USA > Missouri > Chariton County > Historical, pictorial and biographical record, of Chariton County, Missouri > Part 1
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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08192145 8
Historical, Pictorical
and Biographical Record of Chariton County, Missouri.
2. Chiudere County, Mo. - Bing.
W H RICHARDSON SALISBURY MO L BOX 8
6V7
Chariton
IV
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/historicalpictor00sali
HISTORICAL,
PICTORIAL HIND
BIOGRAPHICAL
RECORD,
OF
CHARITON COUNTY,
MISSOURI.
PROFUSELY
ILLUSTRATED.
SALISBURY : Pictorial and Biographical Publishing Co., 1896.
TTE NEN/ YAIRKK PUBLIC LIBRARY 3449191
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1927
PRESS-SPECTATOR STEAM PRINT, SALISBURY, MO. 1896.
.
€
Preface.
In presenting to the publie this volume, the publishers consider it incumbent upon them to make some acknowledgment of the many courtesies and favors we have received in the compilation of the mat- ter herein contained, and the generous approval with which an appre- ciative public have responded by their subscriptions. This volume has been prepared in response to the prevailing and popular demand for the preservation of local history and biography. The design of the present work is more to gather and preserve in attractive form, while fresh with the evidence of truth, the enormous fund of perish- ing occurrences, than to abstract from insufficient contemporaneous data remote, doubtful or incorrect conclusions.
Fully aware of our inability to furnish a perfect history, an accom- plishment vouchsafed to the imagination only of the dreamer or the theorist, we make no pretentions of having prepared a work devoid of blemish. To him who has not attempted the compilation of such a work, the obstacles to be surmounted are unknown. Notwithstand- ing the fact that the whole country has suffered under a financial cri- sis of intense severity, and commercial business of all kinds has been in a state of almost total prostration, we cannot help acknowledging, under such circumstances, an almost unexpected and flattering result. In this connection we desire to return to Hon. Perry S. Rader, of Brunswick, and author of Rader's History of Missouri, our especial thanks for valuable favors received, in the loan of a number of cuts appearing in the first part of this work, as used in his history.
Believing that all thoughtful people, at present and in future, will recognize and appreciate the importance of this HISTORICAL, PICTORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD of so promising a county, and the great benefit that will result, we remain
THE PUBLISHERS.
1
.
·
Imperial Missouri. PART I.
Imperial Missouri.
N conformity with the idea expressed by that greatest of the English historians, Macaulay, and one of the most brilliant writers of the nineteenth century, expressed in the following, "The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its people," has this PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD of Chariton county been prepared. Inasmuch as this county is only a municipal part of the great commonwealth of Missouri, a brief sketch of the "Imperial State " may not be amiss in this connection.
Missouri, after one of the most bitter and hotly con- tested controversies that ever threatened the political skies attending the birth of a new child in the great sisterhood of states, and lasting throughout a number of years, was formally admitted to all the rights, privileges and immunities of a state to which she sought to be clothed, August 10, 1821. Due to the bitterness and animosity engendered by the agitation of the slavery question throughout the length and breadth of the nation, attending the admission of the state to the union, immigration was tardy and the wealth and popula- tion of the state increased very slowly; but a country destined to be among the foremost of the union in natural resources, material wealth, financial prosperity, agricultural and commercial activities, was not to lie in a dormant state very long.
At that time the most ardent imagination never conceived of the progress which was to mark the history of this great state. The ad- venturous pioneer who pitched his tent upon these broad prairies, or threaded the dark labyrinths of the lonely forest, little thought that a mighty tide of physical and intellectual strength would so soon fol- low in his footsteps, to populate, build up and enrich the domain which he was just then entering upon. Such, however, has been the case, for year after year civilization advanced further and further until to- day the mountains, the hills and the valleys ; yes even the rocks and the caverns, resound with the noise and din of busy millions. With its population of nearly 3,000,000, Missouri embracing an area of 65,350 square miles, or 41,824,000 acres, would accommodate
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
another million families very easily, and still have room for another million or two without crowding. Rich in nature's noblest productions, grand in historie memories, interesting in varied landscapes of moun- tain and prairie, meadows, hills and streamlets, this state should claim more than a passing notice. The geographical center of the United States, Missouri has always occupied a prominent place in our coun- try's history. In general resources Missouri is certainly the imperial state. Every known mineral is found within her borders in quanties large and.small. Many years before any permanent settlement was made in the state by the whites, lead was mined within the limits of the state at a number of points along the Mississippi, while to-day, hundreds of mines are opened and many of them being successfully operated. Copper and zine ore have been found in a number of varie- ties and mines have been opened and successfully worked, yielding good returns. Zinc, especially, is found in abundant quantities in nearly all of the lead mines in the southwestern part of the state. Promi- nent among the minerals which have done so much towards advertis- ing Missouri as a mining state is its inexhaustible beds of iron. Of this ore she is abundantly supplied with the best and purest quality. While iron ore is found in paying quantities in twenty-five or thirty counties of the state, the greatest deposits are perhaps those of Iron Mountain, being 200 feet high and covering an area of 500 acres, pro- ducing a metal which by analysis contains from 65 to 69 per cent. of pure metalic iron. Although the development of her coal fields is yet in its infancy, Missouri has been abundantly supplied with the heat producing black diamond. The fact has been proven by geological surveys that the coal deposits of the state are almost innumerable, em- bracing all varieties of the bituminous coal, easy of access, from whose beds generations yet unborn may extract an ample supply to meet the comforts of life. Unimportant with the foregoing, yet the source of great wealth, are the sandstones of the state, its gypsum, and lime, clays and paints, and its mineral waters.
To discuss at length the many natural resources with which an all- wise and beneficent Creator has seen fit to bless this state, would be a very arduous task and a delicate responsibility which we do not de- sire to assume here. Nature has done much for Missouri and Missou- rians in turn are improving their God-given opportunities. Situated as she is, from a geographical standpoint and as to population, in the center of the United States, the great commonwealth of Missouri could in an emergency, provide the entire country with the necessaries
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHIICAL RECORD.
of life for quite a lenghty period. The state is exceptionally well watered, drouths are uncommon, floods rare, and the fertility of the soil such that a total failure of crops is unknown.
Its climate is mild, salubrious and healthful. No sandstorms sweep over her prairies, no simooms devast her fields nor do "north- ers" scatter disease in her train. In agriculture, Missouri ranks third in the union, in the value of its farm products. The soil is diversified and capable of producing not only grains and fruits common to tem- perate zones but cotton and semi-tropical fruits. Its corn-fields yield upwards of 200,000,000 bushels yearly, and while not strictly a small grain state, from 60,000,000 to 75,000,000 bushels of wheat and other grain are harvested every year. Every vegetable and fruit which can be grown in the temperate zone can be raised here profitably if care- fully and intelligently undertaken. Its potatoes, sweet and Irish, are among the finest produced in the country, while its grapes, apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots and quinces are large and delicious in flavor. Tobacco and cotton are also cultivated with success. Soil and scenery of every known type are found within her borders. While the state possesses no exceptionally high mountains, her people boast of forests and hills delightful to the eye and overflowing with wealth above and below the surface.
Missouri is truly a great commonwealth of happy homes. Her people are industrious and intelligent and consequently contented and happy. The state has never indulged in wild advertising schemes to induce strangers to come here and purchase property at fabulous prices, that the owners might be able to pay their debts and leave the country. While it has had much to contend with, it has come out grandly, paying all its debts. To-day her bonds command a higher premium than those of any other state. Her school fund is the largest and her public school system will compare favorably with sister states that have had the advantage of many more years of experience. No state in the union possesses so many advantages and our people appre- ciate the fact. With the "Father of Waters" washing the entire cast- . ern border, the "Big Muddy" dividing the state in twain, and a per- fect network of railroads leading to excellent markets on either side, profit in all kinds of business is assured, hence the people of the state are satisfied to live and die on Missouri soil. They are proud of the state and cherish its grand memories with grateful devotion. They love its laws, revere its institutions and are loyal to its government. They are charmed by its grandeur and picturesque beauty of its seen-
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ery and never tire of the splendid panorama of widening views that stretch out into the dim distance until earth and sky seem to meet. She is one of the fairest states of the sisterhood, well worthy of the following eloquent tribute paid her by Hon. Wm. H. Wallace in a speech delivered by him at Kansas City in 1890, as follows:
GRAND OLD MISSOURI.
"Grand, beautiful, magnificent Missouri! Where rolling prairies, fertile valleys, mighty forests, placid lakes, majestic rivers, enchant the eye and woo the heart; where flowers of every hue and clime fresh- en in the evening dews till the green ivy of the north and the fragrant magnolia of the south meet each other in a common home and rebuk- ing sectional hate entwine their arms in tenderest love; where birds of every note and plumage wend their merry flight, from the humming bird that flutters in the honeysuckle to the eagle that builds his eyrie in the craggy cliff, while the mocking bird, the nightengale and the bobolink wake the forest with ringing melodies sweet as those that rose in paradise; where the perch, the croppy and the bass leap in the sunbeams and the hunter's horn rouses the fleet footed fox and the bounding deer! Fertile, bounteous, exhaustless Missouri. Where yellow harvests are locked in the golden sunshine rich as those that ripened in the land of Nile; where corn and cotton flourish in a common soil, and the apple and peach grow in luscious beauty side by side; where exhaustless beds of coal, lead and zinc lie sleeping in the earth, and mountains of iron await the blazing forge. Enterprising, majestic, imperial Missouri. Where more than half a million souls have swelled our number during the past decade; where the lights of a genuine Christian civilization, like vestal virgins, holds their vigils, unerring and undying as the silvery stars, and where under the soft and hallowed flame Progress, like the Hebrew giant, bursting the withes protection is ever tying about his limbs, is leaping forward in the great race for material wealth and glory with bounding strides un- surpassed in all the sisterhood of states. Educated, intelligent, God- fearing Missouri. Where school houses so thickly dot the hills and plains that voice meet voice from merry children romping on the lea till one vast chorus moants the skies; where 'from every city, village, hamlet, the graceful spires and the church going bell call the way to Heaven; where thousands of Christian, homes cluster by the rivers and. on the hill tops, with the open fire and the dancing flames, with the old arm chair and the well worn Bible-cherished scenes, where first we learned to lisp the name of father, mother, sister, brother,
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Sacred, tender, hallowed old Missouri soil. Beloved land of mingled joy and grief! Where all the flowers of youth have grown and bloom- ed and childhood's merry laughter, in gleeful echoes, linger still to cheer and thrill the drooping heart. Where many a hope has perished in an hour and many a falling tear has found a grave; where our moth- ers first taught us to kneel in prayer, and where, under the willows and by the brooks, the forms of loved ones gone before us await our coming to slumber by them till the resurrection morn."
COUNTIES OF MISSOURI, WHEN ORGANIZED AND ORIGIN OF NAME
ADAIR .- Organized Jan. 29, 1841 and was named for Adair county, Ky., whence some of the early prominent settlers came.
ANDREW .- Organized Jan. 29, 1841, and was named in honor of Andrew Jackson Davis, a prominent lawyer of St. Louis.
ATCHISON .- Organized February 14, 1845; was named in honor of Ilon. David R. Atchison. He was born in Frogtown, Fayette Co., Kentucky, Aug. 11, 1807; was educated for the bar; removed to Missouri in 1830 and elected to the State Legisla- ture in 1834 and '38; in 1841 was ap- pointed Judge of the Platte county cir- cuit court, and in 1843 was appointed a senator in Congress, and subsequently elected for two successive terms. He served for one day as President of the United States, holding the office for twenty-four hours on Sunday, between the going out of one President and the incoming of his successor. Upon his retirement from the senate, he turned his attention to agriculture, and died in 1886.
BARTON .- Organized Dec. 12, 1855 and was named in honor of Hon. David Barton, one of the two first United States senators from Missouri.
BATES .- Organized Jan. 29, 1841, and was named for Hon. Ed- ward Bates, of St. Louis, and a native of Goochland county, Virginia; born September 4, 1793; moved to St. Louis in 1814; studied law for
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
two years, and began to practice in 1816. In 1818 was prosecuting attor- ney of St. Louis circuit; in 1820 a delegate to the State Constitutional convention, and the same year ap- pointed Attorney-General of the new state of Missouri; in 1824 was ap- pointed United States attorney for the Missouri District, and in 1826 was elected a representative in Con- gross. In 1850 he declined the ap: pointment, by President Fillmore, of Secretary of War, and in 1853 was elected Judge of the St. Louis Land Court, which he afterwards resigned. In 1856 he presided at the Whig convention of Baltimore, and in 1858 received from Harvard University the degree of LL. D. His death occurred in St. Louis, March 25, 1869.
BENTON .- Organized Jan. 3, 1835 and named in honor of Hon. Thomas H. Benton, Missouri's great senator.
BOLLINGER .- Organized March 1, 1851, was named in honor of Maj. Geo. F. Bollinger, one of the first settlers and a prominent mem- ber of the Territorial Legislature, etc. The county seat, Marble Hill, originally called Dallas, was so named from the alleged natural charac- ter of the sitc.
BOONE .- Organized November 16, 1820 and named for Missouri's pioneer settler, Daniel Boone.
BUCHANAN .- Organized February 10, 1839, named for Hon. James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania. The first county seat was Sparta, near the center of the county; in 1846 it was moved to St. Joseph.
BUTLER .- Organized February 27, 1849. Named in honor of Gen. William O. Butler, of Kentucky, a prominent American officer in the war with Mexico, and democratic candidate for vice-president in 1848.
CALLAWAY .- Organized November 25, 1820; was named for Capt. James Callaway, grandson of Daniel Boone, and who was killed by the Indians in the southern part of Montgomery county, March 8, 1815.
CAMDEN .- Originally created Jan. 29, 1841, and called Kinder- hook, for the country seat of President Van Buren. In 1843 the name was changed to Camden, for a county in North Carolina.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHIICAL RECORD.
CALDWELL .- Organized December 26, 1836; was named for Col. John Caldwell, of Kentucky, by the author of the organizing act, Alex W. Doniphan.
CAPE GIRARDEAU .- One of the original "districts" organized Oc- tober 1, 1812; reduced to its present limits March 5, 1849. Named for the town founded by Louis Lorimer in 1794. JJackson, the county scat, was incorporated in 1824 and named for "Old Hickory."
CARROLL .- Organized Jan. 3, 1833. Named in honor of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, one of the signers of the Declaration.
CARTER .- Organized March 10, 1859, and named for one of its earliest and most prominent citizens, Zimri Carter.
CASS .- Organized September 14, 1835, and first called Van Buren, in honor of President Van Buren, whom Missourians at that day delighted to honor; but in 1849, after he had been the presidential candidate of the Free Soil party in the preceding canvass, the name was changed to Cass, in honor of Lewis Cass, of Michigan, the Demo- cratic candidate in 1848, defeated by Gen. Taylor.
CEDAR .- Organized February 14, 1845, and named for its prin- cipal stream.
CHARITON .- Organized November 16, 1820, and named for the town of Chariton, which was laid out in 1817, and located near the mouth of the river of that name. Lewis and Clark were of the opin- ion that the original name of the Chariton was "Theriaton", but others asserted that the word is old French, and signifies a chariot or little wagon, a corruption of charrette probably. The first county seat was Chariton, long extinct. Keytesville, the present county seat was laid out in 1832 and named by its fouder, James Keyte, for himself.
CHRISTIAN. - Organized March 8, 1860, and was probably named for a county in Kentucky.
CLARK .- Organized in 1838, (many authorities say 1818, but the Clark county then organized was in Arkansas) named in honor of Gov. Win. Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the first Gov- ernor of the Territory of Missouri proper, serving from 1813 to 1820.
CLAY .- Organized January 2, 1822, and named in honor of Henry Clay. Liberty, the county seat, was laid out the same year.
CLINTON .- Organized January 15, 1833; reduced to its present size in 1841. Named for Vice-President George Clinton, of New York.
COLE .- Organized November 16, 1820, and named for Captain Stephen Cole, a noted pioneer of Missouri, who built Cole's Fort, at
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
the present site of Boonville. His death occurred sometime in the thirties, it is said, while on "the plains."
COOPER .- Organizer December 17, 1818. was named for Captain Sarshell Cooper, another prominent pioneer, killed by the Indians while seated at his own fireside in "Cooper's Fort," Howard county, April 14, 1814. Boonville, the county seat, was laid out in 1817 and named for Daniel Boone.
CRAWFORD .- Organized January 23, 1829 and named in honor of Hon. William H. Crawford, of Georgia, candidate for President in 1824.
DADE .- Organized January 29, 1841, and was named for Major Dade, of Seminole Massacre fame. The name of the county seat, Greenfield, has no special significance.
DALLAS. - Originally called Niangua, and organized in 1842; changed to Dallas, December 10, 1844, and named in honor of Hon. Geo. M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, then vice-President elect.
DAVIESS. - Organized December 29, 1836; was named in honor of Col. Jos. H. Daviess, of Kentucky, who fell at the battle of Tippeca- noe, in 1811. Gallatin, the county seat, was laid out in 1837 and named for the old Swiss financier, Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury from 1801 to 1813.
DEKALB .- Organized February 25, 1845 and named in honor of the Baron DeKalb, of the Revolution, who fell at the battle of Camden.
DENT .- Organized February 10, 1851. Named in honor of Lewis Dent, a Tennessean, who settled in the county in 1835, and was its first representative, elected in 1862. Salem, the county seat, was lo- cated in 1852. Perhaps, when christened, its founders had in mind the Hebrew word Salem, signifying peace.
DOUGLAS .- Organized October 19, 1857, was namel for Stephen A. Douglas.
DUNKLIN .- Organized February 14, 1845, was named in honor of Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State from 1832 to 1836: Surveyor- General of the United States, etc.
FRANKLIN .- Organized December 11, 1818; was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin. The first county seat was at Newport, but in 1830 was removed to Union.
GASCONADE .- Organized November 25, 1820; named for the river. Reduced to its present limits (nearly) 1835. Hermann was laid out in 1837, and became the county seat in 1845.
GENTRY .- Organized February 12. 1841. Named in honor of
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHIICAL RECORD.
Col. Richard Gentry, of Boone County, who fell at the head of the Missouri regiment in the battle against the Seminole Indians at Okee- chobee, Fla., on Christmas day, 1837. The county seat, Albany, was at first called Athens.
GREENE .- Organized January 2, 1833; named for General Na- thaniel Greene, of the War of the Revolution. Springfield, the county seat, was named for the seat of justice of Robertson county, Tenn.
GRUNDY .- Organized January 2, 1841; was named for Hon. Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, attorney-general of the United States from 1838 to 1840, etc. Trenton was selected the county seat in 1843.
HARRRISON .- Organized February 14, 1845. Named in honor of Hon. Albert G. Harrison, of Callaway county, a representative in Congress from the state from 1834 to 1839, dying in the latter year.
. HENRY .- Originally called Rives, in honor of William C. Rives, of Virginia, then a democratic politician of national reputation. Or- ganized December 13, 1834. In 1840 Mr. Rives became a Whig, and in 1841 the name of the county was changed to Henry, in honor of Patrick Henry.
HICKORY .- Organized February 14, 1845, was named for the so- briquet of Andrew Jackson. Hermitage, the county seat, was named for "Old Hickory's" residence.
HOLT .- In 1839 the territory in the Platte Purchase, north of Buchanan county, was organized into the "Territory" of "Ne-at-a- wah," and attached to Buchanan. "Ne-at-a-wah" included the present counties of Andrew, Holt, Atchison and Nodaway. In 1841 this terri- tory was subdivided and the county of "Nodaway" organized, but a few weeks later the Legislature changed the name to Holt, in honor of Hon. David Rice Holt, the representative from Platte county, who had died during the session, and buried at Jefferson City.
HOWARD .- Organized January 23, 1816 and named in honor of Col. Benjamin Howard, Governor of the "Territory of Louisiana" from 1810 to 1812. Old Franklin was the first county seat but in 1823 Fayette (named for Gen. LaFayette) became the county seat.
HOWELL .- Organized March 2, 1857. Named for James Howell, who settled in Howell's Valley in 1832.
IRON .- Organized February 17, 1857 and named for its principal mineral. The origin of the name of its county seat, Ironton, is ap- parent.
JACKSON .- Organized December 15, 1826, and named for "The
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hero of New Orleans." Independence, the county seat, was laid out in 1827.
JASPER. -- Organized January 29, 1841. Named for Sergt. Jas- per, a noted soldier of the Revolution, who planted the flag on Fort Moultrie, amidst a shower of British cannon balls, and fell at the as- sault on Savannah in 1779.
JEFFERSON .- Organized December 8, 1818, and named for Thomas Jefferson. The first county seat was at Herculaneum. In 1835 it was removed to the present site, then called Monticello, and in 1837 the designation of the. capital of Jefferson was changed to Hillsboro.
JOHNSON .- Organized December 13, 1834, and named for Colonel Richard N. Johnson, of Kentucky, "The Slayer of Tecumseh," who was afterwards, from 1837 to 1841, vice-president of the United States. The town of Warrensburg is the county seat and was founded in 1835 and named for John and Martin D. Warren.
KN^x .- Organized February 14, 1845, named in honor of Gen. Henry Knox, the Boston Bookseller, who during the Revolutionary War became Washington's chief of artillery, and who, the night before the battle of Trenton, we are told, "Went about tugging at his gun like a Trojan and swearing like a pirate." He was the first Secretary of War of the United States. Edina, the county seat, was founded in 1839 and named for the ancient capital of Scotland.
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