from 1853 to i860 was thus engaged at Tren-.
ton. He was also engaged for a number of
years in farming operations. During the
Civil War he served in the Enrolled Mis-
souri Militia, and was numbered among the
loyal Unionists of northwestern Missouri
who were ready at all times to do all in their
power to suppress the secession movement.
After the war he engaged for a time in the
mercantile business, and was also a trader
in real estate. He was an active, capable
and honorable man of afifairs, and through-
out a residence of more than half a centurv
in Grundy County he enjoyed the unqualified
esteem of all with whom he was brought into-
contact in business and social relations. In
early life his political affiliations were with
the Whig party. In i860 he voted for Bell
and Everett, who were the candidates of the
Constitutional-Union party for President and
Vice President, respectively. His devotion
to the perpetuation of the Union carried him
into the Republican party, and he continued
to be a warm supporter of its principles and
policies as long as he lived. In 1853 he
united with the Christian Church, and he was
a consistent member of that great religious
denomination until his death. In his younger
days he was very active in church work, and
was noted for his kindly deeds and his help-
fulness to those less fortunate in life than
himself. His was a gentle and kindly nature,
and he derived the most genuine pleasure
from charitable and benevolent acts. In 1852
he was initiated into Grand River Lodge, No.
52, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at
Trenton, and remained an honored member
of that organization up to the time of his
death. He filled many important offices in
Ur^ifii^^u^
'-7^
49
his lodge, having been elected secretary
June 30, 1853, and noble grand jNIarch 27,
1856. He also served as treasurer of his
lodge in 1850 and 1870. Mr. Collier was
twice married, first in 1854, to Miss Sarah
A. Tenipleman, who only lived eleven months
after their marriage. His second marriage
occurred September 14, 1871, when he was
united to Mrs. Samantha M. Telley, whose
maiden name was Leedy. Airs. Collier sur-
vives her husband. No children were born
of his first marriage. Of his second mar-
riage six children were born, two of whom
died in infancy. Those living in igoo were
Mrs. Lillie Burrill, Mabel Collier, James Col-
lier and Susa Katheryn Collier.
Collins. — A village in St. Clair County.
on the Kansas City, Clinton & Southern
Railway, twelve miles southeast of Osceola,
the county seat. It has a public school, a
Baptist Church, and a United Brethren
Church, a Republican newspaper, the "Ad-
vance," and a flourmill. In 1899 the popu-
lation was 650. It was platted when the rail-
way was built, and took its name from that
of the township in which it is situated, named
for judge William Collins.
Collins, Daniel, was born August 10,
1847, in Melvoge, Ireland. His parents were
Michael and Margaret Collins. He received
an indifferent education, but his life training
from his earliest youth served to give him
such mastery of a science which has brought
untold wealth to countless thousands that
his experiences and judgment are held to
be of greater value than the opinions of many
who are accounted scientists. His school op-
portunities were limited to a few months at
irregular intervals before he was twelve years
of age, and there ceased. His father was a
copper-miner, and from him he derived some
knowledge of the properties of that metal,
the mode of its production, and a desire to
learn more of the subject thus unfolded to
him. At the age of eight years he began
labor in the tin mines at Cambron, near
Land's End, Cornwall, England, famous for
their antiquity and as the most productive
field in that metal found in the world. His
first work was to operate a blow-fan to sup-
ply air to the miners. He was there em-
ployed for one year, and when sixteen years
of age was a miner, drawing a miner's
Vol. 11—4
wages. When he reached the age of seven-
teen years he came to America and found
employment in the zinc mines at Ogdens-
burg, Sussex County, New Jersey. From
there he went to West Cheshire, Connecticut,
where he opened a barytes mine for A. L.
Hunt, the presence of that mineral having
been discovered by himself. He subsequently
took charge of the Red Ash Coal Mines, at
JNIackinac City, in Pennsylvania, owned by
Michael Barry, and was so engaged for three
years. He then mined zinc for a time at
Freedensville, Pennsylvania, in old diggings.
Removing to Illinois, he dug coal for three
years at Gardner, Grundy County. In March,
1871, he came to Missouri, and mined lead
at Granby for a few days, when he went
to the site of Joplin, then wild prairie. He
there engaged in mining, but unsuccessfully.
The practice was to seek mineral upon the
hills, instead of on the low grounds, and the
toil was arduous. Repeatedly he and his col-
leagues suffered disappointment, taking up
their windlasses and carrying them and their
tools to another location miles away. After
spending four months in these profitless im-
dertakings, he went to Oronogo, to assist
in sinking a pump shaft for the Granby Com-
pany. He then moved back to Joplin, and
instituted a stage line to Carthage and a
freighting line to Baxter Springs, a distance
of fifteen miles, transporting to that place
part of the pig lead produced from the Jop-
lin mines. He continued this a number of
years, until the completion of what is now
known as the Kansas City, Fort Scott &
Memphis Railway, which supplanted his
freighting business, and he resumed mining,
continuing a livery stable business. He re-
tired from these pursuits some years ago,
and now gives his attention to his large min-
ing properties, which are of great value,
comprising many thousand acres held indi-
vidually or in association with others. His
services to the mining interests of Joplin and
the adjacent territory can not be estimated,
nor are those interests to be mentioned un-
connected with his name. He was one of
the first twelve men who came to the neigh-
borhood after the war, and the first to sink
a new shaft or resume work in an old one,
by proper processes, he being the only practi-
cal miner then on the ground. He traced the
ore croppings from Joplin Hollow to East
Hollow, a distance of five miles, and was the
60
COLLINS.
discoverer of the celebrated John Jackson
Mine, in the Chitwood Hollow, giving it the
name of an old friend in St. Louis. He was
the first in that section to identify "black
jack" as zinc blende, and he sent a package
to East St. Louis, where the result of the
assay confirmed his assertion. At this time
there was no market for zinc, and it was
not until about a year afterward that the
first car load was shipped by Murphy and
Porter. He was an intimate friend of Mr.
Murphy, and the two advised together con-
stantly, but were never associates in busi-
ness. Mr. Collins has always been an
intensely active Democrat, devoting his effort
and means unstintingly to the service of the
party, but without the least selfishness of
purpose, having been neither a seeker after
nor holder of office. He was reared a Catho-
lic. Toward all sects of Christians he has
constantly manifested the utmost liberality,
and he has contributed toward the building
of every church edifice in the city. His aid
has been rendered with equal willingness and
generosity to every public purpose, and
wherever suffering or distress made its ap-
peal. He enjoys the fame of being the best
informed mineralogist in the district, and his
counsel is constantly sought by investors,
among whom are the largest in the East, in-
dividual and corporate, who refer to him as
being a masterly practical expert in zinc,
copper, lead and silicate. His highest fame,
however, rests upon his discovery of zinc in
the Joplin fields, the vast product of which
has made this region the wonder of the
•world.
Collins, (i-eorge K., prominently iden-
tified with the business interests of Kansas
City ever since his removal to Missouri, was
born in Troy, New York. His parents were
Samuel and Mary A. (Banker) Collins. On
the paternal side he is descended from six
of the original Puritans who settled in New
England during the years preceding 1630,
and the genealogical records of both his pa-
ternal and maternal ancestors are traced
back to the very foundations of England and
Holland as nations. The paternal ancestor
who came to America was Lieutenant Ben-
jamin Collins, who located at Salisbury,
Massachusetts, in 1628, and from whom the
subject of this sketch is a descendant in the
ninth generation. The other five original
Puritans, whose daughters, granddaughters,
etc., married into the Collins family, were
the first Hugh Alosher, the first Samuel Hub-
bard, the first John Greenman, the first
Joseph Clarke and the first Richard Maxson.
John Maxson, the senior son of Richard
Maxson, the ancestor of George R. Collins
in the second generation, had the distinction
of being the first white person born on the
site of Newport, Rhode Island, the date of
his birth being in 1639. John Collins, the
ancestor of the subject here written of, in
the fourth generation, was Governor of
Rhode Island from 1786 to 1790. Histories
of New England show the prominence of
these men and their descendants down to the
present day. The mother of Mr. Collins was
Mary A. Banker, a direct descendant of the
original patroon, Gerit Bancker, who came
from Amsterdam, Holland, in 1656, to New
York and settled in Albany, then a mere
village. He also had interests at Schenec-
tady, New York, and spent a portion of his
time there until the terrible Indian massa-
cre which desolated that town. After that
event he concentrated his business at Albany.
He was a fur trader and merchant, and was
very wealthy at the time of his death. He
left one son. Evert, and one daughter, Anna.
The son continued his father's business at
Albany with his portion of the fortune, and
the daughter married Johanns De Peyster,
of New Amsterdam (New York City), thus
becoming the mother of the celebrated
De Peyster family, her wealth being the
foundation of the present massive fortune
of that family. The entire line of Gerit
Bancker's descendants were successful, con-
servative business men, retaining the strong
characteristics of the sturdy Holland stock
even to the present generation, and it may
be readily understood that they have always
been progressive, substantial citizens, fiUing
many positions of trust and serving in vari-
ous political offices the municipalities and
nation they so materially assisted in estab-
lishing. To give the military history of the
ancestors of Mr. Collins would require an
entire volume. He is eligible to membership
in the society of the Sons of the American
Revolution through their distinguished rec-
ords of service. The father of Mr. Collins
was a wholesale grocer at Troy, New Y. .'k,
and after retiring from business he removed
to Daytona, Florida, to escape the rigors of
51
the northern climate. There he died, Febru-
ary 8, 1898. The boyhood days of George
R. Collins were spent upon the banks of the
Hudson River and Lake Champlain. He re-
ceived his education in the public schools of
Troy, New York, and finished by graduating
from the Troy Military Academy. He then
went to New York City and entered the em-
ploy of the Western Union Telegraph Com-
pany, but after a period of fourteen months
he realized that promotion beyond an ordi-
nary clerkship was improbable, so he re-
signed his position and, returning to Troy,
took a position in a large dry goods estab-
lishment. A few months later he accepted a
clerkship in the Manufacturers" National
Bank, and remained in that capacity until
1887, when he removed to Kansas City, ]\'lis-
souri. Mr. Collins had the same desire to try
his fortune in the Western country that is
experienced by most of the young men in
Eastern States, with the point of difference
in his case that the Western idea had a fixed
point of location in his mind at an early age.
He studied histories of different States dur-
ing his boyhood, and chose Missouri as his
future location, believing that, for a large
number of reasons, it was destined to become
one of the wealthiest States in the Union.
The location of Kansas City appealed to him
as a desirable one, and, pinning faith to the
opinion that such a city in such a State could
have only a bright future, he decided to cast
his lot in the city which has since been his
home. In New York he had every advantage
which political and social influence could give,
but in October, 1887, he acted upon his de-
termination and started for Kansas City, hav-
ing secured the promise of a position with
the American National Bank of that city.
Upon his arrival he found that the bank
would not be ready for him until the first of
the following month, when the new building
now used by the same institution would be
ready for occupancy. Mr. Collins was ten-
dered a place in the bookkeeping department
of the G. Y. Smith Dry Goods Company, and
accepted it. He was advanced rapidly, and
during the following July was made credit
manager of the large concern, which position
he filled until the company moved its stock to
Fort Worth, Texas, in 1890. Mr. Collins
declined strong inducements to accompany
his employers to tlie new location. His faith
in Kansas City and a purpose many years
old refused to let him leave. At this time the
Westport Bank was opened and he was
offered the position of cashier, which he
accepted. He held this until the following
year, when he accepted the position of cash-
ier of the German Savings Bank, of Kansas
City. He remained in that capacity until
1892, when he entered into a partnership
with Henry H. Craig and W. S. Sitlington,
forming a financial and insurance business
arrangement. This continued until 1895,
when Air. Collins sold his interests therein
to devote his time to the management of the
National Benevolent Society, a large fra-
ternal organization which had been started
by some of the most prominent business men
of Kansas City. Under his management the
society has prospered and increased in mem-
bership, until now it has many thousands
throughout Missouri, the Central and West-
ern States. Mr. Collins has been a member of
the Kansas City Commercial Club, has been
identified with many of the movements orig-
inated for the advancement of the business in-
terests there, and has unbounded faith in the
city's prospects to become the metropolis of
the West. It was he who made the discov-
ery that in proportion to population, Kansas
City does more business per capita, each
week, in dollars and cents, as shown by the
bank clearings, than any other city of the
United States, and his articles on this subject
were widely copied by the press and favor-
ably commented upon. He has interests in
various enterprises, including a cattle ranch
in New Mexico and a tract of mining land
in the center of the zinc-mining district at
Joplin, Missouri. Many of Mr. Collins' an-
cestors possessed military disposition, and he
naturally inherited their spirit. He was a
member of cadet companies until old enough
to enlist, when he became a member of the
Sixth Separate Company, National Guard of
New York, known also as the Troy Citizens'
Corps, which was originally organized in
1835. He served continuously with this com-
pany until he removed to Missouri, and
within a month after his arrival in Kansas
City he met the celebrated Captain Thomas
Phelan, who was then organizing Battery B
at Kansas City. Mr. Collins was induced to
enlist in the new battery, and was immedi-
ately made first sergeant. He served with
the battery .until the following Alay, 1888,
when he was commissioned second lieutenant
52
COLLINS.
of Company D, Third Infantry, N. G. M.
During the following April he was promoted
to the first lieutenancy. In 1889 he accom-
panied the regiment as acting adjutant upon
its trip to New York City, to attend the cere-
monies of the Washington centennial inau-
gural. He continued with Company D until
March, 1890, when he was commissioned by
Governor D. R. Francis to organize a new
company for the Third Regiment, to be
known as Company H. This he promptly
accomplished, and was commissioned captain.
His company was more generally known as
the Kansas City Fencibles, and in 1892 was
sent by the State of Missouri to Chicago to
assist in representing this State in the dedi-
cation of the World's Fair. The battalion,
composed of Company H and other troops,
was under his command during the period
of absence from the State, and the trip was
safely and successfully made. Captain Col-
lins continued in command of Company H
until the summer of 1896, when he became
dissatisfied with the manner in which the
affairs of the regiment were managed to such
an extent that he resigned. Immediately
upon the breaking out of hostilities with
Spain, he rented a store room at Eighth and
Main Streets, in Kansas City, and organized
a regiment of infantry of i,cx)0 men. He
tendered the services of the regiment to the
government, but the early collapse of Span-
ish resistance precluded the possibility of
their seeing active service, and the regiment
was therefore disbanded when there was no
further prospect of its being needed. The
Third Regiment was ordered mustered out
of service in 1899, and a new regiment was
ordered organized. Captain Collins was
selected as one of the organizers, and chose
the letter "H," the name of his old company.
Primarily a business man, he devotes to mili-
tary affairs only that portion of his time
which he deems it his duty to devote. Tak-
ing no interest in political affairs, he feels it
a duty to perform some public service, and
prefers this department of it to that offered
by the field of politics. Captain Collins is a
member of the Presbyterian Church, and of
Southgate Lodge No. 547, A. F. and A. M.
He was married July 2, 1900, to Miss Blanche
W. Hastings, daughter of Hiram C. Hastings,
a wealthy contractor, of Frankfort, Kansas.
Her parents were among the pioneers of that
State, removing to the western country from
the State of New York. Mrs. Collins was-
carefully educated and is a woman of refine-
ment and culture.
Collins, Monroe E., Jr., a native soa
of St. Louis, who has grown into prominence-
among the business men and financiers of the
city, was born February 8, 1854. son of Mon-
roe R. Collins, Sr. His father came to Mis-
souri from Ripley, Ohio, and his mother was-
a native of ^Maryland. He is a nephew of the
late Peter and Jesse G. Lindell, who came to
St. Louis at an early date and engaged exten-
sively in various business enterprises, built
up vast fortunes and left their names linked
indissolubly with the city's growth and prog-
ress. After completing his education at
Washington University, Mr. Collins began his
business career as shipping clerk in a whole-
sale grocery house. Later he established a
general collecting agency in St. Louis, and
in 1879. forming a partnership with Delos R.
Haynes, engaged in the real estate business
under the firm name of Haynes & Collins.
In 1884 he established what is now the widely^
known real estate firm of J\I. R. Collins, Jr.,.
& Co., of which he has since been the man-
ager and executive head. Inheriting a por-
tion of the Lindell estate, he became largely
interested in the management of the proper-
ties belonging to the estate, and also became-
manager of numerous other estates and the
representative of many Eastern and local
capitalists in the guardianship of their in-
terests in St. Louis. In addition to looking-
after these trusts, he has been extensively
engaged in a general real estate business,
and, acting for clients, has laid out several'
additions to the city and suburbs of St.
Louis, two of which have been named for
him. One of these is known as "Collins"'
Addition to Kirkwood," and the other as
"Collins' Subdivision" at Ellendalc, on the
old Manchester Road. He is vice president
and secretary also of the Collins Realty Com-
pany, a corporation which owns property in
all parts of the city of St. Louis. Few men
identified with the real estate interests of that
city are so well known to the general public
as is Mr. Collins, and none exerts greater in-
fluence in real estate circles. From Novem-
ber I. 1895, to April 12, 1897, he was secre-
tary of the St. Louis Real Estate Exchange,
and he has long been one of the most active,,
forceful and enterprising members of that
COLLINS— COLMAN.
53
■body. He has served one term as a member
•of the St. Louis House of Delegates, and
while in that body was speaker pro tem. of
the House, chairman of the ways and means
<:ommittee, and member of the committee on
public improvements. His religious affilia-
tions are with St. John's Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, and in Masonic circles he is
well known as a member of Occidental
Lodge, No. 163, St. Louis Chapter No. 8,
Ascalon Commandery No. 16, and Moolah
Temple of the Mystic Shrine. For five years
he served as member of the Masonic Board
of Relief, and is also a member of the St.
Louis Club, the St. Louis Jockey Club and
the Missouri Historical Society. He married
in 1878, JMiss Clara Shewell, of Philadelphia,
who belongs to an old English family which
settled in the "Quaker City" about the year
1700.
Collins, Monroe R., prominent in St.
Louis for many years as a merchant and man
of affairs, was born August 13, 1827, in
Ripley, Ohio, and died in St. Louis, August
30, 1887. His parents were Eli and Mary
(Barrett) Collins, who removed to St. Louis
in 1847. The elder Collins was a successful
general merchant and pork-packer, who,
prior to his removal from Ohio, had been
prominent in the politics of that State. The
son was educated in the schools of his native
town, and came to St. Louis an intelligent,
well informed young man, equipped by natu-
ral endowments, as well as early training, for
a successful business career. His father had
met with financial reverses shortly before his
coming to St. Louis, and the young man
began life there without other capital than
brains, energy and a capacity for hard work.
During the earlier years of his career he
engaged in a small way in manufacturing en-
terprises, with such success that the capital
accumulated in this way enabled him later to
embark in business as a member of the
wholesale grocery firm of Miller & Co. En-
dowed by nature with the instincts which
make men successful in trade, prosperity
attended his merchandising operations, which
he continued tmtil he retired from business
to give his entire time and attention to the
management of his property interests and
the estate inherited by his wife. In the early
part of the year 1850 he had married Miss
Esther Baker, a daughter of Robert Baker,
of Berlin, Maryland, and a niece of Jesse G.
and Peter Lindell, who were numbered
among the wealthiest and most prominent
citizens of St. Louis. At the death of the
Lindells, Mrs. Collins inherited a share of
their estates, and the responsibility of looking
after this property devolved upon Mr. Col-
lins. Severing his connection with the mer-
cantile interests of the city in 1861, he was
known thereafter as the representative of
large property interests, and the estate com-
mitted to his care was largely increased in
value as a result of his judicious guardianship
and management. While he led a quiet life,
he was recognized as a man of keen sagacity
and superior capacity for the conduct of
affairs, especially accurate in his judgment
of real estate and other property values, and
in his forecasts of the growth and improve-
ment of the city. As a citizen he stood high
in the community with which he was identi-
fied for forty years, his unquestioned probity
and honorable business methods commend-
ing him to all with whom he was brought into
contact in the relations of everyday life. In
his young manhood he identified himself
politically with the Whig party, and later be-
came known as a staunch Democrat, but he
was never active in political campaigns, and
never sought or held any political offices.
He was a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, and at the time of his
death was officially connected with St. John's
Church, of that denomination, as a steward.
Out of his abundance he gave liberally to
that church, and his catholic spirit made him
a generous donor, also, to other churches
and religious institutions. He left at his
death two sons, both of whom are now
prominent citizens of St. Louis, the elder,
Robert E. Collins, being a member of the bar,
and the younger. Monroe R. Collins, Jr., be-
ing head of the real estate firm of M. R.
Collins. Jr., & Co.
Coluian, Norman J., agriculturist,
journalist and cabinet officer, was born May
16, 1827, near Richfield Springs, New York.
After obtaining an academic education he
came west from New York State as far as
Louisville, Kentucky, where he engaged for
a time in teaching school. While there he
also studied law and received the degree of
bachelor of laws from the Law Department
of Louisville University. After graduating
54
COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA.
from the law school he went to New Albany,
Indiana, and began the practice of his profes-
sion as a partner of Honorable M. C. Kerr,
who had formerly been his roommate and
classmate, and who in later years, achieved
national distinction as a member of Congress,
dying while serving as Speaker of the House
of Representatives. Well adapted to the pro-
fession of law, Mr. Colman built up a fine
practice at New Albany, and while there was
elected to and held for one year the office of
district attorney, resigning the position to
come to St. Louis. After practicing at the
bar of that city for some time an innate fond-
ness for rural pursuits caused him to purchase
a country home, and about the same time he
began the publication of the agricultural paper
which has since become famous throughout
the country as "Colman's Rural World."
From the beginning of his career he took an
active interest in public afifairs, and when the
country was plunged into civil war as a result
of the slavery controversy, he was among the
prominent Missourians who stood bravely in
defense of the Union. He served as lieuten-
ant colonel of the Eighty-^fifth Regiment of
Enrolled Missouri Militia, and both as soldier
and civilian aided in preventing Missouri
from joining the secession movement and in
establishing national supremacy. After the
war he was among those who believed that
the victors should be magnanimous in their
treatment of those who had suffered defeat,
and, as a consequence, affiliated politically
with the party which favored restoring all the
rights of citizenship to those who had par-
ticipated in the Southern uprising. He was
elected to the Missouri Legislature in 1865,
and, after serving with distincrion in that
body, was nominated by the Democratic
party for Lieutenant Governor in 1868. In
that year he was defeated, with all the candi-
dates on the Democratic ticket, but in 1874
he was again nominated for Lieutenant
Governor and was elected. A warm friend
of popular education, he early became inter-
ested in the welfare of the State University
of Missouri, and for sixteen years was a
member of the Board of Curators of that in-
stitution. At the same time he was doing all
in his power to promote the interests of the
farmers of Missouri and of all the Western
States, and throughout all the years of his
later life he has been exceedingly active in
this field of labor. He has served as presi-
dent of the Missouri State Horticultural
Society, of the State Live Stock Breeders'
Association, of the State Board of Agricul-
ture, of the State Dairy Association, and has
been officially identified with many other
State and national associations organized to
advance the interests of the farmers of the
country. His broad and practical knowledge
of everything pertaining to agriculture and
agricultural interests, and his eminent fitness
to perform the duties of the office caused him
to be appointed United States Commissioner
of Agriculture in 1885 by President Cleve-
land, with the result that the sphere of this
department was immediately afterward very
materially enlarged under his administration.
In 1889 l^hs Agricultural Department was. by
act of Congress, elevated to the dignity of an
executive department of the general govern-
ment, and it was provided that the head of the
department should occupy a seat in the Presi-
dent's cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture.
President Cleveland at once appointed Gov-
ernor Colman to the newly created office, and
he served in that capacity until the close of
the administration, enjoying the distinction
of being the first representative of the
agricultural interests of the United States to
sit in the President's Cabinet. He dignified
the position and rendered services of great
value to the farmers of the country by his
able and eminently practical administration
of the afifairs of his department. Upon his
retirement from the Secretaryship of Agricul-
ture the President of France, through the
Minister of Agriculture, conferred upon him
the Cross of "Officier du Merite Agricole,"
which was accompanied by a gold medal and
the decoration of the order. Since then he
has resided at his country home near St.
Louis, devoting his time to the editorial
management of his famous journal and to his
private farming interests. His influence has
always been strongly and aggressively in
favor of progress in the highest and best
sense, and he has been at the same time an
able and useful public official, a journalist
whose influence has been felt throughout the
length and breadth of the land, and a
thoroughly public-spirited citizen in all that
the term implies.
Colonial Dames of America. — A
society composed of women, each of whom is
descended in her own right from some an-
COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
55
cestor who resided in an American colony
prior to 1750. this ancestor, or some one of
his Hneal descendants, being a lineal ascend-
ant of the member ; or who held some
important office in the Colonial government,
and, by distinguished services rendered prior
to 1776, contributed to the founding of this
great nation. The object of the society is the
commemoration of the brilliant achievements
of the founders of this republic and to stimu-
late women as well as men to better and
nobler lives ; to diffuse information of the
past and create popular interest in American
history; to inspire love to country and teach
the young to venerate the memory of their
ancestors. In furtherance of this object the
society collects manuscripts, traditions, relics
and mementos of bygone days for preserva-
tion, and gives loan exhibitions from time to
time. The local work of restoration and
preservation of historic buildings is neces-
sarily limited to the residents of the original
thirteen Colonies ; the restoration of the
Senate chamber. Congress Hall, Philadelphia,
in 1896, by the Pennsylvania Society of
Colonial Dames being a notable instance.
The Missouri Society of the Colonial
Dames of America was organized October
10, 1895. and incorporated December 11,
1896, with the following officers: Mrs.
George H. Shields, president; Mrs. Hamilton
Gamble, first vice president ; Mrs. William A.
Hardaway, second vice president; Mrs. H.
N. Spencer, secretary; Mrs. William S. Long,
treasurer ; Mrs. James J. O'Fallon, registrar.
Additional members of the governing board :
Mrs. Amos M. Tliayer, Mrs. Henry W. Eliot
and Florence Boyle — all of St. Louis, with the
exception of Mrs. Gamble, who resides in
Kansas City. At the end of six months there
were in Missouri only seventeen members of
this exclusive organization, most of these re-
siding in St. Louis. The growth of the so-
ciety is necessarily slow, as, aside from the
hereditary restriction, applicants can present
their credentials only on invitation, and each
member is permitted to invite only one in a
year. The board meetings are held in St.
Louis, at residencesof officers, at noon, on the
last Saturday of alternate months from Octo-
ber to June. The name of a candidate pro-
posed at one meeting is passed upon at the
next, two adverse votes preventing election.
In the words of the president, Mrs. Shields:
"Our work for the first year has been prin-
cipally in organization ; for the coming year
we have other plans. In our non-Colonial
States we can not have loan collections of
Colonial relics or visit the places made sacred
by the deeds of our noble ancestors, but we
can reawaken and keep alive interest in and
love for the traditions of Colonial days, that
when the opportunity occurs to pay defer-
ence to the memory of the founders of our
great country their descendants may not be
found wanting in patriotism, but may be
worthy the name inscribed on the bar of the
insignia — the name loved and honored by
Colonial ancestors."
During the recent War with Spain the
Colonial Dames demonstrated their active
patriotism. The society as a whole was the
first women's organization to contribute to
the relief fund. Their services were formally
offered to the President and formally ac-
cepted by him on the day that war was
declared, and theirs was the first contribution
to the relief ship "Solace." The members of
the St. Louis society worked along with their
sister organizations in this common cause.
They are now interested in the coming
centenary celebration of the Louisiana Pur-
chase, and have issued a letter to the schools
throughout the State offering two cash prizes
of twenty and ten dollars for the best essays
relating to this subject written by pupils dur-
ing the year. This educational work will be
continued and medals will be provided for
awards for future essays by pupils on given
subjects. The seal adopted by the Missouri
Society in December, 1897, was originated
by Mrs. William A. Rucker, of St. James,
Missouri, and is directly commemorative of
the Louisiana Purchase. Within a ribboned
Napoleonic wreath of wild roses and wheat
heads are the French and American flags,
crossed above a quill treaty pen. Half en-
circling the wreath from below is a flat
garland, with ends notched and pendant,
bearing the words, "Missouri Society of
Colonial Dames of America."
Martha S. Kayser.
Colonization Society. — The idea of
restoring Africans in America to their native
land was suggested as early as 1773 by Rev.
Samuel Hopkins and Rev. Ezra Stiles, of
Rhode Island, who issued a circular in which
they invited subscriptions to a fund to be
used for founding a colony of free negroes on
COLONY FOR FEEBLE-MINDED AND EPILEPTIC.
the western shore of Africa. A contribution
was made by ladies of Newport in February,
1774, and aid was received about the same
time from Alassachusetts and Connecticut.
After the Revohitionary War, Dr. Hopkins
continued his efiforts to rid this country of
negro slaves, and, among other endeavors,
sought to make arrangements by which free
blacks from America might join the English
colony at Sierra Leone, which had been
established in 1787 and which was designed
to constitute "a home for destitute Africans
from different parts of the world, and for
promoting African civilization." Failing to
make this arrangement, he proposed in 1793
a plan of colonization which was to be put
into operation by the general government
and States of the American L^nion. The
subject continued to be agitated, and in 181 1
steps were taken for the organization of a
colonization society. An organization was
finally effected in 1816, and the first officers
of the "Annerican Colonization Society" were
chosen January i, 1817. The society as
organized made no reference to emancipa-
tion, present or future, and Henry Clay, lohn
Randolph, Bushrod Washington and other
slave-holders took a leading part in its forma-
tion. Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess
were sent to Africa in 1817 to select a site for
the colony, and Cape Mesurada was finally
chosen. Two years later Congress appro-
priated $100,000 to be used in sending back
to Africa such slaves as should be surrepti-
tiously imported. The first emigrants were
sent out in 1820, and the government of the
colony was assumed by the society. The
colonv was named Liberia, and its civil gov-
ernment was established first in 1824. Until
1847 certain governmental powers were
vested in the Colonization Society. but in that
year it was declared a free and independent
State, and the United States, Great Britain
and France acknowledged its independence.
The American Colonization Society may
therefore be said to have founded Liberia,
and to have sustained the colony until it be-
came self-supporting. The first movement
looking to the formation of an auxiliary to
the American Colonization Society in St.
Louis was made in 1825. In March of that
year a public meeting was held for that pur-
pose in the JNIethodist Episcopal Church,
over which Rev. Salmon Giddings presided
as chairman. and in which \\illiam Carr Lane,
A. Monroe, Colonel John O'Fallon, James
H. Peck, Theodore Hunt, Edward Bates,
Edward Charless, Charles S. Hempstead, H.
L. Hoffman and other well known citizens
of that day, took a prominent part. The re-
sult of this meeting was the organization of
the St. Louis Colonization Society, which
co-operated actively for several years with
the American Colonization Society. About
1 83 1 this organization appears to have lost
its vitality and practically ceased to exist.
In 1839 a new society was organized, which
was called the "Missouri State Colonization
Society," and which continued in existence
several years, having in view the same objects
as the first society. Beverly Allen, Rev. A.
Bullard, Rev. William M. Daily, Rev. W. S.
Potts, Edward Bates and a number of promi-
.nent men outside of St. Louis were the mov-
ing spirits in the organization and in the
conduct and management of this society.
"The Young Men's Colonization Society"
was organized in 1848, with Rev. William G.
Ehot, H. S. Woods, J. R. Barret, Rev. Mr.
Finley, Josiah Dent, Barton Bates, R. F.
Barret, John Henderson, William W'arder
and C. Carroll as officers and managers. All
these societies contributed to a considerable
extent to the advancement of the movement
which resulted in the building up of the negro
republic known as Liberia, which now has a
population of something more than a million
people, but which has never realized the full
expectation of its founders and promoters.
Colony for Feeble-minded and
Epileptic. — The Fortieth General Assem-
bly of Missouri appropriated $40,000 for the
founding of a colony for the Feeble-minded
and Epileptic, hitherto cared for in the State
Lunatic Asylums. A board to locate the
colony was constituted, the members being
John O'Day, of Springfield, president ; Dean
D. Duggins, of Marshall ; George Robert-
son, of Mexico ; Mrs. Dora Lee Hall, of St.
Joseph ; and Miss Pearl Mitchell, secretary,
of Rocheport. Propositions including gifts
of land or cash were made by the citizens of
Lexington. Springfield, Mexico. Glasgow,
Monroe City, Hannibal and Marshall. The
institution was located at the last named city
upon a tract of 280 acres, presented to the
State by the people of Saline County. One
cottage, already built, will accommodate
sixty patients. Plans for future building
COLORED INSTITUTE FUND-COLUMBIA.
57
-contemplate the erection of fourteen cot-
tages, affording accommodations for one
thousand inmates, an administration building,
a chapel and a schoolhouse. The General
Assembly of 1901 was expected to make the
necessary appropriations for the work, to
■enable its completion in that year.
Colored Institute Fund. — This is a
State fund composed of tuition fees of
colored teachers' institutes, collected by
county treasurers and paid into the State
treasury. The moneys are used to pay con-
ductors and instructors in colored institutes.
The receipts into the fund in 1897 were
$1,046, and in 189S, $771; and the disburse-
ments to conductors and instructors were, in
1897, $1,033 and in 1898, $661 ; balance Jan-
uary I, 1899, $147.
Colored Orphans' Home. — This or-
phanage is conducted under the auspices of
the Harper Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, colored. This union was organized
in 1886, and in the following year voted to
make charity one of the leading features of
its work, proceeding then to take the first
steps in the founding of a home for colored
•orphans and destitute children of St. Louis.
A board of fifteen directors for the manage-
ment of the projected home was elected in
October, 1887, of whom the following were
■ofScers : president, j\Irs. S. D. Brown; vice
president, Mrs. S. W. Newton ; recording
secretary, Mrs. F. M. Oliver; corresponding
secretary, Mrs. N. E. Cheney; treasurer, Mrs.
'E. Napier. After great efforts in the over-
coming of many obstacles, the home was
opened in r)ctober. 1889, at its present loca-
tion, 1427 North Twelfth Street, and was in-
corporated in 1889. The building which it
■occupies, the property of the Western Sani-
tary Commission, had been used years ago
■for the same purpose, but as, after its estab-
lishment, the home had not been supported
by the colored people, the commission, hav-
ing exhausted the fund for its support, had
closed it and used the building for other
charitable purposes. Mrs. James E. Yeat-
aiian. becoming interested in the efforts being
made by the board of directors, offered them
the use of the building, rent free, under
■certain conditions, and there for ten years the
liome has been maintained. During this time
it has housed and cared for over two hundred
orphans and destitute children. Thirty-
seven of these are present inmates, one hun-
dred and twenty-five have been returned to
parents and friends, and twenty-five have been
provided with homes. In 1895 the home
succeeded in getting the care of the "city
waifs," which is a source of income to the
institution.
Coliiiiibia. — The county seat of Boone
County, and the seat of the State University.
It was founded by the Smithton Land Com-
pany, which consisted of thirty-five stock-
holders, among whom were Lilburn W.
Boggs, elected Governor of Missouri in 1836;
David Todd, first judge of the Circuit Court
of Boone County ; Taylor Berry, killed in a
duel in 1824 by Abiel Leonard; and Nicholas
S. Burckhartt, first sheriff of Howard
County. This corporation first laid out the
town of Smithton, which it designed to make
the county seat of Boone County, and which
was located on the beautiful elevated plateau
northwest of the site of Columbia, and now
part of the estate of the late Jefferson Garth.
The town was named in honor of General
Thomas A. Smith, then receiver of the land
oiifice at Franklin, Howard County. Smith-
ton never had more than twenty inhabitants,
for, in May, 182 1. it was removed to the pres-
ent site of Columbia and called by that name.
Nevertheless, until this removal, by an act of
the Legislature, it was the temporary capital
of Boone County, and the first terms of the
county and circuit courts were held there.
The first county court began its sessions I'eb-
ruary 23, 1821, in Smithton. Judges Ander-
son Woods and Lazarus Wilcox were
present. After appointing Warren Woodson
clerk pro tern., and Michael Woods county
assessor, it adjourned. At its next meeting,
held in Columbia, May 21, 1821, Peter
Wright, the third judge, appeared and took
his seat. The first session of the circuit
court in Boone County was held at Smithton,
.\pril 2, 1821, with David Todd as judge;
Roger N. Todd, clerk ; Hamilton R. Gamble,
circuit attorney, and Overton Harris, sheriff.
Peter Bass was foreman of the grand jury,
which indicted William Ramsey and Hiram
liryant for assault and battery. The court
held its sessions under an arbor constructed
for the purpose, there being no suitable
building for its accommodation. At the end
of two days the court adjourned. The first
58
COLUMBIA.
Fourth of July celebration in the county was
held in Smithton, in the shade of the trees, in
1820, John Williams acting as president, and
Overton Harris as secretary. A serious
difficulty in obtaining water by digging wells
in Smithton was the cause of the removal of
the town. For many years after removal a
dry well ninety feet deep existed on the site
of Smithton, and in Mr. Garth's pasture.
Columbia was laid out in 1821, and the first
sale of lots took place May 20th of that year.
The first house erected there was a log cabin
built by Thomas Duly, in 1820, on the south-
east corner of Broadway and Fifth Street.
The first merchant of Columbia was Abra-
ham J. Williams, who, in 1825, was president
of the Missouri State Senate, and after the
death of Governor Frederick Bates was act-
ing Governor up to the time of the election
to that office, in September of 1825, of John
Miller. Mr. Williams died December 30,
1839, and is buried in the Columbia Ceme-
tery, where the monument over his grave
can now be seen. He erected a two-storv
frame store room on the southeast corner of
Broadway and Fifth Street, which occupied
the site until some years since, when it was
torn down and a brick dwelling erected in
its place. Colonel Richard Gentry opened
the first tavern in Columbia, in 1821. It was
a log building, and stood on the site of the
present operahouse. Colonel Gentry became
a very prominent citizen. He was post-
master after the death of Charles Hardin in
1830. served as colonel of a regiment of vol-
unteers in the Florida war, and was killed at
the battle of Okeechobee, December 25,
1837. Gentry County was named in honor
of him.
The first brick house was built in 1821 by
Charles Hardin, who was Columbia's first
postmaster, and the father of Governor
Charles H. Hardin. The house is still occu-
pied as a residence, although it is now nearly
eighty years old. December 7, 1821, the first
session of the first circuit court was held in
Columbia, David Todd sitting as judge. This
court was held in a log cabin, near the site
of the present county jail. The first session
of the county court held in Columbia began
February 18, 1822. The first tavern license
was granted to Wilfred Stephens, August 20,
1821, and the first license to retail merchan-
dise was granted to Peter Bass, June i, 1821.
At this time the town consisted of a few cab-
ins on "Flat Branch." In 1822 a spirited
rivalry sprang up between Dr. William Jew-
ell and Colonel Richard Gentry, as to
whether the central part of the town should
be where it now is, or at the intersection of
Broadway and Water, or Fifth Street. Gen-
try triumphed, and during the year 1822 sev-
eral houses were built on what is now
Eighth or Courthouse Street. The primary
design of the founders of Columbia was that
the lot on which now stands the courthouse
and jail should be a public square, and the
survey was so made. At the end of the year
1822 the nucleus of a town had been fully
established, and dry goods stores were kept
by Peter Bass, Abraham J. Williams and
Robert Snell ; groceries by Thomas Duly and
John Graham, and taverns by Richard Gen-
try, Wilfred Stephens and Samuel Wall. In
1823 the population of Columbia was only
130, but in 1830 it had grown to 600; and in
1840, when the corner stone of the State
University was laid, to about 1,000. The
first church in Columbia was founded by the
Baptist denomination, November 23, 1823,
with eleven members, at the residence of
Charles Hardin. The Presbyterians organ-
ized the second church, with seven members,
September 14, 1828, the organization being
eiTected at the residence of James Richard-
son, a one-story log building, on the north-
east corner of Tenth and \\'alnut Streets.
This building stood until 1899, when it was
torn down. The first courthouse erected in
Columbia, in 1824, was called, in the adver-
tisement for bids, "the hull of a courthouse";
and those who aided in the administration of
justice within its walls, either as judges,
jurors or other officers, or as citizens or
spectators, listened with rapture to the
forensic eloquence of early lawyers, will
agree that it was a "hull," in fact, as well as
in name. It was a brick structure, erected
by Minor Neal, and stood, until supplanted
in 1848 by the present courthouse, where the
Baptist Church once stood. It was of plain,
old-style architecture, hip roof, two stories
high, with a court room on the ground floor,
the floor of brick, and grand and petit jury
rooms above stairs, the building being fifty
feet long by forty feet wide. The rooms
were lighted with candles. Courts were held
in this building until the completion of the
present courthouse. The first jail was built
by George Sexton in 1822, and the first jailer
COLUMBIAN CLUB.
59
was John M. Kelly, who died in Columbia in
1874.
The first newspaper published in Colum-
bia was the "Missouri Intelligencer," with
Nathaniel Patten as editor and publisher.
He removed the paper from Fayette to Co-
lumbia, and issued the first number May 4,
1830. It was discontinued in 1835, and was
succeeded by "The Patriot," Frederick A.
Hamilton, publisher, and James S. Rollins,
editor. In January, 1843, "The Patriot" was
discontinued, and William F. Switzler started
"The Statesman," which he owned and ed-
ited until 1885, covering a period of forty-
two years. At the end of that time he went
to Washington to assume the duties of chief
of the Bureau of Statistics, in the Treasury
Department.
The first theatrical performance was given
in Columbia, home talent alone participating,
on Christmas night, 1832, the play being
"Pizzaro ; or the Death of Rolla," concluding
with the farce, "My Uncle." On the 21st of
October, 1833, a semi-weekly line of mail
coaches was established between St. Louis
and Fayette, by way of St. Charles, Fulton
and Columbia.
From the small and unpretentious begin-
nings, indicated above, with wide expanses
of unsubdued forests and wild prairie about
it, Columbia has grown to be recognized as
one of the most beautiful, cultivated and
wealthy little cities of the State, and the busi-
ness, social and educational center of an agri-
cultural district of unsurpassed fertility,
enterprise and intelHgence. Its streets are
broad and shady, and many of them well
paved, with more miles of granitoid, brick
and plank sidewalks than any town of its
population in Missouri. Many of its busi-
ness blocks, and its three banks, are attrac-
tive in architecture and models of conven-
ience, and its suburban homes, and a large
proportion of those in the central portion of
the city, are unsurpassed in size and beauty
of their adjacent grounds. The streets of
the city are lighted by electricity, and its
waterworks furnish an abundant supply of
the best water. The religious denominations
represented in Columbia are Baptist, Pres-
byterian, Christian, Episcopalian, Methodist
and Catholic. The four first named have
large, beautiful and costly church buildings,
the Presbyterian, Christian and Episcopalian
edifices being of stone. Education is the
dominant interest of Columbia, and it well
deserves the name "Athens of Missouri."
The State University and Agricultural Col-
lege buildings, located in a quadrangle, in a
beautiful campus ; Christian and Stephens'
College, for the education of yovmg women ;
three public school buildings for white chil-
dren, and one for colored, all in the midst of
shady groves, are the pride and boast of the
people.
"The Herald" and "The Statesman" are its
newspapers, issued weekly, together with
several monthly college and fraternity mag-
azines, all printed and illustrated in the best
style of "the art preservative." The Herald
Publishing House is one of the largest and
best appointed in the State, and prints and
binds the Supreme Court decisions of Mis-
souri and other States, and also other books.
Columbia is connected by branch railroads
with two of the great systems of the West
and South, the Wabash, at Centralia, twenty
miles north, and the Missouri, Kansas &
Texas, at McBaine, nine miles south. The
population of Columbia in 1900 was 5,651.
William F. Switzler.
Columbian Club. — Among the many
pretty clubhouses of St. Louis the Columbian
is one of the most imposing. Situated on
Lindell Boulevard, at the northwest corner
of Vandeventer Avenue, its location is admir-
able. It is a massive, square, yellow brick
structure, with white stone trimmings, the
front facade being a worthy tribute to the ar-
chitect's art. In fact, the Columbian Club is
the finest Jewish institution of its kind in the
West. The internal appointments are rich in
elegant simplicity, there being nothing lack-
ing for the comfort and convenience of the
members, and on evenings of entertainment
the ball room is one of the sights of the city.
The first meeting for the organization of the
club was held May 15, 1892, there being
present at this meeting Messrs. Marcus
Bernheimer, Nicholas ScharfT, J. D. Gold-
man, Jonathan Rice, Jacob Meyer. Elias
Michael, Louis Glaser, Benjamin J. Strauss,
Moses Fraley, Adolph Baer, Joel Swope and
William Kohn. At this meeting it was de-
cided that, besides the twelve gentlemen
present, the following should be admitted as
charter members of the club : Messrs. Isaac
Schwab, William Sti.x, Ben Eiseman, David
Eiseman, Isaac Meyer, Jacob Furth, Mever
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
Bauman, Louis M. Hellman. A. S. Aloe,
Gustav Roseberg, Simon Strauss, Morris
Glaser, J. J. Wertheinier, Philip Constani,
Meyer Swope, M. Schwab, Sam Schroeder,
George W. Milius, Adolph Scharff, Lazarus
Scharff, Adolph Samish, Simon Seasongood,
Joseph Wolfort, A. J. Weil and Charles Stix.
The first officers were, Jacob jMeyer, presi-
dent ; Jonathan Rice, first vice president ;
•Gus Roseberg, second vice president ; L. M.
Hellman, treasurer, and Benjamin J. Strauss,
secretary. The meetings before the formal
•opening of the clubhouse, in September of
1894, were held at the vestry rooms of Tem-
-ple Israel.
Colximbian Exposition. — One of the
most interesting and instructive events in the
"history of the city of St. Louis was the effort
made to secure the holding of the Columbian
Exposition, which it was then proposed
should be held in 1892, in that city. The ef-
fort was the work of all classes of citizens,
from the capitalist to the laborer; from the
Avealthy manufacturer and merchant to the
smaller tradespeople. The first meeting to
consider the matter was convened at the
■office of the mayor of the city of St. Louis,
in the old City Hall, corner of Eleventh and
Chestnut Streets, on a joint call issued by the
then Governor of Missouri, Honorable
David R. Francis, and the then mayor of St.
Louis, Honorable E. A. Noonan, August 3,
1889. Invitations were sent to forty leading
citizens, who assembled on said date, and
Mr. Charles Green, then president of the St.
Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Fair As-
sociation, was called to the chair. Colonel C.
H. Jones, then editor of the "Republic," of-
fered a series of resolutions expressive of
the sentiment of the meeting, "That the
World's Fair be held in the city of St. Louis,"
and for the appointment of a committee of
twelve, who should take in hand all matters
connected with the securing of the fair, which
resolutions were adopted, and the committee,
consisting of the following gentlemen, was
appointed : David R. Francis, E. A. Noonan,
C. C. Rainwater, C. H. Jones, Charles Green,
John A. Dillon, Samuel M. Kennard, D. M.
Houser, Leverett Bell, Emil Preetorius,
Charles A. Cox, John O'Day. Congressman
Nathan Frank offered the following resolu-
tion, which was adopted :
"Resolved, that the committee of twelve
appointed by the meeting have and be
clothed with plenary power to appoint a
committee of one hundred or more, and that
they ask the co-operation of other munici-
palities of the .State, and of the State at large,
for the selection of auxiliary committees."
Soon after a meeting of the committee was
held at the Alercantile Club. Mr. John T.
Davis was elected a member and chairman
of the committee. It was then resolved that
a committee be appointed, to be called a
"Committee of Two Hundred for the Pro-
motion of the \\'orld's Fair of 1892 in St.
Louis." The committee was subsequently
appointed, and met on the 7th day of Sep-
tember, 1889. John T. Davis having declined
the chairmanship of the committee. Honor-
able David R. Francis was elected. An ex-
ecutive committee was carved out of this
committee, with C. H. Jones as chairman,
and Frank Gaiennie, secretary. A finance
committee, with Honorable E. O. Stan-
ard as chairman ; a committee on con-
gressional action, with Honorable E. S.
Rowse as chairman, and a committee
on the local site, with Colonel George
E. Leighton as chairman, were created.
The committee engaged headquarters at the
Mermod-Jaccard Building, corner of Broad-
way and Locust Streets, and Mr. D. H. Mac-
Adam was placed in charge as chief of the
bureau of information. A well prepared ad-
dress to the people was issued. It was de-
termined that a "guarantee fund" of $5,000,-
000 should be raised, and subcommittees
were constituted for this purpose. October
4, 1889, at a meeting of the general commit-
tee, it was reported that the $5,000,000 guar-
antee fund was completely subscribed, and
on the nth day of November, 1889, a dele-
gation of twenty-five, in addition to the vice
presidents of the committee of two hundred,
was selected, called the "Washington Dele-
gation," for service, when called on, to pro-
ceed to Washington to aid in securing
congressional support for the location of the
fair at St. Louis. November 12th Governor
David R. Francis and Colonel C. H. Jones
left for Washington, and opened a St. Louis
bureau at Willard"s Hotel, placing in charge
thereof General John B. Clark, ex-clerk of
the House of Representatives at Washing-
ton ; ex-Governor Thomas B. Fletcher, and
Sanniel Hayes. Auxiliary committees of the
residents of St. Louis, natives of other States
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
ftl
than Missouri, were constituted to exert their
influence on the Congressmen from the States
whence they came, and Hterature and docu-
ments of ail kinds were prepared and dis-
tributed for the purpose. The active work
was then transferred to Washington.
Four cities competed for the prize : New
York City, Washington, D. C, Chicago and
St. Louis. -Each city had headquarters in
Washington, and the contest was most ex-
citing and spirited. The congressional dele-
gation from St. Louis consisted of Honor-,
able F. G. Niedringhaus, representing the
Eighth Congressional District ; Honorable
Nathan Frank, representing the Ninth Con-
gressional District, and Honorable Wilham
M. Kinsey, representing the Tenth Congres-
sional District.
The Senate World's Fair Committee met
on January 8, 1890, to hear arguments as to
where the World's Fair should be located,
and time was allotted for presentation of the
claims of the various cities.
The reasons why the World's Fair should
be located at St. Louis were forcibly urged
by Governor David R. Francis, Honorable
E. O. Stanard and Colonel Charles H. Jones.
Succinctly stated, it was urged on St. Louis'
behalf that she was first in the field in pro-
posing a World's Fair to celebrate the
quadricentennial of the discovery of Amer-
ica by Columbus, and that the city of St.
Louis was the most suitable site ; that this
was done as early as 1882 in articles written
for the "Missouri Republican," and which
idea was subsequently adopted at the First
National Convention of Fair and Exposition
Managers, held at St. Louis in June, 1884;
that in 1885 the commissioners of the New
Orleans Exposition declared themselves in
favor of a World's Fair, and in favor of St.
Louis as the site of that fair.
The international aspect of the fair was re-
lied on, namely, that visitors from the Old
World, traveling from the Atlantic seaboard
to the banks of the Mississippi River, would
see about one-third of the domain of the re-
public. The national view was dwelt on, and
a map showing that a circle with a radius of
500 miles, drawn around the city of St. Louis,
contained therein, according to the census of
1 880, 23 ,800,000 people; a similar circledrawn
around the city of New York contained 20,-
100,000, and a similar circle around the city
of Chicago, 21,700,000 people. The trans-
portation facilities were strongly put forth,,
showing a larger mileage of inland water
transportation than any other large city of
the LTnion. The local advantages, because of
the magnificent water supply, and the per-
fect sewerage system, were strongly urged,,
and the hotel accommodations were shown
to be fully equal to the demands which would
be made upon them.
The conmiittee ofifered seven distinct avail-
able sites within the limits of the city of St.
Louis, which were displayed by photographic
views to the committee. They were the fol-
lowing: Site No. I, two gentle slopes of
ground sotith of Tower Grove Park and west
of Grand Avenue ; Site No. 2, was an area
bounded by Shaw Avenue on the south.
Tower Grove Avenue on the west. Grand
Avenue on the east, Manchester Road atid
Chouteau Avenue on the north ; Site No. 3,
a strip from Grand .\venue to Forest Park,
and from the Wabash Railroad track to La-
clede Avenue ; Site No. 4, the ground be-
tween L^nion Avenue on the east, Jacob Ave-
nue on the west. Forest Park on the south
and Delmar Avenue on the north ; Site No. 5,
a level plain running from the St. Charles
Rock Road to the fair grounds, bounded
by Prairie Avenue on the east ; Site No. 6,
beginning on Penrose Street, north to Belle-
fontaine, with Warne Avenue and Bircher
Road as its eastern and western boundaries.
The city of St. Louis also tendered Forest
Park, containing 1,300 acres of ground, for
use of the World's Fair, which was the sev-
enth site proposed.
During the six months preceding the con-
vening of the Fifty-first Congress all the
cities competing for the location of the fair
were active and zealous in securing commit-
tals on the part of their representatives in
Congress. The subject of whether there
should be a celebration and where the cele-
bration should be held, in the event Congress
decided that there should be a celebration,
was thoroughly digested by the members of
Congress when they went to Washington to
attend Congress. Following the precedent
established in the legislation regarding the
Centennial of 1876, at Philadelphia, the com-
mittee on foreign affairs assumed that it
would have charge of any legislation touch-
ing the World's Fair.
Knowing that if this conmiittee was given
jurisdiction of this matter it would act
62
COLUMBIAN EXPOvSITlON.
against the interests of St. Louis, because no
member of Congress favorable to St. Louis
was a member of the committee on foreign
aflfairs, Congressman Frank offered a reso-
hition providing that a select committee of
nine members should be appointed, to be
called the "World's Fair Committee," to
whom should be referred all matters relating
to the proposed celebration. The committee
on rules subsequently reported such resolu-
tion back with the recommendation that it
be passed. A minority report was submitted
in the nature of a resolution as a substitute,
namely : "That the committee on foreign af-
fairs have jurisdiction of all matters relating
to the World's Fair." On the 17th of Jan-
uary, 1890, this report of the committee on
rules was submitted to the House, and gave
rise to one of the most exciting and most
earnest debates that took place in that mem-
orable Congress. The members favoring the
appointment of a select committee consisted
of those favorable to St. Louis for the loca-
tion of the fair and those who were un-
pledged to any city. A combination of the
other cities was made of the members who
supported the minority substitute. By a
close vote, namely, 135 to 133, the resolution
providing for the appointment of a select
committee was adopted. This victory was
hailed with great delight by the people of St.
Louis, but the effect was, however, to more
strongly combine the opposition to St. Louis
by the friends of the other competing cities.
Speaker Reed, in pursuance of the resolu-
tion, appointed a select committee on the
\\'orld's Fair, consisting of the following :
John W. Candler, of Massachusetts ; Robert
R. Hitt and William M. Springer, of Illinois ;
G. E. Bowden, of Virginia; James J. Belden
and Roswell P. Flower, of New York ;
Nathan Frank and W. H. Hatch, of Mis-
souri ; William L. Wilson, of West Virginia.
Missouri was honored with two places on
this committee — Nathan Frank and Wm. H.
Hatch.
A bill providing for the holding of the fair
at St. Louis was introduced by Mr. Frank
and referred to this committee. Other cities
followed and introduced similar bills through
their representatives. The select committee
reported back to the House a "bill to provide
for celebrating the four hundredth anniver-
sary of the discovery of America by Christo-
pher Columbus, by holding an international
exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures,
and the product of the soil, mines and sea, in
the city of , in the year 1892." This
bill was made a special order for debate on
Thursday and Friday, February 20th and
2 1 St, which was participated in by the lead-
ing members of Congress.
The vote was taken on the 25th day of Feb-
ruary, 1890, on the resolution to fill in the
name of the city. On the first roll call Chi-
cago received 115 votes. New York "ji,
St. Louis 60 and Washington 56. No place
having received a majority of all the votes
cast, a second roll call was had, and no place
having then received a majority, another roll
call was needed. It was necessary to call the
roll of the House for an aye and nay vote
seven times, which finally resulted in a com-
bination of interests by which Chicago re-
ceived 156 votes, or a majority of one vote,
and the resolution was then adopted, insert-
ing the name of "Chicago" in the blank
place. Nathan Frank.
[Congressman Frank, both at home and
at Washington, was one of the busiest of the
promoters of the Columbian Fair project for
St. Louis. He was punctual in attendance
upon all the committees to which he was as-
signed, and was prolific in wise suggestions
in furtherance of the cause. His speech be-
fore the final congressional vote was taken
was replete with facts and fine points bearing
upon the contest. He referred to the orig-
inal conception of the idea belonging to St.
Louis, where it had been elaborately dis-
cussed for five years, as one of pure senti-
ment and patriotic feehng. He deprecated
the partisan considerations which had been
made to bear weight upon the settlement of
the location. He spoke of the geographical
advantages of St. Louis, accessible, as she is,
to the largest number of people of this coun-
try, and of the continent south of us ; of her
greater nearness to the general variety of
exhibits than any other city ; of her choice of
favorable sites or grounds ; of the welcom-
ing and hospitable spirit of her people ; of
her complete ability to carry out all the re-
quirements of the bill; her salubrious and
healthful climate ; her character as a cosmo-
politan city ; her hundreds of miles of streets
and boulevards ; her magnificent parks and
monuments ; her splendid hostelries, and her
conspicuous place in the liistorv and tradi-
tions of the country. — Editor.]
COLUMBIAN KNIGHTS-COMMERCE OF KANSAS CITY.
63
Columbian Knights.— A fraternal in-
surance order established in Chicago, and in-
corporated under the laws of Illinois August
14, 1895. Its total membership was about
six thousand in 1898. St. Louis Lodge No.
55, having about ninety members, was the
only lodge of this order in existence in St.
Louis at the beginning of the year 1898. This
lodge was organized in July, 1897, by George
A. Lemming, who later removed from Chi-
cago to St. Louis and became the president
of the lodge, succeeding John B. Meyers.
Other officers were N. W. Perkins, Jr., vice
president; F. Ryan, secretary, and Hugh
Koch, chaplain.
Columbian Medical College. — The
Columbian Medical College was founded in
Kansas Citv, in 1898, bv Dr. J. L. Robinson,
Dr. W. F." Morrow, Dr. P. C. Palmer, Dr.
J. E. Moses, Dr. G. W. Lilley and Dr. J. H.
Johnson ; all except the two last named are
yet connected with the college. It occupies
two stories of a rented building, and is pro-
vided with necessary laboratories, and main-
tains a free dispensary. The first graduat-
ing class were six in number, and there were
thirty matriculants in 1900.
Columbian School of Osteopathy.
This school is located at Kirksville, Missouri,
and is for the giving of instruction in the art
of osteopathy, surgery and medicine. It
was founded November 8, 1897, by Dr.
Marcus L. Ward, who on that date formed
the first class for instruction. A charter for
the institution had been granted on Novem-
ber I, 1897. The first class occupied rooms
in one of the business blocks in the main
part of the town of Kirksville. The growth
of the school was so rapid that it was decided
to erect a building especially for school pur-
poses. A tract of land one mile east of the
Wabash depot at Kirksville was secured, on
which a fine pressed brick building, sixty by
sixty feet, three stories and basement, was
built and equipped in the most modern man-
ner. Into this building the school was
moved in April, 1898. The location of the
college is at a considerable elevation above
the surrounding country, of which it com-
mands an extensive view. A monthly review,
called the "Columbian Osteopath," is pub-
lished under the direction of the faculty of
the college. During the 1899-1900 term. 25c
students were in attendance at the school.
Comingo, Abram, lawyer, soldier and
member of Congress, was born in Mercer
County, Kentucky, January 9, 1820, and died
at Independence, Missouri. After receiving
a good English education he studied law and
was admitted to the bar in his native State
in 1847. The following year he came to
Missouri, and achieved a successful practice.
In 1861 he took a firm stand for the Union
cause, and was elected to the State Conven-
tion. The same year he entered the Union
Army, and was made provost marshal for the
Sixth District of Missouri. In 1870 he was
elected to the Forty-second Congress from
the Sixth Missouri District, by a vote of
12,652 to 8,597 for Smith, Republican, and in
1872 was re-elected, serving two full terms.
Commei'ce. — An incorporated town on
the Mississippi River, in Commerce Town-
ship, Scott County, eight miles northeast of
Benton and 165 miles from St. Louis. It is
the eastern terminal of Houck's Missouri and
Arkansas Railway. The town was laid out
in 1823 by the heirs of Thomas W. Waters,
the original locater of the land which com-
prises the town site. It was incorporated in
1857, and in 1864 became the seat of justice
of Scott County, by legislative enactment,
and remained such until 1878, when by
popular vote Benton was again made the
county seat. It has a bank, large flouring
mill and elevator, two churches, a public
school, a hotel and several stores. It is an
important shipping point for grain and other
produce. Population, 1899 (estimated), 800.
Commerce of Kansas City. — The
situation of Kansas City at the point where
the Missouri River turns eastward naturally
made it a center of trade. There was a good
landing, and goods could be transported
cheaply to this point from the East, and
hence it became the depot for supplying the
Indians and settlers to the south and west.
Santa Fe, eight hundred miles distant, had
been the port of entry for the Mexican em-
pire, and after Texas, New Mexico and
Arizona came into the possession of the
United States, the trade increased until
superseded by the railroads which brought
the frontier town nearer and nearer to the
point of consumption. From 1824 oxen were
used to draw the wagons, and these oxen
could feed on the grasses along the route.
64
COMMERCE OF KANSAS CITY.
The prices obtained for domestics, tobacco,
whisky and iron was i,ooo per cent of their
cost and hence the trade yielded large
profits. The trade with Santa Fe prior to
the founding of Kansas City, in 1838. is
given by competent authority as amounting
to $1,700,000. Then about eighty wagons
made the trip annually, and each had to pay
a duty of $500 on entering Santa Fe, regard-
less of the value of the cargo. The port was
closed in 1843, t>y order of Santa Anna, but
was reopened in 1844. When the trade re-
opened, in 1845, Kansas City, or Westport.
being the nearer point and affording good
pasturage foroxen, superseded Independence,
which had previously been enriched by this
trade. At this time Messrs. Bent & St. \'rain
landed the first goods that were shipped di-
rectly from Kansas City in wagons. During
the next five years the freighting and out-
fitting business was drawn away entirely
from Independence. In 1850 the Subletts of
St. Louis, F. Aubrey, Dr. Conolly and the
Armijo Bros., of Santa Fe, were, with
Messrs. Bent & St. Vrain, the chief firms
engaged in the trade. (See article on "West-
port.") In the earlier stages the business
aggregated about $100,000 annually, but in
1850, six hundred wagons set out from Kansas
City. During the decade the business grew
enormously, and in i860 it was five times as
great. The outgoing trains carried whisky,
fancy groceries, prints, notions, etc., and
brought back wool, dried buffalo meat,
buffalo robes, golddust, silver ore, and Mexi-
can dollars sewed up in raw hides. The
California excitement in 1849-50 brought
business to Kansas City in furnishing horses,
mules, oxen, wagons, and other outfitting
supplies to immigrants. The Overland Ex-
press, by means of Concord coaches drawn
by horses or mules, carried mails, express
goods and passengers to Santa Fe and to
Salt Lake City and San Francisco. The
passengers were armed in order to defend
themselves against hostile Indians. The
Santa Fe line was started in 1849, but the
Stockton line was not established until
October i, 1858, when six Concord coaches,
twelve provision wagons with one hundred
and fifty mules, started from Kansas City,
then a pioneer town of about 7,000 inhabi-
tants. The next train did not leave until
November 6th. The Kansas City landing
had a rocky bank with a deep current before
it. This naturally fitted it to become a great
steamboat freight depot. Warehouses and
stores were located in the vicinity of the
landing. The steamboats arrived loaded
down with passengers and freight. About
fifteen hundred boats arrived and departed,
in 1857. The immigration to Kansas and
Nebraska in 1854-60 added to the prosperity
of Kansas City. The newcomers replenished,
their needs and found a market for their
produce. This was interrupted for a time
during the border troubles. The money
used was specie. Over five million dollars
was put in circulation, the United States mint
furnishing $2,800,000, $1,500,000 came from
New Mexico, and the balance was brought
by immigrants. This money was expended'
largely in Kansas City, and added to her-
growth. The year 1856 showed an increase
in population from 2,000 to 4,000. The ware-
house business of this year was $545,000:
the merchandise sold amounted to $6,000.-
000 : the imports from New Mexico amounted
to $1,768,000. The commerce of the city was
growing so rapidly that in 1856 the Chamber
of Commerce was formed, and November 9,
1857, the General Assembly chartered the
Chamber of Commerce, the incorporators of
which were Dr. Johnston Lykins, John
Johnson, M. J. Payne, R. G. Stephens, John
Campbell, Dr. Benoist Troost, William Gil-
liss, J. M. Ashburn, W. H. King, H. M.
Northrup, E. C. McCarty, Jos. C. Ransom,
Kersey Coates, S. W. Bouton, Thomas H.
Swope and W. A. Thompson, all of whom
were noted factors in organizing Kansas City
as a great business center. This organization
did a noble work for the city, but was grad-
ually dissolved by the troubles growing out
of the Civil War. (See article on "Kansas
City Chamber of Commerce.") When the
war cloud burst, in 1861, the freighting bus-
iness of Kansas City was transferred to
Leavenworth, and the large disbursements
of the government at that point stimulated '
its growth. The population of Kansas City
dropped off one-half, while that of Leaven-
worth increased. In 1863 a part of the
Santa Fe business returned and trade began
to revive. The tide was turned October 22,
1864, when Price was defeated near West-
port, and Kansas City was saved from fur-
ther molestation. Peace came early in 1865,
and with it an active renewal of all business
interests. The Southern Kansas trade re-
COMMERCE OF ST. JOSEPH.
65
turned to Kansas City. The building of rail-
roads became the absorbing theme and the
Chamber of Commerce realized the building
of the railroads, which they had promoted.
The trade of 1867 was $33,000,000, which in-
creased to $35,000,000 in 1870. The crisis of
1873 did not afTect the growth of trade much.
From 1876 trade increased and a steady
growth set in, which improved for a decade.
The wholesale trade alone in 1886 was over
$52,000,000, and became $78,000,000 the next
year. A decade passed, covering the panic of
1893, with years of depression, and in 1897
the grand aggregate of business was as fol-
lows : Manufactures, $100,000,000; packing
products, $75,000,000; wholesale trade, $150,-
000,000; grain, $30,000,000; live stock, $1 11,-
000,000 ; and retail trade, $75,000,000. This
increase within ten years of 600 per cent
shows the marvelous growth of this the
metropolis of the "New West," especially as
it covers the panic years from 1893 to 1897.
The wholesale business of 1898 was still bet-
ter, amounting to $172,000,000.
Within a generation Kansas City has
grown from a frontier town to a metropolitan
city with the newest and most modern equip-
ments. The largest business done is in
agricultural implements, the sales of one
hundred and thirty-three houses engaged in
these lines aggregating $25,000,000 in 1898;
lumber, $16,500,000; dry goods and gro-
ceries each, $13,000,000; liquors and flour
each, $11,000,000; produce, $10,000,000;
building material, $9,000,000 ; hardware, $6,-
000,000; coal, furniture, printers' supplies,
tobacco, cigars, machinery, each, nearly $5,-
000,000; oil and drugs, each, $4,000,000;
boots' and shoes, hay and feed, jewelry and
saddlery, each, $3,000,000; paints and paper,
each, $2,500,000; millinery and notions, each,
$2,000,000 ; wagons and carriages, $1,250,000 ;
candies, glassware, hats, pianos and wood for
fuel, each, $1,000,000; photographers' sun-
dries, surgical and dental supplies, toys, and
art materials, each, about $500,000. These
figures show what huge proportions the
various business interests of Kansas City ag-
gregate. The crops in this section have
enabled the farmers to buy largely and the
merchant has participated in the general
prosperity. The jobbing business along the
usual lines has had a steady growth.
By dint of continuous effort the wholesale
houses have gained an enviable success in
the city. The retail trade of Kansas City is
very large. What New York is to the East,
Kansas City is to the West. Purchasers
wishing a large assortment from which to
select go there to buy. While the growth of
the trade of Kansas City has been phenom-
enal, it is natural and normal. The acknowl-
edged metropolis of the "New West," which
in itself is a rapidly developing empire, trade
in all lines must continue to expand and the
city has no limitation to its growth. When
Chicago reaches her limit, Kansas City will
be only a vigorous youth.
Joseph Macaulay Lowe.
Commerce of St. Joseph.— Trappers
and hunters were the pioneers of civilization.
They moved out along lines of least resistance,
generally along rivers, and over mountains,
through passes, following the trail of animals.
The traders followed the trappers and
selected centers where they could exchange
for furs and peltries the rude articles which
the Indians wanted. The settler followed
the trader, who in turn was followed by the
missionary and the pedagogue. The needs
of the new community soon required the
professional aid of the physician and the
lawyer and the wants of the people created a
demand for artisans in all lines. Thus arose
our commerce — our trade with all its rami-
fications. French traders came into the
upper Mississippi and Missouri valleys in
1764, when the Mississippi had become the
boundary line between the English and the
French. Pierre Liguest Laclede held a
charter from the French king, granting him
the exclusive right to trade with the Indians
in this region. He brought with him to St.
Louis hunters and trappers who had expe-
rience in trading with the Indians. Their
mode of operation was to penetrate into the
interior and establish posts for trading. Such
operations as these led to the formation of
fur companies. In 1808, after French
authority had ceased in this territory, Pierre
and Auguste Chouteau organized the Mis-
souri Fur Company, and a year after this
John Jacob Astor organized the American
Fur Company, into which the Missouri Fur
Company was merged in 1813. In 1819 a
branch of the American Fur Company was
established at St. Louis and a monopoly of
the trade was begun. Francois Chouteau
was sent to root out the independent traders
COMMERCE OF ST. JOSEPH.
and establish three trading posts, namely:
One twenty miles west of Kansas City known
as the "Four Houses ;" one at Council Bluffs,
Iowa, and another at Roy's Branch, above
St. Joseph. In 1826 Joseph Robidoux came
to Black-snake Hills, in the employ of the
American F"ur Company, and four years
afterward he bought their interest and
became sole proprietor. He built his log hut
where the Occidental Hotel now stands, an
old negro doing the cooking for himself and
his helpers. About the time the "Platte
Purchase" was made a few families located
near him. He had from fifteen to twenty
Frenchmen in his employ, who, mounted on
ponies, went east and west to trade with the
Indians, and bring back furs and peltries.
Between 1837 and 1840 a number of other
persons settled at Blacksnake Hills. In
1839 three gentlemen came from Liberty,
Missouri, with $1,600 in silver, to buy the site
of St. Joseph, but Mr. Robidoux would not
sell. In 1 841 a sawmill and two flouring
mills were built. Carpenters, plasterers,
bricklayers and blacksmiths came, and the
work of building a town was begun. The
great naturalist, Audubon, on a trip to
Yellowstone Park in 1843, stopped at Black-
snake Hills and noted that it was "a delight-
ful site for a populous city." Later in the
year IMr. Robidoux platted the town and
obtained a charter for it under the name of
St. Joseph. The lots were sold at from $100
to $150 each. Immigration at once began,
and the population increased from 200 to
500. This involved building. Charles and
Elias Perry built two stores for general
merchandise. In the next year Hull &
Carter, and Livermore & Co., built business
houses. Israel Landis began business, Wil-
liam jM. Carter and Aquila ]\Iorrow each
opened a plow factory, Philip Wortwein
started a barber shop, and Allendorf &
Rhodes opened a meat market. Joseph
Fisher was the first licensed drayman and
John Kennedy opened the first tenpin alley.
The Rev. T. S. Reeve, a Presbyterian
clergyrhan, built a log church 20 x 30 feet,
in the steeple of which the first bell in St.
Joseph was rung.' In 1845 the Edgar House,
the first three-story house in St. Jqseph, was
built. A Dr. Martin built a six-room house,
of hewn logs, which he conducted as a board-
ing house. A man of good education and
business tact, named John Corby, came from
Kentucky, and was the first money-lender,
being patronized by persons wishing to
enter land. James Cargill came from Vir-
ginia, and built a flouring mill which operated
three runs of burrs. A tailor and a jeweler
came, and a livery stable was opened. A
carriage shop was built, and the bakery bus-
iness begun. A warehouse was built, and two
hotels provided accommodations for visitors.
A home market was provided for stock and
grain, the current prices being as follows :
Horses, $30; cows, $7; oxen, $25 per yoke;
wheat 37 1-2 and corn 10 cents per bushel.
Thus, within three years the nucleus of the
vast business of St. Joseph was formed. The
first circus came in May, and the first artist
in July, 1846. In the next year there was
quite a business boom. New business houses
were established and the older ones were en-
larged. Improvements were made in all
parts of the town and mechanics found
remunerative employment. The farmers
throughout the section began to trade with
the merchants of St. Joseph, hemp, grain,
and pork being staple products. When the
rush to California in 1849 began. St. Joseph
became a great outfitting point. Wagons,
utensils, etc., were shipped to this point, but
oxen and supplies were obtained here. The
gold hunters camped around St. Joseph
awaiting the appearance of grass that the
oxen might find provender for their overland
trip to California. From April i to June 15,
1849. 1.508 wagons crossed the ferries at St.
Joseph, while 685 wagons crossed at Dun-
can's ferry, four miles above, thus making
nearly ten thousand people who set out from
St. Joseph in search of gold. This was in-
creased to 50,000 the next year, which
contributed greatly to the business growth of
the city. Such places on the route as Denver,
Fort Laramie. Fort Kearney and Salt Lake
became trading points for supplying Indians
and immigrants. Cattle were driven to Cali-
fornia to supply the mining camps with fresh
beef, and such men as James McCord,
Richard E. Turner, Abram Nave and Dudley
M. Steel, made large ventures and reaped
immense profits. Provisions and wares were
shipped westward by wagon trains, and the
freighting business of St. Joseph grew to
immense proportions. The overland stage
was inaugurated and John M. Hockaday
contracted to carry a weekly mail from St.
Joseph to Salt Lake City for $190,000 a year.
i
COMMERCE OF ST. JOSEPH.
67
For years the tide of immigration rolled west-
ward into the new lands, so that by i860 St.
Joseph had a population of ii.txx) people.
After the completion of the Hannibal & St.
Joseph Railroad. Russell. Waddell & Majors
inaugurated the Pony Express from St. Joseph
to Sacramento, California. This required
si.xty agile riders, 100 station helpers, and
420 strong why horses. The company was
organized in 1859, and the first courier set out
from St. Joseph. April 3, i860, at 5 :30 p. m.,
after the arrival of the Hannibal & St. Joseph
train. The tariff for carrying a letter to San
Francisco was five dollars. During the decade
many improvements were made, such as
macadamizing streets and building bridges, all
of which were a stimulus to business. During
the Civil War the city retrograded, but after
the war closed a tide of prosperity again set
in and a number of houses were built and
the population rapidly increased. Prosperity
continued up to the panic of 1873 when the
board of trade was organized, but was not
chartered until 1878. About this time pork-
packing began to be carried on briskly. The
Tootle Opera House was built in 1873, and
a new era in building began. From 1880 to
1884 was a period of steady progress. The
building of large business houses was begun
at Fourth and Francis Streets. The J. W.
Bailey building, Hax's furniture store, and
the Bergmann & Stone buildings filled the
block between Fifth and Sixth Streets. R.
L. McDonald built on Fourth and Francis
Streets, and the imposing block of wholesale
houses on Fourth Street followed. The
Turner-Frazer and the Xave-^NIcCord build-
ings were erected in 1882. The Tootle
building, the I'^nion Station, the Chamber
of Commerce building and the gen-
eral offices of the Burlington Railroad
were built during this period. While
the erection of new buildings was a
pressing need, it was also the precursor of
enlarged business. In 1886 a wave of real
estate speculation swept over the country,
but St. Joseph suffered less from the re-
action than her neighbors. Energy, progress
and confidence displaced lethargic methods,
values advanced, and outside capital was at-
tracted. Real estate speculation was at its
height. Such -new additions to the city as
the St. Joseph Eastern Extension, Saxton
Heights, Wyatt Park, and McCool's and
Walker's .Xdditions were laid out. The
boom proved a blessing. Prior to this there
were not fifty houses east of Twenty-second
Street, while now these new portions of the
city are populous. From 1885 to 1893 the
Rock Island, the Chicago Great Western, the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the St.
Joseph Terminal Railroads were built. These
new means of transporation required new
business facilities, and such large buildings,
as the following were built : The Y. M. C. A.,
the Commercial Block, Center Block, Carbry
Block, the Zimmermann buildings, the Irish-
American Building, the German-American
Bank, the Ballinger building, the C. D. Smith
building, the \'an-Natta-Lynds building,
the Wyeth building, the Crawford Theater,
the Podvant and Donovan buildings, the
Coulter ^Manufacturing Company's building.
Central Police Station, the Rock Island
building. Turner Hall, the Moss building,
the Samuels Block, the Saxton & Hendrix
building; also, those massive piles of archi-
tecture occupied by the Richardson-Roberts-
Byrne Dry Goods Company, Tootle, Wheeler
and Motter, and the Wood Manufacturing
Company, to which may be added the Michau
Block, the Hughes building, and the block on
the north side of Felix east of Sixth Street.
During thispcriod the Blacksnakeand Mitch-
ell Avenue sewers were built and the drain-
age of the city perfected. The electric light
plant was put in, and the entire street railway
system was placed upon an electric basis.
During 1888-90. the bureau of statistics did
much to attract Eastern capital. The panic
of 1893 checked the growth of the city. A
fresh impetus, however, was given in 1897
by the revival on a gigantic scale of the live-
stock and meat-packing interests. The
wholesale and jobbing business which was
started in 1856 by Tootle & Farleigh has
grown to vast proportions. There are now
four very large dry goods houses, doing bus-
iness throughout the territory stretching
from the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast.
The boot and shoe business is carried on by
five first-class houses, the wholesale millinery
business is a large interest, three large firms
being engaged in it. Agricultural imple-
ments, hats, hardware, saddlery, harness,
crockery, queensware, paper, drugs, gro-
ceries, crackers, rubber goods, carpets, cloth-
ing, notions, liquors, candies, furniture, and
other articles needed on the farm or in the
household, or needed for the cijuipment of
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
offices, stores, hotels or factories, are largely
supplied through the wholesale houses of St.
Joseph. The trade reaches the enormous
sum of $60,000,000 annually. The retail stores
are large and capable of supplying the local
and transient trade. The hotels furnish
ample accommodations for the traveling
P"''"'^- F. W. Maxwell.
Commerce of St. Louis — A com-
mercial motive founded St. Louis. That
metropolis owes its origin to the far-reaching
enterprise of New Orleans merchants. The
early prosperity of the post which they
established was due to the fur trade of Upper
Louisiana. Indeed, the chase was the pio-
neer of Western colonization. In the valleys
of the Mississippi and Missouri, many a vil-
lage proudly boasts of a situation whose
superiority the keen eye of a hunter was the
first to observe. American civilization is
largely indebted to the animals that once
roamed the forests of the Western wilder-
ness. The death of the wild beasts almost as
actively promoted Western settlement as the
life of wild men retarded it. The scantiness
of authentic facts renders necessarily imper-
fect any account of the primitive commerce
of St. Louis. The early traffic was almost
exclusively restricted to barter for peltries.
The fur trade of the Missouri Valley was the
richest in the country. The commodities des-
tined for the Indian trade were mostly im-
ported by way of the St. Lawrence and the
Lakes. Quebec and Mackinaw were impor-
tant distributing points. Witli the limited
facilities for transportation that existed in
those days, the importation of goods over
vast ranges of country was slow, difficult and
costly. The very small quantity of freight
that could be carried at one time across the
portages increased the delay and expense of
transit. It sometimes took four years to for-
ward an assortment of furs to Europe and
procure a stock of goods in return. The
freight on foreign merchandise was not infre-
quently 100 per cent, but this enormous
charge did not discourage importation, for
even then the average profit of the Indian
traffic was more than 50 per cent, and an oc-
casional gain of 200 or 300 per cent inspired
the trader with hopes of speedy wealth. St.
Louis was the center of the fur trade of
Upper Louisiana. The bulk of the peltries
of this great region was brought to this
mart. From 1789 to 1804 this fur trade
amounted to more than $200,000 a year. The
proportionate value of peltry which different
animals contributed to this aggregate was as
follows: Beavers, $66,820; deer, $63,200;
otters, $37,100; bear, $12,200; fox, raccoon
and wild-cat, $12,280; buffalo, $4,750; mar-
tins, $3,900; lynx, $1,500. In the first years
of St. Louis the wealth of private individuals
was very limited. Consequently associations
of capital became necessary to conduct the
extensive and costly operations of the fur
trade. Companies were formed. The influ-
ence of these compact and energetic organi-
zations was wide-spread. Their agents
penetrated the passes of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and extended their trade even to the
Pacific Coast. The hundreds of men engaged
in their service were scattered over all the
Northwest. To the explorations undertaken
in the prosecution of their business, most of
our early knowledge of the physical geogra-
phy of the far West is due. In 1808 the Mis-
souri Fur Company was organized. Its chief
members were Pierre Chouteau, Sr., Manuel
Lisa, William Clark, Sylvester Labadie,
Pierre Menard, Auguste P. Chouteau, Ber-
nard Pratte, J. P. Cabanne and B. Berthold.
Its capital stock was $40,000. The expedi-
tions of this company explored the Yellow-
stone, crossed the barriers of the Rocky
Mountains, and established a trading-post on
the banks of the Columbia River, in Oregon.
This company was dissolved in 1812, but sev-
eral of its members still continued in the fur
trade. Berthold and Chouteau, M. Lisa.
Bernard Pratte and J- P. Cabanne established
peltry houses of their own. From 1813 to
1823 less activity prevailed in this branch of
business. In 1819 John Jacob Astor founded
in St. Louis a branch house, of which Samuel
Abbott was the manager. It was called the
Western Depot of the American Fur Com-
pany. Without mention of the year, Nicollet
states that "this company once employed
from 400 to 500 trappers and hunters, nearly
1,000 horses, from 2,000 to 3,000 traps, and
bartered off annually from $15,000 to $20,000-
worth of merchandise." These figures, which
illustrate the trade of only one companv,
vividly suggest the magnitude of the West-
ern fur trade. The operations' of the Astor
company extended over all the Northwest as
far as the Rocky Mountains. Six or eight
years after its dissolution, the old Missouri
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
Fur Company was reorganized. The most
prominent men in this partnership were Cap-
tain Perkins, Manuel Lisa, Joshua Pilcher
and Thomas Hempstead. This company was
unfortunate. The disaster in which several
of its expeditions terminated exhausted its
resources. Under its auspices, Immel and
Jones, in 1823, led a party, equipped with a
costly outfit and laden with rich goods, to the
valley of the Yellowstone. Defeated in an
attack by the Blackfeet Indians, the leaders
themselves and several of their men were
slain, and all their valuable stores fell into
the hands of the savages. The company sur-
vived this catastrophe but a short time. Its
brief life was a succession of misfortunes. In
1823 General William H. Ashley led a force
of hunters beyond the Rocky Mountains to
revive a trade that had been languishing for
ten years. Assailed by the Indians, fourteen
of his men were killed and ten wounded. Un-
dismayed by this calamity, General Ashley
still prosecuted his enterprise. In his explo-
rations he discovered Green River and traced
the Sweetwater to its sources. His energy
was richly rewarded. Large profits on the
extensive stock of peltries which he secured
repaid him for his hardships. The next year
General Ashley increased still further the
range of his commercial transactions. In
command of a second expedition, he pene-
trated to Salt Lake, and built a fort on the
borders of another lake, which, by right of
discovery, he named Ashley. In 1826 a six-
pound cannon, brought from Missouri, was
mounted in this fort. It had been drawn by
oxen 1,200 miles. The route then opened
was never afterward closed. In 1828 many
teams heavily loaded with merchandise
traversed the plains to this remote destina-
tion. From 1824 to 1827 the value of the
peltries brought to St. Louis by the agents of
General Ashley was more than $180,000. At
length the wealth amassed by General Ashley
enabled him to retire from business, and his
interest was sold to the Rocky Mountain Fur
Company. William L. Sublette, J. S. Smith
and David E. Jackson were members of this
partnership, and Robert Campbell was clerk.
The aggressive activity of these men invaded
new fields and rendered California and Ore-
gon tributary to their mercantile enterprise.
The commercial influence of the early fur
companies is incalculable. The trade of the
Northwest was chief^v in their hands. The
transaction of their business peopled the wil-
derness, founded posts and villages, and gave
employment and competence to a pioneer
population. The prosperity of St. Louis owes
its first powerful impulse to the energy of
these companies. But the life of the agents
who so effectively promoted the early com-
merce of the West was full of peril. The
hunters and fur traders were never exempt
from hardships or safe from the stealthy at-
tack of murderous savages. It is stated that
two-fifths of the wood-rangers, even as late
as 1825, were either killed by the Indians or
perished from the exposures incident to the
life of a hunter. It must not be supposed
that there was no fur trade in Upper Louisi-
ana prior to the establishment of St. Louis.
Even before this event, Canadian hunters
had extended their search for peltries to the
headwaters of the Yellowstone. The French
at Fort de Chartres carried on an active
trade with the Osage Indians. They con-
veyed goods to this tribe in canoes by the
Mississippi, Missouri and Osage Rivers.
But when the Indians visited the fort they
took the shortest overland route, and crossed
the Mississippi at Wood Island, just above
Ste. Genevieve. In those days Ste. Genevieve
was a point of commercial importance. It
was the center of the leacT trade of Upper
Louisiana. In 1810 it had twenty large
stores, and was still the source from which
St. Louis derived a portion of its supplies.
But prior to 1764 Fort de Chartres con-
trolled the trade in oil and peltries, and se-
cured the profits of a large Indian patronage.
At first, supplies for the St. Louis market
were obtained chiefly at Mackinaw and New
Orleans. Exchanges between places so re-
mote from each other, with means of com-
munication so imperfect, were limited to a
few trips a year. The route to Mackinaw
was by way of the Illinois River and a por-
tage to Lake IMichigan. The foreign goods
intended for the Indian trade were bought at
Mackinaw, and groceries and heavy merchan-
dise were purchased at New Orleans. Coffee
was then worth about two dollars a pound,
and tea was a rare luxury until after the
transfer. Salt was six dollars a bushel, but
after the cession the erection of new salt
works reduced the cost to one-half of this
price. In the course of a few years the trade
of St. Louis had extended to Pittsburg, Phil-
adelphia, Baltimore and Quebec. Merchants
70
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
usually went to Philadelphia by way of the
Ohio River and Pittsburg. They carried
their pehries with them and brouglit home
the merchandise which they purchased. The
round trip commonly occupied about four
months. The vast wilderness that lay be-
tween the Atlantic cities and the settlements
on the Mississippi precluded frequent inter-
course. During the Colonial period the
traders of St. Louis dealt but little with New
York. Philadelphia, being the seat of the
government, was then far better known than
its conmiercial rival, and possessing the only
good road that crossed the Alleghanies, en-
joyed a virtual monopoly of the Western
trade which sought an Eastern market.
Many of the early commercial houses of St.
Louis were established by Philadelphia mer-
chants. It was not much before 1830 that
the patronage of St. Louis traders was
largely diverted from Philadelphia to New
York. L'uder French and Spanish domina-
tion the Indian traffic embraced a vast area.
Hunters had visited the St. Francis, White,
Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage and
Yellowstone Rivers, and the rich furs from
this boundless territory had become partially
tributary to St. Louis. The Mandan villages
were more than 1,600 miles from the market
to which they sent their peltries. The traders
who visited the valley of the Yellowstone
generally started from St. Louis in April, but
seldom reached their destination before Sep-
tember or October. To insure success in the
Indian trade, a perfect knowledge of the
habits, tastes and caprices of the different
tribes was necessary. The Indians of those
days were blind adherents to traditional
usages. The example set by their fathers
was followed with a Chinese fidelity. If a
blanket differed from the conventional pat-
tern in size, color, quality, number of stripes,
or length of fringe, an Indian would sooner
freeze than wear it. If a knife varied from
the prescribed form in length of blade or
fashion of handle, it would hot be accepted as
a gift. If a rifle deviated from the favorite
style, the savage would resort to his primi-
tive bow and arrow sooner than use it. Con-
sequently caution and expertness in selecting
commodities to suit the peculiar tastes of the
various tribes were essential to success in the
Indian trade. In the infancy of St. Louis, a
"store" was a room of very humble preten-
sions. In some instances it was scarcely
larger than a modern closet. The goods were
generally kept in a box and were only taken
out at the request of a customer. Specie was
rare. The skins of wild animals were legal
tender. As a medium of exchange, the stand-
ard value of shaved deer skin was twenty
cents a pound, and of otter and beaver skins
forty cents a pound. In the absence of spe-
cific agreement, notes were payable in pel-
tries. The law enforced a literal observance
of the terms of a contract. When money was
mentioned as the consideration in a commer-
cial transaction, the Spanish milled dollar was
meant. Its value was $1.50 in peltries. Re-
mittances were ordinarily made in salt, lead,
provisions and furs. In exchange for these
things, whisky, iron, steel and dry goods were
brought down the Ohio River to St. Louis.
The bills' which were drawn on the treasury
at New Orleans to pay the civil and military
officers of St. Louis were frequently ex-
changed for foreign merchandise. "Peltry
bonds," based on the personal responsibility
of the merchants who issued them, were in
active circulation. The measure of value was
a given number of pounds of shaved deer
skins. This currency was good not only for
local uses, but also for remittances from bus-
iness men whose credit was well established.
In the early times htmdreds of hunters, fur
traders, Indian agents and military officers
were scattered through the boundless region
lying west of the Mississippi. Most of these
pioneers purchased their outfit at St. Louis.
The sale of these supplies materially in-
creased the traffic and resources of the young
settlement. From its humble beginning the
commerce of St. Louis rapidly expanded to
important proportions. In 1821 the proxi-
mate value of the fur trade of the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers was $600,000 a year, and
the annual imports of St. Louis were esti-
mated at more than $2,000,000. Even as
early as 1821 sagacious minds had already
predicted the construction of a highway to
the Pacific which would bear across the con-
tinent the rich freights of Oriental com-
Prof. S. W.\terhouse.
The period from 1830 to 1865 may be
regarded as marking the transition from the
early primitive trade of St. Louis to its mod-
ern commerce. What existed before this
period was barter, traffic and trade, and that
which followed was the development into the
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
71
marvelous phenomenon of commerce. The
old state of things had little to do with trans-
portation and distribution, for these features
can not be said to have had an existence ;
the present state of things has everything to
do with them — for internal commerce has
come to mean not only exchanging, but car-
rying, collecting and distributing. In the old
era freight rates were hardly thought of, ex-
cept to make them as high as possible ; but
in the new era, they are computed and con-
sidered down to a fraction of a cent on the
hundredweight. St. Louis prospered when
it had little less to thrive on except the fur
trade, for the fur trade was a source of great
wealth, and it supported a considerable local
force of persons engaged in conducting it —
keel-boatmen, cordeliers, hunters, trappers
and wood-rangers ; and the going and com-
ing of its expeditions imparted an animation
and excitement which were lacking in the
other \^'estern towns of that day. But pull-
ing and poling loaded boats and barges up
stream, and floating with the mere force of
the current downstream on our great rivers,
was slow locomotion, even at the best, and
it is no wonder that the advent of steam-
boats should make the prodigious change
that it did make, and prepare the way for that
transformation of business which took place
in the last three score years of the nineteenth
century in St. Louis. Before the appearance
of steamboats the regular charge for bring-
ing freight up the river from New Orleans
was fifty cents a pound, and when, twenty
years after the landing of the first steamboat
at the .St. Louis wharf, in 1817, these river
carriers had so multiplied and the competi-
tion between them became so great as to
reduce the rate to one twenty-fifth of this
figure, some idea may be formed of the won-
derful effect which the introduction of steam
in navigation had, not only in St. Louis, but
in the entire Mississippi Valley. In the year
1897 a citizen of St. Louis was still living
who was a clerk in the Citizens' Insurance
Company in 1837, and remembered a conver-
sation in the ofifice of the company between
Captain Aleck Scott and other steamboat-
men, in which the decline of freight rates be-
tween St. Louis and New Orleans to $2
a hundred was sadly lamented as presag-
ing the doom of the river business : boats
could not do the work at such a rate and live,
and iniless it could be brought back to what
it was ten years before, the good times of
steamboating might be considered as gone
forever. It was some years after this — from
1845 to i860 — that the steamboat era may
be considered to have reached its climax, and
it was a time in which a fierce rush of busi-
ness and an unaccustomed prosperitv disre-
garded all such things as commissions, costs
and rates, provided only the articles needed
were supplied — when the increasing volume
of trade pressed so strongly upon the means
of accommodating it that recklessness and
extravagance were the order of the day.
There was profit in anything and everything,
for immigration was pouring into Missouri,
Illinois, and the adjacent States, both from
Europe and the Atlantic region ; the gold
mines of California and Nevada were yield-
ing their stream of treasure ; and that vast
overland trade and travel which preceded the
building of the first railway to the Pacific
Coast was at its height. It was the steamboat
era, and it was the transition era between the
primitive age of keelboats, which ended about
1830, and the railroad era, which began about
1865. In 1827, only ten years after the ap-
pearance of the first steamboat at St. Louis,
there were six steamboats, besides a number
of keels, engaged in the trade between St.
Louis and Ferre River, Illinois, at that time
the seat of an active lead business, and the
"Republican" of April 19th, of that year,
speaks of a show of business at the wharf the
past week, greater than had ever been wit-
nessed before, and of an "unprecedented"
number of arrivals. Five years later there
were eight steamboat arrivals reported for
the year 1832, and the whole number of
steamboats on the Mississippi and its tribu-
taries was given at two hundred and thirty.
A merchant of Portland, in Callaway County,
who kept a record of steamboats that passed
that place in 1852, had the names of one hun-
dred and five different boats that had gone
up and down the Missouri River in that year.
One day in April, 1837, it was proudly an-
nounced that there were thirty-three steam-
boats receiving and discharging at the St.
Louis levee. In the following year— 1838 —
there were one hundred and fifty-four steam-
boats entered at the port of St. Louis. In
1842 there were four hundred and fifty
steamboats employed on the Mississippi and
its tributaries — nearly double the number re-
ported ten years before; and in 1843 tliere
72
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
were six hundred and seventy-two, among
them the "J- M. White," whose famous trip
from New Orleans to St. Louis that year, in
three days twenty-three hours and nine min-
utes, remained the climax of steamboat
achievement for nearly thirty years after-
ward. That this steamboat era which bridged
over the period between 1830 and 1865, or
between the primitive trade and the modern
railroad era of commerce, was amazingly
prosperous, is demonstrated by the enor-
mous growth of population in St. Louis. In
1830 it was less than 5,000; in 1840 it was
over 16,000, an increase of 230 per cent in
ten years. But the next decade showed a
still more marvelous growth — from 16,469 to
77,860 — an increase of over 372 per cent.
And in the following decade, from 1850 to
i860, there was an increase from 77,860 to
185,587, or more than a doubling. In the
thirty years from 1830 to i860 the increase
was thirty-six fold. St. Louis has been the
center of a prosperous business of exchange
in all its conditions — in the keelboating days,
from 1780 to 1820, when the freight rate was
fifty cents a pound ; in the steamboat age
which followed, from 1830 to 1865, when the
bulk of its annual commerce was one million
tons ; and in the railroad age in which we are
now — 1898 — living, when its annual com-
merce is estimated at $600,000,000. But
while its colossal proportions as a great man-
ufacturing and commercial city are due, in a
great measure, to the vast railroad systems
that converge within its limits, history will
always point to the transition period, or
steamboat age, as the days of its most ex-
uberant growth.
A glance at the map of the United States
shows St. Louis located near the center,
about midway between the British American
line on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on
the south, and about midway, also, between
the two oceans on the east and west. And
when to this central geographical location is
added its commanding position at the center
of the fluvial system of the great Mississippi
Valley, on the middle section of the mighty
stream which, with its tributaries, presents
over ten thousand miles of navigable water
line, its importance as a collecting and dis-
tribtiting point for the products of this vast
territory becomes apparent. And even this
does not exhaust the natural advantages of
St. Louis. It possesses the additional one of
being situated within twenty miles of the
point where the two greatest rivers of the
valley flow together, and only a short dis-
tance from the mouth of the Ohio, the next
largest river of the valley. It is true that
river transportation has lost much of its im-
portance since that prodigious development
of railroad construction in the country which
was witnessed between 1850 and 1890; but it
maintained its value long enough to decide
the location of all the large cities in the cen-
tral west, for we find them all situated on
navigable rivers and lakes, and this arrange-
ment itself helps to fortify the commanding
natural position of St. Louis. With New Or-
leans, the largest city in the South, control-
ling the mouth of the Mississippi, and the
twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis at the
head of the great river, and its river connec-
tion with them carefully maintained, it is not
possible that the supremacy of St. Louis as
the chief commercial center and distributing
point of the Mississippi Valley shall ever be
lost. Before steamboats were thought of, St.
Louis was an important trading- post, and
before they came into use as reliable means
of transportation, it was the largest town in
the Central West, with a population of ten
thousand souls ; and this pre-eminence has
been maintained through its natural advan-
tages of position, reinforced by an intelligent
and enterprising community. In 1890 it had
a population of 451,770, and in 1900 a popu-
lation of 575,238, marking it as one of the
great cities of the earth. And it possesses
an importance beyond that of mere numbers.
Its commerce and manufactures exceed even
its population in a reckoning of its greatness,
for statistics show that the increase of its
manufactures between 1880 and 1890 was
three times as great as the increase of its
population, and the record of its receipts and
shipments of produce and merchandise ex-
hibit a corresponding growth of its commerce.
In the twenty-nine years of 1870 to 1899 the
population did not double. But in the same
period the amount of freight received in the
city from all sources, by river and rail, more
than quadrupled, increasing from 3,182,722
tons to 15,272,482 tons. In the first twenty
years of this period, from 1870 to 1890, the
L^nited States census shows that the capital
employed in manufactures in the city in-
creased more than fourfold — from $29,977,-
292 to $140,775,392; and the value of the
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
73
gross product turned out more than trebled
— increasing from $62,832,570 to $228,714,-
317. The reasonable estimated figures of the
product of 1896, as given in the Merchants'
Exchange annual statement of the trade and
commerce of the city for that year, are $300,-
000,000. While, therefore, the city's popula-
tion was not doubled, in the period between
1870 and 1899, its receipts of freight were
more than quadrupled, and its manufactures
more than quadrupled in value. While there
was 15,272.482 tons of freight received in the
city in the year 1897, there was 8,469,598
tons shipped from it. Of course the ship-
ments embraced a large proportion of the
receipts — raw material, such as lumber, tim-
ber, iron, lead and ore coming in as receipts
and going as shipments in the form of fin-
ished manufactures. Nevertheless, the re-
ceiving and the shipping constituted two
separate carriages, and each carriage was a
contribution to the commerce of the city.
The receipts (15,272,482 tons) and the ship-
ments (8,469,598 tons) added together make
the aggregate of 23,742,080 tons, and this
enormous freight tonnage represents the
bulk of St. Louis commerce. In 1866 the re-
ceipts of wheat at St. Louis were $4,410,305
bushels ; corn, 7,233,671 bushels ; oats, 3,568,-
253 bushels; rye, 375,417 bushels, and barley,
548,797 bushels, making a total of grain re-
ceipts for that year of 16,114,000 bushels. In
1892 the receipts were, of wheat, 27,483,855
bushels; corn, 32,030,030 bushels; oats, 10,-
604,810 bushels; rye, 1,189,153 bushels; bar-
ley, 2,691,249 bushels, making a total of grain
receipts of 72,998,000 bushels. In the period
of twenty-six years, the receipts had more
than trebled. But commerce means shipping
as well as receiving, and the statistics show
that the shipments of grain from St. Louis
increased from 10,033,000 bushels, in 1866, to
43,131,000 bushels, in 1892; and the grain
trade, receipts and shipments, increased in
the period referred to from26,445,ooobushels
to 117,128,000 bushels. The receipts of coal
in the year 1870 were 23,931,475 bushels; in
1899 they were 109,067,875 bushels. In 1875
the receipts of lumber were 474,099,000 feet;
in 1899 they were 1,148,124,000 feet. In 1865
the receipts of live stock were : Cattle, 94.307
head; sheep, 52,133 head; hogs, 99,663 head
— total, 246,103 head. In 1899 they were:
Cattle, 766.932 head; sheep, 432,566 head;
hogs, 2,147,144 head ; horses and mules, 130,-
236 head — total, 3,475,948 head. In 1868 the
receipts of hams and meats were 46,753,360
pounds, and of lard 5,941,650 pounds. In
1899 they were, of hams and meats, 269,510,-
100 pounds, and of lard 52,792,420 pounds.
In 1875 the receipts of wool were 4,249,307
pounds; of hides, 7,310 bundles; and of furs
and peltries, 16,588 bundles. In 1899 the re-
ceipts were, of wool, 28,491,625 pounds; of
hides, 68,933,720 pounds; and of furs and
pehries, 259,256 bundles. In 1870 the re-
ceipts of lead were 237.039 pigs; in 1899 they
were 1,611,112 pigs. In 1885 the shipments
of white lead were 29,161,275 pounds; in 1899
they were 48,460,250 pounds. In 1883 the
receipts of boots and shoes were 301.385
cases; in 1899 they were 1,305,679 cases. In
1866-7 the receipts of cotton were 19,838
bales ; in 1894-5 they were 249,264 bales.
The foreign commerce of the country con-
sists of its exports and imports, and the com-
merce of a city may likewise be taken to
mean its receipts and shipments, the differ-
ence between these being what is consumed
by its own population. A great commercial
city is a distributing point, continually gath-
ering and continually giving out — receiving
and distributing. Through the complex
agencies of accumulated capital, railways,
steamers, warehouses, elevators, tugs, barges,
depots, stationhouses, switches, machinery
for economical handling, and also through
the agency of persons expert in judging, in-
specting, grading, selling and buying, it at-
tracts commodities from the surrounding
regions and even from distant parts of the
whole world to be sold and bought, making
it a saving both to buyers to buy and to sell-
ers to sell in its markets, rather than for buy-
ers to order direct from sellers, or for sellers
to send direct to buyers. It is this commer-
cial property and power, acquired through
centuries of patient, skillful management,
backed by enormous capital, that has made
England, in a higher degree than any other
country, the mart of the world — a place
where it is cheaper to purchase many prod-
ucts than in the very countries where they
are produced — a place where it is more ad-
vantageous to sell certain products than in
the very country where they are most
wanted. The merchants of Kansas do not
buy Louisiana sugar, molasses and rice in
Louisiana, but in St. Louis, because it is
cheaper and more convenient to do so ; and
74
COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
the Louisiana planter does not order his corn
and pork from Kansas, but from St. Louis,
for the same reason. New Orleans buys the
products of Nebraska in St. Louis, and
Omaha buys Georgia watermelons in St.
Louis. And not only does the situation of
St. Louis near the center of the Mississippi
Valley, half way between the North and the
South, and on the middle section of the
Mississippi River, indicate it as the proper
distributing point for a wide region, but it
possesses artificial appliances and instrumen-
talities for distribution whose value and effi-
ciency can hardly be estimated — twenty-three
great railroads, whose tracks run into the
same vast train shed, and whose trains de-
liver their passengers at the common Union
Station ; two bridges across the Mississippi
river; one hundred and fifty miles of street
railway, affording cheap and rapid transit to
all parts of the city; twenty-eight elevators
for handling and storing grain ; over a hun-
dred steam craft engaged in river service ;
twenty-three banks and trust companies,
with an aggregate capital, surplus and de-
posits of $127,000,000; a spacious Merchants'
Exchange and a Cotton Exchange, where
buyers and sellers meet daily for the transac-
tion of business ; numerous hotels for the
accommodation of visitors who come on bus-
iness or pleasure ; ample libraries and reading
rooms ; spacious parks ; and an annual fair
for the exhibition of domestic animals, farm,
garden, orchard and vineyard products, ma-
chinery, implements and works of art. These
accessories and adjuncts attract buyers and
sellers from all parts of the world, and invite
the shipment of commodities to its markets
by guaranteeing the prompt sale of them at
the prevailing prices and at the smallest cost.
It is not strange, therefore, to learn from the
annual reports of its Merchants' Exchange,
and its various boards and associations, that
St. Louis is the mart and supply center for a
very large area of the fertile and productive
valley of the Mississippi, and that its prosper-
ity and wealth are founded on this relation.
Its receipts of grain, flour, hay and potatoes
in the year 1899 were valued at $25,000,000;
its receipts of dairy products, staple vege-
tables, fruits and salt were valued at $10,500,-
000 more; its receipts of groceries at $50,-
000,000; of dry goods at $40,000,000: of
drugs, chemicals and medicines at $20,000.-
000; of hardware at $10,000,000; of boots
and shoes at $32,000,000; of wool, hides, furs
and peltries and leather at $9,000,000 ; of lead,
zinc, iron and steel at $10,000,000; of cattle,
hogs, sheep, horses and mules at $35,000,000;
of hog products and beef at $11,000,000;
of coal and lumber at $14,000,000 — the aggre-
gate of these being $246,000,000. But St.
Louis is an industrial city, as well as a com-
mercial city, if, indeed, in a fair reckoning its
industries would not outrank its commerce.
It is the seat of thriving manufactures of
flour, white lead, oils, boots and shoes, cloth-
ing, chewing and smoking tobacco, architec-
tural iron, stoves and wire, and it is certain
that a large portion of the wheat, pig lead,
pig iron, steel, seeds, hides, leather, dry
goods, lumber, coal and leaf tobacco was
used up as raw material in its mills, factories
and shops and made into finished and more
valuable products to be shipped ofif for con-
sumption elsewhere. It had, in 1896. 6,500
manufacturing establishments, with an ag-
gregate capital of $150,000,000, employing
95,000 persons, paying out in wages $57,000.-
000 a year and consuming raw materials
valued at $130,000,000 a year. Only one-
half of the $260,000,000 worth of commodi-
ties which made up its receipts, brought by
rail and river to its warehouses, in 1896,
therefore, was reshipped in their crude form ;
the other half was used to feed the city's in-
dustrial establishments. But they were not
lost to its commerce. On the contrary, they
were returned to the channels of trade in a
doubly valuable form, for the product of the
city's manufactures in 1896 was valued at
$300,000,000. In other words the $130,000,-
000 worth of grain, lead, cloth, hides, leather,
iron, steel, lumber and leaf tobacco, which
the city used, not only furnished a living to
95.000 work people, but came out of their
hands doubled in value. Making a reason-
able allowance for the portion of these man-
ufactures consumed by its own population, it
may be assumed that $260,000,000 worth of
St. Louis manufactures were shipped away in
1896. And the statistics show that, in addi-
tion to this shipment of manufactures, there
was shipped also $60,000,000 worth of grain,
cotton, lead, hay, meats, cattle, hogs, horses
and mules, eggs, fruit, vegetables, hitles and
wool. Adding together these three sums —
$260,000,000, representing the total receipts ;
$60,000,000, representing that portion of
these receipts sent ofif in a crude form ; and
COMMERCIAL CLUB— COMMERCIAL CLUB OF KANSAS CITY.
75
$260,000,000, representing the value of the
manufactures shipped away, and we liave
$580,000,000 as the vahie of the commerce of
St. Louis in 1896.
D. M. Grissom.
Commercial Club. — One of the most
prominent, active and influential clubs of St.
Louis, whose chief objects are somewhat in-
dicated by its name, but whose social and
personal attributes have much to do with the
high position it maintains among other simi-
lar associations of the city. It was organized
in 1881, with Gerard B. Allen as president;
E. O. Stanard, vice president ; Joseph Frank-
lin, treasurer ; Newton Crane, secretary, and
Edwin Harrison, E. C. Simmons and S. M.
Dodd, who, with the officers, composed the
executive committee. Its purpose is to "ad-
vance by social intercourse, and by a friendly
interchange of views, the commercial pros-
perity of the city of St. Louis." Its select
and exclusive character is protected by the
limitation of membership to sixty active mem-
bers, with such honorary members as may be
added from time to time — nominations for
membership are made by the executive com-
mittee, and, if approved by them, are re-
ported to the club and balloted for at the
next meeting for election. Three negative
votes exclude a candidate. The entrance fee
is five dollars. Any member submitted by the
unanimous vote of the executive committee
may be placed on the honorary list by the
unanimous vote at any meeting; and any
member, seventy years of age or over, who
has been a member for a period of not less
than ten years, may be placed on the hon-
orary list by the unanimous vote of the
executive committee. In the admission of
members due regard is had to the branches
of business in which they are engaged, so
that the various commercial interests of the
city shall be represented. The annual dues
for members are fifty dollars, honorary
members being exempt. Meetings are held
monthly, except during the summer, and any
member absenting himself from three con-
secutive meetings shall be considered to have
withdrawn from the club, and his name shall
be stricken from the roll, unless, upon report
of the facts, the clul? shall otherwise order.
Members may invite a friend, with the per-
mission of the executive committee, to attend
a meeting of the club, but no guest shall be
present on more than one occasion, except by
special invitation of the club itself. In 1898
there were fifty-six active members and ten
honorary members, and twenty-one members
have died since the first organization. The
club is constituted without regard to politics,
and does not deal with party disputes as a
general rule ; but this rule, which is implied
rather than expressed, does not debar it from
an active interest and participation in impor-
tant public questions on which there is unan-
imity of opinion among its members. It took
an energetic part, soon after its organization,
in the movement for a reconstruction of the
streets of St. Louis, and it is largely due to
its efforts, and the information on the subject
given in a report made by it to the public, that
the mud and dust of the macadam and the
rotting wooden blocks of a former day have
been replaced by the clean, firm and im-
perishable granite blocks with which the
streets are now laid. The club's efforts in
this behalf were followed by a vigorous
action in favor of the general system of street
sprinkling for the city, which has taken the
place of the incomplete and unsatisfactory
method by private subscription which for-
merly prevailed. At a later day the organi-
zation took a conspictious and leading part
in opposition to free silver coinage in the
national controversy on that issue which
preceded the presidential election of 1896.
One of the duties which the club imposes
upon itself, in the prosecution of its supreme
purpose to "advance the commercial pros-
perity of the city of St. Louis," is that of
interchanging courtesies with other cities,
particularly Chicago, Cincinnati and Boston,
in each of which a similar club exists, and be-
tween which and the Commercial Club of St.
Louis cordial relations are maintained. The
St. Louis Commercial Club has paid visits to
each of these cities upon the invitation of
their clubs, and has, in turn, entertained
successively the- Commercial Club of each.
Commercial Club of Kansas City.
For a number of years, the business men of
Kansas City were without any organization
whatever, with the exception of the Board
of Trade and Live Stock Exchange, both of
these organizations being formed and con-
ducted for the purpose of trading, tlie one in
live stock and the other in grain. .\nd while
it is true that the Board of Trade took more
or less interest in public affairs, the jobbers
76
COMMERCIAL CLUB OF KANSAS CITY
and manufacturers were of the opinion that
there should be an organization whose chief
business would be to promote Kansas City's
welfare as a commercial and manufacturing
center. Accordingly, in December, 1887, a
meeting of business men was called, the
result of which was the formation of the
Commercial Club. The organization was in-
corporated in December, 1887, and its object
is fully stated in the incorporation papers as
follows : "The objects of the association
shall be to promote the progress, extension,
and increase of the trade and industries of
Kansas City, acquire and disseminate valu-
able commercial and economical information,
promote just and equitable principles of trade
and foster the highest commercial integrity
among those engaged in the various lines of
business represented ; to increase acquain-
tanceship among its members and facilitate
the speedy adjustment, by arbitration, of
business disputes ; to interchange views and
secure concerted action upon matters of
public interest, freely discuss and correct
abuses, using such means as may be best cal-
culated to protect the interests and rights of
its members as business men and citizens,
looking chiefly toward the commercial
development of the city."
The officers consist of a president, first and
second vice presidents, secretary and a treas-
urer. The Board of Directors number fifteen
and from their number they choose all of the
officers except the secretary, who is ap-
pointed. The club's year dates from the
first of September. The standing committees
of the Commercial Club are as follows :
Executive committee, house committee, arbi-
tration committee, committee on agriculture,
auditing committee, entertainment commit-
tee, insurance committee, committee on
manufactures, committee on mercantile
library, committee on municipal legislation,
committee on State and national legislation,
trade extension committee, transportation
committee.
From an organization consisting of a few
jobbers and manufacturers, the Commercial
Club has grown to a membership of 235,
embracing an individual membership of 575.
Memberships in the Commercial Club are
taken either by the individual or by the firm
or corporation, which is entitled to be repre-
sented by either the individual, a member of
the firm or an officer of the corporation. The
club embraces men who are engaged actively
in jobbing or manufacturing, as well as pro-
fessional men.
One of the great accomplishments of the
Commercial Club has been to have the bus-
iness men of Kansas City become acquainted
with each other. Previous to the organiza-
tion of this club, business men in the same
line of business scarcely knew each other,
but now they all feel upon friendly terms
with their competitors, and the members of
the club feel that the bringing about of this
result has been a great work. In the way of
practical work the Commercial Club formed
what is known as the Transportation Bureau,
presided over by a competent freight man,
whose business it is to look after the freight
and passenger business in which Kansas
City is interested, and see to it that her mer-
chants are not discriminated against in the
matter of freight rates. In the accomplish-
ment of this purpose, the club members
organized a transportation company and
built a line of steamers which were used on
the Missouri River until such time as freight
rates were in such condition that the use of
these boats was not necessary. The club has
been instrumental in locating in Kansas City
several of the large jobbing and manufactur-
ing houses, has always been interested, in
everything that would tend to make this
more of a commercial and manufacturing
center, and has not been unmindful of other
things which are not strictly of a commercial
nature. The club has advocated the building
of parks and boulevards, and if the present
plans of the park board are carried out, Kan-
sas City will have some of the best parks and
boulevards of any city in this country. The
club has advocated well paved streets ; it
believes in the enforcement of sanitary laws
and the abatement of the smoke nuisance.
In the last few years the club has advocated
the building of a free public library, which
Kansas City now has : also a manual training
high school, and its most recent accomplish-
ment has been the erection of a convention
hall, capable of seating 15.000 people. The
erection of this building w^s the result of
the Commercial Club's enterprise, and they
have to their credit the completion of a
building- costing something like a quarter
of a million dollars, upon which there is
no debt. _
E. M. Clkndening.
COMMERCIAL CLUB OF ST. JOSEPH— COMMON PLEAS COURT.
Commercial Club of St. Joseph.—
A club which has for its object the promo-
tion of the business interests of St. Joseph.
It encourages new enterprises and affords
information in regard to the city. It has an
office with a secretary ever ready to impart
information. Its monthly meetings are held
in sumptuous rooms, in the Chamber of
Commerce building, where all other public
business meetings are held. This club has
cognizance of all business matters pertain-
ing to the welfare of the city. The expenses
of the club are defrayed by the annual mem-
bership fees of the business men who belong
to it.
Commissioners of Deeds. — Persons
appointed by the Governor to make certifi-
cation of deeds, conveyances of land, re-
linquishment of dower, lease of lands, con-
tracts, letters of attorney and all other writ-
ings under seal to be used or recorded in
Missouri. They may be appointed in every
State in the Union, for every Territory, and
in foreign countries where they are needed.
Commissioners of Public Print-
ing. — These are the State Auditor, the Sec-
retary of State, and the State Treasurer.
They have supervision over the printing of
the Supreme Court reports and other print-
ing for the State.
Commissioner of Public Schools.
An officer chosen by the people at the dis-
trict school meeting, on the first Tuesday in
April in the odd years. His duties are to ex-
amine applicants who desire to become
teacher's, and grant certificates to those whom
he finds qualified, receiving $1.50 from each
applicant. He makes report of the educa-
tional statistics of his county. His term of
office is two years.
Commissioners, United States. —
The office of United States commissioner has
been in existence since 1791, and has always
been a part of Federal jurisprudence. The
number of such officials in St. Louis varies
from time to time, as appointments are made
to subserve the purposes of the courts. They
are appointed by the respective United States
courts for the purpose of taking depositions
and testimony in cases pending in such
courts. They also have the power to bind
offenders against Federal laws over to the
grand jury.
Committee of Safety.— A committee
formed in St. Louis in January of 1861, with
full power to act for the Union party in in-
augurating measures designed to prevent
Missouri from joining the seceding States,
and to aid in establishing the Federal au-
thority throughout the city and State. The
committee was composed of O. D. Filley,
Samuel T. Glover, Francis P. Blair, Jr., J. J.
Witzig, John How and James O. Broadhead.
O. D. Filley was president, and James O.
Broadhead was secretary of the committee.
It maintained a paid detective force, which
reported, from time to time, material facts
relative to the movements of the secession-
ists. For a long time the committee met
every night at Turner Hall, at the corner of
Tenth and Walnut Streets, to receive these
reports and take such action as might be
deemed necessary. . (See "War Between the
States ; Federal History.")
Common Fields — The common fields
of St. Louis were lands "immediately adjoin-
ing the village on the northwest . . .set
aside for cultivation and conceded in strips
of one arpent front by forty in depth, each
applicant being allotted one or more, accord-
ing to his ability to cultivate it. . . . The
tract extended from a little below Market
Street, on the south, to opposite the Big
Mound, on the north, and from Broadway to
Jefferson Avenue, east to west." The
"common field" lots "were obtainable by
petition and grant, and belonged to the in-
habitants as fee-simple property." Every
inhabitant owning a lot in the village was
entitled to a section of the common fields,
proportioned to the size of his family and
to his ability to cultivate it. This communal
arrangement was well adapted to the condi-
tions of pioneer life in this region. It enabled
those engaged in agricultural pursuits to
carry on their work in close proximity to
each other, and to rally to each other's as-
sistance in case they were attacked by the
Indians, the establishment of such safeguards
being a wise precautionary measure.
Common Pleas Court. — See " St.
Louis Circuit Court."
78
COMMONS— COMMUNISM IN MISSOURI.
Conimons.— It was the custom of the
French and Spanish founders of new settle-
ments in the Mississippi Valley to set aside
certain lands in close proximity to their vil-
lages for village pasture lots, in which the
cattle and other live stock belonging to the
inhabitants were kept for safety and conven-
ience. Such tracts of land were not devoted
to tillage, but were public pastures and wood
lots. The benefits of the "commons" were
free to all the inhabitants of the villages to
which they were dedicated, and the grants of
land made for this purpose were sometimes
very extensive. The Cahokia common, for
instance, was some three miles long, and the
Ste. Genevieve common contained about four
thousand acres. The St. Louis "common"
was a tract of land, well watered by springs
and covered with timber, lying southwest of
the village, which contained, according to the
survey of 1833, a trifle more than 4,500 ar-
pens. This tract of land, or a considerable
portion of it, at least, "was inclosed by the
people in 1764-5," said Colonel Auguste
Chouteau, in testimony bearing on the sub-
ject in 1808. The growth of the village made
it necessary to add to the "common" from
time to time by taking more land from the
royal domain, and the area of the land fenced
in was several times extended. The "com-
mon" was the property of the village, and
was cared for by a syndic and eight umpires,
nominated by the people on the first day of
each year. The official decree under which
a title to the lands was vested in the village
was issued by Lieutenant Governor Cruzat
in 1782, and by virtue of that decree the peo-
ple of St. Louis claimed that their title to the
"common" should be confirmed to them
when the American jurisdiction was estab-
lished. In 1812 Congress recognized the
validity of the claim and confirmed the grant
by act of June 13th of that year. An act of
Congress of JMay, 1824, and of the Missouri
General Assembly of March, 1835, author-
ized the sale of this body of land with reser-
vations for schools. Soon after the legisla-
tive enactment of 1835 the people of St.
Louis, to whom the question w-as submitted,
voted in favor of the sale of the "common"
and the appropriation of one-tenth of the
proceeds of such sale to the school fund.
This act provided for a subdivision of the
land and a sale of the lots, the purchasers to
pay 5 per cent interest on the amount of the
purchase money for a period of ten years,
and at the end of that time to receive deeds
upon payment of the principal. The sale
took place in 1836, and 3,735 acres were dis-
posed of at prices aggregating $425,000.
Very soon afterward the purchasers appear
to have reached the conclusion that they had
agreed to pay too much for their lots, and
with practical unanimity defaulted in their
payments. On this account the sales were
set aside, and the city again became almost
sole owner of the "common." In 1842 a lim-
ited number of lots were again sold. In 1854
the City Council, acting under legislative au-
thority, created the "Board of City Com-
mon," which subsequently subdivided and
sold at auction lands belonging to the "com-
mon," aggregating in value $670,000, the last
sale being made in the fall of 1859. A con-
siderable portion of these lands was retained
by the city and has been appropriated to
various public uses.
Comiiuiuisiu in Missouri. — In its
primitive meaning of holding all property in
common, communism is an ancient theory,
and has had advocates and experiments for
ages. Traces of it are found in the writings
of Plato, and it is asserted that learned men
before him defined and favored it. Among
the Jews, a purist sect called the Essenes
advocated it, and in the very first year of the
founding of the Christian Church at Jerusa-
lem the followers of Jesus attempted to estab-
lish it as a part of its polity. "As many as
were possessors of lands or houses sold them
and brought the prices of the things that
were sold and laid them down at the apostles'
feet; and distribution was made unto every
man according as he had need." This was
communism, innocent, pure and simple — and
it possessed the important feature of being
strictly voluntary. It was not binding on the
individual Christians, and as there is no
further allusion to it as an existing practice
in the church, it is probable it was allowed
gradually to fall into disuse. At a later day
the Anabaptists of Muenster, the Libertines
of Switzerland and the Familists of England
advocated it, and later, still, the Shakers, the
Harmonists and the Buchanites. It found in
England such supporters as Bacon, Moore
and Robert Oliver, and in France Saint
Simon. Fourier and Proudhon. After the
Franco-German War, in 1870, the Interna-
COMMUNISM IN MISSOURI.
79
tionalists of Paris, whose theory was com-
munism, managed to secure possession of the
French capital, and their brutal excesses and
wanton destruction of property brought the
doctrine into disrepute. The Russian nihil-
ists and the anarchists of Germany make
communism one of their principles, and this
association has not commended it. Never-
theless, in spite of all the crimes committed
in its name, and all the successive failures of
the enterprises undertaken to illustrate and
commend its principles, it continues to have
its advocates who fondly contemplate a time
when society will be a vast commune, or a
system of communes, without the strife and
conflict of hostile interests which now dis-
turb it ; and one of the most popular books in
its day was Bellamy's "Looking Backward,"
giving an attractive picture of what our great
cities will be "in the good time coming,"
when competition shall have ceased, and co-
operation taken its place. Missouri has not
been without a share in the experiments to
bring about this happy condition. In the
year 1845 ^ colony of communists estab-
lished themselves on North River in Shelby
County, under the leadership of Dr. William
Kiel, who had been a Methodist clergyman
in Pennsylvania. He had been deposed for
preaching unwarranted doctrine, and when
he came to Missouri to found the colony,
his friends and followers came with him.
They purchased a tract of 1,100 acres of land,
which was made common territory ; and a
common refectory supplied meals to all who
were not married, the families dwelling in
separate houses. A colony church, built of
brick and stone, and paved with tiling, stood
in the center of the town, called Bethel, and
there regular worship was conducted every
Sunday by the leader who made claim to a
certain kind of inspiration which his followers
acquiesced in. Not far from the town was the
mansion house of Dr. Kiel, called Elim.
There were about a thousand of the colo-
nists, and their chief vocation was agriculture,
though some attention was given to the man-
ufacture of cloth from the wool of the colony
sheep, and buckskin gloves. There was a
brewery on the colony farm and a distillery,
also, at which was made a supply of lic|uor
for the colonists and some to sell. The
products of the colony farm and factories
were sold for the common good, and the
proceeds given into the hands of the treas-
urer, to be expended for the common inter-
est; a well stocked colony store supplied all
the comforts and luxuries of the colonists,
so that they had little or no use for money.
They lived mostly to themselves and were
orderly, industrious, kindly and exemplary in
all their conduct. The leader sent out mis-
sionaries armed with his authority to found
another colony at Aurora, in Oregon. Both
enterprises prospered for a time, and the
Bethel colony in Missouri was beginning to
attract attention as a successful experiment,
when dissensions about the management
crept in and impaired its integrity. Members
began to desert, and its affairs fell into dis-
order, and at last the leader. Dr. Kiel, took
his departure for Oregon, in 1858, and Bethel
colony began to fall into a ruin, and in a
short time nothing was left but deserted
buildings and an untilled farm to tell the story
of the failure.
In 1857 a commune called the Icarian set-
tlement was started at the little village of
Cheltenham, at that time five miles from St.
Louis, but now within the city limits. The
founders were followers of Etienne Cabet, a
well known Frenchman, writer and commu-
nist, who had previously made similar experi-
ments in Texas and at Nauvoo, Illinois, A
small tract of land, which included a sulphur
spring and the large stone building that had
been the country residence of William Sub-
lett, a famous Indian trader and explorer,
was purchased. The place had been used as
a summer resort, and there were several
stone cottages near the main building, which
commended the situation to the communists.
The settlement was administered by a pres-
ident and advisory council, and the members
were all on the same footing, working at
mechanical vocations and having an equal in-
terest in the common property. There were
on the place blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers,
tailors, shoemakers and cabinetmakers,
whose labors were directed to improvements
on the property, and to the manufacture of
products to be sold for the common good —
all the earnings going into the general treas-
ury. Movements and operations were con-
ducted with regularity and military precision,
the members assembling at the call of a
trumpet, in the common dining hall, and sim-
ilar blasts announcing the hours of work and
recreation. There was no common religion
and no common worship, the majority of the
COMO-COMSTOCK.
members being freethinkers. Meetings for
the discussion of social and economic ques-
tions constituted the chief entertainment.
The community possessed only limited means
from the beginning, and the conditions were
not favorable to success. The land was
bought on credit, and after seven years re-
verted to the seller. For a time affairs went
on smoothly and the settlement was pros-
perous until the Civil War came on to break
up so many enterprises, when it became a
victim of the general disorder. The settle-
ment was kept up until 1864, when it came to
an end. Other less notable experiments have
been made in the State, but all have met a
similar fate.
Coiiio.— See "Lotta."
Compton's Ferry.— A ferry crossing
on Grand River in Carroll County, which was
the scene of a fight on the nth of August,
1862, between the Union troops under Col-
onel Guitar, and a body of Confederates
under Porter. This body of Confederates
had been defeated at Kirksville a few days
before, and they were again overtaken in
their attempt to cross Grand River. A num-
ber had already crossed when the Union
troops came up with two pieces of artillery
and attacked them in the rear. They were
thrown into disorder, some throwing away
their guns and plunging into the river, some
of the horses became unmanageable and
swimming back to the shore with their riders.
Some were drowned, others killed and a con-
siderable number captured. Two days later,
on the 13th of August, the remnant that
escaped was again attacked by Colonel
Guitar at Yellow Creek, in Chariton County,
and the band completely broken up.
Comstock, T. Griswold, physician,
was born in the town of LeRoy, Genesee
County, New York, July 27, 1829, son of Lee
and Sarah (Calkins) Comstock. Both his
parents were natives of Lyme, Connecticut,
and his father was a brother of Dr. John Lee
Comstock, a surgeon of the United States
Army in the War of 1812; and the author
of "Comstock's Philosophy," "Comstock's
Chemistry," "Comstock's Geology," and
other text books on mineralogy, physiology,
natural history and physical geography. His
mother was the daughter of Dr. Daniel
Calkins who, in his day, was the most cele-
brated and accomplished physician of New
London County, Connecticut. Dr. Calkins
was a descendant, in the sixth generation, of
one of the Puritans who landed from the
"Mayflower," and Dr. Comstock, his grand-
son, belongs to the eighth generation of those
descended from the Puritan colonist. Reared
in New York State, Dr. Comstock completed
his academic studies at the high school in
his native town, and soon afterward came to-
St. Louis, where he began the study of medi-
cine. He entered upon his preparation for
the medical profession not only with the
prestige of springing from an ancestry dis-
tinguished in this field of intellectual effort,.
but with an inheritance of those qualities
which had caused such ancestors to achieve
distinction, both in medicine and in literature.
He read medicine under the preceptorship
of Dr. J. V. Prather, one of the founders of
St. Louis Medical College, then attended the
regular course of lectures at that institution,,
and received from it his first doctor's degree.
Naturally an independent thinker, the fact
that he had graduated in the allopathic
school of medicine did not prevent him from,
giving consideration to homeopathy, theit
just beginning to attract attention and re-
ceive a measure of recognition in the West^
His investigations impressed him favorably
with this system of practice, and after study-
ing homeopathy for a time under the special
direction of Dr. J. T. Temple, he went to-
Philadelphia, and became a student of the
"Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsyl-
vania."" He was graduated from that institu-
tion in 1854, and immediately thereafter
began practicing in St. Louis, meeting with;
flattering success from the start. After a
short time he went abroad to visit the hos-
pitals in Europe, and later matriculated in
the University of Vienna, where he passed'
the examination of the university in the Ger-
man language, and received the honorary
degree of master in obstetrics — doctor of
midwifery. He resumed the practice of his-
profession in St. Louis in 1858, and in a com-
paratively short time he had not only taken
rank among the leading physicians of the city
as a practitioner, but had become conspicu-
ously identified also with medical, educational
and hospital work. He has ever since that
time occupied a commanding position in his-
profession and has left the strong impress of
J^ ^7^;-/.-^-.^^ .■^<rr77/y ./^
CONANT— CONCORDIA.
81
his individuality upon homeopathy in the
West. He was professor of obstetrics in the
St. Louis College of Physicians and Sur-
geons/and when that institution was merged
into the Homeopathic College of Missouri,
he was appointed to the same chair in the
last named college. Some years since he
retired from the active duties of professor,
and has been elected emeritus professor. At
the special request of the faculty and students
of the Homeopathic College of Missouri, for
the past three years he has continued to de-
liver his course of lectures during the ses-
sions of the college, fulfilling the duties of an
acting professor with the same enthusiasm
and erudition as in former years. In recog-
nition of his attainments and of his distin-
guished services in connection with the
development of medical science, the St. Louis
University conferred upon him the honorary
degree of master of arts and doctor of phi-
losophy. In 1862 he was appointed surgeon
of the First Missouri Regiment of Volunteer
Infantry, and served for a short time under
General John B. Gray, resigning to take up
his private practice. He was primarius phy-
sician on the staff of the Good Samaritan
Hospital for more than twenty years and at
the present time — 1898 — is president of the
medical staff of the St. Louis Children's Hos-
pital. His practice has always remained gen-
eral, although he has been most widely
consulted as an authority on obstetrics and
gynecological surgery. He has been through-
out his long and useful career a close
student, and his library is one of the largest
medical libraries owned by any physician in
the West, his collection of medical literature
covering a wide range of thought, research
and investigation, and including many works
published in foreign languages, as well as in
the English language. A chivalrous devotion
to his profession has operated to prevent him
from participating actively in politics or pub-
lic affairs, but he has always had well de-
fined political views, and has been known as
a staunch Republican. He is an Episcopalian
churchman, and a member of Christ Church
Cathedral, of St. Louis. October 21, 1862,
he married Miss Marilla H. Eddy, eldest
daughter of J. Phillips Eddy, of the old
wholesale dry goods house of Eddy & Jame-
son. Dr. Comstock is one of the founders
of the Humane Society of Missouri for the
protection of children and animals against
cruelty. For some years past he has been
chairman of its executive committee, and he
is still an enthusiastic worker in the alliance,
and spends a good deal of his time in the
interests of the cause. Not the least valuable
services which Dr. Comstock has rendered
to his profession has been the preparation of
an admirable historical sketch of "Homeo-
pathy in St. Louis," which appears elsewhere
in these volumes.
Conant, A. J., archaeologist, was born
in Vermont, in 1821, and came to St. Louis in
1857. He made the Indian Mounds in St.
Louis and in Illinois the subject of careful
and diligent study, and contributed to Camp-
bell's "Commonwealth of Missouri" an article
which is regarded as high authority. He
found four kinds of mounds in Missouri and
the American Bottom in Illinois — burial
mounds, including caves or artificial caverns ;
sacrificial mounds ; garden mounds ; and mis-
cellaneous works — and he treats them in an
interesting and instructive manner.
Conception. — A town in Nodaway
County, fifteen miles southeast of Maryville,
near the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Rail-
road. It was founded in i860 by Father
Powers, Owen Reilly and Anthony Felix, and
was named in honor of the Immaculate Vir-
gin. It was made the center of the Reading
colony established by the same persons. A
tract of forty acres was platted and the colony
house and chapel built and dedicated. Seven
years later, in 1867, a Catholic Church was
erected. In 1880 a monastery was built,
which is now called the Benedictine Abbey,
New Engelberg. It is four stories high and
has forty-six rooms and fine halls. In it is
conducted a theological school and a high
school for boys. There are two libraries, one
for the abbey and one for the people — the
former containing 3,000 books, some of them
very old and rare. A mile and a half
from the abbey is a Sisters' convent, a four-
story building, and a new house completed
in 1882. The population of the town in 1899
was 150.
Concord.— See "Plattsburg."
Concordia.— A city of the fourth class,
in Lafayette County, on the Missouri Pacific
Railway, twenty-four miles southeast of Lex-
82
CONCORDIA COLLEGE.
ington, the county seat. It is the seat of a
large German settlement. It has a public
school; an Evangelical Lutheran male sem-
inary, St. Paul's College, with three teachers,
forty-three students, and property valued at
$18,000; three German parochial schools;
two Lutheran Churches, an Evangelical
Church, a Baptist Church and a Methodist
Episcopal Church ; a Republican newspaper,
the "Concordian;" two banks, a creamery,
a flourmill and a fruit cannery. There are
coal mines in the vicinity. In 1899 the pop-
ulation was 1,300. In 1856 Henry Flander-
meyer and Louis Bergman operated a large
flourmill here. The town was platted in 1868
by a joint stock company, consisting of G. P.
Gordon, George S. Rathburn, and others.
The name was given it by its German resi-
dents.
Concordia College. — This institution
was founded in 1839, at Altenburg, Perry
County, Missouri, where it was housed in a
log hut, constructed by the first faculty of the
college shortly after their arrival in this
country with the Saxton colonists, who came
here to enjoy religious liberty for themselves
and their children. That first building was
dedicated in_ October, 1839, and the first
faculty consisted of C. F. W. Walther, J. F.
Buenger, O. Fuerbringer and Th. J. Brohm.
All these men were before long called away
to serve in various parts of the country as
Lutheran ministers, and the only instructor
of the school was, for a time, the Rev.
Loeber, of Altenburg, until he received an
assistant, J. Goenner, in 1843. After the or-
ganization of the Missouri Synod it was for
various reasons deemed preferable to have
this school located in St. Louis, and the con-
gregations of that place offered two acres of
land and $2,000 in cash for the erection of
suitable buildings, and the proceeds of their
cemetery and of the sale of the hymn book
published by them, for the maintenance of
the college. On November 8, 1849, the
cornerstone of the first building was laid, and
in the same year. Rector Goenner with his
students arrived from Altenburg. The build-
ing was dedicated June 11, 1850. and occupied
by the professors and their families, with six-
teen students. To the professorship of theol-
ogy the pastor of the St. Louis congregation,
C. F. W. Walther, had been called by the
Synod, and in 1850 Professor A. Biewend was
called, chiefly for the classical department.
In 1856 two more instructors were added,
G. Schick and A. Saxer, and Dr.
G. Seyffarth, formerly professor of
archaeology in the University of Leip-
zig and a renowned Egyptologist, was
received as a teacher of theology and history.
Additions were made to the first building
until the original plan, comprising a main
building with two wings, was completed in
1857. In 1858 the institution suffered a seri-
ous loss in the death of Professor Biewend.
In December of the same year Professor R.
Lange, formerly of St. Charles College, was
called, and in 1859 Professor Larsen was
appointed by the Norwegian Synod, whose
students were to receive their education in
Concordia College until the Synod would
provide a college of its own. In 1861 Pro-
fessor Seyffarth left to pursue his scientific
researches in New York, and Professor Lar-
sen was called as the director of the college
which the Norwegian Synod had concluded
to erect. In the same year, however, a more
radical change was brought about, as the
classical department of Concordia College
was, with Professors Lange, Schick and
Saxer, removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
while the Practical Theological Seminary of
the Synod, with Professor Craemer, was re-
moved from Fort Wayne to St. Louis to be
united with the "Theoretical Seminary'' un-
der the supervision of Professor Walther.
Rector Goenner was pensioned on account of
advanced age. In 1863 a third professor of
theology, Professor Brauer, was installed,
and in 1865 Professor Baumstark took charge
of a preparatory department to the Practical
Seminary. For a number of years the Rev.
Theo. Brohm served as instructor in Hebrew.
After Baumstark's apostasy, in 1869, Dr.
E. Preuss, formerly of the University of Ber-
lin, was appointed to a fourth theological
professorship. He remained until 1872, when
Professor F. A. Schmidt, of the Norwegian
Synod, was appointed to a professorship in
the seminary, as quite a number of Norwegi-
an and Danish students pursued their studies
there. In the same year Professor G. Schal-
ler was added to the faculty, and Professor
Brauer accepted a call to the pastorate of
Trinity Church, St. Louis. In 1873 Profes-
sor M. Guenther was called. Until 1875 all
the professors lectured to the students- of
both seminaries, l^ut in tliat vear the Prac-
I
CONDE-CONFEDERATE CEMETERY.
tical Seminary, with Professor Craemer, re-
moved to Springfield, Illinois. In 1876
Professor Schmidt, was, by his Synod, trans-
ferred to Aladison, Wisconsin. In 1878 Pro-
fessors R. Lange and F. Pieper were called.
In 1887 Professor Dr. Walther died, and Pro-
fessor Pieper succeeded him in the presidency
and in the chair of systematic and pastoral
theology. In the same year Professor A. L.
Graebner was added to the faculty. In 1892
Professor Guenther died, and in the follow-
ing year Professor Lange. In 1893 Profes-
sor L. Fuerbringer and F. Bente were
appointed, and in 1897 a sixth professorship
was founded and filled by the appointment of
Professor G. Metzger. The course of studies
comprises three years, the students being all
then postgraduates, having completed a six
years' collegiate course. Lectures are given
in German, English and Latin. Graduates
from this institution are to be found not only
all over the United States and the Canadas,
but also in Europe, Africa and Australia. In
1882 the old building was taken down, and on
the same site and adjacent grounds the pres-
ent stately structure was erected at a cost of
$150,000 and completed in 1883.
Prof. Augustus L- Graebner.
Coiide, Andrew Augiiste, pioneer
physician, was born in the Province of Aunis,
France, and died in St. Louis in 1776. He
was educated and fitted for the practice of his
profession in his native land, and then en-
tered the French colonial service as a military
surgeon. Coming by way of Canada to the
Illinois country, he was stationed at Fort
Chartres as post surgeon when that fort was
surrendered to the English in 1765. He came
to St. Louis immediately afterward with St.
Ange, and in 1766 received a concession of
two village lots fronting on Second Street.
On this ground he built a primitive home-
stead, in which he continued to reside up to
the time of his death. He was a man of fine
education, and practiced his profession dur-
ing the years of his residence there. He was
the first physician to begin practice in the new
colony, and hence the father of the medical
profession in St. Louis. His practice ex-
tended to the French settlements on the op-
posite side of the river, and at his death an
inventory of his estate gave the names of
233 persons indebted to him for professional
services, the list being so large as to consti-
tute an almost complete directory of the in-
habitants of this region. He had two daugh-
ters, both of whom survived him, and both
of whom reared large families of children.
He has, therefore, numerous representatives
in the older French families of St. Louis, al-
though none of his descendants bear his
name.
" Conditional Union Men."— This
term, which grew up in 1861 during the dis-
cussions preceding the election of delegates
to the State Convention of February of that
year, described all who, while being uncon-
ditionally opposed to secession and disunion,
were also opposed to coercion, or the armed
opposition of the Federal government to se-
cession. If the Southern States would with-
draw from the Union, they would let them
go, Dut Missouri ought not to go with them.
This was the view of a large majority of the
people of the State, and among its conspicu-
ous advocates were Hamilton R. Gamble, of
St. Louis ; James S. Rollins, of Boone ; Col-
onel A. W. Doniphan, of Clay; John S.
Phelps, of Greene; Sterling Price, of Chari-
ton ; L^riel Wright, of St. Louis ; Judge Wil-
liam A. Hall, of Randolph, and Judge John F.
Ryland, of Lafayette. The name did not sur-
vive Camp Jackson. After that sharp event
most of the Conditional Unionists became
unconditional supporters of the Federal gov-
ernment, while a few, among them Sterling
Price and Uriel Wright, cast their fortunes
with the Confederate cause.
Confederate Cemetery. — In 1869
the Confederate Burial Association of Mis-
souri was formed, and committees were
appointed to secure means for the removal
of the remains of Confederate soldiers in and
about Springfield to a permanent cemetery.
Many ex-Federals and their families gave
active assistance. About $3,000 was secured,
and three and one-half acres of ground were
acquired, adjoining the National Cemetery,
three miles southeast of Springfield. The
bodies of 501 ex-Confederate soldiers were
interred at the beginning, brought in almost
equal numbers from the battle grounds of
Springfield and Wilson's Creek. Few of the
bodies were identified, and the majority were
marked "unknown." June 12th (the Con-
federate Decoration Day) the grounds were
dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, in
84
CONFEDERATE FLAG, FIRST IN MISSOURI.
presence of a large concourse of people from
various portions of the State, when an ora-
tion was delivered by Colonel Celsus Price,
of St. Louis, son of General Sterling Price.
As the only distinctive Confederate cemetery
in the State, in 1882 it was adopted by the
ex-Confederate Association of Missouri as
the special object of their care, and that body
contributed $6,000 for the erection of the
massive stone wall surrounding the grounds.
In 1898 the Daughters of the Confederacy
began the creation of a fund for the erection
of a monument upon the grounds. This
monument was erected under the auspices of
the United Confederate Veterans' Associa-
tion of Missouri in 1900. It is the work of
Chevalier Trentanove, of Washington, D. C,
and shows the figure of a Confederate soldier
with folded arms, bareheaded and his hair
brushed back from his forehead. He is
dressed in the uniform of a Confederate
private, with his pants tucked in his boots.
The figure, which is of heroic size, stands on
a pedestal of Vermont granite twenty feet in
height, one of the panels bearing a bas-relief
portrait of General Sterling Price and the
words : "To the Memory of the Confederate
Dead." The cost was $12,000.
Confederate Flag, First in Mis-
souri. — It is stated on good authority that
at Sarcoxie, in Jasper County, the home of
James Rains, who became a brigadier general
in the Confederate service, was floated the
first Confederate flag in Missouri. It was
known to be in existence prior to the com-
mencement of hostilities, but was not pub-
licly displayed until the fall of Fort Sumter,
in April, 1861. It was twenty-seven feet long,
and was hoisted upon a hundred-foot flag-
staff, which was cut down by Colonel Sigel's
troops when they entered the place, in July
of that year, on their way to Neosho. It is
further stated that a schoolhouse in the vicin-
ity was fired by a Federal soldier, in revenge
for a "tarring and feathering" received by
him as an abolitionist, when he was a teacher
there months before.
Confederate Home of Missouri. —
A State institution, designed as a home
for honorable Confederate soldiers residing
within the bounds of the State, who, from
wounds or disease or infirmity of age, are no
longer able to support themselves. In some
cases the wife of a veteran is also admitted.
It is located on the line of the Jefferson City,
Boonville & Lexington Railway, two miles
northwest of Higginsville. The grounds
comprise 362 acres, and are utilized in large
part for farm purposes, and for garden
and dairy products, hogs and chickens.
The buildings include the home proper,
of brick, two stories, with full basement, sup-
plied with hot and cold water, and lighted
with gas, with a library of 4,000 volumes ; a
two-story frame hospital, with steam and gas ;
a two-story frame building for the superin-
tendent and his family ; a chapel, for religious
meetings ; thirteen three-room and one two-
room cottages, for veterans and their wives,
and two frame houses, with necessary barns.
Upon the grounds is a cemetery of nearly
three acres, title to which is in the Confed-
ate Association of Missouri; the Daughters
of the Confederacy provide headstones for
graves, and a fund is being secured for the
erection of a memorial monument. The man-
agement of the home is vested in a board of
managers, appointed by the Governor, who
appoint a superintendent, a matron, a com-
mandant and a surgeon. In 1899 the average
number of beneficiaries was 128 males and 22
females. The average male age was sixty-
five. The cost of maintenance was $11,-
024.23 for the year. The home was founded
in 1891 by the Confederate Association of
Missouri, incorporated, which paid $18,000
for the farm and farm buildings. The pres-
ent main building was erected in 1892, at a
cost of $30,000, principally contributed by
the Daughters of the Confederacy of Mis-
souri. The hospital building was provided by
the Daughters of the Confederacy of Mis-
souri. The cottages were provided by in-
dividual counties and cities, and each bears
the name of a noted Confederate officer from
Missouri. In 1897 the property was trans-
ferred to the State, which assumed its
maintenance for the purposes for which it
was founded. From this transference are ex-
empted the cemetery grounds, which continue
in possession of the Confederate Association
of Missouri.
Confederate Raid of 1864 The
"Price raid" into Missouri, in 1864, was the
last effort made to secure the State to the
Southern Confederacy, and the signal and
disastrous failure it turned out did much to
precipitate the final catastrophe to the Con-
CONFEDERATE RAID OF 1864.
85
federate cause. It was intended to be an
organized and formidable invasion, carrying
everything before it and ending in the capture
of everything south of the Missouri, west of
St. Louis, including Jefiferson City, and if
things went well, the capture of St. Louis
itself. To facilitate the movement against St.
Louis, the State was entered at the south-
east, where the Arkansas line is nearest to
that city, with a straight road up through
Doniphan and Arcadia Valley, Iron Moun-
tain and Hillsboro, to the city. It was a
cavalry expedition, intended to be rapid in
movements, and thus increase the chances
of surprise and capture of places along the
route ; and it was made up of three divisions,
under Marmaduke, Shelby and Fagan —
Marmaduke's division being composed of
Marmaduke's old brigade, commanded by
General John B. Clark, Jr., and Freeman's
brigade, 3,000 men and four pieces of artil-
lery ; Shelby's division consisting of Shelby's
old brigade, under Colonel David Shanks,
and Jackman's brigade, 3,000 men, with four
pieces of artillery; and Fagan's division of
Arkansas troops under General Cabell, Gen-
eral Dobbins, General Slemmons and Gen-
eral McCray, 4,000 men, with four pieces of
artillery — altogether 10,000 men, with twelve
pieces of artillery, according to Confederate
statements, the most formidable Confederate
Army ever seen in Missouri. On the 5th of
September it started from Pocahontas, Ar-
kansas, Marmaduke on the right, Shelby on
the left and Fagan, with General Price, in the
center. So great was the confidence in the
success of the expedition that Thomas C.
Reynolds who, four years before, had been
chosen Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and
who now claimed to have succeeded to the
governorship on the death of Governor C.
F. Jackson, accompanied Shelby's division as
an aide, expecting to be formally installed in
the State capitol building upon the occupa-
tion of Jefferson City. No resistance was
offered at Doniphan, Patterson, or Freder-
icktown, and a small Federal force at Farm-
ington was forced to fall back; several
bridges on the Iron Mountain Railroad were
burned and the road destroyed. On the 27th
of October Price appeared before the fort at
Pilot Knob, commanded by General Hugh S.
Ewing, with 1,200 Federal troops, and, with-
out waiting to place his artillery in position on
the mountain where it could command the
garrison, attempted to take it by assault. The
experiment cost him nearly 1,000 men, and
proved an utter failure — and the commander
of the garrison. General Ewing, baffled a sec-
ond attempt by destroying his magazines and
spiking his guns and making his escape at
night. He found an open road in the rear
which the Confederates had neglected to
secure, and, by this, retreated almost without
interruption to Leesburg on the railroad be-
tween St. Louis and RoUa. This inauspicious
beginning attended the expedition to the end.
It was now more than three weeks since the
invading force entered the State, and it had
advanced only a hundred miles. General
Rosecrans was in command in St. Louis, and
when the first news of the Confederate in-
vasion was received, it caused some excite-
ment, because all the Federal troops that
could be spared had been sent out of the
State to support, or co-operate with the de-
cisive movements under Grant, Sherman and
Thomas in other quarters ; but General A. J.
Smith's command, which was on its way up
the Mississippi to be sent to Georgia, was
ordered to proceed to St. Louis ; and the
slowness of Price's movement was favorable
to Rosecrans' preparations, and when, on the
28th of October, the Confederate Army was
ready to march from Pilot Knob, an advance
on St. Louis was considered unwise, and was
abandoned; and while Marmaduke and
Shelby made demonstrations at Richwood
and Union, forty-five miles from the city, the
main body of the Confederate Army turned
west and marched toward Jefferson City.
From this time the invasion began to assume
the character of retreat, for General A. J.
Smith followed close upon it, and General
Price burned the bridges behind him to im-
pede the pursuit. On the 5th of October the
Confederate Army crossed the Osage River
at Castle Rock, and next day drew up round
Jefferson City with all the indications of a
purpose to attack it — and it was the belief
in the Confederate Army that the attack
would be ordered next day. The garrison
was in command of General E. B. Brown,
whose gallant and successful defense of
Springfield against Shelby's attack a year be-
fore, was, no doubt, vividly remembered, and
reinforcements under General Pleasanton,
were on the way from St. Louis. On the 7th,
therefore, when, instead of attacking the city,
General Price moved west, the Confederates'
CONFEDERATE VETERANS-CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
themselves recognized that the invasion
of Missouri was a faihire, and their only ob-
ject now was to escape from the State — for
General Pleasanton arrived at Jefiferson City
the day after Price departed, and Mower's
cavalry shortly after, and the Confederates
were forced to halt and defend their rear
against the forces now rapidly following
them. As Price moved west, he sent Shelby
and Clark to Boonville and Glasgow to take,
these places, and this was easily effected, Col-
onel Harding surrendering Boonville, and
Captain Shoemaker surrendering Glasgow.
The Confederates moved then to Lexington,
and on to Independence ; but by this time
their condition had grown perilous. Mower
and Pleasanton were pressing them in the
rear, and Blunt, sent out from Leavenworth,
was opposing them in front. At the Little
Blue crossing there was severe fighting, and
again at the Big Blue, where Captain Todd,
a noted bushwhacker, fighting in the Con-
federate ranks, was killed ; and at Westport
Price found himself so severely attacked in
front and rear, at the same time, that it
seemed as if he could not escape. Lieutenant
Colonel Merritt Young, belonging to Mar-
maduke's command, was killed, and Captain
Frank Davidson was wounded and captured,
and the losses in Shelby's command alone,
which held the road out of Westport to the
south, while the Confederate train passed,
were over 800 men. On the 25th, two days
after leaving Wes'tport, the Federal forces
again attacked in the rear at Marais des
Cygnes, and Marmaduke and Cabell, who
were there to cover the retreat, were cap-
tured, as were also Colonel Jefifers and Col-
onel Slemmons. The Confederate Army was
now becoming disorganized, and it was only
the firmness of Shelby's disciplined command
that saved it from destruction. By marching
in retreat all that night, without food or
sleep, under Shelby's protection thus given.
Price's army barely managed to escape, and
even then, only for a time. Three days after-
ward, on the 28th of October, it was again
attacked at Newtonia and again escaped de-
struction through the protection afforded by
Shelby's trained command. Three days more
were spent in painful and difficult marching
in retreat, and at last the Confederate Army
managed to cross the Arkansas River, where
it was safe from further pursuit.
Daniel M. Gki.ssom.
Confederate Veterans.- — See "United
Confederate Veterans."
Congregational Chiiroh. — The first
Congregational Church people in Missouri
were the Hempstead family, who came from
Connecticut. The first to come was Ed-
ward Hempstead, a young man of good par-
entage, good education and good habits, who
made the journey on horseback in the year
1804, a formidable undertaking at that day.
On arriving at the important post of Vin-
cennes, he found there General William
Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana Ter-
ritory, who was about to go to St. Louis to
organize a civil government of the newly
acquired District of Louisiana, which had
been attached to Indiana Territory. At the
request ot General Harrison, Mr. Hempstead
accompanied him, and, at first, located at St.
Charles, removing afterward to St. Louis.
His education and capacity for affairs, to-
gether with his upright character, com-
mended him to the people of the Territory,
and he was appointed and elected to several
places of honor and trust, in succession,
serving a term as Territorial delegate in Con-
gress in 181 2. The year before that, recog-
nizing the important future that awaited the
new Territory, he brought his father, mother,
brothers and sisters to it, and established
them at Bellefontaine. They were devout
people of the Congregational faith, trained
up in strict moral habits, and accustomed to
grave and reverent methods of worship, and,
as they missed in their new home the regular
services they had been trained in, it was nat-
ural that they should seek to introduce them
into Missouri. In 1814 Rev. Samuel J. Mills,
sent out by the Home Missionary Society, of
Connecticut, visited Missouri and preached in
Stephen Hempstead's house. Three years
later, when Rev. Salmon Giddings, from
Connecticut, came to Missouri and, in No-
vember, 1817, organized the first Presby-
terian Church in St. Louis, five of the
Hempsteads became members, although they
had been, and still were, Congregationalists.
There was a cordial mingling of efforts in
evangelistic and missionary work between
Congregationalists and Presbyterians in that
day, and for many years after, and it was only
by chance, humanly speaking, that the church
organized by Rev. Mr. Giddings was not the
first Congregational Church organized in
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN KANSAS CITY.
87
Missouri. The Congregationalists of New
England were more lil)cral with their means,
and more zealous in their efforts to give the
gospel to the new settlements in the West,
than to affix their name to the new organiza-
tions — and thus it came about that many
Presbyterian churches in Missouri owe their
existence in no small measure to the Con-
gregationalists of Connecticut and Massa-
chusetts. In 1847 Rev. T. M. Post, of
Jacksonville, Illinois, was invited to become
pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in
St. Louis, and accepted the call, the engage-
ment being for four years. At the end of
the time he withdrew, and returned to Jack-
sonville, but his eloquence and learning, and
much more, his high and gentle spirit and
lofty principles had so permeated the congre-
gation that they resolved themselves into a
Congregational Church and recalled Dr. Post
to be their ])ermanent pastor. This was the
first Congregational Church in Missouri,
though a congregation had been organized at
Arcadia some years before, which, after a
feeble existence, passed away, through the
removal of its members to other places. Dr.
Post was pastor of the First Church in the
State for thirty-five years, and when he died,
in 1886, Congregationalism had become one
of the leading forms of Protestantism in St.
Louis and Missouri. Its ministers have been
eminent for piety, a cheerful and liberal faith,
evangelical zeal, and their generous co-oper-
ation in the work of popular education. In
1900 there were seventy-six Congregational
Churches in the State, having an estimated
value of $859,700, and a membership of 9.502.
In St. Louis there were 12, in Kansas City 7,
in St. Joseph 2, in Sedalia 2, in Springfield 4,
in Bevier 2, in New Cambria 2, and one each
in Afton, Amity, Anson, Aurora, Billings,
Bonne Terre,Breckenridge,Brookfield, Cam-
eron, Carthage, Cole Camp, Dawn, De Soto,
Eldon, Grandin, Green Ridge, Hamilton,
Hannibal, Honey Creek, Iberia, Joplin, Kid-
der, Lamar, Lebanon, Maplewood, Mead-
ville, Neosho, Nicholas, Noble, Old Orchard,
Pierce City, Republic, Riverdale, Sappington,
Sedalia, Thayer, \'alley Park, Verdella, Web-
ster Groves and Willow Springs. It sup-
ports at Springfield, Drury College, one of
the most efficient institutions of the kind in
Missouri, and prosperous academies at
Drury, Iberia, Kidder and Noble.
Congregational Church in Kansas
City. — The Congregational Churches are
pure democracies. Each church is self-gov-
erning, acknowledging no head but Christ,
and the ditiferent churches are bound to-
gether only by the voluntary fellowship of a
common faith and work. They are histori-
cally associated with opposition to prelacy
and to a union of church and State. They
have been characterized by zeal for education
and for missions. One strong and influential
church in St. Louis was the only organization
in the State prior to the Civil War. With the
opening of new railroads and the influx of new
population, churches of this order began to
spring up in Missouri. Kansas City, in 1863,
was a frontier village of about 5,000 popula-
tion, a military post, and practically in a state
of siege. In the summer of that year Con-
gregational brethren from Kansas, notably
the Rev. R. D. Parker, the Rev. Richard
Cordley, the Rev. L. Bodwell and the Rev.
Mr. Liggett, crossing the Kaw River b\- boat
and coming through the forest covering the
"West Bottoms," where are now warehouses
and factories, held regular Sunday preaching
services, attended largely by the military and
their families, at Long's Hall, 509 Main
Street. A Sunday school was also estab-
lished. In October the Rev. E. A. Harlow,
from Maine, took charge and remained a
year. Services were held by him in Miss
Brown's sclioolhouse, in "The Addition,"
on McGee Street, between Twelfth and Thir-
teenth Streets. In 1865 the Rev. Leavitt
Bartlett, from Vermont, was sent to the field
by the American Home Missionary Society,
of New York. He began his work in the
building of the Christian Church, which
stood on a high bank at the northwest corner
of Twelfth and Main Streets. On Wednes-
day evening, January 3, 1866, he organized
the First Congregational Church in the house
of W. P. Whelan, near the corner of Eleventh
and McGee Streets, the site of the present
church edifice. Only eleven persons entered
into the solemn covenant at that time. There
was yet only a small straggling frontier town
creeping up from the levee, building its scat-
tered houses southward, while the lines of
earthworks could still he seen on the western
bluffs, but, from the new population, profes-
sional and business men. school-teachers and
artisans, who came in their youth, bringing
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN KANSAS CITY.
their fixed principles, their frugal habits, their
faith in God and love of country, the organi-
zation was rapidly strengthened. The church
was formally recognized as a Congregational
Church on January 7, 1866, at a council of
churches held in the Christian Church, the
Rev. Dr. Cordley, of Lawrence, Kansas, ex-
tending the fellowship of the churches. In
the same year, a substantial church build-
ing, still standing, was put up on the corner
of Grand Avenue and Tenth Street. It was
dedicated June 24th. The Rev. Mr. Bartlett
was succeeded for a few months by the Rev.
R. AI. Hooker, who, in turn, was followed
by the Rev. E. A. Andrews, who remained
with the church for a year. In the intervals
between ministers, sermons were often read
by the Honorable E. H. Allen and others.
April 27, 1869, the Rev. J. G. Roberts was
regularly installed by council as pastor. The
Honorable David J. Brewer, now one of the
justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States, was the scribe of that council. This
was a strong and successful pastorate, lasting
for ten years. The Rev. Henry Hopkins, the
present pastor (1900), was installed March
18, 1880. In 1884 a substantial and beautiful
church edjfice of stone, at the corner of
Eleventh and McGee Streets, was dedicated,
free from debt, at. a cost, for lot and building,
of over $80,000. The entire history of this
church is an illustration of commercial in-
tegrity and business methods in the conduct-
ing of church affairs. It has maintained a
varied and aggressive work in the city along
various lines of philanthropic effort, for the
destitute sick, for neglected boys, and for the
poor and unemployed. In 1881 a building, now
occupied by the Bethel Mission, was erected
in the West Bottoms, near the great packing
houses, and an extensive institutional and
evangelistic work was successfully inaugu-
rated. This included a boarding house, a
lodging house, a reading room, a singing
school and a free dispensary. Evangelistic
meetings were held, and a church was organ-
ized, but the latter was discontinued on ac-
count of the dispersion of neighborhood
population, owing to the necessities of busi-
ness enterprise. Other features of the work
were abandoned for a similar reason, but n
mission is yet maintained, through other
agencies. The women of the First Church
have been effectively organized and are con-
stantly active in every form of practical
effort. This practical character of church life
has held the congregation to a downtown
position, remote from the homes of nearly all
its people. The church has always actively
and generously fostered the younger organ-
izations. In 1899 the membership of First
Church was 516.
Clyde Congregational Church was organ-
ized June 25, 1882, with nine members. Sep-
tember 24th, following, the corner stone of the
present church edifice at Seventh and Brook-
lyn Streets was laid with appropriate cere-
monies, and the building was completed in
November following at a cost of $7,000. In
November, same year, the Rev. J. H. Wil-
liams, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, was
called to the pastorate. During his ministry,
continuing for nearly eleven years, the orig-
inal church building was greatly enlarged, and
the membership increased to upwards of 250.
The Rev. John L. Sewell served in the pas-
torate from the autumn of 1893 until Sep-
tember, 1896. The Rev. Wolcutt Calkins was
for fifteen months stated supply, and was help-
ful in the adjustment of the financial obHga-
tions of the church. In April, 1898, the Rev.
E. Lee Howard entered upon a pastorate
which continued for two years and one
month. Following his removal from the city
the Rev. Albert Bushnell was called, and en-
tered upon pastoral duty July i, 1900. The
church was the first west of the Mississippi
River to organize a Young People's Society
of Christian Endeavor, and the second in the
world to organize a Junior Christian En-
deavor Society. In 1899 the membership of
the church was 333.
Olivet Congregational Church was organ-
ized in 1883, and the Rev. Henry C. Scotford
was the first pastor. For a number of years
the congregation occupied a small chapel at
Eighteenth Street and Lydia Avenue. The
Rev. George Ricker succeeded Mr. Scotford.
and served for some months. He was
followed by the Rev. Robert L. Layfield, un-
der whose care the church did constantly a
strong evangelistic work, and established
several missions in neglected neighborhoods.
During his pastorate, the site at Nineteenth
Street and Woodland Avenue was purchased,
and the basement to the present edifice was
built. The auditorium was completed dur-
ing the pastorate of JNIr. Layfield's successor,
the Rev. H. L. Forbes, to whom much credit
is due for the completion of the building proj-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN KANSAS CITY.
ect. The Rev. R. Craven Walton succeeded
Mr. Forbes, and served until 1900, when the
present pastor, the Rev. G. E. Crossland, was
installed. The church numbers no members,
and the property is valued at $10,000.
The Southwest Tabernacle Congrega-
tional Church, at Twenty-first and Jefferson
Streets, was organized November 27, 1888.
About a year previously a few members of
the First Congregational Church opened a
Sunday school, with D. R. Hughes as super-
intendent, in a hall at Twenty-first and Sum-
mit Streets. At that time the southwest
portion of the city was practically without
churches. The Sunday school soon resulted
in a call for preaching. The first service
was held Sunday evening, November 29, 1887,
when the Rev. H. E. Woodcock, a retired
pastor residing upon the field, conducted the
meeting and delivered the first sermon. The
work having outgrown its quarters, in the
summer of 1888 the congregation occupied
a tent, with the Rev. Howard H. Russell
(now national secretary of the Anti-Saloon
League), then serving as city missionary un-
der the City Congregational Union, in
charge. His services continued for three
years. In the summer of 1889 the site of the
present church edifice was secured by the
City Congregational Union, and the building
was erected, its cost at completion being
about $25,000. In 1891 the Rev. Charles
L. Kloss, now of Webster Groves, Missouri,
was called from Argentine, Kansas, and re-
mained as pastor for seven years. During
this time the membership of the church stead-
ily increased, and the Sunday school work
was extended, and in the latter part of the
period 'mission schools were organized and
buildings were erected at Penn Valley and at
Genessee. June 5, 1898, the Rev. J. P.
O'Brien, the present pastor, entered upon
his work, called from St. Louis. Under his
leadership the church has grown steadily.
and has fully maintained its active aggressive
character. It has always kept in touch with
the working people, and has been the church
home of many people of Welsh descent. In
1900 the membership was 280.
Ivanhoe Park Church had it beginnings in
the labors of workers from Olivet Church.
It was organized October 12, 1895, with
about twelve members, and the present
chapel at Thirty-ninth Street and Michigan
Avenue was first occupied December 8lh fol-
lowing. The first minister was the Rev. Wil-
liam Sevvell, who was succeeded in 1896 by
the Rev. Martin Luther, the first installed
pastor. In 1898 the Rev. Leroy Warren be-
came pastor; he served until September i,
1900, when he resigned, and was succeeded
by the Rev. Alfred H. Rogers. The church
numbers fifty members, and the property is
valued at $3,000.
Beacon Hill Congregational Church was
organized in the summer of 1896, through the
effort of members of the First Church, who
recognized the necessities of people of their
denomination in that portion of the city. The
organizing membership was about sixty in
number, which had increased in 1900 to 126.
The first pastor, the Rev. J. H. Crum, S. T.
D., was yet serving in the same year.
Services are held in Ariel Hall, on Twenty-
fourth street, near Troost Avenue. In addi-
tion to meeting current expenses, the con-
gregation has made considerable progress
toward establishing a church home. A site
at Troost Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street
has been purchased at a cost of nearly $5,000,
and $3,000 has been expended in putting in
a foundation for a stone church building, to
cost upward of $25,000. The time of com-
pletion is uncertain, the policy of the congre-
gation being to progress only so rapidly as
means actually in hand will permit. The
church strives to keep itself in touch with
its sister churches by co-operating with them
in the work of missions, and in all benevolent
causes, as well as in all other ways in which
there can be mutual helpfulness.
A vigorous and useful organization known
as the Fourth Congregational Church, now
merged in the Beacon Hill Church, was for
several years maintained at Twenty-fourth
Street and Howard Avenue. Tlie Plymouth
Congregational Church, on the Southwest
Boulevard, near the State line, did a strong
and much needed work for several years
prior to 1899, but is now continued only as a
Sunday school and mission.
The Congregational Churches of Kansas
City are not religious clubs, but are working
organizations seeking to save men. They
have made themselves felt for righteousness
and progress in municipality, and are known
as believing in an applied Christianity, in the
Kingdom of God that is to come in this
world.
Hknrv Hoi'kins.
90
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
Congregational Chiircli in St.
LiOnis. — This article on Congregationalism
in St. Louis can be but the briefest outline of
the theory or principle of the Church's life in
that city. To do more would be impossible.
Indeed, we must begin with the history of
the Church of our order far beyond the limits
of the city and far beyond the present cen-
tury, which has witnessed such a development
of church life. Congregationalism is more a
development of Christianity under God's
providence and by His Spirit than a denomi-
nation. It is a great principle or body of
principles of free, progressive, expanding,
evangelical Christianity, embodied at last m
free churches.
There are four theories or doctrines of the
Christian Church, namely:
"(i) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of infallible primacy, which emerges in
the Papacy.
"(2) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of apostolic succession, which emerges in
Episcopacy.
"(3) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of authoritative representation, which
emerges in Presbyterianism.
"(4) Fellowship and unity on the princi-
ple of church independency, which emerges
in Congregationalism."
In these four theories fellowship is a com-
mon factor and unity a common end sought,
but sought by a different principle in each
and destined to success or failure according
to the truth or fallacy of the theory. These
four theories are actual theories and have re-
spectively developed into or dominated large
communions.
In order of age, says an eminent authority,
they are : First, Congregational ; second,
Presbyterial ; third. Episcopal ; fourth, Papal.
In the order of historic development they
are : First, the Papal ; second, the Episcopal ;
third, the Presbyterial ; fourth, the Congrega-
tional.
We take, of course, the last of these four
theories of the Christian Church, distin-
guished by the two facts that it is oldest in
principle and latest in development. Church
historians conceive that the primitive
churches were as absolutely independent one
of the other as were the "synagogues or clubs
from which they came ;" that there was at
first no organic system of fellowship between
the independent churches, and when such
fellowship arose it was without the exercise
of authority. Here is a true definition of Con-
gregationalism : "The Congregational theory
of the Christian Church is that the kingdom
of Heaven, being itself one, has but one nor-
mal manifestation or natural development,
which appears first in individual churches,
equal in origin, rights, functions and duties,
which are consequently independent one of
another in matters of control ; then in associ-
ations of churches, without authority, by
which the fraternity and unity of all Chris-
tians are expressed and the churches co-
operate in Christian labors, all being subject
to Christ alone and to His revealed will. It
shuns independency on the one hand, with
which it is sometimes confounded, and on the
other hand the exercise of authority by asso-
ciated churches. It also avoids all minis-
terial or prelatical rule." Its constitutive
principle is "the independence imder Christ
of each fully constituted Church of Christ,
or the autonomy under Christ of every local
congregation of believers duly organized."
A principle of Congregationalism is, of
course, fellowship ; but since fellowship is
common to all polities and should never be
spoken of as a principle peculiar to any one
of them, since the fundamental idea of the
Church of Christ is "the communion of
saints," the distinctive principle of Congre-
gationalism is the independence of the local
church. Growing out of this constitutive
principle, in the order of development, is
therefore :
(i) The local congregation of believers,
having power of self-government under
Christ, to manage all its internal affairs, com-
plete, autonomous, inilependent of external
control.
(2) These independent churches in the
closest relation to one another in fellowship,
a fraternity or brotherhood, with obligations
and duties that bind them into associations
of communion, assistance, co-operation.
(3) This fellowship finding ex])ression in
councils of churches to inquire and advise in
matters of common concern.
(4) That fellowship widening out into :
(a) District associations or confer-
ences.
(b) State associations or conferences.
(c) National associations.
I
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
(d) And finally, general councils of
all national associations, or, in
other words, an ecumenical as-
ciation.
So the statement is true that, "when organ-
ized, as it some time will be, the Congrega-
tional theory of the Christian Church will
have reached ecumenical comprehension.
This development will be normal from be-
ginning to end, with no introduction of for-
eign elements, with no damage to the liberty
of local churches. Its constitutive principle
dominates fellowship in every stage of its
widening development."
This Congregational theory is simple ; it is
comprehensive; it is consistent; it is living
and revolutionary. As has well been said of
it, "It bears in its bosom popular govern-
ments, democracies in the nations, because
first in the churches. It makes all men broth-
ers, under one Father, in essential equality.
It makes the people of the Lord free — a king-
dom and priests unto God." It withholds
from any the power of "lording it" over God's
heritage. And so this theory of church gov-
ernment, by its very leveling power, has been
opposed by aristocracies and hierarchies "as
no other polity has ever been or can ever be.
Yet it still lives, to contend for mastery ;
for the life of God is in it." Indeed, "the in-
fluence of this theory of the church upon lib-
erty in the state has been immense." Indeed,
we may say with one of the keenest minds,
"It laid the foundations of this republic, and
may even claim the form of its development."
"The church," says Palfrey's History of New
England, "was the nucleus about which the
neighborhood constituting a town was gath-
ered ;" and no institution "has had more in-
fluence on the condition and character of the
people" than these little towns of New Eng-
land, which were republics in themselves.
"The germ of our state," it has been well
said, "and national institutions was this town
church, and this church was democratic and
Congregational." "To Robert Browne be-
longs the honor of first setting forth in writ-
ing the scheme of free church government"
— this "government of the people, by the peo-
ple and for the people."
Congregationalism is, therefore, a spiritual
democracy, and as we grow more and more
intelligent as a people, and more and more
virtuous as a people, such spiritual democracy
must make itself felt. "The most significant
fact of modern history," says Hatch's "Origin
of Early Christianity," "is that within the last
hundred years many millions of our own race
and our own church, without departing from
the ancient faith, have slipped from beneath
the inelastic framework of the ancient organ-
ization and formed a group of new societies
on the basis of a closer Christian brotherhood
and an almost absolute democracy." The
church, "in the first ages of its history, while
on the one hand it was a great and living
faith, so on the other hand it was a vast and
organized brotherhood. And, being a broth-
erhood, it was a democracy."
To write the history of Congregationalism,
therefore, for this or for any city, is more
than merely to give dates of formation of the
churches bearing its distinctive name, with
their numbers and membership. It is the
rather to analyze the principles and elements
from which those churches spring and which
they exemplify. It is to seek the original
eflorts and influence of the constitutive prin-
ciple of Congregationalism and then of the
system as it has developed and produced
results. If we follow the history of Congre-
gationalism in St. Louis as a development of
Christianity, under God's providence and by
His Spirit, the local history of development
during the present century is in outline this :
In 1811 Stephen Hempstead and family,
Congregationalists from New Lonrlon, Con-
necticut, followed two sons who had come a
few years earlier to Missouri, and finally
settled at Bellefontaine. Appalled by the re-
ligious destitution, and missing church privi-
leges and wishing for them, he wrote to Dr.
Channing, of Boston, doubtless with the idea
that that was a source of wealth and benevo-
lence, appealing for a minister, and saying
that he thought a thousand families at least
had already come into Missouri with religio'is
preferences. The division between the evan-
gelical Congregationalists and the I'nitarians
had not then openly developed, and was not
publicly acknowledged till some years later,
when Dr. Channing led ofif in the separation.
No answer seems to have come to Mr.
Hempstead's request to Dr. Channing. Had
a favorable response come it is impossible to
say what would have been the efifect on those
who finally became Unitarians in Boston and
vicinity, especially if their great leader, in
person or by proxy, in heeding the call from
this then far West, had led his wealthv fol-
92
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IX ST. LOUIS.
lowers into a great home missionary move-
ment thitherward. But that was not destined
to be. The rupture between the two orders
had not taken place ; moreover, there were
other movements on foot. The Congrega-
tionalists had formed their Home Missionary
Society in Massachusetts in 1799, but their
efforts were chiefly directed to Maine, Ver-
mont and New York, to which emigration
from Massachusetts then chiefly flowed, as
Maine was then a part of Massachusetts,
Vermont was a new State, and Massachusetts
had obtained a large portion of land in west-
ern New York, on account of a grant in its
original character. This was one fact. There
was also another, and that was a controversy
between the orthodox and evangelical move-
ment of Congregationalism, especially toward
foreign missions, and Unitarianism, and this
was absorbing attention.
Then, too, the Connecticut Home Mission-
ary Society, organized in 1798, had its atten-
tion specially called to its own people settling
in northeastern Ohio on the lands reserved to
that State when it surrendered to the United
States Government its chartered claims to the
lands running west in its own latitude, and
for that reason called "The Western Re-
serve," and sent missionaries early to them
and further west to the then Territory of
Michigan and other parts of the Northwest
Territory, now numerous and great, populous
States of the interior of our country.
But what called direct attention to St.
Louis was the following: The Rev. Samuel
J. Mills, failing to be sent as a foreign mis-
sionary, received commission from that so-
ciety — the Connecticut Home Missionary
Society — to explore W'est and South, and in
1812 came down the Ohio, crossed southern
Illinois, but was warned that it was not quite
safe to come as a Protestant missionary to
St. Louis, and so went south to ^lemphis and
New Orleans and formed the first Presbyte-
rian Church in those cities. His report
kindled great interest in Connecticut and
Massachusetts regarding this portion of our
country. Mr. Mills also was so interested he
came again in 1814, and this time visited St.
Louis, preaching in Mr. Hempstead's house,
distributed Bibles and raised $300 for 'Bible
work. This was one of the causes underlying
the origin of the .\merican Bible Society, in
1816, as a national society. Some have
thought this prenching by Mr. Mills the first
Protestant preaching in St. Louis, but this
can hardly be true, for there is evidence that
a Baptist minister had preached once before
and Methodist circuit riders years before,
although they did it in defiance of the local
laws of the Spanish and French authorities in
that town, forbidding any but Catholic
settlers to come. These preachers, disregard-
ing those local laws against Protestant
preaching, crossed after dark from Illinois,
held services in the night and returned be-
fore morning. There is also this to be said,
this preaching was not perhaps within the
bounds of the present city of St. Louis, but
at other places in the State ; for the first
Methodist Church in the city was not formed
till 1820. A few others in the State were
formed earlier. ^Ir. Mills' work, as we have
seen, was only transient and preparatory; he
gave himself up subsequently to the foreign
missionary work. But the first permanent
effort in church organization was made by
Rev. Salmon Giddings, from Hartford, Con-
necticut. Mr. Giddings was graduated from
Williams College, 181 1; Andover Theologi-
cal, 1814; ordained under commission by the
Connecticut Home Missionary Society in the
Congregational Church, Hartford, December,
1815; journeyed on horseback and reached
St. Louis April 6, 1816, where he found no
Protestant Church and could not succeed in
organizing one till November 15, 1817, when
nine members united in forming the First
Presbyterian Church of St. Louis; five of
these were Congregationalists — Mr. Hemp-
stead and family and connections. This or-
ganization was named Presbyterian doubtless
because it was thought such a form of church
government better fitted to gather in those
who came from the Southern States and from
Pennsylvania, where that denomination pre-
vailed. Thus the Congregational and Pres-
byterian Churches began the work in St.
Louis and were united in the home work.
Those great bodies of Christian workers were
united for years in the foreign work— down,
in fact, to 1870. Indeed, the A. B. C. F. Al.,
to-day the largest organization in the Con-
gregational Church, has still a prominent
Presbyterian for its vice president. We refer
to D. Willis James, of New York; and his
father-in-law, W. E. Dodge, occupied before
him the same position. So closely related
have the two great bodies East and \\'est
been, and so close they still are, that many
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
Presbyterian members and churches still con-
tribute to the A. B. C. F. M. In his work
Rev. Mr. Giddings also organized nine
churches in Missouri and eight in Illinois — all
Presbyterian — and led several ministers to
come from New England as home mission-
aries, and he and they were all the time
supported by the Connecticut and A'lassachu-
setts Home Missionary Societies, till the
formation of the American Home Missionary
Society, in 1826, when that society assumed
their support and the State societies became
auxiliary to it. That grand society did an
immense work in all this portion of our coun-
try, but to recount it, or even to follow up
all its work in St. Louis and vicinity, would
be beyond the province of this review. We
may truly say that, as the Missouri and Mis-
sissippi mingle their waters in one river, so
the waters of the stream of Congregational-
ism and Presbyterianism were mingled in the
great river of salvation, which has continued
to flow in St. Louis for more than three quar-
ters of a century. But we can notice only a
few of the many facts of this earlier history.
For example, Rev. Artemas Bullard, the
most prominent pastor of the First Presby-
terian Church from 1838 to 1855 — called "the
second founder in the seventy-fifth anniver-
sary" — was a Congregationalist from Wor-
cester County, Massachusetts, and went back
to that State and collected large sums from
the Congregationalists for a Presbyterian
College at Webster and for other church pur-
poses, as also did others. In 1845 he led ten
ministers from New England Congregational
Churches, live of them from Andover Sem-
inary, to come to Missouri and aid in building
up Presbyterian Churches. Several pastors
of various Presbyterian Churches in St. Louis
owed their education and early religious
training and their membership to Congrega-
tional Churches. Congregationalism and
Presbyterianism, therefore, were combined
in the early preaching of the gospel and the
formation of Protestant Churches — -and Con-
gregationalism could do it, or thought it
could do it, for it was behind and builded
church and State and college in New Eng-
land. It had its Harvard, its Yale, its Dart-
mouth, and subsequently its Amherst .and its
Williams to train its men.
But why was no Congregational Church
formed in St. Louis during all its early years
of growth from about 2,000 inhabitants, when
Mr. Giddings came, to nearly or quite 100,000
in 1852? Almost all other denominations
had churches, and the Presbyterians had
formed some seven of various kinds before
any efficient attempt was made to gather a
regular Congregational organization. Va-
rious causes combined in this delay in the
progress of Congregationalism in St. Louis,
some general and some local. In the first
place, as we have already said, the Congre-
gationalists had largely pre-empted New
England with their heritage of strong
churches and colleges, and the questions that
were pressing the body in the East either be-
came too absorbing or the denomination did
not consider enough the beauty and fitness of
its own democratic form of government for
new and growing States, and indeed many
Congregationalists thought a more central-
ized form of church government was better
adapted for the new country, and did not at
the time realize what afterward became so
plain until they had given away hundreds and
thousands of organizations. There is a sec-
ond reason in the fact that, while Congrega-
tionalism has never been anything other than
a vigorous system, it has always been over-
generous ; or, in other words, more eager to
propagate and support what Dr. Ross has so
aptly called the church kingdom rather than
a denomination. A spirit of liberality has
always pervaded the Congregational Church.
It has contributed a very large share "to
found institutions of learning East and West,
and to carry on missionary work at home and
abroad." This is to its credit rather than
otherwise. So that whatever loss it may have
sustained has not been due to the lack of
vitality, but to the disregard of so-called de-
nomination and the appropriation of its fruits
by others.
There is another reason for the delay in
the progress of the denomination in the plan
of union between the Congregationalists of
Connecticut and the Presbyterians, adopted
in 1801, by which they agreed not to form
rival churches where one would answer all
the needs of smaller communities, intended
for good. This actually operated to the pre-
vention of the free progress of our churches
all through portions of the country. The
difference between the two has been well thus
put : To Congregationalists evangelism was
everything, the propagation of a polity noth-
ing. With Presbyterians the former was to
94
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
be done, but the latter was not to be left un-
done. Each preferred his own system. The
Presbyterian took care of his ; the Congrega-
tionalist left his to take care of itself. Hence,
under the plan of union, it became the chief
privilege of Congregational missionaries to
build up Presbyterianism in the West. Where
Congregationalism was thoroughly estab-
lished and united and working definitely it
grew stronger and stronger, as in New Eng-
land ; but in newer portions of the country,
first in the middle States and then throughout
the West and Southwest, where Congrega-
tionalism was in a formative and dependent
state, Presbyterianism, with its more concen-
trated government, easily gained the suprem-
acy and held it firmly. As has well been said,
however, "If Presbyterianism has secured
any part of our birthright it is because we
have surrendered it ; the fault was not that
they loved their polity too well, but that we
did not love ours enough." Thus it came
about in regard to the work carried on by the
American Home Missionary Society that,
though "most of the means and the men for
this work were furnished by Congregational-
ism, every church organized by the mission-
aries for an average of some twenty years
was Presbyterian." It was magnificent gen-
erosity, but was not good denominationalism.
There was also a tendency among the early
Congregationalists of Connecticut toward
more authority over individual churches than
in Massachusetts and other New England
States. The consociation, which was a "mid-
dle way between Presbyterianism and Con-
gregationalism," as compared with the asso-
ciation and conference was more potent in
Connecticut during periods of early history
than in other parts of New England. This
Presbyterianized form of Congregationalism
had for a time its influence in the Connecticut
Home Missionary Society, which was more
or less a center of power, as we have already
seen, for the propagation of the gospel in the
West and Southwest. Then Presbyterians
were a more compact body. Ministers, also,
often thought their position more secure,
authoritative and permanent under the
Presbyterian system than in popular Con-
gregationalism.
The American Home Missionary Society.
too, was originally formed by union of the
denominations with a view to prevent rival-
ries in forming churches in newly settled
places ; but in 1837-8 the division in the Pres-
byterian Church occurred, and the old school
repudiated the plan of union and formed its
own lioards of mission, leaving the new
school to appeal to the Congregationalists to
continue to support them and their churches
as they were most in accord with the preva-
lent New England theology. Some trials, as
of Lyman Beecher and Albert Barnes, inten-
sified this appeal for co-operation, and Lane
Theological Seminary and several colleges
became new-school Presbyterian, yet were
largely supported by Congregationalists on
this ground, while they ought to have been or
distinctly to have remained Congrega-
tional. Union Seminary, New York, later
was supposed to be formed on that kind of
union and drew its professors from New Eng-
land, but required them to pledge themselves
to support the Presbyterian Church, and stu-
dents followed them without noticing or
knowing that pledge.
In St. Louis, Congregationalists com-
ing from New England were thus drawn into
the new-school churches, as agreeing with
the doctrines they had heard preached in New
England, and the conservative High-Calvin-
ists were induced to attend and support the
old-school church for its orthodoxy, and thus
both classes found homes in the Presby-
terian Church instead of earlier forming Con-
gregational. It was much easier, also, and
more attractive in coming to a city as stran-
gers to go into a church well organized and
ministered to, with fine building and all con-
veniences, than to organize a new church
even of their own choice. Business alliances
and dependencies also added to these induce-
ments. Then, too, the first church in St.
Louis claiming the Congregational name and
Congregational polity was Unitarian in doc-
trine. It was formed in 1835. built a fine edi-
fice, had an attractive and highly educated
pastor, drew to itself Eastern people who de-
sired intellectual and refining attractions
such as they had been accustomed to, though
the doctrines were not quite what they had
heard in the true Congregational Churches
of New England ; and this produced popular
prejudice against the name Congregational-
ists on. the part of those who did not know
the distinction between the evangelical Con-
gregationalists and the LTnitarians. This
prejudice was fostered by some even who
oueht to have known better, and vet who
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
95
charged in public that the Congregationalists
were not only not evangelical, but were even
erratic and fanatical, when as a matter of fact
the Congregational preachers and church
members from the Congregational Church
East were forming the bone and sinew of the
earliest Protestant Christian life of St. Louis.
This also pertained quite extensively to the
whole West.
But for the reasons assigned, and perhaps
others not spoken of, it came to be a fact that
Congregationalism was slow in forming
churches in the West generally; especially
was this true in Missouri and the Southwest ;
for, let us note, there were in Illinois nearly
100 churches, in Iowa over fifty, in Wisconsin
fifty, in Minnesota five ministering mission-
aries with a few churches, in Oregon two
missionaries and a few churches, in newly ad-
mitted California five, before any were started
in St. Louis. No doubt also the institution
of slavery and the popular sentiments con-
nected with it held the State and the city
against any church distinctively anti-slavery,
especially against a denomination largely
Northern and "Yankee." The murder of
Lovejoy, son of a Congregational minister,
in Alton, after he and his printing press and
paper had been suppressed in St. Louis ; the
driving out of Missouri of Rev. David Nelson,
who wrote "The Shining Shore," suggested
in the hour of danger by the lights across the
Mississippi River ; the driving away at night
of the first pastor at Kidder, and other his-
torical incidents, are illustrations of this feel-
ing, and were warnings against certain move-
ments in favor of more freedom and a church
that preached equal rights and privileges for
all men before the law. This troubled the
Home Missionary Society severely and made
a divided sentiment among its supporters, and
led eveiUually to its withdrawing aid from
churches where members held slaves, and
finally was the occasion of alienation of some
from the society. Congregationalists had al-
ways found difficulty in the South from this
cause ever since its first ministers were driven
out of Virginia, and its few churches in the
other Southern States were isolated. It was
for these reasons a matter of latitude and lon-
gitude that our churches were late in starting
in St. Louis.
But how came Congregationalism to start
at all there? The reason was this: LTnder
the providence of God the time came at last
for the assertion of religious freedom. Like
many other steps of progress in the develop-
ment of the history of the world, or "in the
evolution of society," this was part of a great
movement, and God had His agents for the
work. The plan of union between Congre-
gationalists and Presbyterians had become
irksome to many Presbyterians, for it infused
into their churches more ideas of religious
freedom and popular choice than their system
was fitted for. Moreover, the Presbyterian
Church had become divided, not only on the
plan of union, but also on some doctrinal
points ; and so the Congregationalists, who
had yielded up in the union some two thou-
sand churches in various parts of our country,
began to awaken anew to the scriptural and
historical strength of their position. Their
growing power in New England encouraged
them to trust elsewhere the solid, simple, sta-
ble scriptural polity of their church, both as
an evangelizing and organizing agency, and
the renaissance of Congregationalism had
begun. A new era had begun for the denomi-
nation in New York, in New Jersey, in Penn-
sylvania, and under pioneers like Rev. Mr.
Pierce in Alichigan and in Ohio, where espe-
cially the introduction of the "State Confer-
ence" introduced an era of unity and progress.
The Presbyterian Church itself, by its with-
drawal from Congregationalism, sometimes
on theological and sometimes on political
grounds, also tended to promote Congrega-
tional independency. For example, "the ex-
cision of forty-two members of the First
Presbyterian Church of Chicago in 185 1 be-
cause of their attitude toward a pro-slavery
General Assembly led to the formation of the
First Congregational Church of that city and
to the recreation of the denomination
throughout the State." In Wisconsin, also,
the Presbyterian and Congregational Con-
vention organized in 1840 a "plan of union
with modern improvements." This was
operated in good faith for a while and with
harmony ; but the Presbyterian Church with-
drew and left the convention to the Congre-
gationalists, who, with their 200 churches and
their Beloit College, "one of the best col-
legiate institutions in the West," founded in
1847, and Ripon College, founded in 1863, to-
gether with other institutions and organiza-
tions, are now making good proof of the
power of their polity.
We note. too. this fact: In 1846 a con-
96
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
vention met in Michigan City, Indiana, and
called upon the Congregationalists of the
whole land to declare their rights, stand by
the principles and adhere to the doctrines and
polity of the New England fathers. This
gave confidence to churches in the West and
in the East and brought Congregationalists
to see the value of their system and the im-
portance of sustaining it. This new move-
ment in Congregationalism removed local
prejudices, promoted enlargement, prepared
the way for the convention in Albany in 1852,
for the Congregational Union, which became
the Church Building Society, and finally for
the National Councils at Boston in 1865,
Oberlin 1871, and which now meet trien-
nially.
Congregational history west of the Missis-
sippi belongs chiefly to what has been called
"the period of renaissance." Home mission-
ary labor began in Iowa in 1835 ; the Ameri-
can Board entered Minnesota in 1835 as a
missionary field, but the American Home
Missionary Society began work there in 1834.
When the great struggle was impending
between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery par-
ties, in 1854, Kansas was entered by Congre-
gationalism; but, strange to say, it had
pushed its way through to the Pacific Coast
as early as 1849. Oregon for men like Mar-
cus Whitman was a foreign missionary field.
before it was a home missionary field. The
heroic achievements and massacre of Dr.
Whitman are known everywhere. The great
West beyond the Mississippi Valley and be-
yond the Rocky Mountains — the great new
West — felt the power of the Congregational
Church in this new majesty of movement.
The State of Missouri, and especially St.
Louis, could not entirely shut out this for-
ward movement for greater religious freedom
any more than it could bar out immigration
from the Northeast. A church had been
formed at Arcadia, but had ceased to exist by
removal of its members. Into St. Louis the
movement came thus : The Third Presby-
terian Church had Rev. Henry M. Field as
pastor, and had received from him ideas of
freedom and the free air which he and many
of them had breathed in the East, at the home
of his father, as minister at Stockbridge, Mas-
sachusetts ; at Williams College and Yale
Seminary. When he returned to New York
and to a Congregational pastorate in Mas-
sachusetts they called Professor T. M. Post
from Jacksonville, Illinois, as pastor. He
declined at first, but finally yielded to
the solicitations of Dr. Reuben Knox,
who went to Jacksonville to induce him
to come. Others joined their requests
with Dr. Knox, and Professor Post con-
sented to come for four years if he could
be assured of the privilege of free expression
of his opinion on slavery and other subjects.
It was represented to him that he would
soften sectarian animosities. Dr. Post came
to St. Louis ; he was wise and judicious and
his people loved him ; but when his four years
expired he returned to his loved Jacksonville.
It is evident that Dr. Post's ministry changed
the sentiment of that Third Presbyterian
Church, and the greater portion of that
church were not satisfied to remain longer
under the bond in which they had been held.
More than two-thirds majority voted to form
a Congregational Church, bought out the
other pew-holders and called Professor Post
to their pastorate. Their church building
was on Sixth Street, near Franklin, then a
desirable location for families. They com-
pleted arrangements in 185 1. Several gentle-
men of public spirit invited Dr. Post to
explain to them the system of Congregation-
alism, which he did in a lecture, January ir,
1852, defending it from Scripture, reason and
history, and raising the question, "Do not her
character and history and the number of her
sons here demand that she should have at
least one church here in the heart of this
great American domain, of which she has
been so primordial and mighty an architect?"
As a result of all these influences the First
Congregational Church of St. Louis was or-
ganized March 14, 1852, with twenty-five
members. Here, then, the
First Church. root, long and deeply
growing, reached the sur-
face as a visible shoot to grow into a wide-
spreading tree, and henceforth we have
definite data to guide us. At its origin this
church had a Sunday school of twenty-four
teachers, 130 pupils. It first appeared in the
Year Book of 1856 with the Illinois Associa-
tion as having 132 members. Prominent and
powerful men in larger proportion than usual
were early connected with the church and
society, yet they had a hard struggle for
years. Their location was rendered unfavor-
able by growth of business and other causes.
With view to new location, $20,000 had been
CONGREGATIOlSiAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
97
subscribed at starting, and in a compara-
tively few years they had purchased land on
Locust and Tenth Streets for $13,000, built
a chapel, and afterward a church costing
$55,000, which was dedicated March 4, i860.
To see how these men struggled, note the
fact that they had on their house of worship
a heavy debt, on which they made at different
times payments of greater or less sums, and
finally in 1863 they discharged the whole debt
by the payment of $40,000, $10,000 of which
had been raised at one meeting.
During these years of the life of the First
Church, the State and city were overshadowed
by slavery. The excitement on the subject
was intense ; political animosities were fierce,
ending in the great war which involved the
whole country from 1861 to 1865 ; but the
struggle was early concentrated in St. Louis,
and these men of the First Church were in
the midst of it. The name they chose, to pre-
vent any confusion with the First Unitarian,
was "The First Trinitarian Congregational
Church." Its affinities were with the evan-
geHcal churches of all names, and its pastor
ever maintained friendly relations with all
churches and people, but for over fourteen
years it stood ecclesiastically alone in the city,
and most of that time alone in the State. For
associational connection it belonged to the
Southern Illinois Association, which met four
times with it, till in 1865 eighteen churches
had been gathered in Missouri, sufficient to
form an association of their own. These or-
ganizations were chiefly in the northern por-
tion of .Missouri; nevertheless, in April, 1866,
the pastor joined this association of Congre-
gational Churches in his own State and
severed his connection with the Southern Illi-
nois Association, to their mutual regret. The
pastor and church were interested in the
progress of the denomination. In its first
year of existence they sent $100 to the Al-
bany Convention fund for aiding feeble
churches in building houses of worship. That
convention voted $3,000 to Missouri, but
there were then no churches to require it.
Dr. Post was the vice president of the Con-
gregational Union from its origin in 1853,
attended and addressed its meeting in New
York in 1854, wrote an account of the begin-
ning of Congregationalism in Missouri for
the first Year Book in 1854, and continued to
be active in all the movements of the denomi-
nation through all the thirty years of his pas-
torate. The church was always liberal in
giving to the various causes of benevolence,
education and general good. They aided the
college started in Kidder, which was sup-
planted by Drury, to which also they have
given largely. They have also given to the
Chicago Theological Seminary, to which Dr.
Post lectured, and to many other causes.
The time came for a new location. A chapel,
originally for a Sunday school, had been built
on Delmar Boulevard, near Grand Avenue.
It had been first occupied in February, 1879.
The growth of business, however, having
driven those families that had worshiped in
the first house from the locality, the church
was eventually forced to sell that building
downtown and make a church home in the
new location, two miles west. But Dr. Post
had grown in years, and, feeling unable to
perform the extra duties involved in the
charge, he resigned, but by his people, who
loved him, was chosen pastor emeritus. This
relation continued till his death, the last day
of 1886. Rev. James E. Merrill came as pas-
tor in 1882, had part in the building and dedi-
cation, in 1885, of the stately stone building
in which they now worship, costing $103,000.
Called to Portland, Maine, Mr. Merrill was
dismissed November 18, 1889. Rev. J. H.
George, D. D., was pastor from 1891 until a
council released him, July 26, 1897, to the
regret of all, to accept an invitation to the
Congregational College in Montreal, Canada.
In forty-five years the church had had but
three pastors, and all of them able men.
Thus far we have followed the single trunk,
the only church for fourteen years of our
faith and polity in St. Louis ; but in 1866 two
vigorous branches grew out of that trunk. It
was necessary that the parent trunk attain
considerable strength, else the branches
would have been too slender, or would have
enfeebled the parent. We now come to
those flourishing branches. In following the
first enterprise in church extension we find
that a thriving community had sprung up at
Webster Groves desiring a church convenient
and congenial in their own place. A sister
denomination was asked to start a church,
but declined lest it should weaken another
of their order some distance away. Then the
Congregationalists met the need, organized a
church January 31, 1866, consisting of ten
from the First Church, some of their best,
and afterward others from other denomina-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
tions. This little band erected a substantial
building of stone in 1870, since enlarged with
more rooms. This has been a noble, active,
generous body of Christian workers. Its pul-
pit has been filled by Revs. H. M. Grant,
1866; J. Cruikshank, 1871 ; R. M. Sargent,
1875, some months ; R. Kerr, L. S. Hand,
1881 ; E. B. Burrows, 1883 ; J. W. Sutherland,
D. D., 1889; C. L. Kloss, 1898.
The second epoch in church extension
came on this wise : The First Church had
maintained a Sunday school since 1853, the
year after its own formation, in what was
then the western portion of the city. The
school was started by Rev. F. A. Armstrong
in a house on Garrison Avenue and Morgan
Street. It was supported about fourteen
years by Mr. S. M. Edgell, who had erected a
building for its use on Morgan Street, near
Garrison Avenue. In the summer of 1866
its was proposed to organize a church as the
natural development of the Sunday school.
This part of the city had become the central
residence part, and was fast filling with fam-
ilies most congenial to Congregationalism.
They were largely from the Eastern States,
most wealthy and cultured, many of them re-
ligious, and ready to take up the responsi-
bilities and duties and privileges of church
life. Land was presented by Messrs. S. M.
Edgell and James E. Kaime, on the corner of
Washington and Ewing Avenues, a chapel
was erected, and the church was organized
at the house of Mr. Wm. Colcord, December
5, 1866, recognized by council December 22d
and 23d, and the building dedicated to the
worship of God. The church took its name.
Pilgrim, from the Sunday school and in
memory of the Pilgrim Fathers, on the anni-
versary of whose landing
Pilgrim Church. at Plymouth the church
was recognized by coun-
cil and the house of worship dedicated. For-
ty-five members organized, thirty-six of
whom came by letter from the First. Others
were rapidly added till Pilgrim became the
largest Congregational Church in this part
of our country. It had a most favorable
location in a rapidly growing community,
easily accessible from all directions : its mem-
bers were able in every department, liberal
and consecrated workers. The organization,
especially when established under the minis-
try of Dr. Goodell, was full of enthusiasm
and hope ; the kings of business brought their
gold and silver into it, and it concentrated
in itself a great power for benevolence in the
city and State and whole Southwest. Pil-
grim's days were also marked by the laying
of the corner stone for the main edifice,
December 21, 1867, and the building was ded-
icated December 22, 1872; the brick chapel
was rebuilt with a stone front and an added
story in 1873; the spire was finished in 1876,
and the chime of bells, the gift of Dr. R. W.
Oliphant, of the First Church, were put in the
belfry in December, and the clock in the
tower was the gift of Mrs. E. F. Goodell in
honor of her father. Governor E. Fairbanks,
of Vermont. Other improvements were
added and debts were paid up at various
dates, making the cost of the building $156,-
973. The pastors have been. Rev. John
Monteith, Jr., November i, 1866, to March
15, 1869; Rev. W. Carlos Martin, June 24,
1869, to September i, 1871 ; Rev. H. C. Hay-
den, for some months ; Rev. C. L. Goodell,
D. D., November 27, 1872, installed June 5,
1873, died February i, 1886; Rev. H. A.
Stimson, D. D., September 23, 1886, installed
October 28, 1886, dismissed March 20, 1893;
Rev. M. Burnham, D. D., June 4, 1894. The
grand work of this great church goes on.
Since its organization in 1866, to the annual
report at the beginning of 1898, it has re-
ceived into its membership by letter 1,132,
and on profession of faith 1,134; it has raised
for church building and its own current ex-
penses nearly a half million dollars, and for
benevolences a half million or more. It
included at its last annual report nearly one-
fourth of the entire Congregational mem-
bership in the city — 850 out of some 3,600 —
and it continues in its work ; and, though a
change in the center of the residence district
has occurred, and other churches have grown
up, the population within its reach, in the lo-
cality and by the increasing electric car lines,
is greater than ever before.
But Pilgrim Church remained not long
alone, for in 1869 two branches grew out to
the northwest.
December 22, 1867, the young people of
Pilgrim Church started a
Third Church. mission Sabbath school on
Grand Avenue and Lucky
Street. The next year a chapel was built on
Boston Street, near Grand, dedicated June
13, 1869. March 15, 1S69, the Mayflower
Church, of eighty-one members, was organ-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
ized, with Rev. John IMonteith, Jr., as pastor,
followed by Revs. E. P. Powell, 1871 ; W. S.
Peterson, 1874, under whom the church re-
ported itself "independent," i. e., not belong-
ing to the association. Rev. Wm. Twining,
a member of the church, supplied for some
months. Rev. Theodore Clifton came in 1875 ;
Wm. C. Stiles, 1884; George H. Grannis,
1886, and W. W. Willard, 1893. Having
moved their building for better location to
Francis Street, in 1877, December 19th they
rededicated it and adopted the Fair Ground
mission. Finding their location not attrac-
tive, in 1882 they purchased for $12,000 a
very fine corner at Grand and Page Avenues,
with a house for a parsonage on one side ;
they moved again, and afterward erected a
brick chapel on Grand Avenue, and for a
time increased and prospered greatly. Their
membership reached 242, and Sunday school
578, families 165, benevolences $479. But
the population of the vicinity changed, many
of their own families removed to a distance, a
debt encumbered their fine property, and in
the summer of 1895 they sold their property
to a German Church from downtown for
$35,000, which enabled them to pay their in-
debtedness and carry about $22,000 to a
union enterprise with Aubert Place Church.
They reported a membership then of 185 ;
families, 125; Sunday school, 220; benev-
olences, $456. They had maintained through
varied changes a church life for over twenty-
six years ; had received many members, and
seen numerous conversions and confessions
of faith in Christ. Rev. Harry C. Vrooman is
the present pastor of the new union organiza-
tion, which has adopted the name of "The
Fountain Park Church."
Again a mission Sunday school was started
in what was called Elle-
Plymouth Church, ardville, then an outlying
northwestern suburb of
St. Louis, and Rev. W. Porteus, city mission-
ary, sought help for it. Mr. Wm. Colcord, of
Pilgrim, took hold of the enterprise in 1868,
devoting to it about six years in time and
$3,000, it was estimated, in money. Land was
given and a building erected on Belle Glade
Avenue, many contributing for this. Pilgrim
Church giving $950 ; the Congregational Un-
ion, $1,770, at two different times; and a
church of eleven members, with seventy-five
in the Sunday school, was organized July 31,
1869, over which Rev. W. H. Warren was
pastor. He was followed by Revs. W. Per-
kins, 1873; W. B. Millard, 1874; John E.
Wheeler, 1875; James H. Harwood, 1877;
James A. Adams, 1880; Charles R. Hyde,
1886; Allen Hastings, 1891, and J. Scott Carr,
1895. The church has kept on, having its
varied struggles and victories, sometimes sus-
taining Sunday schools in its vicinity and mis-
sion services at other points besides its reg-
ular work in its own home. The population
around it grew rapidly for some time, a popu-
lation chiefly of Americans ; then other
nationalities came into the locality. The
membership of the church rose to 205 ; the
Sunday school nominally to 540, which prob-
abl}' included mission work; the benevolences
to $256. Several other churches of different
denominations have been formed near it, yet
the church maintains its position. In 1889 it
had paid back to the Church Building So-
ciety $56 of the $1,770 it had received from
them. This church has a field of some prom-
ise immediately about it and increasing op-
portunities to the north.
After these two churches were started, in
1869, there was a delay before beginning any
more, and during that delay the churches al-
ready planted were growing in their own
lines of work and membership. Not until
1875 have we record of a new work. What
was called The Southern Mission Church was
reported that year in the Year Book (Congre-
gational), with eighty-five members and a
very large Sunday school; but no pastor's
name was given; no further account of the
church is found. Whether the enterprise was
merged in some other enterprise is not re-
corded.
The Swedish Church was adopted in 1879,
not reported in the Year
Swedish Church. Book till 1886, when it had
forty members ; Rev. Gus-
tavus Holmquist, pastor, beginning in 1885;
Solomon Arnquist, 1891 ; Andrew G. John-
son, 1894; followed by N. J. Lind, ordained
pastor November 4, 1897, by a council. Hav-
ing paid rent for a hall on Locust and
Eleventh Streets, in 1892 its liberal members,
led by Mr. Johansen, purchased land on
Hickory and Armstrong Streets, and by the
aid of the City Missionary Society its good
brick edifice, with church rooms above and
two dwellings below, was erected, dedicated
100
CONGREGATIONAI. CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
December 20, 1894. This church among the
people of Gustavus Adolphus deserves the
sympathy of all.
In 1881 we find the next outbranching of
our tree, and then on both sides, north and
south.
In 1880 an appeal for help came to Pilgrim
Church at its prayer meet-
Compton Hill Church, ing from some who had
been trying in vain to
make a Sunday school and Presbyterian
Church live on High, or Twenty-third and
Clark Streets; and earnest and liberal mem-
bers took hold of the enterprise as a Sabbath
school. At the solicitation of Rev. Dr. Good-
ell, Rev. George C. Adams, of Alton, Illinois,
came as pastor, and in July, 1881, a church
was organized with thirty-seven members,
as the "Fifth Congregational," and Rev. Mr.
Adams was installed October nth of that
year. The property was purchased and sal-
ary guaranteed by pastor and members of
Pilgrim Church, and the Fifth Congrega-
tional Church soon came to self-support, and
soon began talking about removal to a better
locality, for by 1887 a change had come over
the vicinity by progress of business, and a
more promising field opened south of the rail-
roads, not well supplied with churches and
rapidly growing with families, giving pros-
pect eventually of a much stronger church in
that vicinity. Therefore, under lead of their
pastor, they sold their property and bought a
lot, and by help of Pilgrim Church built a
chapel at the corner of Lafayette and Comp-
ton Avenues, and took the name of Compton
Hill Congregational Church, retaining the
date of their organization in 1881. Their
beautiful and convenient edifice was com-
pleted in 1894, and their increasing congrega-
tions, Sunday school and varied societies have
responded to the attractive privileges. Rev.
Dr. Adams, after fifteen years of remarkably
strong and successful work, yielded to an
urgent call from the First Congregational
Church in San Francisco, and was dismissed
October 22, 1896, to go to his new charge.
He had greatly endeared himself to his peo-
ple, to the denomination and to the city. Rev.
Dan'l M. Fisk, D. D., was called from the
First Church, Toledo, Ohio, and was wel-
comed with enthusiasm early in 1897. Some
conveniences were added to their house of
worship for the meeting with them that year
of the General Association of Missouri, and
the work began auspiciously with a new
pastor. Compton Hill Congregational
Church occupies a good position, and
is at the center of a large and growing
population.
Also in 1881 another enterprise was begun.
A chapel built by the
Hyde Park Church. Presbyterians for a work
that had been given up
was purchased, moved, finished and dedicated
July loth, and a church was organized July
25th of that year with twenty-one members,
taking its name from the adjoining park as
the "Hyde Park Congregational Church."'
Rev. A. K. Wray was first pastor, 1882; he
was followed by Robt. M. Higgins, 1887;
Wm. M. Jones, Ph. D., 1891, who still re-
mains. The first church edifice was built of
wood; it was sold in 1894, and a fine brick
building, commenced immediately, was in
process of building when financial difficulties
prevented its completion. With noble faith
and liberal efforts, the Hyde Park people per-
severed in finishing the commodious first
story. They have received an appropriation
from the Congregational Church Building
Society sufficient to remove embarrassments
and give into their possession a fine building
in an important district ; and, although the
building is not yet complete, its future is
secured. Their Sabbath school is one of the
largest in the city. It has 450 members, and
averages 290 in attendance.
Again, a Sunday school had been started
in a neighborhood where
Memorial Church, little religious interest was
found, in Cheltenham,
then a suburb, by Mr. Hobart Brinsmade and
Mr. A. W. Benedict, and this led to a church
of twenty-six members, organized August 20,
1882, which, after the death of Dr. Goodell,
was named "Memorial Church," in honor of
his memory. Its pastors have been. Revs.
Charles W. Drake, 1882 ; Horace B. Knight,
1884; Francis C. Woodward, 1886; Elias F.
Swab, 1888; Henry Tudor, 1890; Edward
Fells, 1891 ; Christopher H. Bente, 1892 to
1896, a longer pastorate than any preceding.
He was followed in 1897 by Frank Foster.
This is both a needy and a growing field, in-
cluding in its area a large manufacturing-
population and a residence section south of
Forest Park.
Thus in two years three churches were
added to the number already existing.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
101
Again, in the onward movement, a mis-
sion Sunday school with
Union Church. preaching services had
been begun, and was sus-
tained by Mr. S. B. Kellogg, at Third and
Biddle Streets, and here "Union Church" was
organized in 1883, removing several times,
till, in 1890, it found an abiding place on
Tenth Street, near Cass Avenue, in a brick
building erected by the City Missionary Soci-
ety, on a lot purchased for it. The church,
with two dwellings on the same lot, are
valued at $16,000. The pastors have been.
Revs. Edmund R. Colman, 1885; David Q.
Travis (Lie), 1886; Dana W. Bartlett, 1887;
Wm. D. Jones, 1891 ; Harry L. Forbes, 1893 ;
S. T. McKinney, 1897, with occasional
preaching by others. This is the most east-
erly and strictly downtown of our churches,
in a denseley settled section. It is earnestly
working, although amid embarrassments, and
doing strictly missionary work.
The Olive Branch Church likewise resulted
from a Sabbath school on the south side, in
a neglected neighborhood, conducted by Mr.
H. Brinsmade and others. For a time the
Sabbath school numbered several hundred
members. The church was organized in 1884.
A chapel, by liberal gifts, had been built on
Sidney Street, and it was dedicated May 26,
1885. It was dedicated with a debt, but that
debt was afterward paid and a subsequent en-
largement of the chapel made. The first pas-
tor was Rev. Edmund T. Colman, followed
by Rev. Irl R. Hicks, 1885 ; John B. John-
ston, 1888; Charles A. Wight, 1890; Edgar
H. Libby, 1893, who ministered here until
May, 1,898, working faithfully among a great
population of varied nationalities.
Thus two churches were added in two years
in the downtown districts at long distances
from each other.
The year 1885 was marked by the addition
of two other churches in the northern portion
of the city, different in language, and hence
both much needed.
The first German Congregational Church
was organized June 25, 1885. For its use a
small building was erected on Garfield and
Spring Avenues. This building was com-
pleted early in 1886, and did well for a time:
later on, and for greater needs, a fine church
was erected in 1897, and dedicated December
I2th of that year. Marcellus Herberg com-
menced work in this new organization as pas-
tor in 1885; George Horst, in 1887. Mr.
Horst died by injury from a runaway horse
in 1894, August 7th. Martin Krey, the pres-
ent pastor, was installed February 7, 1895.
For the purchase of land and the original
building $3,679 was obtained from the Con-
gregational Union ; Pilgrim Church reports
$1,050 given; probably this was reckoned in
the aid through the Union. The present
church was erected by subscriptions from
members and friends. It has a useful work
before it, and strongly appeals to us as the
only distinctive representative of our denomi-
nation among the German population in the
city, although many of the Germans, it is
true, are in our other English-speaking
churches.
Again, a Sunday school was commenced
July 7, 1870, in a wooden chapel near the fair
grounds, led by M. Trumbell, D. N. Brown
and J. A. Parker, chiefly under the care of
Pilgrim and Third Churches. In 1885 a com-
modious brick church, costing $5,347.60, was
erected on Barrett and Thompson Avenues
by liberal gifts — $3,000 of it given by Mrs.
Goodell and presented to The Church of the
Redeemer at its formation, and at the dedica-
tion of the house, October 19, 1885. Silas L.
Smith, 1885; George M. Sanborne, 1887;
George S. Ricker, 1889; Elmer E. Willey,
1890; Edward F. Wheeler, 1893, its present
devoted pastor, have followed each other in
succession. The church was aided in fur-
nishing its chapel and in other expenses in
1885, Pilgrim Church giving $833.41 ; but of
late years it has been self-supporting, a fact
largely due to the unwearied efforts and the
Christian self-denial of its pastor. It has a
large Sunday school, especially of young chil-
dren, and is doing a great educational and
missionary work in the midst of a large popu-
lation. The possibilities of the church and
school are far beyond their present enrolled
membership.
Now comes an epoch in Congregational
work and church exten-
Congregational City sion in St. Louis. Thus
Missionary Society, far the churches had been
organized by persons de-
siring to form them, or as a result of the
effort of individuals working in Sunday
schools, or by pastors and churches, espe-
cially Pilgrim Church and its pastors, aiding
and bringing forward new enterprises, a
method of procedure in which it is easy to
102
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
see that the care of starting churches, or
erecting buildings, or supporting pastors until
self-support was reached, had rested oiT the
unorganized liberalitj' of churches and indi-
vidual givers. True, the American Home
Missionary Society had helped support the
missionary pastors and the superintendents
of that society, as, for example, in the case of
Rev. E. B. Turner, with a residence at Han-
nibal, and Revs. West, Harwood and Doe,
who resided in St. Louis, while they super-
vised the work of the whole State; and the
Congregational L^nion had aided three
churches and stood ready to help as facts of
need were presented and churches grew. But
there was need of more thorough organiza-
tion among the now twelve Congregational
Churches of the city to overlook the whole
field, to explore destitute portions of our
extending city, to determine the need for
church extension and church building, to ad-
vise with and aid feeble churches, to take
the oversight of buildings, of property, of
funds raised for the work, by an organiza-
tion and an agency nearer and more efficient
than any established in New York, or man-
aged by the New York society, could possi-
bly be. Several mission churches had already
been formed and more were in prospect from
prospering mission Sunday schools. To
meet, therefore, the growing demand felt by
all parties for a closer relation between the
increasing needs and an efficient superin-
tendency on the ground, the Congregational
City Missionary Society was incorporated
May 12, 1887. The organization of the soci-
ety was brought about largely through the
influence of Rev. Dr. Stimson, pastor of Pil-
grim Church, and it has been an efficient
agency in starting or counseling or aiding
churches ever since, and it has stimulated
and received liberal contributions from all, or
nearly all, the churches of our order, and
from many generous givers, though its means
have never equaled its wants, and some of
the most promising opportunities for church
extension in the city have been lost through
lack of funds to meet the pressing demands
of the hour.
The first work of the city society was pur-
chasing the building on Twenty-third and
Clark Streets, abandoned by the Fifth
Church when it moved to Compton Hill, and
resuming services in it as a People's Taber-
nacle, under the care of Superintendent Rev.
Wm. Johnson, who organized there a church
in 1887 with eighty-six members, all joining
by letter. He was followed by John M. P.
Metcalf, 1888; John D. Nutting, 1890, and
Rev. Mr. Johnson himself returning in 1893,
where he has labored constantly since with
success. The People's Tabernacle is sur-
rounded by a numerous population, engaged
in manufacturing, railroad work, etc. It
stands with little or no competition from
other churches, and is doing a great evan-
gelistic work. 'While the building is old, the
land upon which it stands is valuable.
We come now to the Aubert Place Church,
Aubert Place, in the central-western portion
of the city. This church was organized in
1890 with twenty-five members, thirteen
chiefly from the First Church, by letter, and
twelve on confession. The Rev. E. E. Braith-
wait was ordained pastor in November, 1890.
The first church, which they were assisted '
in building, was of wood ; this in a few years
proved inadequate, and they prepared for a
larger and more costly stone and brick
church with enthusiastic self-denial, moving
the wooden structure to another portion of
their lot. After removal the old structure
was burned in January, 1895, with furniture,
library and all its contents. This was, of
course, a blow, but services were held in a
German church until they could furnish the
spacious basement of their new building,
which they did, and moved into it in the
spring. A proposition was made to unite
with the Third Church, which union was
brought about in the autumn of that same
year, and their pastor. Rev. E. E. Braith-
wait, was dismissed September 19, 1895,
after five years of faithful labor. After union
the church took the name of "The Fountain
Park Congregational Church," and has for
its present pastor, as we have already noted
under the Third Church, Rev. Harry C.
"Vrooman.
Again, in 1890, the Old Orchard Church,
really a daughter of the Webster Groves
Church, was organized. Its pastors have
been : Revs. F. W. Burrows, 1891 ; A. I.
Bradley, 1894, and F. W. Hemenway, 1897,
who, w^ith health impaired, has just resigned.
After worshiping in a hall, it built a con-
venient church in 1898.
In 1891 two more new churches were or-
ganized, one in the northwest, and the other
the southwest, part of the city, and they
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
103
were well named Hope and Imnianuel. A
Sunday school under varied auspices, chiefly
those of Plymouth Church, had been carried
on north of Easton Avenue, in the western
border of the growing city, and the City
Missionary Society took charge of the en-
terprise, erected a building, and April 26,
1891, organized a church of twenty-six mem-
bers, with Rev. J. P. O'Brien in charge, who
was installed by council June 25, 1891, and
regretfully dismissed also by council May 26,
1898, after seven years of fruitful labor, to
accept a call to Kansas City, Missouri, to
take the place of Rev. C. L. Kloss in the
Tabernacle Church. Hope Church has a
large Sunday school crowding its accommo-
dations, and it appeals for a new and larger
building, that it may come to full self-sup-
port. It is, indeed, a hopeful, promising field.
The organization of the Imnianuel Church
was as follows : A Sunday school had been
started in 1890, under charge of Deacon
Isaac Green, of the Third Church, in the
southwestern part of the city. Several pas-
tors visited the field, saw the need and pros-
pects, and as a result Immanuel Church,
January 27, 1891, was formed to supply the
wants of a growing community in Harlem
Place and Lindenwood and vicinity. It occu-
pied a building erected by the City Mission-
ary Society for $1,500. The church had
twenty-nine members, coming to join it from
several denominations. Rev. J. P. O'Brien
was pastor for a time, followed by Revs.
Edgar L. Morse, 1892, and Wm. N. Bessey,
1894. Though the growth of that immedi-
ate vicinity has not been as rapid as was
expected, yet the church has done, and is
doing, excellent work, and continues to in-
crease. It has a good field almost entirely
to itself and a loved pastor.
In 1890 the City Missionary Society, see-
ing that many families were moving into a
central portion of the west end, not then
supplied with churches, purchased a lot on
Delmar and Newstead Avenues, and in 1891
erected a brick chapel upon it, which was
dedicated December 6th of tliat year, and a
Sunday school was commenced the next
Sabbath, Deacon H. Brinsmade being super-
intendent. Rev. J. L. Sewall was called by
the City Missionary Society January 25, 1892,
to take charge of the work, and remained
till September 26, 1893. The church was
organized Ajtril 28. 1892, and recognized by
council June 3d of that year, with seventy-
one members, fort3'-three coming by letter
from Pilgrim Church, fifteen from other
churches and thirteen on confession of faith
in Christ. June 29, 1892, the church Ijought the
property from the City Missionary Society,
paying $8,927, assumed an encumbrance of
$5,260, paid up all which had been expended
on their field and declared self-support, be-
coming also liberal contributors to that and
other societies, their contributions being the
third in aggregate amounts given by any of
our churches, and by far the largest in av-
erage per member of any church in the city
and State. In December the church called
Rev. C. S. Sargent, D. D., of Massachusetts,
to their pastorate ; he entered on his work
in January, 1894, and was installed March
1st. Dr. Sargent has labored faithfully and
successfully in this field, but the opportu-
nity before the church has always been lim-
ited by the fact that its chapel has not been
sufficient to meet the demands of the field.
This condition of things is more than ever
emphasized at this time by the fact that
Central Church is now surrounded by other
churches, who have sold costly properties
farther east and erected new l^uildings in
the vicinity of, and surrounding. Central
Church. And yet this church has an impor-
tant strategic position for reaching desirable
families, who would not attend any other
of our churches. The numerous additions
of late have been largely of persons from
other places, many of them not formerly
Congregationalists, and who would not be
so now if this church were not where it is.
In Maplewood, just at the western limits
of the city, a Sunday school was formed
under the care of the City l\Iissionary Soci-
ety, December 27, 1891, first, in a private
house ; it then moved to an unfinished shop
in the neighborhood. Iii connection with
this school also was formed a branch at
Ellendale, near the other. The F.Uendale
enterprise failed ; the other was very suc-
cessful, so that a church of thirty-two mem-
bers, formerly of eleven dififerent denomi-
nations, was organized April 2. 1893. taking
the name of the Congregational Church of
the Covenant. This church was ministered
to by Rev. A. L. Love, superintendent of the
City Missionary Society, by whose efforts a
neat church building with many conveniences
was erected, costing in all about $6,000. It
104
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
was dedicated March 13, 1896. Mr. Love's
work, of course, was only temporary, and
the church soon felt the need of a perma-
nent pastor, and they called Rev. T. T. Hol-
way, who was ordained pastor May 14th.
The church is in a growing section, and has
promise of substantial increase under its
faithful young pastor. It has won to itself
those who made efforts to organize another
Christian Church near them, and thus proves
itself a union church.
The year 1894 is memorable for the addi-
tion of two churches, as 1866, 1869, 1881,
1885 and 1891 had also been memorable
years.
The first of these is what is known as
Reber Place Church. Some distance from
any .church, in the southwestern section of
the city, a Sunday school, under care of P. W.
Allen and Lewis E. Snow, had been gath-
ered, and sometimes worship had been held
several years near old Manchester Road,
under the name of the Manchester Road
Mission. After a revival, in which were many
conversions, and in which George E. Thomas,
of Aubert Place, was a successful spiritual
leader, there were gathered into a church
eighty-three members, sixty-four on confes-
sion and nineteen by letter, February 25,
1894, the organization being called, from its
locality, Reber Place Church. The City Mis-
sionary Society erected a building capable
of use for a Sunday school and Sabbath
worship, but so made as to be available sub-
sequently for residences. Rev. E. L. Morse,
of Immanuel Church, had charge for a sea-
son, but as a special pastor was needed all
the time, and both churches wished services
at the same hour, a call was, therefore, ex-
tended to Rev. Firth Stringer, and he was
installed June 22, 1894. His work has pros-
pered ; he has seen a good development in
numbers in both the church and Sunday
school, and growth both in Christian work
and in spirituality. The promise of increased
financial ability is also good, and the mem-
bers of the church are now looking hopefully
toward a larger building on a more favor-
able lot.
The Bethlehem' Bohemian Mission has
been conducted since 1891 under the City
Missionary Society by Rev. E. Wrbitzky and
Miss Belcahm, visitor. The new mission
absorbed what had been called Bethany Mis-
sion, commenced in 1888 to work, and with
success, among the Bohemians. But the
Bethany Mission was in a location not the
best for that purpose. Its headquarters were
in a hall; it was supported by the City Mis-
sionary Society, who paid for the hall, a con-
siderable expense, and also for the work of
the visitor. Miss Tilson. After four and a
half years this seemed to be too expensive
a method of conducting the Bohemian work,
and the Bethany and the Bohemian Missions
were united. Alarch 20, 1894, a church of
seventeen members was formed; the chapel
of another church was hired for the Sunday
school and for worship, till, by a free lease
of land and liberal gifts, a good brick church
was erected on Allen Avenue and Thirteenth
Streets, and dedicated, free of debt, May 16,
1897. The history of the building of this
house is of the deepest interest, and the
mission has a work for both Bohemians and
Americans, especially for the young. The
Sunday school has two departments, one Bo-
hemian and the other in English.
The churches had now in forty-two years
reached just a full score, but several were
having hard struggles financially on account
of depression of business.
In 1895, as we have seen, the Third Church
sold their buildings and desirable lot on
Grand and Page Avenues for $35,000, paid
debt of $13,000 and joined with Aubert Place
Church, who had a capacious lot, good foun-
dations and basement, in which they were
worshiping, and with united resources fur-
nished an ample and convenient church for
worship and all church uses. We have noted,
too, that the union movement took the name
of "Fountain Park Church,"" and they dedi-
cated their house of worship November 29,
1896. But by this union the number of
churches was reduced to nineteen, the total
membership of the churches and Sunday-
school members diminished ; but the abil-
ity for giving and ease of support increased.
The pastors of the two churches combined
removed to other fields, and Rev. Harry C.
Vrooman was installed over the united
church. January 30, 1896. This field has a
well-nigh unlimited opportunity.
The expenditures of the City Missionary
Society had for several years exceeded its
income, and though generous offers were
made by its friends and reduction of sala-
ries was submitted to by its missionaries,
and no new work in the city was permitted,
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ST. LOUIS.
105
yet its debts became so heavy that the dis-
pensing with the services of a superintend-
ent became unavoidable. Rev. A. L. Love,
therefore, resigned his office in the autumn
of 1896, after having buih an edifice costing
$900 at Valley Park, some twenty miles west
of the city for a Sunday school at a needy
community, and organized there in 1896 a
church of six members, all by letter, with the
expectation of more to join them. Thus the
city work reached into the country by send-
ing ministerial supplies. The superintend-
ent, however, took charge of building and
finished the church for the Bohemians as his
last work before leaving the city.
This brings us to our present condition and
the summing up the growth of Congregation-
alism. In less than forty-six years — less than
a single full ministry of one reaching ripe
age — it has grown from one church of
twenty-five members, with 130 in Sunday
school, to nineteen churches, with 3.59°
(last year's report), all maintaining Sunday-
schools with 4,387 attendants ; all maintain-
ing prayer meetings, ladies' societies of
varied kinds, and various other forms of
work for the kingdom of Christ. This is
really a remarkable growth. Add to this
facts like these — the total value of church
property in 1895 was $461,000, with debts,
$59,900, leaving value above encum-
brances $401,100. Since that the Bohemian,
costing about $7,500, and the German main
church buildings have been erected, and
Fountain Park's attractive church, costing
$26,000.
Again, there was raised for home expenses
last year $80,393 ; the reported benevolences
were $23,608. Average per member for both
purposes, $26.18. The summing up is full
of encouragement and power.
As to spiritual results, we can not esti-
mate them. Such results as have come from
the preaching of the gospel of Christ are
incomparably better than gold, and the gen-
eral influences in societ}' are inestimably im-
portant, but they can not be counted or
specified. Conversions with confession of
Christ and additions to churches have been
made every year in probably every church
and under every true pastor. The years
1853, 1874 and 1880 were most marked as
revival seasons, and also 1894 and 1896, in
some of our churches ; but every year has
seen the Lord's work and manifested the
Spirit's power. Another fact we may note
also, namely this, there is no regularly or-
ganized church connected with the Congre-
gational Association in St. Louis that has
failed so far in all this history, and only the
one union above spoken of has taken place.
Several Sunday schools and mission enter-
prises, which did not reach church estate,
have failed, perhaps for that reason. Many
churches in other parts of this State, of our
own and of all other denominations, and mul-
titudes in Illinois and other States near us,
have failed from various causes, but none has
yet failed in St. Louis. This sheds light on
prospects for permanence. It would be well if
our churches should gain permanent funds, as
we hope they may in time. Our ministry has
been varied in ability, character, education,
efifectiveness, popularity, theological views
and methods of work and preaching; but
we can rejoice and be thankful for all the
good done by the more than seventy pas-
tors and acting pastors. A few have been of
long duration in the ministry, as, for ex-
ample :
Dr. Post, who was for thirty years active
pastor and nearly five emeritus.
Dr. George C. Adams, fifteen years.
Dr. Goodell, fourteen.
Theodore Clifton, nine.
Dr. J. G. Merrill, Dr. Sutherland, near
the city, and Rev. J- P- O'Brien, seven years
each.
Rev. W. M. Jones, Ph. D., is now in his
seventh year.
Rev. E. F. Wheeler is in his sixth year.
St. Louis has been a healthy climate for
ministers, and yet most of the pastorates
have been short. Only a few pastors have
died in their work. Dr. Goodell died Febru-
ary I, 1886, of apoplexy, aged fifty-six. Dr.
Post, emeritus, died December 31, 1886, of
heart disease, aged seventy-six years and six
months.
Rev. George Horst. of German Church,
August 7, 1894, was killed by falling from a
horse, at the age of thirty-two years.
Rev. Mr. Swift, preparing for organizing
Olive Branch, died as a young pastor.
Our churches are now, relatively to each
other, well located, no two crowding each
other : all have distinct fields and work ; all
well manned and with prospects of good.
Other facts of interest which may appro-
priately be mentioned in connection with this
106
CONGREGATIONAL CLUB— CONN.
sketch of Congregationalism are the follow-
ing:
"The Year Book" was first pubhshed by
the Congregational Union in 1854; the "Con-
gregational Quarterly" commenced in 1859
and published the statistics of the denomina-
tion from i860 to 1878, when the "Year
Book" was resumed as a separate issue, and
its statistics are of inestimable value and are
open to the public.
The Congregational ministers of St. Louis
and vicinity meet each Monday for mutual
helpfulness and consultation. They also have
part in the Evangelical Alliance of the vari-
ous denominations.
Fellowship of the churches is promoted
by occasional fellowship meetings ; by coun-
cils called for advice, or for ordination,
installation or dismission of ministers, when-
ever desired by any church ; by the St. Louis
Association of ministers and churches, which
meets each April and October; by the Mis-
souri State Association meeting, the last of
April each year, and by the National Con-
gregational Council meeting, once in three
years.
The Congregational Club, formed in 1887,
composed of ministers and members elected,
holds five meetings each year.
Weekly papers have been published in the
interest and for the mutual information of
the churches, as "The Life," from 1887 to
1895, and "The Messenger," for six months
in 1897 — but are now suspended.
The churches contribute regularly to six
great denominational boards and societies,
and to many other benevolent organizations
and needs as occasions call. Thus they have
part in the progress of the kingdom of Christ,
and the good of mankind in all the world,
in addition to the local work and beneficial
influence at home.
R. M. Sargent.
M. BURNHAM.
Congregational Club. — The club of
this name was organized in St. Louis,
November 29, 1886, and has for its object "to
encourage among the members of the Con-
gregational Churches and societies of St.
Louis and vicinity a more intimate acquaint-
ance ; to secure concert of action, and to
promote the general interests of Congrega-
tionalism." Rev. Henry A. Stimson, then
pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church,
originated the idea of forming the club and
was the prime mover in effecting its organi-
zation. The regular meetings of the club are
held on the third Mondays in January, March,
October and November, and on the second
Monday in May. The regular meeting in
November is the annual meeting for the
choice of officers.
Congressional Ratio. — The number
of inhabitants entitled to one representative
in Congress. This ratio is fixed anew after
each decennial United States Census. After
the census of 1890 it was decided that the
number of members of the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington should be 356, and
when the total population of the United
States, 62,622,250, was divided by this num-
ber the quotient, 173,901, was made the con-
gressional ratio. This entitled Missouri,
with its population of 2,679,184, to fifteen
representatives. The census of 1900 gave the
State sixteen Congressmen.
Congressional Representation.—
When Missouri was admitted as a State into
the Union it was allowed one representative
in the lower House of Congress, and it had
but one for twelve years; from 1833 to 1843
it had two; from 1843 to 1853 it had five;
from 1853 to 1863 it had seven; from 1863
to 1873 it had nine; from 1873 to 1883 it
had thirteen; from 1883 to 1893 it had four-
teen ; in 1S93 it was allowed fifteen, and after
1903 will have sixteen. (See also "Repre-
sentatives in Congress.")
Congressman. — The popular name
usually given to a member of the L^nited
-States House of Representatives.
Conn, Luther, H., a veteran of the
Civil War, and for thirty years a leader
among men of affairs in St. Louis, was born
March 14, 1842, at Burlington, Boone
County. Kentucky. His parents were Dr.
James V. and Mary E. Conn, strong and
forceful characters, who were active in
church and educational work and leading
citizens of the community in which thev
lived. His paternal grandfather was Captain
Jack Conn, of Bourbon Countv, Kentucky,
who was a participant in the War of 1812.
and who was accreditedj by manv of his con-
temporaries, with having killed the Indian
Qaha ov^JL,
/T^
107
chieftain, Tecumseh, at the battle of the
Thames, although others have claimed that
distinction for Colonel Richard M. Johnson,
afterward Vice President of the United
States. Luther H. Conn was educated in
part at Carrollton, Kentucky, in an old-time
seminary numbered then among the leading
educational institutions of the State. Later
he pursued a special course of study under
Professors Cloud and Magruder, the last
named of whom. Major Magruder, was a
graduate of West Point, and from whom he
obtained a knowledge of military tactics, of
which he soon afterward made practical use.
He was still in school when the Civil War
began, being then nineteen years of age.
Fired with sympathy for the Southern cause
and burning with military ardor, he left
school and home very soon after the struggle
began, and joined the Confederate Army as
a private soldier. He was soon promoted to
a captaincy and served in that capacity under
the brave and dashing cavalry leader. Gen-
eral John H. Morgan, participating in all the
thrilling and exciting experiences incident
to the vigorous and effective campaigns of
his renowned commander. In a hot engage-
ment near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, he was
wounded, and besides being shot through
both legs, had his clothing perforated with
bullets, escaping death by a seeming miracle.
He was captured with General Morgan's
command on the occasion of the celebrated
raid into Ohio and Indiana, and for more
than a year thereafter was held a prisoner of
war at Johnson's Island, Allegheny City,
Point Lookout, Fort McHenry and Fort
Delaware, being transferred from one prison
to another in the order named. In the fall
of 1864 he was returned to the Confederate
service through an exchange of prisoners,
and participated in the subsequent campaign
of 1864-5. On the surrender of General Lee
and the evacuation of Richmond, his com-
mand was made the special escort of Presi-
dent Davis and the Confederate officials on
their retreat into Georgia. After the final
surrender and complete overthrow of the
government at Washington, Georgia, in the
spring of 1865, he returned to his old home
in Kentucky, and addressed himself to the
duties of civil life. The question as to what
his vocation in life should be was one which
he had not determined when he left school
to don the uniform of a soldier, and it was
still unsettled when he returned to civil pur-
suits. His education and the broadening ex-
periences of his military career had fitted
him admirably for professional life, but he
preferred to turn his attention to business
pursuits, and after a few months devoted to
rest and recreation, he went to Arkansas and
engaged in cotton-planting. Not satisfied
with this occupation at the end of a year's
experience, he came to St. Louis in 1867 and
embarked in the real estate business as a
member of the firm of Flournoy & Co. The
style of this firm was later changed to Conn
& McRee, and it quickly took rank among
the leading firms of its kind in St. Louis.
For more than twenty years it had a large
and lucrative business in all the departments
incident to real estate operations, its mem-
bers being especially noted for their sagac-
ity, thorough knowledge of realty values,
honorable methods and the strict integrity
of all their dealings. In addition to his real
estate operations. Captain Conn has been
connected with many important enterprises,
semi-public in character, prominent among
them being the construction of the West
End Narrow Gauge Railway, the Jefferson
Avenue Railway, the building of the South-
ern Hotel and Merchants' Exchange. In
promoting the establishment and improve-
ment of Forest Park he was a moving spirit,
and feels justly proud of having been a par-
ticipant in the movement which gave to St.
Louis what is now and will always be one of
the most beautiful parks in the world and the
pride of the city. He is a lover of music and
art, and enthusiastic over all field sports, has
traveled extensively and spent considerable
time in Europe and the Orient. He is now
the owner of the historic "Grant Farm," the
former home of General U. S. Grant, now in
the suburbs of St. Louis. There he resides
much of his time and indulges his tastes for
fine horses and cattle, and for rural sports
and pastimes generally. The possession of
the early homestead of the great soldier is
something in which he very naturally takes
great pride, and the American people, in-
clined to make of it a shrine, like Mount Ver-
non, Monticello, or "The Hermitage," are to
be congratulated upon its having fallen into
the hands of one so appreciative of its his-
toric associations as is Captain Conn. One
of very few, and perhaps the only office which
he ever held, was that of commissioner of
108
CONNELLY— CONNOR.
Lafayette Park, a position which he retained
for many years, serving a part of the time as
president of the board. During the adminis-
tration of Governor Phelps he was offered a
pohce commissionership of St. Louis, but de-
clined the office, as he has decHned many
other offers of official preferment. Politi-
cally he has affiliated with the Democratic
party, but has taken no active part in politics.
He is not a member of any church, but has
been a liberal and helpful friend of church
organizations in general. He was married,
in 1871, to Miss Louise G. Gibson, eldest
daughter of Sir Charles and Virginia Gibson.
The only children born of their union were a
son and daughter, of whom the daughter
only survives. She is now Mrs. Frank V.
Hammar, of St. Louis, and as Miss Virginia
May Conn was a reigning belle in St. Louis
during her young womanhood.
Connelly, Alvin H., president and
treasurer of the Connelly Hardwood Lumber
Company, at Kansas City, is a native of Illi-
nois, and was reared and educated at Rock
Island. As a young man, he entered the
employ of the Rock Island Lumber Com-
pany and there gained that knowledge of the
lumber industry which fitted him to success-
fully engage in business for himself. In
1884 he went to Topeka, Kansas, where he
carried on a remunerative business until
1894. In the latter year he removed to Kan-
sas City, Missouri, where he became inter-
ested in the hardwood lumber business. In
1899 Clark H. Connelly, a brother of Alvin
H. Connelly, became a member of the present
corporation, and was elected secretary. The
yards of the company are located at 1909
Baltimore Avenue. The firm handles all de-
scriptions of hardwood lumber, oak, ash,
hickory, poplar, cypress, etc., making local
shipments and sending out mixed car lots
from the Kansas City yards, and shipping
oak timber and bridge plank direct from
their mills in Arkansas, which they operate
under contract. The transactions of the
company form an important item in the lum-
ber trade of Kansas City, and the Connelly
Brothers are regarded as among the most
capable men in the business.
Conners' Cave. — A cave in Boone
County, seven miles southeast of Columbia.
It has an entrance twenty feet wide and eight
feet high, and has been explored for several
miles.
Connor, Thomas, president of the
Miners' Bank, Joplin, was born in County
Kerry, Ireland, August 10, 1847. His parents
were James and Katharine O'Connor, who
immigrated to America with their children
in 185 1, locating at Tiffin, Ohio. The father
was a laborer; he died three years after ar-
riving in the country. The mother died at
the home which they first made in Ohio, in
1893, at the advanced age of eighty-one
years. Of their four children, two are de-
ceased; those living are Mary, now Mrs.
James Nolan, of Tiffin, Ohio, and Thomas,
who, for sake of convenience, at the begin-
ning of his business career, dropped the "O"
in the family name, and has since been known
as Connor. The latter named was the young-
est child, left fatherless at the age of about
nine years. He became a newsboy on trains
between Sandusky and Dayton, on the old
Mad River Railway, now incorporated in the
Big Four system. As a consequence he was
deprived of educational advantages, and all
with which his mind is stored has been en-
tirely self-acquired. When the Civil War
opened in 1861 he was an ardent Unionist,
and the martial spirit, characteristic of his
race, impelled him to enter the ranks as a
soldier, but he was four years under the re-
quired age. He accompanied the Eighth
Ohio Infantry Regiment to the field, how-
ever, and was with that command for more
than two years as a newsboy. His regiment
was a part of Shields' (afterward French's)
Division of Hancock's Corps, and he not only
witnessed many of the bloodiest battles of the
war. but participated in them. He was pres-
ent at Fredericksbnrs'. Antietam, the seven
days' battle in the Wilderness, Winchester,
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Wherever
the army was, he followed it with the daily
papers, often of old date, owing to delay of
mails, taking them to the soldiers on the
line of battle, under fire, as well as in camp.
He habitually accompanied Company A in
its freq'uent reconnoitering expeditions. After
the war he prospected in the mountains in
Montana for a time, and then went to Texas,
where, at the age of twenty-three years, he
became a successful cattle trader and drover.
In 1871 he came to Missouri, locating in
Seneca, where he established a liverv stable.
<r^
h(f^^ yXOc-^A-ut.
CONROW— CONSTABLE.
109
A few months later he removed his business
to Joplin. He continued in this hne until
1878, when he sold out. During these years
he had paid much attention to the mining
fields, and his investments proved richly
profitable. He has contributed much toward
the material development of Joplin. He was
one of eight men who erected the first smelt-
ing plant in the district. For about fifteen
years he was president and the principal
stockholder of the Joplin Water Works,
which he operated during that period, dis-
posing of them in May, 1899, to the Ameri-
■ can Water Works Company. For several
years past he has been, as he is now, presi-
dent of the Miners' Bank, the pioneer finan-
cial house of the city, and one of the most
stable and wealthy financial institutions in
the State; beyond this, he has no connection
with business concerns except in an indi-
vidual way. He has never sought or held
oificial position, although frequently solic-
ited; but his effort and means have been
lavishly extended to his party and friends.
He is a Democrat, and has always been an
active figure in the counsels and conventions
of the party to which he adheres. He was
a delegate to the National Democratic Con-
vention at Chicago in 1892 which nominated
Cleveland, and in that campaign was the
treasurer of the Missouri Democratic State
Central Committee. In the presidential con-
test of 1896 he voted for McKinley, being
unable to follow his own party in what he
held to be abandonment of Democratic prin-
ciples, in its advocacy of the policies repre-
sented by Bryan. Mr. Connor was married
at White Pigeon, Michigan, in 1874, to Miss
Melissa Wilcox. No children have been
born of this marriage. Mr. Connor is in vig-
orous physical and mental condition, in-
tensely active, and keenly alive to business
conditions and possibilities. His most strik-
ing characteristic is his sturdy, unaffected
independence, which finds little expression in
words, but is manifested in his conduct when-
ever occasion requires. Two instances suffice
in illustration. The one was his antagonism
to his own political party on the occasion
before narrated. The other was his action
with reference to the differences between the
zinc-miners and the smelter proprietors of
the Missouri-Kansas district. In this contest
he sided with the miners, and when the
smelter proprietors refused to pay a price for
ore which the miners considered reasonable,
and the market lay stagnant, he drew upon
his great wealth and bought large quantities
in ten-carload lots, paying a spot-cash price
which was satisfactory. Mr. Connor will not
admit that in this action he was actuated by
any sentiment of Sympathy for the miners,
but that class accord to him gratitude, and
hold him in high esteem as an able and pow-
erful advocate of their interests. In a per-
sonal way he is affable with all, unreserved
and companionable with his friends, and
sympathetic and liberal where distress seeks
his aid. With the appearance of one who
has no cares, and who concerns himself little
with business matters, there is no more
sagacious capitalist in the land; his judgment
is well-nigh infallible, and when he once
determines upon a course of conduct he is
deterred by no apparent obstacle, but is
rather stimulated to greater effort in attain-
ing success. He is now the largest individual
owner of zinc lands in America, if not in the
world, and the income from his investments
is in itself a handsome fortune.
Conrow, Aaron H., lawyer, soldier
and member of the Confederate Congress,
was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, June 9, 1824,
and was killed near Camargo, Mexico,
August 14, 1865. When a child, his parents
removed, first to Illinois, and in 1840 to Mis-
souri, and settled in Ray County. He studied
law and began practicing at Richmond, soon
rising to eminence and success at a bar which
numbered A. W. Doniphan, Austin A. King
and others among its members. He served
four years as circuit attorney, and for a time
as judge of the court of common pleas. In
i860 he was elected to the Legislature, and
the next year espoused the cause of the
South and entered the Confederate Army.
He was also elected by the Missouri Confed-
erate troops to the Confederate Congress.
On the collapse of the Southern cause, he
went tb Mexico with General M. M. Parsons,
and while encamped near Camargo, at night,
the whole party of six persons were cruelly
massacred by a detachment of Mexican Lib-
eralists.
Constable. — An -executive officer who
attends on the court of a justice of the peace
and performs duties similar to those per-
formed by a sheriff in the circuit court. The
110
CONSTITUTION— CONSTITUTION, HOW AMENDED.
constable is a township officer. He serves
the warrants issued by the justice of the
peace, and makes arrests, summons juries
and collects debts by selling property under
writs of execution.
Constitution. — The supreme law of the
State, sometimes called the organic law, and
sometimes the fundamental law. It differs
from statutory laws, or acts of the Legisla-
ture, and city and town ordinances, which
are the acts of municipal councils, in that it
is of higher dignity and authority, and they
must conform to it. An act of the Legisla-
ture, or of a city or town council, which, upon
being questioned and taken into court is judi-
cially declared to be in conflict with the
constitution, instantly becomes void and of
no force. Another difference is that statutes,
or ordinary laws, are acts of the Legislature,
or GeneraL\ssembly,the regular law-making
body, which, itself, is a creature of the con-
stitution, while the constitution is made by
a State convention representing the people
in their sovereignty. The State convention
is not a constituted body, always in existence,
like the General Assembly; it is called and
constituted only on extraordinary occasions
— to frame a new constitution, or amend the
existing one, or to meet some great and sud-
den peril — and when it has performed its duty
it adjourns without day, and passes out of
existence. Constitutions are unwritten and
written, the most illustrious example of the
former being the English constitution, which
consists of established precedents, customs,
habits and decisions so ancient and stable as
to have come to be recognized as supreme.
In this country there is no such unwritten
constitution; the Constitution of the United
States, which is the supreme law, is written,
and so are the constitutions of all the States.
In Great Britain, the Parliament is supreme
over the constitution, and may change it ; but
in this country there is no constituted body,
whether Congress or a State Legislature,
that can change either the Constitution of the
United States or that of a State. A change
of the former can be effected only in two
ways — by a great national convention, or by
the co-operative action of the national Con-
gress and a majority "of the State Legisla-
tures. The latter is the usual method — in
fact, the only one, for no national constitu-
tional convention has been called into exist-
ence since the adjournment of the original
one which framed the United States Consti-
tution in 1787. Fifteen amendments to it
have been added from time to time, but all
through the co-operative action of Congress
and the State Legislatures, or conventions.
The present (1900) Constitution of the
State of jMissouri, framed in 1875, consists
of a preamble and fifteen articles. Article I
accepts and recognizes the established boun-
daries of the State. Article II is the bill of
rights, consisting of thirty-two sections.
Article III is a single paragraph, naming the
distribution of powers. Article IV relates to'
the legislative department, and consists of
fifty-six sections. Article V relates to the
executive department, and consists of twenty-
five sections. Article VI relates to the judi-
cial department, and has forty-four sections.
Article \TI relates to impeachments, and has
two sections. Article VIII relates to suffrage
and elections, and has twelve sections. Arti-
cle IX relates to counties, cities and towns,
and has twenty-five sections, six of them re-
lating to the city of St. Louis. Article X
relates to revenue and taxation, and has
twenty-one sections. Article XI relates to
education, and has eleven sections. Article
XII relates to corporations, and has twenty-
seven sections, thirteen of them relating to
railroads, and three to banks. Article XIII
relates to militia, and has seven sections.
Article XIV relates to miscellaneous provi-
sions, and has twelve sections. Article XV
relates to the mode of amending the consti-
tution, and has three sections. In addition
to these fifteen articles, there was a schedule
providing for submitting the constitution to
a vote of the people and for certain other
matters of convenience.
Constitution, How Amended. —
Amendments to the Constitution of Mis-
souri may be made through a process pro-
vided by itself. The amendments are first
proposed by the General Assembly, through
a majority vote of each House ; they are,
next, published with the laws of that session,
and also published weekly in a newspaper in
each county of the State, for four consecu-
tive weeks, just before a general election.
They are then voted on separately at the gen-
eral election, and every proposed amendment
receiving a majority of the votes cast be-
comes part of the constitution.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, HOW CALLED.
Ill
Constitutional Convention, How
Called. — The method of calling a constitu-
tional convention for revising and amending"
the constitution of the State, is, for the Gen-
eral Assembly to submit the question to a
vote of the people ; and if the popular vote is
in favor of a convention, the Governor is to
order an election for delegates, not less
than three nor more than six months from
the time of the first vote. The delegates are
to be chosen by senatorial districts, two dele-
gates for each Senator, the delegates to have
the qualifications of a Senator. The dele-
gates are to meet at a time and place fixed
by the General Assembly and perform their
work.
Constitutional Conventions. — Mis-
souri has had, down to 1900, five con-
stitutional conventions — the first in 1820,
the second in 1845, the third in 1861, the
fourth in 1865, and the fifth in 1875 ; but
there have been but three different con-
stitutions for the State. The proposed new
constitution framed by the convention of
1845 was rejected by the people; and the
State Convention of 1861, having been called
to deal with disunion and matters connected
therewith, did not frame a new constitution.
The first State Convention of 1820 was
authorized by act of Congress, and its object
was to form a State constitution as prepara-
tion for the admission of Missouri Territory
into the Union as a State. It was composed
of forty-one delegates, chosen from the fif-
teen counties at that time organized, their
names being as follows :
Cape Girardeau — Stephen Byrd, Joseph
Evans, Richard S. Thomas, Alexander Buck-
ner, James McFerron.
Cooper— Robert P. Clark, Robert Wal-
lace, William Lillard.
Franklin — ^John G. Heath.
Howard — Nicholas S. Burkhartt, Duf¥
Green, John Ray, Jonathan S. Findlay, Ben-
jamin H. Reeves.
Jefiferson — Samuel Hammond.
Lincoln — IVIalcolm Henry.
Montgomery' — Jonathan Ramsey, James
Talbott.
Madison — Nathaniel Cook.
New Madrid — Robert D. Dawson, Christo-
pher G. Houts.
Pike — Stephen Cleaver.
St. Charles — Benjamin Emmons, Nathan
Boone, Hiram H. Baber.
Ste. Genevieve — John D. Cook, Henry
Dodge, John Scott, R. T. Brown.
St. Louis — David Barton, Edward Bates,
Alexander McNair, William Rector, John C.
Sullivan, Pierre Chouteau, Jr. ; Bernard
Pratte, Thomas F. Riddick.
Washington — John Rice Jones, Samuel
Perry, John Hutchings.
Wayne — Elijah Bettis.
The convention met in St. Louis in the
Mansion House, corner of Third and Vine
Streets, June 12, 1820, and chose David Bar-
ton, afterward United States Senator, for
president, and William G. Pettus, secretary.
It concluded its labors and adjourned on the
19th of July, the constitution which it framed
going into effect, without being submitted to
the people, and remaining in force until
1865.
The next State Convention was that of
1845, which was called to correct certain in-
equalities of representation under the original
constitution of 1820, and to give the people
a more direct control over the organs of gov-
ernment. The number of members of the
Lower House of the General Assembly was
limited to 100, and each county was allowed
to have one representative — an arrangement
under which the more populous counties did
not possess the weight they were entitled to.
To remedy this and also to make the gov-
ernment more directly responsible to the peo-
ple, the convention of 1845 was called. It
was composed of sixty-six delegates, chosen
by districts, their names being as follows :
First District — Edwin D. Bevitt, John D.
Coalter.
Second District — -Ezra Hunt, James O.
Broadhead.
Third District — Joshua Gentry, Thomas L.
Anderson.
Fourth District — James S. Green, James
L. Jones.
Fifth District— John C. Grif¥in, Moses H.
Simonds.
Sixth District — Joseph B. Nickel, James
M. Fulkerson.
Seventh District — Jonathan M. Bassett,
Robert M. Stewart.
Eighth District— John E. Pitt, Daniel
Branstetter, Thompson Ward, Roland
Brown.
112
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
Ninth District — William Y. Slack, Hiram
Wilcoxson.
Tenth District — Claihorne F. Jackson, Lis-
bon Applegate.
Eleventh District — Hancock Jackson, Elias
Kincheloe.
Twelfth District — David M. Hickman,
John F. Stone.
Thirteenth District— Benjamin Young, A.
O. Forshey.
Fourteenth District— Robert W. Wells,
James W. Morrow.
Fifteenth District — Charles Jones, Joseph
B. Wells.
Sixteenth District — ^James Farquhar, Philip
Pipkin, William B. Pannell, William M.
Davis.
Seventeenth District — Thomas M. Horine,
Corbin Alexander.
Eighteenth District — David Porter, Frank-
lin Cannon.
Nineteenth District — Abraham Hunter,
Robert Gibbony.
Twentieth District — John Buford, Theo-
dore F. Tong.
Twenty-first District — Thomas B. Neaves,
Burton A. James.
Twenty-second District — William C. Jones,
Benjamin F. Massey.
Twenty-third District — Robert E. Acock,
Samuel H. Bunch.
Twenty-fourth District — John McHenry,
Aaron Finch.
Twenty-fifth District — Duke W. Simpson,
Nathaniel C. Mitchell, Thompson M. Ewing,
Samuel H. Woodson.
Twenty-sixth District — M. M. Marmaduke,
William Shields.
Twenty - seventh District ■ — F. W. G.
Thomas, Charles M. Brooking.
Twenty - eighth District — William M.
Campbell, Frederick Hyatt, Trusten Polk,
Miron Leslie, Joseph Foster, Uriel Wright.
This convention assembled at JeiTerson
City on the i"th of November, 1845, and
chose Robert W. Wells, president ; Claiborne
F. Jackson, vice president, and R. Walker,
secretary, and continued in session until the
14th of January, 1846, when it adjourned,
having made provision for submitting the
new constitution, which it had framed, to a
vote of the people at the regular August
election. The work of the convention excited
a deep popular interest, and some features
of the new constitution met with strong oppo-
sition; and, after a discussion unusually
spirited, the instrument was defeated by a
majority of about 9,000 votes in a total vote
of 60,000.
The State Convention of 1861 was not
called to form a new constitution, for, at the
time, there was no popular demand for con-
stitutional reform; it was called to meet the
great peril of disruption of the Union and
threatened civil war — matters which the
Legislature could not deal with, and which
had to be submitted to a body specially-
authorized by the people. (See "State Con-
vention.")
The State Convention of 1865 was the
product of the intense political and personal
feeling, general disorder, and the growing
demand for violent and radical measures, that
marked the last year of the Civil War — a de-
mand which the '"Price raid," in the fall of
that year, and the multiplication of guerrilla
bands in the State, had made irresistible. The
population at that time may be classed as
Conservative Unionists, supporting the exist-
ing provisional (Gamble) government; Rad-
ical Unionists, demanding unconditional
emancipation and unsparing proscription of
disloyalists ; and Southern sympathizers who,
when taking any part in State politics, usually
threw their votes on the side of the more
tolerant policy. The Legislature of 1863-4
had authorized a vote of the people to be
taken on the question of calling a constitu-
tional convention, and the vote showed a
majority of 29,000 in favor of it. An election.
for delegates was accordingly held, and the
following, sixty-six in number were chosen:
William B. Adams, Danville; A. J. Barr,
Richmond; Alfred M. Bedford, Charleston;
David Bonham, Empire Prairie; George K.
Budd, St. Louis; Harvey Bunce, Boonville;
Isidor Bush, St. Louis ; Robert L. Childress,
Marshfield; Henry A. Clover, St. Louis;
Rives C. Cowden, Halfway; John H. Davis,
Hall's Ferry ; Samuel T. Davis, New Madrid ;
Isham B. Dodson, Kirksville; William
D'Oench, St. Louis; Charles D. Drake, St.
Louis; John H. ElHs, Chillicothe; John
Esther, Lebanon; Ellis G. Evans, Cuba;
Chauncey I. Filley, St. Louis; John W.
Fletcher, De Soto; Wm. H. Folmsbee, Gal-
latin; Emory S. Foster, Warrensburg; Fred
M. Fulkerson, Marshall; John W. Gamble,
Alexico; Archibald Gilbert, Mt. Vernon;
Samuel Gilbert, Weston; Abner L. Gilstrap,
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.
113
Macon City; Joel M. Grammar, Cassville;
Moses P. Green, Hannibal; Thomas B. Har-
ris, Concord ; David Henderson, Dent
Courthouse ; E. A. Holcomb, Keytesville ;
John H. Holsworth, Long Branch; Willis S.
Holland, Calhoun; Benj. F. Hughes, Sedalia;
George Hussman, Hermann; Joseph F.
Hume, California; Arnold Krekel, St.
Charles; Wyllys King, St. Louis; Reeves
Leonard, Fayette ; Moses L. Linton, St.
Louis; John F. McKernan, Osage City; A.
M. McPherson, Altenberg; John A. Mack,
Springfield; A. H. Martin, Troy; Ferdinand
Meyer, St. Louis; James P. Mitchell, Prim-
rose; William A. Morton, Liberty; A. G.
Newgent, Kansas City; Anton P. Nixdorf,
Pleasant Farm; James W. Owens, Wash-
ington; Jonathan T. Rankin, Greenfield;
Dorastus Peck, Ironton; James F. Rogers,
Princeton; Philip H. Roher, Lebanon; Gus-
tavus St. Gem, Ste. Genevieve ; Eli Smith,
Smithton; Knight G. Smith, Princeton;
George P. Strong, St. Louis; James T. Sut-
ton, Coldwater; John R. Swearingen, Inde-
pendence; Wm. F. Svvitzler, Columbia; Geo.
C. Thilenius, Cape Girardeau; Lewis H.
Weatherby, Maysville; Jeremiah Williams,
Kingston ; Eugene Williams, Memphis.
The convention met in Mercantile Library
Hall, in St. Louis, on the 6th of January,
1865, and elected Arnold Krekel, president;
Charles D. Drake, vice president; Amos P.
Foster, secretary ; Thomas Proctor, assistant
secretary. The convention was in session for
three months, adjourning sine die on the loth
of April. The constitution which it adopted,
called the "Drake Constitution," for Charles
D. Drake, of St. Louis, vice president, and
the most active and conspicuous member of
the convention, abolished slavery perempto-
rily and without condition ; made a sweeping
proscription, debarring from the voting fran-
chise and the privilege of holding any office
of honor, trust or profit under authority of
the State, and of being an officer in any cor-
poration established by the State, and of
acting as professor or teacher in any school,
and of being trustee for any church or re-
ligious society — every person who had shown
a trace of disloyalty by doing either of four-
teen things — among them expressing a desire
for the triumph of the' enemies of the United
States, or coming into, or going out of the
State to avoid enrollment for draft into the
military service. It established also an in-
V,.l. 11—8
((uisitorial test oath, not only for office-hold-
ers and voters, but for lawyers, bishops,
priests, deacons, ministers, elders and other
clergymen, which they were required to take
before being permitted to teach, preach, or
solemnize marriage — the oath being a solemn
declaration that the swearer had never done
either of the things proscribed in the article
on suffrage. The convention also passed an
"Ousting Ordinance," providing for vacating
a number of State, county and municipal
offices, and filling them anew by appointment
by the Governor — and in providing for sub-
mitting the new instrument to a vote of the
people, it insured the adoption of it by mak-
ing the "Suffrage" provision operative at
once. The vote on the constitution was re-
turned at 43,67ofor; 41, 808 against — showing
a majority of 1,862 in favor of it. It was
pitilessly enforced through a registration
system in the hands of the dominant party,
and it effectually accomplished the object it
was devised for — the maintenance of a minor-
ity in authority and power in the State.
The Constitutional Convention of 1875 was
called mainly to get rid of the "Drake Con-
stitution," of 1865. That instrument con-
tained many wise and well considered fea-
tures, but its test oath, its proscriptions, and
the "Ousting Ordinance" which accompanied
it, had made it offensive to the people, and in
1870 the test oath for jurors and for voters
was abolished as a means of conciliating the
popular favor. But the Liberal movement,
attended by the election of B. Gratz Brown
for Governor, in 1870, broke the power of the
party that had imposed that constitution on
the people, and in 1874 the subject of calling
a convention was submitted to a popular vote,
and decided in favor of it, the vote being:
For holding constitutional convention, iii,-
299; against holding constitutional conven-
tion, 111,016; majority for, 283. The major-
ity was insignificant in so great a vote, and
showed that the repugnance to the Consti-
tution of 1865 had been nearly allayed by
the elimination of its most oppressive fea-
tures and the overthrow of the party that
had imposed it. The election for delegates
was held on the 26th of January, 1865, and
resulted in the return of the following dele-
gates, 68 in number : Washington Adams,
Cooper County; De Witt C. Allen, Clay
County: A.M. Alexander, Monroe County ; F.
M. Black, Tackson County; Henry Boone, De
114
CONSTITUTIONAL GUARDS— CONTEMPORARY CLUB.
Kalb County; George W. Bradfield, Laclede
County; James O. Broadhead, St. Louis
County; H. C. Brockmeyer, St. Louis
County; George W. Carleton, Pemiscot
County ; William Chrisman, Jackson County ;
Edmund V. Conway, St. Francis County;
Louis F. Cottey, Knox County; T. W. B.
Crews, Franklin County; S. R. Crockett,
Vernon County; L. H. Davis, Cape Gir-
ardeau County ; L. J. Dryden, Warren Coun-
ty; Benjamin R. Dysart, Macon County;
John F. T. Edwards, Iron County ; James C.
Edwards, St. Louis County; Charles D. Eit-
zen. Gasconade Count}- ; James L. Farris,
Ray County ; R. W. Fyan, Webster County ;
Thomas T. Gantt, St. Louis County; Louis
Gottschalk, St. Louis County; John B. Hale,
Carroll County; W. Halliburton, Sullivan
County; Charles Hammond, Chariton Coun-
ty ; N.' C. Hardin, Pike County ; J. A. Holli-
day, Caldwell County; John Hyer, Dent
County ; Waldo P. Johnson, St. Clair County ;
Horace B. Johnson, Cole County; T. J.
Johnston, Nodaway County : H. C. Lackland,
St. Charles County; William H. Letcher,
Saline County; A. M. Lay, Cole County; P.
Mabrey, Ripley County; B. F. Massey, New-
ton County; James H. Maxey, Howell
County; Charles B. McAfee, Greene County;
A. V. McKee, Lincoln County ; Edward AIc-
Cabe, Marion County; Alalcolm McKillop,
Atchison County; N. A. Mortell, St. Louis
County; Henry T. Mudd, St. Louis County;
E. A. Nickerson, Johnson County; E. H.
Norton, Platte County ; Philip Pipkin, Jeffer-
son County; William Priest, Platte County;
Joseph Pulitzer, St. Louis County; John Ray,
Barry County; J. H. Rider, Bollinger Coun-
ty ; J. R. Rippey, Schuyler County ; James C.
Roberts, Buchanan County ; J. R. Ross, Mor-
gan County; John W. Ross, Polk County;
John F. Rucker, Boone County; Thomas
Shackelford, Howard County; John H.
Shanklin, Grundy County ; George H.
Shields, St. Louis County; H. J. Spaunhorst,
St. Louis County ; William F. Switzler, Boone
County; John H. Taylor, Jasper County;
Amos R. Taylor, St. Louis County; Albert
Todd, St. Louis County; L. J. Wagner,
Scotland County; Henry C. Wallace, Lafay-
ette County; N. W. Watkins, Scott County.
The convention met at Jeflferson City on
the 5th of ]May, 1875, and chose Waldo P.
Johnson, of St. Clair County, president, and
N. W. Watkins, of Scott County, vice presi-
dent. It remained in session until August
2d, when it adjourned sine die. The new
constitution framed by it was submitted to
the people on the 3d of October, and adopted
by an overwhelming vote — 91,205 for, to
14,517 against — a majority of 76,688 for it.
It went into effect on the 30th of November,
1875, and continues to the present time —
1900.
One of the important features of the Con-
stitution of 1875 was Section 20 of Arti-
cle IX, authorizing the city of St. Louis to
extend its limits, and separate from the
county of St. Louis.
Constitutional Guards. — A famous
Democratic campaign club organized in St.
Louis in the Douglas interest in the presi-
dential campaign of i860. The club was
handsomely uniformed, and its parades under
the command of Colonel Thornton Grimsley
were notable features of a memorable politi-
cal campaign.
Contemporary Club, The. — The
Contemporary Club of St. Louis was organ-
ized in the winter of 1898. Its purpose was
to bring as speakers to St. Louis well known
men and women from other cities, scholars,
persons who have been prominent in public
affairs or educational work of any kind,
clergy, lawyers, statesmen, and teachers. It
was designed that the club should be strictly
undenominational in character, having no
sectarian bias, but representing as far as pos-
sible all attitudes of mind and all classes of
earnest people. It has been a "drawing to-
gether" of people holding different opinions,
not with the expectation that they should in
any way give up their standpoint or present
affiliations, but that they should be willing to
sympathetically listen to the thoughts of
others with whom they might not agree.
The organization of the club is simple in
character, with an executive committee of
seven persons of both sexes, the chairman of
which for the first year has been ]\Irs. W. E.
Fischel. The membership is limited to 250
persons. It includes the clergy, such as Rev.
Wm. Short, of the Episcopal Church; Rev.
D. M. Fiske and Rev. C. S. Sargent, of the
Congregational Church ; Rev. James W. Lee,
of the Methodist Church: Rev. F. L. Hos-
mer, and Rev. John Snyder, of the Unitarian
Church; Rev. R. C. Cave, of the Non-Sec-
CONVENTION HALL, KANSAS CITY.
115
tarian Church ; the Hebrew rabbis. Rev. Sam-
uel Sale and Rev. Leon Harrison; and Rev.
Father Brennan, of the Roman Catholic
Church. There are well known lawyers, such
as General John W. Noble, Charles Nagel,
F. N. Judson, General Shields, R. Graham
Frost, G. A. Finkelnburg and James Blair ;
business men such as Geo. E. Leighton, O. L.
Whitelaw, Geo. O. Carpenter, Elias Michael,
Geo. D. Barnard, J. B. Case, Hamilton
Daughaday; educators such as Professor
Wm. Trelease, of Shaw's Garden; Professor
E. H. Sears, director of the Mary Institute;
Professor F. Louis Soldan, superintendent of
the public schools ; Mr. W. S. Chaplin, chan-
cellor of the Washington University; Miss F.
M. Bacon, principal of the Marquette School,
and Mrs. L. D. Hildenbrandt, of the High
School. In the list of membership are also
included Dr. Wm. Taussig, Mr. Robert
Moore, Mr. W. S. Curtis, Mr. F. M. Crunden,
Dr. Thomas W. O'Reilly, Mr. W. A. Scud-
der, Judge A. M. Thayer and many other
representative citizens. The limit of member-
ship has about been reached at this date, and
is about equally divided between the sexes,
there being about the same number of ladies
and gentlemen.
The plan of the meetings has been to hold
informal dinner at half-past six, then to have
an address by the guest of some topic of the
day, and afterward discussion by those
present. The first meeting in the spring of
1898 was addressed by Rev. Washington
Gladden, of Columbus, Ohio, with Mr. W. S.
Chaplin as chairman for the evening. On
this occasion the plan of organization was
adopted. The next meeting, a month later,
was' addressed by President Schurmann,
of Cornell University, his subject being
"Some Developments of Alodern Religious
Thought." The chairman for the evening was
Rev. Wm. Short. The club resumed its ses-
sions in the fall with an address by Honorable
W. Dudley Foulk, of Indiana, on "The Ex-
pansion Policy of the United States," with
Mr. Geo. E. Leighton in the chair, and with
a discussion led by Mr. Leighton, F. N. Jud-
son and I. H. Lionberger. In February of
1899 the meeting was addressed by Bishop H.
C. Potter, of New York, on "Some Civic
Ideals." There is a new chairman for each
meeting, chosen by the executive commit-
tee. The first annual meeting was held Tues-
day evening, January 17, 1899.
The Contemporary Club bids fair to be a
successful movement in St. Louis, and its
plans have met with the most cordial re-
sponse. Nothing of the kind had existed
before in the city, that is serving to bring
together people of many minds in a more
friendly relationship on the principle that it
was possible for them to break bread to-
gether and listen to each other's opinions
without sacrificing any spirit of loyalty to the
cause which they may represent.
W. L. Sheldon.
Convention Hall, Kansas City.—
One of the most noted public halls in the
United States, completed in 1899. The cen-
tral location of Kansas City and its accessi-
bility by railroads from all parts of the United
States have made it a favorite meeting place
for representative bodies of various kinds.
This made necessary the construction of a
building large enough to accommodate such
gatherings, and on the 27th of June, 1897,
the project of building a suitable hall took
shape under the auspices of the Kansas City
Commercial Club. A public meeting was
held, at which the audience was enthused
and large subscriptions were made. A com-
mittee of influential citizens was appointed to
which the task of raising the funds lacking,
the choice of the site, and the building and
equipment of the hall were entrusted. This
committee divided the city into fifteen dis-
tricts, with a subcommittee of three in each
district. These committeemen proceeded
systematically to raise funds by plans which
reached everybody. They sold stock at $1 a
share ; they sold buttons to shop-keepers and
others at $1 each; at ten cents a vote for
the most popular citizen the newspapers
helped to raise the money. The button be-
came the badge of a loyal Kansas Cityan,
and one man would not talk business to an-
other unless he wore this sign of loyalty.
The merchants donated wares, which were
sold at a concert or to those purchasing
tickets. The concert and buttons netted
$50,000. Thus, within nineteen months, by
the combined efforts of men, women and
children $225,000 were raised. Except their
grand system of public schools, there is noth-
ing of which the citizens are prouder than
Convention Hall. The plat on which the
structure is erected is 314x198 feet. The
seating capacity of the hall is 15,000 persons.
116
CONVENTIONS, POLITICAL.
with standing room for 5,000 more. At a
Sunday-school celebration held in 1899,
35,000 children were comfortably accommo-
dated in the building. April 4, 1900, the hall
was destroyed by fire, from some unknown
cause. It had been designated as the place
for holding the National Democratic Conven-
tion, July 4th, following, and through almost
superhuman effort it was rebuilt upon the
original site and plans in time for occupation
on that date.
Conventions, Political. — Conven-
tions called for the purpose of nominating
candidates for public office are the logical
product of free institutions in the United
States, and a recognition of the authority of
the will of the people. They did not come
into existence until more than thirty years
after the general government was inau-
gurated. At first the presidential ticket was
nominated by caucus — a work of Boston
origin and a corruption of Caulkers, a body
of patriotic workingmen whose secret meet-
ings were the first held for the purpose of
considering the tyrannical measures of the
mother country. The majority members of
Congress met together and decided on can-
didates for President and Vice President, and
submitted them to the people — and the ticket
thus named was voted for without question.
But the practice grew into a prescriptive
right; the members of Congress came to
think that they had an unquestionable pre-
rogative to name the persons whom the peo-
ple should vote for — and when, in 1824, the
RepubHcans nominated WiUiam H. Craw-
ford, of Georgia, for President, and Albert
Gallatin, of Pennsylvania, for Vice President,
when the manifest choice of the country was
Andrew Jackson, the caucus system broke
down, and some more popular method of
nominating candidates had to be devised.
The first national presidential convention
was held by the Anti-Masons at Baltimore
in 1832, which nominated William Wirt, of
Maryland, for President, and Nathaniel El-
naker, of Pennsylvania, for Vice President.
Four years later the Democrats held a na-
tional convention, which nominated Martin
Van Buren, of New York, for President, and
Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, for Vice
President. In 1839 the Whigs held their first
national convention at Harrisburg. and nom-
inated General William Henry Harrison, of
Ohio, for President, and John Tyler, of Vir-
ginia, for Vice President — and ever since
then presidential tickets have been nominated
by national conventions, and the convention
composed of delegates chosen by the party
voters, has become the recognized agency
for nominating all candidates for State,
county and other local offices who are elected
by the people. The convention system is
elaborate and approximately perfect, as a
representative arrangement, and it prevails
in all the States, and in all localities, except
where the practice of selecting candidates by
primary elections has been introduced. The
great parties have each its own national
committee, chosen once in four years, at the
national convention, the delegation in each
State and Territory in that body naming a
member, so that the national committee of a
party is composed of as many members as
there are States and Territories. This com-
mittee usually selects a number of its own
members for an executive committee, and
sometimes, also, a still smaller number of its
own members for a campaign committee to
conduct the active work of the presidential
campaign. The national committee of a
party names the day and place for holding its
national convention for nominating a presi-
dential ticket. There is a similar committee
in each State called the State central com-
mittee, authorized to name the day and place,
and make other arrangements for holding
State conventions. The State central com-
mittee is selected at the State conventions
and holds its position from one convention
to another. It has a chief officer called a
chairman, and a secretary, and usually an
executive committee chosen from its own
members. Each party has also a county
central committee for calling the county
nominating convention, and a congressional
committee for each congressional district.
In Missouri each party has its own commit-
tee for each of the two Appellate Court
districts — and in the cities there are commit-
tees for calling conventions to nominate can-
didates for municipal offices. It is the
practice to allow each State a delegation in
the national convention equal to double the
number of its electoral votes. For example,
the electoral vote of Missouri in 1896 was
seventeen — one for each of the fifteen Repre-
sentatives in Congress, and one for each of
the two United States Senators ; and the Mis-
CONVENTIONS, POLITICAL.
117
souri delegation in a national convention,
therefore, would be composed of thirty-four
members. The delegates in Missouri, and in
most of the other States, are chosen by the
Stat& convention. When a national con-
vention meets to nominate a presidential
ticket, the practice is, tirst to call a tempo-
rary chairman, or president, to preside, until
an organization is effected ; a committee on
credentials is appointed, and also a commit-
tee on permanent organization — the former
to examine the credentials of each State dele-
gation, and report to the convention the
names of the properly authorized delegates,
and the latter to report the names of the
permanent officers of the convention. When
the reports of these committees are made
and accepted, the permanent officers take
their places and the organization is accom-
plished. Then follows the appointment of a
committee on platform, which also makes re-
port, and then follows the presentation of
candidates for nomination, first, for Presi-
dent and afterward for Vice President. The
State convention for nominating candidates
for State offices is called by the State cen-
tral committee, which prescribes the basis of
representation of the counties in it — usually
one delegate for every specified number of
votes cast for a prominent candidate of the
party at the last preceding election. It is
the custom for the State convention to pre-
sent a platform. In all the States the par-
ties hold, each, a State convention once in
four years ; in Missouri it is the custom to
hold one every two years, for nominatins:
the State officers to be elected. The con-
gressional conventions are held every two
years, to nominate candidates for Congress,
and the county conventions also are held
every two years. All the committees — -the
national committee, State central commit-
tee, congressional committee, county cen-
tral committee, and others, though not
recognized official bodies, and only voluntary
party organizations, are perpetual, and the
nominating conventions, though destitute of
all legal authority, are permanent voluntary
institutions of the country.
The first national political convention ever
held west of the Alississippi River was the
National Democratic Convention, which met
in the hall of the Merchants' Exchange, June
27, 1876. Extraordinary prominence was
given to this assemblage by the political con-
dition of the country at the time, and the
prospect of Democratic success in the cam-
paign. All the great cities of the country
were competitors for the honor of entertain-
ing the convention, which was secured for
St. Louis on the fifth ballot. The hall was
tendered by the merchants, and funds for dec-
orating it and for the bestowal and enter-
tainment of the delegates were contributed
by the citizens without stint. On the opening,
the spectacle of nearly 8,000 people on the
floor and in the galleries, amidst a display of
national and State colors, intermingled with
elaborate floral ornamentation, was animated
and inspiring. Honorable Augustus Schell,
of New York, chairman of the national com-
mittee, called the convention to order and de-
livered a short address, and upon his motion
Colonel Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, was
chosen to preside temporarily. Bishop Mar-
vin, of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, offered a prayer, when the temporary
organization was completed by the appoint-
ment of F. O. Prince, of Massachusetts, as
secretary, and Captain Dan Able, of Missouri,
as sergeant-at-arms. The usual committees
were then announced, after which Miss
Phoebe Couzins was granted permission to
present a memorial of the Woman's Suffrage
Association, asking that the platform might
contain a plank favoring the right of women
to vote. At the evening session the organiza-
tion committee reported the names of
General John A. McClernand, of Illinois,
president, with a list of vice presidents and
secretaries from each State and several read-
ing secretaries, including N. M. Bell, of St.
Louis. Captain Able was continued as ser-
geant-at-arms. At the afternoon session of
the second day, Honorable William Dor-
sheimer, of New York, chairman of the
committee on resolutions, reported the plat-
form, written by Manton Marble, then editor
of the "New York World." This document
reaffirmed faith in the permanence of the
Union and devotion to the Constitution-with
its amendments ; supremacy of the civil over
the military ; separation of church and State ;
liberty of individual conduct unvexed by
sumptuary laws ; denounced the existing
tariff, demanding that all customhouse tax-
ation should be only for revenue and calling
for reform in public expenditures and the
waste of public lands ; condemned sectarian
strife in respect to schools ; appealed for re-
118
CONVENTIONS, POLITICAL.
form of the civil service ; closing with a de-
mand for "change of system, a change of
administration, a change of party, that we
may have a change of measures and of men."
The report as presented denounced "the re-
sumption clause of the act of 1875," and de-
manded its repeal. From this the members
of the committee from Massachusetts, New
Jersey, Maine and New York dissented, mov-
ing that it be stricken out. A minority report
was made by the members of the committee
from Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Pennsyl-
vania, Iowa, West \'irginia, Kansas and Mis-
souri (Governor Hardin) moving an amend-
ment to demand the repeal of the law to
resume specie payments January i, 1879.
The first dissenting report denounced one
clause only of the resumption act, leaving the
rest to stand unobjected to and by implica-
tion approved, whereas the other demanded
the repeal of the whole law. The debate that
followed showed that the question involved
was one between "hard" and "soft" money.
The vote was taken on whether the majority
report should be amended by striking out
any part of it and resulted, ayes, 219; noes,
519. Nominations being in order, Mr.
Whitely, of Delaware, presented the name of
Thomas F. Bayard; ^Ir. Williams, of Indiana,
that of Thomas A. Hendricks ; Mr. Abbott,
of New Jersey, that of Joel Parker, and Mr.
Kernan, of New York, that of Samuel J.
Tilden. There had been great opposition to
the nomination of Mr. Tilden by the Tam-
many organization of New York, represented
by John Kelly. This gentleman supported
Hendricks, and, in a speech, vigorously op-
posed Tilden's nomination. William Allen,
of Ohio, was proposed by Mr. Ewing, and
General Hancock by Mr. Clymer, of Penn-
sylvania. Alissouri offered the name of James
O. Broadhead. IMr. Tilden was nominated
on the second ballot. At the third day's
session Thomas A. Hendricks was nominated
for Vice President, there being but a single
ballot.
The Democratic National Convention of
1888 met at Exposition Hall, St. Louis, on
June 5th, of that year, and was in session
three days. Reception committees of citizens
were appointed for all the delegations, and
under the direction of National Committee-
man John G. Prather, everything possible was
done to entertain both delegates and visit-
ing spectators. A grand civic and military
parade, in which 4,000 people joined, took
place on the evening of June 5th. Arches
were thrown across several of the principal
streets, which were illuminated with many
thousand gas jets and vari-colored glass
globes. The Convention Hall was draped
with American flags and colors and festoons
of evergreens, interspersed with countless in-
candescent electric bulbs, the coats-of-arms of
the different States indicating the location of
the several delegations. An immense crowd
of people, including numerous political clubs
with bands of music, thronged the city. The
convention was called to order by Chairman
Barnum, of the national committee, and
prayer was offered by Bishop J. C. Gran-
berry, of St. Louis. Temporary organiza-
tion was effected, with Stephen M. White, of
California, chairman ; F. O. Prince, of Alas-
sachusetts, secretary ; Richard J. Bright, of
Indiana, sergeant-at-arms ; and after the ap-
pointing of the working committee adjourn-
ment was taken till the following day. The
permanent officers were Patrick A. Collins,
of Massachusetts, president ; H. H. Ingersoll,
of Tennessee, secretary, with a list of vice
presidents and secretaries from each of the
States and Territories. Mrs. E. A. Merri-
wether, of St. Louis, appeared on the plat-
form with a number of other ladies, and
made an appeal for equal rights for women
in the affairs of the nation. Amidst the
greatest enthusiasm Mr. Daniel Dougherty,
of New York, placed in nomination Grover
Cleveland for President of the United States.
No other name was mentioned, and Mr.
Cleveland was unanimously nominated for
the office which he then held. At the open-
mg session. June 7th. the platform was
reported through Henry Watterson, of Ken-
tucky. The resolutions pointed to the restor-
ation during Mr. Cleveland's administration
of 100,000.000 acres of lands reclaimed from
corporations, to his prudent foreign policy,
the exclusion of Chinese laborers, the
reformation of the civil service and the
position of the Democracy in regard to un-
necessary taxation and to tariff reform. In a
word, they made the administration of Mr.
Cleveland the platform of the party in the
election of 1888. The resolutions were
adopted with practical unanimity. The roll
was then called for nominations for \'ice
President. Mr. Tarpey. of California, named
Allen G.Tlnirnian : Senator \'oorliees named
CONVENTIONS, POLITICAL.
119
Isaac P. Gray, of Indiana ; T. M. Patterson,
of Colorado, named John C. Black, of Illinois.
Before the first ballot was concluded it was
evident that Thurman was the choice of the
convention, and his nomination was made
unanimous. And so the Democratic ticket
was Cleveland and Thurman.
The third national political convention
held in St. Louis was that of the Republicans,
June 16-18, 1896. At an expenditure of about
$60,000 a spacious auditorium was especially
erected for the purpose by the citizens, and
located near the new city hall on Washing-
ton square. Delegates were in attendance
from every State and Territory, and the oc-
casion brought together a great concourse
of people from all parts of the Union. The
convention was called to order by Senator
Thomas H. Carter, of Montana, chairman of
the Republican National Committee. Prayer
was offered by Rabbi Samuel Sale, of St.
Louis, after which Charles W. Fairbanks, of
Indiana, was chosen temporary chairman,
with Charles W. Johnson, of Minnesota, for
temporary secretary. The usual committees
on permanent organization, credentials, rules
and resolutions were selected, and the con-
vention adjourned for the day. Proceedings
of the second day were opened with prayer
by Dr. \V. G. Williams, of the L^nion Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, St. Louis. Senator
John M. Thurston was elected permanent
president, with a list of vice presidents from
each of the States and Territories. At the
afternoon session, after the settlement of the
contested cases from Delaware and Texas,
the convention adopted the report of the com-
mittee on rules and an adjournment was
taken to Thursday, June i8th, when the
platform was reported. The resolutions ar-
raigned the policy of the Democratic party;
renewed and emphasized Republican allegi-
ance to the policy of protection and reciproc-
ity; pronounced in favor of discriminating
duties in support of American shipping in-
terests ; declared "unreservedly for sound
money" and in opposition to the free coinage
of silver except by international agreement ;
reasserted the Monroe doctrine ; sympathized
with the Cul)an struggle for independence ;
demanded thorough enforcement of the im-
migration laws ; renewed previous declara-
tions for the enforcement and extension of
the civil service law; favored the creation of a
national board of arbitration to adjust differ-
ences between employers and employes
engaged in interstate commerce; and advo-
cated returning to the free homestead policy.
A substitute was offered by Senator Teller,
of Colorado, in behalf of himself and other
"silver" members of the committee, for the
"sound money'' plank, which, on motion of
Senator Foraker, of Ohio, was laid on the
table by a vote of 8i8>^ to 1053^. On the
adoption of the platform in its original shape,
Senator Teller read a formal protest against
the financial feature, signed by himself and
delegates from Idaho, Utah, Montana and
Nevada, and then left the hall in company
with about twenty other bolters. When the
roll of States was called for presidential nom-
inations, the names were presented of Wil-
liam B. Allison, of Iowa ; Thomas B. Reed,
of Maine ; Levi P. Morton, of New York ;
William McKinley, of Ohio, and Mathew S.
Quay, of Pennsylvania. McKinley was nom-
inated on the iirst ballot, the vote being:
Allison, 35K ; Morton, 58; Quay, 61 J^;
Reed, 84^^; McKinley, 661^, or 422 more
than all the rest combined. For Vice Presi-
dent the nomination fell to Garret A. Hobart,
of New Jersey. Henry Clay Evans, of Ten-
nessee, received ^yjYi votes ; Hobart, 533>^.
Of the new national committee, Marcus A.
Hanna, of Ohio, was selected as chairman.
The auditorium building in which the con-
vention was held remained standing for some
months and was then torn down. It was 260
feet long, 180 feet wide, and 50 feet in height,
with a seating capacity of 40,000.
The People's Party assembled in national
convention July 23, 1896, at the Auditorium,
St. Louis, with 1,400 delegates from the dif-
ferent States and Territories, and a large
throng of spectators. The membership con-
tained many persons of prominence, such as
Senators Allen, of Nebraska; Butler, of South
Carolina, and Peffer, of Kansas ; Governor
Waite, of Colorado; Governor Holcomb, of
Nebraska ; General Weaver, of Iowa ; "Gen-
eral" Coxey, of the "Commonweal Army,"
and Captain Kolb, of Alabama, and others.
The convention was called to order by Chair-
man Taubeneck, of the executive committee.
Prayer was offered by Rev. W. L. Smith, of
the Third Baptist Church, of St. Louis. An
address of welcome was delivered by Gov-
ernor Stone, of Missouri, responded to by
Ignatius Donnelly, after which Senator But-
ler was called to the temporary chairmanship.
120
CONVENTS IN ST. LOUIS.
The permanent organization was effected by
the election of Senator Allen as president,
with a list of subordinate officials. General
Weaver was chosen chairman of the platform
committee. The resolutions demanded "a
national money, safe and sound, issued by the
government only," to be a full legal tender;
free coinage at a ratio of i6 of silver to i of
gold ; increase of the volume of circulating
medium; no sale of bonds except by act of
Congress; prevention of demonetization of
lawful money by contract, and graduated in-
come tax; declared in favor of government
ownership of railroads and telegraphs ; fore-
closure of existing liens on defaulted rail-
roads; reclamation of all lands held by rail-
roads in excess of needs for the benefit of
actual settlers; favored direct legislation
through the initiative and referendum, and
the election of President, Vice President and
Senators by direct vote ; advocated the recog-
nition of Cuban independence ; advised the
employment of idle labor on government
work in times of industrial depression; and
announced the financial question to be the
paramount issue. July 25th the convention
nominated William J. Bryan on the first bal-
lot, which stood : Bryan, 1,042 ; Norton, 321 ;
Debs, 8; Donnelly, i ; Coxey, i. One ballot,
as follows, was taken for the vice presidential
candidate : Watson, 561 5-9 ; Sewell, 256 3-5 ;
Mimms, 1275-16; Burket, 1933-4; Skinner,
142 1-4; Page, 895-16. Changes were made
to Watson, giving him more than a major-
ity, when he was nominated by acclamation.
The National Bimetallic Party Conven-
tion of 1896 was held in the Grand Music
Hall of the Exposition Building, July 23-24,
and elected General A. J. Warner, of Ohio,
temporary, and William P. St. John, of New
York, permanent chairman, with the usual
complement of offfcers and committees. The
platform declared the money question to be
the chief issue, opposing the single gold
standard and demanding the restoration of
the unrestricted coinage of both silver and
gold at the ratio of 16 to i, each to be of full
legal tender for all debts ; all currency to be
issued by the general government only; de-
nouncing the issue of interest-bearing bonds
in time of peace ; and endorsing Bryan and
Sewell for President and Vice President.
These resolutions were adopted by a rising
vote. A canvass of the delegates showed the
convention was composed of 526 former Re-
publicans, 135 Democrats, 47 Populists, 9
Prohibitionists, i Greenbacker, and 12 Inde-
pendents.
In 1900 the Democratic National Conven-
tion was held in Kansas City, in the splendid
Convention Hall of that city. At that con-
vention William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was
a second time, nominated for President, and
Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, for Vice
President. The Free Silver Republicans also
held their national convention in Kansas City
that year.
Convent!^ in St. Louis. ^Wherever
the Catholic Church has an existence there
are to be found the houses occupied by re-
ligious recluses, which are known as con-
vents. The founders and early settlers of
St. Louis having been of the Catholic faith,
it followed as a natural consequence that in-
stitutions of this kind planted there should
have been among the earliest established in
any part of the Western country. The growth
of the church has kept pace with the growth
of the city, and convents have multiplied,
until in 1898 many such institutions were in
existence in the city under the control of
various sisterhoods, devoting themselves to
religious, educational and humanitarian
work. The oldest convent in St. Louis, and
one of the oldest in the West, is the Con-
vent and Institute of the Sacred Heart, es-
tablished in 1827, when John MuUanphy
donated to the sisters of this order a tract
of twenty-six acres of land, of which the
block on Fifth, between Hickory and La-
badie Streets, is the remnant, on condition
that they should perpetually support twenty
orphan girls. A house stood on the prop-
erty. In 1837 a chapel was built on the south
side of the building; in 1844 class rooms were
added on the north, and in 1859 a building
was erected on the north end. The Mary-
ville property, situated on Meramec and
Nebraska Avenues, containing twenty-one
acres, was bought of John Withnell in 1864,
for forty thousand dollars. The construc-
tion of the convent building was begun in
1867, and it was opened in August, 1872. In
1891 property was purchased on Taylor and
Maryland Avenues, and a large and hand-
some building erected on it was completed
in 1893 and given the name, "Convent and
Academy of the Sacred Heart." Both these
institutions have since been conducted under
CONVENTS IN ST. LOUIS.
121
the auspices of the Sisters of the Sacred
Heart. Since the last named institution was
established the twenty orphan girls whom the
Sisters were obligated to support by provis-
ions coupled with the bequest of John Mullan-
phy have been maintained at this convent.
St. Joseph's Convent and Academy is con-
ducted under the "ftuspices of the Sisters of
St. Joseph, a CathoHc order founded by Rev.
P. J. Medaille, S. J., and which had its first
establishment in the town of Puy, in Velay,
France, where Madame Lucretia de la
Planche gave the Sisters an abode in her
house until, on October 15, 1650, the Bishop
of Puy gave them charge of the orphan
asylum of that city. In 1836, at the invita-
tion of Bishop Rosati, six Sisters of the
order came to St. Louis and established
themselves at Cahokia, in Illinois, where they
conducted for nearly eight years a flourish-
ing school. September 12, 1836, the first
novitiate of the order was founded in Caron-
delet and was presided over for twenty years
by Mother Celestine. It occupied at first a
log cabin fifteen feet square, and its one room
served at once for oratory, dormitory, refec-
tory, kitchen and parlor. A frame shed was
added and used for parochial school pur-
poses. The great flood of 1844 compelled
the Sisters to abandon their establishment at
Cahokia, and soon afterward the present
grounds at Third and Kansas Streets, Caron-
delet, were given to them by Judge Bryan
Mullanphy, and a large brick building was
erected thereon, which burned down in 1858.
The present structure was begun immedi-
ately afterward. It is the mother house of
this sisterhood in the United States, and has
under its jurisdiction 65 subordinate estab-
lishments, including 3 provincial novitiates,
5 hospitals, 10 orphan asylums, i deaf mute
institute and several academies. The total
number of Sisters owing allegiance to this
order or house is 800.
The sisterhood of the Nuns of the A'isita-
tion was originally founded in 1610, in Haute-
Savoie, France, by St. Francis of Sales and
Ste. Jane Frances, Baroness of Chantal. The
Sisters first came to this country in 1799 and
established an academy in Georgetown, D.
C, which is still in existence. In 1833 a
branch of this house was established in the
town of Kaskaskia, Illinois, and remained
there for nearly eleven years. In the great
"freshet" of 1844 the whole town of Kas-
kaskia was laid under water and the inhab-
itants were compelled to take refuge on the
bluffs beyond the Okaw River. The con-
vent grounds extended to the banks of the
Okaw, but as the location was elevated, it
was thought secure. About the first of
April the Mississippi River was very high,
and still rising. As this rise occurred every
spring, nothing serious was apprehended, but
on the night of June 21st the water rushed
into the convent cellar. The convent could
now be approached only on horseback or in
boats. At 6 o'clock that evening Amadee
Menard brought a fiatboat, with oarsmen,
and taking on Mother Isabella, with a num-
ber of nuns and pupils, conveyed them to his
own residence, on the neighboring bluft's.
Next morning — Sunday — Father St. Cyr
said mass in the convent chapel for the last
time for those who remained. On going to
breakfast the Sisters found the water oozing
in under the floor at one end. When break-
fast was over they began to remove the fur-
niture to the next floor, where they passed
the rest of the day. In the evening they left
the convent and went to the bluffs, where
they were kindly entertained at the Menard
mansion for two days. On Wednesday
morning a steamboat came up the Okaw, and
the Sisters, with their sixteen pupils, went on
board. After their furniture had been re-
moved from the convent to the boat they
steamed for St. Louis. Here, by the kind-
ness of Mrs. Ann Biddle, the refugees were
installed in her home, on Broadway, which
they occupied for two years. In July, 1846,
they rented the archbishop's newly erected
building on South Ninth Street, and contin-
ued to occupy it until 1858, when a build-
ing was occupied which had been erected on
a tract of land on Cass Avenue, above
Twentieth Street, which Mrs. Ann Biddle had
bequeathed to them for the purpose. The
foundations of this building were laid in the
autumn of 1854. April 13, 1855, the insti-
tution was incorporated under the title of
the Academy of the Visitation at St. Louis.
In 1891 the Sisters purchased eleven acres
of ground in Cabanne Place, between Union
and Belt Avenues, and erected a large arid
handsome building, which will accommodate
115 pupils. They removed from Cass Ave-
nue to the present location in the fall of
1893. The building was consecrated in Jan-
uary, 1894.
122
CONVENTS IN ST. LOUIS.
June 21, 1847, six Sisters of Loretto, with
Mother Eleonora Clark, superior, came to
St. Louis and took possession of the estab-
Hshment which the Sisters of the Sacred
Heart had abandoned, and which then con-
sisted of a two-story brick house, built by
Father Dunan, and some old, dilapidated
cabins. These, with three acres of land,
they at first rented for one year at two hun-
dred dollars. They subsequently purchased
the buildings and five acres of ground for
one thousand dollars. The order of the Sis-
ters of Loretto was founded by Rev. Charles
Nerinckx, in 1812, at Hardin's Creek, Wash-
ington County, Kentucky. At that place
Miss Mary Rhodes, a pious young lady, first
gathered a little school of girls in a dilapi-
dated cabin, the abandoned residence of a
former tenant. Success crowned her efforts,
and she was soon joined by others. A small
tract of land was purchased and some rude
cabins erected. They then expressed to
Father Nerinckx a desire to become nuns
and devote themselves to the work of edu-
cating young ladies. Their wish met the
approbation of Father Xerinckx and the
bishop, and they were first made postulants,
with a few simple rules for their guidance.
On the 25th of April, 18 12, the first three
postulants — Mary Rhodes, Christina Stuart
and Xancy Havern — took the veil at
the Church of St. Charles, near the
infant convent, and they were followed on
the 25th of June by Ann Rhodes and Sarah
Havern. Sister Ann Rhodes was also made
"Superior of the Novices and of the Soci-
ety of the Friends of Mary at the Foot of
the Cross." On the same day was com-
menced the erection of some log cabins for a
convent, school, etc., and when these were
completed the place received the name of
Loretto, in honor of "Our Lady of Loretto,"
in Italy. Thus originated the order of the
Sisters of Loretto. In August, 1880, the
erection of a new academy was commenced
under the supervision of Mother Ann Joseph,
then Superior of the Convent, and was com-
pleted in 1882, and was dedicated on the
8th of September of that year. There are
now three branches to the house in St. Louis,
one at 2505 North Eleventh Street, one at
2820 North Twenty-fifth Street, and one on
Taylor Avenue, near Easton.
The Ursuline Convent was founded in
1848 by seven LTrsuline Sisters, who came
over from Germany upon an invitation from
the archbishop. Founded under the direction
of \'ery Rev. Joseph Melcher, \'. G.. its first
location was on Fifth Street, below the
French Market, in a house bought by the
Sisters. In 1849 the King of Bavaria do-
nated a large sum of money to the Ursuline
Sisters, which enabled i-hem to erect a
building of their own in St. Louis. They
then purchased the ground on. Twelfth Street,
between Russell and Ann Streets, and erected
a building on it in 1850. In 1857 the chapel
was built, and in 1866 the north wing was
added. The buildings now cover an entire
block. The convent has never been incor-
porated.
The Convent of the House of the Good
Shepherd is conducted under the auspices of
a very old Catholic sisterhood. In 1542 there
was erected in the city of Rome an institu-
tion known as "The House of St. Martha,"
where women of evil lives who wished to
reform might find shelter. This work was
the outgrowth of the zeal of St. Ignatius
of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Soci-
ety. In it he was assisted by some of the
highest-born matrons of Rome, chiefly by
Donna Lenora Osario, the wife of Juan de
\'ega, ambassador at Rome from Charles V.
of Spain. The work met with much oppo-
sition, and it is presumed that, lacking proper
support, it was abandoned. One hundred
years later Father John Eudes, a zealous
priest of Normandy, France, resumed the
work. A house was rented and the penitents
installed in it, November 25. 1641. Thus
originated the order known as that of "Our
Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd." For
many years the church authorities refused to
countenance this order, but Father Eudes
finally succeeded in obtaining church ap-
proval January 2, 1666. In 1843 the order
was introduced into the United States by the
Rt. Rev. B. J. Flaget, the first house being
opened at Louisville, Kentucky. From the
Kentucky colony. Sisters were sent to St.
Louis in 1849. They came by invitation of
the Most Rev. Archbishop Kenrick, who
placed at their disposal a suitable house on
Ninth and Marion Streets, which was opened
for penitent women January 25th of that
year. This house they occupied until De-
cember of 1852, when they took possession
of the building erected for them on Seven-
teenth and Pine Streets bv the munificence
CONVENTS IN ST. LOUIS.
123
of the archbishop, the site having been do-
nated by j\Irs. Anna Lucas Hunt. In 1869
the institution was incorporated under the
laws of the State of Missouri as the Convent
of the Good Shepherd. The business of this
institution is transacted by a directory com-
posed of professed members of the order
stationed in the city of St. Louis. It is
under the control of the members of the
Catholic Church, but the inmates not of that
faith never have their religious beliefs in-
terfered with. In 1892 Mr. Adolphus Busch
gave to the Sisters thirteen acres of ground
situated on Gravois Avenue, 600 feet west
of Grand Avenue. New buildings have been
erected on this site, which will cost, when
finished, $400,000. The institution comprises
at the present time — 1898 — four separate de-
partments : The convent, occupied by the re-
ligious, who number 85 ; the Magdalen Asy-
lum, which shelters 58 Magdalens ; the
Reformatory, in which at present there are
over 190 girls and women, and the Pro-
tectorate, or Industrial School, which num-
bers 37 young girls and children. The Sis-
ters moved to the new buildings from the
old convent on Xovember 25, 1895.
St. Joseph's Convent of Mercy had its
origin in St. Louis in the year 1856, when
Rev. Father Damen, S. J., who was pastor
of St. Xavier's Church, applied to the parent
house in New York for the establishment of
a branch of the Order of Mercy in that city.
On the 24tli of June of that year six Sisters,
accompanied by Rev. Father Ryan, now arch-
bishop of Philadelphia, left New York and
arrived there on the morning of the 27th.
Their, first house was at the corner of Tenth
and Alorgan Streets. On the Feast of the
Visitation, July 2d," the Sisters began their
works of mercy. February 13, 1857, the in-
stitution was chartered. In 1861 the Sisters
found their house at Tenth and Morgan
too small for their work, and they removed
to Twenty-second and Morgan Streets,
where the institution at present stands. The
site of the new convent was given by the
archbishop. In May, 1871, the Sisters con-
verted their school building into a female
infirmary, which developed into a hospital
for both sexes. (See "St. John's Hospital."
under heading, "Hospitals, St. Louis.")
The Sisters de Notre Dame first came to
this country from Munich, Germany, and
established a house in Baltimore, Maryland,
in 1847. In 1850 several of the Sisters went
to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and established a
house there. From Milwaukee, Sisters came
to St. Louis and located on Eleventh Street,
between O'Fallon and Cass Avenue, at what
is known as St. Joseph's School, in 1858.
From there the Sisters established mission
houses in the different parishes in the city,
and in 1898 there were eleven mission houses
in St. Louis. These houses do not belong
to the Sisters, but to the parish in which they
are located. In the fall of 1894 the Sisters
purchased thirty-one acres of ground front-
ing on the Mississippi River and running
south from Railroad Avenue, between Caron-
delet and Jefferson Barracks. In the spring
of 1895 the erection of the convent building
was begun, and it was completed and blest
on the 7th day of July, 1897. The building
is a large and handsome structure of stone
and brick, and fronts on the river. This house
is called the mother house of the Southern
Province, being the third mother house in
the LTnited States. This convent is used ex-
clusively for the Sisters, novitiates and can-
didates. The Sisters have mission houses at
the following places: 1918 South Eighth
Street, 1204 North Grand Avenue, 1363
Hamihon Avenue, 1521 North Market Street,
College Avenue, near Linton Avenue, Mag-
nolia Avenue, near January Avenue, 742
South Third Street, and 1423 South Eleventh
Street.
The Convent of the Franciscan Sisters was
founded in 1865 by four Sisters of the Carder
of St. Francis, who came from Germany and
built a convent near Carondelet, south of the
River des Peres. This was burned in 1877,
and the Sisters removed to St. Louis, pur-
chasing from Father Henry, of St. Lawrence
O'Toole's Church, the lot on which the con-
vent now stands, at the southeast corner of
O'Fallon and Fourteenth Streets. The Sis-
ters who first came, in 1865, returned to Ger-
many, but not before others had come to
supply their places. In 1877 Sister Bernarda
Passmann, banished from Germany for po-
litical reasons, came to St. Louis, and was
made mother superior. In January, 1878,
the order at St. Louis was chartered, with
Sisters Bernarda Passman, Alfonsa Cor-
mann and Cecilia Harwig as incorporators.
Their house was erected in 1878-9, and was
opened January i, 1880. The Sisters also
have charge of Pius Hospital.
124
The Convent of the Carmehte Nuns, at
Eighteenth and A'ictor Streets, was built in
the year 1877. This community was incorpo-
rated under the name of "The Carmel of St.
Joseph," in the year 1873. The incorporators
were Louise J. Roman, Jane B. Edwards,
Mary J. Smith, Ella M. Holland, Elizabeth
Dorsey, Mary Eliza Tremoulet, Anna M.
Wise and others. The cornerstone of the
present building was laid in 1873. Previous
to 1877 the nuns occupied the country resi-
dence of Archbishop Kenrick, west of Cal-
vary Cemetery. They elect one of their
number as prioress every three years. The
present mother prioress is Mother Mary
Joseph.
The Convent of the Immaculate Concep-
tion was established by the Sisters of St.
Joseph in 1885, on the northwest corner of
Eighth and Marion Streets. It was com-
pletely destroyed by the cyclone of May 27,
1896, and has never been rebuilt.
Maria Consilia Deaf Mute Institute was
opened in 1885 for the education and indus-
trial training of deaf mutes as far as practi-
cable. Thus far it has been supported by
the efforts of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who
have it in charge. This institution was trans-
ferred from Hannibal, Missouri, and is con-
nected with the Convent of Our Lady of
Good Counsel, at Eighteenth Street and Cass
Avenue, which is also in charge of the Sis-
ters of St. Joseph. Girls only are received at
this institute.
The Convent of Our Lady of Good Coun-
sel was established in 1885 by the Sisters
of St. Joseph, and is situated on Cass Ave-
nue, near Eighteenth Street. This is called
the Center House, the mother house being in
Carondelet. The property was given the
Sisters by Bishop Kenrick.
During the period of revolution of the
negroes in the West India Islands, Mother
Louise, under whose guidance the first Ob-
late Sisters' House was founded, was brought
to Delaware as a child and raised in the fam-
ily of a Mr. Garesche. She was selected to
be mother of the first institution, which was
opened under the guardianship of the Rev.
Father Youbert, a priest of the San Sulpice
Order. The sisterhood was founded in the
city of Baltimore, in 1829, and approved
October 2d of the same year by His Holi-
ness Gregory XVI. A branch house was
opened in St. Louis October 13, 188S, at 709
North Sixteenth Street, under the direction
of Rev. Father Panken, S. J., and whh the
approval of Archbishop Kenrick. Their
next place of abode was 141 1 Morgan Street,
where they now have a boarding and day
school, which is called St. Elizabeth's Acad-
emy. The St. Frances Orphan Asylum, on
Page Avenue, was dedicated in May, 1887,
and is also conducted by the Oblate Sisters
of Providence. The asylum is supported by
charity.
Con'way. — An incorporated village, in
the southwestern part of Laclede County,
sixteen miles southwest of Lebanon, on the
St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. It was
founded upon the building of the road to
that place. It has a good public school,
four churches, a flouring mill, five general
stores, two drug stores and a hotel. Popu-
lation, 1899 (estimated), 450.
Conway, Joseph. — One of the early
American settlers of St. Louis District,
known as Captain Conway because of his
association with Daniel Boone in the Indian
warfare in Kentucky, from which both came.
Captain Conway came in the year 1798, about
the same time with Boone, or following
shortly after. He settled in Bonhomme and
opened one of the first farms, if it was not
the very first, in that part of St. Louis Dis-
trict, on a grant of land made to him by
Governor Zenon Trudeau. He was born in
Virginia, in 1763, and while a boy was
brought to Kentucky, where he took an
active part in the Indian fighting in that
State. He fought under General Harmer
and General Wayne, was shot three times,
tomahawked and three times scalped, and
once was taken prisoner and forced to march
barefooted, with bleeding feet and bleeding
scalp, from the Ohio River to Detroit, the
only favor he received on the painful journey
being the gift of a handkerchief for binding
up his head from a white woman who was
a fellow prisoner. He was held prisoner for
four years, enduring incredible hardships,
but was finally released and allowed to re-
turn to Kentucky. After he settled in St.
Louis District he was prompt to respond
when the settlers were called on to go on
excursions against roving bands of Indians
who were threatening to attack the settle-
ments. John F. Darby, whose father and
125
Captain Conway were neighbors in the Bon-
homme region, says in his "Personal Recol-
lections" : "Often when I was a boy, when
Captain Conway would come into the house,
would I, in my boyish curiosity, creep
around his chair to get a good look at the
back of his head to see where the Indians
had taken off the scalp from his head." He
died, in 1830, on the farm where he had set-
tled and lived for thirty years, leaving a large
family. Several of his sons held county offi-
ces of trust and honor, and one was elected
to the Legislature, and the name is held in
something like reverence in the Bonhomme
neighborhood to this day.
Cook, John D., lawyer and judge of the
Supreme Court, came to Missouri and settled
at Cape Girardeau in the Territorial days, and
in 1820 was chosen one of the forty-one del-
egates to the first convention that formed
the first Constitution of the State. In 1822,
two years after the admission of Missouri
into the Union, he was appointed by Gov-
ernor McNair judge of the Supreme Court
of the State, but held the position only a
little over a year, when he resigned to accept
the position of circuit judge of the Tenth
Judicial Circuit. He was very popular in
southeast Missouri, and was placed in nom-
ination for United States Senator in the first
State Legislature, along with Benton and
Barton. His friends were accustomed to say
that if his enterprise had been commensu-
rate with his abilities he would have risen
to the highest places in the State. But his
habits were indolent and he was destitute
of ambition. His features were extremdy
homely, but he was a thorough lawyer, a
most agreeable conversationalist, of large
heart and benevolent nature, and prompt to
assist the younger members of the profes-
sion.
Cook, John D. S., lawyer, was born
November 21, 1834, at Pine Hill, Ulster
County, New York, son of John Ames and
Harriet (Shepard) Cook, both of whom were
natives of Connecticut. His ancestors were
among the earliest settlers of New England,
and some of them of considerable distinc-
tion in Colonial history. He is eighth in de-
scent from Aaron Cook, who emigrated to
America in 1631, one of the small band of
settlers who founded, in 1632, the town of
Windsor, Connecticut. The second, also
named Aaron, was for twenty-five years a
magistrate and representative in the General
Court of Massachusetts. The fourth, who
resided at Hartford, was a lieutenant of Cap-
tain Wadsworth's company of militia, and
the records of wills and deeds of that town
show that he married Hannah, the youngest
daughter of his captain. This Captain Wads-
worth was he who concealed the charter of
the Colony in the Charter Oak when its sur-
render was demanded by King James II,
through Governor Andros. It remained con-
cealed until after the Revolution of 1688,
when it was restored and remained the basis
of the liberties of the Colony. Mr. Cook is
thus directly connected with one of the
most interesting and important events in
Connecticut history. Several of the family
took an active part for the country in the
Revolutionary War. On his mother's side
Mr. Cook is directly descended from Edward
Shepard, a ship-owner and master mariner,
who, literally, in the language of the New
England proverb, "did not come over in the
Mayflower, because he has a ship of his own.''
He settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in
1639. In the fourth generation one branch
of the family removed to Newtown, Connecti-
cut, where Mr. Cook's mother was born.
John D. S. Cook, at the age of twelve years,
began a course of study preparatory for col-
lege in the Delaware Literary Institute, in
Franklin, New York, where his grandfather's
family had settled, and four years afterward,
his father having moved to Wayne County,
Pennsylvania, he made his home there, and
having completed preparations for college,
engaged for several years in teaching in
northeastern Pennsylvania to accumulate
funds for his college course.
His first experience as a teacher illus-
trates the primitive character of the country
school in that section fifty years ago. The
district where he first taught contained about
thirty children of school age. The only text-
books were the spelling book, English reader
and Daboll's arithmetic. The "master," in
teaching writing, was expected to make, or
teach his pupils to make, their own pens from
goose quills brought to school for the pur-
pose. He "boarded round" among the farm-
ers who patronized the school, and received
for the first term the munificent salary of ten
dollars a month. Most of the boys could
126
"lick the master," and it was only by inge-
niously interesting some of the older scholars
in studies of which they had never heard,
such as geography and history, that he suc-
ceeded in maintaining discipline and carried
the school through the term. All his expe-
riences, however, were not of this character,
and before he gave up the employment he
had acquired a good reputation as a teacher,
and was employed in some of the principal
towns and cities of that part of the State. In
1855 he entered Union College, at Schenec-
tady, New York, then under Dr. Nott, for
sixty years its president, and was one of the
last class instructed by that famous teacher.
He graduated in 1859, '" ^ class of eighty,
and received one of the honor appointments
at commencement. Immediately after grad-
uating he was engaged as the first assistant
in an academy at Kingston, Ulster County,
New York, and commenced studying law
with one of the older lawyers of that city.
From there he took the course of the law
school at Albany, New York, where he
graduated in May, 1861, and was admitted
to practice. After spending the summer as
managing clerk in the office of his preceptor
at Kingston, he, in September of that year,
enlisted in the Twentieth Regiment of New
York State Militia, which had already served
three months under the first call of the Pres-
ident, and was then reorganizing for the war,
and was afterward known as the Eightieth
New York Volunteers. The regiment joined
the Army of the Potomac in October, 1861,
and served in McDowell's, afterward the
First Army Corps, until after the battle of
Gettysburg, when it was assigned to special
duty with the headquarters of the army, under
the immediate command of the provost mar-
shal general. On October 10, 1861, Mr. Cook
was commissioned first lieutenant, and March
3d, 1863, promoted to captain. During his
service with the regiment it took part in
eleven battles, and at Second Manassas, and
again at Gettysburg, lost more than half the
entire force engaged. In the first day's fight-
ing at Gettysburg more than two-thirds of
Captain Cook's company were killed or dis-
abled, and on the third day they were in the
front rank of the troops who received the
famous charge of Pickett's division. Cap-
tain Cook has still as a trophy the sword
belt of a Confederate colonel who had gal-
lantly led the charge to within less tlian a
hundred feet from where he was standing-
in the line of Federal troops who received
the desperate attack. In December, 1864,
Captain Cook resigned and was honorably
discharged. He returned home and settled
up the estate of his father, who had died
shortly before, then married, and started out
to establish himself in the West. He first lo-
cated at Kingston, in Caldwell County, Mis-
souri, where he remained five years. During
part of that time he was assistant assessor of
internal revenue. In 1870 he removed to Kan-
sas City. In 1874, on the recommendation
of the leading members of the bar. Chief
Justice Waite appointed him register in
bankruptcy, an office he held while the
Bankrupt Act of 1867 continued in force.
He has never aspired to any other public
office. In 1880 Mr. Cook was employed by
some Eastern and foreign investors to ex-
amine titles for loans and attend to the col-
lection of defaulted mortgages, and gradually
made this the most important part of his
practice. He has represented, and still rep-
resents, some of the oldest and most impor-
tant investment companies in England and
Scotland, as well as agencies in the Eastern
States. This has engaged him in important
litigation in the State and Federal courts of
Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and Colorado, as
well as in this State, with creditable suc-
cess. His first appearance in the Supreme
Court of Missouri was in 1869, in Fugitt v.
Nixon, 44 I\Io. Reports ; in the Supreme
Court of Kansas, in 1873, in Gulf Railroad
v. ^liami County, 12th Kansas Reports, and
about the same time in Thayer v. Johnson
County, in the Circuit Court of the United
States. He has presented briefs in a num-
ber of cases in the Supreme Court of the
United States, the first being in Croft v.
Myers, 13th Wallace, in which his former
partner. Judge Cobb, was counsel, and whicli
has become a leading case on the question
involved.
From 1856 to 1880 Mr. Cook was a busy
Republican and prominent in the conventions
of that party. Since then he has taken no
active part in politics, except to vote inde-
pendently for such candidates as his judg-
ment approved. He has been a member of
Grace Church in Kansas City for many years,
and of the Kansas Commandery of the Loyal
Legion since its organization.
He was married, in 1865, to Rosalie E.
127
Barlow, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, the
daughter of a prominent clergyman. She
died in 1887, leaving four children, of whom
the eldest, a daughter, is married to J. B.
Lippincott, a distinguished civil engineer at
Los Angeles, California ; the second to Sam-
uel B. Moore, of the firm of Lathrop, Mor-
row, Fox & Moore, of Kansas City; the
third (a son) is chief clerk of the purchas-
ing department of the Kansas City, Fort
Scott & Memphis Railway, and the fourth,
after graduating at Trinity College, in Hart-
ford, is studying for the ministry in the Gen-
eral Theological Seminary in New York.
Mr. Cook is held in esteem by a large circle
of friends, and, as he looks back upon the
varied scenes of a long and busy life, says
he thinks he will fulfill Daniel Webster's
famous definition of a lawyer as "a man who
works hard, lives well and dies poor."
He has been a credit to the bar of Jack-
son County, and merits the regard bestowed
upon him by those who know his worth as
a man and a student, not only of the law,
but of general literature, history and social
science.
Cook, Samuel Baker, editor, was born
at Front Royal, Virginia, January 11, 1852,
son of William and Sarah (Kelley) Cook,
both natives of Virginia and descendants of
Scotch-Irish ancestry. When Samuel B.
Cook was a small boy his parents removed
from Virginia and located in Atchison
County, Missouri, and at the close of the
Civil War they took up their residence on
a farm near Marthasville, in Warren County,
where both lived until their death, which oc-
curred a few years after they settled in their
new home. At the age of thirteen years
Samuel Baker Cook was an orphan, with
little capital other than that with which na-
ture endowed him, on which to make his way
through life. He worked as a farm hand
during three seasons of the year and attended
the public schools during the winter. This
he continued to do until he was twenty years
old. Of a naturally studious turn of mind,
his mental qualities were developed fully as
much outside the school as in, and his fac-
ulty to easily acquire and digest knowledge,
to discern the fundamental principles of a
proposition almost by intuitive analysis, re-
sulted in a substantial practical education that
equipped him for his subsequent successful
career. From his boyhood having been
compelled to support himself by his own
work, upon reaching manhood his self-
reliance, combined with an indomitable will,
controlled by his calm reason, was one of
the corner stones of the foundation he has
laid for success. That his youthful days
were not wasted, is shown by the confidence
reposed in him by the people of Warren
County, who, when he was only twenty-six
years of age, elected him for their sheriff and
collector on the Democratic ticket, in a
county which usually gave a Republican
majority of 1,000; and that he was an effi-
cient and highly successful officer is evi-
denced by his re-election to the office at the
expiration of his term. In 1880 he purchased
the "Warrenton Banner," at Warrenton,
which paper he edited until 1885. He was
as successful as an editor as he was as a
public officer, and under his management and
editorial direction the "Banner" was one of
the strong Democratic weekly papers of Mis-
souri. In 1885 he sold the "Banner," and
purchased from Colonel John E. Hutton,
then a member of Congress, the daily and
weekly "Intelligencer," at Mexico, Missouri,
which paper he published and edited until
the autumn of 1900, when he disposed of it
to give attention to public duties. As an
editor, Mr. Cook's great ability is recognized
throughout Missouri. While deprived of a
collegiate course and educated in the com-
mon schools, where there were no preten-
sions of teaching "English as she should be
taught," Mr. Cook is, nevertheless, a master
of elegant diction and pure English, and his
writings appearing in the pages of his paper
rank high as examples of editorial lucidity
and erudition. As an exponent and champion
of Democratic principles, his paper wielded
great influence throughout the State. In 1892
Mr. Cook was elected a member and appoint-
ed secretary of the Democratic State commit-
tee, and in 1895 was chosen chairman of that
body, which position he held until nomi-
nated by acclamation by his party for
Secretary of State. At the election in Novem-
ber Mr. Cook carried the State by a hand-
some majority, running ahead of the national
ticket. His prestige is not alone an impor-
tant factor in Missouri politics, but in
national affairs as well. At his home, in Mex-
ico, and throughout the State where he is
known he is recognized as one of the most
128
COON CREEK FIGHT— COONEY.
sociable of men. Thoroughly in harmony
with all that is progressive, he is foremost
in furthering the interests of ^Missouri ami
in fostering such industries and enterprises
as will benefit the State. By his own efforts
he has achieved success. He knows what
hard work is, and by the hardest of labor,
backed by a strong intellect, he has become
one of the most prominent figures in Mis-
souri politics. Notwithstanding the demands
upon him within the political field, and his
business interests, which are considerable,
he is much of a home man, and never quite
so contented as when surrounded by his
family. Mr. Cook has been twice married.
His first wife was Miss Ella Howard, daugh-
ter of John A. Howard, of Warrenton, to
whom he was married in 1879. Of this
union two daughters were born. Mrs. Ella
Howard Cook died in 1885. Mr. Cook's sec-
ond wife, to whom he was married in
November, 1888, was Miss Olivia Hord,
daughter of Colonel Lewis Hord, a promi-
nent resident of Mexico, Missouri. Two
sons have blessed this marriage.
Coon Creek Fight. — After the battle
of Lone Jack, August 16, 1862, the Confeder-
ates under Shelby and Cockrell retired be-
fore Blunt"s pursuing column of Federals
toward Arkansas, and while in camp on Coon
Creek, in the southern part of Barton County,
were attacked by the Sixth Kansas Volun-
teers, under Colonel Cloud. The Confeder-
ates took shelter behind the trees in the
midst of which they were encamped, and,
under the protection of a heavy fence, and
after a short-fight, repelled the attack. Con-
federate accounts state that the attacking
force left eleven men killed and five wounded
on the field, while the Confederates had none
killed, but a number wounded.
Cooney, James, representative in Con-
gress from the Seventh Tilissouri District,
and one of central Missouri's most noted of
self-made men, was born in Ireland, Au-
gust 28, 1848, son of John and Hannorah
(Kelly) Cooney, who came to America in
1852 and settled in New York. James Cooney
began his education in the common schools
of New York. At the age of eighteen he
came west and located in Boone County,
Missouri. After a course in the Missouri
State Universitv, he devoted three vears to
teaching in Boone County, during two of
which he acted as principal of the Sturgeon
High School. While thus engaged, he se-
cured a license entitling him to practice law,
and in 1875 opened an office in Marshall,
where he has since enjoyed a successful ca-
reer. In 1880 the Democrats of Saline
County offered him the nomination for the
office of judge of the probate court. He ac-
cepted, was elected by a large majority, and
served one term of two years. In 1882, as
the nominee of the same party, he was elected
prosecuting attorney, and again compli-
mented by a re-election in 1884, serving four
years in this office. Upon laying down the
cares of the last named position, Judge
Cooney resumed his private practice, his dil-
igence, integrity, forcefulness of character
and constant study rapidly winning for him
a position abreast of the acknowledged lead-
ers of the legal profession of central Mis-
souri. Recognizing the breadth of his
thought, the conscientiousness of his effort,
and those other personal characteristics
which go to make up a prudent, safe and
painstaking man of affairs, he was selected,
in 1896, as the most satisfactory man to rep-
resent the Seventh Congressional Dis-
trict at the National Capital, was nominated
in convention, and elected by an overwhelm-
ing majority. During his first term he
showed himself to be thoroughly informed
as to the requirements of his constituents,
and in appreciation of his efforts in behalf
of his district and his party, he was the re-
cipient of a renomination and re-election in
1898, and again in 1900. In Congress he has
been active in introducing measures for the
relief of the citizens of his district, and has
effected the passage of many of such meas-
ures. He has now pending a bill providing
for the establishment of a national park cov-
ering the field of the famous battle of Wil-
son's Creek. He has received assurances of
the passage of the latter bill, which is of di-
rect interest to the inhabitants, not only of
his district, but of the whole State of Mis-
souri. The range of subjects with which he
has been connected and in which he has
been deeply interested as a legislator, has
not been confined to his own district. He in-
troduced a joint resolution to amend the
Constitution so as to prohibit the admission
as States into the LTnion of non-contigu-
ous territory : also a bill for the repeal
129
of the Clayton-Biilwer treaty, which is
the first attempt to repeal a treaty of the
United States by direct legislation of Con-
gress. Mr. Cooney believes that these
measures must either expressly or impliedly
become the law of this country if it builds
the Nicaraguan Canal and annexes distant
territories. Aside from his professional and
political career, Judge Cooney has always
been interested in farming,, and is still prom-
inently identified with that industry. The
Lexington branch of the Missouri Pacific
Railroad passes through one of his farms.
When that road was opened he gave the site
for the present thriving village of Black-
water, thereby securing the convenience of
a station for that neighborhood, and virtu-
ally becoming the founder of the town.
Since the day the first house was erected
there, he has been constantly devoted to its
welfare and is responsible in a large measure
for its development to present proportions.
Judge Cooney limits his interest in fraternal
orders to Odd Fellowship, with which he has
been identified since 1869. In the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, he has served as
steward for several years. He was married
December 21, 1882, to Dotia Trigg, a native
of Cooper County, Missouri, and a daugh-
ter of John A. Trigg. The last named was
one of the early pioneers of Saline County,
of which he became the first circuit clerk.
Subsequently he removed to Cooper County,
but returning to Saline County was again
elected circuit clerk in 1872 and died while
occupying that office. No man who ever
bore an active part in public life in Saline
County stands higher in the esteem of his
fellow citizens, regardless of their political
predilections. As a public official no act of
his has ever been brought into question, and
his private life has been without taint or
blemish.
Cooper, Jessie Bain, a conspicuous
leader in Christian Science work, was born in
New York City. Her father is of the Bain-
McKenzie family of Scotland; her mother
came from a long line of Welch Episcopalian
clergyman, remarkable for scholarship in the
classics. Her early education was under her
mother, in the public schools at a later day,
and afterward under the tutorship of Robert
Curry, LL. D, founder of the Curry Insti-
tute, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Her early
Vol. IT-d
religious views were formed by her mother
and grandmother, and the strictest reverence
for all pertaining to God was early instilled in
the already conscientious child. She early
joined the Congregational Church, but with
broadened education she began to question
the truthfulness of Bible miracles. After
marriage, the influence of her husband's
thought increased her rationalistic tendency,
and she became connected with the Unitarian
Church. During these years she was an
earnest worker in clubs, and was for five
years an active member of the Friends in
Council. She was also zealous in public and
private charities, and served as clerk of the
Woman's Board of the Provident Associa-
tion, and chairman of the visiting committee
of the Instructive Nursing Association. Her
association with these bodies, and her fine
personal qualities, drew about her a wide cir-
cle of friends. While she was thus pleasantly
occupied, and in the enjoyment of the de-
lights of a happy home, her husband became
ill as the result of an injury, and despite the
best medical assistance grew steadily worse.
In this extremity. Christian Science was
brought to her notice, and Mr. Cooper was
healed in three days by a Christian Scientist
neighbor. All her early religious teachings
of God's power, the miracles of the New
Testament, came back to her and she asked,
was it possible that it was true, after all?
She began the study of Mrs. Eddy's works
with deep earnestness, from the first putting
to the test every statement which she com-
prehended, and proving the text-book step
by step. For nine months she studied little
else, and at the end of that time announced
herself a Christian Scientist. To do so re-
quired great moral courage. The new sect
was unpopular, and no people of standing or
of her circle of friends, were instructed in
the science. Her position necessarily made
her, in a way, a pioneer among the more in-
telligent and educated classes. Her first
introduction to Christian Science was under
the influence of Mrs. Behan, the year follow-
ing its establishment in Kansas City. She
then studied under Alfred Farlow, C. S. B.,
and connected herself with the Third Church,
in which, at various times, she served as sec-
ond reader, teacher of a Bible class, clerk of
the church, and a director. To her broad
christian view, and personal independence,
is largely due the wonderful development of
130
COOPER COUNTY.
Christian Science in Kansas City. She was
an earnest advocate of union of the churches,
and her influence was great in bringing to-
gether the First and Second Churches ; at a
later day, in spite of the appeals of intimate
personal friends, she attached herself to the
united organization, and her example was a
powerful agent in bringing the Third Church
to the other united bodies some six months
later. In 1892 she began healing, her first
and successful case being one of tuberculosis
in the knee, where amputation had been pro-
nounced indispensable. In 1896 she formed
a class of twelve persons in Christian Science
healing; nearly all her pupils are now heal-
ers, but not professionally, and one of the
number, Mrs. Isabel Best, is her associate in
practice. In September, 1899, she opened
an office in the Altman Building, and without
financial necessity conscientiously devotes
herself to the relief of suffering and to the
propagation of scientific truth. She enjoys
the retirement and silence of her practice,
loves her patients, and sympathizes with them
in their ills in that helpful manner which lifts
their cares, and blesses them with better
health and morals. Mrs. Cooper has had fre-
quent offers to enter the lecture field. She
has attained some note as a ready public
speaker, particularly when advocating some
charity ; she is always clear, logical and
convincing, and at times her earnestness
moves her to real eloquence. The platform
would have become her habitually, but with-
out liking for public life, she only came upon
it as a means to an end, to effect a laudable
purpose. Her pen is ready in elucidation of
the science which she has chosen for her life
work, and an excellent example is found in
the article on "Christian Science in Kansas
City." in the "Encyclopedia of the History of
Missouri." In 1883 she was married to
Frank Cooper, then a recent graduate of the
Wisconsin State University, and immediately
came to Kansas City, which has since been
their home. Mr. Cooper is now president
of the Elmore & Cooper Live Stock Commis-
sion Company, of Kansas City, and holds
high position as an upright and capable busi-
ness man, and a gentleman of intelligence and
refinement. Two children, William Bain and
Helen Cooper, were born of the marriage.
Cooper Comity. — This county is situ-
ated on the south bank of the Missouri River.
and is one of the central counties of the State.
Originally its territory, with more than thirty
of the present counties of the State, formed
a part of Howard County, which was organ-
ized by the Territorial Legislature January
23, 1816. December 17, 1818, Cooper County
was organized, its area comprising all the
territory of Howard lying south of the Mis-
souri River. Its boundaries at that time were
the Missouri River on the north, the Osage
River on the east and south, and what was
then known as the western boundary of the
Territory (and the present boundary line
between Missouri and Kansas) was its west-
ern boundary. It included the territory of
the present counties of Cooper, Saline, La-
fayette, Jackson, Cass, Henry, Johnson,
Pettis, Alorgan, Moniteau and Cole, and
parts of Bates, St. Clair, Benton, Camden and
Miller Counties, eleven of the present coun-
•ties and parts of five others. At different
times since, the other counties were organ-
ized out of the territory of Cooper, the last
being Moniteau, which was formed February
14, 1845, and reduced Cooper County to its
present limits. The county was called Cooper
County in honor either of Colonel Benjamin
Cooper or Captain Sarshel Cooper. The
former, with his family, originally of Madison
County, Kentucky, came to the present ter-
ritory of Howard County from Loutre Island
and settled in the Missouri Bottom, opposite
Arrow Rock and near Boone's Salt Lick.
Governor Lewis ordered this adventurous
settler and his family back for better protec-
tion, but in 1810 he returned to the place
which he had selected for his home and
settled there permanently. Colonel Cooper
was a member of the Senate in 1820. Sar-
shel Cooper was a great Indian-fighter, and
built Cooper's Fort, near Boone's Lick. On
the night of December 14, 1814, he was
shot through the "chinkin' " of his cabin, by
an Indian and killed. At the time of the
shooting he was holding in his lap an infant
son, who escaped injury. Cooper was the
grandfather of Colonel Stephen Cooper, of
Howard County, the present State Senator
from that district. William Christy and John
G. Heath are said to have been the first
white men who remained long enough within
the limits of the present county of Cooper
to establish a business of any kind. In 1808
they ascended the river from St. Louis, and
for a time engaged in the manufacture of
COOPER COUNTY.
131
salt at the Salt Springs, on Heath's Creek,
in the present township of Blackwater,
Cooper County. Kinsmen of Christy now
reside in St. Louis, and descendants of Heath
in Howard County. The first permanent
white settlers in Cooper County were
Stephen and Hannah Cole, the last named
being the widow of Stephen's brother, Nathan
Cole. Stephen Cole and his family lived
about a mile and a half east of the present
location of Boonville, and Hannah Cole lived
with her family east of the site of the city
also, on a bluff overlooking the river on the
top of which was built Cole's Fort. Stephen
Cole's family consisted of himself and his
wife Phoebe, and their children, James,
Rhoda, Mark, Nelly and Polly Cole. In
Hannah Cole's family there were herself and
her children, Jennie, Mattie, Dickie, Nellie,
James, Holbert, Stephen, William and Sam-
uel, and in the two families there were seven-
teen persons in all. The first circuit court
held in Howard County, then embracing the
present territory of Cooper, was held in
Cole's Fort, July 8, 1816, it then being the
county seat of Howard County. David Bar-
ton, afterward United States Senator, was the
judge of the court ; Gray Bynum, clerk ; John
B. Heath, circuit attorney, and Nicholas S.
Burckhartt, sheriff. The attorneys present at
that session of court were Edward Bates,
Joshua Barton — brother of Judge Barton,
and afterward killed in a duel by Thomas C.
Rector on Bloody Island — Lucius Easton
and Charles Lucas. The first tavern was es-
tablished within the present limits of Cooper
County by William Bartlett, near the mouth
of Roupe's Branch, and within the present
limits of the city of Boonville. The first
dance ever given within these limits by white
people was given at Bartlett's tavern on the
occasion of its opening. The first courthouse
of the county was completed in 1823, and was
a small two-story brick. The second court-
house, also a two-story brick, but much
larger than the first, was erected in 1840, and,
although about sixty years old and shivering
in the weather to be displaced by a new one,
is still used as the courthouse of Cooper
County. The first newspaper established in
the county was the "Boonville Herald," pub-
lication of which was begun by James O.
Middleton, with Benjamin Emmons Ferry
as editor, in 1834. There are now eleven
weekly papers published in the county, five
of which are printed at Boonville. The first
election was held in the county August 2,
1819, to choose a delegate to Congress, and
138 votes were cast, nearly all of which were
for John Scott, of Ste. Genevieve. The first
circuit court held in Cooper County proper
began its session at the house of William
Bartlett, March i, 1819, with David Todd
as judge; R. P. Clark, clerk; William Mc-
Farland, sheriflf, and John S. Brickey as pros-
ecuting attorney. Samuel Peters was
foreman of the first grand jury. The first in-
dictment presented was against Stanley G.
Morgan for assault and battery, and this was
done at the second term of the court, which
began July 5, 1819. The first civil suit was
instituted in the county July 5, 1819, by
George Wilcox, against R. P. Clark and Sam-
uel S. WiUiams. The first account rendered
against Cooper County was by William
Bartlett, who presented a bill of $6.00 for the
rent of his house for court purposes. July
19, 1819, Asa Morgan, one of the owners of
the land on which Boonville is located, was
licensed to keep a ferry at Boonville across
the Missouri River. The first church was
erected in the county in 1817, by the Baptist
denomination. It was called Concord Church
and was located about six miles south of the
site of Boonville, with Rev. Luke Williams
as its pastor. "Old Nebo Church," as it is
now called, was erected in 1820, about
one mile north of the present site of
Bunceton, and was the second church built
in the county. The first school was taught
in the county by William Anderson, near
Concord Church, in 1817. The first Fourth
of July celebration was held in the county at
Boonville in 1820, and the orator of the day
was Benjamin F. Hickox, father of Colonel
Truman V. Hickox, an old and honored citi-
zen, who yet lives near Boonville. It was
for this occasion that a small wrought iron
cannon was made by the pioneer village
blacksmith, James Bruffee.
Cooper County has furnished two Govern-
ors of Missouri, John Miller, elected in 1825,
and Lon V. Stephens, elected in 1896. Three
of her citizens, John G. Miller, Theron M.
Rice and John Cosgrove, have been Repre-
sentatives in Congress, and one, Washing-
ton Adams, served as a member of the
Supreme Court of Missouri.
It is conceded that it is legitimately a part
of the history of a county to record its most
COOPER COUNTY.
important happenings and the progress, step
by step, and year by year, of the development
of its material, commercial, educational and
moral interests ; an account of the manners
and customs of its people, its wars with In-
dians, and the participation of its inhabitants
in other wars ; the increase of its population,
trade and production; and the organization
and cultivation of the social forces which up-
lift human life to a higher plane. But it is
not the purpose of this paper to attempt all
this, for to accomplish it, an exhaustive his-
tory far beyond the space to be occupied
would be required. Therefore a sketch, or
skeleton, is all that is possible under the cir-
cumstances, furnishing another, among many
illustrations, of an oft quoted couplet from
"David Everett's School of Declamation,"
written more than a century ago:
" Large streams from little fountains flow,
Tall oaks from little acorns grow."
We have noted the condition of Cooper
County at, and for a few years after, its or-
ganization, more than three-quarters of a
century ago. An answer to the question,
"What are its conditions, environments and
possibilities to-day?" wiU suggest, if it does
not record, the history of the efforts and
agencies employed to achieve the results.
An unusual, but very suggestive, incident
will demonstrate not only the smallness of
the population of the county in 1821 — then
only 3,483 — but the insignificance of the tax-
able wealth of the people. During that year
John V. Sharp, a Revolutionary soldier, who
was a resident of the county, became par-
alyzed and wholly disqualified for making a
living. Therefore he was a charge upon the
county, and his board, clothing and care cost
the county $2.00 per day. The county court,
being unable to pay the bill, petitioned the
Legislature, in 1822, to make an appropria-
tion for his support, stating in the petition
that the entire revenue of the county from
taxes was not sufficient for his maintenance,
the total taxes being only $718 per annum
and the charge for Sharp $730. The Legis-
, lature did not respond and the court was
compelled to make a special levy for the pur-
pose from 1823 to 1828.
Cooper County has a long river frontage
on its northern and northwestern boundaries.
At the date of its organization it had a pop-
ulation of about 3,000. With its greatly re-
duced area, it now (1900) has a population
of 22,532. The natural environments of both
the county and its chief city, Boonville, assure
them in large measure the advantages of
natural drainage and consequent healthiness
of topography. The surface of the county
is rolling, and the lands are, as a rule, very
fertile. While, of course, portions of the
county are broken and the soil thin, there
are many long and wide stretches, covering
in the aggregate a large portion of the coun-
ty's area, that are very sightly and attrac-
tive and as productive as any lands in the
State.
The county now has many school and
church edifices that are an honor to the Chris-
tian character, intelligence and enterprise of
its people. Besides Boonville, there are in
the county a number of beautiful and thrifty
towns, chief among them being Bunceton,
named for Harry Bunce; Otterville, Pilot
Grove and Blackwater, with excellent schools,
large churches, mills, banks, stores, news-
papers, mechanical industries, improved
streets, etc. Of lesser pretensions, and yet
centers of activity and business, thrift and
enterprise, are Pleasant Green, Clifton City,
Sardine, Overton, Prairie Home and Pisgah.
No great interest in the county has shown
more development than the breeding and im-
provement of horses, mules, cattle and hogs,
and the stockmen of Cooper can justly claim
as fine products in these lines as any in the
State. Such streams as the Lamine, with its
numerous confluents, Blackwater, Clear
Creek, Petite Saline, Clark's Fork and oth-
ers, which in earlier times were often unford-
able because of high water, are spanned by
good bridges and are crossed by footmen,
horsemen or wheeled vehicles, as if the
streams did not exist.
Within the lifetime of a large proportion
of the present population not a mile of rail-
road or telegraph existed in the county.
Now two trunk lines of railroad, the Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas, and the Missouri
Pacific, run through the county, the former
from Boonville in a southwestern direction to
Clifton City, near the Pettis County line, and
the latter from Blackwater, near the Saline
line, eastwardly and down the Missouri River
to Boonville, thence south through the cen-
ter of the county by way of Palestine, Bunce-
ton and Vermont, to the northern boundary
of Moniteau. In addition to all this, long-
COOPER'S FORT— CO-OPERATION.
distance telephones connect many of the
more important towns with Boonville.
Wm. F. Switzler.
Cooi>er's Fort.— See "Howard County."
Co-operation. — This word has become
the economic term for the various forms of
industry, trade or service in which the partici-
pants share in the profits and benefits. There
are co-operative stores, co-operative fac-
tories, co-operative creameries and produce
shipping, co-operative housekeeping. Build-
ing associations, mutual insurance companies
and mutual savings banks are strictly co-
operative associations, but having been pro-
jected without any theoretical altruistic
motive, and without affiliation with the co-
operative movement, they are not usually
embraced in that term. Neither are the col-
ony settlements like Plymouth, and James-
town, and Greeley, and Riverside, and Salt
Lake, which were, in fact, highly co-opera-
tive.
Business co-operation is one of the impor-
tant economic movements of the century, and
co-operative communities have recently taken
on new life. Its first appearance in St. Louis
and the West was the advent of the Icarians,
who passed through St. Louis in 1849 o^ their
way from Texas to Nauvoo, Illinois.
Cabet, a French statesman and author,
wrote a book, "A Voyage to Icaria," in which
he described a land of happy equality, peace,
plenty and loving service, similar to Utopia,
without its army or religion, or the New Bos-
ton of "Looking Backward." The idea was
taken up in Paris. A colonial association
was formed, and in the midst of the revolu-
tion of 1848 the first installment of 200 set
sail for New Orleans. A million were
counted on to follow as soon as the land of
Canaan was possessed and cities laid out.
Across 200 miles of vacant prairie, west-
ward from the Red River into rich and bound-
less Texas, the Parisian oitvricrs and savants
went, without houses or proper food, in broil-
ing sun and drenching rain ; disease and dis-
couragement soon turned them back to such
civilization as there was along the IVIississippi
River. The Mormons had just been driven
from Nauvoo, and there the colonists took
refuge. They prospered, but in time Cabet
quarreled with other leaders, and he, with his
following, came and settled in Cheltenham, in
the St. Louis suburb. Communism was given
up, but the influence of twenty years of peace-
able community life shows itself in the gentle-
ness and refinement of the Icarians, whom
we occasionally meet in St. Louis society.
Another branch settled at Icaria, in south-
western Iowa, and continued true to their
principles until they sold their property and
disbanded, about 1895. About ■ 1872 the
grange movement among farmers spread like
wildfire throughout the West. Missouri,
Kansas and Illinois were at the front. Stores
to supply themselves with goods at wholesale
were started by hundreds. Credit and poli-
tics, inexperienced managers and dishonest
agents soon proved the ruin of nearly all. St.
Louis had grange agencies for many years.
In 1886 the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing
Company introduced the French type of busi-
ness co-operation, called profit-sharing.
Their business was the manufacture and sale
of plumbing and steam goods, employing
from 250 to 400 men. After paying the usual
wages, interest on capital was deducted, and
the remaining profits were divided by equal
percentage on wages and capital. Thus a
salary of $1,000 received the same amount as
$1,000 of the capital stock. A provident and
educational fund was also provided. From
1886 to 1895 the dividends on wages ranged
from 5 to 10 per cent, amounting to about
$75,000. The depression of 1896 and 1897
prevented any dividend, but the system re-
mained in effect. In 1890 the company
secured 125 acres of land near Edwardsville,
Illinois, eighteen miles from St. Louis. Here
they built factories, electric light and water-
works, schoolhouse, clubhouse, bowling
alley and billiard room, and a greenhouse.
The village is called Leclaire, after the Paris-
ian house-painter who first introduced profit-
sharing in 1840. It is laid out park fashion,
with winding roads, paved with cinders, broad
grass plots, trees and sidewalks. In the
schoolhouse grounds there are old trees and
large flower beds and swings ; across the
street is a campus of two acres for baseball,
football and tennis. A circulating library of
1,200 volumes is controlled by a board of
trustees, elected by the "home-owning resi-
dents of Leclaire," which also controls the
school. The plan of education is industrial,
pupils learning mechanical and farm work
along with the usual course of study. It be-
gins with kindergarten and ends with the
134
CO-OPERATION.
classics and higher mathematics. There is no
political organization, no saloons, no police-
men, no law or authority but the State.
Houses are built for employes on easy terms
of payment, and are taken back if they want
to leave. Co-operation and equity, but no
paternalism, are the foundation principles.
In 1888 the St. Louis Shovel Company
adopted profit-sharing, but discontinued it
after a few years.
A co-operative store was started in 1893 on
the Rochdale plan, to be described later. It
began with twenty-six members or stock-
holders, and a capital of $500. The shares
were $50, and only one share could be held
by one person. Payment could be made at
fifty cents a week, and the amount paid in
received 6 per cent interest. It dealt in gro-
ceries, sold at the current market prices,
bought and sold exclusively for cash. The
membership grew and sales increased rapidly.
The profits were divided in proportion to pur-
chases. The first quarter's business allowed
a dividend of 8 per cent on purchases, the
second quarter 10 per cent. The membership
had grown to 150, the capital to $3,000. It
was then decided to remove to larger quar-
ters, a meat shop was added, a larger force
was employed. Every efTort was made to
enlist the unions and workmen in general.
Some credit was given. The additional mem-
bers and trade did not come; the dividends
stopped, one manager after another proved
incompetent, members withdrew, and after
two years of struggle it gave up, with total
loss to stockholders and some loss to credit-
ors. Very similar was the experience of a
store started by the men at Leclaire. Too
high notions, too little attention by the mem-
bers, not enough loyalty in trading, and
credit, proved its ruin.
The modern co-operative store movement
took its start in England in 1844. Twenty-
eight weavers. Chartists and Christian Social-
ists formed a society having in view self-em-
ployment and self-supply. When, by small
weekly contributions, they had in hand $140
they took a vacant room in a member's
house, bought tea and flour and other staples
in full packages, retailed them to themselves
at the retail shop prices, did the work them-
selves and saved the entire retail profit. The
profits enabled them to lay in a large variety,
they brought in additional members and the
society prospered. To make the working
man independent, bring him out of debt, ac-
cumulate capital for self-employment, educate
him ; these were the high ideals of the Roch-
dale pioneers. The idea caught, the plan
enabled any earnest set of neighbors or fel-
low workmen to start a "store." It became a
"movement," it had the enthusiastic support
and advice of the brilliant preachers and
authors, Kingsley and Maurice, and of Hol-
yoake, Hughes, Neale and Ludlow. The last
three were well connected barristers, and
through them were secured acts of Parlia-
ment that allowed the societies to incorporate
as limited liability companies, with unlimited
capital and numbers. By 1861 the number
of stores and members had grown so large
that a wholesale store was opened. In 1890
there were 1,741 associations, 1,492,000 mem-
bers, 61,000 employes, $286,000,000 sales and
$30,000,000 profits.
The original Rochdale Society had, in 1897,
12,775 members, $1,750,000 capital, $1,475,-
000 sales, and net profits, $250,000 — a good
part of which was the income from invest-
ments in co-operative factories. In the fifty-
three years of its existence sales had
amounted to $51,705,000 and it had paid back
to its members $8,000,000. The wholesale
society does a business of $60,000,000 a year,
operates extensive factories, a bank and an
insurance company, owns si.x ships and buys
at first hands in all parts of the world. There
are some highly successful societies of the
Rochdale pattern in the United States. Two
at Lawrence, Massachusetts, have a capital
of over $60,000, with annual sales of over
$400,000, and regular dividends. There are
not less than a thousand in the country, but
no official returns are acquired, and there is
no federation — accurate information is not
available. Co-operative creameries are abun-
dant and usually prosperous. In California
there are many fruit-shipping and supply
unions, with plenty of capital and under good
management. Co-operative communities
have taken a fresh start, the Ruskin Com-
monweahh at Ruskin, Tennessee, being espe-
cially well managed and prosperous. At
Commonwealth, Georgia ; Equity, Washing-
ton ; Bellamy, Oregon ; Bliss, Idaho, and
Pinon, Colorado, there are modest but sound
beginnings. The advocates of co-operation
believe that through it is to come relief from
the inequalities of fortune growing out of
the competitive system. j^;- q Nelson.
oL-
Co%^4-<^
COPPER— CORBY.
135
Copper. — There is no copper-mining in
Missouri at present, but there was at one
time. The Stanton copper mines in Frank-
Hn County were opened and worked before
the Civil War, and it was thought that they
would prove a profitable enterprise; but the
disturbances of the war caused the mines to
be closed before the deposits were thor-
oughly explored, and they were never re-
opened. Copper has been found in Dent,
Crawford, Benton, Alaries, Greene, Law-
rence, Dade, Taney, Dallas, Phelps, Reynolds
and Wright Counties, and in very consider-
erable quantities in Franklin, Madison, Shan-
non and Washington Counties, and as late as
1880, copper ingots to the amount of 230,717,
and of the value of $25,730, were produced in
the State. It is probable that at some
future day, when the deposits shall have been
more thoroughly explored, and mining shall
be more carefully conducted, the old mines
will be reopened.
"Copperheads." — A nickname given to
a political faction in the Northern and border
States during the Civil War, which was
charged with being in sympathy with the se-
cession movement, and with aiding it by try-
ing to thwart the measures of the national
government. The name was intended to sig-
nify a concealed foe, and was derived from
the serpent whose bite is as deadly as that
of the rattlesnake, but which strikes without
warning.
Corby, Amanda Miisick, benefac-
tress, was born in the historic old town of
Florissant, St. Louis County, Missouri,
youngest daughter of Joel L. and Margue-
rite (Presse) Musick. Both her parents were
natives of St. Louis County and belonged to
families numbered among the earliest set-
tlers of Missouri. Mrs. Corby was reared
in St. Louis County, grew up in the faith
of the Catholic Church, and was educated at
the Sacred Heart Convent in St. Louis.
May 30, 1852, a beautiful and accomplished
young lady, she was united in marriage to
Mr. John Corby, who was then a resident of
St. Joseph, Missouri, and one of the leading
citizens of that place. Leaving her child-
hood home, Mrs. Corby went to St. Joseph,
and at once became a social leader in that
city. Her tastes were artistic, and in the old
days she was locally famous as a needle-
woman, whose handiwork was a thing of
beauty. During her husband's lifetime she
led a quiet life, busying herself mainly with
relieving the sufferings of the poor and help-
ing to lighten the burdens of those less fortu-
nately situated than herself. At the death of
her husband, his splendid estate passed un-
conditionally to her, and she administered
this trust with rare fidelity and ability. Her
feeling was that a wise Providence had made
her the trustee of this wealth, to be used for
the betterment of mankind, the alleviation of
human sufifering and the advancement of the
cause of religion. Feeling thus, her heart
and hand were ever open to the appeals of
those in need and of those who asked assist-
ance for any worthy cause. Shrinking from
the appearance of ostentatious giving, her
charities were bestowed in that quiet way
which the Master enjoined upon His follow-
ers when He said: "Let not thy left hand
know what the right hand doeth." Shortly
after the death of her husband, Mrs. Corby
began the erection of a memorial chapel,
which in architectural beauty and chasteness
of adornment excels any similar building in
the West. It is situated in the center of a
tract of 160 acres of land, which lies about
three miles north of the city of St. Joseph,
and which was given to the Catholic Church
by Mr. Corby for a cemetery. Ten acres m
the center of the tract was reserved by Mr.
Corby for the chapel and grounds connected
therewith. This beautiful chapel, which is
the pride of the church, of the friends of the
donor, and of the city of St. Joseph, was
completed in 1873. By its solid walls, its
artistic design, its emblematic frescoes and its
sacred purposes, this affectionate memento
tells that the love of a pure woman never
dies. The chapel is built in the Gothic style
of the thirteenth centurv, in form an irregu-
lar cruciform, a pentagonal sanctuary form-
ing one arm. It is 42 feet 10 inches front;
55 feet 5 inches throughout the transept, and
has a total length of 84 feet and 3 inches.
The massive walls, with numerous buttresses,
are entirely of limestone, laid in rough, bro-
ken ashlar style, and are richly ornamented
with cut and carved Carroll County sand-
stone dressing. The strength, durability and
sublimity of the exterior are in perfect accord
with the artistic and elegant interior of the
structure. The frescoing, beautiful in design
and elaborate in execution, is the admiration
136
CORBY.
of those whose culture enables them to fully
appreciate its merits. On the left of the altar,
and facing the auditorium, is a beautiful
fresco of the Madonna and Child, while on
the right is the vault in which Mrs. Corby
deposited the mortal remains of her husband,
John Corby. This is an open space with a
highly ornamented arched entrance looking
toward the altar. Upon a deeply recessed
tablet on the outside of the north wall of
the vault, which is ornamented with two
beautiful columns, carved and chased to
symbolize mourning, is inscribed in raised
letters, "To the Memory of John Corby."
On the western wall of the interior of the
vault is a fine painting of the Holy Sepulcher,
and on the canopy above is a painting of
"Our Saviour." On the outer or northern
wall of the interior is represented the "As-
cension," and between the windows are the
fourteen "Stations of the Cross," represent-
ing Christ going from the judgment hall in
Jerusalem to Mount Calvary without the
gates. Upon the walls of the nave above are
bas-reliefs, life size, of the twelve apos-
tles. These various scenes are of superior
artistic merit, are beautifully set in appro-
priate moldings, and the spaces about them
are highly ornamented with Gothic tracery.
The chapel, which will seat about 300 peo-
ple, is indeed a gem of beauty, and is a fitting
and lovely expression of the genuine piety
and tender affections of her who thus prac-
tically pays loving tribute to him to whom it
is built in commemoration.
During the latter years of her life Mrs.
Corby arranged for the placing of her own
remains in this vault by the side of those
of her husband, when she should be called
from earth. After a long illness, which she
bore with much fortitude and Christian resig-
nation, she departed this life and was ushered
into the life to which her loved ones had pre-
ceded her, on the loth of January, 1899. Be-
side the remains of Mrs. Corby and her
husband, there now rest in the chapel the re-
mains of her step-father, Sidney S. Harris;
her mother, Marguerite (Mnsick) Harris,
and her beloved brother-in-law, Dr. Edgar B.
Forsee, and a vault has also been prepared
for the reception of the remains of her sister,
Mrs. Edgar B. Forsee, when that worthy
woman shall lay aside the cares and respon-
sibilities of this life. Thus is evidenced the
fact that Mrs. Corby was not only careful
in looking after the affairs of Hfe, but, with
tender regard, made provision for the last
resting places of those endeared to her by
the ties of nature. Before her death Mrs.
Corby conveyed the chapel and cemetery to
the Sisters of Charity, making ample provi-
sion for their maintenance and improvement.
This generous gift proclaims her a public
benefactress and entitles her to lasting re-
membrance. During the later years of her
life she made her home with Mrs. Forsee,
who, with true sisterly devotion, nursed and
cared for her through her long illness. There
was much of sadness in her later life, but
throughout this period of trial she was sus-
tained by an unfaltering trust in God, and
buoyed up by a spirit worthy of a true fol-
lower of Christ. A true child of the Catholic
Church, she was always devoted to its wel-
fare, and her memory will long be revered
by those who were associated with her in the
advancement of its interests. Before her
death she made Mrs. Forsee the heir to her
estate, and her last wishes are being loyally
observed by the sister to whom this trust
was confided.
Corby, John, promment as a philan-
thropist, railroad promoter and builder,
merchant and banker, and pioneer in many
of the enterprises which helped to make St.
Joseph the city it has become, was born in
the city of Limerick, Ireland, June 24,
1808. He was the second child and eldest son
in a family of ten children, whose parents
were John and Bridget (Sh?han) Corby, who,
in 1820, with their family, emigrated to
America and settled on a farm in Beaver
County, Pennsylvania. There John Corby
remained only a few years, and then started
out in the world to find an honest means of
obtaining a livelihood. His industrious and
frugal habits soon enabled him to become an
employer instead of being employed, and in
a few years he became a contractor on the
Baltimore & Washington Railway, one of the
first railroads built in the country. He after-
ward took and carried out large contracts on
the Pittsburg & Erie Canal, on the Grand
Slack Water Navigation project for Licking
River, Kentucky, on the Madison & Indian-
apolis Railroad, and also contracts for rail-
roads, pikes and levees in Ohio, Kentucky,
Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.
During a trip to the West, Mr. Corby vis-
.i^^
CORBYN.
137
ited St. Joseph in October, 1843, ^"d with
wise foresight reached the conclusion that
this would become a commercial city of note.
It was then a mere trading post, but with
unerring judgment he read the future in store
for it, and purchased a number of lots from
Joseph Robidoux. In the following spring
he bought out a large stock of goods, com-
menced merchandising, and erected" the first
brick house in the town. For a number of
years he carried on the largest retail busi-
iness in the vicinity, investing his profits in
real estate, which, in later years, yielded rich
returns. In 1857 he retired from the dry
goods trade and opened a banking house, in
which Hne of business he continued until his
death.
Mr. Corby was made mayor of his adopted
city, and served many times as a member of
the City Council, in all of which positions
he not only gave entire satisfaction to his
constituents, but did honor to himself and
at the same time advanced the best interests
of the municipality. In public positions he
brought to bear on affairs the same wisdom,
sagacity and honesty which in private life
made him respected, honored and successful.
Mr. Corlpy was one of the originators of
the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, taking
an active part in securing its charter and
franchise. In order to determine the best
route for the road, he also made several car-
riage and horseback trips across the State.
He was a member of its first board of direc-
tors, which position he resigned to become
a contractor, and as such constructed twen-
ty-five miles of the road. The Roseport &
Maryville, or Palmetto Railroad Company,
was organized in 1857, with General Jeff.
Thompson as president, and John Corby as
vice president.
Later Mr. Corby became the president of
this company, and under his administration
it was consolidated with the Northern Rail-
road of Kansas under the name of the St.
Joseph & Denver City Railroad Company.
By this act the company secured 125,000
acres of land, granted by the State of Kan-
sas to the Wathena (Kansas) Railroad Com-
pany, and this insured the success of the en-
terprise. In those early days Mr. Corby was
also a director in the St. Joseph & Topeka
Railroad Company. In 1856 he was elected
mayor of St. Joseph, being always foremost
in every enterprise from which benefit could
accrue to the city of his home. In 1858 he
was one of the incorporators of, and a direc-
tor in, the St. Joseph branch of the bank of
this State, and when this was, in 1864,
merged into the State National Bank, he be-
came a director of that institution, and so
continued until a short time before his de-
mise.
On May 30, 1852, Mr. Corby was united
in marriage with Miss Amanda Musick,
youngest daughter of the late Honorable
Joel L. Musick, of Florissant, St. Louis
County, Missouri. After a life of constant
activity he was attacked with heart disease
in 1867, and consulted some of the best
physicians in the United States, with but little
benefit. In 1869 he visited Florida, where
he spent a part of the winter, returning to
St. Joseph on February 2, 1870, and residing
there until his death on the 9th of May fol-
lowing. In many respects he was a remark-
able man, and though by nature he was given
to the accumulation of wealth, his methods
were characterized by strict integrity, a prac-
tical piety and a warm, kind-hearted and wise
charity. He made liberal donations to St.
Joseph Seminary of the Sacred Heart and'
other institutions in earher years, and one
year gave to the St. Joseph Hospital between
$4,000 and $5,000 ; in the same year he gave
$5,000 to a female seminary to be located on
St. Joseph Avenue and Albemarle Street,
$10,000 and lots for building the St. Joseph
Cathedral, and 160 acres of land, valued at
about $10,000, for a Catholic cemetery near
the city, thus making a total of about $30,000
dispensed during that year alone for religious,
educational and charitable purposes.
Corbyn, William B., minister and ed-
ucator, was born in Windham County, Con-
necticut, June I, 1814. He was the son of
Joseph Perrin and Mary Howard Corbyn.
He passed his boyhood and early youth in
Monroe County, New York, and was pre-
pared for college in Phillips Academy, Mas-
sachusetts. He entered Yale College in
1835 and graduated in 1839. The next four
years he spent as assistant teacher in Phil-
lips Academy and in the study of theology.
In August, 1841, he was married to Miss
Henrietta N. Wright, daughter of Mr. Joseph
Wright, of Glastonbury, Connecticut. She
died in January, 1843, leaving an infant son,
who is now the Rev. W. W. Corbyn, rector
138
CORDER— CORONADO.
of a parish in East Plymouth, Ohio. In
December, 1843, Rev. Wilham B. Corbyn
was admitted to holy orders in the Episcopal
Church at Boston, Massachusetts. In 1845
he was called to the rectorship of St. Paul's
Episcopal Church in St. Louis. In 1848 he
was sent by Rt. Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, D. D.,
Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Missouri,
to Palmyra, Marion County, for the purpose
of opening a school, which was after-
ward known as St. Paul's College.
Here he labored diligently and suc-
cessfully for more than twenty years,
bringing the college to a commanding posi-
tion which was recognized not only in
Marion County, but throughout the State,
where it stood second to none. From that
time until the summer of 1871, except for
an interval of three and a half years, he was
engaged in teaching at St. Paul's. In July,
1855, he was married to Miss Mary Frances
McDonald, daughter of Mr. Edward McDon-
ald, of Hannibal, Missouri. With their
daughter, Edith, born August 17, 1856, they
now reside at Quincy, Illinois.
Corder.. — A village, in Lafayette County,
on the Kansas City division of the Chicago
& Alton Railway, twenty miles southeast of
Lexington, the county seat. It has a public
school, churches of the Baptist, Catholic,
German Methodist Episcopal, Lutheran,
Methodist Episcopal South, and Presby-
terian denominations, a Democratic news-
paper, the "Dispatch" ; a bank, a mill, and
a tile and brick factory. In 1899 the popu-
lation was estimated at 700. The town was
platted in 1878, by W. J. Leise, the first
postmaster and storekeeper, and was in-
corporated in 1881.
Corning. — A town of 250 inhabitants,
in Holt County, fifty-one miles from St.
Joseph, on the Kansas City, St. Joseph &
Council Bluffs Railroad. It was laid
out in 1868. It has three stores,
a bank, the People's Bank, capital and sur-
plus $16,200, deposits $14,000; a German
Reformed and a Methodist Episcopal Church,
a steam flouring mill and a grain elevator.
Cornyn, Florence M., physician, was
born August 3, 1829, in Bridgeport, Ohio,
son of an Irish immigrant who had settled
there some years earlier. He was carefully
educated, being graduated from St. Mary's
Jesuit College, of Marion County, Kentucky,
and completed his medical studies at the New
York University. After graduating from the
last named institution, in 1849, he crossed
the plains to the Pacific Coast, and was the
first physician to open an office and begin
the practice of medicine at Sacramento,
California. In 1852 he returned to the States
and settled in St. Louis, where he was en-
gaged in general practice until appointed
physician to the City Hospital. After serving"
three years in that capacity, he resigned to
become surgeon of volunteers of the First
Missouri Infantry Regiment, commanded at
the beginning of the Civil War by Colonel — •
afterward General — Frank P. Blair. He was,
up to the time that he entered the Union
Army, Brigade Surgeon of the Missouri
Militia on the staff of General D. M. Frost.
In 1862 he resigned the surgeonship of the
First Missouri Infantry to raise the Tenth
Missouri Cavalry Regiment, of which he was
commissioned colonel. He commanded this
regiment with skill and ability, had many
engagements with General Forrest, and es-
tablished an enviable reputation for bravery
and gallantry as a commanding officer. He
was killed in a personal difficulty by one
of his officers, and his remains were after-
ward brought to St. Louis and buried in Cal-
vary Cemetery. A monument, erected to
his memory by admiring friends, bears the
inscription :
COLONEL FLORENCE M. CORNVN :
Born August 3, 1S29 ;
Died August 10, 1863.
"After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well."
This monument was placed here by his friends and comrades
in arms, to perpetuate the memory of a soldier without
fear, and a patriot without reproach.
A list of the engagements in which he par-
ticipated, inscribed on the monument, shows
him to have taken part in the capture of
Camp Jackson, and the battles of Boonville,
Dug Springs, Wilson's Creek, Fort Donel-
son, Shiloh, Corinth, Tuscumbia, Lundy's
Lane, Town Creek, Florence, luka, Burton
and Leighton.
Coronado, Francisco Vasqiiez de,
"Spanish explorer, was born in Salamanca,
Spain, about 1510, and died in 1542. On the
arrival in Culiacan of Cabeza de Vaca from
his journey from Florida in 1536, when he
brought news of the existence of half-civil-
CORONER'S JURY— CORRIGAN.
139
ized tribes far to the north, an expedition
was sent out under Marco de Niza, in 1539,
to explore that region. On its return a sec-
ond expedition was fitted out under Coro-
nado, which departed from Culiacan, on the
Pacific Coast, in April, 1540. He passed up
the entire length of what is now the State
of Sonora to the River Gila. Crossing this,
he penetrated the country beyond to the Lit-
tle Colorado, and visited the famed cities of
Cibola, mentioned by Cabeza de Vaca and
De Niza. In the kingdom were seven cities.
The country, he says, was too cold for cot-
ton, yet the people all wore mantels of it,
and cotton yarn was found in their houses.
He also found maize, Guinea cocks, peas,
and dressed skins. From Cibola, Coronado
traveled eastward, visiting several towns,
similar to the existing villages of the Pueblo
Indians, till he reached the Rio Grande, and
from there traveled 300 leagues to Quivira,
the ruins of which are well known, being
near latitude 34 degrees north, about 170
miles from El Paso. There he found a tem-
perate climate, with good water and an
abundance of fruit. The people were clothed
in skins. On his way back in ^larch. 1542,
Coronado fell from his horse at Tiguex, near
the Rio Grande, and is said to have become
insane. The narrative of this expedition fur-
nishes the first authentic account of the buf-
falo, or American bison, and the great
prairies and plains of New jNIe.xico." ("Ap-
pleton's Cyclopedia of American Biogra-
phy.")
Coroner's Jury. — The jury summoned
by the coroner of a county to hold an inquest
on the dead body of a person — whose death
was by violence, or involved in uncertainty—
and, after examining witnesses, render a ver-
dict as to the cause and manner of death.
In cases of death by violence, the verdict
of the coroner's jury usually determines the
course to be taken by the officers of the law
in the next treatment of the matter.
Corps de Belgiqiie. — A secret polit-
ical organization designed to aid the seces-
sion movement, which came into existence
in Missouri in 1862, and which is said to have
owed its origin to General Sterling Price. It
was named in honor of Charles L. Hunt, who
was then the Belgian consul at St. Louis. All
of its movements were conducted with great
secrecy, and the extent of its membership
in St. Louis has never been definitely ascer-
tained. Toward the close of the war it is
said to have affiliated with and become a part
of the secret political organization originated
by Clement L. Vallandigham, of Ohio, and
P. C. Wright, of New York, which was
known as the American Knights, or Knights
of the Golden Circle.
Corrigaii, Bernard, conspicuous in the
establishment of the street railway system
in Kansas City, is the youngest of three
brothers, who were born in Canada, of Irish
parents, Patrick and Elizabeth (Murray)
Corrigan. Thomas Corrigan, the oldest of
the brothers, came to Kansas City in 1859,
and died in 1895. His memory is commemo-
rated by the beautiful chimes of the Catholic
Cathedral, presented by his wife, who sur-
vived him but two years. Edward, the sec-
ond of the brothers, divides his time between
California, New York and Chicago. Bernard
Corrigan, the youngest, who came to Kan-
sas City in 1868, alone remains, and has made
that city his home continuously to the
present time. The brothers followed contract
work until 1875, their largest operations be-
ing in the building of railways. In the latter
year Thomas and Bernard, with the former
as the leading spirit, effected the organization
of a company which purchased all the street
railways in Kansas City except that between
Market Square and Westport. They extended
the system to cover the entire city, and to
Kansas City, Kansas, all mule lines, until
1886, when they arranged to apply cable
power. At this juncture the Metropolitan
Street Railway Company was organized, and
they sold their properties to that corporation
for one million dollars. Since retiring from
street railway interests Mr. Bernard Corri-
gan has principally concerned himself with
the care of his large real estate and financial
interests. The family name is held in as-
sociation with the Baltimore Hotel, which
he erected, and in which he is a one-half
owner, the estate of his deceased brother,
Thomas, holding the remainder. Mr. Cor-
rigan is also a stockholder and a director
in the National Bank of Commerce and in
the First National Bank. He was among
the leaders in the establishment of the barge
lines between Kansas City and St. Louis,
which, in 1878, and for some vears there-
140
CORRIGAN.
after, aided materially in developing the com-
merce of the city through its own service and
the securing of competitive railway rates.
He was also an organizing director of the
Kansas City Agricultural and Horticultural
Fair Association in 1887, which gave several
successful exhibitions. Generously benevo-
lent, he has at all times afforded liberal aid
and intelligent assistance to the establish-
ment and maintenance of hospitals, orphan-
ages and other charitable institutions.
Discerning through his business instincts the
necessity for the administration of charity
in a methodical manner, he was among the
first to suggest the organization of the
United Charities of Kansas City, in October,
1899, and became one of the incorporating
directors. In politics he is a Democrat. Mr.
Corrigan was married to Miss Mary Shan-
non, now long deceased, who was a daughter
of Patrick Shannon, an early mayor of Kan-
sas City. Of nine children born of this mar-
riage, John Corrigan is city editor of the
Omaha News, Edward Corrigan is a brick
manufacturer in Kansas City, and Bernard
Corrigan is a law student in the University
of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Mr. Corrigan
was married, in January, 1898, to Miss Hat-
tie Font, of Martinsburg, Virginia, of which
marriage one son, Francis Lee Corrigan, has
been born.
Corrigan, Thomas, whose name was
for a quarter century linked with the growth
and prosperity of Kansas City, was born in
1835, in Huntingdon County, Province of
Quebec, Canada. His parents were Patrick
and Elizabeth (Murray) Corrigan, both na-
tives of Ireland, who came to America in
1824. They first settled in Pennsylvania, and
six years later removed to Canada. The
father was a man of much force of character,
and for three years served as commissioner
of Huntingdon County. The son, Thomas
Corrigan, had but meager educational ad-
vantages, but his deficiencies were compen-
sated for by natural abilities of an exception-
ally high order, and a large fund of practical
knowledge acquired through observation and
dealings with men. Among his acquisitions
was a speaking familiarity with the French
language, which at times served him to good
advantage. In 1859 he came to Missouri
and took employment with a building crew
on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway.
He was a diligent workman, commanding
the best wage, and he was also frugal and
saving. In little more than a year he was
enabled to buy a farm in Kansas, near the
site of the present town of Hiawatha. He
was associated with his brother, John, in
farming until 1861, when the disordered con-
ditions of the region impelled them to re-
move to St. Joseph, Missouri. There, in
partnership with ex-Mayor Shepard, of that
city, he organized a freighting expedition to
Pike's Peak. Arriving at that point, they
sold their outfits and merchandise at con-
siderable profit. Mr. Corrigan soon returned
to St. Joseph, and thence to Leavenworth,
Kansas, where he entered the employ of
Ross & Steele, a large contracting firm, with
whom he remained for three years, during
the time being their superintendent of con-
struction on the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railway. Having married, he made
his home at Lawrence, Kansas, and en-
gaged in contracting upon his own account
on the Kansas Pacific Railway, the Kansas
Southern Railway, now a portion of the
Santa Fe system ; the Memphis Railway, and
the Lexington branch of the Missouri Pacific
Railway; in the last named work he was as-
sociated \vith the late General Joseph Shelby,
a warm personal friend. Removing to Kan-
sas City, he was engaged, in 1869-70, in grad-
ing contracts there, his first important work
being the grading of Grand Avenue south-
ward from Fifth Street. He afterward secured
the contract for building the National Water-
works, and made $120,000 on the work. He
was sued by Amos Green for one-half of
the earnings, and defeated the suit in the
United States Supreme Court. In 1876, in
association with his brother, Bernard, he
began to engage in street railway opera-
tions. Their first venture was the construc-
tion of what was then known as the "Reser-
voir Line," now the Broadway line, from
Sixth and Main Streets to Seventeenth and
Madison Streets. This line was unprofit-
able, and was for some years operated at a
loss. The two brothers, with D. E. Dick-
erson, then bought a controlling interest in
all existing street railways, and organized the
Corrigan Consolidated Street Railway Com-
pany. Afterward Thomas Corrigan bought
out his two partners and became sole owner
of the entire stock, with the exception of
three shares committed to others in order
CORTAMBERT.
141
to preserve a legal directory. In 1882 he
sought a thirty-year franchise extension. At
the time none of the franchises had less than
six years to run, and some of them had
eighteen years. In 1884 the city council
passed an extension ordinance, and this ac-
tion aroused bitter opposition, growing out
of the desire of local capitalists to acquire
franchise rights. Feeling ran high, and there
were threats of tearing up the tracks and
of hanging the aldermen who favored the
extension ordinance. The mayor interposed
his veto, and an attempt to pass it over his
veto was inefifectual. In those turbulent
times Mr. Corrigan was determined, imper-
turbable and self-contained. A year later a
modified extension ordinance was passed
without trouble ; this measure provided for
various improvements, and for the use of
cable power in lieu of animals, and Mr. Cor-
rigan at once began work on the Fifth
Street line in order to comply with the lat-
ter requirement. In 1886 he sold all his lines
to a syndicate, and the formation of the pres-
ent Metropolitan Street Railway Company
was effected as the successor. In this trans-
action he received a half-million dollars in
cash and an equal amount in the bonds of
the new company. When he began liis
street railway operations he found but two
illy equipped lines ; when he retired the pres-
ent admirable system was, in greater part,
established, and the great achievement was,
in far larger part, the result of his own
indefatigable effort. While the foregoing
tells of his most monumental work, it is to
be said that Mr. Corrigan was at the same
time deeply interested in many other enter-
prises for the development of the city, fur-
nishing means and advisory aid in various
directions. A Democrat in politics, he was
a sagacious leader, exerted a controlling in-
fluence in local affairs, and made the local
party a mighty factor in State policies. With
sufficient prestige to secure any position to
which he might aspire, he was but once an
officeholder, from 1874 to i88i,when he was
police commissioner, and he retired volun-
tarily, refusing to perform further service.
He was a Catholic in religion, and the only
civic society with which he was connected
was the Catholic Knights of America. He
was unusually strong in mind and body.
None could surpass him in feats of labor
and endurance, and often when an employer
he set example to his men by his own hercu-
lean effort. He was honest and straightfor-
ward in his financial undertakings, shrewd
and discerning in his plans and calculations,
and resolutely determined after once form-
ing a purpose. With a somewhat brusque
manner, he was kindly-hearted and devoted
to his friends. He was liberal in his bene-
factions to charities, particularly to the
House of the Good Shepherd, the Orphans'
Home and the Society of St. Vincent de
Paul, an organization for the relief of the
poor. Aside from these, he constantly con-
tributed of his means to alleviate per-
sonal sufferings and wants. In 1864 Mr.
Corrigan married Miss Catherine McGinley,
like himself a native of Huntingdon County,
Province of Quebec, Canada. Of this mar-
riage were born four children, now living:
Elizabeth, Catherine, Agnes and Mrs. John
C. Bourke. Mr. Corrigan died in Kansas .
City, March i, 1894, and his wife died March
24, 1896. Mrs. Corrigan was a devout Cath-
olic, and a woman whose benefactions were
liberally extended to all needy objects. She
devoted much of her husband's ample for-
tune, upwards of one million dollars, to pur-
poses near to her heart. To the Cathedral
of the Immaculate Conception she presented
one of the finest chimes of bells in America;
this was a memorial to her husband, and
each bell bore upon it the name of a member
of the Corrigan family. She contributed lib-
erally to various Catholic societies, in which
she held membership, and was a principal
donor of the beautiful marble altar and rail-
ing in the chapel of the Orphans' Home.
Coi-taiiibert, Louis Richard, was
born in France, in 1808, and emigrated to
the United States while a young man. He
was highly educated, earnest and simple, a
profound thinker and an able writer. His
philosophy in many respects resembled that
of Thoreau. He even undertook to dupli-
cate Thoreau's Walden experience, but
Walden near Highland was a thing very dif-
ferent from Walden near Concord, and the
malaria of the Illinois bottoms soon ended
the experiment. Cortambert was a Social
Republican, and one of the early abolition-
ists, and if his creed was at times too radi-
cal, he was at least sincere and unfaltering
in the advocacy of the brotherhood and fra-
ternity of man. He refused better positions
142
COSBY— COTTON BELT ROUTE.
and larger salaries on more influential papers
than he was connected with, because, he said,
he wrote from conviction, and his pen was
not for sale. In 185 1 he tendered his resig-
nation as vice consul of France in St. Louis
as a protest against the "coup d'etat."
In 1855 he edited the "Revue de I'Ouest"
(see "French Newspapers"), and from 1864
to the time of his death the "Messager
Franco-Americain" of New York. He was
the brother of the learned Paris geographer,
Eugene Cortambert, and the uncle of Louis
Cortambert, the promising young litterateur,
who died all too early. Cortambert had the
reputation of being the ablest writer in
French who has ever written in the United
States. Several of his books were published
by leading Paris houses. The great histo-
rian, Henri Martin, wrote a preface for his
"Histoire I'niverselle selon la Science Mod-
erne," and Victor Hugo praised his "Religion
du Progres." Among his other works were
"L'FIistoire de la Guerre Civile Americaine"
(written in conjunction with F. de Tranal-
tos), "Les Trois Epoques du Catholicisme,"
"Voyage au Pays des Osages" and "La
France et la Republique." He married Suson,
one of the daughters of Auguste P. Chouteau,
and died in New York, March 28. 1881, aged
seventy-three years. Five of his grandchil-
dren, John F., Philip A., Emily, Louis R. and
Marie L. McDermott are living in St Louis —
io99- Alexander N. De Menil.
Cosby. — A village, on the Chicago, Bur-
lington & Quincy Railroad, in Andrew
County, and an important shipping point
for grain and live stock. Near by, on the
Platte River, is a large flouring mill. There
are in the place a lodge of Odd Fellows and
a Grand Army of the Republic post. Popula-
tion, about 200.
Cosgrove, John, lawyer and member
of Congress, was born in Jefiferson County,
New York, September 12, 1839. He received
a good education, studied law at Watertown,
New York, and after practicing for a time
in his native State, came to Missouri and
located at Boonville, where he pursued the
practice of his profession. In 1872 he was
elected prosecuting attorney of Cooper
County, and served also as city attorney of
Boonville for four years. In 1882 he was
elected to the Forty-eighth Congress as a
Democrat.
Cosmopolitans.— A society which orig-
inated in New England, and whose objects
were semi-religious, embracing an investi-
gation of spiritualism. On May 7, 1882, City
Lodge, No. I, of the Cosmopolitans was es-
tablished in St. Louis, but after an existence
of a few years its membership was absorbed
by other organizations.
Cote Sans Dessein. — One of the early
French settlements on the Missouri River,
west of St. Charles. It stood on the north
bank of the river, two miles below the mouth
of the Osage, in what is now Callaway
County. It took its name, which means
"Hill without design," from an irregular
limestone cliflf, standing alone in the alluvial
bottom. The place was settled in 1808, and
four years later the blockhouse built for
the defense was gallantly held against an In-
dian attack by a French hunter, Baptiste
Louis Roy, and two other men, efficiently as-
sisted by Roy's wife and the wife of one of
the other men. In the protracted fight one
of the men and fourteen Indians were
killed.
Cottey College.' — A school for the
higher education of girls, at Nevada.
It is conducted by private parties, under the
advisory direction of a board appointed by
the Southwest Missouri Annual Conference
of the Methodist Church, South. The colle-
giate department affords courses leading to
the degrees of master of arts, bachelor of
science, and bachelor of letters. Music, elo-
cution, painting and drawing are specially
taught. In 1900 there were 10 teachers and
160 pupils in attendance, of whom 80 were
boarding pupils. The school was established
in 1884, by the Misses Cottey, of Knox
County, Missouri, who erected the building,
the citizens of Nevada donating the grounds.
It was first known as Vernon Seminary.
Additions were afterward made, and the edi-
fice now consists of a central three-story por-
tion, with two-story wings, high basements
underlying the whole. The cost aggregated
about $30,000.
Cotton Belt Route. — See "St. Louis
Southwestern Railroad."
COTTON EXCHANGE, ST. LOUIS— COTTONWOOD POINT.
143
Cotton Exchange, St. Louis. — A
number of merchants handling cotton met
informally in the ofiEce of Theodore G. Meier,
and after some consultation decided to call
a formal meeting in the directors' room of
the old Merchants' Exchange Building, on
Main Street, between Market and Walnut,
October 17, 1873. This meeting was held
and resulted in the organization of the St.
Louis Cotton Association, with Theodore G.
Meier for president, William M. Senter for
vice president, Myron Coloney for secretary,
and WilHam P. Shryock, Henry Drucker,
Miles Sells, S. A. Bemis, Harlow J. Phelps,
D. W. Marmaduke and John T. Watson for
directors. The association thus brought into
existence numbered eighty-one members,
paying an initiation fee of $5 and an annual
assessment of $20 each. Subsequently —
August, 1874 — it was incorporated, having
already conspicuously challenged the atten-
tion of Southern planters and merchants by
offering $11,000 in cotton premiums for that
year, an offer which was repeated year after
year till 1881. In 1874 it dropped its original
name, and was incorporated as the St. Louis
Cotton Exchange, and next year it removed
from the room fronting on Main Street, on
the third floor of the building adjoining the
Merchants' Exchange, to new quarters at
the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets.
In 1880 the membership had increased to 300,
the membership fee having been successively
raised, first to $250, then to $500, and last
to $1,000. As the business results that had
followed the establishment of the Cotton
Exchange had amply vindicated the wisdom
of it, and the institution was now recognized
as one of the most important permanent
business organizations of the city, it was
decided that it was entitled to be housed
in a special building. Accordingly, in No-
vember, 1879, a committee composed of D.
P. Rowland, W. M. Senter, J. L. Sloss and
William L. Black was appointed to choose
a suitable location. The site recommended
and selected was the southwest corner of
Main and Walnut Streets, and a company
called the Cotton Exchange Building Com-
pany was formed to erect a suitable edifice.
The result of its labors was the building
of the spacious, attractive and substantial
Cotton Exchange, now occupying the chosen
site, which was dedicated and opened for
business May 14, 1882. The ceremonies of
the dedication were of a very pleasant char-
acter, consisting in addresses by officers and
ex-ofificers of the Exchange, ex-Governor
Hubbard, of Texas; ex-Governor Stanard,
of Missouri, followed by the presentation of
a silver service to A'ice President William L.
Black, who had been conspicuous in setting
on foot the enterprise and pushing it for-
ward to a consummation. The object of the
Exchange, as stated in its constitution, is to
"provide suitable accommodation for the
meeting of its members, to establish uniform
usages, rules and regulations for the cotton
trade in the city of St. Louis ; to adopt
standards of classification ; to acquire, pre-
serve and disseminate useful information
connected with the cotton interests through-
out all markets, and generally to promote the
cotton trade in the city of St. Louis." That
it has done much in this direction, and par-
ticularly to promote the cotton trade of St.
Louis, the statistics strikingly exhibit. As
early as the year 1870 cotton began to find
its way to St. Louis, shipped to Chris. Peper,
who was engaged in the leaf tobacco trade,
but received occasionally a consignment <A
cotton. These occasional receipts seemed to
indicate a disposition on the part of the
planters to ship their crops to St. Louis if
only a market could be established for it,
and the history of the trade has borne out
this indication. In the cotton year ending
August 31, 1872, the total receipts of cotton
in St. Louis were 36,421 bales, of which 16,-
706 bales were for sale in the St. Louis
market. The next year the total receipts
were 59,709 bales — 34,215 bales for sale in
St. Louis and 25,494 bales going through.
In the year ending August 31, 1874, the total
receipts were 103,741 bales — 79,418 bales be-
ing sold in St. Louis and 24,323 bales going
through to other markets. In the year end-
ing August 31, 1875, the total receipts were
133,969 bales — 94,290 bales being sold in St.
Louis and 39,679 bales going through. The
receipts continued steadily to increase year
by year, reaching in 1879-80 as high as 496,-
570 bales, of which number 324,284 bales
were handled and sold in St. Louis. In the
year 1899-1900 the receipts were 802,769
bales, of which 154,074 bales were sold in St.
Louis.
Cottonwood Point.— A village, on the
Mississippi River, in Pemiscot County,
144
COUNCIL GROVES— COUNTIES.
eighteen miles south of Gayoso. It has a
church, school, two sawmills, a cotton gin and
a hotel. Population (estimated), 1899, 300.
Council Groves. — The Goodfellow
farm of 1,500 acres, lying on the Natural
Bridge Road, in the northwestern part of
what is now the city of St. Louis, and which
was purchased from Governor William
Clark, became known as Council Groves on
account of Governor Clark having had nu-
merous conferences with the Indians there.
It was a favorite camping ground for Indians
during their migrations. When plowing on
the farm in after years many Indian relics,
especially arrow heads, were turned up from
the ground.
Council of JcAvish Women. — The
special Council of Jewish Women at the
Columbian Exposition of 1893 proved of
such exceeding value and interest that a per-
manent organization was formed then and
there. A National Council, with headquar-
ters at Chicago, and auxiliary societies all
over the country, was the result, culminating
in a National Congress, held in New York
City, November 15, 1896, whose brilliancy
attracted wide attention. Delegates from
Canada were admitted to the Congress, and
the word "National" was consequently
dropped, as the Council had in that brief
time overspread that limit.
The St. Louis Section of the Council ol
Jewish Women was organized in the fall of
1895, with the following officers : Mrs. Henry
L. Wolfner, president; Bertha Sale, vice
president; Rachel Baer, secretary; Mrs.
Louis Straus, treasurer. Afternoon meet-
ings were held monthly at the homes of the
members from October till May. An even-
ing meeting, in which gentlemen participate,
is occasionally substituted. The object of
the Council is three-fold — religious, philan-
thropic and literary. Among the subjects of
essays, followed by open discussion, during
the year 1896-7 were the following: "Baron
Hirsch; His Charities, a Success or Fail-
ure? (a) Colonization, (b) Educational Meth-
ods;" "What Are the St. Louis Jews
Doing for Their Poor?" which was answered
by reports from seven of the Jewish char-
itable associations; "Has the Contribution
of the Jews to the World's Litera-
ture and Music Been of. Potent Influ-
ence?" and "The Bible as a factor in
Education." Choice selections of music, vo-
cal and instrumental, begin and end each ses-
sion, and the open evening meetings are
largely musical. Studies of the Bible and
of the leading lights of Jewish history
formed the programme of the year 1897-8,
a feature of great interest being a course of
lectures on the Book of Job by Rabbi Samuel
Sale. The work for this year was greatly
extended by means of neighborhood circles
throughout the city, numbering about fifteen
members each and following the same lines
of study. The philanthropic work of the
Council lies in co-operation with the numer-
ous Jewish charitable societies, assisting them
with personal work and contributions.
Martha S- Kayser-
Counties. — The counties are the chief
subdivisions of the State. In 1804, after the
cession of the Territory of Louisiana to the
United States, four districts were organized in
it — Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis
and St. Charles — and this arrangement con-
tinued until, in 1812, Missouri Territory was
defined, organized and divided into five
counties — St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Gene-
vieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid.
Four years later Howard, Cooper and Boone
Counties were organized, and gradually
these original counties were subdivided until
114 counties were constituted in Missouri.
Each county has its own local government,
or rather administration, the chief organ of
which is the county court, whose functions
are mainly administrative and supervisory,
relating to the care of roads and bridges, the
support of paupers and insane persons, the
levying of county taxes, the apportionment
and management of county revenues, the
allowing of claims against the county, the
borrowing of money, issue of county bonds,
the establishment of voting places, the ap-
pointment of judges and clerks of elections,
and a supervision over the courthouse and
jail and other county property, and over some
of the county officers. The county court is
composed of three judges, one of whom, called
the presiding judge, is chosen for the whole
county, and the others by districts. All are
elected by the people, the presiding judge
holding for a term of four years and the oth-
ers for two years.
There is in every county a county seat.
COUNTY AND TOWNSHIP DEBTS.
145
where are located the courthouse and the
jail, the courthouse being an edifice in which
the various county offices are kept, and the
various courts are held, and all the county
records are preserved.
The county officers are the county clerk,
sheriff, collector, treasurer, assessor, prose-
cuting attorney, recorder of deeds, surveyor,
public administrator and coroner, all chosen
by the people.
County and Township Debts. — For
a period of fifteen years, from 1875 to 1890,
the county and township debts in Missouri
were the cause of immeasurable trouble.
The close of the Civil War found the State
with a system of railroads in a half finished
and impaired condition, large agricultural dis-
tricts on the western border deserted, indus-
tries disorganized and many persons who had
forsaken their farms, collected in the towns
and cities. There was a pressing need for all
kinds of improvements, and for energetic
efforts to reclaim for the State the ad-
vantages it had been deprived of during the
strife — and the need of railroads was urgent
above all other demands. The high prices
ot farm products of all kinds and of farm and
wild lands stimulated the agricultural interest
and intensified the desire for railroads to
carry the crops to market. It is not strange,
under this condition of things, and when run-
ning in debt was the general habit over the
country, that the people of many counties in
the State should have followed the fashion
and contracted obligations which weighed
upon them like an incubus for twenty years
afterward. Nearly all these debts were in-
curred' in aid of railroads; and township
bonds, as well as county bonds, were issued
bearing interest at the rate of 10 per cent, to
promote these enterprises, and secure access
to market for the farm products of the State.
In many cases these bonds were issued in
compliance with the plain wishes of the peo-
ple; in other cases they were issued without
consulting the taxpayers, by county judges
elected by a minority over the disfranchised
people. In not a few cases not a mile of the
railroad for which the bonds were issued
was ever built in the county ; and in several
cases the bonds were fraudulently issued. In
addition to these county and township obli-
gations incurred in aid of railroads, many
towns contracted obligations for local im-
Vol. 11—10
provements, and schoob districts borrowed
money to build costly schoolhouses — and in
1878 the county, township, town, city and
school district debts in Missouri made an
aggregate of over $50,000,000. The interest
at 10 per cent began to be irksome and op-
pressive, and in some counties the people,
after paying a few years, refused to pav any
longer, while in others, where the obligation
had been contracted fraudulently, or where
there had been no compliance with the con-
tract by the railroad company, payment was
refused from the beginning. Protracted liti-
gation, harassing and costly, followed, and
the condition of things in some counties was
scarcely more tolerable than that which pre-
vailed during the Civil War. The bonds were
chiefly owned by non-residents, and the suits
for the defaulting interest were brought in
the United States courts, which held that the
bonds, when held by innocent parties, were
binding. The people then resorted to extra
legal measures of resistance. When judg-
ments were obtained for interest, the county
courts, in obedience to the popular demand,
refused to levy a tax to pay such judgments
with. Some judges were arrested and
brought before the United States courts to
answer for contempt ; others resigned and
thus permitted the election of successors who
had to be served with process anew; a few
were imprisoned, but, notwithstanding all,
resolutely refused to levy a tax for meeting
the judgments of the court. The General
Assembly came to the help of the people of
the counties and passed laws, requiring the
moneys in the county treasury to be divided
into separate funds, and forbidding the
money in one fund to be used for any other
purposes than those of that fund, the object
being to prevent the county judges, under
order from the United States court, from
using the general revenue of the county to
pay judgments with. This protracted and
harassing strife was injurious to both sides;
the bondholders met with repeated delays
in securing payment of their claims, and fre-
quently did not receive it at all, while the
cost of the litigation fell heavily on the coun-
ties ; and the result was that at last, most
of the debts were compromised and reduced
in amount and in the rate of interest, new
bonds being given on the surrender of the
old ones. These compromises were effected
between the years 1887 and 1890, and the
146
COUNTY COURT— COUNTY REVENUE.
counties and townships have paid the inter-
est on the compromise bonds promptly ever
since. On the ist of July, 1898, the bonded
indebtedness of counties in Alissouri was
$7,379,307, and the bonded debt of townships
was $2,151,200 — making a total of $9,530,507
— which showed a reduction of $777,595 si.ice
July I, 1896. Seventy-six counties had no
bonded debt; thirty-eight counties had only
county indebtedness, and no township obliga-
tions ; ten counties had township indebted-
ness only, and eight counties had both county
and township indebtedness. The State Con-
stitution is very explicit and peremptory on
the subject of contracting debt by counties,
cities, towns, townships and school districts.
It permits the levying of as great a tax as
may be necessary to meet the interest, and
gradually extinguish the principal of exist-
ing debts of these subdivisions; but it takes
pains to prohibit the contracting of future
indebtedness, except under conditions of
pressing necessity, and when such necessary'
indebtedness is contracted, to require stern
measures for meeting and paying it. No
county, city, town, township, school district,
or other political corporation or subdivision
of the State can contract a debt of any kind
for any purpose greater than its annual in-
come, without a two-thirds vote of the peo-
ple; nor even in that case, can a debt be in-
curred which, with existing indebtedness,
shall exceed 5 per cent on the taxable prop-
erty — except to build a courthouse or jail;
and in the event of the contracting of a debt,
with the approval of a two-thirds vote of the
people, provision must be made for collecting
an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest,
and constitute a sinking fund for the pay-
ment of the principal within twenty years.
Under these prohibitions, contained in the
Constitution of 1875, there has been no in-
curring of local indebtedness in Missouri,
except in a few special cases, since then, and
a gradual reduction of local debts in the
State has been going on, and all of them are
in process of extinguishment.
Comity Covirt.— The county is a terri-
torial division unknown to the French and
Spanish, and therefore during the French and
Spanish possession of the vast Territory of
Louisiana, embracing pretty nearly every-
thing west of the Mississippi from the Gulf
of Mexico to the British possessions, from
1764 to 1804, we do not encounter the word.
That portion of this territory now known
as Missouri was divided into five districts,
named after the settlements that served as
their official and social centers — St. Louis,.
St. Charles, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau
and New Madrid. The division lines between
them, though vaguely indicated, defined the
lirnits of their jurisdiction clearly enough for
all practical purposes at a time when a mile,
or even ten miles, of width was not thought
to be worth disputing about; and as to the
back extension from the river, it had practi-
cally no limit. But when this domain passed
under the American flag and the people of
Missouri became citizens of the United States-
the name of county came into use; the five
districts were made counties and began at
once to take on their familiar, homely, Anglo-
Saxon arrangement through which wills are
probated, estates administered, property as-
sessed, taxes levied, collected and disbursed,
roads laid out and maintained, bridges built,
licenses granted, and other matters of local
concern adjusted. A court called the Court
of Quarter Sessions (which see) was organ-
ized in each of the five counties, and this
institution was succeeded by the county court,
having similar functions.
County Foreign Insurance Tax
Fund. — The moneys in the fund consist of
one-half the proceeds of the annual tax of
2 per cent on the gross premiums collected
in Missouri by insurance companies not or-
ganized under the laws of this State. These
moneys are apportioned and distributed to
the several counties by the State auditor, on
the 1st of October every year, on the basis
of the number of school children. The re-
ceipts into the fund in 1897 were $109,659,
and in 1898, $116,776.
County Kevenue. — The revenue of
the counties in Missouri is derived from the
same sources as that of the State — a prop-
erty tax on all property, real and personal ;
license taxes on dramshops, and one-half the
proceeds of the annual tax of 2 per cent on
the gross amount of premiums collected in
Missouri by insurance companies not organ-
ized under the laws of Missouri ; and the same
officers assess and collect the State and
county taxes, and at the same time. The
counties have each their own property tax
COUNTY SEAT— COURT OF APPEALS, ST. LOUIS.
147
rate, which is fixed by the county court. The
State Constitution provides that in counties
whose taxable valuation is $6,000,000, or less,
the tax rate for county purposes shall not ex-
ceed fifty cents on the $100; in counties hav-
ing $6,000,000 and under $10,000,000, the
rate shall not exceed forty cents; in counties
having $10,000,000 and under $30,000,000,
the rate shall not exceed fifty cents, and in
counties having $30,000,000 or more, the rate
shall not exceed thirty-five cents. But in
addition to these rates for county purposes,
such special rate may be levied for interest
and other charges on the county debt as
may be necessary. In the year 1898 the
total county taxes charged against real and
personal property were $9,515,841. The total
county and municipal taxes charged against
railroads, bridges and telegraphs were $1,-
335,872. The total county, school and other
taxes charged against merchants and manu-
facturers were $861,244. The total taxes for
county purposes from foreign insurance com-
panies were $1 16,776. The total county taxes
collected from dramshops were $1,703,817.
County Seat.— The town or city in a
county where the courthouse and jail are
located, where the county court holds its ses-
sions, and where the county offices are estab-
lished. The county seat cannot be removed
without a two-thirds vote in favor of it.
Courthouse. — Every county has a
courthouse, and only one — a spacious and
sometimes imposing building at the county
seat, in which the county offices are usually
located, the several courts hold their sittings,
and the county records are kept. It is under
the control of the county court.
Court of Appeals, St. Louis. — The
docket of the Supreme Court at the time of
the convening of the Constitutional Conven-
tion of 1875 had become so crowded with cases
from the city of St. Louis that in many in-
stances years elapsed before a final decision.
To remedy this evil the St. Louis Bar Asso-
ciation submitted to the convention a scheme
for the establishment of a separate Appellate
Court for St. Louis County, which at that
time included the city of St. Louis. This
scheme was somewhat modified in the con-
vention, but its main features were adopted in
committee by a vote of 47 to 5. The terri-
torial jurisdiction of the new court was ex-
tended to the city of St. Louis, county of St.
Louis, and the counties of St. Charles, Lin-
coln and Warren. The court was given
superintending control over the lower courts
of record and power to issue, hear and de-
termine writs of certiorari, habeas corpus,
maivdamus, quo zvarranto and other remedial
writs, and appellate jurisdiction over the
courts of record within the territory named
above. This jurisdicton was final, except in
cases where the amount exceeds $2,500,
which involve the construction of the Con-
stitution of the State or of the United States,
the validity of a treaty or statute of the
United States, the revenue laws, title to a
State office, title to real estate, or where a
political subdivision of the State or a State
officer is a party, and all cases of felony.
In these cases a further appeal lay to the
Supreme Court. The court was to be com-
posed of three judges, to be appointed by the
Governor, whose terms should expire on Jan-
uary I, 1877. At the November election,
1876, three judges were to be elected to take
the place of those nominated by the Gov-
ernor, and these judges, when elected, were
to draw lots for a four, eight and twelve-year
term, after which the term of judge was to
be twelve years. The new Constitution hav-
ing been adopted. Governor Hardin ap-
pointed as the first judges of the new court
Thomas Tasker Gantt and Robert A. Bake-
well, of the St. Louis bar, and Edward A.
Lewis, of the bar of St. Charles County. At
the November election. of 1876 the judges
elected were Edward A. Lewis, Robert A.
Bakewell and Charles S. Hayden, who drew,
respectively, in the order named the twelve,
eight and four-year terms. At the Novem-
ber election in 1880 Seymour D. Thompson
was elected in the place of Judge Hayden,
and at the election of 1884 Roderick E. Rom-
bauer was elected in the place of Judge Bake-
well. An amendment to the Constitution
was adopted at the November election, 1884,
by which the territorial jurisdiction of the
St. Louis Court of Appeals was extended so
as to include about one-half of the State, and
the Supreme Court was given exclusive ap-
pellate jurisdiction of those cases in which
an appeal formerly lay from the Court of
Appeals. On the ist of March, 1888, Judge
Lewis resigned, and Charles E. Peers, a dis-
tinguished member of the Warren County
148
COURT OF APPEALS, ST. LOUIS.
bar — now State Senator — qualified as his suc-
cessor on March 12, 1888, under appointment
by the Governor. On January 7, 1889, Wil-
liam H. Biggs, of Pike County, succeeded
Judge Peers. In January, 1893, Henry \V.
Bond, of St. Louis, succeeded Judge Thomp-
son, and in January, 1897, Judge Rombauer
was succeeded by Charles C. Bland, of Rolla.
During the first nine years of its existence
the St. Louis Court of Appeals disposed of
3,219 cases, and up to April, 1897, the num-
ber of cases disposed of since the organiza-
tion of the court was over 6,800. The court
has always kept fully up with its docket, and
the amount of work done by the judges is,
we believe, unparalleled in the history of Ap-
pellate Courts. The court has always sus-
tained a high reputation, which is due not
only to the character of its judges, but also
to the learning and industry of the bar.
Even during the period when an appeal lay
to the Supreme Court in the most important
cases, those cases were briefed and argued
before the Court of Appeals with as much
care and diligence as if its decision were final.
Judge Gantt died on June 17, 1889, and
Judge Lewis on August 26, 1889. Of Judge
Gantt it may be said with truth that he was
one of the ablest lawyers and one of the most
remarkable men connected with the history of
the State. He was born in Georgetown on
July 22, 1814, of distinguished Maryland an-
cestry. His maternal grandfather was an
officer of the Revolution and Secretary of the
Navy under John Adams. From George-
town College Mr. Gantt went to West Point
as a boy of 17; but during his second year he
was crippled by a fall from his horse. From
this injury a slight lameness remained to the
last. He stood very high in his class when
he left it to read law with Governor Pratt of
Maryland. Upon his admission to the bar
he came at once to St. Louis in 1839. He
was in partnership with Montgomery Blair
until 1844, when he was appointed United
States District Attorney by Mr. Polk. In
1853 he was city counselor. During the
early part of the war he received a commis-
sion as colonel in the United States Army,
and served on General IMcClellan's staff until
the campaign ended in July, 1862. He was
afterward provost marshal of Missouri, and
then presiding judge of the St. Louis Court
of Appeals. Judge Gantt was the contem-
porary of Glover, Gamble, Geyer, Bates,
Spaulding and other distinguished Alissouri
lawyers whose names are respected through-
out the country and who largely framed the
jurisprudence of the State. As a lawyer he
was inferior to none of them. As a man he
was austere, honorable, chivalrous. He was
a warm friend, and, whilst not a bitter enemy,
he was one whose opposition was formidable.
Few exceeded him in public spirit. During
the dreadful visitation of cholera, in 1849,
when many public officials deserted their
posts, Mr. Gantt organized a board of health
and was indefatigable in his efforts for the
health of the city and the relief of the suf-
ferers, voluntarily exposing his life to^ aid
others. Nor was his conduct less conspicu-
ously disinterested and courageous during
the dreadful election riots of 1855. He was
a man of general reading and of classical
taste, a good French scholar, and with a good
reading knowledge of Latin. He was familiar
with the best Latin writers, of whom his fav-
orites were Horace, Juvenal and Tacitus. In
short, he was brave, magnanimous, high-
minded, zealous for right and contemptuous
of wrongdoing; a scholar of liberal reading
and of liberal mind ; a sound lawyer and an
honest man ; and it was justly felt that his
appointment was a good omen for the new
court. In politics he was a Democrat, drawn
by his friendship for the Blairs to the Free-
Soil wing of the party. He was an uncondi-
tional Union man, but never an Abolitionist.
His sympathies would naturally incline him
to the South, but his devotion to the Union
was hereditary and controlling.
Judge Lewis was what is called a self-made
man. He was descended from Lund Wash-
ington on his mother's side. He was left an
orphan at an early age. He had no school
education after the age of twelve. His youth
was spent in a printing office in Washington.
He became a clerk in the general land office
and then in the circuit clerk's office of
Yazoo County, Mississippi, where he prac-
ticed law until he removed, in 1845, to Ray
County, Missouri, where he was public ad-
ministrator for a time. He was afterward
associated with Joseph B. Crockett in the "St.
Louis Intelligencer." In 1854 he returned to
practice as an attorney in St. Charles County.
He was at various times a presidential elector,
and was a Breckinridge elector in i860. In
1874 he was appointed by Governor Wood-
son to fill a brief unexpired term in the Su-
COURT OF APPEALS, ST. LOUIS.
149
preme Court. Judge Lewis was considered
a sound lawyer. Few were better acquainted
with the now somewhat obsolete learning
concerning the old land titles in Missouri.
His reading lay chiefly in the way of his pro-
fession. His health failed during the second
year of his term on the bench of the Court of
Appeals, and he became subject to a disease
from which he suffered constant and often
the most excruciating pain, which he bore
with wonderful courage. Notwithstanding
his ill health, the exigencies of his position as
a member of a very hard-working court were
such that he probably gave to his offidal
duties as much time and care as is usual
amongst the most industrious judges. At
last his hearing failed completely and his
resignation became a necessity. He accepted
the office of reporter of the court, which he
held at the time of his death.
Judge Bakewell is the only surviving mem-
ber of the court as at first constituted. He
has reached his three-score years and ten, and
leads a somewhat retired life. Before his ju-
dicial appointment he had been for more than
twenty years in active practice in St. Louis,
at first with Mr. P. Bauduy Garesche, and
then with Mr. E. T. Parish. He was in the
graduating class at the Western University
of Pennsylvania, when the fire at Pittsburg,
in May, 1845, destroyed the college and half
the town. From there he went to the Gen-
eral Theological Seminary of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in New York, where he
went through the three years' course, being
intended for the ministry of that church, of
which his father was a minister. He was,
however, swept into the Catholic Church in
1848 6y the wave of Newmanism which
passed over the seminary. He was then,
after a brief experience as professor of Greek
and Latin in a newly established college at
Rochester, New York, connected with jour-
nalism in Pittsburg and St. Louis until he
began the practice of law in 1855.
Judge Hayden was from Boston. He prac-
ticed law in St. Louis with success and dis-
tinction, in partnership with Mr. Rankin, a
very distinguished St. Louis lawyer, from
1856 up to the date of his election to the
bench. His standing at the bar was high.
He is a man of solid parts and excellent edu-
cation ; a master of terse, clean-cut English, a
good scholar, well read, not only in the liter-
ature of his profession, but in general liter-
ature. He has an eminently legal mind, and
his opinions are models of judicial exposition.
He has retired from the active duties of his
profession on a well-earned competency, and
divides his time between his plantation in
Florida and the home of his youth, with occa-
sional visits to the scene of his honorable
professional career.
Judge Thompson is well known as an emi-
nent legal writer. He is the author of many
text-books, which stand high with the pro-
fession, and has been editor of legal periodi-
cals of the highest character. He was asso-
ciated with Judge Dillon, then of the United
States court, in editing the "Central Law
Journal," of which Mr. Thompson was the
editor at the time of his election to the judge-
ship. On leaving the bench he entered into
partnership with Mr. Nathan Frank, and is
engaged in an active and lucrative practice in
St. Louis. He is a man of almost incredible
industry and application, a ready, elegant and
forcible writer, of extensive reading and most
tenacious memory. He left the bench with
the respect of the profession and to their
regret.
Judge Rombauer was born in Hungary.
He came to this country as a boy, with his
father, in consequence of the political troubles
in Europe in 1848. His legal education was
acquired at Harvard. He was admitted to
the bar in Massachusetts in 1858, and at once
removed to St. Louis. In 1865 he was elected
judge of the Law Commissioner's Court. He
was appointed to the circuit bench of St.
Louis in 1867, and elected to the same posi-
tion in 1868. As a judge, and as a practical
attorney, his reputation is excellent. He is
devoted to his profession. It was generally
felt that his retirement from the bench of the
Court of Appeals was a loss to the court and
to the conununity. He has an eminently- legal
and judicial mind, and, considered simply as a
sound, acute and well read lawyer, few, if any,
members of the profession in Missouri stand
higher than he does. He is also a man of
high moral courage, and of great purity of
character in public and private life.
Judge Biggs is a Alissourian by birth, edu-
cated at La Grange College. He left Pike
County in 1861 to enter the Confederate
Army. At the close of the war he returned
to Missouri and read law at Canton. He was
admitted to practice in 1869, at Bowling
Green. He removed to Louisiana, Missouri,
150
COURT OF QUARTER SESSIONS.
in 1873, and was in active practice when
elected to the Court of Appeals.
Judge Bond was born in Haywood County,
Tennessee, in 1848. After the war he prac-
ticed law in St. Louis for several years, in
partnership with the late Judge Lindley.
Judge Bland was, for some years before his
election to the Court of Appeals, judge of the
Circuit Court of Phelps County. His family
is honorably known throughout the State ; a
distinguished member of it, who for many
years represented his district in Congress,
was prominently before the Chicago Conven-
tion of 1896 as a candidate for the presi-
dency, but was defeated, contrary to a very
general expectation, by the stampede for Mr.
Bryan. ^ Robert A. Bakewei,l.
Court of Quarter Sessions. — The
first court established in St. Louis after it be-
came a part of the domain of the United
States. It was authorized by act of Congress
of March 26, 1804, which empowered the
Governor and judges of Indiana Territory to
organize such courts in the Louisiana Ter-
ritory as it might need, and under this act the
Governor and judges of Indiana Territory
established a court of common pleas in each
of the five districts of Missouri, the one for
the St. Louis District being directed to hold
four terms a year — on the third Tuesdays in
March, June, September and December; and
from this it derived its name. The first judges
appointed were Charles Gratiot, presiding
justice, and Auguste Chouteau, Jacques Gla-
morgan, David Delaunay and James Mackay,
associates. The court held its first term in
December, 1804, in the tavern of Emilien
Yosti. It not only performed such adminis-
trative functions pertaining to taxes, roads,
ferries, licenses, etc., as were afterward given
to county courts, but it was authorized also
to exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction in
small cases. Three years later the Governor
of theTerritory was authorized to appoint the
judges of the court, and its jurisdiction was
more strictly defined; but it continued to per-
form administrative functions until the year
181 2, when the Territory of Missouri was or-
ganized and divided into counties. A county
court was established, to have charge of the
county administration, a new court of com-
mon pleas was organized, and the court of
quarter sessions passed out of existence.
Courts and Laws of Missouri, First
Established. — During the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries the territory of
which Jackson County is a part was claimed
by England, France and Spain. The second
charter of Virginia (May 23, 1609; 7th James
I) granted the land from 34 degrees to 40
degrees north latitude from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, to the colony of Virginia. On
the 9th of April, 1682, in the name of
France, its king took possession of the mouth
of the Mississippi River, by which act the
French government claimed all the lands in
the watershed of the Mississippi River and
its tributaries. It was called Louisiana, in
honor of Louis XIV. On November 2,
1762, France ceded the territory west of the
Mississippi to Spain. Count Don Bellerive
Alexandro O'Reilly took formal possession
of Upper Louisiana for Spain, August 18,
1769. He established the laws of Spain for
the government of the province, and the use
of the Spanish tongue in the courts. He
came to St. Louis and located there in 1769.
During our first war with England, Don
Bernardo de Galvez was Spanish Governor.
His administration was beneficent. In the
main, wise laws were passed, and the mouth
of the Mississippi was kept open for the use
of all parts of the country tributary to that
river. By the definite treaty of Ildefonso,
October i, 1800, the territory was retroceded
to France, and France sold the same to the
L'nited States, April 30, 1803. Congress
authorized President Jefferson, by act dated
October 31, 1803, to take possession. On
December 20, 1803, formal possession was
delivered at New Orleans, and at St. Louis
on March 10, 1804. The French simply
transferred the territory from Spain to the
L'nited States. Thus 1,160,577 square miles
passed from Latin to Anglo-Saxon domina-
tion. On the 26th of March, 1804, Congress
divided the territory into two governments,
the "Territory of Orleans," and the "District
of Louisiana," the latter containing 1,122,975
square miles, and represented all that pur-
chase lying north of 33 degrees north lati-
tude. The same act attached the District of
Louisiana to Indiana Territory for govern-
mental purposes, and empowered the Gov
ernor and judges of the same to establish
inferior courts, prescribe their jurisdiction
and duties, and make all needed laws.
COURTS AND LAWS OF MISSOURI, FIRST ESTABLISHED.
151
The judges of Indiana Territory were to
hold two courts in the district annually.
William Henry Harrison was Territorial Gov-
ernor at that time, and came to St. Louis in
May to ascertain the needs of the people.
At Vincennes, Indiana, the Governor and
judges enacted the first laws for the District
of Louisiana. Among these laws were im-
prisonment for debt, the pillory, the whip-
ping post, the sale of debtors, and stringent
laws about slaves.
When we recall the earnest discussion
which had long preceded this date as to the
importance of maintaining a distinct division
between the legislative, judicial and executive
branches of the government, it naturally oc-
casioned some surprise that the chief exec-
utive and judicial officers of IndianaTerritory
should be authorized to enact a system of
laws for this vast domain which they would
be called upon to execute and construe.
This, however, if I recall rightly, was
previously done in another instance. On
July 4, 1805, the District of Louisiana became
the Territory of Louisiana, and provision was
made for organizing a local government. The
Governor and three judges were constituted
the law-making power.
The laws promulgated by General Harri-
son and the judges were few in number.
Some of them were plain and simple. With
respect to others and the penalties they in-
flicted, much difficulty- could be found in con-
struing them. They illustrate, as all laws
do, perhaps better than anything else, the
sentiment of society at the times of their
enactment as to certain offenses and social
conditions. It may be of interest to note
some of them. They are contained in about
fifty-five pages of an ordinary law book. They
provided that any person who should aid or
assist in burning, or causing to be burned,
any dwelling house, storehouse, barn, stable
or other building adjoining thereto, should,
upon conviction, suffer death and forfeit as
much of his estate, real and personal, as
should be sufficient to satisfy the party in-
jured his full damages.
They next provided that if any person
should be guilty of burglary of any dwelling
house or store, in the night season, with a
view of purloining property therefrom, the
party should be fined in a sum not exceed-
ing $100, at the discretion of the court before
which the trial should be had, and the pris-
oner should be compelled to find sureties for
good behavior not exceeding one year, and
in default should be committed to jail for a
term not exceeding one year. The law did
not provide the amount of security he should
furnish. .
The same enactment further provided that
if the burglar should succeed in purloining
any property, he should be fined in triple the
value of the articles stolen, one-third of the
amount to go to the district in which the
trial should be had and the other two-thirds
to the party injured.
But if any person, while burglarizing any
house or store, should take property there-
from, and at the same time be armed with
any dangerous weapon, his offense was pun-
ishable by death.
If any person committed robbery in the
field or highway, he was punishable with a
fine not to exceed $100. He was required to
give bond for good behavior for a term not
exceeding one year and fined in triple the
value of the property taken ; but if in commit-
ting robbery he should be armed with any
dangerous weapon so as to clearly indicate an
intention of violence, the punishment inflicted
was death, and his estate should pay forfeit to
the party injured "his full damages."
If three or more persons should assemble
together with the intention of doing any
"unlawful act" against the peace and to the
terror of the people, and make any move-
ment or preparations, the parties so offending
became liable and were required to furnish
sureties for their good behavior respectively
for the space of six months. When thus un-
lawfully assembled it became the duty "of all
judges, justices of the peace, sheriffs and all
ministerial officers immediately, upon actual
view," or as soon as may be upon information,
to make proclamation in the hearing of such
offenders, if silence can be obtained, com-
manding them in the name of the United
States, to disperse and depart to their several
homes or lawful employments.
If any person should take satisfaction for
goods stolen he became liable to a fine
for twice the value of the property
received, but he was not debarred from
doing so provided he prosecuted the
thief. It was further provided that the
law should not be so construed as to
oblige a parent to prosecute a child being an
infant or in a state of minority.
152
COURTS AND LAWS OF MISSOURI, FIRST ESTABLISHED.
There was another enactment to the effect
that if any person committed a forgery of a
bond, bill, deed, will, gift or grant, or falsify
any enrollment or record with intent to de-
fraud any person, he should be fined in double
the sum he may have defrauded, and he
thereupon became incapable of giving testi-
mony, being a juror, or sustaining any office
of trust, and it was further required that he
should be set in a pillory for a space not
exceeding three hours.
Fraudulent conveyances were declared to
be void, and the party offending became lia-
ble to a fine not exceeding $300 and to pay
double damages to the party injured.
Justice courts were established "for the
trial of small cases." The justices were re-
quired to keep a book to be styled a docket,
"in which he shall make fair entries of the
names of the parties to every suit instituted
before him, distinguishing between the plain-
tiff and the defendant," and if any justice
should institute or sustain two or more ac-
tions between the same parties for demands
which by the rules of law might be consoli-
dated in one action, such justices became
liable to a penalty of $18, to be recovered for
the use and benefit of the person who should
first sue him.
The laws so enacted by the Governor and
the judges relating to slaves were in some
of their features very harsh and capable of
much injustice. No negro or mulatto was
allowed to be a witness, excepting in pleas
of the United States against them, or in civil
actions in which they alone were parties. If
a slave went from the tenement of his mas-
ter without pass or some letter or other token
from his master or overseer, it became lawful
for any person to apprehend him and carry
him before a justice of the peace to be ])un-
ished with stripes, or not, in his discretion.
If he came upon the plantation of any per-
son without leave in writing from his owner
or overseer, it became lawful for the owner
or overseer of such plantation to give or
order such slave ten lashes, on his or her bare
back, for every such offense.
If any slave or mulatto should keep or
carry any gun, powder, shot or club, or other
weapon whatsoever, offensive or defensive,
and if found in possession of a weapon or
ammunition, any person might seize him,
take him before a justice of the peace, and
have him punished with any number of lashes
not exceeding thirty-nine, on his or her bare
back, "well laid," and the weapon or ammuni-
tion became the property of the person who
seized him.
Every person whose grandfather or grand-
mother was a negro, although his other pro-
genitors might be white persons, was deemed
to be a mulatto.
If any master or overseer should permit
any slave not belonging to him to remain
upon his plantation above four hours, with-
out leave of the owner, he became liable to
a fine of $3 for each offense, and if any owner
or overseer of a plantation permitted five
negroes or slaves, other than his or her own,
to remain on his plantation, he should for-
feit and pay $1 for each negro or slave above
that number, which forfeiture was made pay-
able to the informer.
The law permitted negroes, or slaves, of
the same owner, "though seated at different
quarters," to meet with their owner or over-
seer's leave, on any plantation belonging to
the owner, provided such meeting was not
held in the nighttime or on Sunday. They
were permitted, however, to go to church on
the "Lord's days," or any other day of pub-
lic worship.
If any white person entertained or housed
any slave without the consent of the owner,
the party so guilty became liable to a fine
of $3 for each offense, payable to the in-
former, and in case of failure to pay it was
required that he should receive on his or her
bare back twenty lashes, well laid on.
No person was permitted to "buy, sell or
receive of, to or from any slave any com-
modity whatsoever,'' without leave of the
owner or overseer.
If any negro or mulatto, bond or free,
should at any time lift his or her hand in
opposition to any person not being a negro
or mulatto, he or she so offending should
receive such punishment as the justice should
think proper, not exceeding thirty lashes on
his or her bare back, well laid on, except in
those cases where it should appear to the jus-
tice that the negro or mulatto was wantonly
insulted and lifted his or her hand in his or
her defense.
If any negro or other slave should prepare,
exhibit or administer any medicine whatso-
ever, he or she so offending should be guilty
of felony and should suffer death, without
benefit of clergy.
COURTS AND LAWS OF MISSOURI, FIRST ESTABLISHED.
153
If, however, any of the foregoing acts were
without ill intent, it was not a criminal act.
If any owner of a slave should license the
latter to go at large and trade as a free man,
the owner became liable to a fine of $30,
and if after the first conviction the offense
should be repeated the master became liable
in the same amount for each offense, no mat-
ter how often repeated, and it became lawful
for any person to arrest a slave authorized
to go at large or hiring himself or herself
out, to put him in jail and have him sold.
If any person stole a negro or mulatto the
law declared him a felon and it was required
that he should be punishable by death, with-
out benefit of clergy.
If any person sold any free person for a
slave, knowing the person to be free, his
ofTense was punishable with death, without
the benefit of clergy.
If a liberated slave could not pay all the
taxes and levies imposed by law upon him,
and he had no other property, it was lawful
for the sheriff to hire out him or her for a
time sufficient to raise the taxes.
A brief chapter is prepared on the subject
of marriage. It provided that all male per-
sons of the age of seventeen years, and female
persons of the age of fourteen years, and not
prohibited by the laws of God, might be
joined in marriage ; but previous to the cere-
mony notice of the intention to marry was
required to be given by publishing the same
for the space of fifteen days at the least, for
three several Sundays, holydays, or other
days of public worship, in the meeting in the
towns where the parties respectively be-
longed, or by publication in writing, under
the hand and seal of one of the judges of
the general court or county court of com-
mon pleas, or of the justice of the peace in
the district, to be affixed in some public
place in the town wherein the parties respec-
tively dwell, or a license should be obtained
from the Governor, under his hand and seal,
authorizing the marriage without publica-
tion.
Among the first laws enacted afterwards
by the judges and Governor of the Territory
of Louisiana was one prohibiting the sale or
giving of any liquors to the Indians.
We find also among the early laws a num-
ber of enactments with respect to ferries and
the licensing of ferrymen. They were re-
quired to keep a good boat, "give ready and
due attendance on the passengers on all
occasions," and give "like attendance" when
wagons, carts and other things were to be
transported, under penalty of a fine.
And "for the prevention of disorders and
mischiefs which may happen by a multiplicity
of public houses of entertainment," no per-
son was allowed to maintain one without a
license from the court of quarter sessions,
under a penalty of $10 a day for every day
such person violated the law.
In 1807 certain laws were enacted by the
Governor and judges of the Territory of
Louisiana, and among them was a law creat-
ing the District of Arkansas. We find it en-
titled "A Law Respecting the District of
Arkansaw."
The preamble is as follows : "Whereas, it
has been found necessary for the more con-
venient distribution of justice, the preven-
tion of crimes and injuries, and the execution
of process, criminal and civil, to lay out the
southwestern part of the District of New
Madrid, into a new district ; which has been
named the District of Arkansaw," etc., the
latter orthography here appearing for the
first time.
Courts were established in this district
June 27, 1806.
Revenue laws were also enacted by the
same authority.
A somewhat elaborate law was enacted
July 3, 1807, with relation to the court of
common pleas and courts of quarter ses-
sions. The law authorized the appointment
of not less than three, nor more than five,
respectable inhabitants as judges thereof.
They were entitled to receive as compensa-
tion $3 per day during the time they respec-
tively attended such court, or the court of
oyer and terminer in the respective districts.
The court of oyer and terminer and "gen-
eral jail delivery" was erected for the pur-
pose of trying all capital offenses committed
in the district for which it sat, and it was
authorized to consist of one of the judges
of the general court and of the judge of the
court of common pleas for the district.
May 13, 1807, a law was enacted relating to
divorce and alimony. The law authorizing
the issue of writs of habeas cor[^iis first took
effect June 27, 1807.
November 4, 1808, the Legislature of the
Territory of Louisiana enacted an "Act for
the Punishment of Certain Crimes," provid-
154
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
ing in cases of rape, that the accused, upon
conviction, "shall be sentenced to castration,
to be performed by the most skillful physi-
cian, at the expense of the Territory, in case
the party convicted shall not have sufficient
property to pay the same and costs."
The same lawmaking authorities estab-
lished courts of judicature, to be styled "the
general quarter sessions of the peace," hold-
en four times in every year in every district.
In addition to their judicial powers they had
authority to build and repair district jails,
courthouses, pillories, stocks and whipping
posts.
The settled portions of Missouri were first
divided into four districts, namely: Cape
Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis and St.
Charles, with courts of common pleas. The
St. Louis District embraced all the territory
between the Missouri and Meramec Rivers,
and thus included the territory of Jackson
County. On June 4, 1812, the name of the
Territory of Louisiana was changed to Mis-
souri Territory, with a resident Governor at
St. Louis. A General Assembly, consisting
of the Governor, a Legislative Council, and a
House of Representatives was at this time
created. The laws enacted by Spain were
still in force, excepting so far as they were
modified or abrogated by the various Terri-
torial enactments, but the General Assembly,
January 16, 1816, formally adopted the com-
mon law of England, and provided that the
statutes enacted prior to the Virginia set-
tlement of 1607 should prevail throughout
the Territory. Thus English law supplanted
civil law from the Mississippi to the crest of
the Rocky IMountains, and from what is now
Louisiana to Canada. On August 10, 1821,
Missouri became a State. „ ,^ ^
O. H. Dean.
Courts Having- Criminal Jurisdic-
tion.— By a treaty made April 30, 1803, at
Paris, France ceded to the United States the
territory known as Louisiana, and by an act
of Congress approved October 31, 1803, the
President of the United States was authorized
to take possession of and occupy the said
ceded territory, "and that he may for that
purpose, and in order to maintain in said ter-
ritory the authority of the United States, em-
ploy any part of the Army and Navy of the
United States, and of the force authorized by
an act passed the third day of March last
(1803), entitled 'An Act directing a detach-
ment from the militia of the United States,
and for erecting certain arsenals,' which he
may deem necessary." And it was further
provided that until the expiration of the then
convened session of Congress, unless pro-
vision for the temporary government of the
said territory be sooner made, all the military,
civil and judicial powers exercised by the
officers of the existing government of the
same, should be vested in such person and
persons, and be exercised in such manner as
the President of the United States should di-
rect for maintaining and protecting the inhab-
itants of Louisiana in the free enjoyment of
their liberty, property and religion.
It will be seen by this that the judicial pow-
ers exercised in the Louisiana territory,
prior to the ceding treaty, w-ere to continue in
force until changed or abrogated by future
act of Congress. These judicial powers had
been framed after the forms of the govern-
ments of the respective owners of the terri-
tory. There were both Spanish and French,
with projections here and there of English
precedents. These originated in the necessi-
ties of changing conditions occurring in the
early Western settlements, by reason of the
almost continuous conflicts growing out of
the wars of European nations. It would be •
an interesting theme for the historian to in-
vestigate and unravel the various changes
and modifications of the administration of
justice in this region, and trace not only con-
ditions, but the reasons therefor. The task
would be difficult, but the field is worthy of
the expenditure of ambitious labor.
Whatever the character of their laws and
the manner of their administration was at the
time of the treaty, it is but reasonable to
suppose that their general features were soon
altered to meet the spirit of the laws of our
government. Then existing procedure neces-
sarily had to give way to that which was in
consonance and harmony with the bill of
rights. For it must not be forgotten that
one of the principal and moving causes of
Colonial opposition to the mother country,
had its origin in and grew out of the harsh
provisions and the arbitrary administration
of the penal laws of England.
Hence the incorporation in every Consti-
tution of every State, as well as of the Fed-
eral government, of the bill of rights.
Military rule continued, until, by an act of
Congress approved March 26, 1804, the ter-
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
Titory was divided and that portion "which
3ies south of the Mississippi Territory and of
an east and west line to commence on the
Mississippi River at the thirty-third degree of
north latitude, and to extend west to the
western boundary of the said cession," was
-constituted a Territory of the United States,
-under the name of the Territory of Orleans;
the residue of the province of Louisiana
■ceded by France to the United States was
called "the District of Louisiana," and its
government provided for as follows: "The
executive power now vested in the Governor
•of the Indiana Territory was extended to the
said District of Louisiana, and the Governor
and the judges of the Indiana Territory were
^iven power to establish in said district in-
ferior courts and prescribe their jurisdiction
and duties, and to make all laws which they
■deemed conducive to the good government of
the inhabitants, provided that they should not
■enact any law inconsistent with the Constitu-
tion and laws of the United States, or which
would lay any person under restraint or dis-
ability on account of his religious opinions,
profession or worship; and provided further
"that in all criminal prosecutions, the trial
shall be by a jury of twelve good and lawful
men of the vicinage."
From this it may be seen that the first
criminal laws applicable to St. Louis, after
her coming under the control of the United
States government, were enacted by a legis-
lative body composed of a Governor, and the
Federal judges of an adjoining territory. To
the statesman of to-day this manner of terri-
torial organization and government doubt-
less seems novel and crude, but it worked well
during that period of sparse settlements and
widely extended domain. But not only could
the judges, who were a branch of the legis-
lative power, help to enact laws — they could
construe and enforce them ; for it was made
the duty of the judges of the Indiana Terri-
tory, or any two of them, to hold annually
two courts within the said district at such
place as was most convenient to the inhabi-
tants thereof in general, and they possessed
the same jurisdiction they possessed in the
Indiana Territory, and were required to con-
tinue in session until the disposal of all busi-
ness pending before them. Laws enacted
in the manner as stated were published
throughout the district, and such laws were
reported to the President of the United
States, and he was required to lay them be-
fore Congress; and if said laws were disap-
proved by Congress, they ceased to exist.
In this first enactment affecting the Terri-
tory there was a provision that the laws in
force in the District of Louisiana not incon-
sistent with the act of Alarch 26, 1804, were
continued in force until altered, modified or
repealed by the legislative power heretofore
specified.
In the year 1805 the District of Louisiana
was changed to the Territory of Louisiana,
and by an act of Congress, approved the 3d of
March of that year, the government was
organized and administered as follows : The
executive power was vested in a Governor of
prescribed qualifications, who held his office
for a term of three years, unless sooner re-
moved by the President. The legislative
power was vested in like manner, as pre-
scribed by the former act, in the Governor
and three judges, or a majority of them, who
had power to establish inferior courts in the
Territory, and to make all laws which they
deemed conducive to good government, and
. the limitations placed upon the exercise of
the power conferred upon them were the
same as those already mentioned as limita-
tions upon the Governor and judges of Indi-
ana. Section 5 of said act read as follows :
"That for the more convenient distribution
of justice, the prevention of crimes and in-
juries, and execution of process, criminal and
civil, the Governor shall proceed from time to
time, as circumstances may require, to layout
those parts of the Territory in which the
Indian title shall have been extinguished into
districts, subject to such alteration as may
be found necessary ; and he shall appoint
thereto such magistrates and other officers as
he may deem necessary, whose powers and
authorities shall be regulated and defined by
law."
Under the power given by the act of March
26, 1804, the Governor and judges of Indiana
made and published laws, October i, 1804.
They established a court called the General
Quarter Sessions of the Peace, held four
times a year in each of the Districts of St.
Charles, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Gir-
ardeau and New Madrid. These general ses-
sions were held by any three justices of the
peace appointed by the Governor of Indiana,
and they could hold special sessions if neces-
sary.
156
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
Any justice in or out of court could take
all manner of recognizances and obligations,
which any justice of the peace in any of the
United States could usually do, and all such
recognizances were required to be certified to
the general sessions next to be held after the
taking of such recognizance.
Twice each year — May and October — there
was required to be held at St. Louis a
Supreme Court of Record, called and styled
the General Court, with power to issue writs
of habeas corpus, certiorari and writs of error,
and all remedial and other writs. This court
heard and determined all causes and matters
cognizable originally and all causes brought
there from the general quarter sessions of the
peace and courts of common pleas, "or from
any other court to be holden for the respec-
tive districts.'' The said court had jurisdic-
tion in all criminal cases and exclusive
jurisdiction in all those which were capital.
In all criminal prosecutions brought in any
of the courts of the district, the trial was by a
jury of twelve good and lawful men of the
vicinage.
In all cases, civil, criminal and mixed, the
parties had the right to be heard by counsel
and to have compulsory process to bring
their witnesses.
A court of common pleas was also estab-
lished, but it had originally no criminal juris-
diction. "A competent number of persons"
were commissioned by the governor as jus-
tices of the common pleas, who were required
to hold and keep a court of record in every
district and court sessions held four times in
every year in each district, at the place where
the general session of the peace was held,
and beginning on the same day. The same
justices, "or any three of them, according to
the tenor and directions of their commissions,
held pleas of assize, scire facias, replevins, and
heard all causes, civil, personal, real and
mixed, according to law."
The Governor was empowered and required
to appoint and commission a sherifif in each
district, whose duty it was to keep the peace,
causing all offenders against the law, in his
view, to enter into recognizances, with sure-
ties, for keeping the peace and appearing at
the next general quarter sessions, and to com-
mit in case of refusal. Also, to quell and sup-
press all affrays, riots and insurrections, and
could call to his aid the power of the country.
He was required to arrest and conunit to jail
any felons and traitors, and to execute all
warrants, writs and other process, which by
law appertained to the duties of his office, and
which he was legally directed to execute, and
to attend upon all courts of record at their
respective terms or sessions. An interesting
description of the proceedings of the first
general court held under the early Territorial
laws in the town of St. Louis was published
in the "Republican Register," issued at Rush-
ville, Kentucky, under date of June 20, 1805,
in a letter dated Vincennes, May 29, 1805. It
reads :
"The first general court in and for the Dis-
trict of Louisiana was opened in the town of
St. Louis on Tuesday, the 6th of May, inst.,
at about 11 o'clock a. m. The judges, Van-
derburgh and Griffen, being attended by the
sheriff and his deputy, the bar, and a respect-
able number of citizens, proceeded to the
house of Monsieur Chouteau. After the
grand jury (which was composed of twenty
odd of the most respectable citizens) were
sworn, his honor, Judge \'anderburgh, de-
livered a charge of some length, in which he
congratulated them upon the happiness and
prosperity they would experience from the
change of government. The grand jury cour
tinned their session from Tuesday until Fri-
day morning. They found an indictment
against one Davis for murder, without malice,
of his father-in-law. and one against one
Hunter and Dennis for the willful murder of
one Clark ; a presentment against the inferior
court, and one against John ]\Iullanphy, Esq.,
as presiding justice of the inferior court of.
the District of St. Louis. Hunter, upon tra-
versing the indictment was acquitted ; Dennis
was found guilty of manslaughter and pun-
ished; Davis was acquitted, and so was Mul-
lanphy. The Indian prisoner, who was some
time in confinement in the garrison at St.
Louis, in endeavoring to make his escape a
few days previous to the arrival of the Presi-
dent's pardon, was shot by the sentinel, and
from the wound he received was enabled to
get about six miles, where he was found dead
some time after. During the sitting of the
court, the Sioux nation of the Indians
brought down a prisoner for having killed
two Canadians. There was no confession by
which he was justified in the commission of
the act. The court, after a session of fifteen
days, during which a variety of business was
done, adjourned till court in course."
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
157
By an act approved July 3, 1807, the Legis-
lature of the Territory' of Louisiana repealed
the law which the Governor and judges of
Indiana had made as hereinbefore mentioned,
providing that in each district then erected,
or which might be erected thereafter, there
should be commissioned by the Governor not
less than three nor more than five persons as
judges of the courts of common pleas and
courts of quarter sessions of the peace, any
two of whom had power to hold said courts.
They were commissioned for four years, but
could be removed by the Governor upon a
conviction in the general court of a misde-
meanor in office. They were required to hold
three courts at the same places as they were
then held, to wit : St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste.
Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid.
The courts in St. Louis were held on the first
Mondays in March, July and November.
The judges of the general court (the Su-
preme Court of Record of the Territory), the
judges of the court of common pleas, and the
justices of the peace in their respective dis-
tricts had full power to issue processes
against, and to take all manner of recogni-
zances of, persons charged for any oiifenses
against the laws of the United States or the
Territory of Louisiana, and to bind to the
peace and good behavior, which recogni-
zances were made to the United States and
certified to the court of oyer and tcniiiner or
quarter sessions of the peace of the proper
district, or if the offenses were against the
laws of the United States and cognizable only
in the general court, such recognizances were
certified to the general court.
The courts of quarter sessions of the peace
were 'held in each district during the three
first days of every term or session, and they
had power to issue their process for the ap-
prehension of persons indicted before them
for any criminal ofifense and subpoena and
other process for summoning witnesses into
any district of the Territory.
No indictment depending or cognizable in
the courts of common pleas or quarter ses-
sions of the respective districts could be re-
moved by Iwbcas corpus and certiorari to the
general court before trial and final judgment.
Section 13 of the act was as follows:
"There shall be established in every district
of this Territory now erected or hereafter to
be erected a court of oyer and terminer and
general jail delivery for the trial of all capital
ofifenses committed in such district, which
court shall consist of one of the judges of the
general court, and of the judges of the
courts of common pleas in the respective dis-
tricts, and shall be held at the same place the
courts of common pleas are held, as often as
occasion may require, by one of the judges of
the general court, and one or more of the
judges of the court of common pleas. In all
cases where a person now is or may be
charged and committed in any district for any
ofTense, which by the laws of this Territory
may be punishable with death, it shall be the
duty of the sheriff of such district forthwith
to give notice thereof to the presiding judge
of the general court, who may then be in the
Territory, and the said presiding judge shall
thereupon assign to himself or to any other
judge of the general court to attend the court
of oyer and tcniiiner in such district, and it
shall be the duty of the judge to whom the
attending of such court is assigned, to issue
his precept under his hand and seal to the
sheriff of such district for the holding of such
court of oyer and terminer. Provided that
such precept shall be in the hands of the
sheriff at least thirty days before the return
thereof, and that the sheriff shall give public
notice by proclamation at least twenty days
before the sitting of the court. The expenses
accrued, by notifying the presiding judge and
forwarding the precept to the sheriff, as afore-
said, shall be paid out of the district treasury
upon orders signed by the judge of general
court who attends the court of oyer and ter-
mincr. The several courts of oyer and ter-
viiner shall have power to adjourn from time
to time, and hold adjourned courts for the
trial of any criminal when it shall appear to
the court that a postponement is necessary to
procure the attendance of witnesses. And if
the judge of the general court who adjourned
the court should be unable to attend, it shall
and may be lawful for any other judge of the
general court to attend."
Section 14 reads: "The several courts of
(|uarter sessions shall have original jurisdic-
tion of all criminal offenses committed in
their respective districts, e.xcept such only as
are punishable with death.
"And it shall be the duty of every grand
jury impaneled at any court of quarter ses-
sions to inquire into and present by present-
ment or indictment any offense committed in
such district which bv the laws of this Terri-
158
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
tory is punishable with death, where the of-
fender has not been apprehended, and the
judges of the court of quarter sessions
shall, after such presentment or indict-
ment is found by the grand jury, award
process for the apprehension of the persons
so indicted. And when such person has been
apprehended and committed the same pro-
ceedings shall be had for the trial of the
criminal as are provided by the fifteenth
section of this act ; and the indictment or pre-
sentment, with all recognizances, examina-
tions, process and records thereto belonging,
shall be returned to the next court of oyer and
iennincr and jail delivery held in such district
in pursuance of this act."
Section 15. "The general court hereafter
shall not have original jurisdiction in criminal
cases nor shall a grand jury be returned to
the general court, unless it shall be repre-
sented by the attorney general of this Terri-
tory to the general court while in session, or
to the presiding judge in vacation, that
offenses against the laws of the United States
cognizable before the general court have been
committed, in which case it shall be the duty
of the court or of the presiding judge to issue
a precept or precepts for the summoning and
returning of a grand jury, returnable to the
next term of the general court or to any day
while the court is sitting."
' Section 16. "The general court shall have
power to proceed by information against any
public officer of this Territory for oppression
or misdemeanor in office. And indictments
found by the grand jury of any district against
a public officer for oppression or misde-
meanor in office may be removed into the
general court at the instance of the attorney
general or of the defendant."
The Governor commissioned a competent
person as clerk of the courts of common
pleas, quarter sessions, and oyer and terminer,
and if at the first and second days of any term
of the general court or common pleas or
quarter sessions a sufficient number of judges
did not appear, it was his duty to adjourn the
court to the next regular term or session, and
no cause or pleading was discontinued. In
all action for slander, trespass, assault and
battery, action on the case for trover or other
wrongs, the defendant was simply summoned
to appear unless the judge was shown by affi-
davit or affirmation that the defendant should
be held in bail, in which case the judge made
an order requiring bail.
In all actions of debt founded on any judg-
ment, writing, obligatory bill or note in writ-
ing for the payment of money or other prop-
erty, in actions of covenant, and in actions on
the case where the plaintiff made affidavit or
affirmationof areal subsisting debt and of the
sum in which he verily believed the defendant
should give bail to secure such debt and the
costs, the plaintiff could ask to have the de-
fendant held in bail, and it was the duty of
the sheriff to whom the writ of capias ad
respondendum was directed to take the defend-
ant into custody and commit him to jail or
take a bond with sufficient sureties in the sum
indorsed on the writ for his appearance and
payment of any judgment rendered against
him or render himself in execution.
A change of venue was provided for upon
the same grounds now allowed. It was op-
tional with the judge, after hearing the
grounds and the evidence supporting it, to
grant the change or not. If he granted it
the case was sent to the court of common
pleas of the next convenient district, as the
judge directed.
Appeals, together with bills of exception,
were provided for. All motions for a new
trial or in arrest of judgment had to be filed
within four days. But three witness fees
could be taxed for witnesses as to any one
fact in the case.
Interpreters were sworn and paid 25 cents
for every witness or paper they interpreted or
translated.
This law also provided that all criminal
cases should be tried by a jury of twelve men
of the vicinage.
Writs of error issued as of right, but did
not operate as a supersedeas, unless by special
order of the general court or a judge thereof
in vacation after a recognizance was given in
double the amount recovered in the court
below.
Whenever the general court was divided in
opinion on the hearing of any writ of error
or appeal, the judgment or decree appealed
from was affirmed.
By an act passed October 28, 1808, to take
effect January i, 1809, jurors were provided
for. The collector of taxes for each district
made out a list of all taxable property, real
and personal. All free male white persons
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
159
over twenty-one years of age residing in the
district, whose estate within the district was
rated on said Hst to be $ioo or more, consti-
tuted the jury list, from which the judges of
the courts, respectively, at their session next
preceding every term of the general court
selected sixty honest and intelligent inhab-
itants who were neither clergymen, doctors,
attorneys, sheriffs or their deputies, ferry-
keepers or constables, or persons of ill fame,
or had any interest in any suit or controversy
pending or about to be brought before the
court.
Any person of ill fame who was selected
could be challenged before he was sworn, but
not after. The names selected by the judges
were written on separate slips of paper of the
same size and rolled up alike and placed to-
gether in some receptacle, and the clerks, in
the presence of the judges, drew by lot twen-
ty-four names, of which six were from St.
Louis, six from Ste. Genevjeve, and from the
districts of St. Charles, Cape Girardeau and
New Madrid four each. The sheriff sum-
moned those persons so selected and drawn
at least ten days before the sitting of the gen-
eral court. In a criminal case these names
were written on separate slips, rolled up alike
by the clerk, placed in a ballot-box provided
for that purpose, and the clerk drew by
chance twelve names from the box, and if
any so drawn failed to appear for service or
were challenged or set aside, such further
names were drawn until twelve qualified
jurors were obtained, and they were sworn
to try the case.
A certificate of service as a juror in the
general court exempted from like service for
two yfears, and a certificate of service as a
juror in the court of oyer and terminer, com-
mon pleas or quarter sessions of the peace
exempted from service at the next term of
the court in which service was given. Pro-
vision was made for impaneling bystanders
on a jury if necessary. This law was repealed
October 25, 1810, and the sheriff was em-
powered to select the jurors — that is, summon
whom he chose from the male residents of
lawful age — thus doing away with the prop-
erty qualification.
October 30, 1810, an act was passed pro-
viding that the court of quarter sessions in
and for the District of Arkansas should have
jurisdiction over all criminal offenses com-
mitted in said district, and so much of the for-
mer law as vested power in any judge of the
general court to hold courts of oyer and ter-
miner was repealed.
The Territory of Missouri came into exist-
ence by act of Congress June 4, 1812. That
act provided : Section i — That the Territory
heretofore called Louisiana should thereafter
be called Missouri; that the temporary gov-
ernment of the Territory of IMissouri should
be organized and administered as provided
for in the subsequent sections of the act.
After all the requisite provisions for the es-
tablishment of the executive and legislative
powers of the Territorial government, and the
methods of their carrying into effect the
same, the act specified that:
The judicial power was vested (Sec. 10) in
a superior court and in inferior courts and
justices of the peace.
The judges of the superior court and jus-
tices of the peace held their' offices for four
years, unless sooner removed.
The superior court consisted of three
judges, residents of the Territory, and any
two of whom constituted a court.
The superior court had jurisdiction in all
criminal cases, and exclusive jurisdiction
in all those that were capital cases, and origi-
nal and appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases
of the value of $100.
The said judges held their courts at such
times and places as the General Assembly
prescribed.
The sessions of the superior and the infe-
rior courts continued until all business pend-
ing was disposed of, or for such time as the
General Assembly prescribed.
The said courts appointed their clerks who
were commissioned by the Governor, and
held their offices during the temporary gov-
ernment of the Territory, unless sooner re-
moved by the court.
All free male white persons of the age of
twenty-one years, and who had resided one
year in the Territory, and not disqualified by
any legal proceeding, were qualified to serve
as grand or petit jurors (Sec. 11), and, until
the General Assembly otherwise provided by
law, were selected in such manner as the said
courts respectively prescribed, so as to be
most conducive to an impartial trial and least
burdensome to the inhabitants of the Ter-
ritory.
After providing in Sections 12 and 13 for
the appointment by the President, by and
160
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
with the consent of the Senate of the United
States, of a Governor, and for his salary (paid
out of the United States Treasury), and for
electing a delegate to Congress, and provid-
ing for his salary and naming his rights and
privileges, it is further provided as follows :
"Section 14. And be it further enacted that
the people of the said Territory shall always
be entitled to a proportionate representation
in the General Assembly ; to judicial proceed-
ings according to the common law and the
laws and usages in force in said Territory;
to the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus.
In all criminal cases the trial shall be by
a jury of good and lawful men of the
vicinage.
"All persons shall be bailable, unless for
capital offenses, where the proof shall be evi-
dent or the presumption great.
"All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel
or unusual punishment shall be inflicted. No
man shall be deprived of his life, liberty or
property but by the judgment of his peers
and the law of the land. If the public exi-
gencies make it necessary for the common
preservation to take the property of any per-
son, or to demand his particular services,
full compensation shall be made for the same.
No ex post facto law, or law impairing the
obligations of contracts, shall be made. No
law shall be made which shall lay any person
under restraint, burthen or disability on ac-
count of his religious opinions, professions
or mode of worship, in all which he shall be
free to maintain his own, and not burthened
for those of another. Religion, morality and
knowledge being necessary to good govern-
ment and the happiness of mankind, schools
and the means of education shall be en-
couraged and provided for from the public
lands of the United States in the said Terri-
tory, in such manner as Congress may deem
expedient."
Limitations upon the powers of the Gen-
eral Assembly are set out (Sec. 15), and the
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers declared
common highways and forever free to the
people of the Territory and the United States
without any tax, duty or impost.
Section 16 provides: "That the laws and
regulations in force in the Territory of Lou-
isiana at the commencement of this act, and
not inconsistent with the provisions thereof,
shall continue in force until altered, modified
or repealed by the General Assembly. And
it is hereby declared that this act shall not
be construed to vacate the commission of any
officer in said Territory acting under the au-
thority of the United States, but that every
such commission shall be and continue in
full force as if this act had not been made."
The repugnant provisions of "An act fur-
ther providing for the government of the
Territory of Louisiana," approved March 3,
1805, and "An act for erecting Louisiana into
two territories and providing for the tempo-
rary government thereof," approved jMarch
25, 1804, were repealed.
This law, approved June 4, 1812, was to
take effect the first Monday in December,
1812, except certain portions which required
the Governor to perform certain duties pre-
vious to that date, in which cases the law
took effect from its passage.
On January 4, 1815, the General Assembly
of Missouri (Territory) enacted another law
establishing circuit courts and defining their
duties.
The circuit judges held court three times
a year in each county, and had jurisdiction
of all civil cases above the sum of $90, and
all criminal cases except those punished with
death, and all other cases now exercised by
court of common pleas except those given
to the county courts, and had appellate juris-
diction from the county courts and justices of
the peace.
Capital cases were still tried by the supe-
rior court judges.
The judges of the circuit courts, each with-
in his circuit, have power to bail in all crim-
inal cases, except in capital cases where the
proof is evident or the presumption great, that
may occur within the same ; and in all cases
where they admit a prisoner to bail for an
offense that is to be tried in the superior
court they shall take his recognizance, with
one or more good and sufficient securities,
conditioned for his appearance on the first
day of the next term of the superior court
to be held for the circuit, and not to depart
without leave.
By law enacted January 4, 1815, to take
effect February 15, 1815, the Territory was
divided into two districts or circuits.
The counties of St. Charles, St. Louis and
Washington composed the northern circuit,
and the counties of Ste. Genevieve, Cape
Girardeau and New Madrid composed the
southern circuit.
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
161
By an act approved April 29, 1816, it was
provided: "That the General Assembly of
the said Territory shall be and is hereby
authorized to require the judges of the supe-
rior court of the said Territory to hold su-
perior and circuit courts ; to appoint the
time and places of holding the same, and
under such rules and regulations as the
General Assembly may in that behalf pre-
scribe; the circuit courts shall be composed
of one of the said judges, and shall have
jurisdiction in all criminal cases, and exclu-
sive original jurisdiction in all those which
are capital, and original jurisdiction in all
civil cases of the value of $100; and
the superior and circuit courts shall
possess and exercise chancery powers,
as well as common law jurisdiction, in all
civil cases, provided that there shall be an
appeal in matters of law and equity in all
cases from the circuit courts to the superior
courts of the said Territory."
Repugnant portions of the former acts re-
pealed.
January 19, 1816, it was enacted: "That
none of the British statutes respecting
crimes and punishments shall be in force in
this Territory, nor shall any person be pun-
ished by common law where the laws and
statutes of this Territory have made pro-
vision of the subject ; but where the laws and
statutes of the United States and this Terri-
tory have not made provision for the pun-
ishment of ofTenses the several courts may
proceed to punish for such ofifenses ; provided,
the punishment shall in no case be other
than fine and imprisonment, and the term of
imprisonment shall not exceed two months,
and the fine shall not exceed $100.
In 1818 (December 11) an act was passed
giving justices of the peace power to issue
warrants and hold preliminary examination
of any person brought before them charged
with any criminal offense, or suspicion there-
of, and before committing such person to
jail or admitting him to bail the justices were
required to take down in writing so much
of the evidence as was material to prove the
ofifense, and to certify and forward same,
through the sheriff, to the court having cog-
nizance of the ofifense charged.
The ordinance declaring the assent of the
people to the conditions and provisions of
the act of Congress of March 6, 1820, ad-
mitting Missouri as a State, was adopted by
the convention held in St. Louis on July 19,
1820, and a Constitution promulgated which
contained a schedule providing all Territorial
laws not in conflict with the Constitution
should remain in force.
By an act approved October 31, 1820, it
was provided that the Senate and House of
Representatives of Missouri should, on No-
vember I, 1820, by a joint vote in the hall
of the House, "nominate and appoint a suf-
ficient number of persons in each county (not
more than eight for each township in each
county) as justices of the peace." . . .
The Governor was required to commission
the persons so selected, the clerk giving him
their names.
Justices held offices for four years, unless
sooner removed by indictment for bribery,
perjury or other infamous crime, and if con*
victed were forever disqualified from hold-
ing office.
Justices were conservators of the peace
in their respective counties, and as such had
power "to bind to their good behavior all
such as be not of good fame, or who in their
presence make an afifray or are guilty of
contempts toward such justices while in the
lawful discharge of any of the duties of their
office, or for other breach of the peace in
their presence, or who may be brought be-
fore them by warrant or otherwise for the
same ; their powers and duties, both in crim-
inal and civil cases, as also the extent of
their jurisdiction in civil suits, together with
their fees and emoluments, shall in all re-
spects be the same as they now are, and shall
be governed by the existing laws until other-
wise altered or repealed."
November 25, 1820, an act was passed
which divided the State into four districts
and circuits, and prescribed times and places
for holding sessions of Supreme Court, supe-
rior courts of chancery, circuit courts and
county courts ; and an act of November 28,
1820, provided for appeals to the circuit court
from the county courts and justices of the
peace, and appeals from the circuit courts to
the Supreme and chancery courts. The act
also provides that all business in Territorial
circuit courts was to be transferred to State
circuit courts, and the jurisdiction of the
courts defined, criminal jurisdiction being
given to the circuit courts in all cases not
otherwise provided for by law.
In 1825 the laws were revised by acts ap-
162
COURTS HA\-ING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
proved January 7, 1825, February 3 and Feb-
ruary 5, 1825,. but no changes were made in
the jurisdiction of the several courts, or the
mode and manner of prosecuting criminals.
By an act passed January 17, 1831, it was
provided that in addition to the three terms
of court required by law to be held annu-
ally in each county for the transaction of gen-
eral business, the judge of the third judicial
circuit was required to hold three other
stated terms in St. Louis County for the
transaction of criminal business only. Judges
in other circuits could hold special terms for
the transaction of criminal business only
when and as often as was necessary, first
causing the sherifif to give five days' public
notice of such special terms.
Act of January 12, 1831, provided that
where, on conviction of felony or misde-
meanor the punishment was at the discretion
of the court, a jury, if one was demanded and
tried the case, could fix the punishment, and
the court was bound to sentence accordingly.
But this did not interfere with a court fixing
a punishment for contempt of court. In the
trial of an indictment for felony or misde-
meanor the court could not sum up or com-
ment on the evidence given in the cause
-unless requested so to do by both parties
•or their counsel, but it could instruct the
jury as to the law of the case.
An act which was passed, vetoed by the
Governor, and then passed over said veto,
became a law January 29, 1839, and estab-
lished the St. Louis Criminal Court in and
for the county of St. Louis. Said court had
original and appellate jurisdiction in cases
previously triable in the circuit courts; this
included felony and misdemeanors.
A defendant by appeal or writ of error
could take his case to the circuit court, as
if the circuit court was a Supreme Court, but
could not be admitted to bail on such appeal
or writ of error. He could thereafter again
appeal from the circuit court to the Supreme
Court, or a defendant could appeal direct to
the Supreme Court from a conviction in the
criminal court.
The judge of the St. Louis Criminal Court
was nominated by the House of Representa-
tives and appointed by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate and commissioned
by the Governor. He was required to pos-
sess all the qualifications of a circuit judge.
and held office for a term of six years, unless
removed for the same causes and in the same
way as a judge of the circuit court.
But by act of March i, 1851, the election
by the people of such judge of the criminal
court was provided. His term was again
fixed at six years.
The salary of said judge was $1,000 a year,
but he was allowed to practice law in civil
cases founded on contracts. Six terms of
court annually were held — January, March,
May, July, September and November.
The judge possessed the same powers as
a judge of the circuit court in criminal cases,
and hence when a change of venue was asked
on account of prejudice, kinship or other dis-
qualification of the judge, the case had to be
sent to another county for trial; and so by
an act approved February 17, 1849, it was
provided that in such cases the cause should
not be sent to another county, but to the
court of common pleas of the county, and
such court was given jurisdiction to try such
cases.
And if a change of venue was asked on
the ground that the people of the city of
St. Louis were prejudiced, and this plea was -
supported by the affidavit of some disinter-
ested, respectable person, then a special jury
was summoned, consisting of persons who
resided in St. Louis County, outside of the
city of St. Louis, and if such affidavit was
filed alleging prejudice in the persons resid-
ing in the county of St. Louis, then a special
jury was summoned consisting of persons
who resided in the city. In no case could a
cause be removed by change of venue to
another or different county.
In 1855 (January 11) the law was changed,
and instead of cases being sent to the court
of common pleas on a change of venue when
the judge of the criminal court was disquali-
fied, such cases were sent to the circuit court
of St. Louis County, and such court was em-
powered and required to try them, and all
jurisdiction was taken from the court of com-
mon pleas to try such cases.
But by an act approved December 11,
1855," it was provided that changes of venue
could not be obtained on a mere applica- ,
tion to the judge, supported by an affidavit;
but if a change was desired the party had j
to give reasonable notice to the State's attor- 1
ney and then file his appHcation in the court
of common pleas, whereupon the judge of i
said court of common pleas heard evidence
COURTS HAVING CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
for and against the allegations in the applica-
tion, and could examine the applicant himself,
under oath, and from all the evidence deter-
mine whether the change of venue should be
granted or not. If he decided it should be
granted he ordered the judge and clerk of
the criminal court, in writing, to transfer said
cause to the Circuit Court of St. Louis
County, and the cause was tried in said court.
And if he decided a change of venue should
not be granted he dismissed the application
at the cost of the applicant.
In 1845 the Governor was authorized and
empowered to appoint a law commissioner
for St. Louis County, whose duty it was to
take depositions.
But February 4, 1847, his powers were en-
larged and said law commissioner had full
power to act as a justice of the peace in
all criminal cases and in prosecutions for mis-
demeanors and breaches of the peace ; and
as such was authorized to take examina-
tions, commit, admit to bail or discharge
prisoners accused of crimes or misdemean-
ors ; and in all such proceedings he had the
same powers, performed the same duties and
was governed by the same laws as justices
of the peace in similar cases.
By an act approved February 11, 1847, his
powers were further increased and he was
given concurrent jurisdiction with the cir-
cuit courts in all actions of detinue and re-
plevin wherein the controversy did not
exceed $150.
In 1851 (February 17) the law commis-
sioner was made elective for a term of six
years, and his court made a court of record,
and was required to be in session daily, ex-
cept Sunday, and was considered as always
open. He was given jurisdiction to $150 in
almost all kinds of civil cases and in all cases
for any penalty given by statute not exceed-
ing $150, and exclusive jurisdiction over all
appeals in civil cases from justices of the
peace, and cases could be appealed from him
direct to the Supreme Court, as in criminal
cases appealed from the criminal court.
By an act approved November 27, 1855,
a court of record was established called the
St. Louis Law Commissioner's Court, and
a seal was ordered to be provided and six
terms of court required, and in some cases
concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court
and the court of common pleas was given.
March 26, 1 861, an act was approved which
provided a salary of $2,500 for the law com-
missioner, and all fees were ordered paid
quarterly into the county treasury, except
$1,200 for clerk hire.
On December 19, 1865 (a new Constitution
having been adopted), an act was approved
which abolished the Law Commissioner's
Court, Court of Common Pleas and St. Louis
Law Court, and vested their jurisdiction in
the circuit court, "as said court become con-
stituted under the fifteenth section of the
sixth article of the Constitution of this
State."
March 15, 1866, the same Legislature cre-
ated the St. Louis Court of Criminal Correc-
tion, with exclusive powers to try all
misdemeanors, except assault and battery
and afifray, which still continued to be cog-
nizable by justices of the peace, concurrently
with the Court of Criminal Correction. In
cases of felony the judge exercised the
powers of an examining magistrate.
No indictment "shall be found" for any
misdemeanor, but such were to be prosecuted
by information lodged by the prosecuting
attorney of the court.
By the "scheme" the Criminal Court and
the Court of Criminal Correction, with their
ofificers, were continued over, and no mate-
rial change occurred until 1895, when a law
was passed increasing the criminal court to
two divisions, and then providing that after
January i, 1897, both divisions should be-
come circuit courts, and also providing for
rotation in service among all the circuit
judges in holding these courts.
In 1822 (December 9) St. Louis was incor-
porated — that law allowing incorporation to
take effect when accepted by the inhabitants.
The corporate power was vested in a mayor
and nine aldermen. The aldermen were made
ex officio conservators of the peace through-
out the city, and within the same had all the
power and jurisdiction then vested in justices
of the peace in matters of a criminal nature,
and were required to exercise and perform
all powers and duties vested in them by
ordinance.
The mayor also had the power of a justice
of the peace.
February 26, 1835, an act continued the
city of St. Louis as an incorporation, and
Section 30 provided : "The mayor, aldermen
and each justice of the peace within the city
shall have jurisdiction of all cases arising un-
164
COURTS OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
der this act, and under all ordinances of the
city, subject, however, to an appeal to the
circuit court of St. Louis County, and every
such appeal shall be granted and taken in the
same manner as appeals are granted by and
taken from justices of the peace to the circuit
court under the general law of the State."
By an act approved February 8, 1843, all
previous laws incorporating St. Louis, and
acts amendatory thereof, were reduced to one
act, and the same was amended in some re-
spects.
Section 18 provided that a recorder should
be elected at the same election as that of the
mayor, hold office two years and have same
jurisdiction as justices of the peace within St.
Louis in all State cases, and also cases arising
out of violation of the ordinances.
All cases were subject to appeal to the St.
Louis criminal court. His fees were the same
as a justice's of the peace, but they were all
paid into the city treasury after making a
semi-annual report, under oath, to the mayor
and city council. His salary was $1,200.
By the scheme and charter which went into
effect on October 22, 1876, provision was
made for the appointment by the mayor of
two police justices, the same to hold their
office for a term of four years, and who
should have jurisdiction over all cases arising
under the charter and "of the violation of any
"ordinance, or of any provisions of this char-
"ter, subject to appeal, either by the city or
"defendant, to the St. Louis Court of Crim-
"inal Correction, in like manner as provided
"by law for appeals from justices of the peace
"in criminal cases to their appellate court,
"and power to punish all contempts of court
"by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars,
"and by imprisonment not exceeding ten
"days, and power to enforce all legal orders
"and judgments, as a court of record may;
"and power to give final judgment against
"the principal and surety on any forfeited
"bond or recognizance returnable to this
"court, subject to an appeal, as in other
"cases.
"The police justices shall be conservators
"of the peace throughout the city, and shall
"exercise the powers and perform the duties
"which may be prescribed by ordinance. The
"justices of the peace within the city shall
"have concurrent jurisdiction with the police
"justices in all cases under ordinances or
"charter, when the mayor shall direct prose-
"cution before them."
The names of the judges of the criminal
court from its creation to the time it was
merged into the circuit court system, were
as follows:
Jas. B. Bowlin, Wilson Primm, Alonzo W.
Manning, Wm. C. Jones, James B. Town-
send, Henry D. Laughlin, James B. Colt,
Garrett S. Van Waggoner, James R. Lack-
land, Jas. C. Normile, Henry A. Clover, Geo.
A. Castleman, Henry L. Edmunds.
The names of the circuit attorneys during
the same period were as follows :
John Bent, Chas. S. Mauro, Chas. S. Ran-
nels, Seymour Voullaire, Wm. McPherson,
Joseph Vastine, Myron Leslie, Chas. P. John-
son, Geo. W. Olney, Jas. C. Normile, Na-
thaniel Holmes, Lewis B. Beach, David M.
Hall, Jos. R. Harris, James R. Lackland,
Thos. B. Harvey, Henry A. Clover, Ashley C.
Clover, Wm. Zachritz.
The names of the judges and prosecuting
attorneys of the Court of Criminal Correction
since its establishment to the present time are
as follows :
Judges— C. D. Wolff, Wm. S. Stewart, Jno.
W. Colvin, Chas. F. Cady, E. A. Noonan,
R. A. Campbell, jas. R. Claiborne, David
Murphy, Willis H." Clark.
Prosecuting Attorneys — Josiah P. Colcord,
M. W. Hogan, Samuel Erskine, J. R. Clai-
borne, Bernard Dierkes, T. E. Mulvihill, }\.
A. Clover, Jr.
Charles P. Johnson.
Courts of Buclianaii County.— After
the Platte Purchase was ratified, in 1836, the
territory now embraced in Buchanan County
was attached to Clinton County, for civil and
judicial purposes. The act organizing the
county went into effect December 31, 1838.
It was now made a part of the First Judicial
District and the Fifth Judicial Circuit, of
which Austin A. King was judge. The Gov-
ernor appointed Samuel M. Gilmore sheriff,
who was the first officer qualified. On the
i6th of February, 1839, Judge King ap-
pointed Edwin Toole clerk of the circuit
court, who qualified before Judge King,
March i, 1839. Peter B. Fulkerson and
Armstrong McCIintock, of Clinton County,
and Leonard Brassfield, of Clay County,
were appointed commissioners to locate the
seat of justice. They selected the southeast
COURTS OF BUCHANAN COUNTY.
165
one-quarter of Section 21, Township 56,
Range 35, and made their report at the Au-
gust term, 1840. They named the site Ben-
ton, but the county court changed it to
Sparta. Edwin Toole acted as recorder.
The Governor of Missouri commissioned
Samuel Johnson, William Hattington and
William Curl as county court judges, and ap-
pointed Samuel Gilmore sheriff. The first
two judges named met at the house of Rich-
ard Hill on the first Monday of April, 1839,
and organized as a court, Samuel Johnson
being made president. The court appointed
William Fowler clerk. Their first act was
to license Edward Dodge to vend groceries
within the county. The court then proceeded
to divide the county into townships, thus
combining the county system of Virginia
with the township system of Massachusetts.
The polling places in each township were
fixed and judges of election were appointed.
They then ordered an election to be held for
two justices of the peace and one constable in
each township, and also for a judge of the
county court. They appointed Wm. W. Rey-
nolds county assessor. The second term of the
county court was held at Blacksnake Hills —
now St. Joseph — at the house of Joseph
Robidoux, where surveys of a number of
roads were ordered to be made. There were
no bridges across the streams, and hence the
court licensed certain persons as ferrymen,
Jules C. Robidoux being authorized to main-
tain a ferry across the Missouri at Black-
snake Hills, at Robidoux's Landing. His
license fee was fixed at $8, the rates of ferri-
age being as follows : For a four-horse
vehicle, $1.50; for a two-horse vehicle, $1;
for a one-horse vehicle, 50 cents ; for a man
and horse, 25 cents ; for a footman or led ani-
mal, 12 1-2 cents; for cattle, 10 cents each;
and for hogs or sheep, 3 cents each. At the
December term, John Ellington was licensed
to keep a ferry across the Nodaway River,
his license costing $5 a year, and his rates of
ferriage being less than those of Robidoux.
The first records, though soiled by time, are
still in existence. Peter H. Burnett, after-
ward Governor of California, was the first
prosecuting attorney. At an election held in
August, 1840, Peter H. Burnett was elected
circuit clerk for six years, and Samuel M.
Gilmore sheriff for two years. Mortgages,
deeds, wills and marriages were put on rec-
ord. The first marriage took place January
17, 1839, forty-one marriages being recorded
that year. On January 4, 1841, Stephen
Jones, presiding judge, ordered a courthouse
to be built at Sparta. George W. Nixon and
William Fowler received ten dollars for the
plan, and Guilford Moultray was the con-
tractor. The courthouse was also used as a
church on Sunday and a school room on
other days. The first grand jury consisted of
Reuben R. Reynolds, John Henry, William
Bledsoe, Elijah Martin, Abel Evans, George
S. Nelson, Ezekiel W. Smith, Job McNa-
mara, Daniel Ferrell, Hugh Copeland, Hiram
Rodgers, Jesse R. Barnett, Ezra Rose, Lloyd
Beall, Hugh Glen, John Martin and James
Curl. The first bills of indictment were
against persons for gambling and for selling
goods without Hcenses. The expense of this
jury was $56.70. In July, 1841, the circuit
judge, David R. Atchison, tried the first di-
vorce case, in which a wife was divorced
from her husband on account of cruel treat-
ment. A new courthouse and jail were or-
dered to be built at Sparta, but before such
project could be accomplished, the removal
of the county seat to St. Joseph was agitated,
three-fifths of the taxable inhabitants of the
county petitioning for its removal. Winslow
Turner, James Hull and James Kuykendall
were appointed commissioners to consider
the subject of removal. They reported in
favor of removing the county seat to a des-
ignated place in the southwest quarter.
Section 8, Township 57, Range 35, on the
Missouri River, at Blacksnake Hills. On
petition, the State Legislature passed an act
in March, 1845, to authorize the removal.
In May following the commissioners ap-
pointed to remove the site chose Block 48 of
St. Joseph, which Joseph Robidoux donated
for the purpose. The county compensated
the persons who had purchased lots at
Sparta, paying a total of $2,185. The
amount of the sale of the lots donated at St.
Joseph was $556 in excess of this amount.
At an election held February 28, 1846, the
question of removal to St. Joseph was finally
settled, and a courthouse costing $6,000 was
built at that point. This building met all
judicial and civil needs until 1 871, when the
courts and ofiices were temporarily removed
to rented buildings on Fifth Street, near
Felix. The present structure was erected in
1876 at a cost of $173,000. Its plan is a Greek
cross, with a frontage on Jule Street of 235
COURTS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
feet, and a depth of 205 feet. The frontage
on Fourth and Fifth Streets is 235 feet. The
height of the first story is 18 feet, and the
second story 25 feet. The county jail is on
Fifth Street, near the northwest corner of
the courthouse. The building was completed
in 1876, but is out of date and should be re-
built. In 1851 the probate court was sepa-
rated from the county court. The first probate
judge was Joseph J. Wyatt, who was suc-
ceeded in 1859 by Henry S. Tutt, who served
until 1865, when, for ten years, the county
court became the probate court. In 1875 the
court was restored, and Henry S. Tutt served
again as probate judge until 1890. John M.
Stewart then became probate judge for four
years, when he was succeeded by James P.
Thomas, the present incumbent. The pro-
bate judge is elected for four years, and re-
ceives fees. The circuit judges are elected
for six years, at an annual salary of $6,000.
The circuit consists of Buchanan County
alone, and there are two divisions of the cir-
cuit court, Division No. i and Division No. 2.
The presiding judge of the county court is
elected for four years. The county and city
are divided into two districts, over which
judges are elected for two years. The Sec-
ond District is composed of the First, Sec-
ond, Third, Fourth and Fifth Wards of the
city of St. Joseph, and the First District is
composed of the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth
Wards of the city, and all of the county.
Each township has two justices of the peace,
elected for four years, who are paid by fees.
The judges of the county court receive a per
diem of five dollars. A court of common
pleas was created in 1853 to relieve the cir-
cuit judges, with whom it had concurrent
jurisdiction except in criminal cases. This
court was abolished in 1873. The judges of
this court were William C. Toole, 1853-1855 ;
Washington Jones, 1855-1856; Joseph J.
Wyatt, 1856-1866; E. J. Montague, 1866-
1870; and William C. Toole, 1870-1873.
Up to 185 1 the peace of the city was con-
served by the justices of the peace and the
constable. During the California period, the
constable had a force of deputies and was as-
sisted by the sheriff. In 1858 the police de-
partment was created, and the marshal was
given a deputy and six men. In 1887 the
metropolitan system was adopted. The Gov-
ornor appointed three conmiissioners to
manage the police department. William B.
Tullar was the first chief of police, but was
succeeded in 1888 by John Broder, the pres-
ent incumbent. The first organization in
1887 consisted of a chief, a captain, two ser-
geants, two turnkeys, two drivers and thirty-
two patrolmen. At present there are ten
more patrolmen, with four detectives, one
humane officer, three signal service opera-
tors, one matron and one engineer. In 1891
a telephone signal service was introduced.
There are thirty-seven stations and an inde-
pendent telephone exchange, with a switch
board and three operators at the Central Po-
lice Station. Bernard Patton, John Dono-
van, Jr., and Thomas P. Maupin were the
first police commissioners. The police court
is the tribunal to which offenders against the
city ordinances are brought. In 185 1 the
mayor was the police judge. In 1855 the
office of recorder was introduced, which con-
tinues to the present time. Colonel John
Doniphan being the present incumbent.
O. M. Spencer.
Courts of Jackson County. — By act
of the General Assembly, dated December
31, 1813, the eastern part of Jackson County
was included in St. Louis County. (See
"Courts and Laws of Missouri, First Estab-
lished.") January 16, 1816, it was included
in Howard County. December 17, 1818,
after Range 29 was surveyed, it was included
in Cooper County, and November 16, 1820,
in Lillard, now Lafayette County. The act
organizing Jackson County for judicial pur-
poses was passed December 15, 1826, and its
southern boundary was established by the
act organizing Van Buren, now Cass County,
March 3, 1835. The act organizing the
county made it a part of the First Judicial
District, and created a county court and a
probate court. In the act itself three com-
missioners, David Ward and Julius Emmons,
of the County of Lafayette, and John Bartle-
son, of the County of Clay, were appointed
for the purpose of selecting the seat of jus-
tice.
The Governor appointed Joseph R.
Walker sheriff, who was the chief executive
officer of the county, representing the chief
magistrate of the State. He summoned, ac-
cording to law, a grand jury to meet at the
house of John Young, on March 29, 1827, for
the first sitting of the court. David Todd,
judge of the First Judicial District, presided.
COURTS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
167
and spread his commission on the records of
the court. Samuel C. Owens was appointed
clerk pro tern. In the absence of the Attor-
ney General, John Willson was appointed to
prosecute for the State. The grand jury,
"after being sworn and charged by the court,
retired to consider of their presentments,"
but returned no indictments. The court ad-
journed. The commissioners appointed to
select land for the seat of justice designated
the southwest quarter of Section 2, Town-
ship 49, Range 32. The circuit court ap-
proved their report and ordered its certifica-
tion to the county court, and to the receiver
of the United States Land Office.
Peyton R. Hayden, Abiel Leonard, John
B. Ryland, John Willson, Amos Rees and
Robinson Beauchamp were enrolled as at-
torneys at the court's first sitting. There is
no record of the second session of the court
held in July, but at the third term, held No-
vember 13, 1827, Samuel C. Owens was qual-
ified as clerk, and Robert W. Wells, then
Attorney General, and James H. Birch, were
enrolled as attorneys. The following entry
appears :
"On motion, it is ordered that Samuel C.
Owens be permitted to keep the circuit
clerk's office at his place of residence, the
same not exceeding one-half mile from this
place."
At the March term, 1827, one Reed was
charged with larceny, and, "being brought
into court in the custody of the sheriff, and
it being demanded of him how he would
acquit himself, says he is not guilty, and for
trial puts himself upon the country, and the
regular attorney who prosecutes for the
State' does the same"; whereupon, the court
appointed for him as counsel Amos Rees and
John T. Ryland. The prisoner obtained a
continuance to the next term, at which time
the State entered a nolle prosequi. One of the
witnesses in this case, George Nelson, Sr.,
was allowed, for six miles' travel and one
day's attendance, eight cents, and the court
ordered that a certificate be issued to the
county court for that amount.
At "the November term, 1828, William Sil-
vers and William Yates were indicted for
misdemeanor in office, but were subsequently
acquitted. Robert Fowler was indicted for
assault and battery, pleaded guilty and was
fined six dollars and costs.
At the March term, 1829, Hannah, a slave.
was tried for assault with intent to murder.
She was convicted, and the judgment was as
follows :
"It is considered by the court that the said
Hannah receive on her bare back thirty-nine
lashes, well laid on ; and it is ordered that the
sheriff cause immediate execution of this
order to be done, and that she stand com-
mitted to the custody of the sheriff until
costs are paid, and the sheriff being present
here in court, takes charge of her accord-
ingly." _
At this same term appears the following
entry :
"Indenture of bargain and sale made by
James H. McGee, of Jackson County, Mis-
souri, to John B. McGee, of the County of
Spencer and State of Kentucky, for land
lying and being in the County of Nelson and
State of Kentucky, on the waters of the Fro-
man Creek, was this day signed and acknowl-
edged in open court by the said James F.
McGee. Whereupon, it is ordered by the
court that the same be certified to the
County of Nelson, State of Kentucky, afore-
said, for record, which is done accordingly."
At the August term, 1828, the grand jury
returned several indictments for assault, as-
sault and battery, and affray and assault with
intent to murder. It also returned two in-
dictments against parties selling liquor to
Indians, and two for giving liquor to Indians.
The bonds required of the parties who were
arrested were usually light and rarely ex-
ceeded $100. The fines that were imposed
were also light. James Allen was indicted
for assault and battery, tried by a jury,
found guilty and fined three dollars and
costs. One Joseph O'Connor was indicted
for selling liquor to the Indians and brought
to trial. The jury retired to consider of their
verdict, but there was a mistrial on the fol-
lowing grounds: "One of the aforesaid
jurors being intoxicated, and thereby inca-
pable of discharging duties of juror, to wit,
William Barnes, he was withdrawn, and the
said jury by the court discharged from ren-
dering a verdict herein. Whereupon, it was
ordered that William Barnes, the juror
aforesaid, for his contempt of court by being
intoxicated while acting as juror aforesaid,
be condemned to jail of the County of Jack-
son until he is discharged by the court." On
the same day, however, Barnes was dis-
charged from imprisonment for contempt as
168
COURTS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
juror, but it was ordered "that he pay for his
contempt, as aforesaid, to the State of Mis-
souri, for the use of Jackson County, the
sum of three dollars ; and it was further or-
dered that he was disqualified from serving
as a juror for twelve months in this State."
O'Connor was afterward discharged on this
offense and indicted for assault and battery.
At the December term, 1830, several in-
dictments were returned, one for murder,
several for assault and battery, one for sell-
ing liquor to the Indians, and one for "Sab-
bath-breaking.'" Two Indians, Xapolite and
Pawhobby, were indicted for horse-stealing,
found guilty, and their punishment was as-
sessed at twenty stripes each, but this kind
of a judgment not being authorized by the
law, they were subsequently discharged.
Among the accounts allowed at this time
was that of Samuel Bright for 180 miles'
travel and two days' attendance as a witness
in a murder case, for which he was allowed
ten dollars.
At the June term. 1S32, the following en-
try appears :
"The court ordered that the clerk of this
court procure a seal for use thereby, with
such emblems and armorial bearings thereon
as he may deem proper."
At this term several indictments were
found by the grand jury for gaming, betting
at cards, and the keeping of disorderly
houses. James Shepherd, who was indicted
for betting at cards, was tried, found guilty
and fined at the October term, 1832, in the
sum of five dollars ; and it was further or-
dered that "he forfeit to the State one dollar
so confessed to have been by him bet." Wil-
liam McCarty, who was found guilty of a
similar offense, was fined five dollars for bet-
ting, and twenty-five cents, the amount of
money that he had bet. One Farmer, who
was indicted for assault and battery with in-
tent to kill, was put under bond for $200.
The civil business of this court for several
years amounted to little.
In 183T Jackson County was attached to
the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and John F. Ry-
land became judge, and continued in office
from January i, 1831, to December 31, 1848.
He afterward became one of the judges of
the Supreme Court. He was a man of more
than ordinary attainments. In June, 183 1,
Amos Rees became circuit attorney.
In 1848 the Fifth Circuit was changed to
the Sixth, and Henderson Young became
circuit judge, and was succeeded in Septem-
ber, 1854, by ^^■illiam T. \Vood, who held the
office two years. He was succeeded by Rus-
sell Hicks, September 19, 1856, who was a
man of great ability and learning. He was
never married. He was a great student of
Shakespeare and the highest class of Eng-
lish literature, as well as the law. Before his
court would convene at a particular county
seat he would usually go there a week or so
before the opening of the court, and obtain
from the clerk information as to the cases
which would probably be tried at the ap-
proaching term. He would take the plead-
ings of such cases and retire to some place
where he would be absolutely free from in-
terruption. There he would study the plead-
ings. If it was in the summer time, he would
retire to some woods and remain under the
trees the day long. A curious circumstance
brought about his resignation. When he was
holding court at Harrisonville, in Cass
County, a negro, under arrest, was taken out
by a mob and hanged. This Judge Hicks
conceived to be such an act of lawlessness,
and such a reflection upon the administration
of law, that he refused further to act as
judge. He was succeeded, October 13, 1859,
by Robert G. Smart. John A. S. Tutt be-
came the next circuit judge, February 13,
1862, and held his first court i\Iarch 26, 1863,
at Independence. He was succeeded by
Charles P. Townsley, of Sedalia, who be-
came circuit judge in 1869, and who was suc-
ceeded by Samuel L. Sawyer, March 22, 1871.
After this date the circuit court was held
both at Kansas City and Independence.
The first meeting of the county court was
also held at the house of John Young, on
the first day of March, 1827, according to an
act of the Legislature, approved January 22,
1827. The first judges were Abraham Mc-
Clellan, Richard Fristoe and Henry Burris.
The commissioners appointed by the act
to select a suitable location for the seat of
justice made their report to this court March
29, 1827, showing that they had selected the
land heretofore mentioned. The court or-
dered the location to be certified
trar and receiver of the
trict as property taken to the use of Jackson
County for the "purposes aforesaid, agreeable
to act of Congress." The commissioners who
were appointed to select the grounds for the
led. The court or- 1
:ertified to the regis- I
^^'estern Land Dis- \
COURTS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
county seat presented their bill to the county
court ; two of them charged for eight days'
service, two dollars each, and three for four
days' service, at two dollars per day, and four
ferriages, at twenty-five cents each. These
accounts were ordered to be paid out of the
first proceeds arising from the sale of lots
belonging to the land selected. The com-
missioners were ordered to plat the ground
selected. Lot 143, containing two and one-
half acres, was reserved for the purposes of
a public spring. This land still belongs to
the county, and the spring on it for a long
time furnished the drinking water for the
early inhabitants of Independence. It is now
used for the same purpose by quite a num-
ber of families in the same neighborhood.
The sale of lots not used for county pur-
poses was ordered to be made on the follow-
ing terms : "All lots less in size than one
acre not to be sold for less than ten dollars ;
all lots containing one or more acres not to
be sold for less price than ten dollars per
acre." At a later term it was discovered that
the terms prescribed for the sale of the prop-
erty were too high, and they were modified
so that the county should get five dollars per
lot or per acre instead of ten dollars. A
sale was made of eighty-five of the lots, for
which the county received $374.5" in cash,
and $1,122.77 in notes.
At the September term the county court
authorized the construction of a ferry across
the Missouri River, and at the same time
fixed the following rates of ferriage :
"For loaded wagon, with five
horses $1 • 50
For • empty wagon, with five
horses i . 00
For light wagon or Dearborn. . . .75
Two-wheeler carriage 50
For man and horse 25
For every head of neat cattle. . . .12 1-2
For each hog, sheep or goat... .12 I-2
For each footman 10
For each 100 lbs. of lumber not
belonging to wagon 12 1-2"
The first public road through Independ-
ence to the western boundary of the State
was applied for and granted at the Septem-
ber term, 1827. The order granting it is as
follows :
"Pursuant to an order of the County Court
for the County of Jackson, at their August
term, 1827, appointing Richard B. Chiles,
John Young, John Whistman, Robert John-
son and James Welch commissioners to
view and mark out a way for a road the near-
est and best way from the county seat of this
county to the boundary line of this State, so
as to intersect a road leading from the new
garrison. The undersigned commissioners,
after being sworn according to law, report to
said court that they have executed the same,
beginning at the public square of the county
seat aforesaid, thence by way of Lexington
Street to the western boundary of said town ;
thence with a marked line crossing the Hur-
ricane at Adam Christison's ; thence in a
straight line to the present ford on Roc'k
Creek ; thence with the old road, with little
variation, by Alexander Aikman's, to the
lower ford on Big Blue ; thence with said
road, by Masters, the old man Baines, and
with and under the Ridge Road as far as the
Sixteenth Section ; thence a west course, as
marked out on the divide between Fowler's
Branch and Brush Creek, to the road from
Robert Johnson's house to his mill ; thence
north of west, leaving said mill on the north
on a marked line to the boundary line, cross-
ing Turkey Creek one-quarter of a mile
southeast of said line, where there can be, by
some digging, a tolerable crossing, the only
material obstruction, excepting the east bank
of the Big Blue, on the whole route of said
road, which we suppose is not exceeding
eleven miles."
At the September term, 1827, a courthouse
was ordered "to be erected on the northwest
corner of Lot No. 59, in the town of Inde-
pendence, a hewed log house 36 feet in the
clear in length, by 18 in the clear in width,
with a partition of hewed logs so as to leave
the large room 22 feet by 18, and the small
1 8 by 14. One good story high, say nine
feet between the joists and the floor; roof to
be of rafters and three-foot boards, with a
brick chimney, built so as to have a fireplace
in each room with a rock foundation, with
good puncheon floors below, and a loft cov-
ered with plank and a sufficient number of
hewed joists to each room ; the foundation of
the house to be laid on stone pillars, with a
sufficient number of doors and windows, say
one door in the large room and one through
the partition, cracks chincked with seasoned
short chinking and pointed inside and out-
side with lime mortar, with two twelve-light
170
COURTS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
windows in the large room and one in the
small room, the door shutters to be what is
commonly called batten doors, of walnut
plank, well seasoned, planed and neatly and
strongly made, the door casing and window
casing all to be of well seasoned walnut
plank, and window shutters to each window.
And the superintendent is authorized to sup-
ply any deficiency in the plan so as to make
the building complete and fit for use, and
make any alteration which may tend to
cheapen the expense to the county."
The superintendent of buildings reported
seven bids for the construction of the court-
house planned as above, the highest bid be-
ing $190 and the lowest $150. Later on
plans for a permanent courthouse and jail
were submitted by the superintendent. The
estimated cost of courthouse, to be of brick,
two stories high, forty feet in length and
thirty feet in width, was $1,500, and for a
two-story jail building, twenty feet square,
$400. The actual bid which was accepted for
the building of the permanent courthouse
later on was $1,456.97 1-2, and for the jail,
$388. The permanent courthouse was re-
modeled or rebuilt early in the seventies at
a cost of something over $40,000, and an
addition was erected to it in 1882. The jail
that was ordered to be built had two stories,
the upper one for debtors, and the lower one
for criminals.
Henry Burrows was the first president of
the county court, and Lilburn W. Boggs,
subsequently elected Governor, was clerk
pro tern. Jackson County was divided into
three townships, namely : Fort Osage, Blue
and Kaw Townships. Comrnissioners were
also appointed by this court to lay out sev-
eral roads. The establishment of courts in
Kansas City, Federal, State and circuit, has
necessitated the building of courthouses and
jails. The court buildings. Federal, State
and municipal, have cost a great deal of
money, and, architecturally, are very attrac-
tive structures. They are worthy of any
county at any time.
The present judges of the county court are
George Lee Chrisman, presiding judge, and
Samuel W. Luttrell and Edward R. Hunter.
The county oliQces are in both Kansas City
and Independence. Jackson County in-
creased rapidly in population, and both
Kansas City and Independence became com-
mercial and outfitting points for the West
and Southwest of considerable importance.
On February 13, 1855, an act was passed
establishing a probate and common pleas
court in Jackson County. It had exclusive
jurisdiction of all matters pertaining to the
administration of the estates of deceased per-
sons, the estates of minors, the appointment
of guardians and curators, and concurrent
jurisdiction with the justice of the peace and
circuit court upon all actions on notes or ac-
counts for the recovery of money, where the
amount claimed exceeded fifty dollars, and
did not exceed one thousand dollars. It also
had control of all appeals taken from justices
of the peace in the county. The judge of this
court received five hundred dollars for his
salary, one-half of which was paid out of the
State Treasury, and the other half out of the
county. The sherifif acted as the marshal of
the court.
On November 20, 1855, the Kansas City
Court of Common Pleas was established for
Kansas City. Its jurisdiction extended over
Kaw Township, and it had the same original,
concurrent and appellate jurisdiction of civil
cases within said township as the circuit and
probate courts within and for the county.
It was provided that the judge should receive
a salary of $500, one-half to be paid out of
the State Treasury, and the residue by a spe-
cial ad valorem tax, to be collected from the
taxable property of Kaw Township. He was
also entitled to receive fees not exceeding
$500 at the rate of one dollar on each final
judgment rendered in his court. All fees in
excess of the $500 went to the common
school fund of the township. A marshal was
created for this court to execute the pro-
cesses of the court. The first sitting of the
Kansas City Court of Common Pleas was in
a small building in the public square. Its first
judge was W. A. Strong. He was succeeded
by Lot Cofifman. James K. Sheley became
its judge in 1859. From 1862 to 1865 courts
were but infrequently held for the transac-
tion of civil business. They were suspended
by act of the Legislature during much of this
period. In 1863, Jacob S. Boreman became
judge, and held that position until 1867. A
few years later he was made one of the Ter-
ritorial judges of Utah. J. W. Jenkins suc-
ceeded Boreman, and remained judge of
that court until it was abolished in 1871.
COURTS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
171
Judge Jenkins still lives in Kansas City, and
enjoys the respect and good will of the entire
community. He is a man of very high in-
tegrity. By an act of the legislature of March
2, 1859, the office of the judge of this court
was declared vacant, and the judge of the
Probate and Common Pleas Court of Jack-
son County was required to preside, and the
salary was increased to $1,500 per annum,
after including the amount of fees he was au-
thorized to receive.
On March 14, 1871, the Court of Common
Pleas of Kansas City was abolished, and in
February, 1871, the Probate and Common
Pleas Court of Jackson County was also
abolished, and in place thereof there was
erected a criminal court, which took charge
of all the criminal business then pending in
the county and thereafter brought; also a
probate court, which took charge of all the
probate business of the county, and a circuit
court was established, the territorial limits
of which were composed of Jackson County
alone, and which transacted only civil busi-
ness. The criminal judge was ex-officio
judge of the probate court. He received a
salary, as judge of the two courts, of $2,500 a
year. R. C. Ewing became its first judge.
He was succeeded by Henry P. White, who
continued in office until 1892, when he died.
He was succeeded by John W. Wofiford, the
present incumbent. In the meantime the
criminal business was separated from the
probate business, and J. E. Guinotte became
the probate judge. He has held that posi-
tion for many years.
Samuel Locke Sawyer, of Independence,
became the first circuit judge. He was born
in New Hampshire ; was a graduate of Dart-
mouth College, and had resided in Missouri
from the time that he left college. H& was
one of the most eminent lawyers in western
Missouri. He was one of the ablest and most
conscientious judges that ever sat on the
bench, and no man in his position ever com-
manded the respect, confidence and admira-
tion of the bar and the public to a greater
degree than he. After remaining on the
bench about six years he resigned, and Sam-
uel H. Woodson, also of Independence, a
man of very high character, took his place.
Judge Woodson was a most amiable and con-
scientious man and was greatly respected.
He died in 1881, and was succeeded by Tur-
ner A. Gill, of Kansas City. Judge Gill re-
mained on the circuit bench until he became
judge of the Kansas City Court of Appeals.
He was much devoted to the duties of his
place and filled it most capably and accept-
ably.
On February 18, 1873, a court of law and
equity was established in Jackson County.
It held two terms annually at Kansas City,
and two terms at Independence. Its judge
during its entire existence was Robert E.
Cowen, who came to Kansas City from Vir-
ginia at the close of the Civil War. He held
the position of judge until the court ceased
to exist, December 31, 1880. Judge Cowen
afterward removed to St. Louis, and there
died. When the law and equity court was
abolished, litigation had so increased that it
became necessary to have another circuit
judge, and a law giving the county another
one was passed. Francis M. Black was
elected. Judge Black came from Ohio to
Kansas City when a young man, and before
taking the position on the bench had become
one of the foremost leaders of the Kansas
City bar. As circuit judge he was the
strongest and most capable man that ever
sat on the bench in Kansas City. He re-
mained on the bench until 1885, when he be-
came a member of the Supreme Court, and
as a member of that tribunal for ten years he
established for himself a reputation as one
of the greatest judges that Missouri has ever
produced. J. W. Dunlap, a young man who
came to Kansas City from Virginia after the
Civil War, was appointed to Judge Black's
place in 1885, but before taking his place or
performing any official duties he accidentally
shot himself, and James H. Slover, a native
of Pennsylvania, who is still on the bench,
became his successor. Judge Slover has
been a most industrious and faithful judge,
and possesses in a very high degree the re-
spect and confidence of the bar.
In 1889 the number of the circuit judges
for Jackson County was increased to four,
and James Gibson and John W. Henry were
added to the court. Judge Gibson was born
in Cooper County, Missouri, and came to
Kansas City a young man, and practiced
successfully at the bar, and has filled, and
continues to fill, very satisfactorily, his posi-
tion. Judge Henry was born in Kentucky,
and is one of the oldest, ablest, best known
and most loved of our judges. He was for-
merly circuit judge in northern Missouri,
172
COURTNEY.
was elected a member of the Supreme Court,
and after occupying that position for ten
years removed to Kansas City, and was
shortly after made circuit judge, and still
holds that position. He is distinguished for
his strong and quick judgment, absolute im-
partiality, integrity and judicial independ-
ence. Richard H. Field, a native of Georgia,
was appointed, in 1888, to fill the vacancy
caused by the promotion of Turner A. Gill
to the Kansas City Court of Appeals. In
1892, Edward L. Scarritt was elected to fill
his place. Judge Scarritt was born in Jack-
son County. While on the bench he was in-
dustrious and showed himself possessed of a
clear and accurate judgment. In 1894,
Charles L. Dobson was appointed to fill the
vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge
Gibson, who resigned to engage in the prac-
tice of law, and was afterward re-elected to
the position for the unexpired term. Judge
Dobson declined re-election in order to re-
sume the practice of the law, although it was
the earnest wish of his associates on the
bench, and the members of the Jackson
County bar, that he should continue in that
position. Edward P. Gates, a native of ^'e^-
mont, but who has resided in Jackson
County from early manhood, and who suc-
ceeded Judge Dobson. is a very industrious
judge. \\'hen Judge Scarritt's term of oiifice
expired he declined re-election, and Judge
Gibson consented to take his place, and is
still acting as circuit judge.
In May, 1879, the United States District
and Circuit Courts for the Western District
of Missouri were established the first time in
Kansas City. Arnold Kreckel was United
States district judge for the Western Divi-
sion of Missouri. He was a man of much
sincerity and honesty of purpose, but dis-
qualified from capably and impartially per-
forming the important work which his posi-
tion put upon him. Judge Kreckel died in
June, 1888, when he was succeeded by John
Finis Philips. Judge Philips still occupies
that position. Samuel F. Miller, justice of
the Supreme Court of. the United States,
during the latter part of his life, came to
Kansas City on several occasions and sat as
circuit judge. George W. ]\IcCrary, United
States circuit judge for the Eighth Circuit,
has also frequently held court here, as have
also David J. Brewer, H. C. Caldwell and
Amos Thayer. The great ability of these
men needs no comment at my hand.
I review with pride the history of the ad-
ministration of justice in Jackson County
from its early beginnings in the log cabin in
the woods at Independence to the present
time. Nothwithstanding the method of judi-
cial selection has been unwise, many of the
judges selected have been unusually strong
and forceful men. They have been worthy
of the high trust committed to them. For
the most part the judges chosen have been
capable and impartial; they have rarely
yielded to popular clamor, or been controlled
by sinister purposes or selfish ambitions.
Two of them. Sawyer and Black, would have
won great distinction in Westminster Hall.
W'e have had many judges who have not only
been well educated lawyers, but well edu-
cated men ; men of much intellectual breadth
and great natural attainments, and who, like
Hicks, devoted themselves to the law solely
for the law's sake. They have been aided and
supported from the beginning by a bar which
gathered in here from every section of the
country, many of whom, from an early pe-
riod, were men of unusual ability. Chrisman,
Douglas, Comingo, Gage, Pratt, Tichenor,
Warner, Brumback, Karnes, Ladd, Lathrop,
Wallace, and others among the older mem-
bers of the bar, could have achieved fame in
any forum. With such judges and such law-
yers, the administration of the law has been
''°"°^^^- O. H. Dean.
Courtney, Caldwell C, State agent of
the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company
of Newark, New Jersey, was born June 24,
1852, in Richmond, Virginia. His father was
a native of Virginia, and his mother of Mary-
land. The maternal ancestry is traced back
to the Revolutionary days, his mother's
father having been a soldier in the cause of
the struggling colonies, his death resulting
from exposure' while on duty in service
against the crown. C. C. Courtney, after at-
tending the private schools of his native
State, graduated from Richmond College in
1870. During the following eight years he was
associated with his father and brother in the
dry goods business in Richmond, Virginia. In
1878 he removed to Kansas City, Missouri,
and for four years was engaged in the dry
goods business, going there in response to
COUSIN— COVER.
173
a telegram from the firm of Bullene, Moore
& Emery, on a stated salary, before having
had a personal interview. At the end of that
time he became associated with the Midland
National Bank of Kansas City, leaving the
bank to become a member of the firm of
Whipple, Courtney & Co. His associates in
this company were B. T. and A. A. Whipple,
two of the prominent real estate men of Kan-
sas City. Mr. Courtney had charge of the
insurance department of the business, and so
continued until 1888, when he turned his at-
tention toward life insurance. For three
years he was district manager for the Mutual
Life Insurance Company of New York, leav-
ing that company, in 1892, to accept the
State agency of the corporation named at
the head of this sketch. His territory in-
cludes Jackson County, Missouri, the entire
State of Kansas, and the territory of Okla-
homa. Under his supervision the business
has been trebled in that section of the coun-
try, and his superior qualifications and abil-
ity in his chosen line have been tested in a
way that is highly complimentary to him.
About thirty men are operating under his
direction. Mr. Courtney has twice been
president of the Kansas City Life Under-
writers' Association, was one of the organiz-
ers and promoters of that organization, and
is now serving as a member of the board of
directors. He was also one of the organizers
of the Life Underwriters' Association of the
State of Kansas. He is a Scottish Rite Ma-
son, and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. Mrs.
Courtney was Miss Flora S. Dougherty,
daughter of Captain L. B. Dougherty, one of
the most prominent residents of Clay
County, Missouri, and a man conspicuous in
the public affairs of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs.
Courtney reside in Liberty, Missouri, where
their daughter, Leah Bell, a young woman
of high accomplishments, graduated from
Liberty Ladies' College in the summer of
1900. She is now a student at the Southern
Home School, Baltimore, Maryland. Politi-
cally Mr. Courtney is a Democrat.
Cousin, Bartholomew, pioneer, was
born in Greville, near Cherbourg, France,
March 28, 1767, and died in Cape Girardeau
County, Missouri, in 1824. He was the son
of a farmer, and in 1791 went to the West
Indies, and a few years later arrived at Cape
Girardeau. He was a man of education and
noted as a linguist. For a number of years
he prepared the greater number of legal doc-
uments for the settlers at Cape Girardeau,
and by them was held in high esteem. He
was employed by Don Louis Lorimier as in-
terpreter, and was appointed notary, which
position he held until the territory was ac-
quired by the United States, after which he
was, until the time of his death, surveyor of
Cape Girardeau district. For his services
the Spanish government made him a large
grant of land, which subsequently was the
cause of much litigation.
Cover, Joseph E., banker, was born
April 28, 1866, at Marion, in Williamson
County, Illinois, son of Samuel and Eunice
(Gorham) Cover. During the Civil War the
elder Cover served as first lieutenant and
regimental quartermaster in the Ninth Illi-
nois Regiment of Mounted Volunteer In-
fantry, and was with General Sherman on his
famous march to the sea. During the early
years of his boyhood, Joseph E. Cover lived
at Carbondale, Murphysboro, and Grand
Tower, Illinois, and was educated in the pub-
lic schools at Carbondale and Grand Tower.
When he was fifteen years of age he began
learning telegraphy in the railroad office at
Vienna, Illinois, and later became a proficient
operator. In 1882 he came to Missouri and
secured the position of clerk and timekeeper
at the works of the Crystal Plate Glass Com-
pany, at Crystal City. He filled various posi-
tions with this company and its successor, the
Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, his connec-
tion with the last named corporation contin-
uing until July of 1899. At that time he re-
signed his position to organize the Miners'
and Merchants' Bank of Flat River, at Flat
River, Missouri. He became cashier of this
banking house, and still retains that position,
having proven himself a capable financier
and bank manager. He has always given
close attention to business affairs, has never
sought office, and has never held any office
other than that of clerk of the Crystal City
School Board, a position which he filled for
several years. His political affiliations are
with the Democratic party, and he is a mem-
ber of the Christian Church. Since 1890 he
has been a member of Shekinah Lodge, No.
256, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of
Festus, Missouri, and at the present time
(1900) he is a member of the board of trus-
174
COWGILL-COX.
tees of that lodge. In 1899 he became a
member of the order of Modern Woodmen
of America. October 12, 1887, Mr. Cover
married Carrie A. Swink, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. J. E. Swink, who reside on a farm
near the city of Festus. Mrs. Cover was
born in Red Bhiff, CaHfornia, and returned
to Missouri with her parents about the year
1872. Her father and mother went to Cali-
fornia about 1852, and were among the early
settlers who went from the Eastern States to
the Pacific Coast. Mr. and Mrs. Cover have
two children, Bessie and May Cover.
Cowgill.— An incorporated village in
Caldwell County, twelve miles southeast of
Kingston, the county seat. It was founded
in 1857. It has Baptist, Christian, Presbyte-
rian and Methodist Episcopal Churches, a
bank, creamery, gristmill, a Republican
newspaper, the "Chief," and about twenty-
five miscellaneous stores and shops. Exten-
sive stone quarries are near by. Population,
1899 (estimated), 550.
Cowherd, William Strother, lawyer
and Congressman, was born in Jackson
County, Missouri, September i, i860, and,
after attending the public school at Lee's
Summit, went to the State University, at Co-
lumbia, and graduated in 1881. He studied
law and practiced in Kansas City, where he
held, successively, the positions of assisting
prosecuting attorney of Kansas City, prose-
cuting attorney of Jackson County, and first
assistant counselor of the city. He was also
elected to the State Senate, and re-elected to
that body. In 1892 he was elected mayor of
Kansas City and served a term of two years.
In 1896 he was elected to Congress as a
Democrat, indorsed by the Populists, from
the Fifth District, by a vote of 25,966 to 21,-
306 for J. H. Neff, Republican. In 1898 he
was re-elected.
Cox, James, was born in Horncastle,
Lincolnshire, England, in January, 1851. He
was educated in a private school and subse-
quently graduated at Oxford with honors in
history and jurisprudence. Connecting him-
self with the London press, he served as war
correspondent with the British Army in the
three campaigns in Africa, and for several
years was one of the stenographic reporters
in the House of Commons gallery. He was
invalided while accompanying the English
Army in its attempt to rescue General Gor-
don at Khartoum, and, on partially recover-
ing, came to America. His first newspaper
work in this country was on the St. Louis
"Globe-Democrat," commencing as reporter
and being promoted until he became night
editor. In the spring of 1887 he located in
Kansas, and for eighteen months roughed it
in various small towns. He then returned to
his desk on the "Globe-Democrat," but in
1889 he resigned in consequence of ill health
and became connected with the evening
press. Early in 1891 Mr. Cox was appointed
managing editor of the "Star-Sayings," and
in September of that year accepted the sec-
retaryship of the Bureau of Information of
the Autumnal Festivities Association. When,
in 1894, that organization was merged into
the Business Men's League, Mr. Cox was ap-
pointed its secretary, a position he still holds.
Mr. Cox has been a prolific writer, and has
contributed an immense quantity of articles
to magazines and newspapers on the city of
St. Louis and its advantages. His first more
ambitious effort was entitled "A Romance of
the Medway," published in 1875. "From
Dongola to Khartoum" was his next book,
written in 1885. More recent efforts include
"St. Louis Through a Camera," "Old and
New St. Louis," "Missouri at the World's
Fair," "Imperial Missouri," "A History of
the Cattle Trade of Texas and the South-
west," "Our Own Country," "My Native
Land" and "Cuba, Our Sister Republic."
Some of these works have enjoyed an exten-
sive sale, and out of the proceeds their au-
thor has been able to purchase considerable
property in the west end. Mr. Cox was mar-
ried, in 1885, to Miss Annie Jackson, daugh-
ter of the manager of Lord Howe's extensive
estates in Leicestershire, England. Mr. and
Mrs. Cox have one son, Raymond Jackson,
born May 4, 1891. Politically Mr. Cox is a
Republican. He was a member of the ad-
vanced radical Republican party in England,
under Sir Charles Dilke's leadership twenty
years ago, and was then, as now, opposed to
the monarchical form of government. Al-
though not an aggressive politician, he has
served on several delegations, both city and
State.
Cox, John C, founder of the city oi
Joplin, was born in Burke County, North
175
Carolina, September '6, 1811. When he was
eight years of age his parents removed to
Tennessee, where he was reared upon a farm
and educated in the common schools. In
his young manhood he served as deputy un-
der his father, who was elected sheriff. In
1836 he removed to Missouri and entered
land in Ray County, but soon sold out and
returned to Tennessee. In 1838 he came
back and entered land now contained within
the corporate limits of Joplin. In 1863 his
improvements were destroyed by a maraud-
ing band, and he moved to Neosho, where he
remained until peace was restored. July 28,
1871, he platted the town of Joplin, upon
his own land, whereon lead had been pre-
viously found. He served as justice of the
peace, as county surveyor, and as associate
justice of the county court. His death oc-
curred about 1890.
Cox, Wiley O., banker, was born April
30, 1848, in Tippah County, Mississippi, but
has been a citizen of Missouri since 1868, and
was married in the latter State to Miss
Emma C. Boxley, of Springfield, Missouri.
His father was a native of Tennessee, and his
mother of Kentucky. The former died when
Mr. Cox was about seven years old and he
was left to the care of a relative greatly be-
loved by him, an uncle. Colonel Hugh A.
Reynolds, a native of Mississippi, and a man
of prominence before the Civil War. Colonel
Reynolds was a private in the Honorable Jef-
ferson Davis' regiment in the Mexican War.
When the struggle between the North and
South developed into actual hostilities he
went to the field as lieutenant of a company
of the Thirtieth Mississippi Infantry. This
regiment was assigned to Walthall's brigade
of the Army of the Tennessee, and performed
gallant service at Shiloh, Perryville, Mur-
freesboro and other historic spots where
heroes fought and fell. The record of activ-
ity and participation in the realities of war
made by this regiment was fully shared by
Lieutenant Reynolds, who rose by brave and
meritorious conduct to the rank of lieutenant
colonel. During the first day's battle at
Chickamauga, September 19, 1863, he was
intrusted by General Walthall with the man-
agement of the left wing of the brigade, and
on the following day was assigned to com-
mand the Thirty-fourth Mississippi Regi-
ment. In the performance of this duty he
fell, mortally wounded, while leading his
regiment in a charge on a stockade situated
in a dense undergrowth and defended by the
troops of General George H. Thomas. Said
General Walthall in his report: "No braver
man or better soldier fell upon the field of
Chickamauga than this faithful and accom-
plished officer, whose loss is deeply deplored
throughout this command. In his death the
service sustains a heavy loss." And in a let-
ter addressed to Mr. Cox, the subject of this
sketch. General (and, at the time of writing.
United States Senator) Walthall, on Decem-
ber 12, 1889, used these words as a tribute to
the memory of the honored man of whom
the sentiments were so tenderly expressed:
"I have received yours of the 9th inst., and
am glad to know that there is a prospect of
me meeting you. Your uncle, Colonel Rey-
nolds, I held in the highest esteem, and when
he was wounded I went to him on the field
and had a word with him before he was
borne off. I will be very glad to talk with
you about him. He was a splendid man and
one of the best officers in the Confederate
Army." Thomas Haley Cox, a brother of
Wiley O., was born in Mississippi in 1844,
enlisted in the Confederate service in the
Twenty-eighth Mississippi Cavalry, and
served to the end of the war. He is now a
resident of Springfield, Missouri. A brother-
in-law of the Coxs', who married their only
sister, Edward D. Bondurant, was also in the
Confederate service as a private in Major
Forrest's command of scouts. The members
of this family, therefore, made a proud record
in standing by convictions when fighting and
hardships were required. Mr. Cox holds in
lasting affection the memory of the stalwart
man to whom such high tribute has been
paid, Colonel Reynolds. His life and char-
acter were an inspiration to the young man.
Lacking the protecting care and guidance
of a father, these wants were filled from the
great heart of Colonel Reynolds, whose ex-
ample and habits were emulated by the
nephew, with the result that integrity and
success have marked the years of his life.
The mother of Wiley O. Cox died at her
home in Springfield, Missouri, in 1897. Her
sons, the subject of these lines, and Thomas
H., removed from INIississippi to Springfield,
Missouri, in 1868, and there engaged in mer-
cantile pursuits in a modest way. In 1872,
W. O. Cox entered the First National Bank
176
CRABBS— CRAIG.
of Springfield as a clerk, after selling his
share of the mercantile business to his
brother. He held the position in the bank
until 1881, when he removed to Kansas City,
Missouri, of which place he is still an active,
prominent resident. In 1882 he engaged in
a general real estate business in Kansas City,
Missouri, and in 1884 embarked in a general
financial and loan brokerage business. These
ventures were successful and financially
profitable, and in 1888 Mr. Cox was prepared
to enlarge his operations. Accordingly he
organized the Kansas City State Bank, an
institution which has since prospered abund-
antly and which is mentioned at greater
length in the history of the banks of Kansas
City, in this work. Mr. Cox was made presi-
dent of the bank at the time of its organiza-
tion and has ever since served in that capac-
ity, building a reputation as a conservative,
safe and, at the same time, progressive
financier. His investments were given a new
channel in 1896, when he purchased the
"Kansas City Times." This newspaper was
conducted with dignity during his owner-
ship, and became one of the strongest publi-
cations devoted to the interests of the Dem-
ocratic party. The "Times" was sold by him
in 1899. Mr. Cox is a member of the Com-
mercial Club of Kansas City, and has been
prominently identified with every movement
having for its purpose the advancement of
the city's best interests. An advocate of
wholesome public improvements, a friend of
charitable institutions and a believer in un-
selfish enterprises designed for the benefit of
the whole people, his acts and words have
won for him a sure place in the affections of
the public and the highest regard of all who
are familiar with his motives and his accom-
plishments.
Crabbs, Franklin D., president of the
Union Bank Note Company of Kansas City,
was born in 1857, near Dayton, Ohio. His
parents were Benjamin F. and Louisa F.
(Folkerth) Crabbs, both natives of Ohio, the
first named of Alaryland, and the last named
of New Jersey parentage. Their son, Frank-
lin D., was reared upon a farm, and was edu-
cated in the public schools, ending with a
high school course at Dayton. As a young
man, he became a bookkeeper in the office
of the United Brethren Publishing Com-
pany, in the city named. In 1882 he located
in Kansas City, Missouri, and effected the
organization of the Kansas City Bank Note
Company, of which he became manager.
This was the first establishment west of St.
Louis to engage in the business, and to oper-
ate a steam lithographing press. The ven-
ture was unfortunate and the company failed.
In 1887 he organized the Union Bank Note
Company and became its president. The cap-
ital was $30,000, one-half paid in. At the
beginning only lithographic work was exe-
cuted, and but fifteen people were employed.
The plant now in operation is modern in all
respects, and in capacity exceeds immediate
requirements. The seventeen presses of va-
rious kinds are operated by individual elec-
tric motors, driven by power generated on
the place. From eighty to one hundred peo-
ple are employed. The product includes
bank and mercantile stationery, engraved
securities, color, lithography and high grade
letter-press printing. The house virtually
controls the immense local trade, and fills
orders from the extreme West, and from the
South as far as Mexico. The company has
now a capital of $50,000, and a surplus of
$15,000. The officers are F. D. Crabbs,
president and treasurer; Theodore Bishop,
vice president, and A. T. Conwell, secretary.
Mr. Crabbs is a director in the Kansas City
Life Insurance Company, treasurer of the
Kansas City Convention Bureau, and secre-
tary of the Big Hickory Mining Company,
operating a $10,000 mill at Joplin. He is a
member of the Commercial Club, and of the
Manufacturers' Association of Kansas City.
He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a
Noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of the
Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a Repub-
lican. He was married to Miss Elizabeth
Barr, daughter of Colonel A. J. Barr, of
Richmond, Missouri, who derives his title
from service in the Union Army during the
Civil War. Mrs. Crabbs was educated at the
Christian College, at Columbia, Missouri. A
son has been born of this marriage.
Craig.— A town of about 700 inhabitants
in Holt County, on the Kansas City, St. Jo-
seph & Council Blufifs Railroad. It was laid
out in 1S68 by R. W. Frame, C. Schultz and
S. Ensworth, and named after General James
Craig, of St. Joseph. It is a thriving busi-
ness point, and has seven stores, the Farm-
ers' & Merchants' Bank, capital and surplus
CRAIG.
177
$25,790; deposits, $28,940; and the Heaton
Bank, capital and deposits, $6,200; deposits,
$14,000; a Methodist, a Presbyterian and a
Christian Church; a lodge of Masons, a
lodge of Odd Fellows, and a lodge of the An-
cient Order of United Workmen.
Craig, James, lawyer, soldier and Con-
gressman, was born February 26, 181 7, in
Washington County, Pennsylvania, and died
at his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, October
21, 1888. When he was three years of age
his parents removed to Mansfield, Ohio, and
he obtained the rudiments of an education at
Millersburg, in that State. When he was
only eight years old he was taken from
school and apprenticed to the merchandising
business in a general store at Millersburg.
He was thus employed until he was twenty-
one years of age, but in the meantime, by a
process of self-education, fitted himself for
the bar. He was admitted to practice in
1839 and began his professional career at
New Philadelphia, the county seat of Tus-
carawas County, Ohio. While there he was
married to Miss Helen M. Pfouts, and soon
after his marriage he came to Missouri and
opened a law ofhce in Oregon, the county
seat of Holt County. He was able, courte-
ous and genial and soon became exceedingly
popular among the people who then resided
in that portion of the State. His practice
extended throughout the entire judicial dis-
trict, which then embraced the greater por-
tion of northwest Missouri. Fluent in
speech, a rare wit, and a lover of fun and
frolic, he made the acquaintance of every-
body, and everybody liked him. After he had
resided in Holt County two years he was
elected to the Legislature, in which body he
gained prominence and made the acquaint-
ance of most "of the leading men of the State.
At the close of his term in the Legislature,
the breaking out of the Mexican War
aroused the patriotic sentiment of the people
of Missouri, and his chivalrous nature caused
him to at once raise a company and tender
its services to the government. He reached
Jefiferson City a few hours too late to have
his company accepted as a part of General
Doniphan's command, but was in service
until 1848, keeping the Indians of the North-
west in check. He resumed the practice of
his profession after being mustered out of
the military service, but soon joined the
army of gold hunters who traversed the
plains and scaled the lofty mountains that
separate the Missouri River country from
the Pacific Coast. He had many thrilling ex-
periences on this expedition, but reached his
destination in safety, and thereafter re-
mained a year in the California gold fields.
He was successful in his venture to an ex-
tent which he thought would enable him to
make a comfortable start in life, and returned
to Missouri by way of the Isthmus of Pan-
ama and New Orleans. The voyage was
long and tedious, and General Craig retained
the memory of it to the end of his life.
Urged in later years, and after his retirement
from active business, to visit Europe, the
dread of the sea kept him at home. On his
return from California he established his
home in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he re-
sumed the practice of law, being soon after-
ward elected prosecuting attorney of Buch-
anan County. In 1856 he was elected to Con-
gress, and was re-elected in 1858, serving four
years in that body and declining a third elec-
tion. During his two terms of service in the
lower branch of Congress he acquired a na-
tional reputation and rendered exceedingly
valuable services to the city of St. Joseph,
the district which he represented, and the
State of Missouri. When he retired from
Congress he became deeply interested in
railroad projects and was made president of
the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Com-
pany. He helped to inaugurate the building
of this railroad west of the Missouri River,
and subsequently induced Eastern friends
and capitalists to construct the St. Joseph &■
Council Blufifs Railroad. When the Civil
War began he again entered the military
service of his country, and was commis-
sioned a brigadier general by President Lin-
coln. For two years thereafter he was in
command in the district of the Platte, which
embraced all the country north of the Platte
River, between Omaha and Salt Lake. At
the end of this time he applied to the War
Department to be sent south, but his services
were regarded as of so much value in keep-
ing the Indians, then very troublesome, in
subjection, that he was denied the oppor-
tunity for such service as he craved and
which would undoubtedly have given him
much greater military distinction. In 1863
he resigned his commission in the army and
returned to St. Joseph, but was not long per-
mitted to remain out of the military service.
Governor Gamble called upon him to take
command of the district of northwest Mis-
souri and commissioned him brigadier gen-
eral. He at once made active war on the
murderous bands of guerrillas which then in-
fested this portion of the State, and followed
them so closely that they were driven out of
Missouri. Bill Anderson and other despera-
does were killed by General Craig's troops.
In 1866 President Johnson appointed him
collector of internal revenue for the St. Jo-
seph district, and he filled that position until
the beginning of General Grant's adminis-
tration, when he resigned. In 1880 he was a
candidate for Congress against Honorable
Nicholas Ford, and was defeated by a single
vote. After that he lived in the quiet enjoy-
ment of an ample fortune and held no public
office, except during two years, when he con-
sented to fill the position of city comptroller
of St. Joseph. The closing years of his life
were such as crown with honor those who
lead useful lives and render their country
■distinguished services. As lawyer, soldier
and statesman he occupied a prominent place
among the public men of Missouri, and en-
joyed the largest measure of the esteem of
his fellow citizens. At his death he left a
widow and four children. Four sons and two
daughters in all were born to him, two of
whom preceded him into the great unknown.
One of the sons, Benjamin H. Craig, gradu-
ated at the United States Naval Academy at
Annapolis, and died in the south of France.
Another son, Willard Craig, died in child-
hood. Lewis A. Craig was graduated from the
West Point Academy, and became an officer
in the United States Army. James Craig,
Jr., is a member of the bar of St. Joseph.
Clara C. Craig became the wife of Major
Samuel Garth, of St. Joseph, and Ida Craig
became the wife of Major Wilcox, of the
United States Army.
Craig, James Tandy, physician and
surgeon, was born June 26, 1850, in Car-
roll County, Kentucky, of which his parents,
Lewis E. and Letitia (Tandy) Craig were also
natives. The father began his business career
shipping fruit and produce by flatboats down
the Ohio and ]\Iississippi Rivers to New
Orleans, where he marketed both craft and
cargo, and walked back home. He became
a wealthy cotton-planter and slave-holder in
the South, and was well known as a prin-
cipal legatee and the defender of the will
of Junius W. Craig, in the noted lawsuit
between the heirs-at-law and the legatee'?,
involving an estate of several million dollars.
He was a son of Thomas E. Craig, grand-
son of Benjamin Craig, and great-grandson
of Toliver Craig. This family in its various
generations was well known in Virginia and
Kentucky ; the males were famed for physi-
cal strength and brilliant intellect, and all
were men and women of wealth, education
and culture. The Tandy family, with which
they intermarried, also held high position
in Kentucky, and their union aided in the
transmittal of these marked characteristics.
Lewis E. Craig died in 1867, aged forty -
eight years, and his wife died in 1887, aged
sixty-six years. They were the parents of
ten children, Albert, Sallie L., John S., Eliz-
abeth, James T., Pauline A., Eliza D., Leti-
tia J., Lewis E., Jr., and William E. Of
these, Elizabeth, Eliza and Albert died in
youth ; the others are yet living. James T.,
the fifth child, was liberally educated, in Ken-
tucky and Missouri. After completing a col-
legiate course he entered the Missouri
Medical College at St. Louis, from which
he was graduated in 1874. He engaged in
practice at Concordia, Lafayette County,
Missouri, in March of the same year.
Shortly afterward he lost his office and en-
tire equipment by an incendiary fire. He
then removed to De Witt, Carroll County,
where he resumed practice, and at the same
time carried on the drug business. He re-
linquished this early in 1879, and located in
Kansas City, where he built up and now
maintains an extensive practice in general
medicine and surgery. In 1880 he was ap-
pointed by the county court to the position
of physician in charge of the county prison-
ers at Kansas City, to fill vacancy caused
by the death of Dr. Chew. While engaged
in this service the United States District
Court entrusted him with the care of the
Federal prisoners confined in the county
jail. He occupied this two-fold position for
about twelve years, until the county court
determined upon committing the care of pris-
oners to the lowest bidder. During his
official term he suggested and carried into
effect many improvements in prison equip-
ments and internal arrangements, earning
such approbation that repeated effort was
CRAMER.
179
subsequently made to secure his reappoint-
ment. From the beginning of his professional
life he has taken deep interest in the medical
department of life insurance, and is regarded
as an eminent authority upon topics related
thereto. He has acted as medical examiner
for a number of leading insurance compa-
nies, and has devised many blanks for use
in their work. He is past chief medical
examiner of the Select Knights of the An-
cient Order of United Workmen, and has
been medical director for the National Re-
serve Association of Kansas City, Missouri,
from its organization, having entire charge
of the medical department. In 1900 he was
appointed chief medical director of the Royal
Mystic Tie, of Denver, Colorado. He has
written a work on "Medical Examinations for
Life Insurance" and the "Examination of
Recruits for the United States Army." He is
professor of life insurance, and also of hy-
giene and State medicine in the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, the medical depart-
ment of the Kansas City University; secre-
tary and treasurer of the medical section of
the National Fraternal Congress, and a mem-
ber of the various local medical societies.
From his coming to Kansas City he has been
deeply interested in military matters, and his
services in these interests have been con-
spicuous and valuable. In 1879 he enlisted
as a member of the Craig Rifles, of Kansas
City. In 1881 he was elected surgeon for
the organization. At the beginning of the
Spanish-American War he was appointed
examining surgeon for the Kansas City re-
cruiting station, and examined the recruits
for the Twentieth United States Infantry
Regiment and for the Third Regiment of
United States Volunteers of Missouri. He
has always been an ardent supporter of Dem-
ocratic principles, and is a strong advocate
of bimetallism and of territorial expansion
as a necessary sequence to the recent war.
He is not connected with any religious or-
ganization. He was trained and educated
in the hope that he would engage in the
ministry, but his preference led him into his
present profession. In disposition he is char-
itable and philanthropic, and institutions
devoted to such causes receive from him
cheerful and liberal assistance. For twenty-
five years he has been an active member of
the A'lasonic fraternity. He was worshipful
master of a lodge in Kansas City for four
years, and deputy grand master of the
Twenty-fifth Missouri District for two terms,
during which time he organized and set to
work two new lodges. Fides and South Gate,
at Kansas City. He was married, June 30,
1875, to Miss Lizzie C, a daughter of Cap-
tain Charles K. Baker, of St. Louis, a well-
known steamboat owner and commander on
the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. She was
also a niece of the well known steamboat
owner and capitalist. Captain John J. Roe,
of St. Louis. Her death occurred February
14, 1887. Three children were born of this
marriage, of whom the youngest son died in
infancy. A daughter, Mrs. William H. Mc-
Kay, resides at Vevay, Indiana. The son,
Dr. Emmet J., a dentist by profession, is
serving as dentist in the United States Army
at Manila, Philippine Islands. Dr. Craig
was again married, February i, 1893, to Miss
Marie Richards, of Paris, Kentucky, a niece
of William Shaw, of Paris, and of Colonel
G. C. Knifiin, department chief of the Pen-
sion Bureau, and of Colonel George Wilson,
of the Internal Revenue Department, both
of Washington City.
Cramer, Gxistav, who has gained dis-
tinction in St. Louis, both as artist and
manufacturer, was born in Eschwege, Ger-
many, May 20, 1838, son of Emanuel and
Dorothea (Viehweger) Cramer. In 1859 he
came to this country and immediately after-
ward established his home in St. Louis, to
which city his brother, John Frederick Cra-
mer, had preceded him. He learned the art
of photography under the preceptorship of
John A. Scholten, then a leading photogra-
pher of that city, and one of the earliest
friends of Mr. Cramer. In i860 he opened
a photograph gallery of his own, but early
in 1 861, when the Civil War broke out, and
President Lincoln made his first call for vol-
unteers to serve for the term of three months,
he enlisted in the Federal Army, entering
as private in Company A (of which his
brother was captain) Third Regiment Mis-
souri Volunteers, commanded by Colonel
Franz Sigel, and participated in the battle of
Carthage, Missouri. After the expiration of
three months' service he resumed his profes-
sion as photographer, and in 1864 formed a
partnership with J. Gross, under the firm
name of Cramer & Gross. This firm soon
built up a large business in portrait photog-
180
CRANDALL.
raphy, and for years enjoyed the patronage
of many of the best people of St. Louis. In
1880 Mr. Cramer associated himself with
Mr. H. Norden for the purpose of manufac-
turing photographic dry-plates, the style of
the firm being Cramer & Norden. These gen-
tlemen were among the first in this country
to introduce this new improvement in pho-
tography, an innovation which, since then,
has revolutionized the entire art and placed
within easy reach that which before seemed
impossible of accomplishment. They had
many obstacles to overcome in the begin-
ning, but their indomitable energy and re-
sourcefulness enabled them to more than
realize their expectations, and their manu-
facture of dry-plates has grown to large pro-
portions. The establishment of which Mr.
Cramer has been the head since it came into
existence being now one of the most famous
institutions of its kind in the United States.
Since 1883 Mr. Cramer has conducted the
business alone as the G. Cramer Dry Plate
Works, and the products of this establish-
ment, the "Cramer" plates, have won a
world-wide reputation by reason of their ex-
cellence, and are Used by both amateur and
professional photographers everywhere.
Later the business was incorporated as the
G. Cramer Dry Plate Company. Mr. Cra-
mer has been honored with the presidency
of the Photographers' Association of Amer-
ica, and in that capacity presided over the
deliberations of the association at the session
held in Chicago in 1887.
Craiidall, Orestes A., president of the
Missouri Trust Company, St. Louis, was born
February 25, 1833, at Syracuse, New York.
When he was two years of age his parents
removed to Illinois. That region was
sparsely settled, and schools were not es-
tablished until long after their coming; in
consequence, he had meagre educational ad-
vantages. He attended a common country
school for a few months in three or four
years, and was a student in Gleason's Nor-
mal School, in Chicago, for a portion of a
term. After this his knowledge was entirely
self-acquired, through close reading during
his spare hours. When twenty years of age
he made the overland trip to California, per-
forming the last 500 miles of the journey on
foot. After mining for eight years, he went
to Saline County, Missouri, but soon re-
moved to Illinois. The Civil War was in
progress, and he aided in recruiting troops
for the Union service. In 1863 he returned
to Missouri and took part in the battles of
Marshall and Sedalia, being taken prisoner
at the latter place. He had studied law
privately, and in 1864 be was admitted to
the bar by Judge Tutt, and subsequently to
the United States District Court by Judge
Krekel, and to the United States Circuit
Court by Judge Dillon. His most conspicu-
ous legal achievement was the defense of
Pettis County, in 1877, in the suits brought
to enforce the collection of bonds issued to
railways; as the result of his effort, a com-
promise was eiifected which resulted in saving
to the county more than $100,000. His suc-
cess in this important transaction led to his
appointment to represent the city of Sedalia
in an adjustment of a large and embarrass-
ing indebtedness, and his conference with
the creditors in Boston resulted in a compro-
mise by which the interest rate was reduced
from 10 to 5 per cent, effecting a saving
of $200,000. In 1875 the Pettis County Bank
was organized, mainly through his instru-
mentality, and he was its president for a term
of five years. In 1880 he founded the Mis-
souri Trust Company, the strongest financial
house in Sedalia; its business so expanded
that in 1901 it was removed to St. Louis. Of
this company he has been president from the
organization. While deeply concerned with
large financial interests, in management of
which his sagacity is fully recognized, he has
for years devoted much time and intelligent
efifort to literary and scientific pursuits, en-
gaged in as a recreation. His library is a
rich collection of the best English literature,
and includes rare and ancient volumes, as
well as works treating upon those abstruse
subjects which have been the object of his
investigations. He has written much meri-
torious verse. The choicest of his work is
his epic upon "The Stream of Life," written
in stately and varied measures, treating of
the origin of human life, its course and des-
tiny, and unfolding an entirely original sys-
tem of philosophy, asserting the immortality
of the soul, his argument being drawn from
analogy, based upon the primal principles of
human and inorganic existence, as revealed
in chemistry, geology and mineralogy. Com-
petent critics have warmly commended this
work for its scientific exactness, poetic form
CRANE.
181
and literary finish, and it will be soon given
to the pubHc. Several years ago his atten-
tion was directed to natural history, and he
engaged in close studies in conchology, geol-
ogy and mineralogy, resulting in the collec-
tion of large and accurately classified
cabinets. His helicidae and limnaeidae (land
and fresh water snails) include nearly all
the 500 species found in the United States.
One genus of the limnaeidae (physa) he
has written for the Academy of Sciences at
Philadelphia. His collection of barytes has
been pronounced the most complete upon the
continent or in Europe, and includes varie-
ties which have not been found elsewhere
than in Pettis County, Missouri. His mar-
bles include a beautiful display of the many
varieties known in Missouri, several of which
are little known, and have not been produced
for the market. His attainments in these de-
partments of science led to his appointment
by Governor Stephens, in 1897, to member-
ship in the Missouri State Board of Geology
and Mines, and he was at once called to the
vice presidency of that body. In religion he
is an Episcopalian, and in politics a Demo-
crat. In 1868 he was a candidate for the
State Senate, and was defeated through the
disfranchisement of a large element of his
party under the operations of the Drake Con-
stitution. In 1868-72 he was a member of
the State Democratic central committee, and
was in large degree instrumental in institut-
ing and carrying on that policy which in 1870
returned his party to political control. Mr.
Crandall was married, in 1864, to Miss Kate
A. Kidd. Four children were born of this
marriage, of whom one is deceased. Those
living, are Emma, a graduate of the Sedalia
high schools, who completed a musical edu-
cation in the Boston Conservatory of Music,
now wife of Charles Evans, assistant treas-
urer of the Missouri Trust Company, St.
Louis, Missouri; Arthur Lee, a graduate of
the School of Mines, at Rolla, Missouri, en-
gaged with a trust company at Fort Worth,
Texas, and Stella May, who lives with her
parents.
Crane, Walter Silas, one of the most
successful mining operators in the Missouri-
Kansas mineral belt, was born May 12, i860,
near the present town of New Harmony, in
Pike County, Missouri. His parents were
William H. and Mary E. (Crow) Crane. The
father was a native of New York, and was
brought up a blacksmith. During the Civil
War he was a member of a Missouri Union
Regiment, and was afterward county judge
of Newton County. The mother was a na-
tive of Kentucky. The family removed to
Granby when their son, Walter S., was but
a child, and his education was acquired in
the schools at that place. From 1880 to 1882
he conducted a mercantile business at Gran-
by, and at various times afterward was sim-
ilarly occupied at Lehigh and Carthage.
During all these years, however, his attention
has been principally given to mining. He
was associated in business from 1883 to 1886
with W. S. Mesplay, to whom is attributed
the identification of zinc, at the time when
it was discarded as not only valueless, but'
as a hindrance to lead-mining. He relates
that when a boy, and while working in
Granby, he would gather up discarded ore,
heaped in a waste pile, and market it on his
own account at one dollar a ton, the low-
est price he has ever known. While engaged
in his mercantile ventures he never ceased
giving attention to mining, and from the first
to the present has been successful to an un-
usual degree. In company with Mr. Mes-
play, he was among the early operators at
the Lehigh mines, in 1892, and subsequently
he operated upon large properties in various
parts of Jasper County, in part upon exten-
sive tracts which he holds in fee, and in part
upon leased grounds. He is thoroughly
conversant with every phase of the mining
industry, and his judgment is regarded as
worthy of implicit confidence. For this rea-
son he is frequently sought by the inexpe-
rienced, and upon his verdict are based
numerous large transactions. Mr. Crane has
Jong been numbered among the most ener-
getic and influential Republicans of Jasper
County. He has been a frequent delegate
in congressional district and State conven-
tions, and has attended various national con-
ventions. He is at present chairman of the
Republican executive committee of Jasper
County. In 1892 he was elected to the City
Council of Joplin. In 1894 he was elected
sheriff of Jasper County, and in 1896 was
defeated, under the weight of the free silver
defection. In both of the nominating con-
ventions he was honored with a unanimous
nomination by acclamation. He was solic-
ited to again become a candidate in 1898,
182
CRAWFORD.
but declined. He is a Modern Woodman,
an Odd Fellow, an Elk, and a Mason, having
taken the Commandery degrees in the latter
order. He was married, September 19, 1899,
to Miss Anna Augusta Foard, a native of
Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Mrs. Crane was
graduated from the Kansas City High School
in 1889. She afterward resided for a time
in Europe, and during her stay abroad be-
came proficient as a French scholar, and ac-
quired great skill in tapestry painting, an
art which she studied in Dresden. Her an-
cestry is rarely interesting and honorable.
Her father was William Francis Foard, a
native of Kentucky; during the Civil War
he served with conspicuous gallantry as
major of a Missouri cavalry regiment in the
Confederate service. When a young man
he was a merchant in Leavenworth, Kan-
sas. Her mother, now living in Kansas City,
is a native of Missouri, and on her maternal
side is descended from William Randolph,
of Turkey Island, Virginia, founder of the
distinguished Randolph family in America,
of which John Randolph, of Roanoke, was
an illustrious representative, and which was
related to Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether
Lewis, and other leading A^irginia men and
families of the Colonial and Revolutionary
periods.
Crawford, Diigalcl, is one of the most
famous of Western merchants and head of
a great commercial house in St. Louis, the
fame of which has made his name familiar
to thousands and caused him to become, in
the broadest sense of that term, a public
man. Something more than thirty years ago,
in 1866, to be exact, the name of D. Craw-
ford first appeared in the list of St. Louis
merchants and he threw open the doors of
a tiny store at 418 Franklin Avenue. The
room in which this business was conducted
was thirteen by eighteen feet in its dimen-
sions, the only counter was nine feet long,
and Mr. Crawford was proprietor, clerk and
delivery man. At 6 o'clock in the morning
he opened the shutters and swept out the
store, and until 10 o'clock at night, and 12
o'clock on Saturday nights, he waited on
customers. Such was the founding, the plant-
ing, of Mr. Crawford's commercial enter-
prise, which has developed, like the scriptural
grain of mustard seed, until it has become
known far and wide as one of the greatest
mercantile institutions of a great city. In this
little shop Mr. Crawford sold $60,000 worth
of goods the first year, and the history of his
enterprise since that time is a record of
continuous expansion. For thirty-two years
he continued to occupy the site on which
his business was founded, and within that
time eight successive enlargements of the
store were made to meet the demands of a
trade which reached, in later years, an ag-
gregate of $2,000,000 annually and gave em-
ployment to more than 600 persons. Then
came the crowning event in a wonderfully
successful commercial career. Having en-
tirely outgrown the premises which it occu-
pied, Mr. Crawford found it necessary to
change the location of his store, and in 1898
he practically built a magnificent new store
on Sixth Street and Washington Avenue,
which was opened to the public on October
loth of that year. On that date St. Louis
awoke to a realization of the fact that one of
her merchants had taken a long step in ad-
vance, and had not only given the city one
of the largest department stores in the coun-
try, but a building also so unique in design
as to make it one of the chief attractions of
the metropolis. In contrast to the building,
itself an imposing structure, entirely white
in color, is the main entrance in black and
gold, surmounted by a large glass dome rest-
ing on pillars. Seats are fashioned around
the curve of the dome in the interior of the
second story, and from this resting place for
busy shoppers has arisen the popular ex-
pression, "Meet me 'round the dome." In
this building, five stories in height and cov-
ering three acres of ground, are innumera-
ble departments, requiring the services of
1,000 employes. Under one roof have been
gathered so great a variety of commodities
that nothing is more common than to see
both city and country shoppers spend an
entire day in this establishment, finding there
everything they desire to purchase, and as-
sured always of the fairest treatment and
most satisfactory prices. In addition to the
usual features of a mammoth department
store are many decided innovations. There
are also unique provisions for the comfort
of customers. On the fifth floor there is a
spacious restaurant which would do credit
to a clubhouse or hotel in excellence, and
on the fourth floor is a nursery for children
whose mothers are shopping. A consulting
CRAWFORD.
183
"fashion expert" advises ladies referring to
her in matters of taste. Mr. Crawford has
long provided medical attendance, free of
charge, for his saleswomen and cash girls,
and now has a medical department with two
doctors in charge to treat any customer fall-
ing ill while in his store. On Christmas,
1898, he made arrangements with a Hfe in-
surance company to insure every married
man in his employ. Each policy is for $1,000,
made out in favor of the man's wife, the first
year's premium to be paid for by the firm.
The two sons of Mr. Crawford have been
trained to commercial pursuits under his
wise guidance. To begin with, these two
sons, John Forsythe Crawford and James
Malcolm Crawford, had the commercial in-
stincts of the father, but this was not suf-
ficient to admit them at once into full fellow-
ship and partnership with the prudent and
sagacious Scotch merchant. Each has been
required to serve his apprenticeship to the
business which he is to aid in perpetuat-
ing and still further expanding. After famil-
iarizing himself with all the details of the
business in its various departments, John F.
Crawford, the elder of the sons, was admit-
ted to partnership with his father, and to
his shoulders the elder Crawford shifted a
large portion of the burden of management.
In the discharge of those duties he has proven
himself a worthy successor of his father, and
has taken a leading place among the younger
merchants of the city. James M. Crawford,
the younger son, is in charge of one of the
leading departments of the store, is a buyer
for the house, and enjoys wide popularity
in commercial circles.
There is much romantic interest in an ac-
count of the building of a great commercial
institution from small beginnings, and the
personality of its builder is equally interest-
ing. Hence it is appropriate in this connec-
tion to write of Mr. Crawford's early life,
and of some things outside of his business
career. He was born February 2d — Candle-
mas day — 1830, at Strone Point, under the
shadow of the Cowal Hills, at the junction
of the Kyles of Bute and Loch Striven,
Argyleshire, in the Highlands of Scotland.
His more remote ancestors came from Ayr-
shire, and through successive generations
were worthy people, who did credit to the
name they bore. His father was James
Crawford, who was engaged in trade, and,
incidentally, identified with the agricultural
and cattle interests of Argyleshire. His
mother's maiden name was Janet Weir, and
she belonged to the family of Weirs which for
over 200 years kept the ferry on Lochgyle.
It was one of the ancestors of Mr. Crawford,
in the maternal line, who was immortalized
in the poem, "Lord UUin's Daughter," writ-
ten by Thomas Campbell, in 1809. This an-
cestor was "the hardy Highland wight" who,
when appealed to by "the chief of Ulva's
Isle" and Lord Ullin's daughter to row them-
across the "dark and stormy waters" of
Lochgjle, gave answer :
" I'll go, my chief; I'm ready ;
It is not for your siller bright,
But for your winsome lady."
The story of that adventure of one of the
Weirs is a family tradition, and a member
of the family still lives and keeps the ferry
at the place which was the scene of the
tragic episode. Gaelic was the language
spoken by both the parents of ]\Ir. Craw-
ford, and he knew no other until he was
nearly three years old, when he went with
the family to the lowlands, and there began
to acquire a knowledge of the English. Ai
Rothesay, in the Isle of Bute, Buteshire, his
boyhood was passed, and there he attended
regularly until he was fifteen years old the.
best schools of that region, receiving in these
schools the thorough and practical training
which is the distinguishing feature of Scotch
education. At fifteen he was apprenticed to
a merchant of Glasgow, and was trained to
the calling in which he has since been so
eminently successful, in a city whose mer-
chants and financiers are world renowned
for their sagacity and commercial acumen.
At the expiration of the term of his ap-
prenticeship he became connected with one
of the leading mercantile houses of Dublin,
Ireland, and for several years afterward that
city was his place of residence and business
headquarters. For several years he was a
department buyer in two of the Dublin
"Monster Houses," so termed, and his trav-
els in that capacity familiarized him with the
scenic beauty of the British Isles, with his-
toric spots and the associations and traditions
clustered about them, and stored his mind
with the knowledge which has always given
to his conversation the flavor of poetic sen-
timent and spiced it with the Scotch humor
184
CRAWFORD.
which are as notable characteristics as his '
genius for the conduct of commercial enter-
prises. A Scotchman's love of Scotland is
an absorbing passion, and, feeling that he
could not at once sever the ties which bound
him to the land of his nativity, he returned
to Scotland, and for some time was in the
employ of Arthur & Co., of Glasgow, the
largest wholesale and retail dry goods house
in Great Britain. He enjoyed to the fullest
extent the confidence and esteem of these
employers, and a life position with them was
assured, but the Irish capital had attractions
for him, and he went back to Dublin. There
he again formed satisfactory trade connec-
tions, but the independence of his nature and
the ambition to make a name for himself
in the commercial world prompted him to
seek a field in which his talents could be
utilized to the best advantage. This brought
him to America, and the first two or three
years after his coming to the western hem-
isphere he spent in Canada. Then, in 1864,
he came to St. Louis and entered the em-
ploy of C. B. Hubbell, Jr., & Co., old-time
dry goods merchants. Later he was em-
ployed for over a year in the house of Barr,
Duncan & Co. In 1866, as previously stated,
he laid the foundation of the vast business
of which he is now the head, and which will
cause his name to be long remembered in a
city to the commercial importance of which
he has been a large contributor. At seventy-
one years of age he is a splendid specimen of
well preserved manhood, physically and
mentally vigorous, and still giving to his large
business interests constant supervision and
the benefit of his garnered wisdom and ripe
experience. In manner and appearance, and
in his methods of doing business, he is the
typical Scotch-American, coupling tenacity
of purpose and rugged honesty with true
Western tactfulness and enterprise. He is
the generous, warm-hearted Scotchman in
his impulses, full of the poetry and sentiment
which pervaded the atmosphere breathed by
him in childhood and early manhood, a lover
of Scotland's hills and dales and history and
traditions, but none the less a lover of his
adopted country and its institutions. He has
long been a conspicuous figure in the Scot-
tish societies of St. Louis, is an honorary
member of the Scottish Clans, and for over
twenty years has been president of the Cale-
donian Society. He is a member of the Mer-
cantile and St. Louis Qubs and the Legion
of Honor. He was reared a Presbyterian,
but later became a Congregationalist, and is
now a communicant of Pilgrim Church of
that denomination in St. Louis, of which
he has been a member for more than thirty
years. For twenty years he has been vice
president of Bethel Mission, and one of its
most liberal and helpful friends. He has
been a trustee also of Drury College, of
Springfield, Missouri, and has contributed
over $15,000 toward clearing its debt. When
the Congregational City Missionary Society
of St. Louis was organized he became its
first president, and retained that position for
eight years, making liberal use of his time
and money to promote church extension and
advance the cause of religion through that
agency. Such, in brief, is the story of the
busy life of Dugald Crawford, which presents
an object lesson well worthy of the careful
study of young men of the present day. Mr.
Crawford married, in 1861, Miss Jane For-
syth, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, where her
father was engaged in merchandising for
sixty years or more. At the time of her mar-
riage Mrs. Crawford was a school-teacher
in Toronto, Canada, and they were wedded
in that city. Six children were born of their
union, four of whom survive. They are Mrs.
D. O. Hill, of Chicago; John Forsyth
Crawford, Mrs. George H. Pegram, of New
York City, and James Malcolm Crawford.
Crawford, John Daniel, dealer in
real estate, farmer and stock-raiser, was born
in Pettis County, five miles northwest of
Sedalia, March i, 1838, a son of John Edward
and Sarilda Jane (Donnohue) Crawford. His
father, a native of Cumberland County, Ken-
tucky, was descended from Scotch-Irish an-
cestors, who first settled in Pennsylvania. He
came to Missouri in 1827, and almost imme-
diately started for the lead mines of Illinois
and Wisconsin. Two years later he came
down the Mississippi River to St. Louis with
flatboats loaded with lead. Soon afterward,
in 1830, he settled at Boonville, Cooper
County, where he married Miss McFarland.
They became the parents of two children,
Christopher Columbus, deceased, who served
in the Forty-fifth Missouri Volunteer In-
fantry in the Civil War; and William O., a
contractor, of Sedalia. Mrs. Crawford died
in 1834, and in 1836 Mr. Crawford married
CRAWFORD.
185
Miss Donnohue, who became our subject's
mother. She was born in Kentucky, a daugh-
ter of Daniel Donnohue, of Mt. Sterling, a
pioneer of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri.
Her parents afterward returned to Kentucky
to live. In Cooper County, Mr. Crawford
engaged in farming. For some time he was
adjutant of a regiment of Missouri State
militia, and afterward became colonel. Soon
after removing to Pettis County, in 1836, he
organized a volunteer company for the Mor-
mon War, and participated in the expedi-
tion. A staunch Whig, he represented Pettis
County in the Legislature in the forties.
Though reared in the Presbyterian faith, for
the last forty years of his life he was actively
interested in the welfare of the Baptist
Church, and helped to build many churches
for that denomination. He was a man of the
strictest integrity and wielded a powerful in-
fluence for the good of his community.
Though a slave-holder, he was a strong
Union man. His death occurred in Pettis
County, in 1891, at the age of eighty-nine
years. The children born of his second mar-
riage were John D., the subject of this
sketch; Ann Eliza, now the wife of James
J. Ferguson, of Pettis County, Missouri ;
Cynthia Minerva, now the wife of Rev. B. F.
Thomas, of Lafayette County, Missouri ;
James H., a resident of Steamboat Springs,
Colorado, who served as lieutenant in the
Sixth Cavalry Regiment of Missouri State
Militia, under command of Colonel John F.
Philips, during the Civil War ; Henry A.,
who died in Middle Park, Colorado, in 1882,
and Grant Crawford, assistant cashier of the
Citizens' National Bank of Sedalia. The edu-
cation of the subject of this sketch was ob-
tained in the district schools of his native
county and in William Jewell College, his
course at college being concluded in 1859.
For two terms he taught school, but upon
the outbreak of the Civil War he joined
General Lyon, of the Union Army, as guide
and helper on his trip through central Mis-
souri. In 1862 he assisted in the enrollment
of the State militia, and by his tactfulness
and personal popularity succeeded in keep-
ing large numbers of men from entering the
Confederate ranks. The Fortieth Regiment,
in whose organization he assisted, was under
Colonel Rush R. Spedden, and our subject
was mustered in as captain of Company C.
He was afterward made provost marshal at
Warrensburg, and later became captain
of Company K, Fifth Missouri Provisional
Regiment. In 1863, Colonel Spedden having
resigned, he was commissioned colonel of
the Fortieth Regiment, and served on de-
tached duty in central Missouri. The nu-
merical strength of the regiment was greatly
lessened by the enlistment of its members
with the regular volunteer service, until, in
1864, there remained but two hundred fit for
duty. In the meantime. Colonel Crawford
received a commission to raise a company
of artillery, but did not do so. In Septem-
ber, 1864, the Fortieth Regiment was called
into active service by Brigadier General E.
B. Brown. Colonel Crawford took command
of the post at Sedalia during the famous
raid of General Sterling Price, and for some
time was completely isolated from all other
Federal troops, all of southwest Missouri for
a distance of fifty miles being in the hands
of the enemy. Under Colonel Crawford's di-
rection, citizens were pressed into service,
and earthworks were thrown up. When Price
crossed the river at Jefferson City, General
Brown telegraphed Colonel Crawford that
the telegraph wires would soon be cut, and
directed him to secure all the horses and val-
uables, leave Sedalia, and keep in the open
field, or he would be captured. Realizing the
error in judgment committed by his general
in issuing such an order, he put out pickets
and remained in town for several days, or un-
til the Federal cavalry under General San-
born passed within three miles of Sedalia. To
General Sanborn he reported that he had
remained to defend the place, contrary to
orders, and was highly complimented for the
course he had taken. The latter's cavalry
then passed on, opening the gap which per-
mitted the raid of General JefT Thompson.
Colonel Crawford heard of Thompson's ap-
proach when the latter was but fifteen miles
away, and made everything ready for the
evacuation of the post, though he determined
to stay and see the enemy. On the evening
of October 14, 1864, having sent the horses
and valuables to the rear, they went out and
met the Confederate raiders two miles from
the town, which by this time had been nearly
surrounded. While his men were skirmishing,
Colonel Crawford, accompanied by two hun-
dred men, rode quietly through the ranks of
the enemy, but was soon stopped by the
inquiry: "Are you a Confederate or a Fed-
186
CRAWFORD.
eral?" "I am a Federal," replied he, and,
drawing his pistol, compelled his challenger
to ride quietly away with one of the orderlies.
The captive was subsequently sent to the St.
Louis prison. Colonel Crawford then took
his force and joined the Federals in Lafayette
County, with the loss of only two or three
men in the skirmish with Thompson. Return-
ing to Sedalia with his command the day
after the Confederates had abandoned the
place, he remained in the service until the
regiment was disbanded in November, 1864.
By disobeying the orders of General Brown,
he had saved all the stores and horses in
his charge. Colonel Crawford was married,
June 21, 1865, to Miss Annie Eliza Parberry,
a native of Pettis County, and a daughter of
Nathaniel N. Parberry, a native of Virginia,
a pioneer farmer and stock-raiser of Pettis
County, and a Union man. Li the same year
he settled on a farm of six hundred acres,
five miles south of Sedalia, where he began
farming and stock-breeding. During the
campaign of 1870 he identified himself with
the Liberal wing of the Republican party, and
as its candidate was elected recorder for
Pettis County, which office he held for
eight years. Since 1879 he has been en-
gaged in the real estate, abstract and loan
business with Major A. P. Morey, as Morey
& Crawford. In 1889 he was elected mayor
of Sedalia by the Republicans. He is a Mas-
ter Mason, for twenty-five years has been a
trustee of the First Baptist Church, and for
eighteen years, has been vice president of
the Citizens' National Bank. Colonel Craw-
ford has been, for over twenty-five years, a
regular visitor to Colorado and other States
of the Rocky Mountain regions, and now gees
to the Rockies every year. To these trips he
attributes his good health. He is a great
lover of the sports of the field, and his resi-
dence is adorned by numerous trophies of
the chase, secured by himself.
Crawford, Stephen Gray, physician
and surgeon, was born in Hartford, Ohio
County, Kentucky, July 27, 1842, a son of
Hugh Culwell and Rebecca (Foreman)
Crawford, both native Kentuckians. Hugh
C. Crawford was a son of Hugh Crawford, a
native of Virginia, of Scotch and English an-
cestry, and a soldier in the Revolution. He
married Jane Gray in 1788, soon afterward
settled in Kentucky at Bardstown, Nelson
County, where he helped to build the first
courthouse in the State. Subsequently he re-
moved to Ohio County, Kentucky, where he
died in 1848, at the age of eighty-two years.
In 1828 Hugh C. Crawford married Rebecca
Foreman, a daughter of Thomas Foreman —
a soldier in the War of 1812, holding a lieu-
tenant's commission at the battle of New Or-
leans — and a granddaughter of Abraham
Foreman, a Revolutionary soldier and a pio-
neer of Kentucky. The Foremans were of
English descent. Five years after his mar-
riage, H. C. Crawford moved to Hartford,
Kentucky, where he farmed and built and
operated a distillery. For some time he was
a captain in the Kentucky State Militia. In
1850 he removed to Grayson County, Ken-
tucky, where he died in 1875, at the age of
sixty-five years. His wife died in 1880, in her
sixty-fifth year. The subject of this sketch
spent most of his early life on the home farm,
and attended the public schools of Hartford.
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War he en-
listed in Company C, Forty-fifth Kentucky
State Militia, and was elected second lieu-
tenant. A year later he entered the regular
service, and July 22, 1863, was made United
States marshal of Leitchfield, Kentucky, with
the rank of captain, and was stationed at
Camp Calloway. November 9, 1863, Governor
Bramlette commissioned him lieutenant col-
onel of the Forty-fifth Kentucky State
Militia. In the spring of 1864 he was sent
to Louisville, where he remained until the
close of the war. Upon the declaration of
peace he engaged in merchandising in Ohio
County, but soon afterward returned to his
old home, where he conducted a farm, bought
and shipped tobacco, and was interested alfo
in the lumber business. In 1872 he began the
study of medicine, in which he had been in-
terested when a youth. After a course in the
Medical Department of the University of
Louisville, he engaged in practice for a while,
then he returned to college and concluded his
studies, receiving his degree in 1880. Bor-
rowing money to pay the expenses of his
journey, he removed to Missouri in thar year,
locating in Russellville. Four months later he
settled in Syracuse, Morgan County, and two
years later in Smithton. Since July 2, 1888,
he has been engaged in practice in Sedalia,
where he has been very successful. From
1873 to 1875, Dr. Crawford preached in the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Ken-
CRAWFORD COUNTY.
187
tucky, and in 1874 was ordained bishop in
that denomination. He is now a member of
the Presbyterian Church in which he served
as elder for some years. Fraternally he is
identified with the Odd Fellows, the Macca-
bees, the Woodmen of the World, the Select
Knights of Ohio, and the Ancient Order of
United Workmen. In politics he is a staunch
advocate of Republicanism. Professionally
he holds membership with the Kentucky
Alumni Association and the McDowell Med-
ical Association. In 1900 he received the de-
gree of bachelor of science. Outside of his
professional labors he deals extensively in
real estate, and is now the owner of fifteen
houses in Sedalia. Dr. Crawford was mar-
ried November 6, 1862, in Grayson County,
Kentucky, to Sultana Stinson, a native of
that State and a daughter of Colonel William
Stinson, a native of South Carolina, and a
soldier in the War of 1812. His father and
all his brothers were killed by the Indians
in South Carolina early in the nineteenth
century. Dr. and Mrs. Crawford are the
parents of three children: Mary R., wife of
J. O. Carpenter, of Sedalia, and Alice and
Ada, residing at home. Though the subject
of this sketch has resided in Missouri but
a little more than twenty years, the uniform
success which has attended his practice en-
titles him to a place in the foremost ranks
of the medical profession.
Crawford County. — A county in the
southeast-central part of the State, bounded
on the north by Gasconade and Franklin, east
by Washington and Iron, south by Iron and
Dent, and west by Dent, Phelps and Gas-
conade Counties; area, 475.000 acres. The
surface of the county is generally rough,
ranging from long strips of level bottom
land to high hills. The Meramec River tra-
verses the county in a tortuous course from
the southwestern part to the northwestern
corner. Its chief feeders from the south,
some of which are subtributaries, are Crook-
ed, Yankee, Dry, Huzza and School creeks,
and Fourche a Courtois and Fourche Brazil.
The branch of Bourbeuse and its many tribu-
taries water and drain the northwestern part.
Many large springs abound throughout the
county. Along the Meramec the bottoms are
of great fertility, the soil being a rich black
loam. In the valleys a light brown loam
abounds, well mixed with sand. In the up-
lands yellowish clay predominates. About
only two-fifths of the area of the county is
under cultivation, much of the remainder be-
ing wooded land bearing growths of white,
post and black oak, hickory, ash, elm, white
and black walnut, sycamore, maple, cherrv,
yellow pine, cedar and less valuable woods.
There were in the county, in 1899, about
4,000 acres of government lands subject to
entry under the homestead act. There are
also several thousand acres of railroad land,
originally granted to the Atlantic and Pa-
cific Railroad Company, of which the St.
Louis & San Francisco is the successor.
The minerals of the county are iron, lead,
zinc, copper, coal, fireclay and sandstone ex-
cellent for building purposes, and onjx of
superior quality, taking a fine polish and suit-
able for interior decorations. The most
profitable pursuits are agriculture, stock-
raising and horticulture. In 1898 there were
shipped from the county cattle, 1,936 head;
hogs, 12,400 head; wheat, 18,495 bushels;
flour, 905,645 pounds; lumber, 41,200 feet;
logs, 12,000 feet; cross-ties, 88,853; cord
wood, 3,741 cords; cooperage, 11 cars; iron
ore, 920 tons ; clay, 96 cars ; wool, 10,922
pounds ; poultry, 739,956 pounds ; eggs, 978,-
970 dozen; tallow, 1,395 pounds; hides and
pelts, 28,319 pounds; apples, 334 barrels;
strawberries, 154 crates; fresh fruit, 2,050
pounds ; dried fruit, 14,327 pounds ; vege-
tables, 1,860 pounds; nursery stock, 4,320
pounds; junk, 22 cars; furs, 2,197 pounds;
feathers, 1,177 pounds; charcoal, 56 cars;
broomcorn, 3,535 pounds. Other exports
from the county were honey, molasses, cider
and nuts. It is not positively known who
was the first white man to make his home
in the territory now comprising Crawford
County. It is supposed William Harrison
was the first, certainly one of the first. He
located in the county about 1817. In March,
1821, James Sanders, from Kentucky, set-
tled on Huzza Creek. At that time there
were living in the same neighborhood Peter
Brickey, ^^'illiam Fulbright and a number
of others, most all natives of Kentucky.
These settlers had reached the territory pre-
vious to Sanders a few years. Harrison, in
company with one Reeves, in 1818, opened
up an iron furnace on the Thickety, in the
northwestern part of the county. Harrison
also made the first land entry on September
20, 1823. The same day entries were made
188
CRAWFORD COUNTY.
by William Crow and John Wright, all of
whom took up land in Township 39, Range 2
West. During the following year a number of
other entries were made, the greater num-
ber of which were for land in Townships 37
and 39, Range 2 West. West of Steelville, in
what is now Union Township, was another
of the earliest settlements. Crawford Coun-
ty was organized by legislative act approved
January 23, 1829, out of territory that had
previously been attached to Gasconade Coun-
ty for civil and military purposes. January
4, 1831, the bondaries of the county of Craw-
ford were further defined, and on the 18th of
the same month a resolution was passed pro-
viding that all unorganized territory south
and west of Crawford County be attached to
the county for civil and military purposes.
On March 3, 1869, an act was passed fixing
the boundaries of Crawford County as they
now exist. The creative act of 1829 named
John Staunton, of Franklin ; John Dunnica,
of Cole, and Hugh Barclay, of Gasconade,
commissioners to locate a permanent seat
of justice, and directed that until a perma-
nent county seat be located the courts meet
at the house of James Harrison, who lived
near the old town of Jerome, in what is now
Phelps County, and there a postofifice was
established at Little Piney. It was located on
the Gasconade, near the mouth of the Little
Piney. The General Assembly, on February
13, 1833, ordered the county court to select
a suitable place for holding courts, "which
place shall be as near the center of popula-
tion of said county as circumstances will per-
mit." The members of the first county court
were William Montgomery, Barney Lowe
and John Duncan. The records of the pro-
ceedings of the county court from 1829 to
1835 have been lost. Up to May, 1836, the
court met at the house of James Harrison,
at Liberty Hill, Little Piney Creek. On De-
cember 18, 1835, the county court pur-
chased from James Steel forty acres of land,
now part of the town of Steelville, for $50.
This was laid out in lots. The original plat
shows that the town was laid out in thirty-six
blocks, each block having four lots. A small
courthouse was built of logs by James Steel,
at a cost of $500 and was used until 1857,
when a brick courthouse, two stories, 36x48
feet in dimensions, was built. February 15,
1873, this courthouse was burned and the fol-
lowing year another courthouse was built, at
a cost of about $11,000. This building burn-
ed January 5, 1884. It was insured for $8,000.
The present courthouse was erected in 1885,
at a cost of about $10,000. The first Circuit
Court of Crawford County was held at the
house of James Harrison, May 19, 1831,
Honorable David Todd, judge of the
First Judicial Circuit, presiding. This
court appointed James Harrison clerk
and recorder, and approved the creden-
tials of James Campbell as sheriff of
the county. John S. Brickey, Robert A. Ear-
ing, Robert "W. Wells, Philip Cole, David
Sterigere, John Jamison, John Wilson and
William Scott, on motion, were admitted to
practice as attorneys and counselors-at-law.
A grand jury was impaneled. The first trial
was the case of "The State of Missouri vs.
James Wilson," charged with horse-stealing.
He was placed under bond and his bond
was subsequently forfeited. The first petition
for a divorce in the county came before the
court February 12, 1832, Margaret Franklin
vs. Thomas Franklin. Abandonment was
charged, and a divorce was granted at the
August term of court, 1833. The first indict-
ment for murder was in August, 1834, the
case being the State vs. Ben, a slave. The
following December a nolle prosequi was en-
tered and the defendant was discharged. The
first legal execution in Crawford County
was the hanging of Mary, a slave, owned by
John Brinker, of Steelville, for killing one
of her children by drowning. She was hanged
in the town of Steelville, August 11, 1838.
There were a number of murders in the
county the following half century, the par-
ties to the crimes belonging to the lower
strata of society, but there were no legal
executions, punishments in all cases being
terms in the penitentiary. One of the
most horrible crimes in the history of the
county was the killing of Malcolm Logan
and his family near Leesburg, in 1886. Lo-
gan's body was found a mile away from his
home, and the remains of his wife and four
children, the eldest six years and the young-
est ten weeks old, were found in the burned
ruins of his cabin. Pat Wallace was sus-
pected of the crime. He was arrested and
placed in jail at Steelville. Early Tuesday
morning, October 7, 1886, an organized band
took charge of the town of Steelville, broke
into the jail, took out the prisoner, led him
to the railroad bridge over the Meramec, two
CRAWFORD COUNTY CAVES— CREMATORY,
miles from Steelville, where he was hanged.
He protested his innocence to the last
and accused a colored man living in the
county of the horrible crime. About 1889,
one Lewis Davis, who was thought to have
murdered David Miller, a farmer, for the
purpose of robbery in the river bottoms,
about three miles from Steelville, was taken
from jail by an organized band and hanged.
This was the last lynching in the county. A
flood caused damage in the county to the ex-
tent of about $500,000 July 8, 1898, an account
of which is given elsewhere in these volumes.
Crawford County is divided into nine town-
ships, named respectively, Benton, Boone,
Courtois, Knobville, Liberty, Meramec, Oak
Hill, Osage and Union. The assessed value
of real estate in the county in 1899 was
$1,877,231; estimated full value, $2,500,000;
assessed value of personal property, $586,-
032; estimated full value, $1,150,000; assess-
ed value of merchants and manufacturers,
$78,822. The St. Louis & San Francisco
Railway has sixty miles of track in the coun-
ty, the main line passing diagonally from
the northeast to the western center of the
county, and the Salem branch of the same
road running from Cuba, south through the
county west of the center. The number of
public schools in the county is 80; teachers
employed, 88; pupils, 4,624. The population
of the county in 1900 was 12,959.
CraAvford County Caves. — There are
a number of caves in Crawford County, one
of which is located six miles southwest of
Leesburg, near the Washington County line.
The entrance to this cave is an opening from
which a large stream of water flows. En-
trance is made by rowing in a boat through a
subterranean waterway for about one-fourth
of a mile. The cave abounds in many
startling and beautiful formations. There are
a great number of chambers of remarkable
beauty. The cave has been explored for
about two miles. It is one of the most beau-
tiful caves discovered in Missouri.
Crawford County Flood. — Early
on the morning of July 8, 1898, a severe storm
passed over the central part of Crawford
County east from the Phelps County line.
Great damage by water was caused thereby;
farm buildings were swept away, stock
drowned and many lives were lost. The
greatest damage was at Steelville, where six-
ty-three houses were swept away and thir-
teen lives lost. Seven miles of the track of
the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway was
washed out. The total damage caused in the
county was estimated at more than $500,000.
Creighton.— A village in Cass County,
on the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Rail-
way, twenty miles southeast of Harrisonville,
the county seat. It has a public school, four
churches, and a flourmill, and is a coal ship-
ping point. In 1899 the population was 650.
Crematory.— One of the earliest advo-
cates in the United States of the cremation of
the bodies of the dead was Dr. Francis J. Le
Moyne, of Washington, Pennsylvania, and
near that city he erected the first crematory in
the United States in 1876. Discussion of this
method of disposing of the remains of the
dead has been general since that time, and,
notwithstanding the fact that the vast major-
ity of the American people still cling to the
custom of burial which has come down to us
from remote generations of our ancestors,
cremation has, upon the whole, steadily added
to the number of its advocates and is now one
of the firmly established institutions of the
country. Honorable Albert Todd, Dr. E. C.
Chase and other gentlemen then prominent in
St. Louis, began advocating the erection of a
crematory in that city, within a few years
after the erection of the crematory at Wash-
ington, Pennsylvania, and gradually the
project gained friends until, in 1887, the Mis-
souri Crematory Association was organized
and incorporated under the laws of the State,
with a capital stock of $20,000, divided into
800 shares, of the par value of $25
per share. Among the first subscribers to
the stock were Albert Todd, Dr. Chase,
August Kriekhauss, Rev. Mr. Learned, of the
Unity Church ; Rev. John Snyder, of the
Church of the Messiah; C. A. Stifel and
George M. Harker. Under the auspices of
this association, the Missouri Crematory and
Columbarium, at the intersection of Arsenal
Street and Sublette Avenue was built, and
by this association its affairs have since been
controlled and directed. The crematory is a
fire-proof one-story building, what is known
as the "chapel" occupying the main floor.
Underneath the chapel is the incinerating de-
partment, which is connected with the chapel
190
CRENSHAW.
by an elevator. There are two separate and
complete furnaces in the incinerating depart-
ment, and the gases used in the process of
cremation burn with a clear, bright flame,
creating an intense heat. The rules of the
association require that bodies to be cre-
mated should be clothed simph- and inclosed
in a plain and inexpensive cofifin. When
notified to do so, the association makes
provisions for religious services at the crema-
tory. When the incineration of a body has
been completed, the ashes of the deceased are
removed to the Columbarium, or placed in
possession of those entitled to them by right
of kinship or friendship. The Columbarium,
which is a sepulchral chamber with niches
and shelves for holding cinerary urns, and
which is designed to be a permanent repos-
itory for the ashes of the dead, is a fire-proof
structure, built of granite, iron and Roman
brick, and so constructed that those of mod-
erate means, as well as the rich, many find
places for the remains of their dead within
its walls. The minimum cost of placing an
urn within the Columbarium is $io, and of
niches the minimum cost is $25. Beyond
this, however, there is opportunity for those
wishing to pay such tributes to their deceased
friends to equal the expense of the costliest
monuments in the adornment of the niches
in which their remains have been deposited.
Up to July I, 1897, 614 bodies had been in-
cinerated at the Missouri Crematory, among
the first being that of Rev. Dr. Learned, one
of the founders of the institution.
'{W ""■ '
Crenshaw, Giles Young, stockman
and politician, was born September 28, 1839.
at Equality, Gallatin County, Illinois. His
parents were William Easly Crenshaw, born
in North Carolina, March 4, 1804, and
Casandia Footpage Crenshaw, nee Taylor,
born in Richmond, Virginia, January 10.
1808. They were married, in 1827, in Galla-
tin County, Illinois, their respective families
having emigrated, first to Kentucky, and
later to Illinois. To them were born six boys
and four daughters, all of whom but one, a
son, attained maturity and became well-to-do
and respected citizens in different States. In
1841 the parents of Mr. Crenshaw moved to
Springfield, Illinois, where his father died in
1864. His mother continued to reside there
until 1870, when she removed to St. Clair
County, Illinois. Here she resided until her
death, in 1884. Mr. Crenshaw was educated
in the common schools of Sangamon County
and later in Parson's Business College, of
Springfield, Illinois. On attaining his major-
ity he first engaged in the stock business,
which he conducted successfully for some
seventeen years in Illinois, and in Missouri —
to which State he removed in 1874, settling
in DeKalb County. In 1876 Mr. Crenshaw
was married to Miss Annie Celestia Holmes,
of Maysville, Missouri, daughter of John H.
Holmes, a prosperous farmer of DeKalb
County. Their union has been blessed by
seven children, four sons and three daugh-
ters, all of whom survive except one daugh-
ter, who died in infancy. Their names,
according to age, are: John H., Edith M.,
Claude R., Lowell W., Margaret L. and
Vivian E. Crenshaw. The eldest, Dr. John
H. Crenshaw, is married and living at Gales-
burg, Illinois, where he is practicing medi-
cine. In 1878 Mr. Crenshaw was elected
circuit clerk and recorder of deeds of DeKalb
County, and re-elected in 1882. So com-
mendable was his administration of these
offices that his constituents insisted upon
electing him the third term, and were so in
earnest that the Democratic County Con-
vention nominated him. He, however, de-
clined the nomination, insisting that he had
held it long enough ; believed in the Demo-
cratic doctrine of rotation in office, and was
especially opposed to third terms. His last
term as circuit clerk and recorder of deeds
expired January i, 1887. Prior to this date,
in 1886, the DeKalb County Bank was or-
ganized, and Mr. Crenshaw was elected
president of the enterprise. To the duties
of this position he devoted himself until 1891,
when he resigned to engage in the general
real estate and loan business, with offices in
Maysville. In 1896 he was elected president
of the Town Mutual Fire Insurance Asso-
ciation of the Third Congressional District.
In this position he continued until March 4,
1897, when he was appointed United States
marshal for the Western District of Missouri,
to succeed General Joe Shelby. With his
usual marked ability, tireless energy, and
vigilance, he filled the marshalship until the
expiration of his term, July i, 1898. On
retiring from this office he devoted his time
in looking after his private business interests,
and in aiding the Democratic party managers
in the campaign of 1900. Mr. Crenshaw has
CREVE COEUR LAKE— CRESAP.
191
been a zealous Democrat and a ready worker,
and a liberal and cheerful contributor to cam-
paign funds. For twelve successive years he
served on the Congressional committee of
the Third District while Governor Dockery
represented it in Congress. Some eight
years of this time he was chairman of the
committee, and on him devolved the laborious
work of these campaigns. To his sagacity,
foresight, wise management and ceaseless
effort, more than to any other one man, was
due the continued triumphs of Democracy
in the Third District. He is recognized the
State over as one of the party's wisest and
safest leaders. The consensus of opinion
among Democrats at this date (1901) is that
he will be one of Governor Dockery's most
trusted advisors. Immediately after Gov-
ernor Dockery's inauguration he called Mr.
Crenshaw to act as his private secretary,
which position he fills at this writing.
Creve Coeur Lake. — A beautiful
sheet of water, eighteen miles from St. Louis,
accessible by two railroads. It is a pleasant
resort for picnic and festive parties in the
summer, having a hotel, boathouses, row-
boats and fishing appliances.
Creole. — "A Creole is one born of Eu-
ropean parents in the American Colonies of
France or Spain, or in the States which were
once such colonies, especially those of French
or Spanish descent who are natives of Louis-
iana and their descendants." The Century
Dictionary defines the term "Creole" as orig-
inally "a native descended from French an-
cestors who had settled in Louisiana ; later,
any native of French or Spanish descent, by
either', parent ; a person belonging to the
French-speaking native portion of the white
race." Among the more prominent Creole
families of St. Louis have been the Bertholds,
Chouteaus, Cabannes, Chauviers, Chenies,
Gratiots, Masures, Papins, Pauls, Prattes and
Valles. (See "Creoles of St. Louis," by Paul
Beckwith, published in 1893.)
Cresap, Sanford Preston, clergy-
man, was born April 26, 1869, in the country,
six miles east of St. Charles, Missouri, son
of William Sanford and Ann Maria Cresap,
the first named a native of Maryland, and the
last named born in Virginia. The family to
which he belongs traces its genealogy back
to Colonel Thomas Cresap, who emigrated
to America from Yorkshire, England, in 1715,
and settled in Maryland. From this ancestor
Mr. Cresap is removed four generations.
Several of his ancestors in this line, among
them his grandfather, were fighters in the
American Revolution. Captain Michael
Cresap commanded a company of Maryland
riflemen under Washington. The remains of
Captain Cresap rest in Trinity churchyard iii
New York, and a heavy old-fashioned grave-
stone marks the grave. The father of
Sanford P. Cresap died when the son was
twelve years of age, and he was reared and
educated under the guidance of his mother,
whose painstaking and conscientious care, the
high ideals which she set before him, and
the religious training which she gave him,
strongly impressed his character. After
attending the public schools he was, for a
time, a student at St. Charles College, and
then went to Central College, at Fayette,
Missouri, from which institution he was grad-
uated. At Central College he was a gold-
medalist in declamation, and also in oratory.
In his youth Mr. Cresap had worked for sev-
eral years in a large mercantile house in St.
Charles, and thus acquired some business
experience. His inclination, however, was
toward the ministry of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, of which church he
became a member when he was fifteen years
of age. When he was eighteen years of age
he was licensed by that church to preach the
gospel. He was regularly ordained when
twenty-four years of age, by Bishop C. B.
Galloway, of Mississippi, and admitted on
trial into the Missouri Conference, thus be-
coming an active Methodist preacher. He
was first sent by the conference to serve a
mission charge in St. Joseph, Missouri, and
there gained a varied experience, which has
been helpful to him in his later work. From
St. Joseph he was sent to Maryville, Mis-
souri, where he remained four years, filling
the limit of a pastorate in the Methodist
Church. His third appointment was to the
pastorate of the church at Moberly, which he
has since served ably and faithfully, being
now (1900) in the third year of his work at
that place. In this connection it will be in-
teresting to briefly sketch the history of the
church, of which Dr. Cresap is now the much
beloved pastor.
When Moberly was young — indeed, almost
192
CRESAP.
upon the occasion of its incorporate birth —
when there were hardly 150 inhabitants all
told, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
recognizing the town's present needs, and
having faith in its future growth, organized
the first church in the town of JMoberly. The
town was hardly more than a railroad camp,
but the farsighted and energetic D. H. Root,
minister in charge of the Huntsville circuit,
saw large possibilities for the town and un-
derstood the eminent needs of a religious
organization. He was a strong, jovial and
earnest Methodist minister. His personality
and congeniality attracted and impressed the
hardy settlers and the railroad workmen, and
his visits to preach in their homes became
frequent. About the time, immediately be-
fore or after, that the original town of
Moberly was incorporated, which was in
May, 1868, this Rev. D. H. Root organized
the first religious organization, with scarcely
more than a score of members. But they
were an earnest and a determined body, with
faith in God and faith in men. In the fall of
1868, by sacrifice and untiring activity, in the
face of most discouraging difficulties, and un-
der the leadership of Mr. Root, these feeble
folk, true, tried and trusty, undertook the
erection of the first church house in Moberly,
and completed it. The dedication was con-
ducted by Rev. John D. Vincil, now an
eminent officer in the Masonic Lodge of Mis-
souri. The house was a neat and substantial
wooden structure, thirty feet wide and fifty
feet long. In three years the town had so
grown and the organization had so pros-
pered, that the entire time of a minister was
demanded. So in the fall of 1871, the ap-
pointment was taken from the Huntsville
circuit and was made a station, with Rev. H.
P. Bond as the station minister. A steady
and constant growth followed. The minutes
of the annual conferences show the following
order of appointments to Moberly station
for the next few years : H. D. Groves, E. M.
Mann, S. L. Woody, J. A. Beagle, C. C.
Cleavland, W. J. Jackson. In the third year
of Mr. Jackson's pastorate an unusual occur-
rence happened. It was in the winter of
1879-80. Mr. Jackson had called in the Rev.
John D. Vincil to assist him in a revival he
had begun. Moberly, at that time, was in
great need of aggressive religious work. As
is so often the case in a young railroad town,
Moberly, while growing in size, had also
grown in sin, immorality and drinking. Dr.
Vincil, with that manly courage that has
always characterized him, and in the pointed
and earnest manner of his early preaching,
turned his discourse against the popular sins
of the place, and especially against the
saloon. It was an earnest and forceful ap-
peal. Many felt and accepted the truth and
were ready to stand against the evils. Oth-
ers, whose iniquitous business it affected,
were maddened. It was the supposed result
that on that wintry night, before morning
dawned, some incendiary had set fire to the
building, and the light of day showed but
the ashes and ruins of the former structure.
This in no wise disheartened the members.
It rather gave occasion for the erection of a
larger and more substantial brick structure.
Upon its completion the membership entei;-
tained in it the sixty-fifth annual session of
the Missouri Conference, with Bishop Pierce
presiding.
After Rev. Jackson's four-year pastorate,
the following served the charge in the order
named: C. Grimes, A. Mizell, L. B. Mad-
ison, T. G. Whitten. Mr. Whitten was a man
of strong will, unvarying courage and inex-
haustible energy. Seeing the membership
needed better and larger quarters, he set him-
self about raising funds for a new building.
The present modern and commodious struc-
ture on Fourth and Rollins Streets is a mon-
ument to his personality and faith. Shortly
after its dedication, in 1889, the greatest
revival in the history of the organization was
held under the leadership and preaching of a
Rev. Mr. Williams, of Georgia. Consider-
ably over 100 souls were added to the church.
It took on new life and larger usefulness.
After Mr. Whitten's pastorate, C. M. Led-
better, J. H. Pritchett, Robt. White, A. F.
Smith and S. P. Cresap followed as the suc-
cessive ministers in charge, the last named
in his third year as the pastor at this date
(1901). Large congregations and frequent
additions to the membership attest the fact
that the church is keeping up well with the
growth and development of the city; closely
identified with the city's history, it has had
considerable part in conserving the moral
and religious life of the community.
An accomplished and scholarly man, and
one entirely devoted to his calling, the pas-
toral labors of Dr. Cresap have been prolific
of good, and he is regarded by all who know
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS— CRIMINAL INDICTMENT, FIRST.
193
him as one of the able and influential Meth-
odist preachers of Missouri. He has a large
library, and in addition to his theological
studies is a close student of general literature.
December 27, 1894, he married Miss Sarah
Martha Payne, of Payne, Iowa. She is the
only daughter of Rev. Aloses U. Payne, a
man widely known for his wealth and his
unbounded benevolence, and his daughter
possesses the noble and unselfish traits of her
good old father. She is a graduate of How-
ard-Payne College at Fayette, Missouri, and
is a gold-medalist in art. Admirably fitted
by nature and education to be the wife of
such a man as Dr. Cresap, their union has
been a happy one, and she has ably seconded
her husband in his arduous and delicate
duties as a minister of the gospel. C. S.
Crimes and Piinishmeiits.— The
Alissouri Statute of- Crimes and Punish-
ments takes up ninety-eight pages in the
Revised Statutes, being Chapter 47, and con-
taining eleven articles. The first relates to
offenses against the government and the
supremacy of law; the second to offenses
against the lives and persons of individuals ;
the third to offenses against public and
private property; the fourth to offenses
affecting records, currency, instruments and
securities; the fifth to offenses affecting the
administration of justice ; the sixth to offenses
by persons in office, and affecting public
trusts and rights; the seventh to offenses
against public order and peace ; the eighth to
offenses against public morals and decency;
the ninth on miscellaneous provisions; the
tenth on the subject of local jurisdiction of
public offenses; the eleventh concerning the
limitations of criminal actions and prosecu-
tions.
pay them; and the State also pays the cost
of boarding juries and an officer in charge of
them, at the rate of $1.50 per day. The county
pays, when the defendant is sent to the county
jail or fined, or both imprisoned and fined.
In all capital cases and cases in which the
penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary,
where the defendant is acquitted, the State
pays the costs; in all other trials on indict-
ment or information, the county pays. In
cases where the defendant is prosecuted to
be subjected to fine, penalty, or forfeit, the
costs are to be paid by the prosecutor, if
there be a failure to convict. Of course, as
the State grows in population, crime in-
creases also, and there is an increase in the
aggregate costs of criminal prosecutions ; but
these costs have grown at a greater rate than
the population, and all attempts to reduce
them considerably without impairing the effi-
ciency of prosecutions have been failures. In
the three years 1840-1-2, when the maximum
population of the State was 443,000, the costs
were $44,759, or less than $15,000 a year. In
1871-2 they had grown to $344,078; and in
1897-8 to $864,551, with $13,607, in addition,
for apprehending criminals. The State audi-
tor, in his report for 1897-8, says : "I am of
the opinion that criminal costs are, now, and
have been for years, too large, and believe
that the fault is in the law, which permits
the worst class of criminals with money to
secure continuances and changes of venue
not required for a proper administration of
justice. A single unnecessary continuance of
a case practically doubles the cost the State
should pay, and a change of venue means
the piling up of enormous bills to be footed
by the tax-payers. I, therefore, recommend
that the laws be amended to bring persons
charged with crime to more speedy trial."
Criminal Costs. — The costs of crim-
inal prosecution in Missouri have long been a
subject of public concern and of discussion in
the Legislature and official messages and re-
ports. They fall chiefly on the State, and
not on the counties where the prosecutions
take place, and they form one of the largest
items in the annual expenditures. The State
pays all the costs in all capital cases where
the defendant is convicted or sent to the peni-
tentiary, or, when under eighteen years of
age, he is sent to a reformatory institution,
and when the defendant himself is unable to
VoK 11—13
Criminal Indictment, First. — The
first criminal indictment in the Louisiana
Territory, after it came under the authority
of the United States government, was re-
turned by the first grand jury at St. Charles,
in 1805. It follow^s the form of the old Eng-
lish indictment, and recites that "James
Davis, with a certain rifle gun four feet long,
and of the value of four dollars," did, Decem-
ber 14, 1804, at Femme Osage, kill William
Hays. The foreman of the jury signed his
name ; all the other jurors made their marks.
Davis was put under $3,000 bonds, Daniel
CRITTENDEN.
Boone being his surety. He was acquitted
upon trial.
Crittenden, Elizabeth, was born in
Mason County, Kentucky, daughter of Dr.
James \\". and Mary Moss. Both her parents
belonged to old \'irginia families, and the
Jefferson, Randolph, Pleasants and other'
noted families of the "Old Dominion" were
closely related to them. Elizabeth Moss was
reared and educated in Kentucky, and came
with her parents to St. Louis when she was
approaching womanhood. Later her father,
Dr. AIoss, removed to Boone County, Mis-
souri, where he conducted an extensive farm
and entertained in the old-fashioned South-
ern way, his home being one of the chief
centers of social attraction in that region. At
this charming home Miss Moss was wooed
and won by Dr. Daniel T. Wilcox. Dr Wil-
cox died in early manhood, and at the age of
thirty his widow became the wife of General
William H. Ashley, at that time a representa-
tive in Congress from St. Louis. Immedi-
ately after this marriage Mrs. Ashley was
ushered into the society of Washington, then
adorned by many women of intellect, educa-
tion and refinement. Her remarkable beauty
and grace at once attracted great attention,
and very soon her tact and mental accom-
plishments, the simplicity of her manner, her
dignity of deportment and her kind consid-
eration for others made her welcome every-
where. Becoming at once a favorite in the
most refined and highly intellectual circles of
the national capital, she continued to be such
for thirty years thereafter. General Ashley
died in 1838, and Mrs. Ashley returned to
her beautiful home in St. Louis, where she
spent a portion of her time thereafter, draw-
ing around her a circle of admiring friends in
that city, some of whom still recall with
pleasure the happy hours spent in her com-
pany. In 1853 she married John J. Critten-
den, Kentucky's distinguished Senator and
orator, who was then Attorney General of
the United States under President Fillmore.
From that time until Mr. Crittenden's death
in 1863 she passed all her winters in Wash-
ington, and became one of the most widely
known women in the United States. She
was familiarly acquainted with all the public
men of that era and with the representatives
of foreign countries, was universally ad-
mired, and her society equally courted. A
great reader, she had a thorough knowledge
of the English classics, and of the best litera-
ture of our own country, and her conversa-
tion was always polished, charming and
impressive. Her social success was achieved
by exquisite tact, and through remarkable
graces of mind as well as person. It is said
that she was never known to forget a face
and rarely the name of one to whom she had
been introduced, however remote had been
the time of meeting. Senator Crittenden was
a man of great simplicity of character, and
of unbounded hospitality, and his wile
adorned his simple home in Frankfort, Ken-
tucky, with all the graces and attractions
which had made her so conspicuous in Wash-
ington. Her remarkable versatility adapted
her equally to all ranks and conditions, and
the hospitable fireside of Mrs. Crittenden
was rendered more charming by her wonder-
ful domestic knowledge and home accom-
plishments. In all the varied departments of
housekeeping, Mrs. Crittenden was as pro-
ficient as in those qualities which gave her
high position in fashionable society. After
the death of Senator Crittenden she removed
to the city of New York, and resided there
eight years. In the early fall of 1872 she re-
turned to St. Louis, and died there on the
8th of February, 1873.
Crittenden, Thomas T., lawyer, sol-
dier. Congressman, Governor of Missouri,
and United States minister to Mexico, was
born at Gloverport, Kentucky, in 1832, and
is a worthy member of the distinguished
family whose name he bears, his father hav-
ing been a brother of John J. Crittenden,
Governor and Senator from Kentucky, and
he himself a brother of the "Will" Crittenden
who was shot in Havana, in 1852, for par-
ticipating in the ill-fated Lopez expedition
for the deliverance of Cuba from Spanish
rule. Thomas T. Crittenden was graduated
from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in
1855, studied law under his distinguished
uncle, John J. Crittenden, at Frankfort, and
in 1857 came to Missouri, locating at Lex-
ington, where he soon became one of the
foremost members of the bar, eminent for
ability and learning. When the Civil War
began he espoused the Union cause and was
appointed lieutenant colonel in the enrolled
militia, serving until the end of the war. On
the return of peace he resumed the practice
CROCKER— CROSS COUNTRY CLUB.
195
of law at Warrensbiirg, with General F. M.
Cockrell for a partner, actively exerting his
influence to bring about a restoration of fra-
ternal feeling among the people, and com-
mending himself by the high and generous
spirit in which he treated the questions that
divided them. In 1872 he was elected to
Congress from the Seventh District, and in
1876, after an interval of one term, was again
elected. During his two terms he was dis-
tinguished for boldness and skill as a debater
and parliamentarian and his able champion-
ship of the interests of the West. In 1880 he
was elected Governor on the Democratic
ticket, over D. P. Dyer, the Republican can-
didate, and served to the end of the four
years' term. His administration, peaceful
and prosperous, was distinguished by the
energetic measures adopted for breaking up
the James gang of bank and express robbers,
which had carried on operations, almost un-
hindered, for thirteen years. Jesse James
was shot and killed by Bob Ford at St. Jo-
seph, and Frank, the other brother, went to
the State capital and voluntarily surrendered
to Governor Crittenden in the executive
ofifice. He had the satisfaction also of bring-
ing about the settlement of the claim of the
State against the Hannibal & St. Joseph
Railroad for $3,000,000 bonds loaned to.it in
1851 and 1855, the road paying the claim in
full, with interest. During the second ad-
ministration of President Cleveland he was
United States minister to Mexico, and ren-
dered valuable services to his countrv in pro-
moting friendly relations between the two
republics. At the close of his diplomatic ca-
reer he returned to Missouri and estabhshed
his home in Kansas City, where he has since
practiced his professsion and occupied a
prominent position at the bar.
Crocker. — A town on the St. Louis &
San Francisco Railroad, in Pulaski County,
nine miles north of Waynesville, the county
seat. It was founded about 1870. It has
two churches, a school, six stores and hotel.
Population, 1899 (estimated), 300.
Crop Failure.— Serious crop failures
occurred in southwestern Missouri in 1856,
owing to excessive rainfall in the spring, and
drouth in the summer, and there was great
distress the following year in the counties of
Barry, Lawrence, Webster, Polk, Dallas, La-
clede, Taney, Ozark and Greene. In Ozark,-
of which Rockbridge was then the county
seat, the May term of circuit court was ad-
journed for the reason that the town could
not procure sufficient provisions to feed the
people. Many cattle and hogs died from
starvation, and stage horses were so thin and
weak as to excite ridicule. In Springfield, seed
of all kinds commanded exorbitant prices.
Sweet potatoes sold at $7 a bushel, Irish po-
tatoes $2, and corn $1.50. Man}- people left
the country.
Cross Country Club.— This club was
organized in 1895, in St. Louis, as the "Cross
Country Cyclers," with twenty charter mem-
bers and the following officers : Ralph War-
ner, president ; William Louderman, vice
president ; Rufus Lackland Taylor, treas-
urer ; Arthur Smucker, secretary. The mem-
bership of the club was limited to fifty, and
was composed principally of wealthy young
men, from old aristocratic families of St.
Louis. Well equipped club quarters were
opened at Spring Avenue, near Vandeventer
Place, and the members went to work en-
thusiastically to make the organization the
crack cycle club of the West. The member-
ship rapidly rose to the limit, with from fif-
teen to thirty applications always on file to
take any vacancy that might occur. Cycling
tours through the State and to distant points
in Illinois, as far as Chicago, were planned
from time to time, and executed with a pro-
ficiency that attracted wide attention, and
secured for the cyclists, wherever they ap-
peared in their attractive uniforms of white
sweaters, striped alternately with orange and
black, marked recognition. In 1898 the club
was reorganised with the following officers :
Clarence White, president ; William Louder-
man, vice president ; Herbert Morris, secre-
tary ; Rufus L. Taylor, treasurer. It was also
determined to enlarge the membership from
fifty to three hundred, change the name to
"Cross Country Club," and secure more
commodious quarters. A large clubhouse
was accordingly leased at Sarah Street and
Suburban Tracks, and especially fitted up for
the accommodation of the club. Here the
club remained until February, 1899, when a
charter was taken out, new officers elected,
with ]\Ir. Arthur Smucker as president ; Clar-
ence White, vice president : Clarence Bren-
izer, secretarv; Rufus L. Tavlor, treasurer:
196
CROSSEN— CROW.
and permanent quarters secured at Grand
Avenue and ^^'est Pine Boulevard, formerly
the quarters of the ^Marquette Club, and thor-
oughly fitted up with all the equipments of a
modern athletic club.
Crosseii, Harry Sturgeon, physician,
was born February 2, 1869, in Appanoose
County, Iowa, son of James H. and Sarah A.
(Sturgeon) Crossen. In that State Dr.
Crossen spent the earlier years of his boy-
hood, but when he was four years of age his
mother died, and a year later he was left en-
tirely orphaned by the death of his father.
He was taken then into the home of his
uncle, Mr. R. S. Morris, at that time a resi-
dent of Iowa, but now a well known banker
of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Treated as a
son, he grew up in the family of Mr. Morris,
receiving the kindliest care and considera-
tion, and enjoying the best educational ad-
vantages of the region in which he lived. He
first attended a country school in Iowa, was
later a public school student at Lincoln, Ne-
braska, and completed his academic studies
at Siloam Springs Academy, of Siloam
Springs, Arkansas. Having made choice of
the medical profession as his vocation in life
he entered upon a systematic course of study
at St. Louis Medical College in the fall of
1889, and was graduated from that institu-
tion in the class of 1892. Immediately after
receiving his doctor's degree he entered a
competitive examination for appointment as
one of the assistant physicians of the City
Hospital, of St. Louis, and, as a result, be-
came a member of the hospital corps, begin-
ning his practice in that connection. At the
end of a year he was made senior assistant
physician, and a few months later, assistant
superintendent of the hospital. In this ca-
pacity he served until 1895, and evidenced
both his attainments as a physician and his
capacity as an executive officer, and his faith-
ful work won for him the esteem and high
regard of his professional brethren. He pre-
pared for publication reports of various in-
teresting cases treated at the hospital, assisted
the superintendent in the preparation of re-
ports on an extensive series of surgical oper-
ations, and at the request of the Health
Commissioner of St. Louis, investigated and
reported on a peculiar disease which made
its appearance at the workhouse, also con-
ducted a series of experiments at the quaran-
tine station, made for the purpose of noting
the eftects of a specially prepared antitoxine
in small-pox cases. Having given abundant
evidence of his peculiar adaptability to hos-
pital practice, and his ability to conduct an
institution of this character in accordance
with the most approved methods, he was, in
1895, appointed by Mayor Walbridge super-
intendent of the St. Louis Female Hospital,
a position which he has since retained.
Crosslaiicl. — See "Sumner."
Cross Timbers. — An unincorporated
town in Hickory County, nine miles north-
east of Hermitage, the county seat. It has
a Christian Church, a Methodist Church, a
bank, and a fiourmill. In 1899 the popula-
tion was estimated at 550. It was formerly
known as Garden City, and was platted in
1 871 by Ezekiel Kirby.
Crow, Asbxiry McKeiidree, physi-
cian, was born July 22, 1840, at Carrollton,
Kentucky. He was of Scotch-Irish descent ; a
paternal ancestor married a sister of General
Montgomery, who fell gloriously at Quebec.
His parents were James C. and ■ Nancy W.
(Whittaker) Crow. The father, who was a
Kentuckian by birth, and of Virginia parent-
age, was an itinerant Methodist preacher,
whose ministrations extended throughout a
large portion of Kentucky. The mother was
a daughter of Josiah Whittaker, also a
Methodist minister in the same State, a man
of great physical vigor and force of charac-
ter, who on occasion engaged in public de-
bate with Alexander Campbell. His preach-
ing appointments covered a territory of two
hundred miles. While devoted to his calling,
he amassed a large fortune and made liberal
provision for his children. The parents died at
the ages of eighty-two years and eighty years,
respectively. Their son, Asbury McKen-
dree, w^as named for two famous Methodist
bishops, who were their personal friends.
He was reared upon a farm, and received
only such early education as was afforded
by the very ordinary country schools of that
day. In 1859 he began to read medicine un-
der Dr. John D. Batson, of Harrison County,
Kentucky, and in 1860-1 attended lectures at
the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati.
He afterward took a full course of instruc-
tion in Bellevue Hospital Medical College,
CROW.
197
New York, and was graduated in March,
1865. He practiced for a time at Oddville,
Harrison County, Kentucky, and in 1869 re-
moved to Kansas City, where he has been
actively engaged in general practice to the
present time. March, 1899, marked the com-
pletion of thirty years of continuous practice
within two squares of Grand Avenue and
Fourteenth Street, in that city. In all that
time, and during repeated financial disturb-
ances, he has maintained himself in solvency.
Of all the physicians who were in business
there when he began, but two remain in
practice. Aside from his personal profes-
sional labors, he has served at times as con-
sulting physician of All Saints' Hospital, and
of the German Hospital. He was city phy-
sician in 1873, under Mayor E. L. Martin;
in 1878, under Mayor George M. Shelly, and
in 1893-4 (the term having been extended),
under Mayor \V. S. Cowherd. He is a mem-
ber of the Jackson County Medical Society,
of the Missouri State Medical Society, and
of the American Medical Association. In
politics he is a Democrat. He is a chapter
member in Masonry, affiliating with Orient
Chapter No. 102, and is the oldest living past
master of Temple Lodge No. 299. October
15, 1872, he was married in Kansas City to
Miss Annie Adams. The only child born of
this marriage died in infancy. Dr. Crow is
vigorous in body and mind and gives promise
of many added years of usefulness in the pro-
fession of which he is so conspicuous a mem-
ber.
Crow, Edward Coke, Attorney Gen-
eral of Missouri, was born December 19,
1861, at Oregon, Missouri. His parents
were George W. and Mary E. (Barnes)
Crow. The father was a lawyer, who re-
moved from Georgia, his native State, to
Missouri at the opening of the Platte Pur-
chase territory. He was of Scotch-Irish an-
cestry. The mother was a Virginian, de-
scended from English parentage; her family
saw service during the Revolutionary War.
The son, Edward Coke, completed his liter-
ary education with a course in the Carthage
High School. He was at the same time read-
ing law under his father, and was admitted
to the bar of Jasper County in 1880, before
he was twenty-one years of age. He then
took a supplementary course in the Law
School of Washington University, St. Louis,
from which he was graduated with the de-
gree of bachelor of laws. After two years
spent in travel in the West, he located in
Webb City, Missouri, the family home, and
engaged in practice, attracting so much at-
tention by his energy and ability that, in
1891, he was elected city attorney, and by
successive elections was continued in that
position until 1895. In the latter year he
was elected circuit judge of the Jasper
County Judicial District, and was soon ac-
corded general commendation for conscien-
tious attention to the duties of that high
office, as well as for the clear, discriminating
judgment which marked his decisions. In
the second year of his position upon the
bench, however, he was made the nominee of
the Democratic party for the Attorney Gen-
eralship, and was elected. In his discharge
of the new duties put upon him he won for
himself the highest encomiums for his clear-
ness of discernment, energy in pursuing a
purpose and devotion to those publi.c inter-
ests in new directions, which have come to
be so important in the light of recent legis-
lation in Missouri. To him it has fallen to
seek the enforcement of all statutes having
for their purpose the curtailment of the pow-
ers of corporations, and his efifort has been
persistent, wise, and, in most cases, success-
ful. He won a victory for local government
and the rights of bona fide citizens in the
Vallins case in Kansas City, when, under quo
warranto proceedings, he effected the oust-
ing of a non-resident who had been ap-
pointed to the position of chief of police. The
obnoxious appointment had provoked the
resentment of the labor unions particularly,
and in his victory Mr. Crow made friends of
the entire membership of those bodies, as
well as of all other elements holding to the
principles of local self-government. In a
case affecting consolidating corporations, he
secured the setting aside of the former prac-
tice, under which such bodies escaped pay-
ment of incorporation fees, holding that a
consolidation was, in fact and effect, a new
incorporation, and liable for the payment of
incorporation fees as though it were an
original body. He made a determined effort
to secure the enforcement of the Julian law,
providing for the public sale of street railway
franchises, in which, if successful, he would
have rendered abortive street railway con-
solidation schemes. The Supreme Court
198
held, however, that the law was inoperative,
owing to its crudity and insufficiency. To
his effort was due the increase in valuation
of street railway property in St. Louis from
$6,000,000 to $18,000,000, in 1897. When
valuation for assessment purposes was trans-
ferred from the Board of Assessors to the
State Board of Equalization, the companies
resisted, but were compelled, under his viaii-
dmnns proceedings, to make returns. He
established the right of females to hold cer-
tain elective offices. In 1896 a female elected
to the county clerkship of St. Clair County
was denied the position on the ground that
the statute law of 1855 prescribed that none
but a white male, over twenty-one years of
age, was eligible. He brought quo zvarmnto
proceedings, and secured her the position on
the ground that the new Constitution re-
moved the bar pleaded. He also brought the
proceedings in which the new anti-trust and
corporation legislation of Missouri received
judicial interpretation. Mr. Crow is an old-
line Democrat, devotedly attached to the
principles of popular sovereignty as distin-
guished from class rule. As chairman of the
Jasper County Democratic executive com-
mittee, he was one of fifteen men who forced
the holding of the Pertle Springs Conven-
tion, which committed the party to the free
silver issue, joining with his associates in a
letter addressed to the chairman of the State
conmiittee, demanding that such convention
be called, and threatening to call it of their
own accord should he persist in his refusal.
He is a familiar figure in State and congres-
sional district conventions, and in political
campaigns is continually active in party
counsels and before the people.' On the
stump, he commands attention, and the State
has no more capable or more influential po-
litical orator. He was married to Miss Gus-
sie, daughter of R. J. Hanna, a successful
business man, formerly engaged in St. Louis,
and in after years at Boonville. Of this union
have been born a son and three daughters.
Crow, Waymail, merchant and philan-
thropist, was born in Hartford, Kentucky,
March 7, 1808, and died in St. Louis, May 10,
1885. When he was six years of age the
family removed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky,
and there he attended a country school until
he was twelve years of age. This practically
ended his earlv education, and what he
learned afterward was in the school of ex-
perience, in which he proved himself an apt
and intelligent pupil. When twelve years old
he was apprenticed to a country storekeeper
for five years, and that apprenticeship gave
him the training which, in later years, made
him one of the most successful merchants of
St. Louis. After serving his apprenticeship
he was placed in charge of a branch store,
established by the firm with which he had
been connected, at Cadiz, Kentucky. In
1828, some time before he attained his ma-
jority, he purchased this store, on credit,
giving therefor his notes, which were
promptly paid before their maturity, evidenc-
ing the fact that his first commercial venture
on his own account was a successful one.
Further evidence of the extent of his success
is found in the fact that in 1835 he sold out
his business, realizing therefor the sum of
$21,000, which constituted the capital with
which he engaged in new and larger enter-
prises. He formed a business partnership
with Joshua Tevis, of Philadelphia, in the fall
of 1835, and under the firm name of Crow &
Tevis they established a wholesale dry goods
house in St. Louis. At a later date the firm
became Crow, McCreery & Co., still later
Crow, Hargadine & Co., and the present
Hargadine-McKittrick Dry Goods Company
is its successor. In 1840 he was elected pres-
ident of the St.. Louis Chamber of Commerce,
and for ten years thereafter he held that
office, contributing materially through this
agency to the advancement of the commer-
cial interests of the city. In 1840, also, and
again in 1850, he was elected to the State
Senate of Missouri, on the Whig ticket, and
while serving as a member of that body gave
special attention to the commercial and
transportation problems presented for con-
sideration to the legislators of that period.
During his last term of service in the Senate
the present railroad policy of jMissouri was
inaugurated, and he was a potent instrumen-
tality in giving it force and effect. He was
personally identified with important railroad
enterprises as one of the organizers of the
Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway Company,
and also of the Missouri Pacific Railwav
Company. The abundant prosperity which
had come to him in St. Louis inclined him to
return to the people a share of his wealth in
the upbuilding of charitable and eleemosy-
nary institutions and the bestowal of private
CROWELL— CROWTHER.
199
charities. He obtained for the St. Louis
Blind Asylum its charter, and the charter
also for the Mercantile Library, and in 1853,
without suggestion from any one, drafted,
introduced and secured the passage of a bill
chartering Washington L^niversity. In 1875
he gave to the university $25,000 to endow
a chair of physics, and his gifts to that insti-
tution aggregated, in all, more than $200,000.
Crowell, Homer Cutler, physician,
was born January 14, 1852, at Westminster,
Windham County, Vermont. His parents
were Ransom Levi and Emily (Cutler) Cro-
well. The Crowell family had been seafaring
people for several generations, until the
grandfather moved from Cape Cod, Massa-
chusetts, to Vermont, in order to establish
his sons as farmers. The father of Homer
Cutler began in the vocation designed for
him, but also busied himself in various mer-
cantile enterprises. Since 1875 he has been
a merchant in Bernardston, Massachusetts,
where he identified himself actively with all
movements for the social and religious im-
provement of the place. He has served as
justice of the peace, selectman, assessor,
trustee of Powers Institute, and has occu-
pied numerous other positions of honor and
trust. The mother was a native of Nova
Scotia, daughter of a Congregational min-
ister. Her family were of scholarly inclina-
tion, and several of its members, as of her
husband's people, engaged in the professions.
Their son, Homer Cutler, received his liter-
ary education in private schools and acade-
mies in the vicinity of the family home, and
upon its completion engaged for a time in
school teaching, meeting with marked suc-
cess as an instructor. He then became a
student in the medical department of the
University of Vermont, from which he was
graduated July i, 1875. The winter of 1878-9
he spent in New York City, devoting himself
to further study of general medicine and sur-
gery, gaining that knowledge to be derived
from observance of operating room and hos-
pital practice. He then located in East
Syracuse, New York, where he soon took
place among the leading physicians of the
county in general practice. He relinquished
his work in 1887, and spent a year in New
York City, devoting his attention specially to
the study of gynecology, under the most ca-
pable instructors. In 1888, having com-
pleted the course he had laid out, he re-
moved to Kansas City, where he engaged in
the practice of gynecology and abdominal
surgery, a department of medical science to
which he continues to give his undivided at-
tention. In this work he has come to be
recognized as one of the most prominent and
successful gynecologists in the State, enjoy-
ing the reputation of being a painstaking,
cleanly and rapid operator, and a prudent
and conservative counselor. Aside from his
personal practice, he takes deep interest in
all institutions whose work is in any degree
allied with this specialty. He is president of
the Western Surgical and Gynecological As-
sociation, and professor of gynecology in the
LTniversity Medical College of Kansas City.
He is unselfish in communicating to the pro-
fession such knowledge as he gains from
experience or investigation, and he has con-
tributed many able and instructive papers to
the leading medical journals, besides read-
ing such before the bodies with which he
holds fellowship. He has not been neglect-
ful of the interest of general medicine. To
him is awarded the honor of having origi-
nated the Academy of Medicine of Kansas
City, and he was its first president. He has
occupied the same position in the Jackson
County Medical Society, with which he is
also connected. Outside his professional life
he is actively identified, in a financial and
advisory way, with various large enterprises,
particularly in mining operations. He is a
member of the Congregational Church. In
IMasonry he holds the thirty-second degree
of the Scottish Rite, and is a Noble of the
Mystic Shrine. He was married, in Febru-
ary, 1880, to Miss Anna Fisk, who died in
Septem.ber, 1887. Personally Dr. Crowell is
possessed of high character, a genial dispo-
sition, and warm, sympathetic emotions.
Withal, he is' modest and retiring, and his
good deeds done for his fellows are accom-
plished without self-assertive display.
Crowtlier, George C, Congressman,
was born in St. Louis, Missouri, January
26, 1849. He was educated in the public
schools and learned the printer's trade. In
1862 he joined the Union Army and served
until the end of the war. He then went to
Kansas and engaged in the newspaper
business, and was elected secretary of the
State Senate of Kansas three terms in sue-
200
CROZAT— CRUNDEN.
cession. Afterward he returned to St. Jo-
seph and was elected city treasurer for two
terms, in 1888 and 1890. In 1892 he was the
Republican candidate for Congress and was
defeated. In 1894 he was a candidate again
and was elected, receiving 15,659 votes, to
14,034 for W. C. Ellison, Democrat, and 2,-
910 for W. S. Messimer, Populist, and 193
for J. S. Manley, Prohibitionist.
Crozat, Anthony, — A wealthy French
merchant, who, in 1712, received from the
French crown the grant of a monopoly of
trade in the Province of Louisiana. He con-
tracted to send ships from France with goods
and emigrants every year, and was entitled to
import a cargo of negro slaves annually. He
established a trading post on the site of
Montgomery, Alabama, and another at Nat-
chitoches, on the Red River. After five years
of large outlay and small returns he surren-
dered his charter and returned to France.
He died in 1738, at the age of eighty-three
years.
Crnnclen, Frederick Morgan, libra-
rian, was born September i, 1847, in Graves-
end. England, and came with his parents to
this country in his infancy. He is the son of
Benjamin R. and Mary (Morgan) Crunden,
the mother of mixed Welsh and French de-
scent, and the father a representative of one
of the old Saxon families of the South of
England. In his early childhood his mother
was left a widow, and he was reared and
educated under her guidance. She was and
still is a highly intellectual woman, and to her
careful training Mr. Crunden attributes the
larger .share of what he has achieved. He
was educated in the St. Louis public schools
and graduated from the High School in 1865,
as valedictorian of his class and winner of a
scholarship in Washington University. En-
tering college, he supported himself by teach-
ing and working during vacations, and in
1868 he received his bachelor's degree from
Washington University. For six months
thereafter he taught in Smith Academy, and
was then appointed principal of the Jefferson
School. The following year he was appointed
principal of the Benton School, which was
conducted in a building which had just been
completed and occupied the site of the pres-
ent Board of Education Building. A year
later he was made instructor in mathematics
and elocution, and afterward professor of
elocution in Washington University. This
position he held until 1876, when an ailment
of his throat caused him to resign his pro-
fessorship and spend some time in Colorado.
Returning to St. Louis after his recovery he
taught in the High School until January of
1877, when he was made librarian of the Pub-
lic School Library. When this library was
turned over to the city and made a free public
library, in 1894, JNIr. Crunden was made libra-
rian of the improved and enlarged institu-
tion, and has held that position up to the
present time. He was among those who
labored most earnestly to bring about the
establishment of the free public library, and
one of the most valuable services which he
has rendered to St. Louis was in this connec-
tion. Since he became identified with this
branch of educational work he has been a
close student of everything pertaining to the
conduct of libraries, and has taken a leading
position among the librarians of the country.
He was president of the American Library
Association during the year 1889-90, and in
1897 went as a delegate to the International
Library Conference, held in London, Eng-
land, and was one of the vice presidents of
that conference. When the famous New-
berry Library of Chicago lost the services of
the noted Dr. Poole, by death, Mr. Crunden
was offered the librarianship of that institu-
tion, but declined it as he has declined other
advantageous offers from Eastern libraries,
preferring to carry forward the work of
building up the St. Louis Public Library, to
which he has devoted the past twenty-one
years. He was one of the early members of
the Civil Service Reform Association of St.
Louis, and was for many years a member of
its executive committee. He was secretarv
also of the committee which framed the pres-
ent school law of St. Louis, is a member of
the Single Tax League, and was for several
years a vice president of the board of di-
rectors of the "National Single Taxer." In
addition to these connections he is a member
of the Missouri Historical Society, of the St.
Louis Academy of Science, and the Mercan-
tile Club, and was one of the earliest mem-
bers of the University Club, the Round
Table, and the McCullough Dramatic Club.
Brought up in a liberal religious faith, Mr.
Crunden is a member of the Unitarian
Church ; and his political and social creed is
n, Sjiut/tt-nffsU:
CRUTCHER.
201
summed up in the phrase "equal rights to all,
special privileges to none." He married, in
18S9, Miss Kate Edmondson, daughter of
the late Edmund J. Edmondson, a distin-
guished English tenor singer and musical
director, whose name frequently appeared in
high class programs in Manchester and the
north of England. Their only child is a son.
Frederick Edmondson Crunden.
Crutcher, Edwin Rutliven, promi-
nent in the real estate and commercial circles
of Kansas City, was born August 29, 1853,
near Nashville, Tennessee. His parents were
William Henry and Mary Trevilian (Baber)
Crutcher. The father was a wholesale mer-
chant in Louisville, Kentucky, and died in
1864. The Crutcher family removed to Vir-
ginia from ^\"ales in 1675. In 1798 they set-
tled in Kentuck}'. The members of this
family were conspicuous on account of the
part they took in the important affairs of the
time, and their military and ofificial record is
of the highest class. The mother of the sub-
ject of this sketch was descended from the
well known Mayo, Tabb, Trevilian and Baber
families, all of whom were prominent in the
social and political history of Virginia. One
of her ancestors. Colonel William Mayo, laid
out the city of Richmond, Virginia, and, with
Colonel William Byrd, ran the dividing line
between Virginia and North Carolina. Ed-
ward Baber, a maternal ancestor, was sent by
the English king, in 1654, to take entire
charge of affairs in Jamaica, just after that
island was surrendered to the English by the
Spaniards. He afterward took up his resi-
dence in Virginia. His father was one of the
charter member of the Virginia Company of
London, under the auspices of which all deal-
ings with the American Colonies were man-
aged. Edwin R. Crutcher lived in Louisville,
Kentucky, from childhood and graduated
from the high school in that city at the age
of sixteen. After leaving school he gave
special attention to civil engineering, and ac-
cepted a position as assistant sewer engineer
of the city of Louisville when he was only
seventeen years of age. At the age of
twenty-two years he engaged in the corn-
milling and grain business in a modest way,
and, developing this business rapidly, con-
structed, at the end of five years, what was
then the largest plant in the country for the
manufacture of corn goods, supplying the
Eastern and foreign trade. Mr. Crutcher
left Louisville in 1887 and sought a financial
business opening in the West. He stopped
at Kansas City, JNIissouri, for a few days,
when he was tendered and accepted the
cashiership of the Bank of Columbus, at Co-
lumbus, Kansas. This position led to that of
manager in the New York office of the
Tarvis Conklin Mortgage Trust Company.
Yielding to an urgent request, he accepted
the place of cashier of the Chattanooga Sav-
ings Bank and remained there one year, but
located permanently in Kansas City in Oc-
tober, 1891. In 1892 and 1893 he held the
positions of secretary and vice president of
the Lombard Investment Company, and in
September, 1893. joined Mr. James B. Welsh
in organizing the real estate firm of Crutcher
& Welsh. The position of this firm has been
among the leaders in Kansas City from the
very beginning. The firm handles real es-
tate and acts as financial agent for a long
list of corporations and individual clients.
Mr. Crutcher is a member of the Kansas City
Commercial Club, the Board of Fire Under-
writers, and the Kansas City Real Estate
Exchange. Politically he is a Democrat of
the sound-money, tariff-for-revenue persua-
sion. He is a member of the Presbyterian
Church ; is a Scottish Rite Mason, a member
of Albert Pike Lodge, A. F. & A. M., a
member of the society of the Sons of the
Revolution, and of the society of Colonial
Wars. Mr. Crutcher was married, in 1875,
to Miss Laura Loving, daughter of Judge
William V. Loving, one of the most promi-
nent jurists and legislators of Kentucky.
Governor Morehead, of Kentucky, was
nominated for the office of Lieutenant Gov-
ernor on the ticket headed by Judge Loving,
and the latter being obliged to withdraw
from the campaign on account of illness,
Morehead was given first place and elected.
The Loving family removed to Virginia from
England in 1636. Thomas Loving, from
whom the line of ancestry is direct, was a
member of the ^'irginia House of Burgesses
from 1644 to 1659, and was Surveyor Gen-
eral of the colony. Sir Thomas Lunsford,
another ancestor, who came to America after
the restoration of Charles II, originated the
term "Roundheads." applied to Cromwell's
men, and one day attacked a body of them
in the Hall of Parliament, cutting off their
ears with his sword. Other intermarriages
202
CRUZAT— CRYSLER.
of the Loving family were with the noted
Beverly and Lomax families of Virginia.
The living children of Mr. and Mrs. Crutcher
are Edwin Riithven, Jr., Loving Trevilian
and Wallace Mayo. The head of this excel-
lent family is deservedly numbered among
the leading men of Kansas City's representa-
tive and influential class. In business affairs
he has the confidence and esteem of his as-
sociates, and is a type of the progressive
spirit and integrity that have combined to
give the metropolis of western Missouri a
substantial, wholesome growth and advance-
ment.
Cruzat, Don Francisco, second Lieu-
tenant Governor of Upper Louisiana under
the Spanish domination, was born in Spain,
and entered the Spanish Army in early life.
At the time of his appointment to the Lieu-
tenant Governorship by Governor Bernardo
Galvez he had reached middle life and at-
tained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the
"Stationary Regiment of Louisiana." He
entered upon the discharge of his official
duties in St. Louis, May 20, 1775, and held
the oiifice for three years thereafter, being
succeeded at the end of that time by Ferdi-
nand de Leyba. After the death of Leyba
he was reappointed and returned to St. Louis
in 1780. Soon after his second coming he
erected the stockade designed to protect the
village against the attacks of hostile Indians.
He also purchased during his second admin-
istration the stone house at the southeast
corner of Main and Walnut Streets, which
was used as a governnient house during the
remainder of the period of Spanish domina-
tion. His official career ended November
27, 1787, and the impress which he left on
the infant settlement evidences the fact that
he was an intelligent and discreet public offi-
cial.
Crysler, Cornell, was born at Au-
burn, New York, September 27, 1829. His
father, Philip Crysler, who was of German
lineage, was a native of the "Empire State,"
and is still remembered there as a man of
great usefulness and saintly character, whose
long life was devoted to the ministry in the
Methodist Church, his death occurring when
at an advanced age, in the town of Navarino.
This was the boyhood home of Cornell. He
was studious and ambitious. He attended
school at Onondaga Academy, Monroe Col-
legiate Institute, and the State University at
Albany, being graduated from the law de-
partment of the latter in 1854. Not long
afterward he married Miss Nancy W. Dun-
lap, a beautiful and amiable girl, whose
family was prominent in that county.
Housekeeping and the practice of law began
in Marcellus. Three children were born to
them. Franc, Charles and Cornell. After a
few years the gifted young lawyer established
himself in Syracuse, where he built up a
large and remunerative practice. He became
intimately connected with educational mat-
ters, and took a leading part in all pro-
gressive movements that would benefit his
city or State, but declined political honors.
He assisted in forming the Republican party,
and was a delegate to the first National Con-
vention held at Philadelphia in 1856. Among
Mr. Crysler's associates at this period were
such eminent men as Charles Sumner, for
whom he named his eldest son ; Horace
Greeley, Roscoe Conkling, Ezra Cornell (a
relative), and Andrew D. White.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, patriot-
ism impelled Mr. Crysler to set aside every
personal interest for the country's need. In
1862 he organized volunteer Company D, of
the One Hundred and Twenty-second New
York Infantry, and, as captain, led it forth.
He served through all campaigns until after
the battle of Antietam, and was with Sheri-
dan on his famous ride to Winchester. His
hgalth was badly impaired by army life, and
the climate of his native State proved too
severe. In 1866 he removed with his family
to Independence, Missouri. He was ap-
pointed postmaster in 1873, during Grant's
administration, filling the position most ac-
ceptably to his townsmen until after the elec-
tion of Cleveland, when he resigned the
office. He was elected mayor of Independ-
ence in 1890, and discharged his official du-
ties with judgment and fidelity until about
the close of his term, when his health made
it seem best he should retire. Several years
were spent at El Dorado Springs, Missouri,
where the waters benefited him and doubtless
prolonged his life ; but he had returned to
Independence and was living in the house of
his daughter, when, after an illness of sev-
eral months, death came, upon the second
day of June, 1900. He was a man respected
and admired bv those who knew him best.
CRYSTAL CITY— CUBA.
203
He was large-hearted, broad-minded, honor-
able and true in every relation in life. His
son, CHARLES SUMNER CRYSLER,
lawyer, was born in Marcellns, New York,
August 21, 1856. His maternal grandfather
was a large land-owner in the vicinity of S\r-
acuse, a man of strong character, rigid de-
termination, iron constitution and handsome
physique. The grandson has inherited these
traits, and honor and success have attended
his efforts in life. Although not old in years,
Mr. Crysler may very properly be numbered
among the representative men of northwest-
ern Missouri. He was ten years of age when
his father's family established their home at
Independence, and he was fitted for the
study of law in the schools at that place.
During his boyhood days he was an indus-
trious worker and an indefatigable student.
After finishing his academic education he
read law with Judge J. H. Slover and Abram
Comingo, of Independence, when those well
known attorneys — the first named of whom
is now a circuit judge in Jackson County, and
the second named, deceased — were practic-
ing together under the firm name of Comingo
& Slover. In 1879 Mr. Crysler was admit-
ted to the bar by Judge Samuel H. Wood-
son. Thereafter he practiced his profession
at Independence until 1885, when he re-
moved his office to Kansas City, still retain-
ing his residence in Independence. In 1890
he established his home in Kansas City and
has since resided there. Associating himself
in practice with Clarence Kenyon and I. J.
Ketcham, in 1886, this professional relation-
ship was in existence several years, and the
firm became known as a strong combination
of legal talent. In 1894 Mr. Crysler became
a member of the firm of Harkless, O'Grady
& Crysler, now known as one of the strong-
est law firms in Missouri. As a member of
this firm Mr. Crysler has given special atten-
tion to the laws governing corporations, and
is recognized, both by the bar and the gen-
eral public of Kansas City, as an able cor-
poration lawyer. Tempering force and
vigor with good judgment and conservatism,
he is a wise counselor, as well as a capable
trial lawyer. Politically he is a Republican
and generally participates in national cam-
paigns. In 1879 he married Miss Harriet
Child, daughter of Mr. and Airs. John A.
Child, of Weybridge, Vermont.
Crystal City. — A town in Jefferson
County, on Plattin Creek, one-half mile from
the Mississippi River, and thirty miles south-
west of St. Louis. About 1834 the site, with
mineral lands in the vicinity, was entered by
an Eastern company, but nothing was done
beyond sale of stock. In 1868 three English
experts visited the place and shipped two
casks of Plattin Creek sand to England,
where it was pronounced of superior quality
for glass-making. Various attempts were
made to foimd factories, but all were unsuc-
cessful, until 1871, when Captain E. B.
Ward organized the American Plate Glass
Company of Detroit, Michigan, with a capital
of $150,000, and works were put into opera-
tion in 1872, with Captain Theodore Luce as
superintendent. The organization and inter-
ests were all with Michigan people, and the
name of New Detroit was given the village.
The operatives, however, persisted in calling
it Crystal City, and after a time the directory
came to adopt it. The death of Captain
Ward, and the financial panic of 1873.
brought disaster, and the glass plant was
sold for $25,000 to a St. Louis corporation,
the Crystal Plate Glass Company, under the
presidency of Ethan Allen Hitchcock, with
George F. Neale as superintendent, and the
capital stock was increased to $1,500,000. In
the development of the property the com-
pany became owners of 760 acres of land, of
which one-third is sand deposit of the purest
quality, testing 99 per cent of silica. The
Crystal City Railway, connecting the works
with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & South-
ern Railway, at Silica, three and one-half
miles distant, is owned and operated by the
glass company. The population of Crystal
City, in 1899, was estimated at 1,200.
Cuba. — A city of the fourth class, in
Crawford County, on the St. Louis & San
Francisco Railroad, the junction point of the
Salem branch of the same system. It was
founded upon the building of the road,
though for some years previously it was a
thickly settled point. It has a graded school,
six churches, a iiouring mill, elevator, saw-
mill, two hotels and about twenty other busi-
ness houses in different branches of trade.
The city supports one paper, the "Tele-
phone," published by John Harris. It is a
delightfullv located citv, elevated consider-
204
CUIVRE CLUB— CULBERTSON.
ably above the surrounding country and
noted for its healthfulness. Population, 1899
(estimated), 900.
Cuivre Club. — A St. Louis club of
wealthy amateur sportsmen of ample leisure
and means, organized in 1880 by J. B. C.
Lucas, Darius Stead, George S. Meyer, Jas.
B. Card, J. W. Morton, George Dana, B. W.
Lewis, C. B. Burnham, J- C. Van Blarcom,
Geo. Edgell, John T. Davis, J. H. McClunev,
Wm. L. Huse, Geo. T. McClean and L H.
Holmes. The objects were "to establish a
clubhouse for the members, and for the pro-
motion of field sports ; to preserve and
protect game and fish under the laws of ^lis-
souri, and to obtain hunting and fishing
privileges on lands and in waters in St.
Charles County, JNlissouri." It is a strictly
exclusive organization, the number of mem-
bers being limited to twenty, with an initia-
tion fee of five hundred dollars. The annual
assessment is not to exceed two hundred
dollars for each member. The preserves of
the club, three thousand acres, are in St.
Charles County. Missouri, not far from
Cuivre River, where there is a spacious and
elegant clubhouse.
Cvilbertson, Jerry, lawyer and prose-
cuting attorney of Cass County, is descended
from a prominent family of the Old Do-
minion. He was born at Papinsville. Bates
County, Missouri, September 12, 1869, son
of Livingston and Mary E. (Douglas) Cul-
bertson. His father was born in Scott
County, Virginia, and removed to Missouri
in 1866, becoming a pioneer farmer and mer-
chant of Bates County, and the founder of
the town of Rich Hill, which he named and
in which he established the first store. The
elder Culbertson was a son of David Culbert-
son, a native of Virginia, and a member of
the Legislature of that State in 1838. The
latter, a native of Virginia and a descendant
of Scotch ancestry, was a member of the
family from which the famous Culbertson
family of Texas is descended. Mary E.
Douglas, our subject's mother, was a daugh-
ter of Colonel George Douglas and a de-
scendant of the "Red Douglases," her grand-
father having been born and raised in the
Grampian Hills, the boundary between Eng-
land and Scotland. She died April 4, 1872.
Her father, who was born either in the old
country or on the ocean while his parents
were en route to America, spent his boyhood
in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Mrginia),
and at the age of sixteen joined the regular
army of the United States to fight Indians.
Before his marriage he came to Missouri,
where he continued his service with the
United States Army, rising to the rank of
colonel. While in the government service
he helped to locate the Cherokee Indians at
their present reservation in Indian Territory.
After leaving the army he became a planter
in Bates County, Missouri, and his estate in-
cluded about a hundred slaves. Airs. Cul-
bertson also had two brothers who served
in the Confederate Army. One of these,
George W. Douglas, Jr., was with Price to
the end of the war, surrendering at Shreve-
port, Louisiana. The other brother, Henry
W. Douglas, served with Shelby throughout
his campaigns. Livingston Culbertson was
also in the Confederate service, and a quar-
termaster in the command of Stonewall
Jackson. In 1864 he left the Confederate
service and located in Omaha, where he was
one of the pioneer merchants, and among
his friends there were many men who were
and have become eminent in public life. In
1 866 he removed to Bates County, Missouri,
where he has since resided. Jerry Culbert-
son received his elementary education in the
common schools of Bates County, and at the
age of eighteen years entered St. Francis In-
stitute (Catholic), at Osage Mission, Kan-
sas. A year later he took a course in Bryant
College, at Sprague, Bates County, Missouri,
after which he was for a year principal of the
graded school at College Hill, in the same
county. After a year's course in the State
LTniversity he taught one year at Old Rich
Hill, then took another year in special studies
in the State University, devoting his time
chiefly to literature, economics and meta-
physics. He then entered the law depart-
ment of the university, and, after a two-year's
course, was graduated therefrom, June 3,
1896. Four days later he was admitted to
the bar before Judge James H. Lay, and at
once opened an office at Rich Hill. Sep-
tember 23, 1897, he leased an office in Har-
risonville, where he has. since practiced his
profession. At Rich Hill, Mr. Culbertson
organized a company of infantry and ten-
dered its services to the Governor for the
Sixth Alissouri Volunteer Infantry Regi-
ment, recruited for the Spanish-American
CUMMINGS— CUNNINGHAM.
205
War, but as Missouri's quota had already
been filled, the command was not accepted.
In the Fortieth General Assembly he served
as senatorial revision clerk from the Seven-
teenth Senatorial District. Mr. Culbertson's
entree into politics occurred in 1896, when
his name was presented to the Bates County
Democracy as a candidate for the State Leg-
islature, but as he was still a student in the
State University, he made no canvass for the
office. March 31, 1900, he received the nom-
ination for prosecuting attorney of Cass
County on the Democratic ticket, and at the
general election, in November of that year,
was chosen to the office. Fraternally he is a
Mason, and is also identified with the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Wood-
men of the World, and the Modern Wood-
men of America. In religion he professes no
creed, but is guided by the Golden Rule,
which he regards as the quintessence of all
religion. The strength of character he in-
herits from a long line of honorable ancestry
has enabled him to overcome many obstacles
which to most young men would appear in-
surmountable, and the success which he has
achieved is due solely to his own efforts. As
an orator he possesses rare ability. He is a
young man of strict integrity, with a high
sense of honor, and even those whose politi-
cal views differ widely from those which he
entertains, consider him incapable of a dis-
honest or unmanly act. That his career in
his first public office will be successful and
satisfactory to the public is anticipated by
all, and his future political preferment de-
pends solely upon his own wishes in the mat-
ter. February 20, 1901, Mr. Culbertson was
married to Miss Josephine Parsons, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Parsons, of
Harrisonville, Missouri, one of the pioneer
families of that place. Miss Parsons, though
only twenty-one years of age at the time of
her marriage to Mr. Culbertson, was consid-
ered one of the most refined, accomplished,
talented and popular girls in Cass County.
She is especially gifted and cultivated in
music, and delights in good books, but is
also very fond of outdoor sports, like tennis,
golf and horseback riding. For years she
has taught a class in the Baptist Sabbath
school, and is much more of a church girl
than what is commonly known as a "society
girl." She is devotedly ambitious for her
husband.
Cummings, Frank M., lawyer, was
born August 8, 1873, in Evansville, Indiana,
son of William R. and Maria J. (Cassidy)
Cummings, both natives of the same State.
His father's family emigrated from Indiana
to Kentucky, and his mother's family from
Pennsylvania. Mr. Cummings was educated
at Evansville, Indiana, his school days end-
ing when he was fourteen years of age. He
then began taking care of himself and
worked first as collector on a mail line wharf-
boat pn the Ohio River, at Evansville.
Taking up the study of stenography, he com-
pleted it in six months, and then became a
clerk for William Field & Co., grain mer-
chants of Evansville. This position he re-
signed to accept a clerkship in the office of
the superintendent of the Louisville & Nash-
ville Railroad Company, at that place. Some
time later he was promoted to a better posi-
tion in the office of the general freight agent
of the same road, and this position he re-
signed to accept a clerkship with Charles
Leich & Co., wholesale druggists of Evans-
ville. Six months later he was made private
secretary to Captain Lee Howell, general
freight agent of the Louisville & Nashville
Railroad, and this position he filled for about
six years. Tiring then of an employe's place,
and longing for a more independent life, he
resigned his private secretaryship in 1897
and entered the law department of Indiana
University, from which he was graduated in
June of 1899. Immediately afterward he lo-
cated in southwest Missouri, and began the
practice of his profession in Carterville. He
has not been an active politician, but is a
member of the Democratic party, in thor-
ough sympathy with its plans and purposes.
His fraternal affiliations are with the Delta
Tau Delta Greek Letter Society, and the
Court of Honors.
Cunningham, Edward, Jr., lawyer,
was born August 21, 1841, in Cumberland
County, Virginia, son of Edward and Cather-
ine (Miller) Cunningham. He was educated
at Virginia Military Institute of Lexington,
and when nineteen years of age became a
professor in that institution. He was filling
this position when the Civil War began, and
left the institute with the famous corps of
cadets which became a part of the original
command of the great military chieftain,
Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson.
206
CUNNINGHAM.
June 4, 1864, he was commissioned major
of artillery and served until the final surren-
der of the Confederate forces at Shreveport,
June 7, 1865. In the year 1872 he came to
St. Louis. He has the sincerity and courtli-
ness of the old-time \'irginian, and his high
character and abilities have commended him
to his professional brethren and the general
public. He married, in 1876, Miss Cornelia
Thornton, of Virginia.
Cunningham, George Pierson, who
is widely known in southwestern Missouri as
an operator in real estate and mining prop-
erties, was born April 21, 1839, at Wheeling,
West Virginia. His parents were John Pier-
son and Elizabeth (McCune) Cunningham.
The father was a native of Pennsylvania, of
Scotch-Irish parentage; he was a physician,
and died in 1890. The mother was of Irish
descent; she died in 1888. Both died in Jop-
lin. The son was afforded but meager edu-
cational opportunities, his entire school
attendance being limited to nine months in
a country school, near his native town.
When he was fourteen years of age his par-
ents removed to Illinois, where he engaged
in farming near Watseka. With an ambition
to improve himself, as his controlling pas-
sion, he devoted himself to a self-appointed
course of study, and with such success that at
the age of eighteen years he took charge of a
school at Ashkum, in Iroquois County, and
taught successfully for two years, leaving it
to take a larger school at Pickaway, in the
same county, where he was engaged for two
years longer. At the outbreak of the Civil
War he enlisted in the Twentieth Regiment
of Illinois Infantry, under the first three-
months call, and upon the expiration of this
period of service re-enlisted as a member of
Battery D, of the First Illinois Artillery
Regiment. This was the famous McAllister
Battery, which received the first Confederate
assault in the bloody battle of Shiloh, April
6-7, 1862. His service with this command
included all of General Grant's operations in
Tennessee and Mississippi, culminating in
the capture of Vicksburg; and all of General
Sherman's campaigns, comprising the oper-
ations about Atlanta, and the march to the
sea. July 28, 1865, he was mustered out at
Chicago, with the rank of captain. Shortly
after his discharge from the army, at the
close of the war, he went to Atchison County,
where he was appointed deputy clerk by
James M. Pendleton, county and circuit
clerk. In February of the following year
(i866) he removed to Carthage, Missouri,
where he engaged in business as a real estate
agent and broker. When general attention
was attracted to Joplin as a mining center he
made investments in that city, and followed
the same calling, making a specialty of min-
ing properties. He continues to be so en-
gaged, having resided in Joplin since June,
1898, and his intimate knowledge of the en-
tire Joplin mineral belt, and of mining opera-
tions, has given him high position as an
authority in these matters, and the utmost
confidence is reposed in his judgment. In poli-
tics he is a Republican of the old-time Lin-
coln school, but in the new issues which have
arisen, and the new policies which have been
inaugurated, he discerns little semblance of
former great principles or practices, and
holds to absolute independence in his politi-
cal affiliations and actions. He has never
been ambitious of public distinction, and has
held but one office, that of clerk of the Dis-
trict School Board, which he accepted solely
on account of his interest in educational af-
fairs. In religion he is a Presbyterian. He
is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, and a mem-
ber of the Grand Army of the Republic, but
has never consented to hold an office in any
of these bodies. Mr. Cunningham was first
married, May 8, 1872, to Miss Wilma E.
Neely, of Muncie, Indiana, who died some
years later. Of this union three children
were born, of whom one died in infancy.
Those living are Wilma E., wife of W. E.
Ford, superintendent of the American Lead
and Zinc Company, a large operating corpo-
ration, having its headquarters at Joplin ; and
Edwin N., superintendent of extensive mines
at Centre Creek. August 13, 1882, Mr. Cun-
ningham married Miss Grace L. Hobbs, of
Chicago. Of this union there are no chil-
dren. He gives earnest personal attention
to all matters pertaining to real estate, and
in mining afifairs, particularly, his knowledge
of existing conditions makes him a most ca-
pable adviser.
Ciinninghani, John AV., clergyman,
was born at Leitchfield, Kentucky, June 12,
1824. His parents, William and Susan Cun-
ningham, came to Kentucky from Virginia in
the previous century, in their teens, with their
CUPPLES— CURRENCY OF THE PIONEERS.
207
parents. He acquired an English education
through years of tutorage in the log school-
liouse of his native village and several months
in the Green River High School at Bowling
Green, Kentucky. He was four years in a
store at Elizabethtown, where he became a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church
and at Bowling Green he became a member
of the Kentucky Conference in September,
1844. He spent two years as junior preacher
on a circuit in Mason and Bracken Counties.
In May, 1845, the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, was organized, and next to
Bishop Andrew he was the first to declare
adherence to that organization, which he did
in response to the written demand of a board
of trustees in the Methodist Church in the
town of Augusta, June i, 1845. He spent
twenty-five years in the itinerant ministry in
the Kentucky and Louisville Conferences in
different sections of the State, but chiefly in
counties, towns and cities bordering on the
Ohio River. January i, 1866, he became
editor of the Kentucky Department of the
"St. Louis Christian Advocate," and served
till September, 1869, when he removed to
Missouri, and was pastor six years north of
the Missouri River. In 1875 he retired by
location from the Missouri Conference, has
since lived in St. Louis, and has served as
occasion required as a local preacher. He
has written much for church papers and some
for the secular, and has developed a taste for
historic writing. In 1886 he was invited by
the editor of the "Memorial History of Louis-
ville" to write the history of Methodism in
Louisville for that book. He had been absent
from Kentucky twenty-seven years, yet he
wrote. the history as requested, and it is part
of one of the two large Memorial volumes.
He is the author also of the article on
"Methodism," published in the "Encyclo-
pedia of the History of ^Missouri."
Clippies, Samuel, merchant and man-
ufacturer, was born in Harrisburg, Pennsyl-
vania, September 13, 1831, son of James and
Elizabeth Cupples. When he was fifteen
years old he came west as far as Cincinnati,
Ohio, and there entered the employ of Albert
O. Tyler, one of the pioneer woodenware
merchants of the West. In 1851 he was sent
to St. Louis to establish a branch wooden-
ware house in that city, and this business, as
originally organized, was conducted under
the name of Samuel Cupples & Co. In 1856
he purchased the interests of his associates
in this enterprise and conducted it alone until
1858, when Mr. Thomas Marston became
associated with him under the firm name of
Cupples & Marston. At the end of a pros-
perous career a dozen years in length, this
firm was dissolved to be succeeded by the
firm of Samuel Cupples «& Co. In 1883 this
copartnership was in turn succeeded by the
Samuel Cupples Woodenware Company, of
which Mr. Cupples became president, a
position which he still retains. Around this
have clustered many other enterprises which
have contributed in no small degree to the
growth and prosperity of the city, chief
among which have been the St. Louis Ter-
minal Cupples Station & Property Company,
the Samuel Cupples Paper Bag Company,
and the Samuel Cupples Envelope Company.
Mr. Cupples has been a generous donor to
Washington University, at St. Louis.
Currency of the Indians. — Wam-
pum was the currency which the first white
settlers at St. Louis found in use among the
Indians. It consisted of cylindrical pieces of
the shells of testaceous fishes, a quarter of an
inch long and of the diameter of a pipe-stem.
Holes drilled through these shells enabled the
Indians to string them upon a thread, and as
currency these strings of beads were valued
according to length. A fathom or belt of wam-
pum consisted of three hundred and sixty
beads, and the belts were worn as jewelry as
well as used as currency. The beads were of
two kinds, one white and the other black or
dark purple. Those of a white color were
rated at half the value of the dark ones, and
in early transactions between the Indians and
English traders white beads passed as the
equivalent of a farthing. The early settlers
at St. Louis, in trading with the Indians for
furs and peltries, sometimes used wampum,
but it was soon succeeded by a peltry cur-
rency, which had a more substantial value.
Currency of the Pioneers. — ^"Fur
was the currency of St. Louis from the days
of Laclede very nearly until Missouri became
a State and the town an incorporated city.
Other things were taken in exchange and
barter — beeswax, whisky, potash, maple
sugar, salt, wood, feathers, bear's oil, venison,
fish, lead — but fur was the currencv and the
208
CURRENT RIVER— CURTIS.
standard of value, the representative of and
equivalent to the Uiz'rc tounwis' of hard
metal. The only small coin consisted of
Mexican dollars, cut with a chisel into pieces
— 'bits.' A pound of shaved deerskin of
good quality represented about twice the
value of the Ikrc, and a pound of bea\ei-,
otter and ermine represented so many pounds
of deerskin. A 'pack' of skins had a definite
weight, and thus trade and computation were
both easy. Checks and notes were drawn
against them, deposits were made of furs and
packs, and on the whole they constituted a
much better and more uniform currency than
the staple tobacco, which was at one time the
only circulating medium of Virginia and
Maryland. 'Bons' were a species of order
or note for goods, redeemable in peltries,
which, when signed with the name of any
responsible merchant or trader, had full
currency in local and general trade. Prac-
tically they were certificates of deposit, but
convertible or exchangeable into any other
equivalents in the course of trade and barter.
Next to the peltry, which had a regular cur-
rency and pretty near a uniform value from
Mackinaw, Detroit and Prairie du Chien
among the French settlements all the way to
New Orleans and the Balize, the best medium
of certain value, but only a limited circula-
tion, was the 'carot' of tobacco. . . . The
carots had a definite weight, like the packs
of furs, and their usual value was about two
livres. . . . Spanish coin never affected
the fur currency. The Spanish government
paid ofif its officers and troops in hard dollars,
but this was a mere drop in the bucket — less
than $12,000 a year for St. Louis. Even after
the transfer to the United States peltry con-
tinued the controlling currency for a num-
ber of years." — (Scharf's "History of St.
Louis.")
Current River. — A stream which has
its head waters in two branches, one of
which. Jack's Fork, rises in Texas County,
the other, the main stream, heading in Dent
County, the two uniting in Shannon County,
and flowing through Carter and Ripley
Counties and entering Black River in
Pocahontas County, Arkansas. Current
River has a length of one hundred and
twenty miles, and is remarkable for the
picturesque scenery along its banks.
Ciirrentvievv. — A village in Ripley
County, ten miles south of Doniphan, on the
Arkansas-Missouri State line. It has a
flouring and planing mill, a hotel and large
general store. Previous to the war, the town
was called Buckskull. Population, 1899
(estimated), 200.
Curryville. — An incorporated town in
Pike County, on the Chicago & Alton Rail-
road, nine miles west of Bowling Green. It
was laid out by Perry A. Curry in 1867, and
was incorporated in 1874. It has two public
schools, one church, a bank, flouring mill, a
hotel, and about a dozen stores. Population,
1899 (estimated), 350.
Curtesy. — A law term defining the title
to the life interest which a man has in the
lands owned by his wife. There must have
been a child born alive of the marriage to
create the interest. In Missouri, the law
gives to the husband a life interest in the
lands of his wife, if the child survive her. If
there be no children born of the marriage,
nor other descendants, he is entitled to one-
half the estate absolutely, and if a child was
born of the marriage, to the use of the other
half of the real estate she owned during the
marriage.
Curtis, Samuel R., soldier, and com-
mander of the Department of Missouri, in
the Civil War, was born in New York in
1807, and died at Council Blufifs, Iowa, De-
cember 26, 1866. He entered West Point
from Ohio, and graduated in 1831, but re-
signed his position in the army the following
year to take the superintendency of the im-
provement works on the Muskingum River.
Afterward, he studied law and practiced in
Ohio from 1841 to 1846, when he was ap-
pointed adjutant general to organize the
Ohio troops for the Mexican War, in which
he served as colonel of the Second Ohio, and
also a Governor of Saltillo. In 1849 he came
to St. Louis, and in 1850 was appointed by
Mayor Kennett, city engineer, serving with
credit to the end of the term. In 1855 he
removed to Keokuk, and in 1857, was elected
to Congress, and re-elected in 1859, ^"d again
in 1861, but resigned in his third term to
become colonel of the Second Iowa Volun-
teers in the Civil War. In August, 1861, he
CURTIS— CUSTOMHOUSE AT ST. LOUIS.
209
was commissioned brigadier general, and as-
signed to the United States camp of instruc-
tion at Benton Barracks, St. Louis. In
December he was placed in command of
southwest Missouri, and on the 6th, 7th and
8th of March, 1862, fought and won the
battle of Pea Ridge, in which the Confederate
Army, variously estimated at twenty-five
thousand to thirty-five thousand men, under
Van Dorn, was defeated and forced to aban-
don the field, retreating to Van Buren,
Arkansas. For this victory he was made
major general of volunteers. He marched
his army through Arkansas without opposi-
tion to Helena, which place he occupied and
held in the summer of 1862. The movement
made by him from Lebanon, Missouri, on the
loth of February, through Springfield and
Cassville, Missouri, and through Arkansas
to the Mississippi River at Helena, defeat-
ing the Confederate Army in a great battle
on the way, was of great value to the Union
cause, in the two States of Missouri and
Arkansas, as it not only secured southwest
Missouri, but secured also the important
position of Helena which was held to the end
of the war. In September, 1862, he was
placed in command of the Department of
Missouri, and held the position till May,
1863, when he was assigned to the Depart-
ment of Kansas, with headquarters at Fort
Leavenworth. In the fall of 1864, when
General Price made the last Confederate in-
vasion of Missouri, General Curtis con-
fronted and resisted him in the western part
of the State, and in the battle of Westport
inflicted such losses on him that he was com-
pelled to turn to the South and retreat to-
ward Arkansas.
Curtis, William S., dean of the St.
Louis Law School, was born June 19, 1850, in
Wayne County, Indiana. He obtained his
early education at Hennepin, Illinois, and at
Troy, Ohio, and later attended McKendree
College of Illinois, and Washington Univer-
sity of St. Louis. He was graduated from
Washington University with the degree of
bachelor of arts in the class of 1873, and from
the St. Louis Law School in the class of 1876.
During intervals in his college course he
taught school at various places, and for sev-
eral years after his graduation was a teacher
in Smith Academy, one of the schools of
Washington University, and also taught logic
Vol. Il-u
and political economy in the University. In
1884 he removed to Omaha, Nebraska, and
began the practice of law in that city, contin-
uing it for ten years thereafter, and until he
was made dean of the St. Louis Law School,
in 1894. Since that time he has been at the
head of one of the leading law schools of the
West, and has become recognized as a law
educator and lecturer of very superior attain-
ments.
Customhouse in Kansas City.—
Kansas City became a port of entry in 1882,
R. C." Crowell, now (1899) a customhouse
broker, being the first surveyor of the port.
His successors have been James Burns, in
January, 1886; Ross GufiSn, in January, 1890;
Scott Harrison, in November, 1893; Milton
Welsh, in August, 1894, and W. L. Kissinger,
in June, 1898. There are five deputies in the
office and two storekeepers in charge of the
two bonded warehouses. The receipts are
about $200,000 per annum. One of the
largest articles of import is English salt re-
quired for curing meats for export. The
amount of customs duties does not show the
amount of importations, for many of the im-
porters have agents at the exterior ports who
clear their merchandise at those points.
Customhouse at St. Louis. — St.
Louis was made a port of entry for imported
goods in 1831, and John Smith was made the
first surveyor of customs, but there was no
building owned by the Federal government
in the city, and the surveyor of customs held
his office in rented buildings until the year
1859, when the first customhouse, erected on
the corner of Third and Olive Streets, was
occupied, and the various Federal offices in
the city were moved into it. The postoffice
occupied the first floor, and the larger por-
tion of the basement of this building; the
United States Sub-Treasury was in the rear
basement room at the corner of Olive Street
and the alley; the office of the surveyor of
customs was in the front part of the second
floor, and the L^nited States courts were held
in the rear. Twenty years later it was mani-
fest that the city had outgrown the capacity
of this building, and that a much more
spacious edifice would have to be built fur-
ther west. Accordingly, in 1872, the block
bounded by Olive and Locust, and Eighth
and Ninth Streets, was purchased and the
210
CUSTOMS, SURVEYOR OF— CYCLONES AND TORNADOES.
erection of the present building begun, under
the supervision of the government super-
vising architect, A. B. Mullett. In 1888 the
edifice was completed and taken possession
of, all the Federal offices being moved into it.
The building, officially known as the United
States Customhouse, occupies the entire
block, the dimensions being 232 feet on Olive
and on Locust Streets, and 177 feet on Eighth
and Ninth Streets, with a height of 184 feet
to the top of the cupola that surmounts it.
The basement is twenty-one and a half feet
deep, and is two stories high, constructed of
red granite. The body of the edifice above
ground is built of Maine granite. Two porti-
coes, one above the other, adorn the two
fronts on Olive Street and Eighth Street, and
in the interior there is a noble and spacious
staircase ascending to the attic, with elevators
in addition. The postoffice occupies the en-
tire first floor, having anunderground railway
connection with the Union Station, for the
easy and prompt conveyance of postal matter
to and from railway trains. Along the Olive
Street front of the second floor are the cus-
toms offices, including the surveyor of cus-
toms — who is custodian of the building —
special agents, assistant custodian, revenue
agents and operator of the secret service. On
the Ninth Street corridor are the subtreas-
ury,and office of inspector of steamboats, and
lighthouse inspector. On the Locust Street
corridor are the offices of postoffice inspector
and pension examiner. On the Eighth Street
corridor is the office of the collector of
internal revenue. On the third floor, on
Olive Street, are the United States Circuit
Court and the United States District Court ;
on the Ninth Street front the United States
District Court clerk, and witness room; on
Locust Street is the office of the United
States marshal; on Eighth Street are the
United States district attorney and the
United States circuit clerk. On the fourth
floor, on Ninth Street, are the United States
grand jury rooms and offices of the railway
mail service ; and on the Locust Street front
are the rooms of the United States engineers.
The dome is occupied by the weather bureau.
In the basement, on Ninth Street, are the
offices of the appraiser, and surgeon of the
United States Marine Hospital. The custom-
house deals only with foreign goods im-
ported into St. Louis. These goods may be
brought to any outside port of entry, as New
York, Baltimore, New Orleans or San
Francisco, and on their arrival there are
transferred to cars, under bond, and brought
direct to St. Louis, where they are formally
entered for consumption. After being duly
appraised and the duties paid they are deliv-
ered to the consignee. In the year 1896 for-
eign goods to the value of $2,712,870 were
thus entered at the St. Louis Customhouse,
and duties to theamountof $1,020,159 P^id on
them. The leading articles imported were
free goods, $432,301 ; cotton goods, $338,420;
tobacco and cigars, $201,248; china and earth-
enware, $156,147; chemicals, $151,318; win-
dow glass, $163,398; woolen goods, $147,664;
linen goods, $110,188; steel wire, $114,980;
cutlery, $109,730; wines, $98,234; guns and
fire-arms, $96,636: hops, $53,357; metal
goods, $50,742; fancy goods, $48,970; spiritu-
ous liquors, $39,642 ; cork and cork manufac-
tures, $38,945; fish, $37,493; jewelry,$25,352;
silk goods, $24,705 ; granulated rice, $27,234;
seeds, $27,940; paper goods, $20,435 ; carpets,
$13,770; anvils, $10,964; skins, dressed, $12,-
700; vegetables, $10,733; marble, $11,802;
paints and oils, $6,955 ; iron manufactures,
$9,280; rubber goods, $5,294; steel bars, $6,-
686; sugar, $5,167; leather goods, $3,081;
musical instruments, $4,645 ; miscellaneous
merchandise, $15,502.
D. M. Grissom.
Customs, Surveyor of. — A United
States officer who has charge of the custom-
house and collects the duties on imported
goods.
Cyclones and Tornadoes. — ^Cyclones
are storms in which the wind sweeps round in
a cycle or circle enclosing an undisturbed
area which is called the vortex or core.
They are common at sea, particularly in the
Indian Ocean, on the China coast, and be-
tween Cape Hatteras and the West Indies.
A cyclone may be a thousand miles in
diameter. Hurricanes operate on a path
averaging six hundred to eight hundred
miles wide while tornadoes are much smaller,
sometimes not more than a mile at the top
and a few yards at the bottom. The word
tornado, means "twisted," and the alarming-
and destructive storms that prevail in the
^^'estern and Southern States of this country,
and which are commonly called cyclones are
tornadoes. They usually come after a hot
CYCLONES AND TORNADOES.
211
spell and are marked by features which are
easily distinguishable and always inspire
terror. There will be a darkening of the
sky in the southwest, increasing to blackness,
with low ominous mutterings ; and then, a
separate cloud, usually spoken of as funnel-
shaped, but more frequently turnip shaped,
with its round revolving body in the sky and
a twisting pendant swaying below it and
touching the earth. Sometimes the whole
apparition will pass slowly over the earth,
without touching — and in these cases, there
will be only a sharp blow on the earth with
no harm done. At times again, the cloud
will descend till the pendant touches the
ground and then everything is either lifted
up in its twisting vortex, or torn to pieces in
its path — houses, trees, growing crops, fences
and even animals and human beings. Houses
have been torn to pieces and blown clear
from their foundations, and some members
of the family overwhelmed and killed on the
spot, while others were borne upward, carried
off and dropped in places a hundred yards
away. A fearful roaring and din is usually
an accompanirpent of the storm, lightning
flashes and thunder roll from the vortex
of the cloud, and sometimes deluging rains
descend. In a few minutes the storm passes
and all is over, but the path of the tornado,
sometimes only a few hundred yards wide,
and with the sides clearly defined, is marked
by havoc and desolation. The lifting force
of the tornado is enormous. Timbers of
wrecked houses have been carried a mile in
the air and dropped; horses have been
caught up in one field and dropped in an-
other ; clothing and papers have been carried
off and deposited in other counties twenty
miles distant; shingles have been driven,
thin end foremost, into trees, to the depth of
several inches; and in one case in Illinois, a
heavy railway locomotive standing on the
track was lifted up and dropped to the
ground, twenty feet distant. Missouri has
been visited by several of these storms which
have generally been called cyclones in later
years. A destructive tornado visited St.
Louis on the 27th of June, 1833, which un-
roofed and demolished many dwellings,
uprooted shade trees and injured several per-
sons, killing one. What was known as the
North Ward Markethouse was entirely de-
stroyed, a portion of the Methodist Church
was carried away, and the cupola of the Epis-
copal Church was blown down. There is no
authentic record of an earlier visitation of the
same character, or of a storm which inflicted
any serious damage on the place. April 27,
1852, a terrific hail and wind storm swept
over the same city, which did much damage,
but caused no loss of life. Carondelet suf-
fered more severely than St. Louis from this
storm, between twenty and thirty buildings
being unroofed or otherwise injured in that
place. March 8, 1871, East St. Louis and the
eastern shore of the Mississippi River were
practically devastated by a tornado which
came from the southwest and swept along
the river bank with an estimated velocity of
sixty to seventy miles an hour. This storm
demolished a grain elevator and wrecked the
freight house of the Vandalia Railway and
the St. Louis & Southwestern freight house
and depot. A locomotive and train of ten
cars were blown from the track, the depot
and freight houses of the Chicago & Alton
Railroad were greatly damaged, and three
freight houses belonging to the Ohio & Mis-
sissippi Railway Company were blown from
their foundations. Many other buildings
were wholly or partially destroyed, and the
steamer "Mollie Able," the ferry boats "Ed-
wardsville" and "Milwaukee," and the ram
"Vindicator" were wrecked. The victims of
this tornado were seven persons killed and
more than fifty injured. On the night of
January 12, 1890, a storm visited St. Louis
in which four people were killed and fifteen
injured and much property destroyed. May
2J, 1896, St. Louis was struck by a tornado
which occasioned an appalling loss of life and
property. About five o'clock on the after-
noon of that day the storm burst suddenly
upon the city, coming from the southwest,
and passing down the valley south of the
railroad track, laid waste an area about two
miles wide by three miles in length. The
storm was severely felt in other portions of
the city, near the river and north of its gen-
eral course. In East St. Louis there was a
frightful wreckage of buildings of all kinds,
attended by great loss of life. A heavy rain
storm accompanied the tornado, increasing
the horrors of the situation and seriously im-
peding the work of rescuing the wounded and
caring for those who were without shelter.
The devastated district was in darkness, all
electric plants having been disabled and miles
of poles and wires destroyed. In many places
212
CYCIvONES AND TORNADOES.
the gas was also cut off. Several fires oc-
curred, which happily were extinguished by
the rain. Every street railroad in the city was
disabled and traffic completely suspended.
The Olive Street Cable Line, however,
escaped serious damage and was able to re-
sume service later in the evening, but thou-
sands of people were compelled to walk to
their homes in the blinding rain. Railroad
traffic was also entirely suspended, no trains
leaving or entering the city during the night.
The gloom that pervaded the city during that
eventful night can better be imagined than
described. When the morning broke the full
force of the disaster was realized. As the
business men gathered on 'Change the one
prevailing thought was the desire to extend
immediate help to those who had been
rendered homeless. No attempt was made
to transact business. At 12 o'clock President
Spencer, of the Merchants' Exchange, called
a meeting of the members and suggested that
a subscription be at once started and com-
mittees appointed to look after the unfor-
tunate. Although the attendance was slight,
many of the merchants being absent engaged
in looking after their own homes or those of
their friends who resided in the stricken
district, the sum of $15,000 was subscribed
in a few moments, and a general executive
committee appointed to prosecute the good
work. This committee met at once and ap-
pointed subcommittees to solicit funds, and
other committees to distribute relief, with full
authority to take charge of the work, and
appoint subcommittees. The St. Louis
Provident Association, the St. Vincent de
Paul Society, the Hebrew Relief Association,
the Ladies' Emergency Aid Society, the
South Broadway Merchants' Association,
and others offered their services, and were
placed in charge of subdistricts. Immediate
relief in the shape of food, clothing, furniture
and bedding were freely given, and at the
end of two weeks every known sufferer by
the storm had been fed, clothed and housed.
Then the systematic work of investigation
was taken up and relief extended to many
who had not applied for aid in the various
districts. As nearly as can be ascertained
about 8,000 families, representing 40,000
persons, were assisted. The call of the
committee for money to carry on the work of
relief was responded to in a most liberal man-
ner by the people of St. Louis, and generous
subscriptions were also received from outside
the city. The amount received by the Mer-
chants' Exchange Relief Committee and the
Rebuilding Committee was $267,430.49. In
addition $4,101.90 was collected from the
public schools, $2,624.37 by the Broadway
Merchants' Association, and a very large
amount, estimated at over $100,000, was dis-
tributed personally by friends and neighbors.
A large quantity of clothing, bedding, etc.,
was also donated, some of which was dis-
tributed by the general committee and the
balance by individuals. So it is safe to say
that aid to the amount of $400,000 was
rendered to the tornado sufferers. The
official report of killed and injured, as fur-
nished by the health department, was as
follows :
Killed 138
Drowned from boats 2
Injured and treated from Health Department 92
The following statement shows the num-
ber of houses damaged and gives an approxi-
mate estimate of the property loss incurred :
Number of houses considerably damaged..- 7,263
Number of houses damaged (not to exceed$75) 1,249
Total 8,512
Loss on buildings $7,487,200
Loss on personal property (household effects, etc.) 1,191,800
Loss on machinery, stocks of merchandise, and
property not included in the above i ,560.000
Total 110,239,000
Buildings entirely destroyed 321
Number of buildings that cost less than $3,000 each 2,651
Number of buildings that cost less than $1,500 each 1,171
The damages included in the above esti-
mate to overhead wire system, were $500,-
000; to churches, $400,000; to schools, $100,-
000 ; and to the shipping interests over $400,-
000.
In February, 1872, a tornado passed over
the northern part of Pettis County descend-
ing to the earth at Houstonia, wrecking a
number of houses and causing a loss of $30,-
000. A number of persons were injured but
none killed.
April 18, 1880, one entered the south-
western corner of the State in McDonald
County, passing over Barry, being joined ap-
parently by another near Cassville, moving
into Greene County, where the cloud divided,
one branch passing to the southwest and
disappearing without causing serious injury;
but the other branch swept over Webster
213
County, touching the earth at Marshfield and
inflicting great devastation. About one-half
the town, which is the county seat of Web-
ster County, was destroyed, eighty-seven
persons were killed and fatally injured, many
others less seriously injured and a property
loss of $250,000 was inflicted on the place.
The same tornado did great damage in some
parts of Moniteau County, particularly in the
vicinity of High Point and along the South
Moreau. Many farm houses and buildings
were demolished and several persons were
killed and injured. Again in July, 1881, a
heavy wind storm wrought much havoc in
Linn Township, of Moniteau County.
April 27, 1899, Kirksville, the county seat
of Adair County, a city of 7,000 inhabitants,
■was visited by a tornado, which swept over
and through the place about five o'clock in
the afternoon, making a track about four
blocks in width and a mile in length, killing
45 persons, injuring 150, and destroying 200
houses. Theodore Brigham was found dead
on the ground several hundred feet from his
house, having been carried off by the wind.
An infant was carried some distance and
gently deposited in a field without being in-
jured. The house of J. T. Coonfield was
blown across a ditch and jammed into the
side of a hill, all its inmates escaping without
serious injury. A girl sixteen years old was
found dead with a two by four inch scantling
thrust through her body, and a child was
taken from a heap of ruins with a limb of a
tree run through its neck. Newtown, with a
population of 750, in Sullivan County, thirty-
five miles northeast of Kirksville, was visited
by the same tornado a few minutes later and
half destroyed. The duration of the storm
at this place was only two minutes but its
work was shocking. Herman Despers' family
of five persons, father, mother and three
children, were all killed, William Hayes and
his wife were blown with their house, a dis-
tance of one hundred yards and killed.
Laban Evans was blown 150 yards and his
two daughters 200 yards and all killed. One
of the Desper children was found after the
storm flattened against a post, dead. One of
the Hayes children, two years old, was
found lodged in an apple tree, dead. Four
children of Henry Barbee were found alive
and but slightly injured under the ruins of
Widow Pierce's house, their own house hav-
ing blown off over their heads and the Pierce
house blown from the other side of the street
and deposited over them in such a way as to
shelter them. Ten persons were killed and
twenty-five injured at Newtown and the
number of victims at the two places, New-
town and Kirksville, was 55 killed and 175
injured.
Cyrene. — A hamlet in Pike County, six
miles from Bowling Green, on the St. Louis
& Hannibal Railroad. It has a saw and
gristmill, two stores and a grain elevator.
Population, 1899 (estimated), 125.
DADE COUNTY.
D
Dade County.— A county in the south-
western part of the State, 130 miles south of
Kansas City. It is bounded on the north
by Cedar County, on the east by Polk and
Greene Counties, on the south by Lawrence
County, and on the west by Jasper and Bar-
ton Counties. Its area is 500 square miles,
fairly divided between timber and prairie, and
the latter is well distributed throughout the
county. The uplands bear a nourishing red
loam, unsurpassed for wheat, corn and to-
bacco, while the bottom lands are of exceed-
ing fertility. In the vicinity of the streams
the country is rolling, and in places breaks
into hills and bluffs. The Ozark range has its
summit in the southwest, whence streams
flowing south find their way to the Arkansas
River, and those proceeding in other direc-
tions reach the Osage. The Big Sac and
Turnback Creeks, coursing from south to
north through the east and central regions,
offer excellent water power for mill sites.
Smaller streams are Son's Creek, in the cen-
tral part, and Horse and Muddy Creeks in
the west, the former two flowing north into
Big Sac, and the latter into Spring Creek.
Excellent fish have been taken from the
larger water courses. There are many fine
springs, and a chalybeate spring, six miles
east of Greenfield, is of known hygienic prop-
erties. Among fine expanses of prairie is
that in the north, known as Pennsylvania,'
named for Judge William Penn. Conner's
Prairie, in the north also, bends and fringes
the western border. In the southeast is Rock
Prairie, and in the northeast Crisp's Prairie,
the latter extending a length of twelve miles,
with a width of three miles. The woods are
principally hickory, oak, walnut and elm;
along Son's Creek are numerous groves of
cedar, but the trees are only ornamental.
There is abundance of fine building limestone,
which has been used extensively in the
United States building at Fort Smith, Arkan-
sas. The deposits of white and red pottery
clay are apparently inexhaustible. Large
quantities of earthenware and tiling are man-
ufactured near Rock Prairie, in the south-
eastern portion of the county. Zinc was
discovered in 1874, north and east of Green-
field, and lead was found soon afterward. In
1875 the mining industry was at its height,
and the deposits were found to be abundant
and rich. The Dade Mining & Smelting
Company was organized with local capital,
and plants were estabhshed, out of which
has grown the present mining town of
Corry, northeast of Greenfield, and the bus-
iness continues to be successfully prosecuted.
Coal is abundant in the northwestern part of
the county, and numerous small mines are
profitably worked. Iron has been found in
the northeastern part, but has not been de-
veloped. The principal towns in the county
are Greenfield, the county seat ; Lockwood,
South Greenfield, Dadeville and Everton.
Railways traversing the county are the
Stockton & Mount Vernon, and the Lamar
& Springfield branches of the Kansas City,
Fort Scott & Memphis roads. In 1898 the
surplus products were: Cattle, 4,036 head;
hogs, 23,400 head; wheat, 114,583 bushels;
oats, 29,078 bushels ; ilax seed, 10,720 bush-
els; hay, 3,723,300 pounds; grass seed, 81,000
pounds; flour, 971,600 pounds; shipstuff,
2,004,000 pounds; poultry, 3,365,360 pounds;
butter, 85,020 pounds ; game, 68,910 pounds ;
lime, 50,720 barrels. In 1900 the population
of the county was 18,125.
Dade County was created January 29, 1841,
formed from Greene County, and was named
for Major Dade, of Seminole massacre fame.
Its northern boundary was ten miles within
the present county of Cedar, and its southern
boundary was nine miles within the present
county of Lawrence ; it was reduced to its
present dimensions March 28, 1845. It was
provided in the organic act that the courts
should temporarily hold at the house of Wil-
liam Penn, until the commissioners ap-
pointed, Josiah McCrary, of Barry County;
William Caulfield, of Greene County, and
Winfrey Owens, of Polk County, should
select a permanent county seat. Those in-
strumental in the formation of the county
expected to locate the county seat on Penn-
sylvania Prairie, but a supplemental act of
the General Assembly required that it be
established within four miles of the center of
the county. The commissioners selected the
DADE COUNTY
215
present site, taking for the purpose a tract
of fifty-one acres donated by Matthias H.
Allison. A courthouse was erected by R. S.
Jacobs and Joseph Griggs ; it was a frame
building, of one and one-half stories. In
1850 a brick building, two stories high, was
erected by Dozier C. Gill. In 1863 it was
burned down by Shelby's forces, the records
being previously removed to the residence of
Judge Nelson McDowell. In 1868 the pres-
ent courthouse and jail combined, a two-story
structure, on a stone foundation, was erected.
The first jail was of hewed timbers ; it was
burned during the war period. Courts were
held at the house of Matthias H. Allison from
the organization of the county until June,
1842, when the courthouse was occupied.
The first county judges, sitting in 1841, were
Nelson McDowell, William Penn and David
Hunter, with Asa G. Smith as- sheriff^ these
serving by appointment by the Governor.
The court appointed Joseph Allen as clerk.
The first transactions were the creation of
townships, and the appointment of justices.
Successors of the judges named, by election,
were Eshan A. Brown, P. T. Andrews, Isaac
Routh and D. S. Clarkson. Joseph Allen
served as county and circuit clerk until
1845. Asa G. Smith, sheriff, absconded with
the public funds in 1842, and was succeeded
by William G. Blake, and he by M. H. Alli-
son. B. F. Walker was surveyor from 1841
to 1846. Peter Hoyle was probate judge
from 1845 to 1847, and was succeeded by
Matthias H. Allison. In 1873, under the
township organization law, the county was
divided into four districts, with R. A. Clark
as presiding judge, and Robert Cowan, Sam-
uel B- Shaw, Thomas J. Carson and A. D.
Hudspeth as district judges. In 1875 town-
ship organization was abandoned, when J. M.
Stookey became the first judge, and was suc-
ceeded by John N. Landers. In 1877 the
county was divided into two districts, with
Samuel E. Shaw as presiding justice, and
James McClelland and George W. White-
sides as associate justices. The first circuit
court of which there is record, was held by
Judge Charles S. Yancey, in October, 1845.
Two executions for murder have taken place,
and one of these for crime committed else-
where. In 1843 Peter Douglass, a slave, was
hung for killing his wife and two children ; he
attempted suicide after the commission of the
crime. In 1879, on change of venue from
Cedar County, Thomas B. Hopper was con-
victed of the murder of Samuel C. Ham, and
was hung June 25, 1885. In 1881 Taylor
Underwood killed Donald McElrath, in
Greenfield. On change of venue to Barton
County he was convicted of murder, and sen-
tenced to be hung. The Supreme Court
granted a new trial, when he plead guilty to
manslaughter and was sentenced to the pen-
itentiary for life. July 3, 1881, William Un-
derwood, Frank Craft and James Butler, Jr.,
imprisoned under a charge of horse-stealing,
and suspected of belonging to an organized
band of marauders, were taken from the
Greenfield jail and hung from trees in the
courthouse yard.
The first settlers found evidences of
previous occupation by white men. Seven
miles northwest of Greenfield were the re-
mains of a fortification and furnaces ; it is
conjectured that these were constructed by
Spanish explorers. The pioneers came late
in 1833 and early in 1834. The Crisps, Wil-
liam, Redden and John, located near the
prairie which bears their name, and William
Penn on Pennsylvania prairie, named for him.
The Allisons, Joseph, and his sons, Matthias
H. and James, the latter a soldier in the War
of 1812, R. D. and William McMillan, George
Davidson, William Hampton, John Lack,
John M. Rankin and Peter Hoyle all settled
near the present Greenfield, and Matthias H.
Allison upon its immediate site. William
Downing located just above the mouth of
Turnback Creek, and Wilham and John An-
derson, James Jennings and Jacob Yocum
farther up the stream. Silas Hobbs and J.
M. Leemaster settled on Sac River. Most
of those named were from Tennessee
or Virginia. In 1839-40 came Alexander M.
Long and family, who settled on the Yocum
place ; Nelson McDowell and Samuel La
Force and Jesse Findlay, on Crisp prairie ;
and Samuel Weir, a Cumberland Presbyte-
rian preacher: Aaron Finch. Jonathan Parris
and John C. Wetzel at, or near, Greenfield.
In 1841 Jefferson D. Montgomery, a Cum-
berland Presbyterian preacher, located and
married a daughter of Samuel Weir, and this
was probably the first marriage in the county.
About the same time came William K.
Lathim, who had recently married Alvira
Bush, in Polk County : they located in or near
Greenfield. For many years the settlers were
obliged to depend for their milling upon
216
DADEVILLE.
Madison Campbell's mill on the Little Sac,
in Polk County; Campbell afterward built a
mill seven miles northeast of Greenfield on
the site of the later Engelman mill.
The county is rich in church history. Sev-
eral religious organizations were formed be-
fore the establishment of the county. In 1838
the Christian Church of Dadeville had its
beginning under Elder Hazleton, with James
Hambree and wife, and Matilda and Nancy
Hambree as members. The Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, of Greenfield, was
founded in 1839 by the Rev. J. D. Montgom-
ery, with Mrs. Montgomery, the Rev. J. Weir
and his wife, J. L. Allison and wife, M. H.
Allison and wife, A. M. Long and wife,
Joseph Leemaster and wife, and Leann Dycus
as members. The membership was dispersed
in war days, but in 1866 those remaining re-
organized the church, and erected a substan-
tial house of worship. In 1842 Ebenezer
Presbyterian Church, of Greenfield, was
organized. In 1847, Elder Thomas J. Kelley
organized the Sinking Creek United Baptist
Church. In 1848 Elders David Stiles and S.
L. Beckley organized the Pleasant Grove
Missionary Baptist Church, and Elder Beck-
ley formed the Limestone Church in the year
following. Numerous other missionary Bap-
tist churches were formed in various parts
of the county both before and after the war.
In 1864 a Methodist Episcopal Church was
founded at Greenfield by the Rev. William
Denby. All churches now existing are united
and prosperous. During the Mexican War
the county furnished a company, commanded
by Captain J. J. Clarkson. At the beginning
of the Civil War public sentiment was about
equally divided; the people in the southern
half of the county were generally Southern
sympathizers, while those of the northern half
were mostly Unionists. John T. Coffee en-
listed a number of men for the Confederate
Army, and a large number attached them-
selves to Price's army when it moved south.
The county furnished almost the entire mem-
bership of Companies A and D of the Sixth
Missouri Cavalry Regiment; Clark Wright
became colonel of the regiment, and Thomas
A. Switzler succeeded him as captain of Com-
pany A. Company D was commanded by
Captain William H. Crockett. The county
furnished to the same regiment one-half of
the men of Company E, commanded by Cap-
tain Austin Hubbard, and one-third of the
men of Company L, commanded by Captain
Jesse C. Kirby. These men fought in Mis-
souri and Arkansas, under Grant in Missis-
sippi, and about Mobile. In 1862 a Union
militia company formed in Greenfield were
surprised and captured, and re-enlisted after
exchange. In the Fifteenth Cavalry Regi-
ment were two Dade County companies,
Company E, Captain Edmond J. Morris, and
Company I, Captain John H. Howard; their
service was in Missouri and Arkansas. • No
pitched battles were fought within the coun-
ty, but there were numerous encounters
between small bands, much destruction of
property by fire, ' and many outrages upon
individuals. In 1865 a new population began
to come in, and the county was practically
rebuilt. In 1870 the county was asked to
subscribe $300,000 in bonds to the capital
stock of the Kansas City & Memphis Rail-
way Company, as a building fund, but the
amount was subsequently reduced to $200,-
000. The bonds were issued in 1873, but the
road was not completed until 1881. During
this period the county defaulted on the in-
terest account, and numerous suits were
brought to compel payment. In 1881 a
proposition to refund in 6 per cent bonds, on
a basis of 70 per cent, was rejected by a
majority of votes. In 1883 it was found that
the debt amounted to about $390,000, and
at a special election a refunding scheme was
adopted, as contemplated in the original
proposition.
The branch railroad connecting Green-
field and South Greenfield, two and three-
fourths miles long, was built by a local com-
pany in 1886. In 1886 an Agricultural,
Mechanical & Stock Association was organ-
ized at Lockwood, and began a series of
annual fairs.
Dadeville. — A village in Dade County,
twelve miles northwest of Greenfield, the
county seat. It has a public school, and
Dadeville Academy, a non-sectarian school for
both sexes, with five teachers and 120 stu-
dents, occupying a building which cost $5,000.
There are two churches, lodges of Masons
and Odd Fellows, a gristmill and a sawmill.
In 1899 the population was 450. It was
known as Mellville until about 1865, when
the present name was given it. The first set-
tler was one Johnson, in 1840. A Christian
Church was organized in the vicinity by Elder
DAENZER— DALLAS COUNTY.
217
Hazleton, in 1838; in 1866 the congregation
removed to Dadeville and built a house of
worship. The town was one of the most
prosperous in the county until the war, when
it was mostly destroyed.
Daenzer, Carl, editor, was born in
1820, in Odenheim, in the Province of Baden,
Germany. He studied law in Heidelberg and
took an active part in the German Revolu-
tion of 1848-9. When the Revolution col-
lapsed he succeeded in escaping to Switzer-
land and remained there some years. He then
came to this country and to St. Louis, where
he found employment as associate editor of
the "Anzeiger des Westens." This position he
resigned in 1857 and established the "West-
liche Post," a daily Republican paper. Ill
health caused him to dispose of this paper
in i860, and a year later he left St. Louis
and returned to Germany, he having, like
others, received amnesty from the Grand
Duke of Baden. The "Anzeiger" had until the
breaking out of the Civil War been a tower
of strength to the Republican party, but later
it lost its prestige and influence, and in
March of 1863 its publication was suspended.
After a time Mr. Daenzer was induced to
take charge of the paper by some of the
leading citizens of St. Louis, and under his
management it became nominally a Demo-
cratic paper, but not a party organ. For
several years Mr. Daenzer conducted it as
an independent paper, but later it became
the representative of the German Democrats,
altliough its editor seldom acknowledged
submission to party mandate. A man of
strong convictions, he always dictated the
policy of the paper personally, and his views
were forcibly expressed at all times. After
the consolidation of the "Anzeiger" and the
"Westliche Post," which took place in 1898,
he withdrew from editorial work and return-
ed to his native land, where he has since
lived.
Daggett, Johu D., one of the mayors
of St. Louis, born at Attleborough, Massa-
chusetts, October 4, 1793. At the age of
twenty-two years he started west, stopping
first at Philadelphia and next at Pittsburg,
and reaching St. Louis in 1817. He engaged
in the auction commission business and aft-
erward in retail merchandising. In 1827
he was chosen alderman, and in 1841 was
chosen mayor of the city. He was engaged
for a time in the river trade, being part own-
er in 1830 of the first steamboat, called the
"St. Louis." His business was between St.
Louis and New Orleans, and during his river
career he commanded several fast and favor-
ite boats. He was associated with the
sectional docks, a very important and effect-
ive accessory of the steamboat interest in its
day, and was one of the organizers of the
Floating Dock Insurance Company and one
of the directors of the. Citizens' Insurance
Company — both of them influential and suc-
cessful companies for a time. He was one of
the founders of the St. Louis Gas Light Com-
pany and was made president of it for sev-
eral years. He was a zealous Freemason, a
member of Missouri Lodge No. 12, in 1818,
and one of the members of the convention in
1821 that formed the Grand Lodge of Mis-
souri. He died in 1874 at the age of eighty-
one years, universally esteemed as an upright
and useful citizen.
Dallas. —See "Marble Hill."
Dallas County.— A county in the
southwest central part of the State, bounded
on the north by Hickory and Camden; east
by Laclede; south by Webster and Greene,
and west by Polk and Hickory Counties ; area
345,000 acres. The surface of the county va-
ries from level prairie to undulating table
lands and hills and ridges. Along some of the
streams are steep, rocky hills. The country
is well watered. The Niangua enters the cen-
tral southern part and flows northwardly to
near the center, thence eastwardly within a
mile of the county line, where it again flows
toward the north. The chief tributaries of the
Niangua are Jones, Dusenberry and Greasy
Creeks. In the western part flows the little
Niangua, fed by numerous tributaries. Ever
flowing springs abound in different sections
of the county. Nearly one-third of the area
of the county is prairie in character ; the
greater part of the remainder is covered with
good growths of timber, principally the dif-
ferent kinds of oak and white and black wal-
nut, hickory, ash, elm, cherry, maple,
sycamore and less valuable woods. The soil
varies from clayey and gravelly to a rich
black alluvial loam, sandy in places and near-
ly all of great fertility and adopted to a wide
range of products. Coal, lead, iron and lime-
218
DALLAS COUNTY.
stone are the minerals found, though httle
effort has been made toward the develop-
ment of mines. The manufacturing interests
of the country are limited to a few flouring
mills, gristmills and sawmills. About fifty
per cent of the land is under cultivation.
Among the exports from the county in 1898
were cattle, 2,850 head ; hogs, 7,675 head ;
sheep, 1,850 head; horses and mules, 200
head; cross ties, 5,090; wool, 5,750 pounds;
poultry, 75,865 pounds ; eggs, 225,250 dozen ;
butter, 2,890 pounds; game and fish, 4,785
pounds; hides and pelts, 3,980 pounds; ap-
ples, 490 barrels ; dried fruit, 6,400 pounds ;
honey, 350 pounds ; furs, 1,460 pounds ; feath-
ers, 1,030 pounds. The exports here enumer-
ated are taken from the report of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics for 1899. As all the sur-
plus products of Dallas County are shipped
from various railroad points outside the
county, it is a difficult matter to get exact
statistics, and it is likely that the figures here
given are lower than the actual shipments.
The first settlement in the region that now
is Dallas County was made on what is known
as Buffalo Head Prairie. Just \Vho was the
first settler is a little obscure, though the
claim that Mark Reynolds and family, natives
of Tennessee, settled in 1832 on Buffalo Head
Prairie, northwest a short distance from the
Blue Mounds, is tolerably well authenticated.
He lived on his claim for a year and then sold
his improvements to Bracket Davidson, and
afterward moved to land three miles west of
the site of Buffalo, where he resided until
his death. Soon after Reynolds settled in the
county he placed a large buffalo head which
he found on the prairie on a pole, where it
remained for years as a way mark for hunt-
ers and emigrants, and thus the prairie be-
came known as Buffalo Head. Soon after
the Vanderford, Haines, Cox, Wright, Wil-
kerson and Gregg families from Ohio settled
on land, and within the next few years there
was a healthy increase of home-seekers from
New York, Pennsylvania and other States of
both East and South. The early settlers suf-
fered many hardships and privations. Jour-
neys of miles were made for such small things
as to grind an ax, and a trip of 
